Autumnal wishlist

When it comes to shopping I always buy a ton of items, a go big or go home scenario. Since the cooler weather has finally arived I rarely leave the house with out some sort of cashmere knit and a long trench coat on. So this time round I will definitely be investing in some good quality outfits and accessories that will see me throughout all of the colder months.

1. I'm a huge fan of a simple skater dress so, when I saw this dress from River Island I fell in love straight away. It is a two part style dress, with a navy structured skater dress which hits my just above the knee and it features a contrasting striped three quarter sleeve and high neck. Which makes this piece right up my street with the Parisian vibes. I personally would style this dress with some black opaque tights and a pair of faux suade slipper shoes, which makes this outfit simple but flawless. RRP: £35.00 Buy here!

2. Carrying on with the top of the picture is the Stila stay all day brow gel in blonde. After seeing a really interesting review on the dip brow pomade by Anastasia Beverlyhills I knew this would be a great alternative. It also comes with a double ended brush which is a bonus! RRP: £28.00 Buy here!

3. Next up is this beautiful IPad mini cover 'Ovitia' from Ted Baker. If you know me personally you will know my iPad is my life and rarely leaves my side. So, I like to take care of it by keeping it in two separate cases and this lovely floral one would go nicely with my pink bow case also from Ted Baker. RRP: £35.00 Buy here!

4. When it comes to autumn the first thing I look for is a great pair of boots and these are the perfect pair from River island. These Chelsea boots are a staple and they don't have an insanly high heel but an easy platform, so they would be ideal for work. RRP: £38.00 Buy here!

5. These little Ted Baker button studs caught my eye when I was browsing on the John Lewis website a few days ago. They are gold plated studs with the iconic Ted Baker logo around it with a few sparkles in the middle. They are the perfect dainty size to wear everyday but still has that glamourise feeling because of the glitter! RRP: £25.00 Buy here!

6. Last but certainly not least is this beatiful Zara city bag in black, it features a long gold zip and the front and gold hard wear throughout. You have the option of wearing it on the crook of your arm or as a shoulder bag which is handy and its a perfect size to fit all of my bits and bobs inside. RRP: £29.99 Buy here!

That's it when it comes to my wish list, as a shopping addict I will be constantly adding to it each week, so no doubt there will be another one soon! 

Hope you enjoyed! 

Post soon!

Danielle xoxo

A few of my favourite things

It's been quite a while since I updated you on my current favourites, now i won't make this a November favourites as I don't have enough of each specific genre to show you. But I do have a few bits and bobs that I've been loving and have been making me happy!

First being this beautiful turquoise set of teardrop studs that I purchased as a pack of 3 from Topshop they were originally £10.00 but they were on sale for £3.00! Amazing, for such an elegant looking piece.

Next being my new Autumn/Winter scent. The Ghost eclipse fragrance, I have run dry on my sample size so I had to go out and purchase a full size bottle. RRP: £24.99

Lastly being the lipstick I have been adoring over the past few weeks, it is by MAC and it is called All fired up. It is a beautiful true to colour dark fushia pinky and it applies matte (yet moisturising) and amazingly opaque! RRP: £15.50

That's all folks, only a few bits to show you today! Hope you enjoyed today's mini post!

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo

Bath tub hair washing | Routine

When it comes to choosing between showering and washing my hair or a relaxing soak in the bath, the choice can be difficult to make! Especially when it's gotten to the point that 4th day hair isn't acceptable but you need to soak away the day you've had! 

So I have found the best way to combine the two while still being comfortable and able to have silky shiny hair too.

I start off my running some hot water to about half way up the tub and then cool it down to a point where it is still hot to the touch but not so hot that it will scaled you head, like a normal bath would. I then take the best 'hair washing bath product' to plop into the bath and it is the Lush Ickle baby bot bath ballistic(RRP: £1.95 each). It's a great bath bomb that makes you feel like your having a luxurious bath but also won't mess your hair condition up when you dunk the back of your head in. 

You then want to proceed with your normal hair routine with wetting your hair down, shampooing and conditioning ect but then rinsing it in the bath water, and don't worry, your hair won't get greasy even if your rinsing it in the same water each time.

