Strawberries & Stilettos

The Holiday Haul

Hello my lovely blog followers,

I am SO sorry for my super long absence, I have just been so busy with work and life that I almost forgot about my blogging! (oops!)
I didn't quite forget about how much I love to write, therefore Amber is most definitely back in business!

I have so much to fill you in with, but I have recently just returned from the most wonderful 'vacation' can you guess where I have been?

FLORIDA for an entire month, and it was bloomin' beautiful! I honestly had the most wonderful trip to see my family but also my boyfriend who studies there, well did as he just graduated and is coming back to England for good next week! (I AM SO EXCITED CAN YOU TELL?!?!?!?)

Anyway, I am going to try and post on this more regularly now with life updates letting you all know what I have been up to as I have been awful at it recently and I am truly sorry for that.

Today includes my beauty haul! Woo!
So while I was in America, I treated myself to a few goodies and I thought I would share them all with you! Most of them being beauty goodies, so lets hope you like beauty stuff!

I am sorry for the lack of insta-worthy quality of the images, my phone isn't the total best, and the lighting wasn't either to be honest, but you can still see the products.

1. NYX Beyond Basic
I have tried to be more experimental with the brands of make up I have been buying and I saw this beauty in TJ Maxx at the Palm Beach Outlets. I believe it was $8.99! I loved the colours of the eye shadow, and I have since used it to find out the pigmentation is also amazing for a high street brand. The little set included the eye shadow palette along side a matt lip gloss and eye liner. (The NYX liquid eyeliner is one I always use and that alone usually costs me £7.99 in the UK) Very happy indeed with this purchase! Hopefully in the future I will show you some looks I have created with it.

2. Rose Gold Blemish Tool
I'm sure there is some of you out there that is totally obsessed with Dr Pimple Popper on Instagram?!!? Well if you're not I totally am, and Im also weirdly obsessed with popping pimples and blackheads as it is so satisfying! I have always wanted one of these so treated myself to one for $3.99 also from TJ Maxx! What a bargain?

3. MAC Prep and Prime Fix Spray

I have wanted to try this for the longest time, and thought while I had the money and Macys had 15% off all of MAC products, I would treat myself to it! I absolutely love MAC products, but during the summer months in particular, it just sweats off me, so I bought this to try it out and see if it really does aid to fix make up on the face. (We shall see, but the smell is incredible - I chose the Rose scent and it cost me around $22.00)

4. MAC Studio Sculpt NC25
This is my GO TO foundation! Through thick and thin, this bad boy has been there for me, and I would struggle to move to another foundation. I was running out, so purchased some more at duty free in the airport, it cost me about £23.00.

5. Sephora Face Masks, Wipes and Travel Bag

Girls who love to pamper themselves cannot visit America without buying themselves at least something from Sephora (Please come to the UK soon we beg!) I love their beauty products so I bought myself two face masks, one for my boyfriend and one for myself and also some gorgeous make up wipes! I adore the smell and how soft they make my skin feel. I also saw this cute travel bag for $4.99 and thought it was a MUST HAVE, but if you bought 3 or more products from Sephora, it was completely free! All of this cost me $21.00.

6. Urban Decay Rehab Makeup Prep

So I saw this in Nordstrom Rack for $12.99! Usually UD products over here in the UK work out super expensive so for such a cheap price I thought I would give it a go. This product is AMAZING! It is designed to clear your pores prior to applying makeup but also post make up! It comes out as a clear jel that you rub into your T zone. After 5 mins, the jel rubs off and it leaves your skin feeling super clean and soft! I highly rate.

7. Bath and Body Works 'The Best Vibes' Hand Crean & Watermelon Lemonade Hand Sanitizer

Can I ask why there is not a Bath and Body Works in the UK yet?!?! Please take a trip over the sea and bring your magical products to the UK!! I absolutely fell in love with this store, and their amazing products. I bought myself this hand cream as it smells amazing and the packaging design is also so beautiful! & The hand sanitizers, well they are just amazing! They leave my hands feeling super soft, clean and smelling so good! These wonderful products were just $5.75 together! (I purchased another 4 sanitizers as it was 5 for $6.00)

8. Eyelure 3 Pack Lashes

Beauty lovers of the UK will know this pack of bad boy lashes would cost at least £15.00, not in TJ Maxx, Oh no! $3.00!!! Say no more.

9. Island Passion Body Cream
So I has my eyes peeled on this for quite sometime now, last time I visited Blueline Surf and Paddle in Jupiter, I adored the smell of it, but did I need it? Not really. This time I thought what the heck? And bought it anyway! The smell is divine! Like rubbing a pornstar martini over your body and shimmering in the sunlight! Worth $5.99? I think so.

10. Hoola Boddess Cream by Benefit
YES YES YES YES YES to this! If only I knew how great it was going to be, I would have bought more! My aunt from Orlando bought this for me as a gift, and well praise the goddess' of body cream heaven. It is amazing! Limited edition to Ulta Beauty only but was in the sale for $10.00!!!

11. Tartan + Twine Brow Perfection Set
Well first of all isn't this just the prettiest brow set you have ever seen?! I am a little obsessed with yellow right now and well I just loved the look of this set. $6.99 from Ross's in Winter Park Orlando. It was a must have buy! I bet their other collections are amazing too..

I hope you enjoyed my beauty haul! To be honest, I have just remembered I had bought more than this but was too impatient and used it in America so totally forgot it was new. Any questions about the products? Just drop me a message!

Over and Out!

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, by Strawberries and Stilettos

Blogger

Internship at Fashion Scout

So Amber is back on the radar after months of not being online, and I'm really sorry for being such a slacker. Anyway, I started my Internship at the end of August, and I am having a ball! Finally experiencing what its like to work for a real Fashion company. Im trying various roles but at the moment I'm helping out the digital team, and this is one of my first pieces of writing that has been published! YES MY WORK. Ive always wanted to get into fashion writing, and now, slowly but surely I am fulfilling that! So expect many more posts to come but here is my Fashion Scout piece on Toni & Guy! Everyone follow fashion scout on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Their work for emerging fashion talent is amazing, and they deserve all the credit they can get.

http://fashionscout.co.uk/news-home/the-top-toni-guy-backstage-looks

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, by Strawberries and Stilettos

Daydream believer!

I'm back again guys and this is my first editorial piece towards my Zine, I hope you all enjoy it! Day dream believer is about how escapism keeps us sane and happy, and the things we do and enjoy to keep us stress free. Please read and any responses would be fab! Thank you to my wonderful friend and model Charlotte Tyrer.

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, by Strawberries and Stilettos

DiversityNOW!

When we think of fashion images, I know personally the first thing that comes to mind is slim, 'catwalk worthy' women, whose faces look more ironed out than my dads work shirts. DiversityNOW! is a competition that allows us to explore diversity through various means, and portray the message that fashion isn't just about the cliche things, its about loving yourself and your style, despite your age, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or background. The diversity that surrounds us is why life is so interesting, and why LIFE IS SO BEAUTIFUL. Celebrating this diversity is a great opportunity for acceptance and to share the love! My submission for this project is the below image of Laurence 42, who is Maltese. He loves his identity, and is proud of the man he is. Behind the scenes of the final image, I was researching about Donald Trump, and and his proposal to build a wall on the border of USA and Mexico to 'supposedly' keep them out. Trumps ideal is to have no immigrant enter the USA, as he feels as though a true United States of America is purely born Americans which I feel even majority of Americans themselves feel is nonsense. Through my work, I wanted to convey that walls do not have to be seen as a negative connotation, yet a sanctuary, a new beginning, and a foundation to strengths. A 'wall' could be seen as a metaphor for many things, walls enclose us, and allow us to feel safe, for example in our own homes or during the war the shelters that protected us from potential wounds. 'Walls are made for climbing' is a strong message that, just because a wall seems intimidating, does not mean it is not worth the challenge of climbing over. The sense of pride and accomplishment is what I wanted to represent in my exploration of walls, and my final image. Walls are not a boundary yet a foundation to the construction of who we all are today. Whether that be Donald Trumps perfect human, or just you.

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, by Strawberries and Stilettos

Nine Magazine- 'Escapism'

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, by Strawberries and Stilettos

Nine Magazine is nearly here!

Nine Magazine is my most recent university project, a group project along side Sam, Irene, Doaa and Princess. Its been a hard process but its nearly here and I'd love to share with you a quick taster of the magazine before the final is here, which I will show you all. Please follow our instagram n1n3magazine for updates and keep posted for more images and articles!