The Valentines break up

Valentine’s Day, is usually described as a commercial money making day by most people. A few days ago I would have been less partial to this idea but only a few days ago my boyfriend of almost 3 years finished me. For the special day I pictured a lovely candlelit dinner in a nice restaurant followed by an exchange of romantic presents I had bought.

I thought wrong and now instead this first Valentines posting which was supposed to be a present gift idea for him is a gift idea list for all those single ladies out there who can’t stand the thought of seeing couples everywhere being romantic and mushy.

I never thought a week before Valentines I would be coming to terms that I’m single and trying to get through the last months of my Journalism degree.  However after an emotional few days I've realised I need to focus on me for a while and this Valentines I will be spending it with lots of my girly friends.

When I was searching for gifts I found the website notonthehighstreet.com which specialises in personalized gifts. Although a lot of them are in the £40 range or higher, I found ‘Our date jar’ priced at £13.95. I think this is a nifty idea to encourage you and one of your girlfriends to have a laugh not just on Valentine’s day by creating weekly date trips to the cinema or having a Jim jams movie marathon day.
http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/thegreengables/product/the-date-jar

For Valentine’s VirginExperienceDays have some great offers, such as eating at Heston B’s pub or having a spot of afternoon tea. I spotted this Boudoir photo-shoot for her at a reasonable cost of £28.00. The shoot also contains hair and make-up styling which means an extra pampering on Valentines to heal the wounds and to show the world you've still got it.

http://www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/boudoir-photoshoot-for-her-sp3?path=q-friend%2520photoshoots

Finally if all else fails, Hotel Chocolat have this amazing chocolate gift selection for £39. This makes the perfect gift to take round your friends to make movie night extra scrumptious. Let’s face it too going through a break up is tough and chocolate makes everything better. This gift set also contains a bottle of rose which can be used as pre drinks before hitting the town.
http://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/shop/valentines-day-gifts/the-love-selection

For anyone out there who is newly single this Valentine’s day, I know it’s hard but with time it’s going to get better and you will probably realise life is a lot greener on the other side. For a long while, even when in my relationship, I was planning a GAP year to Australia and this break up has made me realise to go and follow my dreams.

How are you going to be spending valentines?

Primark- Shoe love

For a while now I have been lustering after a pair of platform heels which add height but are easier to walk in than most heels. After searching my favourite shoe retailers including Office, Schuh, Topshop and Asos, I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I have come close to finding a pair in Topshop but I hated the colours and priced at £60, I knew they were going to break my ever shrinking bank balance immediately.

This week I took a trip to Leeds for a bloggers event, which I will be writing up about very shortly. My friend Kerys and myself had some time to kill before we had to go and get ready so I begged her permission to go to Primark in Trinity so I could just browse and pick up a few cheap and cheerful everyday tops.

To be honest I haven’t shopped in Primark for years as I always buy my tops from Topshop but as I’m a student, £20 a top was getting too much for me. To my surprise I found some vest tops priced at £3 and a nice loose fitted top for £5.

Optimistically I thought I would search upstairs in the shoe section to see what they had to offer, but I imagined I would probably leave without a pair and be back on the hunt to find some platform heels.

I was completely wrong. These black suede pair of platform heels were talking to me saying ‘Try me on please and buy me’. I’m usually a size 7 in most shoes but as these are a platform, I tried on a size 6 and they fit snug as a bug. In height I’m 5ft 8 so when wearing these I’m probably around 5ft 10 but it’s definitely shoe love. In my eyes shoes are a girl’s best friend and priced at an incredible £14 for these gorgeous labours of love, you can’t really go wrong at all. They did also have a Cobalt blue colour, but I thought I would stick to black so I can match them with everything.

Valentine’s Day is approaching very shortly and I can guarantee I will be now wearing my new favourite pair of heels.  I’m so impressed with these beauties; I’m already planning another trip to Leeds so I can have a massive shopping haul in Primark. 

Have you bought Primark heels before?

My first ever fashion post- January sales

My first ever fashion post is here. After spending Christmas quite poorly in bed for a good few days with that awful stomach bug, I’m finally back and ready to do lots of blog posts.

