Topshop Pinafore Corduroy Dress With Thigh High Boots

Happy belated Valentine’s Day to you all! Adam and I celebrated it over Friday and Saturday instead of Sunday, so I wore this outfit out on the Friday for some lunch and a walk in the park while the daffodils had started to bloom, making a great setting for photos, and then on Saturday we stayed in and watched movies, then ordered some Wagamama takeaway in the evening to eat at home. Nothing lavish, expensive or grand for this one as we are both trying to save money, plus I prefer quiet and quality time over anything extravagant. To me it’s about the company you’re in rather than what fancy thing you might be doing. If you wanted to see what I got for Valentine’s Day from him too, you can see on my Instagram (click here). It was a tiny little Links of London ring charm that I put on a silver chain to wear as a necklace. It’s adorable!

Getting to my actual Valentine’s outfit that I’m sharing with you here, I wanted to wear something different. I’m forever in jeans in Winter almost 100% of the time so I felt like it was time to make a change. I wore my Topshop Pinafore Corduroy Burgundy Dress which I got last month. I’d been eyeing it up for months and then decided to give it a go and I love it! I thought it would be more suitable for the warmer weather since it’s a dress and I don’t like tights, however I found these cashmere and cotton tights which are really comfortable and soft on my skin. They don’t itch or irritate me like normal tights do, they are breathable so they ended up perfect for this dress. I tucked them into my Ted & Muffy Empress Thigh High Boots to keep it smart and classy and I wore my Oasis The Perfect Crew in White underneath the dress to make it a little more cute. Finally, I wore my Rebecca Minkoff Mini MAB in Port which I put my little rose bouquet that Adam bought me inside of. I would really love to know what you think of my outfit here and how you spent your Valentine’s Day?

What I Was Wearing:
Dress – Topshop
Knitwear – Oasis
Boots – Ted & Muffy (similar)
Bag – Rebecca Minkoff

London Fashion Week Street Style Inspired Outfit

London Fashion Week has just hit and in light of that, I have teamed up with one of my favourite online shops, Farfetch, to bring you a LFW street style inspired outfit, all centered around this gorgeous Saint Laurent Monogram Cross Body Bag in Ochre Suede that I got from Farfetch. Isn’t it beautiful? This is my very first Saint Laurent bag and I couldn’t be more excited. I had been in need of another brown designer bag for a while as I had been using my others too much, so when I saw this one, it fitted my empty space perfectly. Everything about it from the gold chain to the brown suede, coupled with the sleek and small envelope fit is ideal. It’s fantastic as a cross body bag as it fits snug over my shoulders, isn’t too heavy and it means I can layer my coats and jackets over the top!

So for my London street style outfit I chose to wear my Paige Denim Sierra Overalls in Vintage Black and layered them over my Oasis The Perfect Crew in White. I then threw on my Zara Brown Coat and finished it off with some Burgundy Topshop Ankle Boots and my Ray-Ban Erika Sunglasses. As it was absolutely freezing when we shot these photos, I did actually have two jumpers on underneath my main one and a pair of leggings underneath the overalls, yet I was still cold. That’s how freezing it has been lately, so it’s definitely a battle trying to look stylish in this weather! I know everyone at New York Fashion Week recently was experiencing just that with the minus temperatures and snow! It’s crazy. I think my new Saint Laurent bag looks amazing with this outfit though as it really ties in nicely with the colour scheme and fits well in size too.

In terms of the location for this London Fashion Week style outfit, luckily we have a few places in the city of Bath here that look a lot like London when it comes to architecture and the famous black railings, so we shot them at the top of town on Great Pultney Street. Of course I’ve been to London so many times, but I haven’t been in quite a few months now due to my health, so I’m going to be happily watching all of the shows on live stream from home this season instead. I truly can’t wait for the Burberry show as it’s the one that I look most forward to each season! Which LFW show are you excited for? I’d of course love to know what you think of my outfit and the bag! Plus, you should definitely check out Farfetch for their latest designer pieces, some of them are perfect for the London style and unique too. Remember my Valentino Rockstud shoes that I got a couple of months ago? I got them from Farfetch from a boutique in Paris, so they weren’t even available here in the UK. It’s great having the ability to get such unique items!

