Crochet Top

Today I had a very hectic day of uni. After going for an early morning run and long shower, my best solution for staying optimistic and up-beat is to look cute.

So today, I wore this GORGEOUS crochet top. My mum brought it for me (such amazing taste!) this summer from a shop in Weston Super Mare so unfortunately I don't know what shop it was brought in, but the label says 'Izabel LONDON', sounds nice!

I adore crochet tops and dresses, like lace, they never go out of style. A true timeless elegance!

iPhone case - Ted Baker London

Crochet top - Izabel London

Ring - Swarovski
Bracelet - Market in China

Watch - DKNY

Trousers - Marks and Spencer

Shoes - Call it Spring

For all the running around I have to do, some days it's just best to wear flats, and these are my brand new autumn faves! Brought from Debenhams, these are some super comfy Call it Spring brown shoes. Keep your feet warmer and more protected from the wind and rain than summer's 'dolly shoes'/ballerina flats/pumps.

I paired this with some super cute bright skinny jeans from Marks and Spencer (this time a gift from my nan, she's adorable!). Their skinny jeans are tight fitting but still very comfy and such great quality. They are built to be lived in and last! Even though autumn's here, it's definitely not the time to totally box up your cute summer clothes. A lot of people think it's the time to convert to black, as if we're mourning the passing of summer?! But there are plenty of wonderful autumn colours to chose from and it's a fabulous idea to wear them, and wear them bold!

There's 70% off on jeans on Amazon at the moment so you can buy a pair similar on Amazon like these: VERO MODA Women's Skinny Fit Jeans and these: Freesoul Women Skinny / Slim Fit Jeans  for a great price!

xoxo

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Plymouth Vintage Fair

Today I attended Plymouth's Vintage Fair at the Guildhall. Despite the rather awful weather, there was a really strong turn out and it was a huge success! There were over 65 stalls of vintage fashion, crockery, antiques, jewellery and the charity raffle for St Luke's Hospice was lovely. What a gorgeous setting for the fair?! I'd never been into Plymouth's Guildhall before, but I will definitely have to go again. The chandeliers and detail on the ceiling were so beautiful!

I was lucky enough to find a stunning, vintage Burberry coat as I was sifting through the rails, but sadly had to leave it behind as it was five sizes too big for me. 

This is one of the many reasons why it's so worth going to these events! There are plenty of people who collect items to sell, but don't properly look into their true origins, leaving them a steal price for you! 

When I was a child, I stumbled across a rare Beanie Baby worth hundreds (if not more!) for just £20 and have kept it ever since. Who knows how much it will be worth in ten more years?

  

This is one of the things I brought. It's a wonderful piece that is only, a very cute, 3 inches tall and cost me just £3, it was just far too pretty to ignore. It turns out it was made in USSR by a company called Lomonosov. It's in fantastic condition considering how old and delicate it is.

I also found this stunning, 19th century Coalport cup and saucer in a Rococo Revival style, c.1835. It is in outstanding condition and considering the inside of the cup is so pretty I'm very glad no-one got to it first and turned it into a candle holder!
xoxo

Just a few products ...

Finally organised my hair, face and body products in my bathroom in my new flat! This isn't even all of them!! Is using 12+ hair products in your daily routine excessive? How many do you use?

Keeping myself healthy on the outside is just as important to me as keeping myself healthy on the inside. Particularly my hair, it's the first thing people are going to see. Get it right and it can make the difference between you blending in or standing out in a room. It was what caught my boyfriend's attraction from across a street 2 years ago ;)

TIGI Bed Head After Party, TIGI Catwalk Camera Ready Spray,  L'Oreal Paris Elnett Satin Hairspray, VO5 Plump It Up Volumising Spritz,  TIGI Bed Head Masterpiece Massive Shine Hairspray,  TIGI Root Boost,  TIGI S Factor Seriously Straight,  TIGI S-Factor Flat Iron Spray,  TIGI Catwalk Curlesque Curl Collection Leave-In Conditioner,  Tigi Catwalk Curl Collection Curls Rock Amplifier,  John Frieda Sheer Blonde Hydration Leave-In Conditioner,  John Frieda Sheer Blonde Boost Mousse,  Tresemme 24 Hour Body Foaming Mousse,  TIGI Volume Collection Root Boost,  TIGI Root Boost,

