Saturday, April 20, 2013

Shopping in Cambridge

Just this last Wednesday I took a day-trip to the beautiful city of Cambridge with a friend, where we spent a day shopping in a new place (which, let's face it, is super-exciting, and turns every happy shopper into a little girl in a sweet shop!). I didn't anticipate blogging about this, so I didn't take to many photos, and the photos I did take include the contents of my breakfast and a dodgy shot of the street. So no snaps for you, sorry.

But I can paint a verbal picture, and Blott is the perfect store to start with. We've all found, at some point, one of those places that just sell the quirkiest things that are such obvious and yet original ideas because you're still left standing there going, 'Why didn't I think of that??'    
Blott, Unit 6, Ground Floor, Grand Arcade, St Andrew’s Street, Cambridge, CB2 3BJ  is a 'stationery store with a twist,' selling everything from pens and pencils to glass wipe-clean boards and fun luggage tags featuring moustaches. Which now that I think about it, I have a photo of!
 I bought two apple-shaped rubber toppers for 75p each and a luggage tag with different moustaches on it for a mere £2. This is a sample section of the biscuit, drink bottle and cutesy critter - shaped rubbers that are available, and man, do you go crazy over them! (Or at least I did, it took me 20 minutes to decide on those two I swear!)

Blott is situated in Cambridge's main mall, or 'Grand Arcade,' that houses most common chains like Hollister,  New Look, Apple and YO! Sushi - where we purchased lunch. Sat hiding in amongst the typical stores are some higher end chains like Ted Baker, Radley and Guess. But you know the best bit? There's a cupcake stall on the top floor. That's right, a cupcake stall.

27-year old Pylones was my second great find of the day, opposite the Grand Arcade on 34 Petty Cury selling equally quirky objects that branched out to more than stationary, jewellery, kitchen utensils and iPhone accessories from a range of designers that group from Paris to bring us foreigners awesome rubber based stuff. My friend bought a turquoise rubber snap-on watch (to replace the one she lost that morning!) and a keyring, both of which I adored. 

My favourite piece of Cambridge wasn't the winding streets but the market. It contains a ton of fruit stalls that sold strawberries that looked so good I almost bought one, but I compromised and ate some fruit on top of a Belgian waffle from a stall where a Frenchman promises they taste just like the waffles in Bruges - and I can testify, they do! Here you can buy beautiful scarves, Cambridge touristy items and University sweaters and t-shirts, for a decent market price, but standard store quality, no rip-offs. Which is always great!

And that was my day! If you ever visit, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

xx

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

£20 makeup challenge

My friend K and I took a trip around boots and I gave her this challenge: buy all the things you use to makeup your face for just £20. And no cheapsies, own brand cheats. Actual makeup that's worth spending the money on.
And she came up with this!
'You don't need a foundation on a daily basis. And you can't get a decent one cheaply, anyway. Eew.
But a concealer is an excellent alternative, and leaves you with a much quicker, more natural look. I choose Collection 2000's Lasting Perfection concealer in fair 1 for £4.19. I've heard lots about this on YouTube, although I haven't tried it myself. But it's on my list!
'Next up is eyes. Shadows?' She heads straight to the Seventeen stand, and takes a look at the starry eyes palettes.
'Buying a trio or quad is cheaper, because you get three eyeshadows but not three prices. I would have said the Rimmel quads are better, but on the cheap they're not ideal. she settles on a Starry Eyes in Starstruck for £4.99.
'Eyeliner and mascara. Umm...' She heads back to the seventeen stall and eyes the offer Boots has on at the moment.
'Ooh, this is useful! Yeah, let's do this!' She's found that any seventeen mascara comes with a free Doll'd Up Three-way eyeliner. Bit of a loophole, but that's what they're there for, right?!
She g
rabs Seventeen's cheapest waterproof mascara, £4.99 and the free eyeliner that goes with it, and takes a second to think.
'Waterproof, always waterproof. It just lasts and wears so much better than the normal stuff,' she comments
'What's next?' I ask.
'Cheeks and lips,' K answers decisively - and does a little twizzle to see which stalls she should head to for her next purchases.
'How much have I got left?'
'mmm... six pounds and thirteen pennies,' I calculate.
'Is that it! Ugh, I should have done lips first. Can't we just, like, cheat and do a £100 budget or something?!' We giggle, but no, we can't have a hundred pound budget because that just isn't how life works.
So she tries the Natural Collection stand again because, 'It's cheap, but it doesn't act cheap.' Well put.
One Blushed Cheeks (Sweet Cheeks, £1.99) and Moisture Shine Lipstick ('I love this stuff - it moisturises your lips as well as adding some colour,' Raspberry, £1.99) we are about to go for the finish line when we stop dead next to the Seventeen stall.
She gasps,'That offer on the mascara and eyeliner is on the more expensive mascara only! It's £5.99! How much out are we?'
I whip out my iPod calc - 1.99+1.99+4.19+4.99+5.99 for the new mascara..... '£19.15!! Haha, we win!
We are still in by eighty-five pence! Nice job!' K and I high-five and walk out triumphantly with our brand new face products, that (just) won't
even cost you £20!

xx


Sunday, April 14, 2013

Quizzing Pudding Crumbs

For a bit of change, I spent Easter chatting to Pudding Crumbs of http://diyuniquemadeeasy.blogspot.com/ and we eventually decided to interview each other! So, here are the results, and you can head over to her site to see my answers to her questions, which are already up! (Including my tiny piece of fashion advice, my favourite hobbies and what inspires me.) Have any questions of your own for me? Ask them on the You! page.


1. Describe yourself.
It's hard to describe myself. To keep it simple I will say that I am a creative, productive, and persistant. I will do anything I set my mind to do. I absoloutly love art and crafts. Not arts and crafts,but art and crafts. I like making my own crafts, painting, and looking at past art (Vincent van Gogh,Monet,Rembrandt).

2. What do you blog about and why do you do it?
I blog about my and others' creations and projects. Basically art stuff that I think is cool. I find a way to turn it into a DIY project. For Example: I made muffins today. You can make muffins to by going to this wesbite. I also give little helpful hints when blogging. At the moment I don't have a lot of posts up because I just resently started blogging only a few weeks ago.

3.How long have you been blogging for?
As I said in my answer above I have only been blogging for about a month. I always liked putting my ideas out there, but I never found a way. When I heard you had a blog I was like "perfect!"

4. What do your friends and family think of your blog?
My family and friends were kind of in awe when they saw that I had created a blog. They said that I am always so "dilligent". My family is very proud of my work. When I showed my friends they were like "this is cool!"

5. What is your favourite hobby and why do you do it?
I don't really have a favorite hobby because I do all sorts of crafting. My hobbies kind of range. I go through different crafting phases like beading, kniting, cooking, and all sorts of other stuff. I am also teaching my self piano (not one of my phases). I am not a child protogy or anything, but I thought it might be fun so I gave it a shot and it turns out that I really like it.

6. Where is your favourite place in the world and why?
I don't have a favorite place. I have never been out of the country, but if I could I guess I would go to South America because my roots lie there. If I could I would go to Japan. I love the way the citizens of Japan dress. They have so much style!

7. Describe your favourite item of clothing, tell us where you got it and why you love it!
This questions is so hard to answer! I have so many but because I have to choose I will say my favorite item are my tank tops.I love them because they bring color to a wardrobe even if they are tucked under your shirt and you can barely see them. They brighten me up! I got my tank tops all sorts of places. I have some from the Gap, Tjmax, and from Abercrombie and Fitch. The ones from Abercrombie are my favorite. They are such high quality. I have had them for a couple years and there are no rips or tears.

8. Heeled or flat soled shoes?
In my opinion I think flat soled shoes are better. You can buy really nice bright springy feeling ones at the Gap and at Jcrew! I have a neon pink pair and they go really nicely with any color outfit!

9. Name your top three TV shows
I don't have cable TV so my favorites are...
1. Kyle XY
2.Pretty Little Liers
3.Project Runway (even though I never get to watch it)

10. What would you like to be/do when you're older and what attracts you to it?
You would probably assume that I want to be an artist and if you guessed that you are right! I want to be an artist because I like being unique and different. I am attracted to because all sorts of art is unique!

11. Which, of the many projects on your blog, is your favourite?
I don't have many up on my blog,but my favorite is tie dyed cupcakes because I made them with my two greatest friends!

12. What tips do you have for anybody who loves arts and crafts?
For people love arts and crafts my only advice is to express yourself through your art. :)

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