Tweet Tweet, This little bird is ready to fly

Well Happy Monday to you all luvvies! I hope you've all had an enjoyable weekend. So guess what? I have officially joined the land of Tweeting after a little continuous encouragement from the beautiful Bella of The Citizen Rosebud! Huge hugs and thank you to those of you who welcomed me - you guys are seriously awesome! If you're also on Twitter come & find me here. The addiction to comment stalking commences! Tweet Tweet, tout de suite!

via DailyInfoGraphic

In the past weeks, some of you may have noticed some tweaks here and there, with the most obvious change being the aesthestics of this blog. Whilst the look of any blog is important, so are the other elements that comes with building a better blog. I don't neccessarily mean successful, as determining what a successful blog is can mean something completely different from one blogger to another (pageviews, blogging community, land a job or work with a brand?) it's all down to the perspective of the individual.
What I love most about blogging is the community, discussions, inspiration, the close-knit and regularly interactive family of consistently loyal readers.

I'm not exactly a pro on building a better blog but if you are looking to get noticed and grow your readership, note that this will not happen overnight. There are however, plenty of amazing, inspiring successful bloggers out there who share their wealth of information with us and who can help you along the way.
Here are some exemplary, informative reads from blogger buddies I heart! I'd offer them Blog Oscars for their knowledge on how to Build a Better Blog if I could!

• IFB's Responding to "Follow My Blog!" Messages and Comments. I'm sorry guys, whilst comments absolutely make my day, there are some comments like the aforementioned that are slightly irritating, some that just feel truly insincere, especially the one liners (unless they're from blogger buds you know) or the ones who only visit once asking you to follow them and are never to be seen or heard from again - you know the ones! This is a major pet-peeve of mine and also an example of how NOT to grow your readership/traffic! Having said that, I do always make a point of writing back on their blogs though. I invite you all to read Beautifully Invisible's "How to not be a savage blogger".
• Grechen Blogs - really love the '5 Things I've learned about Blogging' project. NEWBIES to blogging, this is a great read featuring different bloggers
• Blogging is like a Roller-Coaster Ride by Tanvii. It sure is but Tanvii takes all of this in her stride. There is always going to be a little Love & Hate - also see her post on Anonymous commenters.
• The stylish and lovely Mis Papelicos posted about building a better blog here and also brought my attention to how annoying Word Verification can be on Blogger Comments. Disable Word Verification in Blogger. Go to 'Settings' then click on Comments tab, scroll down to Show word verification for comments? Click on NO. Easy.
• Onto my fave bloggers: B of Beautifully Invisible recently wrote about "10 Blogging Myths Debunked" - BRILLIANT READ. Plus her other awesome post on "10 things about your blog that drive me crazy" .
• For html, blog design, custom fonts etc check out Faye's blogging tips here.
  
• The building a better blog guru & genius, Vahni of Grit and Glamour has a whole section on her blog dedicated to this subject here. I love her philosphy of "sharing is good", you'll learn heaps from this gorgeous, intelligent, funny, stylish lady!
• Last but not least and slightly unrealated to building a better blog, is Jennifer Fabulous, a fantastic and funny blogger from I know, right? Whose post "Parody of a Fashion Blogger" had me in total, utter stitches! Don't worry it's fictional, she isn't being mean, she's just freakin' hilarious!

via here

Changes I've made:

• Added a Favicon icon - the little personalised icon in the web address bar. If you already have an image you'd like to use, check this link out for instructions on how to add a favicon icon.
• Joined StumbleUpon - brilliant for sharing posts you like, discovering new websites (with your interests in mind) and booking marking sites you love. You can submit any posts you love by clicking the thumbs up icon or hovering over the little social bookmarking icons at the bottom of each post and the StumbleUpon icon is right there.
  
• Added 'Add this' to the post footer on each of my blog post. This service helps share content and drive traffic - a brilliant sharing/bookmarking site.
• Joined Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB)- This site is the brainchild of Jennine Tamm of The Coveted. Seriously have to join this if you haven't already. There is so much info shared here on building a better blog along with amazing blog links & good reads.

That's all folks! Have a great week! Καλή εβδομάδα σε όλους!

Positively Palazzo-fied & Some IFB tips about Blogging

Hey guys, how's your week going?
My glands have gone Ka-Poww over night and the only thing that's making me feel just a little bit better is ice-cream, for breakfast, lunch and I'm contemplating dinner. I realise that I'm posting this way after supper time, but I so needed a mini snooze and a spoonful of Night Nurse.
Moving on...
Earlier this year there was a bit of a craze for Palazzo style trousers and you know what, this super cool 70's style is still huge!

Charlize Theron at the GQ Awards, Tess Daly & Anna-Lynne Mccord perfecting the Palazzo pants look
via here & here

If you're fed up of skinnies, maybe this trend for billowy wide leg trousers is for you. I have my eye on these fun metallic jacquard pair from asos.com (page 82 of the magazine) and there are plenty of high-street names doing the 70's trend proud.

Boohoo.com has an amazing selection of Palazzo style trousers at bank manager friendly prices

From left: Cora pleated Palazzo trouser -£25
Ash Button trim Wide leg chiffon trouser - £18
Poppy Crinkled Georgette Swirl print trouser - £15

The golden rule when wearing these pants is tuck the top in or belt up. Highlighting your waist is the way to go. Wear with a plain top if wearing printed palazzo's, or a simple tank (in a solid colour). For a more sophisticated look, wear with pussy-bow blouses, sharp white shirts (tucked in) or pretty camisoles.

I'm in love with the asos wide leg ruffle jumpsuit below, in both colours!

The golden rule when wearing these pants is tuck the top in or belt up. Highlighting your waist is the way to go. Wear with a plain top if wearing printed palazzo's, or a simple tank (in a solid colour). For a more sophisticated look, wear with pussy-bow blouses, crisp white shirts (tucked in), feminine camisoles.

I did laugh when I read this How-to from the Daily Mail:
" If you are under 5ft 7in, you will merely resemble a giant moving square. Or a flag. Or an enormous pair of curtains."
Hmmm, I beg to differ, my mum managed to rock a cool printed pair decades ago and she's only 5ft 1in, but she's very petite.

By the way did anyone watch/go to the IFB conference?
I managed to catch some of it and learnt a thing or two about Blogging, particularly if you want to take your blog to another level. One of the panelists that stood out for me and was obviously a crowd pleaser was the media savvy Ari Goldberg, founding partner & CEO of StyleCaster Media Group. He totally rocked the panel and shared some useful info if you're looking to turn your blog into a business or rather a full-time career, here's what he had to say:

• We are all our own brand. Understand who you are as a brand. What is your mission statement? What do you stand for? Who do you want it to reach? He also Tweeted a fave brand building book of his- Zag: The number One strategy of High-Performance Brands by Marty Neumeier.
  
• "Find a brand that you love, study the brand, understand how it works. Nike is a brand for athletes by athletes (as is Under Armour) and will reign". I loved when he talked about Nike, this man really know his stuff!
• "Use your blog as your resume. Why don't people do this? All resumes look the same, make yours stand out."
• On working with brands which you may not necessarily want to review or work with: “Don’t sell out, when you sell out you lose your readers.”
• "Understand the economics and business behind having a blog".
• Have a media kit ready for peeps who are interesting in partnering up with you/your blog, he shared the Style Caster Media Kit for you to use as a guideline. Love that he said "everything in this industry should be high gloss & pretty (including your medi kit)"!
  

Last of all, I was totally distracted by the Live Stream chat of female fans wanting to marry Ari Goldberg, totally LOL!

Right lovelies, I'm sorry if I haven't swung by your blogs yet, but i'll see you on the weekend for some blissful, inspiring reads! Now, I need to have another hit of Night Nurse and get some shut eye, if that's at all possible.

Friday Best 110610

Question: I gotta ask, who are the amazing hair and make-up duo that work their magic on Zeta Makripoulia of 'Dancing with the Stars, Greece'? Do you know who styles her?

Each week she rocks a different kinda look and she looks every inch a starlet. Check out some of the different looks below and the anonymous guys who do their creative thang-do any of you know who they are? They are seriously awesome!

Every since I came over to Greece I have long admired the talent of Hair and Make-up artists - all the TV presenters here look fabulous and the glossies have slick made-up spreads!

I want this dress!!!!

Sexy hair? Check, Sexy frock? Check, Do I look stunning? Check!
Images via Antenna

It's that time of the year again - Graduate Fashion Week! I used to go every year (when i could escape work) to check out the new talent. River Island have been the main sponsor of this event for the past 6 years now, showcasing all the top Fashion Insititutes across the UK. Check out the winners & more info here and see Kelis (where has she been all this time?) wearing the Graduate Fashion Week designs here.

Images via River Island

Newsflash!
Business of Fashion's exclusive interview Natalie Massenet on launching Mr. Porter - yes, menswear is going to be available soon! Click here for the whole interview and story.

Make!
Most of you already know Maddie of Wardrobe Recycle, she is one talented lady if anything and could probably whip up an amazing dress if she was given a black bin liner!
Click here for her SATC 2 Revisted post where she makes a very cool cutaway dress in a few easy steps!

Buy!
Katerina @ Fashion Algorithms and Alecca Rox recently posted about online shopping - Pink Caro and the 20% discount code.
Tex @ Fashion Butter sure made good use of that code and bought herself a stunning draped, full length, jersey s - she looks every inch the Grecian Goddess all at the bargain price of around 26 euros after a original 60% discount and 20% discount at checkout - check her out here she looks amazing.

Join!

Image via IFB

If you don't already know about the Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB)or haven't signed up yet and have a Fashion Blog - do it now!
I was recently left a comment from Cara@IFB - promptly reminding me of their fabulous existence and what they do, see here for more info.

I don't nearly write enough about fashion though, it's not intentional... but having had some interesting experiences over the past 11 years in this industry, I could share some industry info with you all (from Buying, Styling, Visual Merchandising, Public Relations etc etc) if you're interested in getting a career in fashion.

I'm not sure how it all works here in Greece though, my experience is purely based on a semi typical route into fashion in the UK... So drop me a comment if you'd like to see the odd post about the world that is fashion!

Ciao Bella & Have a fab weekend!

x.o.x.o