Evans Coat and boots Love Hate relationship

When I bought this coat an Evans leaflet dropped out of the carrier when I got home. The model was wearing this coat and these boots together! Having already bought both I decided I must have fair taste, which is lucky because I will be wearing this combo until spring!

I LOVE how both of these things look, the coat has a draw string around the waist which gives this coat some shape this is the 24, I tried on the 22 which did fit, to be honest there was very little difference in the fit of the two, the 22 was a bit tighter as you would expect but not lots tighter. I went for the 24 just because I would be most likely to wear this coat over jumpers. The fur on the hood is so soft and the PU trim on the pockets feels lovely, it feels like suede and not at all like plastic. There are two real press stud closure pockets and four fake zip pockets, the fake pockets are a bit annoying since I keep forgetting and trying to unzip them! The fake zip pockets do look good though, the coat would not be as nice without the detail.

I HATE what I'm about to say These two items look great but quality wise they could be better. The boots were 95 quid which is a lot of money and to be honest I would say that the quality is pretty poor for that amount of money. The finishing on the heel started to peel off within two weeks of buying these boots. The stitching is also coming undone in a few places and the heel is wearing already. I should add that I wear these boots to drive to work at which point I take them off and put on safety shoes which I wear all day then I put these boots back on to drive home, so I wear them for about two hours a day! Not good at all. The coat is mostly good but the hood doesn't stay up in the wind (since there are no draw strings or poppers) so when I got rained on at the weekend I just got wet, I felt a bit silly really, like style won over substance.

New Autumnal Purchases from Evans and New Look

Since October is one of those change of season months I have inadvertently purchased one or two (Okay three or four, or five) new items. I started the month with a wish list of some new tan boots (which I have already shown you) and a burgandy blazer. So I toddled to Evans and bought the boots and then to New Look to try on a burgandy blazer, this one in fact (in the changing room pic i'm wearing a size 20):

I narrowly resisted buying it in favor of a Jacquard version that I'd seen on line (but wasn't available in store), incidentally I narrowly resisted buying this blue speckled one too! (in the changing room pic i'm wearing a size 22):

(have you figured out I'm jersey blazer obsessed?!)

Jaquard blazer duly purchased on line, Octobers clothes buying complete right?!

Wrong of course! I went to visit my folks and my mum and I fell into the shops. Whilst in Evans I bought a top and a new winter coat! (the coat will be up presently I promise!) The top however I combined with my new boots and new blazer and tah da!

Blazer @ New Look

Top @ Evans

Boots @ Evans

Bag @ M&S (old)

I was a bit worried about the Jacquard blazer as It's quite slouchy (perhaps a tad too much) but I have to admit the texture is lovely and now I'm sure I made the right choice. This blazer is a size 20 and is so so comfy. There's plenty of room in the arms and the 3/4 sleeve length is great for me, I love a 3/4 sleeve and I know some folk don't but on this blazer It works well. 

The top is from Evans and is a size 20 too It was a tad tight around the tummy in the shop (I tried on the 22/24 but the dual sizing meant the shoulders didn't fit they were just too baggy) I decided to go with the 20 as I knew I would be wearing a blazer. As it turns out the top relaxed on wearing and I am really happy with the fit. The eyelash lace around the collar is gorgeous its really delicate. Incidentally this top is machine washable and the lace held up well in the machine. I am also happy to report this top has sleeves (hooray!):

This tunic is short, there's no getting away from it! It could be worn with jeans/jeggings or skinnies, but I've gone crazy and worn my leggings, they are thick and this top does cover my modesty! Plus I like the way this top looks with boots.

Aside from buying new stuff and working /driving and sleeping the other half and me went to a pudding evening in a local tea room. This consisted of a light meal and four puddings! I'm not a huge pudding fan believe it or not! (I would sooner have a cheeseboard) the evening was great though, mainly because everything was beautifully presented on vintage china!

As much as enjoyed the experience trying to eat four puddings is not for me, so I won't be taking on the Christmas challenge of five puddings coffee and mince pies! 

 

Pink Clove Review

So it's been ages since I went to London to the Pink Clove bloggers supper -July infact!). Fairly immediately after I bought a Pink Clove frock but hadn't gotten around to wearing it yet. Truthfully I wasn't sure about this particular frock at first. I really wanted to style it simply with heels and sheer tights but it just didn't look right.

Roll on 2 months and now its well and truly autumn I decided to give my Pink Clove frock another go, just dressed down a little. So this is how I wore it:

This frock is not my preferred shape, there's no getting away from the fact that it does cling a bit, for anyone interested in the side profile here it is (sorry -grumpy face for some reason!):

I am wearing a size 22 here which is the right size for me any bigger and the arms and top would be too big. I dare say that shapewear could provide smooth foundation for this frock, I am not wearing any here besides regular leggings. This outfit is so so comfy, we spent the day out and about, went to a museum then dinner then I slouched on the sofa and watched a movie.

