I’ve been a tad snowed under of late (understatement of the century), because I’ve taken on a few new projects. This means I’ve been writing and shopping and writing some more, all in the name of fashion for my new gig as one of the Fashion Editors for Paypal’s new e-zine LUSTABLE! How brilliant is that?
So if you haven’t been getting enough of your fill of style here each day,you can find even more of my style finds and general fashion ramblings on the pages of Lustable.
Here’s some of the cracking posts from the last week to get you started….
Hold onto your hats Ladies and Gentlemen, because this may be just about the most exciting opportunity you’ll read about this year!
Last week Westfield and Nuffnang contacted me about helping them to find a very special person. A Fashion loving, tech savvy, bargain hunting maestro! A once in a lifetime opportunity to shop and be paid $100,000 to do it!!! (Is that enough exclamation marks to show you how big this is?)
Just to tease me, Westfield invited me along on Monday, to walk a mile in the fashionable shoes of the future Westfield Insider, which was both heaven and hell. The best job in the world but only for one morning? Arghh!
Before even heading out the door I knew that I was to be given a challenge. They wanted me to find, buy and style an outfit that focused on this season’s key trends, all in under an hour and for under $200! Not getting ahead of myself I realised that this meant even more thought to the day’s outfit than just a good pair of walking shoes. I picked out something that I could get on and off in a hurry without messing up my hair, because it just wouldn’t do for the Westfield Insider, let alone Super Kawaii Mama, to look less than fabulous no matter the conditions.
I arrived at Westfield Plenty Valley (in Victoria) first thing in the morning to meet up with the Marketing Manger and be shown the lay of the land. After a quick scout around to find out which stores were available and a bit of a caffeinated heart starter, I hit the shop floors.
Now I have to tell you, while this challenge may sound like a dream come true, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. The hardest part for me was to think about all the new trends and translate these into something quintessentially SKM. We all know I’m a Style Queen not a Trend Hound, so I switched my brain into fabulous overload.
Would it be Nautical, Military, Techno, Neutrals or Coloured Denim? It wasn’t just the clothes to put together, but the shoes and accessories too – that’s a whole lot of shopping for $200! Could I do it?
So many choices! I was loving so many of the soft chambray denims and spring florals, the whole Prairie look is right up my alley at the moment. Temt had some brilliant short, flirty skirts loaded with lace and rose prints. Jeanswest nearly had me sold on a short, ruffled light blue denim number. I could feel my head going around in circles and my eyes being drawn to so many different things that I had to stop, take five and focus, (cue great big chunky chocolate cookie at Mrs Fields).
With so many bargains in the one place it was hard not to get distracted, but I had a mission and a very short time to do it!
With so many fabulous finds, just what did I put together? Check it out!
Nautical / Military done SKM Style!
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A stunning Military style dress from Femme Connection. It is a super stretchy poly cotton, with bronze finished button detail and petals at the bust.
The cropped cardigan from Temt captures a nautical feel with its wide navy and white stripes, finished with regimental button front.
A sleek pair of amber and gold toned aviators from Portmans capture the military vibe with their Top Gun looks.
And to carry all those phone numbers I’m sure to pick up, this roaring red handbag with ruffled rose detail from Sintra, is the perfect package.
Because I couldn’t do a Nautical feel without at least one small Sailor Jerry reference, Diva came to the rescue with their golden swallows, worn several ways with this outfit. Tiny little swallow earrings and another pair chasing each other around along a long golden neck chain. First up I wore them as a waist chain detail, then attached them to the oversized striped rose to wear on the hip, then in the hair.
Both the Swallows and the blousy blue and white rose were found at Diva.
To anchor the look (get it..? anchor.. I crack me up!), I paired the short and sexy dress with a killer pair of summer wedges from Novo. With chunky weave-look heels and riveted toe detail, these are the perfect summer solution heel. After all, you can’t be wearing stilettos if you’re going to go cruising the naval yards for a lonely sailor!
(In the absence of said sailor, another aquatic chap stepped in)
Can you believe I found ALL of this for under $200?! I can see myself getting a lot of wear out of each of these pieces and mixing them up to make a myriad of new looks.
So what do you think – could you do the same? This is your chance to give it a go and you could be the new Westfield Insider!
Here’s what’s on offer:
A 12 month, $100,000 contract to shop, style and tell everyone all about the fabulous new fashions found at Westfield!
What you need to do:
Go to www.westfield.com.au and apply for your chance to become the Westfield Insider!
Get prepared for the once in a lifetime opportunity to do what you do best – Shop your heart out and tell everyone about it!
Get moving because applications close on the 1st October 2010!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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