Favourite online reads: Cellardoor

I’ve been getting really into unwinding at the end of the day by catching up on my favourite blogs via bloglovin  and hellocotton (I’ll be updating my series of “Blog of the week” posts in the next few days, so watch this space for an insight into the blogs that float my boat). As much as I love reading monthly fashion magazines I’m finding lately that online mags, alongside blogs, provide me with a similar buzz of creativity and best of all they only cost the price of my internet connection! No more £20 spends in WHSmiths for me. One of my faves, Cellardoor, is actually the work of two of my friends-for-life Jade and Amy, and is a magazine I know I can turn to if I find myself lacking in inspiration. Recently they’ve drawn my attention to the work of Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko, whose designs I love and will be looking out for in the future.

Find out more about Ulyana here

Sunday fun day

Look of the day

Mac: Primark

Scarf: H&M
Jumper: Primark
Shorts: New Look (customised)
Hat: Vintage
Watch: Rotary
Bag: Hobbs
Boots: Next

On Sunday I was in desperate need of a catch up with the work wife (Zsa Zsa, she of The Life Wardrobe) after her week off and my week from hell in the office, so we ventured out to Islington for a spot of brunch at The Breakfast Club.

Those who read this blog regularly will know my feelings on The Breakfast Club (both their All American breakfasts and fresh mint tea are to die for) so Zsa's suggestion of "why don't we have a salad at Pizza Express" was met with a definite expression of "what the hell" from me. Regardless of the queue at weekends, The Breakfast Club is definitely worth a visit for the pancakes alone, but enough about the food: Zsa and I had things to discuss, mainly her house move/relentless shopping and my week from hell/desperate need for a holiday.

After a spot of gossiping we took a stroll around the local area checking out the sights (ie: making a mental list of places we want to eat and ogling the latest wares from some of our favourite out-of-our-price-range stores). One of our favourite things to do of late is to dream up far fetched schemes to become ladies who lunch and this trip was pretty much just fuel to the fire as we stopped at many an estate agents window, our desire for a kitchen island and homewares from John Lewis knows no bounds. The sun was out for pretty much the first time this year and it was just a lovely day to spend with my best bud in the sunshine, relaxing and mentally preparing myself for the week ahead.

Here are some shots of my ensemble for the day, apologies for the people in the background but as I said it was sunny and you know how people in the UK get when it's warm in March (just be thankful they're wearing anything at all).

Weekly round-up

Well this week sucked. Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong did: I missed my power plate class, couldn't go to the Warehouse trend event and the less said about work the better. But enough about that, let's move on to bigger and better things!

This weekend The Boy and I have nothing planned and I'm actually really looking forward to it (sometimes doing nothing but what you want really is the best remedy following the week from hell). I've got big plans for an afternoon nap, some writing, catching up with Zsa zsa and maybe even some painting, who knows. I just want to spend some time doing things that I genuinely want to do, rather than having to try and fit them in around the drudgery of everyday life.

I spent some time on Friday afternoon clearing my head with a spot of retail therapy (more of that later) followed by a blustery walk home through Hyde Park. As much as I love living in the city, I do sometimes miss the peace and quiet of the countryside and the calming influence of the sea, so the silence of the park and the solitude of the lake were more than a little welcome after such a troubling week. I normally walk through the park from Marble Arch to High Street Kensington which cuts quite a bit of time off my journey and is a far nicer route than battling with the tourists at Hyde Park Corner. Today I took some time to sit a while near the Round Pond next to Kensington Palace, read my book and clear my head before meeting The Boy for some dinner and a DVD. It was a lovely end to an otherwise not-so-special week.

The week in pictures: sitting by the Round Pond, Hobbs on the Stylist cover wrap, my new cardigan, amazing new Revlon nail varnish.

Collection launch

Last Thursday saw the launch of the SS12 collections at work, which led to much excitement on the branch merch team. Over the past weeks we had been eagerly awaiting our letters and drawing up lists of potential items we wanted to buy. Therefore when the letters finally came we headed straight for the nearest store. Much of Thursday lunchtime was spent trying on potential outfits in South Molton Street before heading back to the office to consider our options. I’m pretty much in love with all of the SS12 collections so for me, queen of indecision, making a final choice has proved pretty tricky. With Mother Davies staying over last weekend we took a trip to the Covent Garden store on Saturday to look at options (and for her to see the amazingness that is the store on Longacre). The champagne, comfortable seats and attentive sales assistants had her won over in about five minutes and thanks to the great store staff and a spot of creative thinking I ended up with some great work wear for Spring Summer.

This paperclip dress is pretty much my most favourite thing in my wardrobe right now.

The NW3 collection is really strong this season, here are some of my current faves:

Shop the new season collections at www.hobbs.co.uk

From catwalk to cover

With Mother staying this past weekend, I was up early on Saturday for our long awaited girls day. The Boy and Father had big plans to put up a curtain pole (don’t ask) and then watch the rugby, which left Mother and I free for a day of culture/shopping/food, pretty much my favourite kind of day. We had both been meaning to go to the Fashion and Textiles museum for a while and Saturday was our last chance to catch from Catwalk to Cover, a great exhibition discussing the process of taking the looks you see on the catwalk and translating them into print media, so we headed over to Bermondsey. The exhibition was great, combining all aspects of both magazines and catwalk shows to create an inspiring collection of exhibits and photographs. Although the exhibition has now sadly finished, the book A Front Row Seat featuring photography by Kirstin Sinclair, is available now to buy and is a must-read for my coffee table.

Find out about future exhibitions at the Fashion & Textiles Museum here.

Looks I'm loving

This weeks style crush is Maddy C, a 23year-old Student from Poland. I adore Maddy’s quirky style and both her blog and Tumblr sites are simply inspiring. Find out more about Maddy at www.maddinka.com

Glitter and glam

This week I wanted to try something different with my nails, using a glitter polish and nude base (I had spied online that someone had created a similar effect and basically wanted to copy it – I can’t claim all the credit). I’m pretty pleased with the results tbh, especially because I managed to create it on the cheap. I used a Natural Collection polish in Peach Manicure for the base (which I already owned) and then an ultra-cheap (pretty sure it’s £1.99) glitter by Miss Sporty for the topcoat.