On Wednesday's we wear PINK!

If you've been following me over on my instagram feed you'll know I am a BIG pink lover. So much so that I run a weekly instagram hashtag challenge as an ode to the shade because #onwednesdayswewearpink. I love sharing my passion for pink with you all and encouraging you to don something mood boosting every Wednesday. Colour is so powerful and intrinsically connected to our mood so why not embrace more colour and give the monotony of our mid week a colourful pick me up.

This week I've been wearing one of my favourite brands Zimmerman, combining my love for pink with my love for beautifully made dresses. You can find out more about what I thought about it when Farfetch asked me to review this dreamy dress here. It was just a loan so I had to give it back sadly but they're worth the investment if you're looking for something special. Perfect for Wedding season, now that we're finally able to have them and pink of course!

If you need an excuse to bring more colour into your lives check out my colour challenges over on  instagram and I'd love to see you there!

Zeena X

6 Reasons To Buy Less, Buy Better this Black Friday

 If the past year has taught me anything it's about not succumbing to Black Friday marketing. I'm all for sale shopping don't get me wrong. I recommend shopping designer pieces in the sale but what I don't recommend is buying because there is a discount something that's going to end up in landfill in a few months time. 

Having spent the best part of my twenties doing that exact thing my thirties have been about a more considered approach. On a journey to being more sustainable (I know everyone is saying this and what does it even mean) but to me it's about thinking and waiting before I buy anything because DO I NEED IT? Or do I just WANT it?. It's more often the latter. So I have a 24hr rule. Zara still gets me every now and again but I've really left my high street hoarding days behind and after 24hrs I can't even remember why I wasted an hr scrolling to find said item in my size.

That said I am one for shopping smart and to last. That's why the sales are actually the best and smartest way to shop. Here's what's on my wishlist and why.

1. Can you ever have too many pyjamas? This time of year is all about comfort and not only do comfortable pyjamas help aid a good nights sleep they also make you feel good. These are from a new find. Independent brand Honna. let's do our bit to support the small guys this year. If you are making a purchase do check out my small biz highlights on instagram for some of my favourites.

Nightshirt at Honna London

2. T-Shirts to make you smile. Dress to make you happy and if this constant smiley face reminder doesn't do the job then you need to look in the mirror a lot more.

Ganni at Net a Porter

3. We're all spending a lot more time at home so all the more reason to invest in some pieces that will elevate your space. There will always be flowers.

Hay at Farfetch - In fact the entire homeware range is dreamy.

4. An excellent in between seasons coat doesn't get better than the new Alexa Chung X Barbour collection. Two British brands doing what they do best and absolutely nailing it. This is the kind of piece that won't go out of fashion and that your kids and grandkids will be arguing over.

Alexa Chung X Barbour at Farfetch

5. The exception to the rule. Because everyone needs to dream right?

Gucci Hair Clip at Farfetch

6. If I can sneak this onto the sofa without my fiancé noticing then it will be mine! (Probably not then). 

Projectkitny at Liberty London

What's on your wishlist?

Zeena x

This post features some affiliate links, if you chose to make a purchase using one of my links I receive a small kick back. Thanks so much for your support! 

3 easy ways to bring some joy into your home during lockdown

If like me you're starting to get bored of staring at the same 4 walls then I've got some easy ways to bring some joy back into your homes and refresh your view. 

Living in a tiny one bedroom flat isn't the worst thing right now but it has been starting to feel a bit like groundhog day so I've shaken things up with our styling and picked up a few pieces to help me bring some colour positivity into our living space as well!

1. Flower Power

There's nothing more mood boosting than fresh flowers. A simple luxury that can bring a whole lot of joy. I've been getting my fix from Bloom & Wild, they make the perfect gift. PS. You can use my name at the check out to get £10 off your first order with their refer a friend scheme.

If you're after some more sustainable blooms they I can't recommend the Happy Blossoms enough. Not only will they bring you instant joy but they last a whole year. You'll also be supporting a small business what better feel good than that hey! 

2. Colourful Objects

I am a huge colour lover, if you follow me over on instagram you'll know it's instinct more than anything. I am often asked how to style colour at home and my reply is to start small with an object or if you're feeling brave go big with a statement piece of furniture. I've of course done both. Here are some of my favourite colourful objects I'm lusting after right now.

1. Shell Vase |  2. Table Bowl | 3. Candy Lamp 

3. Do Gallery Wall

Use your walls! There's nothing like brightening up your view with some art. Why not get creative and draw something you can frame - creativity is wonderful for the mind. There are plenty of free creative classes online weekly over on the Marguerite London instagram.

