floral shirt and sparkle shorts plus haul video

shirt - gift, bike shorts - evil twin via asos, cardigan - topshop, boots - doc martens, fishnet tights, earrings - primark, necklace - delilah dust

This is what I wore yesterday to do a spot of charity shopping on my day off. The shirt was given to me by a lady at work who said it was collecting dust in her wardrobe as she didn't wear it anymore. The shorts are really sparkly, I wish I had got a better photo of them but I didn't think they were actually showing in the outfit!

As promised - below is my first venture into the word of youtube.

I didn't have time to edit anything on the video as I was going out. It then took about 10 hours to upload - is there any way of getting around this?! Let me know if you'd like to see more videos! This is my channel if you'd like to subscribe - thekittenswhiskersxo

Have a good week.

Laila x

floral polka dots

dress, ankh necklace - car boot sale, scarf - grandma's cupboard!, jacket - primark, shoes - doc martens

I bought this dress a few years ago from Primark. I then promptly returned it because I realised the hem had frayed, and never bothered getting a replacement. Fast forward to last weekend, and I found an entirely un-frayed one at a car boot for 50p! Good things come to those who wait...?! It looks like a regular polka dot pattern from far away, but when you get close - SURPRISE - tiny flowers.

I enrolled at a college this week. I studied a Law LLB at uni, and pretty much since then I've been working at and studying through a law college. But this course is a bit of a step away from that - it's a short course in Fashion Production which I can carry on with by adding extra units if I enjoy it. It's going to be a bit strange after studying the same subject for five years (more if you count A-Level!) - but I'm excited!

Laila x

PS thank you so much for your comments on my last past! You're all so lovely and I appreciate every comment I get <3

a year of thrifting

denim jacket - car boot sale, turtleneck crop top - charity shop/ diy, tartan trousers - charity shop, earrings - primark, ian the rabbit - farmer's market

So September's here (already) and with that marks my year of thrifting! I was already shopping in charity shops for three or four years previously, but last September was when I made the concious decision of quitting the high street altogether in terms of clothing. I originally set myself the challenge for a month, and the reason behind why I started doing it was simply money. I was beginning to seriously househunt with my best friend (and now housemate) and I knew I just wouldn’t have the money to sustain my throwaway high street fashion habit much longer. However one month turned into two months, two months into three, and now here I am a year later! I can safely say that restricting myself to solely second hand items has opened my eyes to the possibilities of clothing in terms of altering and personalising clothes. I also think I've become a lot more confident and adventurous with my fashion choices, too. I don't think I've ever had as many items of clothing as I do now either, thanks to the discovery of 50p rails and £1 rooms (here's to you, Salvation Army!). At one point, I did think I might start high street shopping again after a year, but after going charity shopping yesterday and getting three dresses and a (cat print!!!) shirt for £7.50, I'm not sure I'll be going back anytime soon.

Anyway - onto the outfit. I kept seeing this style American Apparel turtleneck crop tops all over blogs and really wanted one. So I hunted down a normal turtleneck top (this one was £1) and hacked at it and sewed it until it resembled something similar. I do like it in this outfit but I kind of feel like I'm being strangled when I'm wearing it so I don't know if I'll wear it again. Ian liked it though. It matched his fur.

Laila x

lipstick on your collar

denim jacket, necklace - car boot sales, top - primark, trousers - charity shop, creepers - underground, ear cuff - matalan

This seems like quite a plain outfit for me - the only pattern in the entire thing is on my shoes! However it does show off some of my most recent purchases. The denim jacket I bought at a car boot sale a couple of weeks ago for £1, intending to DIY it and sell it on. However, it's now had the fate of joining my ever growing denim jacket collection (current number: 5) as I've been looking for the perfect cropped jacket for a while now. I didn't realise when I bought it, but it's actually a little boys jacket - age 7-8! The necklace I got from a car boot this weekend for £1 too. I love the shape of it and I think it'll look really good under collars.

I bought the trousers at the weekend. They were brand new with tags and only cost £3. I've been on the lookout for more trousers since I found my bargainous 50p ones so I'll be adding these to my collection! The ear cuff is also new - Matalan had a load of jewellery selling off for 50p! 

Laila x

devil on my shoulder

sunglasses - firmoo, dress - car boot sale, shirt - h&m, earrings - matalan, hamsa hand necklace - delilah dust, boots - doc martens

I had been thinking about getting a pair of prescription sunglasses for a while, so when I was recently contacted by Firmoo asking if I wanted to pick a pair of glasses from their website for review, I jumped at the chance! I chose these John Lennon style glasses, as they're different from anything I've had before. Although I've been wearing glasses 'full time' for over a year now, I've not had a pair of prescription sunglasses before and I'm enjoying not having to choose between being able to see and UV protection! The glasses came with the correct prescription in a cute map case (and a spare soft case) along with a repair kit. As far as I can tell though, the glasses seem well made so I'm not sure I'll need the repair kit - but it's a nice touch! Firmoo are also offering free glasses for first time customers which you can check out here - all you pay is the postage.

I picked up this dress at a car boot sale a couple of weeks ago and it's my new favourite! It fits me really well and I've just realised it also matches my hair. I'm heading to another car boot sale tomorrow (as long as the rain holds off) so look out for a possible haul post!

Have a good weekend!

Laila x

everybody's somebody's fool

shirt, tie dye socks - diy, high waisted shorts - topshop (gift), shoes - doc martens, earrings - primark

This is the outfit that I wore to the carboot I wrote about in my last post. It seems like ages ago now, but I've been spreading out the outfit posts because I now don't have a tripod to use. This is the last lot of outfit photos I have so fingers crossed I have a new tripod soon! Else I might have to resort to having to pose in front of an actual person instead of a camera on a stick - the horror!

I tie dyed these socks a while ago then realised that they were much easier to wear when they were cream. But I've worn them with one outfit now, so it's fine! I don't wear shorts very often any more, but I really like the fit of these Topshop ones. My housemate gave me them as they were too big for her. Free Topshop shorts - score!

Hopefully I will be back soon with a more up-to-date outfit including my new glasses. It feels wrong posting an outfit post featuring bare legs when there's a huge storm outside!

Laila x

awake my soul

dress, belt - charity shop, socks - topshop, shoes - doc martens, hamsa hand necklace - delilah dust

Ok, I may look a bit wonky in my next few outfit posts because my tripod has gone and broke. It's slightly leaning at one angle - I've not just suddenly got a weight in my right arm or anything. I'm sending it back this week so I'll hopefully get a replacement sometime soon!

In the distant memory that was last week, I was actually able to venture outside without tights! No chance of that so far this week though...I got this dress a couple of weeks ago as a payday treat (like I needed that excuse). Burgundy is my favourite colour so I made a beeline for the sleeve sticking out of the rack as soon as I saw it, and it turned out to be my size. I love it when a plan comes together! I don't think I've shown my Doc Marten shoes on the blog yet but I've been wearing them loads since I've bought them.

After seeing posts on blogs such as Lulutrixabelle, Fox and Feather and Waiste about car boot-ing bargains, I decided I was actually going to make it one this weekend (I usually decide to go and at the same time the  weather decides to rain). So I dragged my mum to one on Sunday and got a load of bargains. I spent £6.50 and got two cardigans, a jumper, a waistcoat, a jacket, a dress, a bag, a pair of boots and some jewellery. Not bad!

Have a good week!

Laila x