gin in a teacup

Little Things, Australia Day Edition

2012-01-30T16:21:00.000+08:00

Hello! I am a little bit in shock that January is almost over. Time has been flying and I have been keeping myself immersed in very awesome creative things, including lots of writing. It's been pretty crazy so far but I'm so looking forward to what the rest of the year is going to bring!

I'm long overdue for a big catch-up post, but for now I thought I'd show you some of the Instagram photos I snapped on Australia Day. I was really happy because this day included two of my New Year's resolutions: to spend more time with people who make me happy, and to take more photos! I spent the day sitting in a blow-up pool, drinking cider, heading down to the park to play cricket, getting caught in a freak rainstorm, eating pizza, and spending almost all day breathless from laughing so much. It was pretty fantastic.

You might also notice my new hair! One of my friends dyed and cut it for me the night before. It's taking me some getting used to having it so short, what do you think?

I'm usually not really one for Australia Day. Don't get me wrong, I love living here, but I despise the whole "We're full, fuck off" and "It's sooo un-Australian if you don't get blind drunk and go and start fights while watching the fireworks" mentality. But spending it with a bunch of cool peeps, shooting water pistols, listening to the Triple J Hottest 100 (which was a particularly fabulous mix this year, don't you think?) and having fun... yeah, I could definitely get behind that.

x

It's Time To Play The Music

2012-01-15T15:10:00.000+08:00

Hello! Here I am with my first outfit post of the year! This is what I wore to eat brunch and watch The Muppet Movie with my mum and sister. I absolutely love the Muppets. I was OBSESSED with The Muppet Show when I was younger, and hired it out from the video store about once a fortnight. So clearly I loved the movie, and yes, it made me cry about twelve different times. I also kind of adore Jason Segel now. Seriously... the man loves puppets and is quite lovely to look at. What else can you ask for?

I wanted to dress up in something very cheerful and sweet to see it. I picked up this retro-inspired dress in the sales, and I made it even more girly with my new scalloped satchel. Did I mention it was also a 31 degree day? Trying to look nice and put-together in this weather is almost impossible.

Revival dress // Sportsgirl loafers // Valleygirl heart earrings // ASOS bag // Diva 'Love' ring // Love Couture sunglasses

So, I got these earrings at Love Couture. It's a horribly tacky-sounding name, but the shop isn't too bad. Last time I went there (which was the first time I've ever been there), I got these awesome Miu Miu (or maybe Prada?) inspired sunglasses, some little skull bracelets, and a pair of earrings. Not too shabby. But I was especially pleased to find such crazy glasses being sold for $12.99.

And this is my adorable ASOS bag! I've never really been into bags in a huge way, but I'm starting to build up quite a collection. I saw this one on Cupcake's Clothes and immediately started poring over the ASOS site, trying to find it. They have a turquoise version as well, which I was very tempted to buy, but I'm glad I went with the pink.

And this last photo is me, in full (well, sort of) 'song-and-dance number' mode. Nothing like a casual side kick here and there.

I thought I'd leave you with this little clip of Bret McKenzie (of Flight Of The Conchords fame), and Kermit the Frog, singing one of the songs from the movie... which Bret McKenzie actually wrote! I like this movie even more now that this delicious slice of Kiwi is involved.

Happy Sunday!

2012 Style Direction: '50s Housewives in a Tim Burton Film

2012-01-02T14:19:00.000+08:00

I've always enjoyed reading Gala Darling's style directions (you can peep 2010 and 2011) so I thought that this year, I'd do one for myself. A couple of weeks ago I was in a big flummox about the state of my wardrobe; all of a sudden I was worried everything was too cutesy and, well, not quite grown up enough for where I am at the moment. Of course, I still love the vintage look and I don't think I'll ever grow out of that, but I wanted to streamline it a bit more and add more of an 'edge' to my look.

Hence... '50s Housewives In A Tim Burton Film!
I don't mean this too literally. What I mean is great outfits with quirky details, that are psychedelic and don't conform, but with some more serious and dark touches. Think intricate detailing, big black shoes, crazy candy-coloured tresses and bright, clashing patterns.

Here are some of the pictures that have been inspiring me lately...

Left: Skuse Family tattoo models, found here; Right: An ASOS necklace I bought just before Christmas

Left: Inside Khloe Kardashian's Shoe Closet, from Stylist.com; Middle: Paz de la Huerta shot by Eric Guillemain, found here; Right: Paper Dolls from Ladies Home Journal, June 1967, found here

The girl who wears this look is quirky, feminine, and mischievous. She is dripping with costume jewellery and other frippery, and is always overdressed. She has the right outfit for every occasion. She wears high heels all the time. She wears a vintage leopard print house robe when she's swanning around her home. She makes big messy batches of cupcakes and ices initials of sweethearts onto the top. She loves Miu Miu and Alexander McQueen.

Left: "Sequins" by Lucy Lauct, May 13 2011; Middle: Dita Von Teese shot by Peter W. Czernich for Marquis Magazine, December 2010 found here; Right: Kirsten Dunst shot by Terry Richardson for New York Times style, found here

Left: Balenciaga jacket shot by Tommy Ton on JAK & JIL, found here; Right: Miu Miu Resort 2012 campaign shot, found here

Left: Miu Miu Resort 2012 campaign, found here; Middle: Stolen From Grandma vintage shot campaign, shot by Tessa Kit Zawadzki, found here; Right: "Holiday Hair" by Sea Of Ghosts, found here.

Now I should probably go and clean my room so I can actually SEE what clothes I have, instead of just groping around the floor or my bedroom. But I'm really excited to share my style direction with you & I hope that if you make a post, you link it in the comments so I can see it!

2011 in Outfits

2012-01-01T20:01:00.000+08:00

These are some of my favourite outfits from 2011. I think that last year I developed my personal style a lot more, became comfortable with taking risks (like dying my hair pink, blue, and red; getting a tattoo; getting my nose pierced) and bought some incredible pieces that I'm sure I'll wear for years and years to come.

I didn't really make any style resolutions for this year; I wanted to build up my collection of flats (since I don't wear heels much) and as you can see from these photos, I definitely thrashed my Sportsgirl brown loafers, which appear in half these photos, and my Wittner patent ones. I also wanted to build up my vintage collection, which I think I did pretty well.

I'll be writing a post on my 2012 style resolutions in the next couple of days, but it was fun to revisit my favourite outfits from last year and see how much has changed from 2010!

New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T09:52:00.001+08:00

I found this via Pip's blog Meet Me At Mikes & I thought it was way too cute not to share! Have a happy New Year's Eve, everybody, and I'll see you in 2012! I have a feeling it's going to be a pretty swell year.

2011

2011-12-30T10:39:00.002+08:00

So, 2011 was quite a big year for me with some crazy, rollercoaster ups and downs. I had some not so great moments and definitely a shitty start to the year, but since then things have gotten much better and I've finished 2011 in a very wonderful way! Now this recap is quite long (and not very fashion-y) so I don't blame you for skipping out now!

In January, I had quite a bad start to the year. My granddad died, not too long after my nan had passed away, and my boyfriend at the time broke up with me about a week later. I'm not going to lie, it kind of sucked, especially for someone going through depression, like I was at the time. It also didn't help that my ex-boyfriend handled things in a really douchey way. So if blogging was a bit sparse this year, then that is probably why! I'm not telling you that to get sympathy or anything, but if anyone reading is going through it then I want them to know how important it is to get professional help, because it really helped me. Also surround yourself with wonderful friends - my best friends Renae, Richenda, the Chloes, Emma and Trish were fantastic around this time (and still are, obviously).

Luckily, it was not long after that I started my work experience at Xpress. I got to work with one of my favourite bloggers, Emma, and I had such a good time. It was really special to hear the editor say that I was the best work experience student they'd ever had! I even stayed on for a while after my internship "officially" ended, and now I'm a contributor for them and couldn't be happier that I'm doing a job that I love and getting paid for it!

It was on one of these reviews for Xpress that I met my boyfriend Aidan! Well, it's kind of an embarrassing story (for me). We had gone to uni together for four years but never really spoken. And then out of the blue I invited him to be my plus one to an Audrey Tatou movie and we've been together ever since. Woo!

I also...
♥ dyed my hair red... then bayalage... then blue tipped... then with a Bettie Page fringe... and now pink tipped ♥ went to a lot of amazing shows like Papa Vs Pretty, The Painkillers, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Andy Bull, and more ♥ moved out of my apartment in South Perth and moved into my grandparent's old house ♥ met many amazing Perth bloggers ♥ made many lovely new friends ♥ turned 22 ♥ hosted Boxing Day at my house for my family ♥ learned to cook ♥ went out to Mexican food for my birthday ♥ went to Rottnest ♥ tried to use my DSLR camera more ♥ became incredibly happy again!

So thank you all so much for reading this year and hopefully next year will be bigger & better for all of us! This is my last "big" post for 2011 (I have one lined up for tomorrow) so I'll see you all in 2012!

x

Oh and I do have to say happy birthday to my gorgeous mama! Happy birthday mum!

Wonderful Christmastime

2011-12-26T21:22:00.003+08:00

Hello hello! I had a wonderful Christmas day with my mum's side of the family. We went to my uncle's beautiful house and had a MASSIVE feast of turkey (with two kinds of stuffings), ham, these delicious salads, and Christmas pudding. It was amazing! Even more fun was getting to see my cousins, uncles and aunties, especially my aunt, uncle and cousin who had flown in from Melbourne. It was gorgeous weather (not too hot!), and I got to spend the afternoon playing with my adorable godson, his brother and their new lightsabers, which were mainly used for "killing girls and girl germs".

1. A family photo interrupted by Molly, my uncle's schnoodle puppy.
2. I made this trifle! I was so proud, and it was delicious (if I do say so myself).
3. Present excitement! I got some wonderful things that I will show you very soon.
4. My shoes! I got them half price at the Forever New sale. I love them and they are lovely and sparkly but VERY uncomfortable.
5. Christmas cake! I don't really eat it, for some reason, but it sure looked pretty.
6. Me and my gorgeous godson Adam. He doesn't really let me pick him up very much anymore so this is a very rare photo indeed!
7. I really love puppies so I was ecstatic that Molly was such an easygoing pup!
8. My Christmas day outfit, consisting of a Temt dress, Forever New embellished flats, rings from Sportsgirl, ASOS and Diva, and bracelets from Love Couture, David Jones, a shop in Bunbury and Diva. And earrings from Love Couture.
9. My dad & I.
10. Another family photo, this time with my grandparents and my cousin (down the front with me) insisting on making gruesome faces.

I hope you and your loved ones all had lovely Christmases as well! It's back to normal for me tomorrow, I'm back at work and working pretty much up until New Year's Eve. But, hopefully I'll be able to make time to show you some of my rather excellent presents & Christmas instagrams!

x

Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmas Time

{One of the highest rated comments on this song was "I used to hate this song, but now it ain't Christmas until I hear it on a compilation CD." I totally agree! This song used to really grate my nerves, but now I love it.}

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T19:07:00.002+08:00

It's Christmas Eve! For some reason, this year I'm overexcited about the holidays and am so looking forward to spending Christmas with my family. Even though I am exhausted from work and missing my boyfriend, who is in Melbourne until New Year's, I can't wait to have a couple of days to just relax and enjoy spending time with the people I love.

So until I get around to posting my Christmas outfits and other photos, I'll leave you with this photo of me and my sister. I don't know exactly when it was taken... maybe when I was about seven? We do not continue to wear matching dresses, you'll be pleased to know. But my mum made us these dresses and I remember being totally IN LOVE with mine. I adored anything super girly and poofy and princess-like (so, not much has changed!).

Merry Christmas, you guys! Thanks so much for reading my blog and all your love and support this year. Hopefully you'll all still be reading next year and still having a ball!

x

Fly Me To The Moon

2011-12-22T20:05:00.000+08:00

Last night I caught up with my lovely friend Lisa and we decided to go to The Moon for dinner (after seeing that the Mexican place we really wanted to go to was completely packed. Boo!). After a delicious dinner of fries, aioli, and chicken and bacon pizza, we went for a walk through Northbridge and took some photos of Christmassy things.

This was an amazing Christmas tree made out of old bike parts and some cute handmade stars. They were actually made out of the Coles 'Down down, prices are down' hands - we thought that this was a much better use for them.

Good Enough To Eat dress from Modcloth // Target cropped cardigan // Valleygirl earrings (I think) // Gifted ring // Rubi clogs // Sportsgirl bag

Do you remember a while ago I showed you a little sneak peek of this amazing dress? Well, this is it in its entirety! It's definitely one of my all-time favourite dresses. It has a beautiful shape, I love the print (hamburgers and hot dogs and popcorn, oh my!), and it has pockets! I've been wearing it on a pretty much weekly basis. It reminds me of the scene in Grease where Danny sings "Sandy" at the drive-in movies and there's an ad for the candy bar playing behind him... with dancing hotdogs and icecreams!

And from these photos, you might be able to see that I got my nose pierced! My boyfriend's sister and one of her best friends were going, and I've always wanted to pierce my nose, so I decided to tag along with them. And to answer the inevitable question, yes, it was very VERY painful! I don't know if I'll keep it in for long, because I'm not sure it's really "me", but at least I got it done.

And then we saw camels! And a partridge in a pear tree!

There were many (many!) more photos, but I'll save them for another post, and just leave you with this quote that was outside the public library. I thought it was very sweet.

Santa Baby...

2011-12-21T17:33:00.002+08:00

This has been my busiest month of the year BY FAR, so I apologise for letting my blog posts slide! Obviously retail work gets a lot more hectic around Christmas, and my work for Xpress has been getting crazy busy as well - not that I'm complaining in the slightest, I adore both jobs! Even my job at Sussan, which includes putting up with crazy Christmas customers. People get a bit insane (and rude) around this time of year.

I know that December 21st is a bit late to be doing Christmas wishlists - and to be honest, my family already got my wishlist a long time ago - but I thought I would show you guys what I've been lusting over for the past month or so (and perhaps send a helpful hint in my boyfriend's direction). So, here goes...

