Winter Accessorizing

There are other alternatives to wearing hats this winter to keep warm.


I've been looking for a ski style winter headband for a while and was pleased to see a pretty one in Oasis.

It's great for keeping my ears warm, and teams up as a nice headband :)

It's in Oasis in black and in cream and retails at £12.

It's surprisngly comfy and not itchy at all.

J x

Subtle Surprise Me

I really liked the Mac look from the new collection entitled Surprise Me.

I've been hesitant with buying new blues and greens because I have so many eyeshadows that colour that they aren't getting used.

Instead I did the best I could with what I had, so I used Mac's Strike A Pose as my colour of choice.

I wanted this look to be more subtle so toned it down a a little to make it more wearable for the day.


I applied Mac's Groundwork paintpot all over my lid and applied Mac's Smut along my upper lid up to the crease with a little bit of Mac's Passionate as a subtle pink in the inner corner.

Using a Mac Pencil Brush I then started to shade in the crease with Strike A Pose and follow it into a V-shape along the upper lid and to liner the outer bottom lashes. The beautiful texture of this shadow allows it to blend on so smoothly.


I then lined my eyes as usual with Blacktrack Fluidline using my Maybelline pen liner, Mac's Smoulder on my waterline and mascara to finish off.

I couldn't be bothered to do anything with my hair as I was too lazy and so decided to put it up, which is very unusual for me.

Surprisingly, my hair was compliant and as it had been curled previously had good volume to it.

I let a few strands loose at the front and slid on my pearl headband.


I adore this headband from Claire's but I have to say, it's the most painful headband in the world. It definitely leaves me with a headache.

The band is pure metal with two protruding bits at the end that stick, poorly designed but oh so pretty.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

J x

Dover St Market to Belgrave Place

I'm sure you are sick of hearing it, but I'm still obsessed with purple.

Here are the latest polishes I've been wearing.

I have a lot of love for Nails Inc at the moment, they do great offers and it's always great to see them in magazines promotions, hope you all picked up your copy or four of Glamour this month for your free Nails Inc Polish.


On the left is Belgrave Place, a colour I'm having trouble defining. Is it blue, is it purple? In the bottle it looks purple, on application more blue. Either way, I love how striking it is, and have received lots of lovely compliments regarding it.

On the right is Dover St Market, a definite purple. A colour that everything the Revlon plum should've been, if not a little darker.

J x

Happy Birthday S

It was my best friend's birthday last night and we had a lavish dinner at the Landau Restaurant in the Langham Hotel in London.

The place is simply stunning, and it reminded me of something from Gossip Girl.

I chose to wear a stripey black and white print dress from Primark with black tights and my black shoe boots.

I decide to wear my extentions and to take inspiration from my style icon Blair Waldorf and add my black bow.


I then added my trench coat to finish the look.



The main room we ate in was simply stunning.


And when we paid at the end, our cards came in little envelopes that pocketed our receipt.


It's the little things like that, that make an evening special.....well the desserts help too.


On a side note, as this is a picture heavy post.

How amazing is this wrapping paper?


I picked it up in the gift section at Liberty.

As my my friend is an avid reader, just a little wish, Happy Birthday S and Thank You for a lovely evening.

J x

Favourite Items

There are two things that I have been loving at the moment :

1) My big faux pearl earrings from Accessorize
2) My purple hat from Accessorize (yes I have the same one in green, I love it that much)

I'm just loving purple at the moment, I recently bought the new Revlon purple polish Plum Night and was left rather disappointed with the pigmentation. It's still a dark purple in the light, but I have a much stronger Nails Inc purple (the name escapes me)

However I have got some use out of the purple Sleeek ink pot. I've mentioned before how lately I prefer liner to shadow. My skin is going through a good phase at the moment so can get away with less eye makeup as I don't need the distraction.

So here I am, purple eyeliner, purple hat, purple top.

I love autumn, I am one of those people that will go out of my way to step on a crunch leaf.


Just waiting for the delivery of my Uggs to complete my Autumn-Winter transition look.

J x

Meow

I fancied a cat eye today, so I got handy with my Mac Pencil brush because I find this the best tool to create the shape and winged flick.

No shading required, just fill it in (I used Mac's Carbon) and don't make a mess.

