OOTN: Birthday Meal at Bills York

(OOTN - the details: Zara knitted jumper with embellished neck, Topshop Joni jeans in black, Primark grey and black spotty dolly socks, London Rebel suede Chelsea Boots via TKMaxx)

(FOTN - the details: Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in Soft Beige (200), Bourjois Maxi Delight Bronzer for tanned skin (02), Tropic Sculpting Palette in Blushing (used highlight only), Maybelline the Falsies waterproof mascara in black, Barry M eyeshadow pencil Brown/Black (05), Hema kohl eyeliner pencil in black (21), Natural Collection blusher in Peach Melba , Rimmel Apocolips in Galaxy (301), moody face: optional)

Last Friday night, Nick, my parents and I ventured out into York to have a bite to eat at Bills which has just opened. As it was Nicks birthday whilst we were on holiday my parents wanted to take us out to have a bit of a celebration so I thought I would take a few outfit/face shots. Although it is August, England is up to its usual tricks when it comes to the weather which is why I'm dressed as if it's mid-November. 

I like the simple-ness of this outfit and make up. I feel as though the dark lip (it was darker in real life, damn you camera!), the neckline on the jumper and the small heel on the boots classes up the outfit and strikes a good balance between casual and 'dressed up', which, in my opinion, is the perfect look for a quiet meal and a couple of drinks - I'm definitely a "smart casual" kinda gal. Plus when you're going out for a meal and drinks,  it's super important to me to be comfy when I'm sitting in the restaurant - there's nothing worse than feeling like you have to keep on pulling your hem down, or wondering whether you've eaten too much and are bulging out of all the wrong places when you stand up!

Whats your go-to meal and drinks outfit?

Until next time:)

Oh Boots, how I love thee! - Another mini haul

So remember when I started this blog and I was all like 'oh I'm going to blog at least once every week', well, it appears I lied. I have no real excuse other than when I get home from work and the gym (when I make it there), I tend to completely veg out and usually just watch a film with my boyfriend. And the past couple of weekends I have been pretty busy. But still, they're both pretty lame reasons, I guess this blog isn't yet a solid enough fixture in my life for me to remember to post!

Anyway, here I am, with another small haul type affair.

Today, I was meant to go shopping with my friend (we were destined for Primark) but I have hurt my toe quite badly and had to cancel because I can't walk more than two meters without being in pain :( so to appease my inner shopaholic, I nipped up to the local Boots (convinced myself I NEEDED tissues, but alas, I had some spare ones in my drawer all along) and accidentally bought these bad boys.

(L-R, B-F: Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in 100 Ivory £8.99, Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation in 52 Vanilla £10.99, Bourjois Liner Feutre Ultra Black £6.99, Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer £6.99, Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer in Light £10, Soap and Glory Trick and Treatment £9, Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Stick in Bashful£8)

The Rimmel foundation is an absolute staple of mine and this is a repurchase. I recently bought the Dream Matte Mouse by Maybelline as I thought that with it being winter, the shimmer the WMU foundation gives sometimes looks a bit over the top. However, I wish I hadn't bothered as there is really only one way to describe the Dream Matte Mouse - major disappointment. It sounded so promising and I was uber excited but no, it is rubbish and clings to all the dry skin I have, and more. And is actually really hard to apply, maybe that's just me but every morning when I go to put it on I am faced with the same confusion as to whether to dap my brush in the pot, use my fingers or think of another intuitive way to apply foundation. It's all far too much to think about on a morning! So I really wish I'd had spent my hard earned dollar on another bottle of this beauty instead. The Rimmel primer came free when you spend over X amount (can't remember how much) on anything else Rimmel so I haven't got much to say on that, as I said in my last post, I am relatively new to the world of primer ( - but have used my Maybelline Baby Skin primer now, so far so good).

Now, I wouldn't normally buy another foundation as I am a bit tight and don't really wear much foundation as my skin is quite good (touch wood) but I had heard so many good things about the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum (mainly from Estée), my feeling sorry for myself gene kicked in and I picked it up and chucked it in the basket. I am excited to try it and see if it really is as good as the hype. I went for the gel based formula purely because it was £1 more and if you spent over £10 you got a free eyeliner (easily swayed), and I needed a new black liner. I have tried a few of the "felt tip" style liners and have never been overly impressed but it was free so it doesn't matter too much if it ends up at the back of my make up drawer.

So after picking up the above, my eyes turned towards the Soap and Glory stand. I have recently rediscovered the Sexy Mother Pucker lip gloss I got free with the massively amazing gift set they always do at Christmas and I'm loving it! This coupled with the fact that I know the Kick Ass Concealer is pretty similar to a Virgin Vie product that I used to looooove, and also is a well known dupe for a Laura Mercier product, drew me in. All S&G make up was on 3 for 2 so I thought it would be rude not to (again I blame the feeling sorry for myself gene) and I picked up the Kick Ass Concealer, which I've seen get good reviews from beauty blogging world. I also got the Trick and Treatment concealer for under the eyes as I'm seriously always on the look out for a good under eye concealer to hide my hideous dark circles. I've not heard/seen much about this before but hopefully it'll be good'un. Finally, I got a pink Gloss Stick. I love these Chubby Stick dupes and have some from Bourjois and Revlon which I use all the time. I'm still loving the whole English Rose look so thought a nice baby pink colour would be a good addition to my collection.

My next post won't be a haul (or even a 'mini-haul'), I promise... although I have just placed a BooHoo order.

Until next time :)