Best wardrobe organiser for £2,5 - BEST FASHION INVESTMENT

Lately I have been seriously concentrating on organizing my wardrobe (and life in general). So I spent £2,5 for the Style book app for my ipad. It was the most clever £2,5 spent in my whole entire life.

It has an amazing feature of finding the clothes that you do not wear at all. I have just started to utilise the full potential of my wardrobe. I also realised what can be thrown away or sold as I will never fit some clothes into my style. Some of those offenders I had for ages!!!!

Highly recommended!!!

Abellio Greater Anglia first class

We took an Abellio Greater Anglia trading from Liverpool street train statiom in London all the way to Norwich in Norfolk. It was Friday afternoon, we arrived at the station rather early and as a first class ticket holders sat down at the First class lounge. There was no one there to check our tickets hence there was a random elderly lady who was talking on the phone and drinking without being a first class ticket holder. There is a funny sign calling to people's consciousness. There were lovely fresh flowers, coffee machine with rubbish coffee and a water cooler. I would be actually quite ashamed to call it a "first class lounge".

The air conditioner was the most profound feature that we really appreciated in the summer heat. So seating in a pleasantly chilly room we were reading some periodicals and waiting for the platform number to be available. All the trains of Abellio Greater Anglia are conveniently located next to the first class lounge which was great as we did not have to walk literally any distance in 30 degrees C.

The train was called Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson. On a Friday afternoon first class was packed with elderly people whose generation lead to the credit crunch we are now experiencing and who blame bankers for tricking them into getting mortgages.

Seats were wide however the car was very old and everything inside was quote outdated. We had complimentary soft drinks, tea and biscuits. The wi-fi is complimentary for the first class but you have to register to use it (one-off but still rather annoying). The wi-fi was also not so stable. 

Having written that I have to say that the price of standard and first class is not that different. The price is huge anyway so it is slightly more pleasant to travel in the first class due to the less seats on a square meter. Other than that there is no difference at Abellio Greater Anglia train.

Manicure

I am sure that Americans and Russians will hear me...

London is the worse place to get a manicure. Not only it is expensive but the so-called "beauticians" have no idea what they are doing...

After all those years suffering from bad manis I finally started to do my own without cutting a cuticle. Here is a short story which can hopefully be helpful for some people.

RULE 1:

When you switch from your standard mani to a new one where you don't cut the cuticle it takes time for your fingers to get used to it. You need at least 3-4 months to get used to your new routine. Don't worry, your nails will still look good, just carry on reading the next tips. Also please do not cut your cuticle "just a little bit" because you'll start your 3-4 months adaptation over and over again.

RULE 2:

Use a cuticle remove twice a week. I was given advice of using it once a week only. I do not know and cannot imagine HOW you can have tidy nails while using the cuticle remover only once a week. The good one and relatively inexpensive one is Sally Hanson. It is available at Boots with Sally Hanson stand in it. You can buy it online. The other Sally Hanson removers are not as good as this one is (without going much into details). I have been using some others but this one is a good place to start.

RULE 3:

Always apply your cuticle remover while still having your nail polish on! If you do not follow this rule you may get peeled nails. Push your cuticle remover with a stick which can be bought anywhere at Boots and make sure you thoroughly wash your fingers.

RULE 4:

You can still cut hangnails but remember - you have to use your cuticle oil every single day. You will be shocked by how your nails look with the cuticle oil. Even if you manicure is not fresh the cuticle oil will make it look wonderful! Again I use Sally Hansen pen because it is very convenient to use it on the go. It comes with a brush which is much handier than drops. Although not particularly cheap but it lasts for a long time. OPI is also good but twice expensive. Besides making your cuticle look good the oil will make your nail stronger and they will grow a little bit faster.

RULE 5:

After you removed your cuticle, removed your nail polish and shaped your nail just apply a "tinted" nail polish for a quick mani. It makes life so much easier during a busy week. I personally love Dior which makes my nail look healthy. All in all the mani routine will take 5 minutes of your time max as the Dior dries in appr. 1 minute.

To sum everything up you will still have a little bit of cuticle which is perfectly normal and healthy. Although if you have been "californised" and do not respect nature it might not be for you. I have included some of my good old pictures of nail polishes so you can see how to cuticle looks while you do not cut it.

Spontaneous dinner party

Spontaneous dinner party is excited but could lead to a couple of mistakes.

First mistake was not to put 2 sets of forks and knives so the starter and the main course was eaten with the same cutlery.

