Saturday, 23 April 2011

What's in my bag?

I saw this post on the lovely Shirley's blog and I decided to join in. So without further ado, here's what's in my bag...


I've abused this bag with the amount of crap I carry around it in. I managed to break one of the straps when I was in Ghana last year but I got it fixed and you can barely tell. I hunted all over London for this bag when it came out. I saw it in a Ted Baker where a friend used to work and I fell in love but the price was way out of my budget at the time. A few months later, I got a cheque from the tax-man since I'd over-paid on my taxes and I just knew I had to get my bag. However, when I went to get it, the black ones had sold out and they only had the tan ones left. I tried so many Ted Baker stores and heard the same story everywhere. I was randomly in John Lewis about 2 weeks later when I saw my bag at a Ted Baker concession and it'd gone on sale! Joy was not the word and almost three years later we're still going strong :)


Yes I even carry shoes around in my bag. There's a zipped compartment on the bottom of the bag and it's great for carrying sandals. I usually keep a pair in there just in case my feet begin to hurt when I'm gallivanting around in heels .


My old-school Kindle (courtesy of my Dad) comes everywhere with me and I'm currently reading A Song of Fire and Ice by George RR Martin. I'm not usually into fantasy but I'm loving this so far. They've just started a television adaptation of this book called 'Game of Thrones' and it started last week on HBO/ Sky Atlantic. It's incredible so definitely give it a try if you're interested.

My 'Little Brown Cosmetic' bag from Bloomingdale's carries wait for it... my cosmetics! It has eyeliner, concealer, lipstick, lipgloss, vaseline, and perfume.

My Loewe sunglasses come with me whenever the sun's out. We also have a long-term love-affair.

A comb- don't want to be caught out by those sudden breezes.

My wooden fan- comes especially useful when stuck on a sticky, sweaty, tube carriage.


An umbrella- all Brits should know never to take the weather for granted. It's not unusual to experience all four seasons in one day! I like to be prepared.

Body spray and hand lotion- keeps odour and ashyness at bay

Phone and iPod- keeps me sane when on public transport. I'm a twitter addict and music blocks out all manner of insanities.

Hand sanitiser- London's filthy

My diary/ organiser- don't use it nearly as much as I should.


My Oyster card in its 'Cool Britannia' case. Can't really go anywhere in London without an Oyster card.

My Ted Baker wallet which was a gift from the aforementioned friend who used to work there. Contains my bankcards, storecards, etc. etc.

My university identification/ library card

My keys with my leather keyring from Cape Coast castle in Ghana, my Sainsbury's Nectar card, my Tesco Clubcard and mini-flashlight all attached.

I usually have random tissues and old receipts lying around as well.

Wowsers, I really do carry around a lot of crap. Might need an orthopedic help for my poor shoulder soon! What's in your bag? Let me know.

Love, life and de-cluttering
Domzy
 x

A week of pictures

I took a few OOTD and FOTD pictures this week but they never quite made it up so I'm lumping them all here. The weather has been utterly sublime and it's made me want to do nothing at all. I've been hanging out with friends and just generally loafing around.

What have you guys been up to in the fine weather? Let me know!


My friend Madeline and I decided to wander around Camden for the afternoon and we had fun just enjoying the usual Camden sights. We both picked up these silly Harry Potter-esque clear glasses so I could pretend to be a cool hipster and blend in with the Camden crowd! We also had some delicious (and cheap) Thai food at this little pub. We've been there a few times but it'd been a while so we decided to treat ourselves. After all, you can't go wrong with Thai.


My best hipster look

Jeans: ASOS
Top: George by Asda
Blazer: Talbots
Turban: Primark Scarf
Leather satchel: Oasis
Black Wedges: New Look

I was in the mood for bright eyes on this day and I wanted to pair it with a neutral lip. I'm convinced that "nude" lipsticks look terrible on me even though I like that look so I decided to make it work for me. I used "Touch" by MAC with Urban Decay's "Pocket Rocket" in "Kirk" over it. I kind of like it but I'm still firmly on the fence. Oh well, at least I tried something new. My eyes were done using the Urban Decay "UD Loves NYC" palette.

Finally, this is what I wore to church last week  and I actually bared my arms (shock, horror)! I detest my arms with a passion so they're usually under wraps, even the summer. I wore a simple tunic top I picked up in the New Look sale with my ASOS jeggings. I also wore my gorgeous, gorgeous wedges for the first time and I'm still in love. I'll be doing a detailed shoe post soon as I've picked up quite a few new ones (naughty naughty) so I'll talk about them there.

Top: New Look
Jeggings: ASOS
Wedges: ALDO
Bag: Ted Baker
Necklace: Monsoon Accesorize


Love, life and more sunshine!
Domzy
x

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

The rule of two...

