Wardrobe Overhauling

Hey all

We've just been enjoying our final Bank Holiday of the season - you know, the one in the UK that marks the end of the halcyon period where we have several all in quick succession and then a long barren stretch until the end of August...yep that one! And Mr P and I have been enjoying a very chilled weekend - well we have had a hectic few weeks - we also have a week and half holiday coming up in mid June to look forward too as well..loving life right now!

This weekend also for me seems to mark the start of Summer, even if the weather here isn't really co-operating!!  It got me thinking as well how I've picked up a few pieces recently aiming to inject a shot of colour into my wardrobe. If you've read my blog for a while, or know me in real life my colour palette, especially in winter tends to focus on neutral colours like black, grey and white. Maybe a shot of navy every now and again...but in the simmer once I get a hint of colour on my skin I embrace a bit more colour!

In this vein I thought I'd share some of my recent purchases!

The Boden Necklace

I'm totally in love with this piece, it brightens up my plain t's and shirts adding a summery pop of colour and goes exceptionally well with denim!

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 The Zara Bag

My husband did much eye rolling when I spotted this beauty in the Zara opposite Harrods during our visit to London last week - me I thought this was a) just the right shade of red b) the perfect summer crossbody size (room for phone/keys/lipgloss and money!!) c) a far more affordable version of the Celine bag but different enough to be clearly an inspired by not a blatant copy!

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The New Look Vest

This vest is the perfect style - loose and swingy but not too flowy (no-one wants the vest that makes you look pregnant look going on now do we!!), it's the perfect shade of coral to inject some lovely summery passion into the wardrobe with my key denim staples..and worn under my black jersey blazer or a cardigan just adds that pop of colour! Did I mention it was uber cheap too??

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So there we have it - my colour pop items to help me transition into the summer...here's hoping we get some sunshine again soon so I can rock some colourful items! Is there anything new you've purchased recently to add some vibrancy into your wardrobe? I'd love to see if so

Lxx

Monday wants: the fur gilet

Is it a gilet, a vest or even a waistcoat?? I've seen lots of these over the years but now I'm obsessed!! I mean completely inappropriate with the current permanent wet weather system we have in the UK with constant torrential rain - I'd end up looking more like a soggy wet hound than the glamorous vixen image they convey to me but I just think they are so chic!

3 groundrules:

1. Must be faux fur - I feel that goes without saying but was horrified to end up on a site selling real fur for just £40 or so...I do wear leather and eat meat so maybe I'm hypocritical but wearing fur would be a step too far for me (as for angora the recent PETA videos being shared everywhere make me so glad I can't wear wool! Man made fibres all the way for me!!)
2. Ideally it would be black - I love wearing black, it suits me, it's glamorous and it goes with EVERYTHING. If I'm trying out a new trend (well for me it is) then it has to be a classic colour so that I'm testing the concept not whether I suit yeti white...but maybe grey or natural could work..
3. It has to be hip length I love that layered look

So here are 3 of my  favourites I've spied online while perusing the post Christmas sales:

Mango

It's black, it's the right length and it is a very reasonable £29.99 in the sale, but I'm not sure about the belt or the snuggle factor  (it's a thing honest!)...

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White Stuff

Ok so its not black but grey but it looks rather snuggly and warm and soft and strokeable....oh and it is on sale for just £52.50 what's not to love?

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French Connection

More expensive and appalling styling in my opinion on the site as you really can't tell what the item actually looks like, that aside it looks a great length and super soft but it's twice the price of the others....

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Are you a faux fur gilet type of gal or is all too fuzzy for you?

Lxx

I love Marks and Spencer BUT.....

