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The above photo is from an article I recently happened upon on the website Corporette. Despite the fact that I am not, never have been, and likely never will be a person with a corporate job, the article grabbed my attention because it was all about one's "daily shlep" - the sheer amount of stuff we carry with us to and from work, or anywhere else we may be headed. While I'm certainly not of the mind that there is a "right" amount of stuff to carry with you at any given time (that's personal and down to how much you're willing to carry), those of us who move about quite a bit can probably relate to my newfound near obsession with bags that are comfy, practical, and allow you to be hands-free. The Perfect Functional Hands Free Handbag It's not as easy as just finding a good quality, functional hands-free handbag that speaks to you that has a good crossbody style, or even a bandolier-type strap that enables you to covert it as you need to. I continually remind myself of this when I ram a bunch of my daily "essentials" (a term I use lightly when it comes to handbags) into my leather Dooney & Bourke Florentine Satchel, to date my absolute favourite handbag, and about 30 minutes in, if I'm wearing it as a crossbody, the bandolier strap is pinching my shoulder. Am I going to die? No. Does that mean I give up on my Dooney? GOD no. Never. But a substantial leather bag, loaded to the gills is probably not the bag for long-haul, hands free wear, if only because you end up thinking about it. Personally, I end up having to switch shoulders a lot if I'm out for a long time, because that little pinch of a reminder of its presence is annoying AF. I have finally laid aside my rather inflexible belief that the best bags are multi-functional and built like tanks, and come around to appreciate smaller bags that have been designed specifically to be worn as crossbody bags. Many of these can also work as a "bag inside a bag" - a small bag you can carry inside your larger tote for when you just want to nip in without the hassle of a large bag. Here are a few that I've come to appreciate, some vintage, some new. Have a happy, healthy, non-pinchy hands-free summer of finally getting to be on the move again! For more info on any of these bags, click on the photos!

For the record, I don't smoke. That's a piece of chalk. I was going for a look. And yes. I'm in Florida right now. It's long overdue, and the weeds I've been pulling around the yard this past week are a testament to that. But weeds notwithstanding, we've all had our wings clipped for a while, and now that moving around again is within reach, it is officially time to unleash my inner sartorial Florida Woman. That said, this look isn't really even true to the more modern permutation of Florida Woman. You know, the one that makes the paper after she pulls a baby alligator out of her yoga pants at a traffic stop, or goes on a shoplifting spree dressed as a giant turkey. No, this permutation is more old school. I'm thinking more along the lines of Slim Aarons Poolside meets Absolutely Fabulous. Florida Woman Fashion - Myth vs Reality Florida is an easy target, and I suppose for good reason. There is a loud contingency of people willing to stick their necks out to uphold our internationally recognized unhinged armed backwater MAGA on meth reputation. To each his own I suppose, but moving forward as we slowly dare to allow ourselves a smidge of hope for a more sanity-adjacent tomorrow, surely our warm weather wardrobes shouldn't feel like they too need to grow up and get all serious. To my mind, that would be a mistake. License to don insanely bright colors and patterns is one of the things I love about Florida, and by extension Florida woman fashion. I can throw on a flaming neon pink and green shift over my swimsuit, step into my cowboy boots, strap on my glitter flames motorcycle helmet and hop on my powder blue scooter for quick trip to the grocery store and be assured that I will absolutely not be the craziest-looking person in the place. In this post, I'm encouraging every one of you to embrace your inner Florida woman - the sartorial one, not the alligator-down-the-yoga-pants one. I'm featuring some recently (and not so recently) added pieces to the vintage shop, like this incredible late 60s-70s leopard print, kimono sleeve caftan I'm wearing. This baby is the real deal. You can click on the photos in the post if you want more info on any of these pieces. Not quite ready to go full Florida Woman? No worries. It's summer, the reality of going somewhere on vacation again is quickly becoming a reality again, and you can still incorporate fun, OTT tropical realness into your style game in small ways, no matter where you might be. *Baby alligators not included with any of the pieces featured.

I have been sort of conscious of the fact that I haven't posted about the hair thing in a while. I live with this mop of salt and pepper madness, so to me it's sort of a foregone conclusion, but there are SO MANY of you out there still responding to my grey hair transition posts even all these years later ( it has to have been at least seven years now), so it has been in my mind for a while to do a follow up. About six months ago I was admiring the bounce and definition of one of my colleague's natural ringlets. She told me she had been following The Curly Girl Method. This method of caring for naturally curly and wavy hair will be well familiar to many of you, but for someone like myself who has pretty much treated her hair as a thing you tie on top of your head and go, I had to look it up. I'll spare you the very detailed explanation here, but suffice it to say you do away with all things silicone, sulfate, blow drying (unless with a diffuser on cool), and heat styling. There are a lot of products involved (like...a lot of products) but you essentially just develop a routine that cleanses the hair without stripping, provides a ton of moisture, and as a result your hair's natural inclination, whatever that may be, takes over once your hair is healthy and hydrated. And so, the Wavy Hair Journey Begins... Long story short - after an initial "clarifying" shampoo to rid the hair of built-up silicones which coat the hair and prevent moisture from entering the hair shaft (ironically, I always relied pretty heavily on these to battle my considerable frizz), you go through a transition while your hair takes on moisture naturally and your "real hair" emerges. You guys. I was not prepared for my real hair. All these years of thinking I had "a slight bend" to my hair has been a lie. Every hairdresser who ever told me my hair had a "lot of body" has been a bad actor for the Flatiron Deep State. This is only day four, and I am already very solidly a 2b-3a on the wavy-curly hair scale. Everything about what I thought to be true of my hair, the constant frizz, the heaviness, the poofiness - all of it has been a result of my hair not being allowed to be who it really is. I feel like a terrible parent who forces her kid into gender-specific clothing in an attempt to "correct" something. I'm an abusive "hairent" (sorry), and I'm so very, very ashamed. I've managed to live nearly 50 years on the planet with absolutely no idea that I had hair this curly. So. Now what!? Well, definitely a haircut then. My self-scissoring ham-fistedness is not gonna cut it now that I have all these Medusa waves to contend with. I have made an appointment in the first week of August to go see someone in Glasgow who knows what he is doing with curly heads. For the first time in ages, possibly ever, I'm excited to go to a salon. So stay tuned for that - this is a work in progress. There's gonna be a new cut in my future, which I'll show you guys once I've done it. Until then, please feel free to learn from, and also laugh openly at, my ignorance. It takes a special person to go nearly 50 years without understanding her own hair type.

Welp...here it is. Phase one of the embracing of my waviness - I've cut my hair into a wavy shag. I can't say I ever thought I would voluntarily choose a style that got anywhere near *eek* curly bangs (thats a curly fringe for you UK dwellers), but I've been letting this cut settle in for almost a month now, and it really is absolutely perfect for the amount of time and energy that I normally want to spend on my hair, which essentially as little as possible. I find that I am wearing my hair down every day now, which for at least the past fifteen years or so has definitely not been my default. I use a loose ponytail with a silky scrunchie on top of my head to sleep, pull it out in the morning, and it's pretty much ready for action. If I need to floof it up a bit to get the waves to pop out more, I spray it with water to reactivate the product in it and scrunch my waves back into some sort of shape (that they themselves determine). Yes, this sometimes creates frizz, but I'm working on adding just the right amount of product to try and mitigate this. Finding the Right Products for My Wavy Shag Haircut Products however are still very much a work in progress. In my last post about my hair, I had been following the Curly Girl Method. While I have absolutely embraced some aspects of Curly Girl (like sticking to sulfate and silicone-free products), the method was not 100% right for my fine but dense salt and pepper waves - it was simply too much product. If you go online and watch a few videos of wavy and curly YouTubers demonstrating the method, the amount of product that these gals are putting on their heads is downright obscene. And, as it turned out, not at all what my hair wants or needs. When I was following the method by rote using the amount of product that was encouraged by the online multiverse, by day 2 my hair felt dirty and was somehow both frizzy and oily at the same time from all the product. It was also making my scalp itch. There was so much product sitting on my strands, my scalp, and at the bottom of my shower it's a miracle I didn't break my neck slipping on all the slime. Plus, my silver hairs were beginning to display a most unbecoming shade of yellowish green. Thankfully the hairdresser set me straight when I went for my cut. An old hand at managing textured hair, he essentially told me I did not need to go all the way down the Curly Girl rabbit hole to make this work. And thank the Gods for that. So for any of you who are trying to embrace your natural texture and like me, have fine, dense, wavy hair like mine (which is about a 2B-2C) , here are some things that might help you. As it turns out, against what everything online will tell you, less can actually be more with the conditioner - use a dab not much bigger than a dime, rub your hands together, and pull it through, concentrating on the ends. Comb it through before rinsing it out. All of it. (I use either a tangle teaser or my wide tooth comb to do this, btw.) Lose the deep conditioners. Instead, use your preferred everyday one (silicone and sulphate free), and just leave it in longer if you need a shot of moisture. Avoid products with heavy butters, oils, and waxes. Products designed for curly hair are notoriously filled with heavy shea butter, coconut oil, and other heavy products. Seriously, these days everything is coconut and/or shea butter. I'm getting pretty sick of the smell of coconut, and I love coconut. Yes, these products are natural, but they build up really quickly, and I found that they dulled my hair right down. You'll have to experiment to see what works for you and in what quantity. Pay attention to product ingredient labels. While you don't need a degree in chemistry (although it would definitely help), familiarize yourself with what all these long, funny chemical words actually are. One great resource is the Is it Curly Girl website, which has a page that lets you plug in ingredients and it tells you whether or not the product is compatible with the Curly Girl Method. Whether or not you follow the method to the letter matters not, because what the page does do is provide a breakdown of what each ingredient is in a product and what it does for your hair, making it easier for you to eventually recognize these ingredients and identify products that work. Ultimately, what works for me may not work for you, but if your hair is fine, dense, and a mixture of coarse silvers and natural color, here are some of the products that have worked for me thus far with this wavy shag haircut: Innersense Create Volume Hair Volumizing Lotion - a fantastic volumizing lotion that really helps bring out the curl. A teeny bit applied to soaking wet hair is all it takes. this product manages to be both incredibly lightweight and moisturizing, and is completely natural and environmentally friendly as well! Superdrug Mousse (UK) I stumbled upon this mousse because I was looking to try a bunch of Curly Girl friendly products out without breaking the bank if they didn't work. At £1.99, this mousse certainly does not break the bank. While I don't use this every day, it does provide a nice lightweight hold. Innersense Create Lift Volumizing Foam - this mousse is incredible. Like the Volumizing lotion, a little goes a long way with this Create Lift foam. This mousse is light enough to use with other products, but equally is effective enough to use on its own, and has amazing hold! Bonus - it smells amazing! Giovanni 50/50 Balanced Hydrating-Clarifying Shampoo - gently cleans and gets rid of buildup without stripping the living daylights out of your hair. Free of all the bad stuff, sulfates, silicones, parabens, mineral oil....all of it.

I've learned a thing or two in my 52 years on the planet, but nothing really prepared me for the sheer volume of untapped knowledge that I was going to have access to once I joined TikTok. Granted, a lot of what you see on TikTok boils down to where in the algorithm you end up, which of course depends on which rabbit holes you choose to go down...then of course there are the very real national security and data concerns.... But all that aside, last week, I happened to be in the right place at the right time, I found myself in the makeup TikTok algorithm! There I came across several videos all showcasing what the kids are calling "puppy liner." Twee name notwithstanding, puppy liner is essentially a more user-friendly version of a classic winged eyeliner, that works with the natural shape of your eyes to produce a flattering result that (allegedly) works on everyone. After watching a few of these videos, I realized that it did indeed look ridiculously easy, that I needed to check it out as a matter of urgency, and that I had probably been attempting (unsuccessfully) to achieve winged eyeliner the wrong way for pretty much the entirety of my life. National security be damned, this is winged eyeliner we're talking about here! Up until that point, I had mostly moved away from the liquid and felt liners that one needs to use to create a winged eye. This is really due to their difficulty of use (for me) and harsh appearance, which I realize now speaks more to my lack of skill than to the actual product itself. Of course there's also the inconvenient fact that putting on winged eyeliner in your 50s is a little like trying to put eyeliner on a 17 year-old hairless Shar Pei. It can be particularly daunting when you get it wrong, and hoo-boy do I excel at getting it wrong. Luckily for me, turns out it's never too late! Since adopting this ridiculously simple technique, I have done some version of a winged eye just about every day since I learned this little trick, and now I find it fun. Needless to say I've also been scouring the internet for every imaginable color of liner, trying to make up for lost time! Read on for the basics on how it works. Winged Eyeliner in Your 50s: Puppy Liner Basics As the kids on the TikTok tell it, the reason that puppy liner works so well on everyone is that instead of trying to create the upward flick of a cat eye by drawing it in an upward direction, you use the natural canthal tilt of your eyes as your guide. We'll get to what that is in a minute. This technique is quite subtle, and for people with quite positive canthal tilts it may not change what you're doing all that much if you do a winged eye on the regular. However, for those of us with maturing skin, hooded eyes, who anyone else who struggles with wings (or any eyeliner potentially ending up "above the fold"), it's a life-changing adjustment, even if it does at first feel a bit counterintuitive. Besides a good name for a band, what on Earth is canthal tilt? Having witnessed the absolute flurry of anxiety on TikTok that ensued after the canthal tilt filter was introduced, I'm not going to dwell too much on canthal tilt other than to provide a brief overview. I believe that using digital trends to inform