Budget Bottega

Following my recent post on Bottega Veneta's fall collection and its delightful beetle accessories, I was inspired to get all bugged out, with insect jewellery and iridescent fabrics reminiscent of beetle wings. I pretty much had the jewellery covered, as I own quite a few pieces of insect jewellery (the pièce de résistance of my collection being a Victorian beetle who I first introduced over a year ago in this post.)

Clothing wise, I was pretty limited with just a pewter vest and sheer blue blouse. The 'bag' however makes up for a rather lacklustre outfit, and has been on my mind since I blogged about Bottega Veneta, as it's green/blue chequered iridescence is certainly similar to one of the bags in the collection. I say bag, but it is actually a Clinique toiletries case, which I added a chain to. My mum is a bit of a Clinique hoarder, and has a closet full of the little bags you get with special purchases. This one was always my favourite, I can't believe how long it took me to turn it in a usable bag.

My nails are a shimmery mint green, however have unfortunately photographed a baby blue shade.

For my eye make-up, I used various shades of glittery blue/green/black. I was struggling to photograph the sparkly products with much clarity, but quickly realised the unfocussed shots were rather pretty with their splodges of colour. Some of the shots below look like deep space, which is always fun.

Clawed

I've worn this floral blouse a lot this summer. Pure cotton, very breathable and easy to wear. The cotton is textured with raised dots, I'm sure there's a technical term for them but I don't know what (Swiss dots maybe?). My necklaces are part of a collection I started a while ago. It seems claw jewellery is all the rage now (Pamela Love anyone?), but I'm only interested in claws if they are grasping onto something. Today I am wearing claws holding onto pearl, green aventurine and crystal.

Silk trousers (Louise Amstrup at ASOS), blouse (Topshop), shoes (New Look)

Enchanted

Ooh I've been lazy and not posted in a while. I do have some outfit photos I need to post, so they'll be coming up shortly. In the mean time though, some glorious photos of exquisite splendour. I never know whether my readers prefer outfit posts or general pretty things posts, so I try to balance a bit of both. As soon as I came across these 'Enchanted Dolls' I knew I wanted to share them.

Having graced the cover of Love magazine, I was intrigued by what I saw and went straight to the website, where I discovered an incredible body of work; each doll created solely by Marina Bychkova. The hours of work that must go into researching, designing and creating the costumes is incredible. On top of the clothing, jewellery, headpieces and even tattoos and henna are meticulously worked on. I selected a few of my favourites....some of which remind me of Lacroix or Gaultier couture, and this creation giving off McQueen vibe, no?

all images from enchanteddoll.com