If you'd rather support an artist than be one here are my top picks for where to shop for wall art.

Making a rented flat in Hackney a home of your own with Sainsbury's Home

This content is sponsored by Sainsbury's home, just like any advert on TV or in a magazine paid partnerships help fund my organic content. Thank you for reading and for your support.

Renting a property doesn't mean you can't make it a home of your own. For me, my home isn’t just a space to eat, sleep and repeat, it’s a definite feeling. There is so much joy in the curation, turning a space into a home for me is finding all of the little pieces that pull it all together. I've teamed up with Sainsbury's Home to share some of my tips for making a space yours with some pieces from their new SS20 collection.

Our tiny one bedroom flat in East London is home to an assortment of plants. Bringing some greenery into a space can really bring it to life. As we're lucky enough not to be overlooked, instead of curtains we decided to hang plants from our curtain pole. As I'm not the best at keeping plants alive I love these faux succulents with their beautiful brass stand and this plant hanger from Sainsbury's Home. The perfect addition to our shelfie or using our picture rail and picture rail hooks to position the faux plant hanger in a darker corner.

I love collecting objects, photos, postcards and prints from my travels and everyday adventures and scattering them around our home. Styling surfaces is one of my top tips to curate a space. I can get a bit carried away and leave no space untouched... 

This tripod lamp is the perfect lighting feature on our mid century console alongside a vintage record player and some shells and stones from a trip to the seaside earlier this year. 

 We struggle with space in our flat, it's very old and lacks any kind of storage a modern flat block might have. Choosing furniture pieces with a dual purpose make all the difference. This rattan side table doubles up as a stool when we have guests over.
I've styled this as a mini coffee table with another faux plant.

Colour brings so much joy to our home and is a strong theme throughout my everyday. If you're not sure where to start, introducing a splash of colour in your dinnerware is an easy start. These pastel bowls and mugs paired with a pale green table runner sit prettily waiting for dinner time. The slate and wooden board makes the perfect cheese board too. 

Now it's time to cosy up in our joyful home.

Zeena X

Sainsbury's Home products featured: 

Sainsbury's Home Estuary Runner:  In-store and online http://bit.ly/sainsburyshome-estuaryrunner-ZS

Sainsbury's Home Succulent Garden in Ceramic Pot with Wire Stand: In-store

Sainsbury's Home Succulent Garden in Ceramic Pot with Wire Stand: In-store

Sainsbury's Home Loft Tripod Table Lamp: In-store

Sainsbury's Home Estuary Wicker Pouffe: In-store 

Sainsbury's Home Estuary Glazed Mug: In-store

Sainsbury's Home Estuary Glazed Cereal Bowl: In-store

Sainsbury's Home Nordic Spring Acacia & Wood Long Board: In-store 

Countryside Glamour - What to wear this Autumn Winter

It's October tomorrow... How on earth did that happen? It feels like just last week I was swanning around in floral summer dresses and sandals. I think it must be true as you get older time truly does fly by. And with the 1st of October is the arrival of Autumn/ Winter one of my favourite seasons. Mostly because it's my birthday month (yes month I am one of those people) and because I love this in between time of year almost as much as I like twixmas That just before it turns into tights weather and just after the last bit of September sunshine.

I can't wait to start getting snuggly and layering my dresses with cosy knits and I'm super excited to be working with the wonderful brand Traffic People again to share some pieces from their new Autumn Winter collection. Perfect if you're not sure what to wear in the coming months I've selected some of my favourite picks from their new collection and taken them to the Yorkshire countryside! Because where else would you take a beautiful printed dress right? You might remember my trip to windy Devon earlier this year with their beautiful Spring collection.

Leopard print has become a second skin and new neutral in my opinion. It's a timeless print that has been refreshed in glorious green here. I adore the shape of this dress, it's so flattering and brings all the glamour. 

I was instantly drawn to the rusty colour of this dress, the perfect autumnal shade and a polka dot print. Scroll down to see the other pieces I chose for our weekend trip to the countryside. 

I've tagged the items I'm wearing in the images below if you'd like to update your Autumn/ Winter wardrobes with a piece that will last through the trends.

Blue Pinstriped Jumpsuit  / Rust polka dot maxi / Floral Jumpsuit / Boho Green Leopard Print Dress

This post is sponsored by Traffic People, a huge thank you for such beautiful pieces to treasure [ All garments have been gifted as part of the partnership].

