Busy Bee

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, I have been overrun with work of various kinds and have not had the time to blog.

I haven't been all that inspired lately either, but a new purchase always gives me some sort of boost in that department even if it is only a small accessory purchase - like these two tone tights:

Front


Side


Back


I like that they are a quirky twist on the usual grey or black opaques and are good for people like me who aren't quite brave enough to venture into bright coloured or patterned tights but are bored of plain opaques.

These would elongate the leg when paired with the Nine West dove grey Kimbell Oxfords I wanted awhile back, but alas I never got them =(

Artsy

I've only been back home for a few days, but the bargains are still everywhere and I stumbled across a dress that I had wanted a month ago, last one left in my size and drastically reduced - score!

Presenting my new all-purpose silk dress - to be worn for dressy dinners, birthday parties and random special occasions:
Source: sportsgirl.com.au

It features a beautifully draped tulip skirt and batwing sleeves which are so comfy and sophisticated but unfortunately they overwhelm my petite frame so I think I will be altering them as shown in the last photo below.

It has an elasticated waist, but it still feels and looks too baggy for my liking so I will be cinching it with my trusty belts.

The dress by itself in all its baggy glory

Cinched

With folded up sleeves

Chasing Waterfalls

I'm back from my relaxing and refreshing holiday and ready to get back into my life as I left it, which includes this blog, of course =)

One thing about traveling that really got to me was the feeling of living out of a suitcase - no matter how cleverly you think you packed for your trip, you will always feel as though you don't have enough clothes or you didn't pack the right clothes for the various situations that will inevitably pop up during your vacation.

Having access to my full wardrobe was one of the nicest things about coming back home and I definitely intend to make up for all the lost time, by wearing some fabulous outfits to ease myself back into my usual lifestyle.

One of my favourite pieces of clothing at the moment is the Drape Cardigan (a.k.a. Waterfall or Wrap cardigan), which is a subtle yet gorgeously girly update on the humble cardigan that has become a staple of many wardrobes (including mine) over the past few seasons.

Here are the ones that have caught my eye in a few different price ranges:


Witchery Solid Wrap Cardigan $149.95

Bardot Waterfall Cardigan in Melon $59.95

Valleygirl Shrug Cardigan $29.95

I personally prefer my drape cardigans to be made of more lightweight fabrics such as viscose and jersey to give it that floaty look and feeling but a thin knit would also work for a warmer alternative.

I recently bought mine in a black jersey material and love how it adds a touch of frilly goodness to my outfits without being too over the top. I think that it looks best with skinny jeans (since the drapes conveniently hide my winter saddlebags!) and heels, like this:





I adore how it also comes with a thin belt so I can play around with tying it at the waist or at the back to create different silhouettes and also to keep it in place. Can't wait to try it out with other outfits =)

Bewitching

Just when I thought that I was all shopped out, another gorgeous piece of clothing finds its way into my line of sight. Luckily, this time around it wasn't just an impulse purchase but something that I've been wanting for awhile:

Witchery Sheer Silk Floral Top


I love how soft and floaty it is...despite its sheerness, when layered over a 3/4 sleeve top it is surprisingly warm enough to wear indoors in winter, which means I'll be getting some wear out of this even before the weather heats up again.

I adore how it pretties up any outfit with its dreamy (and slightly hippie) lavender floral print. I definitely do not have something like this in my wardrobe yet so I'm very excited about the possibilities of teaming it with the more boring clothes I have...

Here's an idea of how I'm going to wear it when spring comes around:

With my new Siren lace-ups and DIY Levi's cutoff shorts

But for now since we're in the middle of winter, I think I'll just add a pair of stockings until the weather decides to warm up again!



Loving all the bargains during the end of financial year sales!

Paperbag

As promised, an outfit post with one of my new purchases:

Tokito Silver/Charcoal Floral Print Skirt, $69.95

Among all the clothes on sale at Myer...this full priced skirt called out to me and I couldn't resist.

