2012 Golden Globes - The Best and the Worst

So it’s the start of the awards season and it was kicked off last night by the return of the Golden Globes.  As much as I despise Monday mornings (especially ones as cold and unbearable as this one) I jumped out of bed eager to get into work* and see what everyone was wearing this year.  (* I didn’t, clearly)

I got into work and scoured all the fashion websites, looking through all the best and worst dressed articles and I have to say I’m not exactly complying with the fashion etiquette this year.  There are a few dresses that people think are amazing that I thought were horrific.  I like that there were quite a few people bucking the trend and going for weird and wonderful outfits, better than the bog standard embellished full length black/red dresses that have been overdone on the red carpet of late.

Sorry i’m being such a total girl about this, but I love the awards ceremonies just for the fashion, so now I am going to do my best dressed and my worst dressed lists – just indulge me J

Best Dressed

1^st Place – Mila Kunis

Mila wins my best dressed of the night award in her full length black Dior number.  Golden girl Mila didn’t really need much help to look beautiful as she is stunning anyway, and I know I just said I didn’t approve of the boring full length black dress but within minutes of me looking at the news reports Mila made me eat my own words.  I love the layering of the skirt, I love the nude/black mesh detailing of the top and the one strap is perfect for her, accentuating her neck without leaving her looking broad shouldered.  The jewellery is a bit blingy but still relatively understated (I think it was a good move not wearing any bracelets) and best of all, this dress shows off her skin to perfection – look at it!  She has a perfect complexion, not a bruise/freckle/spot in sight.  It’s not often I get skin envy but Mila has done it to me - Absolutely beautiful.

2^nd Place – Angelina Jolie

Angelina is the epitome of old school Hollywood glamour in this dress.  Never one to be too ‘revealing’, she manages to dress perfectly for her age as well as look absolutely stunning.  This oyster and deep red Atelier Versace dress is beautiful anyway, but when matched with Angelina’s incredible bone structure and matching scarlett lipstick and clutch, the whole outfit comes together perfectly.  Amazing that with her naturally pale skin tone the colour doesn’t make her look washed out, instead it gives her skin an incredibly dewy glow -  even the questionable tattoos don’t ruin this dress!

3^rd Place – Jessica Biel

Another fantastic outfit for me was the beautiful Ellie Saab gown worn by Jessica Biel.  I have never really been a fan of Jessica’s before (having never seen her look remarkable in an outfit) but the minute I saw her in this dress I did a complete u turn.  The dress is a bit ‘bridal’, but considering the rumours surrounding her and long time beau Justin Timberlake making it official and getting engaged this week, you can forgive her for that.  The lace and pearl detailing on the dress is very elegant and the dress obviously looks vintage because of this.  I love the scallop hem on the split in the skirt and the split shows just enough leg without it being too ‘gash revealing’.  The colour of her hair against the dress is perfect, any darker and it would be too brash, any lighter and could easily look to wishy washy.  Although this dress is beautiful from any angle, the back is the best part.  With a deep cut exposing most of her back the chain draped around the edge is a beautiful touch and look so elegant – it’s just a shame that you can see her knickers through the dress, but we’ll pretend we haven’t seen that bit...

Worst Dressed

1^st Place – Sarah Michelle Gellar

Unfortunately, Sarah gets the gong for the worst dressed of the whole evening.  It’s a shame, as when dressed right she is lovely, but there was so much wrong with this whole look.  First up, the tie dye dress – this was never going to be acceptable anywhere, let alone on the red carpet when everyone else is dressed so amazingly.  Next, the dress absolutely swamps her.  You can see from her shoulders that she has a small frame, yet the bottom of the dress looks like it could fit about 5 other people in it.  I am all for epically puffy dresses in the right situation, but teamed with the pattern this dress is just far too fussy.  Team this outfit with the Croydon facelift ponytail and the whole look is just wrong.  It’s a shame as well, as I don’t really mind Sarah, but there is just no denying this dress is awful.

