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Saturday 13 August 2011

TWIL

Usually my skin is pretty clear apart from a few little bumps under my skin on my forehead, I cleanse, tone and moisturise daily so this helps keep my skin in good condition. However a few weeks ago I encountered a bit of a facial disaster and my skin was covered in spots. I had been told before that Sudocrem was great for keeping skin clear, but had never really tried using it. 2 weeks ago I thought I'd give it ago and I am far from disappointed. I have been using it every night after cleanser, toner and moisturiser and sticking to my usual cleanse, tone and moisturise routine in the mornings. I have been applying a thin layer all over my face and it does tend to turn the face slightly white, so not really appropriate for daytime wear.

The results are phenomenal and it cleared my skin up pretty much straight away and even got rid of the bumps under my skin on my forehead (which I have had for a while but make up covers them so they were never a massive issue). Now I can wear less foundation and my skin looks flawless.

This week I'm loving Sudocrem. Not only does it reduce the redness of spots but also it prevents them from appearing, makes your skin feel beautifully soft and is cheap too.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Wednesday's Wishes # 1

There are many fashion and beauty products that my budget won't stretch to at the minute or that I want but simply haven't found the right one yet. So I have created a wish list and I thought I would share some of this list with my readers and would love for people to comment on this post if they have tried and of the products below or have any feedback/recommendations.

1: Casual T-Shirt- I am looking for a fun day time t-shirt, I am loving the ones on Truffle Shuffle but am currently searching for the right one to buy.

2: No7 Beauty Balm- I love Clarins Beauty Flash Balm but I'm really intrigued to try No7's cheaper version (I think it retails at around £16- so almost half the price of Clarins) I think I will buy this once my Clarins runs out to see if it is as good as I'm always up for any money saving. Anyone tried it yet?

3: Designer Handbag: I got a Chanel hand bag as a gift a few years ago and was distraught when it got ruined by my dog. Now I am in desperate need of a replacement but need to get the money and make a decision on which brand/style. I'd love another Chanel one but also quite liking some of the Marc Jacobs arm candy too.

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Casual, City Chic or Date Night Tops

I don't know about all you fashionista's but I am very much a dress girl- I rarely wear jeans or trousers, I'm bottom heavy and don't really feel as comfortable in them, a lovely dress suits my figure much more. However recently I have bought a new pair of jeans from Topshop (The only pair I own) and although I still prefer my dresses, my bum doesn't look too bad in the new denim threads (with some heals of course). The only problem is I don't have any tops (you don't really find the need for tops if you live in dresses everyday like me).

So I spent a bit of time over the weekend searching for cool casual tops and more dressy blouses to wear with the new denims. Here is what I found:

Because Barbie gets too much credit:

£14.99 Truffle Shuffle

Ok so this is really not me, and I think if any of my friends saw me in this it would shock the hell out of them, but I'm loving it. Now I've got my new jeans I can be a bit more casual in the daytime and this screams casual chic.

Get it here







City Chic:
£25 ASOS

This on the other hand is very me. I love it, and it probably won't be as much of a shock for my friends if I wear this with the jeans for the first time, great for work wear and will dress up your denims.


Available here







Date Night:
£55 Warehouse
Wow. This is definitely my favourite of all the tops I found, (although not strictly a top more of a shrug) isn't it amazing? You could wear it with a plain vest top and would look perfect for a date or evening meal with friends.

Available here

Monday 8 August 2011

Competition time

So here it is my first ever competition, you wanna know how to enter? Well all you have to do is follow the blog- simples!

Once I have reached 100 followers I will choose the first winner at random to win a bottle of my favourite fake tan: Lancome Flash Bronzer for face.


Then once I reach 150 followers I will choose another lucky winner to win all my favourite cosmetics:


  • Clinique blusher in 114 Iced Lotus
  • 2 bottles of Estee Lauder Double wear foundation in 02 Pale Almond
  • Estee Lauder Double Wear gel eyeliner in black
  • Clinique True Bronze bronzer in 02 Sunkissed
  • 3 bottles of Lancome Flash Bronzer for face




Top 10 Summer Time Essentials

Are you planning a summer holiday? or city break? Are you on the search for your new summer time make up collection? Then look no further. I have put together a top 10 list of summer essentials all tried and tested by me:

  1. Clarins Beauty Flash Balm- Mix in with foundation to create a flawless face with a radiant glow.
  2. Clinique True Bronzed pressed powder- Creates a natural looking bronzed glow.
  3. Nails Inc I Can't Paint a Rainbow- I love the colours in this set, bright and perfect for summer time fun.
  4. BareMinerals Get Started Kit- Contains:
  5. 2 Foundation shades
  6. Mineral veil/tinted mineral veil
  7. Warmth
  8. Full flawless face brush
  9. Flawless application face brush
  10. Maximum coverage concealer brush/ light stroke brush
  11. Bisque multi-tasking concealer
  12. Get started DVD
  13. Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes Palette- enhance your eyes with this eye shadow set, in natural shades of brown
  14. Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm Tin- refreshes lips and gives a lovely natural daytime look.
  15. Smashbox Photo Finish Color Correcting Foundation Primer- glides on easily and evens skin tone whilst ensuring make up stays in place all day long
  16. Benefit High Beam- for cheek and brow bones to create a radiant glow
  17. Benefit Coralista Face Powder- perfect for summer- not too pink or too orange. A warm coral pink tone brightens up cheeks for a summery glow
  18. Lancome Flash Bronzer for Face- I have blogged about this product before, I love it and use it all over the body for a natural looking tan.

