Outfit: Red and Stripes

I could have saved a pair of shoes yesterday, but I’m in two minds about whether or not to keep them. I like how they look but they’re not that comfy on and I’m just not sure. The shoes in question are these turquoise peep toes.

They’re the only peep toe heels I have and I love the colour, but I just don’t know. Due to the nature of my job yesterday I didn’t end up wearing them for very long as I had loads of deliveries to collect and sort so I switched to the flat shoes I keep under my desk. Perhaps I’ll wear them again next week and decide then whether to save them or ditch them.

I was really warm most of yesterday (I know, not like me at all) so I picked out a vest top and shrug to wear today. The vest is from M&S and I have the same one in navy. It’s a great top as the straps are wide (no danger of flashing your bra) and the front is high (no danger of flashing anything). I would have bought more colours but they’d sold out of my size.

Red shrug – New Look Tall
Red tank – M&S
Grey and cream stripe trousers – Forever 21
Red and black suede flats – Jones Bootmaker (sale)
Beads – Scope
Silver hoops – gifted

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Outfit: Spots, Stripes and Neutral Wedges

Happy Monday everyone! Did you all have a good weekend? I spent mine watching people race around Knaresborough pushing beds, eating out and celebrating Father’s Day with my sister, niece and parents. It was grand.

Today’s outfit is quite similar to my one from last week. I thought it would be fun to pair the stripes with the spots though. I added a few red accessories and wore my tan wedges again as it was dry.

Black and white stripe shirt – Next (sale)
Black white spot skirt – New Look (charity shop)
Tan wedges – Next
Red beads – eBay
Red bangles – Primark
Wood bangles – Dorothy Perkins
Silver hoops – gifted

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Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2013/14 Save 80 | Red and White Spots

As ever at this stage of the shoe challenge I have saved more pairs of shoes than I actually have. My current list stands at 76 pair but as you can see from the post title, this is the 80th pair I’ve saved. I went on a bit of an eBay selling spree just after Christmas and sold several pairs that I’d already saved so that explains the discrepancy. And I’ve still got another six pairs to save.

Thursday’s shoes are from Next and were bought two or three summers ago when I was out with my sister. They are super comfy despite the height, and they would have been worn before now had we had the weather. Now that the good weather is here they are likely to earn their keep in my closet. They are not leather but I think they were only about £25. I think they came in red and yellow patent colour options too.

The rest of the outfit is stolen from a picture Kendi posted on her blog yesterday. She commented about the contrast between the menswear shirt and the girliness of the skirt. I knew I had the items to replicate such an outfit and it was perfect for a warm sunny day.

White shirt – Long Tall Sally (bought with voucher)
White top – Zara
Red and white spot skirt – New Look Tall (sale)
Tan wedges – Next
Wood heart necklace – Scope
Wood bangles – Dorothy Perkins
Tan leather belt – River Island
Silver hoops – gifted

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Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2013/14 Save 79 | Striped Dress, Blue Accessories

Just some quick mirror snaps that I am obliged to post because I saved another pair of shoes! These lovely blue pointy flats are from Priceless Shoes and were bought many Christmases ago as I needed a pair of dressy flats for an event. I loved these so much that I got them in purple too. I took the opportunity to save these on Wednesday when it was bright and dry (fabric shoes and rain do not mix). I just need another fine day now to save the purple pair!

This dress was bought in a charity shop and every time I put it on I marvel at how well it fits me. There is nothing on the label other than the size and washing instructions so I don’t know whether it was a sample, a reject because the stripes don’t line up at the sides, or what. Whatever, I am just glad I found it and it only cost me a fiver.

I have seven more pairs of shoes to save in the challenge now – it turned out that Tuesday’s wedges were missing from my list so they did nothing to reduce it. Gah.

