Cherry Red

I like vintage frocks.

I like bonkers shoes.

I like even more bonkers prints.

I like jaunty coats.

I really like red. I feel so SASSY today that I don't even need to write anything else about this outfit. I'll just swish around the place in my amazing red shoes and be happy.

Dress - vintage fair
Coat - H&M via eBay
Shoes - Shellys

Happy Days

I feel like the White Rabbit at the moment. I'm constantly running round going "no time, no time! Hello, good bye, I'm late, I'm late!"

Anyone who's ever met me in real life will already know that I'm very rarely punctual anyway but the lack of time thing is just getting ridiculous recently. I'm always dashing round and I'm never getting anything done. It's a struggle to find decent clothes and fling them on in the morning, let alone try and blog about them.

I'm therefore very pleased with this outfit. It took no thought whatsoever and, even if I do say so myself, it looks cute! Pretty new frock, bright cardi and super comfy cute ballet pumps. What's not to like?



I rather love this dress. It's blatantly a size too small (much as I'm trying to lose weight, I'm still not a size 12) but what you can't see is that it's got a mostly open back, so the zip only has to fasten up a short way and then my cardi can cover up all the back flab. Ace!

I love the neckline. I'm always a fan of something a bit different.

I'm also a complete convert to rubber shoes. Who'd have thought it? I imagined they'd be all squeaky and leave me with sweaty feet but I'm pleased to report that it's a no on both counts. They might be cheap but they're well made, so comfy and, after having walked round a rainy Dublin in them for three days, I'm pleased to report that I've found the magical thing: waterproof ballet pumps!

Dress - present from lovely Sarah
Cardi - Matalan, ancient
Flats - Mel Pop Heart

Crazy Hair

Let me tell you a hair-raising tale.

It starts out with me, utterly worn out last night after five days of Guide camp. I mustered the energy to get in the shower but that was clearly all too much for me as I then fell asleep sitting up in bed with a towel on my head. Eight hours later I woke up looking like Sideshow Bob.

Several bobbles were hastily yanked into action and it was tamed into something approaching order:

But then a bobble actually snapped under the pressure of the crazy hair:

So I gave up and embraced the mayhem:

My face is behind there somewhere.

As crazy hair demands some equally eyecatching shoes, I gave this new pair their first outing. Pretty, aren't they?

Dress - Matalan
Cardi - Hawkshead
Heels - Irregular Choice Fresh Cut Grass

Minty Floral Fun

I was a victim of The Changing Room Horrors yesterday. I tried on 3 dresses in the massive Manchester Primark: one was the most bizarre fit ever, one was pretty much see through and the other one was alright but a bit shoddy and not worth spending £17 on. So far, so average, at least for a Primark trip.

Then I made the bold move of trying on dungarees. Big mistake. Huge mistake.

Admittedly, this cute polka dot dungaree dress almost looked nice. If it hadn't been about 6 inches too short, I'd have bought it. But I also tried on the dungaree shorts (ohhhh, that wasn't a pleasant reflection in the mirror) and the proper full length dungarees (it would have been funny if I hadn't been virtually crying at how awful they looked). No matter what the style, they're clearly never going to suit me and it makes me sad. It also makes me curse my stupid body shape that just won't suit anything at the moment unless it's a particular cut of dress.

Looking at the bright side, at least I have some nice frocks to distract me.

This pretty one came home with me from the trip to Warwick. It wasn't one of the hundreds that Sarah was getting rid of, it was one of Char's castoffs. I love having generous friends with lovely taste in clothes.




These glittery shoes are so much fun that they're almost distracting me from the destruction of my dungaree dream. Sparkly toes!

Dress - Topshop, via Char
Cardi - H&M
Jewellery - all from various Dorothy Perkins sales
Flats - TK Maxx
Bag - c/o Brit Stitch

Polka Dotty

I shall blame the purchase of this jumper on two things: my love of Harry Potter and Gem's persuasive ways. When we were living it up in Warwick we got chatting about how much I loved the jumper when she'd blogged about it and then she revealed it was in the sale on The Orphan's Arms outlet site. Well, I had to buy it, didn't I?

It arrived and I was torn between thinking "ZOMG I love you" and "Waaah, something this short won't flatter my awful stomach". Normally my sensible head would make me send it back but my impractical head won out in this instance. I'll just have to be careful what I wear it with. It's starting to turn into the right sort of weather to wear thin jumpers over frocks, so that's what I did.

Chuck in a nice pair of heels and I think that makes it dressy enough for work, don't you? Irregular Choice shoes always improve an outfit. This is why I own so many of them! These particular ones are very old but a real favourite of mine. Just the perfect heel height to wear all day and not end up with ruined feet.

I felt like this was an appropriate level of owl/literary themed rings for one outfit.

