Retro Storing

Picture this, you’re in your bedroom with 2 minutes left until you have to leave and you need those chandelier earrings because they’re the only ones that work with your cocktail number. You shake your jewellery box around and you can’t seem to find it in any compartment. Frustrated, you tip out everything onto your bed, find the matching pair, grab your shoes and stumble out. Sound familiar? That’s basically me everyday. If you scour through pininterest, weheartit and instagram, you’ll see that everyone seems to have their own creative way of storing their bits and bobs. I wouldn’t say my organisation methods are very ‘neat’ but I like the clutter because it looks visually interesting on my bureau although highly impractical. I use teacups to store my hairbows, a Pringles Chips cylinder to store my tools and a recycled glass custard cup to store my bobby pins. Some other fun ideas I found included spray painting a grater and using it as an earring hanger and putting magnets on the bottom of makeup palettes so it sticks to a fabric covered magnet board. Fun!! Do you have any special methods on storing your makeup and jewellery?

 

x Karen

Mint Chocolate Chips

Once upon a time, there lived a young girl with a limited wardrobe and a big imagination. On the 25th of June, she decided to wear a mint green hoodie from Factorie underneath a chocolate brown coat with fur trim from Disney Couture. For jeans, she wore her very favourite skinnies from Double Bay and her chocolate brown UGGs with three side buttons.

This outfit makes me instantly want to head over to the nearest retro style ice cream parlour and grab a double scoop mint chocolate chip icecream in a waffle cone and pink sugar sprinkles. With the help of photoshop, I popped into an ice cream parlour which is actually a very pretty mural photographed by her. Pastels are usually reserved for spring and summer but the hot chocolate browns set off the colour pretty well in my opinion.

x Karen

Croppin It'

When cropped tees first came into style, my first reaction was: for skanks only. But now, I actually really like them and I think they’re a cute essential top to own for spring and summer. They’re also perfect for layering and you don’t necessarily have to show off your midriff to be able to wear the tees. If you’re interested in trying out this trend, I suggest you head over to an inexpensive chain store first. Cropped tees are meant to be easy and breezy so I don’t feel you need to invest in these pieces nor do you need to find ones made of good quality.

Above, I have shown you my four favourite ways to wear cropped tops. (From left to right)

First we have the looser version of the shirt, this one falls over all those unsightly bumps and if you pair it with tight high waisted shorts, the outfit hides a little o’ tum.

The second one is probably my favourite which is the basic cropped tee. Choose a solid colour and then match it with a patterned tank underneath, also works vice versa.

The third is perfect for beach cover ups and also leaves a little to the imagination which is always good if you’re body shy. If you want to look stylish just choose a swimsuit colour that matches your top.

The final one, is a little dressier and good for summer luncheons. A tight bandage dress might leave you feeling like Kim Kardashian but throw on the tie up shirt and do up the buttons high.

Last summer, I also tried cropping my own t-shirt which had a high collar and unflattering shape. All I did was cut the scoop neck and bottom off before folding the exposed fraying bits and sewing them up. The shirt looked like it’s former self’s trendier, cuter sister!!

x Karen

Keep Calm & Carry On

Once upon a time, there lived a young girl with a limited wardrobe and a big imagination. On the 24th of June, she decided to pick a navy and red checked Miss Shop Jacket, pair it with a navy tutu from a local boutique, a hairbow from Equip and she finished it off wisely for the chilly weather in some cotton tights.

This outfit just screams British to me and I wish I could top it off with one of those black furry tall hats that the guards outside the Bukingham Palace wear. So it was only fitting to photoshop myself in front of some red phone booths to match the redness in my checked coat. Keep Calm and Carry On was a poster produced by the British government in 1939 during the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion. So very appropriate for the title of my OOTD.

I love the different textures in the outfit: The tulle + the wool (it rhymes!) I like to think of it as a tulle skirt with pearl accents! I was honestly a little self conscious, walking down the streets in a tutu but it wasn't that poofy so it probably went under the radar as a skirt to other people. After I got over the initial wierdness of walking through the mall in bottoms that belong to a three year old's closet, I started thinking Hey! Maybe I'll get photographed by The Satorialist or a street style photographer and end up becoming like blogger-famous! Of course that never happened but I am allowed to dream, right? 

 

 

x Karen

Charmed & Dangerous

Arm candy, especially stacked like crazy seems to be what all the cool kids on the fashion block are sporting today. You can either go wild and put all your favourite bracelets in one go or you can be reserved and follow my basic rules. Firstly, choose your watch, this season, the thicker, the better. It can be one of those colourful neon chunkies or a classy gold man watch. If your watch is colourful, make sure the rest of your stack works with the scheme. If you go for gold, any colour goes, even silver, don’t be afraid to mix metallics! The whole arm candy piece is a statement in itself so keeping the rest of the outfit is ideal but here are some ideas I dare you to try anyways!

If you are wearing something zebra, cheeta or leopard printed: Leather strapped, gold clock face watch with woven leather bracelets, big tan beads and souvenir jewellery you brought back from Africa!

If you are wearing all black: Accessorise with all black bracelets then add a neon chainlink bracelet for impact that goes boom! Bonus points for glow in the dark or neon nail polish.

wearing: accesorize charm bracelet, baby g watch, diva bangles

xx Karen

image my own

Do or Dye

Dip dyed ends are a fun way to wear your hair to parties and throughout the summer. It’s super easy and there are several methods, some longer lasting and others which you can wash out right after. My personal favourite is using soft pastel chalk which is an inexpensive alternative to colour bugs: 1. Spray the areas that you want to colour your hair with water 2. Start with your first desired colour and rub it against your hair, if you’re blonde, the colour will show up quite quickly but if you have darker hair, you might need to rub it in longer. Try twisting your hair because this will release more pigmentation. 3. Continue this process for your second and third colour. 4. Wait for your ends to air dry. 5. Flat iron your ends or curl them with heat, this will ‘melt’ the colour into your hair. 6. Instead of using pastels you can also use, really pigmented eyeshadows, food colouring or Kool-aid!

♡Karen

Call me at the payphone?

Cropped isn’t only for summer, you know. This little maroon knit worked perfectly with my high waisted jeans. Winter is still a little too cold to show off abs so the jeans lengthen legs whilst hiding the silver of skin between the belly button and hips. And of course, no outfit of mine is complete without a bow, two on the ballerians and one in my low ponytail.

wearing: equip hairbow, miss shop cropped knit sweater, bonds tank, cotton on high waisted jeans, converse belt and qinglong ballerina flats

x Karen