Christmas Wish List

Winter is here, this is definitely my favourite time of the year and it's the best season for fashion!! There's so many accessories and layers to play with, and all dresses seem to suddenly become embellished and leather and fur is everywhere- possibly my two favourite things!

 It's such a good excuse to buy heels and dresses ready for the party season and cosy coats and scarves to keep you warm whilst Christmas shopping...

I've already been looking online and there's SO many things I want but my tight student budget is looking quite depressing for now... But it's my birthday in a couple of weeks so you never know!

Here's a few things on the highstreet at the moment that I've ambitiously added to my wish list...

I've already got a winter coat, but I really want a short, warm jacket that I can wear both casually and for going out. I love the sheepskin collar against the faux leather and grey textured wool, and it has good reviews on the Topshop website for being a nice fit and really cosy! I tried these studded leather gloves on in River Island and loved them, they were surprisingly comfortable and I'm obsessed with studs and leather...
 

A photo of this dress doesn't do it justice, it looks amazing in real life, I didn't try this on in River Island but may have to buy it for New Years Eve or  a Christmas night out. I really can't decide between the short or long length though? I like the detailing at the bottom of the shorter dress, and it would show off my heels... it's just been reduced from £120 to £60 aswell which is making it look a lot more appealing..

I just want all of these shoes. I can't even favourtise one pair in particular. The first two are more realistic being from Topshop I suppose... I'm tall so the first pair wouldn't make me look like as much of a giant as the other two... but I'm a sucker for huge heels. The third pair are just amazing. I need a pair of Jeffery Campbells in my wardrobe, and I'm in love with heelless heels and the fact that these look like they could be worn by Lady Gaga just reinforces all desire to have them!

I've never tried nail wraps, but seen these in Topshop and love galaxy print so really want to try them out! They're only £5 aswell! I also love this fox print scarf from Topshop, I love the colours as they're so wintery and will go with most outfits. And the pink lace dress from River Island is such a gorgeous shape and colour, and will be nice to have for many a night out when I'm home from uni in December!

Thanks for reading!

Ally x

Caviar Manicure Sets Review

I am OBSESSED with these Caviar manicure sets- they create such a cool, eye-catching effect and much to my suprise are so easy and un-fiddly to do. I bought the white and the rainbow set from Selfridges and they're definitely worth the money- each set costs £18- I've used them both a few times and they're both nearly full still! 

First I tried out the white set. I loved the look of these because they look really christmassy & I'm already feeling so festive! Being a nail biter, I bought some cheap false nails from Boots (Broadway short false nails) and they cost around £4- these are really long lasting as the glue is strong and they're not too long so there's less chance of catching them on things! You paint your nails with the white nail varnish provided- wait for the first layer to dry- do a second coat and whilst your nails are still tacky you pour over the microbeads. I would suggest holding your nails over the lid/box whilst pouring the beads over- as then the remaining beads gather in there and you can funnel them back into the pot to avoid wasting any unused ones!
Leave them 10-15 minutes to dry. You can apply a topcoat for added strength. 

Next I tried the Rainbow set- these are by far my favourite!! One of my housemates had used these ones before me and found that using a topcoat draws the colour from the beads so it's best to leave that out. 
I thought that the beads would easily fall off, but they stay on so well and spread really evenly across your nails!

They really are a good buy if you want to do something different with your nails and are so easy to do!
Xx

Christmas at Harrods!

I've realised I haven't posted in a while, it's my first Christmas in the big city and I've been so busy being a shameless tourist...I love Christmas anyway and especially love London (I still get so excited on the tube when they say "change here for Buckingham Palace"), so as you can imagine I've been dragging all of my housemates to the festive going-ons. We went to the turning on of the Oxford Street Christmas lights, and I've been so see the Harrods windows- they are so amazing and magical! Designers such as Valentino/Elie Saab/Versace were given a disney princess doll and they had to reinvent their dress for the window display- I was there for so long admiring them. 


Here's some photo's of my favourite designs...

Sleeping Beauty by Elie Saab

Cinderella by Versace

Glass slipper Louboutins 

Princess & the Frog by Ralph&Russo

Mulan by Missoni 

Jasmine by Escada 

If you're close to London or going over the festive season, make sure you go to Harrods- it's the best shop in London but just a shame I can't actually afford anything in there...
Ally x

PETROL PEBBLE NAILS

I just wanted to do a quick post on this nail varnish I've just bought! I have the Topshop glitter nail varnish already and love it so thought I'd try out some others! I bought this one in colour 'Lead'.. it's got a really metallic shine to it, and looks different colours until different lights- sometimes looking metallic black and other times with a green/purple petrol effect to it. It goes on really nicely and is a really unique colour. 
All Topshop make-up is such good quality, and is cheaper than the likes of MAC or Benefit, i'd definitely recommend it!

