Oxford Adventures: Turl Street

On a miserable morning in Oxford there is nothing nicer than to head out for breakfast (unless you don't live in a grotty student house, then I recommend staying in. Much safer for your hair). 

One of our favourite spots for breakfast is the Turl Street Kitchen. Tucked on the corner of Turl Street and Ship Street, this deceptively large cafe/restaurant/bar is a delight. 

Not a bad route to get to it either!

We used to come all the time in first year as a little pre-uni pick me up. It makes lectures way more bearable! I went for my usual pot of earl grey and a croissant. Maddie had the super yummy granola and yoghurt, but it was devoured before I could get a picture! 

 

We sat at our favourite table. The big long one in the window. We both found ourself forgetting that windows work both ways and that people can actually see in at you gawping at them! Turl street is such a good people watching spot. 

I love the interior of this place. The ultimate in shabby chic, there is such a chilled atmosphere to the place. There are always so many students typing away on laptops and reading. Definitely a place I need to start bringing my work when my rooms four walls become too much to bare! 

After dragging out my pot of tea for as long as humanly possible we headed back out into the drizzle.

Oxford in the morning is the best. Its so quiet and you can go about your business relatively easily. If you venture out anytime after 12 you have got no chance. Everywhere gets outrageously busy and negotiating the tourists is an obstacle course. 

Maddie's new whip

After our wander we headed onto the main shopping street and hit up Lush where we were served by the sweetest guy ever! I gave him the blog address so if you're reading, hello! We think you're fabulous! All of the members of staff were sporting pink triangles on their faces. We asked what they were for and he told us all about their #SignOfLove campaign. The campaign is supporting LGBTQ rights in Russia. To find out more you can click this link. We got our own triangles and shared them on instagram using the hashtag SignOfLove. Draw your own triangle and get sharing! 

Maddie and I both picked up the Cupcake fresh face masks in preparation for a hungover pamper day tomorrow. We also picked up some of the tooth tabs which I am very intrigued by. I got the Sparkle ones and Maddie bought Atomic toothy tabs. I shall let you know how we get on! We also got a mini Charity Pot of hand and body lotion. They are just £1 and all of the money goes to charity! 

A miserable Friday morning well spent!

2014 Beauty Wishlist: Drugstore Dupes!

My last post showcased the beauty products I am lusting over for this year. Unfortunately for me, my student budget doesn't quite stretch to Chanel and Nars for my everyday make-up routine. So I've trawled the internet and my own make-up bag to create this list of dupes. They might not look quite as glamorous but they do the same job and for under half the price! I think I can live with that...

2014 beauty wishlist: Drugstore Dupes! by harriet-jemima featuring a rimmel foundation

Bourjois sun care
£6.99 - superdrug.com


A firm favourite in my make-up collection, this Bourjois bronzer gives a tanned look to the face without being too orange. My only issue with this product is that it forms a coating. The top solidifies making it impossible to pick up product. This problem is quickly rectified by scraping off this layer, yes messy and a tad annoying, but at about a quarter of the price of NARS laguna, it will do! 

Stila palette eyeshadow
£25 - feelunique.com


Now this is a bit of a cheat product on my part. It is not a bargain dupe of the Naked palette, at £25 it is still quite expensive. I did however buy it whilst at uni so that means it can be bought on a student budget! I adore this palette and it is the best dupe of the Urban Decay palettes that I have seen. A great shade range is provided (although I have only hit pan on one of the shadows, kitten) all of them almost carbon copies of some Naked shades. You also get a waterproof smudge stick included and coming in at £12 cheaper than the Naked palette it's well worth considering.  

Rimmel foundation
£8.99 asos.com


Another firm favourite in my make-up collection I have been using this foundation since its launch and have repurchased it time and time again. This foundation gives a gorgeous naturally radiant glow to the skin. It is very buildable and does so without caking. It also wears incredibly well and can last on my face all day (just about) without powder. A great high street foundation.

Eyeshadow
£7.99 - superdrug.com


This is the real budget dupe of the Naked palette. Not quite as good as the Stila one but for only £7.99 you get 12 eye shadows ranging from pale nudes to black. There can be a fair bit of product fall out but for the price I can live with that.

L Oréal Paris lip gloss
£8.69 - superdrug.com


A lot of high street lip glosses have difficulty lasting on my lips. They seem to just disappear! These lip glosses claim to last up to 6 hours, I wouldn't say that they last quite that long but the wear time is still better than most. This particular shade is a good pink toned nude and comes in at a third of the price of the Bobbi Brown gloss.

Rimmel concealer
£6.19 asos.com


This is my all time favourite concealer! It applies like a dream and completely covers my dark circles. It comes with a doe foot applicator which applies the creamy concealer well. I find it works best when blended in with your finger, the natural heat helps it to 'melt' into the skin. This also works well for blemishes as it is both easy to blend and buildable. 

Sleek Shimmer Blush Rose Gold
£4.49 - superdrug.com


Can you tell the difference between the picture of this and NARS Orgasm? Because I can't! In the pan the two blushers are almost identical. Both are a shimmery peachy pink and pretty pigmented. NARS probably wears slightly longer but for £4.49 you can definitely afford to top up.

Sheer Loose Powder
£2.99 - collectioncosmetics.co.uk


This translucent powder comes in at about a quarter of the price of the Laura Mercier invisible powder. Definitely not as glamorous or as finely milled but for a cheap setting powder, it does the job. 

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick Notting Hill Nude 720
£6.29 - superdrug.com


I love this lipstick! I first heard about it in this post by Lily Pebbles. It is a creamy, hydrating formula and is the most gorgeous pink toned nude shade.

17 Blemish BB Balm Improved Formula
£6.99 boots.com


I have been using this BB cream for a long time now and since its improved formula I love it even more! It claims to improve your skin within 4 weeks and it really, really does! You look great with it on, so you can look great with it off! I used to wear this everyday and on nights out instead of foundation but have recently branched out more into foundations. Now I use it when I can sense that my skin isn't at its best and it soon sorts itself out after using this every day. Using it instead of foundation doesn't feel like a compromise either, it provides great coverage and gives a lovely glowy finish.

These beauty products add up to the much more reasonable sum of £84.61 and compared to yesterdays total of £239 these beauty bits are an absolute bargain.  

2014 Beauty Wishlist

I am a huge fan of beauty blogs. My Bloglovin feed is full of them and the majority of my youtube subscriptions are beauty vloggers. I love a good tutorial, in my many hours of free time at uni I will sit and trawl through my favourite vloggers and attempt to copy their make-up looks (with varying degrees of success). This does however give me a serious case of the green eyed monster! No matter how big my make-up collection gets it will NEVER be as good as theirs. I have been slowly building up my collection of brushes and products to their standard but there are still so many products that I haven't quite managed to get my grubby mitts on.

So my new years resolution is to end the jealousy. I am going to stop impulse buying products just because they're cheap and compile a list of the things I really, truly need (or desperately want, as most cases appear to be!). Drawing inspiration from my some of my favourite beauty ladies (Lily Pebbles, Tanya Burr and The Sunday Girl to name but a few) I have compiled a list of high end hero products! These are the dream team, the ones, that in an ideal world (one where my student loan doesn't disappear on rent and bills), would be going straight into my make up bag. 

2014 Beauty Wishlist by harriet-jemima featuring tom ford cosmetics

NARS Cosmetics shimmer blush
£18 narscosmetics.com


Who hasn't heard of NARS Orgasm? This cult classic blush gives a cheeky (no pun intended)  flush to the apples of the cheeks in a gorgeous shimmery peach shade. A must have.

Nars cosmetic
£22 narscosmetics.com


Another cult classic from NARS, the Laguna bronzer gives a golden glow to the face without appearing orange. A must have for any bronzer addict (guilty).

Chanel spf foundation
£32 - debenhams.com


The most youthful of the Chanel foundations, Vitalumiere Aqua is said to give a 'second skin' appearance with a light satin finish. In other words, no make-up make-up. 

Tom ford cosmetic
£36 - selfridges.com


The perfect nude shade AND it's Tom Ford. Need I say any more?

Lip shine
£26 - bobbibrown.co.uk 


I was given this gorgeous nude gloss as a gift last Christmas and it was love on first application. I may or may not have shed a tear when this ran out...

NARS Cosmetics creamy concealer
£25 - narscosmetics.com


Raved about by many a blogger, this concealer is said to give great coverage and a radiant finish. Perfect for hiding the dreaded dark circles.

Invisible Loose Setting Powder - Laura Mercier Women
£10 - uk.spacenk.com


A suits all skin tones powder said to give a soft-focus finish to the skin. Sounds like a dream.

Tinted Moisturiser - Laura Mercier Laura Mercier
£33 - uk.spacenk.com


Another blogger favourite, the Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser appears to be a bit of a wonder product. Said to give a natural finish and healthy glow to the face this is a product I am desperate to try. 

Unfortunately I don't live in the rent free, bill free world of my dreams. Student life doesn't exactly lend itself to spending £239 (the grand total of this collection) on an everyday make up look. So over the coming days look out for my drug store dupes edition of my 2014 beauty wishlist. I'm going to find the products that hopefully do the same as this but on a student budget!
What are your beauty wants for 2014? Let me know in the comments below! 

Post Christmas Blow Out!

For most people, January is a month of detoxing their life. New Years resolutions begin in earnest, juice cleanses and gym memberships fly off the shelves and Sports Direct does a raging trade in trainers. In my house it never quite works out like that. As a family we get gifted a LOT of food for Christmas and if there is chocolate in front of me, I'm going to eat it.

January is also often a month of penury. Post Christmas bank accounts are not a pretty sight. I, however, seem to have taken on a one woman mission to kick-start the economy with my spending. I have greatly abused the sales (and the full priced sections to my dismay) on a serious spend-athon, Here are a few  of the things I've picked up!

My first buy was a necessary one! (It wasn't but I have actually worn it so that makes it ok in my book!). This gorgeous little red number from Mango served as my New Years Eve dress.

Check out my christmassy kitchen!

This next item was purchased on the same day as my new years dress but I have absolutely no clue where I am going to wear it! It was a definite case of lust over any kind of sense. One minute I was in the changing rooms and the next I was at the till.

Now these photos, no matter how many different things I tried, do not do this dress justice. For starters the dress is actually a dark navy, which it most certainly doesn't appear to be in the picture below.

I have never owned a long dress before, I tend to favour more fitted, short styles (as clearly seen in my New Years dress!) but this dress just really appealed to me. I think that might have something to do with its back. The back is incredible! 

I just love the criss cross cut-out (try saying that six times fast), it adds a bit of interest to what could be quite a plain dress. You can pick this up from H&M for a bargainous £25! 

You may also have noticed the pink shoes in those photos! Again, something I would never normally buy, but when they're reduced to £9 in the New Look sale, who am I to say no?

From one extreme to another I then picked up these bad boys!

These are the snuggliest, comfiest leggings I have ever put on. These are especially for my uni house as in this weather it is like living in a fridge. I can see myself living in these come coursework time!

I also completed my Real Techniques brush collection but my brushes are so dirty I shall spare you from an image of them! I really cannot rave about these brushes enough. For their price point they are such good quality and now I've started using them I could not live without them. 

Now my favourite item from my week of crazed shopping is actually an item I didn't pay for myself. This is courtesy of my lovely mummy. 

The White Company is one of our favourite shops. If I could afford it, ALL of my bedding, candles, smellies, pyjamas etc would be from there! Inside the White Company is also the Little White Company. They do the cutest baby things and also the softest, sweetest cuddly toys. I saw this little man in the Oxford White Company months ago and have wanted him since first cuddle. I may have also popped in about once a week for a little snuggle ever since.

Everyone, meet Boris! My very own bashful bunny! Now some people may say I'm too old for a toy bunny rabbit, but those people would be wrong. Even my dad loves Boris! I can't even describe how soft he is. If any of you sometimes feel like you need a hug and might not have a loved one to hand, get yourself one of these. He will more than make up for it, I promise.

New Years Day

Happy New Year! I hope 2013 treated you well and that 2014 will be even better! 

In my family it is customary to go on a new years day walk to blow the cobwebs (hangovers) away. This year however, I am not with my parents. When you read this they will be in Wales striding across our favourite beach and I shall be in the Cotswolds, bringing in the new year with some of my uni friends. I am also sure that for some of you, getting out into the great outdoors is the last thing you feel like doing right now!
So with that in mind I donned my tweed and my wellies and went out on a pre-new year welly walk. I documented my little adventure for you so you can enjoy the countryside without leaving the comfort of your chair/bed/floor! 

(I suggest grabbing a cup of tea and having a listen to this for the full restorative effect!)

Perfecting my gazing into the distance face

I knew being precious and not wearing my new hunters was a good idea!

 Just as my walk was coming to an end, I made some new friends!

How photogenic is this little guy?!

And that was it, I headed back home and warmed myself back up with a cup of tea in this fantastic mug.

It's from Marks & Spencer, a place that I usually overlook for anything other than food but if they're creating beauties like this I'll have to pay it some more attention.

So that's it, a new years wander so you don't have to. Or maybe its inspired you to get out and about? Let me know in the comments below!