Would You Rather Beauty Edition

Today I thought that it would be fun and a bit different to do one of the many 'tag' posts floating around on the Internet. With so many to choose from I was spoilt for choice but I decided on one called the 'Would You Rather tag.' If you'd like to read about others responding to this post be sure to check them out simply by typing the tag name into a search engine such as Google.
 Without further ado, I shall start the tag!

QUESTIONS:
1.) Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lipglosses or lose all of your palettes and eyeshadows? I think if I had to choose between the two I would say eyeshadows and palettes. This is because I have a lot of lip products and it would probably cost more for me to replace those than it would the eyeshadows and palettes I have. Also I could probably survive without eyeshadow but mascara and eyeliner are two of my biggest must have products.

2.) Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again? Probably never be able to cut it again. Although saying that if I cut it all off it would all eventually grow back... but I still think I'd rather not cut it.

3.) Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek? A lot of the blushes I own are pink so I'll go with pink.

4.) If you had $1000 to spend, would you rather buy clothes or makeup? $1000 is a lot of money to spend in one go on either of these things but I don't think I could justify spending it all on makeup so clothes.

5.) Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick? Eyeliner as a lipstick because you could be more precise and even be sneaky and try to get a eyeliner that would be a similar colour to a lipstick?

6.) Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora? I've never shopped in Sephora before so MAC.

7.) Would you rather only use one eyeshadow color or one lip color for the rest of your life? One eyeshadow because I love lip products too much to commit to one.

8.) Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter? Winter clothes in summer because in England it would probably be cold and rainy anyway. haha.

9.) Would you rather have dark nails or bright nails all year round? Bright nails!

10.) Would you rather give up your favorite lip product or your favorite eye product?Favourite eye product!

11.) Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a ponytail or a messy bun? Messy bun because at least then all your hair is out the way.

12.) Would your rather never be able to paint your nails again or never use lipgloss?
I'd rather never use lipgloss because although I am a bit lip product addicted I am not the biggest fan of glosses and I find painting my nails relaxing so I would like to be able to do that.

13.) Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all or sharpie them in everyday?
Eyebrows frame your face so as much as it pains me to say it, I'd rather sharpie them in although I know that it probably would look horrendous.

14.) Would you rather live without makeup or nail polish?
Definitely nail polish.

