I Covet Thee, H & M

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7

I sure am impressed with H&M's current collection. Dresses 1 and 2 are my absolute favourites and I don't mean to brag, but I am the proud owner of both! I wore the purple one for a long needed night out on Saturday, but teamed with some trusty flats, I will definitely be whacking this out  for day time usage if the temperature continues to rise. This past week has been glorious; I heart you sun. I do also love the pink dress, more the style than the colour as I am not a huge pink fan, I must admit. There were other colours in store that were a lot more me but they are not available on line for some reason. 

Likewise, the green cardigan is an alright colour, but again it is more the style that I like. I tried the pale blue version on in store and fell in love; it's a thin, knitted style so if the weather keeps up, temptation might get the better of me. I should have named this post I Covet Thee, Sun. 

Leather seems to be catching my eye a lot at the moment too, I almost bought a black leather jacket but I just don't think they suit me very well, so I hope you are all feeling smug whilst sitting pretty in yours. Is there anything that's catching your eye as Spring swiftly approaches? 


PS. I spy 200 lovely followers in my side bar, thank you very much you jammy lot! Come and say hello on Twitter too, don't be shy, I'm really quite friendly. 

By Jaymie OC

HEADS UP: this post is going to be a completely shameless plug of an incredibly talented lady called Jaymie O'Callaghan.

It must have been about a month ago that I contacted Jaymie in regards to an illustrated card I had seen her post on Twitter re. the big V. day. Now, I know that Valentine's Day is a bit like Marmite, some love to celebrate it and others loathe it. I, myself, am some what on the fence; I like to give a little something (usually just a card), but to me it is more about the company. This year, admittedly, Rob and I put a bit more effort in, as last year's February 14th resembled something along the lines of me living in France, sitting in McDonalds, sobbing into my Big Mac whilst having a skype date with Rob. Long distance sucks. (If you're wondering why I was in McDonald's, no, I was not eating my feelings, my accommodation didn't have internet so 2/3/4 times a week- I kid you not- I'd potter along to McDonalds, laptop et MICROPHONE in hand and take full advantage of their free wi-fi). Oh, the Erasmus life...

Anyway, I had seen some of Jaymie's work, jewellery, blog headers and knew of her artistic flare and thought her idea to do hand drawn, personalised Valentine's Day cards was a wonderful idea. I don't know about you, but the idea of walking into Clinton's or worse, Card Factory, and browsing the "romantic" card section makes me gag a lot little. So I approached Jaymie and this is what I got:

A5 commissioned Valentine's Day Card by Jaymie O'Callaghan

A beautiful, personal card that would actually mean something to both of us and that we would be able to keep, even after all the Valentine's Day hype had died down. All I had to do was send Jaymie a photo that I wanted to be the main focus of the card and then a list of interests and hobbies that Rob and I have to feature around the centre piece. Jaymie was incredibly easy to liaise with, be it via Twitter or email and always quick to respond. I couldn't have been happier with the card and how quickly she managed to get it drafted, approved and popped in the post for me and at such a high standard. I think that for the effort that goes into creating such a personal gift, it is most definitely worth the price (although I won't mention it on here as Rob will read this!) 

Photo I sent Jaymie to use as the centre piece.

Even though Valentine's Day has been and gone, there are a million and one other occasions worthy of such a purchase; Birthdays, Mother's Day (next month!), Easter, Anniversaries or maybe you're just like me and love receiving a little written something in the post, who doesn't? Sometimes it's nice to just be spontaneous rather than wait for certain 'occasions' to pop up and kick our thoughtfulness into gear.  

Miss O'Callaghan is definitely somebody to look out for so go and say hello to her on Twitter here, read and follow her wonderful blog By Jaymie here and take a look at her assortment of hand crafted jewellery on her on line shop Jewellery By Jaymie here. And send somebody one of her beautiful cards along the way. 

London Fashion Week 2012

Instalment two of LFW goes to my favourite street styles of the day. It was quite a surreal atmosphere with everybody dressed to the nines, six feet tall and just waiting to be snapped. Armed with a mass of tote bags, camera and my trusty Motel  Rocks intern side kick Katie, we hit the cobbles searching for the créme de la créme of London town. These are just a selection of my favourite dressed people:

Incredibly beautiful pattern; feathers, be they real or printed, were a very popular statement at Somerset House.

