How to make the most out of your study time

I don’t know about you guys, but I am swamped. I have a ton of coursework, not to mention going in to uni for lectures 4 times a week. I’m getting everything done on time and am also finding time to do fun stuff i.e. shopping and my blog posts. So, how am I finding time to do everything? I’m balancing my time really well and am working with a great routine. This article will hopefully help you to balance your time well between coursework and relaxing.

Routine

My first piece of advice, and in my opinion the most important, do not work all night! I know pulling all nighters is really tempting, especially if you have a deadline, but you’re work won’t be at its best, and you’ll be tired, so you won’t be working properly. Instead of working like this, you need to make yourself a good routine.

I find that I work the best 1^st thing in the morning, when my head is fresh. I wake up at 8, do an hour of work before breakfast, then come back to my work until midday. Then I’ll take another break for lunch, and possibly go for a walk to stretch my legs, then I’ll work some more until 7, when I call it a day. This kind of routine allows me to have evenings off (unless there is an imminent deadline due) and to enjoy some time to get fresh air. You also need to take constant breaks when working. Try a 5-10 minute break every hour. Use this time to stretch your legs and grab something to eat. It’s been proved that your brain needs a break every hour or so to breathe a bit, so do it for your poor brain.

A good night’s sleep is vital towards working well. Aim for about 5-8 hours a night and try to sleep and get up at the same time every day, so that your body can adjust to a normal routine and get used to it. A good night’s sleep will keep you fresh and active.

A great way to reduce stress is to do your work early. I usually start a piece of coursework when I get it and work calmly towards the deadline instead of work in a panic speed the night before the deadline, which is also when all the useful books are out of the library. Leia said to me that working for an hour a day for two weeks on something is better than rushing at the end, and she’s right. By doing something early, and with time to spare, means that I know that I’ve given it my all. You have to beat the library rush and start any research early. This means that I’m watching TV the night before a deadline while my friends (you know who you are) are in the library stressing about an essay.

Food

Water is your best friend when you’re working hard. It improves your concentration and is good for you. I usually keep a bottle of water with me on my desk when I’m working. Avoid caffeine at all costs. Cokes, coffee etc will only give you energy for a short period of time, and then you’ll just be knackered.

As for food, try to stay away from junk food. Instead of snacking on a chocolate bar, try a banana or pear instead. I guarantee you’ll feel the difference and feel more energetic and read to work. I’m probably not the best person to say avoid chocolate because I am the biggest chocoholic ever! But I have been cutting down in favour of more healthy snacks. Grapes are great as well. Just have a bunch beside you when you’re working and just pick at them.

The most important thing to say in terms of food is to always have three good meals a day. I know lots of people who skip breakfast, but it’s not good. If you can’t stomach something heavy, try for a piece of toast, some cereal, or my personal favourite, a bagel. All three are fairly light but are enough to wake up your brain in the morning. A lot of people also skip dinner or lunch, but these are just as important. By sticking to three good meals a day, you’re less likely to feel tired or tempted to eat junk food.

Environment

A good environment is needed to work. Instead of getting your laptop and working in bed, get a desk to work on or if the weather is nice, take your laptop to the garden or to the local park. This way all you’ll have easy access to all the other resources that you’ll need and you won’t feel lazy either. By staying in bed, you will be more likely to feel lazy and won’t work to the best of your ability.

Most people also need peace and quiet to work. I don’t. I work best with loud music and my mum shouting in the background at my brother for not cleaning or something. But if you are one of those people who need peace to work, make sure you get it. Lock yourself in your room, or go to the library to get some work done.

Don’t be afraid to relax

Sometimes you do feel like doing no work. I know I do sometimes. When I know that I really can’t do something, I’ll take the day off. If you work well, you can afford to take some time off. By starting any coursework early, you’ll have a head start, and will be able to allow yourself to relax sometimes or got out with your friends. It’s not a crime to go out with so many deadlines looming, and you shouldn’t only have to do your work all the time. Take an extended break every now and then and enjoy being young (Cheesy, I know, but so true). University life is as much about having fun as it is about working hard.

Rewards

Ahhh, my favourite part of coursework...the rewards. I like to work towards something and have something to look forward to when I’m doing a lot. Whenever I finish a big piece of work, I’ll go shopping and buy myself a treat or imagine all the free time you’ll have when it’s all over. Having something to look forward to, encourages you to work harder. By knowing that there is something waiting for you (those new shoes are just calling your name), you’ll be more likely to work to get them.

