New hair!

I got my hair cut:





T shirt Topshop, jeans New Look.

I knew there was a reason I never throw anything away!

Dress Topshop, top underneath, bag & sunglasses H&M, boots New Look, jacket vintage (it still counts as vintage when you've just had it for 15 years right?!).

I'm a little bit in love with this bag from River Island. Is that wrong?!

Topshop sale purchase

This is the jacket I got in the Topshop.com sale. You can't really see from the pictures but it's blue, white, and thin red striped. What I like about it is how you can button the lapels in different ways and so get several different looks:




Top H&M, jeans ASOS narrowed by me

I fell in love with THE Topshop blue and red striped blazer when it appeared (you know, the one that was in all the magazines). I even bought it. But although I loved it and it fitted really well, I just couldn't wear it. I have quite a long torso so cropped jackets and long jackets look ok, but ones that hit right on the hip make me look out of proportion, particularly if I wear them with trousers. I tried the jacket with everything in my wardrobe but nothing looked right and I eventually, sadly, returned it. This one seems better, I think because I can wear it open (the original one didn't hang right open) and so not have the line across the hips which causes the proportion problem.

ION, I really need a haircut!

Product review - Max Factor Beyond Length mascara

Beyond Length mascara, called Vivid Impact in the US, is a two stage mascara. It has two sections, each with their own brush, one with black lengthening mascara, and one with a coloured topcoat. You apply the black first, wait for it to dry, and then brush the highlighting colour onto the ends of the lashes. In the UK it so far comes in three shades, blazing black which is pink, moonlit black which is silver, and tanned black which is coppery. I believe there are two more shades in the US?

Image courtesy of an ebay seller

I have the tanned black version. When I first applied the black coat, I was surprised how spindly my eyelashes still looked. I don't think this is a flaw in the product, I'm just so used to volume building mascaras rather than lengthening ones. The brush was pretty good and gave good separation. When I added the topcoat I was a little disappointed that it didn't show up more, but it was pretty close up. The second time I tried it, I used an eyeliner of a similar colour and the two worked well together. The mascara stayed on well considering it's not a waterproof one and came off easily with eyemakeup remover. Overall I would say it's a quality product but with only a subtle effect. And I personally would be wary of the pink version as I fear it would have an albino rabbit effect on fairskinned people like myself.

I am not paid to write reviews and did not receive any free samples, boo!

Which way did the 70's go?!

Flared jeans and tunic top Topshop

There are also wedges under there somewhere to make me look tall.

Wow, third post in a day!

Dress random brand from TKMax (why don't you ever see them anywhere else?!), cardigan Primark, sandals New Look last year or the year before, dragonfly brooch on cardigan Ebay, bracelet Topshop.
Also featured is the usual North East Coast wind :-)

Topshop sale!

Topshop.com have just started a mid-season sale, yay! As usual, quite a few things are already sold out in the smaller sizes (but such items are also often reduced a little more so a bonus for the more curvaceous). There's lots in the sale though and much is still available in the 8/10/12 sizes. Including these few on-trend pieces I have selected for your delectation:

And sadly no, I don't get paid for promoting Topshop, I'm just a big fan :-)

Thoughtful (warning, goes on for ages!)

bitsandbobbins has posted a thought-provoking post about why we wear what we wear. It's an interesting topic because people's reasons are really variable and wide-ranging. I think my main motivating factor is that I would like my sense of style to be admired by people whose sense of style I admire. The type of style I admire is creative, quirky, a little arty, a little trendy (but not sheep-like adherence to fashion), and most importantly, not boring. Sadly, I feel I usually fall short of these ideals myself (note tendency to repeat shortish skirt & tights combo). However, I also don't want to get stared at by the rest of the populace. It would also be nice if my other half liked what I looked like, but he's really not into clothes and sometimes refers to my ensembles as bizarre, so I really don't focus on his ideas (ultimately I think he would prefer I looked 'normal', which seems to mean bootcut jeans and a fleece top *yawn*).

Oddly, I seem to be mostly dressing for imaginary people because where I live is so not fashion central! Typical day wear consists of sportswear or light hipster jeans and a hooded top (with obligatory 3 inches of stomach in between) and nighttime wear of the smallest, tightest, sparkliest thing you can find. The nearest city does have students though, and emo kids, and many of them are cool-looking (but so young *sigh*). When I pick my outfits, I am thinking of all the stylish people in blogland, but then I go out in the real world and spend the day feeling self conscious. The day I wore mustard yellow tights is a good example, would have blended right in in blogworld, in real life I apparently looked like "a f***ing chicken"!

One constant in the responses to bitsandbobbins' post was that people dressed to disguise bits of their bodies that they dislike. I am always trying to minimize my wide-shoulders and not reveal my knobbly knees (ok with tights, baaaaad without). I have also banned myself from most jeans without a long top because my upper thighs have totally gone to pot recently. I like to accentuate my waist but get very annoyed with people who tell me I shouldn't wear loose-fitting things because I have to "show my teeny tiny waist". Well yes, sometimes, but a side-effect of showing my "teeny tiny waist" is often highlighting my NOT teeny tiny bottom and thighs!

Generally I am grateful that in western society we have such freedom of dress and that almost anything is accepted to some degree. Even chicken costumes :-)

Where'd the sun go?

This was an outfit born of necessity, the necessity of not getting wet.

Coat Primark, Jumper, skirt, & shoes H&M, tights Dorothy Perkins

I'm noticing a short skirt, coloured tights theme going on. Must try to branch out!