Venice, Italy

Oh how I miss you, beautiful Venice. 

Continuing on from my previous blog post, the ladies and I were lucky enough to pop to Venice for the day during our stay in Verona as it's only a short train journey away and boy was it worth it. I'd had been once before as a child with my folks but it felt like it was all just a dream. 

Sunglasses - Rayban

Playsuit - ASOS

Trainers - Vans

It really was just as stunning as I remembered and spent the day in awe, wandering through narrow alleys, crossing over sun-drenched bridges and practising Italian with passing-by gondoliers. 

Although it was heaving with tourists through many of the main streets, if you explore for long enough you can find serene, quiet courtyards like this one. We spent a gloriously peaceful afternoon, basking in the sun's rays. 

I wanted something cute but comfy for our day in Venice and this playsuit was the trick. An adorable baby blue hue, with ruffle and bow details, it was love at first click. You can dress this little guy up with heels and he would be so sweet at a summer wedding or you can casual him down with some dirty vans like I did. My feet had to be taken care of for a whole day of exploring! 

One of my ladies was wearing this H&M hat as part of her ensemble but I stole it for a little while. The other two ladies were making me feel bashful during this shoot. 

Enough about me, and more about Venice. Here are some snaps for your viewing pleasure. 

Don't forget me Venice, I'll never forget you.

A day in Verona, Italy

If you didn't think that it was possible to fall in love with a city, let me be the one to tell you that it absolutely is. To celebrate three of my gals' birthdays, we decided to go on a little city break to Verona in Italy, the city that Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet was set. Initially we were planning a staycation to one of our very own northern cities, Newcastle, but after discovering flights and accommodation to Verona were cheaper than train tickets to the Geordie Shore, we booked them quicker than you could say 'why aye man'.
We decided to find our home for the weekend on Airbnb and we found the most fabulous apartment that was decked out in marble, featured exposed brick walls and was littered with little gold cherub figurines. So 'grammable. Here's a little peek at the outside.

How adorable? I was so relieved to finally be walking up those shabby stairs after the drama we experienced at the airport during early hours of the morning. Long story short, whilst going through security, I tested positive for explosives three times and thought I had to go through a body cavity search before being told my fake tan could have set the alarm. I wrote a lengthy Facebook status about the whole ordeal which you can read here if you'd like to laugh at my misfortune. 

Anyway, on to the outfit. 

This is possibly the cheapest outfit I own. The co-ord was £1 from a little old lady at a car boot, the crochet crop was around £5 from Primark and I bagged the shoes for free from work. Such a dream! 

After settling in to our home for the weekend, we decided to explore the city of Verona. 

Walking around Verona, you feel like you've stepped in to a painting. The houses are varying shades of terracotta, mustard yellow and deep burgundy which is a glorious contrast to the greenery that climbs up the worn walls. Balconies are lined with plants and flowers and the whole city itself is circled by a shallow river. A contrast to hectic London, you instantly slip in to the sleepy, relaxed Italian way of life. 

While we were there we of course had to visit Juliet's balcony. Lined by love letters stuck to the wall, the courtyard was a glorious little sun trap.

Although it's one of Verona's main attractions, the city has so much more to offer and we were done at Juliet's balcony pretty quickly. It was packed with tourists and school kids on trips and a little underwhelming. 

To feel fully prepared for a day of walking, I decided to casj up my two-piece. 

A simple white tee, metallic Stan Smith's and Ray-Ban's my boy treated me to did the trick. 

I got this little rucksack from the sample sale at work. It's the perfect size for a weekend away. 

We ended the first glorious day in Verona with some Prosecco (which is deliciously cheap in Italy, FYI) and some divine nibbles which the waiter brought us for free. What a guy. Also, I may or may not have eaten enough bread and cheese this night to feed a small country. Oops. 

After many drinks, we headed back to our palace to rest up for our day trip to Venice. But you'll hear all about that in my next post. 

Farewell for now!

The Rainbow Square

Well hello there! 
Typing words into blogger feels like greeting a long, lost friend. Strangely familiar but also kind of awkward. I wish I could say the reason for not blogging in almost a year is that I've been on a remote tropical island, sunning myself and sipping from coconuts, miles away from a wifi connection, but the reality is I've been suffering from a mixture of laziness, busyness and just not feelin' maself. 
Anywho, I doubt all three of my readers (hi Mum, hi sister, hi anonymous person who gets to my blog every month by google searching granny feet), have noticed or been heartbroken over my absence but I want to get this blog ball rolling again. My glorious friend Rosie and I have decided to regularly meet up to take outfit pictures and to start getting creative again, which I'm so excited about. This should mean that there will be more regular posts than once a year from now on. If that's not enough, you could always follow me on Instagram where I post Every. Single. Damn. Day.
On to the first outfit of 2016... 

Jumpsuit - ASOS 

Belt - Vintage (Stolen from Imogen) 

Stole - ASOS 

Fishnet socks - Primark 

Shoes - Vans via Urban Outfitters 

Let me just tell you that when I first laid eyes on this jumpsuit of rainbow dreams, it was £55. My bank account and I sobbed and tried to erase it's sparkly memory from our minds, but it turns out the little fella was meant to be in our lives. It was reduced to a measly £17.50. This knowledge made me bash my security number into ASOS so ferociously that I chipped a nail. 3-5 working days later, it was mine and it was the kick up the ass that I needed to shoot a new outfit post. 

Pairing it with green faux fur and a gold belt dressed it up and made it look less pyjama-like...

And throwing on some muddy vans and whore-like fishnet socks brought it crashing back down to earth. 

Chalcot Square, the rainbow courtyard where your dreams come true, is my new favourite place and the perfect blog shoot arena. If you're ever in the Primrose Hill area, definitely go for a perve. It's so insta-worthy. 

Maybe one day I'll win some big bucks and move my toosh into the area, but for now I'll just keep dreaming of the pastel houses of perfection. 

Twinning with my Mini Me

Today marks the comeback of my little niece, Luli, to The Glitter Den. (Also, have you noticed it's now .com and not blogspot.com? Nifty, huh?) Now, being a four-year-old with maybe too much sass, she has days where she is repulsed by me and days where she is my best buddy. Today was a best buddy kinda day. The best kind. So of course we had to show our unity by co-ordinating our outfits.  We pretty much have identical pink faux fur coats. We think that every girl, whether they're 4 or 94, should own one.

Living in a house where girls out number boys by 5-3, pets included, we have to have a designated 'pink' wash. It so happened that today was also a pink wash day. What an excellent backdrop!

I didn't even have to show Luli how to pose, she's the sassiest girl I know. 

And also the tastiest...

We kept arguing over who got to wear the heart shaped sunglasses...

She won, obvs...

I admitted defeat and continued to put out the washing when a little rascal jumped out at me from the basket...

She insisted that she didn't mean to scare me and that the bucket was in fact magical...

It was the truth! It kept transforming us into each other.

Just kidding, it's not the bucket that's magical, it's us! 

My skirt is from Lavish Alice, the clutch is New Look and Luli's sunglasses are from River Island. 

Luli's coat is from Next and her dress is H&M. 

This little guy is from Lazy Oaf and it's my favourite jumper in the world! 

Yes, Luli did dress herself and yes, her shoes are on the wrong feet. We didn't realise until afterwards, oops! Her little sparklers are from Clarks and mine are ASOS. 

We hope you enjoyed this post and let me know if you'd like to see another collaboration between me and Luli as I need to negotiate with her manager in advance. She's a busy lady. 

Motel Wishlist

I haven't yet done a wishlist on my blog but boy, was it fun. It's like window shopping for the digital land, except instead of having your personal space invaded by aggressive shoppers or moping around in the cold, you can recline in bed, with your wet hair in a turby-towel and your purring cat to your left... Just me? 

My destination for online browsing today was Motel. I've always been a big fan of Motel, I love that you can get pretty much every print in whatever ever style you want, be it a twosie, a jumpsuit or a dress. 

After witnessing the tiniest glimmer of spring sunshine, it's got me feeling all summery has fuelled these picks. I have also arranged them in order to suit the chillier start of spring to the hot depths of the summer. 

Let me talk you through my choices...

1. The Lorna Jumpsuit - I love feeling like I'm in my pyjamas (I wrote about it here) so this pyjama-style jumpsuit is a dream. You don't have to think twice about slipping in to a jumpsuit, it's the ultimate lazy girls technique to looking polished with ease. 

You will find us feeling lazy but looking cute at the cinema or out eatin' burgers together. 

2. The Agatha Cropped Jacket and the Alice A-Line skirt - Now these may be sold seperately but together they are a dream! I am a sucker for a twosie or anything matching and these little honeys are just ideal. 

You will find the three of us prancing through a sunny, yellow meadow together. 

3. The Elza Dress - Yes, we all know the 70's are a thing this spring/summer and I'm not complaining. Get me anything with a bell sleeve and a retro print and I'm yours... And by yours I mean I'll share all my sweets with you and maybe let you brush my hair. 

You will find us hiding our sweets from you. 

4. The Meadow Slip Dress - I don't need to say much about this other than, someone sprinkle some scales on me and toss me a shell bra because I'm The Little Mermaid. 

You will find us hanging around with our pal Sebastian, Under the Sea. 

5. The Bessie Crop Top and the Cecile Culottes - Oh lawdy, lawd! If you've seen here, here and here, I actually did a little series dedicated to my relationship with culottes. I bloody love them, I do, so this summer-print, twosie version is a dream for me. 

You will find the three of us in Vegas in a little white chapel.  

6. The Anderson Dress - What's not to adore about this little number? The print is glorious, the style is glorious, the fact you can dress it up and dress it down is glorious. 
You will find us partying at festivals in the Summer, Summer, Summertime! 
Sorry if this post makes you want to spend your dollar but at least you'll be lookin' adorable. What is your favourite out of my picks? xx