Next Hair Colour?

It's that time again, where I'm pondering a new hair colour! I wanted to keep the lilac a little longer, because I simply love the colour, however I hate that it doesn't cover the newly bleached hair. After a week or so, it's lilac with a considerable amount of dirty greenish yellow and even immediately after application you can notice some yellowish bits! It would mean double-bleaching the regrowth each time and I don't want to go down that road. I think as much as I love pastel hair colours, they are not for me because you need to be prepared for recolouring every couple of weeks and/or putting up with sections that don't take or using the colours as an extremely temporary measure. I'm too fussy for that!

I was going to do a poll, but have decided to leave it open to your suggestions. I don't necessarily want to go straight back to turquoise (although I loved it)-I'd like to try something new. I won't go bright pink again because my parents will shoot me (stained bath and all that). Here's a selection of what I've had over the past couple of years (above) and some pics that have been inspiring me below. I'm thinking perhaps a deeper purple? Or I still have lots of lilac left, so could mix a dark purple with that to hopefully get more coverage but not go too dark over the summer months? In the nicest possible way, I don't want it to look too 'standard purple' if you know what I mean? LOTS of people have dyed purple hair and I don't want it to look too 'dirty-grunge' because that's not me. I'm liking the newest colour on Katy Perry though, she's managed to keep it girly looking, but would I suit it? I also found an amazing super-bright purple on someone in a lookbook on a boutique/website and can't for the life of me find the image again, it was an intense but bright shade, it looked fab. I had a quick look for dyes online yesterday but got frustrated as everything I looked at was out of stock! Manic Panic have withdrawn some colours from sale for now, so you can't get them anywhere which is rather annoying. I loved the look of the new shades of Crazy Color (Bubblegum, Candy Floss and Marshmallow), but I've heard coverage isn't good nor long-lasting, which is a pity as they are super-pretty. So any ideas?

Gorgeous Nude Lip Combo

I'm really enjoying my Lipstick Challenge. Not only is it forcing me into using neglected lipsticks and helping (a tiny bit) to use up some lippies, I'm experimenting much more with layering. I've become very used to applying lipsticks straight out of the tube and maybe adding a little gloss at times. Now I'm trying to really change the look of the lipstick so I don't get bored throughout the week with the same shade.

I tried out a new combo last week and ended up wearing it every day after that because I liked it so much! My lipstick was E.L.F. Matte Lip Color in Natural which is a dirty, reasonably deep pink. I'd wanted to lighten it, so put Barry M Lip Paint in 101 Marshmallow underneath. This is practically white on me (like sunblock!), with the Matte lippie on top it became a lightish, peachy pink. I didn't bother with lipliner as both lipsticks are quite 'dry' and don't feather on me. Then I added Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector (Nude) over the top. It's the yummiest, most amazing feeling balm/gloss. I've already ordered a full-size version because I love this one so much. Finished result was this beautiful glossy, nude lip.  Do we like?  I haven't decided on this weeks lipstick yet because I've been makeup-less the past few days.  Have you rediscovered any old favourites lately or found a new beautiful combination?

Clements Ribeiro for Evans

I realise this post is more than a little after-the-fact, but I'd collected all the images together at the time and have never had a spare minute to put the post together. Seeing as most of the items are still in stock and there's a few offers on just now, it seemed worth mentioning. There's up to 30% off until tonight (it was 20% off the CR stuff I looked at), plus I managed to use a further 20% off code I had (you can google and find several), along with a free delivery code!

The Clements Ribeiro 'Swan' collection for Evans launched last month and I think I'm correct in saying it's the first 'real' designer/high-street collaboration aimed at plus-size women. H&M in particular have collaborated with so many designers now, but more often than not anyone over a 16 or 18 doesn't get a look in, so I think a range for size 14-32 ladies is long overdue! People seem to get hyper-critical when it comes to anything plus-sized or weight related and while I wasn't obsessed with this collection, I did think it was rather lovely and am overjoyed that it's available to curvier women.

I have to admit to not purchasing from Evans all that frequently though for a variety of reasons. My nearest store has a very poor range so I'm confined to shopping online, I can still fit into it's trendier (or at least more 'me') sister store, Dorothy Perkins and/or other brands such as ASOS, Primark, New Look etc (which I know not every plus-size woman can) and generally I don't find all that much I like at Evans. I think there's a lot of pressure on Evans to deliver, but that's because women over a certain size simply don't have any other options. We can't make our virtual shopping list and trawl every high-street store looking for what we need because we literally need to find everything in this one store and if it doesn't deliver, we're screwed! I think Evans need to cash-in on this and develop more of a variety within their own range and their collaborations. They have to remember they're targeting all plus-sized women of every age and shape. Someone who is 5ft and hip-heavy is probably looking for something different from the 6ft well-rounded girl and the top heavy 55 year old woman. Like any other woman we are all different shapes with different needs and a "one plus-size fits all" approach simply doesn't work! Personally I'm a busty hourglass, always looking for dresses, vintage styling in kooky/kitsch prints and something generally quite 'young' and I think they're lacking that. Someone else might be more of a jeans and tee girl, some might be older and prefer more coverage, sleeves, longer hemlines etc and some might fancy a younger range with shorter hemlines and more trend-led pieces. So, I think that although it's a lot to cater for, it's definitely something they could improve on. Anyhow, long story short, this collection did appeal to me more than the usual Evans range.

