Okay, I have a confession to make – this is not my outfit today. Today it’s rainy and windy outside and I plan to spend the day in bed, wearing bright pink pyjama bottoms and a hoodie. I wasn’t really sure how much of an interesting OOTD post that would make, so here is one from around a week ago that I forgot to post. View Full Post
We wrote on Thursday about our big haul of Elf makeup. I was SO excited to try out all of the products and started off with this nail varnish. I chose the shade ‘Desert Haze’, which looked on the website to be a very milky, nude colour. View Full Post
Hello all you spiffing gals and potential alien fashionistas (we’re big on Jupiter according to Google Analytics).
This is just a tiny little OOTD post to give you all a look at some of my favourite bits of clothing at the moment as well as what I wore out for dinner earlier in the week. Because clearly while squeezing myself into Topshop’s acid wash jeans, a small voice said “yeah this is ok Lauren, have a MASSIVE pizza from Pizza Express. You won’t regret it”. SCREW YOU SMALL VOICE. There is no need for you. Go home. You are drunk.
Moving on, these jeans are my all time favourite. I find the super soft jeans by Toppers simply marvy, they fit really well and don’t feel bulky at all (which is something I hate from regular jeans). The only downside is that they don’t last brilliantly long because the material is so thin. Forking out £40 for a new pair every few months is a bit of a kick in the boob. They’re also not the most forgiving in lighter colours, but who the hell cares?! Embrace your shape, wear what you want and say YOU’RE LAME to the haters
I also recently bought this top from Primark and it has been a firm favourite in my wardrobe since then. It’s nothing particularly special but it fits nicely (kind of a baggy boyfriend fit) and the roll sleeves add a bit of interest. The colour is BRILLIANT and on trend, so I feel super snazzy and bright. There’s something about yellow that just makes you feel sunshiney and happy so it ticks the perky boxes for me. It’s also £3.50, so I’m going to invest in a load more next time I’m in town. It would be rude not to right?!
I paired my jeans and tshirt with a pair of cream heels from Forever 21, which are eons old but SO comfortable. I wanted to jazz up the outfit a bit since it was all looking a bit too casual. A leopard clutch and a gold chain and I was ready to go and drink mid-priced cava and munch on polenta chips.
Here is my face too, it was a bit of a nightmare hair situation because I’d put on some raw coconut oil as a mask before showering and didn’t wash it out properly, so my hair was a bit flat and mad. Other than that, this is a pretty standard face/hair situation for me!
You know that feeling you get when you’re so overexcited about makeup and beauty products that you start to wonder whether you’re too superficial and your priorities are all wrong and that you might die sad and alone surrounded only by mascara? Yeah, well I was simply too busy to feel that today as I was SO EXCITED by the arrival of our delivery from E.L.F.
I’ve heard so many wonderful things about E.L.F (or e.l.f? Or am I allowed to just call it Elf? I’m so unaware of the etiquette) in the last couple of weeks that I just had to have a look at their website. I was initially looking for a contouring kit, but was so amazed by the cheapy-cheap prices that I had to throw a few other things into my online basket. I had around £15 worth of stuff, and then Lauren realised that if she spent about the same amount then we would be eligible for free deliver. Well, that’s just good economics isn’t it?
I was really impressed to have it turn up in the post today after only ordering on Monday – 3 days for free second class delivery is not bad at all. I immediately had to take a few photos to share what we’ve bought in our haul and am having to resist the urge to run into the work toilets to try out all the products. Needless to say though, they will all be tried very shortly and you can expect to see some reviews up.
Here’s a run down of what we decided to buy:
Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder in ‘St Lucia’ – £3.75
All-Over Cover Stick in ‘Light Beige’ – £1.50
Nail Polish in ‘Desert Haze’ – £2.50
Mineral Lipstick in ‘Natural Nymph’ – £5
Lip Primer and Plumper – £3.75
All-Over Colour Stick in ‘Spotlight’ – £1.50
I ended up with quite a bit more than the contouring kit, as you can see. But with prices like £1.50, how can you resist? I love gimmicky products like the lip plumper so I’m looking forward to giving that a go, and I’m intrigued to try the ‘Spotlight’ Colour Stick as part of my contouring experiment. I also had to try the nude lipstick in the hope that it might be a cheap alternative to my Mac Crème D’Nude that I’m still using far too often for a £14 lipstick.