Some girls just look great with all top eyelid makeup but I feel that my bottom lid always looks a bit bare so to keep it defined and neutral I used Barry M's Kohl Liner in white to give the bright eyed effect.


Then to finish off, lashings and lashings of mascara on the top lashes.

J x

Extensions

Well the extensions from Clipinz arrived.

I'm in two minds about them.

As much as the colour matches and I love the length, it doesn't match the texture of my hair.

My natural hair being quite thick and coarse and my 'new' hair being much finer.

I didn't want to rule them out straight away so tried different hairstyles with them, I really didn't want to end up looking like Vanessa from Gossip Girl (rat ends).

Actually maybe that won't be such a bad thing considering she is with Chuck Bass in real life :p



Any suggestions!?

J x

Can't Think Of Anything To Write Here

So where have I been?

No where really, which is a bit of a crap response I know.

I genuinely thought being a student again would ease up some free time. I'm posting less than when I was working, and I really thought work took over my life.

More importantly though, I think I've been lacking in inspiration, which is actually more painful than not having time.

This week however I'm hoping things turn around.

I'm planning on having a halloween party, I'm dressing up as Countess Dracula.

I was thinking, high collared white blouse, red lipstick and red blood around the mouth. I was also thinking of putting a white streak through my hair.

I went a little crazy in poundland buying decorations. The pumpkin will be bought this week to carve and start the making of halloween treats. Any ideas are openly welcome.

So far we have a bloody punch that we are making :)

I will keep you posted with updates and pictures of the evening.

An a completely different note, I've ordered hair extensions from Clipinz.

I've been debating about it for a while and I saw some tweets on twitter and just thought go for it. (Me feeling sorry for myself for suffering from cold and flu symptoms had nothing to do with it)

I'm very excited for them to arrive.

J x

Plum Rage

I've been on a bit of a plum rage recently. It's definitely my favourite Autumn colour.

I'm not a usual fan of Benefit products, mainly because I think the packaging is better than the product itself. On this occasion I decided to be give it a chance and test out the coloured mascaras.

I thought the Blue BAD girl might be a little too much and after a discussion with the makeup artist I settled with BAD girl Plum. Apparently it's a nice warm colour that will compliment my irises.

Well I don't really know how to feel about this, I think mostly I'm just angry at myself. I should've known my black eyelashes were going to be hard to cover , and should've really tested it out whilst I was there. The excitement of a new makeup product after a considerable amount of time overwhelmed me.

I actually like the mascara itself, the size and brush and of course the beautiful packaging. The colour is actually quite intense and covers my lashes well. Sadly once it dries the colour also fades.

It might have to be a subtle mascara that when it catches the light shines the beautiful plum that it is.

Here are some pictures I took with it on, you could only just make it out with the very bright flash!

What do you think?

Moving onto a more positive plum note....

I would never usually pay over £10 for a nail polish.

Not unless I truly fall in love with something and Gondola Nail Polish from Chanel made me do just that.

It's a deep plummy wine colour with gold and red sparkles.

It applied beautifully, it dried beautifully and I just love it.

What I don't love is the fact it may have started an unaffordable obsession.

Here are pictures of the wonder with and without flash.



J x

Tips and Tricks

Recently I've been favouring eyeliner over eyeshadow.

My only qualm with eyeliner is, for it to look good, you need to dedicate time.

I love Mac's Blacktrack fluidline, it's thick and effective.
It can be perfectly applied with the perfect brush.

I found a way around it, keeping things quick and easy.

Remember Maybelline's Define A Line liner? Pink packaging, very fine felt tip like pen.

Well, it's a great tool. The liner itself isn't greatly effective on my skin tone but using it like an ink nip with the fluidline has made my life so much easier.

Has anyone else tried this? Or am I way behind in working this out?

Here are some pictures from when I've worn Blacktrack using the define a line.


J x

Naked Nails

Has nail polish become a big thing?
Or has it always been a big thing and I've only been into it the last few years?

Within the last 3 years I can barely remember a time where I have left the house with bare nails.

I can happily say I really do love my nails, could do without the white spots (is that really due to lack of calcium or is it a myth?) but otherwise I really do love them.