But, my absolute top favourite of the day was this amazing jacket worn by the most disgustingly pretty girl bitter:

Another top favourite of mine was the girl below who looked wonderful in her pastel ensemble. There were quite a few pastel/coral coloured maxi skirts floating around (see above) and it has made me really want one, if I such an item exists that doesn't drown me or turn me into a floor sweeper!

Not to forget the celebs of course!

Louise Redknapp LFW

Kate Nash LFW

Kitty X-Factor, celeb? hmm...

Jameela Jamil, I just love you, okay? 

Motel Rocks @ LFW

My Ambassador role got taken to the next level this week as I was asked if I would be interested in helping to promote the brand at London Fashion Week and of course, I had to say yes. Although I wasn't fortunate enough to go to any shows, simply being around Somerset House photographing and talking to so many beautifully dressed ladies was a great experience. It was quite a surreal atmosphere with everybody dressed to the nines, six feet tall and just waiting to be snapped. I have quite a few photos to share with you so I'm going to spread them over two posts so as not to be too photo-heavy. Instalment one goes to the Motel Rocks clan, especially to Taz and her killer Jeffrey Campbells, which caused quite the stir to say the least!

AMAZING SHOES! 

Some Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sorry kids, had to re-claim my blog on Bloglovin' so a pretty pointless post unless you'd be so kind as to follow, ta :)

Because You're Worth It

Remember Christmas, way back when? Well, I received this Volume Million Lashes Mascara by L'oréal Paris as part of a present from Rob. In all honesty, (and without sounding too ungrateful!) I wasn't over the moon with it as it was a lovely thought, but I just would never have picked this mascara myself. I think most girls are extremely particular when it comes to mascara, what brands they like, what style of brush, black or brown etc. For me, I like my brushes to be thick, bristly and black as the night sky à la No.7 Intense Volume or Benefit Bad Gal.

Benefit Bad Gal Mascara

Boots No.7 Intense Volume Mascara

Rob had chosen a mascara that comes with a rubber toothed brush, one of my mascara absolute pet hates! Poor sod. I was honest and voiced my opinions on how I didn't like plastic or rubber mascara brushes but he had thought about this present so I decided to give it a go.

Verdict? I LOVE IT.

L'oréal ParisVolume Million Lashes Mascara

It is amazing. I have always found rubber brushes to cause ridiculous levels of clumpiness, remember those girls from our mid-teenage years who used to clump their lashes together to give the impression of just 3 disgusting fat lashes? *vom* That's the effect I've always had with them, a most unattractive one. This mascara, however, does nothing but fan my lashes out. The length and volume I achieve is amazing. My lashes look full, long, dark and curved, something I never thought I would be able to achieve with a rubber toothed brush. Application is easy, the number of coats depends on how much volume you wish to apply making it a suitable mascara for both day and night.The staying power of this mascara is 10/10, there is no flaking during the day and my lashes are just as long and thick when I return home at night as when I applied it that same morning.

L'oréal Paris Volume Million Lashes Mascara

Have any of you tried the L'oréal Paris Volume Million Lashes mascara? What was your opinion? (Particularly on the controversial rubber brushes!) 

I'll leave you with a picture of the disgustingly beautiful Eva Longoria (face of said mascara) to perve over. Eugh, doesn't she just make you sick? 

Asos Fashion Finder

So I was linked to this photo of me which is currently being sported on the Asos Fashion Finder website after being snapped at the TOWIB event by the Asos Fashion Finder Team (who do I think I am?) The black dress I'm wearing is from H&M, the blouse is a vintage Christmas present from my brother and my tanned Chelsea boots and necklace were yet more Christmas presents from the boy. So glad I fixed that odd button the night before now!

I'm so glad that it highlights how small I am *sigh* and has convinced me that I desperately need to invest in some comfy heeled day time footwear because this midget look is just not floating my boat.

You can see lots more snaps of far more fashionable bloggers than myself on the Asos Fashion Finder site here! 

The Only Way Is Blogging

I'm slightly apprehensive about writing this post given the unnecessarily, heightened negativity that seems to have escalated over the past 48 hours, but I had always planned to do a TOWIB related post, so here goes! 

Heading to the event alone, I had planned to meet outside the 'We Will Rock You' sign, hopefully meet a few friendly faces and head in more comfortably with a group. But after a nightmare train journey, which resulted in being stuck at Tonbridge for over half an hour, then my train being terminated a few stops early as it was so late, panicking over what tube line I now needed, I consequently ended up being 25 minutes late to an empty sign. Thus commenced Google mapping the venue and finally turning up to a room full to the brim of eager, chatty bloggers enjoying cups of tea and coffee with a cup cake and/or biscuit thrown in for  deliciously good measure.

After walking through and admiring the stunning venue that was The Montague Hotel, I whipped on my name tag, eagerly poured myself a coffee and then...looked around the room in utter despair not knowing where or how to begin approaching people. Luckily, Hayley of London Beauty Queen who organised the event piped up and our first blogger bonding session was under way. Our ice breaker was to mingle with as many people as possible and gather as many different blog URL's as we could. Now, the room was crowded due to the huge turnout and yes, it was difficult to get around, but there was certainly no lack of people to talk to. Taking a deep breath and sporting my friendliest, non-creepy (I hope) smile, I managed to approach my first couple of bloggers, introduce myself and have a little chat. Some people were admittedly merely swapping addresses and moving on asap, however, the majority of people I spoke to and met were inquisitive and friendly, keen to know what my blog was about, how long I had been blogging for, what methods I used to connect with other bloggers and get my blog out there, and I like to think that I reciprocated this interest.

At 1pm, it was time for the PR panel question and answer session. I thought that this was a really good talk, it was extremely interesting and informative about how to approach PR's, and what to be wary of if you find yourself being approached by them, the dos and donts of emails and contact, little tips to help you stand out from the crowd as well as encouragement that those GFC figures that we are all so hung up on are not the be all and end all of a successful blog, hurrah! I've heard a few people complain about not being able to hear because they were too far back and others complaining due to other people talking the whole way through! The latter I think is easily rectified with good manners but maybe if microphones had been used then people wouldn't be so keen to start up their own conversations, as I can imagine not being able to hear being quite frustrating! But what we have to remember is that this is the first time that TOWIB has had this many people attend and this is only, what, the third event out of all of them. Surely we must all be sympathetic to trial and error and allow that there will be flaws, but this is a new event, it is organised single handedly and at no benefit to anyone other than us, the attendees. 

We then had another chance to mingle some more, refill our coffee cups before Ebuzzing took to the stage.  The woman originally meant to give the presentation was unable to for whatever reason, so a guy called Dave and another called Joel stepped up to the mark. I'll be honest, I didn't have a clue what Dave was going on about in his beautiful New Zealand accent for the first 10 minutes or so, and Hayley could see this on many-a-dazed and confused face, including my own, so interrupted to make sure that we were up to speed and that Dave would cover more relevant subject matter. Maybe a little rude and embarrassing for a slightly beetroot faced Dave, but it was a sure relief for us clueless cookies. It wasn't the most captivating of presentations, a tad long in my opinion and a lot of the talk was about monetising your blog which was better aimed at bigger blogs and a few figures he gave were disheartening to say the least, but to look on the bright side, it is something for us newby small time bloggers to potentially aspire to. It may not have been relevant for everyone, I do not think it especially was for me, particularly the monetisation parts, but Joel's part in particular I felt was beneficial to everybody with more advice on how generate more traffic, get your blog higher up the Google search engine ladder, the benefits of  what he called 'evergreen' posts compared to topical posts in relation to generating long term traffic as opposed to short term reading. Plus, hats off to the guy for concluding with, 'You can't polish a turd.' Yes, this really was his final say on the matter. 

Now, I won't lie to you, I was bloody starving by this point, I mean, I was picturing everybody as a scone kinda level of hungry and was close to breaking point at finding that the last scone had just been taken as I reached the front of the queue! I know it is a bit petty, but numbers were confirmed before the event and perhaps a little announcement wouldn't have gone amiss to let people know how many scones were too many scones or maybe I should just get over my food addiction! But I'm not bitter about this and I think that we are all old enough to get over the scones running out, right? (But, to the girl with 4 scones plus a cake on her plate, if you're reading this, I'm coming after you). 

Now, I don't mean to linger on food too much, but I hadn't had time to eat all day so I admittedly left with a couple of other bloggers for a quick Starbucks lunch before heading back for the Blogger Q&A session at 5pm, which of course meant missing out on Annabelle's Wigs, but I honestly thought I was going to faint. I felt incredibly guilty as did the girls I was with and we spent the whole time between mouthfuls saying how awful we felt for leaving after so much effort had gone into the event. Note to self to bring a packed lunch next time, think Melita, think! 

The last hour was by far the best and it was a shame that so many people missed out on Bloggers Q&A  chat. It was an incredily interesting talk and a great way to get bloggers chatting and laughing. The atmosphere was brilliant and Louise from Get Lippie, Mina from Kings Road Rocks and Hayley again were fantastic and thorough at answering our questions, Louise in particular cracking me up more than once! And hats off to the girl who was brilliant enough to share and laugh at someone calling her 'uglier than a tramp's testicle'. Come on now, that's funny?

