July noted

Somehow, we seem to be over halfway through July and I've yet to do my monthly update post - bad Franki! Anyway, here it is, better late than never, right? RIGHT?!

I'm currently loving;

Festival funsies. You may have noticed that I've been holidaying a lot lately - Glamping in May, Lanzarote in June and I got back from Lisbon in Portugal last week. I'm really not the sort of person that normally goes on loads of holiday, it's just how things have worked out recently. Obviously, I'm not complaining though! Lisbon was fab - I went with Tash and a few guy friends and we spent the first couple of days checking out the city (and lounging by our hotel pool) and the rest of our time was spent at the AMAZING Optimus Alive Festival. We were actually a little bit concerned that when we got to Portugal, we'd discover that the festival didn't really exist because nobody had heard of it, fortunately though, it did exist in a massive way! I'm pretty much the worst person ever when it comes to music and bands (I'm a musical theatre girl through and through) so I'm probably not the obvious person to go to a massive music festival, but I had loads of fun and saw some amazing bands including Foo Fighters, Primal Scream, Bombay Bicycle Club and Fleet Foxes. I'm so up for going back next year - Glastonbury and the other British festivals look like fun, but a festival with guaranteed sunshine and no mud whatsoever is far more my cup of tea :)

Churros. Being the foody that I am, I had to make the most of all the different food stalls at the festival - most of it was pretty standard - burgers, pizzas, kebabs etc - but there was also a waffle and churros stand which sold the most amazing chocolate filled churros. I had one every day and I'm not even a little bit sorry.

My new vintage skirt. I bought this at a vintage fair in Liverpool just before we went to Lisbon and I think it's fabulous. The label inside it is BhS and it's in really good condition so I'm not sure just how 'vintage' it really is. Saying that though I'm definitely getting a very 90s vibe from the pattern, so it could be at least 11 years old - who can say for sure?

One Day. I've been meaning to read this for ages and when Tash offered to lend me it last week, I said yespleasethankyouverymuch. The basic premise is that Dexter and Emma meet on the day they graduate from uni and stay in touch, despite their lives going in very different directions. Each chapter in the book takes place on the same day (15th July) but a year later, so we basically see how their lives unfold over twenty years. I've been reading it for the past few days and sat down on Sunday night to read a few more chapters before bed but then got to a really good bit, couldn't put it down and stayed up until 1am to finish it. I'd definitely recommend it, though I must warn you, it's a bit of a weepy one. It's been made into a film starring Anne Hathaway and comes out next month, though I'm not sure I'll bother seeing it as, having just watched the trailer, it's really annoyed me how Anne Hathaway is doing a really bad generic British accent, even though her character is meant to be from Yorkshire. Hey producers! Crazy idea - why not just cast a British actress who can actually do the correct accent in the first place?!

This video. I've still not seen the final Harry Potter film as I'm planning to go with my sisters but Liv is away on holiday this week. Fortunately, this video has provided me with some much needed Potter brilliance. Wizarding kittens? Yes please!

I'm currently hating;

Not fulfilling my tanning potential. Ok, 'hate' is probably a strong word, I'm just a bit miffed really. After two holidays in lovely hot countries, I was expecting to spend the rest of the Summer looking like something from a St Tropez ad. Sadly, this is just not the case - I am tanned, just not as tanned as I could be. I think it may be because I've not actually been abroad for the past six years and my skin had just forgotten how to tan. It was like "what the HELL is this?!" - it got to a certain level of brownness and then refused to go any darker. It could also be that I should have used a lower SPF - I used SPF 20 both times, but I think I could have gotten away with 15 in Lisbon - maybe that's where I went wrong? Either way, while it's nice to have a bit of natural colour for a change, I'm feeling drawn to the bottle of St Moritz currently at the back of my cupboard...

Ok, normally now I'd link to some blogs I've been enjoying lately, but to be honest I've been mainly reading all my usual faves and not come across any new ones - if you have any suggestions of new or lesser known blogs that I should check out, please let me know! I'm planning to do a favourite blogs post at some point soon.

So that's this month's update over and done with - hope you're all well and enjoying graduations/holidays/other exciting things that tend to happen around this time of year. Peace out, eight town.

"Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me..."

Is it bad that it's ten past four on Sunday afternoon and I just climbed back into bed after doing nothing all day but watch Gilmore Girls and Marilyn Monroe films? Nah, I didn't think so either, I mean Sunday is the day of rest after all. And believe you me, I am feeling mighty rested!

It'd all be very relaxing except someone decided to buy their delinquent teenage offspring one of those stupid mini motorbike things and the little shit has been riding it up and down my street for the past hour. How much entertainment can you get from riding up and down one street over and over again?! He's not even going anywhere! I can literally hear the bike go past my house, down the road a bit, turn around and come back. I can't even begin to describe how irritating it is.

I hope the mini motorbike bursts into flames.

I don't necessarily want the rider to also burst into flames, just the motorbike, as that's what's making the noise. But if he were to get caught in the flames too, I can't say I'd feel that bad about it...

That is, of course, a terrible thing to say. I do not wish death by burning upon anyone. Honest.

Anyway, *deep healing breaths*, on Tuesday, Liv was in a fashion show for a vintage store in Liverpool called Flashback Boutique. I've never been particularly fussed on vintage stuff; I don't mind vintage accessories, such as scarves or belts but generally, I find a lot of vintage stores are just full of naff polyester dresses that are ill-fitting, stained or smell a bit questionable. However, I'm sure that, amongst all the random crap, there is quite often some hidden gems to be found. I just never have the patience to go rooting around for them.

Fortunately, Flashback Boutique made it easy for their customers, by picking out lots of the good stuff and showcasing it at their "Vintage Party". Unlike most fashion shows, where a collection is all based around some kind of theme, this show had several sections to it, each with a different theme, I guess this was because there was just so much stuff to show off but they still wanted there to be some kind of order to the show. So, for example, there was a section that was all nautical inspired and another section for evening wear.

Amongst the inevitable selection of cute printed tea dresses and batwing jumpers, there was also some more unusual pieces; after seeing the long double-breasted jackets worn as dresses below, I'm really desperate to get hold of one myself;

What I also really liked about the show was the hair and makeup. Sticking with the idea of everything being vintage, all the models wore "victory rolls" and lots of flicked out liquid eyeliner. Very 1940s pin-up, which I'm LOVING at the moment. I've been trying to recreate the rolls all weekend. It's so tricky! Especially the rolled-fringe like the one on the dark haired girl above. If anyone has any good tips or tricks, please let me know!

Photos by Martyn Randles.

There's also some lovely backstage shots by Katherine Oliver here

Liv wore four different outfits; sadly I can't find a photo of my favourite one, which was a navy and red spotted tea dress, but her favourite was this pink sequined jacket, which was one of the final looks in the show.

I've only got this really crappy image of the back of it, which I took on my phone, but as you can see it goes right down into a tailcoat type thing. Perhaps a gay ringmaster used to own it...

Also, while we were there, we both got snapped by a lady who works for a website called Fashion Finds. Basically, it's like a street style blog, but they provide links and details about where you can buy the items in the pictures. Nobody's ever asked to take my picture because they liked what I was wearing, so I was quite flattered. I was wearing a new maxi dress from New Look and the Big Ben earrings I mentioned in my earrings post last week - glad to see they're getting the appreciation they deserve!

I look a bit scared in the photo, because when the lady asked to take my picture, this big group of girls all stopped talking and just stared at me, so I felt really self-conscious. I'm not great at getting my photo taken at the best of times, so if there's a load of people watching it's bound to be a disaster! Silly I know, but I felt like they were all judging me!

Here's Liv looking a bit more relaxed than me.

If you come from Liverpool or are just interested in street style, mozy on over to Fashion Finds - it shows just how creative and diverse fashion in Liverpool has become. It's not ALL fake tan and blonde hair you know!

Flashback Boutique is based on Whitechapel in Liverpool city centre, but also has on online store, here.