Monday, 2 January 2012

O.O.T.D 02/01/12 & Charity Shopping

Today's outfit of the day is one I wore for a walk along the coast with my family.



It was very windy and extremely cold. Here's what I wore, managing to keep quite warm until I took my hands out of my pockets!


I have on my Penfield Gillman Coat which is an absolute saviour in the cold weather. The scarf I have on is from Next and was featured in my last post.


You can just see my checkered shirt from Topshop underneath my coat. The black (faded to grey) skinny jeans are from Topshop, too.


Bag is Cambridge Satchel Company 11" Classic in Black.


Boots are "Tundra" by ASH.


While we were out, we stopped for a pub lunch and visited a few shops along the high street. I couldn't pass up this vintage Moschino handbag I saw in British Heat Foundation Charity shop. It's most likely fake, but it's in lovely condition and good quality leather and looks cool as hell. :)



I'm currently sat by the radiator with several layers of pyjamas on to try and thaw out!
Hope you all had a lovely bank holiday.
x

Sunday, 1 January 2012

Wishlist: 01/01/12

So, it's the new year and I've been online sale browsing (of course!) and I've pretty much made a mental list as long as my arm of things I would quite happily purchase if I had all of the money in the world. Unfortunately, I don't, and unfortunately I accidently started browsing things that weren't in the sale as well...
Here's a few things that are on top of my list.

1. Ipad 2 in black. The ultimate unnecessary luxury. Why do I need one? Obviously I have thousands of reasons. Can I think of them all at this moment in time? Not quite. However, I reaaaaaaallly want one. This has all sprung from playing on by brother's iPad this Christmas and me becoming insanely jealous and wanting one for myself.


2. Shu Uemura eyelash curlers. Or to be more precise, Shu Uemura eyelash curler refill pads. I wish to God that they sold the refills separately as I despise thinking about spending around £20 on a new pair when I have a perfectly good pair in my makeup bag. All I need is the refill! And what's worse is that I KNOW that I have one more refill somewhere in my room. I kept it safe in the box but somehow lost it, a few months ago I found it again and put it safely on my desk, and now it has completely disappeared! I can't fathom where on earth it has gone, but all I know is that it's not where I left it. So now I'm stuck contemplating buying a brand new curler (because they're bloody good) just because they refuse to sell the insert pads separately!


3. Tight, black, colourfast skinny jeans. Pictured are Cheap Monday skinny jeans. I really need to go try on before I buy though, no online purchases of jeans for me because it's just too risky to try and get your right size. My skinny jeans from Topshop have faded into a murky grey colour and they are generally quite crappy quality (although comfy as anything, so I'm still going to wear them to death!) Will have to try some on on my next shopping trip to a big city as they don't sell anything good in my town.


4. Something I really need is some good quality leggings. I need none-seethrough, none-sag, colourfast black leggings made from a good, sturdy material. I cannot stand leggings where you can see what you had for breakfast the day before. So far I have failed to find any up to the quality that I want. Topshop leggings are crap, Miss Selfridge are worse and as for Primark.. If anyone has any good suggestions as to what brand I should try next, please let me know in the comments! The leggings pictured below are from American Apparel, has anyone tried these out?


5. I'd also quite like a slouchy blazer, just for something different. I don't own a blazer, but if I got my skinny jeans/leggings sorted out, I'd like to pair it with one similar to the picture below, perhaps with a nice striped black and white t-shirt. I'm also after a slouchy white (none seethrough) vest top/tee which is long enough to wear with leggings, with a deep v or deep round neck. I've been searching for this item for literally years and am yet to find one that I like. I came close with a Forever 21 vest, but still a bit too seethrough for my liking! Any suggestions, again, would be much appreciated!


What's on your wishlist for the new year?

Christmas Gifts & Sale Shopping!

I got the bargain of the century this weekend in the Christmas sales. I visited my local Next Outlet store and picked up this little beauty.


It is a lovely quality perforated suede in a tealy-grey colour. I grabbed it off the rail as soon as I saw it and decided to try it on even though size 12's are normally too big for me. It does fit a little loose but I couldn't pass up this bargain...


...was originally £140 reduced to £15! Kerching!


The perforated suede and shoulder details, as well as the silvery-gold hardware, are to die for. Super chuffed!



While I was shopping I also popped into a store called "Bags etc" and snagged these two vanity cases on a Buy One Get One Free offer. £10 for the both of them. I've been needing some sturdy cases for a long while and loved the bold pattern on these.


I've used the bigger of the two to store my nail varnishes, and the smaller one to store my every day makeup.


From Next I also found this infinity faux fur scarf for a whopping £1! Saw a similar one in the Topshop sale the other day for at least £8 and I nearly bought that at the time. So I patted myself on the back for finding such a bargain with this one!


I was lucky enough to get these Jeffrey Campbell "Pencil Me In" flats for Christmas. They have been unavailable for years and I randomly received an email from ModCloth.com telling me that they had come back in stock back in mid November so took the opportunity to purchase them. I'd read a lot of reviews saying they run small so you should buy one size up. The full size up from my foot size was sold out so I decided to go for the half size up and they're still a bit tight. I'm currently trying to break them in to make them more wearable. I've been walking round in excruciating pain with thick socks on to try to stretch the leather slightly. It has worked to a fashion but still needs a bit more work. Any ideas on how to stretch leather shoes with proven results!?


