Reading Festival 2014

Hello!

It seems like ages ago that I was getting home from Reading Festival but it was only last week!

This was actually my first ever camping festival and safe to say, I loved every minute.

I didn't take as many photos as I probably should but I got enough to put a little blog post together.

Warning- floral overload!

Sunglasses- Primark

Earrings- vintage

Choker- ASOS

Crop top- Forever 21

Tassle bag- ASOS

Floral culottes- Cow Vintage

Some of my favourite acts over the weekend included Queens of the Stone Age, Duke Dumont, Beardyman, Arctic Monkeys, Andy C, Papa Roach, Klaxons and Blink 182.

We were fairly lucky with the weather, it only seemed to rain at night (other than the last day which was torrential during the walk to the car-grim!) and was actually really hot in the morning and early afternoons. I even got myself burnt, complete with bikini top, t shirt and wristband lines. In a slight hungover haze on Friday we also had a little kip in the main arena at midday and I managed to burn just my knees which now looks pretty ridiculous.

I actually didn't get any decent photos of my favourite outfit which was a gorgeous gingham crop top I got from Cow Vintage with some denim cut-offs, knee high socks and a red checked flannel shirt I bought while I was there.

I think we were also a bit guilty of going overboard with the stick on gems and bindis, they got more elaborate every day!

Have you been to any festivals this summer?

Parklife 2014: A Festival Date with Forever Miss Vanity

Hello!

So yesterday I had the most incredible day at Parklife festival in Manchester's Heaton park with blogger Jessica of Forever Miss Vanity.

It all happened in a bit of a whirlwind when Jess invited me to attend the Saturday line-up at the weekend festival with her on Thursday evening. If a VIP press ticket to one of the best festivals in the UK (also happening to be in my city) isn't worth clearing your calendar for, I don't know what is!

I actually want to take this moment to say how hugely appreciative I'm feeling at the moment. This being the second VIP access high profile music event I've attended through my blog in the space of just a few weeks. I also haven't announced it on my blog yet but I've just landed a new job too which I'll be starting in two week's time. I'm literally on cloud nine right now and so thankful for everything coming my way.

Anyway back to the festival.

Despite having a bit of a nightmare arriving at and leaving the festival, the duration in between was so much fun, despite the typical curse of Manchester's rain!

Above; me and Jess arriving to a wet start. I got absolutely soaked in the queue to pick up my ticket and rushed out to buy a rain poncho as soon as I got it. I think I would have paid the guy I bought it from any money for it!

Thankfully the weather cleared up a bit a few hours later and it actually ended up being pretty sunny later in the day.

Earrings- vintage

Choker- eBay

Dress- Motel

Hoodie- borrowed from boyfriend

Camo jacket- army shop

backpack- Primark

I was out on Thursday and Friday evening so didn't have any time at all to outfit plan. I threw the above on yesterday morning as I peered out of my window to be greeted with a downpour. I would've loved to have worn any number of hats or my gorgeous Rock n Rose flower crown but I was a bit scared of getting them ruined by water. My outfit was a bit on the safe side!

After getting a thorough soaking and a bit of a rave in the Hospitality tent, we decided to check out the press area. We were absolutely delighted to discover that Tigi had a styling tent; it was just what we needed for our limp, rain-ruined hair! Jess and I were equally excited about the whole thing, finding out that we're both massive fans of the Bed Head brand.

We had some fun in their photo booth and were given an amazing bag full of products. Mine included the Superstar Queen for a Day Thickening Spray which is my absolute favourite styling product; I use it every time I wash my hair and my current bottle has almost run out so this came at the perfect time.

The stylists at Tigi gave our hair some much needed zhuzzing-up, I opted for extra volume and curls. You should be able to see the difference in my picture at the main stage below.

It was also amazing to spot super blogger babes Lily and Zoe who were in the tent promoting the Bed Head brand with Tigi. I had a chat to them both and they're such lovely girls.

After getting our hair did by the talented team at Tigi, we rushed out to the main stage to catch Katy B who we both were really looking forward to seeing. She didn't disappoint- her live version of 'Katy on a Mission' was amazing and really got the crowd going.

After Katy B, quite a lot of the crowd filtered out so we took the opportunity to get to the front which was the best decision of the day.

We watched Annie Mac, who I've seen a few times before and think she's just the most talented female DJ and achingly cool, and Rudimental from the very front.

Rudimental were absolutely phenomenal with bags of stage energy. They had some amazing vocalists and the trumpet player really added that extra dimension to make it a fantastic performance.

We then managed to get ourselves on the front row at the barrier for Snoop Dogg which was just insane. It's something I'll never forget. I can't believe how good he was live and his engagement with the audience was wicked.

The Snoop pictures are little blurry. Probably to do with me not being able to stay still while he was on stage.

A huge thank you to ID&C Brand for the festival wristbands and to Jess for taking me with her for our festival blogger date- I think we should have many more days like this!

Have you ever been to Parklife or were you there this weekend?

Love,

Foxy x

Katy Perry at Phones 4 U Arena Manchester

Hello!

This post is a bit belated though exciting all the same.

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to get the chance to see Katy Perry in concert on her Prismatic World Tour along with a handful of other bloggers in Manchester.

The amazing team at the Phones 4u Arena invited us into our very own VIP suite to enjoy a little pre-party complete with cake, nibbles, drinks and complementary make-up and manicures.

Did I mention cake? Oh boy was there cake! Sorry for what's probably too many photos but wow, that cake was good.

I indulged in a gorgeous slice of red velvet cake which, if I remember correctly, had bubblegum flavoured icing.

If any Manchester-based readers would like to try cakes like these, they're made by the very talented Charlotte O'Toole aka BakeOrama and her team who also supply Northern Quarter eateries Home Sweet Home and Almost Famous with their sweet creations.

It was really nice to attend the event with a small group of friendly bloggers. Above are Lily and Frances, always nice to catch up with these two! I also met the lovely Terri for the first time (hope we cross paths again soon) and the beautiful Rosie was there too.

Sheer daisy top- Glamorous

Bralet- Forever 21

Fluffy green pompom earrings- DIY

Choker- eBay

High waist leggings- Tinned Bananas  

The venue was absolutely packed with fans and there was a great atmosphere. You get a really unique view of things from the VIP boxes and can see the whole arena.

Katy was supported by Swedish female duo Icona Pop who you might know from the hit '(I Don't Care) I Love It' which has been all over the UK charts.

There was a great build up to Katy Perry's entrance and the crowd went crazy when she reached the stage.

I haven't really been to many big arena shows so this was such an experience for me.

The choreography, staging, outfits and lights were absolutely sensational and Katy had a great rapport with the crowd.There was a prism-shaped standing area at the front and those guys were seriously close, getting lots of high fives from the singer!

Some highlights for me was the staging for 'Dark Horse' which was Egyptian-themed with an awesome huge horse on stage which you can see in my photos below; the 'dance cam' which picked up some hilarious moves from the audience; the big inflatables during 'California Gurls' which included a replica of the smiling poo Emoji! And of course the amazing outfit changes. There were so many outfits! During the 'kitty purry' part of the show, she donned a pink catsuit backed by dancers completely kitted out as cats (was there a little pun there?). I also liked her acidic yellow smiley face costume which had a 90s rave theme, as did part of the show.

All in all she was amazing and I'd definitely recommend going to see her live. You forget just how many hits she's had!

She also did a double encore which involved getting a lucky member of the crowd on stage for 'Birthday' and she finished the show with an amazing version of 'Firework'.

Enjoy the photos!

We were given some more amazing cake to take home as well as a great goody bag which featured some thoughtful bits from Boohoo to tie in with their #ExperienceEverything campaign.

Thank you so much to Phones 4U for inviting me- I had the best night!

Have you seen Katy Perry in concert before?

Love,

Foxy x

I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached to my neck...

As I've been talking about for a while, I was going to party over the weekend- or so I thought.

Yes, the bash I was so looking forward to wasn't on; why? Horrific weather? A tragic accident? Nope, I'd got the bloody date wrong.

Turns out it's happening this coming Saturday; not sure how I missed that after reading the invitation at least five times.

Luckily, it seems an angel from work has agreed to save my life and cover my shift this week, so my little mistake should be rectified.

Seeing as I had advance train tickets that couldn't be refunded I thought I may as well have a nice little weekend in Yorkshire.

There wasn't much going on (just for a change), but a quick look at the local rag revealed that there was some music fair on at the nearby town we'd planned on visiting.

So off me and the boyf popped to Skipton.

We wandered into the town hall aimlessly, strolling past the admissions desk without paying (sorry, genuinely didn't see it). I enjoyed the fact that there was a 'student' price for admission, even though there's probably no more than ten in the area.

There was a lot of vinyl at great prices. There were boxfulls of records for just 50p!

I picked up these two Blondie 7" singles for just £1 each.

Backs of the singles. This one has 'Die Young Stay Pretty' as the B side- one of my faves!

Shamefully, I don't have a record player (not in use anyway) but I bought them mainly for the sleeves- and of course the fact that I love Blondie!

I thought they might be nice to frame; though I wasn't very impressed that the Atomic single had been written on!

I of course found the time to have a quick nosey in a charity shop, just after my cinnamon latte at the new Costa ( a bit of a sore point with some locals!).

I was lucky enough to pick up this amazing gold picture frame from the St. Martin's Children's hospice shop for a mere £2!

It came with this embroidered, rather grand looking French chap, who I initally thought was old Willy Shakespeare before my fella quickly dismissed my suggestion- shows what I know!

I don't know how I'm going to get him out though, as the frame is held together with nails! Which I didn't notice in the shop.

Wholly bargainous though, as peeling back the price sticker revealed that the frame was initially on sale there for £10. The frame is really great quality too- the label on the back shows that it originally came from a bygone local picture framing shop.

I plan on framing my new (but old) French fashion magazine. Though the frame's a little big for it.

I might do what I did with this other charity-shopped frame which was too big for its intended photo.

I think it really adds character to this otherwise dull picture of me and the fella in formal attire! I used some gorgeous textured wrapping paper from Paperchase, which was expensive at £2 a sheet, but I had some left over.

Chris, who hates charity shopping with me, was chuffed to pick up a working 1998 Nintendo Gameboy Colour with a game for £5 in the St. Martin's Childrens' Hospice shop too; it certainly kept him quiet on the train for a bit!