Black Magic

Top - River Island / Trousers - Patrizia Pepe* / Sandals - New Look / Necklace - Rock 'N' Rose
Watch - JORD* / Bracelet - H&M / Rings - Regal Rose & River Island

I'm probably wearing more black clothing here than most would deem suitable for the Summer but I like to indulge in my gothic tendencies all year round! Cold shoulder tops aren't normally my thing as I'm quite broad but I thought the shape of this one from River Island was really cute. The body is relaxed & floaty so it's very comfortable to wear when the weather is hot. I love the neckline & it dips down at the back as well. I definitely want to get it in a few more colours & they've just brought out a lovely polka dot version too! I think it looks great with jeans or trousers so I paired it with these black Patrizia Pepe jeggings from Repertoire Fashion. For some reason I've avoided jeggings in the past but these are such brilliant quality. They're so well made & very flattering on my figure. I don't think regular leggings are acceptable as trousers but these are completely opaque & quite thick so they really hold you in. They also look smart enough to pass off as work trousers whilst providing all the comfort of leggings. Repertoire Fashion offer some amazing discounts on designer brands. The jeggings normally cost £109 but Repertoire Fashion sell them for just 40 quid so it's well worth checking out all the designer bargains on their website!

As this is quite a plain black outfit I wanted to dress it up a bit with my accessories. I went for my gorgeous white sandals from New Look which I consider to be the perfect Summer shoes. I got these last year but they have some similar ones in store now. They're so comfy & easy to walk in. I love a good statement necklace & it doesn't get much bolder than this gold pentagram choker from Rock 'N' Rose. I've become completely obsessed with Quay Australia sunglasses lately. The Kitti glasses are one of my fave styles but the matte black material sometimes leaves black marks on my face, boo! Red lipstick goes beautifully with a black outfit & Illamasqua Tramp is the ultimate. Sadly I think they've discontinued it now but they do loads of other fab red lippies too.




Womens Wood Watches
One of my newest acquisitions is this wooden JORD watch. I think it looks absolutely stunning & so unique! I've never seen anything like it before. The watches are all handcrafted in the USA. Each watch also looks slightly different due to the nature of the wood so you end up with a one of a kind timepiece. I chose the Ely Cherry watch as I loved the colour of the wood & I like to have a date window on the clock face. It feels incredibly light & comfortable to wear. The style is elegant & goes with everything. It has a smaller dial & band than some of their other watches so it's perfect for my delicate wrists. One thing I dislike about buying a new watch is having to get it sized at a jewellers. For just $10 JORD will actually take care of this for you. Simply measure your wrist before ordering & your watch will arrive ready to wear. It's an excellent service & I'd definitely recommend taking advantage of it. I had no problems with UK customs which is something I often worry about when ordering from abroad & delivery was extremely quick too! I'm completely in love with this watch & I've had so many comments about it lately. A wooden watch certainly attracts lots of attention. If you're after something a bit unusual or want to get someone a very unique gift then I'd highly recommend taking a look at all the wonderful wooden watches that JORD have to offer.

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Gotta Be Fresh

Dress - Red Label* / Jacket - Primark / Sandals - eBay / Bracelet - Black Tied / Rings - ASOS & Regal Rose

Although I'm normally quite happy to stick with my mainly monochrome wardrobe, I can't resist a super bright dress like this one. Neon clothes probably don't look as good on me as they would on someone with tanned skin but I like to rock them anyway. I was sent this amazing lime green skater dress by Red Label. It only costs £15 but it's such good quality and that colour is a real stunner. This dress is really comfy and absolutely perfect for Summer. It's great to wear during the day or on a night out. The neck trim is detachable but I kept it on as I think it makes for a gorgeous faux necklace. Sometimes I wish I had a proper leather jacket but I'm pretty glad I have my cheapy Primark one at the moment. It's light enough for this weather & makes all my girly dresses look a little more badass. Still loving my gladiator sandals from eBay! They're all I've worn lately as they pretty much go with everything.

