Challenging My Taste Buds!

 

So today I thought I would invite you to play a little guessing game, there are two pictures that feature in todays post with an ingredient that works amazingly well in most sweet recipes and that I struggle to live without.

My attempt at Jamie Olivers Christmas bomb, tastes amazing great for a dinner party!

Super thick and super gorgeous 

This point is being mentioned here as I decided to divert from my usual home made chocolate brownies and make some caramel ones partly because I had received a Christmas gift containing Brownie mix from Minnesota from a company called Heavenly Bites and partly because I thought I needed to challenge my taste buds by trying something new.

 All I can say is looks are not everything! After cooing over the sweet patch work oven glove which I love! I faithfully followed the recipe which requires the addition of melted butter, water and one small egg and got ready to be amazed, always a bad idea! The smell of caramel wafting from my oven was gorgeous.So after leaving the brownies to cool and drooling, I prepared a stack with an espresso, bit in and yuck!The result? very salty, dense brownies which wiped out any taste of  caramel.

 Is the moral of the tale don't use packet cake mix? As a newbie in the area of short cut cake making I would love to know your thoughts, have you ever made a cake mix that was worth the cheat? Or Is there a special ingredient that you could not live without in your kitchen? 

Looks are not everything and neither is smell! :c

  

California Clogs - Boho Rhapsody

 As some of you may know I'm currently approaching shopping for my spring13 wardrobe in a slightly unconventional way, kicking of the month of January with my dedicated Shoe Love In.So when I discovered I had a new pinterest follower in my inbox (Karen Kell) who specialised in designing platform clogs being a Lancashire lass I was pretty chuffed!

Karen Kells clogs are not like any I have come across before,from bohemian crocheted designs to colourful links of leather as well as some series hard core studded rocker shoes,these solid wooden and leather beauties made me yearn for adventures in some hot dusty place preferable with a motorbike thrown in and a billowing shirt.These clogs are designed without a doubt for more than a bit of bit of Morris dancing on your village green.

 If you want to find out more about the talented Karen Kell who designs these beautifully crafted shoes amongst a range of other vegetation leather accessories.Visit her at Etsy,Free People and her own website KarenKellCollection.com     

Daisy Thomas Handbag Giveaway Winner!

My handbag competition ended today,thank-you for all your entries and the winner selected from random.org of a gorgeous Daisy Thomas design is Sarah from fashion blog Fashion Dotty. 

My January Shoe Love In

A new year new start, a time of spring cleaning,  detox , zen like calm, wrong! Typically we, read I, wrestle with overspending, overeating, catching up with numerous blogging tasks and the pressure to find items of clothing that flatter but are amazing value in the January sales. However I have decided that's so yesterday.

The Pursuit Of Cute

 I am feeling a little pleased with myself that I have come up with a simple solution that a) reduces the pressure of sales shopping on myself and b) removes the anxiety of buying clothes that, come March, will hopefully be too big for me as I will have shed the 6lb I gained around Christmas. Here it is, we shed weight in the places we carry the least amount first, typically feet, hands , face, upper body then sadly lower body last. So to compensate for this I have come up with the perfect shopping strategy/ calendar for 2013. January is the perfect month for buying  shoes and nothing else, well maybe some socks.

Street Fashion

 What have I got scheduled for February the month of luurve? Showering myself with some of the same, instead enduring shopping for clothes that will still be a little tight, I will be dodging sweaty changing rooms and trying on pinky rings and earrings like these beauties from BaubleBar.

BaubleBar

 March is the optimum time for hunting out some new season Ts and shirts and, you guessed it, by the time April 13  hits I will be ready to effortlessly pull my whole new wardrobe together and start focusing on clothing my bottom half too, not nearly as rude as it sounds! 

 My lazy guide to getting your fashion mojo back in just four months is stress free, but to make it work effectively it does require you have a bit of vision about what styles and colours of clothing you want to bring together right the way through the process. Begin with the end in mind, something like that anyway. Have you braved the January sales yet, bagged yourself a bargain or are you still binding your time? What's your strategy for clothes shopping in the New Year?  

Smart Guide To Updating Your S/S13 Style

Marc Jacobs- S/S 2013

Invest In Key Accessories This S/S13 

Now that Christmas is out of the way and we are officially in the New Year and seeing a little more light, I'm starting to focus on what elements from spring 2013 fashion I want bring to my wardrobe. You won't need me to tell you that one of the the easiest routes to updating your look each season is to invest in a new pair of sunglasses (check out my previous sunglasses shape wear guide if you need a steer on what shape sunglasses work best for your face shape).

Tracy Reese -S/S13

Max Azria -S/S13

Tom Ford 

Amplify S/S13 Colours With Contrasting Shades 

 Some of my favourite top spring13 trends were seen on the catwalks of New York, as you know I am very fond of wearing the colour blue, so I was pleased to see there were some vibrant blue tones used by American designers, such as this stunning dress by Tracy Reese inspired by water, soft chambray fabric featured also and was used to create very feminine dresses by designer Max Azria. 

Tommy Hilfiger would be proud of my colour co-ordination, as my first thought was I needed to get a pair of red Whitney Tom Ford sunglasses to make both these blue tones really pop whilst adding in a subtle slickness courtesy of the frame shape.

