Features | Vanity Claire

ClaireJanuary 27, 2014

A Week in Instagram #6

Oh hey, didn’t see you there.

Here we are again. It’s monday and everyone’s feeling a bit tragic. Do you know what will make you feel approximately a million times better? Yes, that’s right. Looking at little pictures of Claire and I going about our daily lives. Don’t ask me why, I don’t make the rules.

1. Here is Claire standing in front of her mirror and taking some snaps of herself (I know, what’s she like?!). Anyone else have pervert dress love with this bad boy? I do, and it’s only £5 from Primark. That delightful satchel is £9. Some might say Claire is the Primark Whisperer.

2. It turns out that I might also be the Primark Whisperer – I went on a bit of a spree on Saturday and got this beautiful red/orange skort. I also invested (for about £1, you have to speculate to accumulate, am I right?!) in some frilly socks in an array of colours, these adorable sandals and other miscellaneous items.

3. Speaking of splurging on payday stuff, Claire and I went to Boots in our lunch break on Friday and decided that it was high time we just spent a load of money and bought fun things. There were a few bargains to be had, but we were definitely most excited about the Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balm. We bought ours in matte, but there were stain and gloss options too. Prepare yourselves for the review, because these beauties are excellent and top notch.

4. We like quotes now.

5. Hi there, Ron Weasley here. I’m officially a ginger haired wench and I love it.

6. Claire gave Cocoa Brown Tan a whirl – it develops in one hour and she loves it. Read her full review here, you know you want to.

7. Here is a sneaky peek of Claire’s décolletage, but more importantly her fabulous Asos mirror skirt that is wonderfully stunning.

8. Want to know how I achieved going from black to ginger in about 3 days? Here’s how. I loved the L’oreal product in particular, it smells like magic and wonderment. The bleach took a bit of getting used to though!

9. My dear friend, colleague and Ebay wizard Claire got this Motel cropped jumper for 99p. You can’t even get 99p ice creams for 99p these days. You’ve got to be impressed with that!

10. Oh, what’s that Lauren? You went and bought useless stuff from Primark? Are you mad? No. That is my hobby these days. So obvs, I bought a top with neon cats on it and some nude pumps.

11. Here is Claire and her head. She’s wearing an excellent Glamorous fluffy jumper that she got at The Clothes Show. Fun fact, she took this photo in our kitchen at work.

12. Did I say that we liked quotes now?

So everyone, I hope your Mondays get over and done with as soon as possible. If it makes you feel any better, Beyonce is also having a Monday somewhere too. If you want to check us out on Instagram, please do! We’re @StylingoUK and we like to post pictures of clothes and bits of makeup. We also shamelessly take selfies and contort ourselves to get the perfect pics of our shoes. That is just how life goes.

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 22, 2014

Five Things We Learned from Myspace

Apparently Myspace is still relevant to some people, but lets be honest. The last time most of us logged in was when we were 15 year old nuisances, with impractically large fringes. Those were the days, eh? I remember rushing home from whatever social activity I had on (usually down the park on a Friday night, pretending to sip Copacobana), to comment on my friends’ profiles being like “yooooo, such a gr8 time down the park lol. so drunk hehehehe lmao” (for those of you born after 1997, Myspace was basically Facebook but a less good version)

While pretty much no one in the history of anyone uses Myspace anymore, most of us have fond and sometimes alarming memories of adding strangers as friends and hoping that one day (ONE DAY), we might have over 2000 friends. Myspace played a big and integral role in our lives. Some might even say Myspace was that third parent we ~~always~~ never wished we had. I, for one, think that Myspace taught us a lot. From decision making skills (what profile song to choose?!) to basic social skills (because nothing says social like sitting in your room on your computer, am I right?!), we have a lot to thank Myspace for.

1. Basic HTML Skills:

Nothing said super cool and not even remotely loser-like than a customised Myspace page. I remember hiding my entire profile to nothing but “Lauren. Harry Potter is great” and a link to my profile picture/comments. Zut alors. If you weren’t quite that ~~adventurous~~ mad, you probably learned how to put in links, change the colour of your font and other exciting and necessary skills. While I’m slightly laughing about this, I do have to say that I use basic HTML in my day-to-day job that I wouldn’t have known about without the help of Myspace. So, thank you Myspace for helping me learn HTML.

