It's been a little while!

The past month has been so very busy, what with festive preparations, settling into the caravan now that winter is truly here, and obviously the busiest time of year at work! Here is a picture of me in my seasonal work uniform! ;)

It has been truly freezing in our little tin box, the windows are almost permanently condensated, which we have yet to find a solution for. In the mornings (or any length of time we have been out and the heaters were off) you can almost always see your breath in the air. We haven't got our tree up yet but I hope to be doing that tonight as it's my day off :D

Our kitchen is also coming along nicely, we now have a whole new work surface on the other side, and a new fridge freezer! Woop! Feast you eyes on these before and after(but not finished) pics!

Before. Used to be a bedroom!

After. My new kitchenn :D

Things are coming along very nicely! I did a teeny bit of decorative work in the bedroom, but after Christmas I hope to do much more when we have the time and the funds. If I don't post again before Christmas, then have a good one! 2014 is going to be a good year and I can't wait!

Frank Usher velvet dress

OOTD: velvet Frank Usher dress

Finally managed to get a better picture of my new vintage dress, and here it is! Just a casual night out with friends. Still haven't found the perfect shoes to wear with it yet...

Charity shop and vintage haul!

Saturday a couple of friends and I decided to go on a huge charity shopping trip, a charity shop crawl if you will. We are very lucky as Bristolians to have the legendary Gloucester Road right on our doorstep, as it's pretty much the largest stretch of independent shops in the whole of Europe, or so I've heard. I never appreciated how cool a place it is to live until I moved to this side of town last year. We visited about 10 shops on our trip, and that's barely half of the charity and vintage shops there are on Gloucester Road.  

My friend Liv got about five skirts(two of which cost a pound), and three or four tops plus a really nice black and purple cardi. I bought a nice knitted black bolero for £3.50 in one shop, and hit the jackpot in  the vintage shop Billie-Jean Clothes. I will put their facebook link below, as I have borrowed the pictures from their site. I really do love this shop and it's a real shame that they are closing down, the sheer number of beautiful pieces crammed into one tiny shop, I could simply spend hours perusing the racks immersed in this fashion treasure trove. They have so many deliciously gothy items I feel guilty keeping it to myself! 

Outfit no 1: velvet Frank Usher dress with frill sleeves

Outfit no 2: black lace frill skirt with a lace sleeved blouse, a bit of a victorian gypsy feel to it.

The picture of the Frank Usher dress really doesn't do it justice, it is simply stunning. My friends weren't letting me leave the shop without it! It has a split up the back centre skirt, and the material is thick and stretchy but very high quality, and the sleeve frills are HUGE. I will have to do an outfit post when I wear it out. The blouse from outfit two is perfect, is fits very well and on the back there are buttons going all the way down. I have been looking for a blouse like this for a while but couldn't quite find the perfect one until now!

Here's the link to Billie-Jean Clothes, check them out!

Sorry for the super long post, I just love shopping ;) support small businesses guys! 

A little update

We have been living in our caravan for two weeks now, and I can honestly say I have never been happier. It does get very cold, particularly at night, but we have bought an oil filled radiator (after an unfortunate melty-plug-socket incident with our previous heater). It works really well and makes me feel a little bit more environmentally friendly as it uses less power as the previous. The oil means it heats up quicker and holds heat better as it switches itself off after reaching the set temperature, and once it drops turns back on, and so forth. 

Last weekend I bought some wood for my bedroom head board project so hopefully next week I can post an exciting DIY tutorial.  I have had to go about it in an awkward manner because for some reason the head board seems permanently attatched to the wall. So instead of removing it to replace the fabric, it will stay put and I will simply make a wooden frame to hide the join. All will become clear! 

And I leave you with this picture of Lexington's posh new kitchen.  Ha.

Makeup: experiments in pink

Today's look is a pink and purple cat eye inspired look, a Barry M dazzle dust in pink. Happy friday!

Strange pub happenings

So I wanted to write a little bit about my job, because I work in a pub and lots of amusing and odd things (and people) tend to happen.

We have this painted on the wall behind the bar

So here is a shortlist of five of my funniest and strangest Things that have happened where I work. 

1. The guy who calls me blue haired girl (I in turn call him red hat guy, although there are so many ones I can list about this guy) once started hooting loudly at a girl I work with because she had a jumper with an owl on it.

2. Red hat guy once attempted to show me a video of himself weeing. My manager caught him.

3. Another time, red hat guy stood at the bar as if to order a drink. When I askes him, he said in a very mysterious manner; 'unfortunately not, I am just passing through'. He proceeded to stand there staring at me blankly for another ten minutes before he left.

4. One lady had ordered a steak, and came to the bar to complain.  She said she didn't like the steak, and when we offered a replacement, she said she didn't even want it anymore. And she picked the steak up off of the plate and threw it at us. 

