Week Review: 15th March 2014

It's been such a hectic week this week, what with all the dissertation work I've been focusing on (not that any of that boring-ness will be reflected in this post!) so I haven't had a whole lot of blogging time but fear not! A face mask review post is on it's way to you shortly!

But for now here's a look back at what I've been up to (minus the uni work) this week:

// Ed's Easy Diner // We climbed a mountain // Roche //
// Pizza on top of a mountain // The view // Dublin Planning //
// Comfiest leggings // Forgotten photo from London Zoo // Cancer Research //

Ok so Saturday was definitely my busiest day this week. Started off with a trip to Ed's Easy Diner with my mum and brother, which was great (not just because of the American food) but because we rarely spend time as a family anymore and I've honestly missed it. Then I went to Newport to see Roche and since it was such a sunny day we decided to climb (that's probably a bit of an exaggeration) walk up Twmbarlwm Mountain. Roche packed pizza to have at the top (now that's my kind of picnic!) and the view was honestly amazing. We were so high up we could see the entire city and over to Bristol; even if, at the time, I wondered whether the climb was worth it! I'm so unfit it's unreal, let's blame the asthma I had when I was a child to make myself feel better for my complete lack of being able to breathe on the way up...
Then the rest of my week consisted of planning mine and Roche's trip to Dublin, which my Dad ever-so-kindly paid for as my birthday present from him. We're going from 2nd-4th of April, which doesn't sound long but we have 3 full days there and are definitely planning to make the most of it. Definitely going to squeeze in a trip to Dublin Zoo while we're there (I'm becoming zoo-obsessed...). I also ordered some check leggings from Topshop which came a few days ago and I am loving them! I live and die in leggings but these are without doubt the comfiest pair I've owned and I don't think my photo does them justice so I'll leave the link to them at the bottom of this post.
Finally, as I'm sure you've seen on your Facebook feed or on the news, women in the UK have been posting "no-makeup selfies" in order to raise awareness of breast cancer and get people donating. I don't know about your newsfeeds but there was a lot of negativity going around with them. People posting asking others to stop "clogging up" their newsfeeds with makeup-less photos and angrily saying it has nothing to do with breast cancer. Whether it makes sense or not those "no-makeup selfies" have raised £2million (and counting!) which is an incredible achievement that hopefully silenced those who labelled it as "pointless".
Now I think it's a great idea and I wish I had the confidence to post a makeup-less selfie but, as an Alopecia sufferer, I find it incredibly difficult to bare all of my "facial-baldness". So no I didn't post a selfie but I did donate and I hope everyone continues to do so because it is a great cause.

I'd love to hear your "no-makeup selfie" stories or if you have any tips or ideas for places to visit in Dublin they would be much appreciated too!

And anyone who's interested in those leggings:
Topshop Check Leggings (£25)

Feeling Festive #3: Christmas Pyjamas

One of the things I love about this time of year are Christmas traditions. Those things you do every year without fail or else Christmas just doesn't feel the same. I also love that everyone has different traditions so I'm here today to share one of my family's things that we do every year which maybe some of you do too. And that is Christmas pyjamas. Every Christmas Eve, after we've had our tea and we're about to wind down for the evening, we all get to open our "Christmas Pyjamas". I think the theory behind this is that we wake up fresh on Christmas day with brand new pyjamas, especially since my Dad insisted on filming us open our presents every year so we couldn't just wear any PJs! Despite the fact that I've now moved out, my Mum still insists on us having new PJs, which I'm glad about because I would hate to see that tradition fall by the way side. For the past few weeks my Mum has been pestering me to choose a pair so she can buy them, wrap them and I can act surprised when I receive them, but I'm still yet to find a pair (within our budget anyway!).

So for anyone like me who hasn't had chance to find their annual PJs or for those who feel like picking up a new tradition this year, here are a few Christmas-themed pyjamas (how many times can you say pyjamas in one blog post?!) to get you started:

Details:
1) Felicity Father Christmas Shorts & Vest Set (Boohoo.com, £10)
2) Katie Keep Calm Mistletoe Shorts & Vest Set (Boohoo.com, £10)
3) Santa Says Relax Pyjama Set (Topshop, £26)
4) Courtney Fairisle Shorts (Boux Avenue, £18)
5) South Penguin Fairisle Christmas T-Shirt (Very.co.uk, £16)
6) Sorbet Stag Print Pyjamas (Very.co.uk, £15) 
7) Betty Boop Fairisle Pyjamas (Very.co.uk, £16)
8) Minnie Mouse & Mickey Winter Hugs Pyjamas (Very.co.uk, £24)

And I'd love to know what your Christmas traditions are, so feel free to leave them in the comments below!

Feeling Festive #2: Dressing the Part!

This year I'm not feeling the most festive, whether that's because I haven't got an advent calender (how old am I?!) or because we haven't got any decorations. So starting from now I'm going to do my best to feel as Christmassy as possible, starting with plastering myself head to toe in Christmas clothes...Well maybe not completely but a Christmas jumper wouldn't go amiss. Trawling through the internet I found so many cute festive things and, if I had the money to do so, I'm sure I would've been throwing things aimlessly onto my debit card. But since I don't have the funds to do that I thought I'd just post a few of the things I've found, so here are my favourites!

1) Black Rudolph Sequin Nose Bobble Hat (New Look, £7.99)

I just thought this was adorable, not sure if I'm cool enough to pull it off but I want it!

2) Beluah Reindeer Christmas Jumper (Missguided, £16.99)
3) Acenitha Snowman Christmas Jumper (Missguided, £16.99)
Two really cute (and affordable) Christmas jumpers from Missguided. Considering you can only bust them out once a year I find a lot of these jumpers are expensive but at under £20 I think that's a reasonable price to pay.

4) Black Reindeer Light Up Christmas Jumper (New Look, £29.99)
Thought I'd include this in case you wanted the jumper to match your reindeer bobble hat! Too much? Maybe. I saw this in store and couldn't work out how it lit up but I'm sure for all of you more savvy than me about this kind of thing it'd make a cool jumper.

5) Fun Pudding Sweater (Next, £28)
Last of the festive jumpers, I just thought this was cute, albeit a bit pricey. (Yes the New Look one was more expensive but unless the pudding lights up I can't part with £28!)

6) Red & White Snowflake Fairisle Brushed Leggings (New Look, £9.99)
I've been desperate for a pair of leggings like this for so long but no matter where I look they never have my size. Maybe next year!

7) Brown Christmas Pudding Slipper Socks (River Island, £8)
Well I did say from head to toe! Don't think it gets more festive than walking around with Christmas Puddings on your feet.

8) Photographic Pug Boypant (Topshop, £4)
Maybe it's not necessary to be festive right down to your knickers but I couldn't resist a pug in a Christmas hat so these had to be included!

9) Reindeer Fairisle Ankle Socks (Topshop, £3.50)
Sort of a similar pattern to the legging but I just think festive socks are a must.

10) Christmas Character Nail Wraps (Topshop, £6)
And finally some Christmas nail wraps. I've never used nail wraps or fake nails or anything like that, I'm strictly a nail varnish kind of girl but I may be persuaded by these! They include Penguin, Santa, Gingerbread Man, Christmas tree, Rudolph and Snowman wraps. If you're going to be festive down to your knickers you may aswell do your nails too!
And the record for most uses of the word "festive" in one post goes to....

Week Review #6: 8th December 2013

//Train Essentials // Train Selfie // Liverpool was Christmassy //
// Roche // Star Wars Purchase // Costa //
// Liver Building // Dinosaurs at the Museum // Roche Again //

A very much overdue week review! So last week I went to Liverpool for a few days with my boyfriend to do some more sightseeing and Christmas shopping in a city that we both love. We got to do a lot more this time round and it definitely seemed less rushed. On the Wednesday we just wandered round and hit the shops because the 4 hour train journey killed us off; who knew you could get so tired from just sitting on a train for 4 hours?! I didn't buy a whole lot but I did pick up a Star Wars top that's got the characters as they would be in the 70s if they were in their school year book. Then just had a chilled evening of food and drinks. After the last couple of weeks of uni it was definitely a welcome break, just to relax away from Cardiff and spend some quality time together because, despite being on the course and seeing each other every day in uni because of that, it felt like we'd hardly actually spent any time together (weird).

// Couldn't resist train selfies! //

// Chilled evening with the pub and a wander round looking at festive things //

Thursday was when the real sightseeing happened. We got up early to make the most of our day because we had to get the train back at 5pm. Started with yet more shopping (how could we resist?!) then we walked down to see the Liver building, think we must have taken a photo of it from every single possible angle between us!

// Morning of shopping! //

// Liver Building // Museum of Liverpool //

From there we saw the Museum of Liverpool and thought what better way to learn more about the city than find out about its history which was actually really interesting. After that we took a wander down to Albert Dock, which I can imagine looks so pretty at night, where we stopped for a much needed Costa! There's a definite Beatles vibe in a lot of the places we saw around the city (understandably) yet this time we didn't manage to actually do any of the Beatles tours or go to the Cavern Club which I reeeally wanted to do.

// Costa // Dinosaurs! // Ancient Greece // Roche //

But hey ho there's always next time! Finally we had a bit of time to kill before our train so we went to the World Museum (two museums in one day, how cultured do we think we are?!). Couldn't resist going to see the dinosaurs first, we're suckers for anything prehistoric so standing infront of a dinosaur skeleton for five minutes was enough to turn us back into excited children on a school trip. There was also a little aquarium in there and I loved the Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek exhibitions (yes, Disney's Hercules songs were playing in my head the whole time I was in that one!). 

Then we had the looong train journey back which, after all that walking the last two days, I found it very difficult to stay awake in. Next time I'd love to visit the Cavern Club since we missed it this time round and I'd definitely want to do the Sightseeing Bus, not only to save my little legs, but because I like knowing all the inside information the tour guides tell you.

All in all a much needed few days!

Clothes Wishlist #1

// See end of post for item details //

When I created this blog (albeit not that long ago!) I didn't even contemplate ever doing a clothes post because, honestly, I don't think I possess any kind of dress sense. I'm all for oversized t shirts or baggy jumpers worn over my black matte wetlook leggings or my black disco pants with either ankle boots or my converse. Its safe to say I'm usually not very adventurous, opting for a comfy, easy-to-throw-on, this-took-me-2-minutes look. I like to think I dress semi-grungy and "rock-chick-esque", especially with my cropped leather biker jacket, but that may just be wishful thinking on my part! Saying this I am partial to a girly skater skirt but, and its a concept that baffles my friends, I try to steer clear of "floaty", overly-girly skirts or dresses, simply because I look young anyway and I feel like even more of a little girl in those types of clothes (as much as I would love to wear them!).

I usually live and die in Topshop but for when my student budget doesn't stretch to Topshop prices I branch out to ASOS, Missguided and Boohoo. So above is my current clothes wishlist full of items that I will probably never actually possess but I will lust after from this side of my computer screen. (Apart from the Parka in the last photo which I may have just purchased...oops!) And below are two outfits that I'd love to own:

You may have noticed that there are a few American Apparel items in this post which are definitely not in any way within my student budget but a girl can dream right?!

Items in this post:
1) Noelle Chicago Oversized Tee in Burgundy (Missguided, £12.99)
2) Ceryssa Value Loose Fir Crop Top in Grey (Missguided, £5.49)
3) Giliana Leather & Tweed Dress (Missguided, £24.99)
4) Katherine Oversized Jumper in Berry (Boohoo, £15.00)
5) Lyndsey Cable Knit Super Soft Leggings in Grey (Boohoo, £8.00)
6) ASOS Wool Mix Short Cable Beanie (ASOS, £10.00)
7) American Apparel Easy Sweat Top (ASOS, £50.00)
8) American Apparel Disco Pants (ASOS, £74.00)
9) American Apparel Slouchy T Shirt (ASOS, £30.00)
10) ASOS Petite Khaki Parka (ASOS, £85.00)