On a warm summer's evening

It has been so warm here recently that I've not wanted to cook up anything particularly stodgy. On Monday I decided to have more of a finger food dinner, with cucumber, carrots, dips and bread. I made my own version of bruschetta which I got from here, although I left off the tomatoes and instead added some mozzarella cheese and parma ham. I used lots of garlic so needless to say the next day people were deliberately keeping their distance!

What do you enjoy eating on a warm evening?

Sunday rewind 001

 The weather this week has just been glorious. I've wanted to do so much and be out in the sunshine for as long as possible. This weekend I've been dining out in the sun and drinking Cosmopolitans. I've been taking walks and snapping pictures everywhere I go too. Summer definitely requires some new make up (or at least that's been my excuse). I've been buying some new bright lipsticks and highlighters to give my skin a nice sunkissed glow. I'm on the lookout for a lighter coverage foundation as well, do you have any suggestions?

I'm selling a few make up products here, so if you're interested check it out! I think the stuff I am selling is reasonably priced but I'm open to offers. 

How's your weekend? If you do weekly posts like this on a sunday let me know and I'll link you up at the bottom of this post!  xo

|shipshapeandbristolfashion - rock the week|

Just another thing, I sent out an e-mail the other day to all those ad swapping with me. If you're interested in swapping for another month please get back to me, as I only have a few spaces left! 

Review: MAC Hey Sailor High-Light Powder

MAC Hey Sailor! Highlight Powder in Crew - £21.50

I'm not usually one for buying limited edition and products from collections, as it just seems to me like an opportunity for companies to charge more for the same products that are just packaged differently. However I cannot resist a good highlighter, especially with summer quickly approaching. 

Firstly, I do like the packaging. I love the nautical themed box and the angular stripes of both the highlighter and the box. Overall it still looks like a MAC product, but with a fun twist. 

The highlighter consists of three striped segments, one pink, one peach and one lilac. In-between all the stripes the highlighter is a cream colour, although you can barely discern that from the one that I own, as the colours have mixed together. The powder is finely milled but I feel it could be a bit more pigmented; shown in the picture above is when it has been swatched heavily. The highlighter, according to the MAC website, is described as, "Soft peachy cream with fine shinner" (the spelling mistake is not mine). I wish I had read the description before buying. To me, a highlighter is a product that is pearlescent or iridescent to give a dewy glow to the face. As swatched, this is more of a peachy-pink colour with just the tiniest hint of shimmer that has gone virtually undetected by my camera. I think this would make a lovely blusher if it were slightly more pigmented, but I don't really think it works as a highlighter because it is just too pink. 

Overall, I think this would make a really nice blusher, but not a highlighter. For skin tones darker than mine it might work, although it lacks the pearlescent or iridescent qualities most highlighters have. Applied anywhere other than my cheeks it makes me look like I am sunburnt, which surprisingly isn't too impossible in the UK at the moment.

Do you ever buy limited edition products or products from collections?

Revlon Lip Butter review in Sweet Tart

Revlon Lip Butter in Sweet Tart - £7.99

I know that the Revlon Lip Butters have been reviewed a lot in the blogging world, but a few of you were interested in hearing my thoughts on them so I decided I would write a quick review. I picked one of my favourite shades, Sweet Tart to review. however I may review a few more in the future as the pigmentation and finish differs slightly between shades.  

I know there was some difficulty obtaining these lip butters in the UK a few months ago. However, recently I've noticed most shades are in stock in my local Boots and Superdrug. The packaging is ok. I know a lot of people like it and I do like the idea of the casing matching each individual shade, but the plastic casing seems rather thin and as though it would break easily to me. The quilted sides also seem a bit dated to me, but that is my opinion.

