My Style (and Travel) Diary - Breakfast at The Hardware Societe

Hello!

Tom and I have been back in Perth for over a week now and I've finally found a little time to have a look through the many photos of what turned out to be a seriously awesome trip to Melbourne and Tasmania. 

These photos were taken on our second day in Melbourne, in the short time we had before jetting off to Hobart.

Of course we had to have breakfast (it's our

thing)

and The Hardware Societe was top of my list of places to try out.

We weren't disappointed! It was a cute little place with butterflies on the walls and lovely pendant lights, and our seat at the bar area gave us the perfect view of all the yummy food being prepared. 

 I chose the Brioche French Toast while Tom went for a more savoury option with the Croque Madame. Both were delicious! (Although we probably ate a little too much and were both feeling uncomfortably full by the end... I guess that's a sign we enjoyed the food though!)

It was a little chilly in Melbourne, so it was a jeans and t-shirt outfit for the day, with my lightweight navy trench coat over the top. Simple and comfy, but classic - and dressed up tad with a slick of red lipstick (I've been loving red lipstick lately).

Hope you're having a great night!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Top - Roxy

Jeans - Seven for All Mankind

Coat - United Colors of Benetton

Shoes - Roxy

Bag - Jigsaw

My Style Diary - Pink is My Happy Colour

Hello Hello :)

So right now as I'm writing this post, Tom and I are on holiday! Yay!

 We just arrived here in Hobart this evening, after having an awesome time in Melbourne where we went to see the Taylor Swift concert! (More on that later - it was

amazing!!

)

Today though,  I have some very colourful photos to share from our first day in Melbourne.

After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we went for a wander and eventually made our way over to Hosier Lane to check out the new street art (it's all completely changed since we were there in May). The colourful murals proved to be the perfect backdrop for a few outfit photos, seeing as I was wearing a very bright pink top!

This was my plane outfit - very simple and comfy, but spiced up a little with a long necklace.

I don't think I've shown this top in many of my blog photos, but I wear it all the time to work. It's such a "feel-good" top and one that I also tend to throw on when I'm feeling a bit "blah", because you just can't be sad or grumpy when you're wearing such a bright, happy colour!

There were a lot of people taking photos of the street art yesterday - even a couple having their wedding photos taken there - so there was a really fun vibe about the place.

Anyway, I'm kind of falling asleep right now,  so I better leave it at that, but there will hopefully be lots more posts coming, so talk to you soon!

In the meantime - let me know if you've ever been to Tassie and if you have any suggestions of things to do or see!

Also... What's your "happy colour?" :)

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Top - Trenery

Jeans - 7 For All Mankind

Shoes - Converse

Bag - Jigsaw

Watch - Calvin Klein

Necklace - Mimco

My Style Diary - Gingham and White Lace

Hello :)

I was having a quick look back at a few of my recent outfit posts and I've just realised there seems to be a definite blue and white theme going on! In my last post I was talking about my spring capsule wardrobe, which is made up of quite a few brightly coloured pieces, but you wouldn't know it going by my outfit posts! 

Although it may not look like it, I have actually been getting a lot of wear out of the colourful pieces in my capsule wardrobe. Clearly I just haven't been taking the time to photograph those outfits! I'll have to make more of an effort from now on though, because I do really want to show that a colourful capsule wardrobe is definitely possible. It doesn't have to be all about the neutrals!

Anyway... onto the outfit... 

I've been loving wearing my gingham shorts, and was surprised to find that this white lace top (one of my all time favourites) actually pairs really nicely with them. I didn't expect it at first, as the top is a little bit boxy, but when tucked into the shorts I think it is actually a really cute look. That's the beauty of a capsule wardrobe - it let's you experiment and come up with combinations you probably wouldn't have tried if you were working with a larger number of items.

That's it for today! 

