orange bomber.

photos by Martha - ig

bomber - asos
turtleneck - emporium vintage
skirt - emporium vintage
sneakers - converse
socks - asos
enamel pin - fix&fogg

Hello!
I hope you're all well and have had an amazing Christmas, I've been loving the break from school and the festive season is always my favourite. I kind of like the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping and the rush to get everything finished before the holidays (unpopular opinion, I know!)
Since I last spoke to you I got my hair done a bit blonder, which I'm super happy with. I've always been a natural blonde but as it fades I like to keep adding more blonde in because I just love the look of it!

Anyway,
I have been wearing this outfit a lot over the past couple of months and I just still can't get over the colour of THIS BOMBER! It was a lucky find from my favourite brand on ASOS, Monki, a couple of months ago and I've still been trying to create the perfect outfit to style it with. I love the way the orange colour of the jacket looks with the olive coloured turtleneck that I picked up from Emporium Vintage. I've been wearing this turtleneck non-stop, it's so soft and comfortable and very fitting with my colour palette at the moment!
Can we also talk about how cute this pin from Fix&Fogg is!? I love Fix&Fogg peanut butter because it's tasty, vegan and Wellington made, so when I saw they were coming out with enamel pins I just had to get my hands on one. I went for the Smoke & Fire pin because of it's amazing orange colour, which is definitely becoming one of my favourites (shocker!)
What's been your favourite outfit at the moment?
Until next time,
Bella.

"Creativity begins with an
affinity for something. It's like
falling in love."
- Howard gardner

what's been going on.

Hello
Yes, it's been a while (over a month) which is really bad and I've missed this a lot! I'm on holiday now and school is over. I'll be year eleven next year, which is my first year of exams and absolutely terrifying and I'm also moving to a different school which is equally terrifying.
I think I've learnt a lot this year, most of it outside of school and hardly any of it to do with maths, science or any of that fun stuff.
2016 has been a growing year, it's funny how much you can change in the space of a year and looking back at 2015 thinking what was I even doing makes me so excited for the things to come and how much I'll change next year.
This year I travelled to America and experienced a culture completely different to my own, I sold my prints at the NZ Art Show, became vegan, met one of my favourite bloggers Chloe and finally launched this here blog which I've somewhat neglected this term!
Although I love the holidays and without them I think I would go insane I'm also looking forward to the many changes that are happening next year (most of them positive) and I'll try and share as much as I can on this blog.
There are always so many things to look forward to in this funny little world.



I feel like my style is constantly changing and it's quite hard to keep up with sometimes but some things I've been loving recently are these photos, this store, this article, this, this and these.
As next year the new school I'll be changing to doesn't have a uniform I can finally wear whatever I want, which is so exciting!
Some clothes that I've been lusting after come from the trusty ASOS, Storenvy and Emporium Vintage where I've found several awesome vintage pieces this term (you'll be seeing those soon).
Fashion is definitely something that I've fallen more in love with this year and including a lot more colour into my very monochromatic wardrobe has been a mission of mine. I've been loving finding a mix between online purchases from places like ASOS and more expensive pieces from vintage stores like Emporium and Thrifted.
I'm looking forward to sharing many more fashion and style inspired posts and videos with you these holidays!
I hope you all have a relaxing christmas with your families and friends and watch this space for many more posts over the summer.
Bella.

"She loves the smell of
warm coffees,
bloomed roses
and new beginnings."
- Sonia Azalia

a colour study / 01.

I love the way that certain colours compliment each other, how one persons view of a colour or shade can be completely different to your own.
I have always been interested in colour composition, when I was younger I would often colour code things like my bookshelf or my stationary etc (I'm sure I wasn't the only one). As someone who enjoys styling, designing and creating, colour is such a big part of what I notice in everyday things, I am constantly looking for new combinations to fall in love with. This is why I've decided to start a series here on the blog all about colour.

I took these pictures in the holidays of my lovely friend Martha using the Lumix G7 with a 25mm lens and I'm super pleased with how they turned out. It was a pretty overcast day, the sky was this perfect grey to white shade at about midday and although I love shadows for me this was the perfect lighting for the kind of portrait I was looking for.
One of my favourite colour combinations is pink and green, it's pretty much my whole aesthetic (shocker!) After looking at these photos I felt that despite the pink they looked a little washed out especially because I'd heavily desaturated them. So I decided to look at the way the green from a picture I had of the mandarin tree at the vineyard looked with the pink of Martha's jumper.