1. Trashy Diva Luscious Libations dress, $137.99 from Modcloth
2. Irregular Choice Sundae Best heels, $149.99 from Modcloth
3. Fujufilm Instax Camera, $85 from Officeworks
4. Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon VIII heels in nude, $202.80 from ASOS
5. ASOS PURR heels in cat print, $126.75 from ASOS
6. World's Smallest Lookbook necklace in 70s,, $34.99 from Modcloth
7. What's the Story, Winston? necklace, $19.99 from Modcloth
8. Glowing Out For Pizza string lights, $29.99 from Modcloth
9. Gala Curious Eternal Ties pendant in Lilac, $99 (on sale!) from The Dreamery
10. Drown Dross ring, $79 from Alegorie

I don't ask for much, do I? If Santa could also give me the sudden ability (and desire) to do yoga everyday, turn down all the awful food-court meals I've been eating while working and help me manage my time more wisely, I would be just as happy...

Now I am off to catch up with the always lovely Lisa Grace for dinner at a new Mexican place... so hopefully (hopefully!) there should be photos to follow!

x

Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby

Ch-Check It Out

2011-12-05T21:04:00.000+08:00

So I got some new floors in my kitchen and dining room, and I thought that before I moved my furniture in it would be fun to take some photos! To be honest, I'm pretty tempted to not put any furniture back in and just reserve the place for retro dance parties...

Vintage dress // Sportsgirl shoes // Diva Pacman earrings

Sorry to wear this dress again so soon after it's last outfit post, but it was perfect for the thirty degree heat in Perth today! It's made out of cotton (as opposed to polyester, like most of my vintage dresses - including the one in the last post, which is why the pictures turned out so awful, I was so hot and gross!) and is so comfortable for the insane heat. Besides, I think it's a happy dress. It certainly made people smile all day!

You can't really see it in the photos but my pink hair is still going strong! It isn't as bright since I washed it, but a fresh coat of Manic Panic should do the trick. I don't know, I kind of like the frosty pink as opposed to UBER BRIGHT.

Well, now I am off to watch the Steve Buscemi/Black Keys episode of Saturday Night Live. I am too excited! I don't know where they got the GENIUS idea to cast both of them in one episode but I'm pretty sure it's a dream come true for me?! Ahhh!

And I suppose I had better put my furniture back in my dining room and kitchen. Boo! Maybe I'll just turn it into a retro diner and run around in this dress serving burgers and shakes. Hey, a girl can dream!

Beastie Boys - Ch-Check It Out

Mr Pink

2011-12-02T16:51:00.000+08:00

HELLO! I literally just got home from the hairdresser and ran outside again to take these shots - that's how excited I am about my new hair! I finally got my act together and booked another appointment with the wonderful Bee, and I had missed her so much! Since the last time I saw her, she's moved into a whole HOUSE (as opposed to a room upstairs from some artists), which also has beautiful Little Gracie clothes everywhere! I was in heaven.

Anyway one morning last week I woke up and thought, "I miss having coloured hair." Usually I take ages and agonise over what to do with my hair, but this week I just chose not to think it through so much and decided to go pink! I'm in love. Apparently it will fade better than the blue as well.

Vintage dress // Wittner loafers // Valleygirl earrings // Pink hair by Peggy Sues Hair

Since I was pretty sure I'd be coming home with pink-tinged locks, I thought that this vintage dress would match perfectly. I got it from Winifred & Bance during their closing down sale (boo hoo!). It was half price. It is awesome... though the polyester's not great for such a hot day!

I thought the dress lent itself to some Twiggy-esque jumpings shots... how wrong I was! How do people do it and still manage to look good in outfit shots?! This is one of about fifteen jumping shots I tried and in most of them I look extremely derpy.

Well I know this is a super-short post but I have to run and get some stuff done before Xzibit tonight (I'm reviewing it!). I hope you all have fabulous Fridays!

x

George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag

(well I had to keep up the Reservoir Dogs references, didn't I? LUV U STEVE BUSCEMI)

Is That All There Is?

2011-12-01T18:11:00.001+08:00

Hello hello! I thought I would just pop in and say hello, even though I have had barely any time to breathe this week, let alone post! I've been balancing my part-time job at Sussan (which is where the gray tee is from, in case you were wondering - it's so comfortable) with helping out at Xpress a couple of days a week for the next couple of weeks and doing all my regular reviews and stories. So it's been pretty busy!

Amidst all the hubbub, my wonderful boyfriend managed to set up my IKEA desk, so now I have my own little home office (which shares space with the Man Cave of the house) so now I can blog from my little desk AND I have an excuse to buy office-y things, like this ridiculous rose pen from Typo. Oh how professional I feel signing off important documents with this.

Anyway I'm sorry things have been a bit quiet here, but things are going great and I am super excited about the holiday season and 2012! I hope all you readers have been having similarly fantastic weeks. '

x

{please ignore the falling-down poster in the background... my house is going through a bit of a moving-around stage at the moment! I will be sure to share many a photo when it's done, though!}

Peggy Lee - Is That All There Is?

Brooch The Subject

2011-11-22T17:16:00.000+08:00

I seem to have amassed quite the collection of brooches, even though I rarely wear them in outfit posts. They've been bought, gifted or handed down to me over the years and even though they don't get the attention (and wear) they deserve, I love them all dearly. It's funny how many memories and sentiments can get attached to inanimate objects, isn't it?

{The kangaroo trophy head brooch is from Pigeonhole; the mix tape brooch, "Hello, I like to skim stones and take long walks in the park" badge and the ampersand are all from the Unwrapped markets; the blue bird and the deer are both leather brooches by My Girl Gwendoline; the carrot is from Corky St Clair in Melbourne; the owl was a gift from my sister; the Vespa was a gift from my friend Cat; the gun is by OSIER; the Mexcellent badge is Limedrop from Pigeonhole, bought during a Mexican-themed production week at uni; and the "No Swimming - Crocodiles", beefeater, and American flag badges belonged to my grandparents.}

Awoke on a Whale Heart

2011-11-19T17:09:00.002+08:00

I thought I'd pop in and do a post on a Saturday to let you know about a discount code for Awoke on a Whale Heart, who I mentioned just recently in one of my What I Wore posts - their stall at the Beaufort St Markets is where I found my excellent (or as some - ahem, the BSC members - would say, extremely chilly) Claudia Kishi dress. Liz from Awoke let me know on my Facebook page that there's a code for you lovely readers - just enter the code "TEACUP" at checkout to get a whopping 20% off your purchases! Hooray! Vintage for all! So have a mosey on down to their fantastic shop... here's what I've got my eye on!

Martine shoulder bag, Fumihoko dress, Orculos dress

Lisbon dress, Venturi dress, Britta dress

Jerry Garcia tee, Fang Island dress, Coeur blouse

Thanks so much to Awoke on a Whale Heart for the offer! Happy shopping, everybody!

You're The Apple Of My Eye

2011-11-17T13:20:00.001+08:00

Hello! My River Island apple dress finally arrived, and I've been dying to take photos in it all week. However, I didn't get a chance until today, so the dress' debut will have to be going grocery shopping for eggs and cat food. Whee!

When this dress arrived, I tried it on immediately (of course) and was a little underwhelmed with what I saw. The waist wasn't defined, I couldn't even do up the middle hook and eye clasp and it was just, well, unflattering. After a night spent moping around, I tried it on the next day with a different (better, and much more expensive) bra and it fit perfectly! Hooray!

River Island dress via ASOS // Sportsgirl loafers // Diva ring & locket earrings (?! I know, the idea seems a bit silly!)

I hope you guys aren't sick of seeing these shoes yet. My flat shoes have all seemed to have died a painful and messy death so these are the only flats comfortable enough to wear day-to-day! I love that they add a little vintage-looking twist to every outfit, as well.

So I had a lot of fun getting dolled up for these pictures... I have to confess, I don't usually lounge around my garden looking wistfully at lanterns and climbing on ladders! I put these Typo lanterns up over the past couple of days; some of my family are coming around for Christmas and so I've been getting a bit overexcited with ideas for decorating! Can you guys recommend any good DIY blogs?

x

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home

Little Things 16.11.11

2011-11-16T22:47:00.000+08:00

Hello friends! I don't think I mentioned it on the blog, but recently Vodafone made a huge screwup and accidentally cut off my phone. It took me over a month to sort it out and I was sadly iPhone-less for a while, instead having to revert to a $10 mobile I bought from Kmart. While I didn't miss having the internet on my phone, or being able to do my banking while I'm out, or even the nifty built in iPod, what I really missed was having a camera on me at all time! So that's why there haven't been many Little Things posts lately. But, I have been Instagramming with a vengeance since I got it back, so here's my latest batch of photos...

{Miscellaneous jewellery in a teeny little dish from Sportsgirl}

{Super pretty vintage dress from Etsy that's on my wishlist!}

{Some vintage dresses from the BOFO markets}

{Pretty flowers I saw while I was walking to my friends' house}

{Awesome print of my new Modcloth dress!}

{Lanterns I've hung up for Christmas - they're from Typo if you're interested!}

{On my way to review Twilight - bleh - with one of my new vintage dresses & Diva ring}

There you go! Just some little snaps from what I've been up to lately. I've been a bit busy with work - both my writing and my day job - but apart from that it's been all about Boardwalk Empire, cleaning my house to host people at Christmas and hopefully New Year's Eve, practicing some DIYs to put on the blog (!!! Very excited about this one) and trying not to spend too much money (not doing so well at this one). Oh, and if you do want to follow me on Instagram, my username is gininateacup - I'd love to see your photos too!

The Claudia Kishi Dress

2011-11-14T12:08:00.000+08:00

You guys remember the Babysitter's Club (or the BSC), don't you? In fact, I know a lot of you do because we talked about it in a post I did ages ago. Anyway, I got this dress at the vintage markets at the Beaufort St Festival on Saturday, and I thought it was very much a Claudia Kishi kind of dress. Not only is it this weird mustardy-goldy-yellow colour, but it also has random pictures of heart shaped glasses, a line of washing, rainbows, sneakers, and the words 'shoe' and 'star' written sporadically into the pattern. Oh my lord!

I wore it literally the day after I got it because I couldn't wait to take its craziness out into the world. My boyfriend very kindly took these photos for me before we went out for Nando's and he bought me a pin-up poster. I also found the latest BUST magazine at Planet Books, so I was a very satisfied girl indeed. Then tonight we are planning to eat pizza and watch Boardwalk Empire (if you follow me on Twitter you'll know how truly, truly obsessed I am with that show), so it is a pretty perfect end to a pretty perfect weekend.

I feel like I should mention that all the sellers from the vintage market were so polite and helpful, especially the ladies from Awoke on a Whale Heart and Oh Henry!, which is where I spent all of my money! There was such an overwhelming selection on display, and I have to give credit to my lady Lisa for being so patient while I ran around trying things on and tossing up between buying silly things like dresses with tribes of people printed on them or bird necklaces that were actually whistles as well.

Vintage dress via Awoke on a Whale Heart Vintage // Wittner loafers // Sportsgirl bag & sunglasses // Diva bow earrings

I sometimes wonder when I will stop buying vintage dresses with crazy prints on them. Is there really a point where you become "too old" to wear dresses with little sailboats or cats or turtles or puppies on them (and yes, all of those dresses are in my collection!)? After a long and unfortunate spell in high school where I was way too concerned with dressing for other people, and definitely not wearing clothes I was comfortable in, I've since decided that wearing whatever makes me happy and is a little fun and crazy is the way to go. I love clothes that have a story and that are a little bit different (incidentally, I'm so intrigued as to who would make this dress in the first place!), and it doesn't matter if people give me the stink-eye or the WTF? face from time to time, clothes are meant to be fun!

Well this post has become a bit long and rambly and I had intended to keep it short and sweet after yesterday's Goliath post! I hope you're all having a fabulous start to the week.

x

BOFO

2011-11-13T16:39:00.003+08:00

On Saturday afternoon, my partner in crime Lisa and I checked out the vintage markets at the Beaufort St Festival (or BOFO, as I heard it called throughout the day) and had a swingin' time. I think it's only the second year the festival's been running and it looks like every year it's going to get bigger and better. We found a bunch of knitted birds sitting on top of parking meters that had been covered in wool and yarn, at least five adorable puppies, tasty burgers at Grill'd (I had the Baa Baa burger - lamb, avocado, cheese, salad and herbed aioli, delicious), and I managed to score three amazing vintage dresses for $85. Awesome. I also managed to completely fangirl out when I met the owner of Awoke on a Whale Heart vintage, but you take the good with the bad, I guess.

Later, when Lisa went off to photograph Peter Combe (jealous!), I went back to a friend's house where we had cider, came back to Beaufort St to watch some bands, uh... liberated... a knitted chicken from its position outside a street lamp and then had long talks into the early hours. It was a pretty perfect Saturday.

p.s - In case you were wondering, in the above pictures I'm wearing a Dangerfield dress (which I got this week, on sale, and I love the little embroidered details on the collar), Sportsgirl flats, sunglasses and bag, and a Diva necklace with a tiny puppy charm hanging off it. And the new vintage dresses will be appearing in outfit posts very soon!

Gold Dust Woman

2011-11-10T17:34:00.001+08:00

On Wednesday night I met up with the babeliest of babes, my fellow fashion blogger Lisa. We went on a bit of a lady date that included delicious cheeseburgers at Jus Burgers, drinks at Ezra Pound, and running around Northbridge taking silly fashion blogger snaps.

Willow skirt // Portmans tee // Lovisa headband // Jasmin flats // Sportsgirl bag // Diva earrings

If you've been reading for a while, you might remember that I wore almost this exact same outfit (okay, yes it was the exact same outfit) way back in March to watch Best Coast. Luckily the gold on the skirt didn't flake nearly as much as last time - I don't know if you can tell from the photos, but the gold is actually painted (or something) on to the skirt, not part of the print - but still enough for me to leave little specks of gold dust on everything, hence the title of the post!

