Sunday 30 December 2012

New Years Day

Hi everybody!

Hahahahahaha....not going to happen
So, today as you should know is the final day of 2012. It's hard to believe that the year has already gone by and to think that so many events have passed by and yet we are all still standing. I find it important to reflect back on the year we've had so far so today's post is really going to be about some of the most important events that have happened in my life this year.

At the start of the year, I made 10 new years resolutions for myself to hopefully follow. I pinned them up somewhere where I would see it every single day when I woke up and when I went to sleep. I don't have the sheet of paper with me right now, but from memory, the goals consisted of:

1. Start a blog
2. Lose some weight
3. Get higher than 80% in all my grades
4. Start a savings account by the end of the year
5. Be friendly towards everyone I meet
6. Do not fall for stupid celebrities such as a certain one direction member with curly hair
7. Meet Christina Perri
8. Find someone who is interested in my music
9. Laser hair removal
10. Quit eating gluten

Bahaha good luck for next year, Lucy de Rouge


I can safely say that I completed six out of these ten goals. I started a blog and I can say that I am quite pleased by the way that this is going. On my blog, I have reached several milestones, the main ones consisting of:

- reached more than 1,000 views in total on my blog, which for a little person like myself is quite the achievement. One must start somewhere.
- Have international viewers
- Been referred to some PR companies
- Successfully changed my HTML name four different times over the four months I've been running my blog.

This is definitely on my goals list for next year!!!


I can again say that I did lose a tad of weight throughout the course of the year, but being Christmas and all, it is expected for one to put it all back on again. So for that goal, I get a cross. Sad face.

Unfortunately, I did not receive higher than 80% in all my subjects, due to personal reasons and the fact that in one particular sporty subject, I've merely just not handed in my assignments. Heehee. Other than that, I did receive higher than 80% in the subjects, but due to my failing of PDHPE sports, I get another cross on the list.

Good news though! I did start a savings account of two Australian dollars a week, which, for an impulse buyer, is quite a good regime to be on. I also got a job which adds to the savings account boosting the 2 dollars a week to 100 dollars a week, which, for a teenage girl is quite what you want.

I hope I've been friendly towards everybody I meet, but because I have this psychological problem...just kidding, I'm fine, but I do have this first impression prejudice kick which I am trying to get rid of. Hopefully by the new year, I will be a bit less judgemental on people. That, I am open to admit, is one of my flaws. I am prejudice and I know I am, but the important thing is to try and get out of the habit and that is what I'm going to do.

Okay, probably one of the worst goals...not to fall for stupid celebrities who will never even note my existence like a Mr Harry Styles. I failed this one big time...seriously...It's almost impossible to un-like someone so amazingly attractive, though his need to play on girls is certainly a big turn off for me.

Oh dear me.

I met Christina Perri. It was probably one of the greatest moments of my life as I've been a fan of hers since day one. Look her up if you don't know who she is.

I found someone who is interested in my music and I'll have more to post on that later in life.

I succeeded on Laser Hair removal.

And...lastly, due to a Gluten Intolerance thing, I have quit eating gluten.

Like I said above, the New Year is an exciting time of the year and while we look forward to the mysteries and webs that the New Year will bring, it is important to reflect on the year of 2012. Goodbye 2012, and hello 2013. I'll speak to you all in the new year and thank you for sticking with my rambles all this time.

Xx


Thursday 27 December 2012

Haul: Typo, Diva, French Connection












Hi everybody!

Disappointingly enough, it is December 28 today which means that Christmas is very officially over *big, long, sad, depressed sigh*. I find Christmas an interesting time of the year as there is such a lead up to the festive season and then all of a sudden, it's all over. Nonetheless, I have really enjoyed Christmas, and I suppose that someday it had to end, didn't it? But, as I say this, with the wind-up of the festive season, comes Boxing Day, and with Boxing Day, comes the week or so that we've been waiting for to arrive; Boxing Day Sales! 

Today, I got my Boxing Day Sales week to a cracking start and though I am a hardcore shoppaholic, I did not stay up in the city until the stroke of midnight waiting for Zara to open their doors for the end of year sales, no sir, but instead, like a civilised young lady, I took off some days later when the fuss died down and the sales continued to fly up to do a bit of post-Christmas shopping. 

