I've Moved to Hong Kong!

So for about a month and a half now (I honestly have no clue where the time has gone!) Hong Kong has been my new, fabulous home which it will be for the academic year. I am undertaking a study abroad year at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) through my home university of Manchester. I have always possessed an incessant need to travel so when the opportunity arose to apply for an international exchange, it was a no-brainer that I was going to apply.
Through the application processes, I knew I had my heart set on Hong Kong as the culture is so unique, interesting and bursting at the seams with fashion stimuli, I really don't know what I would have done if I didn't manage to bag a place here.

I had my reservations about moving so far away from home, not that I really get overly homesick, just with the fact that Asia could not be more different from the UK in many respects and because I have never travelled outside of Europe before. My ambition and excitement to travel soon dulled these worries, especially after speaking to individuals that have lived or spent a prolonged amount of time in Hong Kong before, I knew that I would not want to return.

I can genuinely say that this is quickly becoming the best decision I have ever made and I would urge anyone to take the study abroad experience because it really is invaluable! I read a quote before I moved here that has really stuck in my mind and pretty much describes my time here;

"Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer"

I honestly never dreamed that I would fall in love with Hong Kong as much as I have (and I had some pretty high expectations). I can already tell that I have made life long friends and created memories that I will treasure forever.

In terms of settling in here; the transition was way more smooth and easy-going than I thought it would be; the locals and academics here are so friendly and welcoming, plus everything is so accessible in Hong Kong and the perfect marraige between East-meets-West means there is some form of Western comfort around the corner!

I am unsure of what direction I would like to take when posting on allurescent of my time abroad, I was contemplating starting a new blog but then I want to take some fashion direction in my posts too as Hong Kong has so much to offer in terms of fashion. At the moment I intend to write about academic differences between the UK and HK, the current situation in Hong Kong (democracy protests), the fashion scene and the travelling I've been doing. If you have any ideas or would not like to read any of my suggestions please let me know so I can mould my blog for my readers for the forthcoming year!

Anyway this is intended to be a little introductory post which has been long overdue! Here are a few photos from my personal instragram to illustrate what I've been up to so far. I will post a more comprehensive travel post soon with more details of my travelling experiences of HK so far.

The Peak // Big Buddha on Lantau

Sunset View from The Peak // Wong Tai Sin Temple

Harbour View and Junk Boat // The Gals at the Harbour

Dragon's Back Hike // Shopping in Mong Kok

Mid-Autumn/Lantern Festival // Incense at Wong Tai Sin Temple

Shek O Beach // Big Buddha

Ladies in Lan Kwai Fong // Cheung Chau Island

Best Pizza in HK // Temple in Cheung Chau

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Fun Finds #3

Nasty Gal Coco Punch Shades // Romwe Pineapple Crop // Nasty Gal Zero Gravity iPhone Case

Romwe Strawberry Transparant Bag // Topshop Cactus Oven Glove // Topshop Kigu Parrot Wellies

Romwe Lip Print Sandals // Motel Orange Print Skirt via Topshop

Here are some fun finds I've stumbled across this week, I really enjoy doing these fun finds posts as they're really light hearted and I always succumb to buying things like these as they're just cute and make you smile, although this edition is not as wacky as the ones I've previously done!

I absolutely love the pineapple crop and zesty skirt; Motel prints never fail to entice! These posts always seem to veer down a fruity route, especially in summer but who doesn't love a brightly coloured fruit print!

Hope you like this post and are enjoying summer!

allurescent

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Berlin Day Three

So the sun decided to pack up on our last day in Berlin but we weren't too bothered as we had planned to go to Berlin Zoo and didn't want to be sweltering in the sun all day! As one of the best zoo's in the world, this was definitely on our Berlin Bucket List. We were lucky to see so many of the animals up close, I'm not the biggest animal person but we had such a fab time. This took up most of our day but we managed to squeeze in a mandatory shopping trip and visit Charlottenburg (in the rain, sadly) which is home to this beautiful palace to finish off our sightseeing before heading to a posh square for some nice grub!

I wore my DIY Maxi Skirt turned dress which you can find my Youtube tutorial of here, I paired it with a pastel pink cardigan, cute sunhat (although it wasn't needed I wanted to whack it out!) from eBay and choker from Depop.

This was such a lovely chilled out end to an amazing trip, I wish I could just travel forever but sadly in reality no-one has an endless supply of money for such things. I saw an ace quote on instagram the other day which has really stuck in my mind 'Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer'.

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Berlin Day Two

We jam packed our second day in Berlin with all the main tourist sights; Brandenburg gate, Reichstag Dome and the Holocaust Memorial. We firstly headed to brandenburg gate to see it in all it's glory in the blazing sun before nipping round the corner to the holocaust memorial which was stunning. I love the simplicity of the memorial yet the impact it has on you when you walk around and amongst the tall angular blocks is extraordinary. It really is a beautiful and thought-provoking memorial to all those who lost their lives.

We then sun-bathed the afternoon away by Reichstag dome and took some embarrassing tourist photos holding the German flag and getting an unexpected snap with some locals!
I wore a cute African printed co-ord that I bagged in the H&M sale for £17 with TK Maxx sandals (which I had to embarrassingly resort to wearing socks with as my feet were completely massacred after wearing them for about an hour).

For dinner we roamed Potsdamer Platz checking out some cool skyscrapers and more Noir art as seen on the East Side Gallery before settling for an American Diner for tea (really immersing ourselves into the culture!) To top the day off we headed bag to Reichstag and Brandenburg gate to catch them as the sun was setting and managed to get some striking photos with a gloomy sky! Panoramic camera mode has never had so much use in it's lifetime!

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Berlin Day One

My best friend and I decided to take a last minute 'yolo'-esque holiday to Berlin, here is a photo snapshot post of what we got up to on the first day. We were lucky to get fab weather and so far it's definitely one of the best places I've ever travelled to and would recommend it to anyone!

We commenced our tourist activities at the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall, it was interesting to learn about the civil unrest here which still continued through the 80's, I had no idea this was still quite recent. The artwork on this stretch of wall by artists from around the world was great to see and somewhat brings light to the end of a dark period for Berlin whist being a something to remember what happened. We walked past a busker along the East Side Gallery and gave him some spare change who then insisted on us having photos with him and having an awkwardly confusing cross-language conversation but he was so fab! 

We then gallivanted around Alexanderplatz to see the TV tower and Berliner Dom/Cathederal and went up to the 37th floor of a hotel for only 3 euros to see these great panoramic views of Berlin!

I wore this fab eye dress which I got from Sheinside but of course this dress is being sold in multiple places after selling swimmingly in Zara.

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Insta June!

          Parklife Festival                   //         Pangaea 'Summer of Love'           //         DIY'in (watch this space)

          Reuniting with friends           //              Bargain H&M Co-ord                 //           Pangaea 'Summer of Love'

Manc being extraordinarily sunny      //               Parklife Festival            //                         Sheer Daisy OOTD

       Enjoying Manchester Sun          //            Little Mermaid Leggings            //         A rainy bike ride to Pitsford

June has definitely been my favourite month this year with finishing exams, quitting my job, Parklife, Pangaea, celebrating, saying goodbye to Manchester for second year and reuniting with friends!

Although since I've been home I have felt dead useless without a job I am just enjoying just dossing around having a well earned break. So looking forward to my final two months in the UK before I jet off to Hong Kong for a study abroad year, I am so unprepared though all I have done is book flights!

Has anyone got any exciting plans for summer? Hope end of term isn't too painful if anyone's still studying or working! x

DIY Turn a Maxi Skirt into a Dress in 3 Easy Steps!

Here's a really simple DIY and YouTube tutorial of how to turn a maxi skirt into a dress. The idea behind this post was down to my mum throwing out a couple of maxi skirts with some pretty nice prints on so I salvaged them from the charity shop pile and decided to turn them into dresses starting with this blue polka dotty faded print which I love as it's perfect for summer! So overall this DIY cost me a grand total of ABSOLUTELY NADA! I decided to opt for a simple scoop neck, sleeveless dress which naturally took an A-Line silhouette from the shaping of the maxi skirt. Would you like to see another variation of this tutorial with different dress styles? (I am planning on doing this to the other maxi skirts but will not do a tutorial unless you guys want me to!) If you don't have an old maxi skirt lying around that you no longer have no need for or you want to try this DIY out you can always nip to a charity shop or even sale sections of Primark for a cheap maxi! Skip to the bottom of this post for my step by step YouTube video!

Here's what you'll need; 

• Maxi Skirt
• Dress to trace around
• Scissors
• Pins
• Tape Measure
• Tailors Chalk
• Sewing Machine

Firstly trace around the dress of your choice using a tailors chalk, making sure you add 2cm around the armholes and the necklines to account for seam allowances. Make sure that the armholes finish at the side seams of your maxi before cutting out. Draw different necklines for the front and back and try to make sure the traced outline is symmetrical.

Next, cut along the chalked lines. It might be easier if you draw the front of the dress first and cut out the first layer (up to the side seams) before tracing around the front layer to ensure the back layer is the same, make sure you draw a higher neckline for the back.

Now all that's left to do it sew the hems and shoulder seams (edges you have cut out from the maxi skirt). I would advise you use rolled hems and french seams so that the raw edges aren't visible and to make your final dress a better quality. If you don't know how to do this, simply google it and you will find an easy tutorial. Voila - once this is complete you have your finished dress!

I hope you liked this tutorial, make sure you like and subscribe to my YouTube channel and I would appreciate any feedback - good or bad! Hope you're having a fab summer and thank you for reading!

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