Animalistic

Top - New Look / Skirt - American Apparel / Necklace - Gogo Philip / Ring - ASOS
Gotta say I'm loving a bit of leopard at the moment. I know dalmation print is supposedly "the cool new thing" but I'd rather stick with a classic. I know if I were to buy something dalmation print I'll probably want rid of it a few months later. I got this top from New Look a few weeks ago and I'm tempted to buy some more leopard based items. I'd love to get this shirt from Topshop which is basically a long sleeve version of the one I'm wearing. New Look do a similar version but the Topshop one looks loads nicer to me. Don't know about anyone else but it kinda reminds me of something Richard O'Brien would've worn on The Crystal Maze, which totes makes me want it more haha. Today I saw the most amazing faux fur leopard print coat in New Look, its not on the website yet but its basically my dream winter coat. I'll probably end up buying both of these when I next go shopping. I know its such a cliche thing for girls to say but right now I feel like I have nothing to wear. I think its because its getting colder and my past winter wardrobe mainly consists of things that really aren't my style anymore. I've decided I hate pretty much everything in my wardrobe and its time to sell it all. I'll be setting up a blogshop shortly for you all to peruse. One question: is selling old shoes disgusting/weird? I have so many heels that I've never worn so thats not too gross in my opinion but I'm not sure if its a done thing.

Standing In The Dark

Dress - Reko / Cardigan - American Apparel / Belt - Primark / Necklace - Gogo Philip
Things just got really exciting... my blog has been shortlisted for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2011! First things first, I want to say a mahoosive thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate me. I never asked for a single nomination so the fact that some of you like my blog enough to do so really does mean the world to me. It was a complete shock when people started tweeting me the other night to congratulate me & it makes me so happy to know that people enjoy my inane ramblings! I must say that I feel completely out of place in the Established Beauty Blog category. I think I'm only in that category due to the amount of time I've had this blog. Some of the people I'm up against inspired me to start a blog in the first place. Plus my blog is fairly different to a lot of beauty blogs out there in that I post about a variety of topics, not just swatches & reviews of new products. So I'm most definitely not expecting to win but it would be wonderful if I got to finally meet some bloggers out of this! If you would like to vote for me please click here & enter your email address to see the full list of nominees.

I've been to a few birthday parties this week which is probs why my face is looking larger than normal (if thats even possible). I've eaten tons of cake & buffet food. It was my boyfriends birthday on Sunday so we went to Da Sandro's Italian restaurant. I didn't think much of the food really but these gorgeous profiteroles finished the meal off nicely. Andy had a steak which cost £20, not good when I'm paying the bill! Anyways this is what I wore for our meal out. I got this dress a few years ago from the muchly missed Superette shop near Brick Lane. I loved the Reko dresses they stocked so much that I bought 3 of them. Wowza, just checked their website as I'm writing this and they have some gorgeous new ones in for A/W 2011, how on earth did I forget that they exist?! I'm thinking I need to buy a new cardigan more than anything though because I do pretty much wear this American Apparel one every day of the week.

I'm Your Present

If you're a Tumblr user then chances are you've already seen these sweetheart earrings. I ordered them from I'm Your Present, an etsy store selling some wonderfully quirky handmade clothes & jewellery. These earrings come in loads of different colours but I adore the uber-cute combo of baby pink & lilac so I went for these bad boys. And I really love that Kelly included a cherry blow pop in my package, thats the sign of a true sweetheart <3.

August Favourites

MAC 109 Brush
I have watched countless YouTube videos trying to figure out how to contour my face properly. I just have a naturally huge round face so I'm willing to do anything to make it look a bit slimmer. Most of the videos I watched said to use a MAC 109 brush. Hesitant to spend even more money on new MAC brushes I tried loads of different ones that I already had using the techniques I'd picked up but nothing worked. Every brush was far too large and left me with a weird orange beard. Not attractive. So I bought this & now contouring is the simplest thing ever. If like me you suck at contouring give this brush a go because it is the perfect size.

Stila One Step Correct
I've really missed Stila's presence in the UK market. I'm a big fan of their convertible colours & lipglosses. I wanted to try something new from their range so I got their One Step Correct. Its basically a primer that supposedly helps to even out your skintone & brighten your face. I wouldn't say it does everything it claims as my face still looks fairly pink after applying it but it really does help to brighten my skin leaving it dewy & prepped for foundation. Its perfect for days when you have no time at all to get ready. Just put some concealer & powder on top and I find my face looks pretty decent with minimal effort. Now if only Pout would re-open I would be one happy bunny. Their cheek stain's were immense!

