i hope you dont mind?

i hope you don't mind that i've put down in words, how wonderful life is now your in the world.

dream a little dream of me?

Vintage clothing isn't really my sort of thing. It's not that i don't 'get' it or dismiss it any way, i just cannot seem to find something that suits me? Much to my annoyance, two of my closet friends could spend hours in Rokit and find a whole wardrobe full of treasures, where as i see a mass jumble sale that resembles something more like a theatrical shop, not stuff i would ever care to wear, in like, public. Maybe i just don't have that flare for finding that perfect 1940's heel or 20's flapper dress.. but then spend a fortune on a Topshop copy.

Over the past week i came across a small online shop called Make Lemonade, which probably has changed my view completely of vintage fashion. Make Lemonade is the perfect middle man, who sorts through all the jumble for you, providing all the treasures for you! Their cute little shop is perfect for the un-experianced vintage buyer, or the down-right dedicated lover of vintage. With terribly affordable prices, it's very, very temping!

My top pick:

Country Blazer (£16.50!)

How lovely is this? Eat your heart out Topshop & Zara!

What are your thoughts on vintage?

Be sure to check out Make Lemonade, they are due to hit Asos Market Place very soon too!

Telegraph Competition

I love the Telegraph - granted i don't actually read it for the news and daily affairs but the fashion and beauty section is pretty darn good. I mostly read online, where i can read the last fashion news from fashion editor Hilary Alexander (if you watch Strictly, you must follow her twitter) and beauty posts from the amazing Kate Shapland (i will steal her job one day). And guess what? They've just announced a very big competition, bursting with designer prizes, which i'm pretty much dying to get my mitts on. 

Telegraph Fashion is offering every reader the chance to win one of 22 luxury prizes to celebrate I-Spied. I-Spied is the best in fashion, accessories and beauty products as selected by 22 of The Telegraph’s very own experts, including Hilary Alexander, Kate Shapland and Justine Picardie. 

Starting on Monday, 15 November, you can win one of 22 exclusive designer prizes from the likes of Stella McCartney, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and many more. From handbags and coats to accessories and shoes, each week five fantastic prizes will be given away, one for every day, starting in week one with five handbags to die for! For your chance to win one of these exclusive prizes, simply enter the competition at www.telegraph.co.uk/ispiedcompetition  between Monday and Friday (midnight) of each week. You’ll only need to enter once every week for your chance to win but they will send you a reminder to make sure you don’t forget.

At the end of four weeks you’ll have the chance to enter the two-day competition bonanza, when a whole goody bag of prizes will be given away each day to one lucky reader.

Week one kicks off with the latest offering from Matches - you could be in with the chance of winning one of these badboys: 

Marc Jaccobs, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen.

Errr.. what are you waiting for? Get your skates on over there!

Will you be entering?

Beauty Favourite: 3

Nars Blusher in Deep Throat (£19.00)

Since my love of the Laguna bronzer, i have always been tempted to further my Nars adventures. After spending what seemed like hours in the Covent Garden with my bff Sarah, i finally decided on this. My lovely brother bought this for my birthday, with the added confused looks of - i just spent how much on that? - i've been reaching for it everyday.

The most iconic must have Nars blusher would be Orgasm, but the overload of glitter makes my pores cry out in horror to be frank. So i settled on Deep Throat, which is described as a peach with shimmer. Firstly, i would say that the blush tends to fall on the pinker of peaches, to be precise, which really works well with my pale skin, as sometimes olive peaches are far too strong. Secondly, unlike Orgasm, Deep Throat has a finely milled shimmer, not a hint of glitter in sight. The pigmentation and application of the blusher is very good, with only the lightest stroke of a brush to give a good hint of colour.

 The only downside of the blush is because it does have the shimmer, i do tend to use this along the contour of my cheeks rather than the apple, just because i don't want to add any spec of sparkle to my pores!

Overall, i'm really impressed with this blush, and yes - i should be for that price. Do you have any other Nars recommendations? Nars also do some great gift sets on their website, and most of them include Deep Throat, so maybe the perfect christmas present to yourself? I think so!

Fill my heart with song, and let me sing for evermore.

I'm rather particular about jewellery, i wear the same pieces everyday, mostly out of sheer laziness. 

And because i really do love the bits i already have! See a previous post here.

