Edinburgh Bloggers Afternoon Tea

Last Sunday we made it along to the first ever Edinburgh Bloggers Meet, hosted by Farah from Faz Fashion Diary, Emily from Frankly Ms Shankly and Sultana from Dream to Inspire.
The girls put together a warm wee gathering in the form of a tea party at The Rose Hip to introduce us all. Many didn't realise there were quite so many of us around! The Edinburgh Blogger girls put together a handy list here so that we could all meet and greet and swap ideas and tips. We already knew a couple of the bloggers there but with nearly thirty of us enjoying the cake and coffee, it was great to put names to faces. Tiny's Fashion (below) is our blogger crush online and babe in real life! We also bumped into our Etsy Craft buddy Alley Hope (2nd below). What we really enjoyed was the variety of bloggers. As well as style bloggers like ourselves, there were lifestyle, food and travel lovers.

We decided to co-ordinate as any fine blogging duo should (outfit details next week!) in matching Coco Fennel X Karen Mabon dresses and our new(ish) bobs. It made us instantly recognizable as the weird friend-couple we are...



We just love a goody bag! These included a lot of bits and bobs from local places including the Filling Station.There was also a charity raffle for Macmillan Cancer, which boasted plenty of prizes but we didn't win any. We had our eye on that Miss Dixiebelle voucher!

Although we are only just dipping our toe into blogging events, we enjoyed this a lot. We met some friendly people and our faces were aching from laughing so much. In the end we went home, full of delicious cake, to put pyjamas on and veg in front of Netflix. A sign of a good afternoon!

What Helen Wore: Zoo Wedding

Blazer | New Look
Dress | The Rodnik Band
Shoes | Dorothy Perkins
Bag | TK Maxx
Skull Ring | Datter Industries
Brain Ring | VeraMeat

Yes you read that right, I spent part of my weekend celebrating in Edinburgh zoo! It was the wedding of my uni friend Stacey and her other half, Sven. They're not ones for convention so the unusual venue fit their style perfectly. Of course I whole heatedly stuck with the theme and chose to wear this amazing octopus dress by The Rodnik Band. Turns out the groom is a sucker for invertebrates, making my choice even more appropriate. It was such an amazing venue and a brilliant day filled with smiles, dancing and good friends. Thanks so much to the happy couple for inviting me to share it with them.




I have to say this outfit really benefited from the act of borrowing. The dress is on loan to me from my sister and the jacket and necklace were last minute additions from the wardrobe of Kimberley. I do love having friends and family who are a similar size to me. It more than doubles my wardrobe choices! Plus Kimberley put her hand to hairdressing and did this wee updo for me. No mean feat considering how short my hair is. She did a sterling job, even if my vigorous dancing meant it didn't stay up for the whole night. Friends can be so useful sometimes.





What's your wedding guest style?

Panda and Sons

This past month we have been busy busy busy sampling what Edinburgh Festival has to offer. Our closest friend Susan has been visiting from Dubai so we have been reminding her what she's missing back home!
Recently we took her to one of our favourite watering holes in Edinburgh, Panda and Sons.
We love everything a bit retro and curious, and this bar in the style of an underground Speakeasy ticks all our boxes. It also does a rather potent cocktail or ten.

The front of the bar is quite unassuming, with the facade of a vintage barber shop. One street from George Street, you know there has to be something more. As you travel downstairs you come across the faux bookcase, which is the hidden entrance to the Prohibition style bar itself. Although we have been to Panda and Sons many times now, there is always a moment of suspense as you open the door, not sure what will be on the other side (hint: usually it's packed out and noisy. In a good way).



Push through to a brilliant little bar.
It's not all style over substance though, the cocktails are well thought through. Not the usual sweet drinks we normally go for, we could definitely taste the alcohol in these. Definitely ones to sip and savour. Not all necessarily to our palates either (Vida Villa tastes like soil to us) but there was a huge variety of flavours and a more than a little theatricality about them. The potentially lethal Birdcage Cocktail was very fun, and came under a smokey cloche. Ooh. Aah.

And if you're an old granny like Kim, you can always have a hot chocolate.

Runaway Fox at the West End Fair

 

Edinburgh is in the midst of festival time and we couldn't help but soak up some of the atmosphere. With so many shows to see and things to do, the real question was where to start? Well we decided to kick things of at the West End Fair. This craft and design market is located in the historic grounds of St John's Church and features a whole load of different stalls, from glass work to millinery. There sure was a lot on offer but there was one stall that really stole our hearts....Runaway Fox!




