LACE

I feel that I most of the lately time have been running around in my different versions of my "beatnik look" (sans the belly of course, but plus a lot of layers on top of that) - black is easy - as my days mostly consists of hanging out with Dag in-and outdoors, working when he's napping and running to rehearsals and to the gym after that. But otherwise when it's not the all black- or hobo layers look, many of my blouses and shirts have still been put aside due to motherhood, until a time when there will be less goo all over. So I've been wearing lots of basic cotton tops instead. Which sometimes feels a bit blah and too neutral. But they can be pimped up a little though, to better suit some of the other items I have, like the one I put cuffs and a collar on. And this one here! It's a basic organic cotton long sleeve tee, that I sew a lace appliqué on.


Probably best done by hand if you are patient enough - not me; I used a loose zig zag seam to fasten it. When the stitches are somewhat loose I'll be able to re-attach it to some other garment when the top gets too floppy. And to be washed by hand, or perhaps on the gentle program in a lingerie bag.


Fabric- and haberdashery stores sometime sell small lots of lace ribbons and appliqués at a nice price. I've tried to cut out my own from a lace fabric too. That gave me a headache. If you can't find any suitable lace there is of course always the trustworthy internet to rely on too.
I stocked up so there will be more lace on more stuff to come...

A NEW VIEW / THE ROSEY CURTAINS

Here we have the Marimekko Ruusupuu (the Rose Tree) fabric. It has, among many,  been a favourite of mine for a long time. (picture source)

So I got curtains of the fabric in the apartment I had before moving to where we are now. 

Then as I moved the curtains got chopped off to hang in the study.

And now they are hanging in the kitchen! 

As the result of an unexpected little catastrophe actually; I washed the yellow gingham kitchen curtains and they shrunk with some 20 cm... Argh! Because I (finally) am in cleaning-and-organising mode now I thus can't stand things being "not ready" and as I would have packed the rose curtains aside anyway for a kiddo-set of curtains for Dag I made a quick save and hung these up.

Funny how a little fabric can change the whole feel of a room! I really liked it with the yellow curtains, but I am starting to think that this is not that bad after all.

Btw another little funny thing,  Marimekko fabrics / patterns are probably one of few in which it is considered totally alright and normal (and rather fancy too as   'it is after all Marimekko' ) for someone to show up to a, say, wedding in a dress of the same fabric as your tablecloth. Hipsters and old ladies alike.

PS. there is a Finnish survey about blog readership popping up here (once per ip address) on the blog. In Finnish. Thus not useable for many of you, so choose the "ei kiitos"option then to close it.

SOME MAKE UP AND SKIN CARE FAVOURITES FOR WHEN IT'S COLD

A few of my favs for winter:

Most of the year I wear a powder mineral foundation, but in winter with the cold and dy air and the temperature switches that gets too dry for my skin. I use a BB cream instead, sometimes with some powder on top  (and oil up my face a lot). My absolute favourite fantastic love-it-to-dedath BB cream, which I've bought online (fromNaturisimo) before, is now finally available in Finland too (via Jolie)!

The magic cream is Iroisie's Soin Parfait Ultimate BB cream. The first time I used it I was afraid it was going to be a little too rosy-beige, it came on quite dark, but then suddenly it evens out perfectly. I've been totally amazed with it. So, I do use it other than in winter too, those days I just feel like cream instead of powder foundation. The cream is organic and natural.

For those days I want some more make up on, I brush some powder on top. I have the silk powder from Coleur Caramel which also is a natural make up line. It leaves a very silky sheer glow on the skin. I might ave to get a little puff to keep under the lid as I find it a bit hard to carry a brush around in the bag too, but ten again I don't need to refresh my make up over the day, as it stays on perfectly well very a very long time.

When it comes to skin care I mainly wash my face with coconut oil (sometimes black soap) and wipe it off with a tonic, then put some more coconut oil on over night. Or this, pure shea butter! My face becomes a little ball of grease, but that makes it so soft and smooth in the morning to deal with the freezing winds of outside. I use the shea butter for dry hands and elbows and so on too, and also on Dag's little checks (and butt cheeks too).

Gone is the monochrome, now for a rainbow week!

As I did a week in monochrome last week,well 5 days anyway which is a fairly good effort for me, I have decided to balance my blog out a little by doing a week in colour. I'm going to do the post layout a little bit different too so that it fits into my
Daily routine more easily with a style post in the morning(pre- work) and an artist/designer review in the evening(post-work)!Hopefully, by doing this, I will have a better chance of actually achieving 7 days worth of posts!

Instead of doing 7 days of multicoloured style posts I have decided to have a rainbow week with one colour per day. Today, as can be predicted, is my red day...

I love the red and blue combination of this outfit! The red silk shirt is from a seller I came across on Asos marketplace and it has a faint geometric pattern on it. I chose a long turquoise and red bead necklace from Topshop to go with this shirt and continued the red/blue colour combination with the painted canvas bag which I stumbled across on etsy.com. To avoid over complicating this outfit I would wear it with some plain black leggings, I chose American apparel because they are really good quality and have a lot more longevity than other brands! For the shoes I opted for some plain black leather peep toe heeled boots, practical because they have a chunky heel but without comprising the aesthetics. The final addition to this outfit is the velvet flower headband I found in topshop, I love floral hair accessories and the velvet material of those one caught my eye!

So there's the first colour post of this week, hope you all liked it and I'll post again this evening by which point I will hopefully managed to find an artist who specialises in pieces with a red colour scheme! Wish me luck...x

THE BLACKBOARD DOOR

We have a couple of doors painted with black board paint at home in the city apartment; the door in the older boys' room and then the closet door in the now-study (read: mess room) but-Dag's-room-to-be any day now. It's a quite fun way for kids to draw, because it feels a little like being allowed to do something forbidden while still being totally allowed and encouraged...




So far no artistic try-outs on any white walls or on the floor (and fingers crossed that won't happen either). Perhaps because the door is black and then that's the kind of surface you draw on, the others different coloured ones not as they differ so much. Well, let's see what happens in a year or two when the need for "artistic expression" and experimenting grown stronger.

Blackboard pant is not magnetic but I was wondering if it could work to paint a couple of layers with magnetic paint first and then top it with one coat of blackulrikaboard paint, to be able to put up funny magnets and notes and such (and therefor spare my mint green friend in the kitchen from too many dinosaurs and other magnetic crap)? Hmmm.

Over here at least Tikkurila have both kinds of paint. The paint dries pretty fast so the doors were ready in one day.

My week in monochrome...Day 5 "What I would wear today if I could" +Artist review featuring Russ Mills!

After my pitiful blogging efforts yesterday I feel like I have to somehow try and redeem myself with this post, so here goes...

Top £38.00(Topshop), Skirt £9.99(Zara), Necklace £66.12(SaraAmrhein on etsy.com), Chunky patent boots £92.00(Topshop), Fringed bag £45.00(ASOS).

My week in monochrome is almost over with only two more monochromatic posts to go- thank goodness!!How people manage to wear shades of black and grey every day, without it affecting their mood, truly baffles me!

For my last workwear monochrome post I have chosen a clean, white-based outfit which responds brilliantly to the recently popular marble print trend. This skirt is a perfect high street interpretation of this trend, using polished granite as the print, it is an absolute steal in the Zara sale at only £9.99!!!Thrown together with a sheer panelled white top, some chunky patent boots and a fringed bag, this outfit manages to ooze femininity while retaining a tough attitude. 

The necklace is probably my favourite item in this outfit(que sorpesa!) It is only recently that I became fascinated by polymer clay jewellery and as the majority of polymer clay jewellery seems to be necklaces my initial fascination is quickly becoming an obsession and will no doubt end up a little out of control!I'm just amazed by how polymer clay enables jewellery designers/artists to get more creative with accessories!Etsy has a great range of unique polymer clay accessories, some of which are shown below. 

Artist review: Russ Mills

So today I am introducing you to the striking paintings of Russ Mills, an artist who rarely uses colour, sometimes sneaking it in subtly" and therefore fitting into the theme of this weeks blog perfectly. 

Mills focuses on the human form and seems to specialize in abstract portraiture. The loose but deliberate brushstrokes in his paintings evoke a sense of movement in the painted characters and I just love how raw and spontaneous the paintings feel.


Amongst more contemporary influences, Mills seeks inspiration from the past.Artists such as Jackson Pollock; Picasso and Basquiat, are an obvious source of inspiration for Russ Mills, particularly Pollock. The combination of seemingly uncontrolled abstract  brushstrokes and contrasting well painted faces, seems to have worked amazingly here.

In the FAQ section of his website, Mills gives some advice to aspiring artists/designers. Advice I think we should all live by:

"Patience. Perseverance. Discipline. Commitment. 

DRAW ALL THE TIME, sketch or doodle as much as possible or at the very least write down ideas. Carry an A5 black book always. 

Be aware of what others are doing, seek out the best of the best and learn from their approaches. 

Never be satisfied with what you achieve. "

To see more of his work/ find out more about Russ Mills, visit:

http://www.byroglyphics.com/

A GLASS OF SUMMER

One advantage of living in the almost-arctic is that when it gets helluva cold it's at least easy to de-frost the freezer and fridge. One just puts all the stuff in plastic bags out to the just-as-cold balcony (or, porch or  yard whatever) and have them wait there until the frost free cleaned Smeg is up an running again, then it's back with everything in like nothing ever happened.

While emptying the frige I remembered I had saved some rhubarb juice I had made early last summer and decided that it was now or never, the absolute right time to take out the bottle and have an instant mini summer get away. It's awesome with tiny happy presents from a past self. (I wish I would be that nice to myself when it comes to other things around the house too. Like always do my books one a month instead of leaving it al in a big box for future-and-most-likely-way-more-organised me to  sort then all out.) There was another bottle of pink summery rhubarb juice in the freezer too, but that one I will save for that hopeless moment when I'm banning my head against the wall when it's still snow around  in April.

I will have the great joy of going trough the same procedure of melting and cleaning fridges in the weekend when hitting the countryside... But to make it a bit ore pleasant I know there will be another little bit of summer waiting for me there: the summer lemonade of which I had also tucked a couple of bottles of in the freezer. Smart little me!

My week in monochrome...Day 4!

Thursday lull....lacking in blogging motivation today so this entry will be short and sweet and artist review-less...I'll make up for it at the weekend I promise!

Trousers £42.00(Topshop), Camisole top £42.00(Topshop Boutique), Shoes £45.00(ASOS), Necklace £6.00(ASOS), Oversized bag £60.00(Topshop).

Another day another dollar so the saying goes... After hitting snooze a grand total of 5 times this morning I finally managed to peel myself out of bed, scrape some make up onto my face and assemble my hair to look less tangled earth child and more purposeful beach hair.  I always feel like, if I had my ideal wardrobe, I would feel so much more ready for the day. In actual fact I probably wouldn't, I would be most likely to start complaining about my lack of wardrobe space. Which is why this virtual wardrobe I have created through my blog is so useful. Today for example, I would love to wear the above outfit in keeping with my monochrome trend for this week. This outfit is so easy to wear!Loose comfortable trousers; a slinky camisole top; an oversized black bag(an absolute staple for a print designer- this would fit my sketchbook and paints in) and some metallic shoes to add some pzazzzz to the ensemble.

That's all I have time,and energy, for today. I promise that tomorrow's efforts will be better!

x

My week in monochrome..."What I would wear today if I could..."

I am experiencing a severe case of mid-week blues so this style post, sticking to the monochrome theme, is centered around one of Dirty London's amazing printed tees. The slogan on this one is perfect for my mood today- "Fall down five times, get up six!"

On the Dirty London website(www.dirtylondon.co.uk) they have a sentence describing each t-shirt print. For the tee I have chosen for this style post it says:

"OUR GREATEST WEAKNESS LIES IN GIVING UP. THE MOST CERTAIN WAY TO SUCCEED IS ALWAYS TO TRY ONE MORE TIME"

Definitely a message we all need to hear on a Wednesday morning, even more so on a Wednesday morning where you have run out of coffee!!!

Kimono £68.00(Topshop), Top £25.00(Dirtylondon.co.uk), Leather skirt £14.99(H&M), Oversized bag £80.00(American Apparel), Necklace £18.50(Topshop), Chunky boots £92.00(Topshop).

