Bargain Midi Dress

So as I've mentioned before, as a student, I am trying to fuel my shopping addiction on a serious budget. Because I can't face the idea of kicking my addiction altogether I am forever on the lookout for a bargain. Yesterday I definitely found one in Catch in Manor Mills Maynooth. I found this fab neon pink, orange and black midi dress for €10! Now I wasn't really sure if I could pull off the midi dress, as I'm quite tall and thin I thought I might resemble Olive Oil, Popeye's wife, not the condiment! I thought for €10 now was my chance to see if I could pull off the look. Admittedly it's not exactly "midi" on me, it just hits my knees, but I really like the length. I was initially sceptical of the fabric as it was quite thin and I was afriad it would cling to all the wrong places but after trying it on, I can safely say it is very flattering and I don't feel every lump and bump is on show! I origianlly bought this as a "going out" dress but I've since tried it on with white "converse" style high tops and loved the look. I think I will get lots of wear out of this forboth day and night. Catch had a whole rack of midi dresses for €10 and I have a feeling I'll be back stocking up on more very soon!

Seventeen "Instant Glow" Shimmer Brick

Now I don't know much about bronzers, I tend to stick to blusher and embrace my pale Irish skin. The furthest I usually go with a bronzer is a quick sweep of Rimmel's Sun Shimmer in the light matte shade if I feel my face is looking very pale. However, after seeing many bloggers raving about various different bronzers they use, I began to feel I may be mssing out on something here so went on a search for a cheap, shimmery, subtle bronzer - not an easy task mind you! I think of all things, good bronzers are quite difficult to find in pharmacies. Maybe it's because I'm quite pale so it's difficult to get a colour to suit. Anyway, I finally settled on Seventeen's "Instant Glow" Shimmer Brick in the colour "Pink Bronze". I liked the colour of it when I swatched it on my hand and for €6.99, I couldn't leave it go!

Now if you want shimmer, this is for you! It's very, very shimmery, well to me it is anyway. I'm not usually one for shimmer, but I thought I should add some to my make up collection for summer. This is perfect for what I wanted it for - a subtle glow for summer.

The colour is very subtle. So for those looking for a deeper glow, this may not be for you, however there is another colour available which I think is called "Golden Bronze", which I felt was probably a bit too dark for me. The brick is made up of four different shades - two more bronze shades and two pinker shades. The pinky shades, along with the shimmer give a more glowy effect rather than a tanned look, which I like. I aim my brush for the two bronze shades and the darker pink when I'm applying it and I think that this swept along my cheekbones and temples followed by a subtle blush (I've been mostly using MAC's "Dame") gives me the perfect summer glow.

Ok, it's probably not the greatest quality bronzer and I could probably get something far superior in a high end brand, but for €6.99 you can't go wrong and it's certainly doing the job of giving a subtle summer glow to an absolute bronzer novice like me.

Outfit of the night

On Saturday night last week my boyfriend and I went out for his brother's going away party. Here's the outfit I wore:

Apologies, photo could be better but our house is so tiny it's so difficult to get a good spot to take a picture. Must think to take pictures earlier in the daylight in future!

Anyway, what I'm wearing:

 





Dress: I'm not sure where I got it, I'm nearly sure it was one of the smaller boutiques like Catch, etc, but it's from the brand Evita, it's pink with black velour spots, a black bow around the waist and it has a skater skirt, so it's really flattering, especially after Christmas!

Close up of the polka dots on the skirt

Jacket: I got from Only. I love it! It's a kind of t shirt material, it has 3/4 length sleeves and really cool studs on the lapels.



Studded lapels

Tights: Pennys

 

Boots: From Forever 21. Saving the best until last. These boots started at €32.99 (I think!), then reduced to €17.99, UNTIL I got to the till when I was charged €8.99! Greatest bargain ever! They black ankle boots with a glittery platform and heel.

The bargain boots

 

VO5 Miracle Concentrate Argan Oil Treatment

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while because being the clumsy person that I am, I fell and stood on my laptop. Needless to say it didn't survive. But for Christmas I got a shiny new laptop and am ready to blog again.

Ok, so something I have been loving lately and dying to blog about is VO5 Miracle Concentrate Intensive Leave in Treatment. This is an Argan Oil treatment which claims to reduce frizz, soften hair, add shine and reduce damage from blow drying.

My, almost finished, bottle of VO5 Miracle Concentrate

I had heard such great things about Argan Oil, but with most bottles costing about €20 I was reluctant to try it. I then came across this little gem which cost about €5 in Boots. The more expensive bottles may have been better value conatining more product since this little bottle is only 50 ml, however, since I didn't know how much I'd like it, there was no point splashing out on a big bottle.

This can be applied to wet or dry hair and comes with a dropper which is great to control the amount of the oil used. I have very long, thick, dry, curly hair and so I used 3-4 droppers to cover my hair and work it in from about the top of the ears down, I never really put any at the roots to avoid them looking greasy. I then brush it through to make sure it is evenly distributed. The first time I used it, I used it on my wet hair and just let it dry naturally. I was so impressed. As I mentioned my hair is very curly and often frizzy, after applying this, my hair was so much more relaxed, frizz was almost eliminated and I could leave my hair down for the day without adding any extra product. Pretty sure that was a first for me!

I use about 3-4 of these droppers on my dry, thick, almost waist length har

It did such a good job on my hair dried naturally, I decided to attempt to blow dry. I never blow dry my hair. It is too thick and frizzy. It never goes straight, it just gets big and fuzzy and awful, despite what brush, serum or anything else I use. So the fact that I coud put this in my hair, blow dry it and the result being, soft, tame, style hair that I didn't need to touch with a hair dryer or extra product means this product is nothing less than a miracle worker.

I rarely stay loyal to hair products because my hair is so difficult. This however is becoming a permanent fixture. I use it everytime I wash my hair and also apply it almost everyday when I brush it to keep my hair shiny and manageable (this probably will not work for everyone but I have very, very dry hair). Another huge bonus is its cheap! I'm nearly finished this bottle and I will definitely be repurchasing.