Winning

So this is a post I've been meaning to do since about 1986...

Way back in August, the very gorgeous Dani, of polkadani, had a giveaway on her blog. And you know what? I flippin' won it! I never ever win blog giveaways so it was a really lovely surprise when an email landed in my inbox informing me that I was the lucky winner! The prize was a really gorgeous pocket watch pendant from Urban Outfitters and a MeMeMe lip and cheek tint.

Winning. Now I know what it feels like to be Charlie Sheen...

If you're not familiar with MeMeMe, it's a brand that's quite Benefit-esque (but much cheaper) and is available in Superdrug. I've used one of their blushers before (which I reviewed ages ago here) but had never tried the tints so was excited to give one a go. Dani was actually kind enough to let me choose which tint I'd like as MeMeMe do two different ones; Pussy Cat, which is a dupe for BeneTint and Poppy Tint, which, you've guessed it, is a dupe for Posie Tint. As I've been LOVING the mini Posie Tint I got with Glamour magazine a while back, I went for Poppy Tint and have been really impressed with it. I'll be honest, I tried to photograph some swatches of it alongside Posie Tint, just to show how similar the two are, but my camera was having none of it and I just gave up out of sheer frustration. I do however, now have two lovely pink smudges on my hand which will not budge. Excellent.

Here's a close up of my pendant, it's so pretty and ornate! I've worn it loads since I got it; I'm really enjoying clicking the little button at the top to make the door open to check the time! It makes me feel like a Victorian gentleman. I just need a monacle now...

So a very belated THANK YOU to Dani for my prizes - I love them both!

Have you tried any MeMeMe products? What did you think? Also, should I get a monacle???

zig a zig ah

Although leopard print has been quite 'fashionable' for the last couple of years, it's really taken me some time to accept it as something I'd actually wear, as I've never quite been able to shake off the images of Mel B, lunging and flailing about in all her Girl Powered insanity, wearing a horrifying variety of lycra leopard catsuits, mini skirts and boob tubes...

Scary is an understatement.

I think most animal prints can quite easily fall into the trap of looking cheap and nasty, and for me, leopard print was especially something that I'd normally associate with naff, tacky clubwear and mutton-dressed-as-lamb-type women. Take, for instance, Bet Lynch from Coronation Street;

Please be aware, I'm not really old enough to actually remember when Bet Lynch was in Corrie, but she's someone I feel that we all, as Brits, should be aware of. Like the Queen. Or Ant and Dec.

Recently though, I've started to change my mind, and thanks to the abundance of leopard print that was on the Fall catwalks, I'm starting to see the joys of leopard. With designers such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and Balmain all doing their take on the fierce fabric (alliteration is lovely, isn't it?), I've been persuaded to give leopard print another chance.

Dolce & Gabbana

Balmain, Gucci and Mulberry

With my new-found appreciation for leopard print fresh in my heart, I recently bought and wore a body con leopard dress from H&M on a night out. Clearly my apprehensions were completely unfounded because everywhere I looked, someone was wearing leopard print (either it is really trendy or I was right about it being tacky clubwear and I need to have a serious re-think about the bars and clubs that I go to). At one point, I was in the loos and every single girl around me had on a leopard print dress/top/skirt. It was like something from The Jungle Book. But sexier.

It's no surprise really that everyone is wearing leopard print, because all the high street stores are awash with it. Remember how I thought that maybe the reason why camel coats are so popular this season is because The Big Trendy Haberdashery has got a really good deal on camel wool? Well I think their leopard fabric must have just gone into the 50% section. Seriously, just type "leopard" into the search bar on Topshop, ASOS etc and a ridiculous amount of leopard print stuff appears.

I've picked out some of my favourite leopard print bits and pieces that are in stores at the moment. I think what's great about leopard print is that it's actually very versatile. It might seem a bit loud and 'out there' at first, but because the colours are neutrals, it actually goes with most things. So even if you're not too keen on going for all-out leopardy madness, you can just throw on a pair of leopard pumps or a belt and still be on trend.

Leopard Print Moccasin, £39.99 Zara

Leopard Vintage Faux Fur Coat, £98 Topshop

Seriously considering getting a leopard coat for my winter coat. I'm so over camel. A leopard would kill a camel. Just putting that out there.

Leopard Print Jersey Pencil Skirt, £24 ASOS

Truly Madly Deeply Animal Cross Tee, £28 Urban Outfitters

Leopard Cardigan, £32 Miss Selfridge

Leopard Print Jersey Culottes, £16 ASOS

Dress, £12.99 H&M (this is the one I've got - I love it!)

Which is your favourite? Have you been wearing leopard print? Am I the only one who was scared of it?!

