The Girly Peplum! :)

Last night, I finally caught up on the first episode of Mr Selfridge and I love it (and him). For those of you who aren't aware, Selfridges is a major department store in the UK. The ITV drama tells the story of how a very charming and clever American man, Mr Selfridge came to the UK to build and open what he envisioned to be the grandest and most exciting store in the world, right here on Oxford Street. The first episode seemed to move quickly and I'm already quite intrigued about a few different parts of the plot. Obviously the drama takes place about a century ago and the detail in setting and costume seems extraordinary as well as all those extras (Am I the only one in the UK who didn't get a part?!).

All those frills and floaty numbers reminded me that I still haven't shown you one of my favourite Christmas gifts this year. Yes, the ASOS Petite Peplum Top in Cream. I adore this chiffon top. I first noticed it when Laura (Buy Now, Blog Later) featured it. It looked so pretty on her. Admittedly everything does but what got me was that this top is petite and therefore, might actually fit me well too. I do like a good fashion blog but so often, when I go to try the goods in store, the fitting is rubbish on my strange body and it looks all wrong and as far from the gorgeous, stylish fashion bloggers as you can get. What can I say, stunning garments seem to morph in to something else on me!

Anyway, deep breath, rant over.

I was saying how I wondered if this pretty little top might be different as it is from the ASOS petite collection and in theory, should fit me like a glove and yes, it did! Woo.

Yes, I will be cleaning my mirror today!

I love this top. I've been a fan of the peplum since they hit the fashion radar last year but I have to be careful as sometimes, the peplum can be temperamental. I would say that the peplum is more a savvy, stylish fashion trend (which can also add a couple pounds if you're not careful) rather then a pretty, feminine one.

Until now, my peplum tops have not been the first things that I've turned to in my wardrobe when I've wanted to be girly or alluring but this little cream number is the embodiment of such things.

The double layered peplum which actually starts higher then most, is actually very light and floats and swirls as I move making me feel very girly and skippy (Is skippy an adjective?). And that is not all, this top has 3/4 length sleeves. Bingo wings, be gone!!! The material is sheer but wearable with the right underwear and just hints at the skin underneath. While the pleating detail on the front and back just adds a slightly more modern and contemporary edge to the top keeping it on the right side of feminine and classy and making me feel like a 'nice girl!'

I really like this top and am seriously now considering getting it in the black as both the cream and black have been reduced by about £12 in the ASOS sale. That is unless you all beat me to it. This is the link.

In the meantime, I'm also very tempted to get this Top Shop vest in electric blue. You regular readers will know I have quite a collection of Top Shop vests (this post, this post) they are so easy to wear and very flattering. Well, this is the latest spin on the versatile number. The same vest with lace panelling down the back, prrrreettyyyyy. The only thing that is stopping me, is the price, another £28 on a Top Shop vest top. I must have spent hundreds on these by now.

What garment are you loving at the moment? Did you catch Mr Selfridge? Happy weekend everybody and just in case, the weather forecasters are right, happy snow days!!!
 

LOTD 1: Sass and Bide Clothes

So, I'm sure that I have mentioned the lovely Louise from 'Sprinkle of Glitter' once or twice before, I LOVE her blog and You Tube videos.

Louise has just created a feature on her blog called 'Love of the Day'. For ten weeks, she is going to blog daily about one thing that she loves and she has invited us to join her. What a fab idea! I think, I'm going to give this a shot!!!

So, today is the first official day of #LOTD and the topic of the day is Clothes.

Click here to find out more about 'Love of the Day'!

Yay, thank you, Louise!

I now have the perfect excuse to share with you a pretty, pretty top (when it comes to clothes and me, it ALWAYS comes back to pretty tops, usually vest style!) that I have been lusting over this last week or so. Honestly, I have been logging on every day, sometimes two or three times, to swoon over this little number.

Image from the Ebay listing here.

