What a difference a shirt makes!

A massive part of my life is my friends. This weekend, it took me two hours just to get to my friend Danni's house. This was following my ineptitude at finding the correct train platform, missing 2 trains, calling Danni, Danni being wrong, Me asking the scowly woman behind a desk, a burglary on the train and then eventually having to get a completely different train. Nightmare. I tried to pack light because I was feeling really lazy, so I put together an outfit with one essential difference - the shirt.


As nice as this outfit is, waiting in an underground train station for two hours in it... not so warm. However, I love this outfit, it's really simple and can look smart whilst still being casual and comfortable.
Tee - H&M
Shirt - Matalan?
Cardigan - Peacocks
Jeans - Primark
Pearls - Vintage

A few days ago, I posted this blog. This is essentially the second day's outfit, but with the gray tee as above. I had to re-use that picture because I couldn't take a nice one on the day. I found this outfit slightly warmer for the next morning as it was a flannel shirt - instant warmth and cool!
Shirt - Charity Shop

I cannot stress how much love I have for loose, men's shirts, nor can I explain why and yet I always feel compelled to steal my dad's!

Abi x

Help?

Help! I need to pick out an outfit for Saturday, but I have no idea! So yes, this post is going to be picture heavy :S
I want to look nice because there'll be guys there, but I don't want to be boring, so I am going to put up some photos and I want all you lovely people to pick for me! Some of the photos are already on the blog, I couldn't see any point re-photographing the exact same outfit. Also, If you have and mix'n'match ideas, let me know!








Abi x

London-Rose

One of my favourite blogs to read is London-Rose. I love her style and her blog is regularly updated which is something to look forward to! At the moment, she is running a competition in conjunction with DiscountCoder.com to win a £50 topshop voucher!!

This next bit is taken directly from her blog, but I checked that all the links work of course!!

"THE COMPETITION! You have until Saturday the 6th of Feb to enter, and the winner will be announced on Sunday the 7th. There will be a runner up prize as well (a goody bag) for the 2nd best entry.

To enter, first you have to be a follower of the blog so CLICK HERE to do so. Then just leave a comment on this post answering one (or all three if you like!) of the following questions...

1) Why do you love LONDON--ROSE?
2) Why do you deserve to win the voucher?
3) What are your must buys for S/S 10?"

If I win (fingers crossed, yet doubtful!! Aim high methinks!) this is what I would buy- thisLace Shift from Topshop. It's so prettyyy!!


Abi x

Aussie Hair products!

My sister bought this, admittedly for herself, a few days ago. It smells really good and I always feel compelled to try every product in the bathroom, I love testing them! So I though I'd give you a little product review of it! I've not really reviewed products before, so if you have any ideas of what else I should include, I'd love to know!!

First off, I love the smell. It makes me think of bubble-gum and It's so fresh I almost don't like it. And yet I do. I love the way it makes my hair feel, currently very full and voluminous. It makes my play with my hair more, which means I can smell it on my hands, yum! I haven't actually blow-dried my hair tonight, yet it has still dried beautifully. A lot have people have commented that it has made my hair softer and a lot glossier. It's actually not as much as I expected. On amazon.co.uk it's only £4.78. I don't know how that compares to shop prices, but I think it's pretty good actually! I wouldn't normally spend that much on something, being the poor student that I am, but a possible buy before prom?

Abi x

Edit - all Hair stuff in Sainsbury's half price!! Includes Aussie!! x

Lets go clubbing!

Greetings Followers!!

Sorry about the vile pun, but I couldn't resist!

This is the awesome cake I made for my friend meg's birthday!
She loves seals, and I was feeling adventurous so here it is!!




Abi x

Very quick post...

Mainly because my bed is calling me and I haven't posted today!!

This week in blogs -

What a difference a shirt makes :)
This weekend I wore essentially the same outfit on saturday and sunday but with different shirts to change the look. More soon !!

Cupcakes V.2
I've been baking them again!! Plus a yummy recipe for Lemon cake.

Aussie Hair Miracles
I borrowed my sister's Aussie conditioner, it's amazing! My first product review!

And much more of course!
Plus, I need all of you out there to help me choose an outfit for saturday, so get your decisive brains ready!

Abi x

Fashion Recycling

"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable we have to change it every six months."

Oscar Wilde is a genius. Much like Shakespeare, his words still have resonance to this day.

Well, he's right. However it doesn't mean we never see it again, like throwing something in the air, it always finds a way of making it back to us.

From the normal...

To the somewhat surreal...

Aren't the pale jeans hot? Alexander McQueen - $18o.17 down from $450... I don't know how much that is in pounds sterling, but it does seem like a pretty good deal!! The show corsets... not so much, but they're still pretty cool! Or hot GaGa's case xD

Abi x

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...

