Wellington Birthday Haul Part 1!

My birthday was recently and the present I got from my beloved was a massive shopping trip. For this massive shop, we went to wellington. The plan was to go to the zoo and then do some shopping then go home, but when we actually got to Wellington, the weather had done a complete 180, going from sunny and warm to rainy and dreadful. So because of this, we just went to Queensgate in Lower Hutt.

This has to be my favourite mall in the lower North Island. Not only is it massive, but Starbucks is only across the road. Starbucks will always be my favourite cafe, always. I wish there was one where I lived.

So aside from spending money at Starbucks, I spent the rest on clothes pretty much. The first thing I bought was actually three pairs of tights. They were on a 3 for $10 special at Equip. I got a plain 80 denier tight, then I got a super thick pair that has a kind of flowery pattern on it and then I got a polka dot pair. After these, I got another pair from Glassons. These were just a basic pair of suspender tights as I needed new ones because my old ones all have holes and ladders in them. I then bought 3 dresses . One from Mirrou (the black one) and 2 from ValleyGirl. The 2 from ValleyGirl are a size 10 and were $15.99 each. The dress from Mirrou was a size large and was on sale for about $20 I think. We went back to Glassons after that and I bought the boots. They are a size 8 (as I'm a 7.5 so I can chop and change between 7s and 8s comfortably.) and were $60. I've had my eye on these boots for months and months so I decided to take the plunge and buy them. While buying the boots, I couldn't help but to grab their buy one get one free nail polishes. I got a bright neon orange and a pretty pastel pink.

There's this one shop in Queensgate that does piercings and sells all sorts of beauty products and stuff which is where I picked up my Beauty Blender dupe. It was $7 and works amazing. I'll do a more in depth review on it as I've only used it a couple of times and not on all of my cream/liquid products.

I think thats all I got in this trip. There will be a part two as we went a few days before my birthday and then the day after as well.

A lookbook and swatch post will be coming up once I've posted Part Two, so look out for that on Saturday!

Shannen xx
All photos taken on a Canon 600D
18-55mm lens used
Photos edited on fotor.com

OOTD: Smells Like Teen Spirit

Here's my 90's inspired outfit (Look how cute Carwen is!). I rocked this ensemble whilst at work today. Totally comfortable and casual. I wore coated jeans on the bottom. For those of you who don't know what coated denim is, the denim is coated in a kind of plastic feeling material to give a leathery look. The ones I have no longer have that leathery look as I've had them for a while now and they've been through the wash a few times. They are still super black though which is why I still wear them.

Then I have a stripey crop top, although in my opinion its not really a crop top, just more of a short top. This top reaches the top of my jeans, which are a mid rise. I've just chucked on my black cardi to warm things up as it's still cold where I live.

All three of those items are from JayJays. I am a fan of that brand, so you will notice as I post more OOTD posts.

Now, onto the most important part of my outfit, my shoes! These I recently picked up from Glassons. I've had my eye on them for a while now so I didn't mind dropping the $60 on them, and also, they were part of a birthday present from my beloved.

I just wore my everyday makeup (http://kaleidocolours.blogspot.co.nz/2014/07/my-go-to-make-up-look.html). This consists of a normal face of makeup: foundation, concealer, powder, highlighter, bronzer and powder. Then I wore winged eyeliner and chucked a dark purple lipstick on (Australis Grunge).

For accessories I wore my 90's tattoo choker and bracelet as well as my Hello Kitty watch from Thailand (Thanks Jo!). My nails are painted in BYS Black.

That pretty much covers my entire outfit. Any questions about where things come from or prices, just ask and I'll let ya know!

Shannen xx

Photos taken on a Canon 600D

18-55mm lens used

Photos edited on 

Shoes make me happy. I'm superficial. Whatever

Today, I bring to you my shoe collection! It is definitely much smaller than it was last year as I moved out of home and into a much smaller space. I used to have over 40 something different pairs of shoes, with a much larger heel selection than what I have now.

These days I have 20 pairs of shoes, literally half of what I used to have. I hope to one day have an extensive shoe collection, when me and my beloved have got our own home and he's built me an extravagant walk in wardrobe with a glamorous chandelier in the middle of it all.

So currently, my shoe collection stands at 4 pairs of boots, 2 pairs of ankle boots, 1 pair of creepers, 4 pairs of converse/converse style, 2 pairs of vans/vans style, 5 pairs of flats, and 2 pairs of heels.

All my shoes are listed from the left, and the top row.

All my flats: -Leopard loafers (Rubi, part of a 2 for $30 deal)
                   -Sparkly loafers (Recycle Boutique, $4.50)
                   - Studded loafers (Rubi, $10 (?))
                   - Kitty loafers (Rubi, part of a 2 for $30 deal)
                   - Steve Madden dupes (Kmart, $7)

Converse/Vans: -White Converse (Shoe Connection, $100)
                         - Burgunday Converse dupes (Rubi, $10)
                         - Pink Converse (Recycle Boutique, $35)
                         - Black Converse (Shoe Connection, $100)
                         - Pink sparkly Vans (Shoe Connection, $120)
                         - Hello Kitty Vans dupes (JayJays, $20)

Boots: - Biker boots (JayJays, $20)
           - Studded combat boots (Hannahs, $50)
           - Cherry Doc Martens (TradeMe, $80)
           - Black Doc Martens (Shoe Connection, $250)
           - Floral combat boots (JayJays, $49.99)
           - Taupe ankle boots (Dotti, $30)
           - JC Coltrane dupes (Hannahs, $50)
           - Creepers (Hannahs, $50)

Heels: - Steve Madden Sparkly (Hannahs, ?)
          - Jeffrey Campbell Spiked Litas (Shoe Connection, $250)

All my shoes except one pair, I bought myself. Sadly I don't often get to wear my heels because my Steve Madden heels are exceptionally beautiful and I only reserve them for special occasions. My JC Litas I hardly wear mainly because my sister has them a lot, and they need spikes replaced and the leather fixed up. I would love to wear them more often, but I just never get the chance.

