light blue loveliness

jumper & lace dress - topshop, black wedges - UO

i felt very girly in this outfit! although i wear a lot of dresses, i try and avoid dressing too girly as i'm not really a girly girl. i love clothes and shoes and other such girly things, but overall i don't spend that much time on my hair and make-up, or nails and stuff. (although if i had better hair and skin then i probably would!)

as soon as i saw this jumper i fell in love with it! the colour is amazing, and i'd been wanting something in this light blue shade for a while. i've put off wearing it for a few weeks though because i just felt like it had to be paired with a collar of some sort.. so much thinking and trying it on with different things later, and here it is!

more polka dots...

cardigan - f21, polka dot dress - topshop

quite a simple outfit, but also the best kind of outfit, because it involves polka dots! i really can't get enough of them. it doesn't help that they're everywhere in the shops right now... i can see myself wearing them all year. i might even shun florals this summer in favour of my favourite dotty things.

no idea why my face is so pink in this photo. the freezing weather and constant wind is making taking my outfit photos a real ordeal lately! i'm looking forward to summer if only because taking them will be so much less stressful!

@

jumper - f21, dungaree dress - topshop

just a super quick post to say that i've gotten a twitter page! if you have one too, follow me - @thestylishheart ! it's taking some getting used to, so don't expect any coherent tweets for few days!

(the photo above is from some photos that never quite made it to the blog...)

Feeling French

mini trench coat, blouse and jeans - topshop, hat - h&m, shoes - new look, white jumper - f21

another attempt at making an outfit with jeans look stylish! also ended up looking, and feeling, a little bit french. i think it's the hat. anyway, i've been feeling as though i'm stuck in an outfit rut lately, i sit and stare at my wardrobe for ages and nothing jumps out at me. don't get me wrong, i have some lovely clothes, but i'm finding it more and more difficult to put things together lately.

i'm slowly but surely making some changes to my blog. i had no idea how difficult it was. so many computery words! it's going to take a very long time, i think, for me to get my blog to look how i want it to. i'm also thinking of getting a twitter, just for the blog, who thinks that would be a good idea?

trying new things.

dungaree dress & blouse - topshop, hat - h&m, shoes - new look

this dress is something i really liked, but i just wasn't sure i would be able to make it look good. it's kind of... different, and i was worried i'd end up looking like a 5 year old! but, lately i've been pushing myself to buy things that i normally wouldn't, in an effort to try new things and really try and find my sense of style. my instincts told me to wear it with stripes (in a very alexa chung type way), but thought that would be too obvious so went for polka dots instead. will definitely be wearing it with stripes in the future though, am looking forward to seeing how many ways i can style the dress!

i also bought these shoes in the same way i bought the dress... they have quite a high heel, albeit with a wedge, but i've been trying to wear more heels lately because they really do make me feel more girly, and the height and posture they give me in photos is great. i'll always be a flat shoes girl, but i'm slowly trying to work my way up to being able to wear reasonable sized heels and not yearn for my loafers!

i went to see black swan yesterday, and thought it was amazing, really haunting and creepy but beautiful. natalie portman is without a doubt the most beautiful actress i've ever seen.

p.s the more i look at these photos, the more i feel i should be standing there with a pitchfork in my hand and a bit of straw hanging from my mouth.. definite farmer outfit!

Blue Velvet.

velvet dress - UO, jacket - topshop, hat - h&m

if it was up to me, i'd wear this dress probably 92% of the time. it's so soft, has long sleeves (i love long sleeved dresses the most) and has the nicest lacey crochet collar ever. but it's surprisingly hard to find things to wear it with. it doesn't seem to go with cardigans, the velvet and knits clash badly, and the only thing that made it both stand out and compliment it was my leather jacket. i can't wait til it's warmer and i can wear it without a layer.. but then, isn't velvet a mostly christmas/winter thing?

i'm getting excited over all the spring stock that's hitting shops now; even though i'm mostly sure i'm awful at summer dressing... currently on my wishlist is a pleated skirt, a leather skirt, scalloped shorts, leopard print jumper, and yet more polka dots.

please vote for me in the asos stylist competition! thank you! (i know i keep posting this, but it is real important to me!)

tiny birds.

cardigan - forever21, blouse - new look, shorts - topshop

this cardigan is my first ever forever21 purchase! i was so pleased when they arrived over here (even though the only store is in birmingham and therefore completely unreachable to me), as i'd browsed the US online shop and thought they had some nice things. i ordered this cardigan (and a jumper i'm yet to wear) and was fairly impressed with the price - kind of comparable to new look. speaking of which, they have some pretty nice things lately! including this blouse, which has little birds on. n'aww.

as you can see i was fiddling around with various things in this outfit, sleeves up/down, collar done up/not done up etc. which way do you prefer?

i have a few geeky blogger questions i'm hoping some of you might be able to help me with! i was thinking of setting up a blog shop like a few other bloggers have done, and was wondering how easy that would be, or how successful any of you with one have found it? and also, if any of you know of any helpful tips or links on how to do up your blog - i really want a pretty blog, but have no idea how to sort out links or headers or anything!

bumblebee

leather jacket & jumper - topshop, skirt - UO

unintentionally dressed like a bumblebee today! all yellow and black, oops. also carrying on with my new favourite colour, mustard...! i've been trying to wear a bit more of 'different' colours lately, and this jumper is perfect for that. i wasn't sure it would suit me, but i just had to try it out, and i love it! really i should have taken a photo of it with my jacket off so i could show it's wonderful colourfulness better, but i'll definitely be wearing it again soon so i'll show you then.

this lace skirt is great, too. i get a few comments sometimes of people asking me why i never wear skirts, only shorts. i'd never really thought about it before, and i don't know why it is.. the only thing i can think of is that i'm very picky with clothes, and there's a lot nicer shorts out there than skirts. but when i saw this skirt in the urban outfitters sale, i was really drawn to it - the lace, the length and the striped mesh part at the bottom, and i knew it would go with most things in my wardrobe. maybe i'll make more of an effort to buy skirts in the future!

and i know i wear these boots pretty much all the time.. but i'm on the hunt for another pair of mid-heel shoes to wear!

p.s please don't forget to vote for me in the ASOS styling competition! you can vote here, thank you!

round 3 - tweed

all ASOS except cardigan (UO) and hat (h&m)

unbelievably, i got through to round 3 of the ASOS future stylist competition! even more unbelievably, i was chosen to go through by the judges themselves, who said some really nice things about me. i really can't believe i've gotten this far, it's amazing.

the theme for round 3 was 'styled for 2011'. we had to pick a trend we thought would be big in 2011 and style ourselves with that trend. now, as you all read my blog you'll know i'm not one of those bloggers who follows fashion weeks, or buys the latest 'it' shoe, or gets hung up on current trends, so this was REALLY difficult for me! i didn't have much of a clue at all what trend was supposed to be big this year. in the end, i went for 'tweed' and sort of hoped for the best! (i'm aware this isn't doing much for my 'stylist' ambitions, as stylists are supposed to know all about trends, right?). since choosing my trend and ASOS items i've since read in magazines that i should really have chosen 70's, or neon brights, or maxi skirts.. but none of those are my sort of thing, so i wouldn't have been able to wear them properly.

thank you to everyone who voted to get me this far, i can't say how much it means to me to even be in this competition at all, let alone getting votes from you guys! but having said that.. it's time for me to ask you again to vote for me!

to able to vote you need to 'like' the ASOS page on facebook here, and then to 'like' my look, go here. thank you!

mustard and a little bit of leopard

blouse & shorts - topshop, bowler hat - h&m, boots - ASOS, belt - UO

absolutely freezing when taking these photos. but i really wanted to show you all my new blouse, (and i had my coat on standby). the colour is like a light mustard? i've been really liking sheer blouses, or just blouses in general, lately, and this one ticks all the boxes. i don't like anything too tight, so the slouchiness of this is perfect.

and yes, i think this hat is making a bit of a comeback!

tweed & fuzz

fuzzy jumper - topshop (sale), tweed shorts - topshop (ebay), loafers - topshop, hat - h&m

oops, another mostly topshop outfit. after moaning about the topshop sale being a bit poo, i wandered into the pretty small topshop in the local town and found this gem of a jumper, sitting on the sale rack, looking all soft and basically begging me to buy it. so of course, i did. and i'm so glad i did, it's the softest, most comfortable jumper i may ever have owned. i often find the smaller topshops usually have the better sales and often the more 'rare' pieces, too.

i also bought these tweed shorts on ebay, after eyeing them up on the topshop site for quite a while. i was a little dissappointed at first, because they were a bit too long and wide, and made me look really dumpy. but it's nothing that rolling the bottom up wouldn't fix! i did think maybe this outfit had too many textures in and would look a bit too jumbled, but i think the jumper really goes well with the shorts.

also, sorry for the poor quality indoor photos, but it was so so so windy outside, that my hair was all over the place and the odd winter sun was just not working in my favour.

p.s i think i win the award for most uses of the word 'topshop' in a single blog post! oops. can you tell i'm obsessed.

forest green & denim jeans.

cardigan - UO, blouse & black jeans - topshop, boots & snood - ASOS

dear lord, look at my eyes in the second photo! i was just starting to feel super ill, but was still determined to fit in some outfit photos before i collapsed in a snotty heap in my bed. what a dedicated blogger i am.

actually wearing jeans for once. i got some topshop vouchers for christmas, and, knowing i'd been needing some black jeans for a really long time, figured rather than get annoyed at spending £40 on plain old denim jeans, use vouchers and it won't feel so bad. i like wearing jeans but, they never seem to fit me and they always seem to be too long. and i never feel 'stylish' enough when i wear them, even though i'm not exactly a dressed-up kind of person anyway. but sometimes, i just don't feel like wearing a dress or shorts. is anyone else the same?

oh aye. (2011?!)

jumper, shorts and loafers - topshop, scarf & bag - vintage, tights - ASDA

happy 2011 to everyone! thank you all for following my blog since i started it back in april, i can't believe it's been less than a year yet i already have some wonderful readers and hopefully in 2011, i can also make some new friends in the blogging world too.

right, to the outfit. i don't normally wear colourful legwear, if you look back on all my posts i'm pretty much a strictly black tights girl. but i was getting bored of that and decided to wear these red tights my mum had bought me a while back. this topshop jumper is so soft, but the little diamond pattern holes on it mean it's not the warmest!

sadly, i've come down with some kind of cold/flu/cough disease, and had to spend my NYE indoors feeling sorry for myself! what are your resolutions for this year? i tend not to stick to mine, so this year i've given myself two (relatively simple) ones - become more healthy, and save for a trip to america.