Saturday 6 August 2011

TWIL

This week I'm loving Debenhams Beauty Club. This is fantastic and I encourage everyone to get down to Debenhams and sign up to the Beauty Club cards. They are similar to Boots advantage card and Superdrugs Beauty Card: you spend money in store and receive points on your card which can be used as payment for products in store. You get 3 points per pound you spend in store when you spend over £25 and 5 points per pound when shopping online. Not only this you also get free beauty make overs and insiders tips and advice on make up!!! I love it and have already earned lots of points to spend on new make up!!

Less is PWHOAR

So if I'm being completely honest I am not the most natural of girls. I'm a fake tan addict and never leave the house without double layer foundation, bronzer, blusher, eye liner, mascara and lip gloss, but saying that I think the most beautiful girls in the world are: Caggie Dunlop, Kate & Pippa Middleton and surprisingly these girls don't wear much make up. I love there look but I always think that I need to plaster my face with make up to make myself look good.

This week I've been working on a photoshoot and on the first day of shooting the photographer and stylist both commented on the level of make up I wear and the fake tan so I decided that today I would tone it down a little to see if I could pull of the au naturale look.

Taking inspiration from the likes of Caggie, Pippa and Kate I wore: Clinique Superbalanced foundation (instead of my usual Estee Lauder Double Wear) Clinique blusher in Iced Lotus (I usually wear a much darker colour), and a really small amount of Maybelline Falsies Volume Express mascara (as apposed to my usual 100 layers of it).

The Results:


I really liked my new look. Less is definitely pwhoar. I looked really fresh faced and the make up simply enhanced my natural beauty rather than creating a mask for my face and turning me into someone that is not me. Don't get me wrong: I am not completely ditching the bronzed heavy make up look. I think for nights out I will stick to using bronzer, eye shadow, gel eyeliner, and spidery lashes created by YSL or Maybelline Falsies mascara but I am really going to tone it down to a more natural look for day time.

Monday 1 August 2011

Inspired by Kate

Yesterday’s Silent Sunday post was an image of the gorgeous Duchess of Cambridge, wife to the future king Kate. I’m so jealous, not only is she super stunning but she is a true style icon and she’s bagged herself England’s most eligible bachelor.
Yesterday Kate really inspired me when I saw what she wore to the wedding of Zara Phillips. Although many of Kate’s outfits I wouldn’t dream of wearing myself- that doesn’t mean to say I don’t love them. I think her outfits are classy and perfect for royalty. I’m sure if I was to bag Prince Harry my wardrobe would need a major transformation and I’d like to think I would dress similar to Kate- I don’t think the Queen would appreciate my current outfit choices for dinner dates at Buckingham Palace.
You see me and Kate are unfortunately for me very different- I’m a young 24 year old, struggling to pay of my student debt (my shopping addiction really doesn’t help the situation) and Kate is now a member of the royal family with no money worries whatsoever. She is constantly in the public eye and as a representative of British royalty it is imperative that the way she acts/dresses/speaks/eats/walks/smiles/drinks is that of a future Queen, but let’s not forget life wasn’t always like this for Kate:



There’s hope for me yet, if Kate can go from this to super hot royalty, maybe I can set my sights on Prince Harry?
Anyways what this post is all about is this. When I saw Kate’s outfit choice for the second royal wedding of the year I thought I’m sure I recognise that and I was right. Kate actually wore this same attire in 2006 at the nuptials of Laura Parker Bowles.

At Zara Phillips Wedding

In 2006 at the nuptials of Laura Parker Bowles
After undertaking a little bit more research I discovered that this is not the first time Kate has worn the same outfit twice. Take a look at these images:


In LAthis month


At Zara Phillips' pre wedding party
 
Night out in London in 2007


In June at a friends wedding
 
At the Duke of Edinburgh's 90th Birthday and again in 2009

So if it’s good enough for Kate it’s definitely good enough for me. She even wore the green dress twice in one month!
I’d love to say I never wear the same outfit twice- but that’s not true, I do however thoroughly assess the situation before re-wearing a previous outfit:
  • When was the last time I wore it?
  • Are there Facebook pictures?
  • Was it with a different group of people?
  • Have these people seen me in this dress before?
Come on all girls we all do this right?

What this Kate research has taught me is not to be so analytical when it comes to wearing the same outfit twice. Who cares really- if it’s hot it’s hot, and hopefully next time I’m getting ready to go out I will keep this in mind. Recycling=New trend of 2011.