Bicester Village

Who would have thought I would be up and out of the door at qaurter past six in the morning? Not me! Now don't get me wrong, i've seen many six o'clock starts but here's the thing about holidays. There's no college, and on this particular day no work, so why am i throwing away the only lie-ins i'll get until summer? 

Because I am a good girlfriend. That's plain and simple. It had nothing to do with me wanting to go shopping... No not at all. I was accompanying, and then my hand slipped. Into my purse and then into the card machine. 

My boyfriend drove his mom to Banbury on this particular day and she had to be there quite early hence why we had such an early start, and I decided it would be nice to go with him since he may have mentioned his plan to take me to Bicester village... 

Now if you don't know where Bicester is then... I don't know where i'm going with this to be honest i don't really know either. 

But! I'm not completely useless I can tell you what it is! 

It's a cute shopping village full of boutique looking stores, and pretty trees and flowers. It's definitely not your typical shopping trip into town as everything was so beautiful (and expensive). 

The stores are all outlet stores, and they certainly had a lot going for them. Imagine your favourite designer, and yes that was there! (I can't say that for certain it probably wasn't), but they had so many shops. They had the typical Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Ted Baker stores, and they also had a Mulberry, Alexander McQueen and Kate Spade store! (More on Kate Spade later.) 

They also had a Jimmy Choo store but I just admired a lot of them sadly from the window. 

I'm going to admit it, Josh is a brand whore. Just don't tell him I said it! I on the other hand, not so much. I do love expensive clothes, but I find Primark satisfies me enough. 

I think its something to do with the whole I work in McDonalds during weekends while i'm at college, thing. My bank account certainly isn't a pretty site, and therefore I would never be able to justify spending so much. 

Which means I mainly just looked and let Josh do the spending, until my minor slip up but i'll explain that later.

It was a lovely day when we decided to go and I think that just made it for me, not only did I get to browse a load of lovely (and bloody tempting) shops, but I also got to sit in the sun taking in the scenery and enjoying my strawberry frappe. Oh yeah and Josh, I got to spend time with him as well. 

Just before we left, I dragged Josh into Kate Spade. It's not a very popular brand where i'm from, most people don't know who Kate Spade is so a Micheal Kors bag is the next best thing. I did contemplate going into MK which was next door but I decided against it. 

I had resisted spending money for the whole two hours we were shopping, but I have a little space inside my heart for Kate Spade. The watches, the bags, the idiom bangles. I've been obsessing over them for ages, and I was planning to go to the store in London sometime soon. 

Anyway, as soon as we got into Kate Spade I fell in love. I knew what I wanted. I knew what I had to have. I got paid on the day we went (bad idea, I know) and since i've had holiday from college I worked almost everyday the week before and so I succombed. 

Any other pay day I wouldn't have considered spending that much money on a bag, Kate Spade or not. But since my pay had temporarily (*sob at temporarily*) doubled, I could afford the bag. And guess what? Still afford to eat! 

I should really be saving for a car, and our holiday. But hey ho, this was the first designer bag I had ever bought myself and if you ask Josh (do you even know who Josh is? He turned up in my life somewhere in the midst of my time away from the blogosphere) he will tell you how excited I was. I felt like a little kid on Christmas and I was my own Santa! 

It's a beautiful grey colour with a shoulder strap, this was the most important element hands down. And it closes at the front of the bag with a really cute Kate Spade clasp, the inside is a white with Kate Spade New York written over and over again in a satiny white. It's beautiful! 

Now i'll leave you with a picture, and be sure to visit Bicester if your near! Not only did it house the most amazing shops, but because of the cute village feel it made an amazing day out. 

Christmas shopping, ice skating and parties!

I feel like November disappeared so quickly, Christmas is days away and I've been so distracted that I haven't posted anything since Halloween... I guess this is one of those classic where have I been posts, but since Christmas is fast approaching I'm just going to skip November all together and let you in on how December's been going so far.

Firstly, I've been spending a lot of time at the German market this year, it's on every year in Birmingham and this year I went up a few times. First to have a look around with Tash, then for some Christmas shopping with Tom. And again with Tom, Charlotte and Mark to go ice skating! It definitely put me in the Christmas spirit.

I also found myself in London this month, it wasn't so much of a Christmas activity, but it was definitely fun! We were there on a trip with Law and Politics, we went to parliament, the supreme court and downing street! 

And then a few days ago I went to my work's Christmas crew bash. It was a lot of fun, I got very drunk and had an amazing time, Tom took a liking to his Christmas hat and i'm sure he probably still hasn't taken it off... 

More posts to come, I promise! 

Five tips for shopping success!

