Dresses to kill

Jeepers creepers, where has the time gone? I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last blogged, this is massively unacceptable, sorry! Regular posting will commence from this point onwards, pinkie promise.

If you've not already bought yourself a copy of th April issue of Glamour, I suggest you get to it quickly, because not only can you get one of TEN awesome Clinique freebies (I've got two - the Dramatically Different Moisturiser and the 7 Day Scrub Cream - both of which are awesome), it's also their tenth anniversary edition so the magazine is packed full of competitions, offers and marvellous features galore.

One of my favourite features in the April issue is this shoot featuring Jameela Jamil (from T4) modelling a selection of dresses, which Glamour have helped to create as part of a collaboration with ten high street stores. Jameela looks beautiful as always (I WANT her hair) and I'm loving how each dress has been styled so differently. What's also cool is that each of the stores involved in the collaboration are offering special discounts and competitions for Glamour readers (see the magazine for full details). I've picked out a few of my favourite dresses below.

Lara Fit and Flare Dress £169, Reiss

Lace Prom Dress £59.99 (reduced to £44.99 online), New Look

Shelby's Summer Belted Dress, £125 French Connection

How gorgeous is this?! I particularly love how it's been styled too - they've taken such a simple, elegant dress and really toughened it up with the bowler hat and trainers. It's also available as a maxi dress, which is equally as pretty.

RSC Grace Dress, £49.90, Mango

Which is your favourite? And have you bought the new Glamour? What Clinique freebie did you get?!?!

The Prints and the Pauper.

It's Saturday night and I'm at home listening to my parents and their friends getting drunk downstairs. I know, I know - what kind of lame-ass 21 year old am I?! This is the first Saturday night I've had in ages where I've not been in work so really, I should be dancing like a lunatic somewhere to make up for all the nights out I've missed of late. But you know what? I'm tired ok? I've been busy doing all kinds of crazy things this week so just give it a rest and let me boring, yeah?

Anyway, one of my favourite people in the world came to visit me yesterday and apart from a minor mishap involving an exploding bottle of chilli sauce and my H&M oversized shirt/dress thing (which was washed to within an inch of its life when I got home), it was a lovely day. Being the good friend that I am, I showed her the joys of Liverpool shopping. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending how you look at it) both of us were feeling thrifty so we didn't spend a great deal, but I did still manage to snap up some nifty little bits and pieces.

Owl brooch - £4.50 from an amazing vintage jewellery shop in Grand Central, Collection 2000 Glam Crystals eyeliner - £2.70 from Boots, dress - £14.99 from H&M and sunglasses £4.99 also H&M

The dress was really just something I was trying on, I'd actually intended to buy a different dress but it's such a lovely, "flippy" (as my mum called it) shape that I changed my mind. My sister (very sensibly) pointed out that it'd go well with a leather jacket so now I feel like I need a shrunken leather jacket, I think it's important for my personal well-being that I get one soon. The sunglasses were too good a bargain not to buy; I only ever wear bug-eye sunglasses coz I've got a massive head and other sunnies don't look right on me (aviators make me look like John Lennon for some reason).

Can anyone explain why, when I turn the flash off on my camera, the photos go really blurry? Why is that? Why? I was trying to take a photo without the flash so that the brooch and the eyeliner didn't go all reflecty but it just didn't happen. Harrumph. I am in love with the little owl though. The price label called it a "Tweet-twoo brooch" - how ca-yoot is that?!

If you were to take a little look-see into my wardrobe, the first thing you'd notice, as well as the disturbingly massive collection of knitwear I own, would probably be just how many of my clothes are covered in prints and patterns, obviously my new dress is a good example of this. My other most recent purchase, another dress, this time from French Connection via ASOS is also all about the pattern;

Dress - £24, French Connection (ASOS Sale)

Ignore my hair in the photo as best you can, I was between styles (not quite curly because I hadn't scrunched it after washing but not smooth enough to be straight - the Little Curly Girl's eternal dilemma...). Anyway, the dress was a kind of random impulse buy; I generally don't buy online because I'm never sure what size I am and can't be bothered with all the faff of returning things if they don't fit, but I figured since French Connection sizes are pretty consistent and a smock dress is basically a sack with sleeves, (a very nice sack, but a sack nonetheless) I'd take a risk. I bloody love it so it was a risk well-taken. It's very flouncy, and flounciness is pretty much something I always want in a dress, plus I don't usually wear long sleeves so it makes a good change. The drop-waisted shape and the dense black and white print really remind me of these two pieces from the Anna Sui Fall RTW show;

( photos from style.com)

So now I'm thinking I need a cameo brooch (back to the amazing vintage jewellery shop go I), a pair of fringed boots, some lacy tights and, of course, a crazy feathered hat. But then, don't we all need a crazy feathered hat?