It is that time of year again. The weather is still miserable, the wind still bites, but I’ll be darned if I’ll give in to it. I’m already yearning for the sun on my (sunscreen protected) skin and a scotch in hand, while the days get longer and the parties start to arrive. This is the same time of year I get restless with my wardrobe and start to listen to that little internal voice of inspiration that tells me what I want to be wearing in the coming months.  This time I’ve come over far more casual than I usually do and that can only be a good thing as I need a little more ‘relax’ in my current wardrobe.

Of course, because I always seem to be so far ahead of the curve, it isn’t likely you’ll see looks like this in store for a while yet, but when you do, you’ll know where it came from!

This time, for something different, I’m giving you more of a window to my world and adding the music I’m listening to as well! Just click to listen, and as usual, just click each image to see the details of the what and where’s of each outfit.

These Boots Were Made For Dancing

This isn’t your usual nightclub attire, but then it isn’t for your usual nightclub girl. It is for springtime evenings, house parties, kicking up your heels with friends, closing your eyes and jamming in your mind.

I’m currently dancing to Ezra Lee - Mean What I Say – Ezra Lee From his album “Can’t Stop a Freight Train” available on Prestone Records. I highly recommend you check out Ezra’s Myspace and get yourself a copy of this album!!

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Cocktails at the Saloon Bar

Tell me any eligible eye candy could miss you in this number! Loads of swank, licks of sexy and lots of lucky! Stretch those pins and start smouldering.

Propping up the bar in style to Reconsider Baby – Lowell Fulson.

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Fancy a Drink Cowboy?

I never thought a cowboy hat and I would ever see eye to eye, but after my photo shoot with Helen McLean I may just be having a little secret love affair. This is how you do Country style with an eye for City Chic. There’s nothing dusty about this!

Tipping my hat to That’s Alright Mama

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Country Princess

The perfect Day to Night party transition outfit. Just change up the top, swap your flower for a bejewelled bow, crimson lips and you’re good to go. You’ll already know that denim is huge for this season, and while double denim remains on the no go list for me, this is about the only way I’ll work anything close to it into my look. With a beautiful satin and denim bra top with vintage style.  Yes, it could be a little racy, but paired with a sequined cardigan its all lady out the outside but the business underneath!

Kicking back to Jackson – by Johnny Cash & June Carter a personal favourite!

You just never know where you’ll find fashion inspiration that captures you’re mood of the moment, but one thing is for sure; whatever you wear make sure it captures YOUR mood, not just the prevailing trends.  This is where you’ll find the best answers to your wardrobe dilemmas!

As part of Relaxation August I decided I needed to give my body a bit of a break from the usual stress that I put it through. And a part of that has been giving up coffee, for now at least.  This is a VERY BIG DEAL for me. I LOVE coffee, and I love it in it’s pure, unadulterated creamy black goodness. No sugar, no milk, just me and a thick black creme.  So going cold turkey from this nectar hasn’t been easy.  Still, given the amount of time and money we put into all these ‘anti-stress’ skin care remedies I thought it was about time to address one of the causes and not just deal with the symptoms.  So for August I have given up coffee.

I may be aiming to give my body a bit of a break, but I can’t go from hard core coffee to only spring water,  so tea has once again been my saviour.  I already have a fairly extensive tea collection, (although not as huge as some of you I hear) but when trying to give something up I find it helps to have something else to obsess about. Hence, finding new varieties and new ways to drink my tea.

This morning’s tea – White Tea with Rose in my good old 1970’s Finnish enamel tea pot. Nothing fancy, just keeping it simple and delicious!

One of my favourite local tea houses is Serenity Tea House out in Boxhill, Melbourne. It isn’t the easiest place to find, but when you do it is like stumbling into a hidden Alladins cave of tea wonderland. Their tea comes from Taiwan somewhere high up in the mountains, as I learnt when the proprietor told me wonderful stories about the growing area and collection methods.  She sat me down with a gorgeous yellow, traditional tea set and we talked and drank tea for over an hour, uninterrupted.  It was clear that tea was her passion, not just her day job, as I learnt so much not just about the tea itself, but all the nuances of each tea set. The different clays that help to absorb the flavour, the scent cups used for capturing the fragrance of the tea allowing you to drink in the experience on a different level.  The process of drinking tea became so much more than I was expecting from a visit to a local tea store.

Of course it wouldn’t be a tea odyssey without a visit to T2, once a smaller concern and fast becoming a Goliath of the tea world here in Australia. I’ve had my regular favourites from here, The Vanilla, The White Tea, The Gen Mai Sen Cha; but I wanted to try something different.  T2 is the perfect place to explore by yourself if you want to be left alone with your thoughts, or if you need help there is always some at hand. The girls there were very helpful walking me through my coffee free options, as I wanted to try and choose teas that also had a low to nil caffeine content to aid this relaxation plan.  I found myself stocking up on even more tea accoutrements; pot sized infusers, strainers, pots sized for one. Walking out with only one small box of tea from here is a surprisingly difficult exercise in self restraint.

They have a great website, which as I’ve just discovered, does online Tea dating! They match your personality to tea choices, which I tried and the selection came out bang on for those I just adore. I’m also rather partial to their fancy china selection from the super fancy bone china right through to the unbreakable enamel ware.  But then, once you start looking it is possible to spend all your pocket money in one fell swoop.

The stunning deco lines of the Avanti tea pot is something worthy of coveting.

If you’re looking for a brilliant and inexpensive tea shopping option, head down to your local Chinatown or Asian grocer. Not only will you find more tea varieties than you could poke a stick at, you can also find some gorgeous tea pots and cups for only a couple of dollars each.  One of my favourite tea pots is a $4 pot from one of these stores. It has lasted me so well, even though it has had a few minor accidents, it is still going strong and used for tea every day.. and even occasionally as a vase! As far as tea selection goes, it is a little more tricky if you can’t read the languages the packaging is written in, but that is half the adventure! Another great thing about tea found in Asian grocery stores is that it quite often comes in very pretty re-usable tins and other containers. So you don’t have to fork out extra cash to keep your tea fresh and you can create your own special collection of canisters as you try each new variety. Oh, and my other cracking find in these stores has been the humble thermos. Perfect for on the road, keeping at your desk or even behind the shop counter for sneaky sips.  You can get some excellent basic models for $10 in these stores and even some more beautiful versions like this one if you’re lucky.

So far, the lack of coffee is proving to be a good thing.  It did take a few days to get past the nasty headache stage, but with the aid of some White Tea and Rose brewed with a teaspoon of delicious honey, it is proving to be just the tonic that my stress levels and my skin needed.

Where do you shop for your tea? Do you have any secret tea addictions? Confess all!

While I’ve been posting about some of my Secrets to Perfect Skin, some of you have asked me to come up with product alternatives that are more suited to a tight budget but still do a great job.  This isn’t always an easy ask as there is just so much on the market that is ‘cheap’; but effective and inexpensive don’t always go hand in hand.  So I’ve been doing a bit of research, using myself as a guinea pig and have found a few simple solutions that are both affordable and give amazing results.

First up the skin care system.  While I’ve been using Sothy’s for a number of years now, it isn’t always an affordable option depending on what else I’ve been doing with my credit card that month. (Damn you Etsy!) One of the things I knew was that finding something that had quality ingredients for a smallish price was not going to be easy. So I took my list of nasty’s and no no’s shopping with me, and spent ages pouring over packaging to make sure that I could narrow the list before subjecting my skin to any distress.

The long and short of all this is a range that gets a tick in every box.  The Trilogy range is a New Zealand based company that uses all natural ingredients and actually has an easily accessible and understandable list of ingredients available on each product. Not hidden away, but even searchable in alphabetical order on their website which impressed me.  First up I had been using their handcream which gave me near miracle results. Smelt great, went in well and had a very soothing, therapeutic effect.  So after reading what was and wasn’t in their products, I decided to give it a trial run while I was on my last trip away.  They happened to have a good special at the time on their travel minis which meant that I could get the whole range that I needed at a fraction of the cost – perfect!

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The results I got from these products was fantastic.  I’ve been suffering from regular hormonal breakouts along my jaw line which no amount of regular facials was helping. I’d been steaming, cleansing, masking all the usual, but I couldn’t seem to improve it very much.  After a week of using the full system, (cleanser, toner, moisturiser) the bumpy bits were gone.  I should also tell you that while I was testing this skin care I was getting about 4 hours of sleep a night, partying to the wee hours and working all day; so it had a heck of a lot to cope with!