2^nd Place – Natalie Portman

This is another unfortunate one.  It’s a shame, because I do like Natalie Portman and there have been some pictures of her on the red carpet that I have totally raved over, but this year was just a big fashion miss.  I don’t like the mix of the red and pink on this Lanvin dress, the top of it looks too big for her and the bit that sticks out on the side just brings nothing to the dress.  It’s not horrific but it doesn’t do her any favours.  The pink also clashes horribly with the red carpet, her hair just looks tied back like she’s popping to the shops, and from what I can see of those shoes, they don’t look too great either.  This picture makes me sad L

3^rd Place – Kate Winslet

This is the one that hurts the most.  I have LOVED Kate Winslet ever since I saw her gob in Cal’s face in Titanic.  She normally does awards ceremonies so well, as she should because she normally picks up one or two.  This outfit is just awful though.  It’s one step away from being appropriate for a frumpy 50 year old womans work attire (imagine the white skirt was trousters) and that is not her normal look at all.  The sleeves on the top are totally 1996, the top look too small for her.  The dress looks like it’s straining over her curves at the front, and it’s just plain and boring.  Love the hair, but unfortunately even that can’t save this outfit L

There weren't TOO many horrific outfits on display last night, so the majority of the celebs did well.  What outfits did you love/loathe?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on the fashion last night, but for now i'll leave you with some other outfits I loved... enjoy!

Claire Danes looking super slim in J.Mendel



Helen Mirren looked stunning in dark blue Badgley Mischa gown

Props to Reese Witherspoon just for the beautiful hair and
super sunkissed tan... The Zac Posen dress isn't bad either!

Dianna Aragon looked absolutely beautiful
in this Giles dress



Evan Rachel in peacock printed Gucci



Polish Me Up

Once again I went out on lunch and although I don't have a pot to piss in, decided that I was going to buy myself some nail varnish. 

I have seen some awesome nail art banging around recently, so I am going to attempt a certain design I have seen tonight.  I have watched a few online tutorials and it seems SO EASY, so I am going to have confidence in myself and give it a whirl.  I'm not going to disclose what the design is at this moment in time, i'll wait and see if I pull it off first because if I royally f*ck it up then i'll just look like a twat.

Anyway, so I went out on lunch and bought a bottle of white nail varnish (I need this for the base for the nail art).  Nothing exciting, just bog standard No 17 white lasting finish nail varnish.

While I was in the shop I walked past the Barry M counter.  I always have a look at their polishes as they have awesome colours, but I am not really a fan of the texture and coverage of Barry M - just me?  I find the polish chips so badly on me and it's just not even worth me wasting my time painting them.  The lights and the bright colours and the glitter all went to my head though, because at the moment Barry M have a Limited Edition polish out called Limited Edition Effects in Silver Glitter.  As you can probably tell, the polish is just silver glitter, but there was something about it that made me want to buy it.  I can't resist a bit of sparkle (as much as that makes me sound like Liza Minelli).  I hot footed it back to the office and because I am impatient and childlike, I whacked it over the top of the nail varnish I already had on.

God please excuse the state of my fingers, no prep!

Bear in mind the pictures were hastily taken at my desk, as was the painting of the polish, so you'll have to forgive me for the shoddy visuals.  The polish I have on this hand is just 1 coat, so I am pretty impressed with it.  I have a thing about wearing coloured nail polish whenever I want, regardless of the time of year.  It's Christmas?  I'll wear coral polish then.  Christmas is over?  Time for me to bust out the glitter!  Hence why it's the 3rd Jan, everyone is suicidal yet I am trying to cheer my boss up by painting my nails like disco balls and waving them around in front of him as I speak.

Anyway, at £3.99 for the bottle it's good value, especially as it's Limited Edition.  I don't really understand the 'Effects' part of the name as it's not as effect it's just... glitter.  Anyway, go buy it, but only if you don't already have a silver glitter polish.  If you do and you buy it anyway, you are a fool like me.

P.S Erm why is it I am the only person in the world that still cannot track down any of the OPI Muppets collection?  I really want the Kermit green glitter and the Miss Piggy red one - I didn't realise that all of the glitter polishes in this collection were similar to Rainbow Connection, in that all the glitter is slightly different sizes and not just all tiny equal size pieces.  That's made me want it even more, so obviously that means as long as I think about it it won't be for sale anywhere.  FML.

If you know of anywhere in London that sells OPI Muppets and hasn't sold out, hit me up biznitches!

P.S Hi Toby :)

All The Single Ladies, Put Your Hands Up...

There are lots of ‘holidays’ that are celebrated throughout the year.  Christmas and New Year obviously, and St Patricks Day for all the alcoholics.  St George’s Day for the people that like a bit of patriotism, Easter for the religious types (and the people that like chocolate), Valentine’s Day for all the couples...

