Spring Style Wishlist

Hello!

So it's quite literally been forever since I wrote my last blog post. However, I thought that I would attempt to ease myself back into the swing of it by sharing some of the pieces that I am currently lusting over from the high-street. 

Over the recent months i've definitely lacked inspiration with my style, and nothing has particularly jumped out at me in the shops. However, over the past few weeks the spring ranges have started to emerge (and the sun even made a little appearance so I am SO up for all the pretty summery clothes now). 

Mini Skirt, Blue jeans, Pink jeans

Firstly, the staple to most of my outfits, a good piece of denim. ASOS Farleigh's are usually my go to and I am loving this light wash pair for summer. As well as the gorgeous dusky pink pair from Weekday. Over the past year I have discovered my love for straight leg jeans and I don't think I could divert to being stuck in uncomfortable skinnies anymore!

Slogan tee, Stripe tee, Constellation blouse, Rust shirt, Pink star top

I have been lusting over the Fred Perry x Bella Freud collection for sooo long now! Several of the t-shirts have been hovering around in my ASOS wishlist basket for months tempting me everytime there's a discount code about. (I'm thinking it may be about time I invested?) 

I'm still on the slogan tee bandwagon and am loving the simple, but amazing quality ones from Weekday. 

And I couldn't not include my fave star print pieces. I mean pink and star print, what more could I ask for, the little silky blouse from Nastygal is so cute! 

Contrast Stitch Skirt, Playsuit, Stripe co-ord, Paperbag Skirt

Although I am currently living in jeans and jumpers, I cannot wait to wack out the skirts and dresses ASAP!

This pull and bear striped co-ord is a must! And I love the pastel tones of the Topshop paperbag skirt. 

The Boohoo playsuit is super cute and affordable (an added bonus for my bank account!) and I think it will be perfect to throw on with a cute pair of sunnies and sandals for my upcoming festivals and holidays over the summer months. 

Striped pair  , Belted pink , Buttoned rust

Moving onto trousers...have you come to realise my love for all things pink yet?

Zara are killing it on the trouser front with these two pastel pink tapered leg pairs which I am LOVING *many heart eye emojis*

And who says rust coloured tones are just for autumn?! The rusty coloured pair are so dreamy and with a plain white top and some sandals I think they will look so lovely.

Stone button dress, Rust midi dress

And finally on to dresses. Cute, floaty little dresses with horn buttons, seem to be everywhere at the moment, but I thought these two Newlook finds were such a bargain! 

I personally love a good dress that can easily be thrown on and you can instantly look as though you're totally put together (even when you most definitely are not). 

So that's just a few of the pieces that I am loving, and wishing I had the pennies to stock my wardrobe up with at the moment! I cannot wait to give my wardrobe a little refresh ready for the spring summer months and be chilling in all the pretty pink shades, and floaty dresses!

Let me know which bits are your faves, and what pieces you are also loving at the moment as I would love to hear what you think!

Hopefully i'll keep on track with blogging a little more often again now, so you may be hearing from me again soon!

Ash x

Embroidered details and fesitivities

Over the weekend I decided to nip across to Nottingham in anticipation of taking in plenty of the festivities happening around this time of the year (as well as fitting in a spot of christmas shopping of course).

Whilst I was there I met my lovely friend India. We spent a while just chatting and strolling around the most amazing craft fair at the Contemporary gallery and the Vegan market. I picked up a few bits as christmas presents and some yummy treats for myself, including the most incredible banana and biscoff cupcake! (because you just have to 'treat yo' self every now and again).

On our little adventure we decided to take a few outfit snaps along the way that I thought I would share with you!

If you follow me on any social media you'll probably have realised that I have been so on board with the recent embroidery trends that are everywhere right now! I just think the pieces are so pretty especially with the gorgeous floral details. Although I definitely can't afford one of the stunning Needle and Thread embroidered dresses that I will be forever lusting over the little collection of pieces I have built up in my wardrobe will make do for my current obsession. 