From the research I’ve done on their website, it also appears that none of their products contain parabens either, which is a bonus as I know a number of readers are severely allergic to these too.  The price for each full sized bottle is around the $38 mark, but they also have regular specials. I picked up the whole system at the Myer stock take sales just this last week.  I think my favorite product has to be the spritzing facial toner as it has the most divine scent and is so refreshing. It know it is only psychological, but somehow the spritzing action makes me feel cleaner.

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The next thing I wanted to address was the whole gentle exfoliation thing I’d been asked about.  Given that every-one’s skin is different and exfoliation is usually something recommended as a weekly activity only, it is hard to give specifically general advice (see what I mean?).  However,  removing all traces of makeup with a washcloth is one way of tackling the daily exfoliation challenge.  It isn’t about a scrub, but just about making sure there is no crap left on your skin and increasing the blood flow to the surface.  And yes, you can use a standard flannel washcloth but I wanted to find something a little bit different that would only be used by me and not end up becoming part of the morning ‘wheat-bix off face removal’ system. (Anyone with kids knows what I’m talking about here).  Here is the super cool and very cute tool I found for just such a task.

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This is a Jelly Cleansing Puff. Found at a Korean beauty store, I’m sure my Asian based readers will have seen these before, but they certainly aren’t common here in Australia. But they are fantastic!  The texture is actually like squishy, wet but firm jelly, and they can be washed and squeezed out as you go.  It is an almost sponge like texture, but has enough texture to help remove any remaining makeup and if you rub gently on the skin, helps to increase the blood flow without any rough edges or scrubbing. Maybe these are just another gimmick, but they are fun to use and so far after a week of using it, I have seen an improvement to the clarity of my skin.  Have any of you used these before? Do you know anything about them?

The other thing that is huge in Asia right now, but hasn’t made it to mainstream here in Australia, is BB Cream – Blemish Balm Cream.  Basically it is a tinted moisturiser with an SPF, but has much more coverage than any other tinted moisturiser I’ve found to date.  The reason I started using this is that during winter, my skin becomes even paler and I often find that my foundation is just too dark. Even the palest porcelain colours still just don’t work.  But this BB Cream from The Face Shop is EXACTLY the right shade for my skin and gives me amazing coverage!  I use it over my regular daily moisturiser like a foundation, then set it with a clear, loose translucent powder.  It is more dewy than the mineral foundation I’m used to, but can be powdered to a matt finish.   I can’t find this exact cream on their website, but it is in store and comes in at about $52 for the tube.  I’ve been using it solidly for about the last 3 months and haven’t finished it yet.

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Of course, every time I shop at The Face Shop I pick up a few other nick nacks to try out and this time I picked up their 3/4 lashes to try.  These have fast become my new everyday favorite lashes with a good length, spread and thickness.  They also have a decent width base to apply the glue to.  They are easy to clean and remove the glue from to use over and over again, in fact I’m still on the same pair after five weeks. Which at approximately $4 a pair makes these crackingly good value!

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So there you go my friends, affordable, effective alternatives for creating a simply beautiful face!

The lovely Violet Le Beaux and Valerie of Dweam, have recently been writing a series of Sunday posts called Sneaker Sunday.  The idea is that once a week we should give our feet the treat they so badly deserve and spend at least one of the seven days in sneakers.  Given that we three are known for wearing elaborate and often sky high heels, this seems like a most sensible plan, however, unless I’m on a treadmill or climbing a mountain, I don’t wear sneakers. Generally I wear ballet flats for running around the house, but these don’t offer much in the way of support and often leave my legs aching worse than when I wear heels. I was determined to find a suitably SKM style solution, so I went on a quest.

A quick street snap of Violet Le Beaux and I on Sneaker Sunday heading out for clay pot lunch. Yum!

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Before I hit the shops wallet in hand, I decided I needed a plan of attack. I needed a rough idea of the sort of shoe that would work with my vintage-y outfits, the level of quality and support they would need to have, the sort of activities I wanted to do in them and just how much I was prepared to spend.

Firstly, what was I going to be doing in these shoes? Well I figured that I needed something I could walk in for hours on weekend shopping excursions, something I could dance in (I’m told that learning Swing Dancing in heels is not usually the thing and I’m a bit of a freak like that), and something that still looked good while doing all this.  The trick about flat shoes and me is that while they may *feel* comfortable on, they also make me feel like I’m a three foot tall lump. So to pass the psych test, they would have to be pretty special.

