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

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

Ode to Orange

I made the best purchase ever last week... ORANGE TROUSERS. You do not understand the excitement, I can tell. But I'm going to attempt to explain...

This was just going to be a small paragraph tacked on to my last post, with 1 measly picture, but then the excitement took hold, and I rambled & rambled and realised my new love deserve a post of their own, because yes, I am that obsessed!

Here's a lovely little collage I made on a weird bit of trial software that came with my new laptop... all I had to do was put the pics I wanted in a folder anf click a button, voila. Ok it has a cappy little watermark thing across it, but you get the idea.

It basically shows what my mind has been thinking, all day, every day... orange, orange, orange. colour-blocking, colour-blocking, colour-blocking. bright, bright, bright. Jil Sanders, Jil Sanders, Jil Sanders. haha.

I am actually in love. I've mentioned before my obsession with the colour orange. It is literally the best. But even though my bedroom was orange, and my phone was orange, and my hair is orange... I generally I stay away from wearing my favourite shade... until now (well apart from my prom dress, and my reeboks, and one of my coats, oh ok, I've prob worn it more than most)! Hello colour blocking, the best trend to ever cross the face of the earth. I will be wearing my new babies ALOT. I'm thinking teamed with purple, hot pink or electric blue will be beautiful. But at the mo I've only trialed them with a light grey jumper and black leather jacket, kinda like the lovely lass below, who's photo I stole off the Topshop website ;-)

I'd been dreaming of THIS pair from Zara for weeks and weeks, I literally couldn't get them off my mind, and was determined to buy them as soon as I could get my ass into town and try them on (you never know with Zara sizes ... xs, s, m or 34, 36, 38, bla blah, they can't keep it straight forward). Well, I was right as it turned out. They didnt even have the orange ones in the Manc store, but I took the 6 and 8 in blue to the changing room, thinking I'd just order off la tinternet, alas I have apparently lost a lot of weight and the 8 literally fell off me. There was me thinking the 6 would probably just be too tight round my bum and show a horrible VPL etc, but they too were also too big, like bloody paper bag trousers on me (after using a belt to secure them on my waist). Harumphh, I was devastated.. I know that sounds sad, but seriously, you have no idea how much I loved them. I'd planned out all thses outfits in my head, and trawled the internet for new bargain tops to go with them, etc. I wanted to wear them for work experience at Easter (2 weeks in the Tesco boyswear buying department woo!), and be the cool intern girl with the amazing orange tailored trews...

So... after a few minutes of sulking I charged up the elscalators to the kiddy's section. Zara - If you're not gona make big girl trousers that fit me, you leave me no choice. I'm going to buy your 13-14 year old 'basics' coloured jeans (in the exact same colour and fabric as the slacks downstairs) for half the price! Mwahaha. Gotta love the fact theres no horrible increased VAT on childrenswear. I got them for only £14.99 (instead of the womens £34.99) and they fit perfectly, YAY. Ok so they're cut like skinny jeans instead of tailored trousers, but are made of a nice slightly stretchy woven cotton and if I turn them up a bit at the ankle and add a belt I get the desired effect.

So there you have it, beautiful orange trousers, that fit me. And I promise to wear them to death. I don't even care if 'colour-blocking' goes out of fashion, or people think I look too bright, or crazy, or 'like an american convict'. Because orange, oh orange I love you.

Are you guys OBSESSED with any colours or trends right now? Please say you like orange too? You'll be my bezzie for ever haha.

VW x

PS. I don't even like Rihanna - I know that comment alone will make me a social pariah, because apparently she's like everyone in the worlds fave

But, I want to look like this, her whole outift is beaut.

I Wore it Twice This Week...

Bonjourno! I am having major technical issues today! My laptop is kind of broken, its doing this annoying thing where even though its plugged into charge its not charging, and you have to wiggle the power bit around for ages and then hold it in the exact right posistion and it charges for about 5 seconds, and then you have to start over, grr. The worse thing is that its one of those problems which is quite tiny (if really frustrating) but I'm sure will be damn expensive to fix, as my laptop is no longer under wararnty and it'll probable mean replacing the port to plug the charger cable thingy into, if it can even be replaced?! Anyway, I'm trying to type super speedy and upload pictures really fast etc before it all shuts down!

