Trend: Dip Hem Skirts

Otherwise known as mullet skirts, and featured in this month's Company magazine.

I love these skirts, they're so floaty and elegant and make me think of a warm summer evening at a garden party...

 £22.99 - New Look

The best part about this skirt is that it works in absolutely any colour - it looks rich and elegant in this plum shade - which I think could be worn with black tights, as well as bare legs.

 £22.99 - New Look

A brighter option here, but still from New Look and therefore fairly affordable.

 £40 - Topshop

An uber-bright version of the trend, this time from Topshop, once again demonstrates the versatility of these skirts - they will work whatever your colour scheme!

 £20 - Topshop

This skirt is made from a different fabric than the others, a less floaty fabric for if you like the look of the skirt, but don't go for the romantic, floaty style.

 £40 - Topshop

I'm also loving the cross over from the waist on some of the designs, adding even more interest to an already beautiful skirt, and one in black for those of you that prefer a more muted colour scheme.

 £40 - Topshop

A lovely summery colour, I love the rippling hem as it falls to the ankles.

 £48 - Topshop

Yes, pretty much anything goes when it comes to the dip hem skirt, as this floral beauty shows. It is from Topshop, making it a fairly pricey piece, but all these dresses can be dressed down with a pair of flat sandals and a loose fitting, plain T-Shirt tucked in - so you could get quite a lot of wear out of one.

 £50 £30 - Oasis @ ASOS

This dip hem skirt is slightly shorter than the other ones, meaning that you can find a dip hem skirt no matter what your style and body shape dictates.

 £45 - River Island @ ASOS

And finally, the scarf print, which has been a big trend this season and is set to continue into next - here dressed up with hoop earrings, a vest top and heels - you could add more jewellery such as a pendant necklace and bracelet, to bring the look into evening. Great for holidays and sliding seamlessly from day to night.

Weird prints trend

You've all seen them out and about - playsuits, skirts, shirts and dresses, all with prints that stray from the usual ditsy flower style that we've become accustomed to over the past few years - fruit, vegetables, fish and even hedgehogs can be found on just about any item of clothing this season, and I have to admit that I am a big fan of it all, even buying myself a fish printed playsuit from AX Paris in New Look.

£28

This dress from New Look features a "Pussycat Chain" print on the skirt, button placket and collar - I think the continued print adds a really nice touch and makes the dress look more like a complete garment, rather than an individual skirt and shirt stitched together.



£100

This co-ordinated sweater and joggers from Topshop would certainly turn a few heads if you walked down the street, especially since it looks a little bit like a pair of jammies. But with the Olympics and all, it's certainly a very current design.



£25 now £17

This jersey shirt from Dorothy Perkins is a prime example of what I'm on about - a cute, simple print of something that is a very ordainary object, but makes an otherwise uninteresting shirt suddenly rather cute!
Dorothy Perkins, in my opinion, is most certainly overlooked when it comes to fashionable, affordable clothing.



£48

Another prime example of the trend - this time from Topshop - the cartoon drums on the skater dress make the garment look really cute and innocent, but at the same time being on-trend. Topshop also do the same print on a pair of hotpants, if you're more of a shorts girl rather than a dress girl.



£28

This shopper bag from Next is a simple way of incorporating the trend into several outfits, with a simple vest and jeans combination, just chuck the bag over your shoulder (and by the looks of it, it will hold everything, including the kitchen sink) and you've got the trend sussed, and all you have to buy was one all-purpose bag, for a very affordable £28 - not too pricey if it's the only bag you're going to use all season.

Prom

Oh, and did I mention that we rocked up in a red VW camper? And got our photo taken for the local paper?

I would have posted some photos of Hannah in her prom dress, but she'd probably say that I'd picked horrid photos so it's best to let her do her own prom post if she wants to.

The newspaper clipping will be on here any time after Thursday!

Please by my friend!

