ACCESSORISE ALL AREAS

In my opinion, jewellery can often make or break an outfit.  If you're wearing something fairly simple, than a watch or necklace can make it pop and look complete.  I remember doing a jewellery collection post a long long time ago, and then more recently-ish a favourite necklaces post - and today I thought I would pick out my current go to pieces and talk about the types of jewellery I like to wear.  

In general I would say that my style falls into no particular category.  There was a time when I'd only wear something if it was black, lacey, netted and generally GOFFIC.  I'm not talking 5" black studded platforms and purple dreadlocks...more Doc Martens and leathers jackets and the like, you get the picture.  Then I developed an obsession with the sixties when I was around 17/18, and wore shift dresses and backcombed my hair (badly).  Then I decided that faux fur coats were the best thing since sliced bread and bought one for every possible occasion, in most colours.  Fast forward to now, where thankfully I've calmed my 'style' down a lot and learned that my clothes don't necessarily need to reflect the fact that I love Marilyn Manson.  However, in some way or another little bits of these past elements do show though still in my current outfit choices I think - I don't think I'll ever not love shift dresses and fur coats!

Anyway, throughout all of those questionable style periods of my life, I always loved OTT costume jewellery, from big rings to statement necklaces.  This hasn't changed, I still own all of those things, but now I've developed a love for gold/rose gold and finer pieces of jewellery - as shown above.  My favourite piece of jewellery that I wear every day is my watch, by Sekonda.  I love it so much that I once deterred my boyfriend from buying me a Michael Kors watch for Christmas (is that a punishable blogger crime?!)!  It's big enough for my stupidly boney wrist without being too chunky, and I just love the gold with the dark strip down the centre of it.  The other favourite pieces of mine that are shown in the photo are all more current favourites, and bits that wear nearly all picked up in sales.  I really love the delicate midi ring with three layers, which I bought from River Island.  I bought it back in the summer and considering I've worn it most days since and that it cost under £5, it has never discoloured and stained my finger that horrible green shade!  Strange but good none the less!  

I think that sometimes the simplest small piece of jewellery can really make a difference to an outfit, and even though I'll always love statement pieces, I think that subtle finer bits can pack just as much of a punch.  

What are your favourite pieces of jewellery?  Do you wear jewellery everyday? xx

FINISHING TOUCHES | ACCESSORIES

Hey!  A bit of a different post from me today, I thought I would just show you a few of my favourite pieces of jewellery that I often go to to add that finishing touch to my outfits.  This won't be for everyone, I've always loved statement jewellery but I know a lot of people firmly believe less is more!  

In general, I never spend very much on necklaces, rings etc., because places like Primark and River Island have such lovely pieces that there really is no need to.  The colourful statement necklace in the first photo for example, is from Ebay and it cost £2.99 including shipping from China!  It's one of the best things I've come across on Ebay ever, and I've had a fair few compliments on it too.  The necklace after that one was from Primark, I've had it for a few months now and worn it a lot, but it still looks pretty good as new so that was another great find!  These kind of necklaces work best if you are wearing a simple, plain top so the focus isn't drawn away and also so it doesn't look too OTT. Remember Pat Butcher from Eastenders (UK soap)?  We don't want that look.  I went through a phase when I was younger of wearing ALL my accessories at once - throw in my favourite leopard print clothes and the results are some pretty cringe photos to look back at!  

Bracelets are a little different; they are easy to layer up and are more subtle than necklaces and rings. I hate my bony wrists (literally the only part of me that is bony, sob), so I never go anywhere without having a bracelet on each one.  I have a Tiffany bracelet on my right wrist, which was a present from my boyfriend that I never take off, so it's generally on my left wrist where I wear all sorts of different ones.  I love gold these days so I often go for that when buying new pieces.  My watch is from Sekonda and is just the right design for me; I love Michael Kors (the bloggers' favourite) but the watches are just too chunky and would look ridiculous on my small wrists.  I guess the lesson here is to buy for yourself, not because of what everyone else seems to have!

