Shoes on a Shoestring #4 Chunky Cut-out Grunge Boots

Hello! So... it's been a while! I might do a whole other post on that over the next few days, but for the time being, I'm sorry it's been so long! Now let's get down to business, I have been doing some buying. More precisely, some budget shoe buying. I am actually quite good at buying, it's almost as if I think I have money to spend... Whatever!

So I think this whole trend started last winter sort of time? Coming into Spring around the beginning of this year, cut-out boots were just massive! The only problem was, that the only place I knew of to get them from was Topshop, and they were charging around £80 a piece, which although I really loved the boots, was completely out of my price range! Anyway, they were with us all through the summer, still, only available at Topshop as far as I was aware, and still to expensive for me, but oh my GOD did I want a pair! Well, last week a got one of the usual subscription emails from New Look about various different trends and pieces they had etc, when I spotted something in one of the pictured outfits. Cut. Out. Boots. And nice ones! I have seen a few other pairs filtering through the highstreet, but I didnt like the placements of the cut outs, or the buckles or something! Anyway, I immediately went on the New Look website, found the boots and ordered them (along with one or two other things...)

Here they are!

Black Chunky Cut Out Buckle Ankle Boots - £29.99 New Look

So what I love about these is that I think the placing of the cut-outs and the buckles are really complimentary, I don't know what it is but it just looks GOOD. I love the chunkiness and industrial-ness of the buckles, I feel like they're really heavy duty but the gold hardwear gives them quite an urban feel. I also loooooohve the soles on these, so thick and chunky! They just compliment the whole shoe perfectly! And the best part? They're less than half the price of the Topshop ones! There's something about these that really remind me of my clumpy 90's school shoes from Clarks, only with the cool upgrade of big buckles and cut-outs!

I haven't put up any outfit pictures with these because I have them due to feature in a OOTD post, but I think these go so well with so many things! Personally I don't think you can go wrong with a bit of grunge, and I think they're the perfect grungy juxtaposition to a more feminine outfit, with some chiffons and other soft fabrics. These compliment midi skirts so perfectly too, I always think people look so cool when I see them out wearing a combo like that!

So if you've been lusting after a pair of grungy cut-out boots I'd have a look at New Look! They were pretty well stocked when I ordered mine on Friday, and they arrived on Monday!

Have you got a pair of boots like these? What would you wear them with?
Eleanor x

Shoes on a Shoestring #3 Monochrome Strappy Heels

Hello! It's been a while since I did a shoes on a shoestring post, you can find the last one here! Today I've got a slightly more summery offering, and a version of the shoe of the moment, it's everyone's favourite, the ankle strap heel. On the high street it all started with Zara I think, with their plain black version and there have been many variations since. The trend has finally filtered on down into Primark, which is where I found these!

Black and white ankle strap heel £12 Primark

For me, these shoes look so elegant and expensive with every variation I see, whether they're shade, imitation leather, double strap, single, nude, tan... They're so classic, I absolutely love them! This pair are no exception, and I think they capture this summer's monochrome trend perfectly. They go with pretty much anything, skirts, dresses, shorts, pants... And I think they look über stylish and soooo chic.

I actually wore these to Matt's graduation! Hence the picture, I didn't get one on my own so you'll have to put up with one of us together haha! Sorry! I think they're just so appropriate for so many different occasions, smart, formal, going to lunch or out to dinner, going on a night out, to a bar, to a meeting, to a special occasion. They're just so versatile and can be styled so many different ways for so many different occasions! I love them! What a great buy, at only £12 for a pair of all-rounders!

What do you think of this take on the ankle strap heel?

Eleanor x

Summer Bargain Hunting

Hello! Yes everybody, give me a clap for finally sitting down and writing some content! Haha! Apart from doing that, I have also been shopping. All in the name of bringing you this post of course! It's sale season again, which makes me very happy! But does anyone else HATE trawling through the topshop sale? I always enter with such highs hopes of finding some absolute gems for next to nothing, but I always get disillusioned when I see the state and size of the sale area, a huge row of racks crammed full with garments stuffed on in no order at all, and all the aisles of full of frantic women. No thanks. Haha! But I have managed to pick up some things, some are sale finds, and some are just bargains even at full price!

