Photos // Tea Stains, Tears, And Memories.

"If you love a flower, don't pick it up. Because if you pick it up it dies and ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation." 

I have a confession to make ... I like to press flowers. There we go, I've said it. To a lot of people it can seem incredibly naff and slightly granny-ish, which is in fact an understandable assumption to make as there is a lot of awful pressed flower art around, however I honestly don't care. I've always found the process itself to be a rather beautiful one and lately its something that I've been quite inspired by. As a child I remember my Grandma teaching me how to press flowers, and it was something that at the time I was amazed by. I would wander around her garden collecting suitable flowers, then we would carefully place them amongst the pages of one of her old "heavy" books, and as if by magic a month later they would be completely squished and feel like fine delicate paper. I think there's a beauty in the simplicity of it all, the idea of hiding a precious flower between the pages of a book, where it remains concealed within until all of its moisture is dried out. Its essence slowly being absorbed into the letters printed upon the pages, infusing itself amongst tea stains, tears, and more importantly memories. If your lucky you'll be like me and open a book a year later to surprisingly have a flower fall out at your feet. Its one of those simple but special life moments. Unexpected beauty.

That's what happened to me today. And it was lovely.

Illustration // Orla Kiely SS/14

Earlier today It suddenly hit me that I had completely forgotten to post the finished Orla Kiely Illustration I talked about the other week. If I'm being completely honest I'm not too happy with how it turned out (let's face it drawing will never be my artistic strong point!), but then again when am I ever? Despite this I did say that I wanted to share illustrations on here even if there not that great, simply because otherwise they just stay hidden away in one of my many sketchbooks ... or worse in the bin. Lets just say I'm trying to figure out my own illustrative style, and hopefully by sharing some of things I do on here I'll feel encouraged to improve ... Or not!

That's all really. This is perhaps the shortest post I've ever wrote on here, although most of you probably think that's better as far as I'm concerned, especially since I have a tendency to ramble on about absolutely nothing! I'm working on that I promise! 

Beauty // Let Them Eat Cake.

When you stumble upon a nail polish that's named after one of your favourite films, you will find it very hard to say no! You will feel an overwhelming need to make it yours. You will start to feel as though this nail polish will change your life,and that it simply isn't possible to live without it. In other words ... YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THE SHOP WITHOUT IT. And that my friends is exactly what happened to me last week.

If your familiar with the L'Oreal Color Riche Nails collection then I'm sure your all aware of how many amazing colours there are to choose from. If your as indecisive as I am however it can make things a little difficult, not that I'm complaining at all! Anyhow, I've been searching after the "perfect" pale pink for a while now, as I felt my nail collection was missing one and because I've been lusting over anything and everything pink all season(Pastels in winter right guys?)  ... OK OK so I already own a few pale pinks however they either apply awfully,or are just too sickly a shade for me to even contemplate wearing! However I think I finally might of found the the "perfect"one ...

I hate to admit that I'm one of those people who buys things purely because I like name, but sadly its true (please tell me I'm not the only one?!). However in this case I genuinely do love the colour so I guess that makes it OK right? (Yes I know I'm trying to justify it to myself!) The shade is "Marie Antoinette 202" and its the perfect pale candy pink, it almost reminds me of a Laduree macaron. Think Fleur de Cerisier. The polish itself has a gel based formula which makes it very long lasting and ultra glossy. It also apparently has  built- in top coat "LiquiGel Technology" (?) which again is probably why its incredibly glossy. I only needed two coats for this colour which is pretty much normal for any pastel shade, and the application itself was ridiculously easy. Perhaps this was due to the flat paddle precision brush or simply because the formula was sooooo smooth. Either way I'm in love with this polish and will definitely be wearing it a lot this winter ... and probably the other seasons too!

Out of curiosity will any of you be sporting pastel nails this winter or do you prefer the more darker shades?

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

*Apologies for the awful photos, the lighting was awful and for some reason I seemed incapable of actually taking a photo in focus!

Beauty // Kate Moss Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick 107

Today I thought I'd attempt something new ... a "beauty post-ish-thing!". I know what your thinking, I too never thought I would see the day when me, Aimee, someone who wears make-up daily yet always looks ridiculously awful, would attempt to share beauty tips ... I think even I have surprised myself with this one! However tonight I thought I'd give it ago because I really wanted to share this amazingly beautiful lipstick with you guys ... after all it is a known fact that I wear lipstick every single day and might just have an a teeny tiny addiction to the stuff! (OK you got me big addiction!) Here goes then, wish me luck ...

I purchased this lipstick a little over a week ago, and if I'm honest it was a complete impulse buy. Perhaps I was tempted by its ridiculously inexpensive price tag, or perhaps it was due to the fact that I can't say no to anything remotely burgundy ... I'm guessing it was the latter of the two! I know I'm a little late to the party when it comes to this lipstick as it was crazy popular on the "blogsphere" last year when it was released,but its better late than never right? Right guys!? ...

Of course as you are all aware this is indeed the Kate Moss Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick for Rimmel and its in the shade 107. This colour is scary. I mean scary. Scary good though. Honestly I'm intimated and so in love with this colour all at the same time, Its just amazing. However despite all that I think a shade like this is perfect for this time of year, almost a rich Christmas berry colour that's perfect for the festive season ahead. What I love however about this lipstick mostly is that its Matte, and not the awful "show how many imperfections I have on my lips, don't they look disgustingly dry matte" the "my lips look so perfect and velvety, don't you want to kiss them matte" ... see amazing! The formula itself applies really easily due to it being so velvety smooth, and its also very highly pigmented which gives a lovely full coverage opaque look. On me it lasted mostly perfect for around 5-ish hours and then needed a little re-application, which I think is pretty good all in all considering the colour.

I remember a while back when Kate Moss launched her first lipstick collection with Rimmel, being completely in love with them and wearing them all the time, so I'll admit I had quite high hopes for this one. One thing that I should mention however is that as much as I love and admire dark lips on other people, I've never been brave enough to actually wear anything remotely this dark myself, but again like writing this post I figured why not just give it ago? Does it suit me? Honestly I'm not entirely sure. I guess I'll let you all be the judge of that!

(Read: I haven't actually worn it outside yet so feedback would be great else I might end up looking like a complete fool ... as per usual!)

So there you have it perhaps the worse "beauty post-ish-thing" you will find on the Internet, but after all it was my first attempt ... and lets face it I'm not a make-up expert that's for sure!

Illustration // Orla kiely ss/14 (WIP)

Its no secret that I'm obsessive when it comes to anything Orla Kiely, so It was quite obvious really that once I saw the new SS/14 collection I was going to lust over every item like some crazy fanatic. However of course I can't afford to buy any of it sadly, so I decided to do the next best thing ... draw it! As you can see this illustration isn't yet complete (I'm still yet to attempt that beautiful elephant/ rhino? print on the dress and finish of the face and arms), but I would say that its definitely satisfying my craving for a pink beret (...OK seriously who am I trying to kid?). But honestly I've really been loving creating illustrations recently, and also I've really been focused more on developing my own illustrative style. I think its because I passionately hate most things I draw, and I'm trying to make a conscious effort to change that ... practice makes perfect right?

I have to say this is perhaps the shortest post I've ever wrote, but I just really felt like sharing this with you all tonight. Once Its complete I'll update you all of course!

I'm off now to dream of pink berets and binoculars ...

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!