Pongo & Perdy

Please excuse me while I have a little lol to myself over the title of this blog post! I think I'm really original and HILARIOUS (I'm aware I'm not really...)!

As you can see I have totally jumped on the latest bloggers bandwagon and did Dalmatian nails. I really love black and white nails and I don't know why it's taken this long for somebody to actually go ahead and do doggy print. I thought it would be really hard to recreate but it's actually so easy, paint your nails white (I used the Barry M one) and then just paint splodges of black randomly on each nail. I used my nail art pen and it's so easy yet effective, definitely a lot easier to master than the ol' leopard print anyway!

Also, as much as the change in the Models Own nail art pens initially annoyed me, I've managed to forgive and forget because the new ones are so much easier to use. The nib is a lot more precise and somehow the smaller tube makes it easier to control, hence a neater finish. AMAZING.

Right, I need to go and make some sticky labels of addresses so I can send lots and lots of postcards whilst I'm in Oz. This time next week we'll be en route to Heathrow, arghhhhhh!

Australia survival kit

As you all are probably more than aware, I am headed to Australia with my big sister on October 2nd. I'm going for just over five weeks, 37 days to be precise, and I know I've mentioned it a few times but I don't think I've really spoken about it in depth. Anyway, this is the tour I'm doing - it's with Contiki and we fly from Heathrow into Darwin, via Singapore a week on Sunday and our return flights are from Melbourne, back to Heathrow, via Hong Kong. The tour ends in Sydney after 24 days and then we're staying there for a couple of days before we fly to Melbourne for a week and stay in this hotel. Excited is not the word! It has definitely taken a while for me to get to this stage of excitment though, this year has been crazy busy, it's had its ups and downs and the whole idea of spending that long away, in Australia of all places, didn't quite dawn on me until I started buying summer clothes, insect repellent and sun-tan lotion just as our 'summer' was drawing to a close.

The point of this post isn't to brag though (promise), it's actually to say a maaaasive thank you to the beyond beautiful Rani, she knows me too well. She obviously knows how much I love receiving snail mail, and yesterday as I was about to leave for work, an absolutely huge brown parcel arrived for me and I was so excited. I recognised her writing straight away so I stuffed the envelope in my work bag and hastily opened it when I was on the bus, and I loved every single thing that Rani so kindly sent me. I'm seriously so overwhelmed by it!

A Spongebob travel toothbrush, Ben 10 plasters because if children's plasters don't heal a wound I don't know what will, paracetamol and ibuprofen for those pesty headaches, anti-bacterial handwipes, a hairbrush, travel mirror, nail files and tweezers - daily essentials, shower gel so I'll always smell minty fresh, SPF 50 lipbalm, deep conditioner to stop my hair drying out through too much sun, and um, condoms, obviously for a bit of light entertainment... you know, putting them over your head and blowing them up through your nose...

But honestly, Rani is one of the sweetest girls I've not yet had the pleasure to meet (and when we do, it'll be the messiest night ever) but she is beautiful inside and out, her blog is lovely (so go and follow her) and I'm so grateful to have gotten to know such an amazing person, and this definitely proves that people off the internet ARE NOT WEIRDOS!

I bloody love the internet. :)

You don't know

I wasn't going to post these today because they're pretty rubbish - one day I'll learn to take decent outfit pictures - but I've got a little bit of time before I have to leave for work (via the Post Office to post some bits from my charity sale) so I decided to go ahead and do it anyway! I might take some better pictures if I have some spare time, but for now I guess these will do!

So, say hello to the midi skirts I bought on Monday from my flying visit to Nottingham. They're both from New Look (here and here) and were £24.99 but they're currently doing 20% student discount and because I'm trying to use my student card as much as possible before it runs out TOMORROW, I bought both and essentially saved money... no?! I am officially no longer a student as of midnight, how sad :(

I'd never considered midi skirts before and I only really tried them on because I liked the colours and thought they'd be quite nice for Australian evenings, but I thought that I'd still get the wear out of them in this country through the winter. They're definitely a lot more flattering in real life and these pictures don't do them half as much justice as they should do, I absolutely adore them and they're so comfy!

Oh, also, I'm sure you're already all very aware but Where Are My Knees? got shortlisted in the Cosmo Blog Awards so if you could all take a minute to vote that would be fantastic. None of us know who entered the blog in the first place but thank you to whoever it was :)

Lucy & Grace ♥

This weekend I went back to Leicester for the first time since Graduation to see my best friend, Grace, who is now a fully-fledged adult with her own flat and a proper job. Jealous is not the word.

Anyway, I haven't seen Grace properly since we moved out of our house back in June and we had the best weekend in forever, well I did anyway! We had our standard gossip over a Starbucks, pretended to be posh by shopping in Waitrose, drank too much vodka and Jägermeister (Cherrybombs are a million times better than Jägerbombs, FACT), pint-pinched, did the most dramatic run away EVER, perved over fit men in a champagne bar, laughed a lot, suffered with terrible hangovers, paid for the most rubbish roast but outweighed that with posh burnt fruit crumble and custard, snuggled up and watched Harry Potter (read: slept through), chose the biggest item off of Domino's pizza menu (the staff almost suffered Grace's wrath when they didn't accept our voucher first time around and then the pizza was a GIANT MESS but we inhaled it anyway) and then watched X Factor before falling into bed before 10pm. Perfection right there ♥

On the way home I stopped off in Nottingham and spent more money than I should have done but I am now definitely the height of fashion with two midi skirts, both of which I plan to share with you later in the week! I think I finally managed to finish my clothes-side of Australia shopping too. One week and six days to go...

Flapjack

It's been a while since I've done any baking but last night I decided to make some flapjack, mostly because it's so quick and easy to do meaning it can be ready to eat within the hour. Yaay! This particular recipe is good because it doesn't turn out too hard or too soft, it usually turns out just right rather than being too crunchy and a bit minging. Anybody else tend to find it hard to find a happy medium when making flapjack? (lol I just read that back and I sound like such a loser). Oh, and you're supposed to put coconut in but we didn't have any - and I know a lot of people don't like it - so I upped the amount of oats to balance out the mixture and added a couple of glace cherries I found in the cupboard.

Ingredients:

• 4oz butter
• 1oz caster sugar
• 8oz oats
• 2oz desiccated coconut
• 2tbsp golden syrup

Method:

1. Melt the syrup and butter in a pan, then add the sugar, oats and coconut (or cherries in my case) and mix well.
2. Put the mixture into a pre-lined/greased square tin and bake for 25-30 minutes at 160°C/325°F/gas mark 3.
3. Cut into squares whilst still warm, and if you fancy you can drizzle some melted chocolate on the top. I did this once and it was SO GOOD.
4. ENJOY :)

Let me know if you try this, it's so good for a quick sugar fix in an evening, all of what I made last night was gone before I went to bed!

I'm going to the cinema to see One Day again tonight, it's not a patch on the book but I still think it's a really good film despite the accents leaving a lot to be desired! I also found out last night that I only have eleven more shifts until I go to Australia, absolute madness. I think I'm going to see if anybody fancies guest posting whilst I'm away - I tweeted about it last night and got a couple of reponses but is anybody else interested? Let me know, you can pretty much write about anything you like.

PS - don't forget about my charity sale, I can go to the post office tomorrow morning before work if anybody wants to purchase anything :)

The more you give the more you get

I'm forever receiving compliments on my purse when I pull it out to pay for things so I thought I'd share it with you all! I love Ted Baker purses, they're so bright and colourful and what I love best is that they're a decent size, the lining is just as pretty as the outside and they have enough little slots to hold all my cards without looking ridiculous. And, thus far, I haven't hoarded every single receipt I've ever been given because I don't want to ruin the shape of it.

I bought myself this while I was in London earlier in the year after months of lusting after them on the website. There wasn't much choice in colours on the Regent Street store which I was secretly pleased about, mostly because it probably would have taken me twice as long to choose which I wanted! They are quite expensive, at £69, but if you're a student you can get discount so I think it actually only cost me about £50, which I don't personally think is a bad price for a decent sized leather purse. Anybody else got one of these purses?

On a slightly different note, I just want to say sorry for my shit blog posts of recent, I really hate when people moan about the quality of their blog but seriously, mine seems to have gone downhill recently but I don't know why. Is there anything people want to see more/less of? What do people like and dislike about my blog? Be honest now, you can tell me anonymously on Formspring if you want to! Doing this is something that I love, and without sounding proper gay it's become so much more than a hobby to me but I can't help but feel there's something missing...

Feels like jealousy

Today has been my first day off in too long and I'm so thankful for it, I'm sick of burgers and chips 4eva! Can somebody please just offer me a proper job in London? I don't ask for much :(

I had my hair cut this morning, it cost me £11.20 and it is always faultless. I don't think I'll ever be able to part with £50+ for a trim you know. The rest of the day was spent with my two friends, Craig and Luke. We went for an ice-cream mountain and then for a walk around a local park which was nice, it was almost like the Summer we never had! I took my camera and had a bit of a play with a few settings, nothing special but a few of the pictures came out quite well. I'm still in two minds about whether or not to take my camera to Australia (23 days!) with me, I guess if I go knowing there is a possiblility that it'll get lost/broken/stolen then I won't be that gutted if that did happen? Obviously I'll get it insured but I JUST DON'T KNOW. I didn't spend £400 for it to sit at home though either...

On a completely unrelated note, I sorted out the charity sale that I kept going on about - have so far got about £23 and everybody who has bought stuff so far has either recieved it or will do in the next few days. There hasn't been as much interest in it as I first thought there would be to be fair and I think I've been very resonable with the pricing too! Oh well, the thought is there I suppose!

Giveaway winners

I've just drawn the winners for my giveaway that closed on Saturday, congratulations to Sarah from Temporary:Secretary, Lisa from It Is All About Creativity and Ashleigh from Classic Fashion Diary.

If the three of you can email me on lucy@grazedknees.com asap then I'll sort out the sending you your prizes etc. Because Sarah was drawn out first, she can pick the three things she wants then Lisa can pick two things out of what's left and the remaining stuff will be sent to Ashleigh. Please email me before Thursday or I'll pick somebody else - mostly so I can get everything sent out before the end of this week :)

I'm photographing stuff for the charity sale today as well so hopefully that post will be up before the end of the week!

Kat Slater

This is why I'm not a fashion blogger, I seriously cannot take outfit photos for ANYTHING. Nice shot of my mum and dad's bathroom there complete with washing basket, lovely!

Anyway, this is what I wore and my face for Saturday night when I went out for my friend Rachel's birthday. I picked up this amazing leopard print top in Tesco for NINE POUNDS, it's coming up as £14 on the website but my receipt says differently? I also went for bright pink lips Estee Lauder stylee, hence the Kat Slater reference!

Tesco have some of the nicest stuff recently. I also got this shirt and I really really really love this other sheer top that has cats on it but I can't find it on the website, it's lovely though, TRUST ME.

I have to get ready for work now but please check out my beautiful friend Selin's new blog, The Tuesday Girl, go follow her and stuff! Oh, and I've updated my blogroll if anybody cares.

Everyday essentials

Major picture heavy post here but after Monday's post I realised just how much make-up I wear on a day-to-day basis so I thought I'd share with you my everyday essentials. As you can tell from the photos, a lot of the stuff is very well used (loved) and a bit grubby looking, oops! This isn't everything I use, it's just the most loved stuff in my make-up bag.

Benefit cleanser (£16.50), toner (£23.50) & moisturiser (£23.50) - I know I didn't rave about this moisturiser when I reviewed it here but since using the cleanser and toner with it, it's gone up in my estimations. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the whole set whilst at Cosmo so I haven't actually paid for any of these, I'm still in two minds about whether or not I'd shell out around £60 for the whole set, but for now, I am impressed. I guess you expect to pay that much for a decent skincare collection though, no? They smell amazing too and leave my skin feeling amazing.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair (£41) - I'm not going to lie here, I'm not entirely sure what this does but I've been told time and time again to start using anti-ageing stuff in my 20s, so now I'm 21 I thought I should probably start. I use this before my moisturiser and, like I said, I'm not sure what it does but it leaves my skin feeling amazing and I'm convinced it's clearing my face up so I'm not going to stop using this for a while!

Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder (£29) - this stuff is incredible, seriously, I've been on the hunt for the perfect powder for absolutely ages and I think this may be the one! I've used so many different pressed and loose powders but nothing comes close to this; I think I love it so much because it's translucent so it doesn't alter the colour of my foundation and it'll match all skin tones. Definitely worth a try if you get a chance! Plus, I always think loose powders are better value for money because of how long they last.

Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes (20.50) - best mascara I've used for a long time, I used to be a total Dior freak and wouldn't ever not use anything else but since using this, I think it's Lancome's turn in the spotlight! I don't think I'd ever use a highstreet mascara again anyway, I'm always prepared to shell out £20+ for one (although I do love Maybelline ones if the funds are running seriously low) but I absolutely adore this stuff. It makes my lashes look incredible, it separates, lengthens, volumises and it, most importantly, stays put. It doesn't flake and it only requires one coat for decent coverage. Absolute God-send.

MAC Pro Longwear eyeshadow in Sweet Satisfaction (£15.50) - I'm all about neutral colours on my eyes, I wear eyeshadow everyday and I used to turn to my Naked palette but since I discovered this stuff, that has taken a backseat. I don't need to rely on a primer on my lids before I use this and it stays put, it doesn't crease and the colour is just enough to make me happy; other people probably can't even tell I have any eyeshadow on but I know it's there. It's the perfect colour and I am in absolute love with it.

Bobbi Brown eyebrow pencil in Mahogany (£15) - BEST EYEBROW PENCIL IN THE WORLD EVER. I am obsessed with having dark brows, I will not leave the house without filling them in and this is the best pencil I've used. The colour is perfect and it's so easy to draw with! I used to use my mum's Dior pencil but that doesn't have a patch on this Bobbi Brown one. Before that I used the stuff that comes in the Benefit Smokin' Eyes palette but again, this one wins hands down. Never will I buy anything other than this.

YSL Eyeliner Pen (£22.50) - liquid eyeliner is something that I use everyday, without fail, so it's important for me to have something that is going to last the day, isn't going to budge but is still easy to remove when I need to take it off and YSL have done me proud with this. I know I keep saying this, but honestly, this eyeliner is worth every single penny. It's also one of the easiest liners that I've ever used in terms of application too. I can draw a perfect straight line on my lids with this in about two seconds flat, it's really well pigmented and it doesn't smudge at all during the day (tried and tested on a 12 hour shift at McDonald's!) and I just love it so much.

MAC powder blush in Sweet as Cocoa (£17) and Topshop highlighter (£9) - this blush is definitely well loved, I've been using this colour for over two years now and I have no plans on changing. I love it, I don't suit pink cheeks like most people and prefer a more subtle colour so this is perfect, it blends so well with the highlighter and I just adore it. I've had this particular blush for over a year now and I've probably still got a few months use left so it's definitely worth the pricetag in my humble opinion. As for the highlighter, if you've read my blog for a while you'll know how much I covet this stuff, Topshop discontinued it for a while and I was heartbroken AND I HAVE JUST BEEN TO FIND IT ON THE WEBSITE AND IT ISN'T THERE, OMG I HOPE THEY HAVEN'T STOPPED SELLING IT AGAIN?! DOES ANYBODY KNOW?! omg :( these two colours plus Benefit Moonbeam make for the perfect combo!

Sigma F20 ($18), Sigma F10 ($16) and Urban Decay shadow brush (£14.50) - these three brushes are literally the only ones I use when I'm doing my usual everyday make-up, I don't bother with a foundation brush anymore, mostly because I can't be bothered to clean it all the time. I don't clean these three as often as I should but nevermind! I actually won a whole set of Sigma brushes from Holly's blog a few months ago which is where these two come from - I use the larger one to apply my powder, the blush brush for blusher (obv) and I lurrrve them. They're so soft, although the fallout of the bristles is quite bad but it doesn't bother me too much. The shadow brush is the one from the Naked Palette and again, I love it!

Bit of a wordy post, sorry! Do any of you use any of these products or are tempted to try them now?