Win £40 to spend at So You Shoes!

Competition time!

If you're a fan of my blog you will know that a few weeks ago I was sent some gorgeous leopard print ankle boots from the team at So You Shoes. Well now I am so pleased to announce I can now give one of my lucky readers the chance to win a £40 voucher to spend on the So You Shoes website! 

So whether you liked my leopard print boots, any of my choices above (all £40 or under) or a pair you've had your eye on, enter now! :)

Rules:

1. You must be a follower of the So You Shoes blog

2. You must be a follower of my blog :)

3. For an extra entry tweet "Follow @soyoushoes and @kimparslow for the chance to win a £40 voucher http://bit.ly/IAR9ya"

Leave a comment with your contact email and let me know if you've tweeted!

Competition will end Sunday 6th may at midnight and the winner will be announced next monday :) Good luck everyone! 

I want to go to the seaside

Playsuit: c/o AX Paris

Cardigan: Vintage

Socks: Topshop

Shoes: H&M

Ring: c/o Eclectic Eccentricity

Bracelet: gift - Topshop

I was sent this gorgeous playsuit from AX Paris a couple of weeks ago and luckily the post man caught me before I headed to work as I was all packed for my birthday weekend and not coming home for a few days. So I immediately threw this in my suitcase too and ended up wearing it out on one of the evenings :) 

I remember AX Paris from working in Debenhams many moons ago and haven't they come a long way since. I always remember them for being quite bling and really not my thing but when I had a browse of their online shop I was really surprised that I wanted to get my hands on most of their beautiful dresses. 

They have some amazing floral print jeans I want at the moment and so many striped/polka dot items. Instead of doing my usual and opting for a dress I went with a playsuit and I love the playful pattern of this one, the shells remind me of the seaside, hence the title. The lovely mint green colour is perfect for Spring/Summer and is bright but not too overpowering... just right. I had so many compliments off friends when I wore it out that I'll definitely be making it a regular piece of mine. 

I was bought the mint green lace ankle socks for my birthday too which match perfectly so I thought I'd style the playsuit with them to show you. 

Also my really unsual ring is from a new site I've only just come across called Eclectic Eccentricity! Not sure what rock I've been hiding under to not have heard of them as they have a whopping 25,000+ likes on facebook!! This ring is so unique, I've never seen a stone like it, it almost looks like leopard print. If you're into your jewellery like I am I would recommend having a look at their items. They have lots of wonderful things that I've never seen on the highstreet before including accessories as well as jewellery. Many of their designs have been adorned by celebrities. I have a couple more items from them that I will be showing you in the next few outfit posts :) 

Way to Eminence

Lots of my friends are involved in exciting projects and I get so happy hearing about them all and I love the fact I have my blog as a platform to share them with you all.

The latest fun collaboration involving one of my friends is a project with mens clothing company Way to Eminence.

Based in Birmingham Way to Eminence are an innovative menswear brand letting creative minds design tee's for the rest of the World to buy. Each limited print is individual, something you won't be able to buy anywhere else and is an awesome opportunity for any budding illustrators, graphic designers, artists etc to get there work seen. I absolutely love projects like this, it's such an inspirational idea that can involve anyone.

My friend produced this amazing illustration of the late Whitney Houston. You can find more of his work on his tumblr Kid Milk.


Way To Eminence ft JackRandom 'Eminence' from Way To Eminence on Vimeo.

Way to Eminence have just set up their online site and have a shop where you can buy my friends t-shirt :)  The company show a great insight into the idea behind the company and the good things to come! Not only are they after designers but Way to Eminence are also on the look out for male models, make up artists, photographers and hair stylists. So if you are any of these and live near Birmingham why not get in contact with them and see you work be involved in a fun project like this.

Deathly Hallows

Tee: Orange Circle Co

Disco Pants: American Apparel via ASOS

Vans: TReds

Hoodie: American Apparel

Hat: ASOS

Necklace: c/o This Is What I Do

Ring: Rings and Tings

I wore this outfit last week to the cinema, hence the different setting for my photo's. I really wanted to do a night time kinda shoot as I thought it suit the outfit perfectly but I'm still not educated all that well on my camera so the photo's didn't come out as well as I hoped but never mind!

I was given this tee as an early birthday present from Orange Circle and I love it! I'm totally not into Harry Potter what so ever but I love the symbol and it being in galaxy print is even better. So sorry HP fans I'm still gonna wear it ;) 

I was given this lovely necklace from Kate to review. I think by now we all know how much I love skulls and I already have a couple of skull rings but no necklace :) It's on the perfect length chain and is really light weight. I find some necklaces can be so heavy. I love the colour of this grey one, it will literally go with everything in my wardrobe. 

So if you haven't heard of Kate's shop This Is What I Do, take a look now! I know Kate in real life and I know how much effort she puts into her shop :) It's full of fun patterns including tie dye, leopard, zebra and galaxy print! She also has a blog which I'm sure most of you have come across before but incase not you can find it here! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Top: Vintage c/o a friend

Skirt: Zara

Cardigan: Vintage c/o a friend

Necklace: eBay

Belt: Vintage

Boots: Charity shop

Socks: Topshop

HIIIIII SWEET MONDAY IS BACK IN BUSINESS! Thank you blogger! Aha. As Amy pointed out on twitter I think they took my blog away last night to give me back today as a birthday gift ;) 

Any who I wanted to post asap about my ordeal which I'm sure you've seen me going mad about on twitter. Last night whilst browsing and commenting blogs I was signed out of blogger and had to log back in to my gmail account. When doing this it said there had been 'suspicious activity' on my account and they had to send me a verification code. I did this fine, managed to log back into my email account and blogger and didn't think anything was wrong until my friend rang me to say my blog had been removed. :O And sure enough when I checked my blogger dashboard everything else was still there as normal except my blog was gone. 

After many tweets and lots of you lovely people sharing your experience's I commented on the blogger forum page. Straight away someone replied with some help saying that google were aware of the problem and to wait 6-12 hours. However this morning it still wasn't back. I was obviously stressing thinking the worst had happened so I commented on my post again to then find more people had joined in the conversation and had had the same thing happen to them today. The gentleman who helped me before had told me that google were aware of the error in general but he would pass my case on specifically. A few hours later my blog is back :) 

I never had any email saying why my blog was deleted or to confirm when it was back. I don't know if it's a form of spam/hackers/someone messing around/a general mistake/error! Who knows. But now from this experience I will be changing my email/blogger password immediately and will be saving a back up of my blog. 

If you're having the same trouble or this happens to you hang in there! There is unfortunately no easy way to contact blogger/google but the forum should do the trick. Someone has said that this error is increasingly happening and the return rate of verifications/restoring blogs is taking longer because of this.

I really hope blogger sort the problem ASAP!

In the meantime this has made my birthday a happy day again :) no more stress! I've had some lush presents including a Global Gathering ticket, Bobby Brown brow kit, Bare Minerals make up, a Motel Rocks dress, Orange Circle tee, UO crop top and an ASOS voucher :) amongst many more! I got a lot of my presents early this year and I keep forgetting what I've had! 

I went out for a meal tonight with my parents and friend, I had the most amazing bruschetta, followed by a curry and finally an Eton mess! Two glasses of wine and a cocktail later and I am tipsy to say the least ;) After the incredibly messy weekend I've just had I vowed never to drink again but oh well I'm 24!!!! Had to drown my sorrows somehow hahaha.

Massive thank you to everyone who has commented me, tweeted me, shown support over my blog! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

DIY | Red Velvet & Lace

I was bought these beautiful red velvet trousers for my birthday. My friend spotted them in a charity shop and instantly thought of me, he knew I'd be able to customise them somehow and possibly sell them on to a loving home :) 

To be fair they didn't look quite so beautiful when they were huge baggy trousers but now I have cut and hemmed them they make the perfect pair of high waisted shorts.

The lace edging against the velvet make them look so luxurious and I can't get over how special this wine red colour is!

I would keep them for myself but I already own a pair of black ones I've made. In fact whilst writing this post I have actually just sold them :) I uploaded them last night and the lovely Sophie from Trinket Box has just bought them! Thank you sophie!!

However I do also have another pair of black ones available in my shop if you prefer. They can be found here :)

I'd also like to thank all of you who have tweeted/retweeted/facebooked about my shop, it really means the world :) thank youuu!!

The Cookie Button

From time to time I love to use my blog to show you some of the lovely friends I've met along the way. Today is no exception as so I present 'The Cookie Button' ran by the lovely Sammy. 

I've met Sammy a couple of times now and not only does she have a really sweet blog she is rather crafty on the side, making unique jewellery like you see in this post.

I love her quirkiness and how it transcends into her designs. The cotton reel has to be a favourite, I've never seen anything like it before!

You can find these designs plus many more wonderful things including hats, earrings and purses here!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I had THE BEST weekend! It was Cheltenham Design Festival and so lots of lovely friends I went to Uni with came back to Chelts for the whole weekend :D It was so good to see everyone, most of whom I haven't seen for 18months since we graduated. And it's my birthday on Wednesday so all of my friends from home came out too, so it was a real treat having everyone together :) 

Two nights out resulting in not going to bed til 5am both days with early starts have absolutely killed me though. Not sure how I'm going to make it through the week!

1 crown, 3 ways | part 03

Hair crown: c/o Crown and Glory
T-Shirt: Sweet Monday
Shorts: Primark
Shoes: DIY

Ok so here's the final installment to my 'ways to wear' floral hair crown. I think this will be the most popular look as it sums up the summery, festival, hippie vibe!

Tie dye is back massively this Spring/Summer and what better to pair it with than a floral head band. Exactly what I will be wearing to Global Gathering this year. Every festival I've ever been too I've seen lovely ladies wearing hippie tops, short shorts and beautiful head dresses and I've longed to be one of them. Finally maybe this year I'll get my chance with this gorgeous crown. All I want now is my hair to grow down to my bum and I'd fit in perfectly with the happy go lucky crowd! Hmm it'll grow in a few months right?! Sure!

I hope all of my outfits have helped anyone contemplating buying a hair piece from Crown and Glory or any other floral head band this Summer. If you're like me I tend to find something that works and stick with it, therefore lots of my clothing/accessories see the back of my wardrobe a lot. I need to change this and think of new ways to style up my items, making them more wearable!

1 crown, 3 ways | part 02

Floral crown: c/o Crown and Glory

Dress: Olive

Shoes: c/o So You Shoes

The second installment of my 'ways to wear' a floral hair crown. 

This one is a lot more dressy than my previous post. The heels add a touch of rock chick to a otherwise girly outfit. This could be worn out for drinks or to a wedding, maybe the evening part! Otherwise without the heels the dress and head band would look beautiful for a wedding or christening, a lovely meal with friends or for a few drinks in the evening sun. 

The colours in the crown match perfectly with my dress and the leopard print heels. I think this has to be one of my favourite outfits of late :) You can buy this crown for £12 from Crown and Glory!

And I love the fact that these photo's were taken between thunder storms last week! Haha the sun blessed us for just enough time, it obviously saw the pretty summery crown!

Motel Sale Preview!!

Motel are having a super massive sale tomorrow but as a little treat all of my lovely readers can shop the sale from today!! No one else will have this privilege so get shopping tonight before it all the goodies get grabbed tomorrow :)

And I've just spotted my amazing galaxy print jordan jeans are in the sale! Is it crazy if I now buy the turtle neck galaxy top?! haha

1 crown, 3 ways | part 01

Floral crown: c/o Crown and Glory

Top: c/o River Island

Leggings: c/o River Island

I was sent this beautiful floral head crown from Crown and Glory in a bid to show multiple ways of wearing it. Hair bands, clips and ties are hair accessories that we wear every day, but a crown like this one is something a little bit special :) And if you're anything like me I have always lusted after the 'festival' 'boho' 'chic' flower headbands but never really know quite how to wear them, whether they'd suit me and whether I'd get the wear out of them? So when the beautiful Sophie from Crown and Glory contacted me I jumped at the chance to give this a go. 

I absolutely love this Earth, Wind and Fire crown. The detailing is truly beautiful, Sophie is an exceptionally talented lady. I particularly love that fact that it is neutral colours and a simple design, making it versatile when styling. So here's my first look for a casual Summer's day. Teamed with floral print leggings and a plain top, the crown is allowed to shine in all it's glory (excuse the pun!). I would personally wear this ensemble for lunch with friends, or to laze around in the sunshine, maybe to have a picnic or go to the beach. 

