Coral Cowl Neck Top

I do really love a cowl neck top and this one I got in Heatons for Mothers' Day back in March, was perfect for today as the sun is back out again! I love how the neckline hangs and the draping effect on the front - it's a very flattering top. 

Coral Cowl Neck/Draped Top - Heatons (out of stock)
Distressed Skinny Jeans (rolled up) - Maison Scotch (similar)
Black Patent Sandals - LK Bennett at The Outlet Village
Rose Cluster Necklace - SGS Shop

Instead of pairing the top with black trousers as I did the last time I wore it, I wore my bargainous distressed Maison Scotch jeans (last seen here) - turned up. This is a great way to get wear out of your skinny jeans this time of year. I've seen quite a few trendy fashion peeps doing this wide turn up so thought I'd give it a go!

Wearing with one of the new necklaces in my shop, which seems to have sneaked its way into my own collection! It's the Rose Cluster Necklace and I love how it sits high on the neckline.

Cowl necks seem to work better with less norkage - hence they work a treat on me! I guess the volume of fabric gives a fuller effect up top. Which is good for hippy girls too. As my own top has sold out in Heatons Online (tho may be available in-store), here are a few other lovely cowl neck tops in the shops at the moment....

Clockwise L-R
Pied a Terre, Avenue 57, Kaliko, Fat Face, Fenn Wright Manson (bargain!), Oasis

and I was surfing the Hot Squash site earlier and found no less than three lovely options..

All available at Hot Squash

Before I finish up, there's still time to enter my competition for a chance to win a load of goodies worth almost £200! Click here for all the details! Thanks to everyone who has entered so far x

Red, White & Blue with Ness

It's a controversial colour scheme in Northern Ireland - particularly so close to the 12th July but I'm not talking flags today - I'm talking coats.

I was asked by the team behind Ness, a fashion label based in Scotland, to pick a couple of items from their latest collection. Unbelievably (for me), I had never heard of Ness prior to their email. They have a flagship store on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and there's certainly a Scottish feel to some of their range but mostly, it's a fun, practical, affordable range of clothing - not unlike Boden or Joules in places but with its own individual flair.

I chose the Evelyn Shower-proof Mac in Navy as I know how useful and wearable a navy lightweight mac is. Loving the red & white detail that just sets this apart from any old navy mac..

Coat - Evelyn Navy Mac c/o Ness Clothing (size 10)
Red Jeans - Room 31 (sold out)
White Vest - Primark
Denim Shirt - Sainsburys
Handbag - Vintage
Navy Pumps - c/o Zalando
Heart Shaped Umbrella - c/o Love Umbrellas

In terms of the detail, it's a heavier cotton/polyester material, lined in a silky material to make it easy to put on and take off. It has lighter blue and white piping around the edges, pockets and cuffs and a large pleat on the back with a button/belt detail which nips the coat in a bit and is adjustable. I ordered the 10 and I would say it's neat fitting so if you're between sizes or more blessed in the bust department than I, size up!

It got it's first outing to Belfast yesterday for a Fathers' Day family trip and kept up the red, white, blue colour scheme of the coat. Love an opportunity to wear these red jeans.

We headed to the market first for a quick catch up with Jeff from Belfast Times who was kind enough to keep with my colour scheme...

(can you tell who doesn't like getting her photo taken?!)

...and then onwards for a walk along the Lagan river to see the preparations underway for the G8 this week. President Obama is speaking in the Waterfront Hall today so there was a significant security presence and lots of areas cordoned off in preparation. But that did mean that the kids got to talk to a friendly police constable who let them take a look inside her Land Rover - and try out police hats too! Such excitement!

Hope you all have a super week - Britmums Live starts on Friday so I'm busy planning outfits for the two days and trying to work out how to fit everything into a tiny cabin suitcase....eek! I'm really excited for the weekend, the line up is amazing and I'm looking forward to meeting many of my blogging friends there. Do let me know if you're going too! x

Competition Time!

It's been a while since I've had a competition on the blog so this is a bit of a bumper one with lots of lovely prizes:

First up - some goodies courtesy of Menarys' new in-store gift shop, Raspberry Hill. They have kindly given me a Lola Rose soap bag with 4 travel size products inside, a Fizbag re-usable shopping bag and a Swarovski Crystal nail file with case in a gift box.

