things I’ve fallen in love with this week…

July Favourites

| blueskygirlie

July has now come to an end…want to know what I fell in love with, bought and found so far this summer?

Of course you do!!!

Jumpsuits
I have worn a lot of jumpsuits so far this summer. Being 5’2″ I often have to have them shortened but its definitely worth it. I find them really flattering for my curvy figure and like dresses they are simple – they are all you need for a complete outfit.

Tassel earrings
Tassel earrings have been everywhere this summer and they are a great statement piece. I have bought them from all kinds of places the cheapest being shipped from China via ebay for less than £2.50. My favourites have to be the now iconic H&M ones – I have them in a few colours and they make any outfit feel special. They are just £8.99 a pair so if you see them in store grab a pair!

Coconut hair products
I love the smell & taste of coconut and have fallen in love with these hair products. The Inecto Naturals range is a low price but extremely good organic coconut oil based range and if you have hair that needs taming it is AMAZING! I also struggle with shampoos making my thick, wavy hair fluffy and unmanageable but since moving on to a low shampoo (find the review here) have found my hair much better. The new Garnier Ultimate Blends are silicon and paraben free and although don’t foam up as much as some shampoos (don’t be fooled, the foaming does little to actually clean your hair) have made my hair feel soft, managable and smelling great. They will now be a regulars on my bathroom shelf.

Basket bags
Summer means the beach and hopefully a holiday and I always find I start to use different bags day to day once the sun comes out as well as packing one for my holiday. These type of bags make you feel so summery, don’t cost that much and I managed to buy 3 this month!

HEMA
HEMA is a company I have only just discovered. Originally from the Netherlands, its a Tiger/Ikea/Paperchase hybrid and as well as all the cute homewares, stationery and food it has a really amazing make-up range! I bought a fab orange/red lipstick and lipliner for under £6 for the 2 and I havent stopped wearing them! The beauty range is huge, is great quality and very well priced. Currently mainly located in London main train stations go check them out if you’re travelling anywhere.

Primark £4 cross-over sandal
Sometimes you find something simple yet stylish that you just love. My advice? If it comes in other colours buy them…you’ll regret it later if you dont. These sandals by Primark have been a fabulous find for this summer and now I have them in 4 colours – and at just £4 a pair you can afford to buy multiple pairs.

Pineapples
OK its bordering on an obsession, but theres just something about a pineapple design that makes me so happy. I love to eat them, look at them, wear them and have them around me!  The homewates were bargains from Asda and Aldi, the necklace was from Peacocks and the shirt was from one of my favourite stores, Zara.

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water
This stuff is the bomb! You can cleanse your face plus remove any make-up (inc eye make-up) and it softens your skin too. Micellar water is made up of micelles (tiny balls of cleansing oil molecules) suspended in soft water. The idea is that micelles are attracted to dirt and oil, so they are able to draw out impurities without drying out the skin, therefore, it can be used as a facial wash, makeup remover and moisturiser all in one. It looks like water but when you put it on your finger and feel, it has a different texture than water – I just love it!


Slogans
I do love a cheeky slogan and couldn’t resist this sun hat from Tu at Sainsburys and these adorable pumps from H&M. Both were under £10 too…

I’m off on my holidays now and I’m sure you’ll see a few of these pieces popping up in my Instagram photos.  Finding things you love brings you joy…simple as!  

Enjoy the rest of the summer xx

The thing I fell in love with this week

| blueskygirlie

H&M ❤ Coachella star earrings / £6.99

I love stars. Simple as. Oh and I love H&M. So when I saw these earring I just had to have them!  Statement earrings are back in fashion and these chandelier style earring definitely do that. They are lightweight and have a mix of black, glittery midnight blue and lilac in them which pretty much works with most outfits.

H&m coachella star earring Always a Blue Sky Girl fashion blog BlueSkyGirl Sarah Gorlov
And finally the price – at only £6.99 they are an absolutely bargain. I have worn mine with my simplest outfits and they really take the outfit to another level. Grab a pair now before they sell out! 

Available in store now – £6.99
 

The thing I fell in love with this week

| blueskygirlie

Beach bag £14 – Matalan


I couldn’t resist this fabulous beach bag in Matalan on a recent visit. It cost just £14 but looks so much more expensive than that with some fantastic details. Plus its huge…you could easily fit your towel, book, suncream etc. inside – I mean, what more could you want in a summer bag?!?

