A LIL STEP BACK

Hey my blog lovelies! I know its been a while and I want to apologise for that. But during the week there was a tragic family death and its really knocked me and my family which has meant in turn I have been a lil neglectful of my blog and tbh its really not on my mind to make new posts but I did want to let you guys know what was going on. I had planned on posting a xmas to-do-list (christmas market, winter wonderland etc) but now it just not important, so I hope you guys understand that I probably won't be posting for a while. Please be patient with me, I really do appreciate all my followers, visitors to my blog and checking out you guys blogs and I really do wish you all a lovely wonderful christmas. Enjoy, eat well and remember to love one another never let a day go by without telling the ones you love how much they mean to you. Promise? Ok good.

Take care lovelies, and if I don't see you until 2013. 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR. LOVE YOU GUYS XXXXX

THE PERFECT DAY IS SPENT THIS WAY

Some days I like to take a timeout, get lost in my music and write down whatever comes to mind. 

Some days are meant for this...

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Lace Bra Monki
Ripped Jeans River Island
Vintage Sunglasses Amazon
Oversized Sweater Monki
Ankle Boots Cheap Monday
Parfum Chanel
Gold Watch River Island
Set of Gold Rings Asos
Headphones Anthropologie
Backpack Radley
Notepad Whitezine
Candle Diptyque
Lipstick Topshop
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Check out more of my outfit sets HERE 

NEW IN: SOMETHING FOR THE BLUES....

I always liked the basic sandal Zara where doing during the summer, but the more and more people bought it the less unique and "special" it started to feel. Then Primark did their version and by then I was "so over it". Then pics on tumblr of the heels appeared on my dashboard day after day and my love for them returned but unfortunately stock in the shops had not. The heels were completely sold out in both Zara AND Primark and the only available were on eBay for some extortionate amount! I was gutted. I even posted up on my tumblr my disappointment. And then...

...while it rained in good ole London, my mum and I ran into Primark, Tottenham Court Rd to escape the downpour. My mums never been to the new one on Tottenham Court Rd, (My mum actually hates primark but she always likes what I get out of there) so while we waited for the rain to die down I showed her around and thats when I found them :)

      Primark, £12.00

I have been really down this week and I let the feeling get to me which is not like me at all, I really have not felt up to doing anything hence the lack of posts, but my new babies have cheered me up :) The lady at the counter even said "their very kim kardashian" well I love Kim so I"ll take it! I am in love with them I can't wait to wear them. Their my new sexy shoe and if I do say so myself even better than the originals??? Well I think so lol.

I have been shopping lately from eBay, Primark, Topshop and Urban Outfitters so look out for a future haul post! 

PS: Urban Outfitters are having an extra 20% off everything (including sale!) with FREE DELIVERY! Just enter code 20URBS at the checkout but hurry it ends tomorrow 10am! 

Happy shopping! & Happy thanksgiving to my US bloggers! xx

DIY SPIKED SHOES + TIPS ON CUSTOMISING

Its official "I LOVE SPIKES!!" and I am really getting into the whole customising vibe.  

We all have items in our wardrobe that we would love to throw out but just don't have the heart to, so they sit their in our closets gathering dust, unloved and unworn. So why not revamp them? A bit of lace here or fabric patches there and you've got yourself a new item! My DIY weapon of choice is spikes and if you look around the high street you can see their here to stay but instead of breaking the bank why not do-it-yourself!

THE SPIKED SHOES

I bought these heels from Primark lightyears ago. They were simple and cute, but over the years I have become bored of them and they have been in a dust bag for ages! The inspiration to stud my shoes came from Anthea Lau over at epique.com when she studded her heels from Topshop HERE. So thanks Anthea! 

 1. What you will need: marker pen • pencil • safety pin • spikes HERE • and shoes of course!

2. Mark where you want to make the wholes for your studs to go, make them at least 1 inch apart.

3. Using the safety pin pierce all the way through the shoe where marked.

4. Use the pencil to widen the whole you have made. Try to poke it through the top and bottom of the hole.

5. Push the screw through.

6. Screw the spiked top on secure tight and repeat the process until the shoe is complete!

WHERE CAN I FIND STUDS?

• Studsandpunks.co.uk FREE UK DELIVERY!

• eBay.co.uk

• Amazon.co.uk

• Studsandspikes.com

1. Cone spikes - H&M  •  2. Gold tone spikes - River Island They come in silver too! HERE  •  3. Skull spikes - H&M

Happy Studding!

OOTD: TURBAN AND CAMO

Denim Shirt - Primark 

Jumper - Primark (Mens) 

Camo Jacket - Peace Corps@Topshop

Snood - H&M  

Jeans - Bershka  

Boots - Dorothy Perkins 

 Scarf as turban - H&M  

Ring - Accessorize 

Nails - Black Lingerie by Revlon  

Lips - L.A.Colors lipliner in Deepest Purple

Okay so the weather here in the UK was weird yesterday. Lately its been slightly chilly and so as I got ready for the day I threw this together, but when I actually made it out the sun was shining like it was making a comeback! Too late now sun...

The plan was to spend a lazy day with bfriend so I didn't get too dressed up but when I got to his he said I looked cute (which is always nice to hear from him :) and so I thought I would take advantage of the outdoor light and his canon and cue impromptu photoshoot :)

This outfit is all about the layers, I really felt cold that day so wore a jumper over my denim shirt and teamed the outfit with my camo jacket, that I'm convinced goes with just about everything in my wardrobe. Definitely one of my great fashion investments of 2012. I love how the print of my turban and jacket clash and yet complement each other, its nice not to be matchy matchy sometimes. I kept it pretty simple with accessories and a nice bold lip.

I hope everyones had a great week so far, don't know about you but it flew by for me! 

See you in the next post

I ♡ FALL TAG

Lately I have become a youtube addict and recently watched the I ♡ Fall Tag on EssieButton, BeautyCrush and Jen from ClothesEncounters channels and really enjoyed it. Now I don't have a YouTube Channel (yet :p) but I'm not going to let that stop me from sharing with you guys, so here we go :)

1. Favorite Fall lip product?

Well I think you guys already know from my Autumn Kisses post. Click HERE to see! :) When the weather gets really bad then Vaseline Cocoa Butter lip balm is my go-to product it keeps my lips soft and it smells lovely!

2. Favorite Fall activity?

I remember as a child going to the park and jumping in leaf piles just to hear them crunch lol and playing with conkers. You hardly see them these days... Nowadays probably going for walks on my own with a hot chocolate with my gloves and furry earmuffs on while listening to music. I get to think and just be. 

3. Favorite Starbucks Fall drink?

A tall caramel hot chocolate with whipped cream from Starbucks. Mmmm YUM!

4. Favorite Fall candle?

I don't really burn candles. But I was given some vanilla candles last year christmas and the smell of vanilla is so warm and comforting.

5. Favorite Fall scarf or accessory?

I have a burgundy snood that is warm and snuggly but my ultimate accessory is my fur collars. I have 4 of them, black, natural, leopard and a rich red one. I absolutely adore them and they go with everything and make any outfit, especially a very simple one, look instantly glam! LOVE.

6. Haunted house, haunted hay ride, or haunted corn maze?

I can't stand a haunted houses! Dark spaces, creepy noises not my thing! Corn maze? I can only imagine it being a horrifying situation much like in Jeepers Creepers. So I will go for haunted hay ride...even though I have no idea what that is...thank my powers of deduction for that decision lol.

7. Favorite Halloween movie?

The Craft. That film is so cool. Remember the scene when Sarah runs her hands through her head and changes the colour of her hair? I always wanted to do that! Also zombie films scare me! 28 days later, Dawn of the Dead, Ghost of Mars I always think what would I do if everyone around me became a zombie! 

8. Favorite candy to eat on Halloween?

I LOVE SWEETS! Sugar baby whooo! Fizzy pick-n-mix, giant apple cables, strawberry laces, banana sweets....ok I'm getting carried away...

9. What is your Favourite thing about Fall?

I love the weather its not as cold as winter so I can layer but not have to bulk up. Plus snuggling under a cosy blanket and watching a good film is quite nice too :)

P.S: Check out my friends blog post response to my last post 'Autumn Kisses' HERE she did such an awesome job on her first post! Support a fellow blogger and take a look guys xx

AUTUMN KISSES

 I LOVE RED LIPSTICK. I've been wearing lipstick for about a year. I was a lipgloss/vaseline or carmex kinda girl and then the red lip became a trend. I tried it and have been hooked ever since. Oddly it has become a part of my "everyday look" Sometimes I feel underdressed without it.

 OXBLOOD. Dark lips are bang on trend atm and a couple months ago I bought a very inexpensive black lipstick in order to try the look out. I wasn't convinced it looked right on me. Then while messing about I mixed it with my red lipstick and the more it blended the more I fell in love. I love how striking these lips are, I feel quite dark and mysterious when I wear the combination.

 NUDE. I love how natural this lip colour is. Its so close to my own lips but gives it an extra sheen. Its a great for when I do dramatic eye makeup, it just neutralises the whole look so I don't look over done. 

Tip: Instead of following the shape of your cupids bow draw your liner across it in a straight line this makes your top lip look more fuller.

 CORAL. I love mixing lipsticks, especially if a shade of lipstick has too much pow on its own, which is why I mix these two together; the muted tones of Toffee Waffle subtly bring out the orange tones of Pucker Up to create this lovely coral colour. This is usually my "date look" cos my bfriend hates when I wear lipstick so I try to compromise with a shade thats not too much. :)

 SOFT BROWN. I love this colour. I literally went on a mad hunt for it when I saw the colour on the actress Nia Long. She always wears dark brown lips and its so subtle yet striking. I don't think I have found "the one" but this shade by L.A Colors will do the trick for now.

 DEEP FUSHIA-BERRY. This colour is gorgeous! The coverage and staying power of this lipliner is amazing. I could not imagine life without it! I use it so much that it wasn't even worth taking a picture of because its so near the end of the pencil! Great for creating vampy, sultry lips. 

So there you go guys those are my favourite lip shades for autumn and as you can see I don't use very expensive products so everyone can achieve the look they want, even if their on a budget! 

Whats your favourite?

DIY: SPIKED BEANIE

Hey GUYS! its DIY FRIDAY! :) Today I'm going to show you how to customise your beanie hats!

1. What you will need: •A beanie hat (Mine is from eBay) •Spiked studs (eBay or HERE or HERE) •Ruler 

•Marker (I used a white eyeliner pencil) •Screwdriver

2. Turn the beanie inside out and fold the edge of the beanie inwards to however thick you want the band of the hat to be. TIP: if in general you do not wear your beanie folded proceed to **.

3. Then measure the height of the folded band, half that length and mark a line along the beanie.

**Mark a horizontal line an inch up from the bottom of the beanie. 

This line will be our guideline for applying the studs.

4. The studs come in two parts; the screw bottom and the spiked top.

5. Poke the screwed bottom through the beanie DOWNWARDS on the line you have made. 

Insert pic: this is to show you how the screw will look when you work it through the fabric. You do not have to make any holes, just use the screw to do the work BUT make sure your pushing the screw FLATSIDE UP! (as seen in main pic).

6. Screw on the spike top (insert pic) and then proceed to tighten the screw using the screwdriver (main pic).

7. Continue steps 5+6 along the marked line. 

TIP: Depending on how many studs you want to use or how you would like yours to look, I would make sure the studs are at least 1inch apart. 

8. When you fold out the beanie it should look like this. I used 19 studs in total. 

9. Turn the beanie the right side out, fold the beanie edge and VOILA!

This literally took 10mins tops to do and I have already ordered more spikes so I can do my other hats! Plus my plain cap from eBay came during the week so I will be creating the spiked CAPPED hat I was talking about HERE soon so stay tuned :)

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! HAPPY DIY FRIDAY!!

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MY NOVEMBER WISHLIST

MY NOVEMBER WISHLIST 

Hey guys I hope you all had a great weekend! I loved making my wish list and you can see by choices I've gone with all dark and seductive colours. Lovely for this cold weather! I can't believe we are almost coming to the end of 2012 I feel like it just started! And with that said theres christmas shopping to do! YIKES! but for now I will settle for gifts from me to me! :)

1. Ponte knit pants TOPSHOP

I love them! I love them! I love them!

2. Pointed shoes NEXT

There different and I love them! I think they bring character to a simple outfit!

3. Essie nailpolish 

I love nail polishes and this colour "wildfire" is just right for the autumn season.

4. AllSaints leather coat
I first saw this coat on Nicole Scherzinger (HERE) and immediately fell in love! Then I checked out the beautiful price and lets say I will be admiring it from afar!...what?...I can change my mind lol.

5. Grey And White Stripe Heavyweight Onesie NEWLOOK
I saw this cute onsie on my bestie on the weekend. I have one already from primark but this one has a hood and as soon as I saw her in it I was like "defo buying that!"

So thats my list! What are you guys lusting for this month?

P.S: Like I told you guys in the last post, I went to a fancy dress party on the weekend, it was soooo fun! I had no clue what to go as but in end as I had no costume I went as a sexy kitten and wore all black loooooool! I took loads of pics but the girls begged me not to put them up HA! Sorry guys promise is a promise looool! But heres some I took of me before I went (warning I tried to be scary in one of them loool).

:)

OOAD AND THANK YOOOOUS!

Hey guys its the weekend! What are you guys getting up to? I think I may be going to a fancy dress party tonight and off to see my boyfriends new place tomorrow and spend some QT with him :). 