Beauty Book in ‘Natural Look’ – £6
3-in-1 Mascara – £3.75
Lipstick in ‘Nostalgic’ – £1.50
Nail Polish in ‘Copper’ – £2.50
Lauren was really impressed with this Beauty Book which comes with an eyeshadow palette, primer, eyeliner, applicator and instructions on how to achieve different looks. I know, it’s extremely shocking that she ordered it in a natural shade – I think I got a new wrinkle from how quickly my eyebrows shot up in surprise. She also needed new mascara so decided to give this one a whirl – we’re excited to see how it matches up to Benefit ‘They’re Real’ seeing as it has the same brush shape, complete with the little ball at the end. She then decided to try out the £1.50 lipstick range, and settled on a new copper nail varnish.
This resulted in an incident that we will now refer to as Metallicgate, in which I made a casual comment that I wasn’t a fan of metallic polishes and Lauren argued with me that I SO WAS because I wore gold and I said that I SO WASN’T and I think I know what I like and then we didn’t speak for five minutes. It sometimes gets pretty tense here at Stylingo.
Anyway, we are SUPER excited to try out our new products and let you know what we think of them all. Have any of you tried E.L.F? What are your thoughts? And am I allowed to call it Elf?!
What on earth is better than new shoes, you ask? Well, my answer is: FREE NEW SHOES. View Full Post
I feel like I may be giving everyone the wrong (or right) impression of me here on Stylingo. With posts like my guide to the best cheap makeup products out there at the moment and various other references to being a bargain hunter, I do think you might all see me as some kind of homeless penny pincher. This is kind of true to an extent (apart from the homeless bit). I’m still looking forward to the day that I can shop in Topshop without feeling horribly guilty and I have discovered that being a grown up means you have to buy boring things like food instead of a new pair of shoes, SNORE.
For this reason (and making sure we can afford tequila, vodka and other important things), Claire and I tend to always be on the hunt for a bargain. Claire is officially the queen of eBay and impresses me daily with her bidding action and I physically can’t say no to something that is on offer. We tend to do a fair bit of shopping, I mean client research, online at work because it’s convenient, so we have actually become quite the experts at where to find cheap clothes and products, how to obtain a fashion bargain and what the best way to save money online is. And because I’m such a kind and giving person, I’m sharing this list with y’all.
It’s not a huge surprise that this is at the top of my fashion bargain list! You can buy pretty much everything from eBay and it’s a great place to check for second hand gems. Over the years, I have accumulated quite a lot from eBay but probably the best buy I got was a pair of baby pink Hunter wellies for £20. The eBay shops are also brilliant and they often do things that are on sites like boohoo.com or missguided.com. Claire and I have come to the conclusion that eBay shops and some online fashion retailers have the same supplier, but often the eBay version is cheaper. It’s worth having a look what’s available; we have our eyes on the platform block heeled boots that are everywhere at the moment.
This has a similar vibe to eBay, but is run through Asos and is a bit more upmarket. There isn’t a bidding system but it is a place that many people sell second hand items. Asos impose strict quality control, not only on the clothes themselves, but also on how people sell them (you have to post pictures that have been taken outside etc!). You do have to have a bit of a root around, but you can really find a great bargain for really high quality and fashion forward stuff!
Blog Sales
If you’re a frequent reader of blogs (which chances are you are, if you’re reading this!), you may have noticed that a lot of bloggers do personal blog sales. This is usually to get rid of any unwanted products or clothes and it’s a brilliant way to get a bargain from one of your favourite bloggers. They sell anything from high end products to cheap clothes, so it really is worth having a look at what bloggers are selling.
Cheaper online options:
I’m definitely not knocking missguided.co.uk, boohoo.com or any other online retailer. I’m actually a massive Missguided fan and I tend to check there before anything where I’m looking for an outfit. HOWEVER, it is worth saying that there are other alternatives online that sell exactly the same thing for a cheaper price. Similar to the eBay shop situation, a lot of these online shops appear to have the same wholesaler and you can usually pick up a bargain if you’re prepared to have a good root around. Some examples of cheaper alternatives include:
OMG Fashion
Fashion Union
Mary Jane Fashion
Karma Clothing
Daisy Street
Desire Clothing
It just goes to show what a difference a quality model, good styling and a good marketing strategy can make!
