Winter Wardrobe List

I have a fashion shopping list running around in my head at the moment. As we head (freezing toes first) into winter, I'm finding there's a few things missing from my wardrobe. I'm going to write them down here, so I can remember them (although I have a feeling I've forgotten some already).

1) Winter coat, possibly even a really substantial chunky cardi. I do have this Primark one in mind or spotted some decent cardigans in H&M. Has to be cream or grey or something neutral that would go with black, brown and blue.

2) Long black leggings. All my leggings stop below the knee, I want ankle length ones, that preferably are too long, so scrunch up a little at the bottom. *update* I found the perfect pair in MKOne for £6, bargain!

3)Lace tights. This season it's all about tights. I have a plethora of bright colours, but what I really want is black floral/lace patterned tights. I think I may have spotted a pair at New Look, so will have to investigate.

4)Metallic leggings, again these have to be long. *update* I got the most gorgeous pair of black metallic, wet-look long leggings from ASOS today. I had a £5 off code and went to buy them yesterday and they didn't have my size. I kept checking though and 5 minutes later they had them, so I quickly bought them. They arrived today and I'm rocking them already...I don't think I ever want to take these off!
5)Sequin leggings (above Day Birger et Mikkelsen £165, below Les Chiffoniers £405 both Net-a-Porter). I saw the most gorgeous pair of Topshop blue sequin leggings on Queen Michelle at Kingdom of Style. They looked amazing on her, my problem is-I'm on the wrong side of a size 8 (ahem!), so I was unsure about purchasing online without seeing if it was going to work on me first. Of course they sold out uber quick and my nearest Topshop only seem to sell vests and jeans, so I may be out of luck. Primark, hear my plea and get some in please!
6)This next item, I'm not exactly sure what I want. I would love to wear a skinny polo-neck under more summery dresses and tops to make them suitable for winter. However, I majorly hate anything up to my neck. Last year I tried one on and was hyperventilating in the changing room, not good! So I need some sort of long-sleeved top, but the neckline has to be versatile enough that it will go with the varying necklines of my dresses...this is where it gets troublesome and why polo-necks work so well, because they look good with everything.

7)Gold chain necklaces; I love the Givenchy look of an all black outfit with piles of gold chains. It's a little chavvy, but hopefully fashionable and tasteful if done right. I spotted a copycat outfit in Look this week (necklace £12 Peacocks) and actually it looked great.

Ravishing Rimmel

As make-up daft as I am, it's not often I purchase or want to purchase anything from Rimmel. It's not that their products are rubbish, it's just I look at the stand and don't see anything interesting jumping out at me. I used to buy their eyeliner and lipsticks (actually the only brand of lipstick I've used up and bought over and over again) when I was in high-school, but other brands have enticed me with innovative product launches and prettier packaging.

That could be about to change though as Rimmel launch several new products within a few weeks. I love the new purple packaging, isn't it funny, how a simple colour change can make products look more appealing?

There's new Sexy Curves mascara pictured above, which promises 70% curvier lashes. I think these plastic mascara brushes are one of the best makeup innovations in years, so I'll probably give this one a try, even if the bumpy shape, does look a little strange.

Moisture Renew Lipstick featured in the new Sophie Ellis Bextor ad, is basically a revamped version of the old Moisture Rich lipsticks. Still with your favourite shades of Heather Shimmer etc
I love the Colour Rush Mono Special Effects eyeshadow (above) with little crown detail in the middle. From the swatches on the website (below), there are some lovely colours. Definitely worth checking out.

Vintage Bourjois at ASOS

ASOS have a fabulous exclusive to celebrate 140 years of Bourjois. Their best selling blusher and eyeshadow shades have been repackaged in vintage inspired pots. Each shade has a different image on the lid and they are so lovely, you'll want them all. Blusher £6.25, eyeshadow £5.75. These are Limited Edition, so snap them up fast before they go.

Another busy eBay weekend

Last weekend I was busy listing lots of shoes on eBay and this weekend a lot of the bidding ended. I've been parcelling up like crazy and have a mountain of packages waiting for the Post Office!

There have been many, many bargains had. Some shoes have gone for as little as 99p, but I figure if I was to throw them out or take them to charity, I wouldn't get anything for them, so 99p is better than nothing. I do feel good that I've managed to clear lots of clutter from my room and even better that I've met my target and can purchase some IC Kitty Princesses! Not being able to work and earn my own money, means I wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford such luxuries.

If you are still interested in some beautiful shoes, then there are many styles available. I accept Paypal, so will post worldwide. There are some funky ASOS mink, fringe shoe-boots (above), BNIB. Plus a spectacular pair of Shoemissy glitter peep-toes, with rosettes on them (below). They are a fabulous style that are no longer available and are BNIB. Unfortunately they were too small for me...yep, I'm gutted. Click here to see what's available.

