RIhanna for River Island AW13: Pre-order now!

It's that time of year again, when we can get excited for the new 'Rihanna for River Island' collection. And, I have to say, this new AW13 collection is probably my favourite so far. Featuring bold prints, knee length boots, slogan hats, and underwear.

Reading Festival 2013

When the biggest music festival is minutes from your house, there is literally no excuse to why you wouldn't want to go! This year was the first time I went to Reading Festival for the entire weekend, and I had such an amazing time spending it with some of my best friends. Somehow I only managed to see about 8 acts all weekend! haha! The majority of the day was spent drinking stella in the beer tent and soaking up the atmosphere.

GIRL IS BACK

 

GIRL IS BACK! I can't believe where the time has gone and that it's been so long since I last blogged! I am truly sorry! Truth be told, life has got in the way a bit.

Work is CRRAA-ZZZY, I've living in and out of a suitcase for the last month, playing nurse to my boyfriend (he's broken his collar bone!), and house sitting for family. Applying for new jobs (I can't afford the £400 a month petrol bill for the current one!) working night shifts and bloody early shifts! Reading Festival (pictured above) also took over my life a bit, and in my older years - it took few days to recover - i'm told it's called festival flu! But I am back for a little bit, before I run away to Canada in 4 days time!!

So until Thursday when I disappear again! (but it won't be for along I promise!) I have plenty of blog post ideas to get your teeth stuck into! WATCH THIS SPACE!!


Sorry again for disappearing!!! It won't happen again!!!

Check Mate

So, it's official According to the fashion a retail worlds, Summer is officially over and it's time for the AW13 trends. Of course though, because of the recent heatwave we have been experiencing shops are desperate trying to keep their news AW13 trends as light as possible, holding on to short sleeves, light colours and fabrics. Even desperately designing new pieces and putting them straight to production; to take advantage of the crazy long lasting Summer. Irony is though its AUGUST!! It's suppose to be warm! Retail moves so quickly that the pushing the new seasons on us faster than the changing weather.

So now, all the new trends oooze mixed pieces that you can wear now and sooo incredibly easily wear though winter too. Continuing with the 90's rival, AW13 is seeing the return of grunge, Tartan and Checks. Yay!! My second favourite print! Cleverly alot of store are introducing them in light bright colours to suit the current climate, but chuck on a pair of Doc Martens and opaque tights, you've got your AW sussed.

Topshop has the best choices of tartan/check right now, but other stores are slowly introducing them too. Wait until we are fully in season, and you'll be sick of the print I'm sure.

These are my picks from TOPSHOP that are all available to buy now instore and online:

Mac Coat £85, Scarf £18, Dungeree Dress was £48 now £15 in sale, Embroided Check Blouse £29, Daisy Check Dress £28, Red Tartan Top £30, Denim Check Skirt £34, Red Check Shirt £28, Plaid Shoes £24, Pink Tartan Midi Skirt £48.

I really, really want the Red Top, but it seems soooo over priced for a simple tee. I'm falling for the pink skirt too, which I think I gunna have to order online soon too.

Best of the rest:

L-R Grey oversize shirt - Miss Selfridge £25, Tartan Rucksack - ASOS £25, Dip Dyed Check Shirt - River Island £25, Black Peter Pan Collar Top - Miss Selfridge £32, Maxi Pinafore Dress - River Island £35, Dungerees - New Look £24.99, Tartan Tube Pants - River Island £35, Black and White Dress -New Look £17.99, Skater Shirt - New Look £7.99.

So from this list I WILL be buying the River Island Maxi Dress and New Look's skater skirt. I think the tube pants are amazing, but I simply don't have the figure to pull it off. Alternatively Miss Selfridge have two simular skater skirts and a lush co-ord top!! See it all here!!

I am a complete sucker for tartan, so I'm really excited for these new looks. Is there a AW trend that your excited about?

HAUL TIME!

I'm back! And back with a huge haul :D Yes, though I have struggled to find the time to blog over the last month, I still found plenty of time to shop!

HAIR-SPIRATION - New orange

Rihanna for River Island Collection #2 photo's/launch dates and news!!

Rip Her to Shreads

Lunchtime Shopping #13 - Tropicana boots!

Shelly's Blue Tropical Print Alexa Cut Out Boot £64.99 at New Look 

Think i have just died and gone to shoe heaven! How bloody amazing are these shoes!! And they are shelly's! Who remembers Shelly's??! I remember when I was a young adolescent that 'Shelly's' were the shoes to have as a young lady, and you had to shop in Faith (remember them!) and have a Kookai Shoulder bag! hahaha! Fortunately I was never in the 'it' crowd at school, so Clark shoes and a TK Maxx bag was all I had to muster.

