GIFT-WRAPPING INSPIRATION

Happy December everyone!

We can't believe we're down to single-digits-until-Christmas already - where has the month gone?!

Today we thought we'd put together a little post about something we both LOVE, and that's gift-wrapping. Hopefully some of you share this obsession, or maybe you just need a little inspiration for wrapping your Christmas gifts this year.  If you follow us on Pinterest you'll know how much we love anything crafty, so read on to see how to simply make your gifts that extra bit special this year.

Brown Paper
 
 "Brown paper packages tied up with string" springs to mind here, but this style really is one of our favourite things! There's nothing simpler, but this idea can be customised to make it your own. We found all these images on Pinterest (where else!) and love the three different styles you could go with. If you're creative, go all out on decorating your presents! Take inspiration from the first image and cut shapes from patterned paper or add a cute tag (we love these from John Lewis, stamp spots on in white paint and follow with similar-coloured accessories, or stay on-trend and Christmassy with classic red and white ribbon, like this style from John Lewis.

Personalising

Personalising gifts doesn't have to be tricky or expensive and these three ideas from Pinterest show three different ideas that add a personal touch. We love the idea of using letter beads threaded on string - how cute! And with these beads coming in so cheap, it'll make you wonder why you didn't think of this before! Large letters look really fancy and are eye-catching. Choose a font you like and print your desired letter out onto card and use the outline as a stencil. This last idea is more detailed but looks so amazing. You can write on your recipient's address and some stamp-like illustrations. We love the addition of air-mail colours too.

Patterned Paper

Patterned wrapping paper is not only a cute way to show that you know your recipient's taste, but it's one of the simplest ways to wrap! As the paper is busy in itself, you don't need to worry about adding much to the present. Stick to a complimentary ribbon-colour or a matching gift-tag and you're set to go! These three are our favourites this year: Rifle Paper Co's super cute reindeer print is perfect for kids and kids-at-heart, Katie Leamon's marbled wrap is gorgeous for all year round (a personal favourite for us!) and if you have a friend or family member living in London, this Paperchase 'London lines' paper is brilliant, with tube stops replaced with festive titles like 'Santa Paul's' and 'Puddington'.

We hope this post has inspired you to be creative with your wrapping this year - where do you like to go for inspiration?

S & K  xo

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OUR MONTH ON INSTAGRAM: November

Welcome to our last post of the month; a look back at what we've done through our Instagram's eyes. November's been another busy month for us here at Eleven Oh Seven, both work-wise and play-wise too! 

We're slowly getting back into blogging, with our posts this month being more beauty-based. This was kicked off with an invite to Lush Cardiff for their Christmas blogging event. Read all about it here to see their new products and what we got!  Things are getting so Christmassy around town and in stores too: the arcades always look lovely, especially at night!

This month also saw the opening of H&M's brand new store in Cardiff, which is now the biggest in the UK! We went along to the launch evening and were treated to 20% off and an amazing performance by Ella Eyre. K also attended the gorgeous local store, Renate's birthday party to celebrate their first year in business. We bought a few things and popped them into a haul post for you - have a look at it here.  We're also in love with S' new wallpaper that Turner Turner designed - such a cute set-up!

We hope you've had a great November, roll on December and all things Christmas!

See you soon for some festive-themed posts,

S & K  xo

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MINI HAUL: H&M, ASOS & RENATE

Happy Sunday!

Today's post is a little retail update: Uni stress often ends in online and window shopping, and this little collection of beauty, accessory and fashion bits is K's mini haul from the past month or so - read on to see what she got!

ASOS

I think I can speak for both of us when I say that ASOS is a go-to when we're looking for some retail therapy. With so many products and brands to choose from, we can easily spend ages on the site. Plus, student discount doesn't hurt either! I managed to control my spendy ways and only purchased a few bits - including some things I'd been wanting to get for a while.

I've been wanting to get my hands on one of the Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate nude collection lipsticks ever since they were released back in the summer and saw everyone raving about them. I was torn between either shade 43 or 45, but chose the latter due to the more pink-toned base. The formulation is moisturising on the lips and lasts well, although it will need topping up throughout the day.