I love Marks and Spencer I really do. Their fantastic range of products, their emphasis on Plan A for sustainability and let's not forget their food halls YUM! Just to highlight how much I love their products today I am rocking a pair of their ankle boots, a handbag from their Limited Collection range, socks and undies obviously come from there (whose don't!) and a scarf....I feel I should be a typical target customer for Marks and Spencer - young (ahem go with it), disposable income, likes to purchase classic clothing with a nod to the trends (sometimes, usually just a classic frankly I'm a bit risk adverse in the clothing department) surely I should be in their cross hairs this Christmas?

But frankly I feel a bit let down by their Christmas advertising campaign this year! Their advert is the same style of advert we've seen from them for years. There's no Christmas feeling, no real sense of anticipation or excitement. Where's the magic Marks and Spencer?

We are in the midst of a massive recession, things are frankly a bit grim so I think Christmas is about finding that sparkle to maybe spend a day enjoying being with family and remembering all the fun we had as kids to pass on to our kids, if you have any, me I'll be trying to instill Christmas cheer in Boots the kitten's first Christmas!

I'm not talking about spending a ton of money none of us have either, but focusing on the essence of the season - goodwill to all men, love, family, thankfulness.....

Now I know this is difficult to convey in a 30 second commercial but come on this is the biggest and most important sales period for retailers of the whole year. If you can't make money at Christmas you really are in trouble and as we can see in the UK we are loosing retailers left right and centre off of our high streets. Therefore this Christmas, competing for the limited budgets available needs a new strategy not a rehash of the same old campaign rocked out for the past few years.

Cue the the John Lewis Snowman advert. This is an exceptionally well timed advert in my opinion - it pulls on all the heartstrings, it establishes John Lewis (again) as the destination for Christmas and makes me want to shop there. Cleverly though it doesn't actually show any products. No chance for me to dismiss their product range (sorry Marks and Spencers but that's exactly what I did with the products you featured) it just evokes the essence of Christmas and darn it I want to go and shop there purely because of that!

So Marks and Spencer you can take your tired, cliched jumping lingerie dressed models I'm off to John Lewis to feel the Christmas Spirit and no doubt spend far more than I meant to but at least I'll feel good for it!

How are you all facing the Christmas shopping this year? Am I alone in wanting it to be a nicer expeience than just a standard days shopping?

Lx

Shoes, shoes, glorious shoes........

Maria Carey's shoe closet...bigger than my house? I think so!! Image from here

Warning, this is a post purely about shoes. Mr P you need read no more, nothing to see here. Honest ;0)

So it struck me this week that either I'm getting (a lot) older or Clarks shoes are getting far more funky. This has come about as I'm currently in love with about 5 pairs of sandals in my local store...Clarks for those who don't know are a shoe manufacturer and retailer that started off based in Somerset and were the compulsory brand for school shoes. I cannot tell you the suffering over the years enduring flat, brown, basket style sandals will haunt me forever. We even went on a school trip to their factory to see how these shoes were made!! (no trips to Alton Towers for my somerset school no siree it was shoe factories and the ballet - can you tell it was an all girls school??)

Anyway as usual I've gone off track, back to the point of this post! It was while I was out at lunchtime one day this week running some errands that I popped into my local Clarks branch, lured in by the summery window display. It was all sunshine and beaches and smiling tanned models wafting around flaunting their cool shoes instead of being like me in a chilly, grey, miserable mid work week wearing cosy boots...Once indoors I spotted all these beautys...and it was lust at first sight. I'm a sucker for a bright summery shoe, and if there's a wedge involved then I'm all over it. Being a midget I love a good bit of wedge action - makes me considerably taller but I can still walk without being crippled after 5 steps!

Now with an average price tag of £55 a pair these are not cheap shoes - certainly not compared to New Look/Debenhams/even Marks and Spencer BUT they are generally very good quality in my experience and they're just so pretty!!

Yellow shoes of joy

Ickle wedge = comfy, funky straps = cool

Super red flowery loveliness

Gorgeous daytime sparkle anyone?

The ultimate wedge?

Of course I'm on a shopping bag (of sorts) while I pay off my new car and the new barbie laptop plus save for a wedding so shoe shopping is not coming under my "essential only spending" mantra at the moment (apart from the yellow ones they are MUST HAVES surely???)

But then I can always reply when Mr P asks "is that a new pair of shoes?" with "What? These old things? I've had them FOREVER they were just lurking in the back of my closet. Honest"

Although - blogging about them with pictures probably means he'll see through that ruse....Darn it.

So dear readers are you feeling spring like with your wardrobes yet? What do you think of my current shoe lust list? Can you think of any justifications for a new shoe purchases? Or can you help me reign in my shopaholic tendancies?

Lx

I've been bad - the shopping bug has bitten again......

So I woke up today feeling chipper, checked to see if my mobile DD had come out or not today (with it being a LONG LONG month and not due to be paid until Monday I like to double check that someone hasn't stolen my card and gone mad clearing out all my money and leaving me liable to bouncing DD's) and to my delight find that I have been paid early. Oh the joy. The depressing 6 week wait to be paid post Christmas splurging has ended. Huzzah huzzah huzzah.

So what did I do to celebrate? Count my money and transfer it immediately into non accessible savings? Did I heck. Curses to the ease of online shopping and the prevalence of discount codes....

Yep that's right, I shopped :0( However no Filofaxes were purchased (on this occasion) and they are all core wardrobe pieces, bar purchase no 1:

Courtesy of Amazon I ordered Professor Layton and the Curious Village for my super cute DSi that the lovely Mr P bought me for Chrimbo. He also got me the Forgotten Future with it - another PL game - but we had completed that one, and today on Amazon it was only £17.99 for the highly recommended Curious Village so click I went. These games are amazing for whiling away time together when waiting around at appointments etc.

Then I made the mistake of visiting Oasis, just to see what was new. Honest. But with a free delivery code when spending over £75 popping up on screen (is it just me that sees that as a challenge?) and 15% off it was new jeans (dark indigo wash, favourite ever cut, and I wear jeans almost constantly for work as well weekends and on the rare occasion I go out) ballet pumps in navy with cream bows (c'est chic n'est pas?) a lovely new jeans belt in tan (I've needed a new belt for my jeans for months now honest so this was an essential purchase) and finally a silky wear everywhere plum coloured vest that I expect will become a wardrobe staple in no time to perk up the shades of grey and black that I am often found in. It should also tone in nicely with my purple shoes :0)

All simple, classic items that will work well within my current wardrobe. And due to the savings the belt was essentially free....I am of course toying with the idea of the 15 items for 5 days wardrobe mix (see here) and figured the belt, vest and pumps would slot in well with the items I'm considering wearing with the jeans no doubt being essential wear from when they arrive. So all in all very solid investment shopping.

Now if I can just back away from the French Connection sale site we will be onto a winner...........

Un-Imagineable iPad irony

So here is the latest instalment in the iPad saga..readers of my recent blog posts will know all about my dilemmas over whether to purchase an iPad or not. After all the "will I use it" and "is it worth it" questions I finally caved and 2 weeks ago bit the bullet and purchased my gorgeous, shiny new 32Gb wifi only LoulouPad.

And we have had a very happy 2 weeks together iPad and I. We have bonded well together over movies, magazines and the apps store - special mentions to the Net-A-Porter, Sunday Times and Flipboard as today's favourites.

Flash forward 2 weeks and my colleagues are all partying at the annual Christmas do when our bosses make an extraordinarily generous announcement, FREE iPads for all employees. I mean seriously, they are giving everyone a free iPad, no strings, no signing in blood just old fashioned generosity. 

However I can hear the laughter from certain friends from here. Oh the irony of spending months evaluating whether to purchase an iPad to find after the decision has finally been made to then find out I'm potentially getting a free one.....

Ironic but yet amazing. And Mr P is smiling as he can see potentially the current LoulouPad becoming a Mr i(P)ad.