Thursday 30 October 2014

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL - My Top 6 - D.I.Y. Halloween Costume Ideas (Part Two)


Hi everyone, so as I explained yesterday, I wanted to show you my 6 top Diy Halloween costume ideas, but as it turned out to be an extra long post with a load of pictures, I thought it best to split it in to 2 separate posts.  All these costume ideas I've come up with, are purely to give you inspiration and simple ways to create quick last minute Halloween outfits.  I hope you find them useful :-)

Little Red Riding Hood: As with some of the costume ideas from yesterdays post, this one is super quick and easy.  Pick out a simple cute dress, add some nice shoes, then all you need to finish it off is a red cape and a small basket.  You can often buy capes in shops around halloween, that are red riding hood capes or devil capes, my friend got one a few years ago for only a couple of pounds.  Or if your sewing capabilities are up to it (or your mum/sister/aunt etc), you can make one.


I found a great tutorial here that I think anyone could manage to do.  If you're like me and pre-plan these kind of things, you can often find little baskets in shops around Easter time too!  To make the costume a little more vamp and sexy; wear a short black dress underneath the cape, boots and a glossy red lipstick :-)


The Classic Witch:  Ok so this look has been done over and over, but it's still a great one, one of my favourites and always looks good.  You can pick up witch hats from pretty much anywhere at Halloween and sometimes you can get away with just that for accessories.  But if you want to go the whole hog and add a few more, try looking for some fun stripy tights, a broom and a silver pentagram necklace.  If you can't find a broom in any shops, you can even find tutorials online to make these too.


Add all these accessories to a black dress, black top and leather-look leggings or. . .

Why not make a tattered skirt like this one instead, using lengths of tulle, netting or lace.  You can make it as long or as short as you like and there's no sewing involved either :-)


I found this great witchy makeup tutorial on YouTube. . .



. . .And these brilliant dark Halloween eye and lip looks on Pinterest.


The Zombie/Ghost Bride:  I just love this one, it's such a fun idea.  I was actually amazed while looking through ebay, just how cheaply you can buy a wedding dress, they're listed for as little as 99p in auctions and some can even be bought outright for only about £5!  You can usually find old second hand dresses and veils very cheap in charity shops too.  Pair with white shoes, white lace gloves and a black rose bouquet to create a brilliant costume.



And lastly try out one of these makeup tutorials by Grav3YardGirl or Jordan Mattice, to really complete the look.

These ideas are really simple to recreate and can be easily made up from items and clothing you already own.  Not only will it save you money by not buying a ready-made costume, it's also a great feeling knowing you made it yourself!

Finally, here's a few VERY old pictures of me wearing costumes that I've come up with in the past (you're welcome to laugh)!




There are tones of ideas on Google Images, Pinterest and many other places online, and within 5 minutes of scrolling through you can easily find loads of inspiration for your costumes.  Why not have a go at some of these ideas and then send me some photos of your finished outfit to my Twitter @DaniJ72.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with :-)
Until next time have a very 

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Wednesday 29 October 2014

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL - My Top 6 - D.I.Y. Halloween Costume Ideas (Part One)


I LOVE Halloween, it's my most favourite holiday of the year, even better than Christmas, I love the spooky atmosphere, the scary movies, the treats but most of all, I LOVE to dress up in fancy costumes.  I never understand people they say they're not that bothered about dressing up for Halloween, I mean just why?!  It's just SO much fun and you can be so creative with it.  I love coming up with costume ideas, making up costumes from scratch and making the accessories too if I can.  To me, it's just one of the most fun things in life!


So on that note, I decided to show you some of my most favourite costume ideas, and tell you a few easy ways to re-create them, to give you some last minutes inspiration for your Halloween costumes.
I've also included some amazing makeup tutorials that I've found on YouTube.  I am next to useless at makeup tutorials but these lovely ladies seem to have it covered and the finished looks are really amazing as well as quite easy to follow.

Another note I will add before we begin, is to say that you can usually find a good range of accessories at local shops right from early in October.  Try Claire's Accessories, Asda George, Tesco, Wilkinsons and Poundland is really great too.  As well as charity shops and thrift stores.  You can also try other pound shops or dollar stores and of course good old ebay!  I have separated these ideas into two posts as I didn't want to bombarded you with a load all in one go (plus there's rather a lot of pictures too!!)  So let's begin :-)


The Cat: I think this is such a cool look, and you only need a few simple accessories to pull it off.  Here I've shown a plain long sleeve top but you could easily wear a more skimpy, sparkly or lacey top depending on the type of look you want.  Wear with leather trousers, black skinny jeans, leggings or if you're feeling really daring, just tights!!  You can add cat ears (homemade or bought), a tail and some boots or high heels to add to the feminine feline look and don't forget the false lashes!  Of course the outfit will really come together with the added makeup, try using a very fine felt liner for drawing on the whiskers!

Click here for an easy tutorial on how to make a cat ear headband

And click here to see how to do a lovely feline makeup look.


The Zombie/Dead School Girl: This one is easy peasy, all you need is a basic white shirt, short skirt (doesn't have to be tartan), white socks or tights and a blazer or cardigan.  Think girl group Tatu or Gossip Girl.


Try adding smart black patent shoes or even flat school shoes.  Don't forget a tie, and for a little extra put your hair up in pigtails with ribbons too.  Again, for this look, the makeup will be the most effective part.  Click on this tutorial for a brilliant dead/zombie makeup look.


If you're using older or charity shop clothes for this costume, try cutting them about a bit to make them look raggy, add fake blood and rub black or grey eyeshadow in places to look like dirt too.


Fallen Angel: This is one of my favourite looks and the one I'm going with for my party costume this year :-)
By wearing any cute little black dress, this is also a really easy outfit.  Add a pair of lacey black tights or knee-high socks and boots, and black lace gloves for an edgy look.  I really love the idea of black nails and black lips too, to make it really dark and Halloweeny!  Of course you'll need some black angel wings and a halo too, you can get these from most fancy dress shops and ebay.  I just love this gorgeous makeup tutorial by
TanyBurr, such beautiful dark purple shades and the lips are amazing!


Have a look at these images I found too, these purple lips are a wonderful dark gothic purple, perfect for Halloween


And I just thought this ready-made fallen angel costume was so cute, it was my inspiration for the idea.


You could also add a large gothic cross necklace or several layers of long necklaces to finish off the look.


I hope you liked these ideas, I think they're ideal for a quick cheap costume.  With a little creativity and inspiration you can't go far wrong :-)

Come back tomorrow for part two of my Diy Halloween costume ideas for 3 more great outfits.  Until Next Time Stay Happy

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All pictures other than the main outfit images, are taken from Google images or Pinterest.

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Review - Invisibobble Hair-bands

Hi everyone, another little review for you today, the Invisibobble hair-bands.


On a daily basis I usually always have my hair up in a ponytail and I have done for many years, and it shocks me to think just how many hair-bands and bobbles I've managed to get through in that time.  I am always having to buy new ones and you can guarantee within 2 days of using one (sometimes less) it will snap and break.


I've tried thin ones, thick ones, extra stretchy ones and toweling ones but no matter what, they never last and of course if they do manage to last more than a few days of use, they get greasy or dirty and have to be thrown out anyway.  So, when I saw Vanessa's review from CircleOfChaos a couple of months ago for the Invisibobble (which I'd never heard of before), I went straight on to Amazon and ordered a box, I chose the clear but there are several other colours available and you can now buy them in Boots too.


I was amazed when the packaged arrived, it was huge compared to the little box of bobbles.  I didn't expect the Invisibobbles to be quite that small but why they sent them in that big package I'll never know, it was even partly open one end, so I'm surprised the little box hadn't fallen out already!


The Invisibobbles claim to be long lasting, strong and help to avoid headaches by not pulling at the hair like regular hair bands do.  It also says they are suitable for all hair types, which of course I can't comment on and that they're traceless, although I wouldn't exactly agree with that one.



These actual bobbles are clear, very light weight and extremely stretchy, I mean I actually really stretched one out when I first got them to see how far it would comfortably go and to see if it felt strong and it went to quite a size.



As you can see in these pictures, when the coil of the bobble goes around the hair, it creates a really nice texture, but traceless they are not.  Also as I mentioned, you can buy other colours but not ones that would match a hair colour, which I think would've been a good idea.

I have been using these now (well just one of the 3 supplied so far actually) for over 3 weeks, every day, sometimes with my hair in a ponytail and other times with my hair in a bun and over all, I can honestly say, I think they're brilliant.  I've definitely felt an improvement in not having so many headaches due to a hair band pulling tight and I love the way they're so easy to keep clean too, I just wash them in my hands with a little shampoo in the shower when I wash my hair!
they took a bit of getting used to at first as they feel kind of loose to start with, but once you get used to them (and I always rap mine round the hair 3 times too), then they do feel more secure.  Normally, I would be re-doing my ponytail 3 or 4 times a day because of the elastic hair-band gradually slipping out but once you put these in, they stay in till bed time! 



When I take the bobble out at night it tends to look a little like this. . .


. . .But by the morning it pretty much goes back in to it's normal shape.


I also find the best way to take them out, is too unwind it rather than just pulling it or it does hurt a bit, also I find they don't work to kindly with wet or damp hair either, so I have still been having to use my regular hair-bands here and there.
Generally I can easily say, they are really great, I love using them and I only use my old hair-bands when I have to :-) 
Have you tried these, what are your thought's?
Until Next Time Stay Happy

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Sunday 19 October 2014

My Top 3 - Bloggers


Hi everyone, for today's Top 3, I've decided to pick 3 of my favourite bloggers.  Now these do change and I find new bloggers often but I find myself wanting to read every post that these particular bloggers upload.


I couldn't do a favourite bloggers list without mentioning Heather McKnight from PorcelainBeautyx blog.  I think it's easy to say she is probably my most favourite blogger, not only for the great posts she writes every day but she also seems a really nice, sweet, genuine person.  I had the pleasure of chatting to her recently and she was really lovely to chat to, we even have some unusual things in common!  I love that she writes beauty posts, lifestyle posts and quite deep thought-provoking posts.  For being only 18 she sounds very mature and I think has gained a lot from her first year of blogging, especially more confidence (as have I).  I also find myself constantly writing comments to her posts and every time, she is always kind enough to reply.

I admire her honesty, her opinions and her sense of ambition.  It amazes me how she manages to not only write a good length interesting post every day, hold down a full-time college course (and I know from personal experience just how full on an art course can be) and have a part-time job but also find time to have a social life.  She's even currently co-organizing her own blogger event!  Seriously, well done girl!

If you like posts that are quite personal, quite random at times and are a great mixture of beauty, lifestyle and everything in between, go and have a click on her blog, you're sure to love it too :-)


The next blogger that I've been loving is Khila from MissBudgetBeauty.  Many of you may have already heard of this lovely lady, as she certainly seems popular and not only has she had her amazing blog for over 4 years, she also has a very successful YouTube channel with well over 54 and a half thousand subscribers!! 

I only found her blog over the spring, but I quickly found that I was going back to it regularly and I now really enjoy reading her posts daily.  She has a great mixture of beauty, style and lifestyle posts but I personally love her reviews, especially lip product reviews, being a lipstick/gloss obsessive I love hearing about her latest finds and seeing them in use.  I find her reviews very honest and to the point and I like the way (with lip products) she always does a close up lip swatch as well as a full face photo, so you get a really good idea of how each shade might look.
And of course as she's all about the budget-side of beauty, she mainly uses and reviews drugstore-priced products, which is great for someone like me that is on a permanent low budget when it comes to buying anything beauty related!


