If I were a Bride ....

... again!

When I was getting married I bought a beautiful and modest pair of ivory peeptoe heels with floral diamante detailing from Dune which complemented my dress wonderfully.  However, even after only 3 short years I look back and know where I would style the whole look differently.

One thing I might have had my eye on at the time would have been these wonderful Alexander McQueen heart peep toe satin pumps. 

Beautifully simple in design with a glamorous, classic shape and romantic love heart peep toe. They are the perfect addition to bridal wear.  At £375 they are pricey but so charming and enchanting that you can't help but be swept away by them.

Heck, I want them now and my wedding planning days are far behind me.  They would look wonderful dyed a different colour against the backdrop of a pure and whistful wedding dress for further allure.

Exclusive to Net-a-Porter you might just find that they are not a common choice either making your bridal footwear stand out from the crowd.

x

New Look: Leona Lewis

It seems that Leona Lewis is looking to distance herself from her squeaky clean, pretty as a princess image and has been seen this week sporting Gaga-esque creations of her own and a Nicki Minaj inspired hairstyle.

I am not sure what to make of this or Leona's designs.  On one hand it is quite a quirky and fun look but i'm not sure it really fits her 'image' and we have never seen a personality to match this crazy exterior.

I wonder if she has just succumbed to the pressure of the Gaga's and the Rhianna's of todays music and is trying to market herself to a younger, cooler market.  In my opinion, she was beautiful as she was and with so many people vying for the 'quirky, i'm so different' title, she kinda stood out in her whimsical dresses, tumbling waves and soft make up.

What do you make of Leona's new look?

x

Hello Lover ...

Often I have shared a moan or three or four about my laptop woes and how badly I needed a new one.

After researching many laptops including the Dell Inspiron which was a front runner at one point, my heart still leapt everytime I wandered into the Apple store and had a play about on one of their many design led, super functional computers.

Well after many visits to the store and years of dealing with a chanky old laptop, my partner in life and crime came back from the US this week brandishing a spanking new, glossy white, delightfully intriguing and in full working order, Macbook.

I have even attempted to watermark my photo thanks to my new laptop
... miserable fail though.  Advice appreciated! :) 

Literally after minutes playing with my new macbook I knew this was it - my life had changed forever ;)

Sounds extreme but it's a wee bit true.

You see my old laptop would crash 3 or 4 times in an evening.  It took hours to upload photos, save images, check emails, write blogposts ... the list goes on.  Replying to emails was so difficult on the old laptop, many went ignored.  Don't even get me started on how hard it was to view other blogs or comment on them.  A simple blog comment could take up to half an hour to execute.  YouTube wasn't even an option.

Now if I want to blog on an evening, I can come home, fire up the Macbook and I could very easily be done in a half hour or so .... plenty time to pamper myself, read a book, meet friends, watch a movie or dare i say it, tidy my flat!

I am so stupidly excited about the delights of my new laptop I almost don't know what to do with myself or it.  Already I have taken to twitter for advice on the unconventional keyboard and tonight I think I will get my head into the instruction manual.

Geek out!

x

Bring Home Fashion

Bring Home Fashion is a collaboration between the British Heart Foundation and 3rd year Textiles and Fashion Design Management Students from Heriot-Watt University to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the charity.

The evolution of the BFH girl.  Illustrations by the wonderful Lana Steel

The theme running through the fashion show is upcycling.

Upcycling: "The practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value"

All the creations on the catwalk are made from second hand garments from British Heart Foundation stores and have been customised into unique and wonderful new wares.  Inspired by fashion through the decades, groups of talented Textiles and Fashion Design students have breathed life into the second hand materials with designs influenced by the military styling of the 1940's right up to the grunge movement of the 1990's.  The collections feature splashes of colour, modern military underwear as outerwerar and all garments are unique, one off pieces.

I was sent over some fashion illustrations of the designs you may see on the night.  They are truly wonderful, i do love fashion illustration so to see a sneak preview of the show in the form of pencil on paper is the ultimate tease taster for what lies ahead on the night.  Final designs are of course, a secret until the grand unveiling on February 24th.

LEFT: Sleeveless jacket dress by Eleisha Connon
RIGHT: Jacket with stay ups by Kirsty McKelvie and Alison McDougal 

With a philosophical approach of "one man's trash is another mans treasure" the students aim to show us that hidden gems and high fashion exist beyond the threshold of the charity shop door and can be easily achieved with a little imagination and a bit of style savvy.

Illustration and design by Tiina Kosonen

Tickets are priced at £12 for the BRING HOME FASHION show at Telford College, Edinburgh on Thursday 24th February.  Doors open at 7.30pm.   All proceeds go towards British Heart Foundation and their charity targets.

Tickets are available from British Heart Foundation on South Clerk Street, Edinburgh or from Edinburgh's Telford College Beauty Dept.

