iTunes festival - Lana Del Rey

In my second ever iTunes festival win I scored tickets to see Lana Del Rey on Tuesday night.(My first win was for Rebecca Ferguson - less famous, but arguably a better singer... write up to come soon!).

I was pretty excited about seeing Lana because I've seen YouTube videos of her singing live and let's just say it wasn't pretty.. So of course I wanted to know the score, was this girl was all marketing or what?!

When Lana came on stage, she seemed casual, shy, and a bit nervous to be honest. Her hair was long, loose, and seemingly unstyled. She was wearing jeans and a baggy sweatshirt.. not really what you'd expect given her recent advertising campaign for H&M

Unfortunately, Bekah's face says it all.. When Lana began to sing, there was something missing. There's no denying she has a smouldering velvety voice, but it's like she was trying to switch between keys and the gears were getting stuck. She sounded a bit off pitch, and the the song seemed as if it just wasn't patching together very well... eeeeek! How long were we going to endure this?

Luckily though, a couple of songs into it Lana seemed to get her swag back, and her singing became rather impressive. Maybe she just needed to warm up.

One thing's for sure though, the crowd LOVED her. Everybody seemed to be well into it, and shouting her name and just generally really fan-like. There were a coupld of chicks near us who were skyping their mate during the concert so she could see Lana... and when that failed, they called her and held the phone up (I'm presuming it was the same girl.. I did think to myself, if your friend was THAT much of a fan... wouldn't you take her?) Anyway.. yes, she was much adored.

I'm sure I was annoying the people behind me with my penchant for getting a good shot (this new Samsung S3 phone has a great camera on it!) but I managed to get a couple of goodies to share, so lucky you!

One of the things I liked about Lana's concert was the stage set & lights.. lots and lots of colourful lights. Paired with palm trees and a Florida feel and string musicians, very pretty!

Now we'd heard that a friend of a friend had been to a Lana Del Rey gig before, and apparently Lana only did a half hour set.. so after Rebecca Ferguson's impressing hour and a half the previous week we were interested to see how much airtime Lana would give.

The answer? Roughly 45 minutes.. probably slightly less as she was on a little bit late. I don't know about you, but I rate that as kind of poor.. she's a global star and only has 45 minutes on stage? Oh well, whatever, I was tired and looking forward to bed anyway, so fine by me!

I actually took some video at the concert, and wanted to upload for you so you could feel like you were there experiencing the concert first hand! But apparently I can't email it from my phone to here to upload... so I'm going to need to do some technical learning to figure that one out.. stay tuned!

London Tattoo Convention 2012

This Saturday I headed off to the London Tattoo convention with Rebekah, LP, Erica, and Marc. Even though I only have one very small tattoo that doesn't even really count, I absolutely adore them. If I had the guts I would just go for it and cover myself in bubblegum colours and pretty pictures. I need to meet someone who can draw me up a design which I fall in love with, but until then, I shall have to just covet from afar.

So I met LP, Bex & Marc at West Kensington station, where LP was hungover/drunk and armed with a bottle of Prosecco to take the day on.. classy as ever!

Even though it was a tattoo convention, tattoos actually also mean all things cute! cue the cupcakes! I was super excited because there were these cookie monster cupcakes! I've seen these going around the internet, and this absolutely CRACKS ME UP. haha NAILED IT!

Erica opted for a sweet strawberry cupcake with a bow.. ADorbs!

A lot of our day was spent outside in the sun drinking cider... and pulling faces.

Now getting onto the real reason we were there, we finally peeled ourselves away from the sunshine and headed in to see the artists. Cue AMI JAMES! Ami is from Miami Ink fame and had a huuuuuge crowd around him as he was sworking hard, but I still managed to sneak a pic like a true geek fan.

And fellow Kiwi man DAN SMITH! Dan works for Kat Von D at High Voltage (and is also in a band, swoon!). He was sooo smiley (pic speaks for itself!) and even came over to have a bit of a chat with us, what a nice guy! He sold me my signed Hide your heart print which I love! It's even better that Dan handed it to me himself, yay!

Rebekah had tried to get an appointment with Dan but after initial hope in the form of an email from his assistant asking what she wanted done, she didn't hear back till the day of the convention with a message saying he was fully booked.. boo!
She was stoked though, because we totally embarrassed her and asked Mr Smith to pose with her for a photo, which he was more than obliging to do, yay! She giggled like a school girl, complete fan breakdown. Naww.

A selection of sketches by Dan. Cute!

We knew another Kiwi was in the house as well, and went looking for Miss NICOLE LOWE of London Ink fame. She loves good times, but wasn't as forthcoming to pose for a picture... instead seemed more interested in a picking a lip gloss, but hey, who doesn't love a good lipgloss?

And last but not least Mister PHIL KYLE also of London Ink fame, was spotted doing a rockabilly girl & guy piece on a nice girls calves. The stencils looked SO CUTE, would love to see the finished piece. He's only in Brighton, so totally achievable to visit him if the need arises (and the waiting list obliges).

Was a really nice day out full of friends, fun, sunshine, cider, art, tattoo'd goodness, and cute cute cute things!
I shall leave you with a shot of these CUUUUTE Iron Fist shoes, they have cupcakes and candy on them! Love.

WIWTW

Continuing on with my OOTD obsession here's a peek into what I wore this week..

Monday morning's autumnal outfit has already been documented, so Tuesday saw a black and white theme emerge, peplum zebra top from Oasis, and white hidden wedge sneakers from River Island. The shoes were pre-planned as concert going shoes as I was headed to Lana Del Rey at the itunes festival after work.

Being an idiot I was playing around with taking photos and managed to snap this shot of me looking like Jack Nicholson from the shining. haha

Wednesday's I have a client meeting every morning, but I also knew I was headed to a tea party that afternoon with Esme - who had suggested we wear floral to mark the occassion - so I opted for floral Forever 21 dress paired with green cardi and belt (both from Primark), and Vivienne Westwood pumps...ooooh.

Wednesday was also really rather cold.. so on top of the cardi, I wore a blazer, and on top of the blazer, I wore a coat... and a scarf. Autumn layering huh!

Thursday I was suuuuuuuuper tired. I can't remember what I wore, but I did snap a pic of me sitting on my bed before leaving the house with my eyes closed. Did the whole, get up, in the shower, and then back into bed thing that day... I suppose the cold doesn't help with getting out of bed..

Friday came around so fast! I was headed out to a work event for a bit to meet Nic and then for dinner with Glen and the gang after work on Friday so I opted for a black dress with peplum from Boohoo which would work well in the office or at the bar. Paired that with black and gold belt from Primark, and black and gold shoes from New Look. Chuck it all together with a leopard print scarf, and Bam! Note also the Stolen Girlfriends Club bow ring which I just adore.

Saturday was the day of the Tattoo Convention.. so I went for leopard print shirt from Boohoo, with some funky Jewellery for interest sakes. Ring from Tree by Tee at Camden Market (I figure it's close enough to Christmas to get away with this now). Revolver necklace was a gift from my mama (thanks mama!). And studded loafers from Primark. Yeow.

Being artistic as ever, I thought this was a cool shot of the ring in the mirror. It's like I"m holding hands with myself! Naww.

Brainwashed

This is a post I've been meaning to make for a few weeks, but I just had SO MANY pictures it was a bit of a pain to transfer all the photos from my phone, and I've also been a very busy (and lazy) human. So.. better late than never eh!

Recently, my friend Mark and I were meant to head to a movie in town, but he suggested checking out this exhibition first... which was a GREAT idea.

Mr Brainwash is a Graffitti/Street/Pop Culture type artist who takes inspiration from other artists. Arguably most famous from Banksy's film Exit through the gift shop (Watch the trailer here).

Mr Brainwash, aka Thierry Guetta uses a lot of recognisable imagery & art and manipulates/adds to it, which is especially cool because, I think, it makes it relatable to most people. There's lots of reference to famous pop icons (Madonna, David Bowie, The Beatles, Elvis, etc) And loads of nods to Andy Warhol & Banksy himself.

The theme of the exhibition was "Life is Beautiful", and can I just say, the whole thing WAS beautiful! There was lashings of glorious colour everywhere, and the imagery played on sweet observations of life. I took SO MANY photos. I will try not to post too many.. enjoy!

Amazingly, the exhibition was free to get into, AND you got a free print & postcards when you left. How nice is that? that is VERY NICE!

Remember, follow your dreams! Ahh, inspirational much?

WIWT/OOTD

What I wore today! Or Outfit of the day!

#WIWT & #OOTD are trends that are big on the instagram circut, and I'm a fan..

Lately I've been getting into compiling montages of the outfits I whack together in the mornings before I go out. Lots of times I don't really have enough time to do this every day, but it's nice when I do have enough time to put my makeup on properly and spend a few minutes posing in the mirror!

Here are a few of the outfits I've rocked in the week that's just passed.

Last week it was still really nice weather (September and April often are strangely good weather months), so I made the most of the lingering sunshine by breaking out some colour. I felt a little bit 80s with all the pastel, but also very girly! and most of all, it matched my nails ;)

After lots of positive comments the day before about the pastel colour pallete, I tried to whip another pastelised outfit up. It came out kind of cat themed... I just ADORE my cat pumps! And they worked well with my tiger ring, necklace, and t shirt with panthers & animal print on it.. don't you think?!

I fear Saturday might have been the last day of sunshine for this summer, so I went all out bright in this semi strawberry themed outfit. Pink dress, strawberry clips (look here for all the beautiful clips Tiny Tangerines makes!), and big fat hidden wedge sneakers (LOVE!).

Sunday I headed out to brunch in Fulham and had to wrap up in my COAT for the first time since last Winter finished.. brrrr! My favourite blogger Tiny Tangerines sent me this polka dot bow with my latest order, and I thought it was the perfect finishing touch to go with the polka dot dress!

And then there was today, an Autumnal themed outfit merging browns and florals and blacks. I love these brogues which I treated myself to in Paris earlier this year (excellent buy, many comments today) (and SO COMFORTABLE!) (and real LEATHER). And I rocked my new cat clips from Tiny Tangerines. LOVE!

