Fish Tank Fashion

Guest blogging for Missguided

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:39:00 +0000

This month is really exciting for me, as I've been chosen to be Missguided's first ever guest blogger! I'll be writing one post each week in February and the first one is up on their blog now. It's a SS12 trend report, including how you can get the designer look on a high street budget with Missguided pieces. Click here to read it, and let me know what you think!

OOTD: Missguided press day

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:37:00 +0000

H&M jumper, Primark skirt, Clothing at Tesco boots*, Necklace coming soon in my shop
This is what I wore today to the Missguided press day. It was full of amazing pieces and I want to buy almost everything I saw! I'm going to be guest-blogging for Missguided this month, so I've been on their website a lot and it was nice to see some of the items I've been stalking online in real life. I'll be linking to my blogs for Missguided as they're posted, and putting some of the pictures I took today up on my tumblr too if you're interested. Oh, and I also got some temporary colour put in my hair, which is the red you can see in the picture above.

I got these chelsea boots from Clothing at Tesco this week (with a voucher I was given at a press day last year) and they are amazing. So comfortable, the perfect block heel and they're only £19.50 which is a total bargain if you ask me. The necklace is due to be put up for sale in my shop. I've got a load of new items and I'm going to have a bit of a re-launch next week, so for now all of the old stock has been reduced in price, so go and see if anything takes your fancy!

NOTD - White and pastel leopard

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:23:00 +0000

Models Own Snow White, Pastel Pink and Baby Blues, Models Own Nail Art Pen, Seche Vite topcoat
I haven't done leopard print nails in a while so I thought I'd have a go with a white background and pastel spots - I have Spring/Summer 2012 colours on the brain already.
I wish the weather would hurry up and get warmer! Not only do I want to wear new season stuff, I also want our heating bill to go down. My uni house this year is sucking my bank account dry!

Super Furry Animal

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Topshop jumper, H&M coat, Motel Rocks jeans*, Doc Martens
I got the Motel leopard print jeans yayyyy! Weirdly these fit a bit bigger than my stripey pair even though they're the same style, just different prints? Decided to go super fuzzy on top and wear my textured Topshop jumper with my H&M faux fur coat.
I'm really enjoying stomping around in my Docs again after not wearing them much for months.

DIY Tartan Shift Dress

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:36:00 +0000

Handmade dress, Primark leggings, Underground creepers
I wouldn't really call this a DIY, even though I made it myself, as to me DIY seems to suggest altering an old item into something new. This dress was made totally from scratch using a pattern. But "handmade" sounds weird too. I really like shift dresses but I've never found one that fits in the shops as I'm different sizes top and bottom, so I decided to make one myself as I could alter it to my measurements. (I need to let the hem down on this one though, it's on the very edge of decent at the moment, and I'd like to be able to bend down in it!)
It's also nice to know that you have a complete one-off and aren't going to see anyone else wearing the same clothes as you! It was inexpensive too, the pattern, fabric and findings (that means the zip, thread etc) all came to under £12, so it was a lot cheaper than buying something similar (and a lot better quality too!)
I'm part way through making another version of this dress with the same pattern, but in black faux leather and suede, possibly with cap sleeves. I've also bought this vintage 1969 pattern, which is actually for ice skating and cheerleading outfits, but I thought would make some cute dresses.

I bought it from Etsy, which is a great place to look for vintage patterns. I'm still not sure what colour/pattern fabric to go for though, so and advice would be appreciated.

Make Up Tutorial First Attempt!

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

If you're anything like me, a lot of you probably watch make up tutorials on YouTube. I spend waaayyyy too much time watching them and trying out looks, and I thought that, as I quite enjoy making vlogs, I'd attempt one myself. I'm no make up expert by any means, but it's sometimes nice to see that normal, non-make up artists can recreate looks too, so I've filmed my first tutorial.

The look I've done a tutorial for is this Dakota Fanning ELLE UK cover:

Kirsty posted the image on her blog Forty Four Sunsets and I loved the make up, so I decided to attempt it for myself.

Here's my video - let me know what you think!

If you liked it and think I should do some more tutorials let me know. If you think it's terrible and I should never go near make up again, let me know too (but be nice and tactful about it please!)

Company Style Blogger Awards 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:53:00 +0000

Earlier this week I was absolutely over the moon to discover I've been nominated for the Company magazine Style Blogger Awards. Company is one of my favourite magazines, so it's amazing to be recognised by them!

