OOTD- Results Party

I got my GCSE results on Thursday (I got 5 A*s, 3 As, 3 Bs and a C if you’re wondering, I’m so happy with myself!) so on Friday I went to a ‘results party’ and I thought that I would do an outfit of the day (technically night!) post.

My bralet and skirt are both from Topshop and my heels are from New Look. As for jewellery, the earrings are also from Topshop, the big heart ring is from Republic, the cross ring is from Dorothy Perkins and the two above knuckle rings are from Kukee.

Love from Amy xx

Shoe Love- Studded Heels

I recently bought these heels and I simply had to write a blog post about them, I am completely in love! They are a suede material with a five inch heel and a platform, and with stud detailing at the back. I usually steer clear of platform heels as I find them difficult to walk in, but these ones are surprisingly easy! I’ve been walking around my room with them on to get my feet used to them and they are actually quite comfortable.

I plan on wearing them to a party on Friday night which hopefully I will be able to do an OOTD post on afterwards, so look out for that!

Love from Amy x

NOTD- Bees

I love painting my nails and I especially love it when I do patterned nails, rather than just a plain colour. I saw a picture on Tumblr of someone who had their nails painted baby blue, with a pattern of a bee flying across their nails, and I couldn’t resist trying it out for myself!

I used Rimmel London’s Aqua Cool for the pale blue background, and then my black and yellow Rio Nail Art pens to draw the bee detail. I used Sally Hansen’s Maximum Growth as both a base and top coat.

What do you think? Have you recently tried out any cool nail designs? Let me know in the comments, or leave me a link to your blog if you did a post about it and I will check it out!

Love from Amy x

Collective Haul!

Today’s post is a collective haul. I have had two shopping trips over the last few weeks, one while I was staying with my dad, and one when I came home, so this haul is the result of what I bought.

First, I have three items from Primark. I bought two casual tops (I can tick them off my wishlist now!), one in white and the other in burgundy. The white one has a burnout effect and the burgundy one has a paisley-like print on it which is visible when the light shines through it. The tops were £4 each. I also bought a black maxi skirt for £10 which I am completely in love with; I have wanted a maxi skirt for a while now and I am so glad that I now have one. I’m going away for a week this Saturday so I think that I am definitely going to get a lot of wear out of it while I am on holiday.

Another item that I can tick off my wishlist is some black shorts, as I bought this pair from Warehouse. I love the detail on it- I’m not really sure how to describe it, I want to say studs/spikes but they aren’t really proper studs or spikes, they are more like ‘bubbles.’ Hopefully you can see them in the picture and make your own judgement about what you would call them! The detail goes all across the front of the shorts and extends to the lower part of the back of the shorts. They also have a cut-off style and ‘slits’ on the sides, which make them very comfortable to wear as the cuts make them not as tight fitting. I got the shorts in the sale, reduced to £20 from £36, with a further 20% off, so in the end I got them for £16!

I paid a visit to vintage shop Cow, a shop that I don’t normally go in, and came out with a dress. I love some of the clothes that they have in there but I just don’t think that I would be able to pull them off. However, my mum found this dress and I tried it on and instantly knew that I would buy it. It is a navy blue colour and is a classic style, with a high neck that is edged with white piping and has short sleeves that puff out slightly at the shoulders, as well as a loose fitting skirt. It is a decent length as well so could be worn either with or without tights. It also has an elasticised waist that makes it fitted, and it also has loops on the sides around the waistband so that it can be belted. I think that I could get away with wearing it during the day and dress it down, but then maybe wearing it with heels at night to dress it up, so it is a versatile piece that I’m sure I will get a lot of wear out of. It was a complete bargain at £12.

Of course, a trip into town wouldn’t be the same without going into Topshop. I didn’t manage to find any clothing items to buy, but I did come out with a nail varnish and a necklace. The nail varnish is in the colour ‘Play For Keeps’ and is a pastel orange colour (pastels again!), however on the nails it is slightly brighter than it appears in the bottle. Like all standard Topshop nail varnishes, it was £5. The necklace that I bought are these rosary style beads that were in the sale, reduced from £12.50 to £2.50. I couldn’t resist a bargain that good! I’d been looking for some rosary style beads for a while as I think that they are good to wear in the summer while it is festival season, so when I found these in the Topshop sale, I simply had to buy them.

Finally, I walked past Accessorize and saw that they were having a MASSIVE sale, so I picked up some earrings that were £1.80, down from £6. They are great to wear every day and will match with most outfits.

That’s everything I bought, seems like quite a lot now that I’ve written about it all! My next haul post will probably be a holiday haul of whatever I buy when I go away, so you can expect that in a couple of weeks time.