I recently invested in this coat from Zara after much deliberation but I am honestly so in love with it. I wear it everyday without fail and have received so many compliments on it so far. 

I was so happy with this outfit and felt very 'me' in my mundane, average 'skirt and t-shirt combo' combined with the added detail of the gorgeous embroidered mini skirt I recently purchased and fell head over heals with from New Look.

Top - H&M , Skirt - New Look , Coat - Zara , Shoes - Office , Watch - Daniel Wellington 

A few days in Brighton

So last week I went for a little trip away to the gorgeous seaside area of Brighton. I'm still not hugely pleased with any of the photos I managed to snap as I was more focused on having a lovely time, however i still wanted to share my trip with you all in a little post, as it is somewhere I have wanted to visit for so many years now and after reading and watching the blogs/city guides of some of my favourite youtubers and bloggers ( Charlotte , Olivia and Anna ) I had built up a fair list of places I was desperate to visit (mainly the amazing array of food choices I must point out). So when I finally arrived as you can probably guess I was so excited and eager to explore. We were there for two half days and two full days in total so had a fair bit of time to explore and do things around the city.

Day 1:

We arrived just after midday on the Sunday. The weather was more than I could have wished for with bright blue sky and gorgeous sunshine, ideal weather for a day at the beach. We took a little stroll down the lanes before grabbing a spot of lunch. I opted for my first ever Bagelman after it being recommended many times. We took our food and sat in the Pavilion gardens listening to street music in the sunshine which was lovely, my veggie delight bagel definitely did not disappoint! Afterwards we headed to the seafront for a stroll down the iconic pier. Although after the long drive and quite a lot of walking we were all quite sleepy and decided to head back to the hotel for a while. In the evening we decided to go for dinner at Fatto A Mano in the Hove area. Despite this being a little trek away from the city centre and not being the easiest to find if you aren't familiar with Brighton (google maps was definitely my saviour over this break) it is definitely worth heading over once you find it! It's a small pizza restaurant with a distinct neighbourhood, friendly feel to it. The pizzas were incredible, probably the best i've had, the service was great and I loved that you could watch the chefs making the pizzas too.

Day 2:

We woke up nice and early in order to make the most out of our first full day. Breakfast be

ing by far my favourite meal of the day we headed the the famous Breakfast Club. There was so much choice but eventually I decided on the homemade granola which was incredible. However my brother had the pancakes which I also could have devoured. Next we headed back across to the pier but walked along the sea front to the crazy golf which was so much fun. I'm part of an extremely competitive family so the only downside of this was that me coming second won't be forgotten any time soon! We also visited the marina and took some photos of the pier (very stereotypical Brighton touristy type things but they had to be done of course). For lunch me and mum went to the very bloggerish and over instagrammed Flour Pot Bakery. However this was definitely not a let down with gorgeous interiors and amazing baked goods. After another wander round the lanes nipping in and out of some lovely shops as well as a quick ice cream stop at Boho Gelato where I had the best ice cream ever (there were so many flavours to choose from but I opted for peanut butter and jelly and vanilla latte), it was then time to head back to the hotel and we decided on going to Wahaca for dinner. The food here was so good and there was a really nice laid back atmosphere. I loved that you could sample different dishes by having the small dishes as I am far to indecisive when choosing from a menu! The cocktails were also to die for, I think I had a passionfruit and vanilla mojito, as you can never have too many mojitos!

