MISSING: MY FAVOURITE BROOCH.

i haven't been posting about make-up purely due to the fact that i am overworked between now and early february. i have a million things on my plate and unfortunately a lot of grown-up troubles which i can't escape from. however, i am now in an elevated state of distress due to the fact that my favourite brooch (from dior) is MISSING. MISSING. MISS. ING. i hadn't realised until i worked on my jewellery collection a little bit (my 'to sell' pile is growing daily).

i am 90% sure it's somewhere within my house, but really baffled because i usually take really good care of my stuff and it isn't in it's box... i am praying that i've simply worn it one day and it's still on a dress somewhere in my wardrobe(s), so i'm emptying all of them tonight in order to find it. pleeeeeease cross your fingers for me!

where the GAPING EMPTY SPACE IS is where my brooch should be. WHERE ARE YOU? hmmm. the box is from where it was originally purchased from in the 1950s, which was a now-defunct american luxury department store. the earrings & brooch were designed by kramer, one of the most celebrated jewellery designers of his time.

here is some other stuff in the meantime to distract you all from the weeping mess that is me, on a thursday afternoon.

things i am looking forward to.

seeing as i'm so busy/stressed to talk about make-up (my face resembles 'the scream'), i thought i'd talk about a few things i'm excited for in 2012 instead.

 1. buying more books i lust over. i absolutely love books, but unfortunately my first degree (which i detested) put me off them completely. i'm still recovering from that (!) but really hope that i can find a job or the money to buy more photobooks instead. i'm absolutely obsessed with them and have a fair few as it is, but you can never have too much of a good thing. i'm especially obsessed with the bookstore in liberty but as the books start at around £50+, i have some saving up to do.

2. investing in good accessories. sorting out my jewellery has amazed me as i was blissfully unaware of how much crap i owned. mind you, it's crap which has been accumulated for 6 years but still. i want to sell a lot of it, and should i need to, invest in better jewellery. buy less, but buy great quality instead. if you constantly drop £3 there and £5 there at h&m for instance, it does actually add up!

3. get my bare legs out the moment it stops being so freezing. i hardly get my legs out due to the beautiful bruises and cuts i sport - i mean, i just don't think people are ready for it. my scarred knees? tremendous. however, i feel as if it's just been cold for too long (what with last summer being full of rain and miserable) and i just cannot wait to enjoy summer as it's supposed to be! terrible legs and all.

basic red.

my skin feels and looks awful. i think it's due to the fact that i'm back at university (certainly a jolt to the system), drinking less water (oh dear) and just feel lethargic even though i do next to nothing. my skin is therefore feeling quite dull and so i'll be sorting that out... probably the prime opportunity to do a review on something, right? my ebay jaunt is going okay, so far i've only sold a ps3 game (red dead redemption, 100% game completion, yessssssss) and i've still got 22 items on sale. unfortunately i wish i could say i've made money but i sold my game for almost £9, and had in fact purchased ANOTHER game off ebay the day before for the same amount. this brings my funds to... oh wait. £0.

face: 17 primer, mac studio fix fluid (nw30), collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer (#2), clinique airbrush concealer (03 light), mac mineralize skinfinish (medium plus).
eyes: maybelline gel liner, revlon grow luscious mascara (black), mac eyebrow pencil (stud).
cheeks: mac (ladyblush).
lips: mac (mac red).

nails - 17 (forever). ring - asos.

i've been going down the snoozefest nude route when it comes to nails. 'forever' is actually a pretty decent shade though. when i first saw it, i thought it might be a dupe of  model's own's 'nude beige', but 'forever' is a lot more pink and more suited to lighter complexions. it's very grown-up and classy, neither of which i can relate to right now. i do feel quite sorry for 17 because i forget how great their polishes are until i use them - which, considering i own two, is not very often. it has a fantastic quick-drying formula, is high shine, and after two days, shows no intention of chipping. i do really love it and think that their polishes are underrated. particularly by yours truly. whoops.

the great big jewellery sort of 2012 is still ongoing. i have made minimal progress. see this panda ring? this was my favourite ring in the whole wide world, but unfortunately isn't the original of the favourite-ring-in-whole-wide-world ring. i bought the original (rip) on holiday whilst in tehran in 2009, and loved it to death. hallowe'en 2010, some dumb ass fool steals my oyster (also commonly referred to as "MY LIFE") AND my ring, which i had left in my bag. i was absolutely, inexplicably devastated. i searched high and low for this ring, but it was nowhere to be found. not in the bar, not abroad, not anywhere. 

six months passed and i was perusing a few blogs when i stumbled across a blog which had a lot of rings in its banner. ONE OF THE RINGS WAS MY PANDA. besides initially deciding that i had nabbed my panda thief, i instead got my massive creep on and messaged her asking where she bought it from. she said she got it from river island the year before, and once again, my heart sank. nevertheless, a quick ebay search led to ONE seller who had ONE ring left and HERE IT IS!!!!!!!! 

so, um... yes. i am making progress.

in other news, i am very excited to be attending the #zomgbloggersbash! i think it's extremely unlikely that anyone going will know of this blog (i barely do) so if you do see someone and suspect them to be a gatecrasher, it is probably me...

2012 spring clean: jewellery.

you will have to excuse my forthcoming silence based on the fact that i am very much in the midst of a spring clean (and a crazy workload). a lot of my stuff is on ebay, and a lot more is to follow! so, i'd like for the next few posts to focus on ideas for storage (as well as the usual make-up looks). i want to de-clutter my life completely and i'm sure others do too.

one thing i've definitely needed is a new jewellery box. my old one is sort of broken (pictured above) so it does count as a necessary purchase (take THAT new year's resolution). right now all of my jewellery - excluding the finer stuff - is just lumped in the corner of my room. i'm keeping the old one to place my larger jewellery in as the new one is a little bit small, and ebaying a lot of it off. here is my first stepping stone into a de-cluttered jewellery collection. i would take a lot of pictures as i go along but progress is a slow process...

 my jewellery in all of its messy glory.

my new, far classier box!

the beginning of a new and beautiful relationship, starting with clip-on earrings (words which strike fear into the heart of many females excluding myself and pat butcher).

in other news, i'm totally loving grey nail polish. it goes with absolutely everything in my view, and is more fun than the boring beiges/pinks/nude shades which do the same thing. this particular one has great shine and hasn't chipped so far, despite my de-cluttering mission.

nails - rimmel (grey obsession).

i intend on organising a little bit of jewellery a day (there is a lot of it) and then i'll move on to clothes i reckon. if anyone has any ideas let me know!