I love this outfit- so easy to wear and the perfect combination of hard/edgy and feminine!


Artist review: Raphael Vicenzi

Raphael Vicenzi is the talented Belgian based illustrator behind mydeadpony.com. As you will see through the artists I am featuring this week, I tend to gravitate towards a certain style of work- exquisite portraits in pencil/ink over a watercolour wash base. 

One of the things I particularly love about Vicenzi's work, which I feel helps to differentiate him from other artists with similar styles, is his usage of typography in his prints. There is so much depth added to his illustrations by adding words, and it is this that I like about his work.

EMBELLISHED CARDIGAN

I have a warm 1950's cardigan with pearls and rhinestones on it. I haven't been much for beads or other embellishments the past decade or so (on everyday clothes, ehrm, my on- and after stage wardrobe of course speaks a totally different language...) but now I am having an itch for such. Too bad the Trashy Diva Lorelei dress on sale was out in my size... (yes "too bad" says my economy and sighs peacefully).

This card is from my will work for clothes series. Well,which is not that much of an existing series really, it is  in fact not something that I will not do in general, uh oh, nah nah, no way -unless it's for a friend of mine and can be seen more as a mutual favour. So this one is from  Ina's Year Since Yesterday store,  as thanks for fixing up some pics and graphics for her.

My week in monochrome day 2... "What I would wear today if I could..." featuring Gabriel Moreno!

Day two of my week in monochrome...Despite the colourless theme of my style posts for this week, my mood has actually improved and I'm feeling fairly upbeat. So here is my 2nd post...

Shift dress £24.99(Daisystreet.co.uk), Statement necklace £15.00(Topshop), Chunky boots £42.00(River Island), Glittery tights £12.00(Urban Outfitters), Bag £14.99(H&M).

Abstract crackle prints were all over the SS14 catwalks,featuring in the collections of Issey Miyake, Balenciaga and Marni(see image below). I love this textured crackle effect and found a really affordable interpretation of this trend on Daisystreet. I teemed this easy shift dress with an oversized statement necklace from Topshop which is made up of irregular shaped pieces of plastic which seem to echo the shapes created by the cracked dress print.With this dress I would wear, glittery sheer tights, my standard chunky boots and an oversized black bag.

Issey Miyake, Balenciaga and Marni. All taken from SS14 runway collections.

Artist Review: Gabriel Moreno

Madrid based illustrator/painter Gabriel Moreno is my artist of choice for today- his work fits perfectly into the monochrome theme I have set for this week. 

I came across his work while doing some research into artists to use as inspiration for my own work(see my work here: www.facebook.com/atoblondon). I really love the photo-realistic style of the faces and bodies of the figures in his illustrations and the contract this has with the very linear effect he has used in the hair. By looking over my blog you can tell instantly that I have an obsession with linear sketches, the fine lines in the hair that encircles Moreno's figures amaze me as I always seem to struggle with completely the hair of the characters in my sketches. Even now as I sit here typing I have 3 sketches on my wall of hairless heads where the faces are complete but the hair is non-existent.

Another aspect of Moreno's work that I love, one that seems to be a consistent feature in all of my favourite artists, is a monochromatic feel to the artwork with a small injection of bold colour. Gabriel Moreno injects colour into his work through tattoos, fabric and coffee stained backgrounds. Maybe this is where I am going wrong in my own work?Starting on a blank white page seems to psychologically trick you into being incapable of adding colour to the artwork. Starting on an inky/coffee base, however, breaks up the white areas and makes the page far less daunting!

You really get a sense of the character and personality of this figure. Love how the hair flows our behind her- looks similar to long hair when underwater.

The 2 women and peacocks'(far right) is probably my favourite of Moreno's illustrations. I love the blue and red colour contrast alongside the monochrome illustration.I think this piece really shown his talent as a fine artist as well as an llustrator!Just look at the hand of the woman in the painting- exquisite!

SHOOTING IN THE LIL' PALACE

Today I did the well familiar -I go there often to perform- two hour drive  up to Tampere trough white powdered and beautifully sparkling but oh so cold landscapes. (Too cold to take pictures in, fingers freeze.)

