Olivia Palermo LFW Lookbook

Like many others, I've recently become enamoured with the style of Olivia Palermo. While I wish I had her closet, I also wish I had her money to start my own OP inspired wardrobe! But for now I will make do with a highstreet copy cat version of her style.

She made a fabulous appearance at LFW last week, at which she was spotted in the below ensemble. To my surprise she was sporting a highstreet brand rather than her usual head to toe designer look we're used to. I'll be honest, the fact that she opted for this highstreet number - the Reiss peacoat, made me love her that little bit more! I've tried to recreate her outfit, centred around this now HUGELY popular Reiss coat.  

Reiss, £245

Topshop, £40

Accessorize, £15

Zara, £59.99

Topshop, £26

So there's my complete highstreet take on the Olivia Palermo look, mixing an investment piece with ready to wear cheaper alternatives you can find on the highstreet right now.

Let me know what you think and if you've tried any OP inspired looks! 

Paige x

Go On... Try Something New!

This week has been a week for trying something new (accidentally).

For the first time, I got my eyebrows threaded. A very scary ordeal in which I was told off for the usual "over-plucking" and "mishaping" of my former bushy brows. The lady was correct; however, in my defence, I've always been told "eyebrows are sisters, not twins" which used to reassure me that my slightly unsymmetrical arched brows were acceptable, but apparently not anymore. That being said, I'm really happy with the results and would highly recommend anyone enduring the walk to your car looking slightly silly with 2 red raw eyebrows to get the finished look! (They calm down in no time, honest!!).

Another first for me this week happened on a very hungover Saturday morning. The manfriend and I were looking for a good fry up to take the edge off our hangover and decided a trip to Breads Etcetera in Clapham would suffice. Bread (and carbs in general) always has and always will make me happy, so needless to say it was a winner. Although I tried to not take many pictures in the place through fear of looking like a complete tourist, I did manage a snap of my food (obviously). 

Yes that egg is sunken into the bread... amazing or what!

Breads Etcetera itself is so cute! Each table has a toaster on it and there's a DIY bread station where everyone helps themselves to any type of bread they fancy, with butter and all the spreads you can imagine. Then you sit back in the comfort of your own seat and toast away! I almost forgot to mention you also get to watch them make the bread whilst you're having your fry up which is always a nice little touch. 

But anyway, enough of my ramble, if you like the sound of it, I've copied in Time Out's write up and info for you to have a look at.

My last experimental first this week was a spinning class. I used to go spinning a lot while I was at Uni because it was so much easier (and less daunting) going with friends. Not to mention having someone there to share your saddle agony with (those of you who have tried spinning will be all to familiar with this pain). So yes, although not a complete first, I plucked up the courage and went on my own. Unsurprisingly, everything was fine and I enjoyed myself whilst burning a good few hundreds of calories in the process. 

As a bit of a gym fiend, I was treated to a few things for my birthday in December. I would say "the gear" is half the battle for me to feel gym ready! There's been too many times I make excuses not to go because I've "forgotten" to bring something. If you fancy trying out an exercise class on your own, or just going to the gym, below is some recommended items to make you suitability blend in while working up a sweat.

Nike Top and Trainers, Primark Gym Leggings & Socks and Filter Bottle, Small Towel, Sports Bra - Unknown

That's all for this week. I've got a few other posts up my sleeve for next week including another weekly fashion favourites post, a LFW get the look post, as well as some life blogging as the manfriend turns 30 this weekend!

Let me know if you manage any firsts!

Paige x

Topshop Lemon Inspiration - Highstreet Trend Update

I like to keep to my word but realise this much promised video has taken a lot longer than I ever intended. Fear not though, your latest video helping of trend updates has hit YouTube. 

This week's video is all about the colour yellow (lemon to be exact), and how lemon and all other shades of yellow are set to be your new best friends from now until the end of spring/summer '14. 

Catwalks were adorned with lemon colour pops left, right and centre for their SS14 shows, leading the high street to follow suit. However, whilst looking for some pieces in the highstreet to show you as inspiration, I found lemon a bit few and far between except in good old Topshop, which is why this video now centres around one shop rather than many. But fear not, you'll be able to shop this trend in a lot more places than just Toppers, it's just taking a little longer to hit down to other stores. Think of this video as your forewarning, allowing yourself to be one step ahead of the trend!! 

Fyodor Golan SS14

J.W. Anderson SS14

So take a look at my video for inspiration on how to include the colour into your wardrobe and be sure to watch to the very end where I've included some outtakes (it's not just a one take fits all approach in the YouTube world you know!). Leave me a comment on what you want to see next and keep checking back on my blog to see my latest offerings in between times.

That's all for now.

Paige x

Sneak Peak - Holiday Fun!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd just got back from Egypt. That was a month ago now, but I realised that I haven't shared any holiday pictures yet. So here's a quick post giving you a sneak peak of the fun I had with my manfriend in early January. (Please excuse the quality of some of these pictures, the majority were taken on iPhones). The hotel we stayed in, if anyone is interested, was Maritim Jolie Ville Royal Peninsula Hotel & Resort, Sharm El Sheikh. 

Amazing views from the plane

View from the sunken pool bar

Taking sneaky pictures whilst enjoying a few cocktails - **cough cough girly drink**

Locals we bumped into whislt quad biking in the desert

In my defence, it would be rude not to pile my plate with cake at an all inclusive!

A little Japanese hut we found on the grounds (How very Egyptian ;))

Our last day waiting for the transfer back to the airport. As you can see I'm EXTREMELY tanned...

In reception awaiting our transfer 

 ... And last but by no means least, I couldn't leave out the love swan house keeping surprised us with.

