More wardrobe investing

I read an article that said that "investing" in your wardrobe is a load of rubbish, because clothes don't appreciate in value. (Except Birkins.) But that's rubbish, because if it enriches you then it's already an investment in your happiness. So with that in mind, here are some things I've bought.

So after my "I don't know what to put on my bottom half if it's not jeans" post, I went on a mission to find some other stuff to wear. I decided on one pair of pants and one skirt for starters. Yesterday, I found my pants.



They're from David Lawrence, which is fast becoming my go-to place for pants. My last three pairs of jeans have been from there too. They fit really, really well. (However, they're usually about 3cm too long in the leg. If you're reading this, David Lawrence designers, could you do me a solid and make a Slightly Shorter size? I'm tired of hemming pants.) The wide leg on these is very figure-flattering. They make me feel quite feminine because they're sort of masculine - they're my Katherine Hepburn pants. The fabric is a swishy herringbone pattern:



They came with a belt. Usually I find free belts with pants to be sort of lame, but this one I like quite a bit. I wore these to work today and they were quite widely admired. Win! (By the way, the way I arranged them in the photo makes it look like I have one leg shorter than the other. There is no basis to this rumour.)

My skirt purchase was, frankly, happenstance. I went in to Claremont this afternoon to pick up some shampoo from Mecca, and thought I would duck in to Laura Ashley to ogle their chandeliers while I waited for Ant to meet me. And wouldn't you know it, but just inside the door they had a rack of velvet skirts. Anyone who has been talking to me in the last fortnight knows that velvet skirts have been on my mind, um, a lot. I've tried on quite a few and the cut has been all wrong every time. But this one is different! It's a faux wrap, finishes just above knee, and is g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s.



Velvet doesn't photograph well at all, because it sucks up all the light, so you'll have to take my word for it on the cut. It's luverly. And when I went to pay for it, the sales assistant threw in a cute spotty scarf for free! It's been a really stressful week so that was a nice surprise, and a great start to the weekend.

*****

I was telling Anthony today that since we started the blog, I feel like I'm making smarter purchases. I don't know if it's a coincidence, or perhaps that I've putting more thought into what I really need, or that I'm just ashamed to share bad shopping decisions with you, but I feel like my wardrobe is really filling out well. I don't know what my next purchase will be, but I'm sure it will be something I'm really pleased with. Until then!

-Hayley xoxo

Just a few bits and pieces...

Just a few things I picked up this weekend that I'd like to show you...

I am so excited about these boots! They are HOT, with a capital H, O and T! I started seeing the ‘Over the Knee Boot’ more and more a few weeks ago. I had a pair of knee high boots which were ruined on a trip to Japan about a year ago now, I decided I wasn’t going to replace them because I didn’t feel all that keen on knee high boot. While they served me very well in Japan in the freezing cold weather I didn’t feel enough love for them in general. But the ‘Over the Knee Boot’ is a total different story! All I can say is HOT! I love how they go over the knee, well dahh... hence the name! But they sit at such a great height, and when worn with a short dress/skirt/shorts they show just a few inches of leg and look amazing, well, on models anyway, not so much me! I tried on a few leather pairs and liked them, but then I found these suede ones in Betts which I liked more. They’re not real leather so they won’t last me as long but the suede is such a richer black and I think they are more wintery than the leather. And because the facric is a bit more floppy than the leather, if I'm in a ‘Knee High Boot’ mood, I can fold the top over and scrunch them down and there you have your knee high!


I did pick up a few more things this weekend. I saw this floral tunic on Sportsgirl.com.au last week and adored it, I really like the way it’s styled in this picture, it’s really quite cute. So now I just have to get a boyfriend blazer and a pair of pattered stockings! It’s a bit of a funny fit but I really liked the print and it’s nothing a big belt can’t fix!


I went a bit Sportsgirl mad this weekend actually, I also picked up this vintage looking cardigan, and wait for it, it has shoulder pads? Now, I know 80’s fashion is in, and I do have a few tops with big, puffy sleeves but I just don’t know if I can go as far as shoulder pads? I’m still deciding whether to keep them in or cut them out? If I’m in a real vintage mood, I could wear this with the floral tunic, they look quite nice together and I love the idea of mixing different prints and textures.


And a couple of accessories, an embellished headband, which I loved so much, I didn’t even bother looking at the price and I still don’t know how much it cost! And you know I love bold jewellery so I couldn't go past this necklace....and again quite vintage looking.



Speaking of jewellery, I really love big rings and I had an awesome thought last week. I’d like collect 7 rings, one for every day of the week. They have to be decent quality so no plastic or fake stones, so it won’t be happening overnight but hopefully within the next couple of years. I have one and I already have my eye on a big fat pearl one from Mimco, my wedding anniversary is coming up next month (so Mark if you’re reading this... HINT HINT)! I’ve also been thinking lately that a gold watch would be nice for when I wear other gold jewellery, I only have a silver one at the moment so when I wear gold I don’t wear a watch and I’m constantly looking at my bare wrist for the time! So, I guess this is a bit of a wishlist update!

I feel so much better after my shop this weekend. Late last week I was feeling strange, I had the most enormous urge to want to shop and now I feel revitalised! I have however, realised I have a lot of clothes in my wardrobe to get through this winter so I won’t be buying much more. I think I’ll be concentrating on books and homewares! But, maybe a few items of clothing here and there, I have my eye on an oversized man-style shirt/dress and I really want something leather, and at the moment I’m thinking a leather vest! And also tops, I had a major top meltdown on Monday, I have none! And I couldn’t find one to buy anywhere, I didn’t like anything, it was so frustrating and then I found one, but they didn’t have my darn size. I felt like screaming in the middle of the shop, but I thought it would be slightly embarrassing so I had to hold it in.

That’s all from me for now!

Ishia

P.S. I know I was really lazy this time with taking photos, sometimes it’s so much effort! You have to take the picture, usually a few times until you get a snap you like, then load in onto the computer, then sometimes do some photoshopping (depending on how lazy you are that day), then upload it and put in the descriptions, tags, etc, etc, then put it into the post. So it does take a lot of effort! I will be better in future though! And I also just realised I have used a lot of exclamation marks!! This is a bit of a lazy post and not my best, so please forgive me.

Serial Shoppeuse

Do you like shopping? Do you like French? How about cute cartoons? Then stop whatever you are doing, go here and buy a copy of Tokyobanhbao's first book, Serial Shoppeuse!



My copy arrived in the mail today (so for the record, Amazon France > Amazon US, seeing I only ordered it a week ago) and I am LOVING it. It's so charming and funny, and so full of shopping truths. For the record, I understand only a very small amount of French, but I'm not having any problem understanding the book very clearly. In fact, if anything, it's increasing my understanding of French. (So there's another reason you should buy this book - it's a pictorial guide to learning important French shopping words for your next trip to Paris.)

Here are a couple of sneak peeks at a few pages.



How a vintage jacket is made. OMG, this is so, so true. One time my mum and I were in a thrift store and she bought back a pair of her old shoes that she had donated a year earlier (they really were hers, they had her initials on the inside, because she's a dork) because a) she missed them, and b) they were much more stylish then than they had been when she donated them. And she paid $20. FOR HER OWN SHOES. Yikes.



Shopping survival kit, and armour for sales. Does anyone else do this, dressing for sales in a certain way? I have done this before, with the leggings and easy on/easy off shoes to facilitate trying things on without a changeroom. (At a big warehouse clearance I mean, not in the ladieswear at David Jones. Sheesh.)

I've been a reader of Tokyobanhbao's blog for about a year now. If you haven't read it yet, stop reading this, go open a new tab and subscribe to her RSS feed. I'll wait. Back? She alternates between posting pictures of her own daily outfits, sketches of her alter-ego Tokyobibi, and reviews of different restaurants she's been to. She's always very cute, funny and insightful (and she translates her posts into English, which is helpful.) You might occasionally see her with her friend Betty, aka the Other Coolest Young French Blogger. (Oh, and Garance Dore. My, there are a lot of cool French fashionistas blogging these days.)

One of my favourite things that Tokyobanhbao does in her sketches is replacing brand names with sort of knock-off sounding names - for example, Chamel, Repettou, Zoro, Aio (as opposed to Vaio - and then in another sketch, Maio), Chloo... even Facebouc. It's these cute little details that really make you feel like you're sharing a private joke with her.

Anyway, I hope I've convinced you to spend €8,55 and get a copy of this book. I promise that if you like to shop, you will see a lot of yourself in this book (and your boyfriend will probably see a lot of himself, too.) If you need help with amazon.fr, leave me a comment and I'll help you out. If you've used regular amazon.com before, though, it should be pretty straightforwards for you.

Bon shopping!
-Hayley xoxo

Please help us!

Just wanted to write a quick post to implore our readers (both of you) to help us out by clicking the ads we have in the right sidebar. Our current campaign is for YesStyle, a really fantastic company that stocks a truly enormous selection of Asian fashion. I've bought from them in the past and they're really easy to deal with, have good prices and ship fast. (I haven't bought clothes from them, because I am not the size of an adorable Japanese girl. But bags! Shoes! Scarves! These things will fit even a chubby Westerner like myself.) So please, if you have a moment to spare, click through and have a look at their huge range of adorable stuff. Who knows, maybe we will make $5 out of this. (EACH? Dare to dream.)

-Hayley xoxo

Unfairness

I just wanted to write about a really bad experience I had with a company called Price USA. It’s a company that will buy things on your behalf from USA websites that don’t ship to Australia then ship these items to you. From what I can understand the main lady is based in Australia who has an agent in the USA, it’s the agent who gets things shipped to him/her who then forwards them to you. I don’t want to go on and on about what happened, I just want to write about my experience and get it out there as I feel I have been treated very unfairly.

So I ordered 3 necklaces through Price USA from Anthropologie.com. I received them about 3 to 4 weeks later only to discover that 1 of the necklaces wasn’t what I had ordered. I received one that was very similar to the one I wanted but not the one. I paid about $250 for it so I didn’t want to settle for the wrong necklace, naturally I wanted the right one, especially for $250! So I emailed Price USA the next morning (I opened the package the previous night) and advised them that I had received the wrong necklace and could I send it back. At this point Anthropologie had actually started shipping to Australia and I had gone onto their website to look at the returns policy. They only offer refunds or credits, so it didn’t make sense to me to send the necklace back to Price USA (I couldn’t return it myself because Price USA doesn’t give you original receipts, etc), get Price USA to get a refund then order it again and forward it to me. I'd have to pay postage for Anthropologie to ship it to Price USA, at their USA address then postage again for Price USA to forward it to me in Australia. I would have had to pay 3 shipping amounts (also for me to send it back to Price USA). I emailed Price USA and asked if I could just get a refund, once I had received my refund I was then going to buy it myself direct from Anthropologie.

I sent the package back the next working day, the necklace is made of glass beads so I wrapped it in bubble wrap many times so it didn’t get damaged in the post. I just want to say at this point that when I received the package the necklace was just in a plastic bag, with no bubble wrap or cushioning in the parcel. The package would take 10 working days to reach USA. About 3 weeks later I hadn’t heard anything so I emailed Price USA, I didn’t get a response. I emailed them again a few days later and she said she hadn’t heard anything from her agent. Then a few days later she emailed me saying her agent had received it and that it was broken, she said "Yes, I have received this. I just opened it and went to call anthropologie; however, I have some concerns. The necklace is actually damaged. I'm unsure how it happened. I would send it back as-is and would just still claim it's because they sent the wrong one; however, there are pieces missing which makes me think it broke when the customer had it. I'm worried if I send it back they may not give me a refund". So they basically accused me of sending it back broken and trying to get a refund from a broken necklace. After many emails they said they would send the necklace back to me as they couldn’t return it to Anthropologie broken. I asked for them to send me pictures because I didn’t understand how it could be broken, it definitely wasn’t broken when I sent it back and I wrapped it up so well to avoid it breaking in the post, I mentioned above that when I received it, it wasn’t wrapped up or protected in any way and I didn’t receive it broken so it’s hard to understand how it could get broken wrapped up? I received some pictures from them a while later and there are 2 broken pieces and 2 loose pieces (broken off) in the pictures but they are saying that there are more broken off pieces that weren’t in the package.

So it’s been 4 weeks and I haven’t received the necklace back? I am still trying to think what happened to it and the only reasons I can think is that someone at the post office opened it, broke it and packaged it back up but not with all the broken pieces, which I actually find hard to believe. Or that Price USA received it then accidentally broke it or dropped it and didn’t want to pay me $250 to replace it so are accusing me of breaking it and sending it back with only some of the missing pieces, which to me doesn’t make sense at all? I would have to be quite stupid to send back only some of the broken bits and not all of them? I have no problem with accusing them of breaking it because they accused me of sending it back broken. They didn't just say that they received it broken and can't return it, they said they received it broken and I must have done it. That's what makes me really angry about this situation, that they so easily accused me.

I have nothing against the company, I think they offer a good service and their prices are reasonable. I just think they have terrible customer service and that they shouldn't have outright accused me of what they 'think' happened. I'm sure they have many happy customers, I guess I just got some bad luck (which I actually seem to get a lot of when it comes to shopping). I hope I get a response from them soon regarding the whereabouts of my necklace because it's just plain unfair. I was hoping once I received it back I could see if my postal insurance covered the damage but it's been about 2 months since I sent it back so I don't like my chances.

Take care shoppers, hopefully something like this never happens to you.

Ishia

Update (29 April 2010)
I am in total disbelief right now, utterly shocked and feel sick to my stomach. I finally heard back from them about the whereabouts of my necklace. So... they pretty much still have it and haven't sent it back because I have to pay the return postage. They said over a month ago that they would send it back and they never said anything at all about me having to pay postage? If I hadn't have emailed asking where it was were they just going to keep it forever? I am totally over this whole situation and am so blown away with how they have managed this and their lack of basic human customer service. I think I'll go cry for the rest of the day.

God help me.......

Skin worries and anti-aging

A couple of weeks ago, I had a really bad breakout. Like, REALLY bad. I can't overstate how bad it was. You couldn't find a square inch of my face that didn't have some really dreadful, Krakatoa-like pimple on it. Especially my nose. I looked like a cartoon witch. And no amount of careful makeup application could properly cover it all. The stranger part of the ordeal, though, was that ordinarily my skin is really nice. Often when I go to the day spa for a facial, the girls quiz me about what products I use, because they're jealous of how clear it is. (For the record: lots of water, the occasional glycolic peel, and really dumb genetic luck. My mum has incredible skin and I got her genes.)

Anyway, the point of this story is that I FREAKED OUT. I wasn't doing anything differently. I wasn't eating anything different. What was going on? I didn't know (and still don't) but I figured that I should go buy a foundation that was friendlier to my skin while it recovered. I went down to Mecca Cosmetica in Claremont and poured out my sob story to the sales assistant. She recommended something mineral based, so I left with Stila's One Step Makeup. And to begin with, I loved it. It went on smoothly, covered well without looking too heavy, and didn't aggrevate my skin any further. But as my skin improved, I found that the foundation wasn't really doing what I wanted it to. It looked great for the first couple of hours after application, but then it started to settle into my pores in a really unflattering way.

So yesterday, with my skin back to its normal self, I headed back to Mecca (the Karrinyup branch this time - now I've been to all the Perth Meccas) and explained my predicament to the sales girl. And she suggested this:



It's By Terry's Light Expert, by Terry Gunzberg, the lady who invented YSL Touche Eclat. And I LOVE IT. A few well-placed swipes, and I'm all glowy and well-rested. It's really hydrating and is also full of antioxidants, so it's like a treatment combined with a foundation. It's a fairly light coverage so I wouldn't recommend it for covering a multitude of sins, but to make me look like a better version of myself, it's PERFECT.

While I was with the salesgirl, I told her that I was thinking about changing skincare routines. I've decided that I should get serious about preserving my skin, rather than just hoping that my genes will do all the hard work. She asked me a few more questions about what I was hoping to achieve from my skincare etc. AND THEN, she told me, "At your age, in your late twenties, it's time to start worrying about fine lines and wrinkles." AT MY AGE??? GIRL, YOU MAY BE 19, BUT GOODNESS ME, I'M NOT A DOWAGER. I think she saw my laser death stare, because she quickly pressed on to telling me about two lines that would give me the glowy instant gratification I was after. And she gave me SO many samples, which went a really long way to buying my forgiveness. I think I'm going to go with the Darphin vitamin C line she recommended, but I'll have to try the samples for a little longer to be sure.

So in summary: Light Expert = good; 26 years = OLD. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to go blue-rinse my hair and watch The Bill.

-Hayley xoxo

An update

So, I haven't posted in a while, and here's why:



Aaargh! Quell horreur! Because of our home loan application, we had to temporarily cancel all of our credit cards. It also means that I've been pretty preoccupied with signing the hundreds of nearly identical documents that come with this house-buying racket. Sigh. I was so naive going into this process! I had no idea how much was involved. Settlement is in two weeks, and the sigh of relief I breathe when this is all over will be so strong that it may drastically alter global weather patterns. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I was pretty sad to cut up the cards.

I have, however, managed to pick up a couple of things in the last week:



A work top. It's actually pretty cute, the sleeves have a nifty twist detail that gives it that little kick of chic that I like to look out for. It's a cherry colour throughout - the flash has made it look a little ombre, but that isn't the case.



Not one but two pairs of shoes. I utterly ruined my favourite pair of Repetto ballet flats on the day of the Great Perth Storm (you might have seen me walking through the knee-deep floodwaters of Subiaco if you checked the news that night) but Cult Status hasn't had my size in to replace them. Boo! Luckily these onces from Wittner are just as supple and comfortable, so they will happily hold the place of the Repettos for the time being.

I also found a really nice pair of all-leather pumps in Wittner at the same time. Checklist?

• 100% leather throughout?
• No platform?
• Toweringly high stilleto heels?
• Red sole?

OK, so they're not Louboutins, but they're damned nice all the same and I'm happy to welcome them to my wardrobe and cross them off my wishlist. Thanks, Wittner, for a nice shoe-flavoured diversion. (By the way, they have SUPER CUTE animal print ankle boots at the moment that I totes would have bought if I wasn't already leaving with two pairs of shoes. Get 'em while they're hot.)

*****

So I need some style advice. I'm in a bit of a rut lately, style-wise. I work in a plant lab, so I need to wear long pants that can take a bit of a beating, and flat closed shoes every day. Over time I've refined this into a denim-and-ballet-flats uniform which serves me very well (and doesn't get me asked if I'm interviewing elsewhere - the standard of dress in labs is not particularly professional, so tailored pants are viewed with suspicion.) This works really well for me and I'm pretty happy with it.

HOWEVER. This five-year reliance on denim has me at a point now where I don't actually know how to put together a casual (or even smart casual) outfit that doesn't involve jeans. I don't know how it happened, but somewhere along the line my wardrobe developed a big gap between the jeans section and the church and dinner dresses section. So I need some advice. What should a girl who is fairly insecure about her legs (what I'm trying to say is no miniskirts please, or superskinny pants) buy for the bottom half of her body to fill this gap? I'm thinking casual pants or skirts but I have genuinely no idea where to start. What happened to me? All ideas welcome, keeping in mind my general wardrobe direction of Parisian ballerina. I did see a few things in the last couple issues of Shop Til You Drop that I like, namely a velvet skirt and a leather skirt. So that's a start. But I'm still pretty stumped so fire away with the suggestions if you've got 'em.

I need a stylist.

Shopaholics Anonymous

Hello, my name is Ishia and I am a shopaholic. It’s been approximately 2 hours since my last purchase (at time of writing) and only a few days since I vowed not to buy anything more. I’ve been bad and I am slightly ashamed. This is what happens when I have no supervision and am left alone, so I could say that it’s not my fault. I could say that it’s my husband’s fault, if he didn’t work last night I would have gone straight home to meet him, but he was busy, and I was bored, so I went to the shop. I told myself I wouldn’t buy anything more for a while, and because I did I kind of feel like I have stolen something. I feel quite terrible in fact, but I think this is a good thing. Maybe I just needed to get this one last splurge out of my system and now I’m ready to stop?

So, ready for my justifications?!!

I really like the leggings/tights trend. Let me just clarify, I like leggings worn with a short dress or a long cardigan, etc. DEFINITELY not with a normal length top, leggings are for wearing underneath things, not as a pair of pants. I see too many girls who totally miss the point of leggings and it drives me nuts. There are a couple of exceptions however, wearing leggings with a top to the gym is totally acceptable and also if you are supermodel thin and they are a pair of totally chic leather or textured leggings, then I think that too is acceptable! So back to my justification, I wanted a cream dress to wear with black tights, and I found one in Forever New so I bought it. I’m going to see Cats this week so I think I might wear it then.



I saw some black sandals in a Big W catalogue so I went to have a look. Turns out the sandals were horrible in real life (no surprises there), but I did find these black ankle boots, for $30 you can’t go wrong. I know I already have a pair of black ankle boots but these ones were too cute and cheap to pass up! I think I’ll wear them with the dress to Cats!



I wrote in my last post that I wanted a trench coat or cream coat. I feel like I have jumped the gun here and bought the first one I saw, but I really love this. It’s a trench coat but not the basic style you usually see. This one has little puffy shoulders and quite a full skirt so it’s more of a trench dress. It’s long enough to wear with just leggings and it has a navy and white striped lining on the cuffs which looks adorable if you roll up the sleeves, Hayley would approve! When I tried it on my heart melted which is why I bought it straight away without really looking at any others. Every time I picture it on I’m also wearing a little hat so I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for one that will compliment it.



I bought all this stuff last Thursday and started writing this post that night. I was too lazy to finish it then and left it all weekend. Over the weekend I may have purchased something too. This was hugely influence by my husband. He told me to buy it, he really did! I was hesitant to spend that much money considering we don’t have much at the moment. It was on sale and he said I would regret it if I didn’t, so being a good wife I listened to my husband. I’ve wanted a leather black bag for a long time, I bought a Chloe one in Singapore at Christmas time which I do love but the shoulder strap is too small to actually put over your shoulder and it really frustrates me. The strap on this one is a great length and the leather is so soft and smells nice, I love the smell of new leather! When I went to pay for it I also grabbed a pair of gel heel grips, the shop assistant forgot to put them through with the bag so she just threw them in for free, score! I think it probably had something to do with the fact that I was wearing a pair of Mimco shoes and earrings and she was like wow, you must like Mimco! And yes indeed I do.



So that’s all from me for now. Last night I woke up and this thought popped into my head ‘I need a pink boyfriend blazer’. I don’t know where it came from and I keep thinking about it, I think it must be a sign? I would love one, I think it would look sweet with a pair of jeans and espadrilles or wedges, I keep picturing that way in my head, so I think I will keep my eyes out for one.

Bye bye for now!

Ishia

Update

I've been requested to provide a few more details for the dress and trench coat in this post. The trench coat is by Bardot which I got from Myer, but I have seen it in the Bardot stores and it was $129.95. The silk dress from Forever New was $99.95 and it's called 'Drape Sleeve Mini Dress (DR2129) in Sahara Beige.

Hope this helps!

Ishia xox

That sweet smell of......????

While I have been busy not buying clothes in my efforts to stick to my plan I have not given up my love for shopping... I have just turned my interest to other things to buy. While I was away in Bali I took full advantage of duty free shopping and purchased several perfumes that I have been wanting for awhile. Perfume is one thing that I am eternally grateful for. I love love love it! There is not one day that goes past where I don't use it.... than again I guess most people would use it on a daily basis so I guess I'm not really all that different to your average girl! I do throw a bottle in my bag on the way out of the door for those top up spritzzzzzz.... My scent will differ depending on my mood but I do tend to stick to floral sweet scents that remind me of summer. I am very partial to vanilla top notes though....

Being a Marc Jacobs fan I love his perfumes.. Daisy and Lola remind me of spicy fruit salad... Daisy is slightly tamer than Lola with Lola being quite a loud scent. Lots of pear and grapefruit. The actual notes of Lola are the notes: pink peppercorn, pear d’anjou, ruby red grapefruit, fuchsia peony, rose, geranium, vanilla, tonka bean and creamy musk. I love that this scent stays with you the whole day! Daisy is more of a younger scent mixing what I think smells like strawberries and vanilla pods! The attraction here is defiantly the bottles! The bright vinyl flowers on the cap are so cute! I love them! Daisy has white or gold button flowers and Lola has a bright retro coloured flower.....




The Chloe perfume I now own is such a classic scent. When I read the reviews and saw the target for the perfume I thought that the advertising team were trying too hard... romantic, edgy, sexual and sensual woman... sounds pretty typical for a perfume ad to me however once I gave it a go I was nicely surprised... hence the purchase. This is a good gym perfume.. Nothing like a bit of sensuality when you are sweating on the cross trainer now is there? hahah. The bottle is compact as well with a cute little ribbon around the nape of the neck.



Michael Kors!!! You are a legend and I am in love with Very Hollywood. If I had to recommend a perfume to anyone this would be it..... "Heads Turn, energy and excitement stir the scene, an intoxicating frenzy, the spotlight is on.......... This is your moment!" so very very true.. I am asked so often what I am wearing whenever I wear this. It is beautiful. White Gardenias are so so pretty in this... And it even looks beautiful.. a light pink in a pretty bottle. Love Love Love. A romantic dinner is on the cards with this one!



If you are looking for a vintage funky scent than my next perfume is the one to go. I know this is a denim brand and true religion jeans are hot hot hot so it is no surprise that the perfume lives up to the name! One day I aspire to buy some true religion jeans. The ads always look amazing! You do need a perky little butt though so this is quite a way off I guess. The perfume is enough for now! I wear this to combat.... Kind of a good kick butt punch the air mood lifter! Its a very floral yet musky wood like ( in a nice way) with bursts of sweetness! It really does remind me of jeans and denim for some reason. Very vintage.. The bottle is interesting.... I like it!



I am a Juicy Couture perfume die hard fan... Love the bottles, love the perfume and it is one of those perfume that I have purchased 2 or more bottles of purely because I love it and use it to death.... Viva la Juicy is my best friend.. so youthful and just amazingly sweet and fun. Very girly and the bottle is cute as pie! When I read in a magazine that Couture Couture was being released I was so excitted to see what the bottle would be like... It does not disappoint at all.. the scent reminds me of the original fragrance alot... a little sweeter yet very strong and confident. The fragrance notes feature mandarin, orange blossom, pink grape accord, star jasmine, honeysuckle, blushed plum, amber, vanilla and creamy sandalwood. It is one of those perfumes you either love or hate. If you do wear it you kind of are put into the make a scene, love life vibes.... I am def a fan of Couture Couture... check out the bottle!



