Pointless Portrait.

The past week has been a super busy one, I kicked of this week acting like a big kid, looking after my little cousins. They are so much fun, and I love being able to spend time with them. This week I was put in a difficult position for a photographer, I was in front of the camera for a change, and I didn't have any control over the final image. I was being photographed for a dance project that I am part of, so the shoot involved jumping about and pulling lots of crazy shapes. But I had a great time, and know I didn't need to edit the picture was a great relief.

The rest of this week was spend in my office space doing what seemed like piles upon piles of paper work, but that's just one of those things that need to be done from time to time. This weeks pointless portrait come from one of my many procrastination moments of the week, from instagram, follow me @jen_s21

Skip the Que, What's In My Handbag

A while ago I blogged about the website What's In My Handbag. I said I was excited to find out what its all about, and I'm happy to say... I'm In. And for my lovely readers I have some invitations to skip the que, just head to this link and you too can gain access to see what it's all about. But you better hurry, this link with only work for the first 20 of you, Enjoy.

Pointless Portrait.

This week has been another quiet one. A fun few days at work, one of which was the cutest new born ever. The whole family were so utterly happy with their new arrival, which made for some great pictures. this pointless portrait was taken during the editing session of some pictures, and yes they are my real glasses.(I get asked a lot) Also taught a few extra dance classes this week, made me realise how much I miss teaching on a regular basis.

Had a rare opportunity to have a girly night on Friday with the girls from dancing, We've known each other almost all our lives, and all get on so great. Now that we are all older and work its hard to find time to catch up outside of dance class. But we had a great night of wine and food and girly gosspip. You can see what I wore in my previous post.

"The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart."

For a long time now I had been searching for a new liquid eyeliner, my daily makeup isn't complete without some winged liner. I was using the elf liquid liner but wanted to try something new. I decided to go for 17 Liquid Lines, from the swatch I did in store and it's £3.99 price tag, it looked like this might be just the product to try.

The Liner is a very true black colour, which I look for in a liquid liner. It has some serious staying power, lasting throughout the day. (would need a touch up for a day-to-night look) In my opinion when it comes to liquid liner, theres no such thing as an easy application. This liner does have a small brush to help with those thiner line looks, but personally I'm finding the long length of applicator difficult to get used to. I like to be close to the action, so to speak. Over all an average product, I'd maybe say a 6/10. So the hunt continues for the perfect Liquid Liner, please do let me know if you guys have any suggestions.

Pointless Portrait.

Currently I am away from home at a Dancing Weekend full of classes and lectures, so this weeks pointless portrait comes from Thursday of this week. I took a trip with my brother, north a little bit to Glenshee to take advantage of the Scottish Snow. I am a snowboarder and my brother a ski'er, we had a great days worth of snow fun and even managed to come home in one piece (we're both fairly clumsy people).

The rest of this week has been filled with meetings, but I did get the chance the catch up with a friend from uni who was up from London, it was great to catch up with him. This week was also one of the weeks I look after my little cousins after they finish nursery and school, I love spending time with them, it's the only time I'm really aloud to act like a kid again.

"Washing you face is like..."

Normally known as one of the less exciting tasks of the daily beauty regime, washing your face is simply just one of those things that has to be done. But along with a few other random daily tasks, I actually rather enjoy washing my face, you just can't beat that fresh feeling to start and finish your day. (btw those other tasks are washing my hands and brushing my teeth, the OCD side of me loves the routine.)

One of the things which I believe makes the task of washing your face more enjoyable is finding the perfect product to match your skin. I found such a product in Neutrogena Deep Clean Invigorating Daily Scrub. I absolutely love this product, I first found this while holidaying in America and instantly found it was the perfect match for my skin, I have normal to dry skin, but on my return home to Scotland I found it impossible to find anywhere to buy it. Thankfully now a few years on it is radially available here, I buy mine in a Tesco store.

