Hot-to-Tropical

Something which is so hot right now, is juicy colours and the patterns of this season’s tropical trend. It mixes bold designs (can be anything from floral to fruity), and presents them in a delicious way. Think amazon rainforest in a coral wedge, or a paradise adventure with flowers in your hair and a pineapple cocktail.

This look screams holiday escapism - if we can’t be sunning ourselves in a tropical paradise, then the next best thing is to wear one, right? Right. 

This is a chance to really get involved in lots of seasonal trends, try a midi skirt in vibrant florals, with flower earrings and a zesty top, it’s 1950’s chic meets a watermelon margarita; elegant and tasty. I tried this out with a lovely midi from Mango, paired with a super high blond- wood heel from French Connection and a sheer yellow sleeveless blouse from H&M...tropical wear for a sunny lunch!

If you’re feeling brave you can fully immerse yourself in a matching 2 piece (think Jessie J in the wonderful river island 2 piece), with some equally vibrant accessories, or for a toned down everyday look, you could wear one statement piece and let that do the talking with more simple colours and accessories. Talking of accessories, I stumbled upon a pair of fantastic floral earrings from ASOS, they hang in a hoop and resemble a holiday flower- behind-the-ear look - pop a wave in your hair and you could be in hawaii. Hot.

Hints and Tips - you can also make your nails part of the story with a glam tropics inspired mani. Try zesty colours like orange, lemon or coral or cooler shades of leaf green or ocean blue, or if you really want to pimp them out, use a nail art pen ( I love the ones by model’s own), to draw out a palm tree over a zingy background. It will make you wish you were there!

Love Lauren xx

Useful links to tropical temptation:

River Island Crop Trousers (Jacket Available)

Floral Wedge

Pineapple Sunnies

Pastel Punch

Pastel. Muted is more, washed out doesn’t mean tired and boring, and edgy - hell yes. Think typical pastels; lilac, mint, lemon, baby blue, peachy pink...(you get the idea) and mix this sexy tonal trend with snakeskin, cracked black polish or leather. If Hells’s Angels meets actual angels isn’t quite your thing, don’t panic - nudes and browns are still a super hot way to big up your pastel chic without rolling out the Harley. 

To put the beaut into beautiful, try colour blocking with a pastel palette. I love soft-hued skinny jeans and Topshop have a great selection at the moment. Pop these on with a lemon cami, lilac kitten heels and a mint clutch and you’ll be perfect in pastels. For a more casual look, grab the same jeans and your trusty nude heels and jacket to turn heads without screaming crazy colour.

There was never a love so sweet as that of pastel and lace, big boys from the fashion industry have been rocking this couple in their spring/summer ’12 trends. Check out Louis Vuitton’s dip dye aqua meets lace croquet dress or Dolce and Gabbana’s nearly nude, cheeky floral lace midi bodycon in forget-me-not blue! Think The Little Mermaid meets high fashion...a fairytale for the modern age.

If you want to rock this trend on a smaller scale, think face and body. Nails are the perfect way to accessorize with the best of them, minimal effort required. Pick a pastel nail colour and throw a cracked polish over it for a spicy twist, (I love BarryM Croc Nail effects). If you want to pimp up your makeup - I suggest a bold pastel lip with tanned skin, or lilac eyes with a vampy flick, the options are endless, and ultimately down to what you love. Pastel perfection is in your hands!

Love, 

Lauren xx

Useful Links 

Mint Clutch

Lilac Shoe

Topshop Skinnies

Lemon Cami

Mint Socks

Very Blonde to Dark Blonde

It started as it usually does - I opted to freshen up my naturally dark blonde hair with a couple of highlights for spring. 3 years (and multiple ‘full-heads’) later, I was entirely ash blonde.

If you’re naturally a lighter blonde, or have the time/money to maintain this look, then it can look super-chic, but if like me, you just couldn’t keep up (after a minimum of 2 weeks my roots would rear their ugly head), it can end up looking a bit...cheap.

With really light highlights on darker hair, it isn’t even just the regrowth which can present a problem - the colour itself can turn coppery rather than silvery - a difficult colour to pull off with ANY skin tone. [WARNING- John Frieda Go Blonder spray does work, but the results can turn your hair far more coppery than you’d imagine - my hair dresser thought I was a natural red head from my roots...].

As I like to wear rather a lot of bronzer and tan all year round, to ‘maintain a healthy glow’, I got fed up of this whiteish blonde and decided to tone it down to something more complimentary of my skin tone. I initially opted for low- lights at the salon, and these were great...for about 3/4 weeks max. As with all (even permanent) hair dyes, the colour faded and I was pretty much back to square one. 

With this, I just decided to bite the bullet and home dye my hair. I hadn’t done this in YEARS, and needless to say I was pretty nervous, but comforted that the salon was only a phone-call away, I tried out Clairol nice n’ easy foaming dye, in dark blonde. I honestly couldn’t have expected better results. This product is amazing and does exactly what it claims to do; giving you a really mulit-tonal, warm colour, which easily looks as though it could’ve been achieved professionally. I have never looked back and I highly recommend it, (plus it’s around £7 a box which is a LOT cheaper than visiting the salon every few weeks)!

To freshen up this look, all I would suggest (and will shortly be doing myself), is just to pop to a salon and ask for a few (not even a 1/4 head of) highlights, just of the very front, framing hairs around the face. This will just lift the whole look, becoming summer fresh in an instant - without taking the highlighting too far!

Let me know any of your haircare tips or advice,

Love Lauren xx