OOTN: Grunge Glam Night Out

Outfits are something I actually find quite hard.

I live in permanent envy of those perennially stylish girls (we all know them…) who look cool and sexy and a bit edgy. 

But, alas, I genuinely am not one of those people. The only way I can hit upon a half decent outfit is a by a process of scientific deduction. 

Which basically amounts to spending inordinate amounts of time on Pinterest, trying to pin down a ‘formula’ for that elusive killer look and then copying said formula almost by rote. 

It might not be intuitive, but it’s the only way that works for me. 

So when I do hit on a look I really like, that I feel comfortable and, dare I say it, even a little stylish in, I’m stupid amounts of happy about it, and I feel like I have to do a post to celebrate.

Now, I’ll freely admit this post is a bit of a lie. 

The truth is, dear reader, I did wear the outfit below on a night out before Christmas. 

But it was too dark and I was too busy to take any clear shots of it (plus, I got ready in the ladies’ bathroom at work, so taking picture might have been, y’know, devastatingly awkward). 

So last weekend, I went and put it all on again, just to do pictures. 

My husband thought that was incredibly sad, and he was right. But who cares what a boy thinks, right? Anyway, here we are…

Formulas. I recently wrote a post about what I call 'Glam Grunge' style, which I love.

Its basically a collision of high glamour and grungy rock and its my preferred mode of dressing, even though I can’t always pull it off. 

Its what my spirit would wear, if my spirit was some kind of nonchalant Parisian trust fund model. 

And it turns out there is a formual for this style, which, simply put translates to: “band tee + bodycon + sparkles +clompy shoes’. 

This outfit was as simple as that, but you know what? I loved it.

Joy Division t-shirt - Primark

Aztec sequinned mini skirt - Chilli Pepper

Black biker ankle boots - H&M

The t-shirt was a magic find. 

I absolutely love a bit of 80’s alt rock – Joy Division/New Order, The Cure, The Smiths etc…I was just born a little too late to appreciate them the first time around.

The slightly bleak, wistful, synth driven sound of that stuff really chimes with me for some reason.

Although it sort of gets irritating when you see girls buying classic rock band t-shirts for ‘fashion’ and they have no idea who the band is (very judgy I know, so shoot me)…I’m sure a lot of people thought this of me when I was out and about in this!

But the fact was it was comfortable and it expressed my love of a very good post-punk sound. 

Also, they were so baggy and oversized that I’m wearing a size 6 here and its still hanging way loose - nothing like vanity sizing to give you a boost, especially after living on a diet of cheeseboards and mince pies for the past few weeks!

The skirt was something I bought a while back, when these kind of Aztec print minis exploded thanks to All Saints. 

I own several of this style of skirt and I love it. Being an apple shape, with all my weight around my middle, I prefer to show my legs and hide my mid section, so this silhouette felt very comfortable for me.

And the absolute best part was wearing these chunky black biker boots on my feet! 

I’ve mentioned before how miserable I get if my feet hurt, and the older I get, the less willing I am put up with it. 

The Asos heels I wore to my last Christmas party looked pretty, but after a few hours on my feet I was staggering around cursing the God who ever invented high heels, so it was really nice to pop something on that felt less torturous.

 

Hair and Make-Up Notes

One thing I didn’t do was take detailed pictures of the make-up look, so I won’t spend ages talking about it. 

On my last night out, I went for a dark red lip stain. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but unfortunately it smudged everywhere pretty indelibly, and looking like you’ve escaped from the circus is never a good look. 

So this time around I went back to my fail safe formula of dark, smudgy eyes and pale lips. Much less high maintenance!

Lately, I’ve been leaning away from shades of black and aiming for smoky looks with a bit more dimension. 

So I used the Makeup Revolution Iconic 3 palette to do a smoky based around purplish and dark brown shades, loosely inspired by this Mila Kunis look. 

She (or her make-up artist) is the queen of a coloured smoke-out.

With such a bold eye, the lips were uber simple. Nars Satin Lip Crayon in ‘Biscayne Park’ - these are ideal because they are a liner, colour and balm all in one, and a dab of neutral lipgloss – the very cheap but very effective Makeup Gallery Shine On Gloss in ‘Nice and Nude’.

My hair was definitely inspired by Blake Lively – I went for a loose, relaxed texture, lots of height at the crown and a few boho plaits.

All you need to do is wrap ends loosely around a jumbo curling tong without using the clamp for a few seconds and then spray through with dry shampoo. 

Backcomb the crown – I used my Denman Dressing Brush, which is the real deal for getting big, Barbarella hair – and pin in place, fixing with a bit of hairspray. 

Then plait two thin sections at the crown and pin them at the back of your head. 

I loved the effect of this and will definitely be trying the style again. The beauty is that it’s supposed to look a bit rough and messy, ideal if you aren’t great with hair like me! 

I was also wearing my KoKo Deluxe extensions, which are gorgeous and very affordable. Its synthetic but you can heat style up to 160 degrees, and I personally don’t notice any difference from the Remy set I also own.

The night was so much fun. We went to a bar in town called Das Kino for metre long pizza and a few games of ping pong. 

Playing it in a bar might sounds a little odd, but it was great fun, especially when you’re a bit tipsy!

What night out looks have you tried recently? Have you got any failsafe formulas for looking stylish? Do tell!