Pantone Autumn 2015: An Evolving Colour Landscape {Amethyst Orchid}

Tea cups by Gisela Francisco on Flickr

Bubble via Bottle of Rain on Tumblr

Untitled by Julie Marie Craig on Flickr

Ornamental Cabbage 12 by Thom-B-Foto on deviantArt

Last one, number ten of Pantone's Fall Fashion Colour Report and it's Pantone's self proclaimed, "jewel in the crown"... Amethyst Orchid 17-3628.

Can't really fault them on that one, it's certainly the brightest of the nine Autumn colours, and it's a very purple, purple. Last year Pantone's Colour of the Year was the opposite to this, Radiant Orchid was a heavily pink based purple, Amethyst Orchid on the other hand still has that magenta glow, but with a lot of blue mixed in.

It's weird though, during the spring and summer, fashion seems to have a lot of blue/cool lavender and lilac shades of purple available. They get darker as we go into autumn, richer, but a definite blue tone, then as we hit winter all of the plum shades start to appear. What is it about the seasonal period which makes us look for magenta based plummy purples, which I always think of as warmer, instead of their cooler counterparts?

Is it just because we look to cool down in the summer and warm up in the winter?

Doesn't matter, because what it really reminds me of, is a good old Crayola Crayons*...

... admit it, you want to be a purple crayon for Halloween now too?


* Other brands are available, but none quite so iconic. I still have a pack on my desk for old times sake.

Link || Fall 2015 Pantone Fashion Colour Report: Amethyst Orchid
Link || Adult Crayon Costume via Costumes FC
Link || Child Wisteria Crayon Costume from Halloween Costumes

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Listening: Hike - L Pierre

Pantone Autumn 2015: An Evolving Colour Landscape {Cashmere Rose}

Lavender Bottle by Carl Christensen on Etsy

Kefalonia by Mark Taylor-Flynn on Flickr

Untitled via Pinterest

Dogwood via Pinterest

Cashmere Rose 16-2215 is a blue grey pink, which almost borders on mauve, which is pretty, but at least in fashion could be a difficult colour. I say that purely because the colour could easily wander into a pastel shade, making it look a little bit Barbie, or into overly grey and murky tone, making it look dirty and in need of a good wash.

What I will say, is while I was looking for pictures for this board, I kept seeing pale pink jumpers, in that slightly downy/fluffy texture that cashmere has and while I would have been tempted to say this pink is bordering on summery, after seeing those images, I'm actually changing my mind. That fluffy grey tone Cashmere Rose has, actually makes it a really nice Autumnal colour.

Now, I don't know whether it's because I'm getting older, or it's just because my tastes have just changed randomly, but I have become obsessed with rose scented/flavoured products...

Some of my favourites are Lush's Jason and the Argan Oil Shampoo Bar, is my current shampoo and while I've never been daft over Lush's shampoo bars, as I have a lot of hair and it never lathers that well for me, I like this one. With a little of my normal shampoo mixed in to give it a head start, this makes my hair so lovely and soft, plus really shiny and if my conditioner wasn't quite so strong smelling, it would smell lovely and rosy too. Another product I really like is Imperial Leather's Rose Garden: Rose Petal and Eldeflower Hand Wash, which I would have by the sink all the time if I had my choice. That or Baylis and Harding Royale Bouquet Rose and Honeysuckle (or Wild Rose and Raspberry Leaf) as Shower Gel or hand wash, either is acceptable and both are pretty rose scents without being too granny-ish.

The only non-cosmetic product I've listed is Fentimans Rose Lemonade... it smells like perfume and tastes absolutely delicious, so don't be put off trying it. Also, damn you *insert terrible supermarket* for only periodically selling this!

Finally, the product which probably started this obsessive search for rose scented bath products, Lush's Rose Jam Shower Gel... ugh. Dad bought me a small bottle of this around Christmas last year and at first I wasn't sure. I thought it was a bit in your face, but I started using it when I ran out of my normal shower gel and I fell totally in love with it. Especially how I could still smell it for hours/days after I'd used it. Anyway, I raced through the teeny bottle, then came to the devastating realisation that it was a limited edition for Christmas and was gone! Sob.

Luckily, last week, my sister sent me an email telling me it was back! So over the next few months I'm stocking up!

If you know of any pretty rose scented products I should try, do tell!


Link || Fall 2015 Pantone Fashion Colour Report: Cashmere Rose
Link || Jason and the Argan Oil Shampoo Bar from Lush
Link || Rose Garden: Rose Petal and Elderflower Hand Wash by Imperial Leather
Link || Rose Lemonade by Fentimans
Link || Baylis Harding Royale Bouquet Rose and Honeysuckle Shower Creme via Amazon

Link || Rose Jam Shower Gel from Lush

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Listening: Sober - Childish Gambino

Pantone Autumn 2015: An Evolving Colour Landscape {Cadmium Orange}

Vintage Penguin Trilogy by Raggedroses on Flickr

Untitled via Resolute Woman on Tumblr (Pinterest)

Untitled via Brit+Co

IMG_1355 by Chuyên Blue on Flickr

It's pretty, it's peachy, it's summery... is it the orange I think of for Autumn? Not really.

Autumn is, in my mind, the season for beautiful rusts, browns and burnt oranges, which still have that beautiful warmth without any lurid overtones. They're the colour of beech leaves littering the ground and either curling up for people to crunch through, or sticking to the pavement in the rain. Even, given we're a few weeks away from Halloween, a pumpkin shade would be an acceptable nod to the wonderful natural orange tones of autumn.

Now, I love this board, I love the orange hair which reminds me Eternal Sunshine, the Rannuculus are beautiful, the photo by Chuyen Blue has a beautiful tone to it and who doesn't love a classic Penguin cover? And I'm not saying that Cadmium Orange 15-1340 is lurid or that it's a horrible colour. It's not, but, it's soft, it's more peach than rust and has an almost flesh tone to it, which I think of more as a spring or summer colour than as an autumn/winter one. Then again, seeing Dulux's colour of the year is Copper Blush, this choice for an orange hue could perhaps be a nod to that, with a little more orange overtone that Copper Blush's pink.


My feelings towards Cadmium Orange isn't being helped by the fact that the jumper I'm currently wearing (and slightly obsessively since I bought it... I even bought a second one, I love it so much) is burnt orange and it's putting me in the seasonal mood where I want to start wearing boots and darker lipstick. I wait every year for those rust hues to hopefully appear in the fashion world because I love them and they're one of the few colours I feel I actually really suit* and they are like gold dust** and every year I've been disappointed. So for me, I'm swapping this pretty peach out for rusts.

Sorry Pantone.


* I would look so so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, SO bad in Cadmium Orange! It wouldn't even be funny!

**  Which, funnily is less rare if you're a jeweller and spend most of your life with gold and silver dust embedded in your clothes


Link || Fall 2015 Pantone Fashion Colour Report: Cadmium Orange

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Listening: For You - Rae Morris

Pantone Autumn 2015: An Evolving Colour Landscape {Reflecting Pond}

trees (3) by Alina Valitova on Flickr

1920's Art Deco Sheer Black Beaded Flapper Dress (Detail) via 1860-1960

Tarte amandine aux myrtilles (Recipe) by Julie Longet of Bonne Table

Anemones by sara.robin on Flickr

Reflecting Pond 19-4326 is causing me a headache. Purely because, after staring at it for ages, finding dozens of images and putting together this board, which I am very fond of, I noticed that depending on which source swatch you look at, this colour sits on either the purple side of navy or the distinctly greener side.

The swatch I worked from was of the purple variety (left), the Pantone link below the greener (right), but I'm loathed to redo the board as I really like it and seeing the internet seems to switch sides, I think that's okay, right? After all, we all see colour differently... I see colour differently out of each eye! If only to prove my weirdness, out of one eye colours are warmer, out of the other they're cooler and periodically my dad explains why, at which point I instantly forget again!

My odd vision and the true colour of  Reflecting Pond aside, this incarnations is a really, really pretty colour. It's inky and deep and dark, and team it with any of the other Autumn Forecast colours and you'd be laughing. Really it's the indigo denim jeans of the bunch, goes with everything and makes life a little easier...

... accept of course when you're trying to make a mood board!


Link || Fall 2015 Pantone Fashion Colour Report: Reflecting Pond

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Listening: Gone Til November - Wyclef Jean

Pantone Autumn 2015: An Evolving Colour Landscape {Oak Buff}

Untitled via BodyRock (Pinterest)

Lovely in Lavin by Marianna Rothen from Tales of Endearment on Tumblr (Pinterest)

Honeycomb by Whitney Ott Photography via Her Paper Weight on Tumblr

Cold, sore throat & too tired to leave bed by Karin AmeLda on Instagram (Pinterest)

Summer lellow is bright, it's clean and pale, it's uncompromising in its cheerfulness, but as the seasons change, the colour deepens and becomes richer. We lose the pastel, custard and neon yellows we most commonly see during the summer for honeys and ochres, green tones for reds and cheerfulness for comfort.

Autumnal yellows, like Oak Buff 16-1144, have a warmth to them which is different from the sunshine hues fashion looks too during the summer months. It's like well worn gold jewellery, which has lost it shine*, but still keeps it's warmth and glow.

That's the nice thing about this as a fashion colour. It's muted, but that under lying glow and easy association with jewellery makes it remarkably easy to wear.

And easy to find. I took a quick trip into town to look for a pair of shoes for work that don't have a hole in the sole and of all of Pantone's Fall Forecast colours, Oak Buff, and similarly rich ochre/gold yellows were amongst some of easier to find. Had I gone out looking for the colours? No. But I did notice a lot of the ones I've already posted and the ones to come...

