Bits and bobs..

News, random stuff and things that have amused or interested me this week!

• I found the dress for my ball! :) I did have an idea of what I was looking for (a deep emerald green dress) but I just fell in love with this one. Also, it's definitely something I'll wear again. I just need to get shoes to go with it and I'm looking for something a little bit different so it could take a while. I'll post a photo of the whole outfit after the ball!
• It's RAG (Raise and Give) week in my college this week coming, hence I'm super busy this weekend trying to get all my college work out of the way! Haha! In all seriousness though, it's a great way to have fun and raise money for some really worthwhile charities. It's been great fun the last two years so I'm really looking forward to it!
• A blog that I really enjoy reading is Girl Without a Plan's http://tuesdaynightblog.wordpress.com/ If you haven't seen it before please check it out, it's well worth the read. Especially this post http://tuesdaynightblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/dear-world-thank-you-more-please/ which I found particularly inspiring!
• A song I've been really enjoying this week is Belle and Sebastian's 'I want the world to stop'. I don't love every song by this band (I'm not cool enough for that, I prefer ridiculously bad 70's/80's music haha) but I really liked this one.
• One of my friends mentioned Irish shoe designer Nina Divito and was shocked and appalled when she learned that I didn't have a clue who she was (I love my shoes, me) and rightly so!! I promptly googled her and her creations look amazing! Have a look for yourself here: http://www.rte.ie/fashion/2010/0203/diviton.html ( I particularly love the one with the rose) and check out her website here: http://ninadivito.com/news/
• After all this recession doom and gloom, I personally found the last few weeks even more depressing being continually bombarded with election news and political promises, posters everywhere (Even in my house.. ahem) and watching our politicians taking skelps (official term there) out of each other on the tv. However this video gave me a good laugh in the midst of it all!
• Sunshine! I saw sun this week for the first time in a very long time! And... it was WARM! Not the usual it's-sunny-but-still-the-wind-would-freeze-you-to-death weather we usually see here in Ireland. BRING ON THE SUMMER, I SAY!

Nom!! Because we all know Summer = Ice cream :)

Accessories!

Okay so I said I was going to try to update my wardrobe with things other than clothes and I've bought a few GORGEOUS (well I think so anyway) little bits and pieces lately which I think will definitely do the job.


This necklace is just so cute! And I LOVE cupcake stuff.
Penny's 2 euro.




Pennys 2/3 euro



Love this bag!! Floral canvas shopper that's big enough for my college books
15 euro in A/wear



Handbag 14.95 in H&M
It's tiny but fits the essentials when I'm going out and it's a bit different which is all I want!



Gorgeous oversized turquoise ring
4.95 euro in H&M



Hair clips 2.95 in H&M



Hair slides 3 euro in A/wear

 

Bangles with a lovely summery orange floral design on the main one. Florals are still everywhere this Spring/Summer
3.50 euro I think in Pennys!

Playing Cinderella

Final year in college is damn hard work.

I had a thesis to hand in at the beginning of January and that, combined with studying for my January exams nearly made me spontaneously combust with the pressure!

So I was pleasantly surprised  feckin' delighted when it was announced that we were going to have a proper college ball this semester. JOY!

Thing is I don't have a clue what to wear.

Last year, I wore my debs/grad dress cos it was amazingly beautiful... and I just wanted to wear it again! It's a turquoise coloured, full length, halter neck dress with a plunging back. I had it tailored and it just fits me so well...

         Obviously me + this dress = True Love                                   

There was an even mixture of people wearing debs dresses and cocktail dresses that year but since it was a ball I wanted to go all out. This year I'm sort of edging towards the same idea. The guys will all be in suits so they look formal and I feel like the girls should dress formally too. Also, I just want to get really dressed up again.                             

*Insert girlish squeal here*

Make-up wise I'm thinking of going for a real red carpet look; very natural foundation, black liquid liner on my top lash line and red lips. Simple but classic. Not too over-powering either. I hope.

Now I just have to get an amazing dress...  I have 18 days. The search begins now!!!

Beauty Haul- Part Two

Okay I'm finally getting around to the second half of this post.. Apologies! My camera has been sick but I think it's well enough to get back to work now ;-)

In this half I'm reviewing the body butter, 17 mirror shine lipstick in Flirtini, Rimmel nail Varnish in Cranberry Fizz and Maybelline the Falsies Volum' Express mascara in Black Drama.

