Someday I'll be Bulletproof

Sorry for the song lyrics (even if slightly relevant to the way I'm feeling/what I'm posting) as titles, it's tough thinking up new titles for posts of old outfits only slightly mixed up!! On the plus side, when wearing this outside, I felt powerful and pretty cool. Not sure if it's the lipstick that's doing that or the sunglasses. Probably the sunglasses, I love them!! Even more now they're one of only three pairs I have left. It's been a destructive summer, with one pair being irreparably broken in my bag in Paris and another vanishing mysteriously in a vintage shop in the Marais district (if they were stolen, joke's on them - I bought them for £2 in Primark, 3 years ago!).




I'm contemplating doing a "How to take a photo if you've got a slightly-to-mid pear-shaped body" post - just a couple of tricks I use. It may not end up being much more than "Take lots of photos and choose the ones which make you look the slimmest!" but some people might find it helpful!

Anyway, time to go back to work! Studying civil litigation at the moment, such a lot!

You taste just like glitter mixed with Rock n Roll...

I feel a lot happier with today's outfit, which I put together to wear to go to the shops... oh studying!! I felt the need for a bit more floaty, but I wasn't feeling Marie Antoinette, so I went for a rocked up version.
Polka dot dress worn backwards (thanks to Becks, who I copied, since she did the same when she borrowed this dress!), belt was vintage Levis from Mum, black ankle boots Z&V (still not comfortable, glad I didn't drop £250+ on them!).


It also seemed like the day to finally unleash the Parisian leather jacket on the world! OK, so I walked the 5 mins to Tescos and back, but I felt goooood doing so!


Chanel red lipstick! I will get used to wearing lipstick!!


The journey towards a decent cost-per-wear starts with a single step, right?

A Failed Attempt at Inspiration

I found this picture at The Scrapbook and thought I'd be "inspired" by it. She looks good, right? And it should be quite a simple look - tight skirt, shoe boots, a jacket and a loose tshirt...



I'm not sure. I don't think I'd go out like this, maybe cos my legs are just too pale contrasted with the boots, or maybe the boots just don't look right with the skirt? Maybe it's the cut of the boots? I'd wear it with tights, but something about the bare legs, the tight mini skirt and the shoe boots just screams "slapper" to me... any ideas? Opinions??

Rouge Outdoors...

This is almost what I wore a couple of days ago... sadly, I changed the jacket as it was too warm (no longer, it seems!), 'though I do love it! I took it to Paris but since it was so hot, it never came out of the wardrobe.



I did wear a headband (rare for me) and the first UK outing of my Rouge Allure Chanel lipstick - Helen, I bought n. 39, called "Precious" (wish it had a different name, but oh well). My first choice was actually 46 but they only had the tester. I'm not a bright red lipstick girl, I like slightly darker, berry tones. It's still red though!!

Much as I liked wearing the headband (it's black and sequinned!!) it did start to annoy me, after my pounding through the streets of Oxford and going to various shops and the bank.

Does Charity begin with Knickers?

As part of their promotion for Andrex Shea Butter toilet roll (I don't have a TV but the advert might be out already? You can see a spoof version here!), Andrex and the lingerie designer Ayten Gasson have teamed up to create a pair of silk knickers. The white fabric is apparently enriched with shea butter too. They're pretty, and vintage inspired, like many of Ayten Gasson's designs. What I will say is that I'm a pretty standard UK size 10, and I got the medium size, and whilst they do fit, they're pretty small! Apparently medium is for 10-12, but I'd definitely go for the smaller end of that range!


Said pants are available at the price of £10 a pair at the Andrex website. Expensive for some pants? Well, generally I'd agree with you (despite my "think of the cost per wear!!" attitude). But Ayten Gasson's pants retail for up to £79. Most importantly, £5 of that sales price will be donated to a charity called Look Good, Feel Better.

Look Good, Feel Better is a charity for women undergoing cancer treatment. It holds workshops in skincare and makeup to help combat the visible effects of cancer treatment. This obviously has the effects of boosting self-confidence and general happiness. In my opinion, attitude is mot of the battle towards beating illness!! My Dad has recently suffered with bowel cancer, and his attitude of "just getting on with it" is amazing and has definitely aided his recovery (fingers crossed!!).

For further information, Look Good, Feel Better have their website here.

Paris - Other Shopping

OK, so this is mostly just a pretty picture post, I know I don't usually do them, but I took lots of photos!! These are mostly from shopping and shop windows.

The first 4 are parts of the Galleries Lafayette - beautiful beautiful building, with a glass dome and balconettes and various designers in each one. The Galleries Lafayette and Printemps are two of the "grands magasins" (department stores) which are famous. They've each got sooo many floors filled with designers, from mid-range to high-end. They don't just do clothes either, each has a men's building, a beauty building, a home building, floors devoted to jewellery, travel, stationary...




These two are from Printemps - the first is of the shoe floor in the sales. This was relatively quiet compared to other areas of the floor! I did get to try on those infamous "Eiffel Tower" YSL shoes. I get the feeling they would cause blisters! The mesh felt like plastic!! Unusual though. The second photo is of the glass window on the top floor.




Ici, the Place Vendome, the square with the Ritz and various designers, including an entrance to the Rue Cambon Chanel shop.


Me outside the shop and then a photo of one of its windows - just think, Karl Lagerfeld COULD have been working within metres of where I was stood.



Lanvin mens' window. I completely fell out of love with Lanvin, it must be said. I went to the shop on Rue du Faubourg St Honore, and tried a lot on (dresses, suits, tops) and nothing looked good. Not just sales items, but new season too. Sure, it fit, but it didn't look or feel fab. I was sorely disappointed, particularly as I'd gone in with my previous worship of the brand. I guess it's just not for me, when the only thing which looked vaguely good was one of those embellished tshirts. *sigh*.


Ideal for a child's bedroom. Or my room...

Laduree... of course!


Some fabulous dress!


Le Marche aux Bibliophiles (the booklovers market) - found at St Sulpice. I went there on a Thursday, so don't know if it's there all the time or wat, but it was a little market filled with books!! It looked so pretty.

And I swear, I think that's the last of Paris for the blog!!!!

Paris - Other food!

Just a couple of things to write about - I didn't eat out in restaurants the whole time (I did go to one in the Latin Quarter with my brother!), generally buying food from supermarkets, to save money for clothes.

Mmmmm Berthillon icecream from the Ile St Louis!! This one was praline...

And this one was a rhubarb sorbet (and so so refreshing and tasty yum on a hot day, part way through an epic 7 mile walk!). The western end of the Ile (when they're not filming on it...) is shaded and you get a lovely view over the Seine. I definitely recommend the icecream window near the bridge at the western end, as it's not as busy as down the main street.


Tuesday I had one of my favourite moments - I had no money to shop any more but I did have some money. So I went to the Place des Vosges in the Marais district and bought a coffee meringue from an artisan bakery (I saw them in the window, and they're one of the few bakery items I can eat), and sat in the shade, reading and eating the meringue for lunch. Decadence is sometimes just taking the time out to do whatever you like.



Yes, it was indeed that large!! But light and airy and crunchy for approx 7mm, but then chewy and oh so good. Easily the best meringue I've ever eaten.

Paris - Ladurée

I was going to go to Ladurée anyway, but when my brother came up, it seemed like the perfect thing to treat him to for his 21st birthday!!!! Hence lots of photos of the pretty pretty shop (we went to the one on Rue Royale) and the lovely yummy food!!



This was part of the oh-so-decadent interior! We came in at about 11am on Saturday and it was pretty quiet in the actual tea room, but long queues for the bakery bit.

Early lunch - Dan had an omelette (6 euro on the breakfast menu), which was super rich - he couldn't finish it, which is unheard of for him!!!

Our drinks - Dan had the house hot chocolate which was more like a dessert than a drink!! He couldn't finish it, and I could barely take more than a couple of mouthfuls! I had the Thé Jardin Bleu Royale which I would thoroughly recommend!!

This display was right next to us - it just whet my appetite for the macarons!! I'd only ever seen them before, never eaten. And since I'm wheat-intolerant, I hadn't had ANY baked goods at this point!!



