Little clothing/homeware update

Monks denim jacket 

Asos bag

Asos sunglasses 

UO rug 

UO floor cushion

I wanted to share a few things which I have picked up recently that I've been really enjoying using/wearing. The first few bits are some items of clothing, these are recent Asos purchases. I have quite an unhealthy obsession with Asos, however all the orders which I have been putting through recently have just been going back as although I fall in love with the item online, when it gets to me, its just not right.

However (thankfully) these I have kept. Anyone close to me will tell you that I have been on the hunt for the perfect denim jacket for a while now, they go so well with everything but I always love denim for this time of year when it gets slightly colder. I used to own a very light blue one (also from Asos) that I worn to death before getting another (from marketplace) which was very cool and very oversized. I also wore this for a bit before deciding that I wasn't "cool" enough to wear it and in fact just looked like an utter twat.

The search eventually ended with this little discovery from monki, I was watching a try on haul on youtube which featured this jacket and I absolutely fell in love. I wanted a denim jacket which was a little be unusual and different to the tons out there and I think this fits the bill perfectly because of the black black which shows ever so slightly on the sides of the jacket. It is meant to be quite oversized so I got a small and it fits like a dream. The only downside is I have to be quite careful with what I wear with/underit as it attracts fluff like anything (something I discovered when I wore a scarf which is now definitely going back) however this is something which I can live with.

The very observant of you (well done) will also notice the bag which I have included, this is another new purchase (also from Asos) and is quite different for me as I ALWAYS like large bags (they make me look smaller and you can fit SO MUCH STUFF) and if I don't take a bag with me, I use my jeans pockets for my phone/cards/lipstuff. I think that this bag is the perfect in-between for what I want. It's big enough to fit all my essentials, I can wear it cross body and it looks really cute/goes with everything. I love the gold hoop detail, different texture AND it also has an inside pocket. This bag definitely has it all.

The third and final fashion purchase was the little black pair of sunglasses also (you guessed it) from Asos. I wanted to get some which were slightly cooler than my pair that actually help me to see, this style suits me quite well and they'll go with everything. It has not stopped raining since I picked these up which is just typical.

As well as the clothing, in the first image, the background is a new little rug which I picked up from UO as well as the pink floor cushion. These have made the area where I get dressed/put make-up on look so much more cosy and are some good additions to my room, I also had a 20% discount code so HAD to treat myself, ya know?

What purchases have you made recently?

Inspiring Magazines

Now that I'm back at uni, I thought that I would share a few unusual magazines which I find really help me when I'm looking for inspiration and don't want to look in the obvious places. All of these magazines I picked up in Whsmith, I've found that the one near me does a lot of fashion magazines and tends to stock a few of the unusual ones. This is something which does change store to store I believe but bigger stores should have more of a range and I think you can check online what they stock and perhaps order them to store.

Suitcase is one of the first more unusual magazines that I picked up. It's a mix of travel and fashion and just has the most beautiful images inside which will appeal to most people. I like magazines with good inspiration images but with good articles mixed in. With a lot of Fashion magazines, I find a lot of the pages can be filled with adverts, so generally I like to pick up "other" magazines which can be quite different with their content. With any type of magazine, I don't buy them each month, I don't pick up the same magazine each month and I don't care about issues or dates. I've gotten "out of date" magazines on gumtree before for free which have been more inspiration to me then that months Vogue for example.

I would recommend any of these three magazines pictured as they are slightly more unusual with their images and content, yet are still inspirational and refreshing. Not pictured but also highly recommended is "frankie" magazine which is from Australia but again, you can find in Whsmith. These are all magazines which you can flick through, keep on your coffee table or sit down and properly read. I find that they are also quite timeless so I can also pick them up months later and they are still "current" or relevant.

I would love some magazine recommendations as I'm always on the look out for unusual/inspiration magazines.

Ebay Tips

After my recent post about some of my closet clear out tips I thought that it was only right that I share a few tips to help you get the most out of ebay, selling all those unloved clothes! I have to admit that I hardly ever buy from ebay however I have got some timberland boots from there once which were a bargain. I mainly use ebay to sell clothes however these tips apply to whatever items you need to sell, be it a car, radio or a shed.

