What's In My Bag?

Let me introduce you to the bag of my dreams. If you read my blog you will already have seen this about 50 times ... But still, how pretty is it?! Vivienne Westwood is one of my favourite designers, I think that they're a great brand if you're looking for an amazing, stylish bag that won't leave you broke for the next 5 years.

I've never been someone who can stick to carrying around just essentials with me. At the moment, you will always find my Kate Spade agenda in my bag. I love feeling organised and having somewhere to keep track of my week, writing things down always helps me to visualise my goals. This one is sold out but you can browse Kate Spade notebooks here.

For daily essentials, I love my Vivienne Westwood faux snakeskin purse. I've used it everyday for over a year and it still looks new, although I love that slightly worn in effect. I have since upgraded to an iPhone 6 since writing this post, but you can always count on Primark for cute phone cases. At the moment I'm using the 100% Mermaid case by Skinnydip London, which will be making an appearance soon on my blog!

When it comes to make-up, I tend to use my Zoeva brush case to carry around the essentials. Lately, that's been a brown eyeliner from Bourjois, the new Benefit Roller Lash and the NARS creamy concealer, everything I need for touch-ups throughout the day. I usually have about 5 lipsticks in my bag, but lately I've been loving this pink shade by YSL, perfect for an easy every day lip. The NARS Virtual Domination cheek palette is also an essential that comes everywhere with me - it's complete with everything you need to bronze up your skin or give a cute pink blush to the cheeks.

Do you like this bag? What do you always carry around with you?

Lydia Rose,

xoxo

                                         TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK 

Floppy Hats in London

Boohoo Turtle Neck Dress | Forever21 Gilet* | Vivienne Westwood Bag | Shoes | H&M Hat (similar)

When you're feeling uninspired or have lost direction in your life, there's nothing like getting lost in London to realign yourself with the world. I spent a month of my summer last year interning in the city and I was so happy with the direction of my life and who I was becoming. Waking up early, getting on the tube and spending the day writing articles at my favourite magazine inspired me so much for the future. London is a city where inspiration is everywhere, everyone seems to have a direction and there's something new and exciting around the corner. I felt realigned with the person I was and it gave me the motivation to keep working hard at my degree and stay focused. Everything is temporary and I am determined to kick essay stress in the ass and do well this year.
I was in London last weekend for London Fashion Weekend and it was definitely what I needed. Sometimes your head gets so stuck in the Uni bubble and the general pace of life that you just need to take yourself out of it. Premier Inn kindly gave us a room and we had such a perfect stay - they're a hotel I would definitely recommend if you're looking for somewhere on a budget but where you can guarantee that the rooms will still be really nice (and the beds are uhhmazing).
Saturday was chaotic with London Fashion Weekend so on the Sunday we just spent the day exploring. First on my list was hitting Vantra Vitao on Oxford St for the most amazing vegan food, ever. I've been wanting to try the buffet there for so long and I'm not going to lie, I was that girl with a portion bigger than her head. We spent the day wandering and exploring and I finally gritted my teeth and bought the Anastasia Film Star Bronze and Glow which is the contouring palette which dreams are made of.

Do you love London? What do you think of this outfit?

Lydia Rose,

xoxo

A Budget Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade Dupe?

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Eyeshadow in 'Permanent Taupe'

Okay, I am seriously late to the party when it comes to Maybelline Colour Tattoos. I'm sure you'll have already read about them - but I just had to share this dupe for the Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade.
The formula is a matte, taupey brown, which when applied with an angled brush gives an amazing sculpted look to the brows. It has a thick, creamy consistency which is much easier to shape the brows with than eyeshadow powder and stays put all day. I lined underneath my brows with the Colour Tattoo and then flicked up with the brush to fill them in a little bit more. The result? Awesome brows, super cheap, and super simple.

What do you think of this dupe? Would you try it?

Lydia Rose,

xoxo

March's Face

A bronze smokey eye and baby pink lip has been my go to make up lately. It's the perfect combination for when you don't really have a lot of time but still want to look put together.
I've always been a red lip kind of girl but recently I've been swapping the high maintenance for more easy to wear shades. MAC'S Snob lipstick is perfect for this, the smooth and creamy formula makes it super light on the lips and easy to wear. When it comes to pigmentation, you just can always count on MAC, it's just the perfect baby pink.
For my base I've been loving the L'Oreal True Match Foundation - if you're looking for a budget foundation, this is it, trust me. It seems to suit a lot of different skin types (my friends are hooked too) and I would compare the coverage to MAC Studio Fix just without the cakeyness. I only bought it as a go between for when my NARS Sheer Glow ran out, but I've been loving it that much I haven't repurchased it!
Another drug store favourite has been the Maybelline Colour Tattoo eyeshadow in 'On and Bronze'. I use this to prime my lids and then sweep MAC Woodwinked over the top. The colour tattoos are cheap alternatives to the MAC paint points and do the trick to bring out the colour pigments in your shadows. To tie the eye look together, I just take a dark brown matte shade to smoke it out.
A combination of Benefit's Lolitint* and High Beam gives a gorgeous pop of pearly fuschia to the cheeks. I then bronzed up my face with 'Laguna' NARS Virtual Domination Palette, the cheek palette that dreams are made of.

What do you think of this make up look? Do you use any of these products?

Lydia Rose,

xoxo

Instagram Tips For Bloggers

Instagram is fast becoming one of the most popular and most used social networking sites out there, and I don't know about you, but I'm hooked! I neglected Instagram for a really long time and didn't really get all of the fuss, but lately I've been working hard to post photos I'm proud of and to network more. Think of Instagram as a mini portfolio for your blog, it lets you showcase a snapshot of your content in an app that literally everyone uses. Far more people use it than Bloglovin, people will actually see it (unlike Facebook), and it's generally just one of the most effective ways to get your blog out there. If you follow me @LydiaRoseSmyth (shameless self-promotion right there) then you might have noticed that my follower count has been going up lately, so I thought I'd share a few of my tips on how to improve your feed and get a few more followers...

Establish a Theme 

This by far is the most important thing when it comes to Instagram. If you take a look at the feeds you love or people who are 'successful' on Instagram then you will realise that they tend to have some kind of 'theme' going on. People love consistency and a feed that fits altogether with similar colours looks so much more visually appealing and interesting than one with random photos that don't really connect. Personally, I tend to go for really bright photos of makeup and fashion and feature a lot of bright pinks in my images. Since I've kept it consistent my likes and followers have gone up crazy amounts! The best way to do this is to use the same filter or editing programme on your images. My images that don't use filters, but use Instagram's built in tweaking tools (highlights, brightness, contrast etc), though, are always the ones I'm most happy with.

Post Frequently At Peak Times & Use Hashtags

On top of keeping your images consistent, the best way to grow your following is to post multiple times a day. Just like blogging, if you don't post regularly your followers will lose interest and follow other people who upload consistently. To keep on top of this, I tend to take a lot of my flat lays all at once when I'm in a creative mood and upload them throughout the week so I always have something to upload. Although this might seem obvious, if you want your account to be seen by more people then it's worth uploading at peak user times. Think about the times that you're most likely to be scrolling through your phone - when you just wake up, on your lunch break, and late in the evening, these tend to be the best times to post. Hashtags are the many way people are going to discover your feed, so always be sure to hashtag #fbloggers or #bbloggers.

Shout Outs

So this is a bit of a difficult subject when it comes to Instagram, but nobody can deny that it's one of the best ways to get your account seen. If you've ever wondered how so many bloggers have a huge following, often they are featured by major brands regularly. A few months ago Primark gave me a shoutout and my followers went up by 1,000 over night - mental, right?! To increase your chances of being featured, make sure to tag brands in your images and use their hashtags. Otherwise, you can always do shoutouts with other Instagrammers you like, but be careful not to over-spam your feed with this. People follow you because they like your feed - not for you to be constantly promoting other accounts. To avoid being spammy, pick one of their photos which fits in well with your feed and suggest to your followers that they might like their account. Do not spam other bloggers with SFS - send them a direct message, it's far less annoying. 

Be Social

Think back to when you first started your blog, how did you start getting followers? For me it was being really active in the Twitter chats and getting involved with the community. Instagram is exactly the same! Browse hashtags, comment and like other people's photos, and start engaging with people. It's important not to do this soley for the sake of getting followers, though. If you leave genuine comments you are far more likely to build up relationships with other bloggers and they will check your feed out that way, not because you've clearly used their comment section to promote yourself!

So these are my main tips, I hope it helped! Are you addicted to Instagram? Do you have any more tips to share?

What do you think of this outfit?

Lydia Rose,

xoxo

                                         TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK 

WHAT I WORE | London Fashion Weekend

Fur Coat | Motel Crop Top | Jeans*| Missguided Perspex Heels | Vivienne Westwood Bag

After attending London Fashion Week for the past few seasons, I decided to give this one a miss. Although I love the incredible chaos of LFW, on top of my course at the moment it was too much to organise. Let me tell you, there is heaps of planning that involves a blogging trip to LFW and now that the pressure is on with my course I really couldn't afford to lose my focus. Being a good student this time took priority, but didn't do much other than give me serious FOMO. So, when the British Fashion Council offered me a press pass to attend London Fashion Weekend I thought, why not?! A chilled weekend in London was just what I needed, so I took some down time and headed to my favourite city with my boyfriend.
London Fashion Weekend is a great way to get a dose of the fashion week experience. If you're not sure of the difference, to attend London Fashion Week you need to be invited by the PRs who run the shows.  The weekend event is open to anyone and the ticket prices vary depending on whether you want to see a catwalk show etc. There are also a lot of designer boutiques for you to shop which are fun to look around. Each day a different designer showed their collection, including Sibling and Jean-Pierre Braganza, so for anyone interested in fashion it's a really amazing way to see designers they wouldn't get to see otherwise. I decided to go on the Saturday in the hopes of seeing the Alexander McQueen talk but sadly the room filled up an hour before it began which left me a little heartbroken. So if you do ever attend the event, make sure you get there super early, although hopefully next year they will do the talks in a larger room!

We caught the Halston Heritage show which was a beautiful collection and it was really exciting to see such an iconic American brand. After grabbing a coffee and rummaging through the different boutiques, we went to see another talk with Hilary Alexander who interviewed Holly Fulton. As an aspiring writer, it was fascinating to see such a succesful fashion journalist in her element and she made sure to keep the talk really interesting. I definitely have a new found appreciation for Holly Fulton, she talked through the individual pieces to explain the extent of the craftswomanship that goes into every item.  Overall I really loved the day and am glad that I attended, it was far more relaxed than fashion week, all organised for me and gave that little dose of the experience. I think it's definitely a great event for anyone who loves fashion, but be prepared as the boutiques are at luxury prices and are not going to be within everyone's budgets. I think it's worth the ticket price to see the the catwalk and trend shows, but the talks could definitely be improved next year by accommodating for the amount of people in a larger room.
By the end of the day we were so exhausted that we had a little wander around London then headed back to our lovely Premier Inn as I was kindly given a room for the weekend. The bed was so cosy that we ended up ordering thai food and having a few drinks in the downstairs bar before taking London on full swing on the Sunday!

Have you ever been to London Fashion Weekend? What do you think of this outfit?

Lydia Rose,

xoxo

LYDIA ROSE X F21

Coat | Flares (similar) | Headband | Necklace all c/o Forever21

This outfit makes me feel like a Woodstock throwback and I love it.  I can never put a definition on my style, but boho is something I always seem to come back to. Flares are definitely a brave statement piece but if you're happy looking like a walking 70s time warp then they make you feel pretty amazing.

What do you think of this outfit?

Lydia Rose,

xoxo

 TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK