Capsule makeup wardrobe - summer edition

I travel back and forth across the South East a lot for work, as you may have gathered by now (especially if you follow my Twitter train rants). I can't cart my (substantial) makeup collection around with me, so I've got a capsule set of products that can go with a lot of outfits. In summer I like fresher, prettier and simpler looks - less eyeshadow, light bases, and summery lip and cheek colours so the capsule revolves around these.

I don't take all of this - it depends on how long I'm away or the outfits I pack with me. But at the moment, the products usually come from this lot.

From left to right:

1. Bourjois sharpener - for years I've been wrecking and wasting my pencils with bad sharpeners, but this one is amazingly sharp and sharpens even the softest pencils with ease.

2. Tweezermans - nuff said.

3. Shiseido lash curlers - I think these are better than the Shu Uemura ones if you have larger eyes.

4. My MAC 182 kabuki should be here but in wedding-day mayhem I have misplaced it. Or the cat has stolen it (which would make it the THIRD 182 she would have stolen and stashed away from me). In its place, an ELF brush.

5. Boots No. 7 concealer brush - love this blending brush more than my MAC one!

6. Maybelline Colossal 100% Black mascara - I've tried a few different mascaras of late, but this is still my favourite.

7. MAC concealers - 2, yup, because I'm between shades and shade groups in MAC. Once these are finally finished I'll be moving to NARS, I think.

8. UD Primer Potion. 

9. MAC Paint in Bamboom - this is the perfect nude shadow/base for my lids. For summer, I like to keep eyes simple with this and a jet black flick and mascara.

10. Kiko double-ended liner in purple and green. So sad these were discontinued. This is a perfect capsule pencil because both shades are amazingly pigmented and sparkly, and great if you want to sparkle-up a day look for evening.

11. Avon Supershock liner - the blackest black ever, and perfect for tighlining and the waterline. Cannot be without.

12. MAC Spiked brow pencil. Also cannot be without.

13. L'Oreal Super Liner in Black Lacquer - a new addition and it won't be going anywhere soon! I prefer a proper brush, but I've been searching for a really glossy liquid liner for ages for a proper 1960s flick and this is it! It does not budge, either. Ace.

14. I put MAC Satin Taupe here, but I would also probably pack Urban Decay YDK. Two neutral shadows that are great for smart work events but pretty enough for evening.

15. Maybelline Fresh BB cream - I really like the Garnier for cooler days as it is very rich, but this is oil free and has SPF30 and perfect for warmer days (not that we have had many!) It has just enough coverage for me, I prefer foundations for winter or special occasions.

16. Benefit Cha Cha Cha tint - so gorgeous and summery!

17. MAC Breezy blush - my favourite blush, the prettiest slightly shimmery, glowy dark pink.

18. Rimmel Stay Matte in Translucent - love this powder! 

19. NARS Albatross - THE perfect highlighter.

20. Revlon Just Bitten Kissable in Rendezvous - this goes really well with the Cha Cha Cha tint and lasts without drying the lips.

21. Revlon JBK in Crush - such a pretty dark berry stain that can be built up into a dark cherry red lip. Goes really well with Breezy and a flick for a 50s look, but also the purple and green Kiko liners.

22. Revlon Colorburst in Pink Truffle - the perfect nude lipstick for my pigmented lips - goes really well with the shadows for a smart day look but is also really good for an understated lip to pair with the sparkly liners.

Phew! so that's my summer essentials. I think I'd pack a similar set for holidays, and although it's 20 products, it actually all fits into a really compact makeup case.

I'm back! and Hell Bunny OOTD

Hello, how are you all? I've been away again - writing papers, giving papers, travelling back and forth across the South East - oh, and somewhere in between, getting mawwied (The Princess Bride, 1987). I'm now recovered from a terrible cold (got immediately after the wedding, boo!) and am feeling a little less frazzled for the first time in what seems like months. So I thought I would start things off with a OOTD, pictures courtesy of the now Mr Bartimaeus Rabbit.

Dress, Hell Bunny via Amazon; cardigan, Marks and Spencer; flats, Bertie; hair clip, Accessorize; pearl earrings and necklace, gifts from my mum.

This is my first Hell Bunny dress (of course I approve of the brand name), and it's lovely. I've had it altered from a halterneck to regular straps (halternecks are not the busty girl's friend, for everyday wear at least) and shortened for stumpy little me. If you're in Southampton I heartily recommend the talented Jenni of Craftizan for alterations, customisations and custom-makes! Black floral prints are my very favourite (aside from bunny prints) as they're not as sugar-sweet as coloured florals and are very flattering.

I'm wearing ribbons from the shortening remnants in my high and swishy 1950s' ponytail but you can't see them. They make me feel very Sandra Dee! I'm also wearing one of the hairclips I wore on my wedding day - I'd been looking for vintage hair clips for weeks (one of my very few quests for my simple fuss-free wedding) and Accessorize came up trumps with these beautiful clips. I feel instantly more put together with one of these in my hair.

My shoes are a Bertie sale purchase: pale grey-toned mint patent, beautifully made real leather flats. I've decided to invest in my flat shoes (which I wear all the time) and not in heels from now on. I'm on the lookout for a bright green pair to add to my flatrobe...

Blogs that make you go whoop

I follow a lot of fashion blogs and I love reading them all. But there's a few that when they pop into my Google Reader make me do an inner "whoop" and make me smile every time. Perhaps it's their style that speaks to me, perhaps their writing, or their photographs - or all these and more. But every time one of these bloggers updates their little sunny corners of the blogosphere, I smile.*

Afeitar

Helen's baking's just as sweet as her style, plus I have really enjoyed her home interior posts recently too!

Elevatorkmusik

Just how beautiful is Gillian? I love her cute-but-with-a-goth-edge style. Particularly her going out outfits!

Polka Dani

I love that she did Literature at Kent, where I taught, and I love her perfectly pretty makeup looks - she's responsible for my recent obsession with lipstains!

Essbeevee

Sarah's blog is just sheer awesomeness. I love all her dresses, of course, but even more, I love the way she writes - she's just. So. Funny.

Dolly Clackett

I really am in awe of Roisin's dressmaking abilities, and her Melissa cherry heels! Her outfit posts alway brighten my day (and have me scouring Ebay).

T Rex and Tiaras

Char is another talented dressmaker but also owns a prodigious number of beautiful frocks. She's the only person who's ever made me wish I was taller (but not a baller) because of how graceful the gal looks in a frock. She also shares my love of novelty prints!

Esme and the Lane Way

I love this vintage inspired Aussie fashion blog, her dresses are beautiful and I love her penchant for pairing a ladylike 1940s dress with massive chunky platforms.

Frocks and Frou Frou

Lili always has me hankering after Etsy custom made dress sellers! She has a great eye for colour and I deeply covet all her Chie Mihara shoes!

*I could just list ALL the blogs in my reader, because they pretty much all make me smile or think or covet or drool, otherwise they wouldn't be there! But we'd be here a while. These are just a few of the many I love (and if yours isn't listed it isn't because I don't love it!!)

Which are the blogs that make you go whoop?

The Tempest, The Globe, Tuesday 8th May 2012

It is a little perverse and a little wonderful that the first play I've ever seen at the Globe just happened to be in Bengali.

But it's one of those places I've always meant to go, and I guess it took the Bangla-patriot in me to get me there, but really, The Tempest performed in Bangla at Shakespeare's Globe isn't something I could have missed. Nor, it seems, could a large chunk of London's Bengali population, judging by the audience - it was quite brilliant to see a sea of brown faces, saris, hijabs and beards filling the Globe.

This somewhat unusual event was part of the ambitious Globe to Globe festival, which is hosting 38 non-English language interpretations of Shakespeare plays by theatre companies from around the world to celebrate the World Shakespeare Festival and the forthcoming Olympics. The acclaimed Dhaka Theatre Company has been on the drama scene in Bangladesh since 1973. Whilst most of their works are original compositions, their adaptation of The Tempest showed the quality, originality and innovation they're known for in their home city, to a world audience.

Dhaka Theatre's production was, first and foremost, terrifically entertaining. I think The Tempest was a perfect fit for a Bangla Shakespeare (though I still think Lear could be made into an incredible modern Hindi cinematic tragedy, of Omkar/Othello proportions). Not just because of the storm that opens the play - but also because of the magic that's central to it. Magic that is as malevolent and mischievous as it can be delightful and enchanting, a magic that is embedded within the natural landscape. Ariel is a familiar figure to anyone who knows Bengali stories about djinni. And the "postcolonial" readings aren't lost either: Caliban's tale was at one point used to gesture to the Language Movement, and the costs that Bangladeshis well know of having your language and your freedom curbed by a powerful stranger from afar.
The Manipuri drummers that spun and beat throughout the play (in the green on the right above) were spectacular and truly thrilling, but perhaps a little excessively used to punctuate the dramatic scenes. I would have preferred a little more dialogue, a little more of the Shakespeare translated into Bangla. I wasn't too sure about the removal of the bitter from the original bittersweet ending (I had Fanon's words about freedom having to be taken not given, in my head as Prospero benignly set Caliban free). But the comedy was well done, the quasi-jatra physicality translated very well, and the set was as charming as could be hoped for with a production that was only in situ for two days.

