03.07.12 :: How to get #DIY Wavy Beach Hair at home with a £24.99 @tresemmeuk Curling Wand from @Argos_Online in 10 steps!

1. Blast your freshly washed hair dry with a hair dryer. I use a Tangle Teezer, from £9.95 at Urban Retreat, to get the ‘lugs’ out of my ever-so-knotty hair. I’m wearing my Caro Turquoise Blue & Pink Beautiful Floral Print Kimono Dressing Gown, £43.99, a gift from JMG, from the Maya Rose Boutique.

2. Tools of the trade. I use the Phillips CareControl Ionic Hairdryer to quickly blast my hair dry roughly using my fingers, my sister’s trusty hand-me-down GHD’s, and a Tresemme Curling Wand, £24.99 from Argos. I first experienced the joys of a Curling Wand when having my hair done at Rachel Hammond at Highcross, in Leicester. Having mastered the art of curling my hair with straighteners some years back, I was amazed at just how quick the Curling Wand was compared to using *GHD’s or a similar straightening device. *I still use the GHD’s to straighten my fringe mind you!

3. Section hair into a ‘long-hair-and-a-pony’ or half-up/half-down type ‘do. I usually divide the bottom section into 4 separate pieces to get the wave that I like best.

4. The Curling Wand is more forgiving than using Straighteners when curling you hair as they are much much hotter (so hot, in fact, that it comes with a safety glove to protect your bare hand from the heat!) and, therefore, can handle slightly chunkier sections of hair.

5. Lay the curling wand on top of the section of hair you wish to curl and then wrap the hair, from underneath, up and over the wand. Hold hair onto wand for around 25-30 seconds depending on how easy your hair is to curl. Unravel the hair and whilst holding the bottom of the section of hair, shake it out loosely. 

6. Once you have done the bottom section of your hair, slowly work your way up, taking down small sections of hair and adding them to your finished waves. Leave an inch or two uncurled at the end of your hair to keep waves from looking too uniform. The more natural and organic looking the curl… the less of a ‘Chav-with-a wet-look-perm’ you will look!

7. When you have reached the top of your hair and have curled all sections, take smaller random sections of hair and curl them separately to add movement to the look.

8. I have a very straight full fringe and so to soften the look slightly, I grabbed the longer pieces of side fringe and wound them gently around the Curling Wand.

9. Because I’d blasted the hair roughly, it was still a little bit damp, even after using the Curling Wand, and so I decided to twist the hair a and pin it up to set the curls further.

10. Spritz with a liberal dose of Tresemme Freeze Hold Hairspray, £4.99 for a large 500ml can from Boots.  and your Beachy Hair is finished!

The finished look… Tousled and wild! Just how I like it! Now find a field and roll in it.

Photograph by Heather Tait - more to come from this shoot… messing around in farmer’s fields and such lark!

#todayimwearing 22.06.12 :: Feels like the Winteriest of Summer Days in @TightsPlease @Pamela_Mann Printed Fairisle Tights

After spending a glorious two weeks in a lovely sunny Greek climate, I am still trying to get used to these grey English days… and wearing more clothes.

It’s June! The end of June! Surely it’s supposed to be summer here by now? urgh…

So, with a slight nip in the air, I didn’t have a clue what to put on? It sure feels like Winter… Autumn at least! So I embraced it and pulled on a pair of Pamela Mann Printed Fairisle Tights from Tights Please , (£8.98 with Free UK Delivery) underneath my DIY cut-off Levi’s Denim Shorts, and teamed them with my trusty Topshop tan zip-up Aiden ankle boots for comfort.

I wondered what I could wear on top to at least try and feel like we’re in June…

I opted for a Topshop (2011) white sleeveless jersey button-down tee with pale blue aztec embroidery detail, that I bought in the Topshop sale last year. The aztec pattern kind of goes with the Fairisle print… (well, it doesn’t violently clash anyway…) I am quite fond of Aztec… I think the strong geometric patterns are rather fetching!

Topshop has even more Aztec stuff in this year too!

I guess the only summery thing about this look is my new real golden tan (which will probably be gone in about a week and was achieved with the most careful of applications of factor 30 and 20 spy suncream…) and my freshly coloured (DIY reverse Dip-dye) vibrant red (L’Oreal Sublime Mousse Flaming Copper) hair with gold tips!