What I Was Wearing:
Overalls – Paige Denim
Sweater – Oasis
Coat – Zara (similar)
Boots – Topshop
Bag – Saint Laurent
Sunglasses – Ray-Ban

True Religion Camo Print Jeans With All Saints Ora Sleeveless Coat

I haven’t worn printed denim in a long time as my style has changed to be more clean and classic, however I couldn’t not share my True Religion Casey Camo Skinny Jeans with you! I’ve had these for quite a few months (in size 26) and I absolutely adore them. Camo print is something that I was obsessed with a couple of years ago, which you might remember, but I wanted to show you how it can easily be dressed in a stylish and feminine way too. It doesn’t always have to be masculine or younger as I’ve found, it’s so simple to keep it clean and mature. If only I had tried this a while ago, I would have been wearing camo print a lot more regularly since I have so many pieces with the print.

So how did I dress my True Religion Camo Jeans up? I paired them with my new All Saints Ora Sleeveless Coat which I got a few weeks ago and layered it over my Oasis The Perfect Crew in Brown. This Ora sleeveless coat probably looks familiar to you as it’s the same as my All Saints Ora Coat in Grey, but obviously in the vest style which is perfect for layering. I took it in size UK 6 just like the coat and it fits perfectly! To keep it chic and feminine, I went with my Chloe Mini Drew Bag in Motty Grey and then added some height with my RAYE Grey Heels. I wasn’t sure if grey was going to match with the browns and taupe’s, but it actually did. It gave it a whole new colour scheme that it lacked before.

We shot the photos down by the river and lock where the boats come through as we thought the green of the water and the grass behind would really make a nice background and setting for the outfit. It didn’t work in the town areas as Bath stone is that cream/beige shade which was just blending into my outfit. It was absolutely freezing though as you can probably see from my pink hands here, I seriously underestimated the weather that day and we almost didn’t shoot the photos due to being that cold and not finding a good enough location, but I persevered and remembered the river, so we went there for one final attempt and it worked out, which I’m really pleased about as I love this outfit. What do you think of it? I would love to know what you think of the pairing of camo jeans and a smart coat like this.

What I Was Wearing:
Coat – All Saints
Knitwear – Oasis (similar)
Jeans – True Religion
Shoes – RAYE
Bag – Chloe

Ted & Muffy Snake Boots With Skinny Jeans & Layers

After spending the majority of yesterday in bed and getting behind again on blogging work, I’m finally starting to feel better. It’s taken a week and today is the first day that I’m feeling improvement. After I made my post about having the flu, I developed sinus issues and my face was so swollen and felt like it was exploding, it’s just been one thing after another, which has gotten me so down to the point of breaking down over the tiniest things. If I wasn’t better by today then I was headed to the doctors, but I’m just so thankful that I am on the mend. The pressure has gone down in my face and I’m much less achy, exhausted and sick, thank goodness. I really appreciate all of the well wishes you sent me though, it truly means so much to me to know how sweet you all are and how caring, so thank you.

Getting to this outfit, we shot it a few weeks ago when I’d just gotten the amazing Ted & Muffy Medusa Snake Print Boots which had been on my wish list for a while. The brand was super sweet and sent them to me to style and review (review coming soon) and I couldn’t wait to wear them out. I’ve never owned anything snake print before and while I wouldn’t wear real snakeskin, I love the print of it. These aren’t my usual style either since they are quite bold, but I think that’s why I love them. I decided to keep things neutral with my outfit and styled the Medusa boots with my J Brand Maria Jeans in Dove. I thought the grey complemented the beige tones in the boots rather nicely. I went with my River Island Roll Neck Jumper which I layered my Zara Sleeveless Coat over the top of to keep warm and give it more layers. I wore this jumper and coat combination before here, but I love it so much I wanted to do it again. I finally finished it all off with my Chloe Mini Drew in Motty Grey to blend in with the neutrals.

I have to say that I think this outfit is definitely my favourite of the new year 2016 so far! Not just because of the Ted & Muffy Medusa snake print boots, but because it combines most of my favourite things at the moment. Skinny jeans and statement boots, multiple layers of warmth and proportion play. I used to be so afraid of wearing heavy layers on top since I have a larger chest area, it can make me look a lot bigger than I am, but I realised that if you keep the leg area as slim as possible by either going bare or with super tight skinny jeans, then you add some height to them with heels or boots, it doesn’t make you look oversized at all because it keeps the proportions in check! My blogs 6th birthday is coming up on the 10th as well, so I have a very exciting post to share with you then. In the meantime, please do let me know what you think of this outfit! Comment below!