I added some Topshop glitter nail varnish to a couple of fingers to sparkle it up a bit!

A Manhattan Penthouse Wedding

NEW YORK!- This is my absolute favourite place on Earth. I went there last weekend as it was my sister's best friends wedding, she was marrying her girlfriend of 4 years :) It was such a beautiful service and it being in the penthouse meant the views were breathtaking! I was asked to go along and do both brides hair & make-up (double pressure), and tried my best to make them look amazing for their big day! Being a lover of big cities I was so excited to go to New York and spend a few days raiding the shops of Fifth Avenue and living off cocktails and basically pretending I was Carrie Bradshaw. I had the best time, I love London but it isn't a patch on NYC! Holiday blues is an under-statement. 

Me doing the brides hair & make up in the penthouse! 

Loving life in Times Square 

HEAVEN 

I hunted down the New York Topshop whilst I was there too, it had to be done! And found these shoes I've  wanted for ages, they were £70 in England and $25 in New York, I was overwhelmed! I love the classic court shoe design with the platform and the nude colour means they go well with most outfits. 

I'm sorry that this photo is on the side, i've tried to upload it so many times & it doesn't seem to want to upload normally! But these are the shoes I got! :D

DIP-DYE DIY

For anyone thinking about dip-dying their hair, this is a really simple, cheap way to do it! Before I dyed my hair dark (I wish I never, I miss my blonde hair loads!) I wanted to dip-dye the ends so I had lavender blonde hair; any Lady Gaga fans will understand my reasoning... Anyway, my natural hair is a couple of inches below my shoulder, so I decided to dip-dye my Foxylocks extensions- which I'm going to do a review on soon because they're AMAZING. This meant that I didn't have to have my dip-dye hair all the time, the colour didn't wash out and I was less scared of it going wrong. To do this I bought Directions hair dye, which you can buy online for around £3-4 and there's so many colours to choose from! I used the violet dye and mixed it with conditioner so the colour wasn't as strong- it came out more lavender.

 I lay out my extensions flat and applied the dye to the hair using a dying brush- I wanted a more gradual dip dying effect rather than a straight divide so applied the dye in a sort of rigid line which I think creates a better effect as it's not such a prominent divide in colour. When the hair had turned to the colour I wanted it to (this only took under 10 minutes as my hair was so, so light) I washed the dye off, dried it and styled them to how I liked! It's not something you have to go to the hairdressers for and is so cheap and easy to do. If you want to do something different with the colour of your hair but don't want to take a risk on your natural hair it's a great idea to use extensions and a quick way to make a change:)

Thanks for reading, Please leave some posts :) 
Ally xox

Black/Gold Smokey Glitter Eyes

I done this look for my friend a few weeks ago before I came to uni, but I thought I'd share it on my blog now as it's a make-up style I use so much when going on nights out and it's really easy to do! It's a great way to make your eyes really stand out and can instantly make any outfit/ hairstyle your wearing look dressier. I use the Front Cover Moon Dust Eyeshadow set from Boots (these might have sold out now as I got this about a year ago) but you can still pick these up online. 

Here's the Front Cover Moon Dust set I use 

Firstly, you can apply primer to your eyelid to make eyeshadow stick better ontop (however I don't necessarily always do this!). Next you'll need to apply any black/dark eyeshadow you have to the outer corner of your eyelids and create whatever 'flick' shape you want (it's best to use an angled eyeshadow brush for this)- and colour in only HALF of your eyelid with this dark colour as the other outer part is going to be covered with gold. 

Next I darken the flick shape I've created, so use the black shadow dust from the Front Cover set above, I find it best to put this on in small amounts as it does fall onto your face and is a nightmare to get off if you've just done your foundation! So build the darkness up slowly!

After I've applied the black Front Cover eyeshadow to the flick and half of my eyelid, I dab a bit of eyelash glue onto my finger tip and apply it to the other half of my eyelid, then use my finger rather than an eyeshadow brush to apply the gold glitter from the Front Cover set (using your finger rather than a brush picks up more glitter and it seems to stick a lot better with more coverage). 

Black and Gold glitter dust I use for the look from the Front Cover set

I then put some black eyeliner on my lower lash lines, apply some mascara, stick my false eyelashes on and apply a line of liquid eyeliner to my top lash lines and i'm good to go!  

I love this look because I always have "smokey eyes" for a night out but the glitter just makes it a bit different and it's really pretty for any special occasions, and will be nice for the christmas season coming up! 

Thanks for reading & I hope my description is understandable to anyone wanting to try this!

Please leave some posts & follow my blog if you're not already :)