Friday 25 December 2015

Fashion and Beauty - Christmas Day!

So after the visit to Mass, the unwrapping of presents from Santy, and falling into a food coma after the dinner, I took some time out and decided to write up a blogpost about what I was wearing today for the special occasion. I like to lay round in my trackie and hoodie as much as any other girl, but Christmas only comes round once a year so I like to make some effort for the day.




















The tunic dress I'm wearing is from Penneys (Primark) and cost €14 (£10.33). I bought it Sunday afternoon after arriving in Ireland for Christmas. I really like the berry shade of it; this colour is always associated with the festive season so I felt like it was perfect! It actually has sheer sleeves, but to keep nice and toasty during the winter day I popped a long sleeved black top underneath it.
These long sleeved black tops are basic, and they're an essential part of my winter wardrobe, and only cheap as chips too, so I'd definitely recommend to invest.

The black tights were basic ones from Penneys, also bought on Sunday. I got three pairs for €6.

The scarf was also Penneys, it belongs to my sister though so I don't know the price, sorry! I'd imagine it would cost no more than a tenner. Many of my scarves are summery and light, and this is a nice thick one, so perfect for winter.

The boots are Shoe Zone, they have a slight heel on them. I bought them the first weekend I arrived in England as a birthday present to myself (I'm awful good to myself!). They were £20.

The coat is Penneys, but I bought it two years ago so I cannot for the life of me remember the price of it! I really like it as it comes out slightly at the hips and is super warm too!

Before applying makeup, I moisturised my face and neck using my trusty Simple Kind to Skin Light Hydrating Moisturiser and waited a few moments for it to absorb. My skin is super duper dry at the moment, so I applied it in a thin layer three times. FYI, I've done a blogpost on caring for dry skin, which you can check out HERE.

Foundation I used was L'Oréal True Match foundation in Ivory (the lightest shade in the range). I decided to try out this foundation about two weeks ago as I have heard it being hailed as the 'holy grail' of foundations. I'm not going to say too much  about it here as I am planning on doing a seperate blogpost all about it in the coming weeks. The concealer I used was Rimmel Wake Me Up (review of that product is HERE) under my eyes and on blemishes, before setting it with Rimmel Stay Matte translucent powder.

For eyes, I decided to use a combination of gold and brown eyeshadows to complement the berry in my dress. I used the eyeshadows in the Make Up Revolution Flawless palette. I bought this palette, containing 32 eyeshadows, in Superdrug last month. Correct me if I'm wrong, but sadly, I don't think Make Up Revolution is avaliable in Ireland. I applied 'Medal' all over my lid and up to my browbone. I then applied 'Copper Shimmer' in the crease. Then I applied a small amount of 'Molton Chocolate' where my eyeliner 'flick' would go from. Then I applied 'Gold Digger' at the inner eye. I then used Essence Liquid Ink Liquid eyeliner on the inner eyelid and flicked out to create winged eyeliner effect. I applied a tiny amount of Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Pencil on my waterline, going about half way across. I find that on my small hooded eyes, black kohl eyeliner makes them appear even smaller, so it's used sparingly with me!




The blusher I used was Make Up Gallery Blusher in 'Soft Blush 1'. Make Up Gallery is actually a range of makeup from Poundland, would you believe! In Ireland this range is avaliable in Dealz. I've been trying out this guy plus a few other products for the past few weeks so that is another post I am looking forward to showing you all. I filled in my eyebrows using Primark eyebrow kit.

I was trying to find a lipstick to suit my eye makeup and dress, and I felt red didn't match either of them, so I stole my mum's Essence lipstick in the shade '04 On the Catwalk'. Mum loves this lipstick and after wearing it for the whole day today, I can see why! I've never used any of Essence lipsticks before but I may have to invest after today! This and the liquid eyeliner I mentioned above are widely avaliable in Ireland, from Penneys to several pharmacies, but the only place where Essence is avaliable in the UK is Wilko.






















