I've survived freshers?!

So...I've managed to survive my first week of freshers and start of uni, I haven't come out unscathed though as I have literally been ill for what feels like a decade!  I'm sure you're all glad to know that I'm starting to get better now though (fingerscrossed)!

 What can I say about being a fresher? 

Its a lot of fun, a little overwhelming, you end up with many hangovers and extreme tiredness. I feel like I've been the only fresher that may have been excited to start their course. I'm studying Fashion Buying and Merchandising in Manchester, and my first day was actually pretty damn good and a positive one. 

My course is very heavily female orientated so it was funny when two boys thought it was too good to be true with all the lovely ladies in the room. Until they realised they where sat in the wrong lecture and should be in Business Management! Today covered the basics of the course and I actually can not wait to get stuck in, come back to me in 6 months time and I bet I've changed my tune! 

The reading has started!

Little corner of my new room!

 The whole moving out thing hasn't yet sunk in, I'm still finding it weird not waking up in my own bed but you meet that many lovely people I haven't gave homesickness the chance (plus I'm only a train journey a way from home if I do!). The only thing I haven't adapted too is student dressing, its too casual for me to cope with so instead I've just been swapping heels for trainers on a night out!

 Tonight I'm off to a Student Lock in, in the Arndale Centre where shops shut for students only and do crazy discounts in store so hopefully i'll be able to bag a few bargains to share! 

So hopefully happy shopping!

lots of love, 

Lauren xo 

Instagram wish come true!

I couldn’t contain my excitement when I received a text of my friend today… 20% off at Topshop! Straight away , the image of a pair of cropped dark pink cigarette trousers popped to mind. 20% off meant they went from £40 to £32. It amazing how fast I can do maths when it involves discount off clothes I’ve only dreamt of!

 

Topshop is holding this discount for students only, with a valid student card, both online and in store. But it ends on Wednesday at midnight so make sure you don’t miss out!  

I thought this day couldn’t get any better.. until I walked past River Island! They are also holding 20% off for students from Tuesday 30^th September until Thursday 2^nd October.  You may have seen my ‘wishlist’ heels that I posted on Instagram.. from tomorrow they will be mine. With my NUS card, they go from £65 to £52, a total investment! Statement heels are never a mistake, especially ones this beautiful. I also feel like this is fate, well that’s what I’m telling myself!

Enjoy the bargains!

 

Love Erin x

I'm rocking Chanel.

Dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes, so I obviously go for dark lips! For a while now my go to lipstick has been from Kate Moss’ Lasting Finish collection for Rimmel (number 107), a matte deep red. And if I’m not feeling dark, I wear a lipstick I bought whilst in Paris with Lauren, from Urban Decay. Its called ‘F Bomb’, and I have a feeling you guessed by the name.. its bright red (I only ever wear reds and purples.. pink is untouched territory that I’m just not ready for).

I have only ever spent £15 at most on lipstick, but I thought it was time to splash out, make an investment and treat myself. Lauren and Emma could only point me in one direction.. CHANEL. After much airport browsing and testing colours, I decided on a lipstick from the ‘Rouge Allure’ collection, number 99, ‘Pirate’. The colour is amazing, but I’m yet to wear it out (I feel only a cocktail night suffices and not a night in town with my converse). When applied the colour is intense and it feels so creamy! I may be converted for life..

 

Love Erin x

Fresher Fair goodies!

Burberry dreams!

I feel like all I ever blog about is clothes but I have a new steal that I just need to share. I've wanted a Burberry trench coat for ever and have vowed to myself that when (and if) I receive my first proper pay cheque I would splurge it all on a beauty from Burberry.

  They are timeless classics so I feel like its more of an investment...well that's what i'm telling myself anyway!  

I've seen a few great copies on the Highstreet in the likes of Zara which I loved but they were a softer structure and ended up swamping me and looking like a dressing gown. Makes me jealous when I see girls rocking the coat with ripped jeans and trainers, wishing I could pull them off. 

 I also feel like I start a lot of stories with 'I was shopping in Primark when..' but I was shopping in Primark when I saw a fabulous equivalent that I was willing to compromise with until I could save enough pennies. 

Its perfect as the material is soft but it still manages to maintain its structure so doesn't swamp. Im in trench coat love!

lots of love,

lauren xo

Sparkles are a girl's best friend

Uni rooms are, at the best of times, a wee bit bland. So today I went to the lovely St. Nicholas' Market in Bristol to root out some hidden treasures to spruce up my room. As my pictures show, I fell in love with one shop in particular. Masses and masses of beautifully embroidered wall hangings and throws filled ever corner of the small store. How convenient that my student loan finally arrived today! If you're like me and love all things sparkly, then this one's for you!

