What to wear this party season!

IT'S CHRISTMASSSSS (in 21 days)

The lead up to Christmas is always exciting, office parties, meals out, light turning ons, Christmas eve...and then there is post Christmas parties, like boxing day, and new years eve. With all these parties you need to know how to look stunning at every one of them, and hopefully I can help you with that!

There are four things you need to follow when choosing your party outfits this season.

1. Black & Gold
2. Baroque
3. Glitter
4. Metallic

These are the four major styles of party outfits this year and I'm going to tell you lovely people where to get your party fix!

Black & Gold
When I see black and gold written down I immediately think of the Sam Sparrow song.. so listen to that here while you read this. This is similar to the baroque trend as a lot of their garments are predominantly black and gold. Here are the best places to pick up your black & gold fix:
Motel Rocks
Miss Guided
Boo Hoo
Romwe
Miss Selfridge
Topshop
Lipsy


Baroque

Baroque style began round about the 1600s and has decided to make a huge come back this year. Lace and collars are key to the baroque trend, along with high waisted garments and full sleeves. Another key aspect of the baroque trend is textures which is one of my favourite things to do in autumn and winter. In summer I like to experiment with prints and bright colours which is also a part of baroque fashion, however, in Autumn/winter i prefer to experiment with prints such as velvet, leather, wool. Here up some of the best websites to buy baroque fashion.

ASOS- Outfits and Looks
River Island
Romwe
Miss Selfridge
Topshop

Glitter
Glitter of course is always essential for party outfits, but this year is a glitter overload! Make up and fashion wise there is glitter everywhere! Here are some of the best glitter make up brands:
Barry M - Nail polishes
Bourjois- Eye Shadow pick up in boots or superdrug, there seems to be more choice in store than online.
Urban Decay- Naked Pallet

Here are some websites for glitter fashion:
Motel Rocks
There is the most gorgeous dress at ASOS at the moment on sale for only 19.50! It is beautiful get it here
Miss Guided
Boo Hoo
Romwe
Lipsy

Metalic
I love this new metallic trend, however, I have yet to buy a metallic garment. I saw the most amazing skirt in french connection a few weeks a go and am still in love with it, but it is over £100 I need to be rich!! If you are lucky enough to be able to afford it you can get it here. Barry M are also doing some gorgeous metallic nail polishes. Other Great place to pick up the metallic trend include:
Miss Guided
Topshop
lipsy
River Island

Party responsibly!

K x

Lee Stanford- Hair Products

Hello!

Those of you that do not know I have ombre hair. Ombre hair means light at the ends and gradually getting darker towards your roots. I have had ombre hair for about 3 months ish so as was expected it began to fade and get a more brassy tones.

 I decided to buy a shampoo and conditioner for beached blond hair. I had previously heard about Lee Stanford's bleach blond shampoo and conditioner but i thought £7 for a bottle of shampoo is quite a lot. However when I went to boots, they had 3 Lee Stanford products for £15 which basically meant if i got the shampoo and conditioner I could get something free, like all people the thought of getting something free is worth spending money on the other things.

I picked up the Lee Stanford Salt Spray as my third thing and it is amazing! I have naturally curly hair but when i straighten it, it looks really flat and doesn't really do much for me so i thought I would try the salt spray to get a more natural wavy look. It is soo nice, and it smells gorgeous! I have actually found myself swishing my hair just so I can get a waft of the spray. One fault to the spray is that it does make my hair really knotty. This isn't an issue as long as you wash it out the next morning.

I have noticed a dramatic change in the blond part of my hair since buying it so i recommend anyone with the slightest bit of blond in their hair goes and buy them. It says to use the shampoo only once a week but i use it twice but i guess it is up to you. They have a  3 for 2 offer on all professional hair products at the moment so that is basically the same as my deal, so why not treat yourself to a pre Christmas treat.

K x

UCA & UNI

Heyyy,

So, as many people my age will know it has been the UCAS deadline this week! Everyone hoping to go to uni will have bigged themselves up in their personal statement, filled in their information and clicked send. You will currently be nervously waiting your offers.

