Winter in Dubai

Hey everyone! I just wanted to do an update about what's going on, and where I am now, I moved back to England for a few months after Barcelona to prepare and see my family as I decided to try out Dubai, So far it's been incredible, I've loved every second of it, and the weather is just perfect. Considering it's winter i can't believe how warm it is, and i'd even say it's pretty hot at times.

 I've just moved to Dubai Marina, and again, i'm just overwhelmed at how beautiful everything is, we've just started to add some little touches to our place to make it our own, and obviously IKEA was the first stop. I'm a massive fan of flowers (HINT HINT) but I can't buy fresh ones all the time, and i loved the false ones they sell, So along with a simple clear jar i think they sit perfectly on a bedside table or in a bathroom.  But more of a tour soooooon 

I am short, therefor I wear big heels a lot, but I don't think most places really take into account women's' needs for heels, or maybe i'm just crap at wearing them, cobbled streets and slippy mall floors make me walk horrifically slow so i don't trip, also Dubai is very big, especially the marina, i'd always advise going for a comfortable shoe with a small heel, wedges or obviously, sandals if you're off to the beach. Dubai has ALL the shops you'd want, I recently visited the Dubai Mall (biggest in the world) and you'll be overwhelmed to see all of the shops, cafes, restaurants, The list goes on,  so it'll be hard not to be tempted to buy those sky scraper heels!

Recently the Dior exhibition showed, A beautiful opportunity to learn about the history of Dior, and see those stunning half sizes dresses they make in anticipation for their couture season.
I've been loving pink lately, maybe it's a combination of Diors love of pink and Vogue mentioning that its their colour of the moment, but just using a different simple colour palette has made a big difference. My favourite three products right now are
1. Sleeks Matte Me lip Cream - 435 Birthday Suit

2. Rimmel - 150 I love pink

3. Roller Lash

Top from Stradivarius, Culottes Pull and Bear and Shoes Zara, Hat Primark bag Prada

I also took the plunge and cut my fringe back in, if you've ever had an on off love affair with fringes, then I feel for you, they are perfect the day you do them, then the wind blows/ you sleep on it / you have a cows lick, and you're done. Believe me, every picture here was taken after i'd fiddled with my hair then, it went through a tiny photoshop tweak, ( and i still hated it a bit) hah. So far i ADORE Dubai, i'm really looking forward to winter, and being able to enjoy the events, my make up staying on and just discovering new places. I'd love to know if you have any recommendations of things to do, see and of course fashion/makeup i should check out here! 

Tala Samman & Natalie Lines Illustration

As some of you may know, I'll be spending a lot of my time in Dubai from Novemeber, I'm excited then i get a bit nervous, then excited again. In anticipation for this i've been working with Dubai Blogger Tala Samman, who i'm sure you're already very aware of, her blog is clean, fashionable and bursting with content on a regular basis which keeps it a powerful tool for her business.
We've been working together on a few blog posts to add an extra bit of flare to her articles, it's always a pleasure to draw a beautiful face so i've enjoyed working with her! 

We worked on some illustrations together for her Article on 2015's Best foundations, from an illustrative point of view all the products worked really well together visually and came together to make an illustration i'm really proud of. 

A small update on personal work i've been creating for my website shop. You can purchase prints over at shop.natalielines.co.uk for £10!

Tala has also started a career in DJ'ing, which is a new exciting step in strengthening her identity in the business world, i created this illustration for her Instagram, I think she slightly resembles Anna Kendrick in this image, If you're a blogger in Dubai and want to collaborate then shoot me an e-mail to natalielines90@gmail.com and we can chat! 

Update.

Here we are again, gloomy Tuesday morning and no snow, unfortunately. I did manage to get a sweet necklace from H&M though, it comes with the alphabet so you can spell out your name (providing it doesn't use the same letter twice) or your initials, or a few words, Only rude ones come to mind for me. It's also in the sale, so grab it quickly, and don't wear it in the shower, unless you like your necklaces to look rustic :(
I've also been playing around with eye makeup, I got a few cheap palettes for christmas, and decided to give them a go, and for how cheap they are they're surprisingly lovely, as you'd imagine so much competition has brought out the best in a lot of companies. Pound land has even had good reviews for a lot of their products.
For £4 the Revolution palette is great, there is a mixture of matte shadows and glitter in similar complimentary hues, so you can't go wrong really. I'd be interested to play with the rest of their line.
I'm also looking for a new mascara and good natural false lashes so if you have any suggestions please let me know! 

2015

Hey All, it's been a while hasn't it? I've, as always been super busy with work but i've finally had five minutes to update on what i've been up to, etc.

A lot has happened and i've been doing lots of preparation for 2015, I'm going away to Barcelona For a few months in February and i'm a little nervous, but mainly excited about it! it'll be lovely to see the city properly and obviously I need to see all of the galleries, etc! If you have any good suggestions on what to see, then please let me know!

Fashion wise, things are changing, as you can see my photo to the left is probably the most natural i've been in a while (ha) I'm so inspired by simplicity i'm really going to encourage it more this year, Designers such as Whistles and Reiss are fast becoming my favourites.
Makeup wise, i'm going to play with some more natural hues, i've loved my new pink lipstick (in the shade Love Me") from Essence, stupidly cheap but applies as well as expensive brands, it's long lasting and very smooth.  Also, MUA's highlighter is always beautiful to aid contouring. I've also been making an effort to wear less eyeliner and use just mascara, it's such a simple change but i think it makes a big difference. 

So yeah, a quick catch up, and i'll be posting some big work in the next few weeks for a hairdressers i've been working with. 

some of the imagery i've been loving for 2015, lace lingerie, pastel blouses, and metallic accessories. 

