Caritaz jewellery; have you heard of it? I came across the gorgeous range the other day, and loved its pieces and the concept behind it so much that I had to share it with you.
What makes Caritaz special? Not only is the jewellery itself really beautiful - as well as the pendants above, there's a whole range of charms, accessories, rings and and cuff links, all decorated with lovely Swarovski crystals - but it's all for an excellent cause.
Caritaz was founded in 2009 with the aim of raising funds and awareness for worldwide charities. Each piece of jewellery it sells is designed especially for and dedicated to one particular charity, and the company donate a large proportion of the sale of each piece to the cause. So you get a beautiful piece of jewellery, and help a charity at the same time - seems like a win-win situation!
So what is there to buy, and what cause does it help? The Swarovski Crystal Butterfly Pendant and the Swarovski Clover Crystal Pendants, above, have to be my favourite pieces from Caritaz. Made of silver, rhodium and, of course, Swarovski crystals, they both retail at £80, or £120 with a chain. Best of all, buy these pieces and you'll be helping children's hospices (the Butterfly Pendant) or domestic violence charities (the Clover Pendant) - a cause which is especially close to my heart.
I also love these charms; in a variety of colours and decorated with Swarovski crystals, they detail the name of the cause they're helping (eg skin cancer and liver disease) on the inside of the charm, and retail at £45. Very cute.
You can purchase Caritaz jewellery through their site, or at several stores across the UK.
I've posted about Pull & Bear before - their lookbooks seem to be a weakness of mine, because I always love all of them. They're always beautifully shot and I love this hazy S/S 11 one in particular - the soft colours, the clothes, the composition... lovely!
Oh, and the photographer is the hugely talented Spaniard Txema Yeste - love all of his work. You can read more about him here, if you so wish!
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How were your weekends? Mine was very lazy but lovely - it consisted mainly of eating lemon tart, watching Eurovision, eating pizza, drinking wine, eating quesadillas (yes, there was a lot of eating this weekend!), going to the cinema and going for nice walks around lakes. And generally lots of being lazy! I needed a relaxing weekend though, because this week's going to be hectic, with events and seeing friends and tutoring, oh and working of course...
I've also been booking time off for holidays this week, which means that I've been thinking about holiday outfits - which means I've been thinking about toning up a little bit. Let me clarify at this point that I'm not a girl who's obsessed with my weight or body - I don't weight myself or measure inches, typically - and I eat fairly healthily, although I do admit to being a chocoholic! Although I work 8 hours a day and am out of the house for a minimum of 11 hours a day during the week, I currently walk fifteen minutes each way to the station near me and then a further ten between the station in London and where I work at least one way, meaning that I get 40 minutes, at least, of exercise a day. Enough to be not completely unfit, probably, but hardly enough to tone up or make any real difference - but by the time I get home at 7:30pm at the earliest and eat, there's really no time to go to an exercise class or the gym (and I doubt I could be bothered to venture out the house again anyway, if I'm totally honest).
So. In an effort to tone up a little (emphasis here is, by the way, not on losing weight - I don't really care about that, but I just want to feel more toned and perhaps a little healthier), I've been inspired by the Where are my Knees girls and have decided to try Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred this month. I've been looking for a good exercise DVD for a while, and the good thing about this one is that it's an intense 20 minute workout that burns calories really quickly and mixes up cardio, strength and abs - so you get a bit of everything and hopefully do some good in a really short space of time; perfect for my commuting lifestyle! Today was my first day doing it, and so far, so good - I started on Level 1 which I found manageable in terms of my legs (did ballet for years, they're very strong) but a bit of a workout for my arms! I'll be letting you know how I get on though - and, for the purposes of this little exercising experiment, I've also taken measurements, so I can also keep track of any potential inches lost over the next 30 days.
Have you ever tried it? What exercise would you recommend for a busy lifestyle?
Floral Stud Dress, Topshop; Red Swallow Print Dress, River Island; Navy Stripe Dress, Topshop; Navy Print Kimono Dress, River Island; White Tights, Topshop; Lace-up Brogues, River Island; Flower Tooled X-Body Bag, Urban Outfitters; Jewellery, various.
Here are a few recent buys - I decided that it was time to treat myself, and so rather predictably ended up buying dresses, tights, bags and some pretty jewellery.
And a few little things I quite fancy getting (is it wrong that I really want a pair of dungarees...?)Jersey Dress, Topshop; Floral dress, Miss Selfridge; Denim dungarees, Urban Outfitters; Crochet bag, River Island; Grey feather trilby, River Island; Headband, Accessorize
What have you bought yourself on the high street lately?
This dreamy shoot is from Mirage magazine - the model is Elyse Taylor and the excellent photographer is Antony Noblio (I thoroughly recommend you to check him out if you haven't already!)
I'm posting this shoot not because I like the clothes - although it is a fashion shoot, and I have to say I quite like the white lace leotard in the first, left-hand image. What I love about this shoot is the dreamy, light-filled photography, the model's expressions, the lake-side, countryside setting and the slightly-out-of-focus-on-purpose atmosphere that Noblio creates.
Would I, usually, want to wear a leotard, denim shorts and white cowboy boots? The answer, I can assure you, is no - I'm generally all about dresses, florals and flowing, feminine outfits. But, looking at this shoot, I actually start to want to dress like her; and that, I think, is the art of excellent fashion photography - when the setting, model and execution of the photographer can make fairly 'ordinary' and uninspiring items seem, all of a sudden, like must-haves.
What do you think of this shoot?
