ClaireJuly 24, 2013

Short Girl Problems: The Best Petite Clothing

They say that good things come in small packages – but what if the package wrapping just doesn’t fit?

Lauren and I are both self-confessed hobbits. I always liked to ambitiously declare myself as 5’3, though a cruel machine at the gym recently broke the news to me that I am in fact 5’1.8 (the .8 makes all the difference). Lauren comes in even smaller than me – some rumours suggest she is as little as 3 feet tall, and just wears special shoes like Tom Cruise.

Here is a recent photo of us.

We both quite like being short – you never really have to worry about finding a boy who’s taller than you, you’re brilliant at hide and seek because you can easily fit into most cupboards, and you can often get away with paying child fare on the bus.

One thing which is a proper snore about being short, though, is the clothing issue. Trousers drag along the floor. Midis cut us at awkward angles. We trip over our maxi skirts (Lauren face-planted in the middle of Birmingham City Centre just a few weeks ago due to this. Of course I didn’t laugh when she told me. Not one bit). Yes, these problems could all be fixed by altering our clothes but, frankly, the furthest I ever got in textiles lessons in school was making a puppet that was supposed to be a rabbit but more closely resembled something you might pull out of the hoover when you have a blockage. The domesticated life is not the one for me.

Another option is sizing down in ‘normal’ ranges. I have quite a few size 6 dresses in my wardrobe which, if you saw my hips, you would know is NOT my true size. But going a size smaller means you have less material, so it can be spread across your body better (sorry, I couldn’t find any better way of saying that). This is a good tactic with bodycon stuff, dresses in particular – I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for a pair of jeans, as fitting a size 10 bum into size 6 jeans will just result in an arse split that will be difficult to hide as you hand it back to the shop assistant.

My TIP TOP TIP though, is to find out where do good petite ranges. Things just look so much better when they are made for someone of your height – they keep you in much better proportion, plus you have less bruising from falling over all the time. So, here’s my list of the top 3 places to head to for petite clothes.

Topshop Petite
Topshop are hands-down one of my favourite shops that cater to my little-legged needs. They always have a decent sized range and often do petite versions of the season’s best-sellers, so we don’t have to miss out just because of the poor genetics passed onto us from our parents.

ASOS Petite
ASOS’ petite range is another personal favourite of mine, particularly for maxi skirts and dresses. Whereas Topshop only stock sizes 4-14, ASOS go up to a 16 so the majority of us tiny tots (did I really just say that? Yep, moving on) can find something to wear. What I also like about ASOS is that they do a lot of pieces exclusive to the Petite range. This makes me feel like I am in some sort of special club and can sashay around in amazing dresses that would leave taller girls flashing their foofs.

New Looks – 915 Range
Okay, DO NOT LAUGH. But buying kids’ clothes really is a superb idea if you’re petite. Have you seen how tall these 14 year olds are?! I have a slight problem with New Look’s 915 range because as I browse the crop tops and mini dresses, I can’t help but wonder where on earth 9 YEAR OLDS are going dressed like that. But that is a problem for parents and not for us short shoppers – so just enjoy the cheaper prices and worry about the nation’s children at a later date.

Are any of you petite? What are your tactics for dressing for your height?

ClaireJuly 23, 2013

Skincare Tag: What Is My Daily Routine?

The lovely Liza at Glambeautys tagged us in a skincare post that’s going around that the moment. If you haven’t already, check out her blog – it’s one of our favourites and her ‘how to contour’ post is top notch. Fifi from FifiMcGee also tagged us in this skincare tag, so I thought we’d better hop to it and get one done.

I decided to do this tag because, like any brilliant team, Claire and I both have different interests in the fashion/beauty blogging world. I’d definitely say Claire is the fashion expert and her outfit of the day’s are genuinely fantastic (it doesn’t help that she is a teeny tiny person and looks fabulous in everything). On the other hand, I’m more of a beauty fan and I get excited about things like moisturiser, skincare and makeup. We dabble in both, but as I have a bit more of a skincare routine, I though I’d take the lead on this bad boy.

So…what IS my skincare routine?