  Tigi Catwalk Sleek Mystique Blow out Balm,  St Tropez Everyday Gradual Tan Body,  Hugo Boss Boss Femme Perfumed Body Lotion,  Body Shop Dewberry Bath and Shower Gel, Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Shower Gel,  The Body Shop Tea Tree Facial Wash,  The Body Shop Satsuma Orange Body Polish,  The Body Shop Seaweed Pore-Cleansing Facial Exfoliator, The Body Shop Vitamin C Facial Cleansing Polish, Simple Kind To Skin Deep Cleansing Face Mask, Simple Kind To Skin Moisturising Facial Wash

I truly believe that when it comes to health then you shouldn't compromise on quality. If you can afford to spend more, do. Unlike some things, I've definitely found that price will equate to quality and actually make a big difference in the results. And don't be afraid to mix and match. 

As you might be able to tell, I love the TIGI range. At the moment I'm using the TIGI Catwalk Volume Collection Your Highness Range for my shampoo and conditioner as well as the root boost spray and it makes SUCH a difference! I couldn't BELIEVE how voluptuous my hair had become!

Catwalk By Tigi - Volume Collection Your Highness Set Of 2 - Elevating Shampoo 250ml & Nourishing Conditioner 200ml

Another hair product I've really got to recommend is the S Factor Heat Defence Spray. My hair's so long that it takes forever to blow dry it. My tips dry the quickest and by the time my roots are dry, my tips are frazzled! However, using this product ACTUALLY works and has saved my hair from totally dying. Particularly is you're going to use curling irons/wand or straighteners after to further style, it really saves those annoying split ends.

TIGI S-Factor Flat Iron Spray 125ml

More hair product and styling advice to come and tomorrow I'll do a blog post about my skin care products.

xoxo

Beautiful iPhone

Following on from my last blog post about the new iOS7 update, here is my promised blog post about how to improve the look of your iPhone. I'm not sure whether this works on iPads etc. too as I haven't tried but I know it works for iPhones.

Here is a screen shot of my phone:

I used an app called Cocoppa. There's countless different styles of icons you can choose from.

To get your phone to have unique icons like mine follow these steps:

First, go to the 'App Store' and search Cocopaa in the search bar. Once you have downloaded the Cocoppa app, you have to download each icon you want individually from that app, so it will take a little while. 

I think I did have to sign up, but from what I can remember you don't give away any personal info and I definitely haven't received any spam e-mails since either, so I wouldn't worry about it. I think it's just to have

an 'account' to favourite what icons and backgrounds you like.

As I mentioned above, there is an endless supply of different styles you can chose from and unlike usual 'theme' changes, you don't download a group of them so each icon is to your chosen liking. I tried to chose icons that were all on a vintage theme and a dreamy, love background. But whatever theme you desire from animals to flowers to gothic, I'm sure there'll be an icon to match your style.

'Popular Icons' (the third strip down on their home page) have some nice ones, or at the bottom, simply search things like 'floral', for some really nice ones.

Personally, I mixed and matched, getting one, max. two icons made by the same person but you might find a person's style you like and so are able just to download a load of similar looking icons from the one person. In which case you click on the icon and then above it, there will be a pink strip with the creator's name on. Click on that and it will take you to all the ones they made.

It's always worth looking at the other ones a person has made because they'll probably have a few styles

on the same sort of theme and maybe have a background to match. If there's a specific icon you like, comment, and I might be able to post a link, most of them are Korean so I struggle to be able to tell you the names to search for. 

I got a flower background by clicking on the 'wallpapers' tab at the top, under the Cocoppa banner, and then searched 'shabby chic', it should be the second one there. And this love background by searching through backgrounds with the 'love' tag.

A warning though, currently some icons won't work, mainly just the icons designed by Apple such as the mail and phone, the icons are on my page for display purposes only. However, the music app will work by using the URL link and typing in: "music://".

Hope this explains everything clearly enough, any questions feel free to comment. 

Enjoy your beautiful new iPhone!

xoxo

iOS7

Apple have just released their latest innovation in the form of the new iOS7 operating system. Although met with mixed reviews from the critics and lots of bad press from the super long download time, overall it seems to be a pretty big hit. 

Thankfully, my download only took around an hour and not the scary download times seen like 35 hours! Overall, I'm really happy with the result. Although there seems to be a minor glitch in scaling pictures for your background and I personally think the new photo filters are an unnecessary and primitive accessory, I do think it runs a lot faster, smoother and looks a lot more modern. It seems to me that Apple have finally woken up and realised that their main target market is not the business man, but the style conscious youth.

