EOTD

Hello,

It's snowed again! Yesterday I was at work saying to my colleague 'Oh whatever, it's not going to snow' then suddenly huge cotton wool ball sized snow flakes flew down. And then again today. The problem is that none of the roads have been gritted around here so it's like an ice rink. Not fab.

I went to the German market in Birmingham for the first time this week with some old friends from uni and had such a fun time. I had mulled wine, a 'red sausage' (it's meant to be the best so I've been told) and some little pancakes with Nutella. It was freezing but really put me in the Christmas mood.

I wore one of my favourite eyeshadow combos using Urban Decay's Naked Pallete for my EOTD:


- Sin e/s all over the lid
- Toasted e/s on the crease
- Darkhorse e/s in the outer corner blended up to the browbone and under the eye
- Virgin e/s in the inner corner

The effect is a daytime smokey eye which goes fab with MAC's Viva Gaga lipstick and MAC's Melba blush.


I hope you're all keeping warm and have a fab weekend.

Naomi
xx

Where Have I Been?

Hello everyone,

I've been off the radar for a few weeks recently because I've been really busy at work and that's the only place I can post blogs :( We have to prepare all the new marketing materials for the start of January so December is always busy which is rubbish! So, I thought I'd let you know what I've been up to the past couple of weeks.

I had a work Christmas meal a couple of weeks ago at a place called the Crazy Bear which is amazing. The decor is out of this world. It's very modern but almost a bit kinky but in a good way; think cream padded walls decorated with diamantes, fur and feathers, chaise longues embellished with gold and upholstered in leopard print. The loos are mirrored so you almost get lost in there and you can see straight through to the mens'! Here are some photos from the website.

We had our meal in this booth:


The lavish bar:


And one of the crazy bedrooms (we didn't stay though):


I'd booked the day after off work to do my Christmas shopping and buy my own very first Christmas tree. So, here are a couple of photos of my tree but minus a fairy because I'm still trying to find the right one:



Then, on the Saturday my mum and I went to the ballet to see Cinderella. We go most years and normally see the Nutcracker but it was Cinders turn this year. The ballet was beautiful. The direction was brilliant and the sets were amazing. I had such a good evening and it's really lovely for my mum and I to do girly things together :)



I went to my boyfriend's work ball last weekend which was in a beautiful hotel in the Cotswolds. We had a three course meal, followed by awards and then a disco so we had lots of fun. Luckily, we were staying in the hotel so we just flopped up to the room when we'd had too much booze! I wore a black lacy dress by Ghost which has an asymmetric hem in a flamenco dress style. I tried to get my boyf to take a photo when we got back to the hotel room but someone had had a bit too much 'fizzy pop' and took a crap blurry one! So here's a dodgy 'posing for the camera' shot that I took:



And then I had my boyfriend's mum' birthday lunch the following day! So, that's what I've been up to and with all that and work, it's been a bit crazy but I think December's always are!

Have you been to lots of Christmas parties? Are you ready for the big day?

Naomi
xx

So not a fan..

...of this:

It's a new range of body lotions by Vaseline called Sheer Infusion with Stratys-3 (yep I have no idea what that is either. It sounds like a type of cloud). The idea is the lotion sinks into the deeper layers of the skin, rather than sitting on the surface, to provide ultimate moisturisation.

So the pros are that the packaging is visually appealing in my bathroom and the texture of the lotion is light but yet enough to make your skin feel thoroughly moisturised without feeling sticky.

The huge con is that when I apply the Vitamin Burst lotion, which has a pleasant orangey scent in the bottle, the scent on my skin changes to what I can only describe as a sweaty gym kit which has been left around for a few days to fester. Not pleasant at all, especially when you have clean sheets on the bed and all you can smell is musty old sweaty damp that you find out is emanating from yourself! :(

Now, I don't know whether this is just a problem with me or perhaps it's because I wear fake tan but I've never had this problem with any other moisturiser. Rubbish.

Anyway, if you do fancy giving this a try (although I'm certainly not recommending it) then it's currently on offer in Sainos (Sainsburys) for £2.49 (save 50%).

However, I can recommend any of the moisturisers in the Vaseline Intensive Care range especially the one with cocoa butter.

