Bloomin' Science

SO - Hong Kong. Flip. I have been having the best time - I have accumulated around 50 gigabytes of video footage and photographs so far! As soon as I get some down-time (which, to be honest, may not be until I'm back in Sydney! Hehe), I am going to post ALL OF THE THINGS! I have been discovering the most amazing markets, shops and places to visit and I can't wait to share them. I've also been having a great couple of days of meeting Hong Kong locals, such as designer and illustrator Eilidh from Book of Deer! I love that my blog has allowed me to meet so many cool people from all over the world, who I would otherwise have never known about. Can I give a shout-out to the internet? Top is DIY | necklace is handmade (Hong Kong, HKID gallery) | skirt is vintage | shoes are from Asos (sold out) | belt is vintage Also - you might have noticed that I haven't posted any science news/facts/tidbits on here for a while. I've been having somewhat of a mini-life-crisis, thinking, "maybe I don't like science anymore?? Maybe I just want to do sewing/fashion/design and make videos forever??" - until I realised that I actually just dislike exams (who doesn't) and it was the stress of two super difficult biochemistry examinations that put me off science for a while. But last night I started watching SciShow again and remembered that I do actually love science. Because you can use it to answer both every serious and ridiculous question that you might have. Like "why can you see your breath in the cold?" and"do you REALLY only use 10% of your brain?" (the answer is no.) I wanted to share one of my favourite videos from SciShow, to try and get back into the habit of blogging about science more regularly again! You should totally watch this, even if you already know the answer: Much love! Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Hong Kong Video/Vlog/Vintage Haul!

Hello! I promised I'd show you all the *amazing* vintage haul that I made the other day at a shop called Me & George - and so I made a video. I tried to make it different to your typical haul video where people just sit there holding up clothes and yakking about the things they bought (although I reserve the right to do that in the future - filming this took quite some time). I hope that you like it! p.s. if there are any Hong Kong locals who read my blog & would like to meet up, get in contact! Love love love, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Beach Bloomers

Blouse - Thrifted | Skirt - Thrifted | Socks - Clear It | Shoes - Naot (Kedma's) | Bloomers - old Seasons greetings and happy end of the year! This is a simple look that I wore down to the beach last week. The blouse and the skirt are recently thrifted items - the blouse being $1 from a girl who was selling all her old clothes at a market stall. I wore my favourite ever lace bloomers underneath, which are perfect for short skirts and dresses, and look particularly cute when paired with knee-high socks. Sadly, the bloomers are so loved that they're completely falling apart at the seams. I'm going to have to learn how to make some for myself very soon! So did I mention that I'm going to Hong Kong in 19 days time, with one of my best friends?! Well, that's a thing that's happening. We booked the trip one year ago when we found $200 on-special flights and thought "well that's cheap, why not", then kinda forgot about it all year - and it's all of a sudden snuck up on us! Like everybody else in the world, I was also gifted with a selfie stick for Christmas - while I make fun of the people I see using selfie sticks in the street, I actually think it's going to come in really useful because I'm planning on making lots of vlogs about my time in Hong Kong! One of the things I'm definitely going to be vlogging about is my fabric shopping. There's an entire fabric and DIY district in Sham Shui Po (check out that link and DROOL), and I'm planning on devoting at least a couple of days solely to looking around that area. If you've ever been to Hong Kong, I'd love some suggestions for places to visit! Much love! Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

DIY Sweetheart Dress & Kumquat Trees

This is the best dress that I have ever made. I am so ludicrously proud of it! If you follow me on instagram then you might have seen the progression of this dress from bedsheet to cute vintage dress over the past week. The whole dress is made entirely (apart from the bias tape around the bust and zipper which were separately thrifted) from a bedsheet that I picked up from the thrift store the other day - even the buttons! I made up my own pattern for this dress (and yes I am working on a tutorial for it!), and I'm very happy with how it fits! I just used a basic circle skirt pattern for the bottom half, making it a little bit longer than I usually make my circle skirts to give it more of a "vintage" feel. The heart pockets were a brilliant suggestion by Carbon Chic - seriously, Demi has been like my sewing fairy godmother for the past year or so, because she is always inspiring me and giving me amazing ideas for my sewing! They were the perfect finishing touch that my dress required. I'm super excited because Demi is actually coming to visit me this weekend in Sydney. As well as going op-shopping together, we're aiming to join creative forces and have some kind of "sew-off" session - I'm really looking forward to what will result! For this entire past week I have been staying at a wonderful beach house down the south coast. As I wandered down into the backyard the other day to take photos of my dress, I discovered that the house we are staying in has a giant kumquat tree! Not only is it pretty to pose with, I also LOVE kumquats. I am obsessed with all things sour - seriously, I could eat sour lollies all day long (in fact, when I was a kid I ate sour things so much that my tongue would literally bleed & I'm also someone who can easily drink a cup vinegar), so naturally, kumquats are one of my all-time favourite fruits. (This is me stealing all the kumquats to take home with me, haha). Dress - handmade by me | shoes - Katie's (from Estonia) | necklace - c/o Ginger Pickle Little science fact for the day - did you know that kumquats can form hybrids with other citrus fruits? Many varieties of hybrids exist including lemonquats, limequats, and fukushu, which is a mandarin-kumquat hybrid. I wonder if Lemonquats would be even more sour than both lemon and kumquats individually are? If so, I want to eat all of them! What's the most sour food that you've ever eaten? (I'm on a bit of a quest to find the most sour foods in the world). I'm not really sure how I progressed so quickly from dressmaking to sour foods there, but in any case, I hope you're all having a really great day! All my love, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Life's a Beach

