DECEMBER FAVOURITES

Not sure how 2012 has been and gone already. Does not seem like 12 months since spending New Years Eve in Chinatown, Manchester. Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas with their families. It was our first with my little niece so we were all a little over excited!

But with the end of another month comes another favourites post...

No7 Cleansing Water | Tangle Teezer | Real Techniques Buffing Brush | No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation | Sleek 'Rose Gold' Blush | Revlon 'Candy Apple' Lip Butter | Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat | Nivea Express Hydration Primer | Rimmel Exaggerate 'Red Diva' Lip Liner

Bit photo heavy, sorry!

I bought the Real Techniques Core Collection at the start of the month and the Buffing Brush is definitely the best brush of the collection, and the greatest brush I own, and it definitely lives up to the huge hype surrounding it. I feel that my foundation looks a lot more natural when I use it and it doesn't leave any streaks or lines on my face. I've been using it to blend concealer under my eyes sometimes and also for powder, too.

I ran out of the Stay Perfect version of the No7 foundation and knew that I would prefer the matte version over it. The coverage is a lot more fuller and I prefer the matte look when it comes to make up. The Stay Perfect is nice if you like the dewy look but the matte suits me more. Also because of the coverage and finish, it means I don't need half as much powder to set it.

I got the No7 Cleansing Water because I started to really dislike using face wipes to take off my make up, which is what I've been doing for years before doing the usual skin care routine. I saw this is Boots and although I don't have Normal/Oily skin, the product didn't seem to be available in the other skin types. It's not affected my skin in any negative way though and I've been using it a couple of weeks now and you only need a couple of squirts to be able to take a full face of make up off. It was only £9 (I think) so really worth it!

I know I'm late on this bandwagon but I've been curious about Tangle Teezers for so long but the £10.99 price tag seemed a bit ridiculous for what is essentially a comb. I noticed a friend had one and I asked her about it and she recommended it. I suffer from really bad head sore and I only brush my hair every other day after it's been washed. This is wonderful at combing out knots and it doesn't cause me any pain and I also feel like it's made my hair feel softer.

Another "late on the bandwagon" products. I've been needing a new top coat for a while and it was on offer in Superdrug. I really like the bottle and brush of this. Obviously by the name you expect it's going to dry very quickly and it definitely does. It also states that it's an "Anti-Chip Top Coat" which at first I didn't agree with so much because my nail varnish was only lasting as long as it usually does... about 12 hours! But I've been off work a couple days now and it's not budged! So it's clearly work that makes my nail varnish not last. I do use my hands a lot so I should have probably realised this.

I mentioned in the previous post how much I am loving Sleek's make up and this blush in Rose Gold is my absolute favourite. The colour is just so beautiful and I can't recommend it enough.

I'm really good at this bandwagon thing... Revlon Lip Butters have been massive this year. Finally got my hands on one, in the shade Candy Apple, and I LOVE it! At first I wasn't overly keen and was a bit disappointed that the hype was so big but then I started wearing it over the Rimmel lip liner (in the colour Red Diva) and they are beautiful together. The lip butter doesn't last well with eating and drinking which is a bit annoying but the colour is so lovely.
As for the lip liner... I bought it a couple of months ago but I'm really liking it at the moment. It's not like your usual pencil lip liner but more like a crayon formula. I've even wore it on it's own before now with how easy it goes on  and the colour is gives off - really pigmented!

Finally, the Nivea Express Hydration Primer. I was so keen to try this when it came out. A moisturiser and primer in one! Nivea's products are usually very good so I had high hopes and was not let down. It's very light and soothing and it does do the job of moisturiser and primer. I've not used my GOSH primer all month. The Nivea one is also about half the price of the GOSH primer so I think this is going to be one of the new holy grail products in my life.

Have you tried anything I've mentioned on here?


Hope everyone has a brill New Year and celebrates well! Hope 2013 is wonderful for you all. Thanks for the support this year! :)
xxxx

SLEEK MAKE-UP REVIEW

First off, huge apologies for how long it's been since there's been a post up. I work in retail so this time of year is a bit mental and I'm always too tired when I get home. Plus, I'm pretty ill and run down at the moment  and lacking a bit of inspiration. Keen to get more "Dress Like..." posts up soon though so let me know if there's anyone you'd like me to do them on.


