A snowy walk

A couple of weeks ago I took my camera out with me for a walk in the snow.  Normally it's too cold to stay out for long enough to take pictures but the temperature was just about warm enough to spend a few extra minutes outdoors.  So on our way to a cafe for some lunch I snapped some snow!

I love fairy lights and what could be more romantic than fairy lights, snow and a swing?!  I definitely needed that cup of tea to warm up after taking pictures in the cold though!

Z for Accessorize necklaces

Ever since I spotted the Z for Accessorize range in the Accessorize shop in the summer I've been a fan.  I love delicate jewellery and everything in this range is just that, super delicate with some sparkle.  I really wanted to buy something but it's really hard to choose when there are so many lovely pieces and the jewellery is slightly pricey, so buying a few different pieces wasn't an option.  Luckily quite a few lovely things were in the post Christmas sale so I managed to get two beautiful necklaces!

The blue stones really sparkle and look lovely against the gold plated chain.  I got a long necklace and a shorter layered necklace which basically has the same stones on it as the long one plus a crystal and gold circle on a chain.  Both the necklaces have a little Z gold tag on the end which is a nice touch.  The shorter chain actually wasn't in the sale but the store I went to had put it in the sale section with a half price sticker on it by mistake!  Lucky for me they said they had to honour the fact it said half price on it even though when they rang it through the till it had come up full price.

I really love both these necklaces.  The long one is really good for prettying up a plain outfit or jumper and the short one looks great with any kind of V-neck or open necked blouse.  I couldn't find the long one on the Accessorize website but the shorter one still is,.  Obviously it is full price as it was meant to still be in the current range!
I was even inspired to buy myself some gold chain and dark blue beads to try to make my own delicate jewellery so look out for that in a future post!

My new Cath Kidston bags

Hello!

I hope you are coping with the month of January OK.  It's a dark long month isn't it?  I think being busy at work, whilst stressful at times, is helping the month to go by faster.  I'm already trawling the internet for pictures of beaches and sunshine though.
I wanted to post about a couple of bags I've recently acquired.  One was a Christmas present from my brother and the other I bought in the boxing day sales.  I have had a love for Cath Kidston for a few years now.  Whilst there's a part of me that longs for everything to be white and pale and minimalist I can't help but also be drawn to the 50's floral patterns that adorn everything in the Cath Kidston stores.  There's something so cheerful and cozy about them.  I do struggle to find I can afford the prices in there so every time the sales come around I come out of the store with something.
The most common Cath Kidston purchase is probably a handbag.  I can justify spending money on a Cath Kidston handbag because I find that they last really well.  They are also really light.  If there's one thing I can't stand with a bag it's it being heavy even when it's empty.  I hate having a heavy handbag pulling on my shoulder and am very susceptible to neck and shoulder pain if I'm not careful.  These Cath Kidston bags are made from the oil cloth fabric which is very light, almost weightless.  The oil cloth is also water resistant so you don't have to worry about any belongings getting damp in the rain.  The fabric of the bags I've been using for a while now has no damage to the outside or the fabric handles.  I've found them to be extremely durable.
Because of my neck problems I try to use a hand held handbag when ever possible so I went for the white floral handbag in the sale to replace a dotty green one I'd had for a couple of years.  The green one is still completely usable I just really wanted a new pattern!  This hand bag is slightly roomier than the green one I own and has a pocket on the outside which is useful as I like to keep my keys or oyster card there within easy reach.  It also has loops on the outside which I assume means you could add a shoulder strap if you wanted to.  It would be useful to also have a pocket on the inside but I have a handbag organiser that fits inside this really easily so it's not needed.
The other handbag with the shoulder strap was the Christmas present and it's also really useful for times when I want a strap.  I tend to prefer to use a handbag with a shoulder strap when I'm going to be in a busy city for example because I feel more secure.  I love the red print with the birds on it, I haven't seen that print in Cath Kidston before.  It's a really good size to fit just your essentials in, you wouldn't want it to be any bigger and pull on your shoulder even more.
I'm really pleased with these bags and can't wait to take them out with me in the coming year!

