A post-festive season Insta-post

Welcome to my first instagram post of 2016! This is way over-due and seems almost seems silly to be posting now but having failed to get a single outfit photo since moving I figured better late than never!
As ever you can hover over the images to see the caption and click on them to make them full sized. To see more of what I get up to give me a follow on instagram and leave links to your profiles below.

Fingers crossed by this time next week I’ll be back posting outfit photos etc- bet you can hardly contain your excitement eh?

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The Sun Will Shine Again*

With the buzz of the festive season well behind us and some decidedly cold and grey weather settling in it’s hard not to succumb to the slump of mid-January. As much as the latter part of 2015 flew by in a blur, the opening month of 2016 seems to be taking it’s sweet ass time to pass- it feels like a lifetime until Spring will finally arrive so I’ve popped together a little wish list of new season arrivals from the high street to keep that hope building.

Topshop jacket | Tom Ford sunglasses from My Glasses Guru | New Look floral flats | Marc B at ASOS bag

I’m not going to lie, I did find it a little bit disheartening browsing Spring fashion as I look out of the window and see a coating of frost on the ground but I’ve tried to pick pieces that will be easy to incorporate in to outfits now to bring about a touch of sweetness and light: Sunglasses are a year round piece really, the Winter sun when it shines can be brutal and a pair of pretty flat shoes to change in to when you arrive at work can make all the difference.

I’m not sure I am a fine of the term “truster” jacket but I do really like this pale pink beauty from Topshop, perfect for pairing with the tulip pink Marc B bag for a sugary sweet Valentine’s day look next month, right?

How are you getting yourself through this dark and gloomy days? Have you started creating a new season wish list yet?

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Putting Together the Perfect Outfit for National Wear Red Day*

Every year countless people around the world celebrate National Wear Red Day. The holiday is inspired by various national heart health organisations as a day of awareness for heart disease and other cardiac ailments. In the UK, circulatory diseases rank as the number one cause of death. Every year on February 26, people dress in red to raise awareness and to honour family members and friends lost to heart disease. Today we’ll give you some ideas on how to put together the perfect outfit for 2016’s National Wear Red Day.

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Eyewear

Proper eye protection from the sun’s damaging UV rays is very important even in the winter months. Searching for a pair of quality sunglasses to go with your wardrobe shouldn’t be a chore. We’ve found some great selections at Red Hot Sunglasses that will truly make your outfit stand out.
Your outfit is often made or broken by the accessories paired with it, so be sure to choose wisely. Whether you’re looking for a neutral colour or something that boldly complements your fantastic red outfit you’ll be in good hands.

Jackets and Shirts

The proper selection of upper-body attire is crucial to any outfit and will often be one of the first pieces of your wardrobe that people notice. For National Wear Red Day we highly recommend considering a red skinny blazer from ASOS to grab people’s attention. Perfect for this day, for formal occasions or to simply make a statement, you won’t have any trouble finding a variety of other wardrobe choices with which to pair this selection year-round.

Underneath your blazer, you’ll probably want a white shirt. The people over at Next have the perfect white luxury cotton shirts to pair with a red blazer or a variety of other dress items. Even more so than with the red blazer a great white dress shirt will be useful with many different casual and formal outfits; this won’t be an item that you wear once and forget about after the fact.

Other Items to Consider

There are still several accessories and articles of clothing for your National Wear Red Day outfit that you’ll want to consider.

For starters, a pair of dark red trousers can be an excellent addition to the ensemble and will go great with your red blazer. A variety of online marketplaces and clothing stores offer red trousers in several different materials that are each suitable for one occasion or another. Reasonably priced and versatile in pairing, you’ll be able to find a pair in corduroy, denim, cotton, spandex and a variety of other mixed fabrics.

With the other recommended items here some red shoes can really make the rest of the outfit stand out even more. Whether you decide to go with leather or some other material there are plenty of dress shoes available in maroon, burgundy and several other shades of dark red.

Have your own ideas about how to really complete this ensemble? Weigh in below and make your own recommendations, or share your National Wear Red Day outfit plans!

Can You Recycle Your Wedding Dress into Something You Can Wear For Other Occasions?*

If you are planning your wedding and want to keep to a budget, the dress may still be something you plan to spend more on than you would for a normal party dress. While you can make savings in a lot of areas for your big day by using sites like https://www.instyledress.co.uk ,for many brides the wedding dress is one area where they don’t want to compromise – after all it is probably the most important dress you’ll ever wear, and many of us have been dreaming of beautiful bridal gowns since we were little girls!
So, if you still want the dress of your dreams but are feeling bad about the cost for something you will only wear once, then why not consider a dress that can be recycled into something you can wear on other occasions? This may sound odd, given traditional wedding dresses have a very specific look that is very much bridal, however it can be done!

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Dying Your Dress

One way some wedding dresses can be transformed into normal evening or formal wear is by dying them. If you have a dress in a cut that would work as a normal evening dress, for example a simple long silk dress then by transforming it into a less bridal colour than white, cream or ivory you can easily get plenty of wear out of it. While the light colours of typical wedding dresses can easily be dyed you may want to get this done professionally to get the look you want. Your white wedding dress could become a beautiful red evening gown or even your new favourite black dress!

Make a Ball Gown

If your dress is a more grand style which you would never wear to an evening event then you can also consider the dying option to turn it into a ball gown. While you may not get invited to that many balls those kinds of charity or social events do pop up occasionally, and you won’t have to spend a lot of money on a ball gown for the event if your wedding dress has been transformed ahead of time.

Using the Bodice

If you have a ball gown style wedding dress and don’t really feel the need to own an actual ball gown then another way to recycle it for normal wear is to use the bodice part of the dress. You can dye this and wear it as an evening top with black trousers or a cute skirt or sew it to a shorter skirt style to make a nice party dress.
Of course another option is to simply get married in a dress that you would already pick for other occasions. If you don’t go for traditional white and instead choose a wedding gown in another colour like red, purple or blue you can reuse it as formal wear without actually having to modify it at all.
When shopping for your dress, choosing one you can reuse all or parts of by dying or modifying it will help justify the cost of your dream wedding dress!

Moving On

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So today’s the day! I’m moving out of my parent’s house for the very first time to start a new adventure with Ben.
Obviously the next week or more are going to be complete chaos (and I don’t do very well at multi-tasking during chaos) so I’ll be putting the blog on hiatus until things are somewhat settled.

No doubt I’ll still be popping on to catch up with all of the blogs that I follow, but in terms of content creations, well, it just isn’t going to happen for the time being!

See you on the other side with some hopefully fresh and new ideas and posts to share.

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