FASHION, FOOD, EVENTS & TRAVEL

The Kings Arms on Fulham Road

Bow Down: Queen Bey

Sunsets and Night Skies

Coco's Tea Party x Next: Behind the Scenes

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Last month, I had the opportunity to spend the day working on the recent Coco's Tea Party x Next summer styling videos. Next are great at creating interesting and popular YouTube videos to promote certain products throughout the year and this time round they enlisted the help of Ella Gregory, from the fashion blog Coco's Tea Party, to help style up three different trends for the summer.

As an intern, my job was mainly to make sure that everything was ready to go (steaming clothes and putting everything in outfit order), so no time was wasted getting the model dressed and finding accessories. As always with Next, everything is organised down to a T before hand, so the shoot day always runs smoothly.

It was my first time working with Ella, and I have to say she was lovely and so professional. She knew exactly what she was doing and when she had to do it. On top of that, she understands the Next customer really well, making her the perfect choice for both styling and presenting the looks. Below are a few pictures I took from behind the scenes on the day, as well as links to my favourite video of the Catwalk to Closet collection!










Check the rest of the videos at Next's YouTube channel and tell me which look is your favourite!


Saturday 26 April 2014

Maybe it's the full page image of the girl prancing around on white sands with turquoise seas but I love this editorial. Granted, my French isn't quite at the level it was when I left school so I can't read the article fluently, but I do know it's all about how to get your body in shape for the beach.

The copy on the left hand page doesn't follow any set columns but I love that. There's a great mix of capitals, fonts and sizes which make the whole thing interesting to read but also cohesive. I always think that serif fonts remind me of high fashion magazines like Vogue and Elle because they're so classic and clean-cut. I also think the contrast of a completely full page of text and the lovely full page picture with that white border just brings the whole editorial together nicely.


Thursday 24 April 2014

This summer one of my cousins is getting married. I'm looking forward to it for many reasons and one of those reasons is definitely because it means I get to buy a new outfit. I've been thinking about it a lot recently, keeping my eye out in shops, so I thought I'd pull together a few outfits for you all to give me your opinions on your favourites.

1 - Next
2 - Zara
3 - Next

1 - Asos
2 - Asos

1 - Next
2 - Asos
3 - Mango

I think the pale blue suit is a super cute and different way to dress for a wedding and I could definitely see myself picking that outfit for the summer!

Tuesday 22 April 2014

I'm a massive fashion magazine hoarder. I don't think I've ever thrown one away. I always thought one day I'd find a use for them and today I have. I've decided to add a feature to the blog, where I focus on a particular campaign or editorial that I love. It means I'll be able to finally have an excuse to read through all my old issues, but it also means I'll have a nice collection of my favourites all in one handy place to look back for inspiration when I need it. YAY.


Today's Editorial Focus comes in the form of a Stella McCartney SS11 campaign shot, as featured in the March 2011 British Vogue. The first thing to note is my bias towards this campaign purely for the dress being worn in it. Since this botanical citrus pattern landed a few years ago, I have never gotten my fill. I just think it's so bright, fresh and summary. Combine this with the simplicity of the plain blue background and I think it just works brilliantly. However, what gives this campaign its edge is what they've done with the left hand image. The same model, the same pose, the same shoes, but this time the dress is replaced by close up cut-outs of the fruit featured in the dress. This highlights the most important thing of the dress; the pattern. I've never seen anything like this used in a campaign before but I just love it!

Saturday 29 March 2014


Whether we like to admit it or not, we all have opinions on people we don't know. More specifically; celebrities. Some people may be quick to judge tabloid newspapers and magazines about how judgemental they can be, especially towards the appearance of female celebrities, but we have to admit that one way or another we will have an opinion about a celebrity - even if it's just that you like their work or you don't. For the record; I think the way the tabloids nitpick at every detail of a celebrities life is just ridiculous. They criticize a woman for loosing weight, gaining weight and even sometimes staying the same weight. Sometimes I wonder what the people writing those articles are like. I wonder if they have self-esteem issues themselves? ANYWAY, back to the point at hand...

Emma Watson is one of those celebrities who could do no wrong in my eyes. Since becoming my first heroin as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter, I've always had a lot of respect from her. Seeing her blossom from a child star into a down-to-earth and (it seems) humble young woman, I think she's a fantastic role model for any young girl wanting to get into acting. She turns up, does her job (very well), smiles for the cameras, and that's all we really see of her. The perfect way to live a life in the public eye, in my opinion.

This past week Emma has been on a style winning streak, knocking her outfits out of the park day after day. She's been on a tight PR schedule for her new film Noah, but her wardrobe hasn't dropped the ball once. Below are my favourite recent outfits, all courtesy of vogue.com.
 
 At The Late Show wearing a Saint Laurent suit

At the Noah première after party in New York, wearing Erdem

At the Noah première in Madrid, wearing J. Mendel

At the Noah premiere in New York, wearing Oscar de la Renta

At a Noah press conference, wearing Peter Pilotto


Leave a comment below and let me know which is your favourite look! Mine has to be a toss up between the Saint Laurent suit and the Erdem dress. It's so hard to choose though, I love them all!

Sunday 16 March 2014

Sometimes, I get the urge to write a blog post even if I'm not sure why. This is definitely one of those occasions. A couple of weeks ago, I got a new phone (the Sony Z1 Compact). When I got it everyone was so shocked that I'd decided not to just upgrade straight to the next iPhone, but I was convinced I'd made the right choice because of the reviews the camera had gotten (It's 20 megapixels compared to the iPhone 5's measly 8 megapixels). Seeing as I do all my blog pictures from my phone, I thought it would be a great idea to have a better camera.

When I bought the phone home that night however, I soon had a nagging feeling I'd done something very stupid. "I can't get emojis on this phone", I whispered to my flatmate Alice, tears in my eyes. "Grow up", she replied. I needed to hear that. I've finally gotten over the fact I can't see them *displeased emoji* and I'm hoping the brainboxes at Android are going to make some supercool alternative to them soon so I won't feel like the only person unable to communicate just by a quick heart eyed smiley face.

Once I put the camera in use however, all my earlier worries disappeared and I'm glad I made the decision now. If you've read my last two blog posts, they were all done with my new camera and I think I'm taking some much better pictures. So this post really is to share two of my favourite pictures that I've taken so far.


There's not much natural beauty in the city I live in, so my favourite time of the day is sunset. I've always been obsessed with sunsets, especially coming from my beautiful hometown by the sea where the sunsets can be utterly breathtaking. With the gorgeous spring weather we've been having recently, I managed to take this snap of the sunset on Saturday night. I don't know whether it was because I was having a lovely and long-awaited weekend with my boyfriend, or because the timing of those perfectly positioned clouds was just right, but this is one of the best sunset pictures I've ever taken. The clouds look like an oil painting.


I took this picture when we were on the roof of our building last weekend. I don't think I had meant to take it, but when I looked back I loved the bokeh effect the lights of the city and the glow of the moon had turned into. At home, I just love the clear nights. Coming from such a rural place, where the streetlights go off after midnight, we're so lucky in the fact that we've not got much light pollution, so the views of the stars at night are just unreal. Sometimes I look up the entire way on my walk back from work (I work in a restaurant so always finish late) and it just feels like I'm looking at a picture. The beauty of a clear night sky is that the longer you look at it, the more you see. That sight is something I know I will never take for granted.

I'll stop lusting over how much I love nature now. But if you do too and have taken some sweet shots yourself I'd love to see them. Link me below or come find me on Instagram and I'll look at your page!

Friday 14 March 2014

I have become a member of the (not massively) elite club of people who have seen the queen of pop and booty shaking herself: Beyoncé. On a cold morning in December, I was sat in my living room in my pyjamas anxiously waiting the call.. did we get the tickets? I swore if we'd missed them again this time I couldn't be held responsible for my actions, but my friend Phoebe is a ticket wizard and alas the call came: WE HAD TICKETS!