Westfield Shopping Haul

Way back in May I went on a successful shopping trip to Westfield in Stratford City. It is one of my favourite places to shop because everything is under one roof and there is a huge variety of shops there. I think the atmosphere of the place is brilliant too and there are so many shops there that aren't anywhere near where I live such as MAC and Pull & Bear. Before I went I had a small list of things to buy so I thought that I would show them along with the other bits and pieces I picked up too.
The first shop I went in was Primark. Although there is a two storey store near where I live it doesn't even compare to the huge three storey store inside Westfield. Although you can find some amazing stuff in there I do find it a bit overwhelming and definitely need to be in the mood for shopping in there. On this day we decided to head in there first in order to get it out of the way. I wasn't looking for anything in particular in here but came out with two items. 
 At the end of August I am going to my first ever festival and so when I saw this bag I thought it would be perfect for putting all my essentials in without having to lug a huge bag around. Although I know 'bum-bags' aren't that fashionable or popular I think this will be really useful for the festival and was a bargain at only £6.
  The other thing I bought from Primark was this geo-print bomber jacket. It is not really the type of jacket I would usually buy and I wasn't sure about it when I saw it  on the hanger, but when I tried it on I actually really liked it. I really like the print and the fact that it is something different to the stuff I already have and was very reasonably priced at £12.  
 After a successful trip into Primark we opted to go into Pull & Bear. The closest one to where I live is actually in Stratford so I had to make the most of it. I ended up buying three items although in reality I probably could have ended up buying most of the shop. 
 Probably my favourite purchase from Pull & Bear was this denim hooded jacket which was £40. It is a really lightweight jacket that comes down to just above the knee and I love the cord used for decoration. It is perfect for the Spring and the warmer weather because it isn't heavy and I really like it because again it is something different to what I've seen before. Since buying this jacket it has been a huge part of my wardrobe and I have got a lot of wear out of it already.
 Next up from Pull & Bear I got this light acid wash denim shirt with rose gold detailing. I had been looking for a denim shirt for a long time yet hadn't found one which I liked and so I was so happy when I tried this on and fell in love with it. I like the fact that it is long sleeved because it means that I can roll up the sleeves if I want to or just wear it as it is. I think the colour is also interesting because it is such a pale denim that it is almost white. This shirt ended up costing me £20, which I think is reasonable because you would pay at least this if you were buying from somewhere like New Look.  
 My final purchase from Pull & Bear was this simple striped navy and white t-shirt. This is so soft and just the perfect length for me and thought that it would be a brilliant basic to keep in my wardrobe for seasons to come. It is short sleeved and round necked. I feel so comfortable in this t shirt and it can be paired with a whole variety of different items which is great. Costing only £10 again it was so well priced and I wish that they had other colours in this top because I probably would have bought at least another.
 It is no secret that I am obsessed with River Island bags. My collection is slowly growing and now when I  would like a new bag I automatically go to River Island first to see what they have to offer. I think although they are quite expensive the quality of them is brilliant and they last a long time too.
 Of all my bags from RI, a lot of them are big and are made up from block colours. When I went into the River Island in Westfield I went straight to the bags to see if any caught my eye. Admittedly I was disappointed and nothing in particular caught my eye. I then went over to the jewellery to see what was on offer. As I was just about to leave the store a bag caught my eye. It had just been put on the shelf and I knew this was the bag that I had seen a few weeks before in Lakeside. To my surprise it was also on sale, reduced from £45 to only £30. At this point it was sold to me and I bought it straight away. This bag is exactly my taste. it is big and has a lot of pockets inside to store things and I love the unique straw detailing and also the colours.  
  The only other thing I got in River Island was this nail polish by Barry M. I was looking for this shade in Superdrug in Lakeside but it was sold out so when I saw it in RI I bought it. It cost £4 and is the shade 'Sugar Apple' which is a gorgeous blue/green shade.
  I've never bought something from Urban Outfitters before and so when my sister and mum went in there I was having a good look round. Although none of the clothes or shoes really caught my eye I was intrigued by their candles. In particular the one called Berry Bellini really interested me because I thought it smelt amazing! I also really like the packaging of this product and the metal tin means that I can burn it as it is and not have to worry about mess. Although it was slightly more expensive at £6 than what I usually pay for a candle I was hooked by the scent at this point so was happy to pay it.
 The final two products that I bought in Westfield were products that I had been thinking of buying for a long time. I have recently really got into MAC products but because the nearest store to me is in Cambridge it makes it hard to decide on products to buy because I can't see the products before I buy them.
 However, I have been wanting to expand my lipstick MAC collection since buying the shade Crème Cup and so I decided to do some research before going to Westfield.
 Once I got in store I tried out the two colours I knew I was going to buy and loved them instantly so ended up buying both, with each lipstick costing £15. In the end I got the shade 'Ruby Woo' which is a bright red but has blue undertones in it so it suits all types of skin tones.
 The other shade I bought is a very dark matte red/plum shade called 'Diva.' I loved the consistency and finish of these lipsticks a lot and have loved wearing them since buying them in May.
 I had such a great day at Westfield and although my bank balance suffered a wee bit we ended the day with a delicious pretzel from Mr Pretzel. Yummy.

