Thursday 20 June 2013

Summer cake recipe

Hey guys :)

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far, I live in a small city in England where it reached a scorching (or so I feel compared to last weeks rain) 26 degrees centigrade. I decided to take a walk to a shop about 15 minutes away to buy some strawberries and made a cake ready for mum when she got home from work :)



It's a simple Victoria sponge laden with strawberry jam and topped with freshly whipped cream, strawberries and grated chocolate.

It was super easy to make and here are the ingredients and recipe if you are interested...

three medium sized eggs
8oz (about 230g) self raising flour
8oz/230g caster sugar (you can use less if you're making a sweet topping)
8oz/230g margarine
A jar of strawberry jam for the filling 

For the topping...
A tub of thick or extra thick whipped cream
A punnet or handful of strawberries
chocolate

Utensils you will need...
Weighing scales
A large mixing bowl
two cake tins
a spoon or two
a knife 
a whisk
an oven set to gas mark 5 or 190 degrees C.
a cooling rack
a grater


Recipe  

1. Add the caster sugar and margarine into a bowl and mix until creamed together.

2. Add the eggs one at a time and gradually mix in the flour.

3. Beat the mixture for a while until smooth 

4. Grease the cake tins with a little margarine 

5. Split the mixture between the two tins and smooth them over.

6. Place the mixture onto to middle shelf of a pre heated oven for around 20 minutes untill they look golden on top.

7. Check the mixture is cooked by pricking it with a knife, if it comes away clean it is cooked, if there is mixture on it, leave it for a bit longer.

8. When cooked, take the cakes out of the oven and place them on a cooling rack for about ten minutes and then carefully remove the cakes from their tins.

9. when fully or mostly cooled, spread the jam onto the one sponge and place the other on top.

10. empty the cream into a jug or bowl and whisk until firm. Pour this all onto to top of the cake and spread it out carefully.

11. Arrange the strawberries on top, grate the chocolate and sprinkle this on too.

and et voilĂ , a lovely summery cake!

Thanks for reading guys, Happy Thursday!!

Lots of love, Lucy 

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Mini Boots/drugstore haul!

Hello there!

I took a trip to town yesterday and of course had to go into Boots and buy things which I didn't really need but which looked super pretty or interesting. I decided therefore that I would haul my little shop for you :). I apologise that there isn't that much, I'm on a strict 'no spending too much!' regime since I splashed out a week ago spending about £200 on clothes (uh oh). Hopefully more will come once I forgive myself a little.

Anyway....into the haul...









I picked up a Rimmel Scandaleyes waterproof eyeliner in 'bronze' for £3.99. 

I prefer using brown eyeliner because I am super pale and fair and feel that black is sometimes too intense on my skin tone. I have previously tried Soap & Glory and Topshop waterproof eyeliners which came out pretty much black, but this one appears much more brown and has a slight shimmer so I am super excited to try this out. 



Another Scandaleyes product is this shadow stick in the shade 'bulletproof beige' which was £4.49.

I lied a little, this was actually from Superdrug because although there were about six in Boots, they has ALL been used. It annoys me SOOO much when people do that. There was a tester there but I guess they thought they'd just try another six aswell. 

I feel this will look really good as an all over base colour, on the waterline and in the inner corners. I put a little into my inner corners when I bought it and it stayed for ages, so it's looking good so far.



The Schwarzkopf got2b salt spray was £4.07

I am again yet to use this, but I have used salt sprays before and loved them. This one seemed to be the cheapest so I picked it up and sprayed it. Now I don't know about all of them, but for Christmas my brother bought me a Label.M one which retails for anything from £4 to like £15 and it had a very salty smell to it, don't get me wrong it was quite pleasant. Although this one has a really lovely almost fruity clean scent to it which I was not expecting. I am really looking forward to trying this out.

This Batiste dry shampoo was on offer at £1.99. BARGAIN!

