Saturday 25 June 2011

Preparing for prom - the perfect, dress, shoes, jewelley, clutch, hair, makeup...

Classic and flowy... and similar to mine!
Actually, mine isn't technically a "prom", it's a "leavers' ball", I'll have you know. But potayto, potahto eh? Whatever it is, it's suddenly sprung up on us school leavers after seeming like a distant dream for years. The ball is a very big deal, trust me. Some girls genuinely had their dresses over half a year ago (which then proceeded to stress me out, having not even thought about what dress I wanted). Afterall, it's all about the dress really. A lot of my friends knew exactly what they wanted, whether that's a certain colour, backless, with a slit, embellished... you get the picture. I, on the other hand, was uncharacteristically low maintenance... that's to say I didn't have anything in particular in mind. But I sure knew what "feel" I wanted. Ah yes... the "feel". It's sort of like "The X Factor" really... you can't word what it is, but some people - or dresses - just have it. At our school, everyone wears full length dresses. It's tradition. Mum said to me, "But your legs are your best asset! Why don't you show them off in a shorter dress?" But I was pretty adamant not to. It wasn't that I was being a sheep and just following the crowd, I just really wanted more of a ball dress. You see, we've been in little cocktail dresses for years, but the ball is a chance to dress up like a bit of a princess for a night, and in my eyes, that means something long and flowy. NOT Big-Fat-Gypsy-Wedding-style-pouffy. got that? Good.

So I found my dress about 4 weeks ago, and I LOVE IT! It's simple and classic, and mum and I decided that was the way to go. It's a Coast dress, so not too pricey - and even better: we got it at Bicester Outlet Village, so was extra bargainlicious. (Mama said this meant we could spend more on other aspects of my look. Huzzah!) I have to admit though, my heart lurched as I tried on what seemed like hundreds of ridiculously gorgeous (ridiculously expensive!) designer dresses while we were there. But hey, I'm a student. There's plenty of time yet. It's funny... some of the girls are showing everyone pictures and describing their dresses, whereas others are keeping their dresses top secret. It's sure gonna be interesting on the night. I predict there'll be a huge range of styles - from wannabe WAGs to overly tacky fairy-a-likes, but that makes it all the more fun!

Now a lot of you may be thinking (guys, mainly) that after getting the dress ticked off, that's that. Done and dusted. Oh but how wrong you would be! The dress is only the beginning. The next task is to complete the look with shoes, jewellery and accessories. I've gone for a silver and (fake) diamond theme - fakes look the same as real, I swear. These are my shoes:
A rather fabby Dorothy Perkins find, and they were only around £30! Sweeeet! Sure, they squeeze my feet ever so slightly, but they're so pretty and such a good price that it's worth it, right gals? My dress isn't a floor-scraper either, so these beauts will be on show to all the world. Naturally, being the freakishly organised person that I am, I've been wearing them in around the house for the past few weeks, usually combined ever so stylishly with chunky socks and a dressing gown (I've been stuck at home revising, don't judge!)

Next up, jewellery. I was - and still am - so over the moon with the earrings I found in my local vintage shop (it's where all the best finds usually are). Regardez:


How awesome are these!? So different to anything I've ever seen. AND they were doubly awesome at a mere £5.40 (well, £6 minus a 10% student discount. Yay!) My dress is strapless, so I'd been planning on finding some little studs and wearing a statement necklace, but now I feel these earrings make statement enough. Don't wanna overdo it now, do we? What did the legend Coco Chanel say?
"Before you leave the house, always take off your last piece of jewellery."
Or something along those lines anyway. One to take note of, girlios. Chanel was one smart lady (in both senses of the word.)

Today I also hit up Accessorize, where I found this rather blingin ring:
Pretty lush, if I do say so myself. Only £8, dear readers - and if you're a cheeky student, don't forget to ask for your discount! Seriously, I ask everywhere... it's SO worth it.

Now, at a ball, I figured you need a clutch. Step forward another Accessorize find:

Now this was a bit of a splurge at £30, but having been so thrifty with the rest of my look, I feel it's justified. And hey, mum and the sis will get lots of use out of it too, I'm sure. Sharing is caring, guys... I love being a smiliar size to them both!

And then there's hair and make-up. Always tricky. Hair-wise, I'm leaving it to the professionals, so I can have something special. Hopefully something along the lines of this:

Classy, but not too harsh. Up so it's not in the way, but with enough loose bits to frame the face. Make-upwise, I'm somewhat left to my own devices, so shall be studying smokey eye tutorials online (such is the beauty of Youtube. Geddit? Beauty? Oh dear...) I have limited resources, so wish me luck! A lot of my friends are getting professional spray tans done, but I'm not. Firstly, because I've never had one and am afraid it'll go wrong. "Why not get a practice one beforehand?" I hear you ask. Well that's because secondly, the costs really do start to mount up. So I'm sticking with my trusty Clinique, which has never failed me... so far. *touches wood* I started gradually building up the colour a couple of weeks before the ball, so fingers crossed I should have a healthy I've-just-spent-two-weeks-in-the-Algarve glow. On my finger nails, I'm upping the sparkle with this Nails Inc polish:
And that's where I'm at. Pretty chuffed with it all, and cannot wait to get all glammed up and princessified. Let's face it, the getting ready is half the fun! Sure, it would be nice to have a delicate, diamond tennis bracelet round my wrist, but I don't have one, and unless someone exceedingly generous decides to give me one this week, I'm not going to. I make do with what I have, and it should be a sparkly, spiffing evening. Has anyone else had proms or balls? It could just be very emotional for us all, to be honest. I'd love to hear your tips, advice and stories. What do you think of everything I've got?
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