Neutrogena describes their priduct by saying, "NEUTROGENA Deep Clean® Invigorating Scrub’s cooling menthol gel leaves skin feeling wide awake, clean and revitalised. Energising microbeads awaken skin and sweep away the dead skin cells that can clog pores." And I couldn't agree more with this description. I use the scrub last thing in evening before going to bed, it leaves a super clean and fresh feeling. Often if I find myself with a free morning or day, I like to use the scrub in the morning and leave my face without any other products or makeup, giving my pores sometime to breath during that day. As you can see the product is a blue gel with scrub beads, which aren't too rough on the skin which I find some other products can be. The scrub has a fresh smell to it, which isn't too overpowering.

Overall this is a great product, so much so that I haven't even tired to look for another product in a long time. I'd highly suggest it, the product is reasonably prices at £3.99 so why not try it for yourself.

Pointless Portrait.

This weeks pointless portrait comes courtesy of a busy week and my instagram account, this is my 'I've got too much to do today' face. Sadly this week my Granny wasn't too well so I spent a lot of my time with her, looking after her and trying to make her feel better. Actually it was really nice to spend some more time with her, we've always been really close. Thankfully she is much better now.

This week I also had lots of meetings for work, which weren't too fun but these things need to be done. As you may have seen in one of my pervious posts, it was my elder sisters Birthday this week, which meant I got to enjoy a family meal and a night out this week. Both were lots of fun.

Thursday Treats

Today is my big sisters Birthday, Happy Birthday Jill. I decided to be a nice little sister and took her out for some lunch, I took her to Burger King. Yeah your totally right, I know how to treat a lady, but honestly it's just the closest place to her work and she doesn't get a long lunch. I also decided to treat her to a home made birthday cake, baking is snother of my secret passions, I love making and decorating big cakes. To make the cake I needed to take a tript to Tesco to get some supplies.

Every time I visit the supermarket I like to make a point of having a browse at the make up on sale, you often get some great bargins. Today was one of those day, while browsing I found some new products (well new to my store anyway.) Tesco now appears to have it own range of affordable nail polish, All About Nails. They are a total bargin at just 99p each, I decided to slightly behave and only pick up one, I went for Emerald. I would describe it as dark bluely/grey with just a slight sparkle to it. I think it will be perfect for me, I'm a person who possible uses the staple Black nail polish just a little to often and this colour will be a perfect new option.

Lately I had also been on the look out for a new drugstore black eyeshadow to use along side my MAC black eyeshadow, I prefer to use a drugstore for everyday use. Luck must have been on my side today, as I found a great eyeshadow by VIVO at Tesco. Another bargin at £1.00, I've only used this once so far but I'm really liking it. It is a very true black as its strongly pigmented, and I was blown away by the size of the product as it was so cheap.

I'm really happy with my little Thursday Treats, so I'd definitely say you should always keep your eyes peeled for new products, even in the supermarket.

Pointless Portrait.

week5. Pretty quiet week this week, mainly been working away on putting together the event I'm planning in May. I'm actually really enjoying my self assigned, Event Management position. I've also been out running a lot, for my 10k training. I'm starting to enjoy running again, and I'm starting to have some hope for completing the race in a decent time.

This week I also took a trip to Newcastle with my mum. My dad sometimes works down there so we tagged along for a day in the Metro Centre. I picked up some great new items, including some amazing orange brogues, that I'm sure will be in and outfit of the day soon. Still not had any luck with the perfect dress outfit, so wish me some more luck please.

Coming Soon

Coming Soon by jens21

( French Connection stripe dress & Bankfashion Kitsch Couture Miley Leopard Shoe Boot | Therapy Dress Stripe Tunic & Asos Pumpkin Suede Pointed Court Shoe | Izabel Zig Zag Sheer Dress & PIERRE BALMAIN Canvas Wedge | Oasis long sleeve dress & Violet Chelsea Boots )

Coming soon, within the next few weeks (and months) I've got a lot of social events organised, so I'm currently on the look out for the perfect outfit(s). I'm completely obsessed with the bodycon'esk long sleeved dresses and the heeled shoe boots, so I've put together a few opitions over on Polyvore to help me find an outfit.

I totally love all of these dresses, but as you might know if you read my last post, I currently have red ombre'd hair, So I think I might need to go for one of the black and white dresses for the first events and leave the brighter dresses for a few months away, when I'm sure my hair with have changed by.

So wish me luck in my hunt for the perfect outfit, and I will of course keep you all updated with what I decided to wear.

"When in doubt wear red"

I try my best to live by the rule that, when something doesn't make you happy anymore, change it. And lately I've been trying to change a lot of things. But I decided to start with something small, my hair.

Some of you may remember that at the end of last year I went for an ombre style with my hair. Well this week I changed it up a bit. I'm still a massive fan of the ombre style but wanted something a bit brighter. I went for the red dip dye look, and honestly I love it. Every morning when I do my hair it makes me smile, and it doesn't get much than starting the day with a smile.

(oh I also thought I'd add in a pic of my hair bow, I love how this looks with the red now, but haven't been brave enough to wear it outside yet.)

Pointless Portrait.

week4. The past few weeks since christmas have been some weird ones. Other then trying to get over being ill, I've actually had some big decisions to make, which I still haven't really done yet. I decided to take some time out from work, after being super busy before christmas I felt like I needed to take the time to decided what I really wanted to be doing.

So other than trying to plan out my whole life, I've been working on some side projects, currently planning an event for my Brothers football team(work in progress). I've also taken up running again recently as myself and my brother and sister will be running a 10k race for charity in April. So wish me luck for my training.

I also took some time for myself and did my own Acrylic Nail.(A skill I taught myself a few years ago, well worth it for all the money I save.) I love my nails like, I just never manage to find the time to do it.

“So I want to take this time out and apologize for things I have(n’t) done”

So it seems Elton John may have been right, Sorry really does seem the hardest word to say. I've being trying to compose this post for a few days now, and I just don't know where to begin.

I can only blame myself really, I completely fell off the blogging bandwagon lately, the rush of the festive period totally knocked me for six. Sadly I was super ill over the christmas holidays, just managed to perk up for new year, which in turn sent me right back to bed the next day. Along with all of this, I seem to have so much going on in my personal life.

Blogging seemed to just fall to the back of my brain, and the bottom of my many to do lists. This actually made me take a step back and think about what I was really doing, what I was trying to achieve with SecretStyle. And in all honesty, I don't think I'm trying to achieve anything, I'm just a hugh blogging fan. I love reading others blogs, and I actually enjoy writing this. I guess with SecretStyle I'm still trying to find where I fit within the blogging world, and trying to find my own personal blogging style, and really I'm also trying to find out where I fit personally within my own life.

So I'm very sorry for the lack of posts recently, I'm sorry I failed at Dressember, I'm sorry for being rubbish. I'm just sorry. But this is a new year after all, a new start. 2012 is going to be my year, lots of exciting things planned and I do this time promise to keep you all updated.

Thanks for sticking with me.

"High Hopes and High Heels"

“It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas”

Well that time of year has arrived, and if I totally honest I’m like a little kid. I absolutely love Christmas, and this year I’m super excited as always.

I’ve finished off all my work, and switched off the work mobile, I managed to completely all my present shopping in two days, (I know I was impressed too!) Every year I like to try and do something a little different with the wrapping of my presents, and this year i decided to go for a really simple look, so I went for brown paper, with handmade bow-esk things, and hand made cut out names, which are cut from the pages of an old book. I’m really happy with how they look.


We finally got our christmas tree up, and it’s definitely helped with adding that christmasy feeling to the house. As always I was super possessive about decorating the tree, I cant stand over decorated tress so had to supervise even my mum as she keep adding items when she thought I wasn’t looking. Another thing I love about this time of year is that I can start burning my ‘christmas’ sent candles, this year I’ve gone for Yankee Candle : Christmas Cupcake and Best Kept Secrets : Christmas Garland (I don’t burn these candles right next to each other, that just for the picture.)

And lastly, (thought I better add something about style) this hat you can see in the pic has turned out to be my favourite this year, in fact, it feels like it hasn’t been off my head. It’s a really simple cream chunky knit hat from H&M (I actually think I got it last year, but I love it.)

Most likely won’t get much blogging done between now and Christmas day, So I will take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.

Charming

So it might be just over a week until christmas, and I really should be buying presents, and not treating myself. But when I saw these super cute little charm bracelets I couldn’t help myself. At only £2.00 each I didn’t feel so bad, but I just had to have them. And I can honestly say I haven’t taken them off since they arrived in the post.

lilyloveslola is the online shop from the blogger Victoria, she has lots of super cute bracelets like the ones I treated myself to, I had a hard time narrowing it down to just four, might have to make another purchase in the New Year. I wish I’d stumbled across Victoria’s lovely little shop sooner, then all of my friends would have had one of these beautifully simple pieces in with their Christmas pressies.

Dressember: “Falling From Grace”

Well, it happened. Dressember got the better of me. With work and everything festive-time related I just couldn't keep to my Dressember promise. As I said when I first started dressember there was absolutely no chance of me being able to wear a dress for everyday of December, so I decided to aim for at least one or two dress outfits a week. For the first few weeks of December I was really enjoying the challenge, I really love wearing dresses, I just never usually get the chance to, it's just not practical with my work.

So I'm sorry that I couldn't complete the challenge, and honestly I'm a little bit gutted. I would say that I have definitely learned to push myself a bit more when it comes to choosing an outfit. So keep you eye pealed for more dress outfits in the future.

Best of luck to rest of you taking part in Dressember, and Merry Christmas to everyone.

Pointless Portrait.

week2. Another crazy busy week at work and crazy weather outside work. I’ve enjoyed my last week out christmas portrait shoots, I’ve meet some great families over the past few months, but I can’t say I’m looking forward to the weeks ahead of sitting indoors editing pictures. I ended off this week making cakes with my two little cousins and drinking wine and catching up with a friend.

Dressember: “finding the time to find yourself”

Week 2 of Dressember update, so the first week of dressember feel between 5th Dec and the 11th Dec. This week I have been super busy at work, this was the last week I would be shooting christmas portraits, not its down to the boring bit, I’ve got 2weeks of sitting indoors editing picture ahead of me. So I only managed to fit in one dress outfits this week, after my busy work week I took the opportunity to catch up with a friends and chill out with some glasses of wine. so have a look at what I wore.

Dressember’ week2 : outfit ( Blue Lace Skater Dress : Missguided | Blazer : New Look | Tights : Primark | Belt : H&M | Blue Ballet Pumps : Primark | Tassel Bag : H&M | Skull Scarf : ebay )

More to look forward to in Dressember’ week3, watch this space.

Lets add a little Sparkle to those Winter nights

As we get nearer and nearer to the big day, Christmas that is. And the nights get colder and colder, we hit the Work Christmas Party Season, most office across the nation are hit with glitter and sparkle as the staff get in the festive mood.

As I work self employed, the work christmas party isn’t something I have to look forward to, it would be a little lonely with just me there, not to mention a little sad. Not to worry tho I do have a few christmas night out with friends planned to make up for me missing out.

Christmas Party or no Christmas party I decided to indulge in a little but of sparkle to warm up my winter night, so armed with my nail art supplies, and a cup of hot chocolate I got to work. This time I decided to go for a basic black base lair from Elf, I then used some loose gosh nail glitter in silver (used sparingly, just dabbing with finger), then finished of course as ever nail look should be with a clear top coat, again from Elf.

Just the perfect amount of sparkle, easy simple, and great for that day to night look. Enjoy.

Sometimes we don’t even get the choice

Sadly that’s one of the down sides to living in Scotland, our weather often doesn’t even give us a choice about what we wear. For example, today Scotland was issued with a Red Weather warning, apparently we saw winds of up to 90mph. St Andrews, where I live, wasn’t the worst hit but we still had it pretty bad, my garden even lost a tree.

So due to the crazy Scottish weather, of which today it was most definitely crazy. We just don’t get the chance to wear that super cute new jacket we own. Today I had no other choice but to pull out my Roxy Snowboarding Jacket, (and matching hat of course) to allow me to brave the outdoors.

But in all honestly, I guess this is where Secret-Style really comes into play. Even when I have to wear the snow gear, (which is mainly on the slopes, where looking good it still high on my list of priorities) I’m all about the colours, prints and matching items. So stay strong this chilly winter, wrap up warm, but don’t forget to do it with style.

( Jacket and Hat : Roxy by Quicksilver )