A belated birthday...

Hello all! I've been a busy little bee the last few weeks so I've only just got round from sorting through the photos from my birthday (it was August 30th). I had a really lovely weekend with my parents, sister and friends coming to visit me and my boy even baked me a cake! I thought I'd share some pictures with you, and as this is a style blog, a few What I Wore details too.

L-R: My Pa, Me, My Boy, My Sis

We went for a very rainy walk - my Mum kindly took the picture!

I'm wearing H&M jumper, River Island leather jacket and Accessorize necklace.

L-R: The Girls; Gem, Me, my sister Hannah, Sarah

On the Saturday we hit the town for drinks and dancing!

I'm wearing River Island dress and Dorothy Perkins Necklace.

L-R: My Ma, me, my Pa

My actual birthday landed on the bank holiday Monday so we went out for a lovely meal.

I'm wearing H&M dress, vintage jacket, Peruvian earrings.

I'm wearing vintage dress, H&M cardi, vintage earrings.

I got some ace presents so I'll take some snaps and show you in my next post. Until then much love...

FashionBandit x♥x

Style Clone

Hey y'all!

How lovely is this? Claire of Style Clone and Sitting Pretty at My Desk fame has kindly featured me on the former site.

If you are not familiar, Style Clone regularlly features pictures of celebrities, bloggers and folk on the street who are rocking their own style - then show you how you can get the look - which I LOVE!

So if you want to read what Claire said about my style, you can check it out here: Blogger Style

Also check out the street style posts for some great wardrobe inspiration!

FashionBandit x♥x

What I Wore: Accessorize Challenege Day Six

It is the final day of my Accessorize challenge and I've got a double treat for you!

What I wore;
♥ Accessorize sequined flower bando headband £12 (On loan from Accessorize)
♥ Accessorize bow belt £12 (On loan from Accessorize)
♥ Flared jeans from Next. You can't beat a good pair of flares as far as I'm concerned.
♥ Striped top, I can't even remember where this is from I've had it so long - one of those tops that just goes with everything.
♥ Black 80s jacket, vintage. This was actually my Mum's, she made it back in the 80s, she is quite the seamstress.
♥ Gold coloured anchor necklace, George @ Asda. Got to love the nautical.
♥ Sparkling watch, from Aldo. Was a lovely Christmas gift from The Boy last year - came with five different straps, perfect for a gal who likes to coordinate. i.e. me.
♥Heeled trainers, Internationale, to stop the flares dragging on the ground! You can't really see them but I do have them on, promise.

 Looky here...

I really like the sequined bando headband, it is really pretty and I think it would get a lot of wear from those of us who love our hair accessories. I have a silver one quite similar that I couldn't get to look right with my long hair (think it was a fringe issue!) but since I've had the chop has come out to play quite a lot! I think the detail is really nice on this, it is very glitzy and would be great for a night out or special occasion.

The belt is really cute and girly, I also think it is quite unusual. Definitely not the type of thing I would have picked out for myself but given the option of it in the package I was mysteriously drawn to it. Great for jeans with a top tucked in, to show of the bow detailing, which goes all the way round the belt.

If you liked any of the items I featured over the last week you can check out the Accessorize website to hunt down your favourite pieces.

I have now posted the parcel back :( the man in the post office must have wondered why I looked so sad handing over my package! Luckily the lovely Accessorize folk sent me two little thank you presents, 'around the world' charm bracelet and a feathered hair clip (similar to the one I wore on day three) - so thank you Accessorize, it has been fun!

So that is it the end of my Accessorize challenge! Have you enjoyed the outfits and accessories I've show you? Any favourites?

FashionBandit x♥x

What I Wore: Accessorize Challenege Day Five

Oops, a bit late tonight watching Big Brother ...so the penultimate day and the penultimate outfit - featuring my favourite Accessorize item from the whole selection, the snood.

♥ Accessorize sequined jersey snood £30 (On loan from Accessorize)
♥ Black & mustard batwing jumper, Vintage. I bought this at a vintage fair for just £7 over the summer and have been waiting patiently to wear it - it seem to fit perfectly with the eighties vibe I had going on here!
♥ Skinny black jeans - Clothes Show Live 2008, bought them from a little stall at the show - they have awesome gold detailing on the back pockets which I'll show you one day if you are lucky.
♥ Little black heels, H&M

The zoom...

So the snood...lush, right? It is made from the most beautifully soft jersey, and has hundreds of gorgeous black sequins sewn on one side. You don't see many people wearing the scarf hood cross breed - I guess it isn't for everyone but I love a good snood, and this is a great one.

The only tricky bit is deciding where is appropriate to wear a snood. For work? Makes it hard to answer phones. For a night out? Too warm. For shopping? It is too special. I think it would be perfect for a meal out with fashionable girlfriends or a house party where no dancing or vigorous movements are involved (can't let the snood slip!). Regardless of where I would wear it - I am in love.

The final day of the Accessorize challenge tomorrow, tune in then to get your final fix of sparkly things!

FashionBandit x♥x

What I Wore: Accessorize Challenege Day Four

I like to think of today's look as 'ski chalet chic' inspired my the item I'm trailing from Accessorize today!

What I Wore:
♥ Accessorize Belle Heart Fairisle Ski Bando £12 (On loan from Accessorize)
♥ Ice cream Tee from Punky Pins, I got this in a mega mystery bundle and I've worn it loads.
♥ Navy cardigan from Zara, so good I bought it in black too, the best two cardigans ever!
♥ Skinny blue jeans from New Look, these were a really good price and fit me really well.
♥ Those military boots again from George @ Asda, yep, I love them.
♥ Necklaces are from Punky Pins too.

Ready for your close up...

Two of these super-cute ski bandos were included in my little Accessorize package, they are both lovely but this bad boy won out. I know I'm not going skiing, but that certainly didn't stop me wearing it.  Perfect for the winter season I could see me being converted from my woolly hats to the bando this year. Now someone find me a ski slope...

Tomorrow my penultimate Accessorize challenge outfit.

FashionBandit x♥x

What I Wore: Accessorize Challenege Day Three

Day three in my Accessorize Challenge and I opted for a cute little feathered hair clip. There were three in the package, but this is the one that caught my eye! Teamed it with lots of layering for the changeable British weather this time of year.

♥ Accessorize peacock feathered hair clip £7 (On loan from Accessorize)
♥ Denim coloured skirt from River Island - perfect for layering!
♥ Denim shirt, also from River Island, what?! They do good denim!
♥ Striped vest top, Tesco
♥ Grey leggings, Store 21
♥ Grey trainers, George at Asda

Close up...

The clip is made up of three rows of pretty feathers and a beaded flower.I think it is really wearable and can be dressed down like I've worn here but it wouldn't look out of place worn with a cocktail dress. The only thing I don't  like is the fact the silver clip shows from underneath the feathers - you can see it glinting in the first picture! But aside from a touch of glinting I love the colours and the clip is strong enough to grip the shortest of hair.All in all a bit of a winner, especially since you get change from a tenner!

If you liked today's hair accessory, wait until you see the funky little treat I've got for you tomorrow...

FashionBandit x♥x

What I Wore: Accessorize Challenge Day Two

For day two of my challenge it was easy to pick which Accessorize accessory I wanted to play with next, this totally amazing charm necklace.

What I Wore:
♥ Accessorize 'Keepsake' charm necklace £20 (On loan from Accessorize)
♥ Playsuit, from Topshop, which you may recognise from this post.  I love this because, as you can see, it can be layered and styled up in so many different ways.
♥ Leggings from the H! by Henry Holland range for Debenhams - I heart this range so much!
♥ Striped cardi, I've had this for a couple of years after buying it in a Dorothy Perkins sale and I've not really worn it much (damn impulse buys), but when teamed with my playsuit I've found new love for it :)
♥ Little studded heels, H&M, so sweet and comfy for work!

Take a closer look...

I think the reason I was drawn to this necklace is the eclectic mixture of charms, a little airplane, dice, playing card, elephant and wishbone are just some of the gorgeous items that sit along this piece. I think it is quite different to have a charm necklace - this design also comes in a charm bracelet, but for me the winner is the necklace because it is so unusual. I got lots of nice comments at work with my colleagues wanting to have a closer look at the necklace. Charming :)

Day three tomorrow, still don't know what I'm going to choose but I'm thinking another hair accessory!

FashionBandit x♥x

What I Wore: Accessorize Challenge Day One

The first day of my self-imposed Accessorize Challenge and I decided to go for something I probably wouldn't have chosen myself, but I loved none-the-less, a floral headband.

What I Wore:
♥ Accessorize silky bouquet headband £15 (On loan from Accessorize for review)
♥ Stripy pink batwing jumper, hand-knitted by my lovely Gran.
♥ Floral jeans, Primark (as featured here)
♥ Military boots, George at Asda (as featured here)

I'm not a super girly-girl but for some reason I was really attracted to this pretty purple/grey hair accessory. I think one of the main reasons I liked it was that it seemed to work well with my hairstyle and made my quite harsh haircut look at bit more feminine. The flowers are in the perfect position on the hairband so that they sit in your hair, and I think this would work equally well with a longer hairstyle, perhaps worn with tousled waves (as least that is what I would do if I had enough hair to tousle a wave!) On another note I often don't wear hairbands because I find them uncomfortable, but after a full day at work this was still quite wearable with hardly any pinching, which earns this little beauty major browine points.

Log on tomorrow to see which Accessorize accessory is chosen for day two.

FashionBandit x♥x

Time to play dress up

Recently I received a lovely email from Accessorize asking me whether I'd like to have a play with some of their new Autumn/Winter stock - of course being a girl who loves her accessories, my answer was an eager yes!

So the good folk at Accessorize sent me a parcel filled with new products, that you'll be able to find in-store over the coming months, for me to have a sneaky preview/review.

This is what was in the parcel:

A whole host of colourful, sparkling and down-right yummy accessorises for me to play dress up with, I only wish I got to keep it all!

So I have set myself a little challenge, over the next week I will choose seven of my favourite pieces from the samples, and style them into my everyday outfits. This will show you some exciting new accessories, and how they can be worn, and hopefully it will encourage me to wear something completely 'styled' up everyday!

Let the challenge begin...

FashionBandit x♥x