... which is nice.


* While jewellery which is highly polished becomes slightly matt over time, matt jewellery goes the opposite direction and polishes up... I have a fight with my mums wedding band to keep the gold section polished and the silver section matt. I haven't done it for a while and feel guilty every time I look at it!


Link || Fall 2015 Pantone Fashion Colour Report: Oak Buff

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Listening: Wake Me Up When September Ends - Greenday

Pantone Autumn 2015: An Evolving Colour Landscape {Stormy Weather}

Untitled via Laura Loves... on Tumblr

Tears of Mermaids: The Secret Story of Pearls (Tahitian Pearls) via Linzee McCray on Etsy

 On a Sunday Morning || Kartoffelrækkerne (The Potato Rows), Copenhagen via Copehagen Pics on Tumblr
Untitled via ZsaZsa Bellagio on Tumblr

Don't know why
There's no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining all the time

Life is bare
Gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather
Just can't get my poor old self together
I'm weary all the time, the time
So weary all of the time
[...]

- Harold Arlen "Stormy Weather"

I love grey, some people might think it's a boring colour, or it's practical or dirty, but it's not, it can be warm or cool; tinged with blue or with a hint of red; so pale it's almost white or so dark it's may as well be black. Stormy Weather 18-4214, definitely sits on the dark/blue side of grey and if I had to compare it to anything it would be pieces of slate, but even that ranges wildly between blues, purples and greens. That's what makes it beautiful.

It's also completely the wrong colour for today, given we had another gloriously sunny day, albeit cold to start, by lunch it was warm! It has actually been nicer the last two days, than most of the summer was this year. Which just seems alien when you a) live in Scotland and b) have started getting used to wearing jumpers again.

Stormy Weather may be literally on the horizon for next week, but as a colour, it's a classic.


Link || Fall 2015 Pantone Fashion Colour Report: Stormy Weather

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Listening: Stormy Weather - Joni Mitchell

Pantone Autumn 2015: An Evolving Colour Landscape {Desert Sage}

Untitled by T. Fougere via Muchaboom on Tumblr

Blue Pumpkin by Becky Stromberg on Flickr

Food and Farming by Gabriela Herman via Brown Dress with White Dots on Tumblr
Untitled via Thankful Sage Farm School on Tumblr

Desert Sage 16-0110, number two on Pantone's range of autumnal colours, is one of my favourites from the list, it's not green, or blue, or grey, and yet it's an amalgam of all three. It's the colour of those frosty grey mornings, later in the autumn, when you really don't want to get out of bed, because it's too cold outside the warmth of the duvet* cocoon you've created over night.

Let's face it, as it starts getting colder, the urge to hibernate with a cup of tea and a good box set will definitely start to increase. So it's probably lucky that you see more home furnishings in shades similar to Desert Sage than you do clothing. For example, this beautiful 100% wool herringbone cushion** by Bronte by Moon.

Throw in a blanket and you're good to go. Perfect for cold, box set weather.


* Just as a point of interest, Desert Sage is pretty much the colour of the repeating pattern on my current and favourite bed sheets. 
** I'm 30 and still have no idea what use cushions are for other than for decoration, seeing you always inevitably remove them from the seating ensemble prior to getting comfortable. But I want it and the matching blanket, seeing I love, love, love anything herringbone. I think it's bea-utiful!

Link || Fall 2015 Pantone Fashion Colour Report: Desert Sage
Link || Herringbone Pure Shetland 100% Wool Cushion in Aqua by Bronte by Moon via Amazon

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Listening: We Are Going To Be Friends - The White Stripes

Pantone Autumn 2015: An Evolving Colour Landscape {Dried Herb}

Untitled via Pinterest

Country Living Cornwall Artist: Amanda Hoskin by Andrew Montgomery via I Am A Dreamer on Tumblr

Untitled via Misty Morning on Tumblr

Untitled via Pinterest

Autumn brings another run of colour boards inspired by a Pantone Fashion Colour Report, but this time, obviously, for Autumn 2015.

Much like the outside world right now, Pantone has become a little more muted with the Autumnal predictions and, oddly, removed the neutral tones they had in their Spring/Summer selection. Are neutrals a bad things in Autumn?

Also, I have a question for Pantone, why did summer get sixteen colours, while autumn only gets ten? Is the start of the colder weather taking it's toll on the Fashion Report team, making them need to cuddle up under a blanket for a nap and say, "Sod it, ten's enough, isn't it?"

Just seems a little odd to me. But anyway...

Dried Herb 17-0627, the first on their list of potentially fashionable autumnal colours, is that dimming green of the leaves on the trees, as they start of go prematurely auburn. Which, as I post more of the colours from the Fall Report, at least half of them you'll see can be taken directly from the colours of a rusting leaf before it falls from the trees.