I know I'm a little late to the fluffy pom-pom charm trend, but I couldn't not get this when I saw it! I've been needing a new charm for my keys as I'm constantly losing them in my Mary Poppins-esque bag so I thought this Skinny Dip fluffy charm would be perfect! It's a little larger than I expected, but I love it! I use it both on my keys or my bag depending on what I'm wearing.

I've heard great things about Elegant Touch press-on nails, and have been wanting to try out some for a while now, so took the plunge and purchased them. I got these ones in a dark purple/navy colour, and they're matte, which I love. I'm yet to try them, but will keep you updated on how I find them! 

H&M

This week, H&M opened their new store (which is now the largest in the UK!) in Cardiff St David's 2 with a launch event and 20% off everything, so we couldn't resist popping in. Now housing the brand's new beauty line and homeware, we picked up a few pieces each: look out for S' buys in a post soon. Also, how great are the bags they used for the launch?!

Since I'm a self-confessed jumper obsessive, I couldn't leave this rib-knit one. It's super oversized and comfy - perfect for winter days. It has a zip on one side too which adds a little detail to the generally baggy look.

We've heard so many good things about H&M's beauty launch from the autumn, and were so happy to hear it would be stocked in Cardiff! I had a quick browse of the beauty area of the store, but will be back to have more of a look when it's less busy! I picked up this powder blusher in Golden Peach after swatching it - it's a beautiful light pink with a slight glittery sheen. It's not super bold, but is buildable, but with a shimmery blush like this, I think that 'less is more'.

RENATE

Local boutique Renate (in Morgan Arcade, Cardiff) celebrated their first birthday this week with a lovely event (thank you for inviting us!) and a chance to shop with 20% off everything. With brands including Just Female, Minimum and gorgeous jewellery brand From St Xavier, it was hard not to want to buy everything!

My student budget allowed a small purchase and I couldn't resist trying something from newly-stocked Herbivore Botanicals, an ethical and organic beauty brand. This blood orange lip butter smells absolutely gorgeous, using only natural oils and made with Shea butter that keeps your lips soft and moisturised for hours. Will definitely be looking to get something else from this brand sometime soon - it's well worth the price tag!

Does anyone else shop when they're feeling stressed? Please tell us we're not the only ones!

Check back tomorrow for our Month on Instagram for November, and then we're into December! We can't wait for a well-deserved break at home and getting into the Christmas spirit.

S & K  xo

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Chistmas Comes Early: Lush Blogger Event

Happy Sunday everyone!

 Juggling the final year of University and creating weekly content for Eleven Oh Seven has proved more difficult than we thought, so we apologise for this month's lack of posts.
 We've finally come up for air from our heavy workload and decided to get back into blogging, spurred on by an invitation to a Lush Cosmetics blogger event in Cardiff to celebrate their Christmas bath products and skincare!

As we arrived at the already busy store, we were welcomed by the staff with mince pies and mulled wine (the perfect start to a festive event) and shown around by the lovely Chloe who was super knowledgeable on everything Lush - as the staff always are. We were looking forward especially to seeing all the Christmas products in action and couldn't wait to try them out.

Bath bombs Shoot for the Stars, Golden Wonder and Father Christmas

Firstly Chloe showed us the latest Christmas collection including bath bombs, bars and melts. We had already heard great stuff about the new Magic of Christmas bubble bar, and weren't disappointed when we were given the demonstration! Packed with cinnamon, cloves and almonds, this reusable wand doesn't only look gorgeous, but also creates the perfect Christmas scent. 

We were also given demonstrations of two of our new favourite Christmas products Yog Nog and Golden Wonder. Yog Nog is the luxurious bath bomb full of clove, ylang ylang and smells good enough to eat with its toffee scent. Golden Wonder the most exciting bomb in our opinion with a centred surprise: we love the way the blue shimmers! Perfect for a Christmas eve treat!

