#36

Autumn/winter '12 wish-list

Anyone remotely interested in fashion will feel at least a slight flutter in their tummy's when the subject of a new season occurs-it's fashion fanatic protocol. It's a chance to face the even colder/rainier/miserable months ahead with positivity, contentment and confidence. While it'll take at least until the end of September for Britain to give up all hope of having some real summer weather, fashion concious personalities everywhere will have the excitement of having a wardrobe make-over to make the autumn/winter months a little more pleasurable; I don't know about you but I love big, cosy jumpers and boots so autumn/winter fashion is always fun for me!

However, disappointingly, economic hard times are still very much present, so many of us (myself included) are faced with the harsh truth that we cannot go 'all out' on a new wardrobe however much we would love too. For this reason, not only will I be sharing with you everything I love and want for the season ahead, I also plan to do my best to 'autumnise' my current wardrobe and hopefully inspire you to work what you already own into something new and god-awful-weather appropriate!

Firstly though, my ever growing wish-list. If I purchase any of these things over the next month or so you'll know about it! 
p.s. I am on the hunt for a red tartan jumper and a black and white dogtooth jumper so if anyone comes across either of these items I would love to know! What are you after this autumn/winter?

x

METALLIC GEO JACQUARD TROUSERS by topshop

CHUNKY CABLE JUMPER by miss selfridge

BLACK PU HIGH WAISTED SHORTS BY RIVER ISLAND

BLACK STUDDED SLIPPER SHOES BY RIVER ISLAND

GALACTIC COLLAR SKATER DRESS BY SISTER JANE AT ASOS

BLACK CHELSEA BOOTS BY RIVER ISLAND

 RIB BOYFRIEND KNIT BEANIE BY ASOS

#35

Not entirely sure why I didn't just merge this post in with my last one but I'm just taking one more trip back to Corfu (mentally that is) before moving on to new subjects such as the best of the autumn/winter trends as proposed by VOGUE magazine and my updated wish-list to name just a couple! This particular post, is much more fashion related (yay!) than my last, which was mainly done as a means of sharing a little of my holiday with my readers so as not to keep it a totally private matter. 

So back to the topic at hand, of course I made some purchases while out there! I adore delving into new and exciting cultures so buying things from Greece rather than my local Topshop was trės exciting! 

I picked up this ring in Corfu Town (the creatively named capital city of Corfu) in a tiny little shop/stall on a dainty and rather narrow street which was more or less full of other mini-shops selling knock-off Louis Vuittons's, so it was definitely a case of finding a rose amongst thorns. The jewellery in Greece was exquisite; of a higher standard than our high-street shops and much, much cheaper. The owner of the shop was an adorable elderly lady who made sure we knew the price of everything she had on sale. She even helped me try on nearly ALL the rings before I decided this was 'the one'. The fact I made this purchase from such a lovely Greek local in a somewhat whimsical shop makes it a really special find. I adore the colour, shape and attention to detail almost a little too much (I often find myself admiring it all over again!), I just wish I could have bought home the whole collection!

This bracelet was a more touristy buy, it's main feature being the Greek eye, whose duty it is to ward off evil. At just 3 euro it was what I like to call a cheap-and-cheerful purchase! It was definitely one of the nicer of the designs with it's extra accessories which make it more accessible to British fashion and my everyday style. I always seem to indulge in good luck symbols from varying cultures and have a quite random appeal to certain cultural designs in all areas of life (hence the elephants-also a symbol of good luck, the Buddha's I own and the Chinese symbol for good fortune which I repeatedly get tattoo'd in henna on my left wrist whenever attending Glastonbury festival) so this bracelet was more than welcome in my collection of 'non-Britishy' possessions. Disappointingly, since returning to England and stalking all major high-street shops' (plus a few boutiques') websites, I have come a cross a few designs using the Greek eye as the main focus of the jewellery! Whether my bracelet remains unique or not though, I think I'll be wearing it for some time!