Blue cardi – Next Tall (eBay)
Black and cream stripe dress – charity shop
Blue fabric flats – Priceless Shoes
Blue necklace – Primark
Silver hoops – gifted
Blue bangle – Diamonds and Pearls
Black and silver studded belt – free with some trousers

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Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2013/14 Save 78 | Insane Red Wedges

I lay the blame for my purchase of these wedges squarely at the feet of Amber. She has the same ones and talked so much about how comfortable they were that I had to go and try them for myself. And she was right. They are comfortable. I’m just sad that they’re made of canvas so I can’t wear them more often as we don’t get the weather. However, the shoes are from River Island and they are so high that I feel small when I take them off.

It was a lovely day on Tuesday when I wore this outfit. I definitely wouldn’t have needed the long sleeve top had I not been at work, but the air conditioning drops to Arctic levels in the afternoons so I was definitely glad of the extra coverage.

Red and white stripe top – Kew 159 (John Lewis)
Grey trousers – Gap (charity shop)
Red wedges – River Island
Silver hoops – gifted
Silver and diamante necklace – gifted

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How To Apply Make Up When You Wear Glasses

I am blind. Blind as a bat. Blind as in a -10 prescription for short sight. Which, if you know anything about short sight, you will know is high.  But that doesn't stop me wearing make up.  However, applying it when you can't really see what you're doing can be tricky.  Here are a few tips.

On days when I'm wearing my glasses I tend to wear less make up than if I've got my contact lenses in.  This is partly because it's probably a work day and I'm short on time, but also because my glasses are already accessorising my face so I feel like I don't need as much make up.

Foundation
I tend to just go in blind and apply my foundation using touch alone, and then put my glasses on and smooth out any patches that are not properly blended when I can see what I'm doing.

Eyebrows
As long as your glasses don't cover your eyebrows there's no reason you can't fill in your brows with your glasses on.

Eye shadow and liner
Sample sizes and miniatures are you friend here - both products and brushes.  I mentioned the Urban Decay 24/7 liner pencils a couple of weeks ago and these are great because they come in a set of 5 shorter pencils as well as the full sized ones.  I can only see things clearly without my glasses if the thing is a few centimetres from my face, so the closer I can get to the mirror the better.  Sometimes my forehead touches the mirror when I'm applying my eye liner!  I also have a set of small brushes from Boots No7 which are great for getting closer to the mirror.

Mascara
I tend to skip mascara when I'm wearing my glasses as I find my lashes can catch on my lenses leaving stripes of mascara down them, but if you do want to apply it then again a sample size will give you a short brush handle with a full sized spoolie end.  I have quite a collection of sample size mascaras which have been part of a gift with purchase from the higher end brands, such as Estee Lauder and Clinique.

Blush
I just put my glasses back on and apply my blusher as usual.  My frames are quite small so I don't find they get in the way.

This Week...

This week's post is in praise of my cell phone.  It could be subtitled the Tale of the Telephone and the Toilet.  Here's why.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone and I love it.  It does everything you would want a smartphone to do, is easy to use and has a pretty good camera too.  Last week though it very nearly met its end when it fell in a toilet.  (In my defence, I didn't actually drop it: it fell out of my pocket.)  It got wet.  There was a crackling sound and then the screen went dead.  On impulse I ran it under the tap for a few seconds (it had just been in a toilet.  Hygiene people) which probably didn't help it any.

I took the batter, sim card and memory card out and put all the bits in a tub of rice, as instructed by the internet.  (Actually, first I had to go to the shop and buy some rice as I was at my sister's house and she only has microwave rice.)  And I waited.  Whilst I was waiting I got out my old Nokia phone and used that for a a day or two but the speaker in it no longer works so it doesn't ring and therefore isn't a lot of use as a phone!

After 24 hours I reassembled my phone.  It turned on.  It booted up.  So far so good.  But the touch screen refused to respond.  By the afternoon it had turned itself off and wouldn't boot up again.  I put it back in the rice, priced up a replacement and braced myself for the cost.  The following day I decided to put the battery back in just to see what would happen.  It turned on.  It booted up.  The screen worked!  By early afternoon it was still working so I put my sim card back in it and it has been working ever since (touch wood).