Okay..!

This year I've got a lot more into make-up and beauty than I ever have previously and I've tried out so many new brands. My favourite of those though has to be Sleek. Sleek is an online brand and also found in some Superdrug stores. It's so affordable and good quality and I really love it. I only have a small handful of their products currently but I'm itching for more.

Most of these are only very recent purchases but I'm very in love with them all. I absolutely love the packaging of Sleek make up. It's so, stating the obvious, sleek and simple. (Although one of my blushes seems a bit trickier to get in to and I've ended up with a fingernail print in it because of it... Guessing it's just a dud one though!)
So, I've been after a new liquid eyeliner for quite a while and this "Dip-It" one was only £4.49 so decided to try it. The applicator is quite small compared to the usual liquid eyeliners which I like as it seems to make it easier to get my cat eye flick just right.
Next up is the contour kit that is highly raved about in the beauty blogging world. This was the first Sleek product I bought around summer time. I got it in the shade light because I am ridiculously pale but I was a bit worried still about how dark the contour powder looked. It blends in very nice though and gives nice definition. The contour powder and highlighter are really pigmented too so you really don't need a lot of product at all. I think this cost about £6.50 and it took ages for me to actually find a store that still had it in stock.
The blushes cost £4.49 each and they're a really decent size; you get 8g of product in each one. I've always been a bit scared of blush cos I didn't really know how to apply it but I kept seeing blog posts of the Rose Gold one (which is the top one) and felt like I needed it and I'm glad I did get it. The Rose Gold shade is another hugely raved about product. Everyone says it is exactly the same as NARS' Orgasm blush but I've never seen/tried that so I can't confirm but it's such a beautiful shade. The photo has made it seem more orange than it actually is but it gives a lovely subtle highlight. The second blush is called Sunrise which I only bought last week and I've only used it twice. It's really really pigmented and the colour is a lot darker than Rose Gold but just one sweep with my brush is enough. I think I'm a bit scared to use it at the moment in case I do put too much on and end up looking a bit "clown-ish". I'll have to keep practising!
Finally, the last product I also got last week but I've used it everyday since (I should have probably tidied it up before taking photos). The palettes are £7.99 each and you get 12 colours in each so that's amazing. I got the Storm palette but I really wanted the Au Naturale one but it wasn't in stock. Again, the colours are so pigmented and I like wearing two/three eyeshadows together and blending them and you can mix loads of these with each other. The 3rd one on the bottom row is a really dark green that's almost black. Looking forward to trying something out with this because I have to dress as an elf for work on Christmas Eve! I've not actually used the applicator from the palette because I never like those applicators so I use an angled eyeshadow brush and ELF's eyeshadow 'C' brush.

If you've never used Sleek make up before I'd definitely recommend it. Cheep, cheerful and great quality!
I'm keen to try out more products of theirs so let me know if you have anything else from the range.

And if I don't blog before then, have a great christmas and new year!
x

PAYDAY HAUL #2

Today I had the day off work and had every intention of getting the bulk of my Christmas shopping done. Now obviously, that was never going to happen. Instead I spent money on myself. Lots of money. Oh boy.
I did by ONE present though so it's okay... I'll tell myself that anyway.

I bought the bag a few days ago after I mentioned here I wasn't overly happy with my current bag. I love this one though. So classy and it had 30% off (plus I get a little staff discount on top of that.) and it has a long strap which makes my life so much easier.

I also got the Real Techniques Core Collection the other day because they were reduced to around £15 on Amazon. That works out at under £4 a brush so that is awesome. I've already used a couple of them so sorry they're already a bit grubby on the photo. I can already tell the buffing brush is going to be in the upcoming favourites post!

So on to today and the first stop was Superdrug. Their 3 for 2 across all cosmetics ends tomorrow and I was determined not to miss out. My local Superdrug doesn't have all the brands so I had to go elsewhere to get to one with a Sleek stand. I've been dying to get hold of the Rose Gold blush for so long but it was sold out everytime I went to larger stores. Managed to get the last one in stock today though! I also got the Sleek Dip-It eyeliner, Sleek True Colour Matte lipstick in the shade 'Vamp' and I finally caved and bought a Revlon Lip Butter in 'Candy Apple'.

