Pleats, Polka-dots & Daisy-chains

This is what I wore in St.Andrews (Scotland) on Thursday, it was a day of glorious sunshine, great friends and childish fun and frolics!

We bought food from Morrisons and had a massive feast of a picnic in the Botanical Gardens, it was the best lunch EVER, haha! We played 'dizzy races' like the mature 21 year olds we are, and wandered around the gardens soaking up the rays. It was really beautiful, and very hot! We then walked down to a stream and played for quite a while, it might sound silly but we all found it very thereputic, acting like a kid again is the perfect antidote to weeks of exams and the stress of finishing uni for ever, just what we needed! Everyone splashed around, Jamie built a dam, Fran collected pebbles and I made a daisy chain. On the way back home we saw a Heron which was cool, and stopped off at the beach which was COVERED in jelly fish, I've never seen anything like it, it was disgusting (I have a major phobia of fish & sea creatures, so found it particularly horrifying haha).

Jamie took the photos of me in the gardens, and many thanks to my wonderful bestie Michael for these beautiful pictures at the stream, his camera is sooo much better than mine!

Dress - Primark, Belt - Primark, Sandals - Zara (very old and falling apart now), Hat - Charity Shop, Cardigan - Vintage, Sunglasses - Ray Ban Clubmasters

I'm wearing a dress from Primark, which I'm sure a lot of you bloggers will recognise from their S/S campaign, it really is quite beautiful and comfy to wear, and was perfect for the sunny weather - im not really a huge fan of showing off my bare legs in the summer, so this longer/midi length is great. It's actually a size 10 as they were sold out of 8's, it maybe looks a bit bulky, but I don't mind too much! The hat I bought in an Edinburgh charity shop the day before and was perfect for protecting my rather fair skin from the sun :-) its a lovely sort of camel suede/felt, so will work in the winter too, only £3! (I put my daisy chain round it, but I think it will look nice with different scarfs and ribbons)

Did you guys enjoy some sun last week where you were? Do you guys ever just like acting like a child with your friends for the day?

Love, VW x

Charity Case

I'M ALIVE!
Sorry I've been completely M.I.A these last few weeks... well almost a month out really! I have been thinking of you all, and have occasionally had a little read, but I just havn't had the time or energy to post myself!

NB: These plimsoles actually have a cute floral print all over them, but came out like fluorescent white in the pics :-S hmm

To catch you up, I had a few big deadlines at uni, including a presentation, urgh, and a stupid logistics assignment which I really struggled with :-( That coupled with writing my weekly College Fashionista articles (have you been keeping up? sign up to site for free and comment on you're favourite outfits/articles *mine* haha) and generally just trying to keep up with life -  nothing particularly interesting to be honest!

eek should have put some more lippy on! Oh and my fringe is so long and crazy in my eyes now, as you can see its sitting very strange against my raybans! Have had to start wearing it sweeped to the side instead of full fringe :-(

Oh of course, major stress last week was my laptop dieing! My beautfiul HP, it served me well, but alas it is dead. I was in such a tizz because i had so much work to get done, thankfully after a frantic phone call to Oz my wonderful parents transferred the money for me to buy a whole new laptop :-) I just got the cheapest full sized one they had in the shop at the time (couldn't handle one of those crazy little notebook things *technophobe*)! Lucky I havn't lost any of my files, and I got all my work handed in on time!

Hat - Miss Selfridge, Sunnies - Ray Ban Wayfarers (Chrissie pressie from Oz only £30 from an outlet mall), Shirt - Charity Shop, Leather Jacket - Miss Selfrideg, Denim Cut-offs - Vintage Levi's, Belt - Primark, Plimsoles - Australia (5 dollars)

I went for a little wonder the other week to discover some new charity shops, the kind that are down little side roads and are tiny and a bit 'scummy' with rails crammed with crap, but in amongst it all you can find some truly wonderful things at bargain prices! You know, the best kind of charity shop. I hate ones like the Oxfams on the highstreet, all newly fitted out with colour coded rails of completely overpriced stuff... the moneys going to charity for goodness sake, just take what you can get for it, don't charge us a tenner for a 2 seasons old dress from Primark that probably only cost 8 quid to start with!! haha. Found the floral shirt pictured for £4, I love that it has poppers instead of buttons, and it's little breast pockets. Buttoned all the way to the top, naturally.

Also got this blouse, I have no idea whats going on with the print but I was immediately drawn to it. The little doodles remind me of the margins of an old maths book or something. The inner workings of someones random imagination. I'm not crazy about the colour, but I couldn't resist for £2!

Got the navy heels for £2 aswell, they're real leather, fit perfectly and are in great condition, there's like barely any wear on the soles apart from a few little scuffs. No idea when I'm ever gona wear them, but what the heck!

I was gona add another photo here of my favourite purchase of the last few weeks (not from the charity shops though so didnt fit really anyway) but I am literally so obsessed I wrote like 3 paragraphs and have now decided that their own post is well deserved.. so I'll schedule that now.. love to keep you hanging ;-) haha you'll probably think I'm crazy actually...



Anyway... I'd love to be able to tell you I'm back on form, and you'll be seeing a load of beautiful outfit posts in the next couple of weeks, but.. that'd be a lie. My 9,000 word dissertation is due in 3 weeks...and we have our two amazing bestest friends Michael and Francesca coming to stay for a few days next weekend (Hi guys, I'm literally so excited, eeeee!!!), so... we'll see what happens!

Love love, VW x

Ps. Look at my yummy FREE Graze nibble box... someone on my facebook had a code, to get you're first box free and a second box for £1.75, so naturally, student, free food, ordered. So exciting getting yummo, free food posted through your letterbox and bonus its all healthy too! I recommend the 'chanachur panch phoron' which is kind of like bombay mix with a rew raisins and goji berreis thrown in and was literally polished off in 2 mins!! So my favourite thing.

So my gift to you lovely readers, go to http://www.graze.com/ and sign up using my code - W8Z2TJ63 and you can get a free box too! You rate the things you like, and then they'll send you a 'balanced mix'.

Be My, Be My,.... Be My Little Rock and Roll Queen

I don't want you to 'Be My Valentine', I think it's lame. You may have already seen this on my Twitter (yes I got Twitter last week, follow me people)!

I just don't see the point - *enter cynical comments about commercial holiday invented by clintons cards, florists and chocolatiers (is that even a word/profession?)*. Anyway, I just think, as a person in a happy long-term relationship, that you shouldn't need a day on the calender to express your love for one another, 1 - you should be saying 'I love you' everyday, 2 - I think its much more romantic to be surprised with flowers or something on any random given day. I don't even like red roses, they're so, blah. I'd much rather get a single pink or orange gerbera[daisy], my favourite kind of flower, when I've had a bad day at Uni or to congratulate me on something than others might find really trival (like a good grade or something), than a dozen roses today.

Ok so that rant's over and done with! I hope you all enjoy your Valentines Day whatever you're doing and however you feel about the 'Holiday'!!

Skirt - Miss Selfridge (in the sale down to £12), Leather Jacket - Miss Selfridge, Cropped Jumper - H&M, Red Leotard (underneath) - Topshop, Boots - Ebay, Socks - Primark, Bag - Vintage. Hair - T&G Academy.

Do you like my outfit? The photos are kind of sucky, we took them really quickly when I got home for the hairdressers the other day, as I needed photo for my CollegeFashionista bio, and didn't have any recent outdoor ones! But, I LOVE THIS SKIRT. Ok ok so we're [supposed to be] heading in to spring, so a long black skirt is probably not the most fashion forward piece to buy right now, and maybe I'm a bit behind the curve, it was in the end of season sale after all. But then I just don't care. I like it.

I'm loving embracing the whole 'new lengths' thing with skirts and dresses. It's funny how feminine I feel wearing this long black swishy skirt, and it's so comfy in a lovely light pleated jersey. I like the juxtaposition of the length and all the hard black leather, but then wearing heels and a soft light jumper (which is also new). I'm wearing my red floral leotard underneath, which you can't really see in the pictures, but looked so cute and went well with my new red hair.