My little Fendi

I was really surprised to see this Fendi origami tank dress on Net-A-Porter today. I wore an almost identical dress (in black) to a friends wedding in April. The real shocker is the Fendi price £1,030, nowhere near what I paid for mine! I instantly fell in love with the shape, it had a real heavy, frilly hem and therefore gave a swinging movement when you walked. I've been a little conscious of my weight in recent years, so wanted something quite covered up, but still dressy. I wore mine with thick black tights and a pair of Topshop pink suede shoes with ribbon detail. I felt really comfortable in it and am planning on wearing it again and I don't mind one bit if someone mistakes it for Fendi!!

High Street Wish List

I've been meaning to write about these few pieces for a while now and keep forgetting. So, I'll get straight on with it.

First up are these gorgeous studded sandals from Primark. I've spotted them in a couple of magazines, but that usually means a longish wait until they appear in the shops. From what I can see they look very Jimmy Choo or Burberry, of course they may appear cheaper in the flesh. I'm definitely keeping an eye out for them, so let me know if you spot them anywhere.

New Look have quite a few pairs of shoes doing the media rounds. I love this purple suede pair, they have a really flattering shape and I like the detail on them. Below that are some harlequin inspired shoes, which are very much on trend just now. They are part of the Limited Edition range though, so not available in all stores. As are these gorgeous boots (bottom). I've been hunting for them for weeks on the New Look site but haven't seen them yet. I do have a lace-up pair from ASOS in similar fabric, but I really like these....and want them now, so hurry up NL!

Cosmo featured these Matalan sequin sandals as a dupe for Miu Miu. While they don't have the magnificent sculpted shell heel, I must admit they do have the general shape and style of the Miu Miu pair. I'm sure these will fly off the shelf as glitzy 'Christmas party sandals' and at £12 (compared to £425 for the Miu Miu) they certainly aren't going to break the bank.

As I've said it's getting really cold here in Scotland. My parents are currently on holiday and told me they were sitting watching the waves (with a tan no less!) late last night. Meanwhile my sister and I were huddled up in the house, heating on full blast, hoping we didn't have to venture out in the torrential rain and gale force winds (I kid you not). My coats and jackets that I haven't needed in the summer don't feel substantial enough for this climate, so I'm on the look-out for something warmer. I do like this coat from Primark (below). I can't tell how thick/warm it is from the picture, but I like the style and the colour and pattern are great that it wouldn't clash with floral prints or bright colours, so it would really go with anything. I do have really big boobs though and find it hard to get a coat that actually buttons up over my bust, team this with the fact that my Primark rarely has anything over a size 10, I may be struggling!

Back to New Look again and these little slingbacks. I first noticed the beige pair (which haven't scanned very well) and was shocked to see they were high-street shoes. I really like the blunt toe and almost cone shaped heel and honestly thought they looked like they cost a lot. The better image is of them in purple, although I think they look cheaper in that colour. I'm actually not as enamored with them as I first thought though, as time passes I'm going off them for some reason. Also note: one magazine prices them at £20 (quite cheap for NL nowadays), while the other is £35 (quite steep for NL!).

Look magazine did a feature recently on dirt cheap high-street fashion (Primark, Matalan, Peacocks etc) to help with the current credit crunch, financial crisis in the UK. I loved these Peacocks boots they featured (£18). I took a trip there recently but no sign of the boots. It did say in the article that they were due instore on the 17th October and I think I was there just before that.

Kitty Princess for a Princess

My heart sank this week when browsing through Irregular Choice shoes on eBay, I spotted these glorious pink and turquoise 'Kitty Princess' platforms. The reason for my disappointment being, that IC often sell samples of stock that is never mass produced for shops (and all these samples are a size 4-too small for me). So imagine my surprise when I saw them on the IC website yesterday! My excitement surpassed though when I saw the price...£100. It is really expensive and to be honest I'm not sure why this style would be £20-30 dearer than the usual IC's from this season. However, I do love the different shades of suede and the cute little moggy on the front and check out the gorgeous jewel stud on the ankle strap! So I've made a deal with myself that I'll buy them if I make the money from my eBay sales in the next few days. Although I'm not sure that letting go of nearly 40 pairs for one in return is good maths!

Gothic Glam Look

As I just told you, I'm sporting the Glossy Goth look today. I looked out my old faithful net skirt that I bought from Primark years ago (similar to this one below, at ASOS £30) and a black lace blouse, some lacey tights and my Faith Sunly grey peep toe boots.

