Today I’m wearing… more shades of grey (and a cold shoulder jumper)

I was dubious about the cold shoulder trend, because, well, I’m a cynic. What’s the point of flashing a bit of upper arm, I’d think, when I’ve spent all my life trying to *hide* my upper arms… And would it make any difference to feeling too hot or too cold? I didn’t think so, and I wrote off cold-shoulders as ridiculous, another way to torment those who do don’t like to show flesh, and therefore not for me.

But then I had a a revelatory moment… and it was the cold shoulder jumper. I’ve never bought anything from Lipsy before, thinking it was for small, skinny types, but I saw this jumper and despite the holes in the upper arms, I had to have it. It’s pale pink, the kind of punky pop pale pink, that cries out for bubblegum lips and smudgy kohl eyeliner… and it’s long sleeved and high necked, so a tiny bit of upper arm reveal can’t possibly be gratuitous.

I wore it on Monday and got the seal of approval with my grey jeans and the ankle sliver above my metallic trainers. After a quick wash, I wore it today, with a flippy floral skirt in pink and grey.   I just love pink and grey together, vibrant shades make the pink pop, but silvery grey and pastel pink are a soothing combination.

The photos aren’t the best, they don’t do either outfit justice.  Or maybe actually it’s just not very flattering, the ribbing and frilling emphasising as it does, curves and bumps.  But I enjoyed wearing it for a change, as after all, that’s the whole point of my fashion posts – to challenge myself to wear things I love, but otherwise wouldn’t.  Pushing my boundaries! I particularly like the way the flip of the skirt and the frills of the jumper echo each other… just sayin’… And yes, I wore it with the smudgy eyes and bubblegum pink lips described in my shopping haul!

Rosa was very taken with my outfit, when I took my coat off this evening she said “Mummy your jumper and skirt are so pretty!” Meanwhile Persie kissed the soft part of my upper arm tonight as I carried her and said “I like this nice shoulder, Mummy,” and carried on smooching it for a bit.  Got to love toddlers.

The observant amongst you will note that I also matched this week’s manicure to the shades of grey theme. This is OPI “No More Mr Night Sky” a purplish grey with a shimmer… Love it!!

Emptrix Nata Sum

Emptrix nata sum

I had to start with a little Latin joke for all my Classicist friends out there. Back in the day, Past Times sold a shopping bag which had this slogan on it, and it means “I am a born (female) shopper” literally, so… born to shop.

Shopping is not a pastime. I like to remind myself of that when I find myself just tootling out on to the high street, with time to kill, a song in my heart and my debit card in my wallet. Shopping is not a pastime, I remind myself when I browse idly on fashion websites instead of writing. Shopping is NOT a pastime, I tell Rosa when she begs begs begs to go to Bury, or to Westfield in Stratford, so that she can go shopping. Shopping is NOT a pastime, I convince no one when I make my regular pilgrimages to Ikea and Costco.

Oh, but who am I to blow against the wind? Because I am a really good shopper. For myself and for others. I love nothing more than a shopping mission, than to track down the perfect something to a brief, I love to research and can spend hours weighing up the pros and cons of one version of the same thing versus another. But I know my tendencies (thanks Gretchen) and I am a satisficer, not a maxmiser and I love abundance, not simplicity, so I am not actually that discriminating a shopper. And if I don’t have something in mind, but am just browsing, I will quite happily make rash impulse purchases. In fact, it turns out, I’m pretty much a rash, impulsive kind of person.

Loving shopping and cheap fashion might make me shallow and unethical, and I probably ought to worry about bigger things. But sometimes, you need to think about the things that don’t matter, because if you thought about the things that really matter all the time, you’d go mad. I love the book The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, as glossing over the fact it’s about a young woman with an addiction and a debt problem, it’s the on the funniest, whip-smartest books of its kind, and if it had been written by a man would be called satire. Anyway, in it, she just longs to be ‘the girl in the Denny and George scarf’, hoping that becoming that girl will mean she is transformed into the person she feels she really is. I totally get that. We all know that having that pair of boots, that top, that dress, that hat won’t fill the holes in our souls, nor will being the girl in the red boots/ with the kick ass lipstick make life’s decisions any easier, or get someone to love us when they’re emotionally unavailable, or make being a mum any less relentless and exhausting. It’s just a plaster on the wounds. But plasters stop the wound getting infected, while your clever body gets on with mending itself. So I guess that makes shopping Savlon for the soul. It doesn’t fix anything, but it helps briefly, while you work out how to fill the hole in your soul or mend your broken heart.

With that little spot of self-justification over, I have some exciting new purchases, bought in about half an hour on the high street, and it’s all very exciting.

