Birthday haul!

It was my Birthday on Friday and I wanted to show you some lovely things that I got. 

I actually bought everything myself haha! (If you can't treat yourself, who can you treat?!) 

Everything apart from this little beaut. My new Cambridge Satchel in this amazing blue.

Mmmm!

Thanks Ba, I love youuuuu :)

I also got these bad ass spiked pumps by Jeffrey Campbell.

Eugene bag by Alexander Wang.

Some new sparkly bars for my ears!

Christmas disco pant from American Apparel.

Chunky knit jumper from Topshop and tshirt with leather sleeves from Zara.

I also took back a dress I'd bought from Zara as it was too small and changed it for this amazing coat. New fave.

And some bargainous boots from Zara to go with my Christmas dress.

(I lied, just realised I didn't buy something else...this lippy and blush, my lovely besto treated me to them! Thank youuu!)

I got Snob lipstick and Well Dressed blush, both from MAC.

And I also picked up Soft and Gentle MSF from MAC when I went to Manchester the other day.

And that's everything pretty much except for a few bits and bobs. Very, very spoilt this month. 

NO MORE SHOPPING!

Hope you liked my haul. Will be putting up a few pics from my Birthday trip to Manchester with my boyfriend in the next couple of posts.

Oh and by the way, thank you for everyone who entered my giveaway. Congratulations to my three lovely winners. 

 1st Prize - Emily from One Way Beauty

2nd Prize - Amy

3rd Prize - Nia from Cherry Fashion Blog

Prizes were sent out today! Hope you like them, guys!

xxx

Trafford Haul and OOTD ft. Coca Cola & Carhartt!

Hi everyone! It's been a while... well, a few days. I feel like I haven't stopped all week! This is literally the first time I've sat down and had time to relax by myself in what seems like ages.

I wanted to show you what I wore today, and also wanted to share a few bits and pieces that I got on my friend and I's shopping trip to the Trafford Centre yesterday. I got some awesome things and I'm so excited, eeee!

Anyway, first off, here's my outfit of the day...

My bag, as pretty much always, is the Alexander Wang Rocco.

The "Drink Coca-Cola" tshirt I'm wearing is actually one of the first things I got from the Trafford Centre, I couldn't wait to wear it. I got it from River Island in the sale section for £10. It was actually still scanning at full price (£20) at the till, but it had a sale ticket on it so the girl took it down to the price it said for me. :)

The shirt, as you've probably seen before is from Zara.

My hat is from Carhartt. I'm really loving boy beanies at the moment. I curled my hair with a mix of GHD flat iron and my Jose Eber curling iron so my hair would get a bit of volume (for once in it's life!) Grr. Any tips/products for getting light, voluminous hair would be greatly appreciated!

Skinny jeans are the "Second Skin" jeans from Cheap Monday.

Shoes are from Converse and my watch is the Michael Kors silver and gold MK5137.

So now for the exciting bit! On to the haul....

No word of a lie, this is how much we came back with. Bank account zeroed, daren't look.

I'll have to get round to taking some good pictures of the clothing items I bought. I took some to put in this post but none of the pictures do the items any justice, so I thought I'd just show you some of the makeup and bitty bobs that I got for now.

First off, we went to the Shu Uemura counter at Selfridges because my friend wanted to repurchase a foundation that she'd first got in Hong Kong. While I was there I was eyeing up the Karl Lagerfeld collection and decided to pick up a pair of eyelash curlers. I currently use Shu Uemura eyelash curlers, and have done for years. My original pair has served me well, but I accidently lost one of the refil pads and have been surviving on buying cheap-ass curlers and using their pads in my curlers instead (why does noone sell the refils!?) 

Anyway, it got to the point where my eyelashes were being bent in half rather than curled, so I thought it was time to repurchase. Cease the moment, and all that. These limited edition KL curlers are the same price as the originals but come with a cute dangly Mon Shu girl and red curling pads. SOLD.

 We then turned round and found ourselves at the MAC counter. I knew I wanted a lippy, but didn't quite know which. After reading THIS post by The Tattooed Tea Lady the other day, I fell for the colour "Chatterbox" (the pinky one on the right of my picture) so grabbed that one straight away, but then saw the amazing "Up The Amp" which is a purply colour and that decided to come with me too. Deffo my new fave.

I also picked up one of my favourite MAC products ever, the trusty eyebrow pencil in the colour "Spiked". I first used this product a couple of years ago and never repurchased as I started using powder to fill in my eyebrows, however, for days where I can't be bothered finding, cleaning and using a brush to give my eyebrows some shape, I'm going to use this little baby.

