Better late than never, but this was the finished product! I was most proud of my zebra nail art though. It was painstakingly long to complete and I foolishly didn't practice before hand but the nails ended up looking okay! As usual my left hand far surpassed my right but I'd like to think both hands were passable.

I am so excited! As an animal lover and fancy dress fiend, the thought of having a safari themed evening next Wednesday is almost as good as Christmas!

After a lot of deliberation I opted to go as a zebra. I've been a leopard a couple of times before and though I briefly considered being a gazelle (I kid you not) I decided that a zebra was a little bit easier to do. Or so I thought.. how do you dress up as a Zebra whilst trying to still look a little bit cool..? Animal print was a massive part of A/W last year so I thought I'd try my luck on my fave fashion sites to see what was on offer. Being a typical student however, I of course plumped straight for eBay and got myself a cheap pair of zebra print leggings. I'm planning to wear them with a plain black strappy vest top and adorn my self with zebra print material in my hair and on my arms.



What I'm looking forward to more than anything however is trying to create some form of zebra style make up for my face. As I tend to sometimes have adverse reactions to face paint, I'm trying to make do with different types of make up I already own. Cheap and much less likely to bring me out in a rash! My plan is to use a mixture of my No. 7 Sheer Shine Eye Crème and my white ColorTrend eye pencil as the base.


 I'll then use a mixture of different kohl and liquid black eyeliners to create the stripe effect. Simple to do on my hand...


.. but I have yet to try my face! Attempt number 1 used black eye shadow whilst attempt number 2 used liquid eyeliner. I think for my face I'm definitely going to use the liquid eyeliner more and if I have the time (and the patience!) to add some make up to my arms or shoulders, I'll probably use the black eye shadow more as that doesn't need to stand out as much.

I now have a week to practice and perfect it - wish me luck!

Jade :)

Firstly, you might be aware of how much I raved about British band Bastille all the way back in April 2012 (click for full-on fangirl-ing) and now, almost a year on, I think I love them even more. If you haven't heard any of their stuff yet (if not, why not?!) go and find them on Youtube. The first song of theirs I heard was Flaws and it sounds just as flawless (sorry) as it did then.

 

Moving on from flaws to claws, it is no secret that I'm a fan of all things animal print. And though I'm currently feeling a little depressed from days of job hunting and CV sending, I'm not going to let a little thing like the lack of money stop me from lusting after things I probably will never be able to buy.

1. I like, foolishly, to think that this America ram tee from New Look is a bit of an edgier take on animal print (and yes, I'm applying the word edgy because there is a skull involved. It's been a tought week, let it slide.) Plus it's in the sale at a bargain price of only £4. Not to be missed.

 

2. As for this swimsuit, there are no words that I possess in my vocabulary to describe just how much I want this. But thanks to my lack of money, a holiday seems unlikely and since the British weather isn't known for being swimsuit friendly, I can't currently justify buying it. Sad face.

 

1. Another great find from Zara, I love the colourful tribal print on this rainbow giraffe tee and is perfect to brighten the bland British weather.

2. This is a white tee with black print AND it's a cat with a moustache. Perfect if you: a) like white tees, b) like cats c) are a hipster wannabe or d) just really like moustaches. Asos, I think I really like you.

3. This final tee from Asos is also very nice, with its almost tye-dye base and cute tiger overlay.

In my opinion, Zara currently have the best selection of animal-enhanced tees and they're so bright and lightweight that it's making me even more eager for summer. As you may know, I also have a petite penchant for wearing men's clothes and I'm happy to report that boys can get in on the animal loving too (which is good to know as my brother has got to the age where he's started to wear printed tees. And I for one am not keen on him parading around with scantily clad women on his tops. The bro should have better fashion sense than that; he's related to me. I KID.)

 

I'd definitely wear this black tiger jumper - it would be great layered over a collared shirt and thrown on with a pair of skinny jeans and black boots. A standard lecture outfit of late.

 

As for this wolf tee, I perhaps wouldn't personally wear this but I do have a wolf tee of my own from (the female section) of Zara and I love it. Wolves are cool.

This last item intrigued me because it's quite an odd design to have such a large animal form a print on a shirt but I kind of think it works. Check it out on Topman for a few similar items of animal print goodness.