Twist & Shout

Early Presents

2012-01-29T12:00:00.000Z

It's my 21st birthday soon(ish), and because my boyfriend and I haven't got any plans to go to Newcastle at the moment his parents very kindly sent him some money to buy my present. His mum said that she wanted to buy me a silver watch, and we decided that I could pick it myself.

I originally looked in jewellers, but they were a bit out of the price range. I eventually remembered that Next do a really nice range of watches and jewellery. The above watch was £20 (sadly they don't have it on the website). I picked something that was big but fairly plain. I've got tiny wrists (only part of me that is tiny), so I've never been able to wear a watch with links rather than a leather strap, but this one had links you could remove yourself really easily. Genius!

Because the watch wasn't extortionate there was some money left in the watch budget, and I succumbed to the trays of rings next to till and got this beauty. I've always liked chunky silver jewellery so these two new additions to my hand & wrist are absolutely perfect.

Thought I'd also quickly show you the french manicure I attempted on myself. It's certainly not perfect but it looks quite neat and grown up. I'm going to have to perfect it before I get into the Real World when I start work! I actually really like the Boots Essentials French Manicure set. Sadly mine's a few years old now (and a bit gloopy), so I used the No7 white nail varnish on the tips, then covered the whole nail (including the tips, to make them less bright white) with the pink/natural colour from the kit. I sealed it with the Models Own 3-in-1 basecoat and topcoat.

If you've reached the milestone already, what did you get for your 21st birthday? And what should I ask for from my boyfriend/mum for mine?!

Well Heeled

2012-01-27T11:40:00.001Z

I got a new pair of heels in the post yesterday (see the bottom of the post for my pictures of them), and I thought for my first post back after dissertation hell I'd show you my rather extensive collection of high heels!

There are quite a lot of pictures so I'm going to keep it as ramble-free as I can for the first bit of the post...

These three are basically the same pair trebled. I find that New Look heels fit me really well, so I buy them a lot. If you go on the Court Shoes section of their website you can always find a few like this. They seem to have one pair that's similar in red, leopard print, beige (like mine), and black.

I've written about the boots before, they're beautiful but painful! Strappy stilettos that my boyfriend calls my stripper heels (charming), and a more conservative red pair I've had for many a year.

Two grey pairs that are embarrassing similar. I think I prefer the Boohoo ones on the right. Another New Look pair on the left. Middle pair are a battered pair of Next bridal shoes I wore to my Leavers' Prom nearly three years ago (Dear Lord, three years?).

The chunky platform & block heel pairs. Love love the orange pair. They're torture after a while. The other two are platforms but slightly less high ones, so actually fairly comfy (in comparison to other heels, not to flats, obviously!)

Some slightly more sensible black pairs. I always forget I have the ones on the left (again, New Look), but I wore them to be a flapper once and reignited my love. Two pairs of court shoes for serious occasions. Middle ones are probably my least favourite pair. Low heels aren't exactly flattering, although the easiest to justify when in the shop. The ones on the right were £4.99 from a charity shop.

The pair on the left are also low-heel court shoes but so much nicer than the black ones above! Middle pair were my second ever heels. More painful than they might appear - the evil villains of the piece. The coral shoes are beautiful but I never seem to make them go with anything, they lie unused more than I'd like.

And to finish, a couple of pairs of wedges. The ones on the right were an emergency pre-interview buy from New Look. Ones on the right are from Mr Shoes and are hands down the most comfortable pair of high shoes I own. They sell them in blue, beige, red, pink, grey, with cork heels, and a million other combinations!

If I was asked to pick a favourite I think I'd go for the orange platforms. Maybe because they're just quite different? You may hate them but they're the ones I always get the most compliments on.

Onto the pesky shoes that started the idea for this post!

I handed in my dreaded dissertation draft yesterday and got home to this package, which was a rather lovely deadline-day present.

If you haven't heard of Shoedazzle before, it's a bit too late for me to rabbit on about them, because they're closing down! I got mine with 50% off but they're now offering 75% off online so it might be worth having a look - the last day for orders is 31 January (I just ordered two more pairs for myself for less than £20, whoops!).

The site is quite similar to Stylist Pick, who Cheryl Cole designed a collection for recently. Basically you fill in a brief questionnaire about celebrities whose style you like, then they send you a collection every month they think you'll like. Everything is one price (Stylist Pick's items are £39.95, except Cheryl's collection) and then you can get discounts based on how much you buy.

So after all that here are the shoes! They shoes are called The Duchess (a nod to K.Mid, I presume) and they also had them in white. They were half price and they sell in half sizes. I'm usually somewhere between a size 4 and 5, so I buy flats in 5 and heels in 4! I bought these in a 4.5, and they're actually a bit smaller-fitting than I expected, but still fairly comfortable.

So I think now might be the time to stop buying heels, seeing as my shoe rack is full! And that's not to mention all the flats & boots:

So after my second Shoedazzle order comes I'm instituting a one in/one out policy!

Do you have a favourite pair of heels? And how extensive is your collection?

Weekly (Non-)Wardrobe #2

2012-01-24T13:06:00.000Z

[New headphones and my trusty fur headband. Tend to listen to music and forget I'm meant to be working, but never mind.]

Not the best start to my Weekly Wardrobe feature! It will be coming to you most Tuesdays (a strange day of the week to choose, but one in which I think a dose of my clothing choice was previously missing). Unfortunately this week I have a draft of my dissertation due in and I've been spending most of my time in clothes designed for comfort and over-stressing. These are just a few pictures I've taken on my phone whilst at home/in the library/crying.

Sunlight streaming through my window. I'm usually fairly good at getting up early but I've been failing recently because I know that if I do I have to write about nineteenth-century anorexia.

Reading the paper instead of working. At least I feel slightly intellectual whilst I fail.

The weather always seems much nicer when I'm forced to stay inside.

My housemates are always willing to partake in a relaxing cup of tea.

I'm currently sat at home sandwiched in between two hot water bottles (no, really), hoping that inspiration will hit me soon. I'll be back with you at the weekend!

Supermarket Sweep

2012-01-21T11:30:00.000Z

[This pussybow blouse was £10 from George at Asda. This long-sleeved black and mocha one is equally delicious.]

If there's one thing I've learnt in my two-and-a-half years at university (and no, it's not any actual History), it's that shopping for supermarket own-brand clothes is actually not as painful as one might have first imagined. True, you might have to trawl through some fairly rough bits to get to the diamonds, but there are some decent things to unearth as a reward.

