I wanna see your Peacock!

Hello lovely people! Apologies for it being over a week since my last post, but Blogger was being all angsty through the week so this post about the new bits I got from Peacocks is a little delayed!

First up are these C-U-T-E floral denim shorts! I thought these were so adorable on the site, and look more Topshop than Peacocks! An absolute bargain at £10.67 as I got them on offer, they're still for sale for £16. I've already worn them out with simple green flats, a white vest & the cardi I also got from Peacocks. Linky!

This is that cardigan! I'm not much of a 'pink' person but think this coral/pink colour is really lovely and it looks fab next to my porcelain skin! It's perfect for cool Spring afternoons and will look great thrown over a little dress to keep the wind off. I got it for £12 but it's on sale for £18, still a good deal! Linky!

I fell head over heels for this amazing green formal dress when I saw it! It reminded me so much of the dress that Zooey Deschenal wears in 500 Days of Summer (in the wedding scene) - so I bought it and wore it to  my friend's wedding last weekend! It's beautiful, if a little pricey at £30, I got it for £20. Linky!

Another gorgeous dress - this is by Pearl Lowe at Peacocks and was much more expensive than almost all my other dresses but I am besotted with it. It's made from a lush chiffon-y fabric, and the cream tone is just perfect to wear in the Spring! It even has a little satin slip to wear underneath attached! I bought it for £26, on sale for £40. Linky!

The last dress I bought - 100% cotton, fabulous pale teal/green colour and unique pattern! Plus it fits me like a glove which is always nice! Basic summer dress, a bargain at £12 but still on sale for £18. Linky!

I also bought this basic white sleeveless blouse as I've been after one for a few weeks but didn't want to pay Topshop prices! I've already worn it out with high waisted jeans, and again with my black pleated midi skirt. Love it. I got mine for £10, still on sale for £16. I'm tempted to buy the gorgeous rust-y colour now! Linky!

Last but not least are these divine little blue polka dot pumps! I'm such a sucker for shoes, especially cute ones! Cheap as chips for £9, limited stock still available for £14. Linky!

xx

New background!

So I decided I was bored of the old background to Bee's Knees - thought it was a bit generic and dull. Opinions on the new one? I think it's apt for Spring and the lovely sunshine we've been having. Plus, who doesn't love daisies?

xx

A bit balmy! (balm of the lip variety)

Evening all! I'm not feeling too hot tonight so having a nice quiet evening in, preparing for my gorgeous friend's wedding tomorrow! I thought I'd do a little post to keep you all going in case I get too busy to post anything over the weekend.

I have always been a bit of a lip balm freak. Ever since I was about 11 years old I've been in pursuit of the perfect lip balm, and I've tried SO MANY different kinds! I've never stuck with one.. so in the 11 years since I started you can imagine the number I've gotten through! (that's right kids, I'm 22 years young! Don't tell anyone..)

SO, my latest purchase is a mega cute and ethical one that I have been desperate to share! ASOS had a free next day delivery thing on recently and I'd just run out of lip balm so I thought I'd see if they had any to save me a trip to the shops! I found this!

It is Love and Toast in 'Prickly Pear'. A few things to explain. ASOS have 3 varieties of Love and Toast lip balm on sale at the moment (and on offer!) - 'Lemon Mint' and 'Cherry Lemonade'. I picked this one because I'm not a pink kind of gal, and the other varieties came in pink tins! This one has a lovely mint green container, and came in this cute box!

Second thing to explain is the brand, Love and Toast. L&T is a company which donates a portion of its profits to an American charity called Regional Chapters of Girls Inc, which is devoted to educating girls in high-risk areas on all sorts of important things crucial to everyday life. For more info click here -> Linky

Now, I do my bit for charity and try to make ethical choices, so despite this lip balm being a bit more expensive than the ones I normally buy I thought the charity link made up for that. I bought this for £4.95, reduced from £12.00 from ASOS. Linky!

I've put up a few pics of the packaging the balm came in because I thought it was a very quirky touch to have the flaps of the box have a heart shaped hole (love!) and a toast shaped hole in them! Adorable! I'm proud to have this quirky little jar in my handbag!

The balm itself comes in a glass jar with a cute decorated lid, as you can see. I find that jars of lip balm work better for me, I've tried dozens of sticks and although they're generally smaller and more convenient, there's just something about having a little pot that works better for me. I've used my new balm for a couple of days now and can report good things! My lips are smooth, conditioned and happy! The ingredients list of the balm is vegan friendly and full of nice things for your skin and lips, like vitamin E, shea butter, aloe vera etc! Overall I definitely recommend this lip balm!

xx

the wind that lifts her perfume through the air

I thought I'd share with you beautiful people my favourite scents, as Spring is upon us and I love to smell a gorgeous floral perfume on the warm breeze on a sunny afternoon!

My 'special occasion' scent, for nights out and special days out, is Vera Wang's Glam Princess. I adore the bottle and the scent is gorgeous and sensuous! I think this perfume may have been discontinued, but luckily I still have a fair bit left in my bottle!

This is Zara Essential perfume. Not an obvious choice but if you pop into your local Zara store and give it a try I'm sure you'll be as impressed as I was! I purchased this after losing my normal scent and trying out a few more purse-friendly options. I think this was about £20 but you do get 100ml so it's excellent value for money! I get so many compliments on my scent when I wear this one, I love it!

Daisy by Marc Jacobs is 'my' smell. I started wearing it about 18 months ago, and I'm besotted with the scent. Unfortunately I lost my bottle when I moved down to London and it's taken me a while to save up to replace it, but now I've started wearing it again I'm over the moon! I got 100ml of the Eau de Toilettle from Debenhams in a special offer last week - 10% off! I love the gorgeous design of the Daisy range - I'm now lusting after the Eau so Fresh scent that's recently been released!

As it was on offer, I also treated myself to a 50ml Eau de Parfum of Daisy, which comes in a black bottle with a gold floral lid. Lush!

xx

For the summer..

I'd just like to open with a huge WELCOME to my new followers! I have a lot of blog traffic but here at Bees Knees it's nice to know there are people who stick around to hear my ramblings! I'd like to reward you with one or two (depending on how much procrastination I end up doing.. I have work to do eep!) midweek posts!

I've shopped quite a bit recently. In fact I have a mahoosive order from Peacocks sat next to me on the bed itching to be tried on! I'll start off with some other bits and bobs first though!

 

This cute summery frock is from Primark for £5. I don't shop at Primark often at all, for two reasons really:

1) I live in London and if you've ever stepped foot inside the Oxford St store you'll understand why I NEVER go there!

2) I find that a lot of the decent stuff from Primark is bought up by quite a few people, so you end up wearing the same things as other people. I really don't like wearing something I know a lot of people own and wear!

I was back home in Leeds for a few days and decided to pop into Primark to see if they had any nice finds, and bought this dress, the headband from my previous post on accessories, and a hat which I'll talk about in a moment.

The dress originally had straps but I cut them off as I prefer this style of dress to be strapless. At £5 I didn't feel guilty when I made this decision! It's cute, light and airy, nice summery pattern - ideal! I've already worn it out this week, with my distressed denim shirt & some jersey Zara gladiator sandals! God bless the early Spring sunshine in London town!

This is the Primark hat!! I love it! It was a real bargain too - can't remember how much exactly but if I'm not mistaken it may have been £4? Ridiculously cheap anyway when you compare it to similar styles that are selling on ASOS for in excess of £20! It's cute, floppy and quirky as anything, and I love the colour (I was torn between red and blue but red's always been my favourite colour!).

 

This AMAZING sundress is £10 from George at Asda! I know, ASDA! I was on holiday with my Mum shopping for food when I spotted it and instantly fell head over heels in love! I knew I had to have it! Didn't even try it on in the store, but when I eventually did at home it fit like a glove! This is no mean feat - I'm a bit of an atypical shape for most dresses - hourglass but smaller on the hips with an ample bosom! But this dress fits like a glove and looks like it was made for me! I love how the colour looks against my fair skin and the little birds are so sweet!
Purchase of the month I think, and it's only the 5th!

