Colour Analaysis: Turquoise

Behold, someone who really pulls off turquoise without looking a bit Costa del Sol:

Beautiful buttons on the lace back - these really make the dress. I think warm skin is really set off by turquoise, bluey-pales tend to look a bit cyanotic unless the shade is less yellow/green. 

•  Winters like Lucy Hale (et moi) suit pure, Lagoon blue shades:

• Springs look super in the natural turquoise stone colour -Rihanna is not a Spring but it's a good example of the right shade:

There's more yellow in the shade, and it's much warmer than Lucy Hale's .

• Autumns need to find rich shades - there isn't strictly speaking a 'rich turquoise' - it's a bit closer to warm teal.

• Summers get the most variety with turquoise - anything from a pastel turquoise to a teal/turquoise crossover. Summers look best in a variety of shades all worn together., or shimmering to soften the colour like Ellie Kemper

C x

House of Colour Make-Up Sale

I do love a good sale. I treated myself to an early Christmas present at the House of Colour Make-Up sale. Got myself 3 lovely nail varnishes in various Winter shades, and a white mineral eye shadow for post-exam parties (I forgot to include it in the picture).

I got Shocking Pink, Deep Fuschia and Burgundy, all super-cool Winter tones.

Check out the sale yourself here: www.houseofcolour.co.uk/hocshop/pages/sale (I'm not sponsored to advertise or anything, I just really like their products for the huge range of colours!).

C x

Charity Shop Finds: Karen Millen Top

Karen Millen knit zip-up top, £5.29 Barnardo's Stockbridge:

(I wanted to make sure it went with plenty of things in my wardrobe) 

I love the zip up the back. The material is a pretty thick knit, so I can see it being worn most during the winter.  I think purple is a really versatile colour, it really does go with pretty much any colour:

C x

Winter Coat Inspiration

You may find this a touch premature, but as we ease into September in Scotland, it's time to start thinking about gloves, hats and coats. I have a lovely classic black wool wrap coat, but on those gloomy afternoons when it's dark by 6 o'clock, I wish I had something more cheerful and bright to wear. Coats can appear at any time of the year in charity shops, unless the shop has storage space (doubtful in the city centre). So, it's worth keeping your eyes open for a good Winter coat throughout the year. Unfortunately, folks don't want to be parting with good warm coats, so for a quality coat, you might want to check out John Lewis, Jenners/House of Fraser (origin of my black coat), Zara and M&S, all of which are worth paying the price for quality. Or you could win the lottery and buy one of these beauts:

Blugirl AW11

Bottega Veneta AW11

Alberta Ferretti AW11

Gucci AW11

Diana von Furstenberg AW11

Alberta Ferretti AW11

Elie Tahari AW11

(images via style.com)

C x

Charity Shop Finds May

Bad blogger, I've had a week off to finish all my uni work (I finished my degree, woo!) and then some time for catching up on sleep. As soon as I let my body relax a bit, I pick up a throat infection. Not fair :(

I've only had the briefest of brief looks so far this month, I took two pals to the Royal Mile shops, and although they didn't find anything special, I was lucky and found a cute flared skirt by Limited Collection at M&S (£7).

(styled with navy, apologies for the rubbish photo, the reluctant photographer is busy)

It's the oddest material, a bit like a waterproof jacket, but I just loved the detail on the button-up front. 

I'm not entirely sure what to wear with it, I was thinking just a plain white tee as a distant homage to Jil Sander SS'11:

But it would be nice to do something more adventurous. Black seems a little easy, so I'm thinking of other colours which would pop off the pink, rather than having a single accent colour:

C x

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To Buy or Not To Buy?

I am considering buying myself a posh leather satchel as a graduation present to myself. I've probably already justified countless things in the last few months with this excuse, but this is something that I really can't afford off the bat, and would need to save now for, or require a howk into savings.

I really love the ones by the Cambridge Satchel Company, they're a lot less expensive than other companies and they can emboss the satchel too...I love it in red (15" = £84), but then I think about how often I wear blue, and how the only blue I like with this tomato red is navy or dark cobalt:

Top: Red with deep navy

Bottom: Red with Dark Cobalt, the only blues I would wear with this shade of red.

So perhaps to get maximum wear out of it, I should pick something more neutral. I can't buy black or navy bags, because inevitably I want to wear it with the other in an outfit. While I have no problem wearing black and navy together (as long as it's a deep navy like the one above, verging on black), I know not everyone else feels the same way (certain friends who tell me off for it). 

