Today's post is all about the Grand Opening Celebration for Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter!  It was held on Saturday March 31st and it didn't start until 3 but we had to arrive before 12:30 to check in.  We got there at 12 and had to hang around in the FREEZING cold waiting for it to begin.  This was the only cold day of our trip though, so we couldn't really complain.  BUT I can complain about some of the other annoying fan site people who were there to report on the event, we have a VERY finite space on the carpet (about a sheet of letter-sized paper) and some were taking up more than their allotted space...very annoying. So we were quite squished (see the photo below). 
Outfit: Dress: Edun via The Outnet $100 (with gift card), Blazer: The Extreme Collection (Second Time Around) $50, Booties: No.704b. (DSW) $20, Bracelets c/o 31 Bits, Rings: old & c/o OASAP, Watch: Michael Kors, Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

You can see all the photos from the red carpet at Magical-Menagerie! Enjoy!  I should also have a video up soon on Magical-Menagerie...just waiting for the video files to be sent. UPDATE: Here is the video (I am not the one asking questions, I was taking photos...but I thought of most of the questions ;) )



How awesome does Harry Melling look!? He played Dudley, aka Harry's fat cousin, and looks soooo great! He loved my question too! We asked what it was like moving from playing a muggle in Harry Potter to a wizard in the last series of Merlin! 

Also, I had a tiny panic attack when Eddie Redmayne walked by...I LOVE HIM!  If you can't tell by the photo he is a Burberry model and an actor (he was in My Week with Marylin) ;)
After the red carpet my 2 friends and I headed to Pizza Express with two other girls who were reporting on the red carpet.  I had been told Pizza Express has amazing dough balls, and it was SO true! They are DELISH!!!! They are basically balls of pizza dough that you dip in garlic butter (or nutella if you get the dessert version)

Good morning, ladies (and gents?), I have returned after what seems like a year (even though I've only been away from the blog for a week!)  My trip was amazing, I spent half of it at the Harry Potter Studio Tour and the other half running around London. In my next few posts I will take you all along with me and TRY not to kill you with photos!  But if you guys want to see more I can post pictures on Facebook, so if you want everything comment and let me know! I'll do it if enough people want it. Click all the photos to enlarge!
As most of you know the main purpose of my trip was for the Harry Potter Tour, I was invited by Warner Bros. to report on the Grand Opening for my site, Magical-Menagerie. So there were a bunch of press things to attend such as a press conference on Thursday, a private tour and of course the red carpet! We got to see the tour before it opened to the general public, which was amazing. Especially because we were basically the only ones in there, no huge crowds! I am a fan of that.
We arrived Thursday morning at 11am and RUSHED to our hotel to check in and then darted off to Leavesden Studios for 1pm, sadly we were 20 minutes late and thought we would miss our group tour...and we were. BUT Warner Bros. is awesome and they let us go in alone, so we pretty much had the whole tour to ourselves. Stupidly I didn't take photos that day (but I took them later, don't worry!)  One of the girls missed her flight so she wasn't with us, so instead of doing more sightseeing after the tour and press conference (and some shopping in the Gift shop) we headed back to the hotel to rest.

Left to Right: Moderator, David Barron (Producer), David Yates (Director), David Heyman (Producer), Rupert Grint (Ron), Tom Felton (Draco), Evanna Lynch (Luna), Warwick Davis (Griphook, Professor Flitwick, Choir Director), WB/Leavesden Executives

Friday we had to go all the way back to Heathrow to pick up our phone and while we were there we got an email from WB saying our friend who missed the Thursday tour could see it on Friday if we made it by 12:50 (it was 11:20 when we saw that). So we paid NINETY POUNDS for a cab to the tour and made it in record time! They let me go in again as well so I made sure to take a TON of photos. I will be writing up a review on my Harry Potter site so be sure to check there for it, I just need to catch up on everything before that.
After the tour we headed to Bake-a-Boo to have tea (and subsequently went insane and were laughing our heads off because I was being a psycho...photo evidence below). Next it was off to the obligatory Abbey Road, which unfortunately was under construction, but we managed to get some photos anyway!

And here are the details for my outfits:

Day 1 - Blazer: The Extreme Collection (Second Time Around) $50, Top: Marshall's $12, Jeans: Free People (Gilt Groupe) gift card, Booties: No.704b. (DSW) $20, Bracelets c/o 31 Bits, Rings: old & c/o OASAP, Sunglasses: Marc by Marc Jacobs (Shopbop) gift card, Watch: Michael Kors, Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Day 2 - Tee: Michael Kors (Marshall's) $20, Jeans: Guess $15, Flats: Missoni for Target $30, Sweater: Forever 21 $11, Bracelets c/o 31 Bits, Rings: old & c/o OASAP, Sunglasses: Marc by Marc Jacobs (Shopbop) gift card, Watch: Michael Kors, Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

And so ends days 1 and 2...3, 4 and 5 to come!

*photo from press conference courtesy of Warner Bros. because mine came out horrible.

While you are all reading this I am in LONDON! As you all know by now (I hope), I am in London for the opening of Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter, for my Harry Potter site Magical-Menagerie. I was invited by Warner Bros to attend the opening as Press, so this should be a very fun few days! I arrived early this morning, the grand opening red carpet celebration is on Saturday and then we head back on Tuesday morning!

