Work Experience - Maturing My Wardrobe

Hi Everyone!

I said in my last post that I have secured myself a work experience placement over Easter at a local newspaper back home, and have also got myself a job at a magazine in Manchester. Obviously, I got mega excited about it all, as my career seems to be forming in front of me, but I had nothing to wear.
I know loads of girls say that, but I literally have no smart/formal clothing. I spend my life in jeans or body-con skirts with loose tops and vans with my leather jacket. Not exactly office appropriate. So obviously, I went shopping:

shoes: £10, top: £8, denim dress: £10 (all Primark)

belt: £3.99, trousers: £24.99, necklace: £7.99,  umbrella: £5.99 (all H&M), 

lipstick £8, blusher: £6 (both Topshop), books: Amazon

I wanted some smart black trousers that I could wear with numerous tops, these ones from H&M are beautiful and fit really well. I had to turn them up a bit (I don't like full length trousers, so these are rolled to my ankles, and I'm really short). They're not quite high waisted, but don't sit low on my hips either. Perfect.

I don't own any smart shoes (surprise, surprise). I live in vans (4 pairs and counting, eep) so I didn't want to spend a bomb on a pair of shoes I will literally only wear for work experience and a few times over summer. These ones are really cute, and at £10 were a bargain.

I won't lie, I probably won't wear the denim dress at the office, I bought it because it is cute and I wanted it. This does come up small though, I'm usually a size 6/8, this is an 8 and slightly tight over my chest, and I don't have particularly big boobs.

I've been wanting a collar type necklace for quite a while, and could never find one I like; they were either too big or the wrong colour. This one is perfect. I think £7.99 is a bit steep, but it won't leave my neck, so I will get my wear out of it.

Leather jackets aren't office appropriate, but I always thought that blazers made me look boxy, and masculine in all the wrong ways, as I have short hair; after crying out on Tumblr for help, a few lovely ladies gave me some fab suggestions, including wearing a slouchier blazer. I couldn't find one I liked at a reasonable price (£65 Topshop? no thanks!) so I scoured eBay and found this one for £26 (inc. P&P):

image taken from eBay listing

It hasn't arrived yet, but it looks perfect. I didn't want a blazer that was too tailored, nor did I want a black one, so this light grey colour is beautiful and will still go with everything. I can't wait for it to arrive!

I've been reading Jen's blog as inspiration, as I love the way she puts outfits together as she always looks professional, but still fashionable. I was wary that a blazer would make me look like a geography teacher/middle-aged, which I obviously don't want!

I also treated myself to a new lipstick and cream blusher from Topshop; I haven't tried them before but my sister has a blusher and it is lovely. 

 

I originally wanted the Brighton Rock lipstick after seeing it on Gem here but the Topshop I went to didn't have it, I'm not sure if it's discontinued as I know that Topshop rotate their makeup stock quite a lot. I bought Ooh La La, which is quite similar, the photo above makes it look reddy/orange but it is definitely more of a light corally pink. I'm not a lipstick wearer as I think my red hair makes enough of an impact, but I'm going to try and wear this. The blusher is in Head Over Heels and is gorgeous! I love it so so much. Powder blusher never lasts on my skin, so I'm going to see if cream fares any better.

The last things I got (literally came in the post this morning!) are two books. I've been after a new book that wasn't Moby-Dick or written in the 19th century (DO NOT get me started), and after watching Meg's recent haul video (if you don't watch her, you should, she has impeccable taste) I decided to buy these two:

I'm excited to read them both; Blindness will be useful for a module I'm currently doing called 'Disability and Representation', so I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in! I'll let you know what I think of them once I've read them.

I can't seem to do short, snappy blog posts. Sorry guys. I'm on a serious spending ban now, but I think that (most) of these purchases were justified.

How do you smarten up your wardrobes? Any tips would be fantastic!

Thanks for reading x