Back-to-School: Lookbook

I'm a bit late with all the back-to-school series things, but here it is. I know a lot of schools can wear any clothes or have a full uniform but at my sixth form we have a dress code that says you have to be dressed smart, so either way, here's some ideas for you anyway!

I am fully aware of how cringey an iPhone-mirror selfie is and I am suitably ashamed of these pictures of myself...but as I seem to be late EVERY morning, this is the easiest way to get a photo of my outfit!

1. Glasses shirt: Forever 21

Black trousers: Primark

Moustache shoes: Primark 

Glasses and moustache necklace: Topshop

2. Sheer top with vest: American Eagle

Brown Skirt with belt: Primark

Cream frill socks: Topshop

Bag: Primark

The brogues are from a small shop near where I live

3. Sheer shirt: Fashion Avenue

Black Vest: Tesco

Cat print skirt: H&M

Black "cosy" tights: Primark

I NEED those tights in my life, they have a soft lining of brushed cotton and are SO warm! I wore them skiing and they kept me warm (well as warm as you can be in -14 degrees celcius...in the snow...on top of a mountain...)

4. Black coat: Primark

Top: see outfit 2

Assymetric skirt: H&M

And my cosy tights have made another appearance!

5. Stripey shirt: H&M

Trousers: see outfit 1

I did wear shoes -although I don't appear to have put them on yet!

6. Blue shimmery dress with brown belt: Primark (in the kid's section)

Blue and brown loafers: Primark

Blue spotty bag: Primark

7. Top: see outfit 2

Brown with shimmery thread skirt: Topshop

Silver belt: New Look

The scarf I "borrowed" from my Mum's wardrobe (hehehe...)

Although, on this day I was told my outfit was innapropriate as my skirt was "too short" and "too sparkly" (can't say i disagree to be honest) so yeah maybe don't try this one...

8. Glasses shirt: see outfit 1

Black skater skirt: eBay

9. Green floral dress: Primark

Cardigan: Depop

Cream frill socks: see outfit 2

Brogues: see outfit 2

Bag: see outfit 2

And I made the flower headband

That's a few of my outfits over the last few weeks then! PEACE ✌

OOTD: I got chills, they're multiplyin'!

Apart from literally feeling winter approaching....I felt kinda 50s-ish in this outfit, which explains the title for this post! And here it is...

Jumper: Primark

Shoes: Topshop

Socks: Primark

And the jeans are actually jeggings from Primark a very long time ago...I roll up the bottoms (yes, because I'm too short for anything) but it actually does make them look more expensive.

As always, thanks for reading and hope you like it! MWAH!

OOTD: This Girl is on Fire

Yo! I have been doing way too much blogging lately for someone who should be revising for exams! But hey, what can ya do, eh! I might as well carry on with another outfit of the day!
About a week ago, Louise won tickets for us to see Alicia Keys at the O2 which was cool, and most exciting of all, it was an outfit oppertunity! (as sad as that sounds, it really did excite me!)
Sooooo this is what I wore to the concert.....

For someone who is not a big fan of pink, I seem to be wearing every shade imaginable!
Anyway...
The dress:  is from the kids section in Primark and I think it cost £8
The reason I decided to shop in the kids section was because things like skater dresses are always just a bit too long on me, so I thought I'd try shopping in the kids section and decided to try Primark first. That dress was the only one that I liked and so I bought it....and I think it is 10-11 years. Great to know I am the height of an 11 year old.... :') Plus, kids clothes are cheaper!
The shoes: are black strappy heels with cork platform and pink trim. They're from Boohoo and are £25. They are so easy to wear and walk in because the platform is quite big compared to the height of the heel. They are comfy and didn't hurt, even after I had them on for hours. Definitley recommend them :)
The accessories: The bag was a birthday present and my blog about it is here: http://sparklybluesandrainbowshoes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/handbag-heaven.html . I also wore beauty UK pink nail varnish on my fingers and tootsies in 'No.31 Neon Pink'. And skin coloured tights from Tesco, THEY ARE THE BEST NUDE TIGHTS! Always buy them in Tesco! And now I've calmed down about tights...the skinny silver belt is from New Look and the lipstick is from e.l.f in 'sociable'

That's it then! The concert was good, as we're not the biggest Alicia Keys fans we swayed along to the songs, then left a bit early for Starbucks hot chocolates!