 - Moral of the story is I have a fashion blog, fashion job and none of those 'cool' girls from school do :)

#FF - MY favourite fashion bloggers!

One of my favourite things about blogging is discovering other blogs. Usually I find my favourite blogs via LOOKBOOK, but sometimes I find them through other blogs #FF posts and twitter feeds. Because of this I have decided to create this huge #FF post! They won't always be this huge, but I thought I'd start with bang and showcase my 'newly discovered' favorite blogs, and some of my old favourites too :)

Packing for a very British holiday

CRY BABY

through the grapevine

HAUL - what do you want see styled?

 So this is the all post I promised you all the other day. It has taken me so long to do because I wanted to VLOG it but my camera (ok, I admit it my hair too) just weren't playing game. I managed to snap these photo's quick yesterday afternoon, while the sun put it hat on for a few hours. I'll try to do the video again today, because I really want to join the VLOG world. Anyways.... these are all pieces I have brought over the last 2 months in Topshop, River Island, TKMaxx, charity shops and Peacocks.

*Please note I really want to do some styling posts for the things I brought, I'd really appreciate your comments below stating what pieces you would like to see styled :)*

Here we go :) :

Haul Preview

90's Make up trend - the dark lips

So who remember's this trend? I remember as a child finding it really intimidating, and I can't say it's ever a trend i've loved. I always thought it looked like a moustache you get from drinking milk or a beer and no one has been kind enough to tell you, you need to wipe your face.

 But following the 90's fashion and make-up rival, I did wonder when this trend would surface  It seems that every other trend - grunge, rave, minimalist etc has been earthed, why not this one? 

Well today has seen the day, when Jesy from girl band Little Mix stepped out into the world wearing dark lip liner. 

denim love

I have been obsessed with denim since I was 6 years old and my best friend and I had matching Red denim jackets. 12 years later, (and I still have the red denim jacket) my obsession with the hard wearing blue material became apparent when shopping with friends "Your obsessed with denim!! Oh my god, stop buying it!" exclaimed my best girl Meg, after I brought a denim jumpsuit, skirt, shirt and jacket in the space of 5 days (we were on holiday, I don't actually shop everyday - well I do, but....). It has also come apparent to myself when I've spent the last 2 months looking for a new pair of jeans - who spends that long looking for jeans! Anyways, I finally found them in Topshop - I tried 8 pairs of blue jeans on, but couldn't decide on any of them. so I walked out the changing room,  walked straight into a pair of kahki coloured jeans and brought them straight away on impulse without trying them on - they are now my favourite pairs of jeans

Life Update:

I now have pink hair!! Hhahaha I wish! My hair is still dip dyed orange, but sometimes you need a remind yourself not to take life to seriously - hence the choice of photo.

I've decided to do a 'Life update post' because life has handed me a fork in the road, and I'm at the point in life, where the next decision I make will change my life forever.

This is all because I have joined the 'redundancy club'. I'm not sad, gutted, stressed or worried about it; it's actually dare I say it - really good timing. This time last year, I was stuck in a job that I wasn't enjoying, though I was bloody good at it. It wasn't what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. So, I made the decision, took a £5k paycut and left my working life to start a career. At 23 I'm on the cusp and maybe to old, to start  the career game from the bottom again, but I wasn't happy in my current work situation so the decision to me was easy.

'Do you live to work, or work to live?'

My friends and family were really supportive, they were worried about me, starting the game and taking such   a paycut at my age, when I soon will be wanting to buy a house, get married, settle down etc. But they could see it was what I wanted to do and held my hand during the transition. So, almost a year to day, I said goodbye to Hong Kong Finance Administrator Hannah and hello Boutique Manger and Assistant Buyer Hanna. 

As it was a 'career' changing move I had my life planned out to only stay in the job a year, gain the experience and then move on up the ladder to 'Assistant Buyer'. Because of plan I already had in my head, I started to look around for new job and seeing what was out there. I hadn't applied for anything yet, but I was making checks on the 'buying' world, seeing what was out there, being sure I had all the expirence and expertise I needed and was there anything else I could do, to make myself more attractive to a future employer. This recession means is a dog eat do world out there, and I need to make sure I am the best I can be, to get the job I want and stand out from the crowd. 

This why I am not upset or stressed about being made redundant, because it now just confirms what I already had planned, and is making it all happen quicker. - It also means I don't have the horrible task of handing in my notice while my boss is working in Thailand! I would've felt like a right BITCH.

So, being honest I am looking forward to my redundancy. I've been working 9am-6pm, with no lunch break, 5 sometimes 6 days a week for the last 6 months. I work my arse off to get the boutique online, intising new customers, coming up with the idea's for promotions, holding party events, visiting fashion agencies, having meetings with different brands and designers, receiving and placing stock orders. shipping customers orders all while working on the shop floor, serving customers all day, giving style advise, watching for shop lifters and visual merchandising the shop - I'm exhausted!