Diane von Furstenburg S/S13 

Maui Jim

Dolce & Gabbana

Double Agent - Change Your Shades And Your Style In Seconds  

 So what else is new for spring 13? White and sheer panels of fabric layered over geometric cut out designs is another trend that I loved from the catwalk but felt it might be tricky for mere mortals such as myself to copy with ease. However give me a simple shift dress and I'm happy,this white cut out sheath by Diane von Furstenburg could be dressed both up or down with the right sunglasses, for dressing this look down I would opt for some tortoiseshell Maui Jim sunglasses and for piling on the lady like chic some pretty Neapolitan pink sunglasses such as these geometric pink Dolce &Gabbana Sunglasses  .

These tortoiseshell Maui Jim sunglasses would also work really well with the chambray trend that I'm hoping to recreate this S/S13.

Marc Jacobs S/S13

Marc Jacobs S/S13

Candy Cane Crush

 Last but not least my biggest designer crush Marc Jacobs, drum roll please, as usual, put a fun and elegant spin on a cult classic, spring 13's vertical stripes, he gave us loopy red sixties stripes featured here and skinny to die for chic monochrome stripes that would look yummy, in my humble opinion, with the pink pair of Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses featured.

 A Very Stylish Hole

 I think I may have dug myself a very stylish hole, as I now find I have created the perfect excuse to invest in a whole suite of sunglasses from the lovely people at Smart Buy Glasses, being realistic all three pairs would set me back less than any one of these designers looks I have been drooling over from the catwalks of S/S13 New York fashion week!

 Do you like to stick to one favourite pair of sunglasses or mix things up by wearing different styles?

*Please note Smart Buy Glasses kindly sponsored this post, however ideas and opinions expressed are all my own* Images courtesy of Fashionologie.

Perfume Heaven - Style Over Substance?

So today I want to talk about perfume basically because I was lucky enough to receive perfume from three of my favourite brands, Orla Kiely, Marc Jacobs and Lush this Christmas.The funny thing is these three perfume brands perfectly sum up the three strands that make up my personal style - classic, fun and hippy chic.

In the spirit of sharing my passion about these perfume brands and my fetish for glass I dreamt up my own mini campaign inspired by my bottle of Orla Kiely perfume. I'm really into toffee and caramel tones at the moment and although I find it a difficult colour to wear I love wearing accessories in that tone, as you can see from the image above.The Orla Kiely design is so chic and sweet with it's toffee coloured flower shaped stopper and long glass bottle.

 I immediately fell for it's vintage charm, it has a real Art Deco feel, I can imagine Daisy from The Great Gatsby using it on her dressing table. Featured in my campaign is a vintage silk scarf, a favourite necklace I was given and a sweet vintage family of china horses I inherited  recently, I loved the idea that the mare and her two foals stumble across the bottle whilst on a walk and are curious about what it is. I arranged the bottle on the background of my silk scarf to look like  a fallen log.

My New Years Resolutions For 2013

Courtesy Of Lomography 

    

Happy 2013! I thought I would share my alternative New Years Resolutions with you -

  My New Year Resolutions for 2013 

1.Be utterly fabulous

2.Eat whatever is in the cupboard till it runs out

3.Master the art of the new grunge look for 2013 it's far easier than digitally remastering my bed head hair in mornings.

4.Only do one thing at a time it's far easier.

5.Accept that odd socks are a sign of personality and wear them with pride.

6.Create my own signature perfume.

7. Create my own signature walk.

8.Dance for two minutes on the hour when working from home.

Have you made any New Years resolutions?

Cheats Guide To Getting Party Ready

image courtesy of Agogo Fashion

Happy New Year lovely Fashionable Frolickers! I'm celebrating with a seafood supper with friends what are you up to, more importantly what are you planning on wearing? If your still in a panic about putting your look together try my cheats guide to getting Party ready!!

Get Oriental On Your #Sale Shopping Radar

Daisy Thomas - Tiger Tiger bag

Catwalk images - courtesy of Breaking Trends

Catwalk images - courtesy of Breaking Trends

Three reasons why you might want to get oriental on your sale shopping radar right now - firstly it's one of the easiest fashion trends to wear this spring, come on any item of clothing that does not require a single button or zip to fasten it, just the quick satisfying yank of a good looking satin obi belt makes for easy post Christmas pie pudding and the rest, dressing, button straining is not such a good look so that's my first reason anyway.

 I'm all for opulent dressing for both daytime and evening so buying into a long or short Kimono jacket is all good and the perfect second reason in my opinion for buying into this spring13 tend now whilst it's garnished with those juicy red sale reduction tags.

 The third reason is very simple there is still time to enter the My Passport To Style handbag giveaway and win one of Daisy Thomas's beautiful hand crafted handbags with an oriental flavour worth a cool £55.00 just make sure you leave your email address before the 7th of January 2013.

Although I admit the third reason is not strictly a sale it's a steal when all you need to do is click your mouse a few times and input your email here to win one of Daisys bags. Check out my round up of my favourite oriental pieces from the ASOS sale! What do you think of the S/S 2013 trend for oriental will you be adding to any existing oriental pieces, are you a fan of the obi belt?

*All images courtesy of ASOS 

    

It's Nearly That Time Again

 Happy Christmas! Thanks For Stopping By To Read My Passport To Style This Year.Wishing All You Fashionable Frolickers A Christmas That Melts Your Heart Not Your Snowman. xxx