Died a little inside when I got to the counter and they told me the price. Y SO EXPENSIV? But it's okay, it's nearly my birthday....*ahem*

Speaking of nearly my birthday - how many times can I use that excuse? - I may have accidently bought something AMAZING. But obviously as it's a "surprise" I can't let the cat out of the bag, can I?

Here's a sneaky peak....whatever could it be?!

Teehee!

Anyway, that's all I'm showing you for now from the Trafford Haul. If you're interested I will show you the clothing items soon, but I just wanted to share one last bargain before I go. I went into Superdrug today to stock up on some Batiste Dry Shampoo (despise paying the price but NEED dry shampoo in my life) when I came across this ammmmmazing deal.

Buy one...get TWO free.

It's not Batiste, but for that price, who really cares? How different can dry shampoos be, anyway? It's the Superdrug's own brand dry shampoo, so I decided to buy two (at £1.99 each for 150ml) which meant I got FOUR for free. Bargs of the century, right? I just grabbed every scent - except the chocolate as I don't want to be going round smelling like a Mars bar - so I can see which ones I like.

They all smell pretty nice, to be honest. I think my favourite are the purple and green ones, which is a bummer as those are the ones I only picked up one of!

Birthday haul!

Just posting to show you what goodies I got for my Birthday last week. I was very lucky and got some lovely things from my family and close friends (as well as treating myself!)

The first is a new fragrance that I decided upon after seeing raves about it on youtube. Stella by Stella McCartney. This is one of the three Limited Edition McCartney Print covered bottles containing her signature scent.

I bought mine from my local Boots on their points event so received £10 in points back on my purchase.

You can purchase Stella by Stella McCartney on the boots website, HERE. Unfortunately, this print is out of stock on the website right now :( However, the other two are still available!

Recently I broke my Amazon Kindle somehow (didn't leave it on my floor and stand on it, honest!) so contacted Amazon Kindle Support and spoke to a very enthusiastic American person who kindly sent out a new replacement. The replacement arrived within two days, I was very, very impressed seen as I didn't have any order or purchase information for my original Kindle.

My friend asked what I would like for my birthday as she had no clue what to get me, so I opted for this little number from Cath Kidston. You can purchase this Cath Kidston Kindle case HERE. It is also available in a cute shooting star print.

From my mum I got a Nikon 'Time Teller' watch in hot pink. An obvious choice. I wanted something I could wear to work without being too wary of knocking it. My other metal watch is getting a bit scratched and damaged through banging it about while working, so this plastic watch is perfect. (And bright pink, bonus!) I got this for cheaps off ebay, you can find lots on there if you want to look!

Next are my new 'Isla' mittens. So exciting. The leather is so soft and they smell absolutely amazing. Very excited for the weather to get colder so I can wear them every day. I got these off my boyfriend from Kurt Geiger HERE. There's a £20 gift voucher in Elle Magazine December edition, available now which I used to get money off.

Also from my mum I got this amazing scarf. She literally spent nearly two years crocheting it by hand. I love it so much!

Another item I bought for myself (with my ebay clear-out earnings) is my Penfield coat. Second time lucky, this one I love. 

She is the Penfield Gillman Jacket with Jamiesons of Shetland's Fair Isle Knit

Filled with 80% down and 20% feather it is definitely the warmest coat I have ever owned. Perfect for the coming winter months. The cute knitted pockets and shoulders is what really makes it for me, though. Available HERE.

Lastly, my Cambridge Satchel came! Finally! I ordered it over a month ago hoping it would arrive in time for my birthday but it came a couple of days later. It is the Cambridge Satchel Company 11" Classic Satchel in Black. Available HERE. Bear in mind that the bags are made to order so there is a waiting time of 30 days (mine took a little longer) for your order to be processed, made and dispatched.

I attached my faux fox tail (bought from ebay) onto the strap. I like it because it makes me look like I have a tail when I walk. :) Although I'm quite wary of vicious looking dogs who may decide to attack me on my walk to work!

The ring on my ring finger on the picture above is from my boyfriend, a little mood ring from Hawkin's Bazaar. Available HERE :)

So that concludes my birthday haul blog post. As I said, I've been very lucky this year and received lots of lovely presents of which I'm very appreciative. 

When is your birthday? Do you have a wishlist?

Let me know in the comments...

See you soon!

Birthday outfit!

Today is my birthday and I'm spending the day with the boyfriend who is currently making an amazing smelling lasagna. I'm so excited to eat it, it looks awesome. Although it has got pretty much a whole block of cheese and a whole tub of creme fraiche in it. Slobberrrrrr...

Thought I'd do a quick outfit of the day on here, I wanted to wear something comfy but also wear some of my favourite pieces.

