Can't stand me now.

Studded Ballet Pumps - Urban Outfitters (£20.00)

Coral & Nude Ballet Pumps - H&M (£5.99 each) 

Burnt Red Chunky Heels - New Look (£19.99)

Metal Leaf Sandal - Accessorize (£32.00)

Lace Sleeve Dress - Topshop (£20.00) 

Navy Linen Shorts - Topshop (£20.00)

Embellished Tee Vest - Topshop (£20.00)

Chiffon Cream Cape Blouse - Topshop (£20.00)

Tropical Print Playsuit - Topshop (£26.00) 

Navy Dress - H&M (£7.00)

Brodie Bikni - Accessorize (£28.00)

Burnt Orange Vest - Primark (£8.00)

Navy Printed Dress - Primark (£5.00)

Shell Printed Dress - Primark (£5.00)

Paperbag Skirt - New Look (£24.99)

Marc Jacobs Pomegranate Perfume - Selfridges (£20.00) 

Thoughts? Not sure whether i'm cut out for YT - isn't really my thing i dare say. 

And yes, i do come from Surrey.

I came along, and wrote a song for you.

 Last night i went to the Globe Theatre to watch Dr Faustus, the summer evening was perfect to watch the play in the open air settings. 

Top - Topshop (current season)

Cardigan - H&M 

Skirt - Topshop (recent purchase £26.00)

Ballet pumps - H&M (recent sale purchase £5.00)

Me, myself and i.

  

 Before the rain came & with an intrigued fluffy westie dog.

Tee- Topshop

Skirt - Topshop (Recent sale buy - £15.00)

Sandals - Accessorize 

Alexa - Mulberry

I also picked up some other bits from the Topshop sale, which hopefully i will snap soon.

Sweet dreams or a beautiful nightmare.

After three hard years of university work, not to mention the last few gruelling months, i finally received my final, final results and grading. Various date push-backs and complete miscommunication meant i was even more nervous and crazy than ever. However, to my utter most delight and complete excitement on Tuesday last week i logged on to find out that i, yours truly, will be graduating with a First Class BA Honours in Magazine Publishing.

(Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!)

I am SO pleased, even more so to see that i received 90% for my dissertation! LCC are pretty harsh when it comes to grade barriers, needing 85% alone to hit a First. But honestly i really couldn't be any happier. After many thousand family and friend phone calls, i had an enormous celebratory dinner at my Grandparents house to celebrate! Much to the delight of my Grandmother who probably cried happy tears throughout the entire evening, and whom decided to tell the entire WI. I can confirm that i spoke to majority of the Over 60's group on speaker phone and the lady in our nearest Chinease take-out thinks i'm expecting my first child, rather than a First degree. Family, you've got to love them.

With the happiness of receiving the highest grade for all my work comes the sad realisation of not being a student any more. Time to hand back the student discount (sob!) and actually go out the real world and show em what i'm made of. But in the mean time, lets panic about the GRADUATION OUTFIT!

Cream Tired Dress - French Connection (£110.00)

Peach Blazer - Miss Selfridge (£48.00)

Lace Pumps - ASOS (£25.00)

Whilst my parents are suited and booted, my mother in a godawful dress she let my dad pick out (yes i'm still confused too!) They kindly agreed to go halves on the cream French Connection dress i tried on previously. It may seem pretty classic and simple, but i like it that way. I honestly don't want to show my grand children photos of me turning up in god forbid some block-colour maxi dress with ombred hair (i kid.) The French Connection dress fits perfectly and accentuates all the right areas, that is if i remember not to bend over. I plan to hunt down a pale dusty pink blazer, to add some colour and some sharp tailoring. I love a good blazer, it brings out my inner Balmain runway model. Forget the heels, flats are my fail safe option, i don't intend to make it any way possible to trip and land on an audience member whilst receiving my certificate in front of a full auditorium of people. No sir-ree. Pretty, delicate, embellished flats are the way forward. Then i may toughen it up with my black Alexa, which will hopefully look contrasting in a good way.

