The Perfect Summer Blouse

If there’s one shop I have been LOVING this summer it’s got to be New Look, It’s always been somewhere I’ve liked to shop but every time I look on the ‘New In’ section online at the moment my card takes another bashing.

One thing I find it so good for is staple pieces, from jumpsuits, dresses, paperbag waist trousers, you can dress them all up or down for whatever the occasion may be. Let’s just take a minute to talk about this blouse though..

I love the buttons down the front, I have seen this style everywhere lately on dresses and skirts and it instantly catches my eye, it just adds a bit of extra detail & interest.

The fit of this top is really nice, I prefer how it looks tucked in to a nice pair of high wasted jeans or paperbag waist bottoms, it gives it a lot more shape. I wouldn’t describe it as cropped but its certainly not as long as I normally prefer my shirts to be if I’m not tucking them in, it’s been a loooong time since I’ve worn a cropped number without some high waisted trousers.

Pale pink has always been my favourite colour, its neutral enough to go with different patterns and tones so again such an easy wear. I also own 4 other versions of this top (yep no.1 fan) there are soo many colours online and some of them differ slightly in style. The mustard & navy ones I have don’t have the pocket on the front and have a v-neck rather then a collar. I’ve got an off white one which also doesn’t have the collar but is a body fit which makes it handy for tucking in and lastly my other favourite is leopard print. The leopard print (which by the way is another HUGE love of mine this summer..blog post coming soon!) one has a tie front to make it cropped but I can’t say I’ve worn it like that.

Who knew you could find so much to write about on a blouse? Must be love! I’ve linked some similar below and just as a heads up, some have gone into the sale but looks like they’re selling fast!

Thanks for reading 🙂 let me know what you’re staple pieces/favourite places to shop have been this summer.

Striped Shorts (mine are last years but these ones are similar)

Gold Sandals (similar to mine not the same)

USA Wardrobe Wishlist

It’s nearly that time, I’m off to one of my absolute favourite places in the world the US of A very very soon and with that I thought I’d share 10 items which are currently on my mind and basically must come with me on my trip! We’re flying into LA and doing a bit of a California road trip up the coast to San Francisco. On the way home we’re stopping via New York for a few nights so there’s a bit of a mix of summer stuff and stuff if it gets a bit chilly. Pretty much 100% sure I will freeze in New York as I think I saw it was snowing there the other day, but I’m just going to use that as an excuse to buy things over there really because why wouldn’t you!?

1. I’m very much enjoying mustard and stripes at the moment so absolutely LOVE this shirt, teamed up with some high waisted denim shorts it would definitely be a winner.

2. I can’t get enough of Pull & Bear right now, they have soo many nice things and for such a reasonable price. I got the black pinstripe version of these pink trousers recently and they’re basically smart really well fitted jogging bottoms, unbelievably comfy.

3. A slogan tee can go with just about anything, jeans or trousers then add a nice blazer on top and you’re sorted.

4. This Topshop jumper has been sitting in my basket online for soo long and I finally decided to get it the other day, its yellow so what more can I say?

5. High waisted shorts because they go with everything and it’s a holiday essential.

6. Classic vans, I actually love these with tailored trousers and a blazer. They make the outfit look a little more casual and they’re perfect for walking around in if you’re out for the day.

7. I think I’ve already mentioned the word blazer enough so far so you can understand why this would be featured in my Wishlist!

8. A neckerchief is one of my favourite favourite things to finish off an outfit and I think this grey one is pretty cute with the stars.

9. Checked shirt to layer up over a t-shirt, love this colour as well.

10. Western style belt to wear with those high waisted denim shorts, not sure how long I’ll be wearing that for though I’ll be honest with the amount of In n Out burgers and Coldstone ice creams I plan to consume.

I’m going to be doing quite a few write ups on the trip when I’m home and of course will be posting lots of outfit pictures over on Instagram while I’m there so give me a follow if you’d like to see those.

thanks for reading

How I Maintain My Silver Hair

So as promised here is a little post on how I maintain my hair colour. It’s a question I get asked all the time so I thought the best thing to do was a little write up. I’ll be honest when I say this isn’t the easiest colour to achieve and it can take time, but with a little patience you’ll be grey before you know it.

