Sports luxe..

I am totally loving the lace up trend recently so when I saw this jumper with the lace detailing I just had to add it to my A/W wardrobe! Its such a transitional piece and adds a little something to the simplist of outfits. I decided to style up a sports luxe look in this post as I am a massive fan of this look as I think if it is styled in the right way it can look super cool! Also, how amazing are my new adidas? I can't keep them off my feet!

                                                              Jumper - click here
                                                            Blazer - Primark
                                                    Trousers H&M last year - For similar, click here
                                                           Trainers - Click here

Playing with paisley...

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and aren't suffering with the monday blues to much. I have suddenly got a new found confidence when it comes to exploring new styles recently. I have never been a huge fan of bold prints however when I came across this super cute shirt dress on Boohoo which instantly went straight into my shopping basket!It is such a versatile piece and can be dressed up or down which is an element that I am going to start introducing to alot of the outfits that I share with you all as I feel that there is nothing better than getting the most out of the money when it comes to buying new clothes!

With the Autumn now well and truley here I have started to build up my collection of jackets and coats and I could not resist adding a bomber jacket into the mix this year espically when this one is only £22 from Misspap!

Now you may have all seen this insane mock croc bag all over your Instagram as all bloggers have been loving it! I think that a shoulder bag is such a wardrobe staple no matter the season as this one is not only the perfect fashion statement but it is also a pratical size to hold your day to day basics! What more could you want?

                                                            Boohoo Shirt - Click here
                                                        Boohoo bag - Click here
                                                              Bomber Jacket - Click here
                                                         Public desire boots - Click here

Learning to live with vitiligo, so what if my skin looks differen't?

Those of you who know me will know that I have a skin "condition" called Vitiligo which causes me to develop white patches all over my body. Although this is a sore topic for me to talk about I felt the need to write a blog post on this as I feel that not enough people are educated on this condition that effects me on a daily basis.

Vitaligo affects 1 in 100 people worldwide and is caused by the loss of skin pigment called melanin which leads to the apperance of white patches. Now I know some of you may be thinking, "so what? Your skin is white already, consider yourself lucky that you haven't got darker skin where the patches are more visible?" and I completely agree! However it is still a battle that I fight with myself every day both mentally and physically.

I first found signs of Vitiligo when I was 14 and at this point I thought my world was over. I spent three to four years of doctors appointments and skin specialists trying to find out what was wrong with my skin until one day I was told it was Vitiligo. Ever since that day I found myself in a dark place, especially when It came to self confidence, I hated looking in the mirror at myself in my underwear, or wearing a bikini as more and more of my body was being absorbed by this "disease" as I used to call it. I started to develop a hate for the summer, when May came around and everyone started discussing holidays, beaches and bikinis I found myself wishing that we could just skip the season all together. I used to love summer, beaches, holidays, and shopping for gorgeous swimwear and summer clothing but it started to feel like a nightmare. Its hard to sit in the gorgeous rays of sunshine that we (sometimes get) in England and on holiday, as even with factor 50 sun cream I burn badly and in turn causes the white patches to become more apparent. This is because vitiligo skin has no natural protection against the sun's rays because the melanocyte cells, which should produce melanin to turn the skin brown, are not active. In normal skin, this is a protective mechanism to prevent damage by burning.
Throughout high school and my teenage years I always got comments such as "your fake tan is so patchy" or "so will you end up looking like Michael Jackson then?" and even people worrying that it is contagious an that they might "catch it", which was hurtful and tiring having the explain is to people on a daily basis. For a while I spent hours researching the different types of treatments, despite knowing that it was incurable, but the only treatments being things like steroid creams which may help the restore some colour and taking a drug called Psoralen which is activated by UV rays.

However as I've grown older I have come to realise that I'm not that different to anyone else. Although it is a difficult condition to manage there are people out there who are suffering and having to deal with worse things in life. Although my self confidence will never be sky high I refuse to let Vitiligo hold me back anymore than it already has and I hope that as more people gain knowledge on the condition that they will become more sensitive to those who suffer with it.