New Cherry Blossom Girl Polishes - Essence Autumn 2012

We all know I'm a big Essence fan when it comes to polish, that and a sucker for all things Cherry so I was thrilled to spy Essence's new polish offering for Autumn 2012 on stands this week. I've been so impressed with every one of these that I just had to share so that you can grab some, before the collection disappears, should they appeal to you too. 

My Little Kimono is a light taupe brown with a silver blue shimmer woven through. Beautiful in the sunlight and subtle enough for any occasion. It's a darker than the colour in the bottle once applied but still puts me in mind of Chanel Frenzy with one coat. In short, it’s a beaut.

It’s Peach Not Cherry is a creamy peach orange polish with a luxurious formulation that belies its €2.29 price tag. Again application is a cinch, barely two coats needed for smooth, opaque colour.

Fortune Cookie is a bright mustard, much like a the neon yellow of a Fortune Cookie (funnily enough). There’s a silver micro shimmer here too that translates to shine on the nail. Just Gorgeous.

Cherry Cherry Girl is a wowzer bright orange with red undertone, it reminds me a lot of a creamy Hedonist from Model’s Own in real life. It’s a shiny in yo’ face irreverent addition to the Autumn season and is currently on my tootsies. 

As with this entire range the polish itself applies with no issues whatsoever. Two thin coats = perfect nail colour. There's no top coat used in these pics either, look at that shine!

CherryBlossom Girl Polishes - €2.29 each or the lot for €9.16. Mad, Ted. 

If you haven’t tried Essence polishes before, I’d urge you to do so. Not only is the price ridiculously affordable but the colours are always on the cutting edge of trends and the formulation easily holds its own against (if not supersedes) some high end brands.  

You’ll pick up this entire collection for just under a tenner or just the one for less than the price of a coffee. Essence are available in all good pharmacies, larger Penney’s, Boots and Dunnes Stores.

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Blogging Tips - 5 Tools That Have Helped Me

I've a bit of a different post this morning, don't worry though beauty lovers, I'll have a regular post up this afternoon. This one is aimed at fellow bloggers, just starting out, to show you a couple of tools I've used over the past year to help readers and followers find their way around and for me to boost traffic and increase publicity of my little corner of the interwebz. 

I've linked below 5 tutorials and changes I've made to CherrySue that I've found have really helped and perhaps you will too. 

1. Link Within

Once you've written a couple of posts and they begin to fill up your archive, it's important not to let them be lost. Tools such as LinkWithin show several thumbnails under each post with related articles you've published before. A large percentage of my daily hits comes from people new to CherrySue, that obviously like the cut of my jib enough to read a little more. 

This tutorial will show you step by step how to install LinkWithin, help visitors navigate your site with ease and will ensure that your posts are viable long after they're published. 

2. Facebook Like/Recommend Button

The addition of a Facebook Like or Recommend button means that your readers can like and share your posts with ease. A lot of times viewers won't be logged into Google, nor will they want to and we all know it's about making life easier for your readers. 

This simple step by step will show you how to install the Facebook button of your choosing. Once the button is clicked, your post is pinned to their wall for all of their friends to see (and like too, hopefully). 

3. Pin It to Pinterest

Pinterest is the fastest growing social media site of all time and offers a wealth of new readers and visitors to your blog once you're set up. Allowing readers to pin your beautiful pictures (and posts) means that they're given a new lease of life on a completely different platform. (the posts, not the people, natch)

This handy tutorial will show you exactly how to add a Pin It button to your blog and the advantages of doing so. Take a squizz at my Pinterest account to see how I've been using it. 

4. Open Links in a New Tab

One of the most recent changes I've made to CherrySue is to add the code and make all of my links open in new tabs. This is important for two reasons: 

1. I'm all about sharing the love so I link to other sites and blogs in almost every post
2.  Once a reader has followed your link, mid paragraph, unless they're enthralled by your post or just not in a huge hurry, they're not going to click back to finish - boourns. 

This simple change to your HTML means that all links you use will open in a new tab, this will significantly decrease your bounce rate and ensure that your reader has to click as little as possible to get all available info. Everybody wins. 

