H&M Mid-Season Online Sale picks

H&M have another mid-season sale online, and despite still waiting on my last order I couldn't resist ordering a few things I've been deliberating over, so here are my top picks from the mid-season sale (and don't forget the discount codes!).

1. Cardigan, was £24.99 now £14.99

 2. Sequin Top was £9.99 now £7.99

3. Cardigan was £24.99 now £12.49

4. Boots was £29.99 now £14.99

 

 5. Apron, was £7.99 now £3.99

Poundland Bargains

I only discovered Poundland a few months ago, and have since been trying to make up for lost time! Whilst some of the things aren't quite as good value as they may first seem, I have found a few gems in there! Inconveniently the nearest store is almost an hour away so I don't get to look in often, but here are a couple of the things I've picked up since the summer.

A cake cover and carry case. Ive seen similar ones retailing in HobbyCraft and Lakeland for between £10-£15 and it saves wasting so much clingfilm while keeping your cakes fresh.

A cute London-themed cupcake kit. I actually got this over the summer during the jubilee and olympic celebrations, having seen similar kits in accessorize and lakeland selling for about £8.

Christmas themed LED lights. So it might be a bit early to be thinking about Christmas, but having paid £8 for similar star-shaped lights last year I decided to get them now and put them up.

Poundland now has a website where you can view their current stock, but unfortunately you can't buy online yet.

My make-up must-haves ♥

Having sorted out my overflowing make-up bag this afternoon, I thought I would post about my essential beauty items. I tend to find my skin is a little dry so to ensure my skin is primed enough before I use foundation I moisturise with No 7 completely quenched moisturising lotion . Although not specifically a facial moisturiser, I find having tried many others that it's the only one which moisturises my skin enough to help prime it. Another essential I would recommend is the 17 Even Tone Corrector Stick . This is a green concealor which neutralises any areas of red, and I find it blends easily and is easily covered under your foundation, and i think it works much better than using a skin-coloured concealor alone.

My all-time favourite beauty item however is the Chanel Vitalumiere Satin Smoothing Foundation. Whilst the most pricey item in my make-up bag, retailing at £34 in the department stores, I really think it's worth it, having tried L'oreal,  No 7 and a few others along the way. So what's so good about it...Firstly it's very easy to apply, I use a foundation brush to help blend it in properly and it gives a good even but natural-looking coverage, which when dusted with a light powder will last all day. Left bare it gives a dewy finish which I like, as i think it gives your skin a healthy glow, but if you prefer a more matte finish, a quick dusting of powder takes it away. It also has an SPF 15, so helps protects your skin from the sun and prevent skin damage, I find this very useful as I always forget to use sun cream on my face. Additionally, although it is expensive a little goes a long way, I find that a bottle generally lasts a full year, and I always wait for either a money-off voucher from boots in the post to combine with extra points from the in-store card machine, or for Debenhams to run their 10% off all beauty products promotion, making it slightly more affordable.

No 7's Great Gatsby Inspired 'Deco Darling' Collection Preview

In a few weeks No 7 will be launching it's AW limited edition collection of make-up, which will be available to purchase in-store until boxing day. This year the collection, designed by Lisa Eldridge, takes inspiration from the upcoming film set in the roaring 20's starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Carey Mulligan, 'The Great Gatsby'.

The range includes 2 nail colours, 'Speakeasy', a shimmering grey, and a glitter top coat in 'Daisy Darling', an Eye pencil, Eye Pallette with smokey greys and dusky bronzes and golds, and a loose powder highlighter. The collection will range in price from £5.50 - £12 and according to Lisa "the No7 Deco Darling Collection will leave you looking and feeling as elegant as scenes from The Great Gatsby".
I'm looking forward to trying the glitter top coat and highlighter when they hit the shelves on 31st October.

Mini Haul ♥

With winter well on its way, I have purchased a few new items to update my wardrobe (and battle the increasingly chilly days!). First up is a new dress from H&M for going out, I ordered this about 2 weeks ago online but it still hasn't arrived :( H&M are notoriously slow for delivering orders, but I can't complain too much as I used a few discount codes that are around at the moment and only paid £22 including delivery.

I purchased this jumper from Dorothy Perkins last weekend, (who currently have a 25% student discount). It's very soft and cosy and I'll be layering it over a black top.

I also popped in H&M last week as I was passing and found this lovely little cardi. I love sequinned cardis as I think they're perfect for adding a little sparkle to an otherwise plain outfit or brightening up a dark winter one, and have a seemingly ever growing collection! This one was reduced to only £10 in the sale.

