Category Archives: shopping

The Sweater Dress

26th October 2016
Despite my best efforts to be on a shopping ban right now a couple of accidental purchases have happened. It was inevitable really- the change in seasons, time on my hands and a love of anything remotely related to cats. Shopping was going to happen and right now I don’t have the heart to fight it.

Dress: Zara (in grey here) | Boots: Banana Republic | Hat: ASOS (sold out but I also love this one too)

You may remember this hat from a recent wish list post. At £10 I couldn’t resist the lure of fluffy ears and glow in the dark whiskers and I justified the purchase by reminding myself that I got rid of a LOT of hats when I moved from my flat back to my parents. I don’t care that it makes me look like I’m 9 years old rather than my 29 years- it makes me happy and that’s enough for me!

Zara is dangerous territory right now. A dear friend bought this dress and when she told me it was under £20 I was straight on the website placing my order. I’ve always viewed Zara as quite pricey but right now that have a huge range of affordable yet highly covetable pieces that are wreaking havoc with my good intentions. Still, I’ve been living in this dress since its arrival so it has already paid for itself in my eyes- and with a still undetermined stretch of time off of work ahead of me I can lounge around in it to my heart’s content.

On the subject of not yet being back at work- I’m working on it. Slowly but surely I’m fighting against the tight grip of anorexia and getting myself and my life back to where it needs to be. 2016 has been one hell of a shitty year and I’m looking forward to building up my strength and resilience ready to make 2017 a year to remember for all of the right reasons.

What have you been buying lately?

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Posted in life, life stuff, outfits, shopping

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A Skin Care Wishlist (save my skin!)*

25th October 2016
Every year around this time my skin goes haywire. It starts as soon as we have the heating on for any length of time- all of a sudden my skin becomes tight, sore and dry and my eyes itch. I’ve also been suffering from break-outs thanks to stopping the pill and letting my body readjust so I’m in a serious need of a skin care overhaul. I’m on a very limited budget right now so have been stocking up on high street staples like Simple but having seen that Charlotte Tilbury is now stocked by House of Fraser I decided to check out their skincare and as such have ended up with a bit of a wish list of some old favourites I wish I could afford and some new to me products (that I also wish I could afford!)
The Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Skin Clay Mask (£45, eek!) particularly caught my eye even though I’m not usually a mask kind of girl. Wether it was Charlotte’s eloquent product description or the promise of baby soft skin I’ll never know but this is something that I would definitely like to try. Likewise with the Magic Cream (even more eek at £70). Anything that claims it can work magic on my tired and dull complexion has instant appeal to me.

I’ve never been the best at looking after my skin, perhaps because in my younger years I was always very lucky and didn’t suffer with acne or any other teenage skin complaint. I’m paying the price now though as I’m noticing lots of fine lines and wrinkles around my eyes especially so Estee Lauder’s advanced night repair and Kiehls powerful wrinkle reducing eye cream both seem like worth additions to my slowly expanding skincare army.

The last two products on my list are to hopefully combat the break outs. Clinique has always been my fall back brand for skin care when money allows and I’m yet to meet a product of theirs that doesn’t work for me. I definitely want to get my hands on their clarifying lotion sooner rather than later, and at £16.50 it’s not beyond the realms of possibility. I’ve also been putting strong consideration to caving in to the hype and saving up for a Clarisonic Mia for that added cleansing boost.

Talk to me about your skin saviours, both high-end and high street. What’s on your skin care wish list?

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Posted in beauty, life, shopping, wish list

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Gift Guide: Garden Pharmacy

17th October 2016

Ok, I really can’t hold off any longer, the official gift guides are beginning properly. I like to think of myself as an organised person and I like to be ahead with my Christmas shopping. Figuring I can’t be alone in this (the ever increasing crowds of people in the shops being a huge giveaway) I’m taking the plunge. Click away if you’re one of those who can’t even begin to think about gift buying until the start of December…

I was recently sent a couple of items from Garden Pharmacy to review and given the vast array of beauty and fragrance products they sell I thought I’d combine my mini reviews with a little list of other items that I think would make for wonderful presents. They currently have some good offers on many of their products meaning you might just manage to bag yourself a bargain in the process.