Skinny jeans - Seven Eighths, Topshop

Jumper - Topshop

Boots - Meds, Jeffrey Campbell

Scarf - Hand Crocheted by my Mum for my Birthday

Watch - Time Teller, Nixon

Thumb Ring - My Granny

Skull Ring - Alexander McQueen

Bracelet - Sam Ubhi

Bag - Rocco, Alexander Wang

Nail Varnish - Victoria, Nails Inc. (Crap!)

Unlucky, again!

So I'm not having much luck with my birthday presents to be honest. The beautiful Penfield coat that I ordered arrived today and was not as beautiful in person. I decided the brown leather yoke would just clash with most things that I wear so, unfortunately, I'm going to send her back tomorrow. Free delivery and free returns though, so that's a bonus. 

I did however order a replacement. I have my fingers crossed that this one will be more my style. I very much need a warm winter coat and the padding in the Penfield range is second to none so I went with another style by them.

I chose black this time as I think it will go with a lot more - hopefully!

Penfield Gillman Jacket with Jamiesons of Shetland's Fair Isle Knit

Can be purchased from ASOS HERE

One thing I can guarantee now is that we will have a scorching winter.

New winter coat!

So, I'm going to have to go and sit in the naughty corner. About ten minutes ago I made the most impulsive buy I've done for a while.
Today, my friend showed me her new Penfield coat that she bought for her holiday and let me try it on. Honestly, I have never put something so comfortable on in my entire life. 80/20 premium down insulated and feels like you're in a sleeping bag.
First thing I did when I came home from work was to visit the Penfield website to have a look at the other styles of coat. It was between a choice of two for me, firstly the Black Penfield Rockford with red tartany/ginghamy shoulder yoke, and secondly the Penfield Stapelton Tweed in Green with brown leather shoulder yoke detailing. I decided to go for the latter.

Just look at this little baby:

You can purchase this item from Asos HERE

Now, I know what you're thinking. Penfield coats ARE super expensive buttttttttttt this very morning I sold a load of crappy, unloved items on ebay and made pretty much the equivalent amount of money. So it was a good swap of old crap for new loveliness!

Due to arrive on Tuesday 15th just in time for my birthday on the 16th, hurray!

This is the style my friend got by the way:

Penfield Landis Down Filled Toggle Hooded Jacket which can be purchased HERE

Cuuuute!

Sad, sad day!

Well, my Arty ring arrived today and guess what? NikNak knuckles strike again! It was too small. How annoying.

I convinced my boyfriend that it would be a good idea for him to allow me to try the ring on for size considering the returns policy allows only a 15 day leeway for sending items back. Chubby Fingers McGee couldn't even get it half way on!

So, I'm awaiting instructions on how to send it back to get a refund. To be honest, I don't think I'm even going to order the next size up because the quality was not as expected for the price that we paid. So, now my mission is to find something in replacement for my birthday present!

Perhaps no more rings, online sizing is too risky to get right!

My Little Black (and navy!) Dress.

November is the month of my birthday and I will be turning old this year. The first year I haven't really been excited about celebrating it at all! I don't want to be one of those women who refuse to say their age (I'll be twentythree by the way!) or break down when they reach small age milestones, but I can truly say that since I was around 14 years old I always thought of 23 year olds as, well...old! Anyway, a birthday is an excuse to treat yourself to a new dress, obviously! And that's what I did.

Originally I saw a beautiful dress on a Makeup Guru (pixi2woo) on youtube. I went ahead and bought the dress online and eagerly anticipated its arrival. 

This is the dress in question:

Topshop Glitter Spot Velvet Dress - £46

It looked absolutely fantastic on Tanya (pixi2woo) but when it arrived, I tried it on and I honestly looked like I was built wrong. The material was lovely and the glitter spots looked quite elegant, less in-your-face than they look in the image, but the fit was awful on me. The waistband was too high and just looked a bit frumpy in general. Unhappy, I decided to take it back to the Topshop store and tried on another dress I had had my eye on for a while. I then fell in love, truly, madly, deeply. My perfect dress.

Topshop Sleeveless Skater Dress - £46

Absolutely amazing.

This dress fits in all the right places, is made of lovely, thick, strong material. Looks more expensive than it actually was and is available in a variety of colours.

I couldn't help myself and actually got the navy version of this dress also. I had an excuse though as I have a number of friends' birthdays coming up as well as my own, an art exhibition and a Christmas work do to think about! I know what I'll be wearing for the next million nights out! I don't have enough good things to say about this dress. You must go and try it on at least if you're looking for an LBD! In my books, it's perfect. Bravo, Topshop!

Navy

Ruby

Rust

Black

Yellow

Which colour would you get?