JOY JOY JOY

I know that I can be a bit rubbish with money because there's always some new cosmetic that I 'need' or I just suddenly decide that I 'have to' take a little weekend trip to London or HMV is having a sale that I 'should' really make the most of (in case of some kind of future DVD drought). And maybe, if I was better at saving up, I'd be able to treat myself to slightly more expensive clothing (usually, I tend to stick to sales and cheap stores like H&M and New Look). But to be honest, even if I do have the money to spend, I'm really reluctant to part with much more than £40 for any item from a high street store (unless it's something super fancy, or something very important, like a coat) because I do think they can be stupidly overpriced and generally, for the quality you get, it's just not worth it. Possibly my most commonly used phrase while shopping is,

"£45 for a skirt?! I could make this!"

which is, of course, ridiculous, because I literally can't make anything.

Anyway, this weekend, I was in London, visiting friends, flitting about Islington and generally being fabulous and Londony, when Tash and I decided to have a little look in JOY.

In case you don't know, there are many pretty things in JOY; lots of quirky dresses and cool jewellery and interesting home accessories and silly games like they have in Urban Outfitters. I'm a big fan of JOY, but I rarely get the chance to shop there because they opened a store in Liverpool for like a month and then for some reason it closed down mysteriously. It's all very upsetting, actually.

So we're looking in JOY and I'm specifically looking for an evening dress for a party I'm going to this weekend. Sadly, I didn't really find any fabulous evening dresses, but I did find this;

Louche Sophie Heart Button Dress - JOY

I don't think the picture fully does it justice, but you have to understand this dress is truly ADORABLE and the fit was perfect and it's so pink and I don't even wear that much pink but I'm trying to integrate it more into my wardrobe and LOOK AT ALL THE HEARTS! This dress is the very definition of JOY! Except, not really, because then I looked at the price tag and it was £49. I know £49 doesn't sound like much when you love something, and I do love this dress, but it's the principle of the thing. This dress is 100% viscose.

"£49 for a dress made of viscose?! I could make this!"

SHUT UP FRANKI!

So I didn't buy it. And now I am sad. The dress that filled me with such joy has now left me feeling sad and empty.

I think the moral of this story is very clear;

I should start saving my money a dressmaking course.

What do you think, people? Is the dress too expensive? Am I being silly? Would you pay £49 for a dress made of viscose? What even is viscose? I NEED ANSWERS!

I'm aware that the statement I'm about to make may well be met with muchos disagreement and general disdain, but then, what's the point in having a blog if you can't set yourself up for a bit of abuse?

I'm not going to beat around the bush here, I'm just going to come right out and say it... deep breath...

I liked Sex and the City 2 (for the most part)

Ok kids, now play nice.

After reading reviews and talking to other people who've seen the movie, the general consensus seems to be that the majority of people thought it was too long, had very little in the way of actual storyline and, generally, they just hated it.

Well... yes, it was too long. I don't think anyone can deny that this movie is long and really doesn't need to be. Maybe they forgot to edit it, maybe they just really wanted to squeeze in a few more puns and a few more pairs of shoes, who knows, but it was VERY long. To be honest though, I feel that any movie that surpasses the two hour mark is too long. I've actually sat through SATC 2 twice now, (once in Liverpool, once in London) maybe this makes me crazy, but despite the numb-bum syndrome we all get in those horrible cinema seats, I've enjoyed it both times and was quite happy to go the second time, despite the fact I knew it was super-long.

With regards to the storyline, let's be honest here, it's the sequel to a movie-adaptation of a TV show that focuses solely on sex and fashion - how much storyline could there really be? The first movie pretty much exhausted all the standard 'dramatic' storylines that were relevant to the show- infidelity, pregnancy, marriage, dying your hair brown - what more could they have done? It was a choice between sending them off on holiday or going in a completely different direction, setting the movie in a women's prison and having the storyline be a violent-but-moving prison drama; a cross between Bridget Jones 2 and The Green Mile (Sex and the City 2: Behind Bars)... actually... that sounds quite good...

Anyway, regardless of length and storyline (or lack of...), I still enjoyed the film. I didn't LOVE it; I'm not going to go around quoting it, it hasn't changed my life, but then, I wasn't expecting it to. Sex and the City 2 was hardly going to be the next Boys Don't Cry, was it? It had its flaws, but it made me laugh, the styling was (mostly) marvellous and that Danish guy was seriously hot. Maybe this makes me sound like a shallow, soulless monstrosity, but sometimes, after a long week at work, I don't want to watch some kind of emotionally-charged drama that leaves me feeling drained and exhausted at the end, I want to watch something light and silly. I make no apologies for that. Films don't always have to be enriching or intelligent; they're just films. If you really want to do something intelligent, read a book; you'll get a lot more out of it.
Anyway, rant over. Let's get to the good stuff.