For my final pick today, I chose Rebecca-Louise from AutumnLeaves-x blog.  I'm a relatively new follower of hers but again, I've been happily reading every post.  As you can probably tell, I like blogs that have a good random variety of content and cover everything from beauty to fashion to lifestyle, I also really like posts that give tips on all areas of blogging and of course find it really helpful.  Which is one of the main reasons I like Rebecca's blog so much, she constantly gives great advice and tips on things like; the best time to share new posts on social media, how to improve your blog and many other helpful all-round blogging tips.  But I also love to read all her other posts too as there is SO much variety!
Again, I admire her ability to have a full-time job and publish really great posts everyday and I know there are many of you out there that do this too, but it never fails to amaze me how you manage it!

I do have many other blogs that I really enjoy reading too and I will be happy to write about them at some point.  I'd love to know if you liked this post and let me know if you follow these bloggers too :-)
Until Next Time Stay Happy

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All images used have been taken from Google Images

Thursday 16 October 2014

September/October Shopping Haul


 Hi everyone, I've been saving up some pennies lately and then ended up have bit of a spend over the last month and I thought you might like to see what I bought :-)




The first thing I was longing to get my hands on was of course this little makeup bag from the Zoella Beauty range.  As soon as I saw it I thought I must have that and straight away ordered it from Feel Unique, it arrived a couple of days later and I love it :-)  It's a really pretty blossom pink and I love the gold zip, it's made of good thick wipe-clean material too and I think the little label is a really nice added touch.  I've already got it in use holding all my makeup brushes :-)




When I was in my local town a couple of weeks ago, I was amazed to find that Poundland had started selling a really good range of jewellery, equal to the quality of Primark or Peacocks.  So I picked up these two really cute necklaces and pair of crystal hairgrips and I shall definitely have another look in there again soon.


I also wandered in to Wilkinsons and had a look around their makeup section.  I noticed Collection had brought out a new lip colour range and I found these two gems, for only £2.98 each. I got the Cream Puff Lip Cream in Cotton Candy which is a matt vintage pink and the Lock 'N' Load lip gloss in #5 Urban Punk, which is a really gorgeous pearl shimmer and best of all, they work amazingly together.  You can also find both of these at Boots, my only grievance is the Cream Puff only comes in 4 shades and Boots only seem to stock 3 of them!


I am over the moon with this gorgeous satchel bag that I got from ebay last week.  I first saw a very similar one in Raspberry Kisses's recent ebay wish list, that was a pink rucksack version but I decided I liked this style better.  They do this and a couple of other styles in various colour options and various patterns. I love that it has SO many pockets and a really lovely wide faux leather strap, making it very durable for all the tones of stuff I'll end up putting in it.  And of course, it's cream with pink roses on, which is the look I am obsessed with at the moment (if you hadn't noticed already!!)



I have been using a very small, very old brush to apply my powder, for far too long, it's so old I can't even remember where I got it, in fact I think it came with a small set of brushes I given as a gift many years ago.  So I thought it was about time I added a proper brush to my collection and of course, it had to be Real Techniques (because you know how much I love them!!)  I didn't want to just buy a single powder brush at £9 when I could put a few extra pounds and buy this Travel Essentials set from ebay for only £11.95.  With this set you get the lovely big powder brush (which I've already tried out and it works a treat), you could also use it for blusher or bronzer, the small foundation brush, which is also great for concealer as the pointed tip really gets in all the little awkward places like the corner of the eyes and around the nose and lastly the rounded shader brush, which is perfect for an all-over eyeshadow.  All the brushes are so useful and beautifully soft :-)


The last thing I picked up was this adorable little wooden trinket box from The Works stationary shop, I can't believe it was only 99p.  It even has a lovely gold catch on it as well as the heart cut out aperture in the lid.  I'm longing to put my crafty fingers to use on it and try to decide how best to decorate it.  I think it may get either painted or maybe covered with a pretty paper, or fabric. . . hmm we'll see!


So that's it for this little haul, I hope you liked it.  Leave a comment below if you have any of these items already or which one you liked best :-)  Until Next Time Stay Happy

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