I Dislike Halloween

I am really not a fan of this time of year. Bonfire Night is my autumn event of choice. Halloween is just hectic and exhausting. It's super busy for us at work and that's kinda sucked most of the fun out of it for me.

I do join in with the spirit of things occasionally though. Wizardly robes and a wand over a mildly themed outfit and I'm good to go.

I do enjoy this jumper a lot.

And the trusty orange tights with brown fishnets over the top combo always cheers me up. Tis also good for distracting the eye away from how dirty my trainers are!

Dress - H&M
Jumper - The Orphan's Arms
Converse - Spartoo
Cape - work
Wand - borrowed from Luna Lovegood

Gasp...I'm Wearing Something That's Nearly Pink

Oh hey, what's this? An outfit post, in the new house? Woohoo!

Now admittedly it's not the best photography in the world as I still have to get to grips with the lighting - the green chandelier I absolutely *had* to have in the library is amazing but doesn't cast the most consistent glow in the world! But hey, how much better are LOADS OF BOOKS than a boring plain white wall? Pshaw, stylish bloggers, books will always win!

Actual house blog posts will follow at some point in the future. I know I moved in last November but I am a) extremely untidy and b) a world champion procrastinator so there are still plenty of bits that need fixing and/or tidying before I can record them for posterity on t'blog.

I felt rather sassy today though, so wanted to snap some outfit pics, dodgy lighting and all. My wardrobe has been somewhat lacking in #wardrobezoo recently and a horse print top is always a very welcome addition to the clan. It's verging on being pink but I won't hold that against it!

Love a good long top!

Shirt - from Char
Cardi - Hawkshead
Skirt - H&M
Heels - Dorothy Perkins
Ring - MerCurios

Long time, no outfit post...

I'm just not entirely feeling it at the moment. Mainly cos urgh, life is severely getting in the way, but also because I am feeling mahoosive right now and outfit photos are not turning out the same way that my reflection does. Funny that.



My new skirt is undoubtedly very pretty though, so that's some solace. As is the cardi. You just have to be careful not to wear it on sunny days because hello awkward tan lines.



Also I've finally been able to dig out all my summer sandals. Yay! These trusty cork-soled wedges have been going strong for about 15 years now. Love 'em.




Skirt - George
Cardi - Dorothy Perkins
Stacking rings - H&M sale
Wedges - Dolcis

Why Plain Jumpers Are Worth Celebrating

I was wandering around H&M at the weekend and debating with myself whether anything was worth buying. I'm on a sort-of spending ban and although there are no real rules to it (I'm just being even stingier than usual), I wasn't going to break it by buying any old crap. Luckily H&M was totally on my side here and had made all the nice stuff in either horrible fabric or at a weirdly cropped length, thus rendering it unbuyable to me. Cheers dudes!

Then I saw a lovely navy jumper and I genuinely went "Ooooh!"

Cos who doesn't love a good jumper?

Yes, it's very sensible and very plain and I'm sure lots of you wouldn't be caught dead blogging about something so boring. Well sod ya. I'm blogging about it.

Check out that photo above. It's an actual appropriate length!!



And it has nice cuffs!


And it fits well under my big coat. Hurry up spring.

I don't even care if navy jumpers aren't interesting. Clothing that makes you happy is always worth celebrating.

I was away from my proper camera today so you'll have to accept hastily snapped iPhone snaps of it. My selfie game was not strong. Soz.



Jumper and stackable rings - H&M
Jeans - George
Coat - F&F via charity shop
Shirt - Toggi

All The Patterns

We've all been there, haven't we?

You put on what you think is a lovely outfit, prance around in it feeling fab all day, merrily snap some outfit photos and then look at them on your computer screen only to discover that someone has replaced your face with a moon.

An actual moon. With really unflattering specs on.

And although you are still getting used to said specs because they're much bigger than your other ones, they managed to look all fun and vaguely trendy when you took photos of them before. They don't look that bad in the mirror. So how has the camera made them transform your face into something rather terrifying?

Ok, ok, perhaps you haven't all been there. This is probably something only familiar to glasses wearers. The fact I had no makeup on didn't help either. But still, it's VERY UNFAIR. I've only got one tolerable outfit photo out of the whole bunch.

I nearly scrapped the whole lot but the new (old) coat is too gorgeous not to share and I'm rather fond of some of the #wardrobezoo prints that have sneaked in on the other parts of my body.

Coat - vintage, via The Vintage Corner
Top - Red Herring, Debenhams
Skirt - H&M
Cardi - TK Maxx
Shoes - Irregular Choice

The joys of doing some ironing for the first time in months: you discover all sorts of amazing things you'd totally forgotten about! Also plenty of things that you realise you're never actually going to wear...

And on that note, if you're a similar size to me and are in the mood for swapping some of those things in your wardrobe that you never quite get round to wearing, I'm signing up for Janet and Steph's Big Blog Clothes Swap. It's not just clothes, everything is considered: shoes, accessories, bags. I'm so looking forward to it!