So what is my plan for the next month? Well, the boutique isn't closing for another 2 weeks, and there is still lots to do there. Then, I'm looking forward to having a rest-bite, re-charge my batteries, watch some daytime tv and drink lots of tea! I'm fortunate to still be living at home with my Ma, I don't have a car (sold that to pay for the new job!), no debts and with a little persuasion with my mom, the only bill I really have is my phone bill. So money isn't really an issue, I'll just have to stop buying clothes for a while, which isn't a bad thing. Of course, I've started looking for a new job straight away. Though my boss says, I'll find a job really quickly, you just don't know how long it will take. And the longer you are out of work the harder it is. If it does take longer than I hope, I'll like to do some volunteering. I think it is important to stay in the routine of work and getting up evey day, even if I have nothing to get up for. But time off will mean I can concentrate other things in life that I don't have time for. I could set up my own online shop, (something I have been thinking off for a while), I can finish the book I started writing, finish the 18502882's of books I have sat unread, watching all the DVD's that I received for  Christmas and not watched, and most importantly I can blog more often! haha! of the course that is the best option! haha! Seriously though, blogging - It could swing either way, I could become really annoying and blog constantly or not at all, it will just depend on how much life gets in the way over the next month. while looking for the new job.

So, this is my life right now as you know it.

Until next time....

Hanna <3>

PS. my brother was made redundant last month and found a  new job in 2 days! I need to beat his record :)

When Shopping means business - a mini haul

Out and About Magazine:

I was contacted a few weeks ago by a local magazine for a fashion piece they were writing for the next issue. Out and About Magazine is a local free magazine, it talks about the area, local businesses, key events etc

I  had a quick chat with the lovely Ellis from O&A regarding future trends, key pieces, what was seen on the catwalk so she could put the article together. And this is it!:

Lunchtime Shopping #13 - Winged Goddess

Winged Wedge Shoes buy them here

Holy *****! Have you ever seen such an amazing pair of shoes?! Well maybe, Prada comes to mind and various harajuki street style girls. But never ever in the UK at amazing price!!

These bad boys (or should I say angels?) are a mesley £35!!! Available at Boohoo.com they currently also have free UK Save Delivery if you spend over £30 - There are no excuses!

Shame they have already sold out of my size but they might have yours..........

3 words

It's that time of the month when payday is in reach and I start narrowing down my 'wishlists' to 'what I can actually afford list'.

I have been on a journey of self discovery recently, and in particular I am learning about my skin tone, and my body shape. I've finally come to terms with my olive skin, accepting it, and dare I say it, almost loving it?? (maybe not yet).
 As part of this learning curve I'm finding what suits me, my undertones and colourings. Learning that I have a yellow undertone, which is a 'cool' colour tone, (I always assumed I was 'warm' because I had olive skin) I've finally been able to find a foundation that suits me and with that I am discovering more colours and clothes. I think this is why I have had a sudden urge to clear out everything in my wardrobe, and buy a whole new one!

And with this sudden urge I have found myself obsessing over 3 colours - Cobalt Blue, Bright White and Burnt Orange. (ironically blue and orange are 2 colours I thought I could never wear). These are my current lusts!:

COBALT BLUE

L-R Contrast Sleeve Dress Topshop £29, Blue Flatforms Topshop £48, Geometric Print Jumper Dress Topshop £38, Blue oversized Knit Jumper Topshop £36, Number Sleeve Pullover Topshop £35, Lace Top Miss Selfridge £24, Blue Leather Bag River Island £30, Motel Disco Pants £42.

Colour Inspiration from - Jessie J

I am obsessing over the plain blue oversized Knit from Topshop. I've tried it on 3 times and I love it, but I cant justify paying £36 for a plain jumper. Hopefully it will be in the sale soon!

BRIGHT WHITE

L-R: Winged Goddess T-shirt Miss Guided £11.99, White Bikini Top £1 River Island, Cheetah Crop Top Topshop £14, White cutout Top Miss Guided £18.99, Sick Girl Cap £35 (ava. ASOS.COM) Adiddas Watch £50, White Buckle Wedges River Island £60, Wu Tnag Clang Sweatshirt TopShop £35, Boy London Vest (ASOS.COM) £35

Colour Inspiration - Rita Ora

In particular I'm loving white graphic/slogan tees and jumpers. I think that is the re-living the 90's thinking in my head. I love the Boy London and Sick Girl branding, but again I cant justify paying £30+ for a t-shirt that just says 'boy london'. Since seeing Rita Ora in a white swimsuit its on my wish list for this summer. I really like the sporty one that River Island have at the moment, and it's available in more colours. I also loved her simple white day dress, another on my list!