any assessment that affects your self image is a slippery slope, and quite frankly, kinda dumb. However, from an eyeliner perspective, the filter does a pretty good job of putting the line in the right place, making it as good a jumping-off point as any. For the sake of neutrality, let us now turn to our good friends at Wikipedia for a quickie definition of canthal tilt to get started. The tilt of a line drawn from the outer corner (the lateral canthus) to the inner corner (the medial canthus) of one's eyes; a lower inner corner is referred to as a positive tilt while a lower outer corner is referred to as a negative tilt. There are all sorts of scientific (and a whole lot more pseudo-scientific) theories on how a positive (upwards) or negative (downwards) canthal tilt influences whether or not we percieive someone as attractive. I am not touching any of that with a 10 foot barge pole. This article is quite simply about where to start the base of your winged eyeliner. If however you're interested in learning more about canthal tilt, This recent article written by Danielle Sinay for Glamour goes into greater detail about what canthal tilt is, how it supposedly influences our perception of attractiveness, and why it is a source of consternation for those who harbor anxiety about all things appearance-related. A word of warning however if you're on TikTok and specifically wish to scroll the canthal tilt search results; the incels have grabbed hold of this trend mightily, so if you're going to wade in there I strongly suggest you tread lightly, bring something sharp with you, and always know where your exits are. My winged liner road map So this is what I started with; this is the notorious TikTok canthal tilt filter. If the filter is to be believed (and in the context of eyeliner it can be), I have a neutral to very slightly positive canthal tilt. You can see that over my nose it makes a slight v-shaped dip then very subtly goes up towards the temples. For me, that means my perfect winged liner will have a baseline right where the little line extends from the outer corner of my eye in a very gentle slight upwards slope in the direction if my temple. This is a lot less of a steep incline than I had been attempting to draw before, and a whole heck of a lot easier! A quick word about tools When I made my first attempts at this liner, I actually found that I was more relaxed and more able to practice without angst when I was using a cheaper tool that I didn't have to worry about wasting. Really, the only requirement when you're starting out is that you're comfortable with whatever eyeliner you choose, so I'm not gonna dwell on products too much at this point. That said, you'll have an easier time if you have a nice thin brush or felt tip to work with, and plenty of product left in whatever eyeliner you decide to use. For what it's worth, I've found that felt tip liners promise convenience and ease of use but ultimately are actually more problematic than liners you use with a little brush. Felt tips can be difficult to handle because product-wise the formula gets dry and they tend to skip and pull a bit, whereas with a brush you have more control over how much product is on the bristles and you can ensure a nice glide. Whatever tool you're using, create your winged eye using the following guidance, beginning with the bottom line based on your cantal tilt. I've made the liner orange for this particular demonstration so it stands out (it does look kinda cool though - Halloween). Start small. There is nothing wrong with using multiple small strokes to get there, that's how I do it. You can continue to layer and shape as you go, and you can use a q-tip and some micellar water to walk it back if you mess-up. As you get better with practice, you'll be able to use longer, more confident strokes. Personally, once I get the liner where I like it, I often will finish mine with a layer of eyeshadow on top to smoke it out and soften the edges, giving it a less "done" appearance. What you do after you get the basic shape done is completely up to you, but the basics stay the same. Play with it, have fun, and don't be afraid of color! PRODUCTS USED (includes affiliate links)| Loreal Infallible Super Slim Liner, Brown | Loreal infallible Flash Cat Eye Liner in Black | Mayblline Tattoo Studio Liner in teal | ELF Bite Size Eyeshadow in Cream & Sugar , Hot Jalapeno

A Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans! Yes, it can feel a bit odd celebrating the 4th when you live most of the year in the UK. Even if you happen to be doing it from the confines of your post international flight 10 day quarantine, as I am. Yes, best you stay right there...that's close enough. Don't come any closer, I could start to turn at any minute. You have to admit it's more than a little funny celebrating severed ties from British oppression when you are living in actual Britain with an actual British person, while paying taxes to the actual British government. Funny how things tend to level-out in life isn't it? Despite our best efforts, The Universe always manages to return to a state of homeostasis. If only we could get a copy of the script it's working from. That would be neat. Taking Back the Pants; Ultra Flare Star Jeans Okay, I know, I know. We have to talk about these pants. Yes, I know. Star print ultra flare jeans are a lot to take in. That's the point of the exercise - stay with me. I reached for these on purpose today, it being the 4th and all. I have heard a lot of consternation all over social media over the last several years regarding the co opting of symbols of Americana to serve extreme, right wing views. I'm not here to argue that this isn't a thing, because a brief internet search will demonstrate to even the dimmest of wits that this is absolutely, demonstrably a thing. Stars, flags, eagles...whatever, have all been herded into a corral that leads to a life of servitude to causes that they were never ever designed to support. Racism. Nationalism. Misogyny. It