Claire

South Africa: My Holiday Wishlist

Something very exciting but slightly alarming is happening in approximately 2 weeks. I’m flying out to South Africa for 2 and a bit weeks, ready to hit the beaches, hit the braais and potentially hit myself in the head when I forget to put suncream on.

For those of you who don’t know, I was born in South Africa and lived there until I was 11. I still have lots of lovely family out there, so I’m as excited to see them as I am to see some elephants. As I was lucky enough to get quite a bit of time off work, I’ll be taking this route here:

MapStarting off in Johannesburg, I’m flying to Port Elizabeth where I have lots of friends and family. After that, I’ll be driving to East London where my grandma lives and after that I’ll be driving to Cape Town, with a little stop in Knysna. Safe to say, it’s going to be absolutely knackering but also HUGELY amazing. I’m super looking forward to it.

What I am not looking forward to, is bloody holiday shopping. Partly because I can’t stop eating cake at the moment, and partly because I actually haven’t done anything yet. I know. I leave in 2 weeks and I haven’t got a pretty sundress to my name. Help.

I’m off to the shops tomorrow to pick up a few bits and bobs, so I thought I’d put together a little wish list of things I want. HOWEVER. I desperately need your opinions before tomorrow (everyone loves a deadline) so I don’t end up looking like a lunatic when I see my long lost family.

PRIMARK COLLAGEAll from Primark’s SS14 Collection (check it out on Instyle here)

river island

All from River Island

new lookAll from New Look

These are just a starting point, but I have literally no idea whatsoever about what to get! If you girls know of anywhere that’s doing good holiday stuff at the moment, please PLEASE PLEASE let me know!

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Claire

A Week in Instagram #8

Instagram 1

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Instragam 78

Ahoy there amigos,

If you follow us on Instagram, you will know that we post pictures of our faces pretty frequently. In fact, we post pictures of various body parts, mostly hands and feet too. This is what we have been up to recently.

  1. I like wearing my converse because it makes me feel hip hop and happening.
  2. Claire giving her Dirty Looks hair extensions a whirl, doesn’t she just look peachy?
  3. Sometimes there is little better in life than a brew and a magazine. Claire had a read of Tatler recently on her lunch break at work.
  4. We got sent some exciting summer goodies from Elsie and Fred. Claire got a beautiful pastel bralet, I got some excellent 60s sunglasses and they sent us some little rings too.
  5. How amazing and excellent are these white sandals from Primark? Very. Claire picked them up for a bargain £14.
  6. And here is me giving my Dirty Looks hair extensions a whirl. They dyed to my ginger hair colour perfectly.
  7. A couple of purchases Claire picked up from New Look and Missguided – pastels are our favey.
  8. Claire matching her ring to her nails, what is she like?
  9. I reviewed this fabulous Barry M lipstick, it is a beaut.
  10. More magazines and more tea, life is good.
  11. Claire was sent these absolutely beautiful floral Doc Martens from Cloggs.co.uk
  12. I like wearing animals on my hands and around my neck. Jewellery from Primark and from New Look!
  13. Claire’s excellent outfit, featuring her new Primark shoes.
  14. Frilly socks are the best.
  15. Claire’s top tramp tip: curl your hair extensions to hide any shaggy ends!
  16. And here is a snap of my face featuring my Elsie and Fred sunglasses. HUZZAH.

We hope that you enjoy stalking us from time to time (although I’m not sure why you would, we lead very boring lives). If you want to follow us in Instagram, we are @StylingoUK. THANKS BYE.

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Claire

Outfit of the Day: Primark Check Co-Ord

OOTD 22nd March CollageCo-Ord: Primark / Crop Top:  Topshop / Necklace: Primark / Shoes: eBay

Get out the banners and assemble the marching band, for this is worthy of a celebration – I finally got my hands on a co-ord! Despite my local Primark being masters of uselessness and not having any of their matching pieces together, as soon as I saw this jacket I was on a mission to track down the co-ordinating shorts that I knew existed. Ten minutes later I was on my hands and knees, ignoring the barging I was getting from surrounding pushchairs and rooting along the bottom rail in search of my size as I had finally tracked them down.

