Dorset Days

Hi Guys, long time no blog. Rest assured, although I havn't posted in an age, I have been reading you posts on a regular basis! So much to catch up on... I'll do a seperate post on that, for now I thought I'd finally post these pictures, since my lovely best bud Michael went to all the trouble of taking them.

My summer holiday this year consisted of a jolly jaunt to Dorset with my brilliant friends for 3 days back in August. We stayed in a real thatched cottage (courtsey of the lovely Nicola), drank cider, frolicked in the hills, drank some more cider, explored the tiny towns, ate in quaint country pubs, played a lot of board games, and drank rather a lot of wine. Road tripping in England is the way forward.

The photos were taken in the garden of Nic's cottage in not so sunny Dorset. I'm wearing my favourite shorts ever, found at the start of July in a charity shop (I don't remember which one) in Mildenhall, kindly purchased for me by my mumma, for the princely sum  of £2.25. I love their sweet pale green check and perfect high-waisted cut. The top you've seen before, and the cardi is pure wool, warm, slouchy, and a bargain at £1, from the Isabelle Hospice shop in Harlow.

It's good to be back, although with all the huge exciting, life changing things going on right now (& I'm not even being sarcastic), I'm not so sure I'll be 'back' regularly! Oh well.

Lots of love,
VW x

New Lengths

What I wore in St.Andrews, day 2. It was baking hot, for the UK in early June anyhow, so like I said in my last post, this beautiful hat was such a blessing. I burn easy and have a tendency to get sunstroke if I'm not careful, so having this as a sun hat was perfect, it was also lovely to feel covered up but still perfectly cool (long skirt).

I can not praise this skirt enough, I had been hunting for it for a couple on months now. I wanted it, I needed it, I thought I'd never find it, I gave up, and then there it was. I mean, not this actual skirt, but something exactly like it, although I wasn't sure it definitely existed. I dreamt of something long, chiffon-y, pleated, that sat high on the waist, was in a light, bright summery colour, and didn't cost the earth. I finally found something that fit the bill on Missguided but they were sold in my size (they now have some similar back in, but with a side split). I then stumbeld across this bad boy in a boutique called Thuder Egg on Oldham Street. I stupidly cut the tag off and threw it out, so I can't tell what the actual brand is!

It also came in cobalt blue and mustard yellow, I'm now considering buying one... as I love this one so much. What do you think is more wearable, blue or the yellow?

The jersey shirt/top is great too, a new purchase from Topshop, very comfy, has such a cute aztec style cross-stitch pattern around the neckline, and I love the extra roomy arm holes. I know that sound weird, but they're just that bit bigger, and kind of hang different, and I just think its a really contemporary design feature/'look'. (I snapped it up while they were doing 20% off for students last week!)

Hat - Charity Shop, Suglasses - RayBan, Top - Topshop (£26), Skirt - Thunder Egg (£25), Sandals - Zara, Bag - Vintage (my mum's)

Oh & I really need some new daytime summer sandals. I want something with a low heel, but not wedge (I'm just not a wedge fan) and versitile, so in like tan or cream or something. What do you think of these? I will definately snap them up next time I'm in town, if, a) they have my size in stock, b) they fit nicely and c) they're still down to £25! haha. Let me know if you see anything else that might fit the bill. I can't spend more than £30 really!


VW x

No Comment!

Hi Guys, I just wanted to let you all know that I've been experiencing a problem with my blogger for almost 2 weeks now, where it won't let me comment on any of your posts - it seems to be some sort of google account problem.

So anyway, I have been reading all your posts, and wanting to comment on quite a lot of them, but I type it out and then it won't let me & I get frustrated and just leave it! Sorry guys! Hopefully the problem will sort itself out soon, until then know that I am loving your recent posts :-)

Mucho amor,

VW x

A photo of some Henna I did a couple of weeks ago :-) Just because posts are boring without photos haha

Pleats, Polka-dots & Daisy-chains

This is what I wore in St.Andrews (Scotland) on Thursday, it was a day of glorious sunshine, great friends and childish fun and frolics!

We bought food from Morrisons and had a massive feast of a picnic in the Botanical Gardens, it was the best lunch EVER, haha! We played 'dizzy races' like the mature 21 year olds we are, and wandered around the gardens soaking up the rays. It was really beautiful, and very hot! We then walked down to a stream and played for quite a while, it might sound silly but we all found it very thereputic, acting like a kid again is the perfect antidote to weeks of exams and the stress of finishing uni for ever, just what we needed! Everyone splashed around, Jamie built a dam, Fran collected pebbles and I made a daisy chain. On the way back home we saw a Heron which was cool, and stopped off at the beach which was COVERED in jelly fish, I've never seen anything like it, it was disgusting (I have a major phobia of fish & sea creatures, so found it particularly horrifying haha).

Jamie took the photos of me in the gardens, and many thanks to my wonderful bestie Michael for these beautiful pictures at the stream, his camera is sooo much better than mine!

