Today in a nutshell

Last night was full of m&s pizza, spicy chips, wine and chat. I kind of started the wine early by myself while I blogged and watched Nine Months with Hugh Grant, I had never actually seen before and it's cringey but it made me laugh. 

This is today in a nutshell as I have a half hour run, a shower and get ready and a half hour trip to my friend's house where I have to be by 6pm. Doable? Not sure.

Today started with dropping my lovely friends off at the airport. I was so scared of the motorway not so long ago but I'm getting used to it and I kind of like it now. 

I went straight to do the food shop and DC called me to update me on the stag do shenanigans - he's away for the weekend and I dread to think what they are getting up to. 

I spotted this lovely blouse in Sainsburys from Gok Wan's collection, I would have bought it but it was £25 so if it's still on my mind by the time next week's food shop comes around then I might get it. Then I ran away quick with my shopping trolley because a Sainsburys lady told me off for taking a photo. Apparently you're not allowed unless you are staff??? Cue blush and run away. 

I did a bit of jeans shopping although I hate buying them because I hate the shape of my legs. I loved these Leigh jeans from Topshop but have wanted a grey pair for a while so I bought some from Miss Selfridge and I love them.

I popped to m&s to grab a few bits for my fortnightly food parcel for both my grandparents and great uncle.  

Then I treated myself to a Starbucks skinny caramel coffee frapp and as always found it extremely difficult to say no when the barista (sp?) double checked that I didn't want their delicious whipped cream. 

I headed off to visit my grandparents / great uncle and now here I am trying to gear myself up for a run, knowing that if I go then I will not only complete my running goal for the week but also feel much better when demolishing the wine and goodies with my friends later. 

Happy weekend! 

Dans x

The only way you can wear a dress every day...

Is to go on holiday! Here's my holiday summer style:

2012 Miss Selfridge playsuit

2013 Topshop dress

2013 River Island tunic / Primark denim

2012 Zara dress

2013 H&M playsuit

2010 Topshop playsuit

2013 New Look top / Topshop shorts & sunnies, New Look headband, Tesco beach bag

2011 Miss Selfridge playsuit

 

Dans x

Pre-pay day clothes shopping is asking for trouble

DC and I popped to the shops after visiting my grandparents on Saturday, for him to find something to wear for our night out. It was 4 days before payday (which has still not come around, boo) and I knew already that I had my eye on something in the Topshop sale so I was hoping it'd be there.

I tried on this dress that I've had my eye on for AGES:

 

And I did love it but I realised I probably wouldn't get much wear out of it (and the fact I had no £) plus as per many complaints on Topshop.com my elephant had disappeared off the front of the dress too.

 

This was the jacket I have been trying to track down but as you can see the size 10 was way too big and a size 8 is nowhere in sight, it's now also disappeared from the sale section of Topshop.com. I think you can see the look I was trying to go for though...

 

 

Then my final option was this Peter Pan floral print top with lace detailing from Miss Selfridge:

 

This was really flattering and took me about 4.5 second to purchase whoops :)

Dans x

How to not spend all of your salary in Sainsburys

Once, I tried to get through the Sainsburys door not by pushing it open as normal people do, but by swiping my work pass to try and gain access.

And another time, I was really annoyed because me as well as an elderly man had been queuing up at the self service checkouts for at least ten minutes, when suddenly the fire alarm went off and they made us leave both without me buying my Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter and the old man without his loaf of bread.

But then again it is about the only place that still stocks a Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter bar.

As you can see, Sainsburys and I have a love / hate relationship.

It should really be enough that I do my weekly shop at Sainsburys. I mean, an hour and a half on a Saturday afternoon among screaming kids and people who just will.not.move.their.trollies.out.of.the.bleeding.way is enough to make anyone go insane. But not me. I find myself there at least every lunch time and sometimes twice a day...

...I think it's because I have an obsession with spending money, and Topshop is too far a walk from the office.

I also think it's because DC is too lazy to drive to Tesco after work and always uses the excuse 'well Sainsburys is just down the road from you so you can go on your lunch break'.

I could literally spend all of my money in there. Maybe it's because I love bad food and expensive magazines. It's definitely not to check out the security guard (if you saw him, you'd know what I mean).

I really should start leaving my purse at home. Or get a more interesting obsession, like an addiction to clothes instead of food and magazines (oh yes, I already have that too).

Dans x

Make up splurge

I am Dani and I am a Clinique addict. 99% of my make up is made up of their products - mascara, foundation, concealer, blusher, eyeliner, eyeshadow... all of it except my trusted Rimmel matt powder.

But I am not a millionaire and even with my lack of control I just couldn't face a mega Clinique bill when I suddenly ran out of everything. And anyway, why is it that you always run out of everything at the same time?? What's with that??

I was desperately in need of some makeup ready for our friends' wedding on Saturday, so off I popped to Boots on my lunch break to see what I could see.

Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid foundation in nude
I have plenty of my Clinique even better foundation, but my colleague at work the other day (also a bridesmaid at the wedding at the weekend) mentioned that she needed some SPF-free foundation ready for the evening 'do. Why? I asked. Oh, the camera flash bounces off of my SPF foundation and makes my face look white, she answered. OH! Everything suddenly made sense. All of those photos where I have a ghoulish white face compared to my naturally coloured neck and body.

So I bought my old trusted Dream Satin Liquid foundation - I used to love this as it gave me a lovely dewy complex. The only mistake I made was that even though it doesn't say in the tube that it contains SPF, I forgot to double check online, so I'm just hoping that it'll be OK.

Maybelline Dream Terra Sun bronzer
I fell in love with Benefit's Hoola bronzer when I bought it in a miniature 3 pack from Boots along with a mascara and powder foundation for £9. But as I was running out I knew I wouldn't be able to afford the real deal, as I know it's over £20. So I purchased this Maybelline bronzer today, not knowing how it would turn out and I have to admit that I love the results. It's quite subtle so you can build it up without it looking streaky.

Maxfactor Masterpiece mascara
This has been my go-to mascara ever since I started using it. I think I originally found it in my mum's makeup bag, used it and fell in love. I always alternate between this and Clinique's High Impact mascara (when I have more £ in the bank) but I feel as though this mascara frames my eyes so much better and it never lets me down. I can really build it up without it becoming clunky.

Maxfactor Colour X-Pert waterproof eyeliner in deep black
I always feel so plain Jane without my eyeliner. I always feel as though my eyes need to be framed else they just look boring and non-existent, especially with my fair eyebrows and eyelashes. I switched to Maybelline / Clinique gel eyeliner when everyone raved about it, but even though I've been using it for over a year I still can't get the hang of a perfect flick with a brush and always end up with smudged, dodgy eyeliner. I stuck with it but I feel much more comfortable with an eyeliner pen, and this one completely does the trick.

Boujois Rouge Edition lipstick in rose tweed
I love a subtle lip colour (I always want to try red but am not brave enough) and it has to be matte - I really dislike sheen on my lips. My favourite lipstick is Clinique's Long Last in Creamy Nude but as I've been rocking this for so long I thought I needed a change. This Boujois lipstick is AMAZING. It's such a gorgeous colour and seems to be pretty long lasting too (I'm sipping on a hot cuppa at the moment and it's staying put).

And here is the end product of my makeup haul:

The only products I added were my Clinique Blushing Blush Powder Blush (I don't need to buy any blusher for a zillion years as I have so many Clinique samples it's unreal) and Even Better Eyes concealer (the most reliable product in the history of makeup). At the weekend I will most probably add some eyeshadow and my Benefit high beam, and a couple more lashings of mascara to make my eyes stand out and ensure it lasts throughout the day.

Total: £32 - Boots are doing a good few buy one get one half price offers at the moment.

What's in your make up essentials bag?

Dans x

Girl in need of a dress

I have a friend's wedding coming up in May, and another one is September that DC is best man for. I have only been to one wedding before and that was kind of a last minute thing that I just threw on a dress from the back of my wardrobe for.

This time, I thought I'd better plan in advance. I thought seems as we're heading into Spring (although it's snowing outside today) that the shops will start to stock more dresses that will give me lots of lovely options. But I'm wrong, because at the moment I can't seem to find anything!

I don't even know what look I want to go for; so at the moment I'm just looking for some inspiration. I fell in love with this Warehouse dress that I found on ASOS - it was actually in Warehouse not too long ago before it dropped into the sale and disappeared all together. Now it's out of stock on ASOS too so I don't think I have a chance of getting my hands on it. Isn't it pretty?

I also spotted this dress yesterday while having a quick look around Marks and Spencers. This is from their Limited range and it looked great on the hanger / mannequin but not so good on me (I seem to be having that problem a lot lately!)

 

So I need to continue my search and hopefully something will catch my eye soon. The danger with searching for a particular item for a particular date is that I always seem to find so many other things along the way and end up spending far too much than I originally intended to! I also want to try and buy something that I can wear for parties or a night out into town - I'm tired of buying one off things that I never get out of my wardrobe again because they are too fancy.

 

Whilst I was in Marks and Spencers, there were so many things in their Limited and Indigo range that caught my eye - I'm sure the other shoppers thought I was going mad with all of my 'oooh'ing and 'ahhh'ing.

 

So I think I did pretty well yesterday to walk out of Marks and Spencers empty handed but I do feel tempted to go back and make a purchase or two! I think M&S are really improving on their clothing ranges, targeting all different ages of women and men and moving a bit further away from the 'old lady' stigma which most of my generation I suppose attaches them to. The only thing I would say is that some of the pieces are quite expensive, but then I guess I probably wouldn't think twice about spending that much money in Topshop or Zara, so perhaps it's about time I gave M&S a chance! And isn't it always slightly satisfying when someone is impressed with your top / shoes / bag and asks you where it's from, for you to answer with "Oh I found it in Tesco / Sainsburys / Clarks" ... or is that just me!

Dans