Summer Must Have: Espadrilles

This Summer I have noticed that espadrilles have been a Summer must have. Luxury and high street brands have come out with their versions. I think espadrilles' are a great alternative to always wearing flip flips and sandals during the warmer months; and in England it's not hot enough to wear flip flops or sandals so espadrilles cover your feet but still look summery compared to wearing trainers all the time! I thought I would share what I have bought and some of my favourites that I have seen in the shops.

Last summer, I bought some beige and silver pair from Zara and I wore these to death last summer and they still look brand new.

This summer I thought I would buy another pair but in leather. I saw these Kenzo espadrilles with an embossed tiger on the pink leather in the Selfridges sale and thought these were perfect for summer as they were bright and would go with anything from jeans to dresses.

Now for the ones I'm loving in the shops but just haven't bought... yet!

These Chanel espadrilles have been all over my Instagram and I think they are beautiful with the classic and understated colours which allows you to wear them with anything. Chanel have two options either leather espadrilles or canvas.

Kurt Geiger have come out with some beautiful espadrilles in different colours with a black toe cap.

I also love the espadrilles with the lace ups around the leg. I think these ones are perfect for holidays and also dress up your outfit as it looks like the wrap around sandals that are on sale.

River Island

Soludos

Soludos 

Check out my Pinterest board - Espadrilles for more of my favourites

Love Soraya x

Photo Credits: Myself and Pinterest

Flamingo Fever

This summer has been the rise of the Flamingo motif on absolutely everything. The Flamingo style lilo's proved to be very popular among celebrities and bloggers, which has filled my Instagram feed. Not only have the lilo's been popular, but any piece of clothing or accessory have proved very popular too. I thought I would share some of my favourites. 

Sophia Webste

Sophia Webster

Alice & Olivia 

Skinny Dip

I have not bought any Flamingo themed things yet this season (well, not yet anyway) but I am very happy that I can whip out my H! by Henry Holland bomber jacket I bought a couple of years ago. It is definitely a statement bomber jacket but it will always be one of my favourites.

Soraya x 

Photo Credits: Asos, Sophia Webster, 

Nordstrom, Skinny Dip, Myself

Anastasia Beverly Hills Haul

Last week, I made a little Cult Beauty order as I needed some new brow stuff and I thought I would try the Anastasia Dipbrow as I really liked the Brow Definer, which I bought in New York, but it ran out too quickly; so hopefully this will last a little longer! I went for the shade Dark Brown as that it's the same shade as the one I bought in New York. I also bought a new brow brush as the brow brush I am using at the moment with my Smashbox eyebrow powder is quite thick and I did not think it would would well with the Dipbrow gel. The brush I bought was the #12 Duo Brow/Eyeliner Angled Cut/ Spooley. 

I then thought I would try the Anastasia Glow Kit. There were two collections out of the three on the Cult Beauty website so I decided on the Sun Dipped collection as I thought I would wear those warmer shades  the most. I absolutely love my BECCA highlighter and I can not wait to try these beautifully pigmented highlighters. 

L-R - Summer, Moonstone, Tourmaline & Bronzed

I am very excited to try these two products! See you on Friday with a new post. 

Soraya x 

Photo Credits: My own 

All links to products mentioned are linked

Dinner at the Ivy Chelsea Garden

Last week I went to dinner at the Ivy Chelsea Garden. The outside decorated for Wimbledon with beautiful purple flowers, tennis rackets and tennis balls. The service was excellent and the food was delicious. I thought that I would share my photos of the dinner. Enjoy!

Fish and Chips

Chocolate Bombe 

Soraya x 

Photo Credits: @ivychelsgarden Instagram 

and my own photos 

Kylie Cosmetics - Exposed Review

Recently I decided to jump on the bandwagon and buy a Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit. I had been thinking about buying one for a while as I absolutely love liquid lipsticks at the moment, I am obsessed with wearing MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lip Colour in the shade  Lady Be Good, which i a lovely pinky nude which I normally pair with MAC Spice Lip Pencil. When picking a shade that I would get a lot of wear out of I was not sure what to for as I don't really wear pinks or bright reds and the metallic shades look beautiful but I'm not sure when I would wear them. I knew Kylie releases new shades all the time so I decided to wait till I found a shade I liked. About 8 weeks ago Kylie announced her new shade that would be added to the collection - Exposed. It looked like the perfect nude! A shade I would wear all the time! So I decided to buy it when it came out but I was too late and it was already sold out. I few weeks later my friend said she was doing an order so she ordered Exposed for me. I could not tell you the shipping process but I thought Lily Pebbles' video on the her experience of buying the Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kits was really useful when I was doing my own research. 'Kylie Lip Kit Review & First Impressions'.

Left- Right - Spice Lip Liner, Exposed Lip Liner, Exposed
Liquid Lip Stick, Lady Be Good Liquid Lip Stick 

Exposed Lip Liner and Lip Stick

I received my Lip Kit on Thursday and I was going to The Ivy Chelsea Garden on Friday for dinner (blog post to follow on Friday) so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to test its staying power whilst out for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised how well it lasted. I thought the liquid lipstick dried quicker than my MAC  liquid lip colour. The lip liner went on smoothly however when I applied the lip stick on top I thought that you could not be so neat when applying the liquid to the outline of your lips. After applying the lip kit, it dried quickly and I noticed slight cracking but noting too major that anyone else would notice. I have read mixed reviews, with people divided on the lip kits being too dry. I didn't find it drying at all. It was very comfortable and lasted the night. It has some serious staying power! For once my lipstick wasn't half gone! I can see this becoming my new favourite. 

Have you bought anything from Kylie Cosmetics? If so, what do you think of it? I know there has been a massive restock the weekend, so go checkout what's in stock if you want any of the lip kits/ glosses or metallics.

Soraya x 

Missoni - Art of Colour Exhibition

I recently went to the Missoni Art of Colour Exhibition at the Fashion and Textiles Museum by London Bridge Underground Station.

This exhibition celebrated Missoni's colourful designs and patterns. We started the exhibition by looking at different colourful abstract artwork that they were inspired by artists including Sonia Deluaney, Gino Severini and Nino Di Salvatore.

Ballerina, Gino Severini, 1957

Untitled, Sonia Deluanay, 1936

We then entered a room that included some of Ottavio Missoni's large colourful tapestries. I loved these as the mix of materials, colours and patterns all come together beautifully. Across the room there was a pyramid of mannequins wearing Missoni designs throughout the years. Behind the pyramid of Missoni mannequins was a curtain of colourful knitting threads that would be used in Missoni garments. The curtain gradually changed shades and colours as it went on.

Continuing the exhibition upstairs we saw the sheets of square boxed paper that Missoni created their colour palettes on. They used felt tips and knitting threads for this process. The rest of the upstairs continued to display inspiration for their designs and colour themes through art, sculptures and mixed media. Towards the end of the exhibition mood boards of the experimental stages of Missoni's knitted patterns and colour ways were displayed.

Pantachrome n.5, Davide Boriani, 1967

Politipo L'immaginazione crea, Alberto Biasi, 1972

Construziane, Luigi Veronesi, 1992

The final room show a documentary of Missoni's design and creative journey. The room was kitted out with Missoni Home furniture - rugs, knitted wall mirrors and colourful bean bags.

I thought this exhibition was beautifully presented and wonderfully colourful however I thought it was slightly on the small side. I would have loved if the Missoni collections were spaced out so you could look at each individual outfit in more detail instead of looking at the Missoni collection as a collective piece of the exhibition. I would have liked to have known the years of each garment as no information was provided which I thought was strange. Overall I though it was an interesting exhibition but it was a shame you couldn't look at the clothes in more detail.

Love Soraya x

My own photos