BLOGMAS #11- WINTER WONDERLAND

 

My apologies for the low quality pictures included in this post- I was just way too excited to just stand around and take pictures! Winter Wonderland Christmas market in London has been on my bucket list for sometime now, so when the opportunity came on Tuesday night after one of our work events, I couldn't resist!

 

Winter Wonderland is hands down the best Christmas market I've visited, situated in Hyde Park, London, the market is home to over 100 rides and attractions; including A magical ice kingdom, Ice skating, Zippos Christmas circus, Bar Ice, Cirque Berserk and a giant wheel. Not to mention a wealth of fairground rides, rollercoasters, restaurants, bars, street food and live music.

 

Although we only had a few hours, we definitely made the most of it, visiting the ice rink (£15 for 1 hour but veryyyyy worth it, it will 100% get you in the festive spirit), rollercoaster, haunted house and sticky wall... (we couldn't find the ice bar). As well as this we visited beautiful stalls selling Christmas gifts and trinkets, best.place.ever. I just wish we had the time to see everything! I highly recommend an evening visit, although you would need the entire day to explore... its open 10am till 10pm!

 

Have you been to Winter Wonderland? If not, GO!

BLOGMAS #10- SELFRIDGES

 

Okay I basically just wanted to write this post so that I could show off my Santa pics... I got so excited I just had to have a picture! I feel like a lot of 'Santas' look a bit crappy, but Selfridges definitely had a good one! Their Christmas section was amazinggg as well come to mention it!

 

Wednesday was spent on Oxford Street doing  a spot of Christmas shopping in our free time, I visited Selfridges, Topshop.... almost had a breakdown over how much stuff I wanted- but could not afford in there, Victoria Secret and Aldo.

 

Despite not buying a lot, I would definitely recommend Selfridges for personalised gifts and awesome Christmas decorations, Topshop for your Christmas party outfit, ALDO for some great party shoe offers, oh and Victoria Secret have their Victoria Secret fashion show items in stock now!!

  What have you all been up too? Leave me a comment below!

BLOGMAS #9- BROADWAY MARKET

Ok, so this week Monday to Thursday I have been away with work in London for our AW16 launch events, hence the lack of blogging. However, I thought I would share a series of posts with you about what me and my friend got up to in London in our free time in between dressing models, putting outfits together and managing the showroom.   To start with, we visited Broadway market, a shopping street located in the centre of Hackney, east London; home to shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes, if you're looking for a unique cultural experience, I suggest you visit!   We ate at The Dove Freehouse and Kitchen, a quirky London pub which prides itself on being home to over 100 Belgian beers, and although I stuck to wine, I must say the food was amazing! I managed to lay my hands on a pint of sweet potato fries... yep, served in an actual pint glass, and a traditional mac and cheese.   Although we visited on the evening for dinner, I would love to see the market in daytime and visit some of the restaurants, shops and cafes.   Have you ever been? Leave me a comment below!    

OOTD- A WEEKEND IN THE CITY

Ankle shoe boots, New Look (last year)/ MOTO Jamie ripped jeans, Topshop (Last year), Cross over cotton floaty cami, Topshop/ Michael Kors rose gold chronograph watch/ Teya enamel button necklace, Ted Baker at Fenwicks, £28/ Cardigan, Topshop (years ago). 

 

Okay it's not actually my outfit of today but it was my favourite outfit of this weekend...

 

I wore this outfit for Notting hill carnival, shopping on Oxford Street, and strolling through London's St James' park. Firstly... don't wear heels around London- even if you do claim that they are 'the comfiest shoes you own' because after walking miles to and around Notting Hill, and from bond street, down Oxford Street to the South bank, my feet were crippled! Even days later after I got home, my ankle feels so weak, but I guess it is a case of 'no pain, no gain'!

 

As for my jeans, I took a risk- I hadn't worn these before and also struggled to get them on last year, so yes they were a little snug... not fab for walking around all day! As we are coming out of the summer season now- since when did we even get a summer?... I felt it time to start transitioning my outfits into more of an Autumnal vibe, hence the very warm looking cardi...

 

As always, accessories are key. I tend to always wear two rings and my Michael Kors watch, and I also chose to wear my new Ted Baker necklace!

 

By writing this post I've actually noticed how old my clothes are... they were nearly all bought last year... I definitely need a shopping spree! 

 

What do you think? How are you transitioning your outfits from Summer to Autumn? Let me know below! :) 

 

BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND- LONDON

I hope you all had a fab bank holiday weekend! Shame about the weather and how fast it flew by...

I decided to spend the weekend in London with my boyfriend which was so lovely! however our downfall was that neither of us planned anything ahead of going, I had ideas floating around of Camden market, Shoreditch, The Shard, Hyde Park and Carnaby Street... but in reality we missed out on two 2for1 vouchers, got lost on the way to Notting Hill carnival and paid double for a Madame Tussaudes ticket the day we went... did I mention the rain?