Topshop events

Today, on our way to H&M, we went in to Topshop, at Oxford Circus. There were posters all around the shop publicising events that they were hosting around the shops during London Fashion Week. Anyway, we went in and made our way to a table that had a little huddle around it. Turns out they were doing a 'customising' event. Basically, they gave you free underwear/socks, and lots of beads, sequence, ribbons etc, and you just play around.
Now, I'm not the most artistic person in the world (I can not sew for my life, and am not at all artistic), so I was kinda freaked out by the sewing needle and thread, and I had no idea what to do with my socks.
Leia got started straight away, and her socks looked beautiful. She had beige socks and she added a bow to them. Hopefully, she'll have pictures and her experience up in a bit. But, back to me. I was so lost. The girl who was behind the counter was amazing though. She was really helpful and taught me exactly what to do and how to do it. The girls working there were all great. They were helpful and really fun to talk to.
So, I added some sequence to my socks. As you can tell from the pictures, I'm not the best at sewing and I think I do need some practice, but I had so much fun doing this.











With a bit more confidence in me, I decided to tackle the underwear. I added some sequence to the top of the underwear, and I have to admit that I did a much better job.










I had great fun today, and now I know that I can kindo of customise, and with a bit of practice, make some really cool stuff. I'm going to rummage through charity shops and my old clothes to see if there is anything that I can customise. Its really easy. All you need are clothes, beads, sequence, ribbon...and an imagination.

Topshop are having events for the rest of the week, so go down to topshop, and have fun this week. Check out their schedule online.

Who Dictates beauty?

I'm 5'2 and am a Size 8 going down to a size 6. When I check my BMI, I'm classified as 'underweight', so why do I feel fat and ugly whenever I look in the mirror? Every time we look in a fashion magazine, all we see are stick thin models with flawless skin, and they look like they can't even smile. This is true and has been true since fashion began. Beauty has always been connected with the thin, tall girls, with the perfect breasts and body. This is despite the 'size 0' debate and the fact that many really skinny models have been supposedly banned from the catwalks. When was the last time we saw a less than perfect model, or celebrity for that matter. The fashion industry puts a lot of pressure on its models to look perfect, which puts a lot of pressure on us to look perfect. Look at the pictures of the models below. They're thin, but far from beautiful. Scary to be more exact. Ask a lot of guys and 9 times out of 10, they'll say that they want at least something to hold on to.

The media gives you all these perfect images to live up to, but the honest truth, even those girls don't look like that. the amount of editing that takes place is remarkabe: they airbrush skin and make the models look taller and more slender.

But perfection does not exist. It can't exist. We all have our little flaws and we should love them, instead of hating them. I, for example, am short and have small breasts. This makes me feel like less of a woman and more like a little girl. Especially when slightly taller friends have to bend down to hug me. But what about the advantages of this: I can wear heels without looking too tall. But instead of focusing on the plus side, I nit pick at these flaws and tear myself down because of them. And its not just me. Everyone has little flaws that we hate ourselves for. And the funny part: no one else can even see these flaws in us. We shouldn't hate ourselves for what we really are. We should embrace it and show confidence in ourselves. The constant obsession to always look amazing and super thin makes us lose confidence in ourselves and makes us more self conscious. And this shows. When we walk with confidence, we do look better. Walk out with your head high and felling comfortable in the clothes we're in makes us look and feel much better.

We believe that to be beautiful, we need perfectly put together hair, a ton of make up everytime we go out and that we need to be wearing the top brands. Really? What difference does it make? Does wearing a ton of make up really make us more attractive? A lot of times we can over do it and look like clowns. I have a friend who takes hours putting on her make up: a ton of blusher on her cheeks, and really heavy eye make up, as well has having her hair dead straight. The worrying thing is that I'm one of the only people whose seen her look natural, and she is gorgeous when she's not piling it up. After I told her to just go out looking normal, she turned to me with a horrified face and said that she would never leave the house without make up. She, like the majority of other women, are insecure about how they look. Any why? Its because we see all those models and celebrities with flawless skin, that we want it to. And the only way we can have it is by make up. Most women are beautiful and if they feel this about themselves, it really does reflect when we go out. Whenever I feel good about myself, I always tend to look better. I'll walk out with a feeling of confidence and (Leia can back me up here) will much more openly flirt with guys. It not about what you wear...its how you wear it.

So who dictates beauty? Its not the models, its not celebrities. Its us. We're beautiful when we smile, we're beautiful when we look natural and we're beautiful in whatever we wear. Don't compare yourselves to your friends...I can guarantee you that they are comparing themselves to you. We need to stop worrying about what everyone thinks and we be ourselves.

Dressing Table Essentials

This is kind of linked to Leia's previous post about daily make up. There are soooo many beauty products out there these days that it can be hard to know what and what not to buy. This list is the essentials and the things you can use on a daily basis. Seeing as we have young skin, I haven't put concealer and foundation on the list. But I know Leia is an avid concealer user, so maybe she'll put something up about concealer and how to use it properly (when I put it on, I look like some kind of weird animal).
Its a long list, and even I'm shocked at this because I don't wear that much make up. But it is important to have all the essentials there on one table, in case you ever need it.

Face:
The face is very important and needs to be treated well. I always start the say with face cream. It can be hard to find the perfect face cream, and I went through a process of trial and error when looking for the one that goes best with my skin. I now use Olay, and have been using it for years. It is really light and has a soft fragrance to it and is ideal for my skin. Other good face creams are Nivea, Clinique and Lancome. If you have sensitive skin, Clinique is absolutely brilliant.
Spot cream is also very useful to have on your dressing table. I use Clean and Clear treatment Gel, and it really does work overnight. I don't get many spots, but when I do, I find that getting cream on it quickly reduces the redness of a spot and also gets rid of it quickly.
Having a good blusher is also essential. I have 2 different ones. One is a casual/light one from H&M which I use during the day, just to add colour to my cheeks, and the other one is slightly darker and is a bit sparkly. Thats from No 7. Its good to have 2, so your cheeks look different depending on the occasion.

Eyes:
For me the most important make up. There are so many things you can do with your eyes, that you can have many different looks for it.
You need good eyeliners. I have both liquid and pencil eyeliners, and both in black, so that my eyes really stand out, but you can usually get any colour that you want. Black is probably the colour thats worn the most in terms of eye liner. Both my eye liners are from Rimmel. They do some great liquid eyeliner. They're brushes are quite thin, so you can wear eyeliner everyday without looking too made up. Maybelline also do good eyeliners. I really like they're liquid eyeliners.
Next for eyes is mascara. At the moment I'm using No 7's 'Lash 360' and it is amazing. Along with mascara, you need eye lash curlers. Personally, I don't think it matters what brand you get, and boots is probably the best place to get them from. Lots of people don't like using them, but they are very useful to have and really do make a difference. I use the eyelash curlers before I put on mascara.
Next you need some good eyeshadows. I think its definitely worth investing in a box of 4. I have 2 sets of eyeshadows. One is from Revlon and has a Silver, Light Brown, Dark Brown and Maroon. The second set is from H&M and has a White, Light Grey, Dark Grey and Black. This set is perfect for re-creating the 'Smokey Eyes' look.

Lips:
Vaseline is the best thing for lips in the history of mankind. Seriously, it is amazing. I like to carry one with me at all times. Lipstick's, Lip Liners, and Lip Glosses are also key. There are so many different brands that do good lip stuff, that its just a question of going out and seeing what you like. Neutral colours are best for a daily use. They add colour to your lips without looking to heavy. As for lip glosses, I have Avon's 'twist' lip gloss and it is really good.

There are so many amazing make up brands that I use occassionally, but haven't mentioned in this article. They are Benefit, Red Earth, The Body Shop, MAC and Bobbi Brown. The key is to play around to see which brands suit you and work well with your skin. If you don't know where to start, go to Boots, who have a lot of make up and specialists in store to help you. John Lewis also do the same.

Casual Uni Wear

It can be tough to get ready and look good for uni/college everyday and we all know how tempting it is to just throw on a pair of sweats and boots, or even boots over your pj's. With a few pre though out outfits, it will make it a lot easier to get ready to go to uni. If you look better, you make a better impression to your lecturures and its also a fact that you will be more productive if you look and feel better. Obviously no one is expecting you to look like you're going to a fashion show, but it is important to look good. Here are a few outfits which require little effort to put together and will all be in you wardrobes somewhere.

