Summer in the city

Summer in the city - it has been sunny and lovely in London for the past week. It is really exceptional to have such a long lasting heatwave on this side of the world. We are talking about +28'C to +31'C outside every single day. And what is the strangest thing is that the temperature doesn't drop in the evening, it pretty much stays around +27'C to +29'C throughout the whole night - which has meant a serious contemplating of a midnight shower a few times :)

Aside of the warm temperatures, it has been wonderful to see how the whole London comes out to restaurants and bars after work. We have been spending time in Richmond river front, Southbank and Shoreditch. People are happy, feel free and have a smile on their faces -even though everyone is pretty much sweating all the time.

Summer in the city - wearing a light blue summer dress and beige leather flats with golden details

This summer's best summer drinks have definitely been ice cold cappucinos and wonderfully refreshing strawberry & white wine summer punch. We discovered this beautiful and light drink this week whilst being in Hoxton square for dinner and a few post-drinks. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a summer in a glass!
 

Summer drink; lemons, strawberries, white wine, soda

Sunday morning

Good morning lovelies.

It is an early Sunday morning and I'm sitting in the lounge, watching the water in the Thames flow by, stomach full of breakfast. I feel relaxed, content and peaceful. It is one of those beautifully perfect mornings.

Pretty pink Foxglove

Violet lupin

"Beauty is the greatest seduser of a man"

-Paolo Coelho

New ballerinas

I have been meant to write this post about my new ballerinas for some time now. I visited Stockholm a while ago and got myself two beautiful pairs of leather ballerina flats from Rizzo's 2013 summer sales.

Rizzo is a Swedish retailer selling beautiful footwear and accessories. They are under a bigger retail group, Venue Retail group,  who also own similar footwear, accessory and bag brands as Accent and Morris. They sell shop brand products under the name Rizzo as well as other brands such as Billi Bi and Menbur They have shops only in the Nordic countries, which is why I often make sure I nip in their Helsinki store in Aleksanterinkatu, every time I visit home.It is a shame they haven't expanded to the UK yet, even though, who knows, there might be a some UK stores may well have taken Rizzo's products in.

The shoes Rizzo sells are classic and beautiful. Some of them have more interesting details than others, but as a rule, everything tends to look pretty good. Also, the majority of their products are made of leather which I will always give extra points. Shoes and bags are not too pricy - of course a lot more expensive than cheap and cheerful one month wonders - so I think with most of Rizzo's shoes you get good value for money.

Billi Bi beige leather ballerinas

Billi Bi's beige nubuck leather ballerinas have a beautiful golden buckle detailing. The end toe part of the shoe is made of black leather, which makes the otherwise natural coloured shoe look interesting and easy to mix with almost everything you are wearing. The shoes were -50% discount, which was a fantastic addition to these beauties.

These Rizzo ballerinas match perfectly with one of my bags; the colour is exactly the same. Also love the golden plates and little buckle detailing. I have been wearing these shoes a lot lately and they are amazing to walk in. These bad boys were also picked up from the -50% sale table.

Cardholders and cluthes

I have been trying to find the perfect kind of a card holder for ages now. I don't know why it really has taken me this long to make up my mind with this particular item as usually I don't waste time when I actually need something. So here it is now, a reptile leather skin card holder. Finally!

Also have a look at my impulsive clutch purchase below. Beige leather -50% sale. Whoopey doo and matches well with my new Modalu handbag :D

Leather reptile skin card holder

Beige leather clutch

Modalu - Pippa Brogue Grab bag

May I introduce to you my new handbag purchase Pippa Brogue Grab by Modalu London. Modalu's Pippa bag in nude is something I have wanted to buy for quite a some time now.

Modalu Spring 2012 colour pallete fresh lavender and soft sand

I bought the medium size Pippa Brogue Grap, the one with two front zip pockets, three main zip sections and double grab handles. The bag has a beautiful Modalu lining and comes with a dust bag. There are also little feet on base of the handbag that keep the handbag standing nicely. 

Modalu Pippa bag in nude Pippa grab handbag

Modalu lining Pippa bag

Pippa bags come in various colours and sizes and are all made of fine leather. Since I have always liked the nude colour Pippa bags (past season - hence they have been usually sold out everywhere I have looked) tracking down one has been quite a difficult thing to do. A few week's ago I, however, came across with one in a handbag and shoe shop Rizzo in Stockholm.  