As you may or not be aware I want to be a fashion journalist and so will be studying that at university. I went to an open day at UCA (universtiy of creative arts) on Wednesday and fell in love. My campus is based it Epsom and it is fairly new so all the buildings are really nice. Being a creative arts university it has that really cool edgy creative feel to it.

I also checked out the Halls which are 2 mins from my lectures so I will be able to role out of bed and into a lecture which is a plus side. They are also really nice and clean and the students seem to really enjoy the uni.

Also with it being a very fashiony uni, (yes fashiony is a word.. now) everyone at the open day was dressed really well. However I was noticing that everyone was sort of wearing the same sort of thing including myself. It seemed to be all about leather and khaki, which obviously follows the military trend which is very AW12. I personally am loving teaming up my leather leggings with a baggy camo jacket, so thumbs up to the trend.

I am really looking forward to starting university just need to hope I charmed them with my personal statement and get the grades to back me up!

Good Luck to everyone who has applied for unis

Love

K xo

Money Saving Fashion

So half term is over (sad face) which means back to college. Usually if I have had time of college I return with lots of new clothes and spend far too much money. However I don't have a job right now and need to run my car so need to ease up on my shopping for a while.

I know that right now it is hard to get a job for a lot of young people wanting part time work so I am going to tell you how to make outfits out of things you already have or spending as little money as possible.

My first thing is collar tips. My accessory staple. Regal rose have some gorgeous ones here however they are rather expensive I have bought a few pairs off eBay for less than £2 that are so nice! Just type collar tips into the search bit if you want the same as me go here and here. They make your shirts look completely different and can for example turn a girly floral shirt into an edgy vintage piece.

My second outfit mash up is dresses. Don't think that now it's autumn/winter your dresses have to wait until next summer to come out. I wear dresses all year! There are so many ways to change up dresses such as Tights & leggings patterned tights and leggings can bring an outfit to life and don't think you can't wear patterns together because you can. Everyone should have their own style and just mix it up a bit. Also wooly tights are a winter must have! My favourite places to get tights are

Motel Rocks

House Of Holland

My Tights 

Top Shop

But I'm sure you already have tights so you don't have to spend money.

Another way to change up your dresses is layering. I have spoken about this in a previous post. Jumpers on top of dresses can make a whole new look as they look like skirts and just give a different look. You could also wear a long sleeved top underneath a dress to give it a more winter/ autumnal look.

My third money saving outfit is swapping/borrowing. I am constantly 'borrowing' my grandad and nan's knit wear. It's vintage stuff for free! Just ask your grandparents, aunts and parents if they have any clothing that they don't want anymore or that you can borrow.  Swapping is brilliant I know a lot of youtubers do swaps where they have a budget and buy clothes for each other and send them. This is a great idea, if you have money. 

A free way to swap would be to sort out your wardrobe and get your friends to as we'll because there is no way you need to keep everything in there. I am awful at getting rid of clothes even if is too small I just say I'll slim into it but you just need to think practically. Ask yourself "am I going to where this?" "Where?" And "when?" And " with what" If you can't answer one of thee questions get rid. If you get all your friends to do this as well you can then swap your unwanted clothing with theirs so you have new outfits. 

Finally Accssesories are your friends! Just add jewellery, hats, belts and jackets to outfits to give them a new look.

Good places for accsesories are;

Regal Rose

Rokit

Vintage Shops

Love Hearts & Crosses

Dolly Bow Bow

There are so many more ways to re vamp your wardrobe, yet I don't want to write a short book on here as this has turned out to be a rather long post! If you have any questions either comment tweet or email me  Love K xo

Kate Nash & The Tuts Gig

Hellooo, 

 I'd like to start with a huge apology for my lack of blog posts. I was heavy with cold and just wasn't feeling like writing about beauty when I looked like crap. Additionally I have been crazy busy with college work, personal statement, and just life! But I'm back now and will try and blog at least twice a week. 

