Dressing Up Occasions - Theatre

There are so few occasions in my every day life where I get to get really dressed up so when I come across one I grab it with both hands! One of the few events where you get to step up your game a little clothing wise is a trip to the theatre, and this is likely to be my dress-up venue of choice now that we are coming to the close of wedding season.

I've been mentally planning a theatre-going outfit, just in case, with the help of en eHow article on appropriate clothing for a performance. Firstly they gave the answer I always hope to receive, that a dress is the preferable choice. They suggest that 'All colours are acceptable, but black is the classic choice', and though I completely see why black is a classic choice I've opted for something that has a touch more colour - adding a lighter touch without losing any of the subtle sophistication of black.

Jewellery wise, the article suggests that 'diamonds and pearls are the most traditional', and the John Richard earrings and bracelet from Debenhams fit the bill nicely. The neckline of the dress doesn't demand a neck adornment like a lower cut one might have so I have decided to forego a necklace - I don't want to over-do it eHow does state that 'no jewellery at all is better than jewellery that looks cheap'.

The final piece of advice offered is that female theatre attendees should 'take a structured handbag or clutch in a colour that goes with your outfit, and wear heels that complements your bag', so I thought that the Debut Navy shoes and matching bag would suit each other perfectly as well as complementing the dress.

So now I have the outfit, I just need somewhere to wear it! I've been scouring upcoming shows and one that has really grabbed my attention is a run of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Noel Caward Theatre.

I love Shakespeare anyway, always have since 'Much Ado About Nothing' in school, and have been lucky enough to see some wonderful performances over the years. The main draw to me of this production is the idea of seeing David Walliams as Bottom. It's always nice to see a familiar face in a show and I think he's hilarious so I'm sure this would be a great night out as well as a goodreason to get all dressed up!

Can you think of any other great reasons to get dressed up? Or any other great shows I should try to get to?

* This post was sponsored by Spreaditfast.com 

Liebster Award!

I've been nominated for the Liebster award by HelloEmski, which is so exciting as I've never been nominated for anything like this before!

If you aren't familiar with the Liebster award, here are the rules!

Rules:

  1) You link back to the person who nominated you

  2) You answer the 11 Liebster questions given to you by the person who nominated you

  3) You pick 11 bloggers with under 200 followers to nominate

  4) You ask 11 questions for your nominees to answer

  5) You go to each nominated person's blog and let them know you've done the post

Questions

1) What made you start blogging?I work in an all-male environment and really felt like I needed a place where I could talk about girly things like pretty dresses and amazing shoes! 

2) You can only eat one food for the rest of your life, which food is it? It would have to be some kind of cake. Maybe Carrot Cake, so it's healthy! 

3) Favourite place to shop for fashion/beauty things? For beauty items I'd have to say Boots, just because they stock nearly everything you could want with the added bonus of Advantage Card Points. For Fashion, I think New Look always provides an affordable way to keep up with trends! 

4) What post would you like to do that you haven't already done? I haven't done any outfit posts or really posts with photos of myself in - I'm a bit nervous about it but really feel like I should take the leap as nearly all other bloggers do! 

5) A random fact about yourself is? I'm scared of Butterflies.

6) Favourite item of clothes? Cardigans are really underrated! 

7) What can't you live without? Tea.

8) Somewhere you want to visit? New York!

9) Favourite tv show? I'll admit to being a massive Dr Who geek...!

10) One thing you want to try doing but haven't yet? (Like horse riding ect) I always fancied snowboarding as a lot of my family have done it but I'd end up killing myself! 

11) The ultimate question, dogs or cats? Cats, no question! 

My Questions

1) What made you start blogging? (I know I've stolen this question from above, but it's a god one!) 

2) Who is your favourite blogger? 

3) What are you most looking forward to about Autumn?

4) What will you most miss about Summer? 

5) What is your favourite film?

6) What is your favourite book? 

7) What is the best holiday you've ever been on?

8) Where would you most like to visit? 

9) Favourite high street clothing store?

10) Favourite make-up brand?

11) What would you most like to achieve in life?

The blogs I'd like to nominate are: 

Anouska Millar

Sally Tangle 

Crazy Crafts

Angelica Discovers 

Squidgy Moments

Another Dreamer 

Tuesdays Girl Blog 

Jessica Wabbit 

Lost Arrows

Putting The Tea in Teacher

Married to a Geek  

Hope you all enjoy doing it as much as I did!

Topshop Collections: Margot's World

I honestly don't think anyone on the highstreet puts together a collection like Topshop, the theming that runs through each piece, the attention to detail, the ease in which you can put together a complete look just by picking basically any items from the collection are really all second to none. Of their current offerings it's 'Margot's World' that speaks most to my heart - I adore every piece and if I could replace everything in my wardrobe with this collection I would in a heartbeat.

If you are wondering about the basis of Margot's World, according to Topshop it's this:

Step into the sherbert-coloured world where dainty dressing reigns. Inspired by the too cute for school characters of Wes Anderson's imagination, we've created a collection that mixes preppy with a little vintage styling.

Perhaps it is my love of Wes Anderson that drew me to this collection, or maybe it was just the gentle pastel colours and classic feminine softness on display, but whatever it was it really worked!

It would be very had to pin down my favourites from this collection but if I were to just scrape together one outfit from it, and wear it every day, it'd be this one:

Jumper (£34) * Satchel (£34) * Sunglasses (£18) * Skirt (£48) * Socks (£3.50) * Shoes (£65) * Lipgloss (£4)

It's perfect for the transition into autumn too! What do you think?

Fashion Getaways Blogger Challenge

I recently heard about the newest House of Fraser Blogger Challenge, and thought I'd put together an entry. The idea is to put together an outfit inspired by one of the worlds iconic fashion capitals.

Can you guess where I wish I was going?

Mango Trousers * Ralph Lauren Top * Oasis Shoes * D&G Sunglasses * Coccinelle Bag

 

 

If you want to find out the details of the competition so you can do your own entry, all the information can be found here. There's £200 worth of vouchers to be won, and you get to daydream about fashionable holiday outfits so its a win-win really!

Clothing Clear Out

If you are anything like me, you'll have loads of clothes lying around that either don't fit, have fallen out of favour, or just aren't worn a variety of reasons. Over the years I've put aside literally bin-liners of old clothes, telling myself I'd 'get round to putting them on eBay sometime'. But I never have so far and it's looking increasingly likely I never will - I've never found the time, and I'm put off by the many stories I've heard of eBay charges, awkward buyers and things reportedly going missing in the post.

It's got to the point where I need to get rid of things to make space for new, and if I can make a little bit of cash while doing so it'd be a great bonus. But if I'm not going to sell on eBay, what other options are there? I've recently found out that Music Magpie now give cash for clothes!

Only a slight exaggeration! Source

If you don't already know Music Magpie, they've been around for a while now and I've used them in the past when having a CD clearout - I just typed in the number on the barcode into the website and they give you a price for each one. Once you've got everything loaded up that you want rid of, you can arrange for your package to be picked up at no cost and wait for the dough to roll in! You might not get as much as selling items individually but if, like me, you don't have the time or energy for that, Music Magpie is a great alternative!

I don't have anywhere near as many CD's and DVD's to get rid of now as I did a few years ago but one thing I do have plenty of is clothes. To sell my old second hand clothes on Music Magpie, I just have to answer a few questions about the brand and style of each item - then pack everything up ready to be collected!

I'm setting aside some time this weekend to go through my bags of stuff, I'm really looking forward to making some space and hopefully getting enough cash back to buy a new item or two as well!

Feeling Fruity!

As part of my weight loss attempts I've been trying to eat a lot more fresh fruit. To help get me in the mood for it, I've been perusing some of the high street's fruity fashion options.

The Topshop bodycon dress (£38) is a fantastically tropical affair, and would seem more at home on some exotic island than the English countryside, but for anyone lucky enough to still have any holidays on the horizon (or willing to rock this bold print in our often chilly country), Topshop have a range of items in the same range to bring some juicy fun to an ensemble.
The Asos dress with the pretty orange print (£38) is a more subtle way of working fruit print but the gorgeous backless detailing still makes it perfect for beachy holidays, whereas the Joe Browns 'Perfect Pear' dress (£39.95) gives me the most 'English Summer' vibe!

And since I always look to dresses first, I feel the need to balance out any suggestions with non-dress options too and couldn't help falling for the incredibly cute fruity playsuit from Mod Dolly (£32). The Apple purse is a juicy delight from Vendula (£7.50) as the Rocket Dog lace-ups (£36.99), also apple-based - I wish these could keep the doctor away! The fruit-embroidered top, featuring the sweetest scalloped collar, is on sale at the moment too, down to £35 from £50 at Asos!

That has definitely got me in a fruity mood now, off to go raid the fruit bowl!

The Evolution of Festival Fashion

Unfortunately this year I am not set to attend any of the big music festivals. All my 'fun things' money was spent on a much-enjoyed holiday last month so my budget won't stretch to another trip away, but that doesn't mean I don't still have a very keen interest in festival fashions!

New Look have created an awesome 'Evolution of Festival Fashion' timeline, exploring how the fashion choices associated with certain festivals in different time periods have evolved, since the early days of the festival (beginning with perhaps the most notorious festival of all-time, Woodstock) to the more recent festival offerings like Creamfields.

Despite my generally girly fashion tendencies, funnily enough one of the events here that I am most interested in in 1976's punk festivals. Though 'punk' happened well before my time, my dad loved punk, played in bands and went to weekend long punk festivals so I grew hearing his stories. He remembers those weekends as being amongst the best of his youth, and though I can't go back to that time to experience the wild weekends for myself, I could at least get a suitable outfit from New Look to pretend!

Jeans * Top * Boots * Jacket * Bracelets

Do you think I'd pass as authentically punk?

If that's not your thing though I'm sure you can put together an outfit to suit any festival style very easily with the help of New Look!

Are you going to any festivals this year? If you could pick any one through history what would be your ideal festival?*

Summer Wedges from Shoe Zone

The sun is out again, or occasionally at least, and I'm using those flashes of summer weather to make the most of my new very summery shoes from Shoe Zone.

Canvas is the ultimate in summer shoe material - canvas shoes in the winter are a no-no as you won't last two minutes outside without getting soaked down to your feet which is never comfortable, so there's something liberating about being able to wear certain fabrics in the summer. The same applies to the hessian wedge of these which is just the right height to give a little lift without making walking in them hard work - summer is about lazing in the sunshine, chilling by the pool, laying in the park - you want to look good but you want it to be effortless. That's what these shoes say to me.

I found these really comfortable to wear and I think they are versatile enough for a lot of different summer activities too - I chose black as you can wear them with anything!
I really like the ruffle detail on the front too - very cute and gives the shoes a more playful and fun look, as does the pretty floral print on the inside.

These are available from Shoe Zone for only £12.99 with free delivery, and they have loads of other lovely summer shoes too!

American Beauty Swap

Like many English bloggers, I have a bit of an obsession with American products - I think we just like what we can't have! So I was very excited to arrange a swap with US blogger Angelica of Angelica Discovers.

We settled on a $35 limit and discussed what we would each most like to receive. I mentioned some of the American beauty products I'd often heard mentioned as being ones to watch out for but had never tried - eos lip balms and the Maybelline Baby Lips were two that I'd often read were great, and I also mentioned Bath and Body Works as a store I'd definitely heard of. 

We agreed on a date to send out the parcels and I waited eagerly for mine to arrive - I was so excited when it was delivered! 

Here's what Angelica sent me: 

The biggest thing is the 'country apple' shower gel - from Bath and Body works, just like I'd asked for! This smells wonderful, like apple sweets, and I can't wait to try it out! I also received two very cute handbag-friendly anti-bacterial hand gels too from bath and body works and I love them both - the apple blossom scent is really fresh and clean, and the pink lemonade lovely and sweet. I also got a face spa mask which I'm looking forward to using in my next pampering session - who doesn't love a face mask! 

And that's only the beginning, I also got loads of great make-up products! 

When I originally sent over my 'want' list, I'd completely forgotten to add 'wet n wild' eyeshadow to the list, as it's another thing I'd heard raved about, so I was so glad to find some in my package anyway - it's like Angelica read my mind! I got a 'Nude Awakening' palette which is wonderful as it's very much the kind of neutral colours I would normally wear anyway, and 'Cool as a Cucumber' which has a striking combination of green and purple - two colours I wouldn't have thought to put together but look amazing together in the palette and I'm sure will around my eyes too. The individual shadows - 'Sellout', a gorgeous shimmery purple, and 'Golddigger', a stunning sparkly gold - are beautiful. I was also really happy to receive a Wet n Wild mascara as I'm a complete mascara fiend, as well as the lip products I'd requested. The eos lip balm was not a disappointment - I was sent the 'sweet mint' one and it really is so minty and fresh, it smells just like mint rock and makes my lips feel all tingly as it moisturises them. The Baby Lips have just become available over here but I got this one a few days earlier than their release - I got 'pink punch', which has a sweet, fruity smell and a subtle wash of pink when applied. 

I'm so happy with my swap parcel, and I hope Angelica is with hers - We've agreed to do another one before Christmas so if you liked this post there should be another along in the future! In the meantime, if anyone would like to see full reviews and/or swatches of these products please let me know in the comments and I'll be happy to oblige!