Trendy, manly knitwear

As I wrote in my last post, I've got the most wonderful man in the world, and therefore I've decided to write a post on his favourite fashion item - the fine knit cardigan. If you look into hos wardrobe all you see is cardigans! It's mostly quite plain ones in neutral colours such as grey, black, navy blue and white, but sometimes he'll surpise you by wearing a patterned one (stripes) or a bright purple one. I decided to treat my man and bought him a couple of cardigans from Next, and rather than going for the typical style I chose a couple with unusual details. The colours were still neutral (white, and navy blue) since I know he wouldn't wear anything too colourful, but the collars had cool details. Oh my, does he look handsome in these cardigans :)

What fashion item would you buy for your man?

 Black Denim and Supply shawl neck cardigan from Ralph Lauren

Dark grey G-Star chunky knitwear with shawl neck from House of Fraser

Light grey cardigan with button details and pockets from Repertoire Fashion

White v-neck cardigan with t-shirt insert from Next 

A woman's right to pampering

Can I just say, my man is amazing ;) He proper spoilt me rotten for Christmas! He got me some really amazing Christmas presents that any girl would kill for. I kid you not! Unfortunately for you guys, I'm not gonna tell you the number 1 fantastic present he got me - if I do, then you're gonna try to steal him off me! ;)

Other than this number 1 fantastic present (which might or might not be a trip somewhere) he got me some lovely pampering products. Every woman has the right to some full on luxury pampering, and what better way to do it than with some gorgeously scented bath and body products from Sanctuary.

This 5 piece set of bath, shower and body products is my new favourite. I absolutely love the smell of these products, and could easily stay in the shower or bath all day just to inhale the scents. The body scrub is great. Compared to other body scrubs which often have either too big seeds in them, not enough or way too much, this scrub has just enough scrubby bits.

I've never been a big fan of lotions and body butters, but seriously - the smells of these body butters in the Sanctuary Skin Quenching Collection are mesmerising! The Sensuous Body Souffle is definitely my favourite.

I also got a very weird looking fresh face mask from Lush, which was pure green and pepperminty. I couldn't find that exact one on the Lush website, but this image is of the most similar looking one. I read the ingredients and it's stuff like Absolute vanilla vodka in it. Eeh.. odd! How can that be good for your skin? I tried the mask on one night last week and it does feel bloody good though! ;)

My sister, who's a hair dresser, got me some great professional salon products from Redken. No more pulling my tangled hair when trying to brush it after a shower!

As well as this, I also got my favourite perfume by Ralph Lauren. This one has a really fresh and floral scent and is perfect as a "day perfume". Apparently this perfume is the result of mixing green apple leaves, orange mandarin, pink magnolia and purple freesia. No wonder it smells so wonderfully! I used to have the purple Ralph Lauren perfume before as well - "HOT" - which is more spicy, and suits a night out. Unfortunately they've stopped making it. Gutted!

I hope you all got spoilt rotten for Christmas as well :)

Sherlock Holmes premiere and film fashion

I just went to see "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" at the cinema the other day. Brilliant film! I really recommend that you go and see it.
I was quite smitten with the fantastic 1800's fashion in the film, and decided to do a post on the fashion of two of the female roles. But first, some photos from the premiere of "A Game of Shadows" that was held at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, California on Tuesday the 6th of December.

33 year old actress Rachel McAdams is looking stunning in her Marchesa dress on the red carpet. I would have preferred to see her in her brown locks though. I love her brown hair in the film, and think it suits her a lot better than this ashy blond colour.

Swedish actress Noomi Rapace (31) is sparkling just as much as co-actress Rachel. Did they decide to match each other for this particular event?

The women have two completely different styles in the film. Upper class Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) is always seen in massive multi-layered dresses with puffy skirts and tight corset tops, paired with suit jackets and hats with flowery details. Her hair is tied back in complicated hairdos with tight curls.

