Tuesday tip: Turn a granny skirt into a cute dress!

I'm always a fan of easy ways to modify clothes without having to get the sewing machine out (See exhibit A, B, C and D!).

Remember that midi skirt I wore for my wardrobe wakeup project? Tonight I shall reveal how to turn a granny skirt into a cute dress in one move!



Yep, just pull it up, pop a belt on and you have a cute a-line strapless dress!




Ta-da!!! A short and sweet tip. Well, it had to be. Alex is hassling me to walk to Tesco with him and buy some sweets! We're watching the final instalment of the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy tonight. Really enjoying it so far!

Until tomorrow,
♥

PS - Amy just commented and reminded me that this idea works well for using skirts as tops too! H&M's £2.99 bodycon skirts work particularly well! x

Friday night's outfit

Hey!

I am seriously frazzled after my afternoon at work! It was so busy, I feel like a zombie now. I staggered home, chucked a pizza in the oven and am now in a carb-coma, watching Big Brother! I wanted to post my outfit from last night so I haven't been a completely useless blimp tonight!

I had a really nice night. I went out for a couple of drinks with my work buddies. I didn't stay out too long as I don't really have much money to be wasting on booze! AND I realised I'd forgotten to use the Models Own 50% off voucher code, so had to be home by midnight before it ran out. Sort of like a modern day nail-art-obsessed Cinderella story!

I can't wait for my new shades to arrive! I picked 5 lovely colours and it all came to about £12.50 including P&P! I know I said I was skint, but I seriously need to top up my nail varnish collection. Nail varnish > Booze. Eyeko sent me a few nail varnishes to try out today, so I'm going to be on a nail art mission trying all these bad boys out in the coming weeks!

Anywho, here's what I wore out. I resurrected my Christopher Kane lacey meshy Topshop dress, and wore it with my vintage desert boots (which might as well be surgically attached to my feet), my kitten locket from Claire's, a h&m scarf in my hair and a plait Primark belt.






Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend!

♥

A quick video blog!

Hey y'all!

I broke my camera so decided to do a quick video blog, which turned into a long-winded and random rant, so I have edited most of the crap out very quickly (am on the way out) and here it is. The editing looks like it was quite literally done by a monkey, please forgive me! Oh, and sorry about my language. Can't help it!

[Love this freezeframe!! Oh haiiii!]



Sorry I say 'so anyway' a lot! And also, my brother kindly pointed out on iChat the other night 'you've got a grey tooth'. I don't. I have a cap on half of my front tooth from a childhood handstand accident (lolz), and for some reason it looks really dull in front of the camera! Just wanted to clear up grey-tooth-gate.

Back ASAP for a decent blog post!

♥

Tuesday Tip: How to prevent GFS (Gappy Fringe Syndrome)!

The gappy fringe... Destroyer of otherwise nice Facebook photos and the bane of Emo's lives the world over. It's a condition that blighted my confidence for much of my adolescence. Over the years, I've grown to accept it as a fact of life, up there with periods and exercise aversion. Until now.

A recent procrastination session led me to googling 'how to prevent a gappy fringe', and I found the answer I'd been waiting for here. It seems so simple, I just wish I'd tried it sooner!

You have to hold your fringe up and spray hairspray underneath it. I use a strong Tresemme one, and have found it works really well. Spraying it underneath prevents it going all solidified. I spray underneath the fringe and then a little spritz on top and that's it. It's a two pronged attack on gaps. It makes sense really... I was just spraying hairspray on top of my fringe before, which would only serve to weigh it down and make it more gappy!

This method doesn't always hold all day, but it's a vast improvement on my instant-gapping fringe of yesteryear!

So there we go. From gappy to happy in a few squirts of hairspray!!

♥

Wardrobe wake up: double bill finale! Day 7 & 8!

Ahoy there!

Thanks for all of your great comments on the wardrobe wakeup posts. Even though I haven't replied personally to all of your comments just yet (it takes me ages because I get sooo distracted reading your various blogs!) I just want you to know I love your feedback! Glad some of you have been inspired to try some new things too!

Yesterday I was inspired by that cute 80's chick from X Factor, so decided to go to the pub quiz in 80's getup! It's a look I never try, and I though it might be our lucky charm, but we didn't do very well in the quiz at all. I guess you can't win 'em all... Speaking of winning, I bought Boggle in a charity shop earlier! Can't wait to kick Alex's butt, but am slightly worried it might be our undoing. (We're both rather competitive!)



