DIY Festival Attire

                

 

 

 

 

 

Lately I seem to have been involved in overseeing a fair amount of festival packing for friends, but I have to confess to feeling a little bored with what has become a bit of a uniform. So I went in search of some stylish fashion DIYs that reflect my approach to statement festival dressing, they should have an element of fun but be cheap enough to allow you to cavort with wild abandon with out worrying about damage to your fashion purchases, at the same time I wanted to find unique pieces rather than copies of expensive fashion lines in magazines, these type of fashion DIYs are often of the up cycled variety and lean more to style than trends.

Get The Customer Service You Want

 

Getting The Customer Service You Want

From parcels that don’t turn up, to cleaners that damage your garments, to dentists that terrify you and drs that belittle you, In my world service is service whatever angle your coming from and how little or many initials you after your name, if your seeking help and advice or a product, how people deal with your needs as a customer or client or patient either on or off line should be just as important as the outcome.

Although A teases me for acting like the queen and never carrying hard cash I don’t believe that I’m particular demanding as a person, I’ve have been known to embarrass friends by helping clear plates at restaurants when I have seen the waitress struggle. I've done my fair share of plate pushing so if I can help a sister out I will. Good service makes your day go smoothly bad service can ruin at least a couple of hours of your day, statistics show that we human beans (this is not a typo) remember the bad things for much longer than good, so I guess there's an argument for business and services to help make people feel really cared about, special and help them achieve what they need to with minimal effort and when something goes wrong to see it as an opportunity to win back your confidence quickly.

 I hate with a vengeance when the speed and pleasure of purchasing on the Internet is undone, if something goes wrong with a product and you have to spend hours and hours of time on the phone being passed from one person to another before things can be resolved. This is an area where buying in store can be a better option. I've experienced my share of the good, bad and ugly sides of customer service,  I thought it might be useful to share some of my experiences and some advice on how to get a better result when things go wrong.

Antidote To Bloggers Block - Refinery29

 

The jig is up I have been suffering from the dreaded bloggers block, but holy Krispy Kreme doughnuts Refinery29 has bust me out of the block and all it took was tangling with some of their souped up accessories and in particular a bright purple scuba shoulder bag, although I would probably go for apricot, the apricot tone works so well in this dusky squishy funky fabric. It's very satisfying when one happy story leads to another and as I skipped merrily down the path to the perfect underwater handbag, I ran into the label & Other Stories, it's rare I find a handbag shop where I could quite happily stage a love in with every handbag on offer, so thanks Refinery29 I owe you!

The Ultimate Symbol Of Embelishment

 



image courtesy of Madame KuKu

 

 

I’m talking tattoos today and my distinct lack of them, a close friend of mine got her second recently and it made me consider why I have still not taken the plunge, most of my friend's and family members have taken a trip to get inked and given how much I love the art of embellishment I’m a little surprised at myself, am I perhaps making too bigger deal of the ultimate symbol of embellishment?

Part Four Road Trip | Damiene Hirst At The Abbey

 

 

 I never thought my post's of Bath would stretch this far, but if you have enjoyed the trip there is one finale post after this. I was blown away by the scale of the Abbey at Bath and was thrilled by an exhibition held there featuring the work of Damiene Hirst and David Mach above. Other highlights were the carved wooden angles detailing on the sky scraper of a church organ and the detail outside a small church which reminded me of a row of tiny bird houses.

 




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Three Road Trip | High Tea In Bath

 

High Tea In Bath 

 

So my idyllic tales of visiting the City of Bath continue and really you gotta love any place called Bath, it sounds so good in my northern dialect, as you may have guessed I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to history and old buildings, but tea rooms in Bath and high tea it self is a bit of an art form.

 

French Chefs And 1930's Glamour

 

 Walking the streets of Bath, I was dizzy with the vast choice of tea rooms and any thoughts of my chocolate allergy, yes I'm serious, got side lined fast! I got an amazing chocolate fix at the very French patisserie - Valerie established in 1926, it has a really glamorous 1930's feel, everywhere you look French chefs beam down at you from vivid coloured frames. I felt under dressed and in need of an up do and some vintage mother of pearl combs for my hair. I was good though, it was around 11am not really official tea time here in the UK, so I decided to temper all the chocolate with my favourite breakfast, eggs Benedict first.

Reconnecting With Your Sense Of Style

 

 

 

 

As someone women have called when they were in need of having their wardrobe resuscitated and their style tweaked, I now have a bit of an idea of what type of issues go some way to contributing to a wardrobe crisis and identity melt down. I thought it might be useful to share a little of my insight on these issues. Our identity and our sense of style are closely linked, so it’s probably no surprise to discover that we often feel uneasy when what we see in the mirror doesn’t fit with where we are currently in our lives.

 Some reasons why we might find ourselves doubting our sense of style are a change of job or roles, a change of relationship status or a changes in body shape, can you see a common theme; any change can shake things up and leave you feeling out of step with your wardrobe and your personal sense of style. Sometimes much smaller lifestyle issues such as having too narrow or wide a focus on fashion or having a very one dimensional busy lifestyle can have a negative effect too, stifling or overwhelming the creative process of enjoying fashion and style and leaving us feeling lost in a fashion wilderness.

 

Getting your Style mojo back is not about having tons of money to spend, although it helps to have some, it’s about understanding who and where you are in your life and reconnecting with the creativity of fashion and your own personal sense of style in a more relaxed way.

 Our sense of style can feel so fragile it becomes a whisper or a tiny flickering flame that needs fanning so it can burn brightly again and help us feel really alive and attractive again.

Wardrobe Mistress For Game Of Thrones?

 

 

 

Ever since I wangled my way out of being in the school play by offering to help put together the costumes for it, among my ideas using shower caps turned inside out for the women munitions workers caps in a shell factory. I have had fun with the idea of wearing things that remind me of iconic films and television dramas. Game Of Thrones is the perfect time and place to dwell if you love the fantasy of beautiful costumes and every time I come across a piece that I can imagine being on the set I get a tingle of excitement. Recently I came across an email from new accessory company Charm Nest I was smitten when I discovered the tiny prices and exotic fantasy led pieces that would make nice additions to the Game Of Thrones accessory wardrobe.   

 

 

 

 

My Misguided Route To Wearing A T-Shirt

 

 

Carey Mulligan

T-shirts the simplest garment we generally process in our wardrobes a staple top to turn to, worn with jeans when all else fails and more recently an item that has reached iconic status after being reinvented by countless designers and celebs in the name of charity and this season you can even get your hands on a leather one.

This is where the fairy tale ends annoyingly, at least for me anyway; I discovered some time back, that the average T-shirt does very little for my body shape, so while everyone else aspires to be an hourglass, I aspire to be a totem pole in the realm of T-shirt wearing, not just because we are nearing the festival season, but because, inverted triangular shapes (most men and models) and totem gals, those that are straight up and down make a T-shirt actually look like something.

 Sadly as soon as you introduce breasts and hips into the equation this element of style vanishes and me and my hour glass femme fatales, Kelly Osbourne, Carey Muligan and Kate Winslet among our number fill out the boxy shape a little too well and we look blunt, not edgy, just shapeless, with the added bonus that the short round scoop neck helps make our neck look stumpy too.

 So do we owe the humble T-shirt a debt of gratitude? No I think not, but if you still want to wear a t-shirt in some form here are my guidelines.-

I'm #Benefits New Poster Girl!

 

Using Peak Cap Tactics To Trick Dark Circles Into Submission

Lately I have been noticing dark circles under my eyes and its been bugging me, I was staggered by how much dark circles can sabotage what ever outfit choice you throw at them, I tried many options to try to disguise them a peaked cap, perhaps the natural shadows cast would disguise my own, who was I kidding, then the complete opposite a dazzling white scarf, although the light reflection helped, the suckers were still there,my next strategy,no eye make-up, just a slick of bright lipstick to draw the eye down my face, at this point I realised I was fighting a losing battle and remembered the more obvious choice in the art of concealment,the concealer!