Gem Fatale's Style Blog

Meadham Kirchhoff x Nail Rock

2012-02-02T18:08:00.000Z

Meadham Kirchhoff's Spring/Summer 2012 collection was a loveably barmy explosion of kitsch. The models resembled dolls as they shuffled in their flatforms down the catwalk in candy colours, frou frou frills and cartoon prints. The collection is almost sickly in its unashamed girliness and I adore it. Can I afford any of it? Of course not. Well, maybe this kitty tee if I gave up Nando's for a while...

So I was thrilled to learn that they were teaming up with Nail Rock to launch a collection of nail wraps inspired by their SS/12 collection exclusively for Topshop. The array of cartoon illustrations (including one suspiciously naughty design..) all come in one pack and are due to launch in the middle of February, retailing at £8.

I tried the striped Nail Rock wraps that came in a Glossybox I was sent as a sample a while ago and despite my reservations, I actually thought they were incredible! They were easy to apply (as long as you follow instructions to the letter), and lasted forever (around 2 weeks if we're being literal, here) without the need for a topcoat or anything! I only wear a couple of wraps at a time as 'statement nails' so I can make the pack last longer.

I cannot wait to add these adorable wraps to my collection. Fingernails crossed they launch in time for LFW so my hands can look on-trend even if the rest of me doesn't!

Are you a fan of Nail Rock wraps? What do you make of the Meadham Kirchhoff ones?

♥

#zomgbloggerbash

2012-02-01T21:59:00.001Z

On Monday night I popped to the much tweeted #zomgbloggerbash - in IRL terms, this hashtag refers to the launch of the amazing collaboration between Zoe from The London Lipgloss and Rockalily Makeup. Because I was rushing about like a ninny trying not to miss my train, I forgot my camera, so here are the few snaps I caught on my mobile/stole from others!

Some of the Rockalily range for us to swatch

Ms Rockalily herself, ReeRee Rockette, getting us to smooch and sign a canvas. The logic being that she can sell it if one of us gets famous and get rich! Or hang it on the wall to look pretty if she gets rich first! Needless to say, she was one hilarious lady :)

The gorgeous blonde model of Rockalily lippies (Banbury Cross) was at the event and did a burlesque performance! I had already disappeared off into the night by then to catch my train home. Boo!

There was a mini photo studio with loads of wigs and pin-up style gear to try on! The wigs are made by Wonderland Wigs and actually looked SO real considering they, er, weren't!

I think I had it on back to front, but here's me rocking the pink wig! I have sort of fallen in love with it. It's only £20 on the website, and there's a minty green one too! I am never bleaching my hair again so if I do want candy hair, a wig is the only way to go, really! What do you think..? (Thanks for the picture, Jemma!)

That's me wearing the ZOMG! lipstick in the last picture, too. Such a gorgeous shade! It will be available on the Rockalily site very soon...

It was a fun night, and lovely to finally meet Zoe and catch up with blogger pals, as well as make a few new ones! Always lovely to see bloggers getting involved in awesome projects with indie brands too. You go, Zo!!

Slendertone Challenge: Week 1

2012-01-29T21:15:00.000Z

After a lot of wondering whether to invest in a Slendertone belt, fate answered my question when I was recently invited to take part in a Slendertone 30 day challenge!

First things first, here is what the Slendertone Abs belt looks like:

This is the belt I am reviewing, but there are cheaper alternatives on Amazon.

From the horse's mouth (aka. website):

"Slendertone Abs Female delivers targeted muscle toning, designed to help achieve deep muscle training. Slendertone Abs Female stimulates all the abdominal muscles, not just the superficial fibres, by activating the core muscles which are essential for your core stability, posture and defining your shape. Slendertone Abs can be used without any physical activity or while doing physical activity. Slendertone's patented 3 electrode arrangement ensures optimal recruitment of all abdominal muscles, ensuring the entire abdominal musculature, including the deep internal oblique and transversus abdominus muscles and the more superficial rectus abdominus and external obliques. The medical grade pads ensure the stimulation is spread over the pad area evenly, allowing a more comfortable workout"

So, when I want to use the belt, I stick the three pads to my stomach, fasten the belt tightly and then begin one of the programmes. To make the 'workout' my own, I have added my own step which is sucking my tummy in almost continually for the 25 minutes with the hope that if the Slendertone is zapping my tummy while its at its flattest, it will freeze in that position over continued use... I have no idea if this will affect the end result and I realise I probably sound a bit mad, but hey ho!

To begin a session, you use the up arrows on the remote to increase the intensity of the electric signals being passed to your stomach muscles. This belt goes from 0-150. For my first few sessions, I didn't venture past 25, which felt like a tickling sensation. After my 7th use, I'm now up to 65 and it's more like a vibrating, slight pinching sensation. It isn't exactly pleasant, but it's not painful. I can't see myself venturing anywhere near the 150 mark! The sensations come in waves and aren't constant, mimicking the effect sit-ups have on your muscles. Slendertone claim 20 minutes is the equivalent of doing 120 sit-ups!

I haven't felt any after-effects such as achey muscles yet, like you would if you were doing crunches. I hope this doesn't mean I'm not on a high enough setting, but I will keep trying to increase this! Sometimes a bit of next-day-pain is useful to know that your muscles have been working.

Obviously I can't report any visible difference after week 1, but I can tell you that Slendertone fits much more seamlessly into my routine (sitting on the sofa watching telly) than any other toning attempts I've made in the past, which all require me to leave the sofa and even exert some effort. Not cool. It's nice to feel that I'm being proactive about my physique and posture without actually doing anything!

I have high hopes for my 30-day challenge. Slendertone sounds like the ultimate lazy girl's answer to a flatter stomach. I just hope it isn't too good to be true! You know I'll tell it like it is, freebie or no freebie, so stay tuned to hear more about my progress over the coming weeks!

Have you tried Slendertone products before? If so, how did you get on and do you have any advice to share with a newbie like me?

♥

Stripes & Specs

2012-01-27T22:10:00.000Z

Hihi!

I'mgoing to keep this brief as I am watching the final of Celebrity Big Bro! Ihate finales of things... I like getting into routines! Although I was ecstaticto see that Pan Am is returning to BBC2 tomorrow night, so I can reprise that routinenow!

BeforeI was the pyjama-clad couch potato I am right now, I was wearing this:

(Jacket, skirt -Topshop, Hobbs t-shirt - Charity Shop, Russell & Bromley loafers -Charity Shop)

(Glasses - Specsavers 'Jackie')

(Necklace - c/o Me & Zena)

Thisadorable cat ears ring was sent to me by Cheap Frills.My finger is marginally too fat for it so I was going to put it on a necklace,but I did wear it today and my blood circulation was actually fine. So I shallprobably continue to wear it every day. Ever. It's just amazing! And only £7 onthe site!

Right,I'm going to get back to my telly fest now!

Hopeyou guys have a scrumptious weekend! Wrap up warm, UK-ers!

♥

TOTAL FAVE: No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara

2012-01-25T13:47:00.000Z

I got this mascara for christmas with the big No7 beauty box that Alex bought me. I've never tried a No7 mascara before and am actually overwhelmed by this one!

I had been using one of the new Eyeko mascaras for a while and in hindsight can see that it was not good for me at all. It just made my lashes clump up into spikes and was such a mission to remove (literally like glue) that I actually lost a lot of lashes using it.

So I was feeling pretty down about the lash sitch until this little beaut came into my life - No7's Exceptional Definition. I had only seen the mascara as a little bonus to the christmas present (I mainly wanted it for the Protect and Perfect skin creams)! It makes me look like I have SO many lashes. Nice long, thick ones at that!

The brush has many nifty features to it. One side has a long combed brush, and the other has much shorter and closer together 'teeth'. I assume this means one side is for the top lashes and the smaller side is for the bottom lashes. On the end of the brush theres a spiky nobbly bobbly bit (as we call it in the industry) which is perfect for getting the little lashes in the corners of the eye!

Without:

After one application:

After a second application:

I use the classic 'wiggle' mascara technique to separate the lashes, and I am so happy with the end result. Non-clumpy, thick and curvy lashes. Every day.

Boots are doing their £5 off No7 offer at the moment, so if you are pondering what to spend it on, I highly recommend this product*! They're doing 3 for 2 on No7 on the website, too, if you'd rather buy online!

Thank you, No7, for giving me eyelashes again!!

Right, I've said eyelashes so many times it has lost all meaning (don't you just hate that?) so I shall close here!

Have you tried this mascara? What did you think?

* - If you don't have a £5 off No7 voucher, make sure you have a little look near the self service machines in Boots. They get printed off with any receipt over £5 and people just leave them there all the time! A great chance to get a free voucher or pick up some extra ones. Call me skanky, but who's the one rolling in beauty bargains?! ;)

Sleepy Sunday

2012-01-22T21:13:00.001Z

Eurghh, I had an evening nap and now my brain is fried. It always seems like such a good idea at the time! Anyway, it's just as well I'm feeling incoherent as I have basically nothing to report. Oh, I had some lovely steak for dinner, if that counts? Oh actually I do want to rave about my new nail polish, so scroll down for that!

This is what I wore to work yesterday:

(cardi & boots - Topshop, tee & jeans - Primark, cat hair - Roxy)

I bought the infamous OPI Rainbow Connection polish that I featured in this post. Emma told me about this American seller on eBay that sells them for less than a tenner including shipping, so I was all over it! It only took a week to arrive and I am smitten. I am going to redo my nails with it and get some better photos, these were just very quick snaps. It only took about 3 coats to get a pretty much opaque explosion of glitter! It's amazing stuff.

Also, tune in to Channel 4 at 8pm tomorrow if you want to see me on the new series of SuperScrimpers! Some of you may have caught the adverts on telly already... They got me to demonstrate some tips I've featured on the blog in the past, including a whole bunch of nail art stuff which I think will be on tomorrow's show. Let the cringe countdown commence!!

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend!

Review: OPI 'I Juggle... Men!'

2012-01-19T21:31:00.002Z

I was recently sent a sample of this OPI polish by HQhair. I hadn't heard about the website before they contacted me, so I was surprised to see that they offer a lot more than just hair products - eg. skincare, fragrance and nail polish! They also offer free shipping - something that always makes me happy.

So, the nail polish I was sent was 'I Juggle... Men' - an iridescent shimmery polish with blue and pink microglitter in it from last year's Femme de Cirque collection. It's a very subtle polish, and works well as a topcoat as it is so glossy and quick-drying. It was hard to photograph, as the glitter is so tiny, but here's what it looks like, and here's how it looks through the lens of someone with a decent camera!

This was my base colour - Misty Grey by Models Own.

(Not my tidiest manicure ever, I now realise!)

Excuse the strange angles, I was desperately trying to get my cam to pick up the glitter! So, the above images show what 3 coats of the glitter looks like. Be careful to let the layers dry fully before applying the next, as I rushed it a bit and experienced some shrinkage the next day.

I think this polish would be great for people that work in jobs where crazy nail art might not be appropriate, but you want to jazz up a simple manicure subtly. I like my glitter a bit more dramatic, but I will certainly keep using it as a topcoat-with-a-twist because it's amazing for that purpose.

HQhair stock loads of OPI polishes and products, and it's definitely worth bookmarking if you're an OPI fan because the shipping is free worldwide, unlike the £4 charge on the OPI website! This particular product has unfortunately sold out* on the HQhair website, but to make up for it, they have kindly provided us with 10% off all items in the 'Nails' section of the site using the exclusive code 'GEMHQHAIR' (valid until 25/1/12). Enjoy!

Do you have a favourite OPI polish? And do let me know if you buy something nice from HQhair!

* 'I Juggle Men' can be bought here on Amazon for £9.

O&FOTD. Catchy?

2012-01-18T21:18:00.001Z

Today my friend Emily and I went back to University for the first time since July to (very belatedly) collect our work. We were told most of it had been 'destroyed' but luckily all of our stuff was still there. One of my old tutors told me my dissertation was the only First given on my course, and had been double-marked by someone from Central St. Martins, so I was super chuffed! After this, we were then going to go to Rochester Castle, but we opted to save it for a sunny day and head to the bright lights of Bluewater instead!