As a child I had hideous nails, all chewed up and horrible, a habit I fortunately grew out of.

I find my nails are actually healthier when I apply polish, makes them stronger.

For the past 6 months I have been using BarryM's topcoat, basecoat and hardener.

A fabulous product for a very reasonable price.

So here is a pic of my nails naked (excuse the winnie the pooh tshirt)


I always file my nails and I like to keep them square.

I hate nail cutters, the sound goes straight through me, to the point I can't even be in the same room as someone trimming their nails.

They have been naked for long enough, now to dress them in OPI's I'm India Mood For Love.

J x

A London Fashion Week Party

In my previous posts I mentioned how I had received invites to the Scholl sponsored London Fashion Week party.

Thank you for those that commented re. my outfit.

I did end up wearing the black dress, I really wanted to wear the skirt and I nearly walked out with it on but I was just really uncomfortable.

So the event....

It was all a bit of a mystery because I didn't really know what to expect.

I brought along my best friend from home as she too shares a passion for fashion.

The party itself was held in what seemed like a derelict basement. It's hard with fashion events to know whether this is, chic or just shabby or even shabby chic.

I think the idea was to be chic with a shabby edge if such a thing exists.

As we entered we were greeted with a glass of champagne by the lovely staff of On|Off and directed to the cocktail bar of which there were an army of drinks (free bar).......what's your poison?

Vodka or Tequila?

I hate tequila....so it was Vodka. It then turned into I've had enough Vodka for it to be acceptable to drink Tequila, ha.

As the night proceeded the venue began to fill up and the music was pumping. Soul ii Soul were guest djs and played out a dj......of course playing....back to life.......back to reality.

Luckily I had the company of the lovely Nicola and her friend as we schmoozed.

So it was our mission to try and spot out any famous faces.

To my surprise the first one spotted was that of Boy Georges, the second Martine Mccutcheon and the third Jodie Harsh.

It wasn't a paparazzi style event so it would've been considered inappropriate to take pictures of these 'celebs,' well lets be honest I was a little scared too.
Boy George looks meeeeeaaaannn.

A more aesthetically pleasing sight was that of the Scholl models, modelling their products. By modelling I mean standing in barely there shorts holding a tray of Scholl goodies. I'm not one to complain, modelling is modelling, you'll see what I mean when you scroll to see the picture.

Decoration was all kept very minimalist with lots of pieces of glitter.

The toilets were located upstairs and as we went up we discovered the floor of mannequins. Full of gorgeous gowns and skirts and blouses.

During the evening I was fortunate to chat to a Scholl reflexologist who gives intense foot massages to the models and other celebrities. It was nice to see that a wide demographic of people were in attendance, bloggers, journalists, models, designers, djs and reflexologists.

All in all, we drank, we danced and we had fun so thank you Myriad for the invites.









J x

Update

So I tried on the feather skirt and top together.....for the second time now.

Although aesthetically it all works, it's just a little bit too clingy for my liking.

Which will consequently make me paranoid all night....so unless I can squeeze in a sea-weed wrap tomorrow (which is completely unrealistic) I may have to go with the black dress option!

Any idea's to glam up a one shoulder black dress?

J x

From Where Does One Blog?

As you know I have recently moved down to London.

I was living at home previously for the time after I graduated so never really felt like it was my own room, as I had just moved all my stuff into the guest room.

I loved posts about where people blog but never did mine because my room was rather dull.

I now have a proper room of my own and wanted to share with you, where I will be blogging from now on.

The covers are from a brand called Dorma and the bed runner is from the Laurence Lwelyn Bowen collection from Matalan.

The vintage looking photoframe is also from Matalan.


I know some people consider black to be quite gothic but I love that style, especially with the gold (shame my carpet is blue)

The stitching is all gold with amber diamantes on the covers and pillows.

J x

London Fashion Week

The lovely PR people from Myriad have invited me to the Scholl Sponsored ON|OFF London Fashion Week Party and The Strand this weekend.

I graciously accepted and am now in a bother about what to wear.

This is no ordinary party, a strictly dressed to impress code.

However, there is fine line between dressing to impress and trying too hard.
I don't want to be a criminal of crossing the line.

I'm afraid I couldn't save the pictures so it's taking you to the links.....