Love from Amy x

July Favourites

Like with my July Empties post, I thought that I should get round to writing my other monthly post, my July Favourites, before it is time to write a monthly post for August! I only have 5 items, but I think that that is enough for a monthly favourites blog post otherwise it could get quite lengthy!

First is a heat protecting spray by Charles Worthington. I use my GHDs on my hair every day so a heat spray is a must-have product for me. I have used various heat sprays over the years and they all seem to do the job well, but this one has been my favourite one for a while. It sprays on evenly and it doesn’t make my hair feel sticky, which is an issue I’ve had with heat sprays that I have used in the past. It also makes my hair smell really nice, which is better than the burnt smell that I’ve experienced before after using heat on my hair!

Next is the mascara that I have been using for the last few weeks- Rimmel London’s day-to-night mascara. I have always been a fan of mascaras from Rimmel and I rarely buy mascaras from any other brand. I won’t say too much about it as I plan on writing a review post for it soon, but I will say that it is definitely one of the best mascaras that I have ever used. It makes my eyelashes look lengthened and gives them volume which is what I look for in a mascara, so I have been loving using it recently.

My final beauty related favourite item is a nail varnish, and it comes in the form of Topshop’s ‘Prim and Proper.’ It is a beautiful pastel pink colour and is a perfect colour for summer. If you have read a couple of my previous posts then you should know that I love pastel colours and I especially love them when it is summer, so it’s no surprise that one of my current favourite nail varnishes happens to be a pastel colour.

I own a lot of rings and I have recently added two above knuckle rings to my collection. I got them from Kukee and I have been wearing them pretty much every day since they arrived. I think that they just add something different to an outfit and look great when wearing lots of other rings; something that I have no problem with doing!

My final favourite from July is my onesie from Primark. Although it might not be the best thing to be wearing when it is hot, on the colder summer days, which England seem to get a lot of (unfortunately) it is really good for wearing about the house if I’m staying in all day, or even for sleeping in if it’s really cold at night. I’m actually excited for winter just so I can wear it every day and be all warm inside, knowing that it is freezing cold outside the house!

Excuse my messy bed behind me!

I will probably be posting my favourites every month, so you can look out for another favourites post in a few weeks time for my August favourites. With the way things are going, it will come around in no time at all!

Love from Amy x

July Empties

This is my first monthly empties post and I thought that I’d better get round to writing it for the month of July as August already seems to be flying by! I can’t believe how fast this year has gone, it doesn’t seem 5 minutes since we were celebrating New Year! Anyway, this post is my ‘July Empties’ and I probably won’t be doing these every month as I don’t usually get through products that quickly so I think that it would be better until I have accumulated enough empty products to write a decent blog post!

My first empty product is my Batiste dry shampoo. This is probably the best dry shampoo I have ever used and it smells fantastic. It completely revitalizes my hair on days where I haven’t had chance to wash it, and it is also really cheap which is an added bonus! I will definitely be repurchasing this dry shampoo sometime very soon as I use it all the time and I don’t think I could go without it!

Next is my everyday moisturiser from Nivea. I use this twice a day- once in the morning and once in the evening before I go to bed. It makes my skin feel really soft and I have definitely noticed a difference since I have been using it. I have already bought more of this moisturiser ready for the month ahead.

I have also used up my Kleenex makeup remover wipes. I use about 1 and a half packs of these every month, as I am using at least one wipe every day, and I think that they do the job well of removing my makeup before I go to bed. They are soft on my skin so I will definitely be buying some more of these.

Finally, I have my pressed powder from Rimmel London. This facial powder gives my complexion a smooth finish and is good to use after applying foundation to help set it, but also to tone down the colour if it looks too dark. I have been using this powder for a few months now and it has become a part of my everyday makeup routine, so I have actually already bought some more, which is what the picture below is of (in case you were wondering why it isn't empty in the picture!)

That’s it for my July empties; not many products, I know, but like I said, I’m not the sort of person who uses lots of products every month!

Love from Amy x

What's In My Bag?

I’m a big lover of watching ‘what’s in my bag?’ videos on YouTube, so I decided to do a blog post for you all about what is in my bag. I don’t know about you, but I love being nosey and seeing the sort of things that people carry around with them, so I hope you enjoy reading this!

The bag itself is relatively new; I’ve had it for about 3 months and it is from Oasis. I love the floral cut-out detailing and I think that it is a good size for an every day bag as you can fit all your essentials in it, and there is still room left for you to cram any other items in as well.