This is basicly a whole new outfit, and I LOVE everything about it, I've actually worn it twice this week, once for a lovely meal to a tiny korean restaurant round the corner with The Boyf (it was soooo yummy, and cheap, like £20 for 2 mains, side dish, drinks and miso soup each hehe, so going there more often!), and then once to lectures.

I picked up this dress in a Salvo's at Christmas on my last day in Perth. My mum took me around all the charity shops and it was quite an adventure, as she hadn't driven to a lot of the places yet. Kylie the aussie satnav took us to some wonderful places and I got a few bargain treasures. This dress was really long, almost ankle length and when I picked it up my mum made one of those faces... 'its..a, uh, nice.. pattern' haha, well I defiantly tried it on, hitched up the botton threw my belt round it and walked out, ta dah! Well she thought it was pretty cute then didn't she, but alas, who was going to take it up for me, the only sewing machine I've got is a 100 year old singer, which probably wouldn't do the job... But I took it to the till anyway, $13 dollars isn't bad I thought, bam it was half-price, so I basically like £4 in the end, yay!

Stupidly I didn't take any pictures of the original product before my day of handywork (yes it took all day, turns out I'm not so handy - the old wind up singer might have been faster in hindsight haha) but it has come out all right huh? Its pretty straight if I do say so myself, luckily it has those nice lines to follow. I ended up wonder-webbing it, or whatever its called, and then just did some simple tacking stiches, the problem is, I didn't take it up enough the first time I used the iron on stuff, as I didn't try it on before hand because I was all wrapped up in a million layers as its so bloody freezing in bloody Manchester! Cue doing the cutting, folding & iron on bit all over again, practice makes perfect ay?!

I know, I know, it buttons up all the way again, tehe, obsessed! The dress is teamed with my other aussie charity shop purchase, a lovely Roxy cardi, $7.99, I've wanted one like this all autumn/winter, but refused to pay £50 for one in Topshop or something, so I'm glad I found this, its not got the chunky aran knit on the back panel though, but who cares! When I find some I want to replace the buttons with some cute leather knot ones.

Also being debuted is my lovely little navy leather bag, which ma & pa got me for Christmas (I found it in a charity shop for about $12 a couple of days before) so many bloggers etc have been showing off those little chiltern-esque satchels, which I do love, but are just getting a bit popular for my liking haha, so I think this baby is just right for me. It's so boxy and square with enough room for all the essentials (purse, keys, phone etc), is real leather (made in India) and has a brilliant tartan lining, love it!

Brogues/oxfords also new for Christmas, they were $10 dollars and are quite similar to ones they had in Primark, with elasticated lace bits, so they just slip on. I got a pair the same in a cute white floral pattern which were only $5 too, but I'm keeping those clean and dry ready for warmer weather.

Oh, I'm also wearing my pink GOSH soft 'n' shine lip balm, its bloody brilliant and I am wearing it everyday at the moment, even if bright shiny pink doesn't really go with my outfit, so I popped into Superdrug to see if there was another shade I fancied and lo and behold they're half-priced until tuesday, yipee! I would have bought 2 there and then, but typically because of the offer they were kind of wiped out, so I'm going to town on Monday, where hopefully the bigger store will have more!

Dress, Cardigan , Bag - Vintage (Various Salvos), Shoes - Rubi, Coat - Zara, Necklace - Vintage (My Grandma's), Belt - Vintage (My Mum's) 

Let me know what you think? Hope everyone has had a good week? I've got a group presentation at uni coming up, so we've been meeting a lot to sort out ideas, and I really need to be getting on with my dissertation! On the plus side I got my grade back for my Creative Communications 'fact file' which I stayed up for 19 hours doing last term and got 68% woohoo! Nearly a 1st! I'm so chuffed!