Start of the festival season: Coachella fashion

As summer is finally here, that means there will be lots of festivals in the next couple of months soooo I thought I'd start it off with the celebrity fashion at American festival Coachella (I know it was a couple of months ago but hey!)
A lot of celebs go to Coachella and it looks AMAZING sooooo to celebrate the start of summer and festivals to come here is some festival fashion!

Katy Perry

Selena WERKED it

Katy wore a floral crop top, big black sunglasses and quite an unusual skirt! Personally, I love the top however Selena Gomez wore the same top to an event, with an orange bodycon skirt and looked amazing! And as much as I really love Katy Perry, I have to admit that I prefer Selena in the top as I loveeeee Selena's outfit so much...the skirt went far better than Katy's. To be honest I dont think the outfit does anything for Katy's body, the skirt isn't flattering at all.

Vanessa Hudgens

....appears to be wearing her Nan's underwear to a festival...! Her big curly hair does look nice with the dark rose headband but that's just about all she got right.... The dark lipstick is too strong for the summer and her John Lennon-esque sunglasses just don't work with the outfit.

Lindsey Lohan

Well she was so desperate to go to Coachella that she postponed rehab...so you'd hope she made an effort for it! Lindsey Lohan wore a short, fitted white dress which did quite suit her, it was simple and pretty. Also, her bag and sunglasses were both very nice (although she has two pairs of sunglasses...theyre both nice!)

That's it for Coachella celebrity fashion!

OOTD: "No money, No family, 16 in the middle of Miami!"

My outfit for today's "Outfit of the Day" is actually now my assigned job interview outfit, and a very affordable interview outfit too, costing £13 for this little blue dress from Primark. 

The title of this outfit of the day is actually some song lyrics I've had stuck in my head for like the last week: "Work" by Iggy, so I thought why not put it as the title of this post especially as the "no money" part is quite appropriate right now after buying way too many clothes and tickets for festivals. *I regret nothing* And if you also have no money like me, for one I feel for you and two this dress is so cheap and so suitable for so many things even the "poor" (like me at the moment) can afford it! 

I've also seen this dress in quite a bright pink which looks quite nice too, the length is slightly short on me but I am 5ft10 so that's just normal for me. As far as sizing goes I am usually a size 8 but when in the shop they only had it in size 6 or 14+ so I just bought the size 6 anyway and thank goodness because of the stretchyness of the material its fits (that's the problem with Primark if you don't get there on the morning of their stock delivery all the size 8/10 and 12's are usually gone).

I would suggest that everyone should go and buy this dress as its cheap, will suit all figures, stretchy so is quite slimming, a nice colour and length, good for all weathers and plus you save £7 if you buy this dress instead of the almost identical Topshop one.

Trend: Comic Book Print

POW~~~~BOOM~~~~ZAP

Comic book print has been really popular since the new year and all the high street shops like Topshop have had loads of stuff in this style

 

One of the pieces in this style is this bodycon skirt from Topshop with animated words on it

Then the other comic trend is like an actual cartoon strip like these leggings from Polyvore.com

Personally I love this style and was happy to find all these clothes in the last five or six months!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In June last year, I made this dress :) I had thought about a dress in a comic strip style for a really long time but then I found this AMAZEBALLS fabric on etsy.com (etsy has some pretty hawt stuff by the way!) And yeah I made a shift dress from the fabric which took me about an hour and a half in total

http://www.etsy.com/search?q=etsy&view_type=gallery&ship_to=GB&utm_source=google&utm_medium=sem&utm_term=etsy_e&utm_campaign=UK_Brand_ST_Exact_etsy&mkwid=sd679swUl&pcrid=20794984111&kword=etsy&match=e&gclid=CK7JrNmGvLYCFSzKtAodWF0AqA





I wore the dress to a party and for that night I wore red shoes and made some bows out of the fabric to stick on them! I also wore these earrings from punkypins.co.uk which have a popart style face on them. Yeah, so this is the dress and me wearing it, just a post to say comic book style is coooooool and my claim on the fact I did it before Topshop so MEH!





WHOA, it's sideways...



PARTAY!







A Dress a Day 3 ~ Pink Cutout Skater Dress (and owl satchel bag)

Day 3 and it's time for this cutout skater dress....which is probably my favourite dress I own! I really love it...it is quite a casual dress but I love wearing it during the day and just think everything about it is perfect...I love the colour, shape, length, fabric and cutout detail! Ok, I'll stop raving about it now....

OH! But also when I bought it in Topshop, the tag said £55 but when I took it to the till it was £15! So yeah I kinda lush it!

'Mr Fox'

Okaaay, so here is my evening version of the dress! I am wearing it with nude high heels and my hair in a high bun. The bag is one I got for Christmas and there is a picture of it here for you to decide what animal you actaully think it is! I think it looks like an owl...but apparantly it is called a "Mr Fox Bag" and I have had people call it a squirrel and even a chipmunk! So who knows...but it is a very cool bag! I really love it, it is so cute and becuase its plain colours it actually goes with a lot of outfits and is a fun twist on an otherwise plain satchel! I am wearing my brown owl ring with it too, because I think it looks like an owl!

My daytime alternative for this dress is one of my favourite outfits. I have put the dress my H&M brown leather jacket and plain brown satchel, also from H&M (it was £20 and is a really nice shape, and much cheaper than a Cambridge Satchel...although it scracthes easily, there are so many decent satchels in high street shops for under £40) I am also wearing brown brogues from 'Mr Shoes', I think they were £19.99 and I bought them in a lighter colour but used darker brown shoe polish to get them to the colour I wanted them in, which actually worked really well! The socks are from H&M and are pink and sooo similar to the dress fabric, they have striped, almost like ribbed fabric which is just what the dress fabric is like...I was so proud when I found these socks to match it so well! When wearing this I would have brown eyeshadow and light pink lip stick or gloss to stick to brown and pink colours. The picture above shows the cutout detail on the back of the dress which is LUSH, it has a heart cutout and little buttons before the skirt starts which really adds somehting interesting yet simple to the dress. Because of the heart shaped cutout, I often wear a necklace which has a small pink heart-shape pendant on it. <3

Sooooo it's pretty clear how much I love this dress and cutout dresses are so nice and can be really flattering in the right places, especially at the sides of the waist! Skater dresses are always good and I can't wait for warmer weather so I can start wearing this out again!

The Saturdays: Fashion Fast Forward

The Saturdays girl band quickly went from Fashion Fail to Fashion Forward as they gained fame
These are a few of their transformations from complete FAIL to so FETCH!

In the picture on the left The Saturdays are barley recognisable in their puffy PVC "dresses". Thankfully it was a long time ago now, and their fashion has moved on a lot since! As you can see on the right, they have learnt to co-ordinate as a band so that their colour schemes and general themes of outfits match yet their individual styles come through in the pieces they wear. A BIG improvement!

In trampy ripped skinny jeans and outdated crop tops, their stylist really needed a new day job! But in the more recent photograph on the right, the girl band are doing denim and leather A LOT better! Mollie's skater skirt and crop jumper is really flattering and exactly on trend! Una and Vanessa's leather jackets go great with their outfits, in contrast to the gaudy leather peep hole tops they wore on the left! Again they've stuck to a neutral colour scheme which suits them all and shown individuality

perfectly...and it works! 

A complete fashion fail here in matching glitter bodycon, in gaudy colours makes you wonder if it is the same group as can be seen on the right in cute black outfits accented with bright jewels on their clothes. They have really learnt how to wear sparkly stage outfits but still stay on trend.

The Fail on the left shows The Saturdays dressed in block colour panel knitted dresses and looking complete messes! Their idea of co-ordination really hasn't worked out...but clearly their Fetch transformation on the right shows that they really know how to dress for the red carpet now! They all look amazing in their white dresses, and I particularly like Mollie's sheer floor length dress which suits her perfectly!

Skin tight, satin playsuits really don't work as The Saturdays have shown us here! But summer florals with block colours and matching accessories really do work as the band have obviously realised...

So clearly, The Saturdays Fashion Fast Forward has taken them from Fail to Fetch very well! They obviously now know that there is no need to look like a 90s boy band that've been thrown up on by a bag of skittles!

One of the band members which I think dresses particularly well lately is Mollie who always wears cool and matching outfits that suit her style and shape. As you can see Rochelle also has particularly good style, but in general the whole band now dress really well!

 

 

 

 

Faux Fancy

With the new years sales on at the moment there are so many nice clothes to buy on the high street but can high street pieces compete with the luxury of a designer wardrobe?

I have found a lot of items which are very similar to designer brand versions but for a fraction of the price so instead of buying one designer why not buy them all from the high street!
Of course with a cheaper high street option, you miss the added comfort and little extras in detail that come with designer options as well of course just the label and just knowing the item is a designer! But decide for yourselves whether the pieces are really worth their expensive price tags when the high street has so much to offer....

Glittery Heels

The lovely sparkly heels on the left are from Christian Louboutin and are obviously pure luxury in a shoe, and with the trademark red sole would be a privilege to own, are they really worth the four figure price tag for such a statement shoe that wouldn't be worn that often when you could buy the very similar pair on the right from Jane Norman for £40. I actually have a pair of these particular shoes and they are some of the most comfortable heels I have worn for a long period of time.

Black Platforms

On the right, another pair of Louboutins for $1,075 (for some reason I wasn't on the UK website but this is about £670) and they are a classic shoe and completely perfect in every way, but everyone needs black heels and wouldn't you rather spend £24.75 on the similar pair on the left from Forever 21, I know I would...and I did!

Satchels

Satchels are really big in fashion at the moment, and it is obvious why, they are practical bags that still look good and go with a lot of outfits. The Cambridge Satchel Company are an obvious designer choice for the perfect satchel but at £113 each, your purse inside the satchel would probably be empty! So if you don't have the spare money try a similar design from H&M for £19.99. My friend has a real Cambridge Satchel Company satchel and they are noticeably nice and well designed as well as durable but I have a satchel from H&M and I think it is worth the money I saved!

Clutch Bag

The designer option for this cool and retro bag is on the left from bag designer Lu Lu Guiness and she is famous for this style of bags and has clearly perfected them! Unfortunately, it is £295 worth of perfection...as for the one on the right, it is from Henry Holland at Debenhams and is £25. It is a cool bag in an interesting colour and definitely and eye catching piece, but there are always affordable high street options!

Lots of Love for.....LuLu Guiness Bags

Its a designer I haven't heard too much about in the past but after checking out the website, I now LOVE LuLu Guiness Bags, they are seriously lush!
Their trademark seems to be lip shaped perspex clutch bags but i was really interested in some of the other styles of bags, such as the clutch shaped like a London Taxi, I think that has to be my favourite, it is so cute.
The bags are really statement items so would probably go nicely with a more plain outfit as the bag speaks for itself, there are so many nice ones, such as ones styled to look like books or flowers, and decorated like shop windows. They aren't really for everyday use as they are quite detailed and fancy so would be nice in the evening with a dress.
Also, they are quite pricey (ranging from around £200-£500) but I'm sure if you were lucky enough to have one of these bags, they would be worth the cost, after all in a designer item you are always paying for the added durability, longevity, detail and care.
All of LuLu Guiness' bags are produced ethically in the UK -s'always good!
Other than handbags, they also make: luggage, umbrellas, cosmetic bags, compact mirrors, purses and watches.
If you have the extra money to spend, I think its a great place to look for accessories, especially bags! They have stores all over the world (the London one is 3 Ellis Street) and ship to the US and Canada as well as the UK
And they have a sale on at the moment, so GO GO GO!

http://www.luluguinness.com/CategoryPage.aspx?categoryId=clutches

Outfit Of The Day: CraZy CraZy CraZy till we see the sun!

Not the most formal "outfit of the day", but here is my outfit for New Years Eve:

 Cropped cream knit jumper from Hollister, this jumper is really soft and very comfortable even after washing, it goes with most trousers, shorts, skirts etc and the sleeves are a nice length for my extra long arms.

Black velvet type material shorts from Forever 21, got these in the sale for £4.99 (BARGAIN!), simple design but go great with tights for in the winter and would match most t-shirts in the summer.

Black oversized furry handbag with brown straps, I actually got this bag for Christmas a few years ago from Paul's Boutique (*Cringe* I know), although I am usually against the Paul's Boutique brand while looking on their website for my cousins present I saw this, and unlike most of their products it wasn't luminous green or orange with PAUL'S BOUTIQUE plastered on every square inch, so once removing the weird colourful pom pom keyring it came with you can't even tell where it's from, and quite a lot of people usually comment on how nice it is!

My bracelet is quite "jazzy" with a row of silver sparkly beads in a black thread, my friends mum actually made this for me but you can get them in most places now in most colours for quite cheap prices.

Anyway so that was my New Years Eve outfits, while some people were in pubs getting drunk we went for a rather different approach for seeing in the new year, we ended up putting on the onesies, watching the Alan Carr special, listening to One Direction, eating chocolate, trying on Erin's wardrobe and we even ended up sticking on some fake moustaches Erin got for Christmas.... as you do! 

Last Evening of 2012 well spent I think :)

£3.99 dress? Neverrr.....

Black flowery dress - Forever 21 - Pre Christmas sale - £3.99

As sad as this is I've got to admit that buying this lovely dress for £3.99 in the pre Christmas sale is one of my biggest and proudest achievements of 2012. While shopping for late Christmas presents of onesies, hand creams and perfumes I decided to have a quick peak in Forever 21 in Bluewater shopping centre, and thank God I did! After searching round for a few minutes looking through racks of clothes that were in odd sizes I came across a rack full of these amazing dresses for £3.99 each, and I knew when I saw it and figured out that yes they really did mean the dress was that cheap that I had to buy it. 

The good thing about this dress is its stretchy material meaning (being 5ft 10) I could easily pull it down slightly so it wasn't too short, however if you did want it shorter it wouldn't look miss-shaped and rolled up. Also it can be worn dressy with heels and sparkly bracelets or less formal with tights and boots.

After looking round the Pre-Christmas sales and the Boxing day sales I can safely say I preferred the Pre-Christmas sales just because everything was more organised, there were less crowds and you could actually find reasonable items for cheap prices in smaller sizes. I found the Boxing Day sales to be unorganised and honestly and mess of weird sizes and patterns, definitely a disappointment compared to last year although I did find a nice belt for £1.99 :)

December bargain: Faux Fur Coat H&M £20

After searching for a faux fur coat for ages now I came across this in the pre Christmas sale, and was very very very happy when I discovered the sale price!

Leopard print faux fur coat: H&M: £20 in Pre Christmas Sale (£49.99 original price)

This coat is such a bargain that I had to get it, I have been looking for a faux fur coat for a while now and decided to wait for the January sales to see if I could grab a bargain, although when shopping today in Bluewater in Kent I discovered this while looking for a knitted pencil skirt. 

You would think being so cheap that the texture wouldn't be as soft as higher price fur jackets but it is surprisingly soft and extremely warm, a definite bargain for £20. Although the real test will be to see if the soft texture stays after its first wash.

I will definitely be having a good look around the After Christmas sales and like always \I will be there at 6am on Boxing Day first in the line to get the good stuff before it goes, I may even come home with another one even cheaper. 

I would recommend January sales to everyone, you just have to look through all the junk to find the nice things for a great price.

HAPPY SALE SHOPPING!

Finally: Patterned leggings for tall girls

After struggling for the last year to find some patterned leggings that actually reach my ankles (being 5ft 10 with very long legs), I have finally found some on the Topshop website under the tall section. Hallelujah!! 

These leggings are an aztec design available in sizes 8-16 for £20, I thought this was a bargain for TopShop. Although I have seen more stylish patterned leggings around, these are the only pair I've found that actually fit  girls who are over 5ft 8, and I kind of like that they are in black and white as it would go with a lot of other pieces.

So I will now be ordering myself a pair and will greatly enjoy the fact that they will reach my ankle, THANK YOU TOPSHOP!

Trends for your head!

So finally the snapback hat trend has been replaced (about time), and in my personal opinion the new hat trend is a vast improvement. This new trend of hat seems so have adopted a variety of different nicknames such as "the new beanie hats", "bobble hats" and even "Dappy Hats" after the singer Dappy in the British band N-Dubz but I always refer to them as "Pom-Pom Hats". Simply they are a knitted style beanie hat with a large pom pom on the top. Originally when I first thought that only boys vould wear them, but slowly girl celebrities started wearing them too and high street chain started selling them for girls aswell as boys, and thank god because I LOVE THEM!

So after ruining one by attempting to cut the label out of it and instead cutting the wool and making the biggest whole I've ever seen in it I decided to go and buy myself another one (and leave any labels on). 

This is a purple one I bought from Forever21 for £6.65, they also did it in other colours like cream, red and blue but I thought the purple was the nicest!

It keeps your ears so warm and it looks great if you have longish hair worn down. So ditch the snapbacks please and buy one of these! (But keep the label in hahahaa)

Wishlist 4: High Neck Beaded Crop Top

Topshop: £42: High Neck Beaded Crop Top: UK sizes 6-16

While wandering around Oxford Street's Topshop (one of the biggest and best Topshops around) we found this amazing high necked, beaded crop top. We both instantly loved it and would of bought it there and then if we had bothered to bring enough money out with us. The sparkly gold/silver beads that pattern the top make the rather simple design and shape somewhat more interesting and suitable for  more formal evening occasions as well as on a day to day basis with a pair of black skinny jeans.

Rather disappointed that neither of us bought enough money to buy it, so therefore this Topshop top is the fourth item on our wishlist :)

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=1&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=8082728&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=208524&parent_categoryId=203984&pageSize=20&refinements=Price{2}~[40|45]

Christmas at Primark!

I have officially entered Christmas mode now it is December, so on the 1st of December we went to Westfield in London and I ended up buying some rather pointless Christmasy products from Primark just to be more festive!

First thing I HAD to buy was a reindeer onesie, I LOVE onesies and anything christmasy so combine the two and BAM I need it.

I bought the mega warm reindeer onesie for £12, I'd call that a bargain to be honest. 

It comes in sizes 6-22 but they sell out quick, it went from a full rack in the morning to there being none left by the end of the day.

Plus it has a  red nose, eyes, paws, antlers and even a tail, AMAZING!

Also I couldn't resist buying these rather festive set of 3 reindeer socks for £3, these were my favourite pair, more reindeers wooo!

I managed to show the cashier in B&Q my socks because somehow we ended up on the conversation when buying paint, and she loved them too hahaha :)

Louise