Finding my own style | Fashion

I wanted to write a post about my own style even though I am definitely not a style blogger, I just think as I've gotten a little older I know what I love to wear and I'm probably not gonna change. Just for transparency, some of the items in this post have been gifted to me from a brand called Fashion world they have many brands on site which means they offer a large range of clothing sizes and something for everyone whether it's ankle boots like mine or sandals for summer or simplistic back packs or cute dresses, they offer a diverse range. 




For as a long as I remember I have always loved wearing black, it probably stems from my angsty teen years where I listened to Linkin Park non stop but actually this period in my life definitely influenced some of my style choices for sure! As I got older of course it changed a little and my style stayed black but the items of clothing were a little more grown up than band tees and spikey pyramid belts (even though band tees are still a thing now). Don't get me wrong, I do have some items in my closet that aren't black but my standard every day wear pretty dark. When I moved to Italy I started thinking differently about my clothes, you'd think that being in 36 degree heat every day would mean that I dressed in light shades, I definitely didn't ! I kept with my everyday black skinnies and a relaxed fit vest or shirt or black dress and you know what, not a single colleague batted an eyelid because half of them were wearing black too. In the UK as soon as the sun comes out even for a fraction people have their legs out and they are wearing a flourish of colours and pastels but that just isn't me. I have lost count of the items of clothing I have bought thinking "oh I must wear something bright" worn barely once and then sent it off to a charity shop which is obscenely wasteful. 

Every time I was asked by people at work "why do you only wear black? Do you even own any other colours other than black?" I would just make a joke out of it and be like "it's just my aesthetic" and we'd laugh at how obnoxious I sounded but the fact was it's actually kind true! I had changed the narrative so now people instead go "oh that bag suits your aesthetic!" or "that's very you" which I really like. I love wearing head to toe black, it makes me feel confident! I know that 80% of the week I will be in black skinny jeans, black ankle boots and an oversized black top (I actually prefer the term "sack like" top) and it makes life so much easier! I tend to go for tops that are 2 or 3 sizes too big for me because I like to keep my body shape hidden, I mean I'm not quite in love with my body at the moment but even when I was a skinny thing in Italy I still liked wearing stuff too big for me, it's a comfort thing for me and I like the way slim jeans with long baggy tops look on me, sometimes it does make me look bigger than I am but I just prefer the overall look which is what I am more interested in.

I am pretty tall but I still like wearing high ankle boots, I like to seem longer because it balances out my overall body proportions and this often makes me either the same height or taller than some guys but I don't mind at all. I will wear my ankle boots until they have holes in and then I replace them for something similar if not the same as I had before, I always have two on rotation high ones and flat ankle boots because sometimes the heeled once do hurt my feet a little especially if I have been running around a work event all day (!!)

I understand why so many people buy into trends, we have brand like Zara making clothes that are basically from the run way for a fraction of the cost and I completely get it but I cant help but think that the constant need for fast fashion is having a more detrimental affect on the planet that we can even understand right now! I wear clothes for me and no one else, my style is simple and easy to wear, my clothes can be worn in the office or worn on the weekend which leaves me with a curated wardrobe of only things I love and that's all that matters to me. 

Why Real Fur Has Become Mainstream | Fashion

Image by tokatlian on Pixabay

As you may have read in my recent post I am back and now I will be writing more conversational pieces of content and I thought that my first post should be something I have become increasingly aware of which is how real fur trims have become mainstream and I also wanted to share a few ways to tell the difference between fake and real fur.




I'm sure I'm not the only person to notice the increase in coats/jackets that have "fur" trims or even on hats, it's a very popular trend at the moment.Quite often I find myself standing on a train platform or walking down Oxford Street and notice everyone wearing these jackets and hats but when I started to look a little closer I realised that at least half of these "fur" trims are actual real fur and it just kind of goes unnoticed. I think there are a few reasons but I'm going to start quite frankly and honestly and put a lot of blame on Canada Goose. They have almost singlehandedly pioneered in bringing the puffer jacket with a fur trim back to the forefront of people's minds, personally I am all for a faux fur trim on a coat but these guys use coyote fur on the duck down padded jackets and I'm not sure if you are aware a lot of the time the animals are alive when they have their fur removed, I'm not going to go any further into that side of things because there is a plethora of information on the web if you really wanted to dig into it further. Canada Goose is a brand that at least doesn't hide the fact they use real fur, they know it's controversial but they do offer jackets without fur and, in some respects, at least I can acknowledge this brand chooses to use fur and I can choose not to buy from them.

In recent months however there was the Boohoo real fur scandal where this fashion brand was selling items labelled as "faux fur" when in reality it was real fur which was likely to have come from a rabbit. Boohoo aren't the only brand to make this error though, BBC's Watchdog did an investigation which actually highlighted brands like Amazon, TK Maxx and items sold through Ebay where also selling real fur (dog and raccoon) as faux fur. I mean, if retailers can't even get this correct, how are consumers supposed to know the difference? Even when looking into London markets, a lot of these cute pom pom hats are made from real fur and sold at such a cheap price it's easy to assume that they couldn't be real fur.  So on the one hand you have brands confidently selling fur and being honest but on the other you have brands who "genuinely" don't realise they are selling real fur, it really isn't surprising that fur is so mainstream now.

