Black Sheep

This look really brings up great childhood memories. Whenever the weather started to get warmer in Portugal, usually March/April, the first thing my mum would have me doing was loosing the tights! Skirts, dresses or shorts would then be worn with socks from then on, even if I had to sport long sleeves and jackets. Maybe that is why I can bear cold legs when I can't do it with my arms or trunk! Anyway, this outfit, now that I see it photographed, brings up such a retro childish vibe, I mean, polkadot blouse, pinafore, mint shimmery lurex socks and sneakers? I feel like I am 5 again, and I love it!

PS: In the UK this is a May outfit, I could never have endured the coldest March I ever experienced wearing this! Though at the moment it is back to cold and grey over here...

What kind of looks remind you of what you wore during your childhood?

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Only very recently I became "into" make-up. When I was a teenager all I would wear was mascara and line my waterline with black khol, usually reserved for nights out; during uni I became a fan of a red lip, gradually liking the darker/brighter the better. But after moving country, as I don't get much sun in London, I started buying more and better make up and skin care, as my skin is my normal fair complexion and I don't tan that much anymore. My skin also changed characteristics as it is much more dehydrated and less oily than it was back at home. Now I must admit I reached the slight obsession point of getting things than I never thought of reaching for and more frequently than ever.

But I am here to talk about my precursor in beauty/make up obsession, lip products. Give me a bright lip and I can go with a bare face (ok, maybe a little bit of concealer under eye, I am a nurse after all and there is a lot of sleep deprivation going on). I use something on my lips everyday! For work I stick to tinted lip balms, on an everyday basis I change between the same lip balms/butter to something stronger, depending on my mood or what I'll be doing that day/night.

You will note my preference for red lip colours. I use a range from orangey hues to cherry reds, but I cannot hide my preference for red, red red! At the moment I am personally still a no-no to true pink hues. But here are my favourite lip products...

The Body Shop Born Lippy lip balms, in Plum and Pomegranate - I use these for work all the time! I can use them to go out of the house like grocery shopping as I like hydration with a little bit of colour. I reserve colourless lip balms for when I am at home or overnight. I got the red one (pomegranate scent, hmmm!) first and it is almost finishing, but when I went to Belgium I forgot to take it with me and therefore popped into a Body Shop store to get the purple one (plum scented). Now neither give me a bright red or plum colour, they just seem to accentuate my own lip colour with a more redish/orangey tint (pomegranate, on the right) or a more deep red colour (plum, on the left), while hydrating my lips, which is perfect for work!

Korres Mandarin Lip Butter Stick SPF 15, in Rose - So this is my favourite lip balm/butter! It is so moisturizing and gives such a beautiful hint of colour to my lips! I had heard of the Korres lip butters before, but having to apply it with my fingers from the pot is something I really do not like. So when I found this one on a stick I couldn't wait to try it, and I am damn glad I did! It is, like I said, moisturizing, the colour lasts long, it has SPF, it's super easy to apply and smells wonderfully! I use this to work sometimes, too. But mostly on an everyday basis. It is really one of my favourites ever!

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains, in Romantic and Rendezvous - These are amazing! They're like the drugstore version of the Clinique chubby sticks, but I like these much more! If you want long lasting colour and hydration these are for you. The easiest to apply, like a crayon, and you will not need to touch up for hours and hours. Even though stains usually dry my lips, these don't, so I am pretty happy with them!

Revlon Lip Butters in Candy Apple, Wild Watermelon, Tutti Frutti and Juicy Papaya - Ok, so these are probably my favourite lip products, maybe together with the above mentioned lip stains (Revlon rulling here!). I have had Candy Apple and Tutti Frutti since they came out, I think last year (?), and now Revlon released some new colours and I got Wild Watermellon and Juicy Papaya quite recently. I love all of them, but, predictably Candy Apple (true red) and Wild Watermelon (more of a cherry red on my lips) are my favourite. I think Wild Watermellon will be my most used one this Spring and Summer, but I must give a shout out to Tutti Frutti, the one that got me into orange tones. I thought Juicy Papaya would be similar to Tutti Frutti but maybe lighter, though it is a completely different colour, almost a peachy nude, which I thought I would hate when I first tried it at home, but no, I actually like it. I think I was using it in my last post. So these give me a shiny colour and hydrate lips well, while they last, which is not much when compared to the lip stains. Still, for what they are, I love them!

MAC Matte Lipstick in Ruby Woo and Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Cherries in The Snow - So, I use these when I am feeling bolder. Ruby Woo from MAC is a gorgeous matte red, which I love, but it is quite hard wearing and a bit drying, like all matte lippies I think. It definitely needs a good dose of lip balm before applying. Cherries in The Snow is a venture in the world of pinkish tones for me, but it is still dark enough for me to like. It is a dark cherry on the lips (I am wearing it here!) and will soon appear on an outfit post here on the blog. Both these colours feel more comfortable being used at night time, but I will use them during the day, again, depending on what I will be doing. I love both as well!