T-Solar Dress / Vienna Dress / Judy Jegs Jeggings / Judy Jegs Pencil Skirt / Riot PU Jacket

These two French Connection dresses are fine examples of what, for me, a little black dress should be.  They’re classic in their shape and fit, but have a little something extra that really makes a statement.  The T-Solar’s leather panels and pleated skirt are bang on trend and give it a real edge, and the Vienna dress’s beautiful sheer lace sleeves and waist detail look so elegant.  Both dresses would be perfect for the upcoming party season, teamed with a contrasting necklace and heels.

The Judy Jegs Jeggings and Pencil Skirt are simple pieces that could easily become wardrobe staples for me.  Their simplicity means they could be worn to work without looking too over the top, making them the ideal way to bring the leather look into the office.  Having said that, they could also both be dressed up with a nice top, your favourite jewellery and a gorgeous bag for a glamorous evening look.

Last but not least, the Riot PU Jacket would be great for those days when you want to wear something a bit brighter, whilst maintaining that on trend edge.  It could be thrown over a colourful bodycon dress or even a t-shirt and jeans, and still look brilliant.  The cropped fit, exposed zips and emphasised shoulders are also really modern, which I love.

You can find these pieces from French Connection online at divinetrash.co.uk.

Naomi x

From Left to Right:

Smiley Lick.

Eton Mess Slab.

Salted Caramels.

Chocolate Gemstones.

Billionaire’s Shortbread.

Choosing a favourite out of these five delectable delights is very difficult (I am a chocoholic, after all), as they are all different, and all extremely delicious.  However, a decision has been made!  Read on to see what I thought of each one, and to see which one is my overall winner.

Smiley Lick

The Smiley Lick consists of a disk of thick milk chocolate on a lollipop stick, which is happily adorned with a smiley face.  This one is fun to look at, fun to nibble and it really shows off the high quality of Hotel Chocolat’s chocolate.  The chocolate is extremely smooth and has a rich, sweet flavour.  I gobbled this up rather quickly in one sitting, and was left wanting more.  Delicious, but I don’t think it’s quite right for a hotel pillow as it’s a bit too bulky looking!

Eton Mess Slab

The Eton Mess slab is absolutely beautiful to look at, as the pink chocolate swirled with cream and scattered with strawberry and meringue pieces makes it look like a work of art.  The chocolate itself is strawberry flavoured, with vanilla chocolate running throughout.  It isn’t as smooth as the milk chocolate as the real fruit bits give it a bit more texture, as do the little chocolate cookies hidden inside (which I wasn’t expecting when I first bit into it!), but it is divine!

If you have a sweet tooth then this is definitely for you – it smells and tastes just like a strawberry milkshake.  I can only handle a little bit of this at a time, but at least that means I can make the bar last and savour it.  This would be the winner if my sister had a say – it was her favourite out of all five choices.

Salted Caramels

I have always enjoyed the contrast between sweet chocolate and salty caramel, and these are the best salted caramels I have ever tried – the balance of flavours is perfect!  When you first bite into the chocolate the caramel comes oozing out, and you are hit with a toffee sweetness which has a slight tang of sea salt.  These perhaps wouldn’t be to everybody’s taste, but I think they’re a very sophisticated little treat and I’d definitely have these again.

Chocolate Gemstones

Hotel Chocolat’s Gemstones are made of white and dark chocolate drops, which have been fused together to create silky and shiny little spheres, which melt slowly on the tongue.  They might be small, but each one gives big flavour, with a creaminess from the white chocolate and a bitter edge from the dark chocolate which stops them being overly sweet.  Out of everything in the goody bag, these are the ones I keep going back to…  They’re very moreish!

Billionaire’s Shortbread

Last but not least, Billionaire’s Shortbread.  These unusual truffles are made of milk chocolate, and have a caramel praline inside which has a lovely soft texture.  Each one is also sprinkled with little pieces of shortbread cookie, which add a delicious crunch to every bite.  These really do taste just like the dessert of the same name, but their delicate size makes them that little bit more refined.  My other half absolutely loves the Billionaire’s Shortbread chocolates and I think these would win if it was his choice!

Though I like everything in the goody bag, my overall winner has to be the Gemstones!  They might be the simplest chocolate of them all, but I think that would make them suitable for any guest to enjoy, and their beautiful taste and dainty size make them the ideal snack to nibble on throughout the evening, whilst you lounge in your comfortable hotel room.  Bliss!

If you fancy a stay at a 4 Star Millennium Hotel (I know I’d love to stay at the London Mayfair hotel myself), now is a good time to book…  They are currently offering 30% off room rates until the end of March, and with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, this could be a lovely way to impress your loved one!  Click here to find out more, and don’t forget to treat them to some Hotel Chocolat chocolates too.

