Review: Batiste Coloured Dry Shampoo

I know, I know, I've been very slow on the uptake when it comes to dry shampoo ...

I know for a fact that Millie can't live without her bottle, but I've been holding out for our local branch of Boots to start stocking this particular kind: black dry shampoo, so I can get the bedhead look without the faux-dandruff!

The way it works is as follows: you wake up in the morning on a bad hair day, your normal hat/ hood/ scarf rescue routine is for whatever reason a no-go, and you're running too late to use real shampoo. All you have to do is whip out a bottle of this stuff, give it a couple of sprays, muss your hair and you're done. (No, really, it's that simple.)

Of course, it's also perfect for those "I've just finished work and my hair needs some va-va-voom" moments, or alternatively the common "I've been dancing in this club for four hours and am currently suffering serious hair failure".

It's on offer at Superdrug at the moment for 99p per bottle, so I really recommend that you get down there and try it!

xxx

Splurge Or Steal: Bows

Good news – I now have a gap year job! I'm going to be working as an intern in the Maths department of an academy in Sheffield, and I am so excited! The plan is to reapply to start a Maths undergrad course at uni in 2011; I think I might try for Oxford, but we'll see how brave I'm feeling when October comes around ....

Anyway, on to today's post, inspired by the lovely Blair Waldorf:

BOWS! As a firm fan of the late Luella label (RIP), I just can't resist the quirky, countryside charm they have. They're definitely an easy way to add a girlish touch to an outfit that might be too dressed up or serious otherwise, and I've been wearing them a lot lately. My measly collection is as follows:

Black hairband: British Heart Foundation; Plaid hairclip: The Clothes Show; Spotted hairclips: H&M

I've had my eye on a couple of bows on the high street though, so if you like me are looking to expand your collection, look no further! I've divided up my discoveries into two categories: splurge and steal.

STEAL (under £10)

Cameo aliceband: £3.75, Dorothy Perkins

Purse: £3.99, New Look

Skinny belt: £4, ASOS

Tights: £4, New Look

Lace kirby grips: £6.50, Topshop

SPLURGE (£10 and over)

Chain ring: £10, Topshop

Tweed brooch: £14, Topshop

Bandeau dress: £18, ASOS

Mesh jumpsuit: £34.99, New Look

Black gloves: £38, Mango

Personally, I'm already in love with the tweed brooch! I picked it up in Topshop Sheffield on Thursday, put it down before I got to the till, and regretted it the moment I got back to Norwich ... I think I'll be making a trip to the high street fairly soon. ;)

xxx

Can't Live Without: Kate Kanzier Cut-Out Brogues

As you read this I will be in Sheffield for my job interview, so prepare yourself for a scheduled (but nonetheless interesting) post!

Remember the Bank Holiday weekend? Seems like an age ago now! That Saturday afternoon I dragged a couple of friends all the way to the Kate Kanzier shoe shop on Leather Lane in London to pick up a certain pair of brogues, only to be told that I was too early by less than a week! Here's what they looked like when I first ordered them:

Brogues: £25, Kate Kanzier

These are truly my go-to shoes: they go with almost everything, and even when they don't they add that "quirky" touch so you can get away with them if you're brave! The leather insides and the uppers are lovely and soft, and don't rub or hurt at all, so they're perfect for long distance walking.

At £25, they are the best value for money I have ever had out of a pair of shoes; I've worn them almost every day (and I mean that) from March to August. In fact, the sole started to come off last week:

Wish me luck in finding a replacement pair now that these ones have finally bitten the bullet – I need them in my life!

xxx

Wish Me Luck?

Hey everyone! Tomorrow I have a job interview in Sheffield so I've spent today swotting up and trying to prepare myself, hence the short post. Today I've got some pictures of the only necklaces I ever wear, regardless of occasion or what the rest of my outfit looks like:

 

Necklaces: New Look, The Clothes Show

The writing says: "I wish that we were making up again" ... because I'm a hopeless romantic!

Necklace: Superdrug

I'm not really a necklace girl so I tend not to buy them unless I see something that really, really blows me away! I did see some more lovely pendants at last year's Clothes Show in Birmingham, but they were somewhat out of my cheapskate budget ...

xxx

P.S. Don't forget to hit the Follow button in the sidebar – when we get to 50, we'll be doing a very exciting giveaway!

Review: Models Own Lip Balm

Took a quick trip to Boots today to pick up a few essentials, and as usual I found myself by the make-up counters, looking at some highly non-essential products!

