One of the things that I didn’t really realize when moving to another country was that you have to rebuild your entire mental database of stores. Back in the Netherlands, I knew exactly which places would cater to my style, size, price range etc, and which places I should just avoid. Then I moved here to the UK… There were some stores that were the same, but mostly they’re just completely different. So in the past few years, I’ve been slowly figuring out which places I should shop at.

One of the places I still hadn’t ever really tried was Next. It’s just one of those stores that never grabbed my eye when walking past it. So when I got the chance to review a dress from the Next online store, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. I found a cool looking dress, ordered it in size 10 and within 2 days it arrived. Tried it on… and it didn’t fit. Damn. I’m not a size 10 with them, I guess.

I was about to leave for Christmas a couple days later, so decided it would be easier to actually go to a store and exchange it there. Sadly they didn’t have the dress I ordered in a smaller size, so I needed to find another dress. And that’s when I realized why I had never shopped at Next before: I tried on about 20 dresses until I finally found one that fit. Almost every single dress didn’t fit my hips properly or was too long on me, just not suiting my body type at all.

I eventually did find something that fitted me though: a nice slightly business-y looking dress. What do you think?

I have to say though that a lot of the dresses I tried on I wish had fit on me. I know I have short legs (compared to my upper body), so I’m guessing if you’ve got long legs, the dresses would suit you fine. The interesting thing though is I’ve read other bloggers complain about other stores like New Look and Dorothy Perkins that their dresses are way too short, but I’ve never had a problem with them. I’m guessing it really depends on your body type, which stores will suit you best.

So anybody else “discovered” this? Which stores work best for you?

I’m completely in love with this peignoir from Anthropologie’s BHLDN range (sidenote: I had to look up what a peignoir is. For those of you who were as ignorant as me, it’s a light dressing gown). It looks like something a Greek goddess would wear!

Pretty, right?

I wish I had an award show or grand gala where I could wear a gorgeous evening gown like these. Instead I’m writing this blog post with a snoring cat curled up next to me, while wearing an adorable penguin pyjama (me that is, not the cat). Yeah, my life is sooo glamourous!

My favourite dress of the night was Hailee Steinfeld’s Marchesa, which she apparently helped design. It’s just so cute and adorable; for any other actress it would be too cute and adorable, but at 14 it’s perfect for her.

I initially really didn’t like Cate Blanchett’s dress, but the more I see it the more interesting it becomes. The shape is unique, yet I think she manages to pull it off.

There were a lot of red dresses on the red carpet this year, but my fave was Jennifer Lawrence’s Calvin Kline. It’s a very simple silhouette, and she looks gorgeous:

I’m not a fan of Hilary Swank or feathers, but I’m digging this dress. Just not sure if I like it on her.

Love this dress! It’s quite sparkly and you can’t see where the top actually begins, but that’s kind of why I like of this.

Now on to the ones, that I wasn’t completely convinced by, but still found interesting. Like Amy Adams in this L’Wren. I like the dress, but the chunky necklace and bracelet don’t seem to fit with it.

When I saw NIcole Kidman on stage presenting one of the awards, I remember thinking I really liked her dress. But looking back at all the photos, I can’t help but think this Dior dress looks wrong. And paired with orange shoes? I still need to look back at the footage of her presenting; it was this dress she was wearing, right?

Again, I sort of like this. It’s a great colour and an interesting design, but I’m not too sure about the boob stickers or whatever they are.

So what was our favourite dress of the night?

The Golden Globes were yesterday and I managed to stay up to watch a live stream of it. The actual awards were mostly quite predictable with The Social Network winning Best Picture Drama and Best Director.

I always love checking out the gorgeous dresses at these type of awards shows, and this year the one that stood out for me was Olivia Wilde. Her dress is just so pretty:

I’m not surprised though; a lot of the dresses she’s worn in the past have been favourites of mine. My all time award show favourite (that I’d so buy if I had an award show to go to) is this ivory Reem Acra:

Very Disney princess, right?

Remember how I said yesterday that I went on a small shopping spree? Well, one of the things I ended up buying was this dress from New Look:

I’ve got two other dresses with a similar cut, but when I saw the little bow pattern I couldn’t resist not getting it. And it was only £14!

Mini Bow Jersey Dress – £14 New Look

I went shopping yesterday, mainly for presents for family, but I ended up finding some great items in the sale. The main one I’m really happy with is this heart back dress:

It’s a bit like the skater’s dress I bought last month. Nice and easy material and fits exactly. It’s perfect for a day outside!

The dress is available in 5 colours: black, navy (both pictured above), greyhound, prawn cocktail and fushsia. I was boring again and went with black, but the other colours just don’t suit me (although maybe the blue will, but I didn’t see that one there). Depending on the colour the dress is £10-£12.

I’m kind of in love with the following two outfits, especially the one on the right:

I love the combination of the simple dress with those boots and armwarmers (I need a pair of armwarmers like that!). Both dresses are part of Ostwald Helgason’s latest collection, but I can’t figure out how much they are.

Via Kingdom of Style

I always like it when tights are livened up with some interesting graphics. These ones from Les Queuses de Sardines are pretty cool and a little bit on the weird side:

Check out all the designs on the Les Queuses de Sardines website.

Via Girlybubble

Last week when Siany at A Change of Dress blogged about a cute little skater dress from New Look, I just knew I had to go in to try it on. So on Friday I had a look at New Look’s new Oxford Street store (where Borders used to be… bit depressing to see how different it now looks) and the dress fit perfectly!

It’s available in 5 different colours (black, alabaster, grey, peach and mint green) for only £16. I ended up getting the black one, mainly because that’s the only one of the 5 colours I could actually find. But even then, I’m not really sure whether the other colours really suited me (especially not the peach or the green… alabaster maybe). I love how simple this dress is; it’s not perfectly made (there are a couple of sewing faults near the waist), but it falls in a flowy fun way. It’s a bit thin for winter, I think, but with spring coming up it’s perfect!

Check out the New Look website for the full details.

Ever since getting my bridesmaid’s dress from Laura Ashley, I’m kind of digging some of their designs. I still find most of their stuff a bit too stuffy and proper, but some dresses look really cute.

This first one is leaning towards the too ‘neat and proper’, but I think with the accessories it could look awesome.

And this second just looks elegant:

Both dresses are on sale right now, and are only available in limited sizes.