I ♥ My Red Lipstick

You may remember early in September I posted about TV Presenter Cherry Healey and her lovely red lipstick. You can read the post here. I tried out the shade Cherry recommended Chanel (a girl after my own heart) No.14 Passion in Rouge Allure. You can see my swatch of it along with two of the new matte Rouge Allure Velvet shades. I really love the pink La Exuberante shade so that might have to be my next purchase. What do you think? What's your favourite? I totally recommend trying loads of different shades depending on your mood. I never can make up my mind with lipstick so I asked for advice and according to the lovely lady at Boots No.14 is the shade that suits all skin tones.

Chanel Lipstick Swatches

Chanel Rouge Allure lipstick No.14 Passion

I also rocked No.14 when I met Will Young a few weeks back

Outfit Photo: My Mulberry Raglan Dress

As promised I debuted my new Mulberry Raglan dress at my little sisters 21st this weekend. You might remember I blogged about it here. What do you think? I hardly ever put outfit photos up here that have me fully in because I don't particularly like taking photos of myself and as soon as someone holds a camera up to my face it just gets stuck and awkward! But...as it's you, I'm going to try and post a few more.

Dress: Mulberry Raglan, Shoes: LK Bennett Sledge, Watch: Michael Kors

My Niece Neve "Puts her paws up" Lady Gaga Style

Fashionable Fingers First

You may know by now I am a little obsessed with Chanel Nail Polish. So I got ever so excited over the weekend when I saw this little film - The Chanel Shade Parade. Almost like a music video, it showcases some of their most popular shades. Very Chic! Very Moulin Rouge!

THE Dress - The Mulberry Raglan

Most people have an elusive item...something that you want but never managed to get your hands on. The item that's been and gone seasons ago. The thing that you stalk ebay for knowing that the chances of it coming up is slim, it coming up in your size is like winning the lottery. Mine is The Mulberry Raglan Dress from the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection....or should I say was!

That was until I took a visit to Bicester Village in Oxford. Every time i go into Mulberry I feel like touching all the lovely bags and clothes. I skipped to the back of the shop and let out a little squeal when I saw it hanging alone on the rail...IN MY SIZE.

Now I know Mulberry isn't cheap but I think for a special one off purchase it's totally worth it. Better still it was over £500 cheaper because I got it in the outlet shop. If you haven't been to Bicester Village and you are after an elusive designer item I totally recommend it. I plan to christen the dress at my little sister's 21. Do you like?

The Mulberry Raglan Dress

The cute little bird they put on the Mulberry shopping bag

Mulberry Raglan Dress Autumn/Winter 2010

Cherry Healey Style

Cherry Healey: www.cherryhealey.com

Over the past few weeks I have been really been enjoying watching Cherry Healey in Cherry's Body Dilemma's and Cherry's Cash Dilemma's on BBC 3. Cherry is excellent and I really like the really natural way she takes on all kinds of challenges as we follow her on her adventures to meet all kinds of interesting people.

There's one thing that seems to be almost as popular as her programme - her style! It's not hard to see why. If you head over to her blog here you can see some of her outfit photos where she works out her Fashion Maths which = lots of great outfits. My favourite is this one. A great leather jacket that lost of readers on Cherry's Blog seem to love. Hopefully she will reveal where it is from. It's such a shame the Zara maxi skirt isn't avaliable anymore but I am concidering making my own. It should be quite easy to do if I can track down some great fabric.

It's not just Cherry's clothes that we love. She wears her hair in some lovely up-do's including an Erdem style head plat or "Princess Leia Hair" as she calls it, which you can learn to do here. I noticed during the programmes that she wears a lovely shade of red lipstick that I just hadn't managed to find in the shops so I got in touch with her to find out exactly which one she wore. Cherry said

"Hi Claire,
I searched for such a long time before I found a red that suited my colourings - Chanel no.14 seems to do the trick - the 'classic' is the no.64 but I think it's just slightly too dark. I also mix the lipstick with Superdrug's Barry M brand lipliner in red - it's so good you could pretty much get away with wearing that alone - and it lasts forever. And it's about £3. Yes please. Cxxx"

So there you have it! I will post again after I have given the shades she suggests a try. There's nothing like a bit of red lipstick to brighten up my outfits on these dark Autumn days.

Gold Finger (Nails!)

Ever since Victoria Beckham tweeted back in May that there were 3 new metallic Autumn shades of Chanel nail polish I got ridiculously excited. As you can see here I have a bit of a thing for Chanel polish and although it's on the pricier side, it does last a while and the colours are always the 'hot' colours of the season. As soon as I saw the tweet I knew I had to have the gold polish - 531 Peridot. It nearly didn't happen though as I went to every stockist in Birmingham who were all sold out and eventually got the second to last bottle in Worcester's House of Fraser. If you like it there may still be the odd one around, try calling your local Boots, Debenhams or House of Fraser. If you still can't find it then it is already selling on ebay with not too high a mark-up. After all...if it's good enough for Mrs B it's good enough for me!

