Quilted sleeves

My first outfit post of 2013!

The coat is a new buy. It was bought in New York where we arrived without a single cold weather piece of clothing after Central America. First stop was Zara where Matt and I both got kitted out!

Unfortunately it wasn't in the sale so I paid the full price but loved it enough. The body of the coat is boucle material with an asymetric silver zip. There are two poppers to pin back the coat when wearing it open.

The sleeves are quilted adding some interest and the length of the coat is mid thigh on me, perfect for winter.

The boots are the ones shown in the New In post from last week, the Rockie and McQueen scarf you have seen before are still getting alot of love from me.

The jumper was bought last year and annoyingly much cheaper in the current sale, it's very good quality and a nice take on the camo trend but in navy, grey and pretty bronze thread.

Coat - Zara

Jumper - All Saints

Vest - H&M

Jeans - Topshop

Boots - All Saints

Scarf - Alexander McQueen

Bag - Alexander Wang

Sunnies - Cheapies from holiday

 

What do you think of the coat? Have you been buying winter wear to keep warm in this cold snap?

Butter London Gobsmacked

A nail polish review for you today, my first on the blog for the brand Butter London which i'm sure everyone has heard of if not got a bottle in their collection!

I was sent this polish by Powder Rooms Boutique who stock a huge range of Butter London polishes and sets.

This colour Gobsmacked is a gorgeous deep charcoal grey with a slightly matte finish and is one of the new polishes to have a textured finish. The glitter you can see in the bottle adds a little shimmer to the nails so it's not a totally flat colour.

The application was really easy, the top contains a short stemmed brush and this colour was achieved in two coats. You could also apply a clear topcoat for a little more gloss or a matte topcoat to flatten out the glitter particals.

The polish lasted 5 days with no chipping which without a topcoat is pretty impressive.

As I said you can buy Butter London from Powder Rooms Boutique and all my previous purchases have arrived with a few sweet treats included!

The sale is in full swing and last weekend I found myself stocking up on my favourite havianas for the summer (they sell a lot more than beautiful polishes). There are some great Butter London sets still available.......

I was also sent a second colour which I can't wait to show you and I thought i'd create a post showing how I paint my nails as I get a few comments asking. Stay tuned.

What do you think of this colour?

Selfridges Spring Summer 13

Last month I had a the pleasure of an evening at Selfridges for a Spring Summer 13 preview with a focus on up and coming trends and a tour of the current collections in-store.

The evening was rounded off with food courtesy of Itihaas situated in the foodhall, their main restaurant is happily situated just around the corner from my apartment so I had tasted their food before and been impressed.

As well as delicious Mumbai street food we were treated to an experience at one of the beauty hall counters and I was excited to pick Laura Mercier, a brand I have always admired from afar.

So the trends we heard about and that would be hitting Selfridges and the high streets everywhere for Spring would include: Super shiny fabrics, abstract and geometric prints, all black, all white and tangerine. Trousers are going to be big, cropped, fitted and formal as well as suits, belted and sharp. Contemporary accessories, sport luxe and colour blocking returning.

So on to the photos, accessories are my favourite so have focused on these to start with:

Jimmy Choo delights

Suede and snakeskin Celine.

Squashy tomato red Givenchys. How butter soft does that leather look.

Bright pops of colour with these sleek YSL clutches

Neon bucket bags from Alexander Wang.

I loved this rust colour on all of those Balenciagas.

Mulberrys chained up. Adding a chain strap Mulberry to my wishlist!

Alexander McQueen stretched floral print dress displayed beautifully.

Herve Leger, punked up.

Itihaas brasserie.

Laura Mercier products.

At my consultation on the Laura Mercier counter I opted for a natural smoky eye, something I could hopefully recreate at home and be subtle enough for day wear.

The colours used fitted the brief exactly but I was most pleased with the Laura Mercier 'way' when applying my eyeliner they always go for the tightlining way. I had never heard of this! I guess i'm behind the times as this has been a revelation for me. I'll explain just incase their are any readers like me who now feel left out! Instead of applying eyeliner on top of the eyelid, it's applied under the eyelashes on the top lid. This fills in the gaps of your eyelashes making them look fuller. You can then decided wether you need eyeliner on top of the lid. For me it's brilliant, I don't have a large eyelid for eyeshadow so this means I have space for more colour.