Also picked up a new Simple toner which I love and my first bottle of it has lasted me nearly 3 months so well worth the money. And finally got the Nivea Express Hydration Primer which I am dying to try out. I had to get it fro dry/sensitive skin as the normal was sold out but my skin has got a little drier this last month or so, so it may be useful.

In Boots I found the Revlon lipstick in Black Cherry after every other Superdrug/Boots I've been in in the past month didn't have it. Such a lovely colour. And I think I should go on a lipstick buying ban now...

And I also got some new foundation but in the Beautifully Matte formula as opposed to the Stay Perfect.

Then the ultimate bargain of the day... got the 3 Models Own nail polishes for £5.99 in TK Maxx! Considering they're £5 on their own that is incredible. They're in the shades 'Peach Puff', 'Gold Digger' and 'Champagne'. I very nearly bought an Essie set which had 4 polishes in for £9.99. Considering they're £7.99 on they're own, I wish I had done now!

Just got two casual tops from Topshop. A beautiful plum coloured scalloped hem one and just a light purple tee which will be great for just throwing on with a black skirt and a cardi. The one on the left was £15 and the right was £16.

Clearly, I am really adventurous when it comes to colour... Got this huge chunky jumper in Primark's men's section. I bought some spike studs off eBay a while back that I haven't used yet so I may get creative with that. The dress cost me £15 which I'm not overly keen at paying in Primark but it looks lovely on and I know I'll have regretted not buying it in the long run.

Also in Primark I got some earrings and a new phone case. Primark's iPhone cases are actually really nice and very cheap too. (Though I only have a month left on my contract and I'm planning on upgrading to the iPhone 5 so this may have been a silly purchase...)

Finally, I decided this past week that I now am a little obsessed with Example despite never liking him all that much before so I bought 2 of his albums as they were on the HMV offer. If anyone has his new one let me know if it's good because his music isn't on Spotify.

Now I'm all spent up and still haven't done Christmas shopping!

NOVEMBER FAVOURITES

Can you actually believe it's December already?! Hope you've all started your advent calendars today. I may or may not have two... (Disney Princess and One Direction... I am definitely nearly 21. Ahem.)
November has flown by so time for more favourite products.

Hot Cloth Cleanser | Radoxx Shower Smoothie | Night Cream | ELF HD Powder | ELF Concealer Brush | Models Own 'Nude Beige' | Eyelash Curlers | Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer '010 Ivory' (forgot to include in photo!)

Sorry for this appalling photo. This time of year does not do for good lighting.

I don't feel like there's that many things I've been loving this month. I haven't bought very much this last month and I've not really change any routines all that much but here goes!

I saw a review of the Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser on milkteef's blog and was intrigued. I'd love to be able to afford Liz Earle skin care but I can't so Superdrug will do me just fine. The cleanser comes with a muslin cloth and the cleanser itself is quite thick but not so much that it feels 'gloopy' or anything when it's on the skin. I loved it so much that I went to see what else was in the Vitamin E range and picked up the night cream. My daily moisturiser just wasn't doing anything for me for night time use after wearing make up all day and with the temperature getting lower my skin felt awful at night. These two products have made my skin feel so soft and I'd definitely recommend. Keen to try the other products from the range now.

Also picked up the shower smoothie from Superdrug. Needed a new body was and this smelt too good to not buy. They have a few other 'flavours' too that I think I will have to try now.

Another month, another ELF order. The concealer brush was actually from my first order a few months back but I didn't like it all that much back then. Then I got the Rimmel concealer to use under my eyes after hearing lots of good things about the Wake Me Up range and found the brush to be brilliant for blending the concealer in. As for the concealer, I've used this practically everyday since getting it and prefer it so much to my no.7 one. It gives a much better coverage, which I need!

The High Definition Powder is something I've seen raved about a lot too so I popped that in my basket and although I've not used it loads I really love it. It gives a nice finish to my make up and leaves my skin really soft. I have used it just on it's own instead of pressed powder too when I've not been bothered to wear a lot of make up. And for £6 the amount you get is great and the packaging is nice too.

