A Christmas Gift Guide (& GIVEAWAY CLOSED) - Inspired By CaseApp.

Well, its that time of year again isn't it. Christmas is just around the corner and everyone is starting their Christmas shopping... Or if you are like me you'll have it all wrapped and ready for the big day (I don't mean to brag or anything, haha). Either way it is still so difficult to pick and choose what to buy your loved ones. So, I've put together a little selection of (loosely) themed gifts that anyone would love to receive. By anyone I mean me, haha!

Use the same design as a screen saver so everything matches perfectly!

Everyone has a phone right? And probably a laptop too. So what better gift to give/receive than a personalised phone case and laptop skin! If you haven't noticed already, I love CaseApp. I have worked with them a few times before and I cannot give them enough praise. Their products are amazing quality, their website is super easy to use and they have a massive amount of different designs to pick from. I went with the 'flower field' design on both my tough phone case (it has a silicone lining for extra protection, win) and laptop skin. I think matching the prints on both pieces ties the gift together nicely. Another fab idea would be to personalise the case or skin with your own images, so maybe adding a picture of you and your friend to a case or a picture of their pet to a laptop skin. Oh, and before I forget I have an early Christmas gift for you guys. When you order with CaseApp use the code POPPYKAY20 at the checkout for an extra 20% off (valid until mid December). Why not treat yourself this Christmas!

Need a gift for the stationary lover? A letter opener! Stay with me a minute, haha. Laura Ashley have some lovely letter openers in store including this beautiful flamingo piece. I feel like letter openers are really rare now so this would be a really unique gift. Pair it with some blank cards and a quirky pen and you have a perf present.

And finally, the mug addict. I have an obsession with cups. Honestly it is ridiculous, one person doesn't need that many mugs... But hey, what is one more. This mug is from Tesco, I just fell for the rich colours and striking design. Anthropologie have some beautiful mugs too, as do Next.

This, some delish biscuits and maybe some little sachets of hot choc would make a lovely winter warmer.

So now for the giveaway! To enter all you have to do is comment a Christmassy word in the comments below. I will contact the winner via Instagram from my account (poppykayyy). The closing date is the 1st of December.

Good luck guys and I am sure I will speak to you before Christmas!

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*These products were kindly sent to me by CaseApp, read full disclaimer here*

Updating My Bedroom.

Sorry for the bad quality photo... An IPhone camera and a dark room don't mix!

So as you may (or may not) know, I have been working on switching up my room. I never keep it the same but this time I did decide to make a few bigger changes... more permanent ones. The first big change being a total rejig of my furniture. I basically swapped my bed and wardrobe over, got rid of my desk and purchased a new set of chester drawers, but I will show you that another time. 

Today I wanted to focus on the 'chill corner' I created. I love this little section of my room and to be honest, this is the only part that I am completely happy with so far. 

As I did get rid of my desk I needed to find somewhere to put my whicker chair, I deffo wasn't ready to part with it. I threw an Ikea faux fur rug over it and added my new H&M cushion and loved how looked. I sat my fiddle leaf fig at the side of the chair, to add some planty elements, obvs. The brass planter adds a mid century modern look to the corner too, which I am really into at the mo. 
But bringing it back to the boho/scandi theme again I added my macrame wall hanging (which was an absolute barg from Matalan) to the other wall. They don't have the one I picked up anymore but they have some very similar ones here. 
Finally the piece de resistance, my flamingo neon light. This is from a local shop but I did find an alternative here. I think it adds a nice bright element to the otherwise dark corner.

I do love this corner but I am not sure if it is missing a print, placed just above the chair? Let me know what you think?!

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Jimmy Choo | Flash.

Every Christmas my mum buys me a perfume. From Morgan (way back in my school days), to Marc Jacobs to YSL. She really does know what she is doing when she picks a new scent to add to my collection. Picking a fragrance can be a really personal thing, so it is lovely to know my mum knows what to get me and I have never been disappointed. I wanted to share this years pick as it is deffo up there with my favourites. Flash by Jimmy Choo is created from sparkles of pink pepper, tangerine and strawberry. The middle notes are made up of white flowers and tuberose with base notes of white wood and heliotrope. Basically it is sweet and floral, which is my favourite kind of scent. I only use about 3/4 sprays of this perfume in the day, which is nothing for me. I am the kind of gal to spray it everywhere, my clothes then my hair, my outerwear then a few sprits in the air just to walk through. But this one lasts all day and I still get whiffs of it at the end of the day. Sorry, I couldn't think of a nicer replacement for whiff, haha.

Can we just talk about the bottle for a minute too. The textured, cube shaped bottle looks so chic sat on my dressing table, especially with the mix of silver and lavender tones in the glass and metal work.