                                                             Product List and Prices:

Simple Kind to Skin Light Hydrating Moisturiser, €5/£3.70.
L'Oréal True Match Foundation in 'Ivory', £9.99/€13.55.
Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in '040 Soft Beige', £5.49/€6.99.
Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in '001 Transparent', £3.99/€5.99.
Make Up Gallery Feeling Blush Blusher in 'Soft Blush 1', £1/€1.49.
Make Up Revolution Ultra Eyeshadow Palette in 'Flawless', £8.
Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil in '061 Jet Black', £2.99.
Essence Liquid Ink Liquid Eyeliner in 'Black', €2.49.
Essence Lipstick in '04 On The Catwalk' (think its around €3/£2).
Primark Eyebrow Kit, £1/€2.


Hope you enjoyed this post! Any questions, don't be shy! xx

Friday 11 December 2015

Festive Fashion Picks on a Budget!

Hi everyone!

I apologise for my absense from blogging for the last few weeks - I've just been so so busy! I was on placement on my course the end of November (which was very intresting but quite tiring!), and of course the assignments have been building up (which I am slowly but surely getting through, by the way!). But I managed to grab a few minutes here and there each day to write up a blog post about some budget-friendly outfit ideas for you to consider over the festive season (you'll be pleased to know that they're not all dresses and they most certaintly won't cost you an arm or leg - money for Supermacs, yay!). So drumroll please....


1. Sequin Embellished Dress.

It's not Christmas without some glittery sequins so this dress from the online fashion retailer Ivy here in Carlisle would be perfect to flaunt during the festive party season. I really like the cut of this dress; it looks really classy. It requires minimal effort too - the sequins are a fashion statement all by themselves so skip the jewellery and just add a pair of heels and you are done! This dress will set you back £24.99 it is more expensive than the other outfits I'll mention, but I think it's very important to support local businesses wherever you live, and the small local businesses here in Cumbria need it more than ever after last weekend's disasterous flooding. If you live in Carlisle delivery is free; to ship elsewhere in UK standard delivery will set you back a mere £3.99, which isn't really that bad!

Please do make sure to check Ivy out at ivy-online.co.uk. .




This is the back of the dress:

 

2. LBD

If in doubt, pull on an LBD and red lippy and pout!

There isn't a girl out there who doesn't love her black dresses. Black colour is so slimming, meaning no-one will be any the wiser to how many helpings of turkey you had! I love this one from www.everything5pounds.com, a website I recently came across having lived in England for a few months. As the name suggests, everything on the website is just five pounds (€6.97). And for five pounds for an LBD, sure where would ya be going wrong?! Add a pair of heels, some red lippy and a clutch and you're all set! It's also avaliable in a burgundy colour. I don't know about you, but I'm buying five.




3. Berry Jumpsuit
I know jumpsuits might not be to everyone's taste, but I think they're a great alternative to a dress if you don't feel confident enough to bare certain parts. I have a feeling that mammies all around the country will approve this one, at least they won't have to worry about ya freezing your self off! The culotte trend has also been huge this year. I think this colour is absolutely fabulous, and I really like the neck detail. It's also avaliable in a yellow, nude, khaki and black colour. At the minute it costs just £12 (€16.56) on Boohoo.com, reduced from £20 (€27.60) - howya bargain! Boohoo have a great range of party wear in recently, and over the past few days that I've been browsing (but been too poor to buy anything - student life, wah!) they've had either free next day shipping or shipping for a pound.




4. Floral Print Dress

Yeah, I know you're not supposed to wear florals during winter, blah blah blah. Well I say this dress was made screwing the rules for! I really like the length, fit and cut of this dress. Again, the dress pattern is a statement in itself so minimal effort is required. Better still, it only costs £9.99 (€13.79) from missrebel.co.uk. This website has a whole load of items under ten pounds, so it's well worth a look!



  
5. Two Piece Set
 Co-ords (two piece sets) have been a huge trend all over the catwalks, and again, they're really good if you're stuck for time (or money!), as buying them as one piece is far less expensive than buying a crop top and a skirt seperately. This one at karmaclothing.co.uk recently caught my eye; it's a snake print grey one and looks absolutely stunning; some tan and you are good to go! It costs £18 (€24.84).



Hope you enjoyed this blog post guys! x