All Hallows' Eve

Saturday saw The Boy and I throw our annual Halloween fancy dress bash which, although not as raucous as last year, was still immense fun. I went as Posion Ivy from Batman (and no I haven't seen the film/read the comic, I got the inspiration from Kim Kardashian. That's right, I love a reality TV star) and as you can see I kind of went all out. If you're going to do fancy dress, for me it really is go hard or go home.

It was lovely to spend the evening with our nearest and dearest celebrating one of my favourite occasions of the year. 

I always put a lot of thought into my costume (I'm already thinking about next year!) and it would seem I'm not alone. Lookbook is a constant source of inspiration in my everyday life but over Halloween it really comes into its own when they run their Spookbook competition. The general idea is that users upload a Halloween inspired look for the chance of winning credit to spend in American Apparel. A firm bloggers fave. People really go for it, with some entries looking like they are straight out of a horror film - here's some of my favourites.

 Iza Leszczak

Nelliina T

Natalina M

Anna Swiczeniuk

All images taken from Lookbook

Next year I'm thinking of going as some kind of zombie/leopard combination but one thing's for sure, Poison Ivy will definitely be making an appearance at a Halloween event in the future - let's face it, it's a winner.

How are you spending your Halloween?

Maraschino. You know, as in cherry.

Dressing up has always been a favourite past time of mine. Not in a go out wearing my underwear kind of way, more in a never want to grow up kind of way that has me wanting to dress as many a character from my childhood regardless of the event.

There doesn't even need to be an event - I just love to theme it up. My uni years brought with them many an idea for a night out which would have me rushing home with big ideas to make my next ensemble (much to my mothers pleasure). 

Now that I work full time (and don't have access to a seemingly endless supply of fabrics and trimmings-thank you mother) I often find myself scouring Jokers Masquerade looking for ideas and components for my next fancy dress costume.

I've always loved the musical Grease and yet I've never actually dressed up as any of the characters. Until now. 

The other week The Boy and I went to a screening of the film where fancy dress was encouraged and Joke were nice enough to send me over a Grease pink ladies jacket specifically for the occasion. I must confess, I've always wanted to dress up in pink ladies fancy dress (I mean, who didn't want to be in that gang? I secretly always wanted to be Marty) and slipping it on transported me back to the 1950s and urged me to burst into song. That's pretty much like any normal day for me (as my work colleagues will tell you) but at least I was rocking a theme!

The jacket fitted really nicely and I could have even done it up and worn it as a top. The beauty of the pink ladies jacket is that you can wear it even if you don't want to dress up that much, it can be slipped on over almost any ensemble, add a pair of peep toe shoes, red lippy and a silk scarf and you are good to go. I'm sure I'll be digging this jacket out for many a last minute fancy dress occasion in the future.

I'm already thinking about what I'm going to wear to mine and The Boy's annual Halloween party (I'm thinking Poison Ivy this year) so no doubt I'll be paying Joke another visit in the not too distant future.

You can find the pink ladies jacket I'm wearing along with other film fancy dress options here.