gets ugly. But here's the thing. When your spectacularly drunk uncle is making a scene in the parking lot of the local bar at closing time, waving his keys around and throwing verbal abuse at anyone who will listen, do you react by swearing off driving for life, changing your name, and moving to a different state to avoid any potential association? Of course not. You take away his keys, throw him in a cab and tell him to go work on himself. It's the same with these co-opted American images - the eagles, stars, flags...whatever, that many have come to associate with the right wing extremist idea of "patriotism" (read: violence). Why on earth would you hand over the metaphorical keys to these people? I'm wearing stars. It's a pair of jeans with stars on them. They're jeans, and jeans are for everybody - the way our country is supposed to be for everybody. However, our country isn't working well for everybody at the moment, so it falls to those of us who still have enough energy left to take the keys away from the violent extremists, the conspiracy enablers, the racists, the Q-loving mouth breathers, and all other manner of disinformation consuming no goodniks and send them off in a cab to go work on themselves. It is absolutely possible to love and appreciate your country and at the same time want it to do and be better, despite what the people at Fox tell you. This is not a zero sum equation, and it is a false choice to present it as such. It's simple really; be the change, wear the pants. Everybody gets to wear the pants.

Welp, it's fall. I can't deny it any longer. I generally like fall, but equally I'm not one of those people who goes mad every year and buys a zillion pumpkins, bags full of faux autumn-hued leaves from the craft shop, and pumpkin-spice everything (because, eew). I spend a bulk of the year in Scotland, where it literally always feels like fall, so it isn't exactly a huge transition. That said, this year, I still managed somehow to feel a bit caught-out by the changing weather. This past summer I spent most of my time sweating it out in the US in the heat, so I sort of feel like I've been suddenly thrust back into the cold and have had a bit of a slow start getting up to speed. So here we go. This is me throwing it into gear with a long overdue fall outfit of the day. With the exception of the boots, everything you see here is thrifted, but the corduroy shirt was practically new when I found it at the thrift shop, and I was actually able to still find a link to it online! I've offered you some other options as well should you care to attempt to recreate the look and don't have all the parts (the actual faux sherpa vest shown here is available in my eBay shop). And yes, many of the product links I offer are affiliate links where I might make a (very) small commission, but don't let that put you off - I promise not to spend my millions all in one place. Fall Layering Looks: From T-Shirts to Fleece-Lined Jackets and Back In One Afternoon I always think of fall as "forget your jacket at work" season. It's cold, even frosty in the mornings, but it heats-up in the afternoons forcing you to take off that cashmere sweater or favorite blazer and drape it over the back of your chair, then instantly forget it's there, where it shall remain as you slowly amass a pile of similar garments over the top of it with each passing day. Don't worry, you'll take them all home in mid to late November once it's properly cold out and you've run out of sweaters and blazers. While this look isn't really "office friendly" in the traditional sense, these days that hardly means anything since a lot of us are working from home at least some of the time. This is more of what I like to think of as an overall foolproof strategy for dressing in transitional weather, and is the same strategy I employ when shuttling between the cold of Scotland and the heat of Florida. At it's core, this fall layering look is a t-shirt and a denim skirt; a base look that can work with sandals in hotter temps as well. Using a base look like this is a ridiculously easy formula that I use religiously, and it never lets me down. Oh, and I almost forgot. See that t-shirt? That's not thrifted either. I actually got that t-shirt at Express... in the 90s. I know right!? I can't believe it's still in one piece, let alone wearable! Aztec print accent corduroy shaket | thrifted Levis a line skirt, similar | Dan Post "heartbreaker" vintage distressed boots (no longer available), similar | Knox Rose faux sherpa fleece lined vest (L) | Or Paz silver and cultured pearl ring (no longer available), similar | sterling silver feather cuff bracelet (no longer available), similar | Silver long dangle star and chain earrings (no longer available), similar | Accessorise UK sunglasses (no longer available), similar | thrifted belt, similar

Attention all thrifters, vintage lovers and one-of-a-kind, small-batch treasure hunters! This weekend Etsy is running their GET5 promo code which will get you $5 off orders of $25 or more! This promo is open to shoppers in the US, UK, and Canada! What's even cooler is that there’s no limit to the number of times you can use the GET5 code between Friday and Sunday! If like me, you have approximately a metric ton of little goodies sitting in your shopping cart and/or "saved for later" list, you can bundle them up and use that code as many times as you need to in order to secure a healthy discount on all your loot! This promo is not just limited to one shop, but is good across all of Etsy. To kick things off, here are a few new 90s era additions to Highland Fashionista Vintage that you may not have seen. Click on any of the individual garment photos with titles for more information on specific items. GenX, this next part comes with a trigger warning; some of these 90s and Y2K era garments look as if I travelled back in time and raided our twenty-something closets! Yes, we're that old that the garments of our raucous 20s are considered true vintage. Eek.

Don't worry. I don't mean "old school" as in waxing nostalgic about the days of bullet bras and talcum powder; this isn't a piece about foundation garments or cosmetic safety. In fact, it's quite the opposite of that. (But since it came up, go ahead and rely on the Environmental Working Group's database/website for all your cosmetic safety needs.) No, this piece is a keepin' it real love letter to the cosmetics in my collection that are old. Like, really old. My favorite old beauty products from the back of the drawer. The Comfort of Favorite Old Beauty Products So much of what we see and read on social media is based around the model of influencers marketing the next best thing. And don't get me wrong, I love trying new things, but inevitably, I seem to find myself ending up reaching for the back of the drawer. I imagine cosmetic years are at least as exponentially ageing as dog years, and I'm quite certain that at this point I have more than one centenarian eyeshadow palette in my makeup collection. But isn't that the mark of a real holy grail product? From where I'm sitting, there is a lot of value in a product that you are willing to pick the lint out of repeatedly so that you can keep right on using it until you can see your reflection in the empty tin. With that in mind, here I present to you a couple of my trusty old standbys. Hopefully lint free, but probably not. Bobbi Brown Bronzer in Telluride (Matte) I purchased this Bobbi Brown Telluride bronzer in a bargain bin at TK Maxx in Glasgow, not realizing that it was a limited edition piece. I am now in the midst of a full-blown existential crisis. I'm freaking out because I can see that the end is near for this product, and a brief internet search has shown me that I'm never going to be able to find it again. This is the matte version of this bronzer, and I use it virtually every day in varying amounts, mostly just to create a bit of warmth to my look as well as ensure that whatever stage of tan I may be at, my makeup blends well. It keeps me from having to have 800 shades of BB cream in my colleciton. With my increasingly silver hair, bronzers tend to go very orange on me, so finding one like this - one that's just the right amount of warmth to complement my warm skin tone while avoiding the ubiquitous orange-based brown cast...that has been at least a decade-long quest. There are a few of the illuminating versions of this bronzer still floating around out there, but I have not been able to secure the matte version. With matte bronzers, you are really able to create a more natural look, and you always have the option to add shimmer over the top to change-up the look. I have subsequently launched into a campaign of trying to find a dupe, so this is going to be a watch this space kind of situation here folks. It's hard to find matte bronzers at the best of times, let alone in the shade I'm looking for. A few potential replacements that show early promise that I will definitely be trying in the future (not limited to matte): Korres Zea Mays Blush in Pupple Brown (hard to find - also probably discontinued), Stila Convertible Color Lip and Cheek Stain in Magnolia (discontinued in the UK, can still find it in the USA), and Guerlain Bronzing Powder in Medium Cool. Revlon Colorstay Creme Eyeshadow in Praline This is my second pot of this cream eyeshadow by Revlon. This one is a no brainer for me. It's a lovely warm pinkish shade that blends well with my skin tone. Yes, it's shimmery which can be problematic for those of us who aren't 25, but the creamy formula dries down and sort of sets in such a way that you don't need to worry about it settling into your creases. I get a lot of wear out of this stuff, and I use this most days. It's quick and easy, and I just stick a finger in, do a quick few swipes on each lid, and it gives me a bit of a glow without looking too "done", which I am not a fan of. This stuff gets me out the door fast, and I'm not messing with a bunch of brushes and colors and blending tools. I haven't tried any of the other shades yet, because quite frankly, I don't feel the need to. If I want a more dramatic eye, I often use this as a base, then build up with some of my other ancient eyeshadows on top of this to get the desired effect. But these days, this is pretty much what I wear every single day. These are available just about anywhere that carries Revlon products. Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream SPF 42 in Shade 27 This is a Korean product, and it has been on the scene for a while. Finding the right shade can be a bit tricky with very little to go on other than online research and watching YouTubers half your age apply twice as much product as you would use, but with a relatively low price tag of around $10-$15 in the US, you can afford to experiment. It's a bit more in the UK through mainstream beauty suppliers, but there is a workaround. More on that in a minute The coverage of this product is quite sheer despite the very rich texture, so even if you get the shade slightly wrong as I did initially, you can still kind of get away with it. (For the record, Shade 23 was too light for me, and is a very cool undertoned light to medium shade that looks grey in the tube - but don't let it scare you. it would be perfect for someone with a light/medium complexion and cool undertones ). Shade 27 was the shade that I ultimately landed on, and it is a perfect match for my yellow-undertoned and often tanned skin. This product has a way of sort of emulsifying once it's on your skin and it really becomes quite seamless. Even if you feel initially that the shade may not be ideal, sit with it a moment, it takes a few minutes to fully settle. Incidentally, this photo is a representation of their older shade offerings. I believe they have since expanded it a bit more. This stuff has a good SPF comprised of a combo of a common chemical sunscreen and a mineral zinc oxide physical sunscreen. A little goes a very long way with this product; it lasts all day, has buildable coverage, and I absolutely love it. As I said earlier, it can be slightly more expensive (not much more) and harder to find in the UK, but if you can wait a few weeks, order it from Korean sites like YesStyle and you'll get it for half of what they sell it for on Amazon and other UK beauty sites.

Greetings everyone, and apologies for the long pause in posting - I was away for a bit and like many of you have been quite busy, but all the same I'd like to welcome you to this, my official Patricia Field / Sex and the City (SATC) 50 year-old fangirl post. Yeah, I turned 50 this past August. I didn't make a big deal about it, because really...who gives a s**t? With the exception of a particularly diva-like right hamstring, nothing has really changed all that much for me at 50, and while I thought about trying to do something with it for the blog, it felt kind of disingenuous to try and make some sort of celebratory event out of something that basically felt like any other Tuesday. I guess I don't really talk a lot about the age stuff on the blog any more because there are plenty of people doing it better than I would. I prefer to just stick with the sartorial inspo that brought us all here in the first place. Besides, If one sees a photo of a woman with a head full of silver floofy hair, it an be safely assumed she's not 25. No need to state the obvious. Anyhoo, back to why we're here. I've been sitting on this SATC "Carrie" flower dress for quite a while now (not literally), nearly two years, to be exact, waiting for my moment. But I figured since the new SATC spinoff series is out now, the time was right to dust it off and take it for a spin. I readily admit, since the pandemic hit, I miss having an occasion to get dressed all fancy. Thankfully I have you guys to bounce this stuff off of, and of course the vintage clothing shop to run, so I do get my fix...but still. The SATC Carrie Flower Dress Origin Story Back in 2008, inimitable stylist, clothing and costume designer Patricia Field did a Sex and the City inspired capsule collection in partnership with the British landmark department store Marks & Spencer. I did not know this at the time - I was busy completing graduate school in upstate New York and trying to fit my life into boxes so that I could move to Scotland, but years later when I eventually learned how I had missed out on it, being the fan that I am I was pretty bummed-out. Especially when I saw that she had done a black version of the original white Eugene Alexander big flower dress that Sarah Jessica Parker wore (and Whitney Houston before her in the 80s). To this day, I swear would consider trading one of my kidneys for that white dress, such is the extent of my lust. Fast forward to about two years ago. I was fiddling about on Ebay, treasure hunting as I am inclined to do, and boom! There it was. The black SATC Carrie dress from the Patricia Field + M&S capsule collection - in my size! I can honestly say that pulling the trigger on that "buy it now" auction was the fastest I've ever moved in my life. I'm certain I set some sort of global speed record, the likes of which would make Usain Bolt hang his head in shame. And it was worth it, because I seriously love this dress, although sadly if you love it too it may be a bit hard to find by now. But you never know - keep your eyes peeled, because guys...seriously. This thing is lit. SATC in a Post Me Too World I make no apologies for my love of SATC. Sure, when you re-watch some of the older episodes, there are moments when it is a bit out of step with our modern sensibilities, but that can be said for most episodic television programs whose currency is pop culture. When I hear women maligning SATC from a feminist perspective, I