Sigh, isn't she gorgeous?! If it wasn't for the fact that yet again my car has 'broke' then I swear, this beauty would have been winging her way over to me by now.

She is a sample piece from Sass and Bide currently for sale on Ebay, find the listing here (and let me know if you're sassy enough to get her).

Let me list a few of the things I love about her:
- She is asymmetrical and one shouldered, a combination which always shows just enough flesh to be alluring and flattering.
- She is so versatile. I'd imagine, you could wear her with jeans, leggings, skirts or hot pants (if you so desire) and look equally stylish.
- All those sequins, who can resist a bit of sparkle? I love the fact that again the 'twinkle' factor is balanced. The black jersey base works the sequins well and keeps the top on the right side of OTT.
Also as the Ebayer states, much of Sass and Bides' current collection features sequins so she is 'on trend'.

While we're talking Sass and Bide, I also adore this simple but very cute 'Pause for Thought Tank Top' that I spy on the Harvey Nichols website (listed with a sale price of £42).

Image from the Harvey Nichols site here.

I love the way it appears to hang and the way, the circle of sequined embellishment will be just enough to catch eyes!

What clothes item are you lusting over or cherishing deep?

X

PS If you would like to join in with the LOTD (go on!:) ) then hop over to Louise's blog to find out more.

The New Look summer vest!

You know, how I can conjure up almost any excuse to shop! Well, due to the lovely sunshine, we've had recently, I've found it even easier then normal to justify my latest splurge. In order to fully embrace the rays, a quick sharp injection of summer for my wardrobe was required and that is exectly what my latest purchase from New Look has provided.

I can assure you that this hot pink (the Canon has not captured just how bright, this top is) vest is much more flattering on my pale complexion then any fake tan and instantly, transports my mind to long sunny days and sandy shores.

We all know that my colour journey only recently began and although, this top is bright, bright, bright, I do feel very comfortable wearing it. I think, the soft knit takes the edge off and just makes it so adorable. It may be that this top looks better then it feels in real tropical acclimes but lets face it, as sunny as it is here in the Uk at the moment, it is hardly sweltering and anything that adds to summer illusions is welcome in my world.

I should also mention that for me longline is the way to go as far as vest tops are concerned, I find them so much more flattering. Of course, price is always important and this little number is just £9.99 and comes in a number of different colours (link) although I can't see my colour online!

I hope you are all ok, thank you for all the tags recently. They mean a lot. Again *head down in shame*, I'm sorry for the lack of posts, it all just comes down to time and I'm really lacking it lately. I'm hoping to write a few shorter posts today (Ha, that will be interesting. Long rambles are generally more my style.) and scheduling them to ease myself back in to the blogging habit.

Are you enjoying the sun, what have you been purchasing lately? I think, a decent pair of sunglasses are next on my list! Any suggestions?

X

The Metallic Tops from Quiz!

Remember how last week, shopping wasn't happening. Well, this week it has been on the up a little again. Yay!

I went back to Quiz to try on the metallic scalloped vest again. This time I decided that it does in fact fit me but is just very low cut at the front which isn't really my thing but the top is just so gorgeous so could be worth venturing out of my comfort zone for and at the very least, I know that I will get my moneys worth  layering this one up. Note: When you walk in to Quiz, you realise how expensive some of the other bigger high street chains are.

It looks such a simple little vest but when you think about the design carefully. You can see how bang 'on trend' it is right now.

It is metallic (but without hundreds and thousands of itchy, heavy sequins) with almost snakeskin effect scalloping. The edges are also scalloped. Blimey, I could almost be in "fashion" with this one yet none of this detailing shouts at you and when all these trends are all but a distant memory then this top (if it lasts a wash or two) will, indeed, still be a very pretty top and wearable.

So, given that, it makes sense to grab anything similar. Which, of course, I did and here is the Tee Shirt version.

I'm hoping that the bulge is a belt or something and not my stomach!

I like this one. A lot. I feel a bit safer wearing it. The high neck saves my modesty and this one can be thrown on with little thought for a similar bang on trend, fashionista result.

In other news, I got my HD brows done last night. I was very excited about them and the definition my new brows has is quite striking. In fact, all made up last night, the strength of them was quite overwhelming but I think once I get used to them, they will become my own and I will love the structure and polish they add to my face. My favourite thing so far is just how much cleaner the entire eye area looks.

Will you be notching up the metallic factor as Christmas approaches? What brow look do you go for? Have a good weekend!

X

The Cute Cardi!

Today, I'm sitting in waiting for a delivery. Hurry up! So I thought I would make the best of it and show you what I have been pairing with my new navy TopShop vest (that I posted yesterday) in a look that falls very much within my comfort zone.

This is the sequin yarn cropped cardi from New Look and it is so darn cute. The New Look website really does not do it justice. It is basically a slightly cropped black cardi with little sequins randomly thrown in the mix to give the look a little twinkle.

I can imagine wearing this cardi with almost all of my tops (after all, the black cardi is my staple! I find them so much more fitting and flattering then jumpers.) but I particularly like wearing it with this navy one and some jeans. Black and navy has the potential (like a lot in my wardrobe) to provide an express ticket to Boreville but here, the vest and jeans provide the outfit with a nice neat base and then the black sparkly cardi just looks that much more pretty and seems to twinkle more over such a simple ensemble and colour scheme.

Cute, cosy and best of all effortless, you ain't going to hear me complaining about that!

And just in case, you're wondering this is the River Island coat that I really wish I had to throw on over my twinkly  ensemble when I eventually get out today. I've been swooning over this coat online at least once a day for the last three or four days but do I really need another coat, especially one as frivolous as this?!

Do you work the sequins and wear a little bit of sparkle sometimes?

X

A scentastic confession or two!

Now I have mentioned, my intentions to shop the perfume collection (see The Perfume Post!) that I already have before buying any more scents.

Er, yeah, right, you know what they say about good intentions and all that . . !

To be honest, the perfume whore that I am, was always deemed to break this little pledge and yes, indeed, I have failed and what's more, I did so, in a pretty pathetic manner succombing to temptation not once but twice.

So lets meet my achilles heels, scent-style!

Firstly, we have the original Jimmy Choo fragrance which I brought just month or so ago. Now this one was on my wishlist for a while. When it was released, there was a lot of hype and many positive posts and reviews floating around. In my mind, it became a perfume that I would definitly possess soon and the time has come.

This perfume is meant to be a fruity chypre. It includes some quite unusual notes such as Tiger Orchard, Toffee and Pear Nectar. I find it comparable to Gucci, Flora in that it feels quite a sophisticated scent to wear. I know that Fleur De Force felt it was perhaps too sweet and it certainly does have sweet notes but I don't find them too overdone or cheap smelling. I find the sweetness flutters happily among the deeper Indian Patchouli base note. It is certainly a scent I would feel comfortable wearing to dinner and is one that I have worn shopping Gucci, Flora (see a review of Flora here) style a couple of times. This perfume is a joy to wear and just makes me feel a bit more ladylike. Also of note, is the long amount of time that a spray or two of this scent lingers on your skin. This perfume is more or less the embodiment of how I imagine a fragrance should be which might be why I, already, have so little left.

Secondly, I have purchased Lady Million again. To be honest, it is now November and consequently, stocking up on this fabulous fragrance was inevitable. Yes, after raving about this perfume last October (here), I continued to wear it day after day until it ran out. Consequently, Lady Million has become my designated Autumn scent. I really do love this one and I think, it has got to be in my top three perfumes of all time. The heart notes consist of neroli, arabian jasmine and orange flower with top notes of bitter orange and fleshy raspberry and base notes of vibrant patcholi and honey.

It has being hyped as a perfume for excess and wealth. According to The Perfume Shop, the best is never enough for the woman that adorns this.

Hmmm, she sounds a bit scary.

However, I don't feel like a power freak or a superstar bitch wearing it. Indeed, its scent is unique and unmistakable but I feel warm, happy and glowy wearing this number. It is heavy and deep but still very pretty and again, long lasting. Although Lady Million is particulary suited to darker nights and this time of year, it is a perfume I would happily wear anytime doing anything. Normally, I put scents in to certain situation or mood categories. For example, I would wear Ghost to a job interview or dinner but I would never wear it to a music festival. However, with Lady Million, I really do think it is a scent that you can get away with anywhere. I really can not recommend sniffing this one out if you get the chance, it is so gorgeous and I have never smelt a scent like it which is why if I had to pick between the two, Lady Million beats Jimmy Choo. Still thank goodness, I haven't had to make that choice and they have both become welcome additions to a collection that never seems to shrink!

Although, lets take a moment, to give me a little credit. Yes, I blatantly broke my oath but with all the pre-christmas perfume promo out there, I have probably resisted temptation ten times over to shop a scent or two. A little pat on the back then, maybe?!

- In other news, my perfume collection is not the only collection blooming. I've also added to my TopShop vest collection (you can see my earlier rave here) with a navy blue.

They are not the cheapest vests but honestly, they are so verstatile and easy to wear. More often then not, I have being wearing the pink or dirty green one so it just made common sense to pick another one up when fate threw it in to my line of sight.

You can view the top on the TopShop site here.

- As for the reading fest, I'm still on it. . . just about! However, I'm not finishing the books as quickly as I'd hoped. I never realised how much I must have read commuting from A to B in the past. Now, that I get myself there and back, I realise I don't have as much time to read. However, I'm doing my best and I'm just about to finish Matched by Allie Condie.

This has been an easy book to pick up (when I do find the time). I'm a sucker for a love story and I'm also a bit guilty of doing the 'what if' so I like the questions that Matched throws up about society as a whole. The detail that Condie has put in to her alternative world is immense, the prose flows very well and there are also some ocassional paragraphs or lines which really resonate with meaning. It won't take much effort for me to read the last 70 pages or so tonight and then I get to pick my next book to read from all of these.

Lately I have become a bit of a magpie when it comes to books. Most of these are unread relics purchased years ago or purchases from charity shops (Matched was £1.49!). I can not recommend picking up your books in charity shops enough. Books seem to have made a bit of a comeback recently and are getting a lot of hype in the media. You can walk in to any charity shop and find, almost immediatly, several current bestsellers and book club/blogger favourites for about a quarter of the cover price. I got The Help and Room from an Amazon, Love Film offer but I've seen them in nearly every charity shop I've been in recently. In one charity shop, I spotted a book I read earlier in the year which I'm not sure I've mentioned here, No and Me by Delphine de Vigan. It was such a sweet book, short but paced beautifully. Recommend!
- I do admit to buying 'The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten' Julian Baggini from Waterstones this week after seeing Gemma's fantastic book haul. This book will get my brain in to gear and sounds right up my my street. It presents you with all these different thought scenarios like, 'Is it ok to eat meat?' then puts some 'ifs' in to the equation such as 'Is it ok to eat meat if the pig wants to be eaten?' I can be a bit of a geek sometimes and get a bit of 'rush' from debates such as these so hopefully I'll love this book as much as I love the Sunday Herald quote on the back,
'. . .It's one to which I'll keep returning- whenever I feel like an argument and have nobody to argue with.'


Any plans for the weekend? As usual, any book or scent recommendations welcome. Inbetween fireworks and Chocolate Brek (another Autumn fad, I'm virtually living on the stuff at the moment), I'm hoping to get a few posts written. I've got some purchases from TopShop and New Look to share with you all as well as a few beauty and hair treats.


Oh and I nearly forgot, this is another 'To Do' this weekend, I will find some suitable products and master this make up look from Pixiwoo. Absolutely stunning!

X