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

My Haircare Routine

Well hello! I am so sorry that I haven't blogged in the past few weeks, it's currently exam season at uni, I've had my first one today, and so as you can imagine I've been really quite busy! My next exam is tomorrow and my last one is on Monday (if you care haha) so I will be back on top of things in a very short time!! I have missed blogging sooo much the past few weeks, I can't wait to get back to writing on here regularly!! Anyway, recently I've been quite happy with my hair! I got some new products a few months ago, and I definitely feel like they've been taking good care of my hair, so I thought I'd share! (That rhyming was too good to resist..)

Okay, so firstly, when I wash my hair I've been using the Aussie Mega Shampoo and the Naked Smooth jojoba oil silky conditioner for straight/long hair together. I'm not too fussed about the conditioner - although it does smell really nice and is paraben and sulphate free, which is always a plus - but I love this shampoo!! It's the first time I've ever used it, but it's definitely going to be one that I repurchase over and over again. This has made my hair so smooth and manageable. It lathers up really nicely (I hate shampoos that just turn to water on your head and don't get all soapy) and I find that I actually have to use less of this shampoo when I wash my hair than I have had to with others, which is obviously a plus because it means the bottle will last much longer! It's a cleansing shampoo, but gentle enough to use everyday, so it will get rid of any styling product you use in your hair. It also smells really great, like gummy sweets! The only thing I'd say is that I wouldn't recommend this for people with dry scalp problems, because I have experienced a little minor flakiness with this, but nothing too unsightly!

After I get out of the shower, I have been applying a very small amount of this Mogador Hair Oil. I found it in TKMaxx a while ago, and I actually haven't seen it since, which makes me sad for when I run out! I have seen hair masks and shampoo and conditioner by the same company, but not another hair oil. Saying that, I've had this for around 8-9 months and I haven't even used 1/3 of it, and I've been using it after every time I was for the past couple of months! This oil is great, because unlike other hair oils, the main ingredients aren't silicones - I'm looking at you Moroccan oil! This means that the oil is actually really treating your hair and improving the condition of it, rather than just smoothing it down with silicone and making it just LOOK better.
I then apply a pea-sized amount of the Matrix Biolage Curl Defining Elixir Gel. So, there's 2 things I need to say here: 1)I know I don't have curly, hair, that doesn't really matter. It was actually my hairdresser that first used this on my hair, and it just makes it feel far more together and strong. 2) Don't be scared of the word gel, I was at first too, don't worry! I was terrified of going back to the days of gel encrusted ballet exam hair - did anyone else have to deal with this? It was bloody awful! - But this isn't the sort of gel your boyfriend can use to style his spikes (I actually haven't tried this as Matt has long curly hair, so it might well work in that way, but I couldn't say..) this is just for running through your hair and it just makes mine look and feel a little more polished, together and stronger! Matrix is a salon only brand in the UK and can be expensive to buy from salons, so luckily I've found it here with the added extra of free delivery!
Then I've been spritzing the Tresseme keratin smooth heat protector all over my hair before I dry it, because you should always protect your hair before you apply heat, and this is especially important with long hair like mine! I'm not so keen on the smell of this, it smells the same as all the other tressemme products, but I don't really like their signature scent, so if you do then you won't mind this! But it's nothing that I can't stand and I think this has been helping along the efforts of Aussie's Mega Shampoo in making my hair smoother!

So I definitely couldn't attribute my hair's condition to any one particular product, (although I have switched my shampoo up a few times and then come back to the Aussie and noticed how much softer my hair feels with that one) but I think they're all working well together for me! I have been using some other things occasionally and trying other things out, but nowhere near often enough for them to have had an impact on my hair or for me to comment on them yet!

Have you used any of these products? What have you been finding has been working for your hair?
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

5 Colours in my Hair

Hola! Just a quick post today with a little update, I dyed some of my ombré! I've got a bit of turquoise in there (which I'm hoping will tone down when I wash it) some lilac and some pink! I'm just sort of playing with the colour at the moment to get the right sort of shades that I want and see how they all fade etc. Because overall I want to dye the whole ombré at some point, so I'm gathering my findings and results before I do it!

What do you think of the colours in my hair? Which one do you like best? Let me know if anyone wants a post about how I do it and what I'm using etc and I'd be happy to do that :)
Eleanor x

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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

High End Wishlist

Hello! So I forgot to number this edit, but I really can't be bothered going back and editing it again... Sorry! But I think most of you reading this will either know or be able to guess which products it is that I'm talking about..

Nars "and God created the woman" palette - I am seriously lusting after this at the moment, the shades are gorgeous, just what I go for, lovely subtle neutrals (the other 2 palettes follow through on this too) I've never owned a Nars products and my, my, would this be a lovely one to start with. The only problem is the price tag, at £40.50 it is waaaaay out of my price range, and not even available on asos for the student discount treatment, I think this will be one that I have to settle for just looking at... *sigh*

Chanel tan de Chanel bronze universel - this seems to be a bit of a love hate product with everyone that has it, but I'm sick of seeing this and thinking, "should I, shouldn't I, I'm not sure about it?" WELL I'VE DECIDED I WANT IT, DAMN IT! I think I'm going to prioritise this as my next high end purchase, probably the next time John Lewis have 10% off event (I know I just missed one, but I was too contrary to commit to buying this while it was on, only afterwards do I decide that I definitely want it. Typical.) Or I might even just treat myself when they bring out these beauty club points card thing that I've been hearing about here and there!

YSL rouge volupte shine in 13 peach passion - So I love the look of these, they sound amazing, they have a great range of beautiful shades, and the packaging is lovely. I finally decided which shade I want after seeing this one on Zoe's blog and falling in love with it. I'm not sure I'm ready to spend this much money on a lipstick just yet, but I'm storing it away in the wishlist archives because I want it baaaad!

Benefit world famous easiest nudes - Basically, I want every single one of these new kits from benefit, hell, I want every single kit from benefit full stop! They've been all over the bigger blogs recently, and I'm not too sure if they've actually been released to buy yet, but when they are I'm most certainly going to have to restrain myself! Or maybe I don't want to....

Bobbi Brown Lilac Rose Collection Lipgloss in lilac rose - so this is another case of me just wanting pretty much the whole collection that Bobbi Brown has released for spring/summer 2013, I particularly love the colour of this lipgloss because it's a bit different, but it's not something I'll be buying because I'm not too keen on lipgloss, it's nice to look at pretty colours though!!

Bobbi Brown Pretty Powerful Pot Rouge - When this first came out, I didn't give it much attention, because anything brighter than a pale pink and I'm a bit put off, but I saw this on Lily's blog the other day and it looked gorgeous on her! Maybe it complimented her more tan skin better than it would mine, I don't know, but I've now got a PRETTY POWERFUL (lolgeddit) craving for this... oh dear...

Bobbi Brown Lilac Rose Collection Eye Palette - ANOTHER eye palette, is it acceptable to have 3 in the same wishlist? Well what can I say? That's what I'm a-wishin' for! Again, an absolutely gorgeous offering from Bobbi Brown, when is anything she releases not amazing?! I probably can't justify this because I got the desert haze palette for Christmas, and this looks pretty similar to that as far as the shades go, but I do have a bit of a weakness when it comes to palettes, and when it comes to Bobbi Brown, so put those together and you've pretty much got a guilty purchase eventually...

Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Sheer Illuminating Fluid - So I haven't actually heard a whole lot about this... Nothing in fact! I just stumbled across it when I was staring at its big sister on the Debenhams website, I want the Tan De Chanel, and boy do I love illuminating, so this was pretty much an instant want for me, maybe I should find out a bit more about it first....

Are you wanting any of these products at the moment? Or do you have any? Let me know what you think!

Eleanor x