2018.

Happy New Year!

Another year has flown by (2017 went by ridiculously quick!) and all I can say is I hope you have a plan because before you know it, we’ll be saying the same thing, 365 days from now.

I winged 2017, I didn’t really set strict goals at the start, I knew what I wanted to achieve as the year went by and I’m proud to say I accomplished the goals I subconsciously set for myself.

A few highlights, passing my driving test first time in February 2017, a great way of starting the year. Driving was something I really wanted to do in 2017 and I was determined to be a driver throughout 2017. Which leads me to my next accomplishment, I bought my first car (will do a post later on!), in May 2017, it was definitely a huge, huge achievement and I’m very proud and grateful.

Education wise, I finished my degree, to say it was hard is an understatement but I did it. I did it!

 I graduated from the University of East London with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Fashion Design. I finished uni back in Spring 2017 but our uni doesn’t have a graduation until November so it’s still quite fresh to me. I still look at my graduation pictures (nearly every other day, I admit I’m obsessed!) and smile because it’s such a big thing for me and my family. Being the eldest, I’ve pathed the way for my younger siblings and shown them that it can be done no matter what obstacles are thrown at you.

2017 was a stepping stone for me, I overcame health struggles and I’m learning how to manage my lupus. I got 2 new jobs in the same company and I’ve started the behind the scenes of my business launching soon.

I’m really looking forward to 2018, I’ve set some crazy goals for myself but looking at what I accomplished in the past year, I know I can smash these goals with flying colours. It onwards and upwards from here on out.

I hope everyone has set goals and tasks for themselves, even if you slack along the way, don’t beat yourself up, just overcome the obstacles and keep pushing.

Happy 2018 and have a wonderful and prosperous year!

Take care, Jesslyn x

I'M BACK!

Hey everyone!

Yes, you read the title right, I'm officially back to blogging.
I took a well deserved and needed break, I actually took a longer break than I expected to, every time I thought about coming back onto the blog scene, I just felt I wasn't ready and didn't have the time to put up good content.
So instead of throwing out rushed content that I didn't really put any heart and thought into, I just carried on with my break.

Uni has been a ride and a half, the workload is ridiculous, I'm doing 4 different modules at the moment so my brain's all over the place. However, in the next 3-4 months, I will be free!
I've already started planning what I want to do during my 6 month 'Summer' break, I'm excited but I have to get all this work done first.

I've explored quite a bit during my time at uni so far, I've become a London Underground girl, I used to absolutely hate trains but I'm learning to like them. I just hate the idea of being trapped underground with over 100 strangers.
I've found some amazing fabric stores lately, thanks to Uni, I've found great places to get fabric for future projects.

Also, you guys wouldn't believe that I've become a gym rat! I love the gym at the moment, I joined my uni one and I love the atmosphere there. I've been working on my core strength, toning my arms, back, butt and legs.
I've never really been a fitness person but I'm enjoying it and don't see myself giving up on it any time soon, I'm seeing results and liking it!

Lastly, I just wanted to let you guys know of my blogging schedule, I will start off nice and easy to help me ease myself back in. So there will be a post up every 2 days so that's 3-4 posts a week.
A post should be up every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Hope everyone's looking forward to the FashionSquash comeback, I know I'm excited to be back!
Have a great end to the weekend and a great start to the week.

Thanks for reading,
Jesslyn x

Blogging Break?

Hello everyone!

As you guys can tell from the title, I've decided that I should take a blogging break.

I've actually forced myself to, I didn't want to but my heart told me I should.

For the past week, I haven't really loved blogging as much as I used to mainly because I feel like I have to post.

Since I've come back from Berlin, there's been this pressure to put up posts. The posts I put up weren't consistent, I firmly believe in good content so I didn't consistently post.

It's got to that point where consistency is non-existent so it's better if I take a break.

I've never really taken a proper break from blogging and personally, I think I deserve one.

I've just started uni and it's taking over my life, I have no time for myself and the pressure to blog is stressing me out.

I don't want to ramble too much because I hate to dwell on a negative. 

I'll be back in the next two weeks and there may be a few posts dotted here and there within my break but I'm not making any promises.

