Illamasqua

If you’re going out this Halloween weekend but aren’t sure what to dress up as – of if you should dress up at all – finding the right outfit can be a nightmare! One simple, yet eye-catching way of adding a bit of ‘something’ to your appearance is investing in fake eyelashes. Luckily there are lots to choose from these days so you shouldn’t have a problem finding a pair.

Selfridges has a great selection of false eye lashes by well-known brands like Shu Uemura and Mac, as well as dramatic make-up brand for your alter ego, and a ShinyShiny favourite, Illamasqua. We also love the paper lashes from PAPERSELF. Inspired by the art of Chinese paper-cutting these lashes blend an element of traditional culture with contemporary design.

Take inspiration above for your next party – just don’t forget to bat those lashes!

Taking place from Tuesday  September 27 to Sunday  2 October, the event will feature new and one off pieces from brands such as Twenty8Twelve, Coach, Firetrap, French Connection, Biba at House of Fraser, Onitsuka Tiger, Reiss, Ted Baker, and River Island.

There’s also the chance to get yourself a front row seat at Westfield London Shopping Centre’s exclusive fashion shows, on Saturday 1^st and Sunday 2^nd October as well as enjoy speed grooming with make-up artists. They will be applying their expertise with the latest colour palettes and products and also sharing their beauty top tips.

Like Westfield London on Facebook for the chance to win a car boot filled with £1500 of prizes. Every day for ten days a new prize will appear in the car boot including a TV, Playstation 3, digital camera and more. Plus ten fans will instantly win a £10 Westfield Gift card every day. To enter visit http://www.facebook.com/westfieldlondon

Blackheart Epic Coloured Faux Fur Coat

Fashion-lovers, there’s an incredibly soft and snuggly winter ahead of us as this season it’s going to be all about making like a wild beast and swathing yourself in layers of the softest, shaggiest fur you can find.

Plenty of designers took inspiration from animals this season, from confusing yet pretty fur strips among round iridescent sequins at Prada, while the Olsen girls used The Fantastic Mr Fox as a source of inspiration for their wild-looking draped furs which were teamed with crisp autumnal colours and stark make-up. Fur (faux, of course) always has and always will be an impossibly glamorous way to keep warm during the winter, but this season fur has a darker, moodier edge – think of coats that look like musky old animal skins and mythical creatures for this season.

Long distressed fur is one of our absolute favourite textures for this season, so if you find the perfect shaggy coat or bag, don’t walk past it. These heavy, animalistic textures are all about making a big statement, so just one piece will give your stark winter wardrobe an automatic update. We’re a huge fan of Blackheart’s coats, which you can find at Asos and in the gallery above – especially their deep plum-coloured fur coat that would look amazing with a simple black dress and dark makeup for a dramatic winter look.

If you’re keen on making a bold statement you should consider spurning realistic faux furs for something a little brighter for a dramatic, unusual look – we are absolutely in love with Ana Konda’s designs for Asos, which include some amazing bright scarlet furs. Check them out – they’d look incredible with bright lipstick.

If you’re hesitant to go all-out and deck yourself out like a wild animal, however, you can still channel the trend with a furry accessory or a piece with a simple fur trim without needing to go the whole hog. River Island is brilliant for fur collars, bags and shoes – we seriously recommend that you stop by their site to see what they’ve got.

To see our favourite fur pieces on the high street, check out the gallery above.

Patricia is most famous for her work styling Sex and The City

The notoriously fabulous Sex and the City stylist Patricia Field advises aspiring fashionistas that good style doesn’t necessarily equal huge amounts of money.

Field says that anyone can have  style on a budget; they just need to find the right style to suit them. “Style is not the equivalent of money. Some people have lots of money and no style – some people have no money and lots of style. Style comes from a different choice – it comes from your philosophy and your job patterns and how you feel. I mean my life is very heavily around people much younger than myself. Young people, they don’t have a lot of money but the young people are the ones with the style. Young people have energy, and old people do not – and that energy translates into interests and getting information – and from all of that you can work out your style.”

The stylist says that the key secret to a stylish wardrobe is having a few classic, staple pieces – the pieces depending on the wearer. She said: “In anyone’s wardrobe there are those key pieces for them that they can’t live without. I could talk about myself, or somebody specific, but in general I would say that the more variation that you offer yourself in your wardrobe – the more combinations you will be able to create because you have more options.”

More variety you say? Well in that case, Patricia, I’ll go and max out my Topshop card right now..

Outfit 1. Lipsy Pleated Off-The-Shoulder Dress

How amazing have the past few months been for celebrity nuptials? We’ve had Lily Allen, Kate Moss and Zara Phillips all tying the knot, and obviously the country had quite a massive nationwide wedding party when William and Kate got married.

Summer is the season for weddings, and with Autumn only just beginning we’ve got a long way to go before it’s over. If you’re an upcoming wedding guest and in a bit of a panic about what to wear (the last one I went to I had a bit of a brain fart and went in a wildly inappropriate slutty black velvet dress) fear not, because we’ve been incredibly good to you and come up with a few ideas.

We’ve compiled three different wedding outfits that we think are perfect, whether you prefer sexier, daring styles, elegance or girly-girly looks. My personal favourite? Lipsy’s floral off-the-shoulder mini-dress, which to me screams summer garden parties and dancing on the lawn. Check out our wedding-guest fashion picks in the gallery above.

America Shirt

It always makes me happy when I discover a new  online store stocking designers I’ve never heard of before (I always feel mildly depressed and disappointed in myself when I limit my shopping options to Asos and Topshop), so it was a massive “Yay!” moment for me yesterday when I stumbled across NASTYGAL.com yesterday. Besides a steady stock of old favourites such as Cheap Monday and Lazy Oaf, there’s also a veritable array of new labels available to please any adventurous dresser and fashion-lover.

The big plus point for me is that the online store has an amazing shoe section which sells more Jeffrey Campbell shoes – one of my favourite shoe designers at the moment – than you could shake a stick at. There are so many on-trend shoes there perfect for referencing vintage and 1970s trends; plenty of chunky platforms, tan leather mixed with sizzling neons and pretty candy colours. It’s enough to make a shoe lover weep.

If you want a few interesting pieces for your summer/wardrobe I’d seriously recommend NastyGal for its’ cool selection of printed sundresses, grunge-inspired crop tops and hot-pants. Yes, it is based in California and you’ll have to pay extra for postage, but if you’ve got a little extra money to burn I think it’s worth it for the enviably cool American wardrobe you’ll be sporting.

Check out the gallery above for just some of our favourite pieces from NastyGal – I wanted to choose it all.

Arm Sculpt

The fashion and beauty world has worked itself into a frenzy this week over an apparent miracle cream which gives us bingo free arms like those shown off by Michelle Obama.

The Rodial ArmSculpt, priced at £59 has promised to shave up to two centimetres of fat off dreaded ‘bingo wings’. Applying it twice a day is said to destroy fatty cells and tighten skin to produce toned arms like those A-Listers.

With the summer approaching we’re doing anything to get that beach body without hitting the gym, meaning that we’ll be the first in the queue when this lovely goes on sale this week.
However, this little piece of news has also inspired us to put together a gallery of those miracle creams, all of which are great for lazy ladies or those who simply just have no time for the gym.

We’ve also been speaking to our friends over at Wahanda who gave us a few more bikini beauty ideas.

Firstly on the topic of cellulite, which according to the company affects nine out of ten women.  It’s put together a search tool so you can find great treatments local to you. There are a number of different ways to reducing the appearance of cellulite; from body wraps to specially a tailored lymphatic drainage massage.

When it comes to facial treatments the company recommends a facial to leave you feeling cleansed and gorgeous. Our faces, are always on show, so keeping our skin looking beautiful is all part of keeping it healthy.

And of course there’s that all important tanning conundrum. Wahanda tells us that there are plenty of tanning salons around the country and thanks to the company you can easily find salons or spas local to you and rated and reviewed by other users. All fake tans work best after a good exfoliation so why not look up a venue that offers a body scrub too.

See the gallery above for our pick of the best miracle creams out there.

Muddy fields and spilled drinks are a guaranteed feature of any festival, so high heels and long skirts are perhaps not the best gear for style conscious girls. That’s why we’re loving that playsuits are in fashion this summer as they go with wellies, let you sit down without having to figure out how avoid that dreaded builders bum and they look great when teamed with a denim jackets.

If you haven’t found the perfect playsuit yet, here are five from the high street that won’t break the bank – leaving you with more money to spend on organic cider!

French Connection

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Summer Thistle Strappy Playsuit by French Connection, £62.00

Black Daisy Print Silk Shorts

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Cute and girly, these shorts from Topshop Unqiue is a star buy.

Wasn’t the weather beautiful today? I spent most of the day daydreaming about the summer, keeping a lookout for cute bikinis online and fighting the urge to go outside and read in the garden when I should have been doing my university courswork – and then I came in here and wrote this.

Today’s blue skies and warm breeze was a pleasant reminder that winter is over - bring on the spring and all that it entails. In fashion terms that entails lightweight fabrics, pretty prints and baring your legs – and there’s no better way to do that than with a cute, femininely cut pair of shorts to show off your (fake-tanned) pins.

The great thing about this year’s spring/summer trends is that absolutely anything goes. You want delicate prints as seen at Miu Miu, or sizzlingly bright block colours a la Jil Sander? There’s a pair out there at the moment on the high street to suit absolutely everyone. Pick out a pair of our top 10 spring shorts in the gallery above, pair them up with a little top and some cool wedges and voila! Your new favourite spring outfit, without even having to try too hard. Aren’t we good to you?

Twill Slacks

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These brilliant purple high-waisted slacks are sporty, sexy and on-trend. You can find them at American Apparel.

Fashion Week is long gone now, but spring is on the way – there’s no better way to celebrate that than with a graphic explosion of colour, as seen at Jil Sander (pictured). The fashion house’s long eye-popping column skirts, teamed with fluorescent lipstick and beautifully cut plain white tee-shirts, has become one of the most referenced catwalk collections of the year. Beautifully simple, youthful and fun, this is one trend we can get behind.

It’s so easy as a lover of the high street to fall into the trap of black, black, black. Little black dresses, black heels, black everything. Very classic, yes, and a bit Chanel, but – whisper it – a tiny bit boring. If you’re not interested in vampy dramatic black clothing or ballerina-esque neutrals, then this might be a trend that you want to try out.

It’s a trend that might be tricky to nail if you’re new to experimenting with colour – believe me, I know I definitely am – but the key to this look is to keep things simple. For full-on eye-popping fashion choose a statement piece in a vivid colour, such as a maxi skirt or pair of tailored trousers, and team it up with simple accessories and a clean white shirt for a look that’s both youthful and modern. Or, if you’re feeling a bit too timid to meet the trend head-on, give a nod to the look with a fluorescent handbag or pair of heels. River Island is fantastic for bright shoes – check out their “Fashion Fix” section for a selection of eye-popping shoes.

Also high on our colour-popping hit list is American Apparel. It may seem an obvious choice, but you really need to look no further for a wide range of sexy, youthful basics in eye-wateringly bright colours. We love their twill slacks in bright purple.

To check out our favourite colourful pieces on the high street, check out our gallery.