Honey, I'm home

After a week of being the world's shittest blogger, I've officially sorted my life out and got my arse back on to the internet! In the space of a couple of weeks I managed to get my phone stolen which left me Instagram-less (this affected me much more than I'd like to admit) and then moved to my new house in Bristol which left me temporarily wifi-less. But finallly I've got everything sorted and can impart my never ending wisdom on to all of you lovely freshers.

So here are the top things that I've learnt in my first week of being an official 2nd Year (essays that actually count, arghhhhh)

Get Involved. In my first year I dipped my toe in to a few things ... cocktail society, Northern society, English society, writing for various newspapers - but I never really committed myself to anything. This year I've thrown myself in at the deep end by working as Deputy Style Editor for Epigram Newspaper (cheeky plug for the Uni newspaper) and as geeky as it sounds, being part of a team is actually so much fun. Sometimes it can be really easy to get stuck in a rut at Uni and not venture far from the friends that you made in halls, especially if you do a humanities subject like me and have about 6 hours of Uni a week (doesn't exactly spare much time for bonding). So put yourself out there! Join a team or a club, make loads of new friends and find something that you're passionate about - it will make those times when you're stressed and home sick much more bearable.

Expect Hard Times. With everyone constantly banging on about how good freshers is and how exciting living away from home is, the fact that Uni is bloody hard can often be forgotten. For probably the first time in your life you're alone, living with complete strangers, maybe in a new city, and it can sometimes all feel a bit shit. You will get homesick. But it's ok! Everyone does, and the people who say they don't are probably lying. Everyone has those times where everything gets a bit much, but the most important thing is just to remember that it's temporary. The good times outweigh the bad times by ten fold - just get a good nights sleep and most things will seem unimportant by the morning.

Relax. In my first year I was so concerned with joining every society, getting work experience, finding a job etc etc etc, that I forgot to stop and actually enjoy it! You're only in Uni for 3 years and it goes soooo fast, so of course try and make the most of it work wise, but have fun too! It seems simple but it's easy to get caught up in all of the 'what am I going to do after Uni' stuff and not actually enjoy the time that you're a student. You get to lie in, drink a lot and eat loads of beans on toast, what's not to love??

Make you're room feel like home. This one is basically so that I can show off my pictures of my new room looking all cute and cosy (as cute and cosy as a student house can be).

Love always,

Emma xo

Sometimes.. buying the coat is just necessary!

I hate to say I told you so but I did! Primark AW14 is totally on point! After seeing Lauren’s post about her amazing floppy hat from Primark, I felt you also needed to know about the absolute bargains I came by the other day.

Literally it was like a movie.. something caught the corner of my eye, glowing, and drawing me closer. I actually couldn’t stop myself from going over and what I saw.. I fell in love with. It was a coat of my dreams. Camel coloured, boyfriend cut with a beautiful fur collar that ended at the buttons. But my dream came to a crashing holt when the only size was a 20. I think I was actually heartbroken.

 

BUT.. have no fear, Monday morning deliveries came and so did the smaller sizes. I decided to buy a 12, bit of room for when the chunky knit jumpers are on. In my eyes, it’s one of those coats that automatically improves any outfit, and also is just a continuous classic style, no matter what the year. Oh, I nearly forgot the best bit… it was only £25!!

 

I also picked up another key piece in Primark ( yes I can admit to a slight obsession at the moment!) I found black ballet pumps with gold chain detail, £8. So simple but definitely a necessary part of my wardrobe!

 

Love Erin x

The search is over..

The search is over... I've been looking for a floppy felt hat for as long as I can remember, ever since I spied Vanessa Hudgens in a gorgeous camel coloured one, I knew I needed one in my life.

Luckily for me as AW14 rolls round, so have the floppy hats and I've searched high and low for the right amount of flop and the right price ! Topshop have a lovely selection in all sort of autumnal colours but with the price tag of £30 (ish) I just couldn't bring myself to part with the cash and was leaving it to Santa to buy me! Everywhere from forever21 to miss Selfridges stock them all in a range of sizes and prices so if your on the search like me, highstreet shops deffo have some goodies!

 

 

I found my beauty in none other than Primark ( a shop you can always count on!). I did start my search in Primark knowing they can't be beat in price but the hats they had just weren't floppy enough for me, and I was also looking for black as I knew they would go with my winter coats. I was in Primark looking for a few last minute uni buys when I stumbled across the perfect hat with the perfect price tag, at £10 it was an absolute steal ! So now the search is over and I can't wait for the weather to get a bit colder to give me an excuse to wear it !