Hopefully, I'll be back all refreshed and bursting with ideas.

I hope you guys can understand where I'm coming from and bear with me for the next two weeks.

Thanks for supporting me and feel free to read my recent hauls, reviews and OOTD's!

Jesslyn xxx

How's Life Jess?

Hey guys, 

Well, what's new in my life?

So much is new, I can tell you that, I'm in such a happy place right now.

I feel like life is going how I want it, I'm stress free, feeling real confident, loving my family and Summer's started!

I always go with the flow and never really like to over plan but I know that if I want to get the most out of my Summer I have to plan and make time for everything and everyone.

I've finished college, no longer a college student!

I'm super happy, well, it's bittersweet actually. I'm glad to have left but now I know after Summer it's going to be hard when I've got to start uni. However, I'm really looking forward to uni, finally get to study Fashion Design, I cannot wait.

My last day of college was a weight lifted off my shoulders, wearing anything to go in and collecting all my work, knowing I wouldn't have to come back. I think the one thing I will miss is sitting in my favourite seat with the bestie on the left, too many memories right there!

Now college is over and done with, I thought it would be good to make use of my extra long Summer and apply for an internship. I sent in my CV and examples of work to many designers and the next day (I was very shocked!) I received an email from the lovely Jylle Navarro, she's a knitwear designer and I was so chuffed to have been that lucky to get it so quickly. 

So working with her in her design studio has been amazing so far, I'm learning a lot but I must say, I'm exhausted! Definitely check out the posts I've put up so far on my day to day!

Some of you may know, I turned 18 on Sunday!

Probably one of the happiest days of my life, I had such a great day and I'm super excited to carry on  my celebrations throughout the week.

Thanks to everyone that wished me happy birthday, on Twitter, Instagram, I really appreciate it. You all made me feel extra special!

I've done quite a bit this Summer already, definitely check out my Instagram because I'm updating frequently.

I also posted a few pictures of what I got for my birthday so definitely head over there!

I'm not sure I will be putting up a post about what I got for my birthday but let me know if you want to see what I got. I might just do a haul on what I bought with birthday money but still let me know what you guys want to see!

So that's my life update for you guys, definitely follow me on my social networks (links below)!

Thanks for reading and I'll be back very soon (tomorrow!)

Jesslyn x

Don't forget to follow my other social networks and visit my store, frequent updates and I'm up for a chat anytime!

Twitter | Store |  Instagram |  Bloglovin' | Pinterest | Sister's Blog

Email : fashionsquash96@gmail.com

How's Life Jess?

Hello my lovelies!

As you guys can probably tell, I'm struggling to be consistent. I have so many posts planned but I'm finding it hard to find time to put the posts together. Obviously education comes first and I'm so close to finishing my college course that most of my energy is going into that.

Because there is so much to talk about, I took loads of pictures but only put up a few that were the main events in my absence. I'll talk about everything in picture order, that'll make things easier!

In the first picture, me and the family went to the local park. Me and my sister took that as a chance to take a million and one pictures, head over to my instagram, I've become a regular user if you must know! I've been trying to spend more time with the family, which is always hard because were hardly home at the same time. So it was nice to spend a day with them!

Next is me learning how to drape fabric on the bias. I'm so used to drawing out patterns, I love me some numbers so pattern cutting is 'fun' to me. I like draping but it's long winded.

Now I've tried to keep up my work out regime, I'm doing pretty well. I've started walking and jogging along with my squat and ab workouts. I'll probably do a fitness post in the near future.

You guys obviously know about absence, it was partly because I couldn't find my 8gb memory card. It had so many pictures on it and it was stressing me out that I couldn't find it. It was misplaced for weeks and I ended up finding it inside one of my tracksuit bottoms. *sigh*

I'm sorry this post has no structure to it haha! So much has happened and only the Lord knows how I've even managed to keep up with certain things.

As I'm in my final term at college, we have to put together a 4 piece collection for the 26th of June. I'm super excited, my collection is based on tomboys, androgyny and the 90's. I haven't made a jacket before so they will be the main focus of my collection. I'll keep you guys updated!

