I have returned!

After a long break from blogging, the recent summer weather has spurred me back into action as I have bought a number of clothing items and accessories for the season and feel it's about time I showcase them while the weather allows me! 

I usually avoid bright colour and loud prints like the plague, opting for more neutral colours and styles; however this season has brought with it a new me and I have been embracing the key trends and buying pieces in bright neon yellows, coral pinks and wacky prints!

My first outfit to show, however, is a one of the more reserved pieces I have bought recently. Having noticed that dungarees were cropping up in so many fashion magazines, I invested in my first pair of dungarees since I was probably about four, completely unsure as to whether I'd pull them off at the age of twenty. Surprisingly, I absolutely adore them and wear them so much, (pictures to follow!) and it's this new found dungaree love that caused me to purchase these daisy floral print dungarees/playsuit from Topshop for £34. 

Playsuit/Dungarees - TOPSHOP

White crop tee - NEWLOOK

Sunglasses - MARC BY MARC JACOBS

bag - TK MAXX

necklace - NEWLOOK

Brogues - PRIMARK

The print is so cute and ditsy, and looks great teamed with a plain tee and my favourite brown brogues. The only problem I really had with the dungarees was the straps. I got the size 6 and the fit was great all over bar the straps fall down far too easily! So either I have a really strange shaped body (which is likely) or the straps aren't quite suited to the dress size. 

I had the chance to go to a couple of lovely vintage fairs over the past couple of weekends and returned with a couple of slices of extremely good cake and more importantly some cute handmade earrings, a lovely bag and a pair of denim shorts which I shall no doubt be blogging about in the near future, along with the long list of other purchases I have made recently. My bank account hates the summer holidays... too much free time to spend browsing the shops! 

blog soon,

Passion for Print

So on friday I wore another recent purchase, and it's something that I ordinarily would never wear! I found the dress on ASOS, and it's currently online and selling for £30, here's the link. I've been a sucker for midi dresses recently so I instantly fell in love with the dress style and fit. The midi really does flatter the silhouette, especially if it's a bodycon style such as this one. Heels are a must to wear with the midi style, unless you're a tall girl and don't need to create the illusion of super long legs! 

                

 

The scarf print immediately caught my eye on the website, and the colours are so vibrant and stunning. I'm not sure how it does this, but the print seems to slim the figure even more than the bodycon fit already does, so thumbs up to that! What I did love about this dress was that the material was think enough to ensure that I didn't have a visible panty line! I'd had a bit of trouble recently with the plain longsleeve midi dresses from Topshop, which are similarly priced, but the material felt really cheap and was susceptible to creasing easily and also showing your VPL! This dress had a much more quality feel to it and once it's on it doesn't crease or lose it's shape in certain areas. I got the dress in a 6 as i've found with midi, stretchy dresses you can often fit into the smaller size better than your usual size. 

Anyway that's all from me for now, I'm off home this week to celebrate mother's day with a very special mum indeed! Can't wait! I'll be back soon,:)

A Little Jaunt to London

Well I my feet have just about recovered from my 5 day trip to London last week. Unbelievably, despite my love for fashion and being at the ripe old age of 20, this was my first ever visit to the capital, pretty poor on my part really! Hence, when I arrived, I was acting like the typical tourist and taking photos of pretty much everything! There is too many to bore you with on here! 

The shopping was amazing, and I spent hours browsing the likes of Topshop, Urban Outfitters, Selfridges and Liberty, although I was very well behaved and returned only with one top! The primary purpose of going to London was to visit the London Fashion Weekend event situated at Somerset House. The day was lots of fun, starting with looking round all the mini shops available and ending with a seat watching the trend catwalk show.

Excuse my horrendous photography but the lighting was so bright that it was hard to capture the clothing very well. There were four key looks showcased for S/S 2013, and I have come back with so much inspiration on how to update my wardrobe for the coming season. It's about time, I'm sick of jumpers and coats!

                                                            

                                                        

The first look was called Graphic Art and focused on sharp shapes and tailoring teamed with bold op-art inspired patterns such as stripes, spots and checks. Colours made a bold statement - from monochrome to red/white and yellow/white combinations. The look is all about precision, and although it isn't what i'd usually go for in the shops, it was a great look if you want to make a statement. 

