Weekend Wear: Peplum Power

The weather this weekend was really nice - and it has stayed like that since. I've been out and about enjoying it, hence the slightly belated Weekend Wear post (whoops). So naturally when the sun was out, my logic was to wear a black dress (OF COURSE). Hmm. In my defence, it's a lightweight dress, made of soft t-shirt material so it didn't feel like I'd just rolled out of my coffin swathed in velvet. It also has a peplum waist, a shape that I hadn't worn until I bought this dress (and an identical grey one - it was buy-one-get-one-free, your honour) because I wasn't sure if it would look right on me. I always figured the structure of a peplum dress was to help create a bit of shape for slimmer girls that had straight up-and-down figures so I was surprised when I ended up liking it! 

The dress is from Vans (yep, the same label that makes the shoes - turns out they make cute dresses too) and even though it's a 'fancy' shape, the casual material makes it super comfy. I wore it with a cardigan from Urban Outfitters that I've had for ages, mint H&M tights and my Vivienne Westwood x Melissa flats (although you can't see the shoes in the picture, my bad).
I also wore a sparkly bow from Crown and Glory and a Vivienne Westwood pendant from a couple of Spring/ Summer collections ago. The orb is made of rubber and nice and chunky, love it! I had originally done my nails a teal colour using OPI's Fly but later that evening Lauren (from Living in a Boxx blog) very kindly gave me a fabulous gel manicure using purple and grey glitter.  I wore this outfit to meet a couple of the other blogger girls at the weekend and had a lovely evening getting to know them a bit better.

I had cracked open my new Kat Von D Everlasting Love liquid lipstick (OBSESSED with liquid lipstick lately) and as well as being super bright and going on nicely, I'm pleased to report that it lasted through an evening of eating, drinking and chatting. More details on my Kat Von D makeup purchases to come in my upcoming Sephora makeup haul - later this week.

I'm happy to hear that the nice weather is to continue through to this weekend, as The Boy and I are going to London for a few days to celebrate our anniversary (ain't love grand?) and it would be nice to not lug umbrellas around all day! Also, if any of you lovely readers know what kind of fun things there are to see/ do/ eat/ etc in Shoreditch please feel free to tweet me or leave a comment. I know I can Google it but I think it's always good to hear about the things and places that real people love and have had fantastic experiences of, don't you? I've already got The Diner jotted down as a must-do for a bite to eat, and I hear there is an excellent market on a Sunday. Unfortunately I don't think the cat cafe (SQUEAL!) has opened yet but I can always see that on the next visit...

What did you wear this weekend? Have you worn a peplum dress before? Would you visit a cat cafe?

Thanks for reading!

Pay Day Treats

I can't believe it's April already! March seemed to disappear in a heartbeat and before I knew it, it was chocolate egg time. Crazy. March was a very busy month so apologies for the lack of activity. A lot has been happening - most notably a change of job/ career to get used to (a good choice - touch wood - as I'm really enjoying it so far) and new hair which also takes getting used to (again quite a jump from what I had before...somewhere between Fabienne from Pulp Fiction and a 'lego man' bob, love it).

At the end of the month I treated myself to a few new goodies as a reward for taking the plunge. Since the "show off your haul" style of blog posts is becoming increasingly popular I thought I would have a go as well*, so here are the highlights of my end of the month goodies...

 

Blue lace dress, £15, Primark

Having seen coloured lace dresses on everyone from Daisy Lowe to Kelly Osbourne for the last few months, I wanted to try this look out for myself. The great thing about coloured lace is it really suits every skin tone as there is a colour and cut of dress for everyone. I opted for this royal blue skater-style dress from Primark. At only £15 it certainly didn't break the bank and the nipped-in waist and full skirt makes for a good silhouette. I wore mine with a red lip and nail combo for a bit of 1950s chic. Even though the dress was inexpensive the lace is really intricate and really the only thing I didn't like about the dress was the cheap PVC belt it came with (I replaced it with my own studded skinny belt). It also comes in mint green which would go great with darker skin tones.

