Rimmel Haul - Boots

Happy saturday of your bank holiday everyone! I'm back at my family home down south at the moment because I'm on a placement with NME.com - commuting to London every day has really taken it out of me! It's lovely to come home after a tiring day to my family and not have to worry about cooking dinner or doing my washing, and their company isn't half bad either. Still, I do miss my Kevin, and it'll be great to see him again next weekend for my birthday.

Still, I thought I'd spend my saturday catching up on a little retail therapy with my mum. Kev's mum was kind enough to give me a £10 gift voucher for Boots a few months ago and I finally got round to spend it today. I am no beauty blogger by any stretch - my idea of getting dolled up for a night out is putting on a second coat of eyeliner to my normal one that I wear on a usual day, and I've never really progressed much further than that. Still, my obsession with nail varnish cannot be tamed, and with graduation looming, I thought I could do with a special shade and my first foray into lipstick to make me look a little special for the big day.

So here's my mini-haul! I swear by Rimmel varnishes so decided to stick to one brand. This little lot came to 10.17 with Boots 3 for 2 offer, so I only had to use 17p of my own money - result! Both varnishes go on as neatly and dry as quickly as you would expect from Rimmel - the 'Rose Libertine' (£3.49) is a super pretty pastel in just one coat, although looks lovely with two. The glittery one is 'Disco Ball' (£2.99), which I layered over a grey shade to create a subtle 'Queen Elsa from Frozen' shimmer. That said, this would also look lovely on it's own, if you're patient enough to build the glitter up using a few coats. I'm a big sucker for Boots body sprays and was after one of their delicious Vanilla body sprays to make up the extra pound of my voucher, but the cheeky lot have made the bottles a lot bigger and started selling them for £4.50! Shocking. Still, I picked up this 'Citrus and Red Berries' paradise shores spray (£1.69) which is almost as good, girly and summery.

I also bought a lasting lipstick in 'Heather Shimmer.' (£4.99) I had initially gone into the shop planning on buying one of the Rimmel lip crayons, but after struggling to find a shade that wasn't too sickly pink on me, I found this lovely tone which had just enough brown hue to create that much sought after 'your lips but better' natural tone. It glides on well, doesn't cling to imperfections and has the bonus feature of smelling and tasting just like refreshers sweets, which might not be to everyones taste but is certainly mine. I've already had a cup of tea and it's showing no signs of budging which is great.

Ignore the awkwardness of my selfie (my hair was NOT playing ball!), but you can see how subtle the colour is.

What do you think of my Rimmel purchases? Have you bought anything from Boots recently?

Blue skies are coming...

There is a lot of faffing around in the media at the moment about the gender stereotyping that comes from putting baby boys in blue and girls in pink, but there is no denying that I am through and through a  pink girl. I love all shades, from bubblegum to magenta, and if there is a way of working it into an outfit, I will. Pink nails with a Green Dress? As Drake once said, yolo.

Despite my love affair with the 'girls' colour, I have found myself gravitating to blue a lot more now spring is approaching - I'm practically living in my denim dungadress or chambray polka dot blouse, and my (admittedly hideous) baby blue backpack comes to Uni with me everyday. Maybe it's the connotations it has with cool swimming pools and clear skies, but I feel it really lifts my wardrobe and duck egg shades particularly appeal to my love of shabby chic. Whilst I am definitely lacking in blue dresses, here are a few things I've picked up recently to add my new favourite colour into my wardrobe.

Rimmel Nail Varnish in 'Too Cool To Tango'

Whenever I fancy a new nail colour, its always Rimmel that I turn to. This blue is super highly pigmented and as always with the 60 seconds range, only needs one coat. I'm not sure whether I just picked a bad one or not, but the consistency was a little gloopier and streaky than I normally expected from Rimmel, but still, it's a cheap and cheerful way to modernise a look - it really does look as if you've coloured your nails in with a highlighter, it's that bright!. 

H&M Breton via eBay

Although my breton hunt initially began wanting a basic black and white striped number, that perfect baggy style with a pocket all seem to be super expensive, even on eBay. I blame Alexa Chung - she always looks so effortless in hers that I don't think they'll ever be going out of fashion. Still, I managed to bag this one from an eBay seller for just £2.99, and I actually really love it's distressed colour. I'm looking forward to pairing it with a simple black skater skirt and sandals, under my dungas or with leggings and vans on a lazy day.


A pretty short shop this time, but with only three weeks left to go before I hand in my third year projects and a few christmas vouchers still to spend, I've promised myself a little shopping trip to Leeds very soon. Stay tuned for that!

What colours have you been loving recently?

My first mini bargain haul - the pastel edition!

Hello team! Hope you're all well. I've had a bit of a stressy couple of weeks what with a broken laptop and various other bits and pieces not going to plan, but, determined not to let it get me down, I thought I'd cheer myself up with a bit of retail therapy, pastel style! In typical Jenessa style, the whole lot happened over a period of about 10 days and only added up to just over a tenner but I still feel a teeny bit guilty. Still, on to the bargains!

Sally Hansen and Revlon Nail Varnishes

These were £1 pound each from poundworld. I normally favour rimmel or collection 2000 nail varnishes as a rule, but after hearing that you could get branded varnishes in poundland of all places, I thought I'd give some others a go. It always disgusts me how expensive nail varnish is! The colours were a bit hit and miss instore, lots of crackle varnishes and ugly reds, but after scouring a few branches of poundland and poundworld I settled on these two. The Sally Hansen 'sea' coloured mint was a bit runny but after three coats that were easy to apply thanks to the super wide brush, they came out a really sophisticated shade that was summery but not too in your face. Sadly I think I might have applied it a little too thick as it started to peel round the edges two days later, but I shall have another go. The 'electric' yellow from Revlon was a lot better - two coats and you could see it glowing from the other side of the room! the high pigment is great, especially for a yellow shade - I don't want my nail to just look like they've gone mouldy! I'm very happy with it and looking forward to wearing it with...

Juju Hello Jellies for TopShop

I'm normally pretty good at resisting the Topshop summer sale, but these were crying out to me at the lowly price of £5! With the british summer all over the place(heatwave one second, thunder the next), i figured a waterproof sandal was the way to go. Costing me only £6.50 after opting for the instore click and collect option and using student discount, they are a great happy medium between a cheap sandal and the more expensive traditional juju gladiators which I love but would almost certainly never wear. Plus look at the colours, they're so happy! the jury is still out on how comfy they are but I am very impressed at the speed of TopShop's instore delivery - i ordered these friday afternoon and picked them up at my local topshop branch at 3pm the very next day. I just wish I was going on holiday now...

Papaya Mint Short Sleeved Sweater 

 This was a little ebay bargain at only £3, including postage. Clearly tired of how long it takes me to choose outfits in the morning, my boyfriend pointed out recently that it'd probably do me good to get some more plain things to work my love of patterns around. Wise boy eh? I actually tried one of these super-soft knits on in Matalan about 6 months ago and loved it, but never actually got round to buying it, so I'm very glad it popped up online! With it's gentle hue it's a very versatile piece, although it's going to need a run through the wash as it still smells a bit smokey from its previous owner. Still, that's what you get with ebay isn't it? I'm looking forward to pairing it with jeans, a white undershirt and ankle boots come uni in autumn. Back on the hunt for the lavender version.

And last but not least...

Vintage Pink St Michaels Skirt 

For anyone that hasn't been to Huddersfield, it's worth it if only for the sunday market. I've recently discovered a new favourite stall that sells amazing granny chic at ridiculous prices - my friend charlotte got an incredible satchel for a pound that upon reflection, i probably should have nabbed first! Still, on our last visit i saw this skirt peeking out and thought it was perfectly twee - even better when I spotted the label of my favourite vintage brand, St Michaels,closely followed by a label that said £2. The elastic band means it fits perfectly worn at both waist and hips and has a great demure length that should see it last me all the way through summer and autumn.

Not a bad haul for £11.50! Have you bought any bargains recently?

Overcome with Joy

Hi everyone, how are we all? I've been a bit stressed of late moving house (and realising I own far too much crap) but everything has settled down now and I am becoming accustomed to the new place.

Unfortunately, the swap-over between old and new house meant that Kev and I were essentially homeless for the weekend, but luckily my delightful friend Charlotte put us up at hers! However, with all our possessions in storage, we were at a bit of a loose end in terms of entertainment all weekend, so decided to treat ourselves to a bit of window shopping in Leeds.

Anyone from the West Yorkshire area will know that Leeds town centre has been undergoing a bit of a rejuvenation the past few months, with Leeds Trinity Shopping centre a new fixture boasting a massive food court, huge Urban Outfitters and in the coming months, a Primark of a size that will rival even Manchesters. Not bad for bargain lovers like me!

But what really excited me about my trip to Leeds was the discovery of an even newer shop, called Joy. According to their website bio, they are a London brand, but I had never heard of them before, which I realised was a crying shame the second I stepped inside. Imagine Urban Outfitters having an older, more demure sister, and you can pretty much imagine what Joy stock. Gorgeous, sophisticated patterns without any annoying cut outs (a massive pet hate of mine) or booby bits, all of joys dresses, blouses and knitwear were quirky and fun, but still of a high enough quality and subtlety that you wouldn't feel weird wearing them in lectures or the workplace.

With principal label Louche providing most of the stock, in which women can 'indulge sartorial fantasies with exclusive style and vintage flair.', there is certainly an upmarket high street feel about Joy, the same sense of timelessness you get from Next, Monsoon or Debenhams. Luckily, the price tags are more than reasonable, with a fantastic sale on this month.

Alas, my self-imposed 'clothes spending ban unless absolutely necessary or from ebay' (jenessa trademark) stopped me from purchasing anything myself, so I thought I would live vicariously by assembling some outfit posts. Enjoy, and check out Joy's stock for yourself at joythestore.com! 

Primark's Yellow Laced Wonder - The one that almost got away

Readers, I have a confession to make. When I was in Manchester for Judy's Affordable Kilo Sale a few weeks back, I have to admit that vintage clothes were not the only thing I fell in love with. In fact, I started an infatuation with a dress from a store about as non-vintage as you can get. Behold, ladies and gentlemen, for I give you Primark's yellow laced wonder.

I mean really, how was I not supposed to buy this? It has a collar, a swirly skirt, polka dots... The second I tried it on the mahoosive Manchester in Primark I knew this was THE dress for my friends sisters graduation party next month. Fitted perfectly across the chest, skirt was a decent length and I felt like I was 5 years old again and going to a tea party.

 I think we can all agree that yellow is not for the faint-hearted and I was initially worried that wasn't doing my mixed race skin tone any favours. Having already spent £20 at the vintage fair, I was beginning to feel a little naughty - I know fashion bloggers do a lot of 'haul' posts but I for one feel somewhat guilty about spending more than a certain amount on clothes in one day. This dress was £22 - nothing bank breaking but pretty top of the range for Primark. So, I put it back on the rail, got the train home and lived in instant regret for two weeks.

In the fortnight that followed, I'm pretty sure my boyfriend wanted to dump me for all the times he'd look across the sofa and i'd be frantically searching for this dress on the eBay app. It made no appearance in the Huddersfield store, nor in my hometown store of Stevenage (yes, I rang my mum and made her go look). It seemed the yellow wonder was going to be my very own one that got away- I couldn't really justify the tenner of train far back to Manchester to get one what with rent and all the other boring expenses of being a student in between loan dates.

But result! Anyone who knows me knows that I am a music journalist by trade, and was lucky enough to get a press pass for Parklife festival through my other blog, safetyinsound.com. Not only was I delighted by a free festival, I had an excuse to go back to Manchester!

And so, this happened.

I am so, so glad I bought this dress. Sure, I can't imagine it is the most popular of items due to its boldness and will probably end up in the £5 sale in a few weeks, but who cares? Sometimes, you just gotta have it.

Ebaying for Blood

Since my student days started, I have consider myself a bit of a thrifty connoisseur when it comes to clothing, and ebay is my vehicle of choice. Ask any of my housemates and they will tell you they are constantly treated to my squeals of delight when a package drops through our letter box, and then look on in bemusement as I clutch some crazily patterned, musty smelling 70’s dress to my chest and declare it ‘totally similar to that one in topshop that’s 80 quid!’

Being a fashion conscious teenager, I of course want to look good, without being a slave to high street prices, or indeed their dictated standards of what we should all be wearing. Shopping on ebay allows you to put together a unique ensemble, snapping up last season’s dress that you never got round to buying, whilst being economically and environmentally friendly. Plus of course, that glowing feeling you get when you can shout TAKE THAT BITCH! at your computer screen as you snare a bargain from your rival bidders grasp. Have I got you convinced yet? No? Well, take a look at my guide below for a few tips on how to maximise your satisfaction without cracking too far into your savings.

USE MISSPELLINGS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE Written English isn’t everyone’s strong point, so be sure to exploit misslistings. Searching ‘Urban Outfittors’ or ‘Mis Selfirdge’ and you might find those items selling a bit cheaper, as less people are looking. Also utilise key phrases when looking for a specific fashion item, for example  ‘topshop leather skater skirt’ can also be searched as ‘fit and flare’ ‘a line; ,’pleather’, ‘topshop style skirt’ and numerous other combinations that may yield cheaper and very similar brand imitations.

SHOP OUT OF SEASON The cheapest buys can often be found on ebay out of season. Buy that fluffy cardi you’ve been lusting over in July, as far less people will be searching for it, minimising your bidding competition. Swimwear in winter, glitzy Christmas embellishments in spring… it all works on the same principle. Likewise, if you are looking to make maximum money when selling, make sure you capitalise on key seasons and trends – summer is an excellent time to flog your old hunter wellies in time for the festivals.

SPOT THE CHEEKY SELLER An item might be 99p, but the postage is 16.00. Sellers will often hike up delivery costs to recompense what they know will be a cheap auction. Use the ‘list lowest to highest:including postage) to minimise the risk of being caught out at the checkout, and seriously think about whether you are getting a good deal . Also look out for sellers who list items ‘as new’, but in description point out that there are several stains and a distinct possibility that they wore it once a night out and may or may not have thrown up in it. At the same time, don’t get precious – this is ebay, so the majority of clothing items will be on there as second-hand and may look as such. Read the descriptions thoroughly and if in any doubt, contact the seller before you bid.  

START SMALL If you are new to ebay, experiment with some cheaper buys, building the thrill of the bargain as you build your expertise in working out what is worth buying and what isn’t, and which sellers you can and can’t trust. Set yourself a maximum allowance, and do not allow yourself to go beyond it: bidding wars, whilst adrenaline filled, almost always end in a sense of regret when you realise you spent far more than you were originally planning.

THE ART OF THE QUIRKY SNIPE If you find yourself in a bidding war, always add a few pence to your bid (4.57 as opposed to 4.50). Chances are your competitor has gone for a rounder figure, maximising your chances of catching them over a few pence. Keep refreshing the page in the last few seconds to make sure you’re keeping track. And NEVER SNIPE TOO SOON – you might think 1 minute to go is sweaty palm moment, but if your competitor is a seasoned ebayer, they will have their technique down to an exact science. Never leave more than 10 seconds between your final bid and the ending time. But do make sure you’re all logged in first – there is nothing more annoying that feverishly having to remember your password in the dying seconds of an auction.

STICK TO PAYPAL When paying for items, use paypal transactions wherever possible instead of physical money/cheques. It’s a lot safer, and means refunds or transaction complaints are all mediated by ebay, lessening the risk of getting conned. It also means the only details you need to give the seller is your email address, rather than any bank details.

START SELLING YOURSELF! Shed the guilt and build up a nice paypal surplus by selling your own old forgotten wares on ebay. If you haven’t worn or looked at a garment in over two months, it should probably go. Start gently with anything you know no longer fits or you know you no longer like, and sit back in pleasure as people pay money for something you might have once just put in the bin. Keep the money you make in your paypal account as a great way of keeping savings separate. Unless you’re like me, and end up splurging your money back on ebay. The cycle never ends…