1) This is an easy one. All you need are a pair of skinny jeans, put together with a cute pair of pumps. Slightly baggy tops go with the skinny jeans perfectly. If its a bit chilly, you can add a nice light cardigan. The jeans are from H&M, the top and cardigan are from Urban Outfitters and the pumps are from Schuh.

uni outfit 1 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

2) The following one also has skinny jeans, but instead of pumps, you can have boots: either ankle or longer ones. You can wear any top on top. With this look, a longer top will look best. To top it off, a blazer or light jacket will look great. Here I have a pair of skinny's from Urban Outfitters. One top is a t-shirt from Dorothy Perkins and all 3 shoes are from Office. The great thing about this look is that it doesn't matter what kind of boots you wear, they'll all look good. The light coat is from Gap.

uni outfit 2 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

3) This is something that I usually wear on an everday basis. A pair of bootcut jeans are a godsend. The ones below are from H&M. They go with all shoes and tops. In this outfit, I've put in a pair of cowboy boots from New Look. A nice vest or tank top put underneath a nice zipped hoody will go perfect with this look. By zipping only half way up, you can still show off anything amazing you're wearing underneath. The vest is from Abercrombie, and they do do some really pretty vest tops. The hoody is from Hollister.
uni3 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

4) This is probably the closest to what I wore today. A pair of baggy jeans are definitly a good investment. If you really want to be comfortable at uni, they're a great alternative to sweats. These ones are from Abercrombie. A tight top compliments the baggy jeans. New Look have some great tops and they come in loads of different colours. A nice scarf gives this look a lightly more girly feel to it. I have a long stripped on, like the one below from Accessorize, and you can wear it however you want. The best shoes with baggy jeans are Converses or Vans.
uni4 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

5) This is a look I want to be flaunting as soon as it gets a little bit warmer. Its really easy to put together. All you need is a short skirt (or long if you want), like this one form Abercrombie, and just pair it off with a pair of leggings or tights, which we all have. Then just add a cute top, like the one below, from Gap. Shoes are easy with is. Add pumps, like the black ones below from Office, or even boots, and you're all set to go.

uni5 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

6) The next few are slightly more summery, and will be perfect for going for lunches in the park after the lectures. A pair of Skechers are perfect casual shoes. I make it a rule to always have at least one pair of them. They go great with a pair of combats or crops, like the ones below, both from Dorothy Perkins. Cropped trousters are great as you can wear them lose, or you can tie them up just below the knee, which I do when I wear them. A nice bright top finishes off the set nicely. This ones is also from Dorothy Perkins. Both Dorothy Perkins and New Look have some great summery clothes, so it'll be worth checking them out soon.
uni6 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

7) I love this one. I think its an adorable look. A nice summery dress (both from New Look), along with a nice light cardigan, like this red one from H&M. Its an effortless look and takes no time to put together. You can finish off this look with a cute pair of pumps, like the ones below from Dorothy Perkins, or a pait of ankle boots, like the ones from Office.
uni7 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

8) I like to call this one the 'Leia Look'. I know Leia will want me to try this look when it gets warmer, and I honestly can't wait. I've been wearing a few skirts lately and am loving them. Put together with a bright, flowey top, and its an amazing summer look. A pair of pumps, again, will look great here, but I think I'll give the look my own touch and add a pair of Converses. The pink skirt below is from New Look and the other two are from Dorothy Perkins. The green top is also from Dorothy Perkins and the brownish one is from H&M. The black pumps are from Office.
uni8 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

These are just a few cool and casual outfits for uni. They are all easy to put together and don't require you to buty too much, as most of the items are already probably in your wardrobe.

How to get the ‘Rock Chic’ look

I personally love the ‘rock chic’ look. I think it is gorgeous, cool and sexy. Girls who do it right look incredible and always make you think how to pull off such a look. Well, it’s not that hard, and this article aims to make it slightly easier to do. The look has a vintage and grungy feel to it and can also be extremely feminine. This will give you an overview of the look, and will show you just what you need to do such a look.

Colours

The main colours to this look are black, reds and white. Red and black together look really cool and give you an edgy look, which is what you want.

Attitude

Don’t care what anyone else thinks. Being a rock chic is all about breaking the rules of fashion and doing your own thing.

Clothes

Clothes for this style are always fun to wear. You’re looking for unique and vintage stuff to make yourself look different.

Find tops with band names on them. The most common ones are ‘Rolling Stones’ and ‘Guns ‘n’ Roses’ t-shirts and they are easy to find, not to mention they look cool. The best place for band t-shirts (and accessories) is www.ebtm.com. I live by their stuff, and it’s all affordable. You can also get away with stripy tops or tops with skulls. Both go really well with this image. If you want to be a bit more casual, you can wear baggy long vest tops in a dark colour.

