Brazil World Cup 2014 Nail Art Manicure Ideas
/I can just about get one colour of nail polish neatly applied, so the skill involved in these manicures astound me. How is your nail art game? Share your work with me on Twitter @rudedoodle .
I can just about get one colour of nail polish neatly applied, so the skill involved in these manicures astound me. How is your nail art game? Share your work with me on Twitter @rudedoodle .
I'm going to embarrass my Dad here, but he has been known to buy sweets (Maltesers & Fry's Cream mostly) and hide them on top of the kitchen cupboards so my 5ft tall Mum can't find them & eat them! So he'd love any of these treats from Hotel Chocolat this Father's Day.
The H-box Everything Selection for £13 has a delicious menu of dark, milk and white chocolates.
The Father's Day gift box for £15 includes a tipple.
Or the solid Old Fossil for £8.50
The Pocket Selection is £9.00
For Dads with an adventurous taste, there is Cocoa Beer at £5.50 a bottle. I'm intrigued by this myself.
Hotel Chocolat even have beer flavoured chocolates!
People often ask me how The World of Kitsch started. If you aren't a long term reader you might not know that it started as a blog cataloging my charity shop buys of vintage knickknacks, taxidermy, ugly paintings and any other oddities I collected to decorate my home.
Then my home became full, and there was no more room for new 1960s' cocktail cabinets to stuff with ugly ornaments, seaside souvenirs and mid-century crockery. So I began blogging about interesting products brands would send me, or local brands I wanted to encourage people to try.
As of 2013 I started including local hotel and attraction reviews, including blogging for Tesco about Northern Ireland's North Coast as a holiday destination for families. Now in 2014 I continue to feature interesting products, local restaurants & brands but I think it's time I return to my roots a little.
I'll be featuring more charity shop treasures, even if I can't take them home! But here are two recent purchases I couldn't resist. I can never turn down taxidermy at a good price, so I had to give these butterflies a home.Â
I have a 1960s' boat shaped bar, so I collect mid-century glassware if it's in good condition. These beautiful bird glasses look brand new and I picked them up for £3 for the set.
Hello! I'm stuck in hospital at the moment. Normal blogging will resume soon!
These amazing tattoo pieces were available from Jenna McAleese of Skullduggery Tattoo, Belfast, at the Northern Ireland Tattoo Convention this weekend past. If you wish to get in touch with Jenna about any of the remaining designs, you can email her at
See more of Jenna's work on her Instagram.
We Smyths are huge Little Wing fans, so when their newest location opened in Holywood a few weeks back, it was as good an excuse as any to 'wing it'.
Little Wing has restaurants in Bangor, Ballyhackamore, Ann Street in the city and on the Lisburn Road. Bangor is our usual, but Holywood previously being a bank building makes for a large, bright dining experience, and I think we will be locals there instead. The food was fabulous too, no teething problems with being a new restaurant to speak of, everything was beyond delicious.
Starters include olives, garlic bread or dough sticks. As in similar family friendly Pizza places, there's a three course children's menu. They choose between dough sticks or soup for first course, with pizzas or pastas as their main meal. The dessert cone and mini-hot chocolate is all included in the set price.
The pizzas at Little Wing are PROPER Italian pizzas. Thin, crispy, with traditional toppings. I always get frustrated when getting Do******s Pizza due to the complete lack of anchovies or olives on the menu in the Bangor branch. In Little Wing you can have both, you can even have calamari (squid).
Shape and size wise the choices are Â
1) a regular size pizza Â
2) Ireland's BIGGEST pizza, 24", by the slice with side salad, or tackle the beast yourself
3) Skinny Pizza. I'm not sure it means it's a healthy option rather than the regular (although thin crispy dough is definitely healthier than big, thick bases other chain stores sell). These cost £2 more as they include more toppings, and are served on a rustic, wooden board. My husband went for the spiciest on the menu, and I got the anchovie pizza with black olives as an extra. Perfect.
4) a Calzone pizza, a folded, tasty wonder.
The skinny pizza truly defeated me, but boxes are on stand-by to bring your left overs home.
Now I may have been full, but my dessert stomach had room, and as our son got an ice cream with his anyway, we both perused the desserts and coffee menu.
I got the Nutella Pizza and my husband got, as he said, 'the best chocolate cake I've tasted'.
We were very happy with all concerned. Setting friendliness, value for money, all spot on. They are even in the process of setting up a children's play area in the back, and kids get a spot-the-item colouring page on the back of their menu to keep them busy whilst the pizza is cooking.
You can also order pizza to take away. The Holywood restaurant also has a mini Patisserie Mimi, selling macaroons & treats. So you can pop in for a nosy even if you aren't sitting to eat.
Tweet me @rudedoodle if you get a chance to pop along over the long weekend ahead, your family will love Little Wing.Â
Heatons are all geared up for a super summer. All the ingredients of a happy afternoon in the garden, including tableware and BBQs.
The new fashion lines are bright, crisp and smart and I'm in love with the glitter kitty shoes, if only they did them up to adult size 4 I'd be having a pair!Â
The new children's collection is very smart, and reminds me of Baby Gap ranges. The boy's selection is Americana themed.
How sweet is this cabin luggage? Boys' suitcases available too. Priced at €10
Lots of very reasonably priced swimwear in store too, and paddling pools. I'd recommend picking the latter up early, as we've all been caught out by the shops selling out of pools once the heat wave arrives.
There is a great selection of summer bright tableware and accessories too. I love the photorealistic kiwi fruit.
It's not only the kids who get stylish clothing, this classic dress caught my eye at €25
For summery back garden BBQs how about one of these tops, teamed with Capri denims and flip flops?
Now the part you've been waiting for. Heatons have given me a £75 gift card to give away to one lucky reader, but please read these details first-
The £75 gift card is not exchangeable for cash, or anything else. The gift card ONLY WORKS IN STORE, IN NORTHERN IRELAND. It doesn't work for the Heatons' online store, or in the south. Good luck!
It's no secret I've been working with Lidl NI the past 12 months, bringing you posts with bargain and new, exciting products. This however is not a sponsored post.
Over the past year I've gone from visiting Lidl about once a month, to choosing it as my 'big shop' location every fortnight with a couple of visits in between for fresh fruit & veg (& their bargain, beautiful smoked salmon with mustard and dill which I'm addicted to for breakfast).Â
If you follow me on Twitter (@rudedoodle) or Instagram you'll see me giving shout outs about what's new in store, as one of my top reasons for shopping Lidl is they get a brand new range in weekly, so there's always specials to try.Â
Next up, this Thursday, is their World Cup collection. I'm a sucker for a big event and will be getting some tshirts for the family. I was in store today and they've already got some World Cup themed food in- yes! Plus party packs with plates, cups, plastic cutlery, football whistles etc. for £3.99
I didn't buy these today, but I'll be buying them once the event starts.
Now the days are getting warmer there are some interesting options for keeping hydrated. Many flavours of iced tea, including some zero calorie options. Beautiful with ice and a slice of lemon.
One of their themes this week is Mexican food, so as well as a selection of spices for 69p each, salsa, taco kits and fajitas, they also have this unusual cactus drink, which someone like me couldn't resist trying at £1 for a litre.Â
And what about this water jug? So stylish and looks far more expensive than it's £3.99. There are matching tumblers and salad bowls in two sizes too. All come in either green, clear or deep pink. Lovely for BBQs.Â
Finally here are the rest of the World Cup items which should hit stores on Thursday.
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As heard on BBC Radio 6's Lauren Laverne Show.