Gishwhes: Death To Normalcy! 2013

Back in October last year I had the pleasure to participate in something called GISHWHES. 

GISHWHES basically stands for:

Greatest International Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen.

It was founded by Misha Collins (best known for playing Castiel in the tv show Supernatural) in 2011 and broke the world record for the largest international scavenger hunt and last year we managed to break not just 1, but 2 world records!
1. Breaking the previous years record with over 14'000 people!
2. The most amounts of random acts of kindess argeed to on one day.

My team were called Baddasilikslovehamburgurlars (they joint together team names of different people)
and the prize was a sleepover in a haunted castle in Scotland with Misha with all your flights and travel paid for!

Here are a few photos from my teams submissions!

Let’s see your team displayed like the “Brady Bunch” opening credits except there are 3 rows of 5 pictures (versus the 3X3 we know from the “Brady Bunch” opening credits points). The submission must be 1 image with the 15 frames in it. Each of you must be wearing 70s attire and must look VERY emotionally unbalanced. 15 points

II'm the one at the far right in the middle.

'If your team could give the entire world one piece of advice, what would it be? Have one a team member hold a sign bearing the statement over their head in front of an internationally recognizable landmark.'

 

This year GISHWHES will be taking place in August and you have 1 week to register on the gishwhes website from today (28/7/13) for the best and worst week of your life. You won't regret it, you could go from covering your boobs in jewels (an actual task from last year) to building a catapult big enough to launch a pumpkin over a massive field! (another task from last year!)

Did I forget to mention the prize this year is a trip to CANADA?!?! 

If you do register please use my referral email: bethansymes23@Hotmail.com :)

www.gishwhes.com

 

 I'm all set up on my team Weekend At Crowleys this year and so now the only thing left to say is good luck, and try to not cry too hard when my team beat you! x

Bethan xoxo 

Student Discount: Where would I be without it!

Hey guys, I've just got back from an afternoon of shopping in the for once, british sun! I brought quite a few items today after deciding to spend my £150  of winnings from the Grand National from a £1.50 bet!

I realised once I got home that in every single shop I brought something from, I used a nifty little card called a NUS card to get discount on all my items!

  

Now unfortunately not everyone is eligible for this card as it's more commonly known as a 'student discount card' but you are eligible for one if you are aged 16 or over and are in further or higher education and it really is a blessing, I don't know how I'm going to cope next year when I'm on my gap year



To check out more discounts available you can visit the website here:

http://www.nus.org.uk/en/nus-extra/discounts/

It does cost £12 however please don't let you stop the cost put you off, it's valid for a year and I have most certainly saved the cost of the card atleast 10 times over!
I saved a massive £7.20 on one dress in Dorothy Perkins alone last time I went shopping thanks to the 25% discount!

So to answer the question, I would be one very poor student without it!

Do you have a student discount already? whats the best bargain you've managed to get with it? 

XoXo

Barry M: Glitter Glitter Glitter!

Hey guys! 

So yesterday afternoon I went shopping to try and find some costumes for 2 themed parties I'm going to in a couple of weeks, 1: Western, and the other Alternative Superheros. 

Unfortunately I came home with a cowboy hat and some nail varnish.

well... I suppose atleast it's progress!

Surprise Surprise I've brought more of Barry M's wonderful nail varnish to use to my hearts content!

 

Barry M - Matt White

Barry M - Ruby Glitter 

Superdrug / Boots - £2.99 each

I really can't resist glitter nail varnish, even if it can be a right pain in the bum to remove sometimes. So when I saw this 'Ruby Glitter' polish sitting all alone on the stand I just had to get it!

 

Along with most glitter polishes what you see in the bottle is not what you get, I orginally thought it was black nail varnish with pink sequins in however its black and pink sequins with smaller flecks of black in it meaning you certainly need a base coat like the white I have used for this polish to really look nice!

This was my end result, and all in all I have to say I'm really happy with it.

