What I Wore to...the Tate Modern

The other weekend, my boyfriend and I visited the Tate Modern, one of the galleries in London that I'd never visited. I got to bring out my new Simeon Farrar 'Foxy' tee that I won through a competition on Donna Ida's Instagram. It is absolutely adorable and I'm completely in love. I wore my ever faithful acid wash jeans and my comfy Stella McCartney for Adidas hi-tops - perfect for wandering around the city.

As for the Tate, I've been to events in the evening there, but I'd never been to see the controversial modern art of which it is famous for. I won't pretend to be an art enthusiast, I know nothing about modern art, I basically like to look at something pretty regardless of whether it is publicly thought to be or not. There were some pieces there that I really loved:

Autumnal Cannablism by Salvador Dali

Weeping Woman by Pablo Picasso

The Sea B by Emil Nolde

But there were some that I really did not understand. Let's play 'Ikea or Modern Art?':

What are your favourite galleries to while away a rainy Sunday afternoon?

Gold Heeled Topshop Boots

Can we all just take a moment to look at these awesome boots I got in the Topshop sale before Christmas? I've wanted a pair of gold heeled beauties since I saw Caryn Franklin wearing some at Clothes Show Live last year. I scoured eBay for a similar pair, but I couldn't find any. Lo and behold, a few months later they are literally everywhere, but I couldn't find a pair that didn't look particularly tacky or weren't stupidly expensive.
Admittedly these aren't exactly practical for Winter what with all the holes and the peep toe making the wearing of tights a complete no-no, but look how pretty they are! I've been wearing them with acid wash denim and red nail polish to really feel as much like a 90s throwback as possible, which is pretty much my favourite thing. Let me know what you think of my latest shoe love!

Hawker House Street Feast Food Market

I've been meaning to go to Street Feast for a while but it always seems to rain  whenever I plan to go. An outdoor food market isn't exactly the place to be when it's freezing cold outside, which is why I made the effort to head to Hawker House for its second weekend in its new indoor Hackney location. HH is based on indoor Singapore food markets and it certainly had that bustling feel you'd expect from its inspiration. I went here in December but have only just got around to writing about it. It's no longer on, but take a peek at what I got up to as Street Feast is on almost all year round.

I was anticipating that I'd have to choose one main and then a dessert from separate stalls and stick to that because of my limited budget, but the best thing about Hawker House was that almost everything was appetiser size. My friend and I indulged in plenty of two for £5 deals so that we could try as many things as possible.

The options weren't endless, it was a pretty small space after all. But luckily for me it had everything I like, including a lot of spice and a good burger.

We got there around 6.30pm and it was pleasantly busy and we walked straight in. By the time we left at 9pm it was absolutely rammed with queues that weren't moving for any of the stands, and an even bigger queue outside the building with hungry potential patrons waiting in the cold to go in and queue some more. Hawker House is totally worth the hype if you get there early and make the most of the food and space while it's still there, but I don't think I'd have been so enamoured if I'd queued to get in and been waiting forever to get a small dish from one stall. Head there early, load up, head to the pub afterwards and you'll have a great night!

Have you tried any of London's outdoor night time food markets? Let me know which are your favourites!

Camo Jacket, Swedish Hasbeens Boots

Brrrrr! It's bloody freezing outside. I have the perfect wardrobe for Spring and Autumn, but I really struggle with the extremes of Summer and Winter. I basically live in jeans, black boots and my favourite thick coat, so I made the conscious decision to change a few of these cold weather staples when I headed out at the weekend.

I've been living in my Warehouse thick tweed coat, but I just wanted to wear something else to keep me warm, so I layered up and brought out my Autumn favourite: my camouflage jacket from Urban Outfitters. It is one of the best bargains I've ever got from eBay, a snip at 99p! Denim and camo always go great together (although I love leather and camo even more), and this shirt is one of my favourites. It's from ASOS quite a few years ago and it doesn't fit as well as it used to as I've *ahem* grown, so I always have to wear a vest top underneath just in case a button decides to pop open! As for the earrings, they were happily permanently borrowed from my Mum's 'I will never wear them but I love them' pile of jewellery. They get a lot more facetime now they're in my collection!

Swedish Hasbeens are well known for their summer footwear, lusted after by anyone with a fashion conscious pulse. I had no idea until I saw these bad boys in a sample sale last year, that they even did boots. The iconic clog style heel is still there, but instead of sandals we have beautiful cream leather with red laces. Just about calf height (when not tucked under jeans), they are firm, warm and so so pretty. I've hardly worn them since owning them and I genuinely have no idea why, especially as I look at them everyday and think about how much I love them!

How are you wearing camo?
What are your favourite vintage jewellery finds?
Did you know Swedish Hasbeens do boots?!
I'd love to read your comments.

Cx

What I Bought From MAC

When a friend tells you they have 30% off at MAC it would be rude to not take advantage of it instantly. This month I seem to have run out of literally everything all at once, so I've taken it as an opportunity to try a few new beauty products that have been on my Pinterest beauty wish list.

The Eye and Lip Makeup Remover is one of the best removers I've tried in a while. It really lifts off my mascara with no remnants left in the morning from my lazy and hasty removal. However, I'm not a fan of the oily consistency of the product. Having oily skin myself, it makes my skin feel really slippery and I need cleanser to get rid of the layer left on my skin before I put eye cream on. It works so well though so I'm going to keep using it for the time being.

I originally bought the Prep + Prime Skin primer but it turns out it's glittery. There's no hint of that anywhere in the description on the site, but there is some comments in the reviews section that spells it out. I can't really understand why anybody would want a glittery face so I exchanged it for the Prep + Prime Beauty Balm primer. I've stopped wearing foundation every day and my skin has never been better for it, but I was still looking for a primer predominantly to calm the redness on my face and minimise my massive pores. I've heard loads about BB creams but still didn't really know what one was.

The woman in MAC Covent Garden put this on my face and the difference between the side of my face with it on and the other was amazing. Redness was majorly reduced and my skin was completely even. I may be anti-foundation for the daytimes, but tinted moisturiser I can deal with when it works this well and is ever so slightly better for my skin.

What are your favourite MAC products?

Oversized Check, Magenta Courts

As I continued on my quest to add simple but interesting basics to my wardrobe, I found this top on ASOS (and it's now reduced down to £8!) which fit a number of things on my current tick list:

- an interesting shape
- has a pattern
- predominantly black, white or grey

It's actually a swing type fit but it falls to my hips and accentuates them a bit too much for my liking, so I tucked it into my jeans instead. The pattern did intimidate me a bit (it reminds me a bit of the Louis Vuitton Damier check) and I've owned this top for quite a while before actually wearing it, but I think for me, I just need to wear it with something simple to not feel overdressed.

To make it slightly more fun, I wore my adorable Me & Zena robot necklace, which is pretty unassuming until you see it a bit closer up. I think silver goes with this top a lot more than gold, but because of the neckline it either needs to be a short necklace or earrings. Saying that, with the super thin spaghetti straps, this is very much a summer top when it's not being a bit more formal.

I'm also genuinely excited about how well my new magenta courts from Topshop go with my acid wash denim jeans (also from ASOS). Actual match made in Heaven! I bought these shoes in the Christmas sales, reduced down from £35 to just £15, and in fact, now they are down to £10! I love their height and fit so much, I bought them in black too!

Diane von Furstenberg Cat Headphones

Yep, that really is a pair of headphones with cats on them. Miaow! Introducing my favourite Christmas present this year: my Diane von Furstenberg headphones.

It seems that all of a sudden, everyone owns a big old pair of headphones. The simple earphones that come with your phone appear to be out of favour and have been replaced with the more obvious over-ear headphones of days gone by. I don't really get what the big fuss is and certainly would not pay hundreds of pounds for a pair of Beats as I'm not tech savvy enough to properly value why they are so expensive. That being said, I work in a very loud office and commute on the noisy underground everyday, so Spotify is my saviour and I wanted to bring a bit more fashion to my musical musings.

I knew as soon as I laid eyes on these beauties that I needed them in my life. The cat design is inspired by DVF's collaborator, New York DJ Harley Viera-Newton's cat, Marmite, and can be found on other DVF accessories too (inclulding an awesome handbag). Aside from the cat, the headphones are very simple and black in colour, very inconspicuous until you get closer!

The sound quality is great in my opinion, much better than my earphones, and so much more comfortable to wear. I also love the mini MP3 player that doubles up as an adorable button, I'm going to get it loaded with songs so I don't always have to drain my phone battery when I'm on the go.

These headphones may not be the most high tech pair on the market, but I think they are definitely the most stylish, and I'm pretty confident I won't see loads of other people wearing them on the tube! They are still available to buy from Matches.com here.

What do you think of my new headphones? And what did you get for Christmas?

Sunday Night Nails #3

This is a really basic Aztec nail art that you don't need a lot of time for. I've used my trusted colour combination of turquoise, pink and white, but play around with the colours and see what works for you.

Step 1: Paint your base colour and leave to dry

Step 2: Use a black nail art pen to draw three equally spaced triangles from the base of the nail

Step 3: Use a white nail art pen to fill in the first and third spaces in between the black lines

Step 4: Use a pink nail art pen to draw a point above the top black line

Step 5: Use the black nail art pen to draw symmetrical dots all up the pink line to finish

Shopstyle: My Favourite iPad App

I've had my iPad for over a year now and I honestly wouldn't be without it. It does everything I need it to, however that also means it is incredibly easy to shop online with all of my favourite stores having an easy to use app (except H&M, why haven't they sorted it yet?!). But why use a million separate apps when there is one that does it all for you?

Shopstyle is my favourite iOS app; it is super easy to hunt down exactly what you want to buy when your regular haunts don't have what you want. Looking for a mustard (not yellow) jumper in size 14 for under £50? Just type in what you need and Shopstyle searches a massive range of e-tailers (some of which you'll have never heard of), and finds a huge array for you to choose from.

If you want to keep your options open, you can mark things as a Favourite and swoop through them all at a later date. This was a total lifesaver when I was freaking out about what black handbag to buy my mum for Christmas!

But the best bit about this app (and the most dangerous part!) is the Sales Alert function. Shopstyle allows you to find something you like and then get a notification when it goes on sale! Not only that, but if the price goes down even more, it will notify you again! This is a secret evil wrapped in glee and is my new biggest vice, especially at this time of the year.

Shopstyle is available on iOS and online too. Download it if your purse won't be sorry!

(this is not sponsored or endorsed by Shopstyle and all opinions are my own)

What I Wore for... New Year's Eve 2013

I'm not a huge fan of New Year's Eve. Too many people, overpriced drinks, the forced expectation to have the best night ever. Secretly I'd rather stay in with a takeaway and a Gossip Girl box set, but if the whole world is having a drink, I guess I should too!

This blouse from Mango has been on my Pinterest wish list since I first saw it on the WIWT Lust List. Thanks to the amazing Shopstyle app (a post on that to come soon!), I had a sale alert set up for it so when it went down to half price  to £20, I could buy it instantly. 

As it's a very fussy print I chose to keep it really simple and wear it with plain black jeans and chunky heeled black boots. I do love my accessories though so I still tucked a spiked necklace under the collar just to give it a bit of something extra.

I love these silver rings, especially with the amazing colour of this nail varnish I got for Christmas. It's Superpower Blue by Maybelline Color Show and is almost teal in tone. A new favourite I think!

Hope you all had a great New Year's Eve!