The Perfect Winter Jumper

Grey | Dark Green | Navy | Rich Red

It's that time of year. The time of year where Primark is stormed by women hunting down that pair of studded boots, and that khaki leather-sleeved jacket. We're all in a mad rush to replace vest tops with jumpers, and dolly shoes with well... in my case mainly dolly shoes if I'm honest. I've always been one to look forward to winter. I guess it's because I suddenly don't feel pressured to bare my arms and legs, in danger of turning into a hot, sweaty mess. Shorts just weren't made for me.

Finding the perfect winter jumper has always been a difficult task, and one I have only recently completed. I found my perfection in this beautiful jumper from New Look (£14.99), as featured in my recent 'What Did I Buy This Month?' post. I bought the speckled grey colour, but I'm now lusting after the other three. Next on my hit list is the dark green one, it's absolutely gorgeous. The dip-hemmed back makes it such a flattering fit, and the lightweight feel of the jumper means its wearable under coats without getting too toasty and looking too much like the Michelin man.

Have you found your perfect winter jumper?

#1 What Did I Buy This Month? - October

I don't often have a lot of dosh to spend, which means I don't really go on huge shopping trips and ever have huge hauls. I do love having a nose at what other people have purchased though, so I thought because I don't often have lots of new purchases on a regular basis, I'd start a new feature on my blog featuring the items I've bought over a whole month. 

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder £3.99: This is just a re-purchase, but I love this powder and recommend it to everyone who suffers from annoying oily skin just like I do.

Primark Aztec Nail Wraps £1.00: I haven't actually tried these yet but I couldn't resist picking them up for such a bargain price. I'll post a review after I've tried them out.

Revlon Colour Stay Gel Eyeliner*: I actually won this and the other two Revlon products from a twitter competition. A review will be up soon when I've tried it!

Revlon Top Speed Nail Polish in Forbidden*: A gorgeous dark, deep red and perfect for the Autumn and Winter months. Review up soon.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Cherry Blossom*: This is such a beautiful colour. It appears as a normal run of the mill red on first appearance, but turns up to be a cherry-toned red when on the lips.

Simple Soothing Facial Toner £2.99: Another repurchase. It's also currently by one get one free on selected products in Simple Superdrug at the moment.

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle £4.99: I've always been a bit lazy with conditioning my hair so for me this is my perfect product. I only have to use it a couple of times a week and the condition of my hair has definitely improved, which is great as I haven't had it cut in an unspeakable amount of time.
Umberto Giannini Jet Set Brunette Luminising Shampoo £5.49: This product really does look like chocolate sauce. I love that the shampoo is richly coloured brunette, however it has actually managed to stain my shower curtain. It smells amazing, but I don't think I'll be buying it again.
Umberto Glam Hair Backcomb In A Bottle £1.99: My hairs pretty limp and lacking volume at the moment, and this sounded like just what I needed. I decided to try the sample size and it works a treat to give a backcombed effect without having to do any unforgivable damage to your hair.
Umberto Giannini Incredible Body Volume Blow Dry Spray £1.99: As I said, my hair is in serious need of volume at the moment. I'm really impressed by this product, it's easy and quick to use and smells lovely as well. The only problem I've had is that it can make my hair a bit greasy if I use too much.

Grey Thin Knit 3/4 Sleeve Jumper - New Look £14.99: I find it really hard to find flattering jumpers (stupid hips) so when I came across this I was thrilled to bits. I love the speckled knit, and especially the dip-hemmed back. I'll definitely be picking it up in a few more colours.
Khaki Vest Top - Primark £2.50: A shopping trip isn't complete without a stop in Primark. I wanted some more 'throw on' style tops, and I love the colour of this.

I'm off to Lincoln on Wednesday to visit my friend at university. I'm SO excited, I've been going through a hugely stressful time with applying to university at the moment so it will be lovely to get away. I can't wait to get dressed up and go out for Halloween as well. Has anyone got any ideas for a last minute costume?

What have you bought this month? Have you tried any of these products?

Wishlist: Models Own

Northern Lights | Jack Frost | Freak Out! | Grace Green | Snow White | Pink, Yellow, Blue Nail Art Pens

I think we've all established that I'm a Models Own obsessive. I haven't had much spare dosh for a while
now, so I unfortunately missed out on the 50% off sale they held a few weeks ago. That didn't stop me from filling up my basket a few times though, and trust me it took a lot of willpower not to click 'go to checkout'.

I'm not one to say no to a glitter nail polish. With the sudden influx of glitter polishes on the Models Own radar recently, I have been a very happy Charlotte to say the least. I adore the most recent Wonderland Collection. It's such a perfectly timed release for the Autumn and Winter months, and I definitely have my eyes on the pink holographic glitter based Northern Lights and the gorgeous Jack Frost, which I've seen on swatches looks amazing over black.

Snow White is a shade I've wanted to add to my collection for a long while now. I particularly want this for nail art designs, as I always come across so many that need a while polish, and with the current Army trend sweeping the nation, I've fallen in love with Grace Green. I've felt a little uninspired with my nail art recently, so it was only natural that the Wah Nail Art Pens would feature on my wishlist. I'm hoping having these in my life will encourage me to be more creative with my designs like I was when I first started my blog.

Whats on your wishlist at the moment? Did you go go crazy with the Models Own sale?

Los Angeles Day#4 Part 1 - Stars Homes Tour and Beverly Hills

Yes, this next installment of my LA trip is very very late. In fact, I may as well just put it out there, it's been almost eight months since I got back. Now that's pretty terrible, but I still want to tell you guys about the trip even though it was that long ago. Plus, I still can't come to terms with the fact it's over so this is a good excuse to relive the moments and look through the pictures. So, let's get on with it before I start blubbering...

