Ball, Proms and Dinners

Hi, this year I have a special function to attend: the Halfway Ball put on especially by my university to celebrate our achievement. It's a formal event billed as a 'ball crossed with a dinner' and will be attended by the professors and tutors also so cue a panic attack about me having nothing to wear. I wondered the high street for a while and had a couple of backup dresses and then I decided to have a look in Yumi. I've never been inside before as I always thought of it as expensive but it's actually really reasonable with dresses from £10-£80. Eventually I found the perfect dress to wear - at the time I thought it was an 'alright dress' but I have generally found that things I think are just OK I will fall in love with after a few days and I was right!! Now I can't imagine wearing anything else.

So this is the dress......

Lace Dress from Yumi (my version is dark navy blue)

It's a gorgeous navy blue knee length dress which is great as I wasn't interested in a full length style being the short person I am. The top part is a knitted crochet pattern - it's like a vest with thick straps and from the waist it flares into a chiffony pleated style. It also has some crochet pattern at the hem for a bit more decoration. It is the type of dress that can be jazzed up with accessories or teamed with simple jewellery for understated look.

I also love the way the model has had her hair done and may do my hair like this to the function. I plan on teaming my navy blue dress with either black and silver or a deep purple and silver.

PS I will post more pictures of me wearing it on the night of the Halfway Ball later.
Sorry I've no pictures of the actual dress - my camera is so bad....

I like nice things....

My wishlist: 

Panel Mini Skirt Miss Selfridge,  Knitted Robot Jumper Topshop,  Knitted A jumper also Topshop

FCUK black lace top, Bird Cage (or anything from this website!), Recipe Journal (for my non-existent cooking)

And also Primark Skinnies - I bought a pair 2 years ago and they are the best jeans I have ever had! They also stay skinny not matter how many washes they are put through.


I should probably add that this is a list of the stuff that I have coveted in the last 2 days only :( - I can't wait until I have money at my disposal every month!!

Accessorize Ring

I have always loved Accessorize and own a few bits and pieces but lets be honest, £20 for a ring? That's some people's weekly food budget gone in one shot! But today I had a little look in store whilst I was waiting for a train and found a gorgeous ring down to £1. I have a feeling it is old stock (and it's now missing a pearl) so that's why it was cheap but oh well. I knocked the pearl off whilst wearing it - I bashed my hand into the counter - doh.
So the ring looks like this:

I guess you can tell I love statement rings

  

I do like this ring but think I like the fact that it's from Accessorize more than anything as I'm a bit of a label lover. It does fit exactly perfectly though which was surprising as I forgot to try it on in store :S. And finally a big plus is that my mum loves this ring and was worn it too. 

Earmuffs

The weather has been playing cruel tricks on us recently - I'm sure you all remember the hottest September in the world (maybe a slight exaggeration) and in the boxing day sales, there was a women wearing (I kid you not) flip flops!!!!!!! In December!!!! Anyhoo, it has gotten seriously cold over the last few weeks so I decided to invest in some earmuffs. I found the perfect pair in the first shop I walked into which happened to be GAP. They were £12.99 down to a bargain £2.99 and has been keeping my ears toasty for the last 4 weeks. 

They have a black/ dark grey/ dark brown fluffy fur which covers all of my ears and some of my cheek too. The strap is not adjustable which is a bit annoying as I have to wear them at a slight angle so they don't slip down but it's a minor point. I quite like GAP actually - I have found their sizing to be accurate for a change and that they have a LOT of classic designs which can be worn for years. I have bought a few bits and pieces for my work wardrobe over the last few months and am very impressed. 

BHS Bargains

Last week I popped into BHS for a little nosey and found that there were 3 shelves of jewellery reduced to a £1! I think I got there towards the end of the sale as it was mostly the odd sizes of rings etc.. left but I didn't care. I picked up the following:

2 Gold blue and orange teardrop rings

They are a bit too big (needed a medium for my forefinger) but for a £1 who cares?

A huuuggggee chunky burgundy bangle with gold trim - looks super expensive and have already worn twice

A long chain necklace with blue beading and tassles

All 3 of my items for the bargain total of £3
(apologies for the out of focus camera - I suck at pictures)

I love the bangle so much - it is a statement piece of jewellery and everyone has commented on it when worn. I quite like the rings - they are too big but I like how how aren't attached so could separate them and mix and match them with other rings. The necklace I don't like at all. It looked great in the shop but it just doesn't sit right. One side is gold chain and the other side is a thin black string which makes it lopsided and odd. Overall seriously impressed with the sale at BHS! 

Getting the hang of this

I probably picked the worst time ever to write a blog - slap bang in the middle of the exam period but should hopefully be back to blogging soon! 

Miss Selfridge Clasp Purse

Last week's bargain was this absolutely gorgeous purse from Miss Selfridge. 

Front view with flash

Right hand side with space for 7 cards and 2 'long' sections for notes

Left hand side again with space for 7 cards and 2 'long' sections for notes

I'd been lusting after it on the website for a couple of months but finally got it last week - Miss Selfridge is a train ride away from me so waited until I needed to go there for other business and sneakily added a trip to Miss Selfridge in there. And was I glad I went! It was £16 and with the 20% student discount (down to £12.80) and a gift card - I paid nothing! It is black fake leather with gold clasps and gold decorative banding and a large gold plaque with Miss Selfridge stamped on it. My pictures are pretty rubbish but it honestly looks like real leather and the gold is in no way tacky. 

The best thing about this purse has got to be the fact it has so many compartments for cards and vouchers/ receipts - I have about 40 cards (no joke) and have a loyalty card for pretty much every shop so pockets were a necessity. 

Middle clasp coin part

The middle section for coins is actually pretty big - you can easily see what's in there and it can hold a lot of coins and the clasp will still close. If I had to pick a bad point about this purse it would have to be the fact that it is probably slightly too small!!

Overall I love love love this purse and would recommend it to people who need a big purse for daily use.