Justification for serious lack of blogging...

Summer is now here, and usually thats where life gets more exciting for people; but for me it means full time work! I was lucky enough to get a job at the DFDS call centre in Dover Eastern docks, as well as still keeping some dates at the Cruise Terminal, but this means not having much of a life...and therefore nothing to blog about! 

This is all I see these days...

Hopefully I will be able to blog more soon, hopefully doing some more shoots!

Sorry for the lack of updates! :)

Playing with UV

My boyfriend is a complete photography nerd, and he has been getting some pretty cool stuff out from uni lately to use with his work (he studies Photography & Digital imaging - so basically the Sciency stuff behind photography)! Last week it was an Infra Red camera which made everything go blue, which me and my housemates had some fun with! This week it was a UV flash and a UV camera; so I thought I was post some of the photos as I haven't had much to blog in a while!

I found it quite fascinating to begin with that peoples hair doesn't glow, but mine does :| We then realised what it might be; I use platinum shampoo on my hair once a week to keep it a fresh blonde colour, and had literally used it the night before, and it most probably has a fluorescent chemical in it to help it glow blonde! 

The first cool thing I got shown was seeing sun damage with the UV camera and flash, which was freaky to see, but again we don't fully understand it, for instance I'm not really one to be in the sun, I always have SPF 20 foundation on and have never been to a hot country, yet it showed up my skin as being more damaged than all of my boyfriends housemates, so it could just generally be my freckly skin! 

Here is my potentially sun damaged skin (excuse my non make-up face)!

 

So freaky...

We also played around with sun cream - which obviously stops sun damage - so it makes a really cool effect with the UV camera as seen here:

 

Kind of looks like I just have a face mask on though, as I couldn't stand the smell near my eyes! Here is some more of Thomas; before, showing just the sun damage:

 

And with half his skin covered in sun protection (SPF 50+)

 

One thing it's creepily good at is showing up bacteria! Callum had a UV pen so Joe attacked the cupboard with it (can you tell they hate their house?) :P

 

They need to clean their cupboards... 

We also soaked a pink highlighter in some bubble mixture for a few hours and then blew bubbles with it, using a UV flash and normal SLR camera;

 

 This made some amazing effects! 

Tonic water has a fluorescent chemical in it, which makes it have the bitter taste, so therefore is fluorescent under UV light. Thomas had a go at doing the Mentos trick with it!

 

Then Joe progressed to throw it all over Callum...

 

 

So yeah...would definitely recommend playing with UV if you ever get the chance, it may seem nerdy, but was actually so much fun! 

Photos taken by Thomas Langley

Charity shopping

Growing up my Mum would always take my into charity shops, not because we were poor, but because she could always find a bargain, usually things you might not find in shops, or something better made for the same price as a cheap or mid range product in shops. I used to feel embarrassed going in the shops, looking back now I feel embarrassed that I felt that way! A few years ago I started charity shopping, I don't know what made me, but I did and ever since I'm hooked! The past year has been incredibly successful for me and them; annoyingly now that I want to write this blog post I have absolutely no idea where my bags are; so I've found some images online, then when I find them I may update this post! I found a Coach satchel seen below last Summer in a Canterbury charity shop, it's well made and ideal for university days and the gym...best of all... for £5! 

But my favourite buy I have ever found in one, and probably ever will is my Miu Miu bag, I got it whilst it was still in season, and even saw Khloe Kardashian wearing it a few weeks later! I love it, the stitching is wonderful, and it's made so strong... I got it for £4...then when I found it on the website it was selling at almost £1,300! 

I have taken a picture of a few of my other buys, these aren't even half of them, the post would hog my entire blog if I was to post them all!

Next 1990's dress - £2 - Harrow.

1990's sparkly top - £1.50 - Dover.

Topman blazer - £2 - Harrow.

Ronit Zilkha cardigan - £1 - Epsom. 

Vintage Marks & spencers silk shirt - £2 - Epsom.

H&M blazer - £3 - Folkestone.

Reiss denim high waisted shorts - £3.50 - Canterbury.

Burberry shirt - £7 - Canterbury. (Excuse the creases!)

Helmut Lang jumper dress - £2 - Harrow.