 

 

What do you think?

Also if anyone has some outrageous costume ideas for me I am all ears! Just drop me a comment below. There will sure be a few posts about my costumes for the upcoming weeks!

xoxo

Holiday Haul!: New Look, Forever 21, Boohoo + More!

I noticed I haven't really done a proper haul for you guys yet so I'm doing one now!

I've brought alot recently for holiday, even though I'm not going until July I just love love love buying clothes for the summer so I do tend to go a bit overboard once they start coming out.

Here are a few items i've brought over the last couple of weeks:

ButterFly Midi Dress - £22
Boohoo.com

This is one of two dresses I ordered from boohoo.com a couple of weeks ago and I was a bit cautious whilst ordering since I have never ordered anything from Boohoo before and was not sure what their sizes were like. After searching through the internet for help and coming up with the view that it depends what item you buy I took a leap of faith and ordered this in a size 16 and I'm so glad I got it because it fits like a glove!

I had to order a strapless bra for this dress because the back of the black part is pretty much all on show except for a couple of straps but it really does sit wonderfully and the butterfly effect goes longer at the back which means im not constantly worrying if people are seeing a bit too much when I bend over!

Unfortunately the other dress I got did not fit, however it did fit at the waist, the only problem was the chest area. It seems boohoo are amongst places such as H&M and Primark that seem to think nobody has boobs past a C cup. I also didn't appreciate them declining by review of the dress simply because I was mentioning a couple of cons to it, trying to warn big boobed woman this was not the dress for them! Seems they only let good reivews through....

 Zig Zag Top - £9.99
New Look

I brought this top to go with shorts since most of my holiday will be spent in theme parks on rides as you do when you go to Florida. It feels really soft and I love the lacey backdrop on the back. I was also expecting this to be more, it was only £ 8.79 with my student discount!

Polka Dot Blue Dress - £8.99
New Look 

I ordered this dress online from New Look as it was an online exclusive, something new look seem to be doing a lot more now to my dissapointment. I much prefer being able to try stuff on in store. Now don't get me wrong it does look really nice on but again the chest area is a problem! It's far too tight on my E cups and pushes them down. It almost makes me look like I've got 4 boobs!
I do however still love this so I'm going to turn it into a skirt to wear with slouchy tops, again for theme parks primarily. 

White Aztec Print Dress - £21.99
Forever 21

I bagged this dress the last time I went to London and decided to spend a few hours down Oxford Street. If I go to Forever 21 I usually go to Birmingham considering how big their one is and the one of Oxford Street kind of let me down a little bit. I was expecting there to be a lot more here than in Birmingham.

I adore this dress, it is a tiny bit short for me but I can easily put some fabric shorts underneath to ensure my dignity is kept! This will be perfect for water parks. They had this available in both black and white but I decided I need to stop buying black clothing for a change!

Aztec Denim Skirt Button Up - £19.99
New Look

The main thing that dragged me to this skirt was the belt on it. It's really bright and vibrant and I'm an absolute sucker for aztec.
I haven't got too many tops at the moment that go with this because of how it sits, most of my shirts look weird tucked into it but if not you can't see the belt. I'm going to need to go get some simple black vests to wear with this.




American Cola t-shirt - £12.99
New Look

Again I brought this because I thought it would be perfect to go with shorts for theme parks. Also I keep noticing loads of things with the american flag on them and since I'm going to America I almost feel like I have to have them so thats how this one creeped into my basket.

No.1 of my wishlist is a pair of American Shorts! I haven't found any since last year in Topshop and now they're all sold out, if you know anywhere I can find some please let me know in the comments below!

Petite Black and White Aztec Stripe Midi Dress - £16.99
New Look

I wasn't too sure about this dress to begin with but I decided to try it on instore anyway, and i'm very glad I did! I thought it would show off every lump and bump but it actually hides it really well for a midi dress. There is a bit at the front but hold in pants hold that in rather nicely!


xoxo

New Duvet Cover: Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!

