Restyle 2015 has officially wrapped!



Here's how the final week played out for me.

Day 24 - Mini



I took a homophonic approach to this one and wore a vintage handpainted Minnie Mouse pendant my Mum picked up for me at a flea market somewhere in the US, teamed with classic black and white stripes and a red Cotton On cardi.

Day 25 - Dapper


I would have liked to have been at work for this one but made do with a new op shop score - (as in a new purchase AND I found a new op shop, the Save The Children one in Ridgehaven); an English vintage wool hat. Because hats are totes dapper and anyone who says otherwise is lying.

Day 26 - Black on Black


Another recent pick-up, I got this Sportsgirl dress from Savers recently and had been holding off on wearing it specifically to rock it on this day. I met Stacie and Jen for lunch at Jamie's Italian and we looked like we'd just come from a wake. A very stylish wake. This dress is really comfortable and I'm looking forward to wearing it with other stuff because these boots look wack.

Day 27 - Floral


If this watercolour floral blazer looks vaguely familiar, it's because I'm wearing it in my current avatars across social media. It was given to me by Bridie of bridiemarie.com who is a neutral minimalist and bought this from Big W while seized by pregnancy brain. Which turned out to be a win for me!

Day 28 - Metallic


I chose to show my collection of alu-mesh bags, all lovingly op-shopped except for the pink one which came via eBay. The bottom 4 are all genuine Glomesh and the top 3 are quality imitations. I've decided collecting Glomesh is my thing now . . . for the right price of course! In related news, I picked this purse up the other day and am most pleased with it:


Day 29 - Fringe


As I mentioned in my corresponding Instagram post, I am not one for Western or 70s style trends so I took a photo of the fringing of this lovely pink and gold wrap that came from a friend, Humna, who was moving overseas, via Stacie, who thought (correctly) that I would like it.

Day 30 - Donate


What better day to head down to Savers with a blue bag, wearing a Rivers coat from same Savers?


There you have my Restyle 2015 wrap-up. It was a good, fun challenge to play along with and the op-shopped edge took it next level.

As you may know, Restyle is an event that runs during the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival and by playing along on Instagram, stand-out participants have the opportunity to walk the Restyle Runway during the Festival. Awesomely, Stacie was chosen to be one of those! Not awesomely, she lives in Adelaide and couldn't! So go and have a look at her Insta account and check out her looks.

Not one to rest, I have ploughed straight into not one but two challenges on the back of Restyle; Kimba Likes #SpringFling and Fashionista in Suburbia's #30Lippiesfor30Days. Follow the hashtags on Instagram to see what's up!

I leave you with this gif of the Black on Black outtakes. Enjoy.

In the world before Almost Posh, I was a bit of a habitual review writer, including on Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook and Beauty Heaven.

Beauty Heaven is an Australian site featuring user-submitted product reviews, competitions, tutorials and general beauty news. Users can sign up and receive points based on site use and reviews submitted, which generates points, which in turn can be cashed in for products during regular Beautorium events.

I hadn't yet redeemed any of the points received from copious amounts of review writing as none of the one-off products had taken my fancy. So when I got an email inviting me to cash in 300 of said points in return for a surprise mini haul, I was so in!

The parcel arrived last Friday and the contents revealed forthwith:



Elegant Touch Nail Wraps

Since losing all ability to paint my own nails over the years, I have turned to nail wraps as a suitable alternative. I usually use the Sally Hansen ones which are quite easy to apply so will be interesting to see how these work. I like the monochrome polkadot patterns so will be busting them out "for good" soon!

Scholl Party Feet Heel Shields

These things are amazing, and I was pleased to receive a pair as they come so in handy for preventing blisters, heel rub and also getting shoes to fit properly. I seem to have some sort of foot condition whereby I'll try on a pair of shoes, feel like they fit perfectly, get them home then go to wear them of a morning and find my heels slipping straight out of the back. This definitely helps prevent such an issue and the squidgy soft gel ensures a good and comfortable fit. Scholl also make some other good foot products as reviewed here.

Kora Organic lip balm

I'm a Lucas' PaPaw Ointment kind of girl for lip balm but I popped this one on my lips to see how it went. It's in a proper lip balm dispenser tube with a slanted tip and the product is smooth and easy to apply. While the balm was indeed soothing to dry winter lips, the taste and smell lingered heavily around my mouth and I felt like I was breathing it in, which is unpleasant and not something I'd seek in a lip balm product. I think I'll stick to the magic red tube.

Colgate Total 12-Hour Toothpaste

While receiving toothpaste isn't terribly exciting, this is the brand I use regularly anyway, so obviously I'm already down with it. It feels like you get a good clean without being overly gritty or sweet. The mini size will be good for popping in the toiletry bag for travel.

Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara

Probably the most exciting item, as being actual make-up, I was yet to try this particular offering from Maybelline, so had a go this morning.

It has a curved brush tip which is a point of difference compared to my two mascaras currently on rotation - the Essence Lash Princess False Lash Effect and Tarte Cosmetics Lights Camera Lashes.



It applied relatively smoothly but a little twitch and I had a mascara streak on my eyelid. Normally, this is just a flick of a cotton bud stick to remove but this stuff would. not. come. off. Mucking around with it resulted in under-eye transfer and then a couple of random cheek crumbs which was not cool. I essentially had to remake half of my face!


There you have a wrap-up of the Beauty Heaven mini haul. It was essentially free so no complaints. Did you go in for it? Are you a fan of the subscription box concept?

Linking up with the Fabulous and Fun Life Monday Makeup Madness Link Up Party!

For the second week of the Restyle 2015 style challenge, I had a bit of a stumble - my Sydney trip and forgetful packing activity meant that I had got behind in a few of the prompts and had to take some make-up photos to get back in the game.

Day 8 - Pencil Skirt



Feeling all secretarial in this Sportsgirl pleather pencil skirt from SWOP, mushroom (ugh!) Tokito knit with cute chain detail on collar from Savers and Lee Cooper ankle boots from Big W. Stacie and I really had to work to get this photo. We popped into the lobby of a suitably grand building and our posing kept getting interrupted as people annoyingly went about their business. How very dare they. #modellyf

Day 9 - Neon



It's nigh on impossible to get a photo accurately depicting a true neon shade (well, on an iPhone 5s it is, anyway). I picked up this Cotton On scarf at the RSPCA op shop in Prospect earlier this year. I'm not really feeling it though, it throws an awful lot of light up to the face and makes me look jaundiced so it's going into the donation bag before too much longer.

Day 10 - Animal Print



Pretty easy for a leopard lover like me although when it really came down to it, a lot of my animal print items were new and not restyled! I did, however, have this Millers blouse via Savers for just such an occasion. I'd not worn it tucked in with a skirt (ASOS via Vinnie's) like this either and was happy with the overall result. Roar.

Day 11 - Polka Dots



I scrambled for ages trying to think of something for this prompt that wasn't bought new and finally remembered these scarves that belonged to my Grandma. I need to learn how to tie them appropriately for full effect! Polka dots are fun and clearly I need more.

Day 12 - 90s



You know your girl loves some 90s looks, only this day I was flying up to Sydney and wanted to wear jeans and it was all too hard so I put up this regram of an earlier outfit in an opshopped Cotton On dress, grey tights and lace up boots. I am still all about this look. And if I see an A-line button-through denim mini for the right price, I may just have to revisit that look too!

As a bonus, I hadn't worn jeans this blue since the 90s so I guess that counts?



Day 13 - Glam

So last Friday I popped myself on a plane and headed up to Sydney for a little mini-break.


Obligatory wing shot. Nice to be above the clouds for once though.


