Weekend Wear: Two of Hearts

 

On Friday night we went to The Lansdowne Bar & Kitchen for dinner. It's one of these really great local places that never disappoints and I always enjoy my visits. It's got a great atmosphere - somewhere between stylish and laid-back and the staff are super friendly, rocking a smile and a pair of Vans. For Friday's visit to The Lansdowne I wore this Topshop dress - I got it for my birthday last year and have worn it a few times before. I love everything about it - the cut, the bold colour and, of course, the cheekily placed hearts! Plus, the material is very light (actually a little too light if a car whizzes past too quickly, haha!) so it was a pleasure to wear it out on such a balmy evening.

Clearly last weekend's leg baring did not end in disaster and I took it up a notch this time by wearing (for the first time EVER) heels with my bare legs. I've overheard girls talking this week about not wanting to bare their legs without tanning them first, but I must say it's never really crossed my mind. I'm sure my moonbeam stems will make even the palest legs look a bit bronzed though (maybe I should make myself available for a small fee to come and stand next to you if you have pin paranoia...). I wore these Irregular Choice stars n' stripes heels and felt the 'Wonder Woman' effect of having such kick-ass shoes on as I walked strutted into The Lansdowne.

Jewellery-wise, I kept things very simple and wore a couple of rings by Thomas Sabo and Topshop. Never one to go outside without something on my head, I chose a black cat ears Alice band by Diva. Purr-fect (sorry, couldn't resist).

While walking to and from the restaurant I wore my favourite new sunglasses - my tortoiseshell Dickies cat eye frames. I love that this sunny weather has given me so many opportunities to rock my sunglasses - I buy so many pairs and grab any opportunity to wear them!

We had a lovely meal and it was fun to get all dressed up and go out with The Boy and the family - the perfect start to the weekend.

What did you wear this weekend? What did you get up to? Have you ever felt the 'Wonder Woman' effect from a pair of shoes?

June Round Up

I can't believe I'm posting a photo summary for June already! This year is flying in, I swear it only feels like I've started these posts and now I'm onto June! I hope you've had a fabulous June full of sunshine and laughter (or if you are in Glasgow, enjoyed those couple of bursts of sunshine when we had them...). This month for me was full of excitement: an awesome anniversary trip to London, seeing Bruce Springsteen at Hampden, catching up with old friends and making new ones, celebrating two of my besties turning 30 and some epic cinema dates.

Here's a quick recap in pictures of my month of June...

1. Snapping Edinburgh Castle like a tourist (it is magical-looking though...)  2. Pretty lights in Hummingbird's Posh Room  3. Another lunch at SmOAK @ Sanctuary  4. 12 years with this guy

5. Because we just can't resist a vintage photo booth  6. Do More of What Makes You Happy

7. The Hoxton restrooms were MADE for selfies  8. The Breakfast Club (best brunch ever)

9. Wise words from Pure Evil Gallery  10. Busting out the Lanvin x H&M bag for a birthday party

11. SQUEAK! New shoes  12. "It's almost Boss Time" excitement at Hampden Stadium

13. Serious vogue-ing on Buchanan Street  14. New JuJu shoes & art underfoot

15. French sweeties & a new hair bow  16. Sushi platter lunch at Ichiban

17. Just doing the E-Street Shuffle...  18. This month's SMAC selection - 4 Cheese 'til I die!

Most of these pictures were posted to my Instagram and Twitter accounts - @misswestendgirl - please do come on over and say hello!

The end of June (I'm sure you're heard) also marks the end of Google Friend Connect/ Google Reader. Just when I was getting the hang of it! Anyway, like so many others I have migrated over to Bloglovin and would love it if you could follow me there. Let's not lose touch, baby! You can find my blog over at: http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/2531729/westendgirl

How has YOUR June been? What have you been up to? Ever had the urge to vogue in the street?

Thanks for reading!