I really really love rings too, but again I have thin fingers (why can't that read 'legs'?!) so sometimes even a size S in high street shops is too big on them.  Primark is usually a good fit though, so many bargain rings can be picked up there.  My favourite ring is another gift from my boyfriend, but I have to wear it on my index finger because even after it was adjusted it was still a little big.  It annoys me that I have to wear it there as rings look better in the middle of your hand I think, but never mind!  

This has turned into a bit of a rambling post, sorry!  But well done & thank you if you made it to the end :).  

Do you love to wear accessories or do you prefer not to? xx

OOTD | Statement Cross Necklace & Mustard Topshop Jumper

 jumper:Topshop, trousers:George@Asda, Necklace:Topshop sale, lips: Revlon Lip Butter ‘Tutti Frutti’

Hey!  So this is my new favourite jumper.  Is it mustard colour?  I reckon it’s probably not to everyone else but to me that is what I keep thinking of when I look at it!  I feel that we were meant to be together, since I only came to own it as I had to return some trousers that didn’t fit (Topshop sizing clearly doesn’t account for the fact that I eat more and more as the Christmas season approaches).  I was ready to get a simple refund but then this beaut caught my eye and the rest is history.  It is actually a tad greener than the photo shows, but in general it looks pretty much as bright and loud as you can see there!  There are only certain bright colours I like, and I can’t say that they are always a certain type because sometimes I will see something different and I just have to have it.  A bright jumper like this is ideal to put on to add (a lot of) colour to a black, wintery outfit.  Along with the jumper just had to come this statement necklace, which was a bargain at £5 in the jewellery sale.  I really love big necklaces, and I think that the red on the crosses on this one clash perfectly with the jumper and overall it completes the look nicely.  The trousers are my trusty patterned ones that I found online at George@Asda of all places, I love them and still look at them thinking that they could easily have come from River Island or somewhere. 

I really really hate how my hair looks here, the frizz is unreal considering my hair isn’t even curly or anything.  Hopefully though I am on the way to sorting it out and leading it down the path to smoothness, starting with the addition of a paddle brush.  I had heard a lot of bloggers raving recently about the Michael Mercier brush, which is a rounded paddle kind, but at £12.99 I just thought of 7348932091432 other things that I would rather spend that amount of money on, so I opted for a similar kind from Tres Semme for £6.99.  I have to say that it is hands down the best thing that has happened to my hair since..ever!  I cannot believe the difference that one different kind of brush has immediately made to my hair, especially after spending far too much money lately on various ‘anti-frizz’  products that just don’t live up to their claims.  But anyway, I think that’s a post for another day..!

What do you think of my loud jumper?! Have you made any winter purchases recently? xx

What I Bought This Week #4

Hey!  So this is a bit of a mixture of things, I bought the dress and rings a couple of weeks ago and the rest this week so I thought I would just throw them all into one post! 

 

Dress: Primark, £13

Is this the ‘Blogger Dress’?  I bought this in Primark and kind of forgot about it, until I saw some bloggers wearing some similar ones that were also from Primark!  Not that this bothers me in the slightest, I just find it a bit odd because 1) I have such a weird taste sometimes that I don’t expect to see anyone in the same things as me, and 2)if everyone has the same things and blogs about the same things then it can get boring, so I don’t want anyone to think that I’ve just blindly copied other bloggers just so that I can blog about it too!!  It is actually a gorgeous mint colour dress in a nice flattering style and it was £13 so I’m not surprised that so many others have it!  I’m going to look really stupid if it’s not the blogger dress and I just said all that for nothing…!

 

Rings: Primark, £2

They’re pretty and they’re cheap, end of.

 

Herbal Essences Split End Repair Leave In Cream, Boots

I have such badly damaged hair that I went desperately rampaging through the haircare aisles looking for answers.  I found answers in the form of this, which also happened to be half price (I can’t remember the specific price but it was around £2.50).  I shall let you know if it works when I review it later on!

 

Herbal Essences Bee Strong shampoo & conditioner

these were also half price and they’re a new addition to the Herbal range.  Aimed at damaged hair, I thought I would give them a go!

 

Boots vitamin E Eye Cream

Part of my new ‘panic buys since noticing lines forming around my eye area’ collection – review to come when I’ve tried it out properly!

 

Boots Botanics Eye Make Up Remover

I’ve not tried the Botanics range before, and having VERY sensitive eyes that often make me look stoned because they’re so red, I am hoping that this will be gentle and also beneficial to my peepers.

 

Morroccan Oil:£12.95, my local hairdressers

I just had to try this out, it has been hyped by soooo many people in the blogging and beauty world that I have to see what all the fuss is about.  I bought it in the small size just in case I don’t get on with it! 

  

Instagrammin'

Today I thought I would do another Instagram post, as I love using it and it seems to be fairly popular on the blogosphere haha.  The top pic is of two beaut notebooks I bought from Paperchase, I love all of the stuff in there and I always buy notebooks that are pretty, even though I hardly use them!  The second is my Thomas Sabo charm bracelet which is my pride and joy, the third is another pic of the nails that I have at the moment and can't stop looking at!  The fourth is me wearing far too many rings than is really necessary.  The fifth & sixth are photos from the charity cake sale we had at work to raise money for Sport Relief!  The seventh is a pic of the chinese buffet I had recently, which I loved but wasn't sure how many times was socially acceptable to go up and get more, so I sent the bf up a couple of times for me!  The last one is of my friend's cat that hates me.  I get sent one of these photos of him evilling me through the camera every few days, as a reminder of the fact that he is my enemy!  Hope you are all having a good day :) xx

OOTD, new things and shiny rings

Shirt:Gift, River Island

Skirt:H&M

Headband:River Island

(excuse me while I experiment with a different font :) ).  The shirt I'm wearing was a birthday present from my boyfriend a while back, luckily the time he spent working in Topman before uni done him good as he always gets me really nice clothes, apart from when he got me a cardi that was 4 sizes too big and he only realised when I tried it on (it was fine though, I told him over-sized cardis were very on trend and he was then pleased with himself).  The skirt was something like £3.99 from H&M and I wear it usually over black leggings as I don't really like wearing leggings on their own unless they're patterned or something.  The headband has automatically become a favourite of mine because of my love for leopard print, and it has some bendy wire inside it so it's easy to tie and keep in place.  Also today two new rings came in the post which I'd ordered from Jimmy and his Girl @ ASOS:

The first is this cute mouse ring, as soon as I saw it I thought it was adorable and also very me, considering I have three baby girl ratties :) (awww not ewww!).  It's adjustable too which is good because hardly any rings fit me.  

This is the other ring, it's adjustable like the other too.  I like this one because of the celtic-ish style and it reminded me of the rings I used to wear when I was younger and leaned towards the gothicky end of style!  


I also ordered some Maxfactor mascaras from boots.com, because I found out from here that they were on a 3 for 2 offer, and also you get 500 advantage card points with each one!  I chose three of the False Lash Effect mascaras, one will be given to my mum who I have converted to it!  I have been using Masterpiece Max, but it just doesn't quite live up to False Lash Effect.  I ordered at the weekend so not sure how long the offer lasts, but with 1500 points in total it = £15.00, so I'm already thinking of what to buy with that!  I'm considering the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette, because I've seen a lot of great reviews of it but it is pretty expensive, so £15 off would be good.  I'm also wondering about a new foundation, I've been using Estee Lauder and although I love it's full coverage, I've noticed that I need to keep re-doing it throughout the day around my t-zone, which in the past I've not had to do with other full coverage foundations.  SO if anyone can recommend another full coverage foundation that would be great!  If not, then I reckon I will be going back to what I used before - Mabelline Dream Satin Liquid.  Hope everyone is having a good Monday! (If that's possible :\ ) xx