1)  Boots Extracts Cocoa butter body butter.
I bought a really tiny tub of this cos I'm pretty choosy regarding body butter/ moisturisers and I wanted to check it out. I hate if they take ages to soak in or feel sticky so this tub was great as a tester. It was 3.49 euro. It's also fair trade product which is great.
I LOVED this.
It smelled great. A little bit chocolate-y maybe? It also did its job perfectly, moisturing really well without leaving that horrible sticky feeling and it dried in really quickly. My skin felt lovely and soft all day! I would definitely repurchase this.. just in a bigger tub! The bigger tub is about 11 euro I think.

2) 17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Flirtini
This is a deep pink colour.To be honest, I normally find lipsticks too drying on my lips.
But I figured if it was shiny like 17 claimed, it should have some sort of moisturising elements... which I'm very happy to report it does.



With flash - gives the best idea of the colour




Without flash



With flash




And finally, on the lips!


As you can hopefully see in the swatches above it's quite sheer but still gives a lovely colour and a glossy finish. I really like this shade and I think it's suitable for day or night.

3) Rimmel Lasting finish nail varnish in Cranberry Fizz
The colour immediately drew me to this.. It's exactly as the name describes a cranberry pinky-red colour.

It looks red here but believe me it's more of a pinky red! The daylight was gone when I took this picture.
It looks gorgeous on! It needed about 2 coats to be opaque and it was really shiny.
Regarding lasting finish, well I put on a base coat and its lasted a day and a bit so far with no chipping!

4) Maybelline the Falsies Volum' Express mascara in Black Drama
I already had the normal Maybelline the Falsies mascara but I saw this which claimed to be  darker, hence the Black Drama title .
and eh....
It was on offer, chaper than my normal Maybelline the Falsies mascara and I am a broke college student so...

 It was about 11 euro or so at the time I believe but I don't think this offer is on anymore



Spoon shaped brush



My lashes without mascara.



My lashes with two coats of this mascara

It's a bit odd trying to take pictures of your own eye isn't it?

Anyway,I have to say I was really disappointed with this mascara. After loving the original Maybelline the Falsies Volum' Express, this new Black Drama was a complete let down. It left mascara clumps in my lashes, stuck them together and they felt weighed down.. Not good!

*Shakes fist in anger at Maybelline lying to me and making me spend 11 euro on bad mascara*

Back to my other mascara I go..

Fashion Update

Okay so after my post-Christmas spending splurge I am a little pretty broke.

Unfortunetly Febuary is the month that all my friends seem to be turning 21 and March is my bithday (yay), along with Rag week in college (double yay) and  *cue trumpets* my best friend's homecoming.
Wow March is looking pretty great.

This isn't really unfortunate but fashion-wise it is disastrous.. I mean what am I gonna wear?? I know I sound like a girl, in a bad damsel-in-distress way. But many parties/gatherings that all the same people will be attending in a relatively short space of time... plus no money... You do the fashion maths.

So I'm hoping to transform my day time clothes into more going out/ party wear with the help of a few accessories. The first thing I bought is something I've been pondering buying for a looooong time.

Suspender tights.

Tights that look like suspenders essentially. I would love to be able to pull it off in such an awesome rock chick way as the lady above but it just doesn't really go with my style. Plus it's a little cold in Ireland for that. Instead I like to pair it with an interesting skirt that is sort of floaty (as opposed to form fitting) so as I move you get a glimpse of the suspender detail and there isn't TOO much thigh on show.

Mystery and all that!

I bought a pair by Pretty Polly tights in River Island for 10.50 euro but this weekend I also found very similar ones in Pennys for 3.50 euro and bought two pairs, as I have a habit of ripping/laddering all tights within my possession.

 *Sighs at own ineptitude*

 I think they can also be bought over on http://www.asos.com/.

Letter Love

I love letters.

When a letter arrives (that isn't from the bank or a mobile phone company that is) with my name on it I am very very excited.

I told a friend about this fixation during conversation one time, he very sweetly wrote me a letter (he's in a different country at the moment) telling me all his news that we didn't get to discuss on Skype.

                                                     Friends are awesome eh? :)

I know a lot of people blather on about letter writing and how it's a lost art and so on. I'm not here to say any of that, just to express my own personal love of letters and everything about them, the fresh white envelopes, the cute stationary and dare I say it.... STAMPS!