2. How To Take Selfies:

While things did get a bit out of hand with Myspace selfies (taking a picture with nothing but the top of your head showing was not ok), they did teach us valuable lessons that we can now transfer to Instagram. Thanks to Myspace, I now know that I have a wonky face and look better with my face tilted to the side. I also know that my nose starts to poke out the later it gets in the day, so it’s better to take face pics in the morning. In the blogging world, taking selfies is a part of everyday life – and where would we all be without that valuable camera experience? So, thanks Myspace for teaching us how to take pictures of ourselves. You’re the best. Although of course, you can’t look at the camera. Don’t be ridiculous. And yes, that is me.

3. Your Number of Friends Counts:

People keep banging on about “quality over quantity” but I have news for you. People are wrong. If you hopped onto Facebook and got a friend request with someone who has ten friends, you would automatically think “what a socially inept donkey, there is no way in Middle Earth that I’m accepting you”. The same goes for Twitter followers. But do you know who helped us come to this way of thinking? Myspace. I spent my Myspace time adding people I had met once (or not even once) so that everyone thought I was banging and super awesome. The reality was, I had around 6 close friends and probably got myself into a lot of stranger danger. But still, numbers count and we can thank Myspace for that.

4. Punishing Your Mates is Fun:

These days, if one of your pals has irritated you, you might decide to not favourite their tweets for a while. If they’ve done something really horrifying, you might even create a “Claire is a massive troll” page on Facebook and share it with all of her mates. Back in the Myspace days, punishing your friends was a lot easier. Do you remember the coveted “Top 8 Friends” spot? Ordering that bad boy was hard work. You obviously didn’t want to offend your bezzies, but you often had to include miscellaneous cousins so they wouldn’t bully you too much over Christmas. If someone had royally irritated you (i.e. forgotten to invite you to go bowling or someone robbed your Geoggers homework) in the Myspace days, all you had to do was put them at number 8. Or even take them out altogether (SHOCK. HORROR.). Burn.

5. Quizzes Are Fun:

When was the last time you filled in a ‘How Well Do You Know Me’ or ‘What Animal Are You?’ quiz? About 5 years ago? How unbelievably sad do you feel about that? There’s nothing more fun than filling in a quiz about yourself or your bestie and knowing that all of your Myspace friends will now know that you have green eyes and your favourite band is the All American Rejects. There simply aren’t enough quizzes around these days, especially after Facebook took off their survey function and Ask FM became the worst thing to happen to bullying since Azaelia Banks was born.

So…lets all put our hands together and say thank you Myspace, for making us the people are are today. Since the good years, Myspace has gone through a load of redesigns and I have to say that the new Myspace looks quite cool but there is very little chance that I’ll be reliving my teenage years of “pc4pc?”

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 14, 2014

Pro-Anorexia and Self-Harm: The Dark Side of Instagram

Today I’ve got to sidestep away from our usual waffling about fake tan and leggings and write about something that affected me quite a lot last night. I was having my usual browse through Instagram and came across a hashtag that caught my eye – #anorexia.

Out of intrigue I clicked on the link, thinking that surely there wouldn’t be that many posts associated with this mental illness? I was unfortunately really, really wrong with this assumption. What I found as I explored the topic deeper genuinely disturbed me, and eventually compelled me to write this post so that we’re all much more aware of what exactly is being portrayed on the photo sharing site that many of us use every day – and just how easily accessible this damaging content is for people of all ages.

There are over one and a half million posts dedicated to anorexia on Instagram. What the vast majority of these photos represent is a massive online community of those who are either suffering with, or are very interested in, anorexia. This community of users are regularly sharing genuinely disturbing content including ‘inspirational’ photos of emaciated girls, encouraging quotes related to not eating and weight loss, and frankly horrific images such as these below:

Users are actually interacting with these photos, actively encouraging each other to give up certain food or go without eating at all. Whether or not the people behind these accounts are genuinely following through with the promises is unknown, but the photos reveal the extent to which this community of impressionable young girls is thriving on the site.

Arguably, you’re always going to have this sort of content somewhere on the internet. But what I found most interesting is the part that Instagram itself actually plays in this pro-ana community.

When you click on the link, the above warning pops up. To me, this is actually really disturbing – it shows that Instagram are monitoring the hashtag, have recognised its connection to those suffering from a mental illness, and yet continue to give them the option to view it anyway. Is this really their idea of safeguarding? You could argue that it’s not Instagram’s responsibility to control what is shared on the site; but then when you consider what happens when you try to search for sexually explicit content:

It seems that Instagram have taken the steps to block this content from users. Clearly naked bodies are judged to be far more damaging to young users than hashtags such as this:

Very logical.

The more I looked into the pro-anorexia content, I also came across the disturbing crossover into the world of self-harm and teenage depression. ‘#Cutting’ brings up the same warning as the anorexia tag, this time seeking to advise users on suicide and self harm. Once again though, they’re welcome to click through the warning and access over a million images focused around self-loathing and physical harm.

I’ve chosen not to screenshot any of the actual images themselves, but some of them are incredibly graphic shots of deep cuts and arms covered in blood. All bear captions claiming that the person behind the account has just made those cuts, and immediately uploaded the photos to Instagram. Here’s a snippet of just some of the hashtags used alongside these images, which again, Instagram are clearly making no effort to monitor or censor:

I won’t pretend that I understand what the people behind these accounts are thinking or feeling. Whether they’re all genuine sufferers, are crying out for attention or are just caught up in the subculture isn’t something you can assume from looking at any of the accounts. All you can really tell is how potentially damaging this all is. Most of the users are incredibly young, some describing themselves as being as young as 12 on their profiles. And if all you have to do to access images of sliced up wrists and starvation is to have access to a smartphone and click through one ‘warning’ from Instagram, then you can imagine just how many impressionable young people these warped images and ideas can be reaching. I have four nieces and to think that any of them could view content like this and be drawn into these communities is genuinely distressing.

The argument will always be there that responsibility for this lies with parents, who should be monitoring what sites their kids are accessing. In theory this is obviously true; in reality kids and teenagers will always find a way around it. There’s also the argument that this conversation, if removed from Instagram, would continue on other platforms – whether that’s Tumblr (where I know this is also a big problem), forums or chatrooms. However, surely Instagram – as one of the most popular and most accessed applications in the smartphone industry – have a responsibility to remove this sort of content from their site? No, it won’t solve the wider problem at hand – but that’s no reason to permit these communities to exist.

What do you all think of this topic? Should Instagram be doing more to prevent this kind of content?

ClaireJanuary 13, 2014

A Week In Instagram #5

Why hi there homies,

I meant to put this post up yesterday, but unfortunately I spent pretty much my whole day reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I know, about 5 years too late), napping and then being overwhelmed by the new Sherlock episode (anybody else have an inappropriate crush on Moriarty? So glad he’s back in the game).

Anyway, Claire and I have been doing our best to put lots of effort into Instragram and post as much as possible. If you fancy giving us a glorious follow, hit us up at StylingoUK. Our posts are always fashion and beauty related and are usually laced with guilt because we accidentally spent all of our money on makeup. Here’s what we’ve been up to recently:

1. My Primark necklace and Primark fluffy jumper: have so much love for these two pieces. Massively cheap and cheerful but I’ve been wearing them constantly. I featured this necklace in my most recent outfit of the day too!
2. Claire looking like a genuine hotty off to a party over the weekend, featuring one of her favourite Barry M lilac lipsticks.
3. Shameless selfie with a top I bought at The Clothes Show (read about our trip to The Clothes Show).
4. Our love of Primark will never die, Claire picked these cheap and excellent bits of jewellery over the weekend.
5. Claire picked up this amazing MAC makeup shade in a blog sale last week, definitely the perfect colour for daywear (and nightwear, lets be honest!).
6. Another one of Claire’s purchases, recommended by one of our favourite bloggers Latasha at Today I Adore. Keep your eyes peeled for this silver hair dye review.
7. I went to buy a new foundation over the weekend and ended up picking up a Bobbi Brown foundation and concealer (WAHOO, reviews coming soon beauts).
8. How amazing are these Primark tartan leggings? Claire featured them in an outfit of the day recently and they have definitely become a wardrobe staple.
9. The result of Claire’s new silver hair dye – it’s looking fiiineeeee and I basically think she is Daenerys now.
10. Claire’s fit new boots from Boohoo. Read all about them in her haul post.
11. Claire’s epic collection of Barry M nail varnishes!
12. One of my favourite Missguided dresses, the pattern is so lovely!