I wish I could wear this skirt more often, but I'm having a hard time pairing it with anything other than a black shirt and black flats. Any ideas?

This was outside this amazing vintage homewares shop, I would buy everything in there if I had the money! There were some amazing old phones, a huge palm tree lamp (!!) and this amazing indoor bar. I swooned heavily. And then scurried away when I saw how expensive everything was...

...But playing with the light-up floor at the new state theatre is free and just as entertaining.

And posing on a wooden gecko is always fun too.

After that we headed on down to the Flying Scotsman, where unfortunately the photos ended because everyone was too busy trying to find outdoor seating and not get beat up in the process. People take the seating very seriously at the Scotsman, it would appear. With about ten people crammed around two tiny tables I wasn't game enough to take out my camera (especially when you factor ten-dollar jugs of beer and multiple wine bottles into the mix!).

Thanks for reading this mammoth post! You'll have to travel on over to Hug-Sized to get the details on what Lisa was wearing and see even more photos of her pretty face. I should have some more posts up this week; I'm going to the Lomovember opening at Pigeonhole on Friday and the Beaufort St Festival on Saturday so hopefully there will be photos aplenty!

x

p.s I got to 200 followers on my blog this week, so thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to everyone that reads and follows this blog! I really appreciate your love and support. xx

Fleetwood Mac - Gold Dust Woman

I Scream For Ice Cream

2011-11-07T16:23:00.001+08:00

Oh my. These Sundae Best heels by Irregular Choice (found on ModCloth) are absolute quirky perfection in a heel. If it's not the adorable icecream and bows print that had me, then the gold ice-cream sundae on the toe definitely did the trick! At $149.99, they're affordable but still a little bit out of my price range - plus there are only four pairs left in my size, and they only went live on the site yesterday! - but if you want to don your feet with sugary deliciousness, you can snap them up here. And then send them to me.

Please, Mr Postman!

2011-11-06T13:47:00.001+08:00

The recent kerfuffle with QANTAS means that quite a few of the things I've ordered are still in transit. So, in lieu of showing you the actual pieces themselves, I thought I'd share what I've bought in the last month or so! Hooray for having a job that actually gives you more than three hours a week!

1. Good Enough To Eat dress, ModCloth
I'd actually forgotten all about this dress until I logged back into my ModCloth account for the first time in ages and saw that it was back in stock. I hadn't actually remembered putting it on my wishlist in the first place, but I was pretty smitten with it's delicious junk food print (you might remember it from my post about food-themed clothes a few weeks ago). Luckily, by the time I finished umming and aahing over it, ModCloth had reduced their shipping prices, so it was kind of a no-brainer.

2. Rodarte for Target dress, via eBay
I bought the mustard version of this dress sometime last year, but I never ended up wearing it. Because I have no idea what U.S Target junior sizing is like, I thought I'd better go for the largest size just in case. Well, it always ended up looking funny and not very flattering, and the mustard colour really wasn't me. Or at least, not in that style of dress - it was really feminine, and even though I love the look on other people, wearing big biker boots or something grungy with it just looked weird on me. Fingers crossed that the nude one looks ten times better and is about a thousand times more versatile!

3. River Island Apple Print prom dress from ASOS
This dress and I have a convoluted history. I fell in love with it when I saw it in ASOS' sale section, but due to my aforementioned job I never had enough money to buy it. Then one of my friends mentioned she had the exact same one, so I thought maybe I should refrain from buying it (and smuggle it out of her house when she wasn't looking. Just joking... kind of). It went between my saved items list and shopping basket over about a month, and kept getting sold out and re-stocked - are you trying to tease me, ASOS?! In the end I bit the bullet and bought it, and now I can't wait to style it up with some clogs for summer.

4. ASOS heels
I don't feel like I have very many "girlie" pairs of shoes (that I wear on a regular basis). I'm hoping these ASOS beauties will help fill the gap - the heel looks wide enough that they won't be a pain to wear, and I'm in love with the dusky pink colour and the perforation on them. I've already pictured them with many, many, many different outfits (that's the sign of a good purchase, right?) and they'll be perfect with gorgeous summery dresses.

The Beatles - Please Mr Postman

Pom Pom Fever

2011-11-02T17:10:00.000+08:00

This outfit is what I wore on Halloween night. It isn't very Halloweeny at all - unless you count the fact that it's a black skirt - but I liked it and it felt somehow appropriate. It's actually the first time I've worn this skirt, I bought it from Urban Outfitters at the start of the year but there's never been a very appropriate time to wear it. Quite a few of the little pom-poms have already fallen off so I'm a bit sad about that.

TBA skirt // French Connection shirt // Novo wedges // Diva owl ring

So as I was saying, I bought this skirt ages ago when it was on sale. I think it was about thirty dollars down from about $130, so it was a pretty good find! I was a bit disappointed with the quality, though... but, it's TBA and I love them unconditionally! This skirt was from a collection I really loved, and I do like the kind of '50s shape of it. It makes me feel a bit like a housewife in a Tim Burton movie. I'm excited to dress it up with a nice black top and ridiculously high heels, but this was suffice for an evening that involved delicious home-cooked dinners and watching Scream for the first time (my opinion? Not that scary).

Minty Florals

2011-11-01T10:04:00.000+08:00

Hello again! I've been flat-out working at one of the Sussan stores, filling in for an assistant manager, so I haven't had much time to post. And I'm sure no one wants to see outfit posts filled with Sussan clothes (though to be fair, I have found some surprisingly cute things to wear to work). Anyway, the store that I'm working at is right down the road from a little vintage store called Lucy in Disguise, which is where I picked up this dress. I actually discovered it when my trusty black flats literally fell apart at work and I had to staple them together until I could run out on my lunch break and buy some new shoes. I thought I might as well buy a pair of cute vintage ones, instead of some emergency cheapie flats that would fall apart in another couple of weeks anyway. So I walked out with a pair of white heels and went straight back the next day to pick up a couple of dresses.

Vintage dress & belt // Wittner loafers // Gifted ring // Sportsgirl bag & rose earrings

I picked up this bag from Sportsgirl with a voucher I got for my birthday. I don't usually buy 70s-inspired pieces but this was too adorable to pass up! It's actually a surprisingly good size for a handbag, I've been using it nonstop. This is a big deal for me, because usually I'm not much of a bag person and just use the same one until it's pretty much destroyed.

Anyway, that's all from me for now. I'll try and make an effort to take more snaps this week so my blog is a bit more lively! In the meantime, here's one of my new favourite songs that is very appropriate for dancing around in the sunshine.

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T11:02:00.000+08:00

Happy Halloween all the way from Perth! I unfortunately didn't get to dress up this year - well, I did go to a Mexican-themed 21st on the weekend, but it's not the same as going all out in a freaky costume. So I decided to pull out the Halloween cardigan I got, oh, about two years ago and have never actually worn on Halloween.

I hope your Halloween is all spooky and freaky! I have no plans apart from watching horror movies with my boyfriend tonight, which sounds pretty alright to me. If you have any scary movie suggestions let me know - the only one I've locked in is Scream, which I've never seen before!

x

Good Enough To Eat

2011-10-20T22:18:00.000+08:00

I don't know whether it's the spring weather or what, but everywhere I look there seems to be delicious fruit-printed clothing frolicking about. I'm not going to lie to you. I love food. I adore food. The other day I ate this great roast beef and mango chutney sandwich and I was thisclose to texting someone or dedicating a Facebook status to it or something. So why not take a cue from these delightful culinary cuties and wear your love of food literally on your chest?

Frock Up For Frocktober

2011-10-19T07:45:00.001+08:00

You might have seen a few bloggers posting about Frocktober. Frocktober is an initiative that supports the Australian Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, and participants are sponsored by their friends and family (and blog readers!) to wear a dress for every day in Frocktober. Now, it's already almost the end of October but you can still help out by buying this adorable dress from Modcloth. I saw it on Jen Loves Kev and I thought it was an awesome idea! 20% of the proceeds from this dress will go to the Ovarion Cancer Research Foundation, and the colour combination is exclusive to Modcloth. So if you want to help out ovarian cancer research - and look cute doing it - why not pop over to Modcloth and snap up this dress?

You can also donate to two of my favourite bloggers who are participating - Le Blog de Sushi and Lady Melbourne.

All Shook Up

2011-10-11T13:30:00.001+08:00

I thought I would share my latest op-shop finds with you. My boyfriend and I stopped at the huge Salvos store near his house a while ago and while the clothing selection was pretty disappointing - and WAY overpriced (what's up with that, Salvos?) - I did manage to pick up a few goodies.

{I scored this glomesh purse for $4.99. I think I was really lucky that the sticker fell off and the lady gave it to me for way less than what it's worth!}

{This dress needs a little bit of work - I think I'll replace the lining and take it up a bit - but it has a really beautiful, subtle print and is very Marilyn Monroe. It's a white wiggle dress with a pencil skirt and a bit of a risque split up the back - I'll be sure to take photos when it's all fixed up!}

{I bought these shoes on a different op-shopping trip, but I thought I'd share them anyway. They're so cute and I've wanted a navy pair of shoes for years!}

{And now the pièce de résistance - say hello to Elvis! He is quite happily hanging above my collection of teacups, looking quite pensive and dapper. He only cost $7.99, as well. I kept squealing with excitement the whole drive home!}

I also bought a suitcase, but I didn't bother to take a photo since, well, you all know what a suitcase looks like. I've made a little list of what I'm looking for in op-shops (otherwise I end up buying a whole lot of stuff I don't need, which inevitably gets donated back to the op-shop) and it includes more vintage suitcases for storage, sequinned tops, jackets with cropped sleeves, and of course dresses in crazy prints.

Elvis Presley - Viva Las Vegas

Tea For Two (Or Three... Or Four)

2011-10-07T13:06:00.000+08:00

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, I made dinner for my boyfriend, my sister and her boyfriend. I was pretty excited about it (possibly because having the week off work and with no writing commitments has made me slightly insane with boredom) and spent the afternoon cleaning the house and preparing everything. Here's some photos from the night - sorry the lighting is a bit out of whack, I'm getting used to using my camera again!

{I bought these mozzarella sticks and they were amazing! Deep fried cheese, what's not to love?}

{My sister - who has a food blog, so I was a bit nervous about cooking - and her boyfriend}

{The pasta! It's baked brie pasta with basil and cherry tomatoes. I got the recipe here and it was delicious... although I think I needed to cook the brie a bit longer to make it a bit more gooey.}

{The all-important taste test}

{My outfit! My playsuit is by Motel via ASOS, the boots are Target, the earrings are Valleygirl, and the ring is from Diva. Oh, and the wine is from Oyster Bay!}

{Some yellow and pink roses. That kind of pink rose is my favourite!}

Autumn Print for a Spring Day

2011-10-06T13:33:00.000+08:00

Hello! After a longer-than-expected blog absence, I have a lot to tell you guys! I quit my awful job at David Jones and now I'll be working at Sussan. I haven't been in yet - I have a week off before I start and am slowly dying of boredom - but all the people seem really nice and, luckily, it doesn't seem like it's just clothes for the thirty-plus crowd, which is nice. Plus it's so much closer to home than my previous job - no more hour-long bus rides! Hooray!

Tonight I am celebrating finally feeling somewhat normal again with a dinner party for my boyfriend, my sister and her boyfriend. This is what I wore to make a last minute dash for ingredients and clean the heezy.

Vintage dress//Sportsgirl loafers//Diva bow earrings + bird's nest ring

I bought this dress from Etsy many moons ago (in fact, I think this is the last outfit post I did with it), and it's one of my favourites. I love the print and the cut of it and it fits like a dream. It makes me feel very Betty Draper; all I need now is a cigarette in hand and a strong drink (and a Don Draper, ideally). It might be a bit overdressed for a trip to Woolies to buy cherry tomatoes and flowers, but who cares?

One of the things I noticed when I was feeling down the past couple of weeks was that my wardrobe was being dragged down with me. Instead of making the effort to put on all my pretty dresses and go frolicking in the sunshine, I just dressed in leggings (eek!) and boring, oversized t-shirt dresses and slobbed around like it was nobody's business. Earlier this week I decided to put on one of my favourite vintage finds - a lurid green number with white polka dots - and I was amazed at how much it lifted my mood. I hope it doesn't sound shallow to say that clothes make you feel better, but I think they really do have a hand in changing your mood.

Anyway! I have waffled on for long enough and I have a dinner to prepare for. I will try and take some photos... I'm a bit ridiculously proud whenever I manage to cook something without it going horribly wrong. Fingers crossed!

x

The Polyphonic Spree - Reach For The Sun

Shop 28 VIP Night

2011-09-12T13:54:00.001+08:00

On Wednesday night, my friend Presten and I popped along to see the new Spring/Summer collections at Shop 28, a boutique in North Perth - which is coincidentally (and detrimentally to my bank balance) about ten minutes away from my house.

Shop 28 stocks labels like Metalicus, Wrangler, Rachel Gilbert, Bec & Bridge and Mimosa. It's a pretty eclectic mix that walks the line between edgy and girlie, something that's very much reflected in the aesthetic of the shop assistants (and the owners, pictured in the middle).

We had some Chambord and champagne cocktails and some delicious mini cupcakes and flicked through the clothes with some of the very stylish guests.

And here's my absolute favourite piece that I spotted on the night... this adorable crane origami necklace.

x

p.s For more pictures check out the Gin in a Teacup Facebook page!

What I Wore 07.09.11

2011-09-07T15:10:00.001+08:00

Hello again! First of all I wanted to say thank you for the lovely response to the Gin in a Teacup Facebook page, if you haven't clicked 'like' yet then you can do so on the sidebar, should you be so inclined. That's where all my Instagram photos go, and some extra photos that don't make it into blog posts will probably end up there as well. It's pretty rad.

This is what I wore out to lunch today with my friend Richenda. We felt like a big pub lunch so decided to go to the Inglewood Hotel... this was not the best choice. Every time I go there the staff are really rude and this time my food was decidedly average. Boo!

I decided to wear this dress I got from Modcloth ages ago. Usually I wear it with the sleeves pushed up but I'm a bit into the massive bell sleeves at the moment, and so today they are out in their full '70s-esque glory. I actually had this whole "kooky heiress from the 1970s" vibe going on where I had a big headscarf wrapped into a turban and big earrings on as well... and then I remembered that the Inglewood Hotel is primarily a sports bar and the average punter there might not be ready for that much look at lunchtime on a Wednesday.

Ark & Co dress//Black tights//Rubi clogs//Diva ring

I can take birds or I can leave them. I'm not a huge fan, especially birds that chirp outside my window at 11:30pm every night (and which my boyfriend kindly explained is most likely an owl, not birds, but anyway). My experiences with birds are more akin to Tippi Hedren in, well, The Birds than a Disney heroine singing to a cherubic swallow outside their bedroom window. But on clothes and on house decor, I can't get enough of them. Maybe I just like them when they're stationary and, you know, not real. Just like in this Portlandia skit.

Anyway, tonight I am off to the Shop 28 VIP night, so watch out for a post on that in the next couple of days!

x

The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun

Tara Reviews... Element Aveda Concept, Subiaco

2011-09-05T12:32:00.000+08:00

Recently I had the opportunity to review Element Aveda Concept in Subiaco. I love featuring Perth businesses and this one definitely deserves to be written about! My fantastic hairdresser Bree booked me in for a cut and colour and makeup treatment, so I prepared myself to be very spoiled indeed.

For the uninitiated, Aveda is a hair and skincare brand that uses sustainable, plant-based products. They use 100% wind power at their factories and responsible packaging, with 80% post-consumer recycled materials used. I've never been hugely influenced by claims like this before but it is pretty impressive how far they've gone to improve their product in such an environmentally friendly way.

Anyway, back to the salon. My first impression of Element Aveda Concept is how bright and busy the salon is. At the place I usually go to get my hair cut, there's only room for one client at a time, so it was a bit of a shock to see SO MANY people bustling around and chattering excitedly!

Pretty much as soon as I got there I was introduced to Reece, who took me to my chair, made me a coffee (my white-wine afflicted head very much appreciated this) and gave me a shoulder massage using Aveda's Blue Oil, which has chamomile and peppermint to give it this minty, tingling sensation. Now, about the massage. I am someone for whom massages are very important. Boyfriends and friends are sick of me whining about how knotted my neck and shoulders are (very often) and they're well used to cringing whenever I crack my neck (very very often). If you read the reviews on Blue Oil then you might get an idea of how good the product is, and I pretty much blissed out for ten minutes while I got the massage - which is complimentary, may I add.

After Bree got my hair ready for some cuttin', we talked about what we would do. It wasn't that long since I got my hair done, but the fringe was already growing out a bit wonkily and there was STILL a greeny tinge to my lower layers, leftover from my blue hair. Thankfully Bree loves my fringe as much as I do - in fact, she told me that one of the big hair trends at the moment is to have a really bold, statement fringe or to have them grown out. So, she decided to make it a bit more messy and shaggy, and have the fringe start from the very back of the head so I didn't have to worry about my part; so it's very Penny Lane in Almost Famous, 70s bohemian gypsy child inspired. Here's a picture from halfway through:

Next it was on to the colour. Since I've decided I want to keep my hair dark for a while to get it back to some semblance of healthy, Bree decided to do this really subtle ombre effect. "The word balayage is banned in here," she announced, saying that while it's admittedly a cool hairstyle, she thinks that there are much bigger things happening in colour at the moment and that balayage has been done TO DEATH in Perth. So here are some photos of how she coloured my hair:

It's a really dark, almost black on the top (which you can probably see from yesterday's outfit photos), then goes to a nice velvety brown and a lighter colour on the ends. I think the mix of colours is really pretty and kind of lightens up my face. Bree also cut some choppier layers into my hair, which means that it takes away the emphasis from my cheekbones a bit and makes it easier and effortless to style in the mornings - which I'm always a fan of.

I forgot to mention that while all this hair cutting and colouring is going on, Element Aveda offers ANOTHER complimentary massage, this time focusing on the hands, exfoliating them and making them like they've never done any work in your life. Even my boyfriend noticed (admittedly after I shoved my hand in his face and yelled HAY LOOK HOW SOFT MY HANDS ARE AREN'T THEY GREAT FEEL THEM). The Aveda Hand Relief (hee hee) products left my hands feeling a tiny bit greasy but my hands still feel lovely and soft a few days later.

The lovely Reece did my blowdry and makeup as well. He curled my hair into a kind of pin-up, retro look that made me feel a little bit like a Vargas girl, I loved it. For my makeup, instead of going for what he said was the "expected" retro look of winged eyeliner and deep red lips, he went for a kind of '30s look with this absolutely gorgeous eye makeup (if I were more of a beauty writer I would write it up, unfortunately pictures will have to suffice for now!) and a lip colour that was a bit more plum toned than just straight out red (unfortunately that pretty much came off when I devoured a burger on my way home). I am so obsessed with the eye makeup, I'm going to try and recreate it on my next night out!

So, my final thoughts on Element Aveda Concept. The whole team is really professional and obviously passionate about what they do, but this isn't some stuffy hair studio where people would be intimidated to go. I only got my hair cut a few days ago so I'm not totally sure about the difference that the Aveda products have made to my hair, but I'll report back and let you know! I would recommend getting a consultation first (with Bree if you can - she really knows what she's talking about and is amazing at making her clients feel so comfortable) and then spending the whole day there - it's not really a place where you pop in for a quick haircut, it's a place where you go to get properly pampered (I was there from 11.30 until about 4). And also make sure you try the organic tea because it is amazing and I would have smuggled some out if I could. But I digress.

You can find Element Aveda Concept at 17 Rokeby Rd in Subiaco. Call them on (08) 9382 3004 or book online at www.elementac.com.au. Cuts start at $77.

Thanks so much to the Element Aveda Concept team for putting up with me and my camera for the day!

x

{Disclosure: I did not pay for my services at Element Aveda Concept but was offered them in exchange for a fair and honest review. Read my Advertising Policy for more information on my reviews.}

p.s How cute are Bree and Reece?! I couldn't resist snapping some street style pictures of them... this is a fashion blog, after all.

What I Wore 04.09.11 (plus puppies and Facebook!)

2011-09-04T20:20:00.002+08:00

So this outfit features my new favourite accessory - my boyfriend's puppy named Jerry. I think I'm in love.

Valleygirl skirt & belt//Sportsgirl tank & loafers//Target cropped cardigan//Diva ring//My nan's earrings

In these photos you can kind of see my new hair! I did a review at Elements Aveda salon in Subiaco, which will be up on the blog in the next couple of days. And no, I'm not sure why it looks grey in the first photo. Instead of a straight-up Bettie Page style, my hairdresser Bree cut it into a kind of Penny Lane in Almost Famous '70s shaggy long bob (but still keeping my fringe, phew!).

This outfit is kind of similar to the one I posted a while ago, in that it features something from a chain store that I never usually go into (in this case Valleygirl, in the last case Temt) and find something that I absolutely love. This skirt seems so Audrey Hepburn-ish, especially with these loafers that for some reason everyone assumes are vintage? I don't really mind. They are quite cute and I am already planning which spring/summer outfits to wear them with.

I forgot to take a proper photo, but I'm wearing my owl ring for my dad, since it's Father's Day over here and all. My dad's collected owls ever since I was born, probably before, and so all my owly things are at least a little bit inspired by him. And I know he reads my blog, so happy Father's Day, dad! I love you!

Now that I've drawn you in with an adorable puppy, I thought I would bring up the fact that I've made a Facebook page for my blog! You can like Gin in a Teacup on Facebook here. Please help it be a little less lonely!

Anyway, I am as sleepy as Jerry is in that last photo, so I am going to curl up on the couch with a book! I hope your weekends have been excellent!

x

Bang Bang, My Baby Shot Me Down

2011-09-03T19:48:00.001+08:00

I get sent quite a few emails about collections and labels and the like, but I rarely post about them. However, I couldn't resist posting a few shots from the new Chip Chop! collection, which is titled Bang Bang, Baby!. I know Chip Chop! made really cute tote bags and tees (I used to have a tote which had 'Fall in love, it's fun', as well as a scarf from when they collaborated with Sportsgirl for an art-inspired collection), but I didn't know they made dresses and other items of clothing as well.

Designer Hannah Chipkin was inspired by Spaghetti Westerns, seedy whisky bars, the imagery of the midwest, and sixties sirens such as Brigitte Bardot, Jane Fonda and Nancy Sinatra. It's all put together in a super fun and wearable collection and the lookbook is very cute indeed!

I love the Americana feel of the whole collection (which I think will be pretty huge for summer) and Chip Chop! are known for their cute, Henry Holland-esque slogans on their shirts - this collection features phrases like 'El Dorado with Ricardo'. My favourite piece would have to be the Lucky Star silk shift dress in the first photo, it's also available in navy blue but I'm loving the cornflower blue for the warmer spring weather.

The range is available in selected boutiques and online at www.chipchop.com.au. I'm going to snap up one of the shift dresses as soon as I can afford it!

Nancy Sinatra - Bang Bang My Baby Shot Me Down

{Gin in a Teacup received no compensation for this post, it's just a collection I think is cute and I think you guys would like as well!}

What I Wore 02.09.11

2011-09-02T13:26:00.000+08:00

My first post as a 22-year-old! First of all thank you for your birthday wishes and tweets, it made what was an already awesome day even more special! You can read a little bit more about my birthday here on my tumblr.

This is the dress I mentioned in my birthday post, which was a present from my mum and dad. It's from my all-time favourite Etsy seller, Old Age Vintage - I think this makes four or five dresses I've bought from them now! As soon as I saw this amazing giraffe-printed dress I knew I had to own it. It was a little bit on the expensive side so I was very happy to receive it as a present! I love giraffes. They're pretty neat.

Vintage dress//Random black belt//Target cardigan//Diva gold studs//Target brogues//Black tights

I'm wearing this to meet a new friend for coffee and possibly discuss some exciting blog bizness. I am particularly enamoured by this new friend because when I met him on Saturday he said my style was a cross between Bettie Page and Edie Sedgwick. Hello! They are both my dream girls. I have been loudly dropping it into conversation and reminding my boyfriend about it ever since (even though he probably doesn't know who either of them are). Then later tonight I'm going to goodbye drinks for one of my best friends! She's going to Margaret River for five weeks for her physio prac because she is super smart and amazing.

And SPEAKING of super amazing and talented people, if you could throw a vote my friend Grace's way for her absolutely gorgeous dress design that would be fantastic! SRSLY. Take a peek. I kind of think I'm going to steal this for my wedding dress.

Okay lovelies, I hope you have a great weekend! I'll leave you with some ridiculous photos. In a dress like this you can't really help but twirl around!

What I Wore 31.08.11 - Birthday Style!

2011-08-31T15:20:00.003+08:00

It's my birthday! I am celebrating by wearing my new favourite dress (that you might recognise from my last post), my favourite necklace and by going out and buying some new clothes. Then tonight I'm going out to dinner with some of my favourite people. I already feel spoiled rotten and the day's not even over yet! It's been pretty great so far.

Vintage dress//Pigeonhole necklace//Cotton On cardigan//Black flats

I love this dress! I actually bought it on sale from Sportsgirl's vintage section (very, very heavily discounted, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered... $70 for a vintage dress is a little ridiculous!). It had these huge puffy sleeves that I just couldn't figure out what to do with them. I love sleeved dresses, so I tried just taking out the little stiff bits of fabric that sat underneath the sleeves... but no dice, they were still huge. So I just ripped them off and now the dress is perfect. It makes me feel even more Bettie Page-esque!

I've already been lucky enough to get some presents which I hope I can show off soon! My parents got me this gorgeous vintage dress - with a giraffe pattern! - and a cute bag, and my sister got me some kikki.k goodies.

Anyway I can't wait to see my lovely friends and my lovely lovely boyfriend tonight, so I must head off and find something to wear!

x

Camera Obscura - Razzle Dazzle Rose

Little Things 28.08.11

2011-08-28T21:33:00.000+08:00

Hello again! I have had a super busy week with work and went to birthday drinks (not for me... yet) last night, so am having a very relaxed night in with Whose Line Is It Anyway (seriously, I am so obsessed with this show) and some homemade pasta salad. Here's some photos that have been accumulating on my phone since my last Little Things post!

{These are some My Little Pony figurines from my hairdresser's salon. I told you she was awesome!}

{And one of the two cats that hangs around the salon and is quite content to sit on your lap while you get your hurr did}

{I finished reading Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life a few weekends ago. I liked it, but I watched the movie first and the graphic novel is literally panel for panel the same, so I don't know if I'll get the rest of the books.}

{This is a birthday card I bought for my friend's 21st}

{I bought these tight from Sportsgirl and absolutely love them! They have a kind of over-the-knee schoolgirl socks feel but then you have the adorable spots on the rest of the stockings. I wore them last night and I must say they were quite a hit}

{I wore my favourite necklace from Pigeonhole. My outfit inspiration was Bettie Page mixed with a schoolgirl, I wish I had gotten photos, but ah well}

{I hardly ever eat breakfast but lately I have been all about avocado paste, cherry tomatoes and crumbled feta on toast. Yum!}

Also, my blogroll (to the right of the page) severely needs updating! If you'd like to be included just leave your URL in the comments so I can check out your blog.

I'll leave you with a song that has been playing pretty much on repeat in my boyfriend's car. I think it might be my favourite Pulp song (to listen to with one of my favourite people).

Pulp - Babies

Tattoo You

2011-08-23T18:12:00.000+08:00

A couple of Tuesdays ago I decided to walk in and make an appointment to get tattooed. And so I did. My friend Trish (who has many, many, many tattoos and so was a very good person to have with me) came with me and her boyfriend's best friend tattooed a teeny tiny heart on my forearm.

