Shoe thursday – Anthropologie boots

Much as I love the autumnal weather – I resist summer and its insistence on making people take off their clothes – I am at a quite serious disadvantage against it this year because I have brutally culled my wardrobe after moving house and going unemployed. I literally have not one pair of boots to protect my dainty feet from the rain and snow.

Oh look, lots of lovely boots I could buy from Anthropologie, which is finally opening on Regent Street on October 23rd.

If this was a magazine I would breathlessly say “the only hard part is deciding which pair to get – or maybe I’ll just get them all!!!” In reality the hard part is getting enough money together for a singular pair of boots. I am leaning towards the first pair as they look super-cosy and I think they look cool. I’d really like a sturdy pair of heeled boots to add a tiny bit of glamour to the sphere I become in cold weather due to many layers of duffle.

S

Make-Up Monday: Hit or Hype?

I have recently tried two products that I couldn’t resist. I tend to only use products that have been recommended to me as cosmetics are such an expensive luxury that I always feel nervous to part with my precious pennies without that security. I can report that neither products disappointed on this occasion so my pennies were well spent.

First Hit – Urban Decay Primer Potion

Urban Decays Primer Potion describes itself as: ‘The genie in this bottle fulfils three wishes: eyeshadow that lasts, more vibrant color, and absolutely NO creasing’. It honestly sounds too good to be true.

I am blown away by this primer; my eyeshadow was applied at 7:30am and still looked perfect at 9pm that very same evening. And at £11 it did not feel like an outrageous spend.

I am a big fan of eyeshadow and feel that more women should wear it, so with this little gem keeping it in place, there is now no room for excuses.

Second Hit – Cargo Lash Activator

My second new potential fad product is a mascara by Cargo called the Lash Activator.

The product describes itself as: ‘a nourishing boost for your lashes, proven to visibly increase the appearance of natural lash length and fullness, while promoting lash vitality and reducing lash loss’.

I think the name needs some work because it sounds like something from a dodgy American movie. Despite this, I’ve been using it every day for a fortnight and I really have noticed a difference in the fullness and condition of my lashes. This is a little more expensive at £19 but you can buy it from Boots, and they provide free store collection so you don’t have to pay delivery charges.

No Hit

There have been occasions when I have not been so lucky. My worst purchase was Laura Mercier’s Mineral Finishing Powder which the consultant failed to tell me should only be used with their Mineral Primer and Powder. It was the biggest waste of £30.

Are there any products you have tried, that you have either loved or just found to be a big fat disappointment?

V

Thighs

Further to the thigh-high boots debate going on, I am now wondering if we’re having an issue with semantics. When I say thigh-high, I mean all the way up to the thigh, but we could also be talking about over-the-knee boots. Either way, the way to wear them has been solved for me by Isabel Marant. I want everything she makes as fast as she can make it.

S

Thigh-high boots

They’ve been around for a couple of seasons and although I’ve always liked the look of them on others, they still had too much sex industry baggage for me to really get into them. Plus, literally no one seems to have bought any. The continuing devotion of Queen Michelle has given me a little pause for thought. I think a large part of why they would work on her is to do with how slim she is and how un-pretty-pretty her style is a lot of the time. Unlike how they are styled on Rachel Weisz in her Harper’s Bazaar shoot, it would be imperative to remove as much sex or allure as possible from the rest of one’s apperance. I’m not dissing sex workers but I don’t want to take this look too literally.

I probably worry about this too much, but I definitely try to steer clear of anything too form-fitting or low-cut on my top half because of all the attention it immediately attracts. I’m never looking for male attention. So perhaps the best way to wear thigh-high boots would be just to emulate the classic skinny jeans/volume top silhouette we all know and love so well (I am incredibly dedicated to this personally). Will jeans go under these boots? I can’t wait to see Michelle’s take on them because the concept does rather intrigue me.  I just don’t think that Rachel Weisz, or anyone, could walk down the street wearing them this way.

On a side note, Rachel Weisz takes an incredible photograph.

S

Snow in LondonTown

It snowed today – this may be commonplace for some of our readers from other nations, but London completely shuts down when it snows. And even more shockingly, when it snows and snows and sticks around for more a couple of hours. This is the first time it has happened in living memory, for me at least, and it was beautiful but being snowed in can be less fun than I had imagined.

Any attempt at stylish dressing had to come second to a number of weather relevant demands, namely:

1. Footwear that will keep you dry AND have grip. My brown heeled brogues were not an option.

2. Warmth but, crucially, not too many clothes otherwise your coat might not fit over the top. This is where layering (and Uniqlo Heat Tech Ts) really comes into its own.

3. Accessories – almost the only way to maintain a sense of individuality when dressed like a lump. Warming accessories are even better especially hats.

Arnold Double Cuff Boots, Topshop - £75

4. Resist the urge to wear whatever because at some point, you will have to take off your coat. And then you will be sad about wearing that T-shirt with the stain on it.

5. Shoes that do not leak. This is a repeat on Number 1 but is so important that it is worth repeating. I want these cosy Topshop boots.

A

Kurt Geiger strappy boots

There’s a very impressive sale on at Kurt Geiger at the moment and as my contribution to Shoe Day I am going to be realistic for a moment and look at these very wearable, practical and now affordable boots that would keep my feet dry and allow me to wear something other than muddy Converse out and about every day. I don’t think I ever thought I would want to wear this sort of “just going to muck out the steers” boots but I suppose none of us are immune to the influence of La Moss.

Sadly, these are sold out in my size, but if you are a European 36 or 40, you should nab them in black or brown. At least now I know what sort of boots I really want.

S

Boots, Kurt Geiger, £59

Kit Kat colours

Blogger FashionAmbition got to go to the Rupert Sanderson press day and witnesses (and photographed) the Kit Kat boots I love in new amazing incarnations such as brights and transparent plastic. Something about these boots really grabs me and I am impressed FashionAmbition got to go and root around among all the new shiny versions of it. Massive Wrong as it is, I have a long-standing love of transparent plastic shoes – the first pair I ever bought with my own money were hot pink mules with a see-through strap and aqua blue bow. They cut my feet to bits but I loved them and even loved exchanging them for a new pair when they stretched. It was all so new! These boots bring back some of that joy while actually being beautiful and having little in common with what a streetwalker might wear. See FashionAmbition for full-size pictures.

S

Shoe Thursday – Rupert Sanderson

I was saving a rhapsodic post about these Rupert Sanderson shoe-boots and their lovely scuptural quality for Shoe Thursday, and then Gwyneth Paltrow popped up in the very same at a premiere for her film Two Lovers (Gwyn will always have a place in my heart for The Royal Tenenbaums). There is little to add except to draw attention to the little jutting scoop of boot that somehow reminds me of the frilled Prada “flower” shoes that were supposed to be the It Shoe of the season, back when people thought that the It Shoe was going to happen.

Gwyneth in her lovely £600 Rupert Sanderson Kit Kat boots

I’m also quite keen on Gwyneth’s Antonio Berardi dress. I think nude and slightly unsexy underwear under a dress this transparent offsets the boudoir-ness and adds a sort of functional, unlikely edge that I enjoy. It is unclear how Senor Berardi expected anyone to wear this dress without some extra effort with the underpinnings, especially on the top half – and I can’t quite imagine Gwyneth going knickerless. So perspective-warping white briefs it was.

S