Pink Cashmere

H&M Cashmere Jumper // Primark Skirt // Pretty Polly Tights // New Look Shoes

(Similar: Jumper, Skirt, Shoes)

Today's being one of the hottest days of the year, but no this is not what I wore on this exact day obviously, I know I said I'm always cold, even in the summer but that's only when it's under 20 C.

On other news, I've been enjoying of yet another cold/sore throat for the last couple of days - one of the disadvantages of working with small children is that they sometimes might just sneeze or cough without any previous warning right in your face, thus leading you to contract whatever bug they might have. 

On a different note, a great advantage is that I will be enjoying of the same amount of holiday time as school children, unfortunately not all of it paid, but still there's some holiday pay which I will definitely not complain about. 

Other novelties include the fact that we'll be going to Blackpool in August and I'll spend my birthday over there, and that I've trying to slowly but surely de-clutter my wardrobe and be more mindful when shopping for clothes & beauty products.

Do you have any plans for the summer?

xo

Affordable Outerwear and Bags at Ericdress

I know, now that it's finally warm here I am talking about outerwear but hold on, because if you live in the UK you will know that even though we are having a heat wave at the moment, in the evening it can get a bit chilly, so a lightweight coat or jacket is always a good idea, especially if you will be spending most of the day outdoors. Ericdress is a website where you can find lots of cheap coats online (here) so you can have more outerwear options without breaking the bank. 

           

This denim jacket is a really great option if you are going to a festival, as it's not only stylish but it will keep you warm as the temperature goes down along with the sun at evening time. It has an oversized fit, 4 front pockets and distressed details that make it stylish as well as comfortable. 

Also if you will be staying overnight you will obviously need something to pack all of your essentials in, and a backpack is an excellent choice as not only there's enough room for everything you need but also it's easy to carry as it has the classic double straps on the back, as well as a top handle. This hot pink backpack features a white polka dot print, a front pocket with a zip besides the main compartment and 2 side pockets where you can perfectly fit an umbrella and a water bottle. On the Ericdress website you can also find more options of cheap leather bags (here) if backpacks are not your thing. 

Find many more fashionable options on http://www.ericdress.com/

This is a sponsored post.

xo

PS. Because it's intu Lakeside Shopping Centre's 25th birthday there's lots of activities going on today until 10 pm and tomorrow all day including live performances, arts & crafts projects, free popcorn & candy floss, food sampling and a Live Lounge Festival music area. Find out more on intu Lakeside's website.

A Rose Scented Affair

With the warmer summer weather finally here, strong scents can feel a bit heavy, which is why I love switching to a lighter and fresher smelling fragrance and skincare products. Currently I'm loving:

InstaNatural Rose Water Toner*: I've used it as a toner, but another way to enjoy the gorgeous Moroccan rose scent found in this product is adding a bit to your bath water, which I've been doing.

Avon Romantic Rose Bubble Bath: A nice bath can be a really relaxing and enjoyable experience, this bubble bath smells fantastic and produces a good amount of bubbles. Also love the watercolour illustrations on the packaging.

Paul Smith Rose: Great for after that indulging bath, this perfume is the perfect way to top it off. After all who doesn't like smelling like freshly cut roses all day long?

The Body Shop Wild Rose Hand Cream: Not only does this hand cream smells amazing, but leaves your hands soft without feeling sticky, with the added benefit of SPF 15 to avoid sun damage.

Do you like rose scented products?

xo

Nivea Powerfruit Fresh Shower Gel

One of my favourite things to try are different shower gels, this one I received last Christmas (along quite a few more, so they'll last a few more months) I'm going through them slowly but surely and this time it was the turn of Nivea Powerfruit Fresh Shower Gel.

This shower gel is described as having a delicate acai berry fragrance, with blueberry antioxidants that gently cleanses the skin leaving it soft thanks to its Hydra IQ moisture technology and it being pH skin balanced.

Nivea is a brand I like for it's functional and affordable products and this shower gel is no exception, it's gentle and doesn't irritate my skin, it leaves it feeling clean but not dried out, it also has a nice faint berry scent which I like, lathers well and is easy to wash off without leaving any residue.

Do try out Nivea Powerfruit Fresh Shower Gel if you like affordable shower products (currently £1 in Boots) that smell nice and won't dry out your skin.

xo

The Strokes at Hyde Park

Photo: Dave Hogan 

The Strokes ❤

A video posted by msvanille (@msvanille) on Jun 19, 2015 at 11:20am PDT

On Thursday we went to Hyde Park for the British Summer Time music festival to watch The Strokes.

