Why New Look never gets old

I have a soft spot for New Look. When I was growing up, it was the only "proper" shop in our village (it boasted shoe shops, cobblers and pubs galore but clothes shopping was rather limited). As a result, I have really vivid memories of my best friend's Mum taking me to New Look to buy me a brand new outfit: a lovely pair of navy and cream, striped dungarees.  In hindsight I looked a little bit like a walking bar code... but hey, it was the 90s.

I've always been a big girl, as a youngster I often had to buy adult-sized clothes due to my height so when I grew out of my clothes there was still plenty of time for my friends of the same age to wear them. But as an adult being on the larger size and still trying to keep stylish proved difficult.

My weight has yoyoed in recent years. I lost 3 stone to get married,  that all piled back on (and a bit more!) and now I'm dieting again.  Currently I'm roughly a size 16, not my largest... but also not my smallest. Being bigger being able to wear clothes that make you feel attractive is so important.  It's so easy for your confidence to get shot down... that's why I love New Look. Shopping trips with the girls don't need to be awkward,  with me trailing behind my friends from shop to shop knowing that I can't squeeze into the small sizes they stock: New Look caters for us all.

For day:

I am currently a real fan of these mid-length dresses.  They are short enough to still be young and fresh, but don't look out of place when worn with leggings - meaning that it is an outfit that can cross seasons.    I also have a bit of a 'thing' about the top of my arms... so the little capped sleeves on this Burgundy Heart Print Pleated Sleeve Dress are just perfect for boosting my confidence.  And let's be honest, you just can't go wrong with a vibrant red dress for the autumn!

The phrase 'Does my bum look big in this?' is never uttered in our house because, to be completely frank: Yes it does.  

My bum is big.  

But I accept that.  It's part of me.   I just know that in order to wear cute dresses like this I need to wear them over leggings, or risk flashing my underwear to every passer-by!  

For day-to-night:

I love this Dark Green Lace Skater Dress!  It's something I could wear into the office, at an important meeting, a night our with the girls, or dinner with Hubby.  I'm all for outfits that are multi-purpose.  And at less than £23, I could possibly even excuse myself from buying it in two different colours... well, a girl has to have options... ;)

For that special occasion:

I was just casually flicking through the New Look website, and I came across this Navy Embellished Waist Sleeveless Maxi Prom dress.  I wish I had an occasion coming up that I could wear this so that I could allow myself to buy one.  I'm not usually a fan of full-length dresses, but the resemblance to the dresses that my bridesmaids wore at our wedding is uncanny.  It's a modern twist - the dresses the girls had didn't have the lovely detailed waist - but the colour and cut is just spot on.

No matter the occasion New Look has always been able to come up with a possible outfit for me.  And, with a store in the majority of high-streets, and a fantastic online delivery service, I hope that this long continues!

This post has been written in collaboration with New Look - however all content is true to my own thoughts, experiences and memories.

How to: Fun and funky nails for Easter

So the weather is completely miserable.  The sky is grey, it's bitterly cold and, for heaven's sake it is snowing.

 

To make myself feel better for the fact that it is snowing in March I decided that some bright, fun nails would make me feel better. And yeh, they have certainly made me feel cheery.

 

After applying a base coat to protect the nails I selected four easter-egg colours. I raided my nail varnish for colours that most closely resembled mini eggs and I settled on a pink, yellow, blue and orange combo.  Paint one nail each colour leaving your ring finger on each hand. Your ring finger will be your feature nail. Paint this one black.

 

In Primark I found nail art pens for the handsome sum of £2 which are great for fine work. They come a sets of two colours, and I can really recommend the set that comes with the black and white pens as they are useful for contrast.

 

On each coloured nail use a nail art pen, start in the middle of the nail and do four dots down the centre. Then in repeat the dots to fill the nail.

 

Once your dots have dried move to your feature nail.  Using white carefully draw a circle on the edge of your nail. The circle should fill roughly a quarter of your nail, and this will be your bunny's head. Whilst the polish is still tacky I added a pink gem in the centre for the rabbits nose. Finally I drew in some  ears and gave the rabbit some eyes with a quick dot from the nail art pens.

 

Seal the whole lot with a layer of top coat and you're good to go!

 

How cute are they?!

How to: Bright French Manicure

It's January. It's cold and it's dreary. I took a look out of my window this morning and it was a struggle not to grab my duvet and hide.

I love bright crisp winter mornings, but today it's just yuck.

 
And last week was also back to work, which means packing away the Christmas jumpers and tinsel accessories as office wear is firmly back on the horizon... So this is my solution to a bit of creative nail work for the office. A beacon in the dark at this time of year: a bright French manicure.

Okay, so it's not really a French manicure, it's just bright coloured tips, but having just that little flash of colour really makes all the difference.

Paint a base coat with a pale colour - I used a silvery beige (sorry I can't share the name exactly as it came from a trip to France...) - and then once dry select a bright colour of your choice - I used Barry M in Turquoise.

Carefully remove the excess paint from the brush and then paint the tips. I find that the best way to do this is in small stages moving vertically. First paint the very tip of all your nails, and then go back over them to increase the spread of colour, always working with your brush ending up at the tip. Don't move your brush horizontally across your nail, it might seem quicker but it is really hard to keep control.

If you don't have a steady hand you can even use masking tape trimmed into ovals to help, but make sure that your base colour is completely dry before using tape.

And there you have it. Nails suitable for the office, but with enough brightness to help banish the January grey.

Review: Pebble Grey Cosmetic Mirror

I am permanently attached to my mobile.  It's a bit of a standing joke.  On our wedding day hubby threatened to throw my BlackBerry out of a window if he saw it.  I on the other hand, threatened to have a special mobile-holster attached to my garter.  It got worse when I upgraded to a HTC which seems deliberately designed to do everything from a diary, a post-it note, a compact-mirror...

If I ever do need to touch up my makeup I usually reach for my phone, scroll to my mirror app and hope that I am somewhere bright enough for the camera on the front of the phone to pick up anything other than just a dim blurr.  It's far from ideal.

So when the team at Pebble Grey asked me if I'd like to review their illuminated cosmetic mirror I thought it would be great to see how a "proper" mirror compared to what I'd been attempting to use.

The mirror was a lot more elegant than I was expecting.  After visiting the Pebble Grey website and seeing their range of large mirrors and bathroom cabinets, I had assumed that the mirror might be a little unwieldy, when in fact it easily fits in the palm of my hand.

The mirror itself offers subtle magnification, and is embedded with battery operated blue-white LEDs that are under the surface of the glass and switch on when the mirror is opened.  The little lights make the mirror great for those times when you wished for just a little extra light to dab on that mascara (after all, no one likes panda eyes...), and are so much better than my mobile.

The one thing I wasn't a fan of was the quality of the hinge on the compact.  It seems to be sturdy (I've used the mirror a lot in the last few weeks and it's still as strong as ever), but the whole of hinge bracket is made of the same plastic as the rest of the unit which somehow cheapens the look of the mirror.  It would have been nice if the hinge had been made of metal or something, just to round-off the quality feel.

But over all I like the mirror.  It comes in a pretty box, and is supplied with a little black bag for easy storage.  I think it would be a great little present for those relatives who are really difficult to buy for... although when they see the box the recipient might think you're giving them jewellery...!

The Pebble Grey Illuminated Cosmetic Mirror is currently available for £14.99.


Disclosure: I was sent the mirror for the purposes of this review, however all opinions expressed are my own and are honest.  Links have been included out of courtesy.