Shop11: Glamorgan University Fashion Promotion Popup Shop

This Thursday (1st December), Fashion Promotion students from Glamorgan University will be launching a pop-up shop called ‘Shop11’, in the St David’s Shopping Centre. The shop will be open until Sunday 4^th December. The university's Fashion Deign students have worked together to create a new brand, ‘Stockhom-Lima'. The brand, whose slogan is: “How do you wear yours?”, will offer a range of limited edition (only 25 of each design!) t-shirts. The project is an opportunity for the University’s Fashion Promotion students to gain some valuable experience.

If you would like to find out more about the brand then check out its websites: http://www.stockholm-lima.co.uk/SL/Ethos.html and http://shop11cardiff.tumblr.com/

So if you would like to get your hands on designs from our future fashion talent, why don’t you head on down to St David’s 2 this weekend? I will see you there!

My Red Magazine Photo Shoot: The Clothes - Part II

So, as promised, here are the rest of the photos of the clothes that Sam from Bottega sent me to try for my Red magazine photo shoot. I was spoilt for choice for a top, as she sent me a range of tops which covered a lot of different looks. There was a really cute 'Maison Scotch' breton stripe top (with a twist); a super-soft 'Zoe Tees' red t-shirt; a glam 'American Retro' gold lurex batwing jumper; a lovely drapey 'Olivia Rubin' t-shirt, and a beautiful black silk star-print top by 'Des Petits Hauts'.

Sam also sent me a quirky Tatty Devine ''Aarrghhhhh' necklace and a Maison Scotch star-print boiled wool scarf to accessorise up my outfit of choice. I would love to know which are your favourite pieces. I know that I found it VERY difficult to choose!:

numph 'Aladdin' skinny jeans - zip detail on back pocket and ankle

'numph' grey skinny 'Lula' jeans - love the bow detail on  the back pocket

MiH New York bootcut jeans

Des Petits Hauts black silk top with white stars

Maison Scotch star-print scarf

Tatty Devine 'Aarrghhhhh' perspex necklace

American Retro Gold Lurex jumper

Olivia Rubin Brick print top

Zoe Tees Boyfriend T-Shirt

Maison Scotch Breton stripe top

My Red Magazine Photo Shoot: The Clothes - Part I

Last month I was part of a photo shoot for Red magazine. They had put a call out on Twitter for people to test detox diets. I tested the 4-day 'My Detox Diet' package which consisted of 4 days worth of specially balanced meals, which were designed to detox the body and help lose weight.

The magazine organised for a photographer to come down to Cardiff to take my photo for the magazine. If you know me at all, then you will know that I am not a big fan of having my photo taken and will generally try and hide at the back of any group photos that I am in. Therefore my friends thought that it was hilarious that I had volunteered myself to be part of a photo shoot.

I only had 6 days notice of the shoot, and was told that I'd have to style my self. This induced a bit of a "I've got nothing to wear" style crisis on my part and I sought advice from some of my favourite ladies on Twitter: Sam_Bottega, Donna Ida, and Penny. As three very stylish ladies who have been in a fair few photo shoots themselves, I knew that they would have plenty of sound advice. However, I was blown away, when Sam offered to lend me some pieces after we'd had a style consultation via a stream of Twitter DMs!

I was eagerly anticipating the delivery of the items to my office, but was ecstatic when the parcel arrived, and I discovered that not only had Sam sent me 4 jackets, 3 pairs of jeans, 4 tops, and a variety of accessories to style up the outfits, but she had also given me 2 sides of A4 of styling notes to help with outfit options. A fashion Fairy Godmother, if ever there was one!

Maison Scotch Tuxedo Jacket

Maison Scotch 'Chanel-style' Jacket

One Teaspoon Velvet Blazer

American Retro Corduroy Blazer

Sam sent me a great selection from a range of brands that she stocks in her boutique, Bottega, in Tarporley, Cheshire, which was recently selected as one of the Top 50 Boutiques outside London, by Stella magazine. I won't reveal which outfit I settled on for the shoot (to be blogged about in a future post), but I wanted to show the pieces that Sam sent me, as I loved them all, and it was great to discover some brands that were new to me. I didn't want this post to be too picture-heavy, so I am going to post the photos over two posts.

All for Eve Nail Polish

I noticed that I haven't done a nail polish post in a while, so thought that it was about time for another one.

Today's Nail of the Day is the 'all for eve' nail polish in 'Eve', created to raise money for the 'Eve Appeal', which raises funds for research into gynaecological cancer . 'all for eve' was set up by George Hammer, the man who brought brands such as Aveda, Urban Retreat and Ruby & Millie to the fore of the beauty industry in the UK. This was in response to the death of his sister in law to ovarian cancer in 2008.

If you have read my blog before you might remember that the 'all for eve' lipstick by Daniel Sandler is one of my favourite reds. Therefore I was really keen to try this red polish, which was created by nail guru extraordinaire, Sophy Robson, who is the lady behind well-known and trendsetting nail looks like the Giles Deacon 'Eek' nails. I am a big fan of red nail polish, and can never resist adding another one to my collection.

As well as looking very stylish, I found that the unusual curved shape of the bottle, and the textured lid helped to hold it when applying the polish.

The shape of the brush meant that the polish applied really smoothly and evenly. I needed two coats for full coverage, but it gave a lovely glossy finish.

I love this classic vibrant red polish and will definitely be repurchasing it. What's not to love about a brilliant beauty product that also raises funds for a great cause?

If you would like to try this, you can order it from All For Eve, Feel Unique, Zuneta and Urban Retreat Beautique for £10.50.