OUTFIT | #89

blouse: Forever 21; skirt: Topshop; boots: River Island; lipstick: Revlon 'Cherries in the Snow'

Coursework deadlines have arrived and I'm panicking. As usual. So I'm doing my personal variation of 'power dressing'. There's something about wearing all black and a bright lip that makes me feel like I could conquer anything. In this case, 'anything' is Middle English and it's kicking my ass. I'm basically not going leaving the library until these deadlines have passed but I find I'm more motivated if I'm dressed well. I can't work in a hoody, it just makes me sleepy. If I'm going to be pulling my hair out with (totally self-inflicted; I should manage my time better) stress then I may as well look good. 

This is also the first outing for my new skater skirt. I bought the Topshop one I talked about a while ago. It hadn't looked right when I first tried it on but I went back and tried it again with some other tops and it looked much better. Sold! I can already tell I'm going to live in it for the foreseeable future. It's some kind of Lycra material so it's ridiculously comfy.

LIPSTICK | Favourite Winter Lipsticks

I know all that 'seasonally appropriate' colour talk is annoying and boring. If it's snowing outside and I want to wear a coral lip, then I damn well will. However, I have found myself leaning towards certain colours now we're into the colder months. Basically, I'm in love with anything vampy. While I still haven't found my perfect dark red shade, these are a few colours I've been especially enjoying lately (a few may also be in my all-time favourite lipsticks too, but oh well). They're not even all red! The only place I really enjoy colour variety is on my lips, apparently. (Although not brand variety, it would seem, as all but one of these are from Revlon. What can I say? They offer a good colour range.)

REVLON MATTE LIPSTICK IN 'WINE NOT'

I think this colour is discontinued? Or just incredibly hard to find. Either way, I got mine on eBay from a seller overseas and the day it finally arrived was awesome. The wear on this isn't the greatest. I think it was one of the first shades launched in the Matte line so it's a little unforgiving if your lips are really exfoliated and reapplication can be a pain (I guess this is why it was discontinued...). It's a great colour though so I put up with all the palava anyway.

MAC LIPSTICK IN 'TAUPE'

This is my Twin Peaks lipstick. If I'm feeling like channeling a little Sherilyn Fenn, I put this on. It's more brown than it appears in the picture, which may not be everyone's cup of tea. A bit 90s/odd, maybe? That's why I like it though, being a bit drawn to ugly things. It's dark enough that it's not nude but still a bit pink, so I don't feel ridiculous.

REVLON LIPSTICK IN 'CHERRIES IN THE SNOW'

Cool toned raspberry-red that lasts for ages and seems to go with almost anything? That about sums it up. This colour and I go way back; I've loved it for years now. It goes well with any season and looks good whether I'm a bit tanned or my usual ghostly pale self, but I do tend to reach for it more during the winter. 

REVLON LIP BUTTER IN 'RED VELVET'

So good I bought it twice. I'm nearly through two tubes of this lipstick. I keep one at university and one at my mum's house, so wherever I am I'm never without it. I don't particularly care for any other colour in the Lip Butter range and I'm not usually a fan of glossy lips (I have a drawer full of lipgloss that I never even wear. Hate the stuff. I don't even know why I have so much) but this is my love. Deep red that can be sheer or nice and bold, the latter being my personal preference.

OUTFIT | #88

dress (worn as a skirt), sweater: H&M; boots: Clarks; watch: Swatch; necklace: Primark; hair cuff: Topshop

Yes, these are my favourite boots of the season so far. No, I'm not going to stop wearing them any time soon. (Although this love is somewhat necessitated by the fact that I desperately need my beloved River Island chelsea boots reheeled before I ruin them, poor babies. I've worn them to destruction) I did finally get my hands on a pair of Topshop Alexys this weekend, but they're a Christmas present from the mother so I will have to pine over them a while yet. 

Enough melodramatics over boots, let's talk about this dress (though I'm wearing it as a skirt here). I don't wear it nearly enough, despite owning it in black too. It never fails to make me feel pretty fantastic about myself. I know I talk about clothes a lot and tend to be a bit self-depricating but I think (without trying to get too preachy here) it's really important to acknowledge when you think you look good and, for want of a better phrase, own it. If you don't agree with me and you hate what I'm wearing, that's cool too. You can call me arrogant, it's no matter. If I can leave the house in the morning thinking 'Yep, I look great today' then that's enough for me. 

INSTAGRAM | #1

my face, casual; lunch at The Waffle House, Norwich; hazelnut latte perfection

wining and dining for a friend's 21st; even No7 Stay Perfect nail polish chips on my nails; Rocky Road sundae time
mumsy bought me Alexys for Christmas; trademark lipstick marks everywhere; chuffed with my new initial necklace from Primark

I mentioned a few posts back that I'd finally traded in my Blackberry for an iPhone, so of course I've been being an obnoxious asshole and Instagramming everything. I'm not sure if I'll do the whole 'Week in Instagram' thing that a lot of people do, maybe occasionally. My life isn't that exciting guys, soz. 

Plus, if you follow me on Twitter, you'll see all these pictures anyway and that could get repetitive. 

If you do want to follow me on Instagram, my username is @ginenthusiast

OUTFIT | #87

jumper, skirt: H&M; boots: Clarks; lipstick: Revlon 'Really Red'; necklace: River Island

This is the yellow jumper I talked about in a recent post. Isn't she a beaut? It felt kind of good to wear something bright and obnoxious for a change. Plus it stands out nicely against my regular uniform of blacks and greys. I read somewhere once that yellow is a colour that you like less as you get older. I'm picky about what shades of it I like, leaning toward to the mustard over the canary, but I'm still a fan of the odd yellow garment from time to time. 

I had all kinds of potential titles lined up for this post. I know some bloggers like to use song lyrics and calling it 'Black and Yellow' did cross my mind but I figured that would be seriously uncool. My music taste definitely isn't hip enough to go around posting lines from songs I like on here (I'm still loving the Biebs new album, what can I say). There's also the obvious comparison to bumblebees but there are only two things I really hate in this world and that's people who walk too slowly and bumblebees (or wasps, I hate them equally) so that was quickly vetoed. 

OUTFIT | #86

jacket: Forever 21; jumper: Zara; jeans: Topshop; shoes: Converse

It's always a good day when it's cold enough to break out your favourite jumper. I love this Zara knit to death. I'll always regret not buying it in every colour. Boo hoo. If I could wear it every day, I would. It goes with basically everything. I'm not usually a fan of brown but I guess it's autumnal and all of that. Reminds me of falling leaves, who knows. In this instance, I like the brown anyway.

I wore this on Sunday to run some errands. Admittedly, I prefer wearing sweatpants on my weekends, especially when I worked 'til 3am the night before (life of a bartender, eh?) but I had to brave the cold and rain. The number on my new iPhone hadn't been transferred from my old phone properly and drama with useless phone shop staff ensued. I did a bit of retail therapy after that and bought another knitted jumper in H&M, because you can never have too many.

WISHLIST | #4

River Island coat; Out of Print Clothing iPhone 4 case; Topshop skater skirt; Monki Millie shirt; Revlon Matte 'Wine Not' lipstick; Clarks Aintree Ticket shoes; Topshop jacket

There are so many nice jackets in the shops currently and I want them all. I tried on both of the jackets in this wish list recently and they were both lovely. The Topshop one in particular is tugging at my heart (or purse, perhaps?) strings. The River Island jacket was amazing on but the buttons felt a bit cheap despite them asking a (ludicrous, in my humble opinion) £80 for it. Not going to happen. 

I've been looking for the perfect skater skirt for a while now. I keep thinking of outfits I want to wear but they all revolve around a black skater skirt and I haven't found one I love yet. This Topshop one nearly hits the mark, but I found it a bit long for my taste when I tried it on. It's the closest I've found though so I might just buy it and pull that age-old trick of rebellious schoolgirls everywhere and roll up the waist. 

All these things might have to wait for a while though as I bought myself an iPhone 4 this week. Now I'm a bit skint. While I'm waiting for my next paycheque, I'm eyeing up nice cases for my new baby (Ditching the Blackberry and finally getting an iPhone was the world's greatest feeling). This Edgar Allen Poe pop-art case from Out of Print Clothing has been saved in my bookmarks for ages. One day it will be mine.

OUTFIT | #85

jumper, skirt: H&M; tights, necklace: Topshop; scarf: Edinburgh Wool Mill; boots: Clarks

Today was the first day off I've had in what feels like forever. I'm so busy at the moment and I absolutely love it. Waking up every day knowing I have places to go and people to see has been really motivating. Especially after working 9-5 during August and September left me feeling like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Same shit, different day, rinse repeat, etcetera. It was pretty nice to have the time to properly think about what I was going to wear though, instead of throwing on something clean and running out the door. Maybe I should start waking up earlier so my mornings aren't as panicked. Who knows.

Still loving the cropped jumpers. I saw this H&M jumper in a yellow shade and I think I might get it. They're only £7.99 which leaves me doing that whole convincing myself thing where I keep thinking 'but it's so cheap!' I've had this one about two years now and I wear it to death. Plus I love mustard-y yellows, especially in the winter. (I'll stop justifying this potential purchase to myself now, I swear.)

Speaking of things I've owned a while, these tights are donkeys years old. I bought them when I was just 17 with money from my first Saturday job. I remember really vividly going out on my lunch break and buying them, even though they were quite expensive for a pair of tights. They've lasted so well though, so I guess I got my money's worth!

OUTFIT | #84

jumper, blouse: Forever 21; skirt: H&M; boots: Clarks; necklace: Topshop

Apparently I'm really into this whole 'letting my shirt tails hang out' thing lately. I've got all these cropped jumpers lying around so it just seems like the best way to use them. There's no way I'm letting any flesh peep out around the midriff at winter time. I'm no prude, just too bloody cold. The winter's all about wrapping myself in as many layers at possible since I'm constantly shivering, no matter what I wear.

This blouse is one I showed you in white a few weeks ago. It's still going strong as one of my favourites. I may prefer the black just a touch more, but that's no surprise, I'm sure. The burnt orange of this jumper is lovely though. As a general rule I hate orange (unless it's on my lips, then anything goes) but I'm hoping I spot more things in this shade over the winter. It seems to go well with all the black I wear.

NAILS | Fireworks

Rimmel Lasting Finish polish in 'Black Cab' & Zoya polish in 'Maisie'

Pretend I have really nice nails and don't immediately chip them as soon they're polished, can we? Because I've been waiting for the weather to get colder so I could wear this nail polish combination constantly. Like many of us, I was a fan of black nails when I was younger. I still am. There's something comforting about them. I especially like black nail polish with some kind of glitter over the top. This is something a bit different though.

Zoya 'Maisie' is one of those 'flaky' (if I'm using the nail polish blogger lingo correctly, who knows?) polishes. It's not quite glitter, more big sparkly chunks of... stuff that you layer over other colours. That sounds unappealing, I know. It looks a treat though. Like fireworks or something. All I want to do when I'm wearing it is look at my hands. It's a bit special.

OUTFIT | #83

cardigan: Motel Rocks; blouse, jeans: Topshop; shoes: Converse, snood: Primark

It's time to bring out the snood. This thing is so cosy, I just want to burrow into it and sleep all the time. Plus I forgot my umbrella earlier today and I could use it as a hood. Amazing. I didn't even need to wear a jacket today because I had this on. Note to self: Buy more snoods. I figure I might as well share my coats and scarves, outwear, stuff like that, in my outfits while the weather's colder, since that's basically how people are going to see me until next April. Posting a picture of my outfit without all the warm stuff on top feels like a bit of a lie.

I was mostly just bumming around, going to seminars, went to a book club meeting, had a drink in the pub. Stuff like that. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm getting freshers' flu because I'm feeling a little run down and sluggish. Or maybe I just need more sleep. That would probably help.