I think you can find this perfume relatively cheap, I have researched online and found prices ranging from £20-£60. That is depending on size of the bottle and where you get it from. I still love my other Jimmy Choo perfume (I think it is just called Jimmy Choo) but this is a nice floral alternative. 

What is your favourite perfume?

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December Favourites.

It's not too late for my December faves right? I feel like the month of December just revolves around Christmas so even mentioning it makes me shiver a bit. I am just going to share anyway. 

My first favourite is the Stilla stay all day liquid eyeliner. I feel like everyone knows about (and loves!)  this already but I didn't understand until I tried it for myself. This product makes wing liner easy peasy, no joke. I just use the tip of the pen to line my lid, then press the whole nib against my skin to create a perfect flick. That doesn't really make sense but just buy it and you will understand how it works. I wear liner everyday so it makes getting ready in the morning that little bit faster and it stays put until the end of the day.

My next favourite is the colour red. This is very unusual for me as I am an avid black wearer, maybe grey at a push. BUT for some reason I am just drawn to the colour at the minute. I have been loving a baggy red jumper that I picked up from H&M but I can't seem to find it online anymore. So, I am sharing my next rouge love, a beautiful rich toned scarf from Laura Ashley. It is so warm and thick I could honestly live in it. It does shed a little though, which is a bit annoying as I tend to be leaving a red fluff trail everywhere. Whilst we are on the topic of fashion I thought I'd share my favourite jumper. This isn't on the H&M site either (sorry!) but I did find one very similar here, it is only a little more than I paid too (I got mine for a steal at £12). Its great to just throw on with some leggings and loafers for a semi-stylish but comfy look.

I don't think I have ever done a favourites post this long before, but we are on to the last thing you'll be happy to know. 
I have been really into interior magazines lately. Not any one in particular, I just flick through the ones on the shelves and if I like the look of the content I'll buy it. I have been decorating my bedroom so any inspo has been massively helpful. I am loving the whole, mid century modern/Scandinavian style and looking through the mags has really helped me achieve that kinda look in my bedroom. I am hoping to finish it pretty soon so then I can give you a little look into my new space.

I could go on all day and night but I best stop there before I bore you all. What has been your most recent favourite?

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Then vs Now.

I thought it would be interesting to look back on my blog content and compare it to the things I post now. I am mainly going to be focusing on the photography as my content hasn't massively changed. It is still largely based on fashion, beauty and lifestyle. So lets start with my first ever post, published on the 8th of March 2015.

I was so nervous posting this. I had wanted to start a blog for so long but I just didn't have the courage to do it. I didn't tell anyone I started prk up at first... now I talk about it openly and often ask my mum for post ideas, haha. Anyway this post was about my 3 hair favourites. I feel like I still speak (or type?) the same as I do in my current posts, I am just a little more relaxed now. Product wise, I still love the Bumble and Bumble hairspray, but the other products I haven't really used for a while. As for photography, it has obviously changed massively. I layer props and decor a lot more now. My photos are a lot brighter, with deeper shadows and richer colours. Back then I was shooting with a Nikon coolpix I think it was, now I am using the Canon 700D which obviously produces better images.

lets skip a couple of months to a facial oil post I did in June. As you can see I learned how to brighten up my photos, maybe a little too much. It is very pink too, which isn't really my thing anymore. I've noticed too it is very cool toned, and I am much into my warmer earthier tones at the minute. Still into using fresh flowers as props though, I will never get bored of that. 
So, moving towards the end of the year, when I published a post about my new years eve make up picks. I still love the majority of this make up, obviously I have updated it but I still gravitate towards the same products when I top up my make up collection. Like I said previously the images from this period are still very white with a blue undertones, pretty different to what I post now. I have also realised, as I have been searching through my blog, that my images are tiny. It's annoying actually because I love huge images now with visible detail. Around this time I also started linking the products I was talking about too, which is always handy.

I am skipping forward to April 2016 now. In 2016 I started to post a few more interior posts, which is my favourite content to post nowadays (even though I still don't do it enough). Nothing much changed really, my images were still *annoyingly* small, my content was still similar to the previous year and blah blah blah. I am going to move onto the posts using my new camera, that is when things drastically changed. 

Ah, August 2016 the time where my images improved and got bigger, thank god. I think I was getting better at editing too at this point. As you can see the images are still bright but they don't look as washed out or cold. For the rest of this year I just learned how to use my new camera and how to style things differently. I started to experiment with different props and layouts, edging away from flatlays (not a lot though, flatlays are still my go to). From May 2017 my style just continued to evolve. I suppose I was inspired by different people from when I first started blogging. Eimear from Eimear Varian Barry inspired me to use shadows and textures and Chloe from The Little Plum inspired me to get a bit more posey and show my personality through my photography. 

