Day to Night: Topshop Cap Sleeve Dress

Saturday 29 December 2012

I really enjoyed doing the imaginary online shopping for my virtual Christmas Party post and that got me thinking about doing more. I wouldn't say I am a particularly fashionable person - I just wear what I find comfortable and what suits me - but I like putting outfits together, so I thought I might give this 'Day to Night' feature a go. As a student on a budget, I had to be wise with my money and learnt to buy staple pieces of clothing that were versatile enough to be worn again and again (Because although we'd all love to wear an outfit only once, who really has the money to continually buy new outfits for every event?). All of the outfits in this feature will centre around one item and will cost less than £100.

As Christmas has just passed and new year is approaching, that generally means spending more money than any other time during the rest of the year, I was thinking of how you can buy some staple items in your wardrobe and wear them to a number of events, during the day and night. For today's 'Day to Night', Topshop's Cap Sleeve Flippy Dress in Bottle Green is the item that will be worn from day to night. I love these dresses, as they are super versatile, come in a great range of colours, can be worn all year round and are flattering to pretty much every body shape. Although the bottle green shade is reminiscent of my secondary school days, I think it's a perfect winter shade and perfect for the holiday season.
I am a big fan of cardigans, whether they are chunky or fitted. This cream chunky New Look knit (£17.99) is the perfect juxtaposition against the more fitted form of the dress and would look lovely worn open and slightly oversized. The black accessories complement the cream and green hues perfectly. The shopper from Zara (£19.99) is a steal and is the perfect size whether you use it for work, shopping, uni/college. Classic black flats are great for day time and these shoes from Boohoo (£20.00) are gorgeous. The leopard's face detail is lovely and adds a bit of extra pizzazz to the outfit. The silver heart earrings from River Island (£3.00) and black snood from H&M (£6.99) are some cute finishing touches to this day look. 

For this night out look, this River Island necklace (£12.00) is a nice statement piece, which will jazz up this plain dress. The great thing about this dress is that it gives you free reign with how you want to accessorize it. The H&M box clutch (£19.99) is lovely and is just big enough to hold your essentials, but not too small that you can't put anything in. These cut-out shoes from New Look (£19.99) are on my to-buy list, as although they're fairly plain, they've got the lovely cut out detail and look more expensive than they actually are. To finish off this outfit, a fur stole such as this one from H&M (£6.99 in the sale) and a slick of red lipstick (e.g. Rio Rio by Topshop £8) are perfect and glam for the wintery nights ahead.

How would you pair this Topshop dress? What do you think of this feature?

Thanks for reading. xoxo, Joy

(Images from Topshop, Boohoo, H&M, New Look, River Island)

Merry Christmas!

Monday 24 December 2012


I just wanted to wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!


I hope you all have a fantastic day with your friends and family, eating your weight in food and being spoilt rotten by Santa.

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting as frequently as I would have liked to recently, but the past few weeks have been filled with graduation, illness, moving back home and seeing friends and family. Thank you all for your support and kind comments throughout the past year. I really appreciate it and it really means a lot to me.

Lots of love, Joy xoxo

All images from Tumblr.

Christmas Wishlist

Thursday 13 December 2012

As Christmas is drawing close now, I thought I'd share the things that I have on my Christmas wishlist. There is a mix of things that I have wanted for ages but never got round to buying and things that I've heard good things about and would like to try.


I have heard countless good things about Diptyque candles, but couldn't bear to part with that much money for a candle. This set of mini candles seems like a nice way to be introduced into the world of Diptyque and has three of their most popular scents.

I have wanted a MAC 266 brush for absolutely ages. I tend to use pencil to fill in my eyebrows, but like the natural finish that using eyeshadow can give. This brush seems like the one that everybody on Youtube uses to fill in their brows, so I don't think you can really go wrong there.

My hair has never been voluminous or particularly thick, but recently it's been feeling like it's thinning a little. I've heard lots of good reviews about the Nioxin system and when I had my haircut a few weeks ago, the hairdresser also mentioned it, so I thought this Nioxin set would be good to try.

