FLYING SAUCER

feel the florals and do it anyway

There aren't many blogs that will ever think they wouldn't wear something  because it was too much or a bit too out there.It's almost taboo to say that you would be too 'scared' to wear something. Scared of being stared at, whispered about, judged? This might be affected by where you live, who you work or are friends with, what the 'norm' is. I've been thinking about this because I have some crazy favourites but often when choosing an outfit and you're in a rush or time is ticking, I'll plump for safe things that I've worn before and won't stand out too much.  But then when you're out and about, you feel drab and bored. Being a fashion blogger, I often think if I ever ran into a reader again and was wearing one of those fall-back outfits I'd be quite embarrassed.

Also if I get something new I usually make outfits and play around with it, but some are just for fun. I tried to figure out why I wouldn't wear these out and the only answer would be because what would people think of me, would it make my day any different? What if I ran into someone and they thought woah, why is she wearing that?! But that's silly! What's the point in caring what people think, and who says they would think anything anyway?

Can you wear something you love for any crazy, random reason, or something that's straight from the runway, and not look nice? There are somethings you just couldn't wear for outside reasons, for instance the bloggers who live in the hottest American states who can wear towering heels with minute dresses in the day time. Here that's not practical or functional as it's never that hot, and even like today when it is, what would happen? It would gain attention? Maybe it's a bit like evolution- British style hasn't needed to adapt style like that because it's never needed. But the UK is a fashion destination. London is a fashion capital.

So what's the problem? Do you ever read magazines where there is an interview with guys and they trash fashion trends and ask why girls wear some 'crazy' things? Often these seem to involve super high heels, loads of makeup and full on boho or 80's looks. But fashion doesn't make people ugly! Whatever you wear, it's you that shines through. When someone looks at you, they don't just see clothes. Of course clothes give off vibes and create assumptions, but it's the way you walk, the way you act, and whether the clothes wear you rather than you wearing the clothes. It's easy to assume people look at things in a negative way but people aren't always critiquing and judging you.

I was thinking about just going out in an outfit rather than just clothes. I mean something that is a key piece in your wardrobe for whatever reason, not just the selection of items you've worn loads of times and like, but don't feel like your ultimate self in. My lectures in uni are about 95% girls and sometimes it feels like outfits are safe in the blogging world but if I wore even heels to a lecture, would people whisper or talk? But I know if I ever see anyone in anything different I think 'ooo that girl is so cool/oooh that girl has the best hair everrr/ she can wear those so well!' it's your own thoughts that are ridiculing yourself, not those of others. You can't predict what people will think. Does it matter if they think anything at all? Should you flatter yourself by believing people will care what you wear anyway?!

Yesterday I was meeting one of my besties for lunch on her break in town and then had a few places to visit (namely to buy six pairs of tights!). It's absolutely boiling and I thought, why not wear the floral jumpsuit! I've been meaning to forget any voice in my head saying 'don't wear that! who walks round in a floral babygro?!' My sister was like 'you're wearing that?...' which didn't help! But I wore it to do the test anyway! And it was fine! Some business man said to his friend 'that's ridiculous' when we went for lunch in a pub but hey, who cares! Who is he? I don't know! Five girls asked where it was from. I'd rather listen to their opinions than the people I caught nudging their friends. And even if they were, maybe they weren't assuming I was weird? I'd rather show people I will wear whatever I want and please myself than listen to that voice that says 'conform! just wear something normal and have a normal day!'. Goodbye little voice!

sun is in the sky oh why oh why

I'm loving all the Glastonbury outfits. Lily in the jumpsuit, Florence in roses (thanks to Topshop), lovely! Makes me a bit sad I'm not doing any festivals after four years of 'em but but hopefully there will be something better instead! Exam results soon argh! But I stopped here to tell you that I went to London last week. If you don't live in London (or maybe if you do!) you will know that it's a treat to just walk around and soak up some of the capital's atmosphere!

There's a few things you can pinpoint that makes London so great, mainly being the people. It could be the amount of people or the pace of the crowds but it feels like there are a million new faces and outfits about to pass you, which can make you feel a little bit more anonymous. It feels like everyone's in a hurry to go and do something very important. Maybe it takes more to be an individual so that's why everyone seems to really consider their style? Or just because there are so many amazing shops!

I really went to have a chat about blogging with a company who had done a talk at uni. It's totally different and refreshing to chat to someone about blogs! This left me with loads of questions popping in my mind all day about our place in the blogging world and all the things that have happened to fashion bloggers. It was also pretty cool to see a really contemporary and sometimes quite elaborate office space!

My Mom booked the day off work so we decided to stick around Oxford Street as I had an errand to run!  This was all aided by Susie Bubble's shopping map, thanks Susie it really helped!! My rough hand drawn copy left much to be desired but we somehow managed to visit all of the shops picked out, most by accidentally passing by when looking for somewhere else!

I think it was still half term as Oxford Street was rammed and we did all the flagship stores. This shirt is the one from the H&M lookbook a few posts down! It's seriously gorgeous but they didn't have it in my size or any of my fallback sizes. I'll look out for it in stores here but I think it was £50 so I'll have to think of a great time when I'll really need or want to wear a shirt! It reminds me too much of my Viktor  Rolf x H&M shirt though, but it's still gorgeous.

The other lucky incentive of going to London was to take my Miu Miu teacup shoes back... to get fixed! Thanks to J who commented on a post where I said a bit had snapped off one of the curls on the back, who said the shop may repair them. I rang in advance and had trouble describing exactly which shoes they are to the Italian lady, even though they are officially called the tea cup shoes, but she said bring them in and most of the time they are fixable! It's a bit nervy bringing them all the way to London as they're quite special shoes. But the curls on the back are made of plastic and both were wobbly before wearing. I'm sure others had similar problems and I would have been a little peeved if I'd paid the full £350 price! Designer stores are quite intimidating but I got them out and they said they could send them off! So they are somewhere between England and Italy, I hope they're OK! If they are unable to fix them I ticked a box that said I'd rather have them back than get a credit note, but maybe they would have gave the original value back...? Hmmmm I'd rather not take the chance and keep the shoes, broken curl or not! A least that way I could subject them to some wear and tear, because if I get a second chance at a perfect pair I'm certainly not going to be inclined to wearing them just about ever! Also no payment was discussed so I hope I don't need to cough up double their price when I get them back!

A shoe bow lighter, we then went to Luella! It surprised me that a store for such a prominent brand is so small, but I guess they only have limited stock so don't need so much space. The shop was absolute heaven! I'm glad they were stocking the SS09 range because everything was pink, orange and purple. I also didn't realised most of the purple tweeds were glittery! There was a full on glitter coat in the second room where most of the range was reduced, it was wonderful. The shoes were gorgeous and the sales assistants were wearing Luella too- major envy!