Did you pick up any bargains in the Christmas sales?

Happy New Year! More sparkly nails!

Happy New Year everybody. Welcome to 2012, I hope you all have a lovely year and have made resolutions that you are going to keep! :)

I can't help it, I'm obsessed with glittery nails. Here are my New Year nails. Not really a tutorial as it's just the same as my previous sparkly tutorials, just with different glitter!


I used a hologram gold glitter from a local craft shop. It is gold with reflects of all the colours of the rainbow. Super sparkly, the best kind!


I just used a gold Barry M nailvarnish to adhere the glitter to the nails and completed it with a clear top coat.



Look at the sparkles!


I was helped by my kitty who was looking cute in the background.


I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and a lovely New Year. 
x

Monday, 26 December 2011

ASH Tundra

I think we all just need to take a moment to appreciate the sheer badass beauty of my new boots! So excited, I'm going to burst. These babies have been sleeping on the pillow next to me since 'Santa' so kindly brought them to me. :) Hubba hubba!
Outfit of the Day soon, no doubt!


Product Rave: Benefit BAD Gal Lash Mascara, BAD Gal Liner Waterproof & Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner

Hi Ladies!
A quick product rave today for two of my favourite products ever - Benefit BAD gal lash mascara and Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner. 

I was shopping for Christmas gifts earlier this month and saw this Benefit "Double The Bad" gift set in Boots for £20.50. For this you get the full size (8.5g 0.3oz) BAD gal lash mascara and full size (1.2g 0.04oz) BAD gal liner waterproof. With BAD gal lash being my absolute favourite mascara ever I jumped at it and bought it for myself ('Santa' wrapped it up for me for Christmas, though!)




I've never used the BAD gal liner before, but being such a fan of the BAD gal lash I assumed that it would be fantastic.

Here's a picture of my lashes without anything on them. They have been curled with eyelash curlers. I'm also wearing the BAD gal liner on the water line and lower lash line.


And here is my eye with one (THIN!) coat of Maybelline Great Lash mascara (to hold my curl - I have to do this before applying any mascara as my eyelashes are poker straight and every mascara I've tried instantly flops them back down!) Anyway, one thin coat of Maybelline and one generous coat of BAD gal lash.


And a view from the side.


As you can see, the mascara works absolutely brilliantly, hence why it is my absolute favourite eye product ever. The formula is more on the drier side compared to some other mascara formulas, which I like as my lashes droop very easily, as mentioned before, if my mascara is too wet.
The product is very black which is, again, a must for me with mascaras. I like my lashes to be bold, long and thick and black, and this mascara ticks all the boxes.
If you're not a fan of slightly clumpy lashes though, this may not be the mascara for you as it is very thickening and after a couple of coats you tend to see a bit of clumpiness through the mid sections. I personally like to load my mascara on and after just one coat of this, I'm quite happy. Though, I normally would apply two coats to make my lashes even longer and thicker.
The mascara wand is a fiber wand which is absolutely massive. This is brilliant for me as I can coat pretty much every lash in one or two wiggles, however some people may find the brush too big to manage, especially if you want to define the lashes in the inner and outer corners neatly.
The mascara stays on all day without my lashes sagging (this is mostly due to my thin base coat of Maybelline Great Lash, though, I think!) and most importantly it doesn't smudge or flake. I can't stand mascara that gradually falls off your lashes through the day, and I don't and never have had this problem with BAD gal lash in black. Note: The same cannot be said for BAD gal lash Plum, unfortunately!

The only con to this product is that it dries out relatively quickly compared to some other mascaras that I own, not overly fast, though. However, this does not render the mascara useless as it is quite manageable to work with the product when it becomes a little drier, you just need to apply an extra layer or work with it slightly longer.
Overall, the absolute best mascara I have ever used.
The price to purchase this mascara on its own is £16.50 from Boots. Quite pricey, but worth it.

The BAD gal liner waterproof let me down slightly as I like to wear pencil liner on my waterline, mostly. I put it on this morning on the waterline and also smudged some (with the handy smudger on the other end of the pencil) into my lash line. Unfortunately, for me, the liner didn't stay on too long on the waterline, however, after around 8 hours of wear, the liner I smudged onto my lash line has stayed put completely. The formula is mid range, not too hard, not too soft. Soft enough to easily apply to your eye without tugging at the skin to create a true black line. The product, again, is also very pigmented and a pure black.
Overall, not the best pencil eyeliner, however by far not the worst. I will definitely use this every day as a lash line liner, perhaps just not on the waterline. (I will stick to Urban Decay Zero eyeliner!)
The price to purchase this eyeliner on its own is £14.00 from Boots. I don't think I'd purchase again, but only because I prefer Urban Decay Zero, not because it is a bad eyeliner. In fact, I think it's pretty damn good, just not for the waterline.

Just for reference (and for the fact that I want to rave about this a little bit, too!) I'm wearing Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner in 02 True Black in the pictures above. 