I'd be so happy and grateful if you would vote for me here, Fish Tank Fashion is in both the "Best 'What I'm Wearing Today' Blog" and "Overall Winner: The Blog You Love The Most" categories. You can vote as many times as you like (so you can vote for your other fave blogs too) and if you enter your email address you could win £250 of New Look vouchers! Voting closes on 11th February.

Thank you in anticipation for voting and for all your support for Fish Tank Fashion. I really appreciate all of my readers!

January wishlist

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:31:00 +0000

This is a bit of a lazy post I'm afraid, but I'm in the middle of coursework and exams so I don't have much spare time for blogging! I'll be back in a proper routine once term starts again properly next week though.

I'm on a self-imposed spending ban for January to make up for the Christmas overspend and to try and save some pennies, but I've still as ever got a wishlist! I figure if these things are all still available next month then maybe I can allow myself a couple of them.

I first saw this amazing eye bracelet and ring combo on peachesandnothing, (check it out, Georgina has great personal style,) and it immediately went on my mental wish list (and my eBay watch list!) It's less than £3.50 too which is a total bargain.

I think these wedge boots from eBay are amazing, but unfortunately as with most shoes on eBay, they don't come big enough for my size 7 feet :( If anyone sees them in the right size for me during their eBay travels, do let me know!

The two skirts are from Clothing at Tesco. I saw the black and blue striped one at the F+F SS12 preview event and knew I had to make it mine. It's nicer in real life than the picture. I'll probably end up getting the purple pleated maxi skirt too in an attempt to add some colour to my overwhelmingly black wardrobe for spring. It also comes in red and blue (and black) but I think the purple is the prettiest. I'd probably still wear it with Docs though...

I am loving Motel Rocks right now. I already have the black and white striped Jordan jeans and now I really want them in leopard print too. The blue baroque print shirt is so bad it's good, and I think it would be really fun to style.

What's on your wishlist this month guys? Are you saving like me or have you got money to burn? Let me know!

Orange Hair Guide

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Since I dyed my hair orange, I've been getting a lot of questions about my colour - what dye I use, how long it last etc - and because of the popularity of my dyed red hair post I thought I'd do one about the orange. Hopefully it'll help some of you out a bit.

Hair dye
I use L'Oreal Majicontrast in Pure Copper, and then top up the colour with La Riche Directions in Coral Red.

The Majicontrast is a professional colour, like the ones they use at the hairdresser. I get mine from Sally Express and it costs £10.99 a tube. You only need half a tube to dye boob-length hair though.
You have to mix it with peroxide (there are instructions with the Majicontrast as to the mixing ratios.) There are different strengths of peroxide - the strongest is 40 vol/12%, then 30 vol/9% and the weakest is 20 vol/6%.
The Majicontrast lightens your hair as it dyes, so there is no need to pre-bleach your hair and you still get a bright vibrant orange. I only use the 20 vol peroxide and it's definitely strong enough to lighten my natural mousey brown hair up to bright orange.

Unfortunately, as with any bright colour, it does fade quite quickly. To keep the colour topped up I use La Riche Directions in Coral Red, which comes out as a deepish bright orange. The Directions dye is a one-step dye, it comes in the pot already the right colour, you don't have to mix it or anything. I get mine from eBay and it usually comes in at less than £4 a tub, which will last me up to about a month.
I use mine in the shower as you have to use it on damp hair and only leave it on for about 10 minutes (although you can leave it as long as you like as it doesn't contain any harmful chemicals that could damage your hair.) I mix it in a 2:1 dye to conditioner ratio and massage it through my hair, then wait 10 minutes and rinse it off. It brightens up my hair for about three washes.

Using these two dyes means my hair is in a much better condition than it had been before when I was using box dyes for the red. The Majicontrast and the Directions dye are both much better for your hair than box dyes, and certainly better than pre-bleaching your hair to get a bright colour!

Method

I mix my hair colour in a plastic pot (usually an old Chinese takeaway container - never use a ceramic or metal bowl) with a tinting brush, which I then use to apply the colour.

I also have a Tie Towel, which is a special dye and bleach-resistant towel specially designed for dying your hair at home. It's shaped like a cape and has a toggle at the front so it stays around your shoulders, unlike if you just use a normal (old) towel, which falls off every time you reach up to your hair. I'd recommend getting one if you dye your hair at home regularly.

Once I've applied all the dye I put a shower cap on (one especially for dying my hair, I don't use it for anything else) and blast it with a hairdryer on a hot setting for ten to fifteen minutes. This speeds up the development time a lot, you have to leave it for at least half an hour otherwise.

