Posts tagged Challenge

F&F Paper Doll Party Looks – Part 2

1

For the second part of my entry into the #FFPaperDollParty styling challenge, I have put together four more looks for the party season.  I’ve had so much fun dressing up my personalised paper doll with the peel off clothes that came with her, so I hope you enjoy seeing the outfits I’ve created for her!

December Birthday Party

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Everyone has that one friend or relative with a December birthday, and I actually think it’s quite nice to get away from everything Christmas-related for one night, so for a December Birthday Party I went for this pretty Rose Print Shift Dress.  It isn’t overly festive and could easily be worn at any time of year, so would make a great wardrobe staple for 2014.

Night In

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Whether you’re lazing around watching TV, having a girly evening with friends or playing board games with the family, a festive night in is an absolute necessity at this time of year.  If you’re not going out you don’t have to dress up, but you can still look good whilst being comfortable by teaming a gorgeous camisole with a pair of cosy leggings.

Night Out

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

For a night out this black Tuxedo Playsuit would be perfect.  The classic cut and satin trim are really chic, and teamed with your favourite heels, a cute clutch and some statement jewellery you’d be effortlessly party-ready.  The red version is also really eye-catching if black isn’t your thing.

Bar with Boyfriend

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

If you’re heading to a fancy bar with your boyfriend for a few drinks, these Leather-Look Trousers and Sequin Sleeve Jacket are classy and smart, but also have a bit of an edge, especially with just a pretty basque underneath!  The Sequin Sleeve Jacket is easily my favourite piece from F&F’s partywear collection – it’s stunning, and so versatile.

Which look is your favourite?

Naomi x

F&F Paper Doll Party Style Challenge

2

Earlier this week I received a lovely little surprise in the post from F&F at Tesco. I had no idea what the parcel was going to be, and when I opened it I found this prettily wrapped box, containing another, smaller box with a little clue on the front – the hashtag #FFPaperDollParty. Once I opened the second box, all was revealed through a note explaining what the parcel was about…

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

F&F are running a styling competition for fashion bloggers, and each blogger has received a personalised paper doll with a selection of key pieces from the F&F Christmas Collection to style their doll with. Bloggers must then share their Paper Doll style using the #FFPaperDollParty hashtag, to be in with a chance of winning an all-expenses paid Luxury F&F Experience. How exciting is that?!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The box also contained yet another box, which had four beautifully iced fashion-inspired biscuits inside. These were from London company Biscuiteers, and they’re just lovely!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I really can’t wait to start styling my paper doll, so keep an eye out on blog and Twitter for the different looks that I create!

Naomi x

Blogger Challenge – Fantastic Fashion Gifts for £35 or less

3

I was recently asked to enter GiftsVouchers.co.uk‘s Blogger Challenge, and as a fan of fun little competitions like this I couldn’t turn down the offer!  The aim of the challenge is to scour the internet and find five or more fashionable gift ideas, all of which must cost less than £35 each.  After all, as Bewitchery always says, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get something good!

The way I have decided to approach this challenge is to put together a selection of Christmas gift ideas for Women, but also some for Men, as we all know that men can be spectacularly difficult to buy for!  So let’s get things started… (All pictures are clickable if you want a closer look).

Gifts for Her

Shop these gifts…

Alice Tea Party Charm Bracelet – Collectif – £10.00
This Alice Tea Party Charm Bracelet is so unusual and quirky, but also really pretty and feminine.  It would make an ideal gift for any individual girly girls out there!  I, for one, have a friend who would absolutely love this.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte E-Reader Cover – TruffleShuffle – £14.99
Though I am still an ardent advocate of books over e-readers, I couldn’t help but fall for this Gothic vintage-style e-reader cover from TruffleShuffle, as Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite novels.  I think it would make a great gift for those who love to accessorise their technology.  TruffleShuffle also stock a wide range of other book related e-reader covers so there’s something there for everyone.

Ciate 24 Piece Mini Mani Month – QVC – £31.20
Ciate’s Mini Mani Month is a luxe, grown up version of an advent calendar, which contains 20 mini Ciate Paint Pots and 4 mini pots of Caviar Beads.  At £31.20 it is an absolute bargain (I’ve seen it being sold for a lot more in shops such as Selfridges) as you get a lot for your money!  I think this would make a great early Christmas present for any nail varnish-loving sister, mother, auntie or cousin. Or, if you know someone with a November birthday, you could get them this and extend their birthday joy throughout December! Of course, it would also make a lovely little treat for yourself (I have ordered one just for me, hehe).

River Island Bird Cage PJ Bottoms and Top – ASOS – £15 each or £30 the pair
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a snuggly pair of new PJs, and this set from ASOS is just the cutest!  The bird cage print, monochrome colours, silky fabric and traditional cut are all so classy and make these PJs suitable for anybody.  The top and bottoms are available separately for £15 each, making the whole set an affordable £30.

Elaine Cat Slippers – Topshop – £14.00
Set the cat among the pigeons with these sweet little slippers from Topshop – the perfect partner for the Bird Cage PJs!  The slippers are lined with faux fur so are really soft and warm.  If you’re stuck for gift ideas, you can never go wrong with a pair of slippers, especially if they’re as cute as these.

Songbird Mini Bag – Totally Funky – £24.99
Roses, fluffy kittens, stunning birds, musical scores and vintage-style prints…  What’s not to love about this bag?

Gifts for Him

Shop these gifts…

Vintage Typewriter Padded Laptop/iPad Sleeve from Ted Baker – TruffleShuffle – £30.00
As you may have picked up through my women’s gift ideas, there seems to be a real trend for vintage right now, and this Typewriter Laptop Sleeve gives vintage a more masculine feel.  Having said that, I’m not one for gendering products and I’d quite like this myself.  This sleeve is by Ted Baker but is available from TruffleShuffle, one of my favourite online retro stores.

Zombie Slippers – Firebox – £19.99
How amazing are these slippers?  These would make such a fun, comfortable gift for any undead-loving bloke.  They are exclusive to Firebox and are available to pre-order now.

Navy All Over Stag Jumper – Topman – £32.00
This gorgeous jumper combines this year’s fashion for motif knitwear with the traditional and obligatory Christmas jumper, but a lot less tacky as the colours are highly wearable too.  The jumper comes in sizes XXS to XL, so it is suited to fit all shapes and sizes!

Batman Logo Cufflinks (Design One and Design Two) – MenKind – £12.99 each
Everybody loves a bit of Batman (especially me), and these Batman Cufflinks would add a bit of awesome to any smart outfit.  Whether you want bright and cartoony or sleek and stylish, there’s a pair for everyone.  They almost make me wish I wore suits so I could have some too!

Organic Homme Shave Kit – Green People – £35.00
Where possible I like to buy natural skin care products, even for other people, and I absolutely adore this chic-looking shave kit.  Everything in the kit is vegetarian and vegan friendly, organic, fairly-traded and made from natural ingredients, so it is suitable for all skin types, even sensitive skin.  Give a guilt-free gift this Christmas!

Gifts Vouchers’ blogger challenge officially closes today, but it has been extended until Sunday if you would like to enter!  There will be two winners – one chosen at random and one chosen by fellow blogger milkteef, and each winner will receive a £35 voucher of their choice from either ASOS, Topshop, Amazon, BooHoo.com, or a 3 month JolieBox subscription.  You can visit here to find out how to enter!

Good luck everyone!