Top - £22 - Dorothy Perkins
Cardigan - £20 - New Look
Jeans - £25 - Next
Converse - £35 - Schuh

I wore this outfit to one of the three induction days at the sixth form that I'm hoping to go to in September (results permitting!)
I'm quite excited about going to a new school and shaking off any labels I did or didn't have for the past five years, meeting new people and maybe even making new friends along the way, however this is also my downfall. I am absolutely horrific when it comes to meeting new people because I go all shy and quiet because I'm not as funny and interesting as everyone else, so I end up listening to the conversations going on around me and my voice shatters in panic if anyone so much as asks me my name.
The best thing about meeting new people at the start of A Levels is that the most basic ice-breaker is asking which subjects you're taking next year, and which school you went to last year.
The weirdest part of it all was meeting so many girls, because at the moment my friendship group is outnumbered by boys because everyone's boyfriends were brought into the group, without them we'd be about even. So after 2-3 years surrounded by banter and penis envy, it's been nice to have a bit of girly conversation and hair envy for a change.
Speaking of girliness and hair... my prom is ONE WEEK AWAY! It's about 3 weeks aftet everyone else's, so I've been looking through everyone's prom photos and going as green as my dress because I WANT TO GO TO PROM. And the after party, woohoo!

Wish list - Cambridge Satchel Company

Cambridge Satchel Co.

Yes, it's £93, plus delivery.

But look at it and tell me that it isn't the most beautiful and perfect school bag that you've ever seen in your entire life. And it comes in mustard which is just the best colour ever.

This one is specifically the 15" Batchel, because of the handle on the top, which adds a hefty £9 on to the price of a normal 15" satchel without the top handle. But Mum prefers it so I'm not going to argue with her!

I was first made aware of The Cambridge Satchel Co. when Annika (of According to Annika) posted an outfit featuring her red satchel from the company, it was love at first sight.

If you order one of the bags online, it takes 30 days to be handmade in Britain using the finest quality leather - I'd be a big ball of excitement when it finally arrived at my door!

There are luckily a couple of stockists near me however, so I might be able to buy one from there, saving the 30+ day wait and £6 postage, we shall wait and see.

But carrying that would positively excite me about going to sixth form in September!

Rant.

Sorry guys, but it's got to come out somewhere. That sounded weird, like I was talking about poo or something, I'm not talking about poo - this is just a rant about my sixth form options and how inconvenient my choices seem to be.

I wanted to do A Level Photography, which in all the schools and colleges local to me I could only find in two places - one college and one sixth form. Since doing Photography at A Level meant me travelling to a different college campus which is a 15 minute shuttle bus ride away, but doing it at the sixth form meant that everything was on one campus, it was a lot more convenient and was in fact the deciding factor in choosing the school. I went for a meeting with the head of sixth form some months ago and we discussed my options where she told me that all my options fit into the pre-decided blocks, this made me happy and was the reason that I chose the school over the other schools and colleges I applied for, I knew that the option blocks were subject to change, but didn't let that bother me. Luckily however, I haven't made any final decisions just yet.


When I went to the first sixth form taster day today (there's three in total, which seems a bit excessive) and I found that the option blocks have been completely rearranged meaning that I can now do Chemistry, and any two of English Language, Psychology and Photography. I feel pretty pissed off that I wasn't informed earlier, also the people whose options clashed in the original option blocks were already aware of that and still chose to go to the school, so it seems kind of stupid to change it if everyone was either happy, or happy to compromise rather than go to a different college or sixth form. I know that it's selfish of me to say that, but it was just all working out perfectly, and now I'm back to square one.


After a rant and discussion with Dad, he feels that I'd be best off doing Chemistry, Psychology and English, and pursuing Photography at night school as a hobby if that's what I enjoy doing. I admit that it seems the best option, especially since I really don't know what I want to do in the future, so I want to keep my options as wide open as possible - which is the reason I've already changed my mind once, and opted to do Chemistry instead of Art - to give myself a broader range of subjects. 