The second look was Urban Lifestyle, which was aimed predominantly towards workwear, using traditional pieces such as the pencil skirt and combining it with modern styles such as the bomber jacket. The look is all about mixing what you ordinarily wouldn't to create a fresh and funky silhouette. Colours predominantly used in this look were beiges, whites, navys and splashes of bright reds and cobalt blues.

The third look was definitely my favourite and I've been seeing this look a lot around shops such as Zara at the moment. It's called Eastern Promise and looks to eastern world influences. Think oriental floral and dragon patterns, satin fabrics, kimonos and long gowns. It's a beautiful, feminine and exotic look that is perfect for summer, providing we get some sun that is!

The final look we were shown was called Doll's House which was distinctly feminine and pretty. However, if you're not into metallics then you're in trouble! The use of metallics brings the traditional idea of the 'doll' up to date and is a fun and most definitely eye-catching trend. 

Marc Jacobs 2013 Collection - Inspired Graphic Art Look

Emilio Pucci 2013 Collection - Inspired Eastern Promise Look

Burberry Prorsum's 2013 Collection - Inspired Doll's House Look

Anyway that's about it from me for me, I'll be returning next week for another dress review post:)

time to get back into the swing of things!

It has been a while, but I am back... and this time I return with a considerable amount of recent dress purchases to share with you! I received a lovely little book from my housemate for my birthday that she purchased from Urban Outfitters based around 'the world's best fashion blogs.' Here is the link: Best Blogs Book. Having started to read it, I soon started to compare how rubbish mine was in comparison and this has inspired me to revisit the world of blogging!

Having comfortably passed first semester of second year and waved goodbye to my teenage years, I'm realising how time is flying by, and it is scaring me! I'm currently in the process of searching for placements within the fashion industry for next year and beginning the applying process. Ideally I would love to work within social media, journalism or merchandising.. but there isn't really a field that I wouldn't love the experience of working in. It's an exciting time, but also a nerve racking one, but fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted on that front!:)

Having felt that my blog perhaps lacked direction after looking over it - I have decided that I will primarily focus on showing and reviewing dresses and eveningwear as they are the garments that I'm most passionate and obsessive about! Over the Christmas period I felt that my dress collection needed a revamp, so I did what I do every few months - have an Ebay selling spree to make room and more importantly, money to refresh the dress rail! I buy a number of my dresses from Ebay dependent on current trends/celebrity endorsement etc, and in doing so I often make a fair profit when selling as they're popular items which people are willing to pay sometimes above RRP for! 

The dress I would like to show and review to you today is a simple but sexy dress I bought a few weeks ago for £28 from the ASOS Petite section.The dress is only available as a petite size, which is quite disappointing as the style would without a doubt flatter bigger frames also. I was initially quite worried that it would be too short, as at 5foot 9 I have had trouble in the past with dresses from ASOS being a bit on the short side. However, I was fortunate that it was a perfect length, and had the style of 'fit and flare' with a tight fitting upperbody and flared, skater skirt.The neckline gives a sort of halterneck impression but it is in fact a strapped back and the straps have two poppers which can be undone. I was slightly nervous that while I was out in a busy club somehow the poppers would unfasten and I'd end up revealing all but that wasn't an issue at all. 

  

Generally, I think the dress was a good purchase for the price, the only main concern I had with it was that the material (mainly viscose) had a slightly cheap feel to it, although this did not affect the look and can only be expected from the pricetag. It also had a tendency to crinkle quite easily so I found myself trying to sit in a certain way so as not to crinkle it too much before I went out! With the neckline and general simple silhouette of the dress I decided not to over accessorise, wearing only gold bangles from Miss Selfridge, Michael Kors watch and some dangly earrings which my hair is covering. I combined the classic red with black - wearing black velvet heels from Miss Selfridge and simple black clutch from River Island. All in all, a happy buy! The dress also comes in black and cream, and I've provided the link for you here.

Im off to London on tuesday for a general browse of the shops, to act like a tourist for a few days and most importantly to visit LONDON FASHION WEEK! Extremely excited and will take lots of photos and hopefully make a few nice purchases I can show to you all later. In the meantime, have a lovely week and I will post again soon!