Three long months passed and at the beginning of March we managed to see our idol and leader in the flesh. I can't even begin to describe how it went, so I'll begin by discussing the dinner we had beforehand (natch). We chose to have a bit of GBK which was great because if you get the app, students get 30% off! I had "The Don" burger, which lived upto it's name quite well, however when I looked back at the pictures it looked more like a McDonalds style burger than a proper Don (like the one from my last blog post), so I haven't included a picture. We got a round of coke and milkshakes, as well as a load of sexy sides and not to mention you get FREE monkey nuts in GBK while you wait!







We were wearing these stickers on our head because we got told there'd be people walking around picking people wearing the stickers, who could get upgraded to the VIP area. Not wanting to miss out on that opportunity we decided to put them in the most obvious place possible. Sadly, whoever was picking people didn't see us, so our asses remained in the standard section.

So, onto the main reason why you're reading this post. It may sound cliché, but I can honestly say I've never seen anything quite like it. We all know Beyoncé has one of those voices that's going to go down in history; it's so strong, while still being soulful but boy has that lady perfected the art of singing and dancing together. I don't think anyone could do that as well as she can. If the song was dancy like Crazy in Love, she got everyone boogying, but she also flipped our emotions over and stamped on them with this beautifully electrifying mix of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You, followed by her own Halo and Heaven. There was moments where I couldn't stop myself moving, followed swiftly by an inability to move or even blink because I was so enraptured in her performance. This is all before I even mention the dancing. Absolutely un.real. I tried to do my best impression of an event photographer so I hope my pictures give you a glimpse into the world of a show; Mrs Carter style.






I absolutely love this picture! I'm so pleased with it!







Oh and did I mention Jay-Z came on to help his gorgeous wifey sing their duet Drunk in Love? No? Oh, WELL HE DID. IT WAS AMAZING. Their chemistry is RIDICULOUS and completely infectious.

The bottom line for this blog post is, if you ever get the opportunity to go see the Queen live, pleeease do it. I can promise you wholeheartedly you will not regret it. I'll go again in a heartbeat when she comes back to the UK.

Thursday 13 March 2014

A few weekends ago I took a day trip to lovely London to see some family. After being practically chained to my laptop and desk for as long as I can remember, it was so nice seeing some of my loved ones and to have a break from working.



We went for a walk around the South Kensington - Fulham area and ended up stopping for lunch at The Kings Arms on Fulham Road. As it was Sunday lunch, absolutely everywhere was rammed and this was the last of about 5 restaurants and pubs we looked into hoping to find a table. Luckily for us, this ended up being a fab little place to eat, with a great selection of dishes, all at pretty fair prices too. The place had a great atmosphere too, filled with locals popping in for a chilled Sunday drink and a few tourists like us too.





I had a cheeky glass of white and this burger which was just beautiful. Nice and pink in the middle, with lots of salad and pickles, served with a small but adequate portion of homemade chips. The star of the show for me, which to most of you will be rather underwhelming to read, was the tiny jar of mustard mayo they served with it. I've always had a funny mustard relationship, which if I'm frank was only in it's infancy, but THIS blew my mind at how tasty it was with the chips. So much so, I probably mentioned it about 10 times while eating, then a bit more on the journey back to the flat. I don't know why condiments come in and out of fashion, but they do, and I have a feeling this is going to be the next sweet chilli sauce. I've seen it offered in a lot of restaurants recently and I have to say, I love it.






Wednesday 5 March 2014

Quick! ASOS are having a 50% off flash sale for 48 short little hours for both guys and gals. Luckily, I like their Facebook page so always get updates and as soon as I saw that beautiful four letter word I jumped on the site like a dog on heat (ladylike metaphor.. I know). Below are my two faves from the womenswear sale and I may have to admit to buying the dress I've featured. It's just so classic, I love it!


Dress £25 reduced to £12.50
Shoes £40 reduced to £20

God, I LOVE a sale. Happy shopping campers!
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