This month's ebook is Amy and Rachel's favourite ever - including all of this month's posts, plus full-page photography from the meet up last weekend!

You can see it full-page HERE, or using the embedded version above!

LoveLoveLove

- A -

Image: HERE

When I'm researching posts for my blog, or for British Style Bloggers, one of the first things that I always do is search my "buzz word" on We Heart It, because visual inspiration is so much more wonderful; a picture, after all, is worth 1000 words. One of the first things I noticed, then, was the prominence of the Paramore lyric "she lives in a fairytale", from the song Brick By Boring Brick... which lead me to research the message behind the song, in case it might happen to inspire me... which it did.

Now, what Brick By Boring Brick teaches us is that, no matter what happens, you can't let your fairytale dreams run away with you; you can't believe in that... because it just won't happen. Until recently, I'd have shut up, nodded, and accepted that; I've never been the "fairytale endings" kind of girl, and as the person whom the phrase "once bitten, twice shy" was invented for, I've never really held much esteem by the idea of "true love", either - despite my love of romance novels (that's romance novels, mother, not smut), and rom-coms, and all of those kinds of things...

Lately, though, some things that some people have said, and one particular song, and one wonderful book, and a fan-fiction story (I know, I know; sorry!) have changed all of that. They've made me realise that fairytales can happen in reality... but that you have to make them happen, and that you have to fight off the evil-doers yourself. A fairytale, in the traditional sense, is a boring old moral tale; a fairytale, in the modern sense, is a life lived to its fullest, with dreams achieved and bad times overcome with the help of the people you choose to share it with...

Image: HERE

And, as this is, after all, supposed to be a style website, what better way to get your very own fairytale started than to dress like you belong in one? All that tafetta might not quite be your style - it's not mine! - but, let's face it, the princesses always look the most beautiful because they have the truly beautiful clothes to show themselves off...

Everyone deserves a fairytale, so now, live yours; be a Princess for a day...

- have the most beautiful dress, and jewels, and tiara...
- have your glass slippers, because you SHALL go to the ball
- have true love, everlasting, if only on a ring
- have the prettiest scent from the coolest designer
- and make sure you have your red apple with you, so that you can beat every wicked witch who comes your way at her own game!

...and they all lived happily ever after!

LoveLoveLove

- Amy -

PS - the set embedded above is my submissions for Gala Darling's birthday competition

Yesterday, British Style Bloggers celebrated our first birthday by basically becoming small children again. We had a lovely meet up, with party bags and Twister and cake and SQUIRRELS and fairy wands and wings and psychotic juice... and we really wish that you could have been there to share it with us!

Anyway, to celebrate our birthday, we're having a make-over, and a new logo, so over the next few days please bear with us - the site might look a little bit sparse and things might stop working, but everything will work out prettier than before, which makes it all worth it!

So, big love to the wonderful girls who were with us yesterday - Florrie and Rachel from the staff, and Carla, Becky and Sarah who came, too. There are no pictures of all of us, but here's one Carla took of the other five of us:

The park where we had the meet up was beautiful; the sun shone - which is never guaranteed in York! - and we blew bubbles and balloons everywhere... and gave a lot of Japanese tourists a very strange impression of life in small English cities!

We also made a video - big love to Carla and Sarah for helping me film! - which is below! Have a look and have a giggle... we certainly did!

On which note, all that remains to be said is THANK YOU for sticking by us through the ups and downs and round and rounds of our exciting first year, and we look forward to making the next few even bigger and better!

We're also looking for suggestions for themes for the up-coming months - if you have any ideas, please drop us a comment, or email me at amy@britishstylebloggers.org.uk!

Thanks again, and happy birthday, BSB!

LoveLoveLove

- Amy -

When I was at primary school and old enough to start writing stories that made some degree of sense, my teachers used to urge my fellow classmates and I not to use the typical fairytale opener 'once upon a time...'.  Obviously, they had our educational best interests at heart, but I do wonder if their determination to stifle our use of traditional storytelling technique was somewhat ill-advsied.  After all, there is so much to learn from fairytales!

For the boys, the art of chivalry is a prominent theme throughout most traditional stories.  I know that by mentioning this, I run the risk of being labelled deliriously old-fashioned and sexist; after all, we girls rarely need to be rescued these days, and marriage to an eligible bachelor is not the only way that a girl can become successful, but the heroes of fairytales are always well-presented, polite and attentive.  Who doesn't want a man like that?!  Additionally, fairytale men are usually skilled horsemen, soldiers or craftsmen and we all know that there's a lot to be said for a guy with a trade!

But it's our fairytale heroines who can really teach us girls a thing or two about being a girl in the 21st century, even if these stories were written hundreds of years ago.  Yes, Cinderella was confined to a life of domestic slavery, but by working hard, persevering and maintaining her integrity, she found a way out in the end - a role model for disgruntled employees everywhere?  Little Red Riding Hood takes on (and defeats) the Big Bad Wolf in the name of looking after her sick grandmother like a true humanitarian overcoming adversity, whilst Belle from Beauty and the Beast falls in love with a monstrous creature before his true, handsome identity is revealed.

Image HERE (nice hood, Red!)

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I actually had to look up some of the details of the stories that I have mentioned above, so have decided that, during BSB's month of fairytales, I will reacquaint myself with some of the old favourites to see what else I can learn!

Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella

Whilst most of us grow out of fairytales by the time we arrive at high school, most of us don’t grow out of the fantasy they create of princesses and fairy godmothers. Most of us continue to indulge in fantasies of beautiful dresses, tiaras and glass slippers, no matter what our age. While many of us rarely have the occasion to dress up like a princess – save for very special occasions, like our wedding day – we can still dream. Each season the Haute Couture shows in Paris provide a catwalk of dresses worthy of any modern-day fairytale princess:

Sources: photo #1 Chanel, photo #2 Dior and photo #3 Valentino.

The Haute Couture shows aren’t just about the dresses, they are often staged in the most magnificent and fairytale-esque of settings. Below Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel utilises the spectacular setting of Le Grand Palais just off the Champs-Elysees in Paris; paying homage to the classic Chanel jacket, the Chanel No 5 perfume bottle and then going all out with a lion as the centrepiece:

Sources: photo #1, photo #2 and photo #3.

If my fairy godmother is reading this, I would just like you to know that I would be delighted with any of the dresses above but most pleased with the one below:

Source: sorry I can’t find where I got this – if you know or it is your photo, please let me know and I will credit it.

However, I would hope that my fairy godmother wouldn’t just provide me with a beautiful dress straight from the catwalks of the Haute Couture shows but that she would also provide me with a pair of shoes fit for Cinderella herself. Because a girl just can’t have enough shoes, can she?

So how about these rather fabulous examples of footwear from the catwalks:

Sources: photo #1 Valentino, photo #2 Dior and photo #3 Dior.

As they say in fairytales:

THE END.

When I found this vintage dress it was love at first night. That night when I came home from my shopping trip, as I showed it my parents I called it my 'fairy princess' dress, making it ideal for this months theme of Fairytales.

The shoes are part of my own personal fairytale. I have actually loved them from afar for a very long time- ever since I saw those first images of Luella ss09 and it is no secret how much I adore that particular collection. And there they were, waiting for me at Bicester Village at a fairytale price. It was a near miss as there were none in a 40- I consoled myself by trying on the purple and orange colour way, but as luck would have it my usual size was too big and in a Cinderella moment I sighed with relief at slipping my foot into a perfectly fitting size 39 pink pair. Now that is a happy ending I like.

The parasol is also vintage, I know lace isn't all that good at shading from the sunlight but I couldn't resist it's frivolous girlishness, and I made the headband myself.

Intrinsically Florrie

Okay okay, I'll admit that this month's topic threw me a little. I mean to me, fairytales evoke thoughts of childhood; of dressing up, of bedtime stories, of having an unlimited imagination. But now, well...now things are different; we grow up, we experience the big bad world and I suppose fairytales just don't have much of a place anymore. Well that's where I was wrong. Okay, so we might not be willing to don a pair of fairy wings anymore, but what better way to pay homage to your inner child than to recreate fairytales on your nails?! Now I'm not pretending to be a nail artist, or even remotely good at this sort of thing; my lack of patience or unsteady hands tend to get the better of me, but this time I managed to design some cute nails based on some of my favourite fairytales :D

You don't need any fancy nail art pens, in fact the stuff I used is almost definitely lying in a drawer somewhere at home: all you need is a safety pin, a kirby grip and LOTS of nail varnishes!

First I painted on the base colours; it's good to go for something that'll contrast with your design. If you're planning to do the same thing as I did then you'll need [from little finger to thumb] a pale blue [this one was a DIY job], a pale yellow [17; sherbet lemon], a peachy pink [17; pink lemonade], a mint green [Barry M; Mint Green], and a navy blue [Barry M; Navy].

Make sure these are completely before you paint on the designs as they can often smudge/stick if you paint the designs on while they're tacky.

NAIL 1: ALICE IN WONDERLAND

There's a cheats way to draw hearts which I found out about recently; for this you'll need the kirby grip which should be bent out of shape as in the picture waaay above. Brush some red paint on the tip and you're ready to go! Now, the cheat's method is to dot two blobs of varnish juuust separate from each other; these will form the top of your heart. Then, simply use the same kirby grip to drag each blob down to the same point. Simples.

NAIL 2: GINGERBREAD MAN!

Well...actually this isn't really a favourite of mine but I couldn't resist having such a cute character on my nails...PLUS he's much easier to draw [and a liiittle bit cuter] than Beauty's Beast which would have to be my favourite story!

Again, just use the kirby grip to dot on a blob of brown [technical language here, of course] for his head, then from the base just drag out two arms and two legs. Easy Peasy. Let him dry properly before dotting on any features.

NAIL 3: MAGIC WAND

A common feature in many fairytales, I couldn't let this one slip by!

This time I used the safety pin for a finer point; simply dip into a dark colour for the stick and roll across your nail from base to tip. Then wipe the point clean, dip in some yellow [or any other wand-worthy shade!] and create a star by simply touching the point of the pin to your nail five times; each creating a point of the star.

NAIL 4: THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

I used the kirby grip for this one again, and used a similar technique as with the heart. Only this time you drag each dot out to form an 'M' shape and then join them at the bottom with a smile to form a kiss. Mwah!

NAIL 5: WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR

Again, not strictly a fairytale, but certainly a song that's become an institution in itself...literally! [It's the one Disney use on their DVD intro].

To create this starry night, use the same technique as for the wand [i.e. with the safety pin] and, once dry go over it with some glitter. A perfect fairytale ending!

Here are the designs on paper in case you want a closer look [yes, I drew them on an envelope - there was no proper paper around, sorryy!!]

Now, to find my fairytale prince...hmmm. Something tells me it's the Fairy Godmother's day off.