I can reveal now another example of my scatty self as I'd snagged my polka dot tights on the train and I do always bring spare pairs of tights, but only had an opaque lilac pair. And I was wearing a red dress. Oh well! Red and lilac was a clashing theme that felt quite right in the Luella shop (unlike everywhere else!). The hair bows caught my eye straight away in a bowl near the front. I wrote about these absolutely ages ago, in fact I just found the post here and it's from April 2008! I'm assuming the style is the signature Luella style, released in colours to match the collection. There were head bands as well as the bow clips, and you must know how I'm a hair bow addict, can't go a day without one! I've always worn hair accessories and hair bows are so common now, they just feel in the same league as a necklace or a ring. I couldn't decide between the dark purple and lilac colour but the lovely SA pointed that the lilac matched my accidental tights so it seemed right. He was wearing a bright orange cardigan, it was great! The ribbon bow was £30 but the price tag says £59 so I think they were in the sale! A fine price for the ultimate hair bow I feel! I was equally excited about the Luella bag and heart sticker. And that's the only thing I bought! I was tempted by the laptop necklace above in Dahlia but I'm already geeky enough! 

I was also tempted by a straw boater in Beyond Retro but will wait for a cheaper one online, and this necklace in Topshop was the best thing ever. It was HUGE! Everyone who walked by was lifting it up and laughing, it weighed a tonne! Serious neck pain would be free with that thing! 

things that i do

I lost my camera in a club. But I got it back! So blogging can resume. It highlights how either I only blog about myself or that I am always a bit hesitant to post unoriginal things- most of the time because another blogger can blog it better! It also highlights how favourite-yet-about-to-fall-apart bags are not the best idea, but some clubbers or cleaners are very kind.  

Another example of things that make me want to kick myself was yesterday, when I carefully applied some lashes despite being very poor sighted in one eye. I don't need glasses for daily life as I can cope with having blurry vision in only one eye, but this poses many makeup related problems, especially when false eyelashes are concerned. It's very tricky to apply them to an open eye that already has the obligatory liner and mascara. Don't sometimes you wish you could remove your head while doing your hair and face and sit it in front of you? Of course that defeats the point if your eyes stay in your head, but I'm sure you know what I mean!

Somehow I apply lashes in the safety that I will never see the poor attempt for my left eye when it is closed and I am just looking out my blurry right eye. A major issue is that you can use lashes a few times after the first wear, but they become a bit misshapen, gunky and weak. I cannot use a £5 pair of lashes every time I wear them and just throw them away, so I babywipe as much as possible and they can scrub up pretty well.

Enter my stupid self after I clomped over to my friends- platforms teamed with mini playsuit shorts do make for clompy steps! I'd threw a last minute pair of spare tights and a little tube of lash glue into my bag just in case of mishaps- no match for my industrial strength MAC lash glue but OK for a handbag. One corner was rustled in the breeze though and was poking me in the eye, so I poked it back for about half an hour until making a last minute dab with a little bit of the glue that came with some lashes. This didn't work at all, the glue was way too thin and clear and it didn't feel like any was going on, so I kept adding more and just accepted the wonky lash fate. As soon as we were in the club, the whole strip was peeling off and just one step away from spidereye nightmares so I dabbed on more glue, then put two and two together and realised I was putting 'take-off' solution on my eyes. The Eyelure Girls Aloud lashes come with removal liquid as well as a little tube of glue, OOPS. So I was basically voluntarily taking the lashes that I'd painstakingly put on, off. So then sadly I had to peel the other perfect one off and if you wear lashes, you will know that when you take them off they remove youreyeliner too. So in conclusion, makeup disaster!!! Lesson learnt! That certainly is a way to feel rough all night. We tried a club that wasn't very good anyway so it was no lost night. It was lost lashes though, the sight of them crumpled up and stuck to a random receipt meant they had to be binned.

The picture above is a testimony of why this isn't a 'what i wore today' blog. If I'm not going anywhere special, I do not wear my best things. By 'best' I mean any thing that I'd rather not subject to wear and tear! So if I'm going to say my Nan's house, I will throw on anydamn thing to hand. But I don't own trackies or hoodies or anything-ies (except maybe onesies?). Hence the pink and red clown fest above. I still have no bedroom so am living in a world of balancing piles, also reflecting that I don't know what I'm doing in September so just have to sit in limbo for a few weeks. Limbo certainly sucks.

blissed up

I have to clear out my old room in the basement because my littlest brother wants it and apparently I don't live here anymore! Believe me I would rather not live with brothers who inhale the fridge and have garage parties all night! All this teen angst is coming back at just the right time. I have boxes and boxes of magazines though and can't possibly throw them away even if they are from before 2004. Ever summer I used to buy theMizz summer special and try out every hairstyle, every DIY face mask, every trick to talkto boys! But then I spent my teenage years consuming magazines non-stop, Sugar, CosmoGirl, Elle Girl, Teenvogue, I read them all! This was before the internet, or when I was allowed 1 hour a day on AOL where my mom even had a timer set that logged you off! My favourite magazine was Bliss though and I even had a letter published in there! It satisfied my need for Busted posters and sk8r boy-catching tips but I was still delighted when Bliss said they wanted to include Flying Saucer as part of a feature! First appearance in a magazine, how exciting! Hopefully it will inspire more people to start blogging. I also read the whole magazine too, the likes of Elle and Glamour really should include more quizzes and embarrassing moments!

The article is formed from some questions I answered, I think I said everyone on my course wants to be a buyer but I wouldn't mind any retail job right now! You can click the picture to read it in full.

Another major pro of teenzines is that they come with posters! Funny how this issue came with an Ed Westwick poster! Thank to Louise and the Bliss team, you've really brightened up my walls!

p.s. Remember the NV code is available for a week! I'm wearing the other rose vest here, I got S/Ms and they would fit someone size 8/10/12 perfectly. Also wearing a Primark skirt (the last buy from there I'm thinking!) and Topshop tights.

H&M = Hot much?

I love the H&M lookbooks! I've posted them for the last few seasons and was very excited when the Fall/Winter 09 book was revealed on Nitrolicious. Also SO JEALOUS Wendy got to meet Ed Westwick!! He is looking super fine in the pictures, he is my igoogle page! Annnyway you might have already seen the Divided collection they'll bring out in the Autumn with a few special pieces, some of which are featured in the lookbook pictures, and might have heard that there's a collab with Jimmy Choo! There's something really reliable about H&M. Guaranteed you'll go in and find something you like, it will be affordable and decent quality. And they have a frequent turn over and if you are looking for something, you will almost always find it.

But by now you can pick out the items and imagine them instore, as often the lookbook does make them look a trillion times better. H&M clothes always stand as basics or staple pieces rather than say a full on spangly outfit you might get in Topshop. Here's a few of my favourite looks...