So my dad lives in London which means I am often up doing various things, usually spending money I shouldn't. I went up Thursday and went to a relatively small pub in Dalston, East London to see Kate Nash. 

The band before Kate were called 'THe Tuts' they are unreal! I'm not too sure what genre you would put them in, maybe sort of punky? Well you can make your own mind up and listen to them Here. The band consists of three girls; 

 Nadia Javed (lead vocals & guitar) 

Beverly Ishmael (drums & percission)

and Harriet Doveton (bass guitar and backing vocals) 

They have just released their first EP which is so good so buy that here. Also follow them on twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and email them at thetuts@hotmail.co.uk 

Their style is also really cool. They dressed quite girly in dresses and sparkles yet added edge with their trainers, guitars and personalised denim jackets. 

So on to Kate Nash, her old stuff is quite pop/indie like her most famous 'foundations' listen here. However she has now changed her look and music quite a bit. She is like 'THe Tucs' rather punky and her look is sort of punky/scene. She wore a figure hugging red mini dress that had a black long sleeved mesh material at the top. Her hair was half up with blonde/ white underneath. She was also wearing a tiara which gave her a 'scene' look.

Her new music is good but as I said is very different so if you're a fan of her old music this might not be your cup of tea but I like both her new and old stuff. Check out one her new songs from the gig 'Free My Pussy'.

Again apologies for being slightly MIA but I'm back now so please follow me on twitter, Instagram and tumblr and contact me through my twitter or email  

 Stay Cool

 K xo

Autmnal Layers

 So lets not kid ourselves it is definitely Autumn now so it's time to put away the shorts and sun dresses and get out the knit wear!

The weather still hasn't quite made up its mind however so the best way to dress is layers that way you are never too hot or too cold.

You can be so creative with your layering and it can make an old outfit look brand new. Here is 5 ways to get you started.

1. Shirt, jumper, skinny jeans, coat/jacket , scarf &/or hat
2. long sleeved top under a dress, patterned or plain tights  (if it is slightly cooler team up with leggings).
3. long sleeved top under a t-shirt, skinny jeans or skirts with tights.
4. Cardi or hoody on top of anything with coat or jacket
5. Finally thermals and vests are your friends, wear under anything!

Where to buy:

Best places for shirts:

• Brick lane (East London) vintage shops
• Primark (surprisingly very good)
• Select
• Dorothy Perkins

Best place for skinny jeans

• Topshop
• River island
• Motel Rocks

Knit wear (jumpers & cardis)

• Charity shops
• Grandparents
• Dorothy Perkins
• Market Stalls (Camden & Spitalfields)

Long Sleeved tops

• Primark
• Dorothy Perkins

Thermals

• Uniqlo

Hats

• Topman
•  Lazy Oaf

D.I.Y Stud Jeans

What you need:

• Butter knife
• Studs preferably a range of sizes but your choice
• A pair of boring jeans that need re-vamping
• Time & patience

Bored of your dull jeans? Not enough money to buy a new pair? I've got the answers! Studding clothing is so easy!

The studs are really cheap, about £4 for two packs eachs contains 200 studs. I will put the link below. I chose to stud all my pockets but  that is up to preference. Do some research of studded clothing online if you are unsure on what design to do.

Push the stud through then with the butter knife push down the sharp points on the inside of the pocket, make sure you push them in as far as they go, otherwise they will fall off. Just carry on until you have the desired design. I chose to use large studs for my cross design and smaller studs for the rest. I found the smaller studs harder to put on as they have shorter spikes so need an extra firm hand.

It's as simple as that! When washing your studded jeans make sure they are inside out and when ironing them try to avoiding ironing on the studs. If you have leather sofas or seats in your house it is best not to wear the jeans if you have studded the back pockets as it may tear the leather.

Have fun and don't hesitate to ask if y'all get stuck

K x

Jeans - RiverIsland £42 (curently on sale for £25!!)

Studs- Ebay £1.49 for 200