Friday 27 April 2012

jalouse


With something like 7000 words due this week for three separate uni assignments, I really should be essay writing right now.  But as per usual I have found myself procrastinating, and perusing blogs instead.

Since Bella is one of my favourite characters of all time (She has only the best decision to make-Edward or Jacob, sigh. Certainly way better than my current dilemma of which essay to start writing), Kristen is one of my unlikely style inspirations. Her grungy/teen angsty look is fun to incorporate into my wardrobe, and I like how she can rock her own individual style, plus look flawless in magazine spreads and on the red carpert.

Her lastest mag covers are for US Elle and the French magazine Jalouse. The styling in Jalouse is inspired by her upcoming movie On The Road, and I am especially loving the smoky eye! It is one make up trend that I can never get quite right, so I'm going to use these pics to inspire some experimenting of the best kind.


E xx




Kristen in the June issue of Elle





Thursday 26 April 2012

In Loving Dedication to Nail Polish

Since I'm currently supposed to be writing a 3000 word essay on the correlation between sport and national identity, I believe now is an appropriate time to compose a new entry as Ellese and I have neglected to do so this past week. 

Nail-painting is undeniably one of my all time favourite procrastination methods and thus it only makes sense to talk about it in my procrastination blog! Whilst it may seem trivial, nail polish is without doubt one of the seven wonders of the fashion world. One tiny bottle holds the power to completely increase the cuteness of your outfit and hence, your style in its entirety! Being a self confessed serial-nail polish painter, I own about 58 bottles between my sister, mum and I yet, never seem satisfied with our collection. Until recently however, when the Essie Nail Polish we bought online arrived in the mail. Not only are the bottles so aesthetically pleasing that it seems a crime to store them away in a makeup draw, the shades are so beautiful and unique that I want to wear a new colour a day! From the khaki green to the coral light pink, these babies are definitely worth purchasing, especially because the brushes make painting so simplistic and the polish stays on for at least a week!

On a completely unrelated  note, Fashion week is just around the corner, commencing Monday of next week. The Shop Til You Drop office is currently in a pre-Fashion Week frenzy, organising everything from car schedules transporting workers to and from the event and of course, live stream photo receiving so all the amazingness of the week can be captured and presented to all you hungry shoppers next issue. We will be eagerly awaiting to deliver you all the highlights next entry.


Xo B

Coachella


The music festival of all music festivals always seems to bring out the cutest outfits. I am just going to pretend it is not pouring with rain right now, and instead find some inspiration in these outfit choices. Enjoy!




Karlie Kloss and Cara Devinge







Vanessa Hudgens

XX E

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Avalon Adventure


On sunday we ventured off on a road trip to Avalon as a cute 'last day of mid-semester break' activity.
Despite waking up to a glorious sunny day only to be met by clouds frowning upon us on arrival, our spirits were soon to be lifted as we discovered the countless cute boutiques dispersed throughout the tiny beach suburb. The first one that caught our attention (merely due to being situated next to an enticing looking gelato store) was called Deesse. Much to the dismay of our time schedule and the owners of this tiny store, we ended up spending a good 45 minutes lost in a sea of amazing clothes and jewelry.

We are fortunate in the fact that we share all our clothes and therefore, are able to rationalise our expensive purchases by paying half each (it's basically like living in a permanent half price sale!!) However, this also implies we have to agree on everything we buy, which isn't always the case. Once getting over our first argument regarding Britt forgetting her keycard (standard), the items we finally  mutually agreed on were; a leather pleated skirt, a cream and navy knitted jumper, black velvet high-waisted shorts and a musty pink fluffy jacket. The skirt and shorts were justified via being "perfect for interning" however also totally appropriate for going out on those nights where you need a staple item to ignite an outfit. Moreover, we practically live in knits in winter and thus the jumper was obviously a must-have as we loved how its baggy without looking like we could probably fit another person in there! Finally,the fluffy jacket was an item of conflict but we figured it was one of those "if I don't buy it I'm going to regret and think about it for the rest of my life" garments. Nonetheless, we weren't entirely sure so we left to get an ice-cream to 'think about it' and unsurprisingly, our total lack of self control brought us back 15 mere minutes later to buy it.  We decided it'll be a nice statement piece to chuck on when going for coffee or embarking on further shopping adventures where the local sea breeze leaves us covered in goosebumps!

Moral of the story; it's worth checking out different suburbs and towns for the motive of shopping because you're almost guaranteed to find cute clothes you wont find back home! Furthermore, boutiques are ideal places to shop due to the uniqueness embedded within the clothing. This makes each purchase so much more worth it via significantly lessening the chance of an awkward matching outfit moment!

xo E & B


Britts new hair in our new jumper!



Monday 16 April 2012

Magazine Love



Just a small portion of my magazine collection...



Buying magazines is my guilty pleasure- I find myself spending way too much on them every month without fail! My collection is thus evergowing because I simply cannot bear to throw out any of my favourite titles, despite having less and less space to store them. Just a bit of a picture: I have every single Teen Vogue cover since 2006. I treat them like books and never let myself rip out any pages, no matter how much I have to fight the urge to put them on my wall!

My very favourite titles are SHOP, Teen Vogue, Nylon and Russh, which are aesthetically pleasing and offer nice little worlds to escape into. Ultimately, magazines are a cultural asset and continually remind me exactly why working in the field has been my dream since forever.

Here are some of my favourite pages from the latest issues of Rushh and Nylon. Go out and buy them!

e xx

Mag timeeee





daisies in RUSHH


LOVING the star cut out crop top!

Paper Crowns in Nylon

Lily Collins gets to date Taylor Lautner and then star in this fairytale inspired NYLON shoot....tres unfair!

Colour Blocking love!




Friday 13 April 2012

A Daily Dose of Inspiration...











xx E

Marquee Night Club Evaluation



Last night my friends and I ventured to the new nightclub 'Marquee' to say adios amigos to our dear friend Madeleine who is embarking upon an overseas trip for a few weeks. After much hype and plenty of chatter regarding sixty dollar entry fees and five hour waiting lines, I was pleasantly surprised to breeze at 10pm to only wait in line for five minutes. Better yet, it was free entry due to being on a VIP guest list as opposed to the $20 everyone else paid, which even then, is pretty reasonable.  


 Decor: My initial impression was feeling submerged into a vacuum of Americanized culture. The club immediately projected a Hollywood style ambience, especially via the display windows of showgirls, creating a mysterious atmosphere despite challenging my feminist ideology. The 'bathroom chill lounge' functioned as a nice form of escapism from the frenzy of the dance floor, featuring a legit bar, expansive views of the harbour, more showgirl windows and basically everything except enough toilets for everyone- it even had hairspray for those needing a bit of a pick me up after dancing their curls out! Finally, the lighting of the club was the perfect kind that makes everybody look flawless and the binary opposite of seedy/classy created a pleasant equilibrium.


♥ Music: The music on the main dance floor was a fusion of RnB, pop and house, hence making it slightly inconsistent and unpredictable to dance to, especially for the uncoordinated like myself. Nonetheless, it was alright and I guess the variety accommodated to the desires of most of the crowd. It's totally a good club to attend if you seek to have a ‘party’ night as the dance floor was packed the entire time. However, the drinks are rather expensive with $17-$25 beverages so pres might be a good idea if you aren’t a high roller!

♥ Crowd: Whilst every second girl was dressed in a tight mini dress and a few overtly fake Moschino belts were sighted, it is difficult to generalise the crowd in its totality. The people, similar to the music, were quite inconsistent, probably because the club is new so obviously all types of people were there to check it out. Moreover, it wasn't unbearably packed inside so we didn't have to awkwardly dance like ganga sardines, however, one must take into consideration that it was a Friday, which in sydney, is a less popular in contrast to saturday.


Overall, our post-event evaluation was that it was pretty good so we would probably go again, but of course, the amount of fun had always functions in accordance to the people you’re there with (cute I know). Despite my fickleness hours prior stressing over what to wear and my disappointment that I didn't run in to Joe Jonas after his apparent appearance there last weekend, it was a fun night!
Hope everyone is having a good weekend; I’m off to figure out what the heck to wear to a circus 21st tonight.




Have a wonderful trip Maddi 

 Xo b 

Thursday 12 April 2012

The power of hair.



Whilst this is theoretically a fashion blog and not just a painful insight into my inner turmoils,  I’m going to nonetheless utilise it as a vehicle to express my current hair issues.

Ultimately, I’m in a hair rut. The length is awkward, the colour is dull and every time a Pantene commercial comes on my sanity is comprised as I sit wondering why my hair doesn't blow seductively when I walk or shine like strands crafted by angels. But in all seriousness, I’ve tried treatments, new shampoos, conditioning three times per shower and all the wives tales but NOTHING works and it's basically now just way too dry for life.

At risk of sounding superficial, I truly believe a good hairstyle culminates into a sense of self-actualization, which is evidently important as according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs such is totally necessary to live an all-encompassing, fulfilling life.  It just seems that all my friends lately are so confident and beautiful and whether they are rocking pixy cuts or lengthy locks, their glossy, shiny hair just gives them that extra exuberance; I WANT THAT EXUBERANCE.  Conversely, hair is most definitely a reflection of ones style so before you start suggesting I rant to a beauty blog, I’m going to justify the existence of this entry by stating; hair is indeed a fashion statement. Not only does it undoubtedly reflect ones sense of style, but the way you do your hair can completely add to or take away from an outfit. For example, what is the point of wearing a backless dress if a sleek, high ponytail does not accompany it? Furthermore, a plain outfit can look repetitive, but complimenting it by wearing your hair out can take it from plain and boring to simple and chic. However, due to my current indisputable awkward length hair, I'm constantly met with nuisances such as too-short pony tails that look like whale spouts and buns that just don't cooperate with me.

Whilst on the topic of hair frustrations, I can’t possibly fail to express my annoyance regarding BOYS and their idiotic hair decisions. I may be biased by my obsession with long hair on guys, but I can’t help but notice this horrible cycle the male species endure. It seems that WHENEVER a boys hair grows to that cute ‘I just got out of bed and yes it's naturally messy and I’m basically now great at life’ length, THEY SHAVE IT OFF!!!! This is terribly frustrating and most commonly leads to their physical demise as an individual (until it grows back again of course). I’ve had so many legitimate arguments with my close male friends regarding such universal boy stupidity to the point where I’m pretty sure they start wanting to shave their hair purely to spite me. But seriously, unless you totally own the shaven look (and if so, then good on you go for it) Do. Not. Shave. Your. Head. Not only does hair individualize your style, it makes you look cute even when you’re being annoying and gives you something to flick Justin Bieber style in an awkward situation. It is beyond me why anyone would consider shaving it. 

So anyway, i've decided I'm going to get all my split ends cut off next time I get paid and spontaneously colour my hair in hope such will lead to a sense of self actualization. I'll be sure to enlighten all you, clearly very interested, responders when said event happens.

Xo B