All my other shoes I alternate between them quite regularly. They all get an even amount of wear. I never really spent too much on a piar of shoes except for my JC's and my Doc's. That's only because my Doc's will last me a lifetime and I wanted to treat myself to a pair of really nice shoes.

Shannen xx

All photos taken on a Canon 600D
18-55mm lens used 
Photos edited on fotor.com

Cleaning Out My Closet

Hello my name is Shannen, and I'm addicted to shopping.

Today was a day off from work so I decided to clean out my clothes. Because I work in retail, I am regularly buying clothes, so this expands my wardrobe pretty fast. It also means that I end up with a lot of clothes that I do not wear, mainly because it is no longer on the shop floor.

Every couple of months or so, I make a day where I go  through my entire wardrobe and get rid of anything I haven't worn in the last six months or so. I do this so I have more room for new clothes, but also I don't like having a lot of clutter, and my wardrobe is exposed so I don't like seeing it all crammed into one area.

All the clothes I decide to get rid of go to my sister, or to my beloved's sisters. I have thought about selling them, but I don't like having a massive pile just sitting in the corner waiting to be sold and posted off. It's an untidy idea that I do not want. So instead of this I just take it to my sisters or the girls and they get to go through it and take what they want. Whatever they end up not wanting, I take to a charity shop like Salvation Army. That way I am also helping people who need decent clothes to wear.

Just a nice short post today!

Shannen xx

All photos taken on a Canon 600D

18-55mm lens used

Edited on fotor.com

Daisies are the new black?

From left to right: summer, spring, autumn and winter

Working in retail I pick up on current fashion trends pretty fast, and I don't need to read any magazines to confirm it. I just take a wander around the mall and see what other stores are carrying.

This winter it seems that daisies are taking over. First this trend started with flower crowns. Then it was on all different types of tees. Then as it started getting colder in the southern hemisphere, leggings started sporting this floral pattern. And now that we are fully into winter, it has taken over sweaters and jumpers too. The daisy trend has to be my favourite of the season. I've always been a huge fan of florals, so it was a no-brainer for me.

In my personal wardrobe I have 4 daisy items that I have styled so that this trend can carry on into all four seasons. I have a summer, autumn, winter and spring look that will show how to style this beautiful trend that has popped up.

Please keep in mind that I am only 5ft tall so some of these outfits may look better on taller people, such as the maxi skirt.

Also there will be a lookbook video coming that coincides with this post, I just have to build up the courage to sit behind a camera for a long period of time!

I hope you enjoy todays blog post!
Shannen xx

Summer: Daisy top (JayJays) - Acid wash shorts (Supre) - Converse (Shoe Connection)
Autumn: Knit jumper (Supre) -  Daisy leggings (JayJays)  - Spike combat boots (Hannahs)
Winter:  Daisy sweater (JayJays) - Khaki jeans (JayJays) - Doc Martins (Shoe Connection)
Spring: Daisy crop top (JayJays) - Maxi skirt (Supre) - Ballet flats (Recycle Boutique)

All Jayjays products are either available online (www.jayjays.com.au) or in store

All photos taken on a Canon 600D
18-55mm lens used.
Photos edited on fotor.com

Tattoos: Permanent Fashion Trend

Tattoos are growing ever more popular as time goes on. I myself am a fan of creating beautiful pieces of artwork on  my body. I have a total of 14, and that number is still, slowly, growing. I am a believer in tattoos that don't necessarily have a meaning. If I like the design or the quote, I will get it done. Some of my tattoos have meanings like the Roman numerals on my bicep, they're for my sister. Or my pineapple on my ankle, that's for my beloved. But most of them are just things I like, for example my cats on my calves or my sunflower on my forearm. I love these things and they're nice to look at so I wanted them on my body.

As other trends in fashion, tattoos go through phases with certain styles being more popular than others. Over the last year or so I've seen sugar skulls rise up and then die down as the next popular tattoo idea came in. After sugar skulls there was a phase of the 'white girl' tattoo, that is infinity signs occasionally with words like 'love' and 'family' linked in there somewhere, or dream catchers, or anchors also with words like 'hope' linked into the anchor. Other popular tattoos during this 'white girl' phase were feathers and birds flying off into the horizon. This trend got so popular that it is now being mocked, with a picture of a 'typical girl tattoo form' floating around the internet.

With the growing popularity of tattoos, as well as the steadily growing acceptance of them, more and more people are getting them. These are a permanent fashion trend as they are with us for life. Different styles of tattoos will come and go, but there will always be fans of tattoos. It's a lifelong trend. One I will always love.

Shannen xx

All photos taken on a Canon 600D
18-55mm lensed used
Edited on fotor.com