My Valentines Wish List

 

 

Romantic Opal box zChocolate

Jasper Conran -Valentines Ludus range

Phase Eight-Helen Hearts Print Dress 

Diana Mini Love Letters Camera

Willow Pattern Soap -Lush

Jasper Conran Valentines Ludus Range -Perfume

Tatty Devine - Enamel Love Earrings

A Shoes Of Prey gift voucher to create my very own ballet pumps


So I thought I would share my Valentines wish list with you I like my Valentines day gifts to be romantic obviously, a little unusual, slightly quirky is good and memorable. I would be pretty ecstatic to receive any of the above from A.Or whatever he chooses as I love surprises too. I would say I'm the more romantic of the two of us.We always exchange Valentines gift's my gift to him is usually a picture, we are both very visual and love art.

 When I was single I bought myself a gift on Valentines day and it felt pretty good. If I was single now I would get together a group of single friends and initiate a secret Valentines and we could all spoil each other by exchanging surprise gifts over a meal.

 My little round up ranges from under £5.00 for the Lush Willow Pattern soap to over 100.00 for a striking box of Zchocolates which come in a box you can customise with a photograph of your choice or a Shoes of Prey gift voucher to allow you to custom design your own ballet pumps.

The Lush Willow Pattern soap was a big hit with me as I have always collected china and glass. The soap's pattern has a love story behind and is scented with rose and lemon, I love the idea of the china pattern slowly fading as you wash with it, till it resembles a piece of antique pottery.

 It would be fun to play the queen of hearts in the Phase Eight Helen Hearts wrap dress, punctuate my ears the pain free way with these tattoo Tatty Devine heart enamel earrings and spritz myself with this heart felt fragrance from Jasper Conrans Ludus range.

 I don't think there is a fashion blogger out there, that wouldn't swoon at the sight of the Diana mini Love Letters camera with flash.

 Anyone who knows me well, knows that gift buying for me is easy as I can never have too many candles, maybe it's something to do with my being a fire sign. I fell for this candle from the Ludus range at Jasper Conran, nestled in a ceramic checkered board pot which comes in a box with a keyhole design.I love how theatrical it looks, the lips look like they are wearing that rich velvety red that I never seem to quite be able to achieve.

 Don't forget my Valentines giveaway, there is still time to enter here.
    
 *all images courtesy of the above online stores*

 

Shoes Of Prey | Sanctuary For Feet

  You may remember me featuring Shoes of Prey here previously, if not, here is a quick recap, they are an innovative on line shoe company I stumbled across whilst doing some online shopping, based in Australia, Shoes of Prey allow you free reign to create the diy shoe of your dreams.

Colour Blocking

 

 

 So I have a little colour blocking dilemma I need to discuss, I am all about prints generally, but with colour blocking continuing to be strong this s/s 2013 I thought I might finally give this trend a go in the form of an accessory.I love some of the soft ice-cream tones that are around for spring.

 

I was given this mustard and grey colour block bag some time back from my auntie, so I've been pondering over whether to try to rework it with my spring/summer 13 wardrobe. The colours are definitely more winter 2012 so it would be a bit of a challenge or I could take the easy and more expensive route and treat myself to some of the colour blocking satchels and bags in this seasons colours.

 

 So do I spin an old accessory or just indulge my softer side and opt for an armful of pastel blocking?

Valentines Giveaway | Sharing The Love

 

 

 

 

 Valentines day is on the horizon, be still my beating heart. Seriously though I'm a very romantic soul but believe in all fairness sharing tokens of love whether with friends, family or partners should not be restricted to one day but be spread over the other 52 weeks of the year. I find the little things in life are the most romantic as well as some of life's experiences like riding on a steam trains. Anyway I digress massively as usual!

 

 I wanted to put together a little Valentines giveaway as a thank-you for all the love you have sent my way since I have been writing this blog.I chose this little trio of gift's for their playful messages, lovely lettering and because who doesn't need mouth freshener, a set of mini love magnets and a key ring that reads the Keys To My Heart are in my car!

 

 If you would like to win these Valentines delights. Please Leave a comment below and your email address. This giveaway ends on February 10th 2013 at 10pm (GMT) and I will randomly select and announce a winner here and the winner will be notified by email.To increase your chances of winning this little bundle of love you can gain one additional entry for doing each of the following:

• tweeting about this giveaway
• blogging about it
• following/subscribing to My Passport To Style blog/twitter

For the first two, please leave a comment below with the link to your tweet or blog post.
*This giveaway is open to readers worldwide.*

    

My Top 7 Beauty Products & Tools

 

 

 

 

I thought I would share the tools and beauty products I can't get by without using on a daily basis. First up I have a stubborn wrinkle under one eye, I have tried tons of eye creams and gels but nothing worked till I tried Elemis Pro Intense eye and lip cream, it works for me and moisturises and lifts the eye area, it's not super cheap but it seems to also help with darkness under my eyes which Asian skin tones like mine are prone to, which means I can do away with concealer and can be used to hydrate the surrounding lip area.