So that's it, pretty simple, I think the best tips I can give you is use the Ickle baby bot bomb and keep your water at about half way point up the bath so when you Submerge your body, the bath water won't go tipping over the edge. Also this is a great bath routine for children too, as the bath bomb is sensitive enough to use on baby's! 

Hope you enjoyed! Ps, DIY coming up next week and it's Christmas themed! Stay tuned!

Danielle xoxo

Inside my beauty essentials bag

No matter the weather or where I am going I always carry my little emergency pack with me, filled with all sorts of beauty goodies that I would feel lost without. I bought this beauty of a bag at a little boutique called Glow and Co which I did mention a few posts ago. It has this beautiful pop art esque design in front of a vibrant pink background! Most defiantly up my street and it was only £11.00, bargain.

First off in my bag of goodies I have some roll on deodorant, for obvious reasons. Nobody likes the smell of bio, now come on! My personal favourite is the tesco's own brand in the blue fresh scent. 

I then have some lady items including tampons and some feminine deodorant and yes us girls have the problem with a wiffy woohoo from time to time so I have no shame in saying I use one! Haha! Girl power!

I also like to keep my miracle hair product with me, the Schwarzkopf BC bonacure colour freeze treatment, this beauty of a serums, it will clear up any frizz immediately with only a pea sized amount! Worth a buy, but a little hard to find I got mine at my local Sally's beauty supply, or you can alternitavly purchase it from a local Schwarzkopf hair dressers! 

Lastly I like to keep a small pocket mirror, for any makeup touch-ups, a few kirby grips, some headphones and the lipstick I am rocking that day. Today I am wearing the Loreal collection exclusive in Liyas pure red!

Hope you enjoyed!

Post soon,

Love Danielle xoxo

The BIG chop | hair transformation

After months of debating weather to chop off my long dead ends, it was finally time to let go of those translucent whispy bits and go for more of a classy do. Not a 'I have long hair but lots of split ends' look. So 2 weeks ago I went in for the trim, my hairdresser only took about an inch off so it wasn't too bad. But then I had myself booked in for ANOTHER cut and a cheeky colour last night and boy do I feel like a whole new woman. I had another 2 inches cut off my hair to around my collar bone and had a treatment put on my short locks, and I love the out come. Even though it's a lot shorter than I'm used to, it gives me more of a sophisticated look and it's so much easier to style! 

So at the end of the day if you know your long hair needs a good chop, take the plunge and trust me, you won't regret it! If it's in really bad shape like mine was, ask for a treatment shot at your hairdressers, it'll cost a little more but it'll give you amazing bounce and shine! 

Wondering who did my miracle work? A lovely lady named Karen who is the shop owner of Glo Tanning, hair and beauty in Bitterne, Southampton. Give them a call on tel:+442381780890. 

Hope you enjoyed my little hair blog post!

Post soon!

Danielle xoxo

Autumnal makeup picks 2014

If you know me in person you will know I like to rock the bold, dark lips and severe winged eyeliner on an everyday basis. So when it comes to choosing my autumn makeup picks, the decision was easy as pie. I have a variety of different products ranging from eyeliner to foundation. 

A pale girl like myself can be quite hard to buy foundation for so when I saw this beauty that I also featured in my recent September favourites posts, not putting it into my top picks would be unthinkable. The Loreal Infallable 24h foundation in porcelain is the perfect cool toned foundation is just right for the pale girl that I am! At an RRP price of £12.99 it's a complete bargain!

To coincide with this lovely foundation my number one concealer is the cult favourite Collection lasting perfection concealer in 01 fair, this heavy duty product really does hide all sins including under eye circles and any nasty spots. It dries to a powder finish, so no need to powder after! And at a price of £4.99 a bottle, it's my go to concealer! 

Moving on to eyebrows I've really been enjoying the MUA lux eyebrow pencil in dark blonde. It's retractable, it's ashy, it's perfect! Everything I need in an eyebrow product, it's a great value at £2.99 so worth picking up!

Eyes! Obviously I had to include some gel eyeliner and my current obsession is the Loreal gel eyeliner in black, it's a 'life proof' eyeliner that doesn't budge for anything! It's at a price of £10.99 a product I only need to buy once every six months! 