Perfume makes an outfit complete! I am so glad it was invented it makes me happy when I'm a bit down! I love being in the gym and smelling nice! it may sound a bit gross but once you start to sweat and your pores open I love it how the sweet scent escapes and when your pushing the sweat out of your face you still smell nice! I'm sure you get the picture!

I am planning on buying lots of accessories over the next week or two so stick with me!

xoxo

Missing In Action

Hello fellow shoppers! It has been awhile now hasn't it! I am still on my shopping ban and I am proud to say that I have been doing well! So excited for winter and the new clothes I want to buy! Originally I said that I was going to stop buying clothes till May, I am thinking I might even extend this as I have been working so hard in the gym and am just getting back on track so I may need a little more time to get where I want! I thought I would pop in and report on my purchases from my Bali trip! Bali was so good to me it was amazing. I am in love with every single thing I purchased! When I was packing I thought to myself that it would be nice if I could find 10 nice bags to come home with.... I came home with so many.. I told people 23 but in actual fact it was closer to 30.... I love bags! I tried to steer clear of the stereotypical " Bali" quality where you get home and rips form straight away.... I think I did pretty well... So these are my favourite bags from my latest bag spluge.


I was pretty happy with this one! Its like a dusty pink colour with Louis Vuitton imprinted all over the body... Im not a huge Louis fan but I liked this as it was really different!

Another Louis I got was one that I have actually wanted for awhile.. When I was in Japan I went into the Louis Vuitton shops over there and saw these designs.. The brown with the highlighter colours stands out so much! I love it.. normally I would have opted for pink but I went a little different and chose orange... I have a couple of other bits and bobs from this collection, my passport holder is the brown with the green highlighter and I have a brown with the pink over it bag and wallet. I would like a pink one in this style tho!



One of my favourite designers is Marc Jacobs, I love the classic look of all Marc Jacobs bags. China has the best replicas in my opinion but this trip I did manage to find 3 I liked. I have always wanted a bubble shaped bag in cream... so when I found this it was an automatic sale. I spent about 40 minutes bargining with this particular shop owner and in the end walked away with 3 Marc bags and a super price. Cream, white and tan..... I love the lining on these bags! They did a good job at replicating the real ones... One day if I was ever to buy a "real"bag I think it would be a Marc....










An interesting bag was the Balenciaga I purchased... I have always liked the story behind the spanish designer but I have never owned any of the designs. The colour drew me to this particualr bag. Its salmon pink and made longer than the typical Balenciaga bags... Sort of almost a rectangle. it has a long strap and all in all just looks really nice. I took it out for the first time yesterday and had 3 girls ask me where I had found my bag...



Those are the favourites of the trip.. I did buy smaller bags and quite a few were Chanel... Also loved the Chanel wallets that seemed to be everywhere!Wallets are something that I can never have enough of for some reason... I have a drawer with many in it and yet I am still drawn to buy even more!







I had alot of fun buying all my bags! I had even more fun shopping with girls who are not typically into bags normally! It was so fun helping them select their loot and than seeing them carrying it around later that day and telling me that they wanted more!

OOOOOOPPSSSY

So I may have spent more money, yes more money. Bad me, right? But I will say that this is it for a while. Work for my husband starts to dry up around this time of year which means we have to tighten the belt. But, we have had a lot of fun over the past couple of months. While we should have been doing the responsible thing and saved up a bit of money for when we are a bit short I have been spending! I have probably bought enough for a small town! Well, not quite but I am almost out of room in my wardrobe. I went through it last night and threw out a few pairs of shoes and a few items of clothing, but thats all I can spare, and it didn't create that much more room.

So, I was in Bardot a while ago, maybe a month or two and I saw this beautiful cardigan. It's covered in pearls and sequins and it weighs an absolute tonne! I tried it on for fun and absolutely loved. I didn't buy it because it was, as my husband says when something is really expensive 'chotto takai', which just means 'expensive' in japanese. He's learning japanese and likes to use random words every now and then. Anyway, back to the cardigan, so it was quite pricey therefore I didn't buy it that day. I was in Bardot again a week or so ago and it was on sale, 50% off. You may be thinking 'bargain' but not quite. It was still 'chotto takai' even with 50% off. After thinking about it for a few days I decided to go back and if they still had my size to purchase it. I really liked it and think it's such a classy piece of clothing. So I went back and they had my size so, voila:





I also bought the blouse underneath from Sportsgirl, they had 20% off storewide. So of course, I had to get something! I didn't get it to go with the cardigan but the two look quite charming together. The blouse has 3/4 puffy sleeves which reminds me of a pirate shirt. I didn't actually like the sleeves but when I was trying it on I kind of pulled them up to my elbows and sort of tucked them in and they looked good. I really like the front of the top and the length so those reasons won me over. It'll go with a lot of things in my wardrobe, I think it will look cute with a pair of jeans, some ankle boots and a thin studded waist belt to add a bit of edge and take away the girliness. So now I just need to get a studded belt!

That's me again for now!

Sayonara!

Ishia
XoX

LOVE

As expected, it arrived! My animal print fur coat. All I want to say is THANK YOU SPORTSGIRL. After much thought (weeks in fact) and looking at it almost 100 times over and over again I decided to make the purchase. I probably would have bought it earlier if I saw it in store but I wasn’t able to find it in any Sportsgirl I looked in. I am so impressed with how quickly I received it too. I ordered it on Monday afternoon and I received it Wednesday morning, very speedy indeed. I just went back onto the Sportsgirl website to get a picture to post but the coat is gone.... I do remember my size being the last one left, so I'm extremely glad I got it when I did!

It is so soft and dreamy and the print and colours are perfect. I’m not typically a huge fan of animal print but this is perfection! I love love love it. I want to wear it now. I don’t really like winter but I wish it was really cold right now so I could just wear it already!



Even though I'm not a fan of winter I do like jackets and coats. I've been meaning to buy a classic trench coat for a few seasons now but have never really gotten around to it. I've read/heard/seen that a trench coat is a wardrobe staple. So I'm going to add this to my wish list and maybe I'll get one this winter. I recall a cream coat I saw last season, so very soft and snuggly with huge buttons, I kick myself every time I remember it for not buying it. If I see a cream coat equally as nice as that one I may buy that instead of a trench, but we'll see.

Bye bye for now!

Ishia
XoX

Girls Who Like To Buy Houses

So it's more or less official - subject to finance (which we should hear about in a week or so), Anthony and I have bought an apartment in Mount Lawley. I'm so thrilled! It's a partly heritage listed, 1940s building, and we own 1/8th of it. I'm already busily planning all the nice things I want to buy for it and do to it. Here's my checklist:

• Paint - the current owners have done the place up in fairly loud, clashy shade of red and purple. Now, I like red and I like purple, but not right alongside each other. I'm going to go for a greyish mid-blue, I think.
• Enclose the balcony. This one's a biggie and it's going to take some time and professional intervention. There's a small balcony that comes off the main bedroom, and we want to enclose it and use it as a sunroom/Anthony's musical thinking space. We're still deciding the best way to do this one, so it will probably be the last thing done on this list.
• New wardrobe. The current wardrobe is sufficient but totally ugly. I want to replace it with one of the super-functional ones from IKEA. Probably with mirrored doors, as the room could use some embiggening. I've never had a really great wardrobe, and I am totally going to take the opportunity to indulge here.
• Chandeliers! Oh man, ever since I was a little girl I've dreamed of having a house with a chandelier. AND I AM GOING TO PUT THEM IN EVERY ROOM SO HELP ME. Well, maybe. But definitely the living room and the bedroom. I want to have really great lighting in this house - additional to the chandelier, I want lamps, sconces, spotlights... lighting can really transform a space and I plan on using it to its full potential.
• A dishwasher. I am married to the best man in the world, who always cleans because I always cook. It's time to cut him some slack.
• Change up the storage space. Currently there's a mezzanine floor in the main bedroom with a fixed staircase. I want to remove that staircase and replace it with a pull-down ladder, thus freeing up floorspace and making the storage area more separate.

That's about it for now. We'd also like to replace some furniture gradually, but I think finances are going to drag on us a little bit there and we'll have to wait. The balcony needs to be approved by the council and strata board before we can start on that, but everything else will happen ASAP. I'm so excited!!!

I've already compiled a huge number of inspirational photos. My theme is basically a chic Parisian space. I'm thinking blue-ish grey walls with pops of colour here and there, and a lot of really classic lines - but the occasional surprising hit of modernity (like, for example, some Starck Ghost chairs:)



I've already gone and bought a couple of Eiffel tower bookends from Domayne. They're on back-order but I should be able to post a photo next week. Oh man, I'm so excited. Ruth was saying that I'll see IKEA in a whole new way now - I totally get it! I'm designing MY OWN HOME. This is so great.

-Hayley xoxo