ClaireFebruary 15, 2014

How to Dress Like… Nina Nesbitt

Oh. My. Gosh. Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, but I’m currently in the throes of an enormous new girl crush. If you’ve listened to any form of radio in the last couple of months then you’ll probably already be familiar with Nina Nesbitt’s current track ‘Selfies’ (note to self: probably not cool enough to say ‘track’, stick with ‘song’ or perhaps ‘record’ in future). Although it had firmly been stuck in my head for weeks and weeks, I actually had no idea what the girl behind the music looked like – and now I do and OH MY GOD, I love her.

Nina Nesbitt, I bow down to your enviable trainer collection, impeccable sense of style, and wondrous, wondrous hair…

Let’s just take a moment to bask in her style glory, shall we?

The fact of the matter is that I will never be able to accessorise my own outfits with her amazing legs (and I’ll cry about this forever more), but here are some things I definitely can pick up if I’m wanting to channel my inner Nina Nesbitt:

Some vintage denim shorts such as these Levis from eBay
A statement bomber jacket like this tartan one from Pretty Little Thing
A classic leather aviator jacket; Missguided do a cute cropped one
A velvet dress such as this Boohoo number
A classic pork pie hat, for which Topshop are the obvious choice this season
Some classic Converse low-tops which can be bought from Office
A vintage looking chunky knit; this Topshop one is perf for the job
Some full length dungarees for slouching around in – these ASOS ones have ripped knees for added slouchy points

What do you all think of Nina Nesbitt’s style? Love it or hate it?

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

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…).

ClaireMay 31, 2013

Fashion and Beauty Tips We Can Take From Game of Thrones.

So, Claire and I have a bit of a confession to make. While we are big believers in Fake Tan Thursdays (gotta get ready for the weekend, y’all) and spend far too much of our lives discussing what lipstick to wear, we are secret geeks. I’m an unashamed Lord of the Rings fanatic and Claire has been known to read some George Martin on the commute home from work. Both of us, much like the rest of the world, also like to sit down with a cup of tea and watch a bit of Game of Thrones. Our Thrones evenings are productively spent with me shutting my eyes during the scary bits (go home, white walkers, you are drunk) and wondering when Jon Snow is going to take his top off.

However, we have also noticed that Thrones is actually very informative about life in general. Where else would you learn not to judge a book by it’s cover (we’re looking at you, Khal Drogo, may you rest in peace) and that being an independent woman who owns dragons is ok? With this in mind, we’ve also realised that Thrones can give us some essential fashion and beauty tips to take away from Westeros and apply to our everyday lives.

Whatever anyone says, maxi dresses will never go out of style:

Maxi dresses are pretty much a wardrobe staple these days. They’re on-trend and delightfully ladylike (because nothing quite says ‘I am a lady’ than flashing your ankle at attractive men and wondering if they will be your boyfriends). However, I feel like the simple maxi dress has not been getting the attention it deserves recently. With the rise of the midi dress/skirt, fashionable women everywhere have been wondering whether the time of the maxi dress has ended and if their summer staple has been replaced.

Thankfully, Fashionable Women, Game of Thrones has reminded us that maxi dresses are freakin’ sweet. Whether it’s Daenerys in her (quite frankly) stunning chiffon numbers or Margery in her saucy cut away dresses, we’re reminded that there is literally nothing better than a casual maxi to make life infinitely better.

Image Source

Putting some effort into your hair makes a world of difference:

Has anyone noticed that pretty much all of the gals at Kings Landing have great hair? No wonder it’s the place everyone wants to be (though I’m not sure that Stannis has the capability for great hair). My general theory is that if you put effort into your hair, the rest will follow. So, take some tips from the girls from Thrones and get some extensions, shine spray and a nice pair of curling irons. Unless you are beyond the Wall. Then you have other things to think about and brushing your hair can take a back seat (don’t worry, Gilly, no judgement).

Image Source

Blonde is not always better:

Claire will probably cut me in my sleep for this, but Game of Thrones has definitely taught us that blonde is not necessarily better and they certainly don’t always have more fun. While Daenerys is pretty much the epitome of perfect and her hair cannot be faulted in any way, the other blonde characters leave something to be desired. Cersei in particular has many faults, namely having intimate relations with her brother and being nasty to pretty much everyone. We don’t even need to start on Joffrey, he is just a twisted young fellow who doesn’t give blondes a good name at all.

Image Source

Ultimately, the hair colour tips we can take from Thrones is that being ginger is great and will get you many a fine young man (or just one. Named Jon). Having brown hair isn’t too bad either, but what we all should be aiming for is silver.

Image Source

Dragons are a great fashion accessory:

Putting the right accessories to an outfit is one of life’s most difficult problems for women. The number of times I’ve had to ask Claire if my giant gold earrings, chunky gold chain and knuckle-duster are too much have been too many (apparently they were too much, who knew). Our pals at Game of Thrones have come up with a brilliant solution. Dragons.

If, like Daenerys, you have accidentally misplaced your clothes in a bonfire, simply perch a few dragons on your shoulder to complete the look. If you’re taking a cruise and are unsure what accessories are ship appropriate, having some dragons nearby will make your outfit truly stand out. Daenerys always looks great and our theory is that it is because she accessorises carefully with her fire-breathing friends. Great style work, HBO!

Image Source

Dressing appropriately for the weather is a good idea:

Here in Britain, we are constantly plagued by weather that can’t make up its mind. It may officially be summer, but I’m finding myself having to dig out my winter coats to fight the sob-worthy chill. It may be tempting to shout ‘I JUST DON’T CARE ANYMORE’ and don a crop top and a mini skirt, but Game of Thrones says otherwise. At Kings Landing, the girls get away with skimpier clothes (shoulders, ooo-er) and rightly so because it’s hot. But beyond the Wall, our favourite fashionista Ygritte wears some pretty interesting puffa jackets. While these might look slightly hideous, she is most definitely avoiding frostbite. So ladies, the moral of the story is to put on a coat if it is cold, even if you’re going out and claim that you have your tequila jacket on. Because if winter is coming, then tequila jackets won’t be very much use against our white walker pals, will they?!

Image Source

ClaireMay 29, 2013

3 of the Best eBay Dupes Available Right Now

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.

Mango lion head chain / eBay lion head chain

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

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.

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?