100 Follower Give Away!!!

So ladies, I've hit the big 100 and to celebrate and say thank you to all of y'all, I'm holding a give away. The rules are pretty simple: you must follow my blog via GFC and leave a comment on this post with your name and email address- easy peasy! This give-away is only available to UK followers I'm afraid. The give-away will end two weeks today on Saturday 25th August at 12pm GMT so get involved quick; I'll announce the winner asap and contact them for their address [don't forget that's a Bank Holiday weekend lovelies]. Let's see what you could win...

Avon Naturals Strawberry Moisturising Body Scrub; 

Marks & Spencer Limited Collection Eyeshadow Palette in Natural Mix; 

MeMeMe Longwear Satin Lip Cream in Pashmina Pink. 

All these products are brand new and have only been handled for the purposes of photographing them for this post. You can see a post of this scrub here and it's one of my personal beauty favourites. Good luck and thanks for all your support and comments!

Collective Haul.

Lush Lemony Flutter and Dynamic Makeup; River Island Key Necklace; Primark Collar and Ring; Primark Collared Top; Flowery Dress by Hell Bunny via Blue Banana; Primark Bobble Hat;  Ark Leather and Lilac Dress; Forever 21 Spotty Dress; Topshop Lilac Lace Peter Pan Dress.

I thought I'd share with you a collective haul of some clothes, jewellery and Lush things, the majority of which I got from Sheffield on Monday. I didn't intend to go wild, but sales and AW beckoned and how could I say no? I spent the last of my Topshop birthday voucher on this super pretty lilac lace dress but I'm still undecided as to whether I should keep it as I don't really need any more 'dressy' dresses and it was still £25 in the sale, so I might yet take that back (please advise). The spotty dress just screamed dalmatian to me and I knew I had to get involved- it's got 3/4 sleeves and a nipped in waist which I love loads; and it was a bargain for £19.75!! The leather and lilac combo was in the sale at Ark for £15 and I couldn't say no really- as with all of the above dresses, the top half is fitted and the skirt is loosey goosey. I love this Hell Bunny dress, they make my ultimate favourite dress shape ever and this one was just too kitschy and cute to miss. The bobble hat is a bit premature (I hope) but it's maroon and sparkly and wooly and bobbly, need I say more?

I'm into my collars atm and love this pearl offering from Primark for £4 which I think will look lovely over a plain jumper or dress. The River Island key necklace was a total bargain at £2.50 and it's so dainty and cute! I went into Lush to buy the Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter (rhymy rhymy) and got ensnared by the makeup lady and fell inlove with their new Emotional Brilliance range of makeup and bought the Dynamic eyeliner which I'll be using as an eyeshadow, with the rest of my Lush voucher. I also bought the bedding that's in my photos from B&M's- the multicoloured hearts single duvet and one pillow case was £7.99 and I also got a pink heart single fitted sheet and pillow case for £4.99- bargains!!!

In other news, I'm 3 followers away from hitting 100 and the launch of my give away. Trust me, you won't wanna miss it! Please spread the word and don't forget to leave me your comments and links below so I can check your blogs out.

In Your Face: e.l.f Eyelid Primer.

e.l.f Eyelid Primer in Sheer (£1.50).

I bought this in my e.l.f haul a while back and haven't got round to reviewing it. As with most elf products, the packaging feels a bit cheap and flimsey but looks nice and simple and tbh, for £1.50 I don't really care what it looks like! I bought Sheer but other options include Pearl, Champagne and Golden, but I wanted something that'd work under any eye makeup. The only other eye primer I've used is the Kat Von D one in a dark grey shade which is perfect for under a dark smokey eye but doesn't really work under anything else, which is a shame cause it's really good quality. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for this elf offering; I find it to be quite greasy on the lids and it doesn't seem to set. I also don't find that it prevents my eyeshadow from creasing or makes them last any longer. I've not really found it to be of any use really! Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing elf at all I love their brow kit and eyeshadow beauty books, but this particular product doesn't really have any impact upon my makeup. There's no love lost though between elf and myself; I've recently bought the raved about MUA eye primer as a possible replacement so I'll be reviewing that soon. Have you tried this elf primer or got any elf products I should avoid?

The Bell, The Book and The Candle.

Top- Bring Me The Horizon Merch

Jacket- Drop Dead

Skirt- Primark

Leggings- Primark

Ring- New Look

Nails- No7 in Violetta

I wore this on Friday to go shopping with my chum. I was having a major bad clothes day, which seems to be occurring more frequently these days. We visited the new Forever 21 store in Manchester (among other shops) and wowee it's massive and full of bargain goodies!! I got a dalmatian print dress and some super cute heart earrings with pearl detail for a total of £22. I saw loads of things I wanted on the way out and I'm going again this week so some more spending may be done. I go away on Saturday with my boyfriend's family to Northumberland in a cottage which is super exciting. I'm deffo gonna miss my cats though- check out Pye sneaking into my photo!

In Your Face: Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades.

Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades in Way to Go (£3.99*).

Another lovely birthday present from my chum-made glossybox was this Shimmer Shades quad from Collection 2000. I think I can safely say that my chum bought me this based on the testimony of LLYMLRS, one of my favourite bloggers. I have been wanting to try a bronzer for a while now because I've never really used a bronzer and I'm oh so pale I was worried about looking orange. The good thing about this quad is that the peach and cream shades tone down the bronze and golden shades to make a subtle shimmery bronzer. I've been trying different ways to wear this product: firstly, all the colours swirled together as a bronzer; using the shades individually as eyeshadows; using the lighter shades as highlighters. I can honestly say that this is probs the best all-round multi use product I've ever used. The shades are super pretty as eyeshadows, with my favourite being the peachy champagne tone. The darker shades are great for contouring when using as a bronzer to accentuate my (non-existent) cheek bones and the lighter shades are super shimmery highlights. The bronzeness isn't at all too dark but I'd say its too shimmery to use as an all-over face bronzer, I'd definitely keep it on the cheeks. The powders are super light, blendable and buidlable and apply smooth and evenly. My tip would be that if you don't get your swirling right and end up with a patch of dark shades then get buffing cause it smooths out beautifully. There's also a blush version of this product featuring pink shades but I'd imagine that was less versatile than this option. I can't believe how much value for money this product is and even better, I got it as a gifty! This is definitely brightening up my pastey skin in this miserable weather. Have you tried the Shimmer Shades quad?

Starfleet Academy.

Top- H&M

Skirt- Topshop

Leggings- Primark

Ring- New Look

Apologies for the change of scenery; I well like this outfit and I'm at my boyfriend's for the weekend so blogger's needs must ay? Can you tell my boyfriend plays guitar btw haha. I feel like a bit of a space-age school girl in this outfit, in a good way. I love the spacey silvery collar on this plain black top and have been known to wear it under a jumper with the collar showing in the colder months. I used a birthday voucher to buy this skirt- I originally bought it in black jersey but got the wrong size and ended up exchanging it for this grey marl version. My hair's looking quite Beetle-esque atm because I'm still growing out the tufts of damaged hair from my pink hair days so I need to wear it back alt time which is really annoying!! I'm working on my wardrobe atm trying to work in some basics that I seemed to have survived without for 21 years. I think this is the first ever outfit post where I'm actually wearing the outfit when the post goes up. 

Trends: Gothic Glamour.

I'm aware that I've not done many outfit posts or fashion-related posts recently. Obviously the erratic UK weather has had something to do with my waining interest in fashion atm, with me not knowing whether to wear cute dresses and sandals or jumpers and wellies from day-to-day. The other factor is the curse of SS trends; I often find them too colourful (see neon) or just too much (see pattern clash). Sorry to get all morbid and grey but my fashion excitement is being reignited with the emergence of AW12 clothes creeping into shops and online. I thought I'd try and do some sort of feature on fashion (maybe once a month or so) and focus on the offerings of one shop or website. So here goes...

Gothic Glamour:

[images from boohoo.com]

I guess some people would find AW trends repetitive but I feel that way about SS trends tbh. The 'Gothic' trend is one that crops up quite often and with it comes the lace, velvet and length- I mean high necks, long sleeves and long skirts. This season, the trend seems to have focused on crosses featuring as embellishment, patterns and in jewellery designs. I also love the clash between wearing heavy boots with floaty dresses and skirts. I recently bought some lilac patent faux Dr Martins from Primark and I can't wait to wear them with some long skirts and dresses. Obviously within the theatre of fashion week, gothic designs were teamed with heavy, dark makeup and this can be a bit too literal for everyday wear but I love teaming a dark smoky eye and berry lip with a simple black dress. I'm loving the whole look of the boohoo model for the trend: the blue streak in her hair; the ripped tights; the boots. Another good thing about this trend is that it seems to seal the presence of silver (not gold) jewellery with crosses, skulls and spikes likely to be in abundance. Obviously it's early days (still only being August) but boohoo already have some ace AW12 offerings. I'm loving the cross print leggings and the studded-collar shirt; but I've also got plenty of existing items in my wardrobe that fit the trend so I can make it my own as is fashion's want, so I've put together an outfit of my take on the trend...

Top- boohoo.com
Skirt- H&M
Ring- Topshop
Nails- No7 in Violetta

How will you be wearing the trend?