Keep calm and have your nails done!

Tuesday 25th September 2012

How crazy is the weather lately?!

So this is my last post for a while as I go on holiday on Saturday! 2 weeks all inclusive to Majorca with my boyfriend and his family (29 of us to be exact, less holiday, more invasion...haha!) so I've mainly spent most of my night packing and re-packing my case. We're allowed 20kg of luggage and mine is bang on 20kg, safe to say there are a few more dresses and pairs of shoes going to be sprouting legs and walking off into his bag... 

Anyway the point of this post was to show you my new gel nails!

 

 Aren't they gorgeous?! I got them done locally from a lady who lives in a town close to me, and she was absolutely lovely! In the past I've found that getting gel nails hurts when your fingers are placed under the UV light, but these ones didn't in the slightest. Also I usually favour acrylic nails over gel but these have been done so nicely I think I'm starting to be converted. I especially like the 3D flowers she's put on two of my fingers. I'm going to a wedding Saturday so I chose to have them in a baby pink colour to match my dress. She was telling me about all the new colours and glitters she's ordered in for over the festive season so I'll be going back to get them done again, she also does spray tanning, teeth whitening, waxing and eyelash extensions too, so I may just have to treat myself.

So until next time enjoy your next few weeks whatever you all may be doing - I know I will ;)

Clover x

YSL for the poor

One of my beauty must haves that I can just NEVER justify or afford is Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat highlighter. My sister once had one and I borrowed it a few times and can testify that it is amazing. It reflects light in a way that not only conceals your dark bits, but makes you look more radiant. It does what it says: highlights your good bits whilst faking the bad. 

£25 Yves Saint Laurent at Debenhams. 

I love a good bargain buy and an experiment, so couldn't resist when I saw this highlighter/concealer from George at Asda. It's a massive £22 cheaper (all George cosmetics are £3 at the moment!) so I thought it might be worth a shot. At the very least it would work as a concealer, so I bought the lightest shade, Ivory.

£3, George at Asda, Ivory.

I'm actually pretty impressed. At first I was annoyed because I kept clicking and nothing happened, but eventually, that little peach blob appeared and I was happy - while I would have been annoyed by the loss of £3, I wasn't willing to go argue with Asda about a faulty bargain basement concealer. So I put it under my eyes, and then because unlike it's much better and more impressive YSL counterpart, I put it on all of my spots and blemishes. For £3 I don't have to ration and can use it like war paint! 

Up close and personal

And this is the result. It goes on quite thick so a little goes a long way. Alone, I doubt it would be as effective, but this is over Clinique Super Balanced in Alabaster and with a little natural collection powder over for good measure. I took the picture under a bright light, with the flash on my phone to test whether or not it does reflect and diffuse light, and I am impressed. Not a dark or red bit to be seen! 

The verdict 3.5/5. It can't live up to YSL, but for £3, I never expected it to! Buy as concealer and you won't regret it. 

Crimson. xoxo. 

Woodland Wonders

Horse Scarf: £10 Next (last year)
Leather Jacket: £165 Topshop
Jeans: £38 Topshop
Boots: Vintage
Top: £10 Camden Market

So, I was watching Lorraine, as you do while waiting for Jeremy Kyle (oh the wonders of erratic employment) and they were talking about all the woodland inspired motifs and patterns that we are seeing a lot of on the high street or on celebrities at the moment.

They claimed that this is a VERY seasonal thing – that it will be out of fashion before winter even kicks in and they are definitely not investment pieces. However, I beg to differ. I recall last year seeing the occasional owl or stag on clothing. There was an abundance of reindeer patterns near Christmas and I still wear my horse print scarf from next. I can’t quite remember which, but I remember Look magazine covering one of the Topshop designer’s sweaters with stag and fox patterns. Owl jewellery has been kicking about for ages as I have an owl necklace from Accessorise that I’ve had for 3 years! So, in my opinion, owls, horses, stags, rabbits and any other woodland creature takes your fancy are here to stay.

A few weeks ago, I got in on this trend with my little owl earrings from River Island and this week, I thought I would make a bolder statement with this knitted jumper from Marks and Spencer. It’s a gorgeous, soft wool – thick enough to be warm, but thin enough to put under a leather jacket or military winter coat without looking like you’ve eaten all the pies. I’m just not wearing the jumper, earrings and horse scarf together – stick to one statement woodland piece else you’ll just look a little bit strange. 

