Mini Collective haul feat. Primark, Tx maxx, Lush and a vintage find.

Hello ♥

Today i wanted to show you a few of my March purchases i have recently picked up. I have been trying so hard to keep my spending to a minimum and even tried to give up spending for lent. As you can see from this post, I failed! 

First up are my two new gorgeous purchases from TX Maxx. I love then both so much. Below is a mustard Bessie Wallet which cost £9.99. At the moment i am using a six year old leather Ripcurl wallet which unfortunately has now seen its last day. This Bessie wallet features three rows of credit card holders and a zipped coin pouch on the side. I also love how it is big enough to pass as a clutch bag. this is definitely one of my favourite finds. 

This handbag was also brought in Tx Maxx. It was a little bit more money than i wanted to spend on a handbag at £29.99 but i couldn't put it back on the shelf so had to buy it. The only other bag i own is a brown cross body satchel so i really needed to buy a larger 'smart' bag. What attracted to me most about this bag was the snake skin pattern and ox blood colour. I have always loved snake skin and i think its coming back into fashion so i will be using this bag a lot. The brand is DSUK which can also be found on Brand alley but these go for £58.

From Lush i picked up two things. A Bubblegum lip scrub for £5.25 and a small piece of soap in Rock star costing £5.64. I have already shown you guys the lip scrub in a previous post and its just the best product have brought this year. The rock star soap was the only one on the lush table i was attracted to. I don't know what is it about me at the moment but I'm just really into Bubblegum scents. This may sound bad but i have left the soap in the packet because i am currently using it as a room fragrancer. Does anyone else do that? When i do get round to using it i will pop a review on here for you guys. 

I also picked up a few things from Primark. I can never go into the city without going into this shop. I did well though as i resisted the urge to fill my basket with all the lovely dresses they have in at the moment. I actually only wanted to pick up some new T-shirts for my new boys but ended up buying three little things for myself. I brought a three pack of cute panda shoe liners (one missing in the pic as it is in the wash), Red flats that were in the sale for £4 and a ox blood maxi skirt also in the sale for £5. 

The other day i finally received my vintage buy from Ebay. I won the bid for £10 + p&p and so so happy with this dress! I think its from the late 70s/ early 80s and is a beautiful light blue skater style dress. The pastel blues and whites are perfect colours for spring. I plan to do a post of me wearing this dress soon, but it probably wont be till the weather warms up a little. 

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this post. 

Gem xx

My Amazon Wish List Part 8: Vintage Fashion Edition

Vintage Wapiti Printed Dress £21.99 / Mint Green pleated dress  £19.99 /
Karl Lagerfeld Tee /  Sodamix Vintage Dress £7.99 /
Fox Messenger Bag  £4.80 / ALDO Cutri Hand Bag £50

My Giveaway is ending soon to win an Amazon gift card , please check it out. 

Gem xx

What to wear to:

The races. 

The Racing season is nearly upon us and as women we are expected to show up dressed to impress. The sport is quickley becoming more of a fashion show with women competiting in the 'who is wearing the best hat' game. In the past few years, new etiquette rules have been put in place to keep the dress code formal. These include skirt length and the banning of strapless dresses and fascinators in some areas. 

Today i thought i would give you some hints and tips on what to wear to the race track:

1. Before you go, check what the dress code is for the day. Some race days can be quite casual but Ladies day is usually formal dress with a hat. 
2. Dress smart but comfortable. The outfit is going to be on you for a long day, so look for a simple shift dress or summer dress that you can layer and accessorise. For me, a flowery day dress is better than an evening cocktail dress.
3. Accessories can take a plain dress and make it look fantastic – if you go for a large print then bring the size of your accessories down.
4. Try not to reveal to much of yourself. Choose between cleavage or legs not both.
5. Wear or bring a pretty cardigan or jacket to go with your dress. Remember it can get very cold, start raining or just become very windy out of nowhere. Try not to create your outfit for a hot summers day, this is England and layering is the name of the game.
6. Shoes can make or break an outfit, but go for comfort as well as looks because you’re going to be in them all day sometimes on grass, disappearing into the soil is not an elegant look. With a shift dress, low pretty pumps can look great as can wedge sandals.
7. Trousers are an option especially really trendy ones that are shorter in the leg (then they don’t get grass stained and wet) but remember if you have short legs, wear them with high wedges.
8. Bringing a small umbrella in your handbag that tones with your outfit is always a good idea.
9. A bag that can lodge under your arm or cross over your body always helps when you’re trying to drink your champagne and fill in your betting slip.