The first shop I arrived at was one of my favourites, Typo, owned by Cotton On. I bought several new exercise books for my upcoming school year as I do like to keep everything quite organised in my schooling life. My subjects this year, because I'm only sixteen and still in school, are English (which I got the moustache book for because my uncle, who is quite the broad York man with a moustache as thick as his accent, is English and it reminded me of him), Math, Science (I got the phrenology one because we're studying more of a psychological syllabus this year), French (Eiffel Tower...a tad self explanatory), Geography (The geographical mountainous one), Commerce (It's not really connected...I just thought it was pretty) and History Extension. For me, these books were an absolute margin, originally $7 and reduced to $2 (each). I'd always been a fan of the aesthetic-side and practicality of the Typo writing books, but last year, I bought my writing books in the new year when all the new stock had arrived in town, so naturally, they cost more so this year I decided to be shop-smart and went to buy all my books when the sales were on. The only thing I'm a bit concerned about is the amount of space in the books. They are quite narrow and although they don't state how many pages, I'm apprehensive about just how long they might last.

The next thing I got was an Apple Mac Air spotted case. Now, I didn't already have a case for my laptop and it was starting to get a bit worn and torn by my handling and transporting from Dad's to Mum's every week so I felt like a case was essential otherwise the ol' laptop wouldn't be lasting very long. Another little thing that made me more leaned towards buying the case was it's raging price from 20 or something dollars to a mere 5 dollars. This, for me, was just a no brainer kind of thing. I needed a good quality case, and Typo was selling one for five dollars was just a deal.

(Just quickly, I am aware that at the rate I'm typing, this may be a little bit of a long post so I'm going to cut everything down and probably not review it in the deepest of heart as I normally would, as I'm conscious of the fact that it may get pretty boring and the slightest repetitive so i'm going to try and make it quite quick!)

I got a 2 Litre water bottle for five dollars. I thought this water bottle was simply gorgeous when I first laid eyes on it, and believe it or not, I didn't already have a water bottle for going out and school as I would just be more leaned to buying an Australian Lucozade type thing or a Pump or even just using the school bubbler fountain, so I decided to go eco-friendly and buy a bottle for five which again, b-a-r-g-i-n!

Last year, something happened and my pencil case somewhat got a slit in it, probably from a lousy pair of scissors so I got a new one (again with the Eiffel Tower) for a bit more than what I was hoping, $10, and with it, bought the pencil case needs; highlighters, pens, pencils and a violet coloured marker for relatively cheap too.

All right! Next shop, French Connection. I'll have you know that this is the first thing I've ever bought from French Connection, and as I sit here wearing my pastel pink Jeggings, I couldn't be happier. When the pastel trend came about, I was going pretty crazy over a pair of pink jeans though because it was brand new, I've been holding my horses for a good quality pair of which were cheap, practical and though aesthetically nice, too. We popped into FC and they caught my eye and I flew over to them to check it out - $100 down to $50; 50% off on a pair of good quality jeggings seemed like a pretty good deal to me so I tried it out, fit like a glove and bought it and I tell you, I'm very excited to show them off to the world. 

I popped into Diva quickly afterwards and bought a few things; four rings, three diamante silver and one gorgeous little skull ring which I thought was very snazzy and quite the statement. I've never really been a big ring wearer but I have seen some of the major bloggers posting about rings so I thought I'd check it out and see what was what and though slightly expensive, I bought them. Because they are diamante, one can pretty much wear them and fit them with everything, and skulls are quite the "in" trend at the moment. My mother thought they were funny!

Anyway, there's my very short post about what I bought, I tell you, cutting it all down was quite hard as I do tend to babble on a fair bit, but yes. Enjoy your new year's eve, enjoy the boxing day sales, and a merry 2013 to you! 

P.s. I did change my name from Littleblackbirdblog to Luceindia because I felt that the former was a bit of a mouthful to say and Luceindia just kind of rolls off the tongue a bit better!

Twitter: @Luceindia

Tumblr: littleblackbirdblog.tumblr.com

Pintrest: lucyderouge

Xx


Wednesday 26 December 2012

My Christmas!

Hi everybody!

Just thought I'd share a few happy snaps that I took throughout the festive, beautiful and family time of Christmas. I do apologise for my absence in blogging, I've really tried to make Christmas this year a wonderful and pro-family time as some of you know, my year has been a bit all over the place and desolate. So, without further ado, here are some pretty Christmas things that happened over advent.





A beautiful owl my friend gave to me

Can't have Christmas without ginger bread

Our house before it fell apart


Chocolate truffles

Don't know about you, but from where I am from (Leeds) we have
Christmas cake with cheese! Tastes amazing.


For Christmas, Father Christmas gave me a glorious and amazing
electric acoustic guitar with an amplifier and a pick up!!!

I like the contrast of colours

Dining table

Quite a rainy Christmas day for us.