This co-ord makes me feel like a mixture of Cher from Clueless and some sort of football hooligan (I know, way harsh Tai). The bomber jacket top adds a very casual dimension, making the co-ord lie somewhere between a short suit and a cut-off shellsuit. It’s kind of odd, but I kind of definitely like it.

OOTD 22nd March Collage 2ALSO, can I draw some attention to my mighty fine new necklace, also from Primark? I’m going to be posting a haul either tomorrow or the day after (or maybe even the day after that – but definitely some time this millennium, hold tight) of a few the other bits I got on my Primark shopping trip so I won’t bang on about it too much. I just want you to be aware it exists and I love it.

The jacket was £15 and the shorts were £10, meaning this whole co-ord is a mere £25 (watch out Carol Vordermon). That is an absolute snip as for something similar in Topshop you’d easily be looking at probably three times that. The necklace was only £4, which was good as I think Primark have been getting a bit carried away with their jewellery pricing lately. I swear I saw something for SIX POUNDS recently; what an outrage.

Anyway it’s Saturday and we’re off to a super exciting event tonight with work so I need to go and piss off. BYE.

What do you think of this co-ord?

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Claire

Primark ‘PS Love’ £2 Volumising Mascara | Review

PS Love 1Everybody who knows me knows that I love Primark, A LOT. In fact, if I ever turn up on the missing persons’ list then the first place people should check is my local store, as the chances are I could have just been crushed by a pile of jeans, or be in the changing rooms trapped inside a dress (which yes, has happened to me – twice…)

Anywho, Primark have been gradually expanding their collection over the last couple of years. By stocking a range of beauty products, from fake tan and eyelashes to face wipes and moisturisers, they were certainly becoming a one-stop for all of those ‘popping into town for a few bits’ needs. This goal seems even closer to being achieved now with this month’s release of their brand new beauty range, PS Love. With prices ranging from just £1 – £2.50 and including false nails, lip crayons, eyebrow pencils, eyeshadow palettes and more, they’re seriously reaching out to the cheap and cheerful shoppers out there.

PS Love 2OBVIOUSLY I couldn’t resist trying at least one item from the range (even though makeup from anywhere other than Boots or Superdrug makes me anxious), so opted for the Volumising Mascara in Ultra Black. I’m a huge mascara fan (and you can click here to read our other mascara reviews) so was intrigued to see what Primark were putting their name to and whether it could deliver for just £2.

PS Love 3Firstly, I was quite happy when I opened it to find the brush is a plastic one. These are definitely my preferred type of wand, as I find they separate my lashes much better than fibre brushes. It’s also nice and chunky, which bodes well for the volumising claims. Other than that, it’s quite a crude brush (by which I mean it’s very basic in design, not that it tells saucy jokes). We’ve grown used to a mascara market saturated with bendy, curly and twisted wands that are designed to catch each and every lash, so using something as no-frills as this definitely feels a little weird and you have to go quite steady to avoid a) making a total mess and b) taking an eye out.

However, once on the formula of the Primark mascara is actually pretty good. The ‘Ultra Black’ claims are 100% founded – it really is black. It also goes on nicely; not too wet like some mascaras but also doesn’t feel like it’s clumping your lashes together. The best part for me is that it lasts really well, with no flaking throughout the day – and it really does stay VERY black.

PS Love 6So what’s my overall opinion? At the end of the day, the Benefit team aren’t going to be losing any sleep over the PS Love mascara knocking They’re Real off the top spot or anything; but for just £2 this really isn’t bad. In fact, it’s better than a fair few drugstore mascaras that I’ve paid four times as much for. Even if you only pick one up to keep as a spare, I would say it’s definitely worth the money.

Have any of you tried this, or any of the PS Love range yet? What do you think?

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Claire

Outfit of the Day: £5 Primark Skater Dress & Topshop Fur Coat

PicMonkey Collage

PicMonkey Collage1And the award for the biggest bitch face goes to….that ginger idiot up there.

I don’t know why I look so angry, but I think it may be because my new ginger locks mixed with my dark eyebrows make me look a bit like a contestant in Ru Paul’s Drag Race. Must get a new, non-manly palette.

Like every self-respecting poor girl, I enjoy going into Primark and snapping up a bargain. In fact, my bargain hunting has got so out of hand that I look for sale and/or extra cheap things whilst actually in Primark. I know, let me just relocate to live under a bridge.

Despite coming across as a bit homeless, this Primark dress is an absolute STEAL. I’m not joking. When I wear it, I am slightly alarmed that the po po might come and shut me down. Nevertheless, at £5 (yes, five GBP) it is basically rude note to. They actually do a number of prints (Claire has a jazzy monochrome one), but I went for this suuuuuper cute green/white floral number. It’s become an absolute staple in my wardrobe (so much so that you could probably staple together a number of voluminous manuscripts) and I already have worn it to work about 100 times.

Before heading out, I whipped on my trusty Topshop faux fur coat and my Primark cut out sandals. I’m sorry you can’t see more of them in this, I am a terrible tripod organiser. I also have my wonderful and beloved Dirty Looks HK hair extensions in, as well as Kate Moss for Rimmel on my lips. WAHOO.

What do you think of this bargain £5 dress?

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Claire

Outfit of the Day: Missguided Mesh Midi Dress

OOTD 12th March CollageDress: Missguided / Shoes: ASOS (old) / Bag: Accessorize 

Hello one and all! If you read our post yesterday about the charity fashion event we attended, then you might have noticed that Lauren and I both wore clothes on our bodies, in compliance with society’s expectations of us. Here is a closer look at the clothes that I wore, just in case you were working yourselves up into a feverish frenzy over it all (don’t lie, I know you were).

Unsurprisingly, we both decided to buy our dresses from Missguided – where else? We really do need to start branching out a bit, but damn their reasonable prices and endless selection of party outfits, do we really stand a chance? As it was a sophisticated evening in aid of charity, we both set out with the intention of finding something ‘classy’ to wear. I really don’t know how I managed to translate this in my head into ‘bodycon mesh’, but that happened and I’m not sorry.

OOTD 12th March 4Necklace: Tiffany’s / Rings: Primark / Nails: Barry M in White

I kept my accessories pretty simple with the exception of my much-loved leopard print clutch bag, which was actually a birthday present last year. You can literally fit so much in it; I could probably get Lauren to hop in there if I ever needed to sneak her on a plane or anything.

What do you all think of this outfit? I would love to know in the comments below!

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Claire

Outfit of the Day: Topshop Gingham Treggings

OOTD Topshop Gingham TreggingTop: Topshop / Treggings: Topshop / Boots: New Look / Hat: H&M / Bag: Primark / Watch: Casio (available via ASOS)

First of all – EWW could my extensions be looking any rattier? Thank the sweet baby Jesus and all of the animals in the manger that Dirty Looks have sent us new extensions to try out (review coming soon!) so hopefully this rattiness can be put to an end.

Secondly – oops, I went to Topshop! I’d had my eye on this pair of checked leggings for the last couple of weeks, but after trying on a few options in the shop I found this pair of treggings to be more flattering due to the thicker material. Also, HELLO, but gingham is so the new tartan anyway. Hair flick.

OOTD Topshop Treggings and Berlin TeeI also picked up this burnout effect ‘Berlin’ slogan t-shirt. I’m always a bit iffy when it comes to t-shirts; I hate when they have a proper Fruit of the Loom kind of neck on them as I feel like I’m being strangled by my own clothes – but there was something about this loose fitting one that I liked. Also as far as slogan tees go, ‘Berlin’ is pretty non-offensive, and I don’t feel like too much of a fraud because I have in fact been there (lovely place, lots of tall people and sausages).

