21

I turned 21 yesterday and I was lucky enough to have my birthday split into two days.  On Sunday I went for a meal with my family, followed by birthday cake back at home and presents.  I got a new bottle of my favourite everyday perfume from my Sister (thank god, I have a drip left in my old bottle) and a gorgeous bracelet from Links from my Brother and Sister-in-Law.  Yesterday morning I woke to a stack of cards, I was surprised that there were no repeats!  With the cards came a present from my parents.  They bought me a Tiffany's necklace which I had asked for and I'm completely in love.  My Mum and I went shopping during the day, where I used the money I received from relatives to pick up a Pandora bracelet and a couple of charms as another little memento. In the evening I went out for dinner and cocktails in London with my best friends.  They surprised me with a cake, complete with sparkler candle as well as some NARS make up and huge poster of The Saturdays and Twilight (they know me so well).  All in all I was a very spoilt girl and I'm so thankful to my family and friends for making it a great birthday.  It's safe to say I wont be needing any jewellery for a while! 

Crown Jewels

When it comes to jewellery I'm a big fan of simple, silver pieces.  I don't like to clutter my wrist but a few bracelets stacked together always look good.  I'm always on the lookout for online boutiques that sell different items, so I was pretty happy when I stumbled upon online retailer (and fellow blogger) Jewel Rhi.  After a quick peek, I fell in love with her friendship bracelets with small, silver cross or skull charms and at £3 you can't really grumble!  I popped an order in and four days later I was really happy when it turned up on my doorstep.  

The bracelet came packaged in a pink and white patterned bag with a note, which I thought was a nice touch.  I chose the colours pink and purple for my bracelet and although it wasn't what I originally thought in my head, I really liked the finished result.  Unfortunately the bracelet was a bit too small, so naturally I was devastated.  I got in touch with Rhi who couldn't have been more apologetic and offered to send a replacement out.  

When the replacement arrived yesterday morning I was surprised to also find a necklace, which she sent as an apology gift which I thought was really sweet.  It's a silver chain with a dainty angel wing charm which sits nicely under a shirt collar.  Check out Rhi's shop here and also her blog too! I've now got my eyes on the "Till Death Do Us Part", "Don't Cross Me" and "Sugar and Spikes" necklaces.  

Where do you buy your jewellery from?

A Vintage Family Heirloom

If you've been reading my blog since the beginning, you'll know that I've always had a thing for dainty vintage inspired jewellery boutiques, like DollyBowBow or JunkJewels 

At a family get together over the weekend, in celebration of my Mums birthday, we were talking about past relatives and my Mum mentioned that my Dads mother had left me a locket when she died.  I was quite shocked that I hadn't heard about this before but also quite excited that I'd be getting a Family heirloom, to pass onto my daughter one day. 

To me, an heirloom is better than being left money as it's a part of my Nan to keep forever and cherish.  I know that if I'd been given money, it would have been wasted on things that in a few years would have no meaning whatsoever.  The locket is real gold, although we aren't sure of how many carats.  It features an embellishment of a bird and some flowers, hanging from an 18inch (there abouts) chain.  

I popped the locket into some gold jewellery cleaner which certainly brightened it up, but on the inside I found no pictures.  I'd like to put a couple of pictures inside, maybe of both my Nan's but I'm not entirely sure yet.  For now I'm happy that I have a piece of my late Nan to cherish.  

Have you been given any family heirlooms in the past? 

EC One Relaunches Website

Over the summer I got to help out on a few different photo shoots thanks to Push PR.  My first of the bunch was the EC One website campaign with Burberry model Milly Simmonds.  Browsing online I stumbled across a new look EC One site with the pictures from the shoot and thought I'd share with you the final product.  I think the website looks really sleek and savvy with it's new look, so without further adieu...

These are just a few of the images but I think they turned out great! They've also popped a behind the scenes pictures and even a video on their blog (featured below). The video has the smallest snippet of me interviewing Milly, which you can read here. 

*All images/videos belong to EC One

Do you like the shoot?  Check out EC One's jewellery, they have something for every accessory lover this Christmas! 

Thanks again to Push PR and EC One for letting me take part in the shoot!

I Spy! New Jewellery Line

Not a day goes by when I don't think about jewellery.  Jewellery can enhance any outfit or simply be just a loving gesture.  Originally a fan of faux vintage trinkets, I've recently discovered a new innovative line 'Designs by FaraM'. 

The founder of this line, Farah, originally from Malaysia, began the collection from making jewellery for herself when her family and friends poked her towards creating a shop.  Farah self taught herself the trade of crafting jewellery after admiring pieces that she couldn't quite afford - House of Harlow mainly. 

The pieces are reflective of how Farah views jewellery should be - simple but eyecatching, elegant but with an edge.  The designs are also close to Farahs heart, as her mother was a big influence in creating them. 

My favourite piece has to be the Gossip Girl inspired 'XO' necklace (what can I say, I'm weak when it comes to Bass or Archibald).  I'd rock this on it's own or layer it up with different length necklaces. 

What do you think? Check out the rest of Farah's line and also her blog by clicking here.

It's all in the accessories.

It's pay day today, which has only got me lusting all things new and shiny.  I've been a jewellery mood recently and this evening i've been trawling the endless online boutiques.  My favourites by far are Regal Rose, Junk Jewels, Temporary:Secretary and DollyBowBow.  I thought I'd show you what's in my baskets currently.  