Its detailing is really good (beading and thick embroidery) and there’s a matching tassel charm too!  


It is also lined in black cotton, with a magnetic fastening, zip pocket and additional phone size pocket. For me, these little details make it more versatile than a normal beach bag and therefore an even better buy.

I won’t just save this for the beach…I’m using it as a great ‘carry everything’ summer bag now.  

There’s quite a few different designs to choose from – find the full range here or pop into your nearest Matalan store.

The thing I fell in love with this week

| blueskygirlie

L’Oreal Elvive Colour Protect Low Shampoo / £6.99

As someone with thick, quite curly hair, I am not a fan of overwashing my hair especially since it has been vibrantly coloured.  When I saw an advert about ‘Low Shampooing’ which appeared to be a more gentle way to wash your hair, I was instantly interested in what that meant.

According to the advertising, ‘low shampoos’ are a gentle way to wash your hair in one simple step. These cleansing creams have a no foam or sulphate formula and both conditions hair while gently removing impurities therefore helping keep your colour strong. You use them in place of your existing haircare regime 1-2 times a week so would probably only work for you if youre willing to not wash your hair too frequently.


You then leave on for 3 mins (I just clipped my hair up) and then rinse off. It seems a bit odd with no foamy lather but I recently discovered via a top hairdresser that much of the foaming in normal shampoos doesn’t clean your hair at all, it just makes you think its cleaner!  In fact the most common foamer found in shampoo is Soium Laureth Sulfate (SLS), a man-made chemical is often used to remove grease and oil from engines or floors!  Whatever the specific chemical, all sulfates remove natural oils from your hair and scalp, which can lead to dryness, thinning or even loss of hair or allergic reactions.

With this product you don’t use a conditioner but can use the day cream as a leave in conditioner (also new and priced at £6.99) if you want – I used it as a protection cream as I blow dried my thick wavy hair which it can also be used for. I do like a multi-tasking beauty product!

I’m already a fan of the Colour Protect range and pretty much only use them now I’ve had my hair deeply coloured red.  The new Low Shampoo is available in three different L’oreal range varieties: 

• Colour Protect Low Shampoo – helps keep coloured hair feeling protected and looking beautiful (my pick)
• Extraordinary Oil Low Shampoo – for dry hair leaves hair soft, shiny and resilient
• Extraordinary Oil Curl Nourishment Low Shampoo – for curly/afro hair helps to leave hair feeling nourished.

I usually hate the look of my freshly washed hair. I will never wash my hair the same day/night as going out for example, but after washing my hair looked really good. It didn’t look as ‘fluffy’ as it usually looks with normal shampoos and conditioners.  Time will tell on how vibrant my colour stays but unless my hair was very dirty I’m definitely now moving over to low shampooing regime a couple of times a week rather than the traditional wash/condition I was doing.

The range is available at all good chemists and supermarkets (I bought mine at Superdrug) and more information on the new products can be found here.

The thing I fell in love with this week

| blueskygirlie

2D bag : Ebay – around £10.00 depending on p&p/custom charges

I first started seeing ‘cartoon bags’ in various blog posts from trendy websites such as Buzzfeed and Dazed & Confused. They are the bags that look like they are a drawing, but in reality are a very clever optical illusion – a flat item that looks 3D.

I wanted a brightly coloured one so searched eBay and soon found one in two of my favourite colours – orange and grey. By searching a few sellers I quickly found one that cost around £10 including the shipping and then waited with bated breath the 3-4 weeks it takes for it to arrive from the far east.

2D 3D cartoon bag via always a blue sky girl fashion style blog.
As you can see it is a very clever design – flat with an adjustable strap and a base that unzips making it larger. The rubber detailing just adds to the quirky ‘unreal’ look.

 

Apart from importing from the far east you can buy in the UK (more expensively obvs) from companies such as Jump from Paper who have a really great range including some cute clutch bags and backpacks.


photo via JumpfromPaper Instagram

And here I am with mine! I love just it!

2D 3D cartoon bag via always a blue sky girl fashion style blog.

So do you love it or loathe it? Would you carry a cartoon with you? One things for sure, you get a lot of double takes when you wear it!!!