What do you all think of this outfit? Have you seen anything you like in Topshop lately?

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Claire

Outfit of the Day: Rare London Shift Dress

Rare London Dress

Hey ladies,

Anyone who knows me at all will know that I love a white dress. In fact, there was a time in my life when that was pretty much all I wore. If it wasn’t a white dress, it was a white sheer shirt (saucy). It may be because I secretly thought I was an angel, I’m not really 100% sure.

The wonderful people at Rare London thankfully indulged my angelic idiotic tendencies and sent me a beautiful shift dress for me to pop on my body and loon around. I absolutely love it with a fiery passion and I literally cannot take it off at the moment (I’ve worn it to work twice, help). For those who haven’t shopped at Rare London yet, get a  grip and head over there right now. They have some absolutely fabulous party dresses and I’m seriously considering getting a really fancy one just to wear around the house. If you can’t hoover in an evening gown, I don’t want to live in this world anymore.

Rare London Shift Dress

Rare London Dress 2

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I paired this lovely shift dress with my Primark boots and a necklace I fashioned from things I found in my “e’rrrything box”.On my falsies I have my favourite white nail varnish by Seventeen and on my lips I have the forever raved about Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm crayon in Standout (read our review here, you scoundrels). When I went out of the house, I donned my Miss Selfridge leather jacket and my new bargain Primark bag. HUZZAH.

What do y’all think? 

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Claire

Outfit of the Day: Winter Bare Legs

OOTD 19th Feb Collage 1Hat: eBay / Jumper: Primark / Skirt: eBay (old but similar here) / Boots: eBay

Hi everyone – you can’t see but I’m waving at you all vigorously, I hope you appreciate it.

So, ever since my recent post where I expressed loads of love for Nina Nesbitt’s style, I’ve been thinking I need to start being a bit braver when it comes to getting my stumpy little legs out. I thought this outfit was one of the best ways to do it, as people will be so distracted by the massive hat and jazzy jumper that they won’t have time to think ‘er I wonder if her legs are a bit chilly..?’

OOTD 19th Feb COllage 2Nails: Barry M Watermelon / Rings: Primark and eBay (mix) / Tights: ℅ Charnos  

And if you were wondering whether they’re chilly then the answer is NO, IDIOTS. The lovely people at Charnos Hosiery were nice enough to send us over a couple of pairs of their tights to try out. While I don’t usually agree with flesh coloured tights, I have to say that they actually make hella loads of sense for wintery days when you don’t want to ruin a whole outfit by wearing black tights.

These ones happen to be from the Firm Energising Support range, which are designed to help shape and tone tired leglets (they’ve even been treated with nutrients like Vitamin E and Shea Butter, ooh fancy). A pleasant side effect of these is that they’re also nice and thick, keeping any wintery chills at bay!

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What do you all think of this outfit? Do you brave getting your bare legs out in winter?

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Claire

Outfit of the Day: Motel Rocks & Kurt Geiger

OOTD 11th Feb CollagePlaysuit: Motel Rocks / Heels: Kurt Geiger / Bag: Primark / Necklace: Primark

Greetings one and all. At the weekend Lauren and I finally got off our butts (or ‘botties’ as Lauren would say – vom) and went to finally visit one of our best friends from uni who lives in the lovely ole’ town of St Ives, Cambridge. We headed out into Cambridge for many a Long Island Ice Tea, and this is what I put on my body to do so.

I loved this Motel playsuit, but unfortunately it was a little big for me so looking back I’m not that sure about it. One thing I’m always sure about though is the beauty of my Kurt Geiger heels, which were actually a Christmas present a couple of years ago from an ex boyfriend (the shoes outlived the romance, alas). The platform makes me almost average height in them (success) and I love love LOVE the Dalmatian print as it’s a bit different from the usual leopard – plus it allows me to stomp around feeling like Cruella DeVille.

What do you all think?

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