This is one of their 'new' dry shampoos that strengthens and adds shine. Whether it does or not, I don't know yet. I picked this up because I am running out of my current one and this one smells pretty similar to the 'blush' one which is my current favourite. It's the typical white colour and I'm intrigued to know how/if it works. 

I picked up this essie 2013 summer collection nail polish in 'Rock the Boat' for £7.99.

I love the colour of this one, it has a slight shimmer and looks lovely on the nails. I have gone into a bit more detail about this varnish in my blog post which you can find here. 



Last but certainly not least, I grabbed a Revlon lipstick (it's not like the 3 million I have already are enough, am I right?) in the shade 'pink in the afternoon' for £7.49.

This for me is one of those 'my lip colour but better' lip shades and is a really pretty rose pink colour. I also love the name of it. This is one of their 'super lustrous' lipsticks and I have worn it to death already. One thing I will say is that it seems pretty drying, I find the need to put a lip balm on with it. I also got and extra £2 off with a voucher and so for the price I really don't mind. 

And that is it. If you would like me to give a more in depth review or anything into any of the things I have bought, please do ask, it gives me post ideas :)

Lots of love, Lucy 

Essie's 'Rock The Boat'

Hey there everyone!

Hope you're all ok. 

I recently picked up one of the essie summer collection nail varnishes called 'Rock the Boat' on a trip to Boots (haul to come soon!). It is a beautiful pastel blue/ periwinkle colour with shimmer (hopefully you can see that in the second pic). I'm not the biggest fan of essie because I usually find that they chip super easily and cost quite a bit, although I couldn't pass on this colour.






Shimmer


Base coat of O.P.I 'Nail Envy'



With one coat (left) and with two (right)

Overall, I am super happy with this colour. At the moment there is no chipping but I will more than likely go over it with a chip-proof top coat to make sure. It's such a summery colour, I can imagine this on a super sunny hot day at the beach would look AMAZING! 

Have you tried any of the new nail varnishes in the essie 2013 summer collection?

Lots of love, Lucy 

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Follow me on Bloglovin :)

Hey guys,






I came back after a 4 month break to read a load of posts about GFC ending. WHAT!? I am utterly confused as some people are saying it is only google reader that is going and others, GFC all together.  If the latter is true, after finally getting 158 of you lovely followers, you chummys all may disappear over night :(, which is not good!

Just to be on the safe side, you can follow me on Bloglovin here...


...and I will most certainly follow you back! :)


If you know any more about this and if GFC is going, I'd love to know so that I can g through and follow you all on bloglovin.

Lots of love, Lucy

Outfit Of The Day!

Hey guys,

My outfit today on a trip to the dentist (arghhh!!) and into town...




Army Jumper - Urban Outfitters £35

High waisted jeans - Topshop - £36

T-shirt - Brat&Suzie - £35 (they have some really cute, unusual tops....


Thanks for reading, I hope you have had/ are having a great Tuesday :)

Lots of love, Lucy 



Sunday 16 June 2013

Song Of The Week!

Hello there.

I was just listening to a load of songs I have been loving recently and thought, how can I incorporate this into my blog?...A song of the week would be good! I think I'm going to make this a bit of a regular Sunday thing, telling you guy what my favourite (or favourites if I can't pick) song has been the past week :)



This week I have been OBSESSED with 'walks like Rihanna' by The Wanted. I don't typically like songs like this (super pop-ish and about random crap) but this is so damn catchy and happy, plus it often plays at work and makes me cope with the shift a little better.

If you haven't heard it...here it is...



What have you been listening to the past week?

Lots of love, Lucy 

Outfit Of The Day

Hey guys!!

Outfit of the Day for you from a cinema trip I took yesterday to see Man of Steel (AMAZING FILM!!).












Jeans - Topshop MOM jeans - £42

Grey cropped T-shirt - American Apparel from TKMaxx - £8

Cropped denim shirt - Topshop - £28

Brogues - NewLook - £27.99 

L necklace -  Matalan - possibly around £5

Belt - Urban Outfitters - I bought this ages ago but they sell a similar one for £12



Hope you guys are having a lovely Sunday :)

Lots of love, Lucy 

Friday 14 June 2013

Confessions of a Blogger Tag.

Hey guys,

I know, I'm hopeless!! I last posted in February and that is not good enough! But I have a few excuses lined up, Uni finished a few weeks back and so up until then I was burdened with work and spent all my waking hours sat in the library writing 4000 word essays. It payed off though, came out of my second year with 2 Cs, 3 Bs and 3 As and since summer began I have been doing overtime at work. I'm hoping to be a better blogger from now on though. I'm going to start off a little easy with a tag and I'll soon (hopefully) be uploading some OOTDs and Hauls (accidentally spent about £150 in Topshop last week, oooops). So anyway after that essay, into the Tag.

01. When did you start your blog?
I started this little blog of mine on the first of July 2012, meaning it's nearly a year old :O how fast has that gone!

02. Have you had any online presence before?
I have never had a blog before or a YouTube channel (as much as I'd love one!!) but I have Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and things (Links up there ^^ *winkwink*)

03. Why did you start a blog?
I love and am incredibly addicted to watching YouTube and have for a couple of years, wanted to start up my own channel but I have zero confidence with stuff like that. I knew about blogs and had read a few and followed some on BlogLovin' and so I decided to start up my blog LucyLoves :)

04. When did you become serious about blogging?
For a while I posted really randomly, sometimes three times a day and then again two weeks later, I had a very basic blog design and maybe one or two followers. After a few weeks I realised how to personalise it and how to gain more followers. I also started blogging more frequently and even scheduled certain posts if I knew I was going to be out. 

05. What was your first post?
I actually started a LucyLoves blog before this one but forgot the password and so remade my blog as this one you see now. Originally on that one my first post was a 'hi, this is my blog' post, although on this blog, my first post was about Revlon lip butters and MUA lipsticks.

06. What has been your biggest challenge about blogging?
Definitely (as you can tell) keeping motivated to blog and to not take months out. I LOVE blogging and reading blogs and when I compose proper posts I spend ages on them. It's just sometimes I push blogging to the back and can't build the motivation or find the time to blog. I do miss the blogging community when I take time out though.

07. Where do you see your blog in one year?
Ehm, not that amazing to be honest. I'm training as a teacher and so don't see it becoming anything big unlike bloggers who work in the beauty/fashion industry. I just love using it as a way to express my love for fashion and beauty and such things and hope that I can entertain some of you guys with my future posts.

08. What is the most rewarding thing to you about blogging?
for sure the people. I have never met any of you lovely guys although I enjoy reading about peoples lives and what they've been upto and what clothes they like and things and reading comments on my posts. It has opened up a whole other community and world for me that I never knew that much of before. I love you guys :)

09. What is the most discouraging thing?
Nothing too major, just again the time it takes me (as a bit of a perfectionist) to compose posts. After getting home from a day at work all I want to do is watch YouTube or The Big Bang Theory and eat, I have thought about uploading a post on numerous occasions but just cannot get off my but and do it.

10. What's your lasting inspiration or motivation?
Hearing from you guys in comments or e-mails about posts you've liked and saying that you've followed or something. To think that people actually read this stuff I post is what WHAAAAT!? I also absolutely love fashion and make up and pretty things and love sharing things with other people and finding out about new things through reading other's blogs. 


Aaaaaaaand, that is it. I apologise again for my lack of blogging and hope that you'll forgive me haha. 
Also, I tag anyone who is reading this right now to also do this tag


Lots of love, Lucy 

Saturday 23 February 2013

OOTN

Helloooo there

I'm slipping into bad ways and not posting! Blame uni, three weeks in and I'm already up to my neck in assignments (another 2000 words in for the start of March). On a side not, If you're still in school/ college enjoy it while you can, I remember complaining about the workload buy my gooosh If I'd have known the tens of thousands of words you have to write in Uni...


Anyway...So yes, me and some friends had a bit of a catchup and went out one evening. I forgot to take a picture beforehand as per usual but there were a few (shoddy) ones taken during the night and here is possible the one which shows most of my outfit.


Top - Topshop

Skirt - Republic

Heart necklace - From Liam

Owl necklace - Primark

Belt - Primark

Chain/skull bracelet - Topshop

Clutch - Accessorize


I hope you all have a lovely weekend :)

Love from Lucy xx



Friday 8 February 2013

Collective Haul! | TK Maxx | Topshop | Primark | Charity shops | Boots etc

Hellooo, 

Sorry I haven't posted since, well a few days ago! Uni started again :( but I've finally gotten around to doing a big collective haul from things I've bought over the past 6 weeks ish. I'm sure I've shown you some things before/have forgotten something, but do forgive me. 



Blue swirly bowl - I picked this up from a charity shop for 50p, nothing like a bargain!

Blue plate - This was also froma  charity shop, 50p.

Metalic plate - TK Maxx, £2. I'm having a bit of a room makeover atm, I shall perhaps do a room tour afterwards.



Owl cushion 1 - Primark, £6.

Owl cushion 2 - Primark, £6.



Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquers in Celestial, Apocalips and Luna - Boots, £5.99 or 3 for 2. These are fab, think lipstick in liquid form, but I'm certain that you've heard the hype already!

Nivea Express Hydration Primer - Superdrug, £4.99. There has been quite a big hype about this, the texture is like a primer but it sinks in like a moisturiser so I'm still a little unsure about this one atm.

Nivea Regenerating Night Cream - Superdrug, £1.99. This stuff is suuuuuper amazing for the price! It's thick and so sinks in slowly, I wake up with super-dee-duper soft skin.


 Black textured skater skirt - Primark £oops I don't remember, maybe £6-£12 vast difference I know, sorry guys! 

Cheater/Jaguar/Puma/otherlargecat gold and black belt - Primark, £1 in the sale

Raspberry necklace - Primark, £2 in the sale

Cross double ring - £1.50



Flat wired iluv headphones (they don't tangle up!) earphones - TK Maxx, £4.99

Pretty rose plate (as part of a set) TK Maxx, £Can't remember agaiiin! But they do a load of amazingly beautiful cups and mugs and plated and vases and bowls and candle holders and cookery things and....

Blue 'worn out' jar (don't use it as a vase, it's porous as I discovered) - TK Maxx, £6

Heart Garland - ASDA, £1



Set of tiny little super handy adorable shelves - TK Maxx £25

Set of 9 pairs of earings (including the two I'm wearing in the picture) - Primark, £2

Nivea Refreshing Facial Wash Gel - ASDA, £1.50. Yet to use this but am rather excited to, it's like clear and my skin loves nivea.

Nivea Extra gentle eye make up remover - ASDA, £1.50. Super amazing!

Nivea Refreshing Cleansing lotion - Boots, £3.59 but you can get it in Superdrug for £1.99.



Peach geometric print 'Modern Lux' jumper - TK Maxx, £9.99

Floral ombre jumper with studded shoulders - TK Maxx, £16.99

Gold Belt - Primark, £1 in the sale

Chain belt - Primark, £2.50



Leather look back pack - Primark, £9

OGGI tumbler - TK Maxx, £3.99?

Black collared vest with crosses and studs - Primark, £6

Supidly amazing nude studded bag - Primark, £12  



Cropped tassley top - TK Maxx, £3.99. Yuh, I know!

Frill trim socks - Topshop, 3 for £8

Trio of lip glosses - Topshop.........£1 reduced from £10, now that is a bargain!


And that is it for this little haul (under-exaggeration), I hope you enjoyed it and I hope to have given you some purchasing ideas (like you need that!). 

Love you allll!!

Lots of love, Lucy xx

Sunday 3 February 2013

OOTD/FOTD | Sunday

Hey guys!

I must firstly, apologise for the horrific quality of the pictures, I had a pretty busy day and only managed to take pictures this evening, of course meaning dodgy lighting and everything looking pixeley and yellow-toned.









OOTD

Leather Jacket - Miss Selfridge * Necklace - Primark * Dress - Primark
Belt - Primark * Tights - Primark * Watch - Michael Kors * Ring - Primark

In case you haven't noticed, I've gone a bit Primark crazy recently!! 

Unfortunately it is back to Uni for me tomorrow since before Christmas, after something like 6 weeks off, I'm not in the slightest looking forward to it! There may be a small lack of blogging but nothing too major :)

Love from, Lucy xx

Coca-cola and WWF

Hello there,

This is a little bit of a random and different post to usual, but if you know me at all you will know I freaking love polar bears! So when the Coca-cola advert popped up onto the TV talking about their campaign/teaming with WWF to help against climate change, I was all ears.

Coca-cola and polar bears go hand in hand, I'm not sure where it all started but there have been numerous adverts and such things with polar bears in and as they are such a massive world wide company, it is 'nice' of them to be helping conserve the icebergylands. The website they tell you to go to (http://www.arctichome.co.uk) asks you to share their campaign on Facebook, I never really get this. I mean if it means more people will donate, then fair enough, but people usually just like and share random things which quite frankly, does absolutely nothing. They have however gone a bit 'above and beyond' with the whole facebook share thing, giving people free use of facebook profile and cover pictures which promote the cause.

They have a 'learn more' page which is pretty useful, talking about polar bears, global warming, WWF etc etc, it also states that WWF and Coca-cola have been in in partnership for a few years? They claim they are going to cut their emissions, conserve water and so on but their main thing seems to be promoting and raising awareness.

One thing I do love about this whole thing is that Coca-cola are giving 1 million Euros (about £800,000) to WWF once a year for three years. They say how people's donated money will help...what it can buy, aka the usual.

It's lovely to hear of a massive company doing something pretty big for a charity, although i'm sure the 3 million Euros (about 2.6 million pounds) will be a mere dent in Coca-colas mahooosive wallet, but is immensely helpful none the less. Everyone and their dog and their dogs dog and their mums know about climate change, but I like that they're hitting it from the "Polar bear's home is melting" angle instead of the "rising sea levels/freak weather/how it will affect us" angle.

Overall, I'm impressed. 

Nice one, Cola :)

xx

Saturday 2 February 2013

25 Facts About Me!

Hellooo,

I have like 50 hauls to do (bit of an exaggeration) but I've been to work and am utterly shattered and so have a bit of a back-log of pictures and posts, to fill that gap I thought I'd hop on the band wagon and do a '25 Facts About Me' post.




1. I am a sweet maniac. I have to be in the mood for chocolate but I could eat sweets all day every day. My particular fave is giant sugared strawbs.


2. I'm very English. My parents have done part of their family tree, the furthest afield we have come from is Birmingham, which is about a half hour drive away, which is sort of boring I'd like to be part Italian or Irish or something.


3. My middle name is Elizabeth which is also the name of my nan's mum.


4. I did ballet for ten years going twice-three times a week until the age of about 15-16 when I gave up for my GCSEs, I regret giving up so much.


5. I am a little bit obsessed with Polar Bears, they're so beautiful and yet fierce and dangerous animals. My boyfriend adopted me a polar bear for Christmas. I love him haha.


6. Talking about boyfriends. I have been with Liam for coming up to 11 months, which has whizzed by. He makes me laugh so much, he's my boyfriend and best friend in one.


7. My favourite TV programmes are Big Bang Theory, New girl and Miranda. I'm a sucker for American TV and comedy things.



8. If I could be any superhero I'd be Superwoman (duuuuh ^^^^)


9. I used to swim for my county and came first in breaststroke, (I also met Tony the Tiger aka the frosties mascot, at one swimming competition. True story) but if you were to throw me into a pool now I'd look like a drowning fly. I lose skills very quickly.


10. I cry at EVERYTHING. I read a leaflet about childline earlier...started crying. Whenever I fall out with someone, hurt myself, read something sad etc etc I am a crying machine.


11. Saying that however, I never cry in movies, I was the one out of my group of friends sat there feeling bad because I didn't cry during Marley and me. The only movie I have cried at is Toy Story three, but can you blame me?


12. I am half way through my Degree at Uni and am studying Education Studies, it is so difficult and such hard work, but I guess that's the same for all degree courses.




13. I actually think I have a clothes/ make up addiction. I live for trips to town and could easily spend hundreds in a single visit, I don't though, I some how find the will power. I get a massive buzz from buying new things and feel somewhat deflated if I come home from a shopping trip with nothing new.


14. I love tea, I could live off solely drinking tea/ iced tea for the rest of my life. It doesn't matter if it's regular tea, extra strong tea, green tea, herbal tea...if it comes in a tea bag, I'll drink it. My particular favourite is the mint infused iced tea from Boston tea party.


15. I'm not a vegetarian but I cannot eat any type of meat that does not come from a joint. for example, If my mum cooks a joint of beef for Sunday lunch, it's fine, or if we go out for sunday lunch and I get turkey and the man cuts it up off the joint, it's fine. But any meat in ready meals of from a take away or even if it's like chicken curry in a resturant...can't eat it...I'm odd.


16. My friends often compare my personality to that of Eliot in Scrubs. I'm not really sure if that's a good thing, but I can see where they're coming from. I can be a bit wacky/kooky/wierd which i'm not always sure is a good trait haha.


17. I have asthma and have done since the age of three. I can remember being diagnosed. I have to take inhalers every day, but I wouldn't be me without it. Even if my best friend Han does sing the part from the Kylie Minogue song which goes "breathe, I know you find it hard but baby, breathe" to me...lots. 




18. I have serious issues about my nose. I never paid to attention to it untill maybe college when everyone seemed to have small little button noses. I wouldn't mind Ellie Goulding's nose because at least her's is small from the front, mine is like having a small planet on my face...enough about noses.


19. I used to get bullied for being short, I was very short back in the day, but in about year 10 I shot up to 5 ft 8 being taller than all of them mwahaaa, although I'd rather be short lol.


20. My first holiday away was with this bunch of girls (including me on the left) and another two not in the pic. We went to a little-ish town in Majorca called Santa Ponsa. It was amaaaazing!!!! I love my girlies crap loads. I've known some of them since reception (aged 4) and the others have joined along the way.

21. In school my friendship group consisted of about 25 people, during the summer between finishing school and starting college in 2009, we spent every day together, it has been the best summer of my life so far.


22. My favourite movies of all time are Toy story, Monsters Inc, The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. I'm a massive kid.


23. I sometimes spend hours just messing with make-up...cue face like a lion...



24. I'm painfully shy, like painfully. When I was little, if there was a family gathering at my grans, I used to run in and hide behind the sofa. I love meeting new people and making friends but I sometimes find it really hard. It has definitely improved with age though. I care much less about what people think nowadays.


25. And finally...what else can I talk about except Lucyloves? Still not sure about the blog title...but I love my little blog, I've always wanted a YouTube channel but all beauty gurus seem to be so beautiful and they still look amazing with no make-up on. But my blog is my escape and I love reading other people's blogs. Even though I often think mine is pretty crappy, I just love writing about make up and clothes and things which I love stupidly lots. So please feel free to follow me *wink wink*

Aaaaand that is it. I rambled a bit didn't I haha, oh well. Hope you guys have all had an amazing Saturday and have a very lovely Sunday :)


Lots of love, Lucy xx  

Thursday 31 January 2013

DIY | Making Bows

Hey there lovelies!

If you're a YouTube nut like me, you may know of Macbarbie07, a lovely girl called Beth who is a pretty damn well known beauty guru. She recently posted a video on how to make hair bows using glue. I unfortunately do not own fabric glue or a hot glue gun and have no haberdashery in town which sells it, I therefore had to use the good old fashioned needle and thread to make mine. I thought I'd show you a DIY on how I made them just because they're so lovely and pretty simple to make. I'm sorry if my instructions and/or pictures are a little confusing...feel free to ask me any questions regarding this little DIY project :)




1. Firstly you want to start by choosing any fabric, I'm using an old much loved blouse from Primark which fell to pieces. The size is up to you but you want to cut the piece three times as high (up) and twice as long (side to side), as you want your finished bow to be. For example my finished bow is 8 cm by 15 cm, therefore I cut a piece 24cm by 30cm.




