Glasg-omgz!

Sorry I've not been about much, even though I finished uni, it is a very busy time of year for me what with birthday plans and other bits and bobs. Alex & I are off for a whirlwind visit to Glasgow tomorrow night (well, going to his parent's house so we can all set off super early) until Weds night. Then I'm nipping to London on Thursday, drinks on Thursday night and then it's my birthday on Friday! So it'll be a little while longer before I can become the blog-whore-verging-on-spam I was promising to be, but bear avec moi!! Plus I'll have a very special treat in the next couple of weeks for those that don't desert me...

So for my last post in a little while, I thought I'd share the ins and outs of what I've packed for Glasgow.



Here are my outfits... I'll wear one of the top two outfits on Monday night when we go and visit Alex's gran. The bottom left one will be for shopping it up on Tuesday. I'm wearing a bumbag because Glasgow is a bit scary and I don't want to get robbed! I get very paranoid in places outside my comfort zone. The dress will be for Tuesday night's dinner. As in, I'll be wearing it to dinner, not eating it for dinner!


(Jeans, flats & floral tops - Topshop, Striped top - h&m, Bumbag & Boots - charity shop, Dress - courtesy of Tesco, belt - h&m)

Then here's what I'll be wearing to travel home on Wednesday (hence sad face). We're getting a lift up with his parents but getting the train back down (hence packing VERY light!) so it'll be a bit of a snooze fest. Also, a close up of the nail varnish I bought today from Topshop to match my pretty new floral top. And my 'must-have' bits and bobs.


(Striped top - h&m, currently £3.99 half price!)

Bits and bobs:

Ojon animated styling cream - Really rather good! Bought it as part of the Ojon thickening hydrating set on QVC, which is good for limp locks like mine! My hair is the bane of my life. If anyone knows any other good thickening products, do share!

Garnier moisturiser - Perfect! The subtle rose scent is so addictve, and I've not had one spot since using it. Love it.

Kwells and Zirtek - to combat my travel sickness and hay fever respectively!

Vera Wang Rock Princess - My current scent, but I'm sure it must wear off instantly as nobody has ever commented on how lovely I smell even though I squirt gallons on! I'm always striving for the 'walk-by-effect' (when someone walks past and you get a gorgeous waft of their perfume and just HAVE to ask what it is).

Prestige black kohl - Perfect. Never ever ends up under my eyes.

2true liquid eyeliner (at Superdrug) - bought this today as a cheapie liquid liner to tide me over until I have birthday money to blow on a lovely one. Seems to be good so far, I'll have to keep you posted!

Mitchum deoderant - Bought it on offer at Boots. A bit sticky, therefore a bit icky. But I'm stuck with it now!

Mally mascara - Got this in my goodie bag at the QVC press day on Thursday. Loving it. Definitely a step up from my crusty Primark jobby.

Collection 2000 perfecting minerals - Oh you know I love this shiz!

Benefit Dandelion blush - A rather ropey donation from my friend Hannah! I use it all the time and I love it.

Topshop nail varnishes in Rose Royce and The Big Easy - Bought these today, I'll do my nails tomorrow and Twitter updates on its longevity! I can't blog from my mobile, but my god I can Tweet.

Kimberley lashes - Impulse bought these on Thursday for my night out. They were okay, a bit fan-like though (just went to type fan-ny but realised that was misleading not to mention rude!) They didn't have my favourite Ardell lashes in Chatham boots. Boo!

Necklace - A birthday gift from my uni girls last year. From Urban Outfitters.

I'll also be packing Alex's GHD's, a black bra and a nude bra, The Georgia Nicolson books by Louise Rennison which I'll be nicking off my sister tomorrow and my iPod!

Roxy is staying at my mum's which makes me nervous because mum has crazy Jack Russell dogs and Roxy hates them :( But that's life. I've already promised to buy her lots of presents in Glasgow so hopefully she'll still love me when I get home...

Hope you all have a rocking Bank Holiday weekend and I will be back to blogging as soon as I get a spare second to think. Possibly when I'm 23!

If you've got this far - A) I love you, and B) Any shopping recommendations for Glasgow?

xxx

Debenhams: Swimwear + H! by Henry Holland review!

Perfectly timed with my decision to take up swimming as my exercise of choice, the kind folk at Debenhams sent me one of their Floozie bikinis to add a bit of glamour to my incompetent flailing.

Floozie is the underwear range by design duo Frost French, and I've been a fan for a while now. I've always found Debenhams underwear to be great for the, erm, 'young boob'. I am quite well endowed in this department and I find it can be quite a mission finding a big bra that fits without underwire that's so wide it jabs my sides. I'm not sure why I've decided in my mind these bras are for 'old boobs'... I just have. But I've found Debenham's Floozie and Red Herring ranges are perfect for the young & busty, offering support with super cute design - and without excessive width. I had wanted to try the black polka dot bikini below, but it wasn't available so I opted for this sweet 'spinning top' print one.



Due to these bloody headaches, I haven't taken it for a test-swim yet, but I did wear the top sunbathing a couple of days ago which was a good chance to test out the comfort factor. I found the balcony style to be very supportive and the sizing was very true (no 4-boob syndrome here!) I think It's important when you find an undie brand you like that you can trust the sizing to be consistent, and that's definitely the case with Floozie. The bikini top did feel a bit stiff but I'm sure it'll be more comfy once it's been in the wash. Another bonus is that you can wear the top as a halterneck or strapless, which makes it flexible for all your beach outfits. I'm going to Madrid in July (can't wait!), and I'll be opting for strapless. I don't want a shoulder tan-line in sight!

Debenham's is also home to the amazingly good value H! by Henry Holland range. Here are my favourite swimwear picks from Floozie, H! and Red Herring:


(Top Row: Floozie Spinning top print, top: £18, bottoms: £14. Floozie black polka-dot print, top: £18, bottoms £14.Red Herring bird & flower print, top: £10, bottoms: £8. Bottom Row: H! by HH ditsy frill top: £12, bottoms: sold out. H! White ditsy bandeau: £32. H! Plaid bustier: £18, bottoms: £12)

Speaking of Henners Holland, I nipped to the Debenhams press day last week, and his designs totally stole the show. It was a mixture of Rihanna-goes-girl-scout (bodycon khaki, leather[ish] dress straps), and countryside cool (EPIC brogues, satchels and an amazing plaid cape) with an injection of cute heart and lips prints. If that sounds a bit fragmented, it's probably due to my poor description skills, but in person, the collection makes perfect sense. I really feel like the H! collection goes some way to filling the gaping void Luella has left behind for 'fun fashion'. And I just can't believe it's almost all under £30!




Enough of my ranting, have you tried Debenhams underwear or the H! range? I'm going to London tomorrow and I feel a little H! spree coming on!

xo

Disclaimer: I know I probably don't need to explain this to you guys, but just so you know, everything I write is my honest opinion. I'm not obligated to write about freebies I receive or events I go to, if I don't like it, I'll either tell you or just not post about it at all. I get a bit enthusiastic when I write about stuff I love, and I just don't want you thinking I'm not being myself. ♥

Tuesday tip - Mix & Match nails

Hello guys, thanks to those that left such lovely comments about my magazine in the last post. It's scary to put something you've worked hard on 'out there' for criticism, so I was truly ecstatic that you liked it. As for whether I might do another one... Well it's something to think about! My Indesign trial runs out very soon though so I'll have to find someone that has it so I can put it on my Mac (as IF I'm spending £500 on that shiz!). So we'll have to see what happens. Very annoying to find typos in it earlier after handing it in! Boo! but I'm only human (and that's kinda the whole point of the magazine anyway!)... Trying to wriggle out of being a lazy proof-reader there, is it working?

I have come down with a terrible migraine today, I'm thinking it's to do with the air pressure dropping, I get sensitive to pressure changes. So I thought I'd leave the tips to one of my favourite bloggers Sophie aka. Dusky Ledoux today. She's been away for a bit to get on with uni work, but she's back with a bang! Her latest posts have included a great flower hairclip tutorial, and some fabulous nail art I'm sure you'll enjoy. She claims her new love affair with nail art is down to my leopard print tutorial, but let's face it, she puts my efforts to shame! How she did all those hearts so perfectly I'll never know!



I did a bit of a mix and match affair earlier on, so I could try out her awesome stripes look, but my hands don't function at the best of times let alone when it feels like I have a herd of Elephants trampling on my head. So after a couple of wobbly tries, I just did half a nail (like this Wah design I loved so much)! I only did my left hand, but I think that adds to the whole 'I did it myself' thing! Wriggling out of being a lazy nail-painter now! ... Is this one working?



(I did the half thing by painting the whole nail, then painting a different colour over half of the nail, and then doing a few stripes with the trusty liquid eyeliner! I used 17 in Mint Choc Chip & Models Own in Grey Day)

So thanks Dusky, for inspiring me to prettify my nails, they've been so neglected while I've been doing uni work! ♥

Oh, also, my friend Jen shared a good nail tip with me earlier. She washed the brush of an old liquid eyeliner and now uses it as a paint brush so she can use it with any nail varnish! What a good idea! Will definitely be trying that out.

I'm going to go for a walk to clear my hideous head and simultaneously fill my belly as we're going to Tesco to get some sweets! We're watching 'Youth in Revolt' tonight.

Hope you've had a lovely day xxx

Gem Says

I'm FREE! After staying up all night long (which was just surreal... I feel deathly now!) I handed in my magazine project today. As much as I enjoyed it, it will be nice to put my feet up for a while now. It's been a really intense 4 weeks for me and I am looking forward to some me time. First stop - dyeing my roots! I learnt so much on this project (Adobe Photoshop & Indesign are my new BFF's) and now I know I can do it, I'm definitely thinking about starting a proper magazine some day...



So a bit of background. The brief was to create a print magazine targeting a gap in the market. The 'gap' I identified was you guys. People that like to read blogs and get the sense they're reading a real person's opinions, not robotic mainstream fashion media drivel. I wanted to create a magazine that was like a blog but in print. Written by a real person with honest opinions and an ad strategy that wouldn't compromise that honesty. Some of you may recognise some features from stuff I've done on the blog, but what with my concept, it just made sense to use some of my previous 'material'! So yes, imagine you are reading an actual magazine, because it is intended as a print mag, not an online mag.



I wish I'd had the time to add more to it. Due to a mixup at uni I had to complete that film project in the first 3 weeks of this project, so I just couldn't do everything I wanted in the end. Thanks to those that gave me some lovely outfit pictures to include, but I ended up not doing the feature due to said time constraints. I really wish I could've done a really cool double page spread of all of your nice outfits, it would've been the icing on the cake of my little mag! But I'm pleased with what I did manage to do in the little time I had so I mustn't be a negative Nancy.



So I give you 'Gem Says'. It's not perfect, but it's my baby so I love it.



Let me know your thoughts :)

You should probably enlarge it!

x

The mists are clearing...

Hello old friends!

Sorry for the neglect, I'm sure you can imagine I've been under heaps of stress trying to get this magazine done in time for hand in on Monday. Once it's over I'm going to be a literal bunny boiler of the blog-world. I'll be blogging at you so much you will report me as spam. So don't desert me just yet ♥

I went to get it printed before work today to save me the stress of trying to get it done last minute before hand in on Mon and risking it going wrong and having no time to rectify it. Alex took me to Staples before he was due to meet his mates for breakfast, thinking it would be a pretty in-out thing. Wrong. We got there and some douchebag was getting loads of stuff printed (okay, a bit mean, but he felt like the enemy at the time!) The chap that works there told me there's be an hour wait for the machine. Wtf?! I did not have an hour. Alex had plans and I had work! I just knew it would go wrong and I was an idiot to believe my hard work getting it finished for this morning would be rewarded by disaster-free printing. I didn't even reply to the man I just slowly turned around and put my head in my hands and burst into tears! AWKWARD! Alex was like 'do not start crying in the middle of Staples'. We went back to the car and I was a mess. Alex said he'd cancel his plans so we could get it printed today (♥), and I phoned work and told them I'd be late.

So yeah, got it printed in the end! I am an emotional wreck at the best of times let alone in times of intense pressure like I am right now. I redeemed myself to the poor guy that broke the 'one hour wait' news by being almost completely normal when I went back in! We killed time waiting to get it printed in Pets at Home, where I bought Roxy a lovely new scratching post.

Not much outfittage to report, but I used my 'shop outside the box' tuesday tip about h&m as one of my mag features, so here are some pictures from one of the pages. How good is the Run DMC vest? Only £4.99 in the boys section! And I've also added my picnic trend page. It took me a whole day to create it because I'm no good with Photoshop. Well, I am now, I guess! I am so pleased with the end result :) I'm going to make a few little changes to the mag to make it perfect for you guys, then I'll be uploading it on here for your eyes only!





OMG in other news, we have these idiotic neighbours across the road that play the bassiest crappy music at full blast with the windows open so we can hear it in our flat really loud (our windows are old). They were playing it at 2.30am this morning, so I looked out of the window to see if they were partying it up and what did I see? The girl that lives there, giving a man a lapdance. With the lights on and curtains open. Facing outwards. So I saw her boobs! It was disturbing! Alex shares a different stance on it, though (FML). It didn't stop me marching across the road in my pyjamas to tell her to shut the hell up! Ha. Noise annoys, peeps, don't forget that.

So yes, it's full steam ahead now to get the research book that accompanies the magazine finished (it's 50% of the grade!) by Monday and then I will be free to become a total blog slut.

Have you been having calmer times than me? I hope some of you have been able to enjoy the weather on my behalf!

x

Tuesday Tip - Easy truffle recipe!

Hello all!

I was going to share some blogging tips today but thought it'd be more fun to show you what I've been slaving over the last few days. I'm creating a 16-page magazine (well it's more like 22 at the moment, I have too many ideas and not enough time!) for a uni project due in on Monday. My concept is to create a blog, but in print basically. So lots of honest opinions, cute outfit ideas, tips, interviews and general rabbiting, as opposed to robotic bullshit fed to us by mainstream lifestyle magazines. This is what my research was for (thanks to all that completed the survey!! So so helpful!)

I'm calling the magazine 'Gem Says', and can't wait to share it with you when it's finished (by Monday)!

The constructing of the magazine is taking forever because I am not good at the visual side of things. Well, I've learnt loads on Photoshop and Indesign in the last few days so I am getting better. Have been scanning in all different textured papers and stuff, it's good fun! Here's the first feature that is pretty much finito. It will be part of a double page DIY piece including the bleach tutorial I did for last week's Tuesday Tip. The font looks a bit wee because we are used to such big fonts on the web, but for print, fonts need to be much smaller, as do the pictures. And it's a bit blurry because I only screen-captured it.

Anyway, I give you... My truffle recipe!



EDIT! Forgot to add these need to be stored in the fridge and served chilled, they get very squishy at room temperature!

I hope you're all having a lovely week. I'm missing the blog, it feels weird not updating as much! But hopefully I'll have something really cool to share with you by the time I'm finished :)

xxx

Quickie

A nice quiet post as promised! Here's what I wore the other day when I was taking my CV's around town. I tried to dress nicely to detract from the bedhead! :)




[Everything is from Topshop except my little vintage Parisian heeled brogues]

Almost a week until my magazine is due in and I've been freaking out a bit at the prospect of designing a magazine from scratch. Especially without Adobe at home. Actually, Alex is trying to illegally download it for me as we speak bless his heart. That's 21st Century romance for you!

x

I can haz my life back?

Hello all! I hope you're in the mood for words because apparently I've got lots to talk about!

Thanks for all your lovely comments about my Tuesday tip, I've replied to lots of them in the comment thread! Do send a pic if you do try it out (have already had a couple of fab pictures from readers!) and I will do a big post of all of your efforts like I did with the leopard print nails!

So, sorry I've been a bit quiet on here lately, my workloads have been racing towards deadline so I've been ridiculously busy. I just finished my film project today and thought I'd show you the 'other woman' thats been distracting me from my wife (this blog). Ridiculous analogy. I'm tired!

So before you view, I'll tell you what it's about. The brief was to create a promotional fashion film. My designer was House of Holland, and I decided to base my promotional film/viral on the app they released with BlackBerry. Basically, last fashion week, they launched an app where BlackBerry users could buy the eight-piece t-shirt collection (which all had acronyms on like CTFO & FFS etc...) from the show via their mobiles the second they hit the catwalk! 6 months early! A nifty idea! So I decided to base my video on the NALGO t-shirt (not a lot going on), as part of a hypothetical series of vids made by HOH/BlackBerry to promote the App (and thus clothes, obvz).

I hated almost every second of this project (due to uni effing me over and giving me 3 weeks to complete this 10 week unit!) so I didn't take it seriously whatsoever. I hired no models and shot it in my living room in my pyjamas and a shoddily DIY-ed ripoff HOH t-shirt. It wasn't all shortcuts though. My biscuit idea (you'll see) was actually a lot harder than I envisioned! Turns out they don't make bourbons perfectly flat so I actually had to FILE DOWN 80% of the biscuits in this film so they'd stand up. I never thought I'd be filing biscuits in the name of fashion film! Ridic. Also, I kept knocking one biscuit when I'd almost finished and so they'd all fall down and I'd have to start over. I almost cried!

Anyway. The here's the film. If you go to my Youtube, there's also one of the million outtakes of the bourbons not falling down/Roxy invading the scene!



Still not free just yet, I have my magazine to create from scratch before 24th May. It's all going well and I can't WAIT to show you the fruits of my labour for this project. Super exciting.

Here's my outfit from yesterday, btw. I ran out of liquid eyeliner so I look a bit facially fugly but in other news, my dress sense is picking up a bit. I'm wearing a Hobbs cropped tee I found in a charity shop! I love it :)



(Alex took the pics, hence the pic of me mid-sentence! Thank god I'm not with him for his photography skills..!)

Soz for the essay. Will post a nice quiet blog tomorrow :)

♥

Tuesday tip: easy bleach DIY!

(Tuesday tips is recruiting new ideas! If you know any nifty beauty or DIY tips, comment or email me them and I'll try and post them up!)

Today's tip was discovered around fashion week when that blogger BS was going on. The night before I was going to LFW, I decided I'd be really 'lol' and create a political slogan tee about it. Unfortunately I had no fabric paint to do it with. After some brain racking, I realised I could just use bleach! I didn't have a paintbrush at the time so I used a makeup brush, it was about as ridiculous as a DIY can get! Of course the irony is that it pissed down with rain all day at LFW so I didn't remove my jacket the whole day! Haha!

Anyway, I though I'd buy some paintbrushes and share the tip with you guys. It's an easy DIY but you just need to be careful because obviously bleach can be lethal if it ends up where it shouldn't (that sounds a bit dubious, I'm referring to carpets etc! Still dubious, I guess!)

I've done the the tip as a video because it's just easier than sticking a billion pictures up. It's only 5mins long. If you're not the video type, grab an old tee, draw a design with chalk or something, stick a newspaper under the first layer, paint bleach on in whatever design you choose, wait, wash and dry! That's the gist. But the video does have the added bonus of me dithering over whether to paint whiskers on or not, which I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss out on!

I did a somewhat shoddy cat's face (my artistic skills are non-existent!), but some other possible designs are: polka dots, Chanel C's, a heart, a word/phrase of your choice, or you could just stick the whole top in a bowl of diluted bleach and see how that looks!

Happy bleaching! ♥






xx

I'm just so fresh, so clean!

Good evening!

Thanks for sharing your questions you'd like me to ask Gemma Correll, and feel free to give any more suggestions if you haven't yet, I'll be emailing her at some point tomorrow!

Oh, and if any of you have any DIY/beauty tips, do comment or email me them if you'd like me to feature them for Tuesday Tips. It turns out theres quite possibly more Tuesdays than I have tips, so I'm planning ahead a bit :)

An unexciting day today, spent scrubbing the flat within an inch of its life because we have an inspection tomorrow! I'm not a naturally tidy person so I need the pressure of an inspection to make me knuckle down. Whilst its tidy, I'm thinking of doing a Cribs-style video and showing y'allz my little old home. Undecided...

Alex & I went for a walk after Come Dine With Me tonight and only just got back. It was really nice, but very chilly! When you live with someone it's nice to get out of the flat and take a walk because you end up chatting about lots of different stuff, and you might not if you're at home and are distracted by blogging/Xbox!



The outfit picture was taken when we got back, so I look a bit rosy cheeked/sleepy/generally haggard! Am in such a wardrobe rut at the moment. I've banned myself from using my Debit Card (I always forget it is real money!) and have given myself some cash to live off. So it means no more cheeky h&m jersey sprees (for now) and having to survive with the clothes I've got, which is a bit uninspiring, but hopefully I'll snap out of it soon! There's probably bigger problems in the world than my lack of style!

Have you had a lovely weekend? I hope it's involved less cleaning products than mine!

Gem x

Question time!

Hello guys, sorry for the lack of posting, I've been feeling uninspired, and looking it as well! Until today, anyway.

I was reading the hilarious Winona from Daddy Likey's post about tote bags today and I saw an adorable 'Pugs not drugs' one (definitely my ethos for life!) I did a bit of clicking around and it turns out the creator of the bag is an extremely talented lady called Gemma Correll, who is a fantastic illustrator. I spent a good portion of my afternoon ogling her portfolio on Flickr, and it is basically delightful. It has also made me seriously wonder whether a cat/pug obsession is directly linked to having the name Gemma... I'm not very in the loop when it comes to art/illustration, and I'm really chuffed to have stumbled upon Gemma's work today!

Gemma has kindly agreed to do an interview for the magazine project I'm doing at uni (and therefore this blog seeing as I'll be posting whatever I create on here). I'm going to send off some questions to Gemma tomorrow or Monday, and I wondered if you guys had anything you'd like me to ask her? Comment or email me if so!

Enough of the chit chat, let's look at her handiwork!










How lovely? I especially love the illustrated diary, there's heaps more of them on her Flickr and they're definitely worth a look if you're nosey like me! I feel like the last two pictures are a prediction of my future self... One can only hope!

♥

Peachy keen

About to race off to work, but here's a picture of what I'm wearing and what my nails are wearing.


(Cardigan - £4 in Primark, Top - Primark, Jeans - Topshop, Socks - Dorothy Perkins, Wedges - Topshop, Necklace - Urban Outfitters)

Yes I'm about to brave my Clodges for an afternoon at work. I hope I can actually walk in them outside the confines of my flat! Will update...

My friend's at Model's Own sent over a couple of products from their new range which I will be gradually reviewing. Today, I'm wearing the Fuzzy Peach shade. Sorry for the sub-standard picture (my camera just would not play ball today!) but you can see the shade a bit better from the pic on the website.

I'm not sure if it was because it was late at night, but I had a bit of a nightmare applying it! It's quite a watery formula, which means things can become a mess rather quickly. It also means it takes quite a lot of strokes to get a smooth finish. This didn't really matter when I was doing my left hand, but my right hand took some re-doing to get it looking right. As I said, it may have been because I was sleepy, so my advice to you is apply this shade after a coffee, just in case!

Once the two coats were eventually on, I absolutely loved the shade. It's like coral's demure cousin! A really cute Peachy shade (funnily enough)! I love really block colours without shimmer or anything fancy, and I find Model's Own are perfect for that. Using my liquid eyeliner trick, I also added a little heart on the ol' wedding finger because I am a massively romantic geek.




Hope you have a lovely day!!

xx

[EDIT: I'm so pleased to reveal that the Clodges were surprisingly comfortable! They were kind of like wearing extended flats so they were fine really. The strap across the top didn't bother me at the time, but the next day that bit of my foot was aching. But all in all I bloody love them!!]

Not a lot going on...

[OMGZ, have gone from 36 to 14 in the Wikio Fashion Blog ranking in my sidebar! Super happy! I hope you know how much I appreciate you reading this blog. I basically fancy the pants off all of you ♥]

Anywho!

Regular readers may remember me mentioning my uni drama. Due to a mixup (on their part) I have ended up with a 3 week deadline to complete a 10 week group project - by myself. That deadline is looming, and is 1 week away on Friday. The brief is to create a promotional 1 minute film for a designer. On top of making a 16-page publication for a separate project. As a result of this mental workload, I'm cutting every corner possible for this bloody film. I'm the actress in it, the stylist and the camera-woman (well, my tripod is!).

I won't bore you with the details, I'll just post the film on here when it's all done. My designer is House of Holland, so here's an outfit from one of the 'scenes' of the film, including a hastily Sharpie'd DIY of the NALGO t-shirt for AW/10-11. I never realised how long it takes to draw things on shirts with a marker pen! It actually took AGES!





[Duffle bag - the only decent thing I found at the car boot on Monday.]

I got a little bit of footage tonight, but still have a long way to go. I'm working 'til half 6 tomorrow and then going for drinks, then on to a friend's house with Alex for a geeky election night-in (Channel 4 all the way). Hopefully I'll get a chance to post in the morning, but if not, see you on Friday!

Enough about my snooze of a life, how's your week going?!

xo

PS - Thanks SO much to those that took part in my survey for uni (scroll down if you don't know what I'm on about!) ♥

Tuesday tip: Shop outside the box!

I had intended to do a DIY tip today, but it didn't quite work out, so instead, I'd like to share with you a couple of unlikely places I've found amazing bargains.

These are probably common sense to some of you, but were a revelation to me, so maybe some of you will find them helpful! Feel free to comment with similar shop suggestions of your own, I may add them to this post!

First up are the super cheap shoe shops, which are generally dog shit but have a couple of little gems if you're brave enough to get past the backless loafers and plastic school shoes. My favourite shoes to buy here are plimsolls. You know the little ones you wore at school with the elastic? They're being sold in Dorothy Perkins for over a tenner at the moment, but good old Shoe Zone sells them for £1.99! They're in the kids shoe section so only go up to a 6 (but I can fit my 6.5-7's in them).

Shops like this are also perfect for getting classic green wellies. I have a pair and people often ask me where I found them because they are quite hard to find (most shops are all about the printed welly these days!) These ones cost £9.99 in Shoe Zone. I prefer the green ones because they're a) old school, and b) they go with everything, unlike prints.



Secondly, don't forget to check the kids section when you're out shopping! This is probably second nature for you petite girls (like it is for my miniature friend, Jen ♥), but there is actually something in the kids dept for all sizes!

H&M's children's section in particular is absolutely brilliant. You'd think the clothes would be, erm, childish, but a lot of them are just as cool as H&M, for at least half the price (making them cooler, some might argue!) The children's range goes up to 'age 14+', which I have figured will fit a 10-14 depending on the item. There's also a wealth of genuinely awesome hair accessories (studded wrist-straps and alice bands!) for no more than £2.99 if the clothes don't take your fancy. I also found my beloved studded belt a few months ago there for about £2.99.



(All items under £2.99, including that perfect striped t-shirt!)

I went out shopping researching earlier and found clothes for all tastes. Frou frou tutus... edgy panelled leather skirts... Pastel cropped denim... See for yourself!





(all items £9.99, except the fade-dyed tutu skirt which was £7.99. Black version was only £2.99!)

(Total disregard for fitting room tidiness - model's own!)

I really loved the little grey knitted cardi. And the 'leather' skirt was a surprise because I usually only chance the stretchy items. I did try on some dungarees the other week but I had to leave them to the 14-year-olds because they cut off the circulation to my legs. It's times like these we must try to remember that however much we want a bargain, it's rarely worth losing your legs for!

xx

Ps - heartshapedbruise has reminded me to give a shout out to the menswear section! Great for boyfriend cardigans, but this is another Tuesday tip in itself! :)

Talk to me!

Hey guys!

Firstly, as conclusive proof I have a limited social life, I posted my 300th post yesterday!

Secondly, I have created a questionnaire as research into a current uni project on blogs and mags. You would literally make my life complete if you took part and gave me your opinions. It's anonymous, 21 questions long and should take no longer than 5 minutes. Help a sister out!

skip logic

Clickety click!!

Thanks :)

I'll be back tomorrow with a Tueday tip, providing I can find the ingredients in Canterbury's charity shops... If not we are in serious trouble!

Until then x

Clodges

Today was the start of our quarterly Topshop uniform allowance, where we have a few weeks to buy some clothes with 60% discount. It's not as OMGZ!!1! as you might think, because it can cause a lot of mental exhaustion... What if you use up your 3-item allowance on the first day and then something amazing comes in stock the next week? What if you decide to wait until the end of the time-frame but no cool stock comes in and you have to do a last minute scramble and end up with stuff you'll never wear?

I was sensible today and bought some good old Jamie jeans in a lovely dark blue wash, and some little clog-looking wedges (read: clodges), leaving me 1 item left should anything super cool come into stock. These wedges are the closest I'm gonna get to clogs, because they just don't seem to suit me. I'm happy though, because soon enough clogs will be 'sooo last season daaahhling' but wedges are a pretty good wardrobe staple.

Having said that, I'm going to an epic car boot sale tomorrow morning (providing it hasn't been flooded) and if I find some clogs for under a fiver, I'll give them a whirl! Fashion is a fickle thing, isn't it?

Anyway, here are my purchases, teamed with this funny little top I found in a Parisian secondhand store called Guerrisol. I've never worn it, but for some reason decided tonight would be its debut!




BTW - I had a near death experience tonight. I was boiling some potatoes, but forgot to ignite the gas on the hob. It took me 5 minutes to realise that I'd been slowly filling our flat with gas. I literally freaked out because I've heard stuff like just switching a light on could cause an explosion in these situations. I promptly fled the flat, hyperventilated in the garden for a moment and then called Alex's parents for advice! Meanwhile, Alex was being my hero and picking up the pieces of my kitchen-fail, opening all the windows etc. Anywho, after a bit of parentally-advised airing, the flat was a danger free zone and I resumed boiling my potatoes. Scary to think how close we could've been to death/injury if I hadn't noticed my error!

Have you ever had any near misses? I can laugh about gas-gate now, but it really is scary to think how fragile life is.

Anyway, I'll report back on my car boot sale finds tomorrow! Wish me a happy haul! :)

xx

Wah Nails of the week!

Adorable mix and match!!



(Wah Nails tumblr)

Off to work until 3pm in a bit, such a lovely shift! Just remembered I left my umbrella at work yesterday... This will be interesting!
Very much looking forward to coming home and overdosing on Come Dine With Me on More4. It wouldn't be Sunday without a bit of Lamb. Dave Lamb, that is! :)

Do you have any nice plans today?

xo

Chase-ing the dream!

It was a tres stressful day at work today, as it looks like Topshop won't be able to give me the overtime I need when I've finished my uni term and won't get the next loan instalment until Sept. AKA How the eff am I supposed to pay my £400 half of the rent not to mention bills (and clothes!)?!?!?!?!

So it's looking like I'll have to find another job, which is a dreadful thought as I'm a pretty pernickety employee and I HATE change. I don't want to work in a cafe/restaurant because I hate that 'speak when spoken to' slave mentality, I like how you can have a laugh with customers and be yourself in fashion retail. Would also hate the washing up involved! The late hours of bar-work scare me a little... And I don't want to work in cosmetic places like The Body Shop because I don't want to do awkward customer 'makeovers'. Ick.

So as I walked home from my fail-job this afternoon, I considered whether I could work at each of the shops I passed... After a series of 'hell no's, I walked past the dreamiest shop on the high street and thought 'hell yes'! Paperchase!! I enquired as to whether they had any upcoming vacancies, but the kind young man said there wasn't any. I did feel a bit bad for momentarily considering how I might be able to get him fired so I could nick his job... But all's fair in love and stationery! Someone on Twitter also told me you get a 50% discount. Aargh!

I will be checking the window regularly for a 'vacancy' poster. In the meantime, here's my wishlist from their Amazon online store.



Paperchase staff discount would be so much cooler than Topshop. I could go back to my old eBay clothing ways instead of the high street hussy I've become!

Anyway, I'm off to wind down with Alex and Roxy after work's stressful revelations. As well as eat leftover Chinese (how come it's even nicer the day after?)

Gem x