They've opened shops down west side, will all the cacti find a home?

Hello!

This weekend, as a little celebration for finishing my (only!) exam, I went to the Sheffield Vintage Fair, which turned out to be a sale special! Anyway, I bought a few pretty things & I thought I'd share them with you!

The first piece I bought was this pretty, sheer blouse! It's very delicate and is a lovely pastel (of course) lilac colour, the lady on the stall said it was an original 1960s one, but I'm not too sure whether to believe that or not, I'll have to wait to ask my mum & see when she thinks it's from.

It has some unbelievably cute sparkly purple buttons too, and a sweet little collar.

I also bought this super cute/super tacky/super amazing brooch! I am actually in love with it, it's too cute for words, although sadly the picture doesn't do it much justice. It has sequins, pearly beads and white, cream and pink flower beads.  I LOVE IT. And judging from the clasp on the back, I do think it's actually quite old.

I bought this scarf from the same stall as the blouse for £1, I just couldn't resist the pretty pastel colours! (Even after I told the person I was with I wasn't going to buy any more scarves as I have way too many already).

This might be my favourite purchase, I think! I'm absolutely positive I saw it at the last fair I went to in September, and as the name of the stall holder was really familiar I'm pretty sure it was the same one! I really regretted not buying it when I first saw it then, but I'm so pleased I have it now! It's such an unusual print, I'm contemplating hanging it on my wall in some way when I'm not wearing it because it's just so beautiful!

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Like I said, I've finished my exams & lectures don't start again until Monday (which also happens to be my 20th birthday, urghhh), so I'm hopefully going to take pictures of all the things I want to post about & then schedule more posts! Yay! I'm off for a meal with my Literature babes now, see you soon!

If we took a holiday, took some time to celebrate

Hello again! Sorry, I know I said I'd post more, but I was really ill for the last week before I came back to Sheffield (like, not being able to stand without keeling over ill) and with essays and things I was just in over my head a bit, and didn't really have time to sort any posts out. But anyway, yeah, here I am posting now!! Woo!! 

I bought this skirt (and another one) from ASOS a couple of weeks ago in the sale. I love it! It's a really good length and just really comfortable to wear. I don't really know why I chose to mention those criteria first?! But, yeah, it's lovely. I don't have anything this kind of aqua green shade, but I think it will fit really well with all my other pastelly things.

I have to say, one of the main reasons I bought it is because the embroidery detail is so similar to the details in Louis Vuitton's Spring Summer 2012 collection. Also, buying summery things is my way of pretending that it is not actually winter? (Even though it's been snowing loads for the past two days, and one of my new hobbies is laughing at southerners who can't cope with the cold)

Style.com

The green colour is so similar to the first look, and the embroidery is really similar (except slightly bigger/better) to the second.

Style.com

Pretty aqua green again and beautiful feathery goodness I wish I could somehow work out how to sew onto my skirt.

Jumper - vintage, skirt - ASOS, tights - Dorothy Perkins

~Me doing an awkward pose to show you the rest of my outfit~ I brought my big camera & remote control (which is out of batteries!? Sigh) to Sheffield but not my tripod, so outfit pictures may be really interestingly shot for a little while. I just thought my outfit was really cute today, kind of what a librarian from the 80s with a penchant for 50s skirts would wear if she didn't have a strict dress code. And also really liked pastels. (I think I just basically described myself? Good)

It's revision period (or whatever universities call it, I don't really know) right now, and I only have one exam so depending on what I'm up to I might be able to post a bit more! So far my revision schedule has consisted of me updating my drag queen Spotify playlist, lip syncing to Madonna & watching Peep Show right from series one, so I might be able to squeeze a post in somewhere. I have a list of things to show you/post about, so hopefully I can! (:

Dorothy

Hey guys! I'm posting again in under a month, let the celebrations ensue!

I bought these shoes for £2.99 in a charity shop quite near where I live in Sheffield. They are so cute and glittery! I literally couldn't believe my luck when I saw that they were my size, for a couple of weeks before buying these I was looking for some plain red shoes to do a glittery DIY with, but now I don't have to.

(This is me tapping my feet together in a "There's no place like home!" manner)

I wore them with my green tights to channel the Wicked Witch of the East, and the schoolgirl socks (that I actually wore as knee high socks when I was five?!) to channel Dorothy herself. I really want to put together a whole Wizard of Oz inspired outfit, perhaps with a blue gingham dress and my Glinda necklace from this post (and almost every other post ever).

They don't seem like they've ever been worn, they are pretty unscuffed and new looking. I'm going to try an wear them in around the house to stretch them a bit as they are a little stiff and uncomfortable. Very Christmassy though, so I might wear them to trot around the house in a glamourous (and annoying) way.

Happy Christmas!

Candyfloss and sorrys.

Hello guys! It has been almost a month to the day since I last posted on here, and I am SORRY! I AM A TERRIBLE HUMAN PERSON WITH A BLOG. There is no real reason why I haven't, I have just been in a completely different, I don't know, mindset or something since being in Sheffield. But I'm back home now, and will be posting a lot more often!

I bought this skirt a few days before I left for Sheffield in September in Topshop, and I am so in love with it. It feels like wearing a skirt made from pillowy layers of marshmallow or candyfloss, so floaty and ethereal. I LOVE IT. Pastel feminist actualities of wearing pink fluffy things and biting people's heads off. Anyway, yeah, I just really love this skirt! Equally beautiful is the fact that it was £15 reduced from like £38.

The reasons I haven't been blogging that much (or at all, really) while I've been at Sheffield are quite hard to pinpoint. It's a completely different way of living, I cook for myself, take up a lot of time washing, cleaning and shopping for food, and then I have work on top of that so I don't have as much spare time as I used to. Also, it just hasn't really been at the forefront of my mind as I've been trying to, you know, be ~sociable~ and everything with my flatmates and other people. I really do like university, but it is an odd experience. It kind of tiptoes the line between real life, adolescent life and adult life. (If there can even be a line between three things? Whatever). I am taking my camera back with me when I go home in January, so that when I do want to post (and I will), I can. Sorry, must try harder!

Perfect skirt of perfect chiffon perfectness.

I kind of love how long my roots are, I think it's really funny. I'm hoping they make me look a bit like Madonna, or Marina & the Diamonds (she says hopefully). My hair has miraculously gone a white/platinum blonde colour instead of its usual yellow nightmare, which I love. Despite saying how much I love my roots and my hair right now, I'm getting it cut, bleached & dyed this week, so it's goodbye again to this hair for a while.

Blue frilly socks to sort of match the pink frilly skirt. My necklace had flowers on in these exact shades (as well as cream), but unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them as I was in a bit of a hurry. I wore this outfit to meet up with my two best friends from home, which was lovely as we had a really great night. I hadn't seen them both in aeons, so it was brilliant to catch up again. It's wonderful to have people that you can fall right back into step with after such a long time.

Tshirt - VV Brown concert, skirt - Topshop, tights - Topshop, socks - Topshop, brogues - New Look, Necklace - gift.

Home

Hello! Today I was planning on doing an outfit post with some things I've bought since I've been in Sheffield, but the light faded quicker than I thought today so I will take those pictures tomorrow, and in the mean time I thought I could show you a little what my room looks like here! I feel strange calling it home, because it is but it isn't. When I went home last month I had the same kind of in between feeling, a weird stasis. Like I belonged but didn't belong. It took a while for my body to get used to being here, feeling the mattress fit to the contours of my body, waking up to see these walls. So, for now I won't call it a  home, but rather my base camp.

My bookshelf, with some books for the course (on the left), some favourites (Slaughterhouse Five, Middlesex, A Clockwork Orange) as well as ones I've bought here & others that I haven't read yet but thought would come in useful. I also have the clock my Granny sent me, as well as a disposable camera (which I am being extra careful with seeing as the last one I got developed came out so dreadfully) and my PG Tips Monkey, which remind me of home and in jokes.

Files, cookbooks (from which I have made soups, curries and other things), my hard drive, films to make me happy if I ever feel down (including Gregory's Girl which reminds me of my Dad) and a piggy bank which my Dad gave me several years ago.

Scarf corner. I also keep my hairbands here, and my stack of inspirational magazines. I bought the print version of Rookie, and I brought Pigeons & Peacocks as well as some issues of Oh Comely with me to flick through when I feel like I need something visual and beautiful to look through. Since being here, I have also bought my first ever copy of Lula magazine, which I'd been looking forward to buying for ages, but never seemed to find it or justify the cost. I am reading it a few pages at a time, rationing it.

Ikea boxes which I've had for years to keep my make up and jewellery in. Also some photos of friends and some favourite postcards from the National Portrait Gallery.

Heart shaped dish from a charity shop which I'm keeping my sunglasses in, as well as fake flowers from a charity shop, Marlena's Pastel Puke zine and some necklaces I made. I like to keep little pockets of creativity here, as I haven't really had much of a chance to do any work in my sketchbook since I've been here. I did life drawing the other week, which was amazing and it felt really good to hold a pencil again, in a capacity other than to annotate a book.

Bus tickets, clothing labels, tickets and wristbands from fresher's week & other things, photographs from home and a key ring of me and my friend Alix.

Strawberry Switchblade, Madonna and Kate Bush vinyl singles. I brought these here for the sole purpose of using them to decorate my room, and I really like having them here. My desk is for work, but it is nice to have a colourful and vibrant backdrop behind it, reminding me of other forms of creativity and of other things that I like. There are also two passport photographs of me at the side, in all honesty I'm not sure why I keep them here. Possibly narcissism as self care, but also because I find it fascinating to look at myself as I was then. These were taken a few days before I started college last year, and I find it so amazing but so odd at the same time to look back at myself then. In so many ways, I am the same person but completely different.

More photographs from home and flyers from some of the societies I've joined since being here. The only one I've been to regularly is the Burlesque Society, I've only been to Stitch Society once despite paying membership! I did life drawing with the Art Society but they normally clash with Burlesque, which is a shame. The Burly Q poster is for a burlesque variety performance in March, I went to the November one last weekend and it was wonderful. I'm also thinking of joining the Fashion Society, I met some of the members the other day when they caught me coming out of the library and took a picture of my outfit for their street style album, which was really cool! The photo is quite funny, I found it on Facebook and I have the most awkward arms ever.

A dachshund pen which my mum gave me for my last birthday, as well as a ridiculous vintage brooch she gave me when I was home. I don't know how well you can see it, but it is of two cats (that look like owls!) with googly eyes in a basket with two balls of wool. It is so awful and ugly, I love it. Beside it is my Burlesque Society membership card.

Two flyers for a vintage fair that's here in December, I went to the one in October and bought some things which I am yet to show you! I put this card beside it because I thought the colours matched perfectly; it's a textile piece made by one of my favourite local artists back home, Mandy Pattullo.

More photos from home, as well as my Feminist Killjoy banner and postcards from my mum and sister.

My shoes. I only really wear like three pairs of these, but I do have some new ones to show you soon!

And finally, my bedcovers and a cushion me & my mum made when I was about twelve. I hope you enjoyed this little mini tour of my world at university.

Vomit pink

Hello! I'm trying to get back into blogging again, and now I'm on reading week I have a little more time than usual to fit it in, which is good! I also have quite a few deadlines flying about, and lots of things to do, but here we are! I bought a jumper from H&M last week, and I thought I would show you my favourite outfit I've put it with so far;

(Sorry for the slightly poor image quality! My good camera, tripod & remote are all at home.)

This, strangely, is a very H&M-centric outfit, the jumper, skirt & blouse are all from there, although I did get the blouse in a charity shop!

The jumper is so cute! It's a pale pink with blue, green, yellow and darker pink glittery threads running through it, and it is the perfect accompaniment to my Glinda necklace!

H&M skirt, buttons changed by me.

My hair is such a funny colour now, I think the shampoo I washed it with yesterday washed some of the colour out & made it go a bit yellowy, which kind of sucks as I was hoping the purple would last until December. It does go very well with my pom pom headband though!

Embroidery DIY detail.

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1. I have joined the uni women's magazine, which sounds really amazing! I've had to send off a 500 word piece for them about "switching seasons" for fashion, and the entertainment team want a little paragraph about what my favourite song says about me. The fashion piece was a bit tricky as I basically just wear the same things all year round with slightly thicker tights on, but I think it went alright. The editor is so lovely & she seems to really like me, which is brilliant! She writes for a music magazine & I was talking to her about bands & happened to mention my favourite band (Slow Club) were from Sheffield, and she seemed really interested, I think we might even be doing a piece with them, and maybe AN INTERVIEW which would be so cool, except I'm not sure if I would be getting that, but fingers crossed! Woops, long sentence is long.

2. I'm hopefully going to be re-opening my shop in a couple of weeks for the Christmas trade, I will let you all know when that happens! I'm really looking forward to it as I miss my little trips to the Post Office.

3. I'm going to a vintage hair & make up tutorial session tomorrow with the Burlesque Society, which will hopefully be amazing! I'm really hoping to learn how to roll my fringe under (a la Betty bangs), I'm so excited! Two of my friends are coming up this weekend & we're going to a big burlesque show, which will be really cool! I might try & take some pictures (:

See you soon.