I'm a very new photoshop user so I'm still getting used to it but coming from hardly any editing software at all, just wow. I've become especially obsessed with just swatching a whole bunch of colours from my images and playing around with colour blocking etc.
I am really pleased with how the end photos came out and I just love the olive-y green that I took from one of the leaves on the mandarin tree with the pink from Martha's jumper. Although I would consider myself to be quite a minimalist when it comes to colours (black, white and grey - hello) I've really been feeling rusty oranges, greens and yellows recently so I'm just gonna go with it and I'm sure you'll be seeing more of them around here soon!
Let me know what colours you've been loving lately.
B.

city.

photos by Martha - ig

bomber / emporium vintage
shirt / asos
denim / levi's 501 thrifted
belt / farmers
shoes / adidas
socks / country road
bag / letliv

The holidays are coming to an end. Bonfires, car trips, vineyard runs, thrifting and photo expeditions, good food, fresh air and rainy afternoons have consumed my two weeks away from school.

On this particular day my friend Martha and I decided to have a city cafe hunt, finding lots of amazing vegan food, taking photos and stopping at a few thrift stores on the way. I managed to pick up this sandy coloured bomber (which is actually a mens large) in Emporium Vintage which I was super pleased about + some more vintage Levi's because you can never have too many pairs of 501's!
I've been loving the simplicity of a plain tee shirt and denim, especially for a day in the city or even just lounging at home (me) I've basically been rotating my denim with a black or white shirt for the whole holidays - I just love it!

For now I'm going to spend the last few days I have left away from school sleeping in and catching up on leftover homework + possibly sneaking in a couple of episodes of Stranger Things! I hope your having a relaxing day or night wherever you may be!
B.

why this summer is going to be great.

I'm currently staying at our holiday home for the weekend and it's been raining for the entire day, it smells like wet concrete and countryside (because it is) and apart from a few birds and Bastille's new album it's completely quiet. I feel like in the middle of all the busyness and school craziness it's so important to have those days where you're just completely relaxed, not thinking about much, eating good food and listening to good music.
I've always considered myself a city person but recently I've realised that I love the countryside just as much. It's so quiet and I can actually hear myself think and just breath.
There are so many fruit trees here - even a fig tree which I'm most excited about. The best part is that I have no idea what some of the fruit trees even are so as they start to bloom they'll be a complete surprise.
There's a cute little cafe walking distance from the house that does the best smashed avocado on toast and there are just so many flowers and animals, the people here are nice and soon I'm going to plant my own veggie garden. That's why this summer is going to be great.

Here are some cool things that I've been looking at that you should look at too,
This throw is the reason i love the colour yellow
I want to make these
This is awesome
In love with these pictures
This backpack
And this apartment

B.

things to talk about.

Hello - I'm back!
Yes, it has been a while. I've just been struggling recently with a lack of inspiration + a bad cold that's kept me in my bed all week! However, I'm not complaining because a week ago I finally picked up some of the Cultiver linen from Letliv that I had been just lusting after for so long. I picked up the duvet in smoke grey + smoke grey and blush pillow cases and my goodness they are gorgeous. I didn't know weather I liked the feel of linen at first but now that I've had a few sleeps in it I love it so much!! I'm not sure what it is about me but I just can't stop changing my room and I never seem to be fully satisfied with it - which is why I hesitate to do things like room tours as I always feel like there's still a few more things I'd like to add to make it perfect.
It seems like in the last couple of weeks my aesthetic has changed quite dramatically, I would have considered my style to be predominantly monochromatic but lately it seems little pops of colour have been sneaking their way in. I have been loving yellows, oranges and greens especially and I can't wait to start adding more of them into my bedroom and wardrobe soon! I've had my eye on this, this and this.



This Aesop body cleanser I actually got for free at the Aesop store in Venice beach at the beginning of the year and it was only last week that I actually got around to using it and it was just so lovely. I forgot how much I love Aesop products and I'm so excited to hear that they have an actual store coming to Newmarket in Auckland!! Let me know if any of you have tried Aesop and what you thought of it as I know it's a little on the pricey side which did put me off for quite a while. I've also been kind of obsessed with painting my nails recently and enjoyed watching this video of Connor Franta painting his nails as I too painted my nails! + how pretty have Connor's Instagrams been recently!!?



