Friday 31 January 2014

Sale Shopping



As tradition for me I don’t really shop in the sales as I am a creature of impulse and tend to buy things that I regret and won’t wear after I realised what I brought, which is usually too late for me to return it unfortunately. If I do go I tend to shop online or go the first two weeks of January this way a lot of the Christmas returns have happened and I find myself a gem.

This year I managed to get my hands on a beautiful blue jumper from Warehouse, over the knee boots from ASOS, a hat from F&F at Tesco, a necklace from Topshop and a pair of heels from Topshop and even better was most of these items had been on my to buy list before Christmas so I saved myself a good amount too. I’m already pairing them all up ready for outfit posts so keep your eyes peeled.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

OOTD: RED

ASOS Coat, H&M Scalf, H&M Jumper, Topshop Leigh Jean, Primark Boots

This outfit has been my go to life saver in the cold weather we have been having lately. I'm trying to organise some more travels to look forward to and keep my mind off all the things that lumber you down, though I'm not sure it will happen at the moment which I'm a little upset about as it has been all thats kept me going the last fortnight. I had the worst flu last week but after a spa day yesterday at Aqua Sana {Center Parcs Sherwood Forest} I almost feel myself again. I brought myself some goodies too that I'll get around to reviewing them soon I'm sure.

Anyway back to the outfit, I got this coat from ASOS back in October and I love it so much. I've always wanted a red coat but never found one that I actually like enough to buy. Its the perfect mix of tailored and oversized so I can wear it smart or dress it down. Perfection.

Monday 27 January 2014

14 for 2014



So I know at new years I said I wouldn’t be doing a 14 for 2014 this year but I got some time, sat down and thought about what I would do and managed to create a list. One is still going to be secretive and one is a reoccurrence from last year {travel, travel, travel} but overall I feel having a list of goals makes me a bit more productive. So here is my 14 for 2014.

  1. Travel Alone
  2. #PayItForward
  3. De-Clutter
  4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
  5. Buy Less, Choose Well
  6. Travel Somewhere New
  7. Secret Goal
  8. Be Positive
  9. Take Better Care of Yourself
  10. Read More Books
  11. Take a Photography Class
  12. Promote the Blog a little & update regularly
  13. Live For Yourself
  14. New Camera
You can keep up to date with my progress using the 14 for 2014 tag or my following my blog. What are  are your goals for 2014?

Saturday 25 January 2014

14 for 2014 - My House Is Usually Cleaner Than This...

Photo: Pinterest via Fatmumslim

One of my New Year goals was to have a de-clutter and I made a huge start on it this month so I’m feeling pretty pleased. We got a charity bag for the Air Ambulance service in my local area and I decided the sooner I started the better and since it took all sorts it was a great opportunity to do good and de-clutter at the same time. So I raided through my out of season drawers for clothing items I hadn’t worn in the last year, got ruthless with bags and shoes I hadn’t worn in forever and are no longer my style, old games and toys, belts, jewellery, you name it they took it.

Three bags of clothing, shoes and bags and two of brick-a-brack later and the de-clutter had begun. Honestly I’m a little appalled that I hoard stuff as much as I do as I only went through my summer and work stuff and got that much. I still have a way to go but my room is looking tidier already and I feel great for it!

You might notice my tag has changed to 14 for 2014 too as I managed to complete a list of 14 things I want to do with 2014 I will update with a posting on it soon though a couple of them are still secret so I'll let you know the ones that aren't.

Tuesday 21 January 2014

OOTD: Trench

Hobbs NW3 Trench Coat, Topshop Top, Topshop Jaime Jeans, Primark Slippers, Mulberry 'Tillie' Bag, Michael Kors Watch, Me & Zena Ring, Accessorize Ring, Ring from Santorini

I'm still getting through my photos from last year and stumbled across this one and suddenly can’t work out why I don’t wear my trench coat more. The British weather I suppose is a big reason as it’s normally cold as well as wet rather than just wet. I’m going through a big coat thing at the moment; I’ve just ordered a Zara checked coat that I loved back in September but paid half-price for it in the sales. I can’t wait to go pick it up, I love a good bargain.


Saturday 18 January 2014

... Because I'm Happy!

