What I got for my birthday 2016 – A couple of days ago it was my 29th birthday and I was a very lucky girl this year with some of the gifts I received. I was also treated to tickets to see Guys & Dolls in the West End which is currently starring Rebel Wilson; the show was brilliant and she was fabulous!
Hey Sweeties,
Every now and again, sometimes you get the urge to buy something impulsively that even though you may never be brave enough to wear out, you buy because to you it articulates a part of your personality that few people know you have. This for me, is my latest bomber jacket from TDS (The Design Studio), called ‘ETI’. I saw her and I was like, yes!
I’m not going to lie to you, I am hugely biased in my love for TDS but I think you guys know me well enough by now that I don’t rave about products, brands and clothing unless I am motivated by anything other than genuine honesty and love for them. In case you do happen to be a first time visitor to my little space on the internet, the mother daughter duo behind The Design Studio are in fact my Godmother, Sally and her daughter, Lettie. You met these guys first on here when I spent the weekend with them (here); then my delight at being sent a jacket for my birthday (here); when they got featured in Teen Vogue (here); and most recently what they designed for me for my wedding (here).
Some years ago, when I was at school I loved nothing more than to dress a bit differently to everyone else, it was who I was and a way for me to stand out a bit. Non-uniform ‘mufty’ days were my favourite and meticulous planning would take place in the week or two leading up to the day to ensure my outfit conveyed exactly what I wanted. I remember going through a bit of a hippy phase in my early teens, and then in my mid-late teens I turned quite gothic but I liked then being defined in that way. You then get older and you don’t want to stand out in the same way, for some reason it’s no longer right too, it’s not mature enough. I mean, that’s okay as there are still ways to define your own style that says a lot about your personality. For me, I am still ETI inside, I am still warm, fluffy and fun but this shit thing called anxiety sometimes gets in the way and I lack the confidence to wear certain things and properly convey the person I am. This is of course, ridiculous. I am nearly thirty years old, who honestly is going to say anything? It’s not the playground anymore. But isn’t this jacket absolutely wonderful? I love the fluffy pink fabric with the polka dots.
What do you guys think? Do you have an item of clothing that represents your personality? Do you have the confidence to wear it?
Until next time x
Hey Sweeties,
I think talk and excitement of the work Christmas party begins late summer and ramps up gradually until the week finally arrives. Last year if you’ll remember the company I was working for hosted a Wild West themed do (here) where it was checked shirts, cowboy hats and boots a plenty, so this year I am delighted I can attend a proper, formal black tie party.
However, like last year though the party is straight after work (tonight!) and while I do have a couple of hours later to get ready, I’ve had to think ahead and create my look for you slightly early but I hope you don’t mind.
Here is what I am wearing to my work Christmas party:
Dress: Laura Ashley | Shoes: Faith | Bomber jacket: TDS
I have owned this dress for a few years, having only worn it once previously so it’s been great that I can recycle an old love rather than having to trawl the shops for something new. I particularly like the crystal encrusted detail in the middle and the fabric is gorgeously silky but quite thick and heavy which for winter is ideal.
My TDS bomber jacket I think accompanies this dress perfectly; I love it so much! I am definitely looking to add another couple to my collection soon as they are so unique and actually, very versatile. For me with this particular look, I love how the jacket adds a soft -but slightly edgy- texture, and the pink adds that feminine touch.
Make up:
The core element of my look is the eyes -I wanted something dark, smoky and layered with glitter and this is where my Urban Decay Smoky palette really comes into it’s own. I began by applying Dagger across my lid; I blended Black Market into my crease; I put a little touch of Slanted into the inner corners of my eyes to brighten; then I packed on a generous layer of Armor for that Christmas glittery touch. I completed the look with winged black eyeliner and mascara. A key tip here as with any makeup like this is to blend, blend and blend some more otherwise you’ll have dark glittery cheeks too if you’re not careful.
