My Style Diary - Stripes

You really can't beat a stripe-y shirt dress when it's a hot day and you're having to rush out the door.

This particular one is from Marcs and was picked up in an end of summer sale last year. 

When I first bought it, I envisioned pairing it with a tan belt and sandals, but seeing as I'm still on the hunt for the perfect tan sandals, we're going with these black ones for now.

It's the kind of dress that is perfect to throw on when you just want to be comfy. I would love to be able to wear it without a belt, but for me it's just a little too boxy and long, so I like to try and give the illusion of no belt by wearing just a thin one and pulling the top part of the dress out a bit to cover it

(this is not demonstrated very well in the above photo, but I'm sure you know what I mean).

My friend who has the same dress does wear it on it's own and it looks great on her - I'm just that little bit too short!

Anyway, enough rambling!

Hope you're having a great day!

Lauren

xxx

Dress - Marcs

Sandals - Steve Madden

Belt - From Singapore? (it's very old!)

Bag - Jigsaw

Two New Beauty Buys

Last week I picked up two new goodies that were just so pretty that I had to share them on the blog.

The first is this absolutely stunning nail polish by Essie called Hors d'oeuvres. It is the sparkliest most glitter packed polish I own and perfect for this time of year (now that Christmas is well on its way!)

 It's chock full of slightly larger silver glitter pieces in a base of gold micro glitter. It's gorgeous layered over pretty much anything to add a bit of a festive feel to the nails, but it also gives a really cool gold/silver foil effect when dotted on all by itself. The only downside (which is to be expected from a glitter polish) is that it's a pain in the butt to get off!

The second naughty purchase is the Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dragon Girl which has been on my list for a very long time. I was finally pushed over the edge when I read that this is the shade that Taylor Swift wears (yes, I am one of those crazy fans).

This is the first of the Nars lip pencils that I've tried and I absolutely love the formula. It glides on easily and stays put, and despite it's matte finish I find it very comfortable on the lips and not too drying at all. Colour wise, it is the perfect red for me, not too orange or blue toned and with just a hint of pink. Its a very bright, vibrant colour that I think would look great on pretty much any skin tone. 

I have a feeling this is going to become one of my holy grail products and it's definitely going to be getting a lot of use, particularly in the summer months!

 I'm wearing it in this post if you want to see what it looks like on :)

Have you picked up any exciting new beauty bits?

Lauren

xxx

My Current Favourite Makeup

I love reading beauty blogs and always plan to throw in a few more beauty related posts on here, but for some reason it never really happens. Possibly because I always end up looking ridiculous in any close up photos I take of my face in my attempt to show you a makeup look (and therefore end up just dropping the whole idea of it).

I've decided to bite the bullet though and go ahead with this one (despite the silly photos!) as it's a makeup look I've really been loving, and I wanted to share with you some of my absolute favourite products. 

I've been going for a super simple, very natural look lately, skipping foundation and instead just using my favourite Shiseido Natural Finish Cream Concealer and a dusting of the Hourglass Ambient Lightning Powder in Dim Light.  It's a really great concealer that I rarely see mentioned on beauty blogs, and the powder gives a beautiful finish. 

I then use a little bit of Nars Laguna Bronzer to add some warmth and the Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed for a touch of colour. This is by far my most used blush as it goes with any lip colour I wear.

For the eyes I have been loving Mac's Arena eyeshadow which is described as a "soft gold-peach with pearl" that is very subtle but perfect for brightening up the eyes. I rarely wear eyeliner partly due to the time consuming nature of it and partly because I like the no-eyeliner look, but I always finish off with a good few coats of mascara - the Maybelline Full'n Soft mascara has been a long time favourite. 

For lips, I've been using the Fresh Sugar Lip Balm in Cherry which gives a really pretty and subtle pinky-red colour. It looks super bright in the tube but can be sheered out, and because it's a balm, it's  obviously very moisturising. I do tend to switch out my lip products quite a bit, but this is the one I've been reaching for the most lately. 

And that is it!

I always love reading these posts - it's like getting a little sneak peak into someone's beauty bag and often a great way to decide which new products to add to my list, so hopefully it's been at least a little helpful or interesting :)

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Products

* Shiseido Natural Finish Cream Concealer (Light Medium)

* Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder (Dim Light)

* Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush (Exposed)

* Nars Laguna Bronzer

* Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil (Soft Brunette)

* Mac Eyeshadows - Arena all over the lid, Wedge in the crease, Brulé as a highlight

* Maybelline Full 'n Soft Mascara

* Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment (Cherry)

November in Pictures

A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month...

December is upon us, and I have to say I'm very excited about it. I love this time of year (as I've probably said a million times already), with the lovely warmer weather and excitement of holidays and Christmas on the way. 

November has been a pretty good month - there've been ups and downs, but here's a few photos of some of the fun things I got up to :)

I was contemplating doing a kind of "Blogmas" - like "Vlogmas" on youtube where people vlog everyday up to Christmas, but instead trying to have a new post up everyday. I've decided though that might be pushing it a little bit, but I do have some fun plans for a few festive posts - including one on baking gingerbread (yum!) 

I hope you've had a great Monday and first day of December!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx