CHOICE NOTES.

Yeah, I know, I did it again! Good intentions do indeed pave the way to hell, as they say. I had the very best of them to keep everything running smoothly, but unfortunately a few ill-timed assignments have kept me too busy for editing photos and writing posts. I still managed to snap a few photos along the way - and I've posted up a few WIWT instagrams over on my tumblr - check it out for slightly more regular updates!

These photos are from around 3 weeks ago when my hair got a well overdue makeover. My highlights had grown out, it was a little bedraggled and the split ends were becoming an endless distraction for me, and it had been begging to be chopped and coloured since before christmas. Finally, with the exams and placement over, I took advantage of a free afternoon and got it sorted.


 
Sheer cream blouse - River Island
High-waist denim shorts - Topshop
Super-cosy tights - Primark
Moccasins - Minnetonka
Wine coloured bowler - UO

Brown leather belt - Topshop
Tortoishell doe necklace - H+M

So happy with the results, and still loving it! I had the ends lightened considerably and a few more blonde foils put in so it's less highlighted and more ombre. I know that several beauty blogs have claimed that ombre is 'over' but I guess I'm not just there yet, haha! It's a great colour option for darker haired girls, because when it's done right, it gives a lot of depth to the hair and of course, is easy to maintain and a lot cheaper than getting a full head of highlights. I definitely recommend going to a stylist though - some of the home-grown attempts I've seen on tumblr make me wince, usually the dyed hair looks totally burnt out by bleach. Poor hair!

I'm still listening to Gotye, at least once a day! Somebody I used to know is becoming a little bit of an anthem in my house in Belfast because we all love it so much. It's a regular on our dish-washing soundtrack. This week I've been enjoying tunes from the ATG Spring Mixtape (2011). Here's one of my favourite tracks, hope you enjoy!



love, Jessica

SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW.

Well hello there!

As you can probably tell, the first semester of my third year of Pharmacy in Queen's kind of took me by surprise with how much time it managed to absorb from my life. After the first fortnight, my blog was truly at the very farthest reaches of my mind, and photos I had taken over the previous weeks got tucked away in a folder within a folder within a folder - out of my sight and out of my priorities too. Between lectures, workshops, practicals, reports, learning French and Italian, helping out with AmnestyQUB, going to London for the Amnesty Student Conference and, I'll admit it, the occasional social event and gig, my blogging has been non existant.

The good news is I'm back now! I'm just finished the most stressful and demanding exam session I've ever and hopefully will ever have to experience again, and have a week of hospital placement coming up and finally a week of blissful rest and recreation to indulge myself with before I return to class again. I'm pledging this year to try and keep up my blog amidst the rest of my hectic life. My posts will likely be taking on a different format to the way they were in the past. I'll be continuing to post outfits, recommend music, share my photos and art and review events, though these will be condensed into a weekly review rather than individual postings for the forseeable future. However, I have recently started a tumblr - for the purpose of quick and regular sharing of my photos (including style/outfit photos) throughout the week - so if you've got one please follow me! I'll follow back, I promise!!

Today's photos were taken by the ever lovely Conor. 

 

 

Fur-trimmed coat - Topshop

Striped long-sleeve top - Primark

Paper-bag waist shorts - H&M

Tartan scarf - vintage/thrifted

Chunky chain necklace - Dorothy Perkins

Super cosy tights - Primark

Shoes - Minnetonka Moccasins 

 

This outfit contains quite a few recent additions to my wardrobe that I won't have blogged before. The coat was purchased around the end of October and has been a staple of mine throughout this winter. I love the textures in it, with the open weave wool and extra soft fur of the cuffs and collars. The shape is akin to a swing coat, which along with the rounded collar, gives it a vintage feel, and the details of the scalloped mac-like overlay and strap on the back give it extra character. It's safe to say I love it and will likely be wearing it for the next few years! Those neutral tones just go with everything!

 

 

The top is an old favourite that I've been wearing for years, while the shorts are a Christmas purchase! They're a beautiful charcoal grey faux-silk and have a great loose tailoring style. So comfortable and so wearable! They're also a perfect colour with my wine tights, which are another Primark buy which has been a savior during the winter for me. I wear jeans so rarely that tights are an every day necessity for me, and when the wind blows cold my legs suffer the consequences. These tights are less tights and more leggings - they're fleeced on the inside and are a delight to wear, and succeed in keeping your legs toasty warm.

 

 

My shoes are my most recent purchase, and I'm already in love with them. I really love moccasin shoes - maybe I watched Pocahontas one too many times during my childhood, but the style has certainly rubbed off on me. These are from the kings and queens of moccasins, Minnetonka. I've been looking a pair for about a year now since finding them online. They recently came in to my local Urban Outfitters in the Thunderbird II style, and this inspired me to have a 'window-shop' online at their other styles - and I discovered to my delight that they had a sale on! I scored these studded beauties for £36 and am so glad I did. They fit like gloves and feel like I've been wearing them for centuries. Extremely well made little things. I'd definitely recommend Minnetonka if you're planning to go down the moccasin route - and their sale is on-going to the end of January with a few other lovely styles included in it!

 

I'd also like to share this beauty of a song with you. I've been listening to this a few times every day during and since my exams, and I think I'm in love with both of these talented people:

I'd also recommend checking out Kimbra's other stuff, especially Cameo Lover - altogether more pop-based but nonetheless extremely listenable and danceable! (And isn't she just too gorgeous for words?)

I hope you enjoyed this post! If you have any suggestions for things I should blog about more, leave them in a comment below and I'll see what I can do. Finally, I'd like to wish all of you a somewhat belated new year!

Thanks for reading!

love, Jessica

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.

HI!!! So glad to be sitting here writing this blog right now! I've been M.I.A. for quite a few weeks while I've been trying to move back up to Belfast into our new house, and settle into the whole balance of classes, studying, and socialising! I've missed talking nonsense on here. I've thought up a few little ideas for posts that I'll be sharing across the coming fortnight, including the usual style posts alongside inspiration and maybe another wishlist (it gets longer every day), but for today, I thought I'd make your tuesday tuneful with a magical music recommendation! Boy, the alliteration's really flowing here!

If you haven't heard of The Civil Wars already, I feel sorry for you, because you've been missing out! I even feel bad for myself because I've only listened to them properly for the past month. They've been hiding out in my iTunes library, just waiting to be discovered! The female counterpart of the duo, Joy Williams, has also been chilling around there, her solo work having been featured a number of times on Grey's Anatomy (yeah, I'm in love with it too!). Her familiar vocal was a welcome introduction to their music.

As you've gathered, I'm a pretty big fan of folk music, and harmonies go a long way towards charming my heart. I just love (trying) to sing along with them. The Civil Wars have both folk stylings and harmony in abundance, and the simplicity of the accompanying music makes their songs all the more addictive to listen to. Both William's and John Paul White's vocals are stunning - every single note seems to come right from the heart, and together, they fill your ears with their haunting, romantic lyrics. Since their music really speaks for itself, I'll leave it here, finishing with my favourite track from their debut album, Barton Hollow, which you can (and should) purchase on iTunes or Amazon.

love, Jessica

IT COULD BE SO ROMANTIC.

I'm really excited about this week's musical recommendation. I first came across Ski Lift through the lovely Elsie Larson's A Beautiful Mess. Their music was featured on the promotional video for her first dress collection earlier this year (Gorgeous stuff! Check out her A/W collection over here!), and straight after watching it, I was dying to get my hands on the song. Unfortunately, it hadn't been released yet, but a few weeks ago, A Beautiful Mess featured the band again, with the exciting news that their first EP was being released (on the 30th of August)!

