You can read about my Year of the Brush pledge here!
So the second month in and I've already half failed. I have managed to buy one brush this month, but not the two that I promised at the start of this challange. I'd love to say that it's because I'm being good and saving my money, but it's not. I spent my brush money on a lipgloss. DAMMIT
Next month I'll get back on the wagon (I think) but I still have one brush to show.
Described as an large angled contour brush for use with application, scupting, shaping and blending with powder products.
It's very soft, perhaps not as large as I would have liked though. Although saying that it does give a very good sculpting line around the cheek bones and is easy to blend in blusher or highlighter. Sadly it's white, which it a error when making a brush MAC! I don't want to have to wash it everyday!
What I like about this brush it the fact that it works really well in building colours up and because it's quite small you can get some really precise contouring going on. I'm defiantly seeing some difference in using this
So should you go buy it?
I don't think it's a brush necessity. It's not a brush that I would use during the day, more for a night out and full face of make-up. In saying that though it does make a difference to my cheekbones! Retailing at £24 it's still pretty pricey. Perhaps not a brush I would say it a must have for a basic brush kit, but if your into contouring then it's pretty darn good.
Following on from Friday's Usher extravaganza I stayed up in London for the weekend at my boyfriend's flat.
Now obviously when in London you must spend money, it's an unwritten law. Never mind the fact that I'm up there pretty often!
I guess you could say I was pretty restrained.
We spent Saturday on Tottenham Court Road in all the furniture shops (snooze, this is the kind of things 'grown-ups' do). But luckily for me Tottenham Court Road seems to house the flagship store of Paperchase. Now Paperchase is one of my very favourite shops. I don't need stationary, however I cannot walk past one without going in and buying something I possibly don't need. I just can't help myself, everything has faces drawn on! I love things with faces. Sushi with faces, scribbles with faces, cakes with faces etc.
I mean seriously....look!
Anyway I got this....
Cute, huh? Everybody should love cupcake and cookie. I've been needing a bag like this for a while too!
I also popped into Boots too. Did you know Barry M does a special Boots only colour? Well I didn't, but I do now.
It's a gorgeous pinky purple.
Sorry the lighting is a bit dodgy. It's called Boots limited edition 047 if anyone is interested. I like it and it makes me hopeful for summer!
Saturday night was spent at a restaurant called Tsunami, in the West End. It does gorgeous Japanese food and amazing cocktails. It was mine and my boyfriends 2 year anniversary (collective 'awwww' please! Haha) and as we didn't get to see each other Valentine's day either it was a good excuse for a meal.
Here is a sneaky picture of my boyfriend!
Very lovely night indeed. We went for gelato afterwards in Gelupo in Soho - best gelato ever. Hazelnut and chocolate brownie tastes like bloody Ferrero Rocher - absolutely fabulous.
Sunday saw us taking a trip to Harrods - I needed some new heel bits for my Louboutin's. Accidentally I checked out the new S/S range and fell in love with these babies
WANT WANT WANT - but cannot have. Boo. I also pawed this matching bag, damn you Christian - why are you doing this too me?
What I did do though, was stumble across MAC. I've said before that when I'm with my boyfriend I always must impulse buy. I picked up a brush for my Year of The Brush (more blogging about that later) and I was surprised to see they still had some Peacocky bits left.
I was still pining after Woo Me, unfortunately that was sold out, but En-chantee was another colour I'd liked so I snatched it up as quickly as I could.
I'm glad I did, it really gives an impression of fuller lips and although the gloss doesn't last very long the actually colour stays around for a while. I've been wearing it daily since I got it.
Two items from MAC cost me £40!!!!!! The weekend spending we pretty restrained until MAC sucked me in. But all in all I had a lovely weekend.
This post is actually about last weekend, not the one just gone! But still did you all have lovely weekend?
Would you like to see what a spent my last £4.07 on?
Heat magazine Cadbury's Bliss bar 7th Heaven Mud mask Birthday card for my Nan
.....and I had 20p to spare!
What a haul! Haha.
Still a recipe for a nice relaxing bath, with the addition of a cup of tea and a Lush bubble bar (well actually, the card for my nan won't be joining me while I soak!)