The British Hairdressing Championships

Hi everyone,

Just over a week ago I took part in the National Hairdresser's Federation's, "Britain's Best" Hairdressing Championships, modelling for a local hair salon from my hometown, St Annes, "Steven Coles Hair Design." It was a great day, showcasing high fashion hairstyles for both men and women, and there was a large turn-out of competitors. I modelled in three categories: ladies day style, evening style and the bridal, and placed in every one! 1st in the day style with maximum points, 2nd in the evening and 3rd in the bridal. This meant that my hairdresser achieved the highest number of points over the competition and was titled "Britain's best senior ladies hairdresser 2012," so all in all a very productive and rewarding day!  

For the competition, Emma, my hairdresser had half an hour to complete each of the hairstyles, and pose me ready for the entrance of the 3 international judges to the competition floor. From here, she would leave me and I was required to pose like a statue either sitting or standing for up to half an hour while the judges came up close and personal, and would note down their scores not just for the hair but for the entire look. It was harder than I first imagined, and after a while my smile was aching, but the overall result was definitely worth the pain! I would definitely want to participate in another of these competitions soon, it was an interesting insight into the hairdressing industry, one that is closely connected to the fashion industry. Here are some snaps from the day, and if you want to take a closer look at the day here is the website link, Britain's Best.

The evening style                                                                            The day style

                                            

the awards presentation - Lee Stafford left of picture

                   

The bridal style + two beautiful photos my mum has illustrated for me - please take a look at her work; link at the right of my page. 

thanks for looking!

Guilty Pleasure Purchases!

Hey everyone, 

I had a little trip to the Manchester Trafford Centre (i.e. my favourite place in the world) a week ago, with every intention of making a few Christmas present purchases in preparation for 5 weeks time as I'm going to be ridiculously busy these next few weeks with uni work deadlines. However, unfortunately this plan didn't exactly work as I returned with purchases... for myself! The outfit below was an absolute bargain. I have wanted one of those polo neck lycra tops from Topshop since they came into the shops, so I eventually got one for just £10; this one is a lovely is a lovely bottle green colour. I teamed it with a pair of high waisted tapestry shorts from forever 21 from £14.99. These are an absolute COPY of the Topshop shorts, which are £35, so I was chuffed to bits when I found these! Very vintage looking and perfect for the heritage trend which is so popular right now.  

Shorts - £14.99, Forever 21. Top - £10, Topshop. Boots - Newlook. Bag - Primark. Necklace - Republic. 

Thanks for reading, 

Cobalt Love

Hi everyone, so a couple of weeks ago I had the horrible task of deciding which dress was going to get worn for a night out. Now anyone that knows me knows that I'm a dress HOARDER. I have my own rail for them as they won't fit in my wardrobe, and half of them have never made it off the rail! Over summer, I went crazy on Ebay looking for bargains, and I must have bought around 15 new dresses, some of them this season, some of them not. 

The dress I decided to wear was actually Topshop's last winter collection, but its cobalt blue colour makes it bang on trend for this season. Cobalt is one of my favourite colours to wear; its a very bold, but yet sophisticated colour, and is great if you want to get noticed! I loved the fit of the dress, it was stretchy bodycon with very subtle cut-outs at the waist and long sleeves are perfect for the winter months. I managed to snap it up on Ebay for £7.50, and due to the colour being in right now, I just saw today the same dress sell for £22.50! It's all about buying the right things at the right time! It's very easy to be thrifty nowadays with your wardrobe, and It's amazing what you can find on sites like Ebay, or in charity shops or vintage fairs. Give it a go! 

Dress - Topshop. Black Lace-Up Wedge Boots - Newlook

Spike Necklace - Newlook

I would like to thank my mum, Morag for the couple of beautiful illustrations she has made for me, which she has done again like a postcard. She has captured the cobalt theme perfectly and they definitely have an autumnal touch to them! I have to say the resemblance of her illustration of my face and my actual face is scarily uncanny! Please take a look at her blog which I have linked to the right of the page, she has just done an interesting post on Liberty prints.

Thanks for reading, love