Brian Jonestown

Working in retail means I don't get a lot of time off over Christmas so I haven't been able to take many outfit posts recently, plus I have also been spending lots of time seeing friends, going out for drinks and  generally being in the festive spirit! Christmas really is one of my favourite times of year and this year definitely hasn't disappointed! Christmas Eve was spent at a local pub with all of my favourite friends and then Christmas Day and Boxing Day was spent with family eating too much chocolate and drinking too much champagne. I had some lovely gifts which I can't wait to share with you and also have an great outfit planned for NYE which i'm going to snap for you guys too on Tuesday.

As I don't have an outfit post for today I decided to just post a few favourite images from my tumblr from this year, and this brilliant song by Brian Jonestown Massacre. 

Christmas Wish List

Striped Polo Neck - eBay £8.99 | Navy Dancing Shoes - American Apparel £52 | Playsuit - fox + feather £48 | Velvet T Bar Shoes - Topshop £28 | Fluffy Cardigan - fox + feather £39 | Desert Boots - eBay £28.99

Last week in a blind panic I managed to start and finish my Christmas shopping all in one day, it was such a relief to get it all done and now I just have to wrap everything, which I don't mind too much! I had a surprisingly heavy weekend, I intended on having a few drinks at a friends house warming and ended up getting a little bit drunk, yesterday was a bit of a write off and I definitely wasn't feeling my best...poor me! So as I look pretty terrible today and feel on the poorly side I decided to do a Christmas wish list. These are a few things i'll buy if I get any money for Christmas, apart from the Playsuit which i'm going to buy this week; it is essential for New Years Eve! Hope everyone had a nice weekend :) 

Save The Bunnies

Hat - fox + feather

Necklace - Sobeys Vintage

Leotard - (old) H&M

Skirt - eBay

Belt - Vintage

This weekend me and some friends went to Cardiff to watch Toms band play at Welsh Club, it was really fun and good to do something a bit different to most weekends. One of our friends is at Uni there so it was really nice to catch up with her too! Mondays are always so horrible after a few drinks on the weekend aren't they?! My skin always breaks out and I back brush my hair so much on Saturday night that I can't get a brush through it for a few days, so I think tonight is going to be hair mask and early night for me!

I took these pictures on Saturday morning and really like this outfit, the skirt is probably one of the biggest bargains i've had recently I bought it from eBay for £9.99. It's such soft material and I would definitely recommend getting one if you want to get in on the tartan trend thats huge at the moment. I've teamed it with this lipstick from Revlon and a black leotard which is a bit of an essential basic. My hair has faded quite a lot now i'm embracing the silver again and thinking about dying it pink again for Christmas/NYE, it might need a bit of a break and some TLC first though.

Also if you care about animals and how they are treated in the fashion world as much as I do then please sign this petition and save the bunnies! 

Blogger Of The Month: Helena, Bell's Fashion

I'm writing this blog post to you guys from my sick bed, I posted yesterday about how ill I was feeling and today doesn't seem to be much better. I am definitely not well enough to do an outfit post (unless you guys wanna see my no make up/onesie look) so instead thought I would do my favourite regular post; blogger of the month! 

This months blogger of the month is...Helena from Bell's Fashion! 

I found Bell's Fashion through the Waiste lookbook, as Helena was the stylist for the shoot and instantly fell in love with her style. As someone who loves black and dark colours I always admire people who embrace colour and Helena sure as hell does this with her eccentric, bohemian style. Every outfit is a clash of colour and print, bringing 90's and 70's inspiration together in a Clueless/Woodstock sort of look! Helena has an enviable collection of fur coats and gilets and is rarely photographed without her staple platforms which definitely add a bit of Spice Girl to her look. 

Another thing i've noticed about Helena is she always looks so happy in her blog posts, which I think is a really nice element to bring to a blog. So many bloggers do the moody pout, but her smile is quite refreshing and makes you think that she does really enjoy what she's doing. I also have to mention the AMAZING silver kimono she's wearing in the bottom picture, for this outfit alone Helena your on the top of my blog roll. 

Marshmallow World

Hat - Tesco (very old!)

Dress - ASOS

Necklace - Sobeys Vintage

Chilli The Dog = Furious 

The past three times i've taken blog pictures I have in my own words looked vile, so I decided to spend a week or two doing the slim fast diet in the hope that it would give me a bit of a confidence boost when posing for my blog. This has not gone to plan! I'm not sure if it's the sheer amount of milk you consume on this diet or just my digestive system but it is one of the worst diets i've ever tried. I have felt sick and bloated constantly and it culminated in a complete break down last night in which I just felt exhausted and miserable. I'm not sure if any of you have ever tried it before but a friend of mine dropped two dress sizes on it (with exercise and healthy eating of course) and didn't experience any of the problems i've had so i'd love to hear your experiences from it. 

I got this dress from ASOS as a Christmas present from my Mum, it arrived and I fell in love as soon as I tried it on, she was at work so I sneakily took some pictures. Now it has been wrapped up and I can't have it until Christmas day, yes I am aware that I am 26 years old not six! It's so comfortable and I love this style of dress, it's cord material and if you were thinking of getting it I would definitely recommend going down a size as when I bought the 10 it was huge! I'm also wearing my new favourite necklace from Sobeys, which is a vintage store on Park Street, Bristol, if you live in the area I would definitely recommend a visit! Today has consisted of helping my Mum put up her decorations and a little bit of Christmas shopping, I am definitely feeling festive already! 

The Wire

Hat - Tesco

Top - c/o Sweet Sorrow Vintage

Belt - Vintage

Skirt - Topshop

This post is a little unusual as it has been shot, edited and written all on my iPhone 5! As I have mentioned I recently broke the lens on my DSLR, I was hesitant to use photos from my phone as I thought the quality would be awful but they definitely don't look as bad as I thought they would! I've also used an app called 'Afterlight' which gave me the chance to do quite a bit of editing although it is quite hard to edit on a small iPhone screen. 

Today was a really lovely day in Bristol, so me and Tom decided to go for a walk around Clifton Village which, if you know Bristol well, is one of the nicer areas and has quite a few independent shops and bars. We stopped off in The Albion for a hot drink and wandered around the arcade before stopping to take some photos on this lovely walk way. If you live in Bristol you should definitely head up here, as it's such a lovely place to while away an afternoon and is so close to the famous Suspension Bridge.

I was recently contacted by the lovely Hannah at Sweet Sorrow Vintage about a collaboration between us and she has kindly given me a few items which i'm really excited about showing you over the next few outfit posts. As you might have already guessed I absolutely love vintage clothes, and this long sleeved striped top was the first thing I picked from her ASOS Shop, it makes me think of Edie Sedgwick and i've teamed it with a vintage belt I picked up from another vintage shop in Bristol. Hannah is also Bristol based and you can find her online shop here, I would definitely recommend having a look as the clothes are so well priced and if you are based in the South West check out her Facebook page, as she has a regular stall at several vintage fairs in the area.

                                                    

                                         

Bleach London Rose

**Please note my camera is broken so these photos have been taken from the Bleach website and on my iPhone, so apologies for the poor quality**

I was obsessing over the Bleach London range for ages before it came out and then when it did I really struggled on which colour I should choose for my locks. The silver shampoo was an obvious purchase but I couldn't decide between Rose, Sea Punk or Bruised Violet, in the end I went for Rose and could not be happier.

Firstly the range is a very good price, i'm used to buying Crazy Colours in a salon for £6-£8 and know that as a salon Bleach is on the expensive side so discovering that all of their dyes are £5 was a pleasant surprise, they were also part of the Boots 3 for 2 offer...even better! My hair is pretty much the perfect base for using a colour like this, it is heavily bleached and toned to a silver colour most of the time so it's like a blank canvas, however last time I used a Crazy Colour Lilac it came out quite patchy which was a huge disappointment, and I was nervous about this happening again.

First you need to wash your hair, I would recommend with a fairly neutral shampoo (not a colour specific shampoo) and towel dry it. You will need to get some plastic gloves as they are not provided and turning your palms a nice shade of blue or orange is not a good look! I always section my hair and start at the bottom as this part of my hair is slightly darker and this gives it a little more development time, and gives a more even tone

The bottle gives 15 minutes as the recommended development time but I left it on for a bit longer, more like 25 as I really wanted a good strong colour. I washed it out and used a colour protect shampoo and conditioner to keep the colour bright and dried and styled as usual. As you can see it has come out really well, and a gorgeous candy floss colour which is exactly what I wanted,  the only problem I had was when I washed it with a non colour protect shampoo the colour completely faded. Luckily I still had some left so I re-did it, I would 100% recommend using a colour protect shampoo as I have washed it again since and it has been fine. Has anybody else used Bleach yet? I'd love to see how some of the other colours come out.

Blogger Of The Month: Sara Luxe

Can't believe it's time for blogger of the month again, this year has gone so fast it's crazy how much quicker time goes the older you get! This months blogger of the month is....Sara Luxe! To be honest i'm surprised I haven't picked Sara before, I first found her blog when I was interning at Motel Rocks and sent her a sample, she was a real pleasure to speak to and i've followed her blog since and always have it on my favourites bar.

Sara works as a stylist for Missguided which sounds like a really great job, her Instagram is always full of pictures from busy days at work and I have found myself heading towards Missguided more because of her influence. Style wise, she layers and mixes texture and lengths creating quite a bohemian 90s grungy look, never complete without plenty of necklaces and rings. One of the things I really like about Saras' style is how she wear items in a way that wouldn't occur to most, her layering really is flawless and she looks extremely well styled in every post.

Sara wears a lot of high street pieces and due to her job often has a Missguided item nestled in as part of her look, I really appreciate that because there is nothing worse than loving the dress your favourite blogger is wearing and finding out it's way too out of your price range. What do you guys think of Saras' look? Is she already one of your favourites too and if she isn't you can find her blog here.

http://www.saraluxe.com/

Factory Girl

I recently watched Factory Girl again and fell back in love with Edie Sedgwick, if your a fan of the 60's  you will recognise her as one of the most stylish and iconic women of the decade. I really like the film and whilst it had quite a lot of criticism from the people who knew Edie, I think the styling is pretty spot on and i've found myself being influenced by Edie all over again. I thought i'd share some images and 'Edie-esque' items i've seen online recently whilst i'm waiting for my new camera lens to be delivered!

Edie wore a lot of basic items due to her training as a dancer and often wore just a black leotard with tights as part of her everyday look. The epitome of 60's glamour with her huge fur coats and chandelier earrings, she has a very specific look which caught the attention of Diana Vreeland at Vogue and still inspires designers and stylists today.

Missguided Jeanette Dress - £14.99 / River Island Striped Crop - 10 (in store only) / eBay Faux Fur Coat - £22 / Boohoo Swing Dress - £15 / ASOS Earrings - £8 /  H&M Leopard Print Coat - £34.99 /  ASOS Sunglasses - £12