Finally, as winter fast approaches I decided to treat myself to a new pair of cosy slipper boots. I got this lovely pair from Primark for only £5, but unfortunately one of the bows has already fallen off, so I'll need to dig my sewing kit out at the weekend for repairs!

No 7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour "Milan" Review

In the January sales I treated myself to a No 7 gift set from Boots, which among a few other pieces of make-up included a sparkly pink nail varnish. I  have finally got round to trying it out, and I'm still a bit undecided on this one. It applied very easily, streak-free and dried really quickly, and only needed two coats to achieve the colour in the bottle. However the finish was a bit more metallic than I'd expected so it's a bit too shiny for day-time wear and I'm not sure it goes with many of my evening outfits. I think I might keep this one to wear on my toes in the summer.

The Great British Bake Off

I'm looking forward to tonight's episode of the Great British Bake Off, it's currently one of my favourite shows on tv and i think it's been a great series so far. One of my favourite bakes so far was where the contestants had to make a cake with a picture or pattern on the inside, some of them were amazing! This is one of the Battenburg cakes made showing a Union Jack inside:

 So I shall be settling down to watch it tonight with a cup of tea and one of my own cupcakes that I made today, not quite as impressive as the delights featured on the Great British Bake Off, but yummy all the same :)

Home Style Updates

Monsoon have just added more lines to their home and interior range, so I've been having a little look at what's available. I love anything with a french or country look, but it's strictly window shopping at the moment whilst I'm saving!  Here are a few of my favourite things i've found online:

Eiffel Tower Canvas  from NEXT, £18

Rose Hooks from Tesco Direct, £2.40 for 2

 
Mahalia Pink Throw from Monsoon, £75

Set of 3 Perfume Bottles from La Maison Bleue, £21.99

Bird Jewellery Tree from Monsoon, £28

Monday Brunch Waffles

This morning I decided to try out my new waffle maker which I picked up in Lidl earlier this year for only £14.99, and I wasn't disappointed! The recipe included in the box asked for 5 eggs and 500g of flour so I only used 1/5 of the ingredients and it still made 6 large waffles.
We topped them with chocolate spread and strawberries from the garden, delicious!

Recipe (adjusted to make 6):
50g Margarine or Butter
40g Sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 Egg
100g Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
75ml Milk

Stir the margarine/butter until foamy. Add the sugar, vanilla essence and egg and stir. Blend in the flour and baking powder. Stirring constantly, gradually mix in the milk. Beat the mixture for 2-3 minutes with a hand mixer.

Top 5 money saving tips

With only 85 days to go until christmas(!), I thought I'd post a list of my top money-making/saving ideas that I'll be using to make christmas shopping as stress-free as possible.

1. Sign up to emails from a consumer expert website such as www.moneysavingexpert.com or www.hukd.co.uk. Here you'll find the latest deals on everything from utility bills to vouchers for restaurant offers. Every week Money Saving Expert send out a weekly email with that weeks top tips to cutting your bills, the most popular bargains on the forum and details of any new vouchers and giveaways. You can take a look at this week's weekly email here and sign up to get it straight to your inbox every week.
2. Sign up for store loyalty cards. Some of the most noteworthy ones include the Boots Advantage Card, which gives you 4 points for every pound spent in-store, and regularly run double and triple points events, as well as having ACM machines in most stores which give card holders exclusive offers and extra points vouchers. You can use your points on almost anything in store, including the christmas gift sets which are on a 3 for 2 offer.
   The Tesco Clubcard is another worthwhile store card as you can convert your points into rewards on the clubcard deals site for up to 4 times their value; £2.50 worth of clubcard vouchers can be converted into a £10 restaurant voucher for cafe rouge, pizza expressive, strada or one of many other eateries. The range of rewards is impressive and covers days out, gifts, travel and even holidays. Alternatively, several times a year Tesco run a promotion where you can double the value of your vouchers to spend in certain departments, and often includes clothes and some electrical appliances.
3. Have a good clear out and list your unwanted items on Ebay during one of its free listing weekends. Make your descriptions as clear and precise as possible, including all the information you would like to see when purchasing an item, including the item condition, size and brand and several photos. Always make sure the winning bidder has paid before you send the item, and do be prompt in sending off goods, let buyers know if there will be a delay and package the item well to ensure your feedback is positive, as a high positive feedback number will encourage more people to bid on future sales.
4. Join a cashback website such as Top Cashback or QuidCo to receive cashback on your online purchases, simply by clicking through the cashback site to your retailer of choice. I prefer Top Cashback as QuidCo have a £5 annual fee to retain your membership, and you can get cashback on every purchase from major retailers online. For example, Office Shoes currently have 10.1% cashback advertised on Top Cashback, so for every £1 you spend you get 10p back. Whilst this might not sound like a huge amount it soons builds up and Top Cashback pays out via paypal, direct bank transfer, amazon or love2shop gift vouchers.
5. Sign up to survey websites to earn a little extra money. At Pinecone Research you earn £3 for every survey you complete paid via paypal, although these can be as sparse as 1 survey every 2/3 weeks. Another good website is Valued Opinions, where surveys are a lot more frequent though typically between 50p and £2 each, and paid out by your choice of voucher, which include amazon, topshop, argos and M&S. Other popular choices include OnePoll and Lightspeed Research.

No 7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour "Star Shower" Review

Boots are currently giving out £3 off No. 7 make-up vouchers when you spend £5 or more instore, so I decided to treat myself to a new colour for only £2.50. I chose the shade "star shower" which is a charcoal base with lots of gold shimmer, perfect for nights out. I did find it took quite a while to dry and was easily smudged until it had set, but i love the finished colour after applying 3 coats and think it is ideal for the upcoming party season!

My Amsterdam City break look for the easyJet holidays competition

Here is my entry for the EasyJet Amsterdam competition which you can enter here .

I've put together an Autumn 'lookbook' of clothes which I think would be lovely to wear on a city break to Amsterdam, which mainly centres on a pretty feather print dress from New Look. I love the fact that the dress has a bold bottle green hem and a dainty feather print, which I think sums up the greenery of the canals and the delicate beauty of the tulip fields that bloom in the spring. 

In putting together my look, I took inspiration from the famous canals, windmills, and cafe-style culture that Amsterdam is famed for. What I particularly liked about the dress was that it could be dressed down in the day time, with a pair of cute but practical mary-janes, perfect for pounding the the Nine Streets Area of Amsterdam if you fancy a little shopping, or for riding a hire bike and cycling around idyllic cobbled streets and along the many canals.Pair with a fine knit black cardi, a shopper, and if its breezy a pair of charcoal tights, cute bow gloves and a beret to add a continental touch and you're good to go!

Come evening, you can just as easily dress it up if you're planning to visit one of Amsterdams many vibrant bars or restaurants, just ditch the flats for a stylish and very en-trend pair of ankle boots and replace the shopper with a clutch and accessorize accordingly (I really like the little windmill necklace from Etsy, so cute and very appropriate!) and you're ready for a night out in the city! I've never visited Amsterdam before, but from my research Cafe Brecht, which is inspired by Germany's alternative bar scene, and Vesper Bar would definitely be on my list of places to go! Cafe Brecht for its unusual and quirky style, and Vesper Bar for its kitsch decor and intriguingly named "high tea cocktails", where cakes from neighbouring bakeries are served with teapots of cocktails, sounds delightful!

Both ways of wearing the dress would certainly fit right in with how I would summarise Amsterdam style having subscribed to a number of Dutch fashion blogs; fashionable, city-slick and cute.In fact this particular look from the damstyle blog gave me further inspiration to run with plenty of green in my outfit, as I just love the bright background of leaves and plants adorning the rows of houses, very quaint.

Finally, to match the vibrancy of Amsterdam, I'd finish the look with an equally vibrant lipstick, like this one from MAC, in the shade 'impassioned', a bright eye-catching red.

Hope you like it!

All of the items featured in my look are available to buy online:
Windmill necklace from Etsy
Tenki feather dress from New Look
Green shopper from New Look
Black cardi from New Look
Mary Jane pumps from New Look
Tights from GAP
Beret from Accessorize
Gloves from H&M
Chain evening bag from New Look
Boots from M&S

Monsoon mid-season sale top picks!

Monsoon currently have up to 50% off selected items in their mid-season sale, which you can check out here! Here are my top picks from the sale:

1. Venice Top, was £69, now £34.50

 2. Lupin Dress, was £95, now £47.50

3. T Suki Sarah Shirt Update , was £35, now £17

Winter wish list!

1. Annabel Dress by NW3, £139

2. Dress from H&M, £34.99

3. Winter ankle boots, M&S, £49.50

4. Trenchcoat, H&M, £29.99

5. Cosy slippers! H&M, £12.99

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my fashion and lifestyle blog, a space for my posts about the things I enjoy, reviews and pretty images.

Eiffel Tower <3