S H O P P I N G - we're SHOPPING!

Everywhere I go, there seems to be reminders from ASOS telling me that they've got a sale on. Well... I say 'everywhere I go', I mean everywhere I go on the Internet; it's not as if there's some kind of Derren Brown-esque subliminal messaging situation going on, where I'm sitting on the bus and all the billboards I drive past are telling me in some kind of clever, subliminal way to spend all my money on celebrity-inspired fashion, oh no (just in case that's what you were thinking). In fact, it's actually my own fault, because I follow them on Facebook AND Twitter and also recieve their newsletter; so at the moment I'm being bombarded with Tweets and updates and newsletters that are basically just going BUY BUY BUY! I tried to ignore it; I was good for a week or so but then, yesterday afternoon, I thought "I'll just go and have a look". It was all perfectly innocent really, I mean, I'm not even that keen on buying clothes online, because, as I've mentioned before, my size varies from shop to shop and I hate all the hassle of sending stuff back if it doesn't fit. But ASOS doesn't just sell clothes does it? Oh no, ASOS sells EVERYTHING! And do you know what I always need? New accessories!

So I bought a few little trinkets. The good thing about the ASOS sale is that they actually do reduce the prices significantly; it's not like French Connection, where they knock about £2 off and expect you to be really grateful, oh no, at ASOS they understand that a sale is a SALE and I want to be able to buy a whole new wardrobe for less than £30 and still have change leftover for a steak dinner and a ride on the ferry (WHAT? I don't even know...)

Anyway, because my poor little camera seems to have inexplicably died a death, I figured that when my new items arrive, I'm not going to be able to photograph them to show them off, so I'll just post the images from the site. They're due to arrive the week after next because I chose the free delivery method (see? I'm very good at this thrifty thing!) so for now I shall look at the pictures and imagine all the fun that my items and I will have together.

ASOS Star Quilted Padlock Bag - I need a good black bag that can fit a lot of stuff in (no small bags for me, no thank you) and this looks like a decent size and shape to suit my needs. Plus, I'm hoping that even though it's quite cheap, it actually looks fairly expensive in person, thus making me look a lot fancier than I really am. If this isn't the case, and it actually just looks a bit tacky, I'm kind of ok with that too.

ASOS Paint by Ciate nail varnish in Chloe and Lily - you know I love nail varnish, so there's not much explanation needed for these. I just thought the colours looked pretty and I've had my eye on the Ciate varnishes for ages but not gotten around to buying them. Will probably do a review of these when they arrive.

ASOS Enamelled Starburst Ring - I know that this looks kind of tacky, but again, I'm kind of ok with that; I'm in a very tacky frame of mind at the moment (I'm sure I should be worried about this). Plus I love how pink it is, reminds me of Barbie!

See? I didn't get too carried away; just bought a few items, that I desperately need to have in my life and really didn't cost much AT ALL. Plus, ASOS are also offering an extra 10% off if you enter the code ASOSTreats at the checkout. So really, it would be a crime not to buy anything, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it?!

My ears are ringin'

Is it just me, or does Sunday come around WAY too fast? It’s like, your weekend starts, you’re all excited about getting the chance to relax and unwind, enjoy the sunshine (seriously, how much are you LOVING this weather?!), have some laughs and then, before you know it, it’s Sunday evening and you’re getting ready for work the next day. Bleurgh! This weekend feels like it’s been particularly unproductive for me, because I spent a good deal of it chasing round after an extremely troublesome ginger cat.

He's being stealthy

My sister has named him Balthazar. I don’t know where he came from, but he’s been hanging around our street for about a week and he doesn’t have a collar. On Friday, the neighbourhood children were chasing him and he looked really scared, so I had to tell them off. He obviously recognized me as his saviour because I was woken up by him yesterday morning at half 7; I looked out of the window and there he was, sitting on the drive, staring up at me and meowing. It sounded like he was saying “Franki!” So he’s kind of spent the weekend chilling in the garden, getting up to mischief and generally being cute. There was a scary moment on Saturday morning when he climbed up a very tall tree and angered some magpies, but he was ok. Silly Balthazar. We think he might be lost because he seems a bit confused, so I think the plan is to take him to the vet tomorrow to find out if he has a microchip. If anyone in the West Derby area of Liverpool is missing a very pretty, very vocal ginger cat, this is probably him!

Anyway, that’s not really anything to do with anything, it’s just my pet-deprived inner-five-year-old wanting to tell you about the cute kitty. I thought I’d do a post today about another one of my obsessions...

Earrings

This is my current collection of earrings, twenty two pairs (notice how many big, jangly ones there are? I’m secretly a gypsy), although that’s not counting some of the older pairs that I don’t really wear anymore and are in a different jewellery box and all the single ones I’ve kept hold of even though I’ve lost their partners (don’t you just HATE it when you lose an earring? Especially when you’re actually wearing them and one just sneakily falls out!). They're pretty much all cheap ones from the high street or random little jewellery shops; nothing crazy expensive because, like I said, I have been known to lose them quite easily. My absolute favourites at the moment are these Big Ben ones from Topshop;

I would love it if these actually had working clocks in them, imagine "Have you got the time?" "Yes, let me just check my ears!"

I didn’t actually get my ears pierced until I was 14, which is quite old, considering my little sister and I had them done at the same time and she was only 7. Even though you’re supposed to keep your studs in for about six weeks afterwards, I took mine out a couple of weeks later because we had a none-uniform day at school and my friend convinced me to wear a massive pair of hoops. Despite the fact that my ears actually bled and the earrings were really heavy, I thought the hoops looked fabulous and soon I was obsessed with earrings (thinking back, how utterly stupid was I? Bleeding ears and I thought it looked wonderful! Teenagers are such idiots...)
In my opinion, earrings are one of those things that haven’t really had their “moment” in fashion for some time. I know "statement jewellery" in general has been really popular for a while now, but, browsing through some images from the Spring runway shows, the majority of designers went with statement necklaces and rings more than anything else. Apart from a brief flirtation with chandelier earrings a little while back, I don’t think the fashion world has really been bothered with earrings since, well, I don’t know when, the 80s?!
I wonder if it’s because a lot of people seem to focus more on hair nowadays, and they don’t want a big pair of crazy earrings drawing attention away from the hair? Or maybe big hair AND big earrings can seem like overkill?
I don’t know, nor do I really care; let the fashionistas have their cocktail rings and bejewelled bibs, I’ll stick with my jingly jangly earrings, for I love them and would choose them over any other piece of jewellery. I can’t explain why, but I really think they make your face look better. (it might be because I have a really big face, so big earrings maybe make it seem smaller!)They also draw attention to your eyes and make your neck look more slender if you wear them with your hair up. Plus, a really plain outfit becomes ten times more interesting if you add a funky pair of earrings. I think you get the point, I am an earring junkie.
Thought I'd have a little look at what sort of ear decor is available online at the moment, and there is a lot out there; lots of variation in sizes, shapes, materials and colours. I suppose that's the beauty of jewellery design, there's not really any rules or limitations to what can be created.

Here's a few of my favourite finds;

'First Kiss' Earrings, $28 Old Gold Boutique
Pink Swarovski Skull Earrings, £29 Talullah Tu

Pearl Statement Chandelier Earrings, £24 Talullah Tu. Seriously, check out the Talullah Tu website, all of the jewellery is beautiful!
Roberto Cavalli Swarovski Frog Earrings, £365 Net-A-Porter. Yeah so £365 is an insane amount to pay for earrings, but I just had to share these! Swarovski froggies!

Turquoise Freshwater Pearl Dagger Earrings, £8.50 Gimme That Thing, Folksy

By the way, if you haven't already come across it, Folksy is a brilliant website which allows people to set up an online store and sell handmade jewellery/clothes/greetings cards etc. There's already an American version, called Etsy, which I think is generally more of a big deal and more people know about it, but Folksy is all UK-based sellers, so, obviously, if you're based in the UK yourself, delivery rates will be much cheaper. I think some sellers actually sell on both sites, but the majority sell on either one or the other, (depending on where they're from), so you will find stuff on one site that you can't get on the other. Even so, there is literally thousands of items for sale, I could spend hours on there browsing through all the different stores. In addition to the turquoise earrings above, I found so many other gorgeous pieces, from dangly, beaded earrings, to vintage ones, to cute and quirky little studs. I even a found a pair that was literally two tiny Polly Pocket figurines attached to ear hooks! It's a sure-fire way of finding a really unique piece of jewellery for a reasonable price.