My Passport To Style | Hip Halloween

My two favourite Halloween couple looks this year, have to be Kelly O and her boyfriend and Henry Holland and Agness Dean. If your stuggling to create a Halloween look, my style tip is start with a great pair of tights for inspiration, tights please does really unusual and fun styles, from giant stars to bingo balls by Henry Holland. I like off the wall Halloween costumes, I once created a costume for my little boy that was a giant piece of moldy cheese with a rat nibling on it!Last year I dressed as poison Ivy and made my costume using green velvet, lots of red feathers and red face paint. Happy Halloween GALS!

My Passport To Style | Alphabet Chic

L if for ........... Loopy laces, worn for languid walks in your local park.

See stylebubble for more from this collection

My Passport To Style | Reviews Armery| The Solution To Arm Wobble?!

Mary Portas is taking the 40+ world by storm with her private fleet of red headed bobbed mannequins and her new range of clothing for women at the House of Fraser in London. Mary being Mary she's certainly not a follower of fashion, she is a innovator and as such has come up with some clever ideas regarding varied lighting in changing rooms to mimic office and daylight as well as a range of clothes that flatter a range of body shapes and reflect the need for the 40+ to be catered for.

So I was intrigued about Marys latest partnership with Charnos to produce a solution to dressing one of the areas of the body women hate most, their under arms, in a more flattering way. I had high hopes for what appears to be a really great solution to a problem which prevents some women from wearing sleeveless tops and dresses.

 armery comes in a variety of plain colours and black lace, I was sent a small to medium size of the black lace to review. The lace version has the added benefit of the length of the armery sleeves (which represent a pair of footless stocking with the gusset cut out) being able to be cut down to size at home without any fraying. I decided to try them on underneath a simple navy 60's style A-line dress.

To be fair I could have done with the next size up as I have quite long arms and fairly broad shoulders, I like the idea that wearing the armery helps create a firmer look to the arm rather like stocking but without the bulk of a long sleeved vest top under your dress, that would probably ride up and leave ridges under your garment or dress. However the armery left gaps around the front of my arm holes and dress, which looked frankly odd, which is a shame, if you look at the image of the armery being modelled, you might get a better idea of what I mean.

This piece world be fine for wearing under a t-shirt top but didn't work for me under and a basic sleeveless dress, if you can't wear it as flexibly as described because of the fit then you may as well use a fitted shrug to solve this style dilemma in my opinion. The size maybe a issue, but if you look at the models it appears that the fit does not hug the front of the shoulder line enough to provide adequate coverage when wearing a sleeveless dress. I would love to be proved wrong, so do try it out in the correct size, you can always return it if it doesn't work for you.


To find out more visit-   House Of Fraser 

My Passport To Style | Shares Mia Jafaris Unique Silk Scarf Designs

I was excited to discover scarf designer Mia Jafari, Mia is a London based Persian who combine themes symbolic of the British seaside with a delightful vivid technicolor palette and bold symmetrical design elements strongly associated with eastern architecture and decor that create a clean, calm, opulent feel ; little fairground horses prance in a circle around a hand with a heart in its palm against a sea of startling aqua blue silk on the Asia Manhattan scarf, the colour intensity of the aqua is so dazzling it almost makes my eyes ache! Purple buckets and spades, aqua lipstick bullets and bikinis punctuate the repeat lime medallions that boarder the central design of this silk scarf.

 This a feast of London and eastern culture, is almost baroque in its decadence, though the supreme skill of the design is the marriage of colour and symmetry which mean that the piece does not feel crowded and every element feels like it was destined to be included in the designers vision, like a great plate of food That must have fashion accessory the scarf, just got Karma!

The packaging is pretty decadent too and you might be surprised at the prices that represents such a unique labour of love.Delivary is free worldwide! Each scarf come with a swarovski encrusted swing tag.  To see more of Mias stunning designs visit  miajafari.co.uk

 

My Passport To Style | Alphabet Chic

 T is for........ Trunk the kind you want with you when your on a Steamship, half of dressing well, is knowing where to find your things, get that right and you feel invincible! 

  credits - theconranshop.co.uk

My Passport To Style | Dragon King Of Bhutan Weds Bride

My love of bright colour and pattern comes from the Nepalese side of my family. Just had to share this happy wedding snap of the dragon King of Bhutan marrying his commoner wife Pema in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. 

My Passport To Style | Reviews Sacred Locks Range For Thick And Wavy Hair

At the risk of sounding a little ungrateful naturally wavy hair is not all about glamorous shiny bouncing waves, I have lost count of the number of damp northern days that have left me with a halo of frizz so big I have dared not venture out of the house without jamming a hat firmly on my head first, I have tried many so called hair smoothing serums, however some of them contain so many chemicals they have left my sensitive's scalp in a mess and the effects have been short lived. Whilst on my monthly quest to find the one, I came across green beauty bible award winner Sacred Locks by Louise Galvin and was able to review her collection for thick or curly hair here on My Passport To Style, much to my delight.

