Saturday Blog

Splurge

To splurge or not to splurge- this was the question I had to ask myself in Topshop today. Its an awkward time of the year, depressing weather yet spring’s icy colours and mad prints splashed all over the shop windows. 

Now I’ve been a very good girl throughout the sales in January and as they are just drying up I have finally used the gift cards and cash that were burning a hole in my pocket. As I was in Topshop I saw the most gorgeous white lacy dress that I’d previously fell in love with on the website. It was even better in person but with a hefty price of £50 (hefty for a 14 year old) I was asked, do you need it now? Its more of a summer dress! 

Well this was what has happened to me before, in the Indian summer of October 2011, before I was about to leave for Italy, I spotted a gorgeous dalmatian motif jumper, very AW’11 but I had to make the hard decision to leave it bearing in mind that I would probably find something in Florence. I never did get a jumper in Italy and that jumper was sold out when I got back. So why am I telling you this sad, sad story?

I suppose because I feel slightly silly for buying my gorgeous dress, but as they say: You should only buy something that you absolutely love. I love the dress so should I be feeling this way? You decide. To splurge or not to splurge- that is the question.

Beauty Bits

Hello and happy Saturday, gosh its cold!! Currently the snow is settling nicely outside, hopefully we’re all in for a couple of days off school/work.

This week I thought I would talk about beauty as it is undoubtedly a large part of fashion, but rather than go into all the trends for this year I thought I’d stick with the stuff that comes under the category of essentials.  Ok so here is a list of my top five beauty products.

5) Dermalogica Clean Start, literally the best range of products for teenage skin. I’ve tried Clearasil, Neutrogena, Simple but nothing keeps the skin clear quite like it. Yes it is expensive but if you can try and get the whole works, cleanser, toner, scrub, moisturisers and night serum simply because getting into a routine of using these products does wonders for your skin. If its all a bit too much you can substitute some products e.g the cleansers with a cheaper one, e.g. Simple. This is what I sometimes do.

4) Garnier BB cream, any avid magazine reader is sure to have heard about the sensation that is the Beauty Balm. They’re a moisturiser, sunscreen, foundation and so much more. The reason I use Garnier is because its the cheapest, but I know that Mac also do one if you’re willing to pay a little more. The best thing about a BB cream is that you don’t feel bad when putting it on that its going to be bad for your skin because it isn’t! It blends very well leaving great coverage and a dewy complexion which is very good if you want to restore youthfulness.

3) You may have read that my new years resolution was to grow my nails and I have sucessfully broken my habit (touch wood) but as my new nails have grown they haven’t been very strong and are prone to breaking quite often and so I invested in some of this wonderful stuff- Nails inc A&E base coat which goes on as a clear coat under nail varnish and strenghtens those newly grown nails!

2) Now this may not be directly beauty related  but I believe the correct perfume can immediately boost your self confidence which is surely what beauty is about? So the current scent I am indulging in is ‘The One’ by D&G which is an absolutely gorgeous, sexy scent that I adore. My number one tip for perfume is that go to a perfume store and spend a long time working out which one suits you, your natural aroma and sits nicely against your skin and then spray it everywhere, all over your body, clothes and at the tips of your hair where it will last until the next wash!

1) Vaseline, trust me, there is nothing better than a good old pot of the stuff for smooth lips and dry,chapped skin. I have 2 pots which I carry with me everywhere. I put it on every night before sleep and I frequently re-apply it throughout the day. You can spend small fortunes on lip care buying many different fancy formulas and I’ve tried all sorts but simply spending £1.80 on some Vaseline infused with Aloe Vera is you’re best bet.

So there are some of my favourites.

The Power of The Heel

The other day I was sat at the station, looking rather bedraggled after a lacrosse match. I wasn’t the only one there that looked like this though. All the women were wrapped up in long down jackets and scarves, no one particularly fashionable. Then a women who looked in her late 30s appeared, I couldn’t put my finger on what separated her from the rest. She was wearing a trench coat, nothing too striking but there was just something about her, thats when I saw her shoes. Patent loafers with a chunky heel, again they weren’t mind-blowing, not a ‘OMG I LOVE YOUR SHOES!’ moment at all. But they elevated her over the rest of the women on the platform. They improved her posture and made her silhouette so much more stream lined and elegant. They may not be the most sensible choice for travel but why not? Why not make your outfit that bit more exciting, that bit more daring, all for the cost of a little discomfort? You wouldn’t go out in winter without wearing a coat, your outfit would be incomplete and quite frankly you would be cold, heels can round off the perfect outfit and so my advice would be, when you’re old enough to wear heels, do it. Make that extra little effort. They don’t have to be sky-scrapers, they dont have to cost a fortune and they don’t necessarily have to be on-trend. 

My fave shoe trend of SS12 is mules. So cute. 

Heres a piccy of Elle Fanning wearing some of Miu Miu.

http://heels.shoerazzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Elle-Fanning-shoes.jpg

Pimp your denim

Happy Saturday people! So earlier this week I was inspired by a magazine article, it was in one of my favourite monthlys, Company. After being a little dissapointed about the new small layout, I was happy to find it was all about denim. And so I set out on the mission of Do It Yourself Denim. Last year when I was in Florence I bought the most amazing pair of jeans from Zara, I adored them and wore them so much that in the end they had gaping holes in the knee area. This is how all of my jeans end up and I believe that there is a fine line between distressed, 90’s grunge and just plain silly.. that was when I upgraded from Zara to Levis.

Anyhow, these jeans have been sat in the bottom of my cupboard for a while. What better to experiment bleaching with? Before you start your bleaching conquest, here are some fundamentals: 

• Buy February’s Company magazine or another set of instructions to follow.
• Use old jeans you do not want to ruin in your experimenting
• Do it in old clothes, rubber gloves and preferably outside. Bleach can ruin things.
• Make sure you actually have a bottle of bleach in your household.

Sadly, I failed to follow these tips, I got as far as rubber gloves to discover the lack of bleach, I almost cried! So in my sadness I jumped straight into the idea of making some hotpants from my jeans. I sawed away at the beautifully stitched denim until they were very short indeed. Just when I thought I was getting somewhere, a slip of the knife and I had destroyed one of the back pockets creating a rather revealing pair of daisy dukes, but only on one side. Oops. 

So my advice to you, DO go about bleaching old denim, if your less cackhanded than I am, I’m sure you could revive something to make it look very on-trend, after all, its about the palest denim this Spring/Summer. DON’T get carried away or loose concentration and definitely DO be prepared and actually buy a bottle of bleach!

Sexy, Sexy Slopes

In January, a month of grey weather, and grey mood due to the uncompleted new years resolutions, some (very, very lucky) people like to hit the slopes. I am very interested in become a chalet girl myself and although the reality maybe somewhat different, I am in awe of the glamour of it all! Of course if I were to be skiing 9 til 5, I would be very interested in staying tres chic, it wouldn’t necessarily be Chanel skis and salopettes (if only) but there are a few nice, statement skiwear bits and bobs knocking around.

The first name that springs to mind is SNO at Topshop, this collection makes me want to go skiing purely to wear some of the amazing thing-a-lings, from full on ski jackets with faux fur trim to to faux fur boot muffs and quilted ear muffs! Take me skiing!

Now please, do not get me wrong, I am in no way a fan of Jack Wills’ same-sy and overpriced clothing but the salopettes they are selling fit the ticket, navy blue with a flash of that distinctive pink, I know it is awfully Chalet Girl but its very hard to find attractive and elegant skiwear from the likes of BillaBong and Roxy. 

Another gem is Ashish Ski, a collection for Topshop again, the leopard print quilted jacket is a little too much for my liking, I’m not afraid of bold but a bigger fan of understated elegance when it comes to the slopes, the ‘ski pants’ however are something else, the pattern is digestible if paired with a neutral coloured jacket. 

Really, if you are going skiing sometime soon, you should check out these brands, right now the Ashish collection is more or less half price so grab it while you can!

For the rest of us who can only fantasise about such a trip, there are some cool jumpers with catchy slogans that need just a chilly January day (we have plenty of those to spare) to be able to wear. 

Have a nice week! x

Heres a link: http://m.topshop.com/mt/www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=3977253&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=354499&parent_categoryId=208499&pageSize=20&un_jtt_v_un_tab=3