Make-Up Haul

I’ve been on a make-up buying spree lately, due to over-excitement at actually having a little bit of spare money for the first time since I moved. Here’s what I’ve been buying.

• Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paint in Pomegranate. I’ve said before I love pink nails, and so many bloggers have been trying and loving the Gelly polishes, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon. I only bought this today, so I’ve not tried it out yet, but I'll let you know what I make of it.
• MUA Undress Your Skin Flawless Skin Primer. I don’t usually wear a primer, but as my skin can be quite oily round my T-zone, and I’d heard good things about this one (and it’s super cheap), I thought I’d give this a whirl. The texture when you’re putting it on feels weird and slimy at first, but once it’s sunk in it feels nice and velvety and does a great job of keeping my make-up where it’s supposed to be.
• MUA Pro-Base Fixing Mist. Another one I bought after hearing good reviews. I’ve only used it once so far, on Saturday, as I knew I wouldn’t have time to reapply any make-up between my day-time outing and heading out in the evening. It did a great job, actually. So far, impressed.
• MUA Undressed Eyeshadow Palette. I’ve already shared this with you, but thought I’d share it again now I’ve had a chance to try it. The colours are beautiful and last ages. I’m trying out a few different combinations and have been watching some tutorials with Urban Decay’s Naked palette, as this is meant to a pretty good dupe. Having never tried the Naked palette, I can’t comment, but this is really good and a bloody bargain!
• Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation in Ivory. This one is a repurchase. My original bottle of this was a freebie at a blogger event, but I got on really well with it, so decided to actually pay for it this time.
• Laval Powder Blusher in Frosted Pink. I killed my previous blusher by dropping it, which was clever of me. I had some Amazon vouchers so went wild and decided to risk buying make-up online from a brand I wasn’t familiar with. Worth it. This is such a pretty pink, although really pigmented, so you have to put it on with a light hand or you end up with crazy clown cheeks.
• ELF Shimmering Facial Whip in Spotlight. I’d heard about this as a good cheap dupe for Benefit’s High Beam. Again, I’m pretty sure I’ve already shared this, but now I’ve actually used it. It’s obviously not as nice as High Beam, but for the price, it’s an excellent highlight.
• Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Electric Plum. I admit, I totally choose lipsticks by their names. This has a good one, and I’ve been after a plum colour for a little while, but was struggling to find something that wasn’t too dark and wannabe goth. This is just dark enough, and very pretty.
• Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer in Celestial. Blogger band wagon alert! I’m so easily tempted by what other bloggers post about. Great colour, great applicator and a nice texture. I did think they might be sticky feeling, but not at all. I’ll let you know about the lasting time when I’ve worn this properly, rather than just swatched it.

What have you lot been buying? Enable my spending habits by telling me more awesome nails and make-up bits.       

Birthday Weekend

1. If I’m not at work, these are on my feet. Badass birthday present. Thanks, Tom.
2. Fellow Browncoats, how awesome is this necklace? Penny of Rats As Big As Cats made this beauty for me and I am beyond delighted with it.
3. Penny also made this hat for my friend Ben to cosplay Firefly’s Jayne at the MCM Expo next weekend. It is impossible to wear this hat and not feel happy.
4. TEA! Teapigs very kindly sent me this little lot to play with, along with some iced tea recipes. I'm excited to try them out.
5. Birthday cards! (And a little parcel waiting for Tom).

Apologies for my absence lately, with work and my birthday and family events, I’ve been a busy bee! I had a great birthday on Saturday, with a visit to the cinema to see The Great Gatsby (my verdict? Looked beautiful, stunning costumes, too long.) and some drinks with friends in the evening. We finished up under quilts at Penny’s, watching Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog, which I hadn’t seen in an absolute age.
There’s been lots of Buffy stuff popping up online the last few days, as the 10th anniversary of the first airing of the final episode was a couple of days ago. It really doesn’t seem that long ago; I vividly remember watching it for the first time. I was (and still am) a huge Buffy fan. Unusually for me, I was actually pretty pleased with how the show ended. And now I want to watch all of Buffy again.
From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power, can stand up, will stand up. Slayers... every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong? – Buffy, Chosen.

Scenes From My Weekend

Last weekend, Tom and I had an early birthday weekend, as we won’t be together for our actual birthdays. Tom’s birthday is two days before mine, but unfortunately, we’ll both be working on his birthday, and I’m away for mine. Instead, we decided to do presents and dinner last weekend.

