That title could be taken two ways – ‘pasty’ as in pasty coloured, which is what I was actually intending when I wrote it, I thought I’d written pastel waaay too much recently, so pasty pink would be better. But then it also occurred to me that it could be ‘pasty’ as in the food, and that’s kind of relevant right now, especially to me. Not sure if all of you who aren’t in the UK will have a clue what I’m talking about right now, but anyway…in the UK at the moment the government are trying to introduce what is being called the ‘Pasty Tax’. People are not exactly happy about it! Before now, we haven’t had VAT on fresh food sold in the UK (I may have some details wrong here that my father’s probably going to call me out on!), but now they want to put VAT onto pasties that are sold warm. Doesn’t seem like much of a problem does it? But let’s think about it a moment, and let me give you a bit of background information – my family owns a bakery business in Yorkshire, Thomas the Baker (the website isn’t exactly up to scratch yet, it’s still being developed!!) which was started my grandparents, my dad and his brother all the way back in 1981. So this is a big issue for us at the moment! So this is what happens in our shops: the pasties (that includes things like sausage rolls, steak bakes, cheese and onion pasties and so on) are delivered to the shops par-baked or frozen (my dad’ll be picking up on my sketchy details here!!) and are baked in the shop; most people like to come in when they are freshly baked and still warm from the oven, however doing that now they will be charged an extra 20% VAT on it. If you happened to wait in line 10 minutes and the pasty had dropped below ‘ambient temperature’, you might end up paying 20% less than the person in front of you – that hardly seems fair does it?! And then how are you supposed to control such a thing? Who says what ‘ambient temperature’ is? What if a person stood and held it in their hands until it cooled down, then paid for it? Those are just a few of the problems – and mainly only the ones for the customers. On the other end of the line there are further problems: as you probably know, there have been increases on all sorts of things recently (that I’m not even very clued up on!), but our business has striven to absorb these costs as much as possible so that they affect the customer very little, however such a tax is impossible to absorb at such a rate, it will inevitably cause both the customer and the company to suffer. We increase prices in order to absorb the tax, the customers aren’t happy to pay more for something that cost 20% less last week, the customers don’t come any more. If you’re interested, here are a few articles about it specifically relating to our company (the Simon Thomas they quote is my daddy =D) here, here and here (that’s him putting cake in the oven, because obviously cake is the same as pasties – not sure why they decided to picture him with cake?!).
So that probably wasn’t very interesting if you’re not interested in such things, but there you go. And on with the outfit!
I’ve actually got a lot to say today – oops!! First of all, the jeans: these were sent to me by Only Jeans (I strongly urge you to watch their interactive video on the website, and I was not told to say this, I just happened to come across it a couple of days ago and it’s awesome!). I picked the jeans at first because the only pink jeans I have are neon from back in my ‘I’m-such-a-cool-scene-kid’ days (I totally failed at being said cool scene kid), and while neon is in at the moment, I really wanted some pastel ones. It wasn’t until after I’d picked them that I remembered a lot of people saying how unflattering light denim is – I’ve never been one for white jeans, even though I once owned a pair I didn’t particularly like them. But when I tried these on, I loved them, and honestly I don’t think they are unflattering!! I also want to point you in the direction of my top – I am obsessed with peplums right now. I constantly just want to buy peplum tops and skirts, despite this being the only peplum item I own and therefore don’t know if a peplum skirt really would suit me. Ah well.
Cardigan: New Look
Necklace: c/o Eclectic Eccentricity
Peplum Top: Matalan (similar here)
Jeans: c/o Only (similar here)
Leopard Kitten Heels: c/o Matalan (last year)
This necklace is from the lovely people over at Eclectic Eccentricity (try saying that aloud!!) – they have a plethora of beautiful jewellery on their site and I wanted every single piece!! I also got a bracelet which I will show you sometime soon hopefully =) You’ve probably noticed that I’m not crazy on wearing accessories – I do love them, I have loads of necklaces, earrings (gosh, I never wear them!), bracelets, belts, scarves, but I re-wear the same ones over and over, particularly my ‘everyday’ jewellery which consists of either a necklace from Ben for my 18th or one from my sister for my 21st, my ring from Ben for Christmas a while back, and a watch from Ben for my 21st – I’ve spotted a theme there!! But I am really trying to incorporate more of my jewellery into my wardrobe, and I’m thinking it’s not going to be difficult with this necklace!!
