Tag Archives: stuff I Like

The Next Day

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Yesterday, I went to a new hairdressers for a much-needed colour and cut.  I really like my usual hairdresser, Hannah at Toni and Guy in Leamington, but maternity leave = having to make frugal decisions.  One might argue that the colour part could have been achieved using a shop bought colour but I have not attempted my own colour since I was 21 and I don’t know how it would end up.  Plus my Mum and Dad treated me for my birthday so I could have it done guilt-free.

My usual beef with new hair cuts – especially when someone is not used to my child-like fluffy mess of thin, fine hair – is that it always looks great out of the salon but the next day, it is impossible to get it to behave.  This is why today, on Day 2 of this haircut, I am thrilled that the shape and cut look perfectly acceptable in spite of the fact that I have done nothing but wash and comb it.  No blow dry.  No product.  Nothing.  My natural curl has been awakened (which, by the way, I would have been thrilled to know when I was 13 and started to perm my hair for body – something that continued WAY too long into my twenties) and the colour still looks good (as well it should).

I could well be returning to Kim at Christian Hair & Beauty in Kenilworth for my next cut in another four months time (because, let’s face it, that is when I will get around to it again!).

For the love of Chanel

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I’m not a girlie girl. I am no good at checking myself in the mirror before I go out. I don’t have a beauty regime. I don’t even wear make-up everyday. But there are some things I really love.  I love make-up – particularly eyeshadow and eyeliner – and I love nail varnish. My particular favourite brand is Chanel‘s Le Vernis Nail Colour collection.

The first colours I bought were Ballerina (a very pale pink although it looks almost white above) and Splendeur which is such a great pink.  Vendetta and Rouge Noir are very rich colours but I don’t wear them as often, perhaps because they are more classic.

The colours I wear the most are Blue Satin and Black Satin.  The blue just pips the black as my favourite since it is just as rockin’ but it is not quite so aggressive. I am so in love with navy as a colour right now though so that will probably explain my obsession!   My latest acquisitions  are Paradoxal which I saw on Tumblr and the Spring collection colour, Mimosa – I love the way the yellow varnish looks with my red and white wardrobe.  I am waiting for them to bring out a nice royal blue or a lighter blue.  Ooh and a green! And a proper grey.  Paradoxal comes out quite grey but I would love a satin grey. I really can’t be buying anymore nail varnish although I am coveting the limited edition Black Velvet and the stunning Dragon:

My love of Chanel isn’t limited to the nail varnish though – I am a big fan of their fragrance (Allure and Chance being my perfumes of choice.  Whilst I am not a fan of Chanel No. 5, any ad with Audrey Tautou and Billie Holliday has my attention:

And then there is the accessories range.  Now I am no couture guru. I don’t know my McQueens from my McCartneys so I don’t know the first thing about the actual clothes but I do know when I see a handbag I like!  The Mademoiselle range would do very nicely, thank you very much.



Vintage fair fun

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On Saturday, Evelina and I took a mooch around Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fair.  We had set up a sew make believe meetup for the fair with a loose arrangement to meet there so it was so nice to wander around and bump into Zoe S and Paul, Roisin and her friend Lauren, Nicky, Jen and Em, Abi and Flick, Antoniya and her friend and Zoe W.  I couldn’t stay for too long as Evelina is a bit of a lump now to lug around in the Baby Bjorn but I did manage to pick up a pretty yellow bird necklace.

I have thing for tattoo-style jewellery and would love some more. This is one I found and added to my overly-optimistic birthday wish list! I also added a couple of things from Tiffany & Co although in truth I would most of the store!  This key necklace is so pretty:

A little catching up

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I am not really sure what happened to this week.  I had every intention of  writing all sorts of fascinating blog posts but then I didn’t. My last post featured a picture of the Leamington railway station waiting room as I waited for the London train to take me to see Jules and Erin.  This was a mini Tumblr meetup – these are girls I have never met but knew from Tumblr (although Erin is a relatively new acquaintance). For those who think this is really weird, then lets just say that I was meeting up with pen pals from America – for some reason, pen pal sounds so much less threatening / weird than ‘internet buddy’ – I don’t really have the energy to go into how annoying that is right now but let’s just say if it weren’t for meeting strangers on the internet, then sew make believe wouldn’t exist and I wouldn’t have a ton of super-cool local girl friends who like the same things that I like.

I met Jules and Erin in Covent Garden as they had already had a good look around, we just nipped into David and Goliath where I bought this onsie and some badges for each of us. This was mine:

After a quick gander at the Gumball 3000 cars which were waiting to leave for their souped up / really silly / super rich race around Europe, we headed over to Harrods.

It has been an age since I have been here – it is not really somewhere you go when you aren’t a tourist and yet it was so much fun.  For starters, I bought two new lovely Chanel nail varnishes (look out for a Chanel polish post coming soon!) from an impeccable French lady.

Jules and Erin - a bit blurry... iPhone pap.

Then we had a roam around the superb toy department – I can’t wait to go back there with Evelina for a special treat one day.  Next up was the food hall – so many nice things to eat and drink there.  We stopped for a small but perfectly formed coffee and rested our feet.

With only a short amount of time left before I needed to get back to Marylebone to catch my train, we ambitiously tried to get to Kings Cross and find Platform 9 3/4.  We managed to get to Kings Cross but I had to dash before we found the platform that they have made for Harry Potter fans. I still haven’t remembered to ask Jules if they found it – Kings Cross is having work done so I do hope that they haven’t done away with the sign!

Finding my style

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Today, Mum and I did some much-needed shopping for both of us. My wardrobe is a bit of a shambles after my pre-pregnancy weight loss, the pregnancy itself and the aftermath (including breastfeeding which continues to affect my shape and what clothes make the food easy to access!). Long story short, I was miserable with what I was left with and still grappling with my lack of personal style. I had a long conversation with ricardo last night which helped me rule out what I shouldn’t be wearing but other than some key phrases like ‘geek chic’ (not sure what this is), I didn’t get very far. I had intended today to just buy a couple of things to tide me over until I could have some kind of consultation with someone who knows better. However, I ended up trying on some clothes in Pepperberry (Bravissimo) and I fell in love with this skirt:

It’s shorter than I usually buy, just above the knee, but it’s so cute and fun and the fabric is gorgeous – sheeny cotton, light and soft. This skirt informed my new look which happens to take advantage of the apparent current nautical / French trend (at least there seems to be a lot of it about – I could be well behind the times with this). I was very brave and also bought some cropped red trousers in Next:

This is quite a departure for me from my usual safe ‘jeans and black t-shirt’ but I love them. They are surprisingly flattering and look great with the blue and white striped top from Next which I bought to go with the skirt above and the shorts I also got from Pepperberry. I did also buy a new pair of flared jeans which are much more flattering that the (many) pairs I currently own.

In Marks and Spencer, I found some more stripey tops – what can I say, once I find something I like, I tend to run with it. I also got a plain white tee which I plan on embellishing with some buttons. I saw this tee in John Lewis and thought “I can make one of those” – perhaps at next week’s <a href=”sew make believe sit ‘n’ sew.

button tee

Finally, I needed some shoes to wear with all this lot, and my mum spotted these cut-away Converse – perfect! I love them so much!!

I realise that this does not really fit ‘geek chic’ (again, not really sure what this means) but I can see myself making these clothes more edgey and less mainstream by accessorising with tattoo jewellery, rocking make-up and some red, white or blue nail polish. I love these cherry and anchor necklaces from Quirky Boutique:

I love that I have managed to buy that elusive capsule wardrobe – all these pieces work together and so I have so many different outfits ready for summer and for our holiday to Italy. All I need now is a new swimming costume and some new underwear and I am set but those will have to wait until I have weaned Evelina – I am bound to change again in bra size although this won’t affect the tops I bought today.

Nautical