Firstly, I HAD to buy new black boots, that I can wear with just about everything, seeing as my United Nude boots died. So I picked the slightly hardier lace up boots, rather than the faux suede. They are comfy, and adjustable, so will be worn over jeans, once Dressember is finished!!

The second purchase was of the Colour Block dress, for £20. I want to love it, I did when I spied it on the website, and the skirt of it is fantastic, great length and floaty too, but the top might be just a bit too big on me. I guess it would look ok with a cardigan for colder times, and a huge necklace to distract from the looseness. What do you think? Is it ridiculous looking?

Obviously its only got 2 posts so far, but you can follow it by clicking the Dressember tag as shown! Oh, and please feed the fish while you are there!

Edit: I promise to do a different pose in at least 3 of the 31 Dressember days. Honest.

I loved these boots. The colour. The style. The comfort. I had people rush to catch up with me to compliment my boots. I had scores of folk baffled as they tried to figure out if I was actually walking around on my tiptoes. I actually was almost run over by someone who didn’t stop at a red light because she was too busy staring at them. I had these boots, and the shoes in the same style LONG before Victoria Beckham and Lady Gaga started wearing similar heel-less styles, having bought them in Feb 2008. It was a good day, and I literally wore these boots everywhere. They made me look and feel fantastic.

They started to look a bit worse for wear. Cracks in the leather, the toes were scuffed. But that didn’t matter, they were still amazing. I tried to find polish in that colour, to give them a wee spruce up, but couldn’t get the right match. It was then I decided to get them dyed black. I needed black boots, and what better pair than my most favourite pair.

And so, they were reborn. Sexy in black, they may not have turned as many heads as when they were green, but they were still as beautiful. I forgot to change from them when taking part in our Force Training Academy one weekend, and the audience thought they were actually from Star Wars!! I even got a wolf whistle as I walked on to the stage.

The boots and I had a brilliant time together, and I treated them carefully. I never ran, or jumped, and tried to walk on sensible ground with them. They were delicate, more than just a pair of boots, they were works of art, architecture, and they defined me. I was the ‘Girl with the mad boots’. People spied me daily and had to make sure they checked out my heels today. How do I know this? Strangers in shops and pubs stopped me to tell me that they marvelled at me strutting to school, always well heeled. These boots were me. I was these boots. Until.

Friday I was walking to the post office, to pick up a parcel containing Batman logo tights. Excited, happy, I was striding down the street, checking my silhouette in shop windows as I walked, as always marvelling at how my boots looked as I figured they looked to everyone else. And then it happened. I felt something shift, heard a weird, metal noise. I looked down, the heel was still there. I stopped, and kicked my heel up backwards to investigate, it all looked ok. And I put my foot back down, but my heel felt funny, it wasn’t supported any more. I kinda limped onwards, towards the post office, went in, and while I was queuing, investigated more. It was then I realised what had happened. The invisible metal support, that held the foot, in place of the heel, had snapped. The damage? Irreparable. My heart? Broken.

I limped to Peacocks, having just written a blog post saying how amazing their boots are, and listing 2 pairs that I would like. They had the black wedges, but the smallest was a size 5, and the ladies in the shop told me that they often only get 1 or 2 pairs of size 4.  New Look was even worse, the boots were ghastly, and even if they had fitted, I wouldnt have bought them.  So I ended up purchasing some slippers and hobbling to work, late, wet from the pouring rain, sad, and in a bad mood. I couldn’t believe that it had actually happened, one of my worst fears, that my shoes would break.  I never in my wildest nightmares imagined it would happen to these. I was genuinely devastated.

I cant bring myself to throw the boots out, so Im trying to think of something artistic to do with them.  After all, they deserve no less.  Thank you United Nude, for making the best boots in the world.

So enjoy the food, enjoy the day off, be thankful for your lot in life, whatever it may be!

This is a pic of of Jess’ Thanksgiving last year, and I am ashamed to say Jonny ate the whole thing!!

I couldn’t resist. I knew I was ready for it, we had been flirting for months now, and I had long declared my feelings. I really couldn’t have planned our first time more perfect. I thought about it all day.  Everything was just right.   The lighting, the comfy sofa, I’d only had a little alcohol for dutch courage, so wasn’t too drunk and clumsy. There was no stopping me.  We took it easy for our first time, nothing too crazy, cos you never know how you will get on. But it was amazing!! I did it!

I started shopping on Shoeaholics.com!! I just got the one pair, but oh what a pair they are!! The Gainsville heels from my recent post, ordered this afternoon, and they are dispatched already!  I really cannot wait til our next encounter.

*Rolls over and goes to sleep*

When I first opened the Babyliss curling wand, my first reaction was to squee at the little black, heatproof glove that comes with it, and run round the house telling everyone I was like Michael Jackson. Certainly not one of my finer moments, I must admit.

Once I got over the initial excitement, I had to try it out. Like a child with a new toy, or a woman with a new curling iron, I set to work randomly pressing buttons, and making a mess of my hair. The heat settings are very easy to use, with simple + & – buttons to choose from 4 temperatures. The power cable is a great length, so it worked well for me, and my ridiculously inconveniently placed plug sockets.

Getting the hang of the wand is fairly easy, it essentially works the same as any other tong, but without the clamp to hold the hair in place. Its a two handed thing, and this is where the glove comes in. I held my hair to the end of the wand, on the cooler bit at the tip, and then twisted the wand, and curled the hair round in a spiral. The result was a Shirley Temple do, very cute, and very quick! You can also start at the root of your hair, to give a looser curl, more than a wave, but less than ringlets, like the other method.

I think the beauty of it is its flexibility. You wont end up with the exact same hair style every time you use it, which to me, is interesting! Too many times you can get stuck in a style rut, and this will make it quick and easy to add change.

There are a couple negatives. One which I personally find a lot is the placement of the on/off button, and I did switch it off in the middle of using it. Although it only happened once, and I realised instantly, not like when I accidentally switch my straighteners off, and then curse them for taking forever to do my hair when I’m in a rush.

The second being I cannot quite figure out how to use it to do my fringe. I don’t think its designed for short hair, and I do like to give my fringe a bit of a curl if I’m doing the rest of my hair. I’ll just have to have another go at it, maybe on a lesser heat, in case I do touch my forehead.

That said, I think its brilliant. Babyliss really are on to a winner with the glove, no more burnt fingers, although, my several layers of nail varnish on my index finger did start to melt a bit after a while!

My hair kept the curl for some time, even without any hairspray used to hold it in place, though I haven’t used it for a night out yet. That will come on Wednesday, so will post some pics then.

I give the Babyliss Curling Wand 8/10, recommend it for medium-long hair, of any thickness. Available from Tescos for £24.97

NB: I was asked to review this product on behalf of Tesco Direct

You think that domain is taken?

Today is the turn of Gainsville, Kurt Geiger London. Available here for £49

They are shockingly high, and its yet to be proven if I can actually walk in them or not yet, truthfully, I should be taking advantage of Javari’s unrivalled 365 day money back guarantee, but……. I’d miss them too much!!  And my legs look *great* in them.

Kurt Geiger Hanson, £119 and available here from Shoeaholics, fast becoming my most favourite website.

3-0

Eeek.

And I’m starting to look it.  Fine lines have formed round my eyes, I have HUGE creases between my eyebrows, I have more hair on my face than I would ever like to admit, and yet I’m still getting outbreaks of spots, on my face, jawline, and even on my neck.
FML.

I’ve decided that perhaps it’s time I seek professional advice, and stopped just using whichever products are on special offer in Superdrug. But where to start?

I think personally for me, a full skin care consultation will be the best starting point, having no idea how to treat my ageing skin, but I’m wary of someone who is trained to sell products to me. Yes, they are supposed to have your best interests at heart, and yes I probably will walk out looking fantastic, but I’ve avoided spas and beauticians up to this point for a couple of reasons:

1. I’m suspicious of just being told that a particular brand is THE one for me, considering the beautician won’t have used another type on me to compare,
2. I’m too tight to spend £30+ per product, and be told that I need half a dozen products, and use them every day,
3. Routine.  I fail so badly at routine.  I rarely take my make up off at night, and its not for want of products, I’m just a lazy sod.
4. What the heck is in all the stuff anyway??!? Every time you turn the tv on, you hear the latest beauty craze is going to kill and/or maim you. Look at the man eating fishies.  Prime example.

OK, so that’s more than a couple. How do I overcome these? Well I’m not sure many spas/salons stock more than one range, so there’s not much I can do about that. I will ask for advice from friends and check online reviews on the best local salons, and technicians.  Routine is up to me and me alone to sort, so I’ll just have to have reason to do it every night. That reason is becoming pretty evident in the lines and wrinkles that are forming as I type!  Learning what is in the products can be from a good beautician, or from online reviews/advice websites.

The money part really can be no excuse now as there are dedicated websites that concentrate only on the beauty offers. One of which is Wahanda. Instead of being offered cheap hotel breaks, meals for 2 only valid Mon-Thur between the hours of 6pm and 6.35pm, you will find only health & beauty deals, including free skin consultations, facials, spa breaks, discount haircuts and massage deals. What caught my eye most was the £49.50 spa breaks.  For 1 night stay including breakfast, with full use of all the spa facilities!! It’s the perfect alternative to a night out on the tiles.  Have a relaxing stay and wake to no hangover, and spend less than it costs for the entrance fee to most clubs, and a dirty kebab.

Click to check out the Wahanda spa breaks.

Unfortunately none of the spa breaks on offer at the moment are local to me but I will certainly keep my eye on the Wahanda website, or make an excuse to travel for a cheap stay, having 2 nights spa & shopping somewhere sounds like a brilliant Christmas present to myself! I’m also going to take advantage of a free beauty consultation, and blag as many free samples as I possibly can.

By the way, my blog fishies on the left are vegetarians.  Please feed them!!

This is a promoted post. It is the first, but won’t be the last. I’ve been InTheseHeels for 2 years now, and I’d love to hear your opinion on this kind of post in the comments.