Another Manic Monday

Bonjour mes amis!

In work a few hours and already it's a bit mental!  Oh dear.  This will have to be as quick a post as I can manage in the circumstances (the circumstances being that this will be photo-heavy and I cannot waffle at my usual rate).  Hello new followers too :) I can't believe I'm almost at 40!  I'm wondering if I should do a... ye know... "G-word" soon, as I really do want to thank my followers and hopefully make someone's day.  However not only am I broke, I also think that blogging isn't just about trying to gain popularity by giving away free stuff... such a contradiction!!  I shall see!

I didn't get to Primark in the end :( my boyfriend had hurling matches on both Saturday and Sunday, and my mum is studying English at Uni and had to spend the whole weekend doing coursework, the poor thing! As I am looking after my little sister this weekend coming... well, Primark will have to wait *sigh*.

Friday:
Ok, so Friday evening I did nothing of note other than continue wearing my hair wrap, along with some funky button earrings.

Excuse the no-makeup shot


Saturday:
On Saturday I had a lovely lie-in, then lazed around at home while my boyfriend had his match.  He gets a bit annoyed that I don't go to every single one!  Honestly, there's only so many matches I can watch without getting bored or frustrated!  On Saturday evening I ended up going out for dinner with him and his parents which was good craic.  I've been at our local restaurant so much these last few weeks my mum reckons I should just leave a sleeping bag there.  I spent a leisurely hour doing my hair and makeup.  I love BIG hair, so I'm always backcombing mine, but my hair is so fine it goes flat within 30 minutes :(

MUA pearl eyeshadows - Shade 2 (white), Shade 10 (navy/purple shimmer)  and Shade 12 (chocolate/slate)

 

My favourite boxset on as usual ;)

  

Blazer - Next, Body top - ebay



Cardi - River Island via Charity shop, Skirt & Tights - Primark



Heels - Devils & Dolls (these were a present so unsure of shop)



Sunday:
Another lazy day spent at home, tidying my room, hanging out washing, a trip to the shop and napping.  Jeez I should slow down, burning the candle at both ends, eh?!


Cardi & T-shirt - Internacionale, Jeans - D2



Bag - TK Maxx, Leopard Pumps - Shoe Zone



MUA - Shade 2 + Shade 12.
Natural Collection Lipstick - Rose Petal

The above photo shows the absolute best part of Sunday.  Homemade chocolate and pear pudding.  Words cannot describe how amazing this tastes.  I could have ate the entire dish, and felt mighty ill and it would have been totally worth it.  The above is the result of 3 people demolishing it.  Cake-like texture on top, gooey chocolate underneath, and pears.  Which make it a health food. Obvs.  It's an easy-peasy recipe to throw together, courtesy of Nigella.  Click HERE for recipe :)

Well that sums up my highly adventurous weekend, full of drama, twists and turns.

Oh wait...

Funky Friday

Friday at last folks!

I'm a bit late getting this post up as I've been busy all morning!  Here's today's work outfit.  It's Friday and I have nothing major happening in work (i.e.: no Court visits or clients visiting me) so I went a bit more casual than usual.
  

Trousers - Next, Top - Peacocks, Cardigan - River Island via Charity Shop

 



I just wore a long-sleeved black top from Peacocks, and this is the first wearing of my charity shop find from a while back!  I finally got around to washing it, to get rid of that musty 'charity shop smell', you know?  It's a plain camel colour but as you can see it has a leopard print trim and some sequins to jazz it up!  Playing on the leopard print element, I thought I'd wear a new little something I purchased yesterday!

 

Hair Wrap - Internacionale £3.99

I spied this in Internacionale on my lunch break and remembered Milly from Pearls And Poodles doing a post on them.  I'm not usually one for hair accessories really, I generally just wear it down most days, and in a ponytail or messy bun when it's not straight or a bit greasy.  So I thought this would spice up the hair sometimes.  I also have contacts in today, which is a rarity.  I hate my glasses but I rarely wear contacts because it's too much hassle for me in the morning, so I generally just wear them for nights out and such occasions.  However I made some effort today.  I used to use monthly disposable contacts, but as I never got enough use out of them I switched to daily disposables.  I now buy them online as I find Specsavers a total rip off! I would advise anyone to do the same!

China Glaze - Classic Camel

I hope you all have a great weekend!  I don't have a driving lesson tomorrow, as it's getting too expensive for me to go every week, which is slightly irritating.  I have talked the bf in to taking me to Primark on Sunday which I'm looking forward to :) it's hard times when your nearest Primark is almost 30 miles away!!

Later ladies! :) xx

Giveaway @ Fashion Crossing

The beautiful Belinda at Fashion Crossing is having a giveaway to celebrate reaching the 100 followers mark!  She's picked out some great items, including pretty jewellery and China Glaze nail polishes.  Have a look :) Link in the sidebar also!

One Of Those Days...