 

Lots of love,
Lauren xo

SS15 must haves!

I’ve had a week or so being out of touch with all things blogging due to my laptop not working AKA my mum dropping it on the floor! And without sounding dramatic, I have struggled without my laptop linking me to the fashion world especially in the midst of fashion week. But don’t worry, instead I’ve used up all the data on my phone keeping up to date with all that’s gone on. Luckily my laptop is going in to get repaired in a couple of days as I couldn’t possibly face another week being completely ostracised from the 21^st century and leaving all the blogging up to Emma and Erin! So, soon normality will be restored just as I’m about to move off to Manchester for uni, I’m lucky that both Erin and Emma have gone before me so I’ve picked up tips from both of them, especially from Erin’s blog post!

As New York Fashion Week has drawn to a close (and I’ve managed to stalk the whole event on Instagram) I thought I would share my favourite collections that I would love to get my hands on… wishful thinking I know!

Michael Kors

Henry Holland

Marchesa

 

 

Roll on spring 2015!

Hopefully I’ll be back to blogging ASAP!

Love,

Lauren xo

1 week in the beautiful Liverpool!

I have officially been a uni student for a whole week! 1 entire week of independence and trying to figure out how to be a grown up. Well.. sort of. My cooking skills haven’t been horrendous, I’ve managed to wake up on time, find my way to my classes and somehow go out for 6 nights on the run. The consequence of this was ‘freshers flu’ of course! What. A. Bitch. Therefore tonight is a night in, playing cards and watching movies with my new uni family who I have already become insanely attached to.

The absolutely beautiful LIVERPOOL!

Here are some things that may help your first week away from home easier:

-  Fill your room with photos from home, it really helps with homesickness and makes your room look fab.

-  I decided to decorate, so matching covers, pillows, towels, lamp, throw… my room has a colour scheme.. I love it.

-  Freshers! Avoid heels at all costs. You are allowed a 2 week pass of flats. Its allowed, I promise!

-  Clothes for freshers was something I was panicking about, but I decided the outfits I wore on holiday (see previous holiday posts) were perfectly casual, teamed with flats for a sweaty club with a lot of underdressed people.

-  Find the nearest food shop to you, trekking back to your flat becomes a lot harder without a car. Also learn to budget. It helps.

-  Think of easy food you can cook before you go. If all else fails, everyone can cook a pizza right?

-  Making friends is so important so don’t be shy, they’re all scared too and you’ll find so many lovely people around you !

-  Skype, facetime, tango.. whatever you use, video calling is brilliant! Actually being able to see your family is so good!

-  Go to all your welcome fairs and inductions! No this doesn’t make you uncool, it makes you knowledgeable. And knowledge is power!

-  And finally if your shopping addiction is getting the best of you, go to Primark, all their AW14 stuff is really good!

This is my bed set, absolutely love floral!

Let me know how you all get on!

Love Erin x

Burberry inspires..

I realise our posts about holiday may be a bit full on, considering the weather outside doesn’t really scream shorts and crop top weather. So I want to start breaking us in to AW14 styles and buys.

Of course, now as a student, the lack of money is doing only one thing.. making me notice all the beautiful clothes that I can’t afford. A style that I really want to adopt for autumn and winter is the ‘wrap scarf’, also known as the ‘blanket wrap’. I first saw this look in the Burberry AW14 show and fell in love.

                     

 

The block colours and tones just feel perfect to me for winter and the exact way to add a new edge to a basic outfit. Obviously this was earlier on in the year so I never noticed the style hit the high street until I was in New Look the other day. They have a range of different patterned wrap scarves priced between £20 - £25, so extremely reasonable (especially for a poor student like myself). Here are two of my favourite picks from their website..

                                      

 

                                      

Love Erin x

Post holiday blues...

5 days back in England (how has it only been five days???) and I'm still severely suffering from the post holiday blues. I spend all day dreaming of cocktails on the beach and sunsets on the balcony. So even thought it's ridiculously late to be doing a holiday style post (lets pretend it's not September, ok?) I'm going to bombard you with loads of outfits pics anyway just to make myself feel better. I've got a big mish-mash of snaps from Espagnol; some of myself, and others of Erin and Lauren. Because I'm too lazy to ask them where any of their outfits are from, feel free to leave us a comment and we'll get back to you with the shopping deets.

Love always, 

Emma xo