Photo : Pinterest

The way I measure how I feel is by how positive I react to things so I have been looking back on the blog and realised I didn’t do hardly any positive posts last year, which for me is saying something. Part of what I want my blog to be about is spreading good vibes and lifting people up because it seems to me that more people are satisfied with being negative than taking a little energy to be positive.

So, because I know January is a bit of a blue month for most of us with Christmas being over, staying in to recover from Christmas overspending and little hope of sun for at least another few months {maybe longer if you live in the UK} , I thought I would share a few songs that make me feel like smiling. So get up, have a sing, dance like no one is watching and smile!

Train – 50 Ways to say Goodbye {ok so the lyrics can be interpreted but the melody is catchy}


Friday 17 January 2014

Hair: How To Avoid Split Ends


When I started my blog I didn’t want to talk about hair as I wanted to have this blog as a bit of an escape from my work but I saw an advert on TV a few nights ago that has made me change my mind. I won’t name the advert or company but I found it misleading as it claimed their product would “cure split ends”. Any good hair stylist will tell you there is only one cure for split ends; cut them off. A product will only temporarily fix the split by sealing it but will come back again the next time your rinse your hair.

A few good ways to reduce the risk of getting split ends are;
  1. Always use conditioner. Split ends are often a sign of dryness in hair not weakness like most people believe so a good conditioner is essential to your hair care. Conditioner is only supposed to be used on your mid-lengths and ends so even if your hair oily hair you should use conditioner. If you can try to dry your hair a little before conditioning, I keep a flannel in my shower to dry my lengths without stepping into the cold; this means you will get more impact from your conditioner as it won’t be as watered down.
  2. Never brush wet hair, use a wide tooth comb. Your hair is more delicate when it is wet and the small teeth on brushes and fine tooth combs add more strain to your hair if it is knotted. Start combing from your ends and work your way up to your roots getting all the knots out before moving up the hair making sure not to pull. If you can brush your hair with a soft bristle brush before going into the shower too to help take some of the lugs out first.
  3. Always use heat protection. This is probably for me the biggest cause of hair damage. The average woman will straighten their hair over 120 times every year and if you add to that a lack of using heat protection when you blow-dry/straighten/curl/heated roll your hair and you are causing some serious damage to your hair.

I hope this helps, I’m going to do a few hair posts this year and even start road testing more products so hopefully everyone will enjoy that.

Tuesday 14 January 2014

OOTD: Denim and Leather



Topshop denim shirt, Primark Bag, Oasis leather skirt, Topshop ARABEL boots, Rings from Topshop, Ring from Santorini, Michael Kors MK5878 Watch

I really started to experiment with my style last year and this was one of my experiments of trying to still look feminine but with a tough edge. I love this skirt from Oasis its so soft and comfortable that I find I can wear it in lots of different ways from casual to night out but my favourite seems to be wearing it to dress up my downtime looks.

Saturday 11 January 2014

H&M Concious

 I noticed this initiative before Christmas but hadn’t had chance to do anything about it before this week as everything was so crazy. By the till in my local H&M they have a big box for you to deposit up to two bags of old clothing {it can be “worn, torn or hopelessly out of fashion” according to their flyers} in exchange for 2 vouchers for £5 off in store and for every kilogram of clothing they donate money to the British Red Cross.

How it works is that is that anything that can be re-worn is marketed as second hand goods, anything that can be reused because they are no longer suitable for wearing are converted into other products such as cleaning cloths. Textiles that can’t be reused are recycled into textile fibres or manufacturing products and if none of the previous methods can be done they are used to produce energy.

You can only collect 2 vouchers per day and they only accept clothing items at the moment. My vouchers have a 6 month expiry date on them at the moment which is great and gives me lots of time to use them up as you can only use 1 voucher at a time and must spend at least £30 before you can use it. For me it will also count towards my resolutions of de-cluttering and recycling, bonus.

 For more information on H&M Conscious visit their website and their charity site.

Tuesday 7 January 2014

OOTD: Neon


H&M Drop-waist dress, Dorothy Perkins Boots, Kate Spade New York Wellesley Bag, Michael Kors Watch, Jacquie Aiche filagree finger bracelet.

