Vanity Claire | Birmingham Fashion and Beauty Blog

ClaireFebruary 3, 2014

The Best of Topshop Spring/Summer 2014

Why hi there chums,

It’s no secret that Claire and I are ~~massive tramps~~ ~~really poor~~ quite the bargain hunters. There’s nothing we like better than a trip into Primark or scouring eBay for a deal or five. For us, buying things from Topshop has become a distant student loan memory and paying the nice people at British Gas has eaten up our Topshop budget pretty much entirely. Sigh and c’est la vie. If you’re reading, BG, we wouldn’t mind if you cut us a little slack so we could buy some new threads for Saturday night ;).

Nevertheless, I do enjoy having a perv on all of the lovely clothes at Topshop and there are usually at least 5 pieces on my wishlist at any one time. I’ve been hugely excited about some of their ‘New In’ items this month and decided to put together a best of collage to showcase the collection. Huzzah and three cheers for merry England.

I pretty much love all of these things and need them in my tiny pathetic life. I’ve got my eye on the baby pink trend for spring/summer 2014 and I’m super excited to get some Barbie in my life. I’m also loving oversized gemstone jewellery and while this Topshop one isn’t real (it’s only £8.50 after all), it’s absolutely gorgeous. The oversized tee is actually really similar to my Primark printed tshirt I wore in this outfit of the day, but I love buying things that look the same. That is just the way I am.

No surprises that pastels are going to be mega in spring/summer 2014 (when aren’t they) but as I said earlier, I can’t wait to get a load of pink on my body. I’m also excited about the big floral prints that are coming out way (mostly because I am a tacky biatch). I don’t know about you guys, but I will be channelling the jungle in every single way that I can. I love the blue tassel tee too, although I’m not sure about the tassel business. They might grow on me or just make me feel like a lampshade.

So amigos, what do you think? Are you going to be investing in some Topshop key pieces in spring/summer 2014 or saving your hard earned pennies for a Primark splurge?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Bloglovin’, Instagram and Twitter! ||

ClaireFebruary 2, 2014

Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balms | Swatches & Review

Up until now, the chubby lip crayon craze had passed me by. In the past I’ve found lip crayons to be dragging, drying and unforgiving on any but the smoothest lips, and so I wasn’t overly excited when I first heart about Revlon’s newest releases, the ColorBurst Matte Balms.

Then I read a few rave reviews on them and my arm was twisted, so when Lauren and I headed to Boots on payday last week (always a dangerous business) we couldn’t resist swatching a few. Swatching led to buying one each. Buying one each then led to me going back the following day to buy another. I warn you in advance: these crayons are addictive.

The ColorBurst Matte Balms are supposed to be unique in the sense that they provide a pigmented, matte finish but with all of the moisture of a balm due to a triple complex of Shea, Mango and Coconut Butter. Moisture and matte are not two words that usually go side by side, so I was dubious about the claims. But you know what? The hype is fully true.

The crayons go on extremely smoothly, with a light peppermint smell that makes them feel even more balm-like. From the first swipe they’re extremely pigmented, but the smoothness of the formula means that you can also continue to build up for a stronger look.

Once on, they feel really nourishing on the lips, and not at all cakey or dry like other matte products tend to. The finish is, as promised, velvety and matte.

I’m absolutely in love with my first shade, Shameless; it’s a strong purple which is perfect for a dramatic look at this time of year. The second and third shades are both brilliant everyday colours, with Elsuive being a light blue-toned pink and Sultry being a darker – but totally wearable – brownish-red.

I’ve found the wear time of my two shades (Shameless and Elusive) to be a good few hours. Because of the formula, they do transfer onto glasses and whatnot quite easily – but when the colour does fade, it seems to do so evenly, without that dreaded ‘unintentional lipliner’ look you can get from other matte lipsticks.

Overall, I don’t think I can stress enough how much ABSOLUTELY LOVE THESE PRODUCTS. They’ve completely changed my opinion on lip crayons, and I’m now gagging to try out the Lacquer finishes too. At £7.99, they’re unfortunately not the cheapest lip products out there – but the quality is, in my opinion, brilliant and so well worth the price of two less fantastic lipsticks from a cheaper brand.

Have any of you tried the ColorBurst Matte Balms yet? What do you think?

ClaireFebruary 1, 2014

Outfit of the Day: Primark Tshirt Dress & Ginger Locks

Primark Mesh Panel Tshirt | Primark Necklace | New Look Turquoise Heels (old) | Barry M Nail Varnish in Lady | Kate Moss for Rimmel Shade 16

Hey chicks.

This is a super quick post before I hop in the shower to get ready for a night of wild partying. My home gals (and guy) are coming to visit me all the way from Cheshire, so a bitch has gotta look fine.

I bought this Primark tshirt last weekend and couldn’t resist the jazzy print. It was £8, which quite frankly was a bargain (when isn’t Primark stuff? This is why I spend an unhealthy amount of time in the place). It features some saucy mesh panels, which I actually forgot about when I wore it to work (I’m pretty sure the lads in the office couldn’t concentrate because of the amount of belly button on show). This bad boy that is on my body above is a size 12, so you can see it’s quite a baggy fit. It’s also quite long, which apparently meant that I thought it would be ok to wear as a dress. I may have got a few “why is that chump not wearing trousers?” looks, but you know. What’s life if not about not wearing trousers?

I also have dyed my hair ginger now. I’m trying to persuade Claire to dye her hair black and chop it into an endearingly messy crop so she can be the Harry to my Ron, but she’s not biting. Yet.

Anywho, have a great Saturday you wonderful humans.

BYE.

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Bloglovin’, Instagram and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 31, 2014

5 Reasons Why Carrie Bradshaw is a Chuffing Idiot

Every now and then you read a blog post that’s so utterly brilliant you have to praise it, and then immediately decide to steal the idea. Jenn from Photo-Jenn recently wrote a post entitled My Love-Hate Relationship with Sex and the City where she details every single reason why Carrie Bradshaw is a bloody moron in the first Sex and the City film. I wholeheartedly agreed with every point and it reminded me of all the other reasons I have for hating Carrie.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I love Sex and the City. I have most of the series’ on DVD and re-watch them regularly. Interestingly, when I first watched all of the episodes when I was about 15/16 I actually really liked Carrie. In a discussion with a friend, we even decided that I was ‘the Carrie’ of our group. At the time, I was really pleased with this; now I realised that it was my friend’s way of saying “You’re a massive bellend”.

In this post I will document all of the main things that annoy me about Carrie Bradshaw.

1. How She Is An Awful Friend

Carrie Bradshaw is first and foremost a truly terrible friend. You might not notice this on first watching, but you start to notice that every single scene where Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte have bothered to join this little idiot for brunch or cocktails revolves around Carrie’s drama of the day (which is usually stupid). Whenever any of the others try to talk about any of their life problems – which include divorce, pregnancy, cheating and, y’know, CANCER – Carrie always manages to dive in with one of her quips and bring it back round to her. If she was my friends I would definitely lose my temper and ram my brioche down her throat.

Also, do not get me started on the episode where she falls out with Charlotte because Charlotte won’t lend her an insane amount of money to make up for her years of being a financial disaster. Piss off Carrie, whack your shoes on eBay and stop being such a bitch.

2. How She Keeps Going Back to Big

Putting my personal dislike of Big aside (what are we meant to find attractive about him exactly?) I think Carrie and Big can singlehandedly be blamed for a whole generation of women constantly going back to damaging relationships and horrible exes. The decision to have them ultimately end up together was a terrible one. All it told us was ‘oh, you know that man that’s quite mean to you and never commits and makes you cry and picks you up and drops you again and gets married to someone who isn’t you and then cheats on that person with you and causes you to cheat on your boyfriend too and then doesn’t even want to marry you and obviously just hates your effing guts? Yeah, just stick with that – because it will all work out in the end!’

Just… no. Where is the logic, writers. Where is the humanity.

3. How She Treats Lovely Aidan

In conjunction with the above point, one of the things that makes Carrie Bradshaw a huge chuffing idiot is how horrible she is to Lovely Aidan. Lovely Aidan, with his dog and his leather jackets and his sander and chisel… He is the perfect human man, and what does she do? She fucks him over completely. Loads. First she cheats on him with Big – which I cannot even comprehend – and then vigorously pursues him to get him back. Even though he makes it quite clear how emotionally damaged she left him (I defy you to not sob at the “YOU BROKE MY HEART!” scene), she decides to still force her way back into his life and treat him as a plaything.

After being a pissy bitch for ages over the fact that he is not 100% over the affair, and screaming “You have to forgive me!” at least thirty times in one scene (reality check Carrie you harlot: he doesn’t), she then actually decides, once he’s forgiven her and been lovely and proposed, that actually she can’t even be arsed to wear the ring properly, or have to spend any time with him, or be nice to him.

She also thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to stay friends with Big. Who she CHEATED on Aidan with. Which brings me on to my point I feel most vehemently about:

4. HOW SHE LETS BIG COME TO THE CABIN

This is an absolutely atrocious Carrie moment in the long string of atrocious Carrie moments that essentially makes up the entire franchise that is Sex and the City. Aiden has been nice enough to take her back, forgive her affair, tolerate her friendship with fellow-affairee, AND bring her for a lovely little break in his cabin. She spends the whole trip being, unsurprisingly, a mammoth bitch – mainly because there are squirrels. She then has the audacity to invite Big to the cabin. To Aidan’s cabin. To hang out and drink wine.

Carrie, ARE YOU BLOODY MESSIN’?!

5. How She Thinks She’s A Wild Horse

For those of you who are lucky enough to be unfamiliar with this scene, Carrie has ended up outside the engagement party of Big and his new fiance, who he actually likes. Rather than taking this as the clear sign it is that she’s a crap person, she instead manages to delude herself that the reason she’s single is because she’s too fabulous. This is because she’s wild, like a horse. She shares this terrible moment with a proper mental horse who starts kicking off on the street and probably ended up being made into glue. I wish Carrie could meet this same fate.

What do you all think of Sex and the City’s leading ~~lady~~ idiot?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Bloglovin’, Instagram and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 29, 2014

GOSH Eyebrow Kit Review

Hi huns.

Instead of watching the CBB final like everyone else in the world, I’m lurking around in bed and blogging. Because that’s just how dedicated I am (plus, Liz annoys me and I have a duvet).

On my eternal bid to find the perfect eyebrow kit, I went and bought myself another one (and another one after that…). I’ve heard some good reviews about the GOSH Eyebrow Kit, so I thought I’d give it a whirl and so on and so forth. If you’re interested in checking out my other eyebrow product reviews, read my Sleek Brow Kit review, Barry M Brow Pen Review and MUA Eyebrow Kit review. I’ve also recently bought the Christian eyebrow powder and stencils (and re-bought the Sleek palette), so expect a review in the next week or so!

On that note, I think I need to go to eyebrow products anonymous.

Anywho, my eyebrow needs are slightly different to the average human so I think I need to make a little disclaimer. I have blonde brows that have no definition whatsoever. In a dark light, I resemble Voldemort. As a matter of fact, in broad daylight people often mistake me for the Dark Lord and shout “Expelliarmus” willy nilly. So, I tend to need a product that I can literally draw an eyebrow on, rather than simply fill in.

The only one that I’ve found do this properly as an eyebrow kit specifically is the Sleek palette. Eyebrow pencils always work fine, but where’s the fun in an eyebrow pencil I ask you? I’ve liked other products, but the brushes that come a long with them have been below par.

And unfortunately, that’s my one and only bug bear with the GOSH palette. And that’s not to say that the brush isn’t good quality, because it is. In fact, it’s one of the best quality palette brushes I’ve come across in a while. However, it’s slightly too thick for me to work with and I need something that gives a bit more precision. The brush also has one of those weird sponge brushes, which I’m sure no one has ever used ever.

Other than that, this is a fantastic little kit. The three powder shades are workable for most different complexions and their pigmentation is good. They’re also really buildable, so you can layer on to achieve however dark you want your brows. The gel/wax is also good for sweeping in any strays, so no complaints there. I still find it a bit weird how one kit has 3 different shades (sensible? I think not), but it has actually proved quite useful since dying my hair ginger and my dark brown eyebrow products make me look like a silly Paloma Faith.