5. Use Your Widgets Wisely

This one is not so much a tutorial as just something, readily available, that's helped me greatly. Blogger has set up all manner of widgets within your template and when you're new to the blogosphere it can all be a little confusing to know which you want clogging up your sidebar and which you don't. 

By trial and error I've found my most helpful ones for all concerned have been: 

• The Search Bar - essential for easy navigation & quick searches
• Follow By Email - Widen your audience hugely with this handy tool
• Translate - A hugely helpful widget for international visitors to your site 
• Blog List - It really is about sharing the love, Blogging is a community, I have to give props to those that inspire me daily and those I read regularly. 

These can all be added through the Design --> Add Widget process on your blog. There might even be some more in there that tickle your pickle. 

That's my round up for now, hopefully you've found it to be a little helpful. I'm still only essentially a newbie at this blogging lark too so if there's any blogging tool or tip that you use that you think I, or the other lovely CherrySue readers might find beneficial, I'd really appreciate a heads up in the comments. Ta very many, yo. 

NOTD - Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue - OPI

Despite ducking the Monday Blues my nails are sporting the colour with gusto today. Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue is from OPI's new Germany collection and is no less than a stunner. 

Über shiny (there's no top coat in either pic) and with a formulation that applies like a dream, this blue is a must have for all polish lovers. It's right on trend for A/W as I mentioned over on Beaut.ie today  and if you don't snap it up soon, I can see it being one of the most sought after and hard to get colours from this collection. 

The Germany collection is one of the best that OPI have released and you'll get them, if you're quick, over on Cloud10Beauty.com for €10.50 a pop. 

Are you loving any colours from the collection? 

Monday's Moments - 17/09

How do Monday, we meet again. It's been a busy one alright, at home, work and in the blogosphere so there's been plenty of moments to choose from and that's just how I like it. Let's see what made the top 5, shall we?

1.On Rainbow Nine 

When out and about on site visits last week I saw something that I never knew existed before. Something that brightened my day just by catching a couple of glimpses.

It was a , a rainbow cloud. I'm just raging I was haring down the M1 at the time so I couldn't catch a snap. Have you ever seen one?

2.Room With a View

This is pretty close to my new view...

Our offices, like many offices, have been going through changes. Consolidating and sharing services so there's been a lot of movement.

One upside of changes is the opportunity for a spanky new desk and I lept on it this week. Bagged myself a window seat with a view of about 3 trees in a courtyard, It's not much but in comparison to the cave I was in, it's bliss.

3.Closing the Loop

If you saw my Movie Fest reviews on Friday you'll know that Looper was one of the best movies of both days. My only issue really was plotholes, which I mentioned in the review.

On Saturday evening, however, I got a tweet from the Looper twitter account, asking which plotholes bugged me, which in itself is fantastic. Turns out though that the account is run by Rian Johnson, the films writer & director! We proceeded to have tweet sized chats about my niggles and he cleared them right up. Explained for example that one pothole I saw, that he'd originally written a scene to cover it but it didn't make the final cut. How awesome is that? Only on Twitter.

4.Meta Mondays

I'd a mail this week from a reader (Hi, Wendy!) that gave me a little kick.

She was saying that she loved Mondays Moments and reads them religiously every week. In the back and forth it turns out that she googles the term Mondays Moments to find me and I'm numero uno in the rankings! It's just a little thing but it tickles me nonetheless.

5.The Downton Return

Well? Did you watch it? Did you? were you as besotted with the style as I was? As tickled by the Dowager's razor sharp tongue? Tom's defiant Republicanism at the Downton dinner table?

I loved every minute of Downtons return and even if it truly means that summer is over, I'm thrilled to have it back!


Tell me, what's been happening in your neck of the woods this week? I'd love to know...

Cherry Pick of the Week - Wings - Lidl Mx

Cherry Pick this week comes from the first ever group to win the X-Factor (I had completely forgotten they won too). They've gotten some flak but they're grand girls with great styling for their age and kick ass attitudes. 

Wings, apart from being a catchy mo' fo' of a song, is a great message for chung wans of today. I like it. A lot. Though I won't ever call them anything but Lidl Mix, it's stuck. 

What song's been on a loop in your head this week?