BANKS

If you haven’t listened to Los Angles based artist Banks by now, then you are missing out on some seriously good music.

Her songs sound like a mix between a sexy female The Weeknd and a dancey Lana Del Ray, with influences from Lauryn Hill and Fiona Apple. I can’t get enough of her first EP - London, which has been produced by some seriously rad producers, including SOHN and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.

Warm Water is one of my favourite tracks (I pretty much love them all!) and has been described as “baby making music” by TEED, which I totally agree with! haha

Make sure you listen to this amazing female. And if you are lucky enough to have tickets to her tour this month I am eternally jealous.

Listen to her music here:

https://soundcloud.com/banksbanksbanks

Watch her videos here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/HerNameIsBanks?feature=watch

http://www.hernameisbanks.com/

love&'ugs
bakes x

Gathering Festival

Local Natives

Last weekend I went to city festival Gathering in Oxford. I wasn't really expecting that much as it was only the second year it's been put on, but I was pleasantly surprised and definitely put in my place when I saw how well run it was and the great musicians that played there.

With 7 stages split over 6 intimate venues, you were always up close and personal with any band you went to see and that element really did make it a special event to attend, and you can see why it has been shortlisted for 'Best New Festival' and 'Best Metropolitan Festival' at the UK Festival Awards.

My favourite stage had to be the East Oxford Community Centre, which had a great mix of eclectic bands and singer-songwriters. We saw my boyfriend's friend perform there under his stage name D/C and it was pretty special, a beautiful mix of personal songs and standout covers. Another great band was Oxford locals Candy Says, who got the crowd dancing (especially some crazy kids right at the front!).

And of course the two headline acts - London Grammar and Local Natives, really made the festival one you didn't want to miss. London Grammar was a one in one out affair and Local Natives put on a great show with old album classics and new album favourites.

I'll be heading back to this perfect autumnal festival next year for sure!

love&'ugs
bakes x

p.s. links to festivals & bands at the bottom of the page :)

Candy Says

Local Natives

http://gatheringfestival.tumblr.com/

https://twitter.com/GatheringOxf

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrDcproducer/videos

https://twitter.com/thatdckid

http://candysays.it/

https://twitter.com/candysaysit

http://www.londongrammar.com/home/

https://twitter.com/londongrammar

http://thelocalnatives.com/

https://twitter.com/localnatives

Desigual New York Fashion Week In London

A couple weeks ago I went to the Desigual New York Fashion Week catwalk live streaming show that took place at their flagship London store. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it definitely went way above my expectations!

We had a champagne and cosmopolitan cocktail and popcorn reception, which was was followed by the live streaming of the show with complimentary burgers and cupcakes with more drinks! I think the Desigual SS14 range is going to be really good, especially since I'm not usually into their kind of style. The monochrome pieces were the winners for me.

Favourite pumps that I want!

 Love the bottle ceiling!

I wore a Love Label dress I got from the ASOS sale and my studded pumps and my new fave Kanken backpack! Sparkly hat courtesy of Desigual :P

love&'ugs

bakes x

Easy DIY: Custom Phone Case

I really love reading other bloggers DIY posts and scouring Pinterest for amazing DIY pins, but truth be told I'm not that hot at doing DIY projects myself, you know the nailed it memes? Yeah that's me. So this DIY post is for the simple and short attention span DIYers among us.

I've been getting bored with my iPhone case for a little while. My massive Hello Kitty case just wasn't doing it for me anymore and I couldn't find a decent cheap one I liked on eBay. But a couple of weeks ago I got a beautiful package of goodies from the Confetti Monster (or Jaclyn- her human name) who has a shop on Etsy called Confetti Bandits. Along with my order Jaclyn had thrown in a bunch of free Moonrise Kingdom inspired stickers which I adored but couldn't think where to stick them. Until my 2 predicaments had a car crash in my mind...

First I brought a cheap iPhone case from eBay for 99p:

Then I grabbed my lovely stickers:

I played around with the placement until I was happy & stuck them on:

My dad had a bit of clear sealant lying around the garage so I used that to make sure the stickers weren't going anywhere (I'm sure a coating of clear nail varnish would be good too?). So yeah really easy but sometimes we all need a bit of inspiring :)

And TADAHHH, new phone case. Happy days.

love&'ugs

bakes x

P.S. Here's the rest of the delights I ordered from the Confetti Bandits shop. Seriously go check it out, especially if you are a Wes Anderson fan, you won't leave without buying something!

OOTD: Birthday Business in Brighton!

A couple weekends a go we headed down to Brighton to help our friend Sarah celebrate her 24th birthday. I love going to Brighton it's always really fun and if you go to the non-commercial clubs (I'm looking at you Oceana!) then you might be surprised at how good the independent clubs are.

For dinner we went to Donatello's that is an ace Italian restaurant that's really cheap too, I had tagliatelle with spinach and bacon in an amazing sauce. I'm not usually a pasta person, but this was so gooooooooood. After we went to our fave bar that we ALWAYS go to, called The Mesmerist, it's like a 1940s bar with the best cocktails. And then we went to a club called The Tube which is right on the seafront and under the arches- great success!

Leather Jacket- Topshop £90 (half price in the sales!)    Shirt- Wallis £33    Shorts- Sparkle & Fade at Urban Outfitters £20ish    Creepers- Underground £89

I don't usually shop at Wallis, but I really like this shirt, it's like a sheer material with a gold paisley print on it. It's pretty loose fitting which looks good leggings/jeans etc, but I tied a knot in the front so you could see my sparkly shorts :P

Han & Me

Me & Becca

Has anyone else been out in Brighton? Where do you like to go? I'd love to try new places where I'm there next :D

love&'ugs
bakes x