Tape by Steve Camden

Taped up

Yeah I read more than just fashion magazines :)

TAPE is the outstanding teen debut of 2014. Told with crackling prose, shimmering with humour and deeply moving, it will haunt anyone who reads it…

Record a voice and it lasts forever…

In 1993, Ryan records a diary on an old tape. He talks about his mother’s death, about his dreams, about his love for a new girl at school who doesn’t even know he exists.

In 2013, Ameliah moves in with her grandmother after her parents die. There, she finds a tape in the spare room. A tape with a boy’s voice on it – a voice she can’t quite hear, but which seems to be speaking to her.

Ryan and Ameliah are connected by more than just a tape.

This is their story.

Courtesy of Harper Collins, I was given the opportunity to review 'Tape' by Steven Camden- a time travelling adventure which is aimed at teenage girls, perhaps younger than myself. After reading the book I concurred that the book is suitable for pre-teen girls perhaps in Year 6 (11/12 years) years upwards as I didn't feel that the language wasn't particularly hard to understand for my age group (15/16 years) although the occasional swear word implemented- which I'm guessing is to blatantly project that this book is for teenagers. I didn't really like the swear words as it didn't correspond with the simple language. If the language was a tad more challenging, perhaps the swear words would've suited it more...

The characters themselves are very personable and each disadvantaged in their own right- which could give you a lightbulb moment in relation to the plot... Although this book has romance- I'm sorry to say that they don't hit up with each other. It'd kinda be impossible to date via a tape recorder (someone will probably try though). The characters themselves have relatable, amazing best friends and I think every teen/pre-teen will relate to their friendships. Especially the girls; where there's pressure to fit in- but this book is beautiful in the fact that nothing bad really happens with the friendships, we just get subtle hints of uneasiness around certain people- which in turn implies thoughts about those near. Every girl wants a best friend like Heather :)

The magical plot itself, well that's a secret which is subtly embedded throughout the story, without you even knowing... and the best part is that it's not inevitable as some other stories. The plot is deeper but don't worry, it's not too confusing :)

I also want to say how beautiful the cover is. Look how pretty the illustrations are; the colour's so bold and totally reflects the book and its plot. 'Tape' has recently been released through Amazon and it's set to be huge, so buck the trend now! Tape

Chinese New Year

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Or in English,Happy New Year! 

After the Christmas recooperation period, perhaps this is a fresh start for everyone. Afterall, wasn't January about paying off Christmas bills and (trying to) shed off Christmas pounds? Now, this year according to the Chinese Zodiac- is the year of the horse. Horses are typically known to be: friendly, vain, vivascious, enduring, witty and impatient to name a few. Any horses (metaphorically speaking) care to confirm that... perhaps you might want to put down the mirror to comment. I'm actually an Ox and although I don't follow the zodiac animals to a T (but I do like the odd horoscope) I kinda agree with my traits: hardworking, loyal, reliable and impatient. 'Born leader' was also quoted. 

Anywho, today to celebrate the Chinese New Year, most of us are probably tucking in to a chow mein (so jealous, no offense Mum) whilst I am the 1% tucking in to a spag bol. Tonight, it's time to break the barrier of showing you a chinese recipe- who'd actually make it, you're all tucking into stir fried noodles right now! I thought lets do a nail art tutorial! Originally I was thinking of doing one for Valentines Day- but the Chinese are renowned for their long, acrylic, lotus nails so it would be more suitable to do a Chinese inspired one.

Yin Yang Nail Tutorial

You will need:

• Black nail varnish
• White nail varnish
• Clear nail varnish
• Black nail art pen (or a black eyeliner would work well)
• Dotting tool
• Nail varnish remover

Method:

1. Firstly, cover your nails in clear nail varnish. Leave this to dry. 
2. Secondly, paint your nails completely with white nail varnish- until the nail has gone opaque (you can't see through). Leave this to dry and get your black nail art pen or black eyeliner ready.
3. Using your eyeliner/nail art pen, paint an almost 'S' shape (or backwards eclipse shape) in the middle of your white nail.
4. Fill this shape in with black nail varnish; leave to dry. 
5. Lastly, with your dotting tool (or I guess you could use a hair grip pulled into a straight line), paint a white dot in the top corner of the black section of the nail. Vice versa with the black dot onto the bottom corner of the white half. You can use a top coat hardener at this point when all nails are covered. (Optional).
6. Clear up any mistakes with nail varnish and enjoy!

Yin Yang actually means the balance. Each of the colours means 'good' and 'bad'. They say that you can't have good without a little bit of bad, and you can't have bad without a little bit of good. Nothing is black and white.

Now, enjoy your new year and make it count.

xox

Name Your Link

Street Style Sunday

Street Style Sunday

So this is my first street style Sunday as I rarely take a lot of street style nowadays, as it's freezing outside! But I took this shot recently and thought I'd join in with the new Street Style Sunday tag started by www.stylemesunday.blogspot.com x

Bag: http://iconemesis.co.uk/ (Coming soon)

Phone case: http://iconemesis.co.uk/

Clothes: Bianca Nicole, stylist

Photographer: Paige Anthony

xo #StreetStyleSunday Join in next Sunday :)

The Rules -

1. Add the link to a specific outfit post, not your main blog page.

2. Grab a button and add it to your post (our text link is also fine).

3. Comment on this post and at least one other post...the whole point is to visit each other.

One to watch!

