Charabanc Vintage and Hand-craft Boutique - Blackpool

Hi guys. I just thought I'd show you what I've been up to the past couple of days. My OH's mum has opened up her own little shop, along with a few other crafty Blackpool beauts. The shop is called "Charabanc" and inside there are multitudes of beautiful vintage and hand-crafted items for you and your home. With a range of vintage fashion, stylish furniture and quirky hand made jewellery, gifts and homeware, there's something for everyone!

My boyf and I got our artistic caps on and even hand made the shop sign. I thought I'd show you a few pics of us making it and also a few photos from the opening night!

And voila!

HERE's the Charabanc website if you want to find out more!

For the opening night I wore my structured navy skater dress from Topshop and my ALDO Calcagni wedges (which are currently on clearance HERE in some different colours! Oops, just bought a pair in red!) I also paired it with a statement bag - my banana yellow Cambridge Satchel Company 14" Satchel.

Here's a few pics from the opening night.

This is the bf's mum's vintage clothing room. You can buy her stuff from Achtland Boutique on ASOS Marketplace HERE.

These next few pics are Aunty Social's lovely handcrafted jewellery pieces. You can find out more information about Aunty Social on their website HERE.

And here's a couple of snaps taken by the fantastic photographer Edwin Firminger. You can see some more of his photography on Flickr HERE.

This is me and Fran, the owner of Achtland Boutique vintage clothing and accessories within Charabanc! (Also my darling boyf's mummy!)

Isn't her bow tie fab!?

This lovely stacking doll cushion was made by Dotty Delightful. You can see more of her hand crafted items on her website HERE.

These hand made decorations are so cute, don't you think?

The cheeky bf and I.

Late night chats with friends.

Hope you enjoyed this post. If you're ever around Blackpool, please pop into Charabanc to have a look around. Show your support and see some amazing items, perhaps you might like it. :)

See you soon!

x

OOTD Video - Camo & Converse

Yay, I actually edited a video and it didn't turn out too rubbish!

Hope you like it :)

x

O.O.T.D - Date night

The bf and I decided to go to a local Italian restaurant last night.

I got very drunk off one and a bit vodka and sodas and soaked it up with a Carbonara. Yum yum.

I wore this structured skater dress from Topshop.

Links of London Skull Friendship bracelet.

Michael Kors MK5128 Rose Gold watch.

Pandora double wrap leather bracelet with buddha charm.

And my Jeffrey Campbell Spiked Litas.

Hope you all had a nice evening

x

Dr Martens Wishlist.

Quick post before I go to bed. I've been internet window shopping on the Dr Martens website since I saw Danielle A Blog From Blackpool's post HERE where she showed her amazing new shoes.

Haven't looked at Dr Martens in forever and oh my god - I need these in my life.

First off is the little beauts that Dani included in her outfit post, the Dr Martens Dayton studded monk shoe.

Then I saw these spikey numbers! The Dr Martens Harlen shoe...

Hubba hubba!

And finally, the Dr Martens Spike Boot. 

I NEED THEM ALL IN MY LIFE!!!!

O.O.T.D - Sandals in the rain!

Hi guys, here's what I wore today. I opted for summery yellow pants and striped top with flatform sandals...only for the weather to throw down some torrential flooding rain later on in the afternoon. This is what a road in my area looked like...

yes...that IS a road, not a canal.

Anyway, needless to say I spent 99% of the day indoors, only to venture out for a Magnum lolly in the midst of the downpour, as you do. At the end of the video you can see our trip back from the shops...

(if there's no sound on the video, please check back later as it is still processing!)

The colour on my toes is Shellac's Tropix. The turquoise colour on one of my hands is Shellac's Hotski to Tchotchke and the pink colour on the other hand is Shellac's Gotcha. They've all been on for over a week.

My watch is the MK5128 Rose Gold.

Tshirt from French Connection.

Yellow cropped trousers from Tommy Hilfiger.

Flatforms from River Island.

Hair cuff from H&M.

Bag from Cambridge Satchel Company.

Sunglasses by Rayban.

Shellac at home removal!

Hi guys. I'm really sorry I haven't updated recently. I've had zero days off work and therefore zero time to myself! I really wanted to blog about something but the only interesting thing I've done is take my mum's Shellac manicure off...and that's not particularly thaaat interesting. 

Buttt...I thought I'd show you what I do anyway to take off Shellac at home for cheap.

First I start off by cutting some foil pieces - around the size of a bank card - and some small cotton pad pieces.  I used a regular sized circular cotton pad and got two pads out of each of them by cutting them in half and trimming the edges.

My mum had picked off four of her nails already, naughty!

Anyway, I then soaked a cotton pad in 100% acetone and placed over the nail.

Next, I placed a foil strip over the nail and cotton pad...

...pushed down and folded the edges over...

...to create a makeshift nail guard which holds the acetone covered pad onto the nail and stops it evaporating.

Squeeze each foil thimble with your hands to ensure the acetone covered cotton pad is touching all the nail.

I waited for 10-15 minutes for the acetone to break down the Shellac.

I pushed firmly on the nail and twisted the foil a couple of times before pulling it completely off the finger. This removes as much product as possible in the first sweep.

I then used a wooden orange stick to gently scrape off the remainder of the Shellac. This comes off easily.

I took another cotton pad, soaked it in acetone, and ran it over the nail to get rid of any extra bits of Shellac that may still be gripped to the nail.

Ta'da!

The nails aren't damaged from the shellac as no filing is necessary to remove it.

Lovely!

This is also the longest that my mum's nails have been in a very long time. The Shellac gives the nail more strength and stops them breaking as much as usual. Always a bonus!

:)

Today's Shellac Manicures

So, I forgot to take a picture of my friend's manicure that she got two weeks ago before I took it off... but here's what I replaced it with. This glossy black colour is called Black Pool and it's beaut!

I decided to do two different colours, simply because I wanted to try out all the shades that I'd purchased and these were the last two that I hadn't tried.

The turquoise is Hotski to Tchotchke and the pink is called Gotcha. The pink is definitely a lot brighter than in the picture. I'd say it's a Barbie pink.