Bow Blouses

I needed some bow blouses in my life and the shops weren't stocking any reasonably priced ones
┗(•̀へ •́ ╮ )

This turned out to be a good thing as two of the blouses featured are in fact off eBay and cost me a few quid instead. Take that £400 Topshop Boutique range! (･｀ｪ´･)つ

At the bottom of this post there are some tips on finding blouses like this on eBay.
The black cord dungaree dress is an old Primark one (they tend to float about on eBay too)

I've nicknamed this one 'Wendy Meakin' you will only understand this reference if you watch Four Rooms, if not, you can call it Alexa Chung. Found on eBay It's by a brand called 'Lexicon' (if you want to try find this exact one). Its a structured white shirt with a front ruffle and a built in skinny bow. I like the fact its not see-through, don't want anything to distract from the bow yo.
This cost £9 including postage (＾▽＾)

Also found on eBay this one reminds me a bit of an air hostess or someone selling popcorn in a cinema. Its soft and light and the bow is also built into the collar really well. Great quality and it actually smelt really nice for vintage. Again not see-through! Celebrate!
This cost me £5.50 including postage (＾▽＾)

This blouse is a current high street number from Zara. The print reminds me of William Morris wallpaper and I love the colours. I think Zara are quickly becoming my fave high street shop at the moment, they seem to do all the right things and don't always charge as much as perhaps Topshop would try and get away with. The Suede pinafore in red is also from Zara.
This cost £29.99 and is available here  (＾▽＾)

eBay tips

eBay initially will show a lot of new items from Asia. I prefer to buy second hand high street brands as I'm familiar with their fit and quality and delivery will be quicker. Filtering is pretty necessary to cut out the thousands of generic items from international dealers. I often use the eBay app as its just easy to dip in and out of if I get an idea in my head.

1. Name it: If you are looking for a bow blouse for example it might be keyworded in different ways, terms like "vintage" "ruffle" "peter pan collar" "bow" "60s" "victorian" "lace" might help. Often the bargains are found with the fewer keywords as no one else finds them!

2. Refine it: This is where filtering comes in handy. So you search "bow blouse" or even just "blouse" then go to "Refine" and choose these options to cut out the amount of international listings showing up:

Sort by: "Ending soonest" (it's about to end, woo!)

Condition: "Used" (cuts out all the brand new generic buy it now listings from dealers)

Buying format: "Auction" (theres a good chance you might nab something at the starting bid)

Item Location: "United Kingdom only" eBay is sneaky with this one. It defaults to "On eBay.co.uk" this does not necessarily mean the item is actually in the UK. International sellers want you to buy and will make the item appear to be in your country when really it is in China.

Price: You can narrow the results to show you anything under a fiver for example.

3. Watch it: Add what you like to your 'Watch List' or if there is nothing there for now you can "follow the search" and it stores it in your "Following" section so you can check up on this result and get notifications if something specific you are looking for is listed.

4. Snipe it: Most mornings I check my Watch List and see whats ending that day, if I still like it I will add a snipe to the auction so my highest bid is put down in the last 3 seconds, without me having to be present. I use a snipe app called "ibidder" which is available on android. Fully supported by eBay and never lets me down! Its like having a little assistant to put your bids down in the final moments, which is the best time to do it. Don't show your cards too early!

February Favourites

Hurrow! Here are some random things I have been enjoying this Feb ༼ ◔ ͜ʖ ◔ ༽

Ceramic Coffee Cup - Sagaform

Yes it looks like the styrofoam cup you get takeaway coffee in... but its not. No no no, its far more superior, its ceramic *clink. I guess these might be good for people with cars that like to make a tea or coffee and take it with them... I don't have a car and can't see myself walking up to the coffee shop all "fill my ceramic coffee mug over your inferior polystyrene cups plz love" but I will just look at it and maybe drink my hot lemons out of it at home instead. It was £12 (inc p&p!)