One to watch!
UPDATE: GGC Clothing is now called 'Marbelle'

Okay so I've been dealing with my 'To Do List' today and right now I'm writing up a blog post which is probably late. I've been shooting a bit more recently (yayay behind the scenes piccies on the way?) so I would bring my tablet on the train with me to shoots, but who does that in London? If someone gets their iPhone out on the train- everyone eyes it up. 

Today I was asked to voice my opinion on the creativity of online British,clothing brand GGC Clothing. 

GGC Clothing definitely know how to showcase their clothes to a high standard in the images shown above. The fabric used to make the outfits looks luxurious, opulent and silkily smooth. The way the clothes hang shows how much skill and effort has been put into the clothes and they are presented almost, regally. The images remind me of regal, royalty and do project an aura of mystery to us the audience. I think that these pictures represent different moods and feelings. The jumpsuits look shows the comfort of  a Greek toga, but the colours symbolise the boldness of  a 60s/70s staple piece. And the blue lipstick shows this brand is daring and out there and I love that!

What a dress! I love the way GGC Clothing's fabric and material always looks so rich and luxurious in its photos. The blue is so vivid and it's not too bold, although after seeing the blue lipstick I thought some blue would've been used throughout the collection. This dress is hot but still looks comfortable and I could see it as a summer piece for when you're flowy, chilled and don't want to wear anything full on- but still want to look fabulous. I have to admit though, this shot could've been a bit more natural to suit the theme of the dress. The colour is for everything relaxed and the forced hand gesture is a bit too distracting and doesn't match the aura. Maybe some windswept hair could've added a more natural look to it? It could just be me, but in my opinion the pose doesn't match. But it is a good dress which I would wear myself! The colour doesn't immediately dictate one season either, it could be Spring as well as Autumn! It's also not age-restricted, an older lady could easily pull this off as well as a younger lady.

And third time lucky, 

Everyone likes a party dress and this dress is the life of the party! This dress just screams Cheryl Cole to me, I can just see her in it so clearly. This dress is definitely diverse to the others as this shows the more tight, body-con, almost sexier side to the brand. But the length shows that it's still within boundaries and oozes sophistication. I like the dress isn't patterned all over, but it works, it doesn't need to have a lot on it to shine. Less is more. After this, I am so excited for the new collection!

So what do you think of the dresses?

Found out more here (and the new collection details!):

https://www.facebook.com/MarbellleM?fref=ts
@Marbelle

A new Honey in this Hive

A new Honey in this Hive review

This week a new Honey arrived into my Hive, courtesy of Jasper Jewellery .This honey was of course the Honeybee Silver Pendant Necklace which includes beautiful, Swarovski and Preciosa crystals and is adored by Cara herself ^

Jasper Jewellery are a small website based in Ireland (yes home of Niall) and have a passion for classy crystal jewellery and Swarovski jewels at normal prices. Given the fact that they are in Ireland, Jasper Jewellery deliver worldwide and offer Free Delivery to any country :) Saying that, their delivery is super fast my parcel arrived in 3 days and I was in a different country.

As stated on their website, the jewellery comes in beautiful, gift wrapping- free of charge which is true. Although, I have to admit I did think the wrapping paper wasn't like I would've imagined. It was just striped, wrapping paper- but the nicely, tied ribbon bow helped make it work. The wrapping did make it look like a Christmas present, which I thought was cool as I did get a 'Kid at Crimbo' type feeling when opening it. The logo stickers were a nice touch as they were shiney and embossed- so it complimented the gift well.

The necklace itself is a reasonable size and can be worn with many different outfits. Like the one below...  and I'm eagerly awaiting to receive Valentines Day jewellery like these from Jasper Jewellery's Valentines line:

Here's an outfit I culminated to fit the necklace,

Went a bit too yellow, but hey who wouldn't with a buzz-tastic, honeybee necklace!

Jasper Jewellery still rock and I'm able to give my readers an exclusive $5 off any purchase from their store. The discount code is: totalpolichic5 

Plus, a giveaway to win an exclusive piece of Jasper Jewellery will be up this week :)

Follow Jasper Jewellery on all their social media platforms!

Twitter: @jasperjewellery

www.jasperjewellery.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JasperJewellery.comStore

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+Jasperjewellery00/posts

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/jasperjewellery/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCokQQ_7qP4EGHf-qyeiHOhg

#HappyBirthdayKate

Long live Queen Kate Moss!

Kate is officially the Queen of fashion. I want to add the world but Kate Middleton exists and could be Queen one day and saying something like that could get controversial. Although, did you know that Kate Moss used to play a fictional Queen of England in the TV series Blackadder? Me either.

