WHAT'S IN MY BAG: Noll

You know the drill, guys – if there’s a new handbag, there’s a new blog post. I have fallen head over heels in love with this beauty – it’s from DuDu Bags (yes, I’ve heard all the jokes and I don’t care for any of them); their Lucille bag in Lilac.

I adore this bag. I would hold up a stereo outside its window. I would sing I Love You Baby to it over a tannoy. I would stand outside its door pretending to sing Christmas carols and holding up signs. It had me at hello.

ANYWAY. It’s a great bag – the perfect size for everyday use, with two main compartments (so I can separate beauty bits and proper, grown up things), a zip pocket in the middle and one on one side and two smaller pouch pockets on the other side. And it’s more beautiful than anything in the world. OK, I’ll shut up now.

Because this bag is quite new, there’s a minimum of rubbish in there, so I thought I’d take the chance and show you what I lug around inside:

PURSE

This purse was a Christmas present (LOOK HOW IT MATCHES) and is from Lichfield Leather's 1642 range. It’s got plenty of pockets and compartments on the inside, which is great for me because I’m a total receipt/voucher/random nonsense hoarder, and is made of the loveliest buttery soft leather I’ve ever felt. And I’ve got a picture of Poppy in it, because I love her.

NOTEBOOKS (& pen)

I’ve got two of these, because I’m old school and also super forgetful so I have to write down LITERALLY EVERYTHING. One of these is a little Moleskine “weekly diary” that I buy every year, and the other one is my shiny colour-coded blogging notebook, which is full of largely incomprehensible scribbles.  

GLASSES

To be fair, these are usually on my face and the case is in the bag, but I carry around glasses and contact lenses at all times in case of some kind of VISION NIGHTMARE. Also, I just got two new pairs of glasses (these are from Specsavers if you're curious) and my resolution is to stop forgetting to carry a case, because I always end up doing that and then just shoving the glasses into a pocket and that is, you know, not that good for them.

MINI DEODORANT AND DRY SHAMPOO

Because I’m such a mess of a human being, it pays to be prepared and carry the essentials. I do a lot of dance classes in the evenings during the week, and so deodorant (it's a little Nivea one) is an absolute necessity just so that everyone on the tube home doesn’t hate me. I use the (Batiste) dry shampoo a bit less often but it’s just there in case I have some kind of hair DISASTER (more frequent than I’d like) or if I oversleep and have to skip washing it. I’m so attractive.

LITTLE EMERGENCY PURSE

This is very similar to the little first aid kit Poppy mentioned in her What’s In My Bag post – it’s got safety pins, painkillers, tampons, hair grips and also replacement, er, squishy hat things for my earphones (what are those called?!) because I have a terrible habit of losing them. The purse I use for this is a little one that came in the Birchbox collaboration with Benefit a few months ago, and it lives in the zip pocket in the middle of my bag so that I can always find it in a hurry.

MAKEUP

I have deliberately left the little bag I keep my makeup in out of this picture, because I’ve been using it for about six months now and it’s super grubby. It’s just a little zipped pursey thing that I’ll replace pretty soon (I like this, this or this because I’m a sucker for things with my initials on) and in it I keep:

-          Bourjois 123 Perfect CC cream (which I love & will be doing a post on soon!), because I hate carrying foundation but this is great for top-ups

-          Collection concealer (which Poppy reviewed here)

-          Mini Benefit Posietint

-          Max Factor black eyeliner pencil

-          Mini Vichy moisturisers (these samples came with something I bought and they’re super useful; I use them when I stay over somewhere or if I feel like my skin’s drying out during the day)

PERFUME

All my usual perfumes are too bulky to carry around with me, and I haven’t yet got my hands on an atomiser, so for now I carry the Body Shop Moringa Eau de Toilette, which is a lovely sweet scent that I use to either refresh the scent I’m wearing (it complements most of my day-to-day perfumes) or in case I forget to put any on (more likely). It’s a great size for tucking into a corner of the bag and super budget-friendly also – this bottle has lasted me months and months.

LIP BALMS

I hoard lip balms a lot – the ones I’m carrying at the moment are classic Vaseline, the wonderful and phenomenal Elizabeth Arden 8-Hour Cream (which you can also use on your cuticles, or as a moisturiser, or for whatever you want, pretty much), and Carmex, which has been a huge lifesaver this winter. My lips are super sensitive and when it’s cold (IT’S SO COLD) they tend to just give up on life, so I like to always have something to sort them out.

HAND CREAM

Again, this is just something I like to have on hand (HA!) if I need it. This No7 one is super gentle and lasts for ages – I always buy it with the £5 No7 skincare vouchers you get with Boots purchases sometimes, which makes it only about £5.50.

UMBRELLA

I live in England, and it is January.

MIRROR

This Models Own compact is a great size – it fits perfectly into one of the pockets in the side of my bag, and it’s big enough to do makeup in without squinting into a tiny square. It’s also pretty sturdy, which is great because my last compact mirror suffered a terrible fate when I stood on it once and it crumbled into a million pieces.

JEWELLERY

As I have mentioned probably too many times, I’m often in kind of a hurry when I leave the house, so it’s easier to keep the four rings I wear basically every day in a side pocket so that I’ve always got them on me. I also keep some big statement stud earrings in there as well, because they go with everything and they jazz up even super boring outfits.

PHONE

My phone is pictured face down, because the screen is cracked all to hell after I dropped it on holiday in Wales. It's the Motorola Moto G, which is a great phone - this is my second, after I dropped the first one in a toilet. I'm not great with phones.

There we have it! Once I’ve had the bag a bit longer you can also expect loose pennies, receipts, old gum wrappers and stray hairbands, but for now it almost – almost – looks like I’m a neat, normal human.

Let me know if there are any super useful things I’m missing out! Anything that can help me get my life organised is super welcome.

N x

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