a phrenology head in floral prints

There's something extremely charming about shirts that are too big for you. They look fantastic when tucked into high-waisted shorts (a similar style last seen in my first-ever post) or short skirts. This means that those beautiful printed shirts you find whilst thrifting or as the last piece on the sales rack that are too big for you can actually be worn. It also means that you can happily steal your man's/brother's/father's shirts, and get them writhing in jealousy that their clothes actually look better on you, whilst cheekily retorting that you're doubling the mileage for their clothes ;)

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So, this is actually my grandmother's top. She'd bring us all to the textile shop to select patterns a few times a year, so she could tailor them. I love some of the prints*, so I took a few when she passed on-- it's a good way of remembering someone so very close to you and I hate to see clothes go to waste. Sometimes I find myself taking things no one else wants, whether stuff that's passed on or hanging sadly in the unwanted sales rack but I guess if you see meaning and/or potential in something, why not. For some time I wondered just how I could use them-- as the cut was more senior citizen than for 20-year-old-me back then-- and one day it struck me to wear them with very short bottoms. Voila. Wicked! On hindsight I should have taken them all because they were quality textiles and could be easily worked into any outfit. Anyway, I digress.

Large shirt (with sleeves rolled up and a few buttons undone) +  high-waisted shorts + a few pieces of bold jewelry = chic summer look

And going out in bunches, of course. I love that look. Plus if you sleep with your hair bunned up high on both sides, you wake up with beautiful soft waves. Sometimes you just want to go out looking a bit mad. 

 *Which I helped select quite happily. You see, whenever my mother accuses me of being very vain, I tell her I am an extreme version of her and her mother (i.e. my grandmother) combined.

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top from my grandmother; Adam high-waisted shorts; Mango belt; Aldo shoes; Roccobarracco handbag; vintage bracelet; Accessorize earrings 

This is basically me following my own Five Second Makeup Face routine. This is Face (a), achieved by a quick wash of eyeshadow. The Five Second Makeup Face is pretty much what I do almost everyday, unless I'm going out for a meal, a date with D, to meet some friends, or just deciding to play with makeup for the hell of it.  But indulging in so little makeup has been refreshing ever since I gave up on foundation and mascara everyday. A simple skincare routine + sunblock + BB cream + eyebrow pencil followed by Five Second Makeup seems to suffice.

I love phrenology heads. D and I were once chatting about phrenology heads and then we started googling for them as well as 92891313 different concepts before realising it was 6am already. We both expressed that we wanted one, and the next thing we knew, we saw an original one by Fowler in a shop window the next day. Talk about madness. The mattress on the floor is a Thai Triangle Cushion, purchased recently for guests to sleepover on, because D launched an endless tirade against 'horrible, ugly blow-up mattresses that take forever to blow up, they are a joke". This has been a fantastic investment though (despite price differentials when compared with the blow-up mattress)-- a functional and beautiful piece of furniture that folds up into a neat pyramid when not in use. Of course, because it is so comfortable, it remains laid out all the time and I spend all my time lying on it.