STYLE-CRUSH SATURDAY: CLAIRE UNDERWOOD

Okay, so whilst picking a fictional First Lady for my style crush is a little unusual... can you blame me?

Over the past week I've binge-watched the first two seasons of House of Cards (it's amazing - please go watch it) and I've totally fallen in love with Claire Underwood's wardrobe. She just looks so damn powerful.

The sheer simplicity of her clothes makes her look effortlessly sophisticated and the highly tailored structures look dynamic and tidy.

High necklines cut into V or square shapes make her clothes look almost like armour and the icy colours just exude cold, calculated control.

She may not be a woman to look up to (with more than questionable morals), but I think her wardrobe is definitely something to aspire to emulate. After all, who doesn't want to feel like a total queen?

High waisted pencil skirts and structured bodycons are now top of my agenda. And, I mayybee considering cutting all of my hair off. That pixie cut screams fearless pragmatism.

Anybody else totally crushing on her wardrobe?

Bath and Body Works Sale! Chistmas Candle Haul

Hello!

Bath and Body Works never disappoints with their end of holiday sales and after hearing so much about the Christmas candle range, I couldn't wait to pick up a few of their scents in the sale!

These scents were all so yummy and they were cut down to 1/3 of the price. They're perfect for extending a little bit of holdiday Magic into January and also make great gifts for friends who have birthdays coming up. 

The mint chocolate smells absolutely divine! It has to be my favorite.

Also managed to nab some cute hand sanitizer a for a friend who I know loves them!

What are you waiting for? Get on down there!

2015

It's a new year and despite not blogging for months, I decided I wanted to reflect upon 2014/2015 on here...

2014 has been (and I'm sure will be) the most challenging year of my life. 

I've lost the person who, at this stage in my life, was most important to me. Mum, I will miss you and love you everyday.

Although that will be the defining memory of 2014, I have also achieved goals which I never though we're possible: I've actually started exercising! Yep, after a lifetime of inactivity I have now been running for 4 months, have run 2x 10km races and have a half marathon lined up for 2015. Running has become the highlight of my day (maybe that means I should get a life*). 

*'The terrible and wonderful reasons I run long distance' by The Oatmeal pretty much sums it up.

I also somehow managed to get the results I wanted for AS Level which allowed me to apply (and get rejected) from Oxford. It's all character building, right? There's always next year...

I'm sure I will have plenty more failures to come so I better get used to it.

2015 will be another year of incredible change. Finally leaving the city I've grown up in and subsequently the people I see everyday. There will be 1 or 2 people who it will kill me to say goodbye to and I'm absolutely dreading it. Friends and family are easy to keep in touch with but there are some people, those which you don't necessarily talk to a lot, but those which you go from seeing on a regular basis to almost no contact at all... Don't know how I'm going to deal with that at the moment.

I'm trrryyyyinnngg to stay positive about moving but failing massively. Im terrified. 

I'm not normally one for New Years resolutions but decided that for this year some direction would be nice...

1. Don't feel guilty about relaxing

2. Drink less coffee

3. Daily meditation

4. Make time for my passions

5. Build my confidence

6. Be happy and, as always, grateful...

And finally, wear my black milk more often! 

I wish you all the best for 2015 x

THE GOLD PARCEL

A magical gold parcel arrived… and it's not full of a white powder…

BLACK MILK GOODIE BAG TIME!

So a week ago Black Milk were hosting a 'Villains' Flat Lay competition on their Facebook page. I went into super-competitive mode and made two entries:

I spent around 4 hours making the Evil Queen entry and almost set my bedroom on fire but low and behold.. my Maleficent entry made it into the top 5! *queue 5 hours of an inane grinning*

The gold package arrived today, carrying some very exciting goodies:

Stickers, water bottle and bag are my favs I think! *Voucher + 2 wristbands not pictured*

Thank you so much to Black Milk, one very happy sharkie over here!

Here's me unbagging:

http://youtu.be/vKVPK5J68NE

Obsessed with YouTube

A bit of a short and random post today but here we go...

Until about a year ago, the idea of a 'YouTuber' was completely new to me.

My best friend then introduced me to danisnotonfire, whose channel I quickly fell in love with.

It took me a while to venture around and find new channels to subscribe to but I have found some people who I absolutely adore and today, I felt inspired to write about one of my favourites: grav3yardgirl!

Grav3yardgirl or 'Bunny' is a 28 year old YouTuber from Texas and she posts makeup tutorials, 'Does this thing really work?' reviews, 'Tea Vlogs' and lots of Halloween related content which I absolutely relish.

Subscribe to her channel and 'give an alligator it's wings'! It's a whole lot of fun being a member of the 'Swamp Family' (referring to her family of subscribers) and the Swamp Queen is without doubt the friendliest, quirkiest and coolest YouTuber out there.

Watching grav3yardgirl is like hanging out with one of your best friends for 10/20 minutes. I have so much in common with her from being obsessed with Halloween and creepy things from as young as I can remember to watching the X-Files and dressing up as Scully. Vlogging is something that's really started to interest me as a hobby and a way of sharing my passions with others, if I do start a channel, I owe it to Bunny!

Anybody who enjoys watching YouTubers should definitely check her out!

The Greatest Clothing Brand

Hello!
For my first post on my blog I wanted to dedicate it so something very important to me… BLACK MILK CLOTHING!

I discovered the brand in September of 2012 and fell instantly in love. I found it through Tumblr when I saw the Shark vs Mermaid Swimsuit and decided to Google where to buy it. I went on the site and then decided that I wanted everything. My Mum agreed that the clothes were amazing and so said that I could pick some out for my 16th birthday which was fast approaching.

Here is me unwrapping my first three pieces: Galaxy Green, Leg Bones 1.0 and Mechanical Leggings. Saaahhhh smoooth & shiny!

I thought that would be it. 

I thought 'Hey, what a cool site, I'll pick my favourites off it. It'll be awesome to own some'. There was (and is) something so magical about the whole experience of buying from Black Milk. The friendliness of the team behind the brand, the limited edition pieces, the 'museum' of long gone pieces and most of all the shiny black packages that are delivered straight to your door. The quality of the pieces is unrivalled. Zero sheerness and they fit your body like a glove. 

2 years later and I'm still buying from Black Milk and anxiously waiting to see each new design unveiled. I've immersed my self in a community of Black Milk aficionados called 'Sharkies' (for nomming like crazy each time a new collection drops) and have found my social media sites completely taken over by the friendly and supportive community. I've swapped and bought pieces from other Sharkies all over the world. It seems an instant bonding point as soon as you meet someone in real life who buys from Black Milk. You instantly have oodles of things to talk about and you each gush your appreciation and love for the brand. 

Collection shot from a year ago

I save as much money as I can a month and put it aside for Black Milk, knowing that there will always be something to catch my eye in a future release. I buy a piece on average once every one and a half months and so have a modest but very select collection of pieces of which I absolutely adore. 

Thank you to Black Milk for, with no exaggeration, changing my life. I've made friends both in real life and on the internet all thanks to a mutual love of shiny nylon goodness!

My collection currently stands at 16 pieces… all of which you can view on my Pinterest board!