Midsummer in Helsinki

This year I spent Midsummer fest in Helsinki. It has been a special weekend in many sense; nightless nights, summer sun, good food, drinks and most importantly the pleasure of good company. The icing on the cake was my friend's Midsummer wedding, which I will write a post a bit latter. 

The traditional Finnish Midsummer is usually spent in summer cottage, mökki. The place can be a basic summer cottage without a running water or electricity or a modern holiday home with three bedrooms and the latest gadgets. Regardless which option you choose, there is also two additional requirements most Finns have for their summer mökki. These are sauna and some type of water element for swimming (read skinny dipping). 

Since I wasn't able to escape the city this Midsummer, which is the ideal option to most of the Finns around this time of the year, I was lucky to stay in Scandic Paasi hotel in Helsinki. 

Scandic Paasi Superior Plus room (c)

Scandic Paasi hotel Superior Plus room (c)

Scandic Paasi hotel Face Stockholm bath vitalisizing soap and moisturizer (c)

Scandic Hotel Paasi Superior Plus room (c)

As you can see yourself, the room was fantastic. We stayed here for two nights and we were upgraded to a 6th floor superior plus room straight away (nice). Our room was spacious and bright with an interesting yet clam decor, polished with a mixture of blue, turquoise, black and white colours. 

Hotel itself located in a great place, very close to the city centre in Hakaniemi. Breakfast was phenomenal; there was a lot to choose from and everything was nicely placed and freshly made. The staff was super friendly and they were offering fun extras such as city bikes, roller blades, Nordic walking sticks and umbrellas for anyone wanting to experience the Finnish way of going out and about - I thought that was brilliant :D

summer sales 2013

Hello hello hello, summer sales 2013.

Summer sales have been very good this year. Maybe it is due to the fact that spring has been rather cold and wet, and that has encouraged people to leave the summariest pieces of clothes at the shop shelves and rails. This is clearly good news for all the summer sales shoppers who, like myself, have been able to find a lot of nice items with -50% discount tag attached.

Massimo Dutti logo

This year I have dedicated almost my entire summer sale shopping to one particular fashion retailer; Massimo Dutti. Massimo Dutti was founded in 1985 and became acquired by Inditex, the fashion distributor group known for owning brands such as Zara, Bershka and Pull & Bear in 1991. Interestingly enough, originally Massimo Dutti started off as a men's wear brand, until in 1992, the fashion brand launched it's first ladies collection and again in 2003 children's collection under the trade name Massimo Dutti boys & girls.

Massimo Dutti grey jumper

Massimo Dutti beige trousers

Massimo Dutti black trousers

Massimo Dutti striped top

Massimo Dutti Basic white t-shirt

Massimo Dutti light pink top

I absolutely love Massimo Dutti's clothes. They are so well designed, very classical and just beautiful. A better quality than Zara in my opinion, but at the same time, I do find the zippers in some MD clothes sewn too close to the fabric, which does make me to avoid buying certain items from MD. But all in all, Massimo Dutti is great. I would say that it is slightly more sophisticated and grown up version of Zara.

So as you can see my summer sale buys are, as always, quite classic and easy to mix.

Great Gatsby: Florence + The Machine - Over The Love

The Great Gatsby - glamorous and exciting.

I have read the F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel and seen the Baz Luhrmann's film. Loved the film a lot more than the book itself, which was quite surprising and quite a controversial thing to say about one of America's most beloved and read piece of work.

In general I love books and I often prefer reading over watching films. There is just something about books that I cannot resists. It might be the fact that you are allowed to use your own imagination and if a novel is written exceptionally well, you can't put the book down. It sucks you in right away and holds you tight up until the end.

The Great Gatsby film 2013

The Great Gatsby cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton

 As many of you know I love Florence + The Machine. Hence, I was very pleasantly surprised when I heard they were contributing to the Great Gatsby music. Bliss.

Rebecca Ferguson -Too Good to Lose

X-Factor Rebecca Ferguson <3 A definite good mood song!

man and dog watching a sailing boat
(c)

In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away

- shing xiong