I hope you're all ok and enjoying the snow. It seems the Midlands is the only place to have had about 2cm instead of the 10ft everywhere else has had! I do love how snow can make the most unattractive scene look beautifully picturesque. Here's a little photo from my work window:


Naomi
xx

Pretty In Pink

Whilst perusing the net for a suitable client Christmas night out dress, I found this gorgeous one from French Connection:


I do think £140 is a lot to pay so I'll probs wait until the sale when it'll be about half the price but it is amazing.

I love pink and love how girly the dress is. It reminds me of Baby's dress in Dirty Dancing because it's so swishy and swirly at the bottom. It's like a princess dress.

I think this would look cute with either matching pink or silver platform shoes and a few diamond (I wish)/diamonte accessories.

What do you think? Do you have a fab Christmas party dress for this year or a timeless piece you can wear over and over?

Naomi
xx

Sharing The Wealth

Hello,

I received an email newsletter from the Bull Ring in Birmingham and saw there was a click through about Illasmasqua and acheiving the perfect false eyelash look. I've never used Illasmasqua or even tried any of their products as I haven't ever seen them in the shops nearby. Rubbish! Although I've probs not looked hard enough.

Anyway, getting back to what I'm rambling on about, the page the click through went to is brilliant. I'm sure all of you know how to apply falsies but this is a step by step guide with photos including tips such as breaking the spine of your lashes (the falsies, not your own!) so the ends don't pop up which I never knew about.

So, I'm sharing the wealth if you fancy taking a look http://www.browsebullring.co.uk/news/perfect-eyelashes-from-illamasqua/

I hope you're having a fab day. So glad the fog has cleared but it's freezing! I've had the heater on all day.

Naomi
xx

P.S So excited by the arrival of Forever 21 in the Bull Ring. Fi-n-ally!

Oh No!

I feel so sorry for WAG Alex Gerrard/Curran (wife of Liverpool FC player Steven Gerrard)who was papped with her hair extensions on full show. An unfortunate gust of wind blew her own hair up to reveal the wefts. I really empathise with her because whenever I wear my extensions, I always worry people can see the clips! (Photos from www.dailymail.co.uk)


I hope you all have fab weekends! I'm getting my hair done - I hate the week before you get your hair done because I always find I have the worse bad hair days :( Bring on sitting back, relaxing and reading some trashy mags whilst my hair is cooking.

Naomi
xx

Commenting

I've had an email from one of my followers saying they're unable to posts comment. I have no idea why this is the case and I'm just thankful they emailed me to let me know!

So, if you've tried to comment recently and were unable to, please could you drop me a quick email on pintsizedconfessions@hotmail.com just so I can see if this is affecting everyone?

Huge thanks!!!
Naomi
xx

Rocky Horror Show

Last weekend, myself and a few friends went to see the Rocky Horror Show. I had no idea what I'd let myself in for until about 4 hours before the show when I decided I should probably watch some of the DVD. I saw about 20 minutes and deduced that the show is incredibly bizarre. But I thought I'd have a glass or two of vino and just go along with it.

For those that haven't seen the film or the show, the general jist is that a rather prude and plain couple stumble upon a strange party hosted by a transvestite male dressed in corset, suspenders and a full face of make up. The transvestite 'creates' Rocky, the perfect man before he gets up to all manner of sexual liasons with the prudish couple. I know, it all sounds rather odd.

It's tradition for those that see the show to dress up. And anything goes; men dressed as women, woman dressed like sluts (I mean that in a nice way, slut is definitely the theme for the night), bondage gear...you get the idea. And as there is a maid in the show, I decided to go French maid style. Cue 'Ooh La La Maid' costume (actual wording I'll have you know) from Miss Ann Summers:


I didn't want to go too overboard as we were going out afterwards but I did wear my Cheryl Cole lashes which I love.


All in all I actually had a really good night and we did get involved with doing the Time Warp dance during the show. Audience participation is very much encouraged, including shouting out. It was really funny. Although, during the interval I needed the loo and had to double check the sign above the door said 'Ladies' - you literally couldn't tell some women were actually men!

Have you seen the show? What did you think?

Naomi
xx

NOTD

I'm so obessed with pink nail polish and I was on a big mish last weekend to find a really bright Barbie pink polish. My inspiration came in the form of Jessica from 'The Only Way Is Essex.' If you haven't seen it, then you're missing out on possibly the worse acting ever seen but at the same time a wholly addictive piece of televisual broadcasting. If you have seen it, then I'm guessing you either love or hate? Anyway, I love trashy TV so this is right up my street!

