New Purchases!

Following on from my wardrobe edit I have been shopping! So I thought I would share with you my recent purchases :)

This is the Wonder dress from French Connection. I saw it and thought it looked like the right shape but they only had a size 10 (US 6 I think) and I'm normally a 12. Anyhow I figured best to try it on, following Kate's advice, and so on it went, just.... It fits really nicely at the top but is very tight around the bottom. So I bought it anyway! Just in case there's not a 12 for me to try on somewhere else and exchange it with.

My next purchase was on Sunday. This is the same belt which Make Do Style has posted about before. Ideally I would have bought the Citrine belt but it seems they have sold out. So Coral it is. Belt from Karen Millen.

I'm therefore feeling quite excited about my purchases and hoping they're good ones for the future. Now to check J likes the dress and doesn't think it too tight and then we're away!

Wardrobe edits and shopping lists

Today I was very very lucky and got treated to a Wardrobe edit with the very lovely Kate of Make Do Style. To be honest I was a little terrified as I knew how much my wardrobe really needed it. A lot of it is very outdated and I've never really know what suits me or what my body shape quite is. I've also been feeling a little uncomfortable in my body recently, my hormones have been a little all over the place with the introduction of Mirena and this comes out with me feeling lumpy and fat. J tells me it isn't the case but I still struggle to let myself believe him when he tells me.

So armed with my new advice I have decided to create a shopping list so I can shop to list from here on in and hopefully inject some youth and style into my wardrobe. I shall report back following purchases!

1. Belts - one coloured and patent, one brown
2. Boyfriend cardigan
3. New bras
4. Maxi dress
5. Dress (above the knee)
6. Skirts (above the knee)
7. A couple of t-shirts

And then my guidelines for shopping are buy the right size (I tend to buy clothes too big because I believe I am that size), buy shorter, always above the knee, tighter and less fussy on the hips, plus more youthful!

Kate - I hope I've got this right and thank-you again, I so very much appreciate this. I am looking forward to shopping now in the hope that I really can buy the right clothes!

Oh and finally I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who feels like they're a bit stuck with their wardrobe and body image. It is wonderful and so worth it!

On real women...

I recently read one of the best blog posts I've read in a while on Liberty London Girl's blog, all about women's bodies and the ideal of beauty. Go read it if you haven't already...

Anyhow, it got me thinking about the obsession we all have about our bodies and seeking perfection, never being able to believe someone finds us attractive. I still can't quite believe my husband thinks I am attractive and have a nice figure, especially on 'fat' days when I feel bloated and disgusting.

So when I saw the below picture, I rejoiced. Which is apparently what a lot of other women also did. This image was featured in the latest issue of American Glamour magazine, hidden away on one of the pages, surrounded by the traditional images of skinny, elfin, boyish figures, this picture cause a huge response. Women flooded Glamour with thanks for showing that someone with a tiny belly can be beautiful. The Daily Mail go into more detail about it in this article.

So I wanted to share it and commend Glamour for putting this in their magazine. She is truly beautiful, and it's refreshing to see this image being used in a magazine. As much as I love fashion magazines and looking at catwalk shows I know that so many of the clothes designed are never going to suit a figure with some curves. Maybe, just maybe, the fashion world will begin to listen to everyday people and start designing clothes for women, not girls with boyish figures who can pull off high fashion.

Lost - Eyebrow Tweezers

I have some how managed to lose my eyebrow tweezers. These are one of my treasured beauty items, which I hate being without. I thoroughly enjoy plucking my eyebrows, I find it quite relaxing to be honest and so am feeling rather lost myself now. I also have never used traditional tweezers, I currently have a pair which I am using in the interim but instead of tweezing am just breaking my hairs... Not ideal!

So I'm looking for tweezers like these Tweezerman ones below. This is what my old tweezers were like and I loved them. But I can never seem to find any. Any suggestions as to where I can get hold of these? Anyone seen something similar sold anywhere?

Any advice as to really good tweezers, even if they're not shaped as below! Anything honestly will be wonderful and much appreciated!

On another note, am obviously now back from the long weekend in Oxfordshire. Lots of photos and stories to tell soon!

New Shoes

Last week I finally managed to get shoes sorted out for the wedding. After having bought a fabulous Miu Miu pair which were amazing, but far too high, and were returned, I was at a loss of where to look next. So I left it and decided that I could sort it out closer to the time. And how time flew.

So last week I went for a hunt for comfortable black flat shoes that I could wear with my dress and weren't too expensive, not much to ask for then! And I found them....