To go with all these tops, the best things are denim. Lots and lots of denim! Skinny jeans, baggy jeans and mini skirts all go with this look, and let’s face it, we all have them. With the short denim skirt, you could wear it on its own, or with leggings. I think wearing a denim mini skirt, with black heels, leggings and a slightly baggy top will look really cool.

Shoes

You can get away with wearing any shoes for this look, but there are certain ones if you want to go hardcore. Vans and Converses: I own lots of pairs of both and they look good with everything. A pair of biker boots is also great. Put them with skinny jeans and a tight top, and voila: cool, casual, sexy and edgy. What also look amazing are heels. Black or red heels really go with this look and you can pair them up with a skirt. The black boots and red heels are both from Schuh, so it would be worth going there to get some shoes. Office also does some really good stuff, especially black/biker boots.

Vans are my personal favourite when I'm out and about. They

are dead comfortable and do look good with everything from a pair of jeans to a short skirt.

Here are some pictures I made of what good outfits and clothes are that you should get for this look. The clothes are mostly from New Look, River Island, Dorothy Perkins, Urban Outfitters or ebtm.com. This just how easy it is to get clothes for the look.

rock1 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.co m
rock2 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

rock3 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com
rock4 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com


rock5 - by sherin88 on Polyvore.com

Hair

I have really wild and curly hair, which is so this look needs. Usually for this look, hair is black (but

doesn’t have to be) and quite messy. You can also put some great colours and hi lights in it, like red or purple. Or, if you want to go all out, you can dye your hair red or black, or if you’re daring enough, even purple. If you’re looking for hairstyles, you can get it cut quite choppy, kind of like Hayley from Paramore. You can also add a side fringe if you want to. I leave my hair curly and straighten my fringes so that it covers my left eye.

What’s back in fashion is teasing/backcombing your hair. Although not recommended for everyday, teasing can give you just what you need to finish this look. If you have smooth, silky hair, teasing it can make it seem slightly messier. There are some great videos online that explain just how you can tease your hair.

Make up

This look is all about the make up, the eyes to be specific. You need dark eyes…lots of dark eye shadow, eyeliner and mascara. I’m not an expert on the smokey eye look and am not a fan of it for everyday use, but dark eyes don’t have to be so full on. Just use pencil eyeliner on the lower water line, and then put a dark (grey/black) eyeshadow on the top eyelid and blind it in. Then just apply liquid eyeliner to the top eyelid, and then some mascara. If you have a steady enough hand, you can put liquid eyeliner on the bottom eyelid as well. Out of experience I can tell you that this is not as hard as it seems…all you need is practice. This is a light look for dark eyes that you can wear everyday. I’d stick to a neutral lipstick if you’ve got such dark eyes as then the emphasis won’t entirely be on the eyes. If you’re doing a light eye look, by all means go all out on the lipstick. A bright red is perfect. I personally love Rimmel’s no. 500 ‘Diva Red’. It really stands out when you wear it, and won’t rub off easily.

Nails

There are two nail polishes that I swear by. Both are from Maybelline New York. One is ‘Extreme Blackcurrent’ and the other is ‘Deep Red’. Just cut your nails short and add 2-3 layers of the nail polish, and it is enough to make your nails look the part. The good thing about the Maybelline Collection is that it dries quickly and lasts quite a long time. By adding a few layers of the nail polish, it makes the colour more radiant and stronger looking.

Accessories

Heavy accessories totally work with this look. Chunky bracelets or thick necklaces work really well. I would avoid necklaces with skulls on them as it might be slightly too overboard. One new trend which I’m loving is lots of bracelets piled up on one arm. All you have to do is randomly put a few bracelets on you arm and you’ve got the look.

The great thing about accessories for this look is that they are very random. You can just wear anything chunky or different and you’ll look the part.

People

If you really need some inspiration for this look, lots of celebrities are doing it really well.

Hayley Williams

I love her. Paramore are one of my favourite bands of the moment and Hayley is a huge part of this. She’s gorgeous and does the rock chic look and attitude perfectly. Her bright and choppy hairstyle is an inspiration for this look,and is the perfect one to follow for this look. She also has a really distinctive look that sets her apart from other female artists. She’s usually rocking a pair of skinny jeans, with a ‘rock style’ t-shirt. Its not much, but it is perfect for being a rock chic.

Debbie Harry

I don’t know much about her, and am not the biggest Blondie fan, but I do know that she has, or rather had, style. She is beautiful and showed that you don’t have to have black hair to be an iconic rock chic.