Anyway, I took advantage of the 2 for £8 offer to buy a Models Own lip balm:

This is actually more of a lip tint than a balm (it's halfway between a lipstick and a lip gloss: not as pigmented as the former and not as shiny as the latter). They have a gorgeous coral shade called Tangerine, but I went for the darkest pink, Blackberry:

This is fairly close to my natural lip colour, but it gives my lips a very subtle "just-bitten" pinky-purple sheen. Although it looks really scary in the pot, the colour is buildable – I've swatched it on my hand so you can see:

I really like the texture of this, and my lips feel really moisturised! This could very well turn into a Can't Live Without product in the next few days ...

xxx

NOTD: Barry M Navy

For a very interesting colour, this varnish has a really boring name! But don't be fooled by the ordinary exterior, for sparkle and magic lie within ...

This is easily one of my favourite A/W colours; it's subtly glamorous, and what's more, it looks so much better on short nails (so it's practical too). It definitely has an eighties Blondie-esque rock chick vibe to it ...

You can pick this up for £2.99 per 10ml bottle; it takes two coats to get the coverage in the photo.

xxx

P.S. We're almost at 50 followers! Look out for a giveaway when we hit that magic number. ;)

OOTD: Autumn Wine

I suppose this is a daytime take on the slight goth trend everybody seems to be talking about, but not actually wearing.

Vest top, tights: H&M

Necklace: my mother's drawer

Cropped tee, shorts: Topshop

Belt: Uniqlo

When you think of lace, you expect people to try the usual – lace dress, lace tights, maybe a lace top – but you never expect lace shorts, which is why I snapped these up in the Topshop sale for a mere £10. The only problem is that they're a size too small ... I've had them for a year and only managed to fit into them once, after fasting for the whole day on Good Friday! So last night I'd finally had enough and made a little v-cut in the waistband. I may have to make a couple more to wear them comfortably, but it's a small price to pay. Here's a close-up of the textures:

... oh no, I've just read the label: dry-clean only.

WHY, TOPSHOP, WHY?!

xxx

We No Speak Americano.

No pictures today, lovelies; just some serious discussion!

Over the last few days, I've been having a little banter with the lovely Jazmine of Jazzabelle's Diary, and we started talking about the aspect of racial variety in the blogosphere.

Here's a little challenge for you, readers: name your favourite blogger who doesn't come from the same country as you. Now name your favourite blogger who doesn't come from the same continent as you. How about your favourite blogger who has different coloured skin to you?

The first one is easy; I love Victoire Jin of Elle Victoire, who writes from Vienna, Austria. The second one is harder, but I'll go for the wonderful Camilla of Into The Fold, who has Danish and American roots. And the third? It's simple for me, because my skin is brown, and the English-speaking blogosphere is filled with white-skinned people; I'm going to go for Camilla again, because a printed version of her blog could happily be a desert island read for me!

So, if you have white skin, were those questions harder to answer? And if so, why, in our 21st-century cosmopolitan society, is there still such a skewed online population? The internet is supposed to be the biggest social network in existence, and yet our blog networks aren't nearly representative enough; Jazmine, I, and probably you too have a 90% white English/ American bloglist.

One reason for this could be the language barrier; of course we're never going to read exactly equal numbers of bloggers from Europe, America, Asia and Africa, because most of us just don't write and speak the same languages. (Unless you're the beautiful Chiara Ferragni of The Blonde Salad, and all your posts are written in both Italian and English!) But I think another reason is that we're just not used to seeing proportional representation of race in fashion. We all love Beverly Johnson and Naomi Campbell for doing it for the dark-skinned girls, and Adriana Lima for putting South America on the catwalk, and but can you name more than one brown-skinned model? What about Oriental? I'm flicking through my back catalogue of ELLE magazine and although it's filled with Natalias, Jourdans, Doutzens and Alessandras, every single face in the beauty section is white. It's not that we're racist; it's that we copy what we're fed through the media: we see nothing but a tiny portion of what's really out there.

To paraphrase the late great Michael Jackson: "if you want to be a blogger, it don't matter if you're black or white". So I've written this post to celebrate some of my favourite blogs written by people from all over the world, who speak all kinds of languages and don't wear the same shade of foundation – not to mention some new recommendations from Jazmine! I hope you'll look through my list and discover whole new perspectives; our horizons are never wide enough.

