Short story

Or Shorts Story actually, that was the name.

Mentally filed away for later use.

If (like many a time I suspect) you wonder what on earth this woman is wittering on about - it's this:

OPI Shorts Story - available here from John Lewis 

(click on the 5th colour swatch, 2nd row!)

Pink - yes.
Sickly - possibly.
On my wish list - (for some unfathomable reason) - yes.

Pink suits me, I do believe. In the light of 2 x pink lipsticks and a Bobbi Brown 'pale pink' blusher, I'm hoping so anyway!


Other items on my wish list:

Jigsaw pleated skirt

Jigsaw red pom pom scarf

Whistles 'ovoid spot' scarf

Pure collection V neck boyfriend sweater 

I also have in my sights:

• Pink tweed Jigsaw skirt (there I was I hoping Jigsaw were 'finding their way' again... but no picture on website!)
• Orla Kiely pink(see the worrying trend?) and blue scarf - no picture anywhere - but it's in John  Lewis. Helpful (not).

The White Company autumn catalogue had arrived; nothing immediately grabbed me. There was nothing offensive, but just a rehash of last winter (most of which already seem to have bought!)

Having said that, I may make an exception for this maxi skirt:

White Company Jersey Maxi Skirt

A couple of recent outfit pictures below. Excuse the general carnage which surrounds me. I've momentarily lost the wherewithal and time to do anything about it.

Still surviving on a 10 (ok maybe 15) item wardrobe. (Not including accessories!)

Breton shrt sleeved top - H&M

Black capri trousers - Sainsbury's

White jersey 'biker' style cardigan - Florence & Fred (Tesco) <-- thanks to Sue at Susie So So for that tip :-)

Bag - Mulberry Bayswater

Shoes - Russell and Bromley (old)

Shirt - Musto (don't ask) (How did it survive the cull..? Double don't ask!)

Jumper - Joules (similar here)

Trousers - Sainsbury's as above

Bag & Shoes - Mulberry & Russell & Bromley as above

Back to Plan A

The 10 item wardrobe. I have wrestled so much lately to streamline my clothes. 'I have bought far too much' can be the sum total of my observations. Added to that, I have bought the wrong things out of boredom. It's always the easy way - go shopping and buy a new look (maybe duplicating what you own in the process) - rather than carefully editing what you already have and adding to discriminately. Ha - my new watchword - let's see how long it lasts!

Anyway, after a careful sort through, I applied what I am dubbing the 'smile test'. This meant that to make the cut, an item had to generate a genuine, spontaneous smile - as it 'I like it'.  Now very importantly - do not apply logic here - just go with your 'gut feeling'.

I was left with a rather odd assortment of items frankly, and for a while was scratching my head wondering if I had totally lost it and thinking how on earth I could work with them and make outfits.

Well it wasn't so hard really. A lot of the items were simple. The ones which were not simple will be an 'accent' item to lift an outfit out of plain-ness (she fondly hopes!)

My other new watchword - 'accessories are my friend'.  I didn't edit my accessories - heck no! - if I am going to survive on 10 key items (give or take a few - and this doesn't include layering t shirts / outerwear / shoes etc)  - then I am going to need to be an awful lot more creative with my accessories.

I suppose it really is that old chestnut - 'shopping your wardrobe'.  It's the start of a learning curve for me - but think today's cobbled together look is OK-ish...

(Excuse half finished demolition work / building sundries in the background!)

• Fairly recent Zara breton t shirt 
• Very ancient (poss 10 years?) black vest style Warehouse maxi dress.
• Red Clarks flat shoes (this summer in sale)
• Old Joules beige bead necklace - bought on impulse in sale ages ago as was so cheap... and have been wondering what to wear it with ever since! Similar available online for this season
• Mulberry brown Somerset hobo bag

Green; eyeliner; bedding. In no particular order...

Today I wore a new green Jigsaw sale top, reduced to £22, very fine weight basic crew neck top, I find them useful for layering and this one looked very nice with my new scarf which my Dad got me for Christmas. (He went all the way to the Mulberry outlet - bless! - which is unfamiliar territory for him, to say the least.)

So that's the green then.

The eyeliner is another find of the splurge or save variety - save being the optimum word here.  I have, since time immemorial, used Lancome Artliner as an eyeliner. Nothing else came close. I can't abide those fiddly liquid ones, and the gel versions where you need both pot and brush have been tried and found wanting.

The Lancome was a nice felt tipped pen version which bridged the gap between crayon and liquid very well.  I was wandering along the aisles in Superdrug in a desultory way the other day - and out of bordeom really - I didn't actively need a new eyeliner, started eyeing them (sorry no pun intended!)

The L'Oreal superliner in black vinyl is £6.49 - at least half the price of the Lancome liner - and I am hooked. It is making my tired, hungover face look a whole lot better, and I hope this is not just a trick of the light or wishful thinking!  I really like it. Get thee to Superdrug or Boots.

Finally, the bedding.

Now this is a lesson (of the Ash variety, so be patient) in how to save yourself £49!

Da da da da -DAH -

I was in Debenhams today looking for some new square pillowcases (65 x 65cm, increasingly hard to come by, I find) and found some nice beige John Rocha ones on the 50% off shelf - £17 - for a PAIR! So far so good. They were always coming home with me.

I happened to see that there were duvet covers and normal rectangular pillowcases on the same shelf, same reduction. Quickly scooped up one of each (£34 and £15 respectively). While queuing at the till - combination of annoyingly slow and inept assistant and doddery old lady (me in about 20 years, probably) trying to use a voucher - I realised that I did not in fact need a new duvet cover or more rectangular pillowcases, and in between warning small child off high bar stools which were incongruously on sale in the bedding area, had a change of mind and - risking my place in the painfully slow till queue - returned said items to shelf. (Luckily there was no-one behind me or they would have been irresponsibly abandoned on a bar stool. The bedding items, that is, though I don't know - dumping fellow customers also has its appeal..!)

The net result is - in my book - that I have saved £49 rather than spending £17.  The £17 was covered by the hopeless Topshop shoes which had been returned 20 mins earlier anyway.

I have worked out how to email myself pictures again. I still don't understand why my iphone is declaring my password invalid when I have changed it to the correct one umpteen times. I lost patience and added another account - which miraculously worked. So here I am in my new green Jigsaw top, M&S woman cord skirt and new Mulberry scarf from Dad. Tights are M&S Autograph velvet opaques, shoes my good old Russell and Bromley 'Chester' loafers.

A shadow of my former self

Due to various matters outside the happy world of fashion, style and blogging, I am feeling rather under the weather. Let's just say tears have been shed over matters of the heart, and this is not the first Christmas I will remember with sadness. And I was feeling so positive and happy a few weeks ago.  Such is life, I am a big girl and will keep plodding on.

As to matters bloggy, today I wore a Helmut Lang beige / taupe (that old favourite, with me in good times and bad!) dress, with a black Gap t shirt underneath, my long White Company pendant and Aquitalia ankle boots from Russell and Bromley.

When I went out I added a Mulberry peplum jacket and a White Company tassell scarf.

Accessorised today (together with puffy eyes) with the Sainsbury's Zara-esque tote bag.

I hope everyone else is happy and well.

I wonder sometimes why my life has to be lived at such intensities of joy and sadness. Maybe it would be boring any other way....??!!

Assorted daily wear

It's been a bit quiet on the blogging front for me - apologies. It's been a bit hectic here and I barely managed to take a photo each day - but take it I did (dubious quality I'm afraid but hope you get the general idea...)

I must say thank you to Kat from Does my bum look 40 for her tip about Sainsbury's. I liked the 25% off and the spanx type slip she blogged about the other day - couldn't find that but did get the Gok dress and also a rather fab plaited handle shopper.  Dress worked out at £33 something (with the 25% off) and bag about £11 I think. Sorry for my vague pricing - I make a habit of it!!!  Both bargains anyway and the whole shop evened out OK give or take a chicken or two.

Here comes a medley of outfits from the past week:

White Company grey heart print scarf
H&M biker style black felt jacket
Black Gok dress from Sainsbury's
Black Sainsbury's bag

Close up of the Sainsbury's bag

White Company stepped hem sweater
Pure collection snood
Coated jeggings
White Company long pendant
Mulberry Roxanne bag

Crumpet navy feather print scarf
New Look jersey blazer
Primark navy skinny jeans
Primark wedge boots

Pure collection snood
White company grey cashmere tunic
Gap Body long sleeved t shirt
Coated jeggings
Russell & Bromley / Aquitalia ankle boots

Will try to do better next week - but can't imagine how.. Christmas officially seems to 'have started' and I am running out of days to shop / post / fit in all the requisite social engagements - December diary is looking scarily choc-a-bloc already!!

Notes from a shopping excursion (with snood 'tutorial')

I ended up in the city today, the plan was to have a coffee, a croissant and buy candles.

The reality was have a coffee (way hey!), a cheese scone, but no candles......

.......er but instead buy several scarves, a jacket, 3 jumpers and a necklace.  Must try harder.  In my defence I won't keep everything, I like to try it on at home before finally deciding.

Although on that note, I have a treat for you.....drum roll - decent photos!! (Well, decent-ish for me, i.e. you can just about make out the colours of the garments!)

I decided to have a little experimenting with changing room photography, the results as you'll see below, are variable. Some (changing rooms) are so dimly lit and garishly decorated you could be forgiven for thinking you were in a house of ill repute.

Whilst in one, and disrobed from the snood, it seemed a good opportunity to do the snood 'tutorial'. It's not really a tutorial. I lack finesse in many areas, and bunging a snood over my head is sadly one of them.  If it ends up looking half decent this is due either to the ingenuity of the designer or some stroke of fortune not associated with my dressing skills.

So - what do you want first - the decent photos or the snood tutorial?

Let's go with the snood - to give everyone a good laugh.

Step 1 - put snood on top of head

Step 2 - pull down over head and face - (excuse shaky photo - literally taken blind!)

Step 3 - pull down to neck and hope it looks half decent - yep that'll do. Fiddling never improves matters (in my experience). 

In no particular order a selection of photos from the day - some items were bought, some not...

New Look biker style gilet - (not bought)

White Company flutter sleeve sweater - bought but will be going back - (what was I thinking?!)

Per Una coat - not bought but liked the look of it

New Look crystal scarf - bought but then hastily returned - the crystals turned out to be skulls (which I hate!!)

M&S Limited Collection trousers - looked OK on the hanger NOT BOUGHT - good grief!!

New Look sweater with crystal decoration - looked OK on the hanger. On? Er... I think not - looks like someone's sneezed over me

River Island Molly Coated Jeggings - not bought - refuse to pay £40 for one season wonder

H&M jacket - like - bought

New Look leopard print sweater - not bought, but hmmmm, may re-visit.

So - what do you think... did I make the right choices?!

How to look like a sack of spuds

My new cashmere poncho arrived from White Company today, to much glee.

Sadly I was rather underwhelmed when I unwrapped it, for the tissue and the poncho were both very crumpled and looked as if it had come to me straight from the hands of another customer who had returned it with none too much care in the wrapping.  Frankly for £112 I expected better.

Moving onto the trying on session...
Pros:  warm, soft and covers a multitude of sins. 
Cons: possibly also equal boring and shapeless (not to mention, amongst my colour palette, beige is fast becoming ubiquitous).  

Soft as a baby's bum however, and no doubt will be very cosy.  So far so good on the practicality front. I am not 100% convinced that it doesn't make me look like I've gained 10lb overnight however.

Maybe I just need to get used to the loose cape-like look.  Or exchange for a smaller (and hopefully better packed) version...?

At least beige doesn't look black when I take the picture...

Worn with:

 Zara jeans and Primark wedge boots (not that these show up of course!!)

Plus White Company star scarf in picture 1 and Pure Collection ribbed cashmere snood in picture 2.

Several shades of navy

My day off today didn't go exactly according to plan (not in a bad way, just different).

Due to the weather I abandoned my plan to go to the nearest city for a bit of soggy retail therapy at the White Company, and headed even further into the rural hinterland instead.

Admittedly this little excursion did not net me any candles (or croissants actually) but did get a lovely lunch and reminder of what a beautiful part of the country we are lucky enough to live in.

Also got to spend some time with OH - which is a rarity as we both work irregular hours. We are like the proverbial ships passing in the night most of the time!

Lunch at The Red Lion.

When it looks this pretty, even I like the snow!

Today it was back to navy and neutrals, and I apologise for the photo which is another of my classic 'no matter what she's wearing it looks black' efforts....  Jacket and trousers actually navy.  (I've tried to enhance it with my picture software, but think I probably made it worse!)

Navy jersey blazer from New Look

Navy long line sweater from H&M

Navy skinny trousers from Primark

Boots from Primark (love these - and so comfortable)

Tassel scarf from The White Company 

(Code OCD20 for 20% off and free P&P at The White Company)

It's my bag

A look at some of my daily essentials, carried today in my 'pumpkin' Bayswater bag (should have got it out last week really!)

Clockwise from bottom left:

• Anya Hindmarch 'Girlie Stuff' pouch (containing the all important cards, tickets, receipts and other essentials)
• Mulberry circular coin purse
• Smythson turquoise phone holder
• L'Occitane Lavande hand sanitiser (I go to some mucky places)
• Micheal Kors sunglasses from (bargain from TX Maxx)
• Work pass
• Guerlain Mitsouko perfume
• L'Occitane Lavande hand cream (bit of a thing for lavender!)
• Mulberry yellow pencil case
• Assortment of pens (I am a total pen freak!)
• Vaseline 'pink bubbles' limited edition lip balm (get some fast before it's discontinued - it's divine)
• Leighton Denny crystal nail file (brilliant product)

I was working today but have tomorrow off. Bliss and joy, the schools are back and I can have a peaceful potter. Coffee will be consumed. An almond croissant may even be consumed. (Though I have to say, post summer belated correctional diet is going great guns. I'm eating less. Duh - why didn't I think of that sooner?!)

White Company will be visited. Candles will be purchased:

• 'Winter' to celebrate the season; and 

• 'Blanc' because, err.....  my bathroom needs it..

I need to immerse myself in the beautiful, happy and serene things of life. I see enough of the miserable and ugly.

By the way, I toyed with a snood tutorial as someone suggested, but it would be comical!!  If still needed let me know ;-)

I fought the taupe, but the taupe won

Here's today's outfit...

\

 White Company 'stepped hem' sweater

Made in Heaven Vienna Skinny jeans

Primark ankle boots

Mulberry bag

Pure Collection snood

Shopping my (bargain) closet...

Why is it that the allure of the new is so great?  (If I knew the answer to this question no doubt I could save myself a LOT of money.)

Today, however,  I was determined to re-visit and re-love some old favourites.

May I present....

• Mulberry Roxanne Bag in dark brown (£....er we won't go there - OH might be reading - but it *was* from the outlet!)
• M&S snake print scarf in blush and khaki (£5 in sale)
• White Company cashmere jumper in pale green - or 'pistachio' if you were speaking fashion speak darling - £7 (or so I recall, it was super cheap anyway for 100% cashmere) from Ebay last year. I've never seen this shade in the White Company, so I wonder if someone had attempted a dye job which they didn't like?!  I'm very happy with it - and it's so snug and soft.  

So there you have it - a selection of goodies chez 'Boutique Ash'.

And here I am wearing them...

A couple of skirts and a pair of trousers

Sorry for the unimaginative title, I'm so tired this evening, no muse!

A quick post to continue from yesterday and show a couple of skirts, plus a sneaky pair of trousers that were too big a bargain not to talk about.

Jigsaw grey knee length cord skirt, Boden cropped cardigan, Primark scarf, KG black suede wedges

Boden 'modern midi skirt', Boden cropped cardigan, Mulberry scarf, Primark suedette ankle boots

Primark trousers (£5!!!), Boden cardigan, Mulberry scarf

I am very pleased with the Boden Modern Midi skirt I must say. It's a nice medium weight moleskin fabric and has a contrast seam down the front which doesn't show in my photos. See Boden website here.  Code TKNS gives 15% off plus free P&P at the moment.

The cropped cashmere cardigan was a gift from my lovely Mum who thought I needed 'brightening up a bit'. Very astute my Mum...I was delighted to accept her advice here!  The cashmere seems to be very good quality, I don't know how it will wear, but it feels softer than a similar Brora cardigan I have which was about twice the price!

The Jigsaw knee length cord skirt is dark charcoal grey and is a nice flattering shape, quite fitted at the waist and room over the hips without being too a-line..Hurrah - have just seen it's still available, and with a nice range of extra colours to boot - see Jigsaw website here. (I may have to get another one!)

Finally the Primark trousers are an unbelievable bargain for £5. They're navy, nice fit at the top with a good wide-leg shape. Impressive.

One final word on skirts, or the wearing thereof. A pair of good opaques are essential. Personally, I love Wolford Velvet de Luxe 66, as they are wonderfully soft, nice thickness (but not too woolly), and most importantly have impressive lasting and snag resistance powers. They are pricey but a good investment.

I also bought a nice lacy pair in New Look the other day with the proceeds of a credit note. (Buyer beware:  New Look doesn't refund on sale goods unless faulty, not unreasonable I suppose, but it took me by surprise. We are so used to being able to return anything, anytime, anyhow nowadays.)

Here's the link to the New Look tights (£5.99) - they feel good and are cheaper - and with a better range of colours -  than a similar offering from White Stuff.

For more on tights, see my earlier post here. 

The follies of impatience

Turns out the Primark wedges are not quite as expected once tried on...what disappointment :-(

The problem is mainly that the sole seems very thick / obtrusive / clumpy - especially on the tan version for some reason, which may be an optical illusion. 

The sole, being a lighter colour than the shoe was always a concern I had, as I prefer a matching sole, and on the black version the soles are black. 

The tan pair will I think have to be returned as for some reason they don't seem to work at all on me, though they look better off than on. The burgundy pair could work but, unexpectedly, they seem to work better with opaques and a skirt, rather than with jeans. I think maybe these wedges are at odds with a skinny style trouser, at least, as they are quite a heavy shoe.

Have not mentioned these thoughts yet to poor OH who did me such a favour to get them yesterday on his day off!  Will have to sneak them back on Monday. Why oh why didn't I wait until Monday?  (I am so impatient!)  However, as with so many things you never really know until you get something home and try with different items.

Pictures below:

Burgundy wedges (sorry for appalling dark picture, they ARE burgundy!) - better with a skirt

Tan pair. Wrong somehow... :-(

Burgundy version, slightly better, or is it my imagination?

And what I actually wore before the wedge trying episode:

Made in Heaven Vienna jeans

Jigsaw mole coloured t shirt

Jigsaw roll neck poncho

Aquitalia ankle boots

Brown Mulberry Bayswater

By the way, I saw a nice jacket and jumper in Tesco earlier today, neither bought or even tried on as wasn't in the mood and didn't have time or 'head-space' - but I will be returning to investigate:

Jacket - £28 - on Tesco website here

Burgundy jumper £14...to match the wedges maybe?  Website link here