Last but not least is this lovely denim button up midi skirt - £19 down from £44 at the Mango outlet store. I love Mango but I've never bought anything from their full price stores, unfortunately they're often just out of my budget! But I do frequent their outlet stores with my Mum in tow, and was delighted to find this gorgeous, unique and bang on trend skirt! I'm actually wearing it right now! I teamed it with a plain white vest and a rust blazer that I posted about a WHILE ago! It makes me feel very chic and almost Parisian!

xx

Radiant Jewels!

I hadn't realised before but I don't usually post about jewellery! So here's a bit of a 'haul' post on bits and pieces I've picked up over the past few weeks.

I bought this gorgeous long LOVE necklace from ASOS for the bargain price of £3.50! I think its so cute and quirky, can't wait to wear it out! Linky!

I also got this beautiful bangle from ASOS for £3.50 too! It's difficult to photograph but engraved around the bangle it says 'your dreams will come true if you have the strength to believe' but I love it because it can also be read 'if you have the strength to believe your dreams will come true'! So optimistic and lovely! Linky!

Another ASOS bracelet! £2.50 I think this is a really unique piece that looks much more expensive and is quite versatile in terms of what you can wear it with. Linky!

Last ASOS bracelet is this random little oversized ID bracelet with 'Love' inscripted on the tag. It's a bit tacky but I think in a good way! I paid £3.00 for this. Linky!

This cute cocktail ring was £2.50, also from ASOS! I've been looking for a gold and black cocktail ring for aaaaages (literally almost a year!) and I'm so pleased to have finally found one to suit me! A lot of the ones I saw but didn't buy were a bit oversized and chunky for my taste but I really like this mini version! Linky!

I love love love this kitsch lock ring! It has a definite Alice In Wonderland feel to it! I thought this was another bargain at £2.50 and will give a quirky twist to any outfit! Linky!

This is possibly the CUTEST ring of all time! I love it so much! I bought it from Etsy and had to wait a couple of weeks as the designer is located in the US but boy it was worth my patience! It fits perfect, looks cute next to my other rings (you can see my silver branch style ring that my Aunt bought me for my 21st). I think all in it was around £10! Amazing!

Finally a quick mention for this lovely Primark headband - an absolute bargain at £1.50, its very different to all other headbands I've seen and own!

Have you bought any particularly memorable jewellery recently? Where's your favourite place to shop for accessories?

xx

Fabulous Nails #2

Here's the second instalment of fabulous nails! I've bought quite a few new Barry M paints recently, and I'm really excited to share them with you! But first here's a gorgeous unique Miss Sporty shade that I purchased ages ago but have only just gotten around to wearing!

 
It's a lovely orange/red/pink hybrid and is so bright and cheerful - perfect for Springtime! I took the photo after only two coats - I thought the colour built up really well for a cheap varnish, although it would benefit from a 3rd coat for longevity I think.
 
Continuing along the 'red' theme, here's Barry M's 150 Red Glitter. I was in awe of this paint before purchase and put it on my nails as soon as I got through the door, I was so excited! It took around 3 coats to get a decent cover - the polish is actually made from glitter and so it can be a bit gappy if you don't put as many coats on. I really loved having this on, my nails kept catching my eye and I thought it was so cute! Very Wizard of Oz! The only real downside came when I had to remove it - it took FOREVER (comparing it to usual Barry M paints). It was a real hassle to remove and I'm an impatient person, so I'm not sure how soon I'll be getting this one out of the fridge again..

Next up is one of Barry M's 'new' shades for Spring - 313 Dusky Mauve. I have nothing bad to say about this colour - its gorgeous and iridescent both in the bottle and dried on the nail (although it doesn't dry as 'dusky' as it appears in the bottle). It's so unique and pretty and I really haven't seen any other brand bring out anything similar. Two to three coats will suffice, a lovely subtle shade, perfect for wearing to work!
 
And last but not least is 290 Spring Green, again by Barry M. I thought this colour looked so lush and summery in the bottle I couldn't wait to get it on my nails! It took 3-4 coats to really build up the colour, which was disappointing, but the actual dried-on-the-nail colour is quite different to the one in the bottle. It's not as 'bottle green' (pardon the pun) which was a big let down for me. Still a nice bright colour, but not as special as I'd hoped!

I've finished with a recent pic of my nail varnish collection - I have 35 in total now! :)

xx