2. Once you have your piece of fabric, you want to fold it into thirds (think leaflet style). As shown in the first picture above, you will need to fold the one part across and then pin it, and then fold the other part across so that the second overlapped part completely covers the first. (I hope I'm making sense) Once you've done this, You need to thread a needle and tie a knot in the end and then do a running stitch to sew the material together. If you're unsure of what a running stitch is, it's just a simple in-and-out weaving motion (picture 2 above). You then need to knot the other end and cut off any excess thread.




3. Once your piece is sewn and is a third of the height it was before, it's time to fold lengthways. This bit's pretty simple, you just want to fold the two edges so that they meet in the middle. You might want to overlap them slightly but make sure that both halves are the same length. Once you're happy, pin one side and concentrate on this piece to start. Thread a needle and knot it and again do a running stitch this time sewing from top to bottom, before knotting the other side, hold the thread still and push the fabric so that it folds up creating the sort of pleated/gathered/ruched effect of a bow (picture 2 above). Fasten this and cut off excess thread.




4. Now that you've done that, your bow should look a little something like the first picture above. It's difficult to do this again with the other side and I found this was easier. That is, by doing a running stitch along the loose side and again ruching/gathering it and knotting the thread (picture two).



5. The next step is to fold this ruched edge into the centre and sew it down to form a bow shape. And there you have it! well sort of... But now your bow should look very much like a bow just, without the middle bit, which is what we need to do now.




6. This part needs to be the exact length to go around the bow and to overlap a little and double the width.  You want to do the same thing as you did in step 3, folding the two edges so that they meet in the middle and sew it together using a running stitch.




I folded the edges over a little to hem them and then sewed the one edge onto the back of the bow (remember to sew at the back so that the edges are hidden), you then want to wrap it around and sew the other end at the back overlapping the last one slightly. 




And then you have actually finished you bow! My one above looks a tad messy, although you can always sew so that the stitch can't be seen from the front. My thread was near the same colour and this was only my second experiment and so is not the best. 

Here are just a few ideas of what you can use them for, but of course go crazy and do whatever you like, within reason, don't like feed them to your cat or anything (I literally just read that back like 'what the hell Lucy', I'm having a 'Jess from New Girl' day, saying stupid things, too funny to take out though, or so I feel)...


The way I've styled mine is to just stick a kirby grip through the middle part as a simple way to use it as a hair accessory. Although I also attempted one sewn onto a hair bobble which can then be used as either a bobble or a bracelet. Another idea is to jazz them up a bit using whatever you have lying around, in my case some studs attached around the middle. Remember you can obviously make them as big or small as you like, they'd also make a lovely hand-made present.



Thank you very much for reading this very long and rather complicated DIY post, I hope you enjoyed it never-the-less and have been inspired to make yourself some super cute bows!

Have you made any DIY bows before? 

Lots of love, Lucy xx

FOTD | Everyday Makeup

Hey guys :)

So this is technically my FOTD from yesterday put I've scheduled it to post today to even my posts out :)



I really hate pictures of my face (big nose issues and freckles courtesy of fab genes and the 2 minutes of sun we've had this week) and so I rarely do these but today I liked my lipbalm? That's a silly reason I know...but I do. This is my typical every day make up with a petty simple bronse-ish smoky eye, Rosy cheeks and a somewhat natural lip colour.