Inside the bag is a zip pocket which I don’t really use, as well as two compartments which I use to carry my phone and iPod so that I’m not reaching around in the bottom of my bag to find my phone, if it should ring while I’m out- it really annoys me when I miss a call because I can’t find my phone in time!

Now onto the specific items that I carry round with me. I take my phone EVERYWHERE with me, and my iPod usually comes with me to most places as well. My phone is a blackberry and my iPod is the iPod touch. I don’t think I need to say much more about these really!

My purse is one of the standard ones from River Island. I bought it with some of the money that I received for my birthday in June and I absolutely love the colour, in my opinion it is the perfect shade of blue. The purse has a clasp opening at the back in which I store notes, and in the press stud opening it has multiple compartments for cards, as well as a standard part that you would expect to find in a purse, where I store loose change.

I don’t usually take my sunglasses everywhere with me, but as we’ve been enjoying some sunny whether here in England recently, I popped them into my bag so that I have them on hand should the weather take a turn for the better when I’m out. I got them from Primark last summer and I love them because I think that they suit my face shape really well, which is a bonus because I often struggle to find sunglasses that suit me. I also take with me in my bag my normal glasses. I don’t wear them all the time but I find it useful to have them with me so that I have them there, should I need them when I’m out.

I don’t tend to carry makeup around with me as I don’t really feel the need to reapply throughout the day, but I do take a tin of Vaseline with me in my bag, as well as my Jimmy Choo Body Lotion, which I use as hand cream when I’m out.

In the zip pocket on the back of my bag, I keep my key and a pen.

So that’s it for what is in my bag. It doesn’t seem like a lot when I compare it to some of the other posts/videos I’ve seen but I don’t see the need in carrying anything more than the things that I definitely need. Have you done a ‘what’s in my bag?’ post on your blog? Leave me the link in the comments below and I will check it out, as I already said, I love seeing what other people carry around with them!

Love from Amy x

5 Favourite High Street Shops

I thought I’d do a post about my 5 favourite high street shops. It was quite difficult choosing 5, as I go into pretty much every clothing store every time I go to town! But, after much deliberation, I managed to narrow it down to just 5, so, in no particular order, here are 5 of my favourite shops on the high street.

Topshop is my favourite shop to go in. I struggle to go into town without paying Topshop a visit, and find it even harder to come out empty handed. I find it hard to believe that little over a year ago, I owned nothing from Topshop. Although some of their items are a little pricey, I believe that ‘you get what you pay for’ is true for Topshop, so you are getting good quality clothes that will last, even if you are paying what seems like a lot of money for them. I also love Topshop’s range of jewellery and nail polishes; if I don’t buy any clothes then it’s more than likely that I will come out with some jewellery or a nail varnish!

I think Primark can be slightly hit-and-miss. Sometimes, I’ll go in there and see loads of things that I like, and other times I’ll see nothing and be really disappointed. However, the fact that it is so cheap means that it makes it into my top 5 shops. Who doesn’t love a good bargain? I also think that, while some of the clothes are a bit ‘out there,’ they do have some really nice pieces that you would be paying a lot more for if you were to find something similar in another shop.

I find Ark to stock a mix of the sort of things you would expect to find in shops such as Topshop and River Island, but for a much cheaper price. As well as it being cheap, the quality is good as well. They sell a great range of clothes; from pretty summer dresses to party dresses, to casual wear and vintage-style shorts, as well as being up to date on all the latest trends. I’ve only been shopping at Ark for about a year, but that’s long enough for me to have completely fallen in love with it!

I have a love/hate relationship with H&M, mainly because I find my local store to be really bad. It’s always quite busy and there’s no sort of order to where things are; it just seems to be clothes all over the place so I really struggle to find what I’m looking for. However, the store local to where my dad lives is much better, so whenever I am stopping at my dad’s and I go into town, I go to H&M and am more likely to come out with a new purchase from there, than if I was shopping in my hometown store. Despite this, it doesn’t stop me loving the clothes that they do, so H&M still makes it into my top 5 high street shops.

Finally is River Island. I find River Island to be quite similar to Topshop, in the sense that it is quite pricey, but you do get decent quality clothing. I think that River Island is good for summer clothing as they always stock a really nice range of skirts and shorts. Also, I love going in when they have a sale on because, despite the mania, you can easily find a good bargain. I don’t really own that many things from River Island (probably mainly because of my lack of money!) but that doesn't stop me from loving the shop.

So there are my 5 favourite high street stores. What do you think? Do you agree with me, or are your favourite shops different to mine? Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear what your favourite shops are! 

Love from Amy x