Of course as soon as I was better, I hit the sales online & took a good few shopping trips to Manchester to bag my-self some bargains.

The first thing I ordered was these burgundy boots from Office on Christmas Eve. Named Ultimate leather boots, these beauties were priced at a reasonable £40.00 and should have been £85.00.Since last Christmas I vowed to myself every Christmas sale I would buy a pair of leather boots as they last ages and look good with dresses & leggings.

Next on my list was this lovely little khaki number from the Urban Outfitters sale. Priced at just £20.00 this was an absolute bargain. I love the lacy detail & buttoned front. I added my trusty black belt to pull my waist in and complete the look.

Finally I bought a burgundy bag to match my boots. Unfortunately the burgundy bag my boyfriend bought me for my birthday last year has broken so I was looking for a cheap daytime bag to fit my notebooks in and all of the other rubbish I think I need in my bag. Whilst in the Arndale I stopped at Warehouse to have a gander and to my delight I found this bag similar looking to my other one for £20.

To complete my outfit I’m wearing my leather jacket which was originally from Miss Selfridge, which I bought almost 3 years ago at £120.

I would also team this look with some clear nude tights to keep my legs warm in winter but being a silly sausage I left them at home.

Have you bought any bargains from the sales this year?

Lots of love Miss Vintage Vibe xo

Festive Nail Polish- ORLY, Star Spangled

Hola,

I decided to do a cheeky Tuesday posting on ORLY nail polish. I received this small pot of polish named Star Spangled in the Christmas edition of Cosmopolitan magazine. I’ve just painted both sets of my nails tonight with it and I’m incredibly impressed with this product. Usually I wear No7 nail polishes or Nails Inc which are good polishes but this polish is the right consistency and isn’t too runny. 

When choosing my magazine, I chose this colour as it’s a bit different to my usual classic red and the red glitter has a lovely shine in the light. I wanted a nail polish which had a Christmassy colour to put me in the festive mood.

The brand ORLY has been going since the 1970’s and is still going strong today. With over 150 colours to choose from, it’s going to be hard to decide what colour I’m going to order next.

I used to swear by Nails Inc, London which are good but I’m a sucker for anything glittery and ORLY seem to have lots of glittery polishes at affordable prices.

Retailing at around £10.25 for an 18ml bottle at http://www.graftonsbeauty.co.uk, I will be definitely ordering some of this gold dust with my Christmas money.

Have you used ORLY nail polish before?

Lots of love Miss Vintage Vibe xo

My Christmas wish-list

Hello all,

For this week’s posting I decided to do a Christmas wish list. With Christmas approaching fast, I finally went out yesterday in Manchester to buy presents for everybody but I haven’t really thought about myself. I wanted to create a Christmas wish list for myself as I have had my eye on some gorgeous items; I’m hoping Father Christmas will bring on the 25^th.

Firstly I really want a pair of GHDS as I only have a pair of Mark Smith straighteners which do the job but I have always lustered for the best straighteners on the market. When it was black Friday a few weeks ago I was sat working away doing university work without realising everybody was snapping up a pair for ridiculously cheap and now a lot of the styles have vanished off the website. I do really like the wonderland GHDS though, they are very Christmassy and I would be over the moon to find these in my stocking on Christmas morning. Priced at £135 they are a tad expensive but for limited edition they are totally worth every penny.

Next on my list is a Thomas Sabo watch. I already have a pair Thomas Sabo earrings, necklace & a charm bracelet which I’m 100% satisfied with. Over this past year I have matured style wise and now I am longing for a classy watch. I graduate next year and it would look perfect especially when attending interviews. Of course I wouldn't look anywhere else and when I received some Thomas Sabo earrings for Easter this year, I was love-struck over a classic watch. I have been told by my parents they are taking me to the Trafford Centre for a Christmas surprise so I’m hoping they took the hint and I will bag myself a lovely watch. It’s £169 which is a lot of money but I would keep the watch for a lifetime.

Finally on my list is a ruby woo MAC lipstick. After reading many blog postings on this product and MAC lipsticks alone, I've heard they are the best lipsticks around. As I love my vintage style, I love wearing red lipstick quite a lot but usually I only buy cheaper brands such as L’Oreal or Max factor so this Christmas I would be ecstatic if someone bought me one of these. Usually priced at around £16, Debenhams are having a sale on MAC at the moment and are only asking a small charge of around £12 which is a total bargain if you ask me.

What’s on your Christmas wish list?

Lots of love Miss Vintage Vibe xo

Murder Mystery party- Finding the perfect dress

Bonjour,

My weekly blog posting has arrived. I promised last week to post at least once a week as I want to be a dedicated blogger. It’s been such a manic week with deadlines and what not; I haven’t had much time to myself. As I’m at university most of the time, I have only been home three times within this term so when I was invited to a murder mystery party a few weeks ago it was the perfect excuse to go home and buy a new outfit to dress up.

Each of us who attended got a character we would be playing for the evening. I was selected to be:

Ingrid Pith: You are a Danish art-dealer, specializing in finding paintings all over occupied Europe. You are very busty and flirtatious.

Suggested clothing Very low-cut evening dress with a slit skirt

As soon as I heard about my character, it turned into a two week hunt for the perfect dress. I searched all of my favourite clothing websites such as Topshop and Asos but when I couldn't find a dress I liked, I began to search all of the small boutiques I hadn't tried. However as I’m fussy I had no luck with this either.

Some of my blogging friends had ordered from Chi Chi clothing, a fashionable London based brand, so I thought I would at least search the site optimistically. I looked in the sale section as I wanted a budget dress. To my surprise I found this gorgeous ivory lace maxi style dress with a sexy but classy thigh split, extra padding to make my boobs a bit bustier & pretty diamantes to give the dress some sparkle.

To my surprise the dress should have been £54.99 and was on sale for £32.99. When I ordered the dress I got a further 10% off and next day delivery. In the end it only cost me a small price of £29.99. Being a bit apprehensive on sizing’s as I’m a size 6-8, I asked for some advice from friends. The Chi Chi brand is known to be a bit bigger on sizing’s so I ordered a size 6.

The next day I was surprised when the dress fit snug as a bug. To finish the look off I wore pointed red suede heels which I bought from The head over heels section in Debenhams a while ago. I also picked some fine jewellery, a friend had bought me for my 18^th birthday and of course it wouldn't be the same without my trusty red lipstick.

Have you ordered from Chi Chi clothing before?

Lots of love Miss Vintage Vibe xo

Manchester Christmas markets 2013

Hola,

I know it's been a while since my last posting but as you can see I have revamped my blog design thanks to Kerys Marie, owner of www.LittleBoBlab.com . I have also been incredibly busy with university work, but after getting some lovely business cards matching my blog layout, I thought it was time to get serious about being a blogger. I'm making a promise to blog at least once a week from today as it's one of my goals of the year.

Miss VintageVibe is back and I thought I would do a posting on the Manchester Christmas markets. After having a lazy weekend with my fella, we decided to hit the Christmas markets today to get into the spirit of Christmas as it's the 1st of December. It's officially 24 days till Christmas and counting, now that's something to get excited about.

To be honest, I haven't had the time to do any Christmas shopping at all, which is extremely shameful but with being in my third year at university, I never have much time to my self. I'm really upset as this year I won't be able to go home to help my mum put up the Christmas tree and do all the fun bits, but I'm so excited to be able to relax with my family on Christmas day.

I decided to go to the markets to at least get an idea of what to buy people. My mum is usually the trickiest to buy for as she really does have everything, but after going to the markets I have seen some lovely home-made items which you just couldn't find anywhere else. I'm considering buying her a musical snow globe, it's a lovely keepsake that will remind her of Christmas time.

I didn't really spend too long looking at presents because the main attraction to the markets for me is the food. The whiff of German sausages and the sweet smell of pancakes had my belly rumbling instantly. For those that know me I'm trapped in a skinny minny body and have an appetite of a pig. I just couldn't resist a big Bratwurst sausage for £4.50 they are the tastiest treats around and as the markets are only here for Christmas why not treat your self.

The stalls which are set out over St Ann's square and Manchester town hall have plenty to offer. This isn't the last time I will be going to the markets as I really want a pancake for my tummy.

Have you been to the Christmas markets this year?

Lots of love Miss Vintage Vibe xo