As much as I hate Primark I loved the River Island look bags they had out last season, but hated the thought of even spending £10 on something that might not last five minutes. But found it, whilst popular in store for £2 in Canterbury Oxfam, presumably an unwanted Christmas gift! That I could justify...

I thought I would write this post to show people that snob at charity shops, that they're actually a great place to find designer buys and some really nice clothing and accessories. Not only that, but what you spend goes to a good cause, the amount you spend over time could really make a change to someones life, the most you're doing when you buy something on the high street is keeping a business running. 

Pastel love

I've got so into this pastel look lately. At first I wasn't sure, but since all the shops have started getting the look in I've suddenly grown this strong love for it, and everything I see that's pastel; I want! I had a lucky moment the other day where I found €40 in my bag left over from Berlin; and thought it was a sign to treat myself. I had fallen in love with someones jacket I saw a few weeks back which was a coral shade, and then got told about how you can also get it in mint green! So when I found this beauty in the Epsom New Look I knew I had to get it! 

After Easter break having been spent back home in Kent, where quite frankly nothing ever really happens apart from rain and fog; I couldn't wait to get back into London and have a day out exploring again! Camden always has and probably always will be my favourite place to go in London; so it was my first stop on my first day out there since. I have loved the 'Jesus' bracelets for ages now, and when I first discovered them they were rare, and I got my first brown one at a market in Amsterdam. I sadly lost it, and then they had come over here, but quite often at an expensive price! I came across a box full of all different coloured ones yesterday in Camden for 69p! So I got a pastel (of course) pink one! 

I also had a go with fake nails the other day, but never again! After getting fed up of them after about two days I took them off, and three nails have had actual nail be ripped off! But I did love the look whilst I had them, and painted them these gorgeous new Collection 2000 pastel colours which I purchased the other day from Boots.

Pastel sunnies! 

Having a play around with bleach on denim!

I have been seeing a lot of bleached denim jackets around lately and I adore the look of them, but being a student I can't really just go and justify buying one... So I thought why not try and make one myself! It hasn't gone to plan, but I thought I would post what I have had happen anyway!

I managed to pick up this dark denim jacket from a charity shop in Dover for a cheap price of £1.99! I had been raiding the Folkestone ones in hope of a nice find, as generally speaking although they are more expensive, Folkestone charity shops are far nicer and always more successful! Whilst I was in the area visiting friends I had a little time to kill before meeting them so killed that time raiding the charity shops; and I'm glad I did as it's how I found my jacket! It's not a pleasant shade of denim, it's rather dated, which made me even more excited to start the bleaching process!

You cannot see the overall look in this image here as it's a phone picture (being my blonde self I left my SLR & point and shoot in Epsom over easter...)! 

I read online that you have to soak the object in warm water with a cup of bleach for five minutes, so I did this, but it did absolutely nothing! I wondered if it was because my Mums bleach was 'citrus bleach with limescale remover', so I headed down to Sainsburys to pick up some usual bleach to try it out!

I left it to soak for an hour, and then washed and rinsed it a total of five times in the washing machine afterwards (not by choice, just because the bleach kept causing a dangerous amount of bubbles in the machine)! Still not much has happened to the jacket, but it has made a really cool blotchy effect, and in some areas, especially the sleeve as seen below, it has actually somewhat worked!

I have since been told that using bleach on synthetic fabrics such as polyester will not work, so I am wondering if this might be the case here...!

Selina

As the Easter holidays are coming to an end, some of us are running out of things to do with ourselves, and definitely for some of us, the concept of not having work for the first time since September seemed to strangely bore us! So as we all live near each other, Chhimmi, Thomas and I decided to do a shoot together, a last minute decision! 

Chhimmi decided on the theme of the shoot; inspired by M.I.A - Bad girls.

Here are a few of the photos from today:

Photography - Thomas Langley

Make-up & hair styling - Chhimmi Gurung

Styling - Amy Johnson

Model - Selina Rai

Locations - Old Folkestone train station, studio & an abandoned farm in the outskirts of Dover.

Grey cliffs of Dover...

Yesterday there was finally nice weather and it was lovely and hot with no wind! So Thomas and I went for a cliff top walk and relaxed on the cliff edge in the sun. Here are a few photos I took for a bit of fun!