Dissertation Doom

Arrrgh!!

I hate that I haven't posted up my weekend away pics yet and haven't caught up with all of your blogs in ages!

I have been casually ignoring the fact I need to hand in a 5000 word dissertation draft this Friday (the real deal is due in January and is 8-10,000 words). Well I have been doing loads of reading on it but forgot I actually had to write some stuff too! All in all my life has gone a bit mental this week, as I try and get this thing typed up! I've been so stressed out that I've been turning to downing handfuls of my trusty Bach rescue remedy pastilles! I can't tell for sure if they work, but I'm guessing that by deeming it appropriate to post a little blog when I've only done 1600 words means I'm pretty chilled out. Ha!



I'm going to get cracking now. For those that are interested, my dissertation question is:

'Free Speech: How fashion bloggers demonstrate postmodernism and influence their readers and in turn the modernist mainstream fashion media.'

It doesn't really make much sense as a title, but the dissertation itself is shaping up to be quite interesting, if I may say so myself! I Just need to resist the urge to slam my head in the laptop and maintain a bright outlook!

See you in 3400 words time!

Missing you! ♥

BRB - 5 year anniversary edition

Good morning, gang!

Today is officially mine and Alex's 5 year anniversary! Woo!

We're just about to go off on our weekend away. It's going to be a machine free zone, so I'll be back to my internet ways on Monday.

It's crazy to think we've been together 5 years. There was a lot of agro when we first got together for various reasons, and we are so proud to have got this far. Today feels like an eff you to anyone that doubted us.

Follow your heart, people! NOTHING else matters. ♥

An assortment of pics from the vault, including various hairstyles!









xxx

Wah Nails x Models Own event!

Hello all!

I went to the Wah Nails x Models Own collaboration launch tonight. They've teamed up to create some nail art pens for people like us that like to get nail arty on a budget. I was in such a hurry to get back here and pack, I forgot to pick up a press release so I can't tell you exactly how many nail pens they're releasing, or when the pens will be available in stores. Fail! When I find out this info, I'll update this post, fo' sho.

Here's what I wore:



Keepin it casual in a h&m top, cut off shorts (Big mistake in that part of London at night. Freak magnet!) topshop jacket, DM's and some fake lashes and lippy to counterbalance the snooze-ness of it all.

Inside the salon:



The nail pens (well, the packaging... None of the PR's could seem to locate me an actual nail pen to take pics of! I think all the nail technicians were using them!)



Me getting my nails did! The nail technician was really sweet and saw me taking sneaky pics of the process and she snatched my cam and took a pic of me!



(Me & Zena ring)

The final outcome... As it's our 5 year anniversary tomorrow, I got matte leopard print with my Alex's initials on my ring finger! No no, it's not a hint, I'm just a romantic old sod at times.



The lady that did my nails used the Models Own x Wah nail pen to do my leopard spots, and it looked perfect. It's perfect for leopard print as you can make it look quite blobby and authentic. It has a finer tip than the scratchy cheap eBay nail pens I'm used to! And the lid unscrews to reveal a striper brush too. They sent us home with giftpacks including a black nail pen, a couple of MO polishes and a nail file, so I will let you know how I get on with the pen! Could this be the end for my trusty liquid eyeliner...? Sob!

I may or may not be posting one tiny last post before we go away tomorrow, so hopefully catch you then!

♥

Forever 21 UK launch

Hey guys!

Just briefly, anyone following me on Twitter will know uni has been really full on lately. So for the time being I've stopped posting Tuesday Tips. I have loads of ideas for future tips, but not enough time to experiment and see which ones are fit for the blog. I'm just going to get the next few weeks out of the way and go from there. I'd rather stop altogether than waste your time with half-baked tips! Click here to read back through the past tips for inspiration until there's new ones to share!

Anyway, last night I went to the Forever 21 UK launch event in London. For those not aware of the brand, think of Forever 21 as the sassy young lovechild of Topshop and Primark. Trend led fast-fashion with a very reasonable price tag. Well, the American version is reasonably priced, time will tell whether importation has affected this...

I snapped a few pictures with my fab new camera (Nikon S8000), but I wasn't in the best location for the catwalk stuff, so I have uploaded the lookbook images onto my Flickr so you can get a better look at the Forever 21 clobber. I hope you appreciate this, as it took me about sixty years to resize the images so they'd upload!Also, this website has loads of fab pictures from the catwalk if you want to see better pics from the night.

I also popped my street style hat on, albeit briefly to get a picture of some lovely shoes, and a couple of models looking awesome off the catwalk! Both were rocking a suede ankle boot, so I can only assume they are huge fans of my blog. They didn't mention anything, so I'm guessing they must've been shy!















As for my opinion on the clothes... I'm not sure if they are supposed to look deliberately tacky or actually are tacky. There were a lot of pieces I liked (and I do like some things from the lookbook), but I think the styling let it down. Unless it is that the products themselves are the problem, in which case, god bless the stylist for trying! It would've been nice to see some of the clothes on rails or something, as it's hard to judge when you're not up close and personal to the garment itself. For now, that task is down to the Dublin and Birmingham ladies, where the first UK stores are opening next weekend, as us Southerners await a store opening here - or at least a UK website.

I'm off to get ready for the Wah x Models Own launch tonight! Excitement! And then tomorrow it's mine and Alex's 5 year anniversary so we're going away for the weekend. Will try and blog before I go, but this may be farewell until Monday!

♥

Why, Hallow!

Happy Halloween!

As much as I love dressing up, I'm being a bit of a Halloween scrooge this evening. Are any of you ignoring the doorbell too? Sorry but I barely have enough treats to satisfy my own sweet tooth, let alone sharing with greedy children. Maybe I'm just bitter that I'm too old to go and beg strangers for candy. Sigh!

I have been in AGONY today after doing twenty minutes of my new exercise dvd yesterday. I expected to feel the burn on my tummy and legs, but my ribs? My wrists?! You name it, I've strained it. I'm not surprised really. I'm chronically unfit. It hasn't deterred me though. I really want to keep this up and improve my posture and/or pot belly. The dvd has had really great reviews, so if anything will sort me out, it's this. I'll keep you posted with my progress!

I had work at Topshop today so thought I'd get in the Halloween spirit and go as a (very plain) black cat. I figured going zombie might scare the kids. I'm being a massive outfit repeater and wearing my h&m jumpsuit from the other night, but it was ideal for the black cat look!




I spent most of X Factor painting my nails last night, using my various inspirations from my last post. Here are the results!




(I used Model's Own Misty Grey, red and white nail pens and all the black bits were done with liquid eyeliner!)

Hope you have a fun night, whatever you get up to! We're going to watch X Factor and then maybe Toy Story 3!

♥

Creepy Claws!

I'm truly loving the amazing Halloween nail art that keeps popping up on the interweb!

I'm working at Topshop tomorrow, and I really want to dress up - or at the very least dress my nails up - to celebrate halloween! I'm definitely feeling the bats, heart skulls and cats...Hmm... Watch this space!










[Top 5 - Wah Nails, 6 - Fuckyeahnailart, 7 - Chibinails]

Have you got any Halloween designs planned for your digits? Inspire me!

♥

What a difference a day makes

Ohh 'New Post' button, I have missed you!!

Before I start wittering on, I have announced the winners of the giveaways on Twitter, and contacted all of the lucky ladies. Thanks for all who took part, it was such fun! Wish there were enough prizes to go round, but as I said on Twitter yesterday, you have all won my love, and let's face it, that's the best prize of all... Right?!

Sorry for my slight abandonment lately, I had a big uni presentation yesterday and was working solidly on it! It went quite well, but I had too many slides and only got about half way through before they had to tell me to shut up as I'd run out of time! Fail! But their feedback was really positive, so I'm a happy bunny.

I thought I'd post my two outfits of yesterday as it was a tale of two halves! This is me just about to go to uni after 5 hours sleep, looking quite literally rancid:




[I'm wearing a Breakthrough Breast Cancer pin (October is Breast Cancer Awareness month) and my new charity shop fur coat.]

And this is me later on, after getting ready to go to HP's event. Well, I took the pics when I got home so I look a tad haggard! HP were promoting their stylish new products at Sketch in London. I have hilarious memories of Sketch, after what happened the last time I was there...





I'm wearing this awesome jumpsuit I found in H&M, which also comes in a petrol blue colour. It was only £14.99! I am also wearing Me & Zena's latest design, the vampire teeth ring! You can't really see in the pic, but one of the fangs has a tiny red heart on it. I never thought I'd find the contents of a vampire's gob cute, but there we go! The shoes are Topshop and plasters are Elastoplast :)

Besides the amazing Dr. Dre Beats headphones (Has anyone tried these? The sound quality/bass/noise-reduction is unreal!) I was mesmerised by the 'facilities'. Instead of cubicles, the Sketch loos are futuristic white pods! You can see them in the background of this pic I took in the fisheye mirror!



It was a really fun night. Except for the bit where we had to sprint from Oxford Circus to Charing Cross station in heels. And the bit where I accidentally crashed the touch screen PC and the HP man had to restart it and I joked, 'Well, that wouldn't happen on a Mac!' The response to this controversial joke can be summed up in two words: lead balloon!

My horoscope is telling me to chillax this weekend, and I really think I need to. I'm going to give my dissertation a rest (even though the 6000 word draft is due in 2 weeks) and just watch TV and potter about the house. I might go to a Halloween party on Saturday night, but not sure yet. I've left it a bit late to sort out a costume!

How have you guys been? Got any Halloween plans? Tell me about your outfits!

x