BARCELONA PHOTO DIARY

Back at the beginning of September, myself and 3 of my best friends decided to jet off to Spain for a week of sun, gossip and culture. Barcelona was a mere 17 euro and  hour and a half away by Renfe train from where we were staying in Salou, so we made a visit to the bustling city top of our to do list. One hot humid day after missing the previous train by minutes and waiting for an hour for the next we eventually made it into the city. I’d never been before but had a list the length of my arm of things I wanted to see and do. We started the day off with some café con leche and a little bun from a tiny little street café (by the way just way Barcelona offers some of the best coffee I’ve ever tasted – who knew?)

 I’ve decided to split my Barcelona story into a few different blog posts – one on where to eat and drink, one on what I wore, and this little photo diary full of summery snaps for you to feast your eyes on.

It truly is one of the most BEAUTIFUL and captivating cities I’ve ever been lucky enough to visit. We happened to travel in on Catalonian Independence Day, so the streets were alive with marches, colour and chants from locals. We spent our two days in Barcelona shopping, chatting with locals, eating, drinking and soaking up the atmosphere as we wandered down Las Ramblas, through the Gothic Quarter and down many a side street. 

Hope you enjoy the photos and I’ll be back with more tales soon,

Sara x

CURRENT MUSIC PICKS

August was a month of discovering new musical delights.

September is a month to listen to said musical delights over and over and over again. Seriously, what is it about a catchy song? It has a way of sinking it’s teeth into you. It’s there when you hum as you make your brekkie, when you sing in the shower and even when you’re trying to sleep. Not that I’m complaining- I’m a big music lover and this month I’ve decided to share my current favourites with you lovely lot.

There are two remixes by The 1975 nestled in amongst my top picks; they’re both so different and I just couldn’t decide which one to show off. Cavalier is more of a chilled background tune whilst the Travis $cott Drive remix is a song to awaken your soul. I absolutely challenge you to not feel instantly more alive and chirpy after listening to it. Catfish and The Bottlemen are fast becoming a favourite band of mine. They’ve recently exploded onto the mainstream music scene after grafting for more than 7 years and perfecting their craft. Give their newest banger ‘Cocoon’ a listen, you won’t regret it. Other artists I’ve been watching recently are new and upcoming Years & Years, and independent producer Gallant. The wild card of the pack has to be 80’s hit ‘Only You’ by Yazoo, a song my parents know off by heart. (They were so pleased when I discovered it late one night and blasted it out from my room that they treated me to an impromptu karaoke sesh.)

Hope you enjoy my music picks and leave your fave songs of the moment in the comments, I love discovering new music.

 Sara x

HOLIDAY POSTCARDS: WHAT I WORE DAY 3

1.   Co-ord: @serickarose via Depop

2.    Choker – Ebay

3.    Pool sliders – Topshop

Hello lovelies!

Today’s post is another instalment in the ‘What I Wore on Holiday’ series, featuring this GORGE blue checked co-ord I bought off Depop. I’m a big fan of co-ordinates and this set cost me only £20 – a definite win in my book. The seller even gave me a choice of an elasticated waist or a zip which I thought was a lovely touch.

In other news, I’ve been full on obsessed with wearing these Topshop pool sliders/Birkenstock copies and wear them with absolutely everything. Even my new cropped cuff pyjama bottoms. Out in public. You can check out the evidence of that little feat on my Instagram – saramacauley. Leave me a comment on there so I can check out your insta too, I’d love to be more connected with you fashionistas.

Other than working for pennies, spending an unhealthy amount of time watching Orange is the New Black on Netflix and drinking copious amount of tea I don't really have a lot to update you on. Which in summer, is quite frankly the way it should be. Hope you're well and feel free to drop me a tweet, comment on here or on insta if you fancy a chat. I'd love to hear from you.

Lotsa love,

 Sara x

BODY IMAGE: A LATE NIGHT CHAT

The brainchild that is this post was thought up on a blistering hot sunny day in Majorca, whilst I was wearing my Topshop high-waisted black bikini and nursing a ridiculously bloated tummy (seriously cocktails, must you?!) Perched on a heinously uncomfortable plastic chair on my hotel room’s balcony sipping a badly mixed vodka and lemonade, I started to think about body image. The subject of body image is a complicated minefield of opinion, fact, words like ‘disorder’ and sadly, more often than not feelings of negativity. Firstly, I’d like to hold my hands up here and say I am in no way claiming to be definitively right on the matters I discuss in this post, I’m a teenage girl growing up in the thick of the digital age where body image is a massive issue, and I’m simply stating my opinion.

