Sticky Business

Monday, 30 November 2015



Something a little fun. A little kitsch. A little bonkers.



And a whole lot of pennies and pounds. But for those who can't afford some of those lovely Anya Hindmarch bag stickers. How about a little set of these?






And my favourite .....



ASOS have 20% off everything off their site till tomorrow morning with the code CYBER.

And I have a little purse crying out for that little cat sticker. Be rude not to eh?





Merry Christmas

Sunday, 29 November 2015



... to me!





Golden Goose are in the sale at Shoescribe. Finally.



What's in my Village England Cranleigh Bag?

Friday, 27 November 2015




Village England Cranleigh Bag, H&M Keyring



It was suggested that I should do a "What's in my bag post" by Eve on Instagram. And I thought okay, now is as good a time as any as I've just got a new bag and it's looking quite tidy :o) 

Diving in, this is what we have ....





Shall we start with the bag itself?

Well, that's my new Cranleigh bag up there which I received from Village England which is a relatively new English brand. I did know a little about them as I've seen the bags featured on a number of my favourite blogs and I know that Julia Dobson and Eddie Knevett the founders have been clever, done their homework and produced a range of leather bags pitched at the more affordable end of the luxury leather goods market. That's good news for you and me :o) My days of Mulberry are long gone as I feel they've overpriced themselves in recent years but I still want a nice bag at a sensible price.  This is where Village England hopefully fill a gap. And do you like the antiqued brass hardware on the bag? A little bit quirky but smacks of English tradition. This is something which Eddie (he's in charge of the bag designs) has pulled off really well as his business idol is  Sir Paul Smith who he says has managed to create a strong brand with a quirky identity. Yep  Eddie definitely nailed it with the Cranleigh!

Now I picked this little black saddle bag because it's the perfect size and shape for me for me to use every day. Not too big, not too small but spacious enough for me to fit a few things in there comfortably. I went with the black despite it being not the most exciting colour ever but you know what? I like black bags. They rock my world. I also like a messenger strap - I've been going handsfree for the last nine or so years - if you have children, you'll understand and it becomes a hard habit to break. And other things worth a mention include (1) there are no fiddly buckles to deal with as the bag is fastened with a magnetic closure, (2) the heavy antiqued brass finish on the hardware is just perfect as I don't like shiny shiny anyway and (3) the new leather smell. Yep, you've got the real deal there!

Moving on to the actual contents :

Tissues. I pick up a pack of ten from the pound shop and usually have a pack floating around in one of my bags. Where there are boys there is snot.

Maoam Sweets. Keeps them quiet.

Burts Bees Lip Balm in Dahlia. That's the only makeup I carry around with me but it's all I can manage when I'm out of the house anyway. 

Keys. We all have keys.

Purse. This is one I got from Kurt Geiger a few years back and it seems to be holding up quite well. Its quite big but it needs to be to house all my receipts for all my returns. I bet you weren't expecting it to be pink though were you?

Power Bank. Also known as the "life saver". I took this with me when I went camping and you know when you're hanging on to battery life by 1% before your phone conks out - this little gadget saved me and my sanity. Yes it's sad but oh you should have seen the joy when I realised it fitted my phone. I bought it originally for the boy's iPads but found it fitted my Samsung instead #oh_happy_day

Fold up Bag. I went posh and bought myself a little fold up bag that I picked up from Clas Ohlson which I took a shine to just because I liked that zingy shade of green. They do come in handy you know. 

Phone. We can't go anywhere without the phone can we? You can? You have more of a life than me.

Panda Keyring. This was too cute to pass up. Actually that's not true. I passed him up the first time he came out a few months back and then he sold out and then he popped back in store again. So I had to buy him before he sold out again. 

Camera. Not shown in the picture because I was using it to take the picture!

So for a rather compact looking bag ... it fits quite a lot in doesn't it? The most joyous thing is the fact that the days of baby wipes are long gone! Woohoo!




Next coat, Ganni Sweatshirt, Topshop Baxters, Adidas Stan Smiths

Village England Cranleigh Bag available here and here


-----------------------------

Last Notes :


  • Well I've used the bag every day since I've got it - I guess that means it's a goody.
  • To use the Village England quote on their site, I like that the bag is "not so precious that it can't be thrown in the back of the car" because that's what sometimes happens!
  • The Village England bags are also available at House of Fraser where there just happens to be a Black Friday promotion going on. Have you seen the jaguar print one? Treat yourself or maybe get writing that letter "Dear Santa ....."




* Cranleigh bag c/o Village England


Quick OOTD : 26/11/15 Some Things ...

Thursday, 26 November 2015



.... I adopt straight away and use non stop. Like my new Village England Cranleigh bag. And some things I wear two months later like my camel cardigan which I bought in September. What am I like???

Primark Cardi (instore), H&M blouse, H&M Scarf, Topshop Baxter Jeans, Converse, 
Bag c/o Village England available here and here *



I'll tell you more about my bag another day ;o)



* Thank you to Village England for my Cranleigh bag. 


American Vintage Jacksonville Tee

Thursday, 19 November 2015







American Jacksonville Tee available here and here


I wore my American Vintage Jacksonville tee in the last post with the gold cardigan. I've worn it a few times, made a reference to it but haven't actually said much and that's partly because I wanted to wear it a few times, put it through the wash and see how it fared before I passed judgement.

Judgement day has come and the verdict is ....

It's good. It's not the cheapest jersey tee on the block but it's good. Or at least it's good for me. Why? It doesn't cling. It doesn't cling round that pesky bit which tells you I eat doughnuts ... a lot. If you look through my IG feed, you might spot a few doughnuts on there. Some people eat maccarons, I eat full fat doughnuts and I have the waistline to prove it. But that aside, this tee is cut in the most flattering manner. I wasn't expecting too much from it when it arrived originally but once I put it on, I just took it off again and said "It's a keeper". There were no second thoughts and the usual shall I think this through for a few weeks, it was just a keeper. The arms are cut slim but not restrictive because the jersey is soft. And yes the jersey is soft but doesn't seem to lose its stretch so it bags. The cut is almost a-line but not quite - I don't like proper a-line cut tees as they can serve to give you the few months gone look which is not good - been there, done that, worn the maternity tee. And the v-neck is deep enough without being vulgar and gently shaped - there's been some thought in the design of this tee.

It's a cotton mix - 52% cotton, 48% viscose - hence how soft and fluid it is. I wondered if it might shrink a little when I washed it - it doesn't appear to have and more importantly it hasn't got that bobbling which does happen on some jersey fabrics. I like it. They are thin though so a few washes down, I may be singing a different tune.

For the record, I'm a size 10 with a doughnut tyre round the middle. I'm wearing a size small and it fits well. Mine is the colour "carbone" which is like a soft washed black/almost charcoal grey. The perfect in-between shade when black is too black and you don't want grey.




Quick OOTD : 17/11/15 Rock Chick

Wednesday, 18 November 2015



Okay so I washed my hair last night before I went to bed and slept on it kind of funny. And I look kind of dishevelled, tired and like I just rolled in from the night before but coupled with the metallic gold cardigan I just dug out of a box, I think it helps with the whole rock chick. Don't you?

Go with it.

Hobbs NW3 Metallic Cardigan (old), American Vintage Jacksonville Tee, 
Topshop Baxter Jeans, Next Cheetah Pumps (old)



Susie So So