sweater weather

Hey guys, loving mohair jumpers recently as they're so warm and soft! I think they're called mohair anyway? who knows, I love wearing big jumpers over dresses and dungarees, I think it adds a casual touch too a girly dress or something, and I love dressing casually and comfortably! I hope you all like my ootd today ♥ 

♥ Shock I'm wearing my beloved boots from boohoo ♥ 

♥ Mohair furry jumper - Primark (it was longer but I did some D.I.Y and made it a cropped jumper) ♥

♥ Dungarees - Boohoo ♥

♥ Estee Lauder Bag - Charity Shop ♥ 

♥ Lipstick - "Revenge" Collection ♥

Love you all!

Izzy 

x

Snow Kissed Lips - lip faves

♥ My Favourite Lipstick Picks
Winter time ♥

Lipstick for me is the final touch to a face, and this winter I've been in love with a few lipsticks and been wearing them constantly.

Pretty n Pink 

This is not only been my favorite lipstick of the moment but I think it's my favorite lipstick ever, I just love everything about it from the colour to the texture and feel of it on your lips. It's Collections CremePuff Lip Cream in shade "fairycake" so essentially it's not a lip stick but everything about it is just as good as a lipstick maybe even better. It's a fab dupe for Nyx lip cream, it's a matte lip cream and the lasting power is amazing considering how moisturizing this lip cream is and because it's a matte finish. I love the shade too it's such a pretty pink, I love wearing it with pink blush, it just adds a girly touch to my outfit (which usually consists of black).

Vamp it up! 

The gothic glam look is definitely in this winter with the dark vampy lip and I have definitely been loving this trend, at first I was a bit nervous as I'm not very confident when it comes to lip colours but I just loved the look of a dark vampy lip so I had to try it out with this Collection lipstick in the shade "revenge" it's a more red vampy lipstick than purple which is what I love about it because purple dark lips do not suit me one bit. This lipstick has a really good staying powder however it does sometimes stain my lips but I can put up with that because of how nice the colour is!

Red 'N' Roll 

A good red lipstick is a classic for me, only a certain few red lipsticks suit me though, I find some can be too red for me and make me look washed out even though I don't have pale skin. I like the MUA lipsticks not only because they're cheap but they're still so good and I like to buy them before splurging on more pricey ones just to test that they suit me, but I'm super impressed with a lot of the MUA range actually especially the lipsticks because the color range is vast and they're super pigmented too and I found a red that actually suits me!

Juicy Pink

Another MUA lipstick I'm loving is this hot pink, hot pink lips are another lip color that I'm a bit iffy with however I love this shade of pink and it's made me want to venture out into more expensive lipsticks in lots of shades of pink, I think a hot pink is a nice winter lip because it can brighten up any dark wintery outfit which is the case for me a lot of the time.

Pale Girl

I wouldn't say this necessarily was a winter lip color but this is my favorite lipstick in the world and I wear it everyday and it's Natural Collections Apple Blossom and once again for only £1.99 I flipping love this lipstick, it's verging between a nude and a light pink, I just think it compliments my skin colour so well and light nude/pinky lipsticks are my absolute favorites and need to add more to my collection.

Winter Warmer

Lastly is another one of my all time favorite lipsticks, it's the Estee Lauder signature lipstick in toasted walnut. I love how warm toned this lipstick is, it's verging on a nude with orange undertones, I think it's such a pretty colour not only for winter but especially Autumn too because of how warm it is, this is another colour that I think compliments my skin and eye colour, the only sad thing is, is that I think Estee Lauder have discontinued this shade because I can't find it anywhere! If anyone knows where I can find this shade please please pretty please let me know.

So these are my favorite lipsticks of the winter months, I hope you all liked them! What are your favorite lipsticks to wear in the winter? ♥ 

Izzy 
x

Classycal

I'm totally loving the whole turtle neck trend going on right now, I think it's so simplistic yet classy and can make an outfit look so put together. This turtle neck mini dress is so simple yet I think it looks so done up for something so simple and can be worn dressed up or down. Obviously I'm wearing my beloved cut out boots from Boohoo which I wear with every single outfit ever so I apologize for that!

♥ Turtle Neck Top/Dress - H&M ♥

♥ Scarf - Unknown ♥

♥ Bag - Primark ♥  

♥ Boots - Boohoo ♥

♥ Lipstick - Estee Lauder Signature Lipstick in Toasted Walnut ♥

Love ya, 

Izzy 

x 

  

D.I.Y Clean those brushes!

I've only just started getting into using makeup brushes to apply my makeup and I'm loving it, it makes makeup aplication so much easier and makes my makeup look so much more well applied. However they do get dirty very quick and I really don't want to pay out for an expensive brush cleaner when I can do it another way for a fraction of the price, here's how I do it. 

1 ♥ Obviously have your dirty brushes ready to wash, I have the real technique brushes by Samantha Chapman.  

 2 ♥ Secondly you want to get your hands on some baby shampoo, I'm using Johnsons Baby Shampoo. It has to be baby shampoo because it's light and gentle and won't have any harm chemicals that may effect your brushes. 

3 ♥ Once you have all the things you need run your brushes under warm water, however be sure to only get the ends of the bristles wet as you don't want to effect the glue holding the bristles to your brush. 

 4 ♥ Put a tiny blob of the shampoo onto the ends of your brushes and softly massage it into the ends until it lathers up into a froth and then leave it to soak for about 2 minutes. 

 5 ♥ Once you've let the shampoo soak into the brushes for about 2 minutes rinse all the shampoo off of your brushes and watch all the dirty makeup which was clinging to your brushes go down the drain. It's always important to clean your brushes because you're essentially putting dirty makeup back on to your face and this can cause infections, skin problems, rashes and spots so it's always nice to give your brushes a nice wash from time to time. 

6 ♥ Once all washed leave your brushes to dry, I usually leave them to soak in a towel over night. I also find it easier to wash my brushes at night too so I can leave them to dry properly overnight.

I hope you liked this easy D.I.Y post, you don't have to spend loads on brush cleaners when you can just do it yourself this way and it works just as well! 

Izzy 

x 

2 0 1 3 L O V E S

♥ Hair ♥

Aussie were my savior during 2013, I pretty much went through the whole of the Aussie range, Aussie are definitely my new holy grail hair products.I have stand out favorites though, Aussies "Aussome Volume" hairspray is my new favorite hairspray of all time now, it literally does what it says on the tin and a bonus is that it smells amazing too unlike some hairsprays which literally smell like a tin of gas! Not only does it volumise your hair to the max it makes it feel thick and soft still and not crispy or sticky. Where my hair is curly I feel it defines those curls too, one of my best finds of 2013 in terms of hairsprays. 

Another love from the "Aussome Volume" range were the "Aussome Volume" Shampoo and Conditioners, they smell exactly like the hairspray and do the exact same job but in a liquid form. The first day I used them I woke up the next morning and my hair was full of life and volume and always looked shiny, clean and soft. I was looking for a product that put body back into my hair because it was looking very dull and boring and this definitely did the trick. 

The last Aussie product that I fell in love with was the Aussie 3 minute miracle reconstructor. This is really good if you've got quite dead and dull hair, particularly if you've died or bleached your hair like I have, this 3 minute miracle reconstructor works wonders, it made my hair feel like real hair again! I was using the "Take the Heat" 3 minute miracle to stat with and don't get me wrong it did exactly what it was suppose to and made my hair feel soft, I just think the reconstructer is more suited for my hair and gives my hair everything it needs and more. So take some advice from Aussie "There's more to life than hair but it's a good place to start".