Then I just rinse it out and use an intensive conditioner which I leave on for as long as I can, to counteract any drying effect the dye might have had on my head.

Et voila! Bright orange hair! Simple really!

Upkeep and Removal

Take a look at my dyed red hair guide for tips on keeping your colour vibrant and how to remove it when you've had enough. The exact same goes for orange as for red.

I hope this has helped some people, if you've got any more questions feel free to ask- it's probably easiest for me to reply via Twitter or Formspring.

New Year

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Blog Resolutions

- Blog more often
- Leave more comments on other blogs
- Improve my photography

Personal Resolutions

- Get more sleep
- Don't leave uni work until the last minute
- Find a job for after graduation

Happy New Year everyone! I wish you all the best in 2012!

2011 Outfit Round-Up

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:51:00 +0000

I did one of these last year and thought it would be fun to do another one. Here are some of my favourite outfits from this year and a bit of a rundown of my blogging in 2011.

January
I think this was one of the most popular outfits I've ever posted. I got this mustard Peter pan collared dress for Christmas last year and I still love it. I also wrote my red hair care guide, which has proved to be my most popular post ever!

February
My favourite outfit from February is this geeky ensemble. I do love a good superhero!
February was also the month of the Most Wanted Fashion Revolution party where I got to spend a fun evening with some of my favourite fashion bloggers, many of whom I just now consider really good friends!

March
In March I moved to Austria for the second part of my year abroad (for an explanation of this watch my video about it.) I also had my first experience with MAC, which has now grown into an expensive eyeshadow habit!

April
April was a month of "cultural" encounters, lots of pretty surroundings and other weird Austrian stuff. I really miss Vienna, I'm hoping that at some point in the future I'll have the chance to live there again.

May
May and June were sweltering in Vienna. I barely coped with the heat, I am not a hot weather girl!
I got to see family and friends around halfway through my stay in Austria, which was nice, as it's about that point when homesickness started to kick in a bit for me. Oh, and I also decided to slap a load of food on my face for your entertainment and education.

June
My last month in Vienna. I mainly moaned about the heat, and I had my first ponderings about orange hair.

July
Home again! And time for the Brum Blogger Meet! It was such an amazing day and it was brilliant to meet so many other bloggers! The outfit I've chosen for July is what I wore to the event. I really hope we can do another big one next summer too!

August
Reading Festival with Sherin and Susie. We saw so many amazing bands, but half the fun was watching the other two try and cope with the mud and general griminess that is festivals :p (Love you really girls!)
August was also the month of my amazing Mad Hatter's Tea Party themed 21st birthday!

September
This was the amazing month of The Look Show. I still can't believe I made it into the Top 5 bloggers! It was such an amazing experience, being front row at the catwalk show! The picture is of me and Selina, who I took as my +1.

October
In October I got a haircut! It was a very spur of the moment thing, but I'm glad I got it done! I also went to the Farlows blogger event, and although I didn't win the styling competition, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of support I got from you guys for it, thank you so much!

November and December
Into the last couple of months! My blogging has slacked off a bit at the end of this year, as the realities of being a final year at uni have started to become clear. So. much. work! Still, I hope to have things back under control pretty soon!

All in all, I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has read my blog in 2011. Without you it wouldn't be half as fun!
I can't wait to see what 2012 will bring for Fish Tank Fashion!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:13:00 +0000

Merry Christmas to all my lovely readers! I hope you've all had a fabulous day, I certainly have!

Thought I'd post a couple of pictures from Christmas Eve. Every year we have a bit of a gathering at our house with all the neighbours and our friends and family. Dad gets really into it and makes all the nibbles and party food from scratch. Of course he also decorates the Christmas cake himself. Long-time readers may be familiar with my Dad's cake creativity, (if not just check out my 21st birthday cake here!) and he went all out with the Christmas cake this year...

It even has a couple of buildings from the city where I live in the skyline!

With my best friend and her boyfriend.

And what I wore...

Motel Rocks dress* and Forever 21 shoes

Motel Rocks sent me this amazing Gabby sequin dress to wear over the party season and I love it! It's so sparkly and lovely. It has a really nice low back, but it isn't so low that you can't wear a bra with it. Perfect. And what's more it's in the sale too! The black is now sold out, but you can get the Silver/Charcoal colour for just £29, down from £58, which I think is a bargain price for such a sparkly beautiful dress!

Christmas nail art

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:15:00 +0000

As it's nearly Christmas and I had some spare time I thought I'd do some seasonal nail art. It was inspired by a few different WAH Nails designs.

