Summer is coming...

...and I have the wardrobe to prove it.My jumpers are buried, as are the majority of my jeans and boots.As mentioned in my earlier post most of my summer hauls are founded in Primark so you'll have to be patient for those ones. However my student discount perks have allowed me to venture into New Look every now and then. On one such occassion I was lucky enough to find this pretty little dress:



Reduced from £12 to a bargain £8 (minus £1.60 thanks to 20% student discount) this dress comes in a variety of colours and is still available in store and online.I picked out this light purple colour but there's greens and the like available as well.

The dress itself is figure-flattering with it's elasticated waist emphasising and slimming the waist, the v-neck is long-celebrated for flattering us girls and the length is great for the shape of one's legs. Throw in the cute detailing of crochet on the shoulders (and crochet is not something I usually go for) and I was sold.

More summer wardrobe hauls to come soon, I promise!

Long time no blog!Make-up haul

Eek sorry for the extreme delay in posts these last few weeks. I've yet to unearth my camera and the cable from my uni bags and most of my recent hauls have been from Primark (meaning no pictures online,boo). I did however cave in to the wondrous Boots and their 3 for 2 offer on the majority of their make up ranges. Thanks to some babysitting money I was able to splurge out and get a new lipstick, nail varnish and mascara. I stuck to my three favourite brands available in Boots picking from Barry M, Boot's 17 collection and Boot's Natural Collection

(Images: Boots.com)

I plumped for a shade from 17's new lipstick range, Mirror Shine On, called Beehive. It isn't the brightest of colours but it's brilliant and my lips stayed hydrated while it was on. It lasts a fair few hours and at £4.49 is pretty good value for money. There's a huge range of colours so maybe next time I'll risk a brighter shade.

(Image: Amazon.co.uk)

I also treated myself to one of Barry M's new "Ice Cream" nail polish shades, opting for the Berry colour although I was tempted by the Blueberry colour. However I could always go back and get Blueberry too as the polishes are only £2.95 and look amazing when on. One coat is good enough to look nice but I find two coats make the colour stand out even more.

(Image: Boots.com)

Finally, and on a more practical note, I headed straight to the Natural Collection to pick up some new, much-needed mascara. I may vary from time to time (I did go through a Benefit stage, followed by The Body Shop) I always come back to the Natural Collection for mascara. At £1.99 per go and available in a variety of colours this mascara is the best I've come across at a purse-friendly price - something that's very important for a student like myself! I tend to go for the waterproof mascara and the brown/black shade as this is most suited to my mascara needs but at this price you can easily afford to experiment with the different product options available.

Faith no more

(image taken from the Howard Centre website)

So for those of you who haven't heard, shoe darling Faith has gone into administration, the online shop is no longer taking orders and stores are beginning to close. This makes me majorly sad. Not just because I love shoes, which I do, but because Faith shoes hold a few important memories for me.

I got my first pair of heels from Faith when I was 14. My dad was getting re-married and we needed to find some shoes that went with my now step-sister's and mine outfits (they were gold). My stepmum, dad, stepsister and I had been shopping for a day and had no luck with mine thanks to my size nine feet. Then we walked into Faith. To cut a long story short, they had a gorgeous pair of cream suede heels in size nine that I walked down the aisle in.

Skip forward four years and to London this time. It was the Easter holidays and I'd turned 18 a few months prior. My boyfriend, away at uni at the time, had taken me to London for the day so I could pick my birthday present. I skipped Topshop, I skipped Urban Outfitters and I skipped Dorothy Perkins. He questioned where I was heading, having anticipated I'd drag him in there. I, however, had my sights set on the Faith store I'd spotted further down the street. We left with a pair of beautiful black suede-style heels. They're my favourite heels.

So Faith may be just another shoe shop to some people, but for every person who thinks that there's someone who bought their first heels in their, or were treated by their first love in there, or got married in a pair. Shoes, like clothes and songs, can have memories attached to them. That is why I'll miss Faith. That and it's killer trying to find size 9s that look as good as Faith shoes do!

