What I wore in New York

I've been meaning to blog for a while about what I wore in New York. However, I must admit that my main motivation for publishing this post today was the lack of time and opportunity to take photos for any of my other potential posts. Roll on the lighter evenings!

While I'm busy admitting to things, I thought I'd talk about the military operation of me packing to go on holiday. It starts with a big Word document (set up immediately after we book a holiday) which details every single piece of clothing, every accessory, every toiletry and every miscellaneous item I'm planning to take with me. The packing itself usually commences about three weeks before we leave. Although part of me is very jealous when Neil somehow manages to pack his suitcase in 25 minutes, I do secretly enjoy my long-winded and highly organised packing process.

The photos of me in New York were all taken outside, so I'm only going to detail my coats, boots, hats and scarves because that's all you can see. To complete my outfits, I took a pair of jeans, a few jumpers, warm dresses, leggings and tights, along with some nice dresses for the evenings. I packed light on shoes and bags (for me), but definitely didn't pack light on hats, scarves and gloves.

I've linked to the relevant items where I can in the photos below, but most of them are either sold out or not in existence any more.

Parka from Dorothy Perkins, scarf from Joules' Ebay store, and
black boots from Shoe Zone 

Kate Spade hat from Ebay, scarf from Joules, coat from Debenhams,
bag from Kate Spade and boots from Ugg

Hat from New Look, scarf and gloves from Asda, coat from ASOS,
and bag from Kate Spade 

Hat and gloves from Accessorize, bag and scarf from New Look

The hat was a gift from Italy, and the scarf is from Primark 

Hat from New Look and scarf from ASOS 

Hat, scarf and gloves from New Look, bag from Kate Spade 

Is your packing process a bit like mine, or do you pack like a normal person? 

New Look meets Disney World

I've recently been to Florida's Walt Disney World... you'll already know this if you follow me on any of my social networking channels. You'll also know that I'm mildly obsessed with New Look and buy most of my clothes there these days. I did most of my holiday shopping in New Look as a result with some excellent bargains along the way, so I thought I'd post photos of some of my favourite New Look outfits. It's also a great chance to share some holiday photos on my blog seeing as I haven't had time to blog about the holiday yet!

So here goes... I should really be on commission for this post, I'd earn a fortune.

I stocked up on vests and shorts from New Look before going away,
and bought these cute white trainers for £5 in the sale!

This beautiful maxi dress was £7 in the summer sale.

Also a sale purchase... it's difficult to tell in this photo but this dress
has got little white polka dots all over it. Such a lovely colour!

Possibly my favourite pre-holiday purchase. LOVE this dress!

Another pair of shorts and a vest... Neil and I didn't
colour coordinate on purpose on this particular day!

And yet another New Look vest and pair of shorts. Reasonably
priced and so comfortable.

I bought this dress a few months ago - definitely one of my favourites.

A sale purchase from last year which I hadn't had an opportunity to wear yet!

Our last evening in Walt Disney World and another
new dress from New Look...

Another sale purchase from last year which I hadn't worn yet.
One of my favourite holiday outfits!

Can you tell that I really loved the colours of New Look's shorts this year?

And more New Look shorts...

I bought this dress last year - always a holiday favourite.

New Look must rub its metaphorical hands in glee whenever I have a holiday coming up! Where's your go-to place for holiday shopping?

My favourite dresses of 2013

It's New Year's Eve! I don't see the point of specific New Year's Resolutions as I like to make regular little resolutions throughout the whole year, so instead my last post of 2013 will focus on my four favourite dresses from the last year. Superficial? A little bit, but there is method in my madness.

Seeing as I would like to actually enjoy wearing dresses next year rather than dreading the occasions where I need to wear and/or buy a dress, I think this post is actually quite significant. I will still be wearing my jeans, hoodies and Ugg boots very frequently because I love them more than life itself, but I am going to make a conscious effort to dress up a bit more if the occasion calls for it. I must embrace dresses and all the fuss that goes with them.

So here are my favourite dresses from 2013... I'm not one to throw dresses away after I've worn them once, so these lovely dresses will definitely make more appearances in 2014!

Probably my favourite dress ever.

It's from Tesco!

My Christmas party dress, from Boohoo. 

Excuse the awkward mirror pose.

New Look sale!

Primark's best

What were your favourite dresses in 2013? Can you recommend any good websites or stores for me to browse through in 2014?

Happy New Year / Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

Girly post #2... My love of nail varnish!

I haven't been seen without nail varnish on my nails since I was 14. This isn't an exaggeration. At first, I wasn't particularly interested in that kind of thing at all and just used to wear it to prevent me from biting them. This actually worked and cured me of the habit, and also encouraged me to become a little bit obsessed with painting my nails every different colour under the sun. I've gone through phases of painting every nail a different neon colour, painting each hand a different colour, using pastel shades and using glittery polishes. I can't get enough of the stuff. I gave my nail varnish drawer a good spring clean recently as I'd had some of the bottles for years, so I got rid of a lot of my old clogged up polishes. Here's my collection after my culling spree:

Still fairly extensive, although I'm sure some people have much bigger collections than this one. 

As you can see, my favourite nail varnish brand is Barry M, closely followed by No7. These two brands can last up to a week and usually only need one coat, unless you want your nails to be super colourful. I find that painting more than one coat makes the varnish chip more easily, so I only ever use one coat. Barry M nail varnish is £2.99 for the standard shades I've got in my collection, which is an absolute bargain. Their more fancy shades are £3.99, but I tend to prefer their standard range. No7 nail varnish is a lot more expensive, but I always use my Boots points and vouchers on them so that I don't have to pay the full price. 

These are my three favourites at the moment:

Barry M, No7 and New Look's own nail varnish brand

Here's a sample of what the middle one looks like when painted on:

So pretty!

The next shades I'd like to buy are a very deep purple colour, a silver glittery polish, and the most shocking pink shade I can find. Hurry up, pay day!

What's your favourite nail varnish brand?