OOTD Spring in my step!

Afternoooon blog friends! 

I posted my first little H&M haul yesterday, and I was so excited about wearing some of the pieces that todays post has turned into an OOTD, another first for me! *note newbie awkward posing pictures* Who knew it was so hard to photo an outfit? I am such an awkward poser, as soon as I started to over think where to position my hands, I knew this was going to be tricky. 

awkward selfie with bed shot included

Mint Blouse - H&M 

Mint and Lilac Cable Knit - H&M

Jeans - NAFNAF

Socks - H&M

Tennis shoes - H&M

Necklace -H&M

I love the style of having your necklace popping out from under your collar. I've seen a few fashionistas doing it, and I thought i'd like a slice of that necklace-collar action myself! I love the gold and mint together, match made in heaven!

Gold bobble studs - Part of a pack of 18 from H&M

Little diamond studs - a gift from a local jewelry shop

Makeup

Sephora Smoothing Primer

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in number 51

Rimmel Stay Matte powder

Sephora Eyebrow Pencil in blonde

Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in Berry

Bourjois Rouge Edition lipstick in rose millésime
Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze 
Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes masacara in black

And it wouldn't be complete without the feet shot! really love these shoes, I've been wearing them all day and they're sooo comfy, nearly like I'm not wearing shoes at all! It's a nice change from being in boots all winter. Definitely have a little spring in my step in these!

Do you like whats in H&M for this Spring? Do you have an outfit post on your blog I can go see? Leave all your lovely linkies below! :)

See you soon !

H&M Haul !

Bonjour tout le monde! 

Hope you're all well :)

Today I did a naughty little bit of shopping in H&M. I live in quite a small-ish town in France and there's not that many clothes shops here, so when H&M opened up here last weekend I couldn't help be over excited. So today I popped by to see what was in for this Spring, and everything was eye candy!

 I got this lovely little necklace that I had my eye on as soon as I stepped in the shop, it has a hammered effect which is lovely as it reflects the light. It's really beautiful with the blouse below too. I also got these stud earring because I always lose studs, or at least one of them and never have a matching pair, a bit like my socks really. So I'm surely going to have one pair matching out of this lot. I'm wearing the smallest pearl ones right now and they are so dainty and cute.

This blouse is such a pretty colour, I'd call it a mint green and it's a really flattering shape on the body. The material falls and drapes beautifully and is very feminine. I think I'm going to go a bit mint crazy now for this Spring because I've missed nice pastel colours over winter, wearing black has got a tad little boring by this stage. I love the detailing of the gold on the pockets too, and how the buttons down the middle are hidden with the overlay of material at the seam (a year of fashion design really makes me pay attention to detail these days!)

I'm a total sucker for cutesy socks with designs on them like these ones below. I'm not sure if i'll ever grow out of having bicycles, bumble bees or cute hearts on my socks. If everything about my outfit is quite plan I can just look down at my cute colourful socks and it makes me happy (I'm so sad haha!).

I love having little tennis shoes to knock around in over Spring and Summer, I didn't try these on until I got home and they are surprisingly comfy for a €10 pair of shoes! I have quite wide feet at the top so I find it hard sometimes to squeeze my toes into shoes with very narrow tops. So now you have the low-down on my enormous clown feet I think we can move on!

I wasn't sure about these chinos  at first when I tried them on, but after a little convincing from Clément I thought I'd chance them and so glad I did now! These are really lovely trousers for the Spring, and with a cute t-shirt or top tucked in with the pumps, it makes a really cute casual Spring outfit.

I really love this jumper on its own and over the mint green blouse above. It's a beautiful combination of lilac and mint green and I just love cable knit jumpers in general so this one was hard to resist. I'm really excited to wear this one over Spring with some jeans, a little bun in my hair and some sunnies! Bring on the sunshine is what I say!

I'm really sorry I couldn't link everything I bought here because I couldn't find it on the H&M website. And I also hope you don't take this as bragging, I really enjoy reading hauls personally whether they are make up or clothes so I really hope you enjoyed this one too.

Have you had a little splurge recently? Are you excited for all the Spring clothes coming in the shops?

