Shop My Closet: May 2014

I'm once again selling on my eBay trying to raise some funds for my holiday and as part of my 14 for 2014 I wanted to de-clutter a bit so it's giving me the perfect opportunity to get rid of some clothing, shoes, perfumes (all new), bikinis, bags, cuddly toys and jewellery. yon can find my eBay profile here and if you have any questions you can either leave them here or message me over eBay. I will post abroad if anyone is interested in items and can combine shipping.

OOTD: Cooler Than The Red Dress

H&M Jacket, New Look Dress, Dorothy Perkins Shoes, ASOS Ankle Bracelet, ASOS Bag, Michael Kors Watch, Kate Spade Ring

I hope you all had a wonderful bank holiday weekend. Long weekends are always great unfortunately for me my working week isn't affected by bank holidays other than the sudden masses that are all off work and school. Tonight I am off to Mancester to watch Avenue Q with my friends. I'm really starting to love Mancester and could see myself moving there one day I've never really felt like a small town girl so the appeal of the big cities just pulls me.

I love this New Look dress, as your can probably tell since it has already been in a couple of outfit posts this year. It is just so great to wear in all weather with boots or heels and easy to accessorise. Hopefully I'll get a lot of use out of it this summer.

OOTD: Some learn to fly, some will run for their lives...

H&M Dress + Leather Jacket, Dorothy Perkins Bag, Primark boots

I can’t even talk about how much I love these Primark boots, I've had them re-heeled already and had to stick the sole at the front back to the bottom of the shoes as it was coming off I don’t think I have ever loved a pair of boots more. If I am ever in doubt about what to wear I always find an all-black ensemble is always the way to go. No worries about colours clashing or prints not quite harmonising it always looks chic and effortless.  

OOTD: Casual Weather

H&M Jumper, Zara Vest, Topshop Coated Leigh Jean, Converse Trainers, Michael Kors Weston Satchel, 

Michael Kors Watch, Asos Mirrored Sunglasses

On Sunday it was International Mothers Day {the UK celebrates Mothers Day in March} and I took my Mum on a 10K charity walk for the National Memorial Arboretum around their grounds. Needless to say the British weather wasn't all that great but we had fun, got fit and raised some money. I wore this outfit when I went to London at the start of April when the weather was playing nicely and Saharan dust and European pollution was blowing over the capital so I decided on layers.

I always feel that I can style casual jean looks so much easier than going out looks, I suppose it has something to do with I am much more comfortable in jeans. I'm definitely a throw it on kind of girl.

Hair Review: NanoKeratin Smoothening System

 

So last weekend I had the NanoKeratin Smoothing system done on my hair and I thought I’d do a little write up on it. It’s designed to smooth down frizz, recondition and make hair more manageable, apparently the worse the condition your hair is the more you see and feel the effects. It isn’t a straightening service so if you are considering having it or something similar keep this in mind, so if you have curly hair you are still able to wear it curly. My hair is dry and damaged on the ends from all the bleach I had on them last summer and without straighteners is really fuzzy.

The process took just under two hours to do and you have to maintain it for 3 days after without rinsing your hair, getting it damp {this includes steam so a shower cap is essential} and it must be kept straight so if you wake up with a kink it needs straightening out. You aren’t allowed to tie your hair back at any point during the three days either.

I wrote down my thoughts on the process during and after so you get an idea of how it feels for me.

During the process;

The process seems really simple; my hair was washed 3 times with a special shampoo and then rough dried until it was bone dry. My stylist then sectioned off my hair and applied a small amount of NanoKeratin solution to my hair and combed it through to make sure it was distributed evenly and then left it to develop. Then the product was blow-dried in giving my hair a little of its normal volume, though not as much as I would have liked and each section was straightened 8 times. This was probably the worst part as it burnt off excess product and became a little smoky, so my eyes got a little watery when my stylist did the bits around my face. My hair feels really soft already completely different from the dry ends I’m used to and I don’t feel like I have product on my hair which is a good start to the three days.

On day three;

Honestly my hair feels really gross but then why wouldn’t it? I haven’t been allowed to wash it. I am lucky in that my hair doesn’t get greasy too quickly but I still feel desperate to wash it. It’s looked very flat and poker straight for the last two days at least but I’m just excusing it as a Spring-Summer 14 trend. On washing my hair for the first time with the special shampoo and conditioner it still feels pretty lank and definitely lacking my normal volume. The shampoo didn’t lather up much so I found I needed to do tow shampoos to make it feel half clean. The condition does feel better it feels less dry and after just rough drying my hair I can already tell its drying smoother and I have a lot less fuzz than I normally would.

After one month;

My hair is still drying really smooth with very little effort, the volume has returned to what it was before so I am still using all the same styling products to create volume but thankfully it hasn’t flattened it. My hair still feels softer than it did before having the treatment which I am grateful for as I was getting a lot of damage and because I don’t have to straighten my hair as much now I’m suffering a lot less heat damage than I used to. I’ve gotten used to the shampoo as it still doesn’t lather up but if I leave it on for the 2 minutes required once I have dried my hair it still feels clean. I love the conditioner for NanoKeratin as it is so light but my hair feels incredibly conditioned when it is all rinsed off.

I hope if you are considering this treatment after reading this it gives you an idea of what is involved. 

OOTD: Mint Summer

Warehouse Hat, Primark Dress + Belt, Oasis Shoes, Michael Kors Watch, Kate Spade Bangles.

A few weeks ago my friend had a little photo shoot for some girly bonding time. She is getting married in the summer and wanted all of us bridesmaids to have some fun together and memories and this is the outfit I wore. It was a really fun afternoon and we got some amazing shots. I'm really not comfortable in front of a camera, not that you can tell from these shots but it was a really fun experience. Currently I'm sat down planning holiday time and writing to-do lists. My weekends seem to be vanishing and the year seems to have gone with them. I looked at my 14 for 2014 and realised I haven't even started doing most of them yet, oops. 

Shop My Closet: Depop

So normally when I do a Shop My Closet post it is because I am selling on eBay but this time its because I have signed up to Depop. I'm still having a mass wardrobe clear out and I will still list things on eBay but I really just need to get rid of stuff so I figured its a good  idea to have them up more than one place. If you are on Depop follow me here.

I first found out about Depop on Instagram when blogger Chiara Ferragni (aka The Blonde Salad) was promoting it on her feed so I signed up and sort of forgot about it for a while. Recently though I've been getting really annoyed with eBay so when my work colleague said she was selling on it I thought I'd give it a go. Its very simular to Ebay in that fees are 10% of your total sale (Yes including on postage, cheeky beggars) but you don't pay anything to list your item and your item stays live in a format a bit like Instagram. People follow and like your items like Instagram too, you set your price but I have found a lot of users will ask if you can do it cheaper so know what you want for your items and which you are willing to deal on.

I don't know whether its a good idea to just list everything on my blog as well in case anyone wants anything. Do you use Depop? Where would you normally find new fashion finds? If you know somewhere I can list to help me sell these items please let me know. I think it will help if I can figure out cheap ways of posting worldwide so if any UK peeps know how you do it so I can investigate.