Christmas catch up!

OMG long time no blog! Hello!

I was staying with family for a few days and for some reason my photos wouldn't upload to Blogger at mum's house? It was tres frustrating. I hope you all had a delish festive period with minimum stress and maximum calories? Generally, I did!

I have a bit of a backlog of stuff to blog about (my amazing current nails, my boxing day sale bargains, etc!) so I'll get a few pictures from last week out of the way tonight.

The 23rd was Alex's birthday. I didn't get many pictures, but we went out for a lovely dinner with our friends which was great. I made him an amazing birthday cake (well, to be fair, Betty Crocker did the donkey work!) I definitely recommend Betty's devil's food cake and chocolate fudge icing. Alex was reluctant to share any of it with his mates!



Alex's cute sweater he wore on his birthday:



On Christmas Eve I had to work all day and the dress code was 'festive', so I dug out some novelty reindeer ears my mum got me last christmas! One of my antlers had erectile disfunction and kept flopping down so I was constantly readjusting all day! I also forgot I was wearing them whilst storming around town angrily on my lunch break (the town centre on xmas eve is quite literally my idea of hell) I must've looked pretty ridic!



Alex and I spent Christmas day together in our flat. We got up super early and ate pain au chocolat and opened our presents. Here are a few things Alex got me:

(Juicy Jules, 25 Carat Gold, Red Red Wine)

I did a festive gold manicure for christmas day with my lovely new polish!

Alex also got me the lovely peter pan Wallpaper Rose t-shirt I wanted! I hadn't been expecting it, because I had messaged Louise (the designer) before christmas and she said they were all sold out, but it turned out Alex had got her to tell me a white lie so it would be a surprise! The cheeky devils! :)



Us hanging out in the kitchen whilst I was cooking our festive feast:



Me looking like a madman with a knife after carving the turkey!



(I literally didn't hold back on the roast potatoes. I didn't eat any of my vegetables in the end so I could have extra room for the scrummy carbs!)

On Boxing Day, Alex's parents came round and we exchanged presents. They got me loads of amazing stuff! Some lovely wedge boots that Alex's mum wears 'as slippers' (how glamorous?!), a 3 year subscription to Company Magazine, Wii fit plus and some low fat cooking spray (Alex's mum is helping me with my quest for a healthier 2011!) a wicked brow pencil and some hand cream by Soap and Glory and some cute kitten note cards. Can't believe my luck!



Then it was the annual Boxing Day feast at Alex's family friends' house. My mum had taken advantage of the special offer on indoor fireworks in Hawkins Bazaar (available here, sold out on Hawkins' site!) and bought us and Alex's parents some for christmas, so we took some to dinner. It caused a lot of laughter and quite possibly a bit of lung disease (so.much.smoke!)

I filmed some of the firework fun when Alex and I did our fireworks at home on christmas day. I uploaded a couple of videos on Youtube so you could witness the novel alternative we found to the instruction: 'Place the firework into a firm surface such as soil or sand'... Check out the other video to hear me and Alex bickering! I was a bit paranoid...



After the meal I went home to see my mum, brother and sister which was lovely. My mum gave me some money for christmas, which I have all but spent! Oops! Will be sharing my purchases with you in due course :)

It's been such a busy week but I've really enjoyed myself. It was so nice to share christmas with Alex and Roxy. It was just so chilled out and fun! Did you have a lovely time? Or are you glad it's all over? Bit of both..? Same!

Working today until 7pm... Not looking forward to tidying the Topshop sale! But I suppose I've had 4 days off to prepare myself...

♥

Doctor, Doctor

After spending my morning drooling over Susie's post on the SS/11 Dr Marten's collection, I coincidentally now feel like I need a Doctor... A cold seems to have developed out of nowhere and I'm now feeling very soz for myself. I bought some First Defense stuff as I don't want to be a snotty wreck on Alex's birthday on Thursday, so fingers crossed this stuff works.

Even though they may or may not have cursed my health, I just had to share some of the SS/11 DM designs. Every season they seem to amaze me with their fresh variations on the stompy soled theme. View at your own risk...






(Photos: Style Bubble)

Oh, you know which ones my favourites. When I first saw the leopard print brogues, my first response was OMFGZ, closely followed by FML that I have to wait until Spring to own them.

Not sure about the overly floral ones as I think they'll date pretty quickly, whereas leopard print is more of a lifestyle choice than a trend. For me, anyway! I also have a soft spot for the minty green brogues, but I think the fact it's one of my favourite nail polish shades is clouding my judgement. Coming to think of it, it is quite a nail art inspired collection! Floral, pastels, leopard print, zebra print, crackled... If I didn't know better I'd say Dr Marten himself could be a reader of this here blog!

Hope you're having a less germy day than me! I've got a busy day of cake-baking, last minute gift buying for Alex's bday, and housework tomorrow. Going to try and get a good night's sleep so I can try and recover!

♥

How La Senza measures up

A little while ago, La Senza sent me some freebies to review. Unfortunately the sizes came up smaller than my Debenhams-clad assets were used to so they weren't quite right. Luckily, I was able to exchange in store, so I went into my local La Senza and had a look. I was a tad apprehensive about this potential review, as I didn't have a La Senza in my town until recently so I didn't really know much the brand. And to be frank, with Chantelle Houghton (the face of their campaign) doing the grand opening of the store, I wasn't sure I wanted to...

I was glad I hadn't written it off, because when I went in, there were some rather lovely offerings. Yes, there were diamantes and 'triple gel pads' aplenty. But to my surprise there were also truly gorgeous vintagey sets and cute girly styles too. I think the advertising strategy has been a bit misleading, as the store seems to have so much to offer normal, stylish girls, not just the WAGettes it seems to target. I picked out some styles I liked from the DD+ section and headed to the Fitting Room...

Sizing did prove to be a bit of an issue. The assumption seemed to be that if you were big in the cup, you'd be wide too, so the straps kept sitting on the very edge of my shoulders - not great for supporting a heavy load! But the friendly assistant helped me try out various styles and sizes until I found something that worked. I found balconette styles worked best, as the straps are naturally a bit closer than the other styles I tried. I personally find this style of bra best for support anyway. I doubt sizing will be an issue for those with a smaller bust, but those with a fuller bust and slim build may need to dedicate some extra time to finding the right fit.



(Spotty one, Silk buttoned one, Leopard one)

I'm not entirely sure the bras I chose are quite as supportive as my Debenhams ones, but I have to say they are more stylish. Any regular Twitter readers may recall Alex condemning my last bra choices from there as 'a bit tragic'! I haven't heard a negative word said about these newbies! So it is a slight trade-off, but I just love the fun and retro styles of these bras so much I don't mind. They are certainly supportive enough, and if that means leaving my 'tragic chic' days behind, I'm all for it!

Pricing is fair enough, averaging at £20-25 for bras and £6-10 for briefs. I don't know about the thongs because I choose to pretend they don't exist!

So all in all, I am very pleased with my new additions and have learnt my lesson not to judge a book by its cover. Anyway, it looks like the cover could be changing - I have just seen their clever christmas viral ad, and it certainly seems the brand are aiming for an image that's more boudoir than brothel. Good move, La Senza! You have my full support! I'm sure there's a pun in there somewhere...



Have you tried La Senza bras? How did you get on?

♥

Outfit + Lashes

Evening all! x

As described in my last post I have been totally mojo-less when it comes to style whilst under all my uni stress. I am determined to claw myself slowly from my pit of despair, so I opted for my beloved H! by HeHo jumpsuit today. Seeing as it was sub-zero (the snow returneth!), I wore my fuzzy cat cardigan, which wasn't very flattering but it did the job of keeping me toasty! I am so bad at winter layering. Well, I just don't really have the tools. I really need some great knitwear in my life. Will have to keep an eye out in the sales.




[Soz the pics are a bit gloomy! Blame the snow clouds! And my zilchio editing skills.]

I also wore some fake lashes, which I haven't done in yonks. I have been having no luck putting them on recently, even my favourite Ardell lashes (follow the link for my Tuesday tip guide to false lashes!). That was until Eylure 101's entered my life. I was wandering past the lash aisle in Boots yesterday and the 'Buy one get one half price' offer caught my eye. I picked two pairs of these up for £7.50 in total! A spare pair is always good when you have a cat that literally won't think twice about eating them if you leave them on the coffee table. Lashes, spiders. Tomato, tomahto in Roxy's world.



(Make up: Revlon Photoready foundation in Shell, Eyeko Fat Balm in Toffee on lips and cheeks)

What I love about these is that the lashes are symmetrical rather than winging out at either end, if this makes sense? I never knew this criteria was important to me, but I have noticed in photos when I'm wearing lashes sometimes they go all curly and crap at the corners. You can kind of see it here. They were also super easy to apply. They don't look quite as natural as my Ardell ones, but I did get a plethora of lovely comments on them at work today, so that's good.

I'm starting to see the signs of ageing on my eyes now. The dreaded family heirloom of saggy eyelids is making itself apparent. Cheerz mum. So I have decided to make mega plucking (which I did tonight) and fake lashes more of a regular occurrence to lift my confidence (and hopefully eyelids) a bit.

I'm working 12-4 tomorrow, then am going to have a housework marathon so I can just relax and get ready for christmas. I might attempt some recipes from Cupcake Couture too. Also, we're going Turkey shopping on Monday! My mum gave us a couple of M&S vouchers she hadn't used so we're going all out! Shame the rest of the meal will probably be Asda smart price, but you win some you lose some!

Hope you're enjoying le weekend! ♥

Freedom

I finally handed in my Uni project yesterday, after 0 hours of sleep. It feels like yesterday was a bit of a dream, as I was half asleep through most of it! I may have learnt my lesson about not leaving stuff until the last minute... My dissertation (due on Jan 28th) will reveal whether this is true!

As I have worn nothing but pyjamas, been practically nowhere but my sofa, and read nothing but my own project, you'll have to give me a couple of days to get blog content back up to speed! For now, I will share a couple of snaps of brief times in the last week when I wasn't wanting to slam my head in the laptop.

We went to Asda to do our monthly food shop. After seeing the zillion calories fill the conveyor belt, I underlined 'improve diet' on my list of New Year's Resolutions a few times... Btw, most of the pizzas are Alex's! He doesn't have to worry about his figure as he has been a size 10 in skinny jeans as long as I've known him. Bastard.



On Saturday night, Alex cooked me a gorgeous dinner of Asda Extra Special salmon wrapped in pancetta with chorizo potato cakes which we got for £3 reduced!



Seeing as it was X Factor final night, I shelved the uni work and used the time off to paint my nails. I used Eyeko Indigo polish (Sold out! Nooo!) which I bought a little while ago. Isn't it gorgeous? Found it very resilient against my turbo typing as well. Might do a full review on it if it comes back in stock. Remember you get a free gift if you enter my code (E11298) at checkout when you spend over £15 on Eyeko goodies.



I went to a Post Office I don't usually go to as I wanted to avoid the queues in town, and walked past this adorable house. Consider heart shutters officially added to my dream house requirements!



This is about as exciting as my outfits have been getting. Whenever I have a deadline, all interest in style goes out of the window. Hence the coffee stained hoody.



And here's my little princess, Roxy, who made my stressful laptop times a little easier by being by my side! I love her so much :) Please note, we did not pick the sofa ourselves. We noticed on the day we moved into this flat that the Latin-covered sofa had some rather questionable english words on it! I'm saying no more on the matter! Back to my innocent and beautiful Roxy:



SO. I am going to crack on with the housework that I've been neglecting now. Then I might nip to Paperchase and get some christmas cards. Glad my rock 'n' roll lifestyle is back on track! :D

Hope you've all been okay? Any other students enjoying their freedom after deadlines? Anyone else celebrating with tackling an epic pile of washing up? Anyone..?

xx

Quickie

It's the day before my big project deadline and as usual my life is a living hell (got to uni to print my work off and my file wouldn't open - LOLZ). Have now had to spend my life savings on printer ink. I've got heaps more to do before tomorrow so I can't stay long. Usual blogging will resume Friday! ♥

Groupon emailed me yesterday to tell me about a special one day offer they're doing with American Apparel. You can buy £50 worth of credit for the American Apparel website for £25! They offered me a free voucher in return for sharing the news with you guys (disclosure ftw!), which was trés generous and I will definitely be investigating the new nail polish range. I'll probably buy a couple of vouchers too, because let's face it, the only way most normal people afford AA's obese prices is with an absurd deal like this one! Cheers, Groupon!



Make sure you read the T's and C's on the website, as the voucher can't be used on sale items etc.

Miss you heaps, if anyone is still out there!

xo

(Last) Week in pictures!

Morning Cherubs!

I've had this saved for the last couple of days and have been adding bits to it in between uni work! Just a collection of pics of stuff I did last week :)

Firstly, I bought Topshop's Lead nail polish which I think is not unlike Mac's limited edition Disney villain one, Mean & Green. There's also a Mac Formidable dupe in the current Topshop nail polish collection. I rather liked it, but it looks much more impressive under bright lights (ie. at work) I think the cool effect would be somewhat lost on a night out. In dull light, it just looks like a blacky purple. Still cool for £6 though!



Then snow happened (oh how I miss it!) Alex and I went for a midnight walk in it. It was amazing :) Snow is so much more fun when you have gloves on. You can throw snowballs without catching hypothermia!



Then we went to see if the Morrissey graffiti someone did a couple of months ago (definitely wasn't my boyf..!) was still there... Morrissey was going strong, and loving the snow!



Us looking very snowy, and my Primark hat looking more like a tea cosy than ever!



Here are the nails I wore to the night out with work. I used Models Own Nude Beige and my Models Own/Wah nail art pen, which is AWESOME by the way.

When we got to the restaurant, I unleashed my secret weapon (ooh, it's an accidental tuesday tip!) I'd brought my own booze in a water bottle and was buying soft drinks all night! Cheapie Malibu was my drink of choice.


I forgot to tell Brendon about this, but we spiked his beer with Malibu to see if he'd notice! But he didn't.


Me and two of my Topshop faves, Leanne and Rosie!


This pic of me and Leanne in the bog is the closest I got to an outfit photo, but it was pretty much exactly the same as the other day's outfit.


Rosie wanted leopard nails so despite my tipsiness, I obliged. I mucked one up, so she ended up with one naked leopard nail (I had my trusty nail polish remover wipes on me)!



Word spread and management caught wind of the impromptu drunken nail art and wanted in! Here's Hannah's hand, followed by Anna's, who wasn't wearing a base colour but didn't let that get in the way of leopard love.





We put our christmas tree up! It's the shoddiest plastic Wilkinson's offering, and Alex and I always fall out about what should go on it (he'll put random pieces of string and those sticky bow things for presents on it)! I'm going to go classy decs shopping at some point this week, so he can enjoy the tree of tat while it lasts...



Our blingy bookcase!




It was a fun week, but I now have just under a week until I hand in my huge perfume project I've been working on. I have quite a lot still to do so don't expect much activity on here... Will do my best though. I do always have a second or two to tweet, so feel free to follow me on Twitter if you miss me!

Gotta go get ready for work now. Hope you have a lovely Tuesday!

♥

In with the new!

Bonsoir, all!

Well, my wish for a shedload of snow to come my way so uni can get cancelled (and therefore I can get an extension on my project!) has come true, but it's a double edged sword. I had been planning to go to the Debenhams press day this morning before work to check out the Spring collections (including my usual fave range by Henry Holland) , so I got up at 7am and got ready for 90 minute mission to London. When I got to the station, it was packed out and the info screens said everything was delayed by approximately 75 years (or there abouts). So I had to scrap operation Debenhams and go home! Gutted! It kinda worked out though, because I went to uni and got loads done before my shift, so that's a weight off my shoulders. To conclude: Snow = yay and nay in equal measures.

Today I wore my two other uniform buys. By the way , my camera seems to hate picking up dark colours, which is why the brightness and contrast is always diddled beyond belief in my pics! Anyway, I bought this dress and this batwing cardigan. They were very last minute purchases and although neither of them have brought much excitement to my life, they are both flattering and comfy so I'm happy.




(Oh the irony of using a bicep pose to model the batwing cardi which is hiding my bingo wings!)

I've been feeling the need for some new specs, and having 'saved' £20 on trainfare, decided to indulge myself. I happen to prefer Specsavers' cheapie £25 lenses more than any of the pricier ones, and I picked up these gorgeous Edna frames. For £25!! Bargain! (Excuse the link is to the Aus site, sold out in UK!) They have such a vintagey look to them with the colour and cat-eye, I can't believe they're Specsavers!



Before I go, thanks for your hilarious comments on my new bitchy feature, 'This cat has claws'. Your positive response to the negativity has led me to add yet another feature idea to my to-do list. How do you feel about a feature I'd like to call 'The Naughty Step', where I name and shame the products I've bought that have been a waste of dosh? I'm figuring it's just as useful to know what not to buy as it is to know what to buy, so keep your eyes peeled!

Hope you've had a nice day, guys. I'm off to do uni work, or maybe just go to bed. Keeping my options open.

♥

This cat has claws! #1

We all love a regular blog feature, don't we? I figured if I can't commit to my weekly Tuesday tips at the moment, maybe I can introduce a new feature that comes a little easier. In ye olde fashion biz, everyone is so quick to heap praise on things left right and centre. As a blogger, isn't it my job to derail this just a bit?
So this new feature will be me speaking my mind on matters of the wardrobe. I'm hoping it will be quite therapeutic, as I have a lot of pent up uni-anger to unleash and if I don't take it out on the blog, it will be the boyfriend!

Round one, ding ding!

Anyone else think the H&M x Lanvin collection is quite frankly horrific? There's tacky-ironic and there's just tacky. I know I sound like the cliche snarky writer right now, but I'm genuinely bemused! At what point did H&M think this would suit their target market? Even the fashion-forward customer would surely laugh at this? There are one or two pretty normal dresses in the collection, but even they look like Rare knock-offs at best. I feel bad because I think Alber seems like he'd make a really sweet uncle (I'm not a very good bitch am I?) but there is just no excuse for this:









I did wonder whether it was just the styling that let Uncle Elbaz down, so I checked out the individual item shots, then this happened:





If anyone can justify these designs to me in the comments box, I am ready and awaiting your guidance. Where are my retinas to go from here?

Confused in Kent,

♥