Weird Aloha Yankovic.

It's several years since I've worn this Oasis vest top, but I came across it in my wardrobe this morning while looking for something light and summery to wear. I slung it on with my skinny jeans and flip flops and lovely new plaited grey belt from the Oliver Bonas sale.

Nothing strange or startling there, but I've just this second remembered that the skin and blister is actually in Hawaii. Right now.

Coincidences kind of freak me out: wasn't there a thing in some disaster movie or telly show about an increase in coincidences meaning that the universe is breaking apart? Or, er, something? Answers on a postcard...

Hairspiration.

I'm b.o.r.e.d with my hair and itching for a colour change. Here are my favourite 'dos of the moment, one or more of which will likely end up being shown to my colourist as "the sort of thing I'm after." 

Just as soon as I find one to whom I care to entrust my locks in London, that is. 

Dip-dye: Not just for Gwen Stefani's wedding dress 

If you haven't been living under a big rock of late, you'll know that extreme dip-dyed hair is, like, so hot right now. Looking at some of these gorgeous examples, it's not difficult to see why... 

{Abbey Lee Kershaw photographed by Max Doyle for Vogue Australia}

{via here, original source unknown}

{source: Bleach}

There are loads of guides for DIYing tipped/bleachenders/dip-dyed/tie-dyed hair doing the rounds both in traditional media and online, but even I and my ah-sure-have-a-go attitude to beauty would strongly advise going to a professional for this one. All but the very lightest blonde hair will need to be lifted with heavy-duty bleach before your colour(s) of choice will take, and you're just asking for your ends to turn to straw and snap off by going the at home route. 

If you're in or planning a trip to London and looking for a proper hair dying mecca to get your dip-dye done, Bleach now have a concession in the basement in Topshop Oxford Circus that's easier to get to than their permanent home in Dalston.

In terms of colours, I'd steer clear of green (looks like you blew your nose in your hair), yellow (regardless of what Lady Gaga thinks), and dying the ends much darker than the rest of your hair (gives an attractive, just fell head first into a coal bucket effec- oh hai, Drew!) 

{exhibits a, b, and c - the prosecution rests, y'honour}

Howdy, ombré...

Ombré hair hasn't gone away, you know, and it's a more natural take on the two-tone trend that's subtly fashionable rather than all out festival fab. The ombré look is a graduated effect that gets progressively lighter from mid-lengths to ends but lacks any harsh demarcation between layers of colour. It may be tamer than the Rainbow Brite dye jobs featured above, but it's still capable of looking striking when done right...

{Mel C by Big Pictures via Glamour}

{Olivia Palermo via Look}

{Rachel Bilson via Pinterest, original source unknown}

{Drew gets it right, looks gorgeous via Look}

If you're already some class of blonde and fancy trying to get your ombré on at home, you could try spritzing John Frieda's new Go Blonder Lightening Spray through damp ends to achieve the effect. The fact that it's a progressive lightener makes it perfect for the job: with each subsequent use, simply shift your attention a little further along the hair shaft towards the tips.

Now before you rush off to buy barrels of the stuff, a small caveat. I tried this on my light brown hair since the label - and the John Frieda website - implies that it's suitable for hair up to and including light brown. The phrasing they actually use is "NOT SUITABLE FOR USE ON MEDIUM BROWN OR DARKER SHADES OF HAIR", which suggested to me that those with light brown hair could happily fire away. While it did lighten the hair that I treated in a subtle, non-brassy way, it also left me with candyfloss textured ends.

Brown-haired buyers beware.

Are you a fan of either of these styles, or do you reckon any class of dip-dye or ombré is a hair don't?

Who wears short shorts?

I had a consultation for laser eye surgery on Thursday morning, and then on the way home I took a little detour and treated myself to a wander around Westfield. It's a brilliant shopping centre at Shephard's Bush in West London; it's also the biggest shopping centre I've ever seen.

To give you some idea of the enormity of the place, it has 96 escalators (according to their website; I didn't go around counting them. Honest.)

While I was there, I spotted these shorts in New Look:

They were reduced to a tenner but I left without them because I wasn't arsed to join the half-a-mile long queue for the only open changing rooms in the place, and now I'm in the throes of some major non-buyer's remorse.

In truth, I'm probably not sufficiently leg confident to actually wear them - and there's the small matter of my feeling cold if the temperature dips below 28°C - but in my head I would look freaking awesome Rocking them (yes, with a capital R) with sunnies and flats and my black blazer.

Just like this, in fact:

{photo credit & source: See Jane}

And speaking of Harry Potter...

Yep. Still.

Harry Potter and the Illustrated Nail

I promised myself months ago that I'd treat myself to an appointment with the lovely and ridiculously talented Sophie from The Illustrated Nail to get my nails done for the final Harry Potter movie. Well, we're going to see it tonight and luckily Sophie was able to squeeze me in earlier for an emergency paint job. 

Want to see what my HP-ready nails look like? 

{l-r: Harry's scar, Hedwig, HP initials with golden snitch, 
Harry's uniform, skull representing the Dark Mark}

Um, AMAZEBALLS.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Spot-tastic

There was a special offer on Revlon nail polishes in Boots a few weeks ago, so I picked up One Perfect Coral (pictured above; the clue's in the name) and Tropical Temptation (a pinkish light orange that does nothing for my skintone and looks quite like Chanel Orange Fizz in the bottle.) 

These are my first Revlon polishes, and I gotta be honest: I'm really not sure about them. The brushes are almost skinny enough to be stripers, which mean that it takes several strokes to cover the nail rather than the standard three. In addition, the formulation is kind of thin and they're inclined to go on very streakily.  

I was inspired to wear something reddish on my nails by this photo:

{Photo credit: Jenna Alcala for Matchbook Magazine}

Then, true to form, I got bored of the plain coral about three minutes after I applied it. 

Hey. I'm nothing if not consistent. 

I initially tried a mint accent nail on my ring finger to break it up a bit, keeping a coral half-moon at the base for a vintage-y look, but in the end just decided to channel the retro feel of the photo with randomly placed polka dots for a more coherent (in my eyes) end result. 

Remember, kids: dots are easy peasy to DIY with a ballpoint pen!

Everything must go!

I'm selling as many of my earthly possessions as I can bear to be parted from on the fleaBay, to make a bit of room in our too-small-for-the-amount-of-stuff-I-have flah and hopefully get together a bit of spending money for my summer holidays at the same time.

If you're a shoe size 3 or 4 and a 6-8 in clothes, you might like to have a goo at my listings. I'll be adding more items (primarily shoes and clothes) in the course of the next couple of days, but here's a taste of what's on offer at the minute...

{BNIB gold ASOS sandals, sz 4}

{Kelly green ballet flats from Sfera, sz 3}

{Blush pink ballet flats from Sfera, sz 3}

{Silver glitter flats from Dune, sz 3}

How Pinteresting.

Pinterest is my new favourite thing. It's an online bookmarking tool that allows users to create visual reminders of all the inspirational or just plain neat stuff they come across on the web. The whole operation is really nicely executed, from the guide on pinning etiquette (which includes reminders to credit sources properly) to the clutter-free layout. 

As someone who has notebooks full of lists and reminders, files and scrapbooks overflowing with magazine tear sheets and clippings, and a bookmarks folder that would take days to get through, Pinterest is totally my kind of party. 

I use it to keep track of all sorts of things that I find in my Internet travels:

{interiors inspiration}

{recipes}

{random loveliness}

{cool rigouts}

{nice nails}

Pinterest is currently invitation only, which put me off applying to join for ages: I figured the wait for an invite would be insane. However, it only took a few days for me to receive my golden ticket invitation, so it's really well worth putting your name on the list. You can do so here, but be aware that it's highly addictive and you may have difficulty getting a tap of work done ever again.

So consider yourself forewarned. Oh, and happy pinning!

fleaBay Find: Adorable Poodle Print Top

I LOVEEE this black and white River Island poodle print top so much! I actually used to have just like it but eventually had to give it to a good home (my sister's wardrobe) as the size I got just didn't fit me properly.

Sadface.

If you're a fan of kitschy and are an 8-10 on top (these are fairly loose fitting), you could bag this li'l size 8 beauty for yourself. It's just gone up on fleaBay and there are no bids on the £1.99 starting price yet, so it could be a right bargain!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lie in wait for my size to crop up...


{image source: eBay user starz3010}

Talon-tastic Thursday: More tribal nail art

I'm writing about how to DIY an easy tribal manicure on Beaut.ie today, so I thought I'd show you another of my attempts to nail the tribal look here. 

This one (inspired by The Illustrated Nail) is a bit more involved, and I don't think it could really be replicated without at least a black nail art pen (I used the pink, white and black from my Nails Supreme set.)

To DIY:

1. Paint the entire nail white.
2. Add the thick black stripes from about 3/4 way down the nail plate to the tips (just use a regular nail polish brush that's not overloaded with product and a steady hand.)
3. Add the pink stripe. This will cover any unevenness at the base of the black stripes.
4. When the pink is dry, use a black nail art pen for the skinny mid-pink stripe.
5. For the detail at the cuticles, draw a straight line to form the base first using a black nail art pen, then draw the outline of each mini triangle, then fill in.
6. If you don't have a nail art pen, try adding a row of small dots across the middle of the thick pink stripes and at the cuticles. You can use a ball point pen for this.

Annoyingly, my Sally Hansen InstaDri topcoat caused quite a bit of dragging. GAH. There are few things more frustrating than slaving over a hot nail art pen only for your topcoat to pull your design across the nail.

It's great for finishing off a normal paint job, but I'll be using good ol' Seche Vite in my future design endeavours!

Finger-fabulous Friday: I heart leopard print

Since I'm a bit (ehem) late with today's (yesterday's?) Talon-tastic Thursday, I thought I'd show you two slightly different takes on my current favourite heart 'n' leopard print design to try and make up for the tardiness. 

{taken with Instagram, colours are brighter In Real Life} 

This here is China Glaze For Audrey with Barry M Peach Melba on the accent nail. The leopard print and heart details were created using my black Sally Hansen nail art pen.

Does the accent nail remind you of anything? Like, say, a pair of shoes that one might covet with covety covetousness?

Like, say, these beauts, which will never be mine because I didn't buy them when they were actually in the shops and they are now absolute unobtanium?

*Weeps quietly in a corner.*

That paint job lasted a solid 7 days before any of the nails chipped, and I'm damned if I can work out why. I slapped on a layer of basecoat (Orly Bonder) and topcoat (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri) as normal and then did all the things you're not supposed to do with your nails (as normal) and it still looked almost perfect when the time came to take it off. 

Usually I get about 2-3 days out of a mani before the first chips appear, so that kind of performance is almost unheard of.

Yesterday, I decided to try Rimmel Lycra Pro in Peppermint. Now, Peppermint's not a dead on dupe of For Audrey. It's lighter, brighter, reads more like a pastel, and is a smidge more green-leaning. 

It isn't, however, a hundred million miles off. Here's a more colour-accurate shot of China Glaze in action and one of Rimmel Peppermint:

{Yuck. Those nails are waaay too long on me.}

{Ah, that's better.}

Of course, within 24 hours I'd gotten busy with a nail art pen (the black from my Nails Supreme set this time) and OPI's ElePhantastic Pink and scrawled all over Peppermint's shiny blue-green ass.