If I had to describe my personal style, I would probably have to call it… inconsistent. I don’t think I really have a “look” or a style that I stick to, in fact, if I’m honest, I’m a really bad shopper. People are usually advised to buy items that fit [...]]]> Photo Credit

If I had to describe my personal style, I would probably have to call it… inconsistent. I don’t think I really have a “look” or a style that I stick to, in fact, if I’m honest, I’m a really bad shopper. People are usually advised to buy items that fit in with the rest of their wardrobe, so they have complete looks. I’m more likely to buy something that catches my eye, even if it’s totally different to the rest of my clothing, then find a way to coordinate it later – even if that means having to buy more items so I can create an outfit that works. Also, I’m rather lazy. If I’m not going anywhere, I’ll throw on anything (or not bother at all: case in point, I’m currently writing this in my pyjamas at lunchtime whilst watching the Grand Prix.)

This is starting to feel like something of a “fashion sins” confessional, so I will stop there and focus on the real point of this post – to share some Polyvore sets that represent the kind of things I’m wearing at the moment. I don’t own any of the actual items in the sets, but the looks are very close to those I’ve put together from my own wardrobe. Don’t expect fashionista greatness here – I’m not long out of my goth phase really, and that was succeeded by a few years of “I don’t really care about clothing as long as it’s comfy and keeps me warm / cool”.

Also, be gentle with me, I’m very new to this Polyvore thing! For product information, click on the pictures.

First, a couple of typical outfits when I really can’t be bothered to think about what I’m wearing – basically, my wardrobe staples thrown together.

I am a big bunch of contradictions when it comes to style and fashion. I used to resent the fashion industry for promoting an image there’s no way I could ever come close to achieving, but in recent years I’ve come to love it despite myself. I used to feel almost “unworthy” of pretty [...]]]> Photo Credit

I am a big bunch of contradictions when it comes to style and fashion. I used to resent the fashion industry for promoting an image there’s no way I could ever come close to achieving, but in recent years I’ve come to love it despite myself. I used to feel almost “unworthy” of pretty things by virtue of not ”fitting the mould”, but now I strongly believe that everyone has a right to style. At first, I shied away from blogging about it as I really don’t feel comfortable with the concept of posting outfit shots – I generally avoid having to look at photos of myself! I love reading about other peoples’ sartorial choices however, indeed some of my favourite blogs are fashion blogs, and I love talking about clothes, etc. so I feel that now may be the time to venture into writing about them too. Don’t expect daily outfit pics any time soon however!

To that end, I thought a post outlining my relationship with fashion and style was in order. Having been born with very visible severe Scoliosis, I’ve always had to make my clothing choices carefully, and there are some trends that have always been “out of my reach” – bodycon is the stuff of my nightmares. Some may see trying to disguise my “condition” (for want of a better word) with carefully-chosen clothing as body shame, I see it as working with what I have.

Like many people, some days I feel down about the way I look, hiding in baggy clothing and not going out unless I have to. Most of the time however, my clothes and make-up give me confidence – I can put together a pretty outfit and allow the clothes to draw attention to the features I do like – usually my legs.

I also have ridiculously narrow feet, shoulders that are about 2 sizes narrower than my hips, a torso that’s so disproportionate to my legs that I end up buying petite size tops and tall-size jeans (when I buy both tops and trousers at the same time some of the looks I get from shop assistants are quite hilarious, particularly buying tall jeans when I’m only 5’1) and I can’t walk in heels to save my life. I’m trying to work on the latter but the rest I’ll just have to live with.

I’m writing this so that I have a post I can link to whenever I write about what I personally wear, buy, or wish for, that goes some way to explaining why I make the clothing choices I do. I’m not asking for a “pity party” in sharing this, in fact, in some ways it has made shopping really easy for me – having to be so careful with what I wear for so long means that now I can walk into a shop and pick things up that I know will suit me, often without trying them on. It certainly makes life a lot easier for the boy when he’s forced to come shopping with me!

This is part 1. Now that the “serious” stuff is out of the way, part 2 will be all about what I do wear, rather than the limitations!