We had tickets for the premium section, but still wanted to get there early to be right at the front, so we left about 12:00 to catch the train at half past. After a couple of train changes and a bit of a walk we made it to the premium gates, which opened at 2:30.

We did get to be at the front but I felt like it was still a bit far from the stage, so any pictures taken didn't come out that well.

We saw Syd Arthur, then Future Islands, then Beck and finally The Strokes. They went on at around 9:00 pm, after a 6+ hour wait.

They played songs from every one of their 5 albums (Is This It, Room On Fire, First Impressions of Earth, Angles and Comedown Machine). The set list was:

'Is This It'
'Barely Legal'
'Welcome To Japan'
'You Talk Way Too Much'
'Someday'
'Heart In A Cage'
'Hard To Explain'
'Automatic Stop'
'Vision Of Division'
'Last Nite'
'Reptilia'
'Machu Picchu'
'Under Cover Of Darkness'
'One Way Trigger'
'New York City Cops'

Encore:
'Juicebox'
'You Only Live Once'
'Take It Or Leave It'

It was the 3rd time I've seen them live (1st for my hubby) and even though I'm still tired and with sore feet and legs I enjoyed very much.

The only thing I regret is not noticing that Alex Turner and Miles Kane were dancing in the crowd behind us (!).

xo

Spring & Summer Fragrances for Every Budget

With the temperatures steadily rising (finally), a strong perfume can feel a bit heavy or even sickly to wear in the spring and summer. These are a few of my favourite options of lighter fragrances:

Avon Naturals Scented Spritz in Jasmine: It has a nice and refreshing smell, which reminds me of gardenias (I suppose those and jasmines smell similar). The plastic packaging makes it very travel friendly and you get a lot of product for your money - 100 ml for just £3, making it a really affordable fragrance, though most of the time you can find it on offer so it's even cheaper.

Paul Smith Rose: A feminine fragrance with white peony, white musk and sandalwood. Smells like freshly cut flowers without being overpowered by the woody element of sandalwood at all. Depending where you buy it, a 100 ml bottle can range from £25 to £57 so I would say this is an excellent priced option if you can find it for less.

Chanel Chance Eau Tendre: A beautiful and delicate scent that is a mix of grapefruit, quince, jasmine absolute and white musk. A long lasting fruity and floral fragrance that's very distinctive and feminine. Soft and almost powdery while remaining always young and innocent. At the higher end of the scale at £54.50 for 50 ml but if you would like to treat yourself I would definitely recommend it. 

What is your favourite summer fragrance? 

xo

Navy & Stripes

H&M Jacket // Topshop Jeans // H&M Top // Adidas Trainers

(Similar Jacket, Top)

Going to see The Strokes later this week, so quite excited about that, even though it's the 3rd time I'll see them haha.

Are you doing anything exciting this week?

xo

Father's Day Gift Ideas Under £50

Eau de Lacoste L 12.12 Blanc £29 // Aston Martin DB5 Model Kit £10 

RJR John Rocha Leather Wallet £23.60

Pringle Socks Set £10 // Baylis & Harding Citrus & Lime Gift Set £12.50

Father's Day is in just over a week so if you haven't got your gift all ready and wrapped yet then here are a few suggestions, all under £50.

xo

New In: May 2015

Orla Kiely's book Pattern, I got it in The Works for just £5, and a nail polish in Rose Paradis by L'oreal from the £ shop. 

Trousers from H&M, Venus Fly Trap growing kit from the pound shop, Olay Day Lotion. 

Another item from H&M, getting ready for the warmer weather I got a striped t shirt and a denim shirt from Uniqlo for £9.90 down from £29.90. 

Flower seeds and Rimmel Scandaleyes liner from the pound shop, The Body Shop Rose Hand Cream as I had a discount so only paid £3 for it, 3 bottles of Skin Hair Nails vitamins from Boots as it was cheaper than to get the bigger 90 capsule bottle because it was on 3 for 2. 

Botanics All Bright Serum to try when my current serum is finished and a copy of Glamour Magazine. 

And last but not least, my new phone, the LG Spirit which I'm quite excited about.

Did you do any shopping last month?

xo

Organic Cotton Beauty Products

Recently I received a pack of Organyc Cotton Pleat to try out and review, which was great timing as I was running out of my current cotton wool that I use normally.

Organyc is a brand that offers a range of organic and natural feminine care products, including maternity, sanitary and baby care, made using organic cotton wool for softness and comfort in their products. Organyc does not contain parabens, synthetic ingredients, perfumes or super absorbent polymers. 

 The Organyc Cotton Pleat I'm using mainly to apply toner as well as removing face masks as part of my facial skincare routine. I do find this cotton pleat to be very absorbent and soft but there's only one downside: it's very fluffy so it can leave a bit of a mess when you tear it apart, but other than that I'm very pleased with this product. 

If you are looking for organic cotton products to use in your everyday skincare routine, be sure to check out Organyc. 

xo

White Jumper

 

New Look Leather Jacket // H&M Wool Jumper // Topshop Leigh Jeans // Primark Sunglasses // Topshop Suede Boots

(Similar: Leather Jacket, Jumper, Boots, Sunglasses)

This week went by so quickly! How? I don't know but yay for the weekend. I really want to get Elie Saab L'eau Couture but my local Boots doesn't have it in stock argh! Gonna have to wait until we can go to Lakeside or somewhere else to find it. I'm also still on the lookout for that Paul Costelloe bag though there's one thing ticked off my wishlist: the LG Spirit. 

xo

Garnier Skin Naturals Makeup Remover

On our most recent visit to Mexico I had a reaction to the Simple Wipes that I brought with me so I had to look for an alternative and since I had my eye on the Garnier Skin Naturals Makeup Remover for a while, decided to purchase it since it was also available over there.

The Garnier Skin Naturals Makeup Remover, also known as Clean Detox, is a 2 in 1 cleanser that can be used on the eyes and face. As it is a bi-phase product you need to shake it prior to use, but doesn't need extreme shaking to mix the 2 phases unlike the Nivea Eye Makeup Remover. 

This makeup remover claims to remove even waterproof makeup while being soothing and suitable for even sensitive skin since it contains rose water, pro vitamin B5, has no alcohol, no perfume and you don't need to rub your skin with the product in order for it to work.

I've used this cleanser/makeup remover for a while and I quite like it, as it is gentle and effective, easy to use, affordable and has an almost imperceptible scent. It does indeed remove waterproof makuep so I would recommend it if you are looking for a new makeup remover to try.

Find Garnier 2 in 1 Makeup Remover in Boots and Superdrug.

xo

Cute Stationery Haul from The Works

You probably know about my love for stationery if you saw my post about BornPrettyStore stationery, so it's no wonder that one day randomly browsing on The Works when they had free delivery I ended up purchasing some cute items. 

The first thing I found which triggered the must-purchase-now instinct were these £2 apple sticky notes. I really like the style of the illustrations and they sort of reminded me of Orla Kiely patterns a little bit. 

Then I found the office sticky notes, which are reduced to just £2 down from £8! I thought I'd get them as well to pretend I'm being more organised haha.

And last but not least, I also got this jammy cookies notebook for £1.99 (was £8), which I'm currently using for blog matters as well as notes and ideas that need to be written down (which I usually decorate with my sticky notes, aka the grown up version of stickers).

So in total I saved £15 including delivery which was a really good deal in my book.

Will you be heading over to The Works to do some cute stationery shopping?

xo

Get Summer Ready With Tidestore

With summer just around the corner and the days growing longer and warmer, it's only right to think about what to wear if you are going on holiday or even if you are staying at home. 

At Tidestore there are hundreds of options available when it comes to summer fashion, from maxi dresses, sandals and even bathing suits, you'll be able to find everything you need and be ready for any occasion. 

                    

What I like about this cute polka dot maxi dress, besides the feminine pattern, is the v shaped neckline as well as the delicate straps that form a pattern on the back. It might be fitted on top but the fact that it's sleeveless and has a slit on the side of the loose skirt will keep you cool when the temperature rises. 

If you have plans for the evening, the blue maxi dress dress will be an easy way to get your outfit sorted. It has an delicate wrap design with a ruched bodice and a sash under the bust to define your waist. This dress also has a slit on the side but does cover the arms with a sheer fabric with lace details on the sleeves for a more elegant look. 

                

To complete the outfit, these gorgeous sandals with a bow detail will keep you fresh and looking cute. The gold design elevates your look and the fact that they're adjustable at the back makes them more comfortable. 

And if you're lucky enough to be heading to a warm beach destination, then a bathing suit or bikini is a must have for you. This bandage strappy bikini comes in a classic black colour and a fun, edgy design that will get you noticed. 

Find more affordable summer clothing at http://www.tidestore.com/Wholesale-Womens-Clothing-c1-100121/

Will you be going on holiday soon?

This is a sponsored post.

xo