#Colour_Collective Catch Up

With my brief blog hiatus I neglected to post my 2 most recent Colour_Collective pieces, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to do so now.

(A Weary) Hello, September

We're 2 days into September and already I feel bogged under by all the 'Hello September/Autumn' posts – what is wrong with all you folk seemingly being so glad to see the back of summer?! For me, September's a sad time because it marks the end of summer, and the beginning of what feels like a lifetime of dark mornings and cold, rainy days. 

my everyday autumn makeup

as of late, something strange has happened during my morning makeup routine as i've found myself opting for a nude lip and bold eyes, rather than my signature winged liner and bold lip. so, what's the deal?

nude lips

up until around a year ago, i'd always shyed away from nude lipsticks because i'm fairly pale, but once i figured out which shades worked with my skin tone i've been loving nude lips ever since. i recently picked up a soap and glory lipstick in the shade super nude and i've been reaching for it most days since then, and it's also what i used on my lips in this look. 

bold eyes
again around a year ago, i received the elf 100 piece eyshadow palette free with one of my orders but i only really started to play around with it throughout the summer, and am i glad that i eventually did! i've been loving mixing the pinks and purples within the palette to create a somewhat girly but grungy smoky eye that i think complements my eye colour wonderfully and works a treat with a nude lip. 

bronzed cheeks

i was big on bronzing throughout the summer, and now we've transitioned into autumn i'm still trying to hold onto a healthy glow and i achieve it using the collection bronze glow mosaic. the bronzer is somewhat shimmery, helping to add to the glow i'm attempting to achieve, and i find that it blends nicely and isn't too orange on my skin. 

strong brows

perhaps an obvious one, because when isn't a strong brow on the agenda?! as ever, i fill my brows in with my b. eyeshadow before giving them a good brush through with my trusty elf eyebrow treat and tame to finish the look. 

these are my current autumn makeup favourites, what are yours?

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a new autumn lip colour

collection lip definer in shade 2 cappuccino: £2.79

if you know me, you know i love a dark lip. that said, i was tired of my selection of burgundy and purple toned dark lipsticks and was on the search for a new, more brown toned one after falling in love with the colour of the mac spice lip liner but knowing i could never, ever possess anything mac. after trawling many online cruelty free makeup brands and spending hours in my local superdrug and boots swatching my hands looking for the perfect shade to no avail, i decided to give up on looking for a lipstick and instead turned to lip liners, and that's when i clapped eyes on this offering from collection.

upon first inspection, i doubted that cappuccino would be the shade i was looking for because it looks quite tame and almost nude in the bullet, but after i swatched it i realised that it had a load of potential if i was to build it up. for £2.79 i didn't think about heading to the till with it and it's been a story of nothing but love since then. 

with the product being a lip liner it's of course somewhat drying, but if you pop a little bit of lip balm on before applying it the job's a good 'un. the finish of the liner is a lovely, smooth matte one that actually has pretty decent staying power. of course if you sit down to eat a meal you won't be left with very much on your lips afterwards, but i've sat and drank cups of tea wearing it and it still looks good to go afterwards! unlike other matte lip products, this liner doesn't flake or chap unattractively throughout the day, so you're not left with that awful line on your inner lip that shows where your lip begins and product ends. 

all in all, i am super duper impressed and so beyond happy that i stumbled upon this little gem. i was starting to give up hope that there was a cruelty free option of this shade out there waiting for me, and to find it for under £3 was just absolutely fabulous. collection as a brand generally impress me anyway because the quality of their products is always great for the prices they charge, and this lip liner is certainly no different and has now firmly made its way into my list of favourite lip products. 

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autumn: what's not to love?

autumn well and truly has us here in the uk in its grasp now, and all i've seen these last couple of weeks is an abundance of blog posts celebrating its return. i'm adamant that i can't be the only brit alive that hates autumn/winter, so i thought i'd pop by today to share a few of my autumn related gripes in the hopes that someone, somewhere may feel the same way!

dark mornings

isn't getting up on a morning hard enough without then feeling like you're waking up in the middle of the night?

dark evenings

as soon as the sun goes down i go into chill out mode, meaning pyjamas go on and a cup of tea is made ready for me to snuggle up in bed to chill out watching a tv series or reading blogs, but when the sun's well and truly gone by 5pm you really can't be affording to sack the rest of day off like you'd desire to.

struggling to maintain a reasonable temperature

dressing for autumn is the worst. as the temperature drops, of course you want to pull out all of your knitwear to keep snug outside, but you'd better then believe that entering any heated building is gonna be like entering the fiery pits of hell. 

defrosting your car

obviously it's only applicable to those who own cars, but come on, does anybody like defrosting their car? of course not, and autumn so kindly* brings the frost and the need to defrost cars with it. 

*not kind at all, fuck you autumn.

a deceptive sun

just to rub the change in seasons in your face, of course the sun will be shining coldly while you stand defrosting your car. do not trust the autumn sun, it tells nothing but lies. 

soggy, leaf trodden paths

ah yes, the age old idea that with autumn comes the falling of crispy leaves that we can all frolic around in happily, however if you're a brit, you'll know that the reality is more likely to be soggy, trodden leaves filling the streets that ruin your shoes and get dragged into your house for you to clean up later. not so lovely after all. 

it's funny to read through my list of gripes and know that some of them were listed in others' blog posts as things they love, because i cannot for the life of me work out why anybody would enjoy any of them! if you're also more of a spring/summer baby and are mourning the loss of summer, please do share some of your own autumn/winter gripes below – i'd love to read them!

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bad habit

jumper: primark

dress (worn as skirt): primark

socks: primark

shoes: primark

i don't know why but i always feel a strange sense of achievement when i can walk out of the house in a head to toe primark outfit and still feel pretty bloody good. it's probably something to do with the moans of those who "can never find anything in primark," so to know that over time i've found enough quality bits and pieces to combine together into one super outfit helps me to justify (in my own mind...) the ridiculous amount of time i manage to spend in various primark stores up and down the country.

i've paired up my most recent primark purchase (the shoes) with a couple of my favourites from last autumn/winter (the jumper and dress) and am loving how the burgundy sits against the green/blue tartan, however i'm not loving the beginnings of the autumn weather as it means being perfectly snug in this outfit whilst outdoors, but proceeding to melt upon entering a warm building. i've said it once and i'll say it again: you autumn/winter lovers are odd.

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shades of red // ootd + video!

hat: h&m

dress: primark

jumper: primark:

belt: primark

necklace: ebay

ring: ebay

shoes: river island

it's been decided - i'm going to make it my goal to try and blog an outfit every saturday, so here i am today styling the primark red tartan dress i showed you all in my last collective haul post. i wore this outfit for my day trip to edinburgh, and paired with a leather jacket, it just about kept me warm during the cold, blustery weather. as much as i hate the cold weather, i've found it incredibly easy and fun to style this jumper over various dresses and skirts that i own, so i expect it'll be making plenty more appearances on my blog over the coming months!

i decided to be a bit daring with this outfit post and went all out and filmed a video to see what i could still remember editing-wise from my media studies a level... which now seems a bit silly seeing as throughout college i used final cut pro, and for this video i used the bog standard imovie that comes free on every mac. regardless, it was nice to consider how an outfit may look in action and how editing/music can bring a look to life; basically, i found it a lot of fun to film and edit and may perhaps consider more outfit videos in future (provided i have the time what with being back at uni) if i can get over how terrible the image quality is - apologies! hopefully it doesn't take away from the finished video too much. have you filmed ootd videos before? and if so, do you have any tips? i'd love to hear your thoughts on the video, so feel free to leave me any comments below!

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