There's no place I'd rather be.

Gingham co-ord: c/o Laura Ashley (top and skirt). Zara navy coat: £30. Vintage Salvatore Ferragamo shoes: £2.99, charity shop. Vintage bag: gift from Jazmine. Faux fur tippet: £1, charity shop.

"You can wear jeans and a t-shirt to work? You are so lucky!"

Picture the scene: Laura and I are sardined together on a DLR train headed to Bank and I'm the only person wearing denim in a sea of suits (other than someone who looks like they weren't quite expecting the tropical temperatures mid-February in a shearling jacket - pray for them). The office I work in doesn't have a uniform as such, and instead I find myself dressing in everything from casual outfits perfect for a post-Domino's day or pretty floral midis and bardot tees which would fit in with afternoon tea. When Laura Ashley got in touch asking if I'd style up their pastel co-ord I couldn't help but immediately think of how it'd be perfect for a City office, just the ticket for countering the inevitable greys and navies swarming to Pret for lunch. Realistically, I'm much more likely to pair the top with skinnies or the skirt with an oversized jumper for my own 9-5, but there's nothing like pretending every once in a while...

Want to hear how LA'd wear this co-ord? Pop over to their blog!

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Growing a pair.

Benefit Brow Zings: £24.50's worth of need-this-in-your-life, surrounded by stuff you probably don't need.

As it was Valentine's day yesterday, it only seems apt to talk about the most important couple in my life (after Breana McDow and Matthew Helders, of course): eyebrows.

It's hardly a surprise that the girl who spends a large proportion of her life between Essex and Liverpool has a fascination with the face framers, but it took me until the age of twenty-one to realise just how crucial the bad boys were to making your face look just so. After watching Jazmine painstakingly paint hers on using all manner of techniques including spit, I thought there had to be some kind of worth to this massive exertion of effort. I popped into the Harvey Nichols Beauty Bazaar, came out with a little grey bag containing Benefit's Brow Zings, and I've never looked back.

At just under £25 this isn't exactly cheap, but if you consider I used it nearly daily for a year and a half before it ran out the cost per use is minimal. It comes with two brushes (which are a bit naff, but I'm yet to find ones I like enough to replace them with), teeny tweezers, a subtly-coloured wax to be applied first and a powder to fill in your brows with afterwards. I use the light shade, and have got no idea who dark is aimed at, as this one's pretty deep. Since Eloise wrote her review, they've changed the wax formulation to it having hardly any pigment, so you needn't worry about it being too red-toned for you.

The first time I tried things out things didn't go too successfully. Since, I've learned that I prefer a much thinner arched shape, which extends outwards, this being quite a good example. I'm hardly an expert at it, but would recommend cleaning your brushes regularly as product build-up means it can be pretty tricky to get the exact shape you want.

If I can stick with something for two years and not have any inclination to look elsewhere, it's clear that this is true love - and who am I to play with brows at this time of year?

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Barry had a record store.

Oasis stripy top: £18 (incl. staff discount). Vintage mom jeans. Oasis Camden chelsea boots: £40.80 (incl. staff discount). Brit Stitch half pint. Little Nell key necklace.

When you're a few lemsip down, have multiple packets of tissues on the go and you've had to save your make up due to a sneezing post-mascara scenario (am I the only one?), it's not time to start pulling on your fanciest frock. Instead, go for the most-worn and fail-safe combination in your wardrobe: stripes and denim. Hey, you may not be Françoise Hardy wearing stripes in, um, a bush, but it's a notable step up from pyjamas, so we all know who's winning here. Add in some brand new chelsea boots, nail varnish that feels a billion times brighter than you do and some layers very close to hand, and you've got yourself a leaving the house situation.

Due to rail replacement (can I have a "hell no"), my mum and I decided to head to Billericay so that I could avoid the seventies on wheels for one leg of my journey to Waterloo. Billericay, of Gavin and Stacey fame, is one of those towns I never seem to visit, despite the joy it can provide. I went relatively recently for dinner and drinks with friends, but it was the first time I'd seen the high street in daylight for years, and we were pleasantly surprised to find a record shop come café with Mayer Hawthorne posters and plenty of cake. We whiled away the afternoon with cups of tea and eavesdropping conversations ("...and that's when he pulled on his coat and left the courtroom!") before receiving a whatsapp saying everyone was similarly ill and it was perfectly ok to return home, put the PJs back on and tune in to Take Me Out.

Till next rail replacement, Billericay - see you next weekend.

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Underneath the eggshells.

Finally getting the Boots disposable camera developed that Clarity bought me last year.

Although I love how much my blog's photography has improved over the past few years, sometimes it doesn't hurt to get back to basics. When I first started blogging, I didn't have a digital camera (let alone a DSLR), so most of my posts were accompanied with photos from disposable cameras, and I've got a shoebox filled to the brim with printed-off photos on my windowsill. I know I say it all the time, but I will get back into the habit of carrying one around with me and share them here, as it's not all glossy HD shots and perfectly positioned flat lays, however pretty they look.

I hope you all had a lovely January, and here's to February getting off to a good start!

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Hello, my only one.

The Kooples leather jacket. A-line skirt: c/o Fashion Union. Oasis Lily knit: £3, via sample sale. Vintage bag: gift from Jazmine. Clarks loafers. Vintage tippet: £1, charity shop. Jana Reinhardt and Topshop rings.

It's pretty chilly out, isn't it? Where I live we had a grand two minutes of snow yesterday, but that doesn't mean the air was any kinder. With clear blue skies and the bitter winds which accompanied it, my mum and I headed out for a bite to eat and sat in a cosy sunbathed corner looking over rolling countryside. This does sound incredibly picturesque (it was, and the food was good), but that did mean wearing two coats to counter the length of the sparkly mini skirt and having flushed cheeks even in one of the rare moments I hadn't done anything embarrassing, I promise.

This week looks set to be a good'un. From dinner with work at Dishoom to a belated birthday bash with my babes at Sushi Samba (if only that started with a B too), I've got plenty of excuses to not let blue Monday get to me tomorrow, because if a formula is telling me I'm going to be sad, I'm going to try with all my might to make sure that it's the best day ever. Take that science.

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We go hideaway in daylight, we go undercover when under sun.

Topshop oxblood jumper: £36. Topshop tapestry skirt: £20. Zara navy coat: £30. Bally Swiss chelsea boots: £8, charity shop. Marks and Spencer floppy hat: £15. New Look faux leather backpack: £23. Barry M gelly nail varnish in Cardamom.

That's it - the first week back of 2015 is over! Resetting those body clocks back to pre-sunrise hours has meant a week consisting mainly of jeans and stripy tees (I've learned to never ever trust sartorial decisions made in the early hours), coffee and maybe a treat - or two! I hope yours got off to a happy, if slightly sleepy, start. Thanks for all your well-wishes on last week's post about my cold, it's so nearly gone right now, so things are already looking up, and making plans with friends for the next few months is definitely giving me an extra incentive to boil the kettle for another lemsip.

In our typical Saturday fashion (i.e. grab a map, point, go), I spent my day in Maldon. With its high street of tea rooms and charity shops, there's no better place to while away an afternoon, before taking shelter from the biting winds in a cosy pub overlooking the river Blackwater. It was as different a day as possible to my last blog post there, but I managed to hold onto my hat and see in the weekend with the golden hour.

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When you know you ain't getting any younger.

Primark check coat: £30. Topshop scallop collar blouse: gift. Warehouse denim skirt: £2, sample sale. Bally chelsea boots: £8, charity shop. Marks and Spencer leather bag: £43. Hobbs leather bracelet: £20. MAC "ravishing" lipstick. Barry M "Paprika" gelly nail varnish.

Hello, 2015!

My New Year's Eve was spent at Harry's in London with Jazmine and the Jetts (it's a boyband waiting to happen) and a playlist so carefully curated with 90% of Bowie's back catalogue that we almost forgot to keep an eye on the clock for midnight. After the last few years' efforts, this laid-back approach to seeing in the new year was a welcome change - even if it did mean I didn't get McNuggets on the way home. A few days later it would appear my body's finally decided to let the cold that started over Christmas take a proper hold*, and I'm sipping a lemsip with every full stop. *slurp* So instead of heading to the gym, I'm planning to spend the day in bed with endless cups of tea and catching up on blogs new and old (leave your links in a comment below!) - I'm not sure what happened to that healthy fresh start, but I do kind of like it! Sniffles excluded, obviously.

* These photos were obviously not taken today, where I am currently sporting a rather fetching pyjama set and dressing gown combination - #ootd come at me. 

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