trend & chic

The Gibson

Zoe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:14:04 +0000

When I want to get my hair out of my face I usually tie it back in a ponytail or a bun, but sometimes I want to do something a little different, as long as it’s simple and doesn’t take ridiculous amounts of hairspray and product.

On Saturday morning I was on Pinterest and saw this. After reading the post and watching the video, I immediately wanted to do it – and I did. No hairspray required, it just starts with a ponytail and then pinned in place with some bobby pins.

Later I took this photo with my iPod using Instagram.

Pinning the do in place was the trickiest because my hair’s thick, so the pins would pop out or the hairdo would come undone. But it worked and I was happy with the results. For me, I’ve found that it’s best when my hair’s damp as I tried doing it again when my hair was dry and it just wasn’t happening.

If you want to try it out for yourself, click here to go to the post and watch the video to learn how.

Filed under: Fashion, Hair, How-to Tagged: Gibson, hairstyle

Lola Ramona “Ella”

Zoe — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:36:24 +0000

I got these boots for my birthday and I’ve been absolutely in love with them since I first saw them in a window at a shopping mall. They’re the first pair of boots, or any shoe, that I’ve actually ran to – when I saw that they were still there in the store I saw them in, anything else that was in my head was dashed as I was filled with a rush of excitement. It took all my might not to run into the store like a maniac.

While they have a heel, they’re comfy to walk in and they add a little whimsical flair to any outfit I’m wearing. My Dad says the buttons look like Smarties. I was wearing my Edward Scissorhands tee shirt (from ThinkGeek and that sadly seems to have been discontinued) when the above photo was taken, by my Mum, and one of my followers on Twitter mentioned how the pastel buttons and the Edward Scissorhands tee shirt worked perfectly together, evoking the movie’s pastel-coloured houses. I’ll admit, I’d not even thought of that association when I put the outfit together!

Before I saw these boots (called Ella), I hadn’t heard of Lola Ramona before, but I was quick to Google the name. They are a shoe company based in Denmark and you’ll see on their website that they have fun and zany designs. My favourite is this heel called “Lizzie”. There’s a boot with a similar design called “Gringo”.

Lola Ramona

Filed under: Fashion Tagged: boots, Lola Ramona

Polo Mint Nails {Nail Art Tutorial}

Zoe — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:07:41 +0000

Polo Mint Nails, inspired by the Hitcher's polo vision

I’m a massive fan of The Mighty Boosh (you may recall this post) and all things that inhabit that journey through time and space. It’s difficult to describe or explain what the Boosh is about to those who have not seen it, you either love it or hate it, but it must be seen. The Boosh is basically whatever you want it to be.

I did some Booshy nail art for my birthday yesterday with a simple polo mint design, basing it off the Hitcher, one of the characters in the Boosh. He’s an old, green-skinned Cockney with a large polo mint over his eye that he calls his “solo polo peeper” and “polo vision”. He often tries to kill Howard and Vince, the two main characters, but doesn’t succeed in doing so thankfully – in one episode, he actually changes his mind and they help him make a New Rave version of his musical hall-style number “Eels”.

I simply did a polo mint design on my left ringer fingernail and my right index fingernail. Since this is a very simple design and isn’t exactly distinctly Boosh (like the monkey face icon), if people aren’t familiar with the Boosh it might be mistaken for something geometric – which is also fun!

First, paint your nails green. (Make sure you’ve applied a base coat first.) I used Essie’s “Turquoise & Caicos” (three coats, applied thinly) and OPI’s “Shrektastic” (three coats, applied thinly) on my left ring fingernail and on my right index fingernail. Turquoise & Caicos is a kind of minty green, depending on the light. (I was originally just going to use Turquoise and Caicos on all my nails, but then I thought “Shrektastic” looked rather good when I first tested this nail art design. I don’t usually wear green nail polish, though this shade might have changed my mind!)

Let your nails dry completely. To speed up the process, use OPI’s Rapid Dry top coat or OPI Drip Dry. Both dry nail polish quickly and the top coat fixes any smudges in your nail polish as well as protecting your nails from chipping.

Once your nails are absolutely dry, use the nail dotter tool to make the Hitcher polo mint design. Put some white nail polish on a piece of wax paper or an old plastic lid and dip the smaller end of the dotter tool in the polish.

Carefully start a line upwards on your ring fingernail and make a circle almost midway. Then draw another line upwards to the cuticle line. (The line on the upper part of the nail should be slightly longer than the line under the circle.)