These are just a couple of things I recently ordered from George at Asda. They've just redesigned the website so it's less mind-bendingly hard to navigate. In my opinion F&F is probably better quality now, but Tesco have begun to slightly raise their prices as well (although there are still bargains to be had, especially on coats).

This order included a few black t-shirt bras as I find their ones very comfy, and actually less likely to have an underwire is killing me from the inside disaster than my previous favourite for basic underwear, New Look. My new black bra was a bargainous £4 as well.

This colour block jersey top was £9. It's a sort-of shiny material but also t-shirt texture, so very comfy and flattering. If I do buy things at the moment (which I'm trying not to), I'm trying to make them formalwear appropriate. I'm going to be going to a few interviews and probably for a bit of work experience this summer so building up my working wardrobe is a fairly good plan.

I've also chosen a few more bits that I loved but didn't quite manage to stick in my fantasy shopping basket.

1. Butterfly print peter pan collar top, £10.
2. Another peter pan collar, this time on a jersey shirt dress, £16.00.
3. Spot print fleece pyjama trousers, because my boyfriend's mum bought me the pink ones for Christmas and they are SO DAMN COMFY, £6.
4. Heeled tan loafers, £14.
5. A quite cute & bright satchel bag, £12.
6. And lastly a cute pair of thermal angora socks, because it's FREEZING in our student house at the moment, £4.

The tone of this post might come across a bit so nice you might have been paid, but really, I just love finding cheap and nice things so much I tend to gush a bit about them.

Do you find that you like things from supermarket own brands? Or do you stick to proper clothes shops?

Daily Life

2012-01-19T18:19:00.003Z

I picked up this One Line a Day book after seeing it on a couple of other blogs. I used to write in a page-per-day diary but I never kept it up for very long, so I thought this was a nice way of noting things down without having to commit to writing an essay each night before bed. As you can see you go to the right date, enter the year and then just write a few lines of what you've been up to that day. [To begin with Will asked what I would do if I wanted to use it when the date didn't start with 20... Then realised I'd have to live to 109 and still be writing in this diary for it to be a problem.]

I never write much mindblowing, usually just where I went and maybe if I did anything special, so that I can look back and have a brief glimpse into my life day-to-day. I'm really looking forward to getting around to this time next year and seeing how things have changed.

I found it for £7.50 at the Book Depository but you can also get them on Amazon which is around the same price and delivery might be quicker (mine took around a week to come, which isn't bad but not quite speedy Amazon standards).

Do you blog and write a diary? And do you like the idea of being able to look back and read what you wrote in future years?

Weekly Wardrobe #1

2012-01-17T12:26:00.000Z

I’ve decided to change things up a bit in the way I write my blog posts. I never really intended to only post about fashion/beauty (mainly because I don’t feel very good at either of those things), but at the moment I have got into a habit of only thinking new purchases or outfits are worth talking about. I do love posting outfit pictures, and getting your feedback on things I’ve bought and worn, but I want to write a wider range of things about my daily life (although I won’t take too many pictures of the library, promise!)

I want to post a little bit of nail art, a little bit of diet/exercise, a little bit of travel, and just a little bit of pretty pictures and daily rambles as well. I’m pretty busy at the moment (it’s about 6 months before I graduate) so this is a way of making sure I do something regular, but also have the scope to post a bit here and there as well.

With this in mind I’ve decided to do a Weekly Wardrobe of outfits. I’m aiming for this to go up somewhere over the weekend (we’ve had some minor internet issues so the first one is already late – good start). It’s unlikely to be seven outfits, but the aim is to show you a bit of what I wear. Maybe some interesting jewellery I dug out, some detail on a shirt, whatever I fancy photographing. I can’t yet decide whether I’ll take pictures as I go or do a series of quick changes (I did the latter for this post), but you’ll be able to tell because if I do it all in one go I’ll have similar hair and make-up!

Enough chat, I'll move on to the outfits!

L: Firstly a few of my new purchases. Spoke about the jumper before, and the top which you guys seemed to love from H&M. The jeans are a very dark green pair from Zara. I struggle with them because all my ‘plain’ coats are green, so I generally only wear them when I’m feeling in the mood for fur.

R: Not the best quality, but I wanted to show you this lovely shirt I got from Lavish Alice. It’s got diamantes all over it. My boyfriend says I look ‘like Christmas’ in it, which isn’t great as it was delivered last week. A bit early for December 2012! The jeans are a really plain black pair from Topshop that I really have to replace, they've got a few holes in now...

This Primark dress is very sheer, but easy to dress up or dress down. The boots are from eBay.

L: This dress from Boohoo is superbly unforgiving. I wore this around the house but I’d definitely want to use my big granny shaping pants if I was going out in it. I think I like the dress overall, but I’ve only ever worn it once or twice. One of those things I always consider wearing but it never really makes it out.

R: A bit of a simple/standard outfit for me. Shirt plus high waisted skater skirt. I really like this skirt I got in the Boohoo sale. The chiffon shirt is from New Look, but is out of stock online.

Do tell me what you think of this idea! Would you prefer individual outfit posts? Or do you prefer blog posts on a more varied range of things?

Spring Cleaning

2012-01-11T20:01:00.000Z

Just a very quick post to say that I've changed things up a little bit in the layout! Nothing major, a few colour tweaks and I've added in a couple of my own pictures. I'm definitely not the creative type so don't expect anything fancy!

I'm not entirely finished yet (still more header tweaking to come), but I'll leave it the way it is for now so as not to scare myself with too much change.

Another very small spruce up in my life is this case I got for my new phone (HTC Desire S). I got it here. The shop I got it from sells loads of different patterns and styles for HTCs, BlackBerrys and iPhones. I do like a good faux Cath Kidston print! My old BlackBerry had a lovely case my friend bought me that was the real deal, but this one is too much of a fatty to fit in. Sob.

Have you changed anything recently?

New and Shiny

2012-01-09T12:35:00.001Z

I haven't posted in a few days. I felt like I owed you a post with my actual face in. Look - I'm alive!

