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You know I've wanted these for months, but seeing them on the foot is only making me lust after them even more. They're just gorgeous! However don't think I haven't noticed the sneaky price increase Office (on several pairs of your shoes)-did I miss the memo about the VAT rise coming early? You can buy these shoes for £75 now instead of £70.
I reckon the Holly Willoughby and Fearne Cotton ranges at Very get better each season. Two dresses in particular caught my eye from Fearne's range. The gorgeous polka dot dress is simply stunning-it's just a shame about the very low V back, it's the only thing that's putting me off purchasing. I otherwise really, really love it; the print, the draping, tulip shaped skirt and the fact that it has sleeves are all bonus points for me. It's £69 and available in sizes 6-20.
The other is this wrapover dress, a similar style I suppose but in this strange but somewhat appealing insect pattern. I'm not at all keen on bugs, but this still caught my eye. It's very Alexander McQueen. It does have a strange hitched hem detail, not sure if that would annoy me (or 'bug' me). Also available in sizes 6-20 (although currently out of stock in size 8) for £59.
New in at River Island this week are these sequin peep toe boots. I can't quite decide if they are horrendous or unusually cute. I know a lot of people hate them, but I've always been partial to a peep toe boot-I like the contrast. However it's the all over fish scale style sequins that have me questioning their beauty. What do you think?
I'm a proud doll collector; it started with Sindy, progressed to My Scene then Bratz with a few Barbies and Blythes thrown into the mix. You really struggle to get decent dolls in the UK now though, Bratz are 'no more' after their lawsuit (although I notice they are back in the Argos book that came out on Saturday), My Scene still exist although they aren't stocked in the UK (and they became pretty naff) and the only Barbie dolls you ever see are pink, cheap looking and/or with that dog that poops!
I'm extremely (actually ridiculously) excited by the new Monster High dolls from Mattel though. Not your usual 'plastic fantastic', these high school sweethearts are Draculaura (daughter of Dracula, due to celebrate her sweet 1600th), Clawdeen Wolf (15 year old werewolf), Lagoona Blue (the sea monsters daughter, age 15 years), Frankie Stein (15 day old daughter of Frankenstein), Ghoulia Yelps (nerd girl, daughter of the zombies), Cleo De Nile (Egyptian princess, daughter of the mummy, age 5842) and her green haired boyfriend Deuce Gorgon (a 16 year old, born to Medusa). Vampires, monsters and zombies with webbed hands, green skin, neck bolts and fangs! Not a pooping dog in sight! They look absolutely adorable, I love them. They are fully poseable too and from the images on Flickr, it seems that they come to life with a few tweaks here and there. Their hands have wonderful slender fingers and I love the exaggerated shape of their legs. The attention to detail on each doll is astounding, the clothes and shoes are amazing, then you have to take in the 'monster' details. Each doll comes with it's own pet; bat, fish, cobra etc, notebook and doll stand (great for us collectors to display).
Cleo is sold in a pack with Deuce and for some reason Ghoulia hasn't been made into a doll yet. They have their own cartoon, which as far as I'm aware isn't shown in the UK yet-perhaps Ghoulia isn't as prominent as the others, but you can view some funny clips on their website. The humour at times seems more suited to an older audience-I'm not sure kids would always 'get it', which suits me fine. The dolls are available from Argos and I'm not kidding when I say I have to have them all. Unfortunately my nearest store have zero stock though and I've heard those that do only have Frankie Stein in stock. I reckon my favourites are Clawdeen and Lagoona Blue. It's just so refreshing to see such colourful dolls and I've also found a preview of the Dawn Of The Dance collection (below) which will be released in autumn in the US. It's absolute hotness! Clawdeen has cropped lime green hair, Cleo is rocking an 80's look complete with amazing shoes and Frankie Stein looks great in her pink fishnets, could I love these girls anymore?
