here comes the sun

Blouse c/o Sheinside, ASOS skirt, Kmart sandals and bag, Forever New belt

This top arrived in the mail on Friday and isn't it gorgeous? I'm in love with the embroidered details. They add such a subtle touch of vintage. Yesterday afternoon was perfect for taking photos; lovely, cool and sunny, the sort of weather perfect for a picnic or a read in the grass.

How was your weekend? I bought a curling wand on Sunday! I've been coveting one ever since watching Lauren's curl tutorial. Sarah came over on Friday to get ready with me before Theatresports (our schools' annual mini-production), and she curled all of my hair tightly and I felt like a brunette Carrie Bradshaw! I had to buy one after that. Who can resist Carrie curls?! 

P.S: Oh, and congratulations to Sandrine! You've won the OASAP giveaway, look out for an email from me :) Thanks so much to everyone who entered, you guys rock!

dreamy autumn

Bonjour! It's the weekend! I plan to spend mine reading The Secret River (our novel for English study), baking and relishing in this weather. It's my favourite. Cool, crisp mornings and snuggly nights ideal for movies and hot chocolate. I'm also going to attempt to write to some of my pen pals. I've totally neglected snail mail over the last few months and after receiving the cutest (and very Maria) memo notes from Sophie (you should totes head over to her blog and have a read by the way, so much beauty goodness!), I thought it was highly appropriate to bring out my best stationery and put pen to paper. 

As much as I love bright polishes (no better way to spice up an outfit, right?!), I find that I will always have a special place in my heart for neutrals and classic colours. I've been sporting the French manicure for the past week and I love the way it looks. It's so simple and pretty and flattering on everyone. I got a set of OPI minis for my birthday and that had a great range of neutrals and brights. 

 Mimco headbands have been my favourite accessory lately. These colours go really well with my new hair colour (and slightly shorter length), plus, I'm hoping they might resurrect the Blair Waldorf trend! I'm back into Gossip Girl, season 1 and I'm hooked. What have I gotten myself into? It's almost mid-term in senior for goodness sake! Oh well, Carrie Diaries is finished so I need some purpose in life...  ;)

After the ANZAC day march, my family and I headed down to the beach at Noosa and enjoyed a lovely brunch as a treat. We usually have a decadent breakfast in Noosa at the start of every year to recap on the passed years' resolutions and also share our new ones.We didn't get around to doing it at the start of this year so we did it today! A few of mine included: developing my fitness a lot more, eating healthily and more consciously, studying hard and to get a boyfriend. Blame that last one of my teenager-ness.

 

I've been wearing necklaces a lot more lately; including these two. The Paris inspired pocket watch was way too pretty to leave behind in the shop let alone when I am going out all fancy. The cameo necklace is also perfect for adding a vintage touch to any outfit, I especially loved the way it looked in this post. I still haven't gotten over how I managed to snap it up for $2.50. Woohoo!

Not only is tea guilt-free, but these flavours are seriously delicious! Does a certain smell ever take you back to a memory? Whenever I smell the camomile, vanilla and honey infusion, I'm taken back to last Winter and it just makes me so happy. I love having that tea at night when hot chocolate isn't on the agenda. It's very soothing. How do you guys have your tea? I'm more of a honey person. I absolutely drown my tea in honey. Ah, yum. 

Girlie reading material! Fashion Quarterly was actually sent to me by Sophie as well and the Autumn issue was great! So many versatile pieces on display and I loved the subtly Winter-inspired colour palette. I'm also reading Summer and the City by Candace Bushnell. It's the equal to The Carrie Diaries and I'm loving it so far. Candace has such a gift when it comes to writing, you basically have to snatch the book out of my hands to stop me reading. I love to read about New York, even if it is a fiction book. 

A few weeks ago, the amazing girls from My Secret Sister's Wardrobe asked me if I'd like to style some outfits for the shop! It was a lot of fun and I was stoked with being able to use anything from around the store. These are three of the outfits I styled and I think my favourite is the green dress with the sequin clutch. It reminded me so much of Carrie Bradshaw. You guys should definitely check out the website for the shop and also head over to Roxy's fabulous graphic design website for loads of inspiration and prettiness.

french riviera

Suzanne Grae top, thrifted skirt, heels and boater, Forever New belt (surprised?!) and earrings 

I can't explain it but lately I've just been really happy. I just feel really good. Maybe it's the way I've changed my eating habits and exercise or maybe it's my blog... or maybe it's just me coming to the realisation that things are always going to get better. I've even started writing in my journal again! Today wasn't the best of days so I decided to make sure it ended well. After taking pictures I went for a 4km run and I feel amazing right now! I just feel so happy. My brain is just so filled with happy and good things and I just feel like a glow bug. A happy, teenage girl glow bug with exciting opportunities and skin that's clearing up. And did I actually just type that?! Oh well, I can be happy and insane too, can't I? I bet you've never heard a fashion blogger compare herself to a glowbug.