Do you ever have weird things you do/ believe in that really don't make much sense? My friends are forever taking the mick out of me for the weird things I say and do. Weirdos of the world unite!

Anyway, I was talking to some of my friends about my "rule of two" and I wanted to see what you guys thought. I think that you should never have more than two fake things at any one time. Confused? I mean that if you have hair extensions (fake hair) and fake nails, you shouldn't add fake eyelashes to the mix too. If you have coloured contacts and fake, flowing locks, please don't add some trout-pout lips to it too! If you're going to pile on the makeup let's ease up on all of the other stuff; you don't want to end up looking like this now do you?


I don't think that's such a weird thing to stick by is it? For me, personally, it just helps to stop me looking overly fake. What do you guys think of the "rule of two"? Am I being overly judgmental or do you see my point? Are they any weird rules by which you live? Let me know!

Love, life and moderation

Domzy 
x

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

Summer days, make me feel fine....

My, my, my, haven't we been blessed with some stonkingly good weather in the UK these past few days? I won't hold my breath that it'll last but it's been nice to see everybody enjoying it in the meantime. I don't know what it is about sunshine that makes everything in London look great but I'm sure not complaining.

I went to church on Sunday and I was going to wear heels but switched them out for some espadrilles at the last moment. I'm glad I did because I ended up doing a lot of walking and there's not much worse than aching feet.


Outfit
Navy blazer- Talbots
White Shirt- Primark
Jeans- a random shop in Atlanta. It may have been Ross or Marshalls!
Nautical espadrilles- New Look
Bag- (very) vintage Burberry
Belt- Talbots
Bangles- Accessorize
Necklace- possibly Dorothy Perkins

 Face
Foundation: Studio Fix Fluid in NW45 (MAC)
Concealer: Studio Finish concealer in NW45 (MAC), Select Cover-Up in NW40 (MAC)
Blusher: "Crazed" (NARS)
Powder: Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in "Deep Dark" (MAC)

Eyes
Long-wear gel eyeliner in "Black Ink" (Bobbi Brown)
Waterline- 24/7 Glide-on eye pencil in "Ransom" (Urban Decay)
Lower lash line- 24/7 Glide-on eye pencil in "Stash" (Urban Decay)
Mascara: Studio Lash Instant Volume (Miss Sporty)


Lips
Lip Liner in "Chestnut" (MAC)
Lipstick in "Lickable" (MAC)
Lipgloss- Pocket Rocket in "Doug" (Urban Decay)


You may have noticed that I've changed my hair. I got some extensions put in on Thursday and I'll be telling you all about them in an upcoming post.

Finally, thank you to all my new followers. I appreciate every single one of you! How have you been enjoying the sunshine?


Love, life, and Spring-time fun

Domzy 
x

Trials in depotting

I've always been scared to depot my makeup products as it looked like something that was better left to the professionals. However, I decided to bite the bullet last week and purchased an empty MAC palette from the MAC Pro shop in Carnaby Street.

I have a few MAC eyeshadows I've had for years and I noticed that I tended to use the same 2 all the time. I thought having a palette would enable me to see all my products at once and it would encourage me to actually use the other colours. I searched online for depotting methods and the hair straightener method seemed the most idiot-proof. I think I did a good job even though I managed to take a chunk out of "antiqued" (gasp!).


I got a bit excited after depotting the MAC eyeshadows and started looking for other things to depot. I noticed that I had random Urban Decay eyeshadow that I'd never used and a Sephora eyeshadow I received for free and they looked to be the same size as the MAC ones. I depotted them as well and they fit into the palette perfectly. Most of the tutorials I found online showed people sticking the labels of the eyeshadow on the bottom of the pan before putting them in the palette but I didn't see the point of that. How would I know what the eyeshadows were called? Therefore, I stuck my labels on the inner lid of the pan so I could see exactly what I was using.


The downside to depotting is that you lose the cool limited edition packaging that MAC sometimes has. I had an eyeshadow from the "Style Warriors" collection and I decided to put my concealer in this case instead of getting rid of it.


I also stuck the label on the bottom so I'd know what it was.


For me the best, best, best bit about depotting is that I can return the empty cases to MAC as part of their "Back to MAC" program for a free lipstick! For those of you that are unaware, you can take any 6 empty MAC containers to their shop/ counter in exchange for a free lipstick. I had some other foundation and concealer empties knocking about so I got two free lipsticks in "Lickable" and "Touch" (swatches coming up shortly).

Have you ever tried your hands at depotting?

Love, life and experimentation

Domzy 
x

Ghana Fever!

Two weeks ago it seems like every Ghanaian in London descended upon Wembley Stadium en masse for the first ever England vs. Ghana football match. I've been to a lot of Ghana matches but this one was extra special as it was my native country versus my adopted one. My dad made sure he was in town from Atlanta for it and we went along with some friends.


The atmosphere was crazy and we had so much fun! Andy Carroll scored for England and Asamoah Gyan scored a last-minute equaliser to keep everybody happy and it felt like carnival in Wembley Stadium. I decided to represent my beloved Ghana through my makeup (what else?!) and my "Make Fufu Not War" t-shirt by the extremely talented and generally nice bloke Kwabena. He's the person behind Kayobi Clothing and you should definitely check him out.


Both England and Ghanaian fans got on great and there was absolutely no trouble at all. This was the embodiment of what football matches should be like. Ghanaian fans broke the record for the most ever away fans at Wembley with just over 21,000 (!) of us and the match itself was a sellout with all 80,000-plus tickets sold. It was most definitely a day to remember and I can't wait till the next one!


I did my eyes in Ghana's national colours of red, gold, and green using my Sleek "Sparkle" palette. I was sent this palette by mistake over Christmas when Sleek had their 50% off sale. I ordered  the 'Bad Girl' palette but was sent this instead for some reason. I'd pretty much left it alone till now but I'm liking the colours in it. They're very glittery so there's quite a lot of fallout but the pigmented shades more than make up for this. I love Sleek and I've been using them for years however, it hasn't excaped my notice that their palettes keep creeping up in price. I got the original iDivine palette a few years ago for 3.99 and they now go for 6.49! They're good quality though so I won't complain too much.

Eyes
Inner half- pigment in "Golden Lemon" (MAC)
Outer corner- "Cranberry" from the Sleek sparkle palette
Lower lash line- "Mistletoe" from the Sleek sparkle palette
Inner tear duct and highlighter- "Ricepaper" eyeshadow (MAC)

I applied "Exhibit A" blusher (NARS) on my cheeks and a nice lipgloss by NYX and I was pretty happy with the result.


Love, life and national pride

Domzy 
x

Monday, 11 April 2011

Hair we go!

Don't you just love my fabulous propensity for puns? (Not).  Anyway, my local hair shop has been having an insane sale on a lot of their products this month and I was finally able to pick up a few things.


They had one of my favourite brands of hair relaxer on sale for 1.87 (!) so I grabbed a couple of boxes.


Organic Root Stimulator's 'Olive Oil' line is very popular and with good reason. Their hair mayonnaise is still my favourite deep conditioning treatment so I had to grab a new tub. I like to use it at least every other week and it makes my hair feel so soft, yet strong.


Their sheen spray was flying off the shelves as it was only a pound so I was lucky to grab one of the last ones.


KeraCare can do no wrong in my eyes and even though their products are insanely pricey, I genuinely believe that you get what you pay for. This small bottle of their silken seal is around 13.99 but it lasts an awfully long time. I only use a tiny amount whenever I want to blow-dry my hair and it's enough for my entire head. It acts as a heat protectant whilst leaving a glossy, non-greasy, finish.


I'm sure you all know about the benefits of coconut oil by now and this is a mixture of coconut and almond oil. I've suffer from extremely dry scalp and this has been doing a great job of moisturising without leaving my hair greasy. It also works very well on the skin, leaving it silky and soft.

Have you tried any of these products before and what do you think of them?


Love, life and luscious hair

Domzy 
x

Trinkets and baubles

I've been a bad, bad, blogger haven't I? I hope I'm forgiven as I have a ton of posts to upload in the next couple of days. I've just been a bit of hermit these past few weeks and I've shockingly shunned a lot of my usual social networks. Can you believe I haven't tweeted in a week?! (Shock and horror)

My parents were also in town from Atlanta for a week and they had me running up and down all over the place, even though I secretly loved it. I've missed them and it's not easy being away from my entire family for the majority of the year. My mum got me a few goodies, which I'll be posting shortly, and I can't wait to see them (and my siblings) again.

I got a few little bits and bobs a few weeks ago and I'm now getting round to sharing so here goes:


From left to right: Diamond solitaire and leaf ring (TopShop), Scrabble ring (eBay), Beaded ring (TopShop)


I adore this beaded ring and it's huge (just as I like them!). It's eye-catching but highly wearable.


I got the diamond ring on sale from TopShop for only 2.50 or so and the scrabble ring was 3.00. I've wanted a scrabble ring for ages and I was thrilled to find one so cheaply. I got it in "N" for Nana (which is the name most people call me).


I love my rings and I know a lot of you do too. What kind of rings do you guys like to wear?

Love, life and trinkets

Domzy
 x