THE NEW GLASSES

Happy Sunday Everyone! Tragedy struck on Thursday, Yep! I broke my glasses ... now don't panic, I spent most of the day in contacts and I did manage to fix them ... kind of. I bought some good old super glue and forced them back together. I've had my glasses for a few years now and I absolutely love them, they're from the Gok Wan range at Specsavers. It took a lot for me to get these because at the time I was wearing some pretty mundane glasses and compared to my old ones these are completely out there! But the inner diva in me needed this pair. There was a slight worry because the frame is quite round and I was nervous that it was going to emphasise the roundness of my face shape. However the moment I put them on ... they just felt right you know?



When my glasses broke I began to panic because I don't have a back up pair, in fact I haven't even thought about picking up a pair as a back up until now! With that in mind I was straight onto the Specsavers website to see what they had to offer ... and I was not dissapointed! The price range of the frames are fantastic they have budget frames from as low as £25 but they also offer the higher end brand if you wanted to splash a little more! I've had a look through all the black frames they offer for men and I was really surprised at the variety they have online! I know I want quite a prominent frame and so the larger frames definitely stuck out for me! Here's what I found!

DINO - I consider these frames to be an absolute bargain, I am yet to see any of these frames in the flesh so I may completely change my mind but from the photos they all look pretty good! You can get a pair of Dinos for just £45! They are a black rectangular frame and I absolutely love them!

FLEXI 80 - These frames come at a higher price of £99 but oh my how beautiful are they! I'm used to having a thicker frame so I'm not sure how these would look on me but I absolutely love the style. The front of the frames have a shiny black finish with a keyhole bridge. The sides are made from a flexible metal which is supposed to boost the comfort factor!

BO 0088 - These are the first higher/designer brand frames I came across on the site from Boss Orange, they are £125 so definitely something to look at if you are willing to spend a little extra. The frame on this is super thick which really draws me in! I think these would be amazing to wear and can't wait to see what they look like on! The frame has a wood like grained texture which isn't something I've seen much of!

KL 05 - The first of two frames that I spotted from the Karl Lagerfeld section on the website, these super quirky frames are £125. I've looked at a few tortoise shell frames and these are one of my favourites! Although they are super out there! I absolutely love the angular shape of the frame ... not too sure on how I feel on the silver sides though. I think they would look amazing if they were tortoise shell all over!

EOT BEHOLDER - These chunky frames are from a brand called Cheap Monday which I haven't really heard of before but I love the range they have! At £99 you can get this frame in black or tortoise shell. Again I would need to try them on to see how they look but I would get either of them! They even have a little skull emblem on the sides!

KL 01 -  Last but not least are these second frames I saw in the Karl Lagerfeld section! Once again these designer frames come in at £125, they come in a black or a brown/grey gradient frame. I much prefer the black from the two, mainly because black goes with everything so they would be really easy to work with. The frames come with clear accents to add that little flare which I think is super cool!




I'm at a bit of a loss and really need your help! I have no idea yet as to which frames I prefer from the bunch I saw online and so would I would really love to hear what you guys think! Let me know which ones are your favourite! Or even if there are any brands I should be looking at! Leave your comments below!

Specsavers Dino | Specsavers Flexi 80 | Boss Orange BO 0088 | Karl Lagerfeld KL 05 | Cheap Monday EOT Beholder | Karl Lagerfeld KL 01

THE NEW BAG

Hello everyone! So its been a while since I've bought myself a new bag, I currently have two at home, a brown canvas holdall with a vintage union jack print and a black pleather bag. I tend to use the black one a lot more because its a really good size, not too big and not to small! But, it has definitely come to the end of its life! It looks so tatty but because I still haven't found one to replace it with I end up taking it with me everywhere anyway!. So I've been scrolling through the internet to  have a look at whats hot in the bag scene, It seems like big bags are in because everywhere I have looked seems to have ginormous bags on sale! But I really need a good standard size, spo after a hours of looking I have picked out my top 5!

Khaki Quilted Holdall -  My first pick is this quilted holdall from Burton, When autumn comes around one of my favourite colours is Khaki, so as soon as I saw this I really I wanted .. no, needed it! I love that they have quilted the fabric to add some texture and I'm also loving the brown leather accents! 

Zara Zip Bag -  I came across this bag when I first began hunting a few weeks ago, I still need to find it in a local store to try it out for size, but I am so in love with this bag. You can't really see the zip detailing in the picture but it's so different to anything I've seen before. I also love the simple stud detailing on the straps!

Brown Leather Look Holdall - This I think is one of my least favourite bags, I love the simplicity of the bag and the rust gold hardware but compared to the others ... it's a bit boring? And a little business man-y? If that makes any sense at all ... Sorry Topman!

Black Small Holdall - This little number from River Island is the perfect size but it's a little wide! So as lovely as it is I don't think I'll end up buying it for every day use, but I do think it would make an amazing overnight bag. #SmallButMighty

Peavie -  Last but most definitely not least is this woven front panel holdall from Dune! I saw this one at the St. Pancras branch in London. When we walked in I set eyes on a black bag I liked but this one is just beautiful and if I'm honest probably my fave from all five bags ... apart from the Zara Zip Bag! It's a really good size, I love the colour and the gold hardware, the woven panel stops the bag from being too plain and also adds a touch of texture and finally I also really love the shape ... can you tell I really like this bag?  

Do you guys have this much trouble finding a bag? #PleaseSayYes! Let me know which one is your favourite, I'd love to know which one you guys would go for!

Khaki Quilted Holdall | Zara Zip Bag | Brown Leather Look Holdall | Black Small Holdall | Peavie

THE PORTFOLIO - THE VINTAGE REFLECTION EDITION

So I am back again today with another edition of 'The Portfolio' however this is gonna be the last one for a while because .. well ... I need to do some more shoots! I would love to know if you guys have any ideas for me! I can always do with a bit of inspiration! Today's post is a shoot I did with a lovely friend I used to work with, Georgina Hitch-Bramwell, she had seen a few of my shoots and wanted to work together to create a vintage inspired shoot! I was super excited because the theme was something I had not done before, so straight away I started doing some research. When I think of vintage I instantly think of Dita Von Teese, I absolutely love her look and I knew that she would be the inspiration behind the make-up and hair. I created a face chart to plan out the look, in the end I kept it very classic with a bold red lip, neutral eye with a cut-crease and some winged liner! To me when I think of the era I think of matte light skin, George loves a bit of tannage and so it took some convincing to get her to let me pale her skin down ...lol! Once we had the look grounded we started to think about the look in terms of the outfit. George had this beautiful black 50's style dress with an underlay of tulle, which added a lot of body to the dress and created this amazing silhouette. To finish off the outfit we added a red tulle scarf, I thought this really rounded the look and tied in the colours! For the hair I did a lot of research to figure out how to create a victory roll, can I say it was really tricky but in the end it worked so well,  What really helped was that George has red hair and once we curled the rest it looked so shiny and sleek! Hope you guys love! 

   

Stylist, Photographer, Hair and Make-up - Primal | Model - Georgina Hitch-Bramwell

THE PORTFOLIO - THE ANDROGYNY EDITION

Hi guys! Hope you guys have been having a good day! Another random shoot to talk about today! Me and Emma had so much fun with the other shoot that we had to do another one, we needed a theme and if I remember rightly it was Emma that had done a bit of research and came across an image that inspired us. It was a grungy London look based on androgyny, straight away we knew we wanted to create something like that too! So we got together at her house and started playing around with some looks, Emma is really good at styling so I was so glad that I was able to work with her again! She created a very structured look which was very bold but still had that feminine touch, we went for monochrome throughout the styling to keep the look clean and sharp. For the hair I created a very high quiff but then kept the rest of the hair poker straight! I created a bold but simple grey smokey eye for the make-up with some eyeliner to keep the eye grounded and deep set. The rest of the face we kept quite clean with the exception of some contour! I was so happy with the results and I really hope you guys like them too!