Moisturiser (not in picture) - Nivea Light Day moisturiser
Foundation - Rimmel Wake me up foundation in True Ivory 
Concealer - Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer in Light
Eye brow pencil - 17 brow pencil in light brown
Cheek Tint - Soap and Glory Cheekmate (amazing gel like dupe for Benefit's Bene tint)
Eye primer - MUA professional eye primer
Eye shadow (not in picture) - Mix of MUA Heaven and Earth pallette
Eye liner - Soap and Glory Smoulder Khol in Cocoa Bean
Mascara 1 - Maybelline The Falsies mascara
Mascara 2 - Benefit They're Real mascara    
Lipbalm - Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Honey

It appears I use a lot of make up on my face! 

Happy Thursday!!

Lots of love, Lucy xx

Wednesday 30 January 2013

OOTD | Casual Shopping Trip

Hello there guys :)

Soooo this is just a short post about my pretty damn simple and casual, outfit of zee day.


Jumper - Forever 21
Black vest - New Look
Leggings - Forever 21
Watch - Michael Kors
Nail varnish - Essie 'Penny Talk'


I hope you're all having/had a great Wednesday.

Love you all :D, Lucy xx

p.s FOTD and haul coming soon.

P.P.S or P.S.S? ... If you're not following my little blog I would love it sooo much if you could. It makes me smiile like a Cheshire Cat on smiling day in smileville (too much?) :)

Friday 25 January 2013

Forever 21 Haul!

hey lovelies.

I wanted to look for some printed leggings and so went over to the Forever 21 website but obviously while I was there ended up spending like another £30 on things I didn't need but fell in love with (oops!!). I hope you enjoy my little hauly. If you want to see a picture of anything being worn/ how I style it, please ask :) I've linked each of the products of similar ones in some cases, below each pic.




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I loved this jumper, well I'm a massive jumper fan anyway but most of my other are white or grey or dark blue etc and I thought that this coral one would add a very welcome splash of colour during these colder months and I could then transition it into spring and possibly even cooler summer evenings because the knit is pretty holey. The website states that it's hi-lo but it really isn't, as you can see from my picture. 

Coral Jumper - £16.75




This is a bit boring, but loads of things I own are either slightly sheer or have eyelets in or as in the jumper above, are somewhat see-through. I picked this little vest in nude because I find they are ideal for helping to maintain your modesty without it standing out overly. These come in a million and five colours (slight exaggeration), but it also says that they are the 'last few units'.





I bought these extras to make the price over £50 so that I could get free P&P (any excuse!). Well I had already chosen the little owl necklace and the others came up to about the same price as postage and package and I gathered I'd rather have things like that, than pay for postage. My manicure scissors went missing and so these stainless steal ones are a welcome addition. The little compact mirror is pretty, that's my only explanation really. The adooorable little owl was an instant purchase it's aqua wings and sparkly tummy/eyes and antique gold coloured chain made it love at first sight.

(the exact ones have all gone off the website but a similar one is linked to each) 
Compact mirror - £2.40
Owl Necklace - £4.90




And so onto the leggings. Although being fairly cheap I always find Forever 21 things to be of a pretty good quality. They had loads of patterned leggings but these two pairs caught my eye and I decided that they would go with a range of things in my wardrobe. This first pair are a purple/lilac/pink/green/white combo and so will go with any of those colours really. I can't wait to pair them with boots and jumpers now and then t-shirts and ballet shoes in spring :D.





These ones are black with coral and yellow and purple and green and white...and so again will go with a range of colours. I also like the fact that these are black-based. To me it makes them feel a little less summery. Planning on pairing these with the coral jumper, helloo new outfit!! They also had these in a white-based legging with the coral and yellow colour and another with blue flowers. I really do recommend these, they're fab quality, not see-through in the slightest.





And finally is this black hi-lo ish top (apologies for the crappy pictures). I have this in small but it is pretty baggy, so if you generally prefer a tighter fitted top, i'd suggest sizing down. The front is plain black but the back has this sheer triangular drape type section which makes it much more interesting. This again comes in a few colours.


And that is all. I really lover forever 21, they said on their website orders might arrive late because of adverse weather conditions but nooope, I ordered on the 22nd and they came on the 24th! although I wasn't in and so they delivered them again today. Have any of you guys bought anything from forever 21 recently?

Lots of love, Lucy xxx