Mulled Wine #wiwt

I've spent a good portion of my day at the Christmas market in town today. Mulled wine, Bratwurst and loads of christmas treats later I'm now more than ready for a nap.

But before I do that, here's a few shots of my outfit today that saw me through a very cold day in the heart of Exeter and multiple rounds of mulled wine..

Faux Fur Boots: Barrats,  Knit Top: Next, Denim Skinnies: New Look

Dark Chocolate Warm Up

All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then can't hurt...

John Frieda Precision Foam Colour - £9.99 

So, the weather hasn't been the best, it's freezing cold down here in the South West but I shouldn't complain as back home in Germany it's even colder! They've got snow and everything (according to my BFF) However, to counteract the winter chill I've been feeling, I've gone and invested in a new Dark Chocolate Brown hair colour.

I wasn't looking to experiment with a new product when I had this bright idea on Saturday to dye my hair, but this foam hair dye by John Frieda caught my eye so I decided to give it a go. Here's the result:

Original Colour: Dark Brown - Result: Top right hand corner

So, you can see the result of the colour in the top right hand corner. It's pretty much what it looks like on the packaging which is a first for me. This was the first time that I've used foam hair dye and I must admit it wasn't so easy to get adjusted to. ,The step by step guide scared me a little bit.. "Don't shake" "Tilt 5 x times" "Don't tilt more than five times" "Don't do this, don't do that" When after the first few minutes of trying to follow the instructions it became clear to me that I looked nothing like the foamy haired woman in the manual (which was blatantly photoshopped by the way as there is no way that I could have ever had such a foamy head at any point) I decided to stop worrying and just go with it.

Well, what can I say? The colour worked, I am pleased with the result and there was little mess. So all in all, I'm happy with the result and now that I know how to use it I'll use it again. So, what do you think?

xoxo
Kate

12 Days of Christmas Promo

Okay, normally I try not to talk too much about work but this week Fantasy Shopper are doing something so awesome I feel I should tell you for your own good so you don't miss out!

Each day until the 12th of December Fantasy Shopper are giving away a prize to the best outfits styled and submitted to their daily Style Contests (Events), including gift cards for high street retailers like Reiss, Oasis and Cath Kidston as well as a mixture of top prizes from Lulu Guiness, Swarovski, The Body Shop and many more.

In addition, every entry will also be in with a chance to winning a massive Christmas Hamper filled with goodies worth over £500 on Dec 13th - so even if you don't win the individual Style Events everyone has a chance to win an amazing prize just in time for Christmas simply by having participated.

Unfortunately (of course!) I cannot enter as I work for Fantasy Shopper but that doesn't mean I cannot talk about it so go and style your hearts out for a chance to win! Good luck to those of you that do!

£100 Xmas Outfit Blogger Challenge

FashionVouchers.com have recently launched their £100 Xmas Outfit Blogger Challenge so I figured I'll let you know about it and take part in the early festivities.

The Challenge is fairly straight forward: Create a Party Outfit from any brand on FashionVouchers.com up to the value of £100. Then, write a post about your outfit and the competition on your blog and a link to their  competition page so other bloggers can take part.

Here's the Outfit I have chosen from ASOS via Fashion Vouchers:

Total Outfit Cost: £89.99 (from ASOS)

Peplum Dress £15 | Mules £27 | Sky Fall Nail Polish £11 | Print Clutch £27 | Spike Earrings £9.99

The Competition ends on Dec 17th - good luck to everyone who enters! If I happen to win with the above outfit, I shall let you know!

Luscious Lashes

Everyone has one or two favourite things about their appearence. Some take pride in their hair, others in their figure and some in their lips or eyes. Well, I'm always at a loss of what I like about myself let alone what I like best. After all, the grass is always greener and everyone always looks thinner, prettier etc. However, when I did my eye make up yesterday I kind realised I was really happy with my eyes. It's amazing what a little colour can do - even if it's black like my favourite extension mascara.