Personally I find it really annoying when people change there layout because I associate the layout with that particular blog and when it changes it confuses me. I liked my plain and simple out layout, but because of the size of it I could only use small photos, which is really frustrating, hence the change.
Just thought I'd let you guys know that Nails Inc. are once again running there 5 lucky dip nail polishes for £10 for today only!
They did this last month and I went for it, you can see my blog post here - I was pretty happy with the results. Defiantly worth it if your nail polish collection is feeling a bit drab! I won't be doing it this time around, although I'm sorely tempted, as I am saving (bla bla bla) and I've got my eye on a few China Glaze polishes anyway.
Let us know if you decide to go for it. I love the excitement of a lucky dip! It's like christmas!
These are my confessions.......just when I thought I spent all I thought I could spend......
You'll see this title is most apt for what I'm about to post.
Firstly I went to see Usher (Confessions....geddit?!) at the 02 on Friday. It was a rather inpromptu night out.
I went with my boyfriends mum, she's hilarious and like 54 going on 24. She was meant to be taking my boyfriend, but for reasons I myself don't quite know I managed to wangle the tickets off him. They were pretty flashy tickets, we got to sit in a box and everything. I ate a caesar salad whilst watching Tinchy Stryder in my box (well not just mine) and I drank a raspberry mojito while dancing to Usher. So thats a pretty good night in my eyes. Plus I felt very important
Hiiiii Usher!
Because I'm not a very good reviewer to music and stuff, I'll keep it short and sweet. Usher took his top off lots, sang practically every song you could think off from all his albums and had amazing dancers. So if that appeals to you then you should have gone, I say should because I'm pretty sure all the tickets are gone now.
I am a massive Usher fan and so obviously I needed to buy a whole new outfit in order to grace his presence. (I accidently forgot I was saving up)
(can we just ignore the fact that this is total unfocused?)
Blouse - New Look Chinos - New Look Bangle - New Look Belt - Primark Shoes - Christian Louboutin
Did I just go into New Look and buy a whole new outfit? Why, yes thank you, I did
This is the outfit that I had in mind to buy and New Look came up trumps, for a purse friendly £49.
I've been wanting chinos like these for a while but I had half given up hope, I just couldn't find a pair to fit. tried these on a whim and was pretty surprised that they look half decent! Although once I'd got them home I would have liked them a little snugger around the thighs, but I know that a size down wouldn't have got over my fat bum. And this blouse is pretty fab, only £21.99, and it comes in lots of colours, I already have it in cream here, great from throwing on with a pair of jeans for a evening out.
Oh, and are they Louboutins on my feet?
Hahaaarr, yes. My beautiful children shoes. These were a gift for my birthday last year. I think they deserve a separate post. Plus they desperately need re-heeling at the moment and I wouldn't want you too see them at less than there best. But do know that they are fab, and my favourites ever.
As I didn't pay for the tickets and managed to get pretty spoiled by my boyfriends mother, I didn't actually spend that much. Although it was a unbudgeted night out in my saving scedule and my £50 for the rest of the month didn't quite cover the new outfit, cocktails and the bloody tube fares. Oops. But I'll let Usher off.
Unfortuantly the weekend spending got a little worse......
I've found my dream bag. Well actually two. Oh Burberry. Why do this to me?
With both costing around £1000, it's not really my budget for a bag. In-fact I have no budget for a bag as I'm not supposed to be buying bags. But they are so gorgeous. Even the purse is fab it comes in that pale grey colour, but is still £300 - and you can guarantee that I'll get make-up over it within seconds being such a pale colour. Sigh.....well a girl can dream
And I've already tried the boyfriend approach. He just gave me the 'look' and said something along the lines of 'I'm not spending £1000 on a bag....' Pfft
Two
Me and my three friends are going to wireless festival this year! Yay, Black Eyed Peas are headlining. They aren't my favourite group, but they have some damn good songs.
We went a couple of years ago and it was so fun. Proper summer festival - no camping - I don't do camping - so it was fabbb. It's in Hyde park in LDN and I would recommend it, especially for festival virgins!
Here I am at Wireless in 2009. Writing on a bus......
Three
My love grows and grows for Cadbury Bliss bars, possibly my 4th bar this week, but who's counting?