The 'outfit of the day':

(Hobbs t-shirt and black desert boots: charity shop, jacket and jeggings: H&M, skirt: Topshop)

This was my 'face of the day'. I have been trialling a little pot of Clinique Even Better foundation based on some Twitter recommendations. I am finding it quite a nice change from the matte finish of Estee Lauder Double Wear, but I did get a sample of Clinique's Repairwear foundation today too as anti-ageing is a bit of a concern for me these days! Most depressing sentence OF ALL TIME. Anyway, I am also wearing a little swipe of the Bourjois chocolate bronzer to warm things up a bit. As much as you can when your skin is doing an impression of Casper at all times. Constant Casper. That would be an awesome name for a new brand to rival Nicola Roberts' Dainty Doll range for the pale and interesting! I have finally found my calling!!!

As for my incredibly exciting haul... I bought two hairbrushes in Boots and a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Okay, two. Bank balance: happy. Waistline: constant turmoil, but some things never change! Although I AM pondering buying a Slendertone, so watch this space. Any of you tried it?

That's all, folks! I'm off to organise my wardrobe, wash up and then watch episode 2 of the new series of Sherlock. We've only just got into it but have had a marathon of it for the past week. It is amazing!

Back tomorrow!

<3

Tuesday Tip: Valentines Tea Bags & Sugar!

2012-01-17T20:46:00.002Z

I subscribe to a fantastic DIY blog called Funky Time, and couldn't not share this incredibly cute DIY Sibylle has just posted. As the title suggests, the tutorial is about making little heart shaped teabags. She also goes the extra mile by painting hearts on sugar cubes with food colouring! GENIUS.

I'm all for the little ideas that require a bit of effort and zero funds, so this tutorial is ideal. See the tutorial in all its glory here!

I mean SERIOUSLY, how genius is this idea?! It just makes me think of all the other things you could do with teabags, scissors and thread... I'm thinking cat shaped teabags!

Now I just need to get my boyfriend into drinking tea before Feb 14th (or quickly get a new boyfriend*) and that's my little love token sorted!

Have you got any crafty valentines ideas to share for the financially challenged?

* - jkjk

Caturday

2012-01-14T21:27:00.002Z

Evening, all!

I am braving pneumonia by coming out from under my leopard print throw to type this post! It's SO freezing here in Canterbury!

So, I found out the other day I've been nominated for an award in Company Magazine's style blog awards, along with some of my favourite bloggers! I am beyond excited because Company is my favourite magazine, so to think they've had a peruse of my blog is like a prize in itself! My category is 'Best 'what-I-wore-today' blog', and you can also vote for my blog in the 'Blog I love the most' category. I don't expect to win a thing, but it is just lovely to be involved. Vote for all of your faves here!

Anyway, I decided on a bit of cat-tastic layering today. I don't like wearing high-necked t-shirts on their own these days as they look a bit weird on me, but layering with a collared top seems to make all the difference!

I am wearing my new skater skirt from Topshop. It was only £15 (even less with my discount!) and is just sooo flattering. It creates the impression of a flat tummy and a junky trunk, which is pretty much the silhouette du jour, so I'm all for it. Working in a shop, I do find it funny how women these days ask 'does my bum look big in this?' and want the answer to be yes! Hopefully bingo wings will be the next body trend and I can finally quit this 9-5 lark and become a supermodel!

The t-shirt is from eBay (here's a similar one), layered with my scallop collar Topshop dress. The necklace is Primark and the boots are Topshop.

I've had an okay day. One of those days where you hope to get loooaaads done and end up doing bugger all. Well maybe I'm being too harsh on myself, I did manage to knock a whole pint of squash onto a plug adaptor, hairdryer, phone charger and GHD's this morning! I don't know if any of it has survived yet as I'm too scared to plug any of it in. I also did a 4 hour shift at work and cooked a lovely Lasagne for dinner. Now it's time to send some emails, watch Big Brother and eat jelly babies.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

♥

2 Minute Review: H&M Duo Nail Polish

2012-01-11T11:55:00.000Z

Seeing as I'm away at the minute, I figured doing a video review of this product would be better than faffing about with uploading photos and trying to get the right lighting, etc!

The drying time was great. The polish is really pigmented so two thin coats is all you need for a fast-drying and opaque finish. I had just touched up a chip before filming, hence the smudge ;)

This product isn't available on the H&M Website, which is fine because I wouldn't recommend shopping on it anyway, but it is available in store if you want to try it out for yourself!

Have you tried H&M's Duo Nail Polish? What do you make of it?

my christmas money ish-list!

2012-01-08T11:29:00.000Z

I have been a lucky lady with my christmas money this year, but I seem to be having a little trouble spending it... I'm so used to being a ~~cheapskate~~ bargain-hunter, I've forgotten how to treat myself to more expensive things! I keep getting as far as the checkout on websites and then freaking out and closing the windows!

I'm in no hurry to spend it, so it's fine. I've put it in its own little online savings account so I don't squander it and can treat myself whenever I want over the coming months, which'll be great. But at this point, squandering is the least of my worries when I can't actually bring myself to buy anything!

Here are the main things I'm lusting after... Not quite a wishlist, but an ish-list!

Topshop dress - This has just come into the store I work in and I love the sweetheart neckline and the heart cutout on the back. It's the most flattering shape, too. I might purchase it, but am hoping if I bide my time until the end of the month I can get it with 60% uniform discount!

Longchamps Pliage inspired bag from eBay - I love the Pliage bags, but despite my festive windfall, I don't want to blow £125 on one! So I'm going to be a bit of a skank and just get a fake one on eBay. The leathery bits are all real leather, apparently, so at least that's something!

OPI Rainbow Connection from Just Beautifully - I've seen this polish from the limited edition Muppets collection on blogs and it looks effing fantastic. Magic in a bottle. This is one of the only websites that still has it in stock, so I must get some!

Panther-heel shoes from Urban Outfitters - Quite simply the coolest shoes of all time.

Betsey Johnson inspired bulldog ring from eBay - Yep it's another designer fake, but it's so bloomin' cute and it's sold out on BJ's website now!

Monki leggings - I am strangely attracted to these leggings after I saw Misha B wearing them on X Factor!

F-Troupe boots - I only heard of this brand recently after I was filming with channel 4 right next door to their shop in London. Their shoes are completely gorgeous and I just know these handcrafted beauties would be a lifetime investment! The only thing slightly putting me off is whether tassels would go with everything I'd want to wear the boots with... Maybe I could remove them?

House of Holland bone-print dress from ASOS - I know I'd probably tire of this print quickly, but I am so loving all of the House of Holland bone print stuff on ASOS at the minute! I probably won't buy this, but it was worth a mention.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light - I want a new foundation as my Double Wear has pretty much run out. I found DW a bit too cakey for me, so am currently trialling a sample of the Light version (Remember my Tuesday Tip on this?). I'm not entirely convinced it's a full enough coverage for me but it is pretty damn good so I'm undecided at the moment!

Well there's the items I'm umm-ing and ahh-ing over! Most of it isn't even expensive, but I have some sort of barrier up when it comes to spending money on anything less that total bargains and bills..! I think I'm getting there, though.

What are you planning to spend your christmas money on? Anyone else know what I'm on about with this fear of spending money?!

Seaside Saturday

2012-01-07T20:29:00.000Z

We had our friends Dan and Danielle over from Brighton last night and we decided to show them the delights of Whitstable today. Here's a few snaps of what went on...

Danielle in the car, Instagramming away!

Charity shopping! All I bought was an umbrella for £1, but it's a bloody good one. A nice dome shaped one that won't turn inside out if you merely breathe near it like all my others!

Yeah. I don't really know what this insane furry-hatted mannequin was about, but someone had painstakingly decoupaged every crevice with fashion mag clippings...

All of this crazy could be yours for £75!

We found an ACTUAL Mcdonald's 'M' in an antique shop!

Loved these cushions!

This incredible Polar Bear shelf unit was found in Found (ho ho!), a very quirky home store.

Loved this card in Alex's favourite book shop, Harbour Books.

There was more canine cuteness to be found, when these sausage dogs entered Frank while we were browsing!

We went to the amazing Wetherspoons (words not often strung together, but this one is summin else!) which used to be a cinema.

Me looking a tad bedraggled from the sea breeze!

Dani and I!

Today's outfit. Cardi - Topshop, Dress - c/o Motel, Boots - Charity shop.

Our buds have gone back to Brighton now and the rest of my night will mostly consist of watching Take Me Out, Celebrity Big Brother and then trying to claw back a few brain cells by reading How to be a Woman later on. Oh, and I shall also be addressing the mountain of washing up left over from our home made Spag Bol last night. This is what Saturday nights were made for!!

On another note, I was wondering if anyone has any requests for future posts? I'm planning to do more Youtube and DIY's this year, but if there was anything specific anyone would be interested in reading/seeing, do share!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

against the grain

2012-01-05T21:09:00.000Z

You know when you take a photo and you think the quality looks fine on the camera display and then you upload to your laptop and are just like 'WTF/how did this happen?/my boyf is such a crap photographer :('?

Well, that happened. But let's pretend I was going for a grainy Instagram effect because I am trés hip and current.

The blouse is by Motel's vintage line which seems to have been discontinued online. I got it in the sale at work with some of my christmas money. I also bought the Primark skinnies the other day for £9 and they are amazing. So comfy, a lovely wash and with built in muffin-top eradication technology (read: high rise)! The court shoes were a charity shop find from Bexhill the other week. I have an addiction to pointy shoes with a very small heel at the moment. More glam than flats, less ouchy than heels.

I've had a few days off work, which has been great. I've been working on side projects, applying for a job or two, staying in my pyjamas for an uncomfortable amount of time and reading books. I just got through this self help book which I found in an Oxfam book shop in Aberdeen. It was sort of a joke buy but has been surprisingly helpful! It has really changed my outlook and given me the motivation I need to sort out the aspects of my life I'm not happy with. So I've decided to go ahead and book that sex change. You will now find my blog at JimFatale.co.uk! Joke! But I do recommend it if you're feeling stuck in a rut and want a new way of thinking.. I'm now onto How to be a Woman, by Caitlin Moran. Jen and Sarah say it's amazeballs, and after only a couple of chapters, I'm in total agreement.

I'll hush now and let you get back to reading blogs with owners that know how to use autofocus, and perhaps even fancy lenses. I'm not entirely crap, though. You may notice I have given the blog a semi makeover! It is the Blogger 'Simple' template, but it's a start...

Festive Frolicks in Pics

2012-01-01T20:27:00.001Z

Happy New Year, one and all!

I thought I'd update y'all with my what I've been up to and blog some of the pictures I've been snapping since christmas day!

Mine and Alex's prezzies under the tree on christmas morning! We spent christmas as just the two of us, which as lovely :)

Us in our chunky charity shop knits.

Me modelling the adorable cat slippers Alex bought me from Topshop! Trés Charlotte Olympia!

Alex also bought me the epic No7 box set for christmas! I am LOVING it! Other prezzies included some clothes, a diary, renewal of my URL, new PJ's, some great books and christmas money! Not all from Alex, I hasten to add!

My festive feast schedule!

The feast in action! And my jumper making me look about thrice my original size...

We went to visit some friends and exchange presents. This is what I wore. My hair decided to stand up on end for some reason so I decided to roll with it!

The amazeballs boots Alex got me from a charity shop for christmas!

Our evening was spent swigging beer and Amaretto respectively...

... and dancing to Michael Jackson on the Wii game Alex's parents got me for christmas! It is amazing, but I am officially CRAP at dancing... There is video evidence but I don't want to ruin 2012 for you before it's even really started. We also watched a film called Moneyball, which was amazing!

Then we went to my mum's for a couple of days. Boxing Day afternoon was spent largely in the pub, with me being plied with alcohol by mum's pub pals and getting trollied by about 6pm. We then went home and ended up watching Dirty Dancing, where I proved once more my lack of dancing abilities as I tried to join in, much to the amusement of my mum, sister and boyf!

My bro playing DJ in the pub...

What I wore yesterday. Picture taken in the staff room at work!

Oh mirror-shots, how retro! Shirt - new from Motel Vintage at work, Jacket - H&M, Boots - Topshop, Glasses - Gok Wan for Specsavers. Lanyard - model's own.

New Year's Eve dinner - steak, garlic mushrooms and chippies! We had a nice chilled night, watching Crazy Stupid Love (AMAZING film!), drinking more Amaretto and doing yet more Michael Jacko dancing.. I'm pleased to say I achieved 2 out of a possible 5 stars this time round!

Today's outfit: tee - H&M, skirt and hat - Topshop

Today was spent working in a VERY quiet Topshop, falling asleep when I got home and now watching Harry Potter on telly!

Right, I think we're officially up to date!

So, I'm looking forward to getting back to regular posting now my shifts at work have calmed down a bit. I'm looking forward to lots of things in general, actually. Very psyched for 2012!

Hope you all had an exquisite festive period?! Can't wait to catch up on everyone's blog posts!

Colour B4 Review

2011-12-28T22:01:00.000Z

I was recently wowed by the wonders of Colour B4, a DIY hair dye remover retailing at £12.25. My friend Stevie at work had dyed her gorgeous ginger locks brown and then had a change of heart. With the help of Colour B4, she was able to get back to her natural colour easily, without having to bleach or grow the colour out.

I am happy as a brunette (my natural colour is dark blonde), but am also a curious Gemini, so when Colour B4 contacted me to see if I'd like to try it out, I thought 'why the heck not'.

I mixed up the necessary bits and bobs, just like a normal hair dye and applied it, wrapping my hair in cling film after (as recommended by some people online). Cold air stops the product working so well (the instructions even state not to apply it in a cold room!) so cling film and central heating were a must! By the way, this stuff reeks of rotten eggs, and your hair will have this subtle stench for a short while after using!

The process is a tad laborious for anyone as impatient as me, as once the allotted 20 minutes is up, you have to rinse the hair for 10 minutes - without fail - to get the old dye pigments out of the hair. Snooooze. On the plus side, you can use it thrice in one sitting depending on the end result you want to achieve.

Let's remind ourselves of my hair 'B4'! Black with brown roots. Yum.

And this was it after using Colour B4. A browny red colour, still with brown roots funnily enough.

So did it work for me?

Well, not as such. I had naively assumed that it would strip my hair back to my natural dark blonde colour, not leave me with red hair. It definitely did lighten the hair, but it was nowhere near the colour I was 'B4' I started dyeing my hair black. But this product was up against years and years of black hair dying, so the fact it did anything is remarkable in it's own way. I have since seen on the product information on Boots' website that although it isn't printed in the instructions, the directions have been updated to suggest you leave the extra strength formula on your hair for an hour per sitting, not 20 minutes. I imagine this would've made a lot more of a difference to the end result and should I try it again, this is definitely something I'll be doing. Slightly annoying that it wasn't in the instructions when I used it, really!

To conclude: I think it's definitely worth using if you've had a hair dye mishap like Stevie, but be prepared for a longer ride if you're stripping out built-up hair dye.

After all this, I decided to embrace red hair for a while so I bought a lovely dye from Boots to even out the colour and bunged it on, forgetting about my un-dyed roots... I ended up with dark red ends and fluorescent orange roots. NOT good. Seeing as my staff party was that night, I thought 'eff this' and dyed my hair dark brown.

All in all, a bit of an ordeal really, but mostly due to my own idiocy!

Have any of you tried this stuff out? What did you think?

♥

Christmas EEEve!!

2011-12-24T22:13:00.000Z

So anyway, it turns out that being a decent blogger and working in retail at christmas is a mega contradiction! But rather than stress myself out about the posts I didn't get round to blogging on-schedule, let's try to remember what this holiday is really all about: presents and food! Oh, and dressing festively for work!

Poundland had sold out of antlers, so my seasonal sartorial effort consisted mainly of stealing some holly tinsel from the tree, donning it as a belt, and then having my work pals spray glitter on my bonce!

(Dress - H&M, Cardi - Charity shop)

You can't really see 'em but I wore my new black desert boots I found in a charity shop yesterday! They were £7.99, which nearly made me vom in my mouth (Anything over £5 in a charity shop angers me), but I had been looking at pairs on eBay for like £10, so I got over it.

Sooo, what are you lot up to for crimbz tomorrow?! Alex and I are having a cosy christmas for two and then heading to my mum's tomorrow for a couple of days. I'm mega excited but am sliiightly nervous about all the cooking and that. Wish me luck!

Hope you all have a totally amazing day!

xxx

PS - Is it wrong that I am kinda excited for christmas to be over so I can raid Boots' half price gift sale on Boxing Day..?!

Creative Crimbo: Gift wrap ideas!

2011-12-18T19:09:00.003Z

As I'm on a surprise excursion to Scotland, I am ridiculously behind on my festive postings! I thought I'd cheat a little tonight and post some little gift-wrap ideas from the DIY book I made as part of my Final Major Project at Uni:

(I am aware there is a typo on this last page, but don't have time to edit as I'm running late for dinner!)

Other ideas:

♥ Wrap pressies with layers of different designed paper (or layers of coloured tissue paper) and pop little sweets or small gifts in between each layer - a la pass the parcel!

♥ Instead of using normal gift tags, search websites like Pinterest to find amazing printable ones to give your gift more of a unique touch!

Anyone else got any cute and easy gift wrap tips or links to share?

And is anyone else finding the proximity of christmas absolutely terrifying? SO much I still need to do/blog/bake and no time to do any of it! Aaarrghh! Here's to the last night in the snowy wonderland of Aberdeen before it's back to madness tomorrow...

♥

What I've been up to:

2011-12-12T22:34:00.002Z

Taking very rushed outfit photos in the mornings before work. The 'why must you blink every time I press the shutter down?' 8am showdown just doesn't get old. Oh wait, it does!

(Dress - Topshop, Jumper and Shoes - charity shop)

(Dress - New Look sale, cardi - charity shop)

(Clarks loafers - charity shop, Frostbitten Ankles - model's own... definitely too cold to have anything exposed at the mo!)

Spending the weekend by the sea, visiting friends, family and charity shops. I painted my nails using Models Own Peacock Green on the train there. It's beautiful and has barely chipped after 4 days wear and NO topcoat! My phone's cam didn't really capture the shimmer, but luckily Google has better pictures of it.

My outfit for our very cold mooch round the charity shops on Saturday:

(Jumper - c/o Tesco, Dress - H&M)

Sunday morning wanderings round Brighton with our pals:

It's a pineapple shaped flask and cup set!!

Danielle snooping out a bargain...

We met this chilly little chappy! Aww, he melted my heart. Can anyone tell me what breed this guy is? I want one.

Beyond Retro. Literally.

As if this boy needs ANY MORE damn t-shirts. A new one arrives in the post almost every week! Usually with Morrissey's face on it. Should I be worried?

A visit to Bill's to scope out the ~~bloody overpriced~~ lovingly handmade culinary delights...

Then it was home time, where we had to catch 2 trains and a replacement bus to get home. It took over 3 hours! To cheer ourselves up, we put all of our christmas decorations up in the lounge :D

Cute DIY tin lanterns are all around!

Our adorable russian doll-style festive friends from the Paperchase sale in January!

In other news, I've been working heaps but am looking forward to our trip to Aberdeen on Thursday (home on Monday night). Going to try and keep on top of blogging while I'm there as I have so many cool tips to share but cannot for the life of me find the time to photograph and blog them at the minute!

Ooh, and while I'm here, I must tell you about the insane deal on in Boots at the moment which I've asked Alex to buy me for christmas. You get ALL THIS No7 gear for £30. I reviewed the face creams on the blog before and haven't been able to afford to buy any more. The day and night cream are over £20 each as it is, so to get all this stuff for £30 is too good to pass up! Totally eyeing this one up for mum's christmas prezzie, too!

Speak soon, meine lieblings!

Everything sounds cooler 'en Francais'

2011-12-06T21:39:00.001Z

I was scoping out Nylon's blog the other day and saw a post they did about these amazing t-shirts from Colette (an uber cool Parisian concept store)! They're made by a company called Le Musique, and feature popular song titles, translated into French and lovingly bunged on a t-shirt.

I made a little graphic of them, mainly as an excuse to use some of the free textures I downloaded from Pugly Pixel. It is a truly incredible blog for anyone that likes to get creative and have fun with layouts. (Says the only blogger still using a Blogger template layout... I'll get there in my own time!)

They cost about £35 each, which is cheap by Colette's standards (Karl Lagerfeld was having a casual browse last time I was there!) but I am tempted to get my Sharpie fabric pen out and DIY! I would have to be having a good handwriting day, and would have to approach Google's translate function with caution (aka. go ask a french human), but it's definitely on the to-do!

PS - Christmas craft/gift tips are on the way, but my hectic schedule means they won't be posted solely on Tuesdays. I figured let's let some other days of the week get in on the DIY action for once. And if you ask me, Tuesdays were letting the attention go to their heads a bit!

Topshop Nail Art Pens ♥

2011-12-06T10:20:00.001Z

The title of this post pretty much sums up my review of the newly launched Topshop Nail Art Pens - they are incredible! I am the makeup specialist at the Canterbury store and have been waiting for months for these to come in stock and they are finally here. They are available in pink, blue, silver, white and (as of today) black, and are priced at £6.50. I bought the pink one to try out over the weekend, and it's safe to say I shall be asking santa for the whole collection!

Unlike regular nail art pens, they are built like an actual pen, with a pointy tip which you pump once or twice on a surface to get the product to flow. This precision tip and the skinny build of these pens makes them so incredibly easy to use. The first manicure I gave myself with them was a Mr Messy style scribble on every nail because I love the way you can easily scribble and doodle like you would with a pen! Another plus is that the paint doesn't smudge at all when you put a topcoat on!

My only slight concern is how well these will last, as the amount of paint left on the nib makes me think it will dry out or block up quite quickly. This is only hypothetical, and certainly for now this product is blowing my mind!

I've recorded a short demo video so you can see the product in action, and below are some pictures of a quick mix-and-match design I've created this morning.

My base colour is from the new beauty range from Look Magazine, 'Look Beauty'. It's called Flamingo and is a gorgeous peachy colour (a bit more toned down than these photos, taken with a flash). The Look Beauty range should be available in Superdrug very soon!

As I explain in the video, regular nail art pens have a metal nib which you have to squeeze product out of, which can detract from drawing shapes and patterns wobble-free. Also, the metal nibs tend to scratch through the design as you draw it, so you end up having to go over it again, which makes it harder to get a nice smooth finish.

I've demonstrated the Topshop Pen versus my beloved Wah Nails pen below:

I think my Wah Nails pen will always be my go-to for leopard print, but for more intricate designs, my heart has been stolen by these Topshop Pens... I just feel like I can do SO MUCH MORE now! You can see my first ever attempt at a bit of aztec above on my little nail! I want to get a white one next and see if I can draw some little anchors, as with the metal nibbed nail pens, mine always go horribly lumpy and gross.

If you like nail art, or want an easy way to get into it, you need to get these on your christmas list.

Tuesday Tip: DIY Pom Pom Wreath!

2011-11-29T21:40:00.001Z

I've seen a few different pom pom wreaths around the interweb before and decided to have a go at making my own festive variation, whilst (true to form) cutting as many corners as possible. I give you: THE EASIEST POM POM WREATH EVER MADE.

So for this uber easy take on a festive pom pom wreath, you will need: wool, scissors and a wire hanger. That's all!

- Choose the colours you want your pom poms to be (I bought green, red and cream from C&H Fabrics at about £1.50 each)

- Make pom poms! You can make them all one colour or mixed. Both of my techniques are explained in this tutorial I filmed earlier. It was a bit rushed as I wanted to get this post up before midnight, so if I'm unclear, do ask questions! The best thing to do is probably use my tutorial as a template and work out your own technique as you go along.

- Once you have made about 20, carefully untwist a wire hanger (use pliers or a boyfriend if you're struggling), bend it into a circle (I trod on mine a bit to make the corners round) and then thread the pom poms on in whichever sequence you want.

- Twist the top of the hanger back up and cover up the fugliness by wrapping some wool tightly around it. You could also use ribbon. And maybe tie a bow! Ooh I've just decided I am going to do that to mine in a bit! Because I'd wrapped the wool round the hook quite tightly, I found I didn't need to tie it off or glue it once I'd finished wrapping the hanger.