ANYWAY, onto the outfit. A new favourite, I must say! This skirt has been a favourite in my wardrobe for over a year now and I can't really decide whether it's because of the flattering shape or that it was $3.50 at the Salvation Army. Either way, it was definitely a lucky find! I thought I'd keep the make-up nice and simple for this outfit too. Did you notice my double piercings (third photo down)?! I forgot to mention them in my last post. I got them done in the holidays and despite getting a scold from Mum (I kinda... got them done without her permission), I think it looks super pretty! I'm not usually that rebellious so don't worry too much ;)
Hope the rest of your week is amazing! You all deserve it because, in a nutshell, you are the best readers any blogger could ask for and well, I love you. (If you're reading Avenue M, let me know by tweeting me and I'll follow you so we can chat!) ♥ I want to get in touch with you guys more!
P.S: This is my 300th blog post! Woohoo!

clôture de fleurs

 Forever New dress and beret, Rubi shoes, thrifted bag and necklace, Revlon lipbutter in "Raspberry Pie"

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? This week was the first back after 14 glorious days of holiday and already I'm swamped with work! It was great to relax over the last two days though. On Friday night my Mum and sisters and I had a movie night and made hot chocolate. Winter is definitely coming and I'm really anticipating it. The air is cooler, the days are getting shorter and I even needed a hot water bottle last night!  I spent most of today working on my English presentation, reading snippets of Harry Potter and drinking berry teas. I've been eating a lot better lately to help speed up the medicinal process and I can already feel the difference! 

And, how pretty is this photo location?! I was completely out of ideas for where to take pictures next; especially since this dress is so simple (it needed a fabulous backdrop to balance things out), so when Tess and I found this little corner of purple botanic goodness (what a mouthful!) I knew it was a winner. Despite being attacked by wasps (and 80% of the photos were of me laughing and being ridiculous), it was totally worth it to get the dreamy, sunny effect that I love seeing from film cameras. Editing took only five minutes too! Don't you love it when the sun actually co-operates?! It must be a blogger thing. 

P.S: Don't forget to enter my Oasap giveaway!

pink peony frock + an exciting giveaway!

Hello all! Wow, it's been over a week since my last post (how ridiculous, where did the time go?!). A lot has happened since I updated last... including my new hair colour! My natural hair colour was growing tiresome and I love this change a lot! I think dark brown suits me a lot better. I've been getting a few kind emails as well from people asking how my medication is going. The answer is wonderfully! The first week was pretty awful as my body wasn't used to the drug overload but the side effects seem to have subsided for now and despite not seeing any improvement in my skin yet (I'm on a low dosage to begin with so this was expected) I am feeling pretty confident. I also went back to school today and it was quite nice to be back, although I am absolutely petrified of the work load for this second term (I'm not sure how Avenue M will cope).

Anyway, onto the exciting news! I've been partnered with Oasap for a little while now and last year I was sent the prettiest bag ever that many of you were dying to get your hands on. Well, Oasap sent me an email to let me know that my readers could win a piece from Oasap (and one of them was the dream bag!). I'm so excited about it. All you have to do to enter:

Simply make an account with Oasap here and comment below with your email letting me know you've done so. 

If you'd like to throw in a few extra entries, you are welcome to like my Facebook page, Follow me on bloglovin or Instagram. You can enter up to four times, just make sure with each entry, you leave a separate comment :)

A few little extras: This giveaway will close on the 29th of April and I will select the winner using random.org. 

If you win, I'll be sending an email your way with a list of things you can choose from, so if the bag sells out before then you will have lots of other pretty things to choose from! 

candy

 Thrifted blouse, Ally skirt, bag c/o Oasap, Rubi shoes, thrifted necklace

This top and cameo necklace are now my two favourite thrifted finds ever! All up it only costed me $7 and it was so cool! I love the blouse so much, it'll be perfect for Autumn layering.

 I got a tweet from Hannah the other day about how much she wanted to visit Australia because of how beautiful the weather is right now; and my gosh, she is right! We're transitioning from Summer to Autumn now and the weather has been simply beautiful. The mornings are sunny and cool, and the afternoons breezy. I love this weather so much, it's getting me so excited for winter - my favourite season!

I also wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who commented on my last post in regards to my acne and their experiences. I got a few emails too and they were filled with amazing words and inspiration and I was completely touched by how supportive you all are. I am so grateful to you all! I have the best internet-friends ever :) I'll try and get back to them all as soon as possible! Lots of love xo

channelling jackie o (+ a personal excerpt)

Thrifted coat, skirt and heels, bag c/o Oasap, Forever New belt

I didn't realise until I started editing these pictures that the entirety of the clothing (and the shoes!) in this blog post have been thrifted! I bought this beautiful jacket for eight dollars today whilst on a shopping spree with my friend Abbey, this tulle skirt from the Salvation Army last year and the pumps were also an opshop find! Woohoo for savvy bloggers! This jacket is exactly what I've been looking for lately. It reminds me of Jackie Kennedy; now all I need is a pair of white gloves!

This week has been quite rough for me. I started a new medication for my skin and my body doesn't seem to be coping very well with it. Not many of you may know this but for the last two years I've suffered from severe cystic acne (this form of acne is mostly genetic for me). Not only is it painful and can cause long term damage but it isn't too great for my self confidence either. I'm sure many people can relate to me on that note!
I've been wanting to share this on my blog for a little while now but have been a little scared to. It's such a major insecurity of mine, but I'm finally going to have it fixed and I really want to share my journey with others. I don't want to talk too much about it now (I'm hopefully going to make a video on it soon), but acne is seriously one of the most horrible things a teenager can go through. I don't think anyone really understands how much it can effect one's self esteem unless they actually suffer from it. Over the next twelve months I'll be updating you about how the Roaccutane is working me and any improvements it has made. The main side effects I'm experiencing right now is itchy skin, nausea, dry lips and slight back pain. My dermatologist said that these will improve over time which is great to hear, and despite being quite annoying right now, I'm willing to be patient and let the medication do its work.

If any of you have any questions or have experienced acne in the past please leave a comment down below or email me here: avenuemblog@gmail.com. I'd love to hear about what you have to say and offer any advice and further information about the medication :) I hope the remainder of your week is just wonderful! xo