I love this outfit; it sums me up pretty well. It's got my bright coat, sophisticated-ish skirt, patterned tights and a statement top. I'm always one to stand my ground and say what I think, I'm bright and colourful and I can be sophisticated and business-y when dealing with my parent's business.

Top - New Look

Skirt - H&M

Coat - Punky Fish

Necklace - Breast Cancer Research's own label

Ring - V&A museum

I also like that you can see the solution for my contact lenses and some headache pills, more daily essentials!

Abi x

The best place to find vintage jewellery...

Your own home!! OR at least, that's what I've recently discovered. My mum had some awesome jewellery. I say had because, well, they're mine now!! Here are four pieces of beautiful silver jewellery I found in a box on friday.

I really like the bracelet, it has lots of links all with a separate, coloured crest on it. I need to fix two links though, but all I need is a simple loop, so more photos when it's fixed! This photo doesn't show the ring anymore, but it's a heart that's semi-engraved. I've been wearing it every day since, now it feels weird when I take it off!!


These are some stunning Cameo Earrings, I had to sterilize them before I could wear them, but they look so good in!!


This necklace is possibly my favourite out of the four; it's light, cool and it won't turn my neck green!!

So, mum's the way! But remember girls, always ask first!

Abi x

French Plaits

I love them. They're cute, easy-ish to do once you get used to it, and although my hair's fairly short, I can still do them! I like the messy way Drew Barrymore has hers, and that's sort of how mine was today, mainly because I'm not super at it... yet!



I like the simpleness of Jennifer Aniston's between her parting. Peaches Geldofs' is really nice. It's nicely styled and the hair accessories work with it really nicely. Sienna Miller's is almost like a halo and looks good with her Grecian style dress.

I'm going to keep practicing, I want to be able to do this perfectly!!
Abi x

Louis V Madonna

I love fashion and music mixing together, almost creating a superpower. Often, this is in music videos (Lady Gaga and McQueen in Bad Romance) or at award shows, but I love the advertisements Madonna has done with Louis Vuitton. The first image, 2009, shows the rugged side to fashion. The 2010 shot is solarized, giving it a dreamy, fairytale effect. Which do you prefer? I think I prefer the bags in the former, but the clothes and styling in the latter.

Abi x

Strings and pearls...

I went to a family friend's 50th birthday party on saturday. After a morning full of first-aid courses (which I've done countless times, grr) that last thing thing I wanted to do was go to a birthday party. Luckily, I'd had the foresight to put together an outfit before I left the house and to leave it in the car ready. This did not go entirely as planned, because I ended up falling asleep in the car and having only 3 minutes to get changed and do make-up!! So difficult to get out of skinny jeans and into a dress whilst in a car whilst trying to maintain your dignity!


I love mixing and matching jewellery, don't we all, but my latest love is this vintage rose necklace. I found it in a box of jewellery that had been moved through 'tidying.' I've acquired a few pieces that I'll post together soon!

Dress - H&M
Cardigan - Peacocks
Tights - Primark
Shoes - Clarks - Black, patent leather heels with laces
All jewellery is vintage
Nail Varnish - Nails Inc. Shorditch

Overall, I love this simple, chic outfit to throw on, two pieces of clothing and whatever extras you like!

Abi x

Under Velvet Skies...

I found these whilst browsing ShopStyle the other day, I love them. I normally just go for black heels [I have 3 pairs which are all practically the same] but these are to die for!

They're from the Melissa range on Coggles and they're at half price! £37.50 for shoes that smell like bubblegum, are red velvet, and are 9cm wedges - totally worth the money!

Seeing as I don't get my beautiful lace playsuit a mentioned a while back, I'm getting my friend to buy me these instead!!

Abi x

99 Luftballons

A little vain moment called me as the second hour-long (!!) wedding catwalk was starting at a wedding fair we displayed at, I believe that's my dad in the background.

One of my favourite combos for casual business dress, the sort of thing you might wear to sixth form. I like tucking in baggy tops to this high waisted skirt, not only because it's kinda warm, but because it puffs them out to give it all a baggy 80's grundge feel to contrast the sharpness of the jacket-skirt combo.

Top - Peacocks?

Skirt and tights - Primark

Jacket - H&M

Shoes - Clarks

Hooray for weddings!

Abi x

The McQueen Dream

Who cares if a girl can only dream? Think big is my motto of the week!

As soon as I saw it, I fell in love with this Alexander McQueen clutch. Sure it's £775 but it's shining glory would stand out against any evening dress. Not so keen on the skull clasp, but I think I could live with it if it were in my hand!!

Abi x

Ch- ch- ch- Checkin it out!

Listening to - You're so damn hot, Ok Go

Excellent band, they have kooky, awesome videos (You may have seen the famous treadmill dancing video)

A fairly simple outfit to throw on. It was also fairly warm! I love the check shirt look, Liv was gutted when I spotted this stunner first... £2.99!! Gotta love charity shops!

Cardigan - Peacocks

Shirt - Charity shop

Vest - H&M

Jeans - Primark

I like to make sure that the shirt cuffs stick out further than the cardigan sleeves, because it shows a bit more colour and patterning. I love this cardigan because it's 2 dress sizes bigger than me, so it fits nicely but I can wrap it tightly to warm me up, a daily essential in this weather!!

Abi x

Spring/Summer thoughts...

I'm loving the neutrals, these are just a few from the Dolce & Gabbana SS10 collection that I love so much! I especially love the sleek lines of the dress in the centre.

Here's another (very quick) stylebook of a few neutral tones present.

I really like the Lace Shift dress from Topshop [top right] and the lily white bracelet [middle left] because they sum up 'neutral' perfectly, and I just want to jump in and add jewellery and other clothes to style it to suit me!

I'm looking forward to spring because I've been really getting into greys lately, and it'll be a chance to wear them with a few bits of colour and not feel like a total misery-guts!!

Abi x

Gleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I love it! Where else can you get fairly attractive guys, dancing music and cute dresses all in one place? I loved their cover of Gold Digger, even though I really hate the original! It's available on Spotify [and iTunes] and of course it's on my playlist now! I thought Push It was mega cringy, but amazing to watch, I can't wait to see what else is in store!

Fun in the sun snow!

I love the snow, and I'm really happy I have so many excellent friends to share the good times with, so here are a few snaps from the cold 'snap'!

The view from my window!

Just some of my excellent friends! And me, pulling the cheesiest grin ever, there's a reason I don't smile with teeth! :D

Swings and snow, what more could a girl need?

I'm going to try to take some photos for the Motel Rocks Competition tomorrow or Thursday, I need a snow day though - It's too dark when I wake up and when I get home!!

Abi x

Quick announcement

Just a short post because I'm super tired!

Back onto more pressing matters...

Motel Rocks Competition!!

"Send in your motel snow themed photo to win..."

And what do you win? This beautiful £110 husky coat!

I'm going to take some photos tomorrow, I'll upload them here and you can pick your favourite!

Good luck to all who enter, and may the snow continue!!

Abi x

Cupcakes

I love cupcakes, I think they're so cute!

How can you not love them?

So I had a go at baking my own! I baked 41 cakes in total, but I only decorated a few!

They tasted so good, I thought I'd share the recipe with you!!

Cakes -

100g Self-Raising Flour, sieved

100g Butter or Margarine

100g Caster Sugar

2 Medium Sized Eggs

A Pinch of Salt

Topping -

75g Unsalted Butter

175g Icing Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Milk

Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes

Oven: 190Degrees C, 375Degrees F, Gas Mark 5

Cakes -

*Place your cake-cases in tins before starting

*Cream the butter/marg and sugar until light and fluffy (use a fork)

*Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a tablespoon of flour with the last amount

*Fold in the rest of the flour and salt

*Divide the mixture between the cake-cases and bake

Topping -

*Soften the butter in a bowl by whisking it slightly

*Slowly add in the Icing sugar and Vanilla essence

---If the mixture is too hard, add a few drops of milk

---If the mixture is too soft, add more icing sugar

*Pipe onto the cake and decorate with silver balls, sprinkles, shapes... whatever you like!

I hope you like these cakes as much as I do!

Abi x

New Years Resolution

I'm taking the advice of the 1939 war effort to aid me with my modern problems! Namely, Money, clothes, friends, coursework and... boys...

Abi x

On The Tenth Day of Christmas...

My true love sent to me ten lords a' leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a' milking, seven swans a' swimming, six geese a' laying, five gold rings, four colly-birds, three french hens, wo turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

And on the tenth day (well, the ninth night technically) I met a guy that I thought was intriguing and cute :)

So here are 10 more things I find intriguing and/or cute!

1. Elephants kiss too

2.

Pictures of the Dark - The Cutaway from Six to Start on Vimeo.

Stick it on whilst you browse the rest, it's lovely, and it sounds fresh and interesting.

3. Mickie and Minnie mouse were married

4. This beautiful brooch from Eclectic Eccentricity. I love the colouring and the fifties style of glamour.

5. Yesterday, Channel 4 couldn't even confirm their Big Brother contestants... Oh no, what a pity (sarcasm fully intended!)

6. This beautiful dress for when it gets a bit warmer. Another from ModCloth, called Kew Gardens. I love the subtle colour of the grey against the delicate floral skirting.

7. This colour from Nails Inc. It's called Shoreditch and It's on my nails right now to combat the cold winter blues!

8. This cutesy Ooh La La shopper bag from It's Gorgeous

9. This awesome necklace from PeggyLi. I love the style and the quirky design.

10. Lily Cole is bored of modelling. I do love her acting though. St. Trinian's was excellent with her as a 'geek'.

Abi x

I Just Fell In Love

Abi x