SEPTEMBER FAVOURITES

I really love reading monthly favourites posts so here's mine for this month. There's not an awful lot and the majority is beauty related items.

Space tee; Topshop

Disco Pants; Glamorous

ELF Stipple Brush

Argan Oil

FAME by Lady Gaga

No.7 Stay Perfect Foundation

Garnier Anti-Blackhead Deep Pore Wash

ELF Matte Finisher Nail Polish

MUA Lipstick (shade 1)

I don't really own that many casual tops but I saw this and just loved it. It's a good, comfy fit and I wear it all the time when I'm having lazy days. As for the disco pant dupes... I keep seeing people wearing them and I'm not a leggings person at all but I was intrigued. Then a little shop near me starting selling the Glamorous ones (that I've seen loads of bloggers rave) so I had to try them on. IN LOVE. I wear them all the time. Comfy and go with everything! I actually went back and bought the grey ones last week, I like them that much.

I posted recently my first ELF haul. After doing that post I made a second order and in it I got the Stippling Brush. It's fantastic! I use it for foundation and I feel like I don't use as much product when I use this brush and my make up does seem to be staying on a lot longer. Very impressed!

Jumped on the Argan oil bandwagon quite a bit after everyone else but it does serious wonders to my hair, and it smells amazing!

For the last few years my go-to perfume has always been the original Kate Moss fragrance. Then I found out a bit ago it's been discontinued and I only have a tiny bit left. Absolutely gutted. I heard about the Lady Gaga perfume, and I love her anyway, so I had to try it out. I really love it! It takes a minute or so for the smell to really come out and it literally last all day.

I talked about the foundation on this post and I do feel so much happier with my make up since getting this but I will be buying the Matte one next time because my skin does tend to get a bit shiny later into the day.

I've only been using this face wash for just over a week but my skin is SO soft after using it. I will definitely be re-purchasing.

Also, in the previously mentioned ELF haul post, I bought the Matte Finisher polish. I didn't expect to love it as much as I do. I've used it every time I've put a different colour on my nails.

And lastly, the MUA lipstick. I've got quite a few lipsticks but they're all various shades of pink so I decided it was time to branch out. Though a little scary, I just went in at the deep end and bought a bold red. I think I've definitely wore it this month more than any of the pinks. Though, this only means I'm going to get more obsessed with lipstick...

What have you been loving this month?

PAYDAY HAUL

My previous blog post was my payday wishlist and as I got paid yesterday (with a nice little bonus too!!) I went shopping today on my day off.

Skirt; Topshop | Jacket; Miss Selfridge

Sorry the last photo is so blurry!

On the previously mentioned wishlist, I had featured the skirt and the jacket. I was in town the other day and the skirt was sold out in my size so I tried the next size up but it was too big. I went home to order it online but it'd had sold out and I was gutted. Luckily, it was restocked the other day so I ordered it as soon as I realised. It fits perfectly and I'm so happy with it.

As for the jacket, I never want to take it off. It's a lovely fit. I'd definitely recommend going up a size in it though (as I think you should anyway when it comes to jackets and coats.) It's a little pricey (though I do get staff discount) but I know I'll get a lot of wear out of it and it's easily going to be able to be worn all year round. I'm looking at it as an investment, anyway!

Every payday without fail I spend too much money in Superdrug. I'm literally obsessed. Although I did quite well this time (until new Kate Moss for Rimmel lipsticks are released next week, eek!) They had a buy one get one free offer on selected Simple products, which I think is on for all this month but I'm not 100% sure. I picked up some face wipes and a new moisturiser and I also got some eye balm. My eyes look so tired all the time so i was curious. I've used it today and I've noticed the skin around my eye feels a lot smoother but I don't know if I look more awake! Probably not used it enough just yet.

The GOSH primers had £3 off and although I've still got quite a bit left I couldn't pass up that offer because I've never seen them on offer before. I really recommend this primer, though. 

I also popped into Boots and picked up the Soap & Glory Supercat eyeliner pen. I saw it on another blog this week and I was intrigued. I used to use the Rimmel felt pen liner and then I went off it so I'll have to see how this compares to my holy grail liquid liner that is Barry M.

Finally, I keep seeing people go on about the Lush lip scrubs and I never go in Lush but decided to give it a go. I got the bubblegum flavour and it smells AMAZING. I wear lipstick every single day so I probably should look after my lips as much as I try to look after my skin.