Bits I loved (there may be spoilers)

Very brief 80s flashback. Brilliant. It was worth watching for Miranda's haircut alone. I don't know why, but I love this image of Charlotte walking down the street brushing her hair.

The Brady-Hobbes clan. Gotta love them. Yes, Miranda quits her job at the beginning of the movie, which is a bit unexpected and random, but she does find another one by the end, with what seems to be some kind of roof-top hippie law firm. Ah, why not?

AIDAN! There will always be a place in my heart for lovely tall Aidan. Look at him, working that man-bag. So manly.

KARAOKE! I'll be honest, I'd never heard the song before, but it was still wonderful. Favourite bit possibly in the whole film, Samantha drunkenly singing on her own at the end "I am a woma-a-an, I'm at that ta-a-able!"

Every scene with baby Rose. Not because she's cute, just because her facial expressions were hilarious. Did you ever see a more stressed-out looking baby in your life? Either she has a deadly cupcake allergy or it's just suddenly dawned on her that Charlotte is going to be dressing her and Lily in matching outfits until they're both well into their teens.

LIZA-MI-FRIKKIN-NELLI! I don't need to say anything else.

Other bits I loved;

• "Abdul. Like Paula"
• Samantha dancing to Single Ladies during Liza's bit.
• The super fancy plane - how amazing were those cubicle things?!
• Brief, unnecessary shot of Jason Lewis shirtless - no reason for it, but I'm not complaining :)
• Alice Eve's ridiculously crap Irish accent. I don't know if it was meant to be crap, or it just was crap, but either way, HILARIOUS! (I don't think we really need to talk about her boobs, but seriously, did you ever see anything like them? Are they real?!)

Bits I didn't love

Pretty much everyone's outfit in this scene. Especially Charlotte's. Why, oh why did they put her in those horrendous shiny red legging things!? Actually though, they all look completely ridiculous here. Samantha is wearing some kind of Pharoah headdress. Apparently that's necessary in the desert...

Other bits I didn't love;

• the fact that Charlotte seems to have become some kind of bizarre, comedy character who's always getting into hilarious scrapes. She poos herself in the first movie and seems to spend the second film falling over and generally being embarassing. What's going on there?
• The whole scene in the marketplace which starts with Samantha going completely mental, thrusting at holy men and screeching "YES, CONDOMS! I HAVE SEX!" like some kind of furious, sweaty sex-banshee and ends with all four of the women disguising themselves in burqas to escape the angered holy men. It was like some kind of weird scene from a Carry On movie, or a Benny Hill sketch. A lot of people have said that this scene in particular was really offensive, and I agree that it is to some extent, but more than anything I think it just makes Carrie et al look really bloody stupid.

So there you have it; my thoughts on SATC 2 - silly in parts but still enjoyable and lots of fun - where's the harm in that? I'd love to know what you guys thought of it - a bit of a laugh or a load of rubbish? Tell me!

images from imdb.com

sentimental heart

Happy Father's Day, Peej x

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers! Hurray for dads!

FYI, this photo is from like, the 80s or something (but that's obvious, right?) and the slightly terrifying Boxer dog in this photo was my auntie's. He was called Zoon. He's dead now. RIP Zoon.

Barry

I'm away this weekend, so posting is going to be minimal, still, I'm making a bit of effort by scheduling this and another one for tomorrow. DEDICATION, PEOPLE!

Barry M Nail Paint in Matt White, you make me feel so creative.

Other colours used - 17 Lasting Finish in Baked Cherry and Parma Violet, Barry M Nail Paint in Turquoise, Mint Green and Pink Flamingo. Black detail done with the Topshop felt tip eyeliner.

It's 2am - why am I doing this now?!

I'm not calling you a liar... but don't lie to me

I know that the world and his wife (and their children, the dog and the nosey neighbour next door) have already blogged about this collection, but you know what they say, if you can't beat 'em, get a bigger baseball bat join 'em, so here I am, jumping on the bandwagon like a big, bandwagon-jumping maniac.

Chloë Sevigny is one of those people who can do no wrong, she is just cool. It's the kind of cool that cannot be learned or developed over time, you either just have it or you don't and she has it. By the bucketload. And the bucket is leopard print. And really cool.

This is her third collection for Opening Ceremony and it's so incredibly simple - it's all stuff we've seen before; leopard print, florals, polka dots, flippy skirts, cut off tee-shirts, standard stuff that's been very 'current' for a while now. And yet, Chloe waves her magic (cool) wand and it suddenly all looks so fresh and new and I literally want to own all of it.

I don't really need to say much more; the images speak for themselves, but

THE SHOES

THE TIGHTS (especially the floral ones)

THE SUNGLASSES

AND ALL THE DRESSES. ALL OF THEM. I WANT THEM ALL. NOW PLEASE.

images from style.com

In it to win it

Gem Fatale (aka, she of the amazing leopard print nails tutorial) is having a bloody marvellous competition, and if you've got any sense at all, you'll head over to her blog and enter! Amongst other things, you could win H! by Henry Holland goodies; Disney Couture jewellery and some fab beauty products!

Just click right

HERE

you know you want to!

Gem, if you're reading this, you are beautiful and clever ;)

(Suck up? Me?!)

Now, the reason Gem's having this comp is because she's reached 300 followers. I currently have 17.

If you ever want to see a giveaway on this here blog, I think we're going to have to do some serious work, guys! So, if you're a regular visitor but you're not yet a follower, what are you waiting for? Get following! And say hello in the comments box - I read every comment and try my best to respond asap!

Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road! little curly girl!

Ooh la la

The Resort 2011 collections are upon us and I've not been particularly fussed on many of them so far. Last year, I did several posts on Resort 2010 because there just seemed to be such an amazing array of colours and prints and shapes and I had so much to say, but it feels a bit like this year, a lot of designers have done a complete one-eighty and are now in a very minimalist place. While minimalism can be great, (less is more and all that) sometimes, I just want to replace 'minimal' with 'boring'.

Fortunately, one of the labels that never fails to impress, is Dior. Oh how I love Dior. I think, out of all the fashion houses out there, Dior is probably the one I look at most and think "yeah, I LOVE this collection". John Galliano is my hero.

This collection had a 60s 'mod' theme with beehived hair, big sunglasses and lots of bright block colours with white details. There was also a French influence, with chic tailored trenches, Breton stripes and sexy little neckerchiefs and chokers. With regards to styling, there was something for everyone, with both masculine and feminine looks making their way down the catwalk; dotted amongst the super-pretty dresses was a selection of boyish blazers and trousers, topped off with fedoras (or trilbies? I never know the difference) and baker boy caps. Of course, for me, it's all about the dresses; Galliano seems to be really celebrating the female form, with lots of nipped in waists and short, figure-hugging skirts. 'Sheer' was also a theme here, with organza and chiffon playing a big part (I'm not entirely sure what would be the best kind of underwear to wear with some of this stuff). I'm also loving all the cute, girly details - Peter Pan collars, embellished roses, pleats and frills. And of course there's loads of lovely couture gowns for us all drool over - long, feminine and floaty, in ice cream colours such as mint, peach and pink. It's just a gorgeous collection - I've only posted a few pictures, but I urge, if you haven't done already, to go here and have a look for yourself!

All images from style.com

Currently wearing

Barry M Nail Paint in Pink Flamingo.

This is the perfect pinky-coral colour - I have a whole box full of nail varnishes but all of them look so boring compared to this, I've been wearing it obsessively for days (and I usually change things up every couple of days). If anyone knows of a lipstick in a similar shade please please tell me of it, I'm really loving coral at the moment.

Also, bit random but I've recently been using graze.com, which is a marvellous site that delivers yummy, natural snacks straight to your door. They have an amazing range of snacks to choose from and if you use this code - 8X1MFPG - you can get your first box for free! Just thought I'd share the love (and for every friend I refer, I get £1 off my next order). I thoroughly recomment the wasapeas, the golden honey nut hazels and the cracked black pepper cashews. YUMMY!

curl-spiration

Cosmopolitan has been my monthly mag of choice for a long time. Sometimes I mix things up a bit and go for Glamour or Elle instead, but most of the time I go for Cosmo. I think, in large part, this is down to the fact that Elle Woods wins her case in Legally Blonde because she knows that Chutney couldn't have gotten in the shower right after getting a perm, which she learnt from reading Cosmo. God, I love that bit - shame on you Chutney! Any magazine that helps you to win a murder case is pretty darn special if you ask me! (yes I know it's fictional, but that is NEVER the point.)
While their editorials are nowhere near as fancy as Vogue's, one of the things that does always stand out to me in Cosmo's fashion stories is that the models always have amazing hair. Seriously, they must use an agency that only ever represents models with excellent hair. Either that or Cosmo has a frighteningly large selection of brilliant wigs, in which case, please point me in the direction of the wigs cupboard please.

Not only is the hair always beautiful, it is also, very often curly! HURRAH! There are not enough curly-haired girls pictured in fashion magazines, so this makes me happy. So happy in fact, I've been saving up said pictures for one big curly-haired post.

Yeah, I went a bit mad with the scanner again...

If my hair was this curly and bouncy, I would happily wear it that short - so so so gorgeous. From the November 2009 issue, fashion story called "COATS" (about coats - crazy right?)

You hardly ever see blonde girls with natural curls, and blonde hair looks beautiful curly. Love the eye makeup on this girl too. From March 2010 issue, hair story called "Battle of the Textures."

I know these aren't 'natural' curls, but still, lovely hair. And I WANT that Antoni and Alison bag. From June 2010 issue, editorial called "Let's Get Happy".

Love everything about this editorial - setting, clothes, makeup, hair (obv). It's from November 2009 and is called "Sweater Girl" (Cosmo aren't particularly creative with their titles, are they?) Also, how insanely beautiful is this model? If I could, I would steal her face.

I'll be honest, I've got several more curly hair photos but I think that's enough for now. I'm tempted to start a tumblr solely to post photos of curls. Would that be mad?

Anyone else seen any good curly hairstyles of late?

little black book

André Lorenz Stock is an 18 year old Swedish tee-shirt designer who founded the label Black Book. His designs are quirky and unusual, using a combination of photographs and a few humourous words, which he prints as transfers and then assembles, collage-style onto cotton tee shirts. On their website, it says that the Black Book philosophy is summed up by their logo (pictured above);

"A subtle word with a mysterious meaning that makes you wonder what's written in the black book while the leopardpig screams out for attention"

You gotta love that leopardpig.

Anyway, the label has been so popular that recently, H&M collaborated with André, giving customers from all around the world the chance to submit their designs with the best fifteen being selected by the designer to be made into tee-shirts and sold in H&M stores worldwide.

The final fifteen tees are a varied selection of witty, silly, random and downright weird designs and are available to buy instore right now (some are in the men's section and some in the women's but to be honest, I'd say they're all unisex really). Here are my favourites;

MALE COUTURE, £7.99

BILO THE MONKEY SO WRONG YET SO RIGHT, £9.99

ONE EYED REDHEAD, £12.99

LEOPARD BEARD IT'S REALLY TRENDY, £9.99

You can see all the designs on the H&M website - which is your favourite?

[image source]

DREAMY

John Bender - darn sexy.

I truly believe that he's had a profound and lasting affect on my life - whenever I hear somebody say, "any questions?" I get an irresistable urge to ask "does Barry Manilow know that you raided his closet?". Oh Bender, you're such a hoot!

Shame Judd Nelson's all old now...

Hello cheeky

I don't even normally bother with Miss Selfridge but I realised I'd not been into the new store since it opened in Liverpool (in the basement of Topshop, FYI) so I went to have a little snoop on Monday and found these babies;

Pink, polka dots and peep-toe? Too cute! And they're only £40!

Couldn't decide whether to buy them or not as I'm looking for a pair of shoes AND a dress at the moment and I figured if I buy these, it's going to limit what sort of dress I can buy (what do you think - should you plan an outfit around your shoes?). Then again, when they're only £40 I might just buy them anyway...

Took a little trip to missselfridge.com to have another look at them and came across these;

Polka dot, platform and lovely over-sized bow!? And also only £40! Now I'm really in a pickle...

Help please, which do you prefer? Should I buy both?!

FFS

Oh, I was so smug wasn't I? "Lalalala...Orange Wednesdays... lalala Sex and the City..."

I thought "oh, we'll be sensible, we'll go to the Odeon straight from work, buy our tickets then go for food. Simple. Easy. Bish bash bosh."

Except when we got to the Odeon at 6pm, it was already heaving with stupid, half-term, Orange-code-wielding teens and not only was the 7pm showing sold out, but the 8pm and 8.30pm showings were too.

NOT FAIR.

So now I am home, still none the wiser as to what happens in the movie. This is the THIRD time my plans to see it have fallen through.

Oh and Odeon Cinema Liverpool? Instead of having fifteen LCD screens which play the exact same loop of cola being sexily poured over ice in slow motion, why don't you put some actual information up there, like... oh I don't know... whether or not a film is sold out, so that good, innocent folk like me don't have to queue up for no frikkin' reason? Just a suggestion.

Here is an image which may or may not be from Sex and the City 2. I have no idea because I STILL HAVEN'T SEEN IT.

[source]

To me you are the teacher from Charlie Brown

Another sneaky at-work blog post.

Following on from last week's "Edward Cullen is actually Wendell from The Simpsons" revelation, I thought maybe this look-a-likes thing could become a regular feature. So, as long as there is a constant supply of people with ridiculous faces for me to mock, I promise you, dear readers, that I will mock them with all my heart and soul.

This one's scarily uncanny. In fact, it's just scary.

Tiffany, the Bride of Chucky and Rachel Zoe. Truly terrifying. I'm not sure which one frightens me more - the hooker-makeup-wearing midget with eyes of death or the doll.

I'm off to see SATC 2 tonight, you know Orange Wednesdays and all that. Apparently it's a bit crap. I can't wait.