Vivienne Westwood has always been an absolutely amazing woman, she is a fashion designer who doesn’t really like fashion design, an icon who doesn’t really know it and most unusually a ‘brand’ who thinks that people don’t need what she sells and that they shouldn’t buy too much of it. She is a complete breath of fresh air in a world where fashion and beauty brands are telling us to buy, buy, buy!

Last week I got the chance to be in the same room as this amazing lady and I was completely and utterly astounded by how amazing she truly is, every word and sentence that comes out of her mouth flows with intelligence and a kindness for the world we live in. She spoke about Climate change with the heart of a true campaigner. She wants to know why people don’t care? When will they care? Does Climate change have to physically effect them, do they have to watch the world start to die before they will start making the changes they need to make? She exploded with passion about all of this because she does not want the world to die and won’t just sit back and let it.

To say she was inspirational is a complete understatement and I know I will probably never get to share a space with her again but just this one time was enough for me to hold onto forever. The most beautiful part of her talk for me was when she touched upon needing to be the best version of yourself that you can be, to always be trying to better who you are and to always show people the greatest version of your personality. Those really are words to live by.

It’s a philosophy of life. A practice. If you do this, something will change, what will change is that you will change, your life will change, and if you can change you, you can perhaps change the world. – Vivienne Westwood

Keep adventuring,

Having confidence in your own personal style can be something we all find difficult, we all know the feeling of putting together an outfit we absolutely love only to change it in a crazy panic just before we get out of our front door. What we really should be doing is taking another look in the mirror and asking ourselves ‘What would Kyary Pamyu Pamyu do?’

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is a Japanese street style icon, model, popstar and idol. She is one of Harajuku’s Kawaii Ambassadors and is regarded as an international representative for Japanese fashion. She has her own quirky and unique style and changes her looks frequently and if there is one thing she isn’t short of it’s fearless confidence!
Ask yourself right now ‘if there were absolutely no rules, no one to judge my style, and I could wear whatever I wanted what would I wear?’ Now you’ve asked yourself that question start wearing that tomorrow! That’s what Kyary Pamyu Pamyu would do and there really isn’t any reason why you shouldn’t be doing it either.

I dress according to my personality. I enjoy dressing for my own pleasure rather than worrying about how I look to others. – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

Kyary’s own fashion style is often described as ‘aomoji-kei’ a style that is difficult to describe but is really all about wearing whatever you feel like without caring if others think you look attractive, cute or sexy. As a style it has no definitive look and to me is the epitome of dressing to reflect your true personality, it is about never boxing yourself into one style because you can be whatever version of yourself you choose to be that day so long as it’s the best version.

Building your inner confidence through unique style

Kyary dresses daily based on how she is feeling and with this attitude inner confidence really is the key. This is very different to simply appearing confident, inner confidence is something that cannot be crushed, it’s the act of walking out of the house without needing to check in the mirror and more importantly it’s the act of being in charge of your own feelings regardless of what others may say to knock you down.

Have you ever worn a t-shirt that you really loved only to find that none of your friends said anything about it? I know I have, and that tshirt ended up at the back of my wardrobe. Confidence in our appearance is something that grows via positive reinforcement and every time we get a piece of it our brains are more likely to repeat that same behaviour. That is why my t-shirt ended up at the back of the wardrobe and that is how badly we crave positive reinforcement, of course no one said anything negative about my t-shirt but they didn’t say anything to reinforce me into wearing it again either. It happens to all of us. We also usually have the opposite situation with our favourite outfits, is your favourite outfit the one that gets you the most compliments?

To be truly confident inside though you have to forgot about external positive reinforcement and become your very own cheerleader. Every single time you stand infront of your mirror and aren’t sure about how you look just tell yourself 3 things that are amazing about you and remember these for the rest of the day, if no one else says anything positive about your style just remind yourself that your opinion is the only one that matters when it comes to your body and what you choose to dress it in.

How to rock your personal style and stamp out negativity

Wearing unique and exciting things is an excellent way to build up your confidence because it will get you noticed, whether you find this scary or exhilarating it doesn’t really matter if what you’re wearing turns heads then you really should congratulate yourself because out of the hundreds of people walking the streets you’re the one someone noticed. What an amazing thing!

I don’t really understand why they are scared of trying new things. I think they should try everything once, and if it’s not really suited for them, then they should try something else. It’s not only about fashion: challenging yourself is the most important thing! – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

I got bullied pretty badly as a kid and I’ll be completely honest here and say that it took me so many years to get to the point where negative comments didn’t effect me. At that time I was an easy target, I walked looking at the ground and allowed every single comment to take a piece of my confidence away with it.  I didn’t love myself and I didn’t really leave the house for most of my school years because of an almost paralysing fear of what others might say about me.
It took me a long time to feel comfortable around people I didn’t know and in crowded places but I’ve learned that the only person that was making those places and situations terrifying was myself. I was allowing my inner thoughts and my reaction to them to transform the world around me in to a scarier place than it was, as soon as I stopped looking at it like this everything changed.

If you think you are going to get negative attention I can guarantee that you will get it. Focusing on the negative will only dampen and cloud your inner confidence and trust me people will pick up on that, you will become an easy target. If instead you choose to tell yourself those 3 amazing things before you take to the streets, walk with your head held high and with a smile on your face that positive energy will come back to you. Show the world what a strong, unique and wonderful person you are and you’ll be surprised how little negativity comes your way.

4 tips to take your self confidence to the next level

• Walk to music, always. I rarely go anywhere without some headphones in and if I ever do I still make sure I walk as if I was listening to music. People tend to walk differently when they’re listening to something upbeat that they enjoy, it puts a smile on your face and a spring in your step. Making sure you always walk the way you would if you were listening to your favourite party tune can completely change how you embrace your adventures on the outside world.

• Pretend! If you happen to find yourself in a situation where you feel withdrawn and your confidence fading then just fake it. Appearing as a confident and likeable person will help everyone else around you relax. So play at being the best version of yourself you can, whether you feel it inside or not and before you know it you will have dropped the act and it will be your inner confidence that is coming through.

• Imagine an ‘S’ on your chest. Not as silly as it might sound, you have to think of yourself as your own personal superhero. Think of what the very best version of you would be, what sort of powers you would have and how confident you would be if you were flying around the pages of a Marvel comic book, then whenever you’re feeling a little unsure or feel your confidence is about to take a hit just remember that underneath your shirt is an invisible ‘S’ on your chest. Call forth your inner superhero and you’ll find things getting so much easier.

• Zip yourself up. This is one of the best tips I’ve learned over the years for helping keep negative people quiet and gaining a little inner strength, I have Gala Darling to thank for this one but it really does work. You have to imagine that you have a zipper running up your body from your pubic bone to just under your nose and every time you feel someones negative energy might be about to be aimed at you just imagine yourself zipping that zipper all the way up, the same goes for whenever someone tries to unzip your zipper by looking you up and down just visualise yourself zipping up tight and you’ll be surprised at how those negative comments you were expecting just don’t happen. It’s almost like you’re pulling a zipper across their mouths as well as yourself.

 
Keep adventuring,

I am absolutely in love with this camera that arrived this week, I’ve managed to acquire quite a collection of film cameras over the years but I really couldn’t resist this La Sardina lomography camera featuring the gorgeous artwork of Korean illustrator Moonassi. I opted for the white version and am completely blown away by how beautiful it looks, it really is absolutely stunning in person I haven’t been able to stop looking at it all week. La Sardina is a wide angled film camera and I can’t wait to  get into my bathroom and develop the film I’ll be shooting with it over the next few weeks.

I’ve also been working on a costume this week for a carnival themed night I’m going to on Wednesday, I figured everyone else would be dressing quite colourfully so decided to wear monochrome instead in the hopes of standing out. The outfit I’m working on is inspired by the Pierrot clown illustrations from the 1980s that I used to love as a child but with a little dash of street fashion added in for good measure, I probably wouldn’t wear it to walk down the street in but it is shaping up to be a very cute costume so I’m really looking forward to getting to wear it next week!

Patty & Jimmy are Sanrio characters that were originally released in the 1970′s and I’ve been carrying this modern flask around featuring them all week. The weather has been getting a lot hotter here lately and I like to drink plenty of water, I like to drink it from a flash because it’s much better for the environment plus it’s much cuter than those plastic bottles. I really love Patty & Jimmy, the bright pop colours and retro summer vibe of the illustrations really appeals to me. The tag lines that appear on their branded products are always so uplifting as well!
I’ve also been completely loving my pair of Vans in red, yellow and blue they remind me of my childhood and I always feel bright and nostalgic whenever I wear them. I am expecting them to be completely worn out by the end of summer because I just can’t stop wearing them.

What have you been up to this week?
Keep adventuring,

Summer weather is almost here! It’s so exciting, even today was a lovely bright and sunny one. I’ve been looking for lots and lots of summer inspiration recently and one of my favourite Japanese stores WEGO released a new issue of their monthly guide that has so many outfits that are completely perfect for summer!

I tend to dress more casual during the summer months, coats get replaced with jackets and I wear most of t-shirts during summer. It’s a nice chance to add some cuter elements to outifts too so pin badges, sunglasses and backpacks tend to find their way from the back of my wardrobe to the front. WEGO definitely have their focus on that ‘Casual Street’ style too and seeing all of the cool looks makes me wish I could just hop back on a plane to Tokyo tomorrow.

