JEWELS

I admit to being a magpie, any shiny jewels and I am drawn to them straight away. I adore my fingers being bejewelled and feel sad when I have naked fingers. I do not adhere to the adage 'less is more', for me, it's always more. You may have seen my post about my obsession with Delilah Dust and their beautiful neck ornaments? So now I thought I would create a blog post about my large collection of rings.

My mother bought me the above tin for Christmas & I think it's perfect for storing them all in, here is a few of my personal favourites. 

Left to right:

A vintage thimble turned into a ring with an opal (I think) bought from a Vintage shop in Haworth.

A silver ring with a black stone, bought for my birthday from a great friend.

A gold and blue glass ring from the 1950s, bought from Salts Mill.

A silver and marble ring bought from Camden Market the day I moved my sister down to her new home.

Left to right:

An emerald and diamond ring that belongs to my mother.

A Claddagh ring bought from Aflecks Palace in Manchester on a day out with a good friend.

My mother's engagement ring, ruby & diamonds.

A Hayeon Lee ring bought from Harvey Nichols, it has a chain on the back to hold it like 3 mini rings. It used to be rose gold, turned gold & now I think it's going silver. Not cool when it cost £150, but I still love it.

The final ring won't fit on my finger, it's a silver ring from my mother that I received for passing my GCSEs many moons ago.

Left to right:

A man's ring from the 1970s with black Onyx stone.

A turquoise ring, my birth stone, also from Salts Mill in Saltaire.

Another Camden Market, a tigers eye ring. Tigers are cats & I'm a cat lady.

And finally, all I wanted when my Gran passed away was a ring of hers, I didn't get one. So my Mum bought me this from Aladdin's Cave in Leeds to symbolise my Grans life. It's a moon stone with a hint of purple, gold setting & silver ring.

Any other fellow magpies out there?

FOUNDATION REVIEW

                  

Foundation is a tricky basic to get right, I am forever looking at peoples faces and questioning the beauty professional that sold them the foundation in the first place.

I used to work at Space.nk & like to think of myself as a professional beauty junkie, I'm also a bit of a snob when it comes to skincare and make-up & truly believe you get what you pay for.

I thought I would talk you through my basics when it comes to foundation.

First step, a great layer of skincare under your foundation. I religiously use my Clarasonic (but that deserves a whole other blog post later) which creates a smooth and clean base for my skin. I shall write a blog post with my daily skincare routine soon as it's quite extensive and varies depending on how my skin feels that day. Oh & never forget to use primer!!! Anyway, back to my favourite foundations.

As a basic, day to day foundation I am currently using Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat. (my colour is BD 20, bought from Harvey Nichols for £32) This foundation goes on smooth and clean and offers light to medium coverage, I do have to powder my face after application and once or twice during the day to reduce the shine. I love the smell of this foundation and being nearly 28 (gasp!) I feel I need to wear a foundation that is kinder to my skin. Brands such as YSL, Chanel, Lancome, Hourglass and others use high levels of skincare in their foundations, of course this is reflected in their prices, but like I said earlier, you get what you pay for. I had a sample of YSL's new Forever foundation before settling on the Touche Eclat one but I didn't like it on my skin.

Prior to my using the YSL Touche Eclat I used By Terry Cover Expert in Number 3, Cream Beige & LOVED it! This foundation is a dream with a painful price tag. It's £44, again from Space.nk. By Terry is a lovely range from Terry De Gunzburg, Terry is a great make-up artist who invented YSL's Touch Eclat. Terry worked very closely with Yves personally and moved on to create her own company when he passed away, taking her expertise with her. I still have some of this foundation left & I am trying to save it for a rainy day. I would buy this foundation again, however the price tag puts me off.

My foundation of choice for an evening is Illamasqua's Skin Base in SB 6.5. This foundation is brilliant, I have previously used Nars Sheer Glow in Deauville which I liked greatly until I discovered the Illamasqua one. The coverage is brilliant, blemishes are covered, it glides on without rolling and lasts all evening. I struggle with foundation colour matches as my skin is yellow tinged, this colour matches my skin perfectly and, as it doesn't contain any SPF, it looks great in pictures (no ghostly white pallor) I wouldn't use this during the day as the coverage is too heavy and it's not too great for my skin in terms of blemishes.

Have you any opinions on the products I use or any alternatives you'd recommend?

BLOGGER CRUSH

I've been an avid blog reader for the past 5 years or so, starting with The Blonde Salad, and I get style crushes on bloggers all the time.

I thought I would make this Blogger Crush post a series thing. 

My first crush post is dedicated to Zina Charkoplia of http://www.fashionvibe.net 

Zina's look is very eclectic, she has a great edge of mixing high street with high end. Take for example the amazing Zara tartan coat, which has sold out everywhere, she wears it so well and add in the Balenciaga boots. I'd love to have the time to take photos like these, they are beautiful, it helps that Zina is also beautiful. 

So here is my first blogger crush post, dedicated to Zina Fashionvibe.

HAIR

                        

I've had boy hair for a few years now, many, many people comment that I looked nicer with longer hair (cheers guys) so I am in the process of growing it back to a bob.

I really like short bobs with blunt fringes that loads of girls rock, so that is what I'm aiming for. Right now, I'm kind of in a 'Spock' phase (as in, Spock out of StarTrek, google it & you'll see) I was recommended to try Sea Kelp tablets, however when I ventured into Holland & Barratt the girl on the counter couldn't explain what 'can be used to maintain a healthy weight loss' meant. So I got scared & bought their own hair tablets, we'll see how these work then. 

                                                   

TROUSERS

                      

I am in love with my new trousers. They're were a mere £13 from ASOS Marketplace and are fully lined wool. They were a tad 'poofy' to begin with but again, back to my good friend who took them in for me on the leg. 

I have seen loads of alternatives from Topshop & Urban Outfitters but I didn't want to spend £45 upwards & I wanted some individual ones. I always find what I want at ASOS Marketplace & I've never had a bad experience (unlike eBay) so I'd recommend checking there first.

I teamed them with my over-worn Dr Marten shoes, a vintage cardigan, my vintage sheepskin coat & a plain black t-shirt.

STYLE CRUSH

I never thought I would be professing a deep love of Kim Kardashian's style, but since she gave birth to North she has been on point. I would like Kanye's style advice please?

Pre-Kanye days Kim was known as a bit of a car crash when it came to fashion, well she did used to hang out with Paris Hilton. Now she has really stepped forward in the fashion stakes & I believe she is one to watch...

VINTAGE BURBERRY BAG

Best vintage find ever!

Every city in the UK is going through a vintage revolution, these shops are a staple, just like a Topshop on every high street. I live in Leeds, which itself has a pretty rad selection of vintage shops. Leeds boasts a Blue Rinse, Best Vintage, Pop Boutique and a brilliant vintage fare that comes around every month or so. 

The above bag was a special purchase that I picked up at Judy's affordable vintage fair in the Corn Exchange. I attended the last one with my sister, alongside the bag I also grabbed a pale pink Jaeger shirt, it's so soft and looks great worn oversized with jeans. We also purchased some interior items, such as ugly plates and random pictures (I am determined for my house to look like a grandma lives there).

I believe the bag has had the handle replaced, however it's still in perfect condition & it fits perfectly on my shoulder.

BAD HAIR DAYS

                              

So, I'm growing out my boy hair. I'm aiming for a Uma Thurman Pulp Fiction bob, trying to resist the urge to chop it all back off. So I'm going to be rocking a large number of hats over the next few months. 

I have 6 so far, mostly Topshop & Vintage. Fedoras, trilbies & bowlers, but I had my eye on this bigger one in Urban Outfitters. Now, I have an unusually small head, a pea head if you will, so I always struggle with hats, this one is too big but I'll have to avoid windy days. 

So get ready for many posts on hats…

RELAXED DAY OFF

My father insisted he hates this outfit, the trousers especially offend him apparently. I, however, don't care as I'm just so damn comfy.

The problem with days off is when you wear something nice you're wasting it on an insignificant day. Sure there's a quote about that somewhere. Anyway, this outfit is simply about comfort, the pants are from Beyond Retro in Dalston, I had them tapered as they were a tad flarey (not the best) and they are the key of the outfit. The rest is just lumped together, mothers hand knitted cardigan, a Topman tee & my trusty Dr Martens. I AM SO COMFY!!!! (and look like a Grandma)

KIMONO

Kimonos are huge at the moment, Topshop are mass producing them for the masses. I've had a thing for kimonos & sequin trophy jackets for years, I have hundreds (or maybe about 22).

I 'acquired' this dressing gown from my Papa about 10 years ago but just couldn't pluck up the courage to wear it as a kimono outside in the real world. I'll have to wait until next summer now & see if I pluck up the courage then.

(I wore: Topshop Jamie jeans, Topshop shoes, French Connection camisole, vintage kimono)

CLUB TO CATWALK AT THE V&A

When, on one of my weekend jaunts to visit the sister in London recently, I let her drag me to the Club to Catwalk exhibition at the Victoria and Albert. 

Now, I'm not entirely clued up on my fashion, I can identify a D&G from an Amanda Wakeley and differentiate a Givenchy to a Celiné (all from my Harvey Nichols days) however, I don't fully 'get' the history behind todays fashion and why I wear what I wear.

A few years ago I used to regard fashion very differently, I worked at Topshop and lived in flowery dresses and ballet pumps with a blazer thrown over against the chill. Then the opportunity to cross over brands to Topman presented itself & I never looked at a flowery dress again. I was introduced to boxy tshirts, oversized shirts and men's coats and fell in love with the silhouettes. My love of androgyny was born. Taking this love further I started to play with leather, shapes and mixing dresses (never flowery) tshirts and Doc Martens, never questioning my influences.

Then. I went to the V&A. And discovered 80s club fashion.

Photos weren't allowed in the Club to Catwalk exhibition which saddens me, however, what I did witness would never relate through a picture; studs, leather, slashes, metallics were all in front of me. Items by Vivenne Westwood, Malcolm Mclaren, John Galliano, BOY London and Betty Jackson (and many others not so well known) were all present. Outfits worn by Adam Ant & other new romantic heroes were within touching distance, (no. I did not touch) & really brought the era to life.

I got stuck in a blacked out video booth during the visit, I was entranced by about 25 screens showing nights from famous 80s clubs, such as Taboo. Knowing I would not be cool enough to be deemed entry to these clubs all the more enticed me into a jealousy of the people partying on the screen. The party people were wearing such outlandish outfits and looked so relaxed, the video screens just screamed coolness that I wanted to dive into. I had to be physically dragged from this room by my sister. Damn being born in '85 & not old enough to have partied in that era.

Looking at my outfit I wore to visit the exhibition made me feel like a particle of the 80s club culture could live on inside me today. Finally, I realised that there was more to what I was wearing than I had thought, or hadn't thought, when I had just thrown it on that morning.

(I wore, vintage jeans, my tartan blazer, a mens tshirt & my trusty doc martens shoes)

Here are some other photos of fashion inside the V&A that I was allowed to take photos of (unedited).

TARTAN

With everyone going crazy for tartan for AW13 I thought I'd resurrect this little number. Now I've been living in it for the past few months. I've probably over exposed it now, but it's just so toasty.

I bought it from ASOS Marketplace & took a pair of scissors to the lining to remove the giant 90s shoulder pads & voila, one boxy blazer. Perfect.

OBSESSION pt. 2

I know it's shallow, but I am completely & wholly obsessed with my nails.

And they're completely real.

DUNGAREES

Dungarees used to be reserved for toddlers (I had a pretty snazzy pair of Osh Kosh ones as a child, clearly I was stylish from a young age). However, I recently found this pair in Ark, they were styled with the pale pink camisole in the store, I bought both. They're super comfy for a night out but I've also worn them with Dr Martens whilst trailing around East London, just swapped the camisole out for a chunky knit. (Dungarees available here: http://www.ark.co.uk/item/hearts-and-bows/dungarees/hearts-and-bows-black-and-white-huesca-floral-dungarees/RQ0 )
I styled them with some Topshop heels and a borrowed Kenzo clutch (jealous that it's not mine) & was all ready for a night out. Here are all the bags that enjoyed our night out too.

(Kenzo, Givenchy & Celine)