When the sun comes out

With the arrival of the sun, so comes my first style post. It's not yet warm enough to go without tights when wearing shorts, hence the covered legs, but on a particularly sunny day, I grabbed my brother and a camera and we went to an empty field to take some rather awkward photos of a nice outfit. I am proud to say that much of my wardrobe comes from charity shops, so whenever I do a style post, there will usually be some element from one.

I picked up this top a few weeks back in the New Look sales and have fallen head-over-heels in love with it. The striped pattern makes me feel like a Parisienne fashionista and I love how it feels when I'm wearing it. I bought a size 14, several sizes too big for me, because it was the only one left on the rack, but I'm glad I did, because I like the slight oversized look of the top.

What I wore:

Top - New Look

Dungarees - charity shop (originally Tammy)

Boots - New Look (sold out, but similar here)

Lipstick - New Look (review here)

Love, Milly x

New Look Makeup: Red Lipstick

Whilst shopping the New Look sale last weekend, I found a stand for the New Look Pure Colour makeup range. I didn't know that this existed, (although this can be forgiven because it was only released late last year) so you can imagine my excitement at VERY affordable, good quality makeup from one of my favourite shops.

I picked up a Pure Colour Lipstick in Burgundy, a gorgeous bright red colour, perfect for all seasons. This is highly pigmented and has vitamin E extract, so is fairly nourishing on the lips. It has a finish somewhere between glossy and matte and lasts for several hours without need for reapplication, although may need topping up post-eating. I should mention that I did this swatch a week and a half ago, and I can still see a faint shadow where the lipstick was, despite multiple showers and makeup remover! One thing I don't like is the smell, which is very chemical, but this doesn't last once it's on the lips.

The packaging is pretty sleek, with a mixture of matte and shiny black, reminiscent of the Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss lipsticks, thought the plastic feels quite cheap in your hands - you get what you pay for on this front. The bullet has a slight concave, which can make it slightly trickier to put on, as you have to be careful not to go over the lines, but many people would use a lip liner anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem.

I was really glad to find out that this whole range is cruelty free, as many cheaper companies do test their products on animals, and I am making a conservative effort to try and avoid these brands.

Oh yeah, and the price? £3.99 - bargainous!

Have you tried anything from this range?

Love, Milly x

Stila In The Light Palette

A few months ago I promised a post about my Stila In The Light palette - well, here it is! This gorgeous, neutral palette is £25 and comes with 10 powder eyeshadows, a smudge stick waterproof eyeliner and a mirror built into the gorgeous, albeit slightly flimsy, packaging.

Of the eyeshadows, there are 4 mattes and 6 shimmers/sparkles, all of which have great pigmentation and are very blendable (I usually use my Real Techniques essential crease brush). I use the colour 'sandstone' through my eyebrows and it usually lasts for most of the day, as do colours on my lids. It may just be my eyelids, but I find that after a few hours I get slight creasing in the dark matte shades, although this is easily corrected by blending it out with my finger.

There are so many looks to create from this palette - blend out the browns and blacks for a smokey eye, go all out glittery or choose a toned-down neutral look. I don't get much use out of 'night sky' because I find it too cool-toned for my skin colour, but I absolutely love the creamy feel of the glitters. 'Bubbly', the gold glitter, is particularly flattering on blue eyes.

The 'smudge stick waterproof eyeliner in damsel' (a matte dark brown) is extremely pigmented (in the photo I was barely touching it to my skin) and blendable. The eyeshadows are easily removed with a swipe of makeup remover, but this eyeliner just won't budge - you'll need a few gentle swipes of remover to get it off. The smudge stick can be purchased on its own, but costs around £13, which adds to the value of this palette.

All-in-all this is a fantastic value palette which is an asset to my makeup collection. You can purchase this from selected Boots stores or online from sites like feelunique.com.

Have you got this? What do you think of it?

Love, Milly x