10 Ways to a More Charmed Life

I am very devoted to the ability of living my life through a rose-tinted filter. Of course I don’t turn a blind eye to the fact that devastating things do happen, not that I can control every element of my life, but I find that by making the fullest of every day, life feels a whole lot more delightful and magnificent.

1. Don’t save your favourite things for ‘a special occasion’. Life is the special occasion! Treat every day like a party and pile on your favourite jewels each day, wear your favourite party dress often, and spray your favourite perfume as you rush out the door each morning.

2. Whenever you have a complete free day, act as though it’s your birthday. Eat pavlova for breakfast, dance around the room to your favourite songs, throw a dinner party or movie night for your best friends, go to your favourite places… do whatever it is that makes you smile.

3. Practise random acts of kindness. Always demonstrate perfect manners, tell a stranger in the street how great they look, leave a little note with a tip at your local cafe saying how lovely they make their coffee, and send handwritten notes on your favourite note cards. It doesn’t really matter what it is, but doing beautiful, selfless things often will make you smile on the inside.

4. Add warmness to your home. Buy yourself flowers (they needn’t be expensive), buy bed sheets that make bed time feel like a hotel stay, ensure you have a good stack of books that you don’t want to put down, light a gorgeous candle when you come home each evening (I recommend Glasshouse Manhatten), and collect treasures that remind you of happy memories.

5. If you’re in a wardrobe rut, make an effort to do your hair and put on your prettiest heels for no particular reason at all. You’ll spend the day feeling that little bit lovelier.

6. Don’t let grey skies get you down. (They are personally my favourite kind of days) Treat it as an excuse to wear a poppy pink lipstick, an adorable umbrella and perhaps a shot of pastel or fuschia in your outfit (the same optimistic rules apply to bad days or frustrating situations).

7. Don’t get stuck in a grey rut; squeeze your everyday routines to make the special rituals. Can’t function without your morning tea or coffee? Have it in your prettiest china instead so it feels like you’re having a tea party every single morning!

8. One day every week (without fail), go on a date with someone you love (my boyfriend always surprises me with cute little dates). It doesn’t need to be grand or over the top. Why not go somewhere fabulous with your best friend on pay day every single month for a single cocktail? Or get dressed up and go and see a musical you’ve wanted to see for ages all by yourself? Or a bike ride at sunset with your loved one? Whatever it is, make time for special moments with the people you love.

9. Treasure small moments of happiness. Have breakfast in bed on Saturdays, smell every rose you pass on an evening walk, put on a movie that makes you laugh out loud(mine’s Bride Wars and Thelma and Louise), pause to watch the sky turn pink at sunset, have picnics and walk barefoot through the grass on warm summer evenings.

10. If you’re feeling uninspired, broaden your horizons. Make plans to take a trip to a city you’ve always wanted to explore, visit a new museum in your area, or go to your favourite bookstore for something wonderful to read this week.

Instant inspiration!

Fashion Inspiration

I absolutely adore this look... a pretty high waisted-pencil skirt combined with a tuxedo ruffle white shirt and lovely trench (with the sleeves stylishly rolled up)!

“I don't do Fashion, I am Fashion” – COCO CHANEL

COCO CHANEL

“Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance” – Coco Chanel

“A girl should be two things…classy and fabulous”- Coco Chanel


“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different”- Coco Chanel

“Luxury is the opposite of vulgarity. Luxury is the opposite of status. It is the ability to make a living by being oneself. It is the freedom to refuse to live by habit. Luxury is liberty. Luxury is elegance. True elegance is Refusal.”- Coco Chanel

According to Wikipedia: Chanel S.A., commonly known as Chanel (English: /ʃəˈnɛl/, French: [ʃanɛl]), is a French fashion house founded by the couturier Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, well established in haute couture, specializing in luxury goods (haute couture, ready-to-wear, handbags, perfumery, and cosmetics among others).^[1] She gained the name “Coco” while maintaining a career as a singer at a café in France. Chanel has catered to tastes in items such as simple suits, dresses, women’s pants, and costume jewelry. Coco Chanel’s vision was to replace such opulent, ‘sexy’pieces with items which conveyed casual elegance. Today, Chanel is most famous for the “little black dress“. According to Forbes, the privately held House of Chanel is jointly owned by Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer who are the great-grandsons of the early (1924) Chanel partner Pierre Wertheimer.

What does Fashion mean to You?

To me, fashion is a type of art which can make you look gorgeous. In addition, this art will generate into a particular trend that would be accepted by a number of “audiences”. So what is the exact type of art that Fashion Industry concludes? The answer is everything. Yep, it’s everything that has the artistic sense.

Some people think that Fashion is just about garments or clothes created by fashion designers in order to satisfy the customers’ seasonal needs. Uh oh, if Fashion was really born and existed in this way, there could be no job called fashion stylist, makeup artist, personal shopper, models, photographers, etc. Why? Because the customers know exactly what they need…and they order what they need only…not what they want.

Fashion is about art from head to toe of a human being. Well, Art, of course, it can be accepted and understood universally; or, only enjoyed by those who really have the high level of artistic eyes. That’s why painters create abstract paintings. You can't wear that beautiful gown, it has to wear you. The secret to fashion is that no-one can become a fashionist - you are either born with it or not. As Coco Chanel always said, " Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening".