Valentine’s Day is nice when you are in a relationship, but I do think it’s a bit of a waste of time.  The restaurants all do set menus and put their prices up so you need to take out a loan just to eat there.  You HAVE to buy your boyfriend a stupid present because there is literally no Valentine’s day related product in the WORLD that a boy would ever want.  Arguments start because the boy has been rubbish with getting a good Valentine’s day present or arranging for you to do something nice.  Girlfriends feel let down by their boyfriends because they don’t want to go mental and celebrate it.  It’s nice, but it’s just HASSLE. 

Last year was the first time in 8 years I had been single on Valentine’s Day.  I wasn’t sure what my plans were going to be at the start of the year, but I ended up going to my friends house and having dinner with her and some of the other single girls and do you know what?  It was one of the best Valentines Day’s I had ever had.  We bought each other cards and stupid little presents – it was relaxed, and I spent it with the people I do love the most in the whole world, and that is what Valentine’s Day should be about.  It SHOULDN’T be about who got the biggest bunch of flowers delivered to the office, or how many different fridge magnets your mug boyfriend bought you declaring his undying love.

This brings me onto today, National Singles Day.  I bet you didn’t even know it was National Singles Day did you?  That’s what the problem is here, we have all these holidays but nothing to celebrate the fact people are alone and HAPPY ABOUT IT.  If you are currently single and enjoying yourself, then this is something to be celebrated (and n.b. I mean REALLY enjoying yourself, not enjoying yourself with 5 different men at one time).  This criteria includes:  Going out and having a good time with your friends, enjoying your life, being yourself regardless of what anyone thinks, and not having to worry about anyone apart from yourself.  Doing things you want to do FOR YOU.  These are all things you can’t do that well when you are in a relationship, but they are all things that should be celebrated and encouraged!  3 of my best friends are all single (Charlie, Jo and Hollie in case any of you boys have been eyeing them up on here!!!), so we see each other a lot – I am sure if you’ve read my previous blog posts you’ll know what sort of year I had in 2011, and this is all because of them and nothing to do with boyyys.  I don’t want to be in a relationship right now, I want to be on my own.  All the couples get to swan around all smug on Valentines Day, buying each other pink cards and basically making me want to vom into my handbag.  But all the single people don’t get to walk around all smug today, groping strangers crotches and buying themselves presents because they love themselves more than they could love any boy.  I am annoyed about this.  I love the fact I am single and I do want to let everyone know I am happy about it. 

I am aware that this post could look a bit manic, and a bit like I am bitter about being single but I promise you it’s the total opposite.  When my friends and I tweet each other, we can often be seen using the hashtag #LOL – this stands for Love Our Lives, and I have said that so much within the last year that even I am over that phrase by now, but it’s the truth.  For the first time since I can remember, I do 100% love my life and it’s nothing to do with a boy.  I am not totally anti-men, if I met someone I liked and we got together I would probably write a blog post about the first steps in a relationship and how much I am loving life etc, but I want to celebrate today because you can’t be happy with someone else unless you are truly happy with yourself, and I am HAPPY.  A few people on Twitter today commented about National Singles Day but said it was a bit depressing – when I found out it was National Singles Day I nearly shat myself with excitement!

Don’t get me wrong, I will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with Charlie, Jo and Hollie, just not in the most conventional way.  Restaurants are normally ones to be avoided for singletons on this night because everyone in them is IN LOVE and practically dry humping each other between their main course and dessert, but this year we thought we’d beat them at their own game.  We have booked a table in an amazing restaurant near us called Sheesh.  We plan to eat, shout, scream, laugh and eye up any potential male specimens in the restaurant, regardless of whether they are with their girlfriends or not.  We want to have fun and a good time, and I guarantee half of the girls in the place with their boyfriends will look at our table, see how much fun we are having and be jealous.  Do you know why will be doing this on Valentine’s Day?  Because we can.  We don’t have any obligations to a boy, we don’t HAVE to go to Clinton Cards and buy a load of sh*t just so we fit in with everyone else and have participated in Valentine’s Day.  We are doing this because we want to, not because we have to and because we know like everything else we do, it’ll be full of bants.

Due to it now being National Singles Day, I am calling on all the happy singletons out there to stand up and celebrate.  Buy yourself a massive bar of chocolate on the way home and eat it all to yourself, and SMILE because you have no one you have to share it with.  Go home and watch the sort of chick flick a boy would hate but you love, because you don’t have to take anyone else’s feelings into consideration.  Do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it.  Today is our day, and although every day for a singleton is a day of freedom, TODAY is the day WE get to be smug about it.

*smugface*

To my lovely single ladies... who knew being single could be this much fun?

Havva Mustafa Luxury Footwear

Oh I love starting the day with a sneak preview of some beautiful shoes!

Havva Mustafa Shoes is a luxury footwear brand, run by the talented and highly skilled artisan Havva Mustafa.  Specialising in beautiful handmade Italian leather pumps, sandals, heels and winter boots, intricate designs and stand out styles single the brand out from others.  I’ve attached some beautiful pictures below of some of the styles from previous collections, and I was lucky enough for Havva to send me through some sneak peaks of the Spring/Summer collection.  The shoes are absolutely beautiful, and you can see the effort that has gone into creating them.  The accompanying drawings are works of art on their own!

The Autumn Winter collection focused on heels and winter boots, and the Spring/Summer collection is focusing more on sandals (obviously) and summer shoes.  The boots are just as amazing, perfect for splashing around in puddles like your in a Dior advert!

I've just placed an order for a pair of the beautiful glittery pumps in this up-coming collection, and they will be available from mid-feb.  As soon as I receive a press pack for the Spring/Summer collection i’ll blog it, but for now have a look at the best of the previous collection and look at my lovely new pumps that will be winging their way to me shortly:

You can check out Havva’s website HERE, and Havva’s styles are also sold in Wolf and Badger in Notting Hill – check their website out HERE.

xx

Delayed Christmas Beauty Haul!

Happy New Year everyone!

I know I am a bit late with my beauty Christmas haul, but I didn’t want my post to be lost in a sea of Christmas present posts & I was having far too much fun over Christmas and New Year to even attempt to write this – hence now I am back at work and writing it :/

I didn’t get too much in the way of beauty pieces this year, I mainly asked for money for my upcoming holiday TO VEGAS!!!!  I also got a new camera to take with me so the rest were just bits and bobs.

To start off, my sister did me proud with the presents this year.  As well as a few books she made me a beauty box of all different little bits inside and I loved it!  I have swatched the polishes, but the box in total contained the following:

1x Clarins Satin Smooth Body Lotion

1x Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream

1x Clarins Beauty Flash Balm

1x Clarins One Step Gentle Exfoliating Cleanser

1x Clarins Mascara

1x Clarins Lipstick

1x OPI Polish in ‘Who The Shrek Are You’

1x OPI Polish in ‘Servin’ Up Sparkle’

1x OPI Polish in ‘Bullish on OPI’

1x W7 Polish in ‘Gold Dazzle’

1x W7 Polish in ‘Teal’

1x W7 Polish in ‘Metallic Mercury’

1x Models Own Polish in ‘Lemon Meringue’

1x Nail Art Gems

1x Nail Glue

1x Set of miniature nail files

1x Large nail file

1x Manicure Stick

As you can see it was quite a haul in this box and I really liked it.  I haven’t had a chance to properly try all the Clarins products yet, but I’ve had a go of some of them.  The exfoliator smells absolutely beautiful and I scrubbed the back of my hand with it a little bit and it felt so smooth afterwards – not the best advert for it but i’ll have a go and let you know my thoughts with it properly.  The Hand and Nail treatment cream I have used, and it left my hands feeling really soft.  My nails are really weak and tend to flake because I bit them for years and then suddenly stopped and have painted them literally every day since.  The treatment cream makes your hands soft and softens your cuticles but also claims to strengthen your nails too – I have used it a little bit as I hardly ever use hand cream and it is good, but I haven’t had the bottle to leave my nails unpainted yet and whacked some of this on – I think i’ll have to wait until I am ill and not planning on leaving the house for a couple of days to try that one!

I needed a new mascara as I have been using the False Lash Effect mascara from Max Factor for ages so wanted to try a new one.  The one I got in my box was ‘Wonder Perfect’ mascara.  When I initially opened it it seemed really thick and gloopy, and that made me a bit paranoid as there is nothing worse than mascara that clogs up your eyelashes and makes it look like you only have about 5.  I tried it though and I liked the results – I used eyelash curlers as although I have long eyelashes they aren’t very curly, but i’ve attached a before and after picture so you can see the difference!