One thing that has caught my eye recently is Daisy Stacked Rings, they are purposely bought to be 'stacked' - but i think most of them look better when worn alone, just simple and dainty. Fuss-free.

                      

Damask £25.00 / Mega Rose £33.00 / 

Sunflower £33.00 / Prunus £44.00

Cinnamon £39.00

I love the chain pattern on the band rings, and how Chanel does that flower ring look like - it's basically the iconic camellia. I adore the pearl rings too, i already own a similar ring from Accessorize, though it's slightly knackered, boo. Although, they are all slightly higher in price than your average 'dress' ring, but they are made out of sterling silver, aka no dirty green fingers! And the pearls are fresh water, so no chipping plastic.

I also think these would make fabulous christmas presents too - infact i may put all five on my list!

They can be bought online here, or even at John Lewis.


top tip: if your rings make your fingers go fungus looking green, paint clear nail varnish around the ring to act as barrier. 

Let me introduce Mrs Jacobs.

Marc Jacobs on the cover on Industrie Magazine.

shot by Patrick Demarchelier and styled by Kate Grand.

Speechless but not surprised - yet slightly jealous of those legs and tousled hair!

thoughts?

you can't hurry love!

It's always the same problem, i have a wardrobe bursting full of clothes, but nothing to wear?

Enough was enough, i cleared out all my summer bits and safely tucked them away, which actually translates to shoving and squashing everything to a chest of drawers. I also had a good strict method of if i hadn't worn it in 6 months, they to would be sent to the chest of drawers - i couldn't just throw them out, i'm a hoarder.

My wardrobe suddenly looked very sad, sure, it had all my favorite pieces that i wear constantly, it just needed updating.

Outfit of the day, courtesy of H&M dressing room,

coat - Topshop

striped tunic - Topshop

scarf - Zara 

boots - H&M

dress - H&M (£29.99)

this is cute, but i need to frantically fake tan, or according to my mother you can't tell where the dress starts/ends.

Wool blended camel shorts - H&M (£19.99)

i don't er actually have that bulge in real life, thats my tunic.

these are great quality, and i'm loving the shade. 

red ballet pumps - New Look (£8.00)

granny cardigan - New Look (£21.99)

loafers - Henry Holland at Debenhams (£25.00)

steal! but my god, they HURT.

they say beauty = pain, they weren't lying.

And just for jokes! 

knitted hair band to stop my ears from freeeezing! 

Primark - (£1.50)

I have the shopping bug, i cannot help it, H&M is certainly drawing me in. 

thoughts?

(and those pieces of paper in the background would be my dissertation planner ;))

Style List: 9th November 2010

The Pride of Britain Awards

SO SO:

Abby Clancy sure knows how to pull of the fierce look. I can never remember if she's the one dating Peter Crouch, i just know it's a footballer. But never the less, this wag slash model looks pretty damn good in her long black maxi, teamed with that fitted blazer. 

Just a shame she couldn't of added a pop of colour to brighten up the outfit. The leopard print heels just don't cut it. 

However, Abbey's smoked out brown eyes really do give the come-to-bed- eyes, with the perfect tousled do.

verdict: B-

HIT:

I'm not going to lie, i'm slightly biased on this one, my secret guilty pleasure is Girls Aloud. (the saturdays, who?) Each of them have their own kick ass style, and who doesn't love a bit of Chezza and Nicola? - personally my favs!

Cheryl keeps it relativity safe in long black maxi (do i see a pattern forming here?) and leaves her fancy frocks for the weekend. Yet she vamps it up with her daring berry lips, to match her (fading) red-do. The main love of this outfit are those killer black shiny strapped heels peaking out, i'm lusting to see more. 

Mean while fresh faced Nicola, looks radiant in her nude peach, draped dress. But my eyes cannot be drawn from her luscious orange curls, they work so perfectly with her complexion and really add a unique pow! to her outfit. 

verdict:

Chezza B-

Nicola A

HIT


It was great to see Kimba and Sarah bring introduce some colour and retro style. I get that the Pride of Britain Awards is suppose to make you cry, there's no need to dress all dull and dowdy.

Although Sarah looks like she's snogged half the paps with that smothered lippie, i can't deny she looks ever the wanna be Hollywood starlet here. We are so used to her gelling her hair this way and everywhere, the retro marcel curls add that 20's feel to the utterly gorgeous lace nude mini. Kudos for sparkly gold peep toes.