Online shopping tips:
It is amazing to find a bargain on the internet, but buying cheap clothes online can also be a bit disappointing. You do have to be a bit more shrewd when it comes to choosing what you buy, because you can’t check out the quality, fit and real life colours for yourself. Over my internet shopping years, I’ve picked up quite a few handy tips so I thought I’d do a little addition to this post to share them and make your online shopping experience that much more magical.
1. Check the sizing! Claire did a really good post a few weeks ago on vanity sizing and what high street size you really are, which really highlighted the size differences between shops. Also, a lot of the cheaper shops do basic sizes like ‘S/M’ or ‘M/L’. This is slightly bizarre, because I am most definitely a ‘M’, whereas Claire is definitely a ‘S’. There is no way I’d fit into her teeny tiny jeans for example, just as she wouldn’t fit into one of my bodycon dresses. It’s worth really thinking about the garment you’re planning on buying and deciding whether basic sizing is going to have an impact. For an oversized jumper, basic sizing wouldn’t really matter but for tighter fitting clothes, you may want to try and check the measurements. Of course, you can always return something if it doesn’t fit properly, but that’s a faff and aint nobody got time fo’ dat.
2. Check the country! If you’re buying on eBay or other auction sites, it’s really important to check where the item you’re buying is being delivered from. Sometimes, the really cheap stuff is from the US, China or other international places, which can mean that delivery costs will be high. In the end, you might not actually save that much money. International items also take a lot longer to ship, so you might need to think about whether you can wait a few weeks for that must-have to arrive.It can be worth it though, I bought 60 pairs of eyelashes from Hong Kong for about £7. They took a while to arrive but really were a bargain!
3. Research voucher codes! Most online shoppers will be aware that brands often put out codes that offer money off, free delivery or other special offers. These can be amazing and are really worth taking advantage of when you can find them. I often find these on Twitter or Facebook, but you can use great sites like Fashion Vouchers. These let you search through various categories and find what offers are on at the moment. If you’re shopping from a regular high street store, there really is no reason not to find what voucher codes are out there.
SO. That is my rather long winded post on what good websites for cheap fashion are available out there in the big scary mystery that is the internet, as well as a few online shopping tips because I am just feeling pretty generous today ;). What do you all think? Have you got any other tips to add?
T-Shirt: Maryjane Fashion / Chain: eBay / Treggings & Wedges: Primark
Hey y’all, hope all of your days are going wonderfully and that you’ve all had your daily biscuit. This is just a simple outfit of the day post to show one of my favourite easy outfits at the moment.
I bought these treggings months ago from good ole Primark and wore them over and over again in the first few weeks. I then noticed that they didn’t wash very well (read: I didn’t wash them very well – domestic goddess I ain’t) and had gone a bit bobbly so didn’t really bother with them again. I re-discovered them a couple of weeks ago and found that the condition was nowhere near as bad as I’d imagined – and so they live another day! I’m well aware that they’re hardly the most flattering things for my shape, but I think I’ve explained before my new life philosophy of embracing your natural body shape which for me means saying to the world ‘HEY, HERE ARE MY HIPS, DEAL WITH THEM’. I really do like the treggings in an outfit, they give a slightly smarter look to really casual tops but not in an awkward ‘teacher on sports day’ way.
I got this tee from Maryjane Fashion about a month ago. I love the tie-dye/smudge print, and the dark colours mean it will still be wearable in the colder months. The fit’s nice and loose, but it’s still perfect for tucking in as I’ve done here. I can’t find it on the site anymore, which is a SNORE, but the site has a load of other nice pieces for ridiculously cheap prices. I think this was around the £6 mark, and its surprisingly good quality.
I teamed it with my current favourite gold chain, which everyone has seen me wear about fifty-eight times already. It’s tacky and fabulous and I will not hear a bad word said about it.
I have a wee confession to make (nothing to do with port-a-loos, don’t worry). I’m not actually going to a proper camping/I-haven’t-washed-for-five-days festival this year. I’m traditionally a HUGE Glastonbury goer and I’ve been going since the tender age of 15. However, this year has been mega expensive from getting the crib with Claire and generally being a mad person (budget, WHAT BUDGET), so I simply couldn’t afford to fork out £200 for a fezzie.