Naomi x

BooHoo £50 Blogger Challenge

2

To celebrate BooHoo being included in Fashion Vouchers‘ ‘Top 10 Fashion Money Saving Websites’ list, Fashion Vouchers have launched a new blogger challenge!  The challenge is to put together an outfit costing £50 or less using clothes, shoes, accessories or anything else from BooHoo’s website.  There will be four winners, and each will win a £50 BooHoo fashion voucher.  I love a good bargain so this challenge is right up my street!  I’ve entered a couple of other challenges like this before and I always enjoy window shopping lovely items to put together my ideal outfit on a budget, so I thought I would give this one a go too, and here is my entry…


(Click the image for a closer look)

Shop this look:

– Annie Oversized Vintage Jumper in ‘Black’ (£20) – Davina Skull Print Leggings in ‘Berry’ (£10) –

– Quinn Black Suedette Platform Courts (£12) – Diamante Skull Chain (£8) –

I have been browsing the high street a lot lately for Autumn trends, and have spotted a lot of big slouchy jumpers and grunge style pieces on the shelves, with a mix of Gothic style prints.  Lucky for me, I already incorporate these styles into my look anyway, so it seemed only natural to take this route when choosing my outfit for the challenge.

Too often people go for bright, patterned tops and plain bottoms, so I thought I would switch the conventions around a bit.  I knew that I wanted to team a simple black jumper with bold bottoms, and the Annie Oversized Vintage Jumper seemed like a good starting point.  I chose the red Skull Print Leggings to go with it as they offset the bagginess of the jumper nicely by being skin-tight, and the red adds a gorgeous splash of Autumn colour.  The skull print is what initially drew me to this piece as it happens to be one of my favourite clothing prints, and it gives the outfit a hint of Gothic.

I added black Platform Courts to the outfit to show that grunge/Goth can be sexy too, and that the image can be carried through to the evening with some killer, confidence boosting heels.  My final addition was the Diamante Skull Chain.  I adore big statement pieces of jewellery, and own a few sparkly skull necklaces myself, so when I saw this necklace I just had to include it…  It matches the leggings perfectly, and would really stand out on the simple jumper, giving the outfit a girly edge.

My outfit totals exactly £50, which I am very pleased with.  This is the kind of thing I will be wearing myself throughout Autumn and Winter, and if I win I may even use the voucher to buy this outfit!

I was contacted about this challenge by email yesterday, but anybody can enter.  If you fancy trying your hand at styling on a budget, here are the rules for entering:

How to Enter

1. Head over to BooHoo.com and start piecing together an outfit, making sure you do not exceed your £50 budget (no student discounts or other voucher codes can be used to help you stretch this budget I’m afraid).

2. Write a post about your outfit and this competition on your blog, which includes a link back to our home page www.fashionvouchers.com.

3. Email a link to your entry to .

Rules

1. The prize will consist of 1 x £50 BooHoo.com voucher, and there will be four winners.

2. No cash alternative is available for the prize.

3. The competition starts on September 1st.

4. Closing date for entries is September 30th.

5. Winner will be announced by October 10th on our twitter page @fashvouchers.

6. Only one entry per person.

I hope you like my outfit, and if you decide to enter yourself please comment below with the link to your entry so I can check out your fashion finds… and good luck!

Naomi x

House of Fraser Blogger Style Challenge

0

Yesterday morning I was told about the new Blogger Style Challenge by House of Fraser.  The challenge is to browse the House of Fraser website and put together a look using their new arrivals, which incorporates next season’s trends.  The lucky winner will receive £200 worth of House of Fraser vouchers, so I wasn’t going to pass up my chance of entering!  The official rules for the challenge are as follows:

Step 1: Head over to www.houseoffraser.co.uk and pick your favourite new season pieces.

Step 2: Put together your look and post it on your blog. Tell us what you love about the pieces you’ve picked and where you would wear them.

Step 3: Leave a comment below with a link to your post so we can take a look.

Step 4: Check back to see if we choose you as our favourite!

I really enjoy doing posts like this (who doesn’t love a bit of window shopping?) so I didn’t waste any time in putting my look together. A little bit of research revealed that, this Autumn and Winter, purple, Goth, leather and mini bags will all be very popular, and for me this is very good news! Purple is my favourite colour and I’ve always had a slightly dark/Goth side (someone once described me as a cross between Marilyn Manson and Bambi, which is apparently a compliment), so I had no trouble putting together an on-trend outfit that I would love to wear myself.  This is what I came up with…

Shop this look:

— Whistles Naomi Leather Jacket — East Pintuck Detail Ggt Blouse — Victoria Beckham Power Skinny Jeans in ‘Berry’ — Bertie Prang Biker Boots — Jacques Vert Grape Tailored Clutch Bag — Azendi 8mm Sterling Silver Purple Cubic Zirconia Slider — Guerlain Rouge Lipstick in ‘Gigolo’ — Clarins Kohl Eye Pencil —

I’m really into purple skinny jeans at the minute, and since purple will be big this Autumn/Winter, I thought this would be a good starting point.  Luckily, House of Fraser are stocking newly arrived Victoria Beckham Skinny Jeans in the stunning shade of ‘Berry’.  I then teamed the jeans with a long-sleeved, floaty black blouse.  The layered, flowing fabric is reminiscent of the feminine Gothic clothing that I’ve been seeing on the catwalk, so it seemed like a great choice.

When I saw the zipped, strapped and buckled boots and jacket, I knew they were perfect for my outfit. Not only do they follow the leather trend, but they instantly reminded me of the protagonist of my favourite Gothic love story, Edward Scissorhands. The jacket also shares my name, so I just had to include it!

To carry the purple theme through, I went for deep purple accessories – the Azendi necklace and the Jacques Vert Clutch Bag.  The bag picks up on next season’s trend for mini bags as well.

Finally, the make up…  To match the accessories and to give a further vampy, Gothic edge, I chose a dark purple lipstick by Guerlain that I have now fallen in love with.  If I win the £200 vouchers, it will definitely be on my ‘to buy’ list!  The Clarins Kohl Eye Pencil is the final Gothic touch, for dark, smoky-eyes.

I hope you like my final look!  I would happily wear this casually in the day whilst out and about, and then in the evening with the necklace and clutch to a bar or for a meal with friends.  What’s better than an outfit than can be carried from day into night?

Naomi x

£100 Asos Blogger Challenge: Summer Gothic

8

To celebrate reaching (nearly) 1000 followers on Twitter, The Discount Coder Blog is running a giveaway, and to enter, you must complete the £100 Asos Blogger Challenge!  So, today, I will be sharing my entry :)  The rules of the challenge are as follows…

  • Head over to ASOS.com
  • Put together the hottest outfit you can for £100 or less (no student discount or Asos discount codes allowed)
  • Blog about your stylish ensemble over on your blog
  • Leave a comment below with a link to your post

I spent a good while over a couple of days browsing Asos for the ideal outfit for my entry.  I wanted to put together a fairly basic but daring outfit that I would wear myself and would be great for summer, and this is what I came up with: Summer Gothic!  The picture is clickable if you want to see it in more detail.


My starting point for this challenge was the main outfit.  I love dresses and I love black, so it seemed only natural to look for something along those lines.  I thought a sleeveless maxi was the way to go for a summer look, so when I saw this Maxi Dress with Dipped Hem I was sold.  Dipped hems are very trendy at the minute and I like the floaty look they give.  In my teenage Goth days I wore a lot of long flowy clothes so I think this is very suitable as a starting point for Summer Gothic!

My next choice was the shoes…  I was hoping to find a pair of big, black, stompy boots within my £100 budget but unfortunately that didn’t happen, so I went for my second choice – a pair of heeled TERI Platform Chelsea Show Boots to give the look a more elegant feel, whilst remaining edgy.  I mean, who doesn’t feel edgy in heels?  The platform makes them look quite chunky too which is what I was after.

Accessories wise I wanted to keep it simple but make a statement.  I thought skulls were ideal for the Gothic look, and when I came across the Skull and Floral Scarf I couldn’t believe how perfect it was!  I really, really want to buy it for myself – the print is stunning and it would add layers and depth to the simple dress.  I wanted something chunky but interesting for the wrists which is why I chose the River Island Bracelet Pack.  The skull detail matches the scarf really well and the different beads and materials add texture to the outfit.  The bracelets were in the men’s section of the Asos website, but who says women can’t wear ‘men’s’ clothes and accessories?

We all know an outfit isn’t complete without the right make up, so to match this simple Summer Gothic outfit, a simple Gothic make up look is needed.  Heavy make up in summer is a no-no, so I think classic red lips and nails, and smokey black eyes are all that’s needed!  Illamasqua’s branding screams classy and Gothic, which is why I chose Illamasqua SS12 Human Fundamentalism Lipstick in ‘Liable’, a beautiful bright red.  For strikingly bold, black eyes, Barry M Supersoft Eye Crayon is ideal, and to add an extra splash of colour I added Rimmel London I Love Lasting Finish Nail Polish in ‘Double Decker Red’ to the mix.

The total cost of this outfit is £98.49, so you’d even come away with enough change for an ice cream – the summery icing on the fashionable cake!

Naomi x

Garnier Intensive 7days Challenge

1

Hi everyone,

Last week I received my free Garnier Intensive 7days Challenge pack in the post and I couldn’t wait to try it out!  Each pack contains 7 individual 6ml sachets of Garnier’s new Intensive 7days Softening Lotion…


and two Skin Readers…

The challenge states that before you use any of the sachets, you have to press the sticky part of Skin Reader 1 onto one of your shins for 3 seconds.  You are then left with an idea of how dry your skin is by how many white skin cells there are left on the reader.  I have to say, there was quite a lot of white on mine (as you will see later), but I wasn’t too shocked or surprised as I know I have fairly dry skin anyway, which is why this challenge is perfect for me!

Once you’ve used the Skin Reader, it is time to start moisturising!  Every morning for seven days I used a sachet of the lotion on my legs.  There was a very generous amount of product in each sachet to the point that I had enough left over to use on my upper arms too!  And that’s saying something because I’m 5’10” so have a lot of leg haha.  The sachet says that the lotion contains shea butter so I was expecting it to have that distinctive shea butter smell, but it didn’t.  In fact, I found the scent to be fairly unremarkable, and somewhat non-existent!  The texture of the lotion was quite greasy, which I don’t usually like in a moisturiser, but it absorbed quickly and easily so I didn’t really mind in the end.

The challenge packaging says that Garnier Intensive 7days ‘leaves skin hydrated, feeling smoother and softer’, so after the 7days I used Skin Reader 2 to see if the product lived up to its word!  This was the result…

The Skin Reader on the left is Skin Reader 1, and as you can tell there is a LOT of white skin on the sticky bit.  The Skin Reader on the right is number 2, and obviously has far less skin on it that the other one.  I know the results look good, but I wasn’t too pleased with them at first as the second reader had a big patch on it which wasn’t sticky, so obviously any loose skin wasn’t going to stick to it!  I don’t know whether it was done on purpose, but I think I’ll give Garnier the benefit of the doubt on that one and focus on the bits that were sticky.  And well, yes, my skin did seem a lot less dry after the challenge, and felt smoother as a result, which is always good :)

It’s been a few days now since I completed the challenge and I’d say that the Intensive 7days lotion has DEFINITELY made a big difference.  My legs still feel really soft and smooth, even though I’ve not used the lotion for a couple of days.  The fact that it has made a long term improvement is the best thing about this in my opinion, as it proves it doesn’t just leave a layer of grease on your skin, but actually gets to the root of the problem.  Because of this, I think I am going to invest in a bottle to use throughout the summer to keep my legs looking nice for when I wear dresses and shorts!

Have you completed the 7days Challenge yet?  If not and you want a challenge pack, you can find out how to get one here.

Naomi x

Go to Top
%d bloggers like this: