Alice Rhodes

I have to be honest, scrolling through the Topshop lingerie section I felt slightly let down. It was all very safe and generic. There was nothing that stood out to me or shouted out as 'the piece'. However, going through the sale section I did find two pieces that had some interesting designs.

Urban Outfitters do everything right but their lingerie section is just perfection. Whether you're looking for a comfy CK sports bra or a lacy bralette, they'll have the best option. The only downside to their gorgeous pieces is the price! 

I was reading Vogue's Snapchat feature a few weeks ago and came across an article highlighting up and coming trends. One of them, which linked into the western 'cowboy' trend, was dark denims. I have seen lots of photos of women looking amazing in dark jeans in the past and assumed they would soon be the in thing, however, I haven't actually seen it dominating the fashion industry yet. Knowing that it's likely to become more prominent over 2018 I decided to buy some dark blue Urban Outfitters 'flood' jeans. It's important to note by dark I don't mean black, it's more of a 90's natural indigo dye. What I really love about dark denims is how the stitching contrasts the material. The lines created give the garments a minimal style, the subtle white stitching is enough to finish of a look. Of course, I couldn't just leave my outfit as jeans and a t-shirt, it's just not my style. So I paired the dark denim with a baby pink top with 'love' embellished on and I layered it with a turtleneck in a deep shade of purple.

There's lot's of ways you can style this trend: jackets, jeans, coats or even accessories, but I went for a pair of jeans. I personally prefer wide leg or mom jeans oppose to skinny jeans at the moment so the Urban Outfitter's 'flood' jeans were exactly what I was looking for! They fit really nice and unlike lots of cropped jeans they don't make my legs look short. At £50 I think they are on the pricier side however with student discount and a jean sale I got them for £36 (I was particularly pleased with myself). I do think they're worth their original price because of how comfortable they are and how perfectly they fit my body. 

So if you're looking for a new jacket or pair of jeans, choose the indigo dyes with 90's nostalgia written all over them. If you liked this post follow my bloglovin for more and check out my social media links! Want to know more about this outfit? Tweet me @ alicerhodesblog or leave me a comment below!

 One of my New Year goals was to learn how to make clothes, specifically make some vintage style dresses. Starting my sewing journey, I wanted to sew all of the badges I've collected in my life onto my denim jacket. Obviously, I'm aware that swimming badges from when I was six and all my girl guiding badges aren't exactly the coolest things in the world and don't quite meet 'Insta girl' aesthetic requirements but then again I'm not pretending to be the cool trend setter, I'm just being me and doing the things that I enjoy. Therefore, I got out the sewing basket and sat on the sofa, with The Crown on in the background which, can I just say, is AMAZING, and began my attempt at personalizing my vintage denim jacket. 

So far, it's going wayyyyy better than expected. I've successfully sewn 14 of my Guiding badges onto the jacket and I've worn it out the house without any falling off so it's a job well done! I expected it to take a long time to do just a few badges but I've been doing about four every sitting so I think I underestimated my current skills! 

That's about all I have to say but the main thing I want to get across is you do you! I've started one of my goals and I'm doing it because I want  to do it, above all, I'm really enjoying learning a new skill and if I manage to make a dress by the end of this year, I shall proudly wear it on Christmas day knowing I've achieved my goal! 

This Christmas I asked for the Winsor and Newton 45 half pan studio watercolour set. That's quite a mouth full! I was lucky enough to wake up on December 25th and find the beautiful watercolour set wrapped up under my tree!  Naturally, I couldn't wait to try them out and see if the set lived up to Winsor and Newton's reputation. I already own the small travel set so I was aware that the actual paints are of beautify quality and create stunning paintings but  wanted to see if the range of colours provided were worth the money some retailers charge for this specific set. 

1. Starting of with the price, I searched around to find a good deal on this set. I decided to buy it from amazon which cost around £20 - £25. Having just looked on Amazon now, the price is £35 with free delivery so I think it must of been in a Christmas sale when I purchased it. Both of those price seem very reasonable to me as the set is of high quality from a renowned name, however, I've seen this retailing in the range of £70 - £90 in many retail stores. Those prices are considerably higher and, although the set is wonderful, I would personally say no set of water colours that come in the standard case are worth that much money! So my top tip would be search for the deals and don't get scammed!

2. Onto the actual product, as I have already stated, the quality of the actual watercolours isn't questionable! They're creamy and thick with lots of rich depth however, they can be watered down to become fainter and feathery. As for the range of colours, you couldn't possibly need more than what is given. There's a nice amount of cool and warm tones, a good variation of shades and tints and the set comes with a few whites and blacks too.

3. I mainly paint portraits as it is what I find fun, I enjoy progressing and improving over time and learning what my 'style' is. The problem I find most common is that sets, ironically portrait sets, don't provide enough shades for darker skin tones. This set isn't for portraits specifically, it's for anything but I found it had a really lovely range of browns, deep reds and oranges and dark blues which I find necessary when I'm painting ethnic skin tones! So if you're like me and mainly paint/draw portraits I'd highly recommend this set over a portrait pencil set etc. 

That's all I have to say about the watercolours! They are really beautiful and if you're looking to purchase something more special/expensive I'd recommend these. Apart for the price some retailers set I couldn't fault the product and think it is worth the investment if you are a passionate painter, however, if you're just starting out I wouldn't invest in an expensive set straight away, all watercolours (even the kids sets, which I love!) will do the job whilst you learn the basics. 

