GIVE UP CLOTHES FOR GOOD WITH TK MAXX - FOR CHARIDEEEE!

Friday 30 March 2012

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Tonight I'm sorting through my wardrobe (and BF's!) for items that I can take to my local TK Maxx store for donation to their amazing new charity campaign 'Give Up Clothes For Good' in aid of Cancer Research UK, to help towards the fight against kids' cancer. The campaign has been going since 2004, and has already raised a whopping £10 million, and hopes to raise a further £2.5 million this year. So once again, TK is asking everyone to clear out their closets and be a part of the biggest clothing collection ever! Check out the video below featuring some of our fave blogger friends such as the lovely Amy from Wolf Whistle!



Unfortunately, we couldn't make the event earlier this month but we sure as hellz will be getting down to TK tomorrow to donate a few items! Top of my list for donation is a hot pink GAP duffle coat, denim Killah shorts, a coral River Island dress and a ton of tshirts from BF's side of the wardrobe! And of course you have to fill the hole with something from the TK rails right? Helloooooo cream lace drop waist dress that I spied last week..... ;)

J - Charidee mate.
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Rawr Girl in Peru!

Thursday 29 March 2012

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Hola from Peru! This Rawr Girl is currently on holiday (the extended kind), but I still wanted to write this quick post to let y'all know what's going down in this awesome country.

I've taken some incredible pictures over the past week, but this photograph is by far my favourite and after showing it to J, she insisted I share it with you guys:


CUTENESS OVERLOAD, or what!?

I absolutely love how the Peruvians dress. The embroidery on their clothing is so intricate & the styles are really elaborate. This little girl looks amazing in her traditional get-up & believe me, she was a right little character! Her baby LLama was misbehaving so she kept telling him off. J & I now officially want to adopt one - the baby Llama that is! ;)

The scenery here is just breathtaking. Check it out:


Fortunately for me, although I've been in many isolated areas, there are still market stalls EVERYWHERE. I'm finding it hard not buy one of everything because it's all sooo cheap...but I have no room in my backpack!


Doesn't she look happy!? ;)

Today I gave in to temptation & bought some necessary items for the Inca Trail which I'm heading on this week (SQUEE)! It's hella cold in Peru so I coped some gloves & a Peruvian hat:


Both are 100% Alpaca so they're super warm & the hat is even reversible!! Not bad for £2 each- beat that Primark! ;)

Wish you were here- RAWR LOVE from Peru! - T XoX
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Sunday Style - She's Always Buzzing Just Like Neon, Neon.

Sunday 18 March 2012

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Happy Mother's Day to you all! Sadly, my momz has been an angel in heaven for over 10 years now but I always get her a bunch of tulips and daffs, her fave spring flowers, in memory :)

Anyhoo, we had a bit of sun here today so I decided to get my legs out in my new skirt from TK Maxx. I had grabbed this neon yellow and green stretch number on the Clearance rail at my local last week, priced at a quite ridiculous £6 - yey me! TK have A LOT of these cute stretchy minis in a ton of patterns and colours. This is the first one to grace my wardrobe but I can't see it being the last because I'm really quite fond of the shape on me. I love the look of neon and grey together, so out came my faithful old grey Wildfox 87 tee and leopard L.A.M.B. hoodie from the Spring 2008 collection. I have a neon pink bra on too and you can see it a tad. The Wildfox tee has holes in it and well, a nude one just wouldn't do would it? ;)


The tights are the new House of Holland Animal fishnet tights from Pretty Polly - £15. I love these tights SO much, they're amazing and they look so cute with my Converse!


And because I'm always playing in the shadows of my wall, I ventured across the garden to get a pic in the glorious Mother's Day sun for my mum, who was always one to look on the bright side of life :)


I hope you've all had a lovely day whether you're a mum, a daughter, or have an angel watching over you like me - always be good to each other!

J - She comes and goes and comes and goes like no one can.
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Stargazer Baked Eye Duos!

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I'm kind of obsessed with all things Stargazer at the moment, they just seem to have everything I need on my person right now!

My new fave things from the range are these Baked Duo Eyeshadows - £4 each. I got the black and white zebra-esque 'Silver Streak' one first, and fell in love with it's shimmery awesomeness, so 'Ascot', a yummy lilac/pink and tan, and 'Denim', a blue/green combo, weren't far behind.



I'm not a beauty blogger so excuse my swatching, but you can see how you can get 3 colours minimum from each pot, with a bit of clever blending I'm sure you could get a few more shades too, not bad for £4!


Stargazer quality is amazing for the prices, I can't recommend them enough, and I've had something from every part of the range now (addict!). If you fancy trying something out that you wouldn't normally buy or that you think you'll only use a few times, say crazy colours or something glittery and fabulous, stargazing is definitely the way to go :)

J - Totally baked.
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Having A Go At ... PPQ AW12 Hair With Schwarzkopf Osis+

Tuesday 13 March 2012

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I was recently sent a couple of cool products from the Schwarzkopf Professional Osis+ range; Body Me Fullifying Volume Serum and Glamour Queen H2O Free Volumising Hairspray, the idea behind the gift was to see if I could transform my hair into a London Fashion Week style using these products!


Never one to shy away from a challenge that involves a bit of glamourising I quickly chose the gorgeous Veronica Lake side-parted waves seen on the PPQ runway.


I applied the Body Me serum to my towel dried hair (no greasiness, no stickiness) and blew my hair into my usual bob with a round brush but instead of turning it under, I flicked it out and instead of my usual 'anywhere' part, I made a distinct side part. I have to say, my hair did feel a lot thicker yet more manageable, which must've been totally down to the serum. Now most of the models had glorious long locks like the chick above, but I have a fringed bob which made it a tad trickier to negotiate something vaguely resembling this style, especially with the fringe. However, with a bit of persuasion from the Glamour Queen hairspray my fringe was happy to blend and sat to the left quite happily, allowing me to crack on with getting my sultry wave on, yey! So I took my heated curling tongs and took wide sections in 2 layers and curled them using a diagonal direction to create loose waves. The Body Me serum also protects against heat damage so I could do my curling guilt free :) And here is the result!



It looks really different to my normal style, especially the fringe, but I really like it! I set it with the Glamour Queen hairspray and it feels really bouncy, not hard and icky like some freeze sprays. Overall, I'm really impressed with both of these products, especially the Body Me as I'm ALWAYS looking for bigger hair!

You can buy the Schwarzkopf Professional Osis+ range from Feel Unique, prices start at £7.40 raising to £13.60 for the gift sets (the 2 products I used for this style actually come together in the Get Volume set!). I'm definitely impressed by the quality of the products I tried and I can see myself checking the other products out when I'm in need of a new hair boost :)

J - PPQ me!
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All That Glitters Is nOir From NYLA . . .

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I've wanted a piece of nOir for ages now but it's not massively available over here, so when I saw NYLA Boutique running a contest to win a nOir Panda ring I was all over it and I won - eeek! Isn't it adorable?! It's so beautiful, super sparkly and heavy! P.S. Nail polish is Max Factor Fantasy Fire, if you like it :)





NYLA Boutique has been on our radar for years, the stocked lines are totally covetable, my current faves are this Donna Mizani shirt - £85, Left Coast By Dolan Square Hoodie - £22.50, and the yummy Plastic Island cardigan - £60.




I'm totally getting the hoodie once my car gets through today's MOT, it's a perfect spring throwover, I'm a sucker for those little fingerholes and my new little panda friend will look amazing peeping out!

J - Panda eyes rule.
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My Little Pony Hair With Stargazer Dyes!

Sunday 11 March 2012

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My blonde highlights have grown out to the point were they are about 3 inches from the ends of my hair, so practically dipped right? Anyhoo, I'm bored of them so I decided to inject a bit of colour into my life! Inspired by My Little Pony style clashing pastels I chose pink and mint green as my colour palette and Stargazer was my brand of choice when it came to choosing the tools. I've been a Stargazer fan for years, literally decades now I think about it, their colours and products are amazing for the prices.

I chose the Semi Permanent Hair Colour - £5, in Tropical Green and Baby Pink, and to check if the colour was for me first, I chose a Hair Mascara - £3, in Magenta too.



I tried the Hair Mascara first. I used to have Dior ones in the 90's and they were great fun so I was looking forward to trying the Stargazer one! It instantly stood out on my blonde pieces, and once dry it even stayed in after brushing which was good because clumps of hard hair isn't a great look! I received a ton of compliments in work after using it, so my mind was made up about going for it with the dye :)

The dyes were super easy to use. I just picked out my blonde bits (easier said than done!) and applied the dye with my fingers (wearing the gloves supplied) randomly. I was trying not to think about it too much as I wanted it to look a bit haphazard! About 20 mins later I rinsed and found that the Tropical Green was super bright (I knew it would be but the plan was to have it fade to a mint colour), but unfortunately the Baby Pink hadn't taken to the blonde as well and was more a peachy blonde than an obvious pink. Not to worry, I probably should've gone for the Magenta dye and let it fade to a baby pink colour but this is a learning curve for me so hey ho. Anyway, this is where the Hair Mascara comes in again as I've been using it to highlight the pink bits and make them stand out a bit more so yey me :)

Regardless of the pink, I'm super happy with the result. Here are some snaps, I'm running my fingers through it to show the different shades. This is 2 days after dying and it's faded to a nice mint colour now, which is the result I wanted so it's all good.




You can see where the pink has gone a bit crazy with itself, but this isn't a problem, I kind of like how it changes the tones of my boring brown hair to compliment the green, and I'm going to get a Magenta dye soon and have another go once it starts to fade a bit more.

I've still got loads of dye left in the 2 bottles, I've secured the tops and hopefully I can get another application out of them in a couple of weeks to freshen it up. I'd definitely recommend these products to anyone considering something similar. As I'm not a full blonde I knew my natural hair colour would hide anything that might have gone wrong so I wasn't that concerned when I was doing it, I doubt I'd have been so brave if I had a full head of blonde hair!

So yes, all in all, Stargazer dyes are the shizz - and if you're considering something similar, do it!

J - My Little Pony hurrrrr!!
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Saturday Style - Something Old, Something New. . .

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Confession - I had a spontaneous purchase moment last week. I headed to the House of Holland webby to buy the new Fishnet Animal tights - £15, and found myself ordering the SS12 Leopard Print TShirt Dress - £75 too - eeek.

I'm a UK12 so I ordered a size M (I would usually go for an L in premium casuals and designer tshirt brands) and it's hella oversized but obviously in a cool way, yet I doubt I'll ever wear it as a dress, I'm not sure I'm that brave. I'm in love with the colour fade and huge leo spots though, so I can see this becoming a firm fave for summer. It falls over the hems of my shorts so I took one corner and tucked it into my hip pocket just to secure a shorter length without resorting to fully tucking it in :)


I cut an old pair of Levi 501's into these shorts just yesterday. I've had the jeans since uni, so that's about 10 years - can I class them as vintage? ;) They look and feel really good so I'm pretty impressed with myself, I haven't wore them for about 4 years so it's good to see them get a new lease of life, plus I still have another pair of 501's in my wardobe so no harm done - yey!

P.S. I got the Fishnet Animal tights too, but that's another post ;)

J - Cutting and tucking.
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TK Maxx Goes Tribal For An Ethical Summer!

Thursday 8 March 2012

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Tribal and ethnic prints are once again hot for Summer, but wouldn't it just be ideal to make like Tara (currently browsing the markets of Bolivia!) and get your hands on authentic, ethically sourced accessories that are not only made from sustainable materials but also provide income for the people who inspire these styles? This is where TK Maxx come in by sourcing and stocking the One Mango Tree brand; a collection of bags, purses and aprons produced by a group of Ugandan women, with each piece individually signed by it's maker. With the purses at £3.99, bags at £7.99 and aprons at £5.99, we can all afford to support others as they strive to better their communities in the more disadvantaged areas of the world.


This is a photo of Ajok Lucy, working at One Mango Tree has really changed her life. She now hopes to earn enough money to build her own house and buy a cow and chickens, but her dream is to learn how to make clothes and sell them (an independent girl after my own heart!).


Jo Murphy, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility for TJX Europe said, 'This is part of an exciting initiative we have taken to help improve the lives of disadvantaged communities in Uganda. By promoting trade, providing skills and employment, we hope to be able to make a real difference to their lives and at the same time provide our customers with some beautiful unique products.'

I'll definitely be checking the One Mango Tree goodies out, I hope one of my local stores will be stocking the range so I can have a good nosey :)
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This is Summer - Denimocracy style.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

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Oh we DO love a bit of hot US denim - Denimocracy hails from Cali, and the cool definitely shines through. Now Denimocracy is available for us Brits to buy from ASOS with prices starting at £66, obviously we love the animal prints but it's the summer brights that have really caught our attention, the paint splash and tie dye prints are to die for!






I feel like I need to grab my Nike Dunk Hi's or pastel DM's and embrace Summer already. I have no clue what is happening to me, all this pastel denim is going to my Winter loving head. I could definitely get used to this!

J - Living in a Denimocracy.
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Alphabet Bags Go Leopard!

Tuesday 6 March 2012

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I'm pretty excited for April when Alphabet Bags release these gorgeous leopard pouches, £12! Combining our fave leopard print with summer's super hot pastels, they're perfect for carrying light - think lipgloss, cards and keys and we're good to go :)


This isn't me by the way but I totally will be matching my nails to my initial like this chick!

J - Hoping I'm in mint.
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Saturday Style - A TK Maxx super find.

Sunday 4 March 2012

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Last week I was literally led to a rail of gorgeous (and tiny) All Saints shorts by the manager of my local TK Maxx store who thought they would be right up my street, now that's customer service for you! He was right, I loved them and grabbed myself a pair of green ones for just fifteen english pounds. Happy face.

Being an impatient sort, I couldn't wait for summer to really kick in so I teamed them with my fave Pretty Polly Rebellious shredded tights and the Jeffrey Campbell cat Lita's everyone has seen far too much of since I got them at christmas. And I braved the rain yesterday to hit um, another out of town TK Maxx store (obsessed much?!).

Tee - Lauren Moshi
Cardi - AX Paris
Shorts - All Saints via TK Maxx
Tights - Pretty Polly Rebellious
Belt - L.A.M.B; Boots - Jeffrey Campbell; Bag - Bertie
Necklace - Wildfox; Ring - Debenhams; Handkerchief (around wrist) - Hervia





The All Saints shorts were also available in white, stone and brown in my local store, all £14.99, and they had the matching sleeveless jackets too, also £14.99. Major (salute) bargains for summer, these styles never date so it's an ideal time to get down to your local TK and stock up :)

J - Tight with the management.
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