Festive Frock

Boxing day outfit for christmas dinner take two at my Nan's house. I swear I've put on about three stone this weekend. This dress is a festive favourite and always gets dragged out around christmas time. I've been wearing my hair in a side bun quite a lot recently - I think this is only the second picture on this blog where my hair is actually almost in a style... really the reason behind it is that it's at my waist now and getting difficult to brush, so tying it back is just easier. Must get it cut off this week.

I think the dress is from H&M a couple of years ago and the watch is a gold vintage Omega that my Nan gave me a couple of years ago. I stopped wearing it every day so it didn't get damaged, plus it makes it more special keeping it for occasions like this.

I'm supposed to be braving the sales with Nic tomorrow and I bet it will be crazy. Elbows at the ready!

P.S. I think we need a bigger tree because I look like a giant next to this 6ft one.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you've all had wonderful days and eaten far too much turkey. My family and I spent about two hours singing our hearts out on a device that turns your laptop into a karaoke machine. My nan got it for me and its just brilliant. Everyone needs one of these in their life. I always chicken out with public singing, so doing it in the comfort/safety/less humiliating setting of my own home is great!

I've semi moved into a shiny new flat and haven't had the internet sorted out yet, hence the lack of blogging so I'm looking forward to a lazy boxing day catching up with all of your posts. Have a great day/evening!

Image from here.

Stolen Thunder Competition

The lovely Alice from stolen thunder jewellery got in touch with me a couple of days ago about a competition they are running to win £75 worth of goodies from them just in time for Christmas! All you have to do is go over to their competition page here, and sign up for their newsletter! Their accessories are all handmade in the UK and are just so lovely, plus the packaging is just so cute - confetti hears and sweets should be included with all internet purchases! They did a feature about the blog a couple of months ago and I got one of their peace bracelets which rarely comes off my wrist.





The closing date is 21st December at 3pm so hurry up and enter! This competition is also open those outside of the UK but the prize won't be received until after Christmas. Good Luck!

I'm in the process of moving back into Liverpool at the moment and haven't got my internet sorted out so I'm currently posting from Pret a Manger and receiving plenty of dirty looks for taking up too many tables at lunch time with my laptop.

Dear Santa,

I definately should be on the 'nice' list for this year, so please may I have the winning lottery numbers for any draw over the festive period? I would be very greatful.



Dress - Acne, Ankle boots - Roberto Cavalli, Bracelet - Alexander McQueen, Necklace - Marni, Clutch - Mulberry, Sequined top - Ashish, Umbrella - Can Can Parasol by Guy de Jean

PandaPandaPanda

There simply is nothing better than really silly headwear, and this hat fits the bill perfectly. Is there a better way to chase away those winter blues than wearing a wooly panda on your head? Didn't think so.



Katy Perry knows I'm right. Sort of wish I'd bought the cream instead of the grey now.



It was only £12.99 from River Island, so the downside is I have seen quite a few people wearing it. The upside however is that whenever you move your head, you can feel the little pom poms moving so it's like you've got an extra set of panda ears.. and who doesn't want them?!

I'm off out for dinner now, perhaps followed by a pub quiz. Hope everyone's christmas shopping is going well!

MishMash

Another week off from blogging sadly. Life has been rather hectic - two visits to the Manchester Christmas Market, a couple of nights out and having to part with silly amounts of cash for textbooks to enable me to reach the 9000 word limit of the essays that are due in for January. Joy. Here are a random selection of photos from the past week - if the first one doesn't give you that warm, christmassy feeling then you obviously don't have a soul.

Christmas Market



Delicious mulled wine in one of the market's bars - christmas decorations galore!



Cherry strudels are to die for!



In the evening, I went out in Manchester with some old school buddies - all of us are pretty hopeless with directions so we thought a map was a good - if not massively nerdy - idea. We still got lost.



Then a couple of photos from last night's outing. I love how casually you can get dressed to go out in my nextdoor town if you want to, however the streets and bars were completely dead and the green paint in this Irish pub is so sickly... just because it's irish doesn't mean it has to be green!



Camera necklace from Camden a couple of weeks back:



And finally me and just boys... again.

Hope you've all had delightful weeks and have wonderful plans for the weekend. I'm going to my former secondary school's open day - I received an invite and information about all the changes they've made including a 'magical story telling tower'. No school would be complete without one obviously. Also might go and check out the Sonia Rykiel for H&M underwear - it looks gorgeous!

It's that time again!

I know it isn't December just yet, but they only last until the middle of that month so it's not too early to discuss them. THE GERMAN CHRISTMAS MARKETS ARE BAAACKK! Hurrah for gluhwien, frankfurters and over-priced gingerbread! I saw a bit of the one in Liverpool today and they better be putting in more stalls because at the moment it consists of one man roasting chesnuts, one gingerbread stall (definately needs to be about fifteen for it to be a proper christmas market) and one frankfurter stall that isn't even one of the fun round ones with hot dogs being served from every angle. With any luck I'll be venturing into Manchester on Friday - the one there is always much better, and their oversized christmas decorations are so pretty!

Anyone else taking a trip to the Christmas Markets? AND what has everyone asked Father Christmas for?!

Oh also thanks to everyone for the foundation recommendations - I'll write a little list and take it shopping with me on Friday!

Short 'n' Shoulders

The sky doesn't want to be any other colour than grey at the moment. Perhaps it influenced today's outfit choice. I bought this dress from ASOS sometime last year in the sale (I rarely buy clothes online because I like to have a good feel of the fabric and try it on. Plus parting with the postage money to return it would be soul destroying) and it's one of those old faithful dresses that gets whipped out when there is nothing else to wear. The big shoulders make it pretty flattering as it gives a hip slimming effect. Apologies for wearing the same boots over and over - I'm in need of some new ones and debating whether to buy the Ashish for topshop ones that would make me about 6ft3. Hmmm...

Bit of a random post photograph wise.









The tights are from Primark and seem to be the most durable tights ever - every other pair of tights I have ever posessed just get laddered instantly and it makes me slightly suicidal - so for £2, it's totally worth stocking up on these.

I'm going to a charity fashion show tonight with my mother, hopefully a drink won't be spilled all over me like last nights charity do!

Frocky Horror

I went to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show theatre production at the Liverpool Empire on Friday night and LOVED IT! I hadn't even seen the film before I went, so wasn't sure what I'd be in for but it was a real treat. Obviously, I'll use any excuse to get dressed up but rather than going for anything see-through or involving lingerie, I crimped my hair (hello volume) and wore an underskirt with this dress. I also got to wear my fascinator which comes out for occasions such as this (I also wore it on hallowe'en and when I went to see Elton John). Dancing in the theatre was fun and I must get round to seeing the movie this week. Definately go and see it if it comes to a theatre near you.








Blazer - Vintage (Mum's), Dress - Sara Berman @ UO, Fascinator - River Island, Boots - Topshop

P.s. Has anyone got any reccomendations for a nice foundation? Or even ones to avoid? This one is shiny and orange and I can't justify paying £30 for my usual Chanel one any more.

Harness

I bought this t-shirt from Urban Outfitters in New York along with the cute notebook in the final picture - I love the way it uses a couple of different clashing animal prints on the harness design - kind of tacky (in a good way of course) but it seems to work. The boots I have been wearing every day this week - I bought them last year and have just rediscovered them mostly because they always seem to be near the door so just get thrown on. They are pretty comfy but the laces and heels will need replacing soon because they are from Topshop and their clothing and shoes just never seem to be made to last.









Stationary is another obsession of mine - I get it from my Mother. It took about fifteen minutes for the person on the till to find a price for this. You could tell he just wanted me to give up and say that I stood and waited patiently!

Off to uni now and then later on apparently we are having a girly night with cocktails - hurrah!

What a Girl Needs

Hermes have got this wonderful way of illustrating all the products on their website with beautiful little drawings. They have completely managed to convince me that I need Hermes soap ($40) and scented drawer liners ($45) amongst other things. Here are a couple of my favourite items that are obviously completely essential:

(1) Gardening set - nice sunny day, tending to the flower beds with Hermes tools...

(2) Once the gardening is done, how about a spot of tea on the lawn from a Hermes teapot?

(3) Then, polish off the hermes stirrups for a quick gallop on my (sadly imaginary) horse...


Ah what a wonderful afternoon. Don't forget, if you've got any money left after that, make sure you buy a Hermes money clip to keep your cash safe ready for your next Hermes splurge.



If only!

All images www.hermes.com

Hallowe'en

So we had a bit of a hallowe'en party over the weekend. We called it a party, but in reality, it was the same group of people who go round to my friend Tom's each week to get drunk, but we made lots of effort with decorations and drank punch which was completely lethal - there were lots of variations of it when the cartons of fruit juice ran out. I believe that at one stage, wine was being used as a mixer for vodka - so not a good idea.

After loading my tiny boot up with pumpkins, we headed back to carve them which took us a lot longer than expected - fortunately the boyf and his friend came down for the weekend so they were able to help.

Here's my attempt at a pumpkin Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas...





I chose to dress as Lady Gaga - I felt like I'd stolen the idea from Style Porn because I'd thought of the costume a couple of weeks ago and then she did a post saying who she was going to be and it looked like I was copying. I over think things way too much. Anyway check hers version out - her thighs are far less offensive than mine and she was able to get away with a thong leotard - jealous!



The boyfriend dressed as a general murderer type - I'm surprised at any effort he makes because last year I had to buy him a very last minute vampire costume from a supermarket so he wouldn't feel left out - and looked pretty comical sipping his punch through a straw fed through the gaps in his mask.



Star of the show! We dressed Tom's dog Alfie up as a burglar - swag bag and all! He hated it.



We were all instructed to do an "action shot"...





Tom dressed as a "Zombie Hunter". He went to the garden and covered his face in dirt, then realised he'd actually bought some brown and khaki makeup and should have used that instead.



We also hired a smoke machine - for future hallowe'en parties I would definately recommend getting one and a red light bulb. The two combined completely change the atmosphere. We did however go a bit crazy with the smoke effects and set the fire alarm off...



Which we 'had' to rip off the ceiling because it couldn't be silenced. Now there is just a hole in the paintwork where it should be. Ooops!



So that's it! The day after we had to battle with hangovers and tidy up all the decorations - they didn't seem like such a good idea then!

Gold

I received an email earlier from Helen at Dare Digital regarding the new Giles for New Look collection which is due to hit the stores next Monday. I've purchased a couple of items from this line in the past - the fabrics are lovely and the quality of the clothes is great unlike some collaborations with high street stores (I'm looking at you K-Mo) so be sure to check it out!

The collection is described as "modern British glamour at it's finest" -
My personal fave is the leopard print skirt - the strong, bold colours are delicious.






Hope everyone had a wonderful hallowe'en! Let me know what you got up to - mine involved some rather lethal punch, setting off the fire alarm with a smoke machine (and 'needing' to rip it off the ceiling), and dressing the dog up as a burglar.

Just a Quickie...

Currently slaving away in the library, trying to read cases about wills that just seem neverending. Whats making it better is that I'm wearing this matte black nail varnish from Knock Out Cosmetics I got from Henri Bendel's in NYC. I love the lack of shine when it first goes on, however after a couple of days it goes shiny again - possibly due to the natural oils found in your nails? I'm not sure. Anyway it's great. They had it in other colours like baby pinks and pale greens, but sadly the matte effect just didn't work with anything other than black.

I bumped into a lovely lady called Polly whilst out and about last night who reads my blog - I felt a bit like a celebrity being 'spotted' haha :). She was wearing an amazing DIY Chanel style t-shirt and told me that she was thinking of starting up a Liverpool street style blog, which I am looking forward to seeing!

How annoying is it typing on a computer keyboard when you are used to a laptop? Grrrr!

Help

I got pressured into spending £95 on these UO boots by my mum and grandma today. I am completely undecided about them so I might be taking them back. What do you think? Keep or return?

Definately been spending way too much money in that place recently. From where I am sitting now I can see three of their paper bags scattered across my room. Ooops!

Country Bumpkin Day Out

I'm down south in Hertfordshire visiting the boyf at the moment. It's a very pretty part of the world - lots of nice fields and woodland to roam through. That can only mean a big sweater, the trusty umbrella rain coat and some walking boots.

Today we went on a bit of a hike and then for a pub lunch. The club sandwiches were delicious. Tomorrow we're going into London for a bit of shopping and sightseeing so expect pictures from that later in the week!












Raincoat - H&M, Sweater - Knitted by my Grandma years ago, Leggings - AA, Scarf - TK Maxx, Walking boots - Hitech?