bloomzy /

Photo Diary; Paris, I Love You

Le Mur Des Je T’aime (I Love You : The Wall), Montmatre, Paris

I was all prepared to finally do my ‘Amelie Adventure’ photo diary post, but then I found these.
These photos were taken on the same day, and feature the popular ‘I Love You Wall’ in Montmatre.
Situated in a small park just outside the metro entrance, you could easily miss it if you weren’t looking for it.
The park itself is a lovely tiny place to relax in, especially if it’s a particularly hot day, as it was when we went.
Luckily there are plenty of trees to offer shade.

If I remember correctly it wasn’t particularly busy, there were only 3 other people there at the time.
I love little places like this that make you feel as though you have stumbled upon something magnificent.
If anyone was wondering, these were taken in July 2011, hence the longer hair.

Frédéric Baron created this mural along with Claire Kito and Daniel Boulogne.
With over 300 languages on the wall, each reads ‘I Love You’ or the equivalent in that language.

Can you spot your language?
bloomzy /

A Source of Inspiration

You can find me on Tumblr, here
I feel you can usually read my current style from what’s on my Tumblr. 
Ever since I started my Tumblr it has been a place for me to store & share my loves & inspirations.
I don’t do it for followers, although I adore the ones I do have, I do it for me.
Simply put, it’s a visual fashion/lifestyle diary, and I love it.
Where do you store your inspiration?
bloomzy /

Photo Diary; Life in Japan

My neighbourhood in Japan

This time I wanted to show you a bit more of suburban Japan.
When I first moved to Tokyo I spent a couple of weeks exploring the neighbourhood. 
I loved the area I lived in, and the people, so I wanted to share it with you.
I think these photos really show how calm and serene a place it was, and probably still is.
It was always lovely to come home to somewhere like this, after a long day in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. 

My favourite of these though has to be the sleeping kitten. It was a stray that suddenly turned up in a nearby park, frail and alone. The nearby residents fed and took care of it, making it a home from some polystyrene and a bathtub cover. After a few weeks, one of the old ladies took him in and gave him a collar.
To me it really helps summarise the sense of community and family I felt when staying there.
bloomzy /

Photo Diary; Life in Paris

A few random photos from my time living in Paris.
This weekend is going to be a very relaxed one for me…hopefully.
I think I had this in mind when I was choosing which photos to post next. So for me I associate being relaxed with these photos, either because of the scenery or just how I felt at that time.
You’ll notice these photos are mainly of Parisian architecture, well that’s because I love it so much!
I love French/European architecture in general, so simple yet beautiful. Don’t you agree?

I decided to end the photo-set with a lovely homemade French meal. 
Good scenery and good food. A girl couldn’t ask for more.
bloomzy /

Check out my new toys!

Olympus Pen E-PL1 & 53″ Tripod
It occurred to me the other day that I never introduced the new camera I’ve been using for the blog. 
Well here it is, the Olympus Pen E-PL1. It’s a compact DSLR, which means no heavy duty equipment…well compared to my old SLR, which weighed a ton! 

The reason I decided to post about it is because I finally invested in a tripod, and it arrived yesterday!
So I spent the afternoon messing around with it and trying to take a few outfit shots etc. Having a tripod makes taking photos for my posts a lot easier, and just for shooting in general. It’s safe to say, I’m very pleased with my purchase.
bloomzy /

Valentines Day Treats

This post and the above photos are to convince you that I can actually bake…did it work?
On Valentines Day I did the usual exchange of small gifts and a card with the fiancé. 
I say small because neither of us are really bothered by the ‘holiday’ – it’s nice, but I prefer to give him little gifts and show him I care all year round. I’m a serial gift-giver, seriously.

It also happened to fall on our ‘Tuesday Movie Night’ and since the crew usually consists of the guys and me, I decided to use my ‘Cherry & Green Tea Cake Mix’ to make little cupcakes for them all. I covered a few of them with regular icing, but the majority were treated to a special Matcha icing that I made with my green tea powder – I will never tire of finding different ways to cook with it.
There you have it. Nothing fancy, just simple and tasty.
And they were VERY tasty, if I do say so myself!
bloomzy /

My Style Evolution

Tokyo 2010/11 – Paris 2011 – England 2011/12
 
My Style Evolution is something I have been wanting to write about for a while.
I think it’s obvious from this blog, and my pictures that during the past 2 years my personal style has changed quite a bit. When I thought about it, I realised that is could easily be attributed to time, place and culture – see, I did listen in Sociology!
Tokyo 2010/11
My year7 months studying in Tokyo were a major influence on my personal style.
At that point I had been interested in Japanese fashion, mainly「ギャル」fashion for a while, so of course it seemed only fitting that my main source of inspiration during my stay in Japan was ‘Gal fashion’. During this time I only bought clothing from Japanese brands, dyed my hair often and even bleached it.
Paris 2011
When I first arrived in Paris I was still heavily influenced by ‘Gal’. I had always loved European fashion, and being somewhere as wonderfully fitting as Paris saw my style evolve a little more. I took less inspiration from Gal and began to take it from the women and city of Paris.
England 2011/12
Moving back to England meant I had some time to relax and contemplate the last few years, and my own personal style; it had really changed a lot. I no longer felt such an affinity with Gal, and it didn’t inspire me as it used to.
Instead I took inspiration from Western fashion magazines, as well as Japanese. I began shopping primarily in places such as Topshop and H&M. I finally set on a hair colour and style that I loved; which has stayed with me for the past 7 months.
 
So where am I now?
I’m in a very comfortable place. My style is my own!
Once again I look forward to putting an outfit together, or reading about the latest trends in Western and Japanese fashion. It’s true that I don’t ‘follow’ Gal anymore, but I still have a love for Japanese brands and street-style, and I think it will always be a source of inspiration to me. As it has been in the past, my style can’t really be labelled and I like it that way. It’s a bit of everything that inspires me along the way.
 
And the blog?
Well that’s changed a lot too, you will certainly be seeing a lot more personal/lifestyle posts, along with the usual beauty product (Western and Japanese) reviews, and of course outfit posts. For those who have stuck with me this long, thank you so much for being a part of my style evolution, and for my new readers I hope you will enjoy what is to come.