To use myself as an example, before I went on this holiday I exercised at the gym for about a month, ate healthily and cut out excessive alcohol and treats. My reason being that I wanted to look like the best version of myself and feel proud of my appearance. In the days before jetting off to Majorca, I’d discovered some newly found ab muscles and a slightly more even complexion. All in all, I was happy. So why was it, that AS SOON as I whipped off my kimono to reveal my bikini bod I immediately felt on edge? Honestly, in my head it was as if the lifeguard had sounded an alarm, called round his mates, and set up camp in front of my sun lounger. I felt as though walking to the bar was an inspection of my fat percentage and muscle tone. Let me just interject here to say that my hotel resort was like a retirement home - my dad is a typical grumpy old man and had carefully selected an adult only resort to avoid the hordes of school children, and every single person besides me, my sister and one other twenty-something was over the age of fifty.

Nobody gave a shit what I looked like in my bikini, but there I was breathing in so fiercely I probably looked a bit blue. WHY? Why do we, as women, have an incessant need to please others and fit into the mould of a certain beauty ideal?

We’re a generation obsessed with our appearance. Our mornings spent poring over the likes of Instagram and Tumblr have undoubtedly changed our mental perceptions of what we consider beautiful, and most importantly, ‘normal.’ Perhaps controversially, I’m not going to claim that’s a bad thing. As a fashion blogger, I find visual images of models, clothes, and other everyday women looking amazing really inspiring. To me, there’s no harm in recognising that another human being is having a good beauty day. The danger becomes apparent when you start using your own appearance to hold up as a negative contrast to Jourdan Dunn/Cara Delevingne/(insert other insanely gorge lady here.)

There are a multitude of reasons for low body confidence, but one which I’ve particularly noticed is actually girl on girl shaming. I’ve been programmed to assume that someone is always judging the way I look. Way too often do I hear girls slamming other girls for taking ‘selfies’ and posting pictures of themselves online, branding them ‘self-obsessed’ and ‘stuck up’ the moment they upload, unpicking every inch of the snap in question. I’m not going to go into detail on this particular aspect of body image, but Shona wrote an amazing blog post vis a vis selfie shaming here if you want to go and have a read.

If we as girls don’t have the confidence to applaud others on their good hair days, a fab outfit combo, or just a bloody brilliant body, who’s going to? In my opinion it’s high time that we started focusing on the good things about ourselves, and that’s always easier to do if somebody else notices it too (back to that incessant need to please others eh?) So instead of sighing at each other’s selfies, rolling our eyes when a girl struts past confidently, try giving her a supportive ‘like’ or smile.

Maybe it was the vodka in my drink or maybe it was just the slightest whisper of maturity, (scary) but staring out at the Majorcan sea, it was easy to see that appearance is not the be all and end all. Bloated or not, I was still on holiday, I was still enjoying cocktails on a faraway Island, and as far as I know the world did not stop turning because I was wearing a bikini.At that moment, I decided when I headed back down to my sun lounger I was going to breathe out, sit back, and sip my drink. And do you know what? No-one ran away in horror. Except the Spanish bar man when I tried to order a drink in his native language. And that was only because he was dumbfounded by my superb linguistic abilities. Probably. 

Sara x

FORGIVE ME READERS FOR I HAVE SINNED

Me: Hat – H&M | Jumper – ASDA men’s | Skirt – Primark | Shoes – Mr.Shoes | Bag – Zara | Lip pencil – ‘Current’ by MAC

Megan: Sunglasses – New Look | Kimono –H&M | Bag – zara | Shoes – Topshop

Forgive me readers for I have sinned.

I’ve probably broken the no.1 rule of blogging, which is ‘thy shall not upload grainy snaps.’ However my memory card full of pretty, clear, blog-worthy photographs has gone walkabouts, and I didn’t want to leave you with absolutely nothing to read on this super rainy Sunday evening. (Because clearly this blog is your number one and the only thing you ever read, right?)

Moving swiftly on, these few pictures were taken a couple weeks ago when I was having a particularly good outfit day. And by that I mean that I managed to find the motivation to change out of my pyjamas and wash my hair. (I even wore a hat! Look at me go!) My best friend/photographer Megan and I meandered into town for a mooch about, her in her summer neon, me in my crypt keeper monochrome.The hat I am wearing is from H&M and a particular fave of mine – every time I put it on I feel like I’ve upped my sophistication levels by about 50%. The hat is the answer to any crap outfit day, just pop it on with your laziest of outfits and you immediately trick the world into thinking you’ve made an effort.

