America Haul

At the end of July and into the start of August, I was in America for two weeks and had the most amazing time (If you'd like to read about it click here). I went with the intention of spending quite a bit of money but I was more restrained than I thought I could be, given that a lot of things are cheaper across the pond when you take into account the conversion rate. Still, I bought a few bits and thought I'd share them with you.

I'm one of those people who will go into boots, stare lustfully at the essie nail polishes and how dazzling they look, pick one up and think 'do I need to spend £7.99 on one nail polish?' and proceed to place it back and walk away feeling glum. However, in America we went to target and they had so many essie polishes. AND they were $7.50.. converted that's around £4.80! So I thought, I'll grab this chance and get two! I picked the colours 'butler please' (don't you love the names they give them) -which is a very vibrant royal blue colour- and 'e-nuf is e-nuf''- a bright corally pink. I cannot wait to try them out.

I went to a mall in New Jersey with my friends and was shocked by how expensive the clothes seemed! I found the most amazing dress in a shop I can't remember the name of now, but it was $54! That seemed a bit extortinate really in my opinion. However, I went to a shop soon after that called 'Love Culture' (I think) and bought this top. I never seem to have enough basic, casual t-shirts and thought the stripes on this were very classic and easy to style. This was a mere $6.95 or thereabout. (I can't find the link for it sorry).

At the airport, I was in a little tourist type shop and at the till, I found this little treat- the Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil. I've ummed and aahed about buying a Burt's Bees lip balm for ages now but in the UK, I've always thought they're a bit pricey for a lip balm (can you tell I don't really like spending unnecessary money). This was about $4.99 (£3) so it worked out cheaper buying it there. I've used it every day for the past week now and love it- it's very nourishing and really hydrates my lips. Can't say I'm too keen on the smell of it though.

As I've mentioned many a time before, musicals are my number one love in life. There were tonnes of stands around New York with pictures of musicals like the one above, and one of the musicals that I'm desperate to see is 'Once'. I've seen the film and it's incredible, but I bet the show is just mezmorising. So I bought this frame with the picture in for $5, meaning I can now gaze at it every day.

With my family, I went to this amazing book store called Barnes and Noble. It had tonnes of books, DVDs, games, magazines, stationary and gifts. It was so fun to just look around all the different sections and have a glance at loads of books. I found this cute decorative quote ornament in there. It's very shabby chic and very me, and since I'm so into performing arts, it's quite applicable to me in my everyday life! It was only about $8 as well. It has pride of place on my set of drawers in my room now.

 Also in Barnes and Noble, on an overcast miserable day, we decided to buy some films to go back to the house and watch. My Mum, being the wise woman that she is, insisted on getting 'Dead Poets Society'. I had never seen this, nor had either of my brothers, and it turned out to be an incredible film- well worth a watch. 

I said I wanted to get 'The Host' which I saw at the cinema and fell in love with! You can tell it's by the same author as twilight -*cough* two guys in love with the same girl *cough*- but it's such a great story and Saoirse Ronan is perfect. 

(We knew when we bought them we wouldn't be able to play them on the TV in the UK, some technical thing, but we can still play them on laptops and plug them into the TV.. so doesn't really matter!)

When mooching around Cape Cod, we went into a surf shop where I thought 'there'll be nothing in here I'll like'. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted this beauty. It's from Billabong, never a brand I thought made such pretty items. I bought this to wear on my birthday and wore it for around 10 hours and felt so comfortable and floaty. The top part is a very soft cotton that looks a bit like a bralet. It has adjustable straps which came in very handy as I'm quite small. The floral pattern was what drew me in. It's so beachy and summery and very very me colours. AND it was $49.50 (£31)!

The final thing I bought is this dusky lilac/ pink/ beige cardigan. It's very slouchy, soft and cosy and I can tell it will be worn to its bitter end. It's from American Eagle Outfitters and I spotted it at an outlet mall (the best creation ever might I add), tried it on and was so snuggly and warm that I had to buy it. This little treasure was $33 (I can't remember what the RRP was sorry), which is around £22. I was one happy girly after that purchase.

So that's everything I bought in the US of A! I had intended to buy some MAC make-up at the airport in duty free.. but can you believe it. THERE WAS NO MAC AT AN AMERICAN AIRPORT! I was most disappointed. Still, it means I can use the dollars I had left over, convert them back to pounds and buy some here (shopping spree alert. Expect to see another haul in the near future).

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day whatever you're up to :)

Charlie x

DISCLAIMER- I don't do hauls to brag. I do them because a lot of people (including me) enjoy them. Everything here was bought with my own money.

16th Birthday!

Bonjour!

So as I mentioned in my last post, I celebrated my 16th birthday when I went to America with my family and it was the best birthday I've ever had! My birthday was the 1st of August and on the 31st of July, I carried out my yearly tradition of staying up till at least midnight. My friend in America, Hannah, had been to see Justin Bieber that night and ran into my room and pounced on me to wish me happy birthday at 12.30 when she got home... that was the first of many lovely moments.

In the morning, I woke early and facetimed my two best friends Ellen and Laura (HEY GUYS) and had a good chat and laugh with them. When I got up, happy birthday was sung to me and we all had breakfast together- waffles, eggs and bacon. MMM! I then opened some cards and presents off my family (putting up a post after this one about a few things I got). We then all spent most of the early afternoon getting ready to go into New York which was entertaining enough in itself (3 teenage girls trying to decide what to wear etc).

Shirley Temples at the view with Reagan and Hannah.

 All of us then hopped into the cars and drove into NYC, parked up and walked to 'The View'; a restaurant near times square, 48 floors up, that slowly revolves, giving you a 360 degree view of the city. The food was amazing, the waiter we had was hilarious and asked if he could be adopted by us and the experience was so worth it. I'd definitely recommend it, 100%. 