This is me bursting with excitement in the waiting room.

This is me somewhat nervously getting tattooed. I've never been scared of needles or anything like that but it wasn't the most comfortable experience I've ever gone through. It was made slightly more surreal by the fact that the Hooray For Boobies album by the Bloodhound Gang was playing the whole time... yes, I got tattooed to the sweet sounds of "The Bad Touch".

And this is me afterwards in Planet Books looking pretty pleased with myself.

And finally, this is how it looked later that night. You can't really see how swollen it was, but it was a bit flaky, which freaked me out until I was assured that was normal. I'm STILL waiting for it to heal properly and now it's at the itchy stage, but I am so happy that I got it. It's the best (early) 22nd birthday present I could have given myself!

I just wanted to say thank you to Holdfast Tattoo for being so wonderful, and especially to my tattooist Jed who did such a fantastic job on my tattoo and made sure I was happy with it and comfortable every step of the (admittedly quite short) way! I would definitely recommend them, they're all extremely talented and I definitely can't wait to visit them again!

x

The Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch

What I Wore 22.08.11

2011-08-22T15:16:00.001+08:00

Hello again! I had the day off today so I'm getting caught up on my blog posts, and I went to get some new work clothes, which was depressingly expensive. I had been waiting all weekend to do an ASOS order as soon as I had money; $200 on work clothes later and I guess ASOS will have to wait. I kind of hate buying clothes for work (I work in a department store) because a) the brand isn't really my style and b) it's no fun buying clothes when you feel forced to. I was quite happy with what I found today, though - I even bought a pair of trousers, which I never wear!

This is the exact same style skirt that I wore in an outfit post not too long ago; I was so happy to find sheer pleated maxis that I bought two of them. I didn't know how much wear I would get out of this one - I hardly ever wear pink, even though it's one of my favourite colours and is used quite liberally in all my home decorating - but I paired it with this floral shirt from Dotti and I think it looks okay.

Sportsgirl skirt//Dotti top//Target cardigan//Tan flats, can't quite remember where from!//Diva ring and earrings

So just a short post today, I'm sorry! I have posts lined up for every day this week (!!) so please come back tomorrow! Here's a melancholy song to match my melancholy mood.

The Pogues - Dirty Old Town

Back to Black

2011-08-19T16:36:00.003+08:00

I went to get my hair cut and coloured today, at Peggy Sues like always, and my hairdresser Bee very kindly did my hair in a beehive for a Mods vs Rockers themed 21st I'm going to tomorrow. I'll give you a proper look at my hair (and of course my costume!) tomorrow, but for now here's a sneak peek and my new favourite nailpolish, 'Gold Coin' by Revlon.

I decided to go back to brunette - I LOVED my blue hair but it faded SO quickly and left my hair looking kind of like bayalage, but without any gradient so my hair just went from really dark to really blond and it looked kind of weird. Plus it was in horrible condition, so in the end I just went for this Bettie Page inspired style.

I do quite like my hair like this, it reminds me of Elsie from A Beautiful Mess and the gorgeous hairstyles she frequently has in her outfit photos!

Anyway I am only taking a tiny break to show these photos because I'm cleaning my house before my parents come up tomorrow, but here's a tune that will get you swingin' for the weekend.

The Andrews Sisters - Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

What I Wore 16.08.11

2011-08-16T15:53:00.000+08:00

First of all I have to apologise for my over-a-week-long absence! I have been very busy (with some stuff I hope I can tell you about soon!) and also trying to catch up with people in, you know, real life. But I am back now!

I've been wearing this outfit a lot recently; it's nothing spectacular but I love how the colours go together. I've been trying to buy more cardigans and outerwear, at the start of this winter I only had one cardigan and now I have, um, definitely a lot more than one.

Quirky Circus dress//Valleygirl cardigan//Vintage belt//Pigeonhole necklace//Black tights//Sportsgirl loafers//Oliver Peoples glasses

I haven't been into Valleygirl (or Temt, or anything of that ilk really) for literally years. As in, not since my first year of uni. I had kind of boycotted it because it was so cheap and nasty and fell apart after a couple of wears. But, I went in a couple of weeks ago looking for a cropped black cardigan for part of a '60s costume, and found quite a few cheap and cheerful buys that will be popping up in some outfit posts soon. One of them was this cardigan, and I have to say I am quite happy with its lovely rust colour.

This dress is one of my absolute favourites. Here's the last time I took photos of it - it's so comfortable and lovely and I am certainly not strong enough to go past a lace Peter Pan collar. Not to keep harping on about the outfit, but lately I've been feeling sick of about 97% of my wardrobe so I'm glad to find an outfit that looks cute but doesn't require too much effort to put together.

Something else that makes me feel put together is these cute little nail stickers! I got mine from David Jones (they're OPI), but I hear Sally Hansen ones have some much better patterns. They're pretty easy to put on once you get the hang of it, and I've had them on since Friday and they've only just started to peel off at the top. They match something else heart-shaped I recently acquired which will be on the blog soon!

Anyway, I will leave you with a lovely Otis Redding song (no, not the Kanye and Jay-Z version) that I have been listening to quite a bit lately. I may have even put it on a mix tape - yes, a cassette - for someone because I am a giant nerd. Oh well.

General Pants Co.

2011-08-05T22:29:00.003+08:00

I'm a little late in posting about it, but I'm really excited that General Pants Co is coming to Perth! It's one of the stores that I always make a point to go into when I go to Melbourne, because a lot of the brands aren't available in Perth. I've bought some of the most-loved pieces in my wardrobe from there.

Anyway, I think it will be open in a couple of weeks, so I've been putting together some wishlists of things I intend to buy from them as soon as possible!

Alice in the Eve bow collar dress, $89.95//Subtitled Bethany Spot dress, $89.95//Alice in the Eve Mesh Insert Spot dress, $79.95//Something Else Red Island dress, $149.95

Clearly I have a little bit of a thing for polka dots at the moment - I'm really glad they're going to be on trend for spring, because I've seen them popping up everywhere in stores at the moment! I love the black and white dress because it has a Peter Pan collar (of course), and the orange dress looks so perfectly 60's but not too much like a shapeless shift dress.

Alice in the Eve ballerina midi skirt, $69.95//Something Else black knotted skirt, $99.95//Don't Ask Amanda classic midi skirt, $40.00

I'm still loving sheer skirts, and this beautiful burgundy one is a perfect length and colour. I think the Something Else knotted skirt is very cute (and nautical stuff is always around in summer) and would look adorable paired with a Breton top. The Don't Ask Amanda midi skirt is another beautiful colour and I can picture so many ways to wear it! It's definitely at the top of my wishlist!

Alice in the Eve chiffon bow blouse, $79.95//Don't Ask Amanda Heavy Floral shirt, $40.00

Not very surprising that my favourite shirts would include Peter Pan collars and florals, but here they are. I don't know, I hardly ever buy shirts! I do love the vintage sailor feel of the white shirt, and the floral print would look really nice with a high waisted miniskirt.

Gathering Eye Wired Ring, $24.95//Casio Calculator Telemento in Gold, $139.95//Henry Holland Super Suspender Tights, $39.95//Dr Martens Blue Little Flowers boots, $230.00//Mimi Loves Jimi George Heel, $109.95//Nu + Nan Red Desert Boot, $99.95

And finally, the shoes and accessories I have my eye on. I love the floral Doc Martens - I've wanted a pair for YEARS - and there's some of the Henry Holland suspender tights in there as well. I've been coveting a pair of those for ages but shipping from overseas tights is crazy expensive, considering it's just a pair of tights! I'll be so happy to finally get my hands on a pair! Oh, and the inclusion of the calculator watch is admittedly random, but I think they're insanely cool and I just really want one. For all the sums I have to do on a daily basis... obviously.

I can't wait for the store to open and hopefully I'll be able to show you guys my General Pants goodies soon!

x

{all pictures from the General Pants Co. website}

Little Things 01.08.11

2011-08-01T21:02:00.000+08:00

Here are some more photos from around the place! I haven't picked up my camera much lately - although I'm trying to more often! - so these ones are just from my phone. It's been a while since my last Little Things update so this one's got a few extra photos for you.

{I really liked how the ice-cream matched my nail polish. And I liked the fact that I could get ice-cream for the Mr Whippy van while all the kids on my street weren't allowed to spend their pocket money. Sucked in, kids.}

{I've been trying to remember to take photos of my accessories, too. Here's my knock-off House of Harlow ring from Diva that I wore all the way back at the start of last month.}

{One of my best and most lovely friends Emma made our little friend-family a roast dinner a few weeks ago. It was easily one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.}

{Speaking of Emma, this is us at the Harry Potter movie. You might remember the outfit from here.}

{These are my aunty's adorable and very energetic dogs. I included both photos because they were taken the weekend after I dyed my hair, so you can really see how blue it is in the first picture!}

{This was taken the day my sister and I had lunch at Heavenly Plate; you can see my outfit post from that day here. It has the sweetest decor and was actually quite tasty.}

{Proof of said tastiness: mango bruschetta. Delicious.}

{And to end with, my friend's eerily realistic Senor Chang shirt. I don't know why this was one of the only photos I took at On The Bright Side, where I could have been taking snaps of the wonderfully sexy Jarvis Cocker or The Hives, but there you go.}

Hope you've enjoyed the mini-update! I am actually really looking forward to this month. It's my birthday month and all and I have some very exciting things coming up that hopefully I can share soon!

What I Wore 28.07.11

2011-07-28T14:01:00.000+08:00

This isn't the most blog-worthy of outfits, it's really just something I chucked on to go to the shops and get ingredients for cupcakes. We've had a very stormy couple of days in Perth, so on my one day off this week I was very much into the comfort dressing more than anything else. But hey, I like seeing the casual outfits on people's blogs just as much as the fancy ones, don't you? No? Just me?

Princess Highway dress//Cotton On cardigan//Black tights//Novo shoes//Osier owl ring//Sportsgirl headband

I bought this dress at the start of the year to wear to the Laneway Festival and wore it pretty much all summer, but I don't think I've blogged it before. I really love the shape and the print of it, but it's that kind of fabric that pills pretty much straightaway. I was kind of peeved because it wasn't a cheap dress, and now it's relegated to 'days off' dressing instead of being worn as much as I'd hoped.

You can see the print a bit better here. I'm not sure why I was drawn to a horse print - I went through that requisite wanting a pony phase that most young girls seem to go through, although mine only involved reading Pony Pals books and begging my parents for riding lessons rather than doing any actual horse riding.

It's also the first outing for my new shoes! I had hoped to wear them last night to this 50s themed winter dance, but the weather put a (literal) dampener on those plans and I ended up staying in and cooking pasta bake and watching Whose Line Is It Anyway. Which is almost as good, I guess.

Anyway, I am off to make a mess of my kitchen! I'm making peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate fudge icing and strawberry and cream cupcakes. DELICIOUS.

x

What I Wore 26.07.11

2011-07-26T11:06:00.000+08:00

Hello! I'm about to head off to lunch with my sister. Once she gets back to uni she's usually incredibly busy so this is my last chance to catch up properly for a while. We're going to a place called Heavenly Plate in South Perth.

Sportsgirl skirt, ring, loafers and earrings//Living Doll bodysuit//Vintage belt

This is one of the new skirts I picked up last week. I actually wore almost this exact same outfit on Sunday night, prompting a "You look like Bellatrix Lestrange" comment. I wasn't exactly going for an evil witch/Death Eater look, but I do quite like Helena Bonham Carter so I didn't mind too much. I think it was meant as a compliment?

Anyway, as you might remember, I've been looking for a black pleated maxi skirt for AGES, so I was very happy to find this one from Sportsgirl for $35. I didn't realise how much Sportsgirl I was wearing until I typed this up... I feel a bit embarrassed now.

You can also kind of see my new hair in these pictures. It's already faded quite a bit, to more of a sea-green than a blue, but I still love it. Please excuse how messy it is! I'm getting it retouched in about a month so hopefully it still keeps SOME colour until then. If anyone has any tips for looking after coloured hair, please let me know, the ends of my hair are pretty much fried.

The weather was finally cooperative enough for me to take photos outside! This is a teeny portion of my huge, overgrown back garden. I also wanted to say thanks for your lovely comments on the post about my house, I really appreciated how sweet everyone was.

Anyway, I'm off to lunch and then to Bridesmaids (I didn't get to see it the other week, so I am VERY MUCH looking forward to seeing it tonight! I booked tickets just to make sure I would get to see it). Have an excellent Tuesday!

x

Shiny Happy Feet

2011-07-25T16:36:00.000+08:00

If there's one thing that can lift my spirits on a gross, grey afternoon, it's a new pair of shoes. Especially a pair of shiny silver brogues that only cost me twenty dollars.

Just quietly (I'm not meant to be spending much money!) I might have picked up some new skirts in the sales as well. I was pretty proud of my sale-shopping skills. They were ridiculously cheap and I intend to show them off as soon as possible!

x

Don't You Know Who I Am?

2011-07-20T23:15:00.000+08:00

I very rarely post photoshoots on here but I fell in love with this 'Don't You Know Who I Am?' shoot that I've seen everywhere on tumblr for the past couple of days. It's a kind of quirky idea and the styling is really lovely. It's by Robert Tratchenberg and it was in the August 2011 issue of Tatler.

My favourites are the orange coat picture and Twiggy, of course (she's my all-time favourite model). This may sound sort of SCANDALOUS for someone with a fashion blog but I'm not into a lot of editorials, especially the designer collection round-ups that always seem a bit boring and contrived. It's usually just a pouty girl standing in front of a brick wall, as we all do when we're wearing $5000 Chanel dresses.

I hope a few more original photoshoots pop up! I don't mean to sound biased but some of the ones I really love are courtesy of Emma Bergmeier in X-press Fashion - you can check them out on Dropstitch. It makes me wish I was more of a talented stylist... but for now I'm happy being the assistant and just gawping at other people's good ideas.

And if you know of any more lovely photoshoots, hook me up!

x

{all photos via Fashion Gone Rogue}

A Few Of My Favourite Things

2011-07-19T14:31:00.000+08:00

I moved into my grandparent's house at the start of the year, after my granddad passed away, but it's taken a while for it to really feel like MY house. Probably because my grandparents lived in this house my whole life, and my dad owned the house while he was at uni, so there's a lot of family history going on!

Here's a few photos I took this morning of some of the little bits and pieces I've collected since moving here, or belonged to my grandparents.

These are little frames from IKEA, with some wrapping paper my sister brought me from the UK.

I got this from a random op-shop for $2.

This is also an op-shop find! There's a huge Good Sammys just around the corner from me... Last time I was there I got this, a record, a skirt, two dresses and a pair of shoes for under $30.

Obi Wan Kenobi babushka doll

Aforementioned vinyl! Don't you love the artwork?

I mentioned a while ago I was getting these prints from evajuliet on Etsy. I love them! They're very sweet. And the Etsy seller was a dream to work with!

My nan collected cat figurines and I think she used to have a lot more, but these are all that's left (which is still quite a few!). They're in this little display case out the back. When I was little, my favourites were the ones in the bottom right hand corner.

There's also this cute little thermometer that was my nan's as well. I have no idea if it even works, but it's pretty cool... to be honest I just noticed it today when I was taking photos in the back room!

Hopefully I should have some more stuff to show you soon, my mum and I are planning a few changes for around the house so I'm pretty excited!

What I Wore 14.07.11

2011-07-14T16:07:00.002+08:00

Today I'm going to see the last Harry Potter movie and I am kind of sad and excited and then feel silly for getting worked up over a movie, but then I have read the books since I was 11 and that's probably the only time I've stuck with something for ten years. So. It's pretty cool.

YOU KNOW I took the opportunity to bust out my Harry Stardust tee. My skirt also has owls on it.

Made With Awesome shirt//Target blazer//Final Touch skirt via Modcloth//Black tights//Target boots

Oh, I have blue in my hair now as well! You can't really see at the moment but I'm so in love with it. I will write more about it when I'm not running out the door to get to see Harry (and Ron, my personal favourite. Gotta have a soft spot for those gingers).

x

What I Wore 05.07.11

2011-07-05T22:03:00.001+08:00

Hello again! I'm back to show off the coat I scored in the sales the other day. Sorry for the bad lighting, but it was pitch black by the time I got dressed and got my tripod set up! Tonight I'm off to ANOTHER family dinner - my aunty is in town before she goes off to New York, and my grandma's about to go on holidays to France. It makes me feel a little bitter about dreary old Perth.

So yes, this is the One Teaspoon coat I mentioned the other day. It was $260 (waaay out of my price range!), then it went down to half price in the clearance, so with my staff discount it came to just over $100. It's still a little extravagant for what is basically a long cardigan, but I've been obsessed with it and its little bobbly hearts since I saw it. Which is weird, because I'm usually pretty unimpressed by One Teaspoon.

One Teaspoon knitted coat//Mink Pink dress//Vintage belt//Diva ring//Sportsgirl earrings//Black tights//Target boots

Not so sure why I have an obsession with touching my collarbone in these pictures... Anyway. These are my favourite shoes for winter so far. They were ridiculously cheap and they'll probably fall apart soon because I've worn them so much (they ARE from Target, after all) but I love them. They're padded on the inside so they're warm as well.

My mum's up tonight so I am off to drink tea and watch some more Project Runway! We're quite harsh judges of the designers.

x

What I Wore 03.07.11

2011-07-03T22:13:00.000+08:00

I have had quite a busy and delightful weekend. After working all day Saturday and getting this divine One Teaspoon knitted coat (that will hopefully be on the blog soon), I went to my friend's house where she had cooked an amazing and delicious roast dinner. After lots of inappropriate conversation, watching the Tour de France and making everyone listen to Salt n Pepa, I went home and spent most of today recovering. Then, I went to a family dinner for ANOTHER delicious roast, and now I'm in bed watching Fatal Attraction. I'm on a bit of a thriller movie kick at the moment, so if you can recommend any good ones, it would be very much appreciated!

This is what I wore out to dinner today. My lovely sister took the photos at my old/her current apartment, and we kind of had to rush them because the neighbours kept coming outside to take their washing off the line and I got all embarrassed.

Cotton On cardigan//Thrifted blouse//Hi There by Karen Walker shorts//Black tights//Black flats//Diva bracelet & ring//My nan's earrings//Sportsgirl nail polish

It was kind of dark by the time we took the photos so you can't really see the shorts, but they might be my favourite pair ever. I wore them all summer and felt very pin-up girl. I'm not usually one for layering shorts with tights, but I don't mind it so much here.

And here you can kind of see the detail on the blouse. It has these little embroidered lilac flowers down the front and on the collar. It's made out of really nasty polyester, but for $6 I couldn't really say no when I came across it at the op-shop.

Anyway! Sorry for the rambly post. Hope all your weekends were swell as well! I do rather hope that my next weekend doesn't involve QUITE as much wine...

x

What I Wore 01.07.11

2011-07-01T19:57:00.000+08:00

Just a quick post tonight, as I am off to have dinner and see Bridesmaids in a bit. I caught up with the lovely Jessie today for a delicious pear cider at Tiger Tiger, and she kindly took some outfit photos for me.

Vintage dress//Cotton On cardigan//My Girl Gwendoline brooch//Black tights//Sportsgirl earrings//Mimi Loves Jimi brogues//Bluebird satchel

I actually really loved this outfit, I felt very put together and it was perfect for catching up in the city, despite the torrential rain I was caught in on the way home. This brooch is one of my favourite things ever; not only is it adorable but it was made by one of my closest friends before she moved to Melbourne.

Well, time for me to eat some delicious Vietnamese fare and watch Kristen Wiig (one of my favourite actresses at the moment, I love her!). Have an excellent weekend and hopefully I will be back with more posts next week, I'm making an effort to take my camera out so we'll see how that goes!

Sunday Songs 26.06.11

2011-06-26T18:32:00.001+08:00

Hello! While I am nursing a rather sore head and dreaming about getting my hands on a Big Mac, I thought I would post some more Sunday Songs.

♥ Greenskeepers - Lotion

Whenever the weather gets colder, I have this urge to have scary movie marathons and I recently rewatched Silence of the Lambs. This song's based on the "It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again" lines from the book, and is so insanely creepy and cool and freaky. But I love it.

♥ The Vines - Gimme Love

I'm quite looking forward to reviewing The Vines this coming Wednesday (it was meant to be last Wednesday but was delayed because of the stupid ash cloud) and I love their video for the first track from their new album, with its whole Scott Pilgrim vibe and everything. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is in my top five favourite movies, have I mentioned that enough yet? Anyway. Very cool video for a very cool song.

♥ Michael Jackson - The Way You Make Me Feel

This weekend marks two years since Michael Jackson died, isn't that crazy? Lately my concept of time has been way out of whack. My friend and I actually had a minor freak out when we realised it was ten years since we started high school. I swear ten years ago I was still in primary school and watching cartoons on Saturday morning. So I'm not good at maths, whatever. ANYWAY, I used to be obsessed with this song and had a cassette tape especially dedicated to taping this song whenever it came on the radio. It was just The Way You Make Me Feel, over and over, on both sides of the tape.

Also, can I just say how awesome the news out of New York is? Hooray for equality! I loved this picture I found on tumblr, from the Michael Kors store:

Let The Children Boogie

2011-06-24T23:59:00.000+08:00

If you follow a lot of Perth blogs you'll probably have already seen these pictures, but these are from the Blogger's Deville's night that happened last Saturday (and that I am only just getting around to posting about. Eep!). Jessie had told me how wonderful Deville's was, but I'd never gone because I was stressed about the 'over-25s preferred' policy they have going on. I shouldn't have worried, though, we got in fine and I later saw my sister's friend who had managed to get in wearing jeans, skate shoes and a hoodie... so much for the ultra-strict dress code!

It was such an amazing place - they played all the '60s music that I love, there were incredibly cheap and tasty drinks, and I got to show off my go-go dancing skills (well, 'skills' is debatable) with a bunch of lovely Perth blogging ladies! I had so much fun and I can't wait for the next night out! Thanks to Jessie for organising such a great night and thanks to Alexis, the girls from Le Fanciulle, Lisa, Ally, and Kaye for being there and being awesome!

In case you're interested, I was wearing a vintage dress from Etsy, black tights, black heeled brogues from Betts & had a clutch from Williams the Shoeman, I think. It was $2 or something ridiculous like that but has served me well on many a night out! And can you please ignore my fringe in some of the photos... it's getting too long to curl up so I need to get it cut soon. I'm too nervous to cut it myself!

{Photos 1, 2 & 3 from Amgoorie, 4 & 5 from Fickle Sense, and 6 by Le Fanciulle}

Alegorie

2011-06-21T22:48:00.000+08:00

You might remember me posting about Alegorie on here a couple of times, so I was thrilled when Stephanie emailed me with a discount code for you all to use! If you enter the code TEACUP10 at checkout you get 10% off any full-price item. Here's some ideas on what to use it on...

The first outfit features the Moon Cocktail Ring by d_luxe and the Solis Ring Set by Estelle Deve. I kept the rest of the outfit pretty neutral to offset the gold - even the nail polish is neutral to offset how
beautiful the rings are! I am also a little bit in love with those flats.

I was going to put this Damselfly Bouquet Collar with a gorgeous, strapless black evening gown, but then I thought that might be a bit too... obvious. If you have a necklace as lovely as this, you want to be able to wear it in the day as well, right? So I put it with a sheer black maxi skirt (which I can NOT find in ANY stores in Perth, if you know where one is hiding, please let me know), a cream tee and some wedges to make it a bit more casual. I kept the accessories pretty basic too, to let the necklace be the standout piece - a tan belt and a black clutch are all the outfit needs.

This look features two pieces from the Drown collection, which is my favourite on Alegorie. I have a pair of earrings from the very first collection and I absolutely love them. I love that this current collection is delicate and tough at the same time, so I wanted to try and copy that in the outfit. I put the Detritus Stud Earrings and the Refuse Bangle with this floaty cocktail dress, then added some Litas (even though everyone is sick to death of seeing them all over blogs) and a badass Alexander McQueen clutch. And then some false eyelashes because I am currently obsessed with them, if only I could put them on without stuffing it up!

So remember to put in TEACUP10 at the checkout for your Alegorie purchases, and also keep in mind there's 40% off the sale items at the moment... and you don't even need a code for that. Excuse me, I'm off to empty my savings account... Thanks Alegorie!

p.s It's been a long time since I've used Polyvore, so I'm sorry I kept posting the sets and the Alegorie items! Hopefully it didn't spam your blog reader too much!

Little Things 12.06.11

2011-06-12T21:43:00.000+08:00

Here are some photos from around the place recently (all taken with the Instagram app on my iPhone). Even though uni has finished now - for good, everything permitting - I seem to be busier than ever with work experience, trying to fix up my house, and trying to catch up with everyone despite increasingly hectic schedules. If you've seen my tumblr, you'll probably have seen these photos... otherwise, enjoy!

{It's kind of a relief to read things that AREN'T related to uni for a change. The other day I bought High Fidelity (to reread), Farewell My Lovely and Perfume: Stories of a Muderer}

{This is from dinner at What the Pho, where my sister and I went before we saw Tom Ballard. It was very tasty and cheap Vietnamese and I have been dreaming about their duck pancakes with plum sauce ever since. This was the first outing of my ASOS dress, too, and also quite obviously before I learned how to roll my fringe properly}

{This is the carpet in my dining room at the moment, soon to replaced with black and white checkered lino. But I took advantage of it clashing crazily with my new MINKPINK dress, which I wore with my beloved Sportsgirl loafers}

{I still get really excited to see my byline in Xpress. This was for a review of Seasick Steve's latest album, which incidentally I really loved & would recommend! You can read it online here, and my slightly less favourable review for Lenka's album here}

{My cat finally trusts me enough to actually come inside the house, and here it is chilling out on the couch. It generally has this unimpressed expression on its face}

So there is a teeny snippet of what I've been up to! I've been trying to take more outfit photos but by the time I get home it's usually pretty dark. I will prevail, though, because my blog has basically become a graveyard inhabited by tumbleweeds and spammers. Not good!

What I Wore 01.06.11

2011-06-01T17:13:00.000+08:00

It's June already! What? WHAT?! Where has this year even gone? For the past couple of weeks I've been busy busy busy with Xpress and uni work, but I took a bit of a break today to have lunch with two of my best friends. We went to this Vietnamese place and they both ordered these AMAZING stir fries. My chicken with rice and vegetables paled very badly in comparison and I ended up sneaking as much of their lunches as possible. I have had terrible luck with ordering at restaurants lately, I always seem to get something that's just a bit... off.

I bought this dress ages ago - before Christmas! - and I haven't worn it until now (and Saturday, when I wore it to see Tom Ballard). It's because it's quite thick fabric and it's only gotten cold enough to wear it in the last couple of weeks. I was tossing up between this colour and black, but I'm glad I went with this.

ASOS dress//Black tights//Sportsgirl loafers//Diva ring

And I love the back! I can hardly ever wear lower backs without my bra showing so I am very happy with this. I wasn't so happy when I got caught in the rain and my bare back was covered in water, though...

Sorry for the quick post but I have a bunch of CD reviews to write! I can hardly complain about it, really. I love it.

x

P.s - Even if things are a bit quiet on the blog I still update my tumblr almost every day!

What I Wore 24.05.11

2011-05-24T13:07:00.000+08:00

Okay, so this isn't technically what I wore all morning, but as soon as I got home from running some errands I realised that my Harry Stardust shirt by Made With Awesome had arrived. So, naturally, I ripped off the boring black tee I had on and changed into something infinitely more awesome. SCUSE ME:

Is it awesome?

Yeah, it's pretty rad.

My Harry Potter tee brings all the boys to the yard, etc.