Philosophy Purity Made Simple Cleanser
Although I do love Liz Earle's Cleanse & Polish for taking off my makeup at night, I personally prefer to use a foamy gel based cleanser to wake me up in the morning. My L'Oreal one just ran out & Boots haven't bothered restocking it for weeks so I looked through my skincare stash and dug out this sample of Purity Made Simple. Its exactly what I was looking for. I actually prefer this to my previous one as it leaves my face feeling ridiculously soft. Its helped to get rid of some spots I had under the skin & keeps blackheads at bay. I definitely want to try some more of Philosophy's skincare products, which apparently are coming to Boots soon along with Stila, sweet!

Kerastase Ciment Thermique
Everytime I go to the hairdressers they use this on my hair & everytime my hair is left feeling really soft & strong despite my intense bleaching sessions. I put it down to this product. Its basically a heat protectant but it also reconstructs the hair. It helps to reconstruct hair from within as well as reinforcing the natural external protective layer. It is heat activated so once you start blow drying your hair the magic begins. After using this every week my hair looks & feels better than ever. It smells gorgeous too, like fresh grapefruits mmm.

Crest 3D Whitestrips
Every year or so I buy a new pack of whitestrips. They really are the best way to whiten your teeth without spending hundreds of pounds on professional treatments. My teeth are pretty wonky despite having worn braces because I lost my retainer so to make up for it I try to make them as white as possible. I buy mine from ebay so they work out pretty cheap. These new 3D ones are proper hardcore though, I have to do them once a week rather than once a day or my teeth become horribly sensitive. Anyone tried the 2 hour express ones? Those are next on my wishlist.



One Day & Game Of Thrones
Everyone and their dog has read/is reading One Day so I thought I'd give it a go. So far I'm really enjoying it as its a nice easy read before bedtime. I'm looking forward to seeing the film even though I hate Anne Hathaway & appaz her Yorkshire accent is worse than mine. I bought it in Sainsbury's along with Game Of Thrones as they have a 2 for £7 offer on at the mo. I'm proper obsessed with Game Of Thrones! I recently watched all the TV show and was instantly hooked. I love how they've kept in so many details from the book, its a really good adaptation. Its practically a fantasy version of a soap opera with all the twists & shock. I figured reading all the books would be quicker than waiting for the next season to be broadcast. Can't wait for Season 2 though, I need my Jon Snow fix!

Your New Favourite Store

Top - H&M / Shorts - H&M / Necklace - Miss Selfridge / Nails - Illamasqua Collide
Sorry about the lack of posts lately. I only have a 3 MIFI dongle which means I get 15GB bandwidth a month & then have to spend the rest of the month waiting hours for my iPhone to load pages. I doubt anyones noticed my absence but I've missed blogging & I hate not being able to read blogs for weeks on end. I finally caved and ordered a Sky package so by next month I should have unlimited broadband. Yays! I plan on doing some YouTube videos once its set up so please feel free to comment with any requests of what you'd like to see on there.

Okay so H&M isn't anything new considering they do have stores everywhere but last week they finally opened up their new shop in Huddersfield's Kingsgate Centre. On the promise of a gift voucher for the first 100 customers, I went down at 11am to check it out. The shop was already packed when I arrived even though it had only opened 5 minutes before. Nothing like the mob scenes you see in the likes of Primark Oxford Street but fairly busy for a Thursday morning in Huddersfield.

I was really impressed with the layout of the shop & the range of stock they had in. When I lived in Leeds I rarely frequented the one there as I never could find anything I liked or had seen elsewhere. I bought loads of cardigans, jumpers & some new jeans for Chloe as I really do love their children's range. Then I went back downstairs and got this top, these leather shorts, a navy bodycon skirt, a black usamimi hairband & some Hello Kitty socks for myself. I was so stoked to see these leather shorts back in stock. I remember writing about them way back in last year's Christmas Wishlist post. There was only one pair left hanging on the wall and thankfully it was in my size! Must be fate or something, don't you love it when that happens? When I got to the checkout the £50 gift vouchers were nowhere to be seen even though I did some speedy shopping so I'm not sure if they actually bothered going through with that promotion. I did however get some swanky free stationery, which is something I obsessively hoard. One of the best things about studying graphic design was having the ability to buy a million different pens & feel absolutely no shame.