Styling Accessories

While at the Next Press Day last week, we were given a goody bag with floral sunglasses and a scarf, and were all asked to style them up in our unique little ways.

I thought I'd take my look down the 50's route with this 50's style Polka Dot dress from Tesco, and a pair of nautical wedges from New Look. I tied the scarf around my head and added the sunglasses to finish the look.

Thanks mum for getting the dirty towels in the picture!

Does the dress vaguely resemble a school uniform? I think it was similar to my primary school one. I would compare with a picture, but I think I burnt them all, lol. Either way, I do love the dress and I'll most likely get a lot of wear out of it this summer (when summer eventually comes.)

Also, I got my hair cut! I got a few inches off and it's shorter than I've had it for a while. There's still a bit of the colour at the bottom, but this is probably my perfect length. Although, it'll get shorter when I wash it and the curls come in.

What do you think? How would you style the sunglasses and scarf?

Sherin xx

Outfit

This is what I wore while out and about last week, to a few press days, then the Funeral Party gig. Personally, I actually wasn't the hugest fan of it, but it went down really well. I love all three pieces a lot, but wasn't so sure of them together. I changed my outfit like 10 times that day (I'm usually a lot less maintanence), and then realised that I was actually running late, and still hadn't done my hair or make up.

I'm wearing HandM stripped tee, Tesco Couture skirt (I love that cute little thing) and Deichmann Boots.

And in case you want to see the outfit next to an oversized chess piece :)

Hope you all enjoy your bank holiday today!!!

Sherin xx

P.S. Thanks Susie for snapping these pictures of me.

The Meaning of Sunglasses: Book Review

A few months ago, I won Amy's blogiversary giveaway (from her old blog). Among all the amazing goodies was a book called 'The Meaning of Sunglasses', by Hadley Freeman and it's a fantastic book.

As you all probably know, I love reading. For me, nothing compares to sitting wrapped up in blankets, and reading a good book, with my music blaring. And between all my Dickens' and Salingers, I do enjoy reading the odd fashion based book as a guilty pleasure.

Photo from Waterstones

I really am loving this book. It's really witty and quite funny as well. Definitely an entertaining read, full of tips on all topics, such as wearing shorts and information about menswear on women.
The book definitely doesn't take itself seriously, and clearly states that it isn't a guide book that offers advice, but just a general guide to meanings of trends.

I love how the book starts off by mentioning the importance of accessories, and how fashion isn't just about clothes anymore. It is pretty hilarious. It explains how buying the occassional expensive handbag is more than just about wanting it: it's about letting the owrld know that you can splurge.
The book spends a few pages on each trend/topic and explains how it came to be and general opinions on it all.

This book is definitely worth a read and is guaranteed to make you laugh. I haven't finished it yet, but hope to really soon.

Sherin xx

Funeral Party...at Gola

I won tickets to see Funeral Party play an intimate, semi-acoustic (yup, stole that word from Susie) gig at the Gola store, on Carnaby Street on Wednesday evening, in association with Clash Music. I've actually never been into the Gola store before (It's too near the Vans store, which I usually drift into instead) but they had some pretty cool stuff there and a lot of colours!

The shop's not huge, so it was fun seeing one of my favourite bands in such a small setting. They did a great job turning the store into a mini gig venue: the back turned into the 'stage' and the counter became a bar.

Wild Palms played a small set first. I'd never heard of them before, but they were actually  pretty good. Will definitely be checking them out properly at some point.

Funeral Party were absolutely amazing that stripped down. This is only the second time I've heard a band do such quiet, stripped set (first being Good Charlotte, in my teens - I have to stress: TEENS - in a breakfast bar) and they did a fantastic job playing such an unsual venue. I'm a huge fan and I have to admit that they sounded so much better this way. I saw them a few months ago and they absolutely rocked then, and I'm a muc bigger fan now that I've seen them in this type of a setting. Chad's (lead singer) voice sounded absolutely amazing. I've been to a lot of gig, and their preformance here has been one of my favourite.

Where's the coolest place you've ever seen a gig?

Sherin xx

Press Day Catch up

I've been to various press days this last week, so here's just a round up of all the pretty things I've been seeing.

QVC: All the make up and beauty products looked great. I loved how they stock a wide range of beauty products, including Smashbox (which is hard to find in the UK). They also work with a whole range of jewellery and clothes designers, so the site is definitely worth a look. There's a lot of variety when it comes to products, which are all decently prices. They also have great nail polishes from Nails Inc and gorgeous Lulu Guinness bags.

