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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Cloud 23 - OOTD to Night

Top missguided // Pants Matalan // Shoes eBay // Necklace - Wishbone eBay, Cross gift

A few weeks ago it was my friend's 20th and she'd booked a table at the Hilton for drinks and told us to dress up (I didn't realise that the Hilton was Cloud 23 in Manchester where I've always wanted to go otherwise I'd have dressed up more!) So my daytime outfit was comprised of an old gem - Matalan gingham trousers from last summer which I'm so glad I didn't throw out, I think I bagged them for £6, they fit so well and are a perfect, lightweight summer pants option! I paired them with my new missguided pastel purple short sleeve high neck jumper which I absolutely love, and at around £14 it was an absolute steal. I am definitely contemplating getting this in another colour when payday rears its head. From wearing this item in the day to night I literally just changed my footwear from some trustry vintage Nikes to comfy black wedges and slapped some lippy on! What do you think of this outfit? Are you as hooked on the gingham trend as I am?

Cloud 23 was so picturesque and beautiful, I would love to go back in the daytime; definitely a perfect go to for a date or special occasion! We had such a lovely evening despite the sky high drinks prices. It panned out slightly strangely though with some part owners of Hull City football club buying us a few bottles of champers but we weren't complaining!

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Interning at Manchester Fashion Week

At the end of April I interned with the Manchester Fashion Week team over the Easter weekend (I really need to be more prompt with my blogging!).

As an intern for fashion events you expect to do all the guinea pig jobs during the day like making goodie bags, lugging them to the venue (I’ve definitely developed guns), promoting the weekend and all that jazz! At around 2pm it would be all hands on deck with exhibitions arriving to set up, models arriving for fittings and designers transporting their collections backstage if they hadn’t earlier in the week.

The first of the three days showcased graduates’ work which I thought promoted Manchester talent perfectly; marrying up and coming talent with already established Manchester designers and brands.  The more creative of the graduates had collections with huge head pieces, natural materials (like straw) and believe it or not, razor blades! These were absolutely stunning creations but made dressing more difficult as you want to please the graduates by styling the models well but with such little time to even get the outfits on in time was a struggle, especially with only six models; super quick changes were crucial. Contrary to expectation, dressing for Manchester Fashion Week was more demanding than London Fashion Week which I was lucky enough to be a dresser at earlier this year. Despite this, with such a great backstage team, Manchester Fashion Week ran very smoothly, well from an outside perspective!

Left - Some of the gorgeous models backstage and Right - Hallé St Peters the beautiful venue!

Me and another intern Rhian with Jsky the presenter and final designers of the Saturday show.

Cheeky pic with Denise and gorgeous detailing of one of Get Clobbered's designs.

The second day saw some retail based brands and Manchester designers showcase their garments on the catwalk. With less interns available on this day and 4 male models added to the equation backstage was even more packed and hectic (although I wasn’t complaining about the male models!) Similarly to the first day, there was a collection made from entirely natural, delicate materials and also a swimwear brand with outrageously beautiful Showgirl-esque headpieces. The retail based collections were slotted in between to ensure everything ran more smoothly! For this day, there was an interval due to an increased number of collections but also to accommodate for a designer called Eustratia. Eustratia’s collection was entirely made from skin-tight latex in summery pastels, so in the interval there was latex and masses of talc flying everywhere! The final designer wished to dress her own collection so we got to watch the final catwalk and I managed to get a cheeky snap with Denise Welch from Loose Women.

The final day again consisted of a mixture of retail and couture brands and one of my favourite brands; Get Clobbered who showcased immaculate handmade headpieces and statement jewellery. The weekend ended with a bang with humongous creations by Adnan Bayyat who named this final collection ‘Birds of Paradise’; sky high creations, over 500 paperclips and a 2m wide dress (a row of seats had to be taken out to accommodate for this whopper of a dress!). Great theatrics were provided for this finale with such ambitious and creative garments teamed up with thrown glitter and functional parts of the outfits!

Overall I had such an enjoyable weekend meeting interns, designers, graduates and models and wouldn’t hesitate to do it all over again!

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Inspiring Blog Award

A few days ago I was nominated for the 'Very Insiring Bog Award' by the lovely Sofie at Little Green Sofie.

RULES:

Link the person who nominated you
List the rules of the award

Share 7 facts about yourself

Nominate 15 of your favourite blogs and link them to your post

Let them know that you've nominated them

1-      My initials are AU which is the chemical symbol for gold.

2-      Next year I am studying abroad in Hong Kong as a sandwich year for my degree which I am so excited but nervous about as I’ve only about 4 months to prep!

3-      I’ve had a stupidly unhealthy addiction to energy drinks for the past 4 years or so. I would have two or three a day at one point but I’ve almost completely given them up this year and feel so much better for it.

4-      I wish I was more outgoing, I always envy people who can spark up a conversation with anyone and everyone.

5-      Deciding to go to university was the best decision I’ve ever made. I couldn’t have asked to meet such ace people and to study a course I love!

6-      I have a massive vendetta/verging on phobia against long nails and probably cut mine once or twice a week. Painted nails aren’t too bad, but long gross nails are just the worst (especially on lads).

7-      I could watch Gogglebox all day everyday if I could, it’s just my favourite thing ever!

Source

Finally, the blogs I'm be nominating are;

Georgie from fairygobmother

Michelle from What Shell Says

Polly from In my Fashion Pocket

Tiana from The Romanticiser

Hannah from Hannah Bubble

Lauren from Tangible Treasures

Allie from Tie Dye Eyes

Jayne from Electra Violet

Stef from Scottish Stefs Nails

Georgia from Brew Up Buttercup

Millie from Smudges of Thoughts

Fiona from Those Winged Eyes

Frankie from Frankie’s Weekend

Rebecca from Witty Woman

Lola from Pastime Bliss

Thank you to Sofie for nominating me and I hope you're all having a lovely start to the weekend!

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