Naturally I headed straight over and got my hands on these gems:





I think you'll agree that their music is pretty special! I love the ethereal, blurry tones. It makes me think of hot, sunshin-y summer days -something we've been a little short on this year - so it's the perfect soundtrack to an imagined summer for me! I'd say their sound is something kind of similar to the likes of Cults, but it's got a certain something special and sweet that makes it really unique.

Ski Lift are a musically minded duo hailing from Springfield, Missouri - Abby Webster, a Philosophy undergrad, singer-songwriter and gardener-extrordinaire, and Trey George, a guy who works in a marketing agency by day, but writes and composes beautiful music (see above!!!) by night.

The pair have been crafting Ski Lift songs since last year, and, with a little help from some other musical minds (Jeremy Larson, the husband of the previously mentioned Elsie (of A Beautiful Mess), who produced the tracks, and Jonathan James of the band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, who mastered the EP), they have crafted the Romantic EP, an almost 26 minute long debut which has captured my heart!

Get yourselves over ASAP to their bandcamp and get your hands on the two tracks above, and if you love it (which you will), get on over to iTunes and buy that EP! It's delicious!

love, Jessica

PS. Lucky me, I suggested a Ski Lift song (Romantic) to the Open House Festival for a chance to win tickets to see the Felice Brothers, and I won, along with three others! You can listen to the top 35 suggestions via spotify here!

All lovely images of Ski Lift were taken by Elsie of A Beautiful Mess!

100 ACRES OF SYCAMORE.

Wow, can you believe it? I'm actually updating my blog mid-week! I'm here to give you a taste of another of my favourite musicians.



Fionn Regan is another folksy singer-songwriter with a place in my heart. Probably in the top left hand corner of my right atrium. I've been in love with his music ever since I heard the delectable Penny in the Slot (above), from his debut album The End of History. It's definitely worth repetitive listenings. The lyrics, soft-spoken melodies and delicate guitar come together to make something really magical.



His second album for me, was a bit of a surpise, with Dylan-esque electric stylings. It was a huge departure from The End of History, and while some reviews found it a step in the wrong direction, I enjoyed it! I like to hear when artists take new directions, particularly when they are as skilled as Regan is in crafting earthy, folk music. The album is harder to fall in love with than his debut, but after a few plays the choppy chords will have you humming along.

A week or so ago, Regan released his third album, 100 Acres of Sycamore, and it is really what has got me wanting to share him here. He's returned to his roots and produced another stunning collection of songs in the same vein as The End of History. I'm loving it a lot already and I've only listened to it a few times, so I'd strongly recommend it to old and new fans alike. Listen out in particular for the romantic For a Nightingale and  for Sow Mare Bitch Vixen. I've not been able to source any of his new album for this post, but check out the iTunes page in the link above (or his Facebook page) for some previews!




(Photos by me from his gig in the Empire from last spring)

In other news, Mr. Sally and I snapped some pictures this evening, and I got a new cookbook, so expect more from me this week!

love, Jessica

KINGS AND QUEENS.

(image from 30 Seconds to Mars' official website)
Last tuesday I saw 30 Seconds to Mars for the second time in a short while playing along with Rams Pocket Radio and You Me at Six as part of Belsonic 2011.







Since being introduced to Rams Pocket Radio via Glasgowbury, I was rather excited to get to see them, and they didn't disappoint! They played a lively, confident and fun set to the growing crowd and I really enjoyed them! I'm looking forward to seeing what they get up to over the coming months and years.







You Me at Six are the sort of band that for me should be a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I don't even like them enough for that to be the case! The crowd, as a general rule, loved them, however, and they really contributed to building the atmosphere towards the main event.




















If you've listened to 30 Seconds to Mars at all, you'll be aware of their anthemic, stadium-ready style, and it was no surprise that they put on another super performance. The (gorgeous!!) Leto brothers and company lit up the stage and the audience together and really seemed to enjoy the gig themselves, which is always a bonus! If you get the chance, I'd recommend them for a gig, because it's truly an awesome experience.

love, Jessica.