Paisley pattern dungarees £42 £20 topshop

Tile print pants £12 Primark

Studded satchel £9 Primark

Laser cut handbag £12 Primark

Tie dye and neon bikini top and bottoms £4.99 each h&m

Patterned 60s shirt £45 £22.50 urban outfitters

stud shoulder jumper £25 £17

Eyeshadow trios in atmosphere and prism £16 £7 topshop

Blush stick £10 £7 topshop

So I had actually seen Barbara from thepersianbabe with a blazer in the same pattern as these dungarees and absolutely fallen in love, but it was quite expensive and then I found these in the sale, they're just different and I love the pattern on them, I'm mad for anything paisley! And the eyeshadow trios I have wanted for seriously so long, it must be nearly a year ago now that the dark side of the nude collection came out, but I just really couldn't justify £16 each for the trios, I did come close to buying them on a number of occasions but backed out and oh man am I glad that I did now! Atmosphere was a little harder to get hold of, it's not available online anymore, but I managed to find it in the manchester arndale store on the top floor near the tills, little heads up for anyone in the area ;).

The rest were just sort of see-it-want-it finds really but I could not be happier to have found this shirt, it really is so gorgeous in real life! I'm not sure it's summer appropriate, but I have absolutely no problem buying now and waiting a few more months before cracking it out! It's absolutely prefect for autumn, and that collar is going to look great peeking out from under some jumpers!

So that's what I've been buying! Have you picked up any bargains recently?

Eleanor x

Tumblr Shorts

WARNING: PHOTO HEAVY POST
Hola! I've been seriously loving the nice weather we've been having this week! Hopefully the UK will manage to keep this up for more than a few days and we'll get a whole summer like this! Yeah, I'm not holding my breath either, but I'm not giving up hope! Something I always do, and please tell me that some others of you do this too, is get serious envy over the girls in those pictures that I love so much on tumblr, they're tanned, they're skinny, by the looks of things they're having a great time, the sun is shining, they have amazing beachy hair and are ridiculously pretty, and they ALWAYS have the best shorts on! These my friends, are what I call tumblr shorts. I love tumblr shorts, and I have wanted some since I first started reblogging a few years ago. Here are some examples:

So I can't help you with all of the above (possibly the beachy hair though in a coming post) but something I HAVE been doing, is searching for some tumblr shorts. And I actually have some findings that I'm rather pleased with and thought I'd share with you! Because you don't have to spend £50 on a pair of overpriced vintage Levis cut-offs!

topshop moto high waisted 50s denim hotpants £28

 boohoo.com eve heavy distress bleach wash denim hotpants £20

 boohoo.com lowri high rise acid wash turn up shorts £20

 new look aztec pattern bleach shorts £22.99

 boohoo.com lola high rise distress denim hotpants £18

 toshop motoacid wash denim hotpants £30

 boohoo.com lois light distress wash frayed edge hotpant £15

 boohoo.com blair stonewash high waisted ripped denim shorts £18

 boohoo.com lacey crochet studded pocket hotpants £18

forever21 acid wash distress high waisted shorts £18.75

I'm telling you, this seems to be a good year for buying shorts! What do you think? And they're all so reasonable! So my wardrobe is in the middle of a location crisis, as apparently I seem to think I live in Australia with all of these denim cut-offs, I can totally wear them all with tights if the temperature doesn't stay up though, right...? I was thinking of doing a 'how I wear' post with these, so keep an eye out for that. I also want to put it out there that I think boohoo.com have totally knocked the denim cut-offs out of the park, and at pretty great prices! I would say to size up (maybe order your size, the size up, and one up from that, with free postage over £35 usually, and free returns, there's no reason not to!) as I found the sizes to run a little small, I'm usually a 6/25W and had a panic when I couldn't fit any of the 6s over the tops of my legs, but it made me feel a little better that my teeny size 4 skinny ass sister couldn't either haha!! 

