Get The Essex Look

Hey guys, welcome to my first ever post on my new blog page! Oh mon dieu, so exciting! The Satirical Stylist is starting off on a really fun and current note... This week is gonna be all about THE ONLY WAY IS ESSEX that fab, fun reality show that I can not help but love.

Move over TOWIE, there are some new "Essex" girls in town, in fact they're not in your town, there right up the M1 in a city called Leicester.

The Only Way is Leicester

The Essex look is easy to recognise, think:

Boobs, Tan, Nails, Eyelashes, Makeup (lots of), Heels and of course a scantily clad bod.

Watching the show had got me thinking... I wonder how I would look all Essex-ed up. Could I pull it off? How long would it take to achieve? How would I feel?

After enough pondering, I decided to bite the bullet and have an Essex Makeover.

Concept

Take a girl with her own fashion identity, spin it on its head, turn her into; an Essex belle.

I invited my friend; Amelia to join me on this TOWIE quest, I wasn't after a "She's all that" style make over... Instead I wanted to slip between the style genres and end up with a solid, obvious South-East England look.

After all Essex girls are not born lathered in St Tropez, sporting eyelash extensions, it is a look that they have to work hard at. A look that I have set out to achieve.

For those of you who don't know anything about reality show The Only Way is Essex, here are some examples of the kind of look I have aspired to replicate:

Essex Quest

Here is my step-by-step guide to achieving the Essex Look.

Step 1: Outfit

Unlike me an Essex girl is well aware of what she is going to wear; before she wears it. Outfits need to be planned out carefully... Think: What's in?/Who's worn it?

Preparation is key, so me and my girl  headed out on an outfit hunt a week before the shoot was due to take place. Adopting a "Method Actor" approach, diving head-first into our new roles, 1st stop? Lipsy of course!

After over an hour of squeezing into alien sparkly numbers, we had found 3 perfect looks for 3 different scenarios.

Step 2: Get your tan on

We did our own tans at home the day before the shoot.

I went for Sally Henson's Airbrush Legs. This is an instant tan spray which is perfect for just before a night out. From experience I knew that if I used a normal fake tan, the result would be streak-tastic.

Amelia chose Superdrugs own brand Fake Tan: Solait. After 2 carefully applied layers, she was the perfect shade of Essex-Orange.

Step 3: Boobs

The amazing 2 cup sizes bigger bra from Marks & Spencer made a come back and yet again proved the reliable go to for a bigger boob look. Unlike the Essex girls, a boob job was out of the question, no worries though as this fab bra created the perfect illusion.

The two pictures below mark the differences of me before tan, 2 cup sizes bigger bra and makeup and after:

Note: Excuse the lighting the first was taken in the day, the second at night.

Step 4: Makeup and Lashes

I am so lucky to have an amaze friend; Holly the woman behind YM Beauty Blog who possess the skills of a makeup artist, she agreed to make us up in true TOWIE style. Yay!

For eyelashes-that-wow I picked up a couple of packs of Eyelure Double lashes, which Holly kindly applied... Phew.

Step 5: Hair

Hair that is un-brushed, knotted or full of frizz is obscene and almost un-heard of in the World of Essex... Essex hair is shiny and bouncy. NOT A HAIR OUT OF PLACE. A trip to the salon was in order and yet again I was lucky to get the help of a mate to tame our wild locks. My friend Blake from Remy Leicester worked his magic; Giving us Reem Hair, TOWIE perfection.

Essex-it-up; complete

And there you have it a complete guide to achieving Essex-perfection. It was a long grueling process, the hair and makeup alone took 2 hours each and that was with dry hair!

You will have to wait till tomorrow to see the whole look put together.

First Stop? Coffee with the girls... See you tomorrow xoxo

To see all the looks that we put together check out the rest of our Essex Diary:

Day Look
Date Night
Girl's Night
Checking out of Essex

* Press samples courtesy of Lipsy London.