This time in 24 hours..

...I'll hopefully be browsing the duty free, about to hop on a flight to....

The difference between me and my boyfriend become evident at packing time. His rucksack is packed and propped by the front door. Mine open on the sitting room floor, surrounded by heaps of stuff and scribbled lists.

Let's be honest though, this lot + a bikini is really all I need

Sunnies, hat, books and sunsreen. I'm hoping this Piz Buin spray will be as good as my beloved Neutrogena ultra sheer sunblock spray which I discovered when we lived in New York. Supposedly its another clear one you just spray everywhere and don't have to rub in.

I can't decide whether to buy some more Estee Lauder Double Wear, this time in a better shade, or whether to branch out and try something by Bobbi Brown.....?

Any Bobbi fans here who can tell me what rocks?

Tag time

Thank you to the gorgeous Shifa over at Get Gawjus for the tag! Go check her out.

I feel like I did this one yonks ago, so it's high time for an update. If you haven't yet done this one, you must (and tell me in the comments!) Let's get cracking:

SHAMPOO: I have a feeling it's something cheap and cheerful like Pantene or Tresemme...I can't remember though - shampoo gets decanted into my Hello Kitty shampoo pump from Japan!

CONDITIONER: I don't condition..is it very wrong? Always found it made my find hair lank.

STYLING PRODUCTS: A VO5 volumising spray thing. My poor hair's been very neglected recently.

SHOWER GEL: Iris soap from Santa Maria Novella

BODY MOISTURISER: Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse

FACE MOISTURISER: Liz Earle

DEODORANT: Dove

FAKE TAN: I don't have the patience for it

CLEANSER: Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish

EXFOLIATOR: I don't.

PRIMER: I don't

FOUNDATION: Estee Lauder Double Wear. I love it, but I don't think they have a colour that's perfect for me though, so the hunt is on again.

FOUNDATION BRUSH: MAC 190

CONCEALER: Barbara Daly from Tesco!

POWDER: Clinique Soft Finish pressed powder

BLUSHER: MAC MSF Redhead

BRONZER/CONTOUR: Barry M Natural Dazzle / MAC Strada

HIGHLIGHTER: BeneFit High Beam

EYESHADOW BASE: UDPP. Now living in a clean little jam jar - ha, foiled you Urban Decay - I didn't throw mine away half full as you hoped I would!

EYESHADOWS: a mix of MAC, NYX, Inglot and others. Currently loving my Sleek Storm palette though - it's what I reach for most often at the moment.

EYELINER: GOSH Velvet Touch and Sephora.

CURLER: Rarely bother. Got a Revlon one though.

MASCARA: L'Oreal Telescopic or Clinique High Definition

LIPSTICK: Stila Ariel, Clinique Waterviolet

LIPGLOSS: Hate hate hate sticky lipgloss!

NAIL COLOUR: silver uber cheap one by 2True.

Last weekend

Home. Well, my folks' place - which I probably should have grown out of calling home, but haven't. Well, it's their fault for making the place so bloomin' warm and welcoming and relaxing and perfect isn't it?

This stack of logs makes me very happy. Though I am a dab hand with an axe, let me reassure you, should you have any that need chopping!

Happy Birthday to me!

It's my _th birthday today. I would say it's felt a little unbirthday as I was at work, where nobody knows it's my birthday because I haven't been there long. But, Mr C made up for me, meeting me for lunch and handing over all my cards and pressies this morning!

Among my presents, treats from two of my favourite places in Paris (now thankfully both with branches in London)

A John Galliano Diptyque candle one of the lovliest smells I know. It smells of incense and woodsmoke. And a boxful of Laduree macaroons - the most delicious treat I know.

Yum to both!

Mr C - how well you know me!

Reviews - new bits and bobs

Rubbish posting of late - I am in awe of all you ladies with busy jobs who still manage regular wonderful posts. I'm struggling to keep up at the moment.

Anyway, a few recent purchases (all very cheap and cheerful I hasten to add)
Pink wallet - now, how cute is that bad boy? My regular wallet is huge - mum sized - and I love it, but sometimes I want to be a bit more lightweight so I spotted this in Matalan. Who cares if it only lasts a year - at £4 I can't complain.

I bought a couple of things from Boots 17 range - I really am going back to school with my shopping at the moment. A nail varnish so vile and middle aged I've binned it already. And that 'green glimmer' eyeshadow. Beautiful consistency and pigmentaion. But no - I just have no idea how to wear this without looking like I'm about to take a leading role in Wicked. I wish I could. Any tips?

So I got the 'Bronzed & Gorgeous' palette for free with those 2 purches. Containing:
1 lip colour (it's pants. Just ignore)
2 eye colours - 'ivory coast' a good highlighter colour and 'statuesque' an Ondine-alike (yay!). Both are again beautiful consistency and pigmentation
1 instant glow bronzing powder - actually, this isn't bad. Needless to say use the brush at your own risk - but with a proper brush, it's quite a nice contouring colour.

