FRIDAY STYLE: GOING GREEN WITHOUT THE PADDY WHACKERY

With the week that’s in it, I felt that this Friday’s post should include green and we know how much I love green, but I’m not really the kind of girl that wears a green Póg Mo Thóin T-shirt. I thought I would do a post on how you can wear your green for St. Patrick’s Day but in an elegant way. While I will be heading into town to meet up with a few friends to watch the parade and then go for some grub and drinks, I won’t be spending the day getting entirely sloshed so I want to look a little classy.

Starting with the green, this blazer is by Cutie and I picked it up in Carraig Donn. It is more of a teal green. I have this blazer in a few colours now, I like the style and fit of them. I think they work so well to dress up most outfits.

This top is from Penneys. I personally think it looks a lot more expensive than Penneys. I love the beautiful floral print. I can also wear it with a raspberry pink blazer or cardigan for a completely different look.

The trousers are from Dorothy Perkins, I told you before that I love gold zips on black clothing. I think the gold zips on these trousers can make a whole outfit look a bit dressier than it would be with just plain black trousers or jeans.

The shoes are from New Look, again the gold strip on the back of the heel ties in with the trousers.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and a great St. Patrick’s Day.

FRIDAY STYLE: THE PAISLEY PRINT DRESS

I can’t believe that it’s the Friday of a bank holiday; I so haven’t got the giddy feeling yet. Maybe it’s because we are so busy at work and I have a stupid head cold. Anyway back to the outfit. I’m never really sure where I stand on paisley print. I take it on a case by case basis. What sold this dress to me is the green, as usual. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with having a favourite colour, but you do need to try and mix it up and embrace other colours as well.

The other great thing about this dress is the mock wrap style; a wrap style dress is one of the most flattering shapes you can get. The dress is Apricot from New Look. This blazer has featured on the blog loads of times before in an array of different colours. It’s Cutie from iclothing.ie.

Blazers are not everyone’s thing so here it is with a waterfall style cardigan from Penneys. You can still look nice while being warm and cosy. I think the waterfall style takes away the frump normally associated with cardigans.

This necklace is from Awear. It’s quite the statement piece with all the gold bling but it looks just as good with a busy print as it does with a plain t-shirt.

These slouchy faux suede boots are from Penneys. If you have been following the blog then you will know all about how much I love these boots.
Where do you stand on paisley print, love it, or is it for ties and curtains only?

WEDDING GUEST STYLE INSPIRATION: THE TEAL GREEN DRESS

This is the fourth of my wedding guest inspiration posts, here are the links to the first, second and third ones. The purpose of these posts is to give you some ideas on how to mix and match your accessories and dresses to get more value and wear out of them.

This green dress is by Adrianna Papell and I bought it from Nordstroms in the January sale.  I’m jumping on the band wagon here as nearly every other dress on the Rose of Tralee was green. The darker colour of this dress is probably more appropriate for a wedding that is outside of summer: I wore it to a wedding in mid March. There is a lot of beautiful detail in this dress. I love the pleated one shoulder and the twist at the waist creates some very flattering pleats across the tummy. I’m sure you’ll find similar dresses hitting the shops in the Autumn Winter ranges.

And now to accessorize it. First up, we have the berry pink. While bright fuchsia would work well, I have a richer berry toned pink.

The wrap and bag are Star by Julien McDonald at Debenhams.  The shoes are Menbur and I have made no secret of my love for Menbur shoes.

The necklace and earrings are from Boots.

Second, we have purple

This blazer is by Cutie and I got it from iclothing.ie. I got the bag in Penneys/Primark ages ago. Since the previous Wedding Guest Style posts I’m managed to find the perfect purple dressy shoes. They are from Shoes of Prey (shoesofprey.com) and thats a website that allows you to design your own shoes and they make them for you to your specifications. Totes cool but not the cheapest but at least you are paying to get exactly what you want (you can spend ages playing around with designs, I didn’t go mad with the design so they will work with lots of outfits).

The necklace and earrings are from Pulse Accessories. The colour of the jewellery is actually a darker purple in real life but its hard to capture in photos.

Finally is orange.

The shoes are Kurt Geiger, the wrap, fascinator, and bag are from Glitzi Bitz.

The earrings and ring are amber and from eBay. This necklace is from Gerards.

Have you any other colours to suggest to wear with teal?

FRIDAY STYLE: NAVY TUNIC WITH CORAL

After seeing the finished result of the outfit I put together for this post, I decided I really do need to have a proper look at what I actually already have in my wardrobe. I also need to go beyond just looking and start trying things on and trying them on with lots of other items, because sometimes you can be surprised by what ends up working together.

I got this tunic in Awear a while ago. I have only ever worn it once on a night out and I didn’t really like it on, so it’s been sitting on a hanger ever since. I think the problem was that I wore it with jeans and it just didn’t look right. However, when I thought about it again I tried it with these navy leggings from Swamp and I think they look really classy together. In fact I am surprised by how dressy this outfit looks with the leggings as I would usually only wear leggings for casual wear. But that is more so because I am not a big fan of my legs and I’m not sure leggings do them any favours.

I decided to break up the block of navy with coral because it’s a bright and pretty colour for Summer. The blazer is Cutie from iclothing.ie and you may have seen it in this previous post. I am afraid this blazer is one of the few items of clothing that I have purchased in a number of colours, because the cut of it is just really versatile.

The necklace is from New Look and has also been in a previous post here.

The nude wedge heel courts are from Oasis. I get great wear out of these because nude shoes go with everything and the wedge heel makes them really comfortable. You can see them again in this post. I was sorry I didn’t get the nude wedge courts in New Look last year so when these popped up in Oasis in spring I was on them like a fly on …well, you know.

So have you started searching in your own wardrobe yet? Have you found any gems?

WEDDING GUEST STYLE INSPIRATION: THE ORANGE DRESS

This is the third of my wedding guest inspiration posts, here are the links to the first and second ones. The purpose of these post is to give you some ideas on how to mix and match your accessories and dresses to get more value and wear out of them.

This orange dress is by Karen Millen and I bought it from the House of Fraser web site during one of their discount promotions but it is in the Karen Millen sale now. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Karen Millen dresses may cost a bit but the detailing is always beautiful and you can really see the quality. The detail of seams and pleating across the tummy is quite flattering and the straps mean you can wear a proper bra. Now to accessorize it:

First up, we have purple.

I think purple and orange look great together and this is how I wanted to accessorise the dress for my nephew’s wedding but I couldn’t find a dressy pair of purple shoes that I liked.

This blazer is by cutie and I got it from iclothing.ie. I got the bag in Penneys/Primark ages ago. The shoes are Iron Fist and I’ve had them for a while.

The necklace and earrings are from Pulse Accessories. In reality the colour is a deeper purple than it shows up in pictures and I took loads of pictures to try and capture the colour but this is the best I could get.

Second, we have the berry pink.

I’ve seen a lot of bright pink and orange combos this summer but here I have a richer berry toned pink.

The wrap and bag are Star by Julien McDonald at Debenhams. The shoes are Menbur, lets not forget how much I love Menbur shoes.

.

The necklace and earrings are from Boots.

Finally, Blue.

I love blue and orange together and this is how I actually wore it to the wedding on Thursday.

This blue blazer is Cutie and you may have noticed by now that I have it in a few colours. I usually don’t like buying the same item in a few colours but this style blazer is so versatile. The cut and shape looks great with dresses or it can look smart casual with jeans.  That’s right the shoes are surprise, surprise, from Menbur. I borrowed this blue clutch from a friend and it is from Penneys, as you can see it is the same as my purple one.

The necklace is from Carraig Donn and the earrings are from New Look.

Other colour suggestions I have for wearing with orange are teal green and navy? Can you think of any other colours?

FRIDAY STYLE: BOYFRIEND JEANS DRESSED UP FOR A DAY OF SHOPPING

When I head out for a proper day of shopping, I like to dress nice. Now if I’m just on a mission to get something specific like tights or heading into Penneys to see what’s cheap and cheerful then it doesn’t matter what I wear. But if I’m out to treat myself to some real retail therapy then I like to make the effort. There are two reasons for this: one, when you look good you feel good. If you start the day out in a frumpy tracksuit and feeling negative and you are in a downer mood, then of course nothing will fit right or suit you. It’s always better to start the day in a positive mood, feeling good about yourself and I always feel better about myself when I have made a bit of an effort. The second reason is when you are dressed well, sales assistants tend to be nicer to you. Unfortunately this is not a rule, some stroppy mares will always be stroppy mares. However, I am a people watcher and I can’t help but notice that sales assistants are generally nicer to people that are dressed stylishly as opposed to those in still in their pj’s.

So this is what I wore for a day of shopping on Saturday. The vibrant coral blazer is from Cutie and I bought it from iclothing.ie. I love the shape of these blazers, the cropped sleeves and tailored fit make it sit well with almost anything. They can look really dressy with a dress or smart casual with jeans and they come in loads of colours.

The pussy bow blouse you have seen before in this post when the weather was colder. The colour of the leopard print is quite soft so it’s a pretty blouse and contrasts nicely with the bold colour of the blazer. The blouse is from Penneys.

These slim fit boyfriend jeans are from Zara. Because they are a very casual style, I love trying to dress them up. This outfit would look far dressier with heels but because I’m off to stroll through the shops, comfy shoes are a must for all that walking. These wedge heel, peep toe, canvas courts are a few years old but I got them in Paul Byron.

Are you up styling boyfriend Jeans or keeping them relaxed with a t-shirt and flip flops? How do you like to dress for a day of retail therapy?

FRIDAY STYLE: CUTIE MINT TOP & CREAM BLAZER

It’s Friday again, but it’s not just any Friday, it’s the Friday of a long weekend . Whoohoo! There has been a bit of sunshine during the week so things are looking up.

I may have mentioned before that mint in one of my favourite colours so here it is again. This top is from the Cutie brand and I bought it in Swamp.

There is a lot of detail in the print with the white polka dots and pink and navy butterflies.

The cream blazer is also from Swamp. I like the pinstripe detail on the lining which is visable on the cuffs.

The jeans are from Dunnes and the belt is from Pennys.

The wedge heel nude court shoes are from Oasis and have also been in this previous post.