Cape Town.

Thick tweed cape, Zara, £79.99.

Get the Look: gold pleated skirts

Topshop Autumn Winter 2011

YSL gold pleated skirt



YSL gold pleated skirt
StreetPeeper, Australia



A/W11 Mulberry Annie Skirt, £450


Oasis £45

Got a little fixation on these beauties...

Lust.

Teal fedora, £25 ASOS.

Topshop £25.

Swedish Has-Beens

Coolest girls from Stockholm Fashion Week

Copycat: black sheer shirts

I recently bought this black sheer blouse (see bottom photo) from H&M. Like Andy in the middle, of Style Scrapbook, this sort of blouse works well with shorts, and certainly something high waisted as this way you can get away with wearing little underneath without flashing your navel.

Topshop also do excellent sheer blouses - a great staple item as they carry over to Autumn/Winter as well.

Dream Paris

All I'm doing at the moment is dreaming about Paris...its fashion, streets and delicacies. I'm going in three weeks with my boyfriend and cannot wait. One of my best friends is also moving out there at the end of August to start a fashion headhunting job, excited to see her new flat. 

Living in London, I miss particular things about Paris such as its romance, the classicism of daily dressing, its café culture and the beautiful skyline. I was only saying the other day how I prefer the speed of life in Paris, where people chill with a drink in the evening and spend 2 hours having lunch. 

My own Paris photos to follow end of August...


(Some photos taken from Fashion Toast). 

Do or Don't: Kate Bosworth's Dip Dye Hair

Thoughts?

Inspiration: summer

1. ELLE Taiwan captures the warm summer rainy season // 2. Dora's Fur holiday snaps // 3. Beautiful midsummer photography from Sarah Leigh's Style Files - one of my top favourite blogs // 4. All the fun of the fair...festival fervour from Camille Over the Rainbow (my favourite franglais blogger) 5.. Matthew Williamson SS12 resort collection which embodied an oriental-cum South American vibe captured by Sarah Leigh // 6. Cat Deeley in that dress

Mesmerizing over faded jewel colours, hot Summer nights (yes! they have finally arrived!), sporadic warm Summer showers, dreamy holidays and Spring Summer 2012 collections.

Beat the rain...!

I am in love with this Zara leather shopping tote, £79.99 and available to buy here. I tried it out in store the other day and it is like a huge bucket to throw things in. A colleague at work also owns this in black and the shiny black leather looks so smart. It comes with a short handle and a longer one to put over your shoulder to make it versatile. 

Beauty notebook: Mac Studio Sculpt

I have just invested in a brand new tube of MAC Studio Sculpt foundation on recommendation from my model friend (apparently they use it on her shoots). My make-up artist friend also uses this product on her clients and there is a reason for this. Lighter than the Studio Fix foundation by MAC, which prides itself on longlasting, thicker coverage, Studio Sculpt blends beautifully into the skin giving it a gummy sheen but not a powdery effect.

I opted for NC20 which is a nice light colour for skin not yet touched by summer. NC stands for Neutral Cool and NW is Neutral Warm. NC is best for warm skin (those with blue-green veins) and NW suits cool skin tones (those with purple-blue veins). Cool balances warm skin tones and warm flatters cool skin tones.

At £23 a pop, the foundation is not cheap, but it is worth every penny. Previously a huge fan of Chanel Vitalumiere foundation (I blogged about this here), I have downgraded price-wise and am not disappointed. 

3 of the Best: Statement necklaces

1. Mawi £714 // 2. Miss Selfridge £15 // 3. Wallis £20.

Since starting a new job recently I've been often wearing statement necklaces for work. I find they add character and personality to an otherwise simple or boring outfit. My favourite one is a Mawi-style Topshop chunky snake and pearl necklace I got in the sale for £3 last summer! It has really stood the test of time.

Finances permitting, I would opt for Mawi in an ideal world as they do the very best statement chunky necklaces on the market. But, it has to be said, the high street do fantastic statement chokers - Warehouse, Topshop and Miss Selfridge are particularly good go-to brands. If you can go for designer, Marni do fantastic fabric statement necklaces adorned with beautiful chunky beads and gems. For this type of necklace, Marks and Spencer are perfect at great high street prices.