Cruella Jumper | Mina UK*
Jacket | Boohoo (I think!) via Next2Nowt
Shorts | DIY Levi 501s

So for only the second time in my life, I won a competition! Mina UK were running a facebook competition to win a jumper, I entered and won! I was genuinely so surprised as I enter so many competitions (practically daily!) and have only ever won something once before.

It's a textured number with little sparkly threads in it along with the black and white. I can't lie, the association with 101 Dalmatians excites me a little, but I think I'd rather be Perdy than Cruella (Am I getting a little too into this... I think I am). But I do like the white spots on the black - so I guess I can't really be a Dalmatian, boo.

The style of it is very unusual. I think I'm probably a bit too top heavy to pull it off without wearing a jacket on top to make it a little less baggy! But I love layering, so that's all good with me.

After lurking around the Mina UK site I would describe the brand as quite vintage inspired, with heritage style pieces and a lot of feminine cuts and fabrics. Have a snoop around the site if your on the hunt for some unique pieces to add to your wardrobe this season!

Well, doesn't this post link nicely onto my own giveaway! How convenient ;) if you haven't yet entered, you'd be silly not to! All you need to do is follow my blog by GFC. You could win over £30 worth of goodies!
Dudeeee! (I've never before uttered that word on my 20 years on this planet, so this must be exciting) I've hit 500 GFC followers tonight! I'm brewing myself a cuppa as we speak to celebrate this momentous occasion (quite the student.)

It's only right that I say thank you to all of you guys, my wonderful followers (I won't let this get too soppy, I promise). Without your comments and loyalty I would (obviously) never have got to this point (wow, bit keen on the brackets this evening aren't I). So, in true blogging fashion, I present you a giveaway - hooray!

I'll go through some of the basic rigmarole first. Ok so unfortunately I don't have the funds to ship overseas, so this will be a UK only giveaway. Really sorry to anyone that this excludes! You must follow my blog by GFC - you can use a Twitter, yahoo or Google account to do this (as far as I'm aware?!). I think that's about it for the boring stuff...

So, here's what's up for grabs! It's all brand new, all bought with my own money... and I want to keep it all - but I promise I'll part with it for one of you! I stayed true to what I'd buy myself, as I'm hoping you trust my taste / judgement!


Gold Moving Bunny Chase Watch | ASOS
Black and Off White Clutch Bag | Primark
Oxblood / Berry Angora Mix Beanie Hat | Primark

The watch is so cute isn't it! You can't tell from a still photograph, but the bunnies chase the carrot around the dial! The strap is also stretchy, it'll fit perfectly on anyone's wrist. I love monochrome so this cute clutch bag was an easy choice. Monochrome is always on trend too (well, at least in my mind!). And finally, a more on trend / seasonal piece, an angora mix oxblood / berry shade hat - I'm wearing woolly hats all the time at the moment!

Ok, onto the bit that matters. Here's the Rafflecopter entry form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions


You have until midnight on the 16th December to enter!
Goodluck :)

 
I had to go into town yesterday to grab a sketch book, so I thought while I was there, why deny myself a little trip to Primark?! In hindsight, this was never a good idea, as I always leave with something. But on the other hand I did only spend £5 on this trip!

Recently, I've not been all too impressed with the jewellery in Primark; mind you I'm quite fussy about jewellery. For one it cannot have any diamante on it - diamante is one of the evils of the world (in my eyes!). Secondly, I tend to buy a lot of my jewellery from eBay. Thirdly, the jewellery section is always absolutely rammed and I'm not a fan of busy-ness! So I braved it yesterday, on a jam packed Primark on a Saturday!

After a scout about I found these 3 beauties. I'd seen the headband on Lily's (LLYMLRS) Primark haul video and decided I needed one in my life too. My hair is a bit plain when it's straight, so it's nice to have an accessory to jazz it up a bit! I'm also going through a bit of a jewellery-less outfit phase in general at the moment, so maybe a cute studded headband like this will jazz my outfits up too. And, it was just £2.50.

The earrings are a bit out of the norm for me. I never ever wear dangly earrings - I just imagine them getting caught in my hair! But these cross earrings were a measly £1, so I had to give them a go. They came in about 4 different metallic shades (rose gold, gold, light silver and dark silver), I went for light silver.

Finally, these spike tunnel-look earrings were only £1.50. I had smallish tunnels up until about 4 months ago when I decided to let them go back to normal (although they definitely don't like they did prior to stretching, pre-warning to anyone thinking of stretching their lobes!). I'm not too sure how I feel about these after trying them on, but I'm hoping I'll grow to like them!

On another note, 5 followers until I launch my giveaway - yep, five more GFC followers and we're there at the big 500! I'm giving away over £30 worth of goodies - exciting!


I was lucky enough to receive an email telling me that I'd won tickets to the LOVE (ILWF) party through Amy's blog, The Little Magpie a few weeks back (thanks Amy!). Yes, tickets - plural! So, I invited my housemate, Mandy, to come along with me for a trip down to London. We went to Leicester Square before hand for some dinner at Bella Italia, which was incredible! We both had pasta with chicken, mascarpone, lemon and (possibly) thyme - it was definitely as tasty as it sounds. We also paid a visit to the M&M World store - now, for me the smell in there made me feel a little nauseated... like the 'pumped out' smell outside Subway, but like inhaling the smell of a bag of freshly opened M&Ms over and over, blergh. But the inside of the store was pretty snazzy! Shamefully, I have no photos of that though.

A tube journey and a long walk later we arrived at the LOVE event after getting a bit lost! We were greeted by Mad PR and given some rather fan-dabby-dosy bags full of treats - from Nail Rock to Katy Perry lashes! We were also snapped as we went in! There were cupcakes, cava and sweets dotted around the studio - needless to say we took a few lollipops and drumsticks (I love retro sweets, nom!). We bumped into the lovely Lola from Pastime Bliss and had a natter - she runs a blog with her friend Fikki, if you haven't heard of it yet click that link now! You'll love it.

We pottered around and looked at some of LOVE's collection... but then we spotted the £10 rails, yeah, you heard me right! They were selling dresses, tops and so on for £10! I didn't realise that they'd be selling stock on the night, let alone at such a bargain price, so we had no cash on us to buy anything - pretty gutting. But Mandy has luckily been able to grab a couple from the sale section on the LOVE site for a similar price!

Inkwear Temp Tattoos were also there showing off their huge array of designs and so were Crown and Glory. We didn't really get to stay for too long due to having to travel all the way back to Nottingham that night, so it was a shame not to chat with either of these brands, but Crown and Glory were kind enough to send me one of the bow hair clips via post!

And, of course, the top 5 designs for the 'Next Top Designer' competition were modelled on the catwalk. I was genuinely really impressed by the designs, they all had a nice little quirky twist to them! Unfortunately we had to leave before the winner was announced but the winning dress (shown in the catwalk image) actually turned out to be my favourite! It will be sold on the LOVE website and potentially on the highstreet too - what an incredible prize for a designer with potential! We had a brilliant time  even though we couldn't stay until the end, so thanks to ILWF and Mad PR!


Cardigan | Next2Nowt (maybe Miss Selfridge?!)
Top | Primark
Fur Stole | New Look
Shorts | DIY Levi 501s
Leggings | God knows.
Boots | Doc Martens

Well hello there! It's been a while since my old mug has graced my blog! I never thought it would happen to me but I had a bit of an outfit post block. Let's not be silly, of course I was still wearing clothes! But I honestly couldn't find the time to set up my camera and tripod, clear this corner of my room (which has been de-moulded may I add!) and get snapping. This may have been partly due to mostly sporting PJs at the moment.

This cardigan is really a neglected piece in my wardrobe, it's one of those things that I'm not sure if I really like, it feels a bit preppy for me, but it was quite a mild day when I took these photos so it provided the perfect amount of warmth!

I'm feeling majorly rushed off my Doc wearing feet at the moment. I had been warned about the impending dooms of third year, but it's become clear that I am going to be flooded by work until approximately June next year. Yay.
 
Any graduates with words of wisdom or motivation, please send them my way! Nomore doom and gloom!

I have an incredible offer to share with you, my fan-dabby-dosy readers. If you love Doc Martens and massive bargains then read on! BANK are offering a ginormous 30% off of their women's Dr Martens - yep, I said 30% off. And it's not just boots, it's the Dr Marten shoes too! No codes, no fuss, just add the shoes to your basket and the discount will be taken at the basket. The prices shown on the page I've linked above and on each individual product page are before discount is added. The 30% is not off of sale Docs, but the sale Docs are shown too - handy for those of you who want to get genuine Docs for less!

I only got 25% off my pair, so I'm pretty jealous of anyone who decides to take up this offer! I've picked out three of my favourites from the selection on offer, the second pair are actually in the sale - but they're so cute, and not to mention a bargain, so I couldn't leave them out. There are links below to each pair.


My favourites are the velvet boots, they're a bit more feminine than the standard black Dr Martens that I have (you can really tell I'm wishing I'd seen these before buying mine - sigh!). I'm sure you'll agree this is an amazing offer and if you had Docs on your Christmas list it's worth pointing Father Christmas to the BANK site! I'm not sure when the offer ends, so get your pair ASAP!
This was one of those unplanned yet planned purchases. I'd been after a pair of fairly cheap, heeled (but with a platform) black boots in a relatively classic style so I could wear them until they're worn out. I'd saved a few pairs to my eBay watch list - unfortunately the ones I particularly liked had sold out in my size, so I decided to wait it out and see if they'd come back in stock. However, on a cheeky visit to New Look last week, waiting it out for those eBay boots went out the window. I spotted these little gems!


They had 3 pairs left - luckily there was a pair in my size! I tried them on and they were pretty comfortable. New Look had 25% off all footwear, making the decision to buy them even easier. I also managed to get and extra 10% off (yes - 35% off in total!) as the front of the shoe has a bit of metal detailing and it had been glued on wonky. I could live with that as my shoes seem to get nicks in them and scratched pretty much as soon as I wear them! So I ended up paying about £18 for them - what an absolute bargain eh?! I can't find these exact shoes on the New Look site, but there are plenty of other gorgeous ankle boots (I love these Steve Madden ones - 25% off!).

Have you taken advantage of the 25% off footwear at New Look?

Also, it's the last day you can vote for me in the Glamorous blogger challenge! If you'd be an absolute diamond and head to this Facebook photo and just click 'like' today, then I'd actually adore you. I'm sure Glamorous would appreciate a like too - their clothes are bloody amazing and great value so if you haven't checked them out do it!

I'll also be launching my giveaway when I hit 500 followers - 15 to go people and there is £30+ of goods up for grabs!

 Yesterday I tootled on down to London to check out Internacionale's SS13 collections. Internacionale is one of my favourite highstreet stores, so I was so excited to see what they're bringing out for next season! And I wasn't disappointed. They showed 6 different collections in total, alongside their teens range, Sophie, and the beauty products that they stock instore from BeautyUK. Also, everything is under £50 - when you see these photos you won't believe it! Here's some photos of each collection and a little about what I made of them.


I'm not usually a fan of fringing, but I love the pleather fringed skirt here - what a brilliant statement piece! The handkerchief print collar on this tunic / dress also really stood out to me, collar detailing is still very prominent throughout several of these collections.


There was a real mix of delicate fabrics and statement denim pieces in Viva Mexicana - the detailing on some of these pieces is insane!! I really couldn't believe they were under £50. The monochrome striped skirt is one of my favourite pieces from the SS13 releases I saw - the texture of the fabric adds to it's edginess too.

 

This was probably my favourite collection! I loved the pastel pink shades (yes.. I'm getting into pink, it's a strange one for me!) and all the the textures. The flower skirt in the bottom image looks like a really unique piece and I'm still loving the shirt and jumper combo, so I wanted to sneak the pink jumper and floral shirt on the front of the rail back home with me! Collars were key here too.

 

There was a real hit of sea blue here and a sports luxe feel with some nice pops of fluro shades too. The peplum (now known to me as the worlds best food baby hiding top) is still around - yes! And these cute little rucksacks are too, I love the rose gold hardware on this one. There was a gorgeous blue and pink tie dye jumper here too - you can just about see it in the first image.


It's a toss up between Treasure Island and Rose Garden in terms of my favourite overall collection actually! The khaki, nude and silver tones in Treasure Island are beautiful. The cropped khaki jacket is something I've not seen before and it looks perfect for the hotter months. alongside the Viva Mexicana skirt these embellished shorts are my favourites! Although I think I might need a bit of a tan before I buy them!


There were plenty of ethnic prints in Ibiza Rocks, the top image shows a nice twist on the current military jacket trend that makes it summer-suitable. As you can probably guess, there were plenty of holiday-suitable pieces here: loose fitting trousers, sheer kaftans / maxi dresses and lightweight tops and beaded dresses.



I had a cheeky look at the teens range, Sophie, too as I can sometimes squeeze into the 15 year old clothing. I loved the bags and scarves here. There's a younger twist on some key trends in the women's range - for example, a fluro cardi with smiley faces, motif prints on tees and so on.


BeautyUK, a beauty and cosmetics company stocked by Internacionale, have a new range - Posh Polish, which consists of metallic and glitter polishes. I was lucky enough to receive Olympic Silver in my goodie back - so I'll let you know how I get on with that. I find their nail varnishes to be some of the best I've ever tried, they're really affordable too - I think they're about £2.50. They were offering nail art (bottom left of image) that corresponded with each collection. I just went for a manicure with their 'Mauve' varnish, which is gorgeous!


So, that's it! There's a sneaky peek at the SS13 collection at Internacionale. I also just want to say thanks to Internacionale as this was my first time attending a fashion related press day and what a super one it was!
 What's your favourite collection? Have you spotted anything you'll be buying for SS13?

All Glamorous

Thinking of Christmas party outfits right now may seem wayyy too early for some of you, but I'm sure most of you will agree with me when I say that Christmas starts earlier every year! Those of you with jobs may also have work Christmas dos in November or early December, so snapping up a suitable Christmassy outfits sharpish is essential!

I'm hankering after something sequiny at the moment, I think it's the Christmas vibes starting to influence me! This dress is such a beautiful colour and it seems ideal for New Years parties too (I might be getting ahead of myself there, but I like to justify my party-dress purchases as I rarely wear them these days). Wedges are usually so much comfier than heels for me, so these black suede studded ones are a sensible but stylish option and the studs tone down this relatively girly, glitzy outfit. The black bag is simple but appropriately studded too! The faux fur jacket will also keep you snug on your way too or from the party - I'm really obsessed with faux fur at the moment! Black tights would be the perfect addition to this outfit to keep you that wee bit warmer.

The outfit costs £134.98 in total, that's without student discount of 15%. The dress and the jacket being my favourite pieces in particular as they're such classic party-wear items. What is your favourite piece in this outfit?

This is my entry to the Glamorous £200 outfit collage competition - I'm now in the Top 10 - yay!
 If you'd be a treasure and vote for me, I'd love it. All you need to do is 'like' this photo. I'm sure Glamorous would appreciate a like on their facebook page too!

 Pleather Jacket | boohoo.com via Next2Nowt
Top | boohoo.com*
Jeans |Internacionale
Doc Martins | Amazon
Scarf | Primark

It seems like ages since I last did an outfit post even though it was only 5 days ago! Time seems to be going so quickly at the moment, it's terrifying. I've only got just over a month left of this term at uni and I feel like I've not really got much done. So fingers crossed the rest of today will be spent doing dissertation work and maybe taking some photos for my photography module.

Yesterday was actually quite mild here. It was the first time I've not had to wear a coat in a couple of weeks! So I threw on this pleather jacket and wore my lightweight boohoo.com longsleeved top over a plain vest top. A scarf was still essential though!

These jeans are from the teenage section of Internacionale, I got them with 20% off when they had an online promotion, so they were about a tenner - pretty amazing! They're really comfy and I've been wearing them quite a lot recently. They just have that new jeans smell... does anyone else notice that?! I've washed them twice, to no avail. I may resort to dousing them with perfume!

My Docs are annoying me at the moment. I've worn them quite a lot now, but they still seem to give me blisters on my heels on and off. I hope they soften up / sort themselves out ASAP!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! Just a quick note again to plead with you to vote for me here - it's quick and easy to do, just takes a couple of clicks. Thank you in advance!

Remember, I'll be doing a giveaway when I hit 500 GFC followers, I've already bought a watch for the giveaway (it's so cute!) and I might pick up some winter accessories too.

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