BURNT ORANGE

L-R orange wide leg trousers (Aqua @ ASOS.com) £80, Topshop Lipstick in shade Infrared £8, Barry M Nail Paint in Tangerine £2.99, Orange High Tops Next (childrens dept) £35, Bodycon Dress Motel Rocks £45, Skinny Belt ASOS £6, Leather Bag Topshop £28, V-Neck Jumper Dress River Island £28.

 Colour Inspiration

How amazing does Rihanna look in orange! I always thought Orange clashed with my own skin tone, so vowed never to wear it. This was until last summer when I stole a simple orange t-shirt from my mother and received lots of compliments! Discovering my new favourite colour,  I brought this Barry M nail varnish in tangerine and wore it all summer, along with my Kate Moss for Rimmel Lipstick in shade 07 . The orange wide leg trousers above are beautiful, If I was a high flyer I would definitely snatch them up. But there is no way I can pay £80 for some orange flared trousers. Instead I think I'll have to buy the V-neck jumper dress for a much reasonable £28.


Are you obsessing over any colours recently? Or maybe discovered something you thought you couldn't wear?

Hoodlum

SICK

My love is your Love

Agyness Deyn for Dr. Martens - Spring 2013

Lunchtime shopping#12 - Daisy Print Jumper

Get me to the shops!

TWENTY FACTS

It's all over now baby blue

MISS VOGUE: Vogue to Launch New Younger Magazine!

GIRL CRUSH: Mimi Wade

Lunchtime shopping #11 - Clueless T-shirt

January Sale Haul!

Snow Queen

It's snowy!! I might be late to jump on the 'snow OOTD' band wagon posts, but I've been spending the last few days recoup-orating. Today has been my first day off in what seems like weeks, then this weekend, of all weekends i have 3 days off! Happy days!

Saturday and Sunday were spent chilling, proper pajama days, catching up on tv and drinking my weight in tea. But today i've set out to be a productive day, i've taken 1000's photo's for my next few blog posts, read up some magazines, bleached my hair, sorted out some paperwork and various other boring things that needed to be done. I was going to venture into town, do some window shopping before I get paid. But decided I couldn't be bothered! ahah! This has become a sort of ritual now though, and keeps me from buying things on the wim. "If you can be bothered to go back to the shop, then you really want it" advice my mother gave my 12 year old self, which has stuck ever since.

I don't know why I look so drunk in these photo's! haha! Also please excuse the bad hair. Bleached it some more this morning and haven't bothered styling it, at the risk of damaging it even more.

Faux fur coat - New Look (OLD), Over sized knit - Topshop, Black high waisted jeans - H&M, Boots - Dr Martens, Gold Necklace - Accessorize (OLD), Chain Belt - H&M.

My jeans are so faded, I hate faded black jeans, think they look really shit, but they are currently the only pair of jeans I have! I have brought some dye for them but as of yet, haven't got round to doing it! (I will blog about it when I do). In the end all I ventured outside for, was a bar of chocolate, which I have been craving since watching 'supersize vs superskinny' last night. Im sure this programe is suppose to have the opposite effect! ahahah! So this is the rest of my afternoon....

Hope everyone is enjoying the snow!

Want some Pumpkin in that Soup?

www.pumpkinsoup.co.uk

Hey everyone!
I just wanted to share with you the wonders that is Pumpkin Soup. A independent online store specialising in DIY, Vintage and retro clothing, jewellery, and accessories. I came across the online boutique, through the owner Tori's personal blog. They have an amazing selection of over-sized boyfriend jumpers, grunge-boy shirts and 'granny' skirts.

Photo's taken from the Pumpkin Soup Dec 12 Lookbook.

                            

Don't they seem perfect for this current weather! 

Snapshot of the Pumpkin Soup website: www.pumpkinsoup.co.uk

I can't get enough of oversized clothing right now, they just add an edge to any outfit, plus being so big they are perfect for wrapping around yourself to warm and cosy! (sorry I keep going on about the weather! but's crazy right now!) The fashion world is having a 90's rival right now too, so getting anything 2 sizes to big, vintage and in a 'ugly' print, will instantly update your wardrobe to be on trend.

Taking a pick of Pumpkin Soup website, I have put this look together from some of my favourite pieces.

Of course this outfit would not be complete without a pair of ripped tights and distressed Doc Martens. I'll add a faux scarf too for extra warmth, and maybe even some knee high socks.

Pumpkin Soup ship internationally so there is no one that can miss out on this little online gem. Find them at www.pumpkinsoup.co.uk also facebook Pumpkin Soup Boutique and twitter @Pumpkinsoupshop.