SS13 Trend: Ankle Booties

I wanted to share with you guys my current favourite footwear. Ankle booties! I know we've all been wearing them now for a few years but I've lived in the safe zone of Chelsea boots and the standard black/brown/tan ankle boots. Now I'm beginning to explore the world of ankle boots and making them an interesting part of an outfit rather than just a throw-on-when-i-cant-be-bothered choice.

 The black pair are from daisystreet.co.uk and are vaguely reminiscent of the Topshop Alvin boots that everyone went crazy for a while back.They're like kick-ass gothic-cowgirl boots! I actually call these my 'The Walking Dead' boots because I feel like if I were in that show, killing zombies in the deep south cowboy territory that is Georgia this is what I'd have on my feet. (anyone else watch it? How great was the Season 3 finale!??)

 The pink pair are another slightly western inspired pair (I promise I'm not turning into a very stylish John Wayne I do have other pairs... these are just my favourites...)  I bought these from New Look a while back and can't find them on the site anymore but they may well still be knocking about in stores. These look adorable with denim skirts and slouchy Tshirts and sweaters and fall into my favourite summer colour palette: The pastels!

  I like wearing both of these pairs with cute girly ankle socks. My faves are these and these both from Topshop, I feel like it makes the ankle boot very modern. I love the contrast between cutesy ankle socks and the rock-n-roll, tomboy feel of the black pair, they also stop the pink pair from being too 'sexy cowgirl costume'.

Let me know what you think! What shoes are you wearing now that summer's around the corner? 

Snazzy Nosh with Deluxebite

Way back in January the lovely folks at Deluxebite offered to send me their January box to sample and, being a bit of a closet foodie and student who doesn't pass up free food, I said a very enthusiastic yes! 
 Deluxebite is a really interesting company. A monthly subscription of £20 gets you a box of luxury food items sent to you once a month. While £20 seems like a lot, all the products are full sized and very decadent so if you've got the cash and love experiencing new foods it would certainly be a good deal. 

This particular box featured the following: 

Raman's Handmade Butternut Squash Relish
Great Glen Game Venison Chorizo
Coffee Factory Black Label Coffee
Nim's Kiwi and Apple Fruit Crisps
Bracken Hille Fine Foods' Sugar Free Chutney 

The reason this review has taken me a while is because I actually don't like chutney and I don't drink coffee but i know someone who does: My fabulous mummy. So I gave her those, along with the butternut squash, as part of her Mother's Day present. She absolutely loved all three items and actually the coffee's already gone and the chutney's well on it's way out and she's thinking of buying more!

As for the items I tried: The fruit crisps were delicious. I had them one day as a mid morning snack and they made a nice change from my usual cereal bars or dried cranberries. The venison chorizo was a little more complicated to figure out what to do with but I eventually sliced it up and threw it, with some chicken and sliced peppers into a tomato pasta dish. It was a bit strange but I actually really enjoyed it, very smoky and gamey. 

I don't think I would subscribe simply because I can't justify £20 a month on a student budget. However as I said if you've got the cash to blow it would be a lovely treat for yourself and even if you don't fancy something in the box it could easily be used as a gift.  Also worth remembering is that for each box bought, Deluxebite funds a meal for a family living in poverty in the UK. 

This post features products sent to me for review purposes. All opinions are my own. 

SS13 Beauty Bits

All items can be found on feelunique.com

This summer I've promised myself I'm going to scale back on the makeup I use. Rather than have thirty different eyeshadows, I want to invest in just a few good quality colours. This Dior palette (5) really caught my eye. Also rather than piling on the foundation and concealer I want to pare down the coverage and using a correcting primer (4) with a good BB cream (2) I can get a naturally flawless look without caking on products. 

I really don't suit a tan... at all, but I do like to warm up my complexion so I like soft peachy cream blushes (6) to give my skin a dewy warmth rather than a plastered-on-terracotta look and it looks wonderful paired with an illuminating cream (3) to add soft dimension. I like to pair a flick of jet black liner (1) with full fluttery lashes (8) to give definition to my neutral eyes and to top it all off with a simple pink lip (7), I prefer to keep the lips a soft matte, as with dewy skin and shimmery shadows a glossy lip would make me look just the wrong side of shiny.