So, the lesson from today's tale is this: keep your smartphone away from water.  And toilets.  But if it does get wet, the rice trick can work.  Just give it two days.

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Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2013/14 Save 77 | How To Dress Up Distressed Jeans

Three shoe saves in a week! Who am I?! If I can keep this pace up (I can’t) I will be done in 3 weeks time as I only have 8 pairs left to save. This silver pair are by Esprit and came c/o Sarenza last year. I chose them as I needed to replace my previous silver heels which got trashed when I fell on black ice the winter before and scraped all the backs of the heels. To me, silver heels are a closet staple so I am pleased to still have a pair in my collection.

It is entirely possible to dress up distressed jeans, simply by adding a blazer and heels. Although I suppose you could argue that the distressed jeans casualise (totally a word!) the blazer and heels. I kept the rest of the ensemble casual and neutral with this neon printed tank top and silver jewellery.

I tried something different with my hair today. I tipped my head upside down and sprayed hairspray into the roots, in an attempt to get some volume. I think it kind of works and it gives it some texture and a bit of a messy look too.

Anyway, have a great weekend everyone (it’s forecast to rain here: boo) and I’ll see you next week.

Orange/coral blazer – c/o T M Lewin
Grey tank – DC Shoes Co (c/o Spartoo)
Jeans – H&M (gifted)
Silver shoes – Esprit (c/o Sarenza)
Silver cuff – M&S (free on 3 for 2)
Silver necklace – Primark
Silver hoops – gifted

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Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2013/14 Save 76 | Blue

This is the dress I was going to wear on Tuesday, but didn’t. It was still wet and rainy on Wednesday morning, but I guess I was in more of a dress mood so went with it. I also managed to save another pair of shoes, albeit not a pair suited to the rain.

These shoes were bought in the Debenhams sale several years ago now. They are by Nine West which is one of my favourite brands. They’re pretty comfy thanks to the fairly low heel, the strap and the little layer of padding under the ball of the foot. They are definitely summer shoes with their pale pink, almost nude, colour and their many, many cut outs.

The dress was purchased from a charity shop because I love the colour and I took a pair of scissors to the hem for a DIY shortening job.

Blue cardi – Ethel Austin
Blue dress – Wallis (charity shop)
White tank – Zara (sale)
Pink shoes – Nine West (Debenhams, sale)
Blue necklace – New Look (sale)
Silver hoops – gifted
Blue bangle – Diamonds and Pearls

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Outfit: Shoeper Challenge 2013/14 Save 75 | Neutrals on Tuesday

I had a dress all picked out to wear today, but then when I got up it was raining and I remembered how cold the air conditioning was at work yesterday, and went for pants instead. I’ll save the dress for tomorrow.

I am very aware that I need to crack on with the shoe saving and so I wore a pair today that are yet to be saved. They were a gift from the lovely people at Fuel Your Fashion Online either last summer or the summer before, and they are made of real leather. The built up heel and strap make them sturdier than most flat shoes and they are perfect for summer as they are a lovely nude colour. They are not so perfect for the rain, but as I didn’t really have to go outside much today it was OK.

Brown top – H&M
Grey and cream stripe trousers – Forever 21
Nude shoes – Marco Tozzi (c/o Fuel Your Fashion Online)
Leopard print scarf – H&M
Silver hoops – gifted
Wood heart necklace – Scope

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This Week...

So this follows on from my Made In Chelsea guilty pleasure confession a couple of weeks ago: this week I have been reading ‘Being Binky’, Binky Felstead’s new book, and I’m really rather enjoying it. It’s kind of an autobiography, which is ridiculous at the age of 23 or whatever she is, but I think she had a ghost writer so does that make it a biography really? Whatever, it’s currently on my Kindle app and I’ve been reading it every chance I’ve got for the past three days.

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