Sunday 24 June 2012

race for life 2012

Hello!

So in yesterdays post I mentioned how I was doing the race for life today, raising money for cancer research. In comparison to last year it went really well, last year (when living in the unpredictable weather of England) it was the hottest day of 2011, and our first year competing, so mum & I ffinished with a time of 56 minutes. This year, however, was dramatically colder (around the 17 degree mark) and was incredibly windy! We upped-our-game when it came to pace though, running and jogging during large sections of the course. The race we took part in was located on a race course, so was very hilly..and let's just say, the 'really steep hill bit' was basically the equation for death, but we got through it and made a time of 41 minutes. I'm buzzing - Mum & I set out to beat the time from last year & we did it. Now onto the interesting stuff, a la sporty vibe -

Outfit
(definitely aiming for the practical, marathon-worthy style rather than high-fashion on this occasion)
grey bandeau - new look
pink vest - forever 21
black cardigan - h&m
black leggings - primark
trainers - nike

The Goody Bag
every participant gets gifted a small goodie bag upon completion of the course, and this year it contained a few vouchers, a cereal sample, vaseline sample size (!!) and some water. The 'you are awesome' message is very cute, and the medal shall go along with last years one, hung up on my wall :)

Have you ever done the Race for Life?

Thalia
xxx


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Saturday 23 June 2012

diy denim cutoff shorts

Hello!

Recently I went on a DIY-tangent and did the simple task of cutting old jeans into shorts. For reference these were my beloved £5.99 H&M skinnies (teens section) which lasted me well over a year. A few months ago I got them caught on a fence (don't ask) and made an irritating hole on one of the legs. At the time I never knew what it would inspire me to do....

Before & During the restyling stage
This is how they started - note the whole on the right leg, around a quarter up from the top..
I then cut past the small whole, drawing on with chalk to achieve a neat and equal line
After doing this, I neatened the line, pinning down the ends to allow me to cut them easily. Somehting that really helped me with this stage was cutting one leg to the desired length, then folding it in half to guide a good length for the other leg.

After & how I styled them!

khaki top - primark
shirt - sarojini market (delhi)
shorts, perviously jeans - h&m
belt - new look

I'm really happy with how they turned out! I actually loved these jeans so much that I bought another pair, a size up at the time of original purchase in March 2011; so if you see any future outfits featuring them as jeans don't be confused! Tomorrow my mum & I will be taking part in the Race for Life. I'm so excited, I loved taking part last year and the atmosphere there is amazing! I'm planning a little sporty ootd for tomorrow, so here's a warning beforehand..

Have you ever DIY-ed your jeans?

Thalia
xxx
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Wednesday 20 June 2012

Rimmel 1000 kisses lip pen in timeless tango

On my nails I am wearing Barry M's Bright Purple with Max Factor's Fantasy Fire layered on top

I recently purchased Rimmel's 1000 kisses lip pen in 120 Timeless Tango when on a shopping trip to Oxford Street from one of the Boots stores. At the time they had a £2 off most Rimmel cosmetics deal, so this was reduced from £6.99 to a more reasonable £4.99. As for range of shades there were quite a few, but this one in particular stood out to me (although I'm really looking into 'Nothing but Nude' and 'Endless Blossom', nude and pale pink shades.) It was actually the last one in the whole shop, so I have a lucky feeling about it.
without flash
The colour is way more outrageous than I usually go for, but I like it nonetheless. It makes my complexion look very Snow White, with pale skin, dark hair and bright red lips. I think red lips are empowering, they make you feel stylish (though sometimes self-conscious)..

with flash

The formulation of the product is perfectly reasonable, the aapplication being easy, as if you were colouring in your lips with a thick, felt-tip pen. However, I do find that the product can wear quite easy (especially when eating/drinking) and can go quite patchy, with some areas of a more intense shade than others.
The moisturising balm on the end is an absolute godsend. Lip stains and pens are notorious for drying out your lips very quickly, yet the balm makes the drying effect delay and gives a nice, glossy finish.

Have you tried out any lip pens? What were your thoughts on them?

Thalia
xxx
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Tuesday 19 June 2012

oxford street small haul

forever 21 hot pink vest top - £3.75
rimmel 1000 kisses lip pen in 120 timeless tango - £4.99
lush eau roma water toner - £3.75
pull and bear studded jeggings - £20

On Saturday I went Oxford St shopping with my two friends Rosie and Vickey to celebrate their birthdays, which were both last week. I went there knowing I needed to buy a pair of jeans, a pink top and a toner and managed to get all of them! The Pull & Bear jeggings are amazing, bought them for £10 off and when I tried them on they fit perfectly. After spending time ooh-ing and aah-ing at the clothes on their website I am obsessed!

Rimmel's 1000 kisses lip pens were on sale at Boots, £2 off to a reasonable £5. I've never tried a lip pen before, I've tried one stain, Posie tint by Benefit, yet never one in a felt-tip form. This one quickly caught my attention and was the last one in the shop left! Rosie & I had to fight over it. They also have a few lighter colours, including a pretty peachy-pink colour which I may pick up sometime.

The current toner I'm using is by L'Occitane, that came free with Glamour magazine a month or so back. It's really nice, but retails for £11 for quite a small bottle of 50ml. For reference, it's this one. Anyway, I went into Lush (the Regent St store) and all of them are so nice! I don't think I've ever seen a rude sales assistant at Lush but I do find them to be quite, all-up-in-your-business! So I asked a lady about teenage skin products, and she recommended Cupcake and Cosmetic Warrior face masks, and some of the toners. After telling her about my skin type she recommended me this one, which I bought 100g of it for £3.75. I'm really happy with it, I've used it a few times now and I find it really hydrating without it being damp. It comes in spray form as well, which is brilliant as I won't overuse it and it will last me a reasonable length of time.

Lastly I have a pink vest top from Forever 21. I rarely wear pink, but am doing the Race for Life with my mum on Sunday so I needed something to wear for it! It was a bargainous £3.75 from their essentials range and is a nice enough cut that I can see myself possibly wearing it again during the summer, despite it's pretty loud hue.

Have you bought anything nice recently? tried any Lush skincare?

Thalia
xxx
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Sunday 17 June 2012

true or false


top - h&m
lilac bandeau - new look
denim shorts - topshop
leggings - primark
watch - avon
double cross ring - ebay
nails - barry m bright purple & max factor fantasy fire

Yesterdays outfit! Woke up to a much brighter and summery-er day, something I find very uplifting, living in London. Been dying to wear my shorts that I recently bought as shown in this post, but the weather really hasn't been up for it! In hindsight I probably should have bought a slightly longer pair, but I love them nonetheless, my £28 splurge. Absolutely adore the batwing style top, it's very summery and playful. I'm happy they have them at h&m, as they normally stock a size 6. As a 'petite' person, I need things (especially when styled to be oversized) to not drown me. On another note, the double cross ring was an absolute steal from ebay, at a ridiculous £1.29. It says that it is adjustable, which it is, but not enough so for my small hands - hence why I rarely find myself wearing it! For anyone lucky enough to have normal-sized hands and fingers, I would definitely recommend you pick it up!

Finally finished all of my major exams! I have a French writing exam on Tuesday, which to my misfortune is really more of a memory test, remembering 300 words and how to spell them, writing out aan essay in exam conditions. Actually finish school in around a month (33 days, not that I'm counting) but because of the hectic school summer term schedule, including a week of work experience, I only have around 17 school days left! So so exciting, summer could not come quick enough! Staying in England for the summer but am looking forward to a relaxing six weeks and touristing in my home town, despite it being two years since I moved back home...

Are you looking forward to summer? I sure am..
Thalia xxx
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floral outfit & ravensbourne ramble

Thursday night saw myself and my mum go into London to see Ravensbourne's graduate fashion show. She's a professional quilter, so recently in the past eighteen months has been contacted by around 6-7 fashion design students, all wanting to encorporate quilting in their collections. Last year I went to the show with my parents to see the collection of Bethany Rose Kinsella. Her designs are wonderful and she really is a lovely person, I can't wait to see how her future unravels.
Onto this year, she was contacted by another student as Ravensbourne, who invited her and a plus-one to the show. To her surprise, she was already on the 'list' from last year, and we got delegate passes! In reality it wasn't that special, we weren't exactly prompt (blame us eating at Nandos in the o2 just minutes before) and the view was pretty much birds-eye from a few levels above. Saying this, the atmosphere was awesome, I love how rushed the designers are before and seeing their relief when everything goes to plan.

jeans, top & cardigan - h&m, bag - new look

So here's my outfit of the day with the floral top I featured a couple of posts back. I love dressing all fashion-y but the weather really didn't allow it this time. Everyone in England says this, but I thought it was June? yet there is still an extreme lack of sun/heat/summer..
More excitingly, my delegate pass! Notice my very shoddy editing, my surname was at an angle but I didn't want to cut off my first name. Still unsure about the whole, name-on-the-internet thing but I'm sure I'll feel less paranoid about it as time continues.

So do you like seeing fashion shows? What do you like to wear to them?

Thalia
xxx



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Saturday 16 June 2012

graduate fashion week - my thoughts

Last Sunday I successfully pulled my Mum along to the Graduate Fashion Week exhibition, hosted in Earls  Court. After going last year I was extatic to go again, looking through all of the wonderful creations and questioning tutors on fashion courses. See, my 'thing' with fashion is that I would desperately love to work in the industry when I'm older. I'm fascinated by trends and clothes but more distinctly, the reaction to it. How they impower women, how the businesses work and my dream is to write about fashion as a journalist, for either a newspaper or magazine.

photo from last year but it hasn't changed - didn't go through the hassle of bringing a camera this year!
For the past few years I thought I would take a 'simple' route at university. Pass my GCSE's, do four A-Levels then study Fashion Journalism at an artsy university. I then spoke to Caryn Franklin, a fashion expert  who has in her career, achieved things only I could dream of. I told her of my dreams to become a fashion journalist, and she gave me amazing advice. She told me not to study Fashion, or even Journalism: if I am to become a successful writer, I need to be qualified and successful at the writing side. To be able to write analytically and helpfully can get me far, and as long as I can prove my interest and knowledge in Fashion, or possibly do a Master's degree in some route of it, my journalism hopes will be educationally set up. She recommended I study English at university, with an emphasis on Creative Writing. After some research I found they do that degree to undergraduate level at Newcastle, UCL, Nottingham and a few other universities within the prestigious Russell Group.

Now onto what's probably considered a way more interesting aspect of the day - the Company goody bag! £3 bought all of this, an absolute bargain. After a little bit of research I found that the Elemis products alone had a value of £14, so anything else from there was mega-free, haha. Really happy with what came in here -the Elemis products I have started to try out and I really liked them. I tried a sample of their face scrub about a month back and woah it's amazing! Way out of my price range but a girl can dream. I admit, I gave my best friend Rosie the Company magazine as foolishly I bought a copy of it the day before, in my initial way-it's-the-new-issue excitement. I also gave her the eyeliner as Company actually had one as a freebie a few months back, and with my lack of eyeliner skills a second one wasn't really necessary.
Lastly but very excitingly for me, I bought a copy of 'Fashion  Textiles, the essential career guide' from a artsy bookstore that had a stall at the show. They had brilliant reductions on, I think I got this for 40ish% off? It's really informative and interesting, fascinating to find out about all the fashion careers that aren't typically 'thought of' when you first think of the fashion industry.

Did any of you go to Graduate Fashion Week? What were your thoughts?

Thalia
xxx

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Sunday 10 June 2012

florals + life update #2

Okay, so..

a couple of weeks ago, when doing my fortnightly shopping-yet-rationing spree, I spotted a beauty. Summery, light, flowy, assymetric hemline and an absolute bargain. A pastel-inspired floral-print vest top, shorter at the back than at the front yet still covers to a suitable extent. What can I say..£4.99 well spent.
Cleverly I managed to not capture the back of the vest top - it's shorter there, with an almost 'waterfall' gradient, not too harsh. It lies around 2/3 down my back. I style it with a grey bandeau from New Look underneath it, and some summery denim shorts. For reference, the photos were taken when London was blessed with beautiful weather, however now the weather here is pretty grim...

Now onto the update...
Last week on Thursday I had an operation on my mouth, prepping for braces that should be applied in around six weeks. I had to get a tooth removed from inside my gum (was lying horizontally, yes, sideways - wtf) and have small gold chains inserted into another two teeth. Pretty grim but oh well, in 3/4 years time my teeth shall be reasonable! Onto happier things - the jubilee was fabulous! It really makes me so so proud to be British. Stressing about school stuff, lost half of my half term break due to recovery, and now have so so much work to do! Have no idea how year 11 will turn out next year. Any tips please?!

Onto more fashion-y things, today I went to Graduate Fashion Week in Earls Court, just for the exhibition. I went with my Mum and it was a lovely day! I have some photos of the goodie bag and stuff, so hopefully this week I'll post about it.

Thalia
xxxx




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