Seriously nom......if you haven't eaten one of these already then you must!
Four
So last week I had £50 to last me for the rest of the month. Due to some technical difficulties (more on that later) I now have £4.07 to last me a week.
In a way it's quite exciting. What will I spend that £4.07 on? Shall I save it for one big purchase? Or shall I just buy 7 Cadbury Bliss bars? The mind boggles
In another way it massively sucks, hugmongusly sucks. I have over spent already this month so it means that the extra money I may have been able to spend on shopping next month now has to be saved. Bums.
So I wore this to go out shopping......well actually that was the plan, but it didn't happen. In the end I just did some errands! I had done a night shift the night before and I 'hit the wall', I was so sleepy I couldn't face shopping (I know, I know.....blasphemy)
Jacket - Topshop Scarf - Alexander McQueen White tee - Juicy Couture Jeggings - Topshop Loafers - River Island
Bag - River Island
This outfit revolves around my loafers - these bad boys!
I saw then in River Island in January and I was like 'ammmazziing' however, white, flat, loafers in January are not a very good idea. Neither are they in February, but I was so terrified they might sell out that I had to buy them when I got paid this month.
They 100% remind me of something Kanye West would wear, which in my book is always good! I cannot wait to wear them in summer with a striped body, tan chino style shorts and massive sunglasses. And can I also just say I never, ever, ever buy or wear flat shoes (unless they are flip flops). I just am a heels girl by heart! I love the way heels make my feet look smaller. I'm a size 5 which isn't exactly big, but I just think having such stupid skinny legs and ankles that flat shoes make me look awkward. But these babies make my feet look quite cute!
So anyway, I was feeling very sad that they were sitting fresh in there box and unworn, so I decided to brave the winter mud and wear them! They also gave me an excuse to McQueen up. I rarely wear this scarf as all my outfits are black based rather than blue but I absolutely love the colour of it. Turquoise is my colour :)
I've got my eye on the black with nude/pink skulls scarf, every time I go into Selfridges with my boyfriend I paw at it for ages, hoping he gets the hint........so far no bite!
Being a long time lover of bronzer I had pretty much had found my star product in Benefit's Hoola. I've been repurchasing it for years and I've never really wanted anything more from a bronzer.
That was until I heard good things about NARS Laguna, lots of good things... I was torn between my loyalty to Hoola but my curiosity for Laguna. Curiosity always gets the cat. So I purchased Laguna.
I've been using them both for a while now, so I feel that I should review them!
Round 1 - Price
First off, they both cost the same amount. £24. However you get 11g in Hoola and 8g in Laguna. Do the maths. Plus Hoola comes with a (all be it, crap) brush
Ding, ding, ding!
Winner: Hoola
Round 2 - Packaging
Hoola & Laguna
Benefit box powders all come in the classic retro style boxes. They are cute and different to your normal plastic casing. However, they are cardboard and so damage quite easily, my friend uses the Dallas (of the same box design) and basically throws it everywhere, she has managed to rip the top of the box and so now her lid flaps off! Plus they are a bitch to transport anywhere, so big! I don't take mine out in my bag but it's still pretty scuffed, as you can see above!
Laguna comes in a classic NARS style case. It might not look exciting but it feels solid and expensive and much more slimline making it easier to take out in your bag. Plus it has a pretty good mirror inside the lid.
Ding, ding, ding
Winner: Laguna
Round 3 - Colour
Both Laguna and Hoola I would describe as 'muddy' bronzers, neither have a hint of 'orange' on or off, which is why I believe they are both so popular. In the pan Laguna looks slightly darker as you can see here....
When you swatch, the colours are very similar. Laguna has a very slight shimmer to it (which can be seen in the flash picture), I guess you could say that it is very slightly more pigmented too, and very slightly warmer than Hoola.
L-R Hoola, Laguna - flash
L-R Hoola, Laguna - natural light
See? The differences are very slight, when you transfer the bronzer to a bigger area i.e. your face! The differences are even less.
However in saying that Laguna does have the shimmer while Hoola is matt. Personally I prefer matt for the day and shimmer for the evening, so I guess they both have there uses.
Ding, ding, ding!
Winner: Tied!
