Review: Nail Art Pens from Topshop

Having a 25% discount at Topshop is becoming dangerous for my bank balance but I couldn't resist these cool Nail Art Pens £6.50 each. They are pretty easy to use:

I started with a single layer base colour because I wnted it to dry as quickly as possible.

Once the base colour was dry, it was 10 minutes of doodling fun!

The Topshop Nail Art pens are fun and easy to use, but it does require a top coat clear layer to fix the design as they rub off quite easily... 

I also have a feeling the pens won't last too long either which makes me wonder if its worth the money.

The pens come in pink, blue and black and will definitely make an outfit edgier and add an element of cool - so if you get a chunky 25% discount comme moi then go for it! Otherwise I'd look elsewhere for the same thing. There's a ton of things on eBay which are very similar and available for less than half the price.

Make Me, Break Me

Accessories Make or Break an Outfit

It's amazing how accessories can throw an outfit in a completely different aesthetic direction and  help you express the person you are today. Last Summer the colour blocking craze breezed directly over my head and I adopted on a more ethereal trend: floaty dresses, soft shades and this was aided by great accessories like scarves and delicate chains. This season it's more of a princess of darkness turned rock star type look and your winter wardrobe can be updated with studs, black feathers, and mixing in this season's silhouettes and shapes. These accessories are going to help last year's winter slouchy jumpers much more edgy, here are some images that show how it has transformed an old Primark sweater.

Below are a few of my most recent accessories: 

• far right: customized ear muffs with studs from Portobello Market, £12
• below Pascale Monvoisin necklace with silver dripping chains, £55
• below Topshop peter pan collar chain mail necklace, £15
• Fingernail ring, eBay £2.99
• Scrabble ring, eBay £2.95
• Camera necklace, Freedom at Topshop
• Gold ear horn, eBay £2
• Black feathered ear cuff,  Carabella Roase at eBay £12.99

click on the images to enlarge them :)

Studded pleather, faux fur ear muffs, customised from Portobello Market £12

Ear Horn, eBay £2

Ear cuff with gold chains and black feathers, Carablla Rose at Ebay £12.99

Pascale Monvoisin necklace, £55

Peter Pan collar in chain mail £15

Today I'm wearing: a Forever21 dress

This week I picked up a stunning green, pleated front mossy green dress from Forever21 for just under £30. Its so pretty and floaty - I'm happy I can get tons of wear out of it by grunging it up a leather jacket and accessrories; but also I can make it an evening thing by mixing up the hair and accessories again!

Here's the video:

For the grungy look: the necklace is from Topshop, £35 this season.

The white leather jacket was £35 from a Brick Lane pop-up vintage market.

The shoes were from eBay, like all my favourite shoes!

Today I'm wearing my new Studded Shorts...

I had so much fun customizing these shorts this morning, I've been wearing them all day. 

The shirt is from Urban Outfitters, and the itchiest jumper ever is from Primark.

Here's the video of my outfit, its my first time - they'll get better, promise....

DIY Studded Leather Shorts

This morning I used some leftover studs bought from eBay to customize some leatherette shorts from H&M. It's been popular for some time now to customize clothes from slicing up old denim to dip dying second hand shorts. There are also loads of brands re-working clothes and selling them for a premium nowadays and actually it's super easy to do this at home for a fraction of the price.

Firstly, I started off with this leatherette mini shorts from H&M, £14.99 this season. Pleather is fine for shorts as they won't make you all sweaty and uncomfortable like leather pants or jackets!

My studs were from eBay - 50 spikes for £5.99.

And the tools were a sneaky dig in several of S's tool boxes. 

I marked out with a sharp kitchen knife small points where I wanted the spikes to be, then began forcing through the screws from behind the fabric.

 Once they were in place and I was happy with the arrangement I tightened them securely with a screwdriver.

 And it was that easy!

Inspired by a recent trip to Topshop where they stock a cool brand called The Ragged Priest. They have some really edgy pieces and I ended up buying a backless red velvet dress with studded leather straps. To come in an outfit post soon!

Images from http://www.theraggedpriest.com/

The Girl Photo Shoot

Last week, I styled a really cool street style photo shoot featuring shoes around Brick Lane, East London. The shoot was for a friend who is starting up her own magazine aimed at cool young women featuring fashion and music. I was lucky enough to help her style for her very first issue in the shoe feature of the magazine. Below is a cutting from her media pack:

Media Pack , The Girl

To start picturing the brief, and to communicate our ideas within the team I'd made mood boards to get an idea of angles and ideas for the shoot then made another mood board to get a feel for the type of fashion for which I'd have to source.

Here's a few of my favourites from the day.

 My very favourite were these Topshop shoes originally £62, but the mid season sale had them at £5! The ankle lace socklets are also from Topshop at £6.50

Here are a few from throughout the day, it was freezing but this made us super productive!

Early Sunday morning - this is fog and not pollution! But it makes the photo look so spooky!

A, our foot model getting into look #1

Piled up

Cool spotty tights, DMs and of course a red phone booth

Next look: over the knee woolly sock and some brogues....

It got sunnier....but not warmer....

Next Look: a collection of shoes on the bench.

And at the end, a mug of tea and cake! At my favourite Vintage Emporium Tea Room on Bacon Street.

The excitement of cake...

Everyone Wants to Rock

Earlier on this month I had a really fun photo shoot with an exciting theme: Everyone wants to Rock

It was a test shoot with some of M+P Models' up and coming talent, and I worked with a really great photographer, Sarina Scheepers who had put together the whole creative push to get this photo shoot off the ground. With the theme I made made mood boards from the brief and immediately thought of studs, leather, wet-look, feathers, fur and fringing - a type of sexy that women want to be. After my ideas were on paper the sourcing is the next step which is the most fun part!! All items in the shoot are from the high street and very affordable - if you'd like to know where I got them from please message me :)

Here are a few of my favourites from the day and of course more will be on my facebook page :) :