HELLO Yellow: Inspiration

You know when something just grabs you and you think WOW, that is a look that i love. Inspiration hits you like a bolt of fashion lightening and you think to yourself, this is the most perfect spring smart/casual, stylish yet quite wearable look that i must have.

Yep. That's what happened when i saw this stunning outfit over at Shopbop.

THIS LOOK:

Tibi Yellow Top

Black Tassle Earrings these in the image are by Misa

Similar jeans: Julia Straight Leg by Paige

I absolutely adore everything about this outfit, the shade of yellow, the cut of the jeans, the contrast with the earrings and the tiny hit of teal with the shoes.. Styling at it's very best.
But at £300 for a top, alas it's not meant to be for me ( my kids need feeding, like all the time;)
But that doesn't mean i can't take inspiration from this look and recreate on a (much)smaller budget. 

Now the thing with yellow is there are so many different hues, shades and tones which is good really as yellow can be a tricky colour to wear. My advise would be try a few shades out and see how they sit with your skin tone and hair colour. I know blondes find this colour a difficult one, but try an ochre or a mustardy yellow for a contrast between hair and top.

The yellow top hunt has commenced...

Topshop Jacquard Top

My first stop was this at Topshop after seeing it on Suzie of Hello October's IG feed whilst she attended London Fashion Week. She styled this with a black biker jacket, distressed jeans and red shoes.. It was a gorgeous striking look. This blouse would work well through spring summer too.

Topshop Frill Sleeve Jumper

A little knitted crop jumper up next. Very cute and would work great with a midi skirt due to its cropped waist hem. Or high waisted jeans would work well too. 

Autograph laser cut blouse

Darker ochre shade from M&S now, the lazer cut detail is gorgeous and i love the look with smart black ankle grazer trousers.

Dobby Lace Blouse

A little more relaxed with a hint of boho, add some blue kickflare jeans for a more modern look.

Cold Shoulder from Asos

The styling of this creates a relaxed fun look which makes the top look less dressy (which i like!) But it could also work tremendously well with some black coated skinny jeans and some red pointed heels.

Asos V neck Blouse

A little more dressy but a great out-out blouse. Scrape hair back and wear with faux leather or skinny jeans.

So yellow, its usually a divider.. Love or Loathe?

I dug out my only yellow item and gave it a whirl this week and really enjoyed the look. 

February Love List

Well another month gone with a blink of the eye. Looking back on on the past month i definitely improved my happiness levels by setting some goals and sticking to them. January was rough. February was all about finding my happiness once again and i definitely feel that was accomplished.
So Feb you've been grand, lets hope i can keep up the momentum in March.

So things I've loved this month are:

1.BEAUTY

Finding out that Charlotte Tilbury is Cruelty Free and that an extensive amount of their products are Vegan really blew me away this month. How Wonderful (with a capital W!). Finding great cruelty free and vegan makeup has been a great journey so far and I've found some products that i love, but I admit to missing some of my luxe items (Chanel i'm looking at you, come on and move over to the cruelty free side won't you??!). I've heard great things about the renowned makeup artist's range and so I'm planning on picking out a few pieces next week when I'm down in the grand old city of Cardiff.
I may treat myself to this gorgeous set and I'm also desperate to try the Hot Lips lipstick range.
Exciting!

2. DATES WITH MY LOVE

Yep after a pretty long and tortuous January where everything that could go wrong did, and then some more, I decided to start making happy plans. Life will always throw you curve balls but I find I'm much better at coping with them if I've had some happy things in place or planned.
So day dates with my husband have now become a regular thing. As parents to quite a big brood we find ourselves going along with life day to day being swept up in the rat race, so for us to take a day to just spend together has proven to be pretty fantastic.
This month we went to see The Commitments in the Bristol Hippodrome which i loved (the husband not so much.. he's not really a show type of guy😄) It was filled with fun soul music and Irish banter that made me giggle. We also managed to squeeze in a gorgeous Gluten Free Vegan meal at 1847 which Salvatore declared to be the best vegan restaurant meal he'd ever eaten. High praise indeed.
It was absolutely delectable and if you're in Bristol any time soon I would highly recommend,even if you're not vegan!

3. FASHION: Coats

I've always had a thing for coats, i think its because we have such long cold winters and plus i like variety i guess. So when i saw this one on super sale in the shade of colour i'd been after for YEARS, well i simply had to have it. It has a huge reduction and is just gorgeously oversized and cosy. I've barely stopped wearing it of late (if you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed;). But I also have my gorgeous Yellow beauty from Laura Ashley too. To level things out I've recently sold 3 coats and given 2 others to new homes, so i feel pretty happy about my new coat situation.

Laura Ashley Yellow Jacket and La Redoute Green Coat

4. SHOPPING: Sales!

Shopbop are having one of their amazing make-a-purchase worthy sales.

I like to shop savvy for the season ahead with these wonderful savings. I currently have in my virtual basket:

A classic pair of Levi jeans, thinking of trialling some dungarees/overalls (thoughts please?) I really love the Blank Denim ones and they're a great price with discount, and finally some gorgeous red Superga sneakers (the white and star print are dreamy though too...hmmm decisions).

5.READS: Happy

On my journey to living a happier life I recently bought Fearne Cotton's new book Happy. This book contains lots of ideas, advice and little ways to put pen to therapeutic paper to help your brain process what it's going through. I haven't completed any of the gentle exercises or filled in the book as I've been going a long (I almost feel like it's a shame to soil the pages with my scruffy writing as its so beautifully presented)  but i've been mentally taking on board some of the ideas and conceptions of maintaining happiness. I would highly recommend this book for if things seem especially tough and you need a reminder of how you can get back on your happy track. I bought this at a time when I was feeling low and just reading it made me feel like I was helping to heal my mind. It felt nice to know that the author had been through tough times herself and from that can now help others with advice that she picked up along her journey.

Just writing these monthly love lists makes me feel really happy, its a lovely way to recap the good points of the month.

So my lovelies, what have you loved in February? Any great makeup/clothing finds?
Any nice dates or time with family that stood out for you?
Do let me know in the comments as reading what made you smile spreads the happiness to here!

Stripes FTW (& #Passion4Fashion Linkup)

 When in doubt: Stripes. This is like my life motto, ok maybe not my life motto, if i doubt my parenting skills i don't suddenly paint my son stripey, but in general outfits and less important things: Stripes!
If left to my own devices and had to accountability of daily outfit pics (so y'know, real life) i would probably wear stripes every, single day. Yep stripe fanatic over here. My first thought each morning when choosing an outfit is usually stripes, but then once my brain kicks in I often diversify and try different things, but on the days when the old grey matter isn't quite kicking in to action, you will find me perfectly happy in stripes.
Stripe dresses for me are the most lazy items to wear, no other brain power necessary (i.e bottoms) you're sorted in one easy hit! As soon as i saw this Masion Scotch dress, i unequivocally knew it would be mine. The cheeky little lips logo made it even more endearing.
And so the purchase was made and the outfit easily created with the help of my two go two pieces: OTK boots and Biker jacket. Bish bash bosh... Sorted. I added in the little tie chocker to make me look, y'know, a little fancy pants, but really and truly no effort was made. I hope this doesn't offend you 😉
Haha no but really, this dress really is dreamy. Its slouch and clingy in ALL the right places. it can be kind ruffled up to make it shorter or pull down to make it just on the knee. My most favourite thing is how it isn't clingy to the midriff, which is just music to this mum's ears.. or err.. tummy.
So yes, dress love once again, and how great it will be come spring with some trainers/sneaker and a backpack. Perfect stripey transitional wear!


Side note: Don't even ask whats going on with my hair at the moment... I had an idea, it was carried out by a professional, i left liking it, 3 days later i attempted to dye over it myself.. it's left me with multicoloured., and not in a supposed to be this way-way. I'm just running with it for now. I'm sure my hairdresser will kill me when she next see's me in March, and rightfully so. As long as she can sort it some how, she can beat me with the hairbrush as much as she wants..
So excuse the hair for now.. shall obviously keep you posted!

Outfit details:
Blank Denim Biker Jacket
Scotch & Soda/Maison Scotch dress
Leopard print bag
OTK Boots

What is your go-to favourite style? Me and striped will forever be in love i think!

An InLinkz Link-up

Jumpsuits and Nikes ( & #Passion4Fashion Linkup)

 Over the course of a couple of months i hunted high and low for a black jumpsuit. The idea appealed greatly to me as it looks 'put together' yet they can be infinitely comfy(given the right size and shape) and, being black, really are a blank canvas to remix in lots of different ways.  So when super blogger Catherine featured hers recently (she has two: the orange and the burgundy, both are divine on her) and mentioned they were on sale, well it only took me a hop and as skip over to La Redoute to purchase the black one.
And yep, it is sublimely comfy.
(I went for my normal size 10 but would say it runs a little large, but for jumpsuit comfort purposes i would choose large over wedgie-inducing-small any day!)
Add in a pair of your favoruite sneakers/trainers and you have definitely qualified for the Comfort Olympics. Great thing is you can venture out looking preetty stylish and yet slub out watching netflix and still be comfy. Now that is the gold medal of outfits if you ask me.
I'm still crushing on the other 3 items that mainly make this outfit: The burgundy Nikes, The scarf and the Biker jacket.. I don't think i could live without any of them right now. They are literally like my clothing children that need me and i need them... I just took this somewhere weird didn't i? I am in a weird mood (too much coffee does that).
Sooo yes. Comfy and stylish always equals happy me. And this outfit i forecast, will be on repeat for the foreseeable, just change up the shoes (begrudgingly) and the scarf and jacket and there is a number of different outfits to be made. Blank canvas pieces are quite simply the best to have in a capsule wardrobe.

Outfit details:
La Redoute Jumpsuit (on sale and in multiple colours)
Rebecca Minkoff Bag but love the Anya Hindmarch here too
Burgundy Nikes
Blank Denim Biker Jacket
Ichi Scarf

What clothing item would get your gold medal for comfort and style?

An InLinkz Link-up