OOTD 12.07

Here is another outfit post, (let me know if you would rather me stick to makeup) showing the rather simple, yet ready for whatever this unpredictable British summer should throw at me.
T-shirt: New Look - £8
Jeans: Primark - £6.50
Flip flops: Havaianas (from Office) around £18
Bag - Luca Bocelli - £29

T-shirt is from New Look, priced around £8. New Look are great for basics like vests and t-shirts as they are inexpensive and wash well (it's important ya know, there's nothing worse than washing something once then it drops to pieces!). I particularly like the little knot tie at the bottom.

The jeans are another pair of Primark's finest, the amazingly comfortable and well fitted skinny jean I have ever come across. Even more amazingly, they were in the sale this time around, £6.50 instead of £8. I bought these in a very pale wash the first time and these are just a darker version, I did however find that there's not much uniformity among sizes, and had to size up in this colour.
The bag was a present from my lovely Mum as she said I needed a bag to start my new work with. I really love satchel bags, but she wanted to get me a briefcase type one, we looked around and I think this is a happy medium. I saw a bag by the same brand that was a hot pink brief case which was tempting, but perhaps a little too legally blonde?! This is fantastic quality soft leather, and was priced at a discount of £29 down from £80. Although I haven't heard of the brand, I trust this Nappa leather to be good quality. I think it's all in the feel and the smell!Looking rather foolish in the above photos, I'm not a comfortable poser, I wore over my t-shirt my Kimono style top from Peacocks. It's a bit too warm for a jacket, but you never know if it's going to suddenly rain or turn to winter here.I have practically lived in my Havaianas since I bought them a few months back. I went for the slim fit ones in metallic blue. Quite expensive for a flip flop at £18 but these are a flip flop like no other, they don't drop apart like others or wear down. I might aswell throw in some make-up shots here. I went for a bright red lip (Sleek OMG, I will post a separate review on the Too True lipsticks) and neutral eyes using the Sleek Oh So Special palette. Bronzer is by MAC, Refined Golden which I bought ages ago and still use religiously.
This is probably one of my favourite make-up looks, it's pretty effortless really but without looking like I made no effort. I like that the red lip does the talking for this look.

I think this photo might be a little deceiving because I don't feel that in person my hair is that shiny! It's not in bad condition for blonde hair, I haven't used any heat, or at least minimal, say a blowdry every 3-4 days or so, but it is still due for a cut and colour. I haven't decided where I'm going to go yet so I'm going to have a browse online and see what I find.

OOTD 11.07

I don't do these posts as often as I would like. I enjoy seeing other people's OOTD so I'm going to try and make sure to include more of my own. This is what I wore today, a pretty simple ensemble today.Top: Primark - £8
Jeans: Kristen by Topshop - £40
Shoes: New Look - £24.99
Earrings: Autumn and May - £15
Bangle: Peacocks - £4

I love these blouses from Primark, they have a few different styles and colours in at the moment and I particularly love these brightly coloured ones with gold buttons. It's a viscose mix so the bottom part of it is kind of crinkly. It's very light weight and so perfect for summer time. I am tempted to go back and buy this in the bright blue and purple.

Shoes from New Look, these are very almost a wedge but have a small triangle cut out which makes them a high heel but with still with the support of a wedge. They are available in this taupe colour and black.

Eye makeup using Sleek Oh So Special.

Sleek Oh So Special and Curacao Palettes

I bought these palettes together so I might as well write a joint post about them. Sleek you've done it again. Just when I thought there were no more colour combinations that I needed, you brought these two into my collection. I don't really think I needed these, but I am a make-up addict, I am weak, and I caved.


This is Oh So Special, the palette I have been waiting for. A gorgeous collection of neutrals. There is not a skin tone, eye colour, age range etc etc that could not find a colour combination in this palette. It's suitable for day or night although I have only ventured towards the left hand side of the palette rather than the right as I've only used this for day time. My favourite lid colours are the second from the left, top and bottom colours, they're called Organza and Gateau, both quite similar rose gold shades.

I think out of all the palettes I own, this will become my most used as it is so versatile. I suppose I do still have a criticism of this as a neutrals palette however. For me there's a couple of shades that are just a bit out of place in this palette, Ribbon and Pamper. Ribbon is a gorgeous colour but not entirely in keeping with the rest of the palette, it does work well but I think I would have replaced it with a colour more like MAC's Retrospeck. Pamper is a pretty colour too but it's just neither here nor there as a lid, crease or brow bone colour, and I think I will wear it the least. What would have made this palette perfect is another shade or two for the crease (Boxed is perfect for this) and another lid colour. The four shades on the right side are all suitable as outer corner colours, when a couple would have been enough. This is of course me being fussy and dreaming up my perfect Sleek palette, one day I'm sure they'll nail it and bring out a palette that has it all.

I also happened to find the Curacao palette, which I really hadn't seen anything of beforehand. This is from the Caribbean collection and prior to this I had only seen the blusher and pout polish from this same collection. This reminds me a lot of the Circus palette which was also limited edition, the colours are very bright and because they are so pigmented, are true to the colour you see in the palette.

This is a good palette to buy if you're a green eyeshadow lover, there's 5 shades in there that are in green or aqua family. Apart from those, it might be difficult to pick out a few shades to wear together but it's a nice palette to have to choose one colour and make that your focus, mixing it with more wearable shades from elsewhere.

MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot and meeting an old friend

Last week I headed into town to see a friend I had not seen since our school days. Despite the realisation that it was so many years ago, and coming to terms with the fact that I am now OLD, I had a lovely time catching up with her. If you've been in a similar situation, there is that moment beforehand where you wonder how much they've changed, what if they're no longer a nice person! I can honestly say that besides growing up, my friend hadn't really changed, and I mean that in a good way. Just an older, wiser version! And this, despite being very successful at what she does for a living.
Harry is a makeup artist, and does a lot of fashion and editorial work. This was her dream all those years ago and how good it is to see those dreams become real. For the record, mine was to become a writer, which I suppose you could say I do here, but it's not my job. As I got older my dreams changed, I still maintained wanting to write but alongside this I found a new dream and chased that instead. I'm glad I'm doing the job I love (which I don't mention on here because it's worlds apart from my beauty blog!) but there is something to be said for people who never give up that one thing they want to be. Persistence is the key I think.

I would really love it if you went on over to: http://harrymakesitup.tumblr.com/ and http://harriethadfield.com/ to find out more about her and the work she's done, you can tell her I said "Hi". I think you'll agree it's pretty darn good.

That day we mosied around the make-up shops near Covent Garden and of course, whenever I am there, a MAC visit is a must.
I was after a paint pot to use as an eyeshadow base. I have not been too impressed with my UDPP, it does not live up to Too Faced Shadow Insurance in my opinion, so I decided to give these a go. Originally I thought I would but Painterly, it's the one that always springs to mind. However, looking at them and comparing Painterly to Soft Ochre, the latter was the obvious choice for me. I'm really quite yellow tinged, or golden as I prefer to say and this was a better match for my skin tone, not to mention how much better this shade is for the natural colour of most people's eyelids. The problem I believe a lot of people find with Soft Ochre is the dryness of this particular shade. I can see where there is coming from, Soft Ochre applies smoothly and creamily, but is quick to dry. You could get around this by applying it to one eyelid and then putting on your eyeshadow before moving onto the next. The most important thing is the staying power that this paint pot has. In my experience, it is still not as good or long lasting as TFSI, but perhaps slightly better than UDPP in longevity, not only in making my eyeshadow last a little longer, but the sheer amount of product you get in one of these little pots. If I use this every day, I can see it lasting me at least a year, now that's value for money. For some people I can see a hygiene issue around this as it is not in a contained tube, but a pot that you swipe your finger in. My answer is use a brush, or more simply, just wash your hands before you use! Not too difficult.

Overall, I rate this product quite highly. I would probably not repurchase, purely because I don't think I will ever get through an entire jar of this, but I may try different shades.

Sleek Monaco Palette

I can't seem to resist buying a new Sleek palette. As if I need any more of them really. I think the brand is bang on by releasing a new collection so frequently, it keeps the brand fresh and up to date. Each palette is always so different from the last too. This one features some very bright pastel shades as well as a few lighter shades that are more suitable for me as lid colours. I tend to use the bright shades just as a pop of colour in the crease or line the bottom lid with them. My particular favourites in this palette are the four colours you see in the bottom. They work really well together and with a summer tan, turquoise is a great colour to wear, you still need to be a bit brave about it though!
I checked out the pout polish that was released the same time as this but is part of the Caribbean collection. It isn't really me, it's very orange and whilst I am actually on the hunt for an orangey lip gloss/lipstick of some description, this just isn't it. The blusher is part of the Monaco collection, but again I skipped it. I don't know what I can do with neon pink!

This eyeshadow palette is definetely the highlight of the latest products released from Sleek. On another note, I saw a couple of tester palettes whilst I was browsing the Monaco collection. I saw a neutral palette and a smokey eye palette. There were none available to buy however. If anyone is able to fill me on this would be great as they both looked pretty amazing and I would happily have snapped them up, have I missed these two palettes or are they not released yet??

Simples

Simple is a brand that never fails me. If I need to buy something I've ran out of and haven't done my research to find out which products are creating a buzz, I can always rely on this brand to have something that will do the job and do it well.
One of their most recently released products is this eye make-up corrector pen which I was kindly sent to try since I am a member of Simple's VIP which you can join on their website. This is one of those products that you wouldn't think to buy, (I haven't seen other brand alternatives on the market) but now I've tried it, it's one of those things you wonder how you got on without it. It's great for those days you're in a rush and then you make a mistake with your eyeliner. It's a lot quicker and more efficient than using a cotton bud. You just swipe at the smudge and it's gone, simple as that! I also recently needed to buy a new facewash, and again it was Simple that I looked to. I liked the appeal of using a foaming facewash so picked this one out. It's very easy to use and mess free. I like the fact that one pump gives me the right amount of product and it foams itself up for me! Very lazy I know, but sometimes that's what you need.

Simple is a brand that keep ingredients to a minimum, they are non-perfumed and so are often very suitable for sensitive skin.

New Barry M Nail Paints - Nail Effects and pastels

I really liked my black crackled nail effect polish when I first got it. I soon got bored that I only had it in black however. It made it a bit limiting on which colour I could wear it with. I'm so glad Barry M have brought out new shades of the crackle effect nail paint and I took advantage of the 2 for £5 in Superdrug. I picked up a pink and a white although there was also a blue-ish lavendar colour available, very similar to GOSH Lavendar Love. I noticed some new pastel shades lurking about too which I wasn't expecting. There's Blue Moon, which reminds me of Button Moon by Collection 2000 except this is a better formulation and not as bright. Possibly my favourite polish of the bunch was Peach Melba on the left. Gorgeous shade that I have been after for the longest time. I wanted the peach colour by Model's Own after seeing it on a colleague but have not been able to find it annoyingly! Peach Melba is not as bright as I would like it to be, but as far as I'm concerned, this is the colour for summer.

The white crackle is my favourite of the two. I find it a bit less 80s throwback than the black, and love wearing it over darker shades that wouldn't look as good with the black crackle over. I have it on over Revlon's Tropical Temptation here, a combination I love and will go back to.

This is the pink crackle over GOSH Groovy Grey, which looked better in person. I think black might be the better option as a basecoat.

Will you be picking up any more crackle polishes or have you seen enough of this trend?!