I'm splitting Day Four into three posts because we packed so much into one day, and I didn't want to make this post anymore picture heavy than it already is! After a breakfast of high sugar level cereal straight from the box, and making the hard decision of what to wear (first world problems) I set off to the lobby area with my fellow room buddies. Waiting outside in the beautiful LA sunshine, were three mini-buses each with 'Starline Homes Tour' printed on the sides. Now, being a girl who's pretty obsessed with any A-list to C-list celebrity gossip, and just generally having a fascination with celebrities in general, the fact I was going to see where some of the biggest names in the world spend their day-to-day lives was pretty bloody awesome.

1. Ushers Home 2. Simon Cowells Home
3. The Osbournes Home (During the TV Series)  4. Elton Johns Home (Top two apartments)

Now, you do have to feel a little bit sorry for these celebrities. I mean, it can't be much fun looking out of your million-dollar windows each morning to see a bus load of tourists with their noses pressed against the windows snapping shots of your home (definitely was one of these tourists). Well, maybe not in Elton John's case because he's pretty high off the ground and would probably need a strong set of binoculars to see this. I also saw the homes of the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Lionel Richie, The Beckhams, Ringo Starr, and Elvis, and a load of others that I cannot for the life of me remember the names of. We were really hoping to get a glimpse of a sweaty celebrity having a run, or even a celeb just backing out of their driveway but we didn't which was pretty gutting. After spending a couple of hours driving around the hills, we stopped off in the middle of designer-shop-filled Beverly Hills. 

Unsurprisingly, Beverly Hills has to be the cleanest and most well-kept neighbourhood I have ever laid my 

eyes on. It was seriously beautiful. We didn't get the chance to have a walk around but just seeing such an iconic place through the mini-bus window was enough. We did however do a crazy fast (at risk of a parking ticket) stop off to get a picture in front of the gigantic Beverly Hills sign in the Beverly Hills garden park. It's a little High School Musical, but I'll treasure this picture forever.

Obviously I had to get the cliche shots of the palm tree's and 'Rodeo Drive' sign, it would of been a crime not to! We also saw the famous 'Badgely Mischka' store from Pretty Women. That's one of the things I most loved about LA, everywhere felt familiar because you had most likely seen it in a movie or TV series before. As a treat, our tour guide then took us to the famous Hollywood Bowl, which the two other buses didn't get to go to. It's an amazing open air music venue, but it could really do with a lift or an escalator because climbing the steps to the top really killed my legs.

At the top of the photo you can see the famous Hollywood sign making an appearance. It was pretty cool to be able to walk freely around a venue that would usually be packed with people. I'd love to come to a concert here one day, I'm sure it would be absolutely amazing *writes on things to do before I die list*. 

My next installment should be up soon, there's still plenty to come. Yet again, I did say exactly that at the end of my last LA post which was written in March. Don't get your hopes up. 

Nail Art Tutorial: Pink and Mint Bows

Today I thought I would show you lovely lot how to create pink and mint bows nail art, one of my favourite designs. I originally wrote this as a guest post for the lovely Bex, but after having a play around with a bit of snazzy photo editing, I thought I'd post the whole thing on my own blog. I have done a bow NOTD on my blog before, which you can check out here. I absolutely adore this pink and mint combination, Essie Mint Candy Apple has quickly become one of my favourite nail polishes. So, onto the tutorial...

You will need:

• A White Nail Art Pen and Striper
• A Black Nail Art Pen
• A Pink Nail Polish (I used Models Own Pink Blush)
• A Mint Nail Polish (I used Essie Mint Candy Apple)
• A steady hand

Step One: After painting every other nail with your pink and mint polishes, use the striper brush on the white nail art pen to paint diagonal crosses across the top of each nail.

Step Two: Using the white nail striper, connect the cross to form a bow shape.

Step Three: Use the white nail art pen to fill in the shape. After doing this, using the nib of the pen 'blob' a circle of the white polish into the middle of the bow shape.

Step Four: (Underneath) Use the black nail art pen to outline the shape. Finish the bow's by adding two small lines on either side of the small circle in the center of the bow.

So, there you have it. The great thing about this design is that you can play around with different colours to your hearts content. I may even try painting the bows on top of stripes or leopard print one day. I hope you enjoyed this post, because I certainly enjoyed making it. Let me know if you try this out!

Have you tried this design before? Which other colour combinations do you think would look good?

Review: CoverGirl Lashblast Volume Mascara

It's about time I posted about this mascara on my blog. I think this is love guys, for real. I came face-to-face with CoverGirl Lash Blast Volume mascara, whilst walking around the local Ralph's supermarket on my trip to Los Angeles. Now, of course I'd read blog reviews about this beauty before I left, as I went on a bit of an American beauty product rampage to find the holy grail products I should be picking up on my trip. This did not disappoint, so much so that I paid for it to be sent across the Atlantic ocean so that I could be reunited.

The wand is made of plastic, which I absolutely love. I don't think I'll ever be buying a bristle wand again. I'm actually quite a fan of the bright orange packaging of this mascara. It's great because it stands out when I'm searching through my make-up bag at stupid o'clock in the morning (damn public transport). I chose to purchase the mascara in shade 825 'Very Black', as I love my eyelashes to be very defined and almost fake looking, which I think this mascara does and very well at that. 

The photo above shows the before (left) and after (right) of using the mascara on bare lashes. As you can see it seperates, lengthens and volumises the lashes, with some slight clumping. The clumping is probably my own fault though as I get very carried away when applying mascara. The one problem I have is that it's quite a job to remove, but it does stick around all day long. I love the finished effect of the mascara, and it will definitely be sticking around in my make-up bag for the foreseeable future.

What is your holy grail mascara? Have you ever tried CoverGirl Last Blast?