- You could also add some tinsel, bows, festive beads or LED lights (Poundland are full of them) if you fancied.

- Hang it on your door, or alternatively on a wall or in a window if, like me, you live in a city densely populated by moronic youths who would probably steal a fantastic pom pom wreath without a second thought, 'just for lolz'.

I hope you've enjoyed this christmas idea! It really is so easy to do and has quite a magical end result. You'd never know it used to be a crappy old hanger!

More tips coming up - gift ideas and gift wrap will be hot topics!

Mistletoe kisses!

Saturday's style

2011-11-27T13:42:00.000Z

Oh how I love having weekends off! Yesterday was spent wandering round town with Alex, buying my few pieces of uniform from Topshop, eating some Tomato soup and having an afternoon nap.

Here's what I wore - special mention going to the black dress which was £9.99 in H&M. It doesn't really show up on the camera, but it is so very cute. See it here on the website, where it's only £7.99 at the mo!

(Belt: Primark, Leggings: H&M, Jacket, Shoes and Cardi: Charity shop)

The night was a different story altogether, as I had arranged a night out with my Topshop buddies to initiate the new staff. It was a roaring success and we drank, giggled and gossiped until the early hours. It was SUCH a fun night that I didn't take a single picture! Although, having checked my twitter profile this morning, I do now have some visual proof of the night I had... (Read from the bottom upwards!)

The shame!!! Oh well, I don't get tipsy often so one night of ridiculous tweeting should be allowed. It is my work christmas do on Saturday, though, so there *may* be a repeat performance...

Today has been spent sitting in my pyjamas, eating more soup (addicted at the moment!) and catching up on the X Factor. Loving Amelia Lily and Little Mix! I also must try out some of the beauty products I've been sent lately too so I can tell you all what's hot and what's not... On that note it's probably time to get dressed and crack on with some reviewing!

Have you had a nice weekend? And is anyone else enjoying the X Factor this year? I sometimes feel like I'm the only one round here!

Innocent Giveaway!

2011-11-22T22:51:00.001Z

I was contacted by Innocent Drinks recently, who asked me if I wanted to design my own woolly hat as part of their Big Knit Campaign. Have you seen those Innocent bottles in the shops that wear little hats? Well it's not done purely for cuteness, it's all part of Innocent's Big Knit, which raises money for Age UK, a charity aimed at improving the quality of life for the elderly. Most of the little hats you see on the bottles in shops are indeed knitted and sent in to Innocent by the elderly themselves - no mass production here! 25p from each bottle sold goes straight to the charity.

So, I racked my brains for what I think the coolest hat design could be... And, me being me, I was inspired by a very special lady in my life...

[The exclusive design sketch, created by my slightly drunk boyfriend and I! Is it that obvious I failed my Art GCSE?]

And this is the life-sized masterpiece my Innocent knitter created for me! I love it!

I wanted to share the cat hat joy with you guys so I'm giving away a little bottle-topping cat hat (below), some yummy innocent smoothies and - to keep in with the fruity theme - a Rimmel fruit scented nail polish (Cranberry flavour!)

So, to enter, simply comment on this here blog post!

For an extra entry, post a tweet that includes the link to this post, an '@gemfatale' and an '@innocentdrinks'. Make sure you comment separately to let me know you've done this so it counts as an extra entry when I randomly generate the winner.

I'll be choosing the winner of this very cute prize on Monday morning, so you have until I get out of bed to enter. Usually 7-ish, sadly for me!

Good luck :)

xo

Tuesday Tip Digest!

2011-11-22T21:21:00.001Z

Hello Darjeelings!

Sorry for the absence, I've had some stuff going on in the real world and haven't felt in the right frame of mind to be wittering on about clothes.

Anyway, after a witter-free week, I'm back in action with a couple of tips to share from the blogosphere that I haven't had time to try just yet, but are definitely on the to-do list!

First up, this ridiculously useful idea from A Thrifty Mrs on how to organise your nail polish collection. My nail polishes are all in a floral storage box my mum got me. It's gorgeous but I have to pull every polish out individually to find the colour I want to use. Doesn't help that 80% of my collection is Models Own, which is utterly birds-eye-view-proof!

(Images from A Thrifty Mrs)

As you can see, the trick is to apply a dot of the polish onto a sticker and - once dry - pop it on top of the corresponding bottle! Genius!

The next tip is less everyday, but just so astoundingly cute nevertheless. I've been yearning for these Charlotte Olympia kitty flats for a while, so I was ecstatic to find this DIY tutorial on Pop Tart, which was a guest post from Kate of Scathingly Brilliant.

(Images from Pop Tart)

Buy flats. Sew on the cats. Best idea ever, or what? You know I hate sewing machines (hence the zillion no-sew tips on this blog!) but I think even I can muster up a bit of hand-sewing for such a cute end result!

Well, that's what's been inspiring me lately - have you seen or done any cute DIY's lately?

PS - More festive tips are on the way...

Tuesday Tip: DIY Mini Advent Calendar

2011-11-15T19:46:00.001Z

This ADORABLE festive craft project was inspired by these little chewing gum advent calendars I've seen around. Turns out it's a beyotch trying to get blister packs of gum in Canterbury so I had a little brainwave and decided that those yummy Bassets jelly vitamins would be an equally cute - and healthier - alternative to blister-pack gum. I bought some of their Vitamin C jellies - suitable for all ages - to help the boyfriend (my guinea pig for this tip) stave off ~~man flu~~ winter colds.

Here's how it's done:

- Chop the bottom row of sweets off so you have 24 in total

- Place one sheet of sweets at the top of the box and chop off the surplus section of box - keep the very bottom of the box to tape back on!

- Tape the bottom of the box back on and DECORATE!! You can cover it in festive wrapping paper, or if you're feeling creative, personalise the design a bit more.

Using a Poundland card-making set, I made a christmas tree with glittery decorations and festive bunting on the other side! If you're crap at cutting shapes symmetrically, don't forget the old paper-folding trick!

- Time for the best bit! Decorate the sweetie side with little festive drawings/sparkly confetti/anything you like, I'm not the boss of you! Draw numbers 1-24 on the back! You can do it sequentially or randomly to make it more fun.

And you're done! It's one of those projects you can really make your own. You can do it in an hour or you can make a whole night of it, like I did last night! It's perfect for boyfriends, friends, children, and is a really cute project to add some fun to the festive countdown!

Personalising your christmas will be a big theme on this blog over the next few weeks so do check back! :)

Do you have any cute christmas projects you want to try?

Let me know what you thought of this idea!

Weekend in Pictures (and Words)

2011-11-13T21:16:00.001Z

I went home this weekend to hang out with the family in Bexhill. I didn't take many photos as a lot of my time was spent loafing about, which doesn't make for a particularly interesting image. Here are the ones I did take...

Alex & I hit the charity shops (just for a change). This was a rather odd teddy mannequin in a charity shop! (My charity shop haul is further down this post! I didn't buy the bear...)

We went to Rye bonfire with my mum and sister that night. I'm not sure how popular bonfire society's are around the country, but they are a pretty big deal in East Sussex. Once a year, each town's bonfire society form part of a huge procession that goes all around the town with torches, banging drums! It's pretty scary stuff!

The procession eventually makes its way to a huge pile of wood, where they all chuck their torches onto it and light the bonfire. Shortly after that, an epic fireworks display takes place!

The fireworks were absolutely amazing. They made up for bonfire night (our anniversary), when we were such cheapskates that we decided to park 'near' the Canterbury fireworks rather than pay the £7 entry charge to watch them. Turns out our parking space was about a mile away and the fireworks were a dot on the horizon. With an annoying sound delay. All that's forgotten now we've seen these bad boys up close!

We were staying in Alex's parents' flat in Bexhill (they are up at their other house in Scotland at the moment) and were awoken by a remembrance sunday procession going by this morning.

Alex filmed it to show his parents.. This shot hides the fact he was on the balcony in his boxers!

Me and the procession! The sun was in my face so I was pulling a bit of a fugly squint face.

We met with mum to take the dogs for a stroll and checked out the newly revamped Collonade, which now houses a load of adorable shops.

(hat - Topshop, boots - Topshop, jeggings - H&M dress - c/o Lazy Oaf, jacket - charity shop)

I really liked some of these prints:

Aww, retro bicycle accessories! If only the idea of riding a bike wasn't so totally terrifying, I'd be bang on this.

On the train home, fighting boredom! Looks like I have several spare tyres thanks to the creasing of my t-shirt!

Decided the solution to the boredom-fight was to photograph my charity shop haul then and there on the train! They were all shoes so it was easy.

Cute almost-flat courts. My black velvet M&S ones broke recently, so have been looking for some new ones! £2.75.

OMFG, fugly chunky trainers! Originally from Primark, weirdly! £3.50 (the only time you'll find my buying Primark in a charity shop - it usually enrages me!)

Burgundy Clarks loafers! £3.99. I know these will make a killing on eBay, but they fit me like a glove and I don't really have any loafers, so think these will be a good addition to the shoedrobe.

Et voila!

Did you have a good weekend?

Thanks for the tweets and comments on the last post - glad you enjoyed the deals and I'm sorry for any part I have played in any bankruptcies out there!

Off to catch up on Derren Brown now!

Big Deal

2011-11-10T22:48:00.001Z

I'm a bit of a sucker for signing up to money-saving emails... my Vouchercodes and Groupon emails are pretty much the highlight of my morning. Recently, I received an email about this new members-only website called Free to be Supreme. You need to register your email to use the website, and by selecting what types of shops you like to buy from (designer, high street, boutique etc), you will gain access to exclusive deals and promotions from relevant brands and websites. Each week they'll send you an email of the best deals tailored to your shopping needs.

Scoping out the deals for my needs ('piss poor' wasn't an option so I opted for high street...), I found two amazing things. Firstly, I found out that the amazingly cool store, JOY are offering 25% off of selected items at the minute. Secondly, I found that this promotion included a whole bunch of gorgeous numbers by mega cute brand, Louche, which is exclusively available on the JOY site.

Rather than upload a bunch of photos of the amazing discounted Louche dresses, I made a little picture of my favourites because I'm a Call of Duty widow at the minute so have lots of extra time on my hands during evenings that would've once been consumed with TV and cuddling. Sigh. I guess my loss is your gain!

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight

PHWOAR. I really fancy dress number 7 to get me through the festive party season. Even though I have as yet only been invited to one party. The work do. I'm sure things will pick up..! All the dresses are on average £45, making them about £34 with the promotion!

Here are some fashiony deals from VoucherCodes that may also be of interest!

20% off all New Look orders using NLXMASAFF2

(Excludes sale items, expires tomorrow)

20% off Matalan orders using earlyxmas

(Expires 16th November)

20% off one transaction at Dorothy Perkins using DPWINTER20

(Expires tomorrow)

20% off at A|Wear using AWEAR20

(Expires tomorrow)

10% off Urban Outfitters using UO10

(Expires January, woop!)

25% off one item online at H&M using 9437

(Expires tomorrow)

20% off full price items at Figleaves using TWENTY

(Expires tomorrow)

And an awesome Groupon which has been re-listed after it sold out the other day: 52% off a 100ml bottle of one of my favourite perfumes, Vera Wang Rock Princess for £29.99! Bargain!

Do any of you know of any other cool offers on at the moment?

I'm off to meet a buddy now for coffee and charity shopping and then am potentially going to Rye Bonfire! I have been wanting to see some fireworks up close for ages, so I can't wait!

Hope you're having a fun weekend where'er ye be!

*Not a sponsored post, just sharing the bargain love!*

Tuesday Tip: Bye bye, hair dye!

2011-11-08T21:40:00.001Z

Evening all!

Before I start unleashing all of my festive Tuesday Tips on you all (starting next week!) I had to share this incredible tip that Zoe told me about the other day. If only I'd known about this years ago, it would've saved a LOT of friction between mother and I. I will be handing this tip down to my little sister to save her the grief!

Without further a(hair)do! Ho ho...

---

Hey Gem Fatale readers!

I’m Zoe and I normally blog over at http://thelondonlipgloss.blogspot.com. I’m not only a big fan of Gem herself but have been reading Gem Fatale for ages – so am well honoured to be on her blog today! Thanks Gem!

Now, let’s talk Tuesday Tips.

I have a serial hair dying problem. I’ve been every colour since I was about 12. I’m not even joking, green, blue, red, yellow, white – you name it, I’ve been it. This is all well and good for my general street cred but often wreaks havoc with my surroundings. Why? I’m blind as a bat. I find that the easiest way to dye my hair is to take my glasses off and pop them on the side before dying – as my glasses are 1. My lifeline and 2. Quite expensive! Now you can only begin to imagine what happens once I’ve taken my glasses off! I once found myself (whilst living in my rented flat) wanting to dye my hair a particular shade of Katy Perry Pink. So I trotted off down to Camden and bought the bright pink I wanted before taking it back home ready to commence transformation. I went into the bedroom, popped my glasses on the side, slipped the gloves on and went dye crazy! 20 minutes later I looked in the mirror and my hair was turning an incredible shade of bright pink – wicked! I sat down thinking everything was fine and waited for the dye to finish taking. I went to the bathroom and washed my hair out, looked in the mirror and grinned – ace! My hair was awesome! And all for under a fiver. I popped my glasses back on and went into my bedroom only to discover the horror that I had completely destroyed my carpet with pink dye. Full on horror. It was everywhere as well, on the mirror, on the floor, on the cupboards – it had completely gone everywhere.

What do you do in situations like this? Scream? Cry? I contemplated attempting to dye the rest of the carpet pink to cover it up – shush Zoe, I couldn’t do that, it was a rented flat. I tried everything, seriously. I tried bleach, carpet stain remover, all sorts of lotions and potions that I could get my hands on.

Two days later and still the dye was on my carpet, right in the middle of the bedroom. I was expecting imminent death by either boyfriend or landlord anytime soon so had sorta given up and then it totally hit me. I’d always been told by hairdressers after dying my hair with bright dye not to hairspray it too much, as the particles that are in the hairspray that are designed to keep the hair in place cling on to the dye and strip them quicker than they would with normal hair. Even worse because pink is a semi-permanent colour and won’t stay put for more than week vividly anyway. I knew that hairspray was a total no no on my dyed hair, having dyed it bright colours for so many years. I had a bit of a brainwave and dashed off to Tesco to grab a super cheap big bottle of hairspray.

^ Don’t use a nice bottle like this though!

I got home and sprayed loads of the stuff all over the carpet, let it take for a minute and then scrubbed like crazy with a normal kitchen scourer. Guess what? It came clean out! The dye worked on the carpet the same way as dye works on hair and it just lifted the colour out! I had to scrub it pretty hard, lets be honest – you gotta put some welly in! But it just goes to show that cheap n cheerful hairspray does have a use after all! (Unless you’re a really big fan of dodgy 80’s hair)

Hope this helps some of you! Zozo xxx

Tweet me with any tips and comments on this article @londonlipgloss

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LOVE IT!!! Thanks Zoe :)

What do you think of Zoe's tip? If anyone else has any bright ideas they'd like to share, feel free to DM or email me!

Lipstick Love: Lime Crime

2011-11-05T19:35:00.002Z

I was sent my first ever piece of Lime Crime makeup recently, after teaming up with the brand on my style competition. I was sent the Retrofuturist lipstick, which is available at Space NK for £15. It looks like shipping may be free for a limited time only using the code 'WELCOME'.

My jaw was on the floor as I opened the box to see the BEST lipstick packaging I've ever seen. Glittery Unicorns. Need I say more?!

The formula felt really moisturising and had a sheeny finish. It took a couple of 'coats' to look really bold but I was so happy with the colour - a really juicy bright red. I put it through its paces during a day at work and the findings were great. Because it's not matte, it doesn't dry the lips out, so I didn't get any skanky lip goo (™!) as is so common with many lipsticks. I reapplied a couple of times throughout the day to keep it looking fresh and bright, but this was out of choice rather than necessity.

My painted pout:

Overall, I am extremely happy with this lipstick. I carried it in my pocket all day when I wore it, and whenever anyone asked what lipstick I was wearing, I immediately whipped it out to show the amazing packaging off.

It is pricey, and in my opinion the formula isn't vastly different to my Models Own Scarlett lipstick, but unlike many other high end beauty labels, Lime Crime give you your money's worth with their incredible packaging.

Bottom line: Glittery. Unicorns.

Have you tried Lime Crime products before? What did you think?

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain

2011-11-03T21:37:00.000Z

On this rainy, rainy Thursday, I decided to wear my charity shop Per Una blazer to work. I haven't worn it in ages as it always looks a bit crap in my mind, but I forget how well it fits me. Today's look received such ~~compliments~~ remarks from colleagues as 'very professional' and 'very authoritarian' - not sure what to make of those, but I for one enjoyed the androgyny of it all!

Tee - H&M, Leigh Jeans - Topshop, Socks - New Look, Brogues - Charity Shop, Glasses - Gok Wan for Specsavers

Roxy chilling out in her cat kennel + the conifer getting a *much needed* water!

Work was funny today. I was helping a lovely little old lady called Rita find a specific fluffy white jumper and after she bought it she came and gave me a big hug and kiss, haha! My retail stopgap definitely has its ups and downs (especially today!) but lovely customers do help make it worth the stress. The other day I was helping this gorgeous girl who played saxophone on a cruise ship (best job ever?!) find a good 'make-the-ex-regret-losing-me' outfit for a night out. Then there's the amazing teeny tiny chihuahua, Coco, whose poor owner (whose name I don't know!) has to put up with me baby-talking and fussing over it every time she comes in! I go to mush when there's a cute animal nearby!

Another long day at work tomorrow but on Saturday its mine and Alex's SIXTH anniversary! Eeeeep! Not sure what we're going to get up to yet as I do have a short shift to work in the afternoon, but I think there will be fine cuisine and fireworks involved in the evening!

I'm off to eat cookies, whinge to Alex about my AGONISING RIB and watch Educating Essex.

<3

PS - ASOS are doing a cracking deal on the new Models Own nail varnishes I blogged about! x

What I wore/bought today

2011-11-02T21:59:00.001Z

I went to the doc's this morning because I have a majorly painful rib situation. Appaz I've coughed so much lately that I've pulled some muscles and now it's to breathe, lol, sneeze and cough :( The doctor did give me some painkillers but they haven't really helped. Oh well. Here's to not breathing or lol-ing for the foreseeable future!

It was my day off today so we went for a mooch around town. This is an outtake from the outfit shoot in the garden, which ended up being the best shot because my boyfriend seems to get a sick thrill out of taking photos when and only when I'm blinking/moving/arranging fringe.

I wore my moustache cross stitch badge sent to me by Magasin as Movember is finally here!

Hat - Topshop, Jacket - H&M, Dress - Primark, Jeggings - H&M, Bag - a gift from Ella Masters :)

The eagle eyed among you may notice I'm wearing odd shoes (one of these, one of these). I had slipped on one of my brogues to scrape some post-pompom wool snippets off the carpet as they have good grip (couldn't be bothered to get the hoover out). Somehow I forgot this and my odd feet went unnoticed until I was taking a close up shoe shot once Alex had left to go out. Facepalm. There's a little insight into my lazy lifestyle!

Mini haul:

Socks from New Look - 3 for £4 - what a bargain!

My first ever bronzer, by Bourjois, as recommended to me by some Twitter followers! First impressions: Matte, a lovely natural shade and smells divine! £6.99 isn't too bad when you take those factors into account.

I spent the rest of my day trying out new and festive Tuesday Tips. Can't wait to share them with you all. Really want to get back to doing weekly tips but it's so hard when I'm working 5-6 days a week! Not sure I want to start writing all my posts in a day and scheduling them throughout the week... I like blogging in the moment and the whoosh of excitement ( and typo-paranoia) when I click 'publish'... So if that occasionally means less frequent posting, so be it! I really am working on bringing back weekly tips, though.

Ooh, also, you can now find all my DIY, Beauty, Outfit and Nail Art posts using the little buttons at the top of my sidebar! I still have some old posts to go back and label but the majority of them are now labelled :) I'm sloowwwly (and single-handedly) bringing this little blog into the 21st century!

Me & Zena Flash Sale TONIGHT!

2011-10-31T20:05:00.001Z

Just a quickie to tell you that between 11pm and midnight tonight, Me & Zena are halving their prices when you use the code 'witching hour'!! Yep, 50% off everything! Minimum spend is a tenner.

My faveys:

Leopard - £9.50

Bunny - £12.50

Telephone ring - £14.50

Anchor - £7.00

Woop!! Enjoy! :)

Halloween DIY: Zombie Makeup Tutorial

2011-10-30T15:04:00.001Z

Thought I'd share a zombie makeup tutorial with you guys in case anyone was looking for an easy last minute Halloween look!

I added some little doll lips as I want to be a creepy zombie doll for Halloween. Aka, any excuse to wear my Topshop lace dress... I will be wearing this look to work on Monday and then onto a party!

Products used: Estee Lauder double wear foundation, HD Brows palette, Eylure lashes, Maybelline Gel Eyeliner, Benefit lip plump, Topshop lipstick in Brighton Rocks.

I found that although it looked right in the mirror during the tutorial, it didn't photograph too well as I don't have any decent makeup brushes to blend with! I would also add even more dark eyeshadow under the eyes. I also forgot to add a bit of mascara on the bottom lashes. Slightly annoying, but I guess zombie makeup is allowed to be a bit all over the place!

Hope some of you find it useful!

Have any of you been to anything Halloweeny over the weekend? And what are your plans for tomorrow? I want to hear about your costumes!

PS - If anyone's looking for some Halloween nail art inspiration, a visit to fuckyeahnailart and fuckyeahprettynails is a must.

On The Naughty Step: L'Oreal Sublime Mousse

2011-10-29T21:35:00.002+01:00

My hair is not naturally this dark browny-black shade, it's mousey brown. So every month or two, I need to top up my roots. I usually use Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL in Bittersweet Chocolate, but after seeing this mousse dye on offer, I decided to take a punt on something a bit firmer that I'm less likely to slosh all over the bathroom and/or myself.

I bought the pure darkest brown shade and got started. You pour some liquid into another bottle of liquid and attach the mousse pump. You then roll the bottle to mix it up. Shaking is strictly forbidden!

APPLICATION

Despite my best rolling efforts, the mousse was still a bit liquid for my liking... On a plus side, it was definitely less messy than the usual squeezy nozzle bottles. Back to the negative side now, as this dye ITCHED like WOAH. Proper burning. And you had to leave it for 30 mins, which is quite a while compared to many dyes.

REMOVAL

When I could finally remove the dye, I was excited to try the 'conditioning balm' it came with. I rinsed out the dye and started applying it when I realised my hair resembled straw. It felt completely dry and ravaged. The conditioner didn't improve this much at all and it was a struggle to get a brush through it afterwards. Optimistic to the point of foolishness, I saw my new bone-dry hair as a nifty way to skip washing it for a few days extra as it won't get greasy so easily...

RESULTS

It took a couple of days for me to notice but my roots were actually not at all dark enough. Fair enough the Live Colour dye I'm used to does come out very dark, but I don't expect my roots to look gingery blonde in natural light... You can see what I mean ever so slightly in this photo I took the other day:

I just didn't expect to still have light roots straight after dyeing! Playing devils advocate, my hair IS pretty much black so maybe I should've opted for the black shade, but the fact is it doesn't match the colour on the box due to the gingery tones in the dye. And a bit of research has shown me that a lot of people have had similar issues with this dye. Exhibit A and B.

VERDICT

This product left my hair overly dry and underly dyed! AVOID. It may be L'Oreal but it's not worth it.

---

Have any of you tried this dye? On the subject of dye-sasters, are there any other brands you'd put on the naughty step? Do share, so we can avoid quite literally chucking our money down the drain!

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

2011-10-26T21:04:00.000+01:00

Models Own are releasing a new duo-chrome nail polish collection on 1st November, which they're entitling Beetlejuice! I was already semi sold as I do love that film, but after seeing this photo of the collection I found here, I am in love!

That shade on the left is delightfully fugly, and some of the others remind me of the Mac Venomous Villains collection, but somehow look even better. I am so excited to try these out, but am dreading trying to photograph them... Better clear my memory card in advance!!

