Diet Coke Style Showdown

In association with Clothes Show Live, Diet Coke has organized a competition on Instagram called 'The Diet Coke Style Showdown'. If you are an Instagram user, Diet Coke wants you to upload a photo of what you think is your most catwalk-worthy look and tag it with #DietCokeCSL. All entries will be pulled onto the Diet Coke fashion site and the Clothes Show Live site. There will be a winner for each theme: Fashionista, Rock chick and Romantic and you could be in for a chance of winning VIP tickets to Clothes Show Live this December, a goody bag, a stay in a top hotel and on top of all that, you could see your outfit being re-created on the Diet Coke catwalk at the show! The competition started on October 15 and runs until November 23, 2012.

For all of you Birmingham ladies, there will be a Diet Coke Style Spotter in Birmingham on October 26 to scout out the most fashionable people and Instagram them for the competition, so you'd better get started thinking about your outfits and be in town on that day!

Good luck everyone!

xoxo, Joy

*This is a collaborative post. All words and opinions are my own.

Damsel in a Dress

I was kindly asked to review a dress from Damsel in a Dress and I chose the Ines dress*, as I thought it would be a perfect versatile piece and great for formal events, interviews or work.

When the parcel arrived, the packaging was gorgeous. Who doesn't love a beautifully packaged parcel turning up at their door?!

Please excuse the bingo wings! Gotta get those dumbbells out again!

The first thing I noticed about the dress was how heavy it was. Instantly you could tell the material was luxurious and would last for many years to come. I tried it on straight away and it was lovely. The dress is a bodycon style, however it doesn't cling to every nook and cranny on the body like some bodycon dresses do. It skims over the body, hugging the right places, creating a lovely svelte shape. I love the full length exposed zip at the back and neckline detail. It has two zippers, meaning you can wear it with a slit up the back if desired. The dress comes to my knees, which makes it great for formal events and perfect for any upcoming interviews.

Check out Damsel in a Dress for more evening dresses online and other gorgeous clothing!

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

*PR product. Please read my disclaimer page for more information.

July Favourites 2012

Today I thought I would share my favourites from July with you:

Haha, Youtube always choose such unfortunate thumbnails

Thank you for watching. xoxo, Joy

Sales Haul

I don't usually share all my Youtube videos here on my blog, but I recently uploaded a small sale haul to my Youtube channel and thought I'd share it here too as I picked up some great bargains:




Have you picked up any goodies in the summer sales?

Thank you for watching. xoxo, Joy

June Favourites 2012

I can't believe it's the end of June already! These are my beauty, skin and hair favourites from the month of June. If you want to see my June Favourites video, where you can hear why I've been loving these products, then click here.

Every month I include a random favourite with my monthly favourites. This month, my random favourite(s) have been buying white items of clothing. I usually stick to dark colours and tend to wear black all year round. However recently every time I am in town, I am always drawn to white items of clothing, especially crochet or broderie anglaise items. The ones below are two of my recent purchases:

Top: New Look £12.99

Dress: Urban Outfitters £30 (Reduced from £65)

What have you been loving this month?

xoxo, Joy

Clothing and Jewellery Haul

Hi everyone, I have uploaded a quick clothes and jewellery haul to Youtube and thought I'd share it here.


The day after filming the video, I actually bought more things... Eek, my spending is out of control! I'm definitely going to have to keep more of an eye on my spending. I was wondering if any of you know of any good (and preferrable free!) money tracking iPhone apps? Thanks.
Thank you for watching. xoxo, Joy

Collective Haul

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging very regularly lately. I have had writer's block for a while now, which ultimately made me post less as I didn't know what to blog about. I have also been super busy with uni, as I am in my final year (eek!). Hopefully posts will become regular again soon - Probably around March time :)

Today I have a collective haul from the past few weeks to share with you. I say it in the video, but sorry that some of the stuff has been worn! I think it's nice to keep the labels on for hauls, but I can never wait to wear new clothes! Is anyone else like that? Hope you enjoy :)


Thank you for watching. xoxo, Joy

Christmas Sales Haul

I hit the shops with my mum on Boxing Day and although it was absolutely packed and all civilisation had turned into bargain hunting robots with no manners or people skills, I managed to come away with some lovely buys.

