It's that time of year when I actually have to do my annual after dark outing. You will normally find me either in some kind of very fetching loungewear/pj's, or jeans and a jumper. I do feel the cold quite a bit after all my operations, so nearly always wear thermals under everything I wear. Even tights. I am done with the weekly preening before a night out and prefer to stay in with the heating on above anything else.


I picked up my christmas party outfit from H&M last Saturday, sonsisting of a sleeveless black polo neck top and a gold/rose gold/ silver sequin mid fitted skirt. As soon as I tried it on, I felt like christmas! Will definitely still need fat pants though...

During the summer I found myself reaching for fake tan, which I have never really been a fan of until this year. I think I actually repel the sun because I'm so pale. I have tried Fake Bake and St Tropez, but found it hard to apply and also to repurchase as those particular brands aren't very affordable. I was having a mooch around B&M one weekday afternoon, when I spotted St Moriz self tan and decided £2.99 was a decent enough price to try it out.


These are the steps I always follow when applying my fake tan:

1. Exfoliate. Very important! Dont forget to do heels, elbows and every inch of skin you want to apply your tan to. It will give you a much smoother application and less chance of patchyness. I favour Soap and Glorys Breakfast scrub. It smells delish, the grains are the perfect size and has just the right amount of oil.  
2. Shave. Make sure you use a fresh blade, to ensure you get the closest shave. Giving a flawless finish. (If I have time, I prefer to do this in the bath, as the warm water opens your pores making it a better shave). Just personal preference. 
3. Moisturise. This is also a very important step. I use a thin consistency all over my body, then always put a little more on my areas prone to dryness, such as knees and elbows. 
4.  Apply fake tan. I have tried a couple of different applicator mitts, but have found their own brand to give the best finish.

 I don't have a particular routine when it comes to where to start applying. Sometimes I start with legs (this seems the most logical), then work up my body. For instance, on my legs I will take 1 pump directly onto the mitt and squish my hand to spread the product out evenly. On legs they (St Moriz) recommend applying in clockwise circular motions from the thigh downwards. Not forgetting to blend out the edges. For arms, I use downward strokes toward my hand. 1 Pump will be more than enough for each arm. It's always best to do it little by little, instead of going in all guns blazing and ending up orange. I leave hands and feet till the end, making sure there is minimal product on the mitt, helping reduce streakiness and orange knuckles. Just skim it quickly back and forth a couple of times over these areas and your done! Once you've finished, let the tan dry completely before you get dressed so the colour doesn't transfer to your clothes. I have a loose fitting black dress thing, loose black pants and a black sports bra thing that I use

Apply before bed and wake up to a beautiful bronzed you. I didn't know that even after a couple of showers, it will come off on your towels. So make sure you use dark colours, or an old one and not make the mistake of ruining nice white towels like me...


What's your favourite fake tan? St Moriz is available here in the shade medium from boots. But I would recommend having a check in a B&M near you, as they nearly always have it in stock.

Thank you for reading!

Just a quick impromptu post, as I've ventured completely out of my comfort zone and dyed my hair something other than blonde! Can you believe it? I mentioned it to my hairdresser Kim and after much deliberation, I said sod it and booked an appointment.




















This is what my hair looked like before we started. When styled, it looked pretty good. I had an easy to manage ombré look going on. It was quite warm in tone, so we knew it would be a pain in the bum to get what I wanted.
 


i had my appointment booked for exactly a week later. She used a silver coloured toner mixed with a violet one, hoping this would get rid of those pesky warm colours. I believe sh left it on for around 20ish minutes. This is what I ended up with (pics below). Kim did say not to worry about how dark it was when she first rinsed it, as the colour would fade quickly as I washed it. These photos were taken straight after colour application and it's not so purple in real life as it appears in these pics. Although it wasn't exactly what I was going for, I ended up with something that I would never have the guts to go for if it hadn't happened by accident. So thanks to Kim for that!



I do think that it will be a lot more upkeep than my previous colour.  also noticed that with the bleaching, my hair has taken quite a bit of a battering, so I make sure to use hair masks, heat protecter and oil every so often to help repair the damage. If you would like to see an updated post, please let me know in the comments and I'll give it a go.

Apologise for the lack of colour info in this post. I have asked Kim to let me know the specific colours used, but she unfortunately hasn't got back to me at the time of writing.. But if you have any questions, please leave me a comment or ask me on twitter and I will do my best to answer.

As always, thank you so much for reading! Let me know your colour experiences!

Can we first talk about dust? Where the hell does it come from so fast? I had dusted prior to taking these pics.... #bloggerproblems

Now that I've cleared that up, lets talk about Nars Luminous Weightlous Foundation . I was in London when this was first released, so trotted down to Selfridges and got it slapped on my face. I decided not to invest there and then, I wanted to see how it faired throughout the day. I was honestly disappointed... It clung to my dry patches, oxidised and went extremely patchy. Not what I expected from such a hyped up product.

However, recently I gave this another go. My friends sister is as much of a makeup fanatic as me. She happened to have this, I tried it and to my surprise, I loved it! It sat beautifully on my skin, didn't oxidise and generally made me look less ill than I was. (I had sinusitis at the time). When I got home, I decided it was time.



In my opinion, it is a little more forgiving on people with normal to oily skin, rather than those with dry patches. Nothing that a good moisturiser can't sort. You can pick this up here  from Look Fantastic for £32. For me, the hardest part of choosing a foundation is choosing the correct shade. Especially as not everyone lives in or near London (as the cosmetic industry seems to believe we do).

Thanken you for reading! I really appreciate it.


This is not a sponsored post and all PR samples will be marked with an asterisk (*)

Everytime I go into the City, I always plan on going into Topshop to pick up some of their makeup offerings. But, it's normally the last place on my list, so by the time I get there, I've already spent all my money on other stuff I really don't need. This time, I did it! I didn't succumb to the lure of other shops. So yay to me!


I have massively been loving bronzers, highlights and liner lately. That's exactly what I got. There are 2 shades in total - Mohawk and Salute, the darker, warmer of the two. Being so pale, I opted for the lighter of the two and it's is the perfect shade of brown without being to orange. I really like the matte black packaging of this bronzer and there are kind of shiny lines that look like stickers, but aren't. I checked. It blends really well and isn't dusty at all, so won't fly everywhere when your swirling your brush around in the pan. The Topshop bronzer is available for £9 here.




Star buy of the day has to go to their highlight in Horizon. I was having a bad photo day, so the pic doesn't do it any justice. It is really smooth when swatched and glides onto the skin beautifully, giving a lovely, subtle glow. This reminds me of Mac's Soft & Gentle and is a steal at just £10 available here. The packaging is in my opinion not really anything special, though does it's job just as well.

I will definitely be popping into Topshop to try out some more of their makeup very soon. What are your recommendations?















This is not a sponsored post and all PR samples will be marked with an asterisk (*)