Happy Saturday! It's actually starting to feel not as cold at the moment, so hopefully, that means the weather will continue to warm up a little bit more. I absolutely love the snow, but I think as soon as it starts getting to around this time of year more, it's nice to start having some warmer weather! But I do still love getting snuggled up in my dressing gown and a big blanket, with a mug of hot chocolate. A few things I love about Spring though is listening to the birds in the morning, driving past fields of daffodils and tulips and seeing the buds start appearing on trees and lots of blossom of course. I will definitely be doing a post on my most favourite things about Spring. I can't wait to start taking lots of Spring themed photos. It's crazy how we are almost in April now! It doesn't seem 5 minutes ago since It was the beginning of March and I was celebrating my 28th birthday!
If you are looking for a brand new eyeshadow palette, then check this one out by The Body Shop. And if you are looking for a new book, I highly recommend checking out The Little Wedding Island by Jaimie Admans. I've got some exciting new book reviews coming to ClemLoves very soon, which I can't wait to share with you. I also realised that I have quite a lot of photos on my memory card of beauty products that I have taken. So expect lots more beauty posts coming soon. Just to quickly mention too, that there's still some time left to grab yourself an advertising package for April. Head on over to my advertise section at the top of my blog to find out more. I have a choice of three packages and prices start from just £2. There's the Butterfly Package, Dolphin Package and Unicorn Package. There's still room left for April if you would like one. If you would like to view my stats, they are at the bottom of the advertise page.
For today's brand new blog post, I want to talk to you about how I have found my own personal style. It's taken quite a lot of years, but I've finally found it! The outfit I am wearing in the photos above and below is an outfit I really do love wearing. You may recognise the jumper from one of my previous posts and is by Damart. The skirt is one I got for Christmas. I saw it in Dorothy Perkins and fell in love with it, but as I was trying to save money, I didn't get it. My mum surprised me with it as a present for Christmas, I was so happy. I added my favourite Primark necklace to the outfit, some thick black tights, dark brown boots that are fluffy inside and so cosy, my baker boy cap from Topshop and backpack from Dorothy Perkins. This post is just a little bit about how my style has changed over the years, looking back to what I wore when I was younger and how I finally feel comfortable in what I wear.
To be honest, this outfit and these photos are what prompted me to write this post. Although I love taking photos, I've never really liked having photos of myself, which is also why you won't see many photos of me in my Instagram feed. In the past when I have taken photos of myself or someone has taken them for me, I always end up finding 101 things to pick at. But looking at these photos, I was automatically drawn to how comfortable I look in them and I'm so happy with the final results of the photos. It got me thinking about the clothes I was wearing and how much this outfit really gave me a boost of confidence. Other photos that I have taken for say blog purposes of myself, I have always felt unsure if to use them or not, but I just knew that I wanted to use these photos and it feels right to use them for this post.
I can remember now when I was very young what some of my favourite outfits that I wore was. I was a huge fan of the Spice Girls when they first come out. Baby Spice was my favourite. I remember getting a black and orange dress with Spice Girls on and I absolutely loved it. Another of my favourite items of clothing was an Angelica t-shirt from the Rugrats. I also had a top and trousers set that had 101 Dalmatians on. I also owned a metallic blue colour crop top and shorts set, which I remember wearing to a disco. I did love that crop top! I remember asking my mum and dad if I could order a jumper with S Club 7 on. I was very happy when that arrived in the post!
You can actually check out some of my outfits I wore when I was younger here. I always loved dressing up too. My favourite dress up outfits that I loved to wear was my Disney Princess Jasmine one and also my Disney Cinderella ball gown dress. I remember that when I went to my nan and grandads, my nan used to have a box with different items of clothing in, I think it had a lot of scarfs in too. I remember that I used to have a good rummage through it and dress up.
When I was at school I went through a stage where all I wanted to wear was black. I even dyed my hair black underneath, which let me tell you when I wanted to go back to blonde all over again, it took a very long while to come out properly! I think I was about 13 or 14 at the time. I think around this time, this was when I was trying to find my own style more. I would look what everyone else was wearing at my school and in magazines and on TV. I remember when everyone was getting Playboy jewellery and bags and items of clothing with the word Playboy on! I had Playboy earrings, a necklace and a bag. It was all the rage! Also whilst I was at school, I went through a stage where I literally straightened my hair every day for months, I would even straighten it sometimes two or three times a day! Which definitely wasn't good for my hair and eventually I had to have quite a bit cut off. I don't even straighten my hair anymore, I haven't done for years, the only time I did have hair straighteners used on my hair, was at the hairdresser's, but that was quite some time ago now, as my mum does my hair for me now.