It ticks all my boxes - highwaisted, mid-thigh length, subtle floral print (I've been wanting one for ages!) and with a paperbag tie waist.

I added my DIY chain necklace to see how it looked together...but felt that it looked too prim and proper!

I think that the skirt makes enough of a statement on its own, so I'll probably be toning down the jewellry when I wear it again.

I Love Snail Mail

It's a little belated - but my Lie Detector Necklace came in the post a couple of days ago!!

I'm so relieved that my first online purchase went so smoothly, I think that I'm brave enough to try more online shopping soon =)

Here's some photos of the lovely packaging that it came in:


The necklace and the little card:


The necklace on me:

Unfortunately my photography skills aren't good enough to get a picture of the details on the necklace to show up, but rest assured that it looks exactly like the picture on the Etsy shop that I posted before.

Hmmm...I seem to be having a jewelry overload lately, so I'll be doing some outfit posts with my new clothes purchases soon to balance things out!

DIY: Pearl, Black Ribbon and Silver Multi-Row Chain Necklace

I was browsing the sales in my area the other day and I spotted some nice necklaces that looked a lot like this one:

Source: ASOS

They seem to be everywhere these days and I like how a simple necklace can add some flair to a boring outfit. So I was planning to buy one, when suddenly inspiration struck me - I realised that I already had all the ingredients for making such a necklace myself.

1. Old pearl necklace that someone had gifted to me when I was just a kid and thought pearls were too old lady
2. A metre of thin black ribbon - from wearing ribbons in high school in my hair
3. Silver chain originally for a cross body bag that I never use

What I did was just weave the ribbon through the clasps of the necklace and the silver chain and then tie double knots to hold them in place. I left some extra ribbon at each end to use to tie the necklace together with a bow, like the in the ASOS necklace picture above.

5 minutes later:




My very own handmade pearl, black ribbon and silver multi-row necklace!

I'm feeling very resourceful using up these random items that I had just lying around my room that never got any wear and I love the idea of making my own stuff.

I can't wait to wear this out!

Cinch

As you may have noticed by now, I love the waist-defining abilities of belts. They can make clothes that are too big for you suddenly fit perfectly and can even change the whole vibe of an outfit.

I tried this out with a couple of belts over my new watermelon coloured chiffon ruffle dress
(yes, I'm wearing colour!):

Dress by itself

Dress with Studded Belt

I think that the belt makes the plain dress much more fun...


Dress with Cream and Tan Belt

I can definitely see myself wearing this exact outfit when summer comes around again!

The beauty of this is that belts are fairly cheap and yet they have the power to transform an outfit - so if you're getting bored of wearing the same old clothes, try investing in a few good statement belts to revive your wardrobe!

Preppy

Sigh.

My browse around French Connection was not successful at all - I tried on the Zip Dress in a size 6 and it was still too big (which reminded me of the reason why I don't shop at FCUK).

Why can't Australian stores stop with the vanity sizing and bring back some consistency - I'm usually the smallest size for each brand (which nowadays is anywhere from a size 4/XXS to a size 8/S) and I'm sick of being unable to find clothes that fit me properly because the 'smallest' is not small enough =(

Anyway, back to FCUK - I did like the Corker Check Skirt but had to think about whether I really needed it and luckily for me, in the next store that I went to I found a cheaper version (with pockets!):


Subtitled 'Love Exists' Skirt

Here's what it looks like on me:

It's kind of sheer (no lining) so I wore another skirt underneath as a slip, which I had bought at the same place as the check skirt - the 2nd skirt was technically free because it was a buy 1 get 1 free offer!

Here's what the 2nd skirt looks like on its own:



It's meant to be a blue highwaisted bandage skirt and it's actually a size too big for me, but if I hike it up and wear a top over it, you can't tell, right? =)

Zip it

Lately I've been drawn to clothes with exposed zips. I'm a bit late to the trend, they have been around for awhile now!

I've been looking for a dress or skirt with a zip down the length of it, but haven't been able to find a flattering one. I don't want to spend too much on this either because I know that it's just another trend, so it's lucky that the chainstores have been flooded with these clothes lately and now I'm kind of spoilt for choice!

Here's an option that I was considering from my online window shopping:


VG black zip skirt, $29.95

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get to a VG store (their stores have been rebranded and VG is no longer located in places that are easy for me to get to! Boo.)

So instead today I made this impulse buy to satisfy my exposed zip craving temporarily:

The top is a size 8, but it's still a little big for me as you can see by the unsightly bulging at the waist where I attempted to tuck it into my skirt...

So I added a belt to give it more definition

Now I'm contemplating whether to get it in red with black stripes as well, which has a more punky vibe, so that I keep to my resolution to wear more colour...

I can't decide! Should I buy the tee in red too?

Lazy Sunday

Here's a peek at what I wore today for a quick shopping trip. It was relatively nice weather today (compared to the non-stop rain these past few days), so I took the chance to get out of my usual boots into some open-toed shoes!

I was feeling uninspired and kind of lazy, so I just put together a simple but cosy outfit.

Note to self: wear more colour!

Sportsgirl grey cowl neck knit
Nudie tight long johns
Black patent belt from Myer
Marc Jacobs patent heels

Hope that everyone had a lovely weekend!

Check

It is that time of the year when the weather becomes a bit bipolar - chilly and blustery in the mornings, oddly warm and sunny in the afternoon and back to freezing and windy once the sun goes down...

This usually means that it's time to go shopping for some toasty but chic winter coats to keep you protected from the elements.

I have a fairly large collection of trench coats in different colours fabrics and cuts (I'm a bit obsessed, they are just such a beautiful item of clothing, eternally stylish and yet so functional!) but they are mostly made of light cotton or a waterproof material rather than anything substantially thick.

So my goal this year was to find a coat that was different from the rest of the coats in my wardrobe - I wanted it to be made of a thicker fabric and patterned (most of mine are plain colours).

Fortunately for me, I did find a coat that fit my vision of my perfect coat (I'm notoriously picky when I get an idea of what I want) and at a decent price too.

Presenting the 'Fletcher Coat' from Wish in Ash Check


Apologies for the bad photo - I don't have very good lighting in my house and I had to play around on Photoshop to get the details to come out clearer. It's not very easy to see from the photo but the pattern is a nice classic check in grey, white and flecks of black, which will be very easy to integrate into my wardrobe.

Here's a cheaper alternative I found that is fairly similar:
Valleygirl Checked Coat, $69.95

Happy winter coat shopping!

Ethereal

I'm not usually a jewelry person because I generally only have a few minutes before I need to dash out the door in the mornings so I only manage to accessorise with a pair of earrings most days.

But lately I've been wanting to find a new ring...something dainty, but edgy at the same time.

So I did some window shopping online and narrowed it down to these styles:

Source: GSOL Jewelry

The Korcula Laura Ring

The problem with these rings was that I was afraid that such a wide ring would overwhelm my petite hands, since all the previous rings that I owned were a more traditional thin single band with various decorations.

I thought that perhaps my wish for a different kind of a ring would remain unfulfilled, until I encountered this ring during a recent shopping expedition:

The ring on my small hands

It is quite difficult to get a proper close up of the detailing on the ring, but it is a kind of swirly flowery print that is reminiscent of decorative prints on metal armour. Everytime I look at this ring, I am reminded of Lord of the Rings...

Back of the ring

I'm pretty happy with my purchase, because it combines elements of both the rings I was interested in online and adds a touch of etherealness that is its own.

But I'm still getting used to seeing such a thick ring on my finger...although it's so gorgeous that I don't really care if it looks too big for me =)

Any guesses which Australian chainstore I bought this at?