Dress - Primark, Belt - Primark, Sandals - Zara (very old and falling apart now), Hat - Charity Shop, Cardigan - Vintage, Sunglasses - Ray Ban Clubmasters

I'm wearing a dress from Primark, which I'm sure a lot of you bloggers will recognise from their S/S campaign, it really is quite beautiful and comfy to wear, and was perfect for the sunny weather - im not really a huge fan of showing off my bare legs in the summer, so this longer/midi length is great. It's actually a size 10 as they were sold out of 8's, it maybe looks a bit bulky, but I don't mind too much! The hat I bought in an Edinburgh charity shop the day before and was perfect for protecting my rather fair skin from the sun :-) its a lovely sort of camel suede/felt, so will work in the winter too, only £3! (I put my daisy chain round it, but I think it will look nice with different scarfs and ribbons)

Did you guys enjoy some sun last week where you were? Do you guys ever just like acting like a child with your friends for the day?

Love, VW x

Edinburgh

This week I spent a few days in Scotland with my wonderful best friends (Jamie aka The Boyf, Michael, Francesca & Daniel), it was a much needed mini-break just to relax with each other after exams etc! 

Here are a few photos from our day in Edinburgh - we all arrived on Tuesday night, but just went for a delish dinner at a cute BYO indian restaurant and a few drinks and a dance in the Opal Rooms before crashing in our hostel for the night. On Wednesday we wondered around the city, went to a few vintage shops and charity shops, went to Edinburgh Castle and had a coffee or two before getting the bus to St.Andrews where the boys are at Uni.

Cardigan - Vintage, Shorts - Vintage Levi 501s, Glasses - Gok Wan for Specsavers, Necklace - Vintage (My Grandma's), Shoes - Cow Vintage

My cardigan is a new 'vintage' purchase, £12 from Ryan's Vintage in Manchester and goes so well with most of my summer clothes, its such a cute minty green colour and the bead work is beautiful. Its originally Escada & has detachable shoulder pads hehe. Also rocking my new specs, what do you think? 

Yes we had candy floss like little kids, and I got excited by many strange Scottish souveneir displays!

I found a few great bargains in the charity shops which I will post about, and wore some new bits and pieces whilst in Scotland which I will post the photos of soon!

VW x

Stylist for the Weekend

What have I been doing all week you ask? Now that I'm just another job-less, almost homeless, graduate in the big wide world?

Mainly watching daytime TV of course. I am a Come Dine With Me ADDICT. I also re-discovered Neighbours after about 10 years (although I'm pretty sad Harold and Lou are no longer, I'm quite content to at least still have The Kennedys, some things never change eh!?) and spent about 4 days hopelessly watching back-to-back old re-runs of Location Location Location and Dragons Den.

But then... I was lured in by ASOS' facebook page, offering a festival outfit styling competition (the winner gets tickets to Ibiza Rocks) and I havn't looked back.

I am now obsessed with styling festival outfits on FashionFinder (like Polyvore but more high-street items I have a hope of buying, rather than net-a-porter beauties I can't afford!)

Pictured are a few of my favourites, but I have made like 15!! The Boho-Luxe one (below) is on the ASOS facebook page as an example and has like almost 50 likes, ah! To be honest I don't care that much about winning, I just like playing at being a stylist, and it's lovely when people like the outfits I've created! Finally I've found the hobby I've always dreamed about, I dont' even have to get out of bed to participate, yipee.

Check it out people, the comp is on for another month, and you can use it just like Polyvore to style outfits for all sorts of occasions not just the competition. You can't flip, rotate or crop the items though, slightly annoying!

Going to any festivals this year? I'm not :-(
Unless I win of course, then I'll see y'all in Ibiza bitches, haha.

VW x

PS. Not to sound like a total sad act, I did go to lunch at Nandos and a wonder round the shops on Saturday with my friend Charlotte, and successfully disstracted The Boyf from revision on (Orange) Wednesday to see the new Pirates of the Carribean, have dinner in Henry J Beans, play pool (I won, wooohooo) and have a cocktail :-) So I do get out sometimes, haha. Plus I'm job hunting... know any fashion buyers? Drop me an email, desperately seeking any and all offers.

Beaded Bargain

Just a post to show you the most beautiful, and unbelievable, bargain find. I challenge anybody out there to find something this perfect for THREE POUND. I actually kid you not. You probably don't believe me, but I'm telling you now, this fully beaded, silk lined dress, with built in breast cups, thigh split and stunning back detail, cost me the princely sum of £3.

As you can see, it fits like a glove (ok perhaps it was a little tight after my 3 course meal...), I wore it to The Boyf's final year Law Ball 2 weeks ago, at Manchester Town Hall, which was concidentally fell on our 5 year anniversary <3 A beautiful night. It only cost £8 to get dry cleaned too, haha. 

Where did I find this beauty... 'Mr Ryan's Famous Second-Hand Store' on Oldham Street, Manchester. Otherwise known as 'everything £3 or less'. It is a big airy, damp room, that I think smells like dead people, full of old sweaty football shirts and the like. I personally can only spend a max of 10 mins in there. In amongst the old stained Fruit of the Loom t-shirts, there it was.

Dress - 'Vintage' - £3
Shoes - Next
Hair Clip - Primark - £2
Bag - Accesorize

I do not want to mis-lead you. I have never found anything I want in that store. Until that fateful day. It is not full of vintage treasures, and £3 is usually way over-priced for the crap you see in there.

It did have a tiny stain at the hem.. which the dry cleaner identified as blood and promptly removed (someone probably died in this dress.. but for £3 I couldn't care less haha) and a tiny 1/2 centimetre rip to the sheer overlay at the bottom (most likely where someones high heel got caught on it) but you couldn't really see it.

Back detail

Jealous much?

VW x