Note to Self #1

Contemplating making this a weekly thing, because I absolutely love scrolling through Pinterest and Tumblr for inspiration for life and it would be nice to put a few favourites for each week into a simple blog post to share. I don't want to commit myself to this just in case I have a stressful week and don't get round to it, but really it only took about 10 minutes to select the pictures and make the above collage- so I should be fine!

Getting right to it, here are a few 'pins' that have caught my eye this week (clockwise, from top left):

1. Taken from Lily Melrose's blog, skater shoes have become a trend in recent months, and it's all about going back to basic with the standard Vans slip-ons. I have the checkerboard versions of these which I bought from a charity shop around a year ago (deep disinfectant before I went barefoot in those!) and I also got my hands on the black crocodile design replicas that Topshop do which I have mentioned in last month's favourites, but even though I don't need another pair, I really like Lily's leopard print ones!

2. 'Suits' is by far my favourite TV show at the moment. I started watching it in 2011 when it first started, but after season 2 ended I must have forgotten to find out when it would be on next and missed the majority of season 3. The up-side to this, however, is that last week I got to binge-watch most of season 3 and it reaffirmed my love for the show. If you don't know the basic premise of the program, a genius guy called Mike who got kicked out of college for selling a math test he memorized to his Dean's daughter and has since fallen into a bad life, finds himself working alongside Harvey Specter, the best lawyer in New York City and it's basically about the fact that it's illegal for him to be a lawyer without a degree and them evading the law as well as winning cases and the other excitement that goes along with a typical drama. The two women in the photo help to make the show amazing, in my opinion; Sarah Rafferty (Playing Donna Paulsen) is hilarious and witty and is the perfect assistant to bring Harvey to the ground when he gets too cocky, and Meghan Markle (playing Rachel Zane) is absolutely stunning, has the best work style and makes a perfect love interest for Mike. All in all, a fantastic show with a brilliant cast.

3. This picture was taken when Kourtney Kardashian invited The Coveteur to check out her newly refurbished home (according to the article she got some inspiration from Pinterest- we have so much in common, Kourt!) This post was incredible to get a further insight into a Kardashian's life than we get from the reality TV show and even though some of the designs seemed a bit excessive, any less would just be boring considering the wealth of the 'klan'. As well as the shoe collection and make-up storage, my favourite pictures were those taken in Mason and Penelope's playroom- I'm definitely going to bank the chalkboard wall idea for a later date!

4. I absolutely adore the colour scheme in this image; grey is hands-down my favourite colour and the pop of dusty pink adds a cute little pop. I've really been enjoying looking at interior design recently, and can't wait till I can buy a place of my own and paint everything white and start from scratch with decorating each room, in my mind at the moment I'd like a room to look very similar to this image.

5. This is one of my favourite pictures of Elizabeth Olsen- she is absolutely gorgeous! If I had to choose one person who was my biggest fashion inspiration (or rather, who do I search the tagged photos on tumblr the most) it has to be this girl. As well as fashion, I'm also a fan of the youngest Olsen because of her acting credibility, I really liked Martha Marcy May Marlene and I'm looking forward to seeing her in the new Avengers movie alongside Aaron Johnson and the cast from the first film.

6. Another gorgeous interior- greenery against a white background look awesome! I'm not too good at remembering to water plants (my cacti are little fighters) so if I were to recreate this look I'd use fake plants as they'd never lose their green!

Hopefully see you next week for another edition of 'Note to Self'!

T-Shirt Wars

 Welcome to another post- this time I thought I'd share my love of a good T-Shirt. I would have to admit that I have quite an extensive collection, and I'm always looking for new additions because they're so easy to wear- at the moment I'm loving them with boyfriend jeans and slip-on shoes.
The best part about my collection is that each one has a little story which makes wearing them so much more special- I actually bought this first one (above) from a charity shop before I had even been on Route 66 because I thought it was quite cool (and only cost me £1!) But then when I found out that we were going on a family trip to Arizona, California and Nevada I was pretty excited because I could wear the T-Shirt having actually been to the place on it (like the issues people have with others wearing band shirts that they don't listen to) as well as going on a kick-ass holiday. All in all, a pretty snazzy purchase and very American, which of course I love.

 Number 4 in my selection is your bog-standard New York T-Shirt that you can buy from any vendor, but I thought the designs on the ones I bought were pretty cool- you could get 6 of these for $10 in varying designs and I wasn't about to pass up an offer like that so I chose a couple of gifts for friends and kept the rest for myself. Obviously you're not paying for quality here and I did find a hole in this one after buying it but they look a lot nicer and less 'touristy' than the 'I heart NY' ones.

This is another £1 purchase that I got before I'd been to San Francisco, but I'm very glad I got it! I have never, ever seen a Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirt in this design so I have no idea if it's rare but it's special to me either way. As you can see from the colouring on the picture it has been very well-worn; both by myself and whoever had it before me, but it still looks really cool with acid wash jeans or Levi shorts. A very easy addition to a summer outfit, I'll definitely be taking this one with me when I go back to New York this year!

This was picked up from a thrift store in Berlin last year, for around 3 Euros. I absolutely loved the homemade tie-dye and iron-on on a simple Fruit of the Loom top and as soon as I got home I googled the Clovis Bullets and found out that they're a women's softball team (girl power!) It's always an added bonus if something has an interesting back story like this, my only regret from that thrift store was that I didn't also buy a really cool T-Shirt with a US Office Dwight quote; but then again it was a 'poo brown' so I doubt I would have worn it much anyway!

Fifth and final is this beautiful UCLA top. I was absolutely astounded when I saw this for a pound as it is legit from the Los Angeles University itself! I found this just after I was offered my job so I'm seeing this purchase as a way to pretend I went to a really cool University rather than staying in my hometown and getting started in my career. I'm a sucker for a grey top but to add to that the fabric is SO SOFT! Definitely the best T-Shirt I have ever bought.
I'm sure you've detected the pattern- I love anything American, it's my weakness! It's also my favourite place to go on holiday, so I'll make sure I take some pictures this June when I travel around North America and Canada to make an extra awesome blog post.

That concludes this post- how many times did I say 'T-Shirt'?

Spring Nails

Hello! As the weather was so nice today I thought I'd better make the most of the light and take some snaps. I'd planned this blog post beforehand as I knew it was something I wanted to do so I painted this nail wheel a few weeks ago with my favourite Spring-like nail polishes.
This morning I went to my Grandparents' and came back with some beautiful flowers that my gran had cut off their rose bush for me and I knew they would look really cute on my windowsill in a vase I bought from a car boot sale. I didn't realise until I went to upload this photo how weirdly my ornament photographed but it's an Elephant! I've become weirdly obsessed with knick-knacks with Elephants on and it's the fourth thing on my windowsill relating to them- I should probably stop now! I got it from my new favourite charity shop for 50p- they had grouped all their Elephant bric-a-brack together and I had to stop myself from getting everything!

From left to right: 'Cool Jade'' by Maxfactor, 'Ceramic Blue'' by Maybelline, 'Cloudy Grey' by Maybelline, 'Fiji' by Essie, 'Praline Whirl' by Collection 2000, 'Peach Sherbet' by Models Own and 'Antique Coral' by Natural Collection

The cute Chinese bowls are also from my new favourite charity shop, and cost £1 for the set. They are slightly mis-matched and I don't really have a purpose for them but I thought they were too adorable to leave!

I absolutely love all of the above colours for Spring and I'm slowly making my way through them; colour-wise my favourites are Fiji and Cool Jade but sometimes Essie nail polishes are awkward to apply so I'm not sure if I'm going to get many more of them!

This afternoon I went for a walk with my parents in a cute village near where we live and even though I didn't bring my camera, I thought I would share a couple of pictures from our afternoon that I took on my phone:

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

February Favourites

 Oops! Posting this a bit later than I wanted to, I definitely haven't learned from my last post where I mentioned that I wanted to become more organised. I don't really have too much to talk about this month as I've been pretty busy- although I'm very pleased to say I passed my second insurance exam on the 28th which has definitely made up for my lack of spare time this month!

I'll quickly talk about the scent that's been in my tart burner this month: Yankee Candle's Beachwood. After getting a huge set for Christmas of so many strong and interesting scents, I realised that I much prefer the more natural and perhaps slightly weaker scents- having my room smell like cinnamon for months on end is slightly overpowering! I've got a couple of other scents similar to this that I want to try out as they don't smell too strong in the packaging but overall my tart burner was such a good Christmas gift- thanks Mum!

I'd had a Tangle Teaser on my Pinterest wishlist for a good few months but never bought one because of the £10 price tag for what is, essentially, a comb. So when I saw a knock-off 'Tangle Attack' in Poundland I thought I'd give it a go. Obviously the quality is relatively poor, I've already lost a couple of the bristles but all in all I think a better deal than the original as I wanted to try it out but wasn't sure if I'd be using it every day.

This month I decided to treat myself to my first make-up product by The Balm- a gorgeous blusher called Frat Boy! The packaging is incredibly cute and the colour is natural but at the same time stands out. I'm glad I read the reviews on Amazon before I bought it as the overused phrase 'a little goes a long way' became apparent when I was close to looking like a clown the first time I put it on. If you've read my last post you'll know that I said I would buy myself The Balm's Mary-Lou-Manizer if I passed my exam- I haven't gotten around to purchasing it yet but from what I hear it's going to secure a place in my March favourites this month!

The Body Shop's Hemp Hand Protector would have been in my January favourites, but I always keep it on my desk at work for when my hands are looking a bit distressed from my journey to work so is a lot more use than it would be at home. Thankfully I remembered to bring it home so I could include it in my favourites and talk about why I like it. The formula is quite thick; you definitely don't need a lot to moisturize your hands well which is a plus as the bottles last a lot longer. My friend at work recommended to put some on the back of your hand and rub the backs of your hands together, as it can be quite greasy if you rub it all over your hands. The only downside to this product (for some people) is the smell. Even though I really like it, I can tell that it's the sort of thing you'll have to get used to as the benefits of the cream far outweigh the smell.

Lastly for this section, I purchased Maybelline's The Rocket mascara as it was on one of Estée's monthly favourites and I was in need of a new mascara and it's pretty good! My eyelash routine is to curl them, then use Maxfactor's False Lash Effect mascara to separate my eyelashes (it's almost run out but is still useful) then I put another mascara on top. This Maybelline product is a good one for this last step, however I have a feeling that if my eyelashes weren't curled or separated beforehand the outcome wouldn't be as good.

 I mentioned a few posts back that I wanted to try out Garnier's Micellar Cleansing Water as I knew that they were a lot better for your skin than make-up wipes. I think this is a brilliant product as I've used it after taking my make-up off with a wipe and found that even more product comes off after using it, so it's a great remover if you're wearing a lot of make-up and I feel like my face is a lot cleaner and feels fresher after using this.

The Marc Jacobs shower set isn't new to me as I've had them since September; I bought myself the Daisy Eau So Fresh perfume set when I got my very first paycheck but because of the amount of shower gels and body lotions that I currently have, they went straight in my drawer and I hadn't used them until this month. As I've said before, if you want a scent to last, you're much better off using different products from the same range as the scent lingers on your skin for longer than just using a perfume by itself; which is what I often do with this set to prolong the gorgeous smell that Daisy has.























 I'm a big fan of minimalistic jewelery at the moment, as they can be layered with other pieces or just lay daintily alone. This necklace is from ASOS and looks perfect with some of the longer necklaces I own, as I would say this is a medium length. The mirror in the picture was my Mum's; the floral print goes so nicely with my plain walls and the rose gold details are very on-trend considering I've had this in my room for years! Definitely something that will come with me when I move out if Mum lets me!

 A slightly horrendous picture of my new shoes but this was the best of the bunch! I know that so many people have bought these shoes but with Topshop you can't really expect to buy something and not see 5 other people wearing it on the same day as you and ever since I saw Lily wearing them I knew I wanted them! I've had a lot of wear out of my checked Vans slip-ons since I bought them around a year ago so I know that I'll be wearing these a lot too.




 I hadn't had much luck for a while with buying nice bags in Charity shops until a couple of weeks ago. This is a perfect bag for going shopping as it fits all the necessities and it means that I can't fill my bag with junk like I usually do with bigger bags. The make is Pierre Balmain and I bought it for a mighty £2.99. The bag doesn't even look/smell like its been used which is a huge bonus for me as I care a lot more about the quality of a bag rather than who's designed it.

Last month I spoke a bit about a film I had been loving, but this month nothing really sprung at me as I haven't had much time to watch films- I haven't even been watching Dexter and I had been hooked on it for months! I was listening to a few musical soundtracks this afternoon (as you do) when I remembered how obsessed I was with the musical Wicked after I saw it on broadway last year. It was INCREDIBLE! The storyline is interesting and such a fun take on the original story of The Wizard of Oz; it's always quite impressive when someone can take an idea that is known so well around the world and change people's perceptions about the characters using the idea of a prequel like Wicked is.
The cast was absolutely fantastic; Katie Rose Clarke as Glinda (who stole the show for me, she is a fantastic singer and performer) Lindsay Mendez as Elphaba and Derek Klena as Fiyero. The only problem with how amazing it was is that I don't think I'll ever be able to go and see it again because I'm afraid it won't live up to the first time!
I'm sure everyone has seen/heard of Wicked but if you haven't (or even if you have) I thoroughly recommend you watch Katie Rose Clarke singing Popular because she is bloody hilarious; hate to be controversial but I've also watched Kristen Chenoweth perform it and as much as I adore the woman, KRC just does it better.

Images by Google- edited by me

That wraps up my February Favourites! Let me know what your favourites were and if you loved any of the same things!