I knew that looking in sports stores was out of the question so I decided to look somewhere totally unattainable first. My 1940’s Sear’s footwear catalogue! Yep, totally unachievable because they don’t even make them anymore. But, what this did do was give me a strong mental image of the sort of shoes I wanted, the silhouette, the colours, the support style. It also told me that in order to find anything remotely like this in stores I needed to resort to my previous summer sandal hunting technique and target stores that catered for a much older (read retirement home) market. Here’s where I went…

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I headed to the Kumfs store at Westfield Doncaster.  Kumfs are a New Zealand brand known for their comfort shoes and quality construction. They are also known for not being particularly high trend but more classic, so perfect really.

And here are the those that have won the title of my “sneakers”. The “Bromley” from Kumfs.

These are without a doubt, the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever owned. They have amazing support and cushioning, good width, and a nice lower cut around the ankle which is more flattering on me.  A few of you who saw the photo of Violet and I on the weekend asked for details on the soles and their suitability for dancing.  For me these are perfect. They have no grip to speak of, but also aren’t as slippery as dancing on suede soles. It also means I don’t have to change shoes when I get to a dance as I do hate carrying shoes around.  They didn’t come cheap and from memory were about $240 AUD, but I am told they are currently on sale in store so there may be bargains to be had.  The thing that totally sold me on these though was that Kumfs has a 30 day,money back comfort guarantee! Who does that? Wear them for one month and if you don’t like them, they take them back and refund your money. The shoes also have a 12 month warranty, so spending good money on shoes I know I’ll wear for years to come seems like a very good investment to me.

While I was in store I was also on the hunt for another pair of shoes that could take the place of heels on days out where I have lots of walking to do, but still look good when I’m quite dressed up. And then I found them there too!  I came across these faux skin, wedge heels that have a distinctly 1940’s ‘cockroach stomper’ feel about them.  Once again these have a comfort factor of 100 and still look fantastic with my seamed stockings.

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Even though I have been wearing these with almost alarming regularity this last month, I don’t have a single outfit photo on file to show them to you in action!  (Must remedy that this week) they are called “Krista” and were also found in store at Westfield Doncaster.  Sadly, I haven’t found either of these models online to link you to, but it might be a case of calling your local store to see if they have them if you’re on the look out.

So there you go. Now each week I can participate in Sneaker Sunday, even if I don’t have a huge variety of ’sneakers’ to showcase. Check out Violet Le Beaux and Dweam’s blog for more on Sneaker Sunday.

With all this delightful immersion in my favorite music of late, I’ve let my mind wander to a very fun place. A place where I get to spend the evening hanging with some of my favorite musicians, shooting the breeze over a drink or two.  Like any occasion this begs the question of what I would wear on such an imaginary date, and yes I would wear all this in real life too as you well know.

So I sat down with good ol’ Polyvore on the laptop and the tunes cranked up loud to put these few together for you.  As always, if you click on the image it will take you through to Polyvore where you’ll find the complete product list for everything used in the sets. But rather than being about the specific garments or brands, it is about the whole look, the feeling, the ambiance of the occasion.

Join me on some fantasy dates…

Jerry Lee Lewis Loves Me

A warm Saturday afternoon music hall review, sitting just off stage where the not- so- subtle amber hue of my heels catches a sliver of light from the rear window. Jerry Lee is rocking the ivories, working the crowd into a lather, flashing a winning grin ever so slightly skewed to stage left, that says,” How ’bout that drink?”

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Johnny Cash Baby

The phone rings it’s tin can bell sound. The man on the other end inhales slowly, drawing me in with a long breath. The crackle of the long distance connection keeps us from conversation but the message is clear; pack your bags baby, Johnny’s coming to town.

Swinging with Ella

Sometimes it takes a woman to know what you really need. Voice like a velvet gloved hand that runs slowly between your shoulder  blades, your skin warms and your lips curl into a cozy smile. Strangers sit, eyes closed as waves of smokey tenderness rock their heads and their hearts in unison. A flicker of fire light and I exhale past bitten berry lips, settling in for an evening romance with a golden silhouette.

Who would be your imaginary music date of the past?