In Summer - FOTD

Hello my lovelies - my golly it's hot, isn't it?! I literally melted whilst chilling in a park in London yesterday, very much an Olaf-in-Arendelle moment (it was not as attractive on me as it is on Olaf). However, I shouldn't complain really as it is either this or downpour and I much prefer the sunshine!

Anyway, today's post is on my make-up look for this sweltering day as I headed out with my two best girls. 

 Products: Boots No7 Illuminating Instant Concealer; No7 Pressed Powder in Translucent; MAC Studio Fix Concealer; Urban Decay Eyeshadow in 'Sin'; Benefit Creme Eyeshadow in 'Bikini'; Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat Foundation; Benefit High Beam; Bobbi Brown Rose Shimmerbrick; Urban Decay Naked Palette; No7 Mascara; L'Oreal Eye Kohl in Brown; Real Techniques Core Collection Brushes; Benefit Dandelion Blush.

Lipgloss - Chanel Rouge

Generally in the summertime or on holiday, I will opt for this slightly softer look using a matte brown or slightly shimmery brown eyeliner pencil rather than my usual black liquid/gel liner as it tends to stay put more in the heat of the day and can be a softer framing of the eyes. I also experimented more with my blusher - mixing my standard light pink Dandelion with the Bobbi Brown Shimmer-brick to give my cheeks a gentle highlight. I love both of these products, but I really only use the Shimmer-brick when the sun is out as I find that sometimes in the winter (without the sun to bounce off of) the shimmery colours can emphasise some imperfections on my skin. What I really love about summertime and going more for this softer eyeliner look is the more adventurous I can be with my eyeshadow. Whilst opting for my usual black eyeliner cat flick I try to stick to more simple shades so as not to deflect from the eyeliner, but in summer I can try all sorts of combinations. Today's shade was 'Sin', one of my all time favourite shades by Urban Decay, I first fell in love with it when using my 'Naked' palette (all those years ago...) and have now stored up with an individual pot. It is just the perfect mix of a neutral shade with a shimmery touch which adds a bit of Hollywood Glamour, and a great base to blend more shades into to create a variety of day/evening looks. 

Do you have a summertime look or a favourite eyeshade? Comment below to let me know!

Love,

Stephie x

Jubilee Outfit #2 - Red, White & Blue Ribbons & Leeds Castle Celebrations.

Good evening my lovelies, as promised here is my second jubilee outfit (and sadly, my final, as I didn't manage to take pictures of my third!). I wore it for my girls' day out trip to Leeds Castle to watch an open air screening of Grease, Fireworks, & a montage of Her Majesty's 60 years as Queen, with the besties:

Dress: H&M
Belt: M&S
Cardigan: New Look
Tights: M&S
Shoes: New Look

Eek! Sorry for such awful, awful pictures but I was in a rush as I was already running late and these were the best pictures I could snag before leaving! I went for this ribbon pattern dress not only because it had the red, white, and blue colour scheme but also because I just thought the pattern was quite fancy & festive in itself!

For make-up I went golden with 'Half Baked' for a touch a of royal glamour myself:

I also went for the fifties flicked eyeliner, and a little bit of 'Smog' eyeshadow on the outer corners to emphasise my eyes a little more. I've found myself quite regularly using a lighter and darker colour on my eyes now to make them pop a little bit more on the weekend, not a huge contrast that is saved more for special occasions or going out, but just that hint of smoky eye look to get a little bit more of a wide eye look.

And just as a throw in at the end, some pictures from the Leeds Castle Extravaganza! It was an awesome day exploring Kent, and even though it was cold & rained, watching Grease on a massive screen with your best friends and a picnic (including Baileys Hot Chocolate) made it an ideal way of celebrating!

What did you do to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee? Did you try and style to match it?

Love,

Saturday's Outfit & A Trip to Windsor/Eton!

Hello my lovelies, how are you all enjoying the sunshine? I have to say I am absolutely loving the heat (even if I did get a little pink yesterday - oops!) and refused to waste a moment of it inside after being cooped up in school all week! So the boyfriend and I decided to take a little trip into Windsor & Eton to explore and stroll by the riverside. 

Dress: Dorothy Perkins

Belt: M&S

Cardigan: New Look

Pumps: New Look

Alice bag: Walt Disney World

This, for me, is an ultimate summer dress that only gets brought out of storage when summer is upon us. I love the white broderie anglaise pattern and the square neckline which I find quite flattering and summery.

I styled it with red accessories (how patriotic) including a thin red belt to add a bit more definition between the bodice and full skirt. For a bag I went for an old favourite, my Alice in Wonderland bag. I bought this when I worked in Disney because it is the most adorable Alice bag I have seen, with a unique illustration of her amongst the flowers, and the cute pink colour just seems to brighten up every outfit. Perfect summer shoulder bag and it fits a ridiculous amount of things in it! 

Just some pictures of the adventure:

Windsor Castle

The Long Walk - Not an Understatement.

Another part of Windsor Castle

Happy Hour!

Over the River.

Outside part of Eton College

This was such a lovely day, and there was so much to do in Windsor & Eton that we didn't have time for it all despite being there all day! I couldn't believe the sheer size of Eton College, the library alone looked big enough to be a a department of a school! The whole architecture and enormity of the college was stunning, including a cathedral style church that was joined on opposite part of their housing. I have now decided that when I become rich and if I have a son, he must go to Eton - I want to see inside that library! Although we didn't get to go into Windsor Castle itself (a huge queue and £17 per person seems a tad expensive) we walked all around the outside which in itself was beautiful, especially from the Long Walk view. If you haven't ever been to Windsor, I would highly recommend it as a place to visit in the sunshine - its beautiful, and has a Canterbury-esque feel to it, with a lovely river to wander along by.

The shopping was also paradise, having pretty much every shop I wanted there, and with payday on Friday I treated myself to some John Frieda hair products as Boots has a 3 for £10 offer going on. For my three, after much 'umming' and 'aaahing', I chose the 'Go Blonder' shampoo, the Highlight Activating Blonde Conditioner, and the Full Repair Conditioner which I have heard good things about in the blogsphere. After using the 'Go Blonder' lightening spray quite a lot last summer (which worked wonders on lightening my roots and my hair to almost platinum), it made my hairdresser furious and resulted in me having to go darker to get it out the mixed bleach blonde, so wasn't going to make the same mistake twice! Still wanting to go lighter between hairdresser trips, I went for the shampoo with its natural lightening products and no bleach in there, so it will be a lot more gentle. Reviews for these three products will be coming in a week or so I think to give it a bit of time to see results! Also, Boots are giving out £5 No7 Vouchers again, so keep an eye out for those as they are always handy!

Finally, a huge thank you to all my lovely readers who have now pushed me over 100 followers! It means the world to me to know that this tiny blog which I started just for my best friend to read, is now being followed my over 100 lovely people and more readers from around the world. It completely stuns me that people are interested in my reading and has built up my confidence in writing and myself, so thank you :-) A special giveaway is in the works to reward you lovelies! 

More posts coming today, but what have you been up to on this gorgeous weekend?

Love,

Saturday's Outfit & FOTD - Weekend Styling.

Hi lovelies, how is it already Sunday?! I feel like it should still be Saturday, and not have the threat of work tomorrow morning... Urgh. Anyway, yesterday I was a busy bee with a trip to Westfield Stratford to have lunch with the boyfriend and with a two hour driving lesson - I was quite proud of myself actually and bought NOTHING in Westfields, despite my payday wishlist growing almost double in size in the past week alone. For my trips out, I decided to revel in my weekend wardrobe:

(( Dress: River Island

Cardigan: New Look

Leather Boots: Next

Belt: Boohoo))

During the week I tend to end up wearing the same dresses over and over again, as they are appropriate in length and style, so when it comes to weekends I try and wear things that are more student-y and less work just so I can have a bit of variety in what I wear rather than feeling that there is no difference between my work and weekend clothes anymore. This dress is definitely one of my weekend items, and I love just how versatile it can be when dressed up with different accessories. Yesterday, I went for a more natural sort of look with a tan cardigan and brown boots (maybe even a Cowboy feel?). Its also incredible comfortable, a plus when I am just wanting to chill out without having to fidget constantly to get comfortable or worry that its too low cut/too short.