I got a new pot of this as a Christmas gift, too and this is honestly THE best cream/gel eyeliner I have ever used. The product is super creamy and easy to work with, lasts for hours and hours on the skin, lasts for months and months in the tub and is super black.
I honestly don't have a bad word to say about this product, apart from perhaps the crappy brush that comes with it, but that's beside the point. If you like your winged eyeliner and want to try something different to pencil or liquid liners, then you MUST try this. Must, must, must! It is one hundred times easier to apply than pencil or liquid (in my opinion) to create a perfect winged eyeliner look. If you've never used a cream liner, you're missing out.
I have and will buy this over and over and over again.
The price to buy this eyeliner is £13.50 from Boots. It is honestly worth every penny and it lasts for months upon months. 

NB: Quick tip to keep your Clinique liner creamier for longer is to keep the lid tightly shut when not in use and when applying the eyeliner, load up your brush and turn the pot upside down on your work surface as to keep the air out of the container. If you need more product, re load your brush and turn the pot upside down again or replace the lid between picking up your product and applying it.


Hope you like my review. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
What's your favourite mascara or eyeliner? Let me know in the comments.
x

Friday, 23 December 2011

How to: Super sparkle festive nails & FOTD

Merry Christmas Eve! (nearly!)
You'd think I have too much time on my hands considering the number of times I've painted my nails this week, but here's another Christmassy nail tutorial - my personal favourite now after wearing it today!
Super sparkly nails are always the best!


Start by getting your sparkle ready. Here I'm using a sample of MAC pigment in "Reflects Transparent Teal" (left) and MAC pigment in "White Gold" (right). The pot on the left I bought online years ago and I think is the real deal, where as the pot on the right is definitely not real MAC Pigment. However, works nicely for this design. You can use any pigment or glitter you want, I just used this as its super sparkly and very finely milled.


Paint your nails with one coat of a pearly white nailvarnish. I used No 7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in Coconut Ice 05.


Leave to dry. 

Now work on one nail at a time. Paint another layer of your pearly nail varnish on to your chosen nail. Tap some glitter/pigment onto the wet nail and tap off the excess.

I choose to work on top of an old magazine page so I can catch the glitter that I don't use and put it back in the pot when I'm finished. (I'll show you an easy way later.)


Here's what it looks like when you tap off the excess glitter.


If you find it easier or less messy, use a cotton bud to scoop up some glitter and place it at the top of your nail like so.


Then tip your nail over the glitter container and tap your finger. The glitter will fall down the nail, sticking to the wet polish and the excess will fall straight into the pot.


Repeat the process with the rest of your nails.


Ta da!


Ultra messy!


To gather up the overspill of pigment fold the paper you were working on in half and create a crease. Tip up the paper and the pigment will neatly slide back into it's container.



Here's the finished result. It's hard to capture the sparkle in pictures but at a glance the nails look white, but from different angles the glitter reflects blue, pink, purple and silver.

I finished with a sparkly top coat.

To get rid of the excess glitter that sticks to your fingers you just have to wait and go about your daily business. I washed my hands with soapy water, went to bed, got up in the morning and had a shower and washed my hair. The shampoo and head scrubbing removes all the unwanted glitter the best. :)


The photo above shows the nails freshly done and the first photo of this tutorial shows the nails after one day.

I thought I'd do a face of the day today too as my makeup went quite well.


I'm wearing Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation with a bit of Vichy Dermablend foundation used as concealer.
Filled in my eyebrows with Urban Decay Brow Box and ran through them with a brow brush.
On my eyelids I have Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin with UD Sin eyeshadow on top, UD Darkhorse in the crease and UD Buck to blend them together (all from the Urban Decay Naked Palette)


On the cheeks I have Rose Gold by Sleek and Harmony blush by MAC as a contour.
I used Revlon Colourstay Ultimate Lip Colour in Ultimate Orchid.
Mascara I used Maybelline Great Lash Waterproof to hold the curl and Collection 2000 Big Fake Lash over the top for a bit more volume.


Hope you enjoyed! Are you all excited for Christmas? I know I am!

Tuesday, 20 December 2011

How to: Christmas Pudding nail tutorial!

Everyone loves a good set of festive nails so I decided to try out a cute little Christmas Pudding.
I only did one nail as it was just a test, plus it's late and I don't fancy sitting around waiting for ten fingers to dry before I can go to bed!
So here's how to do this one:
(Apologies for the crap quality photos, it's too dark in here!)


Coat your nail in a mid browny colour. I used two coats of No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in Beanie 03.


Then use a white or a creamy colour to create the cream topping. I used No7 Anniversary Nail Colour (limited edition, I think!) in 60's Mini Skirt.


Then blob two bits of green at the top of the nail on the cream. Try to make it look as much like holly as possible. I failed miserably, but I just used the nail varnish brush as I don't own any nail art brushes! The green I used is Barry M Nail Paint in Racing Green 299/842.


Finally add a couple of blobs of red to create the holly berries. Here I used Barry M Nail Paint in Bright Red 262/839. Finish off with a top coat of clear nail varnish, and you're done!


Enjoy! Yum yum!