On Rockie ground

 This week's excellent weather (lessons outside anyone?) gave me my first opportunity to crack out my Topshop Rockies. I am in love with these. If they don't need reheeling at least twice this summer I'll eat my sun hat. (PS - my nail polish was NOT chipped in these pics - heaven forfend - it's the light.)
Hope everyone's enjoying Spring - I'm off for my first Starbucks Mango and Passionfruit frap of 2011.

Bring on Spring: footloose and fancy free

Topshop's Natalia Metal Beaded Wedges have inspired me. I will now launch a regular feature called Bring on Spring, where I will showcase all the things I can't wait to wear when the weather turns warmer, that are stupidly already in the shops, and will be sold out by the time I actually need/can afford them, because there are many more fiscally sound and forward planning people out there than myself.
Seriously, in times of such austerity, who can afford to buy somthing now that they won't be able to wear for another three months?

All that jazz

Last night the ladies hit the town in the torrential rain. I wore the outfit I'm probably the most happy with out of everything I've worn in years! Unfortunately my five-day-old iPhone was stolen, which kind of spoiled an ace night - thank god I took outfit pics on my mate's camera before I went out!

Necklace - Primark// Shirt - Topshop// shorts - Topshop//  Boots - ASOS

Tory the tiger

It's official, autumn is here. To celebrate I went for a sweater, boots and jeans combo in an effort to be warm, comfy and work-appropriate.

Jumper - Topshop// Jeans - Topshop// Boots - Steve Madden
You will probably be seeing a lot of these boots. They cost me quite a pretty penny last Autumn and therefore must last at least two winters. I still love them though - it took me a long time to find my perfect pair of slouchy biker boots; they're comfy, they go with everything and they're therefore here to stay.

Apologies for the crappy photos - with no non-busy work colleagues I had to go DIY in the ladies loos.

Come buy with me...

I've made a few purchases recently that I just haven't had chance to reveal on the blog. I suppose I was waiting until I wore them, and then ended up not having time to take outfit pics. I hate that! So I thought I'd reveal my new finds in one fell swoop, then hopefully they'll crop up in some outfit posts in coming weeks...

Dress - Topshop - £40// Shorts - Topshop - £35// Boots - ASOS - £85// Jeans - Topshop (High waisted 70s) - £40// Shirt - Topshop - £40

The dress is Kate Moss (shocker) and I love it. The shorts are really soft and yet to be worn - Saturday night on the tiles, I hope you're ready. The boots were a total mistake. I love them, they go with everything, but in a 7 they are just too high for me. I do this about once a year - buy completely impractical shoes that just sit in my room.

The jeans arrived and said 'Jamie' on them, but are exactly the same serial number as my order and fit like a glove, so who knows what's going on in Toppers' labelling dept. And the shirt is possibly a little fitted, but I'm going to tuck it in to the shorts so didn't want it to be too diaphanous! Booby ladies take heed - go a size up!

And that's my autumn update in a nutshell!

These are my confessions...

Turns out my 'buy it now, regret it later' style of shopping has backfired. I've dropped £170 notes in the last week and none of it's going back. Oops. Say hello to my new top, flats and armour ring.


Top, Shoes, Jeans - Topshop// Rings (l-r) - ASOS and gift// Necklace - Bangkok weekend market// Bangles (l-r) - Accessorize and Primark

A tight fit

Friday was an important day in my fashion year - the first opaque tight of the new season.
It's time. The weather's chillier, the wind's brisker and, frankly, I wanted to give this dress its inaugural outing.
I'm very fussy about black tights. I have not, and I fear never will, jumped on the 20-denier trend that's started sweeping the legs of London's fashion forward. It's just too eighties, too sheer and far too reminiscent of my mother's legs to work for me. Even Topshops's polka dot numbers couldn't tempt me from the very dark side.
I need opaque tights to be 90 denier and higher. My 120 deniers, seen above, are my prized A/W possession, and I have about 4 pairs. So here I offer some words of opaque advice.
Oasis: Don't bother unless you like them very low slung. They fall down throughout the day, leading you to do the tight wriggle, wrestling them up to your hips. Likewise, Primark. In fact, these once got me so angry I pulled a big hole in a pair.
Topshop's are pricey but worth it - trying to find a large pair is like searching for a needle in a haystack, but they're worth the search.
As ever, Marks and Spencer is reliable, as long as you can track the 90s down... they go fast. And my personal faves are ASOS, though get 'em while you can. The 120s sell out FAST.

Dress - Primark// Tights - ASOS// Boots - ASOS// Watch - Michael Kors

Rain in the arse

Hear ye, hear ye, from now on I commit to more outfit posts. I've been slack, shy and a bit unorganised when it comes to the fashion part of this fashion blog, so starting today I'm going to try and do a couple a week... who knows, it might make me wear something other than leggings!

So here goes. I've lost my brolly, which means I had to drag this, my only coat with a hood, out of the back of the wardrobe.

Coat - Primark// Scarf - H&M//
The nippier weather also gave me the chance to wear my lovely new scarf. I'm actually pretty excited about autumn - I'm sick of having to put flesh on display!

Top - H&M// Watch - Michael Kors// Jeans - Topshop// Chelsea boots - ASOS
Necklaces - jumble and old Accessorize
The top's another new purchase - I could have done with a size smaller but they didn't have it, and it was such a bargain at £7 I had to make it mine. I look a little butch, but whatevs. I'm trying to wear things a little bit out of my comfort zone (can you believe that, for many years, I lived by the Trinny and Susannah rules for my shape. I love those women, but that's for another post.)

No detail shots I'm afraid - I got sick of my work colleagues mocking my impromptu photoshoot in smoker's alley... hence the following:


I also have a new haircut, which I'm not sure about... they thinned it. It's thin enough! Discuss.

Jump to it...

I heart this jumper, I heart this a lot.



I haven't really bought much at Topshop in recent years, because I feel that its expensive for the quality and I simply haven't had the disposable income (evidenced by the fact that I mainly wear 'vintage' Primark!). However I'm sorely tempted by this caramel-coloured beaut, which would look awesome with my chunky boots from last winter and over a tea dress, or with my extremely flared Uniqlo jeans and a checkered shirt, Love Story stylee. It also slots neatly into Autumn's camel theme, and I love the sulky-teenager long sleeves. Simply put, it makes me wish crispy leaf season was here already, and that I had the dough to make it mine. Better start playing the Euro Millions, huh?!

For you lucky ladies who want to snap it up, its here. Enjoy the snuggly loveliness!

Sunday had his hat on

How tacktastic are these sunnies from American Retro? I'd never set foot in there until Sunday, I always thought it was full of overpriced basics I couldn't afford, then Jon introduced me to the world of pug-mania and nonsense that lies inside, and now I love it!

We swung though Soho after a trip to the Tate Modern (I have membership through work) to see the Exposed exhibition. If I'd paid £8 for it, I'd have been disappointed, but as it's free to members I enjoyed the afternoon out and the highlight was by far the Nan Goldin slideshow The Ballad of Sexual Dependency.

I watched the whole 45 minutes, which is pretty rare for me in a gallery situation - usually nothing keeps my attention for that long, but this somewhat racy series of images was totally captivating. I was already a bit of a Nan fan, but this sealed the deal. I also love the work of french artist Sophie Calle, who featured towards the end of the exhibition. Anyone wanting to learn more about Sophie should get hold of her book Exquisite Pain.

It was an unexpectedly lovely day, so I busted out the jean shorts again as part of this ensemble.

Top - Topshop// Watch - Michael Korrs// Bracelet - H&M// Necklace - A stall in New York// Belt - Bankok weekend market// Jeans - Levi's vintage// Flip-flops - Haviana

I'm never sure about the loose top tucked, as it definitely makes me look stocky (my waist is the only damn slim bit on me, and it's totally hidden) but this is the first outfit I've been really happy with for yonks. Sorry about the shit photo, Jon wouldn't play ball. Some bloggers have boyfriends who do thrice-weekly latte-sipping photoshoots across LA, mine whined at taking one quick photo - ONE! Note to self - trade him in for a tripod.

Remember to enter my blog giveaway HERE

Code red

Last night I swooped by Topshop for one thing, and came out with three. Thankfully they were all make-up, otherwise I would have seriously destroyed my July clothing embargo.

Regular readers will remember my quest for a red lipstick, and I thought, before diving headfirst into an expensive Mac purchase, I'd try something more thrifty and see if I wear it often enough to warrant the big investment.
So I picked up Topshop Lip Stick in Flame.

Here's the rather embarassing picture of me wearing it...

(pic by David Cotter)
You see, whenever I've tried to take lippy pictures myself in the past they are blurry, or washed out, or a totally different colour to real life, so I asked my photographer colleague to lend a hand. I asked him to just crop the lips but he wouldn't play ball.
No, I haven't had a stroke, I just appear to have a rather droopy eye... who knew! Anyway, the stick is very pigmented, to the point that it's actually quite nervewracking to apply without a brush. It's quite versatile; nice and shiny, matte if you blot. I did somewhere in between here.
It lasted around two hours before I needed to reapply, and surprisingly for a pencil it isn't drying - it's more of a regular lipstick in pencil form. Altogether, this product is really impressive for £7.
The only problem is, I just realised I now also need a big fat pencil sharpener.

PS I didn't take a 'swatch' hand photo, because I'm never sure how useful it is to know what a lipstick looks like on your hand, unless you are comparing a few? Please do let me know though if you find these helpful though!

UPDATE: This lasted about 5 hours, including a strenuous aerobics class! It's amazing! 

Cringe

Agh... here goes, my first outfit post. It's scary putting yourself out there on the internets, especially after roping in my poor mate to take a million pics before I realised I wasn't going to like any of them, whatever she did.

So, the run down, top to bottom: Necklace - old ASOS; dress - River Island (It's not actually as wide as it -- or I -- look in th picture, the 'Tyra booty tooch' I was attempting distorted the whole darn thang!); jacket - vintage Earl jeans; cuff - h and m; bracelet - gift; ring - random jewellry shop in Greece; sandals - Topshop.

Phew, I will now crawl into a cave and be embarrassed about uploading pictures of myself onto the internet... oh, and apologies for the return of the shiny head and general dog's dinnerness of this whole thing... I'd just got back from Oxford Street, and it was 10pm.