 

The first dress is the velvet one with the cocoon sleeves in the Autumn Divided collection right? A lot of the outfits in the lookbook were belted with this thick peplum belt and it looks so great with the tight dress and high sleeves. Seems everything is black or beige/nude/cream. I'm liking the skinny trousers and the belts but Ialways go back to skirts in Winter. However, this blouse was in the Oxford Street H&M on Thursday! They only had 12s though but I'll stalk the Birmingham branch in hope of trying it on. It really is something else up close. Is it a crop top in the last picture? Not sure but this Summer's crop tops will be great with that really high waisted skirt and lace tights.

Chunky knits? Hmmm in my mind there's room for coats and cardigans but chunky knits? Still not sure I'm a fan! I love these looks though, especially the trousers tucked inside the boots in both looks. The third picture I just liked the hair! Big hair = love.

 

I liked this first picture because I have a (faux) fur shawl I found in a charity shop which I think was from Whistles or another high street store and I really like it tucked under a belt inside a coat. This season's lookbook has been less about wanting to imitate whole looks andI'm preferring little elements. Does the last look have socks over jeans? Legwarmers over tights? Not sure but it looks really easy to replicate and looks great topped with a huge scarf wrapped round rather than dangling. I think I've found why I don't accessorize most of the time- I don't like things jangling about and rattling and jiggling off me!

Here are a few items that hopefully will come into store soon if they have already been produced! I've never been a fan of the Rodarte copies that have surfaced but something about the way the H&M go seems so sheer  and light and very long, it looks perfect! Also was really drawn to the sheer but almost metallic looking vest. Looking forward to Autumn already!

the bird says cheap cheap!

If you're up for some weekend browsing you might want to check out a little online store that I posted about on Catwalk Queen. Did you know I do a few posts for Catwalk Queen? Last week I posted about an Irish store called NV which has some seriously cute dresses at really low prices. What's not to love! You can get high street rivals for much less and really I know a lot of us won't be seeing a student loan for at least three months! I got a little haul of some very floral dresses meaning a great end of exams treat and a welcome colour injection. All this hot weather has come around quite quickly and for the British summer you just have to throw yourself into bright clothes.

Here's only the one dress though, which is named as a vest dress on the site but I am not afraid of short hemlines when opaque coloured tights are involved! I am about 5'5 though and got the dress in two colours which will be great as tops too! Just the right amount of stretch to be fitting but very comfy for these hot, muggy days. I recommend! If you have younger sisters (or maybe brothers?) you may know the peculiar nature of borrowing or hand-me-downs. I left a few things at home this year, like a dress covered in neon numbers and some bright yellow high waisted shorts, just really random things that I was quite sure I wouldn't be wearing during the term, and somehow my sister finds some way to love them. She will wear just about anything that is technically free, i.e. mine! So she helped me unpack about four suitcases of clothes last week and walked away with a heap of stuff to try on. I'll post the rest of the things I got off NV later as she's walked off with a few things for the moment, most likely to beg, borrow or steal!

Also check out the birdie headband from Jazz! Lots of bloggers who have these are right, it feels fab to have a little cutie in your hair. My cat is a fan too!

EDIT:The lovely Cathy from NV saw my CQ post and has created a discount for you guys! Put in FLYINGSAUCERDISCOUNT at the check out and get 10% off! Thanks Cathy!

back to pink

 

Remember the pink and blue trousers? Well I couldn't sacrifice my love and need for pink trousers and little need for blue trousers. The blue were a better size but the difference was not enough persuasion! I was content with the amount of pink votes on the poll, thanks for voting everyone! It was one of those fashion fate moments though when I went to take the blue trews back to Topshop because there on the last, bare sale rack was a pink pair in the smaller size! So I exchanged them and for a little while had two pairs. That was one crazy receipt.

But pink trousers really are quite heavenly. Although I can't help wanting to team them with circus-worthy wears. I'm thinking in winter they will be great with chunky black knits and boots but for now might be more fit to a Caribbean cruise or a giant hat made of fruit.

I think I've found a half decent place to take photos in my house too! I said goodbye to our second year student digs a few days ago after a great week of goodbyes, don't even ask why I ended up in lazerquest! I also have to express how overwhelmed and inspired I was by the replies to the post below. I was very wary that it was not a signature fashion blog post but hopefully it raised an issue that we can all be a bit more brave about. I can be feisty enough when needed and all your comments and emails made it all feel much better, I'm in the process of replying to all comments so do check back if you left one!

Back to normal blogging times though as there are a few things I want to chat and blog about, first is a beautiful box of little delights from Jazz, an art student at Central Saint Martins who used to run a stall on Brick Lane. She is insanely lovely and just wanted to share some crafty love! Best of all, hair bow love! I've been wearing these a lot, they will end up featuring around here soon! Do check out her sweet blog, especially a recent illustration of Susie Bubble! Thank you again Jazz!

I have so much to blog about! I'll finish up what is the start of a summer of much posting with a tag I was given ages ago by musician and blogger Frankie Ward who I had the pleasure of meeting once! Another lover of hair accessories! 7 things you need never know about me...

1. Chuck Bass is my iGoogle homepage, along with a Gossip Girl quiz, quotes and picture of the day.

2. I am a closet Hills fan. Oh the shame! I love the gossip but also the look into where they work in fashion and how awful their interviews go. I like Whitney!

3. It just took me three days to go through my google reader after exams, phew. I do need to reduce the amount of blogs I read if I want to ever leave the house!

4. I have 15 pairs of false eye lashes at the moment.

5. I used the line 'are you a library book, 'coz I wanna check you out!' about a week ago. It was a dare I promise!

6. I take blusher out with me all the time and across the course of the night my cheeks get pinker and pinker!

7. Despite writing a blog I don't really like writing all about my personal self as I don't think people really care too much, hence why I don't have a Twitter!

Stripy H&M corset, TS trousers and shoes

don't let anyone

I am so angry I can't sleep. I could either go over this in my head all night or post it here and maybe it will help someone out there. I posted an article to The F Word blog a while ago about how common it is for men to harrass girls on the street and recounted experiences of close people and my own where much older men have perved on, groped and tried to get people into cars with them. You can read the article as I know a lot of young girls read here and I'd bet you know the feeling of horrible men following you or making lewd comments who must be twice your age.

I finished exams on Friday and had a great time since and tonight my housemates and I went to a student night at a club that is one of the more decent ones, as in the boys wear shirts and there's an outside terrace in a more upmarket part of town. You know I obsess about clothes and planned outfits over the week before we leave for the year as we planned loads of nights out and thought oh maybe it's time to bring out the american apparel purple dress. This is where it all sounds stupid because I always wear their dresses but I've only worn the purple one very few times because black is more understated. The purple is more out there because as I've said before I have a stupidly big bum, my sister is the same but she has boobs so is more curvy but I'm just skinny and somehow the purple dress just makes that worse. When I've worn it before people have been like woah look at her ass but it's more of a symbol for me. A few years ago I had no confidence in myself and didn't think anyone would ever like me and especially coming here and being around so many girls I just hated myself. Now I just think what the hell, actually I can wear what I want I don't need to live up to anyone else and when I bought the dress after seeing it mainly on blogs I could see that it made my bum look massive and never wore it. I'd worn skirts before and people called me fat ass in the street.