Throwback Thursday Week 5: Christmas 2013

For the final post in the 'Throwback' series that I have been posting I thought that I would go back to a fairly recent event, that being Christmas 2013. It seems like only last month we were getting into the festive spirit and every shop going was pulling in last minute Christmas shoppers. In reality Christmas was a good 6 months ago and in 6 months time we will already be in 2015 which is a really scary thought because Christmas again would be over.
  After Summer, the festive season is one of my favourite times of the year. Although I'm not a huge fan of the cold weather and the evenings getting dark really early I love that at this time of year get into the spirit, whether that be by organising secret santa at work or just by decorating their houses, it is a special time of year.
  One of my highlights of Christmas is putting up our tree in the living room. Although it is artificial me and my sister have lots of fun putting on the lights and decorations. It is one of those times that you can put aside our busy lives and spend some family time together. However I seem to always get stuck with the job of putting the lights on which is a task and a half as I either run out of lights half way down and have to start again or I have loads of lights leftover and so I desperately try and bunch them all together at the bottom. My sister then gets the nice job of putting on the tinsel and other decorations before putting the angel on the top.
  For our decorations we never used to have much of a theme. It tended to be to just chuck whatever was in the box onto the tree and hope for the best which often resulted in a huge array of colours and it was a little overwhelming. However in 2012 we bought new lights and decorations and we love them. We went for a blue and white theme because it represented the colder weather yet still looked festive. The lights are a mixture of blue LED and white LEd and I thought that they worked together really well. They also look gorgeous when all the main house lights are out and they are flashing away. The tinsel also helped to reflect the light and make it seem bigger and brighter.
  My sister gets a bit OCD when decorating the Christmas tree and her ballerina decorations get pride of place near the top of the tree and must always be on the tree. They do add a nice touch but when you have about 5 of them it can be a bit too much. The rest of our tree is filled usually with loads of white, silver and blue baubles which all are reflective. The tree itself is also quite unique because my dad decided to go against getting a traditional green tree and get a chocolate brown one instead. Although at first I wasn't sure about this when it is decorated it actually looks lovely.
 All of these pictures were taken back at Christmas 2013 and I was experimenting with a technique called zoom bursts on the DSLR at the time. It is achieved by starting with the lens zoomed either all the way in or out and increasing the exposure time to a few seconds. Then whilst you are taking the picture you zoom the opposite way and you are left with this beautiful flashed effect. Although it isn't a traditional technique, it creates some beautiful abstract images especially when light is involved.
   I found that last Christmas suddenly snuck up on me and I was not organised at all. I know that I was still frantically buying and wrapping up Christmas presents on Christmas Eve and this was mainly down to the fact that I had been so busy in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas Day that I hardly had time to think.
 I spent the 15th of December driving from my hometown to Nottingham for a work course which lasted two days. I remember spending the second night in my hotel room ordering Christmas presents for my sister to be delivered whilst I was away and also to try and find a dress for the upcoming work Christmas do.
 When I returned home from Nottingham on the Wednesday evening it was time to unpack before working on the Thursday and Friday. Then on Saturday was my meal with everyone from work and I still hadn't found a dress to wear. Me and my friend rushed into Ipswich to find something and luckily I found a gorgeous dress in River Island.
 We then spent the rest of the day getting ready and having a few drinks before heading to a hotel where our Christmas do was being held. It was a brilliant evening and it was good to see everyone there.
  When Christmas day finally rolled around a few days later I was so excited. I had managed to get everything done and sorted and was looking forward to spending the next few days with my family. On Christmas morning my sister and I went round to my mum and stepdad's house to spend the morning with them before my sister, dad and I went round to my nan's with my aunt and cousin to enjoy our delicious roast dinner and to finish off the day.
  Our Boxing Day was very chilled and was again spent with family eating far too much food and watching films on the TV.
 I was very spoilt this Christmas and I am very lucky to have such a loving and wonderful family and it was nice to have a few days off work to just relax and enjoy the company of others. I can't believe that in less than 6 months we will have the chance to celebrate all over again and it has been good to look back at my last Christmas to remember what a lovely time I had.

Throwback Thursday Week 4: Music

In true 'Throwback Thursday' style today I wanted to look back at the music I listened to whilst I was growing up. I remember listening to cassette tapes, followed by CD's when I was younger and music has been and still is a huge part of my life. I've never really been a TV or film addict and would much rather listen to a new album in the sunshine or whilst driving my car instead of sitting in a cinema.
  I have also always loved the thought of having a physical CD in front of you. With technology taking over most of our lives it is so easy now to download the music straight to your phone but I love the concept of seeing a CD and the album cover. I do still download a lot of the music I listen to but if there is a particular CD I want I will go out and buy it. 
 The music I listened to growing up was inspired by the music that others around me was listening to. My mum has always been a huge fan of Robbie Williams and Take That so I've been familiar with their work for a long time. I also obviously developed my own music taste as I was growing up and I wouldn't particularly say that I have a particular genre of music. I'm open to listening to any song and if I like it I will play it again and again regardless of who it is sung by or how old or popular the song is. 