£35 Marks and Spencer

Here’s some of my favourites. Let me know what you think.

Grey and black owl: £14.99 New Look. White owl pattern: £30 Dorothy Perkins.
Mirrored Bunnies: £46 Topshop. Owl Necklace: £8 River Island. Rabbit bag: £30 Next. 

Crimson xx

MAC v Revlon

Wednesday 12th September 2012

A few Christmases ago, I got Fearne Cotton's big beauty box from Boots when she brought out her own range of make up, and in it, there was a beautiful mauve/pink shade of lipstick that I grew very fond of and wore all the time. I'm usually a lipgloss girl, so for me to start wearing this was nothing short of a miracle! When the lipstick ran out, I found myself on a search to replace it, which proved difficult as that product seemed to be a one-off Christmas time only thing. MAC do a very similar shade to the one I was looking for, 'Snob', but I just can't justify paying £14 for a product that I'd use up in no time. Then I came across a little beauty. While in Boots, I stumbled on the Revlon counter and found my perfect lipstick shade, Revlon Matte 002 Pink Pout.

The thing I like about this lipstick first off is the matte look. Yes, I wear lipgloss but that seems to be very rare these days, I don't really like the look of a shiny colour on my lips as I feel it makes the rest of my face look shiny, so for this to be a matte shade was perfect for me. Secondy the colour, it's a creamy, suede-like baby pink.

 The only thing is, with this lipstick being matte, it's quite dry compared to other lipsticks so if your lips are dry (as mine seemed to be in the next photo!) it would be worth putting a balm on underneath and letting it soak in for five minutes or so before applying the lipstick to give a more even coverage. I've been using this lipstick every day since I got it and find it incredibly long lasting, be it whether I'm eating, drinking or talking. I also find this shade works best with plain, simple eye make up.

Plain lips.. lips with colour slash.. full colour.

The only difference I seem to find between 'Snob' and 'Pink Pout' is that Snob is just a touch of a shade lighter and brighter, which I still think would look really nice but again I'm not paying those prices at all - I have things to save up for!

I got my lipstick from Boots using my advantage card points, but normally the lipstick retails at around £7.49.

Join me next time for a post on Models Own Mirrorball collection.

Clover x

Crimson's back and she has new hair.

So, about two years ago, I accidentally dyed my hair black. It was meant to be a dark brown, but with my shaggy fringe, ended up looking a little bit like Kristen Stewart's hair in The Runaways. 

Kristen Stewart in The Runaways - If you haven't seen it, see it. 

And I loved it. 

Unfortunately, I had a bit of a tan at the time, and don't look as naturally flawless or bad ass as Kristen Stewart, so ended up looking a bit like a goth and having to wear a lot of make up. 

The problem with home dyes, is that you never quite know what you're getting. The more I tried to put browns on, the more it built up on top of the black. 

My sister, the master mind behind the messy fringe that was actually cut with a pair of kitchen scissors while she laughed manically and told me to keep my eyes closed, persuaded me to put red on it to 'warm it up.' Stupidly I listened and ended up this time last week with patchy bright red and black hair. Seriously, like Denis the Menace colours. 

So after looking in the mirror and realising that without going black again, there is only so much I can do with home dyes, didn't trust myself to home bleach/strip, so I would have to go grovelling back to the woman who tried to steer me away from colours like black and red and my sister's scissor happy ways in the first place. My hair dresser, Elaine. I finally snapped and drove to the hairdressers to ask the three important questions: 'How much will it be? How long will it take? and When?' 

The answer was 'what have you done? £35, as long as it takes and next friday. In the meantime, try to lift some of the colour using Daz detergent.' 

Daz. Yes, Daz. The thing that you put in your washing machine. 

I gave it a go. It wasn't significant, but it did lighten it a little bit. 

Finally, it was time to go to the hairdressers. I was there for three hours and for one of those, I had hair quite similar to this:

Hayley Williams from Paramore rocking the
 'bleach on black' look intentionally. 

£4.99 from Boots, currently on 3 for 2
 with other Aussie products. 

But now, I love it. It's much closer to my natural colour (a light brown) but is really multi-tonal with autumnal colours in the light that seem to range from blonde to deep chestnut or dark red. It's so strange seeing myself without black hair and I have to keep using Aussie 3 Minute Miracle to help it recover from it's 3 dyes in 3 weeks and bleaching, but it's been well worth it and for the first time in a long time, am genuinely happy with my hair. It looks really dry in the picture, but that's mainly the light as well as the fact it was bleached yesterday.

So the moral of the story? If in doubt, just swallow your pride and pay for a hairdresser and let them say 'I told you so.' 

Anyone else had any hair disasters? how did you deal with them and what styles are you loving right now? 

Crimson xoxo

Gucci Guilty

Friday 7th September 2012

It's only the weekend!

Just a quick one to tell you about my new fragrance, Gucci Guilty. My cousin gave me it and I'm in love - it smells so expensive! It has notes of peach, patchouli and oriental spices and lasts all day long. It could be quite heavy for some people but I enjoy it. I also love the bottle. You can buy 50ml of Gucci Guilty from Boots for £57.00.

Clover x

Clover's fragrance wishlist!

Wednesday 5th September 2012

Hello my lovelies! 

It feels like it's been ages since my last post! I thought that I'd share with you my wish list of beautiful smells. With Christmas and other various occasions around the corner I've asked for some perfume as always, but I just never know which ones I like and at the rate I keep changing my mind it's no wonder my boyfriends getting annoyed! I personally feel that if I'm buying perfume, for what you'd pay for 30ml, you'd be better off paying the extra few pounds and upgrading to 50ml, as in my eyes it's more value for money. I've also got a love of perfumed body lotion too lately. My latest perfume, Estee Lauder Sensuous, came with a perfumed body lotion which I used to rub on my arms every day before my perfume for a more intense frangrance.

1. Marc Jacobs Daisy, £50 for 50ml, Boots

 I absolutely love this! First off, I love the design,with two foam daisies on the lid it really stands out on my dressing table and looks so cute and feminine. I think this is what makes Marc Jacobs' fragrances stand out from all the rest - each and every bottle has a quirky, 3D design to it. It has such a light, fresh scent, smelling like a beautiful mix of violet and wild strawberries.

2. Nina by Nina Ricci, £38 for 50ml, Boots

This scent smells of vanilla, praline and lemons and smells gorgeous. The bottle is in a rosy-apple shape, making it the perfume of fairy tales. This is a light scent and smells really floral-like compared to others by Nina Ricci. This is also a must have for me this year.

3. Gucci Premiere, £64 for 50ml, Boots

Crimson and I have a love-hate relationship with the frangrance, we love the smell but hate the price. This smells quite woody, with orange blossom and musk, but it's a smell that lasts literally all day. It's more of a night time scent than a day one as it's quite heavy when first applied. Overall, I like the smell but for me it's a little too pricy for a decent sized bottle.

4. Calvin Klien CKIN2U Her, £23.75 for 150ml, CheapSmells.com

I also wouldn't mind if santa brought me this one this year either. For 150ml, this has to be the nicest smelling decent value-for-money fragrance out there. It comes in a womens and a mens version, but to be honest, the womens smells slightly of aftershave too, but I actually like it! I've gone through 2 bottles of this in the past 5 years and I can totally see why. A lovely, heavy yet nice smelling scent that lasts for hours. 

5. Elizabeth Arden Pretty, £52 for 100ml, Boots

I got a sample of this when I bought Elizabeth Arden foundation a while ago and it's such a fun, light scent. Smelling of peach, peony and musk it's ideal for summer nights strolling along the beach. The smell lasts a few hours which is a plus, but the bottles simply clear with a pink lid and pink label. 

5. Paco Rabanne Black XS Pour Elle, £27.95 for 50ml, CheapSmells.com 

This is quite a contrasting frangrance with berries, with woody notes. It's yet another heavy fragrance, but it's long lasting. 

6. Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue, £46 for 50ml, Boots

This was the very first perfume I was ever bought years ago and I'm still in love with it now. It has a long-lasting, fresh fragrance, with a mixture of apples and lemons.

7. Gucci Envy Me, £49 for 50ml, Boots

This bottle is another of my favourites in clear, white and pink shades and mimics the packaging. This scent is more along the lines of white tea and jasmine and again, lasts a long time. I've had two bottles of this recently and to be honest when I wear it, I feel like I smell expensive!

So there you have it, my seven of the best! What are you smelling of lately?

Clover x