Friday 30 August 2013

OOTD // Crazy Grammy Shirt and New Beauty Finds

Oh hey, look what I bought!
     
       
Top; Grandma's
Skirt; Primark
Necklace; Dorothy Perkins £2
I've lost my tripod top. Blerrrrghhh. So I can't connect my camera to my tripod - how bloody annoying!! This is my outfit I wore around town today, I really love this shirt, it's so comfy and I love the colour and pattern. I just paired it with a black lace skirt, topshop hiking boots and black fringed back pack.

Yesterday, we had a fab trip to town. While Tori had a job induction, me, Sonia and Ashley had a mooch around town to get a couple of bits. We also took full advantage of all the free stuff that Leeds had to offer, because we're poor students and free stuff is thee best.
Ashley loved being dragged around all the girls shops, Victoria's Secret opened in Trinity yesterday so we obviously had to have a trip in there, twice. To be honest, I didn't see any bra's in particular that I loved which was a great thing because I can not afford £40 a pop, I don't even think that they do my bra size, but I'm not sure what a DDD size is like. 
As you can see from the top picture I finally got round to buying some flowers and a watering can, for the obvious reasons... (how cute does it look!)

On the way to Victoria's Secret we saw that Superdry was giving away free lip glaze (worth £7), makeovers and manicures, we obviously had to pop in. I got a mini makeover, I tried the Lipstick in shade 'Electric Pink' which I definitely am contemplating buying, I love the colour. I also had a bit of bronzer/blusher on my cheecks (their bronzer brush is so soft) and some base eye shadow. The free lip glaze came in shade 'Supply Red Colour' and I was super excited to try this out, to find out it's broken. wow. I'm off to try get another one today and I'll report back to you!
Avon Mega Effects Mascara. What an invention. 
I first saw this mascara on the cover of the latest edition of Avon mag at David's Grandma's house and was totally amazed. So when we saw the Avon van in Leeds City Centre, I went over to see if they had a sample or tester that so I could see the real thing and they gave me one. That's right £10 mascara that I was going to buy, I got for free! YES! One problem, I had to sign up to be an Avon Rep, I'm still debating if I want/can actually do it.
I still need to try this product and I will give you a full review when I have use it properly! But how exciting does it look, a whole new revolution to mascara, providing panoramic volume, apparently.
The mascara is a lot smaller than I imagined it to be, however just as cool! I made an awesome gif, get me, to show you how the brush rocks to bend to the desired angle. 

Have you tried any Superdrug beauty products or the Avon Mega Effects Mascara?







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Tuesday 27 August 2013

eBay want list #1

We have some quick good news; we have both been chosen to be official Shopcade Brand Ambassadors for 2013/14 which is really exciting and we can't wait to start getting involved with the up and coming shopping app! If you haven't already check out our Shopcade post for more information about it.

I was looking through polyvore and this set by Milica Starinac really caught my eye. I just love it. The black, white and red together is just fab! However I really didn't like the price tag of the majority of product so I thought I'd do my own personal eBay spin on it.

Everyday Glamour.
1/2/3/4/5/6

First of all the Zara Sandwich bag has been a massive sell out. I actually just checked the Zara website they were selling them for £19.99 and it went down to £7.99- however it's now sold out, absolutely gutted.  So here's the next best thing! I think this bag could look dressed up as a clutch bag or as a side bag for a day look, I just love it. 

I really like this little invention, for £2.99 you get a cute little envelope purse and a phone case, all in one. I think this would be great for a night out, so everything you need is altogether, because there is nothing worse than losing something on a night out! I also think its great if you're just popping to the shop and you don't want to haul your bag along with you, it also has a handy wrist strap too. There is a range of different styles of these purses on eBay but this is my favourite. 

After my last couple of posts I've been moaning about how my River Island flatforms have just fallen apart, and are deemed to be now unwearable *sobs* and at the moment I just can't seem to find anywhere that sells flatforms anymore. I'm sure if that's because they're not 'in' anymore or if I'm just not looking hard enough. I really like these flatforms, they're just what I want, not too high, black and simple shoes! Perrrrf. I think if I was to buy these I would get the suede pair instead, even though the pvu look is more practical, I prefer the look of the suede ones!  

A little hiccup in my eBay wish list, I'm not a big fan/I've never done it personally; buying make up on eBay! Quite a good topic to discuss, if anyone has any advice/tips/experiences do let me know! I don't know if I'd dare, incase it was used (more than a couple of times) or if it was fake. There is probably a load of decent make up sellers on eBay but I've never really looked for them, so I just decided to pick the MAC lipstick in Odyssey because I thought this purpley shade would add a great grungy feel to the outfit. 

I really like this spotty denim skirt and paired with this Céline Paris dupe top it would look fab as a cute day outfit or with the flatforms a lovely casual evening outfit. Both of these items have been on my wishlist for ages now and I really need to purchase them. Especially the Céline top because I think that it will be very easy to wear with everything in my wardrobe as I LOVE my white tee's!

What do you think to my cheaper alternative?

Thursday 22 August 2013

OOTD // Gypsy Gurrl

    
(Excuse the poor quality photos and mucky mirror, shoulda cleaned it before hand!)
Bad news incoming... My Grandma sadly passed away last week, so I've had a terrible week and it didn't help that I was ill the next couple of days either! Grammy had an awful illness called Lewy Body Disease which is a form of dementia closely associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diease which I think affects the brain and the motor skills of the body so I suppose it's reassuring that she isn't suffering any more. 

When we were clearing out her house and sorting through her stuff, I got to check out loads of cute old photographs and I got to know a lot more info about my family history, I'm hopefully going to make a family tree for my mum, which will be really cool! I also managed to grab a couple of items from her wardrobe before we sieved through of what to bin and what to donate. This midi skirt being one of the items! I love this skirt, reminds me of my Grammy and I also love the length and flow to it, I definitely need to invest in some more skirts like this. Its a tad big around the waist so I've paired it with a brown belt to hold it up and one of my mums black tops. I really like the style of this black top, however its REALLY old and used to have a glitter flower on it, which is why I nicely included a boob shot in the photos for you ... lucky buggers, hehe. 
I actually didn't want to wear this with my converse but because I'm back at home for longer than I planned, I haven't got much stuff with me however they did the job nicely.

This was an ideal outfit to wear for David's band practice, something long enough to cover my legs sat down and comfy to wear. My new leather jacket made an appearance too, that's right I am now FINALLY an owner of a leather jacket, I don't know how I've managed without one until now.
If you follow me on instagram then you would have seen that the other day I purchased one of the new One Direction lipsticks ;) ooh get me. I will do a full post with my thoughts about it soon, here's a quick selfie showing you the colour of Harry's lipstick 'Be Mine'

Hope you've all had a better week than me! What do you think to my outfit?

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Sugar and Style Introduction

Sugar and Style Wishlist
1/2/3/4/5/6/7


A while back, in March I (Charlotte) first mentioned China Doll Boutique. I actually did an outfit post for a competition they were holding, with the help of Tori we came up with this... I unfortunately didn't win, boo.
Here are a couple of our favourite items that we love from there current collection, our favourites are 1 and 4!

Since launching in September 2011 this up and coming London-based company have been featured in magazines such as Now, Glamour, Closer and even Vogue, just to name a few, and since March they have re-branded themselves, Sugar + Style!

We asked Nhuc Tran, the founder of Sugar + Style a couple of questions to give us more of an insight into what's been going on behind the scenes:

Tell us more about China Doll Boutique Sugar + Style (who are you and what do you love)?
Sugar + Style is an online boutique set up by myself Nhuc Tran. I started the company just under 2 years ago, before that I had my own fashion and beauty blog (China Doll Diary) and was working freelance for another fashion label. I'm very much a girly girl and I think that reflects a lot in the collection and in the way I run the business.

You've recently changed name to Sugar + Style, what made you change the name?
We made the change from China Doll Boutique to Sugar + Style in June 2013. I thought it was a good time to revamp the branding of the site - I'm always keen to reinvent ourselves and row and I felt there was only so far I could go with the name China Doll Boutique.

Where did the company start off? What made you want to open your own shop?
I set the company up in September 2011, at the time I was working for a few other small fashion labels, building their profile and launching them online. I was nearing the end of my 6 month contract and had the option to extend it, but I decided that instead of moving to another small label and setting them up, I would go ahead and set up my own brand up.
I was working on a very low budget and did pretty much everything myself, I remember finishing a 10 hour day at work and heading home to work all night on building and designing the website and working all weekends. It was hard working but it's starting to pay off, although it's stressful at times, I do really enjoy working for myself.

What can we expect in the future of Sugar + Style?
We're working hard on the new AW13 collection and it is going to be our best one so far (in my opinion!). We're also looking into hosting a number of pop up shops around the UK and running a few blogger collaborations...

Where can we get our hands on Sugar + Style?
You can find us online at www.sugarandstyle.co.uk or at our East London based Pop Up shop every Thurs-Sun. The address is 156 Brick Lane, London, E1 6RU


We totally suggest you check out Sugar + Style, even hop down to London to the Pop Up Store. We're definitely keeping our eyes open for there AW13 collection which we hope will be coming very very soon!

What is your favourite Sugar + Style item?

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Friday 9 August 2013

Charlotte's June/July Buys

Since we had a mini break and I was going to do this post a while ago but I some reason didn't get round to actually doing the post so I've rounded up everything that I've bought/I've been bought in the past couple of months to share with you because I have managed to get some right bargains!

 Urban Outfitters- Jewellery Box £12 (was £26) 
 Urban Outfitter- Photo Frame £3 (was £6)
Before we moved house, I was just browsing facebook at stupid o'clock in the morning and the jewellery box that I fell in love with popped up on the side advertisement, shouting, I repeat, shouting at me saying it was now £12! I honestly nearly wee'd myself. I was going to buy this at full price which I'm very glad I didn't. So while I was about to purchase this beautiful wooden box, I decided to gander through the sale and saw this adorable Glitter Heart Photo Frame which was half price so I thought it would be cute to put a picture of me and David in it!  
I will show you more buys I got from Ikea for my new room in my New Bedroom Post which I will do shortly.
The Body Shop- Born Lippy £Free (£3) Strawberry Body Mist £5.60 (£7.50)
I saw a deal on one of the student money saver websites (definitely worth checking out, they are always updating brilliant offers and freebies) for a free Born Lippy Lip Balm from The Body Shop, I instantly printed off the slip and walked into the shop expected them to say its not valid or something. Oh how I went in on a good day. As soon as I walked in the shop I noticed that all of the Strawberry collection was on 25% off, that day only, and I LOVE the strawberry section in The Body Shop, saying that anything strawberry is brilliant. Anyway, I had already pre warned myself that I can not afford to buy anything, get the free lip balm and leave; but when I asked the guy if it was valid, he also told me that if you spend £5 or more today you get the membership card free (normally £5). I then couldn't resist to buy the Body Mist which was just over £5.60, I got the free lip balm in Toffee, which I slightly regret now, it doesn't smell/taste like toffee, and the membership card all for £3.75- not entirely sure how but I got another 10% off from the membership card (I know it doesn't add up but I'm not complaining). The Body Shop is my new favourite shop.

