TheATeam: Asos

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Feeling Autumnal?

Hello Internet!

April here, and I'm going to be sharing with you my autumn inspired fashion & Beauty wish list!

I'm going to start off with the beauty side of my Autumnal inspired look, because there are so many
products on my mind that i want, that i need to write it down before i forget!

Beauty wish list

+MAC- Eye shadow in colour amber lights- priced at £13

click here to find more colours!

I have always heard great reviews about the mac eye shadows, and i wanted to give this a try, and for £13 who can blame me!

+Too Faced- Better Than Sex Mascara- which for America is priced at $23.00 Meaning for us brits, we should pay around £14 excluding shipping.

Click here for site

I must admit with this product, i have kind of jumped on the band wagon, but how else are you meant to find a product that perfect for you?! and with so many recommendations i cant resist much longer!

+ TARTE- Amazonian clay 12-hour blush at $26.00-(£16 'ish')

Link

The range of colours they have for this blush are all so beautiful. For autumn, i feel a more earthy/nude tone blush with a statement colour lipstick would give a beautiful winter look! . Ive also seen a Vlog in which missglamorazzi raved about this brand, so naturally i mush have it in my life!

I hate how easy it is for me to be incised in by a brand!

~And lastly on my cosmetic assault that is my wish list~

+Charlotte Tilbury- Matte Revolution Lipstick in Glaston-berry priced at £23

link

Now i have, admittedly, scoured through tons of reviews of this product, and not one has a negative comment, the range holds fantastic autumnus colouring! The price tag may be a bit hefty but i recon it will be worth it!

+FleurDeForce has done a beautiful in-depth product review of this, check it out here!

High-street clothing store wish list

+ TopShop- Lace Insert Flippy Dress priced at £26.00

I love, love, love, this dress, sometimes i prefer simple dressed because you can dress it up as much as you like, i want to style this with my black boots/tights, waist belt, leather jacket, and floppy hat for a cute monochrome autumn/winter look

+ ASOS-Folded Collar Blouse priced at £22.00

This blouse needs to be in my life.... The collar detail is super cute and i have a perfect mustard colour jumper to style it with, paired with grey skinny jeans and brown boots

+ ASOS-Long Sleeve Blouse in Mono Cloud Print priced at £36.00

*cough cough* i defiantly did not just buy this when i was proof reading this post...

(i love how i have managed to talk myself in to buying this!)

+ Miss Selfridges cut work heart floppy hat-Price: £30.00

Erm.. i have this in black, and i love it so much, its a really cute way of va-va-vooming up a look AND it has a draw string inside so it fits smaller heads!... very clever!

And finally i found this mood board on the river island website showing some inspirational fashion week street style looks. i very much want the "model off duty" look

River Island Trends

There we have it! basically my Christmas list really :)

I hope you enjoyed reading through this and potentially inspired some purchases?

woowooo shopping

Toodlepip xx

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Festival Tips & Tricks

Hey guys, April here!

I'm chatting about festival fun this week!

Looking at the bare essentials for your festival weekend!

~~(Just want to point out the images are NOT my own)~~

~~The festival I went to was amazing in every way except the fact that my camera died on the first day so I have no photo evidence of my incredible time.~~

This post is inspired by the Vlog Zoella did on YouTube looking at festival hair, makeup and clothing

Click HERE for the video and more inspiration!

Lets get cracking!

The best advice i can give for a newcomer to festivals is go in a big group! not only is it safety in numbers but it makes the whole experience more enjoyable, also people who have already been to festivals and know what to expect are also handy, they know the best places to pitch the tents etc... yes location of your tent matters!

~ Have a good tent!

people go down the route of getting a cheap tent and abandoning it at the end of the weekend, like me.... worst thing i have ever done! seriously have a good tent with you!