I was thinking about it as I drove from town today and looked at the trees which flank the road home. Each of them has over the last few weeks turned from lush green to tinged with reds, yellows and oranges, which while beautiful, reminded me of two things. Firstly that in America, there is a phenomena known as leaf peeping, which basically means going on holiday, purposefully to see the leaves changing colour. Which I suppose if you live in the city, where there is little to no foliage to be seen, I can understand.

Secondly, it reminded me of Monty Python: The Meaning of Life and their Suicidal Leaves...

While the leaves haven't quite reached this extreme stage in their cycle, they have begun to dry, and change into their Pantone desired hues. Dried Herb, being the good old fashioned green tweed of the mix. It's traditional and a pretty safe bet for Autumn.


Link | Fall 2015 Pantone Fashion Colour Report: Dried Herb
Link | Leaf Peeping on Wikipedia

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Listening: Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground - The White Stripes

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {treetop}

Cabbages by Unknown via Pinterest

Eyes of the Insane by OurLady-OfSorrow on DeviantArt

a d i n a by Stefania Jane on Flickr via justeunedeplus on Tumblr

Tea Picker by Unknown via The Owl and the Heart on Tumblr

Last Pantone Colour Report day, excluding Marsala 18-1438, which I posted in January. And today is an appropriate day to post such a lush green as Treetop 18-0135, because it's raining and everything in the garden's lush and bright, as the sun keeps peeking through, and outside my window, the trees have started come into leaf, the lilac is starting to flower and the honesty has been providing a wonderful splash of purple over the last few weeks. It's one of my favourite times of year.

Plus, it's Chelsea time - and not the irritating faux-reality television series, but the garden show, which my mum and I always enjoy watching for al the pretty flowers and design ideas. It must be a wonderful feeling to create your own garden.

And I have a little success story from the garden this year, three of the peony seeds, which my gran saved from her tree peony and I planted two years ago have finally emerged!

Yes, I have waited two years to see if any of these marble sized seeds would finally germinate. I've stood in the snow, piling handfuls on each pot to keep them cold, I have been patients and this is what I have to show for it, three (though it was four) healthy little saplings which have trebled in size since I took these photographs.

Peonies are one of my favourite flowers, we have at least a dozen in the garden at home, so to have grown my own from seeds my gran's saved, is a pretty nice feeling, plus, guess what colour they may be? Lellow.

Things however, I have learnt from growing peonies from seeds:
1) They need cold to germinate. They like snow, so don't cover them, or, if you have them in a cold frame over the winter, pile it high to keep them cold.
2) If you want the seeds to germinate in the first year, plant them when they are still fresh, yellow in colour and soft. If you plant them when they've turned black as I did, they will take two years because the husk needs to bio-degrade to start the process of germination.
3) The first year you plant them from black seeds, the husk will rot and roots will begin to form in the soil, don't throw them away if you see nothing after the first year. Label them, put them somewhere safe and let them alone.
4) During year two, the plant will put its energy to germinate the first leaves that your plant will push out of the soil. Again, don't throw away any that don't, the seeds can remain dormant.
5) Don't move the plant to a larger container until the foliage has died back at the end of the year, or you may disturb the plants growth.
6) If you have seeds from a hybrid plant, they will probably not be true to colour. If they're from a non-hybrid, the colour should be true. So it's pot luck.
7) It will probably be five years before you see your first flowers!

That last one's a bit rubbish. Plus, is that five years from when you plant them, or five from when they emerge? I'm thinking probably the latter, so by the time I see my first flowers, I will be approaching thirty five!

After that terrifying revelation, I hope you've liked the Pantone Fashion Colour Report for Spring (and Summer) 2015 boards. I actually really enjoy doing Pantone centred mood boards, and originally, I wasn't that impressed by their En Plein Air, colour choices, but actually, one by one I've started to think it's quite a pretty collection of softly muted summer colours.

That said, give me a jewel tone any day!


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015
Link | Cabbages by Unknown via Pinterest
Link | Eyes of the Insane by OurLady-OfSorrow on DeviantArt (Pinterest)
Link | a d i n a by Stefania Jane on Flickr via justeunedeplus on Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Tea Picker by Unknown via The Owl and the Heart on Tumblr (Pinterest)

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Listening: In Water I Am Beautiful- City and Colour

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {titanium}

Fungi from Au Natural on Tumblr via Pinterest

Climate Transition by Obofili on Flickr

Fracture Series by Robert Hodgin on Flickr

Italian Greyhound by Hannah Blackmore via Peep My Style

Titanium 17-4014, it's a funny colour. You think of titanium as something hard, something solid, something cold and dark, but actually, most of the examples I found to show, as a colour at least, were beautifully soft and delicate.

But titanium to me, is yes, hard and solid but it's also somewhat magical.

In my first year of jewellery, we got taught how to anodize titanium. It's a relatively simple process by which heat or electricity is used to change the colour of a piece of titanium, and the colour depends on the heat or voltage used on the piece of metal...