On another note, Megan’s bag looks so much like Celine and I’m seriously eyeing it up. How gorge is it?!

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hope you’re not going to abandon me for breaking all ze rules (please don’t leave, I love you all very much.)

 I’ll see you soon,

Sara x

HOLIDAY POSTCARDS: WHAT I WORE DAY 2

1)     Halter – Depop (@nataliemjs)

2)     ‘Levi’ Shorts – Ebay

3)     Shoes – Mr Shoes

Another day, another Depop purchase. Seriously, this app has increased the uniqueness of my wardrobe by about a million percent. This gorge flowery halter was purchased for a mere £9 and I loveee it. It’s bright, flowery and most importantly not black, so I’ve successfully achieved my aim of looking marginally less like a goth in the summer months.  On the bright side, (dark side?) the top can be made edgier and that little bit cooler with the addition of some black accessories such as these chunky shoes which we all know I am slightly too obsessed with and this pair of (quite possibly knockoff) Levi shorts which I picked up for about £7 on Ebay. Job’s a good’un.

I wore this outfit on an Island tour and it was the perfect lightweight outfit for prancing around on top of mountains. I did, however, bear resemblance to a lobster at the end of the day. *note to self, exposed shoulders, factor 8 sun cream and a full day of lounging on top of a boat do not mix well. Neither do the badly measured mojitos and sex on the beach cocktails from the free hotel bar. 

                                                                          Sara x

HOLIDAY POSTCARDS: WHAT I WORE DAY 1

1)     Bralet – Urban Bird Clothing Depop (@mollykempster)

2)     Sunglasses – New look (pair pictured in hol photos from Primark but I have since broken them, cry)

3)     Gladiators – Primark

4)     Tapestry print trousers – Spanish market

5)     Bag – Topshop £7 sale

 Hello lovelies,

Today's post comes after a very lazy, luxurious holiday on the beautiful Spanish island of Majorca. I spent 7 days holidaying with my sister and parents and decided to document the outfits I wore and a few of the things I did on my travels.

This little number was worn on the Tuesday I went to Alcudia old town to meander around the markets, and since it was a bloomin’ scorching day so I decided a crop top and some loose fitting trousers needed to be on the menu.

This absolutely gorgeous little black lace trimmed bralet was purchased from Urban Bird Clothing via my new fave app, Depop, and it has become one of my most prized summer possessions.  Several of my friends have been asking where I got this gorge little top and I’ve been raving about it to anyone who will listen! The seller, Molly Kempster, is so talented and lovely and her creations are amazing quality and value for money. I paid just £15 for this bralet and was so pleased when it arrived in the post. Molly makes an array of gorgeous crops, kimonos and bralets so if you’re looking for some bits and bobs for any upcoming holidays definitely check her out!

The rest of the day was spent enjoying some beautiful authentic Spanish tapas and Sangria in a shaded little café to celebrate my sister’s 22nd birthday before we boarded a bus to the other side of the Island to meet my uni friends for a crazy night out in Magaluf. Ahh to be young and free.

Hope your summer’s been fun and I’ll see you soon with more holiday postcards!

Sara x

PLAYING CATCH UP: BIG WEEKEND

Megan: Sunglasses – Primark | Headdress – Miss Selfridge | Lipstick – MAC flat out fabulous

Me: Lipstick – MAC cyber (what else?) | Denim Jacket – Vintage | Frizzy hair – au natural

I really am playing catch up with this post, which documents my fabulous day at Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2014 at Glasgow Green. I’ve fallen out of the habit of keeping you updated on the interesting bits of my daily life so I thought I’d chuck the rulebook and provide you with a few pics from way way back in yonder years (aka May.)

My best friend/photographer Megan rang me up one cold and rainy day at the beginning of May to surprise me with the news that she’d managed to get her hands on a pair of tickets for the Sunday event, to see the likes of Sam Smith, London Grammar, Gorgon City and my all-time fave band The 1975. I may or may not have squealed.

On Sunday 25^th of May I trotted up to Glasgow to meet Meg and her uni mates, well prepared with a Greggs sausage roll and pac-a-mac in tow. The day kicked off with an insane set from Kings of Leon, which I enjoyed thoroughly despite the heavens opening before I had a chance to whip my trusty pac a mac out from my ruckie.(All in the name of music)

London Grammar were by far the stars of the Sunday show, with Hannah Reid’s voice literally sending shivers down my spine. The girl can truly sing. Sadly I could only stay to hear a few songs from these beauties because their set clashed with The 1975.

After a tense few minutes of speed-walking my way from the indoor tent to the middle of the outdoor crowd I arrived just in time to see Greg James introduce The 1975 who were amazing as always. The crowd was absolutely electric when they played a few of their biggest hits, and chants of “Here we, here we, here we f*cking go” were reverberating all through the venue. I’ve got to hand it to the Scottish, they certainly know how to party.

Hope you enjoyed these few candids,

Sara x

DEPOPPIN'

Depop link: http://depop.com/en-gb/saramacauley

Hello lovelies,

Just a quick post this evening to let you know about my latest clothes clearout if you’re in need of a summer fix with minimal pennies in your purse. All items are under £20 (most of them well under) and have barely been worn – mainly because I’ve bought things I like without considering that I have no other clothes I have to wear with them. The struggle is real. There are loads of Topshop and Urban Outfitters goodies on sale so have a nosey, I’m open to offers!

If you’d like to get your fashion fix through any of these beauties simply search my username in depop: saramacauley.

Hope to hear from you soon, 

Sara x

RIPPED APART AT THE SEAMS

Coat – Topshop | Top – Topshop | Jeans – ASOS | Shoes – Mr.Shoes | Socks – Urban Outfitters | Bag – Zara

Hey you!

Long time no blog. Nothing new there then, sorry for the minor hiatus in blogging YET AGAIN. My first year of university life has concluded and I am a broken woman, hence the ripped jeans. Kidding, things aren’t quite that bad (although I did technically count plain pasta and soy sauce as a perfectly acceptable meal yesterday.) Thankfully, my parents have come to the rescue and treated me to a lovely lovely tapas meal today as they pick me and my many suitcases up from dreary Newcastle.

Coming home for summer means that finally I have a longgg almost-four-months to pick up the reigns and begin blogging properly again. I’ve said this once, in fact I’ve said this multiple times, but since doing my recent interning at NCL Fashion Week I’ve been more certain than ever that fashion and writing are the things I love the most and want to dedicate my time to.

Anyway, on to the clothes. These ASOS ripped black jeans have never appeared on my blog before which is quite frankly ridiculous because they have basically been my second skin for the last few months. They fit like a dream, although being a picky gal I would’ve loved them a bit more high waisted. Anyone know of some purse friendly copies fitting this description?

The shoes are a regular on Studs On Saturday, and the sparkly Urban Outfitters socks may as well be my trademark, however I don’t think I’ve featured this little beaut of a top on here before this. It’s an iridescent gem which I found hidden amongst the chaos of Topshop’s sale rail. Mesh, sequins and a bralet all in one. What more could a fashion lover ask for?

Hope you’re all well and I’m so looking forward to posting on the reg from now on.

Sara x

DIARY OF AN INTERN : NEWCASTLE FASHION WEEK

Hello lovelies!

About a week ago I received an email from the core team at Newcastle Fashion Week 2014 to say that I’d been successful in achieving a work experience place. Needless to say I was absolutely ecstatic (I may or may not have squealed.) Anyone interested in a career within the fashion industry knows how important gaining experience is, and I’m so thankful to be able to help out with my local city’s most high profile fashion event of the year.

The week began at 12pm on Wednesday, when I jumped out of my taxi and trotted into the NE1 office, an equal concoction of nerves and excitement. After introducing myself to the lovely Sandra Tang, (head of NCLFW and thankfully nothing like  Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada as I’d imagined) I was immediately plunged into work making out cue cards for the fashion show speeches.One very sore hand later, I moved on to organising the clothes for Saturday’s Company Catwalk Event. This involved signing off each brand’s clothing form and accounting for all the item’s listed, before bagging and labelling the outfits by model. Myself and fellow fashion blogger Amy had a good old nosey at the beautiful clothes provided by fashion giants such as Toppers, Urban Outfitters and H&M.During the afternoon I ran to Adidas to swap a pair of shoes for the correct size, did A LOT of photocopying and entered local businesses phone numbers into Sandra’s phone. 

After being promoted from work experience intern to core team member, I became a lot more involved in the week's activities. I was tasked with everything from setting up clothes for our fashion show at the gorgeous Assembly Rooms to greeting VIPs such as Sophie Ellis Bextor and husband Richard Jones, Lauren Luke, Julian MacDonald and Company Magazine writers Carlene Thomas-Bailey and Alexxsia Elizabeth. I was especially excited meeting the Company girls as I'm a hugeee fan of their writing, and they were absolutely lovely throughout the entire day - even when we had to herd them around quite abruptly!

