Statement Rings For Summer :)

Hi Ladies!

This summer I have really been enjoying wearing chunky statement rings, I think they're a great way of jazzing up a plain outfit both on an evening and during the daytime! Rings are not something I would usually buy from the highstreet, but you can pick up some real bargains and a little clear nail varnish around the inside usually keeps any green finger marks at bay! So here are three recently purchased rings which I absolutely loving lately :)

I picked up this ring from republic a couple of weeks ago, Its a gorgeous chunky cream coloured heart. This is my most worn of the three, it really goes with the nude/pastel colour trend of this summer and looks lovely with pretty much everything!

This next ring was a primark bargain at only £2.00, Its a lovely chunky rose pink stone set on a gold coloured base. The cut of the stone gives it a slight sparkle, and I've loved wearing this ring during the day with summery print skirts and dresses :)

and last but not least this super sparkly ring from Claires Accessories. The few times I have been out on an evening this summer I have mainly been wearing yellow gold accessories, but if I ever decide to go for silver accessories this bobby dazzler is almost always the ring I reach for. I've been really impressed with the quality of this ring, It is the oldest of the three and looks just as good as it did on the first day I bought it - Thumbs up for Claires!

Which accessories have you been loving so far this summer?

Have a fabulous weekend!

My top 4 summer MAC eyeshadows :)

Hi Ladies,

I thought I would share with you, the MAC eyeshadows which I have been reaching for the most this summer! Quite often during the summer I prefer to skip the eyeshadow in my makeup routine and just wear a bit of powder on my eye lids and a touch of liquid liner but since coming back from my holiday (with a touch of a tan!) I've really enjoyed wearing warm, neutral eyeshadows, golds and bronzes :) So on to my top 4!

They are, from top right clockwise, Patina (frost), All that glitters (veluxe pearl), Time and Space (frost) and Naked Lunch (frost).

These 4 eyeshadows are definitely from the same MAC family. Patina is a dusty ash brown, with a slighty golden sheen. It is a great shadow for adding a little extra definition to the outer, and looks lovely blended with pretty much any neural eyeshadow! Time and Space is from the neo sci fi collection, and although its not available anymore I have spotted items from the neo sci fi collection in CCO's before so you might be able to pick it up there! Like patina it is a frost, and although It is quite similar in tone, it is a slightly richer more copper brown. Naked Lunch is one of my all time favourite eyeshadows, It is a super pretty pearly pink which complements so many other colours. All that glitters is a rich, shimmering peachy pink. I find all that glitters a little hard to work with on my paler skintone in the colder months, but with a little bit of a tan during the summer it looks lovely!

My current favourite combo is naked lunch all over the lid, with all that glitters blended into the crease and outer corner. Such a lovely shimmery natural look! All that glitters is only a touch darker than naked lunch so blended into the crease it provides just a touch of extra defintion. Perfect for a daytime, neutral eye look. If you have these two shadows give it a go and let me know what you think! :)

What are your favourite MAC eyeshadows this summer?

Have a fabulous week!

How To: Messy fishtail braid with a twist :)

Hi Ladies,

I just thought I'd share with you one of the ways I have been wearing my hair lately (and give you a quick how to!) Its a super messy fish tail braid, secured with a hair wrap at the top and a bow at the bottom :)

I love messy fish tail braids, I think they look really relaxed and beachy for summer. Although fishtail braids can take a bit of practice, once you get the hand of it they're actually quite quick and easy to do, and the great thing about messy fishtail braids is even if you do go a bit wrong - it doesn't matter! :)

So, Time for the How to!

Step 1 Take all of your hair over to one side and split into two even sections. Don't worry if some of your hair wont reach round to one side, this will contribute to the messy look and you will need keep a section of loose hair to wrap wrong the top of the braid later on :)

Step 2 Take a piece of hair from the back one of your two sections, pass it over the top of this section and add it to your other section of hair. Repeat this step, this time taking the piece of hair from the other section of hair, passing it over the top and adding to the other section. Then keep repeating, alternating between the two sections untill you are happy with the length of your braid. If you are learning to fishtail braid, I find its easier to practice this without looking in the mirror, then once you have finished - have a look and see how you have got on!