All these autumn leaves are yours tonight

I've been a tad naughty and treated myself to a few lovely things, Firstly I got a stunning new lipstick from sleek, they're fast becoming my favourite brand, I have a thing for matte lipsticks but I accidentally picked up a sheen instead, which is actually really beautiful, long lasting and a stunning dark red. Although I haven't quite gotten over my matte obsession, so I might have to go back and get my intended purchase. I also bought some light blue jeans with ripped knees ( my Grandma was really shocked that I bought trousers with rips in! bless her)

Natasha (my sister) and I went out for another Sunday stroll and took some photographs amongst the changing leaves, there really are some stunning sights in Redditch that people over look and take for granted, it was also surprisingly warm for this time of year. I wanted to show off some of my new purchases, such as a lovely gold necklace/choker from H&M it's lovely and reflective, and is a great addition to any outfit as a little glimpse under a a blouse  or on top of a t-shirt. I also got some gorgeous black loafers from NEXT, i'm not as fan of flat shoes but these are just stunning, i adore everything about them, and i'm wearing them all the time. Versatile, but not comfortable yet, hopefully they'll get a bit softer with time. 

Autumn Walks

Hello, so finally i've gotten outside for a blog post, it was so nice to go for a walk with my sister to clear my head, we went over to the garden centres and had a coffee and a chat, and wondered back through the woods and took some photo's and hung out.  So, this is my little sister Natasha, she hasn't got a blog but she does have a lovely Instagram if you're interested, we do have a similar dress style although i'd say she's a little more refined in her style than me, and often inspires me with the lovely things she buys, sometimes I feel like she's the older sister! 

Autumn isn't my favourite season, but I do love seeing all the leaves fall and the colours change, also buying lots of new knits and cosy clothes isn't so bad. I got some new trousers from H&M, my first patterned pair, I've been drooling over them on Pinterest and really wanted to try them out, for £14.99 they're great quality, and surprisingly i didn't have to take them up at all! I suppose i'm always a little reluctant to invest in patterns as they're very obvious to others when they're worn and I don't get as much use out of them, having said that, I haven't wanted to take these off, the colour and the print is so sweet and I do think they'll go with a lot of clothes I already have. I also bough a gorgeous cream mac in the sale, Natasha is wearing the Navy version below, it's such a flattering classic coat, and not too thick, Below I'm wearing my Cream thick Next coat (as i felt it was chilly today) and my River Island Cotton Blouse. 

Rings are H&M and Watch is from the sale in Miss Selfridge a few years ago.  I just adore all of the blues and oranges that work so well together in this picture. Natasha wears her earrings as ear-cuffs, as they are adjustable they can bend to any size, I just loved how creatively she chose to wear these.  My shoes are slingback Kitten heels from Primark £7

Grey/Blue scarf is from H&M

All White Everything

ok,  So by now Fashion week has done it's thing and we've gotten a little insight into what trends will emerge and some crazy things that we're never going to be able to pull off..

As I've mentioned before I just adore WHITE, it's becoming one of my favourite hues, paired with mom jeans or black pegged trousers it can look so elegant and chic. Illustrating fashion makes me really aware of the trends and has really inspired me to get some new products out, I have some new prints up in my store and I've introduced these lovely white pleather bags, which are perfect accessories for now onwards and the emerging love affair with white.  My new favourite purchase is this new white blazer from Zara, I got it second hand from Vinted for £20, it's like new, fitted and has little gold buttons, it's perfect to wear over a blouse or a formal dress. it's also lovely with a stripey top underneath, which makes it a little easier to wear in a casual fashion.
My blouse is River Island, and my bag, of course, is handmade by me! and is a bargain £12 from my own shop HERE or from my ETSY if you prefer to buy that way!  from Fashion week i've also noticed some amazing coats, (macs to be precise) Jason wu is an enormous inspiration for me, but sadly I can't say there is one designer I love year after year as my taste and theirs, change so reguarly, I just enjoy it all for what it is and usally love certain pieces styled within editorial shoots etc. 

Being as mucky as I am,  this whole white clothing phase is going to be super challenging, but i am determined to keep this pristine for as along as I can.... within reason... not making any promises. As i I write I am eating a chocolate Eclaire.

Akris, Jason Wu and Issey Miyake

White Pleather Bags

I was sat watching fashion week a few weeks ago and noticed an emerging trend, White, it's going to be big, beautiful clean lines, boxy shapes and textures. I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of the catwalk looks being worn in different ways for events and things. I've loved white for a while now, if you've read my blog you can see that it's a massive inspiration for my room and workspace. The one thing I've always struggled to find is simplicity, I was searching for bags, but unfortunately they all seem to be quite loud and chunky, I looked everywhere to find a beautiful simple bag which was worth the money. Then I thought i'd love to produce my own, Have a look at some of the photos i've taken of them, I love this clean white pleather, and it's so soft and comfy to carry. I've also put them online for a really reasonable £12, I'd love to know what you think of these, I'm also bringing out a new bag in the same shape in a beautiful powder blue hue.

You can buy this lovely bag from my website HERE for £12

 My favourite detailing is the heavy duty gold zip. 

Wedding Wonder Show Illustrations

Hey, I wanted to show you what I've been up to in the Illustration world! I recently created a fashion illustration for The Wedding Wonder Show, in Newcastle, the brief was to create a lovely boho bride who needs to be carrying lots of beautiful shopping bags. I thoroughly enjoyed this project, it had a general direction and wasn't too specific allowing me to put a creative spin on it, I wanted to use confetti all around, but a happy accident made me use it as decoration all over the dress instead! It's so nice to use so much colour, i wanted to keep to a colour palette of rustic golds and pinks. it's so exciting to see this illustration used in so many places over social media.

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