Dress - Matalan £5 sale
Jumper - The Orphan's Arms
Heels - Irregular Choice via ebay
Owl ring - Landbaby
Once Upon A Time ring - MerCurios
Owl & book ring - present from Char

New Shoes

I hate to sound like an utter girl here but sometimes all you need is a good pair of shoes. These are good shoes.

You can ignore the fact that I haven't ironed the dress, washed my hair for three days or bothering putting any makeup on, can't you? Yes, because you're all looking at the shoooooooes. They are clomptastically excellent.

You may have seen me mention them as a potential pair of wedding shoes in this post a little while ago. Yup, I went ahead and ordered them. Solely in the interests of having plenty of time to wear them in beforehand, you understand.

I know I always pronounce my more ridiculous shoes to be very comfy and then someone in the comments goes "they can't possibly be!" but trust me readers, these really are. They look massive but once you discount the platform height the heel is quite low and I never once felt in danger of wobbling off the platforms. I've got shoes where it feels like you've strapped a brick to your foot. These are not like that. Super easy to walk in and super comfy.

This ring looks super simple but it's beaten into shape all the way round and that makes it just interesting enough for my liking.

Dress - Dorothy Perkins via charity shop
Cardi - Gap
Tights - Primark
Shoes - Shellys

 Ring - That Silver Touch

The one bad thing about this dress is this:

I have no idea why they put the belt loops under the boobs instead of on the actual waistline. I'm contemplating unsnipping them but I don't want to end up with holes in it...

ps - if you want your very own pair of mega platforms, they're currently in the Spartoo sale in red or black.

The £10 Outfit

Yup, a whole outfit for ten English pounds. 

Admittedly it's easier to dress for less at this time of year, what with all the sales going on and the soaring temperatures meaning a simple dress and sandals will suffice, but still! £10 for everything! God bless Matalan and their amazing dresses from £5 event.

I snaffled this frock and the same style but in black and white polka dots for £5 each. What a bargain!  I was super duper keen to get my hands on them and they were disappearing fast from the website so I placed a hasty online order, erring on the side of caution and getting them both in two different sizes as I wasn't sure which would fit best. I'm pleased to report that their Click & Collect service works like a dream and their refunds process in store is super duper fast and friendly, even when you pay by Paypal.

They haven't paid me to say any of this btw, I'm just really pleased! It's such a bore when companies take about 9 years to refund you when you know perfectly well they've received the returns parcel or try and charge you for delivery to store. I like my shopping to be as hassle free as possible and any company that makes it easier for me will definitely get my repeat custom.

Yay sleeves! You know me, I love a good dress even more when it has sleeves in it.

Bargainous dress - Matalan
Pretty sandals - Chiara Fashion

Summer Blues

Long time, no blog!

Life has got rather in the way recently and I've been working so much that I've had no time to blog. I squeezed a ten minute break last week to snap some outfit photos though so here they are. And here's hoping I can get back into the swing of things again!

All this hot weather has made getting dressed much easier, even if I have been so short of time I've been randomly grabbing things and chucking them on in the mornings. I dug a box of summer clothes out of the loft, gave them a shake and have been having great fun wearing them all again. Last year's summer was pretty non-existent and I don't think I wore them at all in 2012.

I'm so pleased to be back in wedges as well. All my summer shoes been languishing in a box since 2011 too and it was a lovely rediscovery to open up that box and remember how many nice sandals and wedges I own! I still can't resist a new pair though. These Betty London wedges are new this year and they are so flipping comfy I'm tempted to buy every style of summery sandals that they make.

Dress & cardi - Primark
Shoes - Betty London

All The Stripes

I came across this frock at a fab blogger event held by Swimwear 365 last month.  They had rails of goodies to admire and although my heart was temporarily lost to a red polka dot swimming costume, when I was asked if I wanted to review a product, there was only one real choice for me. There are no beach holidays on my horizon so a pretty costume would have been daft (I do swim a lot but that's exercise and so I have to have a proper sports cozzie for that). A dress though, that's a sensible choice, right? I can wear a dress all the time. Yay!

And you know what? This is a brilliant dress. I was initially sucked in by its magic monochrome appeal but I didn't realise it would be so flipping flattering.

The even better part? It's made from mediumweight jersey and totally doesn't need ironing! I now completely understand why a swimwear site are stocking it: it's perfect for taking on holiday. Shove it in your case, pull it on and it'll look ace.



I dressed it up a little bit today, just cos I wanted to do the black and white thing in style but it's going to get worn all summer long with pretty much any combination of cardi and sandals that I want to chuck together with it.

Striped jersey dress - c/o Swimwear 365
Blazer - Warehouse via charity shop
Earrings - New Look
Pearls - can't remember
Ring - Dorothy Perkins sale
Court shoes - Irregular Choice Bowtiful