5. Guy Who Wears a Skirt ( it should be noticed that he is gay and cross dresses and I have no problems with either of those things), likes to go around telling people about his weird life. He once asked another girl who works here if she would come to live with him and his partner in their luxurious flat in Europe, and be his strictly non-romantic-only-for-conception-purposes-housewife-and-babymaker. He said that she was perfect and just what he was looking for. Needless to say she turned him down. 

So those are what I have so far.  Anybody have anymore weird stories about their jobs?

Tattoos, onesies and chinese food

 A birthday celebration

So yesterday was Protector of the Realm's birthday, and we did so many exciting things to celebrate! The day before his birthday I snuck over to the caravan and put up balloons and bunting up to surprise him, and also left up the onesie I bought him as a present.

And here is a picture of him wearing it, he loves it!

We spent most of the day at the tattoo shop, a favourite pastime of Lexington and Protector of the Realm. I will post pictures of the work we had done in a week or two when they have healed :) After that we went home and got ourselves ready to go out, we started at the pub and then went for Chinese food which was amazing and we all ate so much food!

Not bad for fourteen of us!!

There was also a pretty entertaining chilli incident, involving a few of us challenging eachother to eat the chilli oil and see how much heat we could really take! It was very spicy. One of our friends actually drank the whole pot because we offered him fifteen pounds to do it, and he did well. He also left the money as a tip instead of keeping it, how sweet :)

Because his birthday falls right after Halloween he has kind of gotten fed up of sharing his birthday with the holiday, so he chose not to dress up this year. Some of us still did though, and although I don't have a picture of my outfit (think whimsical pirate), here is a picture of the mask I made using a plastic mask as a template for some serious glue - gunning action.

I will post a picture sometime soon of me actually wearing it, until then dear readers!

Happy Halloween!

A quick post to wish you all a spooky spiritual evening, I  won't be having much fun as I will be at work, boo. But on the plus side I will be going to work dressed as a cat, just to annoy my grumpy boss, as he has no sense of fun when it comes to these things.

Me at work. Meoww!!

Check out the guys from a little witchy cafe/shop where I live, they were kind enough to let me take a picture of them outside their shop. If you live in the Bristol area you should definitely check them out, they are really lovely people. Their name has slipped my mind but I will update this post when I find out.

It is also Protector of the Realm's birthday tomorrow and we have lots planned so there are a couple more pretty cool posts coming up!! 

November theme post: sweaters

Joining in on this month's theme post from Sophistique Noir, here is a photo of me wearing my favourite ghostie sweater. I was never really into 'sweaters' (as in england they are called 'jumpers') until I found this beauty, and now I have three. Safe to say I am now hooked! I'm going to need them, spending this winter in the Caravan ;) hope you enjoy!

 

Makeup: Gothy puple princess look

Just a really quick post to show my makeup today, I felt like doing something new and I really like purple!

I have no idea how to take good photos or edit them... this is just me playing around haha. Hope you like :)

Pumpkin pie

Baking Escapades: Pumpkin pie!

So puppy and I had a lovely day in the kitchen together.


Flour is not as yummy as it looks...

This is the pumpkin  that I bought to make pumpkin pie with, but I couldn't resist having some fun with him first ;)

And then I actually made this. The caramel on the top wasn't as good as I have done it before, and I think I didn't puree the pumpkin quite enough. I am still however very excited to eat him after dinner tonight!

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Makeup reviews: better on a budget?

I have been wanting to write about makeup for a little while now, and have decided to start a bit of a theme. I really love makeup; using it, wearing it, looking at it, I'm quite addicted. However when one faces shopping on a budget (as I do), finding quality products to suit your needs can prove difficult. Hence, high street vs the big brands to inform the average girl.

This post will start with foundations. Until about a year ago I wasn't interested in foundation at all, and had only had one experience wearing it and it was awful. Some friends (sorry guys!) had wanted to 'make me over', and I ended up with heavy uncomfortable coverage that didn't match my skin tone at all. I'm pale and like it that way, and I do even tend to go for shades even lighter than mine although I make a point of good blending and not over-doing it.

I own four foundations, of varied prices and quality. They all have their good and bad points, and here I shall review them.

L-R: No7 Restore & Renew £16.50, Rimmel London Match Perfection £6.99, Mac Studio Fix Fluid £21.50 (NAUGHTY LEXI!) , Max Factor Whipped Crème £9.99.


Puppy decided I was doing something interesting and came to investigate...

Rimmel was the first foundation I owned, and in the beginning I loved it, being the lightest (non white) shade I have yet to match, but it didn't last and tended to make my skin look dry and patchy. Even though it is a liquid foundation and proclaims 'light perfecting radiance'. Good for beginners I suppose.

After months of obsessive moisturising and thinking I just had stupid skin, I decided to try No7. It's actually from their anti-aging range because I needed something that wouldn't dry out my skin. On the swatches I did it looks surprisingly dark but when applied its barely there. The downsides, the coverage wasn't full enough and actually made my skin greasy after a few hours.

Next I tried Max Factor, and whilst I didn't love it at first, it is now a firm favourite. It looks a little orange on my arm, but on my face it gives beautiful semi-matt coverage and covers a lot of my freckles (yay). I almost reminds me of the Dream Matt Mousse because of how thick it is, but applies so easily using only my fingers, for liquid foundations I always use a sponge.

At around the same time I bought the Max Factor foundation I decided to try my first Mac product. I felt terribly indulgent at the time, and although I do like this one, it smells funny and I won't be buying the same product again. Maybe I shall try another next time... But here are my colour swatches, in the same order as before.

Finally here are two photos of me wearing the best two (Max Factor Whipped Crème and Mac Studio Fix).

Max Factor <3 winner!

 





Wearing Mac. Apologies I'd had a rough day..

NOOOOOOOO!

Just wrote this post twice and lost it both times! :( technology you are not my friend. On the plus side, we are moving into the caravan this week, although for a while we are going to be living off of a camping stove ('It's an adventure, Lexington!' I must say to myself...). I think that it's going to motivate us into sorting everything out faster if we are going to be living there in the state it is now. Not quite perhaps, because we started on bedroom improvements yesterday :D


We found a damp patch under the carpet :(

Luckily Protector Of The Realm (silly boyfriend nickname, we like game of thrones) is a dab hand at fixing these things.


Hole. In the floor.

So when all of that was over with, we could start painting the walls. Speaking of paint, here are my new paint samples for the living area.

I really like the purple on the far right, possibly paired with the grey on the far left? Anyway, I went and bought a carpet for our bedroom today so everything is progressing quickly now.  Hopefully by the time I write my next post the bed Protector Of The Realm is making will be finished, and I will be writing all about moving in!

THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

Yep, I am most probably a walking cliché, but I don't care, its October and my favourite time of year for shopping :D Primark have all the Halloween stuff in and I lost all self control upon entrance to the shop. THESE LEGGINGS HAVE BATS ON THEM <3

I don't currently have a full length mirror in my house so apologies about the awkward photos (also this is in the bathroom in the house I live in, still haven't moved out much to my frustrations). Onwards, because this is the cutest ghostie I ever happened to wear on a jumper.

 

 

I am now very prepared for winter in the caravan with all this woolly clothing, (the bat leggings are a sort of stretch knit I think) although these socks are just socks...

Except that they're AWESOME socks.

And last but not least, this T-shirt, which was an absolute bargain at £3. Its a little bit strange though, I usually wear a size 14, but the fit was quite tight, so the next size up they had was a 20 which actually fits nicely and does not look it's size. Everything here I bought in Primark, and none of it was expensive, the socks were £2 for three pairs, the leggings were a tenner and the jumper was the most expensive at £14 I think.







I urge you all to go forth and revel in the bountiful shopping opportunities everywhere this time of year!

Over the weekend I managed to get my hands on some paint samples for the living area walls. Its been really hard to find something that will match the wood fittings as its a bit dark and outdated. Personally I quite like dark woods (however old fashioned), and in my head I was imagining romantic jewel tones to bring it all together nicely. I was almost certain we were going to go with purple or red, something along these lines;

But when I actually painted the samples on the wall, they looked like this.

(Imagine much prettier curtains)

And I don't like any of them. I really don't want to replace all of the wooden fixtures but I just don't know what to do! Anybody have any suggestions??

Lets get down to business. I shall now formally introduce you to our new home.


Here she is! Very eighties don't you think ;)
 

That's 330 square feet of living space for me, the boyfriend and our dog. We can't move in yet because we have no water or gas, although we do have electricity, and have already spent an evening or two with a takeaway and a glass of wine after a hard day working on it. I'm actually looking forward to it because it's actually a lot more space than we have at the moment, which is essentially just our bedroom which we are renting in somebody else's house.

Also, I would like to at least decorate our new bedroom before we move in, and then work from there. Its the room that needs the least doing to it, I'm going to paint the walls and replace the carpet and add a few finishing touches after that, nothing fancy. The living and kitchen area however, are probably going to be ripped out and replaced so expect some radical before and after shots!

Here's a sneek peek at the dining area...

Yucky!

So. I'm Lexi and this is my first blog. Hello internet :D

I've been trying to figure out something worth blogging about for a while now, and I think it's safe to say that some unusual circumstances have led me right to it. My boyfriend and I have just bought a caravan, and whilst restoring and redecorating what is essentially a tin box, we are going to live there. So I shall be recording the trials and tribulations of caravanning via this blog. Tracking progress to put it another way.

Pictures of the new home will be up soon and I'll get talking about it in my next post!