Claire

Nivea In-Shower Body Moisturiser Review

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Moisturiser is something that I have a massive love-hate relationship with. On the one hand, my skin resembles a St Moriz drenched freckled lizard that is permanently dry and in need of a boost. Because of this, I am constantly on the search for the perfect moisturiser (much like Claire and her mascara quest). I’ve never quite found one that leaves my skin feeling soft for longer than a few hours and this is why I secretly throw tantrums when a new moisturiser doesn’t do what it promises. I’ve tried everything from Chanel to E45 and nothing has impressed me overly much. View Full Post

Claire

3 of the Best eBay Dupes Available Right Now

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Topshop ‘86’ Jersey / eBay ‘85’ Jersey

I featured this jersey in my varsity trend post a couple of weeks ago, where I commented that I really liked it but was umming and ahhing over it because I had noticed so many girls wearing it. At £20, I think it’s pretty reasonably priced for Topshop (who, it has to be said, can sometimes be the lords and masters of over-pricing); but I was still interested in looking around for a cheaper alternative.

And HELLO, alternative! This eBay dupe is less than half the price of the Topshop version, at only £6.99 (plus £1.99 delivery). You have to admit that they’ve done a pretty good job of replicating it, even down to the stripes. As well as the difference in number, I’m sure there are probably some differences in the quality of the material. I will soon be able to let you know, as I couldn’t resist ordering the dupe and am expecting it any day now.

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Mango lion head chain / eBay lion head chain

Rihanna has been photographed numerous times wearing her Versace lion head gold chain:

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and since then a number of high street dupes have popped up. Compared to a Versace necklace (one day, one day…) (okay, more realistically: never, never…), the Mango one featured above is still a snip at £17.99. But once again, eBay comes in at even more of a snip. The link above goes to what I think is the chepest seller in the UK, as it comes in at under a tenner, including postage. You can get them for half that price if you order from Hong Kong and don’t mind waiting around 3 weeks, but if you share the ‘I WANT IT AND WANT IT NOW’ mentality of us Stylingo broads then the extra couple of quid isn’t too bad.

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Jeffrey Campbell Lita platform / eBay Wooden Heel Lace-Ups Platforms

I’m sure we would all love a pair of genuine Jeffrey Campbells in our shoe cupboard – my 5’2 frame would particularly enjoy that delicious platform. However, at around £120, they’re not really something that a lot of us can just buy on a whim. Luckily, quite plain styles like this are pretty easy to duplicate, and these ones from eBay are a much more affordable £32.99.

What do you all think of cheaper dupes from shops such as eBay? Do you love them, or prefer the real thing?

Claire

Neons and Brights

Up until approximately two weeks ago, I was a staunch hater of neon. I pretty much thought it looked horrible on everyone, I vowed never to buy anything flourescent ever and I strongly believed that it was the worst trend to come from the fashion wizards since they allowed corduroy to happen. In fact, it almost got to the point of shouting ‘GO HOME NEON, YOU ARE DRUNK’ every time I saw a bit of bright clothing on the high street. View Full Post

Claire

The Young British Designers Event at RBH.

Yesterday, Claire and I (as well as our chauffeur, I mean boss, Gary) had the brilliant opportunity of heading over to RBH for the presentation event of Young British Designers. RBH is a creative agency based in the Midlands who have worked in connection with YBD since its launch in 2010. For those who don’t know (where have you been?!), YBD is all about championing the many talents of young designers in Britain and showing off collections from emerging British fashion designers.

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And what a day we had! After sneakily re-applying makeup in the toilets at work and choking the office with Black XS, we were off with our really cool Perspex invites firmly in hand. Even though we didn’t win the YBD outfit competition, Claire’s loud ‘AH, GO ON THEN’ when we were offered a glass of champagne got the event of to a great start. We mooched about for a bit and met some lovely people before legging it upstairs to where the clothes were. I have about three words to say about this: beautiful neon bags.

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There was a great mix of stuff from last season as well as current spring/summer pieces. My personal favourites were the spring/summer collection of shoes and bags. OH MY GAHD, I nearly died with love for a pair of wedges that had neon straps. I may have spent slightly too long staring at them with love and adoration, stroking them and declaring that I will never love like this again. I didn’t actually stroke them; I’m not a mad person. I am a young professional who can behave in a classy and sophisticated way and not drop cupcakes on the floor. ANYWAY, Claire’s personal fave of the day was a blue box bag and had she bought it, I’d have stolen it and claimed that the stray cat we occasionally let into our house (fondly named Snoop Catt) must have eaten it. Unfortunately, we were too poor to make any purchases (darn you payday, how dare you come a day late) but Gary bought a lovely bag for his mum.

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Shop the Young British Designers collections here

After having a browse of the collections, we headed to the cocktail bar for a mojito or five and had a play with the tweet mirror (which was AWESOME, by the way). There were a couple of talks as well, one by RBH’s Debra Hepburn and one by Beverley Nielson. Beverly heads up the Birmingham Made Me Expo, which is really awesome and you should all check out. She’s also worked at Vogue in New York so all in all, a very interesting person.

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For those who are interested, I wore a snake print midi dress from Missguided, my trusty black leather jacket from Miss Selfridge and a pair of teal heels. Claire went for a navy midi dress from Topshop, a chunky gold necklace and Kurt Geiger heels.

It was a fabulous day and we’re very excited for what’s to come with YBD.

So, big thank you to RBH (and the green bow-tied mixologists, of course).

Claire

MUA Lipsticks: Review

I love a bargain. In fact it gets a bit embarrassing; particularly when I say “Hahaha I am so cheap” and no one contradicts me (a nice “no you’re not, don’t be silly” wouldn’t go amiss, guys). So, I got a bit excited when I was doing my weekly Superdrug/Boots browse a few weeks ago and spotted a 3 for 2 on all MUA makeup. I’ve never actually bought anything from MUA (which ambiguously stands for makeup academy…right), mostly because I tend to stick to mid-range stuff. I’m not a big makeup snob, but I do think you can tell the difference between cheaper stuff and makeup you’ve spent a bit more money on. View Full Post

Claire

Sleek Brow Kit: Review

We are in the year of the Strong Brow. Some might say that Cara Delevinge made the look popular but ever since discovering Erin O’Conner, I’ve had a big and inappropriate crush on striking eyebrows. Thankfully, gone are the horrible high school days of plucking brows so thin that we all looked permanently surprise and/or terrified. We can now draw our eyebrows on with gay abandon and look super trendy and cool while doing it.

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I feel like I can now claim the title of professional eyebrow artist. I’ve been drawing my brows on for a few years now and have dabbled in pretty much every method available. For those of you who are lucky enough to see me without makeup on, you will know that I look like a strange albino Lord Voldemort without my trusty eyebrows, so I do my best to rectify the situation. As a secret ginger, my eyelash and eyebrow hair is really, really pale and you cant really see it at all from afar/in pictures. Things were ok when I used to have blonde hair, but it’s all a bit of a mess now that I have migrated to the dark side. Good eyebrows are a necessity so I’ve put together a little ‘how to’ with my favourite eyebrow product for those who have no eyebrows like me or who just want a bit more definition.

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For your entertainment, here is a picture of me without my eyebrows drawn on. Someone at work said “it wasn’t that bad” but they clearly couldn’t see the giant five head in front of them.

My absolute favourite eyebrow product is the eyebrow palette by Sleek. Sleek do loads of brilliant stuff, which tend to be the cheaper alternatives to Benefit products. The Brow Kit I use is the ‘Dark’ colour but they also come in ‘Light’, ‘Black’ and ‘Extra Dark’. I can’t stress how great the Sleek Brow Kit’s are. They come with little mini tweezers (which I unfortunately lost – but before I did, I gave them a whirl and they are good quality for a mini pair), an angled brush and a small powder brush. There are two products within the kit; an eyebrow wax and setting powder. The idea is to use these both in tandem to create perfect eyebrows.

