Spring 2017 Fashion wishlist

Although it’s still freezing cold outside Fashion Week is currently going and for me this means SPRING. New collections are going into stock and I have been looking around online to see what I might want to buy for the upcoming season. I have a bunch of tabs I don’t want to close (in case I forget about the items), yet I don’t want to necessarily buy them now so I figured I’m going to put together a wishlist  and refer to it myself whenever I feel spendy in the near future.

Starting with these skirts, I need and love them all!
All Zara – Floral midi, full light blue skirt and this hot pink frilly number. I know I said I don’t want to shop at Zara anymore so I am not rushing into buying all of them and I’ll try to choose one and leave it at that. Only exceptions when it comes to the Inditex group.

I’m not a big heels wearer, but I fell in love with these Promod ones. I like them as they’re very easy to wear with pretty much anything yet they’re not plain. Perfect for someone with a small heeled collection.
The beige ones are so fun and are made for relaxed-fit jeans but I’d definitely wear them with skirts and dresses too. Since they’re Zara again I’m going to try and find something similar from another brand and yet – excited to wear something like this this season.
The third ones are a Topshop pair which prove that I am very much into embroidery (like the better part of the world) They are so feminine, I love them!

I surprised myself in not really liking any dresses as I am a big dress wearer, however I did find a few bags that I think would be very useful (and pretty) for Spring/Summer.
This yellow pouch from Promod, for instance. I’m not sure what I would keep in it but it looks like sunshine and it has a tassel and I want it. Who doesn’t need a pretty pouch anyway, you can always find stuff to fit into it.
The embroidered bag comes with a standard textile strap and this Fendi-inspired thick strap on the photo. It’s such a fun yet easy to wear bag and I would wear it with all three pairs of shoes, especially the embroidered ones, of course.
And lastly this backpack – it’s just so cool. I love this style and I’m a sucker for everything blue, but this is also very practical and I thinks everyone needs a bag like this for summer. Whether it’s for a long flight, for hiking or for going to a wild beach somewhere (which is what I usually do and a tote definitely doesn’t cut it), this is your bag. It looks light and easy to wash as well. Love!

The warmer it gets the more excited I am about running, ergo sportswear. Not that I need any more workout clothes but look at the pretty colours! Also, new and pretty always makes me want to go and actually use whatever I bought.
And again, the Inditex group. It’s so hard to ignore them when they make such good designs.

Here’s the top (although I don’t know it I’m brave enough to wear it with white leggings, probably with something like the blue ones at the end)
The parrot feather print leggings and the blue ones with the swirls.

This post took way longer than I thought! However, after days of scrolling and looking at new collections I can honestly say these are my faves at this point. I sincerely hope it gave you some inspiration! And if you have a similar post please share so I can see your wishlist as well!

January favourites

Although I believe these sort of posts are a bit outdated and overdone I personally still find them helpful if done right. So this is what I’m going for here. There are quite a few new things I’ve bought and have really changed my everyday life so I’ll give them a shout.

Starting with the biggest surprise – The Kent shampoo and scalp massage brush. It is magic. I randomly found it on feelunique.com and decided to give it a chance as it had amazing reviews everywhere I looked. I am so happy I did, I know it sounds a bit gimmicky and like it could be one of those things you use once and then forget about but for me it changed the way I wash my hair completely. I have a lot of hair and truth is I’ve never been able to wash my scalp like this thing does. Yes, it massages nicely and yes, it could tangle your hair a bit in the roots if you’re not careful but it washes my scalp so well I’ve noticed I can get away with up to two days more of not washing my hair. Try it, it’s so great! And quite bigger than I expected it to be from the photos!

Staying on hair, for Christmas I got a set of Revlon’s professional hair range – a hair mask and a multi-purpose spray for damp hair. And they both rocked my hair’s existence. First of all, they smell wonderful and even though I use a bunch of products while drying my hair I can smell them on my hair for days after. It’s beautiful.
Then, they are actually magic for hair. My hair is so shiny and soft and stays glossy and is not as tangled as usual – I am properly addicted to this stuff. Highly recommend!

I don’t usually go for youtuber merch but after browsing feelunique for far too long one night I ended up with one of Fleur’s lip glosses and I am not sorry. It’s soft and has great opacity, the staying power is pretty good and since I got a light shade I don’t mind reapplying anyway. It’s a great go-to product so I’ve kept it in my bag all month. The one thing that makes it a fave for me is it wears off beautifully. Evenly. No harsh outline or gross embarrassing bits of colour left on the dryer patches of your frozen lips (issues I’ve had with a couple of designer lipsticks this month – very disappointing) Would definitely repurchase because what more do you want in a lipgloss?

The biggest favourite of mine isn’t going to be a surprise since it’s been a sort of an elephant in most rooms this month – it’s La La Land. I know people either love it or don’t get what the hype is about but I definitely do. I’ve seen in four times already and the soundtrack is pretty much the only music I’ve listened to since. I’m a bit of a cinema/acting geek so I appreciate the technical/cinematographic side of things plus I really found myself relating to it – like most creative people have, I guess.

TV-wise I discovered The Good Place which my boyfriend and I streamed from Pilot to the last episode that’s out (which is 13th) in one go. It’s a sitcom so it’s very quick and easy to watch but most importantly – it’s clever. It’s funny and modern and interesting and it grabs you from the first episode but most importantly it’s.so.clever. The last episode impressed me even more and I highly recommend giving it a chance.

The one fashion favourite I have this month is a new pair of jeans I got from Promod. Although I got them in the middle of the month they’re pretty much the only pair of jeans I’ve worn since. They’re very high-waisted and are very much a 90s mom jean – not usually my style but I love them and can’t wait to style them when the weather gets a bit softer so I can experiment a bit more. Now you can barely see me underneath all of the jumpers I’m wearing. I’ll have  better photos of them in a haul post which should be up in the next couple of days.

The last thing I wanted to mention is journaling – bullet journaling to be precise. Or a very minimalistic version of it. I started the year with a lot of ideas of what I want to achieve wrapped in a main one – to be more consistent and efficient with my time and how I spend it. So I started a journal with my goals for the year and specific thing I want to work on through the month.
For example I’ve had it in my hеad for months that I need to work on my Excel skills and thanks to the timetables I made myself for January I spent a couple of hours watching Youtube tutorials and I am much confident in my skills now.
I am continuing this month with colour coordination and more specific weekday planning. Very excited to see how it goes!

I think I’m gonna wrap this post as I’ve rambled enough, I believe. I hope it gave you some ideas and please write to me if you’ve watched either the movie or The Good Place, I’d love to chat about them and what you think! Also, any journal advise from someone? I’ open to suggestions!

Have a great February, guys!

Glittery nails: a love-hate relationship

I feel like every year starting mid November up till early January the word ‘glitter’ triples its use and frequency. It’s almost like the words ‘festive’ and ‘holiday’ can’t go without ‘shimmery’, ‘sparkly’ and ‘glittery’ nowadays. Which is all perfectly fine and often very pretty until that dreadful moment of taking glitter nail polish off. That’s just plain ugly. I suspect the 11 months without shimmer are only there for your nails to recover from all the rubbing, soaking in nail polish remover and just so you’re fully convinced you got rid of every.single.sparkle.

I hated glitter up until a year or two ago. Anything sparkly equaled tacky in my book. But much to my boyfriends’ surprise and disappointment [he hasn’t got that change of heart and I suspect he never will] I am now a proud appreciator of tasteful glitter and can often be spotted with shimmery nails come winter time. Let me rephrase that: there are not enough days in the Christmas season for me to wear all the glittery nail polishes I own for the amount of days I want them on my nails. December is a month of compromises for me.

That heart-tearing drama aside, I recently discovered the most obvious way to make taking glitter off easier – and I want you to imagine a choir singing in the background of this – base coat. Putting on a base coat, especially a thicker one, means the glitter particles are gonna stick to it in stead of your nail, hence they’ll fall way easier. I am now using a base coat which I know starts to peel off my nail in about 5 or 6 days which is perfect for a change of varnish! I know peeling your polish isn’t the best for the nail also, but having the option means no sparkles are stuck to your actual nail. Voila!

I wish happy glittering to all of you and if you have any other ways of dealing with post-glitter issues, please leave them bellow for me to look through!

Handbag essentials for a conference or a seminar

Summer is the season of the seminars! Throughout June I’ve had the opportunity to go to quite a few conferences – very exciting and completely new to me. Something like this could last for anything from half a day to up to four days of lectures – it is very exhausting. It’s a great way to learn new things and make contacts but by the end of the first three-day forum I attended it already reminded me of the whole ‘living out of a suitcase’ thing. My bag of choice was lacking things I definitely needed and was too small to handle all of them anyway.
Here comes my refined list of what you need with you at a seminar so you can concentrate fully on getting the most out of the forum.As I said, a bigger sturdier bag is only going to be of help here. It’s a long day with very little time for breaks [which is usually spent networking and fighting for coffee at the bar] and very much happening – you need your basics and your extras which are, first of all, heavy.