Also, I've been writing this post in the ad breaks between X Factor - it's just finishing now - who are you loving? I've been a big fan of Cher throughout, but I thought this week's performance was a bit boring. Loving Rebecca and Matt though - think they were the two best performances of the night. And who are you hating?! Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know how I feel about Katie... GET HER OUT!

from now on you can call me Mystic Meg

Ok, now I don't want to show off here, but, well I'm going to - I totally predicted this.

Back in March, I did a post about the Chanel temporary tattoos and suggested that high street stores such as Topshop and Urban Outfitters might take inspiration from them and bring out their own ranges. And they have!!!

This clearly means that I am psychic.

Except, not really, obviously, because this is just how fashion works - high street stores always copy take inspiration from the high-end designers. But still, I'm quite excited that the two shops I mentioned are the ones that have actually done it. I just had a quick browse through some other online stores (Miss Selfridge, New Look, H&M and ASOS) and can't find any other tattoos, though I'm sure they'll follow suit soon.

The Topshop ones are very clearly inspired by Chanel; some of the designs include birds (now I'm no ornithologist, but I'm pretty sure they're swallows), flowers and strips of chains. Funnily enough, the Chanel tattoos also had swallows, flowers and strips of chains. However, the Chanel ones were very pretty and feminine whereas I'd say the Topshop ones are little more edgy and kind of 'rock and roll' (if that's the right way to describe them - hopefully you can see what I mean from the pictures) There's five different sets available (some packs contain several small tattoos and some just contain one large one), and they're priced between £4 and £6.50.

images from Topshop.com

The Urban Outfitters tattoos are very different. Firstly they can only loosely be described as 'tattoos' as they're more like body stickers. They remind me a bit of those crystal tattoos everyone went mad for in the late 90s/early 00s. There's also only two designs available; a butterfly and a bunch of flowers. They're very pretty and sparkly and they're available in white, black and gold - I can see them being popular with festival-goers. Only problem is, Urban Outfitters have done their usual trick of going "right, new product, very pretty, quite eyecatching actually. Let's price it at something ridiculous!" The butterfly costs £14 and the flowers cost £18.

£18 for a glittery sticker?!

Sorry Urban Outfitters, but you just lost me. I know the Chanel ones were about £50, but there was loads of designs in the pack. And they were frikkin' Chanel! Anyway, maybe I'm just being a bit of a tightwad, what do you think? Would you pay £14 and £18 for these babies?

images from UrbanOutfitters.co.uk

Anyway, next chance I get, I'm heading to Topshop to get my hands on a pack - I'm particularly drawn to the chains. What do you think? Will you be sporting temporary tattoos this summer? And which do you prefer Topshop or Urban Outfitters?

On the good ship lollipop...

I think this just about sums me up - tomorrow I'm going to a joint birthday party for three friends, so today I went into town to buy presents for said friends. I came back from town with two DVDs (for me), a brooch (for me), a pair of shoes (for me), a present (for one of the friends) and this postcard of Shirley Temple (for me). To be fair, I'm going halves on the presents with another friend, and it just worked out that she'd sorted the other two out first. But I think it's safe to say that I much prefer buying myself things than buying them for other people. This probably means I'm a bad person, but hey, at least I'm a bad person with lots of cool stuff.

Why Shirley Temple? It's kind of a combination of intrigue, because when I was little, everyone said I looked like her, and vague terror, because I've always found her a bit creepy. There's something about those chubby little arms and shiny, shiny ringlets that just doesn't feel right to me. Ever noticed how in every single Shirley Temple film there's a scene where she does a tap dance routine with an elderly black man? It doesn't matter what kind of film it is - I swear I saw one where her character was on her death bed but, by God, could they stop that plucky little girl from doing a tap dance with an elderly black man? Like Hell they could! She tap danced to her dying heart's content, yes indeedy.

Here's a photo of me as a deranged-looking child for comparison. Note - I may have had the ringlets and chubby arms but I NEVER tap danced.

Back to my purchases - I went back to the wonderful vintage jewellery shop where I bought my owl brooch... I don't actually think all of it is vintage because, well it looks too shiny and new, but regardless, it's still cool. Today I bought an adorable little ballerina -

The detail is lovely on this - she's got a flouncy skirt and is tying up her little ballet shoe! I shall name her Annabel.

I also bought a pair of interesting shoes from Urban Outfitters, they were on sale - £20 reduced from £35 (I pretty much only ever buy from the sale section of Urban Outfitters coz it's so bloody extortionate). I was looking for a pair of black flats and came across these little beauts -

I love that cutout detail! So nifty! They're not really the sort of thing I'd normally buy - I'm more of a ballet pumps kind of gal, but they're so unusual and VERY comfortable so I threw caution to the wind and just bought them. Madness.