Once we'd finished eating (and had gained about two inches around our bellies), it was absolutely pouring it down with rain outside. Literally, POURING! We were off to the theatre to see Wicked (my favourite ever musical) which was just round the corner. But, one of our friends (Judy) had just had foot surgery and was being pushed in a wheelchair by David (another friend... I HAVE FRIENDS). It was quite entertaining actually looking back, except for the fact I was in sandals!

We soon arrived at the theatre and got to our seats. The show began and I was transported into this heavenly musical land that felt like a dream *sighs*. If you read my first bucket list post, you'll know how I feel about musical theatre and wicked especially. If not, it's basically my dream to be Elphaba (the wicked witch) in wicked. I cried.. quite a lot.

If that wasn't enough, everyone agreed that we could go to the stage door atferwards and look what flippin well happened....

 

Fiyero- Derek Klena

Glinda (the good witch)- Katie Rose Clarke

Elphaba- Lindsay Mendez. Such a talented woman.

 Finally we had a wander through times square and before I knew it, it was no longer my birthday.

We then drove back to the house and ate ice cream cake (which was INCREDIBLE). I then curled up on the sofa with Hannah and Reagan watching something American- and quite forgettable to be quite honest- until 3 in the morning, at which point I strolled off to bed for my last night's sleep in the US of A. 

So that was my birthday! Quite a long winded story but I wanted to blog about it as it was such an amazing and lovely day with people who I love ever so much! We all love birthdays don't we?! (I hope you do!)

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day whatever you're up to :)

Charlie x

Holiday Outfit Lookbook

I'm currently starting to write this while in bed on holiday, but I'll actually finish this when I get home.. this is some odd kind of paradox feeling as it'll be now but the future... anyway enough of the confusing thoughts! Whilst I've been soaking up the sun here in America, I decided I would take a few pictures of the quite simple and relaxed outfits I've been wearing, as I love reading these kind of posts.

So here's some photos of a few holiday outfits and where they're from.

 

 Top- Next

Skirt- New Look

Top- Same as Above (It had been washed though don't worry!)
Shorts- Topshop
Hairband- Claires

T-shirt- New Look
Shorts- New Look
Flip Flops- Primark

Tshirt- Primark
Skirt- New Look

Dress- Primark
Bag- Primark
Sandals- New Look
Necklace- Tiffany (tehe)

Dress- Billabong
Cardigan- American Eagle Outfitters (both bought in America, will be shown in haul)
Sandals- Primark

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day whatever you're up to :)

Charlie x

Returned from the USA!

I HAVE RETURNED! I'm back in good old England, which after being to America seems ever so dull I have to say. But hey ho, life goes on. I suppose holidays wouldn't be holidays if you didn't come back to reality afterwards. I've got a few posts planned that I'm starting to write tonight and I thought to start off with, I'd share a few photos with you of some things I did and the people I saw while I was there. 

Sunset in Cape Cod

With the beautiful Hannah (middle) and Reagan (right)

The Gang! L-R: Sam, Mum, Dad, Me, Reagan, David, Hannah, Judy, Ben and Matt.

View from the Empire State

This diner was like a dream place for me! The waiters and waitresses are people trying to get onto Broadway and they sing while they wait on the customers- impressive or what!!

The 9/11 memorial

Last night (my birthday) in Times Square

There were so many pictures I wanted to include but tried to limit it as much as I could. I know I'm going to be going to back to America in the future because I love it so much but I really do miss it. Everyone there is so much kinder in general. People seriously just chat to you whenever or wherever. Most of all, I'm going to miss my friends out there- Hannah, Reagan, Matt, David and Judy. 

We celebrated my 16th birthday out there as well and it was the best birthday I've ever had (so far!). I might do a separate post showing a few pictures from my birthday and maybe show a couple of things that I was kindly given.

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day whatever you're up to :)

Charlie x

Mall Mooching

Today was a miserable day in Cape Cod. Since the beach and pool seemed to be out of the question, my family and I took a drive to a town called Sandwich (best town name ever, might I add), had some lunch and then came back to the town we're staying in- Hyannis- and had a stroll around the mall. This experience seemed to blind me of the horrible weather outside... Can you tell I love shopping yet? 

I chose to wander around by myself as then I could take my time and gaze in wonderment at all the things I couldn't really afford buy- I do love a good window-shop. 

After having a nose around forever 21, Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters and a rather large book shop that I forget the name of, I finally saw sephora. It was like a wonderland of make up goodness with so many beautiful shiny products to look at.

 I couldn't hold this excitement inside; I needed to unload this onto here. Why do we not have Sephora in the UK!? I made a wishlist on my phone of a few higher end things I'd love to buy and hopefully, now that I have a part time job, I might be able to have a splurge on some more expensive things to treat myself once in a while.

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day whatever you're up to :)

Charlie x 

Quick 'Off on Holiday' Update

Over the past few days, I thought I was going to quite literally melt. I know other countries are considerably hotter but we're not used to these kind of temperatures in England! 

I'M MEEELTING

 But tomorrow morning, I'm off to the land of the free, aka the USA! I'm so excited and get to spend time with some friends I haven't seen in years, go to the beach, experience new places and revisit some old ones. I don't have a clue what the internet will be like there so I have pre-written one post which will be up in a couple of days. I wanted to write more today and schedule them to go up but I wasn't organised enough and now I need to get to bed as I need to be up at 5am, so apologies for that. I'll be back properly at the start of August, hopefully full of inspiration, looking a bit more freckly or tanned (a girl can dream) and feeling oh so relaxed.

So I'll speak to you properly in two weeks but my past self will do the talking for now.. this feels like such an odd paradox situation.

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day whatever you're up to :)

Charlie x