P.S – Shopbop have up to 25% off in their Spring sale right now! Use the code BIGEVENT16 at the checkout to get discounts on their full priced and sale items until tomorrow! How amazing is that?!

What I Was Wearing:
Vest – Zara (similar)
Knitwear – River Island
Jeans – J Brand
Bag – Chloe
Boots – Ted & Muffy (similar)

Hunter Cocoa Gloss Wellies With Jeans At The Farm

It’s been a little while since I posted an outfit featuring wellies, the last time was November in fact so it’s been a good 5 months! I’ve been getting numerous requests to do a wellies outfit again, so I thought the next time I headed down to Farrington Farm with Adam, he can take some photos for me, which is what we did a few weeks ago. We decided to shoot the photos with the cows in the barn behind (you can’t see them all that clearly) and yes, it did stink, lol. I absolutely adore animals as you know though so when I go to the farm I love being around cows, sheep, goats, chickens… all of them!

So what was I wearing? I chose my Citizens of Humanity Rocket Crop Jeans again, as I literally always wear these for errands and most things in general. I styled them with my Oasis Jumper and then layered on my Zara Kids Coat over the top. I’ve had this coat for over a year and it’s age 13-14 in girls, but even though the sleeves are a bit short, I love it! It pairs so nicely with my Henry Hunt Plaid Scarf and my Hunter Original Tall Cocoa Gloss Wellies as the colours match up well. To finish it off, I went with my Topshop Fleece Hat, to keep me warm since it’s was windy and raining. It’s quite nice to wear something casual again on my fashion blog as I’ve been wearing a lot of dressed up looks! Let me know what you think of my outfit in the comments below!

What I Was Wearing:
Coat – Zara (similar)
Jeans – Citizens of Humanity
Knitwear – Oasis (similar)
Wellies – Hunter
Scarf – Henry Hunt (similar)
Hat – Topshop (similar)

A Fashion Bloggers 6 Year Journey – How I’ve Changed

Today Raindrops of Sapphire is 6 years old! It’s hard to believe that 6 years have gone by since I started my fashion blog in my bedroom on the 10th March 2010! I remember sitting there, setting it all up at night time and it took me right into the early hours of 4am, getting the design and logos right. Back then of course I was very new to blogging, I didn’t know what I was doing in terms of creating something successful as that wasn’t my intention, but I wanted a place online to share my photos of my outfits and my love of fashion with other like minded people, so that’s what I did. How it grew into what it is today (winning multiple awards, voted number 11 in the UK fashion blog round up, having over 2.7 million views etc) still seems crazy to me as time has gone by so fast, but I’ve worked so hard for years trying to create something I loved and now I consider Raindrops of Sapphire my baby, as I’m now self employed.

For this post, I thought it would be a nice idea to document my journey over the 6 years and show you just how things have changed, not just in terms of my blogging ability, but also how I have changed too. The photo above really surprised me actually, how much my face has changed in 6 years! I had a cutesy, baby fat face for so long which made me look young, but the last 2 years I’ve managed to drop that and my face has become more adult looking, thankfully, but here you will find how I’ve documented my clothing changes, my weight differences, photography improvements and more! I hope you like it!

My First Outfits

Looking back to my first outfits that I used to post, I was around 21 years old and still had a very young minded approach to fashion, so I loved anything brightly coloured, floral, prints etc. I didn’t wear make up and I didn’t really know how to pose or stand either, so my photos looked quite staged. I didn’t mind where I took them so my garden was often a go to place, and they were always low quality with a cheaper camera. Back then I thought they were great though as it was something brand new to me, but now when I look back at some of the older photos, they make me cringe. I can’t view some of my old posts because I feel like I look terrible! Ha ha.

My Silly Faces & Photos

As I was young, I wasn’t very mature either so I used to do a lot of silly poses and funny faces as I thought it was cool. I didn’t really worry what I looked like in the photos as I thought that made it much more fun, but some of these again, make me cringe when I look at them. I don’t do things like this anymore thankfully. I might do a little quirky face in some of my Instagram photos, but nothing like this as I find it highly embarrassing now! It was fun back then, but for what I’ve turned Raindrops of Sapphire into, it’s no longer appropriate.