And best of all.. I think it even matched my nails!

Vogue's Fashion Night Out.

One night last week I had dinner with some friends to catch up with our beautiful friend Po who is here on holiday from Australia.

Hi Po!

I arrived in Covent Garden about 15 minutes early, and right opposite the Covent Garden tube station is an Oasis store which I ALWAYS end up taking a look in before meeting friends in Covent Garden. It’s the perfect place to kill ten minutes.

This day though, something was different! There were balloons, and champagne glasses, and a girl was sitting in the window making headbands, and it was just generally a bit of a party vibe. Turns out it was Vogue Fashion night out which was amazing! Oasis was offering FREE SHOES when you spent a certain amount in store... this was dangerous because I freakin love shoes.

So I perused the racks, with no real intention to buy anything, had a glass of champagne and then stumbled across the sale rack, which to my delight was populated with the London collection I'd read about the London collection at the beginning of summer when everyone was all amped up about the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics etc and making things with a London theme. All these dresses have a print of London landmarks so they're very kitschy and a bit cute. So I was pretty excited that not only was it still around, but it was on sale! I picked my favourite dress (and a few others) and made for the changing rooms.

My favourite dress was just a bit too tinchy to fit which was sad because it was sooooo beautiful! Pink! And 50s pin up styles! And I loved it! I contemplated buying it and never eating again so I could wear it, but decided that was a silly idea. So when I returned it to the girl on the door I spotted another one hanging on the returns rack ready to go back to the shop floor, and lo and behold IT WAS MY SIZE! That never happens! Obviously this was a sign from god (who may or may not exist) so I ran with it to the counter. By this point i was running late for dinner so grabbed a top to add to the transaction to bring me up to the threshold for FREE SHOES! I plan to return the top next week, thus sneakily scoring myself a beautiful new dress at bargain sale prices plus free shoes! Sneaky sneaky!

My new dress hanging up and waiting for a special ocassion...

We had dinner at Cafe Pacifico and it was the second time I’ve been there. To be honest, not as nice as the first time I don’t think – but that might be because the first time I was already slightly drunk by the time we arrived and we were more focussed on the Margheritas than the meal! Mmmmmm Margheritas! (I just loooooove the Mango).

Mmmmmm Mango!

After dinner we went for a wander around Covent Garden to see what was going on. There were carol singers! And CHANEL VENDING MACHINES! And pretty lights, and DJ’s and music, and free hair do’s, and free manicures, and just lots and lots of FUN STUFF!

I think there might have been people inside of the Chanel vending machines... so super cute!

As if I wasn’t already like a kid in a candy store.... I stumbled upon a pop up store for Melissa! Melissa are the shoe people who make the shoes for Vivienne Westwood which I covet. I have wanted a pair of their Dragonheart shoes for forever, but this Spring/Summer they launched the flocked skyscrapers which I also fell in love with. And given we’re coming into Winter, I figure are a better investment for now. (But watchout Dragonheart, I will be back for you later!). So I ran (literally, ran) into the store, was offered champagne & sushi (downed he champers) and rushed to try on the skyscrapers in red & fuschia, the two colours I havebeen struggling to decide between.

Amazing choir singers, DJ's inside a shop, the chanel vending machines, pretty decorations outside a shop, and me pleased as punch!

The shop assistant was so nice, and my friends were really very pateient with me while I tried each colour on 2 or 3 times befoe finally deciding on the RED. Yeow! I just LOVE them. I adore Vivienne Westwood as a designer, and shoes are my favouritest thing, and these particular shoes I have been after for such a long time that I was giddy with excitement. Apparently I made faces no one has ever seen before I was so happy!

I managed to score 20% off AND a free balloon, so I was a very happy girl!

Shoes and balloon in my room all packaged up and waiting for the right moment to debut. Weeeee!

Absolutely love stumbling upon goodness like that in London, thank you Vogue!

Specsy

I'm a big fan of contact lenses, they make me look like I have 20/20 vision and allow me to wear sunglasses to shield my precious peepers from the sun. As if being an emotionally sensitive cancerian wasn't enough, I appear to have "extremely large retinas" which means that even when it's grey skies outside I have to squint so hard I get a new wrinkle every time.

Sometimes contacts can get fiddly though, and lately I've found they've been popping out at their own will. I'm just sitting there (or standing there), minding my own business and POP! all of a sudden I'm an eye down. Less than ideal...

Anyway, so today I wore my glasses to work and the reaction was positive. Very positive! Mind you, out of anywhere, work really is the place to crank the spectacles - instant brain booster.

The one pair of glasses I own are 6 years old. And they're kind of smudgy and battered, and old style.... so.. TIME FOR NEW GLASSES!

So, I went on a Specsavers mission after work only to be sorely disappointed that there was no Specsavers at the mall. Wah! But there was a Vision Express where I got my self portrait on. Now I just CAN'T DECIDE! Help! What do you think?!

These are my favourite four here...

I never have been any good at making decisions!