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To start with, I always use the kit after I’ve applied the rest of my makeup. I tend to follow the top and bottom line of my eyebrow and then use the flat side of the angled brush to fill them in. I then apply the setting powder (they recommend sparingly but I just whack loads on willy nilly) and my brows are done! It usually takes a couple of minutes, which is a lot quicker than when I used to use a pencil. The kits are also good for precision, which you don’t get as well with a pencil or eyebrow powder. That’s pretty much it really. The kit retails at £8.49 online but I think I got mine for about £8.00 in Superdrug.

What do you all think? Have you tried the Sleek Brow Kit?

 

Claire

If I Was a Rich Girl: High Street Wish List

Writing a post like this is potentially one of the worst things I can possibly do to myself. I’ve just moved into a new house and am trying to come to terms with the fact that my wages now need to go on bills and rent rather than clothes – so the best idea was probably not to scour all of my favourite sites looking for things I would like the most. But hey, that’s blog dedication for you…

High Street Wish ListJuJu Jelly Shoes – Office

I’ve been fully embracing the 90s trend lately with crop tops, polo necks and dungarees – so of course the jelly shoes had to follow. I have to say I hadn’t heard of the brand JuJu before (researching jelly shoes wasn’t really top of my to-do list before…erm, today) but they’re a Northampton-based manufacturer of jelly shoes who have been in business for over 25 years (well done, JuJuians!)

These Vicky shoes are my favourite of their collection; I love the cutaway detailing, the selection of colours and – most importantly – the fact that they’re covered, meaning the public won’t be completely exposed to my vile toes. I think jelly shoes are a bit of an acquired taste – i.e. when I asked my boyfriend “Do you think these are hideous?” he spent no time trying to save my feelings and replied with a swift “Yes”. But la la la, I don’t care; I think they’re the perfect fun, summery shoe.

Adidas Originals T-Shirt – Adidas.co.uk

I’m not sure if I’m at all cool enough to pull off an Adidas Originals t-shirt (read: I know for a fact that I’m not) but I’m really tempted to try to incorporate it into my wardrobe. I have a vague intention of customising it into a crop, but then I remember my lack of success trying to sew a cushion cover in textiles class in school and think that maybe I’ll need adult supervision.

Acid Wash Denim Skater Skirt – Topshop

Who doesn’t love a skater skirt? They make you look all skinny at the waist yet allow you to devour a massive sandwich for your lunch and kindly hide the bloat for you. This acid wash denim-look skirt from Topshop is an on-trend update on the classic denim skirt (which I personally hope never rears its ugly denim head again).

Mesh Crop Top – Boohoo

I have far too many dresses that I’ve only worn once because they’re strictly ‘nightclub-only’, so it’s nice to find clothes that can be worn and re-worn in a variety of situations. I think this crop top will do just that. Night out with skater skirt and heels? Check. Trip to the pub with high-waisted jeans? Check? Daytime outfit layered over a longer top or dress? Check. Get your coat, Mesh Crop Top, you’re coming home with me.

Perspex Two-Piece Barrel Bag – Boohoo

Why would anybody want a see-through bag? I think this might be an example of me once again harking back to the 90s and thinking this bag is a reincarnation of my trusty Perspex pencil case in school. Because even though I know it’s kind of ridiculous, I really want one. The extra bag goes inside and hides all of the stuff you don’t want on display – expensive items, lady items and possibly weird items (I have been known to carry round boxes of Weetabix in my handbag) – which leaves you with the decision of what to leave on show in the transparent bit. I think I’d opt for a lipgloss and a Dostoyevsky novel, so that I looked like a well-rounded individual.

Sheer Panel Crop Vest – Topshop

Are you starting to notice how much I really like crop tops yet? Neon, sporty and cropped – this top deserves a good slap on the back for being so bangin’. I envisage myself wearing this with a black maxi skirt – and on that note, I am off to practice that theory where if you visualize something it will come to you. Ommmmmmm. It’s still not here.