That Black and Gold!

Hiya!  This is an outfit I recently wore out to dinner with some friends - its a lot of black and gold, so quite classy, but still fun and young, as I wore black disco pants (which are very shiny, even though you can't see in the picture - my friend calls them my Sandie-from-'Grease' trousers! And they were around £30 from Topshop) and the top has gold zip and stud detailing.  I'd advise trying on the petite version of disco pants if your inbetween short and tall-ish - I'm only 5 foot 4, so I got petite! - as you want them to bunch up as little as possible at the ankles so they don't look to scruffy or like they don't fit properly.

The top actually has batwing sleeves, which makes it very comfortable, and maybe a good option if you don't like your upper arms so much.  Its also a really nice jersey material - not too thick, but not cheap-feeling either, plus really soft! It was £26 from Wal G at House of Fraser, and I also think that you can find this brand at larger Topshop stores.

On the shoulders there is lots of flat gold studs, which make the design look much more interesting, whilst also carrying off the embellished shoulders trend that you can still see on a lot of jumpers.  These studs are nice because they're not big or bulky, but quite girlie and more delicate than most studs on the highstreet. I like the zips on the shoulders as well, they just add something a little extra and make the top more unique and edgy, whilst livening up the plain black.

I went for simple brown smoky eyes and a pink lip similar to my natural lip colour since I was eating - sorry about the slightly odd blue light in this photo!  Here you can also see the earrings that I wore, which I picked up in a tiny shop in Paris for about 10 euros, and wore them to my prom near Christmas time!

You can see the earrings better here (right of the photo - the other thing is a little perfume bottle!), and I love the insanely intricate design of them, they're like having tiny, beautiful golden wreaths on your ears, and they're no uncomfortable at all, as they're really thin, so not heavy!

I took this bag with me, it was a birthday present a while ago, and is from New Look.  The black and two shades of brown mean that it goes with literally any outfit, and I use it all the time as its the perfect size for me!  The long strap can also detach so that you have a really cute, vintage-looking box-bag with a tiny handle!

Hope you enjoyed!  Make sure to follow my blog for more, and leave a comment! xxxx

Galaxy Florals!

 Hi! These are a few pictures of an outfit (which is also a little tutorial on how I style loud, printed leggings if you're not so sure about them) which I wore when I was down in Edinburgh over Easter time - I love it because even though its a big, noisy city its still beautiful, it has cobbled streets and tiny closes, and any number of gorgeous tiny little shops when you get away from the big - but still great - highstreet shops.
The photos were taken in a little apartment we were staying in, which was located bang in the centre of the Royal Mile, directly opposite Giles Cathedral - I wish I could have stayed for more than just two nights!

This outfit is a more dressed-up take on a knit jumper and leggings - but that means its still really comfortable!  There's a lot of colour in the leggings, and the jumper is bright, crazy pink - the camera doesn't do it justice!  But if you're not as much of a fan as I am of bright colours (or pink!) then you could easily tone this down with a cooler blue or go for a soft grey, like the colour of my boots.

These leggings are amazing - I found them in the H&M sale for something like £5 - they have a black background, with lots of gorgeous flowers; I especially love the purple blooms, they look almost magical with the green to set them off - if you were to take galaxy print into flower form, this would be it!  The only thing about them is that I would recommend wearing a pair of black tights or leggings underneath them to keep you warm and/or protect your dignity as they are quite thin - but for the price I paid, I can forgive them that!  They're still floral, but a bit different, less girlie, less demure than traditional spring flower prints, which is why I love them - you could also wear these all year round because of the dark colours, florals are not just for spring!

I'm wearing my boots from Next again (you can see them in my previous post - I do have other shoes, I promise!) since they're so comfy (the heel is 9cm, but the sole/platform is pretty thick) and I like the contrast with the girlie pink and floral pattern, they toughen up the outfit - but I also think that this would go really nicely with pink or black heeled shoes instead of boots, however this was Edinburgh in March, and I wanted to keep my feet warm!

You can see my pink jumper better here - its also from H&M, another sale purchase for a bargain £7!  I've paired it with a beautiful silky white shirt (which I have to also say is from H&M, and also from the sale a year or so ago - I promise I'm not sponsored, haha!) and if you look closely a necklace peeking out from underneath the collar: a rose-gold coloured one  - I think statement necklaces look really cute from under a shirt collar, it can make it much less boring!

I went for simple dark brown eyes and black liner (Rimmel's gel liner - it really has staying power throughout the whole day, and is so easy to apply, with the same finish as a liquid liner, so I can cheat!).  On my lips is the red shade of Rimmel's 'Apocalips', which shows up in the picture as a little orangey, but if actually a very pretty, vintage, extremely bright red - this has great staying power, but bleeds like crazy if you don't use a lip-liner, but friends have told me this is less of a problem with the lighter shades.

Thanks for reading!  Please leave me a comment to tell me what you're loving at the moment :)

 xxx Bexx

Miss Monochrome!

For this outfit, I just took a plain black skirt, white t-shirt and boots combo, but styled it out in my own way!  I live in Scotland and its freezing most of the time, so if its cold where you live like it is with me, I'd recommend adding some black tights or leggings, and maybe a little black leather jacket! This is also a great way to try out the monochrome trend if you're not too into all the patterns that are going about, or want to try it with things you already have in your wardrobe.

I started off with a plain loose white t-shirt from Republic - I actually picked up this one in a UK size 12 instead of my usual UK 8, because I love baggier t-shirts and this one was actually for last summer, so made a great beach cover-up, and didn't stick in hot weather!  Its actually made of a burn-out effect  cotton material, so is slightly see-through, so I'm wearing a grey t-shirt underneath it, but it also looks great with other bright coloured or neon tops underneath.  I also tucked it into the skirt at the front so the look is still casual, but this also draws attention to your waist so you don't look your shape, whilst also having a slimming effect.

I absolutely love these boots - I got them probably about three years ago for my birthday from Next, and I think they were around £60-70 - if they weren't a present I probably wouldn't have got them!  They were definitely worth it because I wear them all the time and they only look better with age, since they're a little distressed now!

I recently rediscovered this skirt lurking in the back of my wardrobe, I got it years ago - its totally gorgeous, it has a black underlayer and the top layer is this awesome sheer black gauzy material edged with ribbon, with black beaded details that look a little like flowers or star-bursts.  I love it because its actually pleated, but not in that boxy way, just so that the skirt has lots of volume and looks beautifully floaty.  This skirt is fantastically girly but because its black it is very versatile and can be made to look edgier with items such as the boots I'm wearing here.

With a black and white outfit, I love to have something bright on my nails, so here I used this bright bubble-gum pink from LA Colours, in the shade NP247 Summertime, and its one of their Color Craze nail polishes - I love these since they're really inexpensive, but still work the same - even better - than some highstreet nail polishes.  The bracelet I'm wearing was a gift, and I love how the glittery black beads tie in with the skirt.  My ring is from a shop in Edinburgh called Joe, where they have loads of really well-priced, unique jewellery - I think this ring was about £2, maybe even less, and I think the design on it is fabulous, and I love the fact that its so big - you hardly need any other jewellery!

I hope that you enjoyed this post, please share it with others, and comment if you'd like to see more!  Thank you for reading, have a fanfrickintabulous day!  xxx