All Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go!

So the festive season with soon be upon us and we all start to search for the perfect party dress. I think I've already found mine!

I saw this dress online from Monsoon Fusion but I was keen to try it on first because, although you can't see in the photo, it has some shaping at the hips. I am quite a hippy girl and I was desperately hoping it wouldn't make me look six feet wide and hurrah it didn't!! I had to go up a size as the assistant said that most ladies had been finding it a little tight on the bust, she was right!!

The picture does not do it justice, it has a beautiful shape around the hips and the sleeves have a diagonal sleeve. It also has a chunky zip on the back. When I do get dressed up for a party I'll take a proper picture!!

I had one of those moments in the dressing room where it literally took me two seconds to decide I was buying it! None of that looking at all angles ten times in the mirror, I was in and out in lighting speed!!

I really love most of the Monsoon Fusion range but every so often they produce something that is an absolute must have, I have four or five dresses and tops from them that will be staples in my wardrobe for a long time.

The dress was £65 and you can find it here - link!

I bought some different tights to go with it, obviously black will look fab but I also thought I'd pick out the the mustard colour and the purples.

I purchased the mustard tights from Zara, they are much nicer than the H&M ones I have and as the dress is a little short I thought it would be better to have thicker tights. The Zara tights were £9.99. I also thought some patterned ones would look cool with the dress however I forgot about the length of the dress so I may not be wearing the purple ones! They are still lovely tights, they are from Marks and Spencer and they were £6.

Now who wants to invite me to a party?!

xoxo

Make A Rainbow Connection

If any of you follow me on Twitter you will know I was banging on about this combo all last week! I loved it so much last week I'm wearing it again! OPI Rainbow Connection from the new Muppets collection over OPI Black Onyx is an over the top sparkly glitterfest! I just love it over the black, it makes the glitter look extra shiny and sparkly! Photo's are impossible to capture the beauty of the glitter so I urge you to have a look at this one in reality! I'm so pleased I purchased this polish, I nearly skipped it as I thought it was too much but I've had loads of compliments!

Have you bought Rainbow Connection? Do you love it?

xoxo

NOTD - Essie Mesmerize

Purchased in my most recent haul Essie Mesmerize is a stunning bright cobalt blue. I love it as a contrast to all the mustards and rusts that I'm wearing this autumn. This was two coats and as creamy and perfect as I expect from Essie! It's an older polish from the line but it's a classic!

xoxo

NOTD - Gettin' Miss Piggy With It

Gettin' Miss Piggy With It is one of the amazing glitters from the OPI Muppets collection. I've used it over OPI Comet Loves Cupid as the glitter itself is in a sheer base. 

It has three types of glitter in it, small red glitter, large red hexagonal glitter and the more obvious large silver hexagonal glitter. I thought I would be bothered by the silver glitter but actually I really don't mind it, I kind of wish it was more prominent in a way as I had to fish out a few more of the pieces because occasionally I would only get one on the brush and that really did look random! To place the glitter down I dabbed rather than painted, that allowed me to almost choose where the silver glitter was placed however it is still really quite random!

The glitter is very sparkly and looks gorgeous and of course very festive!

xoxo

Essie Cocktail Bling

Essie keep giving us amazing collections and their latest Winter collection, Cocktail Bling is no exception.

I love the name of the set and of course the colours themselves! I picked out my favourite five from the collection.

Bobbing For Baubles is a dark dusty navy. I love it! It was the one I knew I had to buy! It's clear its a blue tone not black, it's quite unique.

Bangle Jangle is a greyed out lilac again a unique shade in my collection, I have a couple of lilacs and I love the shade in the bottle however I'm left feeling disappointed with them on my nails. Bangle Jangle is not disappointing at all, I love the grey tone to it but most of all I love the name, I definitely have a bangle jangle on a daily basis!

School Of Hard Rocks is a dirty green like most of the collection it has a dusty tone. I simply adore this one, it has teal tones to it too which is great for this season.

