OOTD: No place for heroes

Crochet Open Back Skater Dress (worn back to front) - Chicwish | Embellished Ankle Boots - ASOS | Silver Necklace & Bracelet - gifted. 

I spent this afternoon enjoying what's left of the sunshine in my new dress from Chicwish (it's more of a 'going out' dress but I was so far beyond excited when it arrived I couldn't take it off). Hmm but what's this? Oh that's right, I'm wearing it backwards - which was totally intentional and not the least bit by accident ¬.¬ yeeeah... Universe: 237989 Me: 0. On the plus side now I have two dresses in one, not like I don't wear enough black dresses already (what am I saying? a girl can never have too many LBD's). I also took some photos to show what it looks like 'the right way' round, I love the subtle way the crochet peeks out, one thing I don't love though is how gross my hair looks up, blaaah, c'est la vie.

What I Used To Wear

Last month the beautiful Ellie over at "Ellie's Favourite Things" did a post like this and in true blogger style I thought I'd try to make it a trend and do one too (you're welcome universe). One of the best, and sometimes worst, parts of blogging is having a visual diary to remind you of how your style's changed over the years so I thought I'd look back to embarrass myself and show you what my style was like between then and now.

I was one of those unfortunate girl babies who looked like a boy so my mum would put giant bows in my hair to end the confusion. However, this way of thinking was lost 3 years later when my brother was born and our mum decided to dress us like twins. Being a girl this never worked in my favour. She was never gona put my brother in a dress, so up until I turned 7 it was all shorts, polo shirts and corduroy trousers (with matching hats ofc). By the time I was thirteen I'd hit the obligatory teen emo phase, or as Ellie accurately called it "discovering the black section in Claire's Accessories". I was always in jeans and had an extensive collection of fingerless gloves which went with absolutely everything. We'd listen to heavy rock music, hung around the stone lion statues in the square and idealized Kurt Cobain, we were cool. 

In school I used to have plaits and wear glasses with an oh-so glamorous nose guard, which as you could guess made me reeeally popular. The plaits were generally how people would identify me since from the age of six to sixteen that's how my hair would look EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. It got so out of hand my friend Amy drew this little comic strip in my year book demanding I lose the plaits before college or she'd burn them off with acid (this was a joke... I think). The colourful hoody phase came about when I was about 15/16; whilst school ruled my weekdays I spent every weekend at the ice rink, wearing leg warmers and skater-style dresses. Coincidentally most of my clothes were from New Look (as I didn't realize any other shops on the high street existed :P). By the time I started college I was already addicted to Gossip Girl and started dressing like a combination of Jenny Humphrey and Blair Waldorf. I called it my vintage phase as I'd just discovered the joys of thrifting in charity shops and wore a blazer with practically everything cuz I thought it made me instantly sophisticated.

Eighteen came with the indie throwback phase, I was trying to go for 'girly grunge', which to me translated as wearing hobo boots and floral dresses beneath an over sized denim shirt. Dip-dyed hair had just become a trend but me and my friend Abi were too chicken to actually go through with doing it permanently so we started spraying the ends of our hair pink(ish)/purple with this really cheap colouring we got from Superdrug. The colour was barely noticeable, it smelt like strawberries but made my hair feel like straw so that didn't exactly last long... Eventually I took the plunge and got my hair dip-dyed blonde and I absolutely love it!I figured the colour showed up best over black and that's when the all-black-all-the-time phase kicked off (hmm, can I really call it a phase if I'm still in it?) It wasn't even intentional, I just love wearing black... and topshop, oh topshop. 90% of my wardrobe is from there, which some people would frown upon although I don't know why, I just love their clothes and I like to think they love me too - although maybe not as much as my mum loved making me wear this...

Aha I actually look like a doll ^.^ Soo that's my style chronicle so far, if you've got any embarrassing style stories of your own or fancy doing a post like this I'd love to see it, literally anything would make me feel better after looking back over the dreaded nose guard days *shudders*.

HOW TO: Galaxy Nails // Pylones ring

I love anything and everything galaxy related (from stars to chocolate bars... ooh now I want chocolate, damn it brain). Anywhoo, I did a Galaxy Nails how-to forever ago and felt like trying it again (with purple instead of blue this time so it's totally different okay ;P) I was inspired by this image of the Carina nebula [via]. I decided to use Barry M nail polish as they're quick drying, well pigmented and come in an amazing range of colours, plus they're really inexpensive which is always a win.
Sooo quickfire tutorial time; I started with a clear basecoat, painted all my nails black, then sponged some purple ontop about halfway down the nail. When that dried I dabbed some pink polish onto the edges to create a more tonal effect and finished with a coat of glitter. Eh voila!
I always get compliments when I do this but it really isn't too complicated, just a little time consuming waiting for the polish to dry between layers. I also find it useful to do a coat of clear afterwards to preserve it, or sometimes add a second coat of glitter.
The specific shades I used for this were; Barry M' 47 black, 302 fuchsia, 303 bright purple, and Rimmel lasting finish in "disco ball".

I also wanted to show you this ring I bought from a little shop on Carnaby Street. It has tiny fragments of enamel encased inside a glass cube. It's made by a French brand called 'Pylones', who also have a similar range with coloured ink trapped inside. Check them out on their website here.

OOTD: Reclaimed Vintage Varsity Jacket

Vintage Varsity Jacket - ASOS (mens) | Burgundy dress & Tights - ASOS | London belt - Topshop. 

Not the usual photo layout but there was so much clutter in the background I had to go portrait, blaha, sure you all wanted to know that...
Anywhoo I just received this awesome varsity jacket from ASOS mens. I got it in XS which is still massive (cuz it was designed for men after all) but I prefer my jackets over sized so it's cool. It doesn't look as it was pictured on the website at all, which was confusing, but I think the thing about reclaimed vintage is that they source old recycled fabrics so nothing's ever strictly identical, which is kinda cool when you think about it. The thing I love best about this jacket has to be the tapestry print sleeves; they make me look like I've macho man arms though which I should hate but idk, doing years of figure skating's given me super toned legs and arms as limp as spaghetti, so this way I can at least look like I have muscle when in reality I can't even push a door open (yes, it's actually that bad). Anywayz I think this jacket's a great way to wear florals whilst avoiding the typical summer floral cliches, as it's a little grunge but still casual enough not to fit under any one style. My mum thinks it looks like something Oliver Proudlock from Made In Chelsea would wear. If you don't know who I mean check out his blog - I really wish I knew of more male style bloggers out there. If you are / know of any good ones leave me a link in the comments as that would be wunderbar.

In other news, I'm performing at the fringe festival next month - which I'm super excited about, so I've been busy learning lines and stuff for that.
I've also started writing music more, which is something I don't really talk about to people as I know I'm no good (and I'm not being modest here) but eh I still love it, even though I probably drive my family and anybody within a mile radius crazy, ew yeahh... 'til next time guys!

Follow me on bloglovin'

 

Agggh, hey guys, soo Google reader effectively dies tomorrow and it would be absolutely ace if you followed me on bloglovin' to keep up with future posts. I don't know how badly it's gona affect everyone but I guess it's better to be safe. To everyone whose already followed me on there thank you so so much, I love you and I promise this isn't the end (of blogging... the universe may still cave in on us and whatever but if it's any consolation you can blame the economy or something.)

Soo anyway for more terrible puns ands awkward wardrobe poses go ahead and click the link below, or if reverse psychology's your thing then do absolutely anything other than click that link, go on I dares ya...  

 

 

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