Firstly you need to make sure you have a white base which you can really only achieve with bleach. Word of warning DON’T try this yourself at home, I’ll let you in to a little secret which I must say keeps maintaining my hair pretty easy..I’m a hairstylist. Now let me tell you I’ve seen some disasters in my time so it really is so important you go to get it professionally done, nobody wants to be walking about with yellow roots, white mid lengths and broken ends, lets face it. I’m also one of those really annoying people who naturally has pretty light hair that doesn’t kick off a lot of warmth so again it does make the whole process a lot easier. The darker the natural hair the harder it is, this is again why going to a professional stylist is the way forward, they should be honest with you from the start and if its not going to be possible they should tell you it ain’t happening, plus you will leave with wonderfully conditioned hair still attached to your head, always a bonus!

Once you’ve got that lovely white base is when the fun can start, toning your hair to that perfect silver/grey. Again this is something that your stylist will do for you in the salon and definitely the best way to go about having it done. We use Schwarzkopf in the salon I work at and they have some amazing silver white toners available professionally.

Now all the professional stuff is done its over to you to maintain that beautiful silver. I use all Schwarzkopf products to keep my hair looking fresh and it really does work amazingly for my hair type. Firstly you need to be washing your hair with a silver shampoo, the one I use is the BC Silver Shampoo, I use it every time I wash my hair, each time doing two shampoos. If you feel like the toner has really faded off your hair don’t be afraid to leave the shampoo on for a bit of time, by that I’m talking max 5 minutes..I’ve got distracted and left it on for much longer than that before, I rocked the blue look for a while but it’s not really what I was going for. Next up conditioner, the BC Repair Rescue is my personal fave, although my hair doesn’t feel dry after having a colour there’s no harm in a bit of TLC, you have just bleached it after all.

Lastly is the best thing ever made..Blonde Me Ice Blush Spray. It has changed my silver haired life! So it’s basically a toning spray that you spray in damp hair, dry it in and there you have it no warmth in sight. It does claim to wash out after 3 washes but I find using it every time I’ve washed my hair builds it up more and more so you may find you can lay off using it after a while. One thing I would say, spray it IN THE SHOWER! Speaking from experience my bathroom walls are now white with a hint of blue..bad times or just stupid times, I’ll let you be the judge of that!

I hope this was helpful, if you have any questions leave them in the comments and I’ll try to answer them for you, thanks for reading.

A Slighty Different February Favourites

Ok so this is going to be a slightly different favourites round up, why? Because February hasn’t been the best month it could have been for me, I’m not going to go into why but it hasn’t been a month where anything else really mattered, I just felt numb. I mean sure numerous cups of tea and biscuits have definitely been a favourite and makeup has been a winner to cover up the horrible puffy eyes but my true favourite things about February have been the people around me. My amazing friends, family, work colleagues, my lovely boyfriend and my no.1 main man? Frank! So this post is dedicated to my favourite little 4 legged sausage shaped companion, my miniature Dachshund Frank.

We got Frank over a year ago after longing and longing for a sausage dog. We got recommended to a breeder and he along with one more were the last 2 left, obviously as soon as we got there we knew he was the one..there was no walking away without him. He was 12 weeks when we got him and although he was small he never had a real baby face like most puppies do, he looked quite a mature little man. I won’t lie when the day came round to pick him up I was SO nervous, excited obviously but so nervous at the same time, I kept thinking is this the right thing to do? Am I capable of bringing up a dog? As soon as I got there and he was in my arms I knew 100% this was absolutely the right thing to do!