Well chums, I hope you have enjoyed a peek into our somewhat exciting (?!) lives. If you want to keep up with our updates, make sure you give us a follow on Instagram, Twitter or Bloglovin. Have a fabulous Monday!

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

(do you think I’ve plugged our Instragram enough?!?)

ClaireJanuary 9, 2014

Makeup Storage: When A Grubby Makeup Bag Isn’t Good Enough

Hello gal pals,

I have a confession to make. Before Sunday, I mostly stored my makeup in a huge, grubby makeup bag, a half pint Stella glass and various crevices in my room (I woke up with a powder compact under my pillow the other day, don’t ask me how). When I read other beauty blogs, I get crazy jealous of beautiful makeup storage boxes, filled with beautiful makeup (no foundation finger prints in sight) and general neat and tidiness. Unfortunately, I’m the type of girl that likes a lovely neat ~~troll hole~~ room but has the affliction of being horribly messy. This definitely translates into my makeup storage situation and before I had a good clearout, my big leopard print makeup bag was full to the brim of disused eyeliner pencils, broken blushers and all kinds of makeup horrors. But you know, New Year New Me and all that nonsense, so I decided enough was enough. No longer will my makeup bag resemble Jordan’s face after a night out. No longer will I have to rummage through a load of wubbish to find something half decent. Also, my fella bought me some Muji drawers for Christmas, so I had no excuse.

I’m still in the process of getting my storage how I want it – but I thought I’d share with you how I’m getting on and also put together some makeup storage ideas for those who want to get a bit more organised.

As you might be able to see, I still haven’t quite come to terms with giving up my half pint Stella glass to store my makeup brushes (they just fit in there so well! And it makes me look like a gal who likes a good time). But other than that, my makeup looks so much neater and easier to get to. I even find that I’m not leaving things around in strange places anymore – because everything has a place and that’s where they live. All in all, my life has been 100% improved by better makeup storage and I can’t wait to get something to store my nail varnishes in, larger makeup products and generally get everything in its own little space. HUZZAH.

So, that’s my current makeup storage but what am I lusting after like a pervert from afar?

I personally will probably stick with clear makeup storage when I expand my collection and I’d really like both of the Muji drawers – one to put larger items in like foundation and the other to store nail varnish. However, the Ikea storage is fab too, especially as it has space to put brushes. I also love the wall hanging storage from Etsy, which would look absolutely amazing in my bedroom. Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to drill too many holes into our walls as we’re renting, so I’m not sure that this would really be an option. However, look how beautiful it is! I’ve always thought sewing boxes would be perfect to put makeup in because of all the compartments for erm…thread and thimbles and so on. This one from Hobbycraft is really sweet and would look fab in a vintage style bedroom. For all Chanel fans (i.e. every girl ever), these makeup storage boxes are stunning. They’re on Etsy and apparently were some limited edition boxes that Chanel sold at some point. Another storage set for vintage fans, these tins from Hobbycraft look really useful and are soooooper cute too.

So chums…what do you think? If you have any makeup storage blog posts, please leave them in the comments – I’d love to have a nosey at how you’re storing your makeup!

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireJanuary 3, 2014

3 Rules for the Early Stages of Dating

Today I step away from our usual fashion and beauty ramblings and come bearing you a gift: the gift of my dating wisdom.

Okay, I will understand if you don’t want to take dating advice from someone who is a long-term member of the singleton club and always gets dumped once actually in a relationship… BUT whilst I may be quite clearly terrible at relationships, I consider myself to know a thing or two about the dating game, – specifically that early stage of dating after you first meet, where you’re still texting and trying to suss each other out.

Based on my years of sad experience after sad experience, I have compiled this list of Dos and Don’ts to help us all tread through the waters of the dating ocean without accidentally thrusting our foot into the jaws of a piranha.

Still with me? Hurrah. Let’s begin…

Rule Number 1: Do Think Through Your Texting Tactics

When you’re in the early stages of getting to know someone, most of your communication is probably done via text. By now, we all know about the basics of dating texting etiquette, whether you like to admit you indulge in these childish games or not. For example, if they leave it an hour before texting back, you leave it an hour and a half before texting back. Secondly, you want to come across as a sociable person so you exaggerate your daily activities slightly. You “just went out for a few drinks after work” when actually you popped to the Tesco Extra to get a bottle of Fanta, and you’ve just had “a chilled night with a couple of mates and a takeaway” when actually that chilled night was spent completely by yourself, eating Curly Fries and watching Here Comes Honey Boo Boo marathons.

A general rule is that if you don’t have anything interesting to text then probably just don’t bother. I was once texting a boy who seemed to have good potential, only for him to ruin it one night by texting me “Are you watching Corrie?” What? No I’m not watching Corrie, and if I was watching Corrie then we are not at that point in a relationship where we’re going to make conversation about watching Corrie. I don’t know, maybe it was a really interesting episode of Corrie that night, but it was a texting faux pas that automatically put me off said soap fan.

Rule Number 2: Do Recognise When It’s Not Going Well

This can apply to texting, but mainly this is a rule for the date itself. First dates can be painful, but nothing is more painful than one party being obviously not interested while the other one thinks that this is the beginning of a beautiful thing.

I once agreed to go on a date with a boy who, in the texting build up, I thought I really liked. Once we got out on the date though, I swiftly realized that this wasn’t for me. I don’t know why, maybe it was because he had a pair of those pretend glasses on, which automatically signaled to me that he was a douchebag. Anyway, I suffered through a few drinks in the pub we went to and with each drink my mood was quite visibly drooping.

At one point he popped out for a fag (which I refused to join him on because “I don’t want to” – I really was being a bit of a bitch) and the barman came over to me to ask if we were on a first date, because all the staff thought it was really obviously awkward and I wasn’t having a good time. I debated asking the barman if he would like to join me on the date instead, but decided in the interest of civil politeness I would wait for my date to return from the smoking area so we could leave.

Upon his return though, he suggested us going onto a second bar. What? How could he not tell that this was going awfully? I tried to make my excuses – “Oh, well I’ve actually got to go and get my train, the last one’s at half 10 so…” but then he just said he would pay for my taxi home. I didn’t quite have it in me to say “NO you twerp, I’m leaving” (unfortunately I’m not that much of a bitch) so I ended up being trapped on the date for another 3 hours and 2 more bars.

You know how on The Undateables, they always have to take a chaperone with them? I basically wish all dates could be like that, and when their fake glasses annoyed you, you could quickly signal to your chaperone who would come over to help you put your coat on and explain to your date that you would now be leaving.

My advice here is: learn to recognise the signals that the person no longer wants to be there. Particularly if they say OUT LOUD that they want to go. Let them.

Rule Number 3: Don’t Be Too Keen

And so I save the most important for last. There is nothing more unattractive than somebody who comes on too strong and makes it too clear that they like you loads, like mega loads.

Case in point: I recently agreed to a date. This man was ex-army and now a personal trainer at my gym, so you would think he’d be the strong silent type. Wrong. After just a day or two of the initial texting game, he started talking about how much he was looking forward to our date. Okay, nothing wrong with a bit of interest. But then a couple of days before the date, he text a phrase that will forever haunt my dating memories:

“Yeah, I’ve had a bit of a shit day. But it’s okay because it’s only two more sleeps til I get to see you.”

TWO MORE SLEEPS. What am I, Christmas?! I was at this point violently sick into my own lap at this awful show of keeno. Looking back, this should have been enough to make me delete his number and change gyms there and then; but I decided to swallow down my vomit reservations and still go on the date. Mistake. Following said date – which was lacklustre at best – he proceeded to text me incessantly telling me how much he liked me, asking for feedback on the date (yes, really) and seeking constant reassurance that I wanted to go on a second date with him. Did I? Let’s put it this way: I am now at a new gym.

Now, I’m not saying that we don’t all fall prey to the keen gene now and then. A couple of years ago I was seeing a lad who I was borderline obsessed with, and I liked him so much that one night I ended up drunk outside his house wrapped in a bit of old carpet – but that’s a story for another day (i.e. 17^th of Neverember). But why was I so unbelievably keen with that boy? Because he was so unbelievably not keen on me. Ah, the old adage is true: treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em wrapped in the carpet.

Basically, no matter how much you like someone and think they’re The One in a Mark Corrigan-esque manner, you have to keep your feelings to yourself.

These are my dating rules – what are yours?

|| Don’t forget that you can follow us on Instagram, Bloglovin’ and Twitter! ||

ClaireDecember 23, 2013

Top 15 Fashion & Beauty Blogs of 2013

Hola chicas! We hope you’re all in the festive spirit and already three stone heavier from excessive mince pie consumption. As we get towards the end of the year we’re feeling all nostalgic and looking back at our first year as part of the blogging community. Here is our list of our ultimate favourite fashion and beauty bloggers that we’ve discovered in the year 2013…

Stone’s Got Style

The beaut Vickie Stone from Stone’s Got Style began blogging around the same time as us this year, and we instantly fell in blogger lurve with her quirky style and frankly quite bonkers personality.

Lydia Faye Jones

Lauren and I both have what can only be described as an embarrassingly large girl crush on Lydia Faye Jones. Always groomed and effortlessly chic , she’s basically everything we wish we could be but aren’t because we can never be bothered to brush our hair enough. Lydia has a wardrobe so stocked with Topshop and Zara that it will make you weep with jealousy.

JessicaWabbit

Jess is not only one of our favourite fashion bloggers, she’s also one of the nicest people to speak to on Twitter and a genuinely lovely girl. If you read us regularly then you also might have already seen the brilliant guest post that Jess wrote for us a while back. The way she puts outfits together is amazing, and she can wear any look perfectly.

i2 Style

Holly is much much more than just an (incredibly) pretty face; she also has heaps of industry knowledge and experience, and a gorgeous styling portfolio. Her blog’s full of beaut outfits, photos and inspiring wishlists. We were lucky enough to meet her at a recent event and can confirm that she’s just as lovely in person as she seems online!

It’s All the Rage These Days

Another complete girl crush of mine, Leanne Lim Walker can singlehandedly be blamed for my obsession with trying to dye my hair white. She’s utterly stunning and also a brilliant fashion photographer in her own right. I spend far too long ~~perving~~ reading her blog, It’s All the Rage These Days, and am also borderline obsessed with her Youtube channel.

A Fashion Fix

There aren’t many girls that can pull off that pink PVC Topshop skirt, but Hannah Crosskey is one of the few that does – and she looks freakin’ amazing. Her outfits are aways perfect, managing to combine edginess with a classic groomed finish.

Glam Beautys

Liza was one of the first bloggers that we started speaking to, and she remains a firm favourite of ours. There’s nothing about the world of fake tan and contouring that this girl does not know, and her tutorials are all amazingly helpful. Her blog’s going from strength to strength at the moment, and it’s brilliant to see such a genuinely nice person doing so well.

Tease Flutter Pout

Laura from Tease Flutter Pout is another of our go-to bloggers when we need some honest and informative beauty and makeup reviews. Her lifestyle posts are also a personal favourite of mine, bringing into the spotlights issues such as the media’s influence on self-esteem.

Clo’s Beauty Spot

Clo’s Beauty Spot is without doubt one of my favourite blogs to read, but I love her YouTube channel even more. When Lauren and I first discovered her videos, we sat watching them in separate rooms and could hear each other guffawing away like lunatics through the wall. As well as being straight up hilarious, her outfits are also beaut and her reviews are honest and thorough. All round winner.

Crystal Cosmic Chic

For bold fashion and an extensive vocabulary that would put Russell Brand to shame, you should definitely visit Crystal Cosmic Chic. As a Visual Merchandiser, Nokhuthula’s got a brilliant eye for fashion and her outfit photos are always worth a look. We bumped into her at The Clothes Show and she’s one of the loveliest – and possibly tiniest – people we’ve met recently.

Holly Mixtures

Who can resist a girl who documents the adventures of her runaway Angelina-inspired leg? Nobody, that’s who. Holly’s blog makes me literally cry with laughter, but she also knows what she’s talking about and looks fantastic too.

Amy Valentine

With bright pink hair and the best legs in the blogging land, Amy Valentine is another girl crush creeping her way into this list. This girl looks absolutely flawless in everything she wears, and her writing’s warm and witty.

Byootee

Harriet’s a trained MUA and beauty therapist, so I really trust all of her tutorials and reviews. If good makeup is really the secret to her stunning looks then I’m willing to give up food for the next year to fund a makeup collection filled with MAC.

The Love Cats Inc

If I had a pound for every time I leave a comment on Helen’s blog praising her amazing fringe, then I’d probably have enough money to hire someone to come and tame my own fringe every day (and thus I could stop pestering Helen and give the girl a break). As well as having top notch bangs, she also has a perfect sense of style, always looking effortlessly on-trend and perf.

In the Frow

Did any of your uni lecturers look like this? No, ours neither – but Victoria from In the Frow has a PhD and lectures in fashion. She’s also stunning and comes across as lovely and down-to-earth on her YouTube channel. Her blog has bounded along at amazing pace since launching just over a year ago, and it’s very well deserved as each post is perfect fashion inspiration (fashpo? Can I pretend that’s a thing? Well I’m GONNA).

What do you all think of our Top 15 picks? Have we chosen any of your favourites, or are there some bloggers you think are missing from our list? Let us know in the comments below!

ClaireDecember 5, 2013

A Week In Instagram #4

A while ago we started our brilliant new feature ‘A Week in Instagram’, designed to give all who care (i.e. nobody, not even my mum) a glimpse into our lives away from the crazy world of blogging. We began this feature back in October and then, er, forgot. For quite a while. What can we say, it’s been a long week…

1. How bloody adorable are these three rings from good ole’ Primark?! t only cost about £4 for the pack of 3 if I recal. Now they just need to bring out some even gaudier gold ones and I’ll be happy as that Larry fella.

2. How bloody adorable is my hair first thing in the morning?! Answer: not very. Extension problems.

3. Sometimes we disappear round the back of the ~~bike sheds~~ office building to ~~snog~~ take OOTD pics. Here is a lairy outtake from that yobbo Lauren.

4. Never one to stick with the same look for long, Lauren recently dyed her hair black. What do we all think y’all?

5. We finally, FINALLY decided to bite the bullet and spend our cash on something useful as opposed to endless lip glosses and Curly Wurlys. We formally introduce you to our beautiful new camera, which will hopefully make our dreams of having decent photography on the blog a dream come true. For those interested, it is the Nikon l820 Bridge Camera and we bought it from Argos where it’s currently almost half price. Also, it’s purple!

6. Little LOTD (Leg Of The Day) from work last week. Leather look leggings from River Island and my much loved (read: ancient and smelly) studded pumps from Primark.

7. We received this amazing present last week from GingerFox.co.uk. We think this ‘Vanitea’ mug (you know we love wordplay like this, be still my beating heart) is the perfect Christmas gift for any beauty-loving girls in your life. Firstly, the mug is mirrored so that you can check out how smokin’ hot you look while sipping your tea, plus it comes with a little lipstick pen! Ginger Fox specialise in novelty gifts likes retro games, mugs, gadgets, keyrings and a whole host of moustache-themed bits and bobs, so definitely check them out if you’re stuck for ideas this festive season.

8. Last Friday we had our work’s Christmas party at a restaurant followed by a comedy club in Birmingham. Sounds quite sophisticated, yes? So of course we had to destroy this image by drinking gin on the train over there. Well, Lauren had gin… I had a blue WKD. Stay classy, San Diego.

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ClaireNovember 28, 2013

Currently Watching: eBay Wishlist #3

In the words of Simply Red, ‘if you don’t know that I love eBay by now, you will never never never know me’ (pretty sure that’s how it goes anyway). As always, I’ve been keeping my beady eyes on lots of products, and here are my ultimate favourite things on my watching list at the moment:

1. Tiger Print Vest (£6.38) – tiger prints were popping up all over the show a couple of months ago, with H&M in particular embracing everyone’s favourite striped animal (obviously zebras are a close second). I love the tiger head emblazoned on the disc on this cami, and at less than £7 including postage, the fact that it’s not season appropriate bothers me as much as something that bothers me very little.

2. Finger Tip Rings (£2.58 for 5) – has anyone seen the film Interview with the Vampire where Tom Cruise uses a nifty thumb ring to slice open the veins of his victims? I know that scene wouldn’t usually scream ‘fashionista’ but these finger tip rings really remind me of that, in a good way. I would of course use my rings for good though, not evil.

3. ‘Laundry’ Sign (£5.95) – as you may know, Lauren and I recently moved into a new bachelorette pad. I think this would be great in the kitchen above our washing machine. Not only will it look stylish and chic, but there’s always a chance that we can lure some eligible men in and they’ll be forced to drop their pants (NO UNCLE ROGER, NOT YOU)

4. 3CE Lipsticks (£4.40 each) – a while ago I reviewed some 3CE lip pigments that were, in a word, dope. They seem to be a really good brand that have a strong focus on pigmentation and colour, so I’m intrigued by their range of lipsticks. 108 in particular looks right up my nude-lip-lovin’ street.

5. Decorative Birdcage (18.50) – another decor piece I’m lusting after for the new abode, this birdcage would look amazing with some candles or flowery bits in. Or maybe our golden skull Yorick that currently sits on top of our fireplace – no? Too weird?

What do you all think of these pieces? Anything that you’re loving on eBay at the moment?

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ClaireNovember 21, 2013

My November Homeware Wishlist

HI CHUMS.

In the interest of being as diverse and vaguely interesting here on the old blog, Claire and I have been delving into new territory and writing ~~about things we know nothing about~~ interiors and homeware. This was mostly inspired by our beautiful new house, which now may or may not be be slightly covered in my moulting brown hair and miscellaneous socks. We’ve done a couple of posts giving you perverts a tour of our bedrooms (read Claire’s bedroom post and mine here) and now I’m lurking about creating wishlists and spending my money on ridiculous things (because buying a personalised doormat with a Step Brothers quote was normal behaviour).

Bird Frame from Vintage Forever on Facebook. Black ornate frames from ThePaintedLady on Etsy. Gold Frames from Huckleberry Vintage on Etsy. Owl Frame from Vintage Forever on Facebook.

I may have gone a little frame mad and wish everything in my life could be framed, but gone are the days that I collage merry pics of my and my pals next to my Eminem poster. I want to do some wall collages with picture frames in the very near future, and I’m thinking a mixture of these cute animal pictures with framed snaps of me and my pals will go down veeeery nicely. We also need some frames to go on the walls of our staircase, so I will be suggesting these black ones to my house pals for sure. And they will say “those are far too big, are you mad” but I won’t care.

Chalkboard hearts from Etsy. Tableware from British Home Stores. Carbs sign from Etsy.

Our kitchen is teeny tiny and there is about enough space to play a game of miniature golf. And by miniature I mean ant size. Nevertheless, we have a cute monochrome look going on at the moment (complete with canvasses of a cat and dog wearing hats). We need some matching tableware but unfortunately, most monochrome plates etc are horribly boring and involve polkadots. These are the best I’ve seen, I really love them but I’m not sure if my home gals will!

Coatstand from Ikea. Bathe sign from Ebay. Birdcage from Ebay.

We have a little bit of spare room in our hallway and a hatstand is the obvious answer…apart from the fact we don’t own many hats. Which means we have to buy hats to put on it, no biggie. Our bathroom also has a little shelf to put things on. We currently have a couple of candles but want a gay bath sign to jazz it up. Lame? Maybe, but who the hell cares? FINALLY, We have a big gaping hole in our fireplace and are looking for something cute to cover it up, Claire suggested a birdcage and it would look hugely cute fo sho. FO SHO I TELL YOU.

What do you all think of my homeware wish list? Any suggestions??

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