Mid Week Wants

1 // RIVER ISLAND GOLD LION HEAD BELT // I'm loving more quirky jewellery at the moment, ear cuffs, hand braceletts, hair chains. And now head belts have got my attention as well. Perfect for the festival season, and seen on the likes of Kim Kardashian and Nicole Richie, these boho pieces will definitely make you stand out from the crowd.

2 // TOPSHOP HARD PHONE CASE WITH PURSE // I spied this in Topshop and loved it. It's a hard case for your phone with a section for money and card attached. Great for when lugging around my heavy bag isn't an option!

3 // CARVELA KNACK JEWELLED FALT SANDALS // Now it's getting hotter unfortunately my beloved heavy boots will have to take a well earned rest. So I really need some cute sandals to replace them, and this jewelled pair look great!

4 // RIVER ISLAND WHITE LION EMBELLISHED VEST // A fierce vest, I can't say no!

5 // RIVER ISLAND FLORAL PRINT PURSE // My purse at the moment could quite literally knock someone out, so I'm looking for a smaller one for when I switch to a smaller bag in the evening, and this one is floral! #win

6 // RIVER ISLAND CREAM CROCHET LACE SHORTS // Lace shorts are pretty much in every shop at the moment, and are great for Summer. I can't wait to get into a pair and get to sunnier climes!

7 // TOPSHOP MACARENA PEEPTOE LEATHER SHOES // For when I want to ditch the boots, but don't want to go fully foot-naked, some peep toe flats would be perfect paired with a Summery dress.

8 // ACCESSORIZE FLUOR RAINBOW FRIENDSHIP BRACELET // Summer requires a long row of bracelets going all the way up your arm, and this would be a great one to add to my collection. And it's brightly coloured to boot!

Dinner & Desert: 002

A rather orange themed dinner and desert today.

First up is Butternut Squash and vanilla risotto. It seems like an odd combination but the colours of it look amazing and I think risotto is a great summer time dish when you're sick of salad!

And for desrt is Apricot Galette with brown sugar cinammon pastry. This looks fabulous and combines some of my favourite things, fruit and pastry! I think it'd just need a dollop of cream and it'd be perfect!

What colours have ought your eye this week?

Top of the Crops

Crop tops are meant to be this years Summer must have.

I'm a bit sceptical tbh, but having done some research I think there may be some potential for even those who most definitely DON'T have a wash board stomach!

I've put together a few looks with crop tops below, so if any of them take your fancy let me know in the comments!

Miss Selfridge Black Side Strap Bra Top // Dorothy Perkins Black Midi Pencil Skirt // Models Own Neon Brights Trio // Boohoo Hot Pink Super High Platform Heels // Boohoo Patent Neon Skinny Belt // ALDO Gallegoz Clutch Bag

Topshop Ice-Cream Crop Sweat // Miss Selfridge Indigo High Waist Super Skinny // Office Nifty Hi Top // Matalan Gold Double Finger Ring // Topshop Skull Cross Ear Cuff

Topshop Daffodil Bralet Top // Topshop Kristen High Waisted Kristen Hotpants // Topshop Toffee White Canvas Lace-Ups // Blue Inc Baseball Jacket

Have you brought any crop tops for your Summer wardrobe yet?

My week in photos: 14th May

Mcfly Keep Calm and Play Louder tickets // Yala Yala in Soho for our monthly dinner club // So many points!

Best seats in the house on the bus in Hammersmith // At the Snow White and the Huntsman Premiere in Leciester Square on Monday night  // Couple of bits of make up, Revlon Lip Butter, white eyeliner and black liquid eyeliner for a feline flick

Said make up on my face // Sale dress from River Island // Fury monster at work

Remember to follow me on instagram, my name is kayleya, and if you instagram leave you username in the comments, I'm looking for some new people to follow!

Colour Crush: Lemon

I haven't done a Colour Crush for a while, so though I'd come back with sickly sweet Lemon!

Yellow is usually a colour I'd shy away from, but as we get closer to Summer, and this things (hopefully) hotting up this week hopefully I'll be inspired to give it a go!

Do you have any lemon yellow in your wardrobe and how do you wear it?

Dinner & Dessert 001

Confession; I'm a bit of a foodie.

Show me a menu full of fine foods and I'm in my element.

So when I discovered tastespotting.com, an aggregation of lots of fabulous looking recipes and food photography, I was inspired to start a new regular post, "Dinner & Dessert"

The web site is full to the brim of delicious salads, sandwiches, muffinsm cakes, desserts and anything you would ever wish to find, and it all looks exquisite!

So here are two recipes from the web site which caught my fancy this week:

I don't really cook myself, but if I'd definitely give one of these a go!

What have you been cooking this week?

 

Review: Dark Shadows

Earlier this week I got to go to an early screening of Dark Shadows, the new Tim Burton: Johnny Depp film so I though I'd share some of my thoughts.

 Dark Shadows is somewhat of a pastiche, with bits and bobs taken from here at there. Based on a 1970s TV show never aired in the UK of the same name, the film is centered around Barnabus Collins (who else but Depp), a young man from the 1700s who broke the heart of the wrong girl, the head strong and flirtacious maid Angelique (Eva Green), when he fell for the pure hearted Josette (Bella Heathcote).

After being jilted Angelique was a bit miffed to say the least, so used her witchy powers to not only have Josette placed under a curse to walk off a cliff into the ferocious sea beneath, but also had Barnabus live the rest of eternity in a coffin as a vampire.

Wizz forward 200 years into the trippy 70s to the world that Barnabus awakens to and what remains of his eccentric family, his manor and his town of Collinsport where the Collins used to run the show with a fishing business have been tipped on their head from how he left them.

He is catapulted into a world of hippies, troll dolls and chevvies with his estate fallen into a shadow of its former grandeur. Barnabus sets his mind on restoring the families luster and regaining control of the fishing enterprise, now overtaken by the new Lord of the land, no other than Angelique.


On the surface Dark Shadows has everything a film ought to have to be enjoyable, the opening 10 minutes show us some great film making, a pale faced protagonist, some dark undertones to life as we know it and some close to the wire additions to our established normality; the trio comfortably fall into their bread and butter of film making.

But when it comes to the meat on the bone, cake under the icing, there just isn't much to see. Narratives seem some what disjointed, characters do as they are intended, nothing more, nothing less, and we sail down a Burton/Depp river, running the same familar course as we have eight times previous.

The film certainly isn't bad, some stand out performances come from both Eva Green and Chloe Moretz as the angsty teenage daughter who comes into her own during the climatic final scene. Even the one liners from Barnabus are enough to raise a smile, despite the trailer revealing about as good as it's going to get, but for me this film didn't bring anything new to the table.

Whilst Burton's signature style no doubt will be applauded by his legions of fans, critics have already given the film an understandable beating and for me at least, whilst Dark Shadows has it's moments it's missing that certain something to really make it remarkable.

NOTD: In Style Peach

In the June issue of In Style magazine there was an offer of a free Nails Inc polish. Never one to be able to resist a premium nail varnish, and Nails Inc in particular being one of my favourites, I snapped myself up a copy.

There were actually three different colours available, all very Spring-y; a Bluebell blue, and a Violet purple, and the shade I opted for, a Peachy nude.

 

Having tested it out today I am very impressed.

As with all Nails Inc colours it went on smoothly, dried quickly and hasn''t smudged or bubbled at all.

A perfect Spring shade. :)

Have you picked up In Style and got any of the Nails Inc polishes? What were your thoughts?

Get the Look: Kate Upton

 

Sunglasses: Topshop // Blazer: Topshop // Vest: Topshop // Necklace: Oasis // Bag: Oasis // Jeans: Topshop // Shoes: Miss Selfridge

You might not have heard of Kate Upton before, but bascially she's a US model who's covered Sports Illustrated, and seems to be cropping up a lot lately. As well as being my latest girl crush.

The girl is stunning, and always seems to dress flawlessly when out and about (which you might not see very often and she seems to be photographed more often not wearing any clothes than she is wearing them)

But anyway, I particularly liked this get up, so found some inspired pieces from around the web.

Do you enjoy Kate Upton's style or think she's a bit trashy?

Monthly Wallpaper: Jennifer Lawrence

This post is admittedly a little bit late, so sorry about that!

It's a new sort of post, so do bare with, but I usually download a new desktop image each month for my computer.

I like to keep them fresh and new and whatever I'm in the mood for, and sometimes quite seasonal.

For May I decided to break with tradition and make my own.

I spied a beautiful shoot in UK Glamour magazine for which Jennifer Lawrence was the subject of. And wham bam, I made a desktop!

I've done it in a few sizes so feel free to download and use:

• 1024 x 768
• 1280 x 800
• 1366 x 768
• 1440 x 900
• 1680 x 1050
• 1920 x 1080

Saturday Steal 009: Peplum Dress

 

Jason Wu's peplum dresses have graced the red carpet countless times, from the likes of Emma Stone, Blake Lively, Emma Watson and Michelle Williams. The cut is extremely flattering for all shapes and sizes, and the embellishment really makes them stand out.

His sickly sweet pink coloured dress is quite frankly, adorable and you can now pick up an inspired version of this dress from Lipsy, for just £65.

They've opted for a strapless bustier version making it more appropriate for a night out than a hard day in the office, which does put me off, but the colour is fabulous and perfect for Summer.

Have you got any peplum dresses in your wardrobe yet?