I suppose you could say that I was kind of confused and a little lost with how I wanted to dress. It was more of looking at what everyone else was wearing and not looking at what I wanted to wear. I remember at school discos, it was always about getting the best outfit, not thinking about what is going to be the comfiest to dance in or what's going to keep me warm. When I first started secondary school I think that I was still mostly wearing clothes that I loved and felt comfiest in. But then I started to look around me and I just wanted to 'fit in'. One of my favourite programmes to watch at the time was Sabrina The Teenage Witch, and I remember when Melissa got her hair cut really short and I decided that I really wanted that hairstyle too. I regretted it almost straight after, as it definitely didn't look the same as Melissa's.
It's only now that I'm 28, I have finally found 'my style'. I think it was always more of a case of that I would see someone wearing a particular outfit and think, 'oh wow, I need to get that'. But I often found that those items of clothing just wasn't really me. It's also only really now that I feel comfortable in what I wear, I have a strong love for the clothes that I have in my wardrobe. I remember going through a stage where I just picked anything up because it looked good. Especially when going to Primark! Rather than take the time to find a few small pieces that would go really well with other items of clothing I already had at home, I just ended up getting them for the sake of it. It was after that they I started to realise that I really need to find my own style, something that I'm comfortable in and not just because everyone else is wearing it!
Clothes that I love to wear are jumpers, skirts, dresses and long cardigans. It wasn't so long ago when I properly first started wearing dresses, rather than just for the odd night out or special occasion. I think it was when I was in college and I just wanted to try something completely different to what I usually wear and to find something that I would absolutely love. It was actually my mum who helped me find some dresses that I went into the changing room to try on. And you know that moment when you put new clothes on and look in the mirror and just think wow! That was how I felt. I felt comfortable in what I wearing and it suddenly gave me this boost of confidence. That was how my love for dresses began. It was also after this that I started growing my hair long, something that I had always wanted to do, but I always ended up getting it cut short. It's like at this moment I just started to feel more comfortable overall.
I would always compare myself and feel really down about how I looked. I would look at my friends and see what they were wearing and would just think to myself, why can't I look like them. But as I've gotten older, I've started to love myself more and more. Things that I would have definitely picked on myself about, I just don't really worry about that anymore. Yes, my friends are stunning and beautiful, but I want to look like me, I want to be myself, have my own style, wear my hair how I want to wear it. I think it's very important to love ourselves, we are all beautiful and we should embrace that. By doing this, it has helped me to find 'my style'. I dress in clothes that make me feel comfortable, if I try something on just because it looks good, but doesn't feel right, I won't buy it.
I like to think back to when I was very young and wearing the outfits that I mentioned above. I felt so happy wearing those outfits, I loved them. I didn't care if no one else liked them because I did. I think that's what it can be so easy to forget about. I know what I love and I'm going to wear it. For example, I have this long oversized cardigan which I really do love. I personally think it looks great over my dresses and it's nice and warm too. But my boyfriend really doesn't like it, and I mean he REALLY doesn't like it, but you know what, that doesn't bother me, I love it and I'm gonna wear it, which I do. If I want to have a day where I'm wearing my favourite t-shirt with Pokemon, Wonder Woman or flowers on, jeans and a hoodie, that's fine, because I like it. One of my favourite things I do when clothes shopping, is to have a look at the men's section because you can find some really great things. A few years ago I wouldn't have even of thought of doing that, but the hoodie I am wearing right now, whilst writing this post is from the men's section and it's so comfy! My friend and I always say about how we used to wear tiny outfits in the freezing cold, because we thought they looked good, and now if we are going out, we will dress to keep warm and wear something comfortable for the evening out, even if that does mean wearing a hat, scarf, gloves and a long coat out!
Now I wear what I want to wear, I know what I like and what I feel comfortable in, and if someone doesn't like it, then that's their problem, not mine! Please let me know in the comments your favourite outfits to wear. Or if you have a blog post on your favourite outfit, send me your links.
