The Bloggers Market

Last month, a plethora of us bloggers and fashion lovers alike gathered at The Hoxton Holborn to grab some bargains, Krispy Kremes, music and fun for a truly unique London Sunday Funday! With loads of goodies to choose from, I was only too happy to grab myself some new garb and to have a little chat with some of my bloggy friends, and to spend time in a wonderfully and thoughtfully decor’d location.

The Hoxton Holborn combines eclectic delights with ‘I could happily move in here’ comfort, and a level of style and understated grungy-ish-grandeur that is wholely inviting and unintimidating. To put it simply, if my house looked like that, I would not be upset about it. With great little details floating around on the bookshelves, such as cute little bookend letters, lovingly battered Penguin Originals and bursts of mix and match artwork, it felt somewhat like a little treasure hunt that kept presenting fun little surprises. Perhaps one day I will be lucky enough to sample a room for myself for the night! I’m sure it would be a real treat.

As for myself, let me tell you, trying to pose on a chair wearing a very tight skirt, is not the easiest of things! Other bloggers make it look so easy. So apologies if I look any kind of strange in the first photo. It also turned out that my camera was having a little bit of mind game fun with me throughout, playing ‘I will focus on what I want, not what you tell me to!’ – I’m actually really lucky I came away with any photos at all. Oops! I have to thank April for spotting this on my display screen and sorting it out for me; I was much too distracted by all of the goings on around me to have noticed! I feel as if she may get an honourable mention every post at this rate…

As for my outfit, I have been told I look ‘so 90s!’ in one of the photos from the event. I think I can probably thank my scrunchie for that. I am enjoying them very much at the moment, in a guilty pleasure type way, and also in a ‘Yay! It’s socially acceptable to wear scrunchies again!’ kind of way too. I also enjoy the fact that they’re an inexpensive little accessory, because life in London, with that little fashionista devil sitting on my shoulder, is not easy.

Kudos to the ladies for putting on a great afternoon, and here’s to the next one!

Dress – F&F // Crop Top – New Look // Ankle Boots – eBay // Scrunchie – eBay

Sunday Lust List #12

1. I am a huge fan of metallic nail varnishes at the moment, but I generally find that they lack the staying power of block colour shades, and can often peel off as if they are just a foil coating. I have heard great things about the Revlon Colourstay Gel Envy range from friends of mine, and would like to see for myself how long my nails can resist that inevitable battered and chipped phase.

2. An Apple Macbook Air is first on my wish list at this moment in time; not that I don’t love and adore my current, trusty Macbook – it’s just that the little bean is struggling under the weight of 2015 internetty systems lately! For someone with little patience, and a lack of RAM to match, I long for the day when I can open up a nice new laptop (that new Apple Mac smell, too!) and amp up my multi tasking game once more. Once you go Mac, you never go back!

3. Being the type of (boring and unadventurous) person who enjoys owning all sorts of variations of my favourite things, Olympea by Paco Rabanne hits all the right spots! Alien by Thierry Mugler is my all time favourite perfume, and any new fragrance that hits some of those juicy, sweet little notes is more than ok for a spritz/douse/head to toe body bath in my book. Olympea is irresistibly… irresistible. If it wasn’t for the fact I have managed to hoard an excessive of bottles this year already, it would be taking pride of place on my perfume shelf. It will happen, because frankly, my self restraint just isn’t there yet.

4. This takes me back to my days in secondary school, borrowing (without permission) cool grown up clothes from my sisters to wear to mufti days at school. It was all about the lace up. Partially because I’m in denial of my age, and also what year it is in general, I’m really enjoying these shameless throwbacks to the 90s and early noughties. I suddenly understand why adults LOVE nostalgia, and why pop culture and everything else throws us these little reminders of times past – it’s comforting! Who knew that one item of clothing could reveal to the public the extent of my quarter life crisis… ahem. I also like this Boohoo playsuit because it’s red, and I like red, it makes me feel sassy.

5. Having recently suffered at the hands (or feet?) of an array of uncomfortable shoes, I am instinctively drawn now, to the flattest, most comfy looking sandals. These Office slingbacks fit the bill nicely! I get very carried away when shopping, by all the sparkle and bright colours lining the shelves, but when it actually comes to matching up outfit, coming home with iridescent shoes can prove to be problematic. I need to stop being such a magpie and embrace neutral tones!

6. As someone who spends a lot of time on Instagram, it has become almost impossible to ignore the allure of this Chloe arm candy perfection. Those wonderfully clean lines, and the perfect pastel pink paired with beautiful gold hardware pretty much makes it my dream bag. I believe that Drew could be the perfect companion to most summertime frolicks. Ah! I can only dream…

7. A little more within my budget than a Chloe handbag, is this fruity little fella by Sunnyside. Candles are the perfect way to bring a little bit of colour into an otherwise dreary space. With it’s pineapple scent to match, this one ticks all the boxes – far too good to burn, though. I absolutely love the colour; a vibrant turquoise is surprisingly compatible with a number of different colour schemes, so don’t be afraid to say aloha and welcome him into your home!

Hello Holborn!

Hello! So, it’s been a while… as you can tell from the cobwebs on my ‘Archives’ list, I disappeared sometime in 2012 never to be found again. If you read my blog back then, you probably remember me going somewhat AWOL every so often – that sort of sums up, quite accurately, how I’ve felt about my life for the past five years, I would say!

There aren’t really any mind blowing reasons for it, other than the fact I have moved house a staggering nine times in the past five years, which is enough to make anyone’s head spin! It really just meant that I didn’t feel I had the brain capacity to channel my creativity properly. Anyway, I am extremely glad that all of this upheaval has come to an end – I have been in my current flat for just over a year, which is the longest I’ve been in one place since 2008, and it feels absolutely amazing!

After teetering around the idea for some time, I decided that London is where I belong. And so here I am! Nicely settled into a somewhat comfortable lifestyle, I am really excited to work on building foundations for the future. It is now that I feel ready to share my life a little bit again with all of you wonderful ladies and gents, and with much more inspiration up here, this has been a long time coming…

I have to thank a friend of mine, April for persisting to convince me to start blogging again. There have been times when I have come to the conclusion that “I’m just too lazy to blog!”, and yet that little niggle just didn’t really let up in the back of my mind. And I have April to thank for that! And these photographs too. This may not be so bad after all, huh?!

The blog is still taking shape gradually as I pull it all together again – every system seems to have changed almost unrecognisably over the past few years… on par only with how quickly the Kardashians seemingly change their noses/lips/other assets. No offense to them of course, but you get the idea! so please bear with me a little bit, and I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Dress – Aqua // Sandals – Primark // Bag – eBay // Sunglasses – Sunglasses // Choker – eBay // Nail Varnish – ‘Chili’ by Barry M // Lipstick – Kate Moss for Rimmel

Four Weddings, a Funeral… and a Fox!

Unable to resist the urge to re-watch one of my all time favourite classic Brit-flicks, alongside the offering of Pimms and nibbles, my friend Roxy and I popped on up to Kilver Court last night for the Aubin & Wills screening of Four Weddings and a Funeral! I’ve always wished for a cinema to be opened up in my town, and so my dream half came true last night…

Spending time at Kilver Court is one of my favourite summer past times, and this year will be no exception, hopefully! With new additions to the Designer Emporium springing up left right and centre, one of the brands that has really caught my eye since setting up shop, is Aubin & Wills. With an understated richness to their designs, as well as some great staple pieces and prints, Aubin & Wills is certainly more ‘me’ than I expected it to be; having known sister brand Jack Wills for some years now, I wasn’t sure what to expect to begin with. I have to say, too, as an appreciator of fantastic graphic design, I very much love the design of the bag my goodies were presented to me in, and will no doubt be keeping the bag out on display in my room somehow so as not to let it go to waste!

Nothing quite excites me like the combination of Fashion and Film, particularly a good ol’ British romcom, so you could say that lounging around on soft woolen Aubin & Wills picnic blankets, munching on cupcakes and sipping Pimms whilst watching a good comedy is pretty much an ideal evening out as far as I’m concerned! I was also really impressed to learn that Aubin & Wills has its own ‘Aubin Cinema’ in Shoreditch, London… not many brands can say that of themselves, right?! Love it. Perhaps I smell something in the pipeline for Cherry Humbug in the future… haha : )

If any of you are ever in the Somerset area, I would definitely recommend a visit to the Kilver Court Designer Emporium. There are an increasing amount of brands to be shopped, and that outlet discount never goes amiss, right?! Set alongside tranquil, beautiful gardens, farm shop and Harlequin Cafe (that serves the best carrot cakeever!) a little trip to Kilver Court is always welcome in my book, come rain or shine!

Music TeleVision

Glitter Jacket & Pleated Skirt Charity Shop
MTV Vest Top & Kitty Flats eBay

I suppose this outfit post is a testament to how much my shopping habits have changed over the past couple of years! I really enjoy charity shopping, and have found some great pieces during my time at university. I suppose being a student, and having to be thrifty (being on a fashion course, and giving up shopping completely is realllllly hard, when your constant focus is clothing!) gets you looking in new places for fashion fixes that won’t break the bank! You can get way more for your money by shopping this way, which unfortunately is probably why my wardrobe is seemingly bursting at the seams, haha. Its also true to say that most of my favourite items are charity shop finds.

I would definitely recommend charity shopping to everyone, because as I also found out on a recent visit, some stores like Tesco now donate clothing, which means you can find brand new pieces sometimes for really great prices. Bargain, right?!

I also find myself shopping more and more on eBay these days – I’m of the belief that anything you can find on the high street, you can find cheaper on eBay, and so it has kind of become my ‘go to’ for certain items. Also, I love that you can search for exactly what you want, rather than having to search shops endlessly… who’d have thought that we’d have become so lazy, even where shopping is concerned? When did shopping become a chore?? Haha : )

I’m going to be doing a post in the next week or so on some money saving shopping methods, so I suppose this is a little taster of that! These photos were taken by my friend Charlie, who will be helping me out with picture taking from time to time now I’m living back in Somerset – the whole tripod method gets me quite flustered at times, and being a bit of a perfectionist, the photos seem to come out better if someone else is snapping for you!

Sunday Lust List #11

A few weeks back, I did a River Island themed Lust List, and after a visit to House of Fraser in Bluewater, there are some dresses from Oasis that caught my eye that I’ve been thinking about and wanting to add to my summer wardrobe! With that in mind, I thought I would show you some of my favourites – I think I can safely say that I’m enjoying prints this summer, haha : ) quite a lot of my picks are sale items too, so have a look if you like, and see if anything catches your eye!

1. I’ve always liked the romanticism of the Orient, particularly cherry blossoms – and in all truth if anything has a cherry blossom on it I will most likely want to buy it… so this dress was an easy pick for me! I also really like the nude and grey combination with splashes of red, it keeps the design eye popping and bold without being too loud!

2. I think this dress is my favourite of them all! I can 100% imagine walking around a beautiful island such as Hawaii in this little number… or even if I don’t make it out of the UK, it would help me pretend I was somewhere a little more tropical! I really love bird prints (even if that concept has become a little cliche by now, I don’t mind one bit!) and the fact that the hummingbirds are a little more oversized really sells it for me. Plus, it also helps that this shade of aqua/jade happens to be my favourite colour… I’m sold!

3. Because in our heads, we all dream of re-enacting those poetic scenes in movies; frolicking through the meadows at dusk, this dress is elegant and floaty enough to be the perfect costume choice for such things! I know that I definitely love the idea of wearing floaty dresses in the summer because they just seem so romantic, and light fabrics never go amiss, even if the UK climate isn’t exactly sizzling! I also really like this delicate vintage inspired bird print, and personally I think it makes the dress look more high end than high street.

4. The great thing about prints is that you can use them to explore all the different sides of your personality. For example, you can go from something romantic, to something a little edgier, like this zebra print dress. Fashion is so fun, oui?! Showing off your animalistic side is always very liberating and fun, and this dress in particular has some great, unusual, extra detail on the back that I find really interesting!

5. Again, because the theme of this summer for me, seems to be that I want to pretend I live in Hawaii… I can’t get enough of these tropical prints. I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for these to happen, and now they’re here, I can’t get enough – which is unfortunate because nothing spells “broke” quite like being a freshly graduated university student! Sob sob.

6. This cute little striped number rather reminds me of a modern-update of Jean Seberg’s iconic Dior creation in Breathless. The film is a testament to the fact that that the perfect striped dress can be really timeless, and I think this one would be a great wardrobe addition for years to come, for that very reason!

The Emerald City

Dress Principles via Charity Shop
Glitter Belt Primark
Beige Patent Loafers F&F at Tesco
Jewellery Butler and Wilson

I always seem to have problems photographing shades of green like this; my camera always makes them too minty looking! This dress is a more vibrant, Emerald tone than can be seen in the images, I would say, but even colour correcting seemed to be turning it the wrong shade so I’ve left it this time!

I’ve been doing a lot of buying from charity shops recently – I like the fact that in these shops there’s nothing there to dictate a certain style for you, leaving you free to use your own imagination! This dress is by Principles, but was found in a charity shop for around £5… and as a student, and still wanting to be able to buy a few bits and bobs every now and then, this is the perfect solution!

You might’ve noticed that in the last couple of posts I was sporting a nose stud. It was something I’d been wanting to try for a long time, so I finally took the plunge. I didn’t mention it before because I wasn’t really sure whether I liked it or not, and wanted to be able to make up my own mind on it! As it turns out, I didn’t really feel like it suited me that much, so I’ve now taken it out – this might be me being overly fussy, but I somehow didn’t feel like it sat right, or something like that… my mum will be pleased, and will secretly think she beat me out on this, haha.