1. Describe your skincare routine in five words:

Fresh, Moisturising, Experimental, Thorough and Regular (snore snore and snore. There’s nothing fun about routines!)

2. What is your skin type?

THE WORST KIND – oily and prone to breakouts. It’s very upsetting and the skin type nobody really wants but I do my best to keep things in check. When I do breakout, the spots I get are horrible. Darn you skin, darn you. If I could I would carve off my skin and transplant it with someone else’s but I’ve heard that most people would think that would be a terrible idea. And also vaguely strange. And possibly death inducing.

3. What is your favourite skincare product?

At the moment, my favourite skin care product is my Nivea Soft moisturiser. I initially bought it to use as hand cream but it can be used on the face too. It smells lovely and isn’t too heavy. Perfect as a day moisturiser and base for makeup. I love the Nivea brand so much right now that I want to marry it and have lots of really moisturised babies (ew, gross).

4. Top blemish zapper?

Sudocrem is always brilliant, but I like using witch hazel and tea tree oil if my spots are particularly bad. Which they always are.

5. Face wipes….yay or nay?

I’m not using them at the moment and they aren’t great for your skin, but they are useful when you haven’t got time/can’t be bothered/too drunk to do a proper makeup removal.

6. Toner….yay or nay.

I love toner – it helps to remove any cleanser left on my skin and it also REALLY wakes me up in the morning! At the moment, I’m using one by Clarins because I’m really fancy. So fancy that I plan to invest in a yacht and sail around the world with Jay Z.

7. High end skincare or high end make up?

I would rather buy high end skincare because I think that you can really notice the difference in quality, which is something that isn’t always true with makeup. In an ideal world, I would have both but a gal’s gotta compromise!

8. You’re in a French pharmacy and can only buy one item, what would it be?

I’ve heard LOTS of good things about Bioderma, which is a brand I’ve not yet been able to try. I’d love to try some of their products aimed at oily skin – particularly the Sebium H20 cleanser to sort out my greasy head.

9. Top skincare tip.

Always remove makeup and stick to a routine. My skin has got a lot better when I regularly cleanse, tone and moisturise. Everything looks better when your skin is looking good too and makeup is definitely enhanced when you don’t have to faff around covering up spots. Also, you can feel smug that you have a skincare routine and look at the lesser people who don’t in horror while saying ‘Oh darling, you simply must moisturise. THINK OF THE WRINKLES.’

Well there you have it gals, that is my skincare wisdom shared and hopefully appreciated. As this is a very picture-free post, I thought I would treat you all to a picture of my face to finish it all off in style (I hope you can all hear the sarcasm in this, I don’t think that my face is a treat. Except for my millions of male suitors, of course).

We would also like to tag these lovely ladies, if you haven’t already done the skincare tag before 🙂

– Becky at BeckysMakeup

– Ambi at Bombay Rose

– Lauren at Living In A Boxx

– Sophie at That’s What Sophie Said

– Tori at Tori’s Tales

– Georgia at Fashion Oyster

– Imogen at Imogen Massey Beauty

ClaireJuly 19, 2013

Rihanna Style: Swooning at the Diamonds Tour.

Claire and I have come to the conclusion that we must have been genuinely the best people in a past life because karma has been very good to us this week. After Claire won some nail wraps in a Twitter giveaway and we were given bottles of Argan oil, we had concluded that it had been a successful week of excitement. THAT WAS UNTIL YESTERDAY AT APPROXIMATELY 15.45. While we were working extremely hard and wondering whether the 10th cup of tea would be the one that would send us over the edge, a phone call came through.

Claire took it and managed to stay very calm saying things like “ah, brilliant. yes. thank you” so I automatically assumed it would be something boring to do with KPI or ROI (or whatever it is these marketing types enjoy nattering on about). Little did I know. It turned out that our boss couldn’t make the Birmingham Rihanna concert last night so kindly donated his tickets to us. Needless to say, we were massively excited and I spent a good 15 minutes shouting “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WORK IN THESE CONDITIONS.” We immediately started panicking about the state of our work faces and that we looked vaguely like idiots, so we had to do what every beauty blogger would do in times of crisis. We legged it to Boots after getting the train and hurriedly applied makeup using our iPhone cameras as mirrors on the way to the NEC.

It turned out the tickets our boss gave us were in the hospitality suite that included dinner before the show. As we were discussing whether or not there would be cocktail sausages and a buffet, we were shown up to the restaurant and presented with two glasses of champagne. There were no cocktail sausages. We were forced to choke down a five course meal (sigh, isn’t life hard) before heading up to the show deck to watch RiRi. Erm. Has anyone actually BEEN in/on a show deck before? Can I just say that a private bar, lounge and swanky leather seats were something I was not expecting…obviously having a healthy mixture of vodka, gin and archers was obligatory.

Rihanna was amazing, brilliant and we have big lesbian crushes on her now. If we had been more prepared for the concert (or gig? is it acceptable to say gig for an event where you don’t get beer in your hair?), we might have treated you all to an OOTD post, but neither of us looked that interesting. SO INSTEAD, we’re going to do Rihanna’s OOTT (outfits of the tour…). She is genuinely the most beautiful woman on the planet and can pull of anything…even things that seem like terrible ideas. Claire has already expressed an interest in purchasing a shiny dress patterned with dollar bills and I’m thinking of investing in a pair of neon chaps.

Act 1:

I believe this little number was designed by Givenchy’s creative director and Rihanna looked AMAZING in it. Homegirl can rock thigh high boots, that’s for sure! Fans of Rihanna might have seen on Twitter that she’s dyed her hair a sort of grey colour. We couldn’t hugely tell the difference, but it looked very shiny and nice anyway.

Act 2:

I think Rihanna might actually be the queen of the varsity/sports luxe trend. I love love love this outfit, even the thigh high white leather boots (which Claire and I thought were trousers for a while, until we saw a flash of bottom). The ‘Sea of Desire’ top was designed by Raf Simmons and she wore a bra and shorts by Wolford. Her EPIC over the knee boots were custom made by Christian Louboutin. Oh, to have custom made Loubs.

Act 3:

Rihanna’s second look was designed by Adam Selman and Manolo Blahnik for her snakeskin boots. I love her little crop top, it is brilliant in a I-drive-a-ferrari-so-I-got-a-crop-top-to-match kind of way.

Act 4:

Oh. My. Goodness. RiRi looked absolutely stunning in this dress/top/skirt combo. Even though me and Claire are not the biggest fans of red, Rihanna has made me reconsider my stance on red clothing. This two piece top and skirt was also designed by Adam Selman and her shoes were Manolos again.

Act 5:

This hologram dollar bill dress is FIERCE. She came out with a matching jacket but I wanted to give y’all a full picture of how brilliant she looked in this. She had matching hologram trainers on, which were designed by Pierre Hardy. Her dress was designed by Adam Selman again. I want one.

Act 5:

Rihanna’s jumpsuit was absolutely beautiful, onstage it was SO shimmery and excellent. It was designed by Lanvin and the heels/belt were Manolo Blahnik again.

These pictures were borrowed from Rihanna Overdose because we only had our iPhones on us and our pictures weren’t great! I thought I’d give you a little collage of our evening as well (lots of photos of our dinner paha!)

What do you think of Rihanna’s style? Have any of you guys been to the Diamonds tour? What did you think about her outfits? I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn’t anything TOO slutty (if by pleasantly surprised I mean horribly disappointed) and my personal fave was her sheer varsity-style top. There were similar tops that apparently were available online but are now totally sold out, which is is definitely not surprising.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and RiRi is definitely our new gymspiration (I say that while I munch on a bag of cheese and onion crisps…).