I'd love to hear from you, please leave all your lovely blog linkies and comments below :) 

Toodlepip!

NOTD Going Dotty?

Hello blog beauties! 

I dabbled in a little bit of nail art today and was very pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. This is a rather rare occasion for me because I'm so plain when it comes to nails and most of all, impatient. So the blogger in me got the camera out to capture this mani miracle! 

I normaly spend very little time on my nails, sitting still for ten minutes for the whole thing to dry is impossible for me. By the time I've finished trying to put on my jacket, scratch that itch on my nose, trying to open something with the most awkward of packaging, my nails are completely smudged and ruined. Then comes out my bottle of Bourjois 1 Second nail varnish remover (the one you just dip in your finger and it comes off, love this stuff!) and in my annoyance I take the whole thing back off and make my way out the door in a big huff. Although, if you ask me to sit down and paint your nails to make them all pretty I would be happy to do so! It's just with my own it all goes wrong.

So I had some time to spend on my nails today, and to relax myself into it I put a few drops of lavender oil onto my wrists to make the whole experience a little more therapeutic than usual. And the lavender oil must have worked because for once I sat there and waited!

I used three of my Mavala nail varnishes for this nail look today. South Beach Pink, Violet Diamond and the Strong, Flexible top coat. I went about my usual routine, two coats of pink and then a quick coat of the mavala top coat and that would be me done. But not today! I seen this look on Vivianna Does Makeup blog where she done it in very beautiful nude colour and gold glitter, if memory serves me well! And I loved how pretty it looked on her nails. I don't wear glitter nail varnish that often because it's such a pain to remove but this is such a nice way to use it!

To do the dots I used the threading end of a sewing needle, dipped it into my glitter polish and dotted it carefully onto each nail. You can obviously do this with a dotting tool which would be less risky than poking a needle onto your nail! Or even a cocktail stick or hair pin would be good for this too. After it had dried I then applied the top coat and it was finished! Super easy and a bit more interesting than just plain nails. If you try to recreate this look please leave a link so I can see your lovely nails.

What nail art have you tried lately? Do you enjoy doing your nails or prefer someone else to do them? What colour are you wearing today? I'd love to hear from you as always! 

See you soon!

A Bit Of Lippy? Bourjois Rouge Edition

Hello Lovelies!

Boy am I excited to share this one with you today! My most favourite things to purchase are lipsticks, they're so pretty and feminine, and what can I say, wearing lippy just makes me feel like a laaadyyy. Flashbacks of stealing your mums lipsticks and high heels to be "a grown up" anyone? This is how I feel when I put on a new lipstick, the same excitement of dressing up with my mums clothes when I was little and suddenly feeling like I'm a real lady. Ready to go drink tea out of china cups and do other related important things that a lady must do. Let me introduce you to the Bourjois Rouge Edition lipsticks, anything which has french words in the title is already chic in my book. 

Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick in number 17 Rose millésime

Word of warning ladies! If you light a candle to add extra ambiance *says in french accent* to your lipstick photo shoot, watch your hair! Leaning over to take photos over the candle resulted in me singeing my fringe! not a good free hair cut I can tell you that much.

`

 Anyway back to the matter in hand here, these lipsticks are a real delight! I'm so happy with the colour I picked up "Number 17 Rose Millésime". I'm probably making this up here, but I'd describe it as a peachy rose pink. It's super soft on the lips and feels hydrating and leaves a beautiful sheen. My lips are a bit dry at the moment but this didn't make it any worse, it was really lovely to wear. So lets talk staying power, as with a lot lip products this doesn't last through eating or drinking. I'd say it would last a good hour or two and then you'd need to go in and touch up. But who doesn't enjoy putting more lipstick on? I know its one of my favourite hobbies anyway! This is a really flattering colour against the skin too, subtly brightening and feminine.

The Bourjois comes in 19 gorgeous colours, it was so hard to chose! Definitely going to pick up more of these, I'd rate them 10/10.  I picked mine up from my local Nocibé here in France for €12. 

Have you tried the new Bourjois Rouge Edition yet? What's your favourite lipstick right now? Please leave your comments below :) I love to read them!