I think people should be made aware of how to tell the difference between real fur and fake fur but there are some really simple ways to identify real vs fake and surprisingly cost is not one of the factors, real fur comes incredibly cheap so don't be lulled into thinking "it's too cheap to be real". I often can tell real fur apart from fake because of the movement of it being worn on the person or the way the breeze catches the fur and makes the strands move in different ways, you just don't get the same movement with fake fur, that said I do have a keen eye for details so many may not be able to tell the difference between the two. The most effective and quick way to check whether the fur is real or not is to separate the fur so you can see the base, if it's fake you will see like a webbing type of material, if it is real it will be attached to skin and look like a smooth surface. It's also said that real fur strands tend to taper to a point at the end whereas fake fur has a more blunt cut. 

I am for personal choice and understand some people and cultures are happy to wear real fur, almost like leather but I wonder how many of the people actually realise that the items they are wearing are real fur?  I suspect it's less than you think. 

Short stories | Books

I have always enjoyed reading and love a good thriller but I just feel recently I can't find book to keep me engaged the whole way through, I have lost count of the book that are only half read but the problem is I really, really want to read. 

I'm not sure if I mentioned this but I got a kindle for my birthday which is so unbelievably handy because it's very lightweight and silm for my commute to work, I often carry small(ish) bags that I definitely couldn't put a book in. Also I have found that the kindle editions of the books are far cheaper, most of them are 99p so I make a massive cost saving. This meant I really got into reading on my commute because I had a specific amount of time to read the novels and I wouldn't have to worry about it. But when I was at home I realised that I do actually miss holding an actual book, I'm the girl who likes to break the spines of a book which I know is a little controversial but I just do.I was casually browsing Daunt Books on Marylebone when I noticed a few collections of short stories and thought this might be a really easy way to get into reading again.but when I am at home I get distracted too easily and some books really demand your attention so I struggle to get properly into them.

Admittedly I picked up the Season of Spirits purely for the cover and then noticed it was a series of short stories. The book is brilliant some really wonderful ghost stories but they are older so they a certain level of creepiness that modern books lack these days because it's all so graphic and in your face where as older stories develop and eerie feel in a slow brooding way. It was absolutely fantastic and I will actually lend it to my dad to read because I know he will enjoy it too. The next book I bought was Sleep No More, this one is a little bit more a slow burn, it's a collection of murder stories but there are a couple which are pretty good!

I was reading an article online recently when it mentioned adult book from Roald Dahl, when I say adult I don't mean adult adult, I just mean not children's books that Dahl is so famous for. I have only read maybe 2 or 3 of the short stories from Kiss Kiss and they are actually quite dark and the first half are all about wives who get their own back, in different ways, on their own husbands. The second part is just a selection are really weird stories but very good. I actually downloaded this my kindle because the previous two short story collections really opened my eyes. 

I think if like me you struggle to get into a book or you are busy and have to keep putting it down, then you really should explore short story collections. 

Back to Blogging | Life

And all of a sudden it was 11 months later and I am writing again for the first time. It's crazy to think that after all this time I am back and I actually want to blog! You could tell in my most recent posts something was a little off, I was kind falling out of love with it all and I just couldn't find the motivation. Sure I used my brand new home as an excuse and it was a good one because I got so out of my routine I struggled to form it again.

I would love to say I have been off travelling the world but the reality is, we got a new home, we got a dog, my job has been a massive struggle mentally and nothing felt good! In fact, I got really down and the crazy thing is I didn't need to be, I had all these wonderful things in my life but I just couldn't be bothered to write anything or commit any real time into blogging. I felt like I had to be constantly mindful of what I was saying because social media is such a minefield these days and if you say anything you're seen as negative or you are showing off, often you simply cannot win. This completely made me turn my back on blogging because I just couldn't see the point in writing anything.  

Recently I have thought often about my blog because I need something to distract my mind a little however I think I want to change my blog into conversational pieces. I think I am done with writing about beauty stuff, I want to use my blog as an outlet I can have a discussion on which hopefully someone will find interesting at the very least. Notice how I am saying "I think" a lot because in all honesty I don't really know how I want to evolve my blog, that said every now and then you may see the odd beauty post from me because it's still a massive interest of mine. But I don't want to get into a habit of constantly buying new things because it's all a bit unnecessary isn't it? I think blogging is a great thing but often people can get swept up into buying items/products they think they need just because they need content and I just don't want my blog to be about products anymore, I want to have a real voice again and I won't get that from writing about a bloody lipstick. 

I want my blog to become simplified, I don't want to post things because I feel like I just have to, I want to post things that I am genuinely interested in or passionate about, I may even start writing more commentary on the retail industry because it's something so ingrained in me that I definitely can talk a lot about but I know this may lead to people not even wanted to read it anymore, but as long as I am happy writing again then surely that's all that matters. I never started this blog to have a career carved out of it, I just wanted to write so I think I will.

Anyway, that's enough talking basically I'm back and I have some new content and I hope I'm back for a while at least!

Work FOMO | Lifestyle

Ok so we have all heard the term FOMO right? It's that feeling you get when you don't really wanna go out but then all your pals are going out and you don't want to miss out on the things that might happen when you aint there. It's that anxiety you get when you think something else is happening in your absence and usually it's a term that is used are friends or social gatherings or events even. I get FOMO a lot but my problem is't necessarily related to my pals but it's actually associated with work. I get this overwhelming sense that I am missing out on too many things which actually limits the amount of time I take off work and certain days I choose to take off.