Bursts of Colour

Spring is almost here, and I for one can't wait!

I've had a b!tch of a year, and spring heralds the coming of the end!

I've noticed a great look around the blogging traps recently.. bright splashes of colour with charcoals, blacks and navy..

In the spirit of spring colour bursts, I "invested" (:D as if my hubby will buy that!) in a bright yellow leather satchel -down to $29 from asos, with an extra 20% off

My New Cute ASOS Yellow leather Satchel 

The best thing about this particular satchel, is I can probably remove the strap and use it as a bright clutch :)

Can't wait for it to arrive 

Martha Stewart Tissue Paper Pom-Poms

Our lounge room is great {I promise I'll do a renovation special soon} 
We renovated a 1950s apartment that had been relatively untouched since the early 60s - the apartment resembled the inside of a caravan with faux wood panelling and concertina doors.


Anyhoo, there was just something missing above the dining table.  There isn't really provisions to put a pendant light over it, and I wouldn't want to in case we want to move the table one day.


I really like the look of this and due to the reason outlined above, thought I would make Martha Stewart's Tissue Paper Pom-Poms and attach one with transparent thread to the ceiling as we have clever white wood panels embedded with down lights on our ceiling.


I purchased transparent thread ($3), white tissue paper ($1) and got to work.


I love the finished look, unfortunately Hubby doesn't love it, so, it probably won't last long, but it was fun and at least I know I can make this sort of thing for parties and the like in future :)


Check it out!!

Close Up White Tissue Paper Pom-Pom

Hanging over the Dining Table

Red Lips... revisited

From Left to Right: Revlon ColorStay Lipstick #345 Red Velvet, Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain in "Gothic", L'Oreal Colour Riche lip liner in "Always Red"

Awhile ago I was musing over red lips and whether they were for me..


After numerous gorgeous photos of girls on their style blogs with "popping" red lips, and trying a few things, I've found a couple of products that I love.


1. Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in "Gothic"
lovely lip stain.. covered with a lip balm layer - great colour, pretty good coverage, but I found it does need reapplication after eating/drinking.. I found it on eBay for around $10 including postage.. bargain!


2. Revlon ColorStay - #345 Red Velvet - I LOOVE this range, and this colour is exactly what I was looking for in a red lippy - it's just the right shade not too orange, not too dark.
And I found it at a clearance outlet for $10 Along with a L'Oreal Colour Riche lip liner in "Always Red" for $7

Checking In

I love gingham.. it looks so kitsch, and so when I saw Kendi wearing this outfit on her blog, I "needed" a similar shirt... desperately!


But where to find one?
I searched eBay Australia to no avail, then found a couple of J Crew Check shirts in the US, but shipping was prohibitively expensive.


Then one happy day, while walking around BigW, I looked in the menswear section to see if they had any checked shirts there... and to my surprise, there was a check shirt - large navy gingham checked, just like I had wanted for $19!


Needless to say, I didn't waste any time thinking about it.. I bought it straight away :D

My Very Own "Kendi" style Check Shirt!

Swimsuit Review: I heart 2 Chillies

(I'm not paid or perked for this, but just wanted to share a couple of my fave swimsuits)


As you might know, I LOOOOOVE reading fashion/style blogs.. and seeing as a few of my faves are in the US, I'm always thinking about summer when it's winter here in Australia; and thinking about winter when it's summer here in Australia.. gaaah!


I guess an upside to this situation is that I have a few bits and pieces ready to go for the upcoming season because I've lusted after them after seeing them on someone else's blog in the US.. anyhoo, I digress...


I just wanted to share a couple of my favourite swimsuits in the interest of me dwelling on warmer weather during the chilly winter day we're having right now in Melbourne town.


I found the swimwear label 2 Chillies a couple of years ago quite by accident.  I was looking for a new swimsuit and the usual suspects like Seafolly were over $100 which was a bit too much for me on a student budget.
2 Chillies is an Australian Brand and RRP is usually around $60-70 for a one piece.. but there's a twist..  They make cute, colourful one pieces that look like a 2 piece from the back.. So there's tummy coverage if you're not comfy enough to wear a bikini, but they're just a little out of the ordinary so you don't feel as though you're wearing the same as everyone else.. and because of the bright colours I don't feel like I'm wearing the "I don't know what else to buy so I'll wear a black or navy swimsuit" uniform.


Of course, if you prefer bikinis, you can find them by 2 Chillies too.


Here are a few of my faves.. {some of them you may still be able to find on Zodee or Trixan Body}

2 Chillies Rosetta One Piece

2 Chillies Sierra One Piece

I've worn both of these a few times and feel secure, the fabric is good enough quality that it isn't transparent when wet and they feel GREAT on.  The Sierra one piece does also come in white with the same floral design, but I don't know how this would fare with regard to transparency when wet after swimming.


2 Chillies - my fave swimwear label - Go Aussie!

Budget Wedding Tips - Part 10: The Cake

Our chocolate mud Cupcakes

Wedding Cake


We were incredibly lucky that my sister in law made our cake for us as a wedding gift.
If you have someone in your life who is talented with baking, this is a great way to save some $ on the wedding budget, and you can ask them to make it as a wedding gift, which will likely make them feel very special (or nervous! :D)


We decided we would like a cupcake tower as opposed to a traditional wedding cake, and my sister in law made our cupcakes from chocolate mud cake {apparently at the time of baking, her house smelt like Willy Wonka farted!}


Each cupcake was wrapped in dark red ribbon and the entire thing placed on a specially made tiered cake tower.  She did a beautiful job and we really loved it.


To save even more, we used our beautiful cake as dessert, and for $1 per head, Ballara Receptions plated each guest's cupcake individually with some cream and berry coulis.. just gorgeous!  This meant we paid a lot less per head, as dessert was supplied by us.


This is the final in the series of 10 posts about our wedding savings.. I hope that some of the things I learned along the way are helpful and can minimise some stress and help a few couples start off married life without a whole big mess of debt hanging over their heads.


Congratulations to all of you getting married - I hope you thoroughly enjoy the ride!!


**Please do let me know if you have any specific questions that I can attempt to answer**

Budget Wedding Tips - Part 9: Transportation

Our Wedding Car - it rained on our wedding day which made for Gorgeous photos

Wedding Transport


As with the theme you're probably noticing in these wedding posts, we wanted something that looked gorgeous and classy, but really didn't want to spend big $ on hiring a guy to drive us in a car then wait around for hours for us.


I looked into the option of hiring a luxury car, and getting family members to drive us to the wedding.


We ended up hiring a couple of Audis from Europcar which was great, because I could book them online, we didn't need to pay any deposit (cash flow when organising a wedding can become problematic when you're constantly paying deposits all over the place) - we just had to pay when we picked up both cars.


We picked up the cars the day before the wedding and organised for an uncle to drive the bridesmaids, and my brother to drive my dad and myself.  The bridal car was hired for 2 days so we could drive away in it after the reception to our wedding night accommodation.


It ended up costing us a few hundred dollars for 2 luxury cars that looked smashing with the white wedding ribbon attached on the day!




**Please note, some car hire companies don't hire their cars for weddings due to past damage in similar circumstances, and at the time we hired from Europcar we disclosed to them they were for a wedding which was ok, but their policy may not be the same now.. please check before you hire**