always remind them to look back at what was on television at that time from a female role representation perspective. When SATC started in 1998, the TV industry was only just starting to pull itself out from under the ""older sitcom dad with a hot younger wife" days. Hell - it still has one foot firmly planted in that sinkhole. Granted, there were also a fair amount of "teenaged" shows at the time, like Dawsons Creek and Charmed, but it was really just the beginning of the evolution of our era of TV into what we know in 2021. While we're on the subject, I will say that Will & Grace is another show of that time that certainly should get a shout out for representation, but I digress. Looking specifically at the representation of women in TV, in the Y2K era, female-centric TV ensemble casts were only still emerging from the Lifetime TV for Women days when the industry thought anything written about women needed to be either about some type of victimhood, or...if they were really pushing the boat out, a "crazy lady" storyline where a female rival is trying to insert herself into another woman's life and steal her man/baby/identity. You know, fighting over a man. That old nugget. But, at the end of the day, if you're not a fan, hey - we're all different. But if you're here, you probably like clothes. We all will have that in common, so even if you're not a fan of the show, seriously...turn the sound off if you must and enjoy the clothes! So many iconic looks - so many things I'm still trying to reproduce, even all these years later. Sometimes, ya just gotta let your fangirl freak flag fly! Sorry not sorry. Patricia Fields + M&S dress (2008) | Donald J. Pliner shoes (2010) | pebbled leather gold clutch from my Etsy shop | see below for similar pieces to create the look

If you like all things fashion and haven't been living under a rock (but really, haven't we all been living under a rock lately?), you certainly will have already noticed that Y2K era fashion has been steadily making a beeline for us over the past year or so. Nobody is more excited about this than I am. Sure, I suppose this means a resurgence in the tackier things from the era like velour tracksuits, crop tops and blingy, logo-emblazoned handbags (yes, all of those things have their place and are very much making a comeback right now), but there are also more sophisticated, tailored, and whimsical sides to this new take on Y2K style that makes me sit up straighter and take notice. Y2K version 2.0 has a better eclectic balance to it than its original counterpart. Interesting shapes, denim, sequins, and strange and unexpected textures and materials...all these things have all been incorporated into our old favorites to give our lockdown-starved sartorial auras an injection of some much needed life. This is apparent in everything from separates and sportswear to gowns, footwear and bags. However, this time around there's less of a prescribed feel to how one should wear these pieces; a sort of everything-goes attitude befitting a citizenry sick and tired of looking at themselves in sweatpants, but not yet ready to give up entirely on said sweatpants' comfort. Perhaps what's best about this latest revival is how accessible it is. You do not need to spend a lot of money to take advantage of these trends! That said, you certainly can spend a lot if you want to. I mentally spent about three million British pounds just drooling over some of the pieces I looked at while researching this post. However, if you're like me and can't afford to purchase new investment pieces (or even one new investment piece) every season, there's hope. Those of us who deal in vintage and preloved clothing are likely sitting atop a giant heap of authentic and affordable Y2K specimens, and the spring and pre-fall runways offer no shortage of inspiration as to how to incorporate these pieces into our 2022 wardrobes. Not that you guys need any help in the inspiration department. Seeing so many 90s / Y2K pieces trending really makes my slacker GenX heart swell, and I'm willing to bet I'm not alone. For those of us who remember these pieces fondly from their first run, it feels a bit like the band is back together again, so go out there and have fun with it - you got this. Y2K Style Then and Now, A Story in Pictures Trend: Shiny Silk & Satin Tops Trend: Mock Necks Trend: Minimalist Investment Leather Bags Trend: A Sleek Black Leather Jacket Trend: Colorful Tailoring Trend: A Sharp, Pointy Bootie Trend: Funky Printed Jackets Trend: Double Denim Trend: The Baguette shop the looks

To donate to humanitarian relief for the people of Ukraine: British Red Cross (UK) Global Giving (USA) Unicef Direct Relief (USA) Oxfam (UK) Medecines Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) Humane Society Ukraine Animal Rescue Fund International Fund for Animal Welfare (iFAW) World Central Kitchen