No Nasties Here

The ingredients list which include lemon peel oil, mandarin orange oil, geranium macutalum oil and martini oil sound so deliciously fragrant I feel like sprinkling them over my morning porridge. However instead I decide to put the range through its paces.



With no Petrochemicals, Synthetic, with no SLS, PEG’s, Parabens , Silicone, I felt reassured that no nasty toxins would be entering my scalp or polluting the planet, the smell of the shampoo was subtle but pleasant, like a lot of non chemical shampoos the lather is not as full, but more than adequate. I have only recently started dying my hair and have found out one of the unpleasant effects of this is that my hair goes straw like when rinsed and get matted during the rinsing process even before I used the conditioner my hair did not mat and felt much smoother. The conditioner contains honey and vegetable proteins which is supposed to help with curl definition and the Sacred Locks hair mask has a very nice uplifting orange scent and uses seaside plum a natural silicone which are included to help smooth chemically damaged hair without creating build up.

Blow Dry Time And The Moment Of Truth

Usually I steer clear of blow drying my hair as it is often the enemy of my frizz prone locks and let my hair dry naturally, but wanting to test the range to the max I decided to blow dry my hair using my diffuser, I was left with soft waves that were much more defined, no halo of frizz and lovely sheen to my dark hair. Result! The Sacred Locks shampoo for thick or wavy hair retails at £22.00. the conditioner £24.00 and the hair masque £26.00 which for a specialist carbon neutral range which boasts Emily Blunt as one of its fans is pretty competitively priced.  


I was also sent sacred locks environmentally friendly colour removal kit which I will review here next time, as have decided to use semi permanent natural dyes on my hair which are less likely to cause cancer than some of the more aggressive chemical dyes available, but would like to take my base colour back to its true original colour by stripping out permanent dye used in the past. Visit founder Louise Galvin and her award winning green product range here.

My Passport To Style | Jonathan Saunders Auntumn/Winter 2011

Every now and then you find a designer that knocks you off balance such is their level of skill and creativity, they are not as many designers do, simply reworking the styles of the past into something fresh they are creating purely from within themselves and their own library of creations. Scottish designer Jonthan Saunders with a BA in textile designs is able to do this and the magic ingredient used, is his abillity to elevate the world of print and colour to a whole other level, take this simple shift dress, that is printed to look like a two piece, great for short waisted women like myself as it creates the illusion of a longer waist not using cut, but colour and print.

 Bunny In The Headlights!

 When I first spotted this dress, I was like a bunny caught if the headlights, (Saunders clothes do that to you, they draw you into their world) when an animal flashed into my head.Want to know what it was? A sleek black panther with brilliant green eyes, before you think I have lost the plot, when I broke it down I realised that my association with the designer and this animal was more than just about the colours used such as the black and the large green diamond used to ofset the tunic top of the dress, the connection to a panther is more about the air of mystery and supreme confidence Sauders designs evoke, the foilage prints are very organic but he has cleverly mixed acid brights with neutrals that give a edgy feel and contrasted that with the bold placement of large geometric shape, that adds up to a sleek sequence of pattern, shape and colour.

Fearless Beauty

 These are timeless clothes, for confident women who know who they are and are drawn to the exotic, they are fearless in their approach to life, not suprisingly Saunders stately following includes Madonna and Michelle Obamma. I could lock myself in a room of his prints and be lost for hours in their beauty, this award Scottish designer is a design talent of epic proportions who understands who to flatter a womens shape.

    

credits Jonathon Saunders

My Passport To Style | A Date With Dr Marten





With texture playing such a big part in luxe looks this Autumn/Winter 2011 season, I was excited to discover that the iconic masculine Dr Marten shoe which is so current this A/W has been elevated to new dizzy luxe heights, by the addition of some new finishes and materials, Dr Marten have used metalics in their new collection as well as ostrich hide, which adds a really organic feel, almost conker like, which resonates so well during autumn. I have had a faux ostrich pumpkin satchel for years that still works brilliantly when I need to add a dash of texture to a new look.



ostrich and conker skin not that different asthetically







credits for last 3 images style bubble  

My Passport To Style | Stella Mccartneys Spring 2012 Collection

Hi Gals, me thinks Stella Mccartneys latest collection was inspired rather heavily by paisley print, i'm impressed by the diversity of designs she created that reflect the curves of this famous tear drop design that hails from Kashmir, where it was first woven into wool shawls. These are my favourite pieces from her recent collection. Do you love Paisley or hate it? What are your thoughts on Stellas latest collection, gals?