Unlucky, again!

So I'm not having much luck with my birthday presents to be honest. The beautiful Penfield coat that I ordered arrived today and was not as beautiful in person. I decided the brown leather yoke would just clash with most things that I wear so, unfortunately, I'm going to send her back tomorrow. Free delivery and free returns though, so that's a bonus. 

I did however order a replacement. I have my fingers crossed that this one will be more my style. I very much need a warm winter coat and the padding in the Penfield range is second to none so I went with another style by them.

I chose black this time as I think it will go with a lot more - hopefully!

Penfield Gillman Jacket with Jamiesons of Shetland's Fair Isle Knit

Can be purchased from ASOS HERE

One thing I can guarantee now is that we will have a scorching winter.

New winter coat!

So, I'm going to have to go and sit in the naughty corner. About ten minutes ago I made the most impulsive buy I've done for a while.
Today, my friend showed me her new Penfield coat that she bought for her holiday and let me try it on. Honestly, I have never put something so comfortable on in my entire life. 80/20 premium down insulated and feels like you're in a sleeping bag.
First thing I did when I came home from work was to visit the Penfield website to have a look at the other styles of coat. It was between a choice of two for me, firstly the Black Penfield Rockford with red tartany/ginghamy shoulder yoke, and secondly the Penfield Stapelton Tweed in Green with brown leather shoulder yoke detailing. I decided to go for the latter.

Just look at this little baby:

You can purchase this item from Asos HERE

Now, I know what you're thinking. Penfield coats ARE super expensive buttttttttttt this very morning I sold a load of crappy, unloved items on ebay and made pretty much the equivalent amount of money. So it was a good swap of old crap for new loveliness!

Due to arrive on Tuesday 15th just in time for my birthday on the 16th, hurray!

This is the style my friend got by the way:

Penfield Landis Down Filled Toggle Hooded Jacket which can be purchased HERE

Cuuuute!

Winter mittens!

I've just been perusing through last month's issue of Elle magazine with the lovely Emma Watson on the cover and I came across the "In next month's Elle" page which featured an advert for £20 to spend in Kurt Geiger. (Out since November 2nd so deffo going to go purchase that tomorrow before they all go!) Kerchinnnng! Kurt Geiger is one of my favourite places to buy shoes so I headed on over to have a goosey gander at what they had on offer on their website. Lo and behold the one thing that jumped out at me wasn't even a pair of shoes but were these beautiful winter warmers:

These are the "Isla Mittens" and can be purchased HERE

Now, they are priced at £70, but with £20 offer from Elle, surely that makes them a bargain?!....

....No?...

....Okay, maybe not. But I'm now longing for these in my winter wardrobe.

Inner Helix Piercing

So I decided to get another piercing since my last two cartilage piercings had to be taken out (boohoo!) I originally saw this picture on tumblr.

How purrrdy! Total copy cat decided to get one of potentially three. Who knows if I'll get the other two. Healing time is a pain, however this one is so much more comfortable than my previous cartilage piercings as is less prone to knocking on things. It's suprising how often you bash your ears in a single day. Sleeping, washing your face, washing your hair, combing your hair, drying your hair, putting on and taking off clothing, leaning on your hand, cuddling, shaving your armpits, lifting things, God knows what else. Everything, it seemed like!
Anyway, this one is quite comfortable at the moment. The pain was worse than previous lobe and cartilage piercings but nothing major. I squeezed my other half's hand and squeaked, "Aaahhwch", and that's about it. Done!

This picture was taken the same day as I had it pierced. Didn't swell too much, just seemed a bit bruised more than anything the next day. I was recommended to clean twice a day with saline solution and I also sleep with a padded plaster over my ear to avoid snagging on anything in the night. I'll keep you updated of its progress if you're interested!

You can kind of see where my old cartilage piercing had to be taken out, a small red dot above my second lobe piercing, the same distance apart as the other two. 

What piercings do you have? Do you have any planned?

Sad, sad day!

Well, my Arty ring arrived today and guess what? NikNak knuckles strike again! It was too small. How annoying.

I convinced my boyfriend that it would be a good idea for him to allow me to try the ring on for size considering the returns policy allows only a 15 day leeway for sending items back. Chubby Fingers McGee couldn't even get it half way on!

So, I'm awaiting instructions on how to send it back to get a refund. To be honest, I don't think I'm even going to order the next size up because the quality was not as expected for the price that we paid. So, now my mission is to find something in replacement for my birthday present!

Perhaps no more rings, online sizing is too risky to get right!

What's in my everyday makeup bag?

I'm sure you're all dying to know! Thing is, I actually enjoy seeing what other people use or carry about with them in their bags. We all have a bit of a voyeuristic streak, I think and seen as I enjoy it, I'm guessing other people do too. So here is what's in my every day makeup bag. I have too much makeup in general, and probably wear too much, too, but this is just what I use on a day to day basis if I'm going to work or running errands.

I wear about 4 times as many products and probably wear my makeup about an inch thick when I go out on a night out, butttttt what the hell! Here goes, simple, easy, every day:

Think I might list the products in the order that I use them since I didn't think to put them in neat rows for the picture.

1. Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Light 2

2. Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in Vanilla 52

3. Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch Light Diffusing Concealer in Naked 1

4. Benefit High Beam

5. Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse in Sun Bronze 050

6. MAC Powder Blush in Harmony

7. Dior Shimmer Powder in Amber Diamond

8. The Body Shop Baked Bronzer

9. Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin

10. Urban Decay Brow Box in Brown Sugar used with MAC Fix+

11. Urban Decay Naked Palette (Not Pictured) for eyeshadow of choice!

12. Urban Decay Eyeliner in Zero

13. Clinique Brush On Creme Liner in True Black

14. Curl lashes with Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers

15. First coat of mascara with Maybelline Great Lash Waterproof in Very Black

16. Sleek Blush in Pomegranate

17. Second coat of mascara with Collection 2000 Big Fake Lash in Ultra Black

18. Revlon lipstick in Nude Attitude

19. Barry M Lipgloss in Toffee

20. Collection 2000 Setting Powder - everything has rubbed off so I don't know what it is!

21. Also, don't know why I put Duo Lash Adhesive in there as I only wear lashes on special occasions!

Wow. Writing it all down seems like a bucket load of crap that I put on my face every day. Oh well! A little bit of lippy/concealer/foundation/eyeliner/eyeshadow/blusher/bron........etc never hurt anyone! ;) (Well, except Estee Lauder Day Wear that hurt my face, badly! But that's another blog post!)

Hope you enjoyed a sneaky peek into my makeup bag, you nosey so and so's!

Tell me what's you're best beauty buy and why?

Yves Saint Laurent - Arty Oval Ring

I've seen this ring all over fashion blogs for months on end and I have been very intrigued. One of the most popular versions I have seen is this dark yet vibrant blue on gold ring. (Available at Net-A-Porter, here.)

This version isn't to my taste, I think the gold seems a bit brash and not to mention I'm not a fan of blues. At first, I have to be honest, I thought the style and colour palettes of these rings were ridiculously ugly. But then something happened.

Oh. My. God.

This colour variation is so me! She's available from the Yves Saint Laurent official site, here. 

I'd been looking for weeks, accidently (on purpose) going back to the YSL site and having a cheeky pine over this beauty. Since my other half has been asking me what I want for my birthday, I not so sneakily added this monstrosity to the top of the list. Although the price-tag is quite steep (£135 for the smallest size 04, jumping to £165 for all other sizes 05-08) I decided that I wanted to split the cost meaning it would be a birthday present for me, from both of us. 

So, yes, I ordered it. And I'm so excited. I have pretty small fingers so I ordered the smallest size (04) and I'm hoping to God that she will fit. I have thin fingers yet chunky knuckles - not so fondly known as my NikNak fingers - and normally wear a size Small on my middle finger in highstreet rings. I want to wear the arty on my ring finger on my right hand, which is normally too small for any highstreet sized rings. So fingers and toes crossed that the 04 will fit and not be too small for my knucks! Due to arrive tomorrow, but I had to order it to the better half's house because he doesn't believe I won't sneakily open it before my birthday. Would I do that?! Ahem...

In related news, if you're quick you can be in for a chance to win one of these beautiful arty rings through a competition run by Net-A-Porter (unfortunately the silver/black combo isn't available on Net-A-Porter though, boohoo!)

All you have to do is count how many rings are in the picture they show you, then you're entered into a prize draw. You could be one of the lucky five winners to bag yourself one of these rings! Click HERE to see how to enter. But be quick, it ends tonight (midnight of Sunday 6th November)!

I've already entered. I never win anything but I thought I'd give it a go. Hopefully it will be sods law that I actually do win a competition for the first time in my life because I've just forked out my own money and actually bought one for myself...but hey, can't go wrong with two!

My Little Black (and navy!) Dress.

November is the month of my birthday and I will be turning old this year. The first year I haven't really been excited about celebrating it at all! I don't want to be one of those women who refuse to say their age (I'll be twentythree by the way!) or break down when they reach small age milestones, but I can truly say that since I was around 14 years old I always thought of 23 year olds as, well...old! Anyway, a birthday is an excuse to treat yourself to a new dress, obviously! And that's what I did.

Originally I saw a beautiful dress on a Makeup Guru (pixi2woo) on youtube. I went ahead and bought the dress online and eagerly anticipated its arrival. 

This is the dress in question:

Topshop Glitter Spot Velvet Dress - £46

It looked absolutely fantastic on Tanya (pixi2woo) but when it arrived, I tried it on and I honestly looked like I was built wrong. The material was lovely and the glitter spots looked quite elegant, less in-your-face than they look in the image, but the fit was awful on me. The waistband was too high and just looked a bit frumpy in general. Unhappy, I decided to take it back to the Topshop store and tried on another dress I had had my eye on for a while. I then fell in love, truly, madly, deeply. My perfect dress.

Topshop Sleeveless Skater Dress - £46

Absolutely amazing.

This dress fits in all the right places, is made of lovely, thick, strong material. Looks more expensive than it actually was and is available in a variety of colours.

I couldn't help myself and actually got the navy version of this dress also. I had an excuse though as I have a number of friends' birthdays coming up as well as my own, an art exhibition and a Christmas work do to think about! I know what I'll be wearing for the next million nights out! I don't have enough good things to say about this dress. You must go and try it on at least if you're looking for an LBD! In my books, it's perfect. Bravo, Topshop!

Navy

Ruby

Rust

Black

Yellow

Which colour would you get?