Top: Good black and navy combo

Bottom: Less good black and navy - the navy is too soft, and looks a bit cheap next to black.

Somehow, red feels like the only bright colour that could still come off 'professional' enough for the 2nd degree it looks as though I'm probably going to embark on (the purple, pink, green and yellow versions seem too casual, and I don't wear brown, leaving only black and navy anyway).

Or should I hold off and find a colour I'm completely sure about? Spending that much money on myself should probably mean getting a colour that can go with just about everything:

Purple/indigo, burgundy, plum or dark green might be more professional...

Hummmm....

C x

Colour Analysis

I can't remember if I've said on here before, but I think having one's colours analysed is one of the best things you can do for your wardrobe. As a present, I had mine done back in 2009 by Anne at House of Colour and now I drive people nuts whenever we go shopping "Oooooh, that's definitely one of your colours" "Ew, I can't wear it, it's not the right grey...". However, there are some very good reasons for having it done:

1. It makes shopping much, much easier and efficient. Once analysed into one of the four seasons, you get a little swatch booklet for your handbag, to check what is and isn't right (if you've ever shopped with me you'll know the feeling of dread when I whip that thing out). A few years later, I can walk into a shop and immediately spot the colours that suit me, thus ruling out 75% of the shop stock that I don't even need to bother looking at. 
2. It stops wasting money. The colours of each of the seasons are organised so that every colour goes with every colour in that season. After sorting your clothes out, your entire wardrobe becomes colour co-ordinated and everything goes. The price of having your colours done, roughly £90, was certainly, for me, far less than the amount I used to spend annually on clothes which would only get worn once because they only worked with one or two things in my wardrobe.
3. It takes two minutes to get dressed in the morning. Like I said, everything goes. (#EDIT: My boyfriend questions the validity of this.)
4. You look great. The season you get put into is decided mostly by your skin tone, as well as eye colour, [natural] hair/eyebrow/eyelash colour and shading around your eyes. Good colours make you look healthy, take away sleepy shadows under the eyes and make your teeth and eyes brighter. I find my colours make me feel confident and composed
5. Men can get it done too. The same rules apply, imagine getting out of the black suit/jeans and white t-shirt rut??

Basic rules of the seasons:

• Autumns wear warm, rich, earthy colours. Think of a peacock or pheasant feather.
• Springs also wear warm colours, but brighter, lighter and fresher than those of Autumns. 
• Winters (like me!) need cool, clear colours with lots of bold contrast. I think of big sparkly jewels for my basic colours. 
• Summers are also cool, but wear much softer, delicate colours that blend into each other (think of watercolour paintings).

One skirt, thirty outfits based on the four seasons. Note that Autumn and Winter share an ability to wear heavy colours, and the opposite for Spring and Summer, Autumn/Spring and Winter/Summer being warm and cool respectively.

Playing with Colour

Pantone 18-2120 by useyourtulle featuring christian dior

Pantone 08-0848 by useyourtulle featuring salvatore ferragamo

Shades of Plum by useyourtulle featuring marc jacobs

Pantone

Pantone announced their colour of 2011:

I LOVE this colour. It's so cheery but it's also a hard enough pink that I wouldn't call it 'girly'. I may just have to buy the mug. Last year, they used that ghastly blah turquoise:

Which you can probably guess, I am really not too fond of. It reminds me of school toilets and windowless ferry cabins. Both of which have connotations of vomit. Lots of it.

So I'll buy the mug and then I'll make a cute tea dress in that very colour. And how will I make that tea dress? Well, with my brand new SEWING MACHINE.

In case you didn't know what one looked like. Best birthday present ever. 

It was my 21st, and despite being snowed in, it was the best birthday ever. Want to see the dress I wore? Of course you do:

Miss Selfridge, on sale for £30. It has a ♥tulle♥ underskirt, which keeps it nice and pouffy. I did my hair up in a 60s beehive and wore black opaques and black heels, since it was snowing. See the pink in the flowers and leaves? Pantone 18-2120. Trendy.

If you were looking for something to click on, try this: www.latestinbeauty.com
You can pick 3 free sample products every month, and you pay £1 via your mobile phone to cover postage. There are some crappy products (like a perfumed wipe) that I wouldn't bother with, but you can get sample microdermabrasion kits, perfume in teeny black vials and men's products too. I'll let you know whether it's worth it when I get my first box.

C x