The second mistake was to urgently cook a starter I never cooked before - pear, pancetta and Gorgonzola salad.

Ingredients:

1 bag of rocket

1 pear

50 gram of fried pancetta

80 gram of Gorgonzola

50 g of beetroot

For the vinaigrette

125 ml of balsamic vinegar

60 ml olive oil

1 tablespoon of mustard

some dried thyme

Salt and pepper

Optional: garlic

Cooking: just toss everything together and create a vinaigrette in a shaker or salad dressing container.

The problem with this salad: rocket and blue cheese is a classic mix. Pancetta is fine. But the pear just does not belong to this salad. Completely. I used ripened expensive Waitrose pears and it still did not work. Complete failure!

Verdict: planning is extremely important and spontaneous things being exciting and fun will definitely not work out in certain places.

Face Washing Net for clean skin

The face wash net should be at every woman's bathroom. It is an unsung hero of a beautiful skin!

Like almost all modern women I do suffer from occasional skin irritation or spots. For years I have been using Shiseido foaming cleanser which I was getting from Harrods on my accumulated points despite having sensitive skin. I regularly tried some other cleanser including the high end Dior and Chanel ones which failed enormously.

I bought my face net on amazon but it is actually available in Muji UK sometimes. It costs around £1,5 which is a joke in comparison how much failure we get from skin care products! It will also last years and years - just wash it with a soap and leave to dry. If the face net is not available where you live you can create one yourself! It is easy!

The thing is the face net creates a particular bubbly structure from a cleanser. This bubbly cleansing substance removes my make-up completely as I cannot use two-step cleansing system which 100% blocks my pores. I also leave "bubbly mask" on sometimes so the pores can be cleaned completely. 

Couple of months ago I tried to experiment with my foaming cleanser and buy a very very cheap one from Boots - Botanics All Bright Cleansing Foam. It was on offer and just under £3 in comparison with my usual Shiseido which is over £30.

The results were shocking. Botanics cleanser has a completely different consistency to it than Shiseido. I was very sceptical at first but from the first use it removed my make-up and left my skin soft. Together with the face net the Botanics cleanser creates bubbles that actually burst (just like the world economy recently) and again I thought it is wrong. However the cleanser removed all the make up and impurities better than any other cleanser I tried before and better than my favourite one. I tried to use the Botanics without a face net and it did not work for me the way it does with the net. 

The main BONUS is that if I get spots or irritations by the end of the day and use my magic net with the Botanics cleanser 99% of my problems disappear overnight. It also works as a combination with my favourite organic facial cream.

Even if there are other cleansers besides Botanics that leave your skin soft and clean I am looking no further as it costs £2,99!!! How cheaper it can get?

Quick salmon recipe!

After a long day you get home, you and your hubby are hungry and you don't have time or energy (always in my case) to cook...  Try this salmon recipe which is super fast and doesn't require your attention!

All you need is salmon, cream, fresh herbs of possible and oven.

Use any fresh herbs available. 

Pour your cream on salmon to cover it as much as possible 

Then cover your salmon with herbs.

And depending on the size of your salmon chunks leave them in the oven for 15-20 minutes (200 oven/170 gas)

Delicious! 

London cab apps I use

Nowadays with black cab strikes it is time to discuss London cab companies. I always use mobile apps for ordering taxis so apps are paramount for me.

1. Long before UBER I have been using Addison Lee. Their app has been the best for a long long time. I still find it the most intuitive and user friendly app ever. The pricing is clear and transparent, you are offered a fixed quote and there is never "surge-pricing" when the demand is high. The app is also tracking a car for over a year know perhaps. I also book taxi in advance sometimes which is easy with Addison lee. It is not that posh even when you hire a Mercedes but the app is definitely better than the rest - for me at  least.

2. Uber is criticised for many reasons but my biggest problem with uber is a quote estimate. It means you do not know how much you are going to pay which is not a problem with Addison lee. When you are stuck in traffic the quote can double. The app is not as simple and as intuitive as Addison lee's one. You cannot book a car in advance which is a huge disadvantage for me. I seriously do not understand why uber employs computational neuroscientist and nuclear physicist!

3. Green tomato - as much as I am a green person the mobile app of this environment friendly taxi provider is the worse.

4. Hailo app located  you whenever you are so you don't need to catch a cab when it's raining (meaning always) in London. Th app works fine however I do not like black cabs as they are not comfortable.

If I need super-cheap airport transfer I use this company.