NOTD- Floral 'Tutorial'

Feeling nostalgic about the summer, I decided to paint my nails with a pretty floral pattern. Unfortunately, I did them whilst I was at my friend’s house, using her nail polishes, so I don’t know the names of each individual polish, but I do know that they were all by Barry M. However, it shouldn’t be too difficult to recreate this look as all the colours are pretty basic; you only need white (or any other colour that you would prefer as the background), a light pink, a darker pink/magenta and a green.

I started by painting my nails all over using the white. Once this had dried, I blotted circles onto my nails using the lighter pink, and then, using a dotting tool, painted three small lines around the edge of the circle, and two dots in the middle. To finish, I used the green to create the leaves at the bottom of the circles. I think it turned out pretty good!

Love from Amy x

5 Favourite Autumn Trends

With the weather starting to get much colder, it’s time for a wardrobe reshuffle as autumn sets in and winter draws ever closer. I thought I’d do a post about my 5 favourite trends for Autumn/Winter, seeing as I enjoyed writing one for summer back in July!

Oversized jumpers

First is a necessity for every autumn wardrobe; oversized jumpers. With the cold weather well and truly here in England, I seem to be gathering quite a collection of jumpers in preparation for the cold months ahead, including jumpers from both the men’s and women’s section of some shops! There is nothing better than putting on a big jumper and settling down for the night, feeling nice and warm, all wrapped up. A couple of my favourite jumpers are below. The blue ombre one is from the men’s section in Primark, and the knitted jumper is from Topshop.

Patterned trousers

Following on from my love for patterned leggings in the summer, I have taken my love through into the autumn with a slightly warmer option of patterned trousers. I think that they are perfect for either dressing up for a night out, or dressing down with a plain top if you want to wear them during the day. They add a bit of variation from your standard jeans or plain trousers and I will definitely be buying some over the next few months. I currently only own the pair on the left below, from Topshop, although I have my eye on the other pair below that are from River Island!

Country

After recently buying a tweed blazer from H&M, I have fallen in love with the country/heritage trend. I think that tweed is the best way to wear the country trend, and looks great either in the form of a blazer/jacket or shorts. My favourite picks are these shorts from Oasis and this jacket from H&M.

Burgundy/wine

The colour burgundy reminds me so much of autumn and I always buy lots of items that are this colour when the season comes around. As it is a colour rather than a staple item, it can be worn in so many different ways, whether it is clothes, accessories or shoes. My favourites include these shoes from Urban Outfitters, and this cardigan from Ark.

Peplum

The peplum was a big trend in the summer and for me, it is here to stay during autumn. I think that it flatters your figure so much and can be worn both dressed up and dressed down. I love these two tops from Dorothy Perkins and River Island; I have the one from Dorothy Perkins and it looks great on, as the black waistband gives the appearance of a synched-in waist, which is always a bonus!

What are your favourite trends for the autumn? Leave me a comment below!

Love from Amy x

September Favourites!

It’s time for another monthly favourites post and for September, I haven’t really used many new products, but there are still a few that I have been loving! This could be quite a short post as I don’t have many items to talk about, but nevertheless I’m going to write it anyway!

First is a lipstick from Rimmel London in the shade ‘pink blush.’ It’s a really pretty baby pink colour that at first appears quite bright on the lips but when combined with a lipgloss, it shows up as a really natural colour.

Next is a foundation in the form of Rimmel’s ‘Wake Me Up.’ It says that it will illuminate your skin and make it appear brighter, and I can honestly say that it does exactly that! It’s perfect for those early mornings when your skin needs a bit of a refreshment, and it also gives good coverage without having to use too much.

Finally, on a shopping trip to town not too long ago, I was in H&M and ended up buying this makeup brush. I’m not one for owning a lot of makeup brushes but I had been on the lookout for a foundation brush for quite a while so when I saw this, I thought I might as well pick it up. It’s great because not only is it a foundation brush but it also has a blusher brush on the other end.

I know this is only 3 items but like I said, I really haven’t been using many new products this month!

What products would you include in your September favourites? Let me know in the comments or leave me a link if you have done a blog post about your favourites for the month of September.

Love from Amy x

Urban Decay Smoked Palette

I never really buy high-end makeup. I usually stick to the drugstore brands that I am used to and can afford. But, after receiving some money for my GCSE results, I wanted to treat myself. I had seen a lot of reviews about the Urban Decay ‘Smoked’ eyeshadow palette and after a little contemplation, I decided that I was going to buy it. Smokey eyes are probably my favourite eye look so I saw this palette as being a good investment for me.

The palette comes with a travel-sized primer potion, and a 24/7 glide-on eyeliner in the colour ‘Perversion,’ a deep black colour. I have no complaints with either of these: the primer keeps the eyeshadow on all day and makes the colours appear even more pigmented, and the eyeliner adds a brilliant finish and can either be worn subtly or built up for a more dramatic effect. There is also a booklet included which shows you different looks that you can create using the palette with step-by-step guides on how to do so; something which I have found very useful!

The eyeshadows themselves are range from pale nudes like ‘Kinky’ and ‘Freestyle’ to bright metallic shades such as ‘Rockstar,’ ‘Evidence’ and ‘Loaded.’ My favourite shades are the two silver/taupe shades, ‘Mushroom’ and ‘Asphalt.’ I think that these are great for blending together and creating the classic smoky eye.

Top Row (L-R): Kinky, Freestyle, Mushroom, Backdoor, Blackout
Bottom Row (L-R): Barlust, Rockstar, Evidence, Loaded, Asphalt

Overall, I am very impressed with this palette. I think that it will be great for experimenting with, as the range of colours, rather than just the classic dark shades, will provide a lot of interesting opportunities for different shades of smoky eye!

The palette is priced at £35, which I think is pretty standard for Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes, and also a fair price for what you are getting. I think that I will get a good amount out use out of it and I am very much looking forward to creating some different and adventurous smoky eyes!

Love from Amy x

OOTD- Buckingham Palace

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Buckingham Palace with my grandma to see the Diamond Collection; an exhibition displaying a number of The Queen’s personal jewels and diamonds from her private collection, including her coronation necklace and earrings that were created for Queen Victoria, the Girls of Great Britain tiara and the Diamond Diadem. As well as viewing the diamond exhibition, we got to look round some of the state rooms at Buckingham Palace, including the Throne Room, where the official photographs for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were taken.  Both myself and my grandma love the royal family, so we really enjoyed it!

Outside in the gardens at Buckingham Palace.

Me and my grandma :)

It was quite a hot day, so I wore my red scallop-edged top from Topshop with a black maxi-shirt from Primark.  

If you are interested, you can find out more about the exhibition here.

Love from Amy x

Holiday Haul!

Even though I came back off holiday about a month ago, I still wanted to do a post about what I bought while I was away! I went to Derbyshire which, if you don’t know, is a countryside place about an hour away from where I live. We stayed on a farm and I had a really good week! They have shops that are pretty similar to ones that you would find in my local shopping centre, so I didn’t have to look far before I found something to buy! I don’t have too many items to include in this post, but I thought I might as well do one anyway, as I love sharing with you all some of the things that I have been buying!

I bought these mint jeans from M&Co. M&Co isn’t a shop that I would normally go in and I went in with my mum as she likes it there, and as soon as I saw these jeans, I knew that I would have to get them. They are slightly too long for me but I can get them taken up so that they are the right length. I can’t wait to start wearing them! I can’t remember exactly how much they were but I think that they were round the £25 mark.

Everything else that I bought is from Dorothy Perkins. First, I bought a top which was in the sale for about £10. I really love the print on it and I think that it is perfect to wear in autumn. I also got some nude ballet pumps for £16- something that I have wanted to buy for a while. The bargains of the trip came in the form of sale jewellery. I got these two pairs of earrings and two rings all for £4! I particularly love the diamond and sapphire-look earrings. I love anything to do with the royal family, so I couldn’t resist buying these earrings!

That’s everything for what I bought while I was on holiday. Not too much of a long post but hopefully I will have more posts up in a few days. I plan on writing some more this afternoon, and posting them later on in the week, so you can look out for them!

Love from Amy x

August Favourites

I can’t believe that I am writing my August favourites, I know that I’ve probably said this before but this year really is flying by. I’m quite excited for September because it means that the weather will be getting colder and I can start wearing all my Autumn/Winter clothes- there’s nothing I love more than putting on a big jumper and snuggling up on the sofa all warm, knowing that it’s really cold outside. September also means that I am starting sixth form, so I’m not sure what this means in terms of blogging. I fully intend to keep on writing posts, but I just don’t know how often I will be able to, as I am expecting that a ton of homework and revision will be coming my way very soon!

Anyway, enough rambling. I don’t have many things to talk about because I haven’t really changed the products that I have been using. This month, I’ve been in more of a ‘rediscovery’ mood rather than a mood to be buying new products. The first product that I have rediscovered is my Paul Smith perfume. I got it for my birthday a couple of months ago and I wore it all the time when I first got it, but then for some reason I just stopped wearing it and went in a phase of not wearing perfume. During August however, it became my go-to scent and I will definitely be wearing it through into September as well.

Next are two nail varnishes, both from Topshop. The lilac one is ‘Parma Violet’ and the glittery one is ‘Razzmatazz.’ I’ve liked wearing them either with the lilac one as a base, and then using the glitter one as a top coat, or applying a clear base coat and then a couple of coats of ‘Razzmatazz’ to achieve a semi-sheer glitter nail.

Another beauty item that I have rediscovered is this lipstick from Natural Collection. I’m not really a big wearer of lipsticks. I do own a few but I just never really wear them that often, but I found this one amongst all the others and realised why I bought it. It is basically the same colour as my natural lip so you can’t really tell that I’m wearing it, but it adds a nice bit of definition to the lips, and looks great when topped with a lipgloss. It is in the colour ‘Rosebud.’

Finally is one item that I actually did buy during August. It’s a pair of earrings from Topshop. As you should know if you read my blog posts regularly, I LOVE crosses, so when I saw these earrings, I couldn’t resist. They’re great to wear either out to a party or just generally during the day- they match with any outfit and I will definitely be getting a lot more wear out of them throughout September, and most probably for the rest of the year too!

What products have you loved through August? If you have a YouTube video/blog post about your August favourites then be sure to leave the link in the comments, and I will check it out!

Love from Amy x

Review: Rimmel London Day 2 Night Mascara

I’ve been meaning to write a review post for the Rimmel London Day 2 Night mascara for a while now but I’ve only just got round to it. I’ve had the mascara for just over a month and I bought it after seeing other people’s positive reviews about it. I have to say, I completely agree with all the other reviews that I saw, and I would now say that it is probably one of the best mascaras that I have ever used.

I’ve always been a fan of mascaras from Rimmel London, so I had high hopes for this one. The idea is that it has two sections to it; one which aims to lengthen the eyelashes, and the other which aims to add volume. The lengthening part is supposed to be the day look, and the volume part either used alone, or layered on top of the lengthening one is supposed to be the night look. I like to use the lengthening part first as a base to quickly coat my eyelashes, and then thicken them with the volume part, and I wear this throughout the day as I personally like to have really full, thick lashes all day, rather than just as a night/going out look. I would say that both parts do what they claim- my eyelashes look longer after I’ve used the lengthening part, and they definitely have volume using that part.

The only negative thing that I would say is that the mascara isn’t waterproof, but that’s just because I prefer to use waterproof mascaras. I’m not sure if there is a waterproof version available (if there is then please let me know!) but if there isn’t then I hope that Rimmel bring one out soon because I would buy it straight away. I would recommend this mascara to anyone, so if you are on the market for a new mascara, then definitely check this one out!

Love from Amy x

OOTD- Results Party

I got my GCSE results on Thursday (I got 5 A*s, 3 As, 3 Bs and a C if you’re wondering, I’m so happy with myself!) so on Friday I went to a ‘results party’ and I thought that I would do an outfit of the day (technically night!) post.

My bralet and skirt are both from Topshop and my heels are from New Look. As for jewellery, the earrings are also from Topshop, the big heart ring is from Republic, the cross ring is from Dorothy Perkins and the two above knuckle rings are from Kukee.

