Dress to Impress

It might be over a month away but trying to find a dress for my Grad Ball is far more entertaining, if just as fruitless, than my revision at the moment! I've been trawling the world of Internet shopping for days now and making pretty slow progress, I've put together my current shortlist below to get your opinions and would massively appreciate any suggestions of websites to look at! Ideally the dress wouldn't cost much more than £100 but as you'll see below I could definitely be persuaded upwards by a pretty frock!

1. Coast £130

2. Zara £50

3. ModCloth £100

4. Coast £180

If I'm honest I think that number 1 is my favourite at the moment! And I know I'll be tempted when my loan comes in at the weekend!! 

What do you think??

Any suggestions of where else to look? (the more obscure the better!)

Home Comforts

So, you may have noticed, it's Easter time, which means that Caroline and I have journeyed to places far and wide (Cumbria and Northern Ireland) for a week or so with our respective families. This means, for me anyway, that I've mainly been sitting in my room blogging while mum thinks I'm revising so I though I'd show you about a bit and tell you what I've been up to (not a whole lot)...

- Roast Beef dinner - The Easter egg that once was - Dad's boat, chillin' on the drive, as you do

- Riveting study materials - Fabulous bath - My bed and bears

On Tuesday after 3 days of not leaving the house I decided I needed to get out so scampered down the road to our village pub. The Wheaty (Wheatsheaf) does cracking food and a pub quiz every week so I called up a couple of my school friends and headed down. We didn't win the quiz, we rarely do, but we had a scrummy dinner and excellent chat...

Goats Cheese burger with Red Onion chutney and the chunkiest of chips

Me and Lucy reunited for the first time since Christmas

And here's my outfit deets - had to do the photos by myself so sorry they're not the best!

Top - Forever 21

Chords - River Island

Cardigan - Topshop

Flats - F&F at Tesco

So that's it. Home. Not much going on but it is nice and warm for a change!

A Buy That Changed My Life #3

Not so much a buy this week as a freebie. I picked up the March edition of Cosmopolitan magazine for my hideously long train/bus/boat journey from Glasgow to Belfast, which had this little gem as a free gift. At the moment i am using the Garnier Ultra Lift (because Davina McCall told me to), and haven't been very impressed with it. I know, i know, i'm not exactly the target demographic as it's an anti wrinkle cream and i'm only 22, but with all of the hype surrounding it, and it's no nonsense packaging (complete with crows feet chart), I at least expected it to firm my skin, or generally do something more than a standard moisturiser. So taking a break from my Garnier cream, I have been using this Elemis Softly Softly one and find it taking immediate effect. It's light weight formula and non greasy texture, absorbs rapidly and leaves skin feeling soft and not in a clammy way like other, thicker creams, meaning that my makeup also applies more flawlessly over it. Lacking strong perfumes, the cream smells faintly of lavender, lovely and soothing when applied before bed. Despite being slightly pricey at £19.99, it is genuinely worth the money as I have already felt the benefits having using it for less than a week.

Sorry Davina, i'm a convert.

Jamie's Italian

Staying up ALL NIGHT trying to finish my 4,000 word English essay, Italian food was the light at the end of the tunnel. Having had our valentines plans to visit Jamie's Italian foiled thanks to my failure to complete yet another essay on time, the boyf and I decided to celebrate the end of uni coursework with some of Jamie's goods. Appropriate considering watching Jamie's 30 minute meals has lead to countless wasted, essay-less hours.

Blouse: Forever 21

Skirt: Topshop

Necklace: H&M

Bracelet: Forever 21

Ring: Kukee

Bag: Topshop

Boots: H&M

All dressed up, albeit with my red eyes and dazed expression, off we trotted to Jamie's restaurant in the heart of George Square.

Large and open plan, the setting was simple and elegant with a lovely mellow atmosphere. Seated beside a rogue child, waggling his tongue and jumping around was an irritating start, however once the starter came all focus was on the food. We ordered garlic mushrooms in a pastry dish to share which was amazing, so good in fact that I forgot to take a photo of it. For the main course, the boyf had the Wild Rabbit Tagliolini and i opted for the pumpkin and squash gnudi, a delicious sweet and savoury dish with a surprising mixture of flavours in every mouthful; from pear, to walnut, to cheese and pumpkin.