Drowning Equilibriums by Ais (writes from Manila, Philippines)
Carrottline by Carlota Lopez (writes from San Sebastian, Spain, and will shortly move to London, England; speaks Spanish and English)
Elle Victoire by Victoire Jin (writes from Vienna, Austria)
Interlude by Samantha (writes from Denmark; has Danish and American roots; speaks Danish and English)
Into The Fold by Camilla A (writes from London, England; has Danish and American roots)
Jazzabelle's Diary by Jazmine (writes from London, England; has Jamaican, Irish and English roots)
June Paski by June Paski (writes from Bandung, Indonesia)
Mode Junkie by Anjelica Lorenz (has Philippino roots; speaks English and German)
Orchid Grey by J O'Boyle (writes from Massachussetts, USA; has German and Irish roots)
Qqueen Of Hearts by Zoë Badley (writes from Toronto, Canada)
Street-Inspiration. by Alena (writes from Hamburg, Germany; speaks German)
Sugar and spice and all things nice by Emily Knightley (writes from Cardiff, Wales)
The Blonde Salad by Chiara Ferragni (writes from Milan, Italy; speaks English and Italian)
The Red Hiney by Claire (writes from England; has Hongkonger roots)

Finally, of course, there's our humble little blog! Millie was born and bred in Norfolk, England; I've lived in London and Norfolk, but I was born in India, and have Indian and Portuguese roots. We both speak English as our first language, and learn French as our second; Millie learned Spanish and Latin at GCSE, and I'm learning the Goan language of Konkani that my family speaks. Millie has white skin and grey-blue eyes with dark brown hair; I have brown skin and black eyes with black (and sometimes white!) hair ... and despite all that, we're both the same dress size, shoe size and height. Perfect blog partners? I think so!

xxx

P.S. A huge thank you to all of our loyal followers, as well as those who've recently joined us! Millie and I love hearing from you, so don't be afraid to get in touch and tell us what you think of the blog. :)

OOTD: To The Max

I feel like today will be our last snatch of sunshine for the rest of the year! Now that September has arrived, I think summer is well and truly over, so I thought I'd say goodbye by sitting in my back garden in my maxi dress, tucking into some nectarines.

Dress: £23, Shikha London

I remember buying this dress on a shopping trip with Millie. I've lived in Norfolk for 8 years and she was born here, and yet we managed to stumble across a gorgeous little shop right in the centre of Norwich that neither of us had ever seen before! I love serendipity.

xxx

OOTD: WWLBD?

... where WWLBD stands, of course, for "what would Luella Bartley do?" I think I'm going to start quoting that when people ask me how I'd describe my style.


Hairband: British Heart Foundation charity shop; Earrings: Aldo (New York); Ring: ASOS


T-shirt, belt: Primark


Skirt: Century 21 (New York); Necklaces: Superdrug & BHS


Tights: mytights.com; Bag: Urban Outfitters (New York)


Off to my friend Ani's house for a girly sleepover complete with face masks and manicures! I've known Ani for about 6 years now plus we were on the Head Girl team at our old school, so we're in about a million photos together; the only problem is that she has such fantastic natural style that I always look so shabby standing next to her! I think I have her to thank for actually starting to care about what I wear ...

xxx

NOTD: Topshop Gold Dust

Hello! You can probably tell from my lack of post since Friday that I've had a bit of a packed weekend – I'll let you in on all the details in my next few posts! ;) But firstly, here's my favourite nail varnish shade for summer:

At £5 for an 8ml bottle, it's not the greatest value for money, but I have to admit that the packaging is gorgeous and the colour is easily worth the payout! Once you see it on your nails in bright sunlight, you will honestly have to tear your gaze away; I love it because it goes with almost everything in my wardrobe, and it really complements my skin tone.

Also, I don't know if you can tell, but I didn't use a top coat in the picture – my usual Rimmel Pro Shine top coat has finally given up the ghost! I'm on the lookout for another, so I will let you know how my investigation goes ...

xxx

OOTD: Getting Shirty

Can you tell how much I love making up these corny post titles? Haha!

If you look at the polaroid in the sidebar of our blog, you'll see that today's outfit is much the same, but with an added splash of BLUE! I picked up this shirt a couple of weeks ago and it was worth every penny – you know when you buy something, take it home and realise that it goes with practically every single piece in your wardrobe?

Shirt: £7.99, H&M

T-shirt: Urban Outfitters; Belt: Uniqlo; Skirt: H&M; Tights: Tesco; Ring: ASOS.

I do love a bit of colour to brighten my mood when the weather's a bit rubbish!

xxx

OOTD: And All That Jazz!

Trying to decide what to wear for clubbing in London on Saturday night. This is what I wore last weekend in Norwich:

Hairband: Santorini; Dress: H&M; Ring: Topshop

I did try a string of pearls with it, but I looked like I'd stepped straight out of a dressing-up box.