After spending time in the bath section of the store we went upstairs to try out some new fresh face masks, as we're massive Lush mask fans! We tried a few including Rosy Cheeks which is perfect for S as it cleanses while the calamine and rose ingredients reduce redness and soften your skin. K had heard great things about Mask of Magnaminty as she has spot-prone combination skin. Not only does this product smell like mint ice-cream (so dreamy!) but the peppermint really helps to soothe skin and exfoliates too! We fell in love with these masks and just had to get them! 

Rosy Cheeks face mask

 

Whilst upstairs, we had a look at a few scrubs, including Rub Rub Rub (shower scrub) and K's new favourite, The Rough with the Smooth. Chloe kindly gave us both a little sample of Rub Rub Rub so we'll keep you posted on how we get on with it! It's a bright bubblegum blue colour and full of sea salt so is super exfoliating for winter skin.

After our hands and arms had all that exfoliating, we tried two of Lush's famous massage bars to finish off our Lush experience. We picked our favourite scents, with S choosing From Dusk til' Dawn  and K Wiccy Magic Muscles which were so relaxing and hydrating on the skin - it felt like we were having a mini spa treatment! After using these, your skin can feel a little greasy while the moisturising elements of the bars sink in, so Lush have come up with the best solution: sparkly, scented dusting powders! We were sold when glitter was mentioned, but First Snow (the winter glimmer edition) is gorgeous! It's not too in-your-face, but leaves a sweet-smelling dusting of sparkle over your skin - perfect if you're going out for the evening.

Lush always have the BEST gift boxes and selections for Christmas, so we couldn't help but check this year's offerings out! The packaging on them all is so inventive and colourful, they'd look beautiful under the Christmas tree. One of our favourites was Human Cannonball (HELLO confetti!) that consists of the most colourful bath bombs. Others pictured here are It's Christmas! which is a medley of all Lush's most popular festive products and Sleeps 'til Christmas that is a playful gift that counts down the days to the big day! Lush's gifts range in price from £10 all the way up to £150, so there's something to suit everyone's budget.


We couldn't help but pick up a few bits while we were in store, and the staff kindly gave us some Christmassy products to try out too! We both were obsessed with Magic of Christmas so had to buy one each and also got the face masks we tried earlier. 

K was given the cutest bath bomb Butterbear, (he lost his little nose in transit!) a vanilla-scented and highly moisturising bomb with Fair Trade cocoa butter. It smells so delicious - K is obsessed with anything vanilla scented so can't wait to try this one out! Santa's Lip Scrub is a seasonal taste of Lush's lip scrub collection that smells (and tastes!) of cola. The sugar helps buff and soften your lips, and you can lick off the excess once you're finished - perfect!

S was given Snow Angel, a marzipan-smelling, moisturising and glittery bath melt, along with Five Gold Rings bubble bar (so festive and in perfect sizes for five baths!) and the Yog Nog bath bomb we tried earlier in the evening - S can't wait to get home in the Christmas break to have baths galore with these goodies!

Magic Wand bubble bar along with Snow Angel bath melt

Shoot for the Stars and Dashing Santa bath bombs

A massive thank you again to the staff at Lush Cardiff for a lovely evening and for the products they gave us. We'll be back in again to pick up our other favourites before December starts!
Pop into your local Lush store to check out the newest seasonal products, as well as classics like Snow Fairy and Candy Mountain.

 We hope this post has gotten you feeling festive for Christmas! We have some exciting posts planned for our first Christmas at Eleven Oh Seven, so keep up to date with us here and via our social media to see what we're up to!

S & K  xo
 

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OUR MONTH ON INSTAGRAM: October

Happy Halloween!

We can't quite believe it's already the end of October, the time seems to be really flying past now we're back at Uni full-time. We've had a hectic month with work, presentations and deadlines but made some time for ourselves too - read on to see our month through our Instagram: @eleven0hseven.

 This month we themed our posts around Halloween, with an alternative costume themed post (including Lauren Conrad's Mary Poppins idea above) and a Halloween make up post to give both us and you some inspiration for the holiday.  As we mentioned earlier, we've been super busy with Uni, so spending days at home working in our PJs has been a regular routine for us!