I am constantly shopping, but I usually only picks up two or three things a new bra or a cute shirt, that kinda shopping. Then once or twice a year I find myself bored with my wardrobe and desperate to go shopping and buy out the whole mall! (This is a bad thing, I just can't control myself.) These are the least successful I think because I'm buying so much I usually buy stuff on a whim and never wear it or buy stuff I will wear and yet never do, and after these trips I usually go back the next day with 75% of it because I just got too over-excited and actually I hate that bright orange top I just paid £12 pound for? I'm going shopping tomorrow because I'm desperate for some new spring/summer pieces and came up with a few tips to help mine and your shopping trips a whole lot more successful!

KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE
I did some spring cleaning today, including my wardrobe (post soon if you're interested). So I know what exactly I have in their, I found a lot of items I had just forgotten about which I can't wait to start wearing again and I also realised I am lacking in the cute shorts and swimwear department. While I was cleaning out I made a vague list to make sure I at least picked up things I needed. I love making lists and following them so that works perfectly for me!

TRY IT ON
When you just pick up one thing it's so easy to skip the dressing rooms which can be stressful and way too hot around now, but it's definitely important to check them out. I find that a lot of the stuff I throw in my basket actually looks terrible on my own body shape, and if your a woman you know how crazy sizing is these days. I could be an 8 in one store and a 12 in another! It's not just that but some items look more flattering in a size bigger or smaller than your regular size sometimes and you end up with better results!

OUTFIT AHEAD
What I mean by this is before you decide to buy something think if you have something in your wardrobe you can wear it with already and if not find something! It's always a bummer getting excited over a new skirt and you can't find a shirt to pair it with.

LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE 'SENSIBLY'
Sensible sounds so old! Like your nan looking at your first pair of heels and going "are those shoes sensible?" When they can't be more than a few inches tall! ;) What I mean is it's great to leave your comfort zone and buy stuff you wouldn't usually wear because there is always room for your style/personality to grow, but it's best to decide if you like the item first. If it's quirky and catches your eye, follow steps 2&3 first!

BUDGET
If you are in a financial position where you don't have to budget then great, but if you can't splash too much cash it's great to make a mental note in your head. It doesn't have to be set in stone but I find when I start shopping and I know I'll be getting a lot, it is so easy to get carried away. If you're like me and have to be careful with finances then check what money you can spare on your fashion addiction first and try and stick to that amount. There has been many times where I have bought too many clothes and had to sacrifice (probably more important) things!

I hope you find these tips useful, I just thought I would share. Shopping is so overwhelming these days with so many different styles, shops and pieces! I would love to know any of your shopping tips as well, so leave a comment if you have any!

White girls on the loose.

There's a certain level of hipster that you reach and cannot return, today, we were so close. Just kidding, kinda.

I've been so ill recently, I went to school for two days during the week and Friday night I was up until four am and then woke up again at five coughing like crazy. The doctor suggested that it might be early stages of glandular fever which is more famously known as 'the kissing disease', I'm praying that it's not though.

And Even though I was incredibly tired, I got up at ten am Saturday morning and got dressed before jumping the bus to Abbie's, I hate buses and the day when I can learn to drive will be the best day. Abbie and I met up with Hannah and we got another bus (ugh) into town.

I'm not one to go out much, I just prefer the comfort of my home and since me and Abbie are always at each others houses it's never been a problem. One of my new years resolutions though was to get involved more so when Abbie asked me to join her and Hannah I said yeah, we watched The Awkward Moment first which was so good, Zac Efron is so perfect. If you get the chance you should definitely go watch it. Also Abbie got asked for ID which me and Hannah thought was hilarious.

Then we just spent hours window shopping, I brought a dress from h&m and some socks in topshop and Hannah bought a cd but apart from that we just spent about four hours drifting through shops and pointing out cute boys. We went into Hollister and sprayed all the testers, we walked slowly through shops just looking at everything and commenting on random pieces and picking out outfits. We found some of the cutest jumpers in h&m and in paper chase the notebooks were to die for. I didn't realise window shopping could be so fun, then at about five we went into starbucks me and Hannah got salted caramel hot chocolates (yum) and Abbie got a strawberries and cream frap (also yum) and then we got the bus home. While we were in starbucks though a cute boy let Hannah have his hot chocolate before his and he was tripping over his words and damn it was cute.

I was tired Saturday when I got home I just went through tumblr and I'm pretty sure I was asleep by ten but it was worth such an amazing day, I've forgotten how good hanging out outside of the house is, we used to be out all the time in year 7/8 and I'm definitely going to make more of an effort now!

How was your Saturday? Did you do anything exciting?

Braving The Sales

Ahh, boxing day has arrived (actually it's been and gone but you get my drift); Christmas money at the ready.

Christmas is full of happiness, family, food and presents; what more can a girl wish for? Then the next day you wake up early for an entirely different reason, shopping. Boxing day is so different to Christmas day how they are so close together I do not know.

You can't blame people for wanting to get to the good stuff first (Hollister 40% off anyone, uh yes please!) but people are so rude sometimes and when I've had very little sleep I'm really irritable. It literally took us an hour and a half to park because we waited till eleven to go into town but we did get there and even though I only went into superdrug and Hollister it was totally worth it and I wanted to share with you what I bought.