But in college a lot of my best friends happened to be black and they said woah you have a black girls ass, that's no bad thing. Friends always make you feel so good about yourself and sometimes it's just the way you've always looked at something and it changes and I thought, what the hell, yeah I have a big bum, so what. So I wore the purple dress once on a themed night at uni for bright clothes at my student halls and even as I was walking round people were saying hey your ass is crazy. To me it's the most normal thing in the world it doesn't look any different to anyone else's but a girl came over and said 'me and my friends were all talking about your ass!.' It's like with red hair, I always felt like I was ugly and everyone would just look down on me because I had almost a lower hair colour than everyone else but maybe as you get older you look at things in the real light and there are so many people who love it. So it's just been a long running joke, just like someone with big boobs, where maybe people would say oh this is selina, look at her ass.

But at least now there are guys out there who love big bums. I don't know if it was the whole 'does my bum look big in this' negative theory before but tonight I wore the purple dress just for the hell of it, because it's the most dressy and generally glam dresses I have, most others are prom dresses or black dresses and it's the end of the year and like even at Girls Aloud it just fitted the occassion. At that concert a poster seller gave us free posters to get my number and a drag queen outside this cheesy club we went to said 'god, look at that girls ass.' Tonight at first the club was crowded and the bar was pushy and after a while as everyone went to different rooms or outside and moved round the club, people started checking everyone out I guess and guys started buzzing round us and nudging each other about my bum. A group of guys were staring for ages and I was trying to dance, but I'm not shy so I kept looking at them and my friends were like oh it's the ass. One guy started talking to me and telling this weird, long joke with this drawing on a napkin but I started talking to his other friends and was like hey, why were you looking at me and my friends. They were medics and were like 'ahh we were just you know looking' and I was like haha no, why were you looking at my ass, and they were all shocked like eeek um how did you know that! But I chatted to a few of them for ages, they were 4th years so a bit more mature than everyone else in the club and generally a decent group of guys.

We went to different rooms and I knew people were looking at the dress and loads of guys kept brushing their hands against me and I don't like that. I hate groping. If you would never grab a girl's boob you should never grab a girl's bum. It's the way a guy moves past you and strokes your waist or touches your back, is that just general ok behaviour or sneaky thrills for pervy guys who think it's ok to touch any girl? I love meeting people in clubs as much as the next person and it is so rare for a guy to start up a conversation, most will touch you first. Is this OK?

If you can see where this is going, the dress was a bit of a joke by the end of the night and as the dancefloor was more sparse guys were pointing and looking. A few guys kept hovering close so I was like hey, whats up and one was saying oh I dropped my passport! So... what's your name? and his friend was like you have a nice derierre! Just stupid things like that, that were funny at the time. But to me I'm not a some kind of freak, I was born this way, this is just how I naturally am and should I hide what I look like? Should I flaunt it? Should you wear something that gets you attention even if it is decent, it's not like I was half naked or even 3/4 naked, I was wearing leggings for god's sake. I wasn't flashing, and in fact I saw more then two girls in the aa u-neck dresses that night, most black but one girl in the bright red. I don't know if I was asking for attention, it's no big deal to me and I love the dress so wore it for me, not to see if I could find a guy or get people to look at me or talk about me.

The ironic thing is that we were just leaving and as we walked through the bar I was at the end of my friends as suddenly someone hit me. People have pinched my bum in the past and I always turn and demand why they did that but this was horrible. The guy had hit me so hard he must have raised his arm right up and whacked me really fast. In an area with lots of people in for that split second I was shocked and embarrassed and turned around to see a big cocky guy dancing and said what the hell? He was really tall and just ignored me and I said excuse me why did you do that really angrily. He looked down and said 'ohh I thought you were someone else, I thought you were her haha' but right then I was angry, really angry. By now my friends were still on their way out and I had stopped and stood there saying that wasn't an accident, why did you just do that. He said look I'm having a great night just go away. How can someone do that, techically groping or harrassing or is it even sexually abusing someone. Physically hurting someone for their own gratification, I just felt horrible. It was no accident, he just thought he'd do that to me beause he could and had some kind of right to. Well I was really upset and went to the bar to ask for a bouncer, where the girl came out from round the huge bar and I explained how some guy had just hit me and she told someone to get the bouncers. They'd been patrolling the club all night and one was next to the guy in a second trying to reason with a girl who had her arm round him. It all happened really fast, I started telling the bouncer what had happened and more bouncers came and the guy sort of went off as I was telling them what happened. I just felt stupid, it was so embarrassing having to say 'yeh some guy just hit my ass really hard' and it just made me sick to think he could go off and carry on enjoying his best night out thinking that he could go and touch girls how he pleased. The bouncers were like the black guy in the grey tshirt? and went off to find him, while my friends were like what? I felt like I had just caused this big drama and basically asked for it, do I have a right to wear a dress that shows off my body without expecting someone to grope it and hurt it? I knew wearing it would make people notice my bum but for at least the first hour nothing happened, it was just I guess when people get drunk and become more confident and think they can do what they want. Surely I have a right to wear whatever I want and not worry if a man will assume it is an invitation. But I felt so foolish and like it was in the end my fault but half of me was so angry and I knew I didn't ask for him to do that, no one else had done that. The boucers came past nearly straight away with him in toe and he walked out with his head up, not looking to either side as they took him outside to chuck him out. Thats when one of my housemates said all his friends are going to beat us up which made me feel even more stupid, like it was my fault and I should have just left it, like I'd endangered them. I was so angry and she kept telling me that his girl friend were going to come and start a fight on me so when the bouncer came back to say they'd chucked him out I told them that his friends were around. That's when a girl walking out shouted at me 'thanks for ruining my last night of uni' and they all went outside and the bouncers were like right, we'll watch you when you leave.

I'm not into debates or pushing opinions on anyone or arguments but I've always stood up for myself and that guy just revolted me. No one has the right to do that to anyone, to even lay a little finger on someone you've never met. The thing that's really upset me is that is it any different to hitting someone round the face? If he'd hit me that hard there he would have knocked me to the floor. But because it was my ass it's almost like that's an OK place. I just feel horrible and feel so strongly about no girl ever coming to harm from a man who thinks he was treat people like that. I didn't ask for him to do that despite wearing a fitting dress, and part of me asks well did you? I keep telling myself that I have a right to wear whatever I want and if every other guy can hold themselves back and even actually be nice, why did he have to do that. What did he think I would do? Be happy? Did he not think that might hurt me, that I might not want some random man to touch me. It was the fact that he hit me so hard that I had to get the bouncer, I felt violated. But his friend made me feel awful, I didn't set out to ruin anyone's night and hate to think that. As we went outside to a taxi the girls were waiting and the guy was there, and he started following us and shouting things while the bouncer pushed him back. It was horrible but I still think anyone should stand up to someone who hurts them. But now it's just making me sick to think what would have happened if his girl friends had waited for us outside and followed us or if he had came back. Is it worth it to stand up to someone despite the consequences? I watched a programme a few months ago about people who were being beat up or abused in the street or on buses and the people that had risked their own lives to try to help them, rather than other people who sat by too scared. I don't ever want to let myself be too frightened to stand up to people who harm others or myself. Does that mean I need to risk getting hurt? Does that mean I should cover myself up and go out with a shy appearance to not send out some kind of 'message' to guys that they can touch up girls? I'm praying that girl really meant it when she said it was her last night here, and that's the same for all of them because what if I see them tomorrow? The only good thing is that I hope he will never touch a girl like that again, never hit a girl, never make a girl feel violated. Why couldn't his friends see that?

oh make me over

'Hi! So I went shopping... oh wait, I need to revise, bye.' Story of my life! At least for these weeks, it's revision central, work headquarters, library lock-in, etc, etc. You know the drill. Still I must take the chance to tell you about the things that have been top priority on the 'must post about this' list, which is now ten miles long. Ah the best thing happened about the pink and blue trousers too! Will share another time. Time is revision! 

BUT I know some of you are lucky enough to have no exams or have finished and will be thinking 'gosh, now I am free from the depths of revision hell, how am I going to do my makeup for all the celebratory nights out?!?!' Well my friends, I am always here to help and it's about time that I shared some of my absolute favourite youtube make-up artists. I used to kohl on some eyeliner and attempt spot cover-up when going out before, and then dipped into more cer-azy colours, but I basically had no clue what suited me or really how to apply anything. Not that I have much more of a clue now but at least there is some direction out there! A major pointer was the two MAC makeovers I've had which show you the optimum tricks and colours specifically for you and I cannot recommend them ENOUGH! For £25 you get a full face in whatever style you want (but I just let them do whatever they thought best) and walk away with £25 worth of products! Bargain!

Yet nowadays when my housemates make the rounds to see who is ready (how am I always one of the last), I'm sitting there in front of my mirror with my laptop there trying to mimic a random look. These tutorials are the best things EVER! Seriously, I am lost without some easy instructions on how, in about ten minutes, you can pick and choose any makeup look you want and be shown exactly how to do it by pros! Next time you go out, please pick out a video and create a really striking but easy look. The videos below are for complete beginners right up to pros but these are my favourites! I cannot stress how much I love makeup tutorials, they make you feel great!

First is the most successful Youtube make-up teacher, Lauren Luke, who has had millions of hits and is now a Guardian columnist. Also a company heard her story and now she has created her own makeup range available to buy?! Her looks are most themed by colours, singers, stars, events, everything really, but they're best if you are totally clueless with makeup as she goes through slowly and clearly and uses lots of high street products. She's also so lovely and includes loads of details about her little town up North and her pugs and the general ride of fame. It's a classic story that many bloggers can relate to, of accessing the world from your little corner of the globe and ending up a worldwide success. She was quite shy at first but now has became a roaring success, much deserved!

My absolute favourites for a while have been two make-up artists called Sam and Nic who are relatively new to youtube but have received much press attention already! They've been professionals for years so they provide a real realm of expert knowledge and the thing about their celebrity- and vintage-star inspired looks is that at the end of the videos, they've actually transformed their faces and really look like their inspiration! It's insane! They do looks based on colours and new products too, and sometimesuse other models to create looks. Of course because they are professionals, they are super skilled, but they still explain every technique and the skill behind it. Also they use products from the high street way up to the expensive, designer brands, but they describe the benefits of each as they go along and are just so helpful. They've created some seriously amazing looks and after watching you can't help but want to try. A bonus is that Sam creates catwalk inspired looks just for fun! The most popular seem to be the star inspired looks though, such as Kim Kardashian (who?) and classic stars like Bridget Bardot and Sophia Loren.

Recently I hit the jackpot when I discovered Bethany who creates the most INSANE looks! Seriously, I'm talking cartoon inspired such as My Little Pony and Rugrats, 90's inspired such as Toy Story and Care Bears, and even video game inspired so there's a Nintendo inspired look, ahhhh! Her face is like a work of art, she creates the eyes and then goes into a realm of sequins and flowers and creates these amazing looks. I stop at the eyes, which are fabulous but wearable for night time, but the complete looks are just gorgeous to see. She also has a trick of using sellotape around your eye to stop fallout. My favourite is the Raggedy Ann look but I love this Strawberry Shortcake one too!

Please do browse all the videos from these ladies, they really are a dream to watch and gives you so much confidence in the makeup you wear! No excuses if you don't have a clue with makeup, they are so helpful and you will be looking too fab. This end of term is going to be such a rush and God knows how I'll fit a year's wardrobe into a car when we move out but exams will be over soon and I will be able to blog! I hope you understand that it's a painful case of being not that I have nothing to post, there is just no free time! I miss you all.

hello tattoos

I don't plan on ever getting a tattoo but am slowly but surely finding myself going back to my old ways after a stressful year and trying out loony ideas. I started this blog because I suddenly have urges to buy/wear something that seems highly attractive and will make life just that little bit more fabulous. I think I was trapseing round Birmingham when I spotted some Hello Kitty tattoos in a newsagents but only had pennies for Ribena (my favourite revision tipple atm). When back in the area I picked up a pack and wow these things are cute. I've been wracking my brains for a blogger who had HK transfer tattoos before and finally remember it was Elisabeth from Thrills and Frills, a favourite blog of mine for being quite dreamy and effortless but very, very cool! Therefore transfer tattoos are officially having a come back, yes you heard it here second. I took a pack out when I went to Snobs in the holidays and plastered my friends. A few killed me because they lasted much longer than the night but I feel that's a sign of good quality! The kitties come out white so they work on black skin too and for the tattoo-shy are just cute little extras, plus a lot of people do question 'erm, are they real?' with their eyebrow raised, to which you reply 'yes, of course' and dance off. Still not sure why this photo came out pink though.

I just bought some more packs because I have a weakness for stocking up on things, especially tights, and also got some My Little Pony transfers! I eBayed them from here and here. I don't really appreciate how they're called children's tattoos though!

the top of the summer

I could browse ASOS for HOURS. Literally, like eBay, why search through the first few pages when the best thing could be on the last?! So I usually save it up for a hardcore browsing sesh once in a while but have been keeping tabs on the crop tops recently as they've been bringing out some pretty damn good ones. They restocked the Alexa Chung style stripy crop top a few weeks ago after selling out and I whipped out my card asap, it sold out so fast last time! For the crop-wary out there, this one is perfection as a) it has longer sleeves, thus showing less skin and toning it down, b) it's fitted quite close rather than aslouchy 80s cut so avoids any Fame connotations, and it's not too short/not too low-cut so hits just at the right place. Remember the no belly button rule and you are sorted! I've never bought anything significant from ASOS before, in fact I don't think I've bought any clothes at all! I usually stick to my habit of buying one-off stuff for going out in and tend to use shopping trips for things I wear daily, so ASOS sort of hits the inbetween mark of being solely online so doesn't have the mainstream chance that everyone will be wearing the same item, but then again it's hugely popular. But I'm liking this top a looot, especially since it's made of a really light cotton, I hate chunky cotton things or worse, stretchy cotton t-shirts. It's worth noting though that the bottom white stripes of the centre and sleeves are actually ribbed. When I opened the package I thought 'eeek, it's going to be tight on my waist and then the rest will be baggy like a batwing top!' but it's cut straight so the top is almost weighted down by it- meaning it pulls in at the waist rather than just hanging off your boobs, if you see what I mean with crop tops! I got an 8, but if you're worried you don't have a smallish waist for your normal size, I'd go up just encase; ASOS stuff is usually cut quite small anyway.

And thank you for doing the poll!! Can't deny that most prefered the blue, but I still like the pink!! See I'm not exactly in the market for bright blue trousers, I have no real reason to have blue trousers! But I have been banging on about pink trousers for a while so I might just keep the pink. I know the blue fit better but when you really like an item, itbeing totally flattering isn't a top priority! I haven't had time to return them yet as I've just completed my second year and a million presentations, ahhhh! It's just been those few months where you always have a deadline so can't afford to have a few hours doing nothing. I'm into exam revision now but a few of my friends finish really early so my house will still be going out. Is it bad to go out over the exam period? Hmmm it's a bit daunting when people are actuallyliving in the libraries, I'm talking sleeping bags and all, but realistically you can't revise 24hours a day for a month. I need to get a decent average for study abroad which I am on the programme for!!! Not getting hopes up though guys, I worry about everything that can go wrong so I will wait until about August for results before waving the Swedish flags! Also two of my housemates have recently bought crop tops, I am so proud! I'm about to go through a huge load of posts in my google reader, and I've had to have the latest Elle sitting in my room unread for about two weeks- that's insane!

pink or blue, nothing inbetween!

TS floral corset and trews, Monki lace top, eBay and Office shoes

I did a teensy bit of shopping on Monday, as in I went absolutely everywhere. My thinking was that in order to avoid going past the library during these sorry revision times I should just exhaust the high street, thus resist the urge to check out what's in the shops for at least a few weeks! I'm not normally much of a sale shopper but I got some Office sale shoes, the ones with the laces above, and a skirt in the Topshop sale as well as these trousers. I also got a cheapie Primark/Primarni dress too and had the same problem- blue or pink?! See you might remember the lovely pink trousers H&M brought out that I snapped up straight away in that great neon pink. But in the end they were high waisted but didn't fit on the waist, so they were just baggy, and also had huge pockets at the back which were no so flattering. So at £30 I was OK with returning them, and just so happened to come across these tapered pairs in the TS sale. I tried on ten things in a mad 10am spree while the shop was nice and empty and couldn't decide between the trews.

Theblue are actually smaller than the pink but they both fit fine and are infact really, really long but I like them rolled up. See I'm in a pink craze at the moment but somehow the bright blue called to me and so I just bought them both but still can't decide! Please help, dearest readers!It took me about a million years to find how to actually make a poll! As I was shopping I bought loads of nick nacks like Paperchase stickers from their 25p sale and revision notebooks and hair bands so had my arms full of bags, and maybe it was the time of day but people were giving me some strange looks! I was struggling a bit though, maybe it looked like a sad Confessions of a Shopaholic scene, the only good thing in that film being Isla's hair. Ahh also I was street style spotted! Not for a blog but still it's the first time anyone's ever asked to take my picture, especially as when I trawl round the Arndale I look like a bit of a lost street urchin, but I think it was because I was wearing flowery tights, I got quite a few strange looks which is pretty sad when they're only from Topshop! The pic was for here and I look super cheesy! By the way the trousers were both reduced to £15, but I can only keep one pair!

Also here's a video announcing the winners of the Love Hearts and Crosses Competition! Can you tell I am going a bit loony from all this work. I just did a group project for ten hours.

Online Surveys & Market Research

lash domination

I have an official fake eyelash obsession. It's come to the point where I feels wrong going out without them. I wrote a post hereabout how to put them on and how you can buy reeeally cheap pairs if you get decent glue. But I have to tell all of you that you must buy some Girls Aloud lashes! The concert was amaaazing! We were really high up but I just spent the whole time being like 'omg that's actually Cheryl Cole down there!' DON'T read on if you are going to see them........but the best part was when they were all on this raised platform and then it suddenly started moving across the crowd and traveled right to the other end of the seats on the floor where they got on a mini stage and did a few songs there. Also they sang Womanizer, ohh it was fab! A lot of people just sat all the way through though but we danced even in the support acts. I wore the purple AA u-neck dress which eeer is always a bit eventful! It's the junk in the trunk, some random poster seller believed I was a quarter Jamaican and I got us free posters?! He was Jamaican himself too?

Anyway it was really great, they all sang live and it was so worth it. I bought some Girls Aloud eyelashes as soon as they came out, deciding on Cheryl and Nadine and Nicola's because they flick out at the ends. I've worn Nicola's and Nadine's so far and my friends have worn some of the others and I can totally say that they are REALLY good lashes. They're great quality and don't look as much in the box but these are LONG! Nicola's are really wide and full, I'm definitely stocking up! Eyelashes really make the different with your makeup, they take practice but once you try then you won't go back! My best advice is to actually wait at leeeast 30 seconds for the glue to try, use a hair grip or cotton bud to put on a thing line rather than pile on the glue, and once you place them on your own lashes, leave them to stick for a few seconds before re-adjusting. I use MAC glue and generally buy Poundland lashes. although I wore them to a club called Snobs in easter and saw a guy I met on my birthday and he said 'you're so much prettier than you were before!', I was like 'gee thanks?!' honestly, some boys just don't have a clue!

As you can see the lash collection is getting a liiiittle out of control. And I wasn't going to but here are some fb photos of us on the night, where we took advantage of wearing our tartiest, sparkliest stuff basically! And met a very tall fire eating man.

Didn't anyone tell you N? Be careful what you wish for

Prepare for the extreme in barbie-ness. Things have reached a whole new level, supported by the fact that I caaan't really type right about now. I got some hideously fabulous pink nails! Here's a photo just to show exactly how much of a nail biter I was before, I've never had long nails for my whole entire life. Once last year I managed to grow a few but that's where it ends, and especially my grandma has always nagged me to stop but it's impossible! Tried everything.