The other work experience interns and the whole team - photographers, organisers, health and safety were hilarious and we had such a good time together. If you're thinking of helping out at Fashion Week I would highly recommend it - it's a great way to meet new people, learn some new skills and immerse yourself in the local fashion community.

 Sara x

WHY AM I NOT AT COACHELLA? - FASHPIRATION #1

image credits: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5

Evening all!

I decided to post something a little different than usual on this summery Friday night. As you can see, above are some divine images of beautiful lookbooks and images featuring summery garments and faraway backdrops. As I was doing my routine bit of style stalking on blogs, tumblr and all my fave Instagrams I couldn’t help but feel a wave of jealously wash over me when my search provided endless images of music fest Coachella.  Oh how I wish I was dancing care-free around California wearing a pair of vintage Levi’s and retro sunglasses. Sadly, I’ll have to settle for Topshop leggings and a fluffy blue dressing gown, with care-free dancing being replaced by watching back to back episodes of Made In Chelsea on 4od.

During my online browse it occurred to me that I don’t really talk about my style inspirations a lot on my blog, which seems a bit absurd considering Studs On Saturday is my own personal style blog. Although in everyday life I don’t necessarily dress totally similarly to the beautiful women featured in my fashpiration list, I do tend to grab a bit of inspiration from the images – a hair bun here, a bit of jewellery layering there…you get the jist. I’m always really interested in finding out where my favourite bloggers go to for a bit of fashpiration (mainly in the hope I can shamelessly emulate them) so I thought some of you lot might appreciate climbing inside my brain (ew.)

 If not, you can just have a peek at some pretty summer images and join me on my jealously crusade.

Hope you’re well,

Sara x

PVC OR BUMBLEBEE?

Crop Jumper – Primark £10 | Black PVC skirt – Topshop £15 (sale) | Sandals – Mr.Shoes

Hello again lovelies,

I’m finally getting a bit better at this regular posting malarkey, the Easter break from Uni has obviously done me some good! Despite leaving my camera in Newcastle I’ve managed to shoot a few simple outfits with the help of my friend Katie – you can check out her YT channel here.

I’ve fallen in love with this pale yellow high-necked crop from Primark, it’s so nineties and definitely worth every penny as I’ve been wearing it to death. This little black PVC skirt is a relatively new addition to my wardrobe as I picked it up in the Topshop sale a couple of weeks ago for a mere £15! An absolute steal in Topshop terms.  The Mr. Shoes chunky sandals I am sporting here are a bit of a marmite-deal, they are so truly ugly but I think they’re also actually quite beautiful.

 Definitely not for everybody however, as when I first wore them around the house my dad stared at my feet for about ten seconds before shooting me a quizzical look and then sidling off without a word.

Ah well, fashion is meant to be a conversation starter. Am I right?

Sara x

THINGS THAT NEED TO GET IN MY WARDROBE #3

‘Lacie’ underwear set – Triangl | Breton stripe dress –Motel Rocks | Smock dress – Topshop | Leather running shorts – Topshop | 

Shoes – River Island | Headdress – Topshop 

Hello beauties,

As you can see, today’s post is aggressively titled “THINGS THAT NEED TO GET IN MY WARDROBE.” 

This rather violent tone is stemming  from my total, utter and complete lack of money. This last uni term has been a long’un and unfortunately I felt a bit too young and wild and free when I received my second student loan back in January. Despite applying for many jobs, I am now (metaphorically) crawling hands and knees to my next instalment in a couple of weeks time.  Thankfully, I’m safely back at home so my mum and dad are kindly keeping me from malnourishment/death’s door. Ahh, student life.

I’m currently lusting after this beautiful stripy Motel Rocks dress after seeing Sammi (aka Beautycrush) style it flawlessly on her blog - the girl really does no wrong. The  other smocked style dress wouldn’t usually be a piece I’d gravitate towards, but this little checked Topshop number really caught my eye - i’m fantasising about styling it with black buckle boots, a floppy black hat, a leather jacket and bare legs.

Can we also take a minute to admire this DIVINE Triangl underwear set? I hadn’t heard of the brand until recently when I saw a few items pop up on my blog feed, but after browsing the online site it’s fair to say I would very much like all their stock in my life. This Lucie candy pink set has to be my fave, I think it would look ah-mazing  in summer with a (probably still fake) tan.

Hope you’re all well, and if you’re a poor student like I am, struggle on young warrior – the loan is in sight.

Sara x