I went for aesthetics over durability/reliability....big mistake! i chose a £15 teepee from eBay, it was easy to put up and looked cute, little did i know about the hell i was entering my self in to. first of all it was unable to contain heat during the night, leaked every time it rained, and would instantly collapse the second a drunk person tripped up our tents guidelines. Not fun re-assembling the tent at 5 am!
Get a tent that is colourful, something that will instantly grab your attention, so you're not hunting for your tent in the dark in a dirty field

( take a small flashlight with you and keep it with you all the time to help guide you back to your tent too)

Have fun looking for your tent!

This is an ideal tent.. no guidelines and very colourful

~ Shoes!

Now I'm not saying everyone right now go buy £80 hunter wellies, because that's a lot of money...for wellies especially.
I'm saying choose something that's both warm and waterproof, and that's comfy to walk around in for 13+ hours a day

( festival shenanigans don't just end at the last performance, its when the party tents open up and the funfair is in full force!)

Just want to point out, everyone wears hunter boots to festivals.. don't follow the crowd be creative and start your own trend!

~ Don't be afraid of the rollers!

Don't be alarmed at the sheer amount of women walking round a field in their rollers!

Now since this was my first festival i had no idea what to do with my hair in regards to keeping it looking fresh... i just went down the lines of dry hair shampoo and hoping for the best.
This obviously wasn't the best/ ideal plan of action, because it was tied up by the Sunday.
I did however noticed how the women with longer hair were turning up to the festival with their rollers in, and i mean A LOT of women that had turned up on the Friday with massive rollers in and plastic bags over their heads to keep dry, i obviously missed a trick!

TRY-- leaving the rollers in all day Friday then on Saturday have a good spray of dry shampoo/ hair spray and your hair would be good till Sunday!

~ Food

I lived off super noodles for the weekend, enough said really....it was light and didn't take up much room in my rucksack. ~~My priority was the alcohol~~
There are food vans open more or less constantly so food is available.. but at a price. I paid £ 7.50 for a burger when i got fed up with the noodles...

~ Wipes!

God help you, if you forget the baby wipes! i took 2 packets, one for the loos and one for the face/ body, they are absolutely essential

~ Clothing

Now finally the best bit, deciding what to wear and take with you! its totally down to you, whether you wanna 'look good' or 'be warm' now obviously there is a nice middle ground between these sections but you do see girls in bikini tops in the freezing rain.. it looks silly and they are deffo gonna get ill. the best tip is to remember you are in England so the chances of rain is high, so remember some sort of hoodie or coat that you can pair with some cute shorts/long socks and wellies... wellies are essential for the inevitable rain/ mud situation here is a mood board of clothing ideas :)

There you go, some fun tips to survive your first festival! have an amazing time and don't get up to much mischief :)

Toodlepip xx

Friday, 1 August 2014

A Quick & Easy Guide To Vintage Shopping!!

I am keen bean when I see good vintage shop, its like entering a sweet shop but much more fantastic!

I understand some people hate Vintage shopping for many reasons, but I love trying something different and making sure I am the only person wearing that outfit. Which typically you can find that if you wear something from the high street, there is a chance someone will be wearing it to - not cool!

Recently there has been a show on called This Old Thing on channel 4- which proves to ordinary people that vintage isn't old or tatty and that it can be Fashionable and trendy.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/this-old-thing-the-vintage-clothes-show

I agree sometimes you are going to have to search and ferry through the selection of clothing that a vintage shop has. It can take longer to find a good purchase in some vintage shops, as the lay out is much more compact than your average high street store. It can be a bit rumble jumble to but I find online vintage shopping is a tad easier to understand if their is too much going on.

So here a my quick and easy tips to follow,

(Most stores I will be mentioning are located in the United Kingdom but prices may vary to post abroad and most have online shops so I will post a link if I can.)

Pros and Cons of Online

*You may have to pay more as it may include postage costs
*Sometimes it may not even be vintage but the seller can fool you.
*Its original price may be cheaper than what they are asking it for.
*Even some photos you can't see the exact quality its in.
*You may be led into a scam and not actually buying anything authentic and one off.
*Sizing usually is what it says whether it is online or not but you could find it won't fit you because you haven't tried it on first.
* Returning items to some shops you may find they wont want the item back.