Next, some gorgeous body products courtesy of Mama Mio Skincare. Bootcamp for Tummies (which contains two powerful products), Boob Tube Bust & Neck Firmer (with magic shimmer!) and Nexercise Firming Neck & Jawline Concentrate. All the Mama Mio products are paraben free and contain powerful natural ingredients.

Finally, from my own shop, a Harmony (Desigual inspired) scarf and a Mixed Shapes Necklace:

Total prize fund - £200!

To be in with a chance to win this fab hamper of gifts, just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter competition app below. The competition will close at Midnight (GMT) on Monday 24th June and the winner will be announced the next day. 
(Open to readers in the UK and Europe only)

Good luck and thanks for entering x

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Same Outfit - One Year On!

Due to a recent birthday related splurge, I'm on a spending ban for just over a month (one week down - four to go!). So I've been looking over old blog posts for outfit inspiration. We tend to have so much hanging in our wardrobes and as new items get added, it's sometimes difficult to remember what goes well with what. One benefit of a blog is you can look back at any time to see what you were wearing in a previous season. I last wore this outfit on this post back in July 2012

and here it is today:

Pink Jeans - Kaleidoscope
Grey T-Shirt - Primark (similar)
White Vest - Kaleidoscope
Navy Pumps - c/o Zalando
Grey Pearls Scarf - River Island originally
 (but also available in the shop)

New additions this year are my new grey glasses I bought from Firmoo a couple of weeks ago on an email offer. The glasses were completely free - I only had to pay the postage. Well worth signing up to their emails if you are a glasses wearer.

Also new is my arm candy from my new favourite jewellery store, Susie Ho - created by Sue, the blogger behind Susie So So blog. I ordered the pearl bracelet for my birthday (as June's birthstone is pearl but usually pearl jewellery is so old fashioned!) and Sue kindly added the denim crystal one in the middle as a gift. The wider bracelet on the right is from Boden and was a birthday present from my 10 year old nephew and godson, Evan.

Missing from this year's photo are the metallic pumps. I loved them and they were such a great neutral shoe but were a killer to wear on my wide feet and I eventually donated them to the cancer shop. Also missing is the lovely back-drop. The rain put paid to that today!

So tell me - how good are you when it comes to re-cycling outfits? Do you also have favourites that come out year after year?

Off to photograph the prizes for the competition now - watch out for another post from me later with full details x

Scarf Storage

Now that I'm selling scarves, a few people have contacted me asking about scarf storage. 

Where do I keep all the scarves I own...that constantly growing collection? 

Up until recently, I folded them on two deep shelves in my wardrobe. It worked ok but invariably, every few months, it would become a big messy pile of scarves all tossed in on top of each other and I could never find the one I wanted easily.

Messy Scarves!

So after some research online, I purchased one of these scarf holders at Ikea..

It's simply a series of hoops that have been woven together with a soft string that doesn't catch on the scarves. It folds down on top of itself as per the first picture and then opens up to hang as per the picture on the right. You loop one scarf on each loop and this is what you end up with..

This is holding 32 scarves - which was about the number I have. I did ditch 6 or 7 of them in the process of tidying my wardrobe. It is quite heavy once full and although it can hang in the wardrobe, for ease of use and for space reasons, I've hung mine on the back of the spare room bedroom door. No more rummaging through a mess of scarves, I can now hold the scarves against what I'm wearing to find the perfect match - and I've found myself using scarves I've not worn in ages so it's a great way to utilise your collection.

The upside to this is that I freed up two huge shelves in my wardrobe, allowing me to store my handbags here and create an extra shelf for shoes. Result!

This scarf storage solution is available in Ikea but for anyone who doesn't have an Ikea near them or who (like me) find themselves spending £60 on Diam bars, plastic food bags and coloured napkins every time they go to Ikea for just one thing, I do have some for sale in the shop. To cover my costs (petrol, paypal and energy expended in Ikea hell), I have to sell them for £10..so obviously, if you have an Ikea down the road - go get one there! 

But if you don't, come get one in my shop by clicking on this link here.

Just a note about pricing. My shop is set up to charge £2 postage for all the items in the store, regardless of weight or size. This scarf storage hanger costs more than that to post to addresses in the UK, therefore I've had to increase the item cost to £11 to cover this additional postage and to cover packaging & paypal costs.