NOTD: Cheap As Chips Taupe

I have an unhealthy obsession with taupe - especially when it comes to eyeshadows, dresses, and especially nail polishes. The variety of taupes I have in my collection is slightly appalling! Yet I've added a new one to my collection a couple of weeks ago, for a grand total of £0.99 from H&M - and I think it's actually one of my favourite taupes!

And it's excellent quality! It has a nice gloss to it, the brush is round but has enough give to become flat when painting, it dries relatively fast, it stays on for a lot longer than the likes of Rimmel Lasting Finish or Lycra Pro, and you really only need 2 layers to get that opacity. As you can see, it's not a huge bottle - but that means you're more likely to use it up before it get gloopy :) Did I mention the colour is the prettiest milky taupe?

I also found that having a gold glitter polish is a great thing - it helps to bling up and kind of liven up a gorgeous cream shade :)

Have you tried any of the H&M polishes? :)
Who's as much of a taupe feind as I am?!

<3yu

The Girl Who Inspired A Winter Collection…

So, H&M must have been listening to an earlier rant of mine in which I decried the current state of women's fashion—the Sister and I have made numerous unsuccessful trips into our regular clothing haunts this month, and we were met with a flood of frilly dusty-rose nightmares just about everywhere.

Why? Why must I wear puffed sleeves in abysmal colours because I am a lady? Where are the androgynous alternatives for a queer gal like me?

As of December 14, select H&M locations will be carrying a line of post-grunge threads modelled after the unlikely (and also fictional) trendsetter, Lisbeth Salander.

Now, I know Salander might not register on the ol' radar for most readers—I mean, the character comes from that rather modest, obscure Millennium series penned by the late author Stieg Larsson. I think there was a low-key Swedish adaptation of the novels, and I know the Americans were interested in re-making the films for English-speaking audiences…? I know, few people out there know about the work, which leads me to believe the clothing line will under sell, you know…

All right, all jokes aside—I am wicked excited to see this Lisbeth Salander–inspired spread. Now, I am not a hard-edge girl at all. I think my profile photo for this blog makes that abundantly clear. However, having clothing options that fall more in line with your tastes is a remarkable win for this blogette right here. I've scanned some online articles discussing H&M's announcement and writers are taking a more sceptical stance—I mean, Salander is a little, shall we say, anti-social? And the new designs are comparatively watered down to the original?

Exhibit A: Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander

Exhibit B: Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander

H&M made their version of Salander a little… less intense, shall we say? Goth-lite maybe? Suburban safe? Whichever label one applies, one cannot deny the lovely bit of breathing room this new line offers to ladies who are not of the ultra-femme persuasion. Also, the thought of straight ladies donning clothes inspired by a queer character is a delightful revelation on its own.

So, what say you, dear reader? Are you intrigued with H&M's take on Salander's style, or do you think the chain missed their mark?

Shopping Adventures & Finally - New Make Up Storage!

Helloooooo everyone! (again, TLC to the 9 followers.. <3)

Today was like major, major, MAJOR shopping day with my "so-not-a-friend", Lisa (it's an inside joke.. we said it once on a bus and a guy gave us the most disgusted look.. lol good times) after an hour of seminar and a little visit to the Postgraduate Open Day.

I went with the intention of buying 2 things: Benefit's Her Name Was Glowla and Maybelline's Color Sensational Lipstick. I got neither. The first one is quite pricey, at £28.50, and while I was willing to pay that when I was looking at it online, my initial reaction when I saw it was like, "Hm. Cool.", not "EEEEEEEE!!!!" and we thought that was an indication.

I think I love the fact that I can try so many Benefit products which I wouldn't pay to try if it weren't in a kit/mini-sized.. but I don't use highlighters very much, the eyeshadow colours are dupable, and the blush was kinda chalky. So.. maybe I should just consider the Sha-La Lovely kit or the Confessions of a Concealaholic because those two looked GORGE! But then I feel like I missed out on their blush which seems to be their popular product.. Any opinions guys? I did consider getting Boots' mini Butterfly chest of drawers with face/lips/eyes drawers.. so adorable. £14, if they're good quality, bargain! They also had eyeshadow kits, and lip kits, and all inclusive kits.. so pretty. Okay there we go, I'm getting them instead! 3 for 2, here we go.

Anyway, while I would LOOOOVE to show you my actual (not mental/wishful) loot, most of it will give away items on an on-going swap with my fellow Youtube/Blogger Mandy, so that isn't going to happen for a while.. sorry guys! When I give make-up gifts, I like to give things that I've already tried or Lisa has tried (lol), and obviously.. I wanted some more for myself! :P

But I did get a new make up storage (as you can probably guess from the title really.. lol.)

It's just a drawer set that I got for 50% at WHSmith for £9.99 - how cute is it? I was totally torn between this one and a baby pink/baby blue set with cupcakes on them! (Lisa likes cupcakes.. it was hard to resist her cupcake-waves). One piece of advice.. if you do decide to get something like this on a shopping trip.. get it at the end to save your hands, because WHSmith don't like giving you bags that you can hold properly by the handles! (Fairy lights have not been fixed..)

In addition to that, I bought a new pair of jeans after elegantly ripping my old pair. Got a light blue one from H&M for a whopping £30.. a bit expensive, but I loved the fit of my last one, and the colour of this one. I think the last ones were exactly the same, but like.. £20, because of the normal dark blue colour. Lame! So yes, my total spending of the day totalled way.. way.. over £70. Sad.. this has been upsetting me tonight, even if everything was actually a relatively necessary buy!

I got a lipgloss in H&M, and we also were invited to BodyShop's V.I.P event (which wasn't a V.I.P event AT ALL.. they ended up not taking the 20% off of my bill because I didn't show my membership card. And uh, the email said the event was just for members. They DID give me £5 off my next purchase though.. which actually turned out to be a better deal.. But still made me spend more today!), and I got like 2 things there: White Musk gift set for Christmas for my cousin, and a mango soap for meeeee <3:

 The lipgloss was £0.99 - bargain! Haven't tried it though but the shade name is adorable: "Aruba". Been there, done that, loved it. It smells REALLY sweet though, so we'll have to see if I can handle it. Mango smells adorable, and considering my cousin spent the summer smelling White Musk everytime we went there, I'm guessing she'll like it!

I concluded the night by meeting my boyfriend at the bus stop after his return from London. Then we ordered in take-away and pigged out to watch Hot Fuzz :)

<3yu