I have also just ordered the Hero & Cape Bowie tee that was featured in the wishlist. Very excited for that to arrive.

I'm going to try and post a monthly favourites blog tomorrow. Hope you all have great weekends!

PAYDAY WISHLIST #1

It's payday in 6 days (and counting!) and this month I'm due a bonus in my payslip as I got a little promotion last month so I think that means I'm entitled to treat myself.
Here's what I'm after this month...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 

1. Been after a skirt like this for so long and I've tried so many on that just aren't right. Hopefully my local Topshop has this and hopefully it will be perfect. It will go with everything and I'd be able to wear it for work too.

2. I already have a Bowie top but this one from the new Hero & Cape collection is just beautiful.

3. I keep looking at these House of Holland tights and they're reduced on the New Look website. Meaning I'll probably end up buying them.

4. Like I need another lipstick... BUT it's only £1.50 so hardly breaking the bank...

5. This year I really want a good leather jacket and I think this Miss Selfridge one is my favourite that I've come across so far.

6. Seen so many bloggers bang on about this Topshop highlighter and it's got me very intrigued...

7. The only reason I like when it gets cold is because there is knitwear everywhere and I LOVE knitwear. This cardigan looks so cosy!

8. Scarf... gloves... Scloves? Glarf? I don't know but... AWESOME. I had to de-ice my car this morning (in September!!) and it was so frosty walking from where I park to work so this would nicely warm me up on that little journey.

What are you wanting this payday?

MINI HAUL: ELF COSMETICS

I've read a lot of good things about online make-up brand e.l.f. but I was always a bit concerned about buying make-up online when you can't see it to test it. And I thought the insanely cheap prices just couldn't be right! But so many beauty bloggers swear by them so I bit the bullet on the head and purchased a few items.

Mineral Powder Brush; £3.75

Angled Foundation Brush; £3.75

Concealer Brush; £3.75

Matte Finisher Nail Polish; £2.50

Studio Eyeshadow in Wild Wheat; FREE GIFT (usually £3.75)

See? Insanely cheap prices! There's an offer on the site at the minute where you get a free studio eyeshadow if you spend £12. Very happy they sent a neutral colour as I'm not a big eyeshadow person and when I do use it I do stick to those colours.

I was planning on having a no make-up day today to give my face a break but when this box arrived today I got a bit too excited to try everything out. Ooh, that reminds me... I order this on Tuesday late at night and it arrived today (Thursday afternoon) and I got the dispatch email yesterday afternoon. Very impressed with that.

Anyway! The brushes are all from the Studio range. There is a normal range where the brushes are £1.50 and a mineral range where they cost £5. I prefer the sleek look of the Studio ones and all the reviews and blogs I've read talk about these ones. They are so soft! I've obviously only used them once so far but the angled foundation brush has given a lovely coverage and I feel like I've not even used as much foundation as I usually put on. I think my favourite is going to be the powder brush. I picks up so much of the powder and it actually keeps it all on my face rather than dusting all my clothes, too.

The eyeshadow is a lovely colour on and you can definitely build up the colour quite a lot with only a couple of layers.
As for the nail varnish... a while ago I saw a photo online of somebody's nails and she had a matte black polish on and it looked lovely and I Googled the life out of the Internet trying to find some but I just couldn't. I looked in every stand in Boots and Superdrug and tried eBay too so then I gave up. Saw a YouTube video and now I'm desperate to try it out! I will report back another time on this.

I'm so impressed with ELF already, so far, and I'll definitely buy from them again. Have any of you bought from them before? What are your favourite brushes/products?

LONDON FASHION WEEK S/S13

I've been slightly over excited by this seasons London Fashion Week and I couldn't narrow down my favourite collections anymore than I already have done. I had really high hopes before fashion week started and I certainly wasn't disappointed. My all time favourite designers are Hosue of Holland, Burberry Prorsum, Holly Fulton and Felder Felder and I adored all of their new collections for Spring/Summer 2013.