Eventually I decided that gold was the only colour that made it look vintage, not dated.

The only problem with this dress is that it catches on anything that moves ...

xxx

Splashing Out

After last Thursday's results debacle, I thought I'd splash out (well, as much as a student can afford to splash out!) on a new ring to cheer myself up. If you've been following the blog for a while, you'll know I've recently started a bit of a love affair with rings, so I'm over the moon to add this stunner to my collection:

£8.50, Topshop

It's a true statement piece this one: I love the feather detail and the almost-but-not-quite OTT crystal lining. The best thing about it is that it has an adjustable back, so it can be worn on any finger, without any danger of me losing it in one of my many absent minded moments! I've already worn it out once to jazz up a monochrome outfit and got quite a few compliments, so I'm feeling pretty smug at the moment.

Hope you've all had a good week so far; let me know what you're getting up to!

xxx

P.S. So sorry about the lack of post yesterday! I may have a very exciting opportunity in the pipeline, so I'll let you all know how that goes ... In the meantime, if you (like me) are missing the talents of my fellow blogger Millie, you can keep up with her Nepalese adventures here. (I'm dreading the day that she gets back and I have to explain to her how I managed not to gain any followers while she was gone, but lost one instead – eek!)

OOTD: Clash of the Prints

Today I had one of those pick-whatever-is-closest moments when it came to getting dressed, but I quite like how it turned out! I've been trying to be more adventurous with what I wear lately and the two clashing prints here definitely tick that box for me.

Top: H&M; Belt: Uniqlo; Skirt: H&M

Of course, it started bucketing down with rain the moment I stepped outside, so I had to throw on knee socks and a big grey jumper before I left the house.

Bag: H&M; Socks: Topshop; Brogues: Kate Kanzier

Just realised how terrible my hair looks in those photos! I've been rushed off my feet all day today: I'm making lunch for six, and trying to entertain two ten-year-olds ... My friend Jasmine and I both have little sisters who are the same age, so we've tried to get them together for a playdate. They've met each other before, and they seem to get on, but the only problem is that neither of them actually speak when they're together. At all. Yet we know they communicate somehow because as a pair they managed to beat Jasmine and me at a card game called Kemps.

Mysterious.

xxx

Review: Guerlain Idylle Perfume

The sixteenth birthday present.


Airport shopping at Gatwick!

I don't know about you, but I'm not really a perfume kind of girl.

I know to some of you, that statement will be akin to me announcing that I don't really like the taste of water, but it's the truth. My attitude to style has always been practicality first, and perfumes never really fitted into that image for me.

On my sixteenth birthday, my parents apparently decided that I couldn't enter womanhood without embarking on some sort of olfactory adventure, so they bought me a bottle of Kenzo Flower, a beautifully tall and slender creation with a single poppy stem running down the length of the curved glass. I turned eighteen in May, and the bottle is still sitting on my chest of drawers, unused except for about two sprays.

Don't get me wrong, during my early childhood I was just like any other girl – playing with my Barbie "create-your-own" perfume kit. I eventually realised that it wasn't perfumes I didn't like; it was the kinds of perfumes that my parents and friends preferred, all clear and fresh, reminiscent of spring. That wasn't me at all! I'm a summer to autumn girl; I needed something softer and woodier.

And so it was that after several ill-fated attempts to find my "it" scent (Guerlain Shalimar and Yves Saint Laurent Elle, to name but a few), I finally stumbled across Guerlain Idylle. I'm not sure if I was drawn to it because it sponsors Gossip Girl, xoxo, or just because the packaging was beautiful, but it's the perfect scent for me at the moment! It contains rose, patchouli, white musk, freesia, lily-of-the-valley and (my all-time favourite absolute) jasmine; without getting too romantic about it, it reminds me of those late September evenings where the sun takes just a little longer to set and everything seems to take on a golden haze.

I love everything about this scent, except for the price. A 100ml bottle will set you back no less than £80, which I think is laughable for a perfume that has been on the market for a year now; for that reason, I opted for the deodorant spray, which has a little less staying power but is a fraction of the price at £34 for 100ml. Admittedly you don't get the gorgeous teardrop packaging, but until that much-coveted lottery win comes my way, that's how it's going to stay!

So what's your attitude to perfume? Do you have a signature scent that you just keeping going back to, or do you chop and change with the seasons? I'd love to know, seeing as this is one area of the industry where I'm absolutely clueless!

xxx