Leather jacket lovin'

I've never really seen myself as a leather jacket kinda gal.  My style has always tended to swing backwards and forwards from the preppy, country side of things towards the more monochrome, chic look.  I just didn't think I could pull off the whole rock 'n 'roll vibe a studded black piece gives off - but a couple of weeks ago whilst I was browsing Ebay I spotted this white jacket.  It was an absolute bargain, and I thought it'd be a great way to see whether I'd get the use out of one...

Topshop don't currently stock an identical style, but this one looks to be fairly similar.
  I believe this was around £160 new in the spring, but I managed to get it for £30 on Ebay
(and I had a £10 Nectar coupon so it was technically only £20)!

Turns out, I'm absolutely in love.  If my student loan allowed me, I'd be placing a Topshop order for a black one tonight - it's the most comfortable, lightweight yet windproof piece of outerwear I own!  I did use up almost an entire can of leather protect spray on it (because it drizzles constantly where I live now!)  The leather is seriously soft, and the colour itself is more of a bone/off white shade.  My uni wardrobe mainly consists of dark, monochrome shades with the odd cute blouse thrown in and I've found that it goes with practically anything.  My Mum even tried it on when she came up to visit this weekend, and tried to make off with it!  The one downside is that although it hasn't picked up any real dirt stains, colour transfer from darker coloured jeans and tops has happened - but this is easily fixed with a leather conditioning wipe (I've filched a pack from home which we'd normally use on the sofa/car seats).  All in all, I'm chuffed to bits!

xxx

Skincare haul!

Earlier this week, I realised that I'd reached the dregs of my Effaclar Duo+.  It was a sad, sad moment - I've used this stuff for months now and feel that it's really helped with healing up blemishes and preventing flare ups.  So when it looked like it was almost gone I had a quick google to see whether I could get it cheaper online than in Boots.

Escentual had up to a third off French pharmacy, and since you get free delivery when you spend over £30 (not the £10 threshold of Feel Unique, but they didn't have much in stock *sad face*) so I took the opportunity to stock up on a couple of things that were running low and my lo and behold the entire order came to just over the £30 limit...

Apologies for the dodgy lighting here - the weather is just awful so I was
 waving a daylight lamp around whilst taking blog photos (hence the glare!)

On top of my beloved La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo+, I picked up a full size can of their Thermal Spring Water Spray.  It seems daft to buy water in a can, I know - but it's a complete lifesaver now that I'm at uni and want something to freshen up my dull, tired skin in the mornings.  It's so soothing and cooling - and considering a travel size can lasted the entire summer this full size is going to last for ages!
Something else that I'm only about half way through, but totally swear by now so didn't want to run out of is the Caudelie Beauty Elixir.  I use 2-3 spritzes of this as a toner in the morning, and over the last couple of months I've seen a massive effect on the visibility of my pores and oil production throughout the day.  Pricey, but just about manageable with a couple of pounds off in the sale.  Finally, I spotted the La Roche-Posay Effaclar AI which is for targeting specific sites prone to breakouts.  My skin is looking pretty alright at the moment, apart from one particular area on my cheek which just won't clear up!  I thought that I'd give this a go, as it's not a really astringent product that'll dry out/blister the skin when applying to a larger area.  Fingers crossed it does the trick!

xxx

September favourites!

All through the month, I usually compile a list of the things I've been loving so far in preparation for the end of month favourite post.   But for some reason, as the end of September approached I completely forgot to write up that list  *oops*!  Anyway, here it is now and hopefully I won't be typing up next months halfway through October...


Makeup...

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in 'Ethereal Light' £38, Space.nk

This powder was the result of one of those £10 off Space.nk coupons, and although I winced at the dent it made in my student loan it has been amazing.  'Ethereal Light' is an almost pure-white powder, with microfine shimmer - and it's just perfect at the moment along with a little concealer.  It's also an excellent setting powder, and controls the oil on my skin enough that I rarely need to use blotting powder.

Benefit Gimme Brow in 'Light/Medium' £17.50, LookFantastic (but there's almost always a 15% off coupon available)

My brows are practically blonde, so the concept of a tinted brow gel with a little more oomph intrigued me.  Even though you still have to be careful applying the product (it's not just "brush-and-go") I haven't picked up a shadow to fill in my brows once this month, this is just so much more convenient.