With it being collections for Spring and Summer it wasn't a huge shock that there were lots of pastel colours and floral prints flying around but this year there has also been prints and embellishment galore! There's been quite obviously a Nineties influence in creating their new collections for a lot of designers, seen predominantly in House of Holland and Moschino Cheap & Chic, and I absolutely love it! Tie dye, dungarees, neon, metallic, crop tops and even crimped hair... (although I won't be going back to the crimped hair look that's for sure!)
Metallic and other embellishments seem to be a big thing amongst the collections too. The trademark trench coat from Burberry got the colourful metallic treatment this time and it is fabulous! The finale of that catwalk show looked amazing.
As well as all of the craziness and colour, monochrome stuck around in some collections with lots of asymmetric lines and structure and effortlessly cool looks.
I'm very excited to see these looks filtered down to the high street next year.
Who were your favourite collections from?

sass & bide

Felder Felder

Kinder Aggugini

Holly Fulton

House of Holland

Moschino Cheap & Chic

Marios Schwab

Matthew Williamson

Philip Treacy

Burberry Prorsum

Simone Rocha

Ashish

Aminaka Wilmont

BEAUTY ESSENTIALS

Earlier this year I realised my hair was in shocking condition. I'd been dyeing it for a good 5 years, straightened it daily for 8 or so years, blow drying everyday and rarely having a hair cut. My hair felt horrible and it was split-end central.
At present I've not dyed my hair since April, I've not used a hair dryer since around June time and the same for fully straightening my hair. When I leave it to dry naturally, it dries so lovely and I'm angry at myself for ruining my hair. I do have to admit that I still use the straighteners just for fly away bits that stick out when I wake up! I had all the split ends cut out too and 4 or so months later I can totally tell the difference. Then I went on a hair product scout to find something to keep my hair in good condition and make it softer.
As well as bad hair, my skin isn't all the great either. (Aren't I lucky?!) So I'm always looking out for new skin care products and looking at what other people are using.
So here are the few bits that I use daily..!

1. E45 moisturiser - Pretty basic essential! You can use it everywhere and it's all hypoallergenic and it's good for sensitive skin so that is all I need. I use this in a morning before I put primer and my make up on and generally after a shower.
2. Batiste dry shampoo - The holy grail of dry shampoo and a total life saver! I used to wash my hair every day but I've managed to cut it down to every other day now (of which I can tell has also really helped my hair.) so this stuff is brilliant for a quick refresh in the mornings. I use the 'dark and deep brown' one because my roots are quite dark brown and I'm too paranoid of having white patches that I've not rubbed in properly!
3. Nivea Visage Pure & Natural cleansing lotion - I've only had this for a few weeks but I love it! I use it at night after washing my face and it makes my skin feel so nice and soft.
4. Simple Soothing Facial Toner - Another relatively new product which I'm also loving. I literally tell after the first use that my skin looked better; it's definitely clearing up my pores. I use this twice a day, generally. I think it's only new out, too, because when I bought it a couple weeks ago it seemed to be on offer everywhere. Definitely worth checking out, only cost me £2!
5. Tresemmé Split Remedy - I've not actually used this much recently. I bought it whilst I was still straightening my hair. I don't think it really worked all that much but I like the smell of it and if I put i on the ends before I leave the house it makes my hair look shiny.
6. Nivea Double Effective Eye Makeup Remover - I've only been using this for a week or so. I needed eye make up remover, this was on offer and I was curious about the 2 liquids in the bottle. You have to shake it really quite a lot for them to mix. It obviously has oil in it to remove the make up but then the other half protects eyelashes and doesn't leave oily residue. It says that you don't need to rub to get the make up off but you do to an extent (maybe that's because of how much mascara I pile on..!) but I will probably buy it again.
7. Argan Oil - I've been so curious about this for a long time. I've googled and blog searched for months trying to get as many reviews as possible. Always get nervous buying new products in case I don't like them and then I've spent money I didn't need to. SO glad I bought this though. My hair is so soft! When my hair is wet is put quite a bit all through it then on some morning I put a tiny bit through my hair (avoiding roots or it'll make you look greasy!). Definitely recommend buying this too.
8. Tea Tree cleansing pads & spot stick - These are Superdrug own brand and I've been using them as part of my night time skin care routine. I use the pads all over my face first, then the spot stick. (Then  use the facial toner and then cleansing lotion!) Obviously being tea tree I knew it would sting a little but... wow! No pain, no gain though, right? My spots did shrink down though so clearly works.

I took these photos a few days ago but since then I also added a new skincare product to my routine. I bought Garnier's Skin Naturals Anti-blackhead Deep Pore Wash. I've not used it enough yet to really have an opinion on it but having used Garnier products in the past I don't think I'll have any complaints.
Has anyone else used it?

