As you may have seen me tweet yesterday, my love for fashion designer Mara Hoffman has indeed been renewed! When I found out that she re-launched her website, I thought ‘I live for this stuff’, seeing how people take in the idea of the power of the internet and their individual creativity and come up with, well their online signature, it’s exciting! The New York born designer who studied at Parsons in NYC & Central Saint Martins in London, has created an amazing hub of bright, bold & Caribbean inspired images. The site it filled to the brim with colour & patterns and it has to be one of the best designer sites i’ve seen in a while. So keeping up with the times, you can buy her garments, straight from the site, which include some exclusive styles, that you can only get on Marahoffman.com !

Oh and before I forget, she has a BLOG! I’m talking hardcore inspiration board. I love it! You just have to check it out to understand.. 

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As if you didn’t see a Givenchy Couture post coming up! Once again I can easily say that Riccardo Tisci has delivered a breath-taking collection of couture. It’s got a dark edge to it this season, that i’ve not seen in a while from his couture creations. It’s still fun, it still has the wearable element it always does and it still makes me love Givenchy, namely Tisci, even more.

Click on the image & view full size, because honestly, looking at the detail on the garments might just take your breath away..

Oh and as for the setting, well it’s different, totally juxtaposing & inspired the title of this post!

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It’s no secret, I have joined the gym, namely Gymbox in Covent Garden.
My first session was pretty intense, but it was fun and I feel like I’m being completely drowned in the ‘gym’  atmosphere what with my perfect gear and stuff.
I have to thank my lovely PR friends who look after Nike, Lush, Converse Bags & Filofax for sending me all this great gym stuff that has got me pretty much ready to work out!
These are actually the best items for the gym, so if you’re joining or already go to the gym, perhaps think about updating your look?

Here they are & where you can get them..

Nike Pro Victory Compression Sports Bra
Nike Boyfriend Graphic Tank
Nike Free TR Twist Trainers
Nike Lightweight Socks
Nike Epic Crew Sweatshirt
Nike Legend Tight Fit Trousers
Breath of Fresh Air Toner Water
Lucky Charms Lip-balm from Cyber Candy
Converse League Play Duffel in Canvas Bag
Flexi Cover Filofax 

…and of course Vitamin Water.

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Just a quick one,but I remembered I had some close-up shots from the Aquascutum Spring Summer press day, that I thought were cool. Looking at my pictures you think you’d be able to predict what the colour palette of the entire collection, but surprisingly they had hot magenta’s and neon yellows present, which I thought kept the collection fun, however this side of the collections palette was definitely my favourite.

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A little while ago I was invited down to the Temperley studio to see all the new and cool things that they were up to. Whilst there, I stumbled across the ‘Bridal room’. I say stumble because, it was never my intention to even see the room, talk less about take pictures of what was inside of it.

Cutting this long story short, I spent a good amount of time rifling through heaps of gowns, admiring ridiculously amazing embroidery work & standing in awe as one of the PR girls told me she was getting married soon and Alice (the designer) is letting her wear a couple. Seriously, just wow, right!

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On a nice winters afternoon in December, I headed to Kings Road for a Nice’n easy Foam Party at their new ambassador, Jonathan Long’s salon, Lockonego!

It was a chilled evening of fun – We  learnt exactly how to dye one’s hair with the new colours & formula, which is super simple!
We got talking about people jumping to different hair colours and then Jonny said it’s best to go down just a couple levels, changing your hair colour super drastically can work, but it’s a risk, so be sure it’s something A) You can commit to and B) Your hair can actually handle..

A little bit more about Jonny? Well he’s a pretty funny but talented guy, who looks after the hair of people like Yasmin Le Bon,  Mischa Barton, & girl group, Wonderland as well as having Sienna Miller & Leona Lewis on his list of regulars to his Chelsea based salon.

Well here are the new different shades, they will set you back a mere £6.99, pretty darn affordable, for how good a quality they are..

3 Darkest Brown
10 Extra Light Blonde
9A Light Ash Blonde
4G Dark Golden Brown
4R Dark Auburn
2BB Blue Black

Using the product as I said is super easy, heres how nice’n easy put it

 ..it takes just three light shakes to mix up the colour and there’s no messy drips.  Apply the colour to hair using a simple shampoo-like motion, to get long-lasting hair colour no other leading foam can beat.

So, 2012 is definitely a year for greatness! Is it a year for a new colour?

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I am well aware of the fact that it is mid January and for most of you Christmas is just a distant fond memory, but I thought i’d share with you some pictures from my christmas.

I’ll just leave it at that & let you live vicariously through my pictures & enjoy reminiscing of what your Christmas entailed.. don’t worry, even i’m laughing as I write this..

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Just before christmas I was sent this adorable phone! Everyone knows I have a funny obsession with technology. Throughout my life i’ve had a phone from almost every brand out there, it’s pretty crazy, but fun.
Now most of the time I go for smartphones, for obvious reasons really & i’m a fan of a phone with a HUGE  screen, so you’re probably looking at this Alcatel and thinking, right Abi – where are you going with this?
WELL, spending the past couple of months using it, inspecting basic things like battery life (oh em gee, it latest a week,  A WHOLE WEEK, crazy right?) my HTC dies around 3pm in the afternoon, sad times..
The graphics aren’t bad & the speed is good too! It’s definitely better than I thought it was going to be, which made me quite happy, overall rating? 7/10. Yup, it doesn’t have all these extensive features but it’s a fun little phone. The front doubles as a mirror & then flashes the time! So cool, seriously & yes it looks like a compact, so they currently have a deal.. when you buy the phone you get a free Barry M lip gloss voucher, it’s all so relevant, I love it!

..if you’re feeling like having a fun, girly phone & you don’t really need all the extra features of a smartphone, off to Carphone Warehouse you go & grab yourself  Alcatel OT 810 mobile.

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For me, I was obviously looking for comfortable clothes but I wanted then in essentially ‘cool’ colours, as in muted, not overly bright, but at the same I didn’t want to look washed out and so Nike had crazy amounts of options for gear, which I suppose I wasn’t surprised by, but it was still very cool!

Heres where you can get the useful but pretty gear..

T-shirt

Trousers

Sweatshirt

Training Shoe

Also did you catch Fat Fighters last night? If not, you can always watch it on 4oD, anytime! Now that Gymbox is officially my gym, it’s fun to see it on t.v every Tuesday – yes little stuff like that get’s me!

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Oh and joke of the day..
Girl: Okay this is gonna sound like a silly question, so don’t judge me, but im curious, so..
Gym Reception (guy?: No problem, ask away..
Girl: Cool, so I was wondering, those protein shakes, do they taste at all like chicken?
GRG:  *pause & then laughs* Sure – that’s a good one!
Girl: …

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