Being 40 years old and still working is beyond amazing in this current world. As a whole, it's hard for a celebrity to have staying power that they used to have like Michael Jackson or Marilyn Monroe. The world used to worship their work but now with the social media technology we have today, our attention spans are shorter and celebrities careers die earlier. It's a fact really. Is there a celebrity out there today who will definitely be working in 10 years time? Nope. It's all about short term cash, fast.

This is why it amazes me that the mysterious, Kate Moss is still relevant in todays culture. Especially being in the fickle fashion field where being heroin chic is hot one minute then dead the next. Kate has been working for 26 years and is still booking high profile jobs today. Most retire at 25. She practically reinvented Playboy recently and for someone who isn't known as big busted, it's clear that was overlooked and she still managed to revive Playboy, but with class. She doesn't even Tweet or Post and still manages to grab headlines.

That's the thing. Instead of another boring post about the Kate story or a pointless post clustered with pretty pictures... I thought lets post the 40 most random facts about the most mysterious model in showbiz. And yes as she barely does interviews these are either rumours or truth- but sadly I'm not friends with Mossy to confirm them for you. But hey they're more fun that 

1. Did modeling for Roberto Cavalli's spring and summer collection 2006 in Ibiza soon after she checked out of rehab (November, 2005).
2. She loves Eastenders.
3. Interviews make her feel ill (explains why she doesn't conduct many).
4. Her biggest fashion regret are dungarees.
5. Classes Mick Jagger as her style icon.
6. Her ultimate beauty product is black kohl eyeliner.
7. She had her figure immortalized in solid gold in a £1.5 million pound sterling statue for the British Museum.
8. She doesn’t like texting as she’s a self-proclaimed ‘grammar snob’.
9. Her favourite app is Dumb Ways to Die.
10. Started model Devon Aoki's career.
11. She prefers Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter.
12. She doesn't take selfies.
13. In 2005, a naked portrait of Kate, painted by artist Lucien Freud was sold for £3.9 Million pounds.
14. If she hadn't been scouted she says she probably would've been a barmaid in Croydon for the rest of her life.
15. Kate always goes natural and feels that nothing should cover up your beauty. As she quotes 'It sounds really corny but I think that if you're beautiful on the inside, you're beautiful on the outside, for sure.'
16. She makes plum jam from fruit grown from her Cotswold estate.
17. If she could be any animal, she'd be a lioness. With her dark blonde mane- it shows.
18. According to her contract, she's permitted to have a cigarette break every 15 minutes... that's fashion.
19. She's been on over 300 magazine covers and is now the contributing editor at British Vogue. 
20. She’s a tea addict and drinks between 10-15 cups a day
21. Her favourite cheese is Stilton.
22. Her brother Nick used to be a model.
23. She bought her own engagement ring in 2008 because her fiancé, Jamie Hince, couldn’t afford it at the time.
24. 'I was never anorexic, so I was never that skinny. I was never bony-bony. But I remember thinking, I don't want to be this skinny.' and she hates going to the gym too...
25. 'Once I was walking from The Mercer in New York - because otherwise I don't walk anywhere - and this woman paparazzo who was following me fell over a fire hydrant and her whole tooth went through her lip. I leant over her, saying, 'Are you all right?' and she was still taking pictures.'
26. Prior to breaking up with Pete Doherty, Moss co-wrote four songs on Babyshambles’ second album Shotter’s Nation – “You Talk”, “French Dog Blues”, “Baddie’s Boogie”, and “Deft Left Hand”.
27. After Moss’ drug scandal in 2005, she has been able to get more deals and more money because fashion bosses believe consumers will be attracted to her wild life style and there is a certain danger about her. She is expected to have earned thirty million by the end of 2006. 
28. Kate celebrated her 33rd birthday with a 24-hour party. She spent more than $12,000 on a marathon drinking and dancing session. The celebrations began in her Primrose Hill home, then she met Pete Doherty at Scott's oyster bar in Mayfair.
29. Kate ranked at #7 on a countdown of the Ten Most Beautiful English Women.
30. She drank and smoked heavily at age 12 and has supposedly, never done a runway show sober...
31. Daughter Lila isn't going to model so soon, 'Lila can't be a model until she's at least 21. She is already a mini-me - it is scary. She already has her own beauty kit.'
32. She loves her jam and makes it from her Cotswold garden. 'Jam! I love my jam. I've just had a batch of it come through, I've been making it.'
33. Carla Bruni once took her too lunch during Milan Fashion Week to make sure she got fed during the week. Bit sad that Carla didn't think of making sure there was food during shows for all models...
34. The saved Richard Branson's Mum Eve from a fire in 2011.
35. Her net worth is $70million.
36. Rosie Huntingdon-Whitely refers to Kate Moss as her inspiration.
37. Her fashion friends include Stella McCartney, Sadie Frost and Jo Wood.
38. She is godmother to Jude Laws’ daughter Iris.
39. Her fashion line is set to return to Topshop in 2014 and will be sold in 40 countries worldwide.
40. She supports Chelsea Football Club.

Tweedy without the Cheryl

This is the point when I should really have an Instagram account, aha. Just a sneakpeak at what I've been doing recently ..

And it also involves another awesome blogger from the Netherlands called Donia from DoniaZ.nl

Gotta love tweed jackets!