2015 Outfit Round Up: Helen

What a year! It's quite funny looking back on this year, as even posts from March and April feel like such a long time ago. This year has seen Helen increase her clashing of prints along with her classic colour blocking. Her wardrobe has also increased fourfold, with many new items that I've been coveting.


Firstly, lets look at the patterns. Because I love a pattern. Helen eased us in gently, throwing in monochrome faves by mixing stripes and leopard print for the DCA exhibition opening. She went out there in a daring clashing floral and plaid print by using a running theme of red throughout, from the bag detailing to the Sugar and Vice bakewell tart necklace. Finally, my favourite on the right- red and cheetah print, which is a culmination of the cheetah and red. The lips top with the spotted jacket is on point, and that Tatty Devine lobster necklace! (Okay, I'm biased as I bought her it). The Lou Taylor brooch just finishes the look.


The colour blocking has been kicked up a notch since my 2014 outfit round up post for Helen. Taking a leaf out of my colour book with pastel pink, Helen's super sweet Galentine's outfit was always going to win my love, especially with the DIY love heart head piece and flirty winking collar. And no one can monochrome like a snowman, as Helen showed with this stylish snowman look. So much love for that Bershka hat, very Isolated Heroes! Of course, if I'm discussing Helen's style there is no way I cannot include this cat lady look. Why colour block when you can cat block with a print reminiscent of an elderly woman's knitting bag (in the best way). The addition of the polo neck and novelty bread bag keep the look modern and cute.



My absolute favourite look of 2015 has to be the dreamy vintage dress  that Helen borrowed from Nicely Eclectic. The print and shape worked perfectly with her signature haircut. So dreamy!
Cannot wait to see what this girl has in store for 2016 (and what I can borrow!)

2015 Outfit Round Up: Kimberley

I can't quite believe 2015 is now drawing to a close! Seriously, where did the year go? I'm just getting used to writing 2015 and now I'm going have to move onto 2016! It's been a year of ups and downs but it's always nice to have the blog to look back on and relive some of the highlights. I've been looking back specifically to pick out my favourite of Kimberley's looks from the past year. We did the same last year too. It's always fun to get another persons perspective on your style. Kim has been embracing colour more and more throughout 2015, not least in her hair. She's gone from blonde to lilac to so many shades of pink I've lost count.


Kimberley did a rather good job of keeping it casual and fun throughout the year. From bright prints to amazing (but completely impractical) accessories. I love the print on her Dreamland dress. It makes for some instant cheer and looks particularity bold when worn with simple black tights and boots. While more muted, the middle faux fur extravaganza makes for some classic winter dressing. The pom pom mittens still keep that fun factor alive though. The navy ensemble mixes together some of our favourite designers and brands. From the Jill Skulina jacket to The Whitepepper Dino bag and the finishing touch of the Sugar & Vice necklace, it's a great example of mixing in some shop small. Plus I love how it all looks against the bright pink of Kimberley's hair. While it may have been a result of an accident on her part, I love this vibrant shade. 


Throughout the year Kimberley has also scrubbed up well for some fancier occasions. She has a wide array of sequins in her wardrobe and it always makes me happy when she breaks them out. I love her sexy black sequin get up, especially the way it's accessorised with the slightly creepy Lady Muck ant necklace. No sequins in the second look but plenty of gold shine and glitter for the Herald Fashion Awards. This Rowan Joy dress is an absolute dream! Back to more sequins in this final look. Who knew dressing like a Christmas present could make for such a stylish party outfit?! The addition of the gift bow from Paperchase is inspired and just opened up a whole new collection of affordable hair accessories.




My absolute favourite look of Kim's is from our recent Alice in Wonderland shoot. What can I say, the girl knows how to rock a blue and silver colour combo. Plus I am ridiculously pleased with how well I tied that giant hair bow and by how well she pulls it off! I think this should be part of her everyday look for 2016 for sure.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas guys! Hope you are all having a lovely day filled with food, fun and good times.
 

Styled by Helen: Christmas Jumper

I can't believe Christmas is this Friday! It seems to have come round so quickly. I still have quite a bit to do - gifts to buy, presents to wrap and a trifle to make. Luckily I finish up work tomorrow so that gives me time to get everything done (hopefully). What I'm looking forward to most is spending some chilled out time with my nearest and dearest. Kimberley and I will be having our annual get together. It's like most of our get togethers but involves more mince pies and festive foods. I'll also be spending some relaxed time with my family. These good times actually already started at the weekend. Heather Mac and I had a sister sleepover. There was wine and pizza and two of my favourite Christmas films - Home Alone 2 and Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. We also visited our Dad and decorated his tree. Any excuse to decorate more than one tree is good in my book.

