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

OOTD: Space Cat & Cycling Shorts

Bonjourno, mon petit freres!

How are we all doing? Embracing this glorious weather I hope! I have been, even if it has just been sitting in my garden attempting to soak up some rays!

This is what I decided to wear today, pretty casual and got my some strange looks when I went into Stevenage to get a birthday present for a friend (I don't think they 'get' space cats in Stevenage). I decided to wear my platform converse sneakers, since now it's not all wet and rainy they will stay looking fresh and clean. Now don't get me wrong I love these shoes like they were my real life darling baby (since it took me sooooo long to find the perfect pair and I was so chuffed when I got them for less than half price in the sales) but mannnn after a few hours walking they don't half start to bite at my upper heels. Any other fellow platform sneaker wearers have any remedies? Should I lace them tighter or looser or is there someway to break in the backs of them, without ruining them of course!

And they do make my feet look superrr long too but I can deal with that ;)

Oh I cut the collar off my space cat tshirt cos for some reason I hate them being all up in my neck, go figure?!

Space Cat Tee- Ebay £6.99    Cycling Shorts- American Apparel £9 (sale!)    Socks- Topshop £3.50    Platform Sneakers- Schuh £16 (sale!)

I think this summer is shaping up to be a good one. Fingers crossed :)

love&'ugs
bakes x

Summer Wishes Wishlist

Since the sun has been shining so brightly for the last few days I decided to make a wishlist of all the bits and pieces I really want, but alas I cannot afford at the moment :'(
Also can you tell I'm a tiny bit obsessed with pastel colours, gold and animal designs at the moment haha!

Fred Perry Polka Dot Dress- £85 (I actually think my mum has got me this for my birthday hehe)
Monica Vinader Earrings- £420 (SO totally out of my budget but I couldn't resist!)
ASOS Bunny Chase Watch- £20 (I don't think I've seen a more adorable watch)
New Look Aztec Crop- £9.99 (Hmmm I might actually be able to afford this)
Topshop Elephant Necklace- £16.50 (Another piece I want to add to my statement jewellery collection!)
ASOS Round Kitten Sunglasses- £12 (Perfect retro specs)
Joe Browns Colour Block Sandals- £14.95 (I really am in desperate need of new summer sandals and these fit the bill)
Monki Edla Backpack- £20 (I already have one backpack but I feel like another one is needed :P)

What do you guys think of my wishlist? What's on your summer wishlist?

love&'ugs

bakes x

OOTD: Dare To Bare (Legs!)

I actually had a mini party in my pants this morning when I saw how sunny it was and decided TODAY WAS THE DAY to get my legs out for the first time this year! I've seen a few other bloggers on their blogs and instagram daring to bare their legs in the last week or so but I wasn't brave enough until today and I'm so glad I have now. Wearing my black tights was making my wardrobe seem about 10 times more wintery than it is, so not wearing tights has given me so many more outfit ideas :)

Once I had stopped staring out of my window and thanking the sun gods,  I immediately started rifling through my wardrobe to find a suitable dress. I decided on my panther skater dress from Topshop because 1. I haven't worn it in ages and 2. I didn't want to scare the sun away by whacking out my most summery sun dress!

I had to pair it all with my favourite mint pieces at the moment, I might have over-worn the cardigan already haha, but they matched the panther's eyes and I bloody love ankle socks, so it's allllll good.

Dress- Topshop £25ish?    Cardigan- Vintage £6    Socks- Topshop £3.50    Vans- American Outlet Store $25/£45    Scarf- Vintage £4

I also had my first iced coffee of the year, which was an absolute dream! And then feasted on strawberries sprinkled with icing sugar and a green tea. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

nomnomnom

Has anyone else been as excited as me to bare their legs for the first time this year?

(please someone say yes!)

love&'ugs

bakes x

OOTD: Spring Chick Vs. Grunge Goth

Just a quick little post for you guys showing you how I styled my most recent purchases, which you can read about in this post here. I really wanted to wear some colour because spring was taking sooooooo long to come around. It seems to have arrived now and I like to think this outfit had something do with that ;)

I also enjoy how cute my spring colours are on top and how grungy and dark my bottom half is, I just love my creepers too much and when summer comes around they are too hot to wear so I'm getting as much out of them now as possible! I can't believe I've had them for 3 years either! Literally the best wearing pair of shoes I've owned, they look like I got them out of the box yesterday.

Cardigan- Vintage £6    Shirt- American Apparel £51    Leggings- Zara £20    Creepers- Underground £89

Necklace- Matalan £10

What do you think of my outfit mash up? Are you as insanely happy as me that spring has turned up FINALLY?!

love&'ugs

bakes x

Not Really Supposed To Be Shopping Mini-Spree

Yesterday I made a little trip down to a couple of nearby towns (Ware and Hertford if you're interested) to have a browse because I was going a little stir crazy sitting around at home.

I'm not realllllly supposed to buying anything at the moment due to lack of job (anyone out there feel like throwing one my way?! Seriously I don't think I can fill out any more applications without gouging my own eyes out), but decided only looking in the charity shops would be allowed, since you can never really spend too much in them, well unless you buy the whole shop.

First stop was Isabel Hospice my favourite charity shop in Ware, for some reason it always has the best pieces, like my Jaeger trouser from my last post. Anyway I found this perfect little signet ring, I realise none of my name has a 'D' in it but I couldn't just leave it there for a meagre £3. Also it was the only ring to fit my ridiculously small fingers and it's still too big to fit on my little finger so I have to settle for my ring finger, but it's all good.

Engraved Signet Ring-  Isabel Hospice £3

Recently opened in Ware is a Vintage Shop/Tea Room called Vintage Wares (clever) so I popped in there to see what I could spy, there were quite a few lovely things including a Topshop navy lace slip dress that I wanted to get my paws on but being £20 was slightly out of my budget, so I settled on a pastel mint cardigan I thought was perfect for spring.

Pastel Mint Green Cardy- Vintage Wares £6

Next I decided to drive over to the Matalan in Hertford. I get the impression from a lot of people that they really don't like Matalan because they think it's a bit rubbish and only for mumsy mums and old people, but I actually think it's pretty decent. I mean obviously there's the 'old person' parts to it but I usually always find something there I would wear and a lot of their jewellery is on par with Topshop or River Island styles and for a fraction of the price.

I've been searching for a statement necklace for a while now but the afore mention highstreet shops like Topshop's prices have put me off, with some of them reaching over £20-25 for basically a piece of costume jewellery! Anyway I found this beauty in Matalan for £10, it has everything I was looking for- gold and silver chains, pastel hues, spikes, sparkles and glitter. A killer piece I think you'll agree.

Statement Necklace- Matalan £10

Definitely going to wear it under a shirt collar and with my new cardigan! Also picked up these stackable animal rings for £3 down from £7. I do love a good animal ring.

Stackable Animal Rings- £3 (down from £7)

Just one more photo to show you my collar/necklace detail from my outfit yesterday. The rest of my outfit wasn't super interesting just leggings and a wooly jumper, but god damn I love this shirt, it is so unnecessarily loud haha.

Shirt- Charity Shop in Nottingham £4    Necklace- Isabel Hospice £2.50

Anyone else had any charity/vintage shop finds recently?

love&'ugs

bakes x

OOTD: Black & White Print Clash

This is an outfit I actually haven't worn out. DUMDUMDUMMMM!

It was just something I thought up and wanted to try out just to see if it looked good. The trousers I absolutely adore (though I'm scared they make my hips look wide?!). They are from Jaeger but I got them from a charity shop for about £3, which I am sure you can guess I was ridiculously happy about! I just found a similar pair on their website for £160 so I'm even happier now! The blazer is from Wallis and I think it's great, comfy but looks good enough for work and basically who doesn't like polkadots!

Anyway this was a hit or miss attempt at print clashing but within the monocrome trend. Usually I'm a bit obsessed with getting colour into my outfits so it was quite challenging for me to try and get the same amount of interest into my outfit without relying on colour.

The two prints side by side.

Blazer- Wallis £33    Body- Primark £6    Trousers- Jaeger (charity shop) £3    Wedges- H&M (old)    Belt- Primark £3    Necklaces- Topshop (old)

How were people's Easter weekends? I went to the Liechtenstein exhibition on Friday, which I highly recommend (even for those who 'don't get art!') and to the Up The Creek Comedy Club in Greenwich in the evening for a friend's birthday that was equally brilliant and hilarious. Saturday was filled with coffee drinking and sofa sitting, and wandering around a spookily deserted London. The rest of the weekend were the usual mix of family time and wayyyy too much chocolate :)

love&'ugs
bakes x