As for pink clove in general the ordering process was smooth and the delivery was really speedy, for £18 you cant go wrong!

The boots I'm wearing here are from Evans and are new too. Here's a closer  look: 

Raar!

Dress @ Pink Clove

Boots @ Evans

Cardi @ H&M

Bag @ M&S

Belt @ Asos

My Cornish Adventure!

This year our holidays amount to a few long weekends away, we did mean to get away for a week but we had a few things to fix in the house so a holiday has gone on the back burner for now :-( Still I booked a couple of nights down in Cornwall since it's somewhere I have never been before. I am a seaside girl at heart and growing up close to the Yorkshire coast I believe that Yorkshire fish and chips are second to none! -Still being a general food enthusiast I decided to give Cornwall a fair shot at proving me wrong! 

I booked a nice spa hotel (St Michaels Hotel and Spa) with dinner bed and breakfast through secret escapes on a bit of a whim really. I was a bit worried weather the hotel would meet my expectations (for the cost) although I had no need to worry. The hotel was decked out in a really classy nautical theme. The room was lovely, well appointed and clean and the bed was huge and comfy. There's a lovely park and a beach one minutes walk from the hotel. The restaurant was excellent and more than satisfied my food enthusiasm.

In terms of outfits I packed quite a few things since the weather was very uncertain, I did heed some sound advice from the other half who said 'just take what you enjoy wearing!' so that's what I did! In the end we lucked out on the weather though!

Jeans @ Evans

top @ New Look

Blazer @ Torrid

Shoes @ Asda

Tunic @ Evans

Jeggings@ Evans

Shoes@ Asda

Belt @ ASOS (normally I wear a blue one but I packed the wrong colour!

Cornish Ice cream is awesome and these little mini cones in the hotel restaurant were just perfect!

We did a whistlestop tour of South West Cornwall including St Michaels mount:

Mousel or Mousehole

More Ice cream with clotted cream on top, this is very wrong but very right!

and Lands End

Everything @ Evans!

From this post you may think I'm ice cream obsessed which is far from the truth normally I can take or leave it - but I did enjoy Cornish ice cream. The seafood was the star for me though, I can confirm that the fish and shellfish in Cornwall is stunning (no great revelation -I think they know that already!), I mostly had cold crab or grilled fish. As for the Yorkshire v Cornwall fish battle? Yorkshire battered fish and chips will always be my favorite but Cornish crab is something special indeed! 

Oh the cheese I forgot the cheese that was pretty good too! Mmm - Yarg!

Oh and the Beer, Tribute - mmm.

Oh and the pasties - mmm. 

My Garden Style

So a non outfit post I hope that's OK! Since I enjoy dressing and accessorizing myself I thought I'd share how I dressed my garden for a recent BBQ.

I'm getting quite proud of my collection of garden stuff, It's taken a while to build up bits and bobs but over the last few years It's taken a bit of patience and luck but not as much cash as it should have.

My epic extendable table came from e-bay last year (a bit of luck was required in the winning of the auction), it was a not perfect second and cost a couple of hundred quid (instead of 1000!), all I needed was a man and a van (cue Dad) a man who could fix a hinge (cue other half) and a fair amount of teak oil. The striped garden chairs came from Next about 5 years ago and were bought in the sale (just before winter!). The parasol and deck chairs were also collected at different times when we had the cash.

I made all the bunting myself (If you're interested I refer you to this post here). The little things are all cheap and cheerful, the candle holders are either from Ikea, Wilkinsons, store 21 or cleaned out jam jars! (again collected over a couple of years) The belfast sinks with plants in were 10 quid each from a car boot.

Aren't my balls great! They are from Cargo, I spied them full price back in spring and waited until they were half price, then I pounced!

The lanterns are again from Cargo and were a couple of quid each, they looked amazing when it got dark.

Last but not least add guests, pavlova and an ice cream factory and some alcohol (Cactus margarita glasses another e-bay purchase) and all is well.

I thought it might be fun to show you round my garden, hope you enjoyed it!

OOTD: New Monsoon Frock

Here's a couple of quick snaps from our trip to Brighton at the weekend. I wore my sale bargain dress from Monsoon which is a very comfy jersey dress with an oriental inspired crane print. The V neck is very flattering and a little bit naughty! 

There's always a great backdrop in Brighton their Graffiti collection seems to be ever growing and refreshing. This is a brilliant piece of art and I had to stop for a photo or two despite this being the end of a seriously tiring day wandering around the city (and being very full of Chinese food!).