There's just about a denim wash in there for everybody, so let me know which are your favourites! Have you found a good pair of tumblr shorts I should know about?

Eleanor x

Bronze Binge

Hello! So first off, an apology for my absence, my exams are now over, and I am very excited to be able to get back to blogging! I have a few posts planned that I'm looking forward to doing! But I'm sorry things have been moving a little slowly on here recently and I haven't been posting regularly, work sux...

Anyway! On to what I wanted to talk about today... So over the weekend, John Lewis have had one of their 10% price match events that I love so much! I did intend to avoid this one, as my bank balance was lacking a little (although obviously not enough to stop me in the end) but of course I just couldn't stay away from their beauty hall, so here's what I bought!

Clarins liquid bronze self tanning for face and décolletage, clarins instant smooth self tanning makeup base, bobbi brown limited edition face and body bronzing duo, and chanel soleil tan de chanel sheer illuminating fluid in sunkissed.

So.... Avoiding went well.... And does anybody detect a bit of a theme to my purchases? I'm seriously the palest person ever but I am determined that this summer I am not going to hide in the shadows, trying not to dazzle people with my milk bottle complexion, I WILL BE A BRONZED CALIFORNIAN BEACH GODESS!! I just really want me some bronzing, so I went into John Lewis to pick up some ammo. I think I'm pretty much ready for action with that lot!

And as if that wasn't enough bronze for someone as pale as me, the new bourjois bronze collection was released in boots and of course I needed to go and indulge...

Bourjois bronzing primer, bourjois b&b bronzing cream.

So that's my little haul, some high end, and some high street, all of it a lovely shade of bronze (hopefully what I'll be when I use it all!) there has been a powder released with the bourjois range too, but I didn't feel like I needed it (lol I'm totally rational, like I needed any of these things?!) but I have a couple of bronzing powders already so it just didn't seem like something I needed to add to my collection, whereas the other items were a bit different to things I already have.. A heads up to those interested as well, the new bourjois range currently has £3 off each product in Boots, so go out and grab them while they're only £6.99 each! I would also like to tell Chanel, that I would appreciate them bringing out the sheer illuminating fluids in a variety of colours, because I want more! Give me some opal, and pearly pink and peach tones. I'll seriously buy them all. Will my love for highlighters ever end? I doubt it... Wish me luck with my hunt for a bronzey summer glow, and pale girls, I'll be getting back soon with how all of these work for us :)

Do you have any of these? Which is your favourite?

Eleanor x

Foundation Files #2 Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation

Hello! So I've been road testing another item from my ridiculous foundation collection (post here) for a while now, and thought it was about time I let you know how I've been getting on with it! As you know, I like to give something a good solid test before I write anything about it on my blog, because I don't want to tell people things about it without really knowing it inside out!

I wrote about this in the first post (Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum) but I'll say it again just for reference, I have combination skin, with mostly normal skin, but some slightly oily areas, and some drier areas in winter too, and my foundation preference is a dewy finish with not too heavy coverage, I like to look as natural as possible!

 The shimmer running through the foundation is just visible here.