Photo: Victoria Beckham Twitter

Wedding Fever?

Sorry it's been a while since I have posted. I've been so busy with my new job I just haven't had time to post.

What with all the wedding fever in the build up to the Royal Wedding you may be a little wedding-ed out. But if like me you seem to have loads of invites landing on your doormat, with no clue what you are going to ware then this might give you some inspiration.

I have had some moments of panic trying to find an amazing outfit for my friends wedding coming up and although there is loads out there it took me ages to find an outfit that I loved. Until I saw this amazing Turquoise Siri Lace Dress from Whistles. Perfect colour, perfect style (very Kate Middleton lace!) the only problem is the price, £275! If I wear it for lots of summer weddings though I might just get away with it. Couldn't I?

Whistles Siri Lace Dress (image whistles.co.uk)

In my hunt for the perfect wedding outfit I have also spotted this beautiful pink floral fascinator on non other than the lovely Danni Minogue in the Marks and Spencer adverts. I was a bit gutted when I could only find the dress from the ads online but after a bit of investigation and some help from the lovely customer service team I have found out it's going to be in store and online from 25th May for £35.

Danni Minogue Floral fascinator (image: http://www.marksandspencer.com/)

I'm not sure if the two colours will clash in the right way so I may go for a butterfly fascinator from Chapeau Claudette.

Chapeau Claudette Butterfly Fascinator (image: Ilovehats.co.uk)

Chapeau Claudette as seen in Look Magazine

Even though Princess Beatrice got slated for her Royal Wedding fascinator I do love this Butterfly one she wore a few years ago.

Anyway, I will hopefully put together an outfit and post a photo here when I do. If you have a killer summer wedding outfit then email me a photo and I will put it up here too.

Going Bananas!

Thanks to Topshop I can now go bananas whenever I want! The Topshop Banana Drop Earrings are only £6.50, a bargain compared to the Prada version for £140.

Topshop Banana Drop Earrings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outfit Photo: My Whistles Carrie Skirt

Outfit: Carrie Skirt, (Whistles) Knitted White Cotton Cable Jumper (Topshop) ACE Black Suede Lace Up Boots (Topshop) Brown Leather Bag (Vintage)

My Whistles Carrie Skirt has arrived and I thought it was about time I shared an outfit photo with you. I settled on the knee length one in the end and I love wearing it. I'm sure I will be wearing it well in to the summer plus, I'm loving it even more now the lovely people at Whistles have said they will 'overlock' the hem for me.

The skirt has a frayed style to the hem but I was worried because it was starting to fray quite a lot (you can see it a bit in my photos) Then I got in touch with them to ask what I should do and they very kindly offered to make the 'overlocked hem' alteration to it for me to make it much more practical. They even offered to pay the postage for me to send it back to them to get the alteration made. Great news, so now I know my skirt won't totally fray away.

I'm so impressed by Whistles. I have written about how great they are before but this is now the best customer service I have ever had and it definitely is the kind of brand I would come back to- and I'm hard to impress! I can't wait to get something else from the Spring Collection.

Dearne, Aka Notting Hill Girl has taken on a challenge to wear her Carrie skirt as much as possible before the end of the Summer. Easy! I can think of 100's of ways to wear it. You can see how she will be wearing her skirt here. I would love to see how you are wearing yours. Feel free to post a link to your outfit photo in the comments here.

Retro Style: The Dress

This week everyone has been talking about the rumour that Sarah Burton from Alexander McQueen will be creating Kate Middleton's wedding dress.  

Although she laughed it off and has now even admitted to New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn that she won't be designing it. I thought her collection a Paris Fashion Week definitely showed off  a show stopping wedding dress fit for a princess. It got me thinking of a very special photo of my parents I thought I would share.

Retro isn't it? Not as glam as the McQueen dress but fabulous all the same. Check out the perm on my dad too!

Elle's Style

I have been looking over all the amazing blogs from London Fashion Week and came over a familiar face when looking at the What Elle Wears blog from the Elle Style Awards. Don't those Elle ladies look great? And they definitely follow the idea of "It's not what you wear, it's how you wear it" mixing high street and designer.

ELLEuk.com Fashion Assistant Alice Watt is a good friend of mine and was my flatmate at University. Maybe I'm bias but I think she looked fabulous! She has a really individual style. I adore her Mawi ring and must find out where I can get my hands on one. This isn't a brand I have ever heard of before but having a look on their website they have great pieces.

Alice Watt - ELLEuk.com Fashion Assistant
Miu Miu dress, YSL clutch, Topshop shoes, Mawi ring, vintage earrings (Photo: Elleuk.com)

Mawi Skyline Tube and Crystal Ring (Photo: Elleuk.com)

Great Vintage Earings (Photo: Elleuk.com)

Most Wanted: Whistles Carrie Pleat Skirt

High up on my top wardrobe must have trends for Spring Summer 2011 is Neon. As seen at Jil Sander and Christopher Kane it is now making its way onto the High Street.

The Whistles neon pink Carrie Pleat Skirt went on sale online today following a long wait. It's already sold out in the midi length and is only available in a shorter length. Be quick though at only £95 (compared to £580 for the Jil Sander version) and with only 100 produced it's definitely going to be a sell out.

I'm a huge fan of Whistles and think their customer service is something lots of brands can aspire to. Their staff both in store and on their customer service line couldn't do enough to help me get hold of my skirt and for the first time I was able to look at their twitter (@thisiswhistles) for updates. Although, they could have done with being more regular. If you want the skirt one of the girls in the Selfridges Birmingham store told me there may be some due in either their Wednesday or Friday delivery.

Their Spring Summer 2011 collection is all stunning. My favourite piece apart from the 'Carrie' skirt is the blue Pintuck Blouse, £90 and to make it even better you can also get 20% off the new collection with this month's Glamour Magazine. You can see the full collection in the lookbook here and in the video bellow but be warned...something will end up on your Most Wanted list!

Whistles Spring / Summer 2011 from WHISTLES on Vimeo.

I ♥ Mary Portas

I know I might be a little behind the times here but I have only just had chance to watch Mary Portas : Secret Shopper on Channel 4. I am hooked!

Having never seen Mary Queen Of Shops I wasn't quite sure about her but the idea of the show is genius! The show is all about her trying to improve customer service for us, the shoppers. I watched the 1st episode about High Street chain Pilot and was jumping up and down screaming at the tv. For ages I have been totally infuriated by the lack of knowledge and service you get in some shops. Even when you take a photo from a magazine or blog in showing exactly what your looking for, the shop assistant just momentarily stop their conversation and gesture "if it's here, it's over there" and "if it's not out, we haven't got it" It's so annoying and frustrating. Mary doesn't blame the staff though but the management.

Then I remembered this Liz Jones Article from The Daily Mail I read a couple of weeks ago. It's a little bit shocking how little the shop assistants in this article seem to know about clothes and how uninspiring they are.

It shouldn't be so unexpected when shops actually deliver on service. I have had great experiences recently thanks to first class service in Whistles and Joy. It really does make me want to shop there more often when the staff are helpful, hardworking and friendly. Is it really so hard? Where on the High Street do you get the best service?

Thanks to Mary, next time I'm not looked after I am going to complain to the management and ask for better or not spend.

Thai Style

Over Christmas and New Year I was away in Thailand. It's not the first time I have been (I used to live there) but this time I went to Siam Paragon. I went to meet a friend and while I was waiting for him near the entrance to the MRT I just stood for a while in the crowd and watched people going about there day. They looked amazing. It was a million miles away from the conservative Thai fashion that I knew from teaching in a small town Thai secondary school.

Siam Paragon is one of the biggest shopping centers in Asia never mind Bangkok, full of designer brands it's no wonder the people looked great but they did it with their own flair. I really wish I had managed to get some photos of their 'street style' but just didn't have the confidence to stop people.

If you want to have a look at someone who does Bangkok style best though, check out Ploy. She is a fashion blogger, stylist, makes and sells her own designs mixing them with amazing vintage and designer finds like nobody else!

In Bangkok I also found an very lovely little vintage stall tucked away just at the end of Khao San Road. Vintage over there is great if you are small. I found my size 6 friend an amazing pair of Harems for just £4. My star £4 find for myself though was this 80's inspired polka dot dress. Perfect for the spring.


If you haven't been to Thailand yet I totally recommend it. Not just for the shopping but the laid back amazing vibe of the place. Now I really want to find some more great Thai Fashion Bloggers. Any tips?

Welcome to 2011- What did Santa bring?

Happy 2011 Inch of Stylers! OK so I have been neglecting you a little this year so far but I am going to make up for it this year, I promise!

The reason I haven't been around for so long is because I have been away to Thailand for Christmas and New Year. I'm going to write a little post about the amazing things I found there later this week but in the mean time wanted to share with you the amazing Mulberry Postman's Lock French Purse I got for Christmas.

In these hard times no matter how much I want it, I can't have An 'Alexa' or the more recent and stunning 'Tillie' (which just so happens to be my nickname...must be a sign!) so this is just right for a Mulberry lover on a budget...small but perfectly formed. I love the subtle leopard print and the packaging was so beautiful I was happy before I even got inside.

What did you think? Did Santa bring you anything nice?