Speaking of the hair, what do you think? The brightness has kind of washed out a bit now (as they used a bright colour wash for the presentation - I had it done as demo model at T&G again) and its actually way more red/auburn than I wanted, it looks kind of natural :-( haha, whereas I would have liked it bright orange again. But hey-ho, it was free,and its sorted out the darks roots/light hair fiasco!

The lighting was a bit weird and crap on this side of the street, but I like the picture for some reason, so have included it!

T.T.F.N

VW x

The Lady-like Look

Hello again chums, arn't you lucky, I'm getting rather frequent in my outfit posting - third one this week, wow! I have to admit, this was rather forward planning; I took the photos mid week, knowing I'd want to post this weekend but would probably be a slob and not want to show off my over-sized jumpers and leggings.

Dress - Vintage, Cardi - Roxy (Charity Shop), Bag - Vintage (My mums), Shoes - Primark, Earrings - Sportsgirl

This dress is one that sits nestled in my wardrobe, but is neglected for some reason. I think its because its so ladylike, and I don't often feel ladylike to be honest ;-) I kind of think of it as my 'librarian dress', but maybe thats a bit unfair, librarians I've met are rarely this well dressed. Haha.

It's incredibly hard to photograph, but this little vintage beautie is impecably cut, and has brilliant detailing. The wing tipped collar, single pearlescent button, puffed shoulders, perfect midi sleeve, a-line skirt, small peplum and tie up bow at waist <3 All made of slightly stretchy floral fabric, wowee. I really should start wearing it more! And it only cost £15, from my favourite vintage thrift store, almost two years ago now, oh goodness I'm getting old, I can't believe I'm graduating in 6 months, ahh!

Simply styling - classic black court shoes, and again my aran knit cardi. I wanted to wear grey longline cardi, but it was in the wash, and is maybe a little thin to wear just under my trench at the moment, as the last couple of days the cold snap seems to have returned! My friend at uni loved that my earrings almost look like they are made out of my dress fabric, I wish! I think next time I will be braver and wear red lipstick, my face looks a little plain. The bag was my mums, I assume from the 80's, but you can't fill it with anything too heavy or it pops open, how annoying.

Not much to say for once! Friday night TV is so boring, I guess its because most people are out having a life. The Boyf and I watched James Bond Golden Eye on DVD with some wine instead, he finally finished his exams and had an interview today, so its nice chill out time! Hot chocolate before snuggling up in bed, yes please.

I've just realised basically all my best shots are sans face, you're probably all sick of my ugly mug muscling in on the outfit posts anyway haha. I've also noticed I REALLY need to get my hair re-coloured, all these poses with my head down = really bad roots! I don't think I can get away with calling it 'ombre hair' do you?

Hope you all had a wonderful week!

Loves, VW x

Like a Kid in a Sweet Shop

This outfit was so thrown together, but I think it turned out pretty well, although the pictures didn't really come out like I'd hoped! 

It all started with pulling on my old faithful H&M treggings, even though they were lifted from the dirty clothes pile mounting up on the floor. The treggings had been consigned to this pile, even though I'd only worn them once this week, because they have little mud marks up the back - I kick horrible black muddy mulch up because I walk stupidly. Oh and I dropped a bit of my dinner on them near the top the night before... but like a true student I wasn't going to let this put me off. I had to wear the treggings because I've thrown all my tights out (growing my nails seemed like a great idea, but the damn things snag on all my tights and create great gaping holes and ladders), and its waaay to cold to go bare legged.

I hadn't a clue what I was going to wear with these treggings, and was feeling particularly uninspired by my wardrobe, I really wanted to wear and dress, and my head was being stubborn and wouldn't pick anything else out. But I did know I wanted to try out my new red lipstick. I've never worn red liptick before, except when I was about 5 and used to lick red smarties and wipe them over my lips, but I don't think that counts? Is just me that used to do that? Anyway, this is when I started to go a bit wild, like a kid in a sweet shop, I frantically rooted through my draws and jumper boxes.

I'm a H&M mannequin actually. Shirt, Jumper & Treggings, all H&M. Socks - Primark, Shoes - Kandee, Earrings - Sportsgirl, Lips - 'Kiss' No. 41 GOSH.

Suddenly I really wanted to wear my old mickey mouse jumper (I say old, I got it 2 years ago), it was like a beakon of light, all bright and colourful and crazily childlike. It would go perfectly with my red 'smartie' lips. But alas it has shrunk from too many 40 degree washes. If i wore the tiny shrunken jumper it would come up really short on the body and then you'd see the top of my treggings, and the dinner stain!! Plus it might just look really stupid?! 

I start grappling again... oh I want to wear these new earrings, they're so pretty, and have red on them, that would go nice with the lippy, but wait, focus, earrings arn't going to help with the naked top half dilemma. Now I want to wear a bow in my hair, a pink one, like Minnie is wearing on the jumper. But I don't have a pink scarf, poo. Ohhh you know what I reeeally want to wear, my NEW SHOES!! But I can't wear my new shoes, I'm going shopping in town for an afternoon, not going for a night on the town. The shoes are really not appropriate. But they're new... and soooo pretty... 

How could I wear all the pretty multicoloured things, and still be warm, and not show off my stains? None of them match, nothing works! Then I spy the shirt. Could it fit under the tiny jumper? It would be long enough to cover the dinner stain! And it has a collar, thats almost as fun as a bow... Oh hell, i'll just throw it all on and look like a whole tube of smarties, you only live once.

Ok, so unfortunatly I didn't actually wear the wedges, I put on my brogues for shopping, but look how pretty they are!!! And how fun and crazy is this outfit!? The shoes just make it! 

Yes that's a limited edition Barbie doll dressed as Elle Woods from Legally Blonde 2, yes it's mine. I think its cool.
I introduced it to the pictures for a childlike quality like the lolly, but then I didn't really know what to do with her.

The shoes in themselves are actually a lovely story, which fit perfectly with the post title, because they are 'Refresher Wedges' from Kandee and I got them for FREE! A brilliant old friend/collegue of mine knows the designer or something, and when he saw the range, in all their sweety coloured glory, thought of me :-) He asked which ones I liked, and what size I'd need and although my first though was 'get the orange ones, get the bright orange shoes!!', they were stilettos, and I just thought, when will I ever wear those neck brakers? Then I saw the wedges, and fell in love. They also come in pastel pink and yellow 'Dolly Mix', but the Refresher was for me, just look at that electric blue suede!! They're the kind of shoes I'd never buy myself, but always pick up and admire, maybe have a sneaky try on, but couldn't afford. They were £90 or something after all (though real leather suede and perfectly made, so worth every penny).

The good news for you is... if you check out the beautiful website there's a sale on, and you can get these babies for a tenner!! Plus some other brilliant bargains! Hurry, they only have limited sizes left! I freaking love their sweety related names, if only they had the 'bubble gum pump' or 'fruit salad peep toe' in my size!! And I'm loving the 'cherry bombs'!

What do you think of my 'Smartie Tube' outfit?!
VW x

PS. I LOVE red lips, but the colour rubs off everywhere :-( Is this me just being special? How do I get it to stay put and stop leaving red smudges on my hands etc!? I'm worried I'll accidently smear it all round my face!!

PPS. I bought 6 pairs of tights in town, so I can go back to wearing clean clothes. haha.

Once upon a time in a sunny suburb...

Heyy! No I'm not dead! I havn't even got a good excuse for not blogging in a silly amount of time, but I'm ok, and promise to get posting regularly soon.