Each colour on this chainmail bracelet by Melissa Randolph, is indicative of a different voltage passed through the titanium turning it beautiful golds, blues, yellows, pinks, purples, blues, greens and coppers. A rainbow from grey.

I told you it was magic.


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015
Link | Fungi from Au Natural on Tumblr via Pinterest
Link | Climate Transition by Obofili on Flickr via Lush Light on Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Fracture Series by Robert Hodgin on Flickr via Random Ghost on Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Italian Greyhound by Hannah Blackmore via Peep My Style (Pinterest)
Link | Rainbow Elfweave Wave by Melissa Randolph on Flickr

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Listening: Titanium - David Guetta feat. Sia

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {strawberry ice}

PANTONE 2015 via Blog Pixel Oats

Vintage Camera via Style Lover on Tumblr 

Anemone Coronaria, 2005 (CSL090) by Rob Van Dongen from Jackson Fine Art

Pink Things by Unknown on Etsy via Pinterest

We had four cats. Misty and Pepper, sister and brother, grey tabby chinchilla crosses and Dizzy and Gillespie, ginger/white brother and his classic tabby sister. Each was beautiful, crazy, idiotic little bundles of fluff with very distinct personalities. Dizzy, was the friendliest cat you could ask for, playful and a ruthless hunter who was a master of the locked cat flap and yowled to tell us when he'd come home. Pepper, aka Fatty, wasn't fat, he was big of fluff and missing of tooth, he liked to be sung too and didn't like peek-a-boo. Gillespie (Gilly) was tiny, stand-offish and when picked up looked like a flying squirrel. She was also in love with Pepper and would follow him anywhere.

Then there's Misty (Minnie), who was miss understood. For years we thought she was an angry cat, and to be fair, she kind of was to the other three. And while she was tolerant of the boys, she hated Gilly. I always loved her, we all did, despite her moods, but she probably got the most telling off's. However, something strange happened with Minnie, once we lost her brother and Gilly, she calmed down, she stopped hissing so much, stopped being angry and became a lump of soft grey and white fluff again. We kind of realised after that that sweet and innocent Gilly, was doing most of the mind tricks and bullying. Such as sleeping on the door mat in front of the cat flap so Minnie could neither get in or out of the house. When we lost Dizzy a year later, Misty was a totally different cat. She was calm and became a lap cat, seeking out heat and cuddles like a heat like a missile. She'd sleep on your chest, wrapped around like a scarf, padding at your clothes, at your own risk wear knitwear. She had a wet purr, a huge meow (she was a very chatty cat), she was funny, dribbled when she was happy and, the point of this little walk through memory lane, she had the most perfectly Strawberry Ice 16-1720 coloured nose.

But with Misty, it wasn't good enough to have a pink nose. You could tell her mood by the colour. It would start almost a white/grey to match her fur, but as you'd pet her, as she'd purr and became happy, her nose would turn pink.

It was the most perfect pink.


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015
Link | PANTONE 2015 via Blog Pixel Oats (Pinterest)
Link | Vintage Camera via Style Lover on Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Anemone Coronaria, 2005 (CSL090) by Rob Van Dongen from Jackson Fine Art (Pinterest)
Link | Pink Things by Unknown on Etsy via Pinterest

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Listening: Don't Let Me Get Me - P!nk

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {dusk blue}

Slips of paper containing prayers in the cracks of the Wall by Yarin Kirchen via The Times of Israel

Pseudophilotes panoptes by  BlezSP on Flickr

War Games: Dip-dyed Raw Ceramic Marbles from Fredericks and Mae

For Get Me Nots by tanakawho on Flickr

The legend I know, behind the naming of the forget-me-not, involves a knight falling into a river. As the knight walked along the banks of a river with his lady, he fell into the water. Throwing back the posy of little blue flowers he was collecting for her, he called out "forget-me-not!" as the weight of his armour drowned him in the water. So it was often worn by ladies as a sign of faithfulness and enduring love.

The legend I didn't know is of German origin and claims, as God named all the plants, a tiny forgotten blue flower cried out "Forget-me-not, O Lord!" God replied, "That shall be your name."

A similar telling of this legend suggests God thought he had finished giving all the flowers their colours, when he heard one whisper, "forget me not!" All their creator had left, was a tiny amount of blue, but the forget-me-not was overjoyed to wear it.

I like this version, even thought I am not religious in any way, I like the idea of a flower being scared of being forgotten, that even though it was little, it called out. Even though it was probably quite happy waiting quietly, it just wanted to be noticed.

Makes me like forget-me-nots far more than love tokens.

Also, I missed a trick with this board, there is actually a Dusky Large Blue (Phengaris Nausithous) butterfly, but it wasn't nearly as dusky blue Dusk Blue 16-4120, as the Panoptes Blue (Pseudophilotes panoptes).