It has occurred to me that I have a wealth of interests that I could probably write vast amounts of posts on, but for some reason, I don’t seem to write about. I’m not sure why, since I don’t exactly keep this blog to a specific topic or [...]]]> 1, 2, 3, 4

It has occurred to me that I have a wealth of interests that I could probably write vast amounts of posts on, but for some reason, I don’t seem to write about. I’m not sure why, since I don’t exactly keep this blog to a specific topic or subject area, but that just seems to be the way of things.

In the interests of expanding the scope of what I write here, and indeed to encourage me to write differently, and perhaps outside of my comfort zone, I thought I would compile a list of interests I have that are very “bloggable”, that for some reason I never seem to write about here. I believe this will encourage me to compose some different posts and maybe allow for a bit of feedback too.

• Beauty Products – I’m totally obsessed! I spend far too much time on makeup and skincare products, and when I’m going out I’ll spend ages getting my eye make-up perfect. I think the main reason I’ve never really written about this area is that I find it very difficult to photograph make-up accurately. Has anyone written a guide on how to go about this?
• Clothes – I like layers, dark colours with bursts of brightness, red skirts and boots, classic styles, full skirts and lots of sparkle. Although I don’t think I’d feel comfortable posting full-length photos of myself (it’s very rare that I actually like a photo of me), that doesn’t mean I can’t photograph my outfits on hangers, or even make Polyvore sets!
• Interesting / Quirky People- People-watching is one of my favourite pastimes, and I’ve often considered writing small portraits of the people I see that seem a little more interesting than the rest.
• Healthy Food and Drink – I might not eat it often enough, but I have a real passion for food and drink that’s not only delicious, but also really good for you. I also suffer from an on / off “superfood” obsession from time to time!
• Gadgets - It’s probably pretty obvious from my TiLT posts that I love shiny gadgets, and totally covet the latest electronic marvels that I can’t afford!
• Bigger Issues Outside the Blogosphere- Politics, feminism, psychology, I have an interest in so many things, yet I only seem to touch on the more serious issues when there’s a blogging scandal or some such other blogosphere-related reason to bring it up.

A few weeks after my blog’s 1 year anniversary, I suppose these could be seen as blogging New Years Resolutions. I intend to push myself outside of that writing comfort zone a little and write about subjects I’d usually neglect, as well as continuing with my usual content. I’m hoping that this will make Sparkle and Glitter a more challenging, educational project for me as well as making it more interesting to read for you!

What do you think? Are there any subjects you avoid writing about even though they interest you?

Image by merwing✿little dear

This is not a style blog, I don’t think I’ll ever be the type to post outfit photos, I really don’t photograph well and my wardrobe isn’t anywhere near as impressive as all the fashion bloggers’ out there. I have recently been thinking a lot about style [...]]]>

Image by merwing✿little dear

This is not a style blog, I don’t think I’ll ever be the type to post outfit photos, I really don’t photograph well and my wardrobe isn’t anywhere near as impressive as all the fashion bloggers’ out there. I have recently been thinking a lot about style however, and more specifically, everyones’ right to wear whatever they want.

Up until the age of about 18, I harboured a secret anger towards my parents for what I then perceived to be years of deceit and lies. Their crime? My parents led me to believe that I was normal-looking, beautiful even throughout my childhood, so when I got to those image-obsessed teenage years and the truth I probably already knew - that I didn’t look exactly like everyone else – hit home, I spent a long time obsessing over the way I looked.

The reason? Severe scoliosis, diagnosed at birth, which I’ve had surgery for but which will probably never be able to be corrected to the point at which I look “normal”. This post however, is not about my back, my image hang-ups in the past, or anything that “deep”, it’s not a pity post, it’s about clothes! I look back on what I perceived as a wrong-doing on the part of my parents, and I realise now that it was exactly what I needed. It fostered in me self-confidence from an early age, and also gave me a love of beautiful clothing which hasn’t diminished in the slightest. I love shopping, I love dressing up, I think in part thanks to them.