Toodles!

FOTD Bronze Eye, Burgundy Lip

Bonjour tout le monde!

Here is a little make up I was wearing today, it's the classic bronze eye that's so easy to wear with any lip colour and this burgundy lip stain that I love from Revlon. I'm sorry that my Friday tutorials have gone out the window a little, I think I'll post a tutorial when I'm feeling inspired or trying something new. But there definitely will be more! 

This make up is very easy, I used only one eyeshadow brush to apply three colours from the Kiko palette below and applied the Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes just to my upper lashes. Im really enjoying just upper lash mascara lately, you don't have to worry about it dropping under the eye during the day and the effect is still opens the eyes. Then a little bit of L'oreal Le Blush, I use this colour just under my cheekbones for definition and a little dab of highlight onto the tops of me cheekbones. Then a little bit of the Revlon lip stain and it's complete!

Products used for this look:

• Kiko Colour Seduction eyeshadow palette in 01 Sumptuous Mocha
• L'oreal Le Blush in rose nude/nude pink
• Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation in number 52
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
• Sephora eyebrow pencil in blond
• Make Up Forever Uplight Face Luminizer Gel
• Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer in beige
• Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Crush 
• Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara in Black
• Sephora foundation Brush
• Galerie La Fayette eyeshadow brush
• Bourjois Powder brush

What's your make up look today? Do you like a burgundy lip? Please leave your comments below, I really love to read them :)

A bientot!

Disappointing Products #1

Hey Guys! 

Sorry that this is going to be a bit of negative post today, but there's nothing worse than buying make up to find yourself disappointed when you get home right? Here are two products that failed to live up to my expectations. The Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation and the Revlon Colorstay Smoky Shadow Stick in Atomic. These are just my opinions on these products, and they might work great for you! I'd really love to know if you've used either of these and your thoughts too. I don't like hatin' on products as Bourjois and Revlon are two of my favourite brands. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do ey!

Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation in number 52

Revlon ColorStay Smoky Shadow Stick in Atomic

So i'll start off with the Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation.  It claims to give a"Flawless complexion, even to perfection", "second skin, melting texture". And here how it claims to do this:

This foundation contains 3 correcting pigments

1. Yellow pigments for anti-dark circles
2. Mauve pigments for anti-dull complexion
3. Green pigments for anti-redness.

So here I was, foundation brush in hand, all was going well, this was a lovely texture on my skin, wasn't as nice smelling as the other Bourjois Foundations I thought but hey that's not so bad. Then I noticed it was doing what we all don't want a foundation to do, caking. I learnt quickly that if I was going to use this I'd have to apply with my fingers for a thinner layer, but that still doesn't solve the next problem. 

After I applied this colour which I thought was a good match for my skin. 15-20 minutes later this had oxidized like no other! Looks nice and pale in the bottle? nope I'm sorry Bourjois but this was just, orange. I got the lightest colour in the shop which was 52 but this really isn't going to match any pale ladies like myself. Then it started to do another thing which isn't on my tick list for foundations, it was a matte finish. This isn't a bad thing if you like matte finishes but it wasn't stated on the bottle, and I do prefer a dewy look to the skin. And as an "anti-dull complexion" foundation, with this matte finish and off colour my skin did just look really dull.  As you could probably tell things were going down hill for this foundation. 

starts off nice

Now I have used this about 5/6 times on me to give it a fair trial but every time I'm still not loving it. It's a real shame because the bottle is quite nice and Bourjois is normally great with their formulas like the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation which I loved and used up completely. I'd really love to hear though if this worked for you because with products like foundations, everyones skin is different so it's quite hard to judge too harshly. 

Dries matte and this picture doesn't pick up how orange this really is compared to my hand

Next in the line up is the Revlon ColorStay Smoky Shadow Stick in Atomic. I bought this a good while ago now when the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable lip stains had appeared and I was just going a bit stick crazy I guess! I don't know why I got it in this colour either which is a khaki green and gold, while the gold is okay the green doesn't do much for my green eyes. 