It can be a little tricky as you need to lift up your lid slightly and pin back your eyelashes with a finger so they dont get in the way. Being a contact lense wearer i'm pretty non blinky when it comes to my eyes! You can use pencil, liquid and most other types of liner.

As I said I was so happy to learn this technique and although I didn't buy any eye products as I have a small pallette with very similar colours, I did buy a couple of products that i'll show soon.

Thanks to Selfridges for a great blogger night!

I hope you enjoyed the review, what are you hoping to purchase for Spring or are you super organised and have it tucked away at home whilst the snow is out in force?!

New in - Beauty, boots and accessories.

Hello, it's 2013 and i'm back to my blog. I had such a wonderful time travelling in Panama and Costa Rica through December and five days in New York to finish up but i'm home and ready to blog again!

I'm playing catch up with the next few posts as these are things I had ready for December that never made it up. Slap on the wrists for me.

This is not really a new haul but a selection of purchases at the end of the last year. Im should have added my recent New York purchases to but im sure i'll get around to that soon.

Raybans & Alexander McQueen skull scarf

 

The Raybans were a planned purchase, you'll have seen me wear my tortoiseshell version many times and finding it pretty difficult getting style that suit me I again opted for the new Wayfarer style but translucent beige frames and glossy black arms. I forgot to get these sized when I was in store so must get back to a Sunglass Hut asap as they are a little loose at the moment.

The scarf was an unplanned purchase but I was browsing Selfridges during their 20% off weekend and was tempted. I get alot of wear from my navy McQueen skull scarf so went for the beige with white skull version as a lighter brighter option.

All Saints ankle boots

 

Another pair of black boots (said Matt) Yes, I have a definite addiction to black ankle boots, well ankle boots in general really. These are completely different to anything else I have though as they are higher heeled. I bought these in All Saints again using the 20% off voucher in Selfridges after browsing online. I love the rounded toe, and harness strap which is removeable and also reminiscent of my fringed lower western boots from there too. They are higher on the ankle which is great as jeans sit nicely inside and the heel is maybe 2.5 inches high so not too tottering. Still available in All Saints they are part of their new season collection. These are coming up in an outfit post shot a few days ago!

Beauty buys

 

Beauty buys, I had been very good during 2012 and hadn't spent anything on make-up apart from replacements and used up a few things that had been ligering in drawers. I had a splurge on some new products after a few consultations at the beauty counter and reading online reviews.

At YSL I picked up the Touche Eclat foundation and concealer/highlighter pen. The foundation is beautiful, sits really well on the skin, gives a lovely dewy finish and is buildable in coverage. Typically I have been in the sun for a month so my foundation is too light for me at the minute and i'm dying to be able to wear it again. The Touche Eclat pen needs no review really, I was just desperate for something to cover my dark circles and the gold pen does the job!

Hydraluron was something i'd read a little about on beauty blogs and it just sounded perfect for me. Its a clear no sticky gel serum that you apply before moisturising and the acid will hold up to 1000 its weight in water. Acid always sounds scary but this is so gentle and contained in so many products nowadays. My skin is so so soft after using this for a few days and any small bumps which are caused from de-hydration are diminished. I believe this is suitable for all skin types and I really can't recommend it enough, very pleased I bought it. I think it was £20 in Boots.

Brushes I was desperate for and opted for the dense big bronzer brush in Nars, really like it and is great for a bit of blending too. The MAC foundation brush as I wanted one to apply the new foundation with, this is fine, I haven't actually used a proper foundation brush before as I used to use the 187 brush for a lighter application so can't compare it to another. The mineral powder Sephora brush is from the professional collection and again im really enjoying using this. Previously I was using the bare minerals brush to apply their powder foundation but this is so much softer, the bristles denser and a dream to use. Im really impressed with this collection of brushes and picked up a couple more when I was in New York.

The blusher is NARS Gina, a beautiful peachy pink, so many reviews online that I won't go into detail but it's a really nice change from my classic pinks I normally wear.

Two more NARS purchases, the larger than life long wear eyeliner in Madison Avenue, a slate grey. It has a twist up pencil which I love and a very ingenious mini sharpner built into the end of the pencil. The other pencil is an eyebrow pencil in Jodpur, my eyebrows have lightened so much from the sun over the last two holidays so this has been a great purchase.

The Balmi lipblam in Mint was bought purely for the packaging!

So thats probably enough for this post, i'll be back soon with some spring summer reviews, outfit and nail posts!