dressjunkie

I’ve got it all under control….

Oh yes, this week I’m in a “can do” mood. Terribly irritating for everyone around me but excellent for the Monica Geller that was in hibernation deep within.

This was the state of my shoe/ bag closet yesterday morning…

Shameful

I’d lost ALL control of storage. Too many shoes + not enough boxes= Shoe Chaos

Thankfully the postman delivered  these two life savers yesterday….

A fifty piece shoe rack and a “purse” or bag rack. Whatever floats your boat! I paid just over 70 of my own pounds including 4 of postage. However if you live in the mainland UK I believe the shipping is FREE. Win for you! (I’ll just sit over here and grumble about being an unrecognised part of the UK… grumble… grumble…)

I did a lot of research before settling on Tszuji. I did think it was slightly pricey until I started looking into getting something custom built. I soon realised that actually 70 odd quid was a bit of a bargain!

However reviews on the site were mediocre so again I wasn’t convinced that it wouldn’t just topple down under the weight of two pairs of platforms. This is part of the reason I opted for the chrome framed one rather than the many plastic ones they offer.

I was pleasantly surprised. Although the frame is basic it does screw tightly together “Ikea” stylie. It took me about 15 minutes from start to finish.

Voila! *Happy sigh*

The purse rack was more fiddly. It comes with a set bracket size (you can order bigger ones tho) which were unfortunately two narrow for my door width. I had to use the wall fixings supplied instead which I screwed to the closet doors.

I’m really happy with it, however bags with thicker handles may require use of two clips (each rack is supplied with 6). Also if you’re a designer bag freak and can’t bear the thought of your precious leather sitting against plastic hooks then this might not be for you. I’m not that bothered. I think most bags look better with a little wear…. and actual use…

Overall I’m delighted. It’s my little Aladdin’s Cave and I can’t wait to add to it. Next up is a search for the perfect costume jewellery organiser. I quite like this one at Swag Bag but £30 seems a little steep. Maybe I can make something like it myself….

xo

I had to “pop” into the city on Sunday afternoon to drop my eldest off at his latest geek club and so I took the opportunity to have a good mooch around Superdrug. When we lived in Bangor Superdrug was more handy to me than Boots but since I’ve been in Belfast (3 months… wowzers) I hadn’t set foot in one.

I was pleasantly reacquainted. Sure, Boots is fabulous, who doesn’t LOVE those advantage card points?! but Superdrug is quite exclusive in a way. I got my fix of Gosh Cosmetics, Bloom, MUA and Sue Moxley. Different is almost always good in my book.

My main focus was on the “Famous” by Sue Moxley range. I always wanted to like this range, after all what’s not to like about a range created by a real life Make-up Artist. However first impressions were poor. Every single time I went to a Superdrug her brand stand (oooh it rhymes) was clearly unloved and unreplenished. The tester make-up was a mess, everything was covered in dust and things that I did find of interest were inevitably broken or smushed (technical term…).

I think over the 18 months I’ve been aware of her brand I’ve bought one thing that wasn’t in a complete state, a fan brush and it was amazing so I hoped they’d get their act together.

It finally looks like they have done just that.

On Sunday I was pleased to find that her stand was clean, tidy and reinvented. My eye was immediately drawn to the solo shadows which were on 2 for £6. Some really dreamy metallic shades. Then I clocked the 4 pan palettes which were priced at £9 and since I was having trouble deciding which singles to opt for I went for the palettes instead.

This particular quad of brown tones is called Cafe Culture.

Under Flash

Under Natural Lighting

The back of the palette assures me that these can be applied dry as well as wet, depending on the impact you desire. Today I went for dry.

Face – Diorskin Nude Foundation + Topshop Bronzer
Lids – Sue Moxley Cafe Culture Palette
Lashes – L’Oreal Voluminous Mascara in Carbon Black
Cheeks – NARS Deep Throat
Highlight – Mac Shimmer
Lips – Mac Modesty

Overall I love the result, all the shades work really well together and are comparable to a few main Mac shadows.. second left is a more subtle Satin Taupe for instance.

Bad points, well there are a few unfortunately…

• All 4 colours are high in the shimmer/ sheen stakes. I’d have thought that as they are apparently designed by an MA that the nude shade at least would have been matt. I had to take a touch of Mylar and blend that up towards my brow to avoid the drag queen look.

• Not all the shadows are of the same consistency, the second from right (a warm brown) is very bitty. It separates more than the others and can be quite messy, however it is a very pretty colour.

• The packaging. At the moment I have quite long/ strong nails (how and why is a mystery) but even I struggled to open the palette. It has a good groove to get your grip on but for some reason it’s still an absolute bitch to open.

So all that’s not so positive, however I have to say I’m still really glad that I bought this.

In fact I love the 3 brown shades so much that it’s a definite must have in my going away make-up bag this weekend (wedding anniversary… YAY!!). There is no denying that each colour compliments each other perfectly. The blendability is superb and nine hours later is still looks like this…

(OMG… look how much my foundation colour has oxidised)

Ok so there is definite wear but significant shape and colour remains so I am MORE than happy.

£9 well spent in my opinion

xo

It’s a grey overcast day in Belfast, not cold… not hot… just a kinda meh temperature. The hardest kind to dress appropriately for.

I settled on a bandeau playsuit with a cardy over the top which meant that when I got too warm I could just whip it off and pop it in my bag. I had to do exactly that for the duration of my shopping in town. Cardigan FAIL.

Playsuit – Zara

Cardigan – Tesco

Flats – Primark

Bag – Mulberry

Vivienne Westwood Necklace and DIY Disc

Links Of London Charm Bracelet and mixed silver bangles from Miss Selfridge

Eye make-up was a simple lilac wash of shadow using NARS Night Rider, blended out with a smidgen of MAC Stars n Rockets. Lilac Liner from Gosh and L’Oreal Voluminous Mascara. Lilac tones bring out the green in my eyes like no other colour <3

Shopping was very uneventful. 3 hours later I was home with 1 bottle of brush cleanser. That’s the way it goes sometimes. At least my purse is smiling.

xo

I had the wantsies for a Sydney Evan Disc Necklace as worn by the lovely Lorraine Stanick but what I didn’t have the wantsies for was parting with $1020 to get it. Eeek!

I searched everywhere for a cheap dupe online, but I just couldn’t find one that was big enough/ sparkly enough/ dirt cheap enough.

So I set about fashioning my own.

I took one pair of drop disc earrings from the current Oasis Sale £4

These were good because they had a fixed eyelet already soldered to the top of them, meaning adding a chain would be wee buns (easy peasy)!
I just used a pair of pliers to detach the bar from the disc. Then took an old unused necklace and fed it through.

Voila!

I think it’s really classy, although I would like a finer open link chain but that’ll be easy enough to pick up for a few quid in Accessorize or the like. Most importantly it has satisfied my want. When I get bored of it I won’t feel guilty tossing it. Especially for £4.

My top is from Tesco, I think it was around £12. Just really loved the slogan and print

Not much planned for today, we have all 4 kids all weekend so that should be …….. fun?

I also have a tonne of housework to catch up on. Thankfully Noah has decided all things cleaning related are AMAZING!?! So I have a little helper today!

That's my boy!

Mr Mop

You could eat your dinner off it!

Have a good weekend whatever you get up to, and much love to all you kind and wonderful people. You know who you are

xo

One of Matt’s mates came up with this cute little hash tag yesterday on Twitter and I thought I’d take it blog side!

Now we know where Noah gets his socks & crocs fetish from….
I had also totally forgot how bloomin light my hair was as a toddler! Madness!

Here I am re-enacting the famous Fairy Liquid advert… as you do… obviously…
Nanette Newman eat your heart out!

Go on, I dare you! Get hunting out some piccies of the old you and link me up to your post so I can have a giggle gander!

xo

P.S

There are rumblings of a mahoosive M&S sale tomorrow!
Totally unconfirmed BUT I’ve seen it mentioned on a number of forums now AND they do normally throw their secret sales on the day of Thurs! Worth a look just in case! Especially if you’re a fan of their shoes like me! xx