Max Factor Colour Corrector Stick 'Green' £8.99, Boots

For the last couple of years, I have been a faithful user of the Natural Collection Corrector Stick as the green is brilliant at cancelling out any redness from blemishes (or just the naturally overly rosy areas of my face!)  Time after time though the packaging and product crumbled, and when I spotted Max Factor's equivalent I popped it in my Boots basket.   It is several pounds more expensive, but the product is a lot more long wearing (doesn't make the concealer over the top wander around) and then packaging is much sturdier.  A great product, that's an everyday staple in my makeup bag.





Clothing...


Marks and Spencer Jaquard Striped Top £9.99 (reduced from £19.50)


This is the most comfortable, lazy-day-but-smart top ever.  Even though it's got a zip up the back, it's not one that you have to contort yourself to get in and out of (to be honest, the material is stretchy enough that I never use it!) and it is so soft and breathable.  I spotted it whilst jean-hunting with my mother and hunted it down online in the right size - I actually got it a size up because I prefer a slightly baggier look on more cropped tops, and it also washes beautifully.  It's currently on sale, but hopefully they bring out this style again in more colours!




Topshop Viscose Slubby Tee £16

When I started sifting through my wardrobe for winter basics, I realised that there was not one single black shirt to be found.  After a toddle around my local Topshop, I found this shirt and fell in love.  It is very lightweight, but not at all see through and the batwings combined with cropped fitted sleeves are super flattering.  I love pairing it with ripped light wash jeans and ballet pumps, and now that it's getting colder - a huge fluffy Zara scarf!




Food...

I've loved Victoria Plums for years, and my memories of summer are filled with stuffing our faces with the ones from my Grandad's trees.  Unfortunately, they only appear once in a blue moon nowadays so we have to go elsewhere for our fix!  In place of home picked ones, I've found that the best ones come from Asda at a couple of pounds a tray (but make sure you let them ripen at home for a little while or they're a little crunchy!)






xxx

Nail polishes: The Uni Edit

Overpacking is one of my greatest vices.  And the upcoming semi-permanent move to uni has been no exception.  "But I might need just that particular shade of peachy-pink blush..." has happened far too many times when I've attempted packing up my makeup, and since the Michaelmas term is only eleven weeks I can't really justify packing half a tonne of nail polishes.  (But c'mon, a girls gotta have options right?!)  As a compromise I've dug out a cute little gift box that's just big enough to fit about ten/fifteen polishes, in the hope that my need to be neat and tidy and all in one place will stop me going overboard and cramming them all in (and possible having an overflow).  In my head it seems like a good idea to pack a good spectrum of colours, but in the end I've gone for the colours I am statistically more likely to use...

Row One : The Neutrals

From L-R...

• Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in 'Elderberry' : This is one that I still have yet to try out properly.  I love the formula though, and although they're a little messy to apply (polish runs all over the place!) this shade is the perfect wintry grey-blue.

• Natural Collection Nail Colour in 'Champagne' : Natural Collection is one of those lines where the price tag scares most people off.  There are a lot of misses in the line - and the lipstick packaging is beyond crummy - but this particular shade of polish is an almost dead ringer for Essie's 'Buy Me a Cameo'.  The formula is great, and the longevity decent.  Can't wait for the weather to cool down a little more so I can start wearing this again!  (The shade 'Maple' is great aswell - it's got an almost copper tone to it which is absolutely lovely.)

• Essence Colour and Go Polish in 'Love Me, Cupcake!' : I've already spoken far too much about this polish - visit here if you want a thorough review.  All I can say is that if you see it in your local Wilko, get it!

• Dior 'Nail Glow' : If you want a polish that adds a little somethin' somethin' to your nails, but doesn't show the chips this is your guy.  Even though it does actually chip fast on me, I absolutely have fallen head over heels for this along with the rest of the 'Glow' line - and this does make your nails do just that - glow!

• Dior Base Coat 'Abricot' : My last base coat - the Revlon quick dry one - was approaching the end of its life, so I decided to try out something new.  My nails were also getting pretty flaky and generally in bad condition (probably due to the acetone polish I use to get thick polishes off), so I thought a decent quality one would protect my nails and condition them a little.  So far, it's going great and one thin coat dries just as fast as its predecessor.