Audrina Partridge

We all know and love her from ‘The Hills’, and know that she is a pure rock chic, but with a slightly girly side to

it. Her style is proof that you can also be very girly and sexy as a rock chic. She has the perfect hair style for a rock chic. It’s long and slightly chopped. It is something that won’t look out place at a gig, and neither will she. But her style also has such a girly element to it that she won’t look out of place anywhere. She’s usually spotted in low rise jeans and a t-shirt, which sometimes shows off her flat stomach.

Silver – 90210 (Jessica Stoup)

I’m only 2 episodes into the new 90210, but one thing is clear: that ‘Silver’ has style. She quickly became my

favourite character. She has the perfect attitude to be a rock chic. She doesn’t care what anyone else thinks of her, and she’ll do her own thing. Although her look isn’t 100% rock chic, she still belongs in this article. She has a wonderful look that’s just so different from a lot of things. Its fun and sexy, as well as being full of attitude.

And that’s just how easy it is to pull off the ‘rock chic’ look. It’s easy to follow, as long as you have a few key items. Its everywhere at the moment, but no one person looks the same with this style. Just have fun with it.

Looks Fashion Swap

Me and Leia recently took part in the Fashion Swap, hosted by Look. Basically, it was where you give your old stuff and then get to have a look at what ever else has been given, and can pretty much take stuff for free. I was pretty sceptical of this, and scared that there may be nothing good when it came to getting stuff. I was pleasantly surprised.
About two weekend's ago, me and Leia both dropped off about 10 items each into the Look shop, just off Carnaby Street. We gave everything, from coats to shoes, bags to tops. After looking through each item and giving it a price according to item and label, we were given an amount of points to spend. For example, a coat from a high end designer was 100 points, while one from the hi street was 40 points. Both of us were given about 250 points to spend.
The following weekend was when all the stock was put out and we could pick what we wanted. The event started at 10am, and me and Leia thought we were being clever when we decided to meet just before 11am. Unfortunatley, everyone else had the same idea and the queue outside was long enough for me to nearly give up. Leia reassured me, and we joined the back of the queue. My scepticism came back along wit the fear that nothing good would be left by the time we got in there. We were told that they kept changing the stock and were letting people in every 10 minutes, and only letting people stay for 30 mins. The organisation was brilliant and I was really impressed, especially since it was the first of its kind. An hour and half later we were let in the shop and my first impressions were 'Ahhh, so many people and clothes everywhere!!' No kidding, it was chaotic. We took deep breaths and started our mission.
I was expecting a lot of weird and ugly stuff, but gosh was I wrong. Within minutes I'd found Abercrombie jeans (they were to small, but none the less there). After about 15-20 minutes both me and Leia had full arms and made our way to the checkout.
Heres what I got:
A skirt. I'm not a skirt wearer, and am rarely seen in one, but I loved this. I've seen a lot of skirts in shops that I like, but never wanted to spend money on them. But this was free. I saw it as a chance for me to try something new with my style, and if I never wear it again: oh well, it was free.


Love at first sight. I was in the queue when I saw this. I was holding a white coat that was the same price (60 points). I practically threw the coat then and there as I picked this. Later, whilst examining it, I found out that it was from Warehouse. How great is that.

I had to get this bag. Its from River Island. I actually saw it in River Island about a year ago and really liked, but did not want to spend a lot of money on it. I can't recall how much it was then, but I think you guys can imagine how happy I was when I saw it at the Swap event.

I like this one. It doesn't look like anything too special. Its from Ralph Lauren and I love t-shirts. This is just something nice and casual to wear in Summer (if it ever comes).


A pair of jeans from Republic. When I tried them on, they fit beautifully. Another item that is really casual and I can wear it a lot. It was in perfect condition.

Something that I actually needed. I was on the lookout for a pair of skinny jeans and was actually planning to get a pair from H & M in the next few weeks. So finding these really saved me some money.

This wasn't anything I picked up, it was the carrier bag you got to put all your stuff in. It was £2, but definitely worth it. All proceeds went to Jo’s Trust, a charity for cervical cancer. Its massive and can fit so much into it. I'm going to take this next time I go shopping.

So, that was the event. It was definitely something I'd do again. I got rid of my old clothes and picked up some good items. If you ever hear of anything like this going on near you, I'd recommend that you go to it. I'm also not so wary of doing a clothes swap with all my friends. Its a great to save money and pick up some great stuff.