My Vintage Costume Jewellery Finds

 

 

I thought I would share my current favourite vintage jewellery pieces with you, I'm a huge fan of period dramas like Mad Men, the idea of living a life where everyone wore gloves and matching jewellery and women changed perhaps three times in one day seems so glamorous.

Double Duty| Dressing With Topshop

 

 

 

I recently bought this navy knitted tile jacquard dress from the Topshop sale, I was pretty chuffed to nab this geometric beauty, for lots of reasons I love the colour navy and the ease of flinging on a sweater dress.The centre panel breaks up the body and elongates, always good, but I was also pleased to snap up a print that cleverly covers two of this S/S13 trends.

Shoe Indecision

Monochrome pointy shoes - Louis Vuitton 

Cutaway biker boots -River Island 

Apparently women don't dress for men they dress for other women. I thought I dressed for me and my love of fashion and not my man, until I got thinking about the major shoe indecision's I have struggled with since I was able to start choosing my own shoes.

 Although finding shoes that fit well, are comfortable and stay on my feet is an issue - I have fairly wide feet and a full half size difference between my feet which makes shoe shopping a bit of a nightmare, I seem to inhabit this parallel shoe universe where none of these feet issues exist and knowing that A likes pointy high shoes. I opt to  buy extremely pointy high and expensive pairs of shoes when we are together thinking love and the price tag will enable me to wear A's favourite style of shoes, rather than what generally happens when I  buy shoes in this category I  stumble, trip and grimace in pain after ten minutes.

Rainwear Prints

blaest -245-euros

Boden - Rainy Day Mac -£119.00

Boden -Rainy Day Mac - £119.00

Tuppence Mac-Seasalt Sale £50.00 

Rain Frog - £125.95

Rain Frog - £89.95

 I don't really see why my love of print has to be confined to just shirts & dresses since I now live in my rain coat eighty five percent of the time ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little, I guess I'm not quite at the point of sleeping in my raincoat yet! However I might be persuaded to if I get a pretty enough new waterproof. I'm finding that the right prints can make my casual clothes look smarter, jeans for example and something smart like a rain coat look more relaxed, work that one out! 

If you want to avoid a raincoat that feels and sounds like a cornflake beware cheap stiff fabric! Look out for macs and coats that are fitted at the waist and flare out over your hips, have adjustable sleeves, belts and back vents to give you a really tailored finish. Soft breathable waterproof fabrics are important so you don't end up looking like your in a home sauna!

Lush Spa Box Review

Lush Spa box features - Peace massage bar, Full Of Grace serum, Big Blue bath ballistic and Stepping Stone foot scrub

When Lush recently asked me if I wanted to review some of their products from the new Lush Spar gift box which feature in their four signature spa treatments.I was so keen to make my huge bathroom into the perfect playground to test out these products I actually spent two hours cleaning it, incase your wondering if I'm mad, my bathroom usually gets a quick once over as and when I feel like it.

Big Blue bath ballistic 

I tested three of the four products from the gift box and was really excited to try out the Full Of Grace face serum.First up was the Big Blue bath ballistic packed with soothing lavender and lemon to tone I tossed it carelessly into my bright yellow bath and was immediately smitten by it's deep blue colour.

Relaxing Big Blue ballistic  In my bath

I have a confession to make, I'm not great at long relaxing baths but this balistic from Lush (and I have tried a few) converted me, I swished around in what felt like a blue volcanic rock pool peppered with strands of seaweed, inhaling the scent from the steam for a full half hour of bliss.I thought this was the perfect opportunity to give myself a nourishing facial whilst my skin was nice and warm using the Full Of Grace bar.I love the fact it looks so innocent and unassuming and is the perfect size and shape to melt in your hands, made with portobello mushrooms and rose water I nearly fell asleep during my diy facial.

 I suffer from dry skin and am already a fan of Lush massage bars which I find very hydrating, so once out of my bath I decided to slip into something more comfortable and slathered myself in Peace, made of coco butter and olive oil. My only tip is it melts down pretty rapidly after a hot bath, so if you want the bar to last longer just stroke the bar onto your skin rather than melting it in your hands first.I wasn't overly concerned with making the bar last though, preferring to saturate myself in its luxe emollients and use it like an over night body treatment, it left my skin nourished and satin smooth for three days.

My verdict? The serum is a handy relaxing facial treat for bedtime bathing, that left my skin plumped up and resilient but was also incredibly relaxing to use when combined with a bath in the Big Blue. I'm never going to struggle to find the perfect birthday gift for any of my friends ever again!I love this Lush Spa box and it's cute brown heritage gift wrap and stamps depicting all the treatments you can have at the new Lush spas! Can you tell?!   

    

* I was sent three products from the Lush spa box for the purpose of this review, all photographs featured with the exception of the Lush spa box are my own.