Beautiful dining room with the snowy garland and fireplace



Christmas pudding covered in rum and set to fire

Diary from my brother, chocolate sauce and owl
candle from the Grandparents


iPhone from my mother!!! OMG
Though with gifts and food like this, it is easy to lose sight of what Christmas is really about; giving, family, friends, and the birth of Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas, everybody, and a happy new year!

Xx

Wednesday 19 December 2012

1920's Fashion

Newly defined shorter, more physical dresses, short hair in flapper style and cloche hats

Gorgeous new age evening dresses

Downton Abbey's Edith, Sybil and Mary

Trending it flapper style.

Hi everybody!

So, I don't know about you, but I know that ever since I have begun watching Downton Abbey and even an Australian tv show called Phryne Fisher, I've become absolutely head over heels obsessed with the fashion presented in the late 1910's and throughout the 20's decade. So today, having just watched my latest episode of Downton and coming out thinking 'how about doing a post on the history of fashion?', I have decided to do pretty much exactly that, and I've been thinking, like my fortnightly Style Icon posts and such, to make the history of fashion a regular monthly post, so starting with the 20's, here's my first post!

The 1920's was an era when fashion finally begun to become a little bit more unique and a bit less frilly and girly. A couple of years after the first World War (14-18), the women of the twenties had decided to get rid of the restricting corset-like dresses that covered up pretty much every little inch of skin on one's body, and dawn a new age of shorter skirts, shorter "bob" hairstyles and of course, a new, more masculine attitude to feminism (excuse my contradictory terms there).

Phryne Fisher. Example of a flapper outfit.


Probably the most iconic look that people nowadays would associate 20's fashion with has to be the "flapper" look, which, for those who do not know, comes from the post-war modern pro-feminism attitude where women began to redefine what a woman would stand for. It was the age where women became more identified, not as the property of the man as it was pre-war, but as independent and as capable of working as men were; and although equality between genders has finally begun to match just over the past few years, this was the dawn of the new age for women, where the seed for equality was first planted. 

The iconic flapper look consisted of the evolution from shapeless dresses that the ladies would have been told to wear in the closer 1910's had been swapped and though, reluctantly until about mid-twenties, did the new trend of womenswear begin to evolve; the first three or so years into a more shapely gown consisting of pleats, gathering around the waistline and were more or less used to flatten the bust instead of making it more prominent as the 10's dresses did, and in the later few years of the twenties, waistlines were first lowered to more the hips, and then completely dumped. The flapper dresses were more subject to being functional to wear as opposed to the 10's dresses which were more featured to flatter a woman. Throughout the years, skirts became shorter, sleeves decreased in size and slowly, it became acceptable for a woman to show her arms and legs...it's crazy to think that these days, we walk around wearing denim shorts and singlet tops when just ninety or however many years ago, should we be wearing this at that time, we would be in deep trouble and frowned upon mercilessly.

New attitudes


Fashion has a certain mental mindset, and with the flapper style, came a new attitude. Though it seemed quite unladylike to most in the 20's, this was the age where women begun to smoke, drink, swear in public (oh dear, they sound perilous). Because of the lack of men to work in factories and in offices when the war was going on, women were temporarily allowed to fill the positions, and it was from this point in time where women working really begun to show the turn in the tables.

French Actress Audrey Tautou in Coco Avant Chanel
(If you're a Chanel fan, like me, I highly recommend
you watch this movie. It's amazing, though I
believe it is in French...)

Another iconic 20's associated look was the birth of the bob haircut, which, I suppose in Vogue is still in style today. The short, ear length hair was defined originally as a bit out there and radical, but eventually by the beginnings of the 30's, was totally the new style to have, especially when women begun to wear smaller and less extravagant hats called "Cloche hats", due to their circular appearance, much resembling a kitchen cloche. 

This was absolutely one of my favourite times, as this was when Coco Chanel finally made her appearance which, if I may add, has definitely defined and shaped the style of a woman through the many years. Like Downton Abbey's Mary Crawley, Coco Chanel is definitely one of my many styling idols, as, if you think about it, she was probably the most influential woman of the 20's. Her influence on many swayed the opinion of women wearing pants, blazers and hats, promoting feminism, that without her, women probably wouldn't have the style of clothes, or even rights, that we have today.

Coco Chanel


Though at the beginning of her designing line, people frowned upon her and her idea of women wearing pants and blazers, I mean, "pants and blazer's are totally what men wear, right?" (Note that ol' sarcasm). But as the years went on, and Coco ditched the corset to create a more casual, even sporty, though still elegant look, she gained popularity and recognition for her new trending style. 

I could honestly talk all day about how amazing Chanel is, but I won't bore you with my babble. All in all, I don't know if it's just because I've become more aware of it or what, but even now as I'm walking down the streets and admiring some of the gorgeous outfits people wear, I do see little hints of the 1920's in every garment, and as cheesy as it sounds, I seriously and honestly believe that the 20's was the dawn of a new age.

