Autumn Leaves

This is my favourite time of year fashion wise - and right now I'm really enjoying experimenting with different outfits than my usual go to. I'm always guilty of ending up in jeans, leggings and hoodies when the weather gets colder, so I've been trying to mix it up a little recently.

This suede skirt from Hollister has become a total staple for me this month, and I've been mixing up what I've been pairing it with a lot. I love this combo of the silky shirt and suede skirt, I find the textures of these fabrics super pleasing. 

 I love wondering the streets of London at the moment, everything looks so much more beautiful at this time of year. I've taken so many photos of trees, it's getting a bit weird! Why are leaves so much prettier when they are dying?

 SHIRT - H&M // SKIRT - HOLLISTER // SOCKS - PRIMARK // BOOTS - PRIMARK // COAT - ZARA /// GLASSES - RALPH LAUREN // BAG - PULL AND BEAR

Postcards from Brighton

 Whilst I love living in London, I also love getting out of it from time to time. So when the opportunity arose for me to spend a day in Brighton with some lovely blogging friends, I jumped at the chance.

Brighton is only a fifty minute train journey from London, but it feels a million miles away. Stepping off the train and I could immediately taste the salt air in my lungs, and feel the bite in the wind that only comes from being by the sea. As someone who was born and raised on the coast, it's a welcome feeling.

My wonderful friend Allie met me at the train station, and whisked me off in the direction of The Laines for breakfast. We headed for The Breakfast Club (because where else would you want to have breakfast?!). I've been to The Breakfast Club in Soho before, but never returned because I couldn't understand the ridiculous queuing. Luckily, there was no queue here, and we were immediately seated at a little table for two.

 I've been trying to cut back on my coffee intake so I opted for a fresh pressed apple juice, delicious, refreshing and revitalising! My breakfast choice - not so healthy, I indulged in the All American, a mini stack of pancakes served with bacon, sausage, eggs and fried potatoes, and of course, lashings of maple syrup. It was deliciously decadent, and exactly what I needed! 

We headed out after spending too long admiring the chairs outside, modeled to look like bird cages, so cute!

 Our day included a quick tour around Sea Life where Allie works (I learnt I REALLY do not like octopi), meandering in and out of shops, and a LOT of lipstick swatching.

We of course made the obligatory stop into Snoopers Paradise, to check out the photobooth. We tried pulling funny faces but kept laughing, so we ended up with a series of awkward laughter photos, which is probably better than anything we could have posed! 

After lots of walking and shopping, we stopped for a refuel (raspberry tea for me and a latte for Allie) in Jolifee, where I admired the beautiful pastries, but was far too full to eat any (that didn't stop me picking up some pic'n'mix for the train journey home!). 

 I took advantage of having a fellow blogger around to grab some outfit snaps! Since it was the first official day of autumn, I went for a thoroughly autumnal vibe with my outfit! Autumnal shades and cosy fabrics! This skirt is a new found love of mine! I picked it up from Hollister, who knew they did clothes that don't say Hollister all over them! 

SWEATER - ZARA // SKIRT - HOLLISTER // WATCH - SKAGEN // BOOTS - PRIMARK // RINGS - ACCESSORIZE, ACCESSORIZE AND PANDORA // NECKLACE - ACCESSORIZE // SCARF - ZARA // BOOTS - PRIMARK 

After bidding adieu to Allie, I made my way to Starbucks, to meet the wonderful Carrie for a large coffee and a catch up. Although Carrie and I had met before, it was at an event with lots of other people, so we didn't get much of a chance to chat. I was a little nervous about meeting her, in case of any awkward silences, but I needn't have worried. From the moment she arrived and gave me a big hug, til the moment we left because I had to catch my train, we barely stopped for breath. It's always so good to meet someone who you have a lot in common with!

And that was it, I had to head back to London!

I think I could make Brighton a home away from home!

Not A Hat Person

 This hat was purchased on a whim (pushed by Daphne), on a day where I thought I could be like a proper blogger. I would wear a floppy wide brim hat, prance around London eating macarons, and taking perfect Insta-snaps of blooming cherry blossoms. What I failed to realise was that the blooms have long gone, I don't like macarons, and, alas, I don't look good in hats.

I'm not quite sure what it is, but I just don't feel comfortable in hats. I plop anything, a beanie or a sunhat on my head, and instantly become awkward and weird and kind of like Chandler when he's in front of a camera. It's not a good look. 

What this means is that, sadly, I can count the number of times this hat has made it passed the front door of my flat on one hand.

I've not quite grasped dressing for this weird in between season yet. England can't seem to make up it's mind what the weather will be like, so stepping outside means preparing for brisk winds and overcast skies, random patches of blistering sun, and the occasional downpour. I think the key is layers, I had a denim jacket and sunglasses in my bag, and both came in handy throughout the day.