Firstly, Maybelline Vivid Matt Lip Colour in Nude Flush. I read about this on The Pool and I am currently all about the matt lip, so I decided to give this a try. It’s not got the staying power of the Revlon equivalent matt lipcolour, but it’s relatively long lasting and I love the colour, a pleasing slightly bubblegum tinged springy pink, that looks good with grey eyeliner.

Secondly, Rimmel Insta-fix 2-in-1 primer and finishing spray. I picked up one of these at the supermarket on Saturday and have been so impressed with the results so far that I bought a second for my handbag for work, where the air conditioning wrecks my skin, and seems to evaporate my make up regardless of what base I wear, cheap, expensive, light, heavy, liquid, powder, liquid-to-powder, cream, fluid… you name it, the work air conditioning evaporates it off. So I have high hopes that this can stop that happening, as you can use it under your make up, to fix your make up into place after applying, and during the day to refresh it, so I’m hopeful this is going to solve that problem. There are more expensive versions of this kind of thing out there, but I like cheap and cheerful and being able to buy two guilt free.

Thirdly, I’m a bit obsessed with pink and grey this week. I can’t wait to wear these cheapo New Look tops with my grey jeans. Remember I was fretting about not having a pale cardigan to wear with the yellow cold shoulder top? Well, this crochet backed long-length number will be perfect, and it’s got a slightly boho look that I really enjoy. Alongside it, I couldn’t resist the printed tee-shirt, which says Rosa Fortuna and a picture of a playing card – two of my favourite things, roses and cards…

Finally, the sun came out and my ancient M&S sunglasses had seen better days. I don’t buy expensive sunglasses, because I have children, and also I like to wear them in my hair a lot, but I am thinking of getting a prescription pair for driving and also, seeing… but in the meanwhile, these two pairs at Boots from their own range are cheap enough not to worry if you lose them, but not as cheap as New Look where all the glasses sat wonky on my wonky nose and ears. The Ray Ban style pair have floral patterns on the arms, and the cats eyes are suitably oversized for pretending you’re a 50’s film star going incognito. Oh, that’s just me?

This weekend I wore… several shades of grey and the ankle sliver

MOTHER’S DAY! Rosa and Persie excelled themselves with the help of nursery/school and their dad. Persie in particular has been very excited about this day, because she was making a 3D card which was the receptacle of two chocolates, which she and Rosa ate themselves. On Sunday morning, Persie had a moment of impressive realisation and shouted at me “IS SUNDAY! HAPPY MUVVERS’ DAY!” with true joy. My Waitrose-purchased and school created haul included a card with “I love you Mummy” written in Mandarin (oh yes!), a new Mummy mug and the biggest box of Ferrero Rocher you’ve ever seen. Cue many jokes about the ambassador’s reception etc etc…

And we went to the Suffolk coast! Aldeburgh is one of my favourite places and has been since I was quite young. There is a tiny house along the sea front that used to be painted pink, and I wanted to live in it and write books.  That’s pretty much my ambition still… Anyway, we didn’t have the famous fish and chips, because the queues for both chip shops stretched down the road (seriously!) but we did visit both the Joules shops, Fat Face (OH! So many cardigans of desire!), and had shabby chic tea and cake in a tea room. We also spent a happy forty minutes dropping serious money in Aldeburgh bookshop, where I made the most satisfying purchase of a box of 20 Poems, printed on thick buff card, by The School of Life. When we opened the box to take a look the first poem was so perfect, so apt, I simply had to buy them. The poems in the image are not that poem, which definitely deserves a post all of its own in the future. I can’t wait to find ways to display the cards and to using them for inspiration.

Finally, we went for a walk along the beach collecting pebbles. The pebble bag weighed more than Persie by the time we went back to the car.  I was delighted that I found a Hag Stone,  a naturally occurring stone with a hole.  I brought it home in my coat pocket, and put on on my windowsill, and seeing it makes me happy.

Clothes wise, I had made a recent purchase of grey jeans, and some paisley patterned springy trainers by Rocket Dog, which I got via Groupon, both items I was very excited to try out. Despite my reservations about the fact that it’s a good few degrees cooler out on the coast, I went for the bare-ankle look. My ankles were cold, I admit, but only because of the wind on the seaside, they would have been fine in town, and indeed today in the sunshine they were not cold in the slightest. No picture of the whole outfit, I teamed the grey jeans with the now-famous and faithful yellow jumper, a great colour combination, and there’s yellow in them paisley trainers, so they tied together brilliantly, and we know that yellow does indeed make me very happy.

The ankle sliver is even more of a thing this spring than it was last year, I’m finding. I was not alone in suffering for fashion in Aldeburgh on Sunday, there were many blue-grey ankles on show, freshly shaved, some with loafers, some with pumps, and some with trainers. Since the cropped trouser and the stepped hem are the new thing this Spring, I think I’ll just have to harden myself up a bit until the weather fits the fashion.