Oh man! I'm so excited. I love it. I LOVE IT. So much that you have to settle for crappy Photo Booth photos because I couldn't wait to document it.

Now to see the movie! Would I be a huge nerd if I wore this there? Be honest. Or let me live in my little Harry bubble, whatever.

x

What I Wore 19.05.11

2011-05-19T16:01:00.000+08:00

I got my hair done today! It was in pretty bad condition from all the bayalage it's been put through in the last four months or so, so I didn't end up doing any crazy colours. But I did get this teeny fringe! I'm still getting used to how to style it, so that should be... interesting. I got it done at Peggy Sue's, again, and I'm always so happy with what Bee does. I would recommend her a million times over, so go and book an appointment now!

I had stockings on this morning - in a wildly optimistic, encouraging winter to come gesture - but it was too hot for them. Boo!

Friends of Couture cardigan//Motel skirt via ASOS//Seed Femme singlet//Mimi Loves Jimi brogues//Pigeonhole cat necklace

How cute is this cardigan, though? It reminds me of something that a nan would knit for their three year old grandchild. Ain't nothing wrong with that. I wish there were more Friends of Couture stockists in Perth, I went crazy in the store when I was in Melbourne.

You can't really tell in the photos, but the skirt is a really sweet, satiny pleated one. I got it in the ASOS sale last year and I'm only just starting to wear it now. It's one of my favourites, though (and it got me out of the dress-cardigan-boots rut I mentioned in my last post!).

Also, I had my eyebrows threaded yesterday! It was weird. Very weird. It was virtually painless, though, and it didn't leave my skin all red like usual. I thought if I was getting my fringe cut, I would really have to lift my eyebrows game. And I am very happy with them!

And now it's off to tackle the mountain of assignments I have. Don't you love end of semester time? I know I do.

x

What I Wore 17.05.11

2011-05-17T19:00:00.001+08:00

Hello! It feels like ten billion years since I've done at outfit post, so despite the fact that the weather drove me indoors and has given me a cold, here is what I wore today. I think since it's been getting colder I've fallen into a printed dress-cardigan-tights-boots rut. Also a Never Mind the Buzzcocks watching rut. I have been on a crazy COMPLETELY LEGAL downloading spree and watched every season Simon Amstell hosted. I have to admit my heart broke a little when I found out he was gay. Because that would be the only thing in the way of our relationship... obviously.

Minkpink dress//Cotton On cardigan//Black tights//Target boots//My Girl Gwendoline brooch//Oliver Peoples glasses

These are yet another pair of Target shoes. I guess the good thing about buying shoes that have been copied to death, is that there's always going to be an insanely cheap version out there. Until I buy a real pair of Doc Martens, these will have to do.

I got this dress a while ago from David Jones (thank you, staff discount!), but I'm really not sure about it. I love the print of it, but it's kind of on the short side and it has a cut out back, which I am forever adjusting and readjusting. The daisies do make me feel very 90s, though. Especially with these big black stompy boots. Maybe I am subconciously preparing to see Hole at Soundwave Revolution? I actually cannot wait to go.

And, I've had to start wearing my glasses again. My fringe is kind of battling them in these photos, so... it kind of looks like I've got no eyeballs? I'm getting my hair cut this week, though, so hopefully soon I will be able to see properly again. I had been planning to get it coloured a bit ~extreme~ but I think I'm going to chicken out if it.

Anyway! Hopefully the cold weather isn't getting you down. And if it is, just listen to this! Woo!

I never thought I'd be posting about Eurovision...

2011-05-11T11:11:00.001+08:00

Is it wrong that I'm completely in love with these costumes from the Eurovision semi-final?

I have to admit that, despite its obvious lure of glitter, sequins and trashiness, I don't actually watch Eurovision. I found these pictures on Jezebel. I've never really gotten into the over-the-topness of Eurovision, the one year I did watch was when Lordi (who, as you may remember, all look like badass Lord of the Rings characters) won with "Hard Rock Hallelujah".

But, I could see these sixties-inspired dresses being very comfortable in my wardrobe. I mean, by the tine they get to the actual Eurovision concert, these ladies (from Serbia, incidentally) will probably be dressed in sequinned dresses decorated with feathers and LED lights, so I might as well enjoy these costumes while I can...

x

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T09:43:00.000+08:00

Happy Mother's Day to my lovely mum (love you!), and to all the other mums out there!

What I Wore 06.05.11

2011-05-07T01:09:00.000+08:00

I can't believe I haven't mentioned it yet, but I'm doing work experience at Xpress magazine, which is pretty much my dream job. Tonight I reviewed Hungry Kids of Hungary and Andy Bull, and they were amazing! I loved it. It might be my gig of the year so far.

I got this dress at Myer in one of their thirty percent off sales and I've worn it at least once a week since. The lace collar is my favourite feature, I'm getting quite the collection of dresses and tops with peter pan collars. I wore it with these boots I got from Target for $28! Even though basically every second girl in Perth has a pair pretty much identical to these, I love them. They're incredibly comfortable too.

Quirky Circus dress//Cotton On cardigan//Black Razzmatazz tights (which are incredibly thick, they're more like leggings with feet)//Pigeonhole necklace//Vintage belt//Target boots//Vintage bag

I missed my last fringe trim and I'm kicking myself. I hate my hair at the moment! It's just at that annoying, in-between stage. And it's another two and a half weeks until I get it done... and I'm planning something pretty different so I really can't wait.

I have an interview and another story to finish on Monday at Xpress, so hopefully this week my name should be in there! So far I've been writing the more news-y items at the start of the paper, which I still really like, but I am crazy excited to see my name in there! I used to send in stories and stuff since I was, oh, in year twelve? So it's incredibly awesome that I am actually doing an internship there.

x

Tumblin' Fool

2011-04-23T13:25:00.001+08:00

( ♥ )

So things have been a bit quiet on the ol' blog but I HAVE been updating my almost-forgotten tumblr! I am having cheating on Blogger a bit with Tumblr. How can I resist it when it finds such awesome pictures like the one above? I'm not following many tumblr blogs at the moment, so if you have one, or know of a good one, let me know! You can find mine at gininateacup.tumblr.com.

Hopefully I will have more time to do more posts next week - I have the week off uni, so should have a bit more free time! Have a great weekend x

All I seem to recall is the smell of perfume

2011-04-20T21:34:00.000+08:00

I had a comment asking what the Naughty Alice perfume was like on one of my older posts, so I thought I would do some perfume reviews on what I've been using lately. Up until this year I've been a strictly one-perfume girl, but I've branched out and decided to use a few at once, for a change.

Lolita Lempicka

What they say: "Some of the most beautiful of nature’s elements are found in this scent, including the rarely used nectar of liquorice flower, anise seeds, violets, iris roots, tonka bean and hints of vanilla. Poetic, passionate and a true masterpiece."
This scent is light and floral, but has a bit more lasting power than other floral scents I've tried before. Like its namesake, it's quite light and pretty but very alluring. When you first smell it, it's kind of sweet and almost spicy? It fades to a really nice vanilla smell, though - any scent with vanilla is an automatic favourite for me! It makes me think of wearing a white, cotton dress with socks and Mary Janes (though that's probably the Lolita reference more than anything). This is my favourite to wear, in fact I'm almost out of it so I'm rationing it out! I can't seem to find another bottle anywhere though, if you see it please let me know!

Naughty Alice by Vivienne Westwood

What they say: "Sexy and musky, Naughty Alice enlivens the senses and leaves you with a naughty twinkle in your eye. At the heart of Naughty Alice is black rose, ylang ylang, and violet."
This is quite a bit heavier than any perfume I've tried before. It's more in the "floriental" perfume family, I believe. It's pretty much what you'd expect from a Vivienne Westwood perfume - something that's really powerful when it first hits you, but then you notice all the complexities and softer details. While the musk is definitely one of the dominant notes, the violet is what I smell first of all. To be honest, I'm not sure how "black rose" differs from any other kind of rose smell, but thankfully it's not too overpowering, like it is in Lovely.

Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker

What they say: "A flirty top note of apple martini opens this dynamic fragrance, to remind us of those sassy, cocktail-drinking ladies of the big apple. It’s followed up by an eclectic mix of radiant rosewood, lush lavender and creamy orchid and rounded off with sexy musk. It’s cheeky and little bit fun, while still managing to be ladylike."
This was actually the first perfume I ever bought, back in high school for my school ball, and to be honest I mostly bought them for the Sarah Jessica Parker connection (and the ad campaign was pretty gorgeous too, from memory!). It's a little bit more mature than the other two scents, probably because of the combination of the lavender and rosewood. The rose is definitely the most powerful note It also makes me really nostalgic - damn those olfactory sense being linked to memory!

{All "What they say" reviews from the Perfume Connection site}

x

What I Wore 15.04.11

2011-04-16T12:18:00.000+08:00

In my last post I said I was off for dinner and a pantomime, and this is what I wore. The pantomime was (loosely) based on the Scooby Doo gang and my sister was playing Velma! She was excellent. My friends and I got there late and had to sit in the front row, luckily there was no forced audience participation.

Sorry these photos are a bit dark, I had about five minutes to take them before I left for dinner! Catching the bus in peak hour traffic is not my favourite thing in the world. I just made it in time to catch the connecting bus (running! In these shoes!) and the doors closed just before I got there and the driver wouldn't let me on! I was so angry. Time to learn how to drive, maybe.

Vintage dress via The Velvet Bow//Razzamatazz stockings//Jeffrey Campbell boots//Diva earrings//Pigeonhole ring

I am sorry to say that my "not falling over in Litas" record has been broken. When my friends and I were walking to the theatre we went over some grass and JUST as my friend was saying "Wow, this ground's so solid" I tripped over in a rather spectacular fashion. She was very concerned that I might have broken my ankle, such is the insaneness of these shoes. I didn't, but I was much less cocky about my ability to navigate unstable ground. Luckily it was where people couldn't really see me... although I suppose me posting about it on the internet cancels that out.

The dress was one that Jessie had left over from the markets she did a while ago. I was very glad it was cold enough to wear tights - I don't think I could get away with such a short hemline otherwise! It's a very sweet dress, though, and it will get worn to death this winter.
Anyway. I have just gotten my laptop fixed (the charger overheated and died) so I am off to tackle my Google Reader! Sadly this is a pretty typical Friday night for me (even though this post is being published on a Saturday! AM I A TIME LORD).

x

What I Wore 14.04.11 & Claremont Quarter

2011-04-15T16:40:00.000+08:00

Hello again! Jessie from The Velvet Bow and I were invited to the A/W 2011 launch at Times Square, at the new Claremont Quarter shopping precinct. I was a bit stuck on what to wear - I've never been to a fashion show before - so I went with something that I thought was kind of a winter trend. And I finally debuted my Litas!

Sass dress//Jeffrey Campbell boots//Vintage bag//Diva earrings//Voodoo stockings

I can honestly say that these are the most comfortable heeled shoes I've ever worn. I have no idea how shoes that look so menacing are so light and comfortable in real life! I managed to get up and down about three flights of stairs and navigate around a carpark (where the fashion show was held) without any problems, which is a personal achievement in itself.

I couldn't really get great photos from where we were sitting, but there were some gorgeous things going down the runway! I especially liked the offerings from Leona Edminston (obviously) and ae'lkemi.

It was a great event and I have to say, I really like the look of Claremont Quarter! It reminds me of somewhere in Melbourne and I'm really looking forward to going back and looking at a few shops. One in particular is Zara Bryson, which stocks the gorgeous Make Believe necklaces and Stretsis! I was very excited.

Sorry for the shortish post - I'm on my way to dinner and a pantomime show (starring my sister)!

x

Little Things 06.04.11

2011-04-06T16:39:00.000+08:00

Just some little things from here & there. Trying to get back into the swing of posting is much harder than it seems, to be honest. I'm struggling a bit!

{I bought both these magazines on the same day and didn't realise the similarity of the covers until I'd brought them home & read them both. Band reflections in sunglasses must be in this year}

{Two new perfumes - Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker, which was actually the first perfume I ever bought, and Naughty Alice by Vivienne Westwood. Oh, and there I am in the reflection of the perfume lid}

{Rejected outfit photo - what I wore to a music quiz night a couple of weeks ago.}

{This is a little owl that belonged to my nan & granddad. They used to travel a lot so I have no idea where he's from!}

{My current nail polish - Teenage Dream by Katy Perry for OPI}

I must get back to the mountain of assignments I have piling up! Eep!

x

What I Wore 04.04.11

2011-04-04T16:56:00.001+08:00

It seems like it's been so long since I've done an outfit post! I assure you I have, in fact, been wearing clothes. Nice clothes. Like this dress. It's one of the ones I got in the Modcloth sale a while ago and it is insanely comfortable, even in this 30 degree weather that we've been having. In the middle of autumn. It's getting a little bit ridiculous.

Pristine Premonition dress, Sugarhill Boutique via Modcloth//Black flats//Diva black rose earrings & key ring

And I changed my hair again! I have a fringe again (hooray!) and it's much darker on top, but with some of the bayalage still poking through. In a couple of months it will again be a different colour - stay tuned!...

I really should have gotten a closeup of my ring. It's pretty much a replica of a House of Harlow ring that I had been lusting over for ages. But, $7.99 for the Diva ring vs $60 for the House of Harlow one? I always feel a bit guilty buying something that I know is a blatant rip off, though. Ages ago I bought a ring from Sportsgirl and was very peeved to open up Vogue and find that it was identical to one by an independent designer. But, if I said I wasn't going to buy anything "inspired by" something else, my wardrobe would be very limited indeed!

Well, I am off to lie on the couch with Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the latest issue of RUSSH and a bottle of Diet Coke. A 21st on the weekend has left me feeling rather fragile (yes, even still on Monday).

x

Sunday Songs 27.03.11

2011-03-27T11:33:00.002+08:00

I've spent the last three days in bed with an awful flu. I think the worst of it is over but I still feel quite horrible! At least it's given me plenty of time to download some new music and get some Sunday Songs inspiration.

♥ Weezer - Keep Fishin'
For some reason the other night, I really felt like watching the Weezer video for Buddy Holly. Then it went into a bit of an impromptu Weezer video marathon, because quite a few of their videos are pretty spectacular. I couldn't go past this one though, as it looks like basically the happiest music video on earth. Additionally, any Rivers Cuomo lookalikes out there, um, hello, I like you.

♥ Andy Bull - Young Man

A while ago, my friend and I went to the Split Seconds EP launch show, and Andy Bull was their support act. I'd never seen him live before and so obviously fell deeply in love. This song is a bit older but it's one of my favourites.

♥ The Roots - The Seeds (2.0)

I saw this song in the Jimmy Fallon/Justin Timberlake 'History of Rap' video and since then it's been stuck in my head. It's so catchy! I love it. It makes me feel more groovy than I actually am.

♥ Joni Mitchell - A Case Of You

My friend sent me a cover of this song that I was going to put in but this Sunday Songs was pretty heavy on the menz so I decided to leave the original. I LOVE Joni Mitchell, even though when her music is beautifully sad (borderline depressing depending on my mood). It makes me a little weepy.

Hopefully this week I'll be feeling a little better as I have outfits and new things to post! But until then, enjoy the songs!

Kittens & Heels

2011-03-22T18:44:00.002+08:00

I've been on a bit of a shoe binge and I am very, very happy with the results.

The heeled brogues are from Target ($40), the wedges are from Forever New ($50) and the loafers are from Sportsgirl ($40).

I'm most happy with the heeled brogues; I've been looking for a pair for ages, but could only find ones with really skinny heels that were also insanely high. I have gone way off (really) high heels at the moment. The other night I was out with my friend and on our way home I noticed almost every single girl had her heels in hand and was stumbling around barefoot. I made a vow then and there that I would never be that girl (...again). It may be easier to uphold that promise now that I am almost done with The Year Of 21sts.

And this is my cat! Well, my grandparents' cat. When I moved into their old house, I inherited the cat as well. It was a bit prickly towards me at first but thankfully now it's become a bit more used to me and doesn't hiss when I go near it! She doesn't have a name at the moment, so far I have just been calling her Cat.

x

Sunday Songs 20.03.11

2011-03-20T14:37:00.000+08:00

Hello again! It is time for a much-needed revival of Sunday Songs! I have to tell you, this is one of my favourite Gin in a Teacup features. Do you know someone even found their wedding song through one of my Sunday Song posts and emailed me to tell me about it? Hooray! On that note, I have a ton of unanswered mail that I am sorting through, so if you've sent an email recently, your response may be horribly late but it's coming!

♥ Salt n Pepa - Whatta Man
For some reason I have been on a massive Salt n Pepa kick this week. Why?! Anyway, I had forgotten how awesome and just, well, fun this song is, even if I do find some of the lines kind of hilarious. I think I have found my new karaoke song.

♥ John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Give Peace A Chance
I read on Twitter that John & Yoko were married on the 20th of March, 1969, and so I thought I would throw in a little Lennon love. I used to love this song when I was younger - I mean, I still do - I am very glad I was brought up in a house where the Beatles (and their solo stuff, obviously) were mandatory listening! That could have more to do with my dad being from Liverpool, but still.

♥ The Beatles - Happy Birthday
And speaking of my dad, it was his birthday yesterday. Happy birthday Papa Lloyd! This song doesn't really count, because, well, everyone knows how Happy Birthday goes, and also the Beatles are singing "Happy Birthday, Saturday Club!" but still. Anyway, without my dad there would be no Sunday Songs posts, since he was the one who got me so into music. Well, I guess I SHOULD say, there would be Sunday Songs posts but they would be ultra lame and definitely not as rad. So much love to my dad.

♥ The Beatles - I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends
And this is also dedicated to my dad AND my beautiful friend Renae, who also had a birthday yesterday. She is also quite lovely and deserves a mention! Coincidentally, who is your favourite Beatle? I have to say I'm a big George fan. He's gorgeous. Swoon.

♥ Whip My Hair - Neil Young & Bruce Springsteen
And to stop this edition of Sunday Songs from getting too mushy, a cover of "Whip My Hair" that one of my friends sent me. It took me about a minute into the song to realise that this was not, in fact, Neil Young and made me love Jimmy Fallon a little bit more. Along with "Friday" (ARRRRRGHHHHH) this song has been stuck in my head all week and may have been the star of a late-night St Patrick's Day singalong. Plus, Bruce Springsteen. Need I say more?

Happy Sunday!

x

All Of The Above Creative

2011-03-14T22:54:00.000+08:00

First of all, sorry for the absence! I've been back at uni, and getting my home internet sorted (which it is now, thank god! Although my Google Reader is a little bit out of control). I have a lot to catch up on, but I wanted to share some photos from the All Of The Above Creative launch that I went to a couple of weeks ago.

All Of The Above Creative is a collective started by Emma Bergmeier and Hannah McGrath. It consists of supremely talented Perth people including stylists, photographers and makeup artists. Their website is full of gorgeous work so please go check it out! It was amazing to see it all displayed at the launch and made me excited to live in Perth where there actually ARE talented people (who aren't all leaving to Melbourne!).

Me, Jessie from The Velvet Bow & Emma from Dropstitch and All Of The Above Creative (via the DISTRIKMODE Facebook page)

Me, Jessie and Emma (via Fickle Sense)

Me, L from Peanut Moonbeam Knickers and Jessie (via Fickle Sense)

L and I (via Fickle Sense)

I was wearing a Willow dress, Sportsgirl bag, black flats and my Lovisa animal rings.

I had such a fun night and hope to see lots more work by All Of The Above soon!

x

What I Wore 04.03.11

2011-03-07T09:08:00.000+08:00

I am so behind with outfit posts at the moment! This is what I wore on Friday night to see Best Coast at Becks Music Box. I love Best Coast's album, but I'm not sure how I felt about them live. I don't know, about halfway through the concert all the songs seemed to kind of blend into each other. Plus, they only have one album out, so it's not like they could play for all that long. The lead singer was totally cute though (even when she bumped her teeth on the mike!) and everyone was getting into it and having fun, so that was good. And I love the Becks Music Box as a venue, I wish I'd gone to it more during the arts festival. Oh well. There's always next year!

Sorry the lighting in the photos is so off, I had to quickly snap these as I was on my way out the door!

Willow skirt//Portmans tee//Black flats//Sportsgirl bag (21st present)//Diva cameo earrings

So I love this skirt, but throughout the night the material kept flaking, or something? By the end of the night I was covered in tiny gold flecks all up my arm, in my hair, on my face... It was a little bit ridiculous. I looked like a human disco ball. That small (but incredibly irritating) matter aside, I really like this outfit. The skirt's obviously the standout piece but I like how the t-shirt and the flats make it a bit more casual.

I met up with my friend and her friends at the concert, and we were planning to stay for the after party and dance around and have fun. Well, the DJ apparently decided that after Best Coast everyone would be in the mood for ambient, atmospheric, gloomy lounge music. NOT THE CASE, BRO. Instead we hotfooted it to Amps (where I hadn't been for so long) and had a ball dancing around to the likes of The Smiths, The Dandy Warhols and The Wombats. It ended up being really fun. Even though when I dance I look like a cross between Elaine Bennett and the baby from Ally McBeal.

I've put up a few outfit posts lately, but I haven't mentioned my hair colour! While I loved the red, it was just too hard to keep it looking really rich and vibrant. I can only realistically afford to get it coloured once a month or so, and it was too long between visits. So, I got this balayage instead and I'm really loving it so far. I kind of wish it would grow a little faster, though!

More photos to come this week, including my outfit for the All Of The Above Creative launch and the (very late!) photos from the blogger's meet up! Hopefully my Modcloth purchases will sometime next week so I can show them off too!

p.s I just noticed my dinner bowl in the corner of these photos - oops! At least it shows I'm not going out on an empty stomach?!

Modcloth Madness

2011-03-02T20:27:00.000+08:00

You may have noticed a little incident that's made bloggers all over the world reach for their purses. It's the Modcloth 70% off sale (something I look forward to every year!) and I have to say I was spoiled for choice this year. I'd already ordered some dresses when they first went on sale and I'm kicking myself that I didn't wait another week for them to get even cheaper!

Here's my favourites from the sale...

Imagined Menagerie dress, ~~$124.99~~ $36.99
Pristine Premonition dress, ~~$77.99~~ $22.99
Morning Toffee cape, ~~$89.99~~ $26.99
Quelle Chic dress, ~~$129.99~~ $38.99
Don't Go Astray dress, ~~$129.99~~ $38.99
The Devereuax dress, ~~$112.99~~ $33.99
Tulle Tours en L'Air dress, ~~$134.99~~ $39.99

I ended up ordering the Pristine Premonition and the Don't Go Astray dresses, and a sweet knitted white cardigan. I was quite proud of my restraint (although three items doesn't really count as being restrained, does it?). I'd wanted the Devereaux dress for the longest time, but I'm not sure about the colour, or about the zips - it has one down the back (I would be paranoid someone would just sneak up behind me and yoink it open) and one under each arm, which is a bit strange! I'm quite excited to receive them and style them up!

Did you order anything? If you like the look of something, I'd snap it up - one of the dresses I loved sold out while it was dawdling in my shopping cart!

x

What I Wore 21.02.11

2011-02-21T22:45:00.001+08:00

I wore this to my friend's birthday dinner at the Vic Park Hotel. Happy 22nd, Chloe! I was so in the mood for pub food and satisfied my craving with a big juicy chicken kiev. And then some peanut butter and chocolate icecream afterwards. Yum.

This is the Leona Edminston dress I gave a sneak peek of in this post. It makes me feel very Betty Draper when I wear it.

Ruby by Leona Edminston dress//My nan's earrings//Novo shoes {not shown}

Someone commented that they had a vintage dress with this exact same pattern on it. I think that in Leona Edminston's main collection she had used a 70s print, I kind of hope that this is a vintage pattern as well! I like that it's kind of quirky, I don't think I've ever seen a print with groovy cocktail glasses before. You can get a dress with the same print here (on sale too!).

I think that Leona Edminston might be one of my favourite designers. I have another one of her dresses (seen here, here, here and here) and they are just so comfortable and flattering. I think she might design for more real women's bodies, while someone like Alannah Hill makes beautiful clothes but they don't always look so good if you have boobs and hips (in my experience). I mean, I wore an Alannah Hill dress to my 21st and absolutely love it, so maybe I don't know anything...

So for the last two posts I've mentioned I was wearing my nan's earrings. As you may know my nan passed away last year and I recently moved into what was her and my granddad's house. I found these earrings in my room and I hope no one minds me wearing them! It makes me feel nice to wear something of hers.

Anyway, it's getting quite late and I have work tomorrow. Blergh. Goodnight!

x

What I Wore 20.02.11

2011-02-20T21:08:00.000+08:00

This is what I wore to the Perth Fashion Blogger's meet up at King's Park. I had planned to wear my new Jeffrey Campbells, but I chickened out and wore these loafers instead. I bought them a while ago and this is their first outing. Hopefully they are the first pair of many loafers this winter, I've already seen a leopard spotted pair from Sportsgirl that would look quite nice adorning my feet...

Princess Highway dress//Wittner loafers//Ring from Unwrapped Markets//My nan's earrings

Thank you to Jessie of The Velvet Bow (one of my favourite blogs!) for taking these photos, and to Jessie and April Rose for organising the whole bloggers' meet up! I had such a fun time, and it was great to put faces to blog names. It was a bit surreal, to be honest, I was really nervous to go but so glad I did!

And thanks to Bonnie from Girl Friday Musings for taking these balloon photos! It was A LOT harder than it looks to get good photos with a bunch of balloons and unpredictable wind, maybe I should give models much more credit...

I have a lot more photos to share, but I'm quite exhausted! They will be up in the next few days. Now, to scrounge around for some dinner and read all the lovely blogs I'm not familiar with (and catch up on my favourites!). Thanks again to Jessie and Jacqui for organising such a fabulous day!

x

Wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin'

2011-02-03T14:17:00.000+08:00

Hello! Sorry for the break. Among other things, I was moving house! I am settling into it, but it is a bit of an adjustment living in a house (with a backyard, in the suburbs) rather than an apartment. But I'm getting used to it.

One of the things I haven't brought over yet is my camera, so in lieu of actual photos, I thought I would share with you some things I have bought recently and that are currently en route to me.

{TBA pom-pom skirt & bulldog money bank from Urban Outfitters; black floral dress, feather print dress & owl print skirt from Modcloth; Jeffrey Campbell Lita boots from Revolve; set of four prints from evajuliet on Etsy; sailor shoes from Topshop}

I will be a very happy girl when all these packages arrive! I am making a big effort to cut down on my purchases this month (uh, if you even glanced at this post you can probably tell that I need to) but these clothes and prints will keep me entertained, I'm sure. I was going to pull out the big guns and place a clothes shopping ban on myself for February but... I'm not sure I could pull it off! Three days in and I'm going pretty well, though.

Do you have any special online purchases coming? Tell me so I can live vicariously through them!

x

Be Styled By Emma Bergmeier!

2011-01-26T09:57:00.000+08:00

XPress cover, Spring Issue 2010, shot by Otilee & styled by Emma Bergmeier

As you may remember, I did some work experience with the lovely Emma of Dropstitch, Xpress and Xpress Fashion last year. She is very, very good at her job and a wonderful lady as well! She, along with some other bloggers, are offering up their services to raise money for the Queensland Floods.

Emma is offering a half day styling session. You'll go shopping in Perth and figure out a new look and what suits you and helps you to look even more fabulous!

XPress Autumn 2010 cover, shot by Otilee and styled by Emma Bergmeier

It's an unbelievable opportunity, Emma really knows her stuff and you will have an great time, she is just plain awesome! You can bid here, and all the money is going to a really good cause. Go on, it's a new year, maybe time for a new look, treat yourself!

x