Victorious Vintage @ Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - The ultimate free music & vintage shopping experience

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In the South East area and love vintage? This is for you! Portsmouth Historic Dockyard are playing host to the Victorious Vintage festival over the Jubilee weekend (2nd-3rd June), with a vast line-up of retro shopping and entertainment - and it's free! Musical entertainment with a look back to the 90s is order of the day, with Dodgy and The Lightning Seeds (of 'THREE LIONS ON THE SHIIIRT!' fame - if you don't know what I mean, I now feel old!) headlining, along with support from a whole host of local bands and artists. You can see the full line-up here. Alongside live music, there'll be vintage performers and a chance to revisit classic movies. There'll also be the chance to pick up some vintage pieces from local outlets, such as Dead Man's Glory, Juliette's Thread, Flo & Stan, Betty Blue's Lingerie and Katie Vale Designs.

The event is being run by a variety of local collaborators, including the Southsea Boutique Market. I was lucky enough to find out a bit more about the festival from Abigail Pallant-Sidway, owner of the Boutique Market, as well as some of her top vintage style tips.

Where did the idea of Victorious Vintage come from?
The Boutique Market and Love Southsea run very popular vintage style markets and events at top venues in Portsmouth and Southsea which they both occasionally join force for in order to create even bigger and better events. Together they felt that they could create an event that would really put Portsmouth on the map and there was no better place to host it than the world famous Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. After around six months of planning, we were given the go ahead and decided to get The Little Johnny Russell's Team on board for their professionalism and expertise in the music area so that Victorious Vintage could become more of a music festival as well as a vintage event.

Alongside the music and shopping, what other attractions are a must-see/do over the weekend?
As well as the music and shopping there will be vintage films (£5) and Laser Quest (pricing at www.actionstations.org/laser-quest) available in Action Stations, a children's area with rides until 6pm, roaming vintage characters, vintage entertainment & the chance to take part in a tea dance in Boathouse No7, a vintage hair and make-up salon, (from £5) vintage photo studio (£10), a retro vinyl disco both evenings in Boathouse No 7 (free) and of course you should visit the main attractions of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard while you are there. (www.historicdockyard.co.uk for tickets and online discount).

What tips do you have for hunting out the best vintage buys?
To maximise the perfect vintage purchase, home in on fabrics and colours that catch your eye. Next check the size, against your own body. Vintage sizing is quite different from modern sizing, so you may just find the perfect outfit without realising it is in your size. Ask the stallholder if there is anything that you have in mind, they are all experts and know what stock they have that would fit your suit you in the styles that you are looking for.

Who/what is your vintage style inspiration?
I personally see clothing and fashion and style as an extension of art. That sounds really pretentious but I love to see people being creative in their dress sense no matter what their style is. I tend to combine different eras to create my own looks. I have always been a fan of the beehive, (very 60s) I've always worn platform shoes, they give height whilst still being comfortable (very 70s) vintage fake fur coats & feminine dresses (from any era) and I have a huge collection of turbans (very deco), which I often wear all at once.


The event runs from 10am-10pm on both the Saturday and Sunday, with free entry to the Dockyard (standard ticketing to attractions will still apply). For more information (and some stunning pictures!), check out the Victorious Vintage website.

Interview.

Playsuit - New Look

Firstly, I apologise profoundly for my face - I'm still on the no eye makeup after my laser surgery, so this is a rare moment of me not wearing sunglasses at the moment. After my appointment in Southampton today (3 times in 4 days, AND I have to go back on Thursday!) I had time to kill before my train, so I had a nosy around the shops and found this lovely little number in New Look. I've been looking for the perfect interview outfit for a while now, and I think with this + black tights (not my pale legs as pictured!), heels and a blazer might just be it! I originally thought it was a dress, then in the changing room realised it was a playsuit, which made me incredibly happy as I LOVE LOVE LOVE playsuits. Even better, its only £19.99, plus student discount plus the fact I still have about £12 on my gift card! I get paid on Thursday, so can hopefully pick it up after my appointment. If anyone buys out the last ones in my size before then, I WILL hunt them down and demand they give it to me...!

P.S I've now breached the 200 GFC follower mark, so thankyou all for reading what I have to say and hello to new (and old!) followers! :) Much love!

Boats and Birds

Playsuit - Republic
Shoes - Primark
Bag - New Look

Finally got out to enjoy the sunshine today! Me and James headed down to Gunwharf Quays (in Portsmouth) and had a lovely dinner at Tiger Tiger. I'm not allowed to do any exercise for a week after my surgery, so I had a lovely Cajun Chicken Caeser salad (lots of c's!). We also grabbed an ice-cream from the van outside Jamie's Italian, and then headed back to mine to sit in the garden outside my flat in the sun. It's surrounded by four storey flats, so when the sun's out it's an amazing sun trap!

I absolutely adore this playsuit, the nautical pattern is lovely and fitting for a day by the sea. I do have to be a bit careful as the buttons are a bit dodgy and occasionally pop open, but thanks to a bit of stitching around the buttonholes to shrink them, this risk has been minimised! (there's a tip for those of you who have the same problem!). It was the first time I wore the wedges, and my feet were absolutely killing after a day walking around, but they're too cute and summery not to wear!

I'm heading back to work tomorrow after a lovely weekend, and also have to pop to Southampton again for a check on my eyes! Hopefully the weather stays nice next weekend, and for the bank holiday!

We trace the sun across the sky.

Playsuit - H! by Henry Holland
Necklace - New Look
Sunglasses - Primark
Lips - Revlon 'Just Bitten' in Flame

How nice is the weather?! I had to pop to Southampton this morning for a post-laser surgery checkup (more about that in a second!), and decided to whack out my H! by Henry Holland playsuit. Sorry for the pants lighting by the way, I was in a massive rush and it was 8.30 in the morning...I don't normally wear necklaces in the sun, as I don't want to get a tan outline of it, but as I was spending most of the time indoors this New Look baby set off the outfit nicely! 

For those who don't know, yesterday I had laser eye surgery at Optical Express in Southampton. It's something I've really wanted for a while, and I'm so happy with the results. I'll do a proper in-depth post on it later in the week when I've had my full recovery time, but my vision was -6.5 before, and now it's more than 20/20. It'll be absolutely amazing to wake up and not have to faff with contact lenses, especially at festivals. Unfortunately, I can't wear eye makeup for the next week (this is HELL for me), but thanks to the sun I can get away with wearing sunglasses pretty much constantly. 

I went for a peek around Urban Outfitters whilst in Southampton, so many pretty things there. James and I are probably going on a shopping trip next weekend after I get paid, definitely some things I want to pick up from there. Southampton is pretty amazing for shopping! As my eyes are still a bit light sensitive, I'm resting today and staying inside - out of the sun, boo!

What are your plans for the sunny weekend?

Glossybox - May 2012

Happy birthday Glossybox! Yep, the beauty box service has been running for a year now, with this being the fourth box I've recieved. I thought the birthday inspired packaging was really cute, and I was careful not to rip the paper as I can wrap something else in it. There were also two little extras, a pink 'Happy Birthday' balloon and a Glossybox mirror.

As usual, I recieved some really lovely products. The two Lolita Lempicka perfume samples were a lovely treat, as I'm trying to extend my perfume collection and I really like sample size perfumes, they fit nicely in a handbag without being too bulky. The Si Lolita perfume is very floral and girly, whilst the original First Fragrance is a little woodier. I'm also really happy about the Apivita masks, as I've just run out of face masks and it saves me buying a new one, honey sounds really nice too. The last product I'm really excited to try is the Berber Oil (not Bieber oil, as I initially thought!!!) hair treatment, after hearing loads of good things about hair oil products.

Recently I've been trying out different false eyelashes, so initially I was pleased to see some falsies in the box. Unfortunately, the diamante jewels on them do put me off a little, as that's not really my kinda thing, so I might see if I can put them in a beauty box swap, as the lashes themselves look really well made and lovely. There was also a Noble Isle bath and shower gel in the box, and I'm up to my ears in bath stuff at the moment, but it smells nice and will come in handy at some point/as a nice gift, I'm sure!

Have you stuck with Glossybox over the past year? What do you think of this month's box?

My slight only quibble with this box is that I was...expecting more? As with every Glossybox I've been sent, there are products I'm really excited about using, but for a birthday box, I was sort of expecting something a little different, like a big name brand or something to really make me go 'wow'. But hey-ho, I'm still a fan and still look forward to recieving my box every month!

Making a spectacle of myself.

Dress - Everything 5 pounds

Tights - I have no idea, they're really old!

Ring - ebay

It's really strange wearing glasses! I normally wear contact lenses, but as I have my laser eye surgery I've been wearing my specs since Saturday. I'm so used to contacts that wearing them every day this week has felt really strange! I bought this dress a while back from a website called Everything 5 pounds, where (obviously!) everything is a fiver! A lot of the stuff on there is incredibly tacky, but I've picked up a few nice things from it, this dress included. I love the girly floral pattern and lace collar, although I wish I'd got it a size smaller as it's a bit big on me. The fit is a little odd around the waist too, but it's a nice enough dress to wear on days where I feel like being casual but still pretty!

Also, MY NEW RING IS AMAZING. I got it yesterday morning, and am completely in love with it! Another thing that arrived was my awesome blog business cards! I thought as I'm going to TOWIB in June and hope to go to some more blogger events in the future, they'd be a good investment - better than scrawling my URL down on a bit of paper anyway! They'll also be good to give to prospective employers if I want to impress them with my bloggy skills. I picked them up from Vistaprint, and was a bit worried about the quality, but they've turned out really well (they're actually more lilac-looking than in the picture below, but I used a filter on it because I'm SUPER ARTYYYY!). Have you ever thought about getting blog business cards, or have them already?

I'm also highly pleased that the sun has finally poked its head out, and in a big way - absolutely loving the weather at the moment! Hopefully it'll stay nice for the good stuff coming up - the zoo, Carnival, bank holiday weekend and Download to name a few things! Are you a sun lover?

Annie Greenabelle @ Topshop - Fashion with a Conscience

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Whilst having a nosy at dresses on the Topshop website (I have no money, but I can fantasise until payday!), I noticed that the dresses I loved which kept popping up were pretty much all from one brand. Annie Greenabelle is an ethical women's clothing brand that create amazing designs made primarily from organic and fairtrade materials. You can buy with confidence that all involved in the process of design, manufacture and selling are treated fairly, without breaking the bank. My ultimate favourite is the blue and white floral printed Clarissa dress (1), it's so summery!

View all of their Topshop items here, and find an even wider range of garments on the Annie Greenabelle website, from cute dresses to adorable ditsy print bags. Great fashion, great prices AND great ethics, I like!

This also starts an interesting discussion, what are your thoughts on ethics in fashion? Is it something you're passionate about or something you don't really think about?