Kimberly, always annoyingly gets referred to as the 'curvy' one, looks stunning in this jewel coral coloured maxi dress, it synchs in at her tiny waist, giving her the best hour glass shape. And seriously, whatever shampoo and conditioner the GA girls are using i need on the asap. Her thick curls give the dress some balance, and that red lipstick is the only accessory she needs! 


verdict:
Sarah B+
Kimba B-

 MISS


I do like Holly Willoughby, but my gosh, could that blue dress look any boring? It looks like it's come straight out of Marks and Sparks, and ready for a woman twice her age to wear. Thank god for the slick of red nail varnish, because thats the only thing exciting here - even her hair  just looks like she's just walked straight off the sofa with Phillip. 


Come on, Holly wheres the yummy mummy?


verdict: D

I'll attempt to watch the Pride of Britain awards, with of course a box of Kleenex to hand. One thing springs to mind, clearly Nadine wasn't invited, or that she's too busy 'promoting' her new album. Snigger.

Should this become a regular feature on my blog?

Let me know!

Beauty Favourite: 2

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light (£25.00)

I'm quite the foundation addict, as some of you will know. But there has been one foundation that has stopped me in my tracks. I have been road-testing this from the start of October,  and can honestly say nothing bad about this product..

The major flaw of the perfect foundation journey is the inability to ever find the correct formulation, my needs and wants aren't that demanding:

• correct shade
• last all day
• cover large pores and blemishes without looking heavy
• and most importantly look natural.

My first impressions of Estee Lauder is that of old lady and powdery blue eyeshadow. Oh, how wrong i was? When i approached the sales assistant in John Lewis, much to my friends surprise, i went all guns blazing, telling her exactly what i wanted. And there, within ten minutes i was sorted. She colour-matched me, run through the major qualities of the product and sent me on my way with sample in hand, and with the promise of if i bought the foundation and it didn't meet my expectations, i could return it, used or un-used. Well i haven't heard of that before?

Needless to say, i bought it the day after next. And since then it has ticked every box. My thoughts follow:

• the shade is perfect for my colouring
• the small amount does wonders, the coverage is so good, i barely need concealer. 
• it covers my pores around my nose very well, making them barely visible
• it stays set all day (albeit a little powder) it stays fresh
• it is no-where near heavy or mask like 
• it's in a tube, so no silly pumps or screw lids, easy and hygienic

Overall, i don't see myself straying from the Double Wear Light (never say never!), but really i actually feel very happy (and relived) to have finally found 'the one.' ;)

Have you ever tried this foundation? And even if you are or aren't on the look out for a new foundation, grab a sample just for hand bag touch ups, emergencies or just plain curiosity. 

my heart is yearning, but paris is burning

a few of my favourite things.

gifts: Marc Jacobs watch / Anya Hindmarsh make-up bag/ Alex Monroe key necklace / Liz Earle Skin Secrets / Bobbi Brown Make-up Manual / Luella, Guide to an English Style / Mulberry key ring.

oh, if it only it was birthday everyday ;)

(disclaimer: i have a lovely set of parents, boyfriend and best friend, no you can't have them)

Beauty Favourite: 1

Over the past month of October, i purchased an alarming amount of make-up. I would feature these all in one post, but i really don't want to bore your socks off - so i will break them up into separate posts. In no particular order, the first contender is:

Bobbi Brown - Pot Rogue for Lips and Cheeks in Calypso Coral (£16.50)

This bright coral blusher was given to me for my birthday, i eagerly hunted it down in John Lewis, whilst the boy looked on rather baffled. Although, the colour may scream orange! in your face, it actually creates a the most natural pop of coral on to your cheeks. However, when using this, one must have a light touch. I haven't even attempted to use my fingers to apply, scared of the thought of looking like a contoured pumpkin! Whilst i was in Paris, i purchased the Sephora mineral brush which i had originally planned to use with foundation, but it surprisingly it works wonders with the Bobbi Brown. It distributes the product evenly enough, with its ever soft kabuki styled top. Perfect for buffing the right amount of coral. They key is to start of minimum and build up, but know when to stop! 

I can't say i would ever use this on my pout, but i will definitely be looking at some of the other shades on offer.