(dress - a vintage shop in paris, jacket - topshop, headscarf - h&m, beads - boot sale, pumps - topshop, ring - topshop)

Today, I was theoretically free to slouch about in a t-shirt and leggings, as it has now been over a week since I started my little wardrobe experiment, but I inadvertently wore something unusual. I bought the midi length skirt recently in a charity shop. It feels so unusual wearing a skirt this length, and looks pretty weird too, but at least I can say I've tried it! Sorry for being a mega garment-repeater, but I love my new jacket so much.



(tee - ebay, belt - primark, jacket - heaven, skirt - oxfam, socks - h&m, lace-ups - charity shop)

I've had such fun dressing up differently this week. It's been quite time consuming and a bit stressful having to actually use my imagination rather than wear the same old thing. Thanks for sharing the adventure with me!

♥

Wardrobe wake up: Day 6!

Morning all!

How's your weekend going?

I had my friend Katie over, who I haven't seen in 8 months, so that was lovely. We did some shopping (well, I played personal shopper to Katie as I had no pennies of my own!) and had a gorgeous lunch at Boho café in town. Then Katie went home and Alex and I watched X Factor... Erm, LET DOWN! I couldn't get over the autotune they'd used in post production to try and make the contestants sound better! It was so blatant. I think they're going to get in quite hot water for trying to deceive us viewers! If you liked last night's X Factor, you'll love this... (even if you didn't, just click the link. Watch bottom video first!)

I tried to do head to toe polka dots yesterday, but I am not sure I'm feeling it. Some of my favourite spotty things are in the laundry basket, so I was a bit limited. But I do quite like how it's a bit 'wacky' but quite subtle.




Even when my outfits haven't looked that good this week, I'm still glad I've been trying them out. It is still more interesting that sticking on an h&m t-shirt and denim shorts! I've got something special planned for today's look, so I need to go and get on with sorting that out... All will be revealed!

Oh yeah, I tried to ombre my nails last night, inspired by Kylie from Nice & Shiny. I tried to do it a few weeks ago using this tutorial but it didn't work. I tried it again last night though and it did work better, but is by no means perfect! Will finetune the method and if I can work out how to do it perfectly, I'll do a tutorial for it.



♥

Wardrobe wake up: Day 5!

Today's WWU was a bit of a fail on two counts. Firstly, I had a mega lie-in and had hardly any time to think about my outfit before going out with my friend Jen. Secondly, after deciding on the below outfit, I opened the curtains and realised that summer had decided to change the habit of a lifetime and actually occur. So I ended up wearing my maxi with sandals in the end!

For all of ten minutes, here was the Autumnal roughed-up maxi look I was attempting:


(Jacket - from my dreams, dress - dorothy perkins, boots - charity shop, pendant - h&m)

This hottie was my inspiration. I found her on Style Sightings, where there are loads of themed street style posts (maxi's, polka dots, denim, etc). A truly amazing site!



So my outfit was a bit of a rush job, but I still really liked it. Will definitely be rocking the winter maxi to the, erm, max!

I want to go gothic tomorrow but am meeting an old friend for a possible fun outing to a farm, so don't want to frighten any children, or indeed animals! I already frighten animals with my desperation to be loved by them (they sense it and always walk away from me), so grim reaper chic will probably just add insult to injury!

I'm off to watch Big Brother now! GET JOHN JAMES OUT.

♥

PS - Thanks to those that have stood up for me regarding some of the beef-esque comments on the Asos page. I am really touched. I don't deal with negativity very well and I don't want to waste my energy by retaliating. But I'm not gonna lie, seeing you guys retaliate is another matter. LOVING it! Ha! x

Wardrobe wake up: Day 4!

Bonjour amigos!

For today's look I busted out my brand spanking new aviator jacket from Topshop! I got it with my quarterly uniform discount (we get 60% of a few items), and had a few old vouchers to use up, so it only cost about £13 in the end! An epic win, I'm sure you'll agree.

I was going for a grungey Alice Dellal look:


(pics from ASOS and TFS)

I layered up my outfit just like Alice does, and got my baps out sampled the lace trend for the first time. I figured it wasn't TOO risqué as I had a shirt and jacket over the top, so wasn't showing too much bra off. But Alex disagreed, and spent our walk into town on tit-patrol, notifying me the instant the breeze blew my shirt open a bit!




The top was in a goodie bag from F&F at Tesco which I've never worn, the flannel shirt is an old car boot sale find which I've not worn in ages, and the shorts are Topshop. I'm really glad I set myself this challenge because I am being forced to rediscover loads of old clothes and try new things. If you're in a rut, I definitely recommend this challenge!

I even did that crackwhore copper eye makeup all the cool kids do! Not the best picture of it... I made it look even more cracky after this photo! I used my Models Own eyeshadow duo in Woodland (that's the name of the eyeshadow, I don't mean I ventured to the woods to apply it!)