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015
Link | Slips of paper containing prayers in the cracks of the Wall by Yarin Kirchen via The Times of Israel (Pinterest)
Link | Pseudophilotes panoptes by  BlezSP on Flickr (Pinterest)
Link | War Games: Dip-dyed Raw Ceramic Marbles from Fredericks and Mae via Design Curiosities (Pinterest)
Link | For Get Me Nots by tanakawho on Flickr
Link | Forget-Me-Not on Wikipedia

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Listening: Once And For All - Clock Opera

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {scuba blue}

Pushkar, India via Desert Dreamer on Tumblr

Succulent Succulent by Alan Shapiro on Fivehundredpx

58647264.IMG_0275_Kealakekua_bay_sandy_bottom_FocusFixer5 by cyranthus on Flickr

Sea Anemone On Pedernales Wreck In Aruba by Bob Hahn

In Pantone's Spring/Summer 2015 colours, blue seems to be featuring quite heavily. Scuba Blue 16-4725, being probably the brightest of all the colours of this year selections. But it's kind of a shoe in for Summer, it's the colour of the water from exotic beach holidays...

Scotland's water isn't that colour. It's blue, but it's not that blue. But it is pretty.

This is the beach I have probably spent most time on during my life. It's not in a foreign country, it's not at the other end of the country, it's only a 160 miles away from where I live, but that beach probably holds more found memories than anywhere else.

Carradale Bay, near Campbeltown in Argyll, aka the west coast of Scotland. We spent a lot of family holidays here when I was little, and I don't just means my parents and sisters, I mean the whole family, both sets of grandparents and my uncle, to stay in the same little house, on the top of the hill which we'd more often than not have to walk up when we arrived as it was too steep for the car plus luggage, plus us. It had woods behind it, where I saw my first dragon flies and woods below, where my little sister fell off a tiny bridge into a burn and a few minutes walk down the road, Carradale Bay where we would spend hours (rain or shine) on the beach and in the water.

It may not be Scuba Blue 16-4725 and it might be colder and vaguely tainted by Paul McCartney's song Mull of Kintyre, but I remember being happy here.

This was also the place I first remember being curious about jewellery, after being take to the local jewellery workshop by my mum and dad. And still having this idyllic image of passionflowers growing up its front wall and the three tiny stacked rings my gran still wears.


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015
Link | Pushkar, India via Desert Dreamer on Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Succulent Succulent by Alan Shapiro on Fivehundredpx (Pinterest)
Link | 58647264.IMG_0275_Kealakekua_bay_sandy_bottom_FocusFixer5 by cyranthus on Flickr (Pinterest)
Link | Sea Anemone On Pedernales Wreck In Aruba by Bob Hahn via Fine Art America (Pinterest)
Link | Carradale Bay Pano by Steve on Flickr

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Listening: The Rescue Blues - Ryan Adams

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {sandstone}

FLEUR via JusquOboutdumonde on Tumblr via Pinterest

Elie Saab Haute Couture S/S 2011 via Musing in Femininity on Tumblr

Cat's Eyes. by Egor Fedorov on Fivehundredpx

{ horse hues } from designseeds via Pinterest

I remember standing in the playground as a kid, facing the walls of my primary school, counting to whatever number you counted to when playing hide and seek, and playing with the pink sandstone bricks that the building was made out of. Brushing off layers of sand, looking at all those subtly different pinks, layered one after another. Helping it either eroded in undulations or helping small sections shear off the surface. It's a bizarre thing to have enjoyed, I probably just thought I was being pathetically destructive but thinking back on it, it was one of those strange little pleasures you have in life.

Apart from my memories of being a terrible vandal, Elie Saab makes me love Sandstone 16-1328. The Haute Couture designer uses a lot of shades his nude palette, intricately embroidered by hand with thousands of sequins, beads, appliqué flowers...

Designers talk about having idols. There are some people mention just because they're fashionable, or they make you look intellectual, there are clichés you roll your eyes at. I don't know if I have any, or at least many. I have designers I love, Thomas Heatherwick, Jacqueline Ryan, Dale Chihuly... Elie Saab is amongst them.

But I suppose it's the embroiders I adore the most. The beautiful, hand sewn intricacy of their work floors me. If textiles had been like that at university, I would have skipped joyfully into the textiles department. Instead I ran to jewellery to play with hammers and fire. I don't regret my path, I love both hammers and fire, but it would have been curious to see where a constructed textiles education could have taken me. Where I could be now rather than sitting in the lab popping lenses in and out.

As I stood in front of that sandstone wall, I knew I wanted to be a designer, just not what kind... twenty plus years on, I'm still not entirely sure what kind I am.


