Forte Village Resort, Sardinia; Part 2

Dress – Zara. Hat – Claire’s

Gordon Ramsey’s

White lace dress, Lace inset (blue/yellow) dress  – MGSM. Bag, floral dress (green & pink)- RED Valentino (all via Donne Concept Store at Forte Village).

The sound of rain and wind pelting against the windows on a drab Monday morning makes weaving together of this second part of my trip to Sardinia back in July a much, much easier task. Again, I don’t know what brand of hormone pills London’s been taking lately, but given its perpetual state of up, down and sometimes pickles + ice cream (i.e sun and hail within the same post code. WAHT IS DIS), I have to assume this time it’s actually three-months pregnant. Baby shower! Wait, no baby shower. Baby sun please. So do excuse me if I prefer resorting* to the ever-sunny European sibling to kick-start the week. Today I dream of Forte Village, the rustle of Oleander bushes in the mild morning breeze, bare-feet walk to breakfast, floating by way of seven sea-salt pools of the Thalassotherapy spa and rising higher with Gordon Ramsay’s exquisite dishes by the sea. Slumping back to earth completely, of course, with giddy midnight snacks on the terrace: pain au chocolats and toffee puddings stolen from breakfast. AH, would you look at this, the sun just came out here between the sheets of rain, looks like somebody’s jealous. Or craving toffee puddings. Oh heck, let it be the former.

* Resorting. Get it? get it? I am SOoohohoho funny.

A belated thank you to Forte Village Resort again for the stay. Part 1 here.

Wearing: Sweater – American Apparel. Tartan pants – Zara (similar). Watch – Guess. Heels – Lucy Choi. Bag – c/o Michael Kors (via Selfridges).

So, are we loving this new weather or what? This murky, yucky, wet weather that induces PMS* and general serial-killer urges. I personally love it because, HELLOoo pasta! (RIP diet) That’s right, it’s sweater season – even as I write this I’m digging through a pick’n’mix bag of Haribo + Skittles + candy corn assortment in full confidence that tomorrow I can just cover it all up with an oversized knit and call it an outfit. Pop on a berry-coloured lipstick and a cherry-on-top kinda bag, and presto you’re ready for civilization. There’s a wee Instagram competition hosted by Selfridges and Michael Kors now with a runway look worth £1,000 and a few other goodies up for grabs, and I’d instagrammed earlier how I’d wear my own Michael Kors Dressy, but I might as well pop it up here properly as well in case you wanted to get involved. The competition lasts from the 17th till the 31st of October, and all you’ll have to do is tag #HowIWearMyKors. More deets here!

Oh, and I don’t know if this is too early an announcement, but seeing as I’m now filling in snugly into my boyfriend jeans, I’m going as Peter Griffin on Halloween. All I need me is a Lois, and Jennifer Lawrence, I’m looking at you.

*FYI, I like my PMS, I like to think it gives me character (i.e I f*cking love this leaf!) 

Giorgio Armani: Le rouge ecstasy

Ecstasy Rouge #503

Ecstasy Rouge #304 ‘Heat’

Wearing: Black dress – Zara. Slingback heels – Lucy Choi. Grey sweater – American Apparel. Door-knocker ring – & Other Stories. Chevron knuckle Ring – We the Hatters. Textured rings – H&M. Bejewelled rings – ASOS. Nail Polish – Anna Sui (via ASOS)

Here’s another thing that makes my knees go weak now that I’m well past my mid-twenties – yes, beautiful lipsticks, but more specifically THE MAGNET that holds the cap secure and makes such a sexy snap noise it makes you purr a little. I know the technology has been around for quite some time now, but now that I’m in that stage where my life is acutely edited into the contents of one handbag, it’s starting to matter whether one day the inside of my bag looks like a drag queen or not. Alas, I’m clearly not yet old enough to understand the full potential of le make-up pouch that would essentially localize the hot mess, but I don’t want said hot mess anywhere other than my face, thank you. Anyhoo. These siren-red beauties are from the Giorgio Armani lipstick collection, Le Rouge ecstasy, a  new line introducing a “CC” innovation, or “Colour and Care”, that focuses on high-opacity, velvety colour, matched with moisturising comfort. I’ve had a chance to play around with a couple and personally love the darker colours in the range, which probably is another sign of getting older… well, this missus ain’t seducing no one in this household with coral-coloured lipsticks for sure. I’m kidding, please believe me.

As a bonus, here’s a rather hypnotic marriage of beat and beauty by Giorgio Armani Beauty, and if you’re extra bored, here’s my own lame attempt at beats.

Collaborative post with Giorgio Armani beauty; Shot in South Place Hotel. Thank you Kit for helping with these shots

Lancôme x Alber Elbaz

Fashionary x Swash journal

Colour palette – Pink

Hypnôse, Hypnôse Star, Hypnôse Doll Eyes

Lancome x Alber Elbaz mono palette

Turtleneck crop-top – American Apparel. Flared skirt – Zara (similar). Shoes – DIY satin ribbon on Whistles with help from Kit. Lip bag – DVF (similar in gold). Encrusted chain bracelet – Topshop. Tiger bracelet – Kenzo (similar in Silver). Mock-pearl earring – Topshop

We all know it doesn’t take very much to excite the hamster inside my head, but pretty packaging is definitely one of those things. That and pizza. Sometimes one thing comes in another (i.e funky Domino’s pizzabox design) and that’s when it gets wild up there. There’s a chest under my stairs full to the brim with old food packaging, jewellery boxes and gift wraps – yess, I’m one of those annoying people that take forever opening presents because hello, the paper needs to be archived and stored. Is this also considered hoarding? My significant other routinely brings home fifteen cans of tuna ‘because honey, they were on sale‘ and yes if zombies take over then we’d survive for about three days on tuna and peanuts, but I’m not sure what my stash of beautiful packaging would benefit us other than to paper-cut myself to death refusing to eat another tuna can. Sometimes I go full Sheldon Cooper on the packaging – especially for beauty products – and keep the products too in mint-condition, which was my intent for these beauties from the Lancôme x Alber Elbaz collaboration before this damn blog thing said no.

No, I had so much fun shooting this – all loosely inspired by the Lancôme Hypnôse video, where Alber Elbaz puts on a show dressing four iconic Lancôme mascaras. I fell right in love with the illustrations of the ultra-chic frow with heels + bows, and while I did manage to mimic the bows with an impromptu DIY, the ‘chic’ was promptly crushed after being kicked out of the V&A for jumping in the Music Room. I kid, but I am wearing a wig, so there, #ChicToAbsolutelyNoLev.

Photos with help from the lovely Johanna Lees, Editing Park & Cube; Collaborative post with Lancôme.

There and back again, 3 minutes in Paris with Kenzo Parfum

Beautiful Aimee of Song of Style

Wearing: Trench – H&M Trend. Navy crop-top – American Apparel. Skirt – ASOS. Heels – Kurt Geiger. Bag – 3.1 Phillip Lim. Sunglasses – Celine via Sunglasses Shop

When I was younger my daddy used to go on these business trips where he’d leave at the crack of dawn and be back for dinner the same day. I never understood it – in my mind a trip that involves trains or planes meant packing puzzles, books and Barbie outfits (we never remembered to take the actual Barbies) and my brother and I would take a nap in the car to the airport and find ourselves in a hotel bed the next morning. Then we’d spend countless days trudging along in mum’s shadow chasing supposedly important, but always broken, buildings, and never actually touched any of the toys we’d packed. Only on my train back from Paris the other week it clicked, how it all worked, how my dad did all that within a day. I’d gotten on a midday train, arrived at 3pm in Paris, and by 6pm I was back in London in time for dinner with the hubby. See, there was  a big ferris wheel with a red Kenzo poppy stuck on the butts of each capsule, and we rode in it, three times. Then after a quick coffee and a nibble of something coconutty inside a little boat decorated with floating poppies, I was back in the cab headed to the train station. (And all that time I played with my Barbie once maybe.) That was it, I’ve cracked it, my daddy’s secret on coming home the same day he left = ferris wheel rides and something coconutty.

Kenzo Parfums are launching something cool in September, and this was a little sneakpeek, but also an ongoing celebration of the Kenzo Flower Wave movement with Every Mother Counts on improving health in pregnancy for every mother around the world. It’s a great cause, and so easy to get involved, pass on the poppy love!