Mottos for 2016 and a Clinique eyeshadow purchase

Hi there!  Happy 2016!  I can't believe we're already in to the second week of January.  This part of the year is really busy for the theatre as we have a lot of shows.  It's been go go go since I got back from the Christmas holidays which means I haven't had much time to think about New Years resolutions and the like.until this past weekend.  I've been thinking about something like, I should try to follow what brings me joy.  That applies to so many things in my life, including my blog.  I've been trying to think about which direction I want to take my blog in.  Do I want to try to turn in to a job?  Should it be beauty based, lifestyle based, advice based....?  Ultimately I think I have come to the conclusion that I should just write here for myself about whatever I feel I want to write about.  If I enjoy what I'm writing than I think the posts will be better.  So I plan to focus on that for now and see what direction it takes me in!  Perhaps I will write a more in depth post about how this also applies to other areas in my life but for now I'll leave the deeper thoughts here.
Something that has been bringing some joy in to my life lately has been make-up.  Our local department store had a sale on again (they seem to have one every couple of months now!) and I spotted some eyeshadows that were on sale at the Clinique counter.  I swiped them all and decided that two were the prettiest, at dusk and foxier.  They were still relatively pricey though for single eyeshadows so I decided to think on it.  After a couple of stressful days of work I felt like I needed a treat (who doesn't!) and decided to spend some the hard earned cash on one of these eyeshadows if they were still available.  Both were and though I loved them both I went with the more unusual shade of the two, at dusk.

This is such a stunningly pretty golden shade with some orangey copper tones in it that just seemed to glisten in the light when I swatched it on my hand.  I own a Clinique travel palette which was a gift and contains four eyeshadows and the quality of those eyeshadows is great.  I find them really soft and highly pigmented, in fact they are my favourite powder eyeshadows that I own.  So I always planned to buy myself some more Clinique eyeshadows one day.  Despite the slightly unusual shade I definitely would be comfortable wearing this day or night.  It would be glam for a night out,  winged out all over the lid for a golden shimmer that could work well with a bold lip for drama and subtle enough to just highlight the eye with simpler make-up during the day.  I already wore this out once for a lunch date at the weekend and can't wait to wear it to work to cheer myself up on these cold winter days.  There might not be much golden sunshine right now, but you can make-up for it (pun intended) with some golden shimmer on your eye!  If only it came with added vitamin D :)

Dark lipsticks for Winter

Hello there!  Happy New Year!  I hope you had a great Christmas holiday.

A few weeks ago I wrote this post about things to do when the days get shorter.  One of the things I wrote about was changing up your make-up.  Now that we are deep in to winter I thought I would elaborate on some of the ways I change up my make-up for winter time.  Wearing dark lipstick is one of my favourite things about winter as I think you can get away with it more in the darker months.  I only really felt brave enough to try out some darker lipsticks last winter so I don't have many in my collection yet.  Here are some of the ones I have been using recently.

L'oreal Blake's Pure Red - I bought this lipstick because I wanted a blue toned red in my collection.  It isn't super dark but is still much darker than the more orange toned reds I own.  It's highly pigmented which is good and relatively matte which helps it to last longer on the lips.  It's quite strongly scented, the scent reminds me of parma violets which I like but it could put some people off.  A great date night red.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick by Kate in shade 107 - A recent purchase, I wrote about it here.  Even darker than the Blake's red, it is even more blue toned, almost purple toned.  The formula is similar to the L'oreal one in that it is relatively matte but this formula is creamier as well.  This is also strongly scented!  One of my favourite shades right now that I wish I could wear more often.  I need to go on more nights out!

Topshop Lip Bullet in Get Me Bodied -  I'm wearing this in photo above.  I love this dark plum shade.  I bought it recently in the Topshop sale, it was a mini lipstick in a Christmas bauble.  For a mini you still get quite a lot of lipstick and it fits so easily in to a small bag.  It is matte giving it longevity but you definitely will want to moisturise your lips before you wear it or it will cling to any dry places.

Misslyn Shade 119 - The creamiest of the four as it is not a matte shade.  This is the first dark lipstick I bought.  I decided to buy it because it was relatively cheap and I was not sure how a dark lipstick would work for me.  This is the darkest shade of the lot and although it is more comfortable to wear on the lips it is not as long lasting.  The pigmentation is good though and the shade is a super glam, super dark plum for when you want to make a bold statement!


If you're going to go for dark lipstick and are relatively pale like me I find you need to add some blusher to warm up your complexion so it doesn't look too draining.  I also like to make sure I'm wearing a bit of eye liner or else I find my eyes disappear a bit!

Do you turn to a dark lip in the colder months?  Do you have any recommendations of other lipsticks in the dark plum shade I might like?  I hope you're having a great start to 2016!