I'm writing this whilst my Primark 'Road to Marrakech' candle is burning in the background, and I'm just realising how many pictures there are in this post. Even though I had no idea what was going on half the time, I absolutely loved Marrakech. A huge change from London I tell ya. We stayed in a beautiful hotel called Mandarin Oriental, which was actually really convenient because it was 10 minutes away from pretty much every place we visited. It's a crazy city, and if you're not familiar with it, it can be reaaallyy hard to navigate. So hopefully this post will give anyone who's visiting some tips, and ideas of places to go. And if you're not going I hope you like getting an idea of the feel of the city, and looking at the pictures!

The Medina

If you do end up going, GET A GUIDE. They're so lovely, and you won't end up going to all the tacky touristy places where you just get hassled. Trust me, getting chased down the street by a man shouting '100 dirhams.. 80?' is scarier than it sounds.

 

Medersa Ben Youssef

The architecture was absolutely beautiful, and it's really really worth visiting. The history behind it is fascinating, too. Complete with mosaics and prayers carved into the walls, I took a lot of photos.. to say the least. But in my excitement, they were all too blurry to use. Blogger problems.

 

The Marjorelle Gardens

This place is so so beautiful. You all know of my love for Kew Gardens, and - sorry kew - this is a definite upgrade. The Yves Saint Laurent memorial is really emotional, and had my Dad and I arguing debating the pronunciation of Yves.. and the cafe is good too.

 

My mum, what a babe.

 

 

Heritage Berber - just outside the gardens

 The square at night eeyyyy

Snake charmers, monkeys, grapefruits, the lot.

 

The Henna Cafe

Have you ever been to Marrakech? What did you think of it?

a new style aesthetic

My style is constantly changing, along with all the other girls my age. The films we watch, people we spend our time with, food we eat, places we go can all affect what we wear, along with our personality. It can be hard to find your own personal style aesthetic, or the 'vibe' you're going for and trying to put across. To be honest, I don't feel like I'm in a good place with my personal style, so this post is for me to try and see things more clearly, and hopefully to give you some inspoooo.

For me, I love taking inspiration from films (Eve in god help the girl!! ( and Cassie too because Hannah Murray is the coolest)). Again, you can be influenced so much by tv and the media. I also really like to look at instagram accounts. @70sbabes is always the way to go.

Right now, the aesthetic I'm going for is kind of street, kind of girly, but effortless. I'm not sure what you'd call it, but think bobs, bubblegum, hoop earrings and denim. Blame online shopping. The unisex dressing section on the urban outfitters website has me swooning - all those jackets and I want want want.

Here is a quick list of things I've been loving...

Shopping wise, I've had my eye on two pieces from, the best, Asos (scroll down to have a peep). One being, shocker, actually practical. It's a cosy black denim jacket.. and I've been needing one for a while! Super casual with a borg collar, it's the perfect staple piece for that awkward stage between winter and spring. The next one is something I wouldn't normally wear, but I think I could just about pull off wearing casually. A beautiful playsuit with sheer detailing and embroidery. It's from a brand called Fallen Star, and I've never owned anything from them before so I'm really intrigued by it.

SHOP: 1//2

In other news, I've just come back from Marrakech - post on that soon - with a tummy bug and a heart full of luurve for that beautiful city. In one day when I'm sitting in a freezing cold classroom listening to how Austro-Hungarian imperialism was a catalyst in World War One, I know how much I'm going to miss wandering around the Medina and lounging about in the sun.

( you can follow my tumblr here if you liked the photos in this post )

i want shorter hair

I want shorter hair to the point where I have dreams about it. I'm well and truly channelling my inner Tavi Gevinson. Or maybe I'm just spending too much time on Pinterest? I think that short hair just looks so effortless and keeewwl, and if my hair actually grew I'd have a bob and fringe right now :))

Leanne Limwalker also looks amazing with short hair. Sorry you had to sit through this post but pleaseeee tell me what you think about the whole hair cut or no hair cut situation..

places to visit in london

I live in London but still end up going to the same places over and over again. Here's a list of places I really want to visit this year, please suggest more!!

• Broadway Market
• Little Venice 
• Go to some more exhibitions at the Wellcome Collection
• Cereal Killer Cafe
• Bermondsey Square
• Columbia Road (again)
• Rough Trade off Brick Lane (again)
• Electric Cinema
• The Snog bus on South Bank
• Brixton Village
• Pizza East
• More trips to Notting Hill

illustrations from the frankie calendar

I really want to blog more about art this year. That sounds really pretentious but it's something I love and I'd really like to discover more artists. I pre-ordered the frankie calendar a few weeks ago, and it has the most beautiful illustrations.

This work is by Yelena Bryksenkova, who I think I've blogged about before. She was born in Russia, but is currently living in the states and I absolutely love her art. Her work conveys all these different moods and themes in such a delicate way. I love the colours she uses, very faded and neutral, and they have a sketchy, hand drawn look to them, almost cut and paste. She also sells some of her prints on etsy and I WANT.

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now playing: the love within bloc party/salvatore lana del rey/green & gold lianne la havas/vivienne sundara karma/gone are the days honne