American App-raisal

I don't think there are quite the right words to describe my love for American Apparel clothing. Almost everything they sell is the perfect balance between quirky yet wearable, and there is always such variety to choose from! One of my favourite factors of American Apparel is probably that everything that they sell always comes in a vast variety of different colours; usually in most other shops the lack of colour variety is my pet peeve. In particular I love their Fisherman jumpers and hope to purchase one soon (probably in either Sage Green or Vintage Grey, though I'm partial to the Lavender one too, hmmm.)But I am also a huge fan of their skirts and own several myself. Their pastel denim skater skirts were a huge hit in the summer, but for winter I think that their slim fit leather and twill skirts are lovely, and am eager to purchase one of these too! In the summer of 2013, I went to New York for 10 days (it was absolutely fantastic) and I went a little American Apparel overboard- but I don't feel guilty in the slightest. Every piece of clothing that I purchased whilst I was in New York was from American Apparel, but I felt that it was necessary as there are so few AA shops in England! A personal favourite of mine was and still is their crop tops; they are some of the few crops tops that I feel look flattering and pretty to wear, and make me feel slightly less self-conscious about bearing the mid-riff! Not only is AA clothing fabulous to look at, American Apparel is a sweatshop free, fairtrade company, so even though the clothing is rather over-priced, it is for an extremely worthy cause, so you can feel good about buying the clothes too!

Currently: I love these cute tennis skirts that AA have just brought in for SS14; my favourite colours that they are sold in are Sunset and Citron. In the UK these skirts are sold for £46.00

Monochrome Myths

Once again the bold print of monochrome has returned to the trends, and secretly I'm thrilled! (not so secret anymore I know.) For some reason, one that I'm not quite certain of myself, I'm quite a fan of this quirky print. Some may say it's too prisoner-from-a-cartoon or Zebra like for them to wear, I say wear it well and it will suit anyone. As it consists of black over white (or white over black, whichever you think) these are two colours that suit anything and everything right? however in my opinion errors with monochrome occur when worn too obviously, and this is what leads to misconceptions that monochrome is too daring of a print for the everyday person to tackle. What most people believe is that monochrome can only be worn as obvious blinding block colours of black and white, usually striped. However there are more subtle ways to rock this trend that work so much better.

Above are two images: Bold monochrome gone wrong Vs. Subtle monochrome gone right. Kate Moss (right) manages to make monochrome look elegant and subtle in her cute 60s dress, whereas Elsa Pataky overdoes it and ends up with quite a blinding result. I myself have recently just purchased an example of subtle monochrome print trousers- an inspiration to this post! The print on them is so detailed and fine that you can barely tell it's monochrome at all (it is though, trust me.)

Purchased: Whistles Monochrome Jacquard Skinny Jeans £95.00.

Current favourites

As we have approached the end of gloomy January and have entered a new month, it has given us plenty of time to spend our Christmas money on between-seasons sales or even the full priced joys that are beginning to enter into shops for the transition into Spring/Summer. I wanted to share some of my recent purchases and favourites... 1)

The first is the 'Benefit high beam' complexion enhancer. The description states that it gives your skin a soft, dewy finish, and that it does! The shimmer in it is not too overwhelming as to give you a stage-makeup-gone-wrong type of look, but instead it does exactly as it states and just enhances the areas of your face which could do with brightening up. 2)

Secondly I've chosen the Smashbox Primers. They are just so light-weight and satin smooth on your skin; I love them. I personally have the green colour correcting one, as my skin has quite red undertones. However, many of my friends just have the basic photo finish, and they equally have been highly impressed by it. It doesn't just have to be used under foundation either; for those who only wear concealer and powder like myself then it works wonderfully too. 3)

Now this one isn't exactly a new favourite, but I have just recently dyed my hair for the third time using this hair dye. I always love the colour that is produced by it, and the dye is so good that I only really have to dye my hair every 6 months. (However if you are fussier than I am about roots then you might have to redye more often.) 4)

Lastly, I have chosen this Topshop Chambray Shirt. I have noticed that Chambray shirts seem to be coming back on trend again slowly, as American Apparel and Topshop are producing plenty of them, and I particularly loved the look of this one from Topshop. So casual, yet teamed with the right trousers and shoes could also make a smart outfit; multi-uses, it must be a must have! I haven't purchased mine yet, but not to worry, I will soon! These are just a few of my current favourites, but there will probably be heaps more that catch my eye soon! E x