Bestival - yay!

Gawd, I'm late to the "I went to Bestival" bandwagon aren't I? It was only, er, about a month ago. Jeez Llara! What can I say? I'm a busy chick and I don't always have time to do the blogging.

Something else you should know about me is that, when I've had a few, I find it acceptable to pull this face in pictures...

Note the long since faded and very much past its best rainbow on my face. I'm obsessed with rainbows lately. We've had SO many recently in Edinburgh. Don't believe me? Check out my instagram @llarasnappedwhat (plug, plug).

So, once we'd made the journey to Southampton (taxi, flight, train, bus) ferry terminal, we hopped on the ferry. They had cider in the car park and everything, which was nice. Another thing you should know - not about me this time: it seems that everyone, everyone on the south coast owns a boat. Regardez (I can say that cause it's so close to France):

Boats, boats, boats everywhere!

And so to Bestival. It's an ace festival. A tiny bit big for my liking, if anything, but so visual and captivating and stuff going on everywhere. You could spend the whole weekend doing stuff that didn't involve seeing bands at big stages. Like...going to the cinema, starring in your own film, going on a helter skelter, climbing up the inside of an odd wooden house, watching the fancy dress parade, polka-ing to a crazy Romanian gypsy sounding DJ in the polka tent, mooching about the forest, tobogganing, shopping and generally filling your face with all kinds of delicious food. I love festival food these days!

Cinema | tents | swan on a stick, obvs | Africa bar | make your own blockbuster | amazing view across the festival

At night, the festival becomes so atmospheric with parties in what look like ramshackle houses, the smallest bar ever (in something resembling a garden shed), faux abandoned cars peeking out of mist and all kinds of other goodness!

All kinds of neon crap. By crap, I means AWESOMENESS. I climbed to the top window of the little house. How I didn't do myself a mischief, I do not know.

In spite of there being some huge acts at the festival (hello Stevie Wonder. Totally brill, as it happens), my favourite ones were Scroobius Pip and a random flamenco band with some guy Sadie Frost used to shag in it. Scroobius was just mesmerising and SO much fun. Ditto the flamenco band. We danced our asses off to those guys! Give me that lot over Florence and her wailing ear splitting machine any day! Sorry Flo fans...

Left: flamenco guys | middle: Scroobius Pip. I wonder if that's his real name | right: spooky shit.

Absorb the colour and strangeness...I'd like to hang glittery stars all over my house. I'm not sure how Mr Scribbler would feel about that.

And finally (cause everyone loves and 'and finally' story, right? Especially ones that involve small animals or local initiatives. This involves neither.), here I am promoting the ass off the schuh Welly Exchange in my specially-customised-so-as-to-maximise-warm-sun-on-pasty-Scottish-skin t-shirt. It was such a warm weekend. I miss the warmth.

Who's got orange glittery fingernails and a message for you guys? This gal!

Wolf and Moon jewellery - ah-oooo!

I was at Bestival at the weekend. It was ace. I was there with work and, while there were loads of good acts there, there was no one I was mad desperate to see so, because I wasn't stressing about being in a set place at a set time, it was way relaxed. Woop! I have some ace pics that I'll share you soon with but this post is about a jewellery brand I discovered there. What do you mean you already guessed that from the title and you wondered why I was talking about Bestival? Regardless, finding cool independent brands is one of my favourite things about festivals, alongside having fun at things you didn't even mean to see or expect to be that fussed about, and eating ace food. Festival food is so great these days! At Camp Bestival, I found I Am Acrylic. At Bestival, those guys were there too but my new discovery was Wolf and Moon. Also big users of perspex, there's plenty of wood incorporated in their designs too.

I only picked up perspex designs and I couldn't resist grabbing a few things! Like this gorgeous glittery gold deer:

According to their 'about' section, "Everything you see in the Wolf & Moon shop is lovingly handmade or handpicked by Hannah Davis. She recently graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College and you can find her personal work here: www.hannahdavis.co.uk

Richard Makhlouf helps Hannah with accounts, making pieces and sometimes running the market stall." 

When I visited the stall the girl, who I assume was Hannah said she does make all the perspex pieces - amazing! They're so intricate and I can't help but wonder how many deer's legs are accidentally snapped, trying to get one perfect. This feather is simple and gorgeous. And glittery...

 

Once I got the pieces safely home from Bestival, I couldn't resist wearing one straight away!

Jumper: ASOS, Skirt: Topshop, Nike Air Safari: schuh

 

For the amount of work that must go into these pieces, their prices were really reasonable too. The feather and deer were both £8 and the one above was £12. The most expensive was this baby at £25. But it literally stretches across my front to the outer edges of my collar bones. It's GIANT! And stunning.

Glitter! Mirror! Colour! Oh my!

They're all off to live in with the rest of my neck-wear on my bedroom walls now.

Anyone else been festivalling it up lately?