Ooh, update: have just been informed on Twitter of British Beauty Blogger's review of them, photographs included! They look gorgeous! Less bright than in the above photo, but still such interesting shades. Did I just review someone else's review..? This is all getting a bit Inception!

Going off now to wax my eyebrows and freak out about the fact I'm filming with the SuperScrimpers crew in London tomorrow. Aargh! So nervous! WHY must they be filming in HD at the precise moment my chin has decided to sprout a huge spot. Eurgh. Maybe if I angle my head right (ie: directly down at the floor) it won't be as noticeable...

Wish me luck... :|

PS - I know lots of you enjoy some Youtube lolz so feast your eyes on my latest obsession... I dare you to keep a straight face.

Be A Rock Star with Black XS!

2011-10-25T19:34:00.000+01:00

I've always loved a perfume with a rock 'n' roll attitude, and Paco Rabanne's Black XS has been up there on my love-list since my days as a teenage Christmas temp on the perfume counter at Debenhams! Whilst my own rock 'n' roll edges may have softened somewhat over the years (piercings, gigs and vodka have been replaced by nail art, early nights and coffee), Black XS is still embracing its inner rockstar in a big way - and allowing you to do so too.

Paco Rabanne has partnered up with Universal Music in creating a unique musical platform, Be A Rockstar. The Be A Rockstar website,www.be-a-rockstar.com, offers exclusive music content and one of the largest catalogues of artists in the world. Universal Music France will even be giving access to some backstage moments with its artists.

The website also allows users instant access to exclusive interviews and live performances, featuring some of the music industry's coolest cats, including Cold War Kids and Two Door Cinema Club. This nine part series - the Black XS OFF Shows - will be aired on www.be-a-rockstar.com as well as the Black XS YouTube channel towards the end of this year, so keep your eyes peeled.

More excitingly, the website also offers users the chance to step into the shoes of a rockstar themselves - simply upload a photo of yourself and be amazed and enthralled by the Be A Rockstar Experience... Seriously, if you have a few minutes I really recommend trying it out. It had Alex and I in stitches, and we are usually the first to call a cringebomb when we see one! So if you like to giggle (and ROCK, obvz), trust me on this one. Go to www.be-a-rockstar.com/uk/experience to try it out.

Here are some pics of the website in action and Two Door Cinema Club being all cute and interviewy:

Let me know if you have a go on the rock star experience, and what you think of the interviews and Black XS OFF shows!

For more info on the brand or the partnership, visit www.pacorabanne.com or the Black XS Facebook page here.

Sponsored Post

We Found Love

2011-10-24T22:49:00.001+01:00

I've been obsessing over Rihanna's new video lately. Besides being an emotional roller coaster, it's a true style feast, with lots of This is England references (although I do frown upon the glorification of drugs and cigs, I must be honest! Children watch this stuff.)

I paid homage to Rihanna in my own little way today and ~~got drugged off my tits~~ rolled my jeans up and resurrected my DM boots!

Top - H&M, Necklace - c/o Me & Zena, Jeans - H&M, specs - Gok Wan at Specsavers

I bought the jeans the other day for £9.99 in H&M! Bargain! I adore them. They're a smidge tight on the thigh and DO make my bum look big, but for the sake of a totally guilt free purchase, I don't care!

<3

Lazy Day

2011-10-20T20:46:00.002+01:00

I had an unexpected day off today after some filming with Channel 4 for the new series of SuperScrimpers was rescheduled. So, besides Roxy eating a mouse before my very eyes (what has city life has done to my little princess?!), I've had a nice chilled out day featuring an afternoon nap and trying out my new t-shirt dress kindly sent to me by Lazy Oaf.

Lazy Oaf are a super cool brand specialising in quirky graphic tees, accessories and those creepers, all designed in-house. Here are some of my favourites from the website:

The item I chose was, naturally, the big cat tee dress:

(Jacket - charity shop, boots - Topshop)

(Lipstick - Snob by Mac)

This dress is so and different to anything I've seen and is an awesome new addition my cat clothing collection! I think this will look super cute with tights, heels and lashes during the festive party season!

Also, I got my hurr cut yesterday. It was sooo floppy and overgrown, it was doing my head in. I feel like a new woman, albeit one with a slightly chillier head.

Glossybox vs Boudoir Prive

2011-10-18T21:51:00.000+01:00

True to form, here are my ~~hideously delayed~~ fashionably late opinions on GlossyBox and Boudoir Privé (both freebz).

GlossyBox

2 x Dead Sea Spa Magik: Salt Brushing

Neal and Wolf: Glow Super Shine Spray

HD Brows: Eye & Brow Palette in Vamp

Green People: Fruitful Nights

Plum by Mary Greenwell perfume sample

When I opened my first GlossyBox, I was surprised by the size of the 'samples' inside. Most of the products were either full-sized or luxury sample size. The perfume sample was meh, both in scent and size, but made up for by the presence of my new beauty regime staple, the HD Brows palette (retailing at £19.95). I always darken my brows to match my hair, and this looks a lot more natural than pencilling them on. The gorgeous matte shades also double up as eyeshadow, which I've done on a few occasions. The hair spray (RRP £11.95) works really well without weighing hair down and has a gorgeous scent. The salt scrub is quite good but leaves skin a bit greasy after use. I haven't used the Green People night cream as I'm awful at getting into a routine with these things so will never see the benefit anyway. On a slight downer, when I was opening the exquisitely packaged box I noticed that the products inside had a layer of dust on them! Maybe they were left out on a shelf before sending or the box was left open for a while. All was forgiven once I'd started rooting through the box and trying the products out, though!

(Giving my friend Jen a drunken brow makeover..!)

Bottom line: WOW factor 10! A hell of a lot of great quality products for the £12.95 monthly price (let alone for free, in my case!) Really pleased with my GlossyBox!

Boudoir Privé

L'Agent Provocateur perfume sample

Macadamia Hair oil

Colbert MD: Eye Cream

Cargo: Eye pencil in Aqua

Zoya: Nail polish in Tao

Tropic: Body Polish

The products in this (adorably packaged) box were noticeably smaller than the ones in the GlossyBox. Again, bog standard perfume samples being used as filler, but as it wasn't one of the main 5 products, I shall let it go! My favourite product is the Zoya nail polish, which is a shimmery gun metal grey and is nice and opaque. The Colbert MD Eye Cream retails at £90 for 15ml, which makes this 5ml sample worth £30 - yowzer! I gave it to my mum who suffers from extreme puffy eyes, but this reacted with them and made her eyes really red so perhaps it isn't for sensitive skin. I haven't really used it myself because I'm too scared I'll get hooked on it and have to sell Roxy to the circus to fund my habit. I don't really used coloured eye pencil so this will be going to one of my pals for crimbo! The body polish smells phenomenal. I haven't tried it yet, but it's worth noting it's the company owned by Susan Ma from The Apprentice! Finally, the hair oil is another item that will be going onto a loving new home this christmas, as my fine locks don't require it!

Bottom line: More luxurious and niche brands than its competitors, but you don't get as many mls for your money (£10 a month).

Final thought on beauty boxes in general (any excuse to continue using this jazzy bold font): I think these are a super exciting concept, but do need to be tailored to the individual customers' needs if they are to be a long-term success. If I had paid £10 and received something that was totally wrong for my skin/hair type, I'd be peeved. I think GlossyBox do get you fill in some details along these lines so you do get what you want, but as I just received a sample, I didn't get to try this aspect out so I'm not sure about that.

So what do you make of this beauty box lark? Have you tried any of the others out there? I want to hear about your faves - spill the beauty beans!

<3

Midweek Musings

2011-10-12T21:54:00.001+01:00

Love me, love my onesie

It's been my saviour while I've been poorly. It's kept me toasty warm and cosy and obviously has all the cool-points that come with essentially dressing as a cat. Definitely improved my morale! If you don't live near Primarni, you need to be snapping one of their infamous onesies up on eBay because they are, in my eyes, this season's most important trend.

(Yes I know I look facially frightful. This was at the height of my illness!)

Lust list

Clocked this beauty at work today... £34 though? Sob! Such a gorgeous dress. Perfect length... perfect shape, perfect grey marl. Bring on uniform discount! Two weeks on Friday, you shall be mine! I have officially just jinxed the dress and will clearly look like a sack of potatoes in it.

Mr Postman

I received this fantastic leopard necklace as a gift from Me & Zena in the post. It's bigger than I expected but in a very good way. A more chic take on the leopard trend than my usual efforts (nails/leggings etc!)

(Wearing a distressed black tee c/o Clothing At Tesco)

(Little Roxy on my lap, trying to reclaim my attention from my new, more blingy feline friend! Soz cat, you lose!)

Nails o' the week:

I painted some falsies the other day when I was ill and bored out of my brains! I was using a bunch of amazing Models Own nail varnishes they sent me as part of a master plan I shall be revealing soon... I've probably already said too much!

(these are the ones I use, trimmed and filed down a lot!)

My middle nail popped off almost into my dinner at Prezzo tonight which was pretty hilarious! The perils of false nails!

Kareen Brown

The gorgeous and stylish winner of the competition I hosted with Me & Zena! The specs, the florals, the studded belt, the glitter nails... J'adore your style, Kareen!! You can see all of the runners-up over on Me & Zena's blog. It was so hard to choose the runners-up and I appreciated so much that so many people took the time to enter a competition that required more participation than commenting 'enta me plz, xx lol'. There were nearly 100 entries in the end, I think. Just wish we'd had 100 prizes to give! Thanks to all who entered <3

Misc.

Watching/listening to the heart wrenching tones of Big Deal. It's not my usual taste but their songs sound so... beautifully sad, I'm just captivated. Lots of style inspiration in their video, too.

Have you ever had a dream? I think we could all learn something from this little guy's ability to fail so epically but come through it smiling proudly at the end. The glass is always half full. I think about this video when I'm walking down the street or serving customers at work and it makes me spontaneously erupt into laughter each time... It's so awkward but I can't help it!

Hmmm, anything else to mention? Not much. Working until Saturday now, then my gorgeous Brighton buddy Danielle is coming to stay at the weekend! Excitement!

Style Envy

2011-10-09T14:38:00.000+01:00

I'm literally putting the Gem in Germ right now, so rather than post an outfit picture of my honey-and-lemon-swigging self in bed in my cat onesie with a nose smothered in Sudocrem, I thought I'd share some photos of someone whose style hasn't taken the weekend off.

Meet Bebe Zeva. I only found her blog the other night and I was flabbergasted by this girl's ability to put a look together. I love the idea of taking a style theme and running away with it, and you'll see a lot of this versatility on her blog, Fated To Be Hated. These are definitely the aspirational images I need right now to pull me through my health/style slump!

Back to my death bed now, people. Hope you're having a less snotty weekend than me. <3

Fugly Feet Fanclub

2011-10-05T20:26:00.003+01:00

What do you do when your chunky soled shoe obsession becomes the high street's hottest trend..? Go underground. I'm talking the dark corners of eBay.

On the hunt for a link to my little sister's imitation Litas (that rascal STILL hasn't sent me the link to them!), I stumbled upon an absolute goldmine of the craziest, coolest, most fugly-chic shoes. All for about £30. I have often scoured eBay for cheap creepers and it's an impossible task. I guess that I should have widened the net and searched 'platform lace-up' instead! I am so happy I have found these two shops in particular. These mad shoes look genuinely different to anything chunky-soled I've seen on the high street so far!

(click the pics to visit the eBay listings!)

BIZARRE and amazing.

These are actually gorgeous!

These are the ones I'm most likely to buy I think. Classic leopard creepers! And without an overly round toe that makes them look orthopaedic. Score.

And a special mention to these designer knock-offs...

Charlotte Olympia on a shoestring

Piggy bank friendly Pradas!

Now, I haven't ordered from these shops yet so can't vouch for the quality your £30 is going to get you, but I've had a quick scour of the feedback and everyone seems happy.

Good lord, bargains excite me! Do you have any go-to shoe sites/shops when you want a change from the usual?

