Frills 'n' Spills

I am jumping all over the place with my outfit posts at the moment. This one was from 2 months ago and I swear it felt more like winter then than it does now! Whilst the colour scheme is fairly muted for me, playing with textures and proportions makes it much more interesting.  I wore a pretty similar outfit a couple of years ago but I can't believe how different I look. I was in dire need of a haircut here but I love the outfit so much that I guess you will just have to ignore whatever is happening with my head in these pictures haha!

The silhouette of this tunic looks completely different without the blazer and I think I look pretty tall here which makes a nice change! I wish I had broken the line of the top up a little bit as it is a little bit difficult to see where the top ends and my pasty skin begins here. This lipstick is a firm favourite of mine and makes this monochrome look a bit more me. 

I really love this Radley bag (FYI it's the Berkeley bag in blue) and it is the perfect size for everyday use. I can even fit a book in there! I just wish the strap on it was a little bit thicker, it can feel a bit precarious when I have it jammed full of stuff but I guess I just need to learn how to streamline the junk essentials I carry around with me.

These glittery boots were in constant rotation in the winter of 2012 but I lost them in the back of my wardrobe for a while. Happily, they are now back and I have been reaching for them when I need a bit of cheering up, I never could resist such sparkly shoes!

Recently we lent our camera to Mark's parents for a wedding so spent a week or so without it. Whilst they had it, I wore an outfit that I really loved and that has definitely been one of my most recent favourites. Originally I was just going to rely on my phone but I remembered that my iPad mini has a camera and I was pretty pleased with the results even though they now look massively blurry on this size screen. Although in itself, stripes, jeans and a snazzy necklace is hardly groundbreaking (!) the fact that I have found one of each that I love, is. Paired with the beautiful camel coat that Mark bought me for my birthday (you can see a glimpse of it here), I felt very French (bien sûr!) and very luxe. It's amazing how some good quality basics can lift your wardrobe! I have been in a bit of a style rut recently, on the one hand I still want to wear fun things but my taste in who makes them has certainly moved more upmarket (I can't be the only one who stalks Whistles dresses on ebay, right?!) whilst my budget has stayed the same. I guess this is an inevitable part of growing up but navigating through these two halves of my wardrobe has caused some headaches of a morning recently! 

I have a real thing for stripes and H&M have the best striped tops on the high street. This style is a shape I really love and although I would never usually go for a light stripes, this one feels and looks very luxe - good job H&M! (They currently have their blue and white one on sale too if you are in the market for a new Breton top) I was lucky enough to get an Accessorize voucher for my birthday this year and I have been on the lookout for a neutral statement necklace (is that even a thing?!) ever since my beloved white floral one broke so was pretty pleased to see this beauty in my local store! It is the perfect length to wear with higher necklines and has received more than a few compliments every time I have worn it, mainly along the lines of 'ooh, so shiny!' ;) I have been straightening my hair a lot more recently and I love how different it makes me look. I prefer the lived in look I get after sleeping on it but would love to be able to do that with products too, any recommendations?

The other day I was feeling absolutely awful. Flu has been going round the office and I was feeling very sorry for myself. Unfortunately my jazzy pyjamas are not acceptable office wear so I had to resort to my comfy jumper and jeans combo instead. This Seasalt jumper was given to me by my friend Matilda and I absolutely love it, it is ridiculously comfy and oh so soft, just like getting a hug. Paired with some comfy jeans, I was good to go! I always umm and ahh about including outfits like this in blog posts but then I figure this blog is all about the ups and downs of my life and wardrobe so causal outfits should be up there with the fancy dresses amirite?! 

I have been having issues with my hair recently, it has grown at an alarming rate and thanks to the volume of it, I now have triangular hair, the one thing I was afraid of when I went shorter :( I am getting it cut on 3rd May but until then, any help would be appreciated! You may have spotted my lovely initial badge here, Claire at The Bellwether was kind enough to include it alongside the cross-stitch kit she sent me (I am making slow but steady progress!) and I absolutely love it, anything with my initials on is sure to be a winner in my book! Red lipstick is my go to for brightening my face up when I am tired and this Tesco sheer lip stick is ace, I can't find it on the website but have a look instore, I managed to pick this up for £3!

What do you wear on lazy days? Can you recommend any good photography tutorials? 

Selina is a blogger who I have followed for a long time and it was so nice to see her again and catch up, I haven't seen her since we were big winners at the SWBloggers Xmas Quiz last year! 

I need to get me a bright pink vase!

Sassy posing on the stools on the stage. We definitely got some inquisitive looks when we were perched up there, you could tell people were trying to work out who we were! ;)

The light here in the morning is beautiful, it casts a peachy glow over everything but it never seems to translate in photographs. I'm sure if we played around with the settings on our camera we could capture it much better but as with most things, a lack of time is what puts me off! I would love to have a variety of interesting backdrops for these photos, but working full time and leaving ridiculously early in the morning leaves me with literally 5 minutes to get these photos and it leaves me genuinely wondering, how do other bloggers in full time work do it?! It is so frustrating as I love blogging and I obviously want my photos to be as good as they can be but real life doesn't leave much wriggle room at the moment!

Apologies for the Americanism in the title there but pyjama trousers just calls novelty print hippo PJs to mind [just me then?] rather than this rather slinky pair of trousers. I have worn these on the blog before and my styling is practically identical... I guess even fashion bloggers lack inspiration!