It has to be said that my Halloween celebrations (?) have been pretty tame since I left uni. Last year, having just moved in together, Ria and I decided that instead of socialising with anyone at all we would get into bed and turn off all the lights so people would think we were out and didn't come trick-or-treating. I wish I was joking. 

This year, all of the girls have found renewed we-must-do-something energy, so we're keeping an eye out for the perfect event where we can all dress up, have a dance and I can maybe find a husband, you know, before I'm 50. 

I was flapping about, as I do, about what I was going to dress up as and how much money I would have to spend to get an effective outfit together. But, thanks to Ria (good egg all round), who has clearly spent her day on Pinterest and been forwarding me inspirations, here's what I've settled on.

I've been wanting the high-waisted leather (not leather) shorts from Bershka anyway so I think this is a great excuse and it would be rude not to treat myself, and I'm loving the cut out feature on this off-white shirt from Boohoo. 

Sorry for the silence the past couple of weeks - as I may have mentioned (about a million times) in past posts, I MOVED INTO MY NEW FLAT!! Obviously, whilst I was unpacking boxes and tackling flatpack furniture blogging took a back seat. 

My little nest or 'pad' - as my Mum has affectionately named it due to it's dinky dimensions - is literally perfect. I wake up every morning and have a little stare about the place and a smug grin to myself. 

The only downside is that I live above a proper strange nutter called Leonard who's an alcoholic and on a completely different day/night schedule to every normal human. His TV turns on at about 11pm and it eventually goes off at 7am and if I'm honest I'd have to say it's one or two notches too loud all the way through... but I'm managing to sleep and a bit of back ground noise just reminds me I'm in central London, right? HA. We'll see how long it takes me to go down there and tell him to STOP IT. (Except I'm not going alone in case he takes me hostage or something.)

ANYWAY, aside from the move being exciting and overall a huge success, I had to attend a funeral  on Thursday. One of my best friends from school has just been shattered by the tragic death of her older brother from Sudden Adult Death syndrome and the service was really, really beautiful but just so sad. 

The family had put together the most fantastic image / tweet montages and chosen totally beautiful poems and songs. The quote at the very bottom of this post is something that was printed on all the orders of service, and is something I'm absolutely determined to live by because sometimes life really is too short. It's a new year's resolution of sorts, just a few months early.

Is it normal to have your entire outfit planned a week in advance? I'm a forward-planner to the point where I dream about outfits and have to get up to text ideas to myself so I don't forget them again. 

Next weekend I'm off to pre-drinks at my ex-boyfriend's flat. Seriously though. And whilst we're totally just friends and I'm more than comfortable around him, there will be OTHER GIRLS there and that means it's absolutely necessary to look ridiculously hot and as skinny as possible (hard when I got over-excited about my roomy new freezer last night so celebrated by buying ice-cream). Even if I try and pretend that no one will know who I am, the whisper will go round the room "that's his ex.." and I'll be so judged, there's no denying that.

So, here's the plan. I ordered the below wrap top from ASOS today because 1/ I had a return refunded so would have been rude not to, and 2/ because you know, when you've got jeans on, a bit of boob never hurt anyone.

The lipstick - Topshop Screen Siren - is the best red I've ever found for complimenting my skin tone, and it's staying power is really good. I just don't have the money to be spending on MAC, even though everyone swears by their lipsticks. 

The pewter bag (bottom right) is actually not even in proper existence yet. I mean, one of them exists, and it's a sample at work. It's going to be called the Pandora and will be released by Paul's Boutique for our Spring 2015 collection, but I'm hoping I can borrow the design team's sample for one weekend. Maaaajor bonus of working for a handbag brand.

I've pretty much made a conscious decision not to write loads about Paul's Boutique / work on this blog as it's meant to be purely personal and far more casual than the brand blog (which I also write)...

BUT

I couldn't actually resist showing off our brand new makeup brush range on here. They're literally dip dyed perfection and so soft they remind me of the blissful, relaxing feeling of having your face painted as a young child (who else loved that?)

My personal fave, and by far the most used so far, is the tapered foundation brush in neon pink. But I also love the shaping of the blusher brush which makes creating cheekbones easy for those of us, like me, who at 25 still have a round moon face of youth. The blending eyeshadow brush helps create perfect smokey eyes and the powder brush dusts your entire face for a sheer, flawless finish. 

Shop HERE.

Given that I am a lowly tenant and not going to be a property owner of any kind in the next hundred years,  this idea of a "flower wall" is silly and I need to get it out of my head. Because even on a very basic level it would cost quite a bit of money and fastening the flowers to the wall would cause damage even if I went for see-through special DIY tape. So, for now let's just all look at these photos I found on Pinterest and imagine that one day I might meet a rich man who will let me live with him AND decorate his mansion exactly as I want.

I'm getting quite into pinning everything at the moment because I have to do it for work, but I still haven't got round to making my own. It's on the to-do list.

In the past week my Kardashian obsession has stepped up a level (I know, I didn't think it was possible either).

After seeing Kim in London wearing an oversized red fur stole/scarf thing last week I purchased this gorgeous plum version from my BFF eBay. I'm actually a bit scared though, because I usually only buy from UK sellers and this is coming all the way from China so I'd say it's kind of debatable whether it will actually ever arrive at mine. It was £19 with free postage too, which seems a little too good to be true. 

Secondly, after spending lots of time wondering whether Kylie Jenner had surgery or not, and ultimately deciding I don't care because she's an almighty babe, I also popped to Boots and bought myself a lip-coloured lip liner. Most people in the "no surgery" camp have credited her ridic pout to a good makeup artist so I've been experimenting with drawing just outside the lip line and using Clarins Natural Lip Perfecter to finish. I'm not going to lie, I'm not great at getting this looking ideal just yet, but practice makes perfect.

Everyone keep your fingers crossed that my parcel arrives successful from China (in two weeks, economy delivery) and that I don't end up looking like a drag queen with lip fillers on Saturday night.