  I remember at one stage growing up I was a little obsessed with buying the 'Now That's What I Call Music' CD's and would always get them as birthday and Christmas presents as well as buying them myself with my own pocket money. The first CD of this collection I got was Now 54 and this was released 11 years ago back in 2003. I was 8. After this CD I didn't get another until Now 57 but I have every single release from Now 57 all the way up to Now 80 I think. 
 Another huge part of my music collection when I was younger was dominated by the band Blue. I was literally obsessed with their music and I actually have all of their albums. I remember buying one of them in Woolworths and playing the Guilty album all Christmas Day one year. I even saw Blue in concert at the old Wembley Arena and this was one of my earliest memories of a concert. Their album Guilty came out again in 2003 and I'm surprised the CD still works considering how often I listened to it.
 I love rediscovering old albums that I loved and so when I came across this one last year when sorting through my music it was played solid for a good two weeks. My 18 year old self loved it as much as my 8 year old self all those years ago. 
 Atomic Kitten was another band that I used to listen to a lot. Their favourite album of mine was Feels So Good but when I listened back to it I found that I didn't recognise a lot of the songs on there. Along with Atomic Kitten I also liked the Sugababes but I was never a huge fan of Girls Aloud and I don't own any of their albums or particularly like any of their songs. I have bad memories of their performance on the X Factor when they all wore gold glittery dresses and didn't sing that well!
 The final band that I remember listening to a lot was Steps. I discovered this band through one of my childhood friends and remember watching the tape version of this album showing all the music videos round my friends house multiple times.
 Although Steps got back for the TV show 'The Big Reunion' I didn't watch it because I wanted to keep the memories of when I used to listen to them as a kid and I knew it wouldn't be the same as when I loved them all those years ago.
  Although I haven't featured them here there are so many other artists and bands that I listened to throughout my childhood and whilst growing up such as: The Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Busted, McFly & S Club. Although music has changed over the years and my taste has developed I really enjoy listening back to the old albums and reliving the songs that I used to play on repeat on the good old portable CD player or even on a tape in the car.

Lakeside Shopping Haul Part 2

As you may know, a few weeks ago I went shopping with my friends in Lakeside. It is fair to say that I may have gone a little overboard on this day investing in a lot of makeup especially. Therefore I have dedicated this part of the haul to primarily makeup and beauty items but have thrown in my biggest and best purchase of the trip at the end just to top it all off! Let's go!
  You know that you are in trouble when you walk into Boots and they are doing a 3 for 2 promotion across their whole beauty and cosmetics range. This means you can get makeup, brushes and accessories included in this deal and I needed no invitation to make full use of this offer. I may have accidentally ended up buying 6 products but I am so pleased with them.
 One of the first things I wanted to do in Boots was to check out the Sleek makeup. I have been a huge fan of their blushes over the past year and for the past two months have fallen in love with their eyeshadow palettes. Where I live the Boots and Superdrug stores aren't big enough to sell Sleek so it was time to stock up in Lakeside.
  After looking at the palettes in the flesh I opted for the 'Ultra mattes v2 darks' palette because I have been all about matte recently. This palette contains entirely matt shades and the pigmentation of them is incredible. Like the Au Naturel palette the shades blend really nicely and I love the range of colours here. The huge mirror also is really handy if you are on the go and I love that each shade has it's own name like 'Villian' and 'Orbit.' The palettes are also so affordable, costing just £7.99 for 12 shades.

Since discovering the Real Technique makeup brushes, it has transformed the way that I apply my makeup. The contour and buffing brush have been two of my favourites so far and so I decided it was time to invest in a new blush brush. The Real Techniques blush brush cost £9.99 I still can't get over how soft it is and how easy it is to apply makeup with this. It makes product blend so flawlessly and it is the perfect shape and size.

As I've mentioned a thousand times before, I love sleek blushes. Everything to the packaging to the colour range to how easy they are to apply and the beautiful finish they give, it is hard to fault them. Whilst I had to make the most of stocking up on Sleek products I decided it was time to invest in some more blushes. Three to be exact. The first was a shade called 'Coral' which in the pan looks to be a really unique orange/pink colour. It reminds me of the shade 'Flushed' because it looks matte on first inspection but it does contain the slightest bit of shimmer.