Then roll on my holiday a week later, then it really is time to knuckle down and start the career ladder - gulp. Thoughts on the outfit? And most importantly, do i really have to wear that ugly hat? I had in mind for a sweeping updo, and i don't want the horror of hat hair. What would the grandkids say?

Growing pains.

How could i not resist? I was so there. Admittedly at eight am on Wednesday morning none the less, but i did literally get first dibs on the sale pieces up for grab - and i'm glad i did as by mid-morning most items had already disappeared. With the sole intention of nabbing some extra holiday bits, i thought the sale was a tad pants, i guess we are still holding tight for our British summer. I did however manage to nab three bits..

Orient Maxi Dress (£15.00) 

The word maxi doesn't exist in my wardrobe vocabulary, don't get me wrong i think they can look so effortless in the summer, but i've never really been drawn to the longer hem, preferring to get maa legs out. Clearly caught up in all the excitement of sale shopping i added this to my basket, the print is so very pretty and it's more of a beach cover up than anything. In a light, thin material i thought this would be perfect for my holiday, walking on the beach or going for lunch. I'm still not all convinced on the maxi side of things, may have to rope in my grandmother to slash the hem line in half..

Knitted Spacedye 70's Top - (£15.00)

I've had my eye on this Missoni-esq jumper for a while now, toying whether to purchase. I adore the burnt reds and orange shades, i'm seriously hoping its as soft and finely knitted as i imagine. I think this is that item you glaze over when you see in-store, but when worn it looks completely amazing. Basic but simple. Can't wait to pair this with white linen shorts and tan moccasins.

Tall Bell Sleeve Dress - (£20.00)

As soon as i saw this pretty lace and chiffon dress i snapped it up, in which i must confess a smaller size that what i would normally purchase. I then instantly regretted it and made my way into my local branch to see if they had my size, to which they had a full rack full of different sizes. I picked up my normal size ten and when i tried it on later that evening and found the sizing to be really, really generous, it looked pretty stupid to be frank - maybe as to why they are in the sale? So i'll be returning the size ten and hoping the size eight i ordered is a better fit, and i don't resemble a lacy sack. If not, i'll just have to order the Miss Guided dress everyones banging on about!

I intend to raid the in-store sale over the weekend, on the look out for another two (cheap) bikinis. Did you purchase anything from the Topshop sale? 

More money, more problems.

This is my face, clearly. You've seen my mug quite a fair few times, though mostly minus my specs - of which have made an appearance on only three posts out of the four hundred and eighteen i have published to date; despite the fact that i actually wear my glasses every single day. 

I've been wearing glasses since school when all the girls in my tutor were going through a phase. I went along with my best friend, who was dying to be part of the crowd, and sadly for her it was i that was branded short-sighted. I started wearing them in class mainly to see the board, but in recent years it has become worse, and more recently i've been wearing them every day. Which i think is rather upsetting to think that your eye sight is continuously going downhill as sad as it sounds. To say wearing my glasses doesn't bother me would be a lie, i continuously take them off if theres a camera near by and only till the woman in Boots last year scoffed at me and asked how on earth did i live my day to day life not wearing them and not hurt myself? Because to tell you the truth, i'm blind as a bat. 

Over the last five years my short-distance eye sight has worsened, not wearing my glasses was somewhat silly, if not a little comical when i completely ignored passers by, literally due to not seeing them. But as mentioned over the last few months i have been wearing them solidly, finally i can actually see the world in all its full glory! Honestly though, i'm not that keen. Its not that i dislike my glasses (they were bloody expensive to say the least), i just hate hiding behind them. As materialistic as it sounds, i spend a small fortune on mascara alone, adoring long lashes as i do i find that they well simply just hide behind my specs, in-fact the glasses gobbles my entire face up with it. It saddens me to think this as i know so many others that look fantastic with glasses and it adds to their 'look' - i just don't see it on myself. They also happen to be a complete nuisance - forget four eyes, when wearing 3D glasses in the cinema i turn into six-eyed nutter, when i sneeze they catapult off my nose into the distance and i also had to wave a sad goodbye to my retro Marc Jacobs sunnies.