I mentioned in this post that I wanted a nude nail polish and then the other week More magazine gave away a bottle of Models Own free with the magazine! The magazine was only £1.50 and the polish is a full sized bottle, so worth £5. Over the moon with that! I managed to get the shade Nude Beige which looks darker than the one on that wish list but I think I prefer this. Not the greatest photo to show the colour sorry but I really love it and I've not worn any other colour since getting it.

The eyelash curlers are about 4 years old and they were just some little cheap ones but I rediscovered them this month and have used them a fair bit and have been really liking them.

What are your favourites for this month? Send me the links if you have a November Favourites for me to have a read.

BRITISH FASHION AWARDS 2012

An annual event that takes place in London, the British Fashion Awards celebrate the best in the industry from the very best designers to the hottest models of the year.

I'm so pleased with the winners of this years awards. My favourite, Alexa Chung, got a hat trick by winning the British Style Award for the third year on the bounce and she looked incredible. She wore a beautiful Simone Rocha dress and fabulous statement heels by Nicholas Kirkwood. I adore her style; so effortless, chic and classy.

Cara Delevigne took home Model of the Year. Before this year I hadn't really known anything of her but I noticed her popping up on several London Fashion week catwalks this past season, including the Burberry Prorsum show, and she pulls everything off brilliantly. A definite worthy winner. She even wore one of the metallic green Burberry dresses for the show.

Her post-award interview is great. She seems so down-to-earth and fun!

Other big winners of the night included Erdem, who won New Establishment Award and JW Anderson who won the Emerging Talent Award: Ready-To-Wear which, presumably was helped by his amazing Topshop collection earlier this year.
The big award of the night is Designer of the Year which was won by Stella McCartney (who also won Designer Brand) on the night. She was wearing one of her own strapless jumpsuit designs to the awards.

Also in attendance was Nick Grimshaw, who hosted the ceremony, Pixie Geldof, Lily Allen, Victoria Pendleton and even royalty in the shape of Princess Beatrice!

I love Princess Beatrice's Erdem dress! So beautiful and classy.




And here is the full list of winners of this years BFAs. Do you agree with them?

• British Style Award : Alexa Chung 
• Emerging Talent Award- Read - to - Wear: JW.Anderson 
• Emerging Talent Award - Accessories: Sophie Hulme 
• Emerging Talent Award- Menswear: Jonathan Saunders 
• Red Carpet Award : Roksanda Ilincic
• New Establishment Award: Erdem
• Accessories Designer: Nicholas Kirkwood 
• Designer Brand: Stella McCartney
• Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator: Professor Louise Wilson 
• Model of the Year: Cara Delevingne
• Menswear Designer:Kim Jones 
• Designer of the Year: Stella McCartney

All images and video content courtesy of Rightser.

WHAT'S IN MY BAG

I love reading these types of posts and as I just decided to sort my bag out, decided now was a good a time as any to showcase mine.

Bag; Matalan

I've only had this bag for about a month and I don't really like it that much. I like big bags but this is too big and I prefer long straps on bags so I can put it over my shoulder. This is just a hassle. But I like the stud design on it. May have to hunt down a long bag strap for it!

Not much in it now that I've taken out all the loose change and old receipts (which make the size of it even more annoying).

• I only actually got the hat this week from Matalan. I think it was £5. Totally in love with it. I'm not really a hat person but I have wanted one for a while now.
• BILLS. Ugh. I have to keep my statements in my bag as soon as I get them so that I remember to pay them on pay day.
• Got this purse about a year ago after mum treated me. Perfect size and loads of card slots which is definitely needed.
• Probably shouldn't really show/talk about my place of work but that is my lanyard and I will lose it if I take it out so it has to stay there.
• Make up bag... although some things have changed a bit, there's a post HERE about that.
• Also got the gloves from Matalan the other day and they were £4. You can use touch screen phones whilst wearing them. My mind was blown! No more cold fingers on the way to and from work!
• Got these sunglasses at the start of the year from Primark. Probably not necessary for this time of year but when I start work early the sun is sometimes coming up and when I'm driving it blinds me! So they need to be in my bag at all times.
• Old, beaten up compact mirror. Should probably think about buying a new one really. All the gems have come off this with how much it's thrown around in my bag.
• Always need throat sweets and Nuerofen! My supply is quite low at the moment with being ill the majority of the month... my immune system sucks!
• Anti-bacterial hand wash... not much explanation needed.
• Keys! Well, I say keys. There's my house key and car key and then a million and one keyrings. And I still manage to never be able to find them in my bag even though it's that bulky!
• Earphones and phone because I can't even do the 10 minute walk from where I park to the shop without listening to music.