As I've been playing around with the look of my room I've started sticking lots of interesting things on my wall with black washi, some posters, prints, tags, magazine cut-outs and even plants that before they inevitably die without water look really pretty. I've also discovered the power of greenery in my bedroom, it honestly makes such a big difference to the whole vibe of any space and I just love it. If you follow me on snapchat (bellafosterblog) you would've seen the actual jungle of plants that I brought the other day that are now sitting in various jars and bottles throughout my room (and the house) and making everything all green and gorgeous!
Well, for now I'm gonna try and focus on getting myself better so I can actually get out of bed as I have so many new and exciting things planned for this blog that I can't wait for you to see! As things are getting warmer and the sun is finally showing I've been noticing the prettiest dappled light all through the city and I can't wait for those warmer months where I can get out and start taking photos in the sun again!!
I hope your weekend has been good wherever you are and I'm about to go and make a rather large Asos order that will put a big dent in my bank account - so, until next time,
B.

these really awesome concrete stairs

photos by Chloe - blog / ig

coat / vintage hand me down
shirt / commoners
denim / levi's 501
watch / the horse
shoes / adidas
socks / country road

On Sunday I met up with fellow blogger and creator of awesome things - Chloe (I'm sure you know her) and we spent the day chatting, eating some delicious vegan treats + taking lots of photos! Chloe then took me to these really awesome concrete stairs where we proceeded to take many embarrassing timer cam pictures! It was so cool to hang out with Chloe and you should definitely check her out if you haven't already as she does loads of super cool stuff + she has a really funky new blog design that's just gone live (here).
Anyway, onto the outfit! Yes, I'm in some more Levi's but I just can't get enough of them - I love that loose mum / boyfriend jean fit and I just feel like Brenda from 90210 so what's not to love!?
This shirt is probably one of my favourite things at the moment, it's from Commoner's in Auckland and my goodness their store is beautiful! I really love the style of this tee because it's something a little different to your average tee shirt shape and that dusty pink colour is just!!
We only have one more day left in Queenstown now and less than a week left of the holidays so I'm trying to get back into that school headspace and normal waking times etc. I hope you're having a nice day or night, whatever you may be doing!
B.

Paradise / Queenstown

Hello!

I still can't get over these photos. We drove up to Glenorchy on Tuesday to a place that's literally called Paradise and it was incredible. It was just so amazing to be completely surrounded by mountains and even though it was quite a grey, windy day I actually like how that looks in the photos!

This outfit is definitely one of my favourites at the moment in this freezing weather because I can layer a whole bunch of merinos underneath my shirt and nobody will know! + I just love these jeans, I'd been looking for a good vintage pair of Levi's for so long and I finally stumbled across a store in Wellington that had this black pair of 501's (!!) I've been getting so much wear out of them as I've just been loving all high waisted jeans at the moment and they're surprisingly really comfortable! I also purchased my black converse before we left so they are still looking reasonably clean (they won't be like that by the time we leave) but I love the way they look with high waisted jeans and a bit of ankle showing, even though that's not exactly practical in this weather!
Anyhow, I'm sure I'll be getting a lot more wear out of this outfit on our various day trips, we're planning to take a drive to Wanaka this weekend and hopefully up the mountain soon too so watch this space!
Bella.

Staying Inspired + Motivated This Winter

Hello!
With only one week left until the holidays I am feeling absolutely exhausted! I've realised that I have changed quite a lot this term, including switching to a completely vegan, plant based diet (there will be more on that soon!)
When I'm busy or stressed out I find it quite difficult (especially in this freezing Wellington weather) to stay motivated and inspired when it comes to school and creative things like blogging. So as I try to cure myself of a case of bloggers block and count down the days until we take off for Queenstown I thought I'd share with you some of my tips on how to stay motivated and inspired to get things done this Winter!

m o t i v a t i o n 
Before I can begin finding new inspiration I first need to have the motivation to actually do so! I've found that motivation is something that I really struggle with and I seem to have perfected the art of procrastinating and cleaning or re-decorating my entire bedroom to distract myself from the real task at hand. Here are some things that I find really help me feel motivated;

01 / Tunes
Music. I cannot stress this enough, good music really helps me to focus, especially when it comes to school work. I personally prefer listening to music with lyrics and I find that it doesn't distract me but I know that some people can find that quite difficult. Recently on Spotify I've been loving the Majestic Casual playlist, for me this playlist creates my perfect homework vibes!

02 / Write It Down
I find that actually writing down everything that I need to get done really helps to motivate me because I'm one of those people that just has to to tick off their entire to-do list in order to feel satisfied. During my transition into a vegan lifestyle I decided to write down every single thing that I was eating or planning to eat and this really helped me as I could look back at a day when I particularly enjoyed a meal, if I'm feeling unmotivated to cook and I could simply replicate that meal!

03 / Rewards
Setting myself rewards after doing something like homework is a great way to just muscle through that unpleasant task. I like to remind myself of the things that I have to look forward to as well, weather that's a holiday, celebration, event or even just the weekend. Using a countdown app for special occasions often helps me too, to actually see that I have four days, twelve hours and one minute until the holidays gives me something to really look forward to (I use the app Countdown+) !

i n s p i r a t i o n
Finding inspiration is something that I used to find really difficult and a creative block is something that happens to the best of us so I've compiled a few tips that work best for me when I'm feeling uninspired creatively and just with life in general!

