One piece, Three looks: Knee-length chino trousers

Wallet, Chloe

Look 1 (from left to right): Mint Sweater, H&M. Patterned blouse, Zara. Shorts, Uniqlo. Sandals, Camilla Skovgaard, Straw Bag, Chloe
Look 2: Jacket, Barbour. Checkered blouse, Motel Rocks.Shorts, Uniqlo. Bag, Marc Jacobs (via Monnier Freres). Shoes, Kate Kanzier. Headphones, Urbanears. Belt, JHYoo. Cat-eye Sunnies, Beyond Retro
Look 3: Bag, Bottega Veneta Initials. Shoes, Coii.kr. Sleeveless blazer, ASOS Africa. Checkered Top, stolen from mummy. Shorts, Uniqlo.

You know how summers go. Vacations, festivals, family reunions, hairplugs, cider by the river, breast reduction surgery, sample sales, that one trip to the zoo where you swear off children forever… I know you know what I mean, you’re BUSY, so, what blog? Well. None of those happened to me in the past postless week so sadly no point getting excited (do we count slamming chest-on into a shelf ‘reduction surgery’? YES/NO). In fact I was home the entire week working 9-to-5 in my suit (suit for super-cool stuff like sleeping) migrating from desk to bed and occasionally the postbox for Dominos Pizza flyers. ‘Tomorrow!’ was the battle-cry, and this blog was the victim in one. Hey, I’m back now, with chino shorts (what an odd thing to comeback in) – I bet you’ve never seen anything like this in a glossy magazine before! In fact I’d fold them neatly and place them in a box with the power drill and a jug of motor oil, marked ‘Utility Stuff’. It was fun though, the challenge of trying to style one, and since I was on a roll of NOT blogging this is a pretty good brain teaser to help reverse directions and roll the other way towards a land of bountiful motivation and cakes, lots of cakes…

Many thanks to Kitty Kat for helping with the photos

1/ Dirty make-up brushes

Click on the arrows to activate slideshow

 Berry, berry good: Pancakes and Berries at the Breakfast Club for days that could do with a good sugary kick-start. I personally prefer to ordering an eggy something first (they do a mean Eggs Royale) and then share pancakes for dessert. #threecoursebreakfastnaturally

 Ever since I was a kid I’ve been adamant about keeping bank-notes face-aligned and crease-free (what OCD?!) so I’ve only ever owned long-wallets. The size on this berry-red Chloe is perfect – especially the number of compartments – makes it easy for someone ‘loyal’ to just about every single store.

The ASOS Salon collection hath finally hitteth – pictured, one of my favourite pieces. Actually would love to layer it over lots of patterns like Lesya Paramonova’s debut collection (as seen on Style Bubble.)

 Scent of the season, Chloe L’eau de Parfum – Light, sweet & tangy. Sometimes I’d catch a whiff while cycling and wonder if there’s freshly cut grass or a field of flowers nearby. (Wow. Probably one of the  corniest thing I’ve ever written.)

 Strappy Mary Janes by Kate Kanzier:  thinking of pairing with light boyfriend jeans, slouchy grey marl tee and a boyfriend watch. (Or is it technically ‘Husband watch’ for newlyweds?)

  £25 a pop, can you believe it?? We’ve been looking for chairs to go with our new door-turned-dining table and found these FiftyOne Percent industrial chairs at Achica, with about an hour left in the sale. Been stalking that site everyday ever since.

 My little garden corner where half the plants are fake. From IKEA, naturally. Absolutely ideal for someone who can’t even grow mould, if tried. Give me a month though, I’m sure the plastic ones will wither too. Also doubles as perfume counter. (White ladder from ebay.)

  I may or may not have a thing for stilettos. And as you can see I went a bit mad with the Topshop bow heels – especially the yellow ones. I wore them on a night out a few months ago and woke up to only find out they were completely soiled. Must’ve been a good night out.

 Shwood wooden sunnies, hand-made in Oregon. Similar sensation as to wearing a straw hat due to lightness in weight. Gust of wind scenario: skirt flailing, straw hat flying, wooden sunnies crawling up into hair…

 I get asked often how I carry my camera around – Before: inside a failed knitted beanie (think beanie for smurf); Now: the Style Scrapbook x Kipling camera bag. A little worried about the chain being not sturdy enough, but otherwise the perfect size with handy pockets for peripherals.

 Pastel obsession, still strong with  Contrast sleeves top by Goodnight Macaroon. (Warning: if worn wrong, may look like supermarket uniform)

 Meh. I just don’t think I have a talent at stacking bracelets… this is really the most I’ll ‘pile on’. (That friendship bracelet may or may not have a colour palette inspired by Hermes.) Hare egg-cup from Liberty London

There’s that one sweater that goes with absolutely everything. I was contemplating the pink version of this at ASOS but decided I just might not be coherent enough in the morning to even consider making pink work.

By the time I’m done with those friendship bracelets that ship may have sailed… Time to call it vintage then?

I like to keep a few key pieces for the season separate so in the confusion of learning my name anew while scoffing down breakfast and slapping makeup on in the morning things would simply be easier.

Favourite pieces of the moment: Young Frankk 3-bar necklace & Twig Solitaire ring by Michelle Oh

Fell in love with the fact that it’sheer enough to see every single goosebump during the colder seasons. Pair it with a smart pea-coat and you got a whole new man attracting/repelling phenomenon right there.

Head over heels for this photoshop-in-a-box bronzing kit by Chanel (4 Facettes Bronzing Powder) & Kate Kanzier glitter shoes that strangely remind me of classic Ferragamos.

It’s been the best thing to cycle home to after a long day at work – lemon tea with water just hot enough to prevent boiling off the vitamins, with a bag of English Breakfast tea and a tablespoon of manuka honey.

Winter Skincare

Clinique All About Eyes Serum Probably more attracted to the feeling of a wet metal ball gliding over my eyes… yah, that didn’t sound creepy at all.

Kiehl’s Avocado Eye Cream Tub of magic, I call it – costs £30 but lasts months and months.

Lancome Genifique serum Two pumps after cleansing and toning, sets the skin for the next layer.

Vichy Nutrologie 2 I reserve this only for the colder seasons; the creamy texture is perfect for dry & sensitive skin types like mine.

Biotherm Skinergetic Nightcream – I only started using this a week ago but so far absolutely satisfied with waking up with dewy skin.

Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil Literally just melts off makeup and cleanses while depositing essential oils.

I’m rather obsessed with the smell of Sassoon Halo Hydrate Leave-in conditioner spray…

Sandy Bay White Tea Candle – smells like blisssss. That is all.

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Been adding a drop of this with my body lotion every now and then and it leaves this really refreshing feeling like just coming out of a spa. The smell is divine too.

I’ve been increasingly paranoid about the skin on my hands so I always apply FC5 Hand Creme after washing dishes.

Recovery Balm by Monu for stressed skin (stressed thinking of dinner ideas for the hubby, pork chop or pork stew!?)

Maciej Zień boutique , ul. Mokotowska 57

Not sure what kind of courage beverage I drank in the morning before my breakfast Red Bull but A and I were walking by the Maciej Zień boutique and I caught myself climbing the steps. Usually with my chronic case of boutique-phobia I either need to pick a nail or ten outside the doors before mustering up the courage to push through the heavy doors, or hire a guide dog and a long stick… (This being the reason I’ve never been inside a Chanel boutique, as ironic as that sounds) I guess I know that I don’t belong when my two-month rent is hanging from hangers. Well, if we’re using that conversion method then I guess this boutique is real-estate bonanza. Zień is famous for dressing Polish celebrities; his designs exude an understated elegance, mostly expressed in the choice of fabric and draping methods. Frankly though, I’m a little puzzled by the haute pricing considering how young and domestic the brand is, but who am I to judge?

Coat – Mum’s Laurel, Leather top – ‘vintage’ Topshop, Black Jeans – MNG, Shoes – Courtesy of Kate Kanzier, Bag – Courtesy of Patrizia Pepe, Nude nail polish – H&M

Thank you Areta for helping me with shots!

A few important notes regarding servers and giraffes:  It looks like, for the past few months, I’ve been putting on some weight on my current hosting account and managed to invade past my bandwidth, CPU and memory usage borders. This just means I’ve been blessed with you all visiting, so thank you, most important of all.

As some may have seen a few days ago, the lords of servers had to resort to shoving me in solitary confinement for crossing the line, (‘Account Suspended’), and now I’ve had to purchase a dedicated server to keep the blog afloat. (The server will cost a hefty $150 a month :( boo). I’ve already mentioned this, I will not have sideline advertisements in my blog for your viewing pleasure, but in some posts you may see this sort of thing except with me on my knees in the background grovelling for sponsors. So I just wanted to ask for a broad mind when at times you see a sponsored post or a campaign that might be slightly annoying. Don’t worry, I still have full reign over content, so none of those giveaways with follow me on twitter, facebook, bloglovin, attic, dark alley, etc etc.

UK winners for the Furla candybag have been updated in the winner post, apologies for the delay!