I'm not one to care about bad pictures of me being online (if I was it would be a bit late to start fussing over it now!) however, I feel I should tell you in this image I am 100% without make up which is why I look a bit...groggy, shall we say? Since my holiday I have been avoiding make up entirely and just could not bring myself to apply it for one tiny photo, so apologies for that! Anyway I bought this pashmina in the same shop as my ring, and again, it is now very special to me. The authentic and beautiful paisley inspired stitching caught my eye immediately, and then when I noticed the small strips of multi-coloured oddball stitching with minimal sequin detailing, well, It was love at first sight! I then of course went to pick it up and just like that, I knew I had to have it. I've always had a soft spot for pashmina's since my dad and step-mum used to bring them back for me from their exotic travels they take with work, but I had never found one so beautiful before. For this post I sort of just flung it around my neck on top of what I was already wearing but I plan to incorporate it into my 'proper' outfits at any chance I get, so look out for that! I'm excited about the fact that 1) I haven't seen many detailed pashmina's around recently and 2) no one will have one which was sold to them by a friendly little Greek lady on a narrow street on the island where Johnny Depp and Madonna have both holidayed!

x

#34

Two days ago I reluctantly landed at Bristol airport after a two week holiday in Corfu, a breathtakingly stunning Greek island. We sunbathed, swam, took boat/day trips and spent many an evening sat in the local bars and restaurants that lined the harbour (which provided sparklers and fruit with all cocktails, funny bartenders, hideous and yet wonderful music, Greek dancing and karaoke-my best friend and I are guilty of singing Reach by Sclub 7 accompanied by the rest of the not-entirely-sober bar!). We were all a little on edge before the holiday considering the not-so-secret economic chaos Greek have got themselves into, but the euro held up and surprisingly most shop/stall owners and businesses were kind, helpful and put no uncomfortable pressure on us to buy their goods. In general, the Greek people were upbeat, kind and very friendly; noticeably more than the British in fact despite their economic state! I can't say the same for the Greek lady (with a top lip in need of a good waxing) who pushed bunches of flowers into our arms trying to force us to buy them, then proceeded to stroke my face and call me a 'sexy lady' but hey, it's an experience right? And we certainly laughed about it after!

England kindly greeted our return with temperatures 20° lower than that of Corfu and patches of rain since then! This wonderfully dull country has found me sinking right back in to my tweeting/texting habits which were honestly not missed at all in Greece (boohoo!) but admittedly it has been nice to see/speak to my friends and family again. I was also very happy to get my babies back and yes, when I say 'babies' I do mean my cats-don't judge me okay?

 Anyway enough of my rambling, I'll do the second half of this post in pictures; this is just a very small selection of about 400 photos taken while we were away but I thought these were the blog-appropriate ones! They may be a little small but if you click them they should appear in a larger form!

αντίο (That's goodbye in Greek, see if you can pronounce it!)

 The family home of the owners of 'Ferrari'/The villa owned by the Rothschild's where Johnny Depp had been staying four days before/ sex on the beach cocktail/ siesta-ing/ Corfu Town/ swimming in Corfu Town Harbour/ yummy food/ a sea urchin/ The view from the monastery we visited/ The kittens living at the monastery/ 'diving in' off the boat/ paleokastritsa x4/ Corfu Town street/ intense uno-ing/ high school musical/meditation style pool jumping!

 x

#33

So last night I tried out this stuff:

Before

After

It sure looks (and smells; I haven't stopped smelling my hair since using it!) fancy, but then so do a lot of products that claim to do miraculous things and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that more often than not these miracles don't occur as you'd have hoped. The instructions told me to use 1 pump, but I have a lot of hair and needed to use 2-3. You can see the improvement from these pictures. It looks like it worked pretty damn well and it feels even better! My hair would not normally go a day without ferociously knotting itself but I can still run my fingers through it effortlessly. It feels as good as when I've just come out of the salon. A great product for when your hair needs some TLC and a little more than your ordinary conditioner. My split ends can now wait until after my holiday to be chopped off! On top of that, I no longer have to worry about the damage to my locks caused by the heat, sun and water that will attack it over the next two weeks, beautiful!

Oh and also, as promised here are the snaps I took while dip-dying my old denim shirt. I really like the way it turned out! What do you think?

