Uni Life and fashion haul

hello ladies, i'm SO sorry i've been neglecting you!

i have been so busy with moving to uni and settling in that i've barely had time to even think about blogging, and i had no internet untill last week!

anyway, since i am now living in london, one of the world's shopping capitals, i have been getting down to some serious retail therapy!!

one of my favourite things i bought was a beautiful floorsweeper dress from H&M @ selfridges, but when i tried to photograph it it looks horrible, so i might save it for when i wear it and do an OOTD.

this is an overview of everything i got, the dress is the black bit at the top of the photo!

all of this apart from the dress and the Uggs were purchased at the new westfield stratford city mall, which is conveniently located just 10 minutes away from where i have my lectures!!

so, starting with the shoes, i got these lovely chelsea boots from topshop. they were £62 i believe but i used my student discount, making them a little cheaper. they don't look very new, but i did intentionally scuff them up a bit beofre i wore them, they look much better distresed! they had a little bit of distressing to them already, with the dark patches around the toes, but i much prefer them like this. irritatingly i am going to have to return them as the elastic is coming away already, but when i get my new pair hey should hopefully last a long time, as they are really leather and seem to be nice quality.

i have been needing a new pair of uggs since about January when mine got a hole in the toe. i have been considering getting the 'ultra' style for a while, as they have a rugged sole and toecap, and they do look like they will last a lot longer than classics, which is what i've always had before, but have never had one pair for longer than a year! i finally bit the bullet and bought these from office, at the grand price of £265. i nearly cried with shock but they SHOULD last a lot longer than my old ones.

moving on from shoes onto the clothes!

the first place we hit was Oxford street so i'll show you what i got in Selfridges first, which is the dress, please excuse the photos!

its got a structured top with underwire and then ribbons that look like bones but arent in the bodice, and then flows out to a long chiffon skirt. i promise it's not as grannyish as it looks here!

after Oxford street we headed to westrfield (the next day), where i had trouble breathing in the enormous Forever 21 they have there, i was so excited! as far as i know F21 is only in london and Birmingham, but if you dont have one in your city, they are online, but i would definitely reccomend trekking to a store if you are ever in the vicinity.   if you dont know about F21 it's basically America's answer to primark. the prices arent quite as low as primark, more like H&M, but the clothes are lovely, much nicer than most primark finds, and whereas in primark there is the odd sensational piece, in F21 everything is nice, and there arent really any items that you would look at and walk quickly away from!

so from the top, working left to right, i got a blueish slightly green hued lace top, which i absolutely love. it looks beautiful over a pink vest top. i actually bought this because of FleurDeForce, who featured it in one of her youtube videos, so if you want to see someone wearing it then head over there.

next thing down is my absolute bargain piece which was a genuine suede jacket which was a steal at £42. it looks so nice with the sleeves pushed up thrown over basically anything

next thing over is my mustar jeans which were another bargain at £18! mustard is set to be a key colour for autumn and i abolutely love them, they have basically replaced my blue jeans, and while i first thought they would be difficult to pair with stuff, they go with everything.

next up is a lace jacket which i' not sure about, and i may actaully give to one of my sisters. its peachy and pretty but the waterfall front i feel adds pounds to me and i haven't yet worn it, and the tags are still attached.

lastly is a cropped orange striped jumper which i absolutely love, it looks so pretty work off the shoulder and is perfect for autumn.

i also picked up 2 rings from new look, which i think are just gorgeous, i love big rings but i always worry they make my fingers look fat, so i hardly ever buy them. i really liked these ones though so i just went for it.

the stone is actually purple, but it looks black in the picture.

the very last thing i got was nail polish. in the new westfield is a beautybase store which has discounted perfume and makeup, and when i saw that they had LA colours polishes for 99p, i just had to get some, and then i later went back another day to buy more!

i've been really impressed with the formula of these, and i'm sure it wont be long before i'm tempted to go in and buy more!!

hope you all enjoyed this haul lovelies, and i hope my sporadic posting hasn't been too annoying for you!!

love, lucy xx

explaining my absence and FOTD

hey lovely ladies!!

as previously mentioned i have been away travelling which is why my beauty blog hasn't seen any action at all for the past 2 months, but i'm back now and i plan to be blogging as usual, though there may be some slight interruptions as i'm starting uni next week, so there will be plenty to distract me! i wanted to share with you a couple of photo's from my trip and also (just to make it beuaty related!) to do a quick EOTD as well. i pruchased the MUA pro heaven and earth palette after seeing it on Fleur's blog, and i used it to create this look. it really is a beautiful palette and she was comparing it to the naked palette which i dont own so i can't comment but it is certainly very nice.

as always i had trouble photographing this look but i did my best, so please be kind about it! i am planning to get some help with my photography (ie, get someone to take pictures of my face for me) when i go to uni, but when i'm at home there is never anyone around to help me, so i have to try and take pictures on my own. product photography isnt a problem for me, but for F/EOTD's i really need someone to shoot for me.

face: barry m foundation cream in white, bobbi brown foundation in porcelain, ruby and millie blush stick (sorry i dont know the shade!!)

eyes: MUA pro heaven and earth palette, max factor liquid effect pencil in black, max factor false lash effect mascara fusion in black

lips: collection 2000 cream puff lip creme in Angel delight

just to finish, i want to show you some snaps of my trip! i was volunteering in a school, so working with kids every day, but i did take a little bit of time out to go on a gorilla safari and white water rafting on the nile!!