This is Jessica who often wears the loveliest pink nail polish:


You can kind of see the colour here:


Both the photos are from The Only Way Is Essex website, http://www.itv.com/channels/itv2/itv2shows/theonlywayisessex.

And here is my pink polish, Urban Princess by Rimmel which was in offer in Boots too so only cost around £3.50. I love the bright pink colour so much and the polish has lasted brilliantly - about 4 days completely chip free.


Have you seen any of The Only Way Is Essex? What do you think?

Naomi
xx

EOTD

I don't know why I didn't just do a FOTD post, well actually I do it's 1) because my camera isn't amazing and I looked paler than alabaster when in reality, my skin is closer to the colour of Katie Price on a pale day 2) because I was in a rush and hadn't put my lippy and gloss on and 3) because I didn't like my hair today - it'd gone annoyingly flat :( So, you're being subjected to the amazing sight of just my eyes!haha.

Anyway, the reason for this EOTD is because I really liked how simple my eye make-up was today. I normally use at least 4 eyeshadows but today I fancied a little menage a trois with my Naked eyeshadow pallete. Some may say, I fancied looking a little 'naked' ah ha see what I've done there?

Right then, so here you go with not the most amazing photography I must admit. I'm going to ask for a better camera for my birthday in January so I'll be properly snap happy then :)


- Urban Decay Virgin e/s all over and under browbone
- Urban Decay Snob e/s in crease and on lower waterline
- Urban Decay Darkhorse e/s blended lightly into the outer crease
- MAC Black Tied e/s used wet as liner
- L'Oreal Voluminous 4x in Carbon Black

I'm loving Cheryl's new song - Promise This. I've been subjecting this end of the office to it most of the morning but saying that, everyone seems to like it :) I'm waiting to buy a hard copy of her album next week. I'm still old school and prefer a proper CD to downloading from iTunes.

I hope you're having a fab day,
Naomi
xx

How to tint your own eyelashes

Other than watching X Factor, I didn’t have anything else planned for Saturday night so I decided to pamper myself. This included painting my nails, fake tanning, putting a deep conditioning treatment on my hair, plucking and tinting my eyebrows and tinting my eyelashes.

In the past, I’ve seen quite a few posts on eyelash tinting and more often than not how difficult it is to tint your own. So, I’ve decided to write my own post which I hope will be useful to anyone who has purchased a DIY eyelash tinting kit or has struggled to tint their own eyelashes. If you’d like to tint your eyelashes, you can buy kits from chemists such as Boots and Superdrug or I usually buy my products from Sallys.

I hope I'm not the only person that has done this but when I first starting seeing my boyfriend, I used to leave a little bit of my eye make-up on so it looked like I was fresh faced but haha in reality I was secretly still wearing my slap! I've found that eyelash tinting removes the need to do this although I've been with my boyfriend for over 3 years now so in all honesty, the need to look done up 100% of the time wore off a long time ago! But hopefully you know what I mean.

I used to be a Beauty Therapist which has definitely made it a lot easier for me to tint my own eyelashes but I think after a bit of practise, anyone can do them. I prefer to use blue/black tint because the colour is more intense than black. Don’t worry though, you won’t end up with blue eyelashes!

Remember to do a patch test behind your ear or in the crease of your elbow 24 hours ahead of your planned tinting to check you don’t have an allergy.

Here are the tools you need:


- Cotton wool pads
- Scissors
- Vaseline/lip balm
- Tint
- Peroxide
- Mixing dish
- Orange wood stick
- Timer

1. Dampen a cotton wool pad and separate in half. Cut this in half with the scissors and then cut out a half moon shape. This will fit under your lower eyelashes.

2. Apply a thin layer of Vaseline, or lip balm works too, to one side of both the half moon shapes and also to your upper eyelid as close to the lash line as possible.

3. Squeeze 1cm of tint into your mixing dish and add 3 drops of peroxide. Mix thoroughly with the orange wood stick until the tint and peroxide come together.