This is the most I've been disappointed with a product for while. While the colours swatch really lovely it really didn't translate for me when it came to applying them on my eyes. While the gold colour isn't totally unusable the green really isn't for me. Putting this on my eye and then trying to blend it just doesn't work, it's really patchy and just made my eyelid into a dirty-green-not-very-nice colour. I don't know if I'm using these wrong or if it really just isn't all that great but every time I use it, I just take it straight back off again.

 When trying to blend the two together it just doesn't look nice either, they don't blend seamlessly and overall it's just hard to work with to get a nice result. Then what was really annoying was that after I used it once the green shadow fell out of the stick, so now it's even more awkward to try and use when it keeps falling out. Overall this just wasn't my cup of tea and I haven't been back to purchase it in anymore colours. 

Phew! That was a lot of negativity there, got to go shake that off now! I'd really love to hear if you had a different experience with either of these products, or even if like me you were disappointed too please leave your comments below, I love to read them x

See you soon!

Frizzy Hair? Don't Dispair! John Frieda has the answer

Hello there Madames et Monsieurs!

I'm kicking my bum back into gear today and jumping onto the frizzy hair bandwagon. Say hello to Frizz-Ease Extra Strength Formula by the man himself, John Frieda. 

Before I go on about this little beaut of product I'll tell you a little about my hair type and you can see if this is for you. I have thiiick hair, and a lot of it, it's just to my shoulders but it's not easy to manage. I have naturally very curly/frizzy short hair around my hairline and the nape of my neck, which never grows more than a few inches (genetics ey!). This is something every hair dresser I've been to likes to point out "you have very short hair here don't you!?" Mhmm, lady I know. So these are the main parts which I have to tackle after a shampoo and condition.

John Friedas Extra Strength Hair Serum has helped me on my mission to fight the frizz for a loooong time now (as in years), so it deserves an honourable mention on my blog. This is a go to hair product for me and dare I say, Holy Grail? This serum is said to block frizz, instantly replenish coarse, wiry frizzy hair into more polished and shiny locks. It contains a UV filter and is a blend of silicones infused with Algar extract and Silk protein to leave dry hair soft and healthy so it's more easy to manage. Amen to that! 

I like to apply this straight after I get out of the shower, I pump a large pea sized amount onto the tips of my fingers, rub them together and then pull my fingers through my wet hair starting with the problem areas. I then usually blow dry my hair and when it's about half way dry I stop and leave it to finish drying naturally. I literally can't count how many bottles of this stuff I have gone through, I'm currently halfway through this one and will, as always, go to repurchase once it's run out. I seriously panic once this starts to get low or if I forget it when I'm travelling because I know how much it helps my hair. I also use it after I've styled my hair with hair straighteners or anything thats dried out my hair. I take a small blob on my hands again and run it through the dry patches and ends of my hair for extra shine. I would highly recommend this product to anybody looking for a good serum and remedy for frizzy hair.

I also think it's a great price for how long it lasts, usually around the 7-8 euro mark, you can find it online here. So there you have it, we can now all go on our frizz free journey and thank Mr. Frieda for saving the day!

Do you have any hair treatments that you find work great to fight the frizz? Have you tried out this product and liked it? I'd love to hear from you ! x

See you soon! 

Valentines & Weekend in Paris Photos

Hey Guys! 

How was your weekend? :)

Sorry that it's been a bit quiet on my blog the past few days, I thought I'd put a little collage together of some snaps I took over the weekend and Valentines. Hope you all had a lovely Valentines and that you spoiled yourselves and had a little me time pamper. Any excuse to have flowers, chocolate strawberries and an extra long bath with candles is always a good day. There should be more of these Valentines days if you ask me! 

I really wanted to post a Valentines make up look, but I'm going to be honest and say I didn't even wear make-up on Valentines day. We decided on making a meal at home and just relax so staying in my pyjamas with no make-up on was perfect for my lazy side. Things were more exciting when we went to visit Cléments parents for the weekend. We decided to go for a stroll around Paris and take in a little more of this enchanting city rather than me dragging Clément into every Sephora and Zara in sight, only window shopping this time! (which was pretty hard to resist I have to say). 