this is one of my best gorilla shots. we were standing only about 3 metres from this guy, and he was a big silverback male. gorilla tracking was the most amazing thing i've ever done, and so worth the effort of getting there!



this picture was taken at summer camp when the summer holidays had started. it's illegal to educate the children in the holidays so we were restricted to purely fun activities, which included face painting!!

i hope you've all had great summers, have YOU been away anywhere?

love, lucy xxx

Whats in my Travel Makeup Bag?

hey girls, so it's no secret that i'm going travelling at the beginning of next month, but before i go off on my volunteering trip, i'm going on a family holiday to Turkey, where i will be staying on a yacht.

i am hoping hat this trip will be a little more glamourous than my volunteering trip, so i will be bringing a few cosmetics items. below is a photo of everything laid out, with brushes ad tools in the top left, face products in the top right, eyes in the bottom left and lips in the bottom right. it looks like a lot but it all fits into a fairly small makeup bag (minus my ELF HD powder whihc comes in a huge box)

please click for a larger image!!

ok, so going from left to right, top to bottom we have:

the eco tools foundation brush (which i use to apply my white Barry M foundation creme as a base to my actual founation)
eco tools finishing kabuki (which i use for my 'actual' bobbi brown foundation)
a crease brush from my fraulien 38 brush roll
a retractable lip brush fro the same brush roll
a No7 'precision eyeliner brush' which i use for my brows
a generic flat shader brush
a No7 eyeshadow blendng brush from a setat christmas a whle ago
NYC eyelash curlers

Bobbi brown foundation SPF 15 in shade 0, Porcelain
Barry M Foundation creme in White
Bobbi brown Pot Rouge in shade 21, Cabo Coral (makes a nice lip colour too)
Ruby and Millie cheek colour in C33, Orange (but its actually red and doubles as a nice matte lip colour)
ELF HD Powder

Rimmel colour mousse in 006, Get Fresh
Ruby and Millie eye base
Max factor Smokey eye effect eyeshadow in Bronze Haze
Collection 2000 eXtreme 24 hour felt tip liner in Black
GOSH eyeliner pencil in Black
Max Factor False lash effect fusion; volume and length mascara in Black
Sleek Storm Palette

Ruby and Millie lip gloss in Clear
17 mirror shine lipstic in shade Plum Perfection
and Nivea sooth and protect lip balm with SPF 12

so thats my travel makep bag! too much? what's in YOURS?

all packed and ready to go!

Love, Lucy xxx

Follow my adventures in Uganda!

hey lovelies!

some of you may know, but next moneth i'm going to Uganda to work in a primary school for 2 months.

if you want to follow my journey and keep up with what i'm doing, check out my uganda blog at 123lucylovesbeauty.blogspot.com

love you all! xx

Lush Collection / Beautiful new storage solution

hey ladies, today i have an exciting new item to share with you!!

i go this idea from gemsmaquillage over on youtube (i think!!), and i thought it was a really cute storage solution. i love lush and i use their trichomania solid shampoo every day, but the problem comes when i get out of the shower, and the bar is all soggy and wet. when left to dry out again it resolidifies but i hate leaving it out on my bathroom shelf as it makes it sticky and not much air can get around it.

i beautiful vintage cake stand seemed the perfect solution, and today i found the perfect one!

so here is a top view of all of my lush products that i own. i'm gonna do my best to name them, starting with the tins at the top and going clockwise.

tin: fairtrade foot lotion
tin: ultralight sunscreen
pink swirly: the comforter bubble bar
white blocks: trichomania solid shampoo
purple disc: jumping juniper solid shampoo bar
green disc: karma komba solid shampoo bar
minty green foot: stepping stone foot scrub
pinky heart: silk stockings solid body tint
black pot: r&b conditioner sample
white hexagon: mange too massage bar
white heart: soft coeur massage bar
orangey chunk: skinny dip body butter (discontinued)
green tab: token to the forest gods sauna tab
big pink block: rockstar soap
small pink block: a rong of roses soap
yellow ball: honey bee bath ballistic
CENTRE
beige slice: buffy body butter
purple ball: sex bomb bath balistic

so thats my collection. what's YOUR favourite lush product?

love, lucy xxx

Do you tweet?

hey girlies!

today, i finally took the plunge and got twitter, and i have to say, i now realise what the fuss was about. i love it!!

but i have no followers. so, if you'd like to follow me, it'd be much appreicated! i'm lucylovesbeauty.

also, i'm looking for a new handbag, for daytime, good quality. i have about £150 to spend.

and i need a lip scrub! any recconmendations?

xxxx

I'm Gonna be a Grown Up So I'll...Go Gothic?

hey ladies!

it's my 18th birthday on friday (i dont know how important 18 is in the states, but in the UK its the big one, 21 doesnt really mean anything here), and i'm going out in Camden town with my sisters and a couple of friends.

as far as i know anything goes in Camden, and you'll find people from every walk of life, but i was thinking of a slightly vampy gothic look. i'm planning on wearing a cream tiered lace dress, and this is a look i hope will look good with it...

so this is the look, its basically a cool complexion, (using my trusty white foundation cream from Barry M), with heavy winged liner and a very strong dark berry lip. i'm normally terrified of strong lips, so this is a bit of a venture for me!

so basically, i'm posting this because i'm not sure. opinions?? help!

Lucy xx