WHAT'S IN MY MAKE-UP BAG

Over the last couple of months I've really started to love make-up and I've been buying a lot of it. Like most people I've had the struggle of finding foundation that actually matches my skin. I don't even want to know how much money I've spent on different ones. I have really pale skin. For the last year or so I've been using Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse in 'Light Ivory' (because Ivory was still too dark...) but I still wasn't very happy with how it looks. I was always really paranoid about how my face looked.

Recently, the No.7 make-up brand from Boots launched their foundation match scheme. I saw the advert and was all "pfft, that won't work!" but my friend had it done and she recommended it so off we went to get matched up. It is amazing and I would definitely recommend getting it done if you're after a foundation that actually matches you and is reasonably priced. I ended up being "Cool Vanilla" and I really do feel so much happier with how my make up looks now.

Make up bag; Primark £2

Face:

GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer

No.7 Stay Perfect foundation in 'Cool Vanilla'

No.7 Blemish Cover concealer in 'Fair'
No.7 Instant Radiance concealer

Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder in '001 Transparent'

Sleek Contour Kit in 'Light'

Eyes:

Maybelline Falsies mascara in 'Black Drama'

Barry M Liquid Eyeliner

Vivo Eyeshadow Pallete in 'Bronze Me Up'

MUA Eye Primer

MUA Eyeshadows in 'Shade 16 - Matt' and 'Shade 24 - Pearl'

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama Gel Liner pot

Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in '004 Black Brown'

Vivo Eyeliner in 'White'

Wow, writing it all down makes it seem like I put so much on but I don't wear it everything there all the time, particularly all the eye stuff. Also as you can see, I do stick to drugstore/high street brands (mainly because I can't afford to buy all of MAC.) The most expensive things there would be the foundation which was £14 and the GOSH primer is around the same but I'm quite willing to spend money on foundation if it's going to look good, be good quality and last. As far as primer goes, I don't even know how I managed without that prior to discovering it! MUA do a primer too for a couple of quid if you're not up for spending that much on it. This is my second bottle and I'll be buying it over and over again.
I probably should have got a new pressed powder before taking these photos, too! Oops!
The Falsies mascara is my all time favourite. I've easily bought it over 15 times now!

Brushes 1-5 all QVS via Superdrug:
(Powder, Foundation, Concealer & Foundation, Powder, Eyeshadow)
Brush 6 comes with Maybelline gel eyeliner pot

Again, I'd love to be able to afford Sigma or Real Techniques brushes but realistically I can't. I really like these QVS ones and I've not paid over £6 for any of those. They wash really well too. I got them from Superdrug but I'm pretty sure they're available in a few other stores too. I would love some higher end brushes though as they must be better at applying make-up for the price they are. I've recently ordered some e.l.f. brushes so I will post about those when I have them.

MUA shade 1

Barry M 'Touch of Magic'

MAC 'Impassioned'

Collection 2000 '5 Pretty Please'

Collection 2000 '6 Sugar Pink'

Rimmel '320 Funtime Fuschia'

Kate Moss for Rimmel shade 20

Kate Moss for Rimmel shade 02

Avon Colour Trend 'Passion'

Avon Colour Trend 'Doll Pink'

Topshop 'All About Me'

Topshop 'Brighton Rock'

Topshop 'Beguilded'

My name is Louise and I am a lipstick junkie. My favourites are the Kate Moss collection ones, probably shade 20 out of those two. It's such a bright pink. I definitely want more MAC ones. I treated myself to Impassioned a month or so back. I know £14 is a lot but they're so lovely. Topshop lipsticks are great too. They're not shiny but creamy and they go on nicely. Pretty much all these are various shades of pink but I'm trying to branch out and be brave and get other colours. The MUA one is a lovely red colour and Beguilded by Topshop is a very deep red/wine colour.

I never realised I owned this much until I did this post.

* I was not asked to write this post by No.7/Boots or any other mentioned brands

Hello. Again.

This is slightly awkward.

Back in March, after 2 years, I deleted this blog. Currently, London Fashion Week S/S13 is happening and looking through all the collections made me really miss doing this. I'm now a little angry at myself for deleting every single thing to do with the blog. All my posts, photos, logos etc.

I'm not the best person in the world at doing this but I think I'm going to give it another go. I think I'm going to have a slight different approach about it and the things I post about, but we shall see what happens. I'm not going to promise any regular posting. Just, thank you for coming back and welcome to any new readers!

x