I love the buzz of a big city like Paris, the hustle and bustle and the interesting characters you see, the buskers in the Metro and all the colourful languages you can hear around you. For once I don't feel like such a foreigner in France, which I sometimes feel in a smaller place like Saint-Quentin (the cashier at the supermarket looked at me like she never saw an english person in her life last week when she said "YOU ENGLISH?!" in total surprise when I went to pick up a few groceries, this gave me a little chuckle when I came home and told Clément). 

Hope you enjoy this little snap shot into my weekend, my favourite photo is of course Holly sitting like a human on the sofa, she gets into those positions herself too! I can tell she's going to be a funny character when she's fully grown. 

I'd love to hear how was your weekend and Valentines :) I know I'm only half way but I'm excited to say i'll have a little give away if I get to 100 followers, so keep your eyes peeled for that! 

See you soon!

Wishing on a star....Wish List #1

Hello fellow beauty addicts! Here is the start of what will definitely be a never ending wish list.... but a girl can dream though right? Starting a beauty blog doesn't help with these cravings when you're seeing so many great reviews and then that little voice in your head starts to say, "yes you really need this! imagine how amazingly soft your lips would be, imagine that salon styled hair at home!". These even find their way into my dreams at night. Yes I definitely had a dream that I was creating beautiful waves in my hair last night with the Babyliss Big Hair. Then to only wake up to the tangled mop that was really there.  I can hold my hands up and say I'm a Beauty Addict.

Some of these things will be no stranger to you as they've been around the beauty blogosphere for quite sometime. Like the Nars Orgasm blush and Laguna Bronzer. These were a huge hit for Nars and probably after realising this they have a compact for the two! be still my beating heart... this is so so tempting.

Never owning a Mac product of any sort I'm not really in the know when it comes to all their lippies. This Mac Diva lipstick really grabbed my attention while I was flicking through Hellocotton the other day. A make up artist called Sasha had created such a beautiful look with this on her blog, that it instantly went onto my wish list. 

Being really bored with my hair lately and always trying to recreate that at home salon feeling with my hair, the Babyliss Big Hair caught my eye like no other hair gadget has. A rotating brush combined with a hair dryer? Genius! I've never been talented when it comes to styling my hair. It's washed and blow dried in any old fashion and I'll accept whatever shape has happened in the process. But this really looks like it could be the answer to salon styled hair at home. And cuts out the really damaging part of hair straighteners! 

So lately I've been a bit lost with foundations, finding it so hard to have one that works for my skin and doesn't make me look dull or off colour. So I started to roll back the clock and thought of what foundations used to serve me well. And the only one that stood out in my mind was the Rimmel Recover foundation in Ivory. This was discontinued in a lot of shops like Boots and Superdrug where I would go to buy it, and at the time accepted that it had gone and that I needed to move onto another foundation. Only to recently find out that you can indeed still find it! Ebay will be my best option to get my hands on this, and it's so cheap as well, around 4-5 euros. 

While I'm not thinking of makeup I will probably be thinking of food, and other tasty treats. The Lush Bubblegum lip scrub has been floating around over blogs for sometime now too and with this winter weather, I think I can justify a little tasty lip scrub for my dry lips.

The Body Shop is one of my favourite places to go to find body butters like the Shea Body Butter I have in my wish list. I've just ran out of mine and this is really the best product for soft skin that I've ever tried. I am quite lazy when it comes to moisturising, but when I do, my skin is at its softest and happiest with this product.

So last but not least are these two beauts from Zara. If you read my "about me" post you will know I'm slightly addicted to this place. Poor Clément knows I am anyway since I drag him into every one I see if we're out shopping. It just makes me happy to go into Zara and browse through their beautiful collections even if I'm not buying. This "Nous et Vous" jumper caught my eye on their website, a casual light cream jumper with cute french writing that can be paired up with anything? Perfect. And a gorgeous geometric necklace too? these lovely pieces speak for themselves.

Whats on your wish list at the moment? Do you own any of these and like them? 

I love to hear from you and appreciate every comment and moment spent reading my blog :)

See you soon !