I'm feeling super lucky because I got to spend the weekend with these two gorgeous ladies, at my boyfriend's brother's wedding party, and we have had the loveliest couple of days eating food, going for walks and brief dips in the ocean (brief because the water has been freezing). It's the first time in many months that I have finally been able to relax, and not have the constant worry about assessment deadlines and health issues hanging over everything I do. It's really, really nice. I was asked to take wedding photos, and as I am a very shy person, being able to approach people from behind the lens of the camera under the guise of taking pictures was a liberating experience for me. As the sun began to set and the light hit "golden hour", I also convinced Katie and Tilde to be their cute selves and take photos with me, and what resulted was one of my favourite photo shoots ever. Annika's swimsuit - Glebe Markets | Tilde's swimsuit - Seafolly | Katie's swimsuit - Venderstore Aren't Tilde and Katie the absolute cutest? (Katie just posted more pictures, so click over to her blog to see them!) I'm spending the remainder of the week with Katie and a few of my closest friends down at the beach, and I also have my sewing machine and looooots of fabric with me (I am not one for packing light when going on holidays), which means that hopefully I will also have lots of cute crafty things and pictures to show you over the next couple of days! Love love, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

In Bloom / Milk and Chemistry

I took these photos the day after I finished my last exam, and it was the first time that I had dressed up to go out in a lonnnng time. I matched a bunch of reds with dark red and more red, because I love matchy-matchy colours. These pretty, pretty tights are from Tabbi Socks, and are made in Japanese city that is apparently famous for it's sock-making - Koryo-city, Nara! Included in my order was a brief history about the city and the lives of the people who live there. I wish that more companies told you the story behind their manufacturing processes - I think that it's good for you to know more about where your clothes are coming from, because it's all too easy to take them for granted. Also, Tabbi socks have the prettiest floral tights for sale right now and it's making me wish that it wasn't about to go into full-blown summer here, because I want them all! Tart ring c/o Ginger Pickle | pancake ring is handmade | Top from Glebe Markets (upcycled vintage) | skirt is thrifted | tights c/o Tabbi Socks | shoes from Japan | bag is thrifted I have to give a quick shout-out to two amazing artists, whose work I have admired for a long time, who both surprised me this week by drawing me! These artists have two very different styles, and I love them both. The first is by Rachel, who sent me this gorgeous watercolour illustration. I just love the dress and necklace that Rachel put me in - I think that I'm going to have to recreate both somehow! Anton Belardo (@jellyfishkisses on instagram) makes the most wonderfully creepy-cute collage-style fashion illustrations. Just as I was sitting in a doctor's surgery today feeling super nervous, scrolling through instagram, I found that I'd been tagged in this amazing illustration - which brightened my mood considerably! I'm a badass mermaid - I can get through anything (plus, the news from my doctor ended up being good, so that was even better). Thank you so much, Anton! I am so lucky to have been connected to such creative people through the world of blogging, and honoured to be considered a worthy muse for their art! And finally - some science. Chemistry is ridiculous! This is what happens when you combine milk, food dye and dish soap (which is on the end of the cotton tip).  So what's happening?  Milk contains a lot of water, but it also has some fat, which is a "water hating" molecule (hydrophobic) - this is why when you pour oil into water, the two don't mix. Adding soap - a molecule that has one "water loving" (hydrophilic) and one "water hating" (hydrophobic) end - starts the chemical reaction. The hydrophilic end dissolves into the water, while the hydrophobic end attaches to the fat molecules. The hydrophobic ends of the soap try to match up with all of fat molecules they can find, causing the food colouring (which, being less dense than milk, floats on the surface) to be moved around in all different directions. And you can do this yourself at home! I love DIY science! I hope that you are all having a beautiful day, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Is This The Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy?

The moment that I stepped outside with my camera and stood against favourite white wall to take some outfit photos, everything felt so normal again. I didn't realise just how much I had missed regular blogging! Well, my exams are now over and that means I am pretty much free for the summer. And like always... now I don't know what to do with myself. While studying (note: procrastinating), I made about 100 different plans of things to do and make and people to see over the summer - and now I'm completely overwhelmed by my own freedom and I'll likely just spend the next couple of days sitting around in my underwear wasting time on facebook instead. Ho hum. But I just have to keep reminding myself that having some downtime is okay! Dress is thrifted | necklace c/o Now Or Never Jewelry | earrings are handmade | shoes c/o Chicwish (old)| socks from Glebe Markets The necklace that I am wearing is a sponsored gift from Now Or Never, an independent handmade designer from Spain with some of the the coolest, quirkiest jewellery I have ever come across. They have just released an ~amazing~ collection of candy-themed accessories called the "Psychocandy Collection", which I think would make some perfect Christmas gifts (or a treat for yourself!) I also went on a cute sock splurge at Glebe Markets last weekend (which I have already posted all about on my instagram), so be prepared to see a lot of cute patterned socks on my blog! I am loving these pineapple ones. My housemate happened to buy me some pineapple underwear on the same day that I got the socks, so I spent the rest of that day being a pineapple queen! All I need now is a pineapple skirt/shorts and I will have a complete pineapple outfit (life goals, right?) I've missed you all so dearly! Update me on what's been going on in your lives while I've been absent from blogging these past few months! Love always, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr