Sparkle and Shine

Dress - TFNC £35 // Cape - Vintage

Happy New Year! I had many blogging plans over the festive period but somehow they failed to come to fruition. My two weeks off instead alternated between cooking, drinking and lounging. In fact the majority of my December has consisted of cooking and eating; hence the large amount of winter weight I am carrying (and trying to tackle with Weight Watchers, which I will post separately on). The above pictures are from New Year's Eve and my bosses 1920s themed fiftieth birthday party respectively. I was lucky enough to borrow my friend's grandmother's sequined cape and considering said friend is in her sixties then the cape was truly special! I bought the TFNC dress from a new boutique that has opened up in my town called Maggie's Farm. They sell a mixture of new, vintage and reworked items and have stores in both Dunfermline and Dundee. Their items are very on-trend, stocking a number of web based brands such as TFNC and Love. It's really refreshing to have a boutique like this open in a town where there are a very limited number of fashion stores.

I have a few new posts up my sleeve; lots of things I want to say and wished I had said over the past few months so hopefully the new year will bring me the time and the thirst for blogging again!

A Leopard Can't Change It Spots

Dress & Necklace - Forever 21 // Nail Varnish - Barry M (Coral) // Shoes - Dorothy Perkins

The dress and necklace are two of the lovely items I purchased during a cheeky wee stop over in Dubai. Forever 21 is yet to come to Scotland so I tried to restrain myself when let loose in their massive Dubai Mall store. I walked away with two dresses (both leopard print), a black camisole top and three necklaces. The necklace is fast becoming my new favourite. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find either on the Forever 21 UK site however, I did find a similar dress for £18.75. This outfit was for a night out in Edinburgh where a lot of Grey Goose was consumed. It was my first time on the "Goose" and I woke up the next day hangover free - success all round.

Where the Wild Things Are

Shirt - Charity Shop // Skirt - River Island // Boots - ASOS // Necklace - Primark // Lipstick - MAC Russian Red  

I was lucky enough for the rain to stay off on Friday and for the temperature to creep up to a positively balmy 15 degrees so it was a no tights evening and a chance to wear my relatively new suede boots! These are the tan version of the purple ASOS Aggie boots that feature in the post "Purple Rain". The ASOS Aggie boots are currently in the sale for £31 but have unfortunately sold out in this colour - I am tempted to get them in grey or black leather too but three pairs of the same style boot is a bit excessive... no?!

The skirt is from River Island and cost £16 - bargain! The necklace is actually a purchase from last year but it was the first time I've worn it as it was really itchy but it felt fine under a shirt collar. I was a bit apprehensive about matching a silk tiger print shirt with a cream floral skirt but all in all I think the clash of textures and patterns works really well.

Monochrome

           

Dress - Urban Outfitters // Blazer - Topshop // Shoes - Dorothy Perkins // 
Bangle - Topshop (old) // Lips - Revlon Black Cherry

Aztec and Monochrome - Ticking two trends at once! The dress was a purchase from my recent Edinburgh shopping trip. I swithered back and forward over buying it because the material is wafer thin and I was in two minds as to whether my pull-in panties would have the power to deal with such a dress! However, I'm glad I bought it. Urban Outfitters only has two branches in Scotland so you're guaranteed to find something a little different from the crowd and at £32 it was a bit more reasonably priced than some of their other items. I also managed to get the shoes in an online flash sale £45 down to £31 - now that's luck. I kept seeing them featured on Miss High Street's website and knew they were the type of shoe that would go with everything.

P.s. Please excuse the background in this picture but this is what happens when you put four girls in a tiny room and expect them to get ready for a night out. Despite the lack of glamour in this picture we had a fantastic and glamorous night out in Glasgow (that is until we carried our McDonalds back to our room at 4am - oh the shame!)

Think Pink... Missguided Peplum Dress

Dress - Missguided // Shoes - New Look // Clutch - Dorothy Perkins // Watch - River Island // 
Jewellery - Topshop // Eyes - Naked 2 // Lips - Revlon Black Cherry // Nails - Leighton Denny

I celebrated my birthday weekend by attending my friend's 30th birthday party. Any excuse for a knees up! This is my first purchase from Missguided and I was relatively surprised with both the quality of the dress for the price and the speed of the delivery. Missguided offer 10% off when you like them on Facebook and free next day delivery when you spend over £35. I ordered two items at 8.30pm on Thursday night and my outift was waiting for me when I got in from work. I am very tempted by their gorgeous collection of brightly coloured wedges and dresses.

I'm a little bit obsessed with all things pink at the moment... Baby, Coral, Candy, Nude, Fuchsia, Neon. God bless the current pastels trend! I also treated myself to the much blogged about Naked 2 palette but I'm looking for advice on which colour combinations bloggers think work best together.

Because the Lady Loves Pink... MAC Impassioned

Shirt - Primark £10 // Leggings - Missguided £13.99 // Lipstick - MAC // Nails - Deborah Lippmann

An OOTN from last weekend. I attended an Ibiza club night but obviously didn't get the memo that said racer vest and micro shorts... and unfortunately that's the boys I'm talking about. Never seen so many nipples on a night out in my life. I've not quite got the 'posing for camera' part quite right yet. I will attempt to choose a better location than the corner of the living room for future shots. The shirt is from Primark and I bought it in a size 16 which is two sizes larger than I would normally purchase. However, I wanted a loose fit for wearing with leggings and the 12 was fitted and looked too formal. I have came to the conclusion that size is an illusion when it comes to shopping in Primark and usually take in a selection of sizes from 8 - 16. The lipstick in the picture is MAC Impassioned. This was my first ever MAC purchase - brave huh?! It could not go better with this shirt. The lipstick is from their Amplfied creme range and has a nice thick texture. It doesn't dry out the lips like their Matte lipsticks and has pretty good staying power as it stains the lips. I applied with a brush to get a strong overall colour.

All Wrapped Up

Dress - Love
Jacket - Vintage
Shoes - eBay
Watch - River Island
Necklace - Market
Lipstick - MAC Russian Red

I am about to attempt my very first outfit post! I have avoided this so far because a) I am currently shacked up in the "boxroom" which leaves limited space for posing/ full body shots and b) the dark dismal January whether means I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark meaning natural light is a precious resource and finally c) it's too cold to pose outside... It is Scotland after all! However, armed with a gorgeous new Petrol Long Sleeve Wrap from Love, an absolute find of a jacket from the costume department, my rather lovely fake Lita's courtesy of eBay and a willing friend/ photographer I decided to take the OOTN plunge.

The dress is a M (10/12) it fits quite small across the shoulders but larger across the bust (I did tend to find that it gaped a little when dancing). I always have a bit of a problem with dresses because I am a size 10 up top and a size 12 on the bottom but I do think the dress sizes quite small overall. I love the colour of the dress and think it is something that can be dressed up or down. The wrap is such a versatile style and isn't something a tend that will go out of fashion. It's also available in different fabrics and colours... I particularly like the Mocha Satin and the Green Animal Print. 

Okay onto the "Lita's". I purchased them on eBay and they came from China. The main part of the boot is an excellent imitation however, the heel is plastic and a lot lighter than it looks in the picture. The seller does state this on their site but the lighting in the pictures is deceptive. That said I actually don't mind the plastic heel BUT I wore them on both the Friday and Saturday and already the bottom of one of the heels has came off! I am going to email the seller and see how I get on. There are some UK sellers who are doing a similar style boot with a more realistic looking wooden heel which I have just discovered. This seller also sells them in variety of colours and patterns. At the moment, I'm sort of wondering whether I should have just used my Christmas money to buy a full price pair... live and learn? What experience do you have with similar eBay purchases?

(Edit: Missguided are now doing their own version of Litas as are several other online retailers.)