VW x

Once upon a time in a sunny suburb...

Heyy! No I'm not dead! I havn't even got a good excuse for not blogging in a silly amount of time, but I'm ok, and promise to get posting regularly soon.

I guess this blog was initially about writing about something I love (fashion, not myself) and about doing something creative, that was just for me, that wasn't for school or uni or anything like that, but just for myself, because I enjoyed it. But then somewhere along the way (I know its only been like 3 months and I've probably done less than 30 posts, but hey ho it feels like its been a while) it all sort of started to feel like a chore sometimes. I had convinced myself that this blog was doing something, making a difference somehow, like one day when I got off my lazy ass and posted some photos and had something witty and interesting to say, some big hotshot in the fashion world would just stumble across it and think, 'oh my god, I have to know this girl, I shall hire her immediatly to be a contributer to Vogue' or 'This girl is amazing, and clearly loves fashion, I'll just call my close personal friend the director of buying at Arcadia and set something up' etc etc (havn't we all had these dreams? please say I'm not the only one?!), so I got into this mentality, do another blog post Voni, keep it going, even if you're tired, or busy, you want to be like that girl with the 100/200/500/1000 followers who goes to fashion awards/gets sent Next products/is an Aussie haircare blogger, don't you? Don't you? Don't you?

Well no, actually, maybe I've realised I'm not that bothered, I enjoy this so much more when its just for me, when I sit down and write about a load of old crap, and showcase my bargain bag, or my marginally hidious blouse, or show off my free haircut, because I want to. I don't care whether you like it, or don't like it, whether its gona get me somewhere or not. Its pretty fun having a hobby. I've never had one before to be honest!


I can't be bothered chasing after a 1000 followers, or checking my stats, I'm quite happy in the knowledge that my mum is reading, and The Bestfriend, and I even get the odd page view from The Boyf, even though he's sitting right there in the room with me and took the photos etc (which I think is pretty sweet haha!). If you like my pictures, or my ramlings, or my very strange fashion sense, then please do feel free to visit again and have a read, but thats up to you really isn't it.

Saying all this, if you do actually happen to be the head honcho at Selfridges, please do just ignore everything I've just said, I'm a really friendly, optimistic and driven individual, who is desperate for would love some work experience :-) hahahaha


Well that was all very depressing wasn't it? I've tried to make it up to you with the photos (of course it's not really about making it up to you, because I'm not doing this for you remember :-p I made my bro take these photos after much grumbling, so I might aswell post them!)

Oops, the pool cleaning hose in the background kind if ruins them a bit huh?!

It's cold and wet and miserable here in Manchester, but looking at these pictures is going some way towards warming me up inside (the rest is left to the 4 layers I'm wearing plus blanket, as we can't afford to turn the heating on). It's strange to know my parents are on the otherside of the world, experiencing this beautiful sun right now, and I was right there with them only 2 and a half weeks ago, yet the warmth on my skin is a fleeting memory. These pictures were taken in the garden at about 6pm, after a day out in Subiaco and Harbourtown Shopping Mall, just as the sun was starting to fade.

The pretty theatre in Subi that matched my outift haha!



Don't know why but I quite like this picture, even though pool cleaning equipment is kind of ruining it again!

Vest & Bralet - Topshop, Skirt - American Apparel, Shoes - Zara, Bag & Sunnies - Primark, Earings - Accessorize

 

Despite wearing one of the simplest and most relaxed outfit combo's my wardrobe can muster I got quite a few compliments in the city that day, I can only put it down to the aussie's love of laid-back chic. I kind of love it, throw on your favourite summer skirt, a singlet and thongs (vest and flip-flops) and you're ready to go. Obviously me being me I had to jaz it up with some oversized sunnies, dangly earings and primarni bag. I actually wanted to wear just the bralet instead of vest (which is why I'm showing it off in most of these pictures), as the peach straps and stictching match my skirt perfectly, but I just wore it as a normal bra underneath as I was worried about the dreaded tan-lines from walking around outside all day - it has 2 strappy bits across the back which would have left very strange marks!

