Something sweet to get me by

Even though it is still below freezing point and it's predicted to snow at some point this weekend I am itching to hit the shops and get some candy colours to cheer myself up and forget about the weather and the fact I'm back at university full time.

The shops are full of sweet treats and cute clothes that are to die for. Liliacs and pinks and lime green and sky blue and they are all so beautiful. They are the kind of colours that are going to make you want to tie little bows in your hair and wear A-line summer dresses. As you can probably tell I'm rather excited about this season's sugary shades.

But it doesn't stop at clothes. Hair is set to get the rainbow makeover too. Style.com has noted brightly coloured locks as one of the key looks for this season and as it's too chilly too get out cute little summer dresses, hair is the easiest way to get involved with the pastel trend. There are loads of semi-permanent hair dyes out there and they are so easy to do. But if you need a little inspiration look no further than Bleach london who have even created their own little range of tye-dye barbies. 

Below are a few images from there site so all credit goes to them. Enjoy!

Geek chic satchels

I came across these gorgeous bags when I was flicking through the pages Januarys 2012 Vogue. I was stopped in my tracks by a bright pink page and I was immediately drawn towards a fluoro satchel. 

Then I died a little bit inside when I saw that it cost £98 for an 11 inch. Needless to say I was straight onto google and I came across the cambridge satchel company which stocks and products the babies. They have different types of satchels which all come in a variety of sizes and colours and well what more can I say? I need one. They have some in the sale (cheapest around £55 but sadly no pictures  of the sale ones along side the description and some of them are marked down as damaged which takes all the fun out of buying a brand new bag. Maybe if I wish hard enough one will somehow find itself to my house because if I was to buy my dream bag, I wouldn't be able to afford to eat for a month. Oh the woes of being a fashion forward.

My favourite foundation

I'm a sucker for make-up. I love getting ready and putting my make-up on. But one thing that has always got me worked up was foundation. Having combination skin I have searched high and low for the perfect foundation. I've read more reviews than I can remember and trusted magazines hoping to find a foundation that would become a permanent addition to my make-up bag and 2 years ago I found it and I can honestly say I've been using it ever since.

Estee Lauder double wear foundation is THE foundation and I swear by it.

It goes onto skin effortlessly, I apply mine with a brush to make sure I get even coverage and once it's on my skin looks flawless. It is the holy grail of foundations I'm convinced of it. I can apply it at 10 in the morning and then wear it throughout the day into the night without having to touch it up. It gives beautiful coverage without making your skin feel chalky or like you have a million layers on grease on your skin. The only drawback is that is costs around £27. When I buy a bottle it tends to last me about 3 months as you only need to wear the smallest amount. For me this is the best of the best, but if anyone else wears an amazing foundation let me know! Even though it would be a tough job for me to switch. Genuinely think I'm a little bit in love with this product.

Lana Del Rey

So there's already been a lot of media attention (and conspiracy theories) surrounding this American beauty but I thought I'd just further her popularity by blogging about her. Lana has literally come out of nowhere but seems to be everywhere at the minute, already having featured on many magazine covers. Her song Video games may sound familiar as it featured on the Christmas episode of The only way is Essex and a recent Gossip girl episode too.

I can't imagine her music is for everyone, she is almost speaking in parts as opposed to singing but I'm hooked. Her Facebook page lists her genre as Hollywood pop / sad core whatever that means. But she is fascinating to watch and even though I'm pretty sure she's had ALOT of plastic surgery is kind of flawless, minus the chav nails. This is her video for Born to die which is gorgeous in itself and I can't stop watching/listening.

Her album Born to die is out jan 30th

Blondes have more fun?

All my life I've been an anti-blonde. You see I was born with jet black hair and have had dark as night sky locks for most of my life, I have dabbled with colour on numerous occasions; I've been scarlet red, coppery ginger, bright orange, purple, dark blue, auburn, mousy brown, chocolate brown...the list goes on. But I've never been blonde. I couldn't imagine being a blonde. I did bleach my hair once back in high school to try and achieve a lighter red but it burnt and itched and I wonder WHY people do this to themselves?!

That is, until this summer. I couldn't resist the bleach bottle any longer so I threw away my brunette uniform and I finally took the plunge, I went against every grain of sanity in my body and transformed my midnight black hair to golden blonde. And believe me, I was insane to do it. The bleach destroyed my hair, I lost inches trying to achieve sun like hair, it was literally snapping off when I ran my finger through it. Not to mention how much it cost;I'm guessing with the at home bleach kits, trips to the hair dressers, hair cuts, new extensions, etc it came near to the £300 mark. Tragic I know.

But thank god! It was all worth it. Going blonde has been an eye opening experience. I've had to stop wearing pink because I look like Barbie but now I can wear head to toe black without looking like a goth. I get approached by different types of men and girls seem to be more standoffish....than usual. I have loved every second of being blonde but I shall be returning to the dark side very soon, getting back to my roots. Pun not intended.

From this....

To this...

Look back at 2011

This year has been fantastic for me and fashion for a number of reasons:

I finally got my hands on some patent white DMs, dream come true; Found some gorgeous bright red jeans in Warehouse; tried out coloured contacts, got some beautiful glittery red nail varnish just in time for party season and perhaps the best was finding out that nude shades are in for spring new year!

Apart from fashion, 2011 has been great for music, Nicki Minaj's SuperBass is STILL being played in clubs and Florence released her second album Ceremonials which is flawlessly haunting.

As for film, the only one that made any impact (for me anyway) was Harry Potter, I was in asda at midnight buying that badboy.

Aside from the clothes, music and movies though 2011 has been a pretty good year. It started off a bit rocky, but then again, most new years do, th

ings left unsettled from the past year but it eased out.

I've been to London twice, got to go to Paris with my family, danced away at V festival even though I was deathly ill, worked 9-5 then 8-1 all through summer and made my parents very proud, had some fabulous meals and free shots (...VODKA), moved into my little flat with L&N, cleaned for the first time EVER, cried when I was sad...well cried because I'm not HP, laughed so hard it hurt and of course made some wonderful memories with friends that I will never forget for as long as I shall live.

All in all this year hasn't been too shabby.

ASA bands Lucy lynx adverts

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned the Lynx Deodorant web campaign starring Lucy Pinder after complaints that the images objectivity and degrade woman. Apparently there were 5 adverts which showed Pinder undertaking activities including washing a car, jogging and playing with a light sabre, which in all fairness to the girl are things that I’m guessing quite a few women do in their spare time.

Now I would consider myself somewhat of a feminist, of course I want equal rights to men and I think that women deserve that but I sometimes can’t help but think that the issue of scantily clad females has been brought up time and time again and I am sick to death of it!

Yes the advert features Pinder in her underwear doing activities provocatively and yes she is a gorgeous woman with rather big boobs but so what?! She is also a woman who got paid to do the campaign and I’m guessing it wasn't an awful amount either. Nobody forced her to shoot the photos, she wasn’t being taken advantage of; she chose to show off her stuff in her underwear and I think hats off to the girl! Maybe I am missing the point here but I don’t quite understand what is so awful and demeaning with adverts like this. To me it represents a strong independent woman who has chosen to use what god has given her to help make a living and is enjoying living her life for the here and now. There’s no shame in her expression on the photos that’s for sure and if you want to do that thing then surely it is your choice, as a woman of the world, to use your body how you want and surely that in itself is being a feminist.

Obviously as the ads are banned the images are hard to find, but here’s one I managed to get my hands on, if you are going to be offended by a woman in her underwear, in the kitchen, with a turkey then I suggest you don’t look at the image.

The strap line reads, “Can she make you lose control?” and quite frankly if a woman cooking in her undies makes a man lose control then I think it says more about the state of the man than the woman.