I don't know if you remember me telling you about how much I loved the Sunly and Stogo boots from Faith? Well I took the plunge and with a 20% discount bought both pairs. Stogo turned out to be much paler than they look on the website (almost white) and didn't fit me. The deep 'v' in the front, where the bow is, were stopping the blood circulation in my foot! So they had to go back. Faith have a strange and not very helpful returns policy, where if I had opted for a replacement in a bigger size I'd have had to pay new postage costs as well as the price of sending the original boots back. They treat this like a new order. I decided against doing so incase they too didn't fit. I kept Sunly though and low and behold the next week they appear in the Faith sale! Even with my discount, the boots were £14 cheaper than what I'd paid. Having so many shoes, it's not often I pay a lot for them (I couldn't afford to), so this was a big decision for me and it didn't exactly turn out well. Anyway, I've been trying to wear Sunly as much as possible to pretend to myself that it was all worth it!

I also wore some beautiful pearl necklaces I got recently from ASOS. One is smaller beads with a large skull cameo (£12, I also bought the matching ring and bracelet, also £12 each), the other is a shorter chunky pearl necklace (£6).

I decided against wearing the black lips until I purchase one of the lip products, but instead opted for darkest purple. I used Lancome Le Crayon Contour in Violette (which I think was LE years ago) and Calvin Klein Lip Color Wash in Wine. Unlike the name suggests, this is not actually sheer and definitely more plum than wine. This combo is probably as black as my lips would get without actually being black. To make it work I kept the rest of my makeup simple, lots of mascara, the tiniest bit of eyeliner (my eyes need definition) and a little Milani blush in Temptation to contour. I'm really happy with this look today (although when I popped out this afternoon, I think my neighbours thought Halloween had come early!) and will definitely be trying more gothic inspired outfits for winter.

Would you try black lips?

Black lips are probably the biggest makeup trend of the season. Beauty directors, bloggers and fashionistas are all asking the 'will you? Or won't you?' question. I must admit I'm a bit of a goth at heart. I'm sure every girl goes through a 'black phase' in their youth, when all their clothes are black. I know I did and sometimes I feel I haven't grown out of it all that much!

I love the current 'glossy goth' trend and really feel 'at home' with it. Lots of lace, black chiffon, little gloves, multi-strand necklaces a bit of leather or pvc and killer heels. I'm really working that look today (more about that later), so I decided to try out the black lip too.

Yves Saint Laurent are really the pioneer of this look. At their A/W '08/09 show models walked down the runway in glossy black wigs and even glossier black lips. You can buy the real thing, YSL Gloss Pur in Black (£17.50) at selected stores now and nationwide from February. A cheaper alternative is Barry M Lipstick in 'lp37 Black' £4.25 or Miss Sporty Perfect Colour Lipstick in 'Extreme Black' £2.49.
I didn't have either to hand today, so you may want to try out this little test before buying. I used a black eyeliner pencil to outline my lips, then gently filled them in. You may find it easier to use a softer, glossier pencil, which will glide on. I then added a clear shiny gloss over the top, to stop it from looking so dry and voila, glossy black lips. My verdict? It didn't look too bad. I suppose with the bright pink hair and pale skin I had a pretty good canvas to work on. It makes your teeth look so white and if you leave the rest of your makeup minimal it can really work. Apparently the YSL gloss can vary in colour from plum to ebony depending on how you apply it, so I may be purhcasing it after all. I think it's important to use a really dark lipliner to give the gloss or lipstick something to hold onto and these are high maintenance lips, but should last longer with that. Failing that, just use an eye pencil like I did.

It's boots time!

OK, so Scotland hasn't exactly seen the best summer, but I do remember the weather forecasters predicting an indian summer (that didn't happen) before we head into the freezing winter . However this week has seen a dramatic change in the weather. It's wild winds today, at the beginning of the week it was getting dark around 3.30pm and it is bitterly cold. Now I'm not what my Mum would call a 'cauld tatty', but even I'm out there with hats and gloves on. I have no idea how I'll survive when it gets even colder. I've actually been wearing shoe boots the past few months, so I've never really had the chance to wear my more summery shoes and sandals. I have numerous ankle boots, but I bought a few pairs of more substantial Irregular Choice boots this summer that I'm hoping will see me through the winter.
Today I wore 'Sugar', mine are actually bronze with a black pattern on them (I could only find an image of this turquoise pair). These are pretty amazing, I can see myself getting a lot of wear out of them. The are really comfy and can give your look a bit of edge, they do take a long time to lace up though! They go mid-calf and have this angular looking heel and block toe. I'm so glad I got these.
'Wild Thing' are brown suede and leopard print leather. These are probably a little more difficult to co-ordinate with an outfit, so I doubt I'll wear them a lot. They have a zip up the back and sort of bunch up at the front, where you can adjust the gold trim tie. These look like they are knee high, but actually stop mid-calf. I like wearing them scrunched down to just above the ankle, it goes with the overall look and doesn't make the gathered section look so strange. I love leopard print though and it always seems to be getting a fashion revival, so they are a bit of fun.

I wanted these 'Jupiter' boots the moment I saw them in last winters IC collection. Unfortunately I missed out on them, but managed to get them from Letsbuyshoes. These are the perfect 'wear with anything' boots. They are beautifully made, with pinstripe fabric lining, inside zip, ruched toe, concealed platform and gold insert. I had to buy the next size up in these (it's all they had), so they are a little roomy, but my foot isn't slipping around in them.

NYX in the UK

I've been quite a fan of US cosmetic company NYX for some time now. I have a few blushes, loose pigment and eyeshadows that I've swaped for on MUA. So I was mega excited to see that Fragrance Direct have started carrying the brand. They don't have all the range, but seem to be adding to it all the time.

Yesterday I placed a huge order (well actually 2 orders) and I received a box full of goodies this morning. Currently my hand is covered in lipstick, gloss and glitter! I was particularly interested in trying the Candy Glitter eyeliner to see if it's comparable to Collection 2000. I was pleased at how big the tube was, it looked a lot smaller online. There's a cute black tassle adorning the top of the lid and the colours I ordered look so sparkly in the tube. From swatching though I was a little disappointed. To me, they seem like clear liquid (or slightly tinted) with sporadic glitter pieces. Whereas the C2000 ones are infused with glitter and you don't really get that clear liquid look. I remember buying a Too Faced one a while back and the colour I got (Drunk Dial) was the only one that didn't look like clear liner with little bits of glitter in it. I like that the C2000 give me a line of non-stop sparkle. If you're going to do glitter, you may as well go all the way, I don't want subtlety, I want full on glam!

However I'm sure I'll still get use from them. I also got some lipglosses and lipsticks. Here's a list of my haul. I still have a huge order of the Round Lipsticks to come and a few more bits and pieces.

Candy Glitter Eyeliner in

Baby Pink

Jade

Hot Yellow

Lime

Lavender

Hot Orange

Crystal

Red

Disco Queen

Diamond Sparkle Lipstick in

Sparkling Orchid

Sparkling Flamingo

Sparkling Gold

Sparkling Satin

Sparkling Apricot

Sparkling Velvet

Diamond Sparkle Lip Gloss in

Plum Sparkle

Beige Sparkle

Goddess of the Night Lip Gloss in

Natural

Sweet Heart

Desert

Iced Latte

Chestnut

Frosteed Beige

All in all, I was quite pleased with the order. Sparkling Orchid lipstick looks gorgeous and I can't wait to try it. Some of the lipglosses look like they may be little too gold for me and make my teeth look yellow, so I may swap them. Each item cost £1.99 or £2.99, so slightly more expensive than in the US, but still cheap. Hopefully I'll get pictures up for you at some point as the swatches on NYX are no help and most of the items on Fragrance Direct don't have images with them.

Free Delivery Code for ASOS

This lunchtime you can enjoy free standard delivery on your entire order at ASOS. All you have to do is purchase an item from their knitwear range and shop between 12pm and 2pm. Enter the code WRAPUPWARM in the discount box at checkout. (The above jumper is £28 and also available in berry or black).

Platform Boots

I spotted a pair of New Look boots ages ago in a magazine that I instantly liked. They've been in loads since, but have yet to appear on the shop shelf. They remind me of this Irregular Choice style (above) from last winter that were never produced. I fell in love with them and then was devastated when I learned I couldn't buy them. The New Look version will just have to do. There is a pair on the site just now which are plain black (not as keen on them), but I really want the version (below) in these pics. They retail for £40 I think, although magazine prices have varied. Aren't they gorgeous?

I'm Baaaack!

Hi, sorry for the lack of posts this week. I've been busy gathering shoes to sell on eBay! I must admit I usually find it hard to let go of things, I'm definitely a hoarder, but I've surprised myself at how easy it was to downsize my collection. I probably own around 200 pairs of shoes. Most of them are kept in my room, although my parents built a shed to house some of my belongings when I came home to live a few years ago. After 4 years away from home, I had definitely gathered more things than I had space for in my bedroom.

I have managed to put up around 30 pairs on eBay so it's definitely a start. There are probably lots more in 'the shed' that could be sorted through when I have more time. If you want to look them up on eBay, here's the link. There are a few brand new pairs and the rest have only been worn once or twice and are in really good condition so check them out.

I'm also in the process of throwing out all my magazines (a huge task). I started buying glossies when I was around 13 and never missed an issue. A few years ago it got to the stage where I was buying every monthly and weekly mag going. I was cutting out pictures and saving them in categorized folders, but it all got too much. There just wasn't enough room to house all the stuff and the cutting and collecting was taking up more spare time than I had. At first I was trying to sort through the things I wanted to keep, but now I'm being ruthless and recycling them all. I just have to not think about it! It still upsets me when I see a fabulous full page image that I want to cut out, but you can't keep everything!