Saturday 31 August 2013

Obsession.

On Wednesday I finally made the move into my new house in West Didsbury,
I'm still not fully unpacked and I'm feeling a trip to Ikea is definitely in order but it's all slowly coming together.
Packing and unpacking all my worldly belongings has only made me realise how much denim I own.
Shorts, shirts, dungarees and jeans in every size, shape and shade of blue.
I will hold my hands up and admit that it's getting excessive - do I really need 3 pairs of jeans in the same fit and colour?
When it comes to denim I can never resist. In my opinion it's the mother of the fashion world; denim's reliable, you can fall back on it and everybody owns at least one item made from the trusty material.
For now I've convinced myself that it's not going out of fashion anytime soon so I think my ever-growing collection is here to stay...








Monday 26 August 2013

Bank Holiday Blues...



What a dreamy bank holiday weekend it's been! 
After deciding to make the most of the three days off I spontaneously booked some train tickets to London to visit my friend, Rosie. 
I arrived on Saturday evening and we spent the night at Wandsworth's Indian catching up over copious amounts of naan bread, desperados, rice and prawn curry.
After our quiet night we were feeling prepped for Sunday, I'd managed to wangle myself a ticket to the soldout SW4 festival on Clapham Common and God was on our side as we managed to go the whole day without getting even slightly rained on (the people who went on Saturday endured a constant downpour).
I'd definitely recommend the festival! It's the perfect size, not too big and not too small.
After a day of drinking cider and dancing to Andy C and Example we headed to The Kebab Co. for what I can only describe as the tastiest chicken kebab I've ever had - definitely worth a try.

Our night went downhill when we got the wrong bus home and a 20minute journey became over an hour's so it's safe to say we weren't feeling the freshest this morning but nevertheless we headed to Bill's for a full English and made our way to Notting Hill Carnival. 
I'd never been before but it was an experience! The atmosphere is amazing and everywhere you look people are dancing in the streets. 
Unfortunately, I had to leave early to catch my train so missed out on the jerk chicken but all-in-all it's been the perfect weekend. 
I love London.

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Toughen up.

Clockwise: Blazer - Zara £59.99,  Dress - Topshop £80, Boots - River Island £55, Watch - ASOS £68, Fedora - ASOS £30

In my eyes this is the perfect combination to see me through from the warm afternoons to the cool evenings as autumn edges its way in.
It's starting to get a bit colder and the fedora, boots and blazer are all staple items that can be taken into the winter months whilst the silk dress can easily be teamed with a pair of heels to make an elegant evening outfit.
Versatile, practical and timeless - the perfect combination.

Monday 19 August 2013

Doing it for the boys.

I've always loved the masculine look, be it chunky watches, a man's shirt or an over-sized blazer.
So what better way to find some inspiration than by looking through photos of some impeccably dressed males..









Sunday 18 August 2013

Button up...



On Saturday night I was in one of those indecisive moods where nothing that you try on feels quite right so in the end I decided to try out this navy silk shirt. 

I found the shirt in Oxfam about 6 months ago and couldn't resist such a bargain. 
Usually I only where it during the day, with a pair of jeans or some shorts but I thought with a pair of wedges and a clutch it could be made a bit more dressy. 
My clutch was from Topshop in the sale a while ago and I've practically used it for every other night out since. It's perfect to add a bit of colour to a plain outfit and it conveniently matches my watch almost perfectly! I used to hate clutch bags and didn't understand how people could spend the whole night with their bags under their arms but now I can't get enough of them.

I've posted about my shoes before, my trusty River Island graduation wedges. Whenever I buy shoes I always go for black with a chunky heel or a wedge so these ones ticked the criteria and they're actually pretty comfy...ideal!

Hope you've all enjoyed the weekend!
S x.

From Burgers to Bars

Howdy!
How is the weekend over already?! 
This weekend my friend from home came to stay from Friday to Sunday so we ventured out to do a bit of exploring in Manchester.
Whenever I've been on a night out here we always tend to go to Tiger Tiger or 5th Avenue so we thought we'd try somewhere new...

On Friday night we headed down to Spinningfields and ended up doing a bit of a bar crawl, going from Revs to The Alchemist, to The Liar's Club to Mojo's and ending in an odd place known as The Press Room.

I would definitely recommend a trip to The Alchemist, if I could try one of everything on the menu I would. Even the bar staff were impressive, the guy that served us took about 4 people's orders at the same time and managed to mix around 7 cocktails simultaneously, serious skills!

The Liar's Club and Mojo's are next door to each other and both provided us with some of our favorite 80s tunes to get our grooves on to.
When Mojo's closed we ended up heading to a club called The Press Room which was definitely an interesting experience...
Apparently it's popular with the cast of Corrie and is known to be frequented by Manchester's journalists but it wasn't quite the glamorous venue we'd expected.
It was a bit like an old bingo hall with a very random mix of people but the DJ was playing some classic cheesy hits so we spent the majority of our time there spinning around the dancefloor. 