Going with the eyes I had to include my all time favourite mascara, which is the Barry M showgirl volume mascara which gives your lashes that fake look without wearing the falsies! £4.99 is the price of perfection!

Lastly I wanted to pop in a lipstick and this berry lip is perfect for this time of year. Avon lipstick in golden wine, the glossy-ness of it really hydrates your lips but doesn't move around like other glossy lip products. It does climb up the pricier scale of lipsticks at £17.99 a pop, but it's so worth it for this multi-tonal beauty!

(Tools are both Real Techniques and can be picked up online or in your local Boots or Superdrug store.)

Hope you all enjoyed my Autumn makeup picks!

Post soon! 

Danielle xoxox 

My top 5 Autumn lipsticks

Since the autumn has finally decided to show, I've been really enjoying a more vampy look to the lips with dark reds, plums and even hot pinks. In my top picks I have a mix of both high street and high end so you have the pick of the lot! So let's get on with these fabulous lippies.

First up is the Boujios Paris rouge edition velvet in the shade 05 Olé Flamingo! It's a bright hot pink that gets many double takes, it is a matte formula but nothing drying. It really leaves your lips feeling like velvet (as the name suggests) and like you have nothing on your lips, so a big thumbs up from me! RRP: £8.00

Next I have one of my all time favourite MAC lipsticks that was featured in my recent September favourites. Milan mode, as I described on that post, it's a beautiful rosy shade with little flex of micro glitter to give it that little extra oomph! RRP: £15.00

One of my much cheaper picks next is the Natural Collection in Cherry red that I did a whole blog post on as its my ultimate red lippy, it's has a lovely moisturising formula but nothing over the top that makes it slip and slide about everywhere and at a retail price of £1.99 it is an absolute bargain!

Suprise, surprise I have another MAC lipstick but don't worry this shade is much different from my Milan Mode it's a much darker matte vampy shade perfect for the dare devils out there like me, this one is called Diva, it's a cult favourite in the beauty community and a must for fall.

Last bus not least I have my Rimmel London Kate Moss lipstick in 107, a Zoella favourite! It's a lovely dark red shade that stays on your lips all day and it's surprisingly lovely smelling. RRP: £7.99

Hope you enjoyed these autumn posts lately.

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo 

September favourites 2014

So September has been and gone, the leaves are slowly starting to fall and the weather is slowly creeping down the thermometer. Since its been colder, I've really enjoyed thicker more luxurious skin care, and autumn tones on my eyes, as you will soon see. So on to my favourites for September. 

I have first off been really enjoying the Sanctuary Spa night concentrate that I featured in my nightly skin care routine, this beautiful thick serum like cream sinks into your skin beautifully and I wake up with hydrated plumped face that makes me feel like all my troubles have melted away, a lovely moisturiser that every gal with normal to dry skin should pick up, and at £2.50 a bottle you really can't go wrong.

Onto hair care, as I only was my hair twice a week, to keep my oils up, I love using the Batiste dry shampoo in Blush in the awkward in between days. It makes my hair feel freshly washed and the White cast just sinks in beautifully to my bleached do and leaves it smelling beautiful and looking healthy and shiny. 

My all time favourite lip transition shade for autumn is this one from MAC it's called Milan Mode and its a Lustre finish which leaves a nice sheer glow with a subtle glitter undertone which makes this rosy lipstick, beautiful! 

Onto another MAC product, I've recently purchased the empty quads which I filled with my existing shades that use especially in the autumn. Crystal Avalanche is a beautiful Snow White shimmer shade, Passionate is a lovely matte rosy colour that goes lovely with the lipstick. Beauty marked is a cult favourite, a dark brown shadow with flex of purple and pink glitter which looks beautiful blended into the outer v. Creme de Violet is a lovely little shimmery purple with muti-tonal glitter thrown in!

Another skin care item I've been really enjoying is a sample pot of the Balance Me cleanse and smooth face balm which is a lovely wake-me-up cleanser with little beads of goodness to get rid of the morning blues, ie morning dry skin! I shall definitely be buying the full size as soon as I run out!

And last but not least I have a beautiful mascara to share, it is the Barry M Showgirl volume mascara. It's a very lengthening and volumising mascara with a natural bristle wand that really grips the lashes and holds the curl for the whole day long, it doesn't seem to smudge on me and it doesn't flake off so it's a win win for me!

Hope you all enjoyed my September favourites!

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo  

Autumn/Winter skin care routine | Night (normal/dry)

After a long tiring day at work, I like to come home and light up a few candles, run my self a nice hot bubble bath, pop my hair up in a bun and try and relax as I do my skin care routine. After an 8 hour day at work, coming home and taking time to remove all my makeup can be a bit of a chore, but I have found the perfect formula that turns this boring old repetitive routine upside down and makes it an enjoyable, relaxing pamper evening, even if it only takes a few minutes. 

I start of by removing the majority of my makeup with the Garnier miceller water with a few Cotten pads, leaving the remover on my closed eyes for a few seconds and then gently wiping it away, circular movements seems to do the trick of getting the bulk removed. I also do the same steps for my face makeup. 

Then I move on to my cleanser, I usually like to splurge on this part to get a high quality high end cleanser. Only I feel this really makes a real difference on how good my skin is, so I have been using the Emma Hardie amazing face cleansing balm just to clean up any makeup I have missed and prep my skin ready for moisturising. 

About once or twice a week I like to treat myself to a face mask, and my absolute favourite is the Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea mud pack (which by the way is only £1 and can be used up to 10 times!) This mask just gets rid of any impurity so have and really gets deep down into my pores and gets all the rubbish out.

Onto moisturising, my number one night time moisturiser is the Sanctuary Spa night concentrate, I usually generously apply this to my face, neck and décolletage to keep my dry spots at bay and to prevent ageing.

As my last step I always finish off with a little bit of Simple eye cream and a smothering of Carmex lip balm all over my lips, got to keep everything moisturised and preventing a dry break out!

Hope you enjoyed my nightly skin care routine for autumn/winter

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo

Casual Autumn | OOTD 🎃

Autumn is finally here, so it's time to get your jumpers out and go get a pumpkin spiced latte. I've started to warm up my outfits by wearing a longer plain tops and rolled up checkered trousers to make look a little more casual. The jewellery I'm wearing seems to bring the outfit in nicely and also gives the hard wear on the bag a finishing touch. I love rocking a side braid so when I can wear it I will, it's my go to hairstyle this year and the waves in my hair make the look seem a little more chic and natural. Obviously uncomfy shoes are a no go for me so these faux swade loafers are perfect for keeping you cosy and comfortable during the fall season.

Outfit description -

Trousers - Bank 

Long sleeved top - Next 

Shoes - Bank

Bag - Primark

Watch - Accessorize

Necklace - Newlook

Nails - Can Can by Ciaté

Lips - Rimmel Kate Moss in 107 Matte

Hope you enjoyed this autumnal post!

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo

My signature red lip!

When it comes to choosing the perfect lipstick shade for you, it can be a little tricky especially when it comes to the frightening red lip that has been ruling the runway ever since the 1950s. Trying to find the perfect red lip can be hard when you've got so many different undertones to choose from and not just that, there's also the finish to consider, so you have a orange toned glossy lip or a blue toned satin finish or a pink toned matte. The list goes on and on, so how do you pick the red lip for you? Well first thing you want to consider is your skin tone, if you have alabaster skin like me blue tones are usually your best friend but if you have olive or darker skin, Orange is probably the best. But that's just my personal taste. 

So my perfect red lip? Its a blue tone satin finish which makes my teeth look whiter and my eyes look more blue. And then there's the price, now I know what your all thinking, she's going to whip out a hefty Chanel price tag that only you could buy if your rich or willing to be poor for a few months. But fear not my red lip lovers, my favourite lip comes from a well known beauty brand called Natural Collection, and don't worry they are cheep as chips. The lipstick I'm rocking is the Cherry Red moisture shine from their massive lipstick range which all come in at a tiny price of £1.99 each. Yep, you heard me right, no need to spend a whole lot of cash on a lipstick that your unsure of but even when you are sure I'll still go back to this bad boy. It's my go to red lip and no fancy brand will change that!