I think this look definitely needs to be partnered with a dark outfit as they’ll compliment each other gorgeously, especially if you also add a dark red lip like I have above. Creating this makeup look also confirmed for me that on my wedding day next year, while I can still create a dramatic eye, it needs to be achieved with lighter shades as my ivory dress will reflect onto my face and if I have a dark look, it’ll appear far too heavy.
What do you guys think?
Until next time x
Hi Sweeties,
I have had such a lovely weekend! My Mum came up on Friday to help wallpaper our living room (FYI, while we’re on the point, I’ll be doing a new home update/haul post soon where I’ll share with you more of what has been happening with that side of life)… and we had a day in London yesterday. Now Mum has headed back to Devon (so far away, sob!) and Ian has gone to work I am now sat reflecting on everything and things have become silent for the first time this weekend.
So, let’s get to the juicy part of my weekend… the London trip and a bit of a show and tell of what I picked up while there!
I’m terrible really, I am trying to not buy anything between now and January and then have a real wardrobe update and blowout in the sales but as the seasons change, there are always gaps that appear. For me, this year rather than do big chunky jumpers, I want to layer with tops and chunky cardigans and things like that… all of which I don’t really have. Doh!
Anyway.
I actually didn’t really pick up much in the way of clothing but I did pick up an amazing fluffy gilet from Forever 21 (above). I saw it and was like, “that’s mine!”. This will be ideal for layering over pretty much anything to be honest and I can’t tell you how snuggly it is; perfect for wearing around the house and when out and about.
Now, I can’t resist a hat but finding one that fits me well is quite rare as I have an odd shaped head. While Mum and I were in Aldo, I saw this hat, plonked it on my head and was like, “Wo!”. Mum took one look at it and practically marched me to the till point… she then noticed a lovely scarf so I treated her to that and she me the hat. Win win!
My next purchases were of the beauty kind…
Topshop, The Body Shop & Urban Decay
Let’s begin with The Body Shop.
As you know, it was merely a few weeks since I was last in there having a little skin care haul and to be honest, didn’t expect to be back there quite so soon… if I did, I would have taken my £10 off voucher with me (doh!). Moving on, we were passing and I thought while I had the opportunity I might as well stock up on my cleansing butter which I have loved since first purchasing it. I also grabbed a muslin cloth as I have learnt a flannel really doesn’t work… well it does, but despite washes and rinses following cleanser removal it gunks up something horrid with make-up!
While in the store I took the opportunity to investigate and take a look at the new Drops of Youth Eye Concentrate. I have been on the hunt for an eye cream of some kind as that’s the only area of my face that needs attention that I haven’t covered in my skin care routine so far so I thought I would give it a go. I’ll do a review of the product in a week or two once I have had a good chance to try it out.
Before heading to the checkout I had the briefest of glances across the make-up stand and this eyeliner caught my eye. I love a black liner as we know and now the weather is changing it’s creeping back into my everyday look but black can be quite harsh so I am exploring other colours. This product is the Smoky Plum Eye Definer and it’s a beautiful deep purple which I am excited to try.
Next!
As we also know, I don’t really venture into Topshop that often but the store on Oxford street is so big it can’t be ignored and the lull of the beauty section is impossible to avoid so, of course I didn’t leave empty handed.
You guys will remember the lipstick haul I did from there a few weeks ago and Depth has become a real favourite out of the four but I have lacked a lip liner to go with it… so I bought a lip liner in shade Deception which is a fairly deep red. I also picked up their highlighter in the shade Sunbeam. Now, I as yet am not really a wearer of highlighter but again, as we drift into the colder months I want to achieve a bit of definition and draw a bit of light to my upper cheekbones so I figured now was as good a time as any to make the purchase! Unfortunately the shade is a bit too difficult to swatch effectively enough to show you but it’s basically a yellowy gold shimmer; really pretty.