Down to the nitty-gritty, the wake me up foundation is described as anti-fatigue effect and giving a flawless, natural looking, glowy finish. I found this to be a light coverage foundation (it can be built up a bit, but I'd say only to a lowish medium), it blurs the appearance of blemishes, but doesn't cover them on its own, but means that it does live up to its promise of natural looking skin, which is a big must for me, so we're off to a good start! I did find that the dewy finish on this did leave it a little tacky (not very much, but worth bringing up all the same) and it never completely dried down. I do prefer a foundation that's not tacky, but this was only a little, and I can deal with it if it gives me the glow I'm after! I have the lightest shade of this, which is 100 Ivory, I'd say that I detect pink undertones, which works fine with my skintone, but the shade was a smidge too dark for me (not too much of a problem as it's a light coverage, but had it been heavier I don't think I could have got away with it). I tend to find that if I build it up on my face very slowly, putting a very small amount on at a time it matches me better, rather than putting big blobs on everywhere and blending. It also seems that it only looks a little too dark in the morning when I first put it on my face, and it settles down after that to a near perfect match! There is also an SPF of 15 in this one, which is great because it cuts out a sun protection step when you're getting ready (which I'm too lazy to bother with anyway) but it does make it a little risque for a night out if you're going to be using flash photography!

Straight after application in the morning

So how have I found that this works best for me? Well I didn't like wearing it with only moisturiser underneath and no primer, I found it looked quite cakey, the glitter particles were visible and it was a little streaky! It works far better with a primer, and didn't look cakey at all. When I used a radiance primer underneath (the Lily Cole for Body Shop one) I did find that I could still see glitter particles on my face and my pores were more visible. I found that the best combination for me was with the Benefit That Gal primer underneath, and the Bourjois Healthy Balance powder in 52 dusted over my nose and chin (I found the foundation to wear off in those places without the powder because those are my oil-prone spots). With this combination I found the foundation to last all day (around 8+ hours?) with a lovely, healthy radiance and minimum sparkles showing through, win! I've found that I'm really happy with the way that the foundation looks at the end of the day, my skin looks really healthy with a sort of glowing, flawless radiance! Exactly what I'm looking for! So that's how I'd recommend wearing this, with a brightening NOT radiant primer, and powdering areas prone to oiliness! I also didn't find that this particularly emphasized any dry patches that I had!

After all day wear at uni (taken in the evening)

Another thing that works for me is the packaging, I love the glass bottle, and the fact that it has a pump makes it so easy to use. So overall this has been pretty successful for me, it delivers on the anti-fatigue, natural glowiness that it claims and using it in the way that I described definitely maximises its wear time and makes it reasonably long lasting, which is an absolute must for me! I will definitely be repurchasing this one, as soon as I manage to whittle my current foundation stash down to a reasonable size!

Have you tried this out? What do you think of it? Which foundation should I try next?!
Eleanor x

NOTD Gelly Texture

Hello! I've been in the midst of quite a bit of work at the moment, as it's coming to crunch time and my exams are fast approaching, but among all of this, I woke up this morning and just wanted to paint my nails - I almost never allow myself the time to do this during term time because I've just got too much work to do!! So I thought I'd do a blog post about it at the same time!!

I went for the Barry M texture polish in Kingsland Road which I bought a couple of weeks ago, it is literally THE perfect pastel pink colour, it's so pretty and I think it suits my pale skintone quite nicely if I do say so myself, and gives me the illusion of having more colour than I actually do.. haha! I had a couple of the Barry M Gelly Hi-Shines that I wanted to try out too, as I hadn't used them yet, so I decided to throw in a few accent nails in complimenting pastel shades (Blueberry and Prickly Pear) All in all I'm quite pleased with the results!! All of my nails just took 2 coats and they're pretty much opaque, and they were touch-dry quite fast, which is a massive bonus!

The Gelly Hi-Shines are definitely living up to their expectations and are very glossy without a topcoat, and I really love the texture effect polish, I can't stop running my fingers over it to feel it haha! It has a grainy texture, almost like sand mixed in there, and I think it has a really cool effect on the nails. The pastel shades that they've released in the collection are absolutely perfect because they make your nails look polished (lolgeddit) with the pretty colours, but with an unexpected quirky twist, which is something that I really like.

So overall I'd definitely recommend any of these polishes! It still baffles me as to why people would go out and spend great amounts of money on nail polishes, Barry M are such great polishes, and if they have the right shade for you, GET IT!! They're so cheap but really good quality!

Do you have any of these polishes? What do you think of them?
Eleanor x