Dune Handbag

Morning lovelies!

I've got a beautiful bag to show you today. Me and my mum are bargain hunters, and on a shopping trip a few weeks ago I found this beautiful bag that my mum bought for me for my birthday.

Let's just take a look at it first:

Rosey blush coloured, a good medium sized bag with some beautiful golden studs. It's like the absolute perfect bag for summer. I love bags this size, big enough to fit enough items in without breaking your back like other larger bags that let's face it, you are just guaranteed to fill.

There are even studs on the base of the bag which is a nice touch and makes the bag look so much more expensive and help to stop the bottom getting scratched and covered in crap from the floor.

I also love the zip, its nice and chunky and matches the gold studs. The zip goes all the way down the sides of the bag and their are two handles also made with the same rose gold. 

This bag is absolutely perfect and replaces my other older black bag from Warehouse with gold studs for the next summer months. The only problem i have found so far is that it is susceptible to stains from darker clothing. Wearing this with my new Levi's has resulted in a few dark blue stains on the rose pink material but luckily this can be cleaned off.

Even the inside is lined! I do love the inside material of a bag, you can always tell if you've got a good quality bag when you've seen the lining.

So what's my secret? Obviously its from TK maxx! There's nothing like a bargain when you're casually wandering around the shops and find a beauty like this. I don't remember the price of this but I do remember it was discounted quite a bit and was worth every penny!

Do you like rummaging in TK Maxx? Are bags your thing or are you a shoe girl?

Trips to TK Maxx are always a danger for me, especially in the bag section!

L xxx

NOTD Studded Nails

When I was picking a nail varnish on Saturday I wanted to do some nail art but I was feeling very uninspired after routing through my nail varnish. I chose to use one of the Ciate ones I had in my advent calendar as it was one I loved the colour of but hadnt used yet. It's called Cabaret. 

I love the wear of Ciate polishes. They are streaky after one coat but after two give a gorgeous finish and last really well. When looking for my top coat I spotted some studs I'd ordered from eBay. You can find similar ones here. I always get nail stuff from eBay and usually from China as it's so cheap. You just have to wait a while for delivery.

These particular studs are great as they have flat backs so I don't feel the need to pick them off. When I've done this before and use Caviar type beads they annoyed me quickly.  Caviar manicures annoy me after 24 hours and I tend to pick them off.

This manicure lasted me over 48 hours. In that time,  I cooked, cleaned, had a bath and spent a whole day in work. In that time only one stud fell off. That's pretty impressive to me. The only thing was some of the studs ended up looking more silver than gold as the colour wore off.

To do this manicure.  I painted two coats of nail varnish. Then used my Seche Vite and applied it one nail at a time. I sprinkled the studs onto a DVD case and touched them gently with my dotting tool till they were all the right way up. 

Using a not very hygienic method (but it's my nails and easiest so doesn't matter) I lightly dabbed the end of my dotting tool on my tongue then found it was easier to get a stud on the end. I've tried other methods and they don't work as well. If you don't have a dotting tool you could get one cheap on eBay when you order studs or use a toothpick, tweezers or something similar.  When a stud was on my dotting tool I gently pressed this into the wet top coat and continued to apply them.  Once one nail was done I applied top coat to the next nail and repeated.  When they were all done I added a layer or top coat over the top.

I'm so impressed with how long this manicure lasted and how quick it was to do. Which surprised me. I'll be doing this more as I love the way it looks. Im gutted I lost a nail on the way home so I've had to take a them off but all studs were still strong, none were loose and I think I'd have got another couple of days out of it.

Do you like stud manicures?

Love M

Xxx

Recent Purchases

I've mentioned lots of times how I'm on a spending ban yet seem to keep buying things due to my overdraft, sneaky!

It really has come to the depths now (sad face!) but luckily for me my mum took me shopping to encourage me to finish my dissertation when I was feeling really down about it all last week.
It's rather a long post with lots of pictures but if you're anything like me I love seeing what everyone buys, so make yourself a brew and get comfy and enjoy :)

Here's what I bought!

Bottle green skin y jeans with gold zips - £15 from Primark

I saw these and loved them but I have issues buying trousers in Primark as I'm tall and rarely does anything fit!

But I was SO surprised to find these did and they wear pretty well too.

For £15 they're an absolute bargain and I will be going back and getting some more as soon as a job finds me!!!

Next up were these gorgeous scarfs.

I love scarves and general winter clothes so these were an exciting buy for me (yes really!)

There's a flowing black one with studs to wrap around and do whatever style you please, plus a grey snood with owls on.

Owls are a bit of a thing for me so this was perfect!

Both of these were also Primark and I think £4 each.

Next was this really cute blouse:

I love blouses like these and wear my other ones to death.

This has an updated collar and buttons though which make it look more expensive than the couple of pound it cost! (can't remember exact number I'm afraid!)

Next are these gorgeous belts:

I'm a sucker for a black waist belt with metal detailing as I really love the cinched in look and also the rock chick look, so this Primark beauty was again perfect and I think £4 too!

The gold studded belt is absolutely beautiful and from Warehouse.

It comes in at a rather more pricey £18  in comparison with my other buys but its gold, studded and general perfection for everything that I wear!

(I also got 20% off the Warehouse belt as I got it from Debenhams at a 20% off day! So worth waiting for!)

I love my gold and although i own lots of silver items, they don't seem to get a look in at the moment!

This is why I ended up also grabbing this cuff and collar necklace in Primark:

You can see the prices on the tags still. I've wanted a collar necklace forever but hadn't found one I liked.

If anyone has a suggestion of a plain gold collar necklace i could get at an affordable price let me know please!

I haven't found any recently.

Lastly, I can't go into Primark and not buy shoes.

I wear their pumps and brogues until they fall apart (quite literally!)

These studded bad boys are perfect for the winter (if I don't wear them to death by then!) and the brogues are a firm staple in my wardrobe.

I can't see me being without them for a while, I've been wearing them for years as they go with everything, are so comfy and in a lovely metallic shade can be worn out too!

My last purchase in the shops comes in the form of my very own pair of disco pants:

These were from Alice & You at Debenhams (not on their website but apparently also sold at Dorothy Perkins.

I picked these up for £24 due to their being 20% off in Debenhams (originally £30)

I've worn them already and they are so damn comfy.

I feel like an extra from Grease but oh my they look and feel amazing!

Lastly are 2 other eBay purchases I've got recently.

Firstly a metal belt:

I've wanted a belt like this for AGES and originally bought the Celeb boutique one when I bought a dress as the belt was half price when you bought one.

However the dress wasn't great and I had to send it back so sent the belt back too.

Long story short this was £5 on ebay and I just HAD TO HAVE IT.

You know the feeling!

Finally I bought these metal collar clips to update all of my shirts:

I know for a fact that I will want the shirts currently in fashion that are covered in cute collar clips.

I thought why not waste the money on buying new shirts when the clips cost a measly £2 off ebay and I can put them on whatever shirt I want!

So there's my buys....rather a long post sorry about that!

What's on your list for Winter??

I really want some of the other colours in the Primark jeans and no doubt I'll be looking for a new coat, have you seen any must haves yet?

L xxx

(p.s. I feel like I should definitely mention my mum here, she bought me all of the Primark stuff as she's so amazing! If she ever finds my blog maybe she'll read this....thanks mum you're the best!)