The Colours Of Autumn - Outfit Of The Day / Night

As much as I love fashion, clothes, accessories and shoes, unlike a lot of bloggers I don't really post that many outfits of the day. There are many reasons I guess why I don't do that many ranging from a lack of confidence in front of the camera, to poor body image, and a not very skilled principal photographer (sorry Mummy Lou) but with a big birthday approaching I'm trying to be a bit more accepting of myself and a bit braver all round.

So just before I headed off to Monday night's Intu Eldon Square Fashion Spooktacular, the mother ship kindly shot a few pictures so I could cobble together a very rare outfit of the day post and this was the result...

What I Wore

Joe Browns At Simply Be - Autumn Leaf Wrap Dress

80 Denier Black Opaques - George At Asda 

Madia Tan Buckle Ankle Boots - Dorothy Perkins

Lola Rose Sloane Square Beaded Bracelet - Fire Agate

Olive Wood Wooden Bracelet - Somewhere In Cyprus 

I ordered this dress a few weeks ago now after seeing it on the Simply Be website. Joe Browns don't carry the plus size line on their own website (Why not though? How weird is that??) so I think that this dress is a Simply Be exclusive. It's not hard to see why I ordered it, it's just perfect for this time of year.

In a faux (essential if you're on the curvy side) wrap style, it's made from a stretchy jersey fabric. The dress has a black base which is a perfect foil for the flower and leaf print. Thanks to the brown, yellow, orange, tan, and grey tones, this dress fits perfectly into the traditional Autumnal colour palette, that gets its influence from the changing colours of the leaves and foliage, and those fabulous Autumn sunrises and sunsets.

Outside I teamed it with a black PU bomber jacket, and a black Michael Kors tote bag to tone in with both my holy grail black George opaque tights, and with the background of the dress.

Instead of going for a black boot or shoe though, I teamed this outfit up with one of my favourite pairs of boots, a pair of past season, tan, brown, buckle detail ankle boots from Dorothy Perkins, that coordinate perfectly with the colours on the dress They don't have a huge heel and they aren't too flat either so they're really comfortable which is great when to you need to walk around a bit, as I did on Monday night thanks to a fire alarm. They're quite a classic style so it shouldn't be too hard to find something similar in stores this season. Sticking with the tan theme and thinking of how I can wear the dress in the future I could also potentially wear it with my Clarks Hamble Oak Brogues (see my post here) for a different look.

Because the dress had such a busy and I didn't want to accent my cleavage too much, I decided not to wear a necklace and instead I wore, a bracelet on each wrist. On one wrist I wore a slightly, chunkier stretch bracelet which I got on holiday in Cyprus a few years ago, which is made from a varnished, golden brown toned olive wood, and on the other wrist I wore a Lola Rose bracelet, which I received as a Christmas present a few years ago now. I don''t think it's the easiest one to find anymore but it's the Lola Rose Sloane Square Beaded Bracelet, which originally came from QVC UK and mine is made from Fire Agate,  which with orange and brown tones, again perfectly with the print on the dress.

I know lot of bloggers let their pictures do the talking but you know me I love to talk and I thought it might be nice for you to find out a little bit about the pieces that I wore and why I chose them, even though in most cases here it is down to colour coordination ha ha. I'm really going to try and do more outfits of the day to try and be brave and boost my confidence a bit. Why shouldn't I ? After all human beings do come in all ages, shapes and sizes and we all clothes so if we love clothes we shouldn't we have the confidence to show ourselves off and put ourselves out there. Are you a fan of autumnal tones in clothing, jewellery and accessories? Let me know your thoughts in the comments x 

Birthday Pressie Haul - You Tube Video

Hi Guys x I hope you've all had a nice weekend, my week was pretty lousy but thankfully I had quite a productive weekend, and I managed to take lots of photographs, do a bit of product research and I also managed to film a couple of videos, including the reasons why I'm saying goodbye to Birchbox, and a little or should I say long! birthday pressie haul x

I admit it, it's a long one, but I received some lovely things this year that I really wanted to show you, I know I'm very lucky and truly blessed to have such an amazing family, and such loyal and thoughtful friends.

If you can't bare to listen to me rambling on for 25 minutes, I'll give you a few hints - The video contains a bit of everything, including a few clothing pieces from George, Bob Mackie, and Primark, some beautiful jewellery pieces from Lola Rose, some accessories from various places including Asda, and Accessorize, and some beauty bits from Benefit, Laura Geller and Tarte.

Again this isn't a to brag, it's just to show how grateful I am and to show you some of things that might pop up on my blog and my You Tube channel in the weeks and months to come x I'll only probably be reviewing the Benefit product ;) but I'm sure you'll see some of the clothing and jewellery pieces if you keep your eyes peeled x

Thanks for reading, and hopefully watching, and thank you again for the birthday wishes x 

Birthday Pressies :)

Ok apologies in advance I know some people don't like present hauls but erm tough :) This post is basically to show my gratitude to my lovely friends and family for being so generous and buying me such lovely gifts :)
The first pressie came from my mum - I have to admit I knew she'd got these for me because I had to order them for her lol

My wishlist goodies from the MAC Give Me Liberty Of London collection - you've probably seen these bits before but here are a few pics - Shell Pearl Beauty Powder - gorgeous sooo pleased I got this :)


2 lipglasses - Left - English Accents - Right - Frankly Fresh - Love :)

one lipstick in Peachstock

I was a bit scared about this some people said they didn't like it but thankfully I do :)

and an eyeshadow in Bough Grey

I like the eyeshadow packaging but not enough to not bother depotting it lol - especially when it means I'll have 6 empties :), and I got a new 15 pan palette:)

I also got a whole load of bath and smelly things from friends, my mum and other relatives - here is just some of it - some Benefit, some Body Shop Lemon, some Bomb Cosmetics Raspberry Ice Cream Shower oh and there is a pop gloss tin there too :)

I got a Body Shop Cocoa Butter gift set from my godparents and a Sanctuary Gift Set from my bestie and loads of other bits I haven't pictured including Girl2Go, more Body Shop, and these gorgeous Elemis goodies also from my mummy :)

I also got lots of jewellery bits including a ring from my godparents which I love - you can't see too clearly here but it's all flowers, butterfly's, and dragonfly's :)

I also got this cute Top Shop bracelet from my bestie :)

and this super cute Lola Rose gift set from the cats via my mum lol - first of all here is the gift box

and the cute little bags all the items come in and the message in the box so cute :

I can't get a proper picture myself so I've found this one online - it really doesn't do the stone justice - it's blue sandstone and you can see all the sparkles inside it - it really looks like a starry sky - in my set I got the heart pendant on a suedette cord, the tumbled stone bracelet which fastens with a cute Chinese knot, and the matching tumble sterling silver earrings - gorgeous I love this so much - my first but hopefully not my last pieces of Lola Rose :)

I also got a few clothing and accessory bits including two tops from Top Shop


this super useful Jane Shilton bag from my godparents

it looks black in the first picture but as you can see in this one of the stud detailing it's a grey / taupe tone - its pleather but it super soft and light and I'll fit loads in it - love it :)

I also got these gorgeous Accessorize leather sandals from my godparents - I actually went shopping with my godmother a few weeks ago and she picked these up for me - we actually went in to look at jewellery but it was love at first sight - the daisies etc. are just sooo me


This is just a selection of some of the things that I got - everyone was so generous I also have a mountain of chocolate including multiple boxes of Thorntons yum! and some other bits I haven't included and of course some money (which is already spent two hauls to come - whoops) - I was well and truly spoilt by everyone and I have another pressie to come from my other bestie when her parents go to visit :D yeah to extended birthdays -thanks again for all the birthday wishes too you are all lovely xx Any questions on anything I got please let me know xx

More Pre Spending Ban Purchases

Sorry for the pretty bad photos as per usual but my necklaces came -sorry they aren't too clear, and my earrings but they seem to have sent me a coral orange pair instead of the creamy white I ordered. I wasn't sure about them initially but they are really growing on me, they look lovely and summery and coral is right on trend for this season a definite keeper :)


I also got my super metallic reddy, orange havaianas from Powder Rooms Havaianas are probably the comfiest flip flops known to humanity I have quite a few pairs (erm about 10 :) )in all sorts of different colours - they are really fab. I tend to buy mine from Powder Rooms, the owner Soraya has really good prices and really good selection of colours and styles, including children's. Her shop sells some really quirky fashion, home, and beauty goodies, including brands such as Lola Rose, Ciate (the pic also features a Ciate cuticle oil pen ;) ), Billy Bag and Kings and Queens. Everything is always beautifully wrapped in tissue, and you usually get some Powder Rooms candy rock sweeties. Highly recommended and well worth a look :)

I also made my first purchase of the month today - £2.00 on Red magazine in Tesco (£3.50 if bought anywhere else this month)It also came with a free cute Cowshead Make Up Bag (also pictured)which is available in black and also in white :) - Fab - only £28 left to spend this month -argh!!!!