Day 3:

We decided we could just have a quick breakfast in the hotel for convenience and to save a few pennies this morning. We stayed in the Premier Inn which I would definitely recommend as it is right in the city centre within walking distance from anything you would want to see and do. For us it was perfect and so convenient. After breakfast the girls went on a bit of a shopping spree in the Churchill Square shopping centre in which there is every shop you could think of. And then headed for lunch at Bread and Milk which I loved. Decision making was so difficult in here as the sandwich counter was full of halloumi, hummus and pesto loaded options which I just couldn't resist! We took another stroll around the lanes. Some of my favourite little shops we visited included; Edited (full of so many gorgeous interiors) , Infinity Foods (for all of the yummy snacks), Bluebird Tea Co (honestly if you love tea this place is like heaven), Magazine Brighton (for my new found love of magazines for lots of inspiration and lazy day reading) and Spider Plant (oh my gosh if you love cacti and are a true plant lover get yourself in this little store!) . When we all reunited after the boys had been to Seaworld and we had been shopping we quickly nipped into Snoopers Paradise to use the photo booth. Then made a pit stop at one of the many Cloud 9 bakeries for the best red velvet cupcake ever! In the evening me and mum went to Food for Friends, somewhere I had been excited about eating at for so long and it definitely didn't let me down, my mum isn't a veggie and she absolutely loved it which is such a big compliment to the restaurant. The service was incredible and so was the food. I definitely had the best halloumi burger of my life and the sharing truffles desert was such a treat. Not forgetting some of the best cocktails I've had, a trip here was definitely such a treat.

Day 4:

I was so sad that this was our final day but due to this I was determined to make the most of it. Therefore I woke up bright and early and headed to 42 Juice for a little breakfast pick me up. This place is so good with a huge array of juice, smoothie, coffee and snack choices. I went for the buckwheat porridge with loads of toppings which was so smooth and dreamy as well as an almond milk latte to wake me up! The woman working in there was so lovely as we got chatting whilst I sat and people watched out the window. Once I had finished I took a final walk around, snapped a few photos of the Pavilion and grabbed some snacks from The Infinity Foods Bakery for the long journey home. We then all squished into the car and headed over to Hove as it was far too windy to walk down the seafront! I snapped some obligatory photos of the gorgeous pastel beach huts which definitely cannot go a miss when visiting Brighton as they always make the perfect stereotypical insta post. However it was then sadly time to head home.

Top and Shorts - Both Topshop

Bag - Cambridge Satchel Company

 Shoes - Office

I would definitely recommend Brighton as a city to anyone, everywhere is so cute and positive and there is so much to explore! I would absolutely love to head back again some time soon. I hope this post helped anyone who has a trip down to the coast planned or just fancies another trip and wanted a few recommendations!

What city should I visit next? Let me know if you have any ideas! I'd also love to hear about some of your favourite places to go in Brighton for if I ever visit again!

Ash x

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Exploring Japanese Gardens

The sunshine making a little appearance is a very rare occasion in the UK so it seemed completely necessary to take full advantage of it, and what better way to do so than by visiting the most beautiful little Japanese gardens. 

The gardens were so relaxing and peaceful, I honestly could have spent all day just strolling around. Everywhere was so tranquil and picturesque so as usual I was snapping away the whole time (how could you not when everywhere was so instagram worthy?!) 

When we arrived we were greeted by the most lovely Japanese man who gave us this incredible Japanese fruit tea in the cutest ceramic cups! Sipping tea in the most beautiful surroundings is my idea of heaven so as you can imagine this was perfect and I was so content.  

Blouse - Zara, Skirt - Urban Outfitters, Shoes - Office (similar here), 

Bag - Cambridge Satchel Company, Watch - Daniel Wellington

Making the most of the nice weather obviously I got out all of the summer clothes. I'm so obsessed with this blouse at the moment and have been wearing it non stop! It's such a versatile piece and I feel so girly when I wear it with the frills and cut out details. I've also been loving styling my pink satchel ever since I got it, it surprisingly matches so many of my outfits, most likely down to my very monochromatic wardrobe situation, but never the less i'm so in love with it and love the pop of colour and feminine touch it adds to an outfit.