In reflection i've grown to love them in a weird and wonderful way, and most of my friends and family are used to seeing me avec glasses. Cue the boy even saying i look 'all squinty' when i take them off, thanks for that - death stare. Despite the fact that yes they do make me look instantly more intelligent and how i can instantly transform into vamped up sexy secretary in less then thirty seconds, i'm starting to feel they are 'me', just an added extension if you please.

  This past couple of weeks i've been looking towards the world of contact lenses. The option of having the best of both worlds, whether i want to bat my eyelashes to the world or create that instant intelligent allure. I'm rather scared, scrap that, petrified of the thought of wearing a lense, but the thought of being glasses free for my holiday and graduation are just far too temping, plus i daresay i do have my eye on a fabulous pair of Ray Bans..

Do you wear glasses or contact lenses? What are your feelings? My mother had laser eye surgery and it changed her life, something i would do in a heart beat, but until the pennies start rolling in i'll stick to my specs.

RANT.

Following on from yesterdays post i thought i would clarify the saga on the recent Topshop palaver. This morning, Thomas from their customer team gave me bell and explained the problem. Every time i have been ordering this blouse, the Chiffon Side Tuck Blouse (13L36YCRM)..

..And then receiving this blouse three times..

.. is because the first blouse is last years stock and the buying team basically haven't changed the photo. Despite the fact that a) it has completely different buttons, b) it has a completely different collar c) appears far more cropped at the front and even has a completely contrasting product code. I bought this item under misleading  and basically out of date stock images, because of Topshop's laziness to update a correct image. 

So my some what dream blouse is clearly, so last year, literally. Thanks for that.

Ins and Outs - 15th June

Holiday

With only a month to go before i jet off on holiday to Cuba, i had a complete utter melt down when it came to changing my a/w winter wardrobe to my summer wardrobe (does anybody else do this - or do i really own too many clothes?) i realised had no holiday clothes to speak off apart from a rather dusty faded bikini. Clearly last year i didn't buy any summer clothes, i must have been seriously miffed at not going away. Though in recents weeks after a few sneaky orders online and a few Primark dashes for inexpensive beach dresses, i've picked up a few things..

terrible photo..terrible weather! 

Topshop Playsuit (£26.00) - Perfect for lounging around the beach.

Accesorize Brodie Bikini (£28.00) - So pretty!

New Look Sandals (£14.00) - I prefer these to flipflops.

New Look Red Courts (£19.99) - Oh yes, i bought them!

Also starting to pen my duty free list, yes thats right, you heard correct. I'm well aware that its not that much cheaper to buy fragrances in Duty Free but what the heck i'll be in holiday mode, i have my sights set on..

Balenciaga perfume - After spritzing every perfume possible in House of Fraser last week, my nose literally couldn't distinguish between the scents. I will also take this moment to publicly print my apology to the lady sitting next to me on Southern Rail train that afternoon, i was my very own personal perfume cloud and you sneezed quite a few times, sorry. Then after sniffing the fifty thousand fragrance cards when i returned home, the Balenciaga perfume was an instant hit, its very sheer yet punchy floral scent with a hint of violet, lovely.

Chanel Coco Shine Lipsticks in Boy and Evasion, they are both very pretty coral and pale pink, perfect.

Film/Book/Television

I adore Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Shaun of the Dead is my favourite all time film, and yes, i annoying know all the words. When Paul came out i rushed to the cinema to watch (with six other boys may i add) and was not disappointed, neither did i miss all the Star Wars references. Geek and proud.

Crime thrillers are my firm favourite reading material, i don't do chick lit i'm afraid, ghastly. Since reading and throughly enjoying the Stieg Larsons trilogy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last summer, i have since been reading Jo Nesbo series most notably The Snowman. This Swedish author is strikingly similar to Larson, with his thriller resolving around Harry Hole, i've ordered his entire series for my holiday. 

Like most of the nation i'm currently hooked on The Apprentice, and even more so this week where the teams have to create a free premium magazine with the help of ShortList Media, who both publish Stylist and ShortList. Of where i both interned last summer and interviewed the director Mike for my dissertation, exciting on one hand, but i can predict a fare few angry tweets this evening... maybe i should have sent them my dissertation prior to the task eh?

