What I Wore: Liverpool Part Two - The Purchases

Top - £12.99 Zara sale

I spent most of my money in Zara whilst in Liverpool. I had a look around the Zara when I went to Leeds on Friday and it was like walking into a bomb site. There was just so much stuff. The one in Liverpool was well set out and there was space to walk, plus it wasn't too busy so Lydia and I had plenty of time to peruse. 

I generally wear baggier tops and tighter things on my bottom half, or try to accentuate my waist. I'm 5 ft 1 so it's pretty hard to find things that fit well, especially in Zara, which is more targeted to the taller lady.

Anyway, I like this top, it was a bargain and the back is the same sheer material as the panel on the back. It's quite basic, but different too.

Skirt - £18 (with student discount) - Urban Outfitters sale

The next thing I got was this skirt. I'd seen it in Leeds and loved it, but didn't have time to try it on. I always find the sizing a bit odd in Urban Outfitters so always try everything on before I buy. I love the way this hangs, plus when I picked it up, Lydia said 'I could see you in that', which is always a compliment. It's a nice length and a complete bargain. I can't bring myself to ever buy anything full price in there. Ever.

Coat - £49.99 Zara sale

This was my prize purchase of the day. I picked it up almost immediately, but was unsure of the poofy pockets. It fits like a glove, and the pockets don't make me look like I have gargantuan hips. It was the last one in the shop and Lydia persuaded me to buy it. She's such an enabler. I do love it though; it's a perfect smart coat. I have a duffle coat which makes me feel like Paddington Bear, but it isn't very smart. This is perfect. I adore it. The zip starts halfway up the jacket too, which I really like. It's a lovely shape and will be perfect for when I do my work experience in November, with a scarf wrapped round my neck.

I also bought this underwear set from Ann Summers, but I'm 100% sure it isn't necessary for me to model that.

Have you got any sale purchases?

Thanks for reading x

p.s. apologies for the photography/facial expressions. Argh.

I've Been Naughty...

So student loan arrived in my bank account last Monday. I was feeling stressed with essay deadlines (excuses, excuses), so I did what I always do. I went shopping. 

It all started when I saw the below jacket on Jade in this post. I've been looking for a smarter jacket that I could wear on a day to day basis, as I live in my leather jacket. I have a couple of blazers, but nice as they are, they make me feel way too overdressed. This is also lovely and light and a complete bargain.

Jacket, £30 River Island, Cardigan, £5 Primark

I saw this cardigan ages ago in Primark, but didn't like the £12 price tag. I saw it last week knocked down to a fiver and bought it straight away. It's an 8, but it's massive so I can put a black hoody underneath it and it keeps me warm and dry if it's raining outside.

Jeans, £35 Topshop (with Student Discount), Dress, £18 Asos

As a general rule, I don't do jeans. Ever. Or trousers even. I'm very much a skirt/dress wearer. I own 3 pairs of jeans - a dark pair from H&M, some skinny purple cords (much nicer than they sound) and a pair from Topshop which bag off too much, so I've given them to my sister. I spotted these, tried them on an love them. I've worn them a couple of times and they don't bag off around the waist too much. The only thing is, they're supposed to be ankle grazers, but because I'm 5 ft 1, they most definitely are not. 

This dress is my favourite thing ever. It's actually a vest (like I said, I'm short) and I got it in the Asos sale. It looks a bit like a sack on the hanger, but one it's lovely. It is a fraction short at the side, but with thick tights and a longer jacket it's fine. It's beautiful. 

I'm really impressed with the delivery from Asos too. I ordered this on Wednesday evening, chose the free delivery, and received it on Saturday morning. TWO DAYS. Safe to say I won't ever pay for postage from Asos if the free deliver is that good!

Vest, £6 H&M, Skirt, £12.99 H&M

These two are just basics from H&M. I love H&M at the moment, it's really cheap and good quality stuff. The vest is really long, but tucked in to things it looks lovely. The skirt is cute too, I wore it to a magazine meeting last week. It reminds me of a Topshop playsuit I have, but don't wear often because the fit is off. I love the little hearts.

