Outfit: Runnin' With the Devil

It seems I've become best friends with my postman in the last couple of weeks. Today I received a package through my letterbox from Urban Outfitters containing this oversized Van Halen t-shirt.

I have been wearing it all day, and I love it! I've always been wary of oversized tops as I thought they would probably add lots of extra pounds, but I think if worn in the right way this won't be the case. Here, I've paired the top with some Miss Selfridge denim shorts (it would look so good with distressed/cut off shorts, but unfortunately these are the only pair of denim shorts I own!), aviators from H&M and gladiator sandals from Primark.

I'm already planning in my head different ways to wear this top. I think it would look good tucked into a pencil skirt, over some wet-look leggings, or cinched in with a belt and a bodycon mini skirt. How do you wear your oversized t-shirts?

I've been searching for the perfect pair of aviators for ages, and I think might have found them. Aviators always seem to be too big for my face and end up coming way too far down my cheeks, but I think these ones from H&M are a great size.

In honour of my latest purchase, I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite classic 80s rock tunes. They always put me in a good mood, and are perfect on a summer playlist!

Van Halen - Panama

Poison - Talk Dirty to Me

Whitesnake - Here I Go Again On My Own

Motley Crue - Home Sweet Home

I blame my dad for making me like such music haha! Anyone else a fan? What are your favourite songs?

Gillian x

Cocktails, Cupcakes and What to Wear

On Friday afternoon the postman brought me a lovely little package of books from Amazon, including The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and Eat Me. One of my friends was visiting on Friday evening, so we decided it would be the perfect opportunity for baking and cocktail making.

So as we sipped out first round of Cosmos we flicked through the books to find something quick and yummy to bake. We settled on the strawberry cheescake cupcakes from the Hummingbird cookbook. They tasted really good, but unfortunately didn't look very photogenic! My kitchen scales are broken at the moment so we had to guess on the measurements, but I think they turned out pretty well considering! My mission this week is to buy some new scales and some piping bags so I can try out lots of the recipes and make them look beautiful. Lakeland here I come!

After going out for coffee on Saturday afternoon I just happened to walk past all the shops and notice they all had sales on, so of course I had to have a look. I bought this pink skirt from New Look for £4, but I'm not quite sure what to wear it with. I always feel compelled to buy clothes when they cost less than a fiver, even if they're not my usual style or something I wouldn't even consider buying if it was full price!

So this is where you lovely ladies come in, what would you wear with this skirt? Would you go for a bright top or stick to monochrome? Something with structured shoulders or a loose, oversized tshirt? Tights or leggings? Tell me what you think would make this into a great outfit. Hopefully you will insipre me and I will post an outfit featuring this skirt soon!

Gillian x

Outfit: Ahoy, Sailor!

Can you tell from my last couple of posts that I'm in love with nautical colours and styles?! I snapped up this dress in the Warehouse sale and I'm in love with it, even if it is also a little bit short (should probably put on a pair of leggings underneath when wearing this in public)!

The belt is from Primark. I bought it about a year ago but have only worn it a handful of times, I think I need to wear it more often as the buckle is awesome! The shoes are also from Primark. They are they perfect non-sandals summer shoes. Whenever I wear them they make me want to learn to play tennis!

I decided to paint my nails to go with this outfit, what do you think of the way they turned out? I decided to paint a little white heart on one nail to match my heart-shaped necklace which was originally from Quiz a very very long time ago!

I used Nails Inc polish in 'Victoria and Albert', Barry M in 'Red Glitter' and 'White', and 17 Lasting Fix Polish in 'Clear'.

What are your plans for the weekend? One of my friends is coming over tonight, not sure yet what our plans are but I'm sure it will invole either films, alcohol or baking, possibly all three!

Gillian x

Outfit: Fun in the Sun

Yesterday was really warm and sunny so I spent the afternoon lounging in The Meadows, reading a book and people watching. My flat doesn't have a garden, but I live literally three seconds away from here, so that definitely makes up for it.