Topshop

As much as i express my underlying love for Topshop, these past two months i have been seriously horrified with their customer service. I've tried on three occasions to order this blouse, but have been sent the wrong item, their customer service has been completely unhelpful and a tad creepy - they saw a tweet of mine online and somehow stalked down my telephone number. I have contacted them numerous times to alert them of this issue, but they fail to change it or assure me it's safe to re-order. I have sent a rather demanding angry email yesterday on arrival of the third wrong blouse, so watch this space. Not impressed. 

Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Face Wash

I bought this cleanser to tide me over at the end of the month before payday, and how disappointed i am. On paper it promises to be the perfect cleanser, it smells scrummy too, but it completely fails to do the job in hand. It neither lathers well, and i was even more horrified to see after toning it hadn't removed all traces of my make-up in the slightest. Irritating.

Bit of a ramble to say the least, but i always have to much to share! I also get my university results tomorrow, three words: shitting it frankly. If i goes according to plan, i shall be getting rather merry & if not so well, well, i'll be a hermit for a while. Fingers crossed.

Oh Timbaland

There's nothing i would love more than to strut around in pair of fierce Louboutins, but when it comes to high-heels on the high-street i'm just not interested in the slightest, nada. Don't get me wrong, there are some rather amazingly, well-crafted heels on the highstreet from the offerings of KG, Topshop and my most recent discovery Zara. Alas they never have me reaching for my purse. Sadly the math of a £60+ pair of jaw-droppingly beautiful pair of shoes on the basis of a cost per wear ratio is pretty high. I'm much more of a pretty flats kinda girl. Probably so as i tend to run better in heels that walk - though i have (and i say this proudly) mastered a rather brisk jog that borders on serious strutting. And, of course however much i would love to, i cannot simply justify spending money on a pair of shoes to simply to look pretty in my wardrobe and gaze upon in wonder, because honestly i would if i could. 

However, when i clapped eyes on this pair in New Look, i haven't stopped thinking about them. They just scream anything-BUT-highstreet. I adore the dusty brick colour with the chunky heel. And the fact that they are £19.99. Say what now?

What are your thoughts? I think i may have to buy them! 

Feck the glitz and glamour.

Just because i have a large tendency to spend a rather large proportion of my wages on endless dresses and er the same shade in blushers, you may already know i'm rather savvy and love a good bargain. I mean surly you can tell from my near death excitement at the Topshop and Net-A-Porter sales, no? To the point i thought this Benefit set was far too good to resist. Am i interested in buying the entire Benefit new skincare line b.right? Not particularly. Am i however interested in buying six miniature bottles for ten quid, why of course! 

Needless to say, i already have a well thought out skincare routine (more on that another day) but heavens abid, what female can resist the temptation of small glass bottles of beauty goodness for a fraction of the price? Not me! The six piece set includes facial wash, toner, facial polish (i don't know what this is either), moisturiser and eye cream - of which all have fancy names, but i'm far to lazy to force feed them to you. Bang, tidy, done, all for £10. But of course, being the rather surprisingly good deal they are, they are (not-so-surprising) really hard to find. I snapped mine from ASOS, of which if you are a savvy student alike me you can take advantage of the Super Saver free delivery and take full use of the 20% student discount they are kindly offering at the moment. Perfect for testing out the entire range, a gift for a birthday or even small enough to take on holiday?

Another fabulous offer is the magazine freebies offered with the July of Glamour and Red magazine, i snapped up enough copies to warrant a few weird looks from the WHSmith sales assistant and loose a brolly when caught up in all the excitement. 

Red Magazine comes with a full size Jemma Kid lipgloss in three shades, a nude, coral and red. Where as Glamour has three small samples of Benetint, Posietint and High Beam to choose from.

Posietint is a lovely flush of pretty pink, looks rather washy when first applied but the nail varnish like brush gives a rather good application of which can be built up rather well. The Benetint is rather scary looking, but if blended well it can look like a fabulous blush of understated scarlet red. These babies are perfect for touching up on the go or even in a rush, i think i'll be slipping one in my handbag. I also plan to abuse these on my holiday abroad, with the heat these 'stains' will be more long-lasting than a powder or cream formulation. And finally, whilst these are quite small samples i imagine they won't run out for a while - although this won't stop me buying back-ups..

Although the Benefit freebies are not to be missed, this Jemma Kidd lipgloss really steals the magazine stand show-down. I eagerly hunted this gloss down after exclaiming my love for the JK blushers, and i wasn't disappointed. This pinky nude shade Petal is the fail safe shade, the perfect accomplice to a smokey eye or a natural day time look. Its appears very opaque without resting in the 'wrinkles' of your lips, everything Mac's Underage wants to be. Its dreamy creamy and bares strong resemblance to Revlon's Peach Petal.

L-R: JK Petal Lipgloss, Posietint & Benetint.

Have you snapped up any of these offers?

Overnight Celebrity

Since handing in my dissertation and finishing my Magazine Publishing degree i have thrown myself in to my part-time job in retail, which technically feels like full time at the moment. I have worked as a sales assistant in retail for the past five years in the same women's clothing shop, and i'm not kidding when i say you haven't worked a hard day unless you've tried retail. General moaning aside, i have some fabulous loyal little ladies of whom i would adopt as grannies if i could, who come in every week and need dressing up for the one occasion or another. So whilst i've been busy styling the nations grannies, i decided to go a tad crazy on pay day and treat one's self. And throughly abuse the students 20% off at Topshop.

Animal Print Vest - Topshop (£30.00 w/ £24.00)

I picked this sheer leopard print blouse simply on a whim, among the other fifty thousand items i tried on and i loved it! I don't have any animal print in my wardrobe what so ever, it was time for a change! I can't wait to dress this up and down, especially with a nude/black sharp blazer.

Mink Pintuck Shorts - Miss Selfridge (£32.00)

I fell in love with the gold vintage style buttons against the mink silky material. They are simple yet classic, for summer with a tan or winter and black tights. I think these look so much more expensive than what they were.

Cherry Print Fifties Sundress - Topshop (£36.00)

I could not deny my inner 50's Mad Men character this dress! The shift cut is so flattering, and the cherry print - how bloody cute! This will need to be worn on a seriously hot summers british day, but definitely a winner for my holiday wardrobe. Its a rather thick material too with added pockets, so a fairly reasonable print for Topshop i dare say.

Metal Leaf Sandal - Acessorize (£32.00)

I had been hunting high and low for the perfect sandal, they are either to bright and clashing or just simply cheap looking. Although Zara has some majorly pretty pairs, swoon, tad pricey though. However, the golden metal grecian leaf detail is so understated yet so pretty, in stark contrast to my rather scary other studded sandals from last year.

Belted Holiday Shorts - Topshop (£32.00)

These white linen shorts will not only be a staple for my holiday, but for the british summer too. They aren't ridiculously short short like i have seen else wear, the shorts are also double lined so no frantic worrying about the need for nude knicks! Overall they seem really fantastic quality, and i love the belt too! Might have to pop back in for the navy pair. These can be dressed up with so many of the chiffon, silky tops i er keep buying.

Cactus Flower - Nars Cream Blush (£20.50)

How could i resist when ASOS had 20% off branded items? I think i was rather restrained if you ask me. A very pretty creamy light red with a golden shimmer, swoon.

And to finish off i bought this dress from H&M for only £15 from the use of the discount codes i posted last week, despite it being a size 10 it was super tight, no way would it have fitted a B+ cup. Tut. I returned it to store, after i 'lost' the dispatch note and swapped it for £30 worth of stock, hurrah! But the sales assistant mentioned that all H&M sizes were rather odd like that? Bizarre! I bought this lace shirt, some much needed leggings - which i highly recommend and a simple navy nautical cardigan, perfect! 

I've just gone shopping crazy at the moment, at least its clothes and not.more.make.up. What have you been buying recently?