    

Hair, Make-up and Photographer - Primal Majithia | Model and Stylist - Emma Szkudlapska

THE PORTFOLIO - THE BOHEMIAN SUMMER EDITION

Hey Guys! Today I am back with the Bohemian Edition of my Portfolio! So this is one of my first shoots which wasn't for a project and was literally just me and my friend having an amazing fashion filled day! I had done quite a few shoots by this point and I wanted to start doing them just a bit more randomly so I got together with one of my friends Emma and we did a shoot! Now Emma has a really good eye for fashion and she helped with a lot of the styling for this shoot. She picked out this amazing Grecian dress from Topshop and that helped us plan the theme of the shoot, we knew we wanted to do something very ethereal and boho-like! So when planning the Make-Up I looked at very warm browns and neutral eyeshadows, I knew I wanted a smoky-eye and I think I ended up using an eye-shadow quad from Avon. When we were planning this shoot GHD had just released the shoot they had done with Katy Perry and they had a boho look they did and that was what mainly inspired the hair on the shoot. We added some loose curls to the hair and had two plaits that went across Emmas' forehead, to add more texture we also added an extra plait amongst the curls and to keep it boho we used some cotton to finish off the plait! The location for our shoot was Knighton Park in Leicester it was an amazing day and the sun was out so we had amazing lighting! Let me know what you guys think of how they turned out!

     

Hair, Make-up and Photographer - Primal Majithia | Model and Stylist - Emma Szkudlapska

THE PORTFOLIO - THE BEDAZZLED EDITION

Hiya guys! I'm back again today with another peak into my portfolio, I really do hope you guys are enjoying these! This specific one took me right outside my comfort zone, I'm never really one to use super bright colours in my pieces and so when our tutor bought us the brief 'Cyber Florals' it's safe to say I was super nervous. We were told to use super bright colours as our inspiration to create some shift dresses. Now if there's one vibrant colour that I am drawn to, it would definitely be teal! So my designs began using teal as my base, I thought it would then be easier to match other colours. But the thing about bright colours is that they don't have to match and you have a lot more creativity! So i just looked at the fabric selection and picked up one of everything! Once I had my fabrics ... believe me fabric was like currency in the room! You had to take it or it was gone! Anyway, as I was saying, once I had my fabrics I sat down and started designing. I created four different designs, let me know what you guys think!

 

My favourite out of the four was the last one, which probably explains why I started to colour it in! No idea why I didn't finish it. As I said earlier I used teal for the base of my shift dress and then I chose lots of random bright fabrics to make the rest of the design. To create the globes of colour I used bondaweb to attach all the different patches together, I then used the sewing machine to stitch around the edges and also to create some texture! Once the dress was complete it was used in the Gateway College Fashion Show, but I had to steal it away afterwards to do a shoot! I knew I wanted to create something extravagant and so I asked one of my best friends to do the Hair and Make-up and she did an amazing job! We took inspiration from the colours we used for the eyes and left the lips bare to keep the drama on the eyes and the dress! The eyebrows were inspired by Ke$has' video for 'We R Who We R' but instead of studs we used sequins! Hope you guys love!

  

Hair and Make-up - Arti Patel | Model - Kelly Seare | Photographer, Stylist and Designer - Primal Majithia

THE PORTFOLIO - THE GOLDEN SNOW EDITION

Hi guys! So we've had such a good week with the release of out Etsy Store! But we're back today with the third installment of The Portfolio and today is a super good one! So again this shoot took place a few years ago when I was still at college and this particular project was called Angels, Love Letters, Love Tokens and Treasure Boxes. That was a right mouthful! So anyway, I decided to roll with the love letters part of the brief and started looking at old books with love letters. Now nearly everything I created in my Foundation year was geared towards fashion in some way and so I started to look into how I could link love letters to fashion! One of the tutors was experimenting with magazine pages and calico! She took the calico and applied a whole lot of white acrylic paint on top, she then took the magazinge page and laid in top. After this had dried she scrubbed the magazine paper off with some water and a sponge, the image on the page had transferred onto the calico fabric! Now what I did was take that idea and transferred the love letters onto the calico instead of using pages from a magazine! Now this did not work in excactly the same way, I think part of this is because the magazine pages are glossy whereas the book pages are matte. But either way it worked, and looked amazing! At this point I had already decided that I was going to use the fabric to create some origami flowers, I had been practicing for days to make sure I would get it right. But I still needed something to link the flowers to fashion. One of my main inspirations in the fashion world is millinery legend Phillip Treacy, he is known for creating some of the most amazing hats and headpieces and after looking at his work I knew I wanted to create something using his work to inspire me! And that's exactly what I did! Add some feathers, tassles and my origami flowers and you end up with something a little like this! Hope you guys like! Let me know what you guys think in the comments!

Hair and Make-up - Zkia Sheikh | Model - Kelly Seare | Photographer, Stylist and Designer - Primal Majithia