Rebellious gypsy woman Simza (Noomi Rapace) takes people by storm with her wild looks. She's wearing long flowing skirts, layer on layer clothes, lace detailed tops, scarves, manly hats and tons of chunky jewellery. I think her motto is that you can never have too much jewellery - she's wearing some amazing earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. Her hair is let down in tangled waves, with some sun bleached highlights. Noomi should definitely consider going for this hairstyle outside of the screen as well.

The film was very much like the first one - full of witty comments, clever solutions to problems, and lots of action. Comedy, mystery and excitement in one. Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law are both brilliant actors, and they are definitely the right men for this film.

Giveaway - Winner!

Hey guys! I am so sorry for not announcing the winner for my necklace giveaway before Christmas. I had so much to do before I went home, so I just didn't have time to do it. Instead of a Christmas present, see this as a little January treat :) What a great way to start 2012!

And the winner is...

This pretty necklace will soon be on the way to you :)

Love,

Maria

Ideal vs real life NYE

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! Let's talk about New Year's...

In an ideal world we would all be going to glamorous dinner parties dressed in stylish designer clothes, looking nothing but flawless. We would mingle with amazing and inspiring people, drink delicious cocktails and exclusive champagne, and wake up feeling perfectly fine without a hangover the next day. Unfortunately I'm not a millionaire and I can't afford a designer outfit, but if I could you betcha I would be wearing something like this for my glamorous New Year's party:

As you can see I've gone for a black and gold style, which I find very suitable for a sparkly New Year's party. The dress is one of the example dresses from my last post about Christmas and New Year's Eve dresses. The to-die-for bag is from Jimmy Choo, the earrings are Gucci, and the gorgeous shoes are Yves Saint Laurent.

In the real world I will probably cook dinner for myself at home, and then go to one of the local pubs with my friends, wearing jeans and a simple top... waking up with a horrible hangover on the 1st of January. Happy New Year!

Evening dresses for Christmas and New Year's Eve

♪ ♫ Christmas time, mistletoe and wine... ♪ ♫ WINE! And there's gonna be wine for New Year's Eve as well, but in a bubblier form. This is the season of celebrations, and you're better off celebrating in style. So here comes the same question that you ask yourself every year at this time; What am I going to wear for Christmas and New Year's Eve?

I like to dress up for Christmas - even though I usually only spend it with my family. And for New Year's Eve the motto is; the more glamorous and sophisticated - the better.

I tend to opt for a semi casual dress in a dark, wintery colour like black, purple or red for Christmas, and a fancy evening dress with a little bit of sparkle for New Year's Eve. 

Need some inspiration? Check out these gorgeous evening dresses that I've picked out! As you can see I've chosen to go for typical holiday colours.

My favourite is the black short dress with folded details at the top right from Coast.

If you don't fancy squeezing into a dress for your celebrations (they can be a bit tight around this time of year with all the yummy Christmas food!) then opt for a party top that you match with either a skirt, or some fancy trousers.

1 knitted dress - 2 completely different styles

I got this light purple jumper dress in a very fine knitted material from online fashion shop Zalando the other day. The dress was quite pricey (£28) but the quality is amazing, and it's definitely worth every penny. I wasn't sure what to wear with it at first... tights, leggings, skinny jeans...? I decided that it would look nicer with tights.

I have put together 2 different looks including this dress below; one tough rock chick style with a lot of black leather, and one "granny" style with vintage inspired accessories. I absolutely love the leather waist belt with a bow in the rock style, and the pocket watch necklace in the granny style (I have actually added that necklace to my wish list for Christmas.)

I am a chameleon when it comes to clothes and I love both these styles. Which one would you rather go for? Would you rock this dress up, or would you grannify it?

Knitted dress from Zalando

Wetseal knitted eternity scarf

Biker leather jacket from House of Fraser

Studded leather bow belt from vincecamuto.com

Buffalo heeled boots

Black tights from Debenhams

Juicy Couture 'Scotty - Daydreamer' bag

 

PAUL & JOE SISTER wool cape from Harrods

Monsoon woollen hat

Pocket watch necklace rom modcloth.com

Knitted dress from Zalando

BALENCIAGA 'Work' bag

Cable-knit tights from H&M

Tamaris ankle boots