Fashion Illustration

So this is something I haven't really talked about on this blog yet, but as it's a massive interest of mine, I thought I'd put it out there & share some love for fashion illustration.

I studied fashion illustration whilst at college, and really loved it. I was studying art & have always loved fine art, but mixing the two genres of art & fashion was wonderful. I drew particular inspiration from David Downton, and read his book cover to cover. I produced copies, and started doing my own work drawing on use of simplicity and bold colour. Okay this is all getting a bit arty now, but basically, he's a lad & I really really liked his work.

I've come across a few illustration blogs recently, ones I love particularly being Malia at Deep Fried Freckles. Her illustrations are beautiful! And perhaps not quite so fashion related, but some amazing work nevertheless is Phillippa over at phillippalola. I particularly love her little owl design, so cute!

In the future I'd love to be able to create custom illustrations for bloggers and such, once I've got back in the swing of things. What do you think? Something you'd like to see more of? And send me some links of some lovely illustration blogs if you know of any (:

#And GOOD NEWS, my wonderful friend Lil (who I'll refer to constantly on this blog cos she's a babe), gave me her old iPhone! So soon I'll be on Instagram, don't know how I've lasted this long without it!!

Beauty: Max Factor Freeebies

My make-up always seems to run out at once, resulting in a few days of surviving almost solely on testers, before I can get to Boots. Does this just happen to me, or is this something all girls find? So I got all excited in Boots and took advantage of Max Factor's promotion, of a free gift if you spend over £15. So my essentials were: 

Maybelline Great Lash mascara (I swear by it) 

Max Factor Facefinity 3in1 Foundation

 So it was my first time trying Max Factor's Facefinity Foundation, but I'd heard good things about it from Lil and some good reviews on Twitter. I previously went from Rimmel Foundation to Garnier BB Cream, both of which I hated (went from too thick a coverage, to far too thin). This thankfully, sits blissfully in the middle!

The foundation is amaaazing, I'm using 'no.45 Warm Almond'. This shade is perfect for me, slightly more of a yellow-y undertone than a pink one, which suits my skin way better than the 'Natural' tone I chose previously.

So I bought the mascara and foundation, but to get the promo I had to spend £15 on Max Factor, so I got a really nice nail polish, colour's called 'Graffiti' (but the photo wouldn't do it justice, so I'll post me wearing it another time). And woo I got this fab free gift, so worth it.

Included:

 Masterpiece Mascara (Black)

Mini Glossfinity Nail Polish (Angel Nails)

Colour Elixir Lipstick (Lilac Wine)

Earth Spirit's Eyeshadow (Terra Firma)

Yet to try these products, but I don't think I can go far wrong with them. And being free, they're already on a winner.

Have you tried any of these products?

Baking: Mint Aero Meringues

MY WORD I have been a terrible blogger these past few weeks. Life has just been travelling at 100mph, but I've got a few bits to tell you about & show you now, so blog-absence has ended! So here's something I've wanted to share with you because like me, hopefully, you can't resist a gooey, minty, chocolatey treat. And this is just perfect, and so cheap/easy to make!

Now this recipe caught my attention from 'Macmillan Cancer Support's Recipe Book' and I knew I had to make it immediately! This, combined with my lovely friend Elizabeth wanting to start  her own 'craft, cooking & cosmetics' inspired blog 'Teacups & Taffeta'. So I decided to take the ingredients to her house & surprise her with everything she'd need for her 1st blog post!

So here's what we did, and how you can do it too (*best friend not required, but highly advised):

You will need...

And some fabulous aprons, ours are from the Topshop SS13 collection.

Ooooh Flamey!

Firstly, preheat the oven to 150°c/fan 130°c/gas mark 2.

Seperate the egg whites from the yolks, making loads of mess like I did.

Then whisk the egg yolks until they form stiff peaks (you should be able to do the old 'hold the bowl above your head' test, without it moving). We used an electric whisk cos we're super lazy.