You can also find out more info at the Bring Home Fashion facebook page www.facebook.com/bringhomefashion2011

See you there!! :)

x

Saskia the Style Fairy

You may have noticed a few changes on this blog in recent weeks, one of which is a makeover of Gok proportions.  Ideally this should have coincided with my 2 year bloggiversary but that was at the end of January so I am a few weeks late.

I created a gorgeous header fit for my taste featuring a wonderful Garance Dore illustration.  A few people have asked how I created the header, I did it through Polyvore where you can literally make up scrapbook upon scrapbook of anything fashion or beauty related and store it all online in your own wee space.  I have used it a lot in the past for creating sets to show you different outfit combinations but it was great for creating a unique identity for my blog.

My inspiration?  Magazines.  I am an obsessed reader and avid collector of magazines, from interiors to fashion and sometimes the odd gossip mag.  Of course, blogs are now taking over my workld and my little space on the interweb is my own amateur attempt at conveying to you what I would like to read and also what I think might interest those who read the thoughts, opinions and ramblings of a real life enthusiast and consumer of some of the finer things in life.  Therefore, it is like my blogs own front cover.

I also created some little widget images for twitter, bloglovin' and my email.  If you want to copy any of these widgets, all I ask is that you credit me on your blog. 

Along with the aesthetic change, I have also ... (at long last) ... purchased my own domain name.  In fact, I purchased 2 ... a dot com and a dot co dot uk.  Unfortunately the dot com was a bit of a nightmare to deal with (as some twitter friends will know) so from now on you can access this blog using http://www.saskiathestylefairy.co.uk.  Of course if you enter via the blogspot address, it will redirect you.

I have removed the 'salsa' from my blog name.  It was the title of a childrens book so that can get confusing when trying to google this blog nevermind the fact I don't know how to salsa ... but i do quite like to eat it ... with doritos preferably. all class!!  My posts are beauty, fashion, interior and in general ... lifestyle related ... put them all in a pot and I am really discussing my style, who I am, what I like and what I would recommend and rate ... therefore saskia the style fairy seemed more fitting. 

I have also added some tabs/pages at the top of my blog which are subject to change but most importantly I will be adding a blog roll/page very soon to credit and give you insight into the blogs that interest, intrigue and inspire me on a daily basis.

So I hope you all like the changes, I hope it makes reading/viewing the blog easier and a more pleasant experience :) 

x

A bewitching new lippie

I have been dying to blog about my new lipstick since I bought it a couple of weeks ago and had hoped I could get some good photos for you to drool over.  Alas, time has been precious these past few weeks and with a busy work schedule it's been difficult to capture the beauty of this wondrous new shade in my collection.

Max Factor Colour Collections lipstick aim to target their colour range at specific skintones, fair, medium or dark.  I chose a medium collection lipstick ... Bewitching Coral.   I have been whipping out the summer brights already in an attempt to bring a bit of sunshine into my dreary, wet and cold days and this is definitely going to be one of my summer staples.

It is a gorgeous bright pinky coral that really illuminates skin.  It definitely suits better with a tan and is very longwearing.  The texture feels wonderfully moist on the lips and glides across my smackers giving a smooth colour blocked finish.

It was so hard to pick up this shade in photos and admittedly these are very bad quality (quick iphone pics).  This 'face of the night' was taken before a night out .... where I teamed Max Factor bewitching coral with a gorgeous The Body Shop sparkle liner in gold.  I applied it on my lower lashline and winged it out under my regular liner.  I think this eyeliner may be a seasonal item only as I can no longer find it on their website.  I hastily applied my make up so it is a bit messy but I really love this look and hope to recreate it again with a little more finesse.

This was one of my first Max Factor purchases in a longtime, the last time I purchased I think it was their Lasting Performance foundation when i was 15!!  I would definitely re-purchase these lippies and for around £7-8 they are quite good value ... plus they are currently on a 3 for 2 offer at Boots :)

Has anyone tried the Max Factor Colour Collection lipsticks?  What's your favourite?

How to: Fishtail Plait

This is quite a pitiful post in the sense that my fishtail plait is slightly pathetic.

I've been longing for my hair to grow long enough to do a fishtail braid.  I think they are whimsical, gorgeous and the messier the better.

Yet for something that appears so effortless ... well, it's blimmin difficult!  I swear I built up a bit of a sweat trying to achieve this and my arms are aching from holding onto my hair for so long.

Now that's a fishtail plait!

However, practise makes perfect and this was only my first real go at it.  The more I do it and the longer my locks grow, hopefully I will achieve the stunningly plaited tresses a la Leona Lewis, Lauren Conrad and so on.

So here's what I did.

• I pulled my hair to one side and split into 2 sections so I have section 1 and section 2
• I took a thin piece of hair (this can be as thick or thin as you desire depending on what result you want) from the back of section 2 and pulled it across to meet and join with section 1. 
• I then took a thin piece of hair from section 1 and pulled it across to meet and join with section 2.
• Repeat these steps until you have finished your plait
• ... and voila!

pitiful, right?!

Sounds easy huh?

That's what I thought ...

Would love to know your tips for making this a little easier or is it just me who's all fingers and thumbs?

x