Although I often dress like someone's grandmother, with my love of midi skirts and blouses, I have another secret (well not so secret if you're following on pinterest here) love. It's underwear. I have an entire double drawer full of the frilliest knickers and stringiest bra's ever. Said drawer get's no love because sadly i'm a) single and b) prone to sticking to my Bridget Jones pants for everyday use, i'm not a fan of the all day wedgies and ridiculous chaffing that most cute pants bring. Today I bring you *drum roll please* Underwear as Outerwear, or at least showing you how to wear that beautiful basque that's sitting in your drawer feeding moths and reminding you of your impending cat-lady-status.

Guys, there is nothing more wonderful than going through your wardrobe and finding items of clothing or footwear that you had  forgotten about and them still fitting like a dream. I got these Topshop Alexy knock-off's from Barratts a year or so ago but never really wore them because I was worried about falling over because of the heel, and ironically these are some of the most comfortable boots I own. Much more sturdy than my Zara block heel boots. The top was another i-totally-forgot-i-had-this find and was £1.50 in the Charity shop I used to volunteer in.

Pink is not my colour. Anything that isn't Black, Grey, Red, or Camel isn't really my colour. Well at least I thought so. I think my distaste of lighter colours comes from my awkward teenage years when I avoided standing out as much as possible.. How things change... Now I'm embracing the idea of looking like a human marshmallow and loving the change in colours and textures. The fluffy jumpers have become such a blogger cliche, but how could you resist something so warm and well.. Fluffy? They look good and they feel like a hug in clothing form, so it's a win win.

It seems spring is a' springing up around the corner, daffodils are blooming and the sun is almost blindingly bright today. Spring is one of my favourite months, it's a welcome change from the bitter wind and rain we've been having lately, and everything just seems to come alive. Today, a little old man stood and watched as Marcos took some outfit photos of me. He finally hurried over after moments of watching and smiling and told me that I looked beautiful and had an old soul type of aura about me. He offered to take a photo of myself and Marcos too! He was so sweet and even joined us for a coffee later on in the day, serenading us with Nina Simone on the flute! So aside from how frozen I was by the time I got home (I simply refuse to dress appropriately for the cold weather) it was a pretty wonderful day.

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One of my promises for this blog was to get back into writing, because after all it was excessive sharing and writing that got me here in the first place, but that's another interesting story for another time. Fashion is fun, as is beauty, but one thing i've always found therapeutic, is writing. I was reading through Stella's (Stella's Wardrobe) post on "Generation Single" and it inspired me to write this.

Your twenties are often described as your "pinnacle years". They are said to be the years that shape and mould you into the person you will be. As i'm approaching the ripe old age of twenty three and the clanging of the mid-twenties-oh-my-gawd-sort-your-life-out-bell is fast upon me, so many things run in and out of my head. Currently it's "What the hell do I do after I graduate?" and "Oh my gosh i'm going to die alone with ten cats aren't I?". In your twenties, particularly if you're approaching your mid-twenties, there is this tendency to want everything here and now, and we constantly compare ourselves to our friends and other acquaintances. There are some things in life you simply cannot control, so when things don't quite go our way in life, it hits hard.

I think loneliness is something many of us deal with as a society today. But I don't think being alone in regards to relationships is such a bad thing, it took a lot to change my view on that though. When I was younger, i'd say (with confidence) that I'd meet my true love at university, i'd be engaged by twenty-three (twenty-four at most) married at twenty-five and with kids by my thirties. Whilst, this could all very well happen (Albeit rather late considering i'm approaching twenty-three and I still manage to repel the opposite sex) I've finally realised that finding love is not the be all and end all of life.

Something interesting happened to me between the ages of nineteen and twenty-one, I often call these my "drowning years" because everything that could go wrong, went wrong. I worried and worried about things that, now that I look back on, were very underwhelming and highly unimportant. I put my eggs into baskets that had holes in them and after a while, I was very alone. One of the main reasons for starting this blog was that it was an outlet for the intense loneliness I felt when I began University. Writing and having lovely people like yourselves take interest and comment was very cathartic, and while the company though my laptop screen was wonderful for a while, I couldn't ignore the fact that I felt like I was in a very deep dark hole without a ladder. My problem wasn't being alone as such, but rather the type of aloneness i felt. I didn't understand how to be alone, or rather i should say, I didn't know how to enjoy my own company, I couldn't bear the silence, I hated it, I cried, I screamed and sulked. Why doesn't anyone want me? Those words would squeeze the breath out of my lungs and hit me square in the chest almost every night, but... Something shifted, and till this day i'm still not sure what exactly it was but slowly and softly, I began to enjoy my solitude, and i realised, that I didn't need someone to complete me, I needed myself to complete me. And so began the relentless journey towards radical self love, I read writings and poems from other women who were in the same situations as me, and I fed off their resilience. (Here are two of my favourites, one by Caitlyn and one by Warsan) Every word laced with femininity and sheer strength helped me get to where I am now, and although things might not be perfect, i can still appreciate the wonder in everything, and for once, myself.

Love is a beautiful thing, and I can't wait to experience it in it's fullness, but never feel that there is something wrong with you because the love your friends are experiencing has yet to hit you in the chest. I'm a firm believer of good karma and everything in it's own time. So, if you're alone right now, and you feel like the whole world is crashing down beside you, you are not alone. I'm here, in my little bedroom sending you warmth, positive vibes and love. Focus on the most important thing, yourself, look at yourself, you are beautiful, wonderfully made and perfect with every flaw. If you don't love yourself, who on earth can love you?