Next, add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, whisking to encorporate it in the mixture. The meringue mix should go glossy, and look very silky.

Now add a few drops of the Green Food Gel into the meringue to make it a minty shade of green! It's important to use gel rather than liquid food colouring, because no-one wants runny meringues (: Dr Oetker from Sainsbury's, £1.49

At this point, add the vanilla paste (paste rather than liquid, for the same reason as the green colouring)

Now chop dat Aero, chop it!

Using a metal tablespoon, fold the aero in carefully, so you don't knock all of the air out of the meringues. Make sure all the Aero is coated!

Once all the Aero is coated, dollop sizeable amounts of meringue on the baking sheet.

Pop in the oven for 30 mins! And voilà..

Have you found any nice baking recipes lately?

Today's Winter Nails!

So tonight I used my new No.17 'Holographic' nail polish, courtesy of Company magazine, as it was in my goodie bag from the Fashion Career Event last week, along with these fab nail glitters!

* 2 coats of Holographic nail varnish, then apply the glitter with your finger to a slightly wet nail! Easy peasy.

Ideally I would've liked the glitter to be a bit more built up, but I had to use my finger so it didn't go absolutely everywhere- as glitter usually does! Perhaps it needs a few gems & bits stuck in there.

And exciting for me, I sent off for some free samples of a business card I designed & I'm dead chuffed with how they came out! Took them to the Fashion Career Event last week and I'm so glad I had them to hand. I felt a bit pretentious directing people to a blog that has less than 10 posts on, but I'm so eager & excited about this blog, I know I'm going to build it up quite quickly & as sad as it sounds I'm actually quite dedicated to doing that!

What do you think of them?

Company Magazine's 'Fashion Career Event'

What a night it was! For those of you who don't know, I went to the #companyfashionforum on Wednesday night with Georgia. She's only 15 and she dresses impeccably, as you'll see from the photos. I had a fantastic time, and I thought a blog post was definitely needed so I could share the evening!

As for the night itself, we arrived in London for about 6:15. The event was held in Hackney's Picturehouse, which is actually a lovely, old cinema so a perfect venue really. We met a delightful girl, Rhea (her blog is leather-clouds). I had to pap her outfit literally seconds after meeting! (Sadly my Canon ran out of battery there & then, so we had to use Georgia's digital.) Unfortunately couldn't remember where eeverything was from, but she looked lovely( seeeee below)

Rhea wearing a topshop midi pencil dress, KG shoes (with glittery soles, aahmazing)

Once inside the building we had some free drinks and the chance to mingle with the editor of Company magazine, Victoria White and other lovely people who work for the mag. The room was filled with fashionable bloggers and fashion enthusiasts, and there was a really friendly vibe of just go-up-and-introduce-yourself. So I did.

Met Gem from gemfatale.blogspot.co.uk which was extra lovely, because it was from watching Gem on Superscrimpers, then finding her blog and falling in love with it that I decided to start my own. So talking to her and getting tips was definitely a highlight for me, especially as she now works for Company mag! And lets face it,  that chick has great hair. 

So we were ushered into the hall, where the amaazing goody bags awaited us. Spent a good 10 minutes rummaging through those, couldn't believe the amount of product we recieved. You can see it all on leather-clouds's post from the evening! And I'll also be trial-ing just a few bits & pieces (mainly the nail polishes and things).

 (From left) @companyedvic / Miss Selfridge VM Manager / a buyer from Oasis 

/ a freelance stylist @aradiacrockett / Jamaique Campbell, Accounts Manager from IPR London 

/ Blogger Fred Butler from fredbutlerstyle.blogspot.co.uk

 Georgia loving her Company goodie bag (:

We also met the two lovely girls below, Heather and Sam, both dressed astoundingly well of course. Heather had her photo taken for the 'street style' part of Company's website here. And I loved everything about Sam's outfit. Her skirt, she made herself, of course! And she was wearing a gorgeous 'bar' necklace which unfortunately you can't see in the photo.

Sam's (right) outfit: Skirt (made herself) / Tosphop jacket / H&M faux fur stole / gorgeous shirt & necklace from unkown places

Some well dressed Company girls:

I also met and chatted with Emma, the Fashion Editor at Company Magazine. Once the confusion of both introducing ourselves as Emma had passed, we had a lovely chat & she kindly let me take her photo (in front of this giant chicken portrait, perfect backdrop). She still looked great!

And here is a photo of what I wore on the night, taken by Georgia on the way home.

And Georgia:

Topshop school shirt would you believe / a burgandy velvet dress / Topshop leather jacket / vintage silk scarf / charity shop bag / Creepers / Company goodie bag.

So Wednesday night was actually amazing, Thursday morning however, I was a zombie! It was lovely meeting so many incredibly talented people. The advice about getting a career in fashion was invaluable, and everyone was so helpful! It answered alot of my questions and I'm definitely more inspired now than before.

If you've had the patience to not only, wait for this picture-heavy page to load, but to read through it all then thanks very much (: I'm using my new nail products tomorrow, so I'll be posting again very soon! 

It's Getting Dark And It's Getting Cold And The Nights Are Getting Long..

This is definitely my favourite time of year. It's not too cold, so you can still go for long walks and do things outside (: Yet, it's just cold enough to wear lots of lovely hats, scarves and coats! I've seen so many gorgeous coats this year, and although I've got enough coats to not justify buying another, I thought I'd compile a few of my faves into a post. I've put a mix of macs and full-on coats in here, because Autumn lends to both! So if you're looking for a coat as it's getting a bit chilly, do read on..

                

1.  Hobbs - Bottle Green Mac // 2.  Next - Berry Mac // 3.  Topshop Boyfriend Coat // 

4.  Romwe Cape Coat // 5.  Hobbs Tweed/Leather Contrast Coat // 6.  Zara Zip Biker Coat //7.  Missguided Army Jacket

So there's a little bit of leather here and there, mostly in the form of leather sleeves or lapells, which I love. And most of the shapes are quite boxy-blazer style coats, rather androgynous, but this shape looks great with black skinny jeans and a great pair of boots!

Heritage is also a huge trend this Autumn/Winter, so the tweed fabric in these coats is bang on trend, and will also keep you really warm (: In my honest opinion, although I do love a good faux fur collar, I actually prefer no. 3 and no. 7 without the fur. They're both detachable collars though, so all is well!

Which ones do you like?

I've been quite busy this week with work, and when I'm not working I'm travelling over to see the chap. Found time to go see Bastille last week in London though, great band, so check them out (: And supporting was a girl called Jade Brown (amazing chick) & a band called Swiss Lips (who knows, they were rather MGMT-esque though, pretty good). Followed with a gorgeous Pizza Express in Camden, who knew?!

Fur-bulous!

I recently spent the day working at Hobbs in Walton on Thames, which was obviously lovely but a very long day. So naturally, on my hour-long lunch break, I did a spot of shopping (: 

I bought this fur collar from H&M for £14.99 but couldn't find it on the website. But it was definitely worth the money, because it makes all my coats and jackets look completely new!!

Before:

 After:

Before:

After:

*'Scuse the awkward arm, I don't know what it's doing there.

I also bought these boots from H&M. So in love with them, and they're super comfy. I've had them about a week now so they're not completely clean & new-looking anymore. But I'm dead chuffed with them. There's a few versions knocking like these from like these from Topshop.

My h&m beauties (:

Oversized contrasting collar blazer - £4 Portabello Rd Market

Sleeveless Denim Shirt - £1 (car boot)

Denim Biker - £7 (brand new from H&M at a car boot)

Fur Collar & Boots - both H&M

I'd be lusting after the leather biker with a fur collar from Topshop for a while, but with my car MOT next week I've had to compromise and make my own cheapskate version! Which I actually kinda like (:

On my little lunchbreak shopping spree in h&m I also bought chunky knit socks to wear with my boots, and some lovely little bits in the sale including a white pencil skirt and a pair of sunglasses for summer & some cosy grey wool shorts for winter. I'll do a few outfit posts soon I hope, having a chap around pays off when you need someone to snap what you're wearing! Taking these photo's of myself today was a nightmare, I'm awful at it, and today I look like I should be living under a bridge hence minimal snaps of the face.

