My birthday fur

Hello there and how are you?

Today I thought I'd share my recent birthday present from Sasha - this fabulous fur coat from H&M. It's not only teddy bear soft, but also works as another dose of colour therapy during these winter months. I adore a fun fur and am thrilled to add this new shade to my wardrobe. 

Steve and I chose Carn Near quay as our backdrop for the photo shoot affording us this wonderful vista of islands and sea behind. The white sands are Bathing House beach on Tresco and the islands in the distance are the Eastern Isles.

As usual there's always something I forget and the accessory of the day was a pair of buttery soft leather gloves that match the jacket perfectly, but you'll have to wait until I style this up another time to see those!

The gold sweater is one that Sasha gave me as a hand-me-down a couple of years ago, also from H&M. It's been at the bottom of my cupboard for months and was only unearthed when I was trying to find the right top for this outfit. The Lee jeans were a recent purchase from TK Maxx. 

The necklace is from Topshop and my old faithful sunglasses are from Quay Australia.

My gorgeous belt is new, by Ted Baker and another birthday gift, this time from Fiona. Both rings are also gifts from other girlfriends previously.

I'm still in love with these fabulous blue snakeskin Chelsea boots from Office. The brand is Ego and they're in the winter sale here if you want to catch yourself a bargain!

I'm so grateful that the blog affords Steve and I the chance to spend some time out and about when we otherwise might just be bogged down by weekend chores. We poke fun at each other in our chosen roles of model and photographer, neither of us convinced that we are the real deal which of course, helps to keep it real. And here's the view that I was facing throughout today's brief session looking out towards St Agnes and the Western Rocks.

Thanks for dropping by and have a lovely week!

Anna x

My new Chelsea boots

Hello and welcome to Sunday's post. How's your day shaping up? Will you be having some leisure time today? I'm meeting up with an old girlfriend for lunch, so what to wear will be the question. But first, let me show you what I wore to work yesterday. I've recently bought these rather fabulous Chelsea boots from Office (see the link here) and they sparked the following look. The boots reminded me of Bill Nighy's character, Billy Mack in Love Actually - know what I mean? I do love this androgynous look.

This outfit brings together old, new and vintage pieces which is one of my favourite mixes. The (men's) trouser suit is vintage and was a charity shop find. I don't wear it very often, only because of the huge shoulder pads - I need to feel particularly brave fashion-wise to sport this one. But I'm having a trousers suit moment (see another recent one here) and thought this would be the perfect way to showcase my new boots. I could have gone all out with the rockstar look by adding a frilly shirt, but decided to play it down with this pink rib knit from Primark instead.

The pink sweater is actually fluorescent pink, but doesn't show that in the bright sunlight. It was one of two that I purchased early on in the season. The other is a bright green and has yet to have its day on the blog. I thought the very blue theme would benefit from a splash of contrast. Also, the boots have a few daubs of pink which ties in too. 

The pink and black leather checkered belt was another pre-loved purchase that ties in well with the sweater. I'm always on the lookout for accessories that are just that little bit different.

Statement rings in pink and blue, one a gift, one a charity shop piece, complete the look.

I can't help but cast a critical eye over these shots, noticing the soft tummy rolls. Last week it was the dimpled arse and this week it's the belly fat. Oh dear, I fancy that I'm in need of a new exercise regime!

One final longing look at the view and it was time for me to get back to work. A lunchtime photo shoot with this backdrop of Appletree Bay was a lovely interlude in a busy day. I've not swum here for over two weeks now as we've had unseasonal visitors in our waters of late. The influx of Portuguese man o' war jellyfish have an excruciatingly painful sting which in extreme cases can kill. They can even sting when they are washed up on the shore, dead. I'm not keen on the chance encounter with them so have hung up my cossie for the moment. Hopefully by the time I return from the mainland next week our waters will be clear. 

In the meantime, have a great week!

Anna x

Autumn styling tricks

Hello lovely peeps, how's things with you? You may recall me bemoaning the end of summer in a recent post and the fact that autumn represents a struggle for me style-wise. Well today I've taken the simple approach by following the fashion advice of Red magazine. The feature captured my attention mainly as I could see that I already had similar items languishing in my wardrobe.

There's nothing better than finding all of the necessary pieces in ones closet to make up a brand new outfit. My pale peach utility wear jumpsuit is so comfortable and now it seems I can extend the life of it for another couple of months. I bought mine in Topshop in the summer sale.

I'm a big fan of belts of all widths meaning that I already had this very similar one. I've had it for yonks and have no idea where I bought it. It's a lovely piece made of soft, thick leather which is why I've held onto it. On trend or not, I keep hold of quality items, not just because of the inevitability of the fashion coming around again, but because they're an absolute asset.

The snakeskin biker jacket was gifted to me by JD Williams earlier this year. See it online here. It's a lovely soft fabric, an artificial suede that wears well and hangs nicely. The rose gold necklace is pre-loved, the rose gold edged sunglasses are by Quay Australia.

My snakeskin print ankle boots were from New Look. They have a new version for this season here. This shape of Chelsea boot seems to fit my foot shape perfectly and are all-day comfortable for me - just enough heel, but not too high.

Another quality leather item is my natural leather Radley bag. If you hurry you can catch the Radley half price sale online here. Mine was an snip from a charity shop which won't surprise you. It pays to have an eagle eye, even if you're not that into second hand shopping. The flower enamel ring was another charity shop find and the ethnic ring was from a market in Cape Town (happy days!).

So, what have I learnt from Red's fashion styling tricks? It seems that by simply adding a jacket and pair of boots to summer clothes, well hey presto, that amounts to autumn dressing! I'm going to be applying this to lots of my summer clothes, that's the ones that haven't already been packed away at least. Coming up later this week, I'll be showing you how one of my favourite summer dresses looks when it gets this autumn treatment.

Did you like today's feature? If so, please let me know.

Anna x

As suggested by...Erin.

Welcome to the third feature of this name where you chose the theme of my outfit. Erin emailed me to say that she really loved these snakeskin print boots and asked to see them again as I've only worn them once before. I had hoped to put a link to the first time I wore them but in the editing I managed to cock this up magnificently and have now lost that entire post from my archives. Showing it would mean I have to republish the draft of a January post in the middle of July. I'm sure it's all irrelavant in the grand scheme of things. It's the first of July, so let's just keep forging on eh?

I'm delighted to be ask to style these beauties up again, particularly as it's not an obvious choice now that the weather has turned mild (at last). At the first hint of sunshine most of us are happy to pack up our boots and bring out the sandals. I'm the same, but still, I do have a few pairs of boots hanging about that have the chance of making one more appearance just as these have today. The colourway is what makes these so easy to translate into a summer outfit. As you see they really don't look out of place with my cream jeans and embroidered top.

And look! Here's my paintbrush necklace again. I'd completely forgotten about this beauty as it was packed away in its box out of sight. Apologies for the whole walking montage that follows. I thought I'd introduce a slight variation to the blog today, but who would have imagined that walking could prove to be so problematic? Just that simple putting one foot in front of the other thing, you know, like I've been doing all my life, but somehow it seemed to be so difficult today. Anyway, I couldn't decide which looked the most authentic and so will leave it for you to decide.

So here you have it Erin. I'm really pleased with this fresh feeling outfit and think these boots are the perfect finish. I really hope that you agree. 

So for those of you who are new to the blog, I'd like to invite you too to take part in this monthly offering. If you would like me to style up a particular piece again but in a different way, then please drop me an email, or message me on Instagram or leave a comment at the bottom of the page. I love to read all your comments, and particularly if you want to spark the next installment of this feature. 

Today's outfit comprises of embroidered top from Tu at Sainsbury (all sold out now I'm afraid) jeans are from M&S, boots are c/o J D Williams, paintbrush necklace is from Zincwhite, sunglasses are from Quay Australia, watch is by Michael Kors, handbag is from Accessorize many moons ago, bangles from a charity shop, brown ring is old and the nude ring is from Boots.

Linking with 
Cherie of Style Nudge
Jess of Elegantly Dressed And Stylish
Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb
Patti of Not Dead Yet Style