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I can't guarantee that these will work for everyone, but over the last few years I've learnt a lot about what makes my life happier and I thought I'd share a few tips in the hope that they may help someone else who suffers from bouts of the melancholies like me.

1 - Stop comparing your life to other people's! 
I'm the worst for this when it comes to social media and often have to remind myself that those people I get twinges of jealousy over are only showing carefully chosen, perfectly orchestrated moments of their lives. Be thankful for what you have, not what you don't have.

2 - Treat yo self!
If you see something you really really want, then just treat yourself to it and tell yourself it's because you deserve it. There doesn't have to be a solid reason, sometimes we all just need a little pick me up and a self congratulation for working through this tough old life. But you know, only do it if it isn't going to get you into debt or anything... Those Louboutins can wait girl.

3 - Stop looking for faults in yourself.
Sure we all notice things about ourselves now and again that we don't like, some that we can do someone about and some that we can't, but don't let it grind on you and don't sit there searching for those faults! For every negative thing you spot I bet you can think of three other things about yourself that are awesome! Why not make a secret list of all your wonderfulness to keep for those times when your self confidence has taken a knock?

4 - Get our of that bad relationship NOW!
It seriously breaks my heart when I see people stick in bad relationships. Be it fear of loneliness, fear of change because that relationship has lasted so long, there are lots of reasons why people stay in these relationships but they can be a lot more damaging than you think, if not physically then psychologically. Being with a partner that loves you, respects you, thinks of you as an equal and supports you in all you do is one of the best things ever and everyone deserves it. And if you're not in a relationship then make that person you - respect yourself, love yourself, support yourself and you'll be a happier person!

5 - Cut out the drama!
I always get confused by people who tell me their lives are full of drama because surely this is something that you can control. If there are people in your life that constantly cause problems and drama then you need to confront them about it and talk it through so they understand how their actions are affecting others. Be tactful and polite and don't turn it into an argument - believe me it is possible. And if they turn that into another drama them maybe you just need to cut them out - easier said than done I know but seriously the relief you will feel to not have that burden and constant worry on your shoulders will be worth it.

6 - Sort out your home and your workspace.
I genuinely feel so so so much happier when I have a tidy home and desk and am surrounded by pretty things that I love. Clear out anything that you do not either love looking at or need in your life. Same with your wardrobe, I'm often asked how I always wear nice clothes and the answer is because I got rid of everything I didn't adore! A cluttered home leads to a cluttered mind, so clear that space out! *note to self, remember this and tidy up more often, you know it makes you feel better*

7 - Appreciate the small things.
We can't all be millionaires living a life of luxury so we need to savour everything that makes us happy and grateful, even if it's as small a thing as a nice coffee on a Sunday morning, freshly changed bedsheets or the latest issue of your favourite magazine!

8 - Have a sense of humour!
Life is tough and things don't always work out as you had planned. If you can learn to see the humour in some situations the chances are you'll find them easier to get through. Don't take yourself too seriously and learn to laugh at yourself, no-one wants a sour puss as a friend! Be silly every now and again, I promise it will make you feel better!


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I don't know about you but I love a good scare. I've always loved horror movies and ghost stories since I was young and would often lie on my bed for hours getting lost in supernatural tales, hiding under the sheets with a torch late into the night scaring myself silly! I thought I'd share some of my favourite scary books with you today in case you fancy giving yourself a fright too!

First up I had to start with my favourite scary story teller, H.P. Lovecraft. I first read his stories when I was about 12 years old and I had no idea he was such a cult figure - I just picked the middle book out of my dad's bookshelf because the cover was pretty awesome! I can still read those stories over and over again to this day and I don't think I'll ever get sick of them. They're complex and compelling and the way Lovecraft builds suspense is just incredible. You must remember that these stories were written pre-1930's and so the language and general writing style is very different to that of today and it may take you a while to get used to it, but that just adds to the scariness I think as it separates you even more from the world you know and are used to!


Another favourite author of mine is M.R. James. The fabulous Mark Gatiss did a documentary and a dramatisation of one of James' most famous stories last Christmas so you may well heard of him. His stories are brilliant, featuring mainly ghosts and spectres rather than the other worldly creatures that Lovecraft created. Reading James' work you'll notice a lot of now traditional ghost story themes. You're reading the master here people and many have imitated but no-one has bettered! 

I don't think I even need to say anything about Frankenstein as pretty much everyone knows that tale, but I'd always recommend picking up any scraggly old ghost stories compilations that you find in a second hand book shop, you'll often find a real gem in there somewhere!


Last up we have Susan Hill, a contemporary writer most famous for her story The Woman in Black which was turned into a film starring Daniel Radcliffe last year. It has all the trappings of a great horror story, loneliness, a big scary house, separation from other people, creepy children - it's a good one! I've read all of her ghost stories and enjoyed every one but the three above are definitely my favourites. If you're looking for something a little easier to read but still with that Victorian spookiness then I'd definitely recommend you try something by Susan Hill. She also writes non-horror stories and one of my favourites is called A Kind Man.

Do you like scary stories? I'm always on the look out for new ones to read, please share them with me if you think you know some I might like!

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So sometimes you take some photos... and you just hate them. It's always annoying when an outfit post shoot doesn't work out and you have to shoot it again, but for some reason I never get rid of the pictures. I figured I'd share some of them today as a bit of a giggle. As you can tell by where the photos are taken and by the length of my hair most of them are pretty old now so I can't put up outfit links but if you want to know about anything in particular just ask and I'll see if I can help! 


Silly face ahoy!
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I don't know why but at the minute I just can't get enough of check prints. I think it's because it's such a bold, graphic design and is always an attention grabber. You'd be forgiven for thinking that checks are a purely masculine print, or if you went the opposite way and thought checks were just for Dorothy dresses and country singers. My favourite's (as I'm sure you would expect) are feminine shapes with a bold check - there's just something wonderful about using unexpected patterns with girly, classic outlines.

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As soon as I saw this Grid Midi Dress (£65) in a Simply Be mail out that dropped on to my door mat I knew it had to be mine and literally ordered it immediately! I adore how the underskirt isn't as long as the overlay and those elbow length sleeves - perfection! The second ASOS Curve Check Bandeau Dress (£25) I ordered as I've been looking for something strapless to wear on my trip to Essex on Thursday to get tattooed. I'm having my upper back touched up so I needed something strapless or with a halter neck so it wouldn't rub. I was about to order an plain halter top to throw on with a skirt when I spotted this beauty and there it went, straight into my shopping cart! Thank the lord for ASOS Premier and it's free next day delivery!

Here are some other great check and grid print pieces that have made it on to my shopping list but not yet into my basket...

ASOS Curve
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Simply Be
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4  -  5  -  6

Carmakoma
1  -  2  -  3  -  4

Forever 21+
1  -  2  -  3

Littlewoods
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I really cannot believe that we're already at the end of August, this year has just been so manic and busy that I've hardly had time to have a proper sit down and think about what I want to accomplish in 2014. There are lots of things that I want to do before the year is out, some of them big important things that will require a lot of hard work but also some smaller more manageable tasks that should be easy to accomplish as long as I keep my list close by to remind me of my goals! 

I've pinned the list you can see up above on the wall next to my desk so it's always within view to keep me on track. Have you made a list like this? Do you ever stop to think and write down things you'd like to accomplish? I find it really helpful as I often have 'down days' where I feel like I'm just ticking along without achieving anything and so at those points I look at this list of easy to accomplish things and get going which helps to get me out of my sad funk!

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I have something a little different for you today my lovelies and not just the hilarious screen grab above!

I've been wanting to branch into videos for a while now, I have two outfit videos up already but I wanted to try something new and so decided to do a favourite things round up. It's a good mix of stuff covering beauty, fashion, hair care and there's even a book in there - I really hope you like it. I'm a bit awkward to start with so apologies for that, also this made me realise how much a nerd I look when I talk pulling lots of expressions and apparently not being able to keep my hands still, but hey we can't all be super cool ice queen types.

If you have any suggestions on anything I could improve on or if there is anything you'd like me to cover in a future video please either leave me a comment below or drop me an email, I'd really appreciate it! So, here's the video - I really hope you like it!


And now on to the products...




Have a fabulous weekend my lovelies!

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Hello beautifuls! I've mentioned it many times before but I think it's worth repeating - your eyes show the most expression of any part of your face. You can tell if a smile is real by looking at someones eyes, they show the real happiness not the lips. There are a few tricks you can use to make your eyes look big, sparkly and bright (I'll be going into this in more detail in another post soon) and one of them is to make sure you curl your lashes before applying mascara to make sure they're as long and lifted as possible.

I've tried quite a few different lash curlers before now, heated ones, cheap ones, kinda pricey ones. The only real difference I have noticed this far isn't really in how well they curl your lashes but how comfortable they are in your hand and the quality of the mechanism. Cheap ones always feel cheap and to be honest I'm a little scared of the heated ones. The last expensive pair I bought (£25) actually lasted less time than my cheap ones with part of the mechanism breaking and getting lost as it was so tiny.

I'm really pleased with the pair from Bella and Bear. They're called the Eye and Mighty Eyelash Curler and they're currently on sale for £12.99*. As with all Bella and Bear products they come beautifully packaged in a cute shabby chic style box which also includes a little gift card for a nice discount off your next purchase. The curlers themselves are made from a nice, good quality metal and the handles are a gorgeous metallic cherry red. They have a bit of a brushed finished which makes them nice and grippy and the feel really comfortable and secure in your hands when you use them. The handles are also shaped more like scissors so they feel more familiar in your hands which I think helps you get used to using them much quicker than if they just had plain finger loops!

As you can see from the photos below they do make a great difference - I think they make my lashes a great lift and curl boost so they look much better than if I'd just used mascara on its own!


Do you usually use a lash curler? If not have you ever tried one? 

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*This post contains items that were gifted for review. For more information head to my disclaimer page.

As soon as I saw this maxi dress from Boohoo Plus I thought 'Lydia Deetz'. Beetlejuice has been one of my favourite movies since I was little, it came out the year after I was born and I'm pretty sure you could say it influenced my teenage years (along with other Tim Burton movie) during which I wore a hell of a lot of black and lived life on the 'macabre side' should we say. I still have quite a fondness for gothic glamour and spooky movies and I sure do love a good dark lipstick and a bit of black lace so it was no surprise really that this dress stood out to me.

The dress itself is made of a stretchy, heavyweight fabric and features a faux wrap front with a waist tie and a saucy split at the side. Unfortunately my intense pear shape-ness let me down again and the top is a bit big for me, but a smaller size would have been too tight over my bum and tum, but it's very comfortable and if anything the relaxed fit just makes it a bit more witchy! I also liked the slightly flared sleeves which also added to the look.

I think the £20 price tag on this dress is pretty unbelievable for the quality of the fabric you get - they've not skimped which means you get the great relaxed shape and flattering skirt that doesn't cling. It's also very on trend look, I'm sure you've noticed over the last year that the gothy New England witch look is oh so fashionable. It's a great transitional piece too as you can wear it with tights and boots now the weather is turning colder but have the short sleeves to stop you over heating when the sun does make an appearance!

I wore the amazing Black Metal Dahlia Lip Tar from OCC with this outfit and added a strong brow for a Siouxsie Sioux style look and threw on my favourite new gold detailed biker boots from Fashion World. To finish the look I wore one of my most precious jewellery items, a stag skull necklace that Pete bought me from Galibardy not long after we got together. 



Black Metal Dahlia Metallic Lip Tar - Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics - £11.50

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*This post contains items that were gifted for review. For more information head to my disclaimer page.
I know I'm not the only one who was incredibly excited when Sephora started shipping to the UK earlier this year, but it does seem like I'm the only one that hasn't placed an order yet! My year has filled up pretty fast and so sadly all my spare money is being saved, but as it's my birthday in October I'm hoping I'll get to place an order with some of my birthday money. In the mean time I'll just dream of all that beautiful make up and try to cut down my wish list to make it a more purse friendly! 


Wonderchilde  -  Sexer  -  Bauhua5



Singularity  -  Discovery  -  Ambitious



Have you placed a Sephora order yet? Do you have any stand out products from them that you'll definitely be buying again? I just love the Kat Von D collections - I now have three palettes, three lipsticks, two eye primers and an eye pencil and I can't wait to try some more pieces from her line! 

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I live in a world of created beauty, I bleach my hair and I won't leave the house without a full face of make up, I wear bust emphasising bras and I am building up my collection of tattoos. I have never and still do not consider myself a natural beauty (which I am perfectly fine with by the way) and so when I meet someone who naturally has a perfect pretty face and a beautiful body I just love it. Marie is one of those ladies.

I first met Marie, ever so briefly, back in February at an event held by Simply Be at the Anna Scholz studios in London. She looked ever so stunning and when I got home I couldn't stop gushing about the tall girl with the wonderful curly hair and gorgeous, big, kind eyes. At that point I wasn't overly familiar with Marie and her writing although I knew I had seen photos of her before and so I found her blog and read pretty much the entire archive of posts.

Marie's writing is inspiring and imaginitive and I love that she references her favourite books, films and tv shows and shares lots of memories from her childhood - I love a bit of nostalgia! Marie has her own style and wears what she likes, not what the current fashion dictates, and I love and relate to that so much. She's also a big fan of pretty vintage things and cream cheese, just like me!!! Not only does Marie write her blog Migg Mag but she also contributes to Bustle, Simply Be, Huffington Post UK and Volup2.

If you don't know Marie's work I seriously recommend that you have a look through her blog and check out her articles, her pieces make me feel happy and empowered and wonderful and confident in my own skin - you won't be disappointed I promise.

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Hey guys! This week has been a real bummer for me, I really hope you've all had a better one than me. I'm so looking forward to my lie in tomorrow I can't begin to explain it! Despite the suckiness of the week I have a lot to look forward to over the next few months so I'm just trying to focus on that - Plus North, new tattoos, a weekend in Bruges, a week in Greece and my birthday in London. I really can't complain with all that to be excited about!

Another thing that perked up this week a little was receiving this beautiful dress that I ordered from the Simply Be sale. It's the Abbey Shirt Style Dress from the Project D line and caught my eye a long time ago but as I didn't have a reason for buying it I tried to forget it existed so I wouldn't want it any more! Naturally more dresses came along and this blue beauty was pushed to the back of my mind until I spotted it in the latest Simply Be sale listings and my love for it came flooding back! It was reduced to just £19.50 and at that price I just couldn't say no.

The detailing to this dress is amazing with lots of clever pin tucking and stitching and beautiful little mother of pearl buttons - I adore how it's a very formal and old fashioned style but made from a crazy psychedelic fabric! The fabric is really cool and light feeling and it hangs beautifully so despite the long sleeves and high neck it's actually really comfortable even in the warm weather. I don't think I would have liked it anywhere near as much without the waist tie to define my waist but if you're a fan of smock dresses you could easily wear it without the tie for a looser more tunic like shape.

I took the obvious option and went for red accessories with the blue and white of the dress, because I think it's such an eye catching colour scheme that makes me think of the 1960's almost as much as the style of the dress! Both the shoes and bag are old so unfortunately I can't provide links to them sorry!

What do you think of this style dress? Is it something you'd wear too or is it too old fashioned a shape or too bold a print for your liking?


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If you've been following me on Twitter for some time now you'll know that my first blog before Sugar, Darling? was a recipe blog called The Inky Kitchen. I wasn't hugely dedicated to it but I did really enjoy sharing my kitchen adventures and loved it when people told me they had tried one of my recipes! I haven't update that blog in years and a planning on removing it in the near future but before I did I wanted to share some of my favourite recipes and share them in a more user friendly format for cooking at home. I'll share a few recipes at a time and will have them available to download as a printable recipe page - nice and easy for using at home so you don't have to worry about splashing your laptop/iPad/whatever with hot food while you're cooking!

This week I'm sharing four of my favourite savoury recipes as shown above, just click the name of the dish below and you'll be taken to a Scribd page where you can view and print the recipe sheet or save it for later!






I really hope you like these recipes and I'd love to hear what you think if you give any of them a go!

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