Lush stock-up

So it's my last few days up north in Sunderland before I go home for summer. While I'm looking forward to it, there is no Lush back home (the closest I'm aware of is London) and thus I know I will probably end up wanting to get a face mask and bath bombs and thus get upset that I couldn't...so I decided to stock up before going home. I got four different bath bombs (I already have three in my drawer at the flat waiting to come home with me), a Lush scarf (meant to be part of the gift wrap set but they let me buy one seperately). Not only that but they gave me a BB Seaweed facemask for free. Free facemasks? Oh I'm glad I indulged today :)

The bath bombs I purchased today are:

Space Girl, £1.85
Keep it Fuffy, £2.25
Ickle Baby Bot, £1.75
Blackberry bath bomb , £2.65

Also for your peepers is the face mask I got free today, BB Seaweed (usually £6.45)

Great for problem dry skin like mine (not helped out at all by weather issues such as wind) this face mask smells yummy and has actual bits of seaweed in, leaving skin lovely and smooth.

I'll post a picture of the scarf up when I unearth my camera after arriving home on Thursday, so it'll be up around the weekend but Lush scarves are about £3.45 as part of their gift-wrap scheme and there's lots to pick from so have a looksie.

All pictures in this post are from Lush's website

Monsoon anyone?

So in the last week of my first academic year at uni I've been indulging a little bit (my debit card is currently hiding in my purse crying at being overused this weekend) and I thought I'd share some of my purchases, starting with this one:

Keeley top, Monsoon, £30

My most recent one, purchased this afternoon after lunch with my friend Jen, is this top from Monsoon. I love Monsoon but I've never bought anything from there before because the stuff is usually very expensive. This top was £30 but that's a pretty good price if you look at shops like New Look, Dorothy Perkins, Next and Topshop. Plus it's amazing. I love the colour, the print and the material of the top (can you say silky?) I also like the tie-back detail and buttons. Not to mention that the cut is ultra-flattering.

H by Henry Holland part 2

So after my little lust list on the Henry Holland collection for Debenhams a while ago I've been a bit preoccupied with uni work. This means it's taken me roughly two weeks to update this little blog of mine and bring you the pretty things I stumble upon in my life.





That aside, I am now the owner of a piece of Henry Holland, thanks to my uni loan and a free morning before uni I found myself in town and decided to treat myself to one of the pieces I so dearly wanted. I scoped out a couple of the pieces from my list in the Sunderland branch and hot-footed it to the changing rooms.





Unfortunately I wasn't all too impressed. The pink check playsuit I wanted may have looked great on the model but on me it was shapeless to the extreme, I doubt even a cinched in waist of my own provision would have helped it. It looked like a sack on me.





This small failure was added to by the ditsy playsuit which came up short on me. Okay so this wasn't a design flaw it was more my long torso means some playsuit shorts can look like hotpants on me, not such a great thing. Onto the reject pile it went.





A few more dresses and a skirt later and I finally found it. 'It' was on my original lust list and one I'd saved until last:

The official description on the Debenhams' website is as follows: "This H! by Henry Holland all in one outfit waves it's magic wand to indecisive wardrobe decisions. The 2-piece dress masters a jersey vest top with an attached check skirt for a complementing daytime look that says "This girl knows how to dress". Effortless."

Effortless? Check. Complementing daytime look? Check. I love this outfit. It's easy to accessorise, can be worn with tights or leggings (I'm not brave enough to go bare-legged) and it's always remarked positively upon when I wear it. The jersey top is stretchy enough for if you're having one of those paranoid days where nothing fits right and the pulled in waist creates great figure. The skirt cuts off at the best point on the leg to provide a very flattering look plus the buttons in the same material as the skirt are a cute attention to detail which I adore.

A lovely outfit for under £30 which can be worn all year round? Brilliant I say, simply brilliant.