Photography © Lucie Kerley

01.06.12 :: #DIY Fringe Benefits | How to bring your wardrobe upto Season with a little help from eBay and a spot of stitching.

I bought this Oriental Paisley Print Kimono, £50, from Topshop about a year ago I think… Judging by these photos…  as I’m still a brunette.

I bought it using some gift vouchers I’d received off a family member and so didn’t feel too guilty splurging a rather indulgent fifty quid on one little, yet very beautiful, kimono.

However, a year has passed and what do I see popping up in the shops again? Kimono’s.

Rather than buy another one, as tempting as that may be, I opted to search eBay for some black fringing, or trimming as it is also known, which I could cut to size and stitch quite easily around the edges of the sleeves and the bottom of the Kimono to bring it bang unto date. 

Here is the fringing that I bought.

I needed 3 metres of the stuff to do both sleeves and the bottom edge. It costs £3.99 per metre length, and so for under £15 I was able to re-vamp my trusty kimono into something that I could wear again this summer, and autumn and winter.

The fringed tassels are around 8” (20cm) in length and are perfect for adding a little extra length to the bottom of your existing kimono, top, dress, skirt, shorts, belt, etc.

I used dress-maker pins to make-do-and-mend my very own fringing to my kimono. I decided to handstitch the trim from the inside, and try and not stitch through both layers of fabric so that the stitches looked invisible, neater and did not pucker the lovely fabric.

It took quite a while, a couple of hours I’d say, to pin and handstitch, it’d obviously be much quicker to use a sewing machine… but I enjoyed the challenge.

I wore mine over a simple taupe racerback jersey dress, a tan plaited waist belt, light blue denim leggings and studded Vectra black pumps from Topshop.

Photography: © Lucie Kerley

17.05.12 :: #DIY Denim Gold Studded Collar Shirt, Mum’s Floral Wrap Dress and @YBDfashion @LamaPeach Paige Boots.

Phew! After a good few days working away from home it sure feels good to plonk myself down on my sofa and enjoy a cuppa with my feet up whilst Man Vs Food washes over me on Dave TV. 

Today was day 5 of wearing my Lama Peach Paige boots and this is how I styled them…

I grabbed one of my mum’s old floral wrap dresses, (it’s not that old actually, but it was one of those items that she bought when we went to this clothing clearance shop in my home town and the price tag literally said £2. So she bought it… and about 10 other dresses…) The dress didn’t get worn much though as it’s kind of midi length, and my mum is only tiny, so it now belongs to me. The wrap dress is fab for folding up small into a suitcase and NOT creasing up. It’s vibrant floral print pattern feels very feminine and a little boho psychedelic hippy-ish… perfect!

I decided to dress it down a bit for a day in the office by adding my Gold Spike Topshop Pendant Necklace, an abundance of gold bangles, a slim tan waist belt, then flinging over the top my Primark Denim Shirt with the DIY Gold Studded Collar, some cableknit navy blue @Topshop tights and my Young British Designers - Lama Peach Summer Paige Ankle Boots.

Also, please note: The Lama Peach Paige boots have now been #TriedAndTested on one of Lincoln’s  very infamous Steep Hill’s and even with their cute little 6cm heel I was able to climb - (up AND down) - in utter comfort! 

Job done!

Had some exciting news today about a potential future styling project for the lovely team at Tights Please! So watch this space… or these legs… I should say!

Photography: © Lucie Kerley

13.05.12 :: My DIY Tie-Dye Maxi Dress & @YBDfashion @LamaPeach Paige Boots

After seeing the SS12 Tie-Dye trend EVERYWHERE I decided to give it a go myself, after a bit of YouTube research, and see what crazy things I could whip up! Therefore, reversioning your existing wardrobe without paying a penny, except for the bleach which you should already have in the house! It’s a great technique for breathing new life into clothes that you’re a little bit bored with.

Et Voila!

Read on for how I did it…

It looks great with my Lama Peach Paige Summer Ankle Boots from Young British Designers. 

Here’s how I made me #DIY Tie-Dye Maxi Dress:

Read More