Sure, there are 3 photos of macarons... but can you have too many?? Since there were two of us, we got 8 mini macarons (they come in sets of 4 of your choice) so we could sample as many as we wanted to!!! We had:

- Framboise (raspberry) - fruity, yet tasted kind of like ordinary raspberry jam
- Petales de Rose - decadent rose-flavour, very Marie Antoinette!!
- Vanille - Strong, gel centre, not our favourite.
- Caramel - like a liquid Dime bar for its filling! V rich, but yummy!
- Lemon - like good homemade lemon curd. Good contrast to the others!!
- Liquorice - surprisingly tasty!! Longlasting, quite mouthwatering! Dan said it was evil-looking "but then strokes your face". One of our faves.
- Violet-blackcurrant - again, strongly ruity, not much violet.
- Chocolate amer - tasted like the hot chocolate, and was quite fudgy.


I later tried a pistachio one from the food court in the Galleries Lafayette, and I think pistachio was one of my faves too! In a choice of 4, currently I'd choose lemon, rose, pistachio and liquorice, perhaps switching up the lemon for caramel depending on my feelings at the time!



Stay tuned for a bit more Parisian food chat (well, photos) involving Berthillon icecream and coffee meringues!!

Paris - Les Soldes!

France has sales (due to the government) at specific times, twice a year, unlike in the UK when it seems like every shop has a "sale" sign ALL the time. Therefore, this is the shops' only opportunity to get rid of spring/summer 2009 stock, to clear the floor for the new season. Most shops will therefore have 30%, 40% and 50% off many (most!) items. It's Paris... and the start of the sales coincided with when I got there!! So it was early enough to get the good stuff, but it was too early for the later markdowns. Not a problem, I'd gone with a few things in mind... I'm a better shopper if I'm more focussed.

OK, so my first purchase wasn't in the sales, but what sort of trip would it be if I didn't come away with a red Chanel lipstick?? I fell more in love with Chanel on this trip after visiting the Rue Cambon (more to come in a later post), but couldn't afford any clothes. Therefore, a visit to Sephora with a 15% off voucher and voila! A beautiful lipstick!



Aim number one of the trip was to get a black pencil skirt. I need one for graduation and it's the sort of thing I will wear a lot, since I'll be working in an office later. I found this one at 50% off (like all my clothes purchases!) in the Moschino Cheap n Chic part of Printemps.




The second of my three clothing purchases was this lovely little sequinned mini cardigan from Pinko. Given how much I wear my black one for going out/formal evenings, this is very much an investment!!



My main (and bankrupting) purchase was this jacket... I fell in love at the Galliano part of Printemps, and they had only one left and it fit perfectly and it was 50% off and it'll be worth lots in the future and it's not like I spent all my money on a dress I'll only wear twice a year, it's somethine I can wear lots per year and it's beautiful and I have many more ways of justifiying it. It does mean I'll be eating v frugally for the next couple of months


Look at the beautiful little ruffle and the slight puff sleeves and the detail on the front and ... just wow.



Needless to say, I won't be buying any clothes in the near future!! So I think the blog will take a turn to looking towards other ideas, mixing things up and what I'd like to wear!!

A Wardrobe for a Chic Parisian Week

Part of spending time in Paris is what you wear!!!! I didn't want to look like a tourist, or bad or anything, and I didn't want to take LOADS (need space to bring back new things!), so I planned my wardrobe ruthlessly. In addition, I knew I was planning on walking a lot and sitting, shopping and reading in gardens.

To travel, a Breton striped dress with a waist belt.


With one "bottom", you can take multiple separates, taking up less room per outfit. I went for the blue Zara skirt with some very different tops! I also added a blue scarf for differences, wearing it as a scarf on one day and as a belt on another.



The hat I purchased out there - I was looking for a sunhat (my mother told me to buy one. She was sooo right!) and found this white beauty which went with all my clothes and conveniently folded away! It's a little bit Audrey, right?


I also took two black dresses - the laceback shift dress for Parisian Chic (I wore this to Laduree!!!) and a floatier number, which was swirly and gave some sort of presence.



For shoes, I took a pair of heels, pair of black ballet flats, sparkly converse and the Havaianas. Everything gave me blisters apart from the Havaianas, which I ended up wear for many days. And they are still in good condition. So respect to the flipflops!!!