As for basics you’re going to need a bottle of water, a notepad and two pens [or a tablet], business cards and your diary, a hand sanitizer, tissues and wet wipes [in case you spill anything on yourself and don’t have the time to change], a lip balm, brightening concealer and a lipstick. A hair brush, a small mirror, breath mints/gum and a small deodorant, perfume sample or a Travalo – things do get sweaty.
A little chocolate bar or something else that can boost your energy is always good to keep in there as well. I’ve found that relying on whatever’s offered with the coffee is not the best way to go.

Now the extras, they are the tricky part. It is very exhausting being alert throughout the whole day [try counting the number of people sleeping, I dare you] and what could help is bringing eye drops. I have to admit I have even used them right in the middle of a lecture, not bothering going to the loo for it. Staring at giant slides all day is torture for the eyes and this helps millions! Always good to have some Aspirin, a hand cream and a nail file and if you have a packet of blotting sheets, now may be the time to pop them in your bag too. Depending on where you’re going you might need a camera or a recorder if you don’t want to use your phone, which leads me to the next bit which is, you guessed it – a charger. Whether it’s for your phone, tablet or laptop, you better have a plan B. B as in ‘Better not lose all my notes’. And, as mentioned in the previous post, I suggest having a thermal water for an extra refresh. I’m sorry, I am addicted and can not help it.

Most conferences come with a room booking in the hotel the talks take place in, however, since I live in the same city I had to commute every morning. This is why I got into the habit of 1. layering my clothes for weather reasons and 2. carrying a spare top I could change into by the end of the day so I feel fresher. A new top with a quick deodorant-perfume-lipstick session in the toilette and you feel brand new. 

Another tip I have is to always try and have change. Vending machines could save your life but only if you let them. 
In fact, there might be better coffee around the hotel that is different to the one they serve. If you’re looking for an upgrade ask some of the staff in the hotel [not people organising the conference], they know all the best caffeine banks in a five minute radius.

I really hope this was useful to some of you. I am known to over-pack and carry everything with me so feel free to tone it down if you need to save the handles of your bag! Now enjoy your seminar and try and network as much as possible!

Thanks for reading me and have a lovely day!

What I got in Italy

 As I said in my photo diary post I spent all my time in Rome sightseeing and didn’t have time to even instagram what I was up to. Hence we didn’t spend a lot of time shopping either but we did manage to spare a few hours the last couple of days walking around Italian shops. Shop sightseeing is still a form of sightseeing, le’ me tell ya.
I am still sorry about the fact I didn’t buy a nice pair of shoes [you know how well Italian shoes are made] but it’s probably for the best since from all the 12-hour walking marathons my feet had at least doubled in size and I wouldn’t have gotten the right size anyway. However, I did have an accessories update and scored two amazing printed tops which I am completely in love with.

I had heard JLo has an accessories line but hadn’t really checked it out as I don’t usually expect much from celebrities turned designers. Might be cynical of me but I just think most of the work is done by uncredited designers and someone who has nothing to do with the design process puts their name on the final product. 
However, even if this is the case here I have to admit that miss Lopez has a hell of a crew because the collection of jewellery, bags and wallets she has is just glorious. I fell in love with the colours and the designs, I could’ve easily bought every single bag, wallet and piece of earrings. She also has two separate lines – leather goods and faux leather ones for ladies like me who don’t want to wear the real thing. If you have it near you – check.it.out. Go now, immediately!

Michael Kors Vivian. To be completely honest I’m still not sure about those and I might change them. I imagined a pair of bright wayfarers and these are definitely not it but I can appreciate a good cat eye when I see one. I’m not gonna go into how I don’t suit any sunglasses and how I tried on about a hundred because this won’t end on a happy note, however these sit pretty good on me [if I do say so myself] and I have to say I feel pretty cool wearing them.
Also, hay hi to my reflection on the right.

And of course I couldn’t leave the airport without an issue of the French Vogue. Now this is how you practice a language. Unfortunately we were so late for the plane I didn’t have a spare minute to look for a Harper’s Bazaar or Elle so I obviously have to go back to Rome and get them!
And to complete the cat eye look – Sephoras’ eyeliner. This is so good it’s beyond words!

I just can’t wait to wear all these! I did also get a trenchcoat from Zara but I will photograph it separately cause it just deserves it’s own attention spot! 

Thanks for reading me!