I hope you enjoyed this review, leave your opinion of the set in the comments if you own one! Have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll respond as soon as possible. Tweet me @ alicerhodesblog . Check out my art on Instagram @ alicerhodesart . Follow me on bloglovin for more posts like this! 

One of my new years resolutions was to start going on a bike ride once a week. Today I woke up to drizzly, grey, British January Weather and quite frankly I looked outside and thought to myself "Nope, I'm not going out in that". So that was it; I sat on the couch and ate my breakfast whilst watching trashy TV, having already broken/given up my New Year goal. I'd let myself down- because of a bit of rain.

Then I remembered something a You Tuber had said in her  New Year resolutions video, this year she planned on working on a 'no rain, no flowers' attitude. It's easy to let an inconvenience seem worse than it is and ruin your plan and in my case, set back a goal. Rather than allowing a problem to stop your plans or goal you need to shift the focus on how to overcome it. After all, flowers wont grow without a little rain. In my case I could either stay sat on my bum all day long or I could put my work out gear on and get out on my bike in the miserable weather. So I got up, got ready and went out! I didn't allow the bad weather to ruin my plans and I looked on the bright side of the situation. 

With this early bump in the road, I've realised achieving my 2018 goals will be slightly harder than anticipated and, although I pride myself on my will power, it is going to take a lot of hard work and determination to complete all the goals I've set. I imagine some of you are also struggling with your New Year goal, maybe it's getting fit or learning a skill, so here's some ways I'm making easier to achieve my goal:

1. I'm an organisation freak so I've chosen Thursday to be my designated  bike ride day, mainly because it's a good day for me to fit things in. You might live your life a bit more spontaneously and not have set things/routines but I believe having a set routine should hopefully help me stick at the goal for a lot longer because it will become natural to wake up ready for a bike ride e.g. my little brain will go "oh it's Thursday, time to ride my bike and get fit". If you just plan to pick the nicest day or the most convenient day each week, I think you'll end up skipping a lot more weeks that planned (unless you have the best self control EVER)

2. Don't be unrealistic. You wont become the worlds best amateur chef in one week, no matter how many Jamie Oliver books you read. In my case, I'm not expecting to be able to do a twenty mile bike ride in a months time. I'm going to take baby steps and improve on my stamina and general fitness over the year and years to come so that I don't hurt my body on the third bike ride, consequently putting me off riding my bike again. 

3. Record your achievements and improvements. I'm personally going to be doing posts on how I'm getting on with each of my goals throughout the year, it might be monthly or weekly but I know if I'm not feeling motivated or preparing to give up, being able to look back at what I've already done and documenting/writing about why I'm so close to giving up on my goal will help motivate me to carry on. You could take photos, keep a diary or use social media to track your progression, whether its loosing that post Christmas tummy or learning new crafts there's loads of ways to document what you've already done to give you a little motivation on down days.

That's three ways I'll be keeping going with my 2018 goal, check out my last post to find out more about my 2018 goals, click the links to my social medias for more frequent updates on how I'm getting on with them and other fun things. Leave me a comment if you enjoyed the post, I'd love to know your New Year goals!

This year I've decided to set some goals for 2018, some are small and some big but they're things I've been wanting to start for a while but passed them off as unrealistic dreams or things I simply haven't had time for. I'm going to do posts throughout the year on these goals as a little motivation to keep doing them and to show my journey learning new skills! 

1. Get fit!

Obviously, this is the goal half the world sets and about 100 people actually manage but this year I want to start doing something. I'm not aiming to run marathons or climb mountains but I just want to schedule in some exercise once a week. My plan is pretty achievable, I'm setting myself the 'task' of doing a bike ride a week, it's simple/easy and wont just improve my physical health but I believe getting out in the fresh air and looking after my body/health will majorly improve my mental health/general wellbeing. 

2. Baking/cooking.

By the end of this year I want to be making showstopper worthy bakes. I want to truly invest time and effort into learning new skills and techniques within baking as it's something I have always enjoyed and wanted to develop. As for cooking, my sister has gone to Uni this year and with that has brought upon the realisation that I have little skills/knowledge when it comes to cooking. Unlike baking I barely ever cook but this year I want to push myself and help out a bit more at home by making the evening meal every-so-often. 

3. Sewing/dress making.

Making my own clothes has always sounded appealing to me, the freedom that comes with     knowing how to sew has no boundaries! My aim for this year, and years to come, is to improve my textiles skills and hopefully, with my mum's guidance, learn how to make beautiful vintage style dresses in fabrics of my choice! Why wouldn't that sound appealing? I've vaguely started off this goal as I've begun to sew on all my guiding and swimming badges to my vintage denim jacket, it's something I've wanted to do for a while now so why not start over the Christmas break!

4. Growing my blog and art Instagram.

After watching YouTube and reading blogs since I was about ten I finally decided to create my own blog this summer, it was for many reasons: improving my writing, doing something I enjoyed but also to become a part of the community I've enjoyed watching/reading most of my life. This year I really want to find new bloggers, particularly 'teen' bloggers my age and make friends/acquaintances with people who share this hobby with me!

As for my art account ( alicerhodesart Instagram) I really want to grow my followers and get my art out their/more noticed, after all I am studying at art college so a little self promotion can't hurt! I'm currently sitting at around 900 followers but I really want to gain more followers and ones who are active on my account, that actually enjoy my art like how I love other Instagram artists work! 

I'd really, really love to know what your goals are in 2018, or if you don't set them! tweet them to my @ alicerhodesblog or leave me a comment on Instagram @ alicerhodesart. If you've written a similar post to this one I'd love to read it, share your links in the comments! Happy New Year,