I had such a lovely day exploring and relaxing, and I am hoping for many more little adventures through out the summer months. Please let me know if you have any recommendations and if you would like to see more of this kind of post.

Ash x

Current Skincare Favourites/Routine

I’ve never suffered from having particularly problematic skin which I feel very lucky for really. However I do love trying out new skincare bits and experimenting with my routine. It’s almost impossible to me to resist popping into Space NK or department store beauty counters when I'm passing! However recently I have managed to develop a little skincare routine that i’m really happy with and find that it works around my lifestyle (my laziness and lack of motivation to get that mascara off in the evening) as well as my skins needs. So I thought I would share with you a few of the products that i’ve been enjoying using.

My first step is to cleanse my face and for this I tend to use the very well known Liz Earle cleanse and polish. I’ve seen so many people use this and I can completely understand why, it’s just so quick and easy whilst also being really effective in removing all of your makeup. It leaves my face feeling clean and fresh and is just such a nice product to use in general. I would say this is really good for all skin types as it’s so gentle on the skin.

I've only recently started to discover the magic stuff which is serum, why did I not use this before it honestly seems to work miracles. I am currently loving using the Origins original skin renewal serum. Not only does this come in gorgeous pretty pink packaging and smell amazing it also works wonders for my skin. It claims to; de-stress, smooth roughness, delete dullness, shrink pores and minimise pores and I would say it definitely ticks all of these boxes. I have definitely noticed a significant difference in my skin ever since I started using this, it seems much brighter and radiant nowadays. You also only need the tiniest amount and it goes such a long way so it’s definitely worth splurging a little on the slightly higher price point. 

Once the serum has sunk in I move on to moisturiser. I hate moisturisers that are really heavy and linger on your face for what seems like an eternity once you’ve used it. Seen as I don’t suffer from particularly dry skin I just use a light moisturiser, i’m currently really enjoying using the Liz Earle skin repair moisturiser (can you tell i’m a big fan of Liz Earl?).

And that’s about it for my everyday routine, as you can tell I try to keep it as simple as possible to ensure that I actually stick to it.

However I do like to treat myself to some extra little treatments and things about once a week. Face masks are one of my favourite ways to relax whilst also giving my skin a well needed treat. My all time favourite one is the Sanctuary Spa 5 minute thermal detox mask. This is the perfect mask, not only is it really affordable but it also leaves your skin feeling so soft and glowing afterwards. The warming sensation whilst you leave it on is also so nice, I think thermal masks are my favourite for this reason because it’s just so relaxing. However the Lush fresh face masks are also some of my favourites too. 

I thought I would also mention a few sort of miscellaneous products that aren’t for my ‘face routine’ but I would still class them as part of my skin care. 

So i’ve really been loving the Lush salted coconut hand scrub as I can often get really dry hands and this little pot of magic seems to instantly seems to fix that making them super soft. It also smells incredible, I instantly love anything coconut scented really so this was always going to be a winner for me! I love Lush as a brand in general and have so much trust that any of there products will be amazing! 

I’ve also been loving using facial mists as part of my routine. I like to use them as both a toner as well as just a bit of a face refresher. My current favourite is the Caudalie grape water and I basically just spray this all of the time! It’s so nice as it is very soothing, moisturising and refreshing, especially when you’ve been staring at a screen for ages or out and about in busy cities and stuff. I usually use it at the end of my skincare routine and then chuck it in my handbag or put it on my bedside table so it's easy to to grab and quickly spritz throughout the day as a little pick me up. I also love using the Neal's Yard white tea face mist which smells amazing! Neal's Yard have loads of really lovely products if you're looking to treat yourself I would really recommend it as a brand! Another thing I love about both of these mists is that they never leave your face feeling damp and don't damage your makeup they just leave a subtle glow and set your makeup in place. I always have one of them knocking about nearby!

Let me know if you have anymore recommendations for me as I am always up for mixing my routine up a little bit and trying out new products. I’d love to hear what some of your personal favourite skin care products are too!