Runway Nails. Spring Trend 2013

After admiring my purple pearl nail varnish by Mavala this week, it got me wondering what were the Spring nail trends for 2013. And to my surprise a purple metallic look was on the cards for this Spring! Never being one for following trends but just wearing what I like I was a little secretly happy I was "on trend" for once, even if only on my nails. This trend was on the runway at the Erin Fetherston show as she described her collection to be inspired by “Sultry, unfussed glamour.” Here are a few photo's of her collection this Spring.

As you can see in the bottom right photo the model is wearing a gorgeous metallic violet colour which is said to be the Butter London Nail Laquer in the colour Lillibet's Jubilee (find here!). I couldn't believe that my Mavala Shimmer Violet was almost exactly the same, what a great dupe! The Mavala varnish is beautiful but is terrible for chipping, so I'd really recommend having a strong top coat to make it last. I really love how this colour catches the light, the shimmer is just beautiful! And I have to say a big thank you to my friend +Alice C.  who bought this for me for Christmas. She's just started her english blog here where you can find great reviews and posts! 

Have you got a shimmery violet nail varnish that you love too? Or would you like to try out this colour for Spring? Don't forget to leave your blog links below too so I can check them out :)

Happy Sunday!

Katie xxx

Nars Andy Warhol Flowers Tutorial

Hey everyone! 

Here is the super easy Nars Andy Warhol Flowers palette tutorial that I promised on Wednesday after my review on this product, and I'm a woman of my word! I hope you like it :) (please excuse my brows)

My eyes haven't been primed just foundation has been applied all over the lid. You can do this look before you do your foundation as there is some fallout along the way (I use my foundation brush to brush away any fallout). I always do my foundation first out of habit though, its just how I roll! I used only one standard eyeshadow brush for this look, I always see the professionals using multiple brushes for blending and what-not but it really wasn't difficult just using the one.

So let's get down to business! First I have applied the pink champagne colour all over the lid, patting it onto the centre of my lid and then blending it out along the socket line of my eye and as my guide I stop blending just about where my eyebrow ends.

Then I take a very small amount of the dark brown colour of the palette onto the brush, you can always go more intense later if it's not enough. I place the brush onto the outer part of my eye, gently bringing this colour about three quarters of the way in. But not to the very corner of my eye, I want to keep this part of the eye nice and bright. I then bring it under the eye just about half way along the lash line. Keep blending these two colours until there are no harsh lines.

Dark brown

dark brown and champagne blended

This is the part I love, applying the beautiful purple grey shadow as it makes this eye make-up a little more interesting than a bronze eye look. The grey detail on the top fades once you start to use this colour and you're left with the purple grey colour underneath. I blend this colour directly on top of that dark brown shadow and bring it slightly higher towards the brow and again under the eye. 

Purple/Grey

champagne, dark brown and purple grey blended

We're nearly done! Making sure there is no purple left on the brush (I use the back of my hand to take off any excess colour from the brush) take a small amount of the white eyeshadow and brush it along the brow bone just to add a beautiful highlight . I take a little bit more of the white and add it to the inner corner to brighten that area and just underneath the eye to where the purple and brown end to make it seamless. 

white

champagne, dark brown, purple grey and white highlight

Give those lashes a lick of mascara and hey presto! you're done! you could make this look more intense by adding a black eye pencil to the water line or a liquid or gel liner along the upper lash line, the worlds your oyster! I hope this wasn't to hard to follow and if you try this out with this palette or with similar colours of your own, please leave a link because I would love to see :) 

Finished look!

Sorry for the poorly lit photo, I didn't know whether to include a full face picture of the look and I took this picture later in the day so I didn't have any natural light. But you can kind of see how it looks with the rest of the makeup. I didn't do anything special with the rest of my make-up, I wore the Bourjois lipgloss I talked about in the natural everyday look post and a rose nude/nude pink blush in the colour 125 which is very subtle by L'oreal which is just called "Le Blush" and comes with a little brush to apply, very handy!

"ALL IS PRETTY" Quote from Andy Warhol on the mirror of the palette


Don't forget to leave all your links below so I can check out all your lovely blogs :) You can find this Andy Warhol Flowers Palette in Sephora here.



See you soon!

Katie xxx