Love Of Cute Poses With Bags

I first started getting into bags a year or so after I created my fashion blog. I didn’t like them before as I didn’t really have much of a feminine personality or style, but once I started growing up and seeing some that I loved, I used to like doing cute poses with them by my face. Looking back at these photos though, it’s crazy how much I have changed. I look so young compared to how I look now! I barely ever wore make-up either as you can see, which I think adds to my young appearance, but it’s crazy to look back like this, I don’t even recognise myself.

My Very First Designer Mulberry Bag

After I loved my little collection of non designer bags, I started developing a crush on Mulberry. I headed to Kilver Court which houses one of the Mulberry Factory shops and is quite close by, which is where I found my Mulberry Alexa Clutch in Powder Sparkle Tweed! This bag was my ultimate dream and I still love it to this day and wear it. It’s beautiful and I feel like this was a milestone for me in terms of me changing. I wouldn’t include it, but it was a turning point of my fashion and taste changing completely. This was near the end of July 2011! Oh how my bag collection has grown since!

I Got A Fringe/Bangs

Does anyone remember this? It was a short lived moment when I got a fringe! Right at the end of 2011, I decided that I would look amazing with a blunt chopped fringe, but I since regretted it. I came home and actually cried because I hated it that much. It made my face look round and it just didn’t suit me, so I quickly grew that out as fast as I could! I wont be doing that again, but at least I experimented back then and not now! It was a point in my life though where I was really changing more and thought I should change the way I wore my hair to make a statement.

My Love Of Always Wearing My Hair Curly

In 2012, after growing out my fringe, you can see that I started to experiment more with make-up, my fashion choices and I was obsessed with going for an overly girly look and curling my hair all the time. I used to wear it like this as often as I could and I even started collaborating with brands too! The bottom right photo is when I worked with Poochkis (here and here) to show their loungewear. I still really like curly hair like this on me, but now I have shorter hair it’s a bit difficult to do it, but this definitely marks a big turning point in my appearance and taking more care of myself.

I Did DIY Ombre Blonde Hair

Towards the end of 2012 I developed a huge crush on ombre hair, and since I was blonde already (well, dark blonde) I decided to do a DIY ombre hair colour on myself. It didn’t quite go to plan to begin with and was quite orange, but I managed to tone it down with purple shampoo and my ombre was my favourite hairstyle that I had had to date! I loved it and felt like it really suited and framed my face. I had it for years up until I cut my hair about a year ago and cut it out. I’m toying with the idea of doing ombre again, on a shorter style, but this is definitely what gave me my personal sense of style I think.

My Love Of Bright Colours & Prints

Looking back now, I notice how much I loved bright colours and prints. I used to wear bright coloured jeans in almost every outfit and I had a moment of loving to colour block by wearing bold colours together. I remember this phase really well as I still have a lot of the denim in my collection and colourful blazers, and it’s a time I look fondly back on. I still wear bright colours sometimes, but I feel like as I’m getting closer to 30, my taste in clothing has changed a lot more and I drift towards neutrals and pieces that fit well more so than bright, younger, bolder pieces.

My Struggle With My Weight

This is something that I haven’t really documented on the blog at all, I’ve generally kept quiet about it. I’ve spoken about trying to get healthy and things like that a couple of years ago, but before that, my weight was up and down a lot. I’ve gone from a size 24 in jeans, right up to a size 30 over the years and back down again, and it’s been quite challenging, that’s for sure. I felt a lot better when I was slimmer, I didn’t feel good when I was carrying extra weight because of my joint issues. I used to have terrible knee and back pain from my ehlers danlos so having extra weight on top was so bad. I regularly stay between size 26/27 in jeans now and I think that’s my ideal weight. I can’t go back to a 24 as my hips have grown, I’ve matured a lot and I just wouldn’t fit with my bone structure and it wouldn’t suit me, so I’m quite happy now with staying at the size I am as it’s a healthy weight for me. But you can see from the photos above just how up and down it’s been. I was bigger than the 3rd photo above, but I don’t have any photos of it on hand.

Learning To Use Lighting & Locations

After developing my personal style more and getting a DSLR camera, Adam and I started to take my outfit shoots more seriously and we would experiment with lighting (the golden hour being a favourite) and also scouting out nice locations to use which would complement the outfit nicely. I feel like this is a point in my blogging journey where I was turning it into a business, collaborating with more brands and really enjoying what I was doing. When I look back at photos like these, they give me a sense of achievement and happiness, with lots of fond memories.