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015
Link | FLEUR via JusquOboutdumonde on Tumblr via (Pinterest)

Link | Elie Saab Haute Couture S/S 2011 via Musing in Femininity on Tumblr (Pinterest)

Link | Cat's Eyes. by Egor Fedorov on Fivehundredpx (Pinterest)
Link | { horse hues } from designseeds via Pinterest
Link | .: Backstage Elie Saab Haute Couture SS 2011 :. via A World of a Classy Lady on Tumbler (Pinterest)
Link | Elie Saab Atelier via Pinterest

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Listening: How Will I Know - Sam Smith

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {classic blue}

The Art of Fugue Soup by Charlie Lee Potter of Eggs On The Roof

36248 by Clive Nichols on flickr

Sculpture by Kate Mccgwire via Pinterest

{at the shops | clothing label : heinui, france} by {this is glamorous} on flickr

Blue, blue, electric blue, that's... not the colour we're looking at, so get that song out of your head.

Classic Blue 19-4052 does exactly what it says on the tin. It's that good, solid, reliable blue, which isn't quite as deep as navy, nor as purple as indigo. It's a good old denim blue.

Everyone's probably had a pair of jeans this colour before. I have, but seeing I live in jeans, that's not surprising. When I was a kid, you couldn't get me into a pair of jeans. I hated them, they were stiff and cold and... well, it was the nineties, so mostly stonewashed and way too baggy. So, I lived in leggings; maxi dresses; skirts and jogging bottom and then, while shopping in Glasgow, my mum and dad made me get a pair of jeans and I've given up pretty much all of the alternatives.

I hadn't thought about that before! That first pair of jeans - which I still have and are my one day never jeans - totally ruined me for all other leg based clothing!

 Damn pesky parents!


Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015
The Art of Fugue Soup by Charlie Lee Potter of Eggs On The Roof (Pinterest)
36248 by Clive Nichols on flickr (Pinterest)
Sculpture by Kate Mccgwire via Pinterest (Kate Mccqwire Website)
{at the shops | clothing label : heinui, france} by {this is glamorous} on flickr (Pinterest)

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Listening: Blue - Mint Royale

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {aquamarine}

Aquamarine Hair via Mariplopis on Tumblr

Zeeby and Mia Preening via Part of the Flock on Tumblr

Blue Eggs via Paonote_room269 on Tumblr

Untitled by Andrew Jason Leung via Paper and Stitch

There's a legend, that goes along with this subtly coloured gemstone. The Romans believed that the aquamarine was sacred to Neptune, the god of the sea. They believed that it had fallen out of the treasure box of the sirens and washed up on the shore. Because of this, sailors would wear the stone carved into the shape of Neptune and wear it around their necks as an amulet to guard them again danger at sea. Thus leading people to believe that the gem held more power when submerged in water.

When I was little, we'd go to visit my Gran and Grandpa. Between lying on the fluffy rug, underneath the glass coffee table and trying not to dislodge the bricks that ran along the edge of their veggie patch as I tiptoed along it, there was always one object in their house that I could happily play with for hours.

My gran had a carved wooden box, full of treasure in the form of polished beach stones. Piece of agate, quarts, jasper, serpentine and pretty pebbles that had been picked up over the years and either polished naturally, or in her tiny rock tumbler, which is now mine. There was something so satisfying about placing my hand in amongst those cold shiny rocks and it did feel like treasure.

Gran's still got the box sitting under a table in her living room and every time I'm at their house I have to resist the urge to have a look inside.I doubt very much there was any aquamarine in there, maybe a bit of amethyst, but if those were the siren's, they should have been in a better made treasure chest. Never trust sirens. Never ends well.

Aquamarine 14-4313, the colour to really irritate sirens in.

Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015
Link | Aquamarine Hair via Mariplopis on Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Zeeby and Mia Preening via Part of the Flock on Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Blue Eggs via Paonote_room269 on Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Untitled by Andrew Jason Leung via Paper and Stitch (Pinterest)

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Listening: Elastic Heart - Sia

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {toasted almond}

M: Jess by Candice Carlin on Flickr

COPIA_DSC4641 by maldonado photographs on Flickr via Pinterest

Gills. Shaugh Prior, Dartmoor, Devon, England by Ross Hoddinott via The Telegraph

Elephant via p-o-l-y-v-a-l-e-n-t Tumblr

I wish I had a better relationship with nude and neutral colours, but without fail, with my skintone, I either look grubby or like I'm blushing so hard, I've either done something very embarrassing or seen a very attractive man. It's just not a colour range which I seem to get away with.

But nudes and neutrals can look so attractive on so many people, and with so many other colours, I think a collection of colours excluding one or two would definitely be lacking.

Plus, I actually really love this Toasted Almond 14-1213 mood board. Never has a bulb of garlic looked quite so pretty and I love elephants and microfloral dresses. They remind me of the nineties and all the pretty micro floral dresses I wore with denim jackets and Doc Martins, before I went and developed boobs and hips and ceased wearing dresses bar very rare occasions.

Can't say I'm 100% happy that the nineties fashions have returned once more in 2015, but micro florals and denim jackets make up for me being barely born/too young during the era of grunge to really embrace it.