Anyway, I’m guilty of staying in bed a bit too long today, so I’m going to go and try and catch some sun before it goes in again! Bye for now : )

P.S I didn’t even notice how creased this dress was until I saw the pictures – I think my new high definition camera must be sharper than my eyesight!

BADgals go to Benefit!

Before BADgal…

After hearing various friends raving about Benefit’s BADgal Lash mascara, and having recently declared my tube of Bourjois ‘Liner Effect’ officially empty, I felt that it was about time I gave my lashes a dose of something new! They say that behind every good man is a great woman, behind every great fortune is a crime (I’ve never heard that one before, admittedly…!) and, now, it seems to be that behind every good blogger is the best friend who’s ready with that great little tip off when items from our Lust Lists become available as freebies; boom! My dedicated freebie-tracking, Coupon Queen pal, Sian, spotted BADgal Lash on my Sunday Lust List a couple of weeks back, and kindly informed me that Glamour magazine was once again honouring us with an array of sample size Benefit goodies, to add to our already undoubtedly overflowing make up bags. Bargain!

I don’t really do ‘Beauty’ posts on the blog, and I also can’t pretend to know anything all that much about beauty products and make up… but I do think a good honest before-and-after test is always a good way to spread the word if a product really is all that, and with all this semi-ridiculous post-production madness that they seem to do on mascara adverts these days, I thought it’d be good to show you the real deal so you can judge properly whether you want to buy a tube for yourself!

It may not make your lashes look like epic, long raven feathers, nor will it magically double your lash count either, in the same way that CGI/special-effect-virtual-reality mascara can… but BADgal is bang on if you’re looking for a some extra impact around the eye area, and with a few coats you can achieve something unclogged but dramatic, as you can see! I got to four coats (on the top lashes, three on the bottom) without any kind of cloggging occuring, and could’ve probably taken it a bit further too, but for a natural-ish day look, two would suffice and one coat does make a noticeable difference, too : )

I definitely think that BADgal deserves the Cherry Humbug ‘Seal of Approval’; if you want to see for yourself, as I said, you can pick up a copy of Glamour magazine for £2 and try it for yourself! Not bad at all. I’ll be picking up a few more copies before the month is out, that’s for sure!

Shop the Motel Summer Sale Early!

Because everybody knows that there’s nothing like the addition of a few bargains to add some serious sass to your summer wardrobe, the lovely ladies over at Motel Rocks have once again treated the readers of Cherry Humbug to an exclusive sneak preview of the summer sale, that begins officially next Wednesday! That means that you, yes you, have almost a week’s head start on everyone else, and can get first pick of the sale items in order to make sure that you snap up those favourite pieces before anyone else… not bad going, right?!

Simply pick out your favourite items from the Exclusive Summer Sale, drop them into your basket, and apply the fabulous 50% off code in at the end! Enjoy!

The Modern Way

Scalloped Edge Tank Top Pilot
Velvet Skater Skirt Primark
Kitty Flats and Baroque Sunglasses eBay

Not one to be content with staying inside on beautiful sunny days, my friends Sian, Jodie,and I headed up to Rochester Castle to lounge about on the green that overlooks the River Medway, wanting to soak up a little sun and Vitamin D, and  generally make the most of the weather, because as you fellow Brits will know, there is no certainty about anything weather elated over here – and I’m glad we did, as the weather has been having crazy mood swings ever since! I find it a little bit mad that I haven’t spent more time up at the castle during my time at university in Kent, because I love being outdoors, and its an honour to live so close to such a beautiful, historic building; but then it makes sense, as I am mainly here for the winter months, and back in my home county of Somerset for the summer!

When I first started what I, at the time, called ‘photography’ I ended up overusing black and white (along with everyone else in my photography class, no doubt!) and have been a bit scared of it for a while now. But I want to keep the blog interesting, and I really like the way the greyscale shows up the crosses on my top, and the texture of my velvet skirt, plus… I haven’t had internet in my house for the week which means I’ve had much more time to fuss over my images in Photoshop, haha.

I will be moving back to Somerset properly soon, now that my time at university is over! This means that you can expect a post soon, with more shots on the place I have called my half-home for the last three years – it’d be a shame not to, whilst I’m still here, as there are some great little old fashioned shops up Rochester High Street that deserve some attention. The pictures I took of the castle itself on this particular day were a little bit too snap happy, and didn’t really capture the beauty of the castle to its full potential, which is why I haven’t put any up this time! Probably because we were more concerned with lazing about on the grass before the breeze got too chilly, but nonetheless, I’m eager to do some proper snapping another day so you will get to have a better peak at the castle in the next few days, no doubt : )