Dressing your Dressing Table

While my dressing table doubles as my desk, and my collection point for general bedroom mess, it is entirely possible for a bedroom to be transformed, even defined by, a perfectly styled dresser. Dressing tables, intrinsically feminine and intimate areas, have the potential to showcase your most prized possessions, your most depended-upon beauty items, and of course your personality. Whether your dresser be a glamorous mirrored table or a shabby-chic painted wood affair, it’s the items on display on your dresser which make most of the statement. Here are my top tricks for you to choose from, on how to dress your dressing table with the intention of creating a personal and beautiful space in the most telling part of any woman’s boudoir…

Drape your mirror with strings of flowers, fairy lights or necklaces

Clutter can work to create a deliberately messy look, but only if it’s organised clutter – think haphazardly strewn pearls, not piles of clean laundry

Always have a beautiful bunch of flowers on display to bring life and colour to your table

Display your most beautiful jewellery pieces on a small tray or plate, or spilling out of your jewellery box

Mini-mannequins can look gorgeous draped with necklaces, bracelets or silk scarves

Keep a collection of like items on display in a cluster; these could be photo frames, candles, perfume bottles, vintage teacups, books, dried flowers antique glassware…

Tuck a small photograph or inspiring note in the corner of your mirror frame

Keep to a loose colour palette when styling your dresser top – let your existing jewellery dictate what this should be

Depending on where your dressing table is, you might want a lamp or two for when you’re doing your makeup – natural light is best, which is why dressing tables are often placed near windows – if you go for two lamps, keep them in symmetry on the table for both aesthetic and practical purposes

Keep a candle or two burning as you do your makeup to create an air of luxury and sumptuousness

Cover an old stool top in fabric which complements your bedroom décor, or decorate your chair with an embellished cushion

Keep your most used, or most well-packaged, make-up on display, either on trays, in baskets, or in pretty gift-boxes, and the rest tucked away in drawers (anything with ‘Maybelline’ on it goes in the latter category)

For beauty inspiration, keep a few magazine clippings of your favourite make-up looks by your mirror

Create a gallery wall behind your dressing table covered in mirrors, photographs, artwork or book/magazine covers

 Here are a few dressing tables which have been styled perfectly, and collections of objects which would look perfect atop any woman’s dresser:

  

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There are tons of pictures of beautiful dressing tables all over the internet, but there are loads of Pinterest boards filled with them too (you don’t need an account to browse through them). How have you styled your dressing table, or do you (like me) have a far less exciting dresser/desk in your bedroom?

What do you all think? Let me know, as always! x

Image credits: 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11

Smell the Roses

Sometimes, with photography, I cannot pinpoint what it is about an image that captivates me. I know that it is the creativity behind Pol Úbeda Hervàs’s images that excites me, and the unexpected use of colour and light that made Hana Haley‘s work stand out; but I don’t know what it is that makes me come back to, time and again, the stunning natural still life images produced by New York photographer Alice Gao.

Possibly it’s something about the interplay of light and shadow, which creates an ambiguously dark yet beautiful mood? Perhaps it’s simply the composition, something to do with how she places her objects? There’s also the question of colour, which Gao uses artistically and subtly, particularly in images which are flooded with darkness, leaving only a few snatches of vivid colour to attract the eye.  My point is, I’m really not sure what it is I love about these photographs, but love them I do. It was her recent ‘Rose Study’ which particularly inspired me to write about her, but there is a whole treasure trove of gorgeous imagery (they’re not all still life photos, either) available in the archives of her personal blog, which you can see here, or in her online portfolio.

Gao is known in the industry for her unique food and lifestyle shots, but it’s definitely these studies on natural objects which I like the most. She’s also big on Instagram (as any up and coming photographer is these days, really!).

Here are my picks of her best photographs -maybe you can shed some light on what it is that makes them so lovely?

Do you have a favourite? I think mine has to be the top one, pale pink roses on a white backdrop, with just a glimpse of the dark green leaves. Make sure you check out her blog for more from Alice Gao, one of my new personal favourites in the photography scene.

