Think Pink

"Pink. It's my new obsession", Steve Tyler once sang. That may be true in his case, but for me the colour pink has been a favourite for some time. And when combined with black (or, more recently, teal) it makes up most of my favourite ensembles. And it's not just me and Steve - whether on high end or high street looks, hubba-bubba hues of pink are set to be huge this summer. Here are a few of my pink picks for those looking to rock the look...

You can still wear pink and be a tough chick. Fact. Just look at the Pink Ladies. If wearing pink seems like a good idea but you don't want to lose your rocker credentials, no sweat - these baby pink panelled creepers by Underground (£89) are sure to tick all the right boxes:

Pink Underground Wulfrun creepers, £89 at ASOS

As I said before, pink and black is my most-worn colour combo and one of my favourite ways to do so  is by layering a pretty pink dress under a black jacket (blazer or biker style) or cardigan. Bertie Bassett, eat your heart out. This dress (£20) by Sodamix at House of Fraser even comes with a contrasting black belt:

Sodamix Structured Monroe dress, now £20 (was £28)  at House of Fraser

A designer that always caters for my passion for pink and black is Sonia Rykiel. Her previous H&M collaboration truly left me spoiled for choice when picking between pink and black striped pieces. One of my favourites was this crop-sleeved bow cardigan:

Cropped bow cardigan by Sonia Rykiel for H&M

Released back in 2010, this remains my favourite H&M collaboration to date. It crept up on the Glasgow store, with no wristband organisation system required as about a dozen of us turned up to quietly shop. If the frenzies of Jimmy Choo, Lanvin and most recently, Marni are anything to go by - those fuss-free release collaboration dates are long gone!

With Summer fast approaching (fingers crossed), I have noticed many stores defying the miserable weather and urging shoppers to snap up their colourful collections in anticipation of the sunny weather that is to come. Topshop's Hot Pink Hot Pants campaign has been the feature of shop windows and magazine ads, and it can't be denied that the high street giants offer quite a selection of pink denim shorts - from high waisted, to candy striped, to tie-dyed, to metallic. An insider tells me that these neon pink denim hotpants (£22) are set to be a best seller. Wear them if you dare!

Although I am a red lipstick girl at heart, recently I have been known to try some pink shades, particularly for during the day at work. My top picks for pink lipstick are are Revlon Colourburst Lip Butter in Cupcake (£7.99), MAC  lipsticks in Lovelorn & Saint Germain (£13.60 each) and Dior Addict Extreme lipstick in Plaza (£24). The new 'stick on the block (and my wishlist) is MAC's Viva Glam Nicki lipstick (£13.60 with proceeds going to the MAC AIDS Fund), a shade inspired by Nicki Minaj, who is herself no stranger to pink. MAC also released Pink Friday last year, a lipstick named after Minaj's album and a best-selling shade (with some going on eBay for as much as £50). Viva Glam Nicki's colour is described as a bright pink with yellow undertones. I'm looking forward to trying it!

MAC's latest Viva Glam advertising Campaign, featuring Nicki Minaj, Ricki Martin and a whole lot of lipstick 

Will you be feeling pretty in pink this Summer?

Pay Day Treats

I can't believe it's April already! March seemed to disappear in a heartbeat and before I knew it, it was chocolate egg time. Crazy. March was a very busy month so apologies for the lack of activity. A lot has been happening - most notably a change of job/ career to get used to (a good choice - touch wood - as I'm really enjoying it so far) and new hair which also takes getting used to (again quite a jump from what I had before...somewhere between Fabienne from Pulp Fiction and a 'lego man' bob, love it).

At the end of the month I treated myself to a few new goodies as a reward for taking the plunge. Since the "show off your haul" style of blog posts is becoming increasingly popular I thought I would have a go as well*, so here are the highlights of my end of the month goodies...

 

Blue lace dress, £15, Primark

Having seen coloured lace dresses on everyone from Daisy Lowe to Kelly Osbourne for the last few months, I wanted to try this look out for myself. The great thing about coloured lace is it really suits every skin tone as there is a colour and cut of dress for everyone. I opted for this royal blue skater-style dress from Primark. At only £15 it certainly didn't break the bank and the nipped-in waist and full skirt makes for a good silhouette. I wore mine with a red lip and nail combo for a bit of 1950s chic. Even though the dress was inexpensive the lace is really intricate and really the only thing I didn't like about the dress was the cheap PVC belt it came with (I replaced it with my own studded skinny belt). It also comes in mint green which would go great with darker skin tones.

 

Pink heart print dress, £13, Primark

Dress number 2! At this point I was on a roll and couldn't resist this cute little number. A few weeks ago the Boy and I spotted this dress in white, at which I huffed "that would be great if it didn't come in white". Et voila! It now comes in pink! Black and pink is my favourite colour combo, I don't mind looking like a liquorice allsort, especially when it involves kitsch prints like hearts. Again, despite the low price there is real attention to detail - like the bows on the pockets and button-up top. Who says 13 is an unlucky number?

Pink car print skirt, £15 (reduced from £30), River Island

Months ago, I had seen Prada's new prints for SS12 and fallen in love. The colours! The Grease-inspired retro prints! The co-ordinating guys n' gals pieces (including a very well-shot campaign featuring Michael Pitt)! It was all too much. At the moment I can't really justify spending what Prada are asking for, but one thing was for sure - I wanted some of that print! I was convinced that it wouldn't be too long before copycat pieces would start to appear on the high street, and I wasn't wrong. River Island have knocked the ball out of the park with this race car print skirt, a short yet full (perfect for twirling) 1950s inspired piece. I snapped it up faster than you could say vroom vroom.  The skirt comes with a great detachable oversized bow belt too!

Prada's print - a gal can dream

River Island's take (at a fraction of the price)

This month I also managed to get a pair of Topshop's sell-out Vectra 3 studded slipper flats. I made the silly mistake of seeing them when they first came out and thought "they're nice...I'll come back for them later". Bad move. They quickly became one of Topshop's best selling styles of the year (so far) and even had people on eBay flogging them for twice the price. Gutted. Luckily, the lovely girls working in Topshop let me know that they were expecting a small delivery of them last week and put aside a pair for me. Score!

My studded Vectra 3 beauties, £28, Topshop

It could be the influence of the many beauty blogs that I follow (although I have always been a sucker for make-up) but I also treated myself to some new products recently. I had been hotly anticipating the UK release of Revlon Colourburst Lip butters - a product that had caused a frenzy in the states - and couldn't wait to try them for myself. Believe the hype - these bad boys not only offer a range of gorgeous and well-pigmented colours, but they also condition and hydrate your lips. Much better than a tinted lip balm if you are looking for a lipstick look that does the job of a high-end lip conditioner. When I purchased my two shades (Cupcake & Sweet Tart - all the colours are named after sweet treats, very cute!), they were in a 2 for £10 offer at Boots - this offer isn't on at the moment but the Lip Butters are currently in a 3 for 2 deal if you are looking to stock up or try a few different shades for yourself.

Finally got my hands on them - Revlon Colourburst Lip Butters, £7.99 each at Boots

Another new product that I have been looking forward to the release of is Benefit's new Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation. There are a few things about this product that get my attention. Firstly, it's an SPF 25 foundation - not too common in a lot of foundations and when it comes to SPF my motto is "the higher, the better". I won't even entertain a foundation with no SPF. I also really like the range of shades available as I previously haven't been able to wear most Benefit foundations as they are too dark for my skin. The foundation comes in 9 shades (including 2 shades of ivory - one with pinker undertones and one with more yellow undertones - brilliant attention to skin tone that I usually only get on a visit to MAC) and the Benefit assistant was very helpful finding one to match me (and also gave me  some samples of other products to take home). The foundation also offers built-in skincare with vitamins C&E and a unique oil-free hydrating complex which can't be a bad thing!  The foundation is £24.50 and available at all the usual Benefit concessions.

Some of the other products I've been trying out this month are: Nail Rock nail wraps (the Marmite of the nail world, I personally love rocking the nail wraps), Models Own Beetlejuice nail polishes (so it's not just a clever name), Katy Perry for Eylure false eyelashes in Oh, My! (these are hands down the best false lashes I've ever used), and No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream for Dry/ Very Dry skin (I have been a bit slow to jump on the BB cream bandwagon, but what I like about these No7 ones is that they have different ones depending on your skin type).

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation (£24.50), Models Own Beetlejuice nail polishes (£5 each), and sample of Benefit's Total Moisture face cream -  all from Boots

Meadham Kirchhoff nail wraps (£7) at Topshop

So it has been a busy month for me and my bank card! What have you been treating yourself to this month?

* - sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, my Blackberry camera is pretty poor and doesn't have a flash!