Along with working hard, we've made sure to treat ourselves too (an essential for post-deadline celebration) and in the form of desserts no less! Bunkhouse in Cardiff not only has the cutest interior ever, but also Nutella hot chocolates to die for. We highly recommend this place for the chilled out vibe and gorgeous treats. K also went to Roath Farmer's Market this month and had to sample something from Pwdin Cart's amazing selection of cakes and desserts. How nice is their packaging too?!

We hope you've enjoyed your October and welcomed the changing of the seasons as much as we have - hello warm coats! - and are looking forward to November with us. We'll see you soon for a post all about what the new month has in store for Eleven Oh Seven.

Happy trick-or-treating if you're celebrating Halloween tonight!

S & K  xo

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HALLOWEEN MAKE UP IDEAS

Happy Sunday!

Halloween is getting closer so we thought we'd use the last Sunday before the holiday to share some more fun dress up ideas. Last week we shared some of our favourite alternative Halloween clothing costumes, this week we've decided to show you some inspiration for both classic and a few different Halloween make up looks. Sometimes planning an extravagant costume can be difficult if you're super last minute like S, so these make up looks will be the main part of your look for the night and your costume and can be compiled from clothes you have in your closet.  

Broken Doll 

Source: Pinterest

We love this broken doll make up look! It's super simple to create even though it looks complex. For this look you'll need white face paint, black eyeliner, some berry red lipstick and false eyelashes. You can add as much or as little detail as you like for this look, that's why we love it! When S recreated this make up two years ago, she added only one false eyelash to the doll part of the face to make a more obvious contrast and added blue and purple eyeshadow to the broken eye to add a bruised effect. Pair this make up with a tartan dress or collared shirt and skirt to give the typical doll-like effect.

Vampire 

Source: Pinterest

Being a classic costume choice during Halloween, you can really go to a lot of detail for this look, and the best thing is most of it is achievable with the products already in your make up bag! Using smoky blue and purple toned eyeshadows around the eyes will create a bruised look. Pale your skin using a lighter foundation and powder and add fake blood around your red or plum coloured lips. For more of a dramatic look you can add white or red contact lenses - these really add an extra creepiness to the overall look. Paired your make up with a black outfit of your choice and you've instantly transformed into a vampire!

Poison Ivy 

Source: Pinterest

This is the most detailed make up look in this post, but we couldn't not include it - not only is it stunning but it's a great alternative idea for the holiday. This look will take more time, but look awesome once you're done. You'll need face paint ideally here, or look for some green and dark toned eyeshadows to create the green leaf effect. Green gems along the top of your eyebrow are obviously optional, but add a witchy feel to the look. Pair this outfit with a green dress to complete the look. We would recommend practicing this one beforehand too, it may take a little while to perfect your technique!

Spiders Web 

The simplest out of all these make up looks, the classic spider's web only requires black eyeliner along with whatever other make up you want to wear. Simple to do and the most discreet, this look is perfect for someone who doesn't enjoy dressing up too much or going too OTT with her make up. Wear this look with a lace dress to reinforce the webbed, spider idea. 

We hope this post will inspire your costume planning! Whether you're dressing up in full costume or adding a discreet Halloween detail to your style for the night, we hope you have a fun and freak-filled time. 

S & K  xo

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HALLOWEEN COSTUME IDEAS

If like us you struggle to think of inventive Halloween costume ideas, you need to start planning them with at least a few weeks to go. Being students, we don't have the highest budget, so our motto is to make the most of what you have (and use Pinterest for inspiration!)

Here are a few of our ideas for this year - what do you think we should go for?

 

Pop-Art Character

Images from Pinterest

We love this pop-art pointillism theme, the idea is so inventive, even if it is super time-consuming! You'll be sure to turn heads with this impressive idea. In terms of the costume, all you'll need is bright, pop-art colours or polka dot covered items and some face-paint! A streaked wig will also add to the look. Think block colours and you're good to go! Make-up wise, just over exaggerate your features and outline in a black eyeliner. If you want to make your look more scary, check out Nicole Guerriero's pop-art zombie tutorial here.

 Wednesday Addams

Images from Pinterest

This is a bit of a classic for Halloween, but we love the simplicity of this outfit, almost as much as we love Wednesday's badass attitude. All you'll need is a black jumper-dress with a white shirt, black tights and boots. Keep your make-up simple, with pale skin, a little contour and a lot of black eyeliner. Perfect!

Scarecrow

 Images from Pinterest

This may not be the most innovative idea for Halloween, but you can take this costume as creepy as you want. From Wizard of Oz to Batman Begins, make this character your own. We love the cutesy idea: all you'll need is a checked shirt, some dungarees, some Timberland-style boots and a floppy hat.

Mary Poppins

 

Images from Pinterest

We always look forward to seeing what Lauren Conrad wears for the scary holiday every year, but one of our favourites was definitely Mary Poppins. We know this isn't scary at all, but it's such a simple look to create. ASOS are doing some perfectly-fitting umbrellas at the moment too!

Little Red Riding Hood

Image from Pinterest

Being a fairy-tale, this may seem a little tame for Halloween, but you can really run with it and make it as scary as you like. This look can easily be recreated with a cute dress (a white one works best we think, especially if you want to put fake blood down it!) and a simple red cape. Carry a basket with you to complete the look.

We know it's the holiday of trick or treat, but we couldn't resist putting in a few cute ideas for costumes too - plus who doesn't love Lauren Conrad's Halloween style?!

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

Come back next week for the second part of this post - hair and make up!

S & K  xo

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FROM US TO YOU: October

Happy October everyone, 

Another month has arrived at Eleven Oh Seven and for us, October marks the start of the celebrating season! With Halloween at the end of this month, fireworks in November and Christmas in December it’s all becoming very exciting here.

This month our themed posts will be inspired by Halloween with costume ideas and our favourite halloween make up. As well as our themed posts, we'll be trying out a new blog series! We wanted somewhere to document our final year at University, so why not blog about it! We'll be talking about our creative development (and sometimes how stressed we get), and what we're up to. We're hoping this will be insightful for others thinking about studying fashion and will be something personal for us that we can look back on in years to come.

Source: Pinterest

As September has marked the start of our final year and with all our work beginning to flood in, we've decided to create weekly posts for the year instead of biweekly. This will allow us to keep our standard of posts the same without becoming too overwhelmed juggling both a blog and University work. These posts will be every Sunday: a perfect way to end/start the week. 

We hope you are excited for October with us here at Eleven Oh Seven: see you Sunday! 

S & K  xo 

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OUR MONTH ON INSTAGRAM: September

It's hard to believe that September has come to an end and that Autumn is fully on its way! This month has been another busy one for us, with S moving back to Cardiff and both starting our final year at University. The Rugby World Cup has also taken hold here with plenty of tourists around and adding to the overall buzz of the city which is great!
 Here's our month on Instagram:

With our theme of the month being Changing of Seasons, we blogged about our Autumn boot obsessions, gave a run-down of our Lush beauty haul and showed you some key beauty looks from the AW catwalk to be rocking this season. We were also crushing hard on all the amazing dresses worn to the VMAs and loved Lauren Conrad's runway show at NYFW.

September has also been the month of baking obsession for us - you'd have to be living under a rock to escape the Great British Bake Off here in the UK and we can't get enough of it! To curb our cravings, we visited Coffee Barker, which is a perfectly 'Instagrammable' place in itself, Waterloo Tea Gardens and reminisced on our trip to London. We also popped into Home by Kirsty, (which is just opposite Coffee Barker in Cardiff if you fancy a visit) and of course, wanted to buy everything.

What've you been up to this month?! 

S & K  xo

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CHANGING OF SEASONS: Autumn Runway Make Up Trends

Happy hump day everyone! 

Today marks the official first day of Autumn, so with that in mind, we decided to share our favourite A/W 15 make up trends taken inspiration straight from the runway for today's post. From statement lips to dramatic eyes we cannot wait to try these looks out this season. 

Statement Lip - Burberry

When we saw this statement lip look on the Burberry S/S 16 runway we were excited by the thought of experimenting with a darker lip colour over the colder months. In our eyes, Autumn and Winter months are the perfect times to don a berry lip. For this look Burberry used their 'Oxblood' lipstick, but for a high street duplicate, (and huge fans of this brand) we love this MAC lip colour in 'Diva'. As this colour lip is so on trend you'll be able to find lots of cheaper alternatives, like Rimmel's 'Starry Eyed'.

Burberry Kisses 'Oxblood' - £25

MAC 'Diva'- £15.50

Rimmel Lasting Finish 'Starry Eyed' - £4.99

Smoky Eye - DVF

We always find ourselves creating lighter make up looks during summer time and experimenting more with our make up during the Winter months. When we saw this make up look on DVF's A/W 15 runway show we had to include it. This bold smoky eye adds a dramatic feel to the otherwise minimal make up look, but you can create a more subtle look at home, depending on your style. The recently launched Urban Decay Smoky Palette would be perfect to create your smoky eye, with it's range of colours. A cheaper alternative would be the Collection Uncovered palette in grey as it has some earthy tones in there too (unfortunately this product is only UK based). 

Urban Decay Smoky Palette - £38.00

Collection Undercover Palette 3 (Nude Grey) - £3.99 

Long Lashes - Giambattista Valli

 Long, doll like lashes were seen at Giambattista Valli's A/W 15 show earlier this year. We love the natural simplicity of this look, with a nod to 60s chic (think Twiggy!) too. Use a lengthening mascara with several applications to create a full, long lash-line without having to fuss around with false lashes. This Estée Lauder 'Sumptuous Infinite' mascara offers both length and volume perfect to recreate this catwalk look, but for a drugstore price, the Maybelline Lash Sensational is the perfect dupe.

Estée Lauder Sumptuous Infinite Daring Mascara - £21.00

Maybelline Lash Sensational Multiplying Mascara - £7.99

Flushed Cheeks - Topshop Unique

Natural and 'outdoorsy' beauty was the inspiration behind Topshop Unique's A/W 15 catwalk look, with flushed cheeks and lips being the main attraction. With "handsome and well-bred" being the signature, creme blush was used dabbed onto the cheeks to create this rosy look. Beauty editor favourite, Topshop's own creme blush in 'Head Over Heels' would be perfect to recreate this look, but if creme blush isn't for you, try out this Rimmel Lasting finish blush in the dusky tone 'Pink Rose'.  

Topshop Creme Blush 'Head Over Heels' - £7.00

Rimmel Lasting Finish Mono Blush 'Pink Rose' - £3.99 

We hope this post gives you some inspiration for new season beauty trends - straight from the runway! What're your favourite looks for the colder months? Let us know!

S & K  xo

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CHANGING OF SEASONS: The Boot Edit

For this week's Changing of Seasons post, it's all about boots. We love making the most of the cooler weather in the upcoming seasons and transitioning our footwear to warmer and chunkier styles, so today we'll be showing you some of our favourites for this season.

S' Favourites

This post is very exciting for me as I'm in the process of buying this years winter boots - so I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. This year I'm loving the brown shade boot trend that's circulating the high street. As well as that, I'm obsessed with ankle boots - they're so flattering for everyone! This year is also the year of thigh and over-the-knee boots. I'm still undecided whether this trend is for me so I've chosen to put in my favourite thigh-high boot in just in case.

1.  Heeled Knee-High Tie Back - Missguided 

2.  Scarlett KG Kurt Geiger - Kurt Geiger

3.  Tan Strap - New Look 

4.  Black Lohan Square Toe - Dorothy Perkins

K's Favourites

I love knee-high and over-the-knee boots for Autumn, but being a small girl with short legs, these aren't really possible for me! Instead, I always go for ankle boots, mixing it up with colour and comfort: chunky heeled boots for this time of year can really tie an outfit together and make a great substitute for heels if you're going out in the evening whilst being super comfy.

1.  Zip Detail - Oasis at ASOS
2.  Peeptoe Block Heel - New Look
3.  Cross Strap Side - New Look
4.  Magdalena Boot - Dr Martens

We hope we've inspired you with our favourite styles this season - what boots are you looking out for this Autumn? 

S & K  xo

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