You turn around and you don't know where you've been.

American Apparel silky collar tee: £18. Topshop leather skirt: £13.50. Topshop buckle boots: £76.50. Zara navy coat: £30. Brit-Stitch mini satchel. Rotary watch: gift. Miss Selfridge knitted snood: gift.

Photos by Charlotte.

Last month you may have heard me mention on twitter or see some of my instagrams of heading a little North to Berlin. Sorry for the radio silence on that front, but I typically managed to get a little distracted, and now I'm only just getting round to showing you my photos.

Despite having wanted to visit since I started learning German in year seven, this is the first time I've managed to make it to Berlin. Now I'm living in the same country, we managed to nab a really cheap return bus journey (taking nearly four times as long as it would be to fly from London, but let's just ignore that painful memory for now) and a few of us headed to the German capital on Friday night. Of course the Berlin Wall memorial was on our to-do list, and we headed to East Side Gallery in the biting cold. It's always odd to see something you've seen in photos millions of times before, but it does hit home quite a bit more in real life. From learning about various Fluchtversuche in A Level lessons (the fact I actually remember that word says a lot, in the above photos the words "freedom", "history", and "euphoria" have been woven into the art work) to seeing the iconic graffiti on instagrams worldwide, it was a bit of a surreal experiencing it first hand. Unfortunately the freezing cold got the better of us and we didn't manage to walk to entire length of the Berlin Wall, but we headed back to the edges of Kreuzberg for a warming hot chocolate.

I was determined to bring my Brit-Stitch satchel to Berlin, purely to photograph the B in a city starting with the same name (me? perfectionist?), so it made its way on the coach with us. I decided to pair it with my favourite Topshop leather skirt, which has definitely seen better days, so I'm on the look out for a new one - please let me know if you see any good'uns! I've recently been looking at Zalando's leather skirts as they're a German company (based in Berlin, funnily enough) so it'll arrive a lot more quickly than if I were to get another Topshop one, but I'm currently undecided. Add in a collared blouse and buckle boots (and, obviously a warm coat, ain't nobody got time for colds), and I had a thoroughly 'me' outfit. Not bad for panic packing in about an hour...

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Let there be love.

Roses are red, violets are blue, you've seen my face, so here're some new ones for you

Years ago, I spent most of my free time reading fashion blogs when it was still quite a new concept. Now I've got my own, as I'm sure you've noticed, but I still spend a high percentage of my free time reading the blogs I follow to catch up on the lives of people all around the world. Recently I haven't been so good at discovering new blogs, but there's nothing better than coming across one you adore, and I do check out the blogs of people who comment and notice the same names popping into my inbox again and again. I don't say it very often as I don't want to come across all soppy, but it really does mean a lot to get a comment on a blog post that I've worked hard on, and I just want to say thanks for coming back to this little diary every once in a while, I really do appreciate it - thank you.

As it's Valentine's Day, and I'm going to be spending it with the triple distilled love of my life, I thought I'd share some of my favourite blogs that you may not have come across before. I do have a blog roll (anyone else noticed that these aren't as common any more? That used to be how I'd find new blogs!), and you can always check out who I follow on bloglovin', but here are a few gems who I wanted to share the love with.

Tanya

who is tanya

Without a doubt, Tanya is one of the loveliest girls I've ever had the pleasure to come across. She's currently at uni in Southampton, but I did sort of bump into her in London once, and it's always bugged me that I didn't use my initiative and go and say hello. Always a tweet away, I just know that we'd get on over a cuppa, and reading her blog is like having a catch up with an old friend. It's only a matter of time before we actually do meet up, and I hope it's sooner, rather than later!

Jade

the jade aesthetic

I honestly can't remember when I started reading Jade's blog, but it's got to have been a good while ago now. I seem to remember thinking that we were opposites when I was at uni, as we swapped between Liverpool and London during term time. Now I've kind of mucked that up by moving to Munich (soz), but Jade's blog has had a bit of a makeover and I'm still a constant reader. I put my never finding anything decent in the Liverpool Zara down to her snapping everything up first in her head-to-toe outfits from the store, but I can't really hold it against her as she looks so much better in it than I would.

Hannah

han valentine

I followed Hannah on twitter for ages before I followed her blog, and I'm pretty sure I expected it to be a shrine to the Courteeners when I clicked through (you might have tweeted about them once or twice!), but I found one of the most beautiful blogs around. Her photos' moody lighting, whilst probably owing a lot to the Manchester weather, complements her outfits, all of which I'd add to my own wardrobe like a shot. She's a graphic design student, and, as a result, is constantly changing her layout, and has had some of the best ones I've ever seen. Now I've got the itch to redesign my own...

Sonia

erstwhile felicity

The only one here which isn't strictly fashion (although there are the occasional outfit snippets!), but Sonia's photography is, in a word, amazing, and I couldn't not include it. I came across it at work and spent a good twenty minutes scrolling through the archives. Although not the most productive of mornings, erstwhile felicity has since become one of my favourites and makes me want to explore the settings of my Canon 550D even more.

Jordan

bambi legs

On one of my normal google searches of Arctic Monkeys lyics (fyi, on this occasion it was "stop the world, I wanna get off with you") I noticed someone who definitely wasn't Alex Turner. Jordan's blog was quickly added to my bookmarks, and her AM titles always make me smile when they come up on my feed. Jordan's style is pretty feminine, although she loves to add a chunky boot, and I always look to her recent outfits when I fancy a little online shopping session as she has a habit of finding some really beautiful things.

Sonia

smoke and velvet

I'm pretty sure I first came across Sonia on tumblr, but her personal style blog is one of the best out there, for sure. Her choices are much cooler than anything I could ever wear, but it doesn't hurt to keep up to date and dream that maybe one day I'll look as effortless as her! With real Chung vibes, but not enough to be another wannabe clone, Sonia's the kind of girl who would look good in anything, but you can tell she's got good taste, and that goes for her taste in music too.

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Now then mardy bum.

Zara navy coat: £30. Aubin and Wills breton top: £30. Brag vintage mom jeans (new'uns here). Buckle chelsea boots: c/o Missguided. Topshop frilly socks: gift. Rotary watch: gift. Mememe cosmetics "sparkle" lipgloss.
Photos by Carmen.

Kavita always used to mock my smiling blog photos, but when you look at these it's pretty obvious that my standard facial expression is "bitch face". Surprisingly, I wasn't actually hating life when taking these photos, whatever my face may say otherwise. Anyway...

Considering I never wore jeans a year ago, this is turning into a staple outfit, à la Mlle Purvis. I remember her trying on a pair of AA mom jeans in Liverpool and quite clearly thinking that I'd never ever wear a pair myself, but it would appear that I'm a bit of a hypocrite. Paired with my favourite Aubin & Wills (RIP) breton, some kick-ass boots, and with frilly topshop ankle socks peeping out, I feel like this is something that I can just slip on without too much thought when I wake up bleary eyed in the morning. And, look mum, no burgundy!

Today I'm heading out to see the Nelson Mandela film with a few of my friends, which is the first time I've been to the cinema since seeing Les Mis last year. I'm not really a cinema person, and much prefer watching films in the comfort of my pyjamas, but as this is a little bit of a novelty I'm going to leave the tight jeans at home and go for a smock dress to match my portion of popcorn. A very large portion.

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