1. I’ve posted the Wonder Woman Converse on here several times now, and clearly Tom has been paying attention! I’m chuffed to bits to have them, and don’t think they’re going to be off my feet much now. Apparently, I have another present coming, but it didn’t get delivered in time. I am beyond excited to see what it is, as Tom did so well with the shoes!
2. We’re both mad for Gourmet Burger Kitchen, so we headed off for some burgers as big as our heads, and dived head first into some Oreo milkshakes.
3. OREO MILKSHAKES!
4. As well as winning with the present, Tom also got me the best card ever. Giles!
5. I treated myself to some new shoes. Both pairs are Marks and Spencer. This pair are less pink in real life, but really pretty!
6. The colour of these hasn’t come out right either, they’re really bright red. So many awesome new shoes!

I’m excited about how much awesome stuff I’ve got coming up in the next couple of weeks; birthday, a Muse gig, Comic Con…loooooots of lifestyle posts coming up, you guys!

Top 10 Guilty Pleasures

I think we all like to think that most of the time we are at least vaguely sophisticated, and some of us even develop tastes for things that make us feel very grown-up, like olives, french cinema or red wine. But let’s face it, we all also like stuff that is actually rather naff.

I’ll make you a deal. I’ll share some of my guilty pleasures with you, if you share yours with me.

Musicals
If it’s got a show-tune and a knock-out dance routine in it, I. Am. There. I like all kinds of musicals, from the classics of the stage like Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera, old movies like Singin’ In The Rain and more modern musicals like Footloose and Avenue Q. I know all the words to a disturbing number of songs from the shows.

I took ages to decide which clip to share to go with this, and in the end had to go with Grease. It’s one of the first musicals I remember watching. Plus, John Travolta in this movie? Yes. Tell me about it, stud.

80s Movies
Me and my old flatmate used to have Footloose ready to go on top of the DVD player at all times, for emergencies when you might need the dance scene in the warehouse to cheer you up (try it, it’s hilarious). We both love a good 80s flick, be it a Brat Pack movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Flashdance. My personal favourite is The Breakfast Club.

 90s Pop
Shameful, I know, but I think this is mostly nostalgia. Me and my best friend had a fantastic road trip not so long ago, singing along loudly to the Spice Girls greatest hits. Just watch girls who were growing up in the 90s at a party or at a cheesy club if they play something by the Spice Girls or B*Witched. I know I’m not the only one.

Facebook Stalking
You know you do it too.

Eating entire tubs of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream
Ok, I haven’t actually done this since university, but woah, is it good. Pass the Cookie Dough.

Bad TV shows
I’m not talking Jersey Shore or TOWIE, that’s too bad, even for me, but I will happily marathon watch anything with Gok Wan, and I have a secret love for Project Runway, Queer As Folk USA (I may or may not own several box sets of this) and Man Vs Food, amongst others. I think Queer As Folk USA could have a place on the list all it’s own. I’m not much of a shipper, but Brian and Justin are very definitely my One True Pairing. So many feels!

Sad Songs
I really don’t know why, but I love a good bad tragic ballad or a song that tugs at the heart-strings. This kind of overlaps with my love of musicals, as most of my favourites are songs from musicals, like I Know Him So Well from Chess, There’s A Fine, Fine Line from Avenue Q and A Little Fall Of Rain from Les Miserables. My love does extend outside the world of the West End though, with Abba’s The Winner Takes It All, Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black and Frank Sinatra’s One More For The Road holding places on my favourites lists (eclectic lot there!). My all-time favourite, and possible my favourite song actually, has to be Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah.

Wasting Hours On The Internet
Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter. The internet is a blackhole for time.

Junk Food
Giant bags of jelly tots, burgers the size of my head, excessive amounts of pizza. Gimme.

Drinking On A ‘School Night’
I don’t do this so much these days, but in my previous jobs, I was often still to be found with a drink in hand when I had to be at work the next morning. Shocking behaviour.

Over to you!

Life Lately

1. Bath has some seriously cool street performers, especially now that’s the weather has picked up and there’s more tourists around. This chap is Dick Danger, who does an incredible act with a 20ft Chinese pole. For his grand finale, he dives from the top of the pole, to land head first in a bucket of water. If you don’t believe, there’s a video clip of him performing this stunt at the end of the post.
2. Today, Mum’s been up for a visit, and we went to the Jane Austen Centre. Jane Austen lived in Bath, and frequently visited before she lived here, so there’s quite strong ties with Austen and Bath. She based two of her novels here. The museum was quite small, but interesting. This regency frock is rather smart, huh?
3. Sally Lunn’s is meant the oldest tearooms in Bath and is home to the original Bath Bun. We didn’t go in this time, but the building is very pretty.
4. The Abbey in the sun.
5. I’ve been back to Bea’s Vintage Tearooms again, to sample some more cake and some of their delicious lemonade. Perfect in this hot weather.
6. Bea’s Vintage Tearooms cake selection. I’ll take a slice of each.

The weather has been bloody gorgeous here again today, and I’ve got rather pink shoulders to show for it. I’m keeping everything crossed that this keeps up.

Here’s the promised clip of Dick Danger and his death defying stunts!

Mini Haul

Living in one of the most beautiful cities around has it pitfalls; mostly that it costs me a small fortune to live here. I’ve had to really check my spending since moving here, and it’s been absolutely ages since I bought anything that wasn’t an absolute essential. This month I’ve had a couple of unexpected windfalls (thanks council tax refund), and while I’ve been sensible with most of it and squirreled it away, I thought I was well overdue a little shopping spree, as I’ve been so horrendously broke lately.

White Vest Top – H&M: Not the most exciting purchase, but I love these vest tops from H&M. They have adjustable straps, so you can make them fit perfectly, and avoid that annoying straps falling off your shoulders situation. I have these in several different colours, and wear them under shirts and such-like. My white one is not very white anymore after several too many trips through the washing machine, so I picked up a replacement.  

Cry Baby Vest – H&M: This doesn’t seem to be online anymore, so I can’t link it, but you can still get these in stores. Anyway, Cry Baby is a brilliant, if bizarre, early Johnny Depp film. It’s set in the 50s, and basically Johnny is rather delicious in it, so I couldn’t resist this vest. It’s got those really low armholes, so I’ll be wearing this with a strappy top or a bandeau top underneath. I’m looking forward to wearing this with denim shorts in the summer.

Sandals – Dorothy Perkins: Dorothy Perkins had 20% off shoes in store today, and I needed some summer sandals. I’ve got a gold pair from a couple of holidays ago, but I really wanted some simple black sandals for knocking around. These have got little diamante bits on the straps, but they’re really simple, and exactly what I wanted.

Feather Necklace – Dorothy Perkins: Also sold out online, so no link, I’m afraid. I spied this on my way to the till. I love delicate jewellery, and the bargain price made sure this was coming home with me.

Memoirs of a Geisha: There’s a good second-hand bookshop on the way back from the centre of town, so I popped in on my way home for an explore. I picked this up, as shockingly, I haven’t read it, despite hearing great reviews. I’ve actually not seen the film either, so maybe if I enjoy this I’ll make the effort to actually see the film.

MUA Pro Palette – Undressed: This palette is supposed to be a really good dupe for the Urban Decay Naked palette that all the beauty bloggers went gaga for. I’ve never tried the Naked palette, as it’s bloody pricey, but I’ve been loving a nude eye look lately, so decided to give the Undressed palette a whirl. I’ll let you know how I get on with it.

The weather has been gorgeous here again in Bath, so I really enjoyed my stroll into town. As always, there were great street performers around, including an acrobat I hadn’t seen before. I’ve got some pictures to share of him, but I think I’ll save them for my next life lately post.

I’ve got an extra day off work this weekend for the bank holiday, so I’ll be getting in some much needed relaxing, and getting a visit from my mum on Monday. What’s everyone else doing with their bank holiday?

Joules–VIB

Some rather exciting emails have been dropping into my inbox lately, the most recent being a invitation from Joules. Tomorrow, Joules are opening a brand new flagship store in Bath, and tonight, the fashionable set in Bath, including those deemed by Joules to be VIBs (Very Important Bloggers), were invited along to check out the new store before its official opening.

Joules wasn’t a brand I was familiar with, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The new store is beautiful, and an absolute TARDIS. The small store front suddenly opens out into a big, bright shopping space. The store was pretty packed, so I didn’t manage to take many photos there, but I have got some pictures of the swag I carried away to share.

We all got a goody bag on the way out. The bags are so pretty; I’ll be saving mine to store something away in. They’re too cute to go out in the recycling. In my goody bag, as well as some vouchers, I had a little chocolate hare and a very pretty journal. I’m mad for stationery, so as you can imagine, I was pretty pleased with my goodies.

Tonight, Joules were offering 25% off everything (the discount is running in store until the 6th May, those of you in/near Bath), but I really struggled to choose what I wanted. The current collection is themed around ‘British Summertime’, which really shows in the bright colours and classic florals. I swung back and forth between buying a fox print scarf, an umbrella printed with Mallard ducks, polka dot pumps and flip-flops printed with a beach scene. I was very hard on myself, ignoring all the beautiful clothes out of my budget, and restricted myself to one thing. I eventually chose these:

You all know I’m crazy for polka dots, so I guess the likelihood of my leaving without these little canvas pumps was pretty small. They’re simple, classic, and so cute, and they’ll be perfect now the weather is finally improving. I love the little twist of the soles being different colours!

The event was brilliant, with trays of Champagne and canapes everywhere you turned, and a few local offerings from Dawkin’s Ales and The Bath Sausage Shop. There was also live music from Murray Hockridge, who played beautifully. I lingered around for ages, soaking up all the bright cheeriness of the shop, listening to the music and sipping Champagne. Not a bad Spring evening at all.