I ordered some clothes online as well so look out for for that post coming soon after this one but keep reading to see the make-up I picked up.

 I've wanted to try bioderma for awhile and I never see it anywhere but I read about a similar item that I found when I was in superdrug; Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. It only cost £5 which is pretty good and I've used it twice now and it's lovely. I bought some oval cotton pads to use with it and it's so much easier than washing my face and it has a deeper cleanse than baby wipes.

I also picked up the Rimmel stay matte powder in transparent to replace the one i'm using now, I've been using it since July so I'm pretty happy with how long it lasts and the powder itself is great too. As well as getting the Maybelline dream fresh bb cream in light, I've already tried the dream matte bb cream by Maybelline so I thought I'd buy the other one this time. I haven't used it much yet but I'm hopeful as it has sp3 30 and is oil free!

I knew I wanted a felt tip eyeliner that would be easy to use because i'm new to winging out my eyeliner and with the one I have it takes me a long while to do. I found the Rimmel scandal eyes precision micro eyeliner, it's tiny (duh, micro??) and it's so easy to control it's great.

I was so excited when the babylips came over to the uk but I very rarely go make-up shopping these days since I have too much but since it's Christmas I let myself and I picked up this one. It's In cherry me and smells so nice, like artificial cherries. It also leaves a pink colour on your lips, perfect for school.

Spots are lovely aren't they? No. That's why I got this, I'm hoping that it clears up my chin and forehead quickly curse my teenage skin. It's very watery not much like a gel would be but it's still pretty nice, it says to apply it 1-3 times a day so when you wake up and before you go to bed should be good enough. I've only used it a few times so I haven't seen a big difference in my skin yet.

Spot gel, babylips and eyeliner.

Yay for shopping ay?

My favourite clothes shop(s).

Welcome to my third post as part of the #BritishBloggerSelection! I'm really enjoying it and you should go ahead and check it out!

I didn't really know what to write for this post (or at all right now, but that's a different story). I don't have a favourite shop to be honest, if I go shopping I like to go everywhere even if I know exactly what I'm looking for I never know exactly where to look for it. This left me wondering how I would exactly go about this post. So, eventually I decided on this...

My favourite clothes shops have fun pieces, I own a million black tank tops and blue jeans, so I tend to go into a shop depending on the patterns or the amount of graphic tees.

My favourite clothes shops are ones I've never heard of. I love seeing a new shop that's kind of small and not really popular because I find that they have so much personality. Don't get me wrong. I love big shops like Topshop or Primark but sometimes I might stumble across this little unknown gem and it's great!

My favourite clothes shops will open up on December 26th because jeeze louise do I love a good spend even if it's a day after I'm spoilt rotten, sue me.

My favourite clothes shops don't sell make-up, I hate it. It's (usually) not very good and I get sucked into buying nail polishes and lipsticks that I don't even like when all I needed wanted was a new pair of jeans. Saying this, I do love Topshop's very own line but some shops just shouldn't go there.

My favourite clothes shops play music. There's nothing more satisfying than singing to yourself while you look at shirt after shirt after jumper. I love shopping, but I love shopping to music more. I never put my earphones in either because even if I don't know/like the song it adds to the atmosphere. I'm all about atmosphere.

I hope you enjoyed my take on this weeks theme!

For more read last weeks post or my very first post!



I'd love to hear about your favourite shops! Any excuse for a good old shop.

Reasons Why I Need So Many Pairs Of Jeans

Yes, Mom, I did write a blog post about this. Because this is very important... It is, honestly.

I think the biggest reason why I have so many is because if I find a pair of jeans that fit nicely in bum and length I automatically buy them (being short with not so skinny legs means if I find a pair that don't scrunch up completely at the bottom is a godsend), as long as they aren't crazily priced though. Then there's also the jeans that are usually over priced but are on sale... These, in my opinion are the worst because lets face it, you know they fit, you know they don't wear and tear easily but most importantly they're fifteen pounds down from fifty and that is the hardest thing to resist.

Another problem I find with jeans is that there are so many colours. Acid wash is not the same as just plain old light wash and then if they're ripped then they count as completely different as well. Not only this but I need a blue pair, black pair, floral pair. There's pink, blue, red jeans and then there's jeggings...

Obviously, I know I don't actually need more than two or three pairs but you try telling me that when I spot a slightly different pair in a shop. These ones are made with a stretchy material! This pair are ankle grazers totally different to my other pair! The excuses are endless and sometimes I think I need hypnosis, whenever I go shopping my first thought is 'I need a new pair of jeans' and my mum'll be like 'No, Hollie. You really don't.' 

I guess, everyone has their fetishes, I don't over indulge in shoes (not include my countless pairs of converse), bags or necklaces. It's the jeans that get me...