Zara and Glamour

After a brief hiatus, I’m back in love with Zara.  Zara is full of great knitwear at the moment and I found this lovely knitted cream jumper with pearl buttons:

Cream Jumper - Zara - £25.99

It also comes in black:

Although I liked both, I decided to go for the cream which felt much more cosy and log cabinish, yes that is an adjective :)

Away from the knits, I chose this stripey top, which will look great layered and with leggings.  It comes in a few colours and I chose navy. 

Striped Top - Zara - £7.99

A little less interestingly, I also picked up two grey tops, a long sleeve and a vest, for layering purposes you understand:

Grey Top - Zara - £9.99

Grey Vest - River Island - £5.99

Also look out for this month’s Glamour magazine with a free Nails Inc. polish.  As I've subscribed to Glamour I received Jermyn Street, so keep a look out at what colours are available! 

Jermyn Street - 'Greige' - Soft Taupe

OPI

Ok ok I’m over the natural nails.  I know that was short lived, but that’s because I’ve discovered OPI’s new collection, ‘Burlesque’!  The discovery was courtesy of Lorraine Stanick’s (thecurrentcustom) ‘Rising Star’ and ‘Bring on the Bling’ mix she was wearing in her latest video.  I went for the ‘Little Teasers’ set which comes with....

Rising Star:

Lustrous glimmering gold

Take the Stage:

A warm orange spotlight shimmer

The Show Must Go On!

Deep pink shimmer

Ali's Big Break:

Glowing red shimmer

I love the little OPI collections, mainly cause I’m just a sucker for miniature versions but also because I can never seem to choose between colours.  So yes not only is ‘Burlesque’ shaping up to be the perfect re-introduction to Autumn/Winter colours, they’re sparkly! I mean what more could you want?

In other news, I got my camel duffle coat!  I admit I did have to concede on the petite, but managed to track down a smaller size and am now officially content :)

What I'm Loving

Plaid shirts:
When it comes to Autumn/Winter, I’m always loving plaid shirts, they’re just so versatile.

Grey Skinny Check Shirt - Topshop - £28

They can be worn casually with jeans and boots, or oversize with a belt and leggings, with the sleeves long, sleeves rolled up, with a big cardigan, tucked in, loose, layered...the list goes on.

Hair accessories:

I don’t often wear anything in my hair, usually opting for just straight or curly.  However I’ve recently been loving two hairbands I picked up in Accessorize.  This headband I found is quite quirky and for some reason came through the till at £3 which has made me love it all the more! 

Woodland Feather Statement Alice Band - Accessorize - £3

It looks lovely on light brown hair and reminds me of Autumn and the countryside.

The other is this black beaded bando:

20's Beaded Bando - Accessorize - £8

This can look both formal and casual and adds sparkle to an outfit.

Revlon Colorstay foundation:
This foundation provides great coverage and really does stay.

Revlon Colorstay Foundation - Boots - £11.99

Currently I’m mixing two shades, Ivory and Buff, which has been working very well with my skintone.  However as many others have mentioned, the lack of a pump can be quite a pain and this is only made worse when attempting to mix shades!

Natural nails:

Sally Hansen nailgrowth miracle - Boots - £9.45

I usually love painting my nails, but having left the summer brights behind, I don’t feel quite ready to embrace the darker shades of Autumn/Winter, so am currently staying natural.  I’ve been using one coat of Sally Hansen ‘nailgrowth miracle’ every other day, and although not sure I have encountered miracles there certainly hasn’t been any breakages.

So that’s it, my little round up of what I’m loving at the moment, how about you?

Winter Coats

I’m disappointed.  I thought I had found my perfect winter coat after discovering the duffle coats currently lining the Topshop shelves.  I’ve always loved duffle coats, yet never owned one and these looked ideal and came in a number of colours:

Black

Camel

Navy

Petrol

Red

However what really caught my eye was the camel.  As camel is definitely in this season I thought it would be perfect to combine the simple style with an on trend colour.  Now my local Topshop only had one size left, but I did not fear as I knew I could simply order online.  However when trying on the different colours I soon discovered I needed a petite.  I quickly rushed up to the counter and enquired after my beautiful coat, but no, the camel duffle doesn’t come in petite!  Not only this but the camel in the normal range has now sold out completely online!


So I’m now left with two choices, a red that makes me look just a little bit too much like little red riding hood, or black, and I already own a black coat.  At the moment I still can’t seem to break away from my desired camel duffle, so I’m just holding out a little while longer in the hope of a miracle.  Come on Topshop don’t let me down!

A Lush Christmas

Pre-November I have an aversion to anything remotely Christmassy.  Each year I’m amazed at the early arrival of Christmas items in the shops and tend to ignore their presence until at least November, spouting disapproval at my friends, as they begin to stock up.  However I am officially now a traitor, as I am in possession of my first Christmassy item at it’s only early October.  Now what would make me break my anti-Christmas pre-November vow?  Why Lush of course!

Lush recently opened a new store close to where I live and, loving Lush as I do, I obviously went in for a perusal.  I hadn’t been in Lush for a while so was excited to see what was new.  My first purchase (not in the Christmas line) was ‘Mrs Whippy’ bath ballistic.

Mrs Whippy - £2.50

I was immediately attracted to its similarity in appearance to ice cream and a cupcake!  It is described as a ‘strawberry ice cream skin-softener’ with soya milk in the middle to create a milky and soft bath.  

Secondly I chose ‘Li'l Lush Pud’, a fizzy figgy pudding!   

Li'l Lush Pud - £1.95

Despite not actually liking Christmas pudding I loved the scent of powdered lemon peel and clove which adds ‘sweetness and spice’.  The ballistic is made with aloe vera to ‘nurture dry or rough skin’.

I thought best to go for just one Christmas product at a time, however there’s lots more I’d like to try, especially:

Candy Cane bubble bar:

Candy Cane Bubble Bar - £2.35

Cinders:

Cinders - £1.95

And of course, Satsumo Santa!

Satsumo Santa - £2.90

Maybe nearer December though!  Has anyone else delved into the Lush Christmas goodies yet?

Details and images from http://www.lush.co.uk/index.php

Etsy

Look what arrived!!  Recently I created my first ever Etsy order, courtesy of a recommendation of Classicdesigns by Lollipop26.  I love Lollipop26’s blogs and youtube videos, so I promptly had a browse through Classicdesigns necklaces.  Here I found this beautiful little necklace...

I immediately loved it.  I’d never been one to mix silver and gold jewellery but the little star on the silver disc looked perfect together.  But the thing that really sold me was the initial.  I’m a fan of anything with initials (as my scrabble necklace shows!), so I knew I had to have it.  Theresa Mink (creator of Classicdesigns) is from the USA, but luckily postage was reasonable to the UK (£3.25) and I crossed my fingers for no customs charges, which there weren’t.  Mine took just over 2 weeks to arrive which was not bad at all, considering it was also personalized.

It is a very delicate necklace, so I’d make sure you check out the sizing before ordering to make sure you’re not disappointed.  I love small necklaces, so this one is perfect for me, so much so that I don’t intend to take it off!