Ellie Goulding Concert & OOTN!

Hiya! So last month I went to see Ellie Goulding in concert during her Halcyon Days tour and I can honestly say IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST CONCERTS I'VE EVER BEEN TO! I've always been a fan because my best friend is a huge Ellie Goulding fangirl, but it was only this summer when I finally took the initiative and tried my best to end my love affair with Taylor Swift's Red album; by forcing myself to listen to the very few different bands and artists I had on my ipod, that I really began enjoying her music. (If you're in need of the perfect song to blast out at full volume and scream along to, then 'Joy' is perfect for that! - It starts off slow and takes a while to build up, but it's insanely good once it gets to the loud part, honestly!) (and even better live!)

So before I get into all the details of the concert and begin fangirling and rambling on about how great she was, here's the dress that I wore (I made the silly decision of going into Topshop at a time when I was very poor and ended up spending the last remainders of my money on this dress and was left with literally 40p. That is no exaggeration, I bought a dress, leaving myself with 40p to last me the week. Not like I needed food or anything.. Priorites Zoe, priorities):

~ Me and Leana about to queue up ~
~ Me / Dress-Topshop / Coat-Miss Selfridge / Bag-Zara / Vans-ebay ~
~ Leana / Top-Market in London / Coat-New Look / Shorts-Dorothy Perkins / Bag-TK Maxx / Boots-Primark ~

Luckily for us, the concert happened to be on a Wednesday; the one day of the week when we both finish college early, waheey! (Not that we were planning on skiving the last lesson in order to get to the concert in time..nope, not at all...) Being there early meant that we were able to get very close to the front without shoving our way in and here's some pictures where I show off just how close we were: (We practically breathed the same air as Ellie!!)

For me, the best part of the concert was when she sung I Know You Care - a ballad about her Dad - and the arena fell so quiet (well, quiet in comparison to how rowdy we were the rest of the time) It's incredible enough when whole arenas are united together, screaming song lyrics back at the artist, but when it's the other way around, everyone falling silent to just listen; wow, it was such an amazing 3 minutes! Here's a small clip I took of the performance; I'm annoyed that I stopped recording half way through too ok!

Another amazing part of the concert was during her final song, when she sang 2 lines looking straight into my eyes and, excluding when I found out I got an A in GCSE French, I have never been so overexcited in my life! Unfortunately my camera wasn't filming for those wonderful 10 seconds but it's well and truly engraved in my memory so even if I have no proof, at least I can remember it well!

If you haven't already, then I definitely recommend seeing Ellie Goulding live. She's touring again next year so make sure you don't miss out on tickets!
See you in my next blog post, Zoe x

A/W13 Shoe Haul!

Recently, I've realised how few pairs of shoes I actually own. According to google, the average British female owns between 25-40 pairs of shoes and I've known many people to have multiple shoe racks and wardrobes dedicated to their shoe collection. For me, my shoe collection consists of 2 pairs of vans which I wear pretty much daily; my trainers which I wear to the gym (haah not that I go there very often) and a few pairs of 'seasonal' shoes like flip flops and wellies. Not very impressive.
A few weeks ago, I found a bag of studs which I bought at the beginning of summer as I was planning to make some of those cool looking shorts that you see all over tumblr, but I never got round to making any. So instead, I bought a pair of white converse during the 'Southampton freshers shop-in' (in short - 20% off everything in shops in Southampton for students for one evening only, meaning it was insaaaanely crowded, but worth it for the money saved!) I then spent most of my weekend putting the studs into the shoes which was an extremely boring task and also very frustrating as it's more difficult than it looks to ensure they're all in line! But anyway, here they are...

~ What they look like on the inside ~

I've worn these a few times already as they go with pretty much every outfit. I think the studs add a touch of uniqueness to them and I definitely prefer them to plain white converse!

Now onto the next pair...
Whenever I go to events with smart dress codes, I never fail to turn up in a posh outfit but with a pair of vans on my feet, so I decided now was a good time to invest in a pair of reasonably smart shoes. As I don't go to posh events that often I just wanted some simple black shoes that can be dressed up or down, so on my regular visit to the topshop website, I mixed things up a bit and had a look at the shoes as well as the clothes. I instantly fell in love with this pair of black lace-up ankle boots with gold toe caps...

~ Yes, I wore them to college and despite my best efforts to avoid all dirt, I still managed to get mud on them ~

I really love these shoes; they're not something I'd usually go for but I'm so glad I did buy them! They're not as comfy as vans but it's definitely good to wear a different style of shoes sometimes; plus I got a lot of compliments when I wore them to college, always a bonus!

And finally, the last pair of shoes I bought - which only arrived today! You know that one item that you've had your eye on for ages, but never actually bought? Well, these shoes are a pair I've had bookmarked for months (ever since my last visit to Topshop's shoe section, in fact!) and this weekend when I realised Topshop were doing free delivery, I thought I may as well go for it and order them.

 

I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed when they arrived as they're a lot darker in person than how they were pictured online, but the initial disappointment disappeared when I realised they had shearling lining! It does explain this on the website, but I'd somehow managed to miss this the million times I'd gone back to look at them. I wore them out earlier and they're super comfy and so warm because of the lining so I love them already! Very glad that I finally made the decision to buy them!

I know this was only a small shoe haul, but for me it felt massive! Thinking about it, the last pair of shoes I bought before these was back in January so it was good to finally replenish my collection, especially in time for winter. Which pair is your favourite? Have you done any hauls recently?

Zoe x