Thankyou for reading. What are your favourite Spring/Summer beauty items? Do you change your makeup for the warmer weather?

*Just a note, all these items can be found on feelunique.com but I wasn't sponsored to do this post or anything, I just happened to be browsing and bookmarking things I liked when this idea for a post came to me :) 

Favourite Summer Scents

Vera Wang Princess . Miss Dior Cherie . Marc Jacob's Daisy . Thierry Muglier Alien (sunessence) . Marc Jacobs Rain .

The weather's finally warming up! So in light of the lovely weather I thought I'd share some of my favourite summer scents. I don't necessarily not wear these in the winter, but I find that the warmer weather really brings these perfumes into their own. 

These are the more 'well known' typical perfumes. Vera Wang, Princess is a gorgeous delicate floral with the tiniest hint of vanilla and musk that can be a bit dull but, in for a quick spritz in the daytime spring is lovely and feminine and flirty. Marc Jacob's Daisy is another floral but with a little more body. For something named after a flower it's actually more of a fruity scent but is fresh and happy and I love wearing it. Miss Dior Cherie is more gourmand. It's a hot sweet starchy-ness, reminiscent of burnt sugar and strawberry and perfect accompaniment to floaty dresses and pretty florals. 



These are the slightly less well-known fragrances and are actually the two that I like the most. Thierry Muglier's Alien (Sunessence Light) is one of the limited edition Alien variation and it's an amazing light, green, fresh scent with hints of lemon and amber. This is one of those fragrances that get "ooh what are you wearing?" when I get close to people. Marc Jacob's Rain isn't exactly feminine, in fact it smells like someone put a man's cologne in a dress. It's an 'aquatic', smelling very fresh, like wet flowers and gets progressively muskier as you wear it. It's a great fragrance to wear when you want something classier than your average spritzes of sugar.

 Thankyou for reading! Let me know what your favourite summer fragrances are. 

Red Velvet Cuppycakes

I made yumminess! I'd had red velvet cake before and absolutely loved it so I thought I'd try my hand at making my own! I used this recipe, it's supposed to be for a full sized cake but the recipe works fine separated into muffin cases and cooked for the same amount of time. I got twelve pretty big cupcakes!
They're really tasty, the sponge is light and full of flavour and the frosting is rich and creamy. I added some Sainsbury's bought sprinkles. (I can get my head round a cake but making my own sprinkles is a bit much.)
They can last about a week kept in a cool dry place, but honestly with me and my family they didn't last past three days!

Let me know if you try this! Also if you have any favourite cake recipes I'd love to know! 

"If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives."

Where the hell did the first quarter of the year go? Can't believe it's April... partly because it's only just stopped snowing here in blighty. This little scribble was done during the many hours of hardcore procrastination while I put off doing my assignments due at the end of my Easter break. I technically still have three weeks to get them done but there are three essays and a big-ass pile of revision as well so I need to get cracking!

Goals For April: 
01. Complete #doodleadayapril on instagram (follow me @Bella_bun if you like!)
02. Eat clean 3/7 days a week                                                                                          
03. Make more complicated friendship bracelets                                                        
04. Revise for a minimum of 7 hours a week                                                                

At least it looks like it's getting sunnier. I don't want to get my hopes up too high but I think warmer climes may be just around the corner! Excited!  

Wishlist || March Edition

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

I know I know, I should still be looking at parkas and jumpers but I just can't help myself!
I'm not quite as frilly, girly, pastel - obsessed it would seem this summer. I'm drawn towards things that are, yes feminine, but in a more subtle, grown up way. God help me I might actually be growing up.

The pieces here are quite interchangeable and it all works quite nicely in a 'capsule wardrobe' sort of way. The accessories and shoes go nicely with both the dress and top-and-skirt. I also think the pop of bright lip would tie each look together beautifully, and the hat would just add that effortlessly chic touch.  DO you have any thoughts on what you'll be wearing once it warms up a bit?