Content was still pretty much the same throughout though. I did try to do cooking posts at one point but that isn't something I really post about anymore. I suppose I was just finding out what I was interested in and enjoyed writing about.

Along the way I have worked with some lovely brands too, and I am very grateful for that. It really does mean a lot that companies can see something in my little blog. 

So for now, I feel like this is a good place the leave 2017 and enter 2018. I hope you have a fab year!

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Christmas With CaseApp. (& Giveaway Closed)

I am not doing any type of Christmas gift guide this year. Everyone does them so I am sure there is already one out there that caters to your needs. But I did want to share one little gift idea, which a lot of people don't tend to think about and that is custom phone cases and laptop skins. I don't know about you but I'd love to receive a new sassy phone case or a chic laptop skin for Crimbo. CaseApp asked me to try out some of their products and of course I couldn't refuse. I have worked with CaseApp before (here) so their products have already been tried and tested on prk. But I can confirm yet again, you get nothing but top quality from this company. The site is easy to navigate, the product selection is brill, you can customise your own products and the delivery is fast, what more do you want eh?  

Anyway, shall we talk about the products I picked out this time? I knew I wanted a new laptop skin so thats where I headed first. I did want to customise one but I fell in love with a few designs they already had. It was either between 'glass beach' or 'brushstrokes'. Obviously I went with brush strokes, I just loved the clean monochrome look. I peeled off my previous laptop skin (which came off a dream and didn't leave any marks) and applied my new one... it made my laptop feel brand spanking new again.  

As for my phone case, I went with something a little more Christmasy. I chose the design 'pine' as again, I just loved the clean look. I also went with the matte finish, I always think they feel more expensive with the smooth texture. When it first arrived I was a bit worried that it would soon discolour, but I have had it on my phone for maybe a week now and it is still perfect which is a win! I think it would be a lovely idea to design a custom phone case for someones Christmas present, or just in general to be honest. Design a photo collage or an illustration and gift them a one of a kind, thoughtful piece.

It is now your chance to design a phone case or laptop skin. I am running a giveaway with CaseApp and all you have to do is comment down below. The comp is worldwide and ends on the 30th of December. Good luck!

P.s I have a discount code too. Use the code POPKAY20 for 20% off, woohoo!
(valid until the 28th of December)

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*These products were kindly sent to me by CaseApp, read full disclaimer here*

Statement Earrings.

I am actually obsessing over statement earrings at the minute, I think everyone is to be fair. Tassels seem to be everyones favourite (I did a post on some here), but big bling-y ones are my go to.

I've picked up a few pairs recently so I thought I would share. Prices start from 99p (I know right, 99p!!) up to £5. I don't pay whole lot for trend pieces so these are great if you want to keep on a budget.

So, the first pair are gold discs from H&M (these are the 99p ones!!). They are surprisingly comfortable and light weight which is always a plus with statement earrings. I hate it when they make your lobes look dead droopy. I did get these ones in the sale so I don't know if they will still be in store, but they are deffo not online anymore. I feel like if you did some research you could find a similar pair. Amazon and Ebay are great for cheap dupes.

You might think the next pair are a bit granny-ish, but I love em. I paid around £2.50 for these (I got a bit of extra discount) from Laura Ashley. I think the oil slick shell and the hammered metal go really well together, it's a lovely contrast. Oh, and again they are not too heavy so they don't give the saggy lobe look, win! But anyway, I think its about time we moved onto the prettiest earrings ever isn't it...

Tadaaaa! How nice are these? You'd never guess they were from Asda would you, and only £5. These total bargains look like they come straight from Mango or Zara right? I love the bling & the gold &the star design... everything about them is just so stylish and very on trend at the minute. I couldn't find these online but they will deffo still be in store, I didn't get them too long ago. Out of the 3 these are 100% my favourite. 

Which pair are your faves?

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Custom Stickers With StickerApp (& Giveaway Closed).

I don't think you realise how much you can actually do with stickers. The possibilities are endless... this sounds a bit random doesn't it? Haha, let me start from the beginning. A little while ago StickerApp contacted me and asked if I wanted to try out some of their custom stickers. At first I was like, what could I do with stickers? So I visited their site and I was surprisingly so inspired. 

I decided to have a look through the sticker library first, just to get an idea of what I was working with. This is basically a part of the site where you can buy stickers designed by artists. I picked a few stickers from a couple different designers, including Bobby Brown, Muskegon, Amity Price and Anna Hulda Bergman. I got a few for my nephew, he loves anything to do with monsters. I also got a couple to add to birthday presents and birthday cards, it gives them a nice personal touch.

After browsing through the sticker library (for far too long) I decided that I wanted to have a go at customising some myself. I wanted to go with my blog logo, which is the prk scribble you see on my banner. I downloaded my image, picked my cut, size, material (gloss coated vinyl) and the quantity that I wanted. It is literally as easy as that. 