Post soon!

Danielle xoxo

Budget Beauty - Ciaté London Haute house 'Rich Ink Formula'

Over the past couple of months, since the weather has cooled down and autumn has most definitely settled it, I have noticed all of the well known beauty bloggers such as VDM rocking metallic 'ink' nail polishes. Once I found out they were all from the same Ciaté collection, I just had to get it.

(Coloured from left to right are: Sass Pot, Knee Highs, For the frill of it, Tickly my fancy and Can Can.)

Browsing online I found the Haute House collection at around the £25 mark, which I can understand as it is such a high quality, well known brand as Ciaté. So my mind was made up, on pay day I was going to splurge on the 'Rich Ink Formula' set. Until I decided to pop into TKMaxx, and low and behold did I spy with my little eye, at the back of the nail polish rack did I find the Haute House collections! And not just that, they had both the Rich Ink Formula and last summers Doll House right down to a tiny £6.99! Now you can't beat that bargain, so of course I swooped up that offer as fast as I could. And I shall be purchasing the Doll house collection when it comes to pay day!

So go down to your local TKMaxx and you might be surprised to see what you find.

Hope you enjoyed this budget beauty post.

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo

Mini makeup haul x Starbucks

Since getting the IPhone 6 I've been non stop taking pictures of things and I thought it would make a great addition to my blogging routine. So obviously I had to go out a buy some makeup?! Who wouldn't when you've got a brand new gadget to play around with, and after deciding this I popped into my local Superdrug to have a little brows around. When I came across the NYC stand, the snobby makeup geek in me wouldn't  usually stop to give it the time of day, but this little guy caught my eye as it reminded me of a very popular pallete that a lot of bloggers in the States used to love, it was called cashmere something. Obviously knowing my luck I couldn't find that one but this one looked pretty similar and very autumnal so I swiped it up for a mere £2.99. The colour I got is 817 South Street Seaport which consist of 4 velvety powders in the mauve colour range, which is quite beautiful. 

 

The other item I picked up was the Mua Luxe Powerbrow 'Shape and Highlight' in Fair. Which as the name suggests is a brow and highlighter with a champagne highlighter on one end and a blondie brownie brow tint on the other, product review will be coming soon but at a steel at £3.99 you really can't go wrong!

So I hope you all enjoyed this tiny haul, and ps I am sat here in heaven drinking a pumpkin spiced latte and cake loaf in Starbucks which is amazing, totally recommend to any autumn lovers out there!

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo

Treacle Moon 'The Candy Jar' product review

With my obsession on all soaps and bath goodies on an all time high, finding a new, cheap, and not to mention adorably named bath and shower gels always makes me happy.

About the brand: 

Treacle moon is a bath and body brand that started back in 2007 and since then has skyrocketed its popularity in the blogging world and with its cute label design and beautiful scents I can understand why. It's a company that has never tested on animals and is vegetarian friendly (meaning it doesn't contain any animal derived ingredients and no you can't eat it my lovely veggie readers!) it also has it's own charity that helps the disadvantage family's in a small town called Khandel in Rajastan, India. Since starting the charity they have made a pledge to help 60 children annually and focusing on supporting long-term development projects which helps them gain access to clean water, sanitation, better healthcare, education and housing. Which gives them a huge thumbs up from me! 

With all the boring stuff out of the way, let's get onto the good stuff, the scents they make and what I think of them! In this 'The Candy Jar' range there are 4 different bath and shower gels, Original toffee Bon Bon, Marshmallow hearts, Ice cream soda and Sweet lime sherbet. My favourite being the marshmallow moments which is a great transition scent from summer to autumn. Unfortunately unlike the original shower and bath gels from Treacle Moon none of them have matching body butters, scrubs or hand washes, which is a little sad but either way they are great body washes as obviously they convert to a bubble bath as well, and at a retail price of £2.99 at your local Tesco supermarket you really can't go wrong!

Onto the quality of the product, the silkiness of the gel smooths onto the skin like butter and leaves your skin feeling so soft and surprisingly moisturised! Considering at the moment all of the Treacle Moon products are 20% off at Tesco, you have yourself a winner with a 500ml bottle that will last you a very long time considering a little goes a long way if you lather it up in a loofa. 

