Fancy a trip to LFW??

For those of you who are regulars to this blog, you may have remember me briefly speaking about my new job, but now I'm going to tell you a little bit more about it! So I work for two hair brands; Goldwell & KMS California. I reason why I'm breaking the silence a bit on the this topic and giving some more information is because KMS California have launched such an amazing competition that I had to share it with you guys. Basically, KMS are giving a lucky Pinterest follower the most amazing LFW prize I've ever seen! Unfortunately I can't enter because of my association with the company but just listen to this for a prize; 

•                     Two Tickets to the Bora Aksu London Fashion Week how taking place in                          London in September 2014 (Please note that the exact date of the show will be announced nearer to the event)
• Lunch for two (2) at Hawksmoor, supplied via a gift card to the value of £150.
• Manicures & Champagne for the winner and their guest on the day of the Bora Aksu show at MW Nails at Spitalfields Market.
• Hair Styled for the winner and their guest at the KMS California Academy in London on the day of the Bora Aksu show.
• Return standard train or coach travel from any location for the winner and their guest within the United Kingdom.
• One night stay the night before the Bora Aksu show at a four star (4*) hotel  in London for the winner and their guest
• A driver for the day of the show to transport the winner and their guest.
• £1,000 spending money

- See more here for all T&C's 

Here's how you can enter; 

1.Follow KMS California on Pinterest

2. Create your board title, KMS California & My London Fashion Week Style

3. Start pinning your favourite style pictures and add #kmscalifornia in the description of each picture for a chance to win

Have you seen my board? 

Join in on the Pinterest Party here; KMS California on Pinterest

Love C X  

These are a few of my favorite things , 2013

 


To sum up 2013 in a few words can be tough but I only need one; change. Finishing college, finding a new job, making some big decisions regarding travelling, friends and a career, its been stressful but now has led to a very confident and positive  mind set for 2014. This is not something that I tend to do, look back on the year and highlight my favorite moments, styles or purchases but for the purpose of this blog I am giving it a go (this blog has been the biggest highlight of 2013 personally). So here we go....

Feeling the free love: Kimono's 

Discovering your own style is something that can absolutely take years, particularly to perfect. In my time I have tried to experiment with as many styles, looks, prints etc, as I could to determine what I am most comfortable in and find out what I REALLY wanted to wear. As a women, clothes are such a personal aspect of your personality and this has taken me a really long time to completely understand. Thankfully, I unveiled certain aspects of this in 2013. Boho is an area that completely grabbed my fashion attention this year and really felt myself when dressed in this style. Investing in good clothes is something I took seriously also and I bought a few kimonos that will 100% see me right through to 2015. Paired with skinny jeans, ankle platform shoes and a fedora and I'm sold. 

She's The Man: Masculine Tailoring 

Back in September I sat down one day to write up a post and blank, nothing came to mind. So I left it for a few hours and revisited the topic later in the day. I've always wanted to write about styles and trends that I love and want to wear but for some reason, just could not reflect it on that day. So like always when I am looking for inspiration for anything, I turn to Pinterest! My style board is my pride and joy, so while browsing this folder I realized the pure beauty of clean cut tailoring. This has reflected in my work so much but I had never realized. So the topic for the post was born but little did I know that this not only became a style focus for me personally from that day on but it also was Factory F's most popular post of 2013. This is also one of my favorites from the bunch, just in case you missed it Girl Meets Boy.

Bring the Bitching: The Face 

Every so often a TV show comes along that grabs my attention, all of it. 2013 was no different but this time it was in the form of Naomi Campbell s bitchy back slaps, wanting to be Erin O' Connors best friend and having my fingers crossed that Caroline Winbergs team loose, yes that's right, it was The Face. Every Monday evening I was hooked and just couldn't bring myself to miss it. The platform is a mix between The X Factor meets Americas Next Top Model. The American series (which will also feature Naomi Campbell) airs in January so if you haven't had a chance to see any of it here's your chance. 

Music to my Ears: Spotify 

Starting life as a grown up means that I had to take that leap and find full time work, sad face! But this has meant that I can now afford to pay for Spotify Premium now, happy face! Finding new music has really never been so easy and as I write this I am listening to Dry The River, a brilliant band that I discovered on the website. It has been a great year for music but a handful of albums had me playing them on repeat over the past few months.

Lorde: Pure Heroine
The 1975: The 1975
MS MR: Secondhand Rapture
Chvrches: The Bones of What You Believe
Artic Monkeys: AM
 James Arthur: James Arthur
Grimes: Visions
Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
Hozier: Take me to Church

All amazing albums which I highly recommend anyone to get their hands on. A little old school with Fleetwood Mac but one of the highlights of my year was going to see them in Paris in October and the love rekindled. I'm hoping 2014 brings another year of great music and live gigs, so far I have tickets for The 1975 in February and One Direction in May (Well I have eyes)!  My sights are set on Hozier having a massive year and I cannot wait for his debut album. 

Discovery is an art: Factory F & Your Style Forecast 

This year I took a massive step in achieving personal ambitions and started this blog. I am

fully aware of how cheesy that sounds but it's true. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to write and work in fashion, and if this year has proved anything for me is that it is up to me to make that happen. After about a month of writing I was asked to start contributing to Your Style Forecast, which has been going brilliantly. While saving to move away this has allowed me to gain more experience in a field where I wish to work, it's perfect. To be paid for doing this is the dream! At first it can be really hard to tell people what you are doing and why you want to do it (it took me ages to tell people) but once I did they were all very supportive and encouraging, which definitely helps your confidence going forward. One of my biggest resolutions/hopes for 2014 is to give Factory F and Your Style Forecast 110%. Hopefully others will enjoy this blog as much as I enjoy writing it.

Read my lips: MAC Media & Clinique "Stay Matte" 

Finding make up that suits your skin tone and style can be a challenge but it can also be lots of fun; experimenting with colours, products, layout, it's all in the name of beauty. There are a few beauty discoveries I made in 2013; Clinique "Stay Matte" in my best foundation friend and an oxblood lip is much more appealing than the classic red. The later statement is not so much of a discovery than a re-defined statement but once the perfect shade is found than it is a whole different ball game altogether. MAC Media to sum up in a shade is gothic deep purple with a hint of burgundy. Surprising, it goes with everything as well! Therefore it is an investment, no? Well, I tried. But I have been converted and I now see the light. My personal beauty discover has been that the red lip doesn't appeal/suit me the way it does others and I am not bitter about this at all because I honestly believe that I am on to something good here. Here's to experimenting with more oxblood shades in 2014!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Love C X 

You May Say I'm a Dreamer

These days I love re-pinning "wise words" with an underlying message to  be yourself and follow your dreams and I now seem to have quiet a collection on my Pinterest board. For this post I thought it would be different for me to share a few of my favourite with you. These images will include "free" photography images featuring beaches, forests and minimal shots, all of which I love. This is not a post I would usually cover but I it is nice to change things up every now and then. 

I tend to get most of the images that I love from the  Free People blog, which I briefly spoke about in my last post The Rise of Blogging. Last week I gave the blog a slight makeover (different theme and imagery) and decided to start including art and photography that inspires me, so this may be the start of similar posts like this.

I'm guessing that is is an obvious statement to say that I love black and white images, and I'm always on the look out for new amazing photography. If you have any that you want to share with me please do by either posting the link below/ tweeting me using the sidebar option (or @cicijewels) or by visiting my Facebook page CiCi Jewels.

Let me know if you guys like this.......

Love C X 

High Life Through The Lens

A couple of months back I watched an intriguing documentary about a photographer by the name of Bill Cunningham (if you haven't heard of him before, google him now!). The man is  living legend. Acting fashion photographer for the New York Times, he has been "obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society soiree's" for decades, and has created the street style phenomenally high standards which we have today. As Anna Wintour once said when asked about Bill Cunningham, "We all dress up for Bill". 

For as long as I can remember I have always been interested in fashion and this interest has been endorsed by buying infamous titles such as Marie Claire, Vogue, Elle etc, so fashion photography has been instilled in my love for fashion from a young age. It was only when I saw this documentary "Bill Cunningham New York" that I began to understand the task of fashion photography and the great depts of the industry. For anyone that has the slightest remote interest in the fashion editorial world I highly recommend this documentary. 

 

As I have said so many times now I'm highly addicted to Pinterest, although my love for Tumblr is growing, my one true love is Pinterest. As I have been so interested in fashion photography, or photography in general, I find this is a fantastic platform to access breath-taking images which can inspire you with ideas for your own fashion photos or, from my personal blogging perspective, inspire post ideas. As someone who is relatively new to blogging and still learning the ropes of the "blogging world", I know photography is a massive contribution to why people are interested in specific blogs and I aim to share with you the most amazing fashion photo's I find (personal style photos included). 

Kate Moss by Kate Garner

Ulyana Sergeenko SS13 by Nickolas Sushkevichr

Caroline Loosen by Julia Saller 

Fashion Crowns by Terry Richardson 

While in my final year of college I worked on my FYP for of intense months which was focused on a Fashion PR, Styling and Events company. During this time I put together many presentations detailing the company concept and various reasons why this would work and be successful. This company was Factory F. I loved every minute of the process and although I am not launching a company right now I realised that it is something that I aim to accomplish in the future, and it birthed the idea for this blog also! But the main reason I am even talking about this project now is for my presentations I used some of the images which are above and added "professionalism" and "depth" to my project according to my lecturers, and I received very good marks also. 

I am forever pinning amazing photos and saving them onto my desktop, particularly fashion editorials and street style images. If you are ever in need of some visually inspiration for your fashion blog, assignment or just life ingeneral, photography is a great mechanism for your imagination and ingenuity. 

Love C X 

Pretty Ink

Recently I have been looking up lots of tattoos to help me decide what to get for my next one. I already have a little bow tattoo on my foot which has now been done two years, so I'm now at the stage where I'm craving my next one. Over the weeks I have changed my mind so many times on where to get it on my body and also what to get. I'm not one of those people who needs a back story or a significant meaning to my tattoo either. Sometimes it's okay just to like a design. Right now I'm obsessed with the idea of getting a little arrow on the inside of my upper arm. Very similar to the image below. I really like to placement of the first image but the design of the second tattoo. 

As much as I admire the bravery it takes for anyone to have their whole bodies covered in ink, I think for myself I will be just sticking to little designs. For anyone who is thinking about getting one done but need a little inspiration, I highly recommend Little Tattoos Facebook page. It regularly uploads so many different designs that it may at least help you decide on where you may want to get it. I also find that Pinterest have so many boards dedicated to all different styles of ink and I have literally spent hours on that website researching different ideas. 

The images above are a few of the tattoos that I have found on both pinterest and the Little Tattoos Facebook page. I found the image below on Pinterest, and I know I previously said that it didn't need my tattoo to have a meaning, and I don't, but while researching different arrows I came across this and it confirmed my next inking. 

I'm also off to Paris next week and thinking I may be crazy and get it done over there! So if anybody has previously had a tattoo done in Paris please recommend places to me. :) 

Love C X