Beauty. Fashion. Lifestyle.
Posts tagged Navy
What I Wore: Batik & Black
6Hi everyone!
Today I thought I’d share with you what I wore on New Year’s Day. My outfit of choice consisted of a gorgeous new pair of jeans that I purchased from ASOS in their winter sale, which I paired with a simple black zip back jumper from Primark.
Primark Black Zip Back Jumper / ASOS Only Batik Skinny Jeans / H&M Black Ankle Boots / H&M Black and Gold Clutch Bag
I seem to have collected quite a few black tops over the past few months, so I decided to invest in some colourful pieces to wear with them, and these Batik Skinny Jeans by Danish brand Only do not disappoint. Purple is my favourite colour, and I’ve always been a fan of batik/tie dye style prints, so as soon as I saw these I knew I had to have them. They’re an excellent fit as well. The sizing is accurate, and they have a range of leg lengths to choose from, so they are plenty long enough for my 36″ inside leg! These jeans cost me £12.50, down from £60.00, and they’ve now been reduced even further to £11.00, so I have ordered another pair as I love them so much.
To finish the outfit, I went for more black. A few weeks ago I received a couple of fashion items from BLOGGERS[edit] to review, so I decided to give them a whirl with this outfit. Despite only expecting one item from them, BLOGGERS[edit] actually sent me two (thanks!) – a gorgeous pair of black ankle boots, and a surprise black and gold clutch bag, both from H&M.
Those who read my blog regularly will know that I have a thing for black, and a thing for boots, so these Black Ankle Boots are right up my street. They’re made of imitation suede which looks and feels almost real, and they have a sturdy but flexible rubber sole so they’re easy and comfortable to walk in. One thing I always look for in simple black footwear is a little bit of a twist to make them a bit more interesting, and these pass that test. The boots have a curved panel on the front, and a lip at the top that sits higher than the back, giving them a slightly more unusual shape. At £24.99 these are a real bargain!
This Black and Gold Clutch Bag is a little beauty, and even comes with a chain strap hidden inside, so you can wear it over your shoulder if you so wish. The bag has a sturdy gold metallic shell, which is underlaid with soft black suedette, and it fastens with a large clip on top. Despite only costing £14.99, the bag oozes quality, and adds a touch of glamour to any outfit. It’s not the biggest bag in the world, but it’s roomy enough for your phone, keys, money, lipstick and chewing gum, which is just about everything you need on a night out.
What do you think of this outfit?
Naomi x
*These Black Ankle Boots and Black & Gold Clutch Bag were sent to me by BLOGGERS[edit], on behalf of H&M, for review purposes. All opinions expressed are honest and my own.*
AngelEye Party Dress Giveaway Winner!
2My giveaway to win an AngelEye Party Dress closed yesterday, and the lucky winner has now been chosen randomly via Rafflecopter. There were over 300 entries in total, and the winning entry is number 297, which belongs to…
LIZZIE FORD
Congratulations Lizzie! This beautiful red and navy bodycon dress from AngelEye is all yours 
Please email your postal address to and I will send it out to you as soon as possible.
I’d also like to say a big thank you to everyone who entered, and also to AngelEye for providing the prize. I will be launching another giveaway within the next day or two with a $100 prize, so be sure to come back soon!
Naomi x
AngelEye Party Dress Giveaway – CLOSED!
22As promised (although a few days later than expected) I have a new giveaway for you all! Seeing as party season is coming up, I thought it’d be nice to offer one lucky reader a brand new dress from AngelEye, which would be perfect for any Christmas or New Year parties you may have on the horizon. The dress is absolutely gorgeous – red and navy with a bodycon fit, knee length, and an exposed zip at the back that runs from top to bottom. It’d look amazing with a pair of killer heels and a clutch bag – you really would be the belle of the ball! The dress is a size small, which would best fit a size 8-10 I’d imagine, possibly a small 12.
To enter, all you have to do is complete as many of the tasks as you want/can on the Rafflecopter form below (the first two are mandatory). The competition will run for three weeks and will end at midnight (GMT) on 11th December. The giveaway is open WORLDWIDE and all entries will be checked. The winner will be chosen at random and announced the next day, and contacted via email, and will be given 48 hours to respond with their postal address. If no reply is received within this time, another winner will be chosen. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
A big thank you to AngelEye for providing this prize!
Naomi x
Ciate Mini Mani Month Round-Up: Part 3
6Hi everyone,
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
NOTD: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Nail Colour in ‘Grape Escape’
3
5 years
by Naomi in Nails
This week I discovered some more bargain beauty products in, of all places, the pound shop! To my surprise, I found that Poundland and Poundworld both stock hundreds of branded make up items for, well, £1 each, so I decided to grab a few things. I managed to get two Sally Hansen nail varnishes, a Sally Hansen lip gloss and two Sinful Colours nail varnishes for a total of £5. I spotted various other brands too, including Revlon, Maybelline and Stila.
So, in honour of my £1 finds, today’s NOTD is Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri Nail Colour in the deep shade of ‘Grape Escape’.
The formula of this nail varnish is, in my eyes, close to perfect. It is fairly thick, but not gloopy, and applies opaque and even in one coat. I swatched this in the car just after buying it and my sister was amazed at how good it looked after one coat. I think the impressive application is helped by the wide brush that comes with the varnish – you can cover the whole nail in one stroke so you get no streaking. In the end I applied two coats, which gave more intense colour and flawless coverage.
Being named ‘Insta-Dri’ I expected this to dry very quickly, and luckily it lives up to its name. Within minutes it is dry to the touch and it doesn’t take much longer for it to set fully. After sitting down to apply this on Thursday afternoon I was on my way again after half an hour, and it didn’t smudge or mark at all.
In the bottle the varnish looks deep purple with a slight pink hue, but once on the nails it looks different. As you can see above, it has a dark blue colour, almost like midnight sky, but it is a definite deep purple in the right light. There is no pink in it at all though. I do love this shade, however – it has so much depth to it and a delicate shimmer finish which gives it a real look of luxury.
After two days the varnish is still looking as good as new on my left hand, but on my right there is quite a bit of chipping – no idea why! I’m pleased with how it’s lasting so far though.
Which Sally Hansen Insta-Dri shades have you tried?
Naomi x
