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