Step 3 Secure your braid at the bottom with a regular hair bobble, I then added a hair bow from H&M to hide the bobble :)

Step 4 Fish tail braids tend to start off a lot looser than a regular braid, and although we want it to be messy, we don't want it to fall out! To secure the braid take a longer strand of the loose hair you left at the beginning of the braid and wrap tightly around the top of the fishtail braid, once you have completely wrapped the piece of hair around the top of the braid secure the end with a hair grip. (you can probably see this the best in the 3rd and 1st pictures) I think this looks really cute and gives the braid a bit of a twist.

Step 5 Lightly spray the braid with hairspray (I use loreal ellnet normal strength) and you are ready to go!

and there we have it! I hope this was helpful, let me know it you try it and it you would like more hair related how to's :)

Holiday Outfit Of The Day - Playsuit!

Hello ladies,

I just thought I'd share with you my favourite outfit from my recent holiday. I love this outfit so much that I have worn it twice since I got home - Its cute, comfortable and easy to dress up or down. Of course its a playsuit!

Playsuit - Boutique in Fenwicks

Sandals - French Connection

Clutch - Marks and Spencer

Gold Bangles - River Island

I picked up this playsuit from a concession inside fenwicks called boutique for £25.00. I love the cute floral pattern, and it is both floaty and fitted - perfect for summer! Since coming home I have worn this playsuit over a pair of plain black leggins when it was a little cooler, and would happily team it with a pair of tan wedges for a night out, a great vesitile addition to my wardrobe :)

What do you think of playsuits? Hope you're having a fab week!

My Holiday Essentials :)

Hi Ladies!

I'm back! I had a super lovely holiday, the hotel we stayed in was amazing - It was right on the seafront with its own stretch of beach, and a lovely pool and gardens. I feel completely chilled out and relaxed now, I didn't want to come home!

So I thought I'd show you the products/makeup which I used the most on holiday, as I thought it might be helpful for anyone who is about to go on their holidays (lucky you!). I tried to take literally the essentials (to keep the luggage weight down and to stop my boyfriend from freaking out - he wasn't pleased when he saw the 8 different nail polishes I decided to take with me after nearly forgetting all of my holiday money - whoops!).

My hair care routine is normally pretty extensive and although I did take a couple more products on holiday the two I was really pleased to have packed in my suitcase were Mark Hill's heat protection spray and Chi's Silk Infusion. I bought the mini chi silk infusion from ebay after hearing so many good things about it. I didn't want to splash out and buy the full size as it is a little pricy and I am pretty picky when it comes to haircare. I used this a few times before I went on holiday and wasn't overly impressed, but decided to take it on holiday and give it a proper try seen as it was perfect travel size and now I love it! It really made a difference to the texture of my hair which was pretty dry from the sun, sea and sand and daily washing! I applied a tiny bit to the ends of my hair before blow drying for super silky locks :) The Mark hill heat protection does exactly what it says on the tin - its not overly scented like some heat protectants I have previously used, and it works well on dry and wet hair :)

I used Blistex Intense Moisturiser morning and night, as my lips get really dry on holiday. This works perfectly I can still feel it on my lips in the morning and it has an added spf which is always a plus - Although I did use a sunblock for my lips during the day too :)

I didn't want to take a full bottle of eye makeup remover so I took these tesco sensitive skin eye makeup remover wipes and they worked a treat! gentle and effective - even on waterproof mascara!

During the day I was completely makeup free, and tried to keep it pretty simple on an evening too. I picked up MAC's Stereo Rose MSF the day before I went on holiday and I'm so glad I did, it looked perfect with a little bit of a tan, and gave me lovely glowing pinky coral cheeks. I also took a MSF natural + shimmer which I picked up at a CCO instead of my usual MSF natural, so that I could use the shimmer as a highlighter and avoid taking unnecessary extra makeup! As it happens the lovely glow from my shiney new stereo rose meant a highlight wasn't really necessary but I did use the MSF natural on my T zone to get rid of any shininess and to help keep my makeup in place :) Benefit Hoola is my holy grail bronzer, which got just as much use on holiday as it does at home! and my mascara of choice was Rimmels Lash Max in brown which my sister picked me up for my birthday (thanks Liv!). This is a comb mascara which I'm not usually too keen on, but its not clumpy at all and applies perfectly. Also as its a brown mascara, it helped keep my makeup a little more subtle and natural. I'm not usually a fan of number 7 products but their eye base is fantastic and kept my eyeshadow in place perfectly.

