I always feel a little sheepish when I return to blogging after the longest time not blogging. Life has just been a little bit mental over the last few months, you know how it gets... I am going to make more of an effort to be part of the blogging community over summer though. Whenever I'm not a part of it, I do really miss it!
I took the inevitable plunge of buying a DSLR which I'm absolutely loving. It's keeping me busy lately, expect lots of snaps around London to follow soon!
Yesterday I went for brunch at a place called Pimlico Fresh. They serve very delicious, if a little pricey breakfasts and lunches. I was looking for an alternative to The Breakfast Club for a place to get fresh, tasty food, with quirky decor and an eclectic mix of people. Pimlico Fresh is definitely all of these. I particularly liked the communal benches inside the cafe. I can't find a website for it, but you can read more reviews here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pimlico-fresh/279204625442028
What I didn't enjoy about the place was the lack of toilet facilities! But this turned out to be a good thing it seemed, because it led me to a very extensive second hand sale in Pimlico academy (on the search for said toilet facility.) What a hidden gem it was. So many good finds there, I saw a girl pick up a vintage type writer for under £20 which I know she would have paid a lot more for anywhere else. Granted there was a lot of rubbish there to sift through too, but on a lazy Sunday, I had plenty of time to peruse the mountains of treasure! I came across this top which a lovely lady used to own.
She bought it from Whistles on the King's Road in the 1980s, back when she was working in John Lewis and in her words "spent all of her wages on clothes". We can all relate can't we?! Even without the label and the story behind the top (there's something really appealing to me about owning something that has a bit of history to it!), I still would've bought this top, I love the dusky pink colour and the feel of this top which I obviously can't convey in a photograph and quite smugly I paid £3 for this.
I also bought this rather cute little cami from Topshop. Bit pricier than my second hand Whistles purchase at £22 but I think I got caught up by the heatwave we've been enjoying and decided I needed something bright and summery. Maybe the heatwave is dwindling, but if nothing else I will love wearing this on holiday.
Jewellery wise, this chain on rope necklace is from Topshop priced around £16 if I remember correctly.
The ring is a recycled fork which I purchased from a very cool shop inside Greenwich market. I can't remember the name, but their whole ethos is about upcycling old things so there's some very interesting things to be found in there.
I took the inevitable plunge of buying a DSLR which I'm absolutely loving. It's keeping me busy lately, expect lots of snaps around London to follow soon!
Yesterday I went for brunch at a place called Pimlico Fresh. They serve very delicious, if a little pricey breakfasts and lunches. I was looking for an alternative to The Breakfast Club for a place to get fresh, tasty food, with quirky decor and an eclectic mix of people. Pimlico Fresh is definitely all of these. I particularly liked the communal benches inside the cafe. I can't find a website for it, but you can read more reviews here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pimlico-fresh/279204625442028
What I didn't enjoy about the place was the lack of toilet facilities! But this turned out to be a good thing it seemed, because it led me to a very extensive second hand sale in Pimlico academy (on the search for said toilet facility.) What a hidden gem it was. So many good finds there, I saw a girl pick up a vintage type writer for under £20 which I know she would have paid a lot more for anywhere else. Granted there was a lot of rubbish there to sift through too, but on a lazy Sunday, I had plenty of time to peruse the mountains of treasure! I came across this top which a lovely lady used to own.
She bought it from Whistles on the King's Road in the 1980s, back when she was working in John Lewis and in her words "spent all of her wages on clothes". We can all relate can't we?! Even without the label and the story behind the top (there's something really appealing to me about owning something that has a bit of history to it!), I still would've bought this top, I love the dusky pink colour and the feel of this top which I obviously can't convey in a photograph and quite smugly I paid £3 for this.
I also bought this rather cute little cami from Topshop. Bit pricier than my second hand Whistles purchase at £22 but I think I got caught up by the heatwave we've been enjoying and decided I needed something bright and summery. Maybe the heatwave is dwindling, but if nothing else I will love wearing this on holiday.
The ring is a recycled fork which I purchased from a very cool shop inside Greenwich market. I can't remember the name, but their whole ethos is about upcycling old things so there's some very interesting things to be found in there.
