weekend wanderings #11

(images from witandwhistle.com, theclotheshorse.com and spoon-tamago.com)

• This amazing 'fish-tail braid' manicure from lucystash.com just looks so pretty! It's definitely helpful to have that step-by-step tutorial and it would look really cute in varying shades of the same colour, like a matte, glossy and glitter - I really want to try it. 
• I was feeling a little bit delicate and sad this week, and I saw this post and whilst I'm not saying I cried, I definitely got a bit teary-eyed. The story is about a dog that has stayed at his owners graveside for six years and there are pictures and oh gosh. 
• I follow a lot of architecture/interior-design blogs (and even run one!) and sometimes I see a house and I stop everything and it makes me want to go live in the wilderness in a giant glass box and become one with nature.. ahem. But basically, this house makes me want to do this, it's stunning. The post talks about "rooms that follow the landscape" and that is completely what I am into, I adore it. Houses that are built and orientated around the world are my favourites, and I think thats how housing should be.
• These photos of teddy girls over at The Clothes Horse are really amazing. They remind me my mums amazing photo albums of my gran and her sisters in their outfits from this age, even though they were older, I really think they're amazing.
• I've posted before about DIY glass votives, but this post at Wit & Whistle (a lovely blog!) tells you how to make little soy-wax candles in vintage tins, which are absolutely gorgeous. I think it's mostly down to the beautiful little tins more than anything, but my mum uses a similar method to make candles in tea-cups and it's really cute.
• My current love is Minnamayblog.com - Minna's photography is stunning, and I love the simple elegance to her posts, everything is clean lines and pretty photos, I really love it. She also sells beautiful jewellery over on Etsy which I want to own (all of it), and it's everything I wish my blog was! #cheese

fake outfit v2

Blue Geometric Patterned Dress, £19.99, New Look

Another cheating-ootd, I couldn't be bothered to set my camera up all properly, as I was running late, so I just snapped a few pictures in my mirror! My brother recently passed his exams and got into uni (Cardiff, to do Maths!) so we went out for dinner as a sort of celebratory thing, also because my older brother wouldn't be able to see him before he went off to uni, due to work and such. 

I wasn't originally planning on getting anything special to wear, figuring I would just dig something out of my wardrobe, but I went shopping that day with my friend Gemma, and saw this dress. I was drawn to the print, immediately - I love a good print, especially anything geometric. And you can't see them (because I stupidly threw a cardigan on) but it has adorable little puffy cap-sleeves, which are really sweet. The elasticated waist is not my favourite, I'll admit, but it does sort of suck me in!

Also, because I'll probably get asked, my lipstick is Dior's Dolce Vita Red (which may be overtaking Russian Red as my favourite mid-tone red.. I have a serious problem, I'm willing to admit that).

weekend wanderings #10

(images from theatlantic.com, shelllipbalm.co.uk, and riflepaperco.com)

• I find things like this pretty cool, for example, I adored the old Olympic posters they dug out for the 2012 Olympics, I found some on birthday/greetings cards in Harrods and I really liked them. Anyway, 100 Ideas that changed Graphic Design have some awesome vintage posters and design things that I think you guys will like.
• I start back at uni next week. Well, sort of. Classes don't start for a bit but basically I'm back! I saw these beautiful gold foil notebooks somewhere around the internet (I can't remember where, I'm sorry!) but I immediately fell in love with them. I couldn't get them though, I tend to destroy all my notebooks by spilling ink on them or letting that banana at the bottom of my back rot all over it...
• Whilst I don't find this particularly useful, I thought this would be a great thing for fashion bloggers - if you don't want to have a boring white wall behind you - this blog at Pugly Pixel shows you how to replace it with a pretty pattern.
• These lipbalms in a shell were featured over on Pixiwoo's blog and oh gosh, I really just want one. I know a friend or two that would love them too, so I'm thinking it might be a sneaky Christmas present for all of us! They're a little pricey for lipbalm, because of the shell I guess, hence them being a present I think.
• Is it winter yet? God, I hope so. Here's a list of 50 Things to do before Winter Ends that I saw linked over at Rachel Phipps' blog, and I love it! I've even started a few of them..
• My favourite blog this week is a both a blogger and a youtuber: ChelseaWears. I discovered her Youtube first but her blog is just as good as her videos! She has a really awesome sense of humour and personality and I like that she doesn't seem to take make-up too seriously, because lets face it, it's not! I also adore her sense of style, it's what I wish I looked like.. sigh. See here, here, and here. She also loves bright lipsticks, which makes her cool in my book.

very merry berry picking

I had some other blog posts lined up for this week.. but they have been shunted in favour of these photos! As I went back to uni this week, me and my mum decided to have a few afternoons together before I left, and we decided to go for a walk and see if we could find any sloes and blackberries. We used to go blackberry picking every year when I was little, but we've stopped as we got older, but it's a memory I will always hold onto, just because it's one of those weird, idyllic memories of eating all the blackberries from my mum and dad's pots..

