Thank you gifts

Hello, sorry for the 10 day delay in posting. How are we all? I have recently been offered a new contract at work so I have been busy trying to balance this with CV writing and job applications. Anyone else still struggling with the career ladder? I'd love some reassurance during this time. My days seem to be full of writing CVs, thinking about CVs or writing a to do list of CV writing...oh and dreaming about CVs!! All with the over consumption of chocolate to comfort my unemployement fears. This irrational behaviour meant a break was definitely in order....back to blogging! :)

This post is one I meant to do a while ago after finishing my internship at B public relations. I've been doing some serious blog catching up so apologies for it not coming sooner.

I was extremely flattered to be given a bag of goodies when I left Boudoir (now B public relations) and was so excited to be able to experiment with a few brands I havn’t ever brought into.

Firstly these 5 pots of Ciate nail varnishes were a big love. I have seen the brand featured on quite a few blogs recently so have been interested in investing in some shades – I am so thankful I got them for free! A double bonus was when I spotted I had been given a croc embossed effect set in gold and purple. I have been wanting to try the crack effect out since last winter, I just had not got round to updating my nail varnish set. This look will be perfect for this Christmas and the party nights ahead. The purple is really wintery and warm with the gold adding a bit of glamour. This single pots are also ideal colours for me. The plain berry colour ‘guest list’ 042 is a mega heart as I adore deep palette paints to edge up an outfit. The grey ‘cream soda’ will be great in pushing me to experiment with my shades and the brighter ‘cabaret pink’ 046 adds a wicked paint to make the three a dynamic trio. I am not really a baby pink or pastel nail varnish girl, I like to keep my nails dark and grungy so these are PERFECT! 

Also included in my goodie bag were some Nourish products; a cleanser, toner and a face mousteriser. First of all I have to say, I have never used a cleanser or toner before in this sort of a trio. I normally either just moisturize, sometimes use a black head face scrub or a moisturizing make up remover for my daily beauty routine – well, when I can be bothered. Because of this I don't feel I can really review the Toner as I don't have much to compare it to and don't know anything about toners in general. To me they seem a bit of random product with not much purpose. I would love some advice and tips on this so I can really understand their purpose. 

The cleanser was a thin gel rather than the cream I expected ( I don't know why I expected this just assumptions!). I didn't need much to cover my face and to be honest, I used little due to being concious of the zingy scent. The orange and mandarin is really powerful in this product and having sensitive skin which has suffered from rashes with orange based products in the past, I am always weary. It really feels like you have squeezed oranges onto your face which is a bit odd. This will be either a love or hate for many. My favourite was the moisturizer. Having dry skin  I have a lot more experience in this area. Again the scent of this product is quiet strong but held more of a musky scent than the other two products. Not much is needed and it is a bit heavier with a creamy sort of base rather than some gel ones I have used. I felt a bit of tinglyness if I am honest, now that might be my paranoia but other than that my skin feels really soft and I would use it again. Has anyone else used any Nourish products? I am going to continue using this trio for a while to see if this improves my skin at all so if anything else changes, I will let you know.

I was then given a wonderful card full of messages from the girls. It was so lovely to read all the comments and to hear my time at the office was appreciated and worth while to them. I am going to miss the girls and can’t thank them enough for my lovely gifts!

Has anyone else been lucky enough to be given any goodies from any work placements? Work experience may be tiring when all you want to do is succeed but honestly, it is worth it. You just got to push through the storm to see the rainbow. :). Internships are becoming  my forte at the moment (another sleep, eat breath syndrome) so I would be really interested to hear on anyone elses experiences - leave me a comment and we can natter!

Katie xx

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have

I am taking a little break from my spending splurges. This is still a 'new items' based post but luckily this time, I didn't have to spend anything. (ok, apart from my train tickets - does that count as spending?) I finished my Motel Rocks internship last Thursday. As mentioned, I was only there for 5 days as this is all they could offer me until late December. I got the contact through my time at Boudoir as Natasha moved from Boudoir to MotelRocks.com just two months ago when the brand decided to take PR in house. This meant the office was really small as their main team is based in Bristol.

My duties mainly included sample send outs and celebrity gifting which meant immaculate gift wrapping service. I also booked couriers and dealt with brands to help out with goodie bags. On my last day I got to look into venues, caterers and activities for an upcoming blog event. I loved this bit and I think I  have learnt I would like to focus on event planning.

I was so lucky to receive a thank you gift from Natasha and the team for my time there. Here are some of the goodies! I think the turquoise dress would have been perfect for holiday - maybe this is a reason to book another? And the purple is such a gorgeous colour that I will definitely wear it on a night out on the town. What do you think? Thank you Natasha and thank you Motel!

Has anyone else done any internships? I always love to hear about them!

Much love, Katie xx

London Girl

Yesterday I took a special trip to London. I don't like to jinx things so didn't mention it but I had an interview. The interview was for an internship with PR agency Boudoir Pr. Based in Soho, the company was established in 2003 and is a full service agency that look after fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands as well as restaurants, retail e-commerce and much more.

They have such a young, fresh vibe representing brands such as Nail Rock, Missguided and Lipsy and have worked with celebrities such as Paloma Faith and Pixie Lott in their Celebrity endorsements. I was so excited yet so nervous as the company seemed a perfect fit for me in kick starting my career.

I am so glad to say after a short interview I was contacted no less that 30 minutes later to say I had it! There will be more interns hired and at the time being I have agreed to a month. Due to the internship not being paid I have a lot of research to do into my finances as I am keen to stay on as long as possible.

I wanted to look professional yet stylish for the meeting. The couple of interviews I have had for internships never last long but I intend to make a good impression. I mixed black smart jeans with this Aztec top and picked out the light pink in the top by teaming it with this casual dusty pink blazer. I then added my link chain from French Connection and my hot pink heels from Next to make the outfit more dressy. I curled my hair as I feel it adds more shape around my face and kept the rest of my jewllery simple with my Chamilia charm bracelet and Tiffany Picasso ring; both gifts from my lovely boyfriend. I painted my nails a deep red to contrast to the pink. What do you think?

Pink Blazer River Island £35
Aztec top River Island (not sure on price but about £18?)
Chain necklace French Connection @ Asos Sale £18
Black skinny jeans Next £24
Hot Pink peep toe heels Next sale £15

Afterwards I met up with my friend Lucy who is currently on placement in the design department of John Lewis. I am so happy for her: she has a few designs coming in to the shops in the children's department! *Big Clap* We spent the rest of the evening at Strada on Baker Street and then went to a bar after for drinks. It was such a lovely summer evening giving me a real taste of life in the big city!

Oooohhh! I cannot forget to mention I am CONVINCED Chris O'dowd (Bridesmaids and IT Crowd) came and sat next to me on the bench outside the building of my interview. After watching Bridesmaids I kind of gained a huge obsession with him and his Irish accent so was too paralysed with nerves to confirm it was him but honestly, I am 80% sure it was!

Hope you are all well. Does anyone else have any fashion career news?

Much love, K xx