4. Get your timer ready by setting 10 minutes but don’t start it yet.

5. Put one of the half moon cotton wool pads under your lower lash line and close your eye.

6. Apply the tint to your eyelashes using the orange wood stick. I find it easier to add a big blob to the ends of the lashes to make sure they’re stuck down to the cotton wool. Then carefully (and usually with a bit of a squint from the other eye), get closer and closer to the roots until all of your eyelashes are covered.

7. Apply a dry cotton wool pad to your eye.

8. Start the timer and lie down with your head slightly propped up. Try not to talk or laugh as the cotton wool can slip and tint may go in your eye. If this does happen and it stings, then bathe your eye in water. Don’t worry though, as the dye is normally vegetable based, there is no risk of damage to your eye. If you feel brave enough, check your tint half way through as you may need to top it up.

9. When the timer goes and you’ve finished cooking, go into the bathroom.

10. Gently press down on the dry cotton wool pad and sweep both cotton pads away from your eye.

11. Keep your eye closed and gently wash the tint off using a damp cotton wool pad.

12. When you feel all the tint has been washed off, gently open your eye and rinse again. Then repeat the process on the other eye.

Hopefully you now have two matching, beautifully tinted eyes! Please don’t take this procedure as set in stone. This is just the way I tint my eyelashes so I can’t take any responsibility for any mishaps. The tint will stain material such as towels and your skin so you do need to be careful.

I've been a bit of a twit and taken a before photo but I haven't taken an after photo. I'm at work with mascara on so it'd be a bit pointless to take one now but I will take a photo when I've taken my make-up off tonight and post both the photos tomorrow.

I hope this has been useful. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will respond to you :)

Naomi
xx

Edit - Here are the before and after photos:

OOTD

Another lift special! Haha. However, I’ve found that the lift down to the car park has a bigger and better mirror than the lift outside my apartment so I’ve managed to take a slightly better photo.


- Trench coat from Mango
- Dusty pink long cardigan from New Look
- White vest top from New Look
- Bootleg jeans by Levi
- Pale pink platform shoes from Carvela
- Diamante earrings from River Island
- Diamond necklace a pressie given to me by the boyf from this gorgeous jewellery shop in Worcester called Rock Lobster

I bought the trench coat about 1 month ago and I’ve worn it so much since. The beige colour seems to go with everything. It’s the perfect thickness for autumn and is waterproof when it rains. I think I’ll wear the coat during the warmer winter days with a chunky scarf and matching gloves. My boyf always sing the theme tune to 'Inspector Gadget' when I wear it!


The pale pink platforms shoes are probably my favourite shoes ever. I bought them in the sale last year and was very tempted by a pair in black too. You can have the foot straps either straight across or like a ballet shoe which is my fave. Although they’re about 5 inches high, the straps make the shoes incredible wearable as my feet are perfectly secure. They’re pretty comfy too (not without a slightly painful wearing in period though!)

ASOS have a sale on at the moment so I bought a few goodies which were delivered yesterday (I paid next day as I couldn’t wait). I’ll upload some photos soon. Typical old me bought another bleeding cardigan! But it’s so pretty so I think it’s acceptable on this occasion!

Naomi
xx

OOTD

I haven't done one of these for a while mainly due to the fact I don't have a full length mirror. I'm so indecisive that I can't find one I like. My god it's just a mirror, I know, but I always think I'll find something better so never ending up buying anything.

So, I have to be such a weirdo and run out of my apartment into the lift which not only does it's job of going up and down but acts as a mirror substitute. Yes, the lighting is dodgy, I have to keep my finger on the 'Door Open' button and I'm constantly worrying someone will see me trying a dress on with the wrong underwear and my socks still on but it works!

This brings me onto my OOTD photo, which as you can see has been shot in 'Lollipop26' style, in the lift, with my phone so I must apologise in advance for the awful quality and cheesy shot. I was going for comfy casual as the dresscode where I work is tre cash so we're allowed to wear pretty much anything.



- Black cardigan from Zara (I love cardigans, I'm thinking of a I heart cardigan post soon)
- T- Shirt from New Look
- Skinny jeans from New Look (These are my faves, they actually fit really well and they were only £20)
- Black pumps from ALDO
- Pearl earrings a present from my godmother
- My obsession which is my Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag
- Keys (the ultimate accessory...yep)

I'm been covering Reception for an hour this lunchtime; I've had two calls, one of which I couldn't transfer because I forgot how to and the other I cut off. Brilliant. I don't think I'll be asked again!

I hope you're all having a good day.

Naomi
xx

Education Required - Experience Essential

I've been unsure of MAC's Mineralise Skin Finishes partly because I haven't really known their purpose but everyone seems to love them so I've decided to look into purchasing one.

However, I need a bit of help. How do you choose which one is best for your skin? Do you choose one that's slightly darker or the same colour? Can they be used for highlighting too? Are they similar to the effect of Dior Poudre Shimmer/ Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks?

As you can see, I really need educating so any helpful comments would be really appreciated!

Thank you!
Naomi
xx

P.S Sorry I keep changing the look of my blog. The last look and feel really slowed up scrolling so I'm using this less fussy background now which seems a lot better :)

Gorgeous Dress

I was browsing the Daily Mail website earlier and found an article on Cheryl wearing the most gorgeous dress by Elie Saab.

Proof (from www.dailymail.co.uk):


I love the nude colour and sequin detail. I think the dress really suits Cheryl and her colouring. Althought, I'm not keen on her new overly long and rather fake looking hair extensions. Her hair normally looks full of volume but here it looks a little flat. Although that could've been down to the good old English rain.

What do you think?

Naomi
xx

Urban Decay Naked Palette

I’ve seen loads of blogs raving about the new eyeshadow palette from Urban Decay cheekily named Naked and when I saw the eyeshadows, I knew I had to have it! Maybe it’s boring but I’m a massive fan of neutral shades such as MAC’s Soba, Satin Taupe and Sable (strange coincidence they all start with an S!). I have hazel eyes and I find neutral shades suit my colouring the best. I’m also a bit scared of brighter colours!

None of the department stores near me stock Urban Decay and it’s such a mission into Birmingham with all the traffic that I decided to order the palette from the House of Fraser website. I’d been eagerly waiting and after an agonising 5 day wait, the eyeshadow palette was finally in my hands.

Here’s the palette showing all 12 shades:


Here are some swatches too:

Left to Right: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck and Half Baked

Left to Right: Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep and Gunmetal

The palette also comes with a brown and black eyeliner and a mini Urban Decay Primer Potion. I bought the Naked eyeshadows for £27 plus £3 delivery and I must say it’s worth every penny. There isn’t a colour I won’t use or dislike. Yes, some of the colours are similar to MAC eyeshadows e.g Sin to Jest and Gunmetal to Knight Divine but the palette is so handy, especially when I stay at my boyfriend’s and don’t want to lug my massive MAC eyeshadow palette over.

I know that I’m going to continually use this palette for a long time because it’s right up my street and I love it muchos. My favourite shade is probably Smog which is a gorgeous milk chocolate brown with a hint of gold shimmer.

Big thumbs up and a heavy recommendation to all.

Naomi
xx

Eye Eye

My quest for the perfect eye cream continues…I’d been using the Ren one I blogged about back in June, ran out and decided to find a cheaper alternative to see if you really have to pay the price for a decent eye cream.

So, this isn’t an amazing comparison because I’ve only sampled one cheaper eye cream but hey ho, it’s enough for me to decide straight away.
The eye cream in question is Garnier Youthful Radiance Multi-Active Eye Care which I paid £6 for on a Boots special (2 for £12 – my boyfriend is trying out the Garnier eye roll on which he calls “eye bag cream”).

Photo (from Feel Unique.com):

The texture is creamy and fairly light but I’m not keen on the greasy texture although once it’s around my eyes, it does absorb well. However, I’ve been using the eye cream for about a week and I really don’t think it does anything to reduce dark circles or tighten the delicate eye area. And silly me, I forgot to read the ingredients and later noticed the eye cream contains liquid paraffin which is one of skin’s worst nightmares. Oops.

I’m not overly impressed but perhaps because I’m used to more expensive eye creams, I was expecting the same results. I’m thinking of trying a mid-range eye cream next, around £15 to see how this compares. This is exhausting!

Does anyone have any good eye creams for me to try? I like ones that hydrate, help to prevent fine lines and if possible, give that taught feeling. Not asking for much!!

Naomi
xx

NOTD – Rose Libertine

I love pink. Pink anything and everything. Pink dresses, pink shoes, pink lipstick, pink shampoo. You name it, I love it! I’m a proper girly girl so more often than not I’m sporting a shade of pink nail polish on my nails. Recently, I’ve been wearing a bright pink polish from Boots 17 but I decided that now the nights are drawing in and the autumn wardrobe is making an appearance, I should probably tone down the colour.