All of these festivities call for some festive dressing. You've seen my snowman inspired outfit but now it's time to make things a bit more traditional/ tacky. It's got to be time to break out the Christmas jumper! I still love my one from a couple of years ago  (I will be digging it out in the coming week), but the opportunity to add to my festive jumper collection came along and I couldn't resist. I picked this knitted number at the Vintage Kilo Sale back in November. I hadn't expected that I'd be using the occasion to add to my Christmas wardrobe but they had a rather fine selection of fun festive items on display - from tshirts to sweaters to knitted accessories. I opted for this cosy jumper because the snowmen are just too cute. Plus it has jumper should pads! Who knew that was a thing!

Jumper | Vintage Kilo Sale
Jeans | New Look
Earrings | Gift
Boots | c/o Ted & Muffy

Because the jumper is a bit of a mumsy style I matched it with some leather look trousers and my pointy boots to try and toughen it up a bit. I then added more Christmassy touches in the form of super fluffy socks and these cute little bow earrings. I got these behind door number one of my advent calendar thanks to Heather Mac. Every year we get each other an advent calendar so we can both count down to Christmas in style. For the past few years she's built up a pop up house where the doors and windows hide chocolate treats. These earrings were a lovely extra surprise that kicked off December in just the right way. 

Unlikely Style Icon: Christmas Present

Yup, that's me in actual awe at my own magnificent sparkling. I'm like a festive Edward Cullen.

Actually, I'm a present. Alright, yeah, this is the weirdest style icon I've attempted. At first I laughed at the idea but since Helen's Christmas tree version last year turned out so well- and I missed out due to timing issues- I thought I better come up with something good/ ridiculous.
Jokes on me- in the end this has become my go-to party look for this winter! I'm not sure how I didn't stumble upon this combo before but it's surprisingly good. I've worn it to two parties already.
My main inspo for this look was the bow. It had to be done. What self-respecting gift doesn't have some kind of tinsel adornment to it? I could've gone for a large hairbow to achieve the effect but who hasn't tried to sneak a piece of Paperchase stationery into their wardrobe? No? Okay, just me then. This was so silly and fun, and surprisingly wearable.


The sequin top is one I wore for our blog birthday *last* year and has been hanging in my wardrobe ever since. I've been itching to crack it out and these dark nights are calling for some sparkle. The crop length was just a little too short for comfort but when paired with this ballerina skirt it fits so well that people have thought it was a dress. The skirt itself I picked because the frothy tulle reminds me of the tissue paper I like to use on EVERYTHING at Christmas. Fragile? Tissue paper. Gift bag? Tissue paper. Boxed gift that wraps easily alone? Shove some tissue paper in there. It probably still needs it! I kept accessories to a minimum. I wouldn't want this spangled, sequined, tinseled look to be overkill.

Top | H&M
Skirt | Topshop
Shoes | Topshop
Hair Bow | Paperchase

So, next time you're thinking that your gift needs a little something more? Just add SPARKLE.
Same goes for your Christmas outfit, too!

Unlikely Style Icon: Snowman

Christmas is getting closer and closer. The festive time of year is even effecting how I'm dressing - from Xmas jumpers to wearing anything with a wintry motif. It's really about time that I let it take over a whole outfit. Last year I got full on with my Unlikely Style Icon - the Christmas Tree. There was a whole chopping down photoshoot and everything. This year I've pulled it back just a little and have chosen the humble snowman (snowwoman? snowperson?) as my sartorial influencer. While I've only seen a little flurry of the white stuff so far, the films I've been watching (and cards I've been writing) are covered in the stuff. Second to sledging, building a snowman is one of my favourite things to do when the snow decides to stick around. Even if I am the only adult getting creative with the coal and carrots.

Dress | Dorothy Perkins
Polo neck | Made by me
Scarf | Karen Mabon
Hat | Bershka
Necklace | c/o Bonnie Bling
Boots | c/o Ted & Muffy



The main ingredient to any snow based outfit is a white dress. I opted for this Dorothy Perkins number. It's nipped in at the waist, letting my hips and boobs add to the classic snowman figure. And, because layering is good for winter (and also because it gives the illusion of stick arms) I stuck this black polo neck underneath. Together with some snowman poses, the basics were down. But ofcourse no snow person in their right mind would be seen without a hat and scarf. For me it had to be this Karen Mabon penguin number. It has snow on it for goodness sake! The hat was a gift from a friend and it's certainly been attracting a lot of attention this winter. I guess you've got to love a bit of sequin shine when it's cold, dark and grey outside.

The accessories didn't stop there though. Extra snow was added in the form of this pretty Bonnie Bling snowflake necklace. I've been wearing this to death throughout December as it adds just the right amount of festive fun to any outfit. In place of a carrot for a nose, I opted to paint my lips bright orange. It's the newest beauty secret for all people made of snow. My uber pale skin also helped me to capture the beauty look of my Unlikely Style Icon. And don't forget to say hello to my new Ted & Muffy boots. I may have picked them for their full on witchy vibes but they wouldn't look out of place on the front of a Victorian style Christmas card.

