Surprise, I've gone pink! You might remember me moaning about my hair predicament when I had roots grown out to almost about my ears and a pale mint colour that actually was a happy accident faded out from a deep lilac dye (yeah wtf right). I feel like I've abused my hair enough during the process of going grey/silver a couple of months ago and decided to try out a warmer hair colour so I wouldn't have to bleach my naturally black hair to such a pale white every time I need to retouch any regrowth. I've never actually had a warm hair colour before, always had it in the blues and purple end of the spectrum. I was afraid it might make my face look more like a tomato than it usually does but alas if it does, I'm enjoying the brightness very much. Having an electric hair colour has also made me reach for colourful outfits more so than I usually do. I've never been one to shy away from colour but now I tend to gravitate towards wearing a head to toe array of different shades and pretty much resembling a walking rainbow. That's got me thinking how much a hairdo influences your style. Not only what colour but a certain style or cut as well. That's why people often go darker for winter and vice versa. To be honest I've never really thought about my hair by any of these terms and have always just done whatever the hell I felt like at the time, often a spur of the moment thing and then just dealt with the consequences after. Gone pink – ohh I should probably avoid wearing too much red now as it will clash... or should I? Truthfully there are times, more often than not, when it's just too much of a bother to worry about whether clothes will match or clash with my hair. It's such a first world problem even though I constantly get reminded by several bloggers on my Instagram feed mastering the art of aesthetically pleasing colour combinations every damn time. I guess what I'm getting at is that ultimately I don't want my hairdo to limit my style. Both are excellent forms of self expression that I try not to take for granted. So here's to the foreseeable future with pink hair!
Having lived in London for almost five years now, I find myself becoming increasingly boxed into the humdrum routine and city life so it's always handy to take a tourist's eye to give me a fresh perspective on this beautiful country I've been lucky to call home and discover hidden gems. Not like the Mayfield Lavender farm was an obscure destination, I'd been meaning to visit this location for years but kept putting it off and eventually forgetting until one day a friend visiting from Indonesia mentioned it was on her London to-do list. The farm is in Banstead with the easiest way to get there (which we took) being to hop on a train from Victoria Station to Sutton (around 40min journey) and then to take a black cab to the farm (another 15min). If you'd prefer to drive, they also have a spacious parking space but bear in mind it tends to fill up the later it gets. We decided to leave London to get there just as it opened at 9am to take advantage of an almost deserted lavender field, it was almost like we had the entire place to ourselves. We were also blessed with the loveliest weather that day so I wore this vintage looking broderie crop top from ASOS with my favourite high waisted, wide leg jeans and converse high tops. Pretty and feminine enough on top which quenched my urge to don a dress which would have been so perfect to twirl around in but not the most practical to drag through the mud, the jeans and converse a much better option for the latter. The outfit was topped off with this hat which served as my summer straw variety this year (I left last years' on the train and someone happily took ownership of it) and some arm candy courtesy of Primarni. Unbeknownst to most from these photos, I almost had a meltdown on the train journey there as I spilt my morning coffee all down the front of my pristine white top. My friend saved the day when she suggested that I just turn the top around for the blog photos, so what you're actually seeing in all these shots is the back of this top. Problem solved and to this day I'm grateful for all the lavender to cover my modesty whilst I kept having to flip the top around. There you go, nothing is always as picture perfect as it seems, but life goes on and you've got to make the most of it!
A statement jacket was a piece I used to shy away from because I never really owned any basic staples in my wardrobe and layering a printed jacket over another printed dress would be overkill (or entirely genius if you can pull it off). Now that I've started getting into wearing jeans more (elaborated in this post), I'm jazzing ensembles up in a completely different way than I used to. Playing with prints as an outer layer can feel completely in your face at first but over something black or white is practically a fool proof way to style. Once you've mastered that you could move on to pairing prints with block colours, picking one shade in the print you're wearing to match with, a complimentary colour scheme (think a pastel theme ie. baby pink and mint or an autumn colours theme ie. mustard and burgundy) or if you're feeling braver, a contrasting shade on the colour wheel (think blue and yellow). The ultimate skill in my opinion, is clashing prints whilst still looking effortless and aesthetically pleasing. I don't think I'm qualified yet in this regard but my favourite fail-safe way to rock this look is to pair classic stripes with polka dots. Anyway, without going too off tangent, this is the new statement jacket in my life, an ASOS number that reminds me of Miu Miu's brocade jackets. I thought it would glam up a 'blue jeans, white shirt' (hands up if you read that to the tune of Lana Del Rey) get up and really loved how this look turned out, and the fact that we walked past this cute pastel pink coffee shop that day which provided the perfect backdrop.