So, I popped into Boots at the weekend and decided to use my Boots Advantage Points to buy a new pink (muted) polish. I picked up Rose Libertine by Rimmel which is a gorgeous dusty rose pink. Perfect.


I love this polish so much. It’s definitely one of my favourite pinks.

What are your favourite pink polishes?

Naomi
xx

The Saturdays

I’ve always been a fan of The Saturdays and even more so since watching their documentary series on ITV2 recently. Yes they’re manufactured but they seem to be the best of friends as well as band mates. I like that. And they have such cute dogs! I absolutely love their new song Higher – you can hear the song on The Saturdays official YouTube site http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSaturdaysOfficial.

Here they are incase you have no idea what on earth I’m talking about (photo from Celebrity Rush website:

After a straw poll in the office, I’ve concluded that the Frankie is the boys’ favourite (far right) and Mollie is the girls’ favourite (second from the left). I think the boys basically just want to have fun with Frankie and the girls love how girlie Mollie is.

I’m very open about being a huge fan of Girls Aloud and loving The Saturdays and why not?! Recently, I think it’s become a lot more acceptable for 20-somethings to like girl bands. And let’s be honest, most of the members in said bands are more my age than the tweenies they’re targeting so I can relate to them more in terms of clothing, make up, hair and boyfriends. Who hasn’t admired Cheryl’s sense of style (or stylist haha!)?

So, what do you think of The Saturdays? Do you have a favourite? What do you think of their new single?

Naomi
xx

Having a bit of 'work' done

It seems nowadays most celebrities have a little bit of 'work' done. I'm talking about cosmetic procedures. Whether this be botox and fillers or boob jobs and lipo, they all seem to be having something. This got me thinking about cosmetic procedures and the lengths people go for 'perfection.'

Take Heidi Pratt nee Montag from The Hills. Heidi has clearly had a lot of surgery and she's admitted to having something like 13 procedures in one go. But now she seems to be regretting her decision to go under the knife and having such drastic changes. It's such a shame because I thought she looked lovely before.


Katie Price aka Jordan is famous for having a whopping massive boob job (I've lost count of how many she's had now) but she's also had a nose job, liposuction, botox, fillers....the list goes on but I think she looks awful. This is clearly taking things too far.


What surgery is acceptable in society?

Jenny Frost from Atomic Kitten had a boob job after having a child. I think she looks fab and very natural.


Cheryl Cole famously had her teeth fixed (and I reckon she's had botox and fillers - especially in her cheeks) and she looks amazing.


So, why do some celebs take it that bit too far? Do you think they have distorted self image? What do you think are acceptable cosmetic procedures? Is a bit of botox ok or should we age gracefully?

Naomi
xx

Leg Envy

I have massive leg envy right now for a Victoria's Secret model called Candace Swanepoel. I saw some photos of her modelling at the launch of the Incredible Bra and thought, "I wish I had those legs!".

Here are some photos taken from www.theskinnywebsite.com.



Ok so she's around 5ft 9" and I'm only 5ft 1.5" which means having legs like these is pretty much impossible but I can only wish.

Do you have any body part envy? That sounds strange doesn't it? But I mean a part of someone's body you would love to have if you could have your 'ideal' body?

Naomi
xx

Fake Tan Crisis!

Apologies for being AWOL recently. I've been crazy busy at work and then my boyfriend and I went away to Devon last week so I haven't managed to find the time to blog. Also, there's a serious lack of beauty/hair purchases being made recently - an impromptu visit to Ikea wiped my bank balance out!

So onto something a bit more pressing - a fake tan crisis. As I've been away for a week, unfortunately not somewhere hot and sunny this year as moving out has cost the earth in which case I wouldn't be having this problem, my fake tan has been gradually disappearing. I didn't think it social etiquette to leave the hotel sheets with dodgy tan marks so my Fake Bake applications have been banished all week. Cue patchy tan which resembles a skin disease.

*WARNING* very dodgy and pretty rank fake tan fading shots:

My tan is so patchy around my neck :(

This is my foot. It's awful!

