Just one month today....

Hi guys,
Apologies for the gushy post in advance, but in exactly one month today I will be marrying one of the best men i've ever known. I can't wait. To celebrate the milestone (am I allowed to start counting down the hours yet??) here are some sneaky peaks of what I will be wearing on the big day:





Can you guess which details are from which part of the outfit?! Of course I won't be revealing the full dress until the big day: i'm not really superstitious, but who wants to take the risk of jinxing anything?!

I know i've shown you the shoes before, but they're still as gorgeous as ever! And the bundle of brooches? That's my bouquet! I've written about my love of brooches before, but what you might not know is that I also suffer very severe hayfever (both tree, grass, and flower pollen) meaning I really didn't want to carry a bouquet. So when I saw pictures of brooch bouquets on a series of wedding blogs I was inspired, and set about making my own: this is it, and i'm completely in love with it!

Anyway, enough wedding chat! Normal blog service will resume tomorrow, I promise!
Love, Tor xx

Daily Wear: Florals for spring (obviously!)

Hi guys,
I know it's a big fat cliche, but when the sun starts shining and the birds start singing, I have a compulsion to start wearing florals. Florals= the start of spring, as far as i'm concerned. I'm still wearing closed shoes (despite what all the girls wandering down Oxford street in sandals think, it's just not that warm yet!) but i've switched to the footless tights, and it feels amazing to feel the breeze around my feet:

I was stupidly excited on leaving the house to realise that I could put my sunglasses on before 9 oclock in the morning (they're Spitfire ones from River Island) I love wearing sunglasses, and have far too many of them, so it's great to be able to dust the collection off and bring them out.

It's only when I started writing this that I realised just how much Primark i'm wearing today! My dress, shoes, and belt are all from Primark (but not all this season). My jacket is Topshop, the bag is from Joy, the necklace is from Urban Outfitters, and the brooches are both vintage. Here's a close up of the brooches, because they're too ridiculously cute for words:

The little bird was a gift from my mum, and is the twin of the one that sits on the handle of my brooch bouquet. Mike got me the owl from the John Lewis vintage jewellery counter: I find it horribly expensive, but he was just too cute to miss out on! I've attached them so it looked like the owl was catching the tiny little bird: small things amuse small minds, apparently!

Love, Tor xx

Welcome to my world; the brooch collection

At the weekend I showed you my new owl brooch, and mentioned that I have a reasonably extensive brooch collection. I've been collecting brooches since I was a teenager: It started with picking up pretty pieces for a pound or two from car boot sales and turned into spending a little more on pieces, but buying them less frequently.

I think because I enjoy wearing so much black (and always have really) I turned to brooches as a way to bring some diversity and an interesting twist to my outfits. When I first started my collection almost noone was wearing brooches and they were perceived as being really old fashioned, which only increased there appeal to me really. Mostly the collection is costume jewellery, but I have a couple of really fabulous collectable pieces too. My parents gifted me the most amazing oversized swarovski piece for Christmas a couple of years ago. These images show just under half of my collection.
Recently i've started focusing the collection on animal brooches. This has happened mostly because i've seen a lot more animals around: the collection is really organic in that regard, and anything can take my fancy. My most favourite brooches though are cameos: initially they all look similar but it's the different facial features that hold my attention and I love the rich pale colours against the gold.

Which is your favourite piece? And do you collect anything? I find it really interesting what people choose to start collecting and why!

Love, Tor xx

Daily wear: Shopping and gelato in Camden

Well, the title of the post seems to say it all: yesterday I went to Camden with my sister. We wandered around the market admiring some of the jewellery (and I brought a hello kitty toothbrush for my bathroom - result!) then we went to Marine Ices in Chalk Farm for gelato: or at least that was the plan; then we smelled their awesome food and ended up having dinner there first. Peppered steak and rosemary roast potatoes: It was lovely! Here's what I wore:

My first vaguely summery outfit of the year- how exciting! I'm wearing the black dress I picked up from river island on Friday with my primark belt and denim jacket, vintage bag, bracelet from topshop, various necklaces and shoes from office. I've had these sandals for about 5 years but I still love wearing them; they were a really great investment. I'd also like to draw your attention to the brooch on my jacket, which is posing with my new toothbrush:

The other half brought me this a fortnight ago from the vintage jewellery section in John Lewis, and I have worn it every day since; such a great gift! I love brooches (I keep meaning to post my collection!) and birds, so it's the perfect combination. And here's the piece de resistance:

My icecream sundae: yum yum! So indulgent; I had three scoops: ferrera rocher, pistachio and tirimisu, with hot chocolate sauce, biscuit pieces, fresh cream and wafers. All of the ice cream is freshly made with double cream and so delicious! I didn't eat it all but I gave it a damn good shot - what a great way to spend a Saturday!

Love, Tor xx

Fab frocks visits....the topshop outlet store

OK, OK, so i'm there all the time, but I thought I would take you all on a magical tour into the changing room of the Topshop outlet store. Pickings were especially good today, especially skirts and trousers (lots of jeans for around £10 BOGOF) and especially in sizes 10 and 12.

Here's what I tried:

1. Silk top with draw string waist £10*
2. Floral play suit £38*
3. Silk and cotton trapeze dress £15*
4. Silk topshop boutique ruffle neck top £15* (I bought this one!)
A close up of the collar:
I don't know if i've mentioned it before, but I collect brooches. Old costume jewellery from the 60s-80s mostly, which i pick up from antique shops or car boot sales so i'm sure you can understand why I couldn't resist these: All the freedom jewellery in the magical land is £2 buy one get one free. Can you imagine!? That's £1 per item: how could anyone resist? My favourite is the shiny plastic heart and key brooch. It reminds me of something I once saw in the Betsey Johnson store in Florida.

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I really like going to the topshop outlet store; I suppose its because I love getting a bargain! It also never ceases to amaze me; you can pop in there and pick up a dress you considered paying the full £60 price tag for, for just £10. There are also loads of tshirt tops and other casual wears for just £5; bring in the bogof factor, and that works out at just £2.50 an item.

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The fun is that you dont always know what your going to get; one week you can go in and they have loads of shoes, the next week they've had a jean delivery. Its definitely not the place to go if your looking for something specific, but if your a browser shopper like me: Give it a go!

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Love Tor

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*Obviously all these prices are buy one get one free, so I guess you could effectively half them!!