The collections namesake, Cocktail Bling is a lilac toned grey with a hint of a dusky blue. Such an unusual colour, it feels very sophisticated on the nail. I can't compare it to anything else I own!

Finally Brooch The Subject is my perfect nude. It has the right balance of pink and yellow to make it perfect for my skintone. This colour was used at New York Fashion Week in some of the catwalk shows as it provides the perfect mannequin hand!

These are all lovely polishes, the days of good Essie and bad Essie have gone, these were all creamy and perfect with two coats. My favourites are School Of Hard Rocks and Bobbing for Baubles and I can't wait to wear them!

I can't wait to see what Essie has up her sleeve for next year!

xoxo

NOTD - Designer De Better

Designer De Better from the OPI Muppets collection, is my most recent purchase, only yesterday in fact! I applied it first thing this morning!

With the flash

Without the flash

The colour is gorgeous but so difficult to photograph! I'm showing both pictures because they both represent the colour! It's very sparkly and so pretty! It's a champagne coloured base with goldy orange shimmer within it. I feel like it will make a fabulous "winter white" for the upcoming season. I initially bypassed this colour online however the fab Rachel or Cupcakesandscissors on You Tube convinced me to buy it her most recent haul video along with actually seeing it in John Lewis yesterday, it literally shone on the shelf and stood out amongst all the others!

I really can't compare it to anything else I have in my stash, it's completely unique and I love it!

I have bought some more from the Muppets collection and I'm loving them all so far!

Have you bought this one yet?!

xoxo

Bootie Call

I arrived back from France to a little box outside my front door! I had ordered these adorable boots about three weeks ago, they went out of stock before my order was posted so I had to wait.

I have always been intrigued by Uggs but they don't really go with my style of dressing however I wanted a pair of cozy little boots that were a bit smarter and these little pixie ones seemed to suit my style.

I ordered them from the Johnny B section from Boden, it's aimed more at teenagers but they have some really cute stuff. They cost £64 but I bought them for £44, I had a 20% off code and a £10 gift voucher, I'm not sure I would have paid full price for them, although they are leather and really well made.

I'll be wearing them with leggings and my ginger coloured cord skirt and bright tights. They can be worn turned up or down and I like either way! 

Heres a link!

I've not had a chance to wear them properly yet, only around the house and I think I'm going to love them this winter!

xoxo

Shiny and New!

On my travels I had to leave behind a toiletry bag due to weight restrictions on my luggage, how is a high maintenance girl to survive with only 15kg?! I decided to leave the things I could buy here so first day dans la supermarche I had a look around the toileteries aisle.

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a shampoo snob and I tend to choose more luxury brands than the high street ones, I left my Label M faves behind. I skipped past the Herbal Essences, had a bad experience with them in the past, and honed in on the Bio section, the organic and natural area.

I was drawn towards this brand, Le Petit Marseillais, they had a large range and I started to notice the brand in other areas. I wanted something similar to what I'd left behind which was Honey and Oat so I chose the Shea Butter and Honey range. I can't quite remember how much they were but the conditioner was under €5 and the shampoo was under €3. 

I was blown away the first day I used them! My hair was gloriously shiny and soft. When I wash my hair here it tends to go very flat and limp and I usually hate it! I think it's something to do with the soft water. The scent is lovely, just like honey. The conditioner is thick and buttery and my hair loves it!

I also needed some shower wash and I would prefer to get something natural or organic so I stuck to Le Petit Marseillais.

I chose this one because of the scent, it smells just like my Elemis bath milk I have at home but for less than €3! Again it's lovely, really creamy and it leaves a lovely scent on my skin. I have fairly sensitive skin and moisturisers and shower products often leave me with red skin, nothing like that here!

I am so impressed with these I'm taking them home, I was just going to leave them here for next time. I'm not sure how natural or organic they are, it's not really mentioned on the bottles much and my French isn't good enough to understand everything on the back. I have had a nosey around their website and they are promoting a natural scene and seem concerned about the planet, all good in my book!

xoxo

Full Speed Ahead!

The weather here in France is amazing! We have had three days of 25c and three or four more to come, incredible for this time of year. I am pretty far south so the weather is fairly good anyway but I'm in for a shock when I get home! 

The nice weather has given me a chance to wear some of my favourite summer items again! Hurrah!

I have got my black jersey H&M maxi out! I love this dress, so easy to wear and it looks great. I will defintely get more in other colours next year, hopefully a brown one! I always wear it with a belt, this tan one os also from H&M. My skull scarf is from Miss Selfridge and my cropped denim jacket is from Topshop, probably one of the best items of clothing I have ever purchased! I grimaced at pay £45 or so for it but I don't regret it one bit! It started off a bit chilly this morning so I needed the jacket but it has come off now! My trusty yellow Tabitha Saturn is the only bag I brought, well 15kg is not a lot to bring for 10 days so I chose my bag to go with everything!

I promised an FOTD with one of my new lippies, well here we are!

I chose to wear the Sheen Supreme lipstick in Full Speed. I bloomin' love it!

It's a bright coral pink and soooo super glossy. It has a slight frost to it and it reminds me of Made With Love mixed with a bit of Costa Chic. The lipstick itself is lovely to wear, soft and shiny, I love it. I'll certainly look at others in the range.

On a side note I've not painted my nails for days! I can't wait to do a proper manicure later! I guess I get a bit lazy with my make up on holiday anyway! Besides, it's only me and my mum here and we've been gardening the last couple of days! 

xoxo

Mini MAC Haul!

Bon soir! I'm in France this week and on the way here I indulged in a spot of Duty Free MAC!

I travelled on Friday last week and I knew that the new collections would be out. I was so disappointed to get through security and find they hadn't got them yet! 

My Mum and I were helped by an amazing MUA, she was so helpful and really wanted us to find things that worked for us not just to sell us any old thing. When I asked if she had the new collections she took me to a hidden drawer full of new makeup and I got to have a play around with the newest collections!

First up my newest obsession, lip products! I had a look around at the existing collections and chose something from the Style Driven collection, a Pro Longwear Lipglass in Whoops! I wore it today and I can honestly say it was amazing! Not just the gorgeous coral colour, the colour that flatters me the most, the products longevity is immense! I applied it in the morning and it saw me right through to the afternoon and if I hadn't been such a pig a lunchtime it would have lasted through lunch too!

Secondly I fell in love with a Sheen Supreme lipstick in Full Speed, it's a really bright pinky coral. Another style of product I have yet to try, the Sheen Supreme lipsticks are so creamy and glossy,  j'adore!

Finally on the lip splurge I bought an Amplified lipstick from one of the newest collections, Fall Colour in the Wild Colour section of this huge collection. Neon Orange is a very bright slightly reddy orange, barely neon but certainly bright. It feels a little late to be buying such a bright colour on the other hand it seems perfect to offset the rusts and mustards for the autumn.

My final purchase was a bit of a lemming buy! 

The Mineralize Skinfinish in Lightscapade. I'd seen a few of my blogging and YT companions confess to their purchase on Twitter and had noticed it had sold out online in two days online. Presented to me in the assistants secret drawer I knew it had to be mine! I straight away said "Put it through the till!" It's a blue toned sheer highlighter with lilac and peach veins running through it. I have worn it a couple of times and I kinda like it but I don't love it yet. I'll keep working with it.

I'll do some pictures of me wearing them soon, I didn't do them today as I had a bit of a dodgy hair day today after attempting to let my hair air dry, I can promise I will not do that again soon!

xoxo

Petit Purchases

Evening!

I bought a couple of cool new autumnal items this week and I thought I'd share. The weather here has been amazing for the time of year, in fact hotter than many of the days of summer! So some of my purchases are not entirely appropriate just yet but soon I'll be enjoying them!

Magnetized Nail Polish from 17 at Boots. I bought three of these as they are on 3 for 2 at the moment, I'm sure my Mum will pinch one of them! I really want to get a Nails Inc one but I got all three of these for the price of one of those! I'll get one soon. I tried out the green one last night but I kept hitting my nail with the magnet and ruining the polish. I loved the look but I got annoyed and gave up. I'll try again this week!

H&M polish in Envy. This was a "picked it up by the till" purchase! It's amazing emerald green glittery shimmer caught my eye! It's a stunner!

Zigzag and mustard tights from H&M. I already have a pair of the mustard tights and these are a back up, they only had two pairs left and I have loads of autumn clothes I can wear them with. The zigzag pair caught my eye as I love the Missoni style pattern, they have an orange base with a black design.

Red suedette brogues from Accessorize. I have picked this up and put them back so many times recently, I bought them this time as they were half price! £15, barg! I love the brogue style and I really wanted a heeled pair but I love the colour of these. 

Can't wait to wear them!

xoxo

What I Wore This Week!

This week I was certainly on a cool toned polish theme!

I started the week with one of my favourite Nails Inc polishes, Albert Place. Its a fresh pale cornflower blue. I absolutely love it, I got it in a five piece set in the summer, I wore it for three days! It looks fab with white.

Then I wanted to wear a grey polish as I was wearing grey and white for work, I couldn't decide between a darker shade or lighter but plumped for OPI Skull And Glossbones. I only wore it for the one day but I enjoyed it, it has a slight green undertone and looks quite nude toned on the nail.

Then on Friday I chose to go with H&M's Spending Cash With Carl to go with my new Zara cardi and my rust dress. I bloomin' love this one! It has an amazing shimmer in the polish without being glittery, it apples wonderfully with no streaks. I have to admit to getting a bit bored of the shade after two days but I couldn't stop looking at my nails for those 48 hours! I urge you to get this one if you see it in your H&M, it's in the older style packaging so I'm not sure how available it is. I will certainly be reaching for this one again this winter, it looked amazing against the rust dress.

I caught up with Keeping Up With The Kardashians Bora Bora episodes last night, the girls were all rocking bright, neon shades and I was totally envious so expect to see something of that nature next week, they looked ah-mazing!!

xoxo

Biking, Blackberries and Baking :)

I went off for a little bike ride in some local woods today, I am very lucky to live in such beautiful countryside and I can bike to the woods from my house. It's such a beautiful time of the year and with the weather being so lovely still I made the most of it! I stopped for lunch in the sunshine and cycled about 10 miles in total, sore legs tomorrow me thinks!

I stopped to pick some blackberries on the way home and I made some apple and blackberry muffins when I got in. I ate one for pudding :)

xoxo

Presents From A Pixie :)

Last week I was sent a lovely gift from Katherine aka ProductPixie. After streamlining her own polish collection Katherine offered me a box of surprises! And surprised I was! 

After some faffing around with the post office I ripped open the packaging in the street and was presented with my own little Glossybox, a lovely presentation box which I will keep! I was overwhelmed with Katherine's kindness as there were 3 OPI's in that box! I have yet to try any Ciate polishes so I am excited to use those and I love the Models Own Navy and the Bourjois grey/blue.

Thank you Katherine! 

Check out her blog here and follow Katherine on Twitter, she's hilar!

xoxo

What I Wore This Week!

I thought I'd share the polishes I'd picked out to wear this week since I don't always get the chance to do a NOTD and I'm sure they'd get a bit boring! 

I seem to average about three polish changes a week and I try to mix it up a bit in terms of colour, I want people to notice that I made the effort to change my nail varnish!

My first choice this week was a classic red, you can't beat it for feeling classy and polished! My favourite is this bright tone from OPI, Comet Loves Cupid.

Mid week I chose one of my newest additions, Topshop Miss Marmelade. I loved it for a couple of days then grew bored of it and it had started to show signs of wear, no chips but it kind of cracked a bit from using my hands at work!

Then this weekend I went with OPI Cuckoo For This Colour. A fave from last winter I haven't worn it since then and I had a sudden NEED, yes it was that strong, to wear it! I have had the most compliments for this colour this weekend, normally nobody at work bothers but I had three today and two yesterday! I just adore it, but it wears badly on the tips which is not a look I like.

I'm just pondering my next polish choice for the start of the week, maybe I'll do this again next Sunday?!

xoxo

Topshop Nails

These two stunners are my first try of Topshop's beauty range, I know I'm waaay behind but my local Topshop isn't big enough to stock it so I've rarely seen it! On a little shopping trip this weekend in a bigger town I came across the new Smoke and Mirrors collection, Topshop's AW11 seasonal collection.

I was instantly drawn in by the mustard yellow shade on the left. Miss Marmelade, I think they've spelt it wrong because I also notice they spell duffel, duffle which is wrong, but I'm quoting from the bottle. I wasn't sure if the colour would suit me but I knew I had to try!

I actually love it, it makes my hands look a little pink but I don't care! What I like is it is a soft yellow which suit me a lot more that the bold vibrant yellows of the summer. I know the colour will divide your opinions but I'm obsessed! Application was perfect, the brush was little thin but two coats gave a nice even glossy finish.

The second colour is called Fallen Leaf. How appropriate for the change in season!

The two looked so perfect together on the shelf I picked up this one too! I love the dusty tone of the green, it's like looking into a forest from a distance. I felt like this colour offered a nice contrast to the mustard clothing that is in the shops, I'm sure I'll end up with a mustard coloured cardi this winter! Application was fab too, two coats was all that was needed.

I adore the packaging, I prefer it to the normal range which is also very cute. I love the bronze lettering and Aztec style brush handle.

I'm impressed with the quality and I will surely look at the rest of the range. The Smoke and Mirrors collection also featured some very nice lipsticks, not in the store I was in though, and bronzers. I haven't seen these two particular polishes online but there is a very attractive dark brown shade. They were £6 each.

Tell me what you think of Miss Marmelade!

xoxo

Nails Inc Battersea Power Station

Nails Inc's Battersea Power Station was recently very kindly and generously sent to me by the fab Leanne from  the Obsessive Cosmetics Disorder blog. We have bonded over our love of Nails Inc and shopping on QVC and Leanne had been watching my Nails Inc video and tweeted me that she had the perfect polish for me in her stash. Unused by Leanne, she offered to send it to a new home!

This polish was in a set on QVC that was designed to go with a range on handbags that they were selling. I loved the polish at the time but didn't commit to the whole four piece set. This particular one was designed with tan handbags and accessories in mind, another obsession of mine! 

I adore the colour, I'm reminded of milk chocolate as well as my favourite tan handbag! This colour is also perfect for complementing the rust colours that are featured in every high street shop this season and according to Pantone a complimentary shade to the Spring 2012 palette. I bought a teal coloured dress yesterday and this will work perfectly as a contrasting colour for my nails!

I know this polish will split opinion and have have seen less than rosy descriptions of the shade however I am quite smitten. The application was fab as usual, two coats, glossy finish and no colour dragging.

So thanks again to Leanne, you made my day!

xoxo

NOTD - Nails Inc Seven Dials

Seven Dials from Nails Inc is a bright shade of turquoise that leans more toward green than the blue. I've wanted this polish for a long time, I love the hue and it's totally different from other minty or blue polishes I have. My only issue, and it's not the polishes fault, is that my top coat tends to yellow the colour. I think it's something to do with it being a fast drying one. Love this for the winter! 

xoxo

Chanel Graphite Dupe-ish!

Ok so this isn't really a dupe but more inspired by!

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous from last years Swiss collection is a gorgeous gunmetal grey packed with shimmer. I have to admit this isn't my own bottle, it's my Mums hence no swatch as she has taken it back to her house and she lives abroad! I did borrow it while she was here and it looked stunning, very shimmery and clearly grey not black. 

I also don't have Chanel's Graphite to show you a comparison as I went to buy it earlier this week and it was already sold out! I have seen the polish and person, it has more of a gold tone to it along with the silver, hence not a direct dupe. If it doesn't come back into stock I'll get my own bottle of Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous!

Do you guys have either of these?

xoxo