Polka dots and studs

Warning: this post does not contain pictures of hot men. The aforementioned "studs" are of the spiky variety.
Well, now we've cleared that up, I thought I'd share with you my outfit of the other day. It's never going to be an "outfit of the day" - I'm just not that organised!
The weather was pretty darn good on Saturday so I decided to take some al fresco pictures in my garden. Unfortunately, the sun was in my eyes...blah blah blah....and the photos weren't great. But here are the best of a bad bunch!

Polka dot dress - Dorothy Perkins, Tights - Primark, Studded boots - Primark
Leather Jacket - Muubaa.

You might have noticed that my hair is a little bit darker. I used the Garnier Olia hair dye I bought in Boots - it worked really well and was easy to use. Highly recommended. If I ever find the Garnier Multi Lights kit (number 4) for sale then I'll put my highlights back in, but at the moment I can only find it on Ebay. Maybe next month...

We decided to make use of the good weather and headed for Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth. However, we got stuck in a huge traffic jam just outside Portsmouth centre and had to do a detour via a petrol station so I could go to the loo! I haven't been that desperate for the loo and stuck in a car since I was about five! Then, when we got to Gunwharf, there wasn't actually anything worth buying. Bit of a fail day out.

Yesterday, I dressed "like I was going horse riding" apparently and made macarons / macaroons at home. I had another fail when I realised the only piping bags I had in the house were made of grease proof paper. The nozzle and bag ended up separately in the mixture and I had to use a teaspoon to get the circles of batter onto the baking trays. They actually turned out really well considering!

I used some strawberry flavouring, some peach colouring and a nutella filling. I would not recommend making your own macaroons as it's actually quite manageable and highly addictive. They will lead to cravings.

Dressing like a jockey...polo shirt - Lacoste, coloured skinny jeans - Primark
boots - Oasis, glasses - Fcuk at Specsavers.

Strawberry and nutella macarons / macaroons

(Look! They have glossy tops and "feet." My go-to recipe is here )

And just in case you're not totally bored of my polka dot dress, here's how I styled it up to go out for the day!

Leather jacket - Gap, leather bag - boutique in Venice.

I had to include that photo because for some reason, photos taken in my mirror are much more flattering!

Coming up on the blog soon: easy Xmas diy's like homemade wreaths and handmade gifts.

Outfit of the (other) day

I could call this "outfit of the day" but that would be a lie! I actually wore this the last time it was sunny....which was quite a while before this current stretch of sunniness!

This was a really comfortable outfit for a day that was warm but not super hot. I just hung out in the house and garden in it, not doing a whole lot!

The top and coloured skinnies are from Primark, the heels are Limited Collection at Marks and Spencers and my butterfly jewellery is from Mikey at Topshop. Only the top and jeans are current though!

My hair is also a fraction shorter and a bit darker......

Do you like this look? As you can see, I'm a little bit butterfly obsessed.....x

Shopping haul!

Hello!I've been a little bit carried away on the buying front recently but I hasten to add that as always, it was on a budget!

The other day, I bought some red skinny jeans from Primark for the bargain price of £11 but I bought the size 12 and after wearing them for about half an hour, they went a bit baggy. So I took them back today and bought 2 other colours. (I was being indecisive as always!)

Here's the red ones:

Red skinny jeans - Primark, £11.

I personally think this outfit makes me look a bit short and dumpy but the boyfriend said I looked ok. Make up your own mind!

Here are the newer colours I bought:

One pair is a sort of teal blue colour, the other are a baby blue - not white as they look in the photo! They also had some lovely dusty purple ones but not in my size :(
I also bought the butterfly top that I'm wearing above - it was only £8 and has a pink zip down the back...

It doesn't end there...my lovely boyfriend also bought me a cute bag and also a stick on fisheye lens for my mobile phone - both Primark! The bag was £3 on the sale and the lens was £2. Bargain...

I picked up my new, free glasses from Specsavers:

Awful photo but you get the idea! Speaking of photos, I went to Gunwharf Quays yesterday to meet a friend and found a beautiful, leather photo album in the Paperchase outlet. It was only £15 down from £30 and it will hopefully give me the inspiration to put all my old photos somewhere a bit more accessible.

And last but not least, I ordered a new phone from a Groupon offer that was on last week! It's the brand new Samsung Galaxy S3 and it arrived today. I am only charging it so far as I'm a bit scared to turn the thing on tbh! It's huge. HUGE. My old phone (Motorola Defy) fits in to the screen size of my new phone. I'll give it a go in a minute...

I spent a good hour looking at phone cases on Amazon, but as usual, I couldn't decide. Ideally I need a phone case company to send me a freebie! Who can hook me up??

I think that's plenty of spending for now....although I saw some lovely black and white brogues on the Dune website in the sale....BUT I'm still undecided as to whether brogues are amazing or ugly. Answers on a postcard please...... x

My day of free stuff!

I had a really "lucky" vibe going on today. Doesn't happen often.... it all started in my local Sainsbury's!!

I was only in there to buy some rolls for my lunch but the self service machine printed me a coupon for a free razor..... so off I went to investigate and managed to leave with a free razor worth £8.99! It was in conjunction with my Nectar card but other than that I'm not sure what I did to deserve it! (There was a little bit of hassle when the coupon wouldn't scan but the shop lady sorted it for me...)

Free razor from Sainsbury's

I think it's probably a men's razor but who cares? Although I'll probably chop my legs to bits with it later....
So that got me in the more for more freebies and I had remembered seeing on my contact lens packet from Specsavers that I could get free glasses form the £45 range as I get my contacts monthly and by direct debit.

Of we went to town to investigate. I thought they might not do it for me as I recently got new glasses on the buy one get one free deal.......I picked some from the £25 range and sat with my fingers crossed whilst they typed in my details. Et voila! New glasses FREE to pick up next Wednesday!

Lyra glasses £25 from Specsavers or free with contact lens scheme!

There wasn't as much to chose from as there is online but these were different enough to my other two pairs. You can also go for more expensive ones but pay a much cheaper price ie pay £10 for ones from the £69 range. Such a good deal!!!!

My freebies didn't stop there..... in West Quay they had a stand giving away free loo roll!

Not the most exciting thing, but it's FREE and that's all that counts today!

I also dropped in to Rush (a hairdressers in Southampton) and got my fringe trimmed for FREE! It didn't really need it to be honest but I was in the "free" mindset!

That's almost where the free ends although I did park for free at Leisure World and I could have had a free cup of tea in Ikea as my boyfriend has one of their "family cards" - it gets you a free cuppa between Monday and Friday I think. But we didn't. We went to Starbucks and had tall teas and muffins (skinny muffin for me of course.)

I spent a little bit of money in Primark, on some burgundy skinny jeans (£11) and a black duck print top (£8) but we won't talk about that....

Duck print top and skinny jeans from Primark

I'll do an outfit post soon so you can see them in action. You won't be seeing that polka dot playsuit (that I blogged the other day) anytime soon as I wore it and the zip broke. Sad times. However, after seeing the pics I took of me wearing it, I decided it made me look wide!

Let me know how you get your freebies - I'm always looking for new tips!