Evening sunset and Lilylulu giveaway.

Cropped blouse: c/o Lilylulu. Topshop grey cami dress (worn underneath): old. New Look sandals. Vintage bag: gift from Jazmine. Urban Outfitters hat: £12. Boohoo necklace.

Yes, that is a cropped blouse. I never thought I'd see the day either, but with time (and with obsessing over the Whitepepper's lookbooks) these things happen, and when Lilylulu said they'd like to send an item my way, I saw this pastel perfect blouse and just knew it had to end up in my wardrobe. Unfortunately you can tell that no amount of time spent in the gym is going to make a difference, and it is a little tight so it's going to end up in one of my friend's wardrobes, but it's such a beautiful piece that I'm jealous of whoever nabs it first - so please do size up to avoid disappointment. I find that it can be pretty tricky to style cropped items, so I decided to layer it over an old Topshop sale buy for an evening walk. I would have loved to accessorise with rose gold jewellery, however I'm lacking in that particular style so opted for fail-safe black, and really do like how it turned out.

fancy your chances?

Lilylulu were kind enough to offer not just me but you guys a little treat from their new collection. For your chance to win the Pia Long Floral Kimono (see how I'd style a long kimono here - they're super swishy and thus amazing) all you have to do is follow my blog via GFC (at the bottom of the page!) or bloglovin, follow Lilylulu on twitter, and leave a comment with some means of contacting you (either your email or twitter, for example) if you win - simple! I'll announce the winner in my post on Sunday 10th August.

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Just 20,000 people standing in a field.

Kimono, top, skirt, sandals, purse and hat: c/o New Look.

When the average temperature raises to some point above uncomfortably chilly, it becomes what I like to refer to as "festival season". So far this year I've been to one British festival (in case you've already forgotten, it was last month's Parklife festival), and Isle of Summer in Munich, with hopefully one more coming up at the end of the summer. You could say that I'm going through mud withdrawal symptoms right about now. So when New Look got in touch to ask whether I was interested in styling up a festival inspired look, it didn't take much effort on my part to put it all together - it's almost second nature by now! This is, admittedly, more of a luxe festival look (am I really wearing heels? Try that in mud up to your knees), but I still think there are definite late-afternoon-in-the-comedy-tent vibes down to my lovely longline kimono, which only the coolest cats like Millie Mackintosh and Daisy Lowe can pull off well into day four. I ended up wearing this to pop into town and then to the pub quiz, but I would gladly have worn this in front of the Pyramid stage, had I been given the chance. For now, the field next to my house will have to do!

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Brazil is here.

Blue and white Bardot dress: c/o Quiz clothing. Urban Outfitters fedora hat: £26. Red heart bag: c/o LYDC. Black strappy sandals: c/o New Look. Rotary watch. Topshop "Really Ruby" lipstick. Models Own "Sophie's Pink" nail varnish and Essie "Lapiz of Luxury" nail varnish.
Photos by Megan - she's running a New Look giveaway, so definitely check out her blog!

When I heard that there was a beach in Covent Garden, I couldn't help but be intrigued and pop along after work to find out just how they'd managed to transport a little bit of Brazil to the British Isles. Ipanema are a Brazilian footwear brand who wanted to help make London a little bit less grey by setting up a beach shack BBQ and beach right next to the covered markets at Covent Garden. After a hot (and not in the good way) tube journey, I met up with Megan to take some outfit photos before heading to meet the other girls. Trying to find somewhere that isn't entirely overrun with people is pretty tricky when you're at tourist hotspot Covent Garden, but we managed to find a little break in the constant foot traffic right next to the pretty pastel Primrose Bakery, and I'm more than happy with how these photos have turned out, which isn't a very common occurrence! We then headed over to meet Amy, before Kim (the lovely lady behind the blogger network at etail pr) introduced herself, and we sampled the caipirinhas. It was so lovely to meet some new ladies, and spent most of my time chatting to Paulina and Emily before I had to head home. I've felt a little out of the blogging loop since I've moved back from Germany as I'm constantly doing real life stuff (I know, it exists!), so it was lovely to put a pretty frock on for an evening of cocktails and chat. Just one big thank you to etail, ipanema and Cabana for inviting me along, and further confirming that caipirinhas are fast becoming my favourite cocktail.

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Where's all my soul sisters.

Lace sleeve playsuit and plunge neck dress: c/o Missguided.

You may or may not have noticed that there's someone else joining me in these photos. Missguided got in touch asking who my BFF was, and my immediate thought was the girl who'd travel across countries to see me if I was feeling a bit down or happen to have festival tickets - we ought to be at Parklife right about now, actually! Sabby's appeared on this blog a fair few times, accompanied me to events, and generally been an all-round top lad since I sat next to her in my first history A level class nearly five years ago. In that time she's lived in Paris, I've lived in Munich, and we've got through a few more bottles of vodka than it's probably acceptable to admit (well, she is part-Russian, after all). As a general rule, I'm pretty guarded with who I share things with due to a fair amount of past disappointment, but this one seems to be doing alright. I'm not one to get all soppy, and I'm definitely not letting her read this before it's published as she's handily packing hot pants for the weekend's festival right now, but it truly does mean more than I let on to have a friend who really is there for you all the time even when it's 3am and you're in a different time zone, loyal even when they know you're being a bit of an idiot, and literally feeds my love for hummus. That last one's the most important, obviously.

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When the music's over.

Midi dress: £13, Primark. Belt: 20p, charity shop. Necklace: Sabby's. Shoes: 50p, Russell and Bromley via ebay. Bag: £3, charity shop.

Bon soir!

My whirlwind trip to Paris feels like a lifetime ago, even though I only came back on Tuesday. For Sabby's twenty-first, we headed to the Continent where she's been studying for the past few months as part of her course. I visited last December, but this time a whole cohort of us ended up jumping on the Eurostar to wish this girl a happy birthday. This time it was certainly a lot hotter (no need for fur hats), so I whipped out my only midi for a wander to the twentieth arrondissement. 

Before the rest of our sorry lot turned up, Sabby and I visited Père Lachaise. Admittedly not the jolliest location for a day trip, but I've always wanted to pay my dues to a certain Mr Wilde (thanks for the 2:1!), as well as Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Balzac, et al. Thankfully the sunshine took the edge off the dreary occasion, and we could wander the wiggly pathways without too much trouble, before heading to a café for mojitos, just in time to avoid the sudden downpour. We did, however, have to brave it to pick up Biggs from Gare du Nord, so I can only apologise for the wild hair in my outfit photos. Unlike my local club, there aren't pay-per-minute straighteners on parisian street corners.

For dinner we headed to Blend on Olivia's recommendation and, in short, it was good. Very good. We got there just before it opened at 7, and were worried as we were the only diners. Give it ten minutes, and we were glad to have got there, as a queue had formed, and we were able to stalk (or roll) past the rumbling bellies, full with burger and chips. 

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