Hey everyone, I finally got a new duvet this weekend after a few weeks of searching without any luck!
I found my duvet in BHS in their home section by a company called 'Vintage Home' which indicated by the name, produce vintage style products such as bedding and pillows for the home.

Vintage Home 'Bon Voyage' Single Duvet Cover + 1 Pillowcase

BHS  - £35 £17.50

I adore the french feel to this duvet cover and it has some really nice detailed pieces on it. 

I originally thought it was £35 however I was pleasently suprised to find at the checkout it was half price! Certainly a bargain at £17.50 since the ones I were looking at online all cost more than £50 and in my opinion this one is better.

 

I love it! I just wish i'd of thought harder about the type of bed I got before I started buying loads of white furniture! Woops...

xoxo

Birdcage Lamp

I was borrowing around in Dunelm Mill at the weekend looking for a new duvet cover considering mine is starting to look worse for wear but alas, the duvet gods were not in my favor,  the lamp gods however were very much so!



Birdcage Lamp - £14.99
Dunelm Mill

I absoutely adore this lamp, its shaped like a birdcage and even has the little hook on the top of it so that you can hang the lamp in the air if you want! I decided not to as the white wire was a bit too shown off for my liking but here it is the perfect height for me next to my bed.




When turned on the light shines off the plastic jewels and it spread the design all over my room, it's really pretty! The only problem I would have is it can be a bit too bright since there isn't anything covering the bulb, I may need to invest in a dimmer bulb for it because it does hurt my eyes if I keep it on for too long at the moment.

If you like this and want one for yourself then they also do this birdcage for £12.99 which enables a lampshade to be put onto and also a very similar design for £8.99 in B&M or Wilkinsons with square jewels instead of circular ones and a cheaper metal work.

New Releases: Barry M Nails Art Pens

I think it's pretty obvious already from my previous posts that I am a big Barry M fan. I almost exclusively shop with Barry M for all my make up and nail varnish and so I was very excited to here about their new nail art pen releases.

Considering I only just recently went out to Superdrug and brought one of these in black from Models Own range I was also slightly annoyed when I found that these were a £1 cheaper (£4.99) than the one I had brought however I am defiantly going to be buying 1, maybe even 2 of these new nail art pens from Barry M. 

I hope these are a hit with Barry M customers so that they can explore a different range of colours, I'd love to see a red nail art pen from them! 

What do you think? Are you going to buy any?

They will be on sale from any Superdrug or Boots near you starting next week!

Also guys, if you're not aware yet Barry M are running a competition on their Facebook page until Monday called 'Flash Your Lashes' to celebrate the release of their new mascara 'Lash Vegas'

It's simple: All you have to do is say who you would flash your lashes at with a photo.

A whopping 10 winners will receive a goody bag filled with the latest spring Barry M products including: Gelly Nail Paint in Lychee, Green Berry, Dragon Fruit & Papaya; Textured Nail Effects Nail Paint in Ridley Road, Atlantic Road, Station Road & Kingsland Road PLUS our New Gel Waterproof Eyeliners in Black, Silver & Champagne.

And a further 5 will win the new mascara! 

Last time I looked their were about 30 entries. With 50% chance of winning, I like them odds!

Here is my entry of my friend, flashing her lashes at one of our countries loyal veterans! (Don't worry I asked her permission!)

Their isn't long left so make sure you get your entries in!

https://www.facebook.com/ILoveBarryM/app_192229990808929

Newspaper nails: A bookworms dream

A couple of days ago I came across an interesting article on 'Nail Art' which discussed a few different effects  you can do with your nails and stumbled across the coined term 'Newspaper Nails' and thought 'perfect!' As an avid reader I thought this was an ideal effect to sprout out my personality!

It doesn't take a genius to work out what this effect is. Text is taken from a newspaper and imprinted onto your nails to make a newspaper text effect!