My next purchase I should really apologise for but I won’t. I will though confess it was purchased solely out of envy and feeling left out. Let me explain…
My Mum -like me- has really started to have a real allergy to certain eye shadows but I have been getting a long fine with my Sleek palettes and my Naked 2. So, as any good daughter would, I have been talking a fair bit about Urban Decay and suggested it’s something she should try by which I mean, wear some of mine for the day and she how she gets on. However, we passed House of Fraser and ventured through the beauty hall and low and behold, came across the Urban Decay stand. Mum loved the colours in the individual pans and picked out a beautiful pinky purple shade (Toasted). For ages she has also been desperate for someone to show her how to achieve a good smokey eye and Benefit are an obvious choice to achieve this. But the beauty assistant on the UD stand sat Mum in the chair and using Toasted as well as a couple of the other shades in the Naked 1 palette, created her the most brilliant but simple smokey eye using pink and brown colours. She absolutely nailed it! A traditional black & grey smokey eye would not have suited mum at all but this one she had done was perfect for her skin tone and also, her age. Mum was sold! Rather than just purchase Toasted (£14), it proved far more cost effective to buy the whole Naked 1 palette (£37). Of course, on reflection Mum really should have seen how she got on with Toasted and whether or not her skin reacted to it before taking the plunge with a whole palette but hey ho! While paying I got this strange overwhelming sense of envy… I wanted Naked 1 as well! So… I did (*hangs head*).
Ok, the haul is done! However, before I leave you I wanted to share something really exciting. Following my visit to The Design Studio a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I fell in love with their pink and black bomber jacket… well, guess what arrived for me in the post…
Ta Da!!!!
…My very own TDS Bomber jacket! Yippee!! I just so love this and like my new gilet, I am going to be wearing this all over the place throughout the autumn-winter months. I can’t tell you how snug it is! Thank you so much Sally and Lettie! *Mwah!*
What have you guys hauled lately??
Until next time x
Hey Sweeties,
So last weekend Mum and I braved the traffic and ventured all the way up to Chester as it was my Godmother’s daughter’s big 21st birthday (Happy Birthday @LetPatt)! I haven’t seen Lettie since she was a wee 5-6 year old (do the maths) so I have been so excited to finally see and meet her in the flesh rather than across the channels of social media! I also of course haven’t seen my Godmother, Sally in probably as many years so this really was a long awaited and vastly overdue visit!
We travelled up early Saturday morning arriving around lunchtime and spent the afternoon helping out with party preparations and catching up with news etc. Although social media kind of feels like it’s too much in my face sometimes, without it and there would be so many people from past schools (yes, schools –I went to 5!) that I wouldn’t be in contact with that although I haven’t seen for twenty odd years, feel like I see them often. I didn’t go to school with Lettie (obviously) but without connecting on Facebook a couple of years ago I would know literally nothing about her and her me. The fact that we hadn’t actually met until last weekend is irrelevant.
Sunday was the day of the party and it was a great day… dare I say the best part being the bouncy castle?! I don’t excuse what you are about to see…
Anyway.
Now, I don’t know if any of you guys happen to follow Suki Waterhouse on Instagram but recently she posted a photo of her wearing a pink bomber jacket… 
You’ll also have noticed that she thanks @thedesignstudiohawarden for supplying the bomber. Well, here’s some news for you Sweeties, The Design Studio are non-other than Sally and Lettie! Yes really! These two have been catching the beady fashion eye of several key industry peeps and publications of late and rightly so! While I was at TDS HQ -big 21st birthday aside- I made sure I took the opportunity to see the bombers myself. Interrupting Lettie while she was trying to get ready for her birthday (bless her!), I was taken upstairs to a hidden away part of the house and shown the jackets, most of which had been ordered and were ready for shipping.
My Favourite of them all!
As you can see, they are made in a selection of materials and colours and as Lettie so beautifully models, they are a combination of chunky and oversized which for the autumn-winter months couldn’t be more ideal. For me, I fell in love with the pink and black bomber as seen above; it’s just stunning!
Sally also creates these amazing bookbags which are literally how they sound -bags made out of the hardback spine of books! The picture below shows Lettie with her brand new Chanel bookbag!
If you’re looking for something a bit different, I would seriously take a gander over on The Design Studio website but more so, give them a follow on Instagram which is where Lettie shares their latest creations. I defy you to resist a purchase!
Until next time x
BOUNCY CASTLE!!