WestEndGirl x

Holiday Wear: Orange Sherbet

As I was not around to blog my usual Weekend Wear posts, I thought I would pick one outfit from my holiday and write a post on that instead! This is an outfit I wore at some point in the second week of our trip and aside from the glasses and hair flower, it was comprised of new purchases I made during the holiday (who wants to read about my Primark shorts and tee shirt combos anyway?), yay!

Let's take a moment to talk about this dress. It is ORANGE! Like, borderline neon orange. I have never worn anything so bright since my mum stopped dressing me as a kid (there were a lot of Lion King-esque ensembles when I was ten, let's not talk about that though...) and as a teenage goth I never thought I would wear something so bright ever again. It is the second orange frock I have bought in recent times (teenage me would be rolling her kohl-plastered eyes in disgust) and waaaay out of my comfort zone. But! I really like this dress. The cut is seriously cute and the white print (all moons and shooting stars) reminds me of Lucky Charms. So even though it is very bright, I was still drawn to it. The Boy deemed it as approved, declaring it "something a cartoon character would wear" - he always knows just what to say. I have Christened it the 'Orange Sherbet'.

The dress is from JC Penney (or JCP as they are now rebranded as), a large US department store. JCP have introduced some new designer-name collections to their store (think H! By Henry Holland at Debenhams, same kind of concept here) including Lulu Guinness, Betsey Johnson and Nanette Lepore. This dress is part of Nanette Lepore's L'Amour collection for JCP, and I managed to get it in the clearance section which made it even sweeter (I'd have paid full price for it anyway).

I paired the dress with my new Levi's studded denim vest (bought from the Levi's outlet) which I customised with a few pins that I had with me until I got it home to my full magpie-like range of pins, button badges and brooches. This broke up the bright orange a little and I had been dying to wear my new vest anyway so it was a win-win for me!

My hair flower and faithful heart-shaped glasses are from H&M (every girl needs a pair of heart-shaped sunnies...) and I did my 'holiday mani' nails a few days before using OPI's Strawberry Margarita, Sinful Colours' Crystal Clear glitter with a Hello Kitty for Sephora decal on my ring fingers. The result was a bright pink, glittery, kawaii dream - exactly what I was going for.

It was very, very warm and sunny that day (and every day that fornight) so tights were out of the question. I know, I know! I don't actually wear tights in Florida, I go with my bare legs and let my self-consciousness fly out the window for a few weeks. Who's have thunk it, eh? They would have dissolved in the heat though! I had bought two pairs of Vans trainers while at the outlets (perfect summer footwear, so light and comfy) and could not resist the uber-glitter goodness of these shoes! They remind me of Columbia from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, so it really didn't take much else to persuade me to buy them. As I was wearing such an eye-catching dress I really had no clue which shoes to wear, nothing seemed to match or was subtle enough, and black just looked weird. So I decided to fight fire with fire, or at least, glitter!

I wore this wee outfit to go bowling at Splitsville Luxury Lanes, which is new at Downtown Disney, and later that night we played mini golf (so much better in the cooler evenings compared to during the day). We had a blast!

Do you rock the orange sherbet look? What is your latest dress purchase? Have you ever fought fire with glitter?

Thanks for reading!

Pay Day Treats

I can't believe it's April already! March seemed to disappear in a heartbeat and before I knew it, it was chocolate egg time. Crazy. March was a very busy month so apologies for the lack of activity. A lot has been happening - most notably a change of job/ career to get used to (a good choice - touch wood - as I'm really enjoying it so far) and new hair which also takes getting used to (again quite a jump from what I had before...somewhere between Fabienne from Pulp Fiction and a 'lego man' bob, love it).

At the end of the month I treated myself to a few new goodies as a reward for taking the plunge. Since the "show off your haul" style of blog posts is becoming increasingly popular I thought I would have a go as well*, so here are the highlights of my end of the month goodies...

 

Blue lace dress, £15, Primark

Having seen coloured lace dresses on everyone from Daisy Lowe to Kelly Osbourne for the last few months, I wanted to try this look out for myself. The great thing about coloured lace is it really suits every skin tone as there is a colour and cut of dress for everyone. I opted for this royal blue skater-style dress from Primark. At only £15 it certainly didn't break the bank and the nipped-in waist and full skirt makes for a good silhouette. I wore mine with a red lip and nail combo for a bit of 1950s chic. Even though the dress was inexpensive the lace is really intricate and really the only thing I didn't like about the dress was the cheap PVC belt it came with (I replaced it with my own studded skinny belt). It also comes in mint green which would go great with darker skin tones.

 

Pink heart print dress, £13, Primark

Dress number 2! At this point I was on a roll and couldn't resist this cute little number. A few weeks ago the Boy and I spotted this dress in white, at which I huffed "that would be great if it didn't come in white". Et voila! It now comes in pink! Black and pink is my favourite colour combo, I don't mind looking like a liquorice allsort, especially when it involves kitsch prints like hearts. Again, despite the low price there is real attention to detail - like the bows on the pockets and button-up top. Who says 13 is an unlucky number?

Pink car print skirt, £15 (reduced from £30), River Island

Months ago, I had seen Prada's new prints for SS12 and fallen in love. The colours! The Grease-inspired retro prints! The co-ordinating guys n' gals pieces (including a very well-shot campaign featuring Michael Pitt)! It was all too much. At the moment I can't really justify spending what Prada are asking for, but one thing was for sure - I wanted some of that print! I was convinced that it wouldn't be too long before copycat pieces would start to appear on the high street, and I wasn't wrong. River Island have knocked the ball out of the park with this race car print skirt, a short yet full (perfect for twirling) 1950s inspired piece. I snapped it up faster than you could say vroom vroom.  The skirt comes with a great detachable oversized bow belt too!

Prada's print - a gal can dream

River Island's take (at a fraction of the price)

This month I also managed to get a pair of Topshop's sell-out Vectra 3 studded slipper flats. I made the silly mistake of seeing them when they first came out and thought "they're nice...I'll come back for them later". Bad move. They quickly became one of Topshop's best selling styles of the year (so far) and even had people on eBay flogging them for twice the price. Gutted. Luckily, the lovely girls working in Topshop let me know that they were expecting a small delivery of them last week and put aside a pair for me. Score!

My studded Vectra 3 beauties, £28, Topshop

It could be the influence of the many beauty blogs that I follow (although I have always been a sucker for make-up) but I also treated myself to some new products recently. I had been hotly anticipating the UK release of Revlon Colourburst Lip butters - a product that had caused a frenzy in the states - and couldn't wait to try them for myself. Believe the hype - these bad boys not only offer a range of gorgeous and well-pigmented colours, but they also condition and hydrate your lips. Much better than a tinted lip balm if you are looking for a lipstick look that does the job of a high-end lip conditioner. When I purchased my two shades (Cupcake & Sweet Tart - all the colours are named after sweet treats, very cute!), they were in a 2 for £10 offer at Boots - this offer isn't on at the moment but the Lip Butters are currently in a 3 for 2 deal if you are looking to stock up or try a few different shades for yourself.

Finally got my hands on them - Revlon Colourburst Lip Butters, £7.99 each at Boots

Another new product that I have been looking forward to the release of is Benefit's new Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation. There are a few things about this product that get my attention. Firstly, it's an SPF 25 foundation - not too common in a lot of foundations and when it comes to SPF my motto is "the higher, the better". I won't even entertain a foundation with no SPF. I also really like the range of shades available as I previously haven't been able to wear most Benefit foundations as they are too dark for my skin. The foundation comes in 9 shades (including 2 shades of ivory - one with pinker undertones and one with more yellow undertones - brilliant attention to skin tone that I usually only get on a visit to MAC) and the Benefit assistant was very helpful finding one to match me (and also gave me  some samples of other products to take home). The foundation also offers built-in skincare with vitamins C&E and a unique oil-free hydrating complex which can't be a bad thing!  The foundation is £24.50 and available at all the usual Benefit concessions.

Some of the other products I've been trying out this month are: Nail Rock nail wraps (the Marmite of the nail world, I personally love rocking the nail wraps), Models Own Beetlejuice nail polishes (so it's not just a clever name), Katy Perry for Eylure false eyelashes in Oh, My! (these are hands down the best false lashes I've ever used), and No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream for Dry/ Very Dry skin (I have been a bit slow to jump on the BB cream bandwagon, but what I like about these No7 ones is that they have different ones depending on your skin type).

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation (£24.50), Models Own Beetlejuice nail polishes (£5 each), and sample of Benefit's Total Moisture face cream -  all from Boots

Meadham Kirchhoff nail wraps (£7) at Topshop

So it has been a busy month for me and my bank card! What have you been treating yourself to this month?

* - sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, my Blackberry camera is pretty poor and doesn't have a flash!

Getting the look: The Artist

This week I went to see The Artist at the cinema after having it on my to-do list since I read about it a few months ago. I loved it from the opening scene, the film was full of humour, tragedy and triumph (and one hilarious dog). Being set in Hollywood's heyday of the roaring 1920's & 30's it was also a goldmine of vintage style. The outfits, created for The Artist, by seasoned movie costume designer Mark Bridges, were the icing on the cake.  Mr Bridges really managed to nail the decadent glamour of Hollywoodland. As a fan of all (well, most) things retro, I took a look at how to recreate the style depicted in The Artist for this blog post.

Let's start from the top and work our way down - beginning with hair. In the movie, leading lady Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) - along with several other females in the film - sports a short bob with tight marcel waves. Learn how to recreate retro waves at home with Belinda Hay's easy to follow hairstyle guide Style Me Vintage.

Cute flapper girl dresses with shimmying tassells and embellishment are a must for any vintage vamp and French Connection have a great selection. This Fringed Freya dress is a good starting point AND currently in the FC sale:

Fringed Freya dress, £37 (was £150) by French Connection

 Antik Batik's Embellished dress (£172 at ASOS) mixes sparkling retro glamour with light fabric - perfect for dancing (Lindy Hop, anyone?), and would look great teamed with some vintage-style stockings.

When it comes to footwear, modest heels are key to this look so leave the YSL Tribute platforms at home. Give your feet a rest in lower-heeled mary-jane styles or peeptoes while still rocking this glam look. Remember, the Hollywood vixens in films like The Artist were spending their days running around town going to auditions, and they wouldn't have got very far in teetering six-inch heels. Metallic shades or black compliment the dresses well, and Schuh have an excellent range of sweet lower-heeled shoes. My pick are these silver Forest Side Bow low  heels would go great with a flapper style dress:

Silver Forest Side Bow low  heels, £60 at Schuh

 Finally, no darling of the silver screen would be caught dead without her 'face on'. The finishing touch to really getting this look right is some retro style make-up. I looked to vintage style guru Dita Von Teese for her take on how to create a 1920's look. In her book Burlesque and the Art of the Teese, Dita explains that skin should be very pale ivory, eyes should be dark with smokey greys & blacks, lips should be rouged with wine or plum shades and nails should be worn short and painted deep crimson or deep burgundy.

To help achieve this look, I would firstly recommend a good foundation that suits your (natural) skin tone. Put down the bronzer - after all, they never had Fake Bake back in those days. A smokey eyes eyeshadow palate will give you a selection of greys and blacks - my favourites are Benefit's Smokin' Eyes (which although priced a little steeper at £28.50, will give you everything you need to create a dark, smouldering eye look, including extras like instructions, eyeliner and tweezers), and Soap & Glory's Lid Stuff palate in Smokey Dokey (a reasonably priced eyeshadow kit with 4 rich colours to play with). For lips, we are truly spoiled for choice with the vast range of dark reds available to suit all budgets - I would suggest going to department stores and high street beauty retailers and playing around with different shades/ brands until you find one that you like (for me, MAC are my go-to guys for red lippy).

Finally, I always break out my OPI nail polish in We'll Always Have Paris - a deep, dark crimson shade - when I want to unleash my inner vamp. Its rich colour is the perfect finishing touch to a vintage style look:

 

OPI nail polish in We'll Always Have Paris, RRP £10.50 at salons & selected stockists

Will you be trying out 'The Artist' look? 

Sale-ing through January

Shortly after Christmas (or, in the last few years, shortly before Christmas), people start to get excited about the sales. You would think that due to the shopping frenzy in the run-up to Christmas, people would be sick of the sight of shops and want to avoid them for a while. Of course we don't. It's just like that quote from The Godfather, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in".

It's amazing how huge red signs in shop windows can convince people that getting out of bed at 7AM (and that's if you're not planning on hitting the Next sale) is a good idea. I do enjoy a good sale, but I enjoy my bed too and this year I was especially enjoying spending time with our families. Which is why I didn't even consider hitting any sales until 29th of December. By then, most hardened sale veterans will argue that "most of the good stuff is gone", and that may be true for the most part but I still did OK. 

I wasn't looking for much this year, I wanted a cape and managed to get it, anything else was a bonus. So now  I am here writing the "here's what I got in the sales" blog.

In October 2010 I blogged about capes having a fashion moment and have fancied one ever since. Last year I had my eye on a little fur-trimmed H! By Henry Holland number, but sadly never got round to buying it. In the long run, I'm quite glad I didn't now, as I would have had less scope to buy this beauty by Monsoon in their sale:

Leo hooded cape, £42.50 (was £85) by Monsoon 

 I had spotted this cape while it was full price. With its buckle fastenings and fuzzy leopard-lined hood, it was everything I wanted in a cape. As soon as it went in the sale, I was declaring (in full Wayne Campbell mode) "it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine". Slashed at 50% off, this was my main sale purchase.

Next up was a trip to Topshop. A quick scan of the clothes rails and my interest wasn't really piqued enough to keep rummaging. There was no chance of me squeezing into a size 6 and that's always what's left in the things I like when I go to Topshop sales, however I notoriously do much better shopping for accessories in Toppers. This year was no exception: I managed to get £54 worth of swag for a mere £11. Not bad at all!

I am a huge fan of cute slipper-style flats, Topshop has really produced an excellent line in them (currently in love with Topshop's Vectra3 studded slippers). I managed to bag these bad boys for a fiver (reduced from £20):

 Wink slipper-style flats, £5 (were £20) by Topshop

I love them, but with their velvety finish I will need to wait until this horrible weather dries up to wear them. I also stocked up on 3 pairs of Topshop's colour pop cotton mix tights in green, blue and pumpkin colours. These were all reduced from £8 each to £1 each, hurrah!

The Topshop haul concluded with a little bit of homeware. I picked up this little guy; he is a candle, but I won't be lighting him. After you give them a name it's much too painful to see them melt, and he goes with my Ben de Lisi dog table lamp anyway:

 Bulldog candle, £3 (was £10) at Topshop

I managed to get some bargainous candles elsewhere that I was quite happy to light (Yankee Candles reduced to 59p and 89p in Clinton Cards of all places). Finally, not one to be outdone, The Boy managed to do pretty well himself in the sales too! He scored a denim victory over at Urban Outfitters, after scoring two pairs of jeans - one pair of Levi's and one pair of Lee jeans - for an impressive £40 all in. Both pairs would have cost £150 total at full price so it was high-fives all round.

I will no doubt pick up one or two other bits and pieces over the next few weeks. Even though I kept my sale shopping to a minimum this year, I'm still pretty happy with what I got.

What did you get in the sales?