Yuk. I'm sure you've all had the same problem but I just couldn't face scrubbing the whole thing off and spending the week looking like a milk bottle. I haven't been seen without fake tan for years and I'm not making a habit of doing it now! I feel so much more attractive and confident when I have a bit of colour.

Anyway, this isn't the whole problem. I stupidly forgot to order some more Fake Bake so I don't have a back up bottle. I usually order two so I don't get caught short but my system has failed. I've just ordered some but it won't arrive until Tuesday at the earliest! Disaster.

I've looked up spray tans, Mystic Tan in particular which my local tanning salon offers, but I've read reviews of people being sick from inhaling the fumes. My god, are spray tans really that dangerous? Upon further reading, I've found out that DHA (the main tanning ingredient) is approved by the FDA when it's in lotions but not necessarily when it's in spray tan form due to the risk of inhalation. Something to be think about. So I've scrapped the spray tan idea.

I don't fancy buying a cheap fake tan to tide me over as I only trust Fake Bake and I do have a wash off tan but this isn't great when you're at the gym! So, I'm thinking about buying a cheapish gradual moisturising tanner. Do you have any favourites? Any faithful friends? I'm looking for a fairly deep colour tan without streaks!

I hope you don't think I'm a massive scrubber. I'm normally pretty vigilant with the tanning. I need help!

Naomi
xx

MAC Studio Fix Powder

A few weeks ago my Chanel compact, which was on it's last legs admittedly, decided to break. Not only did it decide to break but it decided to explode in my Marc Jacobs. I must've really annoyed it. Maybe it overhead me talking about a replacement and decided to seek revenge.

So, I've been powderless since then. In normal English weather i.e cold and rain this would be fine but recently, we've been experiencing abnormally gorgeous and sunny weather. I believe many people from warmer climes call this summer?! This is great for feeling happy and getting a tan but not so great for oily combination skins. Cue shiny skin and not in a lovely dewy way :(

I was meeting my friend for dinner in the Mailbox so I decided to pop into Harvey Nics first. The MAC counter is so much nicer than the one in Selfridges. Everything is neat and tidy and the MUA are so lovely. I find the MUA in Selfridges can sometimes be a bit dimissive and often too busy too help. The MUA in Harvey Nics recommended MAC Studio Fix Powder plus Foundation and applied NW25 to my skin. The powder was exactly what I was looking for; light enough to not make my skin look clogged and heavy but with enough coverage to hide uneven bits and the oily T-zone area.

(Photo from the MAC website http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/)

I've been using the powder for a couple of days and I'd give it a big thumbs up with recommendation for those with oily to combination skin or for those looking for a little more coverage than a regular pressed powder.

Naomi
xx

FOTD

Hello...I haven't updated my blog for a while because now I've moved out of home, I don't have the internet (this is now a luxury item that I need to save up for, boo) so I can only go on at work but it's difficult to avoid prying eyes or to find the time or when I go back to my parents' house, like now.

I wanted to show you a photo FOTD from this week because I went for a strong lip rather than a strong eye which is my usual look.

Face
Diorskin Forever foundation
- YSL Touche Eclat on the dark circles and uneven skin tone parts
- NARS Laguna bronzer (so much better than Casino IMHO)
- Chanel Blush in Reflex

Eyes
- MAC Patina E/S on 2/3 of the eye
- MAC Satin Taupe E/S on outer corner, crease and lower lash line
- MAC Shroom E/S on inner corner and brow bone
- MAC Black Tied E/S used wet as a liner on top and on the waterline
- L'Oreal Voluminious Mascara in Black

Lips
- MAC Viva Glam Gaga lustre lipstick
- MAC Baby Sparks Dazzleglass

As always, my look is massively "sponsored by MAC"!! (FYI I bought all MAC products with my own money) But I love how my lips look so bright and Barbie-esque which is perfect for the summer and they match my cardigan (from Zara, I have them in so many different colours).

Do you have a favourite pink lipstick? One that you always reach for to make you feel happy, summery and bright?

Naomi
xx

I Love Cheryl

Ok so I love Cheryl, standard, who doesn't? And I had to show you this photo I found today on the Daily Mail website of Cheryl wearing the most amazing Christian Louboutin heels called Bikiki from the Fall/Winter 2011 collection. They are gorgeous and they should be for £730!




What do you think?

Naomi
xx