Sunday 28 October 2012

'Just what I've never wanted!' Present buying nightmares solved!

A slightly different post from me today! For most of us buying presents for other people can be a bit of a headache- you had thought of something awesome that they really needed a few months back but now Christmas is getting closer you can't for the life of you remember what it was and your amazing 'subtle' ways of trying to find out what they would like are getting no-where.....

I think this nightmare of buying presents is about a thousand times worse for guys- present buying seems to make them crumble at the knees and often they will just resort to the good old gift-card (not romantic OR thoughtful boys!). This is where Ask Her Friends.com come in- they get your boyfriend, partner, brother, uncle etc to put in a few bits of information about you and it cleverly suggests things in their budget that women will like!

First step- who is the present for? They choose if you are their wife etc etc and then move on to what your price range is- this is so flexible and ranges from below £10 to over £250 so there really is no excuse! At this point they can choose if that is all they know about you and can let the website do the rest.........BUT if you know more about the special lady your looking for you can answer four further questions including what style of outfits she wears and what her perfect free Saturday would consist of.

So I decided to test the website and got my boyfriend to put in information about myself to the questions it was asking him to see if it would come up with presents that I would like and reflect my interests- the verdict?

Not bad at all! Here are three of the twelve suggestions it came up for me:

What I like about the suggestions is that they are often different to a 'typical' present, I think the cupcake decorating and chocolate martini taster day is such a good idea. Plus if your man thinks an item they have suggested is definitely not going to suit you they can remove it from the list and another shows up, if he instantly thinks it's the perfect present for you then he can go straight to the shop/website it then directs them to. OR if there are a few your man thinks would suit you he can add them to an 'advice list'- a sort of shortlist which he then (and here comes the technological tricky part) adds your friends to ask for their help and they know you the best.....friends can be asked in five different ways:
  1. He shares the advice list using Facebook
  2. He can get advice from his Twitter followers
  3. She can add her friends for herself
  4. He can send out a link himself
  5. Or he simply inputs her friends e-mail addresses and Ask Her Friends.com send out an e-mail on your behalf.
Then they simply have to wait for the friends advice to come in (or he decides for himself).

I really recommend you have a look at Ask Her Friends.com, test it for yourself and pass it on to your significant others as I think this is a brilliant (and accurate) creation just in time for the festive season!

Thursday 18 October 2012

"It's just the bones I'm made of" Twist on the Trend #3

Jacket: TK Maxx
Jumper: H+M
Blouse: Topshop
Shorts: H+M
Boots: Next

This is the latest Twist on the Trend, and for those of you who haven't read one of these posts before some other bloggers and I take on a different trend every two weeks and style it our own ways- an interesting way to see how we all make our own twist on trends. This time we had the leather trend to style. Here's how we all styled the trend:

Top row: Bree from The Urban Umbrella, Me! Emily from The Tale of Two Buttons
Bottom row: Paloma and Jess from Cos It's The Bee's Knees

Be sure to go on the other girls' blogs to hear them talking about their own outfits and how they styled the trend. What do you think of my outfit? I'm normally found on the safer side of fashion but this jacket is just the right amount to 'rock' my look up a bit but softened by my favourite jumper with a cheeky collar poking out underneath. I've also got my eye on a few leather skater skirts....

How would you style the leather trend? 


Wednesday 17 October 2012

October Loves...


01) The mustard knit and the gorgeous cable pattern makes this jumper pretty irresistible.  I'm sure my wardrobe could make some room to fit it in....! This could be teamed with jeans, shorts, dresses and would be perfect for cosy nights in front of the T.V. With a pretty hefty price tag of £89.50 from Jack Wills  it will be probably staying as just me lusting over it but it might make a sneaky appearance over on my Christmas list. But a girl can dream....

02) Urban Outfitters have such an amazing home collection offering quirky AND cute, this Scrabble-esque cushion is really cute and could work either on the sofa or on my bed! 

03) Another Jack Wills pick (can you tell I'm impressed by their collection for this season?!) this playsuit is somewhere in-between smart and casual, bit of a statement yet not as out there as co-ordinating outfits which I definitely don't have the confidence to wear. Isn't the print pretty? Once again this is priced at £89.50 (magic price going on there I think) BUT it is really nice!

04) Old ladyish? Yes. Impractical? Yes. Not really sure why I like these 'slippers' by Topshop so much but I do. Super cute and love the texturing pattern.

