Valley of the Dolls Brand

Like most of you I absolutely love to shop and would count all the high street brands like Missguided, ASOS, Urban Outfitters etc amongst my favourite and usual places to shop. However sometimes when you buy a really stand out item a big worry is whether you're going to see someone else wearing it. Something that has happened once or twice to me, cue those 'ha how funny we're wearing the same thing' or 'ah it looks so nice on you' standard phrases when deep down you're absolutely fuming! This is one of the many reasons I love vintage clothes, you can bet your life i'm never gonna bump into someone in a bar wearing that 70s disco gold cowl neck dress that I love so much! 

Aside from looking to vintage to find a unique piece i'm always on the look out for new, smaller brands and every once in a while I come across a true gem like Valley of the Dolls. Presumably named after it's 1966 film namesake, I found this brand through JOY the store and have really struggled to find any information about it online. There is a website with a beautiful lookbook, full of 1970s style folk dresses, and aztec inspired printed coats but no online shop, about us section or Twitter page  so i'm guessing it is a very new brand - even better! 

I can't wait to see the collection released for A/W and can definitely imagine myself buying this amazing coat below! If you know anything about the brand or collection make sure you let me know in the comments, or if it's new to you too I hope you like it as much as I do.

WOMAD Festival 2015

This weekend I headed to Malmesbury for WOMAD festival with one of my favourite friends, who was taking some pictures for a local magazine she edits. After the torrential storm of Friday we were unbelievably lucky to be able to see some sun, sit on the grass and enjoy the day without clinging to an umbrella and complaining of being cold - which happens a lot!

The festival is fairly small, but has a really relaxed and friendly atmosphere, it didn't feel too busy and rammed which I liked and definitely has more of a family focus than the usual 'lets get off our tits' which is something I haven't experienced much from festivals! It's described as a world of music and dance so the music is very diverse and whilst I didn't go expecting to hear my usual choice of music we did manage to catch the amazing Cambodian Space Project; a psychedelic Cambodian 60's rock band - yeah try and imagine that! 

I wore my H&M Coachella crochet dress for the first time and you can't really see but I have covered my face in glitter, which I think I like doing too much! Not a great outfit shot but I was a little bit embarrassed having my photo taken in front of lots of people - something i'm gonna have to get over! 

Pay Day Wishlist

Jolie Sunflower Dress - Boohoo £18

Sunglasses - eBay £5.99

Tortoise Here and Now Heels - ASOS £45

Black Cowboy Boots - Missguided £20

Retro Pattern Jumper - ASOS £32

Ox Blood Faux Suede Jacket - eBay £15.99

I spend a very large amount of my time looking at clothes online and lusting after the instagram images from some of my favourite brands, lucky for me I genuinely like a lot of clothes from cheaper brands such as Boohoo and Missguided, otherwise I would probably have been declared bankrupt a long time ago! 

I always have a little list going on of things I want to buy, and it's never completely empty, so I thought I would share some of my favourite wish list items at the moment. 

I am slightly obsessed with these tortoise shoes from ASOS, i'm not a huge heels fan but these ones look quite chunky which I like and I think the print is quite unusual, I also can't believe this faux suede jacket is only £15 on eBay! 

Energy Snacks

raw cacao butter

1 cup of walnuts

1 cup of dates

1/2 cup of cocoa powder

Recently I have been a bit more focused on health and wellness and have slowly stopped eating pizza and lazing around every day, instead i've been cutting down on sugar, carbs and exercising a lot more - which makes me sound really boring! However since doing so I have noticed a few changes; my acne has cleared up, i've lost a bit of weight and I have ALOT more energy then I ever had before. Sounds pretty obvious cut down on junk food and exercise more but when you have a busy life it's easy to get stuck in unhealthy habits.

The main habit that I have struggled to get out of is my sweet tooth, I absolutely love chocolate and genuinely want to cry sometimes when there's none in my fridge and I don't want to go out to the supermarket! However my addiction to chocolate and sweet treats had to be re-addressed with this new health kick so I was relieved to find a recipe from Deliciously Ella. I didn't have all of the ingredients and did substitute one or two but they taste great and really satisfy my sweet tooth without the need to snack on a sugar filled treat.

You can substitute the walnuts for pecans or almonds and make sure you use a coca powder that is 100% cocoa rather than one with added sugar. The first thing you need to do is pit the dates (chop them in half and pull out the stone), then comes the chopping, if you have a blender this will definitely be easier because you can just blend the nuts and dates but the first time I made this I just chopped them up into tiny pieces. 

Next just add all of the ingredients together in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and blend together with a wooden spoon. Then pick a small amount and roll into a ball, if the consistency is too 'wet' just add some more cocoa powder to make it sticker. 

Roll into a ball and refrigerate until slightly harder and enjoy :) Let me know if you make these or have any tweaks!

DIY Bath Salts

After a few more months away from the blogging world I have decided to return! When I re-launched my blog in February it was too difficult to keep up with, as I was still living in the pub, making it impossible to take photos, and my motivation was at an all time low. Now it's July, I have a new job as marketing assistant for a drinks company, and am living in a beautiful little flat with my boyfriend, which I will be sure to show you at some point.

I've been super productive recently and have a tonne of recipes, outfits and photos to share, but today I wanted to post about this DIY bath salts recipe, it's super easy and the results are amazing.

You will need:

1 cup of epsom salts

1/2 cup of coarse sea salts

15 drops of lavender

All you need to do is put all of the ingredients into a bowl, mix it up, put it in a jar and leave for 3-4 days so the lavender can infuse the salts. Then when it's ready pop a few scoops into a hot bath and honestly it's the most relaxing experience i've had in a while! The salt gently exfoliates your skin and is apparently really detoxifying with the warm water and the lavender makes you feel really sleepy, which is great for me as I am a terrible sleeper! 

Let me know how you get on if you make this :)