Blogger of the Month: Sara Waiste

Recently i've been dedicating a lot more time to blogging and as a result have found loads of great blogs, and I knew I was going to pick this one straight away as my blogger of the month so here she is...Sara Waiste!

Sara is a UK blogger who blogs at WAISTE and as well as being the most amazing charity shopper i've ever seen, she also runs her own clothing line; a label focused on customised clothing which you can find here.

Her clothes are a mix of vintage, charity shop finds, high street and higher end high street brands such as MinkPink and Evil Twin. Mixing layers, prints and colours, there isn't a boring or safe outfit on her blog, and I love the way she always adds more accessories or layers than most people would; reminding me of one of my own style icons Anita Pallenberg.

A mix of 70's bohemian with 90's grunge I love all of her jewellery and she has made me fall more in love with the kimono than before! Rarely seen in trousers, I like the way Sara doesn't stick to one length and wears mini, midi and maxi dresses all teamed with a floaty cover up or fringed jacket, she is definitely the person you would want to share a tent with at a festival so you can borrow her clothes! In true bohemian style Sara doesn't seem to dress by any fashion rules and I think thats one of my favourite things about her, she doesn't look like anybody else and isn't afraid to experiment with mixing print or layering.

Blogger Of The Month: Lucy Jarvis!

It's once again time for my blogger of the month, albeit it a bit late and this month i've chosen Lucy from Fine and Bambi (used to be Champagne Diamond). Lucy is another person I met through Motel and was one of the other bloggers who inspired me to start my own blog. I fell in love with her blog because she shares my love of cats and immediately I wanted to get my hands on one of the cat print skirts from her own big cartel shop! I also loved her grungy style and liked the way she wore Fred Perry polos tucked into girlie skater skirts, dungarees and the way her tattoos toughen up her pretty dresses.

Lucy seems like someone who doesn't follow trends, she knows what she likes and has a massive obsession with Topshop, something else we have in common! Her style is really relaxed and I like how she always posts pictures of her beautiful cat Lana on her blog and instagram. I have ended up buying a few things after seeing them on Lucys' blog, my favourite of which is the Topshop black pinafore, something I fell in love with as soon as I saw her wearing it, and love seeing how Lucy styles it.

Apart from having awesome style Lucy is a really nice girl who i've spoken to through social networking, and she looks SO much like Alexa Chung it is ridiculous!

Let me know if you also love Lucys' blog or if this is a new one for you, I love how this blogger of the month introduces bloggers to new bloggers!

lovely little lana

Brown Sugar

1-Topshop Skirt - £45

2-Topshop Trousers - £35 (sold out online!)

3-Topshop Dress - £35 

4-New Look Skirt - £14.99

5-Motel Tinkerbell Dress - £45

As it has been such a long time since i've written a post I thought I would come back with a classic wish list! I feel so guilty about my lack of blogging, i've been really busy with my job and have had hardly any access to the Internet which has been driving me a little bit crazy! Now however I am back, and have several posts lined up for this week :) 

As I mentioned in my last post I was made redundant again so I have been spending quite a bit of time trying to find a new job (which is a horrible process!) Career wise I really want to get into fashion marketing and promotion and basically do what I did in my internship as a paid job, but living outside of London does make this quite difficult. I've spent a lot of time looking for fashion companies based in Bristol and there are very few so I've decided to try and get a job with any kind of PR, marketing or communications company to get experience and a foot in the door! There's quite a lot of marketing companies in Bristol but it's the old problem of you can't get a job without experience but you can't get experience if no one will give you a job. I have thought about doing another 6 month internship so I can make sure I have at least a years part time experience but again positions are limited in Bristol. If anyone has any advice or has been in a similar position feel free to share your experience! 

Anyway enough negativity how nice are all these items! I am loving cobalt blue, denim and tartan at the moment and as always paisley is one of my favourite prints. It's the start of a new season which always means new clothes and I can't wait to start snapping up my summer wardrobe! Remember you can use the code 'sophiepalms' at the Motel online checkout for 20% off! This week i'm having some gel nails done too so make sure you check out my instagram (sophiepalmer) to see them, i'm pretty excited to not have to worry about chipped nail varnish!  Hope everyones had a nice weekend :)

Black Moon

Top - eBay

Crop Top Underneath - Motel Larry

Skirt - Topshop Andie Skirt

Socks - Topshop

Shoes - Office

Necklace - Rock N Rose

Today is quite frankly a shit day. Sorry for the abrupt start to this post but once again I have been made redundant!! Can you believe it? Being made redundant twice in three months has got to be some sort of record right? I was told the news yesterday and am not quite sure how I feel about it yet; on one hand its a push for me to go and do something that I actually want to spend my life doing but on the other hand it's scary to think I have 4 weeks to find something else or i'm going to be completely buggered!

On a more positive note look at this top I found on eBay for 99p! It's pretty much the same as the little lace crops they're doing in Topshop at the moment except it's slightly more grunge and a complete bargain! I've teamed it with my lovely new shoes from Office which cost me quite a lot of money (i've never spent £70 on shoes before!) As you might be able to tell i'm a complete bargain hunter and it took a good few weeks of searching eBay for some cheap copies, before I decided none quite fit the bill and I should just buy them! Do any of you guys have these shoes and love them as much as I do? Also if you have any ideas of anywhere I can apply for a part time job in Bristol, you know hook a sister up!

Roll Over Beethoven

I really wanted to do an outfit post today and had some really nice things to show you guys, but annoyingly I can't find the charger for my camera! So instead i'm going to do a little post on my two favourite eras/styles! I've gone for 60's mods and 90's grunge, which I definitely feel like I float between most of the time. I love collars, A line skirts, monochrome and beehives but I am also a bit lazy and feel like a grungy style comes quite naturally! I love my Parka, big baggy jumpers and DM's, sometimes it's nice to be super comfortable as well!

Unfortunately this is also a very negative post which I don't really like doing, this week has basically been shit, for want of a better word. My beloved Motel shop in Bristol has closed down and i've been made redundant :( On Wednesday two members of head office came in and said they had decided to close immediately, which not only was a massive shock but also pretty upsetting. I have absolutely loved working there and am just gutted because of all the time and effort i've put into building the shop back up. I hate the thought of finding another job because that one was so perfect for me, and i'm a little bit scared of getting desperate and going into a job I don't like or don't care about. So it has been a rubbish few days, there have been lots of tears, but i'm trying to stay positive and remind myself that something good will come a long and 'everything happens for a reason' (can't wait to find out what the reason is behind this one!!).  The other sad thing is i'm not a part of Motel anymore which I feel really gutted about, i've met loads of really lovely people during my time there and it's because of Selina I decided to start this blog! It's weird because I always left jobs because I didn't like them anymore or was offered a better opportunity, i've never been made redundant before...it is horrible! It has however been a good experience and i'm so happy that Motel gave me the opportunity to be the store manager, and I know it will be good to have on my CV!

If anyone has any suggestions of anywhere I can apply or information on any fashion companies in Bristol or the surrounding areas then head them my way! At least this means I have lots of free time to do some blog posts now!  

Polly Wants A Cracker

I always look to Polyvore sets for outfit inspiration, I love the way you can type in a person/band/era and it will bring up complete outfits, which always give me new ideas of how to style items of clothing. It was only a matter of time before I started making them myself and although this is only my second set I think it represents my own style pretty well and fits with the current grunge trend which I am loving. I have really long eyelashes so my eyes are always the focus of my make up but I always love to wear lipstick and find dark purple really flattering, I know i'll be wearing it non stop during A/W! I have also been looking for a good camo jacket for a while and recently found a great one in Primark of all places which was a surprise! As for the rest of the items they are all things I would wear, especially the heeled chelsea boots, I just haven't found the perfect pair yet! If you like any of the items then check out my polyvore page here, everything is high street too so there won't be any disappointment like when you find out the socks are £100! 

Cross My Heart

Cross Earrings- Kukee

Cross Bracelet- Kukee

Cross Necklace- Urban Outfitters (no longer stocked)

Cross Dress - Motel Rocks

I absolutely love this soft goth trend where everything is black and all about crosses, studs, spikes and skulls in fact I've gone cross crazy without even realising it and noticed this morning that I have a small collection of cross themed jewellery (above). To add to my love for this trend black is without doubt my favourite colour to wear, I always think it looks good as a contrast with how white my hair is, plus most of my style inspiration comes from 60's icons like Keith Richards, Anita Pallenberg and Edie Sedgwick. My other main era of style inspiration is definitely the 90's. I love grunge and hate looking too 'done' so I usually like to add some 'grungey' accessories or a denim/camouflage jacket. I'm always on the lookout for more cross jewellery and usually look to Topshop and Asos first but recently i'm becoming a little bit obsessed with Kukee. I first noticed them because they collaborated with Motel for a competition, but after looking at their website they have loads of great on trend accessories at an incredible price! The items below are a selection of my favourite and are all priced below £5, I wish everything was this cheap!

All items from Kukee

As i'm currently working with Motel I spend lots of time on the website and was super excited when the 'cross beads' collection launched! With seven items the collection is all black with beaded cross embellishment and allows you to try out the trend without going cross crazy. I have bought the Zena dress but don't usually go for body con items because I don't think they flatter my figure, so i'm going to send it back for either the Kadie skirt or the Laynie baby doll dress, but at the moment I can't decide! Two of my favourite bloggers Amy from The Little Magpie and Lucy from ChampagneDiamondx, have worn the items which doesn't help me at all as they both look so good in them!

Kadie Skirt

Laynie Babydoll

Zeene Body con

Tess Shirt

All Motel Rocks