The shop that took most of my money was Topshop. I looked online before we went out and was a little disappointed with the online selection, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. However I found some lovely items in store and now I know the sale items in store are always better than online.

Bunny print shirt dress - £48 reduced to £30

Plum ponte dress - £30 reduced to £20

Leopard print shirt dress - £30 reduced to £18

Stripe top - £18 reduced to £10

(I couldn't find links online for the rest of the items)

I spotted the leopard print dress a while ago, but they didn't have my size. After it disappeared from the shop floor in my local Topshop, I thought I'd seen the last of it... And I couldn't believe my luck when I found the bunny print dress as I think it sold out super quickly when it came out in stores earlier this year. As I was laying out the items to take the picture above, I realised I have a 'type'... Looking through my wardrobe, you would see that I have a penchant for patterned skirts and dresses, stripy tops, and dresses that come in just above the waist. Does anyone else have a type of clothing that they always buy?

Topshop charity bracelet - £2

At the till point in Topshop, I spied this orange cord bracelet with a a silver wishbone charm. Jewellery with wishbones on are my weakness and I knew I had to buy it! The bracelet cost £2 and it was nice to see that £1 goes to charity (Centre Point, to be exact). There were two other designs too - A red cord bracelet with a dainty squirrel (so cute!) and a black cord bracelet with a heart.

I also picked up a few items from Marks and Spencer. M and S isn't a store I tend to shop in, but I thought I'd have a peek as my mum was looking for some work dresses.

Woven blazer - £29.50 reduced to £12.50

Black skinny jeggings - £?? reduced to £7.50!

I have been after a black blazer for ages! I spotted a lovely 3/4 sleeve blazer in Topshop a while back, but at £65, I couldn't bear to part with the money. After spotting this lone blazer on the rack, among a lovely turquoise one of the same style, I knew it was meant to be! My mum actually bought the jeggings for herself, but didn't realise they had zips at the bottom. After proclaiming that she was "too old for the extra zips", I decided to try them on... I have nothing but good things to say about these. They're a thickish material, so they lean more towards jeans than jeggings, they fit like a dream and stay skinny! My pet peeve with jeans is when the sag around the bum or knees and I have worn these every day since buying them (oops) and they're still nice and tight!

Lastly is an item I actually picked up from New Look before Christmas. After Sarah blogged about this skirt, I knew I had to have it!

Tulip sequin mini - £29.99 reduced to £6.50!

The skirt is absolutely beautiful. It has an array of flowers on the front,, with some pretty beading along the scallops.

Did you pick up any bargains in the sales?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Collective Haul

I've just uploaded a collective haul to Youtube, so I thought I'd also post it here. It does seem like a lot, but it was bought over a couple of shopping trips and over a few weeks.

I'm sorry if you're sick of seeing videos from me!

Thank you for watching. xoxo, Joy

TK Maxx Treats

It seems like all I keep doing throughout my holidays is shop! I just tend to end up at my local shopping centre, because there isn't much else to do near where I live. I went shopping with my mum yesterday and she insisted on popping into TK Maxx. I normally avoid TK Maxx like the plague, because it stresses me out. (Does anyone else find it super stressful?) But this time, I'm glad we went in because I found some lovely things that I am in love with!

Photo: Google

As you may or may not be aware, I've been on the hunt for the perfect trench coat. I have a navy one from H&M, which I love but I wanted a more classic Breakfast at Tiffanys style one, like the one worn by Audrey Hepburn above. I was going to get one from Warehouse which cost £85, but alas that was not my dream coat (and my purse is thanking me!). I spotted the coats rack and started riffling through, looking for a cute quilted Barbour-esque coat as they seem to be everywhere now. Instead I chanced upon this Michael by Michael Kors beaut! It was in the final clearance at only £32, so I snapped it up right away!

It looks huge here, but would you believe it's an XS!

I love the attention to detail, like on these buttons.

I also managed to pick up this TIGI Let It Be Cherry Almond Leave-In Conditioner, which Sarah has mentioned before. Can you believe it was reduced down to 50p?! What can you get for 50p nowadays? Not much! And omgosh, it smells amazing! If you like cherry bakewells, you will love this scent!!

Whenever I go shopping I always look through the purse and bag rails, knowing full well that I don't need more bags and purses. When I saw this Modalu purse on the stand, I knew I had to have it! Modalu has been made famous recently, due to Pippa Middleton toting the 'Bristol' bag, which they hastily renamed the 'Pippa'. I will admit, I had never heard of the brand until it was made famous by P-Middy. The purse reminds me of the Anya Hindmarch Joss wallet, which I could only lust after, and at only £19.99 (RRP £49), this was a lot more purse friendly. The leather is a beautiful grey 'shark' colour and the leather is buttery soft.

I love the consistent shell detail, from the labels to the shell studs to the lining of the purse - So cute!

Have you found any amazing bargains recently?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

You've Got Mail

Today I received two lovely bits of mail. Over the time I've been blogging, I have been lucky enough to win a number of giveaways and each time I receive the parcel, I'm always overwhelmed with sheer excitedness and am always so grateful that I have been given the opportunity.

In June I won Becca's amazing Cherry Vimto and Missguided giveaway. When my dad opened the door to the postman, he just gave me this look to say "What have you bought now?!" When I opened the box, we were both shocked at how generous they were.

The box the hamper came in was huge! Look at the size of the box in comparison to my Macbook!

The lovely hamper with the Cherry Vimto. I've recently become obsessed with adorning my room with wicker baskets to store miscellaneous bits and pieces, so this will look perfect in my room and I'm going to put my hair styling tools in it :)

Wow-oh-wow, so generous! After taking this photo, my dad didn't hesitate to steal all 3 cans of cherry Vimto as he left for work and I have managed to munch through a packet of the Vimto Chewy Sweets and a few glasses of Cherry Vimto Cordial. Nom :)

The gorgeous cherry red lace dress from Missguided. I am going to a wedding at the end of September, so this will be perfect for the occasion.

At the beginning of August, I won the lovely Christine's Sigma F80 giveaway. I already have a Sigma F80, but since coming home from uni my mum has decided to pinch it, so this came at the perfect time! The package was shipped on Aug 9, so I was impressed at how quickly the brush came all the way from America!

How cool is the Sigma logo? It's like a rainbow holograph!

Have you won anything recently?

Thank you for reading and a massive thank you to Becca and Christine for allowing me to win their giveaways! :D Make sure to check out Becca and Christine's amazing blogs! xoxo, Joy

P.S. Don't you hate when your camera runs out of battery just as you're about to use it?! I had to use my dad's DSLR for these pictures and they came out with a yellowish tinge, so I used Carrie's vintage Photoshop action again to cover it up.

Recently

Over the beginning of the week, I became a little obsessed with the London riots, poring over the news and Twitter, worrying that the riots would spread to my town. There were riots in surrounding towns, but my town was missed - probably because there's nothing to loot, apart from some charity shops, the 99p store and Morrissons. But I felt such despair over the towns, businesses and homes that were ruined due to the events over the past few days. However seeing the photos of the riot clean ups, the Sikhs protecting Southall and the post-it notes stuck on the shop front of Poundland in Peckham helped to restore my faith in humanity and it shows true community spirit. I hope nothing too major happened where you live and that you're all safe.

Despite these riots, I still found time to do a little shopping. I didn't pick up much and I'm sorry if this post drags on! I could ramble for England.

I picked up the September issue of Marie Claire magazine (£3.60), because of the free Ciaté nail polish. There was also a sample of a Dove Intensive conditioner. I've tried two Ciaté nail polishes before (Swatches here and here) and was highly impressed. There was a choice between a dark purple and this nude colour, but I settled on the nude because I'm still going through a nude nail phase. 'My Fair Lady' is a lovely pinky-caramel nude (Can you tell that I suck at describing colours?) and the NOTD above shows 3 coats. I feel that it could have done with another coat, but I couldn't be bothered. There was a discount code on the back of the box, so I thought I'd pop it into the picture in case anyone wants to use it.

I went to Boots in search of the Nivea Anti-Cellulite Gel-Cream, because it was half price (£5.50 down from £11). While I was there I spotted this Vichy Dermablend on No15 (Opal) in the clearance section for only £7.75 (RRP £15.50), since the box was super battered but the product hadn't been opened, so I snapped it up right away. I've heard rave reviews about both of these products, so I'm excited to try them.

I spotted this ring in the sale jewellery section of Miss Selfridge for £4.25. I've wanted a ring like this for a while and love it! It reminded me of and Alexander McQueen ring and I love the little pop of turquoise in the eyes.

I've watched a few Primark hauls recently and everyone else seems to be picking up some great buys, but I didn't really see much that took my fancy on my latest trip. Maybe I need to go to a bigger one... I spotted this scarf in Primark for £4. It says it's oversized and oversized it is! I'd says it's about 1m wide and about 2m long, which I think it perfect for the transition from Summer to Autumn and would probably work well into Winter.

If you saw my wishlist post, you would have seen that I wanted a trench from Warehouse and a black dress from H&M. I tried the trench on and I was disappointed as it really didn't suit me :( However I did pick up this pretty coral skirt in Warehouse for £25. I was lucky to get the H&M dress as this was the last one in my size. I guess it makes sense as the dress is a complete bargain at only £14.99! Other stores seem to be following Zara's lead (Re: Frankie Sandford's infamous red dress) and have started making dresses in this shape, but this is the cheapest I've seen.

What have you been buying recently?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Mini Sale Haul

This is just a short video on a couple of things I bought in the sales.

Thank you for watching. xoxo, Joy

Recent Purchases

I posted this earlier this week, but with all the problems on Blogger, it seems to have unposted itself... So I am reposting this!

I realised that my first two Youtube videos were collective hauls for February and March, but here's another one for the month of May. I find doing haul videos easier than haul posts with photos and text. Plus I find editing videos quite therapeutic. Haha.

One of the comments I received on Youtube was that I'm not smiling in the video, so I apologize for that now.




Thank you for watching. xoxo, Joy

Recent Purchases

Although I didn't get much of a response on here when I posted my last video, I decided to do another one because I enjoy doing them and quite like editing them. I was thinking of doing a 'What's in my bag' video, so if anyone wants to see that, let me know :)

Thank you for reading/watching. xoxo, Joy

Recent Purchases

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! ♥

I quickly popped into a couple of stores today whilst I was in town and bought a number of things. I decided to document it in a video, because I thought it would be fun to mix up my posts a bit and have something different to just posting pictures, like I normally do. I also thought it would be less time consuming since I didn't need to resize and tag all my photos, however I forgot that I'd have to edit the video, oops. Once I'd gotten the hang of iMovie, editing the video didn't take me as long as I thought.

I was a little hesitant in posting the video, but I thought I would to see what reaction I get and to ask if it's something that you guys would like to see more of.

As a pre-warning, please excuse the quality of the video (I just filmed it on my Macbook) and how jumpy the video is! (I will work on that if I make another video). Be kind, please!

Please let me know what you think, would you like to see more videos? If so, what would you like to see? I'm tempted to do a 'What's in my bag' video, since I love watching those and maybe do some OOTDs? I'd love to hear your thoughts - If you never want to see my face on your screen again, please feel free to tell me!

I just wanted to quickly add in, I noticed that my follower count has creeped up recently. Thank you all so much! :D I really appreciate it and I am glad that people are finding my blog interesting, since it makes me keep working hard to make it as best as it can be. When I hit 50 followers, I'm going to do a giveaway. :)

Thank you for reading/watching. xoxo, Joy

Bargain Of The Week!

I just wanted to share this bargain I found in Urban Outfitters! While I love the clothes sold in Urban Outfitters, I normally only buy things from there in the sale, because otherwise I think I'd permanently be in debt!

This photo really doesn't do the playsuit any justice. It probably doesn't help that I didn't know where to put my arms for the photo, so I look really awkward. Also, please excuse the mess in the background!

The tag said £55, but it was on the sale rack so I decided to pick it up and try it on, just in case. After trying it on and liking it, I guessed that it would probably be around the £25/£30 mark, which I thought was reasonable. Upon getting to the tills, it scanned in at £20 - £18 with my student card! Better than half price (Doesn't that sound like some kind of supermarket offer?!). Score!

Have any of you found any bargains recently?

xoxo, Joy

Recent Primark Purchases

I popped into Primark yesterday before I went to the gym and came out with a couple of things, including a black belt, some socks, some underwear and 2 lovely items of clothing which were new in.

Sheer black shirt dress - £15

This dress is super pretty and flattering, since it comes in just above the waist. I can see myself wearing this all year round - For example, in the winter with a chunky knit and thick tights and in the summer with a pair of flip flops. There was also a cream/yellow version as well, which I tried on but I found it was rather see through, so I opted for the black one. It kind of reminded me of this dress from the Primark SS11 lookbook, which is released in March.

Horse print tunic - £6

This tunic/dress is super cute. I love the horse print and the peter pan collar. It's really flattering, since it comes in just above the waist. There was also a pinky/peach version of this, but I decided against that one since I have the pinky/peach swallow tunic that was released last year. The collar has a really gorgeous and subtle embroidery detail:


I'm super impressed with the Primark SS range at the moment. Have you bought anything from Primark recently?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

Save A Tree, Hug A Bear

I discovered earlier this week that my old can of hairspray had started dribbling the hairspray down the side of the bottle, instead of spraying it onto my hair. I can't live without hairspray, soyes off I plodded to Boots yesterday before I went to the gym and somehow managed to not only buy more than I needed, but I also ended up in Primarni as it was on my walk home. Oops.


BootsWitch Hazel - £2.39
Got 2b 2 SEXY Collagen Lift Effect Hairspray - £3.99 [2 for £4! What a bargain, I got the second item for 1p!]
Got 2b Guardian Angel - £3.99 [2 for £4]
Rimmel Pro Matte Finish - £4.59
Collection 2000 Sheer Loose Powder - £2.99



Primark
Camel wedges - £4 [Reduced from £15]

Approximately 2 weeks ago, I won a David and Goliath Twitter giveaway by Glamour Magazine's Twitter. I won an invite to a launch party (which I was unable to attend, since it was in London and I'm currently studying in Birmingham) and 2 David and Goliath/Hauser Bears t-shirts. I'd never heard of Hauser Bears before, so I had a quick look into the organisation and found that it is a charity for the welfare of bears worldwide. They work to target the issues of bear bile farming in Asia, poaching and bears trapped in the entertainment trade. (More information can be found here) I chose these two cute tees from the range that they have on the David and Goliath site and I was excited to see that they'd arrived today :) I love David and Goliath t-shirts, because the material is so soft and comfortable to wear.


What have you all bought recently? Do you have anything from David and Goliath? Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Thanks for reading. xoxo, Joy

Recent Purchases

Since getting my student loan last week, I've been shopping a few times and bought a number of things.


ASOS
Mini Straightners - £4.50
ASOS Paints by Ciaté in Lauren - £1.00

TK Maxx
Bloch Shoes - £24.99 (RRP = £130!)
French Connection Bag - £19.99


Zara
Scarf - £16.99

Topshop
Hoodie - £20.00
Flats - £25.00


H&M
Top - £5.00

Bicester North Outlet Village
Ralph Lauren Polo Shirt - £16.99(!)

What have you all bought recently?

Thanks for reading. xoxo, Joy

P.S. In case you're thinking "Shoes on the bed!", don't worry, the shoes were clean and have never been worn outside!