Style: Sparkle

Just because it's still freezing outside...doesn't mean you can't have fun with colour and wear sandals with jeans and a coat! Mix it up and slowly welcome spring into your wardrobe...hope you like my little combo! :)

Zara Coat (old season, similar below)

Vintage sequin top (find lots on eBay or Etsy but you need to be persistent and keep looking until you find 'the one'!)

Urban Outfitters jeans (similar below)

Zara sandals (similar below)

RayBan sunglasses

New Finds: Vintage sequin top

My favourite past time has got to be vintage shopping (or just shopping?!). I love to go to weekend car boot sales, and scour eBay and Etsy for the most unique items that nobody else will have. Apart from vintage dresses, jackets and 80's tops, I'm also a big fan of heavily sequinned tops.

I found this gorgeous one on Etsy and it was in perfect condition. The seller is called BadBabyVintage and they always seem to have some gorgeous pieces (you may have to pay customers charges in the UK, be warned!) It's a short sleeve top with holes on the sleeves, and lots of sequins and tiny pearls in the design. I'll be wearing it with jeans, shorts or a mini skirt, and some dark purple lippy!

One thing I learned is to always try and remember the old brand names and search them on eBay from time to time, to find more items from that designer. The tops are also much cheaper on eBay than anywhere else, especially on Brick Lane in London.

London: Exploring Portobello on a Friday

Portobello Road and market is one of London'smost popular must visit shopping areas, and by far my favourite. It's a real shame that the swarms of tourists in the summer pretty much block out the streets and walkways, so it's hard to enjoy the beauty of exploring every nook and cranny here, including the lovely cafes and restaurants.

I would recommend to everyone to go on a Friday if possible...Saturday is the busiest and hardly anyone goes on the Friday...but the plus side is that everything will still be open. I took a day off to explore and meet up with a friend for coffee and really enjoyed it...check out what I found on the way (and had to refrain myself from buying!)

Vintage sweet and food tins are cheap and make for great colourful storage tins in the kitchen

See? Empty :)

You can find new things and old things...here are lots of cute vintage silver trinkets for necklaces or charm bracelets

Great gift finds

Even if you don't buy a lot of vintage, Portobello is almost like a treasure trove or museum for some beautiful antique garments - pretty to look at!

Door knobs, mini bottles, kitchen utensils...Portobello has it all

My favourite homeware store

Lots of stalls fill the streets where you can get inexpensive gems and gifts

These letter boxes make great decorations on the wall

I managed to snap this before I was told off by the vendor!!

If you are looking for a cool camera, this is the place

One area of the market, filled with new and vintage clothing

A sweet ending to the day with fresh juice and handmade cake at Granger & Co (Great for celeb spotting!)

Home Proud: Rough 'n' chic

My favoured decorations and accessories are always antique or shabby chic, and a I think a great way to decorate a cozy house is with some 'rough' things. I think beige couches go well with sanded white frames on the walls, clean white kitchens go well with wired fruit and bread bowls, and beautiful, delicate bedding goes so well with worn out art.

These are only some of the options to decorate a home in a modern but 'French' cottage style, and I've found a few great things on Cox & Cox (amazing shop!), as well as a lovely diffuser from one of my favourite London brands, Boujies.

Set of three shallow wire baskets, £24

Heart twig wreath, £15.50

Cast iron hands, £30

Classic zinc wall hook, £18.50

Birds and flowers wooden wall panels, £120

Iron Brazier, £88

Wooden set of drawers, £65

Delicate standing glass frame, £11.50

Boujies London Chelsea Flower diffuser, £42

I wrote about the wonderful Boujies Black Dahlia diffuser before, and I still have it! They really do last for months and give any room a perfectly balanced scent. What I really like about these is the packaging, it's so pretty and fits in anywhere discreetly even though it is quite a big bottle.

The new Chelsea Flowers diffuser is a fresh and luscious floral fragrance with a blend of gardenia blossom, freesia, peony, tuberose and orange blossom gently blended with a warm base of vetiver and cashmere woods and musks. It's the perfect scent for end of summer, bringing the flowers of the season into my dressing room as Autumn begins.

Images from the Cox and Cox website and Boujis press office

London: Brick Lane gems

I spent the day today with my good friend Tania hanging around the Brick Lane area in east London. Those who live in London will all be flocking there for vintage bargains and tasty world food on the market lanes...but as any Londoner will admit, you will always discover new things no matter how many years you've lived here (6 years for me!).

After we had some delicious jerk chicken from the Jamaican food stand, we turned into some of the smaller streets off Brick Lane and discovered some great stores which I thought I'd share with you...

KITTY VALENTINE
Sunday Upmarket (Just off Hanbury Street)
Website & Etsy Shop

Beautiful pieces of art from this girl...as she says, she 'politely' defaces victorian photographs, faded lithographs and old postcards with pen and paint. Her prints are reasonably priced at around £10, and some that are in stunning frames around £24. She even takes personal commissions. The mix of the antique beauty of the Victorian images with the macabre drawings of birds, skulls, insects and nature are amazing - I want every piece!

Images taken from brand's Facebook and website

EMIN AND PAUL LONDON
44 Hanbury Street, E1 5JL
Website

I've never noticed this store before, I think it's new even though Emin and Paul started their design business in 2008. The store has a great selection of unusual but wearable designs so there is something there for everyone. The prices are quite reasonable, and they stock everything from jewelry, handbags and clothes. Most of the stuff is made in a studio in London, too, so you know you're getting great quality. Check out some of their stuff below, how cool is that coat?!

Images taken from brand's website

COMFORT STATION

22 Cheshire Street, E2 6EH

Website

Images from brand's website

I love finding new jewelry designers, even though I have nowhere to put it, wear it, and usually can't afford it! I've always said if I were to change careers that I would be a jewelry or lingerie designer, and thin, intricate, unique and vintage looking designs really inspire me.

This store has stunning interior design features, too. Vintage suitcases are used as shelves, and old books as wall display backgrounds for the jewelry. The pieces are all hand made by three designers in a London studio, and the gold and silver is all bought from the UK. My favourite pieces were the thin necklaces and rings with the inscribing of exact coordinates of a place named Hope in Devon and a place named Love, in the Bahamas. You can also buy antique music rolls with original boxes for £30 - would look amazing on a blank, long wall (I've looked on Ebay and they do come cheaper there, though).

PORCELAIN & RED VINTAGE SHOP

5 Cheshire Street, E2 6 ED

Website

Images from store's social media

Boy am I glad I found this brand new little vintage shop!! Everything is so beautiful, cute and pretty and it is obvious throughout that each piece of clothing has been hand picked. It's really refreshing to find a vintage store like this because wherever you go in East London the rails are just overpacked with things that re 90% not right! The girls are so friendly, old school Destiny's Child is blaring in the back and they even have a 'tailoring corner' where they can alter your shopping for you! I picked up so many things and everything looked great, in the end I bought a cool baggy polka dotted shirt which I'll be wearing with my skinny jeans and high heels. I don't suit shirts at all but vintage ones fit perfectly. Score!!

That's it for my little round up of the best London finds around Brick Lane...more posts to come soon about a cute and secret little area in Angel.