I am SO glad to be back in London after such a short time! For those of you that weren't following me this summer, I went back in July for the premiere of the last Harry Potter film. We are going to do some of the same things we did last time because one of our group of 3 wasn't able to come in the Summer. So we'll be hitting up Harrods, Buckingham Palace, Abbey Road, etc. And we are also going to go to the Mad Hatters Tea! But today is insane, we arrive at 10am, have to rush to check into our hotel and then be at Leavesden Studios before 1pm for our quick tour before a Press Conference and Round Table interviews. Then the rest of the day will be devoted to sightseeing (depending on when the Press stuff is done!)

Expect a full report when I come back! (probably in multiple parts if I have too many photos)

Today's post is a huge mish-mosh of randomness because I'm leaving for London today and felt like being a little wild! You get two outfits for "This Week in Fashion" since there won't be a post on Friday: (excuse my nasty face on Monday, I went makeup-less this week.) 

Monday:  Dress: Marc by Marc Jacobs (eBay) $27, Sweater: Kohl's gift, Belt: Kenneth Cole Reaction (Marshalls) $7, Flats: Me Too (DSW) $15, Glasses: Sunglasses Wearhouse giveaway, Watch: Michael Kors, Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs	Tuesday: Pants: Glo, Sweater: French Connection (TJ Maxx) gift, Heels: Prediction (Payless), Watch: Michael Kors, Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Last night I repacked all my stuff and of course I had to post it on instagram, if you don't follow here you go:

And finally, I went to the beach a couple weekends ago when it was really hot, it was so nice and relaxing just sitting on the beach.  Definitely going to be doing it more often when its warm again.

I am taking a break from my usual style of posting today to talk to you all about a basic item every girl needs, the basic t-shirt!  The main questions most people ask are: where do you buy this shirt, and what is the right price?  This may come as a shock to you all, seeing as I am known for being cheap, but my new motto is buy designer pieces that will last years rather than settling for cheaper pieces at poorer quality.

Many will say "It's just a t-shirt, why should I spend a fortune on it when I can get 5 from Forever 21 for the price of 1 somewhere else?" My reply to them would simply be, "Because you get what you pay for." I used to be in the cheaper is better boat, but I have since changed my ways.  Before we get to where to buy your basics let's talk about why you shouldn't buy them at fast fashion stores for cheap.

One of the more obvious reasons is because of the conditions the clothes are made in so you can get them so cheap. I won't get into that, but check out this post at Style Porn who did a post about human costs last week. (that isn't to say that some high end designers don't also have poor working conditions, but we won't get into that.)

My reason for no longer shopping at fast fashion stores is because of quality. Quite some time ago I bought a tee at Forever 21 for $5, and after one wash it was ruined, now it sits in my closet unworn. I don't even want to wear it under a sweater or blazer because it is uncomfortable.  It shrunk and many of the seams are distorted. This has happened to numerous items I've purchased from Forever 21, such as tank tops. See photos below:
Last weekend I headed to Marshall's not intending on buying anything and I walked away with 2 new t-shirts and a tank top because I am in desperate need of quality basics. When you find deals like I did you need to pounce.  I spent a bit more than I would have liked but I know it will pay off when the shirts last for years.  They are made from better materials and won't distort as you wash them so they will last for many many washes as opposed to a couple if you buy from Forever 21.  The fit is also WAY better when you buy from a designer because they take great care in details like shoulder seams and necklines.

In a way you are spending money to save money.  As I've posted before we need to think about cost per wear.  You can wear these tops numerous times, meaning the cost per wear can go down to way under $1 per wear. If you buy from fast fashion stores you only get a couple wears out of the item before it is rendered useless. This is not to say that you should spend $100 on a t-shirt, but if you can and want to, be my guest!  There are ways to get designer pieces cheap. I bought the following at Marshall's:

Michael Kors Tee: $20 (retail price $50)
Tahari Tee: $16 (retail price $70)
Ellen Tracy Tank: $12 (retail $25)

See the difference between the Forever 21 and Michael Kors here:

So you see, you can get designer pieces for fast fashion prices if you know where to go. My suggestions are Marshall's, TJ Maxx and occasionally Burlington Coat Factory if you live in the United States.  Unfortunately I don't know of similar stores around the world, except for TK Maxx in the UK.  If you know of any feel free to post them in the comments and I'll add them to the bottom of this post!

If you don't mind paying full price I have heard great things about J.Crew's tees, though I haven't purchased them myself yet.  Where do you buy your shirts?

I also suggest buying tees in whatever colors you wear, not necessarily the "white t-shirt," which so many say is the ultimate basic. I am more apt to wear black, purple, and even pink over white.  I plan on buying them in colors that compliment the rest of my wardrobe. I now have pink and tangerine in better quality and I need to start replacing/buying other colors such as black, brown, blue and purple.  What colors do you need?

Where to shop:

USA TJ Maxx Marshall's Burlington Coat Factory

UK TK Maxx

Canada Winners

Others will be added as readers post suggestions

[this post was not sponsored by Marshall's or TJ Maxx, I just enjoy shopping there]