The thing I fell in love with this week

| blueskygirlie

AFAW Rug : £45.50 – La Redoute

I first saw this rug on Erica Davis’ (the-edited.com) Instagram feed and immediately loved it. I love her style and I assumed it was a £300+ Morrocan number which would be way out of my budget. When she blogged about where it was from and now much it was retailing for I couldn’t believe it! We had just finished decorating our bedroom in a rather dark and dramatic teal colour and were looking for light accessories to add to the room and it was absolutely perfect.The quality of the rug is really good. Its is a shaggy Berber style rug and looks much more expensive than it was.Its really soft too and makes the perfect little chill out spot… This is the smaller size at 120cm x 170cm (its in a bedroom) but they have 2 other larger sizes and the same design in an inverted colour scheme – a black base with white pattern and also a cream and brown. Photo – La Redoute

Find it here – be quick though it is 40% off in the sale and La Redoute sale pieces sell out fast! For the full range of clothing and home check out the website – www.laredoute.co.uk – its definitely one of my new favourites.

My vintage buy of the week

| blueskygirlie

Welcome to another of my new semi regular blogs! As you may know I run a business on Etsy selling vintage items and often end up keeping things I fall in love with.

In these blogs I will share what I’ve bought and why (hopefully) it was a good buy! 

Currently I am adding the finishing touches to our bedroom re-vamp and am on the look-out for unusual and quirky pieces to add an ‘Anthropologie’ (the shop) vibe to the room but at a more realistic price. So far La Redoute and TK Maxx has been my friend but those good old charity shops are providing some unique touches too.

So say hello to this little fella! I love owls and this 1950’s/60’s French porcelain trinket pot is a great collectable.  Nice quality pieces like this are always a good investment and sell very quickly when I have them in my Etsy shop, plus – well look at him, he’s adorable!

And here he is, in position in the bedroom. I do love mixing different types of vintage storage together for a eclectic look and best of all my huge jewellery collection is almost getting organised!



Owl trinket pot via Cancer Research charity shop

What bargains have you found recently in the world of charity and vintage shops? I would love to know…

To shop my Etsy Shop click here
To shop my eBay shop (where vintage clothing ends up) shop here
To follow my Instagram (where most of my buys get shared first) follow me here 

Look out more more vintage buys in coming weeks…

The thing I fell in love with this week

| blueskygirlie

Initial cushions £5 each via George Home

They are smaller style cushions – on the website they are described as 30cm x 30cm but are smaller in reality. I’d say more like 20cm x 20cm but very plump. I have to say though, I liked them even more smaller as they dont look too over the top style-wise.

The quality of these cushions are great – I was expecting a printed design but the fronts are a type of needlepoint with plain backs and removable inners so they can be washed.

And here they are! One for Sarah and one for Russ – as you can see I sleep on the left side of the bed 😉Find the whole range here – as well as A- Z there are numbers, a heart, hashtags, ampersands and a question mark!  

I’ve not seen these in store (I would imagine thats because theres so many different versions to display) but you can order them in to any local Asda store with a click and collect service for free to save on delivery charges.

Do you love these too? Look out for more things I’ve fallen in love with coming soon…

My vintage buy of the week

| blueskygirlie

Welcome to a new semi regular blog! As you may know I run a business on Etsy selling vintage items and often end up keeping things I fall in love with.

In these blogs I will share what I’ve bought and why (hopefully) it was a good buy! 

Todays item is a dress I just fell in love with the minute I saw it. Made in the Netherlands in the late 1970’s/early 80s it is by the brand Suku San and is in a bold colbalt blue polyester crepe.  At the same time I also picked up an unusual twisted vintage belt so the outfit is full on vintage which is unusual for me.


What I loved the most though was the draped front and split sleeves. Its so stylish and feels great on, plus the whole outfit cost me less than £5!  Comfort and style…hoorah! 

blue vintage 1979s 70s dress by blogger blueskygirlie via Always a Blue Sky Girl fashion blog
What do you think? Its definitely going to be one of my favourite dresses in my wardrobe.

Dress & Belt – Tomorrows People charity shop

(Tomorrows People is a charity in Kent that helps unemployed people get work experience and become confident to find a permanent job)

What bargains have you found recently in the world of charity and vintage shops? I would love to know…

To shop my Etsy Shop click here

To shop my eBay shop (where vintage clothing ends up) shop here

To follow my Instagram (where most of my buys get shared first) follow me here

Look out more more vintage buys in coming weeks…