Cameos and Espadrilles: January 2011

Sunday, 30 January 2011

Barry M Nail Paint in Red Glitter

I wanted this nail paint since around about November, I thought it would be a lovely Christmassy colour to cheer me up through the cold, snowy season but I couldn't get it for love nor money! Seems everyone else had the same thought, and before me too!

I finally got it though, very excited to see it on the shelf in Boots. I was a touch worried that maybe it would look Christmassy, and therefore silly a month after the big day but it doesn't, in fact i've now decided that it's my replacement for never having any ruby slippers that I coveted like mad from Dorothy! Irregular Choice have a beautiful pair of ruby slippers but they're a touch too expensive at the minute after I splashed out on those Swedish Hasbeens so the £2.95 nail paint by Barry M will have to quench my need for ruby red sparkles.

I apologise that the left hand is out of focus, it honestly didn't look like that on the camera screen. But I think you'll agree it's a lovely shade of red. I've had red nail polish before and it's not really suited me but this is lovely and really suits my pale skin tone.

I'll only ever use Barry M nail paint, other nail polishes tend to chip straight away or look really thin and streaky but Barry M is perfect, just apply two coats that glide on smoothly and give even coverage with a beautiful, professional finish.

What a week and a half!

I promise i'll post properly later, I have a nail polish review for you all but first I have to ring my mother as she's just text me to tell me my sister has FINALLY, a week late, gone into hospital to have her baby. So exciting but also very sad that i'm all the way in Southampton and won't get to see my new little niece until Easter. Then I need to go out and buy a congratulations card and get that sent off along with two birthday cards for two of my nephew's who both are turning nine in February, and I need a newspaper. But I promise once that's done you shall get a proper post.

But first I thought i'd show you some photographs that i've taken over the last week and a half, you lucky things!

Ok so if you read my last post you'll know i've fallen in love with my new night cream but here's the body moisturiser I use too. Aveeno is completely natural and completely amazing. I'll post a review later this week for those who want to know more.

This is my Truly Madly Deeply college letter Tee, I love how oversized an comfortable it is.

Ahh the most beautiful French Macaroons from Cocoa in Brighton. They are from top to bottom, strawberry, pistachio and coffee. They are the cutest little French patisserie, if you're ever in Brighton then I would recommend a visit, they're just down from the train station.

My new Pastry's!! These are the trainers designed by Angela and Vanessa Simmons, and for those who are big fans of Run DMC or Run's House on MTV will know that they are the daughters of Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons. I've wanted them for so long and they were on sale in Foot Locker and I couldn't resist. My first pair of trainers in about seven or eight years, I think you'll agree I made a good choice!

This is a beautiful knee length vintage dress that I bought from the Frock Me vintage fair in Brighton a week ago. It was love at first sight and cost a tiny £10. It was most definitely coming home with me! I haven't had chance to wear it yet but that's mainly due to the fact that it has a silk lining which kind of makes me cringe so i'm thinking of either removing the lining or buying a vest so that it doesn't touch my skin.

Here's a couple more T-shirt's i've been wearing this week. The top one is by BOY London from Urban Outfitters, and the bottom one is by Lazy Oaf, I love it because it's Pierrot, even though no doubt i'll have to explain just who Pierrot is to most people!

And last but most definitely NOT least. You'll be pleased to hear that I FINALLY got my hands on some Swedish Hasbeens! Look how beautiful they are. As soon as they arrived I just sat on my bed wearing them for about an hour. And they are so comfortable! Even though I haven't yet worn them enough for the leather to soften, I'll put them on with an outfit in the next couple of days so that you can see the full affect.

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend.

Tuesday, 25 January 2011

Soap and Glory - Night Cream in Shining Armour

It came to my attention recently that night cream is not just something grandma's use (think Pond's cold cream) or even something that as I once believed is utterly useless and a way for companies to get more money out of gullible women who are terrified of getting and looking older.

No night cream has become this girls new best friend. Yes I may only be 22 and i'm not too worried about wrinkles at the minute but I can honestly say after only a week using my new Soap and Glory night cream, that my skin has never looked or felt better.

Let me explain, I don't usually buy into miracle creams, lotions and potions, I always thought that my skin surely isn't meant to be slathered in all of these things, apart from a slick of moisturiser on a morning it's pretty much left to its own devices. I thought these little dry patches are just what my skin is meant to be like, blaming it on water, weather, all sorts. What I didn't realise was that my poor face was screaming out for a good long drink!