• Nails Inc 'Motcomb Street' :  Although when I was younger I seemed to sport black nail polish every other week, nowadays I can't quite take the plunge and this is as close as I get.  This shade, although a little tricky to find is the perfect almost-black navy that looks amazing layered with glitter polish!

• Ciaté 'My Fair Lady' : I believe this polish came free with a copy of Marie Claire a year or so ago.  It can apply quite streaky if you're not careful, but with a good base coat you get a lovely sheer wash of pink.  This particular shade doesn't seem to exist anymore, but the closest one I've found is 'Beach Melba' - although if you want a more opaque effect the shade 'Couture' seems to get better reviews.

Row Two : The Brights

From L-R...

• Essie 'Big Spender' : One of my most recent posts was about my predisposition towards Berry lip colours.  This is the nail polish equivalent to that - not too red or pink and works in any season.  Love it.

• Essie 'Hors D'oeuvres' : Glitter city, but I love it!  This is the most beautiful glitter polish I have ever owned (I think I have a weakness for gold shimmer) - one to put off removing though - think I went through about ten cotton pads and half a bottle of acetone remover to get off!  See it swatched here over the top of 'Big Spender', although it looks fabulous on its own.

• Essence Colour and Go Polish in '111 English Rose' : This is the one polish that I haven't yet tried, although it looks to be the perfect autumnal red (not too bright, with a dash of rosy pink!)

• Essie 'Dive Bar'  : A gorgeous iridescent dark green/almost black with blue and purple shimmer running throughout.  Full post with swatches here. 

• Essie 'Splash of Grenadine' : Packing this shade was my way of hanging on to summertime.  I referred to it as the sort of pink Barbie would wear when I swatched it here - it's on my toes at the moment and cheers me up every time I look at them!

• Sally Hansen 'Insta-Dry' : My favourite top coat by a long stretch.  Nails not completely dry and its time for bed?  No problem - pop a thin coat of this on before doing your nightime routine and tada, no sheet marks the next morning!

And there we go, the proof that it all fits! I'd also just about got room for a couple of toe separators and a cuticle cream (the No 7 one), now it's just a matter of resisting purchasing any more polish over the next couple of months!

xxx

A dupe for Mac's Painterly...?

When you're prepping and priming your eyes, you want a base that really is going to stick around.  Mac Paint Pots are great for getting your powder shadow to last much longer and appear more vibrant - but as my lids are especially oily I've got to use a primer underneath to reduce creasing.  I find that a thin layer of Mac's Painterly is fantastic for disguising redness - and that almost tacky texture really gives your shadow something to stick to.

Painterly is the one and only Mac paint pot that I own though - and in truth I much prefer the texture of the Mayeblline Colour Tattoos to use as a shadow alone (am currently in love with the taupe coloured one.)  But when the other day I was too lazy to dig around for it in my drawer I grabbed my Rimmel Scandaleyes Nude Liner and scribbled it all over the lid instead.  When blended out, it gave pretty much the same effect as Painterly and hung around all day!  I even think that the shade of nude is slightly better for my pale skin than Painterly, as it's a bit more yellow toned so cancels out any purpley hues and for £3.99 where can you go wrong?!

L-R: Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pot in 'Painterly', Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Liner in 'Nude'
You can see the difference much more clearly here, where they're heavily swatched.

I did take a couple of pictures to show them on the lids, but they were practically indistinguishable - if I had to point out one difference though it would be that Painterly is a little more opaque than the Rimmel liner.  Having cream shadow in a pencil form also is much more hygienic and means it doesn't dry out quickly - there is going to be product wastage when you sharpen it but considering it's so cheap in comparison that doesn't really matter.  Plus, you can use the Rimmel Liner to brighten up your waterline on those days where you wake up and see a puffy, red eyed reflection in the mirror!

Mac Paint Pots are £15.50 at Debenhams.
Rimmel Scandaleyes Liners are £3.99 at Boots.

xxx

Bargain of the Month Feat. Nars

When you're looking on Ebay for makeup, you've got to be pretty savvy with your shopping.  There are thousands of listings for counterfeits, most of which are for the cult products (Naked Palettes, Touché Eclat etc) but if you're careful you can find some real bargains!

This week, I managed to get my paws on a Nars Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil for under a fiver!  It was this listing, and not only was the product authentic it arrived less than two days after ordering.  The shade is 'Baroque' - a beautiful cool toned plum with silver shimmer running through it.  The consistency is very similar to that on the Soap and Glory Sexy Motherpucker Gloss Sticks but a little lighter with more shimmer.  You can feel the glitter slightly when you rub your lips together but it isn't super irritating, and the product itself is very hydrating on the lips.  The silver shimmer also doesn't show up on camera, it just makes the lips look even glossier by adding a bit of extra sheen.

Another thing to note is that as with all the Nars Lip Pencils, you have to sharpen it once it wears down.  I can imagine there will be quite a bit of messiness involved when doing so with this one, as it's such a soft product - and hopefully there won't be too much wastage (here's to Nars introducing retractable pencils!)  There is also no discernible scent to the product, unlike the Velvet Matte Pencils, so if you're not a fan of the cherry scent then that's not something to worry about with this range.

The swatch on my arm is quite a lot more true to colour
(my mirror at Uni is underneath a slightly dodgy yellow tinged light!)

xxx

Late to the party with: Benefit 'They're Real'

I'm possibly the last person ever to try this mascara!
(It was £9.99 for 4g, so pricier than the full size per gram but not by much.)

A few weeks ago, I mentioned having picked this product up as part of my pre-Uni shopping spree.  My beloved Clinique mascara (name totally forgotten and left at home - shall find out!) was on it's last legs and most likely wouldn't last the next twelve weeks, so I was on the hunt for a new one to test out and this had been on my list for yonks.  As I said in my previous post, I can't really justify purchasing the full size of a pricier mascara as they all tend to dry out after a few months regardless of whether they're super fancy or super duper cheap - so when I saw this mini size of 'They're Real' on the shelves of my local Boots I went and chucked it in my basket!

To be thoroughly honest, I can't really say that I have tested this out for long enough to give a concrete opinion as most mascaras tend to improve over time (until a certain point where they've gotten too gooey) but I managed to snap a decent picture of my lashes with just this mascara so thought I'd give my impression of it from using it over the last few days.

Pre-makeup application...

And the end product, with only mascara on the eyes.

The formula and brush took a little getting used to - there was quite a bit of Bioderma involved the first morning I slapped this on and managed to get it all over my eyelids!  The wand itself is made up of lots of very fine plastic bristles and is quite large, which is new for me (the last few mascaras I have used had either fibre bristles or plastic ones with a small thin applicator).  The problem you get with a lot of brand new mascaras is that as the formula is so wet your lashes will stick together at the slightest brush unless you let them dry for a while.  Here, I ended up having to brush through my lashes post mascara application and then apply another coat once the first had dried.  This worked pretty well I think - the end effect is quite fluttery with mostly length and not much volume added.  The kind-of spiky end of the wand also means you can get at the corners easily, I just wish the whole thing was a smidgeon smaller!  It also works really nicely on the bottom lashes, giving you doll-eyes without too much of a panda eye effect.

The really great thing about this though (which I wasn't expecting!) is that it is seriously waterproof.  This first week at Uni has been filled with blood, sweat and tears (I jest, I jest - no blood honest) and it has stayed put without flaking for twelve hours straight - sometimes longer.  At night to remove it I have to use a cotton pad soaked with Bioderma after my Body Shop Cleansing Oil to make sure I get it all off.  You do feel it on your lashes and getting it off properly is a step you do not want to miss!

So far, if 'They're Real' went missing I wouldn't dash out to repurchase - but I'll see how it goes over the next few weeks and keep you posted!

xxx

'Dive Bar': The Essie obsession continues

This week when I was looking for something to paint my nails with, I began to dig through the more wintry-coloured polishes that had been sitting in a box out of the way for several months.  I'd originally been looking for a dark red, but in the end settled on this colour as I knew it would dry super fast and only need a couple of thin coats (i.e. it was Essie!)  The week before, 'Splash of Grenadine' had been on my nails, so this was really great to change up to for something a little darker and iridescent.  This polish was actually a Christmas gift from a couple of years back, so it's got the old bottle and brush style - but I although it was a little fiddlier to apply than the newer polishes I still didn't make much of a mess and it didn't go streaky.  'Dive Bar' is a very dark green, which looks shimmer-free in some lights, and in others there's some purple/blue iridescence running through it.  It's quite simply stunning, and I'm so glad I rediscovered it!

And here it is - two coats with a dash of a quick-dry topcoat over them.

You can find it here at Superdrug, priced at £7.99.

xxx