MoveIt Lookbook Video

On a rainy Saturday afternoon in Edinburgh we met up with Boya Shen, the mastermind behind moveit. This YouTube channel features lookbook videos showing off the style of real people. Boya's main aim is to show diversity and creativity in everyday fashion. When she asked us to be involved we were thrilled! After all she'd already shot some of our favourite Scottish bloggers, alongside some mighty stylish folk.

For the occasion we decided to dress to match with each of us wearing a piece of Dreamland Clothing. For a video about our style we knew it had to be something colourful and Dreamland fit the bill perfectly. As it was really rather chilly outside we layered up, showing that bright clothing doesn't just have to be for summer time.

Helen wears:
Dress | Dreamland
Jacket | H&M
Jeans | New Look
Shoes | Charity Shop
Bag | Yoshi
Faux Fur Scarf | Nicely Eclectic
Name Ring | c/o Bonnie Bling
Bone Ring | Bloody Mary Metal
Other rings | Made by me

Kimberley wears:
Dress (as top) | Dreamland
Jacket | JACK(et) by Jill Skulina
Jeans | Primark
Shoes | Office
Bag | New Look
Girl Brooch | Jode Pankhurst
Bone Ring | Bloody Mary Metal
Pompom Ring | Made by Helen
Glasses | IOLLA


We had a great time with Boya. We may have done a bit of video before but it can still be daunting to actually move in front of a camera rather than just striking a pose. Boya made us feel totally comfortable and we just ended up laughing a lot and having a bunch of fun. We're super happy with how the video turned out. The music choice is so cheerful. Perfect for perking up these cold winter days. 

Queen of Hearts

When fabulous Dundee based jewellery Karen Smith got in touch with us to collaborate, the first thing that popped into my head was Alice in Wonderland. I'd first met Karen this time last year at her Time Boutique Pop Up event. She designs detailed pieces of narrative jewellery from her home studio. Each piece is handmade and inspired by story telling. With recurring images of keys, hearts and clock parts it was unsurprising that Lewis Carroll's stories would spring to mind. I love the images Karen uses of her work. They're dark, mysterious and intriguing and fit with the jewellery perfectly. But I've never really been dark, mysterious or intriguing so thought we'd style it up our way - bright, colourful and fun.

Keeping with the wonderland theme, I opted to play up the Queen of Hearts character. With the help of this necklace it wasn't very hard. This is a statement piece with the most amazing clasp detail. Yep, it's a playing card! I love it when jewellers think of creative ways to incorporate fastenings and this is something that Karen is extremely good at. I then paired a couple of these Twisted Heart Bands alongside this garnet set Twisted Heart Ring. The cog detail makes for such an unusual setting and the colour of the stone is rather stunning. All jewels fit for a Queen, I'm sure you'd agree. Well, you better or it'll be off with your heads!

Jewellery | c/o Karen Smith
Jumper | H&M
Shoes | New Look via Ebay
Skirt | DIY




For the rest of my outfit I went with a very royal mix of monochrome with red and gold. I recently rediscovered these glittery red heels. I actually bought them for a Halloween costume while at university. A Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz costume, obviously. I quite like that they've been used again for dressing up as a fictional character. The skirt was a little DIY number. As with most of my clothing DIY's it was not supposed to look anything like this. I'd initially planned to make a full circle skirt. Then when it came to cutting out my pattern I realised I didn't have quite enough fabric so my plans changed. After that it became a long pencil skirt with zip fastening but when I tried it on the shape didn't work on my short leg. In the end I opted for pulling it up to create more of a simple mini shape and adding some glittery hearts along the hem - because glitter always makes things better. I really must remember to allow myself more time when attempting to make clothes but in the end I was pretty satisfied with it.

I also got to play around with this rather amazing heart brooch. Designed as part of Karen's time at Vanilla Ink this is more of an art work than a piece of jewellery. What's more, it's interactive. Pull the chain and the wings flap. There's something rather magical about the movement that's totally in-keeping with our fairy tale theme.




Many of Karen's pieces have a real kinetic energy to them. Not least the mechanical flying heart piece above. They are definitely meant to be worn and moved in. So, we couldn't just stop at still images, it was time to step into video again. For the other Wardrobe Conversations videos there's been a professional on the other side of the camera. This time it was just little old me. Kimberley and I took turns capturing some film moments and then I sat down and edited this little number. Do have a wee watch and let me know what you think.



Huge thank you to Karen Smith for letting me dress up in her jewels and play the part of an evil queen.