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The writing’s on the wall.

I think a space doesn’t feel yours or feel homely until you have stuff on the walls. This could be anything from photos to a painting or a piece of art it can really bring a room together. If you don’t own much furniture hanging a piece on the wall can help fill a space which would other wise be bare and impersonal. Adding something with colour can bring a theme together or lift a space will lots of dark furniture.  In my eyes a space isn’t mine until I’ve hung something on the wall. But if like me your renting and banging nails into a pristine wall isn’t an option don’t you worry I will show you some great ideas.

4185caWkOWL._SX522_ (2)Command Brand Damage-free Hanging are an amazing damage free hanging system perfect for renters or anyone. Its an inexpensive sticky back velcro system. You stick them to the frame of a picture and stick them to the wall. You can then remove the picture easy and as many times as you like and put it back in exactly the same place by lining up the velcro and then to remove the strip completely from the wall you simply pull the sticky tab downwards and it comes straight off. It leaves no mark or residue on the wall and it’s the ideal system for hanging anything.

Another alternative is to rest frames against the wall either on the floor or on furniture or shelves. This creates a really minimal modern finish and it’s non damaging and a great way to display art.

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Framed Quotes At the moment I am really loving framed quotes. I think they look super minimal, super classy and they are a great way to fill you mind with positivity and really make a space yours. I am in love with this piece I saw on Pintrest. It’s such a gorgeous print that would look so lovely in a hallway near the front door. 15250e2d6669d2d115c20f5a58182fcd

A framed quote is also a super easy DIY project you can do yourself. In word simply type out a quote, phase or anything you like. Chose a font and increase the font size until you are happy with the composition. Print and put in a frame. Homebase, B&Q, Matalan, Asda and more all sell cheap minimal frames that look great.

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Minimal Abstract Art When it comes to Art abstract is where I am drawn to. It’s the style I like to paint in myself and the types of pieces I like to have around me. Something that plays with texture and shape in a limited often muted palette. At the moment I absolutely adore dusty muted pinks and neutrals mixed in with blacks and whites.

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For more inspiration check out my Pintrest board.

What’s new to my makeup bag.

IMG_5283I wanted to share with you some new drug store products that have made it into my makeup bag. numbered

  1. Rimmel London Lasting Finish Primmer. £6.99. This primmer is nice and moisturising, it is a little on the thick side but it does provide a nice smooth base for your foundation and it also has a slight shimmer to it making it illuminating too.
  2. Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in shade Light. £5.99. This concealer is really creamy goings on really well and blends out nicely with out drying out your under eyes.
  3. Revolution Baked Highlighter in Peach. £3.00. This is so gorgeous, I also have the Golden Lights shade but picked up Peach for a more rosy highlight. It is very pigmented and finely milled. It applies really well with a large fluffy brush and is pink without being too much perfect for my fair olive skin tone.
  4. La Cross Premier crease shadow blending brush. £2.49. I got this brush on Ebay, it is such high quality, super soft and fluffy while dense enough to make blending your crease shadows so easy.
  5. Max Factor Excess Shimmer in copper. £7.99. This is a creme high pigment shadow, its called copper although I would describe it as a rosey champagne, it has such a nice shimmer looks gorgeous swept across the whole lid or as a highlight on the inner corner.
  6. Sleep Makeup Divine Eye Palette in Au Naturel. £7.99. This is my absolute palette at the moment. I wear them during the day or night there’s such a good range and I have used every colour. The champagne shimmer in the top right is my favourite as well as the mauve matte brown, shimmer khaki and the shimmer deep plum. So pigmented and creamy they blend really well, stay put through out the day and when the shimmers are used with a damp brush they literally make your look.
  7. Revolution Ultra Bronzer. £3.00. This is a huge pan for the price, and a great build able cool matte bronzer which works for subtly warming up the complexion through to a full on contour. Great bronzer for fair skin.
  8. Maybelline Push Up Drama Mascara. £7.99. Oh My God! this is literally the best mascara ever. If you like slightly clumpy full lashes then this is amazing. It goes on so quick and instantly wow! and it lasts all day, doesn’t crumble and is flexible and comfortable on your lashes.
  9. Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in shade Vanilla. £9.99. I have tried other foundations but I just keep coming back to this one. I love hydrated dewy makeup at the moment and this is exactly that, it has a medium to high coverage and applies so nicely. I have the shade Vanilla 52 mixed in with Light Beige 53 depending how much colour I want. I also find these foundations to have yellow undertones, perfect for my olive skin. Other light foundations I have tried have been too rosey.
  10. Olay BB cream in fair. £9.99. I picked this one up the other day from Superdrug where Olay was buy one get one free. I got their complete lightweight day fluid and also picked up this bb cream as it was free. It is so hydrating and moisturising with a subtle hint of coverage. I like to use it on its own or under my foundation when I want a little extra coverage and hydration.

So these were my latest additions to my makeup bag and this below, is my makeup bag. I got it for Christmas its from RiverIsland and is quite large but its a perfect size for my everyday makeup and its just so pretty in Nude and rose gold leather.

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I am loving a super highlighted, dewy completion with a mauve and dark dusty pink smoky eye at the moment. I think I am trying to get into the spring session even if the weather isn’t ready to yet.

All of the products are available in Superdrug online or in store.

I also got my nails done today and for the first time in ages I have gone for a deep dusty pink. It’s OPI You Sustain me. When your fair and have dark eyes its hard to wear pinky pinks as they just don’t go with your skin tone but I would defiantly recommend trying a cooler pink such as a mauve shade or one with a brown tone to it.

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Heels in the Perfect Colour

asos black heels

I got these shoes back in December and they are my all time favourite. They are the classic barely there, strappy heels in black -they go with everything and they are surprisingly comfortable. They are from Newlook and the reason I like these so much is most Barely There Heels have the single ankle strap which on me doesn’t give my foot enough support and my feet are always sliding around making it impossible to walk. These on the other hand are strappy and elegant but with the sling back design it holds my foot comfortably in place. Also as a side note -because the strap in just below the ankle it elongates the leg giving the appearance of longer legs which is a must for me. h10-(2)

So I love these heels and have been looking for something similar in a muted nude but I couldn’t find what I was after. Then when I was looking through the Newlook sale I found the same shoe in silver. I tried them on and they were just as comfortable as my black ones but I really wasn’t a fan of the metallic silver finish but they were reduced down to £8 for I brought them.

I decided to get all creative and paint over the silver with a nude nail polish. This technique would be great to up cycle an old pair of shoes you don’t like the colour of or to revamp some faded or scuffed shoes.  I know it sounds bananas to paint a pair of shoes with nail polish but it worked for me. I used Rimmel London Salon pro in shade 128 Mistify Me.

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Using the brush applicator I applied to a thin layer over all of the silver of the shoe. I let it dry and then applied another layer. I then went back in to any areas where the colour wasn’t even. It used up the whole of the bottle but I am so pleased with the end result. They have a gloss finish and the snake skin texture shows through which I really like and for £8 plus the cost of the polish which I already had I can’t complain.

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I’m not saying this is the best thing to do to a new pair of shoes but these were reduced down so I didn’t mind and they have turned out exactly how I wanted.
This technique won’t work on suede or other matte fabrics and it is always a good idea to test to see if the polish holds in a hidden part of the shoe before to go in and possibly destroy them, also I would suggest only applying a light colour on to a light shoe, if you paint a black pair of shoes with a cream nail polish the colour may come out looking different to how it does in the bottle.

This can be a great way to breathe some new life into some old heels or help you match a pair of shoes with your favourite bag or outfit but like I said it is always a good idea to test it out first.
Has anyone ever painted a pair of shoes you didn’t like the colour of? Leave me a comment bellow 🙂

 

 

Our London Bedroom Tour

Hello everyone, I know I haven’t done a post in absolutely forever but today I wanted to talk about our bedroom. We will be moving in July and I wanted to do a post on our room, how we decorated it and made the space work for us before we move.
So we are currently renting a 4 Bedroom Victorian Terraced House in Greenwich I have been living here for 3 years and Zac moving in with me last year.  Our room is on the top floor, we have the whole floor to our selves as it’s an attic conversion. It is large but it is a bit of an irregular shape and it has sloping ceilings which limits the wall space and head room (but we are both short so its fine for us).

When renting, you are limited with what you can do, so work with what’s there. When I moved, this bedroom was part furnished. It had a large bed with a massive headboard which was taller than the wall which meant the bed was away from the wall and kind of abandoned in the middle of the floor, there was a chest of drawers which matched the bed, a wicker arm chair and a side table. We moved the arm chair into the living room down stairs. I put the chest of doors and side table into one of the other bedrooms but the bed was too big to dismantle so I decided to keep it in the room and make it work.

I took the headboard out of the posts to open it up and turned it round to use the foot board as the headboard; this allowed me to push the bed up against the wall maximizing the floor space. When Zac moving in we needed more storage space. So we looked on Gumtree.com. Gumtree is perfect if you want a furnish a room when your renting as you don’t want to be investing loads of money if you are going to be moving in the near future. There is so much Ikea furniture on Grumtree for under £20 most of it barely used and in perfect condition and its already put together so no flat pack disasters.

So here’s our room.

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The room is light and bright as there are two sky lights in the bedroom and one in the en suite. We chose white bedding as it makes the room seem even brighter and therefore bigger. We also hung an over the door mirror over the door to the en suite to maximize the space. We have gone for mostly dark furniture with a few warm beach wood pieces to tie the sky light frames with the bed we added a light wood washing basket and tv stand to bring it together. We also chose to ascent the room with coppers and metallics to add different textures and sophistication to the room.

We wanted the room to be tidy but livable so we kept a lot of things open like the cube storage in dark wood which we keep in the cubby hole (as we call it) we have filled it with photos, books, our initials and special things. We also keep the products that we use every day out on top of the dresser to make things easier in the mornings.

And this is my desk -I am very proud of it, I love how its all black and this desk lamp with wood and copper details (from George at Asda!) goes so well with everything. Before I put the desk in, this space was unused and it just looked messy but this Ikea Micke Desk fits perfectly between the dresser and the wall giving my enough headroom to sit comfortably and work and it has plenty of storage. I keep my hair dryer, straighteners and curlers in the cupboard on the left, paperwork in the to drawer and stationary in the smaller drawer.

Moving on now to our en suite. It’s neutrally decorated with a cream tiled floor cream walls, glass walk in shower and glass sink. To tie it in with our bedroom with have some black and beach wood ascents and grey towels.

Next to the bathroom in a large build in cupboard. It has a sloping ceiling again but we use it as our wardrobe where we store our hung clothes, shoes and our extra bits and pieces. It’s not that exciting but here you go …

Everything in our room is inexpensive and can easily to taken with us when we move. Like I said before Gumtree is amazing for getting cheap furniture. I picked up this 5 drawer Ikea Kullen chest of drawers for £15, Two 3 drawer Ikea Kullen dressers sold as a pair for £25 and this Ikeas Micke Desk for £10.

ikea gumtree furniture

Primark candles smell so good and are so cheap. I have the Cedarwood & Myrrh glass candle on our bedside as well as in the bathroom. I also have their vanilla defuser in the bathroom, a vanilla column candle in the lantern, a vanilla and coconut jar candle on the side and vanilla tea lights in everything else 🙂 I love to lite candles at night and it keeps the room smelling amazing.  All the other ascents in the room are  from the highstreet, the copper bowl and gold tea light holder is from George Asda and the black wire basket is from H&M.

I hope you enjoyed having a look round our bedroom. If you have an questions or comments leave them bellow. Have a lovely day.

The best of ASOS Lingerie.

When it comes to shopping online ASOS is always the first stop for me. They stock so many brands from big names to more affordable fashion but I have noticed recently their own brand lingerie and night wear has really picked up this season. Here are my top picks for right now. Affordable glamour and luxury.

asos lingerie

Lingerie needs to be delicate -lace and satin is always a winning combination. Multi straps create new lines and shapes which are so on trend right now. These are my top 5, from left to right we have:

ASOS Eyelash Lace Marylin Caged Underwire Bra £20 with ASOS Eyelash Lace Marylin CagedBrazilian Pant £10 this is a girly classic, the black set is an absolute staple and this eyelash lace half cup is such a pretty shape.

ASOS Rebecca Cross Front Longline Bra £18 paired with ASOS Rebecca strappy thong £8 is a stunning addition to your lingerie it’s a more unusual golden khaki colour which would compliment glowing skin.

ASOS Brandy Lace High Leg Body £20 this little lace piece is gorgeously delicate and easy to wear.

ASOS Lace Risky Business Strappy Triangle Bra £20 with ASOS Lacey Risky Business Strappy Thong £10 this set is so elegant, burgundy is a sophisticated red, it’s soft cup and strap detailing would add a little effortless beauty to a casual look.

ASOS Plunge Wrap Bow Side Teddy £25 is literally to die for, on the website it is paired with an over sided mottled grey cardigan for complete effortlessness. This is my absolutely favourite must have right now. Delicate burgundy satin trimmed with black lace in a wrap around tidied in a bow.The cut of the piece is so right showing enough but still comfortable. The fine straps continue the elegance to a T. I would love to wake up on a saturday morning feeling all elegant in this Teddy.

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Asos also have 20% student discount right now so go treat yourself.

http://www.asos.com/Women/Lingerie-Nightwear/Cat/pgecategory.aspx?cid=6046

Pandora.

So Pandora have recently introduced their new Essence range. It is a more dainty and minimal collection featuring precious stones and glass set in their signature sterling silver.

Express the essence of you with the delicate range of symbolic charms.campaign1

The collection is much more unified, each bead is near enough the same size all very spherical and neat. Each bead represents a quality from Love to Faith to Wisdom and so on.

Pandora has also made these new beads non slip on the bracelet by lining each bead with silicon. This allows you to position each charm exactly where you would like it and in theory they will not slide around your wrist. 

But the bad news, these new Essence charms are smaller than the original bracelets and are therefore NOT compatible. Similarly, it is advised that you don’t put the Moments charms onto the Essence bracelet because although they will slide onto the bracelet they will be too heavy and not sit right among the smaller beads.

My issue with the Moments collection is that some of the charms are clumpy and a bit too clumsy for my taste. I have the grey leather bracelet and love how the silver charms look sat next to the white Mariano glass beads but i find the beads a little too dominating when next to the smaller silver charms. I wish they would introduce some smaller more spherical glass beads and precious stone beads in the neutral colours offered in the Essence range.charms

So I am left in a bit of a dilemma. I really like the simplicity and delicacy of the Essence collection but I don’t want to buy a whole new bracelet and discard my other charms. My suggestion is that Pandora starts to steer their Moments collection to feature some of the qualities  of their new range. I would love to see some of the precious stones brought to both collections as well as the more spherical beads.

Maybe I will eventually give in to the Essence collection and start a new bracelet but for now I would prefer to see some new, delicate precious stone beads introduced to the Moments collection.

Here Goes… My First Post.

Hello I’m katie

I’m 20, a student and living in London.

I’m studying Contemporary Dance at Trinity Laban but my passion stretches across all things creative and visual as well as into fashion and design (basically anything chique should have my name on). I want my blog to be a place of inspiration, from looks to trends, to all things i’m loving and interested in right now.

I hope to stick with this blog and watch it grow.

ps. Thank you for reading

Everyone’s got to start somewhere xx