Ash xx

Travel Diary - Weekend In Birmingham

Helloo,

It's been so long since I last wrote a post (I feel like i find myself saying this every time I go to write a post oopsies) but I thought I would write a little something about my recent weekend away as it seemed like some people wanted to see it from the result of my twitter poll. (twitter polls forever making my important life decisions) I don't know enough about the city to give many recommendations so it's a little bit more of a sort of travel diary.

So last weekend me and my family set off on a surprise trip to Birmingham that me and my mum had organised for my Dad's birthday. I had been once before but didn't get much chance to explore so to be able to visit again was a lovely opportunity.

Typical tourist photos obviously had to be taken of the famous Selfridges building

Firstly whilst my dad and brother went off for a day at the football me and mum went to do some shopping. We headed straight to the Bullring like any typical tourist. It's so huge and literally has every shop you could wish for. I was lusting over pretty much everything in Selfridges for ages but managed to some how resist. Instead I went for the beautiful Archive by Alexa Elsie dress from Marks and Spencer which i'm completely in love with! I had my eye on the majority of the collection ever since it was released earlier on in the week so i'm so glad that I managed to grab my favourite piece. I can't wait to get to wear it (let me know if you would like to see some outfit posts featuring it). And also hinted on a few little things for my birthday that is rapidly getting closer eek!

When we got a bit peckish we decided to find 'The Boston Tea Party'. I had never been before but I had heard many people say it was amazing. I was obviously not disappointed, the decor was gorgeous and so pinteresty and the food was amazing! Being typical Ash I eyed up the brunch menu straight away, my eyes being drawn to everything that mentioned 'avocado'. When the food came it was so yummy, mum loved hers too so I would definitely recommend heading there if you ever see one when you're out and about.

Avocado on rye bread with poached eggs and chilli
The Boston Tea Party
(heart eye emoji)

After we had finished a lovely day walking about and strolling round the shops we headed back to the hotel and got changed, I wore my new Zara blouse which i'm so in love with at the moment. Time flew past so quickly and it was time to go for the surprise meal we had planned at Jamie's Italian. One of my personal favourite restaurants. No surprise here but I ate all the carbs and had the best time, both the staff and food are always so lovely at Jamie's, I have never had a bad experience there before. Reminiscing all of the amazing food I consumed over the weekend is making me so hungry right now, I quite literally ate like a princess for the entirety of the weekend.

The lighting was rubbish for outfit and food photos
so this one of me enjoying all the pasta and prosecco
will have to be adequate.

On the second day we relaxed a little more as we were all exhausted after a busy day the day before. We went for another quick look round the shops. Me and mum also went for a quick coffee and lunch in a lovely independent cafe called 'York's Bakery' which was so nice, I would definitely recommend it as the food, drinks, decor and staff were all so lovely there. They had the best chai lattes I have ever had (I always think they taste like yummy mugs full of warm hugs) and I also took a cookie home and enjoyed the yumminess with a very necessary cup of tea after the long car journey back home. 

I hear you say 'Surprise surprise Ash is in another coffee shop again'
This one was so lovely. This time I went for another variation of the poached
egg with eggs portobello.

We also visited the Ikon gallery where there was an amazing Dan Flavin exhibition on, which I found so beautiful and interesting. His work is so simple but effective and I really love it. I also went to take a few photos because the architecture in Birmingham is amazing, and of course I couldn't not take some obligatory pretty photos of the pink blossom trees (i'm sure they will have to be instagrammed pretty soon). 

The Ikon Gallery

'The Dan Flavin - It is what it is and it ain't
nothing else' exhibition

Couldn't resist some photos with the pink blossom seen
as it was so pretty and definitely matches my bag!

So overall I had such a lovely weekend celebrating with my family, and would definitely love to head back to Birmingham at some point to explore some more of the hidden gems that are around!

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Ash x

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