Work Haul

I start my new job in London in just over 2 weeks! Naturally I'm really excited and nervous as well as terrified that I still don't have anywhere to live. Enough of that though, yesterday I decided that there is something I can sort out even if it isn't where I'll be living, my new wardrobe. 

I thought I'd share what I picked up because what I discovered is work shopping is just as fun as regular shopping! 

The first is possibly my favourite, it's this cute little grey skirt from Next. It cost £35 and it is so versatile and I just can't stop looking at it I find it that adorable. 

Also from Next are these grey and black trousers also from Next which came with a little black belt. They were £30 and also very versatile. 

Next is this little black skirt in the same shape as the grey one, a little plainer than the Next one but a bargain at £10 from the M&S sale. 

These shoes I found in the office sale for £27. They're lovely chocolate brown brogues and I got them at a bargain price. When I took them to the till I asked the girl if they did student discount on top of sale prices, she told me she was unsure and went to ask her mama get. When she returned she said she couldn't find him but that she'd take the discount off anyway, happy enough I thanked her and was taken back when she only charged me £19.50 as the shop was also offering 20% off that day. All in all I got shoes that originally retailed at £55 in the sale with an extra 30% off, thank you Office in House of Fraiser Cardiff! 

Finally is this bag from TK Maxx. I've been after an alternative spring bag to my Mulberry for a while now, and although o think this does look a little like a cheap version of the Michael Kors tote, yew colour is gorgeous and at £25  certainly not complaining. 

Battle of the Moisturisers

So over the past few weeks I've been experimenting with a few different mousturisation techniques and products and I thought I'd post by opinions on what I feel works best on which occasion.

The first is this in shower moisturiser from Nivea. It's definitely has the convenience factor in terms of you put it on after soap of shower gel in the shower, wash it off and then dry off and your moisturised for the day ahead. I'm not a massive fan of the smell but like I say this definitely has the convenience factor and is good for mornings when you're in a rush. 

The next I have mentioned before so I won't go into too much detail and are the Vaseline spray and go moisturisers. Though this is my preferred method of choice for moisturising, I recently added the pure oats extract to my collection but I plan on completeing it with with the cocoa butter one very soon. 

Finally is the most moisturising of the three options Body Shop Body Butters. They're the most luxurious, most buttery and smell the nicest out of all the options but I save these for nights out as they take so long to sink in and do smell throughout the day. I have the strawberry, pink grapefruit and mango flavours here. 

Night Out Hair and Makeup

Tuesday night I went out and I decided to do something a bit different for me with my hair and makeup. I based my look on what Millie Mackintosh did for the BAFTAs earlier this week.

(source @camillamackintosh instagram)

I get serious wardrobe/makeup/life envy whenever she posts anything. She wore this beautiful golden Julien McDonald dress and had a straight slick back ponytail and golden brown smokey eye and dark lipstick. I decided to recreate the look without the dark lipstick. 

I wore my favourite white Zara dress with this beautiful beaded detail on the neck and straightened my hair to put in a high ponytail and wrapped hair around the bobble so you can't see it. 

To create the eye look I used a mixture of Eyeshadows. 

As the base I used MAC paint pot in bare study all over the lid. 

In the inner corner of my eye I used MAC Woodwinked for a nice golden look. 

In the centre this slightly darker gold colour from my MUA gold and brown pallete. 

In the outer corner I used this dark brown shimmery colur and winged it out slightly. 

I finished off by smudging out a brown pencil liner along the too lash line. 

I finished off the look with my blue New Look heels and my new Topshop pyramid bag. 

London Haul/Summer Weekend Wardrobe

For those of you who saw I was in London for the day on Friday and I may have picked up one or two things... As well as this it has been beautiful weather here over the weekend so I thought I'd share what I've been wearing in this glorious heat.

The first thing I got were these trousers from Zara. They were £36 and have this lovely floral pattern, they are nice a baggy perfect for those hot days when you haven't shaved your legs. 

