I apologize... I'm a snob

Hello, so... I have a confession to make. I used to hate primark. I used to envy people who would don gorgeous outfits... and when I asked where they had found them, they'd replied with primark. I used to go in a find nothing but tat in a heap on the floor and ridiculous queues.

Back in like, february? maybe, I remember I bought a blouse, it was black with a peterpan collar and bell sleeves I loved it. I wore it out the next day with some jeans and a jacket and noticed people keep staring, it wasn't until I sat down with my latte in Costa that I realised all of the buttons had popped open and I was on full show. Great. The cheap buttons wouldn't stay closed for five minutes, and the shirt was a size big for me, so it wasn't pulling anywhere!

So I went back to holding hatred for Primark. Working directly opposite to primark I used to stare at confusion at the girl I worked with who often would show me her major lunch time primark hauls with lots of goodies. I sometimes used to stroll in and try and find something but never could. I became a primark snob, I thought maybe my taste was just above primark stuff, pretty bizarre since I am the tightest person ever when it comes to money.

Well anyway, I went shopping with my younger sister on saturday and she wanted to venture into the primark in our new city. I was like in heaven, I could have filled my basket up, you know what's better than Primark prices? Primark's SALE PRICES. I bought two pairs of earings (£1 a pair!)a necklace (£2), a jumper (£3) and two pair of welly socks (£2 a pair) all for £11. I think I died on the spot. Not going to even joke.

The welly socks are just over the knee knitted socks but look super cute with my country chic wellies (blog post to follow).
The jumper was half price at £3 and is going to look good with some many things. It's a striped sweater style, short and long sleeved with the CUTEST faux suede elbow patches. I wore it today with Black leggings a white long vest, and my vans. Very casual but put together at the same time.

I only have the earrings to show right now, in my opinion they are in the same league as Butler & Wilson. They have so much sparkle and I can't wait to get dressed up and
wear them! I still cannot believe I paid a pound for them. :)

And these are very art deco... I'll probably wear them more often than just night's out.

And finally my £2 necklace, the photo really doesn't do it justice, makes it look kinda cheap, but it sits beautifully on the neck, it's pretty unusual and has loads of sparkle.

So do any of you hold the hate I used to for Primark, maybe I converted you? Let me know any of your Primark bargains or disasters!

Maddy xoxo

Primer! Primer! Primer!

Hello Dolls! HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope you all had a wild time, where did you all spend your greeting 2013? Mine was pretty boring, stargazing with my family, boring but nowhere else I would have rather been :)

As my blog title suggests, I am rather excited about something, I feel like Newton discovering gravity, and it's making me mad that it's took me so long to hop on the bandwagon that is PRIMER.

I know , I know it shouldn't have took me THIS long, but oh well thankgod it is in my life now. I used to wear benefit's rebel tinted moisturiser and hated foundation, so lets just say my make up routine wasn't the best anyway, definitely more for practicality.

I was given a 17 make up collection by one of my lovely relatives at christmas, and impulsively decided to give it a go the other day. I'm really chuffed! I couldn't believe how much less foundation I needed and it went on so nicely, I didn't even use my brush to pat foundation into my problem areas, it just smoothed on with my fingertips.

It also did what it says and made my foundation last so much longer! Usually by midday I am in need of some powder on my t zone and my foundation is looking sparse. It really keeps your make up looking neat and in place. It's odourless and non greasy which I heard can be the case with a lot of primers.
Best part of it all? It's £4.99!!! It has great reviews on Boots website, and people claiming that it lasts for a long time.

Definitely my new must-have product, give it a try!

Maddy xoxo

Red Carpet Manicure!

Hello my lovelies! I hope you all had a very merry christmas! I was definitely spoiled! One of my presents I was especially excited to tell you guys about. It's the Red Carpet manicure system. It's a gel nail set, which lets you do gel manicures in your home. These gels manicures such a gellish and shellac, which have been branded the new acrylic extensions at the minute.They are a nail polish which is set by a LED lamp which lasts for weeks with out chipping peeling etc. They help strengthen the nail and look great! They give a super shine and well finished look, a lot of places now use a gel top coat and lamp on top of acrylics for the shine. Me and my mam bought the starter set from qvcuk.com back in June when it was introduced but sadly there was an error in the order and we never recieved the lamp that comes with the kit, just some polishes. We kind of forgot about it and then ta-da! Santa brought me a starter kit with a new lamp!

There is a few steps which don't take long to do, you prep the nail, apply a base coat then put under the lamp for 30 seconds. then your red carpet manicure nail colour, putting under the lamp for 45 seconds after each coat, and then the final top coat and once again putting under the lamp for 45 seconds. It took me about twenty minutes to apply which isn't very different to normal lacquers. My nails feel super smooth and strengthened which is great as they are a lot longer than normal actual and it gives me confidence that they wont split like usual. There is a limited number of colours since it's a fairly new brand but they are bringing out new colours all of the time.