In terms of staying power, this bad boy has the same amount as Beyonce and Jay Z’s beautiful relationship (i.e. loads). There were no eyebrows-wandering-around-my-face incidents and they still looked excellent at the end of a busy day drinking tea and moaning about the state of society at the office. Top marks GOSH.

You can buy this eyebrow kit for £8.49 and it comes with a nice little mirror, meaning you can alarm yourself throughout the day by looking at your face and/or great eyebrows.

I’m really looking forward to trying some more GOSH products, especially if they’re all as fabby and fantastic as this magician’s pot.

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 28, 2014

Outfit of the Day: Motel Cropped Alphabet Jumper

Jumper: Motel Rocks / Jeggings: Topshop / Boots: Boohoo / Chain: eBay / Satchel: Primark

First of all, I’m so sorry for the amount of belly button there is in this post. At least I’ve got an innie, hey?

Moving on…

I’m in love with my new cropped jumper from Motel, which I actually managed to acquire from eBay for the magical price of 99p NEW WITHOUT TAGS. Which might be code for “I’ve actually worn this a few times but I’m a sneaky snake and will pretend I haven’t”, but I don’t really care to be quite honest. 99p!

I’m also in sartorial love with my new satchel from Primark, which I’ve had my beady eyes on for a while. White might not be the most practical choice but I think it’ll be especially nice during summer to freshen up an outfit.

What do y’all think?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Bloglovin’, Instagram and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 27, 2014

A Week in Instagram #6

Oh hey, didn’t see you there.

Here we are again. It’s monday and everyone’s feeling a bit tragic. Do you know what will make you feel approximately a million times better? Yes, that’s right. Looking at little pictures of Claire and I going about our daily lives. Don’t ask me why, I don’t make the rules.

1. Here is Claire standing in front of her mirror and taking some snaps of herself (I know, what’s she like?!). Anyone else have pervert dress love with this bad boy? I do, and it’s only £5 from Primark. That delightful satchel is £9. Some might say Claire is the Primark Whisperer.

2. It turns out that I might also be the Primark Whisperer – I went on a bit of a spree on Saturday and got this beautiful red/orange skort. I also invested (for about £1, you have to speculate to accumulate, am I right?!) in some frilly socks in an array of colours, these adorable sandals and other miscellaneous items.

3. Speaking of splurging on payday stuff, Claire and I went to Boots in our lunch break on Friday and decided that it was high time we just spent a load of money and bought fun things. There were a few bargains to be had, but we were definitely most excited about the Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balm. We bought ours in matte, but there were stain and gloss options too. Prepare yourselves for the review, because these beauties are excellent and top notch.

4. We like quotes now.

5. Hi there, Ron Weasley here. I’m officially a ginger haired wench and I love it.

6. Claire gave Cocoa Brown Tan a whirl – it develops in one hour and she loves it. Read her full review here, you know you want to.

7. Here is a sneaky peek of Claire’s décolletage, but more importantly her fabulous Asos mirror skirt that is wonderfully stunning.

8. Want to know how I achieved going from black to ginger in about 3 days? Here’s how. I loved the L’oreal product in particular, it smells like magic and wonderment. The bleach took a bit of getting used to though!

9. My dear friend, colleague and Ebay wizard Claire got this Motel cropped jumper for 99p. You can’t even get 99p ice creams for 99p these days. You’ve got to be impressed with that!

10. Oh, what’s that Lauren? You went and bought useless stuff from Primark? Are you mad? No. That is my hobby these days. So obvs, I bought a top with neon cats on it and some nude pumps.

11. Here is Claire and her head. She’s wearing an excellent Glamorous fluffy jumper that she got at The Clothes Show. Fun fact, she took this photo in our kitchen at work.

12. Did I say that we liked quotes now?

So everyone, I hope your Mondays get over and done with as soon as possible. If it makes you feel any better, Beyonce is also having a Monday somewhere too. If you want to check us out on Instagram, please do! We’re @StylingoUK and we like to post pictures of clothes and bits of makeup. We also shamelessly take selfies and contort ourselves to get the perfect pics of our shoes. That is just how life goes.

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 26, 2014

Maybelline Falsies Big Eyes Mascara | Review

If you read this blog regularly then you may know that nothing gets my pulse racing quite like a new mascara (I know, I know – some call me an adrenaline junkie but I just won’t stop). Although I only recently re-purchased my beloved Benefit’s They’re Real (my review of which you can read here), a few new releases lately had piqued my interest. One was L’Oreal’s Miss Manga, which I was dangerously close to trying out until I saw the advert for Maybelline’s offering.

Maybelline Falsies Big Eyes claims to be quite the revolutionary piece of makeup, giving us “360 degrees of lash glam volume” with its double ended mascara wand. The idea is that our bottom lashes are different beasts to our top lashes, and so deserve a separate brush to properly catch each eyelash.

This was a concept I wholeheartedly supported; how many times have we poked ourselves viciously in the eye with a fat mascara wand as we attempt to delicately wiggle it down our bottom lashes? Too many, ladies, TOO MANY TIMES. I know Clinique has a special Bottom Lash Mascara but I for one can’t quite bring myself to spend £12 on a product that can only be used on half of my eye; so Maybelline offering 2 brushes in 1 product was much more up my street.

So, does it deliver on its grand problem-solving promises? The answer: ehhhh kinda.

Firstly we’ll talk about the Upper Lashes wand. It’s not my usual wand of choice, being a fibre brush whereas I’m much of a plastic fantastic kind of girl. It’s also one of those wands that has twists in it for what appears to be no good reason. I like the brushes to be quite straight and even so that I can work all the magic with my fancy hand wiggles and so on. Wands like this never really seem to catch my lashes where they’re supposed to, and can distribute product too unevenly.

And then there is my main bugbear with this mascara. The length of the wand itself. Just look at it. The decision to make the wand double ended and have the product in both the lids was, in my opinion, the wrong one. It means you have to manouvre all of the bulky packaging while applying the mascara, giving you much less control than when you have a longer wand to play with. It also might bash off your nose and lead to you smearing mascara over your cheek if you’re a bit, er, like me…

The Lower Lashes wand, however, IS really good for the job. A nice, simple brush, it’s got much smaller fibres to properly coat the finer hairs on the bottom. I’ll go as far as to put my lady balls on the line here and say that it’s better at catching the lower lashes than They’re Real – and that’s a big claim for me to make.

I think the results photo here shows perfectly my overall issue with the mascara. Bottom lashes = PERFECTO. Top lashes = PERFECT-NO (sorry, that was the best I could do). As you can see, the top wand just didn’t work for me and resulted in uneven distribution as well as my inner lashes being missed due to the cumbersome wand issue.

In terms of formula, I think the mascara does fairly well. It lasts nicely and doesn’t seem to smudge. It’s also a welcome change, after using the very wet and stubborn Lash Vegas and They’re Real recently, to have a mascara that actually comes off with a face wipe and doesn’t leave me looking like a panda until I’ve quadruple-cleansed.

Overall, my thoughts are that Maybelline are onto a winner in terms of concept, but didn’t quite get it right with the upper wand. I’m sure other people would be able to manouvre the upper brush much better than me, but personally I don’t think I’ll get much more use from it. The bottom lash wand is an absolute god send though, and I think I’ll continue to use this alongside my normal mascara to better complete my look.

Have any of you tried this mascara yet? What do you think?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 25, 2014

Bobbi Brown Tinted Eye Brightener Review & Swatches

Hello you incredible human beings,

Last weekend I reviewed Bobbi Brown’s Long Wear Even Finish Foundation and good lord in heaven, it is incredible. I thoroughly recommend it if you’re looking for a high end foundation and it is truly the best foundation I’ve used in a very long time.

Obviously, when I went to the excellent people at Bobbi Brown at Selfridges in Birmingham, I was persuaded to get more than one product. We used the Tinted Eye Brightener as well as lots of other nice things on my troll face and I really loved it. So, you know…when in Selfridges.

It’s pretty self explanatory what this little tube of joy does. As an eye brightener, it is erm…designed to brighten your eyes. For those of you gals who are looking for a heavy duty under eye concealer, you might think that this probably isn’t quite what you’re looking for. But let me tell you something: I used to be one of those girls. My under eye routine was intense, involving lots of patting-with-the -ring-finger and a copious amount of re-applying trowels load of concealer to hide my horrible dark, baggy eyeballs. However, this product is actually so, so, so good for my under eye area. I’ve found that I don’t actually need such a heavy duty product, and this Eye Brightener genuinely does what it promises it will.

Skeptical? You might as well be. The product itself is quite thin and liquidy. If you tested this on your hand or elsewhere (whatever floats your boat and so on), you’d probably think it was weak and useless. But despite the liquidness (inventing new words is fun), it performs really well. Somehow, the pigmentation is amazing and it covers as well as brightens. The lightweight nature of the Brightener means that it doesn’t get into the creases, which can happen with heavier concealers.

There’s a slight sheen to the product, as you’d imagine, which is what makes you look awake and brilliant. I have quite dark circles, especially when I’ve put my alarm on snooze 50 times, and the Eye Brightener really helps to cover the dark circles as well as perk my face up.

It comes in a handy tube and with a doe foot applicator (who knew that this was what those little things were called?!), so it’s really easy to apply to the right areas. In terms of colour, I got the brightener in Bisque, which is a warm pink-toned shade that works well to combat blue toned dark circles.

Swatched / Semi Blended

Like the Long Wear Even Finish foundation, this concealer/brightener is a little on the pricey side. It is £19.50 for a 6ml tube, but this is one that is definitely worth it. I’ve read a number of reviews that say this is much better than Touche Eclat (I haven’t tried so I wouldn’t know!), but what I do know is that I am going to carry this around with me like a precious, beautiful child. Please, go and buy it. PLEASE.

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 23, 2014

MAC Pret-a-Pretty | Review & Swatches

Hey there soul sisters. Today I’ve got absolutely nothing revolutionary to say, and my whole post can be summed up with these words:

Here is a MAC lipstick and it’s effing fabulous.

Which is what all MAC lipstick reviews basically say, isn’t it? Regardless though, I do find these simple lipstick reviews extremely useful when it comes to MAC – I mean, one of these babies will now set you back at least £15 (someone pick Granny off the floor, she’s keeled over in shock) and so you if you’re buying online you definitely want as much info as possible before you part with your precious cash. I was lucky enough to pick this little beaut up from a blog sale recently for the much more reasonable price of £8, but I still checked out a few swatches online.

This lipstick is part of the Sheen Supreme range from MAC, which promises to combine the colour and pigmentation of a lipstick with the moisturising sheen of a gloss. Hybrid products like these are always a win with me, having not quite given up my love of lip glosses despite knowing that lipsticks are the way forward for my older, more mature self.

Pret-a-Pretty is a pinky nude, making it so completely up my street that it’s practically on my doorstep. Despite the fine line that exists between a classic Brigitte Bardot nude lip and a ‘foundation lip’, it will always be my favourite shade for a lipstick. As my beloved MAC Creme D’Nude has officially bit the dust (I was using it right up until the ‘scraping out of the tube’ end, dear readers) I definitely needed a replacement, and Pret-a-Pretty is perfect for the job.

With Flash / Without Flash

As you can see, even without the flash the lipstick still has a beautiful sheen to it. The formula is thick and creamy, making it really moisturising and it smells all vanilla-y and expensive. My one criticism of Pret-a-Pretty, which I assume is probably the same across the Sheen Supreme range due to the formula, is that staying power isn’t brilliant. When left it can stay on the lips for a couple of hours, but it transfers quite easily when eating or drinking. C’est la vie. Le bibliotheque. Jambon. That’s enough French for now.

Overall, Pret-a-Pretty is the perfect everyday shade – though unfortunately not at an everyday price for many of us. My plan is to not use this all the time with gay abandon as I did my Creme D’Nude and thus hopefully it’ll last a bit longer – but check out the usage already shown in the top picture, do we really think I can manage this? It’s like that advert where the kids aren’t supposed to eat the Haribo even though it’s right in front of them (which, FYI, is surely a sort of child abuse).

Do any of you own Pret-a-Pretty by MAC? What’s your favourite MAC lipstick?