So the first couple of nights he cried and cried and cried some more, call me a crazy sausage dog lady but I also cried quite a lot. Probably partly to do with lack of sleep but mainly because of the love I felt for this little living thing, he was scared to be in a new environment and taken away from his Mumma so I was determined to make him feel as loved and safe as he could possibly feel. Which left us with a bit of a problem..he now sleeps at the bottom of our bed. Whats that saying, ’you’ll make a rod for your own back’ something like that anyway, yeah thats me! Apart from the sleeping issue he was actually such a well behaved little puppy. We had the obvious toilet training accidents which is to be expected, but he actually picked up on where to go pretty quickly. No furniture was destroyed, he went through a phase of enjoying shoes but that soon passed. All in all I think we had and still have a pretty well behaved little dog.

He’s now a year and a half and the sassiest little sausage ever. We’ve become very attached, I think he does have a few separation issues, but then so do I really. Despite his size he definitely likes to think he’s a scary little guard dog, the barking is pretty intense at times, but that is apparently a trait of dachshunds so although we’ve tried to stop it, if a dachshund’s going to bark he’s going to bark! I never knew a dog could actually make you laugh the way he does either, the facial expressions he pulls, the way he sits there looking at me and my boyfriend as though he’s involved in our conversation, he honestly looks at me sometimes as if to say what are you doing!? His attitude is hilarious, the way he just struts along.. we call him strut along. We call him all sorts to be honest, Wien, Wien Dog, Saus, Baby Wien, Sauspot, just to name a few (and yeah I know I know..we’re weird!)

The most amazing thing is he actually knows when something is wrong, I have heard people say this about their dogs before. I think I will always reflect back on February as a very sad month but you my boy have given me many happy memories and cheered me up hugely. Endless cuddles, lots of attitude and a few gross face licks (I don’t mind!) ..I don’t think I could have done it without you baby dog.. I Love You x

January Favourites

Ok so first off who else is glad January is fiiinally over!? Don’t get me wrong I’ve actually had a really nice month but blimey it feels long! I thought I’d share just a few things Ive been enjoying this month from fashion, makeup and a little bit of food.

Every girl needs a staple leather jacket and pair of boots in her life and that is exactly what I’ve been living in lately. I got the boots for Christmas and I don’t think I’ve ever loved another pair of shoes like I love these, they literally go with everything along with the jacket. This jacket has been around for a good couple of years but it’s one of those that I get out every year and I think I love it more & more with age!

Next up a few makeup bits, like the ABH Modern Renaissance palette, this little beauty has been on my makeup wishlist for a long time so when I opened it up on Christmas Day I was one very happy girl. My favourite shades are the orangey ones and pink ones but all of them are very pigmented yet blendable, it’s just a winner. I now want to give all the other palettes a go too because you know you can never have enough makeup right!? Thanks to a friend I’ve also discovered the NYX Liquid Suede lipsticks, they last for ages, have a matte finish but the best bit about them is they’re not drying at all..couldn’t recommend enough. They’re always in my handbag ready to grab for a quick top up throughout the day.

Moving on to a couple of non beauty related bits, my MacBook Air ..it has literally changed my life! I was using my very old laptop before which I had since I was about 12 and was mainly used for chatting on MSN & Myspace back in the day (showing my age there), it was so painfully slow. I’m still getting used to the MacBook but so far so good. If anybody has any good photography/blog related apps they could recommended it would be very much appreciated.

Lastly these little balls of heaven..Lindt Strawberries & Cream. I’m not normally a fan of Lindt chocolates I’ve just always found them way to sickly, I mean don’t get me wrong these are still SO sickly but its worth it. I won’t lie it was the pretty pink packaging which actually sold them to me (yup basic … thats me!) but I have no regrets.

I’m planning on doing a little roundup of favourites every month, I’ve linked the things I can down below. Thanks for reading x

Boots

Leather Jacket (similar)

ABH Palette

NYX Lipstick in Soft Spoken

NYX Lipstick in Tea & Cookies

Wishlist: Bathroom Update

I’m back, it’s been a while since my first post it’s just been crazy over December and the New Year..but I’m back.

