Asos Hyper Real

The new ASOS Hyper Real Collection is going to help me expand on my fantasy tropical summer wardrobe. Some highlights...

[All ASOS except the Cheap Monday lavender jeans...gosh I really am going in big for lilac/lavender/pastels at the moment.]

Apparently the collection has 'a heavy dose of 80's irony'. This upsets me as I had no intention of wearing it ironically. I really do love that eightie's dreamboat look.

P.S. If you drink a lot of Diet Coke, as I do, then you will have noticed that with their new cans you get £5 of every £20 spent at ASOS. This meant that I bought the Motel Rose dress. Whoops. By the way, I am not in any way sponsored by the delicious life-giving nectar that is diet coke. I wish that I was. I truely do. But no, I'm just spreading the message that more shopping can be done for less money by simply purchasing a delicious beverage. And that is good.

Revlon Trend Review

I have never bought Revlon make up in my life. It always seemed staid and aimed at the, ahem, older lady.

As I was buying foundation (Bourjois 8 hour sleep effect, meh - it's ok) I noticed the new range of colours Revlon had introduced and was pretty impressed. They also have a new Matte collection; very on trend and good for a relaxed, not-tried-too-hard look when worn with a simple face.

The Strawberry Suede lipstick has a lovely texture and finish, and it's a great colour. I'm planning to wear it with just mascara and my usual pale face for day, and add some flicky eyeliner and heavy bottom lashes for night.

I liked the look of Nude Attitude, it seems like it would provide the perfect cushiony sixtie's lip...but it seemed too similar to the Illamasqua lipstick I had ordered to justify buying it. Unfortunately.

The lipglosses are great punchy shades for summer. The bright fuscia pink is brilliant, but the coral looks best when applied over a little concealer on the lips to make the colour pop. Most importantly the lipglosses aren't too sticky; they have staying power without that annoying gloopy finish that means strands of hair are constantly stuck to your mouth.

The lilac/mauve shade called out to me but I restrained myself. It looks ace but I'm just not sure what kind of make up that would go with? Suggestions welcome! The new colours also include mint and lilac nail varnishes, which really reminded me of candy necklaces. Mmmm.

I am also coming round to Revlon's basic packaging, when the colours are this good it's nice to have them visible and framed by simple black lids. So now I'm a Revlon convert! At least the range is reasonably priced so this isn't going to require an overdraft extension, unlike all the things Lisa Eldridge is making me buy.

A.P.C t-shirt

I'm not usually a big fan of yellow, but after seeing this A.P.C T in Urban Outfitters I have become entranced. The fabric is cotton/linen blend making it a bit thicker and more textured than the average t-shirt, the yellow is the perfect shade, the sleeves the ideal boyish length. It would look very chic with some rolled up trousers and some big sunglasses. Perfect for summer, and a nice change from the usual navy/black breton. The price is a little much for a t-shirt, but then this is much more than a bland, last resort plan t-shirt. This T would last a lifetime.

Dog-lava

I know it's not really the weather for it anymore, but I really think every well loved dog should have one of these...

That's right - it's a dog balaclava. Or as I like to call it; a doglava. How I love a portmanteau.

Find this finely handcrafted doggy tea cosy here on a nice ladies Etsy shop.

As this post has a photo of a dog, I think it is only appropriate to even it out with a cat photo.
Unfortunately cats don't like wearing clothes. But they're still nice:

Tropical Mental

[Topshop pineapple dress, Alexander Wang/Linda Farrow sunnies, Topshop fruit playsuit, YSL Arty ring]

I know everyone is loved up with the YSL arty rings, but they really are beaut. In any case, that is unfortunately a fantasy item, as are the amazing Alexander Wang for Linda Farrow sunglasses. However, the pineapple dress is super and I personally think the print is quite wearable.

Fruit on clothes looks mega.

P.S. Fruit on nails: eeek! so good! Wah Nails do it best...

Candy Nails

Just bought the lemon and peach colours to complete the set! Although you need a few coats and a decent topcoat the colours come out exactly as they look; very opaque with great 60's style white base undertones. And of course, they link in very nicely with the whole pastel trend.

I can't wait to paint every nail a different colour now. They will complement the Club Tropicana summer wardrobe I'm planning...See above for the full horror of my eightie's dreamboat plans.

Motel Schmotel

(Incidentally I just stayed at a lovely little B&B in Brighton called Motel Schmotel, and I would whole-heartedly recommend it. They even do breakfast in bed! Unfortunately my enjoyment of that was somewhat diminshed as I had got food poisoning from Jamie's Italian the night before. Damn you Jamie and your delicious, but sick-making ravioli.)

So I've always liked Motel...mainly because they had their own shop in Leicester a long time ago and it was the only place to get decent clothes. If you understand decent clothes to mean flimsy printed boob tubes and sweaters with cartoon characters, that is. They did lots of jersey dresses with cutesy prints. I had one dress that had a tiny print of ladies bottoms on it, but it looked like flowers from far away. That's quite cool right? Maybe not when I paired it with lime green kitten heels, but whatevs.

But Motel has gone much more up market and ubiquitous of late. I don't usually covet their dresses because the prints are so recognisable (and badly copied), but this Indah Spring Rose dress is screaming out to me...

In the flesh the fabric is really lovely, and while I don't usually go in for rose prints this one seems a bit spesh.

The problem I usually encounter with Motel dresses, apart from the extreme likelihood of seeing at least three people wearing the same thing in a size smaller than me when out, is the stretchy fabrics. They do not generally flatter. But this is in such a flattering shape. Hmm. I am a little bit out of pocket at the moment after being totally hypnotised and practically forced by Lisa Eldridge to buy loads of expensive skincare products (see below) and make up. There is a lovely yummy Illamasqua Lipstick working its way to me through the post right now, so I will hopefully be able to do a review of that pretty soon.

The dress can be seen here, where I found the fabric detail.

This has been a bit of a rambling post, but in conclusion: Motel is better than it used to be. And I want that dress.