It's just that if I'd known from the start that I would only be able to do Chemistry, Psychology and English, I'd have probably chosen to go to a different school, one that doesn't require me to wake up at 6:15am, that has more external students coming in (there were probably about 10-15% of us that were external students) so I don't feel like such an outcast, and that doesn't cost me £18 a week in bus fares to get there. My parents have happily said that they'll pay for my school stuff over the next two years, and free transport isn't a deciding factor, but it's certainly a big expense to go somewhere that doesn't offer me all the subjects that I want to do.


My options are:

• Do Chemistry, English Language and Photography
• Do Chemistry, English Language and Psychology
• Do Chemistry, Photography and Psychology
• Do English Literature, Photography and Psychology
• Do Art, English Language and Psychology
• Ring the college up and see if I can do all four subjects and just handle the shuttle bus.

All in all, I feel lost and confused, and the worst part of it all is that it's my decision, and sometimes it would be so much easier if these big decisions could be made for me, I hate them so much because I just don't know what to do.

And I'm under serious pressure to make a decision, I'll have to make it before term starts, but I'm not entirely sure when.

Fuck, decisions suck.

This is not the end

Jacket - £45 - Firetrap sale

Vest - £4 - Next

Necklace -  Dad's pocket watch

Bracelets - Various

Jeans - £25 - Next

Converse - £35

I wore this outfit to go and see The Amazing Spiderman with Alex and his college friends (only the second time I've met the majority of them, eek!) I've never been big on superhero movies, the first one I've ever watched the whole way through was Batman Begins the other week at Alex's house, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. But Spiderman is different, he's never quite seemed as cool as Batman, to me, but this film was actually really good! It's kind of a "Spiderman Begins" idea, as it follows a teenaged (and rather good-looking) Peter Parker, played by Andrew Garfield.



It follows the story of him first being bitten by the radioactive spider, and his realisation of his powers during a rather entertaining subway scene. Then he gets together (in a very movie-cute way) with Spiderman's well-known girlfriend Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone.



Seeing this film has actually made me consider getting a full-fringe cut back in, she pulls the look off wonderfully! And she has perfect liquid eyeliner throughout the movie which also made me incredibly jelly - I can never get that stuff to look decent on me!

I highly recommend this film, even if you aren't an action fan or a comic book nerd, I'm neither of these things and really enjoyed it. And Andrew Garfield has an interview in the current issue of Company, he's half English, did you know?

You have a most unusual name too... John Smith.

Amy's sister had a Disney-themed 21st birthday party and so I went dressed as Pocahontas (don't worry - it's a wig!) 


The dress was something my aunty gave me as a dressing up costume when I was little and in all honesty I'd never worn it until this particular party - but it will be getting a second outing on Saturday for Hannah (of Doubleyou fame's) birthday this weekend - where there is a theme of cowboys & indians / country.


The necklace was something that my mum dug out of my grandma's jewellery box - my grandad had brought it back as a present for her when he was working in Colorado back in the '60s - got to love a bit of vintage, right?


The wig was a manky old thing that Mum dug out of the dressing up box in the loft, I had it as part of a Halloween costume when I dressed as a witch back when I was about 8... we had to plait it so that it didn't look as terrible.


Headband - £4 - Claire's
Earrings - £1 - Dorothy Perkins Sale
Bracelet (worn as arm band) - £1.99 - New Look
Bracelets - £1.99 - New Look


I wore it with flat brown leather sandals - she actually has bare feet in the Disney movie, but sometimes you just have to be a little more practical, don't you?


My make-up (even though you can hardly see it on the photos - boo!) was based on this tutorial.

I didn't do anything to my eyebrows (because I tried it and it made me look a tit) and I skipped the liquid eyeliner step because I am horrendous at putting that stuff on and it just looked a mess when I tried. I also kept my lips natural because I don't find that adding colour to them suits me at all. But this is a very good and thorough tutorial. She also fast forwards through the actual make-up application which I liked because there's nothing worse than watching a makeup tutorial and it's about 15 minutes long because it's all in real time - I know how to wipe a foundation sponge across my face, thankyou!