 

It wasn't all bad, in fact I discovered 2 amazing gelato shops, soaked up the culture at Notting Hill Carnival, got a selfie with Kim K at Madame Tussaudes and ate candy floss in the rain at London Zoo.

  Saturday

To kick off the weekend we paid a visit (reluctantly in Kyle's case) to ZSL London Zoo... if you read my blog regularly then you will probably be aware that this is my third visit to the Zoo this summer, I just love it there, I can't resist a visit each time I'm in London! Afterwards, what would usually be a lovely walk through Regents Park down to Oxford Street turned out to be a good drenching, however I did make it to Oxford Street in the end to have a browse in Topshop, River Island, Mango and Zara... although I must admit Topshop was a little disappointing, it's just that time of year when you can't even find anything you like to buy. After this we decided to go to Planet Hollywood, this is definitely the type of restaurant for a one off visit or special occasion... unless you're loaded. The food is divine and the atmosphere is fab, I just love seeing all the movie memorabilia while i'm snacking on spaghetti and meatballs....

  Sunday

Although we thought it would rain Sunday and so made other plans, we decided to go to the Notting Hill Carnival instead, this is definitely one for the bucket list, I have always wanted to go and heard its amazing so I was so impressed to see dancers, performers and floats, accompanied by a gorgeous aroma of jerk chicken... you could spend all day here but we were there for 3 hours... after struggling to even find the carnival! We then got the tube to bond street so I could pop into Victoria Secret... I don't even need to explain how amazing 3 floors of Victoria Secret is. Once again we then walked along Oxford Street to Selfridges and then down to Regent Street where we discovered the most amazing gelato shop. We then walked down through St James' Park which has the most beautiful scenery and then across to the south bank before heading back to the hotel, and of course, Nandos.

  Monday

Last day! Boooo :( We started by getting the tube to Baker Street to Madame Tussaudes... although I thought it would just be the wax works (which are ridiculously realistic), but you can also get professional photo opportunities, enjoy a London Dungeon themed experience (I say enjoy- I actually screamed...), a 4D Imax movie experience and a ride, themed a journey through the history of London, not forgetting the extra Star Wars experience. We then got the tube back to Charing Cross so that we could visit Covent Garden, home to some fab street acts (aka a fat man in his pants balancing his ladder on the cobbles whilst juggling 3 axes) and another amazing gelato shop- Morreli's Gelato. Finally we walked up to Oxford street to Bella Italia before getting the train home!

 

As you can imagine I have walked flipping miles this weekend, I am not only knackered, but also have strained my ankle through wearing heels the entire time... no pain no gain ey?

  What have you all been up too over the bank holiday? Leave me a comment below! :)

Happy 19th Birthday To Me!

Just a little life update! Yesterday I celebrated my 19th Birthday, wow I am getting OLD. Although when you actually see the pictures from my birthday you could easily be mistaken for thinking that this was the birthday of a 9 year old child, just another teen not wanting to grow up! Holy moly, this is my last teenage year... anyway... I celebrated my birthday mainly this weekend with my boyfriend who treated me to a weekend in London, including a trip to London Zoo (my favourite place ever) and a shopping day! On my actual birthday I also went for lunch and shopping with my dad in York, followed by a little tea party with the rest of my family.

Okay, so here are a couple of pictures from my birthday, in the way of gifts my dad bought me my first proper camera which I am so excited about as I can now finally start to take more professional pictures for my blog! My mum gave me money to spend on whatever I wanted and typically for me everything I wanted was either sold out or not in my size, fantastic. But she did get me a little surprise goodie bag from the Disney Store, always a good call, and filled it with a whole load of pink, fluffy and admittedly childish presents which I absolutely loved! I also managed to persuade my mum to buy me this gorgeous Disney Fairies birthday cake, who doesn't love Tink? If you are wondering why I have 3 birthday cakes, no I am not a heffa, my dads girlfriend baked me the cutest pink cupcakes and my close friend also made this magnificent chocolate finger/ malteasers/ m & m chocolate masterpiece for my birthday!

My final few pictures are of my prezzies, I have already told you about my Disney gifts, but my boyfriend also treated me to 2 MAC lippies in Diva and Cyber which are bold unusual shades of oxblood red and deep purple which I absolutely love and have wanted for ages! My mum also bought me the most amazing pink glittery MAC lipstick in Milan Mode, if you are very girly like me, you will adore this shade. The skirt I have added is from Topshop, one of the few things I picked up on my trip to Oxford Street, another favourite place of mine! I instantly grabbed this when I saw it as I have long been looking for a vintage style mini skirt and this one with a scallop hem adds a modern twist, the material also has a plastic sheen which is just amazing, I highly recommend you bag one of these while you can!  Finally, the image from the zoo is of the penguin pool, my absolute favourite attraction at the zoo, a bitter- sweet memory of my visit, as at feeding time I magnificently embarrassed myself by passing out due to the hot weather, I guess sometimes you've just got to laugh at yourself! Ah Well. Aside from the drama I had such a perfect birthday, now for the big 2 0, hmmm. P.S. My birthday cake isn't on fire, I just insisted on having 19 candles...



LONDON FASHION WEEKEND

This one is a super long post guys! But hey, I have a lot to talk about today! Sorry that this post is a little late, but I have been super busy in the past few days and haven't really had time to upload pictures and write this post so anyway, here it is. Last Friday I decided to go to London Fashion Weekend at Sommerset House, it was amazing. Honestly it really was one of the best days of my life, not only did I have the rare opportunity to go to London, but I got to take a look down Oxford Street, took a look around the sights, hiked across Soho, browsed some georgeous designer clothes AND attended a catwalk show! Busy day ey. Yup my train from Leeds was 8:45 am and I only got back into Leeds at midnight, so I was veryyyy tired, but it was really worth it. So to begin this post I thought I would share with you a few pictures of the day...

Below are some more pictures of the catwalk. The show featured 4 trends, (I covered these trends a earlier this month).

 

1. Precious Metals from Antonio Beradi, Balmain and Marni designers. This was my favourite trend as the models looked so amazing in their metallic, and it just showed that anyone can carry it off, depending whether you want a bold and daring look, or a quite subtle look, there is a way to wear metallic for everyone to try!

2. Flower power designed by Erdem, Jonathan Saunders and Preen. They designed vibrant floral printed garments which definitely got me excited for the spring.

3. Lace Embrace designed by Christopher Kane, Diane von Furstenberg and Oscar de la Renta. Gorgeously designed skirts, tops and dressed which had some gorgeous textures, such a wonderful trend, and so girly!

 

4. Finally,  the catwalk ended with a trend called Good Sport. It is a style designed by designers such as Alexander Wang, Peter Pilotto and Stella McCartney. The clothing style gave something very masculine a feminine feel, broad shoulders were created and big sport jackets were a highlight, keep your eyes peeled for rah rah skirts! 

 Next is some pictures of some of my favourite items I found while browsing the designer clothes. The event allowed us to look around Sommerset House to look at all sorts of designer clothing and accessories, which to be honest were very out of my price range, but hey, it was so much fun browsing very expensive garments! Some of my particular favourites where floral and tropical prints, metallic, pastel and bright colours and silks, as well as the huge array of bags, purses, sunglasses, shoes and jewellery!

 I should probably also mention my OOTD. One of my most favourite aspects of visiting London Fashion Weekend was that as soon as I walked in, there were people everywhere dressed in the most beautiful outfits I have ever seen, some outfits were perfectly styled and others were very daring, from huge head pieces to tiger head rucksacks, it was evident that everyone there had made a super big effort! As for me, the outfit I chose to there was not my idea outfit, as I had to travel all the way from Leeds to get there it firstly would not have been practical, secondly I really didn't have the time to get ready and thirdly, I think I would have felt a little bit silly wearing a fancy outfit on a train, tube and buses! So I finally decided to go with a monochrome look, my boxy top was cream with a zip back and textured material, my black jeans had a silky gloss finish, I wore my favourite cut out boots, beloved leather jacket as it was a little chilly, my big tan bag and finally accessorised with a chain and gem necklace and my trusty Michael Kors watch.

Leather jacket- Topshop/ cream zip back boxy top- New Look/ black jeans- New Look/ cut out boots- Ark/ necklace- Dorothy Perkins/ watch- Michael Kors/ bag- Topshop

 

So to end this post I am also going to share with you the bits and bobs I picked up while shopping, I couldn't go to London and come home empty handed now could I? Firstly with my London Fashion Weekend silver ticket I managed to get a free tote bag designed by Julien Macdonald, which was filled with all sorts of goodies. Firstly there were pamflets and cards for money off and discounts, then there was coffee from LFW sponsor Lavazza, free 'beauty bar' that tasted so nice (and was surprisingly healthy) from their other sponsor, and most importantly I got some free beauty products including a mini Essie nail polish which is a lovely glittery shade of green, a Maybelline baby lips lip balm in cherry, and some dry shampoo from the catwalk sponsor Label M, luckily I managed to get the one especially for brunettes, I am yet to try it! On entry I also received a free lanyard with a map and schedule of the catwalk which I will definitely use again!  If any of you went and got the gold ticket, I am intrigued as to what was included in the goodie bag for that ticket?

When shopping I also picked up an eos lip balm from Selfridges which I love. Seriously it definitely lives up to the hype. The scents are beautiful, the design is so cute and they are perfect to pop in your handbag, also they come in many different colours, being me I chose pink of course! And finally, I had a mini splurge and bought a Ted Baker purse which I picked up for £65, very expensive I know and being a student I definitely could not afford it, but hey it is my new favourite accessory! As this comes in many different colours I was torn between the nude pink and the mint green, as I am so indecisive after at least half an hour of consideration I went with pink, which has a cream leather interior and silk money pouch and such a cute clasp. Did you visit London Fashion Weekend? :)