The base is Barry M red glitter, then the details are all done with a set of cheapy nail art pens I got from eBay. (You can get 12 for £4.04 here.) It's all topped off with Seche Vite topcoat.

They're not the neatest nails ever, but I'm still pretty pleased how they came out. Hopefully they'll last until Sunday!

On an unrelated note, Motel Rocks are launching their amazing sale later this week, but you guys can get ahead of everyone else and snag all the bargains early as I have a special preview link to the sale. Click here for early access. My top picks are the Cillia Lace Dress - ~~£42~~ £19, the 90s boyfriend fur-lined coat - ~~£99~~ £42 and the Starry Night Gypsy playsuit - ~~£48~~ £19.
The Motel sale is always one of the very best, they really do slash the prices. I got a few nice bits in last year's sale and I'm sure I won't be able to resist picking up a few more things in the next few days, eep! Not good for my bank balance (but brilliant for my wardrobe!)

Fuzzy jumper

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Topshop jumper, Motel shirt*, TK Maxx trousers, Dr Matens
I don't think I've shown this jumper on here yet, but I've been wearing it a lot since I boughtit a couple of months ago. Baggy, textured knits were on my Autumn Winter 2011 hit list, and although this one isn't as long as I'd have liked and was quite expensive (bloody ridiculous Topshop prices!) I love it. It's so soft and the different textured stripes keep it really interesting, even though it's black.
I'm finally wearing my Dr Martens again for the first time since Reading Festival in August, because I'm so lazy it's taken me this long to clean the mud off them! I'm glad I have now though, I just feel "myself" in them, do you know what I mean?

I'm back at home for Christmas now, hurrah! This is an outfit from the end of the week when I was still at uni.
I'm planning on spending the next few days up until the 25th catching up with friends and generally being festive. After that unfortunately it will be time to crack on with coursework and revision for deadlines and exams in the second week of January. I'm not going to miss this bit of being a student!

Affordable Christmas party dressing with George

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:33:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I was contacted by George asking if I'd like to choose a dress and put together an "affordable" Christmas party look. I'm all about the affordability, last Christmas I posted a series of Christmas party outfits for under £50, so I jumped at the chance.
I chose this lovely navy Peter Pan collared dress, which has beautiful matte sequins on the collar, and wore it for the Christmas dinner party my flatmates and a few other uni friends had this week.

George at Asda dress*, Topshop shoes
The dress is really lovely, it fits perfectly and is a bargainous £16! If that's not an affordable party dress I don't know what is! A lot ofparty dresses seem to be ridiculously expensive for something you're often only going to wear a handful of times at most, but this one is not only a bargain, it can be dressed up or dressed down, so I can see myself getting a lot more use out of it too.

Do you have your Christmas party outfit sorted yet? What are you wearing? If you haven't got anything yet, why not pop over to your nearest Asda or the George site and see if you can nab yourself a festive bargain!

Bear with me!

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:19:00 +0000

eBay hat, H&M coat, Forever 21 jumper, DIY studded shorts, New Look tights, Dr Martens
It's finally the last week of term (actually, do I really mean finally, Final year seems to be flying by, eep!) and I'm going home on Saturday. Hopefully the Christmas holiday will give me an opportunity to recharge my blogging batteries and get some new ideas for posts.

With it getting dark so early and the fact that I cycle to uni most days, it's been hard getting an outfit picture in the right light where I don't look totally bedraggled too. Fortunately my glasses seem to disguise the huge dark circles under my eyes from too many late nights. Unfortunately the late nights aren't indicative of a brilliant social life, I just work in the evenings/into the early hours for my job (although I do love it!)

Is everyone looking forward to Christmas? Let me know if you're planning anything fun, this year is going to be a quiet one for me, just me and my parents and a ton of coursework and revision for exams in the second week of January! I can't wait for my degree to be over...!

Cheap Frills

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:21:00 +0000

H&M shirt, eBay cardigan, Topshop leggings, Cheap Frills jewellery*
I've been living in this cardigan almost every day since I bought it, so you'll have to put up with two outfit posts in a row featuring it. It's just so snuggly and warm and easy to throw on to make an outfit a bit more interesting.
No full-length shots today as by the time I got home my boots were killing my feet, so I had my comfy slippers on when I took these (slightly craptastic) pictures.

My jewellery is from Cheap Frills. They have a great range of cute vintage-inspired pieces at affordable prices. If you're looking for Christmas presents and stocking fillers, pop over to their site and have a look.

P.S A heads-up for London folks. If you like the sound of getting your Christmas shopping at 20% off, Seven Dials and St Martin's Court in Covent Garden are having a discount shopping evening on Thursday from 5pm - 9pm. Over 100 shops will be involved, and I'm told there will be special in-store events and lots of street entertainment going on, along with free drinks and nibbles!

CLOSED - Giveaway! - Cutey.co.uk charm bracelet

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:08:00 +0000

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered!

It's been a while since I did a giveaway for you guys. I'm hoping to do quite a few over the next couple of months to say thanks for being so awesome and reading my blog, even though I've been a bit rubbish and not posted much lately.

The lovely folks from Cutey.co.uk are offering one of you a beautiful charm bracelet of your choice from their range.

How to enter:
1. You MUST be a follower of this blog. this can be either through GFC, Bloglovin or by some other way of subscribing to the feed.
2. Comment on this post saying "Enter Me" or whatever you like, and mention which method you are using to follow Fish Tank Fashion. You must leave some way I can contact you if you win, so if you don't have a blog then leave your email address or twitter name.

For extra entries (you must do the first entry first, if that makes sense.):
1. Visit Cutey.co.uk, then tell me what your favourite bracelet is.
2. Tweet the following: "RT Win a cutey.co.uk charm bracelet with @frithalouise - visit http://tinyurl.com/d7p6e9m to enter" - then let me know in a comment you've tweeted!

The giveaway will close at midnight GMT on Friday 2nd December.

Good luck!

Fox in spots

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:04:00 +0000

eBay cardigan, Primark dress and shoes
It feels like forever since I've done an outfit post! I think it's been about three weeks.
I'm totally in love with my new cardigan (from here on eBay.) It's so fuzzy and warm and lovely, and regular readers will know how much I love my leopard print! The dress is really sweet too. You can't see the print too well, but it's covered in little curled up foxes. I'm not hugely keen on the broderie collar, so I might replace it at some point with either velvet or leather.

Versace for H&M wishlist

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:23:00 +0000

As I'm sure you all know, the Versace for H&M collection comes out this Thursday. I've never been particularly interested in the H&M designer collaborations before, mainly because they're usually hugely expensive, but this one, (although it does have some rather pricey items,) seems more affordable than most. I also love the fact that the designs are all based on the Versace archives, so it feels like this collection is actually "real" Versace, rather than something "inspired by" that the designer probably wouldn't normally put their name to.
I've made a little wish list of my favourite pieces, and I'm contemplating maybe going and queuing up for H&M rather than risking the website go down under too much traffic.

My favourite pieces (unsurprisingly) are the studded leather dress and jacket, but at £179.99 each will sadly not be making their way into my wardrobe, (unless I win the Lottery on Wednesday *fingers crossed*)
The skirts however, are only £39.99, and I'm determined to get my hands on at least one of them.
The other two dresses would be great for Christmas parties, but I really don't need any more "going out" dresses, I have so many already that I don't wear enough. Maybe if they're amazing "in the flesh".
The accessories are going to be a big hit I think. At £69.99 for the bags and £29.99 for the jewellery and belts, they're a lot cheaper than the Lanvin x H&M accessories if I remember correctly.

Will you be buying anything from the collection? What do you think of it? It's a bit "out there", especially as the H&M designer collaborations are often quite "safe", but I think that's why I like it so much.

Want it - Glitter boots

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:03:00 +0000

Since the Miu Miu glitter and suede heeled ankle boots have been popping up anywhere and everywhere, I've developed a slight hankering for something similarly sparkly for my own feet. Obviously at £555 I'm not going to be getting the real thing any time soon, but there are some good "inspired by" versions around.

The ASOS and Topshop versions (weirdly both called Astrid) are great, especially the Topshop ones, but at £50 and £80 respectively still a bit much for what isn't really a day-to-day shoe.
So, I thought I'd look to the home of cheap, designer ~~knock off~~ inspired shoes, eBay! I couldn't find anything huuugely similar, but a couple of pairs still caught my eye. The heeled platform boots are one of those things that are so OTT they're amazing. They're less than £30 and they come in four colours too. I think the black and silver version pictured is going to be my Christmas party shoe this year! The flat glitter chelsea boots may not be anything like the Miu Mius but they're so great I couldn't not include them!

What do you all think about glittery shoes? Love them, or are they too OTT? I think I've been bitten by the glitter bug!