Barry M Orange Nails, to match my hair ;-) I love how quick this polish dried when I painted my nails outside, Australia is amazing, haha! Seriously though, warning, make sure you keep the bottle in the shade, it goes all sticky and disgusting in the heat!!

For some reason my little bag gets quite alot of attention in foreign countries, people always ooh & aah it, and I'm like, dude it was a cheapy from Primark!!

Anywho, I found lots of marvelous charity shop bargains whilst in Perth and recieved quite a few beautiful christmas pressies, which I have been wearing over the last couple of weeks in England, so fun outfit posts to come! Check back, or not. Please follow, or not. ;-) Seriously though, I do appreciate you reading, whoever you are (Hi Mum!).

Much love, or not
VW x

OOTW - Revolution and Revival?

Firstly I must apologise big time for my lack of posting! Well over a week since my last!! Blogging kind of tok a backseat for a while as I had my dissertation synopsis due in, which meant catching up on a lot of reading, and well you know, uni work has to come first. I found the whole thing pretty stressful to be honest, no one said 3rd year would be easy! Speaking of my diss, it's on second-hand/vintage fashion and I have some primary research to conduct, so in the coming weeks I'd very much appreciate your help and feedback. I'll be formulating a quick qestionnaire to email out, so hopefully you could fill it out and pass it on to people etc, I'm sure you all have some great insight considering the subject area!

So, not only did I think you deserved a post, but some pictures were obviously in order to make up for my bad blogger behaviour! Ok so the title is a bit misleading, as denim cut-offs are hardly revolutionary are they? And neither are these rather plain photos against a brick wall! But maybe that’s the point? It’s been getting dark sooo early here, so I seized the moment today when I got in from my 9am lecture, grabbed The Boyf, told him to wrap up warm and marched him outside to make use of the natural light. Never mind what I was wearing, how my hair was sitting today, or the fact that I filled my brows in a bit wonky (not to mention the lurking spot on my chin), you guys were getting some shots!

Jumper - Topman, Scarf - H&M mens (stolen off The Boyf), Levi Cut-offs - Vintage, Belt - Vintage, Brogues - Urban Outfitters, Earings - made by me!! In later photos, Trench - Zara, Gloves - Tu at Sainsburys

I think I must have been the only vintage fashion lover around who didn’t own a pair of denim cut-offs!! I bought this pair of Levi 501’s yesterday for a tenner and am in love. I’m hardly surprised, I had lusted over girlies wondering around in tiny little hand-cut 501s for over a year now, and there really was no excuse for not buying a pair. Although... I have to say maybe a few gals did cause apprehension – larger ladies in a style that really is more knicker than short, not so good. Perhaps I was worried I would look exposed, flabby or larger than life, my thighs are hardly me favourite feature after-all! So in this respect I am however pleasantly surprised, at how comfy and casual they are, yet they make me feel, well, pretty damn sexy. You American girls have been avid lovers of the daisy dukes for years now, why did it take me so long to catch on? Also, I'm so addicted to the fab high-waisted 90’s cut that I’m left gagging for a full length pair!

So why did I bite the bullet and finally nab a pair when its so chilly outside? Well as some of you may have read my parents and little bro recently moved to Australia and I’m going out to visit them for Christmas, I can’t believe I’ll be seeing them in 29 days time! They were visiting family in Sydney (my mum’s Australian) and just arrived in Perth today where they’re hoping to settle down. Earlier I enjoyed a crazy little virtual skype tour around the house they’re renting which is massive and gorgeous and has a swimming pool! It was 39°C there today, and might get hotter by the time I get there, so obviously I needed some super cool summer clothes! To be honest though I don’t think you’re going to see any pictures of me from Oz in much more than my strapless bikini, these cut-offs and the odd vest! I’m not sure if I can be bothered to look fashionable at forty degrees, we’ll see!