I went there for a photo shoot;  to shoot some wedding dresses for and by a friend of mine. The shoot was in an amazing old house that is still in private ownership (the old lady lives upstairs) but which lower floor can be rented for events.

 It's called the "Little Palace" which it pretty much is.

The schedule was super busy and fast so I didn't have the time to walk around and take any well-though photos but I snapped a few ones with my phone.

And perhaps we'll get to take a look at the wedding dresses some time later.

My week in monochrome... "What I would wear today if I could..."

Recently I have had the 'back to work' January blues;early mornings, failed attempts at
dieting and financial despair have led to me feeling lethargic, apathetic and unmotivated- not the most productive combination!

As depressing as all that sounds, I have made the decision not to let this get me down and will be doing a series of blog posts this week entitled "My week in monochrome". I am a firm believer of dressing to suit your mood and, as my mood is not particularly upbeat at the moment, I intend to embrace this in a week of colourless style posts. 

Not only does a black and white theme reflect my current temperament, this colour scheme has also been a popular colour trend on the runway for the past 3 seasons and is increasingly popular in high street stores. Alongside these style posts I will aim to do introduce an monochromatic inspired artist/designer each day.

So for my first day of "My week in monochrome..."

Top £16.00(Boohoo), Disco pants £14.99 (Daisystreet.co.uk), White cut-out boots £45.00(River Island), Polka dot socks £8.00 (Urban Outfitters), Necklace £19.48(BellaJewlry4u at etsy.com), Black bag £12.99 (H&M).

As it is a Monday, I thought I would introduce this theme with a playful black and white spot print t-shirt. I love how this boohoo top combines different scales of spot as well as flipping the colour arrangement of the spots, and at only £16.00 it's a huge bargain! I also love these white cutout boots from river Island, since Jeffrey Campbell first introduced this shoe style it seems the high street stores simply can't get enough of them. With every British retailer doing a version of the cutout boot, the options for this style are endless- I am thinking abut requesting some of these for my birthday present as they are so versatile and can carry you through to summer. To finish this graphic black and white outfit off I have added some sheer spotted pop socks from Urban Outfitters, a black bag and a 60's look black and white floral necklace.


Artist review: Annita Maslov

As my monochrome style post for today has a strong polka dot theme, I thought I would take this as an opportunity to introduce an artist/illustrator who creates amazing pieces made up entirely from tiny dots. Influenced by 19th century pointillism (championed by Seurat and Signac), Australian illustrator Annita Maslov designs original prints and tattoos made up from minuscule dots.

As artworks, these illustrations have great compositions and the fact that they are created from specks of ink amazes me and adds an extra edge/hand-crafted element to the work.

I think it's so important in the art/design industry to boost each other up and forge online connections with other artists/designers. In the spirirt of this I encourage you all to take a look at
Annita' work at: http://annitamaslov.net/ 

A WIRE HANGER IN THE KITCHEN

I never seemed to find a suitable hanger or stand for the kitchen paper towels so I made one out of an old wire hanger that hangs from a small nail-turned-hook. I obviously had to cut away a couple of cm n the middle to be able to fit the roll, but just a little bit though - too big a gap would make the frame too weak to carry the paper roll when in use.

BRAIDS AND FOLKY FLORALS

 I bought a seventies vintage dress in a floral pattern with a slavic-ish twist.

 Wore it with folky braids.

(And double earrings, as I couldn't decide which coloured pair to choose.)

To get the braids huge enough (the bigger the better you know) I twined in some extra hair to them.
The whole thing wouldn 't hurt with a couple of big flowers to go along on top but I'll save that for some warm sunny day later this year.

The dress is from Love Miss Daisy and the red lace up boots I cam upon on Sammydress. (You might know I've had the idea of such a very long time and here they are now.) My earrings are by Frollein von Sofa.

RED BLUE BLACK BEIGE AND SNOW

Winter outfit, outdoors mode.
This plaid jacket
This wool skirt
And a pair of red boots you are yet to see.

SUSPENDERS AND A WEARABLE PERFUME AD

Here's an outfit. So -I have this longer skirt that keeps me warm and boots that manage the weather and of course, as always, a beret on and thought that it's pretty whatever, timeless, kind of thirties in some ways and then it struck me: change the beret to a beanie (plus give me a floppy cropped knit to throw on or tie a white shirt in a knot around my waist) and there you have my dream look from about 1995!  Oh my, I laughed.

But I was indeed wearing something rather funny nonetheless, a blast form the past - I stumbled upon an old top of mine that I thought had seen the end of it's days a long time ago already. (Yes funny how you can manage to stuff away, make disappear actual physical, existing pieces of materia in your closet and then just 'stumble upon'  them again isn't it, suddenly they just lie there folded again?).

It's a vintage promo top of some sort for the eau de cologne 4711. (My great grand father imported it to Finland back in the days; you may remember we also have an old 4711 tin ad at home; there were a bunch of those in the wood shed at the summer house.) This was my mothers, she had this in the seventies, and I loved it to bits and pieces around the change of the millenium. It is so fine and ugly in the same time.

My skirt has suspenders (I thought I'd point it out in case you did not notice. Ha ha.) Such a skirt, long and plain with suspenders/straps, has been on my to sew-list for at least five-six years, but no luck in that departement so far. I happened upon this one online, and realised that after this many years it won't just magically put itself together by my machine, so I clicked it home instead. I was a bit sceptic first that the material would be thin and wobbly, unforgiving so to say, but it's thick and soft and I might be smart and click home a couple of more to store for later, the way I've started doing things now (whenever I remember , or don't feel too middle aged doing so); stocking up... You've read me say it before, fast forward forty years and there you have weird flower person crazy cat lady and a closet full of duplicates of a few items because "they were the good ones"... Also, if I'm ever to grow my belly again this would be a perfect piece of clothing to do so in, hint hint, for those of you who are for the moment. The skirt is from Sammydress.


Let's end this one with a bonus pic of Dag photo bombing my blog shot.

PS. my bold move to get myself a non-black beret as in this red one resulted in me misplacing or -gasp- perhaps even loosing the original black one. I feel almost naked without it now.

'What I would wear if I could..' Celestial trend!

When asked at work what I thought the key trends for the coming year would be, in particular for Autumn/Winter 14, I was adamant that Celestial imagery would be one of them. Stars, planets, suns&moons, signs of the zodiac, weather imagery...everything related to the sky. Kenzo has introduced lightening bolts to his collection and Chanel's Pre-fall 14 collection is laced with stars, hopefully my celestial trend predictions pan out to be true.

With this in mind, today I would love to wear this outfit...

Blue crackle effect nail varnish £3.99 (BarryM), Yellow nail varnish £2.99 (BarryM), Turquoise liquid eyeliner£4.79 (BarryM), Black disco pants, Lightening bolt bag £23.00 (Romwe.com), Chunky boots £40.00 (River Island), Double knot leather headband £10.00 (Topshop), Statement necklace £40.00 (River Island), Floral burnout tee £15.00 (River Island sale- sold out). 

One thing I love about being from a really small town is that, generally, the high street clothes I like are a bit too crazy for the people who live in my hometown so they tend to always go in the sale. This was the case with this gorgeous river island tee, I had been trying to decide whether or not to buy it for about a month and a half (nice to know I don't always impulse shop!) when it went in the sale for half it's original price. The colour is amazing and it's long enough to cover my bum- always an essential whenever I buy a tee. 

I love this necklace as well, also from River Island. I've noticed recently that there seems to be a lot more choice for statement necklaces on the high street. Whereas before, there was only really Topshop to go to for this, now Zara, River Island, New Look and even Primark are stocking some great statement jewellery. 

I realise that I don't normally blog about beauty products and that this kind of looks a bit like a BarryM advertisement, but I genuinely love how vibrant their nail collection is and have chosen two colours that would compliment this outfit perfectly.

I think my favourite piece in this outfit is the Kenzo inspired lightening strike slough bag from Romwe.com. So much cheaper than I inititally thought it would be! Romwe.com is quickly becoming my 'go-to' website for High-end trends at affordable prices.

'What I would wear if I could...' - Winter florals style post!

This week I really want to get back into doing regular style posts. I feel a resolution coming on....As my New Years blogging resolution I will try and do at least 5 'What I would wear if I could afford to' posts each week and 1 chunkier more thought out entry. I feel like this year I need to get more organised with more of a routine to my life, maybe this will help...If I can manage to stick to it!

In the spirit of this, here is the first of many style posts!

Socks £5.00( ASOS), Bag £35.00 (Rokit vintage), Tights £2.99 (New Look), Chunky boots £95.00(Topshop), Tunic dress £70.00(Topshop), Knitted turban £12.00 (Topshop),Tarnished silver necklace £12.99 (Zara).

It seems that this week England has finally realised that it is actually winter and this means it needs to get colder. Ideally it needs to get cold enough to snow in time for my birthday. This means that it's time to crack out the boho knitted turbans and the tights and socks combo. Dark winter florals have been a huge trend this Autumn/Winter and I particularly love this Topshop boutique print with its rich orange and red tones. This garment is actually meant to be a tee, but one of the very few perks of being 5 ft absolutely 0 inches is that I can wear tee's as dresses.

I lvoe this outfit and would happily buy each and every item in a heartbeat if I had the funds. As a confessed jewellery hoarder I particularly love this Zara necklace, and at only £12.99 it's a steal- hopefully it will still be in the shops when my payday FINALLY arrives.

A POST ABOUT NAILS

I've never been a "nail person". Or so I thought. And by that I mean one that gets her nails done somewhere with fancy manicures, checks out nail pics on the web and so on. No glitter for me. I've always love painting ny nails though (even if I've been rather conservative with my color choices the last decade - red, the occasional pink and coral, then red and red and another red...). But I've never managed to keep them long for long, and that goes way back.

You may recall me saying that I played the piano for almost twenty years. (Mainly classical, if you wonder, later when I was at a high school for music also jazz etc. My first ever job was actually being a piano teacher for one graders :) Well, to be able to play well you can't really have long nails as they affect your touch on the keys. My piano teacher at the institute was a woman, and she would spot it right away if my nails were too long. When upgrading in my later teens I got new teacher who was a man and he did't quite realise what the problem was the times I had vainly let the nails grow; he'd just wonder why something was a bit wrong when I played...

My first year of studies after school was studies in painting at an art school which was a messy thing of preparing canvases and mixing oils and thinners and so on and thus no place for well done manicures - not to mention I was quite the art boho hippie at that time too, and having fancy nails was kind of a faux pas in the goa circles during the late nineties and early 00's. Haha, oh my, thinking of those days. At the same time I started working in the harbour where most of you know I was for more than a decade. And whenever I managed to do something nice with those nails of mine some god damn IMO-sign fastening on a truck or a box I had to carry or whatever work stuff there was was sure to break at least one of them (nails) and ruining the whole thing, the way it goes.

But although sometimes secretly jealous of all fancy nails I never got myself around to really go hav'em done as I wasn't a nail person you know (although I once bought a Groupon deal for myself to use at a salon but it expired. And one other time I got a gift card for a manicure as a present but it also expired. Sorry. I am like that. Don't give me gift cards unless you also force an appointment on me! Sorry again for all other expired ones too.). But, this summer I thought f u c k i t and got them done and HA! On some levels of life that have little impact on the way of the  universe it did make me happier. And life easier, at least from a vain point of view. I can do the dishes and laundry and gardening and what not and there they are still shiny and happy. And I don't have to worry about them being ugly with halt-gone polish either when performing. In certain parts of this life it's a 'phew'.

I started out rather gently from choosing calm classy colours (and having trouble using my phone with my new long nails) to go demanding "they need to be totally corny and crazy!!" by now. And well, if I don't find even find myself doing the occasional nail-pic search on google nowadays and have planned some styles for the next versions to come, hehe. It's kind of fun. Always something to keep me occupied with in my wait for spring. Three styles to go and then it's hello no-mitten weather again!

Umm, well, alright. So that was a story about nails and here are some manicures I've had the past months. Some of you will care while others will not, but here you go anyway:

Christmas bling. And those were pink half moons at the top of this post.

Sparkly for the new year. I added the floral water transfers myself.

French with a little lace. Also a transfer. They are rather genius.
I'll get back to those here at some point.

Barbie nails with tiny bling on the side.

Obviously, they will have to be mint green at some point.