Girly night

"Every girl should use what Mother Nature gave her before Father Time takes it away." Dr Laurence J Peter

Pull and Bear Blue jumper-similar here

Urban Outfitter red skater skirt-similar here

Zara gold spike necklace-similar here

Alex and Ani bracelets

And so it begins. Today was my last day of selling for the next two months, deadline day, D-Day with a capital D.  The next time I will be selling is the middle of July. You know what that means, holiday time!!! First thing's first though, with light at the end of the tunnel, I looked in the mirror this morning and was like wooooo where did those sausages come from?? 

Everyone is the same if your life is busy then times get left to the side. Tonight I am having a girly night, catching up on myself, my washing, tidy the house, my favourite program's, ohh the excitement!!!  I also have to organise what to wear to a bloggers conference and I have 2 articles/ photo shoots to do for an American magazine and a London fashion website.  Can't wait! I hope everyone has a great weekend too!!! 

Jingle jangle

 

"Jewellery takes people's attention off your wrinkles" Sarah Phillips

 

Light H&M Denim Shirt

Striped Jumper Topshop-Similar here

Zara Navy Blazer

Navy Topshop Leigh skinny jeans

 

 

For a girl who used to get ready in 3mins flat as I was too lazy to get out of bed before quarter past 9 when I start work at half 9 & it takes 12mins to walk to work, the fact that I was out of bed was as amazing as when moses spread the red sea. Why you ask? I was lucky enough to be asked to attend the Argento Summer Catalogue shoot for a sneak peek at some of their gorgeous jewellery. A known favourite on the high street in the UK and Ireland showcasing the finest jewellery including Alex and Ani, Pandora, Pilgrim, Thomas Sabo and many more. All girls love a bit of sparkle and bling bling, as I type this I am jingle jangling with my Alex and Ani bracelets so an opportunity to have a trying on session with the up and coming pieces for the summer was worth getting out of bed for.

 

 

However, this smiling face is not someone you want to see early on a Tuesday morning when your eyes are still puffy and you feel groggy. The lovely girls from Argento had a brief for the shoot and simply put, it was to be as natural as possible. Promoting the products and helping to enhance them with laid-bare beauty, no fuss, no frills. Soft, simple but defined who better to compliment the jewellery that the gorgeous Naoise Tan. Now I have worked with Naoise before, (I actually did a catwalk with Naoise and 3 other girls were I was driving & I went to pick them up & all of them were wearing their school uniforms. God did I feel the mummy of the group.) A regular at BFW & face of BT2 in Dublin, not only is she gorgeous, lovely to talk to but she is smart. We had a quick catch up as she is trying to decide on degrees or to take a year out, medicine and law were mentioned. (Yesterday morning I had no hoover bags left so sat outside picking the dust out of the old one. The joys of picking a PR degree!!)

 

 

My main man, Mr Paddy McGurgan was doing the makeup. As natural as possible, Paddy focused mainly on the foundation as he wanted to reflect the light & having Naoise skin glowing. Hair was soft curls gently styled into place by the legendary Joe McGivern. The photos were being taken by the genius that is Khara Pringle.  Now less about the gorgeous model and more about the jewellery!!!

 

So here's a sneak peek of the jewellery for the morning part of the shoot.  All of Argento's own brands, gorgeous bracelets by Karma, Nakamol wrap bracelets, Dirty Ruby rings, I wanted to steal them all. I fell in love with this arrow ring (ignore my grubby five year old style dirty nails).  One of the girls on the shoot, Sarah then pointed out that she had designed it herself.  Imagine that feeling of seeing people wearing and loving your designs! Def going on my wishlist!

 

 

Below are photos from the afternoon shoot including jewellery brands like Alex and Ani, Hely designs, Antonio Ben Chimol and Nakamol. All of these are available in Argento stores and online.

 

 

 

Stacking bracelets is totally in this season.  Check out these gorgeous colours of aqua, silver and beige, perfect colours for coming into the mid season! I loved these wrap bracelets paired with Alex and Ani bracelets. To have a nosey at the full collections, check out Argento's website: Argento Website or keep an eye out for the Summer catalogue featuring the gorgeous Naoise. 

Indecisive

"I used to be indecisive but now I am not quite sure." Tommy Cooper

Primark Cardigan-similar here

Topshop Peplum top

Replay Jeans

Alex and Ani bracelets

 

 

Spring has truely sprung! Thank god! It is nice to see people smiling because the sun is peeking out from behind the clouds.  Don't get me wrong, it is still baltic but at least there is no more snow!!! I got dressed in the dark today, not my best outfit but Connor was still fast asleep as I was getting ready and I was trying to be extra quiet to let him sleep & I didn't want to turn on the light so I just grabbed, pulled on and off to work.  I don't know about you guys but I bought 3 colours in these tops when they came out in Topshop last year. So simple but great if you don't know what to wear & want to look smart!

 

I am making a video with Pia Rossini (check them out, Pia Rossini ) tonight on 10 different ways to wear scarves for the launch off their new public website so looking forward to getting a sneak peek of what they have coming up for Summer 2013 and Autumn/Winter 2013.  Don't worry I will keep you fully informed ;)

 

So I was up home at the weekend, aka I was up in Portstewart. It was a gorgeous weekend, just for all of you who have never visited Portstewart or even Northern Ireland. Here is a little photo just to show you how gorgeous it was on Sunday morning at 11am & even though I was grumpy as f**k (woke up but my boyfriend licking my face, hitting me with a pillow & miaowing like a cat. Too hyper for 9am on a sunday.)

 

 

B-e-a-utiful! One of the great things about being up home is I can ask my mum her thoughts.  All girls are the same, we need the reasurrance that we look ok or if we are doing it right. (For example, the famous question that all men fear "Does my bum look big in this?") So, this is what I wore on saturday, couldn't decide what trainer went best- red or white? Mum and my little sister got asked, mum went with red & carla went with white so both of their opinions was useless. But it is funny the way that everyone needs reassurance that they look ok.  Even boys! That was just my phisophical obversation for this weekend.  It has taken Connor and I over a week to truly decide where we want to go on holiday, don't know how many times we have swapped and changed our minds.  My new goal is to be more decisive, the pharse "I want that one" comes to mind.

Asos Army Jumper

Zara faux leather trousers

White converse

River Island Red high tops

 

 

I went for the red if you are interested.  Thought they added a bit of colour to the outfit though both need a good clean. Standard. When I was up home, my mum did a massive clear out of her wardrobe so I have new clothes!!! I went through her scraps and was able to pick out bits and piece of things she didn't want.  It's not cheating! I still haven't handed my debit card over to physical buy any clothes.  Quite proud of this fact as it is April now. Wow, it's april! How did that happen?!?!?

 

 

 

 

Copy Cat

"Switch my hair, they gon' copy her. Switch my gear, they gon' copy her. Look at how they stare, just a copier. Roger that. Did you copy that? Copycat." Nicki Minaj

Dress/top Urban Outfitters-similar here

River Island Khaki snood

Alex and Ani L bracelet & key to heart bracelet

They say that imitation is the first form of flattery, well I have an album devoted to that on my phone. Instead of buying magazine & going oh I want to buy that, I have photos on my phone & Ipad so I can go Oh I have something similar in my wardrobe, let me try that.  It is copying but for someone who wasn't very good at styling outfits, it's a stepping stone in the learning process.  I have noticed that I am getting better at thinking outside the box, trying looks that I never would have before & they have worked brilliantly.  

This is what I wore yesterday. A shirt, I haven't worn in about a century.  I sorta went through a phrase of buying these maternity style/painter style shirts for a while, I don't know why but I have a few. I used to wear them with leggings, don't know why I haven't worn that outfit in a while may try it soon.  Any who. It is a shirt but I wore it as a dress. I am not a slut, ( well debatable lol JOKES) I wore a black body con skirt underneath it, you cant quite see it but it is there! I copycated this outfit. Oh yeah, I am not afraid to admit it. 

The girl I copied it from it from is the gorgeous Ashley Madekwe. (That is the fit british girl from Revenge) Not only is she stunning, not only does she work on a hit tv show & gets to wear amazing clothes but she also does one of my favourite fashion blogs called Ring my bell 

The blog is great, she doesn't blog that often but when she does, I love it every time.  She wears normal people clothes like Topshop & Forever 21.  She also wears things twice so it is completely relatable to real life instead of so far out in the celebrity unattainable atmosphere. 

So this is the look I copied but then added the northern ireland twist to it aka its not LA so thus still cold & have to wear tights. I also wore a lovely snood that I got as a Christmas from my ex housemate Ciara who is now enjoying co-inhabitatint life with her ginger lover. So I wear this in memory of her.