Confessions of A Shopaholic

Being a student isn’t a walk in the park, you know. I mean, when our student loans drop, do you know how hard it is not to go and buy everything nice you see? It’s very hard. The amount of times I’ve been tempted to buy myself a new phone, or treat myself to a spa day, and of course a holiday, the temptation is real, but I manage to talk myself out of buying any of them things. It’s the clothes, bags, shoes, sunglasses, the list goes on, that always get me.  I’m the type of girl that will spend all of her money on clothes, and if you were to put me in a room full of handbag, sunglasses, and shoes, it’s safe to say you’d never see me again.

So, having just received my student loan a few weeks ago, what better way to end first year than with a shopping trip. I can already hear my mum moaning in my ear telling me how I should be saving for more important things, but I just can’t help it.

The first purchase from my-oh-so generous student loan, was a denim jacket. These are everywhere at the moment, and everyone that I’ve seen wearing them either has an oversized one, or one covered in rips, especially on the back. So, when I saw this one I knew I wanted it. It was still oversized, but instead of rips, it has studs and roses on the shoulder and on the back. Believe it or not but this beauty is from Primark!!

Primark - £35 

My second stop was in the recently refurbished Zara at Shepard’s Bush. Oh my god. It’s heaven. Despite this being the biggest Zara now, I only managed to find one thing that I ended up buying.

Zara - £15.99

Next up we have jewellery. Now, when it comes to jewellery the only metal that I tend to wear is silver, and my earrings and rings are what I wear on a daily basis. However, I’ve always wanted a necklace that I can wear and not worry about it not going with an outfit. So, when my friend and I were in Topshop, I went over to the Little Smith counter and decided to get myself a personalised necklace, because why the hell not.

Little Smith - £25

Also from Topshop, on a previous trip, I found myself in the shoe department. This was mainly because the shoes that I had on that day were KILLING my feet, and that was when I found these. Now, I have always liked sliders but it wasn’t something I was desperate to get. Until I saw these, that is. These aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I feel like they are a major makeover from the plain rubber sliders that are just everywhere.

That my friends, brings my little shopping spree to an end.

Until next time,

Nadia

xo

Event | Cosmo Self Made Summit

What more could you possibly imagine being better than complimentary manicures, hairstyling, HD brows, makeovers and drinks?! Oh wait, I know, being in the same room as, not only your favourite magazines editor; Farrah Storr (for those of you who don’t know who this is, Farrah is the current editor-in-chief for Cosmo UK), but also some of the biggest influencers, successors and self-made businessmen and women today.

Yesterday, I attended Cosmopolitan’s Self Made Summit, which was held in County Hall, located just along Southbank. I had never heard of this place before, let alone stepped foot in such a wonderfully put together venue. There were spotlights all around the building, in the colour pink of course, and everything looked aesthetically pleasing and fabulously chic.

Upon arriving at 9:30am, my friend and I collected our timetables and made our way to our first talk of the day: Farrah Storr in conversation with the incredible Olivia Palermo. Never have I met someone as modest, talented and kind-hearted as Olivia, she is a prime example of a girlboss. Not only is she a model, a blogger, and former reality star, just to name a few, but she has also been working with Banana Republic on their latest seasons clothing line.

Shortly after, my friend and I got separated as we had each chosen different talks, my next stop was “From Blog to Brand”. Here I got to meet, get advice, and tips from Fleur Bell, known to many of us as ‘Fleur De Force’, Rosie Fortescue, Sam Chapman, and Sedge Beswick. During this talk these four powerful females enlightened many of us that with success comes hard work, as many of us already know. However, with today’s generation growing up so heavily influenced by social media, a lot of us expect fame and fortune to find us overnight. But there’s much more to life than having a certain amount of followings on your social media accounts, after all it is just a number on a screen.

This leads me on to the next talk I attended; ‘Flourish After Failure’. This talk was truly eye-opening. I know many of you have probably already heard the phrase, “you must fail before you succeed”, however, not many of us realise how true this is. Here I heard Charlotte Knight; founder and creative director of Ciaté London, Jessica Knappett; Drifters writer and actress, and lastly Lisa Hilton; Author and Historian, talk to us about their lowest lows and how this developed and shaped them into the person they are today and what they learned from their failures. Although each of their struggles were different, all three women learned that the value of persistence, determination, and self-belief became more valuable after each of them had failed. One key thing that I took away from this talk, was that no matter how hard something may seem at the time, or if it feels that everything is against you, there is always a silver lining and your struggles will only make you wiser and stronger.

Half way through the day, and we were off to another talk with Farrah Storr, but this time it was with Katherine Ryan. Now, I’m not going to lie to you, I had no idea who this was, but after this talk, I loved her! She is hilarious and completely open and honest about her life, which I love and respect. Once this talk had finished, my friend and I were reunited and we decided to make the most of our day. We both got a cocktail, which tasted amazing, and I later got my hair styled by Headmasters and a manicure complimentary of Jade Angel.

With the day coming to an end, we had made our way to our final talk; Alfie Deyes in conversation with Caroline Flack. Being honest, I wasn’t too fussed about this talk, I mean, I’m not really a huge fan of either of Alfie nor Caroline. However, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, and how humble and down-to-earth Alfie Deyes really is. It really is inspirational seeing someone from your hometown making a career out of something that just started off as a hobby.

This day was by far one of the best days I’ve experienced. Being able to meet and hear from the successors themselves and realising that at the end of the day they are in fact just like you and I, and to top everything off, we received an incredible goodie-bag from Cosmo themselves!

Until next time,

Nadia

xo