Lazy Girls' Guide to Halloween

So we’ve given you our recommendations of what to eat and drink when indulging in ghoulish festivities for Halloween. But now, the all-important conundrum: what to wear. If you haven’t yet plumped for a costume and are despairing because by now the fancy dress shops will have sold out of all but the most unflattering options, there is another option. Namely, dressing in your normal clobber, except with gothier make-up and tenuously Halloween-themed accessories. Come on, come all who throughout October have been promising themselves that they’ll get it sorted in tomorrow’s lunch hour with a supermarket sweep-style dash around their nearest fancy dress emporium. This is the last chance saloon: the lazy girls’ guide to Halloween:

This necklace will make you looked like you’re being choked by a ghoulish skeleton, back from the dead to wreak revenge and tidy up unfinished business. It’s £24, from the lovely Lunacy Boutique.

If you’re having a house party, you could don this fab apron from Bombarock with over-the-top make-up, big hair and lots of fake blood and claim that you’ve come as some kind of zombie cook. We think it’d work well with a blood-stained cleaver of some kind. But then once Halloween’s over, it’s still useful, beautiful, and if you’re a fan of kitchen co-ordination, you can get matching oven gloves in the same fabric too.

If you have any long frocks to hand, combine them with this choker and matching tiara from Karnival House and voila! For less than a tenner you’ll be transformed into a fearsome Disney ladyvillain:

And if all else fails and you simply can’t abide the Halloween concept of making yourself look gruesome and wearing tacky pumpkin earrings from Asda, get yourself to Vivien of Holloway quick sharp. They have a whole range of gorgeous rockabilly frocks for Halloween, which you can accessorise to your heart’s content, safe in the knowledge that you’ll still look a treat. And although the prices of £50 aren’t cheap, console yourself with the conscience-easing reassurance that you’ll have saved money on splashing out on a Halloween costume you’ll only wear once a year, and much more sensibly invested in a fancy frock you can show off in all year round. Our favourite is this cutesy gingham number, but they also have some fab Day of the Dead-inspired designs that we’re quite taken by too:

Happy Halloween! xox

Cuteness! Childish Dinosaur Cushion

Not even the ethical lifestyle shop Biome could resist a bit of cuteness in their mix. Yes, I found this darling little cushion in the kids section, but I don't care! I want it! Houses should never be too serious, of that I'm certain. This embroidered dinosaur cushion is only £25 but it's made under fair trade conditions in South Africa, so you're not only getting really pretty things, you doing your bit for the world too. Take a closer look at the loveliness:


Awwwww, it's so cute!

Beauty or a beast? The Fly London Yellow Yogi boot

Yes, I know it's confusing - they're called Yellow Yogi boots, but they're not yellow. Actually, they come in a yellowy tan, a cherry red, black, and I have a pair of these fetching green ones.

My Yellow Yogis seem to have split my friends and colleagues down the middle, but I love them.

Here's why:

1. The design is both retro and slightly sci-fi, as though they're Chelsea boots of the future. If Noel Fielding gets in his camp spaceship and ends up in 3009, these are what he'll put on his feet.
   
   
2. Despite the sloping wedge, the cushioned inner sole and fully rubber heel make them uber-comfortable - you can schlep around London all day without discomfort. Which is especially useful to someone like me, who stands at a mighty 5' nothing in my stockinged feet. It makes a nice change to have some height and not be in stilletto-induced pain.
   
   
3. They look really good with skinny jeans.
   
   
4. The rubber heel also makes them quiet, so there's no risk of distracting others by tap-dancing across the office every time you go to get a coffee.
   
   
5. When I walk down the street in these, I see people checkin' out ma boots and wondering where I bought them (and, no doubt, what I was on when I did).
   
   
6. They really don't look like any other boots out there. Fly London can be a bit hit and miss with their unusual, chunky designs, but I think they've hit the nail on the head here.
   

They don't look good with skirts. I'll give them that. But ankle boots + skirt is a hard look to pull off anyway! What do you think? Are you for 'em or against 'em? Are they really the Marmite of footwear?

Fly London Yellow Yogi Ankle boot, £89.99 from Amazon.co.uk and other retailers.

Sluttishly Easy: Pumpkin Pie

Now we’ve got you all liquored-up on Halloween-themed cocktails, it’s time to turn our attentions to that other traditional Halloween item: the pumpkin. As you might have noticed, they’re everywhere at this time of year, and after this Saturday they’ll be even cheaper. But the humble pumpkin is not just a vehicle for lunatic children to carve into hideous, grinning monstrosities. They’re also delicious, and more versatile than you might suspect. And although we’re big fans of all kinds of pumpkin-based cuisine, our favourite is the pumpkin pie. There’s something very satisfying about tucking into a slice accompanied by a fancy coffee or perhaps a mug of mulled wine when it’s dark and drizzly outside. And once you’ve done the faffing of hollowing out and de-seeding your pumpkin (which you’ll be doing anyway if you’re making jack-o-lanterns), it’s actually really easy. And if you can’t be arsed with the real deal, then you can usually get tinned pumpkin at supermarkets at this time of year. (Canned pumpkin is much more popular in America, they have it all year round, but it’s trickier to find over here when it’s not Halloween-induced pumpkin-fever season).

What you’ll need is:

175g sugar
½tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
2 eggs
300g pumpkin purée
350g evaporated milk
Pie crust (I am a messy but enthusiastic cook, so I usually buy the ready-made ones so as to avoid unnecessary kitchen carnage, but if you’re feeling fancy you can make your own using shortcrust pastry)

Then what you need to do is:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 220C. Then, in a small bowl, combine your sugar, salt, cinnamon and ginger and mix ‘em up.
2. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then add the pumpkin purée. Chuck in your sugary/salty/cinnamon mixture, and stir. Slowly add the evaporated milk, stirring all the while, and once you’re done with that pour into the pastry case.
3. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 180C. Bake for another 45mins, cool and then tuck in. Works best with ice cream, or accompanied by a delicious pint of Bailey’s...

(Image via spacekadet's Flickr photostream)

Cocktail Hour: The Dra-Kahlua

I love Halloween. Any excuse to break out the facepaints and wear a costume of some kind. But as we’ve said before, seasonal accessories and decorations can seem a bit silly once the holiday’s over. So instead of spending my hard-earned pennies on plastic skulls and novelty ice cubes with beetles, insects and other beasties embedded in them, instead I’m going for the – ahem – far more sensible option and celebrating Halloween with copious amount of liquor, a pair of Minnie Mouse ears and a ridiculous polka-dot frock. So, instead of splashing the cash on tacky decorations that will just be binned on November 1st, may I suggest getting into the party spirit (pun intended, of course) with some gore-themed food and booze?

My own personal favourite is the wittily titled Dra-Kahlua (I didn't come up with the name, so don't blame me!), which tastes of Terry’s chocolate oranges and is dangerously more-ish. The black colour means it’s goth enough to serve at Halloween, but it’s a tad more sophisticated than gory blood-punch with fake eyeballs floating in it (though there’s nothing wrong with that, if that’s what you’re into).

What you’ll need is:
1 ½ oz. Kahlua
½ oz. Cognac
½ oz. Cointreau
¾ oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ oz. simple syrup

What you’ll need to do is:

Combine in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake, shake, shake, strain and then serve. Easy! Now all I need to do is rummage in the dressing-up box, backcomb my hair and dig out the Rocky Horror Show boxset, and I’ll be done….

Domestic Sluttery wants your furnture!

When I wrote about that stunning chest of drawers yesterday, a few of you pointed out that you could quite easily find an old chest of drawers and paint it yourself. And you could be right. So I had an idea. Why don't you send your battered old furniture to Domestic Sluttery HQ and see if the team can do any better?

Now here's the thing, we're not furniture restorers. We're not interior designers and we might mess it up. But I'm curious to see how easy it is. After all, it's so easy to say "you could throw a lick of paint on an old table", but is it really that simple? Well, I want to find out.

So here's a furniture call. Send us photos of stuff you don't mind us playing with! Not gigantic stuff - Domestic Sluttery HQ is a shared house and our non-slutty housemates don't want it to look like an episode of Cash in The Attic. We only want to do a couple of pieces, and no, we can't reupholster that giant sofa with expensive vintage fabric. But if you've got a rubbish chair like that one in the photo, email us and we'll see what we can do.

Remember, we've never done this before. We could be rubbish! So don't send us something you really really care about. You're not allowed to be mad if we mess it up! But, if you've got something you don't think you'll use again otherwise, send us a picture and make sure you can deliver it to one of us if we think we can make it shiny (on a budget too! We're thrifty girls!)

We promise to blog doing it up, and hopefully you'll be happy with the results and send us flowers. Or, it'll be a complete disaster like in 60 Minute Makeover and we'll never speak of it again. Let's find out!

Hats on the high street

Well, October's no fun. Frizzy hair from all the rain, cold ears from all the, um, cold. Heavy bag from lugging an umbrella around. Grumpy taller pedestrians as the spokes of my umbrella puncture their eyeballs...

So what's the solution? HATS! Not waterproof hats; that would be far too sensible (and ugly). What I need is a nice cheap hat that delivers the pretty, but one that I won't feel guilty about chucking in spring when it's all sodden and unravelly.


This is my favourite: ASOS fairisle fur trim deerstalker, £20.00. It's furry! It's all fairisley! And pastelly! And it HAS EARS. And treads the line between unbearably kitsch and actually quite warm very well.



This is a rather nice crocheted beanie from Dorothy Perkins, £10. I think the fine crochet makes a nice change from all the thick woolly cable-knit beanies on the market.
Now, at £179, this ASOS Patrizia Pepe hat is neither cheap nor ear-protecty. Nor could someone of my height and complexion get away with it without looking like a low-rent J-Lo wannabe. But it's sassy and stylish and has that cute charm. it would look great teamed with some low-key, fitted threads on a tall lady. So if that's you, log onto ASOS and sort it aht!


As I mentioned, there are a lot of cable-knit beanies out there at the moment, but this hat from Miss Selfridge, £12, adds a little bit of attitude with a cheeky peak. Wear it at a slight angle with soft wavy hair and a touch of 1960s eyeliner, and make sure you wink at all the boys who look your way. Extra cheeky points if you have a dimple.



Sigh. Another impractical hat that I couldn't get away with. But if you're a shade taller, this Miss Selfridge faux fur trapper hat, £18, would be perfect to offset a dull, flung-together Monday morning work wardrobe. I mean, POM POMS!

What do we call this hat-scarf combo? A slat? A harf? Republic, very sensibly, call it a hooded scarf, and it's £24.99 by Soul Cal. And it is rather sensible. It's a very sensible grey, as well. A bit too sensible for me, to be honest, even with pom-poms making a nod to frivolity.

And me? Well, I recently bought this cheapo trapper hat from New Look for £8. Mainly to keep my ears warm, but also because I look well 'ard:


You wouldn't mess with that face, now, would you? Eh? Oh be quiet.

Our New Domestic Sluts

Wow, we got such a good response to the ad looking for a new Domestic Slut, we had to hire two! Things are going to be getting very busy around here! Time to meet the new sluts!

First up is Gail Haslam, who in her own words is a freelance writer and editor who loves antlers, cake eye-liner, typography and corsetry. If not writing, then she’s probably ‘making stuff’ out of fabric, beads or yarn. Favourite drinks ideally involve caffeine and funny shaped containers – ideally tiny cups of coffee or espresso martinis.

You can expect a few more crafty posts popping up on the site as well as finding out where on earth she got that gigantic cocktail from.

And you can follow her on twitter - she's @1mgoldstars.

Our other Domestic Slut is Natalie Wall. By day she's busy blogging and doing for social media things for ASOS. She's a big fan of faded patriotic bunting, ritzy glitzy chandeliers, scones with jam and lashings of clotted cream, old VW Beetles and Polaroid pictures.

If you suddenly spot cute little vintage things all over the place, you'll know how to thank. We're also going to get her to teach us how to do funky eyeliner like in that photo to the right.

Want to follow Natalie on Twitter? She's @ASOS_nat.

Say hello to the new sluts everyone!

Extinction Sucks - Design Porn for a good cause with Alice Palace

Having recently found out about the Glove Love campaign I've been on the hunt for more Sluttery with a Conscience - beautiful and unique things created for good causes around the world. And I reminded myself of the wonderful cards I'd picked up recently, made by UK designer Alice Palace as part of the Australian Extinction Sucks campaign - which works (of course) to protect endangered animals from extinction.


Alice got together with the girls behind Extinction Sucks to produce nine of the most original and striking prints and cards, each featuring an animal fighting against extinction. While I'm finding it utterly impossible to pick a favourite amongst the designs, I'm drawn to the rhino with its joyful 'lah-di-dah' (right at the top) and the 'we make a nice pair, don't we' bears (just here).


The Extinction Sucks prints and cards are available in the Alice Palace shop (where you'll find a lot of other goodies too) - but I picked up my cards over in Openhouse on Columbia Road in London town. You can also read more about the project, including lots about the beautiful animals and how you can help over on Alice Palace's website and watch the Extinction Sucks programmes on their 'Our Earth' Babelgum channel. If you like, you can also join the Extinction Sucks facebook page.

Etsy Pick: Harry Potter Wall Candy

Since the collapse of the global economy, those ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ posters from WW2 have seen something of a resurgence. From postcards and prints to mugs and t-shirts, the austere design and sensible advice is available in pretty much any format that takes your fancy. And by now, of course, we’ve all seen and smirked at the parodies that have popped up, including ‘Now Panic and Freak Out’ and the blunter ‘Buy More Shit or We’re All Fucked.’

But, unashamed Harry Potter fangirl that I am, this is by far my favourite:

It’s a mere $10USD for this 5” x 7” version from 3LambsGraphics’ on Etsy, but if you want to get your mitts on it in a different size or colour, then just contact them to arrange a commission.

Etsy pick: Top 10 card wallets

If, like me, you're tired of hunting around in your handbag (or your ugly IKEA Oyster card wallet) for your driver's licence, credit, debit, ID, travel or business cards, then be tired no more! These Etsy mini-wallets are slim enough to slide into the most modest of pockets, flip-openable, affordable, have card-sized pockets, and are pretty to boot. Plus the sellers all ship to the UK.



This slapdash wallet from delainey, $14USD, is a beautiful mish-mash of fabric scraps.



This vinyl wallet from CraftieRobot is only $6USD and has ZOMBIES on!



Another vinyl wallet, $17USD, with an unusual design from RogueEmpire.


This Pac-Man wallet has ghosts on the other side - it's a bit crafty and rough-edged, but I like the handmade feel. Littlepennylane is selling it for $16USD with free shipping.



This sober but stylish plaid wallet, $65USD, from sewlutionsbyamo was made by combining combined tropical wool mens suiting with leather and gunmetal rivets.



This wallet is awesome for two reasons: 1 - IT'S WONDERWOMAN! and 2 - it's made of Duct Tape! It also has seven pockets and a clear display slot for your ID card. WonderWoman wallet, $15USD from CheshireNat.


This elegant hot pink and black damask fabric wallet is very reasonably priced at $8USD from GracieDesigns.
This canvas screen-printed Japanese sun symbol wallet is $28USD from QuietDoing.


The photo of this moustache wallet says it all really: made with 100% awesomeness. $10USD from happysadtree.


Which mushrooms are the poisonous ones? If you're a mushroom fan you'll know it's the Fly Agaric (red with white spots) you have to watch out for. And if you are a mushroom fan, get ye down to blissful's Etsy shop, where these little beauties are going for $22USD.

Design Porn: Aria Chest of Drawers

I desperately want this chest of drawers. I don't care if it's £2350 from Aria (and apparently it's not a chest of drawers, it's a chiffoniere - isn't that fancy?) Whatever you want to call it, I want it. To keep shoes in or something. I don't know if it's the sexy French shape, the black lacquer (I'm all about black lacquer at the moment) or the fun coloured drawers, but I might not see a prettier chest of drawers all year. My shoes would be very happy in here. This is the kind of furniture that's so sexy I start to sigh and plot doomed-from-the-start "get rich quick" schemes.

Can someone lend me £2350 please?

*Swoon*

Cocktail Hour: Pink Lady

After reading all of your comments about gin, I thought you deserved a few more yummy gin-based cocktail recipe. Kicking of with the Pink Lady. There's something cute about this cocktail - the pale pink froth is very pretty indeed. But it's very misleading indeed - there's a lot of gin in this drink so make sure you don't have too many. We had a gin headache on Sunday, they're not fun.

You'll need these things:

• 60ml gin
• 1tspn grenadine
• 1tspn single cream
• 1 egg white

And you'll need to do this:

Shake everything with ice in a cocktail shaker until light and frothy. Strain into a short glass and sip slowly being very pleased that you've just made one of the prettiest cocktails there is. Pink Ladies jacket is strictly optional.

Flickr image from burningkarma's photostream.

Lytton and Lily Kitchen Workstation

My goodness kitchen workstation this is pretty. Is there anything better than freestanding kitchen units? Don't get me wrong, there's some really great fitted kitchens out there, but they're all so... fitted. I don't like uniform things. This is a happy medium though, as long as you've got space for it.

It's from Lytton and Lily and it'll set you back £520. I'd be inclined to put this in a large kitchen dining room so you could use it as a serving area as well as for preparation. If you concentrate on it's super-multi-usability-ness, it doesn't matter that it cost hundreds, right?

Bouf pick: Stag Lamp and Spotty Pouffe

Now that's a sentence I didn't anticipate typing today.

I have a bit of a thing about stag designs. There's a stag head on my t-shirt and I'm in negotiations with the boyfriend about getting one of those wall-hung acrylic stag antlers (and for 'in negotiations' read 'arguing'). But I really like the way the stag element in this Bouf pendant light, £130, provides a striking counterpoint to the chintzy pink print.

And this £200 stool is just lovely. And it's called "Zig, Boom!":

Design Porn: Penguin Postcards

To me, postcards are the most perfect things. They're tiny, but you can put so much into them. And the artwork is the same - choosing the perfect card for your recipient takes time, but you know how much they'll smile when the little piece of card falls through their door. There's something spontaneous about them and there are very few that wouldn't lend themselves to a scrapbook or being framed and put on a shelf. I have a precious collection of antique postcards and heck, I love them so much that I've kicked off a new writing project that's dedicated to them.

But Penguin have to go one better, don't they? Just look at that glorious collection of postcards. There's 100 that all come in one fabulous box. And all for £14.98! Wow! Now, they don't go on sale until November 5th (which you really should be able to remember) but I know these are going to sell out very quickly so thought you deserved some warning. Domestic Slut Alex found these last week and honestly I don't think I've ever been more excited about the release of stationery.

Penguin and postcards: Everything wonderful in the world all in one pretty box.

The geekiest tea towel ever?

My homewares have taken a rather geeky turn recently. There's something cool about the geometric patterns, and solid designs on simple soft furnishings. Put simply: Geeky is cool. Expect to see lots of scientific and maths inspired stuff on the site over the coming weeks (at least until I get distracted by something else anyway).

I don't think I've ever seen a tea towel as cool and geeky as this. The iconic eye chart is such a simple design for a tea towel, it seems crazy that I haven't seen it before. You'd be forgiven for thinking that this tea towel is from a cool designer shop. But I actually spotted it on eBay whilst looking for a test tube rack (I told you I was getting geeky). It's only £7.99 and there's one left now I've snapped one up. Do your dishes and test your eyes at the same time. Don't say we aren't good to you.

Etsy Pick: Katherine Cooper Jewellery

By now you must know just how much the Domestic Sluts love our weird and wonderful bling. From necklaces shaped like golden snitches, typewriters, bicycles or jammie dodgers, to unusual cocktail rings and brooches aplenty, we have something of a penchant for statement jewellery of all kinds. But I have a funny feeling that our latest instalment may divide opinion. You see, I’ve become quite besotted with Katherine Cooper, an artist and jewellery designer who makes handcrafted ornate statement pieces, using charms, gemstones, pearls, shells and antique lace and silk.

I can see that her jewellery won’t be to everyone’s taste. They’re over-the-top to the extent that they might seem fussy and not as wearable as other, much more minimalist designers. There’s a bohemian romanticism to the materials she uses, and to me the whimsical combination of traditional textiles like lace and ribbons works well with the more unusual touches like the porcelain roses and butterflies, Eiffel Tower charms, guns, crucifixes and diamante text. But as much as I recognise it could only be worn on very select occasions, and teamed with the simplest of ensembles, I still can’t help but lust over this.

It’s $220 from Katherine’s shop on Etsy. What do you think?

Snuggle up with Rowpinto's lambswool hot water bottle

A £45 hot water bottle is one of those things that can tear a rift between cohabiting boys and girls. "Why don't you get one of those plaid ones from the supermarket?" the male party might mither. "£45 is just too pricey for a hot water bottle! If you want a fancy one, why not just get one of those fluffy pink ones from Clinton cards?"

If this happens to you, don't worry. Just threaten your boything with a slanket. That'll shut him up, leaving you free to purchase this lovely lambswool rainbow hot water bottle from Rowpinto.

Domestic Sluttery, solving your style issues one random tiny thing at a time.

What's the deal with Anthropologie's Pricing?

A gaggle of Domestic Sluts went down to the Anthropologie grand opening last Friday, and whilst we found lots of rather enchanting things, we weren't as wowed as we'd hoped. But then we stumbled on a another problem. After reading some of your comments, the pricing appears to be all over the shop.

You could pop into Anthropologie and spend anything from £6 - £600. On nothing of any consequence actually. But, when I talked about the pricing in my blog post, a few of you piped up and said I'd got the prices wrong. And at first glance, it looks like you were right.

Because their UK website isn't a UK site at all. It's the US site with cleverly converted prices. If you try and buy stuff from that website, you'll be smacked in the face with the $30 shipping fee that Anthropologie seem so fond of. Oh, and being a US site, they don't show the tax until you get to the checkout. I feel a bit like the wool is being pulled over our eyes. Those of you who haven't been to the shop yet have been browsing the site thinking it's all rather reasonable when it's anything but.

It was merely coincidence that one of our readers, Eleanor, bought her Russian Doll measuring cups for $28 in the US, and they're £28 here, but that gives you a rough idea of the mark up. I'd even go as far to say that if you wanted to buy an awful lot of small things, it might even work out cheaper to buy them online and have them shipped them over.

I'm even less inclined to buy the pretty things now, but don't worry, if we're quoting a price, we'll quote the one in the shop, not the deliberately misleading website.

Sluttishly Easy: Rachel Allen’s Chocolate and Ginger Nut Biscuit Cake

Those generous folks at Harper Collins recently sent the domestic sluts a copy of Rachel Allen’s new cookbook, Home Cooking. And very impressive it is too. It’s a satisfyingly heavy hardback with modern, simple photos, and as well as recipes there are also lots of advice sections on conundrums such as menu planning. The section on basics such as sauces, jam and coulis is useful too, as other inferior cookbooks often omit these. And some of the recipes featured are for the type of thing I’d always suspected would be horrifically complicated, such as homemade gnocchi, yoghurt or marshmallows, which Rachel somehow manages to make sound easy peasy.

My only slight gripe is that on occasion she goes slightly too far in over-explaining simple recipes. I’m as far away from domestic goddess as can be, and yet even I’ve never needed detailed instructions on how to make porridge or toasted sandwiches. And if I can muddle through, so can you, so some of the in-depth tutorials are probably a tad unnecessary.

But for the most part the recipes are straightforward and easy to follow, with tasty, fancy-looking results. So much so that the recipe we’re going to share with you doesn’t even involve any baking. Yup, there’s no need whatsoever to even turn on your oven, and at the end of it you’ll still have a deliciously sinful sticky cake that goes just perfect with coffee or tea. We’ve plumped for a chocolate-featuring recipe, which combined with ginger biscuits and or two other ingredients, will form a gorgeous gooey cake.

You’ll need these things:

300g dark or milk chocolate, chopped
1 tbsp golden syrup
250g ginger nut biscuits
2 eggs, beaten (make sure they're the freshest you have)
Cake tin and parchment paper

And you’ll need to do these things:

1. Line the cake tin with parchment paper.
2. Melt the chocolate and golden syrup in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Meanwhile, crush your biscuits in a plastic bag with a rolling pin.
3. Stir the eggs and crushed biscuits into the melted chocolate and then pour the mixture into the prepared tin, spreading evenly and smoothing the surface with the back of the spoon.
4. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours until set, or pop in the freezer for about 45 minutes. Remove and slice into pieces.

Once it’s set, try not to eat all at once. It’s yummy, but if you eat more than three pieces at a time, you will feel sick. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Everything in moderation, darling!

Anthropologie London part 2

Yes, Anthropologie Part 2 - the shop spans over three floors so one blog post just isn't enough to describe all the pretty things.


You can't wear this skirt. It's made out of plates and cups.


We do want Domestic Slut Alex to buy this flowery hat (fab earrings model's own).


These penguin books are lovely. Really stunning design.


The little bows around these bottles are very pretty.


And these soaps are very lovely indeed.

Yes, Anthropologie is pretty, but it's confusing as well. The prices are all over the shop. One minute you're looking at a lovely cup that's under a tenner, the next you're looking at a bird ornament that's over £200. Everything is one great big mish-mash together and there's no way to navigate around it.

The quality differs from item to item as well. I'm not sure I want to spend £98 on a robe that was made from polyester, no matter how pretty the print is. The one dress I fell in love with was £358. Ouch. For that price I'd want nothing but silk.

Everything looks great from a distance, but close up it loses its charm. The little details on everything are lovely - sparkly buttons, discreet embroidery and unique embellishments make Anthropologie special, but it's just not cutting it for me. It's great to look around, but you really have to search for something affordable.

I wanted to love everything, but instead it was all bells and whistles without very much else. When you have Liberty doing the same thing, with antiques and vintage charm, it's hard to see the value here - the price in Anthropologie creep up into the hundreds. I can see why the shop is so popular in America, but really, it doesn't shout out to me. Some pieces are fab, but over three floors from such an iconic shop, I was expecting to be wowed.

Still if you want to check it our for yourself, head down to the branch on Regent Street (jump off the tube at Piccadilly rather than Oxford Circus). Make sure you tell us what you think!