Leave a comment if you like these kind of posts and stay tuned for some more fashion related soon!

Paige x

PSsst... This Week's Fashion Favourites

This week I had some time off work which left a little bit too much time to go shopping. I even managed to venture into SpaceNK on Sloane Square in London, to purchase my very first SpaceNK product Kiehl's Ultra Light Daily UV Defense moisturiser, as recommended by 'I COVET THEE'. I'll be following up on this later with a product review at the end of Feb.

SpaceNK, £31

Other than a beauty purchase, I also spent my time checking out the offering from a brand new New Look (so it had all the best items), Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Zara. I'll be posting a haul video (as well as the promised lemon trend video) this week, so keep your eyes peeled for them.

Onto the reason for this post. This week's favourites from the highstreet.

Firstly, Topshop's Tropical Palm Tree Skort caught my eye. Skort's are huge and set to be even bigger for Spring/Summer on the highstreet. This jacquard offering from Topshop meets all your Skort needs, whilst providing a slightly thicker fabric to keep you somewhat warmer on these freezing cold days. I also love the tropical pattern to remind me of sunnier times and for £34 you can't really go wrong with this purchase! 

Topshop, £34

Next up, Urban. I'll be honest, Urban Outfitters is not a shop I regularly visit as it's a little too edgy for my style. However, with my job I have to keep one eye on the styles coming in. When I saw this Cooperative Daisy Crochet Sweatshirt I was in love. My manfriend (he's too old to be called a boy anymore!) even made a comment about it being 'nice', which I can tell you, is a BIG deal. I love that it's patterned but still in a block colour way. At the moment I've been trying really hard to choose more patterned styles, due to inspiration from my best friend's wardrobe, but I still come back to my plain favourites. As the saying goes if it's not broken, don't fix it!

Urban Outfitters, £40

Lastly, following on from the huge success of Whistles 'Comme Ci Comme Ca' sweatshirt, they're offering a Mystic Mountain Jacquard sweat. While this isn't a slogan sweat, it's still a stand out interest piece, with what I can only describe as a mountainous looking pattern adorning the fabric. I love the easy monochrome palette which I reckon could be really versatile with the use of some pop colour! It's slightly pricey at £130 but, you know you're getting Whistles quality when you make your purchase.

Whistles, £130

So there you have it. A run down of my highstreet favourites for the week. In personal news, I've been house hunting in London this weekend, dragging the manfriend along for his wisdom and experience on what to look for in flats in the city - dating an older guy does come with some perks! Below is a sunny selfie of the two of us on house hunting on a crisp Saturday morning.

Trend Favourites: Nightwear as Daywear

Check out my latest (and first) YouTube Trend Favourite video. I actually posted this 2 weeks ago but have been incredibly busy going on holiday to Egypt and working etc that I haven't had time to post this intro blog.

Since I filmed this, I've noticed a whole array of more pyjomo's (pyjama kimonos) now hitting down into the highstreet, with Topshop repeating back into the style as it gets BIG on the lead up to Spring/Summer.

I had promised in the video to do a lemon trend Highstreet Favourite video as part of this series, therefore shall be posting that video hopefully on Sunday... watch this space!

For now I will leave you with the link (and a screenshot) but, if you have any questions on anything you see in the video be sure to leave me a comment and let me know you've found it through my blog!

Click HERE for the video...

Thanks,
Paige

PSsst... This Week's Fashion Favourites

I decided to give you my favourites from the highstreet this week to give you some inspiration and a bit of an insight as to what's actually out there right now.

RIVER ISLAND

My River Island favourite this week has to be these navy tailored shorts. City shorts are set to make a big comeback and these are the perfect way to ease yourself into the trend. I really love tailoring and can already visualise an outfit using these as a good base point. 

River Island, £25

These would like amazing worn in a co-ord way (Click here for a co-ord option) or dressed up with some heels as an alternative to a skirt on a night out. 

ZARA

I really love this Zara top. I've been umming and ahhing over whether to buy it or not for myself but thought I'd share the love with you. This is more of an interest piece at £50 and it may not be at the top of everyone's wish list but, I was instantly attracted when browsing online the other day.

Zara £49.99

Zara is literally all blacks and navy, with a little bit of cream thrown in the mix at the moment. I buy a lot of black but this is unlike anything I have in my wardrobe at the moment.... ohhhh I might just have to get it.

TOPSHOP

Everyone seems to be going crazy for these drape front blouses at the moment and I'm absolutely loving this one in black! It's a really elegant blouse which has a range of wearing possibilities. I'm already picturing a simple necklace, jeans and my MK watch (going for an understated option). 

Topshop £36

(Looking up I can already see I'm being heavily influenced by the miserable weather here in the UK. For this last one I promise to choose some colour!)

ASOS

Some may argue ASOS technically isn't on the highstreet but it's still that price point so I'll count it. I was instantly drawn to this striped pencil skirt. I don't usually wear things this smart to the office but if you did, or had a nice event to go to, this is a perfect option (and no sign of black). This cobalt blue colour is also one of my favourites so it's nice to see it with the burnt orange colour rather than black for a change. I would be interested to see the fabric though so for me it's definitely one to buy and try. 

ASOS £35

Overall, the highstreet does look quite dark right now (or that could just be my attraction to those dark colours on a dark cold winter's evening) but there are pops of colour if you look out for them. I'm definitely tempted to purchase a few of these myself... a danger of writing these type of posts each week!

Hope you're feeling a little inspired by these 4 picks for this week. There'll be another 'Fashion Favourites' post next week so if there's anything you've seen that's caught your eye over the week, be sure to leave a comment :)

Paige x