MAC makeup is always on my wishlist. Recently I have been wanting to try their Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle, as it looks like such a pretty highlight which would be lovely for dull skin days during the winter and their lipstick in Rebel, which my friend was wearing when I had dinner with a few friends recently and it looked like a lovely pinky-purple currant colour, perfect for these wintery months.

After Corrie did a review and a 'How I style my hair' video on Youtube with these Enrapture Extremity Heated Rollers, I thought that they would be perfect for my fine and flat hair. I'm not brilliant at doing my hair, but they seem so easy to use and give a fantastic result.

Every time I go into House of Fraser or Selfridges, I always stop by the Laura Mercier counter and take a sniff at their bath products. I'm not fussy about my body moisturisers and tend to buy anything that's on offer, but I absolutely love the Creme de pistache scent and would love to try this luxurious Creme de pistache souffle body creme.

Lastly, I have been wanting to buy this Skin79 BB Cream, which I have wanted since I reviewed it here. It's a perfect, easy day-to-day base product and is really affordable.

What are you wishing for this Christmas?

Thanks for reading. xoxo, Joy

(Image credit: Google, Diptyque, MAC Cosmetics and House of Fraser)

Review: Origins Out of Trouble Mask

Monday 10 December 2012




I bought this Origins mask on a whim back in the summer, as my skin was going crazy and breaking out like mad. I try to use this once or twice as week and more often if my skin is feeling greasy, spotty or particularly lacklustre. As with all the Origins products I've tried, I have not been disappointed with this.

It has a very strong camphor smell, which I think is down to each individual whether they like it or not. This mask will last for ages, as a little bit goes a long way. If you choose to apply a thick layer, I find it almost feels a little cold on the skin. Imagine the kind of breath you take when it's really cold outside and you almost suck in through your teeth - It feels a bit like that... (I hope you know what I'm talking about!). The mask applies white and dries on the skin, but doesn't go hard like a clay mask and doesn't feel uncomfortable on the skin. I tend to leave this on for about 20 minutes and then wash it off with a muslin cloth. It's easy to rinse off and after use, my skin feels fresh and soft. Initially I don't find much change to any of the blemishes on my skin, but I feel like the blemishes do clear up a little overnight (I tend to use the mask in the evening) and my skin looks a lot clearer the next day. I also like to put this localised over any big whopping spots to try to dry them out overnight and it works a treat at helping to minimise them.

Have you ever tried this mask?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Virtual Christmas Party

Saturday 8 December 2012

Last year, I did a post about a high street and high end outfit that I'd wear to an imaginary glitz and glam Christmas party if I was invited to one. I forgot to include jewellery last year, but this time I'm going all out and you're all invited to join me.

For my high street option, I picked this simple black dress from Warehouse (£55), as you can't go wrong with a little black dress and I liked the faux leather panel detail on the front. I decided to keep the rest of the outfit fairly simple to go along with the dress, focussing on a gold and black theme with a dash of festive red. The bag (£22.99) and shoes (£34.99) are from Missguided and I love how the gold studs 'pop' on the bag and the criss cross detail on the shoes. Tying in with the red sole of the heels, I thought the nails should be a bright classic red, such as Revlon's Red Carpet nail polish (£7.99). The earrings and bangles are from New Look (£6.99) and Forever 21 (£4.90) respectively and they were kept quite simple as I think the dress should be the focus and I think the whole look would be complete with a messy updo.
Total Outfit Price: £132.86

I had a lot of fun picking out this high end outfit! I chose this gorgeous embellished dress by 3.1 Philip Lim (£850), as I think it has the right amount of glam and is absolutely gorgeous. As the dress is quite the statement piece, I thought the accessories should be kept quite plain. It would have been difficult to match everything to the teal sequins, so the accessories were matched with the black portions of the dress. The clutch is a gorgeous box clutch by Alexander McQueen (£745). While it's fairly plain, it has the wow factor with the skull on the latch. I felt that open toe heels would go better with this dress and it seemed only right that a pair of classic YSL Tribute shoes (£565) were thrown into the mix. Again, the jewellery was kept fairly simple with a YSL Arty Ring (£180) and Kenneth J Lane drop earrings (£155). Glamourous big waves and a lick of Dior's 2012 Christmas collection nail polish in Lady (£20) would be the perfect finishing touches to this outfit.
Total Outfit Price: £2515!

