Soft Sparkles & Short Cuts

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Cardigan: Eugenie CashmereRemixed

Top: Gorman

Skirt: DIY

Shoes: Forever New

I’m quite lazy when it comes to my beauty routine, and I always try to find shortcuts when I can.

I wear BB Cream, because it works as a moisturiser, an  SPF30+suncream, and a foundation (this one’s my favourite). I got laser hair removal because I was sick of shaving my legs every day. And I’m incapable of finding a mascara that doing end up all over my cheekbones within an hour. So I get my eyelashes tinted.

Since I moved away from the CBD I needed to find a new salon locally that did eyelash tinting so I was thrilled to discover a placed called “Play: Brow and Lash Bar” just around the corner. While I was there I decided to have my eyebrows “threaded” as well.

You don’t see them much, because of my fringe, but my eyebrows are naturally quite sparse, especially at the edges where they lose all definition.

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Me. Before I discovered tweezers. That baby is allowed to drink and vote now. That tells you how long ago it was!

When I didn’t have the fringe I got them professionally shaped and tinted (because, lazy) but since growing the fringe in I’ve been kind of taking care of them myself. Which of course, meant that they were a bit of a disaster zone.

The girls at Play were really friendly and attentive, and explained very patiently to me where I was going wrong in my technique. One eyebrow was arched, the other curved, the gap between them was too wide for my face, and they were a bit uneven. They gave me a game plan for upkeep, and then tidied them up for me.

I don’t know if any of you have tried threading, but I can give it the two thumbs up. It’s not quite as quick at waxing; but it’s more precise, not nearly as messy, and you don’t end up with two angry splodges of red on your forehead for the rest of the day.

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My eyelash tint was seamless too, and my consultant was very attentive, making careful sure that the dye hadn’t seeped into my eyes and wasn’t stinging.

Play’s been around for less than a year in both South Yarra and Fitzroy, but I’ll definitely be back, and I thoroughly recommend it for anyone locally looking for lash and brow services in a friendly, laid-back, non-pretentious environment.

Today’s outfit was all soft and gold and cuddly and discreetly glittery.

I wore the draped wool skirt that I made for myself a couple of years ago. I teamed it with my remixed cashmere cardigan with the sequinned elbow patches and a t-shirt from Gorman with gold polkadots.

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My most OTT bit of bling was this amazing rhinestone collar that I bought ages ago from Lovisa, and have never had the courage to wear before.DSCF1142_2The fabric of this necklace is actually quite a soft cotton, and it ties up at the back with a tatty bit of chiffon fabric. There’s a bit of faded glamour about it that appeals to me, but I haven’t been able to find the outfit that it works with yet.

This is OK, but still not perfect. How would you wear it?

Remix: Heart of Gold

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Cardigan: Eugenie Cashmere – Remixed

Dress: Crossroads

Shoes: Yeswalker

It’s hot in Australia at the moment. WAY too hot for a wooly cardigan, but I did the trek out to my favourite cashmere shop Eugenie anyway, knowing that this is when they have ridiculously good savings on their beautiful cashmere basics.

I had my eye on the cropped crew-neck cardigan, which I’d seen on sale for $99 down from $199, because I had a special remix in mind.

Elbow patches.

I’d needle felted a set of heart appliques onto the elbows of cardigan previously, but I had in mind something a little more glamorous for the cashmere cardigan.

SEQUIN elbow patches.

I bought the cardigan in the cream, thinking it would be versatile, and would be perfect over florally frocks as the weather turned colder (it’s officially autumn…. it’ll happen eventually). DSCF0806

Pretty boring, huh? I didn’t love the grey buttons, so they were the first things to go. I dropped into Clegs and bought sparkly diamante buttons with which to replace them:

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Next up to choose my preferred appliqué fabric. I was tossing up between matte gold sequins and plain red fabric, so I put the choice out to Twitter. You guys came back with gold sequins, but when I went into the Clegs they had RED SEQUINS. Just like Dorothy’s ruby slippers. So I bought 20 cms of both. (Just covering my bases)

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Making the hearts is easy.

Fold a piece of paper in half, then cut half a heart shape on the fold:

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Voila! Heart template

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Lay your template down on the non-sequinned side of your fabric and pin it in place. Using sharp scissors (though probably not your best fabric scissors, the sequins will destroy the blades) cut around the heart, then repeat for the second heart.

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The sequinned fabric won’t fray, so you don’t need to finish the edges, but if you’re persnickety like me you can remove any half-sequins that you may have cut through by easing them out with tweezers, just so you don’t have any sharp edges.

At this point I put down both gold and red hearts to help me reach a decision. I thought the red looked AMAZING, but the gold was more understated and would be more versatile. So I played it safe and went the gold. It’s a cashmere cardigan…. I want to be able to wear it ALL the time!

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Put the cardigan on, then pin the hearts into place on the elbows.

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Take the cardigan off and compare the two sleeves to make sure the hearts are properly lined up, and straight against the seamsDSCF0810

OK! Now you’re ready to sew!

I did mine by hand, partly because I wasn’t quite sure how machine sewing sequinned fabric would work, partly because machine sewing long sleeves is annoying and fraught with danger, and partly because I thought hand-stitching would be easier to unpick should I decide again sequinned elbow patches some time in the future (as if!).

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I used a basic fell stitch to attach the heart, and always fed my needle through the centre of a sequin, so it’s pretty sturdily attached.

The finished product is a bit gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

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….. and I didn’t let those red hearts go to waste, either

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