Sleek Au Naturel Palette.

I'm  not a huge eyeshadow wearer, which is I why rarely ever fork out for some. I did however purchase the naked palette last year (now that was forking out) and fell completely and utterly in love with the neutrally brown shades. When I was in Superdrug in London (yes another one of my many London purchases) I picked up this sleek 'Au Naturel Palette' as it had so many subtle shades I knew I'd love it.

I've gotten quite a lot of use from the palette and I like how even though all the shades are quite muted there is a bit of variation in shades compared to the 'Naked Palette'. I find the naked palette consists of a lot more brown based shadows where as this one from sleek has a few peaches, pinks and nudes tossed in with more dramatic shades such as 'Noir' and ' Mineral Earth'.

Because of the many shades in this palette I find I can create a lot more looks. There's shades like 'Honeycomb' and 'Taupe' that I love to pair together for the perfect daytime look and 'Conker' which can take you from day to night. There's just so many mixes as all the shades go so well together. I find the eyeshadow is very long lasting with the shimmery shades such as 'Moss' and 'Mineral Earth' being highly pigmented. I was a little disappointed with how unpigmented the lighter matte shades such as 'Nougat' were but I suppose being a high street eye palette this is to be expected. There's minimal fallout from the shades and they blend nicely together. If you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the naked palette I would recommend this considering it's a fraction of the price but there are very little similarities. I wouldn't say its an exact dupe per se. But for less than a tenner you can't really complain.

x

florals for spring? groundbreaking - make that winter.

ohh floral prints how i love thee so. when Kirsten Dunst stepped out at the premiere of 'Bachelorette' in this Stella Mc Cartney floral two piece, i died. i've never paid much attention to anything that Kirsten has worn before but this two piece is just so pretty that it really caught my eye and the yellow suede chloe pumps?! give me the whole ensemble now please?.. unfortunately Stella Mc Cartney is a little out of my errr price range so it was like faith when Demi Lovato stepped out in a way cheaper 'Topshop' version a few days later. I can't decide which i want more, the jacket or the shorts? the print is a little too 'busy' for me to try and wear the entire thing together. but i'm in love. i'm thinking the jacket styled pretty much like Demi but trade the shorts for some black skinny jeans. if i can find the jacket that is...130$ is a reasonable amount right?? Thought i'd throw in this picture of Olivia Palermo in a Zara floral shirt dress to show how cute a floral print looks on black. not as summery as Demi and Kirsten but probably more in my comfort zone and a little more wintery. i think Olivia's dress would be a little more timeless than the other two options as its less trendy and more of a statement piece... but thats just my opinion. if you google Olivia Palermo you'll see she's actually quite a fan of floral dresses from Zara, i remember lusting over the one she wore a couple months ago. no surprise that it was sold out for ages. Penneys/Primark have a lot of floral things in store at the moment. Got a crazy pair of floral print peg leg trousers a few weeks ago for real cheap, very like the H&M ones everyone is wearing. Make sure you give them a look, who knows, they might start ripping off the Topshop jacket Demi wore last week.....fingers crossed?

x

DIY - Cut Out Skull Top.

When I seen this top on Brandy Melville I instantly wanted it, what I didn't want was to wait like 3 years for it to arrive in the post and i kind of didnt want to pay 18$ for a top that really i could make myself for half the price..then i took to youtube and watched countless videos. turns out its pretty easy to chop the back of your shirt into a skull face in less than 15mins. yay. I picked up a simple black tee in Penneys/Primark for a euro and got to work this morning.

I started out by trying the shirt on and working out where i wanted to place the eyes. the eyes are the main feature of this shirt and i wanted to make sure i got them exactly where i wanted them. once i had that figured out i started to sketch out the eyes, nose and teeth with a sharpie. my teeth didn't come out as big as i'd have liked so i drew over them again just before i started cutting.

the cutting out is pretty self explanitory. i would recommend using a smaller scissors than i did as it would work far easier. the cutting blade was just to get right into the edges, you don't really need to use that if you dont want too. the little strips down the middle of the eyes and nose add that extra bit of depth and look better if they're not cut too thick. the teeth came out a bit wonky but sure, it adds to the distressed look and looks alright when on. (:

and the finished prodcut. I think it came out really cool and can't wait to pair it with my american apparel high waisted trousers. when you look at the front of the top it looks so plain, but when you turn around its like 'woah' haha. when picking out your shirt go a few sizes up, i went up 5 sizes and got an 18 just to add that extra slouchiness. looks messier. i've seen these tops on a lot of style blogs and i've seen a few that have different cut outs on the back, hearts, triangles etc etc. definitely going to try a few more styles (: have any of you tried this?     

x

17 Blow Out Mascara.

I love buying new mascara, its my favourite thing *cough* blog name *cough*. I especially love when I come across a mascara that is just perfect. I really like this because of the wand and how easy it applies. The packaging is pretty cool too. when it comes to mascara this is what i try to avoid. i actually see a lot of people who will happily apply their mascara like that and for me its a complete no. the purpose of mascara is to make your eyes stand out more, for good reasons, not spider leg reasons.

I like this mascara because it doesn't apply clumpy. i like my lashes to look full but natural at the same time and i think the wand really helps achieve this. as you can see each end is smaller than the inside and it really aids in catching those infuriatingly small lashes at the corners of my eyes. the plumpier bit in the middle helps build up the volume and gives me nice long, natural looking lashes with that oomph of extra volume.

personally, as long as a mascara isn't clumpy it gets a 10/10 for me.

x