Yeah, these shorts are a bit snug. Using this for inspiration to get a little bit more fit this January. I'm not making it a resolution because I won't stick to it. For three days my boyfriend and I did the 30 Day Shred, Just Dance and the Wii Fit. I was going to be so good and stick to it, using them in a cycle so I didn't get bored. Hmm. Not happened. I've got to get back into a rhythm. Hopefully the start of term today will help with that. Have you made any new fitness pledges this year?

If you're very eagle-eyed (or read the title) you might have noticed the first of my new things already. I had my hair cut yesterday. Nothing drastic, but I wanted her to make it healthy (I hadn't had it cut in - whisper it - eight months), have a few layers cut in, and generally tidy up my fringe. She cut the fringe so I can start to grow it out as a side fringe, which I'm grateful of. It's still looking a bit 70s - why do they blowdry it so flicky in salons? - but I'm sure I'll get to grips with styling it and post some better pictures soon.

When I saw this top in H&M yesterday, I genuinely yelped a bit with excitement. It's chiffon with a pleather peter pan collar. I have made a proper resolution (i.e. not exercise/diet, which I always want to get better at) to only buy items that really excite me. Not just things that are nice. This was £14.99 and is the new season stuff, but it isn't on the website yet.

Nail varnish is from my last post, W7 in Metallic Mars.

This was the other thing I bought in H&M, for £7.99. I absolutely adore this necklace. Statement but also simple.

I went into the O2 store on the off chance they might let me have my upgrade early, and it turned out that I'd been eligible for one for two weeks. Curse the really strict lady on the phone last time I called who said 10th January!

Anyway, I've had a BlackBerry Curve for 23 months now, so I was looking to get something a bit more up-to-date. Missing the buttons already a bit! It's going to take some getting used to but I definitely like it, plus there was an added bonus that for a better contract I'm now paying less per month. I was going to shell out for an iPhone but seeing as I'd be paying £15 more per month and had to pay an £170 one-off charge as well it's really not happening. (I've got a 'Me and My Terrible Way With Money' post coming up which will tell you why I couldn't splash out on a phone!)

Have you done anything new lately? (And I don't mean just shopping!)

Recent Purchases: Beauty

2012-01-05T17:00:00.000Z

So as we've already had a very long run-through of the Clothes & Shoes I bought recently, here's an even longer post on all the Beauty things I've spent my precious pounds on!

I'm going to launch straight in as this will probably be quite wordy and quite picture-filled so I don't want to make it too unbearable!

I went into Lush in Newcastle because of their usually-epic sale but I was waaay too late to get any goodies. I love that all their staff seem so knowledgeable about the products so I enjoy asking them questions. I got chatting to a lovely lady about my oily/combination skin which is currently having a lovely phase where I've got a fair few spots (and I'm nearly 21, too old for this!), so she recommended this Angels on Bare Skin cleanser. You just pop a bit of water on it and it turns into a white paste, then rinse. You're not meant to use it to remove make-up, but rather once your make-up is already off.

Very kindly the lady also gave me free samples of the Lush Breath of Fresh Air toner and Vanishing Cream moisturiser (which is meant to be used before make-up as it claims to leave your skin matte). I'll try and use all three together to start with & then purchase them all if they make a difference.

Next up is a rather large Boots order I placed online a while back in order to restock my make-up bag. I was running out of everything at once!

I have been using a fairly cheap 17 foundation from Boots, but I thought I'd try this Rimmel Lasting Finish one as I've heard fairly good things about it. It's around £5-7 depending on where you look. I've been wearing it for a while now and it definitely gives a better coverage than my old one (which had the consistency of a tinted moisturiser). It's not 25 hour coverage (why do they always put claims like that when it's clearly ridiculous?) but it does a decent job.

The only thing I'd say is that I think this Ivory is the lightest shade, and for my pale skin in winter it's probably a bit too dark for me. If I don't blend it well it can look quite orange around the edges. Really foundation shouldn't have to 'blend in' for the right colour, it should already be a match. Basically I need to properly invest in a foundation and get it colour-matched as well. I'm thinking about getting the Estée Lauder Double Wear when I feel a bit less poor!

The Maybelline Lash Stiletto Volume on the left is not one of my new purchases. I bought it a couple of months ago and have found it OK but nothing special. It's quite good on the lashes, giving good length and a bit of volume, but it's so difficult to get off! I've been waking up with heavy/itchy eyes after thinking I'd done a fairly good job of cleansing the night before.

I hate that feeling, so I've gone back to an old favourite in the Collection 2000 Big Fake Falsh Lash Effect. I didn't mean to buy two (absent-minded much?), but I really don't mind that I did as I love this mascara. It gives big, thick lashes which have plenty of volume. I think sometimes I overdo it and make my eyes a bit 'spidery' but this mascara is great for both volume & length without making it look too ridiculous.

This is another repurchase, this time from the Boots range. I like this primer and think it gives a really good matte finish. I can't say I've tried anything more expensive, but as you may be able to tell I'm generally a buyer of cheaper make-up. I tend to see more indulgent buys as a bit of a 'When I'm Rich' fantasy, clothes have always been my downfall when it comes to spending money I don't really have.

This Rimmel Stay Matte concealer is really good, I'm actually really impressed with this. Plus the Ivory in this product is a bit lighter so matches my skin a bit better.

I've seen the Barry M version of this white nail pencil (which you use on the underside of the tips of your nails to make them look whiter and more healthy). I can't say it's a miracle product but it does help to define a clear line between the tip of the nail and the bottom.

I still feel a bit naked without nail varnish, hence these purchases:

W7 do a really huge range at FragranceMad.com. When I bought them they were on 3 for 2 (they are usually £3.49 each). From left to right the colours are Cosmic Mauve, Sheer Peach and Silk. The pots are massive for a great price too - a whole 15ml (Models Own, for reference, are 14ml). The pots are (I think) obviously meant to look like OPI, and they're unlikely to be quite that quality. I'm still looking forward to trying them out!

I got three more polishes, but I had a bit of a delivery disaster!

This Matt Green colour clearly broke in the box. I emailed them about it the day it was sent to me and within a few hours they had both dispatched a new one for free and refunded me £3. I have to say I was seriously impressed by the speed of the service & the goodwill gesture. Most stores seem a bit suspicious when you report a problem - I offered to send these pictures to them but they just refunded me no questions asked. I always love finding a website with excellent customer service, it makes online shopping so much more pleasant! FragranceMad.com get a recommendation from me.

These are the other two polishes I got, which have been slightly affected. I'm not sending these back as they both open fine and the polish inside is perfect. They just need a little cleaning up with remover on the outside. The one on the left you can sort-of see at the top left of the bottle. It's called Green Dazzle and is a gorgeous glitter polish. The one on the right reminds me of some of the Models Own polishes that have a few different colours in, and is called Metallic Mars. It's purple/brown/orange in different lights, so I'm really excited to try it on my nails.

Do you think cheap/'drugstore' make-up is just as good as the expensive stuff? Or would you rather invest in products you think make more of a difference?

What are your best & worst customer service experiences?

Recent Buys: Clothes & Shoes

2012-01-03T13:04:00.001Z

Originally I had planned to do a post on all the things I got in the January sales, but as it happens I haven't really got anything. I have, however, bought a few things over Christmas online & in store that I do want to show you. I've divided the buys into Clothes & Shoes and Beauty. This post will be shorter than the Beauty one: I've inexplicably gone mad with Beauty products!

Enough chatting from me, let's get down to the clothes!

The first two items are from an independent boutique in Essex called Retail Therapy, who unfortunately don't have a website. They stock a fairly large range of brands, at fairly reasonable prices, and I try to pop in when I'm helping Mum at work to see what's new.

This blouse was reduced to £12. I have a lot of tops like this: sheer or silky tops that go well over plain skirts for nights out. Now that I'm only six months away from graduating (sjkfhgnsdfsd when did that happen?) I should really stop buying things for nights out (I already have plenty), but I think this will translate well to daytime. I need more neutral strap tops to wear under things like this!

The label in the top says Runway but I haven't been able to find any links to a brand/label. I think the word 'Runway' is a bit ubiquitous so a Google search doesn't really help to find anything.

This is a longline jumper with suede elbow patches. It's from JS Millenium (their spelling, not mine), who have a website here. It seems like they're a French brand but you have to register on the website to see their products or prices, so I can't really tell you what range they are in! I paid around £15 for this jumper.

I do have a bajillion jumpers, including a shorter grey one with suede black elbow patches from H&M, so I'm not sure this was an entirely sensible purchase. I justified it because I've been looking for some longline things for a while now. I realised that I have a lot of leggings but I tend to wear them with one or two tops and one jumper because I don't have much that covers my backside sufficiently!

The next two things are from H&M. I mentioned in a previous post that I got a few vouchers from there for Christmas. Will and I went to Newcastle and both bought a few things, but I only dented my vouchers by about £15 with these two plain tops.

I love this loose-fitting stripy top, which was about £6.99. It's just so flattering, plus the mix of beige and stripes make it a little bit nicer than a block colour. I think they might be holding back a lot of the S/S12 stuff online, because about 80% of the store was new (i.e. not sale) and online is being used to get rid of sale stock. Hopefully it'll be up soon and I can link you to it when I inevitably wear it in an outfit post!

This top is the ultimate basic. I really don't like my upper arms (although we're on Day 1 of our new fitness regime which will hopefully change that) so long sleeves for wearing over skirts/shorts/trousers is great for me. It's on the website here.

When packing to go to Newcastle for NYE I managed to wear boots on the train & forget to pack flats so I popped into Primark quickly as I usually opt for their pumps. I don't particularly find they wear out any quicker than other basic flats (especially as they're usually a softer material, so I wouldn't expect them to be as hard-wearing).

I picked up this very plain pair for £4. They're very soft, a lovely neutral colour and easy to wear. I already have a pair in brown that I got more than a year ago and they're still going strong.

I then saw these guys across the shop and ran for them. My boyfriend wasn't so keen but I just love them. The heel is plastic (which some people will hate), but the cheapness is almost a good thing because it makes them quite bouncy/forgiving and so easy to walk in. I don't usually have a problem with high heels on nights out but I'm not great with them in the day, so these are like my training wedges (!).

I tried them on with a dress and they looked a bit silly, but paired with velvet leggings and the above longline jumper? Perfect!

Have you succumbed to non-sale items this January? And did you notice that everything in this post is beige-themed? [I'm trying a new thing for 2012: Buy More Neutral And Grown-Up Stuff!]

[I was going to add my New Year's Resolutions, but they are essentially easy. Buy less; more neutrals; tone up; eat better; get going with YouTube. Not revolutionary! But I'd love to know what yours are, and how you plan to implement them.]

I'll see you back here for my Beauty purchases in a couple of days...

New Year's Eve Nails

2011-12-31T12:00:00.000Z

Just a really quick nail post before 2012 begins! I'm wearing quite a sparkly dress this evening so I thought I'd jazz up my nails a bit too. Dark but not quite black. Wearing a slightly shimmery dark green called Kingfisher by a brand called mea, which used to specially made for Debenhams. The colour is not far off OPI's Cuckoo For This Colour (the OPI website is genuinely exciting to me, I don't know how sad to feel about that). I then put a silver glitter layer over the top. I used one I've had for years but I'm lusting after Models Own Juicy Jules to replace it.

What nail varnishes are you lusting after for a bit of a New Year treat?

As you read this hopefully I'll be raiding the January (/December) sales in Newcastle, so hopefully I'll bring back some good stuff to share with you. I managed to rack up about £80 worth of H&M vouchers (my family know me as well as lot do when it comes to that shop) so I'm looking to partake in a bit of a raid.

Most of all - have a good night tonight if you've planned anything special! I've always hated the pressure to have a really good night out on NYE but actually these last few years I haven't done too badly. Hopefully this one will be nice - I prefer a nice house party (this time at my boyfriend's friend's parents house) to going out on the town, less vomit to be stepped in. Happy New Year!

A Family Christmas

2011-12-29T13:03:00.000Z

[Before we get down to the meaty bits of this post, I'll just quickly point out that I've changed the domain name of my blog. I'm trying to make everything more consistent so it's now twist-and-shout.net. I think GFC followers should be fine but if you follow me with Google Reader on its own or with Bloglovin you might have to update it. Follow my blog with Bloglovin using this link. This is hopefully a step in the direction of getting myself to actually post some stuff on YouTube, although I might have to wait for someone special to buy me a video camera for my birthday!]

Both Star Wars and West Ham - only four and already completely indoctrinated.

[This is my absolutely gorgeous cousin Matthew, who is so mischievous. He has Down's Syndrome, and although his hearing is fine, and he is learning to speak, he usually signs (he finds it easier to process things visually). One of my New Year's Resolutions is to go on a BSL course so we can communicate more easily.]

I got back to York yesterday from a very busy Christmas. We have a few days where we do nothing (like everyone else) but it's not relaxing per se: two of my cousins are actually absent from these photos, then add my grandma and five other adults. Madness! It was actually much more enjoyable than I had anticipated (my mum gets a little down over Christmas/New Year so it can be pretty tough for both of us), and I had a really good year. I don't really get so many extravagant presents now I'm part of the grown ups and not the children (even though my 18-year-old cousin manages to still be a 'child'?!), but I got some really nice & thoughtful gifts.

I'll just give you a peek at what my Nan got me as she's always the best present-giver of all.

All I gave her on this front was tacky and fluffy please so I think she excelled herself. Very pleased with these, they've been glued to my feet since about 9am on Christmas morning.

I tend to listen to my iPod in my speakers more than I do on the move, but I'm trying to change that habit. There's no point in me spending bajillions of pounds on iTunes and then not bothering to ever really listen to what I've bought.

These are meant to a) make my music actually sound good and b) avoid the age-old thing where I buy new headphones and either my boyfriend cuts the cable with scissors (true story, he was making a fancy dress outfit) or I step on them and break them. Hopefully a nice pair will be an incentive to take care of them! Not sure I'm capable of constantly matching my outfits to the yellow cord but hey, every girl loves a challenge.

Not many readers will particularly have me down as a football fan but I've been forced to love West Ham since my uncle took me to see them aged seven (1-1 against Swansea in the fourth round of the FA Cup, not a classic). Since then I've had season tickets (I paid £400 per year of my own money when I was sixteen/seventeen - now that's dedication!) and this calendar has become a bit of a tradition.

The next few days bring a trip to Newcastle as I'm going to visit my boyfriend for New Year, so I'll try and take some pictures of me in my dress.

Is your Christmas chilled out or chaotic? And what are you plans for the New Year?

Winter Wardrobe: Boots

2011-12-26T17:00:00.000Z

I've mentioned before that I survive through the winter by wearing boots virtually every day. I only have three pairs (except one heeled pair which are too high for everyday use) but I think these babies are all I need.

These boots were a fairly rash purchase from Barratts last year and cost me £40. Pretty steep for a pair of boots I think Primark and various others have made a version of this year. I had to replace the laces a few months after buying them because the metal hooks wore them out. Thankfully these new laces have lasted well and aren't fraying yet.

The fur inside makes them really cosy and they have poppers on the outside so you can wear them folded up or down. I've worn them so much and they're really useful for wearing with skinny jeans and even dresses because they're so lightweight and thin. Eventually I think they'll be worth everything I paid for them.

I got these boots a few weeks ago via eBay, and they're still available here for £14.99. Originally they were so stiff they gave me pretty bad blisters but I've worn them in now. They so comfy and warm, I'm really glad I bought them. Sometimes you just need to feel a little bit strong and balls-y: these boots are perfect for confident strides.

I've had these boots for at least two years now, and I think they're my favourites. I got them from Mr Shoes and they're a kind of mock riding boot in style. It snowed last year a lot in York, and whilst everyone else was plodding around with freezing feet in their wellies I was smug in my skiing socks and these lovelies.

What winter footwear is a staple in your wardrobe? Or do you prefer to style it out in flats despite the cold?

Christmas Presents: From Me to Him

2011-12-24T17:00:00.000Z

So I promised to show you what I'd bought for my boyfriend this Christmas after I showed you what he bought me. The picture above is two Lego Harry Potter keyrings. They were £2.99 each from the Lego website - although they are on Amazon for £5.72 and it works out cheaper if you only get one (the Lego website charges £2.95 for delivery).

These were a sort of joke present, although probably my boyfriend's favourites! He's now bought me a little Hermione keyring. (We always joke that he looks like Ron - I guess I need to start curling my hair more?)

Next up is the Harry Potter Lego Years 5 to 7 Wii game. It's now only £17.99, although I paid about £30 for it. I also bought this for Christmas but I gave it to him on 18 November, as I had pre-ordered it on Amazon so it arrived on the day it was released. We went into the city centre on that day and he started to walk into Game to buy it, so I had to give in and let him know I'd already got it. There was no way he was waiting a month after he knew it was waiting at home!

The final thing is my serious present (as opposed to everything else, which is Harry Potter-based). It's a Swatch watch which you can find here for £34. I paid just over £40 for it, so I guess I didn't shop around enough! I was going to buy him a grown up man's watch, a big silver one, but he's not really that sort of person. Instead I decided to buy him something a bit in-between. It's a bit fun but I think also fairly stylish. He seems to quite like it anyway, so I guess it was a success.

What did you buy the men in your life this Christmas? Do you find them more difficult to buy for than female friends or family?

Missguided Order: New Years' Eve Dress!

2011-12-23T17:00:00.001Z

As you read this post I should be in Essex, happily chucking biscuits down my throat like there's no tomorrow. Unfortunately both my mother and grandmother don't have wireless internet (my mother because, I quote, I can do all that internet stuff at work). So it's Scheduled Post O'Clock at the moment. I have a few things planned, and I'm only home for 7 days, so I'm sure you won't even see the difference.

So, onto the post! I placed a Missguided order on Tuesday. I had seen they had a sale on (don't follow brands on Twitter if you want to save money - handy hint) and they were also doing free next day delivery. I had been angling after a new Christmas party dress, especially for New Years' Eve as we finalised our plans last week.

This dress was reduced to £10 in the sale. (Unfortunately now sold out.) It looks fairly big flattened out but it's a bodycon shape. The texture is somewhere between tinsel and astroturf: it sounds absolutely crazy but with the lining inside it's very comfortable. I've never had an item of clothing so unashamedly ready for a party, and I have to say I love it.

This jersey pencil skirt is a potential interview find. It's still on the website for £6 in various colours. My plans this year have a fair few interviews in; the only problem is actually getting the interviews. The skirt isn't as structured as I might have liked. Unless I stick to my New Year's resolutions (not that I've made them...) with more determination that ever before, I'm going to have to wear my shaping underwear to give this a really nice line around my bottom area!

This dress (still on the website) is reduced to £11.50. It's another formal purchase. It doesn't look brilliant hung up, but it was one of those lucky finds that fits so perfectly it almost feels made for me. I think I'm probably going to wear this on Christmas Day: it fits so well that it's really comfortable, but it's a step up from my usual pyjamas that I end up wearing until dinner's on the table.

I've seen a few bloggers with velvet leggings on, and I bought these ones for £9.99 (my only non-sale item). I only have one or two big jumpers and tops that go down low enough when I'm wearing leggings, so I'm planning on buying a longline jumper to wear with them for a nice snuggly 2012.

Have you got any party outfits planned for the Christmas and New Year? Or are you more focussed on finding things to wear for what you plan to do after the party season?

Winter Wardrobe: Coats

2011-12-21T17:35:00.001Z

Absolutely forever ago I talked about something I tentatively called Operation Clothes Horse. This was a project designed to stop me constantly wearing the same things, and proclaiming that I needed this or that I had no idea what to wear. I was going to take a picture of everything I owned and try and keep a record of all of my clothes.

I bought a new coat last week, and after realising that I already had a lot of coats, I thought I'd do a post of all of my coats.

[My boyfriend took all these pictures and kept making me laugh, so in most of them I've got quite a smirk on...]

We'll start with the newest of them all, an H&M sale purchase:

Slightly stabby eyes in the second picture. You can still find the coat here. I got a size 12 because they didn't have any size 10s in stock, and it's pretty snug - I'd probably be a bit more comfortable with the 14. Probably best to size up a bit with this one.

So now we'll go right back and do the coats in the order that they were purchased.

This coat is from Miss Selfridge and was bought for me by Grandma (my paternal grandmother) when I was about fourteen or fifteen. It languished in the back of our understairs cupboard for a few years, but was one of the only warm things I bought with me to uni. I still fall back on this coat when I'm feeling lazy or need something snug. There are some fairly similar things to be found on eBay.

My mum was clearly an awful coat-buyer because this was purchased by Nanny, my maternal grandmother. This is from New Look and is about three years old. My only truly plain coat - but it needs mending and has done for nearly a year!

The only one of these coats that my mother bought for me - and it was £3.50 in a charity shop! I bought this is Bristol I think, and wore it religiously for months afterwards. Still a firm favourite. You might not get quite as good a bargain but there are plenty of red trench coats on my fave, eBay.

This fur coat is one of three coats I bought last winter - clearly I was feeling very flush! I found this on eBay. I always think it's a bit too chunky when I wear it but it's irresistibly warm, and quite nice over dresses.

These two coats were both F&F purchases and can't have been more than £20 each. I love both of them, although I've got way more wears from the first one. Love the blue wool coat but I always have to be wearing something really plain underneath it. The khaki trench is easily my most-worn of all these coats, and I've only had it a year. F&F still do a great range of coats.

This Barbour jacket was given to me as a gift, and weirdly it was given in July. It was right before I went to Edinburgh though, which was seriously useful. As you might expect it's unfailingly warm and great for rainy or windy weather (it does have a hood as well). This jacket is very similar in this season's collection, but without the hood.

Once he'd taken all the pictures of course he wanted one of his own favourite coat, the H&M parka.

So there we go. A veritable smorgasbord of coats. I now definitely have enough, if not too many. What style of coat do you prefer? And do you also suffer from buy-before-you-check-your-wardrobe?

Christmas Presents: From Him to Me

2011-12-17T17:26:00.002Z

Just a little picture of my boyfriend and myself before we went off to the Christmas Ball last Monday. And a ring... but don't get too excited! (Does my skin match his hair? Who is that more embarrassing for if it does?)

We like to have a little 'mini-Christmas' of our own before we go home to our families nearly 6 hours away from each other. This year we did it quite early (we're not leaving York for another four or five days). I'm not very good at keeping hold of presents, as soon as I've bought them I want to give them and see the look on people's faces! I bought mine a month or so ago, so as soon as he'd gone and got mine I wasn't taking no for an answer when it came to exchanging them.

My 'main' present was this gorgeous ring from Ernest Jones. (Don't tell him but I just went on their website as he didn't know whether it was diamonds or another stone - it is diamonds and wow I don't deserve him, so generous!)

Enough of that romance, of course we're still students so a massive bottle of fancy alcohol always hits the nail on the head when it comes to gifts. I love this Absolut Pears, it's so lovely with lemonade. Really good quality flavoured vodka is way better than any expensive wine for me - but perhaps my palette will get more sophisticated with age? What is your tipple of choice? Are you still enjoying your spirits or are you maturing with good wine and ale?

A sneak peek of my presents to him; I'll show you them later, although they aren't particularly exciting. I feel bad now! I like to make my own labels, mainly because I have very little money at the moment but also because I can personalise them more. You may not spot it immediately but I always have in my mind a plan of which order the presents should be opened in: this way I can put precise instructions on the present so everyone obeys my orders!

Do you have any good craft-y Christmas ideas? And have you opened any exciting presents yet, or do you save them for the big day?

Christmas Ball: Beauty Treatments & Outfit

2011-12-14T16:21:00.001Z

I'm going to warn you before I begin that this might be a) long and b) very picture-y, but I think (hope) by the end you'll understand why I wanted to show you everything in detail!

My lovely friend Laura is a fully-qualified beautician. I've known her since sixth form and she came to the same university as me. She does beauty things to make some extra cash - what a part time job! Bloggers' dream? We had our college's Christmas Ball on Monday night and my friend Jennie and I asked Laura if she'd come over and do some stuff for us.

(If you live in either Essex or York and fancy seeing what Laura does you can add her on Facebook.)

The first thing she did was do me a luxury manicure which was lovely. A whole heap of lotions and potions went on my cuticles and nails before & after she painted them, which made everything feel so nice. The colour is OPI's Rising Star which I found here for £9.95. It's in their Burlesque (the film) collection, and a few of the different polishes are around on eBay.

The best thing was that Laura kept giving us these little tips & tricks all the way through the evening. Her favourite was this, the OPI Correct & Clean Up pen (the link is to John Lewis, where it sells for £10). The best thing is that once you've bought it you can fill it up with your own nail varnish remover, so you don't have to repurchase over and over again. For someone like me who makes ~~a few~~ a lot of mistakes when I do my nail varnish, I'm thinking this would be fantastic. Jen (my flatmate, who appears in the very next picture) has already asked me for one for her birthday in January.

These are Jennie's naked nails. She wanted acrylic white-tipped nails, as she's a big fan of the French manicure look.

The lovely Laura (and her amazing hair) working her magic putting the tips on.

Jen and I for some reason found it hilarious that she looked like a witch when the tips were full-length. Apparently some of Laura's customers ask her not to cut them down too much?!

... But Jennie definitely did want them shorter! She wanted (and got them) just a bit longer than her fingertips, as she's a busy girl and couldn't really afford not to be able to, y'know, touch things.

The finish deal, with acrylic put on the bottoms of the nails as well (I don't fully understand this process so I do apologise if I've got this wrong...)

Laura then painted my toenails the same colour as my nails, and we moved onto the next procedure... a spray tan for me. I've never really experimented with 'proper' fake tan products. The furthest I've ever really gone (beyond gradual moisturisers) was Garnier's Sublime Bronze and I don't usually think that's very dark. I've always had a bit of a 'thing' about how pale I am, so I wanted to try it out. (Especially given the colours of my dress - pictures later in the post).

My boyfriend took this picture (sans make-up, bleh) as a 'pale reference'.

Laura was very conscientious and put moisturiser on the dry parts of my body (e.g. hands, feet, knees, elbows), and also told me it would be cold. I was shaking like a leaf by the end - our student house is pretty cold anyway, let alone when you're in your underwear being sprayed with cold liquid! She used Fake Bake in Original (the only other colour is Dark).

The tan is sprayed on and might look a bit uneven/wet to start with. Laura dabbed away the really wet bits and then the tan got to work. It's meant to adapt more naturally to your skin tone than other formulas so it only goes as dark as you need - so for me it didn't go that dark.

In my snuggly and yet unattractive brown dressing gown, immediately post-tan. It does go very dark and I looked like a mahogany sideboard for the whole evening. Panicked a bit then, to be honest. It smells pretty strong (I've had to wash my bedsheets and all clothes I wore, not because they were stained but because they smelt like digestives).

Anyway, you're meant to leave it for 6-8 hours, or even longer if you can, so I slept in it (after she did it around 8.30pm) and then washed it off about 12 hours later in the morning.

After washing I looked a much more even, bronzed colour:

It had gathered a bit on my ankles but Laura came over the next night and brought her miracle remover: lemon juice & bicarbonate of soda! Definitely something you could do on your own if you needed to for any bits that were a bit darker than you wanted.

I have to say I did really like the tan for the evening but I'm getting a bit sick of it on my face afterwards. Every time I catch myself in the mirror I'm surprised and almost feel like I want to have a wash because I look 'dirty'?! I want to be pale again now!

Laura had come to ours for the second night running because Jen and I had Marvel Lash Express Lashes put on. They last for up to a week and are put on as individual lashes. (It's now Wednesday evening after the Monday application and none have fallen out so far, apart from maybe a couple in my sleep).

A picture of both the lashes and the tan:

The lashes are actually surprisingly comfortable to wear and don't feel heavy the way false eyelashes can. The only time I really notice them is if I scrunch my eyes up (did this a lot yesterday with my Hangover of Doom) or maybe when my face was on the pillow (I sleep on my front/side).

[OK, nearly there guys, just a few more pictures!]

End result:

Dress from inlovewithfashion. I wore it with an all-in-one body shaper thing underneath, partly because I like to feel thinner and also because it's slightly see-through in certain lights. Shoes from Missguided. Clutch via eBay. Necklace (just visible - forgot to take a close up!) from H&M, which I chatted about in this post.

Ring from Love Hearts and Crosses.

This picture is evidence that the tan doesn't go that dark on pale skin. Legs aren't looking great but I'm still in love with these shoes.

I have more pictures (how?!) but I'll leave them for now. As you were!

Fur Headband

2011-12-08T21:12:00.001Z

I got an order through the post from Quiz Clothing a couple of days ago which included this brown fur headband for £6.99. I also got this leopard print & black skater dress in the sale. I am wearing it today but the pictures I attempted to take were horrific, so perhaps you'll get to see it another day!

I'm trying a few different online stores recently I haven't ever used before (not by design), and Eloise mentioned Quiz Clothing. I went online and they had a fairly good sale going, and I've been looking for one of these headbands for a while.

Apologies for lack of anything substantial post-wise, I've had a friend staying for a couple of nights so she could go to an open day yesterday so my life has been a bit manic. Thankfully things are settling down now. I had an essay deadline at 10pm last night, handed in the worst thing I think I've ever written but it's not assessed, thankfully. Managed to find a present for my boyfriend's parents that was somewhat appropriate and didn't break the bank in town today which took a load off my mind (thank you Thorntons). I'm just really stuck on what to buy my best friend... we agreed a £5 limit but she spent £8, so anywhere between £5 and £10 is fine. Any ideas?

I also was very excited to get a Save the Date for my friend's wedding next summer! (Does this mean we're grown ups now? No. I refuse.) Checked my diary and it's the same weekend as Leeds Festival, which my boyfriend and I bought early bird tickets for. Hopefully we're selling the tickets on to his brother. Definitely not missing this wedding! (And if I'm honest that £200 would be pretty useful right about now).

Have you discovered any good online stores that aren't as well-known recently?

Temperature Drop

2011-12-05T16:17:00.001Z

Blazer, snood, skirt and cardigan (you can see the cuffs) from H&M. Grey zippped bodysuit, New Look. The hat is from an independent boutique in Tynemouth (near Newcastle) called Razzberry Bazaar (unfortunately they only sell their clothing online but you can see pictures of the brilliantly eclectic interior of the shop in this post).

The weather has definitely taken a turn for the freezing today. I've been braving the cold with jumpers & blazers (with two pairs of tights) but this outfit today had me shivering all the way home with numb feet. Tomorrow is all about ski socks and a wool coat. And boots!

Having a blah start to the week which I think is reflected in these pictures. I had a sneaking suspicion I was putting on weight without realising and these pictures have made me feel a bit like I may have been ignoring the exercise and cashing in on all my Christmas treats. I definitely need to get back on the Wii Fit - I bought it in the summer but it's so hard to get motivated to go downstairs in the cold and do it. In a student house everywhere but snuggling under the duvet just feels too chilly!

Red and Silver

2011-12-03T13:43:00.001Z

Done with Topshop's Silver Bullet, Barry M's Red Wine (Barry M's website makes me want all of them even though they're not the best quality - the colours are just amazing) and the Models Own nail art pen. I always use Ciaté's Underwear as a base coat and Models Own 3 in 1 Basecoat and Topcoat as a topcoat.

To make myself clear, I recognise that my nail-painting skills are sloppy at best. I just like to share my attempts at trying to do something a bit interesting with them!

I enjoyed doing these, these were fairly quick, but found using the dotting tool on my right hand was really difficult. I've trained myself to paint with my left hand OK, but dotting was just a step too far.

For all those in suspense over the pile of rubbish I was making a costume from in my last post, it ended up looking a little something like this:

I was fairly tipsy at this point so please excuse the posing... But yes, I made myself a dress from cards! The theme was Anything But Clothes. Thankfully I decided that wearing a black dress underneath would be a slightly more practical approach. It took me a fairly while to do this (I hole-punched all the cards and then used a ball of wall to lace them all together) but I got quite good reactions so I was happy.

Wednesday Update

2011-11-30T17:00:00.000Z

This short Wednesday update is brought to you by cold weather and lethargy!

My mum's visiting York at the moment and we went to see West Ham play at Middlebrough last night (we won 2-0, so worth the nearly £200 my mum's paid for train tickets/match tickets!) so I haven't exactly been putting my mind to fashion, you know?

Got these on Monday from Poundland. They do a really good range of advent calendars - next year it'll be the Hotel Chocolat ones, eh? (They have a shop in York and it tempts me with goodness - but £2 is my budget for now so I'll have to suck it up).

Also bought these various items for a fancy dress outfit I'll be wearing tonight. Can anyone guess what it is? Or what the theme is? I'll post a picture of the outfit for you before the end of this week. It should be crazy, in all the right ways.

Sleepy (L) and Snowy (R), the only reason I'm still snuggly and warm at night. These two cuties are hot water bottle covers. My mum bought me Snowy nigh on 10 years ago and he's still going strong (although slightly less fluffy and clean than perhaps he might be).

Will's always been jealous of him, so when he saw Sleepy lying on a shelf in M&S (OK lies, he went in specifically to find him) he snapped him up immediately. They're certainly not cheap (Will paid £17.50 - for a hot water bottle cover), but M&S must have done well on them because I've seen them every year since I got my one! I feel a bit like we're treating them like our children though - Will won't put Sleepy near his feet because he says he doesn't want to 'hurt' him. Excellent.

Three random pictures for Wednesday - more coherent posts later this week!

Purchases: New Look

2011-11-29T17:00:00.000Z

I'm going to have to make a serious attempt to curb my spending after Christmas. In the meantime, I've got a couple of posts coming up about various bits and bobs I've bought recently.

I bought a few things on New Look's website a couple of days ago because there was (and is) a 20% off offer at the moment (the deal code is 20NOVTREAT, and if you put it in at checkout it will show you all the new prices when you look at items, which I found useful). Trying to save a few pounds, I decided to get it delivered to a store instead of paying for delivery (which backfired - more on that later!). I picked up the order yesterday.

Bought this fairly plain body (in my mind, a leotard), which unfortunately seems not to be on the website anymore. I wanted something fairly fitted and plain to wear under skirts as I have quite a few skirts that are flared and call for something like this. I think the zip adds something a bit different as well.

These corduroy high waisted shorts are just fuelling my passion for cords. Not sure whether it's going to turn into a full-blown obsession, I'll try to keep myself calm.

Also picked up this gorgeous tulip skirt. I don't exactly usually go for things that are such a light pink colour and girly style, but I fell in love with this at first sight. Not too short and not too long, perfect with some of the dark knits I've been buying left right and centre.

Now comes the bad part: I managed to go in store and save £4... and then I bought something for £14!

Couldn't resist these. Tempted me because of their slight similarity to the Topshop Vectras (OK, I know they're not that similar!) They're no longer on the website in black but you can get them in blue or brown. Not the greatest of monetary decisions, I'll admit, but I nearly bought a huge pair of glittery-soled wedges (not online either, sad) so I guess these are at least a little bit more practical?

Do you like shopping online or shopping in store? And have any of your money-saving ventures backfired as badly as mine?

These Boots Weren't Made for Walking

2011-11-28T19:45:00.001Z

Top from H&M. Skirt from Zara, in the sale. Belt is this winter from Primark.

This skirt always gets hitched up like that... delicate chiffon and clumsy Raz don't mix very well together.

Got the boots for just under £17 on eBay. Thought they were a fantastic idea, but here's the problem with shopping on eBay - they are the right size but they absolutely cripple me. Decided not to wear them after I took these pictures because I actually wanted to be able to walk in town.

I don't think I'll return them because I'd have paid £4 for delivery and then have to pay to send them back. Have to save them for after uni when I don't have to walk for 30 minutes to campus! Wait for a desk job where I just sit down all day... So I can wear these boots in four years then. What an investment!

Do you ever make purchases you justify by saying you'll use it in The Future? And have you ever discovered eBay's downside?

Corduory: Only for Grandad?

2011-11-25T14:49:00.001Z

This coat is one of my favourites - and I think it was only £15 or so from F&F last winter. (They have a similar one on sale for £20 at the moment). The pashmina was a gift that I've worn to death for a few years, originally from H&M.

Top is from Topshop, cardigan from Jaeger. And now onto the good bit: the trousers! You can't see it that well in this picture, so we'll go in for a shoes close-up...

Yeah, that's right - I'm wearing cords! Does that mean I'm finally a grown up? They don't look great from this angle - bunched up because they're stuffed into my boots - but they're actually lovely. Quite skinny-fitting, and a deeper blue than I had expected. You can find them over here at Bank Fashion (a website I've never even heard of, let alone bought from) and they're currently on sale for £15.

The only slight problem is that they're quite a long leg-length at 32" in the Regular size (for ol' stubby legs over here anyway), so I do have to roll them up. Thankfully I prefer them like that! (And also, if you have long pins and need the 34" Long jeans, I'm a bit jealous!)

I've been wearing them for a couple of days and I really am in love. I usually buy jeans from Topshop, which are characterised by being an incredible fit but consequently quite thin and easy to wear down (I've just ripped a hole in my favourite pair that I got last Christmas). Cords are a bit stronger, still way more stretchy and comfortable than 'hard' jeans (I find H&M's to generally be really stiff?), not to mention the fact that they're so warm.

So what do you think? Should corduroy be consigned to your grandad's wardrobe for the rest of time? Or do you think there's a space for it in your collection?