Visiting LuisaViaRoma in Florence, Italy

In June 2013 I got to go to Florence in Italy with LuisaViaRoma to take part in their Firenze4Ever bloggers event. This was an extremely high point in my life and it was one of the most incredible things I had done. I felt like my blogging was taking off even more and I was even being celebrated for it, by getting to attend this event. Modelling their clothes and doing shoots with a professional photographer was definitely a career highlight for me. It’s a time in my life that I was really proud of and it marks a special point for me in my blogging journey.

Learning To Pose Better & Style Outfits

As time went on, I got better with my styling and putting outfits together and even when I was just standing for a front facing shot, I learned to pose better to make the photos look more natural and less staged. My blog was really starting to take off around this time and the photo on the right was voted the best outfit of mine by you that I had worn to date, which surprised me a lot as it was when I was starting to like a lot more neutrals. The photo on the left with the snow was also when I was learning to use photoshop more and make my photos look a lot better, plus I was using bigger images and had recently changed my blog design into something more sleek.

Different Blog Awards I Have Won

I wanted to create a section as well for some awards I have been shortlisted for and won as I think it’s important to document that as part of the journey. The first award I won was the Bath in Fashion Bloggers Awards in 2013. It was a local award for bloggers around the Bath and Bristol area, as well as parts of the south west. I won this with a public vote and got a certificate too, which was incredible! In 2014, I was shortlisted by Company Magazine in their Fashion Blogger Awards. I was down to the final 10, but unfortunately I didn’t win that one, but to be shortlisted was amazing. In 2015, my newer blog The Jeans Blog was shortlisted for the UK Blog Awards which I attended (see here). I didn’t win unfortunately, but I got a certificate for being a finalist. Now this year, for 2016, I’ve been voted as the 11th best fashion blog in the UK out of everyone, which is something I’m very proud of. I’m up there with Wish Wish Wish, 5 Inch And Up, Style Bubble and more, which is certainly an achievement. I can only hope to grow my blog more and more and as my social media grows (over 80,000 of you combined follow me!) I’m hoping it will help. I just can’t thank you enough for making all of this possible.

Looking After Myself, Learning To Pose & Use Locations More

I mentioned I was learning to use locations more and pose better, but as time has gone on, I’ve learned to be comfortable in what I’m doing now. We always scout pretty locations and wont use anything that doesn’t look good, we always make sure the lighting is right and that I can edit the photos to pop with colour and light as sometimes they don’t come out right, and I’ve learned to feel a lot more comfortable in front of the camera and feel natural with walking shots, movement shots and more. From mid 2014 until last year, I was really taking care of my body and looking after it, so I felt great and it’s a time I look back on fondly!

More Maturity & How I’ve Grown, Mentally

Last year I started reading books on enlightenment. Things were getting tough for me with health issues and stressful situations. I had come out about having M.E as an illness and I was going into a bit of a relapse unfortunately, so I was looking for ways to keep me happy and focus my energy into good things. I was reading Siddharta and really enjoyed that, trying to relax a lot and the Summertime was quite a peaceful time for me actually, which marks a milestone in the way I was thinking and how much I had matured over the years. I definitely feel older now.

Using Colours & Surroundings To Complement Photos

Within the last 5 months, I would say my vow to make my blog have more quality posts and less about quantity (now that I’m self employed) has worked out well. I’m using more unique locations and using props and scenery to incorporate into my photos. I’ve matured with my style and when I wear certain colours, I always make sure there’s a location which will contrast that to give the photos more of a pop. There’s a lot I have learned with Adam over the years of blogging and I’m at a very happy place now. We upgraded our camera to the Nikon D610 and it’s amazing, which really creates nice photos.

My Current Outfits, How They Have Evolved From The Beginning

As you can see here, my style now as of 2016 has changed dramatically from the outfits I showed you before. I love layering a lot now, mixing neutrals with a little colour, I’m heavily into grey, I have gotten quite a collection of jeans, coats, boots and bags which I love and I personally feel that my style is the best it has been throughout my 6 year journey. I really take a lot into consideration when I put my outfits together and I spend a while planning them, sometimes I throw them together, but I do like to plan. I feel like my outfits are actually worthy of a fashion blog now.