Hope you've had a fab weekend :)

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Top - Topshop

Shorts - Gingham

Watch - Calvin Klein

Sandals - Windsor Smith

...and I just had to include this photo of Tom... because he's such a cutie :)

My Colourful Spring Capsule Wardrobe

Hello Hello :)

The past few months I've been mentioning here and there about how I've been experimenting with a capsule wardrobe, and promising a  more detailed post on the topic.  There are so many awesome blogs and videos that all praise the numerous benefits that having a more minimal and well edited wardrobe brings, and I've well and truly fallen in love with the concept.

Dressing with fewer items over the last couple of months has not only helped me to declutter and simplify, it's also made me be a little more creative with my outfit choices and I've really enjoyed playing around with my style to find what really works for me. It's so easy getting dressed when your wardrobe is full of pieces you love and I'll definitely be continuing this way - I'm hooked!

I thought I'd share a video showing the pieces I've included in my Spring Capsule. You'll notice it's full of bright colours and patterns, but also incorporates more neutral pieces that help to tie everything together. It's been working great for me so far!

These are generally the clothes I wear on the weekend - as you can see, the pieces are all pretty casual - because when it comes to work I generally just stick to my standard "uniform" of black pants and a simple top. Actually, now that I think about it - I've been dressing with a "Work Capsule Wardrobe" for the past few years without even realising it!

It's really not about the numbers, but just to give you a guideline in case you're interested in giving it a go yourself, I broke it down like this:

3 dresses

1 Playsuit

1 pair of overalls

14 Tops

6 Bottoms (4 pairs of jeans and 2 pairs of shorts)

8 Outerwear Pieces (Cardigans/jackets)

This adds up to 33 items. I obviously haven't included shoes/accessories/jewellery and have also been pretty lenient with myself, in that if I wanted to wear something not included in my capsule - then I'd just wear it! The point is to simplify, not add too many restrictions or more stress to your life!

If you're interested in finding out more about this whole "capsule wardrobe thing", then I highly recommend checking out

Unfancy

and

Project 333

. They're two of my favourite blogs and there's tonnes of inspiration as well as way more information, explanations and tips! 

I hope you enjoy the video and that it gives you a little inspiration, particularly if you're a lover of colour, because I haven't seen a whole lot of colourful capsule wardrobes videos yet! Let me know what you think and if you give it a go!

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Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

My Style Diary - White Lace and Rambling About Capsule Wardrobes

Hello :)

Long time no see! I've been slacking with the blog lately, but I'm back with a quick outfit post, featuring a white lace dress (you know I love my white).

This Forever New dress has been in my wardrobe for a few years, and although I love it, I can count on one hand the number of times I've worn it. Hopefully this summer it will get a little more love as it is a beautiful dress.

The past few months  I've again been experimenting with dressing with a "Capsule Wardrobe", loosely following the Project 333 guidelines, which involves wearing 33 pieces for three months (one season).

The idea is that having a more minimal, streamlined wardrobe makes the process of getting dressed each day so much simpler, and it eliminates that common dilemma of "a wardrobe full of clothes, but nothing to wear" that I'm sure most people have experienced at some point!

Having a smaller, more streamlined but well edited wardrobe, full of only pieces you love, that all work together and suit your lifestyle, really does help to solve this problem! For me, it's really helped me to appreciate what I have and has actually made me more creative in how I put outfits together because I'm not so overwhelmed with choice!

My Spring Capsule Wardrobe has been going really well, and I'm really enjoying it. Having said that though, I do have to admit that this dress was not one of my 33 pieces! I'm not being super strict with myself about the numbers though. (That's not really what it's about anyway).

 Overall I've simplified, and for me that's enough.

I haven't discussed it a whole lot here on the blog, but this year I've really been delving into the concept of "minimalism" and just generally trying to live more simply and intentionally, and simplifying my wardrobe has definitely been a big part of this. I'm still a long way from where I want to be, but just having this change in mindset has made a such a huge difference. It's something I'm planning on talking about a lot more - but I'll save that for another post.

(This didn't end up being so quick after all!)

Hope you're having a great day!

Lauren

xxx

Dress - Forever New

Shoes - Aldo

Watch - Thomas Sabo