How to help you not being fooled into buying a generic piece!

*Make sure to read their returns policy

* If your paying a lot for a vintage item it may be worth researching the era- label-designer-brand and fabric.

*Some fabrics like polyester and most synthetic fabrics were only invited after 1941 so iff you see a 1920 inspired dress and the seller has wrote done polly-mix its probably not actually vintage and just a more modern version.

* Ways to tell if the item is authentic is - does it have lining- detailing are buttons plastic or real sterling silver- label will reveal a lot about the item- fit and shape of the item as it will reflect if it is a reproduction.

* Quality is tricky especially if its a bit of a rummage to find it or if its been in a warehouse environment. Most sellers hopefully protect there vintage garments using moth balls and hung nicely ect and packaged in a neat manner, but sometimes it may not be the case. You can usually tell from the photo, some items may have been worn a lot so its best to check armpit and crotch areas- they show the most!

*Never go for something in mind always be open to new things and also making alterations so the garment fits you.

* You can always take it to a tailor/ seamstress to alter garments and its not that costly.

*Make sure to know your measurements rather than just size 12 as you could find that it will fit you as women and clothing were different back in the day :)

I could go on but most of all have fun, if you go in to a shop try on anything that takes your fancy as it may well suit you!!

If you want designer online!!

It seams silly to say this but you can find cheap- expensive vintage clothes, this is where you really want to become specific so you get what you want. But I have found just generic search engine is just to type "Womenswear Vintage Zandra Rhodes size 10" and usually websites like Ebay pop up where people are selling "one off" vintage pieces instead of searching or ferrying through a vintage shop.

This image is from http://www.thevintagestorelondon.co.uk

I thought to help you I would write 5 reviews on my favourite Vintage shops :)

Prices will be marked by *out of 5 (*****being the most expensive and * being cheap)

COW VINTAGE

Location: Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield- UK

Website: http://www.wearecow.com

Price: ***

Online: Cow's website is clear and well presented. Its got a good selection of Vintage clothing that reflect their store and brand. They have additional things like trend reports which I like to see as it Inspires me to wear things, layer them ect ect.

In store: I have been to both Nottingham and Birmingham stores and they have a clear lay out of products and a selective range of both menswear and womenswear.

I like the fact they have a rework range, it gives vintage a new lease of life and saves you the hassle of getting a tailor to do something similar.

Overall Rating: 4/5- I find sizing is a bit weird in Cow usually find that its a bit small.

Beyond Retro

Location: Brighton, London stores + 3, Stockholm +3, Goteborg and Malmo

Website: http://www.beyondretro.com/en/

Price: ****

Online: It is organised very well and you can easily find different eras or particular items. I don't find it as exciting as Cows website as most of the cloths are presented on mannequins. But overall its easy lay out and very good quality images of the garments.

In store: I have been in the London store off Brick Lane, I find it much more exciting than the website. Has very good presentation and visual displays in the windows tempted me to go in. It is more of a rumble but most of the garments are in really good condition and looked after.

Overall Rating: 3/5- Bit expensive for the items.

Rokit

Location: London +4

Website: http://www.rokit.co.uk

Price: ***

Online: I think Rokit makes vintage exciting, young and fresh it carefully selects its items for online. I knew it sells well though because it has a particular target market which influences on what they sell and style it. It has become more professional by having photo shoots and Look book esque feel. It tends to have more 80s-90s era clothing but you can find older bits but its more of a rummage and sift through.

In Store: Camden is where one of the store is located which is a great area for vintage finds in London. It can be a bit pricey in the shop because of its popularity. Most the sizing is ok but availability to wider people is limited.

Overall Rating: 4/5- I find its trying to hard to fit in with a younger market and is loosing the vintage feel and turning into a generic boutique. I find you might not be as unique as you thought when you buy something from there.

Camden Lock and Stables Markets

Location: Camden- London

**WARNING** It is a high tourist area so be prepared for tight squeezes in shops or on market stalls!!!

Website: http://www.camdenlockmarket.com

Price:**

In Store: It is a place you have to visit not really online selling.

I really advice you to go but be prepared for tourists!

I love it is one of my favourite places to visit for vintage clothing, some stores are not authentic but they have such good bargains I tend to ignore that!

I do barter and have to have a good scrummage to find a good item but there is so much it really is a day out treat to myself :P There is so much styles and fashions to- Cyberdog is cool just to experience weird techno culture.

Overall Rating 5/5- Some people may disagree but I love it there! If I lived in london I would be there all the time!!

Disadvantages some don't have changing rooms so not much trying on :( also most are cash in hand so not much chance of returning items.

Harper and Lewis

Location: Birmingham

Website: http://www.harperandlewisvintage.co.uk

Price: *

Website: All I can say is it really needs an update! But it used have much more on there i guess they may be using their asks marketplace account more? Who knows but it has a few selective things on their.

In store: Ohh okay where to I start, they used to be on New Street in Birmingham and they used to have an upstairs bit where you could will a bin bag for a fiver!! It was brilliant I was addicted and went quite abit and filled a bag, most things were in really good nick but you were abit clueless on what era ect. The shop itself had a good selection of clothing menswear and womenswear. Since then they have moved to the bull ring and it looks really good!!! No fill a bag for a £5 though :( boo!!

Overall rating: 3/5 just wish they would have more in store as there is no fill a bag anymore.

Anyway Click the link! Here are some handy websites!

http://scrapbook.channel4.com/programmes/this-old-thing-the-vintage-clothes-show

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/this-old-thing-the-vintage-clothes-show/articles/all/where-to-shop

http://totallyvtg.blogspot.co.uk/p/online-vintage.html

http://thevintagefleaguidetonottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/wild-and-wilder-clothing.html

http://www.thevintagefair.com

http://popupvintagefairs.co.uk

http://www.thevintagedirectory.co.uk

http://www.american-vintage.net

http://www.corsetsandcrinolines.com

http://www.bejewelledvintage.co.uk

Online shops!!

https://marketplace.asos.com/women

http://www.preloved.co.uk

http://www.ebay.co.uk

ht tps://www.etsy.com

http://www.boutique-b-u.co.uk/store/index.php

gingermegs-vintage.com

https://www.notjustalabel.com

junosayshello.com

http://scarletragevintage.com

http://hirstantiques.co.uk

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/honeymoonmuse

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/uk/index.jsp

http://www.stylesequel.com/designers

http://www.thenandnowshop.com

LONDON

http://bangbangclothingexchange.co.uk

http://lucyindisguiselondon.com

http://www.spitalfields.co.uk

http://www.absolutevintage.co.uk

http://www.mintvintage.co.uk

YORK and LEEDS

http://www.lovemissdaisy.com/pages/contact-us

http://www.britaindoesvintage.co.uk/york-vintage-fair/

http://www.festivalofvintage.co.uk

http://bowlervintage.co.uk

http://www.upstagedleeds.co.uk

http://www.bluerinsevintage.co.uk/index.php/contact/leeds/

http://www.vulgarsheffield.co.uk

BIRMINGHAM

http://mtvintage.weebly.com

https://www.facebook.com/mrbirdsemporium

http://www.theoasisfashionstore.co.uk

http://www.gingermegs-vintage.com

http://www.urban-village.co.uk

http://frockonvintage.co.uk

http://www.custardfactory.co.uk/home/shops/

http://www.disorderboutique.com

NOTTINGHAM

http://celias-nottm.co.uk/shop/

http://www.pulpfashion.co.uk

http://www.tastyvintage.com

http://vintage-reclaimed.webs.com

So I hope that helps, Happy Vintage shopping!!!