 

The next shade that I bought was 'Pixie Pink' which is a gorgeous light pink which is very matt. However from first impressions it doesn't seem at all chalky and I'm expecting this to be great for the summer. It isn't half as bright as 'Flamingo' but it looks a much cooler tone and is so beautiful to look at in the pan. 
 The final Sleek blush I bought on this shopping trip is another matte shade called 'Life's a Peach.' In the pan this shade appears to be a very bright and slightly scary orange. However, I didn't let this put me off when I first bought Flamingo and I turned out to love it and so I thought that I would give this shade a spin. Although this may not be a shade suitable for all year round (well it could be, we will find out when I test it out!) I think it will be great for summer, especially when you have a little bit of a tan. One of the biggest advantages of these blushes is that they are so affordable at only £4.49 each and this is part of the reason why my collection of them has grown so big so quickly.
  My final purchase to finish off my Boots splurge I decided that I would buy a product that I had never previously tried. A lot of my drugstore purchases recently have been lip products, so much so that my storage is getting a bit overrun with lipsticks, crayons and balms. Nevertheless, I still decided that it would be a good idea to buy another lipstick(!) After trying and really liking the Revlon Matte balms recently and having never tried a Revlon lipstick I opted to go for a shade from their 'Super Lustrous Matte Lipstick' collection. To be honest there wasn't many shades in this collection but I picked up the shade 'Stormy Pink' because it thought it looked the best on the back of my hand. Haha. This cost me £7.49 but it turned out to be one of the free items in the deal.  
 By the time we managed to get round to going into Superdrug, it was near the end of the day. Out of a matter of interest I innocently went to look at the Sleek counter in Superdrug just to see if they were selling anything different to Boots. As a matter of fact they were. To celebrate 50 years of Superdrug Sleek have released a limited edition eyeshadow palette called the Showstoppers palette. This palette consists of 7 shimmery and 5 matte shades. Honestly I probably didn't need this palette but because it was limited edition and I loved a couple of the shades especially I decided to buy it. Superdrug were also doing a 3 for 2 on all cosmetics too and so I thought that I might as well take advantage of the offer. This palette cost £7.99  

As I had not bought a new nail polish in a while I decided to have a little look at what Rimmel had on offer. I was aware that Rita Ora recently bought out a range of nail polishes and Colour Rush Balms, but one of the repackaged lasting finish polishes actually caught my eye. This shade is called 'Fancy a Dip' and is a lovely blue shade. I think it is really unique because it isn't a pale blue or a royal blue but it looks slightly lilac and is completely different to the other shades I own. This retails at £2.99 which is so affordable and I'm really excited to try this shade out really soon.
 After buying a lot of the Barry M Hi-Shine Gelly collection nail polishes last summer it was good to see that they have released some more shades for this summer. I've noticed a lot of the new colours focus on pastel shades and these really appeal to me. I've been really attracted to blue tones and shades recently and so whilst browsing the new shades on offer 'Huckleberry' stood out to me. It is a really pale almost white blue shade and I think this will look absolutely amazing alongside tanned skin. It is really similar to the shade Blue Moon from the original Barry M nail polishes but I'm sure the added shine will make a big difference to the appearance of this shade. It costs £3.99 like with the other Hi-Shine polishes in the collection.
  Now on the way to the checkout in Superdrug I noticed that they were selling the Tanya  Burr Cosmetics. I've really wanted to try out some things from her collection ever since they were launched but this was the first time I had seen them in the flesh.
 I decided to try out just one product to start with because I didn't want to go crazy buying a product that I had never tested before and so opted for the nail polish in the shade Little Duck because I had seen some photos of this shade and loved it. I plan on writing a full review on this product, especially because it has been receiving some incredible hype over the blogging and Youtube world recently. This nail polish set me back £5.99 which I thought was quite a bit for a polish but until I try it out I won't know if it is worth the money.
 Tanya Burr's nail polish concludes the beauty and cosmetic part of my haul and I have a load of products now that I will be vigorously testing over the coming weeks and months. There is just one more product that I bought in Lakeside as a treat to myself.
About 5 years ago now my mum and step-dad got me a iPod Nano as a Christmas present from New York. I have had so much use out of my iPod over the years and I have loved using it but now it is starting to show signs of age because the buttons have started to become temperamental. I have been thinking about buying a new one now for about 6 months and decided in Lakeside that I would make the investment. I went into the Apple store and it was so easy to pay and get hold of one and I love it. Once again I went for the limited edition Red and Apple puts some of the money you pay for the iPod towards helping people in Africa who are suffering with AIDS. I haven't had a chance to properly set it up yet because I want to organise all my music first but I am so excited to start using it. It will be going everywhere with me when it is ready to go and I was actually impressed that the 16GB version only cost £129. I seem to remember my 8GB one cost me around £100 when I got that so I definitely got a lot for my money.  

OOTD: Possibly the beginning of summer

  Therefore I fished my trusty black skirt out from my wardrobe (was relieved when it still fit and was actually slightly loose) and then started to consider what I would wear with it.

We are finally starting to move into my favourite time of the year, Summer! As soon as the sun makes an appearance the people of Britain strip off, whack out the BBQ and enjoy a beverage or three in the company of friends and family.
  Last weekend we were lucky enough to experience just a little bit of sun and by that I mean one day, where temperatures were unusually high for May. Traditionally, the BBQ's were dusted off and the beers cracked open, followed by the shirts coming off in hope of getting a tan that looked as if you had just come back from two weeks in the Caribbean in just a few hours. Of course we had to make the most of it, especially because whilst I write this post just a few days afterwards it is pouring down with rain with potential floods on their way. The joys of British weather.
 To mark the start of warmer weather, I decided to abandon the leggings and jeans for one day and start to experiment with some new additions to my wardrobe ready for this season.
  I was so happy a few weeks ago when I went shopping and realised that maxi skirts would be making a reappearance in the trends, especially because I bought three of them myself last summer. I think they are a great addition to any wardrobe, as they can be worn casually throughout the day and also look great dressed up for the evening. They are also perfect for the warmer weather, flatter almost every shape and are a great alternative if you don't fancy flashing any leg.

  In the end I opted for a blue tie-dyed vest from New Look, which I picked up at the start of Spring for around £10. I love the colour of this vest and it was something a bit different to the other things in my wardrobe. On the front it also has the letters NY printed and I have been so excited to wear this. I had also worn it previously with leggings, a black leather jacket and studded pumps for a recent visit to the cinema, but I think it also works well with the maxi skirt. My skirt was also from New Look and I remember picking it up in the sale at the end of August last year for just £8!

  I kept my jewellery quite simple in this look, wearing one simple banded ring on each hand, my link chain silver bracelet and my silver Fossil watch. I decided not to wear a necklace because of the print of the vest and I wanted the focus on the outfit to be on that.

  Although it was a beautiful sunny day I wore a cropped denim jacket when evening started to set in and the temperature started to drop. I think it tied in well with the rest of the outfit and it kept me warm when it got chilly. The denim actually complimented the tie-dye really well and the length of the jacket was perfect as it came down to just after where the top was tucked into my skirt. I actually got this jacket a few years ago now, but I think it was originally from Next for around the £20-£30 mark.

  It was a lot of fun documenting what I wore and how I put together an outfit. I had never written an OOTD post before and now that I have done one I am a bit more confident in creating more. Over the summer I am going to try to experiment more with my style and start to wear things that are outside of my comfort zone. I'm hoping that England will be lucky enough to have at least a few weeks of lovely weather, especially because I don't think I will be going abroad this summer.

Lakeside Shopping Haul Part 1!

A few weekends ago, four of my friends and I decided to have a girls shopping trip. As we don't live in a very big town, shopping is very limited to a New Look and Dorothy Perkins and so we decided we wanted to go somewhere with a bit more variety. A 90 minute car journey with the help of my Australian voiced Sat Nav and a playlist of music later we turned up at Lakeside. I had never been shopping there before so I was really excited about our little shopping trip. It is fair to say that I went a little overboard on the shopping and was definitely feeling spendy that day so I thought that I would share all the bits and bobs I picked up.
 One of the first shops we went in was the massive Primark. I think it actually covered at least two floors and so it was a bit overwhelming when we went in. However we had such a laugh trying on the funny hats, sunnies and clothes and we also found some bargain buys. I never seem to have much patience with Primark and it doesn't take me long for me to become bored of shopping in there and so I was really pleased when I found a few things I liked. 
The first two things I got were these shorts. I actually got a grey pair and purple pair for my holiday last summer and they were so handy for going to the beach and pool in and were comfy and light enough to wear sleeping too. So I was so thrilled when I saw these have returned this year. At only £3 a pair they are a fantastic buy and so I got a red and a beautiful royal blue pair too. Each pair has the white detailing around the bottom and a logo on the right leg and these will be perfect for chilled summer days even if I don't go on holiday this year.
 The next thing I bought in Primark was this bright pink pillar candle. I've really been into candles recently and wanted a few to accompany my scented Yankee candles. The colour really appealed to me and although these are scented I actually like the Mango & Citronella scent as it is different to what I usually go for in a candle. It really is a fresh, uplifting summer scent and this was another bargain at only £2.
 My final purchase in Primark was picked up whilst I was waiting to pay for my items. I hate the fact that shops put little items around the queuing area because it makes you want to buy pointless stuff that you don't necessarily need. On this shopping trip this is exactly what happened to me because I picked up this huge pot of Tic Tacs for only £1. To be fair they were rather refreshing and different to the typical mint or lime and orange flavours I'm used to and plus I hadn't had Tic Tacs in a long time so this justified buying them.
 Another shop that we went into on our trip was Forever 21. Up until this day I had never really shopped in Forever 21 or even been interested in the clothes they sell. I don't think I had even ever looked on their website but as soon as I walked into the Lakeside store I knew I had been missing out.
 They have some lovely pieces in there from their dresses to tops to bags and jewellery that I kind of regretted spending so much money before I went in this shop. It was so hard to resist buying from here and I had my eye on a gorgeous pair of sandals and a necklace but in the end was good and only bought two things.
 The first thing I got was this casual logo vest costing £9.50. I love the print of this top and the text of 'Fortune favours the brave' and I think the cut and shape of it is really flattering too. It is cut quite deep at the sides and so my second purchase was a little bandeau top which I thought I could pair with the vest. I thought the hot pink would contrast well with the navy blue and make it look more interesting.
 The bandeau itself is a really pretty lace floral print and was a really good price at £3.15. Overall I was really impressed with the prices of the items in Forever 21, as they were much cheaper than I expected them to be.  

Of all the shops we went into that day, I was expecting to come out of New Look with some serious damage to my debit card. As it happened I only came out of the shop with one thing. This however, was a beautiful kimono that since buying it, I haven't stopped wearing. It is made from a sheer material which makes it so light and wearable for summer and the floral pattern is interesting yet not too in your face. The colours are also lovely and I am especially liking the royal blue shade in there. Costing £24.99 I wasn't sure if it was a little overpriced but I knew I couldn't leave it on the shelf.
 My next purchase was in River Island. After scouting the bag and purse section as is tradition when I go in there and having nothing in particular catch my eye, I thought that I would have a peek at the jewellery.
  Although I am a huge fan of rings, I don't own that many necklaces, especially statement pieces. I was attracted to this silver piece because of the beautiful detailing and the slightly 'tougher' look it has. I also thought it was reasonably priced at £7 and this had been a welcome addition to my wardrobe. So far I've worn this with the above kimono and a plain white tee and it has worked really well.  

My final clothes/accessory buy during this shopping trip were these aviator styled sunglasses from Dorothy Perkins.
 I have always been a fan of this style, yet have never found a pair to suit my face. I have loved wearing the retro styled sunnies for the past few summers and bought a new pair from RI at the beginning of the season but I was still looking for the perfect aviators.
  I was actually about to buy a different pair of sunglasses when I saw these and I tried them on just by chance when my friends said they suited me. I agreed and so these are my first pair of silver aviators costing me only £8. They have a grey graduated tint in them which I think looks great and they even came with this beautiful floral case to keep them safe and clean.
Although this is the end of all the fashion and random things I bought on this shopping trip, I did go a bit over the top on the cosmetics and beauty items and so will be posting a part two of this shopping trip over the next few days. I had such a good day at Lakeside, not just because I went shopping but because I got to spend the day with some of my favourite people and catch up with them because I don't get to see them as much as I used to.