New Year at Butlin's - NYE Take One

Dress - ASOS (now in the sale)

Shoes - Topshop (old)

New Year’s Eve always warrants a spectacular party dress doesn’t it?  That’s what I thought but after about two minutes of wearing this outfit at a family based holiday park, I felt extremely overdressed.  I don’t think there’s anything particularly promiscuous about this outfit but for me, there’s a lot more flesh on show than normal.  Knowing I would feel uncomfortable if I wore this all night I soon got changed.

That’s not to say I don’t love this dress though because I do!  I wore it for my work’s Christmas party and felt amazing.  The party was prom themed and this dress definitely fits that bill with it’s pretty neckline and sweet little bows.  After the party a lot of people asked where the dress was from so lots of compliments too.  If you do like it, it’s now in the ASOS sale for a fantastic £17.50 so I would definitely recommend a purchase.

I was rather gutted that I couldn’t wear this dress for NYE but comfort is really important to me.  If I don’t feel comfortable I don’t feel confident and confidence is vital to making an outfit look good (cheesy but true!).  It was just a case of right dress, wrong time.  Read my next post for NYE Outfit Take Two.

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New Year at Butlin's - Night One

Peplum top - Primark

Disco pants - American Apparel

Boots - Jeffrey Campbell Lita Boots (no harness)

Necklace - New Look

Rings - Primark

Nails - Essie Beyond Cozy

I will start by saying Happy New Year and thank you for reading my first post of 2013.  I hope you had a good one... I know I certainly did!  I went to Butlin’s with my boyfriend and friends and had a fantastic time.  Think what you like about the place (I know a lot of people think it’s very uncool) but I love it.  Me and my family go almost every year and we always have a great time no matter what our age.  This is what I wore for drinks and (party) dancing the first night.

I love my new American Apparel Disco Pants!  I’d wanted them for ages but couldn’t bear to part with the money so when Santa offered to get me them I thought why not?  I know I will be wearing them with everything over the coming months so you will see them featured in a lot in future posts.  After taking these pics I noticed my boots didn’t really go with the outfit so I changed them.  I put mosts of my outfits together using ‘trial and error’ and I think it’s the best way to see if things work.

As for hair and make up, I thought I would change it up and wear my hair poker straight for once.  I hardly ever do this but I love the way it looks when I do, especially with some vampy dark lipstick.  New Year’s resolution maybe: more straight hair?

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Seasons Greetings

001.  Quality Streets!

002.  Cracker toys

003.  Table decorations

004.  Presents

005.  Nice hat!

Christmas is over.  Can you believe it?  It’s my favourite time of the year and it came and went far too quickly for my liking.  I hardly felt Christmassy and didn’t have time to do any of my normal traditions this year, such as watching as many xmas movies as possible and spending all of my time at the shops.  Nonetheless, Christmas Eve came and I did feel suitably festive and I had a great couple of days (see my snapshots above).

Today was my first day back to work which has totally thrown my body clock.  I’ve got the Monday blues on a Friday.  What’s the deal with that?  All of the seasonal partying has caught up with me and I’ve been exhausted today.  Plus, to make matters worse, all of my beauty routines have been replaced with ‘falling asleep drunk with my make up on’ so I have a face which looks like a pizza and it’s really sore :( ouch!

And that’s not the end of it for my poor skin as on Sunday I’m off to Butlin’s to see in the New Year, which means more alcohol, more bad food and more naughty beauty habits.  I’m going to try and get one or two product reviews in before I go but if not I shall have lots to update you with once I’m back.  Hope you all have a great New Year!

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The not so secret Santa

Dress - Primark

Bag - Faith

Boots - Jeffrey Campbell Lita Boots

Lipstick - MAC Saigon Summer

Nails - OPI Don't Mess With OPI

This is what I wore for my secret Santa night with the girls.  It’s our annual tradition to all get together, exchange presents, drink plenty of wine and then hit the town.  This year I managed to let slip who I’d bought for just before we were about to start and everyone worked out who had who.  My bad!  Despite that we all had a really good, really drunken, night and I love my presents from my secret Santa.  I’ll be sure to blog about what I got along with my other Christmas presents too (ooo - not long now!)