Well, the washing up is calling me, so I'd better get on with it! It's all go at Maison de Gem!

Do you have any cool plans tonight? Let me know so I can live vicariously through your exciting lives!

♥

Wardrobe wake up: Day 3!

Did you hear the goss yet?! I won the ASOS Battle of the Bloggers! Thanks so much to all of you that voted for me. I won with 31% of the votes! I never thought my article would get picked for the final 10, let alone voted the winner, so I am thrilled! The prize is a HP Vivien Tam netbook (omg!) and a little stint as an ASOS street style blogger. They'll give me fashion assignments for the next few months and I will report back with my stylish findings. The first assignment will be street style snapping at London Fashion Week with the ASOS team, which I'm looking forward to! I am so glad I've won, and so flattered by the judges' words on the ASOS site. I'm dreading returning to uni and I've really been needing something to look forward to and this more than fills that void. Thanks again for your support, can't wait to snap some inspirational babes for your (and my) perusal!

Anywho, here's today's outfit! Sorry the pic isn't very sharp, it was just a quick snap Alex took on my way out earlier. I was going for quite a cutesy look, but I think the outfit called for more makeup than I had time to apply. Some pink lippy or something!




The dress is an old charity shop find, and one of the first Topshop items I ever owned. The kitty locket was a very naughty buy from Claire's the other day (I'm bordering on poverty, but it was only a fiver!). I'm wearing my Moheda clogs (courtesy of Sarenza) with Topshop socks and an H&M cardi.

What do you reckon? I'm thinking of going for a punky/grunge Alice Dellal look tomorrow. Cut off hotpants, a baggy flannel shirt and boots, perhaps. Will see how I feel tomorrow!

Have you had a nice week so far?

♥

Wardrobe wake up: Day 2!

Just a quickie because I'm in the middle of watching Big Brother, and things are getting pretty tense! Don't forget to check out my latest yummy Tuesday tip!

On the advice of some of you lovelies from my last outfit post, I tried nautical today! I rummaged in the forgotten corners of my wardrobe and found this super cute oversized t-shirt I got at a car boot sale a few years ago and have worn once! I wore it with some boat shoes I got in paris last year, and my new Topshop jeggings! I got a few compliments at work, which was lovely and I enjoyed dressing in a 'theme'! There must have been something in the air as we all had stripes on at Topshop today!

It's a bit of a simple outfit, but I'd definitely wear it again! Sorry I look like some kind of wax-work. My current foundation is a bit glowy, but that translates in photos as 'sweaty betty chic', unfortunately!





I'm meeting my friend Emily for lunch and a massive catch up tomorrow so feel free to give me more ideas of what to wear! I found a very cute little navy polka dot strappy dress which would be good for a cutesy socks & clogs kind of look. Hmmm!

How's your week going so far?

♥

Tuesday tip: Delicious, easy, swirly sponge cake!

This week's tip is a recipe for the delicious birthday cake I made our friend William the other day! His mum described it as 'beautiful', and what she says goes!



This recipe is the simplest sponge recipe ever, and has been served up on every birthday me and my

siblings have ever had, in various multi-coloured incarnations! This version is a bit boring as I only have blue and pink food colouring, and the cake is for a boy! But there is potential to create a masterpiece! This recipe also works perfectly for cupcakes.



You will need:







3 x medium eggs

self-raising flour

butter

caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

food colouring

icing sugar



♥ Weigh the 3 eggs. Then measure out the same weight in butter, flour and sugar.







♥ Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. If you're doing this by hand, stop when the sugar stops feeling crunchy as you mix it. Technical terminology here, folks!

♥ Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat the mixture very quickly after you add each egg to prevent it curdling.

♥ Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture gradually, folding it in with a metal spoon to let air in (to help it rise).





♥ Divide the mixture into 2 separate bowls, and add whatever colour food dye you want the sponge to be a combination of! Add the food colouring carefully. If the mixture goes a bit runny, stick a bit more flour in.

♥ Grease your baking tins, and stick blobs of each colour mixture into the tins. Swirl it about a bit and pop in the oven at 180c.







♥ Don't check on the cake for at least 20 minutes. If you open the oven before then, your cake will quite literally be a flop! 25 mins is usually enough time for the centre of the cake to spring back when you touch it. If you press the cake and it stays pressed, give it a little longer! Hope this makes sense!

♥ Whilst you're waiting, mix up your icing sugar. I just mix up a few tbsps of butter until soft and add heaps of icing sugar (sieved) until I think I have enough!







♥ Separate your icing sugar into bowls and add food colouring according to how you'd like to decorate the cake!

♥ Remove cake tins from oven and carefully up-end the cakes onto cooling racks or plates. Sometimes a bit of cake might stick to the tins a bit, but just scrape it out and stick it back in the gap (see below!) It'll be sandwiched together with icing, so it doesn't matter!







♥ Once cool, ice the cake however you like! I went with a mint green topping and filling, with an injoke written (with piping bag, £1.30 ish in Wilkinsons) in turquoise and red. I won't confuse you by posting the FINAL product!







♥ And here's how the swirly pattern looks inside. Imagine if it was mint green and pastel purple or something. Gorgeous!









Happy Tuesday, everybody!



♥

Wardrobe wake up: Day 1!

If you caught my post yesterday, you'll have witnessed the exact moment I decided to challenge myself to make more of an effort with my outfits. Every day this week, I'm going to dress in a different style, using only the clothes I currently have. I feel like I wear the same type outfits, day in day out, so I really want to wake up my wardrobe and start wearing more of it! I think this will be quite a hard challenge because very recently I chucked loads of clothes away or up in the loft. So I don't actually have many clothes to hand! But I'm going to give it a go anyway :)

Today I went for a flirty 50's look. It put such a spring in my step at work being all dressed up, and I had a really nice day as a result!



(playsuit - miss selfridge, belt - new look, cardi - primark, pumps - primark)

Im trying to think of what to wear tomorrow... perhaps sporty... but I really would be scraping the barrel, wardrobe-wise! Do comment me any style suggestions and I will raid the wardrobe and see what I can create!

♥

PS - Just noticed I'm a kitten's whisker away from 600 followers! Bloody heck! Thanks so much to all of you that follow the blog. I think you're quite literally the shit... Just realised that's actually an insult. You're just awesome, okay? x

Lazy Day

Bonjour!

Are you having a lovely weekend? Mine has been a chilled affair. Yesterday I baked a cake for our friend William's birthday, and then we went to his house and hung out. And ate the cake. It was amazing (Pics and recipe to come on Tuesday!).

Rather than show you my boring old outfit (t-shirt and shorts, if you must know!), I thought I'd show you some much more interesting ones from the interweb, found during my last hour of blog-trawling. A lot of the outfits I like are so unlike my usual laid-back style. It's hard to pull off certain looks with my hairstyle, I think. But after seeing some of the cool outfits below, I am feeling really inspired to try some new things. I used to be really experimental but am in a bit of a funk at the moment. A comfy, casual funk. I really want to mix it up a bit more.

Okay, this is total stream of thought blogging happening right now, but I've just had an idea! I am going to challenge myself to wear a different 'style' every day this week. Grunge, ladylike, androgynous, 50's... I'm going to do it all! It's time I mixed things up a bit more, and even if things don't suit me, at least I can say I tried! Feel free to comment and leave me ideas of looks to try? I'm all excited now!

Bugger, this post wasn't meant to be all about me! Onto the cool dudes: (click to enlarge)










(Top to Bottom: glamcanyon, gademode, facehunter, hipster musings, yeye style blog, work it berk, style sightings, I can't remember, hedvig)

♥

Ps - Another pub quiz tonight... We came joint 3rd last week! Hoping to better our score this week... Wish us luck!

[EDIT: We WON the pub quiz! Woohoo!! We won a crate of beer, some vouchers for the milkshake shop in town and some packs of sweets! Tempted to rename the blog Genius Fatale!]

Beside the seaside!

Alex and I went to Whitstable with his parents today. I love Whitstable, it's where I spent my birthday. I didn't take many pics because it was raining a lot of the time and I didn't want to damage my cam! I have quickly edited these in Picnik, trying out different levels of sepia and vignette, so excuse the inconsistency! Feel free to tell me which effect you like best or give me any Picnik pointers!

Here's what I wore:



Here's what I saw:

Woolly Bicycles outside a cute indie/DIY type gift shop!!




Flower filled ornamental bike and a floral wheelie bin! Too cute!



Here's what I bought:




(Address book and 5 packs of Frosties for us and our friends to scoff during Big Brother tonight!)

Oh and here's my new mobile phone! It's a Nokia C6. I'd been holding out for the Xperia Mini Pro (it's adorbs) but the T-mobile lady cajoled me into getting this one instead because the Xperia got recalled due to signal probs... I'm disappointed I didn't get the phone I truly wanted but I've been making it mine all evening with apps and things. I love the keyboard on it. I'll be a tweet and text machine! So I guess that's all that matters.



Off for my nightly date with Big brother! Hope you're having a lovely Friday night!

♥