Wandering Around The Custard Factory, Birmingham

 

Long time no post!

 

This month has been a very busy month, especially the past two weeks since I moved from home in Sheffield to Birmingham for Uni. As part of my induction week I had to do a group project all about exploring and getting to know Birmingham, and as part of the project our group decided to each take photos of an area of interest in the city and document them on a map. Before moving to Brummie, I had a look online of places to go and The Custard Factory in Digbeth was number one on my list just because it seemed like a really cool, artsy place with vintage shops galore -  somewhere definitely up my street. It did used to be a custard factory and is now home to quirky independent shops, sculptures and amazing street art.

 

Just because I enjoy posting photography related posts, here are a few photos I took whilst having a wander around.

 

Corfu Style Diaries - #4

After a long delay here's my final outfit in the Corfu Style Diaries which I wore on our last night on holiday. It features this gorge bargain jumpsuit from H&M which I managed to pick up in the sale for £7. It's super comfy, flattering and effortless - the perfect holiday piece. Unfortunately, when we were walking back to the apartment I managed to deck it and rip a small hole in it :-( (a few too many cocktails I think haha). To style it I added silver jewellery and a chunky belt to synch it in and add definition to my waist.

Paleokastritsa & Lakones Village

Here are a few photos taken in in and around Paleokastritsa as well as Lakones Village that I thought I would still post about after a long delay (oops).

Anyway hope you enjoy x

 

Corfu Style Diaries - #3

This is definitely one of my favourite outfits I wore because it's a DIY I did before I went on holiday. I made the skirt last year from a tutorial and wanted a matching top to make a co-ord from the material I had leftover. After searching to try and find a tutorial for a boxy crop top I couldn't find one with the kind of shape I wanted, so I adapted a top pattern from a New Look pattern I already had, by cropping it to the waist, adjusting the darts and enlarging the sleeves so they were looser fitting. I'm really happy with how it came out and how it looks with the skirt - I'm definitely going to makes lots more of this style of top in different prints and decorative touches, it feels so satisfying wearing something that you've made yourself!

Corfu Style Diaries - #2

So here's the second instalment in my style diaries, which is almost head to toe Primark. I absolutely love this monochrome printed top, and I'm so glad I managed to find it, I definitely think it's either hit or miss in Primark, or my local one anyway. The maxi skirt is an old purchase from a few years ago, I found it in the back of my wardrobe and had only worn it a couple of times, but I thought I'd go really well with the top so I decided to take it - not going to lie it made me feel a bit sassy swishing around in it haha. The skirt has some shorts attached (just to let you know I'm not actually showing off my underwear ;-)).

To tie the look together I added turquoise accents in my jewellery and wore a pop of pink lipstick to add a bit of colour.

Monastery in Paleokastritsa

I think the monastery in Paleokastritsa was one of my favourite places that we visited because it was just soooo pretty. After we'd been on a submarine trip in the morning we decided to head up the hill to the monastery which everyone had told us was a must see, and it was definitely a treck in the heat, but worth it for the views on the way up. Me, my mum and Katie were given handmade skirts and shawls to cover up as a mark of respect, which I think is my best OOTD to date on this blog ;-).

Everything was so picturesque, hence why I took a LOT of photos - and then it got even better when we kept spotting more and more little cats (me, my mum and sister are a bit obsessed), so many so it seemed like this gorgeous, tropical shrine for lil felines. Inside the monastery it was really beautiful and ornate, and the atmosphere was very serene.

  

Corfu Style Diaries - #1

Here's the first outfit in my Corfu style diaries, and it's quite a simple, laidback look. I'm currently obsessed with this necklace combo from H&M, my Topshop cat eye sunnies and these gorge truffle collection sandals - these were my go to accessories and shoes of choice throughout my holiday. Cat eye sunnies are super flattering on a range of face shapes and luckily these suited mine (I always struggle to find ones that do), they also make any outfit look chic. I also mostly chose these sandals to wear in the evening because they're really comfy, add a bit of height and go with a multitude of summer outfits.
This outfit also features my patchy burnt legs, which I stupidly burnt on the first day.. and the apartment owner's cat who we called Lola, she was so cute.

Exploring Corfu Town

It's a grey, miserable day in Sheffield and I'm currently dealing with post holiday blues after just coming back from two weeks in beautiful Corfu. We stayed in Paleokastritsa (which has about five different spellings but I'm just going to stick with this one), and we took a trip into Corfu Town on the third day of our stay.

Corfu has a lot of history for a small island, with the town split into Old Corfu Town and New Corfu Town, each with their own fortress. Stalls and dinky little restaurants are in every nook and cranny, and Greek shopkeepers and waiters are everywhere you turn trying to entice you in, even making you a 'family' member - according to one restaurant owner my mum was his 'beautiful daught(er)' and me and my sister were his granddaught.

Here are a few photos I took around the town, it was extremely hot, nearing 40 degrees so after walking around we went into St Michaels & St George's Palace mainly because it was nice and cool but it also turned out to be quite interesting as there were a lot of pretty Asian art/artifacts. I always love learning about different cultures and the pieces that were on show at the palace would have been perfect research for the oriental themed shirt project I did in college, ah well!

Anyway hope you enjoy :-)

My Current Skincare - For Sensitive/Dehydrated/Eczema Prone Skin

So I haven't really posted for a long, long time (apart from college related posts) and to ease myself back into it I thought I'd dabble a bit into skincare and write about my current favourite products.

For the past two years my skin has been all over the place and a major knock to my confidence. Up until my last year of school my skin was very clear and I only had a bit of dryness on my face, although I'd suffered with eczema on my hands since primary school. Stress and changes in weather seem to make my eczema flare up and my face to become extremely dry and flaky between my eyebrows, on my cheeks, on one side of my face and even my eyelids and it's only recently that I feel I finally have control over my skin with the products I'm using. I'll admit I've never been very good at drinking enough water, the one factor which aids for better skin, however even drinking more didn't seem to make a difference, and other moisturises for 'dry/sensitive' skin have never been hydrating or gentle enough for my extremely awkward skin.

After becoming frustrated at having to apply multiple layers of cheaper brands of moisturiser (Simple, Nivea, Garnier) just so that my skin actually felt moisturised, I spent ages reading reviews for La Roche Posay, Vichy and Avéne products on the Boots website. I decided to try Avéne Skin Recovery Cream for hypersensitive and irritable skin and got the thermal water spray for free on offer at Boots. So far I've really been enjoying using it and I feel like it's made a massive difference to my skin. In the morning I'll wipe my face with a cotton pad soaked in water, gently pat dry, spray my damp skin with the thermal water, wait for that to soak in, and then apply the cream to lock in as much moisture as possible.

The spray is really cooling and has really helped to calm down any redness in my skin, and the cream has pretty much eliminated any dry patches I had while leaving my skin feeling plump and well moisturised. The cream is £16.50 (Boots) so more than I'd have usually spent on a moisturiser, but it's well worth the money because it does exactly what it says on the bottle, and the thermal water spray (usually £10) came free with it so a win win :-).

The consistency of the cream is quite thick, and has no scent whatsoever as you would expect. 



To remove my makeup I use Garnier Micellar Cleansing water which I've been using for over a year. It removes makeup really quickly, adds hydration, and is great for sensitive skin because it doesn't irritate or leave the skin feeling tight afterwards. For my night time routine, I use this, followed by the Avene thermal spray and cream.

Aveeno is a really great brand for eczema prone skin. For years I used E45 recommended by my doctor, and although it may work perfectly fine for some people, it left my hands red, greasy and raw looking. Aveeno hand cream is non greasy, absorbs quickly, lasts through hand washing, and above all it really moisturises my skin and has helped to improve the appearance of my hands. The daily moisturising lotion is also great to use if you suffer eczema/dry skin on your body.

So there are my current skincare favourites. I really hope this is helpful for anyone who has a similar skin type and has been struggling to find products that work because I know for one how much dry/sensitive/eczema prone skin sucks!

Thanks for reading!

Em x



Sketchbook and Illustrations (more photos to be added soon)

Here are photos of my sketchbook and illustration boards.

For my illustrations I developed my own style from Deanna Kennedy’s quick, sketchy, black and white corpse like figures. I really liked how her signature style was to draw the hair messy and flowing, the face with one eye completely white and full pouty lips, creating an eery and dishevelled feel but still glamourous illustrations which would compliment my designs perfectly. To develop her style into my own I sketched a couple of illustrations in my sketchbook which had long straggly eyelashes, white eyes, and indications of colour on the skin and lips, finishing them off with fineliner. I decided to add a hint of skin colour to add a bit of life into the corpse like illustration and again to symbolise growth and decay.  For my boards I used a variety of media including watercolour paint, watercolour pencils, acrylic paint and fineliner. After completing my first board using a lot of white acrylic paint on the brush to a 3D wadded effect on the skirt on one of the designs I decided that I would incorporate white paint in all of the designs to add further depth/ detail.

Photoshoot of Final Garment

Here are the photos I took of my lovely pal Eleanor in my final garment around Kelham Island in Sheffield. To go with my theme of growth and decay I wanted to find derelict buildings to use as a background but any that we found just weren't accessible so instead whilst wandering around we found a wall with archways and river behind which worked really well.

For hair we went for a slicked back style, and after a failed attempt at 'glossy eye makeup' we resorted to smoky metallic eyes and a dark red lip.

 

I'm really happy with how the photoshoot turned out and I really enjoyed taking the photos - as part of this project I also produced a lookbook which will be included in the next post.

And Finally here are just a few photos in the studio of my garment on a mannequin.

 



 Em x