First up is the Topshop grey/nude feather skirt. (Please click on links for pics)

I was thinking of teaming it with my long dress top I tweeted about earlier with the structured shoulders.

Just so that the feather peep out at the bottom. Teaming it with opaque black tights and my shoe boots.

OR

A one shouldered black dress.

Also to be teamed up with the shoe boots.

I would love all of your opinions.

J x

Where Have I Been?

Sincerest apologies for not blogging in quite some time.

I have made the wonderful move to London and am getting to grips with my new surroundings.

And by getting to grips, I mean eating out and socialising, a lot.

Hummingbird bakery two days in a row is not healthy.

I have had a lovely weekend with a friend come to stay. We went to Gordon Ramsay's Maze for lunch, the food was incredible. In the evening we headed to Camden for gig to see Laura Izibor at the jazz cafe, another great recommendation. Finally we ended our Saturday night with take away Thai food from a Camden stall, also incredible.

I hope you all are well, and I'm really looking forward to swinging back into blogging.

J x

Cherry Sparkle

I'm gradually getting round to trying out the Colourglide Lipsticks from The Body Shop.

To match my top for work I decided to go for the sparkly red also known as No 60 Cherry Sparkle. I love that these colours are sheer and that you can build them up. On my pigmented lips it worked really well as a tinted balm.

Subtle colour and soothing.



J x

Got My Hair Did

It had been quite some time since I had my haircut and the layers were all messy and my hair just looked compeltely shapeless.

So whilst waiting for the right time to get it cut I experimented with putting it up.

Usually I avoid it because I think it makes my face look big because it's already quite round.

To my surprise I found something I liked.

I just pinned my hair at the sides with grips and just tied the whole thing into a loose bun. Any layers at the front that were loose I curled with my curling wand.


I have since had it cut into an angled bob, something I've been wanting for a while.



Only problem being it looked great when my stylist did it the first time, all sleek and beautiful.

I just can't seem to get the same effect, unless I pile on the products which then leaves my hair greasy and takes up a lot of time....grrrr.

Any suggestions ladies?

J x

Strike A Pose

One of my good friend's decided to have a bbq last night.

It was definitely not warm yesterday at all, windy and chilly is what it was.

But I was secretly glad because I love to wrap up, Autumn and Winter being my favourite seasons.

I just love to layer, I'm terrible, I even do it in the summer.

As it was windy I knew it would be acceptable to wear a hat. I picked up my turqouise hat from Accesorize in the sale recently. It's a chunky knit beanie style hat.

It was also the perfect opportunity to pair up Strike A Pose from Mac. I adore the texture of these eyeshadows. I layered (there I go again) it over Benefits Towne Car so that it created a dark shade of turquoise.

Applied liquid liner and lashings of mascara and done.



I'm so excited to start dressing for the cold.

J x

Passion for Fashion?

I was contacted by Scholl recently and I just wanted to share with you a competition they are running.

If you want to take your blogging to a newer level or even your love for fashion to a new level then this is the competition for you.

I am definitely entering.

All you have to do is take a picture of yourself with your fav pair of shoes and 100 words why you should be their fashion blogger for the event.

Please check out their website for more details, it really is a fabulous opportunity and closes up on the 6th of September.

http://www.partyfeetbloggirl.co.uk

J x

Where For Art Thou Trench Coat...

Some of you may remember I posted about my quest for a trench coat many moons ago.

I think the quest may have ended, well it has once I take the tags off.

I saw this as I popped into Topshop.

It was beige...check.

It has subtle detailing....check.

It has gold buttons....love.

You can imagine I was pretty happy with it.

It has an unusual zip detailing, instead of the typical double breasted button holes.


It didn't help that me eye caught this satchel, again I fell in love.


Yes I have a shopping problem, believe me I won't be this frivolous when I am a poor student again.

J x

Hepcat and Haul

For my face of the day....

I was feeling a bit of Hepcat today.

It's a well pigmented dark pink colour.

I applied it with a Mac pencil brush into my crease first to build up the colour and then used Mac's Smut along my lid.

To finish off I applied a thick line of Barry M's liquid liner




I noticed that Foshoozley had a discount code for Love Hearts and Crosses and treated myself to a necklace and bracelet.