♥ Make-up ♥

For foundation I've been loving the Rimmel Fit Me Foundation, I used this foundation everyday of 2013. It's a low to medium coverage but very buildable. I particularly like this foundation because it lets your skin shine through because of it's lightweight pigments, so it's not a full on matte finish.  

I think I may have found my go to liquid eyeliner too. I'd heard a lot of bloggers hype about the L'Oreal liquid eyeliner so I thought I'd get my hands on one so I opted for the L'Oreal super liner perfect slim and it's literally a revolutionary product in my everyday makeup look. I'll admit it, I am no pro when it comes to liquid eyeliner and for a while now I have been looking for one that's easy to use because that would make my life so much easier, this eyeliner is the one. I find it so easy to use when creating any winged eyeliner look and I think this is definitely due to the slimness and size of the eyeliner, it glides over the eyelid so effortlessly to create that perfect winged eyeliner look. 

My Last makeup favorite of 2013 has to be this mascara, I was never too fussy before with the whole duo volumising and lengthening mascara thing, however I needed a new mascara and I saw Sammi from BeautyCrush raving about this mascara and I trust a lot of what she says so I went out and bought it and its the best mascara decision I have made in a while. I have pretty disgustingly short eyelashes *starts crying* but this product really does work it's magic and it makes me feel like I have a set of false lashes on, it doesn't clump and it separates my lashes and lengthens and adds volume so well. 

  -Lengthening wand-

-Volume Wand- 

 ♥ Fashion ♥

I've always loved denim Jackets and I own quite a few but this one stood out for me in 2013 and I wore it to death, it's from Topshop and for me it's the perfect denim jacket. It's so warm because it's lined with sheepskin (not real sheepskin of course) and goes with pretty much everything.

As far as footwear is concerned apart from my converse these boots have been permanently glued to my feet, they're definite dupes for the Jeffry Campbell Coltraine boots, I wasn't ready to splurge the money on the Coltraines because even though i absolutely adore the whole chunky boot trend I wasn't sure they'd suit me because I have very skinny ankles so I went for the cheaper alternatives, mine are from Boohoo and I love them and this year i'm going to invest in lots of chunky boots! 

 ♥ Random Favorites ♥

T E L E V I S I O N  

I've been really getting my teeth into The Vampire Diaries (excuse the pun) this show has been on TV since 2009 and I've always been meaning to watch it but just never got round to it. I wanted to watch it because I loved Twilight and I've always had this weird fascination with vampires but honestly this craps all over Twilight it's so good! The story lines have me hooked and the cast are all so wonderfully talented, Nina Dobrev is beautiful and I can't choose who I like more Damon or Stefan Salvatore. If you've never seen The Vampire Diaries then you'll have no idea who I'm talking about, if you do watch it then high 5 to you! 

M U S I C 
I have been into a lot of music this year and some amazing albums have been released this year, my favorite album that I have listened to lots this year is LONG.LIVE.A$AP by A$AP Rocky, I just love him and his voice, he was definitely my favorite artist of 2013 some of my favorites of off his album have to be Fashion Killa, Ghetto Symphony and Wild For The Night. 

 ♥ 2013 disappointment  ♥ 
 This product was a bit of a let down really because it had been hyped up quite a lot on a lot of blogs i'd read. It's the Maybeline The Falsies mascara, I doubt it's a terrible mascara it just didn't work with me, it might be because I have very short lashes but it just constantly clumped up and made my lashes feel horrible so this was definitely a makeup no no for me. 

Bring on 2014!
Izzy
x

N.Y.E

♥ My New Years Eve Party Outfit ♥

Happy New Years Eve guys, I can't believe it's almost 2014, cliché but this year has flown by. I am going to a party tonight to celebrate with my friends and this is what I'll be wearing, I hope you all have an amazing New Years Eve!