When my package arrived I was so surprised with the quality of the stickers! I didn't expect anything bad from StickerApp, but for the price the stickers were just more than I expected! I feel like custom stickers would be a perfect alternative to business cards. Well, I have been handing my blog stickers out like business cards anyway haha.

I am also holding a giveaway with StickerApp, giving one of you guys the chance to win £25 worth of stickers (*Ends 17th November*). To enter simply make sure you follow me and stickerappinspo on Instagram and comment down below, just letting me know you have entered. Feel free to tag your friends on Insta too! Good Luck!

How would you use your stickers if you won?

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*These products were kindly sent to me by StickerApp, read full disclaimer here*

The Velvet Bag.

I feel like I am seeing mustard and velvet everywhere at the minute. Clothing, accessories, home decor... you name it! So when I saw the mustard and velvet combo in bag form, I had to grab it. This across body bag (or shoulder bag, you choose) is from good old Primarni. I can't actually remember how much it was. It was either £7 or £9, which is a complete bargain. The quality is pretty good too, especially the chain, it has a nice feel and weight to it.

The stitching kind of reminds me of the YSL bags...you know, with the like V/arrow design. I think they deffo got the inspiration from that or maybe even Gucci.

With 'trend' pieces I don't like to spend a lot of money as I do tend to get bored of them pretty easily (although, I don't think I will ever tire of this beaut) so Primark is always the first place I head to. They have some amazing pieces in at the minute, I definitely need another trip to pick up some more autumnal bits.

Are you into the mustard and/or velvet trend?

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Happy Halloween.

 

Halloween is my favourite time of the year, well its probably on par with Christmas but its still up there. It gives me an excuse to sit in my room watching Halloween films, whilst eating sweets and playing with my sfx make up. Last Halloween I went to Farmageddon which was bloody terrifying. This year I went on a tour around Smithills Hall which is like an old manor house. Lets just say some weird *excuse my french* shit happened there. 

I haven't really had the chance to dress up this year, but I did manage to have a play with my special effects make up. I used scar wax for the first time, which isn't the easiest thing to work with but hopefully I will get the hang of it as it does give the make up a realistic look. 

Anyway, that was my Halloween. What did you guys get up to?


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Finding A Space That Works For You.

It can be hard to create a space that works as both a bedroom and creative zone. Whether its somewhere to do your make up, to work or a cosy reading nook, there needs to be a divide between that and your sleep space (which can be hard to achieve in one room). I recently moved my bedroom around and I am finally starting to feel like it's the perfect mix. Today I wanted to show you my desk space. I have switched it up slightly, adding more golden and earthy tones in the form of decor. 

I have been picking up trinkets for a little while now, some you may have seen on Instagram and others are new. Most of the bits are from TK Maxx but I do have items from Primark, Laura Ashley, Ikea and local carboot sales too. It's important to pick things up along the way, rather than buying everything in one go. I just feel like everything seems a little bit more personal that way. Oh, and my plants. I can't live without those can I! My fiddle-leaf fig is from Lidl, believe it or not it was only £10.

So yeah, that is my current desk situation. It is forever changing so the next time you see it, it will probably be completely different. But for now it inspires me and for that, I love it.

Where is your work space?

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Skin Kissed Skin & Facial Serum.

Main active ingredients contain: Vitamin C + Hyaluronic Acid  + Collagen

I think I may have spoken about this before but I always tend to steer away from serums and oils. I just imagine them being greasy and sitting on top of the skin, but not this one. Skin Kissed promises to plump and hydrate the skin, remove acne, reduce fine lines, wrinkles and blemishes and leaves the skin feeling soft. The biggest difference I have seen though is when applying my make up. It makes blending the foundation soooo much easier and gives a flawless finish. My mum has been using it too and she loves it. She's into anything that softens the skin and reduces wrinkles & fine lines.

So I usually apply this serum in the morning as soon as I wake up. I use 4 drops and massage it into the skin, concentrating around my nose and forehead (my trouble areas). By the time I head down stairs to do my make up it is completely dry and soaked into the skin. It gives the skin a super soft and almost matte feeling finish. I haven't noticed a massive difference with my spots yet, but I did end up squeezing them the other day (stupid I know!) so I probably haven't helped. I really want to focus on getting rid of these spots, so I'll deffo update you with my progress. It has reduced the redness around my nose and forehead though, that seems to have calmed down a lot.
Oh, and can we talk about the bottle? I am loving anything gold and antique looking at the minute. It fits right in on my dressing table full of trinkets and plants.

I definitely think this serum is worth trying out and if you're not happy with your results they offer a 30 day money back guarantee. Win!

Have you ever tried the Skin Kissed serum?

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*These products were kindly sent to me by SkinKissed, read full disclaimer here*