Fuji Instax - Be still my beating heart!

Oh Polaroid photography, what a thrill.
My memories of people using Polaroid cameras are somewhat foggy, I can remember them a little, I can see a cool artsy type in the 90s holding one up to my face telling me to smile, maybe it's a memory from a past life, but I am pretty sure it's this one.
I am no photography enthusiast, I like a pretty picture the same as the next person, if I'm feeling particularly artsy I might ramp up the 'contrast' setting on a photograph for a thumbnail on YouTube. But that is as artsy as I get with this sort of thing.
Two weekends ago, at a party I saw a big white camera that looked like a marshmallow on the counter, picking it up in curiosity the owner retrieved it and told me to 'Smile', I grabbed a pal, the owner looked through the viewfinder and there was a flash and a clunk.

Several seconds later a credit card sized photo churns out the top.

It begins white and takes a few full minutes to come through- What a dream! How exciting! What fun!

Yes I was quite enchanted by this little clunk-o-matic and I kept thinking that I might like to own one. I have a rule with shopping (usually for clothes) that if I am still thinking about a garment that I put back a week ago, then I should go back and purchase it, and if it's out of stock then our relationship was not meant to be.

These cameras however were coming up pricier than the average dress, jumper etc so I'd need to think about it a little while longer...

I was browsing through ebay and by stroke of chance a white Fuji Instax was up for auction, ending in under a day. I pondered about what to do, and whether it should be mine to have and to hold!
I thought about what my top bid should be and shortly before the auction ended I placed a bid.
To my delight, the camera was sold to me for the humble price of £30-ish
I was delighted!
Coming from ebay it was second hand, but I decided that I didn't mind too much if I didn't have a new one. (that's what a hipster would think, right?)

So here it is! All mine!

The film is not cheap, maybe £12 for 20 shots and that's the cheapest I could find. So I am quite determined not to waste a single one on 'test' shots and go all 'snappy happy'. I will just have to test and experiment with different settings as I go along. So far it seems very self explanatory, I have taken two lovely photos. The first try was with my friends and it was such a treat to take it, and we all sat waiting as it slowly, slowly developed.

The next photo is taken in front of the Coca Cola truck, I had to ask a stranger to take it and she looked a little baffled by the prospect of having to 'look' through a viewfinder in this day and age.
The photographic result is very forgiving of imperfections. The photo effect is completely and utterly charming!

I am not the cool-artsy type but I do hope that the novelty of this doesn't die and that I continue to hold it up in peoples faces and tell them to 'Smile'

Wedding dress shopping...Round 2!

If you've read my blog before you may know that my sister is getting married next year!
We've been looking for dresses for a long time and there isn't many styles that she doesn't suit which has made it extra tricky!

Sometimes bridal shops are funny about taking pictures and although they didn't outright say anything against it I took a few sneaky shots of potential dresses-to-be!

It was a whirlwind of silk and taffeta and gems and petticoats and fairytale dreamy happiness!

In the end we've decided between two dresses so we're going for a third, and maybe final browsing in a couple weeks!

And neither of the two has been photographed, it will be a complete fairytale surprise!

Bow-tiful! Outfit of the day!

Here's a little look at what I wore today!

For Makeup:
Moisturiser on the cheeks
Primer on the T zone (it gets the most oily!)
Concealer under my eyes and under my nose
Quick dusting of all over face powder
Pastel pink blusher on the cheeks
Black eyeliner on the water line
Swipe of black mascara
Vaseline on the lips

For hair:
5 minute straightening on the ends

For clothing:
White vest top with black lace bow and a giant gem in the middle! (I love this) It's from a stall at Portobello market in London.
Black knitted cardigan from Next
Slim fit smart black trousers (which I know you can't see- but just so you get a feel of the look as a whole!)

Tired of untying necklace chains?

I've been on the look out for a new way to store my jewellery for a long while now. Lots of my necklaces, bracelets and earrings are cheap, but huge or have long chains or chunky plastic parts, so often they look silly on those delicate jewellery holders and don't fit too well into jewellery boxes, unless I wanted a giant one to take up lots of floor space, which I certainly don't!Last Christmas, I got this pretty little bow holder from Fenwicks. (a department store)

But even this poor ol' thing is looking weighed down, and that's just a little portion of my jewellery, the rest is in various carrier bags in drawers that get forgotten about and never see the light of day!

With this dilemma in mind, you can only imagine how my heart skipped a beat when I saw what all this time I had been looking for!
A jewellery display piece and organiser that goes up on the wall!



http://www.etsy.com/listing/60309756/printers-drawer-jewelry-display

This one is advertised as perfect for displaying jewellery at art shows and exhibitions! They clearly don't know that one girls bedroom has enough clothes, jewellery and cosmetics to fill a whole store sometimes!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76172386/teal-vintage-type-drawer-jewelry-display

They come in all kinds of colours! Not just plain white or teal, you can get them in blues and purples, or if your nifty with a spray can or paintbrush, you could even re paint it yourself! I think a hot pink jewellery wall piece could be just the thing to work as something interesting visually and so super practical!

There are tons of variations of the same sort of thing, so head onto to www.etsy.com to browse around for one in your price bracket, your size and one that delivers to your country. Type in Jewellerry display or jewellery wall organiser and something along these lines will pop up.



http://www.etsy.com/listing/92594689/painted-jewellery-display-case-hand

I like how this one has two hooks in some boxes, to hold those super special pairs of dangly earrings.

I sure hope your heart got excited at mine did at the prospect of something being so practical with the ability to look so decorative, jewellery decorates us after all, why not let it decorate our walls too when we're not using it!?