Love from Amy xx

Shoe Love- Studded Heels

I recently bought these heels and I simply had to write a blog post about them, I am completely in love! They are a suede material with a five inch heel and a platform, and with stud detailing at the back. I usually steer clear of platform heels as I find them difficult to walk in, but these ones are surprisingly easy! I’ve been walking around my room with them on to get my feet used to them and they are actually quite comfortable.

I plan on wearing them to a party on Friday night which hopefully I will be able to do an OOTD post on afterwards, so look out for that!

Love from Amy x

NOTD- Bees

I love painting my nails and I especially love it when I do patterned nails, rather than just a plain colour. I saw a picture on Tumblr of someone who had their nails painted baby blue, with a pattern of a bee flying across their nails, and I couldn’t resist trying it out for myself!

I used Rimmel London’s Aqua Cool for the pale blue background, and then my black and yellow Rio Nail Art pens to draw the bee detail. I used Sally Hansen’s Maximum Growth as both a base and top coat.

What do you think? Have you recently tried out any cool nail designs? Let me know in the comments, or leave me a link to your blog if you did a post about it and I will check it out!

Love from Amy x

Collective Haul!

Today’s post is a collective haul. I have had two shopping trips over the last few weeks, one while I was staying with my dad, and one when I came home, so this haul is the result of what I bought.

First, I have three items from Primark. I bought two casual tops (I can tick them off my wishlist now!), one in white and the other in burgundy. The white one has a burnout effect and the burgundy one has a paisley-like print on it which is visible when the light shines through it. The tops were £4 each. I also bought a black maxi skirt for £10 which I am completely in love with; I have wanted a maxi skirt for a while now and I am so glad that I now have one. I’m going away for a week this Saturday so I think that I am definitely going to get a lot of wear out of it while I am on holiday.

Another item that I can tick off my wishlist is some black shorts, as I bought this pair from Warehouse. I love the detail on it- I’m not really sure how to describe it, I want to say studs/spikes but they aren’t really proper studs or spikes, they are more like ‘bubbles.’ Hopefully you can see them in the picture and make your own judgement about what you would call them! The detail goes all across the front of the shorts and extends to the lower part of the back of the shorts. They also have a cut-off style and ‘slits’ on the sides, which make them very comfortable to wear as the cuts make them not as tight fitting. I got the shorts in the sale, reduced to £20 from £36, with a further 20% off, so in the end I got them for £16!

I paid a visit to vintage shop Cow, a shop that I don’t normally go in, and came out with a dress. I love some of the clothes that they have in there but I just don’t think that I would be able to pull them off. However, my mum found this dress and I tried it on and instantly knew that I would buy it. It is a navy blue colour and is a classic style, with a high neck that is edged with white piping and has short sleeves that puff out slightly at the shoulders, as well as a loose fitting skirt. It is a decent length as well so could be worn either with or without tights. It also has an elasticised waist that makes it fitted, and it also has loops on the sides around the waistband so that it can be belted. I think that I could get away with wearing it during the day and dress it down, but then maybe wearing it with heels at night to dress it up, so it is a versatile piece that I’m sure I will get a lot of wear out of. It was a complete bargain at £12.

Of course, a trip into town wouldn’t be the same without going into Topshop. I didn’t manage to find any clothing items to buy, but I did come out with a nail varnish and a necklace. The nail varnish is in the colour ‘Play For Keeps’ and is a pastel orange colour (pastels again!), however on the nails it is slightly brighter than it appears in the bottle. Like all standard Topshop nail varnishes, it was £5. The necklace that I bought are these rosary style beads that were in the sale, reduced from £12.50 to £2.50. I couldn’t resist a bargain that good! I’d been looking for some rosary style beads for a while as I think that they are good to wear in the summer while it is festival season, so when I found these in the Topshop sale, I simply had to buy them.

Finally, I walked past Accessorize and saw that they were having a MASSIVE sale, so I picked up some earrings that were £1.80, down from £6. They are great to wear every day and will match with most outfits.

That’s everything I bought, seems like quite a lot now that I’ve written about it all! My next haul post will probably be a holiday haul of whatever I buy when I go away, so you can expect that in a couple of weeks time.

Love from Amy x