I guess this blog was initially about writing about something I love (fashion, not myself) and about doing something creative, that was just for me, that wasn't for school or uni or anything like that, but just for myself, because I enjoyed it. But then somewhere along the way (I know its only been like 3 months and I've probably done less than 30 posts, but hey ho it feels like its been a while) it all sort of started to feel like a chore sometimes. I had convinced myself that this blog was doing something, making a difference somehow, like one day when I got off my lazy ass and posted some photos and had something witty and interesting to say, some big hotshot in the fashion world would just stumble across it and think, 'oh my god, I have to know this girl, I shall hire her immediatly to be a contributer to Vogue' or 'This girl is amazing, and clearly loves fashion, I'll just call my close personal friend the director of buying at Arcadia and set something up' etc etc (havn't we all had these dreams? please say I'm not the only one?!), so I got into this mentality, do another blog post Voni, keep it going, even if you're tired, or busy, you want to be like that girl with the 100/200/500/1000 followers who goes to fashion awards/gets sent Next products/is an Aussie haircare blogger, don't you? Don't you? Don't you?

Well no, actually, maybe I've realised I'm not that bothered, I enjoy this so much more when its just for me, when I sit down and write about a load of old crap, and showcase my bargain bag, or my marginally hidious blouse, or show off my free haircut, because I want to. I don't care whether you like it, or don't like it, whether its gona get me somewhere or not. Its pretty fun having a hobby. I've never had one before to be honest!


I can't be bothered chasing after a 1000 followers, or checking my stats, I'm quite happy in the knowledge that my mum is reading, and The Bestfriend, and I even get the odd page view from The Boyf, even though he's sitting right there in the room with me and took the photos etc (which I think is pretty sweet haha!). If you like my pictures, or my ramlings, or my very strange fashion sense, then please do feel free to visit again and have a read, but thats up to you really isn't it.

Saying all this, if you do actually happen to be the head honcho at Selfridges, please do just ignore everything I've just said, I'm a really friendly, optimistic and driven individual, who is desperate for would love some work experience :-) hahahaha


Well that was all very depressing wasn't it? I've tried to make it up to you with the photos (of course it's not really about making it up to you, because I'm not doing this for you remember :-p I made my bro take these photos after much grumbling, so I might aswell post them!)

Oops, the pool cleaning hose in the background kind if ruins them a bit huh?!

It's cold and wet and miserable here in Manchester, but looking at these pictures is going some way towards warming me up inside (the rest is left to the 4 layers I'm wearing plus blanket, as we can't afford to turn the heating on). It's strange to know my parents are on the otherside of the world, experiencing this beautiful sun right now, and I was right there with them only 2 and a half weeks ago, yet the warmth on my skin is a fleeting memory. These pictures were taken in the garden at about 6pm, after a day out in Subiaco and Harbourtown Shopping Mall, just as the sun was starting to fade.

The pretty theatre in Subi that matched my outift haha!



Don't know why but I quite like this picture, even though pool cleaning equipment is kind of ruining it again!

Vest & Bralet - Topshop, Skirt - American Apparel, Shoes - Zara, Bag & Sunnies - Primark, Earings - Accessorize

 

Despite wearing one of the simplest and most relaxed outfit combo's my wardrobe can muster I got quite a few compliments in the city that day, I can only put it down to the aussie's love of laid-back chic. I kind of love it, throw on your favourite summer skirt, a singlet and thongs (vest and flip-flops) and you're ready to go. Obviously me being me I had to jaz it up with some oversized sunnies, dangly earings and primarni bag. I actually wanted to wear just the bralet instead of vest (which is why I'm showing it off in most of these pictures), as the peach straps and stictching match my skirt perfectly, but I just wore it as a normal bra underneath as I was worried about the dreaded tan-lines from walking around outside all day - it has 2 strappy bits across the back which would have left very strange marks!

Barry M Orange Nails, to match my hair ;-) I love how quick this polish dried when I painted my nails outside, Australia is amazing, haha! Seriously though, warning, make sure you keep the bottle in the shade, it goes all sticky and disgusting in the heat!!

For some reason my little bag gets quite alot of attention in foreign countries, people always ooh & aah it, and I'm like, dude it was a cheapy from Primark!!

