Monthly Archives: October 2016

The Sweater Dress

26th October 2016
Despite my best efforts to be on a shopping ban right now a couple of accidental purchases have happened. It was inevitable really- the change in seasons, time on my hands and a love of anything remotely related to cats. Shopping was going to happen and right now I don’t have the heart to fight it.

Dress: Zara (in grey here) | Boots: Banana Republic | Hat: ASOS (sold out but I also love this one too)

You may remember this hat from a recent wish list post. At £10 I couldn’t resist the lure of fluffy ears and glow in the dark whiskers and I justified the purchase by reminding myself that I got rid of a LOT of hats when I moved from my flat back to my parents. I don’t care that it makes me look like I’m 9 years old rather than my 29 years- it makes me happy and that’s enough for me!

Zara is dangerous territory right now. A dear friend bought this dress and when she told me it was under £20 I was straight on the website placing my order. I’ve always viewed Zara as quite pricey but right now that have a huge range of affordable yet highly covetable pieces that are wreaking havoc with my good intentions. Still, I’ve been living in this dress since its arrival so it has already paid for itself in my eyes- and with a still undetermined stretch of time off of work ahead of me I can lounge around in it to my heart’s content.

On the subject of not yet being back at work- I’m working on it. Slowly but surely I’m fighting against the tight grip of anorexia and getting myself and my life back to where it needs to be. 2016 has been one hell of a shitty year and I’m looking forward to building up my strength and resilience ready to make 2017 a year to remember for all of the right reasons.

What have you been buying lately?

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Posted in life, life stuff, outfits, shopping

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A Skin Care Wishlist (save my skin!)*

25th October 2016
Every year around this time my skin goes haywire. It starts as soon as we have the heating on for any length of time- all of a sudden my skin becomes tight, sore and dry and my eyes itch. I’ve also been suffering from break-outs thanks to stopping the pill and letting my body readjust so I’m in a serious need of a skin care overhaul. I’m on a very limited budget right now so have been stocking up on high street staples like Simple but having seen that Charlotte Tilbury is now stocked by House of Fraser I decided to check out their skincare and as such have ended up with a bit of a wish list of some old favourites I wish I could afford and some new to me products (that I also wish I could afford!)
The Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Skin Clay Mask (£45, eek!) particularly caught my eye even though I’m not usually a mask kind of girl. Wether it was Charlotte’s eloquent product description or the promise of baby soft skin I’ll never know but this is something that I would definitely like to try. Likewise with the Magic Cream (even more eek at £70). Anything that claims it can work magic on my tired and dull complexion has instant appeal to me.

I’ve never been the best at looking after my skin, perhaps because in my younger years I was always very lucky and didn’t suffer with acne or any other teenage skin complaint. I’m paying the price now though as I’m noticing lots of fine lines and wrinkles around my eyes especially so Estee Lauder’s advanced night repair and Kiehls powerful wrinkle reducing eye cream both seem like worth additions to my slowly expanding skincare army.

The last two products on my list are to hopefully combat the break outs. Clinique has always been my fall back brand for skin care when money allows and I’m yet to meet a product of theirs that doesn’t work for me. I definitely want to get my hands on their clarifying lotion sooner rather than later, and at £16.50 it’s not beyond the realms of possibility. I’ve also been putting strong consideration to caving in to the hype and saving up for a Clarisonic Mia for that added cleansing boost.

Talk to me about your skin saviours, both high-end and high street. What’s on your skin care wish list?

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Posted in beauty, life, shopping, wish list

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Gift Inspiration: Meet The Wedgies

24th October 2016
I have a lot of love for instagram, it’s a wonderful platform for finding friendship, inspiration, support and generally awesome things. A couple of months ago I came across a brand that really caught my eye- Meet The Wedgies and I’ve been following their adventures ever since.

Wedgies is a shop selling handmade wooden doorstops. Based in the UK the company also has strong ties with Sri Lanka where each of their fair-trade Wedgies are hand-crafted.

You might (quite rightly) be wondering by now how on earth can one be so enthused by a doorstop? Well, these aren’t your ordinary doorstop. With inspiration coming from the modern, retro, cool, un-cool, famous and non-famous sources each product packs a massive punch of personality and makes for the perfect gift idea for anyone with a sense of humour.

Meet Yoshi, kindly sent to me c/o Wedgie*. Slightly sinister gaze aside I am besotted with my wooden Geisha. Each Wedgie comes with a character description and Yoshi came with the following: “Your wish is her command. She lives to serve and will do anything to please, as long as it involves holding a door open. #geisha”.

There is a Wedgie for everyone on the site, from Carl for the fashion lovers to Dereko for the footie fans. Wediges cost a reasonable £9.50 each with courier delivery costing £4.50. And for the record, these are seriously high quality pieces of wood, you 100% get what you pay for in both design and execution. Pick up a few of these as part of your Christmas shopping and dare people to guess what you’ve bought them (a chocolate coin to anyone who gets it right on the big day!)

You really need to be following Wedgie on social media (facebook|twitter|instagram) for both the hilariously quirky adventures of the existing Wedgie characters and for some seriously exciting new arrivals coming soon.

Which Wedgie would be your wooden BFF?

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Posted in brands I love, christmas, gifts, inspiration

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New in Books

21st October 2016
Growing up there was a huge emphasis on books in my life. From endless bed time stories from well loved classics to my Sunday afternoon ritual of browsing through anything factual that caught my eye. That’s never left me, to this day there is still something utterly irresistible about a brand new book so when the postman delivered a couple of new releases from Penguin Books a great deal of excitement ensued.
The first book to arrive was the V&A Fashion Mash Up, a A Penguin Random House X V&A Collaboration. This is the perfect book for fashion fans of all ages and features stickers, pop out outfits and 6 press out models so you can create and combine outfits from designers including Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Chanel (to name just a few). Tapping in to current trends the book also contains 5 instagram backgrounds so you can snap and share your creations. This book launches on the 27th October and in the run up to Christmas I predict a sell out! I’ve been loving this on a rainy day, the perfect distraction from every day life and the chance to relive a few childhood memories.

The second book is equally as exciting. I think everyone I know has a soft spot for The Nightmare Before Christmas and this commemorative edition (celebrating the twentieth anniversary of it’s release) is truly spectacular (spooktacular?!) Written and illustrated by the iconic Tim Burton this is one beautiful book that will appeal to adults and little people alike. I’m not ashamed to say that I’m hanging on to my copy tight, ready for when I have a little person of my own to read to just as I once was. This book is available now from all good book retailers- Amazon, Foyles, WH Smiths and Waterstones etc.

Do you have happy memories and associations with any particular books? I would love to hear about them in the comments.

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Posted in books, fashion, gifts, inspiration, review

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A Cold Shoulder

19th October 2016
The trend for exposed shoulders has been around for a while now if my memory serves me correctly. I’ll admit, it’s one I’ve hesitated to adopt- I’m one of those people who is ALWAYS freezing so it didn’t make a lot of sense in my mind to purposely leave part of exposed to the wrath of the weather. This all changed a month or so ago when I was browsing in store at Marks and Spencer, idly picking through the sale rail not looking for anything in particular or indeed anything at all. I first picked this dress based on the print alone, and the length and the fact it has long sleeves. I didn’t notice the cold shoulders at this point but even once I did I decided that I’d take the plunge and try out yet another new style (the £15 price tag did help sway me!).

Dress: Marks and Spencer | Boots: Long Tall Sally

I’m not quite sure what’s going on with my hair here, it’s taken on a life of it’s own. It has been much neglected lately though- not even a trim since early March! Thankfully I’m booked in for both cut AND colour next week and I’m looking forward to getting a bit of a revamp. I’m not great at having my hair done, I struggle with someone being in my personal space for an extended period of time BUT I’m craving change. A new style. A new colour. A new start for me. Feel free to leave style suggestions in the comments, I think I know what I’m going for but I’m still open to ideas…

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