And the final 3 pictures? No your eyes are not deceiving you, some of you may recognise these as old brownie culottes! I bought them on ebay last week for 2 quid! Why is it that the Girl Guides were the only ones that could make a good culotte? I mean get it right, you should have seen some of the things people were passing off as the traditional shorts/skirt combo! I myself was a Brownie, and I’m not so sure I fully appreciated the uniform at the time, but I’m fortunate enough to be able to fit into this pair 26” waist, so call it a revival! They arrived in the post this morning and seemed ok with my jumper, so made a quick costume change just to give you a quick peek, I’ll style them differently next week sometime I think! Comfy is not the word for these babies, nice little elasticated waist and oh so roomy, plus the colour is perfect for autumn!

Culottes - Girl Guides Association by way of Ebay!

Anyway I’ll stop jabbering now, turns out when you don’t post for nearly two weeks you have a lot to say! And it is rather nice to finally be able to write something for me rather than uni work!

Hope you’re all ok, in all my procrastination I did manage to keep up with reading a few of your bits and bobs... there’s always time to discover a great new fashion blog and check in on your faves ay?!

Ciao for now, VW x

NB: I tried to post this yesterday when I actually took the photos and wrote the post, but evidently blogger was mad at me for neglecting it and was in a proper mood, haha, sorryyyy, better late than never?!

OOTW - An Autumnal All-Round Experiment

Hi guys, I still can’t believe there’s a whole 5 of you following me that I don’t know in real life (9 total)! Thanks for reading my lovers, sorry for the HUGE post.

Today’s OOTW is what I’d call an experiment, all in the name of self improvement I might add, so please comment on what you like and don’t like etc! In an effort to improve my blog I’ve been scouring your fashion blogs (yes you!) and sussing out what I like and don’t like, and well there’s not much I don’t like and a whole lot I do! So taking ‘inspiration’ from you lovely ladies I present my very autumnal OOTW.

Scarf - Vintage, Coat - Zara, Shirt - Vintage, Jumper - Topman, Necklace - DIY (see Eagerly Awaiting the Postman), Shorts - New Look?, Socks - Marks and Spencer?, Brogues -Urban Outfitters.

1. You will notice this post is very picture heavy compared with my previous endeavours, this is mainly because I couldn’t choose which pictures to show you from my ‘shoot’ and after spending hours ‘researching’ I decided it’s nice to have a lot to look at to go along with my constant ramblings!



2. Yes you clever little thing, it’s outside. You’re all doing it, and the out doorsy pictures look so much prettier than my dreary blank wall/door backdrops, so I gathered up the courage to venture into the ‘garden’ of our flat block on the way home from lunch yesterday and tried not to think about all the residents looking out their kitchen windows with puzzled/bemused looks.

3. This coat was screaming to be pictured amongst the autumn foliage don’t you think? That was a bit of an experiment too, wearing the coat itself, it’s from the Zara sale in January 2006. I bought it way back in the day because I was obsessed with orange (ok so I still do love it as a colour, just not generally to wear), my room was orange, my mobile was orange, any present anyone ever bought me was a little orange, I think for a while there my hair was even orange, ok you get the picture?! So when I saw it for £40 I begged my mother, ‘but its ORANGE mum, pleeeaasse, it’ll be really warm tooooo!!’ I lovingly wore this coat almost every blustery day that year (I even wore it on my very first date with The Boyf), well until October that is, when I traded it in for a blue one from Next, hey every girl gets a new winter coat for school don’t they? And they’ve been vying for attention ever since...

Actually that’s a lie because this year I’ve lived in my trench and last year I wore my oversized hounds-tooth blazer almost day in day out, so I probably haven’t worn this coat for 2 years! So why did it get relegated to the back of my closet if I loved it so much? Boredom I guess, and maybe for a while there I was quite afraid to wear winter brights, thought I might stand out like a lit up Christmas tree; but you know what...? This A/W if there’s one thing I love more than the neutrals, camel, brown, grey, black: it’s bright, bright, bright! What better way to clear up a tad of ‘Seasonal Affected Depression’ than by injecting a splash of summer colour into your snugly warm wardrobe! Dear Orange Coat, Welcome back old friend.