J x

Blend, Blend and Blend

I decided to try out Chase's Body Shop Shimmer Eyeshadow Trick.

I bought the shimmer eyeshadow in no4. copper.

I've done step by step pictures to outline how the shimmer shadow works with liquid eyeliner.

All it involves is blending and that's it.

You can build up the shimmer colour as much as you like, more liner for a darker shade and more shadow for a brighter colour.

I've used the following products:

• Mac Paint Pot - Groundwork
• Barry M- Black liquid liner
• Lash Stiletto Mascara by Maybelline
• Mac Blacktrack Fluidline
• Mac's Peachtwist on my cheeks
• Mac 239
• Gosh slanted liner brush
  

Bare



Lashings of liquid liner...




Blend, blend, blend





With mascara



Finally..


I'm still surprised as to how well this technique works. The eyeshadows are barely pigmented and don't transfer all that greatly on their own but somehow manage to produce quite a colour payoff.

Although it's caller copper, it gives more a pinky plumy browny sheen. There is no one colour to describe it.

The Body Shop instore are currently doing buy one get half price (wish I had bought the blue one now).

For those online shoppers...

Code: FACEOFF10

Valid from today until 28^th September 2009

Entitles user to 10% off entire shopping online when they purchase any one of the products from the new Autumn Trends collection

I hope that this has been useful.

J x

Keeping It Simple

I've started to experiment with the Body Shop eyeliners.

So far, silver and purple have been used.

I don't rate the purple very highly. Beautiful as it looks and transfers on the back of my hand it just doesn't transfer very well on my eyes, it just made them look a little tired.

The silver however I love. It had enough impact with just some black liner.

I applied the silver liner across my lower lashes and it contrasted really well with my brown eyes.


I'm really looking forward to using the brighter blue :)

J x

The Body Shop Event - 20-08-09

Fabulous.

That is the perfect word to describe the event I attended yesterday.

The location, the people, the products and of course the champagne and food.


Thank You Lipgloss86 for this picture.

The event was held at Sketch in Central London.

We were led through mysterious curtains to a large dimly lit heart filled hall and greeted by the lovely people of the Body Shop and Headstream.

We all sat down with our glasses of champagne on white sofas and heart shaped cushions.

We were given an insight into their Autumn Product launch, Organic collection and their new perfume.

I was fortunate to be sent a sample of the perfume in the post previous to the event, and it's pretty much finished. It's heavenly. It was really interesting to learn about the journey taken to reaching the final product that is Love Etc perfume.

One of the important tricks I will be taking away from the event is the liquid eyeliner + shimmer eye shadow combination (Mixed together.....yes that's right)

Amazing.
It has to be seen to be believed, and hopefully one of the lovely bloggers will be able to demonstrate this in a video in the near future.

Pictures from the event can be found here.

Here are also a few pictures of the contents from the incredible goodie bags we were given, customised to our skin type.




I'm sorry to anyone I didn't get to speak to :(, but those you I did was great to talk and catch up.

A big thank you to Body Shop and Headstream for a lovely event.

J x

Face Of The Day

Before I start this post, apologies for those that have tagged me. I'm rubbish at responding and it's on my to do list.

Right, so what am I wearing?

I'm experimenting with my new shadows, today was Mac Club's turn.

It's quite a peculiar colour, it doesn't know if it wants to be brown or green, so it's both.

A perfect both, in my humble opinion.

It's green without the hassle of trying to make it look smokey, does that make sense?


It's a very versatile colour and I really do think it would suit all skintones.

J x

Edit. Looking at the picture, you can't seem to see the colour very well. But the colour pay off is almost like a muted Humid, with a brown two-tone.

Apricot Cosmo Anyone?

A friend and I were very bored last night, we had originally planned on a dinner date, which then transpired into a pub date which then just turned into a cocktail night.

We decided we wanted to dress up and why not, right!?

We headed to the local City for a few drinks and it was fun to just have an easy night, people watching.

The first bar we went to was empty, the second bar was full of older people aka the mutton dressed as lamb and dude aren't you old enough to be a grandad crowd, the third were full of the young beans who were seriously giving us the eye, who brought grandma ;)

So we headed back to the orginal empty bar to our delight had filled up.