Before

After

I quite like the colour of the lipstick too.  I normally wear deep red lipsticks when I go out but I like this one as although it’s a nice strong colour, it’s not TOO in your face – this is perfect for me if I am going out after work and I want to wear a nice lip colour but don’t want it to be too in your face for the office.  I did half and half so you can see the colour variation between my natural lip colour and the lipstick.  All in all nice work from my sister me thinks!

Next up, we have the polishes...

I was really impressed with the ‘Who The Shrek Are You’ polish.  Initially I didn’t think I was that keen on the colour and thought it was the sort of polish that would make your nails look like they had some fungal infection, but once it was on I was really impressed.  In the picture I have 2 coats, and as you can see it’s a nice thick block colour and it’s not as fungus looking as I initially thought.  Will definitely be busting this out in Spring!

I love ‘Servin’ Up Sparkle’ – My sister said she had been trying to track down Rainbow Connection from the Muppets OPI Collection for me but it’s sold out everywhere.  My friend Emma is a beautician had it so I borrowed some off her for my Xmas Eve nails but I still can’t find my own bottle anywhere, which is really annoying as I want it desperately!  Anyway, I love Rainbow Connection because as well as multi coloured glitter, I love the different size chunks within the polish.  Although Servin’ Up Sparkle is all silver, this has the same multi sized chunks within – as you can see from my nails I like the effect it has, I find normal glitter polishes look too ‘neat’ whereas the different sizes in this one give it a bit more of an edge!  I do like a nice bit of silver glitty over a bold colour underneath too, and I think it goes perfectly with the Shrek polish!

‘Bullish on OPI’ is a standard red polish.  I like red nails but I don’t like really deep reds, reminds me a bit too much of Bett Lynch.  The reds I tend to go for have a bit of an underlying tone of pink in them, and luckily for me this one has a pinky base tone.  This layering in the picture is only 1 coat, so you can see how thick and bold the colour is.  One more coat might have made it a deeper red, but I liked it like this – minimum effort, maximum colour!

Before the Muppets collection came out I hadn’t really tried OPI polishes, and i’m not even sure why.  I think I had borrowed one off Emma before and it was a bit gloopy and even after I assumed it had dried, the polish kept denting like it was really thick and wouldn’t set and that put me off.  The Shrek polish has impressed me greatly, and you all know how much I love Rainbow Connection  - I think on payday I am going to go and have a OPI splurge, they have some lovely colours and I love the whole Muppets collection so I think that might be my first port of call.

The W7 polishes were also a nice surprise for me.  I hadn’t used W7 Cosmetics before, although if I remember rightly they were at the BNTM Live event and I checked out some of their eyeshadow compacts.  I assumed W7 were a bit of a knock off OPI so wasn’t sure how the varnishes were going on come out, but I really liked them all.  The gold one is perfect if you are feeling a bit festive, and although the blue isn’t really my colour I think that would be lovely on your toes on holiday, nice deep sea blue colour.  The browny purple is nice as it has an underlying glitter tone in it – it’s very apparent in the picture but it’s not as in your face sparkly in real life, so it’s a little bit of sass on the quiet when you are at work J

Last but not least, my mum surprised me with the Soap and Glory Big Splendour set.  Every year at Christmas my sister and I wait with baited breath for the last Better Than Half Price offer from Boots because it’s always the biggest Soap and Glory set they do.  I remember the year it was the Hat Box, I searched all over Canary Wharf for it and they had sold out, so hot footed it to Lakeside after work and managed to snag the last 2 – This year wasn’t a disappointment!  I thought my mum had just bought it for my sister so this was a lovely surprise on Xmas morning.  The bottles in this set are HUGE, and there are so many different products in it.  Body butter, exfoliator, face wash, face wipes, hand cream, foot cream, shower gel, bubble bath.  I will take great pleasure in trying all this out, but haven’t had a chance yet as I haven’t had the luxury of having long relaxing baths as i’ve been so busy and normally have somewhere to be!  When I try them all I’’ll do a review...

Anyway, that was my Xmas beauty haul.  What did you all get for Xmas?  Any new beauty products you are really impressed with?  I am always on the look out to try and review new things, so if you have anything good that you think i’d enjoy feel free to let me know J