“It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas”

Well that time of year has arrived, and if I totally honest I’m like a little kid. I absolutely love Christmas, and this year I’m super excited as always.

I’ve finished off all my work, and switched off the work mobile, I managed to completely all my present shopping in two days, (I know I was impressed too!) Every year I like to try and do something a little different with the wrapping of my presents, and this year i decided to go for a really simple look, so I went for brown paper, with handmade bow-esk things, and hand made cut out names, which are cut from the pages of an old book. I’m really happy with how they look.


We finally got our christmas tree up, and it’s definitely helped with adding that christmasy feeling to the house. As always I was super possessive about decorating the tree, I cant stand over decorated tress so had to supervise even my mum as she keep adding items when she thought I wasn’t looking. Another thing I love about this time of year is that I can start burning my ‘christmas’ sent candles, this year I’ve gone for Yankee Candle : Christmas Cupcake and Best Kept Secrets : Christmas Garland (I don’t burn these candles right next to each other, that just for the picture.)

And lastly, (thought I better add something about style) this hat you can see in the pic has turned out to be my favourite this year, in fact, it feels like it hasn’t been off my head. It’s a really simple cream chunky knit hat from H&M (I actually think I got it last year, but I love it.)

Most likely won’t get much blogging done between now and Christmas day, So I will take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.

Charming

So it might be just over a week until christmas, and I really should be buying presents, and not treating myself. But when I saw these super cute little charm bracelets I couldn’t help myself. At only £2.00 each I didn’t feel so bad, but I just had to have them. And I can honestly say I haven’t taken them off since they arrived in the post.

lilyloveslola is the online shop from the blogger Victoria, she has lots of super cute bracelets like the ones I treated myself to, I had a hard time narrowing it down to just four, might have to make another purchase in the New Year. I wish I’d stumbled across Victoria’s lovely little shop sooner, then all of my friends would have had one of these beautifully simple pieces in with their Christmas pressies.

Dressember: “Falling From Grace”

Well, it happened. Dressember got the better of me. With work and everything festive-time related I just couldn't keep to my Dressember promise. As I said when I first started dressember there was absolutely no chance of me being able to wear a dress for everyday of December, so I decided to aim for at least one or two dress outfits a week. For the first few weeks of December I was really enjoying the challenge, I really love wearing dresses, I just never usually get the chance to, it's just not practical with my work.

So I'm sorry that I couldn't complete the challenge, and honestly I'm a little bit gutted. I would say that I have definitely learned to push myself a bit more when it comes to choosing an outfit. So keep you eye pealed for more dress outfits in the future.

Best of luck to rest of you taking part in Dressember, and Merry Christmas to everyone.

Pointless Portrait.

week2. Another crazy busy week at work and crazy weather outside work. I’ve enjoyed my last week out christmas portrait shoots, I’ve meet some great families over the past few months, but I can’t say I’m looking forward to the weeks ahead of sitting indoors editing pictures. I ended off this week making cakes with my two little cousins and drinking wine and catching up with a friend.

Dressember: “finding the time to find yourself”

Week 2 of Dressember update, so the first week of dressember feel between 5th Dec and the 11th Dec. This week I have been super busy at work, this was the last week I would be shooting christmas portraits, not its down to the boring bit, I’ve got 2weeks of sitting indoors editing picture ahead of me. So I only managed to fit in one dress outfits this week, after my busy work week I took the opportunity to catch up with a friends and chill out with some glasses of wine. so have a look at what I wore.

Dressember’ week2 : outfit ( Blue Lace Skater Dress : Missguided | Blazer : New Look | Tights : Primark | Belt : H&M | Blue Ballet Pumps : Primark | Tassel Bag : H&M | Skull Scarf : ebay )

More to look forward to in Dressember’ week3, watch this space.

Lets add a little Sparkle to those Winter nights

As we get nearer and nearer to the big day, Christmas that is. And the nights get colder and colder, we hit the Work Christmas Party Season, most office across the nation are hit with glitter and sparkle as the staff get in the festive mood.

As I work self employed, the work christmas party isn’t something I have to look forward to, it would be a little lonely with just me there, not to mention a little sad. Not to worry tho I do have a few christmas night out with friends planned to make up for me missing out.

Christmas Party or no Christmas party I decided to indulge in a little but of sparkle to warm up my winter night, so armed with my nail art supplies, and a cup of hot chocolate I got to work. This time I decided to go for a basic black base lair from Elf, I then used some loose gosh nail glitter in silver (used sparingly, just dabbing with finger), then finished of course as ever nail look should be with a clear top coat, again from Elf.

Just the perfect amount of sparkle, easy simple, and great for that day to night look. Enjoy.

Sometimes we don’t even get the choice

Sadly that’s one of the down sides to living in Scotland, our weather often doesn’t even give us a choice about what we wear. For example, today Scotland was issued with a Red Weather warning, apparently we saw winds of up to 90mph. St Andrews, where I live, wasn’t the worst hit but we still had it pretty bad, my garden even lost a tree.

So due to the crazy Scottish weather, of which today it was most definitely crazy. We just don’t get the chance to wear that super cute new jacket we own. Today I had no other choice but to pull out my Roxy Snowboarding Jacket, (and matching hat of course) to allow me to brave the outdoors.

But in all honestly, I guess this is where Secret-Style really comes into play. Even when I have to wear the snow gear, (which is mainly on the slopes, where looking good it still high on my list of priorities) I’m all about the colours, prints and matching items. So stay strong this chilly winter, wrap up warm, but don’t forget to do it with style.

( Jacket and Hat : Roxy by Quicksilver )

Dressember: “all dressed up and nowhere to go”

Week 1 of Dressember update, so the first week of dressember feel between 1st Dec and the 4th Dec. This week I managed to fit in two dress outfits, so have a look.

Dressember’ week1 : outfit1 ( PeterPan Collar Dress : Topshop | Tights : Primark | Watch : RedHerring @ Debenhams | Lipstick : Kate by Rimmle No.1 | Leopard Print Loafers(i was wearing them honest) : Next )

Dressember’ week1 : outfit2 ( Spot Dress : River Island | Tights : Primark | Hat : H&M | Cardigan : Zara | (hadn’t decided on shoes yet at this point, but I went for..) Black Knee HIgh Boots : Topshop )

More to look forward to in Dressember’ week2, watch this space.

Wild Thing…I think I love you.

At the moment I couldn’t be more in love with with Animal print, mainly Leopard print. Long gone are the days that the leopard print congers thoughts of Bett Linch, nowadays you will see the print all over the catwalks and high streets. Great as a added spark to a plain outfit or even, if your brave enough, as a statement piece. So I thought I’d show you just what I’m loving about this famous print, and great ways to add them to your outfits.

1.Scarf : windsorstore.com (but can be found all over the high street) 2.Cuff : New Look 3.Watch : Timex 4.Loafers : Asos 5.Clutch : Warehouse 6.Boots : Zara 7.Leather Jacket : Asos

And Just to prove my love for the print, check out my shoes of choice today.

Pointless Portrait.

welcome to pointless portraits, I’ll be honest with you all, I’ve slightly stolen this idea off a blog I’m a big fan of, www.llymlrs.com check her out. Lily does a great Sunday Portrait theme, where you get a great portrait and a little weekly round up. So I’ll be honest again and admit I’m one of those shameless photographers who loves taking their own pictures, but i rarely share them with anyone, so Pointless portrait is a killing two birds situation. I’ll post one of my many self portraits from the week, often these will be on set from work, or at home as a distraction from work, and I’ll also give a little round up of things I’ve been doing. So here I goes,

week1. This week has been a busy week for me, the start of dressember (I’ll upload my weekly update tomorrow at some-point, promise) and a crazy week at work. Lately I’ve taken the oppertunity to use the forth coming christmas period to get back into taking portraits, so the past few weeks have been filled with family portrait shoots. I’ve had a great time meeting new smiling little friends and capturing memoires for families to keep. This week has also brought with it the start of my christmas stress, I haven’t even thought about presents yet, let along purchased anything, must be better prepared this year.(very last minute shopping last year.) Well I hope you are all getting festive, don’t forget to wrap up warm, the snow is on its way…