January is Bright

 & WowOnWednesday

Dear friends. January started off bright with a blue sky but has now reverted to grey with rain, so I'm determined to add some colour.

Jodie over at JTouchofStyle is hosting a challenge on her blog and IG, #BrightColorJanuary. Well, you know I like a few bright colours!

I've developed a bit of a passion for yellow. I never thought it suited me, but then I discovered Kettlewell's acid yellow, for those seasonally analysed as winter or spring, and more recently, the warmer spring yellows such as lemonade, canary and light yellow.

I love these sunny yellows with red. It's a bit in your face. but bright colours are mood pleasers.  Here I'm wearing the supersoft jacket in canary yellow and cream/sunshine yellow stripy pima tee, both from Kettlewell.  Draped over the bag is an infinity scarf in mimosa. The red trousers are from Robell, and the red boots, from Lotus, are old. Necklace, old, from Eternal Collection.

In the top pic, and below, I'm wearing a Kettlewell ponte skirt in true red, which I bought pre-loved;  their short tie wrap in scarlet, sleeveless V neck in buttermilk and a supersoft scarf in apple blossom from Colour Me Beautiful.  This outfit, although featuring quite a lot of red, is dialled down by the neutral top and the light green. There's no need to be scared of wearing bright red over 50.  The secret is finding the right red for your skin tone. 

Like a lot of you, I suspect, I'm trying not to buy any new or pre-loved clothes in January.  I really don't need anything new, there are too many things I hardly ever wear. So I'll be shopping my wardrobe and finding new colour combinations. I'll probably continue into February but it depends when the Kettlewell spring range is launched.  I've learnt from experience that a lot of the colours for those coded spring sell out very fast, and I'll be looking for a couple of pieces.

Make-up details: lipstick Strawberry Shock by Lisa Eldridge with MAC Lip Glass, clear;  foundation Clarins Everlasting Youth Fluid in Honey; blusher Papa Don't Peach by Too Faced, eye shadow in Naked Lunch by MAC;  Legit Lashes mascara by Huda Beauty. 

Find out more about my plans for 2023, including fitness and travel. 

Sharing this post with: On Mondays We Link Up at Glass of Glam, Weekday Wear at Away from the Blue, #AnythingGoes at My Random Musings, Rena at Fine Whatever, Turning Heads Tuesday at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish,  Style with a Smile at Stylesplash, Talent Sharing Tuesdays at Scribbling Boomer, Confident Twosday at IDoDeclaire, Chic & Stylish at Mummabstylish, #SpreadTheKindness  and #Linkup on the Edge at Shelbee on the Edge,  TFF at Doused in Pink,, #Neverendingstyle at The Grey Brunette, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style,  Traffic Jam Weekend at Marsha in the Middle,  Fabulous Fridays at Lucy Bertoldi

Now it's time for the #WowOnWednesday link-up.  Bloggers, Instagrammers and YouTubers are invited to share new and evergreen content. 

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The Best Beauty Products on Holiday

 & #WowOnWednesday

Dear friends. I'm back from a wonderful 10 night stay in Skiathos, Greek Islands.  We've been there several times and I've already re-booked for next year. No wonder they call it the boomerang island. 

It's very hard to beat in terms of a perfect location, beautiful scenery and good food. Above, in a new-to-us restaurant in Skiathos Town, called Paraxenos. It was a great discovery.

Today's post will focus on the capsule wardrobe I took - pros and cons - and a few standout beauty products. 

A Colorful Phenomenon - and Link-Up

Dear friends.  I wrote a few months ago about the challenges of meeting new friends in midlife, particularly when you've lived in many places and your friends live a long way away. Well, since then I have become immersed in a wonderful organic initiative, built around colour, that has introduced me to many wonderful women. 

Spring Buys - and Link-Up

 

Dear friends. How do you approach the change of seasons, clothes-wise? Like a lot of you, I pack away my winter clothes - and started doing it at the weekend, with my less popular stuff --- and I make a list of what I need.

Hill Walking in a Heatwave - and Link Up

 

It was blazingly hot last week in the UK - and there was Mr Mutton and me, hill climbing in the Lake District, in the north of England. 

On the first day we foolishly tackled a very strenuous route with a lot of ascent, and boy was it tough. Even Mr Mutton, who is as fit as a flea, had aching muscles the next day.  After that, we chose routes that were more gentle. One of the best ones started in the Whinlatter Forest, where the trees gave us some cool shade. I loved the different shades of heather. 

Polka Dot Skirt 2 Ways - and Link-Up

 

Polka dots never go out of fashion. I've always bought my polka dots in black and white - see an example here - but this fun skirt from Kettlewell Colours caught my eye and I've styled it two different ways.

Rediscovering My Fashion Sense in Shades of Purple

I lost my fashion mojo for a few weeks.  After seeing the UK government's roadmap for getting us slowly out of lockdown, I felt there was no reason to keep on dressing up for life at home, so I reverted to jeans or leggings with hoodies.

Purple and Pink - and Link Up

Regular readers will know that I like pink, particularly in the bright fuchsia shade which suits my cool / clear colouring. I also like purple and lilac, which look great with pink. Certainly in this combination none of us will be invisible.

The velvet midi skirt from Kettlewell has a lovely sheen and I added a bit of extra sparkle with metallic tights.  I've been finding so far this year that dark opaque tights aren't doing it for me. They suddenly look too solid, and dated with midi skirts. So I'm preferring thinner denier tights like these and the embellished brocade tights worn here.

The purple is echoed again in the infinity scarf, described as "pansy" by Kettlewell and a shade that is said to suit everyone. I don't really wear scarves except the Rew type shown here, which has a button fastening, but this scarf is good because it doesn't need tying.

Silver ankle boots and a cute micro bag provide finishing touches.  As an aside, I'm standing in front of one of our stained glass windows. The house dates from the 1920s and in the area where we live it was a big feature to have particular designs of stained glass in certain streets. A few years ago we replaced the windows. I managed to find a vendor who was able to take the precious original stained glass and encase it into the new frames. I'm passionate about retaining original features in houses, so this made me very happy.

I had to do this shoot in a big rush, after work, before it got dark as I didn't have time at the weekend. But phew, I got there.

Disclosure: no items were gifted for this post.

Sharing this post with: #iwillwearwhatiwant at Not Dressed as Lamb, #VisibleMonday at Not Dead Yet Style, Weekly Blog Hop at Claire Justine,  Emma at StyleSplash, Chic & Stylish at Mummabstylish,  TurningHeadsTuesday at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, Weekend Wear Link Up at Mom with Style, Top of the World Style at High Latitude Style, Muttonstyle, AnythingGoes or BloggerClubUK at My Random Musings,  Share the Kindness or Linkup on the Edge at Shelbee on the Edge, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style, Red Carpet Linkup at The Glam Adventure 

Now it's time for #WowOnWednesday.

Last week's most clicked post was by Emma from Style Splash, "Rust Checked Wrap Skirt and Navy Sweater." Emma is very skilled at colour mixing and always has quirky, fun accessories.

My favourite was Darlene from Aquamarina Style and her post How to Style a Faux Leather Skirt for Fall.  I often look at the racks of coated, faux and leather skirts and trousers and then move on, thinking it's not for me. I've only ever had one faux leather skirt which was silver and hardly ever worn because it was always too big. So Darlene has given me a welcome push to think about adding a faux or leather item to my wardrobe. I think I will need to try on several to find the right fit so this will make a whole post on its own!

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