So I moved house in June last year and we got all the main rooms we wanted decorated which I’m so happy with, but me being me I’m wanting to do more! With that I’ve decided to give the bathroom a bit of an update. I’m not going to re decorate it as its a nice neutral colour and honestly I can’t be bothered right now, but I thought adding a few new accessories in there is just what it needs. I’ve put together a little board of all the things I’m thinking about getting and thought I’d share it just incase any of you need some inspiration. I’ll link below where everything is from as well.

Bathroom Wishlist

Leaf Print Towel

Hers Toothbrush Holder

His Toothbrush Holder

Striped Bath Mat

Pink Towel

Pink Basket

Artificial Cheese Plant

Gold Planter

Just need some beautiful patterened tiles as well and I’m well away (I’ll keep dreaming on that one!)

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Thanks for reading

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Top 5 Places to Eat in Amsterdam

So here it goes my first blog post, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now but kept being too bothered about not being good enough but on a recent trip to Amsterdam thought why not!? Mainly because this was my third trip to Amsterdam and FINALLY I found some decent places to eat. To be fair I think the trips before that were probably down to me not doing enough research but I just couldn’t find any decent places and lets face it for anybody that knows me eating is my favourite thing to do, along with shopping, drinking coffee and walking my sausage dog but that’s for another time! So here’s 5 places I’d highly recommend you try if you’re planning a trip to The Dam.

1. Foodhallen

So this is a must, the first indoor food market in the Netherlands and it doesn’t disappoint. From Mexican, pizza, Indian, Sushi, Pastries, frozen yoghurt, burgers, the classic Dutch Bitterballen and soo much more there’s definitely something that will appeal to everybody and if there’s not there is a bar right in the middle so you’re sorted either way. We went for Tacos from Taqueria Lima which were good but slightly too spicy for my liking. We then went for a handmade pizza from Renatos and a little (well quite big) Mediterranean sharing platter from Maza which were both so good! Slightly on the pricey side but worth it for the great atmosphere and great food. I also forgot to mention it’s in an old tram station which is just my kind of thing!

2. Bakers & Roasters

This is the one if you’re looking for a nice little brunch spot. Always a good sign (but slightly annoying if you get to the hangry point like me) when there’s a bit of a wait for a table because it’s just so popular. There’s all sorts of options which are served all day which is amazing because lets face it nobody really wants to be rushing around early so you don’t miss brunch on a relaxing weekend away. Pancakes, full breakfasts with all the trimmings and my personal fave Eggs Benedict. There’s also loads of fresh juice, tea and coffee options. So all in all a definite winner.

3. Los Feliz

If you’re a fan of Mexican food this little beauty is worth a visit, even if it’s just for the most amazing toilets I’ve ever seen, all I’m saying is tile goals (check my instagram!) but yeah the food is incredible, best Mexican I’ve eaten. We got nachos to start which were amazing and just spicy enough, then I went for the Chicken quesadillas which also did not disappoint. Lovely relaxed laid back atmosphere as well and the decor is just so cute!

4. Black and Blue

My boyfriend who loves a good steak decided to go here for his birthday night and we both loved it. I was happy straight away simply based on the amount of effort they had gone to with Christmas decorations, I came away feeling very festive! Back to the main event though the food and it was oh so good. We both went for steak and it was cooked perfectly and full of flavour. The sides came separately to share but you could have unlimited chips and salad which suited us just fine. There was also vegetarian options on the menu if you’d prefer.

5. De Bijenkorf

Started with a food market recommendation and ending with another one, but they are both very different. So this is a big department store in Dam Square and at Christmas time (which is the only time I’ve experienced it) it’s what dreams are made of. Obviously you have to walk through the entire shop to get to the food hall on the top floor but it is a very nice shop to walk through. Then once you get to the top its like another little world just full of all the good food, sandwiches, sushi, pasta, pizza, stir fries and the most amazing hot chocolate. It’s all completely fresh as well, so if you’re in that area and looking for a nice lunch spot I couldn’t recommend enough.

Let me know if you have any favourite places to eat in Amsterdam just incase I find myself back there for a fourth time!

The Jo Journal

Author: Joanne Ixer