Billy Elliot DVD, £5 Amazon

Shutter Island DVD, £5 Asda

Full Metal Jacket DVD, £5 Asda

Revlon nail varnishes (Mischevious and Charming) 2 for £8 in Boots

Clinique Liquid Facial Soap £15(ish), Boots

Necklace, £8 Asos

Trainspotting, Porno and Daddy Long Legs, Amazon

As usual I went mad on Amazon. After watching Trainspotting for an essay I wanted to read the book. I'm reading it at the moment and really enjoying it. I've never read any Irvine Welsh before. I also bought Porno to read after I've finished. I generally buy all my books new/used on Amazon, unless it's cheaper to buy the brand new copy, so Porno has seen better days, but I kind of like it like that.

I bought Billy Elliot for an essay too, it's just a brilliant film and I own it on video, so it's about time I bought a copy on DVD. I saw Full Metal Jacket and Shutter Island for £5 each in Asda and I haven't seen either. Looking forward to watching FMJ with my dad.

I needed to buy a new Clinique cleanser as mine has nearly run out. It's not cheap, but works wonder for my skin and lasts a good 3/4 months. I bought my first one in January and still have a few uses left. The nail varnishes were cheap, Revlon varnishes are usually about £6.50 (I think) so for the extra £1.50 I bought another. The necklace is a choker style necklace that I bought to go with the dress.

Photo taken from Schuh website (forgot to photograph them)

Converse, £36 (with Student Discount) Schuh

Last but not least! My favourite purchase. I'm most definitely a Vans girl (4 pairs and counting) but I decided it was time for a change. I saw these, and seeing as I got them for the same price as a pair of Vans with student discount I went for it. I've worn them non-stop and they're ridiculously comfy. I've found that Vans are comfortable, but you need to wear them in, I didn't find that with these.

That's it! That's everything! I am definitely on a spending ban now (even though I have another order of books coming. They are for my dissertation though). I'm not buying anything unless I need it, seeing as I'm trying to get a decent amount of savings together before I begin my third (and final eek!) year of uni in September.

I'm hoping to do a couple of 'what I wore' or OOTD type posts soon, but I've misplaced my camera and it is consistently raining everyday at the minute.

I'm thinking of compiling a list of books I want to read over the summer and posting about it, what do you think?

Thanks for reading x

Also, sorry about the crappy photographs, I've lost my camera so these were taken on my phone.

Shopping as a Pick-Me-Up

With my student loan arriving in my back account yesterday, and me feeling a bit glum I've done a bit of shopping. Well, a few things I bought during the week with a few spare pennies I had in my purse. There really isn't any excuse other than I felt a bit crap and wanted new things. I am definitely an emotional shopper.

Mary Angelou - I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Jon Ronson - The Psychopath Test

Nostradamus - Mario Reading

I bought the Mary Angelou book in Tesco (seriously one of the best places to pick up books on the cheap, RRP on this is £8.99 and I got it for just under £4). I haven't heard much about her, apart from the fact that she's mentioned in 'La Vie Boheme', a song from the musical, Rent. After I bought this I did a quick Wiki search and she seems like a pretty interesting character to say the least!

This is the first part in her autobiography (I believe there's six in total) and if I enjoy it I'll be buying the next installment.

This Jon Ronson novel was an impulse buy. I wandered into WH Smiths on my lunch break on Tuesday and ended up buying it. I hate WH Smiths, it's so overpriced and doesn't always have a wide selection of novels, so I don't know why I ended up in there. I usually buy books online for the cheapest price I can find so paying £9 for this nearly gave me a minor heart attack. Especially when I saw it in Tesco a few days later for £4. Nevertheless, the synopsis made it sound really interesting so I'm excited to read it.

The last book I bought was Nostradamus. This was a true bargain. I found it in a little book shop in Whitby and paid £4.99 for it (RRP £16.99). The book is hardback and comes with its own sleeve. It's a book of the 'Top 100 Prophecies', now when I first looked read that I was dubious, because to me, quite frankly, that sounds a bit daft, but when I opened it and saw the illustrations and the list of contents I was sold. Looking at the contents, I wouldn't call the tales inside 'prophecies', myths seems more appropriate. It is a truly beautiful book, and I'm a sucker for a beautiful book.

I may review these once I've read them. Let me know what you think.

Real Techniques Core Collection £21.99

I've watched Pixiwoo videos for quite a while now, and you'd have to be blind to not notice her brushes popping up all over different blogs, so I wanted to get my hands on some. I wandered into Boots this morning with the intention of buying the Stippling Brush from Samantha Chapman's collection of brushes. However, the stippling brush retails at £11.99, and the Core Collection retails at £21.99, so to me, it was a no-brainer to buy the core collection, where you get 3 extra brushes for a tenner extra. Bargain. I haven't used these yet, but I may pop up a review post, or do an 'Everyday Make-Up' post featuring these. 


I've also placed and order for this jacket after seeing it on Jade's blog (and may debut it in my first OOTD?!). I'm justifying it to myself with the fact it seems nice and light for the warmer months, and I only own my leather jacket and hoodies, so this is also a bit smarter. Other than these purchases I'm seriously restricting my spending - not putting myself on a spending ban, because that wouldn't work. But most of my loan (other than rent and bills) is going into my new savings account. I'm trying to be responsible. I even downloaded a money management app to help me keep track of my spending. Go me.


Have you tried the RT brushes or read any of the books? What did you think? 


I hope you're having a lovely weekend, I have an essay to start, but instead I'm going to read the last 75 pages of Wicked and have some dinner before going to work.


Thanks for reading x

Work Experience - Maturing My Wardrobe

Hi Everyone!

I said in my last post that I have secured myself a work experience placement over Easter at a local newspaper back home, and have also got myself a job at a magazine in Manchester. Obviously, I got mega excited about it all, as my career seems to be forming in front of me, but I had nothing to wear.
I know loads of girls say that, but I literally have no smart/formal clothing. I spend my life in jeans or body-con skirts with loose tops and vans with my leather jacket. Not exactly office appropriate. So obviously, I went shopping:

shoes: £10, top: £8, denim dress: £10 (all Primark)

belt: £3.99, trousers: £24.99, necklace: £7.99,  umbrella: £5.99 (all H&M), 

lipstick £8, blusher: £6 (both Topshop), books: Amazon

I wanted some smart black trousers that I could wear with numerous tops, these ones from H&M are beautiful and fit really well. I had to turn them up a bit (I don't like full length trousers, so these are rolled to my ankles, and I'm really short). They're not quite high waisted, but don't sit low on my hips either. Perfect.

I don't own any smart shoes (surprise, surprise). I live in vans (4 pairs and counting, eep) so I didn't want to spend a bomb on a pair of shoes I will literally only wear for work experience and a few times over summer. These ones are really cute, and at £10 were a bargain.

I won't lie, I probably won't wear the denim dress at the office, I bought it because it is cute and I wanted it. This does come up small though, I'm usually a size 6/8, this is an 8 and slightly tight over my chest, and I don't have particularly big boobs.

I've been wanting a collar type necklace for quite a while, and could never find one I like; they were either too big or the wrong colour. This one is perfect. I think £7.99 is a bit steep, but it won't leave my neck, so I will get my wear out of it.

Leather jackets aren't office appropriate, but I always thought that blazers made me look boxy, and masculine in all the wrong ways, as I have short hair; after crying out on Tumblr for help, a few lovely ladies gave me some fab suggestions, including wearing a slouchier blazer. I couldn't find one I liked at a reasonable price (£65 Topshop? no thanks!) so I scoured eBay and found this one for £26 (inc. P&P):

image taken from eBay listing

It hasn't arrived yet, but it looks perfect. I didn't want a blazer that was too tailored, nor did I want a black one, so this light grey colour is beautiful and will still go with everything. I can't wait for it to arrive!

I've been reading Jen's blog as inspiration, as I love the way she puts outfits together as she always looks professional, but still fashionable. I was wary that a blazer would make me look like a geography teacher/middle-aged, which I obviously don't want!

I also treated myself to a new lipstick and cream blusher from Topshop; I haven't tried them before but my sister has a blusher and it is lovely. 

 

I originally wanted the Brighton Rock lipstick after seeing it on Gem here but the Topshop I went to didn't have it, I'm not sure if it's discontinued as I know that Topshop rotate their makeup stock quite a lot. I bought Ooh La La, which is quite similar, the photo above makes it look reddy/orange but it is definitely more of a light corally pink. I'm not a lipstick wearer as I think my red hair makes enough of an impact, but I'm going to try and wear this. The blusher is in Head Over Heels and is gorgeous! I love it so so much. Powder blusher never lasts on my skin, so I'm going to see if cream fares any better.

The last things I got (literally came in the post this morning!) are two books. I've been after a new book that wasn't Moby-Dick or written in the 19th century (DO NOT get me started), and after watching Meg's recent haul video (if you don't watch her, you should, she has impeccable taste) I decided to buy these two:

I'm excited to read them both; Blindness will be useful for a module I'm currently doing called 'Disability and Representation', so I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in! I'll let you know what I think of them once I've read them.

I can't seem to do short, snappy blog posts. Sorry guys. I'm on a serious spending ban now, but I think that (most) of these purchases were justified.

How do you smarten up your wardrobes? Any tips would be fantastic!

Thanks for reading x

Berlin Purchases

Hello!

I didn't actually buy that much when I was in Berlin, even though a lot of things were really cheap considering that Germany is in the Euro; compared to Paris everything is cheap! I mean, we went out for lunch and my bowl of pasta was 4 euros 50 cents, and my friend's pasta was 7 euros. Ridiculous.

Anyway; we travelled by coach, meaning a ferry, meaning shopping. A lot of cosmetics were 20% U.K RRP, so I was a bit naughty.

 

Clinique 7 day scrub cream; Clinique dramatically different moisturising gel; 

O.P.I. Stranger Tides nail polish (Pirates of the Carribean collection)

Before I went to Berlin, I had a 'foundation fitting' (what even is that) at Clinique and she recommended the scrub to me (the centre of my face gets dry and flaky) and seeing as it was £14.45 I just couldn't say no! Same with the gel, I had a skin match done a few weeks ago (skin type 3 if anyone cares) but couldn't justify spending £29 on a bloody moisturiser. I paid £24 for this on the ferry - which is still expensive to me but Clinique works really well for my skin and this bottle is HUGE.

I first saw this nail polish collection on Emma's blog and fell in love with them all, so when I saw this in the SALE box I went a bit crazy. Even on the ferry O.P.I polishes were over £9(!!) which is a stupid price, but this polish was £6.30, which is cheaper than Revlon polishes (I think) so, yes, I went there. When I showed it to Lydia, she grimaced and said 'that is swamp green'; it isn't swamp green.

On our first full day we went on a walking tour, and then had the evening to ourselves. My friend and I went shopping on our way to see a film at the festival. We called into a little Chinese shop which sold everything from notebooks, to furniture, to tea sets. We must have been in there for well over half an hour. I bought a couple of things:

 

 This box was 35 euros (so the equivalent of about £30?) and I fell in love instantly. I adore the fact it has compartments; it is made up of two stackable boxes and a lid. The boxes are pretty deep and I have managed to empty my entire skincare products into it; which were previously in a pretty big box (I don't own a lot of skincare stuff but the way I stored it took up a load of space). This is beautiful and something I know I will keep for years.

I also bought this glasses case; actually Lydia forced me to buy this glasses case because she wanted to burn my other (ugly) Specsavers case. The best part about this is the fact it was TWO EUROS. So about £1.75 ish. It is gorgeous and a complete bargain.

When we visited Tacheles, there were artists selling prints of their works, and there was also a small little jewellery room. These are the last things I bought in Berlin (promise I don't have more money than sense).

Art work by Roman Kroke

I'll be the first to admit I know nothing about art whatsoever, but as soon as I walked into the room and saw these prints I knew I was going to buy something. The prints are illustrations inspired by the writings of a woman's diaries up until she died in Auschwitz. There corresponding quotations were displayed on the wall, alongside annotations made by the artist, but obviously I wasn't allowed to take photos. The artist was really lovely and friendly and explained the art to us; he also took our email addresses to send us the quotations in a PDF which is pretty brilliant, in my opinion. (He also said he should employ me, because I found his pen and he is always losing things.) It was amazing. I'm going to frame them at some point, they are brilliant. At 3 for 10 euros I bought 6. 

Ring: 20 euros

(Apologies for the minging nails)

I almost didn't buy this ring, as I thought that it was pretty expensive and would never pay that much for a ring at home. I'm pretty sure this isn't silver, so I'm going to paint it with clear nail varnish. However, I have tiny fingers - this fits perfectly (seriously have the hands of a 5 year old), and have never seen a ring like this. I just love the way it looks.

I am really pleased with everything so far, but am now on a serious spending ban as I'm going to Thailand for 6 weeks in the summer.

Right now my stomach is rumbling, so I'm going to eat, paint my nails and stick my head in my revision notes.

Thanks for reading x