My spree

So yesterday I hit the shops of Leeds with one goal in mind... retail therapy. But alas, as always is the way I struggled to spend, I couldn't find most of the things I had my eye on and to top things off, my body confidence fell each time I tried on an item and it didn't suit. Then to make things even worse the trip got cut short as for some reason I got crippling back and hip pain so I descended on Starbucks with Elle in hand to try and sort myself out.

What I did manage to buy was:

3 pairs of shoes from New Look, I am not too sure about the shoe boots in the middle, they are really nice I am just not sure if I will ever wear them. I got some leather loafers that I have been wanting for a while and they where reduced to £15 so that's brilliant. The leopard print shoes are a bit of a wild card for me (pardon the pun) but I think I will be able to work them into my everyday boring work outfits and dressing up.

Then for spending over £30 I got a free necklace in New Look. I also bought a necklace that I love in Miss Selfridge:

The one on the left with the beads and feathers is from New Look and the one on the right which is a fabulous Orb style is from Miss Selfridge.

So I also got a dress from Miss Selfridge and have put it together with the others I bought to create my outfit of the day:

This gorgeous berry coloured dress is simple but looks lovely on and I think it will look fab with my leopard print shoes and the orb necklace.

So now I just need an occasion to wear them!

John Frieda

So as you may know I have gone from white blonde to dark brown in the space of 3 hours the other day.

After my session at the hairdressers I was recommended the shampoo and conditioner by John Frieda. Not only does it smell fab but even after one wash my hair looks incredibly shiny, healthy and my colour hasn't really faded - not as much as I expected.

 



I followed with some macademia nut oil as recommended by my hairdresser which has made my hair rather soft. Even though it has only been a couple of days since changing my hair it has made a huge difference.

No-one in work recognised me and all commented on how much better I look and how it really suits me, was rather embarrassed at being the centre of attention as people came over just to comment on my hair but was very flattered and made me feel like maybe things are starting to turn around...

Vogue at Harvey Nichols leeds

So... Queen Fi and I have our tickets to the Harvey Nichols Vogue Event in Leeds for next week and I couldn't be more excited!

So this weekend the credit card will take a beating as I want a nice outfit to wear to the event. My Nan bought me a lovely top yesterday from New Look which goes fab with my new hair - I never would have been able to wear it while I was blonde.

As you can see it's simple but it's lovely and only £14.99 an absolute bargain if you ask me!

So I am deciding whether to wear that top with a bodycon skirt and some fabulous shoes or whether to get a new outfit completely.

I have come across these beauties on the New Look website and can't believe they are only £25 a pair...

While the leopard print shoes may not be a shoe I would wear often I do think they would come in handy for dressing up a plain outfit so I will be trying them on on my mega shop this weekend.

To go with the leopard print shoes I may wear the following from River Island:

Lovely!

On a side note I also really want this skirt and this bag from River Island which I also think would go with the shoes (I think I have talked myself into the shoes):

For the Vogue event I really want the feather cover up, now it is from Ann Summers so please try and divert your eyes from the pearl bra underneath although it is rather delish!

So what do you think... what style do I go with? Suggestions are more than welcome!!

Life Changes and Hair Changes

So big downer this week... no deets but broke up with the boyfriend. At the same time as coming to the conclusion that I needed to dye my hair dark as it was too expensive to maintain my white blonde look. So major changes this week! I thought I would add some images to show the transformation.

So as you can see I had rather white blonde hair, I used to flash completely white in photos as for some reason my skin goes the colour of my hair in photos... see next image!

I toddled down to Sketch Hair in Leeds City Centre, I couldn't recommend them highly enough. My hairdresser Lauren is a superstar, and the new boy gives amazing head massages! I was rather aprehensive about going brunette as I have had it done before and it has gone red / ginger but needs must. So you can imagine my face when this happened....

No I wasn't ill... no I'm not a vampire.... no I'm not a ghost.... I just flash funny! Now this process is one that I haven't been through at the hairdressers. To put it in easy terms (as it was described to me) when you bleach your hair to the white stage I did you strip out all of the melanin, so when you want to go dark (as I didn't really but had to) you need to add this pigment to your hair so the colour has something to cling to and dye. So without further adue, please see my new colour...

It's a massive change I still can't get used to it but my family love it even though I have been told it makes me look more like a b**ch!

So as you can imagine my old make up just does not cut it with my new hair colour, so I went in to the Body Shop for a free makeover. The lovely Jonathon did a brilliant job and while I couldn't afford the £130 worth of products he used, yes I really do need that much make up(!) I can give you the run down on what he used.

So for my face he used a warm moisturising foundation, powder, bronzer, and both shimmer waves, one for blusher and one for highlighting. I was able to purchase the moisturiser, bronzer, & blusher shimmer waves and I would recommend them all.

For my eyes he used:

The blue shimmer cube, his smokey day time look was brilliant but I had some similar colours in my urban decay set so I didn't buy it but I have recreated the look using different colours also. I bought the eyebrow kit though as for the first time darker eyebrows seemed necessary and looked really good when he did it.

To finish the look he used a dusty pink lipstick followed by a high shine lip gloss that was really nice, I would have gone for a darker lip though. The lip gloss came free as I bought more than 2 products, bonus! I will definitely be calling back at the Body Shop for the other products when I get some money.

High Street Palooza

Hello,

Yesterday was a proper mission, spent over 5 hours shopping with Queen Fi and she bought the Mustard River Island Jeans that I wrote about last week as well as a lot of jewellery from Miss Selfridge.

If you open a Miss Selfridge store card you now get a loyalty card so each time you spend £35 or more in store you get a stamp and some form of money off the next time you shop there. Perfect! I don't have a store card but I am seriously considering it for this beauty of a reward.

I was in Miss Selfridge yesterday and tried on the most amazing boots... they have shot straight to the top of my wishlist!

Perfect for the office to a bar, weekend shopping and any other occasion and remarkably comfortable, at £98 they aren't cheap but they are the only boots I want gracing my tootsies come Autumn. The burgandy colour is bang on trend too!

Miss Selfridge is my favourite high street store, I have downloaded nearly the whole website to show you why:

As you can see lots of interesting collars, funky colours and twists making this store my one stop shop for every occasion.

I may aswell just add a link to the website too http://www.missselfridge.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?storeId=12554&catalogId=33055 hope you enjoy as much as I do.

High Street Hotties

So I had a quick dash around the shops yesterday, not much I could do with all of £1.99 in my pocket but I had a good nose and yet another day dream about having lots of money... sure I would love to shop designers but it would be nice to be able to shop in the high street comfortably too but hey ho... you never know when your luck will change.

I was in Leeds waiting for the boy to finish work so he could take me the pics to see Horrible Bosses... It was HILARIOUS! I was actually crying with laughter at one point, it was awesome. Charlie Day was brilliant and Jennifer Aniston was amazing, who knew she could be rude and raunchy... not me but she pulled it off exceptionally.

So last week I wrote about how amazing River Island was and I wasn't lying, went in again yesterday and there was even more that I wanted to buy... sob! Here's a few of my favourites anyway...

1. Geek chic autumn wear

 2. Preppy Mustard

3. Girly extras...

So I am extremely embarrassed to say that until yesterday I was an Urban Outfitters virgin... God knows why because I instantly fell in love with it's quirky, vintage cool style of clothing. I can't believe I have never been in before, it is right up my street.

The raspberry paperbag trousers are my absolute favourite. I must say that the website is nowhere near as good as the in- store experience, their online activity doesn't gel well branding wise with the store... I think they need a new website - sorry Urban Outfitters just my marketing brain speaking. It's a major compliment to their store designers though, it is such a refreshing experience going into the store as they have completely nailed their look.

Had a quick browse in Topshop but nothing really caught my eye apart from the nail rock transfers that I will definitely be investing in soon!

River Island really need to get their App sorted soon as well they have been re-developing for far too long.

Happy Shopping, speak soon :)