 As it is the weekend, I also went back to playing with my make-up and using black eyeliner which I have cut down using during the week so I feel like I can do something a bit more special on the weekend:

((MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation 'NC15'; Benefit's Stay Put Concealer; Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner 'Black Ink'; No7 Creme Touch Powder 'Translucent'; Urban Decay's 'Suspect' 'Snakebite' Eyeshadows; Inika Brown Eyeliner; Benefit's High Beam; Benefit's Thrrrob Blush; Diorshow Iconic Mascara; Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Lipgloss.))

I went for a soft, smokey eye look yesterday to go with the more natural colours in my outfit, using Urban Decay's Naked2 'Suspect' as an all over colour, and then 'Snakebite' on the outer edges and crease line. I absolutely love the blend brush that came with my Naked2, as it blends the colours perfectly without losing too much of the pigmentation or mixing the colours together too much. I've also gone back to using Bobbi Brown's Gel Eyeliner as I love just how dark it comes out in one sweep, and the long lasting power it has - honestly, when it comes to washing my face at night it takes a good two scrubs to get it off my eyes! With a lot of focus having gone onto my eyes wit this look, I went for just a natural lipgloss to give me a bit of shine.

Are you like me and have a bit of your wardrobe designated for the weekends? Or style your make up differently on the weekends?

Love,

Polka Dots & Stripes - Nicely Nautical OOTD/FOTD

Hello my lovelies - how is your week going? We have hit the middle of the week yay!! Two more days to go before three whole days off - so excited for that! 

Anyway, this is technically not today's look, it is yesterday's look, but as I was seeing Avengers Assemble for the second time after work I hadn't the chance to come and blog about it! I'm actually quite proud of how I styled all these different pieces to create my ideal nautical look. My students were even impressed by all the co-ordination that went into this outfit - always a nice to thing to hear at work!

Firstly, the outfit:

Dress: Vero Moda

Cardigan: H&M

Eiffel Tower Necklace: Unknown (giveaway prize)

Belt: New Look

Hairband: New Look

Red Leather Pumps: New Look

I'm really into the nautical look at the moment - I love stripes especially with this dress that has a mix of both diagonal and horizontal ones, and mixing patters with a light grey polka dot cardigan. The red was just a last minute addition as I wanted to make the outfit a bit more bright & striking, and went the whole hog matching the hairband, nails (styled to be like Dorothy's stunning ruby slippers), and shoes for that little bit of glam in my day.

Then the make-up & 'Ruby Slipper' themed nails:

 Nails: Chanel's 'Dragon', Models Own 'Scarlet Sparkle'

Make-Up: No7 Creme Touch Powder in Translucent; MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation in NC15; Benefit's Stay Put Primer; Chanel Rouge Allure Lipstick in Gabrielle; Benefit's Thrrrob blush; Inika Brown Eyeliner; Urban Decay's Eyeshadow in Sin; Benefit's High Beam.

 After receiving this month's Glossybox (review to come later), I fell back in love with my first year university eye make-up which was just using a brown kohl pencil to do my flicks & a litle under eye outlining. I find this a much softer look for the daytime, especially with the neutral eyeshadow shades, that allows me to go dramatic with the lips & really widens my eyes. Usually, I only use my Chanel lipstick for special occasions but this week it has been getting used daily, letting me have my sneaky 1950s style at work. My big focus with make-up is emphasising my eyes and lips, so I've found this combination has it down perfectly for me without being too dramatic. What made me the happiest was my students telling me that I looked like I was from the 50s and how pretty I looked - unusual praise from them I have to admit!

Do you have a lipstick you feel glamourous in? What feature do you like to emphasise the most?

Love,