So I've been thinking about trying gel nails for ages and on Thursday just happened to notice that some had managed to grow a teeny bit. Now or never! I went to a little place in Withington and probably showed them the shortest nails they've ever seen but the lady was fantastic and really precise and I chose the hottest pink they had of course! I don't know what I've been missing all these years, having bright nails is awesome! I mean awesome in a totally rich-girl 90210-esque way, which by the way is the funniest programme ever, my friends and I call each other bitchlips non-stop, who writes those lines?! Yeah OK I only watched one episode... but anyway it is super fab to have hot pink around you all the time. I got them cut down really short but I still can't do any zips, makeup, buttons, chopping or hairstyling. My the way I know they are amazingly tacky but that's the attraction!

I'll have to get them off before exams though as there's no way I can scrawl an essay! I've done three presentations this week so only have one to go. It's for market research and my friend and I have spent way too many days going round the food court in the Arndale asking people to do questionnaires; not the funnest thing in the world! I'm on a train right now typing this as I'm going home for a friend's birthday at Subculture (groan). They just rang me asking to bring rave paint, oh god.  Ohhh and I just watched Twilight, like the teen girl that I am soon not to be, and thought it was pretty shoddy like the book BUT Edward fan club here I come! Without a doubt, top of the hottest guy list right now (still Bass love though!).

leave the supreme

Before you think I am flashing, this is actually a crop top! In a few days this won't be my crop top though because it's going back to River Island, as I have established I am not a River Island girl. I was in there because we had to do a Retailing presentation on their selling environment and my crop top kick took me to this cute little striped tee, which later turned out to have 'supreme' on the side in fluro green and some kind of animal, and a row of red stitching.

I love River Island's emails and their whole ethos but like I found when checking out the new Lipsy store, I am not a Lipsy girl and I am not a typical River Island girl. The little extra detail on this top just made my nose wrinkle a bit, despite being small. I'm all fussy at the moment, probably due to looming deadlines and exams! Many people say they go shopping when they feel bad and it makes them feel better, but when I go if I've had a stressful week, I'm just distracted and nothing feels right. I have so many things to blog and no time, it's so annoying! I've broken my rule right now of posting before going through my blogroll which feels really strange. I have to tell you all about Girls Aloud too! Something I'd rather keep short and simple is that I wore the Miu Mius which were amazing, but a bit of one of the curls at the back broke off one! This isn't because I wasn't careful all night long, there isn't the tiniest mark on the patent cream, but the curls are in fact plastic and you can just pull them out, and one must have got knocked somehow. It'snot at all noticeable to someone looking down at the shoes but if I'd paid full price I would surely be upset! It feels like the whole world is stressed at the moment, I hope some of you out there are feeling OK right now!

so little time, so many polka dots

Did you ever watch So Little Time with the teenage Olsens? Also did you think their book was a little too much about their icons and too little them- the whole reason you bought the book? Anyway, I'm back from holidays so am back with the tripod YAY and have a bit of time to blog. A lot of bloggers get sad when they don't fit in time to blog and I used to feel rubbish when I couldn't blog, but genuinely sometimes there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything you have to! I hate any hiatus but on the plus side I have a lot to post! There's still work and presentations and exams but oh well, all might be perfect because I might be seeing Girls Aloud on Friday!! I say might because I scored some original price tickets on an ebay auction with a badly keyworded title (i.e. didn't have the city/arena name in it) and we just collected them from a friendly-ish man, but may have just been sold pieces of paper! Hmmmmm paranoid because there might be nothing better right now than Cheryl in the flesh!!!! I'm praying the small chance that they are not legit is not true!

OK crazy girl talk over, here is a new top I got off ebay while searching for crop tops! It's obvs Moschino and is 'gently used' and may be some kind of swimwear but hello polka dots, it's fab! Not the most practical of items but one of those one-of-a-kind things where you find yourself bidding high because nothing like it will come around again in a while!  I was going to photograph it with normal things but I'll just save that for when I probably end up wearing it in the summer for real, maybe I need to acquire a photographer boyfriend. I'll look into it. Anyway, Henry Holland has infiltrated my brain and somehow his most recent collections quite tickle my fancy. I wanted an overdose of polka dots. This time last year I did not appreciate colours and prints, right now I am a print magpie.

H&M skirt, rag market tights, eBay shoes, Primarni hair bow, Love Hearts and Crosses Disney bow necklace

Ah don't worry I haven't forgot about the LH&C competition!! Infact I have been gathering a few things to add to the packages and will do the draw VERY soon. Possibly tomorrow. I looove this necklace and might just keep it, it's so chunky, like a big slab of plastic. And it's glittery! No I still haven't got over this barbie phase.

 

Self-made red skirt, can't remember the brand white socks (will investigate memory), Office wedges (which have gone down to £20 in their sale, shocking!)

This is too lolita for day time but like I said, this was just outfit fun. I think this is just the right amount of flesh to show with a crop top for your middle section. In one of my lecturers with the Fashion Retailing course there was a girl in a crop top! There must be about 150 girls and a few guys in my biggest lectures but I only have a few style crushes, one is this very petite girl who wore the Topshop Eiffel tower crop top with seriously tight high waist jeans that looked like leggings. There's also a girl with amazing hair, quite like Cheryl Cole hair, but I think it's actually natural, and lots of Chinese girls who wear head to toe labels, swoon! There's a Chinese girl in my bra hanger group (we had to create a product in New Product Development (duh) and we made a bra hanger, don't ask!) and she has a hello kitty obsession, we are like kindred spirits! She calls everyone darling too and I had a hello kitty notepad and she was like 'omggg darling where did you get this!!'. When another girl went to her flat to make the hanger apparently eeeverything was hello kitty, haha fab! Can you guess what her english name is? Ah she is too cool.

H&M trousers, Primarni flats.

I felt a bit insane with the outfits so tried out some of my least high waisted trousers but I think this is too much on show for daytime, even with the flats. Ohhh and before anyone says anything, yes I had my hair cut, yes they cut way too much off and yes this is very upsetting! Seriously have you ever heard someone come out of a hairdressers and say 'oooh I'm so upset, they didn't cut enough off, I look so ugly!' No!!! When I said I wanted the ends off I didn't mean half my hair! Boo! It's all fine when you walk out of the salon and it's blowdried well, but right now I have no idea what to do with it, when I curl it it's just a wavy bob, which is a major shock to the system considering before it had just hit the stage where I could sit on it. Oh well I was going to be upset but told myself to man up, hair grows back, it's not even short, just shorter. This week I've had to curl it and then straighten half of it, argh! Also I just realised all the clothes in this post are cheap bargains. I guess you can't complain at that! What's your gossip? Do tell! P.S. Can you tell it's 2am?

London Fashion Week fw09

Onto London Fashion Week, woo finally! Everything is too original, it's hard to find any similarities between collections so I just saved the little deets that I liked. It's such a shame that any sign of autumn is so many months away, the spring shows are still pretty exciting though.

 

I possibly have creeper fever, which is the kind of shoe that might be the total opposite to anything I own but the likes of Miss Woo (who shares an Ashley Stymest love, nice taste!) and Lulu and now Susie just look so great in their pairs, I don't know what I'd wear them with though... I'm still not part of the whole bandage dress during the day club, I don't look laid back enough! But aren't these the best hammer pants?

