RETAIL THERAPY

I've been feeling pretty stressed and rubbish this week. I injured my knee a few years ago and the last couple of days it flared up again and I've been in a bit of pain so I woke up today and decided to take myself to town before the huge rush of people got there in the afternoon. Of course, on my journey to town my body decided it was the perfect time to just get a cold. Thanks life. You are great. So then I knew I'd doubly have to treat myself in order to feel better. Obviously.

I have cut out the boring bits like tights and repurchases of lip balm, concealer and cleansing water and I'll just show you the exciting bits!
I made a bee line straight to Topshop once I got to town...

You may recognise these two items off the wishlist I posted a few days ago. I had every intention of getting the striped top but I wasn't overly bothered about finding the jumper and then I saw it on a display table and it felt so soft and lovely that I had to go try it on. And then I fell in love, the end.
I was worried I wouldn't like the top of because of the sleeves. I don't usually like the half sleeve but I felt really comfortable in this (and I felt very Alexa too!) so looking forward to styling this up.
I was very impressed with Topshop today. On my last few visits I haven't been blown away but I could have bought so many things today.

These boots were also mentioned on the wishlist I recently posted. I knew I needed these. I mean, my current black boots are letting rain in and that isn't cool! I was very upset that my size wasn't on the shelf and no matter how hard I tried, my foot was not going in the size 5. It was very reminiscent of the scene from Cinderella when the stepsisters try to make the glass slipper fit. I asked a lady in the shop and they had none in the back but then glistening away, I saw them on a display shelf in my size. Pretty sure hearts flew out of my eyes. With the way they come up the ankle, they make your legs look amazing too! And I think they're an absolute steal at £27.99

My skin has been getting me really bogged down recently, which in turn is probably not helping matters. Someone told me they have been using the tea tree range from The Body Shop and it has really helped so I toddled off there next. Rachel, who I met at the North West Blogger meet up, was working there and gave me some advice and twisted my arm by telling me there was 3 for 2 across the store. (Okay, so she didn't need to twist my arm that much. Or at all. I'm a sucker for offers!) I picked up a toner, face wash and night lotion all for £14. Excited to see if they help my skin.

I got this bag last week but I had to show it because I am so in love. I got it from Dorothy Perkins and it is beautiful. I've been after a smaller bag because usually I have ones that I can fit my entire life into and my back has decided that I must be punished for doing so. I got this when they were offering 25% off (and I still talk to the girls I used to work with there so she bought it for me to get extra discount, sshh!) but I would happily have paid full price for it. I think full price is £22.


New goodies definitely cheered me up some what but now I am ready to get into bed with tea and chocolate and I think it's going to have to be a DVD night.

BANK HOLIDAY HAULING

How lovely is the weather today?! Pretty much unheard of for a bank holiday weekend, surely? Even more unheard of is that I actually have the bank holiday off work! And as I mentioned in the previous post, I have a new job. I leave my current one on Thursday so today was the only, and last chance, I had to use my staff discount card so I had to go and take advantage of that...

A good half of it was me actually (kind of...) being sensible and buying work clothes. And I also bought my sister some things from Topshop but on to my purchases..!

I wrote in the last post how I was after a striped top and I took a trip to the retail park a couple of days ago and found it in there. The stripes are navy but they're very close to being black so I won't feel too out of order by wearing black at the same time as it.
I picked up the grey jersey skater dress today. I already have it in a deep purple and I practically live in it so thought it made sense to buy another colour. They are the comfiest dresses ever.

I rarely buy anything from Miss Selfridge anymore but I saw this as I was leaving the store and I really like the cut out detail on the front. I was pretty impressed that it was only £18 full price too. As you can see though, the material is super crease-y, which I usually avoid, but it'll look nice with some of the other bits I bought today.

Then I popped into H&M. The burgundy top was £6.99 (I think) and it just a basic tee but I fell in love with the colour. Then another crease-prone blouse... The colour is a really pale baby blue; really nice and this will probably be at the work wear side of the wardrobe. I think this one was about £12.

Your eyes are not deceiving you, I have bought jeans!! This is a big deal. Really. I have some of the Dorothy Perkins black jeggings (which are actually super comfy and are really good quality) which I wear at work when it's just too early for me to function and pick something decent to wear but I never wear them when I'm out of work. I've been eyeing up the infamous Topshop Leigh jeans for a month or so now so I decided to try some today, and also be brave and get a light denim rather than black, and I actually really liked them. It did seem strange seeing me in jeans but the fit of them is quite similar to the aforementioned jeggings but they're even softer. I'm sure I'll feature them in an outfit post one day.