Although I won't be getting the new iPhone5S or C that accompanies this launch as my contract's for another year (after buying the very last iPhone5 available anywhere in my home-town the day it came out); I don't feel like it's too much of a loss thanks to this update. The fingerprint recognition technology does sound very amazing and a fantastic leap for security, but I have found that the iOS7 has encouraged me to get with the times (with regards to safety). I never used to have passwords on my iPhones as I'm neurotically careful with them and felt to be too much of an unnecessary chore. However, the iOS7 makes the experience, dare I say, enjoyable with it's beautiful design for entering your passcode, which I'm sure will help me in the long run.

Really, this iOS7 update has made it feel almost like you have a whole new phone! And it has also completely freshened up the look and feel of my iPad.

Here's a screen shot of my updated iPhone:

Thanks to an app called Cocopaa, I was able to download these icons and make it look even more impressive.

Check out my next blog post on how to use Cocoppa to download beautiful icons like these and make your homescreen totally unique!

xoxo

Antique Shopping

I do love hunting for a gorgeous vintage find in antique shops!

Today, I found these real, framed, mounted butterflies; for an incredible price too! It's great to look in the antique shops that have everything a bit jumbled together rather than being all clinically organised, filed and catalogued, as you're able to find far better bargains. Often, the owners are more traders than antique experts and miss a trick by not doing their research on the item. 

Ethically, I wouldn't encourage the sale of these if they are made new, so it is important to check it looks genuinely old and antique. 

It's also great when they have their names and latin names on too like here. Beautiful education. 

 

Keep checking back on my blog for my future finds and lots more!

xoxo

Healthy Breakfast

I had a gorgeous breakfast today!  Always remember to have breakfast, it's so important to kickstart your metabolism when you wake up. As a kid I used to love cereal, not the chocolate or classically covered in sugar types usually sold to children, but nevertheless cereal. Despite eating the assumed 'healthier' types, it was still doing me no good. I would wake up with zero energy and feel like a zombie until I'd eaten, however my energy would not last long after I had finished and by mid morning I needed a snack. Not to mention often getting headaches too.
Now I eat things like yoghurt and fruit in the morning. I have SO much more energy, I don't need to snack and the headaches have all gone. I'm suddenly a morning person! It's also helped my digestion, making me less sluggish.
Now if I go back and try the old cereal I used to have, I find it tastes extremely sweet! Too sweet even! But I never realised at the time.
It's a shame I didn't know about this growing up but at least for the rest of my life I've found a much healthier alternative that works for me.
I personally love the Onken range, separate the pot into three portions so only a couple pots are needed to last the week and they are often on offer in leading supermarkets. They are fat free (or close to for some) and come in a wide variety of flavours and styles so you can mix and match to keep yourself interested. Today, I added apple to my strawberry flavoured yoghurt but I find grapes and strawberries work well too.

Onken Strawberry Yoghurt

Organic Apples

Organic Clipper Tea

xoxo

All Dressed up for Family Meal

Today I was with my family and we went out for a gorgeous family meal!
Below is a picture of what I wore, I do apologise for the bad quality, my mother's a bit of a technophobe.

Cardigan - Jack Wills

Dress - Zara

Bracelet - Market in China and Tiffany & Co. 

Clutch - David Jones Collection

Ring - Swarovski

Shoes - River Island

The dress was from Zara, brought in Spain a few years ago now but still lovely, the cardigan was from Jack Wills this summer, bracelet from a market in China last year and the other bracelet you can just about make out is from Tiffany & Co. from when I was in New York a couple years ago. The clutch is from the David Jones Collection as a gift, the ring was from Swarovski as a gift from my darling boyfriend and the shoes are from River Island a couple years ago.
I had such a wonderful time, we went to a vintage style restaurant that had a bookcase hiding the door to the bathroom and hand mirrors on the ceiling! They were lovely and even let my gorgeous Golden Retriever come sit inside with us as we ate.

xoxo

First Blog Post, What's to come...

Hi Sweetheart Fashionistas!

This is my first ever blog post, so I really hope you enjoy this and all that's to come in the future.

I had a great day shopping for new make-up today. Spent way more than I should have done and this wasn't even all of it! In tomorrow's post and over the next week, I'm going to go through the items I brought, with reviews and make-up tutorials, tips and ideas. I'm also going out tomorrow, looking forward to posting my outfit. I have a busy week planned with lots of shopping trips and vintage shop visits, so keep checking back to make sure you don't miss out.

xoxo