 Four of my top outfit ideas:

Dress £35 Lady V/ Hat £13 Candie's/ Sunglasses £7 ASOS/ Bag £35 ASOS/

Collar £20 Oliver Bonas  / Coat £75 Topshop / hat / Dress £50 Oasis / Bag £39 Dorothy Perkins / 



Part of the gang... 

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice. by natza featuring a cropped jacket

True Decadence black blazer / ASOS flat shoes, £25 / Oasis cross body handbag / Volcom hat, £19 / Dress £44 Topshop /



Hope you enjoyed this post and it has helped you a little in deciding what to wear to the track. Which outfit is your favourite?

Gem x

My top three wedding outfits for 2013

Hello ★

Today i have been spending some time trawling the web for wedding outfits for the upcoming wedding season. I have a few to go to this year, including my sisters in the summer, where i will be her bridesmaid. Eek so excited. Also we are planning on arranging our boys to be christened around august time. So much shopping to do! I have narrowed down my favourite shop as Phase Eight. Their dresses and accessories are so elegant. Its about time i started dressing more lady like at my age. Below are my favourite three outfits i have put together from this store. Each completely different. Which one is your favourite?

Pretty in Pink

Dress £140/ Necklace £30/ Fascinator £59 / Clutch bag £49 / Bow peep toe shoes £99 / All Phase Eight/

Vintage Bell

Blenheim print dress in the sale for £65 / Fascinator £59 / Sling back shoes £99 / All Phase Eight/ 

A little bit of Dita

Polly wrap dress £79 / Hair clip £25 / Clutch bag £49 All three from Phase Eight / Mary Jane platforms £25 ASOS

Previews of Dixi's new collection.

Hello ♥

One of my favourite Internet stores is Dixi which sells modern and vintage clothing and jewellery. I am admittedly a huge fan and visit their website almost daily. So, when they asked on twitter who would like previews of their new collection set for release on the 27th January 2013 (at 10 a.m to be exact) , i immediately jumped at the chance. 

Dixi have asked me to share these previews with you guys. As an extra bonus they have given me a free U.K delivery code for you to use. This is: BLOGGERDISC. The only terms being that you will need to spend over £15 to get this discount and to use it before 3rd February. 

So ready for the previews? 

The items that i am loving the most are defiantly those maxi skirts. I live in them in spring so will probably be grabbing myself one of these. Also as a crystal lover i really need that purple heart necklace. So lovely. What are your favourite items from these previews? Let me know in the comments. Also feel free to check out their current stock before the items above are released. Some lovely pieces there at Shopdixi.com 

Gemma xx

My favourite winter coat

At the moment my growing collection of blazers,  jackets, winter coats is getting slightly out of control but I love them all too much to throw away. Last week i found myself trolling through Ebay looking for a vintage inspired coat. I told myself 'No Gemma, you have too many coats'. But that darn buy it now button just told me to click it and I've ended up with this amazing coat. I love it.

 

The material is a tweed wool with a detachable fur collar. It is fairly thin so wont be ideal for when the winter really sets in with its horrible minus degree temperatures but for autumn its perfect. It fits in with the heritage trend which is big at the moment but in my opinion the vintage look of the coat makes it timeless. I brought it for a bargain price of £30 and the brand is Florence and Fred Aka. Tesco. I have always hated wearing supermarket clothes but this coat is an exception and looks like its come from a high end boutique. I fully recommend checking out this years coat range at f&f, found some really beautiful coats on their website.

 

 

 

Do you have a favourite coat style? Free feel to leave a comment or post your pictures on my forum.

Gem

x

 

Primark and Topshop winter 2012 shopping haul

I woke up this morning and felt really rubbish. Winter blues i think. The only thing i could think of to make me feel better was a little retail therapy. I still needed a few more winter clothes and the boys also needed new outfits. Below is the outfit i wore today. (Please excuse the poor photo, I had no one to take it for me.) I am wearing my pearl collar necklace, a black jersey peplum top, and blue jeggings. All from Primark and featured in a previous haul.

Topshop buys

Topshop had a little sale on but there was nothing really there that had the wow factor for me. I have to really love something to buy it. I did find these two cute bracelets for £2.50 each. One has distressed gold look cats and the other has black skulls. Been after some arm candy for a while and these being stretchy are ideal for going over my big hands. The other item i purchased was a Tee and Cake Dinosaur tshirt which my Dino loving boys made me buy. This was £20, I really love the fit and its RAWRSOMENESS.

Primark buys

I wasn't going to go to primark today cause i feel like I'm always there and this blog is fast becoming a Primark only haul fest. People seem to enjoy them the most though and i love Primark so why not. It was extremely busy in there today. With Christmas fast approaching, (seven Saturdays to go!!) its going to be a nightmare in there for a while. Managed to finds some lovely things for evenings out and casual daytime.

I'm really loving studs at the moment. Think its the inner rock child coming out of me. The top picture is a black peplum and is my favourite buy of today. I love it so much. It has a sweetheart neck with mesh straps and was a bargain at £8.00. The bottom picture is a black gold studded tshirt which cost £6.00. I liked its dipped hem and would look great paired with a pair of skinny jeans and heels.

 This vest stood out for me in the shop due the cute gold trim on the collar. Collars seem to be really big for autumn/ winter and this vest was a good find at £6.00.

Leather gloves are my top recommendation this winter. They go with any outfit and look super stylish. I loved the studs on these and are surprisingly soft inside. They cost £12.00 which is normally a little more than what i would pay as I'm very good at loosing gloves but i just had to have them.

 I love all my dresses in my wardrobe that I brought for summer so these thick tights are a necessity if I want to keep wearing them through the winter. Got two pairs for £4.00. Bargain.

Fur snoods!

 This winter I'm going through a fur craze (fake of course). Its super soft and warm and makes an outfit look vintage and stylish. I'm loving the fur collars that are currently in the shops but today i couldn't find one. They are prefect for bringing an old winter coat a new lease of life . I Will have to search the Internet for one. 

This black fur snood was £6.00 in Primark. I am finding the snood a little big and will probably take some getting used to but by the time winter comes i think its going to be great to bury my face in. The bottom snood is not from Primark but from Ebay and has  a gorgeous soft leopard print and silk lining. A much better quality than the primark one and was around the same price at £5.99.

 

Final buy were these fun Christmas jumpers for my two boys. They really wanted them so i cant be labelled as one of those embarrassing mums. They were £7.00 each and also come in adults sizes. May be quite fun to all be matching on Christmas day but I doubt my husband would wear one. I know it is too early but wanted to buy them before they sell out. The kids even saw Santa today, now that's too early.

Get the look: 1940s war time girl

I’ve been incredibly infatuated with 1940s fashion since seeing the film 'A league of their own' and 'Pearl Harbour'. I love the glamour, the tailored outfits, cute heels, red lipstick  and perfect locks.

The Fashion trends from the 1930s to the end of 1945 were mainly tailoring with attention to detail at the shoulder, with butterfly sleeves and banjo sleeves, and exaggerated shoulder pads for both men and women. The period also saw the first widespread use of man-made fibres, especially Rayon for dresses and viscose for linings and lingerie, and synthetic nylon stockings. These trends started off in the U.S.A and were brought over to Britain and Europe through trendsetters such as Edward VIII's companion Wallis Simpson and such Hollywood movie stars as Fred Astaire, Carole Lombard and Joan Crawford.

Get the look:

More Tea? by gemma-coy featuring a print dress

40s gal by gemma-coy featuring conair