More trousers?! (Feels weird saying "trousers" instead of "pants" but I don't want to confuse any Southerners! ;) ) Pretty boring black trousers for work that I got from Dorothy Perkins. They're a skinny fit and actually feel really nice on.

Both these blazers were £11 in the Primark sale (only down from £15 like...) I've been wanting a few blazers for work but I want full sleeves and most are cropped sleeves. These are perfect for what I want. I didn't want black because I already have one and I wanted them to be quite lightweight and not too structured as well (not asking much clearly.) Absolutely love the blue one. The colour hasn't shown up as nicely on camera  but it is lovely.

And finally... of course I had to get a lipstick! I also had mentioned this in the wishlist post. I think I swatched all the lipsticks I don't already have. My hand looked ridiculous! I stuck with my original choice and bought the shade "Hazard".
I think I may have to listen to my friends now and stop buying lipstick. Definitely run out of room now.


So I am all spent up and have a new wardrobe ready for office work! Very very excited to properly start. I only have three shifts left in retail which does seem a little scary seeing as working in a shop is all I've done since I was 16 but onwards and upwards!

PAYDAY HAUL #2

Today I had the day off work and had every intention of getting the bulk of my Christmas shopping done. Now obviously, that was never going to happen. Instead I spent money on myself. Lots of money. Oh boy.
I did by ONE present though so it's okay... I'll tell myself that anyway.

I bought the bag a few days ago after I mentioned here I wasn't overly happy with my current bag. I love this one though. So classy and it had 30% off (plus I get a little staff discount on top of that.) and it has a long strap which makes my life so much easier.

I also got the Real Techniques Core Collection the other day because they were reduced to around £15 on Amazon. That works out at under £4 a brush so that is awesome. I've already used a couple of them so sorry they're already a bit grubby on the photo. I can already tell the buffing brush is going to be in the upcoming favourites post!

So on to today and the first stop was Superdrug. Their 3 for 2 across all cosmetics ends tomorrow and I was determined not to miss out. My local Superdrug doesn't have all the brands so I had to go elsewhere to get to one with a Sleek stand. I've been dying to get hold of the Rose Gold blush for so long but it was sold out everytime I went to larger stores. Managed to get the last one in stock today though! I also got the Sleek Dip-It eyeliner, Sleek True Colour Matte lipstick in the shade 'Vamp' and I finally caved and bought a Revlon Lip Butter in 'Candy Apple'.

Also picked up a new Simple toner which I love and my first bottle of it has lasted me nearly 3 months so well worth the money. And finally got the Nivea Express Hydration Primer which I am dying to try out. I had to get it fro dry/sensitive skin as the normal was sold out but my skin has got a little drier this last month or so, so it may be useful.

In Boots I found the Revlon lipstick in Black Cherry after every other Superdrug/Boots I've been in in the past month didn't have it. Such a lovely colour. And I think I should go on a lipstick buying ban now...

And I also got some new foundation but in the Beautifully Matte formula as opposed to the Stay Perfect.

Then the ultimate bargain of the day... got the 3 Models Own nail polishes for £5.99 in TK Maxx! Considering they're £5 on their own that is incredible. They're in the shades 'Peach Puff', 'Gold Digger' and 'Champagne'. I very nearly bought an Essie set which had 4 polishes in for £9.99. Considering they're £7.99 on they're own, I wish I had done now!

Just got two casual tops from Topshop. A beautiful plum coloured scalloped hem one and just a light purple tee which will be great for just throwing on with a black skirt and a cardi. The one on the left was £15 and the right was £16.

Clearly, I am really adventurous when it comes to colour... Got this huge chunky jumper in Primark's men's section. I bought some spike studs off eBay a while back that I haven't used yet so I may get creative with that. The dress cost me £15 which I'm not overly keen at paying in Primark but it looks lovely on and I know I'll have regretted not buying it in the long run.

Also in Primark I got some earrings and a new phone case. Primark's iPhone cases are actually really nice and very cheap too. (Though I only have a month left on my contract and I'm planning on upgrading to the iPhone 5 so this may have been a silly purchase...)

Finally, I decided this past week that I now am a little obsessed with Example despite never liking him all that much before so I bought 2 of his albums as they were on the HMV offer. If anyone has his new one let me know if it's good because his music isn't on Spotify.

Now I'm all spent up and still haven't done Christmas shopping!

PARTY SEASON DRESSES

There's only 2 months to go until 2012 is over! How mental is that? But the exciting bit is that in about 6 weeks time party season will begin. At work, we're having our Christmas meal/do on the 8th December so I've got a month to find the perfect dress and with November being a 5 week month I need to get one ASAP before I run out of money and time!

I've put together some of my favourite choices and hopefully I can find one when I go shopping tomorrow on my day off. (I'm never this organised so "hopefully" is probably the important word there.)

1 2 3 4 5

I always end up wearing black, no matter how hard I try to avoid it and tell myself I will get a coloured dress, I still end up buying a black dress every year.
I know that the teal one does come in black but it doesn't seem to be on the website at the moment and I think the embellishment is gold on that one, which I'd prefer, but again... black!
I'm really liking dresses that have the mesh panels at the top at the moment and, with being a dress I'm going to be wearing for the work Christmas do and probably on New Year's Eve too you've gotta have some sparkle in there!

I'm off to the Trafford Centre tomorrow and I will do my best to avoid the LBD but there's a reason it is a staple and a classic piece for every occasion..!
What are your thoughts? Are you already organised with your Christmas party dress?

EBAY CLOTHING SALE

Happy Sunday!

Decided it was time I got rid of a lot of clothes today and seeing as eBay has free listing for this weekend I have put a few items up on there. I've never actually sold anything on eBay before. I always feel like it'd be too time consuming (which, for the record, it was!) and it's just easier to take to the charity shop most of the time.

Anyway, I made a charity pile and an eBay pile (after my sister rummaged through everything)...

CLICK HERE TO VIEW CLEARER AND/OR BID :)

Bidding ends around 3PM BST next Sunday. Unfortunately it is only for UK residents however, if you live overseas and would consider buying anything then do let me know because if the items don't sell I may consider posting to you if you wouldn't mind me upping the price slightly just for the purpose of overseas P+P!

Have a lovely day x

DRESS LIKE... KAT DENNINGS

Going to attempt to make this a more regular blog feature so if there's any celebrities that you'd like me to do a "Dress Like..." post on then please leave a comment. For the first installment though... enter Kat Dennings!

Stunning actress that I first found out about from a Nickelodeon show from the very early 00's (may have even been late 90's?) but nobody else seems to remember it. It was called Raising Dad. She was also in the film Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist with Michael Cera, which is lovely, and she's currently in the sitcom 2 Broke Girls (which I am about to start watching for the first time after posting this!)

BY DAY

Blazer; H&M

Jeans; Topshop

Boots; New Look

Jacket; Miss Selfridge

Top; New Look

Jeans; Topshop

Shoes; Dorothy Perkins

Bag; Topshop

Lipstick; MUA (Top - shade 14, bottom - shade 10)

BY NIGHT:

Dress; Very

Lipstick; Topshop

Lipstick; Topshop

Bag; ASOS

Dress; New Look

Nail Varnish; Topshop

Ring; New Look

Earrings; H&M

Blush; Topshop

Shoes; Dorothy Perkins

Kat's style is very simple and classic but by just adding a little pop of colour she looks just amazing!

Hope you like this kind of post and please do let me know of who else you'd like to see feature in one of these.

LACE + LEATHER

So first outfit post on here! This is what I wore for work today...

Blouse; Dorothy Perkins | Skirt; Topshop | Jacket; Miss Selfridge | Shoes; Topshop | Bracelet; New Look | Nails; Barry M Red Black & Elf Matte Finisher

The blouse really isn't too small for me, by the way. I think it's just how it was tucked in/I was stood for the photos!

As you can see I'm wearing my new skirt and jacket which I'm already completely in love with! I'm trying not to over wear this shirt because although I can wear pretty much what I want to work, I like having different clothes I wear for work than I wear when I don't have work. However, I'm totally in love with it. It's quite different to any others I have and so easy to dress up and down.

PAYDAY WISHLIST #1

It's payday in 6 days (and counting!) and this month I'm due a bonus in my payslip as I got a little promotion last month so I think that means I'm entitled to treat myself.
Here's what I'm after this month...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 

1. Been after a skirt like this for so long and I've tried so many on that just aren't right. Hopefully my local Topshop has this and hopefully it will be perfect. It will go with everything and I'd be able to wear it for work too.

2. I already have a Bowie top but this one from the new Hero & Cape collection is just beautiful.

3. I keep looking at these House of Holland tights and they're reduced on the New Look website. Meaning I'll probably end up buying them.

4. Like I need another lipstick... BUT it's only £1.50 so hardly breaking the bank...

5. This year I really want a good leather jacket and I think this Miss Selfridge one is my favourite that I've come across so far.

6. Seen so many bloggers bang on about this Topshop highlighter and it's got me very intrigued...

7. The only reason I like when it gets cold is because there is knitwear everywhere and I LOVE knitwear. This cardigan looks so cosy!

8. Scarf... gloves... Scloves? Glarf? I don't know but... AWESOME. I had to de-ice my car this morning (in September!!) and it was so frosty walking from where I park to work so this would nicely warm me up on that little journey.

What are you wanting this payday?