Let me know if you've done one of these posts recently so I can have a read!

x

DRESS LIKE...MEGHAN ORY

Every day I develop more and more of a girl crush on Meghan Ory. For those unfamiliar with her she is an actress who is in the show Once Upon A Time in which she plays Ruby/Red Riding Hood. (If you've never watched OUAT then I hugely recommend you watch it. It's impossible for me to explain it without making it sound rubbish but trust me, it is brilliant!)
Anyway! Meghan is beautiful and always looks amazing so I thought I'd do my next "Dress Like..." post on her. (Kat Dennings and Emma Stone can be found by clicking their names.)

BY DAY

Both of these actually are actual two of Ruby's outfits in season two of OUAT but as she's relatively unknown and this is her first major acting role there's very few photos of her, outside of the show, available.

Disco Pants; Glamorous

Shirt; F+F @Tesco

Shorts; Topshop

Vest; H&M

Necklace; New Look

Nail polish; Barry M 'Raspberry'

Bracelet; Dorothy Perkins

Hat; Topshop

Shoes; New Look

Bracelet; Topshop

Lipstick; Topshop 'Tease'

Very simple and basic pieces clothes-wise and then lots of statement accessories and chunky jewellery then slick on some bright lipstick and add a leather jacket!


BY NIGHT

Shirt; New Look

Collar; River Island

Shorts; Miss Selfridge

Shoes; New Look

Dress; Topshop

Nails; Topshop 'Pillarbox'

Bracelet; River Island

Shoes; ASOS

Lipstick; Topshop 'Ohh La La'

Bracelet; Topshop

Once again, very simple pieces in monochrome and adding in pops of colour with the use of make up and shoes. Then adding in some studs and sparkle to toughen up the look!

Please do let me know who else you'd like me to do one of these posts on because even though they take me hours, I love doing them and they appear to be quite popular with you guys!

Thank you!

HOUSE OF HOLLAND SUPERGA'S

Earlier this year House of Holland teamed up with Superga to put their own spin on the infamous brand. I love Henry Holland and when I saw the shoes I really loved them. Being canvas pump types, they aren't really something I usually wear and the original £72 price tag put them a bit out of my reach. I noticed last week that they were £40 on sale and I knew at that price they wouldn't be available much longer so I bit the bullet and bought them. I ended up getting them off the Superga website because my size were sold out on the HOH website but, if you liked the Superga Facebook page you got a (really random) 3% off. Every penny counts these days! It did suggest getting a size smaller because they're massive so I did and I'm glad because even the size smaller is a teeny bit big but I can handle that.

I am literally in love with them!

(Now apologies for the next photos. There's nowhere at all in my house/room to get decent outfit photos. Especially with bad winter lighting.)

Here's what I have worn today...

 Jumper; H&M | Shirt; Vault | Skirt; Topshop | Tights; Topshop | Bracelet; New Look | Shoes; House of Holland x Superga | Nails; Barry M 'Prickly Pear' + Rimmel nail tip whitener

The shirt is from a little shop that's local to where I work but I'm more than sure there's similar things all over the high street. Or you could get a black collared shirt from Primark and some spike studs off eBay and you're sorted!
Also, the jumper is something I bought at the start of the year. They were only £8 but I could only afford one at the time. I went back after I had been paid to get more colours but they'd all sold out.

They are the most comfy shoes I have ever worn. It's a shame I won't get away with wearing them for work but I'm sure whenever I'm not there, I will be living in these for a very long time.

Sorry for a very photo heavy blog but I needed to share my love.
Hope everyone is fine and dandy!

x