Christmas Party Outfit Wishlist

I spent last night browsing some of my favourite online stores for something new to wear on Saturday. This year me and the ladies I work with are all going out for lunch and cocktails. I wasn't going to buy anything new but I've found myself staring into my wardrobe wanting new. I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite picks for the festive season.

Matalan

I definitely have a love hate relationship with Matalan, I either want to buy the whole store or can't find anything. At the moment I'm loving it all, simple classics, cosy jumpers, gorgeous shoes and accessories.

First is the Abbey Clancy Mess Insert Maxi Dress. This comes in at a bargain £20. I love the simplicity of this dress and think with some big chunky bangles it would be perfect for a night out. The Textured Jersey Dress is another bargain at only £18. I do love how reasonable pricing is. I love the black panels to help slim down and give a more hour glass shape and think it's a classy dress for going out with work colleagues. Sky scraper heels and a statement necklace would finish this off. The Cotton Spandex Skort I really want to find a nice skort. I have big hips so struggle to find one that sits right on me. I think this would be great to dress up of down and is in the sale for £10. Lastly is the Ponte Skort, this is another £10 bargain. The blue colour is amazing and is a great alternative to all the blacks around at the moment.

George at Asda

I mainly shop it Asda as it's a two minute walk from my flat and can never resist a cheeky browse of the clothing. I love all the midi dresses and big jumpers currently in store as well as their amazing selection of festive dresses.

Firstly is the Moda Embellished Jacquard Dress. I love the Jacquard print for winter and think the blue tone is a nice alternative to black. Finished off perfectly with a bit of sparkle. I find skater cut dress some of the most flattering on me. This retails for £25. The Embellished Neck Dress retails for a purse friendly £18. I love that the neck detail can be removed so after the Christmas season you have a great plain LBD. I think both these skirts would be great with a chiffon black vest top and statement jewellery to add some sparkle. I love simple pieces that can be dressed up so I can get lots of wear out of them. The Check Kilt retails for £14 and the Jacquard Spot Midi skirt for just £12.

New Look

New look is my fail safe usually for an emergency outfit. I can usually find something I like and it's reasonably priced.

The Kelly Brook Black Embellished Shoulder Long Sleeved Midi Dress immediately caught my eye. I love shoulder detail on dresses. It's just enough sparkle without being over the top and I've lately found myself very drawn to midi dresses. It is a little more pricey though at £39.99. The Navy Structured Mesh Panel Midi Dress retails for a more purse friendly £22.99. I love the panel detail to help emphasise the waist and I'm more of a fan of navy compared to black. Lastly is three tops. I find smart tops are what I'm lacking most of in my wardrobe. I love the simplicity of the Burgundy Chiffon Cami and think it would be great with the black skort. Chiffon vest tops are something I really need and these are only £9.99. With Christmas coming I'm definitely being drawn to sparkle. The Black Embellished Neck Shell Top  is £19.99 and will be perfect for dressing up skirts, jeans or shorts easily. Last but not least is this absolutely gorgeous Embellished Sheer Scallop Hem Top. I think this could be my favourite of all. I love the 20s feel of it and can imagine pairing it with a bright red lip and black liner. I definitely feel like my wardrobe needs this!!

Are you off to any Christmas Parties? What's on your wishlist for the festive season?

Love M

xxx

How to: Fix Broken Powder Make Up

I'm sure we've all done it before and dropped a beloved power, eye shadow, bronzer etc and then gone to open it and find it's all cracked. I did it with my MSF before where water leaked in my handbag and it turned to a mouse. I was gutted.

I spent a little while on google trying to find ways to save it and came along this method. Luckily for me I work in a lab so borrowed some alcohol to fix mine but rubbing alcohol does the same job and can be picked up cheaply from Amazon.

My benefit powder recently cracked and I wasn't ready to let it go so decided to share with you how I fixed it to save wasting product.

The first step is to get all the product into the pan again. If it's a mouse like my MSF went let it dry out for a day or 2 first before doing this. Add a few drops of the rubbing alcohol and stir with a cocktail stick. Add it drop by drop until the powder starts to take a liquid from. I added way too much but it's not a problem as it evaporates off.

Keep stirring your powder into the alcohol as you go. For me the powder returned to a liquid form. Once you've added enough alcohol and the powder is a liquid push the liquid to one side of the pan ready to dry.

At this stage you can leave it for the alcohol to naturally evaporate off and just be left with your product re solidified. Or if you're impatient like me you can leave it for a couple of hours then put a hairdryer on it gently. This can cause some cracks. I left it to dry open up near a radiator in the end.

Then after a day you have your product back good as new. For me it worked perfectly again and hasn't caused any irritation to me skin.

Have you tried this before? Do you just check things away when they crack?

Love M

xxx

Everyday Favourites: Make up

I've decided to start sharing some of my favourites with you all. I find it easy to forget the things I use everyday and love. I thought I'd start by sharing some of my make up favourites.

Bourjois Intuitive Liner (Review)

I've always been a gel liner girl and if I was using liquid liner I would use the ones with the pot rather than the felt tip style. This liner has completely converted me. It's so easy to use and I love the triple dot tip so it can be used to add thickness to your lashes or as a liquid liner.

Urban Decay Naked 2

I've actually never reviewed this on the blog. As there are so many reviews on it I didn't bother. I was one of those of those people who loved the MUA palettes and thought spending £36 on a palette was stupid and couldn't be worth it. In America last year I picked this one up and was so impressed. My poor MUA palettes don't get a look in. I use this most days. I love all the colours in it and have hit pan on some. It's so easy to use and can create loads of different looks. Definitely worth the money. I'm drooling over Naked 3 now.

Revlon Colour Stay in Buff (Review)

I recently rediscovered this. When I first tried it I instantly loved it. I had two bottles so when I used one up I left the other one until I had used up more of my products. I've recently been using it again and I love it. The colour choice is amazing for pale girls and the coverage is perfect. It doesn't cake and lasts pretty much all day on me. It great all rounder.

Benefit BrowZings (Review)

I look back at old photos before I used to fill my brows in and they look so pale. I love a good defined brow and think it makes such a difference. The powder and wax combination is great and easy to use. I don't personally use the brushes provided as they are small and annoy me. The lightest shade is perfect for me and my ever changing hair colour. I use this most days now and I'm definitely addicted.

Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer (Review)

This is literally a must have product for me. Since Christmas last year I'd say I've worn this 97% of the time. It's amazing. It's matte, the perfect colour and blends onto the skin flawlessly and lasts. I love using it to contour and bronze and I've only just hit pan now.

Benefit Dandelion Blush (Review)

I have only started using blush in the last 2 and a half years. As someone with naturally rosey cheeks I always used to use foundation to cover them and thought applying blush over the top was stupid. How wrong was I. I love blush now and this is my all time favourite. A soft pink colour with the softest shimmer and it's great for me as I can't go over the top.

So that's my must have make up items. Are any of these on yours? What are your make up items you can't go without?

Love M

xxx

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick Dark Night Waterl-Oops

Hope you've all had a great weekend. I've spent a long weekend with the family so it's been lush and chilled. I popped to my local town with my mum on Friday to pick up a few bits. Since dying my hair lilac I've been wanting more purple toned lip products. I've got a colour in my head but struggled to find it on the high street. I've spent a lot time looking through the different stands but when I found this one I had to pick it up.

Dark Night Waterl-oops (random name!) is one of the reformulated their moisture renew range and bought out some new colours. Diva Red is one of my favourite reds so I was excited to try other colours in the range. 

I prefer the new packaging as the old one seems to look tatty in my make up storage now and the purple colour is peeling off which won't happen on this. It feels sturdy enough at the moment so no lids coming off in the handbag hopefully.

Dark night waterl-oops is such a pigmented colour. Rimmel lipsticks I've tried are amazing for this. I love that one swipe gives such a strong colour.

I love the colour of Dark night waterl-oops. In the swatch it shows it's more pink tones. The colour can be applied with more of a dabbing motion and smudged a little to get a gorgeous softer colour. It really reminds me of Mac Rebel which was another selling point for me as I've wanted that colour for ages.

Here it is built up on the lips. Excuse my slightly wobbly line as I've been at my parents I didn't pack a lip brush. I think dark lip colours look much better applied with a brush. It gives such a gorgeous purple berry tone when applied directly from the bullet.

When applied from the bullet it is gives a soft glossy finish and does feel moisturising on the lips and lasts really well. It is smooth to apply and doesn't drag.

If smudged out or applied lightly I did find it to be a little drying on the lips but nothing a bit of lip balm before application wouldn't fix.

Have you tried the new moisture renew lipsticks? Would you brave a dark colour?

Love M

xxx