Autumn capsule inspiration: Colour Board

When I start to look at my next seasonal wardrobe I always start with a colour scheme. Usually this will be one or two particular colours and then it will be what blends and works well with those colours.

These are the filler pieces that will fit around my great key items and basics, and add that fantastic flourish.

This season for me I think will be about Blush and Bordeaux, or pink and burgundy if you prefer.
These two colours are fantastic with each other as well as navy, black cream and khaki.

The first thing that gave me inspiration was actually this beauty: the style, the colours and the detail all made me swoon. Esprit seem to have some rather wonderful pieces that fit nicely with my whole seasonal colour palette

It was then that I looked back through my summer capsule and realised I'd really quite like to continue down the bohemian style road i've been walking of late. It's easy, it's relaxed and really suits my way of life.

There's no point filling my capsule with trousers and office attire when i sit at home infront of my laptop most days.
Making it work for you is absolutely key

Undoubtedly the capsule will still hold some standard stripes and blue jeans as these are inevitable go-to's of mine, and a sort of mum-uniform quite often. But for the days when I want to be styled, I'm thinking of the above pieces.

Shall we take a closer look?

Find these Here & Here

The Blush sweater was another major pull for me on the colour scheme, paired with an ever present (in the winter that is) khaki parker. Casual yet put together. 

Flares and Tee

The flares are back big time for me. I love how flattering they are on us ladies curves! Have you tried any flares? I highly recommend. The tee falls beautifully in to my colour scheme also, and a bargain. Shall make a great layering piece too.

Boots & Corduroy Skirt

For me a pair of mid-low heeled ankle boots are absolutely imperative. I live in them. I like a pair i can shop, school run and look smart in. These from New Look really look the part.

The corduroy skirt is for me a casual take o the black faux leather a-line skirt.. now this could be just me, but sometimes in my small little town in the sticks, wearing a faux leather skirt in the light of day looks a tad over dressed. Never one to be terribly deterred by standing out at such, but also choosing to be comfortable is important to me. This a-line skirt I think fits perfectly in to my day-wear category without being to out there for the small town folk that see me tottering about, doing my shopping.

People Tree Dress

Esprit Dress

Add in a couple of eye catching yet, re-mixable dresses and you've got the basis of a great capsule working out for you.

I love the simplicity of both these pieces and how the will work with a Parker or a biker jacket, which makes them perfect capsule dresses.

With my colour scheme down, I just have a few key pieces to tie down and I will be bringing the key pieces instalment to the blog very soon.

So, colour scheme.. what do you think?

If you were to pick yours what would it be?

Summer Skirts (& #Passion4Fashion Link up)

I wanted to start this Fridays link up with a heartfelt BIG thank you to all who visit here week after week and join in the link-up. I was just scanning through some old posts and seeing hundreds of your beautiful faces smiling back at me  really, really made me so happy. It's lovely to see you all and i honestly can't thank you enough for swinging by here, if its every week or every now and again, THANK YOU!

We've actually experienced a few days of summer here in Wales.. I know! What a treat. It's meant that I've actually gotten to wear some of the pieces I had planned in my Summer Capsule!

This particular outfit was planned from way back in May but we just haven't had enough of the nice weather to wear it. I fell for the skirt instantly, knowing it would be great dressed up or down. The soft aztec print is super versatile and with the pattern leading vertically  its a nice flattering print for my bottom half, lengthening rather than widening.. which is always a bonus.

Outfit Details:

Skirt: Warehouse bought back in May

Denim Jacket: Super old

Cami: Topshop

Heels: Next, last year

Clutch: Yosa

Necklace: Yosa

So anyway, enough about me. How are you?

Are you enjoying summer or looking forward to Autumn/fall?

An InLinkz Link-up

#30Wears Campaign: Be an Outfit Repeater (&Passion4Fashion Linkup)

Since becoming a 'Less is More' type of person when it comes to my wardrobe and being a capsule wardrobe advocate it led me to the road of 'Slow Fashion' and then to the #30Wears campaign. This was started by Livia Firth(Colin Firth's wife) who is creative Director of Eco-Age, and goes hand in hand with the documentary The True Cost. If you haven't watched this (its available on netflix and lots of formats) I highly recommend giving it a watch. Its definitely an eye opener.

Watching the documentary was thought provoking.
As a youngster we didn't have lots of money. I had my little Saturday job at a hairdressers and earned my way to buying myself the odd top or skirt. Then in the years when I started going out-out I had one a pair of jeans and one denim mini skirt (which was all the rage back in the day) and just 4 tops which I rotated.
We would be out every Friday and Saturday night, living it up and having a blast. Me and my bestie Charlie would sometimes clothes swap our tops just to mix it up.
Every now and again, like special occasions, we would possibly buy a new top to go with our existing well worn bottoms ( I remember I had a pair of super low rise DKNY jeans that i bought and paid off my mums catalogue.. I bloody loved those things, what with my washboard stomach at the time.. ahhh those were the days,lol)

Going out and having an absolute ball was what was important to us. The emphasis was never on the clothes. Yes we liked to look good, but we were never afraid to wear the same thing again and again. It was just the done thing.

Fast forward to today. Every day a new outfit can be expected. If you look at teens these days, they're being brought in to a consumer driven market, telling them they need a different outfit every time they show their faces.

Not only are the impacts of this devastating (I will leave you watch The True Cost to see why, otherwise we will never get through todays post as it's already of epic proportions) But also detrimental to girls and women. I've seen teens stressed at being judged and mocked for wearing the same thing. Serious anxiety over outfit repeats. Why is this happening?

So I am pledging to start wearing my clothes more and being proud of my outfit repeats.
#30Wears is a brilliant concept to get women to be proud of wearing their clothes often.
Slowing fashion down and shopping more sustainably.

Image via Catching The Glow

I bought this dress at the end of last summer. It was ALL OVER social media and I just loved it, the paisley print, the bright red and the little pompom finish, just totally got me, hook, line and sinker.
But since wearing it once for an outfit post last year I have not worn it again. Why? I have no frickin' clue. Its lovely, I love it! Its not easily re-mixable as its such a standalone piece and therefore I may have thought it un-blog worthy as I've already worn it on the blog.. But, ITS SO PRETTY!
This dress has so much more wear in it, why not wear it again and again.

I wore this yesterday and I had so many compliments.

I am pledging to wear this dress more. I am indeed pledging to wear all my pieces more (which I can hand on heart say I do with my capsule wardrobe, as you don't have a choice but to wear them!).
I'm thinking about putting this dress in to my autumn capsule as it would transcend in to cooler months so well, picture some knee high boots and a chunky cardigan.. Nice right?

Create the look:
Dress: Monsoon Last year. This years equivalent 
Or an investment piece from Ulla Johnson would work so so well, look at the second row, the red dress is beautiful and would work so well for lots of wears.

Sandals: Next Last year
Bag; Donkeys years old
Necklace: Yosa

What are your thoughts on #30Wears ? I'd love to know what you think!

An InLinkz Link-up

Beautiful Products by Green People #crueltyfree

Since starting on the road to more natural, organic and Cruelty Free beauty products I have found a number of wonderful beauty brands and products that look and feel great on my skin.
Its so nice to know that what I'm putting in and on my body are the best possible products for a healthy genuine life. No animal cruelty, not masses of harsh chemical crap, just wonderful clean ingredients with equally great ethics also... S'no bad thing right?

Green People was one of the brands that I found on Twitter about a month ago. I was immediately drawn to their website which offered exactly what I was seeking for my beauty regime.

After chatting to their lovely correspondent about what I was looking for in my products she made some suggestions and sent some over for me to try. And am I glad she did (SO so glad)

Lets take a closer look shall we:

The first thing I noticed was the packaging. Beautiful in simplicity, no fussiness, minimal clean lines. Love that already.
I was sent
The tinted moisturiser
The Soft Skin Buff
The 24hr Brightening Fluid
The Volumising Mascara
And Eye cream (not pictured, as i stupidly left it upstairs)

Each product comes with a clear guide to how organic the product is and what is in it, perfect for newbies like me who are just embarking on a more natural journey.
The scent to each is fresh but not overpowering with notes of lemon grass.

I'm going to start with possibly my most favourite product.

The 24hr Brightener Moisturiser(Cruelty free & Vegan)

This product blew me away.. And I don't say that lightly. I have tried A LOT of products over the years and none have worked like this one has for me.

I have fairly oily skin, yet its dull at the same time. Most Brightening Fluids make me look greasy rather than glowy, resulting in an oil slick look with my makeup sliding off my face.

This does not do that.. AT ALL.

It brightens and leaves my skin, dewy and with a real glow I've never experience before. I have to say its a fabulous product.

I apply this every morning, lately I've even just been going out with just this and some bronzer on as it creates such a wonderful finish to the skin. But if I know I'm in need of coverage this is my first layer, I then will put the Tinted moisturiser over the top.

The Tinted DD Moisturiser (Cruelty Free & Vegan) is just like a BB cream (but with Daily Defence built in) with a light evening-effect coverage, which is perfect for Summer. My skin has quite an uneven skin tone, so this creates a nice base for me. Beautifully soft on the skin, again not greasy (yay) and has Spf 15 in it which is a definite plus point. This is all I've worn for the past month, it's hard to explain, but it just leaves my skin feeling the best it has in years. Soft, supple and not smothered in product.

The Soft Skin Buff Exfoliator (Cruelty Free & Vegan) is super gentle. Free from marine damaging plastic microbeads (nasty things) scrubbing at your skin, this is just a gentle polish which leaves your skin feeling wonderfully buffed, clean and free of any dead skin or debris from the day. With a hint of orange it feels refreshing on the skin, I like to use it in the shower and i always feel like my face is left super soft after usage. 

Finally for today (as I shall keep the eye serum for my next post)

The Organic Volumising Mascara( Cruelty Free & Vegetarian, due to Beeswax for water resistance).

Prior to recieving this mascara I had purchased another Cruelty Free Vegan from a different brand. It was ok, but my main problem was that at the end of the day I had to fight with my lashes to get it off. Now I hate that. At the end of the day I'm tired and need as minimal effort as possible to be made before dropping my bones in to bed. 

The Green People mascara was completley different. It goes on well, no clumps due to its plastic wand, it gives length and volume, no smudges under the eye through wear, it stays out as long as I need it to and it comes off easily at night time.. Great all rounder.