Tea For Three

2011 has definitely been the year of afternoon tea. I don't think I'd ever had it before my mum's birthday in January but since then I've been for a few and loved all of them. I decided to re-create afternoon tea for my parents while I was home for Christmas. Considering that the extent of my "cooking" is pouring cereal into a bowl I was pretty pleased with how this turned out:



Spicy mini chicken wraps and smoked salmon pinwheel sandwiches. I used leftover chicken from Christmas day for the wrap and cut it into 4 slices before poking a cocktail stick through to stop them from falling apart. The pinwheel sandwiches were super easy - I cut the crusts off some seeded sliced bread, spread with Total Greek yogurt and added a slice of smoked salmon before rolling in cling-film, placing in the fridge for half an hour and then slicing up!



More mini chicken wraps and egg and spinach bagel bites. The bagel bites were by far the messiest but I think these were my favourite.





Nutella brownies (recipe here) and Nutella crispie cakes (Nutella + fruit and fibre cereal + fridge for two hours).



Ta-da!

The china is my mum's Wedgewood set, a vintage cake-stand and a vintage "Homemaker" plate. I need to get a proper cake stand for next time!

What are you favourite afternoon tea treats?

So That Was Christmas

Checking back in now that I'm reunited with my own laptop! The one good thing about going back to work and my flat today is that I can catch-up with everything that's been happening in blog world and share some of my little Christmas snapshots. I had a lovely four days at home, mostly catching up on sleep and spending time with my parents. I'm already super excited about going back home on Friday - there's just something so nice this time of year about being back in my childhood bedroom and not having to fend for myself!

On Christmas Eve I went to a family friend's party wearing my new red Primark dress:



This is definitely one of my favourite new purchases. Not bad for £15.

Other snaps:



Taking advantage of the time off work to try out the GlossyBox nail wraps. Five days later these are still going strong and I've had a lot of compliments/comments about them. Unlike most bloggers I actually quite like nail wraps. These weren't as easy to file down as the Incoco ones but I'd still use them again.

Matching my top to my nails.

Nail wraps on my toes and my sequin party shoes getting their yearly outing.

Open fire. So festive.

Anti-Christmas meal out on Christmas Eve Eve at Busaba Eathai.

Christmas tree and my party outfit.

Despite getting home at 3:30am on Christmas Eve, Santa had still been on Christmas morning. He must have doubled back especially!

Christmas morning breakfast - my re-creation of a Pret granola pot.

Heston's amazing collapsing Christmas pudding. I'm not usually a Christmas pudding fan but this was super sweet and gooey. Worth the £15 even if it did fall apart while I was taking it out of the case!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Mish Mash

How is it Christmas day tomorrow?! I was planning on squeezing in a couple of Christmas posts but I feel like time has been sped up over the last couple of weeks. I'm used to having a three week break for Christmas but now I'm working I have a grand total of four days. Still, that's like, double a normal weekend so I'm really grateful for it!

I thought I'd share some foodie photos I've taken lately as well as today's outfit:



Top: Topshop, Cardigan: M&S, Necklace: Sunday Up Market, Skirt: M&S, Watch: ASOS

I'm not very good at wearing separates or layering so none of my clothes "go" together very well but I quite liked this combination. I bought four of these tops when they first came into Topshop but didn't realise at the time that the armholes are huge so everyone gets a nice view of my bra from the side. Next time I want to buy something in every colour I will trial wear one first before buying more of the same!



Crepes in My Old Dutch, fruit compote in Canteen, Afternoon Tea at the Marriott Marble Arch c/o Groupon, Waitrose Christmas tree cake.

My mum came to visit last weekend we treated ourselves to some yummy food. If you like pancakes then I'd definitely recommend My Old Dutch - go on a Monday when everything is £5! I'm not really a cake person but I love afternoon tea, so much of food is in the presentation and it's really nice to take your time and savor it all. After having something like this I definitely don't want anything sweet for a while although my dad got this cake in Waitrose for only £2 so I did have a nibble of one of the "branches"!

Not the most festive post but hope you all have lovely days tomorrow and that Santa is good to you this year.

Because I'm Worth It.

I can't remember the last time I did a make-up post. I obviously still wear make-up every day but it's been a while since I've been excited by it or have worn different products other than those in easy-reaching distance in the mornings. Lately, however, I seem to have got the make-up bug back. My wallet isn't too happy about this.

I needed a new mascara and as I love all things free thought I might as well spend £15 on L'Oreal to get this box of goodies. I choose Telescopic mascara as I've not used it before and re-purchased Superliner for the hundredth time as all the other liquid liners I've used are rubbish in comparison.



Inside the box:





The three main products are all full-sized which makes this a pretty good freebie. I've been using them everyday since I got the box, I'm so fickle when it comes to make-up and seem to only ever use what's newest in my collection.



The bronzer is perfect for my pale skin. It has three different shades which I swirl together with the little brush included before topping it off with a swipe of just the pink shade. This is more shimmery than I'm used to but it's not glittery at all and actually brightens my skin up quite nicely. Much needed in the terrible winter light.

The eye pencil is really soft and applies easily. It's a natural shade so great for everyday and gives a much softer look than my usual black winged liner. It could also double as a brow pencil.

The lipstick is my favourite product in the box. L'Oreal lipsticks all have a quite strong scent but I actually quite like it as I think its how lipsticks "should" smell. This one is a warm, golden nude with subtle gold shimmer in. It can be built up for a more dramatic look and also works layered over other lipsticks. The formula is nice and moisturising so I've been using this a lot lately.

Have you picked up this free gift?

Yuki & Miwa

A few weeks ago I attended the Yuki and Miwa blogger's event. I posted some photos from it here. I was sent home with a rather packed goodie bag which even had an item of Yuki clothing in it - a gorgeous cream cardi.

Here's how I wore it:



Cardi: Yuki, Top: Topshop, Shorts: Topshop

I know that this isn't the most winter-appropriate outfit but I still haven't really embraced winter dressing this year. I actually bought the top when I was on holiday in Dubai in April. I'll add the to the list of "reasons to believe I already own far too many clothes and never need to shop again."

Although, as I obviously will shop again (and soon), I'll show you some of my favourite Yuki and Miwa items.









All available here.

Don't forget you can use my discount code LIPSTICK152011 to get 15% off until the end of December.

Christmas Shopping

I had a day off work today so headed to Westfield Stratford to do some Christmas shopping. I bought a couple of presents for my parents and friends but I also ended up buying a few things for me. How predictable.

I usually hate Christmas shopping but Westfield today was quite a pleasant experience, it wasn't too busy and I enjoyed a yummy lunch, a Waitrose cookery demonstration and treated myself to a 10 minute massage from Massage Angels at the end of my day.

Here are some of my purchases:



A few new make-up items. I don't really need any new make-up but I'm getting a bit bored with the products I do have. The Vanilla Coke chapstick was only £1 from Primark, it smells so sweet and sickly - I love it! I've wanted a Topshop blusher for about a year and finally got round to buying one. It was only £6 and I've heard a lot of good things about them. I also picked up a couple of new Benefit products after trying them out at the counter. I love how The Porefessional makes my skin look more even and glow-y without looking or feeling like I'm caked in make-up. I've never really used brow products before but after trying Brow-Zings I couldn't believe what a difference it made to my face. Don't worry, I'm not going to go all Scouse Brow on you.



I love skater dresses. They're so flattering and easy to wear. This one was only £10 so I couldn't resist!



I've wanted a red work dress for a while. After trying on loads in other shops, typically this £15 Primark number looked the best. I'll probably wear it to a Christmas party before it joins my working wardrobe as it's so bright and festive.



I love a good bargain and when I saw this Angora cardi in Whistles reduced from £120 to £45 I snapped it up. I often impulse buy silly things in the sale like party dresses that I'm not going to get a chance to wear for the next year but you can never have too many cardigans.



Finally, shopping fuel from Comptoir Libanais. I am not a fan of Christmassy food at all but could probably eat falafel every single day.

Have you done your Christmas shopping yet?

Day & Night

I am a chronic over-planner at weekends. I always feel like I need to cram as much into my Saturdays as possible and last weekend was no different. I had plans to meet a friend for lunch at Tibits, visit the Postmodernism exhibition at the V&A and then go to a different friend's birthday meal...all with no time in between to pop back home to change into my party dress. Dilemma. Here's how I solved it:

Day:



Dress: c/o Motel Rocks, Jumper: TU @ Sainsburys, Necklace: Topshop: Boots: Office, Watch: ASOS

Night:



Same outfit + red lipstick + Dune heels (as worn here)

I love how this dress is "party" enough for the evening but really comfortable to wear all day. With opaque black tights and a jumper to hide the sheer panels it worked really well as a skirt and then I swapped the boots and jumper for heels in the evening. This strategy also paid off for the tube ride home as I didn't have to totter down the escalators in my heels or freeze to death!