I've been using Model Co's Fibre Lash Mascara for over a year now and think it probably is the reason why I like experimenting with eye make up so much and usually stay away from falsies.
It's what I asked my make-up artist to use for my wedding make-up. Have a look at some of the shots.

In case you haven't stumbled upon this mascara yet, Model Co's Fibre Lash Mascara is applied in three stages. First you coat the eyes from base to tip with the big black bottle. Then you use the Lash Fibre bottle, applying a layer of white thin fibres to your lashes. The final step is to apply some more extension mascara which colours the fibres black!

The end result? Luscious lashes that take you from day to night.

Rain, Fake Nails & Music

Ah my lovely readers, I do apologise for being so quiet on the blogging front this month. It's always a bit of a hectic time of the year around Christmas and with the weather being as it is it hasn't helped matters.

Pretty much all my clothes fell victim to some leak in our bedroom so I had to wash (and I kid you not) over seventeen 20 litre bags of clothes. I didn't even know I owned that many clothes! Unfortunately a lot of them don't fit so I've put three of them to charity. I'm undecided about the rest but will sort it out over the weekend.

Anyway, now let's get to the fun stuff. As you may know from my previous nail polish related posts, I'm terrible for biting my nails which is why I bought some fake nails from Elegant Touch not too long ago. So, I figured seeing as whenever I have fake nails I never bite them, I'll try them out.

Here's last week's nails: Pink Polished Nails from Elegant Touch
Perfect match for my favourite coffee mug!!

Here's this week's nails: Black/Gold Glitter Tip Short Falsies from Elegant Touch
Perfect to infuse some sparkle into my off-duty look!

The pink polished ones lasted around 6 days. Which is a remarkable time given I was ridiculously careless around the house. With three replacements used I ended up removing them purely because they were not practical for the weather related house work ahead.

The black and gold glitter set has lasted me since the weekend but unfortunately the design is starting to wear off and I'm ready to try something new. So, today's their last day in action.

Tomorrow I'll go back to bare and then have a nosey around town at the rest of Elegant's touch collection. I've seen some Glitter ones which looked great for the party season ahead so I might just treat myself again. Oh btw, this is not a sponsored post or anything I just really was impressed with these falsies so want to stick with the brand.

Even better news? I didn't bite my nails once in all that time!

A trip down Memory Lane..

Last week I travelled to Germany for my BFF's wedding! Eek! I was so excited when she told me she was engaged (two weeks prior to the wedding!) and got the cheapest flight I could find to attend her Last Minute wedding in the depths of Bavaria.

I stayed at my parents flat in Germany and used the days before my BFF's big day to dwell in some old memories.

I found my old friendship book from back in elementary school. It was somewhat of a pre-facebook social must have when I was a kid. Every kid had one in the 90s. It's basically a book that you'd leave poems, notes, well wishes and drawings in for your friends to remember you by for when they turn old and/or nostalgic.

I took some pictures of a few entries in mine and translated them for you:

 "Life is like a stage play. What matters isn't the length but the skilled act. 

I wish you a happy, interesting and adventurous life - Martina G." 

~

"To be yourself, is more important than to be someone. 

Wishing you Luck, Health, Adventure, Warmth, Comfort and a pitch on the bright side of life - with love, your brother M."

~

We are all angels with only one wing. 

We have to embrace each other in order to fly. 

I wish you all the best and people who will always fly with you.

 Your German teacher, Theo W."

~

I don't want to sound soppy but it was really touching to read all those kind words. So, I've decided that when I have kids one day I'll make them start a friendship book too.

When you see the time and effort put into an entry like that, you know it's just not comparable to scrolling through your old Facebook wall. A website simply can't compete with that kind of thoughtful gesture.

Anyway, now that I'm back in the UK I've got some blog posts coming up you'll hopefully enjoy reading as much as I'll have fun writing them. Oh and I am planning a Give Away in time for Christmas! More info to follow....

Have a great week my lovelies!

xoxo
Kate