Look at the tiny little plane!

I went shopping on Monday and one of the things I bought was this floral dress from Motel. I love the shape of it, and it sits so nicely in real life. The tag claimed it was a dress but it is rather short, so I put on a pair of white New Look leggings underneath.

I love The Meadows in the summertime, it's always full of people having fun and enjoying the sunshine. You can just about make out in the picture above a guy behind the tree who had his guitar with him, awesome!

The sandals are from Primark and I got my sunglasses in the ASOS sale last year for only £1! It's so hard to take photos of yourself outside, so I had to take the outfit photos back at the flat.

Notice the sunburnt right arm. The rest of me is fine, I don't know why only that arm decided to turn bright red!

Remember to follow my blog if you like my posts!

Gillian x

Style Inspiration: Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road

Set in 1950s America, the film Revolutionary Road contains many of my favourite things. While the film focuses on the "disturbia" aspect of the new suburban way of life (oh the joys of being a history student!), I am in love with the idea of being a '50s housewife. The whole film is very aesthetically pleasing, but my favourite part is the costumes. Kate Winslet's character, in particular, has some amazing 1950s style outfits.

I love the mixture of tight fitting, structured dresses and big skirts with petticoats. Even the more casual looks are gorgeous, such as the beach outfit with the high-waisted shorts and rolled up sleeves. I mean look at those sunglasses, they're amazing!

Who is your style inspiration at the moment?

Gillian x

Makeup I Couldn't Live Without

It's true. I'm one of those people who cannot even go to the corner shop without at least some form of makeup on. I just feel naked without it! If, for any reason, someone was to take away the following three products from me it's quite likely I would cry.

1. Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation (shade Blondie)
My skin is generally in quite good condition, but because I'm naturally really pale my skin can often look blotchy and red so I always like to start with a good base of foundation. What I love about Lily Lolo is the fact that it's a mineral powder so you can buff it into your skin and build up a few thin layers to get the coverage exactly where you need it. It's so easy to touch up during the day as well (although I find it lasts for ages, especially if you also use a finishing powder on top) by just buffing in a wee bit more. You only need to use a little bit of powder to get good coverage, so it lasts for ages too, which is great!

2. Rimmel Glam Eyes Liquid Liner
If you asked any of my friends to name one makeup 'look' they associated with me, I'm fairly certain they would all say black cat-eye liner. I do my eyes like this about 90% of the time, on its own in the day time and with some pretty eyeshadow for night time. The Rimmel liquid liner is great because it doesn't have one of those felt-tip nibs but rather an actual little brush, which I find much easier to control. It's a really dark black colour, a great consistency for easy application and it doesn't smudge off if you're wearing it for a long time. Many women would probably say mascara would be more important than eyeliner, but I would much rather give up long lashes if I could keep my liquid liner!

3. Vaseline Rosy Lips
I very rarely wear lipstick during the day, but sometimes I want just a little pop of colour to make my lips stand out. Vaseline Rosy Lips is perfect for this as it is slightly tinted to give your lips a lovely reddish-pink glow. Although in the tin it looks really bright, it's very subtle and natural looking when you apply it. Plus it moisturises and keeps your lips feeling nice and soft, which is always a good thing!

What are your top three beauty products? Are there any products you simply could not live without, or do you prefer to go makeup-free when you can?

Gillian x

Outfit: Swift Horse

I have lived in my current flat for exactly one year and five days. There are five or six charity shops on the street behind where I live, but I'm ashamed to admit yesterday was the first time I had visited any of them. I'm not sure why I'd never been to them before, I pop into the charity shops on the other side of town all the time!

I spent yesterday afternoon browsing and a few dresses caught my eye but unfortunately none of them were in my size. I didn't come home empty-handed though. I got this gorgeous bag which is sort of a satchel-briefcase-handbag hybrid, I love it!

jacket: New Look, jeans: Topshop, shoes: Schuh, hairband: Primark, bag: vintage

I love the badge on it. I've done a little googling but can't find any information about 'Swift Horse'. It's real leather and was only £10.