♥ Face ♥

Foundation - Rimmel Fit Me Foundation

Eyes: Rimmel Glam Eyes Day To Night Mascara

L'oreal Paris Super Liner Perfect Slim

♥ Clothing ♥

Shorts & Braces: Urban Outfitters 

Belt: Topshop

Shoes: Boohoo

Turtle Neck Vest: Ebay 

♥ To Keep Warm ♥ 

Jacket: Topshop

I hope you all have a lovely New Years Eve whatever celebrations you're doing, 

Lots of Love 

Izzy 

x

Don't Worry Be Happy!

So, I went through a very rough time last year where I suffered with depression and to overcome that I had to adjust a lot of things in my life, mainly with focusing on being happy because a year ago I was the least happy person you'd ever met. I'm not going to go to much into detail about my depression but basically it all came from my hatred of college which resulted in me leaving and having time to regain my happiness and get back to the old me again, now I have started at a new college and doing all the things I love and I am very happy there. So, I thought I'd do a post on some of things that made me happy again and the things that I had to stop doing in order to be happy. Now this is not at all saying "you must do these things in order to be happy" they're just the things I did that personally helped me. 

Firstly "delete" all the people that make you unhappy, just like deleting a facebook friend or unfollowing someone on twitter, remove them out of your life because you need to surround yourself with happy positive people to make you happy. If you surround yourself all the time with people that get you down or who are always negative that's going to have an effect on you and change your mood, nobody got time for that! My tip from this is: surround yourself with happy, positive people that love to be around you and vice versa you enjoy being around. 

Secondly, do things that make YOU happy, this was a massive one for me because I was trying to please everyone else and do things that society deem as acceptable. For instance I love Drama, and performing arts and all things like that however I was so low that I thought to myself "these aren't going to get me anywhere in life" despite the fact that I love them and performing makes me the happiest, so I stopped studying all those subjects at college and changed to all the subjects which are seen as "intelligent" however this is when my depression really kicked in, I was unhappy all the time because I hated the subjects with a passion, I had no passion and drive for them and then I started to fail, that's when I realised I need to do the things I love. I'd rather be happy doing something I enjoy than something that, yes, may have a lot of money involved but would make me unhappy. I have now moved college doing all the subjects I love and I am more than happy.

There's a lot of things I needed to stop doing in order to be happy too. Stop trying to impress people, especially people who don't give a s**t about you. At the end of the day no-one is going to genuinely like you for your clothes or your things or the way you look, genuine relationships are formed from the person liking you for who you are, genuine relationships will make you 100% more happier than materialistic relationships and friendships only down to popularity. All in all the only person you should try to impress is yourself. 

STOP, STOP, STOP criticising everything an anyone just because you're not happy with yourself it's like a quote from mean girls  "Calling somebody else fat won't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter"  you need to remove yourself from all that negativity. It's not going to make you any happier in the long run.

Comparing yourself to other people is what a lot of girls go through on a daily basis "she's prettier, skinnier, more funny, more intelligent, has nicer hair than me" it can make you so self conscious. I still compare myself to every other girl and it needs to stop because YOU are YOU and that's not going to change, you can get plastic surgery if you want, hair extensions, lose weight but at the end of the day it's your body and no matter how much you compare yourself to anyone else it's not going to change who you are. Instead of looking in the mirror and pointing out all your imperfections, look in the mirror and mention something you like about yourself. It's all about positivity! 

This last one was definitely the biggest problem for me and still is, dwelling on the past. I used to look at everything wrong that has happened in the past as a bad thing, I regretted things and used to sit there at night thinking about these things "if I had dealt with it like this than that wouldn't have happened" "why did I do that" "why did I let you go" silly things like that. Putting it bluntly, things do happen for a reason and you have to take things that happen in the past as a chance to learn from them and to not do them again. Humans aren't perfect, we're going to get things wrong, doing things wrong and making mistakes is what shapes you into the person you are. The past is training, it doesn't define you! 

I'm still trying to do all these things to make myself happier, it doesn't come easy it takes time and time is key. I hope these tips can help at least one person as they're definitely helping me.

Izzy 

x