It never occurred to me as a child that I should be any less interested in clothes and fashion than anyone else. True, some clothes looked better on me than others, but that’s true of anyone, I just had to be a little more careful what I wore. It was only when I reached my teens did I begin to realise that there are people out there who think those of us who are imperfect-looking, for any reason, shouldn’t worry ourselves with concepts such as dressing nicely. Leave looking pretty to the perfect tens, apparently some believe that the rest of us should be covering ourselves up and worrying about other things. For a couple of years, I believed that too. I wore baggy t-shirts and jeans, using the excuse that I was a “bit of a tomboy” far more socially acceptable than the truth.

The truth, I realise now, is that I believed that there was no point in wearing the pretty clothes I longed to wear and being girly, because it wouldn’t make any difference. I’d still be weird-looking, so why bother? This gradually evolved into what I now think was a belief that I didn’t deserve style.

I don’t think anyone should ever have to feel like that.

Image by merwing✿little dear

I got through my teenage angst phase, became a goth for quite a long time, and slowly, goth fashion piqued my interest in my personal style in general. Lace and velvet tempted me to become girly again, and nowadays although there are far more colours in  my wardrobe, that hasn’t left me. Even if I’m feeling really bad about myself, wearing a really nice dress can make me feel just a little bit more confident.

• Nobody should ever feel like they don’t have a right to style because of what they look like.
• That beautiful, perfect garment is just as beautiful in a size 24 as a size 8!
• Big, baggy and plain doesn’t work, loosely fitted almost always looks nicer.
• Don’t let the physical attributes you can’t change stop you from expressing yourself however you wish, and that includes expression through your clothing and personal style.

Once I realised I didn’t have to hide under tent-like clothes all the time, and in fact realised that it probably did more harm than good, I started to learn what suits me and what my good features are. My back may be wonky, I may have uneven shoulders, but I have killer legs and I can’t believe I ever hid them under baggy trousers!

I have a lot more confidence than I used to be, but I still don’t photograph well. One day I may post photos of my style, but not right now. This has turned into a bit of a rant, but amongst the miryad of style blogs out there, it probably goes a little way to explaining why I’ve never tried to write about fashion.

Fashion and style may possibly be a little shallow, but it’s fun, can make you feel great and should be enjoyed by everyone!

Image by kaibara87

Hooray for Friday! I hope you’re all managing to get away with doing as little as possible at work today!

I’ve decided to abandon the five distinct categories, as although I first used them to force myself to show some variety in the links I feature, I [...]]]>

Image by kaibara87

Hooray for Friday! I hope you’re all managing to get away with doing as little as possible at work today!

I’ve decided to abandon the five distinct categories, as although I first used them to force myself to show some variety in the links I feature, I actually found them quite limiting, and started using the Life Sparkle heading like a “misc.” category, which it was never meant to be. From now on, there will be no headings, but I will still endeavour to find a diverse selection of reading material for you!

* Ashe Mischief shared a post from Blood Rhinestone Productions entitled “How to be a Burlesque Superstar” a great guide whether you want to build yourself a reputation as a burlesque star or you simply want a few tips that will translate into your daily lives and add a bit of glamourous sparkle!

* Coral Stars feautres a guide on “How to Shake Up Your Style”, perfect if you feel like you’re in a bit of a sartorial rut, there are some great tips here on how to gather inspiration for your wardrobe!

* Bridey has posted a list of very useful links if you’re in need of inspiration for NaNoWriMo, or any writing project you may have on the go at the moment. Her “Inspiration: Writing” post is sure to prove extremely handy!

* Sarah muses on how much of her sense of style comes from the opinions of others in her post entitled “Past Caring”.

* One of my favourite livejournal personalities, the brlliant Benchilada has a wonderful series of posts entitled “So You Don’t Have To” where he eats some seriously disgusting-looking / sounding items sent to him from friends all over the world. Only watch the video below if you have a strong stomach… then click the link above to see many more hilarious gastronomic adventures!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aHRMfz84Tg]

* Finally, here’s an excellent piece from the Style Bubble on keeping fashion “Pro Choice”. Wear what you feel like wearing and enjoy it!

What fabulous Internet findings have made your week pass a little more quickly?