On Saturday we headed out to get some food but when it started chucking it down with rain we just dived into the nearest place, which happened to be Byron Burgers. 
I went for the veggie option with a side of courgette fries and it definitely helped to see off my hangover! The combo of goat's cheese, roasted peppers and mushroom was what I can only describe as a taste sensation.

On Saturday night we decided to check out the Northern Quarter and went to Soup Kitchen, Dry Bar and Noho.
All three of them were really nice, quirky venues. Noho was probably my favourite - the drinks were good, the DJ was on form and the club was packed, what more could you want?
All-in-all it's been a perfect weekend. 
I've got a feeling getting up for work tomorrow morning is going to be a struggle...

S x.


Monday 12 August 2013

Bargain Hunting


Topshop sale has not disappointed. 
Jeans £40 to £20
Shoes £28 to £15
Top £25 t o£12
The necklace was from H&M for £9.99

The two bottom photos are from a recent trip to Primark...
Tasseled pumps £5
Clutch £6
Boots £8
Crop top £2

I may no longer be a student but I'll always have an eye for a bargain.

Sunday 11 August 2013

My week in pictures...

Hola!
This week I haven't really been upto much other than working! However, I was left rosy cheeked on Wednesday when a delivery of flowers turned up at the office addressed to me.
Everyone was eagerly watching me open them, expecting them to be off some secret admirer, and I think they were all slightly disappointed when I revealed that they were from my mum to wish me luck with my new job.
On Thursday I took two trips to the Trafford Centre - I headed to the Victoria's Secret opening during my lunch break to check out what they had to offer and went back after work for a mooch around the shops. It's actually a really big store, complete with a wall-size screen at the back showing constant clips of the heavenly Victoria's Angels strutting their stuff. I'm not quite sure if it encouraged me to buy some underwear or just made me green with envy at their incredible bodies, nevertheless I'm sure it'll go down a treat with all the bored boyfriends being dragged around the shops.
Other than dinner and drinks on Friday it's been a chilled weekend, catching up on sleep and watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians!
I hope you've all had a good week.
S x.

Saturday 10 August 2013

Cocktail O'Clock


It's Saturday night and I'm sat in waiting for Big Brother to start like a loser so I thought I'd do an outfit post from last night.
After a trip to St. Helens with work I met my friend and we headed to Gorilla for some dinner. It was the first time I'd been there but I was pleasantly surprised, I had a sweet potato wrap with some 'deluxe' fries (topped with parmesan and truffle oil - delish). 
We then got a taxi to The Tiki Lounge, which is a Hawaiian themed club in Manchester's Northern Quarter. It was my first time going there too and I was in awe of the amount of flaming cocktails being passed across the bar. 

Anywayy on to my outfit...
After work on Thursday I decided to nip to the Trafford Centre and found this top in H&M. I'm a sucker for a nice white top so couldn't resist buying it. I'd not seen it in there before and can't find it on the website so I presume it's new in!
The shorts are some old trusty Levi's, I've got quite the collection of denim shorts but just love how easy they are to dress up or down.
My shoes are from River Island (buy them here), originally bought for graduation but I've worn them for pretty much every night out since! Finally, the clutch is actually from Primark for just £5, who can resist such a bargain?!
Enjoy your weekend!
S x

Face time...

Let's begin by getting one thing straight - I am not a make-up junkie. I would love to be the girl with the latest foundation and the make-up that's so good you can hardly tell it's there but in all honesty my day-to-day beauty regime hasn't swayed much since I first started experimenting with eyeliner in year 9 at highschool.
I would actually go as far as saying that venturing into new territories of foundation gives me 'the fear'. There's so much choice and so many varying reviews that I always just go for something cheap and cheerful - at least that way if I break out in spots I won't have the double blow of wasted money and bad skin. 
However...
Amongst the delights of an ASOS delivery I discovered a sample size bottle of Smashbox's Photo Finish Primer. 
Having toyed with the idea of using primer for a while it was the perfect chance to try before I buy.
After my first time using it I was hooked, it made my skin smoother, my make-up lasted all day and you only really need to use the smallest amount to cover your face.
To avoid a mad panic when my tester ran out I grabbed my laptop and ordered a bottle online.
At £25 for a smallish bottle it might not seem worth it but I can guarantee you won't be disappointed.
Who knows, after venturing into the realms of primer I may even splash out on some new foundation...

Another recent beauty-related buy was Barry M's Gelly Hi-Shine nail paint. In my morning rush to get ready for work I slipped on my gladiator sandles before deciding my toes were in too much of a state to wear them, chipped red nail varnish just wasn't working for me and as I foolishly forgot to bring any nail varnish to Manchester I decided it was time to make some emergency purchases.
I've always been a fan of Barry M nail varnishes, they do a good mix of colours and they're not too pricey. As an added bonus they're currently on offer in Boots so I bought the one shown below and another called 'Mushroom' (nicer than it sounds). After trying it out on my fingers and toes I'm not too sure how different I think this 'Gelly Hi-Shine' range is, it just seemed a bit thicker than the normal stuff and had a slightly different texture. Nevertheless I love the colour ('Satsuma'), it's a bit brighter than it looks on the photos - the perfect summer coral!