All in all it was a fun and random night.
We stole our Martini glasses, I'm hoping to use it to put my rings in.



And this is what happens when two drunk guys decide to take your camera and take a picture for you...


I've been watching so much Sex and The City you know I had to have a cosmopolitan. It was an Apricot one and it was delicious.

J x

Tote

I'm supposed to be headed back to Uni in September, so my spending really needs to hit a curb.

Obviously need and want are two very different things.

In my last attempt to control my spending I treated myself to a bag.

Another bag you question?

This bag is special, appropriate (or so in my defence) and I love it.

I found it on the Anya Hindmarch website and just thought it was adorable. It's part of the new season. The Homework Tote. To carry my textbooks and fashion magazines ;)

It was supposed to take 8 days for delivery but I was very impressed and it arrived in 2 days.

You can see how they wrap up their bags on their website, it really is just so elegant.

Here are a few snaps of it.





J x

Superdrug Summer

I wanted to highlight to you something special going on over at Superdrug.

They have recently launched a summer programme, with a great opportunity to win prizes (anyone fancy a beach holiday?) and discounts. Filling the form in doesn't take much time, 5 minutes and you get your discount codes straightaway. You can also opt for receiving their free magazine, something I always forget to pick up when instore.

Go check it out, I've done mine.

J x

Fly By Blu

I went out for a few drinks last night and my outfit was heavy on blue (photo taken in work clothes) so it gave me the perfect opportunity to try out the new Mac Pearlglide liner in Fly-By-Blu.

I have to say, this is a must for brown eyes.

I used Contrast as my main shadow and lined around my eyes, bottom and top with the pearlglide. It leaves behind a trail of blue metallic sparkle.


Enough to have a glamourous effect and not leave you looking like a 4 year old with glitter and glue.

I say it's a must for brown eyes, because I really felt they made my iris' stand out.


It's nice that the little sparkles shine through.

Hope everyone is as happy as I am with their pearlglides.

J x

More Chocolate Than Coffee

So I'm really getting into this baking thing.

Tick for the domestic goddess box.

Tonight was a chocolate coffee cake, more chocolate than coffee.


It still went down a treat. I didn't get a chance to do my own icing so thanking Betty Crocker :p

J x

Hello Sailor

I just love the nautical trend/theme. It's classic.

Proven so by the wonderful Audrey Hepburn.


I seem to keep buying stripey tops/cardigans, all very similar yet all so different.


J x

Confession......

I've become a little addicted to Period Dramas.

I recently watched Young Victoria and I loved it, Emily Blunt is an incredible actress and so naturally beautiful.

I loved Victoria and Albert's relationship. I can't wait to get this on DVD.


I'm also a big fan of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.


What I love about these films are they portray strong minded women in beautiful costumes. The cute little dogs and cupcakes don't go amiss either.

So as I browsed the shelves of Tesco today, I found The Duchess for £5. Normally, I'm not a fan of Kiera Knightley, I just don't like her I don't know why. She's pretty and everything but I don't get her. I gave Atonement a chance and I loved it, so I'm hoping The Duchess will do the same.

J x

What's New?

My Mac package arrived today.

I'm a pro now at depotting and so it was all done very efficiently.

Here are the new colours...


Now that you can order refills it makes my life much easier, I don't need to count on my next trip to London.

I always make a note of new colours I like or test out in my local Mac. Makes for ordering online simple!

I also bought two pearlglide eyeliners. I've tested them on my hand and they go on like a dream, can't wait to use them.
J x

Star Violet Reprise

I've blogged about Mac's Star Violet before.

It's a purpley -pink shade, creamy eyeshadow.

Not until today did I notice the delicate sparkles of it (I am well aware of how girly that sounds), it's something that is obviously picked up better by a camera flash.

I applied it today with Carbon in the crease again, creating a smokey darker purple.

This is pretty much my staple pattern when it comes to applying shadows. A base colour and a crease colour, maybe one day I will venture out into a threesome ;)



J x

Groundworking Day

Sometimes Mac colour names are just so apt.

I'm talking about Mac's Paint Pot, Groundwork.

It does just that. It is the perfect eye base.

