Give Your Brows A Makeunder For Less Than A Fiver

 

You may not know it yet but your brows may just be 'to done’ I recently realised that I was doing my fairly generous dark brows a disservice by using a variety of pencils ranging from black to brown that were to dark for me and left me with brows that over powered my small Asian features. I had tried various brow waxes but nothing seemed to give me the Liz Taylor effect I was yearning for, until I discovered Elf mineral beauty products and their inexpensive little brow kits.

Filling A Chocolate Shaped Hole | Fluffy Egg Review

 

 

 

As some of you may know from my last post I have recently learnt I’m allergic to chocolate, so after trying a variety of methods to wean myself of the sweet brown stuff, amongst them watching re runs of Choccy WoccyDoo Da, which not surprisingly had the reverse effect required and on the brink of what would normally be one of my chocolate highlights of the year, the nice people at Lush took pity on me and sent me a chocolate free substitute in time for Easter, aptly named Fluffy Egg.

China Girl

 

I have a love affair with the colour blue, I put it down to a yearning for blue summer skies without a cloud in site.So I was very happy to receive some little china expresso cups and saucers in this lovely wash of blue as an early birthday present, thought you might like to to take a peek.   

 

 

My Passport To Style | Wish Want Wear Review

 

 

Dress - Matthew Williamson, jacket - Jaeger, bag - vintage, shoes - Topshop


 

 Wish Want Wear Review

I was recently asked by Wish Want Wear if I would like to trial their designer dress hire service, after taking a quick look at the dresses on offer on their site, well can you blame me! I decided to give designer dress hire a whirl, I did have a few reservations, and generally I find designer dresses’ sizes to be cut small. Being pretty much a flattened hourglass shape, pretty curvy from hips through to my thighs, with shoulders the same width as my hips and a defined waist, not much happening in the boob department though, I tend to steer clear of low cut dresses, my go to cut of dress is the 60’s shift which lengthens my short waist making me look taller and slimmer. Buying clothes online can sometimes be hit and miss in terms of sizing, so I often buy two or even three sizes of the same item when I first order as I hate the frustration of something not fitting and having to reorder.

A Taste Of Spring

Cara Delevingne - image courtesy of Barnies, Bergdorfs, Bloomies & Bendels

 

I was recently more than slightly miffed to learn that I am allergic to chocolate, how could life deal such a cruel blow I wailed to anyone who would listen in a dramatic fashion. Surely a few squares of the dark stuff was packed full of health benefits I reasoned whilst alternating between ordering A to reveal the hidden source of his choccy stash, which had become our stash during the conversation. I was impressed to see he completely disregarded all my chocolate induced ranting with his usual wry humour.

Swatch UK Mothers Day Special

Image copyright Swatch

 

Today’s post is an ode to three of my greatest passions, watches, Russia and beautiful packaging, the clever designers at Swatch have launched a set of five Russian Matryoshka nesting dolls for Mothers day 2013. In a high shine finish using an extravagant palette of colors and best of all, three of the five dolls have a matching floral Swatch strapped to their bellies, are you smitten yet? I like that each of the three watches could potentially reflect a new season; green would work for spring, blue for summer and the red for autumn. Given that these dolls traditionally represent mother daughter and grandmother though, it seems only proper that if you were to buy this as a gift for your mum that you and gran get a slice of the pie too!      

'Lomo Love' Top Blogs 2013

 

My Passport To Style was recently awarded the Lomography blog badge of honour – 'Lomo Love', for being one of their top 20 favourite blogs for 2013, this is a brand new award for Lomography UK and it's exciting to see them welcoming partnerships with bloggers. You might remember I wrote an in depth review of their fun Lomography city guide London here and have featured several of their impossibly cool cameras. It was great to discover some new bloggers and talented photographers  who are hooked by all things Lomography.

 Although I was not selected as one of their five out right winners it was lovely to be recognised as someone who cares about bringing interesting images to my blog to share with readers. I have really enjoyed using my camera and styling skills this year to showcase fashion and beauty items in what I think of as slightly quirky miniature sets. My two personal favourite shots that I took this year feature Orla Kielys perfume and some vintage china horses and Lush spa products styled as a little Tug Boat caught up in  the swell of my favourite Bali inspired duvet. This is the list of the 20 that Lomo Love and the five winners if you want to check them out .

 I thought you might enjoy a sneak peak of Lomography UK's  monochrome offering, the La Sardina Moonassi Edition Dream a bit of a mouthful but I forgive them as the dreamy graphics by artist Moonassi and the tranquility he has furnished this camera with more than make up for it.

*Images courtesy of Lomography UK
       

 

Colour Of The Year Tangerine Orange

credit - polablogzone.com

 

 

Jeffrey Campbell

So I have been musing over this seasons it colour, tangerine orange, although no colour really is an it colour for me,  I love collecting an eclectic mix of colours in my wardrobe and get really excited when hybrid colours like neons, pastels, metallic’s or muted shades pop us as I can add them to my growing collection.

Decoding Which Shoes Go With Which S/S 2013 Looks

Paul Smith Daffodil sandal -Coggles

 

Which Shoes Fit Which S/S 2013 Look?

Right now there are some pretty big bold trends emerging from fashion week 2013, among them are the transparent, ruffles, monochrome geometrical prints, tangerine orange and stripes.

Whilst the clothing for this season 2013 appears pretty theatrical with what seems like tricky trends to pull off, get the shoe right and everything else will fit together. 

Casual shoes are big this season, so that means pimped up trainers, high tops and slides, on the other side of the catwalk you have block heels, biker boots and edgy stilettos.

Diane Von - Furstenburg Alina black shoe -Coggles

 

 

 

Decoding the trends

Geometric Prints are both sharp and sporty, so if you plan on wearing lots of black and white and sharp lines, maybe a shift dress or block t-shirt a classic pair of stilettos in black and a white pair of leather or clear slides will make dressing like an Everton mint a breeze, excuse for the slightly flippant remarks I’m feeling a bit cheeky today.

Tangerine threads have a sporty and retro feel;  a simple shift or shirt dress in this bold colour is really versatile and can be worn with a pair of clear or white slides, black high tops, black bikers or stilettos.

Striped looks work best with clean lines again reach for slides or stilettos.

Ruffles require handling with care keep it classic with your favourite stiletto

Transparent this seemingly alien fabric a favourite with Marc Jacobs, creates an opportunity for sporty or more delicate looks, layer a grey transparent coat over pretty pastels which come back every spring and wear with some low stilettos in a pastel or wear the same coat over bright block colour and a pair of clear slides or a pair of high tops or bikers if your keen to play with the Grunge trend.

Wearing A Faux Fur Hat

Ok I have a fashion confessional to make to you, now seems a relevant time since we are still in ear bitingly cold weather. I live close by to a woman who may or may not be Russian, but wears what looks like a big full on Russian fur hat, every time I see her wearing it I have to stifle a snigger, so am I laughing out of superiority? No not at all, I just find furry hats pretty comical, they just seem a little ott like the Busby hats the guards wear at Buckingham Palace or the slightly cheesy images of Bond girls on the ski slopes, apologise to any Bond fans or Anglophiles .
 

 

 

 

 

 

The funny thing is I love hats of all kinds and I’m usually very open minded about style, I like faux fur and I have no issue with the many animal faux furhoods worn by festival goers during the summer last year, do I snigger about big hair, bouncy curls, bee hives or furry bear or wolf hoods? No, I often think they add something to a look and are fun. So after pondering a little longer on my reaction and remembering back to my love for Paula of Pink Bow’s tribute to fur hat wearing, I realised my embarrassingly childish reaction was all about the size of the hat. Although I do think the colour makes a difference, Paula’s fur hat is the right proportion and in vibrant turquoise creates a fun look that is more about texture and colour, her sleek hair style helps too. Do you like fur hoods or hats?

 

Paula of Pink Bow wearing a blue faux fur hat

 

*Images source - Google images, Pink Bow and Redoute*