Very: This was very cool (geddit? nevermind). Anyway, I loved the colours and the 70's hint from some of the dresses. The pinky/purple shoes are from the Fearne Cotton range, and it's one of my favourite collections online. They also have collections with Holly Willoughby and Diana Vickers (I got the most beautiful skirt from that collection).

Next: Again, there was a 70's influence with the collection. I loved a lot of the beading and that orange blouse is one of my favourites. There were a lot of bight colours and different prints as well.

Anyone else excited about AW as well. Although, by the looks of the weather, looks like AW is already among us!

More pictures on my Facebook Page!

Sherin xx

Outfit: Wandering around London

I wore this out while out and about in London. So we started off in Nandos, did some shopping, grabbed a cupcake and caught a press day.
I actually didn't realise how bright these pictures came out until just now. Never had THAT problem before.

I bought my dress from Camden, the top underneath is Dorothy Perkins and the wedges were from a charity store. I bought them months ago, for only £4, and never wore them. I didn't recognise the brand, but they looked cute. They were slightly very painful by the end of the day though. The dress kept riding up though, so I spent a lot of time pulling it back down.

For cupcakes, we went to Cox Cookies and Cakes, in Soho. They did have some very *ahem* 'questionable' cakes, but we settled on getting more PG ones, rather than some X-rated ones, hehe. This chocolate cupcakes was amazing though! And the fizzy cola sweets are my favourite!

And each cupcake came with some kind of chocolate shot, with whipped cream: yummiest thing ever. I'm definitely going to go back for more cupcakes!

Sherin xx

P.S.I have to share with you guys my newest favourite product: Lush's Tea Tree Water Toner. Firstly: it was NOT sent to me to review, it's just purely awesome. I bought it a while back, but have only recently started using it regularly and it is Ah-Mah-Zing. I like to avoid using stuff on my face, but this is a dream product. It's light, smells great and actually really makes a difference. I'm one of those people who, after cleansing/toning my face, likes to look at the dirt on the cotton pad (don't judge) and this really fulfils that guilty pleasure of mine. To see all the grim come off your face after a long day is surprisingly really satisfying.

Barbara Panter

I've recently discovered a really cool, unique new artist: Barbara Panther. Both her music and fashion are set to take the world by storm. Born in Rwanda, raised in Brussels and based in Berlin, Panther is able to cross musical boundaries with ease. Despite not really inspired by her background, she say's: “I’m intrigued by the universe, water and the moon, and their interdependencies, which is noticeable in both the record’s sound and theme”, and she touches on themes such as religion and ethnicity in her songs.

She also worked with German Designer, Larissa Hadjio, for her 2011 accessories collection and you can check out the video here. It is seriously epic stuff and there are some amazing pieces in the collection, including a hammerhead shark shaped bag.

Her debut album was released earlier this month and was incredible to listen to. It is a really unique record, and her video for Empire went down a treat as well.  It's very different, and she's been compared to the likes of Bjork. Her sound is very futuristic, while her style is eccentric, so I can imagine her live shows to be amazing. I'm listening to the album as I type and it's nothing like anything you'd have ever heard before. Each track is as unique as the last and it's 12 tracks of pure awesomeness.

I also got the chance to ask her a few questions and her answers really are spectacular!

1: You have really unique style, how would you describe it? Me! An extract from what is, will be and always was!

2: Where do you get your style inspiration from? Honestly, from inside, looking outside, the
now which is past future and present. Ask me if I’d ever get married, I’d say no, I don't believe in
divorce, ask me if I believe in life, maybe, but I can't tell, I never died.

3: What was it like working with Larissa Hadjio and what was your favourite from the collection?
Larissa is my very good friend, she's always creative and working, I wish I had that energy and
discipline! My favourite bag of her collection is the Shark!

4: What can we expect when we see you live? You can expect me first of all, and when you hear
the sounds on the record live it will make it all the more true, real and unbelievable!

5: What's the next step for you? I'm leaving the world for a while, only to return wiser!

You can check out her latest single: Moonlight People here:

Barbara Panther - Moonlight People from City Slang on Vimeo.

Sherin xx

Aussie Bootcamp

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty lazy and have been eating a lot of junk recently. But recently, I have been a bit more encouraged.

To tie in with the release of their new Lusciously Light conditioners (which I've been using a lot), Aussie have set us Angels on a Lusciously Light path, and you can see how I got started on my challenge here. Apart from that, and switching my 5 o'clock chocolate for a piece of fruit, I have become pretty useless again.

So Aussie's bootcamp couldn't have come at a better time. I'll be honest though, when I first heard that we'd be having a bootcamp, my initial thought was of us running around, doing drills, in the rain, while wearing military clothing. Lucky for us, it was nothing like that. Phew!!

 

I went for the bootcamp day on Saturday and had so much fun. All us Angels, who picked the Lighter Self Challenge (as opposed to Lighter Style), met up at the Reebok Club, in Canary Wharf, and were greeted by the lovely Emma and Holly from Aussie (we love them!) The Reebok Club is actually a really cool gym (and there were a few hunks working out as well).

We were treated to some light breakfast (I chose a tub of pinapple, mango and melon: my favourite fruits) and then, while in our Lusciously Light Aussie t-shirts, we headed over to one of the studios and we met Amanda, or Gymanda, who was our trainer for the day.

 (an excited Maria and Lil before we started)

We started off with a light warm up, and were told to find space. I went right to the front and when I looked behind me, everyone else was right at the back. I looked like a teachers pet! But we got warmed up and got into groups to do various different types of workouts. There was kick boxing, tricep pushes on benches, running and even hula hooping!

That's me above. I'm not going to lie; that section was probably the hardest thing I've EVER done. Those yellow weights were heavy.

(Remind me never to get into a fight with Emma!)

We were also incentivised with the hula hooping. The best hula-ers were given Topshop vouchers. And guess who was one of the winners...ME!! That's right: I'm a champion hula hooper! You can see my awesome skills in the picture above.

Next we had a lusciously light lunch, with salads and healthy sandwiches, alongside water and fruit juices. I picked a grilled veggie pitta and it was actuall really delicious.
We also got a chance to mingle then as well. It was nice catching up with some old blogger friends as well as getting to know more bloggers.

Our final plan for the day was Yoga. I'd never tried Yoga before, so I was a bit scared, but it was so much fun. I really enjoyed doing all the various moves (for lack of better word). I really did feel my muscles flexing during the Yoga session and it's definitely something I'll look to do again.

As someone who rarely works out, I really enjoyed my whole day. It was fun to work out with some of my favourite bloggers and Amanda was a fantastic trainer.

I've also been more encouraged to be healthier in the 2 days since. I've been mainly drinking water, Juice and Ribena, and have switched from crisps to nuts. I've also cut down to 1 chocolate a day (I'll never give that one up) and been practising a bit of the yoga.

What kind of work outs do you do?

Sherin xx

The pictures are a mixture of mine and Aussies.

Hed Kandi

Another video, this time reviewing Hed Kandi Headphones.

Yeah, so go out and buy them! You can find products and details on the Hed Kandi website.

What earphones do you use?

Sherin xx

Attempting Nudes

This is my nude look. I don't think I own a lot in nude shades, apart from a few heels, so I was excited to try this out when I got this pale pink dress.

The dress is Paprika (from a goody bag) and the shoes/necklace are Matalan. I love the anchor necklace, just like I love all nautical things. Isn't is pretty? It was sent yesterday from Matalan, along with a Summer goody bag (which also included a beach bag, towel and sunglases), to celebrate the aunch of the Summer TV (25th May)The dress is actually a size 14!! I'll be honset, I wasn't too impressed when I saw that, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway, especially as it came with a belt.

And my ring: the infamous House of Harlow key ring. After over a year of loving from afar, I finally bought it. Asos had it down to £27, which is still a lot, but I figured it wasn't going to get cheaper anytime soon, so I took the shopping plunge.But I think you're definitely allowed to splurge if you've wanted something for so long. Anyway, no regrets, as it's awesome!

What do you think? Are you a Nude fan?

Sherin xx

Schuh

I love shoes. You know that. I know that. There's no point denying it. I was at Schuh's AW Press Day and I fell in love with so many of the shoes there. If you're as obsessed with shoes (Tanvi, I'm looking at you), you're going to want to buy everything, so apologies for that.

The layout of the Press Day was great. They had fake snow, and even a small ski lodge. It definitely made me excited for AW and snow.

Boots are probably my favourite type of shoes, so I was excited to see some really pretty ones, especially the Hunters boots.

And I loved the selection of sneakers. I will definitely be updating my Converse collection.

And then there were the heels. They were oh so pretty. I was in shoe heaven when I saw them. They were hanging from the ceilings and were absolutely amazing. Look at all the sparkles. These colourful sparkly heels were definitely my favourite from the WHOLE collection. I loved them.

What do you think? Are you as big a shoe fan as I am? There are more pictures Facebook

Sherin xx