What you should be doing with the photos you take on your smart phone

I have a confession to make I currently have over 60 thousand photos stored on my iPhone XR and I wonder why an icloud notification keeps popping up and telling me to upgrade my almost full storage...

When you stop and take a moment to think about it, it is truly amazing that anyone with a smart phone can take a high quality photo or video and whats more that this clever phone tech means that often the quality can be better than a digital camera! Throw back to my teens and getting my first compact digital 5 megapixel camera, did you have one of those? I was so excited it was the first time you were able to see photo previews on screen in a large format. My mind was blown back then too. 

So what to do with all those images... i've just arrived back to London with a whole load of holiday snaps. I spent the last two weeks in Mexico and it was utterly amazing (but more on that in another post) what I realised is that i'd been snapping away and hadn't really stopped to review my photos or make some selects as I might do on one of my photoshoots. I'd decided i'd come back to it later and as I scroll through my library there are a lot of holidays, birthdays, memories that i'd thought i'd come back to.   

Lucky for me the wonderful folks at Papier got in touch with the perfect solution. If you haven't heard of them before they make the most beautiful personalised stationery and photo books. Of course a photo book! I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of that before i'd made one once for a friends birthday years and years ago and remember it being terrible quality but knowing how lovely Papier's stationery is I wanted to give them a try. I started to select 15-20 of my favourite images from our trip to Santorini last summer editing them on my phone - I use free app's called Vsco and Snapseed you can also download the photoshop app if you have the desktop package and use your login there too if you prefer.

I hoped onto the website where you can easily upload images from your device and drop them into a layout of your choice. I went for one of the square colour block designs in pink of course as it lent itself really well to the images of our Santorini trip i'd chosen for the book itself. I got rather excited and added some extra pages and decided to order another one from our holiday to Mauritius the year before. I went for a minimalist landscape design for this one. They arrived in just as good quality as i'd expected too. The images printed darker so i'd recommend making sure you brighten then up before you add them to your photo book. Now i'm off to design another one for our Mexico 2019 adventures.

PS. They've got 30% off until the 10th of June 2019. Use the code ZOOM at the checkout.

This post is sponsored by Papier they kindly gifted me the two photo books in this post filled with memories that I shall truly treasure.

DIY - Pretty Paper Craft Spring Wreath

I'm bringing Spring to my front door this month with some help from the lovely folks at Hobbycraft (craft supply heaven) and will be showing you how easy it is to make this pretty paper cut wreath. It's pastel of course and is going to be staying on my front door all year round! 

You will need:

• Paper
• Polystyrene Wreath
• Raffia
• Glue Gun or Strong Glue
• Scissors
• Cricut machine or a scalpel and cutting mat
• Pencil

You can find all of the materials over on the Hobbycraft website, i've linked them above for you to easily find the bits I used.

Step 1

First of all wrap the raffia lengths one by one around the polystyrene wreath securing to the back with glue and tucking in the ends as you move through the lengths. 

Step 2

Once you've wrapped the entire wreath shape then tidy the ends tucking them into others or trimming them with scissors. Use a little glue if you'd like them really neat. 

Step 3

Cut out a selection of shapes from the coloured paper either by hand using a scalpel and cutting mat or using a Cricut machine like me. If you haven't seen one before it's going to blow your mind. It's a table top paper cutter. You can draw your own designs and simply upload them onto the Cricut app which then cleverly cuts the shapes out of paper or fabric or vinyls... i've yet to try all of the many options but can't wait. I have the Cricut Air 2 model and have to say it is amazing! I was so impressed at the cutting time and literally made this project in an afternoon.

Step 4

Then all you need to do is peel the paper cut shapes away and attach them to your wreath using a glue gun or strong glue.

Ta da! As simple at that, do let me know if you have any questions and if you make one do tag me @heartzeena I love seeing your creations.

A huge thank you to Hobbycraft who sponsored all of the materials for this make.

Easter crafting inspiration with Hobbycraft

Last week I popped along to celebrate some Spring crafting with the fabulous folks at Hobbycraft . The event was hosted by One Roof Social at a lovely London venue called Carousel. I spent the afternoon crafting some floral Easter wreaths using products from their spring collection. Scroll down to see what we got up to and my faux floral wreath that will be lovely hanging up over the Easter weekend and beyond. You could make a version with fresh flowers but the great thing about the florals we used from Hobbycraft is that they're fake... And so my wreath will last forever!

Thank you to the One Roof team for such a lovely afternoon. You can find all the materials over on the Hobbycraft website. Happy making!