Nevertheless, I am going to the Friday at Wireless Festival (and staying at a hotel in Shoreditch, so not quite true to the festival roots) and I feel like this is still a great excuse to get a new outfit. The grand thing with any festival, even one in the middle of London, is that you can go a bit wild in terms of what to wear. Fun headwear, cute day dresses, a bit of glitter and even a bit of naughty fringing never go amiss, so it really is time for me to start planning properly. But what festival outfits are appropriate this year and what trends should we be thinking about?
I meant to do this as more of a ‘wishlist’ post but then got a bit carried away as usual, so for your viewing pleasure I have put together a few outfit options for every festival scenario. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, here are some ideas of what to wear to festivals this year.
For the perfect weather festival:
Ever the optimist, I put this one at the top of the list. This is for the festival we all dream of; perfect weather, pints of cider and dancing about in the sunshine. For those of us who are lucky to get a weekend with good weather, the festival fashion world is your oyster. This is what I would wear for a warm and sunny weekend. Some might say that a light blue summer dress is the last thing you’d want at a festival (grass stains, anyone?) but to you I say WHERE IS YOUR SENSE OF ADVENTURE AND/OR BOTTLE OF VANISH.
1. Swing Dress from Missguided. 2. Wayfarer Sunglasses from Topshop. 3. Tangerine Nail Paint from Barry M. 4. Floral Garland Headband from Asos. 5. Converse from Asos.
For when things get muddy:
Let’s be honest. The likelihood of getting a weekend of blue skies here in Ye Olde England is pretty much nothing so it’s better to be prepared than caught unawares. Rain ruins EVERYTHING, so these are my essentials to keep everything in tact when the weather turns sour. The absolute worst is when it’s rainy, humid and we all end up looking like Monica on Friends so hair serum is at the top of the list! I’m also absolutely in love with this neon mac. LOVE.
1. Neon Mac from Topshop. 2. Dungarees from Boohoo.com. 3. Long Sleeve Crop Top from Topshop. 4. Hunter Wellies from Asos. 5. John Frieda Frizz-Ease from Boots.
For the festival in the city:
This is perhaps my biggest conundrum. What on earth do you wear to a festival where there is little or no grass involved? WHERE ARE THE COWS? WILL THERE BE MUD? DO I NEED WELLINGTON BOOTS? After a lot of thinking and lying down after all the fashion exertion, this is the outfit I have come up with. I think that you can get away with being a bit dressier if you’re not rolling around in a field and you don’t need to think about inappropriate festival shoes if you’re in a city. I’m loving the contrast between pastels and darker colours at the mo!
1. High Neck Skater Dress from Missguided. 2. Pork Pie Hat from Topshop. 3. Black Sandals from Zara. 4. Statement Necklace from Asos. 5. Plum Lipstick from Superdrug.
For the festival abroad:
YOU LUCKY THANGS. For anyone heading to Benicàssim, Tomorrowland and other genuinely exciting festival abroad, I hate you and we are no longer best pals. Thinking about what to wear to a festival abroad can sometimes mean taking into account long bus journeys, plane limits and what you can comfortably carry. But you also have to be aware that it is going to be HOT and fuelled with cheap alcohol, so this is my take on what to wear to a festival abroad. Expect maxi dresses and bikinis!
1. Neon Bikini from Missguided. 2. Round Sunglasses from Topshop. 3. Sandals from River Island. 4. Denim Skater Skirt from Miss Selfridge. 5. Hand Harness from Boohoo.com.
So, this are just a few of my festival favourites on the highstreet at the moment! What do you all think?
Over the weekend we had two of our bestest friends from uni come to stay with us in our new house. This of course meant a night out on Saturday, as what better way is there to say ‘hey, we’ve missed you’ than with cocktails and slut dropping?
Anyway, we were completely useless and forgot to get proper OOTN pictures (bad blogger award goes to us). In fact, Lauren’s outfit was hardly featured in any full-length photos at all. But just in case anybody is interested, here is a brief look at what I wore:
Crop top: Primark
Gold chain: eBay
Skater skirt: Topshop
Shoe boots & bag: Primark
(Can you believe that they served me a VK in a plastic glass? Apparently we’re no longer trusted with bottles in Coventry; the risk of us throwing them at each other must be too great.)
It was a really simple outfit but I liked it anyway. If for any reason you felt compelled to recreate the look, then here is how to do it:
Here at Stylingo we live our life by one simple motto:
‘Cometh the hour, cometh the tan’ View Full Post