For eyeshadow, I mainly used my Stila Marrakesh palette. This is a great size for travelling and has for lovely warm colours in it. I particularly like the dusty pink in the top left corner, I don't normally wear pink eyeshadow but this one looks really natural and pretty as an all over lid colour. MAC's Corduroy and Naked Lunch are two of my all time favourites, Corduroy is the perfect matt brown and looks great in the outer corner blended with pretty much any eyeshadow! Smashboxes champagne is a new favourite, the perfect light gold - lovely as an all over lid colour, I also used it blended with Corduroy in the outer corner for a little extra definition.
and finally, a couple of hair accessories! I am obsessed with hair bows, and these black satin ones from H&M were perfect for clipping back my fringe in the heat. I picked up the plaited floral headband in primark for £1.00 and wore it most days to keep my hair off my face whilst swimming and lounging around on the beach :)

and thats everything! I hope this was helpful, I have quite a few OOTD's from my holidays coming up, I think I might pop them all together in one post so watch out for that coming soon. Let me know what your holiday essentials are and have a lovely holiday if you're going soon :)

Current Favourites :)

Hi Ladies! :)

I thought I would update you on some of my current favourites, I was going to call this my June favourites (I've never done monthly favourites before - How late am I on that bandwagon!) but realistically my favourite products don't change that dramatically from month to month (I'm a creature of habit) so current favourites it is! Right enough of me waffling - lets get started!

First up - Smashbox single eyeshadow in champagne

I adore this eyeshadow, and have been wearing it non stop for the past couple of months. It is a lovely light soft gold perfect for day and night. I've been wearing it all over the lid with a little eyeliner during the day (when I've woken up late!) and on a couple of night out blended with MAC's Knight divine and carbon for the perfect black and gold smokey eye - I love it! Smashbox eyeshadows are pretty pricey at £14.00 for a single eyeshadow - ouch! but I have been so impressed with this one that I am definitely going to try a couple more once I have some more pennies :)

Benefit Eye Bright

Yes, yes this was a glamour magazine freebie but this is actually my 3rd eye bright, one of few benefit products which I use on a regular basis. I use this on my inner corner, and it is an absolute life saver on bleary eyed mornings! The formulation of this is lovely and creamy but be careful if you take it on holiday or out on a sunny day it melts like crazy! I tend to pop mine in the fridge every now and again, which makes it even more lovely and cooling on my eyes in a morning! :)
Mac Hue Lipstick

Hue is such a lovely, easy to wear lipstick. I can highly recommend it to anyone who has never tried lipstick before (for many years I was strictly a gloss only girl!) its definitely a my lips but better colour - Really pretty and glossy and perfect for summer, this lives in my handbag at the moment!

and thats all for now! I am jetting off into the sunshine on holiday today for a week (eeek need to pack - why am I so last minute?!) so I apologise in advance for my upcoming lack of blogging, I will back next week with lots of lovely holiday related posts :)

(photo from www.weheartit.com)

See you in a week!

Outfit Of the Day 4 - Sunny, Summery Shopping!

Hi Ladies,

I went shopping today for last minute bits and bobs for my holiday, so I just thought I'd share my outfit with you :) It was lovely and sunny, but blowing a gale at times so apologies about my hair being a bit all over the place!

Stonewash oversized denim shirt - New Look (this is on offer for £10 at the moment - bargain alert!)

Long black vest top - New look

Leggins - Primark

Sandals - French Connection

Sunglasses (on my head!) - Marc by Marc Jacobs

I love this denim shirt, its a really light stonewash - perfect for summer and has fabulous lace detail on the shoulders, its nice and comfy for throwing on and lounging around in! I straightened my hair for the first time in ages today, and went minimal on the makeup - a little eyeliner, brown mascara and bronzer then a pop of colour with viva glam gaga on the lips! My shopping trip was not very successful at all, I was hoping to pick up lots of shorts, t shirts and beachy things from primark but they had hardly any stock at all (must have been a busy weekend!).

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend :)