What’s In My Bag???

Posted in accessories, handbags, my style by lifeaccordingtolea

Having checked my all the posts on here I’ve realised the blog isn’t very personal, there isn’t very much about ME in it so let’s rectify that fact right now!

I am a handbag addict – at the last count I had over 80 but am pretty sure it’s closer to 100 now. I have mostly high street bags with a few designer ones thrown in and usually have a few favourites I use more than others.I usually change my handbag every day depending on the outfit and I’ve never been able to understand these women who only own 2 or 3 bags. They have an everyday bag and one for special occasions – how is it possible to find a bag that goes with every single outfit in your wardrobe?!?! Some of my bags I haven’t used in years but would hate to give them away in case I ever did need to use them, chances of that are slim but imagine the horror if I put a new outfit together and didn’t have a bag to compliment it

My all time favourite is my Paul’s Boutique bag. I had a rant on my old blog about Paul’s Boutique as a brand and I had to wonder if I was too old to be sporting one of their bags, however, I love the classic shape of my bag and the sparkles make it a bit different. In fact I’ve never seen anybody with the same one as me.

I ❤ the leopard print lining

So for anybody who may be curious this is the junk I generally have in my bag at all/most times:

My notebook: How pretty is this?! This contains all kinda random scribblings and blog post ideas!

My purse: It’s what I refer to as a “Mummy Purse” and because it’s zebra print I loooooooove it even more. My sister gave me it for Christmas last year.

My Lulu Guinness make up bag: This holds my everyday makeup and i have a mahoosive box for the rest of the cosmetics that make my face look prettier!

My Paul’s Boutique perfume canister: I featured this here a few weeks back

My mini sewing kit: My granny gave me this and it’s so cute! It’s the kinda thing that a (studying) fashion stylist should always have in her bag but honestly I’ve never had the need to use it yet. I’m actually looking forward to the day when a button falls off my coat and I can repair it right there and then.

handbag pen that I’ve had for years, THE tastiest lip balm and this kitsch little Barbie mirror.

So that’s what I carry around with me.

Don’t know whether to do a make up bag post soon????

17Dec2011

Tickled My Fancy

Posted in dresses, fashion by lifeaccordingtolea

Apologies for the absence – had a bit of a flatmate disaster which resulted in me spending DAYS cleaning my house from top to bottom. I did attempt one of those days to dress as a 1950s inspired domestic goddess but alas I did not take photos.

This is a bit of a filler post, do feel bad but don’t wanna leave it too long to post incase my dear, faithful readers abandon me! I do have several ideas for longer posts with more content but in the meantime please find my picks of feathered dresses which would be perfect for that New Year’s Eve bash

MICHAEL Michael Kors £305

Rare Opulence £220

See U Soon £144.95

AX Paris £30

Theory £415

Whistles £275

So you’ve bought your feathered dress (Personally I adore the See U Soon one) and now its time for the accessories and we all know it starts with the shoes!

Barratts £45

Dolce & Gabbana £495

Forever21 £24.75

Nelly £100.95

ASOS £65

Friis&Company £110

Dress and shoes picked now it’s time for the bag and only a clutch will suffice for such festivities

ASOS £15

Bank £25

Barratts £15

Biba £145

Dorothy Perkins £18

Karen Millen £95

Now lets move onto the tights, it is winter so unless you’re supder duper brave I’d recommend keeping your pins warmer in these gorgeous tights

Charnos £17.95

H&M £9.99

Jonathan Aston £10.25

Walford £33

Jonathan Aston £12

River Island £15

And the last item to get you set for any big party is Jewellery

ChelseaDoll £12

Forever21 £4.90

Forever21 £10.65

ASOS £15

River Island £9

Topshop £12.50

There you go that’s you set to shine this Hogmanay!

What’s everyones plans for New Year then??

8Dec2011

It’s All In The Brows

Posted in beauty, celebrity by lifeaccordingtolea

I remember when I first started experimenting with makeup several (ahem) years ago, I could spend hours messing around with eyeshadows, eyeliners, mascaras, liptsicks, blushers – pretty much all types of makeup. I clearly thought I was the bees knees however photos tell a different story. Whilst I was confident experimenting with cosmetics I never really “did” anything with my eyebrows beyond plucking them ridiculously thin. I think that’s something that most teenage girls do at one point or another as I can remember friends of mine taking the piss outta anyone who hadn’t dared to near obliterate their natural eye brow shape.

Ridiculously thin brows

I have tried to expel this image from my memory – what was I thinking?! The almost non existent brows, the see through top and spotty bra, the hair scraped back like that, the lack of accessories. The list goes on. What’s scary to me is that I wasn’t even in my teens here, surely I should’ve grown into “grown up” eyebrows by now?? (Also the pint in the background isn’t mines I promise!)

A few girls I knew were prone to shaving their brows completely and drawing them on – a “trick” still practiced by chavvy girls i.e. Cher Lloyd

There are no words!

With the rapidly rising popularity of fuller, thick brows there comes (excuse the pun) a fine line in displaying the correct levels of thickness. Nobody wants to look like they have two caterpillars nesting on their face whilst harsh drawn on brows, a la Jordan, are equally as off putting.

AWFUL!

A great way to rectify years of overplucking brows is fill them in with either shadows or pencils. My personal favourite is my HD brow palette.

I tend to use the 2nd lightest shade

Please find a selection of the best and worst celebrity eyebrows:

Camilla Belle has arguably the best brows in the business. Thick but not overpowering these are a real vocal point on her face and accentuate her natural beauty.

Eva Mendes always seems to have perfectly groomed brows

Keira’s brows are slightly thicker but still gorgeous and beautifully shaped

Another of my girl crushes Mila Kunis, I ❤ her eyebrows!

Sienna’s dark brows and blonde hair raised alot of comments, personally I’m a fan of this bold look

And now for the BAD!!!

Scouse Brow courtesy of Desperate Scousewives – what the actual f**k?!?!

Oh dear! has Beth Ditto taken inspiration from drag queens?

Looks like Misha B has been at the marker pen

Yeah this mighta been a few years ago but mwahahahaha Peaches Geldof sure looks like a twonk

Thankfully I have embraced the fuller brow accompanied with an elegant shape (or at least I think so!)

3Dec2011

Etsy Pick Of The Week

Posted in accessories by lifeaccordingtolea

What can I say so many amazing new Etsy shops I’ve discovered this week and I’ve managed to whittle my favourite down to moderntribes who handmake amazing raw looking pieces of jewellery. Based in Singapore but able to ship to the UK without the usually extortionate shipping fees (expect to pay around £3.50 per piece unless buying multiple pieces).

The fashion forward pieces include necklaces, arm harness, metal collars and rings. All the jewellery is made from scrap metal – hence the super trendy raw edges – which means stylish AND environmentally friendly!

Prices start from £11 which is great value for unusual pieces that will become a talking point of any outfit. Below are my picks but please check out the site for yourself:

£28.96

£19.42

£23.69

£19.42

£38.17

The pointy collar is my favourite of the pieces and could be worn to freshen up so many pieces of my existing wardrobe. Dammit being Christmas time otherwise I’d be buying this as a little treat for myself 😉

1Dec2011

The Day Of Inappropriate Shoes

Posted in accessories, my style by lifeaccordingtolea

This is a first for me – A post of what I have been upto and photos of me which I just realised I don’t have featured on this blog. Comments would be greatly appreciated: Do you wanna see more of this kinda thing?

I was gonna post this last night but after spending 7 hours in the heavy city centre. On St Andrews Day. On Strike day. I was a little bit tired!

First up I visited pepperberry as the idea of clothing fitting across my bust is a novelty! Unfortunately I didn’t find anything suitable for my night out on Saturday but some of the pieces were pretty and seemed of a high quality. Plus the customer service was top notch unlike missselfridge! I haven’t been in the actual store in a good few years but sporadically check out the website and lets put it this way I won’t be visiting the Edinburgh store ever again. There was a member of staff at the front of the store who didn’t even look up when I entered, I wasn’t even acknowledged until I approached a member of staff about trying on a dress in the fitting room. The dress looked like it had potential – a mustard mullet hem dress with blue hem but it was probably one of the most disgusting things I have ever tried on! I didn’t take a picture and even if I had it I would NOT be posting it on here that’s for sure. I then visited H&M where I tried on this blouse:

Unfortunately the sizing must have been crazy – I tried on the 16 and could only get one button fastened. ONE button!

I should probably post a photo of the footwear I was wearing which would explain the title of this post.

I’ve had these wedged boots for about 5 years and they get an airing every winter. However it appears I no longer have the ability to brace the masses and shop til I drop in heels anymore *distraught*

Due to my skintness and needing to buy the majority of my Christmas presents I only had pennies to buy a new pair of shoes to save my poor aching feet – cue zebra print pumps from Garage Shoes from the pricely sum of £9.75! My friend Carla and I decided to visit the German Christmas markets after having some lunch at Jimmy Chungs. Oh course because I had swapped my toasty but oh-so-sore boots for flats the Gods decided to conspire against me and the heavens opened and it started pouring down so excuse the bedraggled hair!