Revlon Sweet Tart is a mid toned bright pink with a light glossy finish. Personally, Sweet Tart and Berry Smoothie are my favourite shades in the range. The lip butter has a distinct scent to it, I can't put my finger on it but it's a very sweet smell. Sweet Tart applies easily and I find it comfortable to wear. It doesn't make my lips feel dry, but I disagree with the claims that the lip butters are overly moisturising. Typically, this lipstick lasts about 2-3 hours on my lips. So not exactly great, but I don't think it's too bad for something that's basically a lipstick-lip balm hybrid. 

Have you tried the Revlon Lip Butters?

Giveaway Winner

Oh my. I have been such a bad blogger lately. I always make an effort to reply to all comments I receive but lately I've been really disorganised and I've had to use my spare time studying so unfortunately blogging had to take a backseat.

Anyway, enough rambling. Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway, I didn't expect so many people to enter! If I could I would send you all a little something to say thank you for giving up a few moments of your day to enter. I entered all the entries onto a spreadsheet and used random.org to generate a random number. Number five on my spreadsheet was Laura Summerscales, so congratulations!

Maybe it's the rain

Chictopia // Lookbook

Oversized jumper - H&M 

Dress - H&M 

Scarf - H&M 

Nail Polish - Top Turquoise & Ibiza Mix both Models Own 

I didn't realise until now but I'm basically a walking advert for H&M in these pictures. I didn't realise that these clothes were from H&M until I took a look at the labels, they're from last summer so I didn't include a link to them on the H&M website. 

I look quite grumpy in these photos, even if in real life I'm actually pretty happy. Maybe the horrible weather we've had recently has had an effect on my mood? 

Just want to thank everyone who has entered my giveaway. If you haven't, there's still plenty of time! 

Giveaway! NARS & Real Techniques

Items
Real Techniques Stippling brush and NARS Deep Throat Blusher. (Slight damage to the package of the stippling brush, the actual brush inside is fine but it must have gotten battered during delivery!)

Running time: 

The giveaway is open from 08/05/2012 -  21/05/2012 23.59 GMT. Any entries after this date will not be counted.
Winner will be announced on the 22/05/2012.

To Enter: 

Really simple. You must be be a follower of this blog via Google Friend Connect. If you cannot for one reason or another send me an e-mail and we can arrange something. 

Just leave me a comment expressing your interest in being entered for the giveaway and that you are following my blog. 

Open to all readers.
Please leave a way I can contact you too (twitter, e-mail etc)

Extra entry

If you want an extra entry simply tweet this giveaway with '@almostdelight is having a giveaway: http://www.almostdelightful.com/2012/05/giveaway-nars-real-techniques.html win nars blush' or similar (ie using the 'twit this' icon at the bottom left). Link to the tweet must be included in your comment. 

Small print

 Giveaway open to all readers, including International readers. 

Winner will be picked using random.org number generator on 22/05/2012. 

Winner will be contacted via e-mail. If the winner doesn't respond within one week a new winner will be picked. 

Entrants must be aged 16 or over. If you are under the age of 16 please get permission from a parent or guardian before entering. 

Good luck everyone! x

 

Electric Heart

Cardigan - Recent Topshop purchase, but couldn't find it online.

Dress - New Look

This is the first proper outfit post I've published on this blog and I was just wondering what you thought of me publishing outfit posts in the future on here? I've never really done them before but I've always enjoyed reading these kinds of posts on other people's blogs. I know these aren't the best photos ever taken, but I've never properly used my tripod before so excuse the cheesy/awkward pose and unflattering angle. I need to improve but I think I did alright for my first go. If you have any tips or tricks on taking outfit pictures for me they would be greatly appreciated! 

I was going to wear this dress outside but as you can see in the photo, it has some serious gaping around the chest area so I decided to go with a more modest dress. I really like it though, especially because the cardigan is slightly multicoloured and has a bit of pink in it, so they go together perfectly. 

My open university course started on Tuesday. It's going to take me a while to get back into studying again as I've been out of university for two years, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon. 

How do you fix up a dress that you feel self conscious in?