So I'd read articles and blog posts about night cream lately and thought, hmm, I don't want to get to 42, looking 62 just because i've gone against the crowd and not used night cream. So off I popped to Boots, got a bit confused by the 101 different brands and eventually settled on Soap and Glory's Night Cream in Shining Armour. (I'm a sucker for pretty packaging and a clever name)

I must admit being the total shop-a-holic and materialistic person that I am (I admit it at least! I like stuff. Stuff and things!) I was excited to try out my new purchase and couldn't wait for the time to come when I could remove my make-up, apply my night cream and settle down with a good book. (Coco Chanel by Axel Madsen if you're interested)

The first thing I have to say is this cream smells divine! Well would you expect anything less from Soap and Glory? It's a relaxing, bedtime kind of a smell, one that makes you feel all warm and snug under the covers.

Secondly, the texture is beautiful. Not too heavy or greasy in any way so I didn't feel I was going to wake up with an oil slick on my pillow.

And finally, but most importantly, my skin is extremely grateful for giving it the gift of night cream, and it's rewarded me with no dry patches, no oily patches, no redness, no uneven skin tone or texture, this is what my skin has needed all this time, I need to listen to it more closely in future. It's the best £14 i've ever spent and I think it's safe to say I <3 night cream and will never dehydrate my skin again!

Saturday, 22 January 2011

Seven Things

Seven things is a lovely award given to bloggers by bloggers. The rules are to 1) Thank the blogger who gave it to you, 2) Share seven facts about yourself, and 3) Pass on to seven more bloggers.

Alana from XOXO AVS has given this award to all of her followers and I wish to do the same. So here are my seven things, post your own but make sure you let me know when you've done it so that I can have a read too!

1, I'm an Auntie, not once, not twice but eleven times over! And there is a twelfth due tomorrow! This is the result of having five brother's and sister's. I love being an Auntie but don't have any urge to have my own little babes at all. It's nice being able to do all the fun things and then hand them back to mum and dad!

2, I seem to have more coats than anything else. Over 30 of them in fact, at home they live in their own dedicated wardrobe, unfortunately I haven't been able to bring all of them to uni with me so for now lighter coats and jackets live up north and heavier coats and the one's that I just can't live without live with me in Southampton.

3, I am a HUGE Beatlemaniac. I could tell you every minute detail known about them together and separately and even have John Lennon bed covers! My favourite is George, the most beautiful man to walk the Earth.

4, I have three tattoo's. A dove on my right wrist, an Onochord (google it) on my left hip and this one, a Bob Dylan cameo on the lower left side of my back. Plans are in progress for a fourth but i'm keeping them under wraps until it's done, which I hope will be very soon.

5, I love to bake, here's a fire engine cake I made for my nephew's fourth birthday. I made a Tigger one for his first which was amazing but I don't have a digital version of that photograph. When I stay at my sister's i'll always bake with her little girl, we got through a hell of a lot of muffins when I stayed there this summer.

6, I don't drink alcohol, and haven't since I was 19 and i'm now 22. I've heard recently that there is now a new trend for not drinking alcohol and that alcohol free bars are popping up all over the shop. So if it's cool to be teetotal then maybe for the first time in my life i'm cool...

7, Practically every joint in my body that can crack, will and does, to the disgust of some of my friends and family but I can't help it, i've been doing it for as long as I can remember and it is actually part of a medical condition. My joints are hypermobile meaning that i'm very double jointed and one of the side effects is that my joints crack. Not just my knuckles and knees and feet but my neck and jaw too, it's not very nice but I literally can't stop it.

Ok so now you know a little bit more about me, it's your turn. Have fun!

Thursday, 20 January 2011

Sack the photographer, the photographer's me.

Ok, so the first observation for today is that I need someone to take photo's for my outfit posts, I miss the fact that my mum or sister would always do it when I was at home. Second observation is that I need to stop taking photos of myself when i've not long got up after getting hardly any sleep due to my uncomfortable bed and boiling hot room. Especially when i've not had the time to hide eye bags before I leave the house, not a good look as i'm sure you'll agree! However, I will show you some snaps of what I wore today and tomorrow I will, fingers crossed, have roped someone else into the role of photographer.

I am wearing a floral shirt from Urban Outfitters with an old necklace, a black, jersey skirt and black leggings, both from H&M, socks from Topshop and boots from New Look.

I got a parcel from Lazy Oaf today so will be showing you what I bought from there in the next couple of days. There's also photographs from the Frock Me vintage fair to look forward to Sunday evening/Monday morning so be sure to keep an eye out for them!

Monday, 17 January 2011

Inspirational Women - Miranda Hart

Miranda Hart is most definitely my kind of woman! And I say this as someone who is frustrated by most female comics, I always will them on girl power style but ultimately feel the major disappointment when their entire act is about sex. With male comics it's different, I really dislike Jack Whitehall and Michael McIntyre but I don't feel let down by them I just switch over and try to erase the pompousness out of my memory.

Which is why we must celebrate the great female comics, the Jennifer Saunders', Victoria Wood's and Sarah Millican's of this world who don't make their act's sleazy and degrading and quite frankly embarrassing!

But I am focusing on Miranda Hart here, the woman who stole our hearts at the end of last year and I for one am glad she did. We'll most certainly be seeing a lot more of Miss Hart, why not start with this interview in this week's Stylist Magazine where Miranda is looking more than a bit lovely. (I would kill for skin like hers!)

Her BBC show Miranda, the second series of which aired at the end of 2010 was a little ray of sunshine on my winter nights. Something that just made me laugh out loud, it was kooky and silly and warm and funny. Let's not make things complicated here, Miranda's job is to make us laugh and she succeeded. Forget Chicken soup for the soul, this was Chicken soup for the funny bone!

So Hoorah for funny women and hoorah for women who aren't trying to be anything other than themselves and last but most certainly not least, hoorah for Miranda, you funny, lovely, inspirational woman!

Thursday, 6 January 2011

Return of the photograph

Well i'm back in Southampton and it's miserable! I'm sat, looking out of my window at the pouring rain as I type trying to put off going out for as long as possible but I need to pick up some vintage shoes I got re-heeled before my lecture at one. But after that i'm off to my sister's in Poole for the weekend, it's like my second home at the minute, whenever I have a free weekend i'll just hop on the train.

As promised I have some photographs for you. Now don't get too excited they were taken in a bit of a rush when I was getting ready to go out so not full outfits but none the less here they are:

I got this beautiful little vintage hummingbird brooch from a place in Whitby when I was home, it's so pretty, I absolutely love it and unlike some of the vintage jewellery in there this one was missing none of its stones.

I have been sale shopping! I got these lovely H! by Henry Holland leggings with a cute giraffe pattern they were reduced to £5.40! I wore them yesterday with some heeled lace up boots and socks from Topshop in the same colour as the giraffes, and a brown jumper which you can't see here.

You can just see in this photo my GOGO Philip earrings, also in the sale, I think they were about £2.50 and are little keys. I love all the GOGO Philip jewellery at Topshop but it's only sold in certain branches which doesn't include Southampton but it does include Middlesbrough so I got these when I was home.

And lastly I got this thick chain in the Topshop sale too, £5 reduced from £10. I'll be sure to show you my other bargains at some point soon too.

Saturday, 1 January 2011

2011 prediction

Happy New Year!

I hope you're not all too hungover today, I had an early night last night only to be woken up at ten to midnight by the dog who is terrified of fireworks barging her way into my room and trying to squeeze under my bed, then being blinded by the brightest fireworks known to man, but at least i've started 2011 bright eyed and bushy tailed rather than dying on the sofa. Oh there are definitely more upsides to being teetotal than there is to drinking!

So what will 2011 bring? Well i've got to pack up and go back to Southampton in two days and once again leave my lovely family behind in the north but I have the Frock Me vintage fair in Brighton to look forward to in a couple of weeks and once again I have a camera so you'll be seeing more photographs in the next couple of weeks than you have been lately, I have so much to show you but you'll have to wait until i'm back darn sahf for that!

What do you think we'll all be wearing this year? The end of 2010 has seen lots of neutral colours, camel's beige's caramel's and it's been lovely, right up my street but my prediction for 2011 is that we'll go print crazy! Feel free to use my Polyvore editor at the bottom of my blog to show me your predictions for 2011, here's mine: