12 Dream Pieces: June

12 Dream Pieces: June by grace-cottrell featuring a white t shirt

York OOTD: Alexander Wang dupe and Topshop Joni jeans

Here's what I wore to explore the city of York on my recent mini holiday. As you can see I chose a vivid and uplifting colour palette of black, grey and more black...

My tee shirt is from Burtons menswear, I like how it references tattoos as I spend far too much time in my local tattoo shop either getting pierced or fixing messed up piercings along with my best friend Charlotte.

I love to wear this tee shirt with a statement necklace, which I have a lot of. I saw this one in Zara and fell in love with all the chains and spikes but I couldn't justify paying that much, so when I saw the exact same necklace on Ali Express for £6 with free shipping, I ordered it straight away! It even came in the Zara packaging, is that dodgy? yes. Could you question the legalities? Probably. But hey, I got a good deal.

I wore my grey, acid-wash Topshop Joni jeans because they're super comfy and feel more like jeggings than jeans. I hate it when you have a long car journey and your jeans wrinkle up at the back of your knee, is that not the most annoying thing ever?

It was pretty cold in York so I threw on my Topshop leather jacket and also my Topshop Aphrodite boots as they are the most comfortable for walking around all day. My Alexander Wang dupe bag is from eBay and I find it to be the perfect size for staying over at a friends or short trips away, as it holds a lot of stuff but still enhances an outfit.

So that's what I wore to go sightseeing in York, hope you enjoyed this post and please excuse the headphones, mirror photos and crying Kim K phone case! My family are usually extremely unorganized and so they were very concerned about missing Breakfast at the hotel...

York photo diary

On Thursday I took a trip to York with my family, I initially didn't expect much because I didn't really know what the city had to offer but I actually really enjoyed it!

We visited York minister but I didn't look round because I refused to pay, I get that people have to make money but it's annoying. Saying that though it was beautiful to look at even from the outside!

We also rambled about the town looking in gift shops, which too were overpriced. I mean yes I would have enjoyed a plush grumpy cat but I'm not going to hand over twenty English pounds to satisfy that need.

We ate in a restaurant called Rustique which I would highly reccomend for anyone visiting the city. I had the seafood linguine, which had a lot of fish, mussels, prawns ect, often I find that seafood dishes only contain a couple of prawns so that was a nice change. The meal was amazing and my family thoroughly enjoyed their meals too.

The next day we visited the museum gardens where I was half bullied into holding an owl. I think the photo above truly captures my expression of fear...

Overall York was a surprisingly good mini holiday and the city has a lot to offer!

Details: Harley Davidson shorts and All Saints Biker Vest

Shorts - Vintage

 Jumper - Vintage

 Vest - All Saints

 Sunglasses - Forever 21

 Watch - Casio

 Backpack - Vintage 

Skate shoes - Topshop

Here are the details of yesterday's outfit, I had been desperate to wear these shorts which I bought off a seller on Depop, I love all things motorcycle related so I just had to have these!

I love summer especially long evening walks and being able to sit in the park for hours just relaxing.

Another great thing about this time of year is that season two of Hannibal is now underway on NBC. I mean can we just stop and take a second to appreciate the bearded wonder that is, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy)

My forever 21 tinted aviators have also made an appearance this week with the sun being out everyday, although it is starting to cool down now. We did manage to squeeze in a BBQ though which you can read about here: http://exploringwardrobes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ootd-summer-bbq.html

May: 10 Dream pieces

May: 10 Dream pieces by grace-cottrell featuring celine sunglasses

MAC Alluring Aquatic: Aphrodite's shell and fathoms deep

As foretold in our previous post, the release of the MAC Alluring aqua collection meant that our bank balances once again became endangered.

After frantically running to Charlotte's house with visa in hand, I ordered Aphrodite's shell extra dimension bronzer and fathoms deep extra dimension eyeshadow.

My parcel arrived today, a day later than Charlotte's...? But ah well. Aphrodite's shell bronzer is a natural warm golden shade that will work best on light to medium skin tones. The powder is extremely finely milled and almost feels like a cream to the touch.

Fathoms deep appears to be a navy blue on the MAC website but in person it's more of a dark charcoal grey with a blue undertone. This eyeshadow is beautifully pigmented and provided an opaque swatch with one swipe. I really look forward to using this all over the lid for a dramatic smokey eye.

On a final note, yes it was most definitely the packaging which attracted me to this collection with the metallic blue and raised water droplets. I think this is one of my favourite packaging designs MAC has produced.

Grace xx

London calling

Cardigan - H&M

Cami - Topshop

Coated Leigh jeans - Topshop

Boots - Topshop

Phone case - Etsy

Hi guys, sorry I've been a little MIA recently, AS exams are fast approaching! Instead of spending the whole Easter break revising however, me and my best friend Charlotte decided to take a day out to visit the capital.

We quite literally shopped until we dropped and walked 11 miles in total, a result of refusing to pay for the tube to ensure we could afford a MAC blush... (Our parents question our priorities)

Covent garden, Oxford street and Piccadilly Circus are amongst the destinations we stumbled upon on on ramblings so overall I feel like we saw quite a lot considering we walked everywhere. At the end of the day we were unbelievably tired and my expression resembled that of my Kim Kardashian phone case so we welcomed the warmth and comfort of Pizza Express, as well as their chocolate fudge cake which was amazing.

Here is a quick changing room outfit photo taken in H&M. I really need to buy a cardigan but its something I always put off doing for some reason even though I would wear it very often. Why is that? Oh and a quick side note, MAC studio fix fluid lasted from 5:30 AM until 11:30PM with no touch ups whatsoever, if anyone is looking for a hardcore foundation then this is the one!

For a full account of our trip and to find out what is in the mysterious bag near my feet check out the post on our joint blog: http://exploringwardrobes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/exploring-london-by-foot.html

Grace xx