I love this little H&M drop waist dress, it will be such a good day to night outfit with the right accessories and was a complete steal at £14.99. I decided to dress it up for its first wear for a night out with a friend and added a pop of colour in the form of my Kate Spade bag. I opted to keep things simple on the jewellery side only wearing a finger bracelet and watch because unfortunately you can't see this in the photo but my boots actually have little studs decorating the heels. It’s always great to be able to dress up and little and because I often don’t get the chance so I like to take the opportunity when I can.

Friday 3 January 2014

12 Days of Blogmas - My Favorite Apps

Carrying on with my 12 days of Blogmas and partly because  I am running a little low on ideas for the last few posts here are my favourite apps for the iPhone and iPad that I am addicted to and use regularly.


Frametastic
I use this app all the time for editing posts and Lookbook pictures. You can get a large choice of frame layouts and even add filters to individual frames. I mainly use it to edit my Lookbook posts so I can make sure they are all about the same size and easily replace photos until I am happy with the result.

Instagram
This app is my additction. I can’t get through a day without checking this app now. From checking out other bloggers posts, getting inspiration, keeping on top of my favourite stores, keeping up with friends posts and playing my photo a day game by @fatmumslim my life revolves around this app. If you have it leave me your username so I can come check yours out!

Pinterest
I can’t help but want to pin. It’s a problem; I am a pin-a-holic. The app makes it so easy to check my feed, create, delete and edit boards and pins on the go. For me I use it mainly for inspiration and its often more about the image for me than the link or wording under it as I am a very visual person. You can find my boards here.

ASOS
Enough said really. An online store that does hundreds of different labels with a app to make shopping easier, my bank will ban me from it soon if I’m not careful. Having the app makes it so much easier to track the new in stock which I tend to add to my wish list until I find a discount or it comes into the sales, I also find doing it this way means when I look back on it sometimes I find I don’t like that top/skirt/dress/shoes as much as I thought I did on first impulse.

Photoshop Express
This app has made quick editing of photos before putting them on the blog a dream. I’ve never really been able to get an app I find simple and easy for photo editing but PS Express has made my life a bit easier.

I'm going to end my '12 Days' here as everything is getting a bit fluffy for my liking and i'd like to start going back to my normal content but do tell me what your favourite apps are?

Thursday 2 January 2014

12 Days of Blogmas - 2013 Style, A Year of Looks


Look at my mardy little face haha, you can tell I hate being in front of the camera but I’m slowly getting used to it a little more each time. So these have been my Lookbook posts from 2013, 27 Outfits! How I managed that many I have no idea and I still have some I didn’t post so I will get round to them this year I’m sure. It’s interesting to see how my style has changed, as well as how much I love my Leigh jeans apparently. I think 2013 was definitely the year I started to get my style groove and I’m looking forward to seeing where I take it this year.

Wednesday 1 January 2014

12 Days of Blogmas - 2014 Challenges



So in 2013 I did my 13 for 2013 as a list of challenges I set myself for 2014 I’ve set myself another list, not of 14 things but of things I would love to do. Some won’t be revealed on my blog as they are a work in progress that I won’t be able to say until I have done them in case the wrong person stumbles across my blog but here are the ones I can tell you so far.
  • ·         Travel Alone – I’m not sure where or when but I would love to take a trip on my own even if its visiting one of my friends or family abroad, I think it would do me the world of good to take some time and go off and explore on a short trip as I am hoping to go off travelling for a little while in the next year or so.
  • ·         #PayItForward – My positive challenge for the year. From what I can gather pay it forward started in America as a way of helping a stranger or someone less fortunate who can never repay you. I will let you know how it all goes.
  • ·         De-Clutter - This is going to be a big one for me I have been fed up for a long time now of all the clutter in my room and I have decided that I really need to reduce what I have and go back to a simpler way of living. So I will be eBaying lots of bits and bobs and sorting out a lot of charity bags. Clean space, clean mind.
  • ·         Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – I’ve always considered how we have to look after our planet, now this one comes under the previous bullet point really but I’m going to look into ways I can be a bit more mindful of what I do. I’m sure I’ll end up doing some posts on my favourite up-cycles at some point too.
  • ·         Buy Less, Choose Well – I’m getting much better at this but I still tend to go on impulse a lot so next year I’m going to have to really consider all my fashion purchases before I get them so I don’t make any mistakes.

Now I am sure I’ll eventually add to this list but for now these will be my main focus. What is your focus New Years?
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