Nailing it part 2: Summer nail designs worth perfecting

Have you ever read the book Outliers? Well, if not, in a nutshell it tells you how no one gets good at anything without practice – around 10,000 hours to be exact. And if you saw my nail art post a few months back you may know that I have a new hobby, and have been spending many Sunday afternoons steadily becoming more and more light-headed through using copious amounts of nail varnish remover and learning to steady my shaky hands.

Actually that post now makes me cringe, but proves the Outliers theory about practice being key. All I can say is thank goodness for the likes of Pinterest and YouTube who are currently playing a major role in my nail education and to my friends who are now letting me butcher prettify their paws..

The idea for the Diet Coke cans were spied by our Katie on Twitter, and I am currently attempting to perfect them for her…

Bananas, watermelons, kiwis and strawberries complete my ‘fruit salad’ wheel…

Whilst I picked these neon colours up (four in a pack) for only £2 in good old Primark to attempt this Aztec-y neon design.  You may be able to see I am yet to perfect straight lines…

And here is my attempt at the Roy Lichtenstein pop art design…

So that is my current selection guys!  If you see any designs, have any great tips or would like your nails doing do get in touch and help a sister out.

My Best Charity-Shop Buys

I used to shop in charity shops a lot when I was a student, admittedly more out of necessity than a bohemian dress-sense.  I (unfortunately) wasn’t mixing second-hand chic amidst my designer pieces and H&M and Primark also featured pretty highly.  Upon graduating my retailer of choice also graduated to the dizzier heights of Topshop and Zara and hovered in that region before maxing out at Whistles and Cos in the latter half of my twenties.

I’ve recently found myself popping into the odd charity shop again and remembered the joy of stumbling across a vintagy leather bag or the thrill finding an amazing dress miraculously in my size.  Fate.

The usual advice is still best when hunting down hidden treasures; go for affluent neighbourhoods for higher-end designer brands or student areas for budget high-street threads. Although not charity-orientated  pre-loved and e-Bay are also easy ways to locate second-hand, well…..anything.

Charity buys forego the ‘spending guilt’ and if you need further justification, its recycling too.

Here, I’ve listed some of my favourite second-hand purchases.  On reflection many have out-lasted my high-street purchases and remain firm wardrobe favourites.

L.K. Bennett Leather Patent Block Heel Court Shoes £25 – better condition than most of my current shoes.

Octavia Foundation

3 Bute St, London, Greater London SW7 3EY

Tweed Crombie Coat $20 AUD – this hasn’t got any labels whatsoever so I took some guesses at garment care and sizing.

‘Vinnies’ in Paddington, Sydney (short for a charity called St Vincent’s)

Oxford Street 292, 2021 Sydney, NSW

Faux Leather Burgundy Clutch £6.00

Oxfam

93 High Street Wimbledon, London

                   

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Ring-a-ding-ding, is Primark the new Fast Jewellery King?

Every woman loves jewellery.  Or perhaps every female I have ever met.  There might be the odd few who could argue against me, but, just like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot, they remain nothing more than a myth.  For many, forgetting to put on your favourite bracelet or ring before you leave the house can send you spiralling into a world of panic, and result in phantom itches and pangs of uncertainty all day.  I for one just feel lost without at least three rings on at any one time.  And coupled with my inability to afford Pamela Love, Elizabeth & James or Dannijo adornments as yet, the High Street is where I purchase the majority of my oversized, ‘man-reppelling’ trinkets.

My latest finds are actually courtesy of the new flagship Primark store on Oxford Street (otherwise dubbed ‘Posh Primark’).  Just think of it like when you buy a new car, all shiny and clean.  Give it a few weeks and there are chocolate stains and coke bottles rolling around on the floor.  The staff is, in fact, rather friendly and polite, and I even caught two making friends on the 3^rd floor (awwwww).  No doubt their spirits will be crushed soon enough though.  But anyway!  I managed to bag me this ‘gold’ knuckle ring and this Black stoned beast for a couple of quid combined.  Now I am more than aware these will last me approximately 3 weeks tops before they start turning my flesh a putrid green, but for that price I can replace them.  My problem is that I bought the second one (carbon copy) in Topshop last year for £6.  Clearly from the same distribution company, but it does make my blood boil that Topshop get away with such price inflation.  Never again will I purchase jewellery from Topshop, and instead put my savings towards getting one step closer to the Pamela Love counter at Liberty’s…

Street Style | Floral and pastels at Graduate Fashion Week 2012

Not only did Graduate Fashion Week deliver a whole heap of talent on the catwalks (check out our round up of the best graduate collections) but there was plenty of style savvy on display in between the shows too. While perusing the pathways of the Earl’s Court exhibition centre we found many an attendee nodding to the two of the biggest spring 2012 trends – pastels and florals. Was it deliberate? We stopped a handful of very well dressed visitors to find out.

Who: Marissa Owen, who won last year’s graduate womenswear designer of the year award. Marissa is now a designer at Marks and Spencer.

What are you wearing? Cos dress, PPQ shoes, Topshop socks and bag.

Do the seasonal trends influence what you wear? Not consciously, but because I’m always researching trends for my work I think there is a certain influence.

What have you seen at GFW so far? I saw the UCLan show, that’s the uni I went to, it was brilliant. I loved the collection with the jack-in-a-box theme [it was by Xiaoping Fiona Hwang].

Who: Lucy Nicholls, recent fashion promotion graduate of Middlesex University and blogger on Shiny Thoughts.

What are you wearing? Topshop shirt, trousers and brogues, Lazy Oaf backpack, Me and Zina jewellery.

Are you influenced by seasonal trends? Not really. I like florals and pastels anyway so I’m glad they’re in the shops right now.

What are you looking forward to seeing at GFW? I want to look at other graduate fashion promotion potfolios and see what they’ve done.

Who? Mehbuda Uddin, studying fashion at Bournemouth.

What are you wearing? Warehouse blouse, New Look skirt, Dorothy Perkins bag and accessories.

Are you influenced by seasonal trends? I picked this outfit many because I like the petrol blue colour of the skirt and because it has a retro feel. I flip through magazines so I’m aware of trends but for me it’s more about what suits me.

Who? Charis Younger, Northumbria graduate now designing menswear at All Saints.

What are you wearing? Asos dress, Primark bag, All Saints jewellery.

Are you influenced by seasonal trends? I’m definitely aware of the trends but I usually wear a lot of black and grey, like the All Saints clothes. There’s just so much pastel in the shops at the moment, but I try to wear it with my own twist.

Who should we look out for from Northumbria at GFW? Look out for Charlotte Sowerby and Emily Edge, they’re both great.

Who: Elis, from Bulgaria, studying business and management at Exeter university, currently on a sandwich placement doing marketing at IBM.

What are you wearing? All by  Zara apart from shoes which were bought from a shop called Renkel in Berlin, Germany.

What have you seen that you’ve liked at GFW? I really liked the University of Edinburgh show as they did interesting things with the business suit – it’s something I wear everyday.

Are you influenced by seasonal trends? I’m limited with my work clothes but I likes to wear flowers and colours outside of work.

Forever 21 Store Launch: Oxford street’s newest offering

Last week saw one of the U S of A’s biggest chains open up its new British flagship on Oxford Street.  With Bip Ling fronting the advertisement campaign, it is kind of obvious the type of people they are hoping to attract i.e. not your mum.

And with over 500 stores worldwide, and already having opened their first UK branch in Birmingham’s Bull Ring last year, you would assume from all the hype this is the start of Forever 21’s ascent to becoming Queen of the High Street.  Well, they’ve already started jumping into HMV’s grave, giving Forever 21 their final break into the West End’s high street….

The store itself is actually mighty impressive.  Spanning three floors and keeping quite a modern layout, the Visual Merchers have done somewhat of an awesome job.  However, the clothing does seem a tad ‘glorified Primark meets H&M’ and I cannot say I wasn’t devastatingly disappointed.  I was day dreaming of an American Apparel meets Urban Outfitters super store.  Mind you, some of the footwear and accessories weren’t bad, and prices are ever so low (perfect for the discerning shopper).  The problem is, is there even room in the UK market for this type of store?  And is our ‘Great British High Street’ somewhat drowning in a tidal wave of American brands at the moment?  Just don’t get me started on Hollister…