There are three main areas in Fashion: high street fashion, prêt-à-porter (ready to wear) and the last one – haute couture – is compared as the abstract paintings.
High street fashion, just like its name, is the casual stuff that you wear daily in any circumstances. Topshop, Forever 21, H&M and ZARA are some well-known brands in high street fashion.
Prêt-à-porter produce massively garments follow by standardized sizes. Those garments are created with high quality materials and can be formal or casual wear.
Haute Couture, totally different with the other two, is clothes that are made by hand from the best brands. It’s usually produced by orders, so the number of that piece is very limited – sometimes, only one piece! Chanel, YSL, Dior are some of the fashion that make haute couture, but nowadays they also produce prêt-à-porter since loss is the regular issue in haute couture area.

Mind the Gap!

Much like her shiny hair and warm eyes, the space between Geneva Aguirre's front teeth has always been a part of her look. When she was little, Aguirre used to stick a tooth pick in the gap - just because it would fit and no one else could do it. It made her unique, but it wasn't until Aguirre noticed iconic gap-toothed model Lauren Hutton in the pages of her favourite fashion magazines that she realised her smile was not only unique, but maybe even beautiful.
"I guess I've always thought of it as a cool thing," says Aguirre.
These days, so does the beauty industry.
A few seasons back on America's Next Top Model, host Tyra Banks sent a 22-year-old contestant to the dentist to widen her gap. The beauty blogosphere has been buzzing ever since.
Mick Jagger's blonde daughter Georgia May is the face for Rimmel cosmetics, and she sports a gap with the world known phrase which sports the gap is "Get The London Look"!
The growing appreciation for dental imperfection is probably best demonstrated by the ever improving fortunes of Australian supermodel Jess Hart.

The face of Seafolly's latest campaign was in heavy demand at London Fashion Week but the wide space in her smile wasn't always so sought-after as it is now. Chadwicks modelling agency spokesman Nathan Rossenrode said, "When Jess first began, her gap would be retouched ... now it's a point of difference."
Men have the gaps, too, but culturally, there has always been a mystique about diastematic women.

But, experts believe our new interest in the diastema represents a backlash against unattainable beauty standards and an obsession with perfection. It's also been called to  attention from recent ads by Chanel, Marc Jacobs, and Miu Miu. All feature models with gaps between their teeth.

Happy Birthday Hermès !!!

Hermès is celebrating it’s 175th Birthday and as of May 8 2012, until the 27th: a unique "Leather Forever" Hermes exhibition explores the 175 years of history and the luxury brands fascination with creating designer objects from leather, held in the Royal Academy of Art's. Some of their design secrets are being revealed for the very first time!! This enables fans of the Hermès brand to get up close and personal with some of the most stylish bags in the world.

My Yearly Wardrobe Detox

My June tradition is to organise areas of my life which have become cluttered during the previous year. This annually starts and finishes with countless hours over three or four weekends being ankle deep in piles of clothes, shoes, scarves, bags and more accessories as I sort through my whole wardrobe. My wardrobe is separated into two sections, on my left is summer, and my right is winter, however, during each previous year they become intertwined as I get lazy and not keep everything in its right place, yet I know I want more room for the winter fashions, and winter being my favourite season for fashion, I need the extra space. And so, the great wardrobe overhaul has begun. Here are some tips for getting your own wardrobe in order (and keeping it like that until the New Year):

1. Take everything that’s in your wardrobe, drawers and wherever else you store your clothes and accessories out. Everything! Give the whole space a thorough clean with a damp cloth so its dust and dirt free. Make sure to then go over everything with a dry cloth as you don’t want your wardrobe to be left damp. Throw some scented sachets, or my mum’s tip, scented soaps to keep those nasty moths away! Also put some draw liners in your draws to protect your clothes and keep everything fresh.

2. Categorise. Start sorting through all your piles of clothes you’ve taken out. Sort them into three categories: ‘keep’, ‘not sure’ and ‘throw out’. (I like the make notes on the floor so I don’t get confused)

3. Organise. With the clothes you’re definitely ‘keeping’, check that everything is clean and in good condition, then you can start putting them back into your wardrobe in the most tidiest and organised way you can manage; that means colour codes, most favoured items where you can see them and reach them easiest. I stack all my shoe boxes down the bottom, sort hanging clothes by type and then colour, fold jeans and sweaters on the shelves and everything else in drawers. Buy good hangers to protect your clothes from stretching or changing their shape. I use padded hangers for silt and wool items, wooden or slim plastic for everything else. Never use wire hangers!

4. Declutter. Start sorting the two remaining piles (‘not sure’ and ‘throw out’). Go through the ‘not sure’ pile piece by piece and ask yourself: Do I really love this? Do I wear it? Does it honestly fit me and make me feel good? If you answered ‘no’ to any of these then move it to the ‘throw out’ pile. If you’re still not sure on an item, ask a trusted friend who will give you their honest opinion. If anything needs to be repaired or cleaned, do it that week.

5. Purge. With the last pile, either sell or donate anything that is still in good condition to a charity. You can even host a ‘swap party’ with your friends. Toss or recycle anything that is worn out or beyond repairing. Again, do this the same week so the piles don’t lurk in your house.

6. Maintain. You’ve got everything in order, to try your best to keep it that way (it takes the stress out of getting dressed each day). Only put things back in your wardrobe that are clean, in good condition, and that make you feel great.



Wardrobes are a girls dream. I love walking into my wardrobes every morning and just sitting on my poof and admiring all my clothes and the layout that allows me to see everything and have allocated areas for certain pieces. I've got some photos to share with you of the luxury wardrobes I wish to have in my dream home. (Let's hope my boyfriend agrees to the minimum of $35,000 we'll be spending)