I'm also not so good at dressing for the casual days. I've always been a jeans and a tee sorta gal, but these days I want to feel a little more put together, even if I'm only popping to Starbucks for a Lime Refresha, or out for a picnic lunch with The Boy. This is one of my only go to outfits for such occasions!

TOP - MANGO // SKIRT - PRIMARK // HANDBAG - URBAN OUTFITTERS // BELT - ASOS // SANDALS - PRIMARK // HAT - H&M // BRACELET - TIFFANY & CO

Turning 21

 I was pretty nervous about turning 21, in my head, 21 is a PROPER adult, no getting away with being a teenager anymore. But in actual fact, when it got to the big day, I was less stressed about getting old than I was last year! I was lucky enough to be able to bag the day off on my birthday this year, despite it falling midweek, and the boyfriend managed to steal some time away too. What resulted was a very chilled out day indeed!

Schoolgirl Chic

 This September marks four years since I last had to don a school uniform. I hated my school uniform, it looked like something nurses wore in the 20s, blue stripes and skirts past the knee, with massive shapeless blazers, but in some ways I miss it. You know, in the not having to think of an outfit everyday sort of sense. It wasn't until I was editing these photos that I realised how school-uniform-esque this outfit looks.

The boy and I headed down to the riverside one evening last week, with no particular purpose other than to watch the sunset. I'm pretty obsessed with wild flowers that the council has planted down there, they look so pretty!

The sunlight coming through the trees looked so pretty, so we decided to snap some outfit photos. Big thanks to the boyfriend for taking them for me (he even snapped a picture of me ordering a pizza on my phone).

As soon as September hit, I whipped out my H&M pleather skirt, I bought this last year for about £20, and it was a good buy, I wear it all the time! It's such an easy piece to style, you can even just chuck on a big knit with it, and it looks like you've made an effort. It's the sort of skirt that looks best with a heel, so I'm sporting the same boots from the last post, they're surprisingly comfy, and I love the gold details. The top is from River Island, my boyfriend picked it out for me last term, it's slightly fitted around the waist, so it's quite a flattering fit, even just with jeans. I chucked my black H&M blazer with the three quarter sleeves, which generally makes outfits look a little smarter. I'm still sporting the Zara handbag, I can't get enough of it!

Kilver Court & An Afternoon in Bath

Kilver Court

So this week The Boy and I bundled into the car and headed north to Shepton Mallet in Somerset, desperately hunting for something for my Mum's birthday that was a little different (what do you get for the woman who says she doesn't want anything?). I had been keen to wander around Kilver Court for a while, it's a designer outlet with a beautiful garden attached. 

After a slightly horrific drive there, I think we hit every possible diversion and road block in the south of England, we arrived, and if I'm honest, were a little disappointed at first.  The website definitely bigs up the selection of brands there, a lot of the mentioned brands on the site there were only a handful of pieces from, and it was much smaller than we expected. We were done and ready to leave in an hour, although we did leave with a few swag bags. 

Before we left, I couldn't resist grabbing a few snaps down the cute little lane running down the side of the gardens, even though my outfit is nothing fancy. My top & bag are both from Zara, the top is so me, since I rarely wear anything other than black, and the bag is perfect, so soft and slouchy, and it holds all my crap. My jeans are a new purchase from French Connection, they have nowhere near as much elasticity as my usual Topshop jeans, but I kind of like that, they hold their shape much better! They're also slightly coated so if I spill my lunch down myself, I can wipe it straight off! 

The star of the show here though is my boots for sure, if any of you have been around for a while, you'll know I raved about the boots from Tesco last year, and sure enough they've done it again. These ones are a little higher than I'd normally go for in a day boot, but they're still really comfy, I was wearing these from 9am and they didn't start to hurt til just after seven, and we walked miles! I love the gold detailing on these, and that they look good in the day or at night.

Shopping in Bath

 Since we spent a lot less time in Kilver Court than we had originally planned, we decided to drive across to Bath, it took us so long to get to Somerset, that it seemed a shame to turn around after an hour, and Bath is only a 30 minute drive from the outlet. I'm so glad we went, I grew up near Bath but haven't been for about a decade, so it was nice to go and have an explore, and The Boy had never been before! We didn't have time to visit the baths but we had a delicious lunch in Ask (I had the most divine raspberry lemonade with my meal), and I loved wondering around the shops. There's so many cute nicknack shops, and the cutest Anthropologie store I've ever been to! The Boy and I decided we definitely want to go back and make a weekend of it, visit the Roman Baths and maybe hit up the Spa!