Round 4 - Lasting power
Personally I have never ever had a problem with either Laguna or Hoola melting off. 14 hours shifts running around a ward are no match for either of them. However I do believe that part of there staying power is to do with the foundation and primer you use. But I have found they are both 'budge' free!
Unfortuantly I've only ever worn Hoola make-up free, so I can't comment on how they are without a foundation base as it wouldn't be fair!
Ding, ding, ding!
Winner: Tied!
So the champion is..............Er, both!!!!
No seriously I can't fault either or them, they are both really similar.
I guess if you take your bronzer everywhere with you then Laguna is better for portability. But then if you prefer a matt finish with your bronzer then Hoola is the one, (plus it's slightly better value for money!). Personally I like matt during the day and shimmer for a night out, which is why I'll be repurchasing both!
Granted, my friend has been with her husband-to-be for 7 years. I just hope it doesn't start a chain reaction of engagments. It makes me feel old.
But anyway it was a cute party. Even if I did manage to get a 4-year-old child to attatch herself to me for the night (not a child fan, either folks!)
There were chocolate dipped strawberries
Always a winner.....
But here is what I wore.
Shirt - New Look Jeans & Shoes - Topshop Belt - River Island Rings - Miss Selfridge & ASOS
These jeans are a pair that I got the other day, whilst in Oxford Street. They are called Leigh and are a super soft jegging/jean hybrid, plus they are pretty cheap. £32.40 (with a student discount - wayhayyy!) I have them in a lighter denim and I've worn them to death. Surprisingly - although they are stretchy - they seem to have held there shape really, really well. I would reccomend them if you are looking for a tighter fit skinny. Although apparently skinnies are dead - all hail the new flare. Personally skinnies are never dead to me (that is until I find a flared jean that is long enough for my lanky legs plus 5-inch heels)
As for my hair and make-up....I feel it went pretty well. I cannot remember the last time I curled my hair and was actually happy with it. Plus curling is such a commitment for me, once I've started there is no going back. But I used the technique I found in this YouTube video and it worked well for me, except my curling tongs were thinner.
I have some extension in here too.
Make-up wise I used my UD Naked palette, Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner, and 2 pairs of Ardell lashes (wispies I think) then MAC Hue & Myth with clear Lipglass over the top on my lips. Massive shiney forehead fail though!
Haha, someone had too many strawberries......and wine.
I'm going on holiday! It's been booked, excited, excited, EXCITED!
We booked this week. Not till September though, but still...!
Last year I was very lucky and managed to go to Dubai, Marbella, Ibiza and Florida.
Whilst it was fabulous it was very expensive and as I'm saving up (did I mention that before? Haha) I can only afford one holiday.
My boyfriends parents have a place in Marco Island, FL that we've been to for the past couple of years, so me and him are going back there. BUT we are flying to New York first for 3 nights, in New York fashion week. Eeeeeeek, so excited!
Shopping, shopping, shopping for 3 days, where I hope to be permanently drinking cocktails and then 10 days of this......
Ahhhh bliss.
Cannot. Wait.
Two
Being a student is not as fun as I remember.
I've recently started a course at work whereby I have officially become a student again.
Er, hello student discount!?
However, as super excited as I was to receive my student card, the thrill has now worn off. I have to write a 4000 word essay, plus complete a portfolio in two months. Whilst still working a full time job. Waaaaa.
Still I get to keep the student discount till October, probably makes it worth it.
Three
I have £50 to last me two weeks until I get paid again. Tres tragic. Especially as I'm going to have to spend at least £20 of that on petrol.
Don't expect any haul posts anytime soon!
Four
Valentines day...tacky or cute?
A bit of both I think. I cannot stand gushy cards or teddies, but I do like flowers.
And I do like getting flowers specially delivered to me.
The reason being that I am determined to pay off my overdraft, which is a hefty amount of £2000 left over from my days as a student. I was actually supposed to pay it off by October last year, but I managed to persuade the guy at my bank to extent it until March. One up for womanly charms, haha!
March is rapidly approaching and I am actually almost there. The tragic thing is that I have nearly £2000 sitting there in my bank account, that is actually my money that I earned good and proper. But it's not really mine, if it were though.......
Do you know what I could buy with that amount of money?
A Chanel 2.55
A Mulberry Alexa
Or some Christian Louboutin Banana Pumps in Nude
The list goes on, and on. Sigh...............
I am holding firm though and although every time I go shopping I'm sorely tempted to spent a few hundred in MAC I haven't done so, so far! Hark I even went to Oxford Street today and only spent £40!
However at the beginning of the month I did actually do a little shop and got a few little bits. Nothing exciting, but I haven't done a haul post in a while.
So here we are (sorry about the picture quality)
Benefit - Bella Bamba Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner in Black Ink MAC lipsticks in Viva Glam Gaga and Hue Soap&Glory - Wish Upon a Jar Lush Magic Mushroom
Now to start off Bella Bamba was brought using my Boots advantage points, so therefore it was free. And, er, the rest? Well they were all very important purchases that I needed to function properly (yes, Suzi, keep telling yourself that)
Bella Bamba
I knew I was going to get this before I even saw the colour, it could have been bright purple and I still would have purchased it. You see, I have a 'thing' for Benefit boxes. Choosing blush is my one downfall, I can never get it right, but Benefit just do the hard work for me. Plus the box is so pretty, it smells like watermelon and it has a new brush!
Personally I haven't used it that much, it is an absolutely gorgeous pink with gold shimmer in, but I've just been going for corals and slightly more orange blushes lately. It's the whole blonde hair, pink lips, eyeliner-ed eyes that make me think pink blush is a little too much at the moment.
But anyway, a must buy if you are a fan of Benefit. Plus it really does seem to give a 3D look, almost like my cheeks look fuller and plumper.
Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner
I love a gel eyeliner, and this was just a repurchase. I find that Bobbi has a better shelf life than MAC but in regards to the consistency and wear it's pretty much a dead heat. I don't use gel liner everyday so it's important to me that it doesn't dry up after a few weeks, which is why Bobbi wins! As gel eyeliners go MAC and Bobbi are very good and I've not found anything better.
MAC lipsticks
Hue & Viva Glam Gaga
I knew I wanted Hue, I've seen a few bloggers blog about it with love. It's a glaze so it's almost sheer but does give a lovely nude-y gloss on the lips. Nothing special but an easy everyday kind of lippy (urgh I hate the word 'lippy'), I've said before that my lips are quite red naturally, so one coat of this doesn't do much, but a couple of slicks does the magic
Viva Glam Gaga was one that I'd not heard much about, well actually I had but chose to ignore it. I have a Viva Glam that I got a long while ago and it just conjures up images of badly applied make-up, so I guess I associate it with that. But whilst browsing the lipstick section I picked it up a swatched. It's a lovely girly pink and can be built up to give more colour. Good purchase if you like your pinks
I'm not going hark on anymore. I'll do a proper post on the Soap&Glory Wish Upon a Jar. A the Lush Magic Mushroom is okay, nice pink bath but doesn't smell of much. The video is awesome though. Cute right?!
Suspected detained on grounds of shiny face offences
Looks innocent, huh?
Well believe me it's not.
I purchase this around a month ago, I vaguely remember hearing something about the Prep+Prime range being good and I never say no to a serum. The word serum makes me think that is doing my skin good and I do enjoy a bit of skin brightening, especially as I cake so much make-up on. It also claims to 'strengthen the skin against UV-related damage, while M∙A∙C Charged Water ensures deep, long-lasting hydration'.
Lovely, I thought, I could do with a new primer. So I purchased. I believe it was around £28, which I think is pretty pricey for 30mls, but then I didn't know the price until I paid. This was partly due to the fact that my wonderful boyfriend had decided it was appropriate to wear a 'hoodie' with the hood up to a shopping trip around Covent Garden. Which meant that I was not only dragging my boyfriend around MAC but the security guard (who obviously did not like people in 'hoodies' being in his shop) was also trailing around after us. My own little entourage......ay? Neither were very helpful though, haha. Which is probably why I came out with this bloody thing!
Once I got my new little purchase home I decided that being small and expensive I would only use it for special occasions, which for me counts as any day that I'm not actually at work.
So fast forward to the first day I wasn't at work and me therefore using the serum.
The serum is a milky colour - as you can kind of see in the above picture. It's quite wet to touch but goes on easily and dries quickly, it don't think that it feels particularly smooth on, but it is very lightweight and smells nice. On bare skin I find that to me this makes absolutely no difference at all. But I was still hopeful for its brightening power under my make up.
The results? Utter rubbish....
This only really dawned on my yesterday, but I've being noticing that for a while I've been getting a very shiny forehead, like really, really greasy looking. I didn't really think much of it and just presumed that it was down to my working hard or me being hot, plus I only noticed when I got home and by that point it didn't matter anyway. The serum doesn't make any difference under make-up at first.
However, yesterday I had a study day at work, I've started a new course and it basically meant me sitting in a lecture theatre for 6 hours. Taxing on the mind, not so much on the body though (or the forehead, to be precise) so why when I got home did my forehead look like it had a done a marathon, a sweaty, sweaty, marathon? Because, do you know what? The day before I worked a 14 and 1/2 hour shift, I work a job that's pretty active I guess, but when I got home my face and forehead was shine free.
The penny dropped, I don't use my serum for work, but I did use it for the study day. And do you know what? All those days I've been getting a sweaty spam head, I seem to remember using my Skin Brightening Serum. So I'm pretty sure I've found the culprit.
Maybe it's me? Maybe you've used the stuff and loved it. Maybe it looks lovely on clear skin, and maybe it is protecting me from evil UV rays.
But personally? So sorry MAC, I still love you, but you can keep your Skin Brightening Serum
Jumper - Topshop Jeans - Topshop Shoes - River Island Hat - Miss Selfridge
Mulberry Bayswater
Comfy and warm (by my standards). Except these jeans and jumper love each other. I find that black jeans cling onto fluff like crazy and this jumper gives off said fluff like nobodies business. I wish they wouldn't involve me in there love affair!
The red hat was an attempt to 'pull' the whole outfit together as the shoes a 'off' red, it looks a bit stark in the photos though.
Charm bracelet - vintage (with some newer charms) Necklace & ring - River Island
Oh and I tried to do marbled effect on my nails, needless to say it was not successful! I've got the basic idea now, so I'll try again soon. Actually quite a few people did comment on my nails though, probably as they didn't look up close (ha!)
Whilst I was out I went into MAC and tried there new Peacocky collection.
I'm not going to go into details about it because you've probably read about it on other blogs or seen it for yourself. I wasn't really interested in the shadows as I'm not massively into metallics, but I made a bee-line for the new 'Kissable lipcolour' - said to be the consistency of a lip gloss but the colour payoff of a lipstick. The colour selection is impressive but only Woo Me and Enchantee stood out, I tried them both but found the consistency slightly chalky.
Enchantee & Woo Me (Image - http://www.xsparkage.com)
I left them both on the shelf as I didn't really think they were that 'wow'. But I did test them out! I got around 3-4 hours of colour from Enchantee which isn't bad but the gloss went pretty quickly. I am a little upset I didn't get Woo Me, the colour is pretty lovely and it's already sold out online, but I was being ruthless. Boo hoo.
Thank godness we stopped off a Cadbury's Cocoa House then. I drowned my sorrows in a banana milkshake and a flake.
Following on from my 'Answers on a postcard' blog, which only the lovely Melanie commented on! Soo I doubt anyone cares what I wore.
But I'm telling you all anyway
I went with the cream.....
Unfortunately I am a complete idiot when getting ready to go out, as always, I didn't leave myself enough time to take any decent photo's. Well I got one, just as the taxi came, but it's stupid,
I was having a massive hair mare, which went on all night, but luckily I came to my senses and I didn't wear the socks with the shoes (thank goodness)
Dress - ASOS Shoes - Topshop Socks?! - Miss Selfridge Bangle - Topshop
The dress was a disaster, it was too tight around my bum but too big around my boobs (tragic?! fat arse and no boobs) so I had to constantly pull it down where it had rode up, plus it just wasn't flattering. I think I'll probably sell it on eBay now, as I'll never wear it again, maybe it's more flattering on someone else!
I also wanted to take a make-up picture but again had no time. So here's one I took on the night! Which is again rubbish, but I feel I owe you guys something
I just went for a light brown smokey eye, double lashes and nude lips. Boring.