Today is, so far, really shaping up to be "one of those days".  My alarm didn't go off.  I am positive of this, as I always hear that bloody alarm.  So I woke up at 7.45.  The time I was meant to meet my lift. "Scheiße!!" came to mind.  I flung on my clothes at record speed and my boyfriend dropped me to my lift's house.  I was about ten minutes late and had to apologise profusely. 

When I got to work my internet still wasn't working, as a BT man who was doing work yesterday had moved the router and my PC couldn't pick up the signal.  Eventually got it connected after much flicking of switches and relocation of the router. 

I realised at 10.30 that I still had a plastic tag on the front of my new work dress.  The label is also still on it but at least no one can see that.  I was about to take an OOTD photo when I realised that my shirt was on inside out; obviously a result of this morning's rush.  I only realised this after I had walked to the shop without a jacket on.  And the zip not fully up.

How did I ever manage to get a job?...

Shirt - M&S via Charity Shop, Dress - Peacocks

I got this dress yesterday, down to £17.  I know I have no need to buy any more clothes (as my mother/boyfriend/friends keep reminding me) however, I figure that as I spend 80% of the week in work clothing, I should at least treat myself to a nice dress!  When I get in from work I tend to just have a shower and put on my PJs, so I only wear everyday or dressy clothes at the weekends.  I had originally thought I would get the dress pictured below, as I liked it too, but I think the one above is a more flattering shape on me.  The high neck combined with my bust made me look a bit square, sadly.  Plus the belt wasn't great.

I also really don't know the best angle for OOTD shots... Today's shot makes my legs look chunky, and I honestly don't think that I have chunky legs.  However the shots that make my legs look nice require the camera being at a lower level, which emphasises my stomach, which is chunky.  Can't win!

NOTD:



MUA Shade 10

I spent most of yesterday in Court listening to a rather dull property dispute.  However I was itching to go to the Courtroom upstairs to watch the trial on in there!  Those outside N.Ireland probably haven't heard about it, but it is in the news here every day.  It's a woman, Hazel Stewart; 20 years ago her lover killed her husband and his wife and now she has admitted she didn't stop him doing it.... oh the drama.  Google it, an interesting read, if you lke that sort of thing!
Tomorrow is Friday, woohoo! :)

Rain, rain, go to Spain...

After an unusually sunny, mild and cheerful weekend, it's back to the norm of breezy, rainy weather here in NI.  What a shame!  I had a quiet, peaceful, relaxing weekend with the house to myself - it's just as good as a holiday!  Even though I am a clean freak and spent a lot of time cleaning, it still didn't feel like work :)  The most stressful part of the weekend was on Saturday evening, when I answered the house phone to a man from the police in Belfast asking about my mum's car... I almost had a heart attack, I thought he was about to say they had been in an accident or something and was preparing for awful news.  But he said there was a car reported in that area and the licence plate number brought up my mum's name, however the type of car didn't match?  So either someone must have reported a licence plate incorrectly, or else there's a car in Belfast with fake plates (wouldn't that be a shocker...)  Of course the other option is that my mum, her fiancé, my wee sister, and my grandparents were tearing around the big smoke causing trouble, but I can't see that happening!  At 8pm last night everyone arrived back and my peace was shattered :( but they enjoyed their trip which is the main thing!

Friday

On Friday evening me and my bf went out for our belated Valentine's dinner to one of our favourite restaurants.  The food was good for the most part, however I ordered duck and the orange sauce was burnt :/ so a slight let-down there.  Here's what I wore (and it was raining and freezing, not a great choice!)



Dress & watch - ASOS, Tights - Dunnes, Necklace - Connie's



Sequin Blazer - Internacionale

The ASOS dress was given to me by a friend (I've mentioned her donations before, she recently lost a worrying 3 dress sizes and nothing fitted her), I think she purchased it about 2 years ago.  It is slightly tight on me; further proof that I'm letting the eating habits slide!  The back of the dress has an exposed zip.  Rather embarassingly, I only realised when I returned from my meal and looked at the photos that the hem was falling down at the back of the dress :( oh dear.  Which is why I cropped the photo below!  The sequin blazer was a Christmas present in 2009 and sadly it doesn't get much wear.

Shoes - Priceless

On Friday I bought 2 new MUA pearl eyeshadows (shade 10, a navy/purple shimmer, and shade 12, a chocolatey-slate colour.  They're so hard to describe!) in Superdrug and had a little experiment, and wore them out too.  I used MUA pearl shade 2 (white) as a base and highlight, then sahde 12 in the outer corners, and 10 over the top of that for some depth.

Saturday

On Saturday I had a 2 hour driving lesson in the afternoon, which went ok.  I still have a major problem with forgetting to check mirrors before I signal, d'oh! :(  I then spent the rest of the afternoon doing washing and things around the house, then relaxing and painting my nails.