Also may I just add that despite this look seeming to be made up almost entirely of ‘c/o’ items, things I have been gifted by companies, that was completely unintentional!! It might look as though I own a lot of gifted items, but honestly, I just managed to get most of them into one outfit somehow!! I will one day do a post on my feelings about gifted items etc. but for now just know that not everything I own is gifted, in fact it’s very very far from it, and that everything I am gifted I have chosen and I will give my honest opinion about.
Well, that was a big fat post – what were you expecting after me being gone for so long, silence?! Well then, you clearly don’t know me very well if you did =D
Well, that was a big fat post – what were you expecting after me being gone for so long, silence?! Well then, you clearly don’t know me very well if you did =D
Love,
Love this outfit! I’ve been eyeing up that top on Matalan’s website but couldn’t decide whether to get it or not – you might have just convinced me 🙂
Ahh so much I didn’t know about pasties haha. I seriously love this outfit- I just showed it to my mum! I love that top so much!
Charlotte x
That pasty law sounds…ridiculous? So ridiculous I almost checked to see if it was April Fool’s Day and what you were saying was a joke. Guess not. What the heck?
Anyway, love the outfit. And are you in a graveyard? Hahaha. I noticed that after I noticed all your bright pink-ness. I love the irony.
I love your peplum!!! So cute!!!
Come check out my blog!!
http://www.forwardvintage.blogspot.com
Really like the peplum top and it goes brilliantly with the coloured jeans. On a side note I’m also studying classics (wooo!) but in Canterbury 🙂 xx
I love this outfit – Everything about it! The colour of the pasty jeans suit you and that top – Wow! I’ve not even tried a peplum on, I’m sure they WILL be unflattering on me, meh!
Also, didn’t realise the pasty tax was so in depth, how random about the temperature – They’re going to have trouble regulating that one as you said!! Pah!
http://fridayisforever.blogspot.co.uk/
love love this outfit.. one of my favs. 🙂 love the colours on you and the fit of the top and jeans..
might have to check matalan out tomor for that top. hehe
government is being absolutely ridiclous and i really hope your business gets through it..
really wish theyd take a look at their own salaries and expenses before killing the people of this country off. we didnt put ourselves in this position they did and the greedy banks!…*step away from the phone caroline..stop writing..stop..s..t..o..p..*
(sorry.lol)
you look so lovely!
Love the colours of this outfit Sian, you look so good in pink and pastels! I have a similar peplum top but it’s a navy one from H&M, might wear it today now 🙂
Your lipstick also looks great on you! Hope that law doesn’t come through, it soudns ridiculous! I tried to sign your petition earlier but it’s for UK citizens only 🙁
Siel xx
Gorgeous outfit! The tax changes have really annoyed me too. Stupid cons!
xx
Awww, this is so cute! I love the peplum and the pink with leopard. That tax story is craaaazy…it seems like enforcement would be arbitrary because, as you said, it’s pretty difficult to keep track of how warm a baked good is.
I love that top. It looks so cute with those jeans.
Becky
xx
http://www.beckybedbug.com
You look lovely.
Your legs look gorgeous in these jeans!
I’ve nominated you for the Versatile Bloggers award over on my blog 🙂 xxx
Love this outfit, It is so cute!
Fashions on Top
Love your outfit. It’s really interesting to hear about the people being affected by the pasty tax. I hope they go back on it, I don’t agree with it at all 🙁
Such a cute outfit, the top looks gorgeous!
Charlotte xo
I’m envious of your gorgeous long hair AND your pretty jeans!