In other news I scored a Live Unlimited dress in the sale at Evans for 25 quid, the poor thing has had a hard life in the shop but I'm going to wash and iron it and then wear it with pride (and maybe big knickers!). I also took the plunge and bought a Queen of Holloway frock, which I will put some effort into styling and blogging very soon I promise! We are still getting over household appliances conspiring and breaking in unison so our holiday plans have fallen somewhat flat, I think that rules me out of plus north too :-( still I'm looking forward to a week off soon tho.

Dress @ Monsoon

Shoes @ Asda

Cardigain @ Monsoon

Necklace (barely seen, bad blogger) Alex Monroe @ Evans

OOTD: Monsoon 'Glasshouse' dress

This is a super quick post to share my outfit from a wedding I went to this weekend. I bought this dress a while back and was really hoping for nice summery weather so I could wear it and not look a bit daft! I'm pleased to say the weather was good to me (and more importantly the Bride and Groom!).

This dress is from Monsoon and was love at first sight! The bodice is pleated and the skirt kicks out at the hips and has a lovely net underskirt, it falls into the category 'poofy' without a doubt! Plus this dress is amazing for dancing as it swishes. This is a size 22 with no stretch- in past seasons something so fitted at the waist wouldn't have fitted me I reckon the fit on this is generous so it really is worth trying stuff on. The only fault with this dress (and I'm nit picking) is the waist was just a tiny bit high and I kept tugging it down a little (no doubt my chest was taking up a bit of the length in the bodice). Alas this drss is no longer available but for you avid e-bayers this dress is called 'Glasshouse'

              

The wedding was in York (that's the race course behind me) York holds a special place in my heart since I went to Uni there had some of the best times in my life and met my partner (of 12 years now!). Anyhow back to the outfit, my matchy matchy instincts show no signs of letting up. The cardigan was also from Monsoon, I saw it in Hull then went to Oxford to buy it - but it had gone :-( so the lovely sales lady went upstairs in to the stock room to rummage for the last one (which was coincidentally in my size!) fate! The shoes and bag are from New look, my go to place for block colour wedding outfit shoes now. I know its very matchy and not at all edgy but I felt brilliant this dress is so pretty I even abandoned my cardigan in the evening and danced (swooshed!) all night.

Frock @ Monssoon

Cardi @ Monsson

Shoes @ New look

Bag @ New look

Two outfits and a deck chair!

This weather is awesome isn't it?! In my teenage years I used to hate nice weather, I would hide away in black T shirts and jeans. Nowadays I love that I can wear pretty things and be cool, I even got my arms out on Sunday and believe it or not the world is still spinning! Anyhow I wore the first outfit to go to London with my mum on Saturday, on the sunniest day of the year so far we went for lunch in a cellar (Belgo in Seven Dials, it's pretty good, if you like mussels and beer!) and then went and sat in the dark for a couple of hours! (we saw Charlie and the Chocolate factory at the Theatre Royal - seriously don't bother it was not great!) 

The top is from Evans there's a couple in the sale here this is a size 18/20 believe it or not! (I tried on the 22/24 in store and it was a bit big on the top.) The 18/20 fits just so on the hips as there is no stretch at all in the fabric, there is room in the chest and arms. This picture does not do this fabric justice, this was a piece that I saw back in the Evans preview back in winter I am sad it has take me this long to put my money where my mouth is and actually buy it! I fell in love back then and I'm so so pleased that this piece actually came to fruition, well done Evans!

Top @ Evans

Jeans@ Evans

shoes @ ASDA

This outfit is my cycling to the pub outfit from Sunday, I have blogged this dress a couple of times, it used to be Claire's and it's one of my go to dresses when it's hot. Also I feel one can never go wrong with a wicker bike basket as an accessory!

Dress Joe Browns @ Simply be from the lovely Claire at a swap

'Bag' = my bike basket!

Also I have a rather spiffing new deck chair in my life, which I am torn between sitting in and sitting somewhere else and looking at! (My seaside chic/Brighton obsession is still going strong!)

Deck chair @ Homebase

OOTD: New Look Coral Blazer

I promised myself I would blog this weekend, so here I am at ten to eleven on a Sunday night when I really should be in bed! Anyhow this will be a very quick post! This is my new blazer that I picked up in New Look in Reading (which is a very uninspiring Inspire indeed!) on Saturday, there was only one in the shop it's size 20 which is a good fit and is a soft jersey in a coral colour, it's perfect for summer evenings when it comes in cooler but its still a bright colour so doesn't feel dowdy. I wore this outfit out to dinner this evening, the other half and I went on a date night into Oxford just to Wagamamas and then the Turf (one of Oxfords best pubs). I really should have taken the camera with me since Oxford is a beautiful backdrop and was so quiet this evening. Still you have me in front of the lovely meadow near our house instead. 

Incidentally my hair is pretty much always held up with a pencil as above (yep just a pencil!) I need my hair out of the way at work (I'm a scientist so work in a lab a fair amount). I never use hair bands and it makes a big big difference to how healthy my hair is, I have fewer split ends and less general breakage. So if you're wondering where my hair waves come from it's by having my hair in a pencil all the time, I simply pull the pencil out and voila:

Blazer @ New look

Jeans @ Evans

Shoes @ New look

Bag @ New Look

Good old Familiars

Well, I can't quite believe its been a month and a half since my last post! Time is flying at the moment! I have not been up to anything special, asides a few trips up and down the country to see families and generally a lot of going backwards and forwards to work.

My outfits of late have been comprised of the familiar and comfortable. Last time I went up to Yorkshire I wore this outfit:

Top @ New look (a couple of years ago)

Blazer @ Torrid (a sample from plus London but given to me by Sally who won it, I love where this blazer came from it has seriously good memories attached to it!)

Jeans @ Evans

Sandals @ ASDA!

I am pretty much living in these skinny jeans from Evans they are so comfy and fit amazingly well. This outfit was perfect for sitting in the pub -Nellies in Beverley is a seriously good pub, it's lit entirely by gaslight and is a Sam Smiths pub so beer is extremely good and extremely cheap. The other half is pretty into his ales so we always go to Nellies when I go home.

Anyhow I'm rambling away! The sandals I'm wearing are George at ASDA, I bought them a month or so ago and have been also living in them since, these pictures do not do them justice. In fact I am so in love with these sandals I went back and bought two more pairs! They to make even my ropey toes look OK! At £8 you cant go wrong really!

I have bought one or two items of clothing lately including a black Maxi dress from Evans that has been doing  the blogger rounds. I tried it on back in march and liked it but I'm still finding Evans full price things a bit expensive, so once it was on sale I managed to snap it up! I saw it here on Cass' blog (which has recently become one of my favorites) I will blog it at some point soon I promise!

I also bought a gorgeous dress from Monsoon for a wedding in July, which of course meant I needed to buy shoes and a bag and a shrug, just needed to! I will also blog that soon too.

I seem to have slept through the Clements Ribeiro launch, or at least by the time I decided I might like to buy a piece it sold out! I managed to miss the Simply be blogger take over which was a shame (pesky work strikes again!) since I was thrilled that Lauren, Laura and Em launched their dresses. I was planning on buying Em's dress but then I had to buy two new brake cylinders for the car :-( I will admire it from afar for now and see how the finances go next month!

I have also been reading lots of awesome posts lately, I am here just a but quiet at the moment! Hope you are all well.

I have to go now I have a pub quiz to cycle to!

Whitby Goth Weekend The outfits!

For quite a while now I have been wanting to go to Whitby Goth Weekend. I grew up in Yorkshire but never quite managed to make it to Whitby for one of the bi-annual goth weekends. We have been to the Wendyhouse in Leeds often (playful alternative night! the music - nothing kinky -naughty!)

Since it was my birthday weekend we decided to book a little b&b and head up to Whitby to do some marveling at the costumes. I do love to dress up and at one time I was quite into gothic Victoriana, alas the opportunity to goth up does not arise too often now a days and I didn't take the corsets! I kept my outfits fairly simple going for generic vintage rather than full on goth. Here's my Friday night outfit. You have already seen this dress (I wore it for Plus London last year):

Dress @ Get Cutie

Shoes @ New Look

Necklace - Whitby Jet

During the day I thought I'd wear something fairly easy to toddle around in (again nothing new here!):

Cardi @ H&M

belt @ Next

Jeans @ evans

shoes @ New look

Onto the main event I did get the sewing machine out and run up something a bit different. It was hard to photograph my efforts but here it is:

Dress DIY

Jacket @ New look Inspire (old)

necklace and bangles @ Next

Yes it's a home made 50's inspired dress with miniature glow sticks all over it! They are actually night fishing floats and are probably not intended as club wear but sometimes you have to break the mold right! This dress got a lot of love in Whitby town. It was awesome to wear and I had a lot of fun making it.

I have to say that the most weather appropriate outfit was this one though - brr!

Whitby was great and the costumes and outfits were amazing maybe next time I will dust off some of my more goth stuff!

Something to note is that there were loads of awesome plus size ladies rocking corsetry and steampunk. Next time I will pluck up the courage to ask for some photos of the awesome goth babes! For now I'll just leave a few links:

Facebook Page

Open Facebook Group

Daily Fail, but some nice pics

Real Whitby

flickr

There are many many more pics on line a google will reveal lots and lots!