It felt very special to be there, particularly during the curtain call when acclaimed actress Shimul Yousef grasped the outstretched hands of the appreciative audience, and one of the actors ran back onto the stage wrapped in the Bangladeshi flag. I wonder what Will would have made of it all? I hope he would have smiled to see the sheer reach of his work, and have approved of a piece that captured The Tempest's playful, magical heart.

School shoes

There are lots of versions of Clarks Magic Key style shoes about at the moment, in growned up sizes. Some of the fully "growned up" individuals amongst you might raise a stern eyebrow at this trend, possibly referencing Young Adult in your concerns.

Nevertheless, I can't help but love them, even if I'm now about 4x the actual age I wore this style most. To be honest, Clarks has been selling similar styles to sensible-shoe-wearing folks like myself for a good few years in the shape of various clumpy Active Air styles (my burgundy patent cross-strap clumpers being my very favourite day to day shoes), and so they're not a huge departure from what some people wear day to day. They're practical (kids wear them for a reason!), they're kooky-sweet and they're a sturdy alternative to the often pathetically unsupportive ballet pump, and I do love the nostalgia-factor. I think they go perfectly with little printed dresses and cardigans, just as I paired them in my ode to Bernie.

Back to School by nazneen372 featuring flat heels

T strap shoes
$110 - topshop.com

Ymc flat heels
$278 - asos.com

Anyway, so here's a round up of the different versions around on the high street at the moment.My favourite so far have to be the navy Shellys' version on the left (but in red) - they're real leather, unlike the shiny red Schuh ones, they're not super-clumpy (the Red Or Dead ones are like having dreadnoughts strapped to your feet) and the T-bar is just right (the white Topshop ones and the YMC navy ones just look a bit too orthopaedic and not quite cute enough).

And here's the original ad that made so many girls' walks to school infinitely better as a result of a genius little bit of marketing:

Weirdly enough, it seems impossible to get these actual styles in larger-sized kids' sizes now. Which is a shame because for the smaller-footed among us, it'd be a much cheaper option than any of the above. But I'm guessing it's all about the Kickers loafers now. (I'm so *down* with them kids.)

OOTD: The Leopard Who Came to Tea

I'm still to fix my proper camera but I have started to like my clothes and appearance a bit more again, so I thought I'd get back into OOTDs even if they're just basic phone camera-mirror jobs. I paired my beloved and oh-so-versatile People Tree teacup print dress with leopard, rust and my new yellow Clarks' pumps, and despite Bartimaeus loathing both the dress and all things leopard, conceded that I looked "cute." An achievement?

Teacup dress, Orla Kiely for People Tree, cream long sleeved T shirt (unseen), Dorothy Perkins, leopard cardi, H&M, tights, Asda, yellow cutout pumps, Clarks, rust pashmina, stall outside Russell Square tube.

I love these shoes - the sunny shade cheers me up every time I look down at my feet!

The Entrepreneurial Rabbit

I've just begun my first business venture since I was 17 (when I had my own jewellery business and made over £300 in profits selling made-to-order pieces in the office I temped at).

It's really early days but today was market research day and things are looking really positive. I guess I've always been an entrepreneur in some ways since that teen venture (as pompous and Dragons' Den as that noun sounds!) - I've had so many ideas for businesses, but I've never had the guts to see any of them through. I'm an overly cautious person that always sees the downsides in things and I'm very scared of taking risks.

Luckily, Bartimaeus is pretty much my opposite in this respect. When I had this recent idea (more on it when I've got started!) he encouraged, wheedled and badgered me into taking it seriously. Even earlier this week, as I prepped for my market research, I was totally terrified. It's really quite nervewracking going up to random people you don't know asking them if they'd want to try something out and fill in a questionaire.

But, I am so glad I did. The basically-anonymous feedback has been so glowingly positive, I'm beaming from ear to ear. I can't remember the last time I got a buzz like it. My mind is buzzing with ways to improve, build, develop what I've begun.

I'm sure a lot of you also have ideas like mine - things you don't see out there, or, just as importantly, things that could be just that little bit better (one of the most eye-opening things I realised was that you don't have to reinvent the wheel. If something's already been done - it's actually better because it proves there's a market). But too often perhaps we are that Rabbit in the headlights - discouraged by all the possible downsides, terrified into not moving.

So the moral of the story is: listen to your inner Bartimaeus sometimes.*



*when he reads this he is going to be absolutely INSUFFERABLE to live with...