Illustrated cat from Yeti & Friends

I got this lovely stuffed cat as a present from Odie's owner who hand made and illustrated it ฅʕ•̫͡•ʔฅ. The cat currently resides on my desk (which is a top ranking and highly sought after spot, well-done cat) (=^･^=) Here is Fleur's Etsy if you are interested in keeping an eye out for her creations ᵔᴥᵔ

Bodyshop Instablur Primer

This is the first time I've used a primer so I might be blown away a bit too easy but…primer I am yours now.
ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ

My skin is prone to getting oily fast and I thought I'd have to just put up with it. When I'm out it tends to be in the back of my mind ("am I shiny yet?") rather than listening to the fascinating things my friend has to say. ᑦ(⁎ᐡᆺᐡ)ᐣ

This grey furry cloudy stuff has given me some hope though. After doing some trains and tubes late in the day recently I went to powder my face as I thought  "well… after all that its probably got shiny now" and found it wasn't (*historical moment/miracle). I cant be sure I 100% stay shine free for the entire day, but it definitely holds it off and that glimmer of hope (and less glimmer on my face) is enough for me! ✌.ʕʘ‿ʘʔ.✌

It's £14 from Body Shop and quite a small tube, but you can get it for about  £7-£8 including postage on eBay

Key Caps

I bought these on eBay to make getting into the house a bit more…er….cute ʅʕ•ᴥ•ʔʃ

Be careful with the little silver bead chains that come with them though as they break easily = losing access to your flat = not cute. Get them here

Rilakkumma Purse

because…Rilakkuma

Post Japan I am buying lots of bits from China (…) to keep my reawakened stationary child happy. You can find quite a few Sanrio characters on the cheap via eBay. Only downside is you have to wait a bit but don't be put off by the feedback (unless its really really bad) Generally sellers from China are desperate to please and do send the goods (and its really cheap inc postage). I prefer to have it sitting on my desk (watching over me). It's mainly to make up for the fact I.can't.have.a Rilakkuma phone cover because I have a Google Nexus phone (and no one makes cases for android users!) ʕง•ᴥ•ʔง

Cat Phone Case

because…its the only thing that seems to fit a Google Nexus handset

Which takes me onto my new phone case. I'm not crazy about it but its about as close as I can get to finding something for my difficult to dress handset. It's simple, it does the job, bit annoying they have their brand name on it at the bottom (but that can be covered with a sticker). (=｀ェ´=)

Make-up bag - H&M

I bought two of these as they are just £3.99 and I think you could probably get away with using one as your on flight/travel case too (I don't know why I'm always faffing with clear plastic bags). They are also a lot easier to use at home as you can find your things quick! It's kind of like a favourites inception this one as a few of my make-up favourites are inside (=^･ｪ･^=)

Vanilla Biscuits Shower Gel

I've had this stuff a few times before and ended up forgetting about it until... I spotted it again in Waitrose recently (true story). It smells SO GOOD. It doesn't just smell of vanilla, but of actual BISCUITSNESS. I would really like a body moisturiser version. You can get them at Boots and Waitrose (might have imagined seeing it in Superdrug once too) ༼･ิɷ･ิ༽

Alpacasso Cube Squishy

I bought a few little bits from the Tofu Cute site which I discovered the other week. Its based in the UK so postage is cheap and quick for lots of little Japanese bits. This one can be used to perform the very important task of wiping your phone/ipad screen. Here be the Tofu Cute site

(follow me via bloglovin) 

Skinny Dip London

I treated myself to a Skinny Dip phone cover last week. Much respect to this new brand for making covers for Samsung handsets as us androids always get left out! Vannessa at Skinny Dip was quick to respond to e-mails and gave great customer service! I bought from the website. You can also buy their items from TopShop too. My phone is wearing the Samsung S3 perspex Sunset Case. Course I had to do a skinnydipselfie too - Bell x

Phone Case: Skinny Dip London. Dress: River Island. Shoes: Vivienne Westwood x Melissa. Nails: a mess (sorry).