Depending on the opaqueness of the white polish you use, you may need to go over the line and circle a bit more with the polish to make it whiter. Repeat with the other nail on your opposite hand, or have someone do it for you.

(I’m dominantly right-handed, so I was pretty impressed with myself when I did the nail art with my left hand. It’s not as precise as on my left hand, but it’s still pretty good! And it’s Boosh, so it’s alright if it isn’t slick.)

Let your design dry enough before you apply a top coat, or use the drip dry, to avoid the colours smearing or smudging together.

Now go and get your Boosh on!

Products used–

Essie “Turquoise and Caicos”
OPI “Shrektastic”
Essie “Limo Scene”
Sephora dotting tool
OPI Rapid Dry nail polish or OPI drip dry

If you don’t have these specific nail polishes, you can still do it using whatever green and white nail polishes you have on hand. The dotting tool is needed to make the nail art (the polo mint) or just use a white nail art polish that has a skinny brush you can paint with.

*My sister helped me with the tutorial photos and my Mum took the final shot with my new Mighty Boosh tee shirt. (I was having an ice cream soda.)

Filed under: How-to, Nail Polish, The Mighty Boosh, Tutorials Tagged: Hitcher, nail art, polo mint, The Mighty Boosh

Pearl Elegance and Chic {Two Ways}

Zoe — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:07:11 +0000

A couple of nights ago I was watching The Mighty Boosh Live tour documentary – their first tour after the television series – on YouTube. At some point while I was watching, I couldn’t help but notice Noel Fielding’s long pearl necklace, specifically how he was wearing it and I became slightly fixated. (I’m a bit of a Noel Fielding and Boosh nut right now.)

I’ve had this fake pearl necklace for years. I originally used it for a childhood Galadriel costume for Halloween that my grandmother made for me, back when I was really into Lord of the Rings and the Peter Jackson movies were still coming out.

I like fashion, though I’m hardly the kind of person to seriously swoon over an article of clothing or something, like getting weak in the knees about it. When I put the pearl necklace on and tied that little chunky knot, surveying myself in the mirror, I felt a little swell of pride. And I pulled some shapes Vince Noir would’ve been proud of. Oh dear! Okay, so I did swoon a little.

I thought to myself, “How fun! With that knot, it kind of looks like a tie. A pearl tie.” Needless to say, quite pleased with myself in that moment and further pleased when my sister agreed with me about the tie resemblance.

Then I looped the necklace twice round my neck and tied a knot again, upping the casual elegance a little more. (This was my own idea, I hadn’t seen Noel wearing his in this style.)

Both styles are great. I wore the layered and knotted one today, which is great if you want to wear a longer necklace but don’t want it possibly getting in the way. I’d wear the simpler style – how Noel wore his – on a day when I know I wouldn’t be doing any activities that could get it tangled up or clack against things.

Filed under: Fashion, Jewelry, Pop culture, The Mighty Boosh Tagged: casual elegance, Instagram, Noel Fielding, pearls

3 Things

Zoe — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:24:55 +0000

These are some things I’ve been enjoying for the last couple or so weeks. Of course, they’re more than three things but that’s the number I’m sticking to for now.

The first one is my new lipstick, Russian Red by MAC (photo on left). It’s a gorgeous, classic red in matte from the Wonder Woman collection last year that I fell in love with but didn’t get at the time. Thankfully this one became a permanent lipstick so I could still get it with MAC’s recycling program (6 empty MAC containers for a free lipstick of your choosing).

One of my favourite things to do – and that I honestly don’t do often enough – is flower arranging. When I was a little girl, I would sometimes pick daisies and dandelions and clover, tying them together in a bouquet with long blades of grass. I’ve always found it a peaceful activity, sometimes almost meditative, and one that I enjoy immensely. These roses were from my Mum’s birthday bouquet and, after trimming the stems, I arranged them with some black fern with glitter that I got from the Whole Foods floral department around Christmas. The photo I took afterward on my iPod, using Snapseed to give it a vintage feel.

Yesterday I went to Simply French, a cafe on 10th, to meet up with a friend of mine. While I was waiting for her, I took a couple photos with my iPod and this is my favourite one of the macarons (lemon and chocolate orange, both superb; the lemon being the all-time favourite) and my chai tea. (I posted it yesterday on Instagram, although I didn’t like the square formatting so much for this photo.) In real life the floor is a kind of dark, rustic worn-looking hardwood, though the light filtered through the iPod camera lens makes it look blue and I kind of like it. It gives it a cool European vibe.

Filed under: iPodography, Lipstick, Photography, Places Tagged: flower arranging, French, MAC