Xx

Monday 17 December 2012

Style Icon: Emma Watson

Hi everybody!

So, I didn't really have anything planned to write about for a few weeks as I though well because Christmas is coming up, I'll do a massive haul of everything I got then and then that would take up several posts as well. A while ago, I did a style icon post about Kelly Smythe, the leading fashion designer (if you haven't seen that, click here), and so today I thought I would do another one, this time about Emma Watson.



























(just for the record, I think she looks gorgeous no matter how short/long her hair is!)

Emma Watson is gradually becoming one of the world's most iconic and most loved actresses, not to mention her English/French background and aside all her amazing works with Harry Potter and The Perks. She's also been involved in several fashion campaigns and has worked as a model for Burberry, Lancome, Chanel, etc. I actually remember the moment when I began to absolutely love the style of fashion that Emma flaunted (this was after I fell in love with her Hermione Granger persona in Harry Potter); I couldn't have been older than about ten or so and I was walking down one of the High Streets of Sydney when I saw her 2009 Autumn Campaign for Burberry.


Autumn Burberry Campaign 2009

Autumn Burberry Campaign 2009

Even though thee campaign and shoot was done several years ago, still to this day I absolutely love the typical London rainy day weather with the beige trench coats and also adding in that iconic Burberry pattern. I remember, not long after I saw the campaign did my father take me to Europe for a month or two and whilst in Belgium, he bought one of the Burberry navy coats (he did look a tad like Paddington Bear, though it was navy blue and ahem, high quality. Hee Hee), and that was probably one of the greatest moments of my life (guess it brings out the superficiality in one!); we (meaning dad) owned a Burberry coat that one of Emma Watson's attractive male models styled.

Quite recently, Emma Watson modelled as the face of Lancome, which, in my opinion, she styled amazingly. I think that having the choice of a fresh, young and popular actress to be the face of something so high-classed, and declaring more of a target market for 20's-40's kind of brought it down a little bit and made the spectrum a bit wider, for me, at least. I know that whenever my mother brought me into the city and we'd go into the Myer district and to the cosmetics area, I would always go over to Lancome and have a whiff of the perfume that one of my style icons tried out. I think she has a lot of influence over people, and in the example above, a brand that was slowly decreasing in popularity (like Burberry was several years ago) kind of needed a fresh new kick to bring up the status a little bit, opening up the target and putting an influence on a younger audience who know her for her acting works.

I think she looks gorgeous here. I love the dress; I think it's
a wonderful combination of
elegance, yet modern
chic
I find that the Tresor Midnight Rose (the perfume she modelled for at Lancome) is a really youthful, fresh, elegant, yet quite floral scent. For me, this was an interesting combination because I find that florals are more targeted towards an older audience, but being just a teenager, I found the scent quite elegant, yet as I say, youthful and easy to wear if you are a younger person. I don't know if that's just me, as I do sway towards more high-end perfume brands to try when I go into the cosmetics section at Myer or David Jones instead of all the celebrity and Juicy Couture stuff, and in contrast to that, I do tend to stay away from florals as well, but the curious thing was I really did like the Lancome perfume.

Loving the hat that she wears in the commercial
for the perfume. Again, like her outfit above,
her modern infusion of elegance and class
meets chic and modernism ties & contrasts
wonderfully. The hat also
reminds me a bit
of Chanel!


Furthermore, I don't know if I'm just repeating myself or what, but I thought that the perfume was supposed to be aimed at almost a younger 15-30 year old audience, and by having Emma Watson's face on the marketing campaign would have made that younger audience more swayed to buy the product, like my little scenario above!

Elegant, yet modern, youth aged bottle! Love the purple, too!
























Last, but not least, So it's been rumoured that Emma is to replace our much loved fellow Brit, Keira Knightly as the face of Chanel's prestigious Coco Mademoiselle. To be honest, though I do like and admire Keira's wonderful ability to act so well in Love Actually and several others, for me, she's never really done it in the modelling world, I don't know if it's her scarily thin body or what not, but I've just never really liked her as a model, so for me, having a fresh, young new face modelling on one of the world's haute couture brands was a new age.

Though Keira Knightly's contract hasn't run out yet and still in action, thus making Emma not able to model just yet, rumour has it that Emma has signed a 3 million pound contract for two years with Chanel. I think that Watson styles Chanel so elegantly and, like the above, opens up that target market for a younger audience, such as my self.

We'll see what is in store for Emma's next iconic and elegant life!

Xx