01 / Create a Mood Board on Pinterest
Pinterest is probably my main source of inspiration, I just find it so helpful to be able to look back at all of the images that I've saved in the past and it will almost always get those creative juices flowing! I find it really helpful to create a board (you can even have it on private if you like) called 'inspiration' where you can just be constantly pinning things that will inspire you when you're feeling a little stuck. This could be style, interiors, photography or a bit of everything, I find that having a scroll through my inspiration board really helps to generate new ideas for blog posts etc.

02 / Change Is Good
Something as simple as changing the layout of my bedroom or a new blog design can completely change my mindset. The other day I moved a few things in my bedroom around so that my bed was facing a different direction and it made me feel so much better, sometimes you don't even realise how bored you can get of something when it's been the same for so long! I've found that trying a new way of photography or branching out a bit on my Instagram and blog can make me feel so much more inspired!

03 / Connect With New People
Although I believe it is really important not to copy, finding inspiration from other creative people on the internet always helps me break out of an uninspired funk. Sometimes even exploring and finding new blogs or Instagram's can help, there are so many cool creators out there and so many people you can connect with especially on platforms like Instagram.

I hope that you can take something away from this post and maybe find a new source of inspiration or start motivating yourself to do something you've been avoiding for a while! + Stay tuned for lots more content in the next few weeks as we head off for Queenstown!
Bella.

Auckland Buys

Hello!
Wow, it's been cold this week. I do love Winter but it's been a bit of a shock to the system after such a hot Summer here in nz. It's made me realise how very hard everyday tasks are when you're freezing. We are actually headed up to Queenstown for two weeks at the end of this term which is exciting as we'll be going up the mountain, however it's going to be a lot colder than this!
Anyhow, today I thought I'd share with you some of the things that I purchased during my small holiday in Auckland, as I went a bit shopping crazy! I just love the stores in Auckland, especially Ponsonby and High Street and I went a little overboard on clothes, which I haven't included in this post but I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of soon.

Theseeke Temple Balm / Switch On
This is something that I had been lusting after for a while on the Father Rabbit website, partly because the packaging was just so pretty and I was also just quite intrigued by the concept of a temple balm and was curious to see weather it would actually work.

Kikki K Pens + Clipboard
The Kikki.K in Britomart is such a dream, I just had to pick up three of the pens from their 'minimalist' collection and this gorgeous wooden / gold cipboard.

BLOC Enamel Mug + Marble Notebook
I love the look of enamel plates and mugs at the moment because they remind me so much of camping (not that I've camped a lot!) and this simple white one from Father Rabbit just caught my eye, I thought it would look super nice with a small succulent inside! I also bought a marble patterned notebook from BLOC and I just love it so much, especially with the little copper detailing on the back.

The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
I had been looking for this limited edition version of The Great Gatsby for ages. The metallic copper cover by Coralie Bickford-Smith is just gorgeous + with it being one of my favourite movies I felt like I had to read the book too. When I found this inside of Tessuti I was beyond excited!

How to be a Parisian Wherever You Are
I have been seeing this book on just about everybody's Instagram so I thought it was time I picked it up and gave it a read + I've been obsessing over Paris recently after reading Jasmine Dowling's France blog post.

Bobbi Brown Tinted Eye Brightener in 'Porcelain Peach'
I really love the Bobbi Brown eye brightener's and I previously had the 'Light to Medium Peach' and found it just a bit too dark so this one is just perfect and takes next to no time or skill to apply, which is good for a complete makeup novice like me!



Kikki K 'Better Than Before'
What first drew me to this book in Kikki.K was the stunning and very minimal looking cover but at closer inspection it looked like quite a good read, and part of their 'Inspiration' collection which I've never purchased from before!

Topshop Grey Scarf
This unfortunately is out of stock (however I've linked a similar one) but oh my goodness, I've found my dream scarf! When I laid my eyes on this scarf in the Queen Street Topshop it was love at first sight and I've been wearing it non stop ever since!

Although my bank account suffered from my trip to Auckland I loved wandering round some different types of shops as I've discovered that Wellington can be rather limited in terms of shopping.
If you haven't already seen the videos from my trip you can check them out here and be sure to Subscribe to my Youtube channel while you're over there!
Bella.

Updates 01 / NZ Art Show

Frank's Coffee, Wellington                                                              Little & Friday, Auckland

Hello!
It's been a while, longer than I would've liked, but I've been extremely busy recently and after all of my travel photos and videos I would really like to put some time into some different types of posts, so do let me know if there's anything you'd particularly like to see around here.
Anyway, I thought I'd just update you on everything that's been going on in my life and a few things that I've been loving of late.
So, recently I was accepted into the NZ Art Show to exhibit my photography and possibly sell some too, the Art Show started yesterday and is taking place for the whole of Queen's birthday weekend. I'm still in shock that I was actually accepted and so grateful that this opportunity popped up because it's been such an incredible experience for me. The photos in the show are in my Santa Monica blog post, if you'd like to check them out. It has taken up a lot my time, however, which unfortunately has resulted in me neglecting things like my school work and this blog. You don't really realise until you have to do it but things like printing and framing and making labels and packaging takes so long and can be quite stressful when you're under time pressure! I've managed to sell seven of my prints so far, which I just can't believe + actually seeing my photos at the show was so super weird and surreal. The Art Show is still going, so if you're in Wellington make sure to check it out because there's some pretty cool stuff there.
After the Art Show on Friday we popped into my favourite cafe, Frank's for a coffee. I just love the fit-out in Frank's, the wooden tables and stools with copper hanging bulbs and we caught the most beautiful afternoon light in there which made everything such a nice colour!
I've also been loving Flume's new album and I've had it on repeat over the last couple of days, I seem to be accumulating a lot of new tunes on my Spotify mixtape, 588 of them to be exact! So if you'd like to have a listen click here.
A few other things that I've been loving are, this coat / this blog / this store / this cafe / this muesli and this youtube channel.
Bella.

BLOC / Auckland + Video Diary 02

BLOC, Auckland.
Ahh, BLOC was a dream come true! Any of you that have had the pleasure of stepping through the front doors of BLOC will know that it is an absolute designers heaven. It was definitely at the top of my list coming to Auckland, especially as I'd only ever seen Father Rabbit online. Father Rabbit was just amazing, I probably spent about forty minutes just on the first level of BLOC, which also had Citta Design (!) Then on the second level I finally stepped foot inside a Collective store, which has always been one of me and mum's favourite places to shop online. I ended up picking up a few things from Father Rabbit, including a white enamel mug for my bedroom, a marble patterned diary and a Theseeke focusing temple balm (the packaging was really pretty!) I also picked up a brass candle snuffer for mum and a book that I'd been seeing on basically everyone's Instagram's that I knew I had to read, How To Be Parisian Wherever You Are!
We probably ended up spending close to two hours in BLOC, as I just didn't want to leave. I was snapping and videoing and lusting after just about everything in there like the amazing looking food in their cafe on the second level + there was an entire level just for BoConecpt!
I came away from BLOC with over one hundred video clips on my camera (!!) so I've managed to edit them down into my second and final Auckland Travel Diary, which you can now watch directly from my blog below. I just love BLOC and I strongly suggest you check it out if you're around the Mt Eden area. You can visit their website here + Father Rabbit's website here (and heads up, Father Rabbit are having an up to 50% off sale right now too!)
Bella.

Auckland 2016 + Video Diary 01

Auckland.
I just love Auckland. For me it was just a bigger, busier Wellington with lots more shops and cafes to explore. I especially loved Ponsonby because there were just so many cool, creative, independent stores that we don't have in Wellington.
Over the four days I spent in Auckland I managed to cover Ponsonby, High Street and Queen Street and tick nearly all of the cafes off of my list! Seeing so much of Auckland made me realise that they have so many clothes shops and I went a bit clothes crazy! Some of my favourites and those that are featured in this post are The Shelter, Area 51, Commoners and the Huffer Store. Huffer is a label that could dress me for all seasons (if my bank account could handle that kind of damage!) I love the simple designs and quality of the clothes in Huffer, and their store was just a dream come true. It was a bit hard to find as it's tucked down in a basement on Queen Street but it was well worth the walk when we found it!
One thing that I wish Wellington had more of is the cute little side streets that you could wander down aimlessly and end up finding a collection of food trucks or some nice eateries (Pintu) Ponsonby was especially good for this and never failed to amaze me with the amount of festoon lights strung up everywhere, which is a trend that I'm loving, they just look so good, especially at night time. You can imagine how I was when we stepped inside Ponsonby Central for a bite to eat, absolute festoon heaven!
I can't wait to visit Auckland again in the future, it's such a short flight away that I can see myself visiting more often for shopping, cafe exploring and maybe even the Troye Sivan concert (I wish!)
Also, don't forget to check out the first part of my Auckland video diary below!
Bella.