Overall, I had a brilliant day, I got to meet people I had spoken to over twitter and blogger alike, plus some brand spanking new beautiful faces, acquire a fabulous bunch of new blogs to read and learn a hell of a lot. Yes, the day was flawed, but give the girl a break! No, it wasn't for everybody, but it was all set out in black and white before we went and it was everything I expected it to be, which is perhaps why I wasn't disappointed. I'm gutted I can't make the London Lunch which would suit me down to the ground as there's not a lot I like more than socialising and stuffing my face, but hopefully there'll be another event soon so I can do a tad more mingling and broaden my limited blogging knowledge just that little bit more. In the mean time, thank you and congratulations to Hayley for an overall insightful and enjoyable day and hopefully you'll check out these wonderful ladies: 

http://e-eliseetc.blogspot.com/

http://www.prettyrockingvelvet.blogspot.com/

http://xxsarahlouxx.blogspot.com/

http://pinklittlebean.blogspot.com/

http://dancingthroughthefire.blogspot.com/

http://www.beautybecca.blogspot.com/

http://www.frootibeauty.co.uk/

Sunday #5

1. I've finally cracked the 150 follower mark after what feels like forever! I feel like my blog's been moving really slowly recently, I haven't had my memory card and uni is my world right now so to those of you who continue to read and the influx of newbies who have started to read, ta very, very much! I still keep going to type in my old url, so I'm glad people are managing to find the new one and sticking around! 

2. I have spent an awful lot of time in the library this week and after another near on 8 hour stint with my head submerged in books, I was quite looking forward to blowing off some steam and going out last night. Waking up yesterday morning there was a very thin blanket of snow covering the city of Canterbury. Come yesterday early evening and most of it had melted away. All glammed up and with a glass of wine or 3 inside me, we headed to the uni club. Now, I don't know what overcame this club during my year out, but it's queuing policy is an absolute joke. Every time I have been I have been forced to queue for at least half an hour no matter how early or late. Last night, massive queue. Then it started to snow. And it didn't stop. Over an hour of huddling like penguins soaking up every ounce of body heat that we could find and pretty much being at the front of the queue, the bouncers had some sort of mental breakdown turning them all into utter morons and decided to move us all, in no particular order (cue stampede and me landing in a heap of people in the snow), to the opposite side of the club to queue. WHAT? Back to square one where we had started and with the possibility of nearly another hour's wait we went home grumpy and shivering in a taxi with more steam to blow than when we had arrived. Shame on you Venue, shame on you. 

3. On a prettier, brighter note, I did wake up to this beautiful scene today. Canterbury is completely blanketed in thick, white snow and it looks so beautiful. There is something that always gets me really excited when it snows, I feel like I'm six again. And as long as it doesn't hang around for too long, ie. past Tuesday, then snow and I will have a great relationship. Somebody take me to the South Downs with a sledge please and thank you? Excuse the repeated photos in different effects, I have been playing around with  a new app called Molome which is like an Instagram-type-thing for those of us who made the cursed choice of opting for a blackberry rather than an iPhone, FOOLS. 

4. This week holds some exciting prospects. Once I have my final ever presentation (with the exception of my oral exam presentation) out of the way on Tuesday, I have  visit from Rob to look forward to on Wednesday for a couple of days as I will be going to TOWIB on Saturday! I must admit that I'm just as nervous as I am excited but am looking forward to meeting new people, learning new things and hopefully putting some real faces to the pictures and words I so frequently muse over. Will any of you be there on Saturday?  

As Sweet As Blood Red Jam

Red Glitter 150

I saw this nail polish floating about around Christmas time, but every Boots store I checked into were out of stock. Until yesterday, and so I used my points to my advantage (see what I did there?) and updated my collection. I am a huge fan of Barry M nail polishes, they can take some time to dry, but not being the kinda girl who paints her nails 10 minutes before leaving the house this isn't really an issue for me. I usually have to apply 3 coats of polish to get the opaque look I'm after, I like my nails to be super opaque, but for this I used 4 just to ensure that not a patch was left unglittered. It dried in absolutely no time at all which was great; it feels quite strange to the touch as it is not your usual smooth texture but slightly gritty due to the glitter. I wish I had had it for the festive period but we all need something to brighten up these ridiculously chilly times, non? New favourite colour.