This is my first look, and there are two more to come so stay tuned for other ways on how to wear this accessory over the week ahead :) 

You can buy this crown and many other hair accessories including turbans, fascinators and bobby pins from Crown and Glory's shop. If you have a particular event coming up this summer, either a wedding, christening, birthday, Crown and Glory's range would make THE perfect accessory to any outfit. I really wish I'd ordered one to my friends wedding last Summer. However I have another wedding coming up next year which I will definitely either wear this one or a new one too. It's going to be a wedding on a beach abroad so this would fit amazingly! 

P.S WOO a photo where I'm actually smiling and I like the smile! ohemgeeeee! haha. Andddd hello ombre hair again, how I've missed you!

Spring Stripes

Models Own - Pink Blush, Fuzzy Peach, Aciiied, Feeling Blue & Lilac Dream

I did these nails on the weekend randomly. I'm really into painting every nail a different colour at the moment huh! Aha. Moving on from my pastel nails the other week I decided to go with more vibrant colours this time. They were a little in your face so I add the classic stripes to tone them down a little. 

I've had a few comments at work about the, not sure whether they were good or bad really but hey ho I like them :)

Hope you all had a good weekend and are having a good start to the week. I am counting down the days to the weekend where I will be meeting up with LOADS of old uni pals and going to Cheltenham Design Festival. Really looking forward to it as I haven't seen most people since we graduated like a year and a half ago :( And it ties in perfectly with my birthday next week! Woo :)

Vintage Style Me

Jacket: c/o Vintage Style Me

Top: c/o River Island 

Riding pants: American Apparel

Shoes: DIY

Rings: Rings and Tings

Nails: Eyeko - 'vintage, rain' Models Own - 'feeling blue, beths blue, lilac dream' Barry M 'baby pink' Models Own - 'pink blush, fuzzy peach' Rimmel 'lemon drop' & Models Own 'lime green'. 

This unique jacket is from an online vintage boutique called Vintage Style Me. The site contacted me a couple of weeks ago and wanted to share with myself and my readers their beautiful mix of vintage pieces from across the era's. Not having heard of them before I jumped at the chance to review one of their products. After a lot of um'ing and ah'ing I settled on this beautiful leaf print jacket. I simply love the colours and it's so easy to style, a very versatile piece, whether it's over a summers dress, leggings or jeans. Being a relatively simple pattern and of neutral tones I also think it could be styled with other patterned garments, perfect for this season.
After a lovely chat with Rihannon from the site I found out they're actually based in Cheltenham. They currently don't have a physical shop, only the online site but I love the fact they're from where I live.
If you haven't heard of them before and you love a vintage bargain I would certainly recommend them. Their prices are amazingly low! I find vintage items can be so over priced sometimes and it can be really hard finding a 'bargain' these days however Vintage Style Me have definitely out done any competition in this regard.
Full of both women's and men's clothing they also stock shoes, jewellery and accessories :)

P.S I couldn't decide on a nail colour this weekend so went with all of them ;) and I did matching toes! Haha, took an absolute age to label them all!!!

Oreo Cupcakes

4oz Self raising flour

4oz butter

4oz caster sugar

2 eggs

1tbsp cocoa powder

4oz butter

8oz icing sugar

1 pack oreos

My friend asked me to make these and I've seen them done many times before in different ways but I thought I'd keep it simple. Short on time and ingredients these are super easy to make. 

Firstly you cream the caster sugar and butter together, you then sift in the flour and add the eggs. Finally add the cocoa powder to make chocolate cupcakes (this is optional of course). Bake at 160 degrees for roughly 20mins or until golden brown. 

Once cooled mix the butter and icing sugar together to make butter icing. Pipe with a star shaped nozzle on to cakes. Crush two oreo biscuits on a plate and gently roll the edges of the icing into the crushed bits. To finish cut the remaining oreos in half and add to the cupcakes :)

Super easy and so effective!

Got to say I love taking photo's of food with my dslr, they come out so pretty! haha.