Any eyeshadow I have put on it never moves. For my NC45 skintone it is the perfect natural shade.

I ordered some more shadows today from for my new mac palette. Feeling a little guilty after I thought it be best to make use of the ones I already have.

I decided to experiment with Sumptuous Olive again. I applied it all over the lid with Mac's Smut in the crease, creating a darker green in the crease.

J x

Day to Night / Real Drama to Contrast

For work this morning I decided to go for a impact but simple eyeshadow. I always choose Mac's Real Drama from the Intriguing Scarlet palette. It's a deep maroon with a tiny bit of shimmer.

I find it gives depth to my eyes, the colour translates well on my skintone. Not too harsh. I love the way bronzey golds look on fairer skin, I think this is the closest I'm going to get to achieving the same effect.

I used Lash Stiletto mascara from Maybelline to sharpen my lashes outwards and sideways instead of upwards. I find it gives my eyes more shape.

I went out for dinner with some friends tonight and in a panic of what to wear I lost out on makeup time. I would usually take off my makeup and start again.

I cheated, I applied Mac's Contrast straight on top of my eyeshadow. Dusted my face with mineral foundation and powder and dabbed at my cheeks with Sunny By Nature. The brighter colour of the blue allows the look to be taken from Jour to Nuit.

Getting ready in a hurry is always made easy by knowing exactly what colours work for you. For me, my fail safe colour is black. Both for makeup and clothes!!

As for what I've been doing this week....


J x

Sigh

It's been a while, I know.

Apologies, I have been swept off my feet......with work unfortunately.

Any spare time I have is writing reports and making my way through my newly purchased Sex and The City Box Set.

I'm hoping the up and coming days bring me some inspiration.

I've been contemplating putting a big mac order in to last me till Xmas. A bit from the Love that Look Collection and some staples. I'm feeling the pearlglide glittery eyeliners.

Will keep you posted.

J x

Blueberry Cake

Those of you that follow me on Twitter (JJ26) know that I was torn between baking a cake or buying dessert yesterday for a dinner round a friends.

I was all set to buy dessert when suddenly I changed my mind.

My brother was going to the supermarket so I put a small order of ingredients in.

I recently purchased the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook after drooling over it at my friend's house. Those of you fortunate to have visited a Hummingbird Bakery know how amazing it is, baked goodness heaven.

I attempted the Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting last night, and I'm pleased to say it was a great success.

The recipe makes plenty so I have quite a bit left over. Compliments about the cake from a boy was the highlight, I quote, it's amazing, so moist! Haha.

I didn't have enough blueberries to decorate the top which was a shame, will have to remember for next time.

Here's the slice I am currently eating right now as I'm typing....yummmm.



I highly recommend the book, it's not just cakes either, there are pie and cookie recipes too. Even if you aren't much of a baker, the pictures are just stunning and would make a wonderful kitchen accessory.

J x

Road To Recovery Is Admitting You Have A Problem

Yes, I am a shop-o-holic.

Shopping is something I do very well and I'm proud, ha.

Now that I have a job I feel it's acceptable to buy nice things and treat myself. So that is exactly what I have been doing, and I'm sure it's going to get me into trouble sooner or later.

But enough of that, let's just enjoy the present.

I decided I wanted a nice pair of flats and to stop buying a billion primark shoes, because I'm sure after the amount I've bought I could've got a nice pair.

Not that Primark shoes aren't nice, I love them, but they don't last long and mine all have holes in.

I was torn between French Sole and Vivienne Westwood....I went with VW.

Here they are, tortoise shell bow flats :)

I kid you not, they smell of bubblegum!! It's amazing.





They seem quite comfy too. Which reminds me, I wore the shoe boots on a night out and they were incredinbly stable and comfy, too thumbs up.

J x

Sneaky Peek

Sneak peek into what has been bought on my shopping trip today :)


Outlet shopping is mega fun.

J x

The Conical Wand Does It Again

So I curled all of my hair last night, and it actually didn't take very long at all. The wand produced bouncy wavy curls. The pictures don't completely do it justice because everything seems to get lost in my dark hair but there was definitely definition of curls.

I added a bow headband for detail, I know it's criminal for black on black but I like it, a sublte detail if you will (if a large bow can be subtle)




J x

New Shoes

"Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything is right"

I ordered these shoes from Dorothy Perkins at the weekend. I saw the promo pictures on Harlem Loves blog and consequently fell in love.




They are a suede material with a leather lining. They are surprisingly comfy, but will report back after a long night out for a more accurate decision.

Shoe boots are great because your foot is completely surrounded therefore supported.

What attracted me most to these shoes was the frill detail on the back, it just gave the shoes an extra something.

J x

Pretty Pretty

I just wanted to share with you a little gift I received recently.

Isn't it the most beautiful bath bomb.



It kind of reminds me of a yogurt and berry breakfast bar.

I'm almost reluctant to use it because it looks so pretty, but the sweet smell is luring me in!

J x

Worst outfit photo EVER

I only remembered to take an outfit picture right at the last minute as I was heading out the door. Hence why this is probably the worst photo ever. I look like I have been defaced, when really it's a terrible combination of a dirty mirror and bright flash.

You can just make out what I'm wearing.


I got both top and skirt from Full Circle in the ASOS sale. I chose to wear sheer tights and black patent heels that were from New Look. The top is supposed to bare one shoulder but it's big enough to wear over both. The skirt is a thick wool material, perfect for Autumn and Winter too. The top has a leaf print with a few teal spots.



I kept my makeup relatively simple, though I did apply fake lashes courtesy of Sarah Harding and applied a heavy combination of Sunny by Nature and Casino.

J x

Personal

This blog has become such a big part of my life now. Thank you to the wonderful people that read, comment and advise.

I have now reached over 300 followers, something I never imagined. I can't thank the people who enjoy my blog enough.

I finally decided to make my blog more personal, the new banner and photos of my favourite moments.

Janaka x

Muji Storage

I posted not so long ago about wanting to order some storage items, my favourite place to head to (or more navigate to) was Muji.

I'd seen other people's posts and I just love the look of their website and products.

I ordered an acrylic box for my jewellery, and I absolutely adore it and at £13.95 I thought it was a fair price.

The partitions within the box are interchangeable, so it never has to stay the same. It also holds a lot without looking overpacked. Here are a few pictures of what I have put into mine.






J x

Superficial for Saturday

This is the Ciate nail polish I mentioned previously, another purchase from the ASOS sale.

The bottle is just adorable, if only they weren't so expensive!!



I've got a big night out tonight for a friend's birthday and one of the colours on the top I'm wearing is teal so I thought I'd go back to the vampy trend with this nail polish. I do like colour co-ordinating.

Will do an outfit post later on hopefully.

J x

Tropic - Casino

I recently put in a Nars order because I became obsessed with Nars new eyeshadow Tropic. It was sold out everywhere I went, so the only solution was to order it online. Whilst I was there I figured I'd put in an order for other Nars items I had been wanting.

Tropic is a very glittery teal colour, richly pigmented. Thankfully though, the glitter only transfers a little and the particles are very easily blown away, don't let the picture and appearance of it intimidate you. Today I paired it with Mac's Sharkskin shadestick, though I would be interested to see what the colour payoff is like on it's own or even applied wet.

As my eyes were going to be bold, I applied Casino bronzer solo. I was worried that this wouldn't show up on me, but it was fine and I'm happy with it. Almost identical to Sunny By Nature but without the faint coral sheen. I'm finally getting a feel for these bronzers.

I am yet to try Sin, which is the blush colour in the duo, and I also ordered Cactus Flower cream blush.

Sooo glad it's Friday, hello weekend.

Oh and please excuse the temperamental curl in the picture!

J x

Bezzie Mate

I took advantage of the ASOS sale and divulged into the beauty section.

I ordered two polishes, one from Butter and the other Ciate.

I was a little surprised to receive the Bezzie Mate Butter one because I expected a purple, like the website had shown. I should've been more thorough and checked the Butter website because it is in fact a hot fuschia.

Doesn't really matter, I still love it. It's a bit darker than the OPI India one I have mentioned before, and in bright light has a very vivid blue undertone.


The picture of my nails was taken today Friday, and I applied the polish on Monday. I am extrememly impressed, with a top coat applied the polish has remained about 97% chip free.

J x