Best Dressed for Less No.9

The Court by emilyrodgers18 featuring high heel pumps

I decided to kick off my 'back to blogging' saga with a new Best Dressed for Less, because not only have I not posted one in a while, but with all the excitement of fashion weeks happening, there are a host of juicy best dressed celebrities to choose from. I haven't focused specifically on one muse this time, as I noticed amongst basically EVERY celebrity that each were wearing court shoes. I have never seen this before, in all of my 8 best dressed for less..es, meaning this trend is a bigg'un, its huge, and it can be worn a million and one different ways. This is even greater news for all you tall folk out there like myself, as the court doesn't pack much platform, and has a relatively low heel, depending on which you pick, and can be placed with any outfit and bought on the cheap! Aces all round! 

So I made two outfits, one casual, one dressy. One inspired by Olivia Palermo walking her pooch there, and the other is just something I liked. I love the pop of colour that these courts can bring, and the jumpsuit could be mixed with some bright pumps but I just loved the mesh on the black ones!

So if you're hitting any fashion events for this coming season (like me..post coming soon to explain) make sure you're strutting around in a pair of these, you literally have no excuse not to (unless you hate them, of course). 

Tan in a Can

I got this new 'tan in a can' by Glotanz the other day so I thought I would do a quick review. 

I've done a self ten review before for Vita Liberata, and although I don't use the stuff much its always useful to compare and contrast. 

This one is a bit different to the rest. 

Its a straight spray on tan. 

This can seem to be a bit tricky because the key to tan is making it even and not streaky, but I found the wetness (ew) of this made it easy enough to spray on. 

This was the difference in the colour of my legs after spraying it on one.

Can you tell which one? 

The difference is subtle yet sunkissed and that night I went out baring my legs to the world (my incentive for trying the self tan) and I have to admit I was loving the compliments! 

I'm quite a tanned/olive skinned person anyway so for me it just looked like a few sessions on the sun bed, without the added cancer risk, so I will definitely be doing it again until the sun starts to reappear. 

One thing I will say is, don't spray too close or else this will happen! 

I would also recommend a mitt to just smooth it out, especially for this leg! 

I didn't have one at the time and ended up using kitchen roll (typical student) and got some very orange fingers! Definitely a self tan newbie!

 The above is the end result and below is the result just a few days after, and I have to admit, there is no difference! The tan has stayed well, despite washing every day (obvs) so I'm pleased and hoping it will last another week or so!

(Apologies for my horrible knobbly knees!)

You can have a peak at all of Glotanz products here!

Nail It

If any of you have seen my Instagram, you might have guessed, I'm pretty obsessed with my nails at the moment. Boredom and any excuse for a creative outburst means I try and do them as much as poss. 

Despite my lack of funds (just paid for a week holiday in turkey- ouch) I have also recently purchased a 24 piece nail design set from eBay, so expect many more designs to come!

Here a few of my latest.

Everyone thought this colour splash design was stick on, but no! It's so easy to do as well, just dot randomly around your nails with different colours, filling in the gaps, until you have a fully covered colourful nail! 

This one was also real easy to do, start out with a base coat, I went with white, and sweep the brush diagonally across the nail to get this effect. I broke it up by using a crackle effect on one nail which really adds to the whole design. 

I did these simple metallic tips with a normal gold varnish to spice up the traditional manicure. 

And finally, I did this for the Motel Rocks Nail competition in association with Nail rocks. The theme was summer so I went with leopard print, a palm tree, daisies and tribal, using pastel base coats and decorating with different colours and the liquid eyeliner trick. I also wrote Motel Rocks just to butter them up a bit, the prize is clothes and nail wraps and it ends tomorrow so fingers crossed!

Like their Facebook Page for more competitions and offers like this.

Birthday Wishlist No.1 - Lomography

Ok, apologies for being A-whol recently, but finishing Uni and going on holiday will make that happen I'm afraid! 

It's my Birthday in October, which may seem a little early to start making a wish list, but seeing as its my 21st, these things need to be planned! 

Some of these wishes may be a bit unrealistic but it doesn't mean I still don't want them! 

First on the list is a Lomography camera.

These quirky cameras create amazing photography with different lenses and styles as well as coming in a range of funky colours and ranges, I love them!

Created by 2 students in Vienna after they found the Lomo Kompakt Automat (in 1991 - the year I was born, coincidence? I think not!) and the amazing photos it snapped, the Lomography company has come on leaps and bounds, even being sold in Urban Outfitters, which is probably not their greatest achievement but still! 

They created the world's first compact fisheye camera, The Fisheye. This creates a rounded circular effect, one of my favourites!

Price wise, its not exactly cheap, but the packages they do are amazing, and reasonable compared to a DSLR, they are not heavy, just simple little cameras, who pay homage to the times before technology took over!

The photos are disposable but can be scanned at a photo developers onto a disk which is a bonus.

Below are a few of my favourites and some amazing snaps that can be taken with these stylish snappers.

Fingers crossed I find one in my Birthday Bundle!

(All images taken from the Lomography website)

http://www.lomography.com/ 

Nicole Farhi Event at Harvey Nichols

               

Just a quick post about the event I attended the other evening at Harvey Nicholls showcasing Nicole Farhi's new Spring Summer collection with the designer herself as a special guest! Champagne was handed to us on entry (I could get used to that) and we took our seats among the increasingly bustling scene in the ladies wear department. 

Canapés were then handed out and as things got under way the chatter diminished and Nicole took her seat in front of the crowd along with the host. 

A run through of some of the designers favourite outfits from her collection were presented to us with a short description about the inspiration, the design, the style, the colours and even the construction of the garments. (below)

 This print features in a few of Nicole's pieces, the florals patterns and tones would look perfect in a Spring wardrobe. 

 Nicole sat next to the host, a freelance journalist in Manchester, who described what the models were wearing.

 I loved this jacket, made from parachute material and lined with mesh it fits perfectly into the sport chic trend. 

 Another popular print, grid like texture, belted with a hat screams effortless elegance. 

  This was definitely my favourite, the white floral laser cut shift dress, although I wouldn't have gone naked underneath as the model dared to do. 

 After the presentation, the guests got a chance to shop the collection with a special discount. Despite my love for the structured peach dress, (£350) the price tags were a little over budget so we just admired the models (below) and pondered how they could be real?! perfect skin, hair and the clothes to match, we were almost starstruck. 

 

 Our jealousy and lack of funds quickly drove us out the door and into the loving arms of Boots, were I proceeded to spend a hefty amount, including my very first pot of anti wrinkle cream! (post to follow) But back to the event, all in all, it was nice to see the collection and amazing to see the designer up close, but unless you had the bottle to go up and talk to her, there wasn't much else on the agenda! 

We attended this event through manchesterfashionnetwork.com. I would recommend an RSVP to local events as they are a great way to network especially if your a fashion blogger!