Scalloped Collar Blouse

Shirt Lavish Alice / Skirt Topshop / Shoes Kurt Geiger / Nails No.7 Minty Fresh 

I remember seeing a picture of Fearne Cotton in a similar blouse from Lavish Alice so when I saw this sheer blouse (pictured above) as part of their new range, I really really wanted it! The buttons are on the back so I find it difficult to fasten them myself! Admittedly, everytime I've worn this, I have worn it back to front (with the buttons at the front!)... No one has noticed yet.... or at least they're too polite to say anything!

The shoes pictured above are the ones I got from Kurt Geiger. Definitely an early Christmas present to myself! I had wanted a pair of Allegra Chelsea Platform Boots from Topshop but I'm reluctant to buy TopShop shoes because they always hurt my feet. The Kurt Geiger pair are my alternative to Allegras! They give me the height I so desperately need!

Lavish Alice info:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog

Paprika Florals

Dress Paprika / Jacket ASOS / Jewellery Temporary:Secretary / Belt Primark

In so much of a rush today because I am going out in a bit to return dress and exchange a pair of shoes. I treated myself to a pair of Kurt Geiger shoes (an early Christmas present to myself!) I bought the last week but last night, I got a newsletter email from Kurt Geiger with a 25% discount code. Might treat myself to another pair..........but I am suppose to be saving up. I'm hoping that they will be worth it, really want to have a pair of shoes that don't hurt my feet. 

The dress I am wearing in this outfit post is from Paprika. It's a lovely dress, I will wear it more often in the summer. But I couldn't wait until then! Good news....I have bought another one in a different size for a end of year/New Year giveaway to celebrate the festive season. I have bought garments in size 8, 10 and 12 for the giveaway. As I mentioned previously, I got given lots of vouchers via winning the Look Mag blog competition and although I have bought lots for myself and my sister, I also wanted to treat my lovely blog readers too! I felt greedy if I didn't share some of it! 

Pleats and Bows

Dress Paprika / Jewellery Temporary:Secretary / Nail Colour: Rimmel

I have seen lots of cool black pleated skirts lately and I want every single one of them! I'm always buying black skirts in all sorts of styles, they go with everything! This dress is from Paprika and it is also available in cream and white. I like the girly details (pleats and a bow). I thought I'd choose black as it's probably the easiest colour to wear during winter. The dress arrived a couple of days after I ordered it (with a voucher), such quick delivery. When I first tried it on, I felt a bit "Morticia" in it. Especially when I had my hair down at the time! I tried it on again but with lighter make up and hair in ponytail. Once I start wearing dark colours, I find it difficult to wear brighter colour again! Will try stay out of that rut. It will make a nice change to wear darker colours now anyway, I keep standing out like a sore thumb with the autumn florals and bright fabric that I've been wearing recently

I have had some emails and tweets enquiring about what camera I use, what lens I use, and how I get my photos looking bright during a dark day without using flash. I use different equipment for different things (namely blog, webshop, and landscape) but I do usually take a lot of outfit photos all in one go mid week, I pick a day that is bright. I'm not sure how I go about doing a tutorial as I'm not a professional. Far from it! I know how things work but I don't know how to explain them, technical things like aperture/f.stop, depth of field, all the different lenses, shooting format, etc. At uni, we had a few photography modules but I wasn't interested at the time, I didn't think it was something that would benefit me (after all, how would I ever afford a DSLR after uni! I was getting on just fine with my little silver point and shoot) Everything I've learned with DSLR is typically either self taught - by that, I mean turning all the buttons and pressing *everything* until I get it right!

Basically, in brief: For the blog, we both shoot with Nikon D90 or D40 and generally use a 50mm lens for overcloud. This is because you can set a lower f/stop and this will let more light in to the lens - which gives you brighter images. Our preference is to shoot in RAW format, which allows you do adjust the exposure, white balance and brightness with more versatility. For instance, on a gloomy day (overcloud), if you shoot in RAW, you can correct the white balance and exposure afterwards. Pop over to Gem's blog because she is a professional photographer, she knows what she is talking about (unlike me!) and this tutorial that Gem posted is really useful. 

Leopard Print Satchel

I have just got back home and the first thing I did was take the photos for this post. I had promised Miss Selfridge and Look Magazine that I would blog about this as soon as I got back from my annual leave. Miss Selfridge very generously sent me this well detailed bag as one of my prizes. It is a Limited Edition real leather satchel with faux leopard fur. It's currently in store and retails at £65.00. I'm really pleased that Miss Selfridge chose this one for me because I've been wanting a new bag and this prize came at the perfect time. The bag I use for casual outings has broken, the buckle broke, so this new Miss Selfridge bag is the perfect replacement. I can't usually afford real leather goods! So I am pleased as punch with this! 

I've almost finished in the Prize series. I will resume to my regular blogging ways after this fortnight. So sorry to keep this so short, I'll be working through the night to get up to date with orders. My family are currently on the flight back to England, I am excited to see what they have bought and what pressies I get! I asked for snacks, really funky flavoured snacks. The weirder, the better! Talking of which, are you all following Winnie's blog? She has the best food and travel posts, and she's also a fan of weird snacks! 

Floral Blouse

Blouse Paprika Fashion / Skirt H&M / Jewellery Accessorize & Temporary:Secretary / Nails Rimmel

I've not heard of Paprika Fashion until recently and it is nice to have another fashion website to shop at besides the usual ones that I've bookmarked. They are an affordable brand who promises to provide stylish designs at an affordable price. You may have spotted Paprika's designs on ASOS or New Look. Recently, I received £100 voucher (via Look Magazine) to shop at Paprika and this floral blouse was one of the items I chose. Paprika's customer service were extremely friendly and you receive a response so quickly and efficiently! I wanted to treat you all to something too so I purchased a few extra things for a giveaway. I got so many awesome prizes sent to me recently, I feel greedy for keeping *everything* and I really wanted to spend some of it on you guys! Ideally, I'd love to buy something for each of my readers but since that isn't possible, I bought some clothes in a few different sizes and I'll have a big giveaway at the end of the year.

Fedora and Leather Jacket

In the last post, I said I would post some photos of the black Warehouse dress styled with leather jacket and a hat. Now, I am not a hat person at all. I buy berets and floppy hats but I won't ever wear them! So I have given up buying hats because it's a waste of money if it just ends up at the bottom of my wardrobe! Accessorize sent me this feather trim fedora hat (LOOK Prize) and I had to find a way to pull it off so that I could picture them and blog about it for them. I really like it but I don't have the confidence to wear it out! I got some questions in the post before asking where I got this leather jacket. It is from ASOS but I bought it 3 years ago. I like that it's cropped and there's lots of details. A classic wardrobe staple!

Sheer Black Dress

Nail Polish Rimmel. Earrings Accessorize. Rings Temporary:Secretary

Warehouse generously asked me to choose a dress from their website (LOOK Mag prize), and I chose this black midi dress with gold buttons, and it came with the fuscia pink belt. When I received the Warehouse dress through the post, it didn't come with the undergarment as shown on the site. I've just double checked their website right now and it appears I should have got the underskirt. Anyway, at the time I didn't think twice about it, I was over-excited to try it on. I improvised with a black leotard and a bodycon skirt, and that is what I am wearing underneath the dress. I've styled the dress up with a leather jacket and a hat that Accessorize sent me. I will put the photos up of this in my next post.

Thank you for the lovely comments on my new necklace in the previous post. RubyGold very kindly featured my blog on their website after seeing that post, you can read their article here. I am just so pleased that they like it, it's nice to be able to communicate with brands and hear what they think of blogging!

Blue Lace Bodycon

It was announced last week that I won this year's Look Mag blogging competition and Lara at Look Magazine informed me of the prizes I was receiving. I know she has worked really hard to arrange the best winner's prize package and I am going to blog about them the best that I can throughout the next few weeks. I don't want to bore you with "show and tell" product posts, so I've photograph them in interesting ways (most likely to be in form of an outfit post). I also want to show how appreciative I am to the brands who have been so generous by blogging about the prizes they sent me. It's only right that I put in 110% effort in to blogging about them as a way of saying thank you.

Here's the first of the "prizes" blog post; River Island sent me a gorgeous blue lace bodycon dress. I love it! This is the sort of thing I would buy, I love these sort of dresses and I actually wear these during the day with a blazer or cardigan, really thick black tights and a pair of flat ballet pumps. A little bit like this outfit. Of course, this dress is also perfect for nights out. In the photos above, I have teamed it up with some black wedges that I purchased from New Look a few days ago. All the jewellery (apart from the Cherry Ring which is an old one I made for myself) were part of the prize package too. It is really nice to have some new pieces to add to my jewellery box. One of my favourites prize is necklace is £150.00 from RubyGold, from Award winning designer, Henriette Loftsrom's Golden Symmetry Collection. The gorgeous olive green feather earrings and statement black ring are from Accessorize.  Thank you Lara, River Island, RubyGold and Accessorize! x

Disclaimer: There will be more prizes to blog about so I will be labelling/tagging these blog posts as Look Magazine Prizes (as seen below) during the next 4 weeks, you will know what was gifted to me and what purchases I have made with my own money.