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

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

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

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: 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

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!)

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

Back To The Future?

I feel like I'm going backwards in a few aspects of my life at the moment, but for style purposes I'm going to avoid that word and say "retro" instead!

My first slice of retro is this beautiful pair of Converse All Stars:

EEK disgusting iPhone photos!

I can't believe I'm writing this, but they cost me a grand total of nothing, thanks to the beautiful people who work at Rubber Sole. If the massive choice and free next-day delivery on their site wasn't enough to draw me in, these high-tops were slashed from £45 down to £18, causing mild euphoria for the teenager in me who has coveted a pair of genuine Chuck Taylors since the grand old age of thirteen! I'm itching to clash these with the Liberty-print tea dress in my imaginary wardrobe, but for now I've settled for my favourite knee socks rolled down to my ankles. Unlike my last shoe-related online venture, these actually fit me properly, are super-comfortable to walk around in (Woolrich, don'tcha know) and look exactly like the picture on the website ... I have a couple of things to say, which are: HALLELUJAH for a website you can actually trust, and HALLELUJAH for a pair of flat ankle boots that look like they will actually last!

(Before I forget, using the code 'goddess' for anything other than Havaianas and Fitflops will get you 10% off your order, and following them @rubber_sole can win you a competition or two from time to time.) You can also see Millie's pick here.

Secondly, I'm moving back to London! Some of you may have read my previous post about missing my offers for uni – I managed A*A*A*A*A, which apparently was not enough for Cambridge or Warwick, but I went into clearing and eventually got myself a place at Queen Mary, University of London. I'm really, really upset about not making the grade for my first choices, but the massive upside of QMUL is that I get to go back to the capital! I lived in the south-west until I was eleven, and now I have a chance to really get to know the north-east. I cannot tell you how excited I am ... Norfolk has its merits but I still miss life in the city, and I'm sure that being based in the style capital of the world will have obvious benefits for the blog, too!

The final hit of backwardness "retro" in my life is my new haircut: it's just layers. Again. (No photos, since it's nothing exciting, but I'm sure you'll see the difference in my future OOTDs.) I kept telling myself I'd do something crazy like dying the bottom half electric blue, but when it came down to it I just wasn't brave enough to take the plunge! Then again, I'm young, and there's still time ...

xxx

NOTD: Rimmel Pompous

Such a hectic week! My mum has me transcribing some interviews for her, which will hopefully provide me with a much-needed payout of £150 if I ever manage to finish them; I've had various dental appointments all day, after which I won't have to wear my retainers ever again – definite cause for celebration; plus I've got a haircut booked for tomorrow (and of course there will be plenty of pictures for you in the evening).

Anyway, on to today's nail colour. This is the last of the colours that I bought under Rimmel's 3 for 2 offer, 610 Pompous, and can be bought for £3.49 for an 8ml bottle:


It has a gorgeously subtle shine and even my mother commented on the lovely colour (and believe me, this is an achievement)! Sorry about the barely-there nails; I just had to cut them right down because I couldn't play my guitar or piano properly. But back to the varnish: I used three coats with my usual base coat and top coat ... although once again my Rimmel top coat is playing up and I'm not sure if I can put up with it much longer. My base coat functions as a top coat too, so I may just have to fall back on that from now on, although I will miss the amazing shine that my current top coat gives me.

I'll try and get an OOTD post up for you soon! But now I have to go and sweat in a corner about my A-Level results on Thursday. Is anybody else getting that fateful envelope? How are you feeling?

xxx

P.S. You may have noticed that I'm not posting under our usual Style Goddesses account today. Basically, I've had this other Google account under my name for years; I made it for YouTube originally but I've just worked out that I can use it here too. (I know, I'm slow!) So now you'll actually know who's writing what when you read our blog.

The Obsession Continues ... Part 2!

(If you missed the first part, you can have a quick peek here.)

