That Touch of Mink Polka Dots.

Good evening lovelies. At this moment, I am tucked up under a blanket with a warm ribena trying to gain my voice back - this is the first day off since I returned to work after my operation and I'm so frustrated that I had to take it! Alas, trying to control kids at school with mime discipline would not go down quite as well as shouting 'Be quiet!' a hundred times a day, so I camped out at home and thinking what a perfect time to blog!

A little while ago I bought a gorgeous dress from H&M as a treat and although I have posted about it in  my Work Week Outfits in Instagram posts, it didn't quite express my sheer adulation for this dress. 

Dress: H&M
Tights: M&S
Pumps: Primark
Belt: New Look.

So what is it that I love so much about it? Well, being a woman on a budget my dresses generally need to be quite versatile so that I can wear them to give the illusion that I have more outfits in my wardrobe than I do. It is also the 'create a whole different look for the weekend' idea that makes it necessary for them to be versatile, because sadly my work & weekend wardrobe seem to be merging more and more at the moment.This dress has that. With the neutral mink colour and cream/white polka dots, it goes perfectly with browns, pinks, navy, cream cardigans & pumps. Perfect! 

It was also the whole design of the dress, going for the vintage feel with the cute mini dress style and full skirt, with the mix of polka dots and capped sleeves - pretty much combining everything I want in a dress into one adorable package. 

Price wise, I couldn't complain - it is made of quite thick material so it's not a thin summer dress and I will easily be able to wear this in winter with black tights (as shown in the picture), along with no tights in summer. For £19.99 it was quite the steal in my opinion as I have seen similar dresses in other stores that are charging at least £25.

However, the dress is not perfect (but it is preeeeetty close). The only thing for me where it could be improved would maybe be the length, to have it around half an inch longer, but its not a huge issue for me (as shown by buying it). What the good thing is about the skirt of the dress is that its longer in both the front and back, with it being a little shorter on the sides. The back of a dress is an issue with me as it tends to come up shorter making me paranoid everyone can see up my skirt - something Miss Manners would not approve of. 

Well that's it, my review for one of my top favourite dresses. I'm going to try and get a couple more posts done tonight as I should be away this weekend for my three year anniversary with the boyfriend, so want to get my blogging in now :)

Do you like to have dresses that work both for winter & spring, or do you like a whole seperate wardrobe?

Love,

Friday's Frock #6 & Instagram Insights!

Hello my lovelies! Once again, I have failed at blogging due to exhaustion, I will get used to this whole working thing right??? But to make up for my lack of posts this week, I am back with another Friday's Frock! The picture isn't great as it was an instagram snap this morning (ignore the horrific wet hair style...):

Dress: Vero Moda

Cardigan: H&M

Belt: New Look

Now, I'm just going to throw this out there, but I think this dress is in my top 5 favourite dresses of all time - I just love how diversely it can be styled! Today, I decided to go for the mix of patterns look that I have done before paired with bright red pumps & hairband to throw in a bit of colour. This dress is ideal in everyway - not only with the nautical themed stripes, but the way it is designed that the contrasting stripes have quite a slimming effect & the cute scoop neckline emphasises all my curves in the right places whilst still remaining tasteful! If anyone is visiting a Vero Moda anytime soon, I would definitely recommend this dress as for only £16 its something perfect for both summer & winter wardrobes! 

So with Friday's Frock out of the way, here are some more Instagram moments of the week (and last weekend) that wanted to share with you lovelies... Prepare yourself for the excitement:

1) My little cutie Mia. 2) Feeling Spring with Chanel's 'May' Nail Varnish. 3) Back to Blonde. 4) Congratulation flowers from daddy & David. 5) Celebration cupcakes made by mum & Dani. 6) Fortnum & Mason's Eggs Benedict. 7) Fortnum & Mason's Afternoon Tea. 8) My new Owl Professor Charm from David. 9) New Playsuit from TK Maxx via Ebay. 

After an interview I had on Thursday in Mayfair, my lovely boyfriend took me for Afternoon Tea at Fortnum & Mason's where I decided to splurge and get myself the incredible Eggs Benedict that they do - nom! I may have felt a tiny bit queasy after having scones with clotted cream afterwards, but it was sooooooo worth it! I love Mayfair, it is literally like being taken back to the Golden Age of Hollywood with the fantastic restaurants & shops and it is one of my most loved places in London for indulging myself. I've also heard through the grapevine that there are three secret gardens in Mayfair that you cannot find on a map, so that is now on my list of things to do!

I've also been trying to conserve my money a little before payday, and have therefore been scouring eBay to fix my shopping addiction. I was not disappointed when I found this super cute polka dot playsuit from TK Maxx for only £1, and then bought two new Dorothy Perkins dresses for about £10 combined together! I don't know about you, but I love eBay as I can always find items that I wanted from a year or so ago for a lower price - as the saying goes, patience is a virtue. 

How is everyone's week going? Are you eBay hunters too? 

Love,

Seeing the New Year In with Polka Dots!

So I'm already starting one New Year's resolution with more blogging! I have been neglecting this recently, and that's due to a myriad of things but am just getting back onto the horse! So with lots of pictures taken recently, I'm going to start with the NYE outfit - a brand new dress from ASOS! 

Dress: ASOS; Belt: New Look; Tights: M&S

 Foundation: MAC Studio Sculpt (NC15); Concealer: MAC Studio Sculpt (NC15); Primer: Benefit's 'Stay Put'; Powder: No7 Creme Touch in Translucent; Eyeshadows: Urban Decay's Half Baked and Smog; Mascara: Diorshow Iconic & Dior Exstase in Noir; Eyeliner: Bobbi Brown Gel Liner; Highlighter: Benefit's High Beam; Blusher: Benefit's 'Thrrrob'.

The dress was a treat in the ASOS sale, although still not cheap! It's a lovely deep pink dress with black velvet polka dots and waistband, with a tulip skirt. I fell in love with it when I saw it online, but had been let down with a dress had ordered before that looked nice on the site but horrible when it arrived, so was nervous to see what this dress was actually like! It was definitely worth the purchase though, and is not going into the work part of my wardrobe but a weekend dress! Woo for weekend wardrobe-ing!

On the make up front, I have recently bought a Dior mascara set, and it was definitely worth it! There is a seperate post coming on this, but just to say that these two mascaras together have not let me down with both curl, length and volume!

So what do you think? Have to love the ASOS sale They have some real bargains, and the boxing day sales have been great for some other bargains which will be posting about... Have you found any good bargains?

Here's to a fabulous 2012!

Love,

Dressing as 'Miss Dunne' and Christmas Penguin Socks.

Happy Caturday! For those who are not interested in a cheezburger, happy Saturday instead! I have finally started improving from the dreaded school lurgy which is great, but still not in fit shape for pictures - you've all celebrated halloween, I needn't continue the scaring with photos of my pasty panda face. So here are photos from a couple of weeks ago that I had meant to blog about but um... well... forgot. So here they are now!

Firstly, this is one of my 'teacher' outfits - once again sorry for the poor pictures, took this as I was leaving for school. I actually see this as my quite lucky teaching outfit because it was when I was wearing this I taught my most successful class so far - and I put part of that down to feeling comfortable in what I am wearing in front of the class. The great thing is that dresses can be dressed up or down with other items and I think that works really well for a teacher's wardrobe or any work wardrobe really. I spend most of my time in dresses in school (although making sure they are not too short at the back is always in my mind - that would be awkward when helping out students...) and have been complimented on how well I dress by the other teachers - something nice to hear in a new environment, so think I shall keep to it!

Dress: Apricot; Belt: Jane Norman; Cardigan: New Look; Boots: New Look.

Secondly, just a quick thing to show you my fancy new Christmas socks from Marks and Spencers. It was a spur of the moment treat for myself after my MRI scan, and even though it was late October I thought it was alright to buy only ooone Christmas item - so chose these! It was a set of three but these were the two pairs with cute little penguins in wooly hats - awwwww plus polka dots - always a must buy right there. Definitely loving all the Christmas items from Marks and Spencers this year!

 

That's all from me today, going to watch one of my old films with my mummy now! One final thing, thank you to all my followers and those who read this blog - everytime I get a new follower I smile as didn't think anyone would read my ramblings! So thank you, it truly does mean alot to me :-)

What do you wear for work? How do you think teachers should look? Have you bought anything Christmas yet?

Love