leopard and heart print.

Cardigan, Hollister; Leopard print satin top, Topshop; Denim cut-offs, DIY; Charm bracelet, Accessorize; Rings, Topshop and Rock 'N Rose.

So today's post was supposed to be another of my Friday Favourites features, but I've spent my entire day with my notebook in front of me, and I just haven't had any inspiration or ideas of things to squee about. Instead, I bring you another outfit post! :)

I'm actually on a spending ban until the end of the summer now, so everything I'm wearing is "old" and has been in my wardrobe for many a month. I hoard clothes if I find they're a good fit, simply because I'm so short (5"0 or 5"1!) and it is difficult to find things that fit my body length wise. I heart printed my nails this morning (again) after many failed attempts to do them last night. They're not perfect, but I like them, and so does my Granny! :) And despite me just having said I'm on a spending ban, I just placed an order for the 7 new Lush fragrances - so excited!

Finally, don't forget to enter my blog giveaway, it closes in just two days :)

a cloudy day's outfit

Just a simple outfit today. :) Accidentally co-ordinated my nail varnish to my top as well - I never do that! Much prefer a clashing nail colour! The colour in these photos is annoying... it was really cloudy today so the colour is really muted and weird.

Wednesday Wants #2

This week's Wednesday Want is hopping on the blogging bandwagon a tiny bit. The Primark A/W 2010 lookbook was released this week, and surprisingly, it was mostly really nice! Even with many other similar posts, I did think it was 'special' enough to dedicate my Wednesday Want to it.

Obviously, the quality of all of these items will not be as good as Topshop, but the prices are incredibly reasonable for pieces that are really on-trend, compared to the other Primark pieces. The jacket is absolutely darling, I've been hunting for a decent shearling trim jacket for a while now (Burberry A/W 2010 anyone?!) For £23, I think that there's a possibility it'll be a non-plasticy feeling piece too, but we shall see.

The military dress is so pretty. Something like this would be about £38 in Topshop! I'd wear it with a huge chunky cardigan and belt to cinch it all in. And finally, the fairisle jumper... Well, we'll see when it comes out! I've wanted once since I saw them popping up left, right and centre in magazines, but I just don't know if I can pull it off. I'd probably stick to the snood on top of lots of layered knits, which is my staple look in the autumn/winter! Lots of greys, creams and black! :)

Have you seen the Primark collection yet? What are you planning to wear in the autumn?

Some Chatter and an Update (:

Hello my lovelies! Firstly, a big thank you for the amazing feedback from my previous outfit post, you're all so lovely. I'm in a complete rut about my current non-hairstyle. As you may have seen in my Tweets, I am having issues with how fast my hair has been growing recently. The short layers have completely grown out to around my ears (strange as that sounds!) and my fringe has evolved into somewhat of a sideswept fringe once again. Does anyone know why my hair seems to be super-speedy-growing at the moment?

Secondly, I just wanted to take the chance to say, I have been reading all of your comments, as mentioned above, and I believe I am now on top of replying to them all. :) Don't forget to check back a day or so after your comment to see my replies!

My giveaway is closing on Monday 2nd August 2010, so you have a week left to enter! It's very straightforward, and there is no need to retweet or blog about it for the first two entries. Up for grabs is a Rock 'N Rose scrabble ring, Lush Cosmetics dusting powder, a lippie and more! I'm really enjoying seeing your entries, and am going to be bringing some into the blog within the next few weeks, so thank you for entering! :)

Formspring activity seems to have gone down a bit recently; if you have any questions, please feel free to quiz me on there! It relieves my boredom and gives me something to do when putting off theory test revision. Which I shouldn't be doing... my test is tomorrow, eek!

That's all for now chickadees! I will be back with an outfit or something more substantial in a while! Shall I add some more 'cheese'? Love and cupcakes to you all, thank you for reading <3 ;D

roses and sunglasses

I bought this dress on Thursday in Miss Selfridge. I think it's actually supposed to be a vest, according to the website, but I'm kind of ridiculously short, and it looks better as a dress for me. It is a pretty comfortable dress length, but flowy, so I've whacked a pair of cycling shorts underneath. My necklace was snapped up last summer in Hong Kong for a mere HK$10, which my currency converter tells me is about 80p :) The scarf is an Alice in Wonderland printed scarf, which I bought in February.

