Dear Diary

A new year means it's time for a new diary. YAY. I had the pleasure of putting together a gallery of 10 cute 2013 diaries at work today, and during my research stumbled upon just the CUTEST online stationery store. 

The Magic Notebook stocks pretty paper, tape/stickers, diaries and more, largely sourced from Korea (home of awesome stationery).

The great thing about the diaries is that they are 'blank' meaning that you fill in the month and date yourself, meaning you can start it at any point in the year, of if you're like me and get lazy and forget to diarise for weeks at a time, no pages are 'wasted'. 

Not only are the prices reasonable (plus UK P&P is only £2.95), but each product is beautifully photographed turning thoughts like 'but do I need it?' to 'I officially can't live without it' in a matter of seconds. 

Observe:

Stamp 'Thank You' Stickers, £1.95

Iconic Deco Sticker Pack (10 sheets), £5.95

Alice Weekly Schedule Diary, £10

The Vintage Year Diary, £15.50

Romantic Flower Planner, £16

Day By Day Diary with Stickers, £20

Madeleine Forest Diary, £23.50

Biscuit Diary, £22.50

Daily Chau Diary, £18.50

My Melody Diary, £14

JooZoo Diary, £14

This kawaii stationery fest also sent me onto eBay to see what was on offer, where I found the following cuteness...

Jetoy Mini Cat Diary, £9.90 approx

JooZoo Cat Index Stickers! £4.03 approx

Amazing right?! If you know any cute stationery destinations, please share in the comments!

xo

Photo Diary #4

Erm, HOW quickly has christmas crept up?! I can't believe that in just over a week we'll be opening prezzies and OD-ing on food! Cannot. Wait. Although have kinda just realised how little time I have to finish buying prezzies... Eek! Are you prepared yet? 

Check out some of my past Xmas DIY posts: Cool gift wrap ideas and my Pom Pom Wreath tutorial and there's lots of other general DIY ideas here!

Here are some snapshots from my past week:

I found this kinda odd but still festive badge in a charity shop for 10p! Will officially be wearing this every day until the 26th December.

We had the Company Christmas do the other night, which began with lots of Disaronno cocktails in the office! @CompanyEdVic took this picture of me well on the way. 

My first ever christmas party award! SO apt! 

We went to Bounce for a mixture of drinking and ping pong which was about as mental as it sounds! Balls were flying literally everywhere. I was a majorly sweaty wreck after about 5 minutes of pinging and ponging, but on the upside it's a great way to burn the boozy calories off instantly!

That staple Instagram fave - the drunken night out bog shot! I hate myself. 

The transition from night to day, as witnessed by myself on the 7.06 to Charing Cross each morning. So pretty.

My freshly stamped hand at the Clothes Show - less about that, more about my pretty polish. It's Fearless by Revlon! 

Roxy being all gorgeous. She lives in my lap recently - huddled under our fave leopard print Primark throw!

Have been munching on American candy from my friend Lucy at work! Nothing makes me happier than American Candy! Anyone know of a UK site that sells it for less than 30 bajillion pounds? (I'm looking at you, Cyber Candy...)

We decorated our tree! 

I found this adorbs little badger in Oxfam for 30p whilst we were shopping for decorations for Alex's parents xmas tree in Bexhill and just couldn't leave him there - look how cute he is!!

So I decided to buy him and turn him into a christmas decoration! Alex's parents had no say in this but have happily embraced the christmas badger. We've named him Noel!

This pic is a few weeks old now, don't think I've blogged it yet! I MET TOM FROM THE APPRENTICE 2011! He was in the lobby at work to see someone's from Men's Health but I grabbed him for a quick snap. He was so cute - although it does look like we could be long lost relatives in a weird way..! 

I finish work this Friday until January so expect lots of blogging from me over the festive period - will hopefully be blogging in the next few days about how I may now hate cats. Will leave you on that cliffhanger... 

xox

Topshop Lipstick, I LOVE YOU.

I am a bit of a lippy fiend. If I feel like I'm looking a bit trampy or below average, a bit of lipstick is the one thing I can rely on to make me look decent. Good, even. 

I've heard mixed reviews of Topshop lipsticks but I for one am obsessed. When I was a Topshop make up specialist, the 'legend' went that Topshop make up was created by the same people who make MAC make up, making it really similar in its er, make up, and a fraction of the price!

I am in love with two shades in particular: Brighton Rock and All About Me. 

Brighton Rock

This is a classic Topshop lipstick, right from their very first make up collection. It has gone through phases of being totally sold out and my make up artist pal Sophie says she's seen it go on eBay for £20 before! Sought after or what? 

It's a creamy fluoro pinky coral shade that makes any outfit looks instantaneously cooler. I do find this one needs a couple of top ups throughout the day to keep looking awesome, but it's worth it because the colour and consistency is so good. (Topshop.com, £8)

All About Me

This lipstick is probably my all time favourite. It's the most pigmented hot pink shade I own and has a fab satin matte finish so is not uber drying. It lasts all day and although I sound ridiculous as I'm talking about lipstick, I feel truly 'myself' when I'm wearing this shade! Does anyone else get that with a specific lippy? 

Downside? I get McFly 'All About You' stuck in my head when I remember the name of this lipstick. Or is that secretly an upside? Hmmm... (Topshop, £8)

Which is your go-to lipstick brand? Do you rate Topshop's lippies? Aren't McFly awesome? I've said too much.

xo

Beanie, Baby

Pretty glad the beanie trend is kicking off at the moment! Not only do hats keep my bonce warm in this CHRONICALLY cold weather (it's totally unacceptable.) but they're also ideal on days when my hair is all over the place. 

I worked from home today to edit the behind the scenes video footage I captured on the cover shoot for Company Mag's blogger issue! Can't wait for the issue to hit shelves next week, you're gonna love it! 

Here's my chillaxed attire: 

(Beanie - New Look, Bag & Jacket - charity shop, Skinnies - M&S, faux fur collar - H&M , boots- Sarenza*)

If you're in London this weekend, you should go and check out the eBay's pop-up store! For one weekend only, they're hosting a pop-up 'social shopping' experience in Covent Garden. Harnessing the influencing power of social media, eBay Social Shopping will bring together product recommendations from social networks including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with eBay’s own unrivalled search data, to provide a live pulse of what the nations really wants this Christmas with fashion, toys and technology zones.

The reason you may have spotted me using the #ebaysocialshopping hashtag on Instagram is that in the Fashion Zone of the pop-up, you will be able to  shop using our image recognition technology.  A live feed of Instagram images will be displayed on screen.  These images have been taken by some the UKs influential fashion names & bloggers and will include selection of their favourite winter fabric swatches. The eBay fashion app enables you to identify similar items & colour matches for these outfits from the eBay Fashion Gallery!

Anyway what's your chilly weather staple right now? Anyone else becoming surgically attached to beanies and faux fur collars?

xo

Soggy Style

Eurgh, what a GROSS weekend, weather-wise!

Yesterday, Alex and I had high hopes of going for a mooch round  town but the weather was so horrendous, all we could handle was poking our heads in the nearest charity shop and a trip to Sainsbury's to buy Naan bread. FUN! I tell ya, I can't wait to move to London and have more entertainment options than 'go round town' or 'stay in'. 

We also watched a film written/directed/starring Lena Dunham from Girls' called Tiny Furniture and concluded it was crud. Yeah, I'm bringin' the word 'crud' back. 'Naff' has been circulating the office recently and I'm loving it! 

Here's what I wore for #townfail:

 (Jacket & sweatshirt - charity shops, shirt - H&M, jeans and socks - New Look, Boots - Jeffrey Campbell at Sarenza*)

(Jeffrey Campbell at Sarenza*)

(A close-up of my new sweatshirt, one of my only recent charity shop finds!)

I also tweaked my blog header, adding a lovely illustration drawn by Carly Watts and tidying up the design a bit - do you like it? I was surprised by how easy I found it to do! My hours weeping over Photoshop at Uni were clearly not lost! 

Onto a lovely night of pre-back-to-work chillaxing and HOMELAND! Anyone else in love with that show?! Definitely makes a Sunday night all the more bearable. 

xo