Keeping Warm

Keeping Warm by lisamello featuring fleece booties

My laptop's actually having a few issues right now so I've been borrowing my brothers computer, and have none of my photos or photo editing devices. While I have been able to make a dent in my blog reading (and even leaving a few comments!) I haven't been able to blog like I wanted to. So! I decided to go on Polyvore! I love polyvore, but it really makes me feel sad that I don't own the above things!

So I know it's Winter, and I have an Autumn themed background but forget about that for now, yes? I've always wanted a lovely red winter coat, but I have yet to find one that I love, and also can afford... the coat above is gorgeous, but I think my dream coat would include a hood too!

I love wearing dresses, but its so cold in winter so I'd wear cable knit tights (or more realistically, leggings) and boots. Obviously I'd wear gloves, a hat and a scarf (I'm really digging snoods right now) and I like wearing scarves which are the same colour of my coats but in a different shade.

Add in a cute bag where I can fit in all my essentials, purse, phone, umbrella, gloves etc and I'm set for a Wintery walk! Which may or may not be to and from my car atm as its freeeeezing! And meant to be snowing! We haven't had any yet that's stuck around for longer than a few minutes and we're near the sea so we might not get any. Hope everyone stays safe though where it's snowing! And that they have fun making snowmen! 

Beach

Beach by lisamello featuring french connection

So as I mentioned in my last post, my boyfriend has moved to Portugal. I miss him, but I've been keeping busy working or going to Roller Derby! I've spoken to him a few times, and he has a lush flat now, but the internets not working properly so we can't skype each other yet. I'm planning on going out there in the end of October. Just need to confirm a few things then hopefully I'll be booking my plane tickets this weekend before they keep going up!

Anyway this is a little outfit which would be cute to wear on a beach out there (even though he's not next to the beach, we can catch a train) and the weather should still be warmish in late October I'm hoping! I'm really liking blue and pink together atm, and find it's more of a Summer colour combo than an Autumn one so I'd like to get it out of my system now if I can!

I've been making some dip dyed shorts, and want to tone up my legs before I wear any (hello derby!) but I love them, and based the outfit around the shorts, keeping it simple with same colours, and brown accessories. Ah Portugal, I need to be there now please! Instead, I'm going to work a close now, boo! Is anyone else sad that Summers over? We never get them anymore do we? 

Mermaiden

Mermaiden by lisamello featuring corset crop tops

It's been awhile since I had a little play on polyvore, and I decided to go for a inspired-by-a-mermaid theme when I saw this template. And oh my days, I'm in love with this outfit! I wish I had it! I mean I'm no where near confident enough to wear this, but its so pretty.

Firstly the hair, its big, curly and blonde!  Can you imagine if it had a blue or green tint to it? Very mermaidy. I picked a green velvet skirt 'cause ya know, mermaids tend to have green tails in the stories. I love velvet, I'll have to get a few velvet skirts for winter to live in, because they look and feel so nice. Plus velvet is kinda shiny, like mermaids tails! I wanted to keep the top simple to focus on the skirt, so picked a simple lace bralet, which one day I shall wear (when I drop about a million dress sizes ha!). Then for the accessories I picked green wedges (gorgeous dark colours om nom) to match the skirt, and a sparkly gold purse and gold anchor earrings to fit in with the colour scheme and template, and sparkles are always nice. Plus where else would a mermaiden be than on a boat or near the sea with a steering wheel and anchor right?

Ah if only I was rich enough to buy all the things! One can always dream right? How's everyones weeks going? I'm on day 3/8 of working, and it is not fun already! My feet are killing me :( I hate ten hour shifts and I'm not sleeping so well in the nights despite being exhausted and waking up early. Oh and plus! My car didn't work when I finished work today, so I had to wait TWO hours for them to come fix it (which only took two minutes, thanks!!) so I'm not getting much change to read blogs and write them, hence this little polyvore number. Anyways! Enough of the complaining, I'm going to try to sleep, yay sleep!

DIY Dip Dye Shorts

6 litres of warm water in a bowl, rubber gloves, a measuring jug with 500ml of warm water, damp shorts, dye and 250g of salt

I've been making some dip dye shorts whenever the weather is nice enough, since I want to make them outside, it kind of needs to not rain! It's simple enough to do and really fun! I want to experiment with more dye and more shorts! Above is a photo of what you need, and I'll list the steps below. Also just to be careful wear old clothes you don't mind getting stained, but I've done this twice now and haven't stained any of my old clothes, but knowing how clumsy I am I won't take the risk of wearing my usual clothes!

I followed the instructions on the back of the dye packet except for weighing my material, I've just dipped two pairs of shorts into the dye and it's worked. I also dipped the shorts into water and squeezed the excess water out so that they were damp before I started, but I will be using a spray bottle in the future.. For step one you need to add the dye to 500ml of warm water. I used an old measuring jug so it doesn't matter if it stains and mixed the dye in using my hand and a rubber glove but you could probably use a spoon or something else instead. 

Step two needs you to add the 250g of salt to the 6 litres of warm water and mix in till it gets nice and cloudy. 

For step three you then add in the dye.

I mixed in the dye using my rubber gloved hand for step four and it was a nice bright pink.

For step five you then add in the shorts however far you want the dye to go. I put in two pairs of shorts, one pair I'd already dip dyed purple, and a plain white one I'll dip dye another colour. Some people use hangers, I have before for a longer bucket, but this time I just draped it over the edges. 

Then you just wait for one hour for step six. You're meant to stir regularly but I haven't. I will stir next time though just to see the difference if there is any. 

After the allotted time, for step seven rinse the shorts in cold water and wring dry. You're also meant to wash in warm water but I'll do that after I've dyed my other shorts and do them all at once.

After you've washed them (which I didn't do - yet) hang them somewhere or put them somewhere safe to dry. It says to keep them away from direct heat and sunglight, so I put them on the washing line when the sun was going in and they did start to dry before it rained! So then I popped them on an old towel and put them in the bath to dry overnight! 

I hope that was helpful for you, and the last photo is how one pair of shorts has turned out. I like it, but it is a bit creased and crumpled in that picture so it does look nicer in person, as it was wet at the time. I can't wait till I've done my other shorts (I bought three dyes so that's three colour combos) and then stud them!

Summer Stroll

Summer Stroll by lisamello featuring shopper handbags

       

Lately I've been looking at a lot of lacy white dresses since its so hot right now, and they would be perfect for walking around on a hot sunny day. The dress and hat would keep you cool, whilst also catching a tan, and the accessories are simple, floral sunglasses and a bag to keep everything you'd need, and a coral belt and sandals to tie in the look. And then the gold bangles just always remind me of summer from when I was younger, I used to wear them all the time. I am going to be on the hunt for the perfect white dress over the weekend between working and hopefully I'll find it before the lovely weather disappears again!




Edit: I've only just noticed the sunglasses and belt messy edit, oops sorry! It's only my second time at using polyvore, pretend you didn't see it :P

Pretty colours catch up

It's time for another 31 day fashion challenge catch up, where I'm doing day 14-20 which is seven days, but I've included an extra picture above of the nail varnishes. I didn't realise that all of the colours went together so well until now, I like it and think its pretty. I'm doing this on Instagram, and my usernames Lisamello.

001 - Item hardest to hunt down/buy - Now this was from New Look and I didn't get in when I originally saw it, and then when I went back to get it a few weeks later they were all sold out/changing the stock, I checked another shop and they didn't have it either. Then when I was visiting my boyfriends grandmother in a different town, we went shopping and I popped into New Look and this was in the sale, yay! I love wearing it with jeans for casual or dressy days. 

002 & 003 -  My nail varnish collection - Um... this is only half of it, or even less actually. I keep my most recent nail varnishes in an old glossy box but I'm actually missing about ten polishes, I have no clue where they are, and there's a few glitter ones, and Models Own which should be there too. I need to hunt them down. I laid them all out since it's fun to look through them all, and my favourites are the peachy or turquoise ones. 

004 - Customised item -  Now this isn't a properly customised item, yet! Well its half done, or a third done rather. This halter red polka dot dress was given to me by a friend and the halter neck of it looked horrible, so I've already cut half of that away, and plan on changing it to two straps. It's also quite long with ruffles on the bottom so I'll be cutting that off too and hemming. I can't wait to wear this in the Summer.

005 - Something you wear when sunny - Would be my sunglasses! I tend to think sunglasses don't suit my shape of face, so it's hard for me to find a pair I love. I bought these polka dot ones from H&M two summers ago I think and they were like £3 and have lasted me well. I'll be very sad if these break or get lost :(

006 - Brightest lipstick - I don't own many lipsticks and actually couldn't find my brightest shade (which is red) but this is a close second. A shimmery pink MUA lipstick given to me in my blog swap. It's so pretty!

007 - Clothing/Jewellery that makes me feel great - I found this one to be hard as I don't want to repeat the same items in this challenge, so I went for my Katniss Pin since I LOVE it and I feel really happy when wearing it, yes I'm a geek!

008 - Shoes I love but hardly wear - I have a few shoes that I could have picked but I went for these pale brown (the Instagram filtre changed the colour oops) buckle brogues. I have no clue what they're called, sorry. They are much more delicate than my other brogues so I like wearing these with dresses and tights. However, I hardly wear them since the back hurts my heels if I wear them too long, sad times. 

That's it from me, I'm now off to bed whilst watching some Deathly Hallows and I have a live fire evacuation in work tomorrow morning, with real people! It should be er...fun?

31 day challenge catch up!

I've been a bit busy and haven't had a chance to do the 31 day fashion challenge for the past week, but I said from the start I would be doing it using Instagram and probably doing a few days at a time so here are the last seven days challenges. I found some of these hard to photograph so they're not the best pictures and I may as well do a grid since its a catch up after all. 

007 A special occasion outfit - This is a three quarter length black chiffon dress. I feel all grown up wearing it, and have worn it at my friends engagement party, and will be wearing it to my boyfriends uni society awards do. The dress is from Matalan.

008 Something you forget you have but love - This Kimono style dress is from Dorothy Perkins and I love it! I love the colours and how silky it feels. However I don't wear it a lot since I think people will remember it more and think I always wear it? Eh I don't know, but I put it in my wardrobe and forget I have it. 

009 The item at the top of your wishlist - I really really want a pair of creepers! I want them in black suede please and can't wait to wear them with pretty dresses. I might buy them if I have enough money at the end of the month!

010 Cute tights - They're sparkly, what more can I say? 

011 Your spring essential - Headbands in general but I can't wait to wear this feather headband or the flowers with wavy hair. My hair is really long atm and I'm going to chop it off and donate to charity soon so I want to make the most of my hair over the summer and actually style it!

012 The outfit you've had the best times in - This one was hard to pick, um, this is my go to black dress. I know everyone and their mother has it (hmm that might be a challenge later on this would have worked for, oh well) but I love lace. I waited awhile after the trend for this died down and got it from Tesco. I've worn it for lots of nights out, too many to count. 

013 Your lazy day at home with style (In front of your housemates/bf/visitors) outfit - This one was also hard to pick as people don't often come over my house, I usally go out or over my boyfriends. My lazy outfits when its cold are usually whatever I find that's warm with my monkey onesie on top, but if people came round I would never wear that in front of them lol (well except for the family and bf). I think this jumper is cute, who doesn't love bunnies with moustaches? It's from River Island and super comfy, the inside of it is so soft, and then I'd wear it with black jeggings or green jeans.

So there you go that's been my week in challenges. Also this week my baby brother turned 18 even though I told him he wasn't allowed to grow up (how rude!) so I was preparing for a party for him and working, and I also went to London over the weekend! 

New Girl Style

New Girl by lisamello featuring thin belts

I was inspired by Zooey Deschanel's character Jess, from her TV show New Girl. I love that show and this is the first time I've used Polyvore so it's not exactly the greatest. Do you use Polyvore? What do you think of it? I think I could easily get addicted if I don't check myself!

The Golden Globe Dresses

I watched the Golden Globes the other day, not live but I watched it the next day. I don't usually watch awards shows but I do like to see what everyone was wearing. Here are five of my favourite dresses (click on the pictures for links).

Emma stone in Lavine, its such a pretty dress. I love, love, love the two purples and the fabric and how it drapes at the end. I also like the belt, I wish I had it but maybe not style it with the dress, but I like how it toughens up the floaty girl dress.

Mila Kunis in Christian Dior and Shailene Woodley in Marchesa. I love black dresses and love Milas one one with what I think is a unique top half and a lovely long flowing draping bottom half. Very elegant. I've never heard of Shailene Woodley but love her dress. It reminds me of the outfits ice skaters wear, but, well, longer! It's sparkly and also reminds me of a snow flake, a very beautiful wintery dress.

Piper Perabo wearing Theyskens Theory. Apparently a lot of people didn't like this, but I kinda think its amazing. It's like a modern day fairy tale dress. A bit too see through on the top, and maybe some more detailing would have been better but I love how big and fairy tale like it is, very cute.

And lastly here's Evan Rachel Wood, wearing a fishtail style Gucci dress. It's like she's a mermaid and I love mermaids, (Ariels one of my favourite Disney princesses). I like all the greens, and the different textures and from all the pictures, I think you can tell I liked all the updos! Normally I'd prefer long curly hair, but for awards I think updos are very elegant. 

Link Love

I've been inspired by so many different things on the internet that I decided I'd try to do a weekly post on it, called 'Link Love' getting the idea from various bloggers. Lately I've been inspired by the style of these bloggers and peoples lookbooks. Some I've followed for awhile, some are new but you should check out their blogs/lookbooks. I'm new to the whole lookbook thing and don't even have an account, I'm sorta in over my head kind of thing with that. Anyway I hope every has had a lovely Sunday, I've been chilling out, gathering pictures for this and updating my very old and abandoned Spotify account. I'm now obssessed with it and it only took me a few years!

Being Little 

I love her style of wearing skirts with cute tops, I'm looking for a skirt like one of these to try out since I usually wear dresses but would like to start wearing skirts again. 

 The Dainty Squid
I am so jealous of her hair! I'd love to dye my hair a crazy colour but I don't have the confidence to pull it off just yet. I also love the dress and the colour of that coat, so pretty. 

Wish Wish Wish

Her style is really elegant, I want all her clothes!

Lost in the Haze

I love polka dots, and how cute is that hat? I don't tend to wear hats unless its winter but I want to try in the future.

Mimis Lookbook
I want that skirt and cardigan now! Also the shoes, and the jumper... oh thats the whole outfit is it?

Rhiannon L's Lookbook

 Just look at those dresses and the shoes, and the hair! I'm half heatedly growing my hair dye out, but I am tempted to dye it back to dark brown again now.