Speaking of my collection, my bag has been a mess. No girls' handbag should like this, mine is full of pattern paper, calico, pins and all sorts. Oh, the life of fashion student. . .

. . . Soon to be a fashion 'design' student! For the past couple of months, I've been travelling up and down (and outside!) London for uni interviews. I've finally confirmed my place at my first choice uni so super chuffed about that. I'm pretty much ready to start, student finance sorted, I'm not moving out, all I've got to focus on now is getting my grades/points.

I'm not moving out because I'm basically too scared to. I don't want the stress of moving out to affect my time at uni, so maybe in my second year I'll move out. Maybe!

Now for some new things in  my life! I've got my nails done, acrylics to be exact. I did a post on them earlier on in the week, so definitely check it out! I'm in love with them, I've become a bit obsessed with nails and designs. Definitely looking forward to my next trip to the nail shop.

Another new thing is my hair! My bob is back with a bang! It's an ombre bob this time, I really wanted something different and 'Spring-y' so this was the direction to go in. I'll be putting up a post very, very soon so keep a look out for it!

So that's my life update, hope you all didn't mind my absence and inconsistency! I'm back with regular posts so definitely stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, 

Jesslyn xo

OOTD: All Black, Well, Sort Of.

Leather Jacket - River Island

Cropped Jumper - H&M

Belt - Primark

Trousers - Jane Norman

Necklace & Rings - Primark

Bag - Primark

Nike Blazers - JD Sports

Hey everyone,

My posts haven't been frequent at all this week, I'm still trying to adjust to my college schedule, OOTD's are posts I want to do the most but time isn't on my side.

Due to not having a proper schedule, my OOTD was taken in the college toilet. Classy.
I really liked my outfit so I thought why not take a quick pic, I love wearing all black, wish I had my black boots on and my black shopper bag haha

The image below is one of the images from the photoshoot I planned out. Photography is one of my favourite parts of my course, the whole styling process, choosing the type of lighting you want and to editing your images after.

Once I've figured out my schedule, I promise my posts we'll be frequent and consistent, just bear with me guys! There's going to be a review up tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled!

Thanks for reading!

How's Life Jess? #2

Bodycon Midi Dress & Blazer - Primark

Hi guys, 

I'm here with my second life update, I love reading life updates and knowing what people are up to in their daily life.

Life's been pretty hectic and I'm finding it very hard to keep up with blogging, college and how fast things are moving generally.

College has been crazy, I really didn't expect to be doing more than 3 projects this term, the work is piling up and I'm slowly trying to tackle it. Having 4 teachers teaching me all different things and feeding different info to me is making me really tired and stressed. This is starting to sound like a very depressing post but I'm just trying to give you an insight on why my posts have been less frequent.

However, there has been some great parts of college, I'm learning new things which I find incredibly cool like the collar (pictured), I can't wait to learn some more. I might do a tutorial on how to make a collar! I'm planning to work so hard this year, my grades last year was surprisingly good but I want to do so much better this year.

Uni. Since the beginning of September, all I've been hearing is uni this and uni that, I'm actually quite scared that I've got to make such a huge decision for my future, I'm not sure where I want to go or what I want to do in regards to staying at home or moving away. I want to study Fashion Design, I've booked a few open days for universities I'd like to go to, so hopefully that'll help me make up my mind a bit.

My blogging schedule has been all over the place recently, hopefully there will be a post up every other day, I have so many posts planned out for October, it's just finding the time to actually write the content, taking the pictures is the easy part. I love blogging, if college starts to take over my life, blogging will have to take a backseat but I won't stop blogging and I'll try my best to post regularly.

Lastly, I want to take this chance to say thank you to all my new and old followers and regular readers, I'm so grateful that you take time out from your day to read my blog. I get new followers everyday and I'm so happy that you like my blog enough to follow and keep on reading. I can't wait to get to 100 followers so I can do a giveaway for you guys, just to show you how much I appreciate you all!

If you want to win free fashion for a whole year, Mr Price (South Africa's Primark) is holding a competition, just click here* to enter!

Hope you liked my life update and will continue to support my blogging journey.
If you have any advice on leaving home for uni or if it's better to live with parents, please drop me a comment, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading lovelies!