Here's the second pair from my Friday shopping trip with Millie. I snapped these up for £3.99, reduced from £14.99, again from Zara:

I wore them out to my friend Freya's 18th birthday bash on Friday and got lots of lovely compliments, but I'm still thoroughly mystified as to why anyone would shell out £15 for a pair of high-street tights. (And this coming from someone as hosiery-obsessed as I am ...)

If you've got any guesses then please enlighten me via the comments!

Love Sanchia xxx

By The Back Door

Y'know that post where I spent hundreds and hundreds of words talking about how much I hated lace?

Today I realised that, not only do I own the world's most beautiful lace ankle boots, I also own a pair of lace socks (which I'm totally in love with):

Lace socks: £5, Topshop; suede shoes: £15, Dorothy Perkins.

... and I almost bought a pair of lace tights in the Topshop sale last week.

I'm not sure how I feel about this!

– Sanchia xxx

The Obsession Continues ...

Today I met up with my friend Millie – actually some of you might know her! – for a spot of shopping and a general catch-up. We did the usual sale browse, and while totally failing to help Millie in her quest to find suitable clothing for her trip to Nepal this summer, I stumbled across two beautiful pairs of tights in Zara. The first is below:

I got them for £3.99, reduced from £9.99 – I was surprised that they were so expensive in the first place, but I'm starting to understand why. The pattern is stunning, nicer than any patterned tights I've seen in high street shops before, and they're made of a lovely, light wool that feels really comfortable next to your skin. I'm hoping they'll last me for a good while, although I tend to wear my tights and socks into the ground after about one season. (What can I say, it's an obsession!)

And don't worry, of course Millie and I took outfit photos for each other! Stay tuned ...

Love Sanchia xxx

I Love You, Universe.

If you've been following our blog, you may remember this, from my trend focus on lace:

You may also remember me mentioning how much I coveted those Topshop lace shoe boots (see above, they're black) – but in the end, I decided to stay away for my own good, and save the £28 for something else!

Anyway, today I wandered into the Topshop sale with my friend Naomi to help her find some (quote) "nice but not trashy" leggings, and came across these beauties again ...

 

... reduced to £15! It was a sign. And now, they're mine. Ah, the world is all poetry and roses!

I am very much in love with these: they're the most unique, beautiful boots I think I've ever seen, and my heart does all kinds of funny flips when I look at them. (Should I be worried by this?) I know they're not everybody's cup of tea, judging by Naomi's determined silence while I was trying them on (haha!), but that only makes me happier because I'm less likely to look like other girls walking down the street! I was going to wear them today, but sadly the heavens seemed to have opened on Norfolk. I'll be back with my OOTD in the evening – off to the cinema now.

Love Sanchia xxx

OOTD: Summer Utility

Went out with a couple of friends yesterday to see Step Up 3 (surprisingly deep for a dance movie, I was highly confused, but I'd recommend it) and wore this. Erm, the skirt is not actually as short as it looks:

Top: free, ELLE Magazine
Skirt: £4, Primark
Belt: £10, H&M
Socks: £8, Topshop
Brogues: £20, New Look
Earrings: £3.99, H&M
Ring: £3.99, H&M
Hair slide: £1.50, The Clothes Show
Bag: $37 = about £20, Urban Outfitters

I bought this skirt a couple of years ago to wear to sixth form – we used to have a dress code of smart office-style clothes, and the buttons on the front gave it a lovely smart feel. But yesterday I got so bored of them and took them all off, which means I can belt it and it now feels like a whole new skirt! Plus I have six buttons which I can use to update an old cardigan. Win all round, methinks.

  

The bag was a definite splash-out for me, but it's easily my favourite bag! The design is unbelievably cute and it's exactly the perfect size to fit my phone, purse, iPod and house key inside. I didn't think to take a photo, but the inside is lined with a gorgeous floral pattern and has a tiny pocket too!

Love Sanchia xxx