Checking out of Essex

Whoa Essex week is over so fun! Time to put my TOWIE look away and get back to being moi; Sans bling... Sigh...

I discussed with ya'll on Monday what inspired me to crawl out of my fashion comfort zone and try out something new and alien.

Re-cap: "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?"

Could I pull it off?: Once the make-over was complete, I was shocked out how #TOWIE me and my girl looked. It was as though we had been born and raised in South-East London. So, I will say YES we most definitely pulled it off.

How long would it take to achieve?: Getting the look put together took AGES. I will try and break it down...

- Picking out outfits took about an hour and a half.

- Applying Fake tan 40 minutes.

- Nails one hour (I had painted mine an amazing bright coral shade and then applied heart gems on to my thumbs - with tweezers). Following this careful application, they sadly smudged and some of the hearts fell off. Leading me to keep them to myself throughout the photo shoot.

- Hair and Makeup 2 hours.

Total time: 5 hours 10 minutes

That is some serious beauty investment time! I am not sure if ladies that live in this look would take more or less time as there is lots to weigh up... For example:

It took us a long time to pick out outfits as we were having to heavily focus on a style genre that we were uncertain off, so assuming that an "Essex" girl knows her style she may be quick off the mark... "I'll take that one babe"

However, we only looked for clothes in Lipsy... So, if a TOWIE lady was shopping she is likely to try a number of shops and this could take hours. So who knows??!

This can be applied to each step of preperation... Whether they do their own hair and nails or get them done in the salon.

- Getting to the salon, waiting time, getting the treatments done, going home... It all takes time. Almost a day in itself!

How would I feel?: I actually felt amazing and not at all how I thought I would. The pictures that I have from this shoot are in my eyes, the prettiest ones I have of me. So weird!

I thought I would look ridiculous, not like the outfits but it didn't go that way.

I had never shopped in Lipsy prior to the shoot, I had been in the store before and not liked the clothes at all. After trying them on I have done a 360. I am even going to buy the Knitted Stripe Dress that I wore for the day look, loves it!

Oh my and I LOVED having big boobs for the day, it really was fun.

Further thoughts

Other motivations behind this week of "Essex Inspired" posting was to pose as an example of style bending. My normal look is quite low-key and requires little maintenance, I don't feel that I fit into a particular style "category". I appreciate "fashion identities" but my nature is to chop and change so I could never dress in ONE style. I wanted to share this with you guys and hopefully lead you to think about opening up your style-senses and also throw away fashion judgements.

TOWIE style is a look that people seem to love or hate. It's glam, it's obnoxious and it can be seen as quite threatening.

Words like "slag" are being followed up with "she's just jel".

All us who love fashion, regardless of our style have a huge thing in common and that is a PASSION FOR FASHION something that should bring us together, non?

Reactions

Through this week of posting both me and Amelia have had lots of interesting feedback. Most of it really positive, which is great.

Amelia has suddenly become extremely popular! At the last count 30 boys that she hadn't heard from recently, suddenly checking in with her... "Long time no see."

In conclusion

I loved the look and enjoyed experimenting. I may well Essex up in future, however, I am happier and more comfortable in my cashmere jumpers and leggings...

That's it for Essex week, I hope you enjoyed it. Really grateful to everyone who helped out:

Model: Amelia

Makeup: Holly

Hair: Blake

Clothes: Lipsy

Venue: Barrington's Wine Bar & Lounge, 16 Kings Street, Leicester

Photographer: Linda Blann, Contact Linda here for shoot enquiries: lindablann@hotmail.co.uk

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

Get the Essex Look
Day Look
Date Night
Girl's Night

Sending kisses xoxo