Monday 31 December 2012

The Awards of 2012

I decided to have a little reflection on the year that will be no more in about 20 minutes.

Most Unlikely Crush: James from The Great British Bake-Off

First, he's a medical student, which means he must be really clever and I find that very attractive in a man. Also, look at his glasses and teeth and those adorable tank tops he wears! And the guy can bake me cupcakes whenever I feel down, what's not to love?

Favourite item bought: Cambridge Satchel


It looks so skanky now, after being used as my school bag since September, but I still absolutely adore my Cambridge satchel, not least because there is an actual Google advert dedicated to the rise of the company, and I got mine before the price increases!

Best book read: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I am still gutted that I never got to see the film when it was out, however I have been promised the DVD for Valentine's Day, so all is not lost. A beautiful coming-of-age story, both sad and uplifting. 
"We accept the love we think we deserve"

Funniest TV Moment: The 8 Out of 10 cats episode following the Jimmy Carr tax scandal
Watch it here
They spent 20 minutes of a 45 minute show ripping Jimmy Carr to shreds over the scandal, I have never laughed so hard.

Best moment: Seeing Alex after three weeks apart due to holidays
Aren't I cute?

Biggest Achievement: Getting an A* in Textiles

Favourite Company Issue: The Gillian Zinser cover


The coolest cast member of 90210 finally got some recognition, the nail art was incredible and I learnt about some of the coolest cities in the world, adding a few more places to the list of destinations I want to go to at some point in my life.

Happy New Year Folks!

we can breathe in space, they just don't want us to escape





This is the galaxy print dress that Josh bought we for Christmas, I love galaxy print and I'm so glad I finally have some :) cropping and resizing on lookbook is such an arse, it took me longer to do that than any other part of it! I think this dress could easily be worn day or night, and that is perfect for me as I love to mix and match :)





I have acquired a laptop for Christmas, so will be doing plenty more posting, I finally feel like I have the internet at my fingertips :p

I thought that since I now have £38 worth of Topshop vouchers, a £10 WH Smith voucher and some other moneys, I will do a wishlist! I love getting vouchers as it means I can't wimp out of spending money, which is usually my case!

First of all, I want a leather jacket, nothing too expensive, but I don't want one that looks cheap, which can sometimes be a difficult balance, this Topshop one for £50.00 is lovely, although, I think I'll have a problem with spending so much money at once;









 
Next of all, these Topshop pointed creepers are so nice, I'll never get them, as I just daren't spend £85, but I love them;



Another jacket, I really like this Denim biker jacket, it looks like it would be really warm and good for layering up clothes, it's also quite a plain colour, which is something I am having an issue with at the minute as I have two purpley coats and a navy one with red hood, which means that they don't mix well with some colours, this would be great, but again it's quite expensive at £65, hopefully there's a cheaper one somewhere :p it's also quite lumberjacky, I've always wanted a jacket like that;
 
 
I have too many jumpers already, but this is so great that I may actually buy it, it has this great planet and spaceship print, it's £28, but I think it's worth it;
Finally, I want another blouse, and I love this western style one that has been reduced to £20.00;
 
I've decided my New Years resolution is to really, really clear out my wardrobe, I will take no prisoners this time. I will then save my money to buy some items that I will actually wear and that will be useful. I'm awful for keeping clothes, thinking 'I'm sure I'll find some way to wear it'. I never do. Ever.
 
 
Now for my book wish list, what I really want are;
 
The rest of the books in the Eragon series, I loved the first one, and have read a quarter of the second, but I had to give it back to the library :( I'm dying to know what happens!
 

 
 
I would also quite like this book called Mythology: The Complete Guide To Our Imagined Worlds, it would help me with my Art coursework, and I would love to read it;
 
 
 
Whilst writing this I was listening to this song, I love the lyric, 'The place I used to live made me feel like a tourist, I couldn't co-exist with the cold and suspicious' ;
 
 
Thankyou for reading this post, I will 100% definitely be posting more, this time I mean it haha.
 
 
 
 

Sunday 30 December 2012

Soap & Glory

For Christmas I recieved two Soap & Glory gift sets, the first was a box from my brother that has a really cool print on it - I love it even though it's pink. As you may already know, I'm not the biggest pink fan - being a redhead, it doesn't suit my skin tone so I tend to skim over it when shopping.



The second was a mahoosive weekend bag packed with goodies from Alex's mum. I've not even tried all of the products yet but I've really liked the ones that I've used; including Sugar Crush, Sexy Mother Pucker and Heel Genius. The best thing about both these gifts is that all the products are full size, no piddly 100ml bottles of shower gel, even Hand Food came in a 125ml tube.



Within the weekend bag was a series of vouchers for me to use up until March for money off Soap & Glory items in Boots, so you can expect more reviews as I try out new products - everybody loves a bargain.

Saturday 29 December 2012

MY American Flag shorts

Today was a good day, as I got three items that I have been lusting over for quite a while.

The first was Barry M nail paint in Peach Melba. I have to admit that I'm not usually a pink girl, but the colour is very cute and is quite subtle on the nails, so it isn't too in-your-face. Even though I'm a nail-biter, I still love to paint my nails in pretty colours, especially when the colours have cool names, one of my favourites is a Rimmel one called "Double Decker Red"

The second was Babel by Mumford & Sons, which I've wanted to listen to since it came out. I'm glad that they haven't really changed their style since Sigh No More, because too many bands change after the first album for some unknown reason, they were clearly successful before!

And finally... I got my american flag shorts.

Photo via Instagram




They were £18 - reduced from £28 - in the Topshop sale, and I absolutely love them. As I'm an average size (10-12) there isn't usually much left for me in the sale, and my local Topshop is frankly a poor effort, there isn't often much there that I've eyed up online. So when I spotted these, I grabbed them from the rail and darted to the changing rooms (Alex said that he'd never seen me move so fast)


Wednesday 19 December 2012

American flag shorts

They've been something of a staple in the world of Lookbook for over a year now, but the American flag denim hotpant is as cool as ever. They can be worn with tights and a cardi during these chilly winter months, or a plain white vest and a pair of Converse in the summer for cool California chic.
After a quick search on the internet, I found quite a few different styles, all of them varying slightly in their pattern, but with the same basic idea. I'm hoping to get a pair of my own if I get any Christmas money - here's hoping!















£30 - Soul Cal @ Republic







As you can see, there is a massive range of prices but I'm sure that if you look around enough, you will find a style that suits you, just like finding the perfect leather jacket or pair of skinny jeans - you just have to do a bit of looking, but I hope that I got you on your way.

Tuesday 18 December 2012

One week to go!


Cardigan - £35 - Urban Outfitters (available here)
Vest - £7 - George @ ASDA (don't judge me)
Shorts - £30 - Crafted @ Republic 
Tights - £1 - Primark

I bought this cardigan in York during the floods a few weeks ago, and I absolutely love it! The different colours in the knit means that it goes with so many things and since it's only one week until Christmas, the Christmassy knit felt very appropriate. It did cost a little more than I usually like to spend, but here in Blighty knitwear is not reserved for the winter, so I'm sure that I'll get my wear out of it!

Thanks for reading,

Friday 14 December 2012

School sucks

I think that I've been driving everyone else mad with this shit all week, and so I've decided to give them a break and tell you guys about it instead. 

I hate sixth form. 
I hate everything about it; I hate that I have to ask permission to have a driving lesson during my free period, I hate being there an hour early in the morning, I hate waiting for the bus in the freezing cold for 15-20 minutes every night, I hate leaving in the dark and coming home in the dark, I hate how the roof leaks and the common room stinks like damp and warm food, I hate the bitch of a Textiles teacher whose room I have to walk through to get to Photography, I hate that I'm the only person in my year doing Photography and that next year I'll be the only person in the school doing it, because they aren't running the course next year, I hate my stupid locker and how temperamental the lock is.

But most of all, I hate the fact that nobody talks to me outside of lesson - apart from the four girls that I came with at the start of the year. People will say hello to me in the corridor, or speak to me during lesson, but once that bell goes it's like I don't exist to them - nice, huh?

Maybe it's me, I'm shy as Hell and don't like making the effort with new people because I don't think that they want to talk to me.

So, I've applied to go to college next year. I want to carry on with my English and Psychology A Levels, but drop Photography and Chemistry and take up Textiles instead. College have said that I can go, and I may even be able to do all the Textiles AS and A Level in one year, so I won't even be a year behind everyone else!

The only thing that's holding me back, is what if I don't make any friends next year either? What if I go through my whole life always on the verge and never feeling like I belong ever again? It's only now that I've begun to realise just how much I felt at home in Year 11 - I've never been the new girl, and I went to the local secondary school. This year has been a huge upheaval for me, and I don't know if swapping will actually improve things at all.

So, my options?

  1. Stay where I am
  2. Go to college (keeping English and Psychology and taking up Textiles)
  3. Go to college and do a BTEC/re-start A Levels
  4. Get a job
I'm willing to take advice from just about anyone right now, so what do you guys think I should do?

And if you've only just realised how much of a loser I am, I'm sorry for any disillusions.

Relationship Photoshoot #2

I edited the photos from last weekend's Relationship Photoshoot today in my Photography lesson.








If any of you reading this happen to be Photoshop whizzes - do you know a technique where I can select the hair so it looks more natural and less cut out, especially when I'm putting them onto a new (not plain white) background?

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Relationshiops photoshoot

On Saturday night, I managed to con Hannah (of Doubleyou fame) and her boyfriend to come over to my house and have a photoshoot. The theme was relationships; good and bad.
I borrowed my brother's DSLR (I trusted myself with it since I wasn't leaving the house) to make the photos more dynamic however I also had difficulties when it came to focusing - resulting in a lot of fuzzy photos.

Here are some of my favourites (pre Photoshop)



 

 
Thankyou for looking!
 
 
 

Monday 10 December 2012

Christmas party dresses

Since my Christmas tree is up and the halls have been decked, I've been buying and wrapping Christmas presents and now I'm feeling all Christmassy and looking forward to the sixth form Christmas party and ofcourse the big day itself.

I love Christmas Eve too, me and my family have my aunty and uncle round and we all eat pork and stuffing cobs with mince pies and festive cupcakes or biscuits (depending on what I want to bake) then we watch a something like A Christmas Carol and track Santa on the computer. Family traditions are what makes Christmas, don't you think? I love how every family has their own routine, and how strange everyone else's patterns seem to your own.

Tonight I'm looking for a Christmas party dress, and showing you guys my favourite choices from the high street this winter.

 

First up is this super-cute off-white dress from Topshop for a pricey £50
I love the collar (ofcourse) but also the lacy detail on the nipped in waist is really beautiful. The crystal stud detailing on the collar give a subtle nod to the studding trend associated with the grunge look which is in this season, but the dress still gives off a butter-wouldn't-melt vibe which I really like.
Silver or nude heels would look great with this dress, or you could throw in a completely new colour palette, such as electric blue.




Next up is this quirky printed dress from H! by Henry Holland at Debenhams. This dress is £40 but is so Christmassy, with the velvet collar, button placket and cuffs on the 3/4 sleeves. Unfortunately it is out of stock in some sizes at the moment online, but there may be some available in store. Although the dress is short, it is balanced out by the high collar and long sleeves, so you don't look like a slut. Wear with black tights and simple black heels.



















And now for something completely different...
Okay, so this dress (New Look £14.99) may be a little more Halloween party than Christmas party, and I can't decide if it's awesome or awful, but it would certainly make a statement at a party (especially a family one!) You wouldn't need any jewellery, the dress makes it's own statement, so keep it simple with classic black tights and shoes.



This cosmic print dress is an absolute bargain! At just £20 from Republic, look at the amount of fabric you get for your money, not to mention the absolutely beautiful print. The chiffon fabric is absolutely perfect for this print, giving the dress plenty of movement and the mullet skirt just tops it off wonderfully.


















And finally, if you like simple, then it doesn't get much simpler than this gorgeous blue velvet dress from Miss Selfridge (£35) unfortunately this dress is labelled as "Exclusive" meaning that it can only be bought from/returned to the Oxford Circus store or online. It does seem a bit of a chore but at least it lowers the chances of anyone turning up in the same dress as you!