ClaireJuly 12, 2013

What’s In My Bag: The Honest Edition

One of the most popular posts amongst fashion and beauty bloggers is ‘What’s In My Bag’, where fabulous bloggers show off their beautiful handbags and the delightful objects that they carry around in them. View Full Post

ClaireJuly 6, 2013

Why Breakups Are Actually Brilliant

We all know that breakups are one of the least fun things that you go through in your life. Whether you’re the dumper or the dumpee, suddenly having a boyfriend-shaped hole in your life is a pretty intense thing and you have to indulge in a bit of wallowing. View Full Post

ClaireJuly 5, 2013

Nailspiration: Nail Ideas for a Sunny Day

The sun is shining, I’ve just got back from a picnic lunch by the river Avon and life is just genuinely idyllic (apart from the fact I have to continue working this afternoon, snore). While I was walking home from the gym yesterday, I had SO many ideas for blog posts that I walked straight past my house and ended up in the park because I am a lunatic. I’ve been trying to curb my excitement and not pester you all too much BUT I SIMPLY CANNOT CONTAIN IT ANY LONGER. So this is my post on nail ideas and the nails Claire and I have been wearing recently.

A little background information first. Both Claire and I wear false nails. For me, my natural nails are massively thin and no amount of products/nail care has changed this heartbreaking fact. Even when they do grow nicely, they snap off when they reach a certain length, which saddens me every day as you can imagine. I love having long nails and I have been getting acrylic nails done on and off since I was about 16. I also dabbled in doing my own acrylic nails for a while (which worked fairly well but the effort was too much) and now have settled on glue on nails. These are genuinely amazing and I recommend them to any gal who’s looking for length without the price. I’ve taken a little snap of my box at the moment – it’s nearing the end and is looking a bit tired. BUT, when it is shiny and new you can get 200 nails + nail glue for A BARGAIN PRICE OF £8.50. These nails last me about two months, with me applying the nails every week or so.

I’m actually doing my nails at work today (naughty…for important blogging purposes, of course.) because I didn’t get a chance to last night so I thought I’d post a bit of a step-by-step guide to how I do them. It’s not really rocket science – I’m the clumsiest and least coordinated person EVER – so if I can do it, you definitely can too! If you’re keen to buy the Boots nails, you can find them here. Nailene also do a box of 200, but we haven’t seen them in-store for a while.

Excuse the copious amounts of nail caviar at the bottom of the box – this was last week’s nail venture when I used my nail box as a kind of bowl. Another great reason to buy the Boots false nails, the box is multipurpose ;).

The instructions recommend that you file the nail to give the glue a better surface to stick to. I tend to skip this step as I find it doesn’t make a massive difference. There’s no need to damage your nails even more

I then pick out the nail sizes I want – at the moment I’ve run out of my ‘ideal’ sizes so they’re a little big for my nails. I think they still look vaguely ok though!

Then it’s gluey time – no special tips or tricks for this! I just whack them on and hope I don’t glue my hands together…

The exciting bit – painting! Claire and I have both found that nail varnish dries extra quickly on these false nails so that is a definite plus in my book! I usually do two coats of whatever nail varnish I’m using to be sure I get the best coverage. Today I’m going for a bit of pastel action – pink and green! I wanted to do a multi-coloured pastel situation with my Bananan Split Model’s Own colour and a baby blue Barry M nail varnish but I couldn’t for the life of me find them this morning. These two Barry M colours were downstairs, so I grabbed them (clearly thought a lot about my colour choice, eh!) and thought I’d give them a whirl. I went for a pastel green with a pink accent on my fourth fingers (achieved with a spot of sellotape).

And here are a collection of claw pictures that may inspire you if you’re feeling a bit ‘meh’ about nail polish choices at the moment! I’ve tried to remember where all of the nail varnish products are from, but as I’ve robbed these from both me and Claire’s instagrams, I may not have found them all! It’s not groundbreaking nail art…but sometimes you just need reminding why painting your nails is fabulous.

| Elf Desert Haze | Model’s Own Banana Split | Barry M Confetti Bubblegum |

| Barry M Peach Melba | Barry M Foil Effects Gold |Barry M Textured Nails Atlantic Road |

WELL…I didn’t realise Claire and I were such Barry M ambassadors…

ClaireJuly 3, 2013

Liebster Award!

WELL HI THERE.

As you all will know, we are a little baby blog in the big scheme of things and have been genuinely overwhelmed by the response to us, our blog and our twitter since starting out a couple of months ago (you’re all great). We’ve had some wonderful twitter chats, spent many hours perusing your blogs and generally getting involved in this delightful thing we call the blogging community. A week or two ago, the lovely Lorilee (from Lorilee’s London) nominated us for a Liebster Award – which is a fantastic way of discovering new bloggers and finding out more about the gals behind the blogs.

What in God’s green earth are the rules?

– Each nominee should answer the 11 questions by the tagger.
– Choose 11 bloggers with under 200 followers to pass the award to and link them in your post.
– Create 11 new questions for the chosen bloggers.
– Go to their page and tell them about their nomination.
– No tag backs!

So now you know (and don’t you feel enriched!). We went by Bloglovin’ followers (follow us here, hint hint, nudge nudge) for the 11 bloggers we chose and here are our answers to Lorilee’s questions!

1. If you had to choose between dream job far away or a rubbish job and close to your family what would it be?

C: I think in today’s modern world with Skype and Facetime, you don’t really need to see your family all that much. In fact, sometimes it’s nice not to have go round a relative’s house and pretend to enjoy their god-awful cooking and constant boring questions about your job and relationship status. Therefore, I would definitely choose the dream job far away – I’m sure my mum would be satisfied with a postcard now and then.

L: Definitely dream job far away – I’m originally from South Africa so I’m used to moving around and while I’d miss the fam, you can’t pass up an opportunity!

2. Shoes or clothes?

C: As much as I think that shoes are vitally important – and yes I do judge boys immediately based on what shoes they’re wearing (sandals? Get out) – my love for clothes has to win here.

L: Clothes, I resent buying shoes and feel like they are a human right that should be provided by the government (heels, on the other hand, I am quite happy to buy…hmm).

3. Reading blogs or watching YouTube?

C: I can spend hours of my day watching YouTube videos (and even more hours trying to replicate the things that I’ve seen in tutorials), but reading blogs is definitely one of my favourite things to do over a brew!

L: Definitely reading blogs! As an English graduate, I do prefer reading to watching stuff because I am a massive geeky SNORE. Also, my YouTube watching usually descends into cat videos and pandas going down slides. Saying that, I do use vlogs for hair tutorials and other things I fail miserably at (note – never attempt to give yourself a full fringe after watching a youtube video).

4. If you could live in any country where would it be?

C: Is it terribly boring for me to say England? Other countries are exciting and that, and when I was in Brussels last year I did think that I would like to spend a year or two living somewhere European and cultural, where I could maybe ride a bicycle with a baguette in the basket and become quirky and adorable. Then I remembered that I can’t ride a bike and I’m no-carbing. I do just really like England; I like the humour and the cities and the fact there’s a Greggs on every high street (what was that about no-carbing?)

L: I’m going to be massively boring and say England. I moved here about 10 years ago, so it is all still new and exciting for me. Castles are pretty much my favourite thing ever and I like a place where people say ‘thank you’ to bus drivers. And where the weather is acceptable small talk (anyone else turn into the weather man when meeting someone new? “OH DON’T WORRY, IT’S MEANT TO BE NICE ON FRIDAY”)

5. Favourite colour?

C: I absolutely LOVE the colour white. My phone, laptop, hair straighteners, iPod docking station, bed and all bedroom furniture are white. I also really like wearing white, though I tend not to risk it too much as I’m the messiest person ever.

L: Probably cream or nude because I’m a pervert.

6. What is your favourite topic to blog about?

C: I like doing haul posts because I get so excited by new things I buy and, frankly, nobody ever wants to hear me waffling on about them in real life. But I also love getting stuck into the longer, more ‘feature’ style posts that we’ve occasionally done, where we get to unleash our creativity (or lack of).

L: I personally love a bit of a beauty review – makeup is something that makes me infinitely happy! I also enjoy writing our funny little features that amuse me and probably no one else.

7. Nail polish or moisturiser?

C: I’m sure my skin would look ten times better if I did, but I actually don’t have all that much of a regular moistursing routine. Unless I’m feeling particularly dry, I often tend to forget about it to be honest – whereas not having my nails done makes me feel like a boy.

L: I SIMPLY CAN’T CHOOSE. My skin is scaly and tragic, so moisturiser is a huge must for me. But then not having nail varnish on makes me want to crawl into a dark hole and remain there for eternity

8. What is your favourite season?

C: Although I am one of those rubbish people who often complain about it being TOO hot and accidentally spend the most glorious days of year sitting inside watching DVDs, summer definitely is still my favourite season. When I bother going out, then nothing beats sitting in a pub garden or having a barbecue.

L: There is a time of year that Claire and I fondly refer to as ‘cardigan weather’. It usually happens around spring and autumn, when it isn’t too hot but it’s sunny and lovely – e.g. perfect weather for a cardigan. I will ceaselessly love this sort of weather; I hate being hot and bothered (clearly an African girl…).

9. Blog everyday or tweet everyday?

C: We’re absolute pests, so we do both.

L: We try to do both! Sometimes we go overboard and blog a few times a day – IT’S JUST TOO MUCH FUN. We are terribly sorry for pestering you all so much…

10. Handbag or rucksack?

C: I’m a weakling, so I have genuinely struggled whenever I’ve had to carry a rucksack in my life. A medium-sized handbag is definitely more my thing.

L: Oh, definitely a handbag. Rucksacks are terribly confusing and cause me quite a lot of worry. ARE THEY SAFE?! What about pickpockets? What about wayward zips? Shoulder rubbing?

11. Films or television?

C: I love watching films, but I’m also a commitment phobe and sometimes I think ‘ooh I dunno, can I really commit two hours of my life to what could potentially be a rubbish film?’ Whereas I couldn’t actually estimate how many hours of my life I have spent re-watching every episode of Peep Show and Green Wing. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward to ANYTHING as much as I looked forward to my weekly episodes of Game of Thrones (though that is probably a really sad fact to admit).

L: Well, Claire and I are poor and pathetic at the moment and don’t actually have a TV. We’ve been doing our best to keep up with shows but at the moment we basically live in the third world. Films are great but I feel like it’s not always possible to commit to a full 2 hours, so I’m going to go with TV on this one!

And we are nominating these lovely bloggers:

1. Emily at Emuleh Parker

2. ChiChi at Project Chi Chi

3. Sarah at Sarah Speaks

4. Jem at The Name of Beauty

5. Vickie at StonesGotStyle

6. Linda at Love for Beauty

7. Sophy at Lashes and Splashes

8. Shuvii at Fashion & Cupcakes

9. Lisa at Little Miss Lines

10. Emma at Fab Head To Toe

11. Jessica at Jessica Emilee

Our Liebster questions for you:

1. Would you rather have lipstick on your teeth or your skirt tucked into your pants – and WHY?

2. Where is your favourite place to blog?

3. Would you rather have a shaved head or have to dress like Dobby the house elf for 6 months?

4. If you had £5000, what would you buy?

5. What is your favourite bargain product?

6. If you had to dye your hair an unnatural colour, what would it be and why?

7. What’s worse – war or corduroy trousers?

8. Do you ever worry you have a moustache?

9. What is your preferring snack and/or beverage whilst blogging?

10. Who is the most annoying celebrity in your opinion and why?

11. What do you have for breakfast on a normal day?

WE CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR YOUR ANSWERS! Please let us know if you have answered them so we can have an ogle. Leave us a comment or find us on Twitter @StylingoUK if you want to have a chat.

ClaireJuly 2, 2013

Life Tips from Amanda Bynes.

We all fondly remember the girl in ‘The Amanda Show’ and ‘What I Like About You’ (though I think ‘The Amanda Show’ should have been a bit of an indication that she is in fact somewhat cray. It wasn’t ok.). Thinking back to my childhood years, she actually played quite a big part of my TV watching schedule. Claire and I were discussing this and even her recent films have been quite great, ‘Easy A’ was genuinely brilliant and nothing more needs to be said about ‘She’s The Man’.

Unless you’ve been living under a horrible, dark and lonely rock for the past year or so, you will be aware of our new form of Amanda Bynes entertainment. Amanda Bynes’ twitter account is literally gold dust. If you’re feeling sad? Go on Amanda Bynes’ twitter. The man got you down? Go on Amanda Bynes’ twitter. Hangover depression got you in a spiraling tornado of guilt and sorrow? Go on Amanda Bynes’ twitter. Basically, my answer to everyone’s woes at the moment is to hop on everyone’s favourite microblogging site and scroll back through hours of comedy gold, selflessly provided by Amanda herself.

What I have actually realised is that Amanda is something of a life coach. There is many a day where I find myself annoying Claire with unavoidable life questions. There’s only so many times she can hear ‘DOES THIS BOY LIKE ME’, ‘IS MY FACE TOO ORANGE’ and ‘I JUST WATCHED BLACK MIRROR AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT LIFE MEANS ANYMORE’ in one day. The poor girl would go even madder than she already is. With that in mind, I had to find someone else to counsel me in my times of trouble and that person has turned out to be Amanda Bynes.

Amanda on relationships:

Don’t bother playing hard to get:

At the end of the day, Amanda has shown us that if you like someone, it’s better to let your feelings flow. Going in for the kill and letting them know how you feel is a good way of showing them that you really care.

This is a great example. What is the point in fannying around playing coy and sneaky when you can just tell your intended beau that you love him? Granted, it might scare him off but who wants a boy that gets frightened that easily anyway?

If the man of your dreams rejects you, this isn’t the time to save face. It’s better to let it all out and get those feelings out there. Bottling emotions up inside can lead to a bigger breakdown later along the line, so wear your heart on your sleeve. If it makes you feel better, insult the man you used to love – it can get rid of that pent up aggression.

Know what you want out of a man:

It’s safe to say that most of us are looking to eventually get married and find ‘the one’. It’s a tough dating world out there and these days, it’s becoming more and more difficult to find that perfect person to settle down with. To make the situation easier, Amanda has shown us that you should make a list of what you do/don’t want in a relationship. This really helps to narrow down the pool of potential suitors.

Helpful, right?

It’s worth letting your man know you’re in demand:

It’s a sad fact of life that our relationships are influenced by the people around us. For example: that boy down the road that you thought was a loser actually has millions of women after him. Suddenly he doesn’t seem like such a snore. Suddenly you question your judgement. Is he actually fit? Are his khaki crocs in fact endearing rather than repulsive?

By letting your potential suitors know that you are a man-magnet, you are effectively showing him that you are something worth having. It’s quite difficult to do this subtly, so think about taking Amanda’s approach.

It’s forward but ticks the right boxes – it’s all about showing you’re unavailable. We all want what we can’t have, right?

Amanda on beauty:

Exercise is important:

We all know that exercise is important for our health and this is something that Amanda often champions on her twitter account. She is an avid gym-goer, so it may be worth taking a leaf out of her book if you’re looking to get into shape.

But it’s worth remembering that you can’t expect results straight away.

If you feel like you need a change of exercise routine, why not take up a unique sport or activity?

But don’t worry if people hate on you for it, they’re just jealous.

Physical attractiveness is important:

While personality is important, lets all be honest and admit that physical attractiveness plays a big role in society. There’s a reason why we all dedicate so much time and money on makeup, haircare, the gym and other efforts to improve our appearance. It doesn’t mean we’re shallow, it’s probably just an ingrained mating instinct to create the best children possible (science, isn’t it great). Amanda might take aesthetics a little bit too seriously but she does emphasise the importance of taking care of your physical appearance. If Amanda doesn’t care, then who on this green earth would?!

Amanda on haters:

Lawyers are there for a reason:

Why do lawyers bother going to university for aeons, having boring lives and wear terrible suits all the time? Probably because they earn lots of money from people like Amanda. At the end of the day, they’re there for a reason and if someone is mean to you, the best thing to do is sue them for defamation. No one likes having stories made up about you, especially if they’re not true. The best way to react is badly. We’ll have none of this ‘be the better person’ or ‘the best way to defeat a bully is to ignore them’ nonsense. Get right in there with a lawsuit and show them that you mean business.

For more Amanda Bynes gold dust, follow her on Twitter @AmandaBynes. It’s guaranteed to make your life infinitely better and you might just learn something along the way. I don’t think it would be exaggerating to say that she has changed mine and Claire’s life for the better – there are days when we look at each other and think ‘WWABD’. She dishes out the life tips willy nilly and they simply can’t be ignored.

ClaireJune 19, 2013

The Best Sites to Find A Fashion Bargain.

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.

eBay

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.

Asos Marketplace

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?

ClaireJune 14, 2013

Men’s Fashion: How the Boys Can Wear This Season’s Trends Too

It’s all about having friends in high places, right? Well, me and Lauren don’t have any of those, but we do have our friend James.

I jest, of course; James is a person of huge importance and fashion knowledge. Part-time stud muffin and full-time Visual Merchandiser for the Coventry branch of Outfit, he’s in charge of pulling trends together to create the key looks that you see as you walk around the store. Luckily, I knew him back when he was 15 and would spend his weekends getting drunk in the park, so if I ask him to help me with stuff then he basically has to oblige.

Last night, then, I roped him into talking me through all of the latest trends that they’re currently promoting in store, and in particularly what boys should be wearing this summer. So, if you have a boyf who’s a bit of a Screech Powers and you want a Zack Morris, you can just print this out and give it to him. Useful, right?!

Image

What does a Visual Merchandiser do?

A Visual Merchandiser (VM if you want to be fancyHUH) is an important job in retail. James describes it as ‘dressing mannequins and living the gay dream’, but it requires a little more thought than that. What the customer sees from the moment they enter the store to when they leave is basically the responsibility of the VM. James receives a ‘trend pack’ at the start of each season and then has to pull together key looks from the stock that he’s given, and display these around the store.

James says the key is to make looks that are wearable for the customers. It’s his aim that if you walk into the Topshop section of your local Outfit and see a look on a mannequin that isn’t your style, then the next look you see will be one which definitely is. It’s all about being accessible and not alienating any customers’ styles, but still building imaginative outfits that can inspire consumers.

Key trends this summer

As me and James sat in my living room eating McFluries, he explained to me it’s currently an exciting time for both menswear and womenswear as it’s one of the first seasons where the key trends have been completely wearable for both genders. As he said, “gone are the days of disty floral tea dresses for girls and humour motif tees for the boys”. Now, trends are crossing the sex divide and there’s no reason why both parts of a couple can’t rock the same trend (though please, for the love of god, don’t do it at the same time and look like total planks).

Here are the key looks that James says are strong in store right now:

Varsity

Jacket: H&M
Vest: Topman
Jeans: Topman
Trainers: Nike

Tip: modernise this 1980s, ‘Breakfast Club’-inspired trend with iconic pieces such as skinny jeans

Tie-Dye

Hat: H&M
T-shirt: Urban Outfitters ‘Urban Renewal’ range
Jeans & trainers: as before

Tip: wear with snapbacks, skater shorts and high-tops to give tie-dye a more urban edge than its traditional hippy vibe. Play with different shades – incorporate acid brights to create an exciting look, or tone down with pastel shades.

Pastels

Hat: H&M
Jumper: Asos
Shorts: All Saints (cut-off jeans)
Trainers: as before

Tip: this was seen last year, but has finally come through strongly in male fashion as well as female. Team with bright colours for interesting tonal looks: think watermelon red with mint ice cream.

Prediction: Airtex

Airtex T-Shirt: Aqua by Aqua
Shorts: as before
Trainers: as before

Tip: Airtex is set to become big news in fashion. An extension of the sports luxe trend, you can expect to see Airtex paneling and also full Airtex pieces such as this tee from Aqua by Aqua. Bright, acid colours are going to be key to keeping this look young and fun, as opposed to bringing up memories of PE in school.

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We hope you enjoyed this slightly different post on male fashion! Huge thanks to James, who you can find at @Juh_ames on Twitter. What do you all think about men’s fashion this season?