Rise of the bodysuit | Lust List*

This past year I managed to lose a bit of weight and attempted (at times) to keep it off. Upon seeing more of my figure underneath the extra pounds I decided I wanted to alter my wardrobe to show that I don't still have my unwanted flubber.

I kept saying to myself that I'd never be the girl who could wear a bodysuit. One day I muted that voice and just go and try some on and see for myself. And actually, they didn't look too bad. Yes, I still have a belly I probably always will have one but I could actually feel comfortable in my own skin in something tight fitting. Who am I??

My mum and I went for a little window shopping the other day and I found myself looking at some gorgeous bodysuits, and there were quite a few pieces that made their way into my camera roll...So, I thought a little lust list had formed itself, why not share my finds with you lot?

Let me know your thoughts, or if you're as obsessed as me with a certain style of clothing!

From left to right:

Grey Ribbed Long Sleeve Bodysuit

Black Long Sleeve Turtleneck Bodysuit

Grey Long Sleeve Turtleneck Bodysuit

Grey Ribbed Funnel Neck Bodysuit

Burgundy Ruffle Plunge Neck Bodysuit

Rust Ribbed Crew Neck Bodysuit

Black Leopard Flocked Bustier Bodysuit

Khaki Scoop Neck Long Sleeve Bodysuit

Navy Notch Bardot Bodysuit

Purple Velvet Glitter Wrap Bodysuit

Khaki Ribbed Roll Neck Bodysuit

*this post contains affiliate links of which I can make a small commission

Why I Love This Season

When I start to feel a slight chill in the air, a small smile creeps across my face. Why is that you ask? because; layers. It means I can start the process of changing my summer wardrobe into autumn/winter. I live for jumpers.

I find even though I love nothing more than a cosy night in, in my fluffiest pyjamas, dressing gown and socks, I also find myself hunting down fun wintry activities. Oh, did I also forget to mention I love any occasion to get a knitted bobble hat out?

I've only recently been pumpkin picking and it's adorable. I went to Pickwell's Farm in Southampton and you could pick ANY size pumpkin for £2. Absolute bargain. They also have a cute shop where you can buy groceries, Pickwell products and other little independents items.

It's also motivated me to go picking for fruit when the season comes back around, plus I'd love to get back into baking and make some yummy goodies with hand-picked berries.

I really love it when Halloween comes around, I live for experimenting with makeup and trying to transform myself. I used to do drama at school, and I used to dance for several years and have this innate need sometimes to dress up, perform and feel like someone else.

Autumn is such a nice little transition into Winter, albeit in England we can still get overly warm days when we've just put on three layers expecting the worst! As soon as the 5th of November comes around I start feeling so festive. Bring out the gloves, hats and scarves and let's go see some fireworks!

Now, don't get me wrong. I do love fireworks displays and you can have some really fun ones. But, some people have been taking the cake in terms of their own fireworks at home. I've heard fireworks going off for weeks leading up to Guy Fawkes night and weeks afterwards. It's distressing for animals and children, and I even find it a distraction and hazard sometimes as a driver. I think some people need to be more considerate and use them more nearer the date.

I'm looking forward to more wintry and festive activities. I'm planning a post to share my ideas of what you can get up to, I'm looking at ones that are fairly cheap too! Christmas can be a hard time financially, but not everything has to cost loads of money.

I love it when people come together over Christmas time, it's my favourite part. Yes, it's an excuse to eat as much as you want and drink as much as you want. But, you get to see your friends and family and there are lots of fun things to do, and amazing festive menus in restaurants and cafes.

I'd love to know your favourite festive things to do, let me know in the comments.

Love Saffron x

Lust List | November

I've been planning a Lust List series for quite some time now. I'm one of those people who screenshots, saves and bookmarks things I like. Then I'll set some time one day to go through everything and pick what I want to buy.

I love looking at things other people love as well, I think it's great to draw inspiration from. I love a good freshen up of my wardrobe or trying new things!

New Look Suede Jacket in Mustard* and Grey* £39.99

This suede jacket is just gorgeous! I'm prepared to add this to my wardrobe for my staple going out jacket...

Sass & Belle Sloth Mug £8.00

The following few items are from ASOS, but I've come across Sass & Belle in Brighton and I always make a stop whenever I'm visiting. It's full of cute home bit and accessories, and as you can see I have an obsession with sloth items...

Sass & Belle Sloth Lunch Box £5.00

Sasse & Belle Large Sloth Bowl £15.00

Sass & Belle Gingerbread Mug £8

For this time of year (or all round I'm not fussy) just imagine having a cosy hot chocolate with whipped cream on top...I'm not drooling, you are.

Boohoo Disney Mickey Initial Tee £8.00

I love Disney, and I love the mustard colour. I don't really like overboard Disney clothing so this would work nicely with a leather/suede jacket.

New Look Multicoloured Glitter Strappy Skater Dress* £27.99

I don't really have many party dresses, but then I don't get to go out out too much these days. But it doesn't hurt to have a good stash of pretty dresses! These two from New Look are so gorgeous and would suit any festive occasion.

New Look Burgundy Velvet Strappy Skater Dress* £24.99

ASOS Design Cotton Slubby Frill Sleeve Smock Dress £18.00

One of my fashion goals is to have countless cute and easy outfits, and this dress ticks both boxes. I'm finding in my older age I just want to be comfortable, what's the point of squeezing into clothes that aren't right for me?

The Body Shop®  Spa of the World™Hawaiian Kukui Cream 350ml* £25.00

When I've been to The Body Shop® events, I've had the Huwaiian Kukui Cream tested on my hands and arms and I absolutely love it. The scent is right up my street, and it makes my skin feel so soft and smooth, so I must get this soon!

These are just a few of the things I'm lusting for at the moment! Let me know if you'd be interested in me making this a regular feature on my blog, and I'll try and get all fancy with how I display the items.

Send me any links of some of your saved items/things you want to buy!

Love Saffron x

*items marked with an astrix are affiliate links, which means I can make a small bit of commission on items bought through this link.

Victorious Festival | Day 1

outfit: denim jacket - cancer research, dress - h&m, sandles - new look

This was my first whole weekend at Victorious Festival, being fairly local this festival is in a really good location and I had attended one day at the 2016 one. It is quite handy that you can go to a festival on your doorstep for no more than £45 a day, but it would be quite handy to release weekend tickets - which Victorious are doing for next year! You can already grab an adult weekend ticket for £80.

I managed to bag myself a press pass for the whole weekend, which included access to the VIP area. And my oh my, did this come in handy to hide from the wind and rain!

The VIP area had hammocks, hay bales, a cute circus tent with loads of seating, unique food vendors who weren't in the main area, massages, face painting, a bar and a viewing area for the main stage. This place was heaven when the weather decided to attack Portsmouth. I chose the wrong outfit of course; a completely summery festival look for anticipated photos. 

I've never paid for a VIP upgrade before but had always wanted to know what it was like, the viewing area was a godsend as it meant that a shorty like me was guaranteed to actually see what was going on! The fancy flushing toilets were such a nice surprise - I've had my fair share of horrible portaloos so this was a sight for sore eyes.

my goofy cute boyfriend

It looks like they’ve expanded their stages from when I went two years ago, there were more places to buy food and drinks from, some cool photographic signs, lots of colourful flags and hilarious Dave signs. 

the common stage

There was a food vendor called Passion and Smoke selling poutine! Which usually you can only get in Canada (I was informed by my lovely new friend Danielle that 7Bone in Guildhall Walk also do it - review opportunity to come) It was really nice but went cold a little too quickly and I’d have liked it if the cheese curd had completely melted but it was still goooood. They also had seasoned the fries which tasted lovely.

poutine on the right and delicious churros on the left

We arrived early on Friday to try and get some photos before the festival-goers turned up, but the site was quite limited as they were still setting up the other areas. There was the Common Stage, Strongbow DJ Bar and Beats and Swing tent available and a lot of food trucks were open.

One of the first things we did was check out the merch stalls, the merchandise was dirt cheap! T-shirts for £12 and hoodies for £23. I’ve never seen festival merch prices like this and I’m in love, I'm used to £20-£25 for a shirt or £40-£50 for a hoodie at most gigs. I was most definitely getting a line up t-shirt and line up hoodie.

After exploring the main area, the weather got quite bad so I sought refuge in the VIP area out of the wind and rain. I have been taking up reading again as I've always wanted to re-read the Harry Potter series as I'm pretty sure I didn't read most of them properly when I was around seven. I started chatting to some other festival-goers who I was sharing the table with and despite the gloomy weather they were very chipper, and it restores my faith in humanity when people can be really friendly in less than ideal situations! Think about it, would that have happened on a train? Probably not as train commuters are usually grumpy and don't want to be near anyone - I have been one of these people!

But put those people into a festival and those frowns turn to smiles, even with people dancing in the rain and puddles.

I caught a few of the acts at the beginning of the day who I liked; Marley Blandford, Hymn for Her and Come Together. One of the things I love about festivals is just rocking up to a stage and not knowing the artist or band and then falling in love with their sound. I'm one of those people who doesn't mind going to concerts of bands I don't know because listening to them live for the first time is such an amazing experience - plus you have the memories from the festival/gig attached to those songs.

photo credit: Tom Langford

I thought it was kind of odd that Kaiser Chiefs weren't the headliner's for Friday, I don't really know The Libertines that well. Ricky Wilson was such a good front man for the band, he put all of his energy into his performance and even at one point he started to climb the scaffolding around the stage - I'm sure this is a huge health and safety risk but it was pretty cool.

By this point I couldn't feel the lower half of my legs or my feet so Connor and I shivered our way back to the car. I was looking forward to getting all toasty in the car, and the fact that Saturday was supposed to be warm and sunny! It was really good to experience the Friday line up and I was excited for what was to come next.

Keep an eye out for the Saturday and Sunday posts!

All photos taken of me were by Connor Cleary on his Canon 5D Mark iii.

Disclaimer: Carousel PR were generous enough to grant me a press pass for the whole weekend at Victorious Festival which included access to the VIP area. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What's in my make up bag?

As a Christmas present to myself I bought this "Zoella Lace Collar Purse" from Superdrug for £6.00, I picked this one up as I know everyone has the guinea pig ones and the eye ones. I also have a top that looks exactly like this and the bag is just the right size for the (little) amount of make up I own.

Inside my bag you will find my four essential items: firstly the Barry M Bold Waterproof Eyeliner for  £3.99. The first time I picked this up I was in a hurry to find a cheap eye liner, and little did I know what I had stumbled upon. The most amazing waterproof eyeliner I have ever owned! I didnBa't realise it was waterproof, but it really does what it says on the tin, this bad boy has survived 12hr days, and full on crying sessions! I am so impressed with this product, my only beef is that you can't sharpen it, so once it goes blunt you have to buy a new one.

Next on the right I have Collection Lengthening Mascara Black 1 for £2.99, I don't really have very many eyelashes and they aren't long and they are more defined from my profile, which is useless. Pretty much any mascara works with my lashes, but I do have a soft spot for any Collection mascara as they don't charge an arm and a leg for decent mascara.

Bottom on the left we have Barry M Lip Boss 3- Office Romance for £4.49 I previously had Barry M lipgloss which I loved but I have misplaced [insert sad emoji] so I went straight over to Barry M. I prefer light pink lip glosses, I don't know why I just prefer my lips to look slightly more pink and glossy. The container is a decent size and it lasts forever for me.

I have previously mentioned in another post how much I love my final product. It's only Collection Eye Definer Ebony 1 for the small price of £2.99 it's a total steal, I can be using the same one for up to three months depending on my variation of use and how big I make the wings on my eyes. I don't get along with any other eyeliner, I've tried felt tip liners and Collection must've known I was cheating as I could not get the same effect I wanted with the felt pens. Look out for a tutorial in the near future on how I do my eyeliner, it took me a few months and hundreds of tutorials to get it right! Eyeliner is the only make up related thing I am actually good at!

Now you've seen what's in my make up bag!

All products are from Superdrug and prices were correct as of 30th December 2015.

Saffron x

Post Christmas Haul

Hello!

For Christmas I received far too many gift cards from my loved ones, and after noticing that I had around £75 worth of New Look gift cards, I thought I would face the Christmas/New Year sales.

I also wanted to go to Top Shop as I have a number of jumpers and shirts on my wish list that I really love.

Top Shop

                              Jumper- £26

I'm a huge lover of jumpers, and I got this in the next size up for extra bagginess (and incase of shrinkage) I love the sectioning of black to white, I also like Top Shop's jumper with the addition of orange in a similar style. As I don't own anything orange, I liked the idea of incorporating it in with my wardrobe.

New Look

PJ Top- £3.00

PJ Bottoms- £7.00

Socks- Three for £4

Sports Bra- £9.99

Black Leggings- £14.99

I'm a regular at all the New Look stores in my area, I love the discount I can get as a student, and the limited 25% off you can sometimes get. I also love the socks and the multi buy deal, as I always need new socks, and especially pug ones. There wasn't too much left in the sale for my taste and size, but I managed to bag a cute new PJ set! The checked bottoms are super soft and fluffy, and the top isn't supposed to go with the bottoms (as the writing is pink and the bottoms are a blue check) but they are pyjamas and I opt for comfort these days with my jammas.

I bought a new sports bra to hopefully nudge me to go running, as that's one of my promises to myself in the New Year! And I'm forever losing my clothes at the minute, so I now own three pairs of the same black leggings with silver zips on the sides, but they last and they are so comfy!

Side Note: I got these cheaper through using my NUS Extra card, if you are a student I would 100% recommend as some stores only accept NUS and not your college/university card, depending on the store you can get around 10%.

In total I saved £10.99 which is not including the sale prices!

Saffron x

Why blog?

Hello everyone!

As I have just picked up the blogging baton again, I thought it might interest some of you as to why I am blogging. Why now? Well I used to blog a lot when I was younger, when I was in secondary school. That was mostly cringey rants, movie or book reviews, nothing special.

Last year I noticed one of my best friends started blogging, so I looked at my blogs....and decided I better start a new one as my old one's (as previously mentioned) where uber cringe worthy.

I know I'm not a beautician, hair dresser, stylist, fashion designer, baker, cook or skilled in any particular way. However, I thought I had an advantage point, I know pretty much nothing about any of the before mentioned topics (I know somethings, but not much) and I found my angle:

"NORMAL IMPERFECT GIRL ATTEMPTS MAKE-UP, BAKING ETC"

One thing I do know is, that I am imperfect, I have blemishes like everyone else, I have scars and stretch marks, my teeth aren't straight and my eye's change colour in different light. One thing I have always dreamed of being is a role model for younger girls who might be too afraid to talk to their female relations. I've never had my eye brows waxed/threaded, I've only plucked them, and badly because I had no idea what shape my eye brow was meant to be and plucked too much and now they aren't thick enough -_-.

My point being is that being an in-experienced twenty year old I can try things for the first time and write/film it for others entertainment and maybe one day make a difference to some one's life. I know I'm not going to become the next "Zoella" but blogging also helps me, I don't get as stressed and ragey, and I'm not having anxiety attacks as much. 

Today is the first day I realised how much better I actually feel, despite my usual sleepiness, I feel quite refreshed. Blogging fills up time that I used to freak out about random things, and let the anxiety take over.

So as much as it'd be nice to become a famous blogger, I am quite happy with who I am, I'm feeling relatively happy for one of the first times this year! It excites me when I think of things I want to write about, I'm even going to buy a pretty notebook to put my ideas in. Plus it will make me do things I've only dreamt of doing, I'm going to try out more make up, and flex my (lack of) baking and cooking skills.

Saffron x

Christmas Nail Varnish

Happy Boxing Day! 

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas with your family and friends, this post is post-christmas but can be used any time of the year too!

Whilst I was supposed to be shopping for my family and friends, but also to re-stock my eyeliner. I got swayed by Superdrug's offer no Barry M products. If I spent £6 or more on their brand I would get a bottle of Barry M's Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paint in Sparkling Ruby. When I saw it on the model above the products, I knew that I needed to own it.

I'm usually spotted wearing red nail varnish as it's one of my favourite colours, and this red has glitter aspects in it which made it my Christmas nail colour!

When I needed to take off the remainder of the nail varnish to re-apply for Christmas Day, I realised that it was going to be harder to shift because of the glitter in it. I learned the hard way to soak my nails previous to removing the varnish!

Barry M is one of my favourite nail brands alongside Rimmel, I find that they last longer and the colour selections suit all my nail needs!

Excuse my awesome christmas onesie! So far I've been really impressed with this varnish as it's lasted quite a while without chipping, as I use my hands a lot in my place of work and everyday life! If I could sustain growing my nails this paint would look even better for those of you with proper lady claws!

Saffron x

Heat Magazine's "Insta-scam" Logic

I rarely ever pick up these magazines, as I get bored of 'celebrity' dramas, as I only concentrate on my own life, I don't even watch the news, but that's another story for a different day. As I saw this on the shelf I immediately was appalled by what was on the front cover (seen in the images above) I am an avid user of Instagram, so if anyone pulled a stunt like this, they would face my wrath!

Because of course people are going to look different in photos that they take, compared to photos that the paparazzi take (usually to make them look bad in the first place) especially if they have just eaten, which would cause any bloating, if there's different lighting? Oh and yes the fact that you can add filters to photos to try and enhance your look if you want to look more tanned or pale.

I was ashamed, as in this world I would think it plausible that we should encourage people to accept their flaws? The women in this magazine are some what celebrities, but if they have flaws too, I say encourage that! That would make the average women so happy to know that it's not just her, also most of the unflattering photos of women in these gossip mags are deliberately awful photos of which the subject isn't aware of said photo. I have seen many a unflattering photograph of me mid-speech or even just sitting minding my own business-and it is deleted straight away!

I am a recent supporter of being able to show your flaws, as it's just normal, I don't want to make the effort of hiding something that every other girl or woman has! I think it is nice to coat our images in photos or take them at different angles to improve your appearance, as you get a boost in your self confidence, but I will be soon showing the world for what I am. I have an impending holiday in Turkey this Summer and I don't want to think that people are judging me, I want people to be saying how much confidence I have in my own 'imperfect' skin.

I'm sick of bowing my head in embarrassment, it's time to hold it high!

Saffron x

Introduction

Hello World,

Any of my previous (small club) of followers, I have decided to take up blogging again. However this time I am taking up new topics; hair and make up reviews, news/magazine articles that rift views in society, and anything new I find or that I think is interesting.

Coming up soon is my everyday make up that I wear, criticizing Heat Magazines front cover, and the new movement of #FreeTheNipple, so stay tuned!

Saffron x