I have used Vodka to do mine as it gives the best results with more vivid text, however there is a large range of things you can use or try. I tried this effect a few days ago without Vodka (as a girl 3 months off her 18th birthday Vodka is not readily available to me) and used a combination of things on my nails. I tried: Water, Almond extract and perfume. They all worked to some extent but vodka is just that much better

When one of my friends offered to get me the vodka I said 'yes!' faster than my mum when I use to ask to go sleep round someone else's house!

Here is the easy to follow steps to this amazing but easy effect!

1. Apply a base coat and once dry, apply a pale nail varnish. If you use a dark nail varnish the text print won't show up and so the lighter, the more vibrant it will show up.

2. Cut out 10 pieces on newspaper that are big enough to cover each one of your nails.

3. Pour out the Vodka (or any other spirit based drink) into an old dish or cup (I used the lid of the vodka bottle as it was easy to dip my nails quickly in and out)

4. Dip each nail individually into the Vodka.

5. Place one of your newspaper cuttings text side down onto the top of your nail. This can be a bit fiddly so make once it's on your nail you don't move it around, otherwise the text will smudge.

6. Hold it down for a few seconds and press down on it so that the text transfers onto your nail and when you think it's done, peel off the newspaper. You should be left with a wonderfully newspaper effect and can repeat think 9 more times for all your nails.

7. Add a coat of clear nail varnish to ensure the text stays there! This is important, without the topcoat the text rubs off really easily.

Here is my end result:

What do you think? 

xoxo

Coral Wishbone Dress

A few years ago about 80% off my clothes came from Iron Fist - a more alternative fashion company, which at the time, suited me down to the ground. Now don't get me wrong, I still love some of their clothing (not to mention they sell reallllllly well on ebay), I've just learned to appreciate other clothing outlets as I've grown older.  There was a time where I would only shop in Pulp and my local alternative shop 'Spun Out'.

Every now and again I come across gems by Iron Fist though and this dress is certainly one that has been on my wishlist for a long time!
Sadly as a plus sized girl Iron Fist isn't the most helpful to me when it comes to sizing, the most they go up to is an XL which is roughly a size 14 to a small size 16 depending on the individual so I never buy anything with a zip on from them (it would just be a waste of my money and a huge knock to my self esteem)  Dresses like this, even though it would be a little short would fit me pretty well however as my waist is a lot smaller than my hips. Unfortunately this dress is very popular and I haven't managed to find an XL yet in my local store or online!
I guess I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for someday in the future.

It's the perfect cross between girly and a bit more alternative with the skull going across it. I just simply love it. A perfect dress for the well needed summer!

xoxo

Models Own Nail Art Pens

Up until about a couple of months ago I didn't really give much thought to what my nails looked like, or what colour they were. Very rarely would I venture and use the one bottle of nail varnish I owned, only cracking it out for very special occasions. (I don't know why, the color wasn't even that nice)

But now? Now I'm obsessed with nails! I don't go a day without having some sort of nail varnish on my nails,  a habit my mother has come to hate since it leaves the house smelling of it for hours after I've used it!

Personally I'm a creature of habit, so I stick with what I know works, which is why when I just tallied them up my bottle, since christmas alone I've brought a whopping 20 bottles of nail varnish (Thank god for superdrugs 3 for 2) 19 of which are Barry M and only 1 Models Own.

However! Yesterday I ventured into my local boots and bought a  Black Nail Art Pen  from Models Own collection. I'm not too sure how long they have had these out for but I was pretty chuffed when I spotted them. I've been looking for something like this for a while and all I could seem to find were expensive, 1 time use stickers.

For £6 a bottle, I was happy to shell out my money for one!

Not to mention if you bought 3 it would only cost you £12!