05) Another Topshop pick, these tapestry shorts are really nice and make me think if William Morris had done a collection for Topshop- this is what they would look like! Teamed with a pair of knitted tights, brogues and a cosy jumper this would make a dream outfit....only bummer is they are out of stock!

06) As a fan of all things glittery/sparkly this Models Own nail polish in 'Freak Out' as part of the Mirrorball collection ticks all the right boxes. Think of it as an autumn/winter version of American Apparel's galaxy one!

What do you think of my picks? What's on your wishlist for the month?



I'm back to full-time loving Ben Howard again, listen to this one called 'Bones' is amazing (tissues at the ready though)


Sunday 7 October 2012

"Precious and warm, a memory through the years"

Denim shirt and dress: H+M
Leggings: Topshop
Belt and scarf: Primark
Boots: River Island
Bag: Urban Outfitters

Evening all! What a lovely weekend I've had- my family came down to visit me yesterday which was really nice. I opted for this casual layered number that is so comfy! We went to the nearby seaside town Whitstable for a walk along the sea-front and a spot of fish and chips for lunch. As you can see there was barely a cloud in the sky!

My sister on Whitstable beach

After lunch we popped back in the car to Canterbury and enjoyed a spot of shopping before ending up in my favourite cafe- Tiny Tim's Tearooms which is decorated beautifully (which you can see by clicking here) and they sell the most AMAZING cakes and cream teas, I ambitiously had two! It was nice to enjoy the city and the shops from a tourists perspective rather than a poor student popping in for the essentials.

 Alice with the grand entrance to Canterbury Cathedral behind her


Friday 5 October 2012

Essie: Pink Diamond



After hearing such good things about the nail polish brand Essie and it's availability increasing due to now being stocked in most Boots and Superdrugs I was slightly worried that if I bought it with such high hopes that it wouldn't live up to the hype. 

Yesterday evening there was a student shopping night in Canterbury where all students had to do was show their student card and could get a variety of discounts in shops that don't normally offer it OR they were offering more discount than normal.  With the likes of H+M, River Island and Topshop tempting students with 20% off EVERYTHING you can imagine how busy it was! As soon as I saw that Boots were offering 10% off I knew I had to go in to spend a lot of money and have a look around. After spending a very long time at the Essie stand I eventually chose 'Pink Diamond' as I was drawn to it's delicate shade and the slight shimmer it has. With most of my shades I already own being deeper pinks/reds I knew this would get used and I could team it with my Holy Grail of nail varnishes- the glittery Topshop nail varnish in 'Ice Crush' (see post here) to make it even more girly. 

I think this is the perfect shade for not wanting to have bare nails but also not wanting to be too 'out there' with a bold colour, especially if your already wearing statement colours on your outfit! 

source: here

So was I impressed or disappointed with the quality? I can gladly say this has an amazing consistency, slightly more liquidy than other brands, but not in a bad way. It's really nice to see the colour becoming stronger as you apply more layers, I found 3 was the perfect amount!

What is your favourite Essie shade? I think I'm going to have to start collecting!

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Twist on the Trend: Band T-shirts

The Twist on the Trend team are back! For this one I was lucky enough to suggest the trend: band t-shirts, something a lot of us have in our clothes collection yet wear in all different ways so I thought it would be an interesting one to see how we all style our own.


Top Row: Me, Jane from The Tale of Two Buttons, Jess from Cos' It's the Bee's Knees
Bottom Row: Paloma from Cos It's the Bee's Knees and Lizzie from The Dust on the Ground

So interesting to see how the girls have styled theirs, be sure to check out their blogs for their own feature of this trend where they will tell you a little bit more about their outfit. In exciting news we've also finalised our up-coming themes too so you'll be seeing them very soon. Now for a little bit more on my outfit....

The Vaccines T-shirt: Band Merch website
Cardigan: New Look
Skirt: Pull & Bear
Boots: River Island

As a huge fan of The Vaccines I just had to have one of their t-shirts- I got this last Christmas and absolutely love it. It actually featured in my first EVER outfit post on my blog which you can see here (had no idea how much my hair had grown). This is a pretty versatile outfit, casual enough to wear up to Uni but also can be snazzed up for a meal out.

Apologies for being away from the blogging scene for a while, life seemed to get in the way and the reality of being a 3rd year uni student is setting in. Highlights from last week though included my boyfriend's 21st Birthday, lectures and seminars starting and a yummy meal out to Pizza Express with my friends.

Shall leave you all until next time with The Vaccines themselves!