The first item I was sent was this beautiful tin of Steam Cream. This stuff has been around for a fair few years now but somehow passed under my beauty radar. To be honest I think I was put off by the presence of lavender which I often find over-powering but having now actually had the chance to both smell and use these cream I can see what the hype is about. I’ve mostly been using it on my hands which suffer dreadfully when the weather gets colder and it’s working wonders. The gorgeous packaging (of which there are many variations available) means it makes a beautiful girly gift too.
The Selfie Powders Palette palette from Too Faced (currently only £24.00) has been an item of intrigue to me since it first burst on to the beauty scene. This trio of powders are designed to be instagram filters for real life providing either brightening warmth, a bronze glow or a cool ethereal light. It took me a while to brave using these, I feared yellow and purple streaks all over the shot- actually these blend wonderfully in to the skin and do give an added edge to my every day makeup. I’ve been getting so many more compliments on my skin since I started using these!
And now for a few other items that have made it on to my beauty christmas list- hopefully providing a little inspiration to help you along your way (or enabling a self indulgent spending spree in which case I am sorry!)

Here | Here | Here | Here | Here

Happy Shopping! Let me know if you have any specific gift guide requests…

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*Post contains affiliate links*

Posted in beauty, christmas, gifts, review, shopping

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Quirky Jewellery from Galibardy- Wish List and Discount

15th October 2016
Well, aren’t I on a jewellery roll this week? Today I am returning to a long time favourite brand of mine Galibardy, an alternative handmade jewellery boutique based in London. I’ve featured them on the blog before and keep a regular eye on what new and creative pieces they have come out with. I’ve amassed quite the wish list lately so thought I’d share my current favourites.
It goes without say that there are a couple of cat related items on the list and I’m also really rather taken with the red balloon unicorn necklace, cleverly inspired by balloon modelling (random fact, I’m terrified of balloon modelling balloons usually!). If any of these pieces have tickled your fancy, or anything else from the website then the lovely Lisa at Galibardy is offering all readers of my blog a generous 25% discount on their orders. Simply add code “daisychain” (all in lowercase) in the coupon section at the checkout.
Happy shopping!

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Posted in jewellery, shopping, wish list

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Bristol Life- Vintage Kilo Sale with Bristol Textile Recyclers

14th October 2016
It’s been a while since I last going involved in anything happening in my home city of Bristol. I could throw out dozens of excuses about being busy with life and such but actually I’ve been struggling a lot with anxiety and doing anything outside of my social comfort zone has just been too much. Still, with a renewed motivation for life when an invite came in to attend a vintage kilo sale run by Bristol Textile Recyclers I was determined to attend, and I did. A couple of weekends ago with Mum at my side I headed in to the city to see what it was all about.
For a bit of background Bristol Textile Recyclers is a massive warehouse that diverts 20 tonnes of unwanted textiles from landfill sites each day (that’s a LOT of clothes!) They pick out the best pieces of vintage and high street garments to put to one side and once a month they open up to the public in one of their vintage kilo sales. What does a vintage kilo sale look like I hear you ask! Well, much like this…
The clothes and accessories are placed in large containers around the factory. Guests are encouraged to roll up their sleeves and get digging through, placing their finds in to a bag ready to be weighed up at the end- with scales dotted around so you can weigh as you go too. There is a £1 entry fee to get in which is nothing really- especially as you could easily spend half a day there going through the goods!

Clothing is priced at £6 per kilo (cash only) which drops down to £5 per kilo if you get 10kg or more. For a rough guide you could pretty much get a skirt, top and a scarf within one kilo so it really is excellent value. Mum and I had such a good time rummaging through and came away with quite a haul at the end of the two hours we spent there. I’ve photographed a couple of my favourite finds to show you but stay tuned for more popping up on the blog soon.

I’ve pretty much lived in the quilted jacket and vintage jumper since I got them home. I did grab some dressier pieces too which I’m hoping to wear over the party season as well as some great denim. It’s worth paying close attention as there are plenty of brands around if you can find your size…lots of Levis for example and I did grab a fabulous pair only to find I’d slightly underestimated just how small they were when I got home!

This was one of the best Saturdays I’ve had in a long while and I’m planning to go to at least one more sale this side of Christmas and plenty in the new year! Bristol people check out the website and facebook to find out more about upcoming events and let me know if you plan to attend, I’m all for broadening my social horizons and actually interacting with people for once- the next sale is on Saturday 5th November.

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*Disclosure- Mum and I were guests of BTR and received free entry and a 5kg allowance each. 5kg is a LOT of clothes, we didn’t even manage it between us and came away with so much stuff! Opinions are honest and I will be attending future sales as a paying guest as it was just brilliant and an excellent chance to try something new and add something extra to my wardrobe- I’ve always loved vintage and this is such a bargainous and fun way to build up a collection.*

Posted in bristol, life, shopping, social life

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