How I Look As Of Now

And finally, a photo of how I look now, compared to what I looked like back in 2010. I would say the puppy fat has gone, I have more of a bone structure, I know how to do my make-up now and I feel like I look more mature. Sure people still mistake me for being in school sometimes, even though I will be 28 in a few months time, but I’ve definitely changed, I can see that a lot now. I’m so happy that I have gotten to share this journey with you all and I feel like you have all been there during different times in my life and experienced my growth as well, making it feel like one big family. Thank you so much for that and I thank Adam too for being with me throughout it all. Please do let me know what you think of this post in the comments below! Lorna xx.

Fashionable Light Up LED Shoes From Beam

This has been the most exciting and fun photoshoot that Adam and I have ever done! I just had to say that first before getting on with this post. Usually our shoots are very serious, focusing on getting the perfect shots and angles to showcase the outfit as its best, but this time around, we got to have fun. We even got to play with the different camera settings and do long exposure (I love this) which in short means the shutter stays open for a long period of time while you move around in front of it, creating light trails which you can see in some of my photos, and I got to do different action shots.

I got these light up LED shoes from BEAM a couple of weeks ago and I couldn’t wait to wear them and share them with you! I just know that so many of you will love them. I fell in love with flashing shoes when I saw a girl dancing with them in a video on Instagram that had gone viral, then a week or two later, BEAM contacted me about modelling their shoes and I jumped at the chance. I chose the black pair as I thought they would be more suited to a fashion blogger than the white and silver and they would really show off the lights when it gets dark. I was right with that as when it’s dark and I’m wearing all black like I am here, all you can see is the lights!

So how do these work? That’s what I was intrigued by when I got them as everything is concealed and hidden. The button to turn them on is on the outside of each shoe just under the top eyelet for laces. It’s hidden under the fabric, so you just need to press and with each click it goes through a different colour (red, green, blue, yellow, aqua, purple, white and multicolour flashing) setting, 8 in total. Then the last click will turn them off. The charge lasts for 8 hours and you do it via USB from your laptop and plugging the split cable into each shoe, just behind the clicking mechanism. It’s that simple! The LED lights go around the entire sole of the shoes as you can see in the photos, so these will be amazing for nights out if you are looking for something cool.

One thing that surprised me about these light up LED shoes though was the price. I was honestly expecting them to be over £100, but they are less than £50, coming in black, silver and white and are unisex too. That’s definitely something that I’m pleased about as trends like this will come and go quite quickly and not everyone wants to shell out a lot of money. They are animal friendly too since they are made of faux leather, alongside them being completely awesome in every way! I get so excited when I wear these light up shoes and always stare at my feet. They are going to be perfect for Christmas and I’ve already shared numerous videos on my Snapchat and will be on my Instagram (@LornaRaindrops) very soon! So keep an eye out for that! What do you think of my light up LED shoes?

If you love them, buy these light up shoes from BEAM here.

Use the exclusive code RAINDROPS-15 to get 15% off your order too!

Modelling 3 gorgeous ALEXI London Jewellery pieces

For those of you who follow me on Snapchat (LornaRaindrops) you might have noticed that we were shooting these photos on Sunday for this post! I’m really excited to be working with ALEXI which is an amazing London based jewellery company. They have some of the most prettiest pieces, like the 3 that I chose to wear here, but they also have so much more which I fell in love with, it was hard to narrow it down! The 3 jewellery pieces that I went with in the end though were these Maxi Bar Drop Earrings in Sterling Silver, this pretty Moon, Bar & Star Necklace in Gold and this Mini Triangle Spring Ring in Rose Gold. I’ve still got the earrings now actually, I like them that much!

If you haven’t heard of ALEXI before, I definitely recommend that you check them out as I’m sure you will absolutely fall in love with them! Their jewellery is delicate and feminine, with a mix of bold and subtle pieces designed to take you from day to night occasions. The inspiration comes from a combination of travel, art, nature and love, with some designs being decidedly classic while others are influenced by current fashions. If you love dainty and elegant necklaces and statement, yet classic rings, I think ALEXI has you covered. What do you think of their jewellery? I can honestly say that I have developed a huge crush on the brand. So much so, I want you to experience the same thing! Which leads me to…

WIN a beautiful ALEXI Ring from their jewellery collection

How to enter: This competition is a Twitter giveaway, so all you need to do to enter is follow ALEXI and LornaRaindrops on Twitter (click names to follow) and then tweet this entry below! It’s as simple as that!

#CONTEST – RT & Follow @ALEXIJewellery & @LornaRaindrops to #WIN a gorgeous ALEXI Ring! #Giveaway #LornaxALEXI http://wp.me/p2rDym-8lV

For bonus entries: you can follow ALEXI on Instagram and also sign up to their newsletter (click here and scroll to the bottom) and this will give you two more entries into the competition to win the ring!

The Prize: Of course you want to know what ring is up for grabs don’t you? You can choose either the spiral ring I’m modelling here or this wish bone V ring as your prize if you are the winner. They each come in silver, gold or rose gold, so the choice is yours!

Details: The contest is open to UK residents only and will end on the 29th March 2016 at 11:59:59pm. The winner will be selected by ALEXI from those of you who have entered correctly. If you can’t wait that long or you love their jewellery too much and want to have a necklace or a pair of their earrings, you can get free P&P on your order if you use the code LORNA at the checkout. Good luck everyone!

Double Denim With An All Saints Balfern Leather Jacket

Last weekend it was warm enough for me to just wear my All Saints Balfern Leather Jacket in Sahara (buy it here) and I decided to style it with double denim. I layered it over one of my Topshop Sleeveless Denim Shirts and then paired that with my Citizens of Humanity Rocket Crop Jeans in Spritz. I was so excited when I got these jeans as you know I live in my Citizens Rocket in Aura all the time, so it’s great to have the same style but in a darker wash like these. I thought they paired really nicely with my brown leather belt to break up the double denim combination and blend in with the leather jacket. I then wanted some lighter neutrals so I went with my Sam Edelman Petty Booties and my Mulberry Alexa Clutch in Powder Beige.

Instead of the usual landscape scenery shots that Adam and I love to do due to the pretty areas around here, we wanted to do more of a street style shoot for this look and give it some more edge. We headed to the top of town out into the areas where people live and shot in the middle of the street by the cars. It was definitely a different experience having to go in and out of the road to avoid cars though, it’s not something that I would like to do all that often, but I definitely love how these photos turned out. They have an easy, and sometimes candid approach to them. What do you think of my outfit? Double denim is one of my favourite combinations and as the weather warms up I can’t wait to wear it more!

What I Was Wearing:
Jacket – All Saints
Shirt – Topshop
Jeans – Citizens of Humanity
Boots – Sam Edelman
Bag – Mulberry

Black and Grey neutrals with a pop of Bordeaux

First of all I want to wish you all a happy Good Friday and I hope you have some fun Easter weekend plans, whether you celebrate Easter or not. Since I work on American timing a lot of the time with my other job, I never get to share the same bank holidays as we do over here, so this time I’m actually excited that both our countries have the same days off for once! Yay!

For this outfit, I wore it last weekend and wanted to keep things really smart and casual at the same time. I wore my GAP Knitted Jumper in Grey with an ASOS Grey Scarf around to keep me warm. I paired these with my James Jeans Twiggy Dancer Jeans in Black and my RAYE Grey Heels. Then to add a pop of colour to the mix of black and grey, I chose my Chanel Small Boy Bag in Bordeaux Velvet.

If you follow me on Instagram (@LornaRaindrops) then you will know that I went ahead with my hair cut yesterday and I love how it’s turned out! It’s much shorter, neater and has a nice style to it. These are the last outfit photos that I have to share with you before the cut (Thank goodness. What is that back shot, some puffy triangular afro!?), so you will be seeing it very soon if you haven’t checked it out already! Anyway, what do you other fashion bloggers and readers think of my outfit here? I’d love to know as always! Just ignore the current hair situation here, ha ha.

What I Was Wearing:
Knitwear – GAP (similar)
Jeans – James Jeans (similar)
Shoes – RAYE
Bag – Chanel (similar)
Scarf – ASOS

50 Shades Of Monochromatic Grey

These were the photos that I briefly mentioned on Snapchat yesterday. Like I said, we were shopping in Marks & Spencers and then all of a sudden it decided to rain so heavily that it was flooding down the road and we couldn’t leave the store. It was sunny beforehand, which is why we planned to shoot my photos just after the shopping, but that really was an epic fail! Since it was raining so hard and not due to stop after I checked the weather app, we decided that the only thing we could do was to find somewhere inside the store and shoot the photos there.

By the back entrance they have two flights of stairs which lead to the upper levels and Adam thought they would be really cool and different as a setting. It was extremely poor lighting so the original photos made me dark, orange with yellow hair. Thank goodness we shoot in raw though so I was able to edit the lighting to how they should look. I wasn’t overly fond of doing the photo inside and on some stairs with people staring at me all the time, but as it turned out, I think they look quite unique and different, so oddly enough I’m quite pleased with them.

For those of you wondering, yes, we did get completely soaked when we left, despite having umbrellas. My jeans were drenched, my New Balance which I had for walking were soaked through and it was just so bad. Normally I would be in wellies and a rain coat, but when you have to shoot outfit photos for the blog it’s not always possible. The things I have to go through for fashion blogging sometimes! Lol. It even ruined my new hair cut after, which you can see in these photos. Speaking of which, what do you think of it?

Anyway, getting to my outfit, I wore my J Brand Maria High Rise Skinny Jeans in Dove Grey which I absolutely adore. I know you have seen these numerous times, but they truly are the perfect grey! I then paired them with my new Vince Grey Ombre Sweater as I thought the greys would work harmoniously together. I then opted for my RAYE Grey Heels to add yet another shade of grey (Yep, I’m going for 50 shades here!) but as my Chloe Mini Drew Bag has a gold chain, it really didn’t go with this outfit, so I went for my Rebecca Minkoff Mini Love Bag in Black instead, which matches the top of the sweater. Normally when I wear neutrals and muted tones I like to have a pop of colour in there somewhere, but this time I decided a monochromatic look entirely would be better. I only chose a little hint of red with my lipstick. What do you think of my outfit and the location?

What I Was Wearing:
Knitwear – VINCE
Jeans – J Brand
Shoes – RAYE (similar)
Bag – Rebecca Minkoff

Citizens of Humanity Liya Jeans

I can’t believe how fast everything is going these days! We are already at the 5th of April and it doesn’t feel that long ago that it was Valentine’s Day or Christmas. It’s crazy! These are the photos that we shot when it was pouring with rain and I mentioned that we got really wet, but it managed to stop for a little while for us to get a few good shots of my outfit thankfully. English weather is so unpredictable!

Speaking of unpredictable, you might know from my social media yesterday that my MacBook broke. I was so sad! I had my schedule down for a whole days work and it completely broke, but it was almost 6 years old so it has been running on borrowed time. It meant that I had to go out and buy a new one though so now my credit card is maxed out at the moment, eek! Since I have a new retina screen now, I’m trying to optimise my photos for everyone else who reads in retina as well, but I want to make sure it shows up clear for those who aren’t retina ready, so if you could comment and let me know what screen you have and if the photos are blurry or crisp, that would be absolutely amazing please!

Now getting to my outfit, I’ve loved the look of the vintage mom jeans trend for quite some time now and thought that I wanted to give it a go but wasn’t sure which pair to pick. I stuck with my love for Citizens of Humanity and chose their new Liya Jeans in Torn and I am in love with them! I’ve got two washes of these, but I think these are ideal for the warmer weather and they are so comfy! I don’t normally like wearing any other fits apart from skinny as they are most flattering to my shape, but these are gorgeous! I wanted to keep everything else simple so I paired these mom jeans with my Oasis The Perfect Crew, my new Tamara Mellon Nude Heels and my trusty Chloe Mini Drew Bag in Motty Grey. As you know I am obsessed with neutrals lately and keeping looks classic and clean, so I think experimenting with fits of jeans helps keep my looks interesting. I’m definitely going to be wearing mom jeans a lot more! What do you think of my outfit? Please do comment and tell me, but excuse my frizzy hair!

And of course I can’t not tell you about the new Shopbop sale they are having! You can get 25% off full priced and sale items in their Friends and Family sale with the code INTHEFAM at the checkout! There are quite a few brand exclusions this time around, but there are still lots of things included! Why not pick up some new accessories for your Summer holiday or a new pair of shorts? Or why not buy these mom jeans and shoes I’m wearing with the discount?

What I Was Wearing:
Jeans – Citizens of Humanity Liya
Top – Oasis (similar)
Shoes – Tamara Mellon
Bag – Chloe