Anywho, I found lots of marvelous charity shop bargains whilst in Perth and recieved quite a few beautiful christmas pressies, which I have been wearing over the last couple of weeks in England, so fun outfit posts to come! Check back, or not. Please follow, or not. ;-) Seriously though, I do appreciate you reading, whoever you are (Hi Mum!).

Much love, or not
VW x

Perusing in Perth - Day 1

Hello lovies! I must apologise for the lack of posting, I had some beautiful things planned for last week - eg. what to wear for travelling and also this cute little winter outfit showing my patriotic side (a thick wooly jumper that used to be my mum's with the Aussie flag on it!), but alas I underestimated everything I had to do and the little time I had to do it & never got around to taking photos!

ANYWAY! I'm in Australia now!! Woop! I arrived yesterday afternoon, but the dredded jet lag took hold after my 26 hour trip & I spent the last few hours of daylight having a nap after my mother had dragged me round the house showing me everything, she used to do the same every time I came home from uni back in England, so it felt very familiar hehe!

The weather here is lovely, very sunny yesterday when I arrived and my parents went for a swim in our backyard pool while I napped, but today it was a bit over cast! The estate agent called it 'shark weather', which kind of scared me, but I'm not a beach gal and NEVER swim in the sea, so I suppose it was fine! When I say overcast, well anyone reading this from Aus may well know, this meant too hot to wear anything more than a vest and shorts, bloody humid/heavy air and in the morning I spent about an hour laying by the pool reading and would have burnt without sunscreen on!

It's been so nice just seeing my family again, and we literally had a completely relaxed day, mooching around the house/garden and then on a driving tour of the area. We went for a late lunch at a 'Dome' pub, which is some kind of chain here, and was really yummy, and also spent a few hours wondering around a show home village!

The houses here are just soooo bloody amazing, and cheap! Like millionaire pads back home in England, but out here they're only about £500,000 for a 5 bed house with pool and cinema room and all sorts of great stuff! I'm totally in awe, and am definatly considering a day in the future, when The Boyf and I are all grown up, moving out with the kiddy-winks <3.. maybe.

Posing in one of the luxury show homes! Vogue posters on the wall = my kind of house!

These post is obviously more of a travel diary than anything fashion related, but the pics do show me in one of my favourite summer outfits, which was perfect for todays weather too, I got the vest and shorts in the end of summer sales (see how I wear them at home in the cold winter weather here!) My hair probably doesn't look its best in any of these pictures - I had a proper freak out this morning, there is no hair dryer in the house because my mum says she 'doesn't need one' and I wasn't informed of this until I arrived, otherwise obviously I would have packed one. Not only that but my beauty inept family apparently don't use conditioner (even when they swim in the pool every day, I know crazy right!?) so until we go to a supermarket tomorrow I'm a bit scared of the hair situation!



Vest - Topshop (sale £2), Shorts - River Island (sale £10), Flip Flops - Accessorize, Sunnies & Bag - Primark



These pictures are taken at Mullaloo Beach, we just popped down after lunch, as it started to rain a tiny bit, so I could meet the Indian Ocean for the first time, hehe, and get a feel for it all. Oh my gosh the ocean is so blue, and the sand so white, beautiful! Without my wonderful boyfriend to take pictures of me I was left in the hands of my brother, he didn't do a bad job did he?! I reckon he'll be up to scratch before the fornight is gone! When I sat on the sand dunes I said to Jack, how likely is it that there are snakes or other creepy/deadly wildlife here and he said, 'oh don't worry, there won't be any!', when we ran back to my dad afterwards he said 'oh I probably should have told you, there's a sign over there saying beware of snakes near the sand dunes'!!! Haha!

More chats and pictures to come of my fun family break in the sun!
Hope you're all enjoying the Christmas holidays and if you're in the UK, gutted about all the snow :-p, I got out of England just in time, I think Heathrow closed only about 12 hours later!! It all looks very festive at home though I suppose. I'm off to decorate our Christmas tree now!

VW x

Me and my little (taller than me) brother, the wind blew just as I took the pic, haha!