Had a nice day yesterday with the boy doing a charity shop crawl in our local town. Oli got a Kooks album which he purchased for £1.99 & then we spent ages in the cute little record shop eyeing up the vinyls. Good weekend.

xx

Product Review: Garnier BB Cream

Before buying this product, I was using Rimmel's 'Lasting Finish 25 Hour' foundation in Ivory, because it's their lightest shade (I'm pale as a sheet) & I've had it before, just got comfortable & didn't have time/money to experiment with anything else. But when my last bottle ran out, I decided I would, because although it was quite a good & reasonably priced foundation, I found it slightly too thick and heavy for me. My skin always felt quite clogged up by the end of the day!
I'd heard quite a bit about BB cream before & I had been sent a tester of this in the post, so I thought I'd give it a go. It was on offer at the time, and I liked the idea of it combining a few products into one :)

I went with the 'Light' shade, and I've been using it for about a month now. It definitely does have a much lighter coverage, and my skin definitely feels a lot healthier, more moisturised than plastered :) So I would recommend this product for that, but the downside for me, is that its just a little toooo light, I really like the idea of a BB cream, I think I just want one with slightly more coverage because I feel like I'm using far too much of it in some places! And it does leave my skin a little more shiny than I'd hope, so powder is needed as I prefer my skin to have more of a matte finish!

If anyone can suggest a really good BB cream that'd be so helpful :) Just gotta wait for this one to run out now.

DIY: Marble Effect Nails!

 You will need

• various coloured pretty nail polishes
• white nail polish
• a mug of room temperature water (preferably not in your mums best china)
• cotton buds
• nail varnish remover
• a cocktail stick or sewing needle

Okay prepare for it to be veryy messy! You'll need to do each of these steps quite quickly so that the nail varnish doesn't dry in the water. And don't give up too quickly, it may take a few tries before you get it!

So start by painting each of your nails white. This leaves a nice background base colour for the marble effect & it does look better.

Get your mug of room temperature water & hold the brush above it, allowing a drop of nail varnish to fall in. This should spread out across the water. Inside each colour, add another drop until it starts to look like this. Do this about 5 or 6 times!

Next, using the cocktail stick/sewing needle/other pointy apparatus, carefully swirl the drops to make a pattern. Keep it simple, and remember don't rush, but be quite quick as it will dry!

If it dries to much it won't swirl very well & might look like this. If so, dont worry, get your finger in there & if it doesnt work, try again. To clear the mug & start a new finger, use the cotton bud to gather it all to the edge & it will lift out easily.

(Haven't got a picture for the next part, but once you've made your swirly, marble effect in the water, rest your finger nail upside-down over the pattern, slightly submerged in the water & lightly blow at the excess (to make it dry|). Take your finger out and allow it to dry. Do all 10 nails, allowing enough time for them all to dry.

It should look something like this....

Next is the clean-up operation. Once you've done the above steps to all your nails, and allowed them enough time to dry, you need to wipe the nail polish off of your fingers. Do this using cotton wool pads/tissue and cotton buds coated with nail varnish remover. The cotton buds are especially effective at cleaning around the nail, so that you don't take any of the design off the nail! 

And here's the finished product! Comment if you have any questions or anything. Go here if you wanna watch a video that breaks it down a bit slower!

I was actually meant to have this post up a few days ago, but works been hectic & I've been out & about with friends and the chap :) But I'm on top of things, and been brainstorming for the blog & scouting magazines and shops n' stuff for inspiration. So there's plenty of posts comin' your way!

P.S Thanks Mevans for helping me out with this one :) utter babe.