We've been loving this jewellery making duo for a while now so it was so nice to chat to them in person and get up close and personal with their collections. The stall was set out beautifully and fitted the brands aesthetic perfectly. Plus it was choc full with things we wanted to take home and, of course, we left with a few treats for ourselves.

As well as departing with our pennies we also found out some more about what Runaway Fox are up to and their exciting future plans. After recently introducing life casting into their repertoire, it was great to see some of the results of this, even if the Hog Hook still freaks us out! And, with a studio move and a secret project centred around a Very Important Person coming up, you can expect to be hearing a lot more from this pair.


The West End Fair is running until 24th August so there's still time to get on down and you can have a gander at all of the Runaway Fox collections over on their website.

What Helen Wore: Edinburgh Festival

Jacket | H&M
Tshirt | Brat & Suzie
Trousers | TK Maxx
Shoes | Monki via ASOS
Ring | Vera Meat
Necklace | Mahala Le May
Nail Decals | DIY Nails
Glasses | Vintage

This is what I wore for a day exploring the Edinburgh Festival. Comfort was key so I opted to wear these fabulous new flats and my 'so comfy it feels like I'm wearing pyjamas' trousers. The pattern on these trews may not match up but the elasticated waistband more than makes up for it. As for the shoes, my love of anything with eyes on got the better of me. Luckily it was after they went into the sale, don't you love it when that happens?!

And what do you make of my new (old) glasses? I got these at a vintage fair way back in February but have only just had new lenses put in them. It's nice to have a second pair so I can mix up my face wear a bit. The only thing is it's made me want more pairs, I think one for each day of the week would suffice.







Have you been to see any Edinburgh Festival shows? Recommendations are always welcome.

What Kimberley Wore: Edinburgh Festival

Blouse | Louche @ Joy
Jeans | Topshop
Shoes | Zara
Flower | Rockafrilly
Watch | Fossil
Ring | Jollygood

Did someone say 'pink'? Our friend Susan is visiting from Dubai and we were talking about the good old school days, back when she didn't particularly like me because I wore only pink. Hot pink everything, with Hello Kitty motifs everywhere. I slowly grew out of this (incidentally around the time I started listening to Biffy Clyro and the likes) and I haven't really worn pink since.
As a homage to my fifteen year old self, I thought I'd give pink another go. I have to say, I felt instantly lifted!
This is my Hawaiian look, re-working the fun shirt that both Helen and I own. Every element of it is a cute surprise.
I wore it to wander round the delights of Edinburgh Festival. Living and working in the city centre means the Festival has become a serious pain in the bum to me. August is a blur of Sunday walkers, lost tourists and people rubbing that bloody dog statue's nose constantly forcing me to walk on the road... raaaage! The amount of tourist photos I have photobombed on my way to Greggs of a lunchtime- Can't they tell I'm on a filled-pastry mission?!
As I have friends visiting (and I now work away from the hustle and bustle), it was nice to soak up the atmosphere on my weekend and learn to enjoy the city again. And in my pinker than pink outfit I couldn't have been happier.

We had our annual gander round the West End Fair, a really mixed bag of stalls with some hidden gems amongst the usual woodwork and tweed, and meant to look round Festival Square stalls too but the lure of our fave Mademoiselle Macaron was too much and we got sucked in for crepes and pastries. The shop is adorable- where else can you lounge on a chaise eating desserts all day? Heaven.

Anyway, it was hard to pull ourself from the little corner of comfort but we did make it to a fun family zombie show, Zombie Science: Brain of the Dead. It was light-hearted and silly, and a bit of a guilty pleasure. But it included some science so I don't need to feel bad about enjoying what was essentially Saturday morning kid's phone-in games, right? (left, up, fiiiiire!!)



You may have noticed my hair colour to match my pink-on-pink outfit. I dyed my hair with Bleach London Rose again and it washed out to a pleasing apricot colour. Wish I could get it to stay this way for any length of time.. it's rinsed out already to a dull warm blonde.
I also attempted to do a wee finger wave to give it some shape but it promptly dropped. I quite like it though, and I'm getting better. Just in time to chop all my hair off again this weekend!
I topped it off with this amazing orchid flower clip from Rockafrilly. I've had my eye on it for a while and thought I'd treat myself while it is still sunny enough. Think I'm going to get a smaller one too.


What do you think of my girly outfit? Too Barbie or sugary sweet?