Naomi x

*The Hotel Chocolat Goody Bag was sent to me by Millennium Hotels for review purposes.  All opinions expressed are honest and my own.*

Are you ready for Christmas yet?  I am!  This month has gone really quickly, and I have now opened all 24 doors of my Ciate Mini Mani Month advent calendar.  This week has been my favourite week of all – Ciate really did save the best until last in my eyes!  Here are the final six minis in all their glory… (All pictures are clickable for a closer look.)

Day 19 – Cookies and Cream

I’m sure I’ve said many times before that I’m not really a fan of nude shades, but I have made an exception for this one.  Cookies and Cream is a creamy nude beige colour, and it looks so clean and sophisticated on the nail.  The above photo shows two coats of varnish, and as you can see the coverage isn’t completely opaque, but three coats would do it.  A gorgeous neutral shade, perfect for the office!

Day 20 – Magic Carpet

Magic Carpet is the second exclusive shade to the Mini Mani Month, and it is one of my absolute favourites in the whole calendar.  The varnish is a beautiful dark magenta, and it is made up of large and micro glitter flecks.  It took three coats of Magic Carpet over two coats of Cookies and Cream to achieve the above look, which is rather a lot of varnish, and in all honesty it didn’t take to my nails very well.  The glitter didn’t dry that quickly, and it seemed to melt the colour underneath slightly so it peeled off.  I think I’ll use this as a thinner top coat in the future, or just wait a lot longer for it to dry.

Day 21 – Fade to Greige

I absolutely adore Fade to Greige.  It is a very dark grey with a violet undertone, which I think would compliment any colour.  The formula is lovely and creamy too, so it is a pleasure to apply and dries very quickly.  Another classy, sophisticated shade, perfect for versatile every day wear.

Day 22 – Sundance Caviar Pearls

Unfortunately, I haven’t had time to try these Sundance Caviar Pearls yet, but I imagine they’ll have the same easy application and lasting power of the other pearls in the calendar.  Sundance is made up of yellowy gold and bright blue beads, with a few flecks of gold glitter scattered throughout.  I must say, I am a caviar manicure convert after trying Ciate’s Mini pots, but this shade is probably my least favourite of the four in the calendar.

Day 23 – Mojito and Day 24 – Enchanted Rose

The last two days of the Mini Mani Month featured two Christmassy shades – green and red.  Day 23 gave me Mojito, a creamy lime green which forms the base of my holly nail art!  It applies like a dream and even, opaque coverage takes just two coats.  Mojito is actually a lot less fluorescent than it looks in the photo, which is a positive thing in my opinion as there is definitely such a thing as being too bright!

Today’s shade, the final shade in the box, was the third exclusive shade – Enchanted Rose – a beautiful red glitter varnish.  Enchanted Rose forms the berries of my holly nail art, and it has a very sparkly finish, perfect for Christmas day.  Unlike some glitters, it isn’t overly sheer, so it wouldn’t take much to build up a bold, bright glitter look.  Another winner!

And to finish, here is a picture of two coats of Day 6 shade, Angel Wings, which I didn’t have time to swatch in Part 1…

Overall, I have been extremely pleased with the Ciate Mini Mani Month.  The range of colours and finishes in the set is fantastic, and it was definitely worth every penny.  I will be using all of these a lot in the future, I imagine!  I’m looking forward to trying some more nail art designs with them.

That’s it from me for today…  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day tomorrow, full of love and laughter!

Naomi x

PS. Here are Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of my Ciate Mini Mani Month Round-Up, as well as my introductory post!

First off, I would like to wish my sister, Freya, a very Happy Birthday!  Today she turns 21, an important age, but she’ll still always be my baby sister, wanting all my things.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY FREYA!!

Now, down to business…  Today I opened the door of Day 18 on my Ciate Mini Mani Month advent calendar, which means it’s time for another weekly round-up!  This post will feature Day 13 up to Day 18, and I have swatches of all but one of the Paint Pots this time.  I must admit, my feelings were mixed this week.  There were a couple that I really liked, and one or two that I wasn’t keen on at all, but you can’t win them all as they say!

Day 13 – Glass Slipper and Day 14 – Speed Dial

On Day 13 I opened the door to Glass Slipper, a lovely blue glitter polish, and the first of the calendar’s three exclusive shades.  The glitter is very fine and beautiful, and doesn’t feel too rough in texture, but it isn’t really dense enough to wear on its own (unless you’re willing to apply 3+ coats).  It works perfectly as a top coat however, and is surprisingly easy to remove for a glitter.

Speed Dial is an unusual shade – it looks bright orange in the bottle, but I found it applies somewhere between a red and an orange.  It is more orange in real life than it looks in the photo above though.  I just can’t quite decide whether I like it or not!  It definitely doesn’t look that good with Glass Slipper over the top, but with the right outfit I can see it working.  Not one of my favourites, but not bad.  It applied evenly and has a creamy formula at least!

Day 15 – Headliner

Headliner is my absolute favourite this week…  I seem to have a thing for blues at the minute!  It is a dark turquoise blue shade with a stunning creme finish and I love it!  As you’d expect, the formula is great and, quite impressively, it only takes one coat to achieve a completely opaque finish (the photo above show two coats, however).  Headliner got me a lot of compliments when I wore it, and without a doubt I’ll be wearing this one a lot!

Day 16 – Big Yellow Taxi

Ick, I’m not liking Big Yellow Taxi.  I initially thought this looked okay as it appeared quite a creamy banana yellow in the bottle, but when I applied it I was soon disappointed.  It has a really strange gloopy formula, so it went on very streaky, and no number of coats seemed to be able to even the finish out.  The yellow shade is slightly too bright, and in all honestly it looks like tippex coloured in with yellow highlighter pen – not pretty!  On the plus side, it doesn’t leave any stains behind at all.  I don’t think I have the skin tone to pull this off, but it would probably look great against darker skin…  I may use it for Batman nail art though!

Day 17 – Power Dressing

I haven’t tried Power Dressing yet so I can’t comment much on the formula and colour, but in the bottle it looks like a classic deep navy blue, and I imagine it will have a lovely shiny finish.  I’m looking forward to using this!

Day 18 – Candy Shop Caviar Pearls

Candy Shop is the third out of four bottles of Caviar Pearls in the calendar, and so far they are my favourite.  The beads are very small and coloured in three shades – turquoise blue, pink and orange.  As with the other pearls that I have tried, these are very easy to apply (just pour over a wet nail, press down, and leave to set for 15 minutes), and look really striking against a bright varnish.  The purple shade I chose to pair the pearls with is actually Cabaret, one of the shades I didn’t swatch in Part 1, so now you can see what it looks like.

So there you go, a mixed bag of mostly brights this week.  Which is your favourite?  Please vote below!  Check back for Part 4 next Monday, on Christmas Eve, and if you want to see the previous shades in the Ciate Mini Mani Month, they are swatched in my Part 1 and Part 2 posts.

Naomi x

My third Chocolate Treat Week post is all about make up.  Believe it or not, I had to search high and low for chocolate scented and coloured make up products, but I found a couple of great ones in the end.  I’ve also created a yummy eyeshadow look to share with you, which uses three different shades of chocolate brown.  Enjoy!

For Lips… Palmer’s Dark Chocolate & Peppermint Lip Butter

In my high and low search for chocolate lip products I discovered a myriad of chocolate lip balms, but none of them seemed to cut the mustard as a gloss, rather than just a protective balm.  In all honesty I was close to giving up, but then I found this…  Palmer’s Dark Chocolate & Peppermint Lip Butter.

The Lip Butter has a lovely creamy formula which feels amazing on the lips.  You can tell from how it feels that it is intensely enriching, and because it’s a butter and not a gloss it feels smooth and moisturising rather than sticky.  It  is also light in colour so doesn’t leave a tint on the lips, but as the packaging states it adds a ‘subtle gloss’, which is what makes it makeup in my eyes.  The glossy shine it adds lasts for a long time, and can be worn over lipstick as well as directly on the lips.

The minty chocolate scent of the Lip Butter is absolutely divine.  The fact that it is dark chocolate means that it isn’t too sickly sweet, and the freshness of the peppermint gives it a sharp edge.  The mint also feels wonderful on the lips as it gives the lip butter a pleasant tingle.  Though it doesn’t claim to be a plumping product I think it does have a slight, natural-looking plumping effect, but without the pain that some plumping glosses can cause!

Palmer’s Dark Chocolate & Peppermint Lip Butter definitely does what it says on the tin.  It ‘softens & soothes lips’ almost instantly and leaves them feeling protected, but it has a big advantage over most lip balms by adding that ‘subtle gloss’.  The Lip Butter is available in lots of high street shops (there’s a list here), and usually retails for about £2.75, which is an excellent price considering it is a gloss AND a protective balm in one.

For Eyes… MUA Malt Chocolate Intense Glitter Eyeliner

MUA’s Malt Chocolate Intense Glitter Eyeliner is another quality MUA product.  Like all of their glitter liners it costs just £1, which is outstanding value as there’s even a pencil sharpener incorporated into the lid!  The eyeliner is very creamy so it applies like a dream to both your waterlines and your upper and lower lash lines without pulling the skin at all.  The glitter is very fine too, so it adds a lovely shimmer without causing any irritation or heaviness on the eye.

Malt Chocolate is a pretty, highly pigmented shade with a bronze tinge to it, which gives it that ‘intense colour finish’ – far from the dull, uninspiring look of most brown eyeliners!  What I like about this liner is that, once it dries, it doesn’t smudge and it lasts a good long while before it comes off, keeping its bold colour for the duration of wear.

The eyeliner is also impressively versatile.  MUA state that it can be worn all over the eyelid, as a lip liner or as an all-over lip colour as well as an eyeliner, and due to its creaminess I think it would make a great lip product as it wouldn’t be drying at all.  What a fab thing to throw into your suitcase for a holiday or into your clutch on a night out!

If you’d like to try any of MUA’s Glitter Intense Eyeliners they are available in Superdrug stores or online here.

Create the Look… Triple Chocolate Eyes

The above look was created using three different shades of chocolate coloured eyeshadow.  MUA’s Chocolate Box Trio Eyeshadow would be perfect for this, but I actually used their Immaculate Collection Palette.  All you need to use to copy this look is a white chocolate shade as a highlighter, a milk chocolate shade as your main colour, and a dark chocolate shade for shadows and creases.  The shades I used from the Immaculate Collection were these…

• White Chocolate: Shade 12
• Milk Chocolate: Shade 23
• Dark Chocolate: Shade 21

And here’s how you get the look:

• Prepare your eyelids right up to the brow bone with your preferred eye primer.
• Apply your milk chocolate shade to your eyelid using a flat eyeshadow brush, from corner to corner and up to the crease.
• Using another flat eyeshadow brush sweep your white chocolate shade above the milk chocolate shade, up to the brown bone.
• Using a shading brush, apply the dark chocolate shade along the crease of your eye, thickening the line at the outer corner and taking it down to the corner of your lashes.
• Blend the dark chocolate shade into the edge of the milk chocolate shade with a clean eyeshadow brush.
• Using a fine brush, apply a small amount of the white chocolate shade to the inside corner of your eye and a third of the way under your lower lash line.  Fill in the rest of your lower lash line with the dark chocolate shade.
• Brush any loose eyeshadow from your face using a clean brush and finish with a generous coat of your favourite mascara, preferably brown.

The Last Rolo…

The Last Rolo is where I hand over the last few words of each Chocolate Treat Week blog post to another blogger.  In the run up to Chocolate Treat Week I asked five of my favourite bloggers a couple of questions about their favourite chocolate treats, and today’s answers come from Claire of Nocturnal Beauty.

Can you recommend any chocolate scented, flavoured or themed beauty/fashion products?

I can definitely recommend the Whipstick lip balm from Lush. It’s my by far my favourite chocolate scented product that I’ve tried. It smells just like chocolate orange, and it isn’t overly sickly or too sweet, it smells absolutely divine. I do catch myself smelling the tin quite a lot! It feels lovely too and leaves a bit of a brown tint to the lips. It’s perfect for anybody who loves chocolate!

What is your favourite chocolate treat to eat, and why?

My favourite chocolate treat to eat is probably chocolate cake. I eat far too much cake and it’s a wonder I have any teeth left. I also make some seriously good chocolate fudge!

Thanks for reading today’s Chocolate Treat Week installment!  Please check back tomorrow for a post all about chocolate themed nails, featuring some new nail art!

Naomi x

I purchased this Urban Decay Loose Pigment Eyeshadow a few weeks ago and, so far, it is the only Urban Decay product that I own.  I have never used much loose pigment make up before so when I found this for just £1.25 I just had to have it!  I am a big fan of purple so I find the initial look of the product quite appealing, with the lilac tones, swirly patterns and sleek tube.  These eyeshadows usually retail for about £13.50 for 1.2g, and come in a wide range of shades.  I went for ‘Goddess’, which is a very deep blue/black with a beautiful blue glittery undertone.

The pigment applies with a flat brush and the tube holder is cleverly shaped inside so that you don’t get too much on the brush, however, there was still some excess on my skin when I applied this which I had to dust off with a clean brush, but I suppose that’s par for the course with loose pigments.

The powder itself is very fine, and as such barely gathers or clumps in creases, leaving a smooth layer on the eyelid.  The pigment is also easily layered to create an even deeper, bolder look.  Since this is a very, very dark eyeshadow, I probably wouldn’t wear it every day.  For me it is more of an evening product to create glamorous, daring eyes.  As of yet I don’t have any photographs of this on the eyes as I feel I need a bit more practise using it first!  Instead, I have this swatch which was photographed in natural daylight and features one layer of the pigment.

As you can see, the shadow is very heavily pigmented and the micro glitter running throughout gives a nice depth which looks brilliant on the eyes.  In the right light, the glitter shines electric blue which adds that little something extra to an otherwise basic shade.  It is the added bit of oomph that makes me like this product, as it stands out from other pigments I have swatched in shops etc, and with a bit of patience I think I could create some attention grabbing looks with this.  When I do, I’ll be sure to post them!

Have you ever tried any Urban Decay Loose Pigment Eyeshadows?  Which is your favourite shade?

Naomi x