Next is this adorable little going out bag I got from Topshop. It was £20 (£18 with student discount) and is pyramid shaped and comes in three colours, this lovely pale blue, a bright orange and unfortunately I can't remember the other one though I have a feeling it was brown. As cute as this is, when I went out for a few drinks Friday night I took this and I did find it to be slightly impractical due to it's lack of pockets, it's just one large space. 

This little beauty I picked up in Selfridges, as shocking as it is I've never been to Selfridges Oxford Street before and I was really excited to see what it was like. However I was very disapointed when the girls on the beauty counters of not just NARS but also Bobbi Brown were very rude to me. I got this matte multiple in Siam as a part of the Selfridges beauty project where my faith in counter girls was restored. It is a beautiful orangey red colour and although the last thing I need is another orangey red lipstick, it is simply stunning on the cheeks. 

The last thing I picked up was this hair piece from Accesorise. It cost £3 in the sale and I have been after one of these to add extra volume to the crown of my head for absolutely ages! 

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day here in South Wales, and as it was Sunday I donned my Sunday best as I went for a post-gym smoothie and a walk through the park. This dress I got 2 summers ago from New Look in the sale for £9! It is a lovely fitted tea dress and is the most lovely summer dress which I paired with my new sandals. 

Unfortunately the gorgeous weather is moving away from the Welsh capital, but that's not going to stop me cracking out my new multiple and my large collection of summer dresses. 

Day In London Essentials

Today I'm back in the capital. Not of Wales, I'm always there, I'm accompanying my friend on an interview in London so while she is in her interview going to do a bit of shopping. This is what I feel are my essentials for a day out in London.

The first thing you'll need is a large bag to carry all of these essentials in. I've gone my corel Mulberry Bayswater. 

Secondly, as much as I love my iPhone, the battery on it is shocking and so I have to pack my charger so I can charge it on the train home. 

Normally I would always carry a pair of sunglasses and an umbrella with me, but today is an absolutely glorious day both in South Wales and London so I just have these which are from Topshop. 

In my everyday makeup bag I'm carrying a mini deodorant which is one of the best investments I've ever made and I'll just leave it at that. A lip balm, today's lipstick which is the Hourglass matte lipstick in Riviera, a comb in case my hair goes flat and needs a bit of back combing. The Rimmel stay matte powder to take the shine off my face, today's base which is the Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser in Nude as well as a mini batiste dry shampoo. 

Finally a couple of apps that I feel are invaluable unless you want to carry around a big map book. 

The tube map app allows you to check where you're going and it doesn't require internet so you can use it underground. 

Another one I would recommend for iPhone users is google maps accessed through safari. Much more reliable than apple maps and very easy to use either for just seeing where you are or you can set a location and it will take you from where you are to that place. 

Colour Coordinating Nails

For yesterday's happy Monday I decided to colour coordinate my nails with my shoes. However being the class A woman I am I manged to multitask and do it with both sets of nails without even realising.

I matched my new Minx to my Office sandals and my favourite floral trousers which are from Sainsburys. 

Halfway through my workout yesterday whilst dying on the step machine, I noticed that my fingernails matched my favourite gym trainers and the watch I wear to the gym. 

This could just all be coincidence as most of the colours in my wardrobe are of the same, but I still thought for the next couple of days I'm going to really enjoy looking down at my trainers and nails at the gym. 

Minx Pedicure

For nearly 3 years now I've been getting my toenails done with Minx. For anyone who doesn't know Minx are stickers that you can attach to your nails and they stay on for 6-8 weeks. The last couple of times mine have needed doing though I haven't really been able to justify spending the £35 it costs to get it done in Cardiff. Back home I can get it for under £20, just goes to show the difference between Cardiff and the small northern town I'm from.

Anyway I bought some do it yourself ones from eBay, I've dabbled with them before but never been very successful with them, I am possibly the least artistic person ever! This time it has gone slightly better so I thought I would share the results. 

These are the stickers and the results. To apply them you make sure your nails are completely clean with nail varnish remover and then cut the foils to size, then heat them up, I use my hair dryer, and just stick them on and cut away any excess. 

These are the tools I use. My hair dryer to heat them up, the foils themselves, a nail file (I love the Leighton Deny crystal nail file) scissors, tweezers for taking the foils off the plastic backing and putting on your nail, and nail varnish remover and cotton wool. 