 

Pink heart print dress, £13, Primark

Dress number 2! At this point I was on a roll and couldn't resist this cute little number. A few weeks ago the Boy and I spotted this dress in white, at which I huffed "that would be great if it didn't come in white". Et voila! It now comes in pink! Black and pink is my favourite colour combo, I don't mind looking like a liquorice allsort, especially when it involves kitsch prints like hearts. Again, despite the low price there is real attention to detail - like the bows on the pockets and button-up top. Who says 13 is an unlucky number?

Pink car print skirt, £15 (reduced from £30), River Island

Months ago, I had seen Prada's new prints for SS12 and fallen in love. The colours! The Grease-inspired retro prints! The co-ordinating guys n' gals pieces (including a very well-shot campaign featuring Michael Pitt)! It was all too much. At the moment I can't really justify spending what Prada are asking for, but one thing was for sure - I wanted some of that print! I was convinced that it wouldn't be too long before copycat pieces would start to appear on the high street, and I wasn't wrong. River Island have knocked the ball out of the park with this race car print skirt, a short yet full (perfect for twirling) 1950s inspired piece. I snapped it up faster than you could say vroom vroom.  The skirt comes with a great detachable oversized bow belt too!

Prada's print - a gal can dream

River Island's take (at a fraction of the price)

This month I also managed to get a pair of Topshop's sell-out Vectra 3 studded slipper flats. I made the silly mistake of seeing them when they first came out and thought "they're nice...I'll come back for them later". Bad move. They quickly became one of Topshop's best selling styles of the year (so far) and even had people on eBay flogging them for twice the price. Gutted. Luckily, the lovely girls working in Topshop let me know that they were expecting a small delivery of them last week and put aside a pair for me. Score!

My studded Vectra 3 beauties, £28, Topshop

It could be the influence of the many beauty blogs that I follow (although I have always been a sucker for make-up) but I also treated myself to some new products recently. I had been hotly anticipating the UK release of Revlon Colourburst Lip butters - a product that had caused a frenzy in the states - and couldn't wait to try them for myself. Believe the hype - these bad boys not only offer a range of gorgeous and well-pigmented colours, but they also condition and hydrate your lips. Much better than a tinted lip balm if you are looking for a lipstick look that does the job of a high-end lip conditioner. When I purchased my two shades (Cupcake & Sweet Tart - all the colours are named after sweet treats, very cute!), they were in a 2 for £10 offer at Boots - this offer isn't on at the moment but the Lip Butters are currently in a 3 for 2 deal if you are looking to stock up or try a few different shades for yourself.

Finally got my hands on them - Revlon Colourburst Lip Butters, £7.99 each at Boots

Another new product that I have been looking forward to the release of is Benefit's new Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation. There are a few things about this product that get my attention. Firstly, it's an SPF 25 foundation - not too common in a lot of foundations and when it comes to SPF my motto is "the higher, the better". I won't even entertain a foundation with no SPF. I also really like the range of shades available as I previously haven't been able to wear most Benefit foundations as they are too dark for my skin. The foundation comes in 9 shades (including 2 shades of ivory - one with pinker undertones and one with more yellow undertones - brilliant attention to skin tone that I usually only get on a visit to MAC) and the Benefit assistant was very helpful finding one to match me (and also gave me  some samples of other products to take home). The foundation also offers built-in skincare with vitamins C&E and a unique oil-free hydrating complex which can't be a bad thing!  The foundation is £24.50 and available at all the usual Benefit concessions.

Some of the other products I've been trying out this month are: Nail Rock nail wraps (the Marmite of the nail world, I personally love rocking the nail wraps), Models Own Beetlejuice nail polishes (so it's not just a clever name), Katy Perry for Eylure false eyelashes in Oh, My! (these are hands down the best false lashes I've ever used), and No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream for Dry/ Very Dry skin (I have been a bit slow to jump on the BB cream bandwagon, but what I like about these No7 ones is that they have different ones depending on your skin type).

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation (£24.50), Models Own Beetlejuice nail polishes (£5 each), and sample of Benefit's Total Moisture face cream -  all from Boots

Meadham Kirchhoff nail wraps (£7) at Topshop

So it has been a busy month for me and my bank card! What have you been treating yourself to this month?

* - sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, my Blackberry camera is pretty poor and doesn't have a flash!