So overall, not bad for a freebie.

And - something I've never looked at before, a bit of M+S make up. This is what lunch hours working in the city do to you - you're left to browse M+S as there are no other remotely fun shops nearby. Just Pret. And Eat. And Itsu. Not much lippie in any of them.

Anyway, it's an Autograph Sheer Gloss Lipstick. And I like it. Very creamy, feels nice on and a good selection of shades. And for £7.50 I might investigate a few more in the range. Oh, and I LOVE the packaging. Simple and beautiful and expensive looking.

And, after intially adoring my Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation in Ecru, I became increasingly convinced it's not the right shade for me. My face is a distinctly different colour to my neck, which is awful. Apparently it's the lightest shade they do, but I'm giving a sample of Shell (more pinky toned) a go to see if that's any better. So far...so good. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, holiday is not too far off so soon I shall be thinking about tropical island make up!

Some recent disappointments

A quick rundown on a few things I've bought recently. I'm sorry to say, most of these have disappointed me, but perhaps you've found differently?

Group (fuzzy) shot:
Barry M Natural Dazzle, GOSH velvet touch eyeliner in black ink, MAC Eccentricity quad and Bourjois blush in Rose d'Or.

So, one by one

Well, I read the raves, I loved the swatches and so I went out and bought the famous Natural Dazzle. I don't know I've just got a bad one but it's incredibly hard to get any colour from this. I have to literally scrub it with a fingertip to get any colour, so as for managing to load anything onto a brush - fugeddaboutit! At a tenner I'm reluctant to shell out for another on the off chance I just got a bad one... had anyone else had this problem?

The Bourjois blush
So, Rose d'Or - golden pink - sounds perfect right? But again, it's very hard to get any colour from this and oh, the smell of it is disgusting - kind of powdering and old...like make up that's been festering somewhere for far too long.

Colour Craft Eccentricity
Pretty colours - I really love this selection a lot. And I love getting four colours so much more use to me than a single and not much more expensive. But - the glitter fallout on these is really tiresome. With I'd been more diligent with my research and hadn't bought this in such a hurry.

As for the GOSH eyeliner - I love it. Despite it's waterproof claims, it doesn't stay on my waterline for very long at all, but then I can't imagine anything would. Otherwise, big thumbs up.

Anybody else hate (or love?) these products?

20 Questions - Tag

Thank you my lovely Rocaille for tagging me on this one - I do love to answer questions for some inexplicable reason!

1. What is your favourite item of clothing?
It's an accessory - is that cheating? My Rebecca Minkoff bag - I love her so bad. Birthday pressie from Mr C last year when we were living in New York.

2. What are your biggest obsessions?
I am currently loving alfafa sprouts, beat authors, elderflower gin martinis, Seinfeld, jasmine green tea and scarves

3. Who inspires you?
The people I know and love inspire me to be better.

4. Who is your favourite designer and why?
I've loved Chanel since aged 12 I found a dusty biography of her on the shelf at home. I love the classic Chanel touches - piping, camelias, black and white

5. What is your favourite song ever?
Oh my goodness - how could I pick just one? I am an obsessive list maker though (listography, I love you) so let me give you three from my top 10 - Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark,

6. What is your favourite song right now?
Geraldine by Glasvegas. A year after buying it I still can't get enough of the whole album

7. If you were a sweetie, what would you be?
a violet creme (dark chocolate, mind)

8. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet - what words would you use to describe your rainbow?
Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain. it's the best I can do!

9. What's your favourite film?
Some Like It Hot. Perfection.

10. Who's your favourite actor?
Well, Gene Kelly was my first love actor-wise and I love to watch him dance.

11. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?
No question - New York City.

12. What are your three favourite smells?
aside from my favourite people and my cats (seriously - my cats are fragranced like you wouldn't believe) - ground coffee, rain on a hot pavement, lilacs

13. What are your three favourite tastes?
elderflower, marmite, a really peat-y malt whisky

14. What is your most treasured possession?
My violin and my Rebecca Minkoff handbag

15. What did you always want to be/do when you grew up?
My brother and I wanted a farm and lots of horses.

16. If you were an ice cream, what flavour would you be?
I'm not much for ice cream but pistachio is a good flavour

17. If someone made a short film of your life, who would play you?
Maggie Gyllenhaal

18. What would your perfect afternoon consist of?
Lying in in the sun in central park with a cherry italian ice

19. If you were a flower what would you be?
A peony

20. Tell me a random thing - a quote, a line from a song, book, movie
'his soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe'

Tagging all those who haven't done this! Tell me comments if you're going to do it - I love reading these.

Advice needed!

A quick poll as I need advice....

I'm wearing this dress from good old M+S (who'd have thought it?) to a wedding soon.

Can I get away with black tights at a summer wedding? I'm more comfortable in them and the weather is hardly summer-like at the moment, but I'm still wondering if it's ok.

Thoughts ladies, please!



(sorry for a link instead of a picture - work constraints..)

Romantic gestures

In my neighbourhood (and throughout all of Westminster) we have lamp posts that tell a story. Each one has two curly 'W's and two double 'C's



You'll recognise the Cs - (Coco Chanel of course) and the W represents the second Duke of Westminster who was in love with her and put their initials together on every lamp post in Westminster.

A little unconventional granted, but how romantic.

Hell yeah!

I know this has been all over the internet, but just in case you missed it have a watch of this wonderful wedding entrance video. What a happy way to start the day. I'm such a soppy cow, it really brought a tear to my eye

Color Craft here I come

Poor blogging on my part recently - comes with finally having some gainful employment. I can't seem to find time for anything else other than work at the moment. I'm not complaining though, let me make that very clear!

So, tomorrow I'll potter (or rather squelch if this lovely rain keeps up) to MAC on Kings Rd to raid the Color Craft stocks.

I definitely 'need' an eyeshadow quad - can't decide on whether to get Eccentricity or Odd Bits...any thoughts?

And perhaps Made with Love lipstick. (Can't do glosses - they drive me mad)

New dress!

I have a couple of weddings to go to over summer. Last 5 (yes, 5 count 'em) weddings I've gone to I've worn the same dress so I'm overdue a new one.

Times are tight, so behold Haute Couture de Matalan - what you reckon of this for under 30 quid?

Not sure if I'll wear that belt or the skinny black patent one that comes with the dress. Think I'll wear some more glam shoes too, but not bad for a bargain eh?

p.s. Yes, the pose is ridiculous!

This and that

I've been so busy with work I've been wickedly neglectful of this blog recently. Being back hard at work, nose to the grindstone is taking some getting used to be as my work has been sporadic recently.

Perhaps most challenging of all is running the gamut of the tube everyday - a smellier hotter more crowded place I can't think of. I'm going to have to do a little shopping soon with some of my hard earned cash so a haul post will hopefully be along soon.

Anyway on to nicer things - the lovely Nelle from Lady Tells All gave me this cute little award
so before I start catching up on what everyone's up to I must pay it forward. Apologies if you've already received it, but here are some lovely ladies whose blogs I always enjoy reading
Tabitha
Miss Adorably Distracted
Shifa
Rocaille
Llyangel

Loot!

I have a few weeks work starting tomorrow, so I went on a premature spending spree. Well - Primark, so that's allowed, since it's so super-cheap.

A cute pair of quilted ballet flats with patent toes. A little (and I use the term very loosely) Chanel-esque. Hey - anything quilted you can pretend is Chanel inspired, right?


I imagine they'll stay cream for about a day before they start to look slightly grubby, but I like them nevertheless. And they make my feet look tanned.

Another little Chanel inspired goody:
Tell me ladies, can you tell the difference between that and the Chanel Fil de Camelia original?
Ok, I exaggerate, but it is sweet isn't it?

This weekend I'm seeing the little birthday girl I made some presents for recently so they need to be wrapped up. I found this gorgeous wrapping paper to do the job. I feel sure I'll end up going back for another sheet as I can think of a million crafting uses for such lovliness.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation

After 2 weeks of using this every day, I am hoping it's safe to give it a review. First up big thanks to Gail for alerting me to how great it is!


First off, if you're interested I'd strongly recommend going to an Estee Lauder counter, asking them to colour match you and then asking for a sample to take home and try so you can be sure of the colour, and sure that your skin isn't going to react. It's something I used to be reluctant to do, but if you're going to spend £20+ on a foundation, then the least they can do it let you sample it first.



So - it's considerably thicker in consistency than previous foundations I've had, but then the coverage is of course more thorough. I know others have success using a 187 brush to apply this, but I haven't tried using mine yet as I've been happy using the 190 foundation brush. After applying I buff it in a little with a kabuki - it seems to just make sure there are no streaky bits and it generally 'softens the edges'.

The one thing I have found with this is that you need to make sure your skin's really well moisturised before applying. I found I had a few slightly dry patches I hadn't taken much notice of until I started using this, however E45 cream has worked miracles and everything works very well together now.

It gives a matte finish, and my skin really has never looked so perfect. I did find the first few days I was appallingly vain and kept examining myself in mirrors.

I'm also very happy to report that (touch wood) I've had no adverse reactions to this - no breakouts or anything else - and my skin really can be a little sensitive which is why I was reluctant to try MAC's Studio Fix as I'd heard of so many break out horror stories.

So, overall a big thumbs up from me for this. If you want a medium to full coverage foundation, definitely give this one some consideration.