I wore this outfit when I went out for a meal with my friend last week. I always look forward to finding out which street food carts are setting up shop in the Trinity Leeds Kitchen each month & I really wanted to go to Tacochu. They sell taco rice which fuses together two of my favourite cuisines - Japanese & Mexican. It was so delicious! My roots look really bad here but I've had my hair done since then and it's a lot shorter & pinker toned now. These pictures are making me wish I hadn't cut it but my ends were getting far too ratty. I miss having proper pink hair though so I might get a bit dye happy very soon!

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Spring Flowers

Dress - Chi Chi* / Shoes - Office / Necklace - Le Chou Chou Bijoux* / Bracelet - Black Tied / Ring - Regal Rose

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to receive this beautiful dress from Chi Chi. They make some uber-glam dresses that I would only really consider wearing for a party or special occasion. I'm rather pleased to see that they've added a few more day dresses to their collection like this Daisy dress. It's still incredibly glamorous but I wouldn't feel completely overdressed wearing this on a day out paired with a leather jacket. The embroidered lace flowers & diamante detail on the bodice are ever so pretty. I love the floaty skirt, it's a sweet shade of pale pink & the length is just right on me. I can imagine myself wearing this a lot during the Summer. I can't wait to crack out all my girly dresses again & blind everyone with my pasty legs!

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Glamourween

Dress - F&F* / Tights - F&F* / Backpack - F&F* / Boots - Topshop / Floral Crown - Crown & Glory
Necklace - Kukee / Bracelet - Black Tied / Rings - Topshop, The Bohemian Collective, Kukee, Regal Rose
Nails - eBay & Barry M 115 Red Black* / Lipstick - Illamasqua Magnetism*

Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year and god knows I do have some gothy dressing tendencies. So when F&F Clothing asked me to take part in their Glamourween competition, I jumped at the chance. The clothes at Tesco are surprisingly good quality and I have often bought clothes for myself & Chloe from there. Fifteen bloggers have been asked to create an 'urban witch' look. We were all given a voucher to buy some F&F clothing and a little black cauldron full of sweeties & beauty goodies.

When you think of witches you probably associate them with the pointy hatted, green & warty look that many sport at Halloween. However for my look I took inspiration from some of my favourite onscreen witches. I have a mild obsession with the awesome 90's film The Craft. Nancy Downs was such a badass crazy witch so I decided to dress how she would today if she hadn't ended up in an insane asylum. I'm also loving the outfits on American Horror Story: Coven. I love Jessica Lange and her character seems really interesting. She looked so chic in her little black peplum dress with the umbrella when she took the girls on their field trip.

I thought this F&F dress was especially witchy with it's classic shift shape, floaty sleeves and collar. I've been after a cool little leather backpack for ages and this one is perfect. It looks really nice for something that's not real leather & has lots of room inside. I paired it with my good old Topshop boots which I've always thought of as a bit witchy and my black Whole Lotta Rosie floral crown from Crown & Glory. My accidental purple & blue hair definitely adds to the look, so maybe it was a good thing?! I've also wanted to have some pointy nails ever since Rihanna had pointy lilac nails in her What's My Name video. I finally bought some off eBay and they're definitely more trouble than they're worth. I've had to take them off to type this or I would still be writing this next week! No witch outfit would be complete without a pentagram necklace. I got mine from Kukee and I think it looks cute peeking through the cut out detail in the dress. Anyway I hope you like my 'Glamourween' look! I can't wait to see all the other entries.

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Twenty Five

Dress - Poppy Lux* / Hat - Topshop / Boots - Topshop / Necklace - Kukee
Bracelets - Black Tied & Ginger Pickle* / Ring - Regal Rose

I can't believe it's been a whole two months since I last did an outfit post! My self esteem has taken a bit of a nosedive recently so I've not really felt up to it. I haven't been buying many clothes either. I went a bit mad in the Trafford Centre the other day though so I'm sure I'll posting about those soon. Anyway another thing I can't believe is that I am now 25 years old! It was my birthday on Friday and I spent it in Manchester with Chloe. First of all we went to the Sea Life Centre because she loves looking at the fish in Pets At Home haha. It was pretty cool, we got to stroke crabs and there was this humongous turtle. Then we spent the rest of the day shopping in the Trafford Centre. I bought some stuff from Topshop, Zara & River Island before having a makeover at the Illamasqua counter. It's definitely worth joining some email mailing lists because I managed to get birthday vouchers for a free smoothie at Boost and a free meal at Barburrito. Victoria's Secret finally opened too so I was really excited to take a look. Even though it was my birthday their stuff was just too expensive to treat myself to. 3 pairs of pants for £27, really? Think I'll just have to pop some of their stuff on my Christmas wishlist instead. Then we met up with some friends and went to Yo! Sushi for my birthday dinner. The strawberry cheesecake mochi were so good!

So this is what I wore for our day out. I decided to wear this lovely lace dress from Poppy Lux. I'm obsessed with their clothes and everything is so affordable. This dress has now been reduced to just £29 so it's a complete bargain for something so pretty. I love the sweetheart bust and studded shoulders. It's incredibly flattering too & excels at hiding a food baby. Poppy Lux even put me on their homepage the other day which is totally awesome! I just paired it with my trusty pork pie hat and chelsea boots from Topshop. I got this necklace from Kukee the other day. I think it's pretty cute & it was only £2. I've been buying lots of new jewellery lately so I'll show you those with the rest of the stuff I got for my birthday. Thanks for all the lovely messages on Twitter, always nice to know people care ;)

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Collar & Cuffs

Dress - Missguided* / Jacket - Primark / Flatforms - ASOS
Badges - Stolen Thunder, Helpless Romantic / Rings - Regal Rose, Kukee, ASOS

This is what I wore out last night for a few cocktails in Revs. I can't remember the last time I wore a bodycon dress or skirt as I'm a bit on the lumpy side these days but for some reason I was drawn to this one from Missguided. I just adore the leather collar & cuffs! It's knitted so it was surprisingly comfy & warm. I can never resist going for a few drinks when there's a bit of sun even if it's actually freezing outside! I paired it with my trusty old leather jacket from Primark and my ASOS flatforms.

As you can see I also dyed my hair pink! I've been itching to dye it a pastel colour again for ages. I was gonna go for mint green this time but when I got my roots done last weekend I just asked them to mix a bit more pink into my toner. It's faded a lot already so I think I'll have to get some Directions Carnation Pink to top it up soon. I'm really happy with it though & I think it looks even better this time as my hair is a bit longer now. Maybe I'll do green next time eh?

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Dreaming Of Another World

Vest - Primark / Top - Warehouse / Disco Pants - American Apparel / Jacket - H&M / Scarf - eBay
Necklace - Urban Outfitters / Ring - Regal Rose / Bracelet - H&M / Watch - Michael Kors

Today I wore this outfit for a quick trip to the post office & a mooch round the shops after Rhyme Time at the library. I got this lovely peter pan collar lace top from Warehouse about five years ago and its something I've never wanted to part with. Its so pretty & jazzes up any otherwise plain outfit. I probably shouldn't wear tight high waisted trousers as they just accentuate my huge hips but I still wear my Disco Pants all the time. I bought this little denim biker jacket from H&M last week. I just thought it was cute and makes a nice change from my leather jackets.

If I look a bit moody in these pictures its because my camera was refusing to focus today. All of the functions are controlled via touch screen rather than buttons so I think some settings got changed by accident! I've not really been up to much lately either. I spent pretty much all of last week packing up and posting the forty items I sold on eBay. I ended up making over £300 by selling my old camera, clothes & shoes so I think it was worth all the hours of hell. I did get worried about making a profit after spending over £130 just on postage but luckily it all paid off. Its a pain listing everything rather than putting stuff up on a blogsale but at least you can be sure that things will sell right away, even if its only for 99p. The rest of the time I've been marathoning every season of Rupaul's Drag Race. I am so obsessed with it. I wish I could be as half as fabulous as these fierce fishy queens. I kinda fancy trying out a drag makeup look, is that weird? I have so much respect for their extreme contouring skills. I even got up early today so I could watch the episode shown in America last night. Does anyone else watch it? I'm backing Jinkx Monsoon to win this season. She was brilliant as Little Edie!

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Apply Some Pressure

Dress - New Look / Shoes - All Saints / Bracelet - Ginger Pickle* / Rings - ASOS & Regal Rose

If there was ever an outfit that could represent me as a person, this would be it. Not sure why, its just a feeling I get when I wear this dress haha. I bought it from New Look a couple of years ago and its still one of my faves because it looks good during the day as well as at night. Plus it has pockets! Any dress with pockets immediately gets a thumbs up from me. My lipstick is one of the Topshop pencils in Powder Room. Really love this colour! These are my go-to dancing shoes. I bought them from All Saints a few years ago hence their battered appearance. They cost about £70 and I adore them so I'm still reluctant to get rid of them even though they've seen better days. I absolutely love my new arrow bracelet from Ginger Pickle. Its so dainty and cute! Jade makes some beautiful pieces with the sweetest packaging ever so definitely check out her shop if you haven't already.

This is what I wore last night when we went to see the bonfire & watch some fireworks. Well, this is what I wore under a hoodie, a coat, a scarf, a hat and some gloves. Its so cold out there! Last night was a bit of fail because while we were walking towards the display Chloe kept saying how much she loved fireworks, then as soon as we got there lots of crying ensued with shouts of 'I don't like fireworks, they're too loud!'. Oops, hopefully she'll enjoy it more next year!

Transylvanian Concubine

Playsuit - Topshop / Bracelet - Black Tied / Rings - Regal Rose, H&M, Kukee

I wore this lovely little Topshop playsuit on Tuesday for Andy's birthday. I love velvet & always look forward to cracking some out during the A/W season. Looking like a Victorian boy is totally my thing. Its actually really warm, so much so that I didn't feel the need to wear any tights with it. Not that we went anywhere or did anything other than gorge on the yummy cake I made. We decided to just have a little party inside to save on funds. I think Andy was also a bit sad about turning 28. I'm quite the opposite & look forward to getting older every year, maybe just so people will stop looking down on me for having a kid already. Hey-ho!




This is how my Smarties birthday cake turned out. It was so good! I'd say it was the best tasting cake I've ever made. I used a Hummingbird Bakery recipe for the chocolate buttercream frosting & it was really delicious, even if I did end up covering half the kitchen with icing sugar & cocoa powder!

This Night Has Opened My Eyes

Dress - Glamorous* / Shirt - New Look / Jacket - Primark / Hat - Topshop / Boots - Topshop
Bolo Tie - Galibardy / Rings - Regal Rose, H&M, Kukee

Today I'm wearing this dress that I was sent by the lovely people at Glamorous. They describe it as a vest on the website but its definitely long enough to be worn as a dress. I really like the dip hem & anything with a cross on is alright by me! I wore it with a chiffon shirt underneath mainly so I could wear my bolo tie with it. I am obsessed with this tie. After my years of searching for one on ebay, Galibardy came to my rescue with this classic buffalo skull one. I could only ever find really tacky ones meant for cowboy fancy dress costumes so I'm really happy with this purchase. I'm also wearing my witchy boots! I bought these from Topshop a couple of years ago and I totally forgot I had them. Think I'll be having these as this years A/W boots.

I've spent most of today running about trying to get everything organised for Andy's birthday tomorrow. I'm making him a chocolate Smarties cake and it smells so good! Can't wait to decorate it and eat it. Still need to pop out to Sainsburys again when the sponges have finished cooking as I've forgotten to buy him a card, whoops!

PS. First blog photos taken on my new camera, ooh exciting haha!