How do you deal with day-to-night dressing?

PS. Don't forget you can still get 15% off at Motel with the code TOPBLOG15

Foodie Heaven: The Dime Bar

Last week I took a trip to Clapham for a friend's birthday brunch. I've never been out for brunch before and I'm usually obsessive about having breakfast (cereal is probably my favourite food, how terrible!) so this was quite a new eating experience. We headed to The Dime Bar, an American-themed diner on Battersea Rise for their £16 brunch and bottomless cocktail deal.

Firstly, my outfit:



Dress: Louche @ Joy, Belt: Primark, Shoes: Carvela

Now for the food:











I had the pancakes and waffles. It was meant to come with ice-cream but I have an aversion to all things dairy so asked for it without. My friend had the "Truckers Breakfast" which was huge - I don't think I've ever seen a plate so big! I'm still sad that I couldn't finish my pancakes, they were so yummy but so, so filling! I'm not a huge fan of cocktails as I don't really like the taste of alcohol but I tried a Bloody Mary for the first time (it was really spicy, are they meant to be?!) and also had a Mimosa. I think the bottomless cocktails make this deal amazingly good value if you have a few of them!

I'd definitely recommend a visit to The Dime Bar if you're in the area. It had a quiet, chilled out vibe during the day and the staff were happy for us to linger until the evening when the bar got busier.

Where's your favourite brunch venue? I really want to try The Diner next after reading about it on a few blogs!

Lately.

Life has ever so slightly got in the way of blogging lately. Working full time is so tiring (yeah, I'm a wimp) and my last few weeks have been really busy, trying to pack in all the things I don't have time for during the week. And then being even more tired during the week as a result. So here's a short but sweet round-up of the little things I've been enjoying:



I already own far too many nail polishes but this one was free with Glamour so it's ok. I love the shade - a deep, wintery berry but hate the name! Piccadilly Circus has to be one of my least favorite places in London, especially at this time of year. The crowds of tourists and garish lights are just. Too. Much.



I'm a bit of a Diet Coke addict so when I found saw these Models Own/Diet Coke lipglosses in Boots I snapped them up along with four bottles of the fizzy stuff. I don't usually like lipglosses but I've been wearing these a lot - they're really pigmented, not stick and last well without drying my lips out.



I've re-subscribed to Graze. Thought I'd treat myself now that I'm earning money. Sad to say that this has really been my only extravagance since starting work. The crazy shopping sprees that I dreamed about during my university days haven't really happened due to real life being so expensive but it's nice to get a box of assorted dried food in the post once a week! You can use my code 7KN159X to try a free box if you haven't already.



I received my first GlossyBox a couple of weeks ago - it was such a lovely surprise to get in the post (ok, it was actually left outside of next door's flat but that didn't diminish the surprise, I actually thought that it was kinda cool that my unknown neighbour was a subscriber until I realised that it was actually mine). There have been a lot of posts on it already so I'm not going to do a full review but overall I liked the box, this handcream has been a savior for my dry winter hands. The bath salts were great, too.









I attended the Yuki/Miwa event last week and checked out the new collection while feasting on some rather yummy cupcakes. The goodie bag was so heavy and had some lovely things in it - I'm very excited to try the Liz Earle sample as I must be the only blogger who hasn't! The new collection was gorgeous (more on it soon) and as a special treat you can get 15% off their online store until the end of the month with the code LIPSTICK152011.

Normal outfit posts/reviews will resume soon. In the meantime, what are you loving at the moment? And what would you purchase from the Yuki online shop?

Sequin Queen

I thought I'd bring a bit of sparkle to a cold Monday evening with a rare non-work outfit post:



Skirt: Next, Top: New Look, Tights: TK Maxx, Necklace: Oliver Bonas

I wear this skirt a lot at the weekend - I love wearing sequins in the day and this works just as well with coloured tights and a dressy top as it does with leggings and a warm cardigan. It was only £4 from a Next outlet and despite being worn a lot there have been very few sequin casualties.

How do you brighten up your Mondays?