Having stuffed ourselves to breaking point, the boyf accepted his limits whereas i kept on truckin' and ordered my favourite desert, Tiramasu. This was definitely the best I have encountered, with it's multiple coffee saturated layers, masses of cream and with the addition of orange mascapone it was an utter delight. 

Having eyed up many, many other creations on neighboring tables, i will definitely be returning with a vengeance (and maybe a looser fitting waistband).

27.03.13

Dress: Forever 21

Cardigan: Topshop

Bag: H&M

Boots: Primark

Bracelets: Topshop, Forever 21 & Gift

Nails: Rimmel 60 seconds Sun Downer

Forever 21 Haul

Ok this is the laaaast post about Forever 21 (for a while at least) we promise! But its just a sneaky look at the things we bought on friday. We were on a tight budget (end of term student problems) so had to hold back quite a bit but between us got a few nice things!

Blouse - £18.75 here

Jewellery: Silver bangle £4.90 in store, Necklace £5.90 in store and Spiked gold bracelet £3.90 here

Aztec Vest Top - £8.75 in store 

Knitted Top - £12.75 in store

I also got the black and white dress in the first picture and you can see it in tomorrow's OOTD post!

What we wore 22.3.13

What we wore to the opening of Forever 21 in Glasgow on Friday (we might stop talking about it soon... but it was pretty amazing if you haven't heard!)

Ellie: Boots New Look £25, Blouse Primark, Cardigan Topshop - similar here, Joni Jeans Topshop £36, Hat Topshop £25 similar here, Necklace Primark.

Caroline: Fur Coat Vintage, T-shirt stolen from the boyf, Hat Accessorise, Handbag Topshop, Boots H&M, Joni Jeans Topshop £36

Forever 21 Glasgow - The Grand Opening

Friday morning dawned snowy and freezing, after cursing the smarty who decided to open Forever 21 in these conditions we fiiiinallly dragged ourselves out of bed, got dressed and made our way through the blizzard into town. After an hour or so of being 'entertained' by local radio DJs while we stood in the queue with all the other crazy shopaholics of Glasgow, some fireworks went off, then a fanfare, then a dance crew and THEN they opened the doors! And boy-oh-boy was it worth it! The staff lined up to clap and cheer as we went in (we so deserved it) and gave us each a £5 gift card too!

- Fireworks - The queue of crazy people - Trying to keep dry - And OMG they're letting us in!!!

Oh and Nina Nesbitt cut the ribbon and performed in store....

Once we'd spent a good 5 minutes repairing the damage an hour in the snow had done to our faces and having finally regained the feeling in our toes we turned our attention to the store. And oh-my we had some serious work to do! Spanning 3 ginormous levels it took us over 3 hours to make sure we had the place fully covered top to toe, this was not helped by the queues for the changing rooms and tills but hey, it was opening day what did we expect. The place was immaculate and the stock even better....

- Excited us on an escalator - Gorge maxi Caroline can't stop thinking about - Over enthusiastic Ellie surrounded by too many pretty clothes

- Beaut displays - Fashion Never Sleeps - Neon vs Monochrome

For more details and a look around the store check out videos here and here

We had a fabulous, exhausting time and managed to pick up a few killer pieces. It's the end of term so money is tight but Forever 21 is certainly a place where you get a decent amount for your money! Keep your eyes peeled over the next few days for our haul and see if you can spot the new bits in our next few outfit posts! 

Forever 21 Glasgow

We are excited. We are verrrrryyyyy excited here at 18 Oakfield because on Friday Forever 21 are opening their first Scottish store on Glasgow's very own Buchanan Street. We will be there with bells on and to prepare ourselves we have been trawling the website daily to find our favourite pieces, here's a selection of what we'll have our eyes peeled for on Friday!!

SO MANY NICE THINGS! And the best bit about Forever 21 is that none of these pieces break the bank. My personal fave's are the print maxi here £25, the straw fedora here £9, the Doctor's bag here £32 and the lace top/coral skater skirt combo which you can find here.

Looks like Friday is going to be an expensive day for us! What are you eyeing up from Forever 21 at the mo? Check back at the weekend to see what we thought and what we bought!

18.03.13

Dress: Inlovewithfashion, £38

Bag: H&M, £10

Bracelets: Topshop and gift

Boots: H&M, old.