I decided to treat myself to a magazine at the airport. Obvs I haven't bought one for a while (as in years) and clearly I'm getting old because I was all like "OMG, $8.20?" It wasn't even that good! Full of bad brows, Anne Hathaway and unwearable, overpriced items that I didn't even like. Definitely sticking to blogs for my fashion fix in future.

I arrive in Sydney in unexpectedly warm weather, do the bag drop and get ready to hit the streets in my Converse, my new favourite jeans and a new jumper, both from Cotton On.


And by "hitting the streets", I mean "the shops".


That's right, ladies . . . *cue angelic choir*


I had been pre-warned that it would not be the most serene and relaxed of shopping environments so I was ready to throw elbows if I needed and ain't nobody gonna hustle me out of the way of the things I'm looking at. I spent a long, long time browsing, poking, swatching, twiddling and sniffing. Happily, I made it out with only some light markings:


So what did I get? Well, I'm glad you asked.



Made the unfortunate discovery that the "centrally located" hotel I'd chosen was indeed located centrally to Central Station which, as the name suggests, had quite a lot of train-based activity through the night, in that each one of them honked their air horn as they went into the tunnel, right outside my room. Did I also mention I was also rolling with some sort of bug/virusy thing? So, no sleep then. Awesome.

The next day, I felt rubbish but managed to pull myself together for a walk around in the gorgeous weather in my winter whites (aka legs) that haven't seen the sun since March.








My plan was to shop like crazy. But have you ever noticed that when you have the cash, the time, the opportunity and the inclination to shop, there's nothing to buy? I wandered in and out of shops and saw nothing I liked. So I didn't load up like I thought I would. A couple of items that will be revealed in a later blog post. Oooh.

Then it was time to meet my blogger blind date . . .

Christina from Love That Lippie!


We met in front of Sephora and dipped in for another go. Christina had a hit list and I couldn't resist picking up the Kat Von D Studded Kiss lipstick in Lolita (after grabbing one for my friend Stacie the day before) and a tightline mascara mini from IT Cosmetics.


We then sat down for beautifully presented tea, cake and a lengthy chit-chat about all things beauty, blogging and beyond! Christina's blog presents unfiltered, unedited lip swatches from all brands budget to luxe as well as other fun makeup looks and things, with a humourous and real approach. So check it out if you've not done so.


Christina is totes lovely. I was so happy I got in touch with her to meet up while I was there and she made the effort to come all the way into town to meet me despite being under the weather AND she was rocking a beautiful bold lip as anticipated! 

Here we are "finding our light".




I then dragged her all over the CBD as my phone took us in varying different directions back to the train station. Sorry again, Christina!

After another largely sleepless night, I had time for another good walk around the area, admiring historical buildings before brunch.




Before I knew it, I was at the airport and heading home, where there waiting for me were my daughter, husband and NEW KATE SPADE PURSE.


So how was your weekend? I think I need a weekend to recover from this one! 

As you will probably know if you've read this blog more than twice, I am a keen and reasonably successful op shopper/eBayer/trader/receiver of second-hand goods.



When I saw the Restyle 2015 challenge pop up on Instagram and at In The Dress Up Box, I knew I'd have to get amongst it, given that it's unusual for me not to be wearing a second-hand item on any given day. With Stacie and Jen also on board, we were ready to play!

Restyle is part of the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival and has local bloggers, fashion identities, designers etc. showing how to work op shopped items into everyday looks, partnering with a host of op shop charities and encouraging people to play along on social media for their chance to walk the Restyle Runway. I would love to see something like this happen in Adelaide and would totally volunteer to assist if anyone is keen to get it going.

Day 1 - "Tribal"



This was a difficult one for me straight off the bat. I had an Aztecy-style print sleeveless top but it was bought retail. Would I have to bail on the very first prompt?? Then I found this vaguely tribal necklace in my collection that I'd bought from Savers and still hadn't worn so I was planning to build an outfit around it. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling up to going to work so I created this little display instead with one of my vintage elephant book-ends.

Day 2 - "Denim"