REGAL ROSE

Evil Eye. Hamsa Hand Ring; £5.00

I've had a thing for these little hands lately, and definitely feel that the silver ring could be a nice addition to my costume jewellery.  

Single Boho Peace Sign Necklace; £9.00

I've been after a long peace sign necklace for a while now, i'm starting to favour longer chains to shorter ones now, not entirely sure why!  

JUNK JEWELS

Silver Peace Friendship Bracelet; £6.00

I have a bit of a thing for peace signs at the moment (bet you couldn't tell).  I think it's what they represent more than anything else. 

Silver Wing Friendship Bracelet; £6.00

If you remember back a month or two, I was obsessing over birds, and I still think they are pretty cute when it comes to accessories.  These types of bracelets are best layered together and their coloured 'chains' make for easy styling with different outfits.  

DOLLYBOWBOW

Hamsa Hand Bracelet; £6.00

Although this is out of stock at the moment, I still like it.  Slightly different to the ring featured above, it would be quite cool layered with other bracelets.  

Teal Oversized Velvet Hair Bow; £6.00

I've been looking for a massive bow for my hair for a while.  I would only wear it with a top bun for decoration.  I like the colour, it's a bit different from the bog standard black.  

TEMPORARY:SECRETARY

Princess Ring; £12.00

Anyone who knows me, knows I love the Duchess of Cambridge.  This is more of a 'poke fun at self' choice, but seeing as i'm known as Kate in the office, thought it was pretty appropriate.  

Harmonica Necklace; £16.50

I featured these a while back, and I just love them.  I'm prone to play with my necklaces so this would be  a whole new world of amusement.   

Those are my basket of goodies, but what I need help with is finding a reasonably priced replica of this necklace:

I really like these necklaces but refuse to pay the hefty price tag now associated with them since becoming popular.  If you know any boutiques that do something similar please let me know!  Happy Friday everyone, I'm off to catch up on Pretty Little Liars!  I'll leave you with a cover I've been playing non stop lately by the lovely Rachel Furner - enjoy!

Fall's out.

Whilst painting my nails I decided to surf the web (with great difficulty, may I add) and came across the new Burberry Campaign.  I'm really looking forward to next season, layering and an excuse to shop for some new pieces.  The Burberry Campaign features a leather mix Mac, tassles and that all important signature check.  

The newest face to model in the campaign is Milly Simmonds (above), who I've had the pleasure of working with a few weeks ago on a shoot for jewellery company EC One, thanks to my Internship.  She was incredibly down to earth and nonchalant, something I've never thought of a model to be.  Don't judge a book by it's cover eh?  

This is one of many campaigns that will soon be filtering through our monthly Vogue, Elle and Harpers. Are there any campaigns you're particularly excited to see? 

Jewellery Boutique: Boho Boho.

I've been quiet this weekend due to a blogging ban until I'd finished my contextual studies essay.  It certainly sped my work up!  So i've come back today with an accessories post.  It's been a while since I've found a nice little online boutique, and one that doesn't sell the same stock.  I seem to be getting quite a few new followers everyday on Twitter (@NickiShepShep) and I always check out what they do.  Boho Boho followed me a few days ago, they are an online accessories retailer from Hertfordshire, UK.  They have a range of different pieces and here are a few I picked out...

£5.00

I love this bracelet, it would almost look like a cuff on your wrist.  I'm really into the hippie trends in the stores at the moment and this would be a perfect addition to my jewellery collection.  

£7.00

I've been looking for a nice necklace and ring which features a Turquoise stone, so this caught my eye.  Birds seem to still be big when it comes to accessories.  

£6.00

This ring would go perfectly with the above necklace.  I like how it also features a coral and dusty mauve colour too, to give a slight contrast to the gold and turquoise.  

They also sell bathroom treats including anatomicals.  If I were to get anything from the range it would be these: 

£1.50

You just never know when you're going to need to pucker up or have an emergency work meeting after you've eaten that garlic baguette at lunch...

Like what you see?  Check out their site here. 

Oh and did I mention, FREE delivery...

I Spy! Something delicious...

Since this blog began I've been on the look out for relatively cheap, gorgeous, vintage inspired jewellery.  I've come across the likes of JunkJewels, DollyBowBow and Cupcake Jewels.  I received an email over night from Joanna Pointer who pointed (sorry) me in the direction of Delicious Secrets.  Their mission statement reads:

As usual I've gone and picked a few of my favourite items to give you lovelies a taste of what's instore.  

£4.99

First up is this vintage inspired rose necklace.  I think just by adding something as simple as this to an outfit would make it look just that bit more feminine.  I really like the delicacy to the design here.  

£3.99

You know me, I like a floral pattern or just a flower.  Daisy's happen to be one of my favourite types of flower so when I saw this and the price I couldn't help but love it.  My only grudge is that it looks a bit too plastic, maybe they should use a textured fabric like felt?

£2.99

These are so gorgeous and so cheap too, they come in a range and other than this one which says 'love', the 'imagine' and 'dream' ones stood out to me the most.  I would quite happily buy the whole set for that price!  

So there's a sample of Delicious Secrets range, they also have a special candy range which looks too good to eat.  If you want to find out more or place an order then click here.