OOTD | Oxblood velvet shorts

Blouse - Matalan(kids section hehe) Necklace - Ebay Shorts - Topshop Tights - Primark Shoes - Primark Coat - Red Herring (old) Bag - Ted Baker Watch - Michael Kors
It has rained here non stop for the past few days but luckily enough i managed to get some outfit photos in the dry! I am obsessed with this blouse, i was in Matalan in the summer and i usually wear size 6 but the size 8 clothing sadly doesn't fit me boo :( so i thought i would take a look in the kids section as you can sometimes find some gems, i always think kids clothes is so much more grown up than it should be. Anyway, i spotted this blouse and was besotted, the detail on it is amazing. I love the cherub and floral pattern as well as the sheer material with the embellished ends of the collar,the little vest top also came with it, i'm not quite sure why a child would wear this but anyway children's clothes is always so much cheaper too because its not taxed and this was only £12!! I would recommend looking every now and then if you're a size 10 or below because the older children's sizes are very generous. But i'm so pleased with this bargain and no one would guess it was a childrens top!
I love the contrasting colour and texture of the velvet shorts against the top. Oxblood is a colour i don't own much of and i love how deep and rich the colour of these are,they are definitely a staple for my A/W wardrobe.
What do you think of this outfit? Have you bought from the children's section before?

John Freida | Sheer Blonde Review

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a great weekend, I've been bogged under by uni work and have found blogging a great escape from it! I also apologise about the setting of these photos,living in student accommodation it is incredibly difficult to find somewhere nice and light to take some pictures! I think i will be doing my photography outside from now on! Today i am going to be reviewing some products from John Frieda, from the Sheer Blonde range* and the Luxurious Volume range*. As you all know i have very long hair which is thick but very fine so i find it very hard to give my hair volume as its very flat, i also have naturally very blonde ends to my hair, a mixture of sun damage and the chlorine from a swimming pool haha. So these products are really focused on my problem areas and by helping to enhance my hair and to maintain the colour. John Friedas sheer blonde range is focused on enabling you to 'keep blonde'.

John Frieda| sheer blonde| Highlight activating moisturising shampoo* & John Frieda| Sheer Blonde| Highlight activating moisturising conditioner*

John Frieda has always been a brand that i have returned to as i love what their products do to my hair and it is a very affordable professional hair care brand. The idea of using the combination of these both is to smooth your hair and to mend porous areas to restore a healthier texture. As well as this it is highlight activating formula and it claims to reveal a spectrum of blonde tones.

The scent of hair care is the first thing that will either put me off a product or draw me in to try it. I really don't like strong smells on my hair but i love the great balance the combination of these two have. There is a slight fragrance to it which is described as being 'jojoba oil,sunflower and white tea' it is a rather unusual smell but i love the different notes to the scent and it really is not strong at all and it leaves your tresses smelling beautifully!

When i use hair products i always struggle to find something moisturising enough. But John Frieda I have been blown away by using the combination of both of these products. It is honestly the first time my hair has felt so sleek and smooth, with barely any tangles for more than just the first day after a wash, the products lather up really well and you barely need to use much of the shampoo. For the conditoner i always use a lot, probably more than i should but it really helps to keep my long hair manageable. The shampoo/conditioner also should help to mend damaged areas of your hair, my hair is in quite good condition at the moment so its hard for me to comment on that but for a product that leaves my hair that soft and manageable it has to be doing something marvelous, with the use of moroccan oil afterwards i'm sure its helping my hair to repair itself even more.

As a highlight acitivating moisturising formula i am also very impressed with the outcome after a short period of time. My hair is not completely blonde but as i mentioned before the ends are very blonde, as well as my roots. The use of these has definitely helped to enhance the colour and made it even whiter which i am loving as it means i don't have to go to the unnecessary damage of dying or highlighting my hair (which i never do anyway!) and it also reveals a full spectrum of blonde tones so even if you have a small amount of blonde running through your hair this will help to enhance that. There are also variations of these products which are aimed at darker and lighter shades,so there is something for every hair colour. As well as this i love that they are bottled in squeezy tubes as its a lot easier to use and it is a more controlled way to get the exact amount of the product that you want to use without any waste.

John Frieda| Luxurious volume|Blow dry lotion root booster* & John Frieda|Luxurious volume| Fine to full out blow dry spray*

I have only used these two products a few times so i will share my first impressions with you and do a full review at a later time. For a girl with very long fine hair, volume is practically non existent and my hair can look so limp! I rarely blow dry my hair but these products suggest best results if you spritz the hair in the desired places first and then blow dry. I found the fine to full out blow dry a lot better for my hair type than just the root booster because it gave my whole hair a lot more volume and made it appear even thicker, with the root booster i didn't feel like it gave me much volume at all and the rest of my hair was still so limp. The fine to full out blow dry spray i would liken to the Bumble & Bumble thickening hairspray which i also think is really effective, although i much prefer the scent of this one!

I would fully recommend the combination of the highlight activating shampoo and conditioner in their sheer blonde range as i am so pleased with the results and it is reasonably priced at around £5.60 which you can buy from Boots for usually the cheapest price. Also look out for my full review on the luxurious volume range coming soon!

There is also a fantastic Facebook competition running until the 28th October on the John Frieda UK page for a chance to win loads of products and spa treatments. There are lots of different prizes being given away every day so there is lots of chances to win, i have been religiously entering each day!

Also, If you're a fan of youtube you can find John Frieda on their youtube channel, their most recent video gives expert hair styling tips, which was really useful to watch and i'm sure you will all love if you're a fan of watching hair and beauty tutorials!

I hope you enjoyed reading! What do you think of this John Frieda range? Have you tried any of these products?

OOTD | Embellished blouse

Coat - Red Herring(old)

Blouse - Hollister

Jeans - Topshop

Boots - Ruby Rock

Necklace - Ebay

Rucksack - Topshop

I took these pictures in a different location today as you can see! Since i went on my first cruise in the summer i have been obsessed with them and it really was the best holiday i have ever been on! Living in Southampton for University means that i get to see all the different cruise ships coming in and on this particular day the one that i sailed on was docked so i had to go and see it. Don't you just wish it was the summer holidays all over again?!

Anyway, onto the outfit.It was really chilly on this day so i had to dig my old winter coat out! This one is quite old now and i am in desperate need of a new coat, i love the faux fur collar on this one though and am definitely looking for either a grey wool coat or a furry one as they look so cosy, there is no lack of coats in store but they are just all so expensive, so i want to make sure its the right one for me! I picked this new blouse up from hollister at the weekend as they had a 50% sale on which is so unheard of in that shop! I've been looking for a white blouse for some time and i love the embellished detail on the collar.

These boots were given to me by my boyfriends mum and they retail at £60 from Ruby Rock which is actually a brand that i had never heard of before,so i am ensuring i get lots of wear out of them this winter! I love the brown leopard print on these boots and the mohair material,the heels are also glittery black,what could be better?!

What do you think of this outfit? Have you got any suggestions on where to find a nice winter coat?

Sour Cherry Nail decals

I have always been an avid user of nail stickers and transfers because lets face it i'm not the best at nail art, nor am i a WAH nail artist :( and i always find it so fiddly and time consuming, but with these decals they enable you to achieve cute nails in a short period of time yet they still look fab!

These cute and quirky Nail Decals* are available from Sour Cherry. If you haven't heard of them before they sell affordable handmade jewellery as well as other accessories such as bags,hair accessories and of course nail art which is what i am sharing with you today!

Green Norwegian knit full nail decals* 

I've never used nail decals like this before and have only ever used ones that are applied like a sticker. But with these you first put them into water,then the backing is peeled off and the decal is placed and left to dry on your nail. The instructions on the back of the pack are easy to follow and do exactly as they say. I liked how you were able to cut them down to the size required before applying, however,i found applying these actually really tricky to place on the nail and keep in the desired place before they dried. When they were left to dry on the nail for about 10 minutes you can then apply a top coat to seal it.

Unfortunately i did find the process very time consuming,but i did get faster at it once i got the knack of it. Regardless of that i am sooo impressed with the outcome of them! They have lasted me 5 days which is unheard of with normal nail polish for me,the application process is hard but once applied you don't get chips with these and the aztec/knit pattern is so pretty!

Snack food decals*

I think these are the cutest decals i have ever come across,i opted for an ice cream/lolly theme but there was also popcorn and pretzels that i could have used (amazing!)! These were actually a lot easier to apply than the full nail decals and again i used a top coat on top to seal the decal to the nail. Again, the staying power of these transfers is really good,and i would fully recommend these. Its a shame that the nail polish doesn't stay for as long though!

If you like these decals or fancy trying any yourself you can also purchase these from here , Sour Cherry have a great selection of nail decals including full nail decals or the individual decals,i have my eye on the Pac man and space invader decals to try next! They can be tricky to apply but i do fully recommend them for their excellent staying power!

What do you think of these nail decals? Do you like using decals?