So life has been on fast forward for the past few weeks, it started with the perfect blogger day; with a champaign breakfast at Kettners with the make-up brand T.LeClerc, followed by a photography sesh in hyde park with the lovely Jess from lookwhatIgot (Which, FYI was the first time I have ever had a someone take pictures of me who wasn't forced into doing it.) Followed by ALL THE PIZZA, which was topped off by an afternoon of editing, resulting in these very stylish blog pictures. Thank you very much!
For the first time in my life I am confident enough with my blog to walk up to a random person and be like "Hey, I have an awesome blog, do you wanna check it out?" Like honestly, I wouldn't actually do that but you get the picture. There's still plenty of arm flapping and double chinned grump looking faces behind the scenes of this blog, but I never would of even of considered going to a public place with another blogger and "modelling" my own styling for the a camera before now. If you tried to make me do that a year ago I would of ran away from you, quite literally. But now, I actually have a blog which I feel expresses my personal style and photography! Yipee!
So hey, leaps and bounds are happening around here, so make sure you >> Follow, because Im not done growing here yet!
Top/Dress - Zara // Denim Skirt - Miss Selfridge // Snake Boots - Faith
I am a sucker for good dupe, so as promised heres my latest little find! These are always my most popular posts, because I think all my readers seem to share the same tight pockets yet love for designer fashion I have! It sometimes sucks being a lover of the fashion industry and a budding stylist/shoot coordinator that's still striving for that massive designer income... sigh.
I know sometimes people get quite annoyed when someone rips off a high end design, but lets all think of it this way... if I was fortunate enough to lead a designer lifestyle, I would 100% buy the real Chloe Drew bag, even with dupes on the market.
Buying a designer bag is buying into a piece of luxury and a label name. You're proud of your arm candy, which signifies your success, and wealth. However there is no denying the huge gap between the high street and high end handbag market, so if you are in love with a piece of design why shouldn't you be able to buy a cheaper copy? At this point you are buying this for a completely different reason, you simply love the design, and understand you are sacrificing the brand image that comes with the 'real' deal. Loving design shouldn't be frown upon, because to me buying a designer bag is more than buying the design.
All that being said... Look at it! After drooling over the Chloe Drew for many many month, I just so happened to come across this for a penny saving £14.45! It has the same chain strap that attaches to the bag by knotting the metal, and the little poll clasp. Unfortunately the little clasp does struggle to stay in place, but the bag doesn't actually need this to stay shut, it's just a lovely piece of design. It obviously lacks the luxury feel and the engraved name of the real deal, but you should expect that with any dupe (if it has the brand name that's when it becomes a fake in my opinion as appose to a dupe). It's also available in red, which I have spent weeks resisting, but if you don't want to resist you can get it here.
So I have a talent, a talent to find things in primark that don't look like they came from Primark. No I don't mean to offend, there nothing wrong with shopping in Primark but, I love the moment when you're wearing something and someone goes "Oh I love your - Insert desired clothing item here - where's it from?" and you reply with "Oh it was £8 from Primark" and are met with gasps and everyone in the surround area dropping to their knees to bow at the feet of your amazing bargain fashion skills.
Okay, I'm not that arrogant, but I do set aside a monthly budget, no more than the price of a dress from other hight street stores to go to Primark and see what I can find. It's fun to feel like you got a little bargin, but there are some rules to follow to find the best pieces.... 1. Try and find out what day they get new stock in. When I was at uni, the Birmingham one got it's stock in on the wednesday, meaning all the best bits were there in ALL the sizes. 2. Go to Selfridges. If you didn't know, Primark is stocked in Selfridges, but only the 'top picks', so in other words, all the best bits, organised and easy to see. 3. Try things on! I know the queues are long and the changing rooms sweaty, but £10 on a dress that doesn't fit, is still £10 wasted. 4. Look for dupes of things you want from other stores. Don't just go in all guns blazin looking for anything cheap, go in with things in mind. Whether thats the Topshop Pinafore you've been lusting after or those ASOS dungarees. (currently Primark has dupes for both)
5. Ask yourself 'would I buy this for twice the price?' If the answers no, it's not worth it. Even if it's only £4. 6. Follow them on Instagram, they post all their best bits, and re-share bloggers looking amazing in things you never would of looked twice at otherwise. 7. Check out the denim, recently I have got a lot of jeans and dungarees from Primark that fit amazing. I used to stear away from it, but they have seriously upped their game. 8. Stock up on tights and socks. Primark tights are honestly my fave, they fit well and don't fall down throughout the day, get them, you won't regret it. 9. Avoid thick jumpers or wool skirts. I always find the wool bobbles really quickly and gets all out of shape, so only go for the oversized wool items, which will look got a bit misshapen. Now I know I've just made shopping in Primark into a military operation, well guys, it is. Walking in with rose tinted glasses on about how cheap everything is, can sometimes see you walking out £100 worse off with nothing you're actually ever gonna wear.
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Right now (as I have said 100 times) I am into the 70's trends, and the store with plastered with burn orange tees and A line skirts so I was in my element. So much so, that I decided to Haul al my purchases below... Enjoy!
After an intense and quite frankly disappointing bidding war on Ebay over a pair of last years Topshop snake print boots, (Which if you can't guess, I lost) I have been obsessively scouring the internet for a pair of snake print boots.
When I get something in my head that I want but can't have, I become a bit haunted with the idea that I cannot rest until I own it. Whether that's something that's gone out of stock online, losing out on something I wanted on Ebay, or just inventing something in my head that doesn't exist and having the overwhelming desire to track down a dupe to my imaginary product, if I can't have it I want it more. This leads me to do crazy things like keeping the tab open of an out of stock product on my computer for a week constantly refreshing the page hoping that one might just pop back in stock in my size, or spending every evening googling "Snake Print Boots" and continually clicking on every link on the first page, in the hope someone might of invented my dream boots that day. Please say other people do this.
Yes, I literally googled everyday. I wanted ankle boots but ones that came up a bit above your ankle and had the print on the heel too, also they had to be a nice neutral colour so I could wear them with EVERYTHING, and hey presto here we are!
Okay before you contact some sort of therapist for the obsessive compulsive shopping addiction I just described, lets just stare at this little A/W beauties for a while! Faith is not a brand I shop with, and Debenhams is not a store I really venture into but they are perfect. They are soooo comfy, I have worn them none stop and theres not a strain or blister in sight. They are completely true to size and so easy to walk in and you need them... now.