I hope you enjoyed this quite long in depth review and just as quick disclaimer, the Treacle Moon company is not in any way sponsoring me, all opinions are my own and all products mentioned were bought with my own money. 

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo

How I got into YouTube and Blogging!

So it's been around 2 years since I started talking frivolously to a camera and about a year since I started tapping away at the keyboard onto this little blog, and I must say it's been a rollercoaster these past two years! I thought I would inform you all on how I actually got into the blogging and vlogging word, so let the stories beggin...

Since I can remember I've always had an interest in makeup and always enjoyed playing around with colours on my face and seeing what looks good or just down right funny! When I got to my 14th birthday I was already set on going into the beauty business but not until I turned 16 did I figure out makeup was my forté. Around this time i discovered the beauty world on YouTube and started to watch big beauty gurus such as Bubzbeauty, Mehganheartsmakeup and Juicystar07. Only after a few months of watching their amazing videos did I come to the realisation that I would love to do that... So I did! Although (thankfully) my old channels and videos are long gone, they helped me build my confidence infront of the camera and editing too! Only after figuring all this techy stuff out did I design my own little beauty blog under the name of velvet--couture, since then as you we'll know, the name has changed to something a little more appropriate. And I'm still changing it up everyday to make it look more proffesional!

I think the main thing to think about if your wanting to start a blog/YouTube channel is to practise, lets face it, your not going to be A* amazing once you've just started! You have to practise by writing draft posts or private videos and reading them/watching them back. Let a family member give you constructive critism as you know they will give you an honest answer and probably give you some ideas you didn't even think about! Make it unique to you, you don't want to copy something someone else does exactly otherwise it's not yours! Take a few ideas from things that inspire you, make a list or a spider diagram if it helps. Put all your ideas together and BAM you've got yourself a YouTube channel and blog. Make sure you've got yourself a schedual that you can fit in with you daily routine, like for instance I work 5 days a week, write draft posts in the evenigns and take the pictures in the morning. Then pop it all together and upload it before work! When it comes down to my YouTube, that takes a little more time. I usually film two videos for the week ahead on my days off and edit and upload them throughout the week. Don't start off by trying to fit too much into your schedual as it will end up more as a chore than a hobby! Do it how it suits you! There arnt any rules so upload once a fortnight and blog twice a week. It's all down to you!

Hope this little post helped!

Post soon,

Danielle xoxo 

Wishlist Wednesday #2

It's been a long time since I did a Wishlist Wednesday, so it's been long overdue to do an update! I've been obsessing over emerald green accessories and nude pieces, as you can tell! All the links will be below.

1 - Pandora Essence Bracelet. This beautiful piece of jewellery has been on my mental wish list since it's release date back in autumn. It has a retail price of £49 and it's on top of my list for my birthday in June, fingers crossed.

2 - Polka Dot tights from Accessorize. I thought these tights were so sweet and will cutify any outfit! These retail at a price of £8.00 but are currently on sale for £4.00 online! Bargain!

3 - Green winged handheld bag from Accessorize. A beautiful emerald green handbag that the perfect size for everyday use, a retail price at £32 is pretty steep but worth it due to the flawless quality. 

4 - Mac studio sculpt foundation in NC15. This is probably the one product I've been wanting for the longest time, it gives a medium to high coverage yet it is not cakey. It values at £25 and I will be owning this on pay day!

5 - Cream wrap dress by River Island. A sofisticated dress that can be dressed up or down, so can be worn on multiple occasions. I love this wrap piece and I can not wait to get my hands on it and at a sale price of £30 it's a steal!

6 - Ted Baker bow purse. This beautiful patent purse has gorgeous written all over it and is a dream, but at a retail price of £80 unfortunately it will only be a dream!

So that's been all the bits and pieces I've been adoring this week, I will update you if I decide to purcase any of these! Unfortunately I didn't end up putting up a Yourube video today due to the fact I've been in bed with a cold but I will be back on track in a couple of days!

What's on your Wishlist?

Danielle xoxo