Penny Lane inspired look

If you have never seen Almost Famous then stop right now, find a copy, watch it, then return to this post. I must say it is one of my favourite films at the moment, mainly because it is set in the 70s. It has an amazing soundtrack, fantastic characters that are based on legendary people and the clothes they wear are to die for.

One of the main characters is Penny Lane… and I have been heavily inspired by her wardrobe. She is a free spirited, yet tortured groupie (or should I say ‘Band-Aid’) who is completely in love with the music scene and is going on tour with a band named Stillwater. Her character is portrayed by Kate Hudson and it has been said the part was written around the socialite and famous groupie Pamela Des Barres’ memoirs.

If you have seen the film you will understand how you instantly fall in love with her. She is extremely groovy, has great fashion and reflects the 70s how everyone seems to perceive it (I hope it was as good as it seemed!)

After studying the film and watching it countless times for one of my assignments, I think I have the Penny Lane requirements down to a T.

1. You need curly messy hair.
2. You must have circular sunglasses – preferably with a purple tinge.
3. You most certainly need an afghan style coat.
4. Your make up has to be minimalistic, but still there.
5. A bra is not required and you cannot forget your suede skirt.

If you consider all five of these points, then you are well on your way to pulling off this look.

Here are a couple of photos of myself trying out the 1970s, Penny Lane look. (Do forgive the photo quality – I’m now back at university and the lighting in my room is terrible!)

 

Let me know what you make of the film in the comments section below, and whether or not you think I did a good job.

Blogmas: Day twenty-two | Christmas nail polish

I very rarely paint my nails, I have no idea why… I just don’t pay that much attention to my hands. I think it could be a little bit OCD too as I hate it when they chip, but don’t have the energy/time/motivation to keep on top of them. So they always end up looking a mess. On top of this I have contact lenses and so can never grow my nails too long as it freaks me out a little bit to have long nails so close to my eyes!

However, at this time of the year I do make the effort. I think painting your nails is a fun and funky way to add to your outfit.

Today, being quite festive, I decided to paint my nails Green and Red! What better colours to paint your nails at this time of year? I decided to paint all of my nails red except the one next to my pinky – which I painted green. I love this look. It’s something that little bit different, adds a little bit more dimension to your nails, however is just as easy as painting them all one colour.

To do this I used my red Revlon nail polish (this I have had for years and still hasn’t gone gloopy – I’m impressed!) And for the green colour was in the make China Glaze. This is a little bit more up market and seems to last quite a long time without chipping – which is perfect for me. I just think the shades go really well together and are very Christmasy!

Each polish has a little bit of a glittery effect to them too which is really cute and makes them that little bit more fancy for Christmas time.

Let me know what you think of my nails and if you have painted yours for Christmas too.

Blogmas: Day twenty-one | Christmas Makeup Tutorial

Hellooo everyone! Party season has arrived and I thought that I would post up a quick and easy makeup tutorial for you to follow.

Step 1 and 2

Start with a completely clean fresh face. I used Clinique’s rinse off foaming cleanser mousse which completely strips your face of all oils, dirt and makeup. It is amazing, I wouldn’t know what to do without it! Then apply moisturiser if you have dry skin. I didn’t do this as I mousturise at night and then my foundation is quite oily and so in the mornings it is my moisturiser substitute.

Once you have prepped your face, apply your foundation and concealer. I have no idea which way round these are supposed to go, so if you know the proper way of doing this please let me know! However, I tend to put on my foundation first and then concealer on top. Here I used Clinique’s even better makeup SPF 15 evens and corrects foundation in the colour 04 Cream Chamois, and Clinique’s airbrush concealer in the shade 04 Natural Fair.

Step 3 and 4

I don’t contour that much but I do apply a little bit of bronzer where the sun would naturally shine on my face. I brush it onto my cheekbones, my jaw line and the side of my nose – if you don’t have a fringe you can put it on the sides of your forehead just below your hair line. This just adds a little bit of dimension to your face and gives it a natural glow. I use No7’s Perfectly Bronzed Dual Bronzer. As it is dual, there is a highlighter in the pack too which I use down the center of my nose (and my T zone… it also sets my foundation quite well too), my cheeks and my chin. I then apply Natural Collection’s Rosey Glow blushed cheeks blusher. This is my skin done! Now onto the eyes…

I think for a Christmas look, the eyes need to be quite natural with the eyeshadow, but a lot of emphasis with the eyeliner. Here I used a light brown on my lid and then a darker brown in the crease, just like contouring this is to give my eye some more dimension. Underneath my eye I applied a thin line of light blue eyeshadow. The camera doesn’t pick it up too well but I think it really goes well with brown shades and really brings out my eyes.

Step 5 and 6

I quickly coloured in my eyebrows with Gosh’s long lasting eyebrow pen in the colour 001 Dark Brown and then went onto applying eyeliner to my eyes. On the top lid, I went for a thin line in the corner of my eye and then made it go wider the further it went out. I drew on my wings quite small for a softer look, however if you want more of an intense eye the make your wing flick out bigger. The eyeliner I used was Seventeen’s Lacquer Liner wet look finish in black. I then used Natural Collection’s pencil Eye Lines black eyeliner for my waterline. I went right into the corner of my eyes in order to really frame them. After this I used my Soap and Glory thick and fast mascara in black.

Then I finished with what I think is the piece of resistance of the look. Bright red lips. I used Maybelline’s Pleasure me Red lip liner and filled in the rest of my lips with their Pleasure me Red (547) lipstick.

I really like this look, especially around Christmas. I think the red lipstick makes it warm and gives it a festive feel.

Please let me know what you think of this turorial and if you’d like to see other posts like this on my blog! If you recreate the look please let me know in the comments below. x

Blogmas: Day nine | Snowball Cocktail, Wonder Woman style

For me a Snowball is the ultimate Christmas cocktail. My parents are pros at making them so I got them to show me how to make my own when I went home the other weekend. Here are five easy steps on how to make your own Snowball.

What you will need:

Lime

Advocaat

Lemonade

Cherries

Cocktail Sticks

Whisk

Wonder Woman glass (Wonder Woman not optional)

 

Step 1:

Pour the lime juice up to the start of Wonder Woman’s whip. Yeeees, I am sorry but the measurements are going to be in Wonder Woman as I don’t know any other way!

Step 2:

Fill up the glass with Advocaat to Wonder Woman’s knees. (Wonder Woman measurements are now done!)

Step 3:

Take the lemonade and fill the glass to the brim – watch out, it does tend to bubble up a little bit!

Step 4: 

This is the most important part of making the cocktail. Grab a whisk (or a spoon) and stir the mixture together. Again, expect bubbles!!

Step 5:

Put some cherries on a cocktail stick and pop them on top of the glass.

And voila! Your very own Snowball cocktail.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you recreated the cocktail I would love to know how it went and if you liked it. Tell me in the comments below what your favourite Christmas drink is.

Three ways to rock a Suede Skirt

I have never really known what I’ve thought of these types of skirt. I love how they’re so retro and really give off a 70s vibe, but when I’ve seen them in the shops, I’ve never dared to try one on just because I’ve always thought they would be unflattering. Anyway! This weekend I went on a girly shopping spree around Leeds with my sister. As a joke, I thought I would put one of these skirts on just to see what it actually looked like. I was really shocked! It was a lor more flattering than I thought it would be. Because it is A Line it really brings you in at the waist and so, for me, doesn’t draw attention to my hips! I thought it was dead funky and so decided that I had to get it – especially with it being real suede and half price!

My next problem was what to wear with it. I’m not used to having lighter bottoms than the top part of my outfit, or anything fleshy coloured, so I’ve raided my wardrobe tonight and pulled out three looks to go on top that you can throw on with the skirt.

1.

Wear it with a black jumper teamed with a cute little white shirt underneath and some knee high black socks. I know this is very school girl, but I just think it works and makes a really cool (and warm!) looking outfit.

2.

Here I’ve put it with a vintage, over sized shirt. I just think that the colours go so well and with the shirt being slouchy it looks ultra comfy yet very stylish.

3.

As it is coming up to winter, some thick tights, Docs and a long, cosy scarf really really go well with the skirt. The shirt gives the outfit a smart look yet it is made a lot more casual with the big boots – who knows, maybe throw on a bobble hat too!

So there you have it, just some ways that I will most definitely be dressing this skirt. Let me know what you think of these outfits and show me what you put with your suede skirt too!

You can purchase the skirt from Miss Selfridge here.

Halloween | Dragon Fancy Dress

Happy Halloween Everyone!

I thought I would do a little post to show you what I will be going as tonight. Honestly, I have no idea why I chose this outfit but it is so fluffy and cute that I just couldn’t not get it.

You could wear this for any fancy dress party, it doesn’t just have to be for Halloween (to be fair, it’s not really that scary but it was under Halloween outfits on the website I found it so, I’m half way there).

I’ve purchased some glittery golden tights to go with it which makes my legs look scale-y and more like a dragon. For extra warmth, I’ve paired the dress with some bright green arm warmers which look really awesome.

For my makeup I have chosen to do this:

The inspiration came from a YouTube video which you can find here, but I kind of put my own twist to the look in order to tone it down a bit.

I’m super excited for Halloween this year! Let me know what you’re going as and what you make of this outfit.

Grey Smokey Eye

Just a quick post tonight, but I had to share this look with you!

I am loving playing around with my eye shadows at the moment. Every day I try something new, whether or not it’s a brand new colour, or a brand new design, I don’t know why I’m doing this… it’s just fun!

I’ve never done this before where you only put eye shadow on the corner of your eye and the crease… but it seems to have worked out really well! I absolutely love this look – and may be trying it gain sometime…

I hate it when it goes so perfect that it never looks as good when you recreate the look, BUT! I will give it a shot…

Let me know what you think of this look and if you’ve ever done something like this before too!

Blue Smokey Eyes

I have had so much trouble getting a picture of my eye makeup! You have no idea. My room at uni is really dark and so my camera isn’t that clear on picking out detail and colour… everything looks so bland. Anyway! I took these at Uni, their lighting is amazing and I can now show you what I have been LOVING at the minute!

I have been Netflix binging on Skins at the moment and noticed that the girls in there wear blue eye shadow quite a lot – especially Cassie. I’ve never really thought to wear blue eye shadow, but it looked so good and girly on them that I had to give it a go… And now I am obsessed.

The palette I used for this is the ‘Gold’ palette from Next. My friend got it me quite some time ago, and the blues have remained unused until now. I don’t think they still stock the exact Palette I have but you can recreate the look with this one HERE. Basically you just need a few different shades of blue and a whitey silvery colour.

I always apply my eye shadow with a brush now. Here I did one coat all over in the silvery colour to give the look a base, and then began to build up. I used a light blue on the center of my eyelid and blended it out to the corner gradually getting darker. This creates dimension to the eye. I then went in the crease with the dark blue to contour, and blended it up and out until there was a natural smokey effect.

Then to finish off the look, I got a dark purple and went under my eyes to outline them, before putting on my eyeliner and mascara. (I added my blue hat to bring them out more!)

Honestly, this is my first attempt at using blue eye shadow so it was all a bit of an experiment and me just messing around this morning. Let me know what you think of the look! I think it is quite pretty and will hopefully be using blue eye shadow again.

I would love to know if you use blues when doing your makeup and how you use them! I’m always open for trying new ideas 🙂

Hair Texturing Liquid Powder | Review

I’ve recently just had my hair cut into a kind of new choppy style. I decided to get my full fringe put back in but have it cut into so it’s more layered. Before having it chopped I thought it looked very much like two separate styles (with having a pixie cut on one side and still keeping it long on the other) but since going to the hairdressers I feel that it finally looks like one hair style, making me fall back in love with my hair!

Normally my hair is really shiny and sleek and also dead straight which means it’s hard to get any natural texture or lift to it. However, I have been introduced to this amazing liquid powder which gives my hair so much body and volume it is insane.

It’s called Bamboo Style Texturizing Body Boost Volumizing Liquid Powder (a bit of a mouthful I know…) but it actually is awesome.

When I first purchased it I was a bit unsure as to how my hair would look after applying the powder. I’ve had many dry shampoo faux pas before where my hair has been left with one long white streak or my ears have turned brown from the dyes. But this did nothing of the sort. The powder itself is translucent and so leaves no trail of where it has been. I did notice that my hair looked half a shade lighter but that’s probably because I have quite dark hair as it is and so didn’t bother me too much.

When applying the powder you have to put it in your roots, then massage it in to make it work. A word of warning – don’t put too much in otherwise your hair goes crazily big and you end up feeling like Sideshow Bob, or Simba’s mane at the end of Hakuna Matata.

Once you have the volume you want you can then just shape your hair as to how you like it and it’s ready for the day. It is like dry shampoo so it does make my hair feel quite dry and it acts in the same kind of way where it makes your hair look cleaner, however it gives so much more volume and texture to your hair than dry shampoo does and holds it in place all day.

I love this product. It is a little bit pricey but you definitely get what you pay for. And I feel as though a little bottle would last a lifetime.

It’s in the sale on amazon at the moment HERE if you’re interested in trying it out..

My hair with it on x

 

Hair decoration ideas

I have this problem where I never know what to do with my hair.

It has gone through many stages:

I’ve had it in a bob, however I got bored because I couldn’t really do anything with it and so decided to grow my hair.

It grew to a certain stage where I looked very much like Miss Hoolie from Balamory and so wanted to chop it all off again. However I persevered and managed to get my hair a a reasonably long length.

I was really happy with it but found that with having busy and rushed mornings, I never had the time to do anything with it. I rarely put my hair up, I didn’t dye it any crazy colours and so again, I became bored.

This led me to chopping one side off, sporting the half pixie cut half long hair look. I absolutely love this hairstyle, but a part of me wishes that it was back long on both sides again.

Therefore I have come up with a few ways to spice back up my hair and give it some life again!

It’s really simple and anyone with long hair (or even short I guess) can pull this off.

I want to call it the ‘raid your house’ look. This is all I did. I went around my bedroom and found a few items that had no use and so I decided to put in my hair.

I found an old bit of material, I don’t really know why I bought this, it has been sitting in one of my draws for a very long time, but I have finally found something to do with it! I folded it in half and hooked it around a section of my hair pulling it tight so it sat firmly at the top of the section. Then with the two pieces hanging down I braided it with the strand of hair. It is so easy and yet so effective.

I’ve had a hand-me-down off my sister for a while. It is a bracelet that’s really colourful with bells hanging from it. When she offered it to me I couldn’t refuse and was surprised that she was throwing it out. However, when coming to put it on my wrist it was too big and just kept falling off. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t part with it that quickly and so it has just been sitting in my make-up draw for a few years. I came across it when hunting for something to go in my hair. It was the perfect length and size and so again, I braided it in.

I’m definitely going to be experimenting with this. Maybe next time I’ll add a few beads, or even some feathers.

I love this effect. It adds colour and dimension to your hair and gives your style a summery boho look.

If you’ve given this a go, I’d love to see your finish looks or for you to share some ideas of what I can decorate my hair with!

❤