The Summer Send-off

2011-10-02T21:15:00.002+01:00

I've just got home from one of the loveliest weekends I've had all year. After hearing that this weekend was going to be summer's sweltering swan song, and actually having the weekend off after 5 laborious days at work, Alex and I dusted off our summer outfits and headed to Bexhill, the pretty seaside town where our parents live.

Saturday day:

(Bikini - charity shop (don't judge me!), Shorts - Topshop, Sunnies - car boot sale)

Added a charity shop cardi to walk to mum's house and have a cuppa in the jardin. Sandals - H&M.

Trying on my little sister Shannon's imitation Lita's! She got them on eBay for about £40 (waiting for her to send me the link!).

Saturday night, we got a takeaway Italian to enjoy with X Factor. My Lasagne doesn't exactly have kerb appeal, but was delicious.

Sunday morning: Pevensey car boot sale! I got a leather handbag, a weird little purse and a cat brooch. All for 75p.

Sunday afternoon: Went to the beach with Alex and my family (and an inflatable dolphin).

I took the dogs out on the lilo! Dexter loved it because he's a wuss and doesn't like the water, but his sister Lola swam off it to join the boys in playing catch with a tennis ball!

No tennis for me, thx. Snoozing on a lilo is the way forward.

Love this pic my mum took of Alex and I on the lilo... Never knew my boyfriend was quite so flexible!

Aaaaannnnd back to reality now. Five days in a row at work. Snow rumoured to be on the way. Eurgh (although slightly 'eee'!)... But what a way to enjoy the final and unexpected moments of summer!

Did you get to enjoy some sunshine this weekend? Either way, was it a fun one?

LFW day 1

2011-09-27T13:04:00.000+01:00

Morning chums!

Thought I'd share some of the pics of my time at LFW now I have a smidgen of time to do so. Have been working like a dog lately, and am finding it is sucking the blog mojo out of me! Working until 10 tonight preparing for a big store visit tomorrow. This means lots of hard work, heavy lifting and cleaning... Definitely in the mood to reminisce on more stylish times!!

Now, I didn't get many snaps at London Fashion Week as I was so busy filming, but here are some of my favourites:

Loved this girl's grungey look.

Models from the Jean Pierre Braganza show

Specs appeal!

Lily getting her makeup done by Vicky!

One of my snaps from the Felder Felder show we were let into (for those that haven't seen my LFW vids, we realised that if you lurk about a fashion show after the ticket holders have all been let in, they let in people with tickets if the venue isn't full!)

Here are my favourite looks from the show, nicked from Style.com. That girl I style-snapped above was clearly ahead of the trends in her leather skater skirt! I love the flippy silhouettes in this collection, and the metallic green leather is frankly amazing. I love collections that are flirty yet badass, so the Felder twins impressed me big time with these looks! Notice Amber Le Bon rocking that last dress of the show I loved so much.

Hanging out with Vicky, Jen, Claire (whose LFW outfits and blog posts are a must see), Carrie and Dina

My slouchy first day outfit. Jumper - c/o Tesco, Leggings - H&M, Boots - Emma Cook for Topshop, Glasses - Specsavers.

Loved this rock chick (literally, she's in a band!), casually walking round swigging bubbly!

After dinner and our bloggers afterparty at Vicky and Jen's hotel (all seen in my LFW videos!) Lily and I headed back to our hotel, provided for us by Premier Inn. It was a huge room with with a fab view over the South Bank, and a bloody comfy bed. We'd been so busy gossiping and harassing staff, we didn't realise the TV was playing some steamy old 80's movie! Check out the passion occurring in the background of this pic!

We had a fab night's sleep, and the next day had the most amazing breakfast - pics in my LFW Day 2 post! Definitely sorely missed right now - I had to have Shreddies sans milk for breakfast today...

Stay tuned for LFW day 2!

Vogue's Fashion Night Out: Juicy Couture

2011-09-26T21:46:00.001+01:00

It seems like so long ago now after all the madness of LFW and my weekend away, but I had to tell you about the amazing evening I had courtesy of Juicy Couture on Vogue's Fashion's Night Out a couple of weeks ago.

Lily and I were picked up from Charing Cross in a taxi and taken to Claridge's to have afternoon tea. Now I don't like tea, but the orange and passionfruit tea I had there was gorgeous. Like hot Ribena's more glamorous cousin. With a small group of other bloggers and writers, we chatted about blogging, brands and Juicy Couture with members of the Juicy team. We also had a gander at the gorgeous winter lookbook - if you thought Juicy Couture only did velour tracksuits, have a peek and think again! Apparently Juicy has a new president who has refreshed the brand's image and marketing approach and, as a result, this was their first UK blogger event!

Lily in the beautiful bog.

Then it was back to their store on Bruton Street for a lock-in. We had free reign of the store for a styling session and mini photoshoot with a Vogue photographer - ooh la la! There wasn't a lot of time before their VFNO party was due to start so I gave the dressing up a miss. I did, however, become rather attached to the pink fluffy dog bag from kidswear... Tres chic, I'm sure you'll agree. There were some truly gorgeous clothes in the shop (Loved the velvet dress Emma tried on), as well as the VFNO charity t-shirts sold across town that night in aid of Kids Company.

Is it crass to discuss the contents of the goody bags..? I am always curious about that sort of thing so I shan't delay the goss any further! My bag had some Elizabeth Arden 8 hour moisturiser, a 100ml bottle of Viva La Juicy (which is my actual perfume, so I was leaping with glee - ask Lily!), a NARS lipgloss, a book of Vogue Front Covers, and a £20 Nails Inc voucher, which I spent almost instantly after the event on this set for weak nails.

Thanks so much to Heather and the team for such a luxurious evening, and for educating us about Juicy Couture's new sartorial (and marketing) direction. Viva La Juicy, indeed!

What do you think of Juicy Couture as a brand? And have you smelt the Viva La Juicy perfume? I'm telling you, it's the dreamiest scent since sliced bread!

<3

Boy oh boy

2011-09-24T13:00:00.000+01:00

I can finally blog now I've arrived at my mum's house for her birthday celebrations (namely charity shop shopping!) Our internet has gone schizophrenic at home, so I haven't been able to be the LFW-reporting whizz kid I was hoping to be. Sigh!!

I have two Jack Russell's vying for my attention right now, but thought I'd post this quickie of an outfit I wore to work this week. I wasn't intentionally going for an androgynous look, but what with my geek chic new glasses (Gok Wan for Specsavers - not a freebie, I feel I should add!) the buttoned up old Topshop polo shirt and the new corduroy shearling jacket (found in a charity shop) I chucked on over it, the vibe was positively penile! Just had to Google to check that 'penile' meant what I thought it did. It does. And if you try it, don't click on Google Images out of curiosity, k?

I've had a hilarious morning. Mum came to collect Alex and I from the station (in her Superman pyjama top) and her car broke down on the way home. She had to call the mechanic out, who helped her push the car to the side of the road and he said to just leave it for a couple of hours to chillax (sometimes this is all it takes to fix a VW, appaz!) so we had to leave a note explaining that we were leaving the car on a yellow line because it had broken down. The only piece of paper we had between us was the envelope from mum's as-yet-unopened birthday card so I had to unsheathe it and write 'BROKEN DOWN :(' on it. We were then presented with the irony of the design on the front of mum's card reading 'MUM, keep calm and carry on!' Definitely words to live by when your car has died and you're stood in the road in Superman pyjamas on your birthday.

So much for a quickie blog! Right, I'm off to play with the pooches, go round the charity shops with mum and visit the apparently amazing Andy Warhol exhibition that opened at the De La Warr pavillion today.

Have a good one!

LFW video diary part 2!

2011-09-20T10:40:00.001+01:00

Thanks for the fab response to the first LFW video I posted! I've loved reading the comments and tweets about it - glad lots of you found the room service calls as funny as I did at the time!

This second instalment is a bit shorter, probably slightly less of a lolfest, and my over-excitement at The Look Show may be a touch irritating but you'll see why I was so excited!

I definitely want to keep making videos, as I find it much more satisfying to receive a good response from something I've put loads of time and effort into rather than the usual outfit photos, etc.

Hope you enjoy!

xx

LFW video diary part 1!

2011-09-19T09:11:00.000+01:00

Just running out the door to work now, but had to show you the first part of my LFW Video Diary which I painstakingly edited all day yesterday. You'd never know it to look at the thing though... Really need to hone my 'steady hand' skills...

Also, thanks for the fab entries to my Me & Zena LFW Style competition! You only have until the end of tomorrow to enter it, so make sure you upload a photo of your outfit or nails to the Facebook by then. As this competition requires more effort than posting a comment, it's bound to get less entries than usual blog competitions, so your chances of winning are much, much higher! Don't miss out!

Have a fun day, people :) Part 2 of my LFW antics coming soon!!

Competition: LFW Style Challenge!

2011-09-16T11:09:00.000+01:00

Well, London Fashion Week kicks off today, so my camera and I are heading to London for a couple of days to take photos of stylish folk. But it isn't all about the Fashion Week fashionistas... As a blogger, I know good style starts at home!

I've teamed up with Me & Zena to host a LFW Style Challenge for our followers. Judged by (quite literally) Me and Zena, we want you to upload a stylish picture of yourself to the Me & Zena Facebook page (or send to emily@meandzena.com if you're shy). Style is what you make it, so whether it's your sunday best, or some fierce nail art, we want to see it! We need stylish snaps by 20th September.

Possible extra brownie points for creativity. Check my Tuesday Tips for some DIY ideas...

The winner (announced on 23rd Sepember) will win some flipping amazing prizes:

1st Prize: Me & Zena Television necklace, Lazy Oaf Mouse Tee, Lime Crime lipstick in Retrofuturist, 10 Beauty UK Salon Professional Nail Polishes of their choice, and the pic of their outfit posted on this here blog!

5 Runners Up will each receive 2 polishes of their choice from Beauty UK.

Can't wait to see your efforts! Good luck! :)

Missguided Blogger Lookbook

2011-09-14T10:25:00.000+01:00

Missguided contacted me recently to be one of 10 bloggers featured in their blogger lookbook. Our task was to style up a piece of knitwear sent to us, which would then be uploaded onto FaceyB. The blogger with the most 'likes' wins a voucher to spend on Missguided and one to give away to their readers too.

I was sent the Bryanna jumper with shoulder and elbow patches (£23.99). It was too short to pair with jeans, so I styled it with a H&M bodycon skirt, Primark belt and tights and my Topshop boots. The necklace is the Velvet Feather from my last outfit post.

I tend to dislike competitions that pit bloggers against eachother as I don't like popularity contests, so I'm not going to ask you to 'like' my look! I do recommend a visit to the Missguided Blogger Lookbook on Facebook to see how the rest of the lovely ladies involved styled their items, though. Feel free to 'like' whoever you, er, like!

I'm just flattered to have been asked to be involved and I've enjoyed the challenge of styling up an unexpected item and getting my legs out for the first time in ages! Kinda forgot I had them!

Off to work and then onto a night out with the work buds. Lovely jubbly!

Tuesday Tips: University Fresher's FAQ

2011-09-13T22:13:00.001+01:00

As many of you are about to start uni, I thought I'd do a little (mammoth) post of advice for students new and old!

I studied Fashion Promotion at UCA Rochester and graduated in July. I didn't live in halls as I was already living with my boyfriend, so I can't offer much advice there. I have included some tweeted tips from my Twitter followers for another perspective on all things uni!

I hope those of you that are going to university are excited! Some of my tips may sound a bit like 'don'ts' rather than 'do's', but I don't want to give anyone any more stress than you're already under. Everyone's experience is different, so mine is just one perspective on it based on my own mistakes and experiences.

If you have any more questions, post them in the comments and I'll do my best to respond to all of them in the next couple of days :)

Let's rock.

SAVING MONEY

Get an NUS Card

It costs about £11, but you get heaps of discounts on fashion, food, beauty and more. Gotta be done. Make sure you check the website so you're making the most of all those savings you're entitled to!

BANKING

Arrange to have your student loan put into a high interest bank account. You'll make money from it, and can set up a standing order to have a monthly amount paid into your current account so you don't fall for the 'OMG I'm RICH!!!!' syndrome the day your loan arrives... That feeling wears off pretty quickly after a few nights out and food shopping trips. Martin knows more about banking advice, so have a lookie!

FOOD/DRINK

Save money by cooking meals in big batches and refrigerating/freezing the rest. This works great for things like pasta bake, bolognese and curry.

When eating out, use your student discount. Many Nando's branches offer discount (the Canterbury one offers 20%!) and a whole bunch of places offer deals with an NUS card!

My favourite bargain food: Tesco Value 50p Tortilla crisps (next to doritos), Tesco Value midget gems, Batchelors savoury rice (bung some prawns in to make my signature Pauper's Paella!), PASTA with any old sauce.

Probs illegal of me to admit/advise this, but I have been known to take my own alcohol out with me. If money's tight, I totally begrudge wasting £3 a pop on alcoholic drinks! Makes much more sense to buy my own cheap booze, and take some out with me to top up soft drinks with. If you get caught, you may get barred, so approach with caution!

CLOTHES

Again, use your NUS card to get discounts at squillions of shops.

Topshop are offering 20% off to students until the beginning of October if you complete their SCVNGR mobile app game (only available on smart phones). You have to complete a series of mini tasks in store (take a snap of your favourite mannequin, etc) and you unlock a 20% off voucher to use instore!

Look out for in-store events in September and October. I think Topshop have stopped their student lock-ins, but I'm pretty sure Urban Outfitters still do theirs.

Shop on eBay! To get the best price on the items you've got your eye on, NEVER bid before the last minute! It lets your competition know that they have some, er, competition, and starts a bidding war. Not good. Use a site like Goofbay to to automatically 'snipe' your bids in the final seconds and increase your chance of winning the item (at a bargain price!)

Charity shops. My favourite way to find a bargain! If there's something specific you're after, always ask a member of staff and they'll often go and check out the back for you. I got a great pair of brogues by doing this!

Get DIY-ing! If you get that urge to buy new clothes but don't have the dough, try refreshing your own wardrobe. Here are some of my Tuesday Tips to keep you busy:

Make hair bows from old leggings

DIY distressed denim shorts

Make fringed t-shirts

Print your clothes with bog bleach

Pillowcase tops/dresses

Swimsuits into crop tops

Wear midi skirts as dresses

Make purses out of duct tape

Refresh old jewellery with nail polish

No sew peter pan collars

Ooh, and when in doubt, learn your own nail art. If you're having a sartorial off-day, some awesome nail art always makes the look more boho than hobo...

Leopard print your nails with liquid eyeliner

Create stripes with scotch tape

Perfect polka dots

French tips/half moons

FRIENDS

Don't judge a book by its cover

On Day 1, we had to pair up with someone else. I was sat between a perfectly nice girl called Emily, and another girl with slightly wild hair and fashiony dress sense (who shall remain unnamed!) For some reason, I had this foolish urge back then to get in with a 'cool crowd' at uni - so I paired up with wild girl. She turned out to be completely scatty, unreliable and actually didn't have a clue what she was on about. Lovely, normal Emily, on the other hand, eventually became a true friend of mine, and one of the few uni friends I'll be staying in contact with! And let me just say, she is far from normal! In a good way.

The same can be said of a time, a few months into the course, we got randomly paired with people to work on a powerpoint presentation together. I was paired with a girl called Hannah. Stunner, blonde hair extensions, fake tan and an LC obsession. Not My Type, I thought... We bonded during working together (albeit by joking that our very smiley lecturer was a rampant alcoholic) and she became another true friend, and one of the funniest girls I've ever met.

Funnily enough, most of the people that looked 'cool' also thought they were very cool and were therefore dickheads. So forget who you think you 'ought' to be friends with, and be friendly with everyone. You'll find real friends a lot quicker if you give everyone a chance.

Don't be a douchebag

Being a nice person is crucial if you want to make friends. Always remember 3 golden rules of being nice.

1. Always say please/thank you

2. If someone asks you something about yourself, ask something back.

3. Don't moan. Moaning to your friends is one thing, but moaning to potential new friends isn't going to help your case!

To conclude - be your lovely selves and you will be absolutely fine, I promise you!! Everybody at uni wants to make friends, so don't for one second think you won't make any!

ACCOMMODATION

When moving in to halls or your uni house, always thoroughly check the inventory. This is a list of the state of everything in the property. So if there's a stain on the carpet that hasn't been pointed out on the inventory when you moved in, you will still have to pay for it to be rectified when you move out. Go through everything on that list and add ANY imperfections you don't see noted, backing up with photo evidence. Take this to your landlord and have them sign it. This way, you can't be made to pay for damage you didn't cause.

Don't worry if you don't live in halls. Yes, some people have had a head start at meeting people, but that's an excellent conversation starter during the first week! 'Are you in halls? How's it going?'

LECTURES

Put your phone on silent. Can be awkward if you don't!

If people are talking/being noisy, don't be afraid to SHHH them or move seats. It's your education their drowning out, so don't stand for it. And if you're the talkers, SHHH, please! I even shushed my own friends in lectures if they whispered too much, haha! Noise annoys = my golden rule. Just as well I didn't do halls, I'd never have survived!!

And just to prove I did have SOME fun at university....

Killing time between lectures with Hannah in Poundland... It said 'Canal fishing...'

Emily and Nik

My blonde beauty, Hannah <3

3 Tequila, floor

Laura and Hannah

It's fun to pose with passed out men.

See?

Pirate night...

Decided to pose for a photo next to a huge crowd of police restraining a man (see right of image). Drunkenly decided to wield my pirate sword and strike this pose. The fact the policeman is distracted from the criminal by the absurdity of it all has been a great source of entertainment for my friendship group. My mum even has this photo on the wall of her office! Haha!

On that note, have fun everyone!!! It will speed by and you will bloody miss it, so make the most of it :)

<3

What I Wore

2011-09-12T19:58:00.000+01:00

This is what I wore to Vogue's Fashion Night Out on Thursday. This pic was taken before makeup was finalised, as I was running late! Nails, lashes and blusher were applied on the train to London. I'm getting quite used to train makeovers these days!

The dress was sent to me by the wonderful Selina, who now works for Motel. It's their Carrine dress, and I have worn it LOADS since I received it. This snap doesn't do it justice, but it's so super duper flattering re: the pot belly scenario and really looks like a top tucked in a skirt. People keep asking where I got my skirt from! Find it in my Motel Blogger Shop, and get 15% off using the code GEMFATALE if you fancy.

I bought the boots on uniform at work. Have worn them to death already, as they are so comfy! Very cheap for a pair of Topshop leather boots, too (even to those without 60% uniform discount!) The cardi is Topshop too.

The gun necklace was a gift from the fabulous Ella Masters to say thanks for featuring her DIY penny jar tutorial. It's from her shop Velvet Feather, and has received many compliments when I've worn it. I was ecstatic when a girl I work with told me RiRi has one like it! Oh na na!

Will be blogging the goss from Fashion's Night Out when I receive some pictures from the event I went to. The only one I've seen of me so far features me with eyes half-shut! Never a good look!

Have got a day off work tomorrow and am going to spend it collecting my new glasses from Specsavers and inevitable attempting house work. Luckily, my week will get more stylish come Friday, as I'll be heading to London Fashion Week for a couple of days! Cue absolute outfit panic!!!

Right, Roxy has hijacked one of my arms and most of my lap, so I am going to have to move the laptop and give the little diva some attention.

PS - Any uni-related questions or concerns you have, lemme know in the comments (or on Twitter) and I'll answer the most popular ones on the blog tomorrow!

Caturday!

2011-09-10T22:02:00.002+01:00

A few people on Twitter lately have alerted me to these insane Jeffrey Campbell 'Lita's with cat tapestry print on! They are hilarious! You know I love to represent my feline friends, but not only am I skint, I can't walk in heels to save my life, so they shall never be mine.

Whilst browsing Clothing at Tesco's website (which is CaT as an acronym, ironically!) I found a much cheaper and bunion-free way to get my feline fix! These cute vests are by 'Love Milly' and are £20 a pop. CaT have given me a voucher to get some bits to wear at LFW next week, so consider these on my list!

And on a vaguely related note (my cat once met a hedgehog in the garden), Alex showed me these amazing pics he saw on Reddit of a baby hedgehog and they are literally the sweetest thing I've seen all week. Prepare to be KILLED by cuteness:

FOR GOD'S SAKE. Too cute.

I'm off to watch The Killing with Alex now and quietly perv over that yummy rogue of a police officer. I forgot his name. He says 'Yo, Linden' a lot. On the snack menu tonight: Fox's crunch creams and diet cherry coke. Yum!

Have a lovely weekend, Darjeelings!

Tuesday Tip: Student Special #1

2011-09-06T21:38:00.001+01:00

As it's nearly uni time for many of you at the moment, I've been thinking up a few student-related tips... I had planned a sort of 'Fresher's FAQ' post, but after a really horrid day (featuring a traumatisingly drawn out Specsavers appointment and burnt Naan bread - booo!), I've got a banging headache so I'm going for Plan B. Alex will be pleased, as he enlightened me to this little tip which is actually extremely useful! It's become a bit of a running joke in our relationship, so he'll be most surprised to see I've actually shared it!

So, when serving a ready meal, it can be a pretty awkward process getting the contents of both sections into a bowl without A) burning yourself or B) slopping it everywhere. If you snip the packaging down the middle, you can serve it one layer at a time. It looks much neater, it's safer and if, like my boyfriend, the little things in life annoy you, it takes the stress out of the situation. Stress you'll probably never have noticed but will do forevermore!

Prevent food-splattered surfaces before they've occurred with this top tip from Anal Alex! If your uni kitchens are anything like some I've seen, it probably ain't gonna get cleaned up any time soon!

SO, I'll do my Fresher's FAQ next week - if you're starting uni (or college etc) and have any questions about stuff, tweet or comment me and I'll advise y'all the best I can :)

I'm off to read Look and chill the hell out!

PS - OMG did you see my tweet yesterday? I dropped my iPod ON a drain. Like, across the bars of it. How lucky?! I was terrified to pick it up in case I knocked it down there! Phewww.

PPS - So this isn't completely fashion-free, here are two things on my current wishlist: leopard shoes and these glasses! Watch this space!

Vintage Festival 2011

2011-09-04T17:07:00.001+01:00

It's taken me yonks to get these pictures from my day at The Vintage Festival at South Bank blogged, but looking out the window at the truly miserable conditions, I felt like reminiscing on my day of style-snapping in the sunshine.

The outdoor component of the Vintage Festival was free-entry and consisted of a loads of outdoor tents and stalls selling vintage, retro and handmade bits. For ticket holders, there was a indoor element to the event in The Royal Festival Hall where there were retro bands playing, dancers dancing, makeovers, museums and catwalk shows.

Here are some of the sights and style from the day...

Dog in a bag! Awwww!

Shoe designer, Natacha Marro on the left and her shoe-maker, Isabella.

I was stood behind this incredibly 40's older couple in the queue to get my tickets into the hall! It was a proper fur stole...

Missed Pearl Lowe's catwalk by a whisker but caught a (blurry) moment of the photo frenzy afterwards!!

Waaaa, my cam couldn't handle the pressure! One day I'll get a proper photo of Daisy.

Some of the amazing swing dancers

Loved this!! Someone was actually getting a tat done as I took this!

I spied Betsey Johnson casually trying on some Natacha Marro shoes! I promptly declared my love for her and asked for a photo of her. She must've thought I worked for Natacha Marro as she reached straight for the shoes and this was the shot I got - haha!!

These gorgeous ladies were in the tea room.

Hottie in creepers.

This awesome lady was wearing her mum's authentic vintage boots! They are intense! Or as my boyfriend calls them, 'what the fuck are they?'. Tsk.

On the way out of the event, I asked for an outfit snap of this fetching fellow manning the Vitaminwater 'memory maker' (a photobooth in a car). He insisted I be in the photo too so someone else took the picture...

He then thrust his feather duster in my hand and whisked me up in the air without warning! Haha! I died of cringe at the time, but love the photo now!

And that was that! A fab day and a fun chance to get some photos of the eclectic mix of high street and very-vintage personal style on show.

Thanks, Vitaminwater, for my ticket to the event!

Any favourite outfits?? I think the girl in the straw hat (before crazy-boots girl) completely worked it!

&hearts;