I love Minx nails, and though when I do them myself they don't last as long as getting them done in a salon, the price difference was massive. I paid £3.50 plus £1.10 p&p for 3 different designs, for 4 weeks of beautiful nails that always get lots of compliments (even from men!) and it's just something different from what you generally see. And personally there is nothing I hate more than a girl who knows her toes are going to be out and her feet look scruffy. 

Post Work Bargains

So today I sent off my last assignment of the year and I've now finished for the whole of second year! I can't believe I've already finished two whole years at university, it's scary how fast time flies when you're having fun.

Anyway to celebrate I naturally headed into town and went straight to Boots and here's what I got. 

The first is the Loreal CC cream, I've been after a new cheaper tinted moisturiser type finish for a while so I don't have to use my Laura Mercier one just for going to the gym. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm excited for my first foray into the world of BB and CC creams. 

Next I got two of the Revlon colourburst laquer balm in the shades 130 and 120.

130

120 

I'm so excited to try these out, I'm already planning tomorrow's outfit around the 130 shade... 

The final thing I picked up was this new launch from Essie in Sunday Funday. It's a lovely pinky peachy colour with a hint of glitter in it, I love the springy colour, I'm just scared in case it's as stubborn to remove as glitter nail varnish. 

All in all I got these on an amazing offer. The CC cream I paid for with the points on my Boots card and the lip products and nail polish were on 3 for 2. I paid less than £16 for 4 products that should come to a total of over £32. Winner! 

Foundation Working Wardrobe

Yesterday when looking through my makeup bag I noticed it was fit to burst with foundation so I took them all out and was a little horrified when I found I have and use 8 foundations. Oops. Honestly they are all necessary and all serve different purposes in my makeup wardrobe.

The first is my YSL Le Teint Touché Éclat in the shade B50, this is my nice going out foundation and has quite a full coverage but is still slightly dewy and last really well into the wee hours. 

This next one is my holiday foundation. It is Soap and Glory Show Good Face in the shade A Nude Peach. It's very dark, hence why it's my holiday foundation, but it is also quite light and very dewy which is exactly what I want when it's hot. I only wear foundation at night when I'm on holiday and even then I don't like much so I really like this one. 

At the other end of the spectrum is my powder foundation. This is MAC studio fix in NC20. I have been known in the past to wear this as a powder over a liquid foundation, very naughty of me I know. This doesn't get a lot of use at the moment because it's quite a pale shade and I prefer a dewy finish at this time of year. This is definitely a winter product. 

Next is my tinted moisturiser. This is the Laura Mercier oil free SPF 20 tinted moisturiser in the shade nude. I love this tinted moisturiser! It's so lovely for those good skin days and just makes me think of summer. It is obviously very light, but as far as tinted moisturisers go this one is quite full coverage. It's nice for those days where you just can't be bothered but let's face it you can't leave the house completely bare faced. 

The next four are everyday foundations and are probably what I need to cut back on a little. This is the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in the shade 52 and I've literally had it for years! It's a medium coverage slightly dewy slightly matte finish and is probably the best colour match for me out of all of my foundations and it smells lovely! There's a reason I've been hanging onto this for so long. 

Next is Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation which I did a full review of here so won't go into detail about it. 

This is my latest one and it's the Rimmel Match Perfection in 200 Soft Beige. This is quite light to medium coverage and is very dewy, I like it though as it is a nice alternative to my tinted moisturiser if I need a little more coverage. 

The last one I have also done a full review of here. 

Now just as I was about to publish this I found two more foundations that I'd missed bringing my total up to 10! In fairness I don't really use these ones anymore but since they are a part of my collection they deserve a mention. 

They are the MAC Pro Longwear foundations and I have the colours NW20 and N18. I used to wear these as my going out foundations before I got the YSL one. They are very full coverage heavy foundations and so I liked the way they lasted the whole night, the NW20 was never a brilliant colour match for me, but after finding them this evening I may have to give the N18 another chance and crack it out next time I hit the town.