Matalan- Soon Collection 
Matalan- Soon Collection
Matalan
So me and mum had a lovely trip to Matalan a while ago now, and planned to get some new and correct size bras for myself because none of my bras actually fitted me. We obviously also had to have a look around the clothes before getting to the bra section. I must say, the bra rails in Matalan are terrible, I think I l knocked a good couple of bras off and looking for my size was impossible without 10 other bras coming off too. After knocking the majority of the bras off and hunting around the hundreds of styles, I only found a couple in my actual size- story of my life and we ended up only buying 1. While I was looking at bras, mum had wondered off into the Soon Collection, which I'd say is a collection for the more mature lady. There was a 3 for 2 offer on, mum had already picked out 2 items and said I could have the final item, I initially didn't think I would find anything, however I managed to spot both the blue dress and the white top up which I love the embroidery and beading on them both! I tried them both on and fell in love and mum luckily only liked 1 of her items, so she got me both, tehe. The blue dress I thought was a bit posh, but it was perfect for cocktails for my friends birthday. 
Mum also picked out this grey midi dress for me, which she really liked and thought it would hide my minging thighs perfectly, cheers mum. But I'm very grateful, at first I was a bit weary showing just half my calf (poet) but I love it! I've been dressing it up with flatforms and a gold chain.
I'm not actually sure how much these all where but thanks momma!
Primark Jumper- £3 (was £12)
Tori already has this jumper and I was totally jealous when she bought it, so when I saw it hanging on the Primark sale rail in my size, it was fate. I love the embroidery on it and I can't wait for the weather to get cooler so I can wear it, I would definitely melt if I wore it in this heat. 
 L'oreal Skin Perfection Purifying Micellar Solution- £2.49
I got this from Body Care after seeing Essie Button post about getting this. I thought I might try it as my current cleanser was running out, so far I'm not sure if I like this product; I may do a full review after I've used it a lot more because I'm still not certain about it. 
 Dorothy Perkins- £2 (was about £6.50 I think)
Dorothy Perkins- £2 (was £6.50)
Me, Tori and Charlotte McQ popped into DPs to see if they had any sensible work shoes for me, however we made it to the jewellery sale rail instead. I fell in love with both of these necklaces! The wishbone necklace came on cardboard with a dog printed on it, and it's my new favourite thing, I've worn it nearly everyday since buying it. I haven't actually worn the gold necklace yet, but it's going to look great when it's a bit cooler for me to wear with my shirts! 
Kurt Geiger in Debenhams- Bank of Mum- £25 (was £85)
Oh god, here they are! 
I got these not long ago for my birthday night out. Looking through Debenhams shoe collection and these were the only pair I could find that I liked. They're a size 8 and a tiny bit big on me so it took me a while to decide if I actually wanted them. I thankfully persuaded myself to get them and just got big memory foam insoles to make them fit perfectly, hooray for big feet! I actually didn't know these were Kurt Geigers until I actually bought them, mum bought them and for £25 I was bouncing for the rest of the day!

I have a couple more items that I need to photograph and it's kind of august now so I will do another post at the end of this month and show you more of my new buys without spamming you with them all at once.

Have you got any good bargains recently?

Thursday 1 August 2013

MONTH OF THE LEO // Charlotte's Birthday Wishlist

It's the month of the Leo! Finally summer has hit kinda and its time to celebrate both mine and Tori's birthdays, wooo!
So we thought we'd both do a birthday wishlist and show a couple of bits we are really loving at the moment.

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

1. I love this Copious Cats Tee by These Folk, to be honest, I love the majority of their products especially this tee though, who wouldn't love a top covered with different types of cat?
2. Ever since me and Tori went for our Benefit makeover in debenhams (check out the post here), I've wanted to try some more of Benefit's products. Out of all the range, the majority of what I wanted to try is in this box, and for £26.50 I think thats such a good price even though they are all little samples of each products.
3. Valentina by Valentino is one of my favourite fragrances. The whole time I was working for The Fragrance Shop I didn't really realise how much I loved it, until I got a tester at a student lock in when I went to uni and since then i'm in love with it. It's just a bit too pricey
4. Despicable Me Minons are ADORBALE, me, Tori and Charlotte are all obsessed with them, and this phone case is just amazing. I also love these two cases 1 & 2, because well, cats!
5. A Daniel Wellington Classic York watch, this is a very ambitious wish but i'm in desperate need for a cute, brown strap, vintage style watch especially for when i'm at work!
6. I fell in love with these Chunky Buckle Sandals when Abby from Beauty and a Blogger posted them on instagram. I was going to buy these to wear with my birthday dress (from Tori, cutie) for my night out on Saturday but I went to buy them too late and they won't come in time :'( boo hoo! Even if I don't get these pair, I'm in MAJOR need of some new flat forms, my River Island ones have fallen apart so I need to get my hands on a new pair but I just can't find any that I think, bam you're mine!
7. Well because we've moved out of town and it's like a 25/30 min walk to uni/town now, I've asked Momma bear for a ladies bicycle so I can bike around Leeds like a lady... well, this is what i'm imagining anyway! I really hope that I actually will use it because it'll save me money and get me fitter, i'm just scared some nasty person will steal it :(
8. I'm still unsure if these Jelly shoes should be on my wishlist. I do really want a pair and so happy they are back in, but I don't know what colour I would get. I think either the colour on my wish list or a black pair as they will go with more outfits that I have, I also prefer the Jelly shoes without a heel.

Do you like anything on my wish list? Are you a fellow Leo too?