 

I'd love to experiment with something a bit more deconstructed, unexpected shapes and crazy cut outs. I remember when it was cool to wear dresses over jeans, circa 2003. How about long skirts over cropped trousers? Also it seems all the cheapie shops are making AA u-neck style dresses which have sooo much potential for zipper and cut out and stud DIYs.

 

For about three seasons I've been wanting sheer trousers but still haven't come anywhere near finding or even making some. I'm thinking maybe some sheer leggings first that are slightly rouched, so not necessarily tights but not hugely baggy.

 

These leopard print booties simply just caught my eye! Faaabulous.

 

This reminds me of Zac Posen a few seasons ago with the minnie mouse ears and red lips, and I do like a good hair do! I'm thinking this is a signal to bring back victory rolls.

 

I said in the New York post, I love black and white together in a non-mod way. I'm looking for a white babydoll dress to wear with black opaques!

 

I love these cute Icelandic vibes, I got a white furry hat that I didn't get chance to wear before it started to get warmer so I'm thinking baby florals with white tights and mittens.

 

A lot of people said they didn't like the TS collection much, that it was too nu rave, but I liked it a lot! It's not so much my style but I liked the execution with the plaited hair and lace up boots with the coloured laces. A huge neon scarf would be cool and I'm all for more jumpsuits. I've never really looked at them before but I'm seriously into prints at the moment and omg flying saucer prints?!?! Not only so relevant but also super cool. Metallic were all over the catwalks so shiny leggings can keep coming for another season.

 

I loved the hair at Vivienne Westwood Red Label, a chic side ponytail is the way to go! I also have a now not so secret desire for tartan trousers after seeing a girl who I think was in the year above me wearing some really low slung, tight but rouched up, tartan trousers with a studded belt.

 

H&M have reduced all their long skirts in the sale which I might go and hmmm over tomorrow as in winter surely they will be great with all these crop tops from the summer? Speaking of crop tops (again), I just splurged on a polka dot Moschino one from eBay and officially aren't allowed to buy any more!

 

How amazing is this corset? Vintage lace ones are pretty cheap on eBay and it might be easy to do a naughty DIY with some gold ribbon to get this effect?

 

Mmm Luella, at first I was like nooo, what? But once I watched the style.com video it all made more sense. Utility and military is fine once you break it down to the hook and eye fastenings, zips, long gloves and pinafores. Plus there's been glittery, shimmery fabrics in other collections too and as always, tights are the best way to try a trend. I like these sheer stripes too!

 

More lush prints, but my favourites are the floral boots. Ankles boots are all over the place, and floral boots with floral dresses sounds great, I love the full length trousers and clashing prints. hem lines are coming down! Empire waists are looking good too.

 

These mineral/crystal prints are insane, it might be a challenge to the high street to come up with great prints on cheaper fabrics as they are best full length!

 

Love the trousers, love the lace and love the shoulders! See metallics everywhere, and with lace they look fab, the silver is sort of futuristic/sci-fi too.

 

Ah yes here's the shimmery fabrics! I like the purple, but sometimes glittery tights look good in the packet and then when you put them on it's like 'woooah glitter!'.

I'm not a HoH fan particularly (mainly because I'm not especially an Agyness fan) but something appeals with this collection that looks like paint colour charts, I think it's the tights! Or that I'm less wary of colour nowadays! God, I am a slave to consumerism!

cream of the crop

In a total 180, I just returned the H&M pink trousers from a few posts ago. I even wrote that they fit kind of strangely and really they were awfully unflattering on me, especially the huge pockets at the back which had an outline through the thin, creasy fabric and an overly puffy waistband which then went tight across my hips. Do you need to see a photo? Ah OK... see even Eeyore is super sad.

A painful return! In a stroke of luck though, I took them back just as the shop was closing after a looong day in the library (which is now full of Easter break kids who chat a LOT, great!) and finally spotted the polka dot 50s bikinis from the lookbook! The Manchester SAs said they kept selling out but there were a few left on the rack in Birmingham, a bit messed up but still with a range of sizes. Btw this was the Bullring if anyone's also after them! The super sad thing is that I have no plans for a beach holiday at all! I'm looking at the top now trying to ration it as some kind of possible crop top but alas it's too tiny.

I don't have a very big suitcase so brought only my favourite, most stand-out things in my wardrobe home and now I'm just sick of everything. This might have been the first winter where I've worn everything I own about a million times, or maybe just have thought about what to wear over and over. Either way, crop tops are the only things that feel kind of fresh at the moment. I've been searching all over the place for a decent jacket without any luck so I'm wearing my blazer from last year, which I like but just feels old and worn a thousand times. I dry cleaned it but the lining has gone a funny colour, would have been nice if they mentioned it before I paid and went off home but hey I guess they didn't mean to turn all the seams and edges a crazy orange colour!! Oops! I think the appeal of crop tops is that all my skirts are high waisted and I've been wearing round neck tops with low cut backs with them for months. Also showing some skin feels summery as there's still a lot of black around.

 

Also the likes of Gala  and Chloé SS09 (via style.com) make them look so easy to wear. I rolled up a strapless top under my Monki lace top on Saturday which worked OK so I'm wondering if the little lace bandeaus from Urban Outfitters might be too short, but with a cardigan over the top and high waisted trews they might be great?

The minnie mouse top is also on my love chart but there's quite a few vintage versions on ebay that you could cut shorter or already come in kids sizes. The best I've spotted so far is this 50's top from ASOS, which also has a matching full skirt- that would be the best summer outfit! If only it came in other colours though, yellow is the last colour I could put with things or that suits me. It looks so good with the trousers though, maybe it's worth a dye job?

 

I also picked up this bracelet in H&M for no reason other than it was cute! 

Careful, B. Hell hath no fury like a Chuck Bass scorned.

I might make all post titles Gossip Girl quotes? It feels like I've been watching that show non stop for about three years!

Anyway I must firstly say that the outfit in the post below was not exactly an outfit, I took it when I was trying on the trousers and just happened to be wearing top! Otherwise I would have thought the pink on pink might seem like pyjamas ha ha.

images from facehunter, the sart, milk  

I'm trying to figure out why is it that when I wear white tights, I immediately pair them with girly, 5-year-old stuff or preppy Gossip Girl outfits, whereas there are so many super cool ladies out there who manage to look edgy and even a little bit androgynous in theirs. How do they do it?! I can't really pick out any commonalities apart from that it seems they might have found their outfits and then added the white tights instead of say black, rather than doing what I do and working an outfit around white tights. Ahh confusing! No super flared skirts, red, or sailor collars might help too! It's insanely annoying that I could only bring a small suitcase full of clothes home but I'm working with what I've got and might use some white tights in an all black outfit for a change. The stark white certainly adds a cool dimension, especially with black shoes.