Fox and stripes

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:26:00 +0000

I felt like I needed a bit of a break from blogging, which is why I haven't posted in two weeks. Sometimes you just run out of steam and I didn't want blogging to become a chore, so some time off seemed like the best idea. I'm feeling a bit more inspired now though so hopefully I'll have some good posts for you coming up!

Here's what I'm wearing today:

Alice Takes a Trip jumper, Motel trousers*, (really old) Topshop boots

I've been trying to buy my clothes more from independant labels than from the high street recently, as you can get some more interesting clothes, which you don't then end up seeing on everyone else at uni. I've been browsing on ASOS Marketplace a lot lately - it's great for finding unique yet inexpensive pieces. (If you're a fan of vintage it's also worth a look, as a general rule the sellers don't seem to take the p*ss with prices, unlike a lot of vintage boutiques/eBay sellers.) I found Alice Takes A Trip whilst browsing and fell in love with their jumpers and t-shirts featuring animals with bow ties. I couldn't resist this fox sweatshirt!

I just want to say thank you for everyone who helped me out with the Farlows competition I mentioned in my last post. I didn't win in the end, but I am so chuffed with all your support! Special thanks to my amazing flatmates who bullied all of their friends and family into voting for me too, even though most of them probably don't know or care what a blog is!

A Country Affair - Farlows blogger event

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:06:00 +0000

Last Thursday evening I headed down to Pall Mall, one of the most exclusive addresses in London, for a bloggers' evening at Farlows. I wasn't familiar with the brand beforehand, but quickly discovered that Farlows is a countryside lifestyle company by royal appointment. Very posh! I felt like a bit of a fish out of water to begin with! The evening soon got a lot more fun however, when we were all asked to pick out an outfit and style our own "Lady of the Manor" look for ourselves. We were allowed to completely raid the shop, (I feel sorry for whoever had to tidy all the rails up after us!) which I took full advantage of, ending up with armfuls of clothes to try on before I came up with my final look.

Perusing the men's ties - I decided to mix things up and use some menswear elements in my look.

And here's my look:

I'm wearing a mens tie and mens handkerchief tied in my hair. I'm also completely in love with this jumper, which I might save my pennies for and go back and buy.

Now here's the best bit, the outfit styling was a "challenge", and the winner will get to dress the windows of the Farlows store on Pall Mall! The winner will be partly chosen by the number of "likes" their outfit receives on Facebook, so please please please can you help me out and either click here or on the photos to take you to my picture on the Farlows Facebook page where you can "like" my picture (and anyone else's that takes your fancy.) Internet hugs and/or high-fives for everyone who "likes" me!

Photos courtesy of Rosie Hallam and Farlows

A bit batty

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:37:00 +0000

Tea and Cake at Topshop t-shirt, eBay jacket, H&M skirt, Primark tights, Office shoes
These pictures are from a few days ago, but I've had hardly any time for blogging this week. I'm in my final year at uni now and the workload is crazy and on top of that I've just started a new part-time job. I need to organise my time a bit better so that I can get everything done and still have time for blogging (and having a life!)

Because I've got this new job I thought I'd "treat" myself to a couple of bits and pieces from Topshop, where I never normally buy clothes because I can't really afford it! I fell in love with the bat t-shirt and I also got this jumper which is the perfect textured jumper that I'd been looking for for winter. I also found this really affordable (under £20!) quilted jacket on eBay. If black isn't your thing then you can get a load of different colours too. It's perfect for the weather at the moment when you need a jacket to keep out the wind, but if you wear a winter coat you start overheating slightly!
I'm not going to be spending all of my wages on clothes though unfortunately. They're going to be saved towards a possible masters and other exciting things like food and bills!

Hope you're all having a good weekend!

The Orphan's Arms

noreply@blogger.com (fritha louise) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:18:00 +0000

I love discovering cool new brands, so I was really pleased to stumble across The Orphan's Arms whilst trying to find interesting t-shirts the other day. (I'm a big fan of graphic t-shirts.)
The brand's aesthetic is a cross between gothic and "ye olde" English, with graphics featuring witches, crosses and Oscar Wilde quotes. The Orphan's Arms sells a range of mens and womens (and unisex) clothing, with most of the designs available on t-shirts, vests and sweatshirts.

The Orphan's Arms seems to me like a darker, British version of Wildfox (but with more affordable prices!) I've got my eye on the East End Witches Social Club t-shirt.

A range of The Orphan's Arms pieces are stocked at Asos, but for the full range visit their website.
What do you think? Have you found any great independent brands recently? Let me know, I want to check them out.

Do you like wearing jumpers and hoodies?