Saturday 31 January 2009

If I win the Lotto tonight...

...I'll be buying me some Nicholas Kirkwood shoes. They are fierce, mega fierce. I was eyeing up this gorgeous pair on the Browns site (above), then googled and came up with this site, which have even more dazzling styles. He definitely gets props for most innovative use of pearls (in a platform sole). I love the angular look of the platforms and use of the most colourful and beautiful suede and snakeskins.

Rimmel Volume Booster Gloss

I've definitely been cooped up in the house too long. Today I took a little trip to Morrison's and got all excited because the Rimmel stand had been done up and now had testers as well as some of the more recent products. The display had been long neglected previously and so this little surprise meant I had to get something. I don't even know why I was so excited as Rimmel doesn't usually appeal to me. However, I grabbed a nude looking gloss, Volume Booster Lip Plump Gloss in 070 Seduce and was hooked. It is brilliantly shiny, expecially under the supermarket lights and the perfect beige. I also liked Envy 074, a darker brown and Passion 025, a darkish plummy shade, both had lots of shimmer which I love. I ended up just buying the nude, but will definitely be looking for more of these in Boots (better to earn advantage points with purchase!). I just wish I could wear the gloss now, but I have bright pink Lancome lipstick on instead!

Friday 30 January 2009

Cheap & Chic Dresses

I've just been browsing the Peacocks website and they have some lovely dresses on there just now. I'm not sure of the quality as I haven't seen them in real life, but they seem like the perfect transitional dresses for that awkward 'between seasons' period. These would look great with tights and boots for colder days and with gladiator sandals in the summer. They are £16 each, the long sleeved one is £18. I spotted this cutesy retro inspired floral number (below £25) in Look this week. I haven't shopped in Bay Trading since I was at school and a recent look in their window I realised why. Most items are made for those who are stick thin and proud to show their bottom in public! My friend wondered why the display didn't feature trousers with the tops, I replied 'that's because those tops are actually dresses!'. Granny moment aside, I adore this dress, although it does look very short and I'm not sure it would look right with leggings. I am also kidding myself that my huge bust would fit anywhere near that, sadly. I don't know for sure, but I would assume that a size 12-14 would probably be the biggest size you would find in there, it looks like the type of shop to cater for the skinny Miss 4's of the world.Matalan have this cute leopard shift dress (below) for a fabulous £16. I love leopard print and always have, despite the Spice Girl and Bet Lynch comments, it's an odd classic that always seems to come back into fashion.

Shoe envy on the crappy internet

Sometimes I hate the internet. Today I flicked over to Karla's Closet and noticed her fierce shoes, all excited at their beauty, I exclaimed 'ah that's the L.A.M.B. pair I love'. However I was wrong, it turns out the shoes were actually from Bakers, an American footwear company (that I'd never heard of before). I quickly searched their website and realised this was a good thing, as the shoes are considerably cheaper (above 'Chleo' $79.95) than the Gwen Stefani pair (below 'Hunter' $380), bad news though, they don't ship internationally (my bubble burst).

And so it's times like these when I curse the internet, for showing me beautiful and affordable things, that I can't actually get my hands on. Isn't the idea of the internet, to make things more available, worldwide? I realise though that it's not feesible for every company to ship worldwide. I know there are probably lots of places in the UK where USer's would love to shop but can't. Anyway, if you are lucky enough to live in the US and haven't checked out Bakers, you really should. They have several L.A.M.B. 'style' shoes and look at these YSL inspired numbers (below, 'Emory $89.95, 'Aileen' $59.99). I'm actually surprised they are allowed to 'design' such similar styles, unlike some, they don't look like cheap imitations (or it may just be good photography).

Thursday 29 January 2009

Primark & New Look Hauls

I was supposed to tell you about the haul I got from my last shopping trip a couple of weeks ago. Here it is (if I can remember everything).
Primark: I wasn't overly impressed. I went in search of this dress (below) that I saw in Look magazine, but they didn't have it. They rearranged my local and I feel there is less space for the part I like to shop at (dresses mainly), but lots more room for jackets and knitted cardi's, tops and jumpers which I'm not interested in. Anyway I did pick up some dresses, a Cadburys purple satin number, which is a bit of an awkward length, but at £5 it is fine for wearing around the house. I tried on a cream dress with huge, voluminous, almost pleated sleeves. The actual dress part isn't particularly flattering on me so although I bought it I may take it back, however I adore the sleeves. I got it in black (they only had a smaller size and I couldn't be bothered trying it on as well) and although it fits, you don't notice the fabulous sleeves so much. Have you seen the frill dresses with waist tie and button front (above)? Well, I already have 4 shades (cobalt blue, aqua, charcoal and pink), but picked up a black one this time as I love the fit. The accessories were reasonably good, I got lots more tights which I need like a hole in the head, but you can't beat the prices at Primark; black with white floral design, sheer black with back seam, purple lacey, navy blue ones with a floral pattern in the same colour, kinda shiney-ish, also got them in pink and I think that was it. I also got a pearl hairband (£1!!!), I think I might add a big bow to it to make it Chanel-ish. A black satin bow brooch (£1), vintage looking pearl brooch (£2), black satin bow hairband and lots of plain hairbands and kirbi grips that I'm going to customize. New Look: Some of the S/S stuff looked interesting in here. I've already told you about all the fringed shoes I saw and here's a scanned image of the pair I got (top). I also got this dress (above). Now I love the print, but I'm not keen on the shape. It has odd boxy sleeves, a buttoned up back and an elasticated waist. I think it's probably meant for more of a boyish figure and I definitely don't have that, but I really want to keep it for the glorious kitsch print. I also got a blue jersey dress with floral print, which is really comfortable, a gorgeous black frilly floral dress (below), which is quite short, so great to wear with leggings. The image of it really doesn't do it justice, it's very floaty and lovely. My favourite piece though is this navy dress (bottom). Again it has a buttoned back, full skirt and is very vintagey looking, all were £25 each and I'm a pretty happy bunny with them!

Bargain shoes at Matalan

Head to Matalan this weekend where their new season shoes are reduced to a bargainious £10 a pair! Offer valid until 3rd February.

No7 GWP and LE

The pretty No7 Limited Edition colour collection has just landed at Boots. Based around the pastel tones seen on the S/S catwalks, it's perfect spring makeup. The Petal Eye Palette (above) £10.75 contains 3 baby shades and a darker green colour for lining or shading in the crease for a more dramatic look. Give a soft tint to the lips with the super soft Petal Lip Tint (below) £8 in Pink or Peach and a glow to the skin with Petal Blusher £10.75. Available in Pink or Peach, each blusher contains 3 shades to blend together or use alone. All come embossed with a petal deisgn and are available instore and online now. It's also GWP time, so if you spend £18 on No7 you will receive this beautiful gift worth £31 (below). The makeup bag contains, Extreme Length Mascara, full size Moisture Drench Lipstick, Protect & Perfect Serum , Stay Perfect Eye Mousse, Protect & Perfect Hand Cream, Dual Protection Tinted Moisturiser, Cleansing Body Polish and Men's Hair & Body Wash.

Wednesday 28 January 2009

Another Award Show

'Award Season' used to fill me equally with dread and excitement. When I had my Celeb Style website it was a huge project for me to collect all the award show images, categorise them, edit and re-size them etc etc. As much as I loved doing so, there was so much work to be done within a short timescale. It was important to put the piece together while the event was still fresh and of course, the next week there was another event to report on and the hard work started all over again. This year I don't have to report on it and I expected to miss the excitement of seeing who wore what, but if I'm honest I haven't. I am also surprised at how little I blog about celebrity events or outfits here, considering my history with Celeb Style. Perhaps I just feel like a change or perhaps it's the fact that none of this years outfits have interested me enough to write about them. At the recent Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Awards there wasn't a single look that I admired. Angelina Jolie (top) is obviously stunning but the colour and shape of her outfit was so drab, the beautiful Penelope Cruz (above) went for safe and uninteresting black and although Eva Longoria tried (below), it was a look we'd already seen and the hair and makeup aged her beauty.
Meanwhile Kate Winslet (above), after a boring black dress at the Golden Globes, decided to go for a simple cobalt blue number. If I'm honest Kate bores me to death, she's very plain and to be the frontrunner for an Oscar, in my opinion she needs to up her game in the outfit stakes. I know she's a 'serious' actor and what she wears in real life shouldn't matter and I admit, I detest when (mainly American) reporters only ask 'who are you wearing?' with no interest in anything else. However I am disappointed when nobody even tries to push the boundaries a little and go a bit 'out there' with their style of dress. We've all seen the red or black floor length numbers a million times and it's so refreshing to see something different, but from what I've seen so far, I doubt we will, even for the Oscars.

Tuesday 27 January 2009

Princess Sparkle Pants

It's with much sadness that I report that Princess Sparkle Pants, the fabulous kitsch jewellery site are to close. I discovered the site a couple of years ago and was so pleased to see a fun and friendly website with unique pieces, exactly to my taste. I wish I had found it sooner, as I discovered the gorgeous Audrey and Marilyn necklaces (above) in the 'sold' section (Marilyn, Audrey and pearls being my fave things).

I have made several orders over the years and cherish my Jem and Barbie necklaces (above), which are admired by many (I take great joy at telling them they are 'Princess Sparkle Pants'). Another favourite is my huge gold glittery shoe, not for the faint hearted, but fabulously kitsch. The girls are having a huge sale to get rid of their stock and I was gutted to miss out on the Little Mermaid necklace, however I did snap up (below) another Jem/Jerrica, Britney spears, Ginger Spice in her heyday and huge green bow necklaces. The site will close on February 1st, so hop over there now to see if there's anything that takes your fancy. The girls will still be available by email (see website for details) after that date for custom orders if you would like something specific. I would like to say a huge thank you to them for bringing a little joy to me (and I'm sure other customers) with their spectacular pieces, you'll be missed!

Monday 26 January 2009

Fringe Me


Fringing is set to be huge for S/S '09, especially on footwear. I saw these Christian Louboutin Tina Summer fringed creations in the latest issue of Instyle. They don't look all that great in the images from Browns (£940, a little like the fringing is stuck to a normal peep-toe shoe), but I thought they looked fabulous on the model in the spread. On my recent trip to New Look I found that fringing had definitely hit the high-street. NL had several colours of this style (below, £35 instore and available online in 4 shades), a little more tame than Louboutin, but a nod to the trend nonetheless. I actually bought a beautiful pair (£30, not on the website yet), they are suede and shaped like the YSL Trib 2, with very rounded toe, skinny high heel and concealed platform (a beautiful shape). They have a fringed ankle strap with little stud detail around the top. They are bright violet and totally stunning. I would insist you go a size up in these as the 6 just fits me (I'm usually a 5), they are tiny. Also shown below are some Topshop boots from their S/S lookbook.River Island have been doing the fringed boot thing for a while and have a newer version of their popular A/W boot, pictured below (available in 3 colours online) for £132.11. Karen Millen also have these Louboutin-esque black peep-toe boots (£244.68) with layered fringing and check out these Irregular Choice wedges (bottom), new for Spring....a little like Dougal from The Magic Roundabout, personally I think it's fringing gone too far, although somehow I can see Mary-Kate Olsen loving them!