Wrapped Up

 IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!... well nearly. As I write this we are just 16 days away from Christmas day and the majority of my Christmas shopping is complete. I've never been one of those people who leaves all their present buying until the last minute and I think the reason why is my love for decorative wrapping. 

While for some, wrapping presents can be a bit of a chore, I take great pleasure in picking out wrapping paper, ribbons and bows to make sure the recipient of my gifts feels extra special. Not to mention how pretty well wrapped presents look under the Christmas tree!

As you can see from the pictures above I have gone for quite a rustic style this year, with brown paper and red and white twine, but with a glamorous twist of the gold reindeer's and white ribbons.


Nice wrapping paper can often be expensive but after having a browse around I found this lovely brown patterned paper in The Works for only £2, I also got the red and white twine from there for only £1! Unfortunately I couldn't find the links for the exact items I bought so I've linked similar alternatives, but if you popped into your local store I'm sure they'd have it.

Wrapping Paper, White Ribbon and Red and White Bakers Twine

How will you be wrapping up your presents this year?

Eleanor xx

My New Home

As you may or may not know, this September I started university. This is a big moment in my life as I moved to a new city on my own, ready to meet new friends and study a subject that will hopefully lead me to my dream career. So where is my new home I hear you ask? Well I have moved to Birmingham to study Marketing at Aston University and I can safely say that I have settled in nicely. This may partly be down to the fact that my sister also lives in Birmingham, so there is comfort in the fact that I can see her anytime I want.

Me and my sister get on very well and love spending time together so when she found out that she needed to visit an art gallery as part of her course there was only one obvious choice of who she would ask to go with her: me. I love art galleries so it was hardly a chore for me but I did ask her one favor in return, to take some pictures of my outfit and here is how they turned out... 

What I Am Wearing - New Look Hat, Pull & Bear Jumper, Topshop Dungarees, Topshop Leather Jacket, T K Maxx Bag, Accessorize Bag Charm and Office Shoes.

Did anyone else start Uni this September? I'd love to know the cool places you've discovered in your new city!

Eleanor xx

The Rhine Valley

During the first week of August I went with my family on our annual summer holiday, our destination this year being the beautiful Rhine Valley in Germany. Despite this holiday being a month ago I still wanted to share with you some of my snaps of the beautiful river as we reminisce our summer before going back to work, school, college or uni. 

What I Am Wearing - Missguided Shirt, Topshop Shorts, Primark Sunglasses and Office Shoes

While the weather in Germany is said to be very similar to that of the UK it was boiling the whole week we were there reaching highs of 38 degrees so shorts were an essential. As it wasn't a beach holiday and we were looking round little towns and villages I wanted to cover up a bit on my top half so I paired my shorts with this lightweight black shirt. I also wore my favourite Aquazzura flats from Office which have now gone into the sale for £40.

I hope you've all had a wonderful summer and I'd love to hear what you got up to!
Eleanor xx

My Tips For A Party Holiday

I knew that after months and months of hard work revising for my A Level exams I would most definitely need a holiday, so back in November of last year me and my friends booked ourselves a party holiday in Laganas, Zante. I'd only been out clubbing once before in the UK (as I'm not 18 yet) and the only holiday's I'd been on without my parents before had been organised by my school, so I had no idea what to expect. 

Now that I am safely back in Britain after one of the best weeks of my life I thought I'd write a blog post giving a bit of advice to those of you who are planning to go on a party holiday this summer!

Don't Let The Reps Rip You Off
We booked our holiday through Thomas Cook and it was part of their Escapades range so as part of the package we had reps at our hotel who would 'look after us'. When we got to the hotel we were introduced to our reps who were very friendly and showed us to our room. Once in our room we quickly realised these people did not want to be our friends but instead wanted our money, as they forced us to sit and listen to a 30 minute hard sell of all of these parties and events "we had to go to" all for the extortionate price of €210. 
Feeling pressured we picked out the events we wanted to go for (Full Moon party, Pool Party with Chase and Status, Funky Buddha and a Boat Party) and handed over €145. While lots of the events we picked were great others like the Boat Party were disappointing and left us wishing we'd booked the Rum and Ray Ban's Boat Party ourselves. While its convenient to buy the parties off the reps, they make their money through commission so you'll end up paying more, especially when it comes to bar crawls where they will take you to the most expensive bars on the strip.

Pre Drink Before Events
The events and parties were some of the highlights of my holiday, watching Chase and Status in Gaz from Geordie Shore's club Pure was absolutely amazing but would've been a little bit better if we'd pre drank at the hotel bar or in our room before going. At most events it's about €5 for a cocktail while this is still cheap compared to drinks in the UK, for Zante this was expensive when most other places are doing cocktails for €2/€3. When you've already paid about €30 to get into an event you don't want to be spending another €20 on drinks so don't buy drinks at the events.

Budget
Personally I think that budgeting is important on any holiday you go on as there is nothing scarier than being in a foreign country with no money. I took about €450 to Zante for a week and I came back with about €120 because I was watching what I was spending but some of my friends took about €370 and they'd ran out by the last day because they were spending a lot of money on things they didn't need and would loose money on nights out because they didn't take a bag. On average I'd spend about €20-€30 a day including drinks on a night out, a snack at lunch and a big meal in the evening, but I don't drink that much and people would often buy drinks for me, so depending on how much you plan to eat and drink you may need more. When deciding how much money to take don't forget those one off costs like events, air con, wifi and a safety deposit box.

Stay Safe
While a lot of people in Laganas were young tourists like myself hoping to have a good time there will always be people whose motives aren't pure. It is so easy in Zante to have your drink spiked or to drink dodgy vodka they serve at rubbish bars. To stay safe on holiday I'd recommend that you never drink at the top of the strip (this is where all of the bars are that pass off paint stripper as vodka or sell recycled drinks), never walk home alone (it is easy to get lost in a new place and people may take advantage of you especially if you're drunk) and don't leave your drink unattended as it may be spiked.

Take Medical Supplies
Accidents happen and it is likely that at least one of your group will get ill or injured at some point in the trip. When I was away I got bitten by mosquitoes and the bites became infected and filled with puss (gross I know) but it was useful to have some antiseptic cream and dressings to look after the bites until I got home and got some antibiotics. My friends shoes rubbed her to the point where her feet were bleeding so again antiseptic cream and plasters came in handy. While there was a pharmacy on the strip as well as multiple A&E's it was easier to have what we needed at the hotel, so I'd recommend that you take with you paracetamol, ibuprofen, antihistamine, Imodium, plasters and antiseptic cream to help with those common illnesses and injury's.

Have Fun! 
I can honestly say that my week in Zante was one of the best weeks of my life and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I met so many amazing people and would give anything to do the whole week again!

Have you been on a party holiday before? Or are you planning to go on one this summer? 

Eleanor xx

Inglot Freedom System Concealer Palette Review

I have a very love hate relationship when it comes to beauty palettes, you buy it because you convince yourself it'll be great for travelling and that you'll save loads of money as buying each product individually would cost a fortune but you ultimately buy it because it's pretty. In reality you end up using a couple of shades from each palette and the rest is left untouched after that initial swatching session we do with all new products. But that's not the case with Inglot's Freedom System because (as the name suggests) you have the freedom to create your own palette with the products and shades the you want. You can create blush, powder, concealer, eyeshaddow, brow, lip and fragrance palettes, all coming in various sizes.

I decided to create myself a concealer quad that could be used for highlighting, contouring, concealing and correcting as I haven't really seen a palette that covered these 4 bases. First off the packaging is gorgeous and looks very expensive, though it does have that matte Nars-esque packaging that makes it impossible to clean as you can see in the pictures. 

As for the concealers, they are a beautifully pigmented and of a creamy finish. I'd say they give a medium coverage and because of their creamy texture they need setting a lot but it does mean they blend nicely which is crucial if you want to use them for contouring.

From L to R - DW300, LW100, P and G

Each concealer was £5 and the cost of the palette was £7 resulting in a total cost of £27 which I think is very good value for money especially when you know that you will use each and every product.

This post isn't sponsored but I just love the idea of the freedom system that I could not do a review of the palette I bought. Yes I know that some other brands do similar things but I can't think of one who has such a wide variety of choice for such a reasonable price.

What do you think of the Freedom System? Have you tried any Inglot products?

Eleanor xx

Mini Beauty Haul

While I love makeup I would never consider myself a makeup collector or hoarder as something I've always been quite good at is deciding what I really need and what I don't. This being said I do tend to spend a considerable amount of money on makeup but they are always calculated purchases. That is probably the reason why today's mini beauty haul comprises mainly of repurchases but you know what they say 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'!

My all time favourite foundation (well so far) has to be Estee Lauder's Double Wear Foundation and I constantly repurchase it again and again. Like with any product there are lovers and haters but Double Wear is an especially Marmite product within the beauty community, luckily for me it really suits my skin type and gives me that high coverage flawless finish I need to cover my acne scarring. 

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation £29.50

The are some products that I would never look in the drugstore for such as foundation but when it comes to mascara 99% I will buy it from either Boots or Superdrug. The highstreet has a mascara to suit everyone with the majority of them coming under £10 and one of my favourites is the Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara. When I first tried this mascara I wasn't sure but the more and more I use it the more I have come round to it as it gives me the blackest lashes.

Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara £7.99

When I was on holiday in Portugal a couple of years ago I went into a Kiko store and picked up the Eyes 200 brush on a whim as it looked very similar to Mac's 217 brush but for half of the price. Since then it has become my favourite eyeshadow brush and the only one I use to blend out my eyeshadow. So when I went to London for my sister's birthday I made sure to pop into the Oxford Street store and pick up another one as you can never have too many blending brushes.

Kiko Eyes 200 Brush £10.90

My final purchase is surprisingly something I've never tried before but it's been exactly what I've been looking for. For ages I've been looking for light and dark concealers for contouring and coloured concealers for correcting and Inglot had exactly that as part of their Freedom System. I won't say too much just yet as I am planning to do an in-depth review as soon as I've tried it out but let's just say that I am very excited to try this out.

Inglot Freedom System Concealer Palette £27

Have you tried any of these products before or have any recommendations of what I should try next?

Eleanor xx

Review - Benefit Erase Paste

When asked what makeup product I couldn't live without, my answer everytime would be concealer, so finding the right concealer is important to me. At the moment my favourite concealer is the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer (mentioned previously here) but when my sister came home from Uni raving about Benefit's Erase Paste I knew that I needed to try it!

The Benefit Erase Paste is marketed as a brightening and camouflaging full coverage cream concealer. It costs £20.50 which is nearly 5 times the price of my trusty Collection Concealer and comes in three different shades, personally I think that three shades is a very poor range for a high end brand as when it comes to makeup 3 shades really do not fit all. I use the palest shade - No.1 Fair.

The actual concealer is a lovely product, it is full coverage without being drying or cakey as the formula is very creamy. Due to it creamy nature I find that I have to set it with a lot of powder otherwise it just slides right off my face and creases under my eyes. I find that the concealer is best applied with fingers as the warmth of my hands allows the products to melt and blend perfectly into the skin, leaving a beautiful glowing finish. 

The only product that I've ever tried that is similar is Mac's Studio Finish Concealer and I definitely prefer Erase Paste to that but I don't think it will drag me away from my trusty Lasting Perfection Concealer.

Have you tried Benefit's Erase Paste?

Eleanor xx

Where Have I Been? Just A Little Update

It's been nearly a whole month since I last blogged and I've missed it like crazy. When you live a hectic and busy life it's hard to find the time for blogging without compromising quality for quantity, but I didn't want to put anything out there that I wasn't proud of as that would be taking like one step forward and three steps back. I decided to wait until the time was right and that time is now, but let me catch you up on the last month before we move on.

As you may be able to see from the above picture I have not only had my hair cut but also the rim of my ear pierced. I did actually get my ear pierced when I went into Bristol with my friend Steph over a month a go (blog post on it here) but I forget to mention it, Steph was getting her nose pierced so I joined in on the fun, it was very spontaneous but also something I'd wanted to do for a long time. 

As for my hair, this was definitely not planned as when I went to the hairdressers I simply asked for a trim, what did I get? A bob. Despite my initial despair I'm loving my hair and the Kim K/Kylie Jenner vibes that come with it, plus it's very low maintenance which is always a bonus.

Another thing that I've not mentioned in previous posts is that earlier this year I started a course of Isotretinoin (better known as Roaccutane) to treat my acne, so far treatment is going well but let me know if you'd be interested in me writing a more detailed post about it.

While I have been very busy I've of course managed to squeeze in a little bit of shopping here and there and I can't wait to show you guys the things I've purchased recently in either a haul, outfit posts or reviews.

One thing I've done quite a lot of this month is go to the theatre. As a drama student it is part of my course to watch various performances (let's not mention the awful performance of King Lear I saw in Bath earlier this month) but I also enjoy going to the theatre in my spare time and it has just turned out this month that I have seen a lot of musicals. At the end of February I saw my friend in a performance of Hairspray at the Theatre Royal in Bath then I went with my family to see Wicked at the Bristol Hippodrome before taking my sister to see Les Miserables on the West End as part of her birthday present just yesterday. While all were brilliant I'd have to say that Les Miserables was my favourite.

But one of my favourite things I did this month was go watch Ben Howard in concert. Ben Howard's main UK tour had sold out months ago and sadly I hadn't got tickets but when I saw on twitter last week that he was releasing tickets to some intimate pre-tour gigs I knew I had to get tickets. Luckily I got tickets and went to see him last Sunday, and he was amazing.Apart from these things I've just been working lots (in Office Shoes, where I started working before Christmas) and revising lots for my exams. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of blogging though it may not be as regular as I'm still under lots of pressure from Sixth Form. I'd love to hear what you guys have been up to recently so let me know what you've been doing in the comments below!Eleanor xx

My Mac Lipstick Collection... So Far

I love lipstick. Part of the reason for the name of my blog (The Lipstick, The Girl and Her Wardrobe for the less observant of you) is down to the fact that I am rarely seen without lipstick on, and my favourite brand to buy lipsticks from is Mac. I know that it is a stereotype for beauty bloggers to own practically every product Mac that has ever released, but my Mac collection is surprisingly small and mainly consists of these 6 lipsticks - 

From L to R - Rebel, Mac Red, Morange, Vegas Volt, Please Me and Viva Glam Gaga 2

Rebel Satin -

Rebel is a beautiful deep purple with a strong pink undertone running through it. While it looks a lot darker in the bullet it is not as scary on the lips as it is sheerer and moisturizing, though if I want to make it darker and more vampy I will line all over my lips with either a black or brown eyeliner before applying the lipstick on top.

Mac Red Satin -

Mac Red is my favourite red lipstick that Mac does but I don't often hear it being mentioned a lot. Unlike lots of the other red's that Mac does, Mac Red is a Satin not Matte finish and hence very moisturizing, it is also a pinky red with a blue undertone and will therefore makes your teeth look very white. To check out the full review I've done of this lipstick click here.

Morange Amplified -

Morange is my all time favourite lipstick and so unlike any lipstick from any other brand. It is the brightest orange you can imagine and welcome change to your typical red or pink lipstick. While Morange will suit almost anyone it looks especially great on those with blue eyes, as blue and orange are opposite on the colour wheel.

Vegas Volt Amplified -

Vegas Volt is probably my least worn Mac lipstick but is still an absolutely beautiful colour. It is the perfect coral colour in my favourite finish: amplified, so it is incredibly pigmented but still moisturizing without appearing glossy.

Please Me Matte -

Please Me is the perfect powder pink that can either be sheered out by patting it on with your finger or built up for an opaque finish. Combine with a brown lip liner like Spice and you've got that perfect Kylie Jenner Matte lip.

Viva Glam Gaga 2 Amplified -

Viva Glam Gaga 2 was one of the first Mac lipsticks I ever bought and was part of Lady Gaga's Viva Glam collaboration with Mac in which the proceeds from the collection go towards helping those affected by HIV and AIDS. While on its own it can give the appearance of foundation lips, combined with either a pink lipgloss or Please Me it creates to perfect nude lip.

While it may seem like I have a small collection in comparison to other bloggers, I wear all of these lipsticks religiously and they cover the whole colour spectrum, so I don't often find myself needing anymore.

Do you own any Mac lipsticks? What are your favourites?

Eleanor xx

Outfit Post - Meet Steph

As I mentioned in my last post, last week while I was in Bristol with one of my best friends Steph, we took some time out of our shopping trip to take some pictures of each others outfits. I love Steph's style and this outfit really fit the 'edgy' location: a graffiti covered alleyway just off Nelson Street. 

What Steph Is Wearing - Urban Outfitters Hat, Shirt and Jewellery, Topshop Jeans, Vans and River Island Bag.

Have you seen any of Bristol's famous graffiti?

Eleanor xx

Outfit Post - Leather and Pleats

Bristol is a beautiful and diverse city that I am proud to call my home, one minute you'll be walking through a graffiti covered street and then you'll stumble onto a road of tall stone buildings. So yesterday while I was in Bristol with one of my best friends Steph, I took advantage of the opportunity to get her to take some photos of my outfit. 

What I Am Wearing - Pull and Bear Backpack, Adidas Trainers, Topshop Jacket, H & M Skirt, Primark Polo Neck and Morange by Mac Lipstick

I am so pleased with how these photos turned out especially since this was the first time Steph has used my camera and no doubt I will be forcing her to be my photographer again! Also while we were I took some photo's off Steph and her outfit, so keep an eye out for them as they will be posted soon!

Eleanor xx

Outfit Post - If You Are What You Say You Are

I've never been one to think of practicalities when putting together an outfit. I will wear whatever I want, whether that be a skirt in the snow or a leather jacket in the summer and today's outfit is no exception to this rule. While my outfit is appropriate for the cold weather we've been having recently, these white jeans may be the least practical thing I have ever worn especially when you are very clumsy and messy like myself!

What I am wearing - Missguided Camel Coat, H & M Jumper, Topshop Jeans, H & M rings and Adidas Superstar's

Despite the riskiness of wearing white jeans, I can't help but wear them anyway as I just adore the way they look. Though I wouldn't complain if anyone had any tips on keeping white jeans clean!

Eleanor xx