A Gaudy New Coat Thing

I'm not going to entitle this blog post "Two ways to wear a skater dress" because I'm sure you're all more than capable of dressing yourselves by now and can do it perfectly well without my help. Should you require it, well, I tend to wear my dresses by, y'know, putting them on my body. Not exactly a novel technique but it serves me well.

Having said that, a plain black skater dress is undeniably a most useful thing to own.  Et voila, worn here with my lovely green hedgehoggy jumper and favourite Mel flats for a day at work.



Then glammed up a tad. If by glamming up, we mean wearing something that could conceivably be classed as either a boxing robe or dressing gown. I shall christen it the Kimono Coat. Kimoat? Comono? Nahhh.



It's reversible! Bit more boxing robe-ish when worn with the black outside...



I'll stick to it the other way round I think. Pretty! Not dressing gowny at all, honest.

 So many different Flick Flack colourways but these are still my fave.


Painty hair - occupational hazard at the moment
Dress - H&M
Kimono thingy - Oxfam
Hedgehog jumper - ASOS
Flats - Mel
Shoes - Irregular Choice Flick Flack

Yay, Coats!

I've been buying more coats. Can't help myself.



Check this one out though! Cute, no?

I'm assuming it's last year's Florence & Fred as I bagged it from a charity shop last month and it doesn't really look as if it's ever been worn. One person's cast-off is another person's treasure though and I'm super pleased with it.  It's like a longer version of the H&M jacket I've got (which you can spot in this post, along with my many many other coats) and I've always wished that was a bit longer.  I may even complete the charity circle and donate that one now I've got this one.

Tis a size too big but I always prefer my winter coats that way. It means I can chuck massive chunky cardigans on underneath.



Also sequinned skirts.  Yep, I wear it to work.  It's not like I've ever got a more suitable occasion for it and it might as well get some wear!





Coat - Florence & Fred via charity shop
Cardigan - New Look
Skirt - H&M sale
Top - Ruby Rocks
Boots - Irregular Choice
Necklace - Tatty Devine, present

A Cameo Appearance

Do you remember how everything had cameos on a couple of years ago? That was a weird, short lived fashion, wasn't it? Bows and butterflies seem a pretty constant form of decoration but this sprang up from nowhere and now you'd be hard pushed to find anything in the shops with a little Grecian-haired lady on it. I'm quite partial to cameos but even I thought it was odd that they were being shoved on everything. I prefer to work in a little subtle detail or two.  Bet you can't even spot them in these photos.

Scroll down...



Bit further...

Oh hiiiiiiiiiiii.

Pretty, aren't they? I like these shoes so much that they get very carefully boxed away and stashed on a high shelf in my wardrobe after every wear. Then I forget about them. They were clearly bored up there and threw themselves onto my head while I was rummaging for something else. I don't hold it against them though. I was too busy going "Yoicks, I forgot about you!"

I never forget about these beautiful (and tiny) vintage earrings. They're just a bit too precious for me to wear every day though so I'm careful about how often they come out of the jewellery box.

Dress - Primark
Cardi - H&M
Scarf - from the mysterious land of scarves. All of mine come from there.
Ballet pumps - Schuh
Earrings - charity shop

Brown Boots

What an autumnal outfit to be wearing when it's almost spring!

It's still not quite pastel time though and let's face it, it's not exactly warm yet. I kinda love being able to snuggle up in jumpers and tweed skirts. Who knew brown could be so much fun?



It was basically all about matching with my new boots.



Boots, boots, glorious boots. I tend to have a hate:hate relationship with this section of the shoe world. Knee high boots do not fit me, Chelsea boots and most ankle boots are just plain ugly and anything mid-calf tends to cut off the blood flow to my legs. Don't even get me started on the horror that is cut-out boots.They are vile.



I may have cracked the problem though. Shoe Zone were nice enough to send me this Lilley & Skinner pair for review and they've totally won me over. I flipping love them. They are mega comfy, excellent for stomping around in and that fold down bit means that I don't have any fit issues around my stupid stumpy legs. Perfect!



Gemma tipped me off about this fab map watch. £1.64 and free postage?! I didn't just buy one, I got two.


Elbow patch jumper - H&M
Shirt and skirt - vintage via charity shops (skirt altered by moi)
Boots - c/o Shoe Zone
Watch - eBay

*[]*

The Hunt For A Bargain

Am I the only one thinking that the sales are a bit rubbish at the moment? Admittedly I haven't been out actively hunting down bargains but I've done a spot of online browsing and very few things are tempting me. My card has only come out of my purse twice since the sales started before Christmas: once for a Matalan coat which was half price and divine and once for this beautiful Laura Ashley cardigan.



Char sent me the link to it, knowing that I'm a fan of all things equine. I must admit to a slight chuckle when I saw the product description - it's listed as "dressage cardigan" and trust me, those horses ain't doing dressage! It's quite clearly a hunting scene. Giggles aside though, I had to buy it. Isn't it fab?



I'll quite happily buy nothing else this month if it means owning something this lovely!

Dress - H&M
Cardi - Laura Ashley sale
Triple strap heels - Next via charity shop