What’s your favourite look, do you have a different style in summer to winter?
Keep adventuring,

Collections are something I seem to have a lot of and they don’t get much bigger than my Asian cosmetics collection. You’re probably aware of my obsession with Asian cosmetics from my post all about Asian Skincare Routines but just incase you weren’t I’ll say it here again, I love Asian cosmetics! When it comes to Asian brands it seems they often not only get the packaging just right but the product inside as well, satisfying both my inner magpie and cosmetics guru. I’ve tried a lot of different products and brands over the years and change my routines more often than I probably should but there are a few brands and products that I will always come back to, they served me well, lived up to the hype and I repurchase them regularly.

Etude House Skin Mal:Gem. I’ve tried a lot of the Mal:Gem range (essentially toners) and I have found it hard to find any fault with the ones I’ve tried. My favourites are definately the ‘Moist’ and ‘Deep Moist’ types both containing hyaluronic acid to help lock in the moisture after your usual cleansing routine. I even have little travel bottles of these for when I go on my adventures.

KAO Essential Rich Premier Intensive Hair Mask. Skincare isn’t the only type of Asian cosmetics I regularly buy, haircare comes a close second and I first tried the KAO hair mask a few years ago and loved it, I picked up a pot on my last trip to Tokyo and fell back in love with it all over again. It coms in two varieties but the one in the gold tub is by far my favourite, with honey and milk proteins and shea butter too it always leaves my hair feeling soft but not oily. (see my full review here)

Skinfood Mushroom Multicare BB Cream. I really love Skinfood, they were probably one of the first Korean brands I tried, this being the first BB cream I ever tried out and even now that BB creams have become a trend in the west it is still the best one I’ve ever used. It contains mushroom and aloe and brightens up tired skin an absolute treat, shade 1 is my favourite and is great for anyone with a paler complexion.

Etude House AC Clinic Trial Kit. The AC clinic range from Etude House is a range that I only use once in a while, usually if I suffer a break out or my skin feels congested. This range is designed for problem skin with products containing salicylic acid to help fight blemishes, the cleanser and pink powder spot treatments are absolutely great for when you can feel the odd blemish forming. I got the trial kit a while ago despite already having used the products in the range for a while but the cute case was hard to resist and it’s the perfect size to take on my travels – you can also get a trial kit of this range in a plastic first aid style box, how amazing!

Sunplay SPF130 Super Block. As someone that isn’t a fan of the sun I am a huge fan of sunscreen, it’s not that I burn easily or at all but I really don’t look great with a tan and I’ve always thought that it’s best to protect yourself from the sun. The Sunplay range offers a whole host of products but the SPF130 is my favourite, absolute ultimate protection especially for paler skin and it’s designed for the face so sinks right into the skin without feeling sticky. Simple sun protection, perfect.

Sana Nameraka Honpo Soy Milk Cleansing Wash. I have tried so many foaming cleansers over the past 3 years that I really have lost count, I have at least 5 in my bathroom right now all in various stages of use but the Sana cleansers always seem to be the ones I like the most. The Soy Milk cleansing wash gives a lovely creamy foam and contains Soybean extract to help soothe and moisturise the skin, it’s for all skin types has no fragrance, colouring or mineral oil and is generally just lovely to use.

Detclear Bright & Peel Peeling Gel. I originally held off on buying this after wanting it for at least a year but wondering if it was worth the price, once I actually bought it I found that I should have bought it sooner because it was worth every penny! A peeling gel is rubbed into the skin and helps remove any dead skin build up, this one in particular is one of the best sellers in Japan and contains fruit AHA and plant BHA to gently remove any impurities from the skin. I use this one once or twice a week and ended up buying another bottle when I was last in Tokyo, totally worth it. (see my full review here)

Kracie Ichikami Shampoo & Conditioner. I first tried these one after hearing amazing things about Shisedo’s Tsubaki shampoo but being quite disappointed in it myself, this duo like Shisedo’s Tsubaki contains Camellia oil to help give moisture and shine to the hair and it is definitely my favourite Japanese shampoo and conditioner to use. It has a nice subtle scent that reminds me of being in Tokyo and leaves the hair soft and bouncy without making it oily or weighing it down.

Where to buy these? Having an obsession as deep routed as mine means I’ve ended up using a whole bunch of different online sites over the years to get my Asian cosmetics fix, obviously the best and cheapest place to find the best Asian cosmetics is Asia itself (if you don’t include the price of the flight) but failing that I recommend checking out Alpha Beauty UK, Imomoko, Sasa and Korea Depart.

Do you have a favourite Asian cosmetics product? Which one’s do you want to try?
Keep adventuring,