Have a great day! xx

Image credits: here.

Life Lately

Hey lovelies! My life as of late can be summed up by one word: discovery. Taking a year out of university to live and study abroad is possibly the best desicion I ever made, if purely for the discoveries it has allowed me to make about myself and the world in which we live. Rather than getting all philosophical on you, here’s a few of the little things I have discovered recently….

• Spring Pools by American legend, Robert Frost (new favourite poem, cannot stop panting over its symmetry and perfection)
• Pancakes with a twist of fresh lemon juice and a healthy sprinkle of sugar
• All of my old photographs from a few summers back (cue nostalgia)
• New beautiful, peaceful spaces and places in Venice, my city for the year, while out on random wanderings. It turns out getting lost in cities like this is the best way to find views like this one….

Also, the discovery of new music. I loved Gabrielle Aplin’s The Power of Love which hit the UK charts hard over Christmas and featured on the iconic John Lewis Christmas advert for 2012, but had never heard any of her other music. While Youtube and Spotify have offered me a plethora of options for musical entertainment, my favourite Aplin track has to be this one. It’s perfect music for crisp, bright days in springtime (which means I’ll have this on repeat in a few weeks time, no doubt).

What’s been going on in your life recently? Let me know! xx

Monochromatic

While the Golden Globe Awards red carpet favoured dresses that were pale and interesting, the Grammy Awards red carpet has showcased a predominantly darker, but still broadly monochromatic palette. From Taylor Swift’s stunning white ensemble, to the sexy black George Chakra gown which Kelly Rowland showcased,  neutral colour-blocked shades of black and white reigned supreme this year (with a few outstanding exceptions, thinking here of Rihanna in striking red, and Katy Perry in soft green). While darker colours definitely were more prevalent on the red carpet, I think the gun-metal grey embellishments on Allison William’s dress and the innocent white of Taylor Swift’s Grecian look are the ones which steal the show. The cut-out trend is still most definitely going strong, accompanied by the emergence of metallic detailing and general shimmer/shine/sparkle for the ultimate in sophisticated and luxurious style. Here’s a few of my favourite looks from the monochromatic palette…

Do you guys have a favourite? Is there someone you think I’ve missed from this post who looked great in a monochromatic (or, indeed, a colourful) look? Let me know! xx

Picture source here.

Spicy and Sweet

Here is a little something about me: I am an unabashed lover of short-cuts in the kitchen. I don’t really see the problem with jars of pre-made pasta sauces, with ready meals and microwave dinners, with sachets of Cup-a-Soup powder awaiting hot water. When you’re short on time, or don’t know how (read: can’t be bothered) to make something from scratch, they’re absolute life-savers. But there is one thing I will never succumb to: hot chocolate short cuts.

While friends and family expound the benefits (both in time and taste, apparently) of hot chocolate powder mixed with milk or water in the microwave, I really don’t see the appeal. Since discovering a recipe for hot chocolate made from scratch which is, in my humble opinion, both delicious and super-simple, I just don’t see the point. While the ingredients for this Chilli Hot Chocolate treat may come to slightly more than a sachet of Cadbury Options at the supermarket, they’re all pretty much store cupboard ingredients anyway.

What makes this recipe stand out from all other hot chocolates (home-made, pre-mixed and café-bought) is the surprisingly tasty spicy kick the chilli gives the drink, perfectly accenting the creaminess of the chocolate. My recipe doesn’t include the usual pinch of salt which hot chocolate recipes often call for, simply because I think it’s completely unnecessary; I also don’t think it matters one bit what kind of chocolate you use for this. Other recipes call for 70% cocoa, or brands such as Green & Blacks, I like the taste of this with either milk or dark (I once added a few squares of leftover white chocolate, with a surprisingly sweet outcome), and refuse to pay more than 50p for a bar of chocolate I will be melting. Save the Green & Blacks for another time, ladies and gents!

You can, 0f course, leave the chilli out if it doesn’t float your boat, but I think it’s far better left in. Here’s the recipe for my go-to winter-warmer, perfect for broken hearts, movie nights, sleepovers, 11am pick-me-ups …. you name it!

For one large mug, you will need:

- 200 ml milk

- 100ml single cream

- 100g milk or dark chocolate (broken into small chunks)

- 1 red chilli pepper (sliced in half and de-seeded)

Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and heat gently, not allowing to boil. Add the two halves of sliced chilli and the chocolate. Stir gently on a low heat, until the chocolate has completely melted. Use a spoon to remove the two halves of chilli from the pan. Whisk the hot chocolate vigorously to create a nice froth, then pour carefully into a mug.

While I think this is the perfect hot chocolate, you may choose to add some whipped cream or marshmallows to the top of this delicious treat for the ultimate in saccharine luxury. Best served hot and fresh, accompanied by a rom-com featuring Colin Firth.

Of course, there are a million and one different ways to flavour your hot chocolate; this recipe uses chilli pepper for a spicy and sweet outcome, but you could just as easily substitute cinnamon, vanilla, caramel, ginger, hazelnut, brandy, Baileys…. the options are endless!

I hope you all enjoy trying this recipe out, remember to stay safe in the kitchen, and let me know how you get on! xx

Picture source here.

The Cute Shoot

It would be fair to say I am really rather late in getting on the bandwagon when it comes to this post. I don’t know how they managed to slip my attention last year, but I’ve only just cast my eyes over the photos from the Free People Summer 2K12 catalogue, and (man, oh man) are they lovely.

This is one seriously cute photo shoot we’re talking about here, featuring the ever-gorgeous Karlie Kloss, an array of New York City themed props and backdrops, bunches of fresh flowers, puppies out for a walk  - oh, and the boho-indie-chic summer collection from Free People, obviously. Take a look at my favourites below, or see the Free People website for more of their shoots (and of course, their current collection).

I don’t know which is my favourite; it’s a toss-up between the sheer white dotted dress/denim vest combination in the first picture, and the red floppy hat/endless legs combination in the sixth. You can see more of the original images and other collections here.

What do you all think? Do you have a favourite?

Very Nice Indeed

There have been so many celebrity-fashion collaborations over the years that it’s getting hard to get too excited to hear about new launches when they happen nearly every week – Pixie Lott has worked with Lipsy, Emma Watson with Free People, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has even designed undies for M&S for crying out loud! But there’s one combination that always seems to win on the British high-street, and that’s the style savvy design team of best friends Holly Willoughby and Fearne Cotton (TV and Radio personalities here in GB) for online brand Very.co.uk.

The dynamic duo are back, and their tenth collection for Very is – in my humble opinion – their best by far. What works about the designs Holly and Fearne have created is that they look good on real women’s bodies; Holly in particular has always been keen to design for curvier shapes, given her beautiful and voluptuous size 12 figure, and it really shows in the flattering tailoring of her latest collection.

Personally, I would say I’m more of a fan of Fearne Cotton’s street style (not to mention her edgy and fun red carpet looks) than Holly’s, but both of their collections for Very appeal to me despite the differences in their day-to-day wardrobes as reported by varies weekly glossies. My favourite item from the collections available online? It has to be either the turquoise tea-dress from Holly, or the bright blue ‘Grecian Draped Maxi Dress’ which Fearne offers up. The final bonus – and, final danger, I suppose – of their designs is their affordability; slightly pricier perhaps for some items than on the rest of the British high street, but for the quality Very provides in their clothing it’s well worth it (and just think of the cost-per-wear value!).

Given the wearability and beauty of the designs, the affordable price tag, and the fact that they’re endorsed and designed by two of Britain’s style icons, the collection already looks set to sell fast (as did their previous collections for Very).

Holly’s photo shoot really showcases the beauty of her designs – not to mention she looks amazing (cue serious body envy) – so here’s my favourites from her shoot and then their collection, you can view the rest here.

    

 

What do you all think of this new collection? Any favourites? Is there a fashion brand / celeb collaboration which you particularly want to see? X