Close to where I live there is a large store which is made up of a few different high street shops such as Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Warehouse etc...kind of like a mini-department store. Recently they had a very generous sale on where many items were half price. I rather hastily removed all of the packaging and price tags but I know that nothing I bought from them cost over £3. The alphabet earrings in the above photo were from Miss Selfridge, around £2 and I thought they were a bit novel and cute and very me. I like wearing a mismatching colour combo.
This ring I had spotted a long time ago in Miss Selfridge and always thought it was very pretty but held off buying it because there was always something else that would catch my eye more than this. It's very pretty and sparkly but I can only wear it for going out as it's a bit too much for day time I feel. This was £3 down from £10. 
I recently lost my silver leaf earrings from Accessorize, well more to the point I lost one of them which still means I can't wear them unless I want to start a trend of wearing completely mismatched earrings, which I don't. These weren't an exact replacement but I like them just as much. They look kind of old and rustic which I like. They were £2 instead of £4 from Topshop.
I was glad I eventually found my size in this as I was prepared to buy a bigger size and customise it. It doesn't look right unless it's tucked into jeans so you don't get to see the bottom bit when I wear it, but I can't change my shortness so I'll deal with it. I don't own that many graphic t-shirts but they always catch my eye when I'm browsing.
Above is a swatch of the blush on top, and the lipstick below. I will at some point do a more detailed review/comparison of these products. Now on to the Topshop goodies. First up, this layered short sleeved top which is a mint green colour. I bought this to go with the high waisted black skirt I showed you as this top is cropped and the shape will complement it nicely. I'm loving all the pastel, nude colours that are about at the moment, it's very flirty and feminine. I like wearing this top to smarten up jeans too, and although it's cropped it doesn't really show much which I like, possibly because of my shortness! I'm not sure how I'd feel about wearing this if I was taller. This is not the best background for the top to be against for you to see it properly!
Here's another staple top I bought. Again this is cropped. I like the loose sleeves, and the button detail down the middle. It's just a basic top but looks great with jeans, and it's available in a range of nude and earthy tones.
Finally, I had my eyes on these a while ago, but for some reason or another, managed not to buy them. I had to go back to buy them this weekend though because I think they are quite unique. The pattern reminds me of peacock feathers, but they're on a thin piece of metal which is a nice twist, I've not really seen any like this before.
In the picture I'm wearing it over a pink vest top, but as it's sheer, you can wear it with a different coloured top underneath for a different twist on the same outfit. This is good for me to be able to mix an outfit up as I get bored easily! Hopefully you'll be able to enlarge these photos to see the beading embellishments on this top. It's lovely detailing, one of the reasons Topshop is amongst my favourite high street shops. It came with a packet of spare beads which will be useful, I've already had to sew on one of the bead clusters as it got caught! 
I actually spent most of my birthday money whilst I was still in London. I went to Bluewater for the first time a of couple weeks ago and LOVED it! It’s the most Americanised shopping centre I’ve been to in the UK which is a good thing because I love American malls, and I believe this is also the biggest one in the UK, I could be wrong, there’s probably an even bigger one by now, but it’s great all the same, definitely worth the travel out of London for the convenience of having everything under one roof. I love the fact it has a Hollister store too, this was the first time I realised we even stocked Hollister and it makes me very happy and nostalgic of my exchange year in Florida. Although the summery clothes have limited wear over here, there’s still some great pieces to layer. Unfortunately the price tags aren’t as I remember, I lived there during a time when I could just halve the price of everything to work out the price in £. Now things seem mega expensive! I only got this simple vest top in the end, I love the colour, and hopefully it should wear well, otherwise I can’t really justify spending £12 on such a top when I could have bought one for £4. Oh well, I love Hollister :p. Also in the picture, I bought another vest top from Topshop, love the lace detailing on the back, a couple of scarves from H&M, necklace from Accessorize, bangles from Muse, (a bargain jewellery shop which I’m pretty certain has the same distributors as Accessorize, Topshop and the like, very similar items), Too Faced Blush and No7 Extravagant Lash Mascara. I will probably do separate reviews on the makeup products because I am thrilled with one and disappointed with the other, can you guess which?!