Are you going to a Christmas party? What would you wear to it if you could buy anything? If any of you do a virtual Christmas party outfit post, please link it in the comments and I will check it out!

Thanks for reading. xoxo, Joy

(Images taken from Google, Warehouse, Missguided, Forever 21, New Look, Boots, Net-a-Porter and Selfridges)

Review: La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

Monday 3 December 2012



La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo is everything I wanted LRP Effaclar K to be. I'd heard lots of people rave about LRP Effaclar K, but unfortunately it didn't work too well for me. Effaclar Duo, however, has become one of my favourite acne treatments.

Effaclar Duo has helped to reduce any blemishes I have and has also helped me to keep them at bay. It is recommended to use it AM and PM, but I only use it in the evening. This really helps to reduce the size of spots overnight and I like to use a thin layer all over my face and then a thicker layer over my most troublesome areas or the biggest spots. My skin has been much clearer recently and I am putting it down to this product.

The consistency is very similar to LRP Effaclar K. It's light and blends into the skin easily. It doesn't really have a scent, which is good for those with sensitive skin. The tube is made of plastic rather than metal, which I prefer as metal tubes can get tiny holes in them easily and I like that there is a nozzle, so it's nice and hygienic.

I would compare this product to Avene Triacneal, which I also love, but Effaclar Duo would be the gentler little sister. I like Triacneal for spot treating (haha, excuse the pun!) particular blemishes, as I find it more effective that way, however Effaclar Duo is great to use all over the face, almost like a moisturiser and is also great for spot treating particular blemishes.

I bought some back ups as my current tube is almost finished. The Effaclar range is currently on offer in Boots where you can buy 2 products for £15 - This is a serious bargain as one tube is normally £13.

Have you ever used La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

November Favourites 2012

Sunday 2 December 2012


This month, I have been loving a number of products. I uploaded my favourites video to Youtube and I think this may have been one of my longest videos. I have also forgotten to include a few items in the photo above that were in my favourites video. Oops.

I have been enjoying using a lighter base over November and my favourites were Origins Vitazing and YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat Foundation. Although the Origins Vitazing is very sheer, it adds a nice healthy bit of colour and leaves my skin looking even once a bit of concealer is thrown into the mix. The YSL foundation is lovely. With 2 layers, I feel like my skin looks glowy, dewy and healthy. I like to set my base with Collection 2000 Sheer Loose Powder (not pictured), as it leaves the skin looking mattified but not chalky or cakey.

I have been wearing eyeshadow more often lately. I love using NYX Walnut all over the lid with Urban Decay's Naked (not pictured) in the crease, as they add a bit of definition without being too dark and dramatic for day time.

For lips, I have been using the Eve Lom Kiss Mix lip balm a lot. It's a lovely minty lip balm, which is glossy enough to pass as a lip gloss and keeps my lips feeling moisturised and soft. I have still been loving the MUA Lipstick in Shade 11 and I have also been enjoying using the Body Shop Lip and Cheek Stain, as it adds a lovely pink tint to the lips which stays on for ages.

Ten's Instant Lifting Cream has been my favourite moisturiser of choice for the past few months. It has helped balance my oiliness and dry patches and has left my skin feeling so soft. La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo is a godsend and helps to keep my skin clear. I have a more in depth review of that coming.

I have been loving this Radox Shower Gel in Brazilian Fusion. It kind of has a unisex scent, which is slightly musky but also a little fruity. It foams up nicely and doesn't leave my skin feeling dry or tight. Lastly, I have been loving this L'Oreal Everstrong conditioner. I love the herbally smell and the conditioner has left my hair feeling so soft and less frizzy.

What were you loving throughout November?

Thanks for reading. xoxo, Joy