 

Jeans - D2, T-shirt - Peacocks, Blazer - Tesco, Pumps - Jean Scene, Necklace- Next, Bracelets - Wallis

This China Glaze was another sale find in Sallys for £1.20.  I thought the neon yellow was really funky, though not an 'everyday wear' sort of colour!  However when I started to put it on, I got pretty irritated.  The consistency is really watery and runny.  It goes on thinly and dries quickly into a matte finish.  It is so translucent, I was wondering how on earth I could make it look anything like the colour in the bottle.... 7 or 8 coats, that's how.  I'm not sure how many exactly, as I lost count after 5.  Slightly time consuming, but a really funky end result.  Eventually.  This colour is so hard to capture too; these snaps don't really do it justice.

With flash

Without flash

With a coat of BarryM Instant Effects

Sunday

Sunday was a lazy day for me!  I cleaned the house, did some washing and ironing, and baked a cake :)  a chocolate malteaser cake as inspired by A Daisy Chain Dream's malteaser cake last week!  However I decided to try something new for the frosting and errr.... I don't like it :( it's a cream cheese based frosting, which sounded lovely in theory, and looks great, but I just don't like the taste of it.  It's too tangy and doesn't match the chocolate cake in my opinion.  I added far more icing sugar than the recipe called for in an attempt to sweeten it up, plus I used cocoa powder, but I still wasn't happy with it.  I don't know what other people's reactions to the icing are yet, but I imagine similar to mine!

The moral of the story is - you live and you learn!

Happy Monday everyone! :)

Freitag

Thank the almighty deity that it's Friday!  I cannot wait until 5pm, when I leave work and am free!  My mum, her fiancé and my little sister are going to Dublin tomorrow to watch a hurling match, and stay over, so I have the house all to myself :)

Here is the work OOTD.  I was thinking rather hopefully about the weather when I picked the blouse; my optimism was not rewarded, sadly.  The purple and green floral design is really eye-catching.  However, I find River Island sizing very odd.  This is a 12 which is a bit tight on the bust, however their 14s hang off me; I can't win!

Blouse - River Island, Dress - Tesco, Bird Ring - Primark



Shoes - Shoe Zone


We still get an Avon lady in our area, who leaves new brochures in and takes any orders every few weeks.  I love receiving an order several weeks after placing it, as I've usually forgot all about it so it's like a surprise!  These arrived last night:



L-R: Nailwear Pro (Rose Quartz), Nailwear Matte (Violetta) and Magix Cashmere Touch Foundation (Ivory)



I ordered the foundation from a brochure when all foundations were on offer for £4.  I hadn't yet taken the leap of faith and bought Bourjois Healthy Mix.  As mentioned before, I have found that Avon foundations seem to annoy my skin, in particular the liquid foundation, and the cream-to-powder foundation compact, both of which I have tried previously.  Avon Magix began life as a primer; I personally wasn't a fan as I didn't like the texture.  I don't know why, as I daresay a lot of people would love it, it's quite velvety and smooth, and my mum loves it, however I just wasn't a big fan, and still have a tube of it in my makeup box from ages ago.  I suppose the next logical step was to create the Magix foundation.  I thought I may as well give it a try for £4 (it usually retails at £10.50)

Last night when I first swatched it on the back of my hand I thought "<insert expletive here>! It's too dark for me!"  As 'Ivory' was the lightest shade on this foundation I was majorly annoyed.  However, I have put it on today and it seems ok so far.  I did use it sparingly though, to avoid Orange Face Syndrome.  I think the first few photos below will explain why I thought it was too dark; it is very orange to begin with.  However it does even out satisfactorily, and leaves your skin soft and not cakey.  The smell is nothing special, but not too strong or off-putting.  All in all, I think I will stick with this for more 'everyday' use, and keep my Bourjois as my 'good' foundation"  I don't know if I would pay the normal price of £10.50 for it though.


Looks very dark against my skin tone



You can see why I was worried! Orange!



Evens out well once smoothed in



I used Collection 2000 Pressed Powder on top before the photos



No discernable tidemarks, however I used it very sparingly

I love the matte nail varnish; I may have to order more shades to try out!  I first heard about them when Fleur DeForce reviewed Violetta, and I couldn't wait to buy it.  I got it for £3 in the brocure.  Violetta is really hard to capture; it is a stunning deep purple.  Shimmery and wet in the bottle, and fast drying to matte when applied.  The photos make it look darker than it really is and don't capture the the violet hue.  This was after 2 coats.  It would probably look nicer on longer nails, but mine refuse to grow to ladylike lengths :(

Without flash

With flash

I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.  I have a 2 hour driving lesson tomorrow, I think my boyfriend and I might go out for our belated Valentine's dinner (the bull is called Elvis, by the way...) and I have bought some popping corn to make proper popcorn in a pot on Saturday night :)

Lunchtime Impulse Buy

OK, second post of the day.  I don't mean to be excessive, however I found these little beauties for £3 in Jean Scene at lunch time and simply could not wait to share them with you.  How fantastic these will be for adding a colour pop to simple casual outfits based on skinny jeans or basic black... oh I cannot wait to wear them! :)