You also get plush versions of Clawdeen, Frankie and Draculaura (all adorable) and the cutest cameo keyring charms, which I'm dying to make into a necklace. Once I manage to track these dolls down, you'll see lots of photos I promise! Would you be happy for your child to play with these 'monsters' or do you think they are strictly for adults?
I was supposed to be sticking to reviewing and swatching items included in my summer selection, however I felt the urge to swatch my Urban Decay eyeshadows the other day-so just went with it. I didn't realise I owned so many actually. UD e/s come in various finishes, the sparkly shades are well known for their glitter fallout, so if you don't like glitter on your cheeks-avoid! A good tip is to use a base such as UD's Primer Potion or Too Faced Shadow Insurance-I've shown a few e/s here using TF underneath and the difference in colour and finish is amazing. I would also suggest applying your eyeshadow before the rest of your face makeup, so you can brush away glitter fallout before applying foundation etc 
On the image above (click to enlarge), I've written above or below each shade which finish it has (please note I guessed Roadstripe and Exhaust because they are discontinued shades);
Duotone; reflects different colours in different lights, perhaps flashing green one way, then blue the other.
Metallic; isn't shimmer or glitter, but a metallic sheen.
Shimmer; doesn't contain glitter particles, but shimmers in the light (the same shade as the eyeshadow).
Glitter; is similar to shimmer, but also contains actual glitter pieces which can be any colour but are usually silver or gold. These vary in size from microglitter to larger sparkles and the overall amount of glitter in each eyeshadow also varies.
Matte; comes in a darker outer packaging. The colours are very pigmented and contain no shimmer or glitter.
Blues; Kiddie Pool (metallic, really pigmented light sky blue shade with iridescent glitter), Goddess (midnight blue with electric blue microglitter, I found this quite chalky but it performs much better with primer underneath).
Purples; Stalker (pinky purple with silver glitter), Exhaust (very sheer, just a hint of lilac with silver glitter), Asphyxia (lavender with blue sheen, sheer but more buildable than Exhaust).
Grey; Revolver (matte, quite sheer but buildable mid grey)
Pinks/Others; Roadstripe (white in pan but flashes blue), Cherry (champagne pink with lots of silver glitter), Hotpants (medium pink, very pigmented, velvet feel), Jones (orange, pigmented, velvet texture).
Greens; Flipside (teal with green and blue sheen), Shattered (similar to Flipside but less pigmented, has strong gold sheen against the blue), Vert (another disappointing colour pigment wise, grassy green with yellowish sheen), Chronic (matte bright green), Electric (matte, peacock turquoise, very pigmented and soft), Narcotic (matte, lighter turquoise, again pigmented and soft), Acid Rain (grassy stain colour, yellowish green with gold sheen), Urb (dirty antique greeny gold with silver and gold microglitter).
Swatches; The 'greens' swatched better than the others, I just couldn't get the right lighting for them unfortunately. Kiddie Pool is much more pigmented and metallic looking than in the swatch here. You can see the obvious difference when used with Too Faced Shadow Insurance, colours are bolder, brighter, last longer and look more metallic and shimmery. I'm most disappointed with Shattered and Vert, because they look so gorgeous in the pan, but aren't very pigmented. Shattered did improve with primer, so I'm sure Vert will work better when used with that too. Also the matte eyeshadows aren't at all chalky if you're worried about that, they feel really soft.
...and close-ups of the complete line-up.
When I pulled the wand out, I was surprised that the sponge applicator was actually purple. Was it just the sponge or the actual product? Well when I applied the (still glittery copper shade) stain to my hand it did indeed flash purple, but still with this strong sparkly copper shade on top. Then I blended the swatch and was left with a deep pinky purple stain and the glitter migrates.
At first I didn't understand how this would be a 'stain' until I tested it. You can see on my hand, the rubbed in stain and the glitter that moved all around my hand, next to it is the product straight out of the tube. I'm not sure how I would feel about this as a blush stain, the stain part would work, but I don't think I'd like gold glitter all around my cheeks. On my lips, you can definitely see both the purple and copper colours. 