My first tip is that you should always put things up for auction on the weekend - mainly Sunday. I've been selling on ebay for probably around two years now and have always found that whatever I put up on a weekend has always done better at selling then other items. I think that this is because people don't tend to work on the weekends if they have a normal 9-5 job so this is the day that they can be around to snap up those deals.

Another thing that might seem quite obvious but is so helpful is to take lots of photos of what you're trying to sell, whether this is a car or a dress, there is nothing more annoying then there only being one or two photos to look at. When I buy things, I always appreciate lots of images to flick through as this shows off the item and gives you a good idea of what you're buying. So for example, as well as taking front and back images of a blouse, I will also take photos of any detailing such as buttons and of the label. It also helps to take photos of any damage which you might have mentioned in the description box as more often then not, I find that this doesn't put people off the item but gives them a much better idea of what they're buying and a realistic idea if they can cover/fix/live with.

My final tip would be to send it off as soon as you possibly can and also make sure that you package it well/uniquely. You don't want people having to message you to ask where there item it when you haven't actually sent it yet. I wait for the buyer to pay before I package it up and then as it is usually a Sunday, I send it the next day on the Monday.
I always try to make something about my packaging slightly unusual, recently I wrapped the items I sold in plastic and then wrapped them in newspaper because the plastic was slightly see-through, this was the only thing that I had on hand however the women at the post office liked this so much she actually showed her colleague. Little things like this can really change the impact that your parcel has.

What are your eBay tips?

Ready for September

A5 Gold notebook - Wilko 

Everything else - Nouvelle 

Now that September has come around (feels like Christmas was just last week) I thought that I would share a few stationary items of mine that will be essentials when I go back to uni. As well as boring stuff like pens etc, I always like to take LOTS of notes during talks/lectures and in general if I'm working on a shoot or on an image, I find that writing down what I want to do and planning everything out helps me a lot with productivity and the success of what I create. That's why notebooks are something which I always tend to buy, I keep some at home on my desk but I also take some into uni and I have a set "uni" notebook so if I ever have to try and find out some info then I know where it's going to be. I've recently gotten into gold a lot more and I thought that these notebooks were too cute to pass up.

I picked up this weekly list planner as I thought it was such a good idea. I like that you can do it week by week instead of monthly and that you can tear the page off and throw them away when the week is done. I'm hoping that this will help me with productivity when I start uni, with planning and deadlines etc. It also doubles up as a really cute mousemat which I'm quite pleased about.

What are your uni/office essentials?

A Small Haul

This is (as the title suggests) an extremely small haul! As I mentioned in my home wishlist, the bank holiday for me was going to be spent in ikea however while we were out we also looked around various shops and went into Primark. A lot of the stuff which I have been wanting clothes wise recently has been online (good old Asos) however I decided to pick up a few bits as I hardly ever get the chance to shop in Primark.

The first thing that caught my eye was these two scarves, I know that its still quite hot outside and it's only the start of September however I just couldn't resist getting these! My love of all things Autumn got the better of me I think. I picked up the black one as I thought it was simple but nice and although I wear a lot of black already, I could always pair this with a bright hat or coat. The second is a lot more bright but still simple, I already have something quite similar to this however you can never have enough scarves/winter wear (thats what I keep telling myself anyway).

As well as these two bits, while browsing I also picked up two things from the beauty range, the first being this silicone make-up brush which I did see on Lily's blog and she said it would be the perfect tool to apply skincare masks with, I thought that this was such a good idea which I've since told my mum about and she agrees, much easier and hopefully less messy then using fingers.

The second thing that I purchased was this brush cleaner. Now normally when I clean my brushes I use my hands and swirl the brush around in my palm to clean it however this brush cleaner could be a good way to really get into the brush and clean them properly. I know this is only cheap and that real techniques also do a similar but bigger brush cleaner but I just wanted to try this out and see how I got on with it with the intention to perhaps purchase a different/bigger one in the future.

What have you been buying recently?