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015

Link | M: Jess by Candice Carlinon Flickr (Pinterest)

Link | COPIA_DSC4641 by maldonado photographs on Flickr via Pinterest

Link | Gills. Shaugh Prior, Dartmoor, Devon, England by Ross Hoddinott via The Telegraph (Pinterest)
Link | Elephant via p-o-l-y-v-a-l-e-n-t Tumblr (Pinterest)



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Listening: Tea and Toast - Lucy Spraggan

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {tangerine}

Links by WHO 2003 via ElemenoP Tumblr

Orange Bouganvillia via Pinterest

. by Anna NYCZ on Flickr via Sortrashion

Bark by Cedric Pollet via Pinterest

Every time I look at Pantone's Tangerine 15-1247, two things pop into my head. One is simple, I love burnt orange colours to wear and it's one you very rarely see on the high street. The other one isn't fruit, I think of the film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Joel: You look like a tangerine!

Clementine: Hmmm, Clementine the tangerine.

Joel: Juicy... 'n seedless.

Clementine: I like that.

It keeps popping into my head, as I think about the colour Tangerine. The conversation Joel (Jim Carey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) have about her dying her hair the same colour as her favourite sweatshirt before that memory, along with all the others are erased.

This is one of my favourite movies. The idea of being able to erase bad memories, who wouldn't want to do that? But on the flip side, how those painful moments in life, also become sacred. How erasing one bad memory, could meaning losing another your cherish.

Whilst I was working my way through papers soaked by that faulty dehumidifier behind my books, I came across some old emails.  Why I'd printed them, I don't remember, most I threw away as they were just the trivial babbling of a teenager, but one, even though the contents brought back hurtful memories. Also made me remember the little flicker for hope that this tiny email, of a conversation one friend had with another about me, had given me. Even reading it back now, I couldn't throw it away, because actually it made me feel better about the situation all these years later.

"Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I wish I was a forgetful person. I'm not. I remember things far too well for far too long, and my psychology suffers for that. I can, and will nitpick over things, both important and mundane, which happened a decade ago, as though they happened yesterday. Which, because I've written this down, I will without fail do to the point of not being able to sleep tonight. Being forgetful would be nice sometimes.

"How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!

The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd ..."

- Extract from 'Eloisa to Abelard' by Alexander Pope

Though it does come in handy when your family can't find any small to large object you can think of and they can mislay/leave for someone else to put away.


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015: En Plein Air
Link | Links by WHO 2003 via ElemenoP Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Orange Bougainvillea via Pinterest
Link | . by Anna NYCZ on Flickr via Sortrashion
Link | Bark by Cedric Pollet via Pinterest

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Listening: Peer Pressure - Jon Brion

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {lavender herb}

Get The Candy-Colored Hair Color Of Your Dreams via Buzzfeed

The Spring Finale, The Summer Prelude: Crostini with Morels, Wild Greens Mascarpone via Three Little Halves

Aubrieta by Amy Covington on Fivehundredpx

Vintage Lavender Bottles via Eat. Sleep. Decorate

Lavender 16-3310, is such a beautifully old fashioned colour, one which you can practically smell.

Though, I don't, because once every few years I buy lavender to grow and inevitably kill it. There's only one herb I'm worst with, and that's thyme.

A good colour, easily adapted from muted greys, through blues and amethysts and into pinks. This particular one, to me, being the colour of Smarties.


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Report Spring 2015: En Plein Air
Link | Get The Candy-Colored Hair Color Of Your Dreams via Buzzfeed (Pinterest)
Link | The Spring Finale, The Summer Prelude: Crostini with Morels, Wild Greens Mascarpone via Three Little Halves (Pinterest)
Link | Aubrieta by Amy Covington on Fivehundredpx (Pinterest)
Link | Vintage Lavender Bottles via Eat. Sleep. Love  (Pinterest)


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Listening: Heaven Sent - Best Coast

pantone spring 2015: en plein air {glacier gray}

despintat by Miquel Bohigas Costabella via Flickr

Ginko Leaves via Jessie is a Robot Tumblr

Violet // Hair Post by Mary Ellen Skye of Sunday Pearls

'Johanna Dauphin´s beautiful universe' via Stil Inspiration

I really like Glacier Gray 14-4102. I really like grey full stop, it's my go too safe colour for what I laughingly call fashion. It was my go too colour for jewellery too, every time I reached for my silver sheet or wire I started my design with a silver grey base.

But, if white is all colours and black is an absence of colour, what does that make grey?

The bastard son of all absent colours?

Nevertheless, I'm definitely up for grey hair now. Bring it.


Link | Pantone Fashion Colour Forecast Spring 2015: En Plein Air
Link | despintat by Miquel Bohigas Costabella via Flickr (Pinterest)
Link | Ginko Leaves via Jessie is a Robot Tumblr (Pinterest)
Link | Violet // Hair Post by Mary Ellen Skye via Sunday Pearls (Pinterest)
Link | 'Johanna Dauphin´s beautiful universe' via Stil Inspiration (Pinterest)

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Listening: Earned It  - The Weeknd