Anyway, we did not find any sloes, unfortunately. I really wanted to make some sloe gin, sadly that will have to wait a couple of weeks because they weren't ripe. Anyway, we did find an awful lot of blackberries, enough to make two big blackberry pies, at least, even though I dropped about half a pot at one point... I took a bunch of photos, because, hey, that's what I do, there are few more but I think I'll save them for a rainy day. The top photos are elderflower berries, so you need to look out for these if you want to get the flowers to make elderflower cordial and such, I thought they looked pretty, though.

And yes, I did eat most of them whilst we were picking them, to my mum's annoyance, hence the stained hands..!

Have you ever done this, or do you grow any of your own fruit? I joked on twitter that I'm turning into a middle-aged woman, because I came home, cooked dinner with my mum and sat on the sofa to do some knitting afterwards... I'm basically dead. 

(The post title is awful, I can't even judge whats good anymore.)

packing woes

I'm not doing one of those 'what you'll need at uni' posts because well.. I would have a list as long as me - and I'm a tall girl. I'm also not one of those people that jets off on three holidays every summer, and then once or twice every term, and have only been abroad three times in my life, so I can't pack. 

Because I live very close to my uni (about a half hour drive, if that) I made the mistake last year of going "Well, I can just drive home and get anything I've forgotten." Cue me going home every weekend for at least 2 months to bring things I forgot! Not to mention get more jumpers, scarves and hats when it got cold. So I'm trying to be more efficient this year! But that involves me just taking everything. 

So far I have a suitcase full of clothes, and I haven't even put underwear in yet, except for the odd bra. A huge Ikea bag just for jumpers.. I can't even justify this in my head, let alone on paper. Anyway, I thought you might like to hear some of what I'm taking, so clothing wise, here's a run down of things:

• At least 7 jumpers. The studios can get cold!
• Lots of underwear, I hate washing it!
• One going-out dress - I so very rarely go out so it's not necessary to take more.
• Lots of leggings and tights, one pair of thick leggings, one pair of trousers, one pair of jeans.
• 4 pairs of boots, including two old scabby ones for when I'm printing/in the studio, one nice pair, one everyday pair.
• 3 pairs of hand-knitted (by myself and mama) of big woolly socks for around the house and inside boots.
• In the way of cardigans/jackets, I'm taking 2 black cardigans, 1 thick flannel shirt and 1 shirt each of cotton, linen and corduroy.
• 3 skirts, one red knit, one white knit, and one pleated grey one.
• A few simple, plain coloured skater dresses, vest dresses and basic tops from H&M for everyday wear/wearing with skirts. Also those £2 Primark vests are great for layering on hot or cold days.

Phew. It sounds like a lot but I really hate washing, and there isn't a great deal of space to air-dry clothes in our house, and we don't have a tumble-dryer. Also, I'm indecisive. 

Other things I'm taking (this is obviously tailored for an art-student, bear that in mind):

• A couple of new sketchbooks.
• A big back of ~art materials~ including a red box filled entirely with pencils. Not even colour pencils, sigh.
• Clothes-peg thing, the only way to dry socks and underwear in my house.
• Candles, even though we're not technically allowed to have them.
• A few books (I need to not let myself get drawn into ASOIAF until my dissertation is handed in!).
• Lots of DVD's for relaxing and gorging myself on, also we don't have a TV.
• 3 big ringbinders - I'm sure I will need them..
• A couple of new mugs, you can never have too many!
• A hot-water bottle.

There are probably more things but this post is so long already so I'll stop here. Are you returning to uni this year, or just starting out? There are lots of more informative posts out there on the useful things, like pots and pans and plasters and fancy-dress.. I'm not so helpful. (: 

Anyway, I have a dentist appointment this morning and then I'm dragging all of this back to my house at uni, sigh, so I better go!

illamasqua rare nail polish review

Illamasqua Nail Polish in Rare, £13.50

Rare has been sitting in my nail-polish collection for a little while now, and it has a very special place as my new-favourite-neon. Every time I would go to Illamasqua I would admire this lovingly, then always thought better of it, because neons often have a shitty formula, and I didn't want to be disappointed in spending so much money on it and hating it. 

However, I am pleased to say that it is actually one of the best neons I have tried, although it is not fault-free. It's still a little bit streaky if you're not careful, though it has a nicer creamier formula compared with the likes of China Glaze and such, which are much thinner. I still like at least two-coats, though, but it's still amazing. Also, it's proper, beautiful highlighter, blinding neon yellow... and it's this that I love about it. 

I generally just rate Illamasqua polishes, and I think they're amazingly affordable. I know there are a few readers that probably look at me like I'm mad - £13.50 is still expensive, but it's not really on par with Chanel's £18.50. I like the simple design of the bottle too, and they used to have the two-part cap which I loved, it gave you a lot more precision, but I think they might have stopped that now.

Price: 5/5
Packaging: 4/5
Colour: 5/5
Formula: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Would I buy again?: Yup.. I want the green neon..

weekend wanderings #9

(images from abeautifulmess.com, thelifestyledblog.com and foxtailandfern.com)

• I'm putting my favourite blog first this week, because I love it so much, I don't want it to be a last-minute read! It is Jazzy's blog, Hivenn. Her blog is full of her beautiful photography (and it is gorgeous) and if you ever talk to her on twitter or instagram (something I seem to do a lot) you'll see she's very funny and lovely (and shares my love of Suits!). Gushing over, but her blog is great and you should check it out.
• Burning Man has always sounded insane, to me. Butttt something about it being in the desert and the, obviously, burning of things sounds kind apealing to me at the same time? I don't really know anything about it, though, but seeing these photos from it are crazy! Particularly the aerial shots and you can see the crazy scale of it all, and the weirdly perfect radius around the central point. I kind of want to go even more, now!
• It feels like I haven't gone out for a good drink in a long time. And, not that I'm an alcoholic or anything, but sometimes you just need to let your hair down. Most of my friends, and myself, have worked like mad this summer so there hasn't been much time for socialising. Anyway, when I saw this recipe for Moscow Mules on thelifestyledblog.com I really just wanted cocktails. All the cocktails. Anything green and spicy and limy.. I want it! Preferably in those beautiful glasses.
• These home-made photo-filters at abeautifulmess.com are one of those DIY's I see, and I know for sure I'm going to try out. They look so easy, how could I not? I hope they give as beautiful an effect as their photos.
• I love doorsixteen.com, and I love photos of beautiful, unaffordable houses that I can live vicariously through. When I saw that she was doing a new feature, Yeah I could Live There, I knew I'd be hanging on every word.
• I saw these photos of Baddesley Clinton from Foxtail & Fern (one of my ultimate favourite blogs!) a little while ago on my dashboard, but I recently went to Hever Castle and it reminded me of these pictures, so I hunted them down to have a look, and now I just really want to go there. It looks so picture-perfect.

a world of birds v2

A few years ago I took a trip to Birdworld, and I really loved it (I used to go when I was little, but hadn't been in a long time!), it cheers me up no end to see all the birds and make friends with them. Recently my friend broke up with her boyfriend, and I thought a little day out would make her feel a bit better. We had been planning to go for a while but I think the trip came just at the right time! It was a sunny day, we took some sandwiches and had a nice gossip and I hope she felt a bit better at the end anyway! I thought I would show you some of the pictures I took, because I really do adore birdy-friends, and I thought you guys would, too. How cute are the penguins at the Macaws? They were so sweet!

illusion delusion

I wanted to do a weekend wanderings post today, but I am afraid I am simply too exhausted and I work all day tomorrow, so there won't be one today! Apologies. I went for a little day trip and I'm just really sleepy now, so look out for a bumper edition next week! I really enjoy the weekend posts, and I think they will become more frequent as uni starts up again. I don't think I'll be able to keep up a steady rate of posts once third-year is upon me!

Anyway these pictures have been sitting on my desktop for a while, and I thought I would show you them as a little ~filler~ post when I'm too tired to take photos!  I bought this on a whim a little while ago, and it was genuinely a complete luxury purchase, and at the time I really needed that little treat. I kept picking this up and looking at it as I passed through John Lewis and it was so shiny and so beautiful.. I just had too! It's one of the Chanel Illusion d'Ombre cream eyeshadows, in the shade  Mirafique. I have some high-quality photos which I'll post next week or something, but I wore it out last night, with bright orange-red lipstick (so pretty), and I remembered that I hadn't posted about it. 

What are you up to this weekend? I'm currently watching the X Factor, even though I hate it, the remote control is allllll the way on the opposite side of the room. That is a good three metres and I'm exhausted! Haha. Hope you're all having a nice evening!