If you wanna be the Spice Girls

Last night me, Hannah and three of our friends went to the sixth form Halloween party dressed up as the Spice Girls. You may have read about our plans for this venture in Halloween #3 and Leopard Print Loathing, but I think that it's nice for you to see the finished product.

We all got ready at Baby Spice's house, to a soundtrack of the Spice Girls Greatest Hits album, and had great fun creating a faux bob for Posh, drawing on liquid eyeliner tattoos for Sporty and applying layers of bronzer to Scary.

The party had a lax fancy dress code, so when we arrived we were concerned that no-one else had dressed up, however as the night progressed plenty of people showed up in costume: a kilted Scotsmen, a group of surgeons, Cupid and Snow White, amongst others. The winner of the fancy dress costume was a guy dressed up in a giant inflatable willy costume, which probably tells you all you need to know about the class and tone of the party.

The guy at the bar knew exactly who I was dressed up as, which is the most important thing for me when it comes to fancy dress - there is nothing more awkward than talking to someone at a fancy dress party and having them ask you who you're supposed to be. I was also happy because my costume wasn't very slutty - it may have been short, but it wasn't up my arse and my boobs were nowhere near out.

With my first Halloween party of 2012 over, I can now really look forward to the second one on Tuesday.

Oh, and Spookbook is back! You can check out the entries so far and submit your own here.
Happy Halloween!

Redbubble

I recently joined Redbubble, and so far, it's pretty damn cool!

This is how they describe themselves; 'Redbubble is quite simply the finest and most diverse creative community and marketplace on the interlink. There, we said it. With artists and designers hailing from every corner of the globe, displaying eye opening talent, skill, passion and enthusiasm for all forms of creativity there really is no better place for you to get your artistic kicks.'

It's a really good website, where you can sell and display your works free of charge (they just get a little bit of the profit.)

But they will print and deliver your art to whoever buys it, send you a paycheck or put it in your Paypal, all you have to do is create the stuff!

Please check out my Redbubble page, it would be really cool if you could :)

www.redbubble.com/people/prawnie

Thankyou! You're very kind :)

Topshop Sale Picks

It's that time of year again, girlies! The Topshop Sale has arrived once more!
Since I love you lot (and have nothing better to do on a Saturday night) I've linked all the pages for you, so you don't need to go trawling through the 1025 sale items like I did. How committed am I?

MOTO Drum Print High Waist Hotpants
Was £34
Now £15

Some of you might remember my love of quirky prints from a previous post, and these shorts are no exception. I also love high waisted jeans and shorts, as they pull in my stomach and make shirts look much more flattering.

Crochet Lantern Skirt
Was £40
Now £20


I don't own enough skirts, and the few that I do own don't get have the wear that they deserve, they make me feel all girly and this black version would also go with loads of different tops, making it great value for money.

Petite Heart Back Prom Dress
Was £55
Now £30

Being a redhead, my skin has a lot of red/pink undertones and therefore pink really doesn't suit me, but the style of this dress is just too damn cute to ignore - I love the heart cut-out.

Dog Print Playsuit
Was £48
Now £20

Playsuits are a big love of mine, especially ones with a quirky print, and I like the culotte style shorts on this one that float together and make it look like a dress, but you don't need to worry about flashing your knickers.

Petite MOTO Stripe Leigh Jeans
Was £40
Now £20

The stripe on these jeans would be really flattering on someone vertically challenged like me, but if you're lucky enough to have legs like Alexa Chung they'll make them look even more endless; everyone wins.

Turquoise Dip Back Maxi Skirt
Was £40
Now £25

I did a post a while ago all about Dip Hem skirts, and this one caught my eye because of the gorgeous colour and flow of the fabric, I love the way it ripples around the wearer's legs.

Chiffon Mullet Hem Dress
Was £49
Now £20

Again, this dress probably wouldn't be flattering on my skin tone, but I still thought it was lovely. The wrap detailing on the bust, dip hem and light chiffon fabric. Love.

Chiffon Bandeau Dress
Was £42
Now £18

The A/W classic is ofcourse the LBD, and this Rare number is a bargain at £18! Once again made from a light chiffon fabric with lovely bust detailing and strapless design, where could it possibly go wrong?

As much as I love Topshop, they can be a bit too expensive for me at times, which is why I like to take full advantage of the sales when they're on. I'm really happy for this sale because I'm going to the local shopping centre this week which has a massive Topshop compared to the cruddy little thing in town.

The nicest story ever...

When Alex told me this story, my heart melted like ice cream on a hot summers day, and I hope more than anything that the old man goes back to the Tesco Alex works in with his girlfriend.
You can see the original post here.

Who wants to sleep in a city that never wakes up?

Bowler hat - £9.99 - H&M 

Dress - £30 - Dorothy Perkins

This is the outfit that I wore to go Halloween-costume shopping with Hannah (of Doubleyou fame) - the details of which you can read about here. Us girls are going as The Spice Girls for the sixth form Halloween party, Hannah is Scary and I will not insult your intelligence by telling you which one I am going as.

I bought this dress back in the summer, and the only other time I've worn it was to Alex's 18th birthday party (I have to admit that I did feel a tad overdressed, as I wore heels and curled my hair, but as his relatively long-term girlfriend I had to make an effort since his entire family was going to be there) and I've been wanting to wear it since, so I took the opportunity to wear it again on our little town trip. 

I really like the dress, mostly because of the skirt - I love how floaty it is and when I spin around it sticks out, which is, in my opinion, the mark of a nice and girly dress. I'm by no means the girliest person in the world (girly-girls can sometimes do my head in) it's just nice to wear a pretty dress now and then, don't you think? I also like pretty much anything with a collar, and some of you might remember a post I did on quirky prints, so there's three of my boxes ticked with this one item! 

Dorothy Perkins is most definitely overlooked when it comes to affordable fashion.

Leopard print loathing

Today was a day well spent.

Me and Holly travelled to our local town in search of the perfect Scary Spice costume, resulting in a lot of leopard print and little happiness.

First stop was the shop that doesn't know it's fancy dress - Primark.

Don't get me wrong, they have some really lovely clothes, most of my wardrobe consists of them, but when it's bad, it's really bad.

After searching through the extensive 'horrible animal print section', as it is now named, we found some leopard trousers (yes trousers) and a black sequinned bandeau. Very scary.

At the changing rooms mild embarrassment struck when the girl doing her shift there was in fact from our very own school, our very own year and our very own classes. We ensured her that these were for Halloween purposes, but she still looked partially horrified.

In the changing rooms, I hung up the ghastly garments and with a deep sigh, put them on.
They were horrific.
The bandeau looked like something out of a tribute act - but not for the Spice Girls - and the trousers were just, well, they were leopard print trousers weren't they.

After Primark, naturally the next point of call is the charity shops. We are blessed with around ten of these treasures, and they did not let us down today, with an array of disgusting leopard prints, we were overjoyed.

Unfortunately (and worryingly), the sizes were around 14 and above, except for one little gem. A top/skirt/hankerchief in the most god awful print you will ever see or hear about.

On our way down towards H&M (the second cheapest high street store in town) we witnessed a very peculiar sight. Stood outside H&M was a roughly nine-year-old boy eating a sandwich. He was not an extraordinary boy in any way, but what caught our eye was the quite frankly massive marrow that was so naturally slung over his shoulder. I can only assume that it was a regular occurrence for him, as he did not look at all self-conscious as he stood on the highstreet on a Saturday afternoon, monching on his sandwich and holding his marrow.

Inside H&M itself we were once again on a mission for a disgusting leopard print, and we were not let down. There was a wide range of leopard print bottoms for us to choose from, however some of them were in legging form and if you're wearing a grotty print you can't also wear leggings as trousers can you? There can only be so many broken fashion rules in one outfit, even at Halloween.

"It looks the most like it could be an outfit, rather than something from a dressing up box"

"I look like I should be in a nativity"

Just incase you couldn't already tell, we aren't really sold on it.

Halloween #4

My apologies for the shitty picture quality, I don't have an iPhone.

Peculiar as it may sound, sixth form is only up the road from a fancy dress shop (of all things) so I nipped at dinner to try on a Union Jack dress for the Halloween party which is TWO WEEKS TOMORROW. 

I'm pleased to report that even though it's from a packet, it is neither drastically short nor does it give everyone a flash of my tits, which are two big no-no's for me when it comes to dressing up, or wearing clothes in general. 

Now all I need to do is work on my nineties make-up.

Halloween #3

I'm so excited, because this year I'm going to not one, but two Halloween parties!
I was originally intending to go to both parties in my Little Dead Riding Hood costume, because I'm lazy and cannot be bothered to come up with a whole second idea, and then pay out again for another costume which will, ofcourse, only be worn once.

However, whilst I was slaving away in Photography this morning, my friends cooked up a plan for the sixth form Halloween party - us five are going as the Spice Girls. No prizes for guessing which of the group I'll be dressing up as...

And what springs to mind when someone says Geri Halliwell? That iconic Union Jack, erm, dress?



I think "dress" might be a little generous considering the worrying lack of fabric. Luckily, the fancy dress versions will atleast cover my bum cheeks.

 
Available in various sizes from Amazon

I will keep you updated with both of my Halloween costumes as the pieces are slowly slotted together, only a few short weeks to go!

Halloween #2

As you know, if you read Friday's Halloween post, I went shopping for my costume yesterday, and these are my socks for the occasion. As you can probably tell, I stitched the bows on myself, but if you have a serious needle-and-thread aversion and want to make something similar yourself, I imagine that fabric glue would work just as well. 

I want to go for a really cute look with my clothes, then destroy the whole illusion with my hair and make-up.

This is a photo of the make-up I am hoping to emulate

Freaky, right?

To do this look, I've bought:

w7 lipstick in Forever Red

w7 Massive Lashes Mascara (I usually use a brown/black mascara, as I prefer a more natural look, but I thought I should have big black lashes for Halloween)

w7 Automatic Eyeliner pencil (again, I would normally use a grey or brown eyeliner, for more subtle definition  but subtlety is not for Halloween!)

Beauty UK face powder in white (as I'm pale anyway, I could just buy a really pale foundation, as that's what I already use day-to-day, so I needed something more extreme)

LaJemme 11 colour eyeshadow, with shades of blue, yellow and green, which will all help me to emulate this style.

I got my make-up from a little stall in the market hall, so it all came out at less than a tenner! Since I won't be using this make-up very often, if every again, I begrudge spending lots of money on it, just for one use.

I'm really getting excited now!

Halloween

As you all know, it's Halloween in just a few short weeks, and I'm going shopping for my costume tomorrow. I'm going as Little Dead Riding Hood, and I'm fashioning my own costume because ones in packages are:

1. Expensive - I don't want to spend £30+ on a costume that I'll only wear once, because I will only wear it once, I want to go as something different to every fancy dress party.
2. Slutty - they all stop mid-thigh and want me to thrust my tits out to the world. No, just no.
3. Itchy and uncomfortable - they're made from cheap fabric that will make my skin itch, and if I feel uncomfortable then I won't have a good time.

I'm wearing a white blouse, black skirt, red gingham apron, red cape (ofcourse) white knee socks and black cut-out brogues. My hair is still undecided - do I crimp it or simply backcomb the life out of it? The plan is to do my make-up to make me look dead, with lots of white powder, deep red lipstick, and green bruise-coloured eyes. I'm also debating whether to buy a pair of freaky contact lenses or not; they'll complete the look and make me look demented, but I'm scared that if I manage to put them in, I'll lose the nerve to take them back out and that would cause serious issues. I think that it's sometimes forgotten that a Halloween costume's success is as dependant on the hair and make-up as it is the actual clothes. I hope that I get it right.

I love Halloween.

What are you guys dressing up as this year?

If you're lacking inspiration, I seriously recommend that you look through last years Spookbook entries, the costumes are simply beautiful!