I decided on the shade "and the winner is" they have so many lovely pinks also. It's hard to explain the way they feel they are like super light nails extensions, as in the way they are smooth and strong and have a lovely shine.

It has a lot more sparkle than I anticipated and I am very impressed, looking at my nails is kind of like looking at plastic, it's so hard to explain! Overall, I am really hoping that they do what they say and last for a few weeks! I will update you all, apparently you can use your own colours and then just use the topcoat and lamp and you get the same effect, which would be great! Also, now that christmas is over as soon as it has started it means SALES and lots of them. I had a very satisfying haul from new look today, I managed to purchase 2 shirts, pair of jeans, a jumper and necklace and a vest top for under £50! So excited for that delivery man now, make sure you have a look at what bargains you can pick up and tell me all about them! Maddy xoxo

Christmas eve, eve & new coat!

HEY GUYS, happy Christmas eve, eve. I hope you're all relaxing since it's also a sunday! I mentioned my new coat from Max C London in some of my posts earlier and I finally got my wear out of it today.

Sorry about the awful quality... I was running out and I quickly took it on my mac. I paired it with some super comfy black leggings with lace down the sides, and my short chocolate uggs. I scraped my hair back, hoping the whole ensemble worked somehow. Simple and comfy ... it is sunday after all.

I'm really pleased with my bargain... I got it half price at £20. I can see me getting a lot of wear out of it so all in all I'm glad I found this little impulse buy! Hope you're all having some great holidays Maddy xoxo

The BEST Red Lipstick

A very bold title but, true. I mentioned briefly in my intro post about the red lipstick I was wearing and that I would inform you later about the shade, but I thought I'd go one better than that since I love it sooo much. It provides that old school glamour which everyone is seeking out lately, and you most certainly feel glamorous when wearing!

It's CHANEL Rouge Allure in 'Lover'. Now, before I start let me just say that my make up collection is split right down the middle of high street and high end and my blog in no way will be just a endless stream of very expensive products. It's about £25 in most department stores, but very, very, very worth it. Let me tell you that it's more of a blue red, which is a bonus as blue red seem to suit most skin tones and also has the treat of making teeth look whiter! A must for the perfect Hollywood look. It features very subtle shimmer, which make the lips look plumper and fuller. It's also an advantage that the packaging of the product makes you feel like a million dollars ;) It's a very moisturizing product, which is great as there is nothing worse than seeing lipstick on chapped dry lips. It has great staying power and never seems to bleed. When I want to make a huge impact with my lips, I simply apply this lipstick firstly with a lip brush and then just apply it directly to give it the intense colour. I have very small eyes, and find it hard to wear heavy eye make up as it doesn't really do them justice, so I regularly let my lips do the talking ( ha ha ).

But that's not all, as well as being a great staple for a 'red lip' for me it also doubles as my lip tint. Applying some kind of tint or lipstick is essential in my daily routine, I usually opt for Benetint or this lipstick. To use as a liptint I simply dab it on my lips and smudge it in using circular motions. I normally prefer using a lipstick over a lip tint as you can control the depth and darkness of the colour and easily adapt it. Here it is in use as my ever trusty liptint.

I often find that the lipsticks last significantly longer than tints I use,so win, win! A great classic lipstick which can also double as a lip tint, for those plump "just kissed" lips.

Nails: Midnight in Moscow!

Hello!! I thought I'd update you all on my nail colour! I am never with out nail varnish.. and change it at a minimum once a week. Most of my nail varnishes are OPI, thanks to my mam's QVC obsession, ha ha. They often have really good offers, ASOS sell a single nail varnish for £11, where as QVC have lots of good bundles. For example there is a set with four full sized nail lacquers one full sized nail envy (which is amazing, by the way!) an avoplex cuticle oil and a drip dry bottle, all for just £27.57!!! I'm starting to sound like a QVC salesman ha ha but go and check out the website www.qvcuk.com Since it's Christmas time, I really wanted to do a red, green or gold nail. Unfortunately I couldn't find my Barry M green nail varnish anywhere, OR my Sinful red sparkle nail varnish and my golds where also MIA. Maybe the naughty Christmas elves have been hopping about? I decided to go for Midnight in Moscow, it's a very popular OPI shade it reminds me of a burgundy version of Russian Navy almost black but with the fusion of shimmer.

It is definitely more of a shimmer than a sparkle and also looks a lot darker on the nail than in the bottle until you get to certain lights. OPI nail varnishes have great coverage... I did take a photo with just one coat (I lost that too) and it still looked great. Here it is with two coats and a top coat.

It's definitely a safe versatile colour... it goes with pretty much anything and because it's long lasting it's easy to maintain.

I find myself reaching for this colour a lot, if you're looking for some dark but different colours then definitely check out OPI. They also have very cute names! Maddy xoxo

Prom

Well it's quite obvious I have the blogging fever. Earlier this year in June I had my end of school Prom. Since I've traveled a lot, and this was my fourth comprehensive school I didn't think my prom would be as special as the people who had been there since little kiddies, but it was an amazing night with amazing people. After months of hunting the internet and a tiresome day shopping in Chichester, West Sussex I decided to hand it all over to my mam, who did not disappoint. She found this gorgeous karen millen dress:

(is it just me or does that photo seem very photoshopped or does the model just have a very disproportionate body?) It seemed refreshing compared to the normal puffy monstrosities! So now it was the accessories, now my mam and I being avid pink lovers... went for the obvious and went for a more tropical approach rather than princess approach. Shoes were found from dorothy perkins... they side detail of the stitch and crease matched the dress perfectly. My mam who is a trainer hair dresser and beauty therapist (amongst many other talents) had the genius idea of a fresh lilly in the back of my hair, which also features in this picture :

The shoes were so comfy! Although my feet did ache a little by the end of the night. I wore earrings from a cute little boutique in Chichester called Strawberry. My bag was a one my mam already owned but just so happened to be perfect shade of hot pink. I finally tied together the hot pink theme with a hot pink pashmina. As there was so much going on with the colours and the dress, I kept the rest of my jewelry to a minimum only wearing a rope pandora with a selection of charms on it. My hair was put into hot rollers and with a boufant featuring the gorgeous fresh sparkly lilly flower.

Now time for the dress - now let's remember here that i'm a good approx 9 inches shorter than the model and her legs are significantly longer. Also I fill out the dress a lot more than the gorgeous slender model.

My make up was simple, with a sparkly bourjois peach eyeshadow and individual eyelashes and a hot pink lipstick.

Finally my nail varnish was Model's own navy and pink sparkles, I still love it!

Overall I had an amazing night.. and i can't wait for the opportunity to wear my dress again! Maddy xoxo

Impulse Buy & Coats

In my last post I told you about the beauty of Christmas sales, comment below and let me know any bargains you managed to hunt down! There's nothing better than finding a good bargain, as I found when I snapped up my new jacket. This was a total impulse buy as a couple of weeks ago I splurged on a rather pricey (although discounted hugely)but worth it Land's end, puffy winter jacket : as seen here;

I paid £84.95 it was reduced from £110 so still quite a good deal , you'll probably find out i'm so stingey when it comes to my money, anything over 20 quid makes me wince! It was the best investment ever, it's the warmest coat, and considering I'm living in Aberdeen it will come into a lot of use!

Excuse my bare face and my brother and sister (you'll probably see them a lot in my blog I love them to pieces, meet Joseph & Lucinda. ) However, when trawling the internet boutiques for some bargains, I came across the cutest Jacket/Coat from MaxC London. It was half price to £20 and I couldn't resist. I persuaded myself, since my Land's End puffy jacket is far too hot for shopping centres etc, that it would come into good use for night's out, parties and city day trips. I paid £3.95 standard postage... and since it was five days before christmas when i ordered it, I was expecting it to turn up after the holidays, I was very impressed when it turned up 2 days after ordering.

It's the Esmee Jacket, and I'm really impressed with the way it fits. I ordered a UK12, (I'm normally 10-12, but go for a 12 when I think it may be restricted across the bust, also it's Christmas time and I wanted it to be forgiving, ha ha!) They have some really unusual jackets, some remind me of the 60's era and are all so reasonably priced. Check out the Max C website, http://www.maxclondon.com/ they have loads of unique pieces, very cute and different to other website where you see hundred different versions of a bodycon. Maddy xoxo

Christmas Sales

Well, we all know what christmas means in the fashion world, SALES. Already there has been a flourish of sales, all of which have had me willing to give up all my wages. MOTEL, have a particular good one right now, I have always been a fan of MOTEL, they do amazing jeans and I love the way they do their tropical patterns not too gaudy. They have a good selection on my all time favourite ASOS, but ASOS seem a little behind on their sale, so i would suggest going to their official website for some early christmas bargains.

This galaxy dress is now just £15! They had a pair of skinny jeans in the same print which where to die for! I have a feeling I'd have to don some serious spanx with this dress though!

This beauty has been reduce to 20 in the sale... it's a flattering colour for everyone, and so is the cut, you might be a bit chilly wearing this on a night out... maybe save it for those summer nights ;) And finally for these bad boys

They have such a pin up style to them which I adore! They are also cropped, which make your pins look lots longer, always a bonus! These again are just a steal at £18 Just looking at them are making me want to get my sunglasses out! I could go on forever, there is so many bargains for you girls to get your hands on, don't let anyone one else snap them up http://www.motelrocks.com/shop/ Maddy xoxo

Hello & Merry Christmas

Hello, this is my new blog. I'm 17 and from South shields in the UK. Currently living in Aberdeen. Merry Christmas!

Must have - Chanel ROUGE ALLURE luminous intense in PASSION* (at least I think) The best shade of red I have come across with excellent staying power , definitely worth the extra money. *will find out shade Merry Christmas to you all! Maddy xoxo