I've been feeling in a frump clothing wise lately, maybe it's the awful weather, or the distinct lack of colour in my wardrobe, but I have just not been feeling it lately. So what do you do when you're feeling 'bleh' and singles awareness day is slowly approaching to make you feel even more bleh? You get yourself a sassy dress! Zalando were sweet enough to send me a giftcard to use to treat myself, and usually i'd choose something sensible like some breton tee's or a pair of jeans for my Investment Wardobe, but this time I thought i'm going to get the dressiest dress ever and just fall in love with getting dressed again.

Where the lights don’t move and the colors don’t fade

Leaves you empty with nothing but dreams

In a world gone shallow 

Everything has been moving so fast lately that I feel a little up in the air. Dissertations, Projects, CV writing, and lot's of other boring adult-y stuff has left me feeling exhausted. When people said my final year of undergraduate life would be crazy, i thought they were over exaggerating, but final year life is like riding a very fast roller-coaster that you're terrified to get off. Other than wanting to sleep every chance I get, everything has been unusually pleasant considering there's a lot more pressure on me in terms of graduating with a good grade and landing a good Architectural Assistant Position (preferably in London), and i think it's because this year I made a conscious decision not to be such a worrywart! I'm a firm believer in everything will fall into place with hard work, courage and a lot of hope.

Although i'm not a Vegetarian, I've been making a conscious effort to eat a little bit more ethically and slowly lessening my intake of animal products. I've tried time and time again to go veggie cold turkey but it hasn't quite worked out successfully yet, so instead i try to eat fully vegetarian twice or three times a week. I've found that if you stick to vegetables that you really enjoy, you don't really miss the meat aspect as much. I adore Red Peppers, particularly when roasted because they become sweeter and softer to eat, pair it with some grilled courgette and i'm in vegetable heaven!

A lot of other stuff has been on my mind lately but I'll have another blog post on that later on in the week, so watch out for that. It'll be a very rambly one i'm afraid, but if you enjoy my written posts as opposed to my clothing/beauty posts then it should be an interesting read. As always i hope you're all having a wonderful week and the lull of Monday isn't getting you too down. Oh, I hit just over 600 blog followers overnight which is so lovely! As always, thank you for all your love and support, I really do appreciate it :)

Now, I am a beauty novice in the sense that I actually don't do very much other than a quick dab of concealer and a few coats of mascara most days, but on the rare occasions that i do decide to experiment a little bit, it's generally very simple, quick and easy. Essentially fail-proof even for a beauty clutz like myself. I think a mixture of spending too much time watching Lily Pebbles, Vivianna Does Makeup and I Covet Thee's youtube tutorials and having lot's of barely used shadows led to this look. And I loved how quick and easy it was to do, so I thought i'd show you all too! P.S. it's also the makeup i'm wearing in this instagram photo here.
For this easy peasy look you'll only need two eyeshadows, one lighter, one darker, the choice is up to you and the possibilities are endless. The star of this eye makeup show for me is this eyeshadow from Rouge Bunny Rouge called "Bejewelled Skylark" which I picked up for £12 in the sale, unfortunately it seems like it's sold out online at the moment, but who can blame people, just look at the colour! The shadow itself is super pigmented, long lasting, densely packed, doesn't crease,  and is incredibly easy to blend, even easier than the shadows in my Naked 2 palette if i'm honest, and if i had the money to, i'd probably shell out on a few more of Rouge Bunny Rouge's shadows, I have yet to find a negative about this product other than the fact that the normal price of £20 is a bit steep for me, so i'd probably wait for their sales!
Okay let's get down to business shall we! For the purposes of this pictorial, my base has already been applied, but in real life i usually apply it after my shadow so i can clean up any fall out. I used Iman's BB creme* as a substitute for foundation, Mac's Mineralize Concealer in NC40 under my eyes, NYX blush in Cinnamon on my cheeks and Benefit's The Porefessional to prime my lids.
Next, apply the lighter shade all over your lid in a packing motion, once you're happy with the pigmentation, blend it out lightly so there's a natural transition to your brow bone. After that take your darker colour (I used 'blackout' from the Naked 2 Palette) and gently press into your outer crease about 2/3 into the eye socket and again blend out, but this time blend like your life depends on it! When you're happy with the results, add some black to the lower lash line but if you have small almond shaped eyes like me, only apply it about 2/3rd's of the way in, otherwise it can make your eyes look really small and we want sultry eyes, not small eyes!
After that just apply lashings of your favourite mascara, i used L'oreal's Miss Manga Mascara (I've reviewed it here) on my top and bottom lashes until i had enough volume. Check to see if everything is to your liking and darken your eyes a little bit more if you fancy (i added more black to the outer edges after these pictures were taken!).
Easy peasy eh? I'm not a makeup expert by any means but i hope those of you who are as new to makeup as I am enjoyed this! I really enjoyed doing this pic-torial so look out for a few more in the future! Next up, i'll be tackling Hair and Protective Styling for colder months! Oh by the way my skincare giveaway ends tomorrow so make sure you enter here!