Anyway, on to the outfit.  My dress was from Primark, which after a dry spell I think now has some amazing stuff in.  I’m not really a black dress sort of person but if ever there’s a time to pull out a LBD it’s Christmas isn’t it?  I paired the dress with my lovely Lita boots and finished the look with a slick of orange/coral lipstick to give my outfit a pop of colour.  I had my hair cut and blow-dried but after doing some last minute Christmas shopping in the rain all day I shouldn’t have bothered.  I do love my vintage style curl however!  I think it adds a little something extra to my outfit.

I shall wish you all a Merry Christmas as I won’t be doing anything involving a laptop, mobile phone or iPad tomorrow!  Christmas Day is family day in our house.  Hope you have a good one and the fat man is kind to you all.

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Benefit The POREfessional

Benefit The POREfessional (£23.50)*

My first experience with make up primers was awful.  I can’t remember the exact name of the first one I used but it was a drug-store, clear, gel-like product which made my make up look worse not better.  The primer appeared to have wore off in patches by the end of the day and all of my make up went with it, giving me a ‘leper-like’ appearance.  You can imagine why I therefore deemed primers a pointless product.

Oh how my opinion changed when Benefit The POREfessional came into my life.  I could no longer ignore the hype about this miracle product and had to give it a try.  It glides onto your skin effortlessly making it feel silky smooth and prepped for foundation.  My skin seems brighter when wearing the product and my make up definitely lasts longer - all day in fact!  I can certainly see the difference if I miss this step from my morning routine.  

The only thing that I don’t love is the price.  At £23.50 for 22ml, this little beauty is very expensive.  Benefit have recently introduced a value size version which is double the product for £29.50 but it’s limited edition and has been sold out for ages otherwise I would have stocked up.  You’d probably find me buying this product if it was payday or I was feeling thrifty but when I’m not, I will be looking for cheaper alternatives that do the same job.

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Bourjois Paris Express Eye Make Up Remover

Bourjois Paris Express Eye Make Up Remover (£4.99)

I have as much trouble removing my eye make-up as I do perfecting it.  I’m paranoid about getting wrinkles so when it comes to cleansing my eyes I like to do as little rubbing as possible, which for me means finding a product that dissolves make up without applying too much pressure.  Bourjois Paris Express Eye Make Up Remover is a two phase formula: phase one (the blue liquid) contains oil components which remove even waterproof mascara and phase two (the clear liquid) is water based and designed to leave your peepers feeling fresh.  

This product claims to work in ‘one swipe’ of a pad but it does take a little more work than that.  I found that soaking two pads with the liquid and letting them rest on the eyes for a little worked best.  Overall, it did a good job of removing my mascara.  I think £4.99 is a great price for this product.  It lasted me two months and I used it almost every day.  You may have a little trouble finding this in the skincare aisle as in most Boots and Superdrug stores they keep it on the Bourjois make up stand.  Also, another word of warning, be careful when opening the bottle.  I was a little too forceful with the plastic ball on the top and it snapped off, leaving it almost impossible to open without breaking a nail!

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Benefit They're Real! mascara

Benefit They’re Real! mascara (18.50)*

I’m not normally too fussed about paying loads for wonder mascaras as I always rely on fake lashes when I want to enhance my eyes.  I’ve never used a mascara that really lives up to it’s claims...until now.  Benefit They’re Real! mascara is simply amazing.  It works wonders on my stumpy little lashes, making them longer, fuller and thicker.  This will sound like such a cliche but the first day I wore this mascara someone asked me if I was wearing falsies to which I replied “they’re real!” (cheesy I know.)  At £18.50 this mascara is so expensive but it works so well and I will definitely be re-purchasing it.  My picture doesn’t do it justice and please excuse the black and white tint.  It’s a cop-out but my skin is awful at the minute and my camera loves picking up every imperfection!

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