**Before I start the post I just want to say THANK YOU for the response to yesterdays DIY (HERE)! The feedback on here, instagram and twitter made me smile all day! :) its really encouraged me to do more DIY/Tutorial for you guys so stay tuned!

Back to the post...

This is an outfit I wore one day during last week, hence the post being called OOAD (outfit of a day) as opposed to OOTD, I was off to the studio to record a song for a friend and wanted to be in something casual and relaxed. I teamed it with a leather jacket and snood (its getting colder!) I used my macbook to take the pics so couldn't get a good clear full length pic of my outfit...so I took it in parts! Pah! I got so frustrated with the shots that my inner cray came out towards the end! LOL!

Have a great saturday!

 

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DIY: CROP TOP FROM A PAIR OF TIGHTS!

HELLO BLOGGERS! I'm back with a DIY for you guys and its FRIDAY aka DIY FRIDAY!

1. What you will need: •A pair of tights •Pair of scissors 

2. Cut off the feet, this will form your sleeves so its up to you if you want long or short sleeves. 

Tip: Fold them in half and make sure your scissors are sharp to get a even cut. 

3. Now open the tights to the crotch area, this is where you will create the opening for your head and your neckline. To do this your going to create a triangle to cut out, now most tights already have a triangle area but those that don't create your own. Use a white liner to draw out a guide.

4. Cut it out! It doesn't have to be perfect but remember if you cut it out small you will have a higher neckline and if you cut out a bigger triangle then the scoop of the neckline will be lower.

You could use black tights, patterned tights, leggings and jeggings! Have a look in your closets & get creative with what you have! 

   Don't worry if they ladder/rip while putting them on, it makes the look more unique.

Hope this DIY inspires you guys to make your own! Tweet me a pic if you do! @lavinyaroyes

TUTORIAL: CLIP IN HAIR EXTENSIONS

HEY GUYS!! I have a hair tutorial for you today!  CLIP IN EXTENSIONS.

Most of you probably already know how to use them but I struggled lol...but I love how fast I can go from short to extra long in just 10 mins, so its worth the effort! This look is defo a keeper for me, I'm not an expert but I thought I would share how I did mine and maybe you guys can share some tips with me! :)

I threw away the packet before taking the name of the hair I am using but from what I remember the hair is 100% human hair 14inchs in length and in colour 1B.

The tracks come in different widths and different number of clips attached to them (See pic below).
The 3 clipped tracks are what are used to cover the back of your hair first. The 2 clipped tracks help to fill in around the crown area and the tiny tracks with only 1 clip can be used to fill out and blend the sides of your hair, especially for those with really short hair at the front.

What you will need:

A comb

Hair clip or hairband (To keep hair sectioned off)

*The extensions should preferably be applied to clean flat ironed hair, this makes it easier to blend in.*

1. The hair already comes with snap on clips with teeth, make sure they are OPEN when you slide them in. 

2. To prepare for your first track, make a parting of about an 1inch of hair across the nape of your neck, clip the rest of the hair up. You can backcomb (gently) the hair right at the scalp to give the hair extension something to "grab" onto when secured. I didn't feel the need to, but if your hair is quite thin this may be a good step for you to do, just be gentle while doing so you don't want to encourage breakage.

3. Remember the hair tracks come in different lengths so take the time to measure which track should be lain first, it should fit from the left to right. When you have found the one that fits, slide the teeth of the clip into the hair right at the scalp, try to keep it as close to scalp as possible (mine is a little off lol).

4. Done it? Great you have competed your first track! Yaaaay!
Next step...

5. Repeat process 2+3 gradually moving up from your first parting until you have completely covered the back of your head. (At this stage you will have used all the tracks with 3 clips on them.)

6. Now at this point I thought it best to part my hair down the middle I attach the 2 clipped track nearer to my right ear, to help blend the front and back together.

7. Using the other 2 clipped track I attached it to my hair nearer my left ear.

8. Next decide where you want your parting, you can have a middle parting or a side parting, I decided on a side parting.

9. When I combed my hair down I noticed there was a dramatic difference between the back of my hair and the front. My hair at the front is shorter than the extensions so it looked like my hair had jumped from long to short unnaturally. So if you to have shorter hair like me then this is when we use the 1 clip tracks. Make partings at the side near your temples and attach them. Take your time and find out where to position the small clips to create a fuller and more natural look.
Side view pic: As you can see the hair looks like it gradually gets shorter, like my hair has been cut into this hairstyle rather than extensions were just applied! A more natural look.

AND THATS IT GUYS! This my first tutorial so I'm new to documenting each step but I hope my instructions and images help and are easy to understand!? Any more questions? Just ask below! 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Love Lavinya xx