What I loved was the range of colours and prints. I've tried to put these images together with samples of the print and isn't there a lot to choose from? I like that it was bold without being garish, a celebration of curves and an "I'm not hiding just because I'm fat" approach. After-all why should we? In fact I probably wear more prints and colours now than (my pretty much entirely black wardrobe of) my skinny teens and early 20's.

The cuts of the garments are apparently particularly flattering which is what I would expect from a designer range. For me the prices were a bit steep. I know it's a 'designer' range but given the vast volume of clothes in my wardrobe, I simply can't justify spending upwards of £50 on one dress and certainly not £90. The other day they emailed saying there was 'up to' 30% off the website and I thought it was a 1-day only deal and had missed it (researched what I wanted in the morning then forgot all about it), but when they emailed again to say it was the last day today, I realised I had a second chance to try a couple of things. I'd had two dresses in particular in mind and both were available in limited sizes (actually one wasn't available in my size the other day, so I was lucky to find it today). I've ordered 18's in both (because they didn't have 20's), so I'm hoping they may be generous and fit! I got the Betty heart print dress and purple pansy 'Peggy' dress. There's a few more I love, the black broderie anglaise 'Betty', the printed and red 'Joan' dresses and the heart cardigan, but alas funds were already stretched for these two! I went with those that I figured I would get most wear of.  All in all, it's a good wee collection and I'm pleased to hear there are at least two more collections from the design duo due.  Is there anything you fancy here?

Picture Mania

Hello my lovelies. I'm so happy to be feeling slightly better today (Saturday) and well enough to type. I had to take a day-off yesterday due to my health. I've had the migraine from hell for 4 days straight, period pain and toothache. Whoever decided to chuck all three at me along with my usual ailments is damn mean! The toothache was bad enough for me to make an appointment and go down there in the pouring rain on Thursday. Unfortunately for me, my dentist didn't find anything and I could tell she was getting slightly irritated with my persistence as was I with her lack of assistance! To make matters worse the problem is in a tooth which has been root-treated, so technically I shouldn't feel anything, but I am. She took x-rays and sent me home with a wee tube of sensitive toothpaste and told me to see her next Wednesday (because she doesn't work Mon/Tue)! Sure, just make me suffer another week of it! Obviously I was pretty mad-I felt ill, haven't been able to eat anything hot (including my beloved cups of tea) and she was making me last out another week? I've been trying to work through it all week, but the computer is really the worst thing for my head, so I had to give in. I tried to sleep my way through it yesterday, but then the migraine hindered that. Unfortunately the only thing that works for that is those migraine-wafer thingies, but I can't take them with the medication I'm already on (I've tried it twice in the past and had temporary paralysis of my upper body!), so I just had to suffer it. I did find some Panadol in the cupboard and took a couple of doses of that because I was at my wits end. The toothache has now spread to the teeth above and that was actually bothering me more than the original one and yesterday I hardly ate a thing. I slept until 11.30am today though and must say I feel a ton better. No headache and the teeth aren't too bad. I'm saving the Panadol for when I really need it...I do have until Wednesday afterall! I was feeling rather sorry for myself about the whole thing, because I've been trying really hard to live a better life, eat healthier, stress less and look after myself more but not only was it not working, it was actually having the opposite effect, typical!

Anyway, I got my new Nikon D3100 earlier in the week (scary) and really wanted to take time to play around with it and get to know how it works. The camera in itself had added to my stress because I've literally spent months researching which one to buy (nowhere near as much fun as looking for shoes fyi) and in the end, completely did a u-turn and went for the expensive DSLR which I hadn't thought I could afford! I had a little play with it today because I haven't had time or felt up to it all week. It's going to take some getting used to and I don't think it's reached it's full potential in this post, but I'm still learning (and I still consider myself to be a pretty crap photographer, but I enjoy it). It's quite hard to take self-portraits or steady 'shoes on my feet' shots, which is what my other cameras excelled at. I think you would need to use a tripod quite a lot and I usually don't bother because it takes time to set-up and/or I'm pushed for space. I mostly played around with the zoom lens and close-ups today. You'll be rewarded with the text-heavy paragraph above with a picture heavy post after this! I started taking some pics in my room, then went into my sisters which is like girl-heaven.  The nephews are practically banned from entering because it's beyond their wildest dreams and there's too many things for them to touch (and break)!  It was good fun taking these images because there's so many different colours and textures and the lighting was challenging in the hard to reach places.  I hasten to add the images taken in her room show only a small portion of her stuff...she has an insane amount of dolls, figures, trinkets, toys etc! I keep telling her to start her own blog, but she doesn't have time for it sadly.