Fin and I recently watched House of Cards in an attempt to fill the West-Wing-shaped void in our lives. I spent a great deal of time admiring Claire Underwood's hair.

We also recently watched The Queen: A Passion for Horses. I don't know why, I don't even like horses, but we'd finished House of Cards and there was nothing else on. I spent a great deal of time admiring Clare Balding's professionalism, warmth and ability to make even the dullest subject seem fascinating (an HOUR-LONG documentary about the special royal-equine bond? Really, BBC?). I spent precisely no time admiring Clare's hair. Sorry, Clare.

What nobody warns you about pixie crops is that you can leave your house thinking you're at the Underwood end of the Claire Hair Spectrum, but one brisk walk to work later and you find yourself dangerously close to Balding territory. It's a fine, fine line my friends.

And that is the last time I will fret about my hair.

This month, anyway.


Images: Underwood / Balding

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Tomorrow I embark on an aggressive programme of relaxation and beautification the likes of which the world has never known. From massages to manicures, facials to fake tans, even a brief but thrilling foray into acupuncture: my spa attendance in the next three weeks will represent a 10,000% increase on the whole of the previous three years. It's going to be... intense.

Stylist magazine (Emerald Street's big sister) is compiling a list of the top beauty treatments in the UK and I selflessly volunteered to help with the reviews. Hey, what's a fledgeling freelance career for if you can't indulge in a few perks now and then? It's free, I'm Scottish, this was always going to happen.

Between now and the beginning of June, I'll be leaving no hot stone unturned in the name of journalistic research. Sunshine will burst from my every pore. Soothed muscles will cover my bones like jelly over ice cream. My skin will be so radiant, people will have to wear sunglasses just to look at me.


How lovely, you might think. What could be more relaxing? I'll tell you what could be more relaxing. Not trying to cram seventeen spa therapies into a full-time working week could be more relaxing. Not having to drive to Perthshire and back the day after a hen do could be more relaxing. Not building a spreadsheet of opening hours versus length of treatment versus distance from office versus fickle salon owners' availability could be more relaxing.

What's that noise? Is it the sound of the world's tiniest violin? I know, I know, I shouldn't complain. In truth I can't wait, fickle salon owners aside. The first time I ever had a massage I felt like I was walking on air; every massage since has been an attempt to recapture that euphoric high. So far, as is often the case with these things, it's never been as good as the first time, but maybe my forthcoming massage marathon will be the answer. Or maybe it will release a noxious cloud of toxins into my body and make me horribly ill. I guess we'll find out.

Are any of you lot closet beauty addicts? I have to say, you don't seem the type (said with love, since I myself haven't darkened a beautician's door for months and I like to think I'm not a hairy troll). How about acupuncture? I generally prefer to put my faith in modern medicine, but acupuncture intrigues me. There must be a reason it's survived so long. Plus, porcupine chic is so in right now, darling.


Images by Nirrimi Firebrace

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I don't recall pain, or joy, only the blue dress
I wore, and the door open to the sea,
and the liquid sun across the floor beside the bed.

Excerpt from The Blue Dress, by Freya Manfred

No reason. I just liked it.

Wishing you a lovely weekend, filled with liquid sun.


Bambi Northwood-Blyth by Tim Barber for Muse Summer 2011, via Fashion Gone Rogue

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It would be a jaunty mixture of practical and ridiculous.

Sounds about right.

NEW GAME. If you (or your blog) were an outfit, what would it be? Bonus points if you make a moodboard (I recommend Polyvore for the Photoshop-impaired).

Necklace: Amanda Deer | Dress: Joy | Shoes: Zara | Bag: Cambridge Satchel Company

PEOPLE PLAYED ALONG!

↣ Lisa of This Girl Is is clearly a total badass.
↣ Cutest outfit ever (and not a red boot in sight) from Wendy of Red Boots.
↣ Screw my blog outfit, I want this one instead. Annie of Beard Today Gone Tomorrow has excellent taste.
↣ I also want this t-shirt, thanks to Michelle of My Creative.
↣ Trust Moz to take this game to the next (awesome) level, considering every detail from nail varnish to sunglasses.
↣ Better late than never, Kate! Cutest apron ever?
↣ The lovely Siobhan of Siobhan Claude Van Damme included a BOOK in hers. A book!

In my first year of blogging, I wrote 200 posts. It's taken me over 15 months to churn out another hundred, but here we are: 300 posts and still going. Not going strong, exactly, but definitely going. Hooray.

And what better way to celebrate than to share the love? I've given my Blogs I Love page a spring clean and added some new favourites. There are many smart and hilarious women on there, generously chronicling their lives, and a few stubborn wedding sites that I just can't quit. Plus ça change. What's noteworthy is the recent emergence of a style and design category, something that was barely on my blog radar 100 posts ago. Over time, my own blog has gradually become less about pondering and fretting and more about getting off my arse and doing things, so I've been increasingly drawn to blogs with a visual, creative emphasis.

It's a difficult genre to get right, though. I have a not-so-secret love of admiring beautiful things, but I've also come to realise that empty beauty doesn't hold my attention for long. If I just want to look at mindless images of nice stuff, I can go on a Pinterest binge; the content's better and I don't have to put up with the badly-written copy that seems to be the trademark of the amateur style blog.

If a style, design or fashion site is going to hold my attention, it needs to offer something more. It needs to be funny, or clever, or just plain well-written. In my experience, blogs like that are surprisingly hard to find, so I thought I'd share a few that have captured my interest lately.

Style by Emily Henderson

Emily Henderson won a TV interior design contest in the US, but that's not why I find her blog so compelling. Emily is a stylist. Her job seems to involve making over expensive homes in tasteful ways for wealthy clients and arranging expensive things in tasteful ways for glossy photoshoots. Doesn't sound like the most thrilling premise for a blog, but there's something in the way she writes about it that draws me in. Despite her success, she writes in a refreshingly natural voice that is funny, engaging and a little bit awkward. If you know anything about me at all, you'll know that being funny, engaging and a little bit awkward is pretty much the key to my heart.

Of course, she has impeccable taste as well. Her styling work is gorgeous, full of bright colours and quirky things, and she's generous with her advice. If you have even a remote interest in making your environment more attractive and pleasant to live in, I'd highly recommend perusing her blog. Plus did I mention she's funny and engaging? And awkward? Go, read.

THE BRICK HOUSE

Empty Emptor

And lastly, something completely different. Empty Emptor is described by its creator, Jess, as "a whole lot of over-thinking and navel-gazing," and it is, but in a good way. Jess explores issues of consumer behaviour, wardrobe politics and the ethics of style. She makes exceptionally good points. And she's funny. And she's a NEUROSCIENTIST. How many blogs do you read that are written by neuroscientists? Exactly.

Empty Emptor makes you feel cleverer just by reading it. It also makes you examine your motivations before splashing cash on disposable fashion. Her series on the classics  (1, 2, 3) should be required reading for anyone with an interest in building a longlasting wardrobe, and is especially relevant given my ongoing search for a classic of my own (thanks for your suggestions, by the way).


So, there you have it. Enjoy. And here's to my next 100 posts. If my current pace is anything to go by, expect them to be finished some time in 2017.



Images: 1. If you think I'm going to credit 100 posts, you are very wrong, my friend. You'll just have to read each individual post for the deets. 2. Laure Joliet and 3. Monica Wang both via Style by Emily Henderson 4&5. Morgan Satterfield 6. A Little Bird Told Me 7. Andrew Biraj via Time via Empty Emptor 

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Okay, maybe they're not exactly the same. I should probably stop with the inappropriate comparison. But before I do, let me just remind you that trench coats were invented during World War I, so all I'm saying is that maybe it wasn't a complete waste of time.

FINE I'M STOPPING NOW.

Back to my quest for a new coat.


Ever since I bought my beloved navy duffel coat, I've had a hankering for more timeless pieces. When it comes to outerwear, which in my book should always last through several seasons, the classics have more enduring appeal to me. So far, I've managed to acquire a classic Western denim jacket and a vegan aviator. ("Vegan" is just a pretentious codename for "pleather," but vegan sounds classier so I'm going with it. After all, I'm practically a vegan myself. Ahem.)

Now that spring is finally rolling into town, I'm itching to begin my annual search for a trench coat to complete the collection. The trench coat, like most "classic" items, is tricky to get right, which explains why the search has become something of a traditional spring pastime for me. Every year I look, and every year I fail to find anything that fits the bill.

I actually own a sort-of-trench-coat, as seen in this post in which I attempt (very, very badly) to impersonate Blair of Atlantic Pacific. But it's really more of a jacket than a coat - it withers at the merest mention of rain and it has all sorts of trendy, "twist-on-a-classic" details. I don't want a twist on a classic. I want a classic classic. No weird zips, no funny pleats, no zany colours. Just a pale beige, showerproof, double-breasted, just-above-the-knee, belted, long-sleeved trench coat. Why is that so hard to find?

I was ready to resign myself to the fact that the perfect trench coat simply doesn't exist. Or, rather, that it only exists if you're prepared to drop a grand on it which, clearly, I am not. But then I saw this:


And THEN, I saw THIS:


I'm damned if I'm going to be out-styled by a child - even if it is Emmanuelle Alt's child - and a DOG.

This is where you come in. It's been a while since we've had a shopping challenge on ye olde blog. Who has some time to kill and wants to help me track down the perfect trench coat for under £100? You do? Excellent! And, GO.


P.S. A reminder that you can create fancy clickable links in the comments box by copying and pasting this easy snippet of code:
<a href="PASTE THE LINK HERE">WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CALL THE LINK?</a>
For example:
<a href="http://asafemooring.blogspot.com/">A Safe Mooring</a> = A Safe Mooring
Ta-da! You are an HTML ninja.


Images: 1. Vanessa Jackman 2. From Parisian Chic by Ines de la Fressange via Vogue 3. The Sartorialist 4. Atlantic Pacific 5. Stockholm Street Style 6. The Westerley Trench from Uncovet

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