How to dip-dye (no instructions style)

I'm not a big fan of following instructions at all, It just takes the fun out of the activity! So when it came to dip-dying I sort of just 'went for it'. The basic rules however are:

1) Get 500ml-ish of warm water and stir in the dye until dissolved

2) Poor the now liquid-dye into a bowl/bucket with lots of water in (6 litres is recommended) and add 5 tablespoons of salt (bare in mind how much water you use will affect the concentration of the dye)

3) Put your item of clothing into the water and hold/leave for as long as you like (I left it for about an hour)

4) Repeat with next colour (if using more than 1 like me)

Just bare in mind that the dye will travel up further than the point at which the item is not actually in the dye. I used Dylon powder pink and French lavender dye for my shirt. You can purchase them along with many other colours very cheaply on Amazon but I got mine from my local fabric/design-tech style shop.

Happy Dip-Dying!

x

#32

Hello, hello, hello! After taking a much too long break from blogging recently, I return with lots to show/discuss! Firstly, If you follow me on twitter you should be well aware of the fact that I'm going on holiday in a few days (and also aware of how excited I am!). Two weeks in Corfu calls for a lot of things; painful waxes, the dreaded bikini shop and the finding (and then keeping) of body confidence amongst other things! However, it is also a wonderful excuse to expand the old wardrobe and it is this element of 'holiday spirit' I have been indulging in over the past week. Living in the wet and cold country that is England, any holiday worthy clothes I owned were at least a year old. Luckily, I still love a lot of the summery clothes I've bought over the past few years, but I could not deny the fact that if I was going to truly enjoy the holiday, I had to update my wardrobe with a few new garments. (Yes I probably care too much about clothes for my own good!)

So without further-a-do, here are the four main things I picked up worthy of showing you guys. I am more than happy with my wardrobe situation now, not to mention the fact I'm ridiculously excited to get to wear these items in such a sunny, hot and beautiful setting! Aren't I lucky eh?

sunglasses/h and m/£5.99

These were an absolute steal so thank you to h&m! I love the circular shape and the vintage vibe they exude! It's super difficult to find unique sunglasses that I feel comfortable wearing but these do the job perfectly.

Peplum top/ Topshop/ £18

I've had my eye on the peplum trend for a while as my regular readers will know, and I haven't been able to escape my desire for this top for months now. I'm thrilled I finally own it. I think it's the first all white piece of clothing in my wardrobe, and I adore the classy and ladylike fit! I styled it today with my Holiday in mind (hence the shorts). I like the combination of light and airy colours when styled with my nude pumps and white triangle earrings, but also love the contrast in clean, bold colour when I added my huge orange earrings and navy boat-ish shoes!

 print top/Dorothy Perkins/£26

I've been going on about the fact I wear too many dark/dull colours for a while and as you can see, this top completely defies that. There is something about holiday clothes that means they just have to be bright, summery and fun! This print is so funky (I am yet to decide which culture it is most inspired by!) and the clash of colours just seems to work. The design of the back of the top keeps it interesting and makes it a little less 'safe' which I appreciate! I paired it (again with Corfu in mind) with my very old tie-dye effect shorts, orange earrings and blue boat shoes since the colours all matched here-and-there but not in an overpowering manner. Even my brother complimented me on my choice with this one, which is impressive considering how little interest he has in fashion! Hurrah!

 playsuit/urban outfitters/£22

Usually out of my price range, I  tend to stay clear of urban outfitters as to avoid the pain that comes with finding something you love but can't afford. But when there's a sale...well, what excuse do I have? I love the sheer back to this playsuit, the quirky image on the front and the silky, lightweight feel of it. Love at first sight apparently does exist! Annnnd, although it was priced at £22 in the sale, I paid just £11 for it! How? Well god bless urban outfitters for their buy-one-get-one-free deal on all sale items and god bless my best friend for finding another gorgeous playsuit she was after at the same time! Although not featured on here, I teamed the playsuit with a pair of comfy black heels for a look that would do for anything from an evening meal at a restaurant to a night out. I also covered the red strip with  a brown belt and paired it with some sandals for a daytime look. Don't you just love versatility? 

p.s. more posts on the way!

x