4. Outfit experiment in general. More than just rediscovering the coat, I put the whole look together yesterday morning as a bit of a trial run. The blouse/shirt is new to me, I picked it up last week for £6 and this is the first time I’ve had a chance to wear it, but it was so chilly looking outside that I layered the jumper for extra warmth, which was great as it allowed me to still show off the funky collar. Then I’ve noticed everyone’s been rocking the winter shorts recently and thought they’d look great with my long grey socks, but I hadn’t worn these yet this year because I kind of hate my legs/knees and realised the socks might emphasise and further my body-part hatred. After seeing these photo though I’m quite happy; I’m usually looking down on my legs you see, and have over analysed the bowing of my calves and swell of my knee on many occasions, but you guys never see me from that rather strange angle so I don’t know why I worried?

The whole outfit pulled together quite well in the end didn’t it?

5. A’la naturelle. I didn’t edit any of these photos. The Mr took them as always, and we are only working with a ‘point and shoot’ digital camera (Casio Exilim to be exact), so normally a few tweaks are a must but I don’t have photoshop etc on my laptop so the quality isn’t great anyway. This week shooting outside was fab, the natural light really worked it’s magic and for the pictures with a greater colour intensity we actually let the camera do all the work and put it on ‘Autumn leaves’ mode, quite apt don’t you think? Anyway, I’m a bit of a technophobe at heart and can’t get to grips with all the free photo editing software I’ve seen recommended, so from now on I’ll stick to a bit of natural light and the camera’s built in genius, and if all else fails hello Windows Photo Gallery ‘Fix’ to hoik up the brightness and contrast! I suppose I could drag my lazy ass off to uni and use Corel Photopaint etc... one day, maybe.

Anyway, let me know what you think!

Loves VW x



OOTW - A Dash of Geek Chic

The Manchester Arndale were having their 'big student giveaway' last week (discounts of up to 20% in most stores), but due to lack of funds I couldn't go crazy.

With a huge amount of self-constraint I came away with a dash of geek chic...

This beautiful light grey shirt from Topshop - £25 (instead of £32)

The frilly socks I'd been eyeing up in the American Apparel window display - £6.80 (instead of £8)

And a little black skirt from H&M - £2.99 (ok so no money off there, but come on, 3 quid! So handy.)



 

Worn with, Trench Coat - Zara
Brogues - Urban Outfitters
Bag - Vintage
Scarf - Oxfam
Necklace - a gift from China :-)
Glasses - Specsavers



My new OOTW carried me through my Friday 9am-1pm lectures, then later I ditched the glasses, swapped my brogues for some black heels, added a slick more eyeliner and my brown mock-croc handbag and I was ready for quiet drinks with a pal in Fallowfield (which ended in dancing 'til 3am and being horribly hungover when my parents arrived the next day, oops!)

I may have also made some new beauty purchases - American Apparel Nail Lacquer which I'd been dieing to try out. Factory Grey = Perfection. Lovely strong matt colour in two coats and dries super fast! A bit pricey at £7 a bottle, but I nabbed it at the 15% off night!

You may have noticed I love a strong, dark brow, and for a few years now have been enhancing my naturally bushy brows with powder (I much prefer it to the harsh shaping a pencil gives). I must admit until now I was only filling in with a chocolate brown maybelline eyeshadow of all things! But it was cheap, easy and effective, that is until it cracked, leaving powder all over my makeup bag and me with a naked brow! A quick stop in Selfidges and I came away with Benefit's Browzings in Medium, a cute little eyebrow shaping kit of wax, powder, tweezers and 2 mini brushes! A friend of mine has always used Benefit products, but until now I've always seen them as a bit pricey. Ok so the Browzings was £22.50, but definatly an investmentwhen you think about how I use it every day and will last a good 2 years! Converted.