Here are almost my shoes, mine have red heels instead of the brown heels below.

Shoes are from Kat Maconie

I found them in Poste Mistress and they are also sold in Harvey Nichols and Peter Jones (for you Londoners interested). They have been specially designed to be more comfortable, you can see the padding on the bottom of the shoe above and when I put them on I was really pleased. They fit my big feet, were smart without being over the top and were flat!

So I wore them all Saturday, danced the night away, loved them. And then today I walk into work in them (about a 35 minute walk I do every day) and now my feet hurt and have been rubbed. What to do?! All the same though, I would recommend looking at Kat Maconie's collection, the shoes are lovely and if you're looking for slightly different pumps they are comfy with lovely padded soles. One day though I will find shoes which don't rub...

Wee Birdy, Alex Monroe and Lucky me!

Wee Birdy had been holding a week long give away last week of lovely treats for her readers and amazingly enough I won one of them! I have been lucky enough to win a necklace from Alex Monroe. And here is the beauty I have won:

I hadn't heard of Alex Monroe before reading Wee Birdy but I am now in love. His pieces are all nature inspired and are just amazing, detailed, quirky and timeless.

I shall be thinking of him for gifts this year, I always prefer buying from someone like Alex whose pieces so truly reflect him and his inspirations and where it's not part of a huge faceless chain.

Anyway, check out his other bits and bobs on his website and when I receive the package I shall post a picture of it on.

Blog Goggles giveaway

The lovely Blog Goggles is doing a giveaway this week of these fabulous earrings:

They are from A Squared on Etsy. So if you're interested in the opportunity to win them hop on over to Blog Goggles and have a look, if you haven't already :)

And now for the dress on me

For those of you who were interested here's me in the dress. I love the pockets!

And now for the shoes...

So here's where it gets exciting. I now have to get new shoes to go with the dress, yippee! None of the pairs I currently own will work. I've been looking online for ideas but I get too easily distracted into just looking at beautiful shoes which I can drool about and dream about! Anyhow, some ideas so far...


Number 1 - Rupert Sanderson

Image Matches fashion

Number 2 - Marc by Marc Jacobs

Image Matches Fashion

I love the second ones, the blue is amazing, and they look comfy (ish). But here I hit my big problem, J is shorter than me so I don't like wearing huge heels with him, where can I find fabulous but smaller heeled shoes which aren't ridiculously expensive and match the dress?!

And then of course there's the hat or fascinator to think about. The lovely Anna has already given me some great suggestions and then I'm thinking of trying to make it myself...

I did it!

I bought a dress! Online, which terrifies me, but it fits and looks nice so all is good and the search is over. Plus J likes it which is the ultimate test and here it is...

Image from Matches fashion

It's McQ by Alexander McQueen and is a lovely colour. Do you like it?

M x

Another day another dress...

Dress from Oasis

So I saw this dress today and I have to say it's a contender for the wedding. I know it's black but it's one shouldered which I still really like, has feathers and looks like a shape which might suit me, although I'm guessing those feathers could also do some expanding to the hip area...

Guess I should just get my lazy ass to the shops and try some bad boys on and then start making decisions, but until then I shall post little lovelies on here for me to dream of.

And thanks for your comments so far on the other dress! They are so very lovely and helpful.

M x

Wedding wear advice needed

This could be an ongoing series of posts until about August but here goes with the first. I am going to one wedding this year, which is the wedding of my sister-in-law. It's an English summer wedding where I've been asked to do a reading. So I need help with what to wear. Here is one of the options I've found, not tried on yet but think it could perhaps work. Although is it too casual and maternity wear like?

Dress and Image from Mangoshop.com

Any ideas for places to look, I've already tried Liberty and Reiss to no avail. English or London shops and ideally ones where I can try it on! I'm still not very good at internet shopping!

So then I should give you some criteria so you can help me with my search :)

• Colourful
• Strapless or one shouldered
• Possibly maxi but not for definite
  
• Weddingy but not too dressy
  

Am I perhaps just too fussy?! Any and all help so much appreciated!

New shoes!

Sshh, don't tell J or he might try and get me to throw away a pair, remember the one-in-one-out policy I mentioned a long time ago... but here are my new Banana Republic sandals. I haven't been able to wear them yet, London has been grey and miserable. But I am very excited about their first test run, and fingers crossed they don't rip my feet to shreds! Hope you like them :)

Change does you good...

And speaking of which above is the latest change, new hair! It feels weird but I like it, less unruly mess to deal with. Who knows however what it will look like tomorrow...

And for those London dwellers, get on down to Ora Salon. They have consistently given me the best cuts and they did my wedding hair and they're lovely, play good music and aren't too expensive!

Happy Thursday x

New Green Shoes!

Inspired by Rachel and Blog Goggles I today purchased new shoes! Woohoo! I mostly wear flats, being both tall and having deformed enough feet I figure this is sensible but finding relatively inexpensive comfortable flats is not easy. The last pair I bought are too small. However I still wear them, I know, I know I shouldn't but I have no other options. So today I purchased some summery green flats as below:
They are from Toast where I have never shopped before, but Rachel says they're comfortable and I like the green and hopefully they will soon be whizzing through the postal system to me. Fingers crossed they fit!

This does of course mean that I will now have to rid myself of a pair of shoes, for those of you who don't know, J has enforced a one in one out policy on shoes for me. Which is actually good, it does make me think more about my purchases knowing that something will have to go if something new appears. But perhaps I can sneak these ones in, tee hee!

Anyone else have a shoe policy? Apart from buying and owning as many as possible :)

New Shorts!

I was so very excited last year when Banana Republic opened on Regent Street and flew in and oohed and aahed at all the pretty things there. And then I looked at the price tag and saw the prices. They were charging £80 for something which was $80 online and this was when the exchange rate was more in our favour! So I slunk out, and thought of all the beautiful pieces for the office which were right up my street and decided to wait for the sales. Well the sales haven't yet come but their prices have got considerably better and as I had the day of yesterday I just happened to be walking past when I found these:

I have been looking for shorts forever! Nice ones which aren't too short but also not too long. Short length is one of those things which can really change how your legs look. And won't they just be perfect for beach walks in Sicily and for summer days. I'm not sure if you can see in the pictures but they're blue and white pinstriped. And now they're mine!

It's just a shame my legs aren't as slim and are currently so white they're reflective, oh to be an English girl...

Dress Inspiration

Photo from Sky Showbiz

I saw this photo of Ginnifer Goodwin today and thought that it was an amazingly beautiful dress which could provide either bride or bridesmaid inspiration. If you were having a chic city wedding how wonderful would this dress be for that, with a little bird cage veil and perhaps a bigger smile than Ginnifer is giving us here!

Clothes Swap

On Saturday my sister hosted a clothes swap party. It was a first for both of us and actually for the other girls who came too. And it was great fun!

We started with some wine and nibbles, to get us in the mood and getting to know each other a bit. Then we all displayed our wares... Which was quite fun, you feel like you want to sell your clothes as it would be sad to bring them all and then bring them all home again.

And then the fun began. The trying on. We all dived in and picked up pieces we liked, tried them, laughed or oohed and went on to the next piece. Gradually some pieces worked better on some people and piles grew of the clothes that were liked.

Once we had all finished going through everything we had what could be called an auction. Kind of. Each person in turn lifted up pieces they liked and on the whole they were uncontested. The couple of items that were contested were just agreed about by the people who wanted them. How much they wanted them how many other pieces they had etc.

I came away with a dress, two tops and a pair of shoes. I also got rid of a skirt and a couple of tops. So pretty even.

I would definitely do this again, when I have enough clothes to give away. I'm still trying to build up my wardrobe to contain enough stuff I love to be able to swap items!

Giving it away and paying it forward - Veiled Vows

For those of you interested in pretty things which are also free check out Veiled Vows blog where she is offering someone the opportunity to win a customised piece. Her blog and specifically the post I am talking about can be found here I would recommend you checking it out as it's a beautiful blog. She is also a bride to be so lots of wedding inspiration to be found there!

As further temptation to go visit below is one of her pieces...

Image from Auburn and Ivory on Etsy

Good luck!

Pretty packages

Yesterday I was having one of those days at work, and then at lunch time I went and met the lovely Indian Summers so I could receive my newly purchased earrings. Thankfully she only works around the corner from me so no waiting for packages to come in the post! They made me so very happy, pretty little dragonflys dangling from my ears. So I thought it apt to tell you lovely people about Indian Summers jewellery who can be found on her blog and on Etsy. Below are one of the beautiful pieces she has on her site, sorry there's no pictures of mine but I shall try and put one up, especially because the packaging was also just fabulous!

Photo from Indian Summers

And then this got me thinking that I shall resolve to try and buy all my jewellery and friend's gifts from Etsy and support all those people out there who are making such amazing things.