Melbourne ♥

If you follow me on instagram then you may have already seen some of my photos from my trip to Melbourne last week! The polar opposite of my home city of Sydney, I completely fell in love with Melbourne in my short 4 days of visiting. It's such a pretty, interesting city, so I just wanted to share some of my favourite photos and places! As all my friends had abandoned me for the uni break, I went with my mum - who suggested that we rename the trip "the Instagram holiday" because we basically just ended up visiting places suggested by lovely people on Instagram (and were never disappointed, thank you SO much alexvandenbroek, fentonjulia, sallylandillustration, frombelle, thatgirlinthatdress, misspolkadot_, sparklemiss, maevekerrc, ellielilac) and by my wonderful friend Leila. The first place that I need to talk about is De Jour Jeans (542 Sydney Rd, Brunswick). They sell custom-fitted jeans for $53, and have the cutest shop assistants of all time! Even though it might not look like much, Dejour Jeans is extremely popular, and if you go on a Saturday there's usually a queue out the door! We were smart and went early on a Monday morning (and it was still really busy).  But the best bit: you pick out a pair of jeans, and if they don't fit perfectly they tailor them for you for free! Me wearing my new jeans! Savers (330 Sydney Rd, Brunswick) - the largest op shop I've ever been in. I was a little bit overwhelmed. LOOK AT ALL OF THIS. St Kilda/Brighton Beachhuts I really felt like I was on a beach in England, especially because most of the time that we were there, the weather was quite gloomy! Fitzroy/Collingwood One of the best things about Fitzroy was the street art! This was all found along Johnston St: But of course, the absolute best thing about this area was all the vintage and handmade shops. Sadly I couldn't get to them all in one day, but I tried my hardest! Above, Sally's Retro (203 Smith St Fitzroy). Below, Vintage Garage (318 Smith St, Collingwood). The two streets to go to for some heavenly window shopping (and sneaky changing room selfies in dresses you're never going to buy) are Smith St and Fitzroy St (Gertrude St was also suggested to me, but it's more cafes!) Messina Icecream (237 Smith St, Fitzroy) Okay, so although Messina is something you can find in Sydney, I just thought the wall here was really cool. The Laneways & The CBD Lady Petrova (237 Flinders Lane) I nearly died of excitement when I stumbled across Lady Petrova's real-life store. It was like stepping into pastel heaven. I took a billion pictures, talked to the cute shop assistant (Me: "OMG! You guys are amazing and you sponsor my friend in America aoifnsodginodffggjk" shop lady: "Yeah, sure we do....." *crazy lady*) and I also tried on a very pretty dress. The first thing I did upon leaving was to message Kailey about 1,000 pictures of the place, as she is the one who introduced me to the brand! Quick Brown Fox (262 Flinder's Lane) I bought myself the cutest little apple earrings from this store. I wanted ALL the earrings, though. Kinki Gerlinki One of the coolest designers I have ever come across! Those tapestry shoes above have CLEAR platforms. There are a couple of stores scattered across Melbourne, and while it is pricey, I recommend you visit one just to look at all the pretty things. Clementine's (7 Degraves St) This store stocks the best handmade goodies, all made in Melbourne. The above brooch set is from a Melbourne designer named Bok Bok B'Gerk. Retrostar Vintage (1/37 Swanston St) The number of pretty dresses here nearly killed me - but somehow I was overcome by this incredible restraint, and I only bought 1 ring(???)  I am kind of regretting not getting the stripey red dress though, even if it was a little bit too big... On our last night we went to Soda Rock Diner (257 Toorak Rd, South Yarra), an authentic reconstruction of a 1950s diner! The thickshakes and cheesy fries were phenomenal! I hope you enjoyed my little travel post! If you live in Australia and have never been; or if you are thinking of visiting Australia - GO TO MELBOURNE. That's all I can say. I seriously loved it almost as much as I loved Japan (and do you guys remember how much I loved Japan??!) All of the love, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Paisley'd Pinafore / Living in the Future

AX Paris sent me this amazing paisley-patterned pinny a little over a week ago, and since then I have been searching for the perfect blouse to pair it with. This morning, I discovered that I already owned that perfect blouse! This lace blouse is several years old now, and I am excited to have rediscovered it. I love finding old clothes at the back of my closet that I'd completely forgotten about - it's basically like buying new clothes, right? I'm also doing a Milanoo review in this blog post - that's where I got this suuuuper cute bear bag from! Milanoo first caught my eye with all their cheap lolita dresses, but then I read some bad reviews and wasn't so sure. So I asked Milanoo to send me something, so I could see for myself whether or not they were legitimate! Well, I have to say I'm really happy with my first experience with them (with their bags, at least. I can't say anything about their lolita dresses yet!) The bag is really well made, and basically the cutest thing that has ever existed. It's also the perfect size for a day-bag, and the straps can be made longer so you can wear it across your body like a satchel bag. Also, the shipping was surprisingly fast - it took 8 days to arrive in Australia, which for international shipping is super speedy. Although it is only a one-off buy, and I can't speak for everyone who has seemingly had a bad experience with them, I am really happy with the site. pinafore - c/o AX Paris blouse - Forever 21 tights - c/o Oasap bag - c/o Milanoo shoes - c/o Yes Walker You guys know how excited I am about 3D Printing (see me gushing about it here and here). And you may have also remembered me talking about the possibilities of printing out functioning organs sometime in the future. Well, the future is here! Princeton University scientists have 3D-printed an ear out of cells mixed with hydrogels (which is a basically just a polymer, either natural or synthetic), and added electronic bits to it including an antennae, so that when connected to someone's auditory nerve, it could potentially allow a deaf person to hear. This whole experiment was just a proof-of-concept that a 3D printer could handle biological material mixed with micro-electronics, but the potential applications of this are vast! The picture of the ear is a little inappropriate to put on a fashion blog, so I'll let you check it out here (it's not gruesome or anything, don't worry). Are you guys all having a good week? Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr