Tuesday Bite: Style in a Hurry!

I woke up late this morning. Or rather, I woke up very early and then went back to sleep…which resulted in me sleeping late!

So, needless to say, I was rushed for time and had to throw a quick look together!

My go-to look is simple: A shirt, Jeans, Belt and Boots. I have hundreds of shirts, jeans and tousers and quite a few pair of boots, so I can throw together any number of different ensembles when I work off this formula!

This was very convenient this morning!

Shirt: Anthropologie
Jeans: Gap
Boots: Boden

The belt I bought in the south of France, but it’s gorgeous soft leather with lovely intricate engravings: My top tip is to grab leather accessories like this in Provence or Italy, as the quality is exceptional and it’s a fraction of the price of a real leather belt in this country!

With such a simple outfit, you can accessorize easily. I added some chunky gold earrings from Ralph Lauren to bring the outfit to life a bit more and a Links of London Friendship bracelet. Simple but effective!

My other issue was that my hair was getting a little bit lank. I needed to put it up, but I find that when you have not-quite-but-very-nearly-greasy hair, doing something interesting with it actually disguises rather than draws attention to the state.

My favourite casual but pretty hairstyle.

I love to experiment and play with different styles in my hair and I do a lot with braids and plaits. This is such a quick style but it looks really complicated and it can be messy and casual (As I wore it today) or you can smarten it up and it looks really elegant and sophisticated.

But my ultimate hair saviours today have to be Percy & Reed’s Dry Shampoo and Conditioner. This stuff works like a miracle. You don’t need much and when you brush it through, you could easily have just washed your hair! Superdrug’s non-slip hair grips are also great, they stay put all day and there’s no need to keep fixing your hair every half hour!

Last but most definitely not least; my make-up basics and saviour for a day when I’m in a rush!

Yves Saint Laurent Eyebrow Pencil is divine! It comes with a brush and comb on the end to really blend the liner into the eyebrow and gives great shape and definition without being too heavy or obvious. It’s almost a tint, rather than a pencil and I fully recommend it, especially if you have thin eyebrows like me!

Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat, the original highlighter: I’m sure everyone’s heard plenty about this, and it will have been reviewed countless time, but I adore it. It gets rid of those pesky dark lines and gives some great definition and coverage to the face when you don’t necessarily have time to do a full coverage!

Benefit’s cheat’s foundation was given to me as a gift and I have never been able to find it again, so I use it sparingly! But it’s a great touch on concealer, is very creamy and light and blends into the skin very well. It evens the skin tone really nicely without having to do a full face of foundation, great for when I’m in a rush and need to hide a few blemishes!

Dior Eyeshadow Palette. I’ve talked about this palette before, so I’ll keep it short. it has everything you need: an eyeliner, a base shadow and two tones of top-shadow to give some eye definition and shape and brightness. Saviour when you’re in a hurry!

So I managed to get ready (albeit a little sloppily!!) in just under 20 minutes, but I wouldn’t have been able to manage it without my tried and tested fall-backs!

Having a few staple items in your beauty and style book, and a few formulas that you can re-work and mix-up is really useful on a day when you don’t have as much time as you would like. Knowing what works in your routines and what outfits and styles suit you means that you can throw something together and slap something on in next to no time! it’s always nice to have lot’s of time to get ready, but sometimes that just isn’t an option!