T-shirt - DIY
Jeans - Matalan
Necklace - Gogo Phillips (at ASOS)


   It's been a while since I did an outfit post! I bought a new lens for my camera, To fellow geeks: It's a 50mm f/1.8 Canon lens.

   It was surprisingly warm out today and I was only heading into uni for an hour or so to sort out modules for next year, so this is just a simple outfit. I'm into pastels at the moment - the combo of the pastel tie dye top (that I made in my last post!) with these Matalan jeans is very spring-ish! I threw a grey AA hoodie over this before I headed outside, just in case it got a bit nippy! Has anyone else got a favourite mix of pastel shades? I'm dying to try more!

   I mixed my EL DW in Ecru with my MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15 today and it makes a pretty good shade for me! I'm loving my Nars Orgasm blush at the moment, I'm into keeping my eye makeup simple, but adding a bit of blush /contour to add colour. I also just used kohl liner today on my eyes - took me back to year 8! It's a bit weird, as I'm a liquid liner fanatic, but I do like it! It's much less harsh I guess, so it goes with my outfit better today.

Ps. My hair looks boring but I couldn't be bothered to wash it, used half a can of Batiste on it to make it look presentable... oops.



   I jumped on the current blogging bandwagon and had a go at some DIY dying. I'm a DIY clothes freak and I'm glad I did this - I'm so pleased with the results! I was also extremely keen to give the ombre jumper look a shot, as I love this  one in Topshop, but can't justify spending £45 on a jumper. I saw Lucy from Lucy Boots was making similar jumpers (she's making and selling them by the way!) so it gave me some courage to get DIY dying. I thought I might as well try out other dying techniques too, as one packet of dye goes a long way! I ordered some Dylon Powder Pink dye, a plain white t-shirt, a beige jumper (the first one I ordered was too small... you'll see what happened to that) and another (larger!) beige jumper.

   First off, I gave tie dying a go as I'm most familiar with it - it took me back to year 7 art lessons! I just tied bits of the material up with string using this Dylon dying guide. I followed the instructions on the back of the dye and mixed it up - easy as pie. Then I chucked the tee in (damp so I could control the colour better), stirred it for a while until it was the colour I wanted then again followed the instructions on the packet.



   Then I gave the marble dying technique a shot, as explained on the Dylon guide. It's quite a pale, subtle effect but I do quite like it. This was made from a jumper that I cut up as it was too small for me! I left this one in for about 15 minutes.



   But my favourite DIY piece I made was the Topshop jumper replica. Minus the studs and the neckline, it's really similar. I got the original jumper here on ebay for anyone that's interested. I dipped half of it into the dye, but then focused on the bottom third, making sure to keep the very bottom of the jumper always submerged. It came out just how I wanted it! I think the key thing was putting the jumper in whilst damp, as controlling the level of colour is tricky! This cost me under a tenner to make!




    Link me to your DIY posts (I love them!) and let me know what you think!





(All images have click through links to products)

   I'm sure I'm not the only one with a soft spot for spikes (sounds a bit of an oxymoron!).  I also adore black shoes - I think as I'm on a student budget when I buy heels I want them to go with any outfit. Comfort is really important to me too, so having a platform shoe is perfect to prevent painful feet! Or, I'll just wear flats. I love the ones I found on eBay! Although as I'm one of the shortest people at uni (5ft 4 isn't that short is it?!) I do prefer to wear heels on a night out so I don't look strangely small in photos!

   Which is your favourite?! I think mine are the second pair!
 

  Top - Topshop (majorly old)
Lace vest top - H&M from charity shop
Jacket - Next2Nowt (looks like Boohoo)
Hareem trousers - Debenhams
Shoes - New Look
Necklaces - Charity shop and F21
Hair - Stargazer Baby Pink (diluted)


 To be honest, this is an outfit branching outside of my style a bit. These cat print hareem trousers are probably the first and last pair of hareem trousers I will ever buy. I don't think they suit me (but that might have something to do with them being kids trousers... high-five everyone else who buys kids clothes!) and I don't know what to wear with them. I think if I wore a baggy top with them I'd look like I was in pjs! 

   These were bought with the intention of wearing for holiday / slob days, but if anyone wants to suggest what else I could wear these trousers with, please comment below! The cat print on them is really cute though (voice in my head: yes, for a child Robyn), and I quite like the taupy / beige colour too. I think these cat posts have shown that I have an eye for peculiar things (and cheap clothes from the kids section ;) )- kind of matches my peculiar personality!

   The weather here is horrific at the moment, so I don't know if I will get any more outdoor outfit posts done while I'm at home. I'm going to try and uncover some sale / eBay gems to share with you all in coming posts, so keep your eyes peeled!

  

  






 Shirt - H&M
Top - Topshop
Fake Disco Pants - Ebay
Wedges - New Look
Belt - Primark
Necklaces - Charity shop and Forever 21
Hair - Stargazer Baby Pink (diluted!)

   I'm not ashamed to admit, I'm a bit of a cat freak. I have two cats, I love cat print anything, I just love cats. Whenever I've come across anything cat print at a reasonable price, I've snapped it up. Whilst I'm typing this I'm realising how this adds to my weirdness!

   Anyhow, this is going to be the first of two posts dedicated to cat prints (yep, I am a weird cat freak.). I wish I had more cat print things to post about, but it's probably a good thing I'm not going to bore all of you to death, especially cat haters!

   This first post includes a top I picked up in the Topshop sale online about a year ago for around a tenner. In all honesty, I saw cat print and that was it, I bought it. But when it was delivered and I tried it on I noticed that the style was interesting. It's nice and airy, scoops down slightly at the back and has a raglan sort of style going on. 

   Sorry for the excessive featuring of denim shirts and these fake disco pants recently! But I think it's nice to see items reworn on blogs when we're part of a clothing culture where people are constantly buying new things (- which is great if you can afford it!). Hope you guys don't mind!



 Top image - indoor lighting
(my bra decided to make an appearance.)
Bottom image - natural lighting
ps. do you see what I mean about my camera not focusing?! All my pictures are slightly out of focus :(


   Don't panic. It's not permanent! I'm not that adventurous. There's no way I would colour my hair without being able to revert to my regular, boring, blonde self within a few washes! But yes, I've attempted pastel pink! And my hair looks horrid and lank in these pictures as it was up all day!

   It took two goes using diluted Stargazer baby pink (which I can pick up at a fairly local hippie-esque shop!) mixed with conditioner to get the right potency! (Before this I applied some toner to whiten my hair) I think I was a bit tentative first time round, as last time I tried to go lilac my hair went pretty dark, even with a tablespoon of dye in a ton of conditioner! This was about a year ago. But a couple of weeks later it washed out to a nice granny rinse look, as you can see below - apologies for rubbish picture quality. Thank god for semi-permanent dyes!




   I'm thinking next of attempting lilac and pink bits throughout my hair, but it kind of reminds me of being in my last year of school and having bleached streaks in my hair that I dyed all different colours, which the teachers did not approve of! I'm unsure, but I'll probably do it anyway as I get bored with just being blonde from time to time. Does anyone else like to experiment with their hair? Any suggestions for future hair experiments?!



Shirt - Topman
Fake Disco Pants - eBay
Boots - Topshop
Rings - Topshop and eBay
Necklace - Charity Shop
   

   This is a different take on this outfit post from a couple of weeks back. You guys might have realised my soft spot for versatile clothes and the two key items in this outfit are definitely that. By changing up how I wore the shirt and the accessories I tried to create an outfit suited to a more formal occasion (... some grown up event ...) rather than an outfit slung on for the purpose of trudging (can't be arse-edly) into uni.

   These fake disco pants and denim shirt are definitely staple items of my wardrobe. To see my post about the fake disco pants / where I got them click here. (Hmm.. this gives me an idea to do a post about my staple pieces...!)

   The necklace was found in a charity shop for £1.99. It's a bit long, but you can't complain when something's that cheap! I really need to do a charity shop haul post soon. I have a useless memory... so many things that I must get round to blogging about!

   The £1 Primark sunnies are starting to grow on me - still not too sure if they suit me, but I have decided that I like them. So they're staying!

   By the way, I took these photos on Thursday and the weather was so temperamental (as you may be able to see - rain clouds yet extremely sunny?!), so I added fade to them to disguise the strange lighting (rather unsuccessfully). My cameras being temperamental in the lighting in my room too. So I asked my Mum to take these photos outside - this explains why I look 'wooden' as she so kindly and eloquently described it! I never know what to do when other people take photos of me - I'm such an awkward person. Just to prove this, I managed to walk straight into a branch, which went into my eye right after these photos being taken. Brilliant!

Ps. If you've noticed I've increased the image sizes I'll be using on my blog to 500 pixel width - bigger = better (...?!)  so, sorry for any inconsistencies with image sizes on my blog that you may notice!

Pps... I now have pink hair! Wohoo!



Jumper -Urban Outfitters
Shorts - DIY (Levi)
Necklace - eBay
Bracelets - eBay
Scarf - Miss Selfridge (I think!)
Belt - Matalan

   Yep. My love for Levi cut offs has cropped up again, as I warned it would in my last post! The Levis were originally some groovy 90s tight-as-hell flares (sexy!), but as soon as I spotted them in a charity shop I had to snap them up - they were just £4! As soon as I got home I gave them a little makeover into studded shorts, as per usual! I also got an H&M lace strap top for £1.50 in the same shop. I've been a bit of a charity shop freak these past weeks. Might call for a collective charity shop haul post soon.

   I picked this jumper up in the UO sale for £15, first thing I've ever bought from there as far as I remember! There isn't on in Nottingham for some reason, so when I went to Bath I popped into the one there. As much as I love the stuff in UO, it is pretty pricey. So to the sale racks I went! £15 (was £30 pre-sale I think) for a jumper is purse friendly- particularly when it's unusual like this one! I've convinced myself it's summer suitable as the shoulderless style might come in handy when I get sunburnt - I burn so easily!


 Top - Sugarlips *
Shorts - DIY (Levi 501)
Wedge Boots - New Look
Necklace - eBay
Ear Cuff - eBay 
(Yes I got one! Too big for my smallish ears though... might sell it?! Would anyone be interested?)
Bracelet - eBay
Rings - H&M
Lipstick - NYX Matte Lip Cream in Tokyo


   Yes, I do have a penchant for DIY shorts! I've got some more coming up in my next blog post too... I just don't see any reason for me to fork out 30 odd quid in Urban Outfitters for vintage Levi cut offs when I can make them myself for around £5 - £10. These are a little looser and longer than the DIY Levi hotpants I've featured on my posts before, so I can afford to gain a couple of pounds from Easter eggs - bonus!

   I was lucky enough to receive this top (all the way from LA!) from Sugarlips. This top stood out to me as I love anything a bit unusual, so I loved styling it for this post. The leopard print edging is cute and the arm hole style is too! I find unusually designed tops like this can be dressed up or down really easily. I would be just as happy wearing this outfit out for the day shopping as I would wearing it to bars in the evening. It's also long enough to wear with leggings - brilliant! Versatility, versatility, versatility! 

  Here's a link to the top - explore the rest of the site too! There are some really unusual pieces that have seriously caught my eye! For example, this top - simple, but unique and brilliant for spring / summer!

   A quick apology for my lack of outfit posts recently. Having come home from uni to get on with some much needed work (hasn't been all that successful so far...) I haven't had much time to do my outfit posts. I have another blog post already lined up for around Wednesday / Thursday! Preparation is key (I will learn...!).


  The past few weeks I've been searching high and low for a flipping bikini that fits me! I'm so excited to be going on holiday in June - I haven't been for over 3 years, so I may be getting over enthusiastic trying to buy bikinis already! Even the ones that haven't been far off fitting haven't impressed me. I must have tried at least 10 different bikinis from ASOS over the past few weeks and none have been quite right. They look lovely on the website, but the cuts are peculiar and unflattering, not to mention steeply priced. I don't know if anyone else experiences this, it may just be because I have an annoying body shape to buy bikinis for and a tight budget.

   I buy bikinis as separates as I have a cup size over a DD and I'm a size 10 on the bottom. There are so many bikinis that are gorgeous, but either too pricey or they don't sell separates, or if they do, they're clip backs, so if you buy a size 16 top to fit your boobs, as I usually have to, it's too big around the back!
   
   By chance this week I popped into Primark. It had never crossed my mind to look in Primark for bikinis for some reason. I ventured upstairs and came across a surprisingly extensive collection of bikinis! Halterneck, bandeau, size 8, size 18, pretty, plain you name it, it was there! I picked 2 different halterneck bikini tops with 2 bottoms for each. One is a crochet, cream bikini, the other is a floral, frill front style bikini (as you can see in the pics below!). I tried them on and was surprised by the quality, fit and style for the price (the tops £5 each, bottoms £3 each). They look similar to ones in River Island I think! Although they're not underwired (they are lightly padded), to me they are still supportive and comfortable, so I snapped them up! If you've had the same issues as me you should pop in and try some on! I should also say that I've found La Senza to be good for bikinis, they stock a huge variety of sizes and styles.  I'm lucky enough to have an outlet near(ish) me, so I've snapped up a bikini there for under a tenner before!




 There's loads of other great holiday stuff in Primark too. I also picked up some sunnies for £1 and sandals for £6. I'm not too sure if the sunglasses suit me, but I wanted some robust enough to survive being in my bag all day as my aviators aren't surviving too well!




   I'd seen these NYX lip creams over blogger and youtube, they'd had pretty good reviews so I picked a couple up on eBay a week or two ago. They arrived here from the US in good time and at a good price - here's the link to the buyer I purchased from! These lip creams are really like nothing I've tried before, as NYX states on the packaging...




   I chose Tokyo (a barbie pink colour) and Amsterdam (cherryish red). I find that Tokyo is less pigmented than Amsterdam, or at least needs more product, but I do like that it's not overly bright. You can build up the product depending on how bright / deep you want the colour. 
  
   Amsterdam looks quite a deep red as soon as it's put on, but I found that after a couple of minutes it looks more cherry red. It is blue toned though, so a better red for people like me with paler skin, but I can see it looking lovely on all other skin tones too

   Annoyingly, I took photos of both products on my lips but for some reason my camera didn't focus properly! I will be wearing these products a lot though I expect, so you will see them on! For now, here's both swatched on my hand in natural light. Ps. Yay for my DSLR! Although somehow my newer ones broken :( so yay for my older DSLR...!

 
   As for the formula itself, I think it's quite good. I say quite good because I've recently got out of wearing a matte lip, so these are taking a little getting used to! I wouldn't say they're drying, more just an unusual texture on the lips! They're not long lasting, but for me that's fine. Tokyo seems to fade quite quickly, maybe after an hour, whereas Amsterdam lasts a bit longer. I would repurchase them, especially Tokyo as it's not a colour I'd usually wear but I really like it! I think they'll just take a little getting used to following my major love for Maybelline Moisture Extreme Lipstick.
   My post before last featured a this bracelet that I had come across on eBay a week or so back. I thought seeing as I've had quite a lot of interest in it, I'd take some photos of it when it arrived. Well, here it is in the flesh! 





   I'm so pleased with this, I love it even more after wearing it all day today! It looks really well made, the links seem robust, so I don't feel like it's going to break anytime soon. Great for £3.99 with delivery! It does look identical to the ASOS bracelet (from the pictures on their website) except for the finish of the metal. I sometimes find it difficult to get tightish fitting bracelets as I have quite thin wrists, but this isn't loose on me at all. I think this is one of my favourite purchases of the year so far.

   Let me know what you guys think! Hope you've enjoyed your weekends.Yesterday I travelled about 4 hours to get home, but I survived the journey and I now have a better room to take pictures in than my one at uni, yay!

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