Mermaids to lift the mood ~ Made of Honor dress by Banned Apparel

Its no secret I'm a mermaid lover. I have a monofin hanging in my bathroom, a number of mermaid brooches both self made and bought and I often talk about my dreams of having being a mermaid involved in my future in some shape or form. Its a childhood fantasy that has well and truly followed me into adulthood and I personally find nothing wrong with that. This gorgeous dress came from the lovely Gwynnies on a day I really needed to be lifted and it is made by Banned Apparel. Despite being nearly 26 I see no issues in wearing mermaid print dresses, infact I want more!

Flowers ~ Orange Double from Daisy Jean Floral Designs
Necklace ~ White beads from Debstar Designs
Brooch ~ Ursula brooch from Mermaid Missi
Dress ~ Made of Honor dress from Banned Apparel from Gwynnies
Shoes ~ Lacey heels by B.A.I.T from Royal Vintage Shoes (review up tomorrow!)

Banned Apparel is a wholesale only company like Hell Bunny whose stock I’ve started seeing pop up more and more in the retro scene in the past few months and this mermaid dress was such a hit it sold out on the first restock.

The Made of Honor dress is slightly shorter than the dresses I normally prefer to wear but with the print I find it makes the dress incredibly fun. It features a bow at the bust, capped style sleeves and a band around the waist. The fun fabric makes it versatile to accessorize and I mean, lets be honest…it has mermaids. The structuring of this dress is very good, though the invisible side zip can be a bit of a pain when getting it over the waist band.

I chose to accessorize my Made of Honor dress with the perfect brooch! The Ursula brooch from my Mermaid Missi store! I’ve been trying to find the perfect outfit to team this with and now I’ve found it! It’s made of mirrored acrylic and is available here.

This dress ran very true to size. I’m wearing the medium and I can fit in it with or without shapewear on. The sleeves are comfortable and didn’t pull and the fabric does allow a degree of stretch and at only $65AUD + shipping its a total steal!

I hope you've all enjoyed this little review! I've got another mermaid dress coming next week and my review of these amazing shoes tomorrow! 

Til next time darlings!

Review ~ Pastel Princess Adventures with Hell Bunny and Soda Sweethearts

Hello all!

Its review time! Are you excited! I am! Its so good to really start getting into things on the review front! I thought I'd start with reviewing one of my new favorite Hell Bunny Tops and my new Soda Sweethearts Brooch!

In the Monday of May I moved house, which was an amazing move as it basically meant I could start wardrobe building again. As such, the store Gwynnies has become my go to as a long love for the brand Hell Bunny has been flourishing with their newest releases and I've slowly been buying the items that have stolen my heart! 

 I'm a water lover, even if now days I don't get in it much which is primarily a distance/transport issue. I've always had a keen passion for marine life and in my teen years wanted to study marine biology at university. I refer to myself as a self confessed mermaid as I've been saving for a tail for some time now and being able to be a mermaid for me is kind of a dream that I'm working on. So naturally, when I saw the amazing Spring/Summer 2015 collection come out, I KNEW I had to make certain pieces mine!

I'm going to start this review by talking about the Shelli top by Hell Bunny (pictured above). The Shelli top was my first purchase from the range. I bought the medium (you can find my measurements by clicking here) which is pretty much my staple size in Hell Bunny items and it came with an easy price tag of $35.00 AU. When it arrived in the post, I instantly fell in love. The baby pink colours are SO soft, it felt light on the hands and the collar detailing is adorably perfect. The contrast of the mint against the soft pink gives the shell details a bright pop and the ribbon tie at the collar is such a nice touch to the look. 

Being a mermaid lover, I instantly adored the shell details on the collar. Its such a subtle ode to the ocean without taking over the entire outfit. The collar is also an ideal place to wear a brooch, as the fabric here is quite firm in comparison to the softer fabric of the body (which I found would pull when you wore a brooch on it). The coloured buttons also really tie everything together nicely, which really gives the top a finished look. I love the ribbon ties, the only downside I'd say is that they are a tad long for me personally and sitting at my desk at work they can be pulled and come undone, but this con is a minimal one.

When I did purchase this top I was a bit cautious of the sleeves, especially with recently having put on a bit of weight and my arms aren't as trim as they were. But I found the sleeves to be comfortable and reasonably sized with no tightness or uncomfortable digging in. I've worn this top all day at work and had no issues with the sleeves at all, which is always a bonus when buying tops! Being smaller busted means I found I did have some loseness across the chest with the absence of a padded bra but I actually found I prefered that.

While this top is sheer, I found I didn't need to wear an 'undershirt' with it. When I do wear it, I match it with a longline bra I reviewed last week and because its a full piece you can't really see it through the shirt. Its very light to wear and very comfortable. The feel and wear of this one prompted me to buy my second blouse from Hell Bunny and I have no doubt I'll be buying more!

I decided to match this outfit with this gorgeous Atomic Shell Brooch I got from Soda Sweethearts! I've got two Mermaid inspired hair pieces from Soda Sweethearts and knew I had to have this brooch when they released this brooch! It arrived the week I bought the Shelli Blouse and I knew it was a match made in heaven!

This brooch is made of laser cut wood and is handpainted by Soda Sweethearts herself. The thing that really stood out for me with this originality in design, adding a retro twist to an ocean theme and the pearl detailing along the shell ridges! I love this brooch and I really love finding outfits I can incorporate it into! Definitely a great statement piece that won't break the bank!

Other outfit details:
Scarf - Closet Confessions Boutique
Belt/skirt - Also hellbunny with review to come!
Shoes - Pin Up Couture Cutie Heels

I hope you've all enjoyed this review and I look forward to another review later this week which will also be talking about the skirt worn in this post!

Thank you lovelies!