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Friday, 18 July 2014

Everyone is wanting to have Ripped… Jeans!!

It seems hitting the high street this year is all about having a pair of ripped jeans in your closet. I know that it is easy and simple to go pick a pair up from your local Topshop or Primark even, but there is a way to save some pennies and create this look without having to leave your home.

I have recently graduated and I have no money to go buy myself some key fashion pieces that I will need this summer, so I am all about saving to go towards travelling or paying off loan more likely :(

So here it is my step by step guide too customise your very own ripped jeans.

What you will need;
1- Unpicker
1- Pair of old scissors or fabric sheers
1- Pemistone (optional)
1-Bit of sandpaper(optional)
1- Chalk or fabric marker
1- Pair of old jeans!!- Most important of all!!

Depending on the look you want choosing the jean colour and style does matter, if you have an old pair of jeans my advice is just to get creative and experiment and if you don't like it, you haven't ruined your favourite jeans. I particularly like the loose fit style usually they go by the name of boyfriend jean, and I like lighter colour denims for the summer time. If you have a dark style of jean and want lighter, no problem- bleach is your best friend under supervision- in a well ventilated area you can bleach denim, it slowly lightens and if you keep an eye on the process you can wash it off whenever you have the desired colour. It can burn your hands so make sure to wear protective gear and thoroughly wash the denim after. Also you can bleach before or after the ripping begins it really doesn't matter. I have found it is best done before but make sure it has been washed a lot to rinse any of the leftover bleach, it will feel crispy so it might be even an idea to put it through the washer machine and dryer using conditioner.

So Lets Begin!

First do some research on pacific style that you wish to achieve. Here are some of my favourites!! Also inspiration of how to stylise your new jeans!!

Then clear some workspace on a table and mark where you want to have the rips or what I call denim grazes on your jeans, typically around knee cap and thigh are where you want them, not to high otherwise you will be showing things that aren't meant to be seen ;) like pocket bags- hehe, what were you thinking :P

Also decide whether you want lots of rips or just subtle design- after wear it will tear more so that is something to consider. I Warn You know your jeans my loose shape or even tighten!

The next thing I did was pull a couple of threads with the unpicker to mark where I wanted to start, to get the best result is to be careful and have some knowledge of Denim fabric structure, its not hard to figure this out.
You want to start unpicking the warp thread which when looking at your trousers its the threads that are running vertically.

This gives less support to the denim but will create this laddering effect once you start pulling out threads from ether side of the whole created from the unpicker.

Though this method is a bit of a faff there are some other great techniques I found to have similarly good effects to the denim.

I found some Tweezers that also ended up being involved in slowly pulling and manipulating threads, I found this to work well as using my fingers became quite painful and hard as I wanted to work in a smaller area.

I was also cutting any threads that were becoming too long as its something that could cause the denim to start unravelling when I wear them.- Under supervision you could burn some of the ends as this can give a nice rustic look swell as preventing unravelling.

By now I have also created some bigger holes that also made it easier to create laddering/graze effect to the denim, gently pulling the loose threads can also make it look more authentic.

This is what mine started too look like, although I was going for a subtle look with this particular pair of jeans I wanted it to look more distressed so I used the penistone and grater and rubbed them against the fabric, you could use the sand paper. But I found results took a lot of time, I am impatient and like a quick result, so I intervened once again.

I bought this razor last year from boots for £5.99 I soon found out it wasn't the best and haven't used it since. It has an electric bikini trimmer which again isn't too good but i saw on other tutorials people had used razors so I gave it a try. It worked, with some effort it gave holes and a distressed look to my jeans. If you are to use a razor please be careful as it is sharp.

The final step is to repeat to the other side it can follow the same pattern or be completely different and also iff you desire the back can be ripped the same way. As a design feature it may be worth distressing the pockets and the hem of the jeans for the more authentic look.