Have you purchased any new bags recently?

Gillian x

Outfit: Just Dance

I went out clubbing (that's such a horrible word isn't it, sounds so seedy and cheesy!) on Sunday night with my friend and some of her pals, and this is what I wore. I was originally planning on wearing a new dress I got recently, but when I put it on I discovered it was almost completely see-through so I had to do a quick change into something else before we went out!

This outfit is pretty boring, but I love the belt which makes it a bit more exciting. Even better, I got it in the Dorothy Perkins sale for only £3! The ruched-sleeve top is from H&M and the shorts are from Miss Selfridge. The shoes are from New Look, but are sadly looking a bit worse for wear these days. They are the comfiest heels I've ever owned, so I wear them as often as I can!

I wore these earrings, which are also from Miss Selfridge. Some of the little beads are a very similar colour to the belt - I like it when my accessories match but in a subtle way.

I had a great night out, but had to spend most of Monday asleep to recover! Today I did the rounds of the charity shops near my flat and picked up a couple of bits and pieces, so keep a look-out for some posts about that over the next few days.

Gillian x

Outfit: '50s Housewife

It has been a horrible grey day here today so I thought I would cheer myself up by wearing a bright and summery outfit.

The dress and cardigan are both from Dorothy Perkins. I absolutely love this dress, when I wear it I feel like I'm a housewife from the 1950s. I had a lazy Sunday today, I tidied up the flat and made a big pot of carrot and courgette soup - just like a real housewife!

The shoes are from Primark, and they are the exact same shape as the little high heels you used to get for Barbie dolls. Excellent!

There was a big rip in the skirt part of this dress from an adventure I had that included climbing over fences taller than I am, but I think I've managed to patch it up pretty well.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm going out tonight so will take some photos of my outfit (once I've decided what to wear!) and post them once the hangover wears off.

Also, thank you for all your lovely comments so far! Remember to follow my blog if you like my posts.

Gillian x

Shoes and Strawberries

I bought these shoes recently in New Look and I love them. I'm a big fan of round-toed heels (pointy shoes just make me think of middle-aged women wearing kitten heels - yuck!) so I fell in love with these shoes as soon as I saw them.

I haven't worn them out yet, but have a girls-night-out planned for tomorrow evening so I'm currently planning an outfit I could wear them with. Not only do they look good, but the strap means they should be a little bit easier to walk in! Quite often with heels my feet seem to slip out, especially if I'm wearing them with tights, but cute straps and buckles help to solve this problem. So far they feel quite comfortable, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to say the same after a night's worth of dancing!

Yesterday evening I went grocery shopping and bought lots of fresh fruit, including a big punnet of strawberries. I was planning on making a yummy strawberry dessert, but I seem to have eaten half of them already, oops! What's your favourite strawberry recipe, or do you prefer just to eat them fresh on their own?

Gillian x

Hello, world!

Hello everyone, welcome to elevatormusik! I'm Gillian, a 19 year old girl living in Edinburgh, Scotland and currently 2 years into my History degree. This blog is going to be a mish-mash of all the things going on in my life, with posts about fashion, food, makeup, and everything inbetween. As a bit of an introduction, I thought I'd start with an outfit post. It's not quite warm enough here to go for a full-on summer outfit yet, so I've popped on a black puff-sleeve top under my floral sun-dress, both from H&M. The belt is my go-to black belt, from Primark. The pattern doesn't look like much from far away, but up close I love it. I really like the combination of pink and orange. The gladiator sandals are from Primark. I bought them around this time last summer, and considering they only cost about £3 they're still in surprisingly good condition. I saw the same sandals were in store again this year, so I bought myself a gold pair too. The earrings are from River Island. They're gorgeous but so big they don't seem to want to sit properly on my little ears! Hopefully I'll have lots of new posts up over the next couple of weeks so please keep checking back for new things. If anyone would like to exchange links I'd love to, just leave a comment!

Gillian x