I give up... the weather in the North sucks. Everywhere I look, beautiful Summery clothes are hanging on the rails in stores, and all my favourite sites are looking festi-fabulous.
Yet here we are, under this permanent grey cloud. So, I'm rebelling. I'm going right ahead with my Summer wardrobe whether the Manchester weather likes it or not.The perfect way to start my rebellion is with this eye-catching snakeskin, playsuit from Rare London*.Now I can imagine this being a marmite piece as it is quite bold (and even I read my own blog title and thought Snakeskin Playsuit? Really? ) But YES!! I love this!Especially with my newly dyed pastel locks, THIS playsuit just screams "wear me to a festival". The material is lovely and lightweight, plus there's a handy zip at the front which saves any "can you just zip me up" incidences when you've been to the ladies. (And we need to consider these things!!)I teamed the playsuit with grey over the knee boots and I would happily throw on my leather jacket when it if it did turn cold...
FYI on Sizing: I've ordered from Rare London before and as a size 6 / 8, I've always gone for a size XS / 6. This is a size 6 and it really does fit perfectly without being too tight.
Rock it for night too!
A simple pair of heels and neutral accessories will let your playsuit do the talking!
My bangle and chain are both from Rings and Tings. I think these are great for adding a little something extra to the outfit without being too OTT!
I hope that you like my look!
Are you going to any festivals this year? Comment below and let me know!
It seems that nowadays there really is an App for everything... Remember that totally annoying ad where the guy just kept repeating "there's an app for that", well, there really is.
Now, I tend to stick to my faves really - Instagram, Faceyb, Twitter and the like are all up there! But when it comes to clothes shopping, I kinda struggle... Like, every clothes shop now has their own site and app or whatever, so when you really love that printed top on Dorothy Perkins, but are still debating over those Palazzo pants from Boohoo, how are you supposed to keep track of everything??
Enter Swipe n Shop from those fashion savvy ladies over at Fashionchick! To sum this up in one sentence, it's literally Tinder for Clothes. Swipe right for your faves and left for the rejects - not that there will be many! Swipe n Shop cleverly brings together all the latest pieces from stores like Boohoo, House of Fraser, Zalando, Mango and more... Items that you swipe to keep are then saved in one handy shopping list which can then take you to the checkout of your chosen store. Easy peasy!
I do really like this, as it makes saves a lot of time and browsing on different places. (In fact, if you head over to the Swipe n Shop site, you'll actually see a little quote from yours truly explaining how awesome it is! :-D (Just to make clear, this is not a sponsored post, I was just asked to give my opinion for their site on an app that I already use!)
Give this a download and see what you think - it's free, so why not! Plus 50,000 downloads can't be wrong...
Let me know if you do give it a go.
I am obsessing over prints and textures recently! Especially after my Stripes and Horcruxes blog post. I always associate bold patterns with Summer (does anyone else?! )This outfit is one that I pulled together after receiving this beautiful black and white print top from Dorothy Perkins, via Fashionchick. I wanted to really show off the summery print and team this with something other than jeans... So here's the finished look! I call it, "Clashing Prints".
If you're looking to experiment a bit more with colour and patterns now that it's coming to Summer, here are my top tips to get clashing crazy (without actually looking crazy)
1. Pick classic combos like Spots and stripes or Florals on florals. If you're a print novice, then just start by mixing two prints at first...
2. Choose your colour pallet!
Monochrome is the easiest to start with (as shown here!) But as long as there is a common colour in your pieces, they should tie in well together. You can then add in accent colours with your accessories...
3. Choose one print as your main look and add an accent print! You can always add a block colour to keep your look clean. Or! Make your second print a scarf or bag so that it's not too overpowering.
4. Accessorise!
Your accessories should really help bring your look together. You can choose a colour that ties in with your different prints to create that colour flow, or add neutral accessories to let your prints do the talking! As my look is quite print heavy, I chose a plain clutch bag in a block colour.
Handy tip: If you're still not sure, add a belt to separate your prints!
Outfit:
Black and White Printed Top and Clutch Bag - Both Dorothy Perkins via Fashionchick
Printed Skort - River Island
Leather Weave Bangle - Reiss via Fashionchick
Heels - Zara (Similar Aztec Heeled Sandals from Missguided)
Let me know if these styling tips helped and if you would wear clashing prints!
So May has been yet another crrrrazy month!
Last week, every night was jam-packed with fun stuff including a blogger meeting with ASOS, Maccabees gig, Cocktails in the City and a chance to check out the amazing range from Current Body...
This event has to be one of the faves that I have been to recently! The location was gorgeous (Artisan, Spinningfields) the canapes were DELISH, and I actually learnt some stuff on the night!? Current Body is basically the home of everything technological in home beauty - which is perfect for a girl like me who is useless at getting to a salon! Literally, I can just about sort my hair out, but anything beyond that just seems like a hassle!
Luckily, Current Body have all things beauty and skin care related to sort out your woes, without the need to go to a salon. The team at the event were brill and reeeally knew their stuff. I could have very easily been talked into spending a fortune on amazing items like the Illuminage, which stops wrinkles before they even begin (say whuuuutt!!). Or the Pulsaderm buddy, which has loads of different brushes - so you can do everything from take your make up off to exfoliate your feet, all with the same tool!! So cool.
The best bit of the evening was getting beauty tips from Emma at CurrentBody who does all the videos for the site! This girl knows everything about everything home beauty, and told us all about her recommendations from the site (Clarisonic and Foreo Luna to name a few).
Do you have any particular beauty treatments that you do at home?!
I'm currently trialling a Magnitone brush so I'll be doing a review on that very soon...
With it being Radio One's Big Weekend this Bank Holiday, I feel like the festival season is about to start with a bang! And that means Summer is finally on the way, HURRAY!!
We've been crazy busy at work (Rock On Ruby) preparing for our new "festival-inspired" Summer range... I can't WAIT to get it online!! (Think bold, bright colours, music quotes and slogans). Unfortunately, the weather has been a bit miserable up North this week, so I've had to adapt the festival-boho trend to our current climate!
A kimono is one of the handiest items to have in Summer - they're great and lightweight enough to wear during the day, but will give you a bit of extra cover in the cooler evenings. I would normally team a kimono with a slogan top and shorts, but for a more practical look at the moment, I've teamed this with ripped jeans, shoe boots and a boho top.
I think that even though the top and kimono are different prints, the muted tones make these work quite well together. The rest of the outfit is quite simple so the jewellery can do all the talking...
In other news, I've recently dyed my hair a fab, ombre purple with Wella Instamatics. The colours are beautifully subtle, so actually it's more of a light, silvery-lilac-grey than vivid purple. But I'm hoping to keep it up with a hint of purple shampoo!
If you have any tips of good purple shampoos, do comment below!
Yup, it's that time of year when we're all gearing up for our holidays, frantically hitting the gym and counting down to Summer! If you're going on a Beach holiday this year, you're going to want to keep reading this post...
Any TOWIE fans out there may already know that Jess Wright has just launched a
hot, new range of swimwear with Ann Summers. And as Jess is currently promoting the range around the UK, I headed over to their
Liverpool One store to chat with the lady herself and find out more
about her range...
FYI: As I arrived at the store, there was already a
HUGE queue of people outside the shop waiting to get selfies and
autographs from Jess herself. After checking out her glam bikinis, I asked
Jess what every girl wants to know - how she got her fab figure ready for Summer!
Me: What Are your Top Tips for getting Beack Body ready?
Jess: Dry Brushing!! It's so important for getting rid of any nasty cellulite, that and drinking lots of water.
Is that what you did to get ready for your Ann Summers photoshoot?
Jess: Oh that also required lots of going to the gym and dieting!
Cardio, cardio, cardio then?!
Jess: Not just cardio! It's important to do some toning exercises too!
My favourite piece from the range is the Passion Flower bikini! I'll be styling this up on my blog :-) Which is your favourite piece?
Jess: I love the high waisted, pink Azalea bikini, I love the 50s styles, they're so flattering.
(FYI, I do too as they handily hide your tum! Very important after a big lunch on the beach!)
How did you start planning your range and where did your inspiration come from?
Jess: We started planning the range in October (2014) I wanted a range of bikinis that would suit all shapes and sizes, so there's really something for everyone! From string bikinis, to supported tops and cut out swimsuits. There's a wide range!
I also wanted a lot of bright colours as wearing black on the beach can be quite boring, so there's lots of colour!
And at that point I was
very conscious of the crowd of people eagerly queuing outside the store
to meet Jess so it was time for a quick selfie! :-)
I have to say Jess looked absolutely GORGEOUS in the flesh - all that working out for her shoot has really worked!
I was also quite pleased to find that I didn't feel conscious at all about being in the Ann Summers store. The team at the Liverpool One store were aware that there would be younger fans of Jess's coming to see her, so they had made a real effort to make the store age-appropriate! Not only was there Jess's range to check out, but also some pretty underwear and nothing too "adult"!
So do keep an eye out for Jess's swimwear at an Ann Summers store near you!
Which item from her range do you like the look of?!
So, at first I was very ANTI-THE-70s trend that's happening this year. Whenever I think of the seventies, I always think of colours like mustard, orange, tan and olive green, which are SO not me at all. Blurgh.
But then!! Our absolutely, gorgeous, new retro bags arrived at work, and instantly I was like... I need one of those bags. What will go with one of those bags? I need flares. And that was pretty much my actual thought process. So, here I am in my second pair of flares - that I swore I'd never buy, rocking an OOTD that has a very 70s style nod to it. Miracles do happen!
So, we decided to do a little mini shoot at Rock On Ruby HQ featuring our new bags and preppy range of polo shirts, and I wanted to share it with you guys on ze blog!
Outfit:
Wine Polo Shirt and Yellow Retro Bowling bag: Both from Rock On Ruby
Heels, Sunglasses and Belt: All ASOS (forever ago)
Dark Wash Brooke Flared Jeans: River Island
Lipstick: Charlotte Tilbury in Night Crimson
TIP: I'm loving how tall these flares make me look - yes I wear them with humongous heels, but still.. for a 5ft 3 girl, these are very height-enhancing!
Have you been embracing the 70s trend at all yet?! Hope you like our new Rock On Ruby bags and preppy polos! There's lotsa different colours, let me know which is your fave!