Yes.

I love stamps.

Also it is possibly the biggest regret of my life so far that I didn't visit the pen museum in Paris last summer.

*Sob*

Anyway, I decided to pass on this lovely piece of joy and write a letter to my best friend who is also living in a different country this year, coz she has been a-mah-zing lately while I've been going through a rough patch.

                                                 Spread the love, Write a letter!

Valentines weekend/day!

Okay so I may not be coupled up this year but I'm still a total sucker for Valentines day (shh it's a secret). I love seeing couples all happy and loved up. And yes it makes me a teeny bit jealous sometimes, hey if it didn't I wouldn't be human right? But usually seeing all those happy people gives me hope :)

Happy Valentines weekend/day!!   xxx

Beauty Haul -Part One

Along with my recent crazy clothes haul I also went crazy in Boots.

 (Why yes, I am a model of self-restraint...)

Here we have Rimmel I love Lasting finish in Cranberry Fizz, 17 lipstick in Flirtini, Prestige Total Intensity eyeliner in Deepest Black, 17 Solo eyeshadow in Regal, 17 trio Starry eyes eyeshadow in Galactic, Maybelline The Falsies effect new Black drama mascara, Boots Botanics Detox brush and Boots cocoa butter.

*Blushes*

I was having a bad day. Exam Blues!

We see a clear divide between need ( body butter, eyeliner, body brush) and want (lipstick, eyeshadows, mascara, nail varnish). In my defence it was 3 for the price of 2 on the 17 things so the lipstick was free. But I digress..

Due to the amount of products and all I have to say on them I think I'm going to split this into two posts.

In this post I will talk about the eye make up: The Prestige eyeliner and the 17 eyeshadows.

1. Prestige Total Intensity eyeliner in Deepest Black

I love this eyeliner. Where has it been all my life?? It really is deepest black as the colour pay off is excellent, better than anything I've used before. It's lovely and creamy too. It smudges well and lasts all day.

The one tiny thing that may be a problem is that it lasts TOO well. It can be a bit dificult to remove. However when I used my proper No.7 eye make up remover as opposed to the cheapy one I usually use at college it was fine to remove so this may have been the eye make up remover I was using rather than the eyeliner. At least you know it won't budge easily unlike some other eyeliners I have used *cough cough* Essence, I'm looking at you! 

I will definitely repurchase. And possibly buy the lovely navy version i saw yesterday in Boots.. ahem, when I'm not so broke =D

2. 17 Solo eyeshadow in Regal

It was the colour that really drew me to this product unfortunetly you can't see it very well in the above picture!! I love doing a dark smoky eye for nights out but I'm getting a little predictable with my trusty grey and black shades so I thought this would be a different take on it.

Its a midnight blue shade with some shimmer but it's not excessive. I have to say it is an absolutely fabulous colour, it looks dark from far away but closer up you can see the lovely midnight blue shade. I would recommend you put this shadow on before make-up though because there is quite a lot of fall-out on application. A lick of primer (I use Urban Decay Primer Potion) ensures it stays perfectly on your lids. Love it!

3. 17 trio Starry eyes eyeshadow in Galactic

I was really excited about this product. I have hazel eyes and green is supposed to make them 'pop'. I much rather focusing on my eyes than my lips so this sounded good to me!

The trio contains 3 shimmery colours; a sort of gold champagne colour, a sage green colour and a fabulous deep emerald green. In the container they look very cool together. However on the eyelid, not so much. The first two shades seemed very similar to me when applied, in fact I thought they looked the same. when I applied the third colour, emerald green I thought that the three colours didnt really go well together. The emerald green looked far too dark with the two lighter colours.

I was disappointed that the colours didnt go better together but they are still perfectly nice shades. The first two I think I'll use as daytime shadows and the intersting emerald green I'll probably use as a twist on the smoky eye look.

Part two coming soon!!

 

Busy Being Fabulous

Due to a hectic first week back in college, I haven't gotten a chance to post anything, gah! Busy, busy!! However, I have been enjoying wearing my lovely new clothes.. makes the drudgery of lectures bearable! ^.^

I'm using this weekend to organise myself and properly plan a few posts

But in the meantime please enjoy these pretty pictures I found on http://www.weheartit.com/



I won't lie I got rather excited when I saw these cupcakes.. <3 Hello Kitty!