I just love the design of the box as well, it really stands out and is very eye capturing (ahh puns)

With the bottle you have 2 choices, either twist it to bring out a thick brush for lines and stripes or pull the top off to result in the nib that is photo'd below for writing words, dots and various other things!

Personally I prefer the nib end, the larger brush was a bit too large for me to do the lines without getting the nail varnish all over my hand and it's much easier to make the lines with the nib end. But really it's probably because my hands aren't the most stable of hands.

I would love to show you my results however my camera was playing up whilst I was doing this and my nails are now currently wrapped in newspaper (my next post will explain!) so here's Marina's lovely leopard print nails!

At the moment that have 5 different colours but I'm sure that they'll be adding more considering how good they are! You can pick these up in anywhere that sells Model Own make up brand so, Superdrug or Boots.

What do you think? Whats your favourite pattern to do with these nail art pens?

xoxo

My Mad Fat Diary

I've taken inspiration from the hit e4 show 'My Mad Fat Diary' and self-written diary by Rae Earl of the same name for today's blog post to show you my own beautiful diary!

I can pretty much guarantee to you that I am both Mad and Fat let's say plus-sized, the word fat is not a word I like to use, whether its true or not (which it is in this case)

What is a diary to me? Lot's of people use diaries for lots of different reasons, and personally I don't write in it every day. I tried once and failed miserably, I managed about 3 days in a row and already began to see it as more of a chore than something I would look forward to writing in. I only write in it if something particularly interesting has happened that day or if I find myself with a lot of time to kill on public transport (bus / train etc.)

I also sometimes add various bits and bobs to it, for example my poem I had to write for GISHWHES is somewhere among-st the entries. 

What do you use your dairy for?

 Butterflies, Cats Diary 

£12.99 - Paperblank (Waterstones / WHSmith)

Now, I'm not going to pretend these diaries are a bargain, because at £12.99 this was certainly a bit steeper than I would have liked it to be! But it was seriously just too pretty to pass up.

I actually got this diary as a present for my 17th Birthday back last june so I can't say much on price really, but they have a wide range of diaries on offer and depending on the type you want go as low as £7.99

Personally I saw it as £12.99 for 12 months use, so for me is was perfect.

I literally take this everywhere with me and because of it's size it's pretty easy to do so as well.  It's about A5 and so unless I'm using a small clutch bag it fits in most of my bags with ease.

It's just the right size so that it doesn't require a lot of effort on my part to fill it up and I can scribble away!

Have you heard or ever brought any of paperblanks diaries before? If so which one is your favourite?

xoxo

Aztec Is Everywhere!

One thing that is defiantly going to be big this summer is Aztec. If you don't like aztec patterns I feel pretty I'm sorry to say you probably won't be escaping it anytime soon because the amount of it I see when out shopping is sometimes ridiculous!

Red Aztec Print Button Up 

River Island - £25

As I mentioned in a previous post I very rarely buy anything from River Island, however this is the second item in a week I've brought from them now! They've got some really nice 'on the edge' of summer clothes in store at the moment and I can't wait for this to be delivered. I really love statement skirts and I really don't have enough of them! Usually I spot more statement tops so it makes a nice change. 

I shall review this more once it comes!

Aztec Strappy Sun Dress

Topshop - £36

Although I don't have it myself, I do love this dress. It's really simple and perfect for the hot sun on holiday or         those rare sunny days here in the UK. The price is the main thing stopping me here, £36 for a rather thin material summer dress is far too high in my opinion. Topshop seem to be putting their prices up every time I go in. Also they do love to make dresses for rather short people and at 5ft 10' this dress would certainly reveal way too much!

Red Aztec Dress

New Look - £16.99

I really regret not getting this dress when it was in my local store, I thought it wouldn't suit my body shape but surprisingly it actually really suits me as I tried it on in a similar colour hoping I would be able to buy this colour online. Unfortunately it sold out before I could buy it, so until I get lucky on ebay, this dress is not for me! :(

Aztec Dress 

H&M - £19.99

This dress is from last years summer collection but its stunning!

My dressing table

I thought I'd show you guys my dressing table. It took me a while to find  the right one but I finally found this beauty on ebay and within an hour I was on my way to Corby to collect it!

I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo above but the mirror isn't part of the dressing table, I brought it separately from Homebase afterwards and I think it matches really nicely. I originally found it in Argos for £40 and couldn't find any other to match so I unhappily bought it, however I then went into Homebase the next day and found the exact same mirror for only £20! I ended up cheekily returning the mirror to Argos and getting it from Homebase. £20 is £20 after all!

Around the mirror I've got my wonderful and trusty pink rose fairy lights. I got them from the Christmas market on the embankment in London about a year and a half ago. I don't turn them on very often around my mirror but they look really nice on or off and are a really nice simple touch to add. I went to the Christmas market in Birmingham christmas just gone and bought myself another pair but this time red roses, that sit across the top of my bed. 

Pink Roses - £16 (London)

Red Roses - £14 (Birmingham)

Ignore the half naked manga woman on my wallpaper, unless you like it of course =] I shall hopefully be changing my wallpaper very soon!

Stool - Ebay

£38

To me £38 was a bit steep for a stool but I had a masssssssive hunt and came up with diddly squat and plus I really loved the flowery pattern on this stool and the flowers on the base of the stool itself, even if, according to my mother it makes my room look like a french hotel room!

Dressing Table - £76.99

River Island Sandals!

As a girl bordering on the line of a size 16 and 18 due to my rather large hips and love of food I very rarely find myself buying anything from River Island where,  usually when I do actually find something I like the only sizes they seem to have left are 4's and 6's, something us bigger girls i'm sure have all  encountered on a regular basis.

But anyways, I kind of rambled a bit there and I shouldn't have (bad Bethan). Today for the first time in about 2 years I brought something from River Island. I brought these wonderful sandals!

That's the wonderful thing about shoes, they're loyal. I can change by body size until the cows come home and still my shoes will probably still fit me.

Now, I know what you're all thinking 'Bethan, you do realize it's been snowing today?!?' 

and yes I do realize what a stupid purchase this is considering the British weather however I'm hoping to save these sandals for when I go on holiday to Florida in July as I've mentioned in a previous post and I thought if I didn't buy them not they would certainly not have them when I got round to it!

They take me back a couple of years ago with the skulls on them considering a couple of years ago I wore full on scene and emo type clothing on a regular basis (don't ask) and I just really think they're gorgeous and£10 cheaper than the ones in Accessorize I originally had my eyes on.

White Skull Studded T Bar Sandels,

River Island - £25

Now to the annoying bit, I only noticed this sticker of one of the sandals once we got home and the only word I'm finding to describe it is... sad. Have we really gone so far that they have to put stickers like this onto shoes? Of course something is going to break if you use it a lot, its pretty much logic. 

I genuinely want to know what you guys think. Is this just River Island trying to cover their ass for poor quality made products  or are we as the public really that stupid that we need common knowledge like this pointed out to us?

Accessorize perfume

Accessorize Perfume

£15

I've had this perfume for a while now but i thought i would do a review on it anyway since it's so lovely. 

When I first saw this in the shop I was shocked that it was only £15, I was expecting around the £25-£30 mark in line with Accessorize's usually rather high price margin and so for £15 I splurged and bought it.

I certainly don't regret buying it! I probably use this perfume the most out of any of the perfume that I own.

The scent is really summer and floral and kind of fruity at the same time, it really reminds me of the start of a summer day and the bottle is so nice with the butterflies on it and crystal effect topper!

The only draw back is that it doesn't last all day long, it probably lasts about 4 hours before the smell fades rapidly, but for £15 that's to be expected. I usually bring it with me in my bag if I'm going on those long days out.

You can buy this in most Boots / Superdrug and of course Accessorize.

xoxo