I'm also wearing my new sunglasses! I'm completely in love with these beauties! They were from New Look, and were the last pair on the display shelf. Also, they only cost me £4.50, which is very reasonable for something I'll get a lot of wears out of over the summer.

Friday Favourites

Hey pretties! Hope everyone has had relatively stress free weeks :) Just a small Friday Favourites this week, with a little twist added in the mix. My brain is just not functioning today, and I’ve been meaning to write a post like this for a while. I’ve seen a lot of Tweets, and received a few messages, recently, asking to be directed to some new blogs to read, so I thought I’d use this opportunity to direct you to some of my favourite reads at the moment.

Abby @ abbzzw
To put it quite simply, Abby is so lovely and gorgeous! Her blog is one of my must-reads, and it always excites me to see a new post from her on my dashboard :) I love Abby’s week in photos posts, her outfit posts and her lovely in-depth reviews. Oh and our recent tendency to match nail varnish haha!

Shirley @ Notes from the Tooth Fairy
I’ve been following this blog for about 3 weeks now, and even though Shirley is taking an on/off hiatus, as lots of bloggers do, there is such a variety of posts to read, and I love her style of writing. I would definitely recommend stopping by for a read.

Gabrielle @ 5am je t♥aime
Another relatively new blog on my blogroll, but one that I’ve fallen in love with. Her blog and posts generally revolve around Asian fashion (thumbs up!) and she features such a diverse range of content, I’m always popping back for another nosey! As well as street style posts and blogger spotlight features, she posts fashion photography, haute couture and another gorgeous photographs.

Yvonne @ Bohemian Junk
Yvonne’s outfit photographs are so well shot and her clothes always look lovely in them. (unlike mine!) I also love her ability to accessorise and change the whole feel of an outfit. I would say this is a must-follow!

Lulu @ elyouelyou
Lucy is actually one of my pretty pretty friends from university :) She posts a massive range of things all fashion related. Give her bloggerino a little browse and follow?

Lily @ LLYMLRS
I’m not going to lie, I am slightly on the verge of obsession with Lily’s blog! From her outfit posts, to ‘Want’ features, to ‘Keep or Return’ features and daily chatter, I love reading LLYMLRS for its diverse content and general relatability factor. It’s always so refreshing to find a blog that honestly features stylish, affordable outfits that you can buy straight from the high street. On top of all this, Lily posts regularly throughout the week, which means you’ll almost always have something new to read!

Stacey @ Oh I Love You Pretty Baby
Another friendling from university :) Stacey is a criminology student with a huge interest in fashion, writing and beauty – I believe those are our collective interests girls?! Stacey’s hauls, photographs, outfit posts and wishlists are all so lovely to read, I really would recommend checking her blog out! She is now also on Youtube, so subscribe to her!

Hopefully you will find a blog to fall in love with, which is my general intention :) If you’ve found any great blogs recently, link me to them in a comment and also, let me know what you think of the above featured bloggers!

Thursday Find: Lancôme Hydra Zen Neurocalm™ Eye Contour Cream

As I'm sure many of you know, I am a fan of randomly deciding to stay up until stupid o'clock for no particular reason. Even when I haven't decided to do so, I can never seem to get to sleep easily at the moment. My lovely Mumma finally got sick of 1) seeing me look like a panda, and 2) hearing me complain about said panda eyes, and whisked me away to the Lancôme counter at John Lewis. :) I am a huge fan of Lancôme products, and I already have their gel foaming cleanser, as well as a moisturiser, and several sample sized products which the sales assistant gave me with this purchase.

The first thing I love about this product is its' gel consistency. Although the name states that it is a cream, I would class it as more of a gel, which is much more fitting for the product. It is nice and cool to the touch (provided you store it correctly), and is highly moisturising. I also love the pump! My last Lancôme eye cream was in a little tub, with a mini spatula, which was cute enough, but just not practical in any sense. The pump allows you to control exactly how much gel comes out. (not much is needed!)

It is also such good value for money in my opinion! A tiny teeny amount is required, any more and your eye area just looks greasy and over-moisturised! I know not many people are willing to fork out £30 for an eye cream, but this is really good quality and will probably last you a good 4-5 months. For all you eager bloggers, this is amazing to use to relieve stressed & tired eyes after an evening of blog reading after a day of work :)

Downfalls of the product? The only thing I would suggest as a downfall is the price. As I've mentioned, £30 isn't money you'll find lying around, the counter factor is that Lancôme quite often run offers and promotions, where you receive a range of products for the price of one, or that kind of thing.

RRP: £30.50 - 15ml

What eye gels and creams are you using at the moment? I'd love to hear from you :) Link me to your own posts/videos?

Wednesday Wants #1

Another little wishlist of mine! My last wishlist collage went down a storm, so I'll be making this more regular, online window shopping is a favourite pastime of mine, as I'm sure is the same for many of you! I've developed a bad habit of browsing on websites and mindlessly adding hundreds of items into my basket recently... and never getting round to buying them.

I finally took the plunge and went to order my Lily Jersey dress, from a previous wishlist, and just my luck - it was sold out in my size! Just as I get paid... Am extremely tempted to spend that £30 on a slightly cheaper dress, the Daisy Print Zip Bandeau dress from Topshop. I believe it befits my blog well enough! ;) Any excuse to shop...!

Also, just a little mention, I am now at 250 lovely followers and over 20,000 views since the end of February! Thank you all so much, it means a lot to me :) I do read all of your comments and try to reply to them all, although Blogger has been strange this week and has been deleting comments sporadically?! I hope you're having wonderful weeks so far. :) I shall be spending the rest of mine drinking copious amounts of coffee and Vimto (not together!) and revising for my car theory test next week - eek!

What I Wore Today

Cropped floral print top, Topshop; Shorts, DIY; Tights, Tesco; Nails, Barry M in Berry.

Today I went to see Inception with two of my friends.  I kind of went to the cinema not knowing what to expect because I'd only vaguely seen a trailer for Inception once, and it did look good, if not confusing. I'm not going to go into specifics about the film, as I am no film expert, so my opinions would be extremely nooby! Overall, I actually loved the film, I'm a sucker for a little bit of action and thriller in a film :) It was pretty confusing and kind of long, but all well worth it!

Onto what I am wearing then! Just a basic outfit, it was SO unexpectedly hot today! I was actually sat in my pyjamas until about 4pm, lazy as that does now sound... So yeah, a simple outfit for film-viewing ^_^ Excuse the dirty mirror also, haha! I thought it would be okay, but clearly not...!

Shop My eBay?

A quick plug of my eBay store if you don't mind! My wardrobe is, and has been, full to bursting point for the past couple of weeks, and I think I'm going to attempt to clear at least half of it out. I dithered over a blog sale of my smaller items, which I will still be doing within a few weeks, but for the most part, I'm listing things on eBay. Click my snazzy button to start shopping:



Get bidding girls! And help me spread the word? :) I really need to get rid of everything and preferably to a loving home.

I shall resume normal posting extremely soon, am currently being a nerd and revising my driving theory. God knows why the minute I book it, I keep failing mock tests, and before I was passing them perfectly fine! I cannot wait to pass my practical and get me a pretty car in the form of (I wish!) this:

 

(images courtesy of Nissan Figaro)

How adorable is this little Nissan Figaro in Topaz Mist?! I've always wanted a little vintagey car, nothing else has appealed to me as much as this. It also has a lovely colour name, continuing my strange adoration of quirky named things, and has a cream interior, which I have always wanted in a car. Sadly it is only a two-seater, and costs a whopping £6000 on average, which is far too much for my measly student budget. :( I would definitely deck it out with little cushions from Sass and Belle for additional comfort.

(images courtesy of Sass and Belle)

What is your dream car?

Hope you've had charming, relaxing weekends!

Friday Favourites

Firstly, a big thank you to Suzi for this post idea – I am slowly but surely working my way through the suggestions I’ve been getting on my contest, so if you want a little say in what is posted on my blog, head over here to tell me and be in with a chance of winning many a pretty prize! Shameless plug, sorry :p *hangs head in shame* So without further ado, here are my Friday Favourites from this week:

RAIN

I am the biggest Scrooge on summer ever. I think it is crazily overrated, and I just dislike it in general. I don’t mind the heat, I am all for heat – I just prefer it abroad when I have things to do and explore haha. The rain and odd thunderstorm this week was so refreshing, I love listening to the sound of rain! Genny recommended me this website, where you can sit and just listen to rain sounds. Thumbs up!

LONDON + ASOS

Some of you who follow my Twitter will know that I went to London for an interview with ASOS magazine yesterday! Who doesn’t love a bit of ASOS?! (Speaking of which, who has been indulging in some sneaky sales shopping this week?) The interview was for a work experience placement, so fingers crossed for that, I want another placement by the end of this year :) The office was all sleek and shiny too, it felt so professional and nice to be there.

THE HILLS

I’m sure by now, most of my readers will have watching the final (sob!) episode of The Hills. If you haven’t seen it, don’t fret, I won’t ruin it for you. 112 episodes later, I’m so sad and a teeny bit gutted that it’s all over…  And the ending is ridiculously shocking! What’s next, you ask? Well I’m sure MTV will milk it for all its’ worth with many repeats and little ‘Deleted Scenes’ filler shows, which I also love watching haha! I’m sure The Hills will be around for a little longer!

LILY LOLO MINERAL COSMETICS

I can’t believe I only just ‘discovered’ Lily Lolo! I saw a little section about Lily Lolo’s Finishing Powder in this week’s more! magazine, and was curious to see what other mineral powders they had on offer, and I’m glad I did! Although my bank balance might be a little more unhappy haha. They have an amazing range of mineral foundations, finishing powders, bronzers, blushes and more. I’ve never tried any mineral cosmetics before, and came extremely close to trying out some Bare Escentuals powder a couple of weeks ago, but got scared silly when I got to the door! :( So I placed a (slightly extravagant) order today, which I’m excited for! I’ll probably do some sort of review within the next few weeks once I’ve had a play around with them.

LANCOME SKINCARE

I will never stop raving about Lancome skincare products! Ever. For the past two months, I’ve been using a new skincare regime, consisting of products solely from Lancome’s Hydra-Zen range, although once in a while, I use my Lush fresh face mask, and my Laneige multi-cleanser. I will be doing a more in-depth review/skincare post next week, but omg~ I just can’t get over how amazing their eye gel and night creams are! Many Brownie points to you Lancome, you amaze me again!

So! A short but sweet Friday Favourites this week :) I shall leave you to enjoy your evening in peace now! And if you have a spare 3 minutes or so, give this cover version of Wedding Dress a whirl! I know Korean music isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but this was painstakingly translated and recorded for Youtube and is SO good. :)

Inspiration: Lucy Hale

Firstly, a huge thank you for the feedback in my last post! It was great to see everyone's opinions on the bags. I am currently trawling through ASOS and other options of a cheaper Paul's Boutique bag, and debating whether to spend £60 on the Becky bag. I haven't bought a new bag in too long: watch this space! ;)

I mentioned in another recent post that I started watching another American TV show this week - Pretty Little Liars. I am a complete TV drama junkie, and function best when I have at least 5 series to watch on rotation in a nerdily organised weekly schedule!

(Click to enlarge for better quality and a larger image!)

Lucy Hale plays Aria Montgomery, one of the main characters in Pretty Little Liars. I love her quirky, rocker-esque outfits in the series, so obviously, I had a little scout around, and it turns out she has amazing personal style too! She seems to favour girly outfits with a very hard, rock edge, teaming everything with black accessories. I also noticed (although you can't see clearly in these photos) that she loves a mint green nail varnish - Revlon Minted anyone?! - wearing it every outfit shown! and double-finger rings.

Lucy is definitely one of my new style crushes, I love her ability to accessorise. What do you think of her style?

hope

Blazer, H&M; Jersey top, Urban Outfitters; Shorts, DIY; Red and gold belt, Primark; Tights, Primark; Converse AllStars Light, Converse; Hope bracelet, Dolly Bow Bow.

Just a simple outfit today, I did not wear any colours other than my belt and bracelet! I seriously need to shop for some colourful tops or something soon... Anyway, I wore this to food shop in the morning, and then to laze around reading blogs, eating, drinking Sainsbury's Apple and Raspberry Juice (<333!) and writing some articles.

Michelle x

200+ Followers Giveaway in collab. with Rock 'N Rose - NOW CLOSED.

In celebration of, and to thank you, for reaching over 200 lovely followers and dedicated readers of my blog, I am holding a giveaway/contest! I’ve spent quite some time gathering up some pretty goodies for this, and then realised it was all a bit of a mishmash, but again – isn’t that what Daisybutter is all about?! So this is my little way of saying thank you to you all, and hopefully things will just get better from here!

For one of the pieces, I teamed up with Rock ‘N Rose Jewellery and Emily has very kindly offered to donate a scrabble ring with the letter of your choice to my giveaway (not pictured). I have blogged about Rock ‘N Rose a few times, and they offer an adorable range of rings, necklaces and hair accessories. I’m sure many of you will agree with me, and I’m sure you’re all quite aware of my love for their scrabble ring ;)

As well as the scrabble ring, I had a little shop around in London and I will also be giving away a vintage garland from Sass and Belle. I purchased a bird peg chain in Sass and Belle a few weeks ago, and it proved to be very popular in my interiors posts. So this is your chance to get your hands on something similar!

Along with these, I am giving away a little Hello Kitty candy popper, which was a little bit too adorable to pass up in London’s Chinatown. I am a massive fan of Hello Kitty and Sanrio, so this was the perfect way to incorporate something I love with this giveaway. I have also included a Natural Collection Moisture Shine lipstick in Coral Shimmer, the perfect shade for the summer, and one of my favourite LUSH products of all time, the now discontinued (sob!) Candy Fluff Dusting Powder! Also included are some Cath Kidston bath salts :)

Finally, a giveaway is not a giveaway without some rules (unfortunately!), so to be in with a chance of winning, keep reading:

• This giveaway is open internationally.
• You must be a follower, as the giveaway is to thank my followers :)
• I will be picking the winner on random.org
• To enter, simply comment this entry with what you like reading most on my blog (e.g. outfit pictures, fashion feature articles, trend reports, beauty reviews, etc.)
• To gain an extra entry, in the same comment, tell me a suggestion or way to improve my blog!
• For another extra entry, Tweet or blog about my giveaway and include a link in your comment.
• Leave your email so I can get in contact with you if you win, or for anything else ;)
• Contest ends on Monday 2nd August 2010, so all the lucky readers who are on holiday have a chance to enter ;)

Good luck and thank you so much for the follow, I honestly never expected so many people to be interested in my utterly random ramblings!

Also, to everyone who has commented and entered but cannot see their comment, I have logged your entries in my notebook, do not fret :) I changed my blog address and they disappeared!

WANT: A Topshop and Urban Outfitters Special ;)

(click to enlarge for better quality!)

So I finally decided to allow myself to have a browse online on my favourite clothing store websites, after unceremoniously breaking my shopping ban when in London. Oops. While I haven't actually indulged in buying an array of things from Topshop and Urban Outfitters, I have filled up my shopping basket wistfully with the above pieces. The Topshop Lily Jersey dress is so beyond beautiful, I may try and persuade Mother Dearest to invest in it for me. I also got a little design happy - I miss my graphic designing days :( Speaking of which, what do we all think of my new header?

M x.

‘That Gal’ – Adding to my Benefit collection

Just a couple of weeks ago, I blogged about another experience of being ‘madeover’ for free at the Benefit counter in Southampton, and being tempted to add to my ever expanding collection. I’m not going to lie, this (along with the gorgeous, unique packaging!) is what initially drew me towards trying Benefit. I think I was 14 when I first tried Benefit, and bought the Dr Feelgood Lipscription, which is repurchase I’ve made many times since!

Our local Boots in sunny Stevenage recently got revamped, and now includes a Benefit counter, along with some other higher end brands such as Yves Saint Laurent. So as you do, I had a sneaky peek at the products they offered and… Meet the latest addition to my Benefit family!

‘That Gal’

£20.50 – 11ml

This was one of the products that the assistant used on me in Southampton, and I fell in love with it. I have a pretty clear and even complexion, and I don’t use or particularly need foundation, and also, the assistant told me I’d get away with using this product and then a bronzer or blush with it. I absolutely love the customer service that comes along with the Benefit ‘package’- it must be a prerequisite for the job to be smiley and endearingly happy!

Benefit describes this product as a ‘brightening face primer’. You can wear it alone, or underneath other products, and you can also use it to top-up your makeup throughout the day which is handy! What I also like about this product is that a little goes a long way, you literally only need a tiny amount for your entire face. This is also true for many of their other products.

When applied to the face, That Gal has a dewy, almost shimmery sheen to it, which leaves you looking fresh faced but not shiny. It is also moisturising, so your make-up doesn’t look cakey/dry, and it smells loooovely and fruity too, bonus!

What are your overall experiences with Benefit?

M x.

The Intern Diaries: Week Two, Day Four

9:22am - Arrived at the more! offices 'early', only to be sent straight away to another photoshoot by Zoe. Pretty excited to work another shoot, sad that I don't get to plan a M&S lunch with Callie :(

10:23am - Finally make it to Holborn Studios after many complications involving press packages being veeeery slow in arriving to the courier room, and slow walking people on the Underground again.

10:25am - Start writing credits and styling accessories for what felt like hundreds of looks. Very impressed by the ridiculously huge collection of jewellery that has been delivered from ZPR, Primark and Accessorize. LOTS of adorable, brand spanking new pieces coming soon to Accessorize, by the way. :)

11:00am - Playsuit shooting is a wrap! Frantic change of hair and make-up; the MUA, Natacha, had a whopping 8 bags full of MAC Pro make-up and additional bags full of her brushes and other tools :O Thoroughly impressed!

1:25pm - LUNCH! Had a beautiful chicken and chirizo salad out at the studio restaurant by the canal :)

2:00pm - All operations are go, frantically trying to get through 6 waistcoat looks, a printed denim shot, and 10(?) skater skirt looks. Each look comprises about 60-70, or maybe more, shots, from which the stylist picks a few to take to the office.

3:14pm - Last minute steaming of skirts commences. SO HOT.

3:37pm - Lots of coffee, tea and chocolate is ordered in to the studio. Very hawt in the studio, despite many fans!

4:58pm - Everyone is feeling the tiredness and exhaustion and heat now. Everyone is demolishing the last of the chocolate bars and randomly trying on wedge boots (absolutely gorgeous pair from Primark!) and accessories galore.

5:17pm - IT'S A WRAP! Several hours of blood, sweat and tears, and 30 looks later, the More for Less photoshoot is done for the week :)

MFL in Numbers:

30 looks

12 coffees drunk

8 bags of MAC Pro products(!!!)

7 jugs of iced water

6 pairs of gorgeous wedge boots

6 iPhones and Blackberrys, routinely being checked!

5 times that Sarita attempted to curl her hair!

1 bumbag - you heard it here first :)

1 exhausted but rewarded intern (ahem, me...)

Photos from my Blackberry to come... bear with me, 'Halle' is being slightly temperamental again!

M x.