Fancy Friday!

In an attempt to keep things varied around here, I've decided to balance out my Aussie Nails Monday with a plus size fashion challenge some lovely Australian ladies have put together, called Aussie Curves. This week's theme is Black and White, which suits me perfectly!

Last week I decided to make my Casual Friday at work into a Fancy Friday, because I've noticed dressing up often gives me a real burst of motivation, and by Friday I need all the motivation I can possibly get. I did my nails in the most ridiculously over the top holo polishes I could find in my collection, as you can see below.

This manicure is fancy as fuck.

Betcha Wish You Could Op Shop Like Me - Part 3

Welcome to the final (I promise) installment of my guide to Effective Op Shopping. If you missed the other two installments, they are here and here. And now, on to my very last two bits of advice.

4. Pick your Target 

Thrift shopping is a game hunt and as with any other kind of hunt, you have to know where your game is likely to be found. Not all thrift stores are equal – ones in suburbs with a high population of people who drink half caf soy lattes and ride fixies are likely to be picked clean. But if you venture out into suburbs where the more well-to-do congregate, you can find some real gold. See, the suburban yuppies like to donate clothes, because it’s an easy, convenient way to be charitable. But they would never be caught dead wearing second hand clothes, and they also tend to be pretty keen on keeping the poorer people who WOULD wear second hand clothes away as much as possible. Which leaves their second hand stores chock full of barely worn goodies, free for the taking. This dress was actually from a local store in my suburb because I haven't ventured much further than my latte sipping suburb for a while, but it's a good example of what you can find if you're willing to hit the more upper crust areas. It's City Chic, a high end plus size label, and new this dress would have cost upwards of $200. When I got it, there were no labels, but no signs of wear either so I would guess someone wore it once and then got rid of it.

Ha! Look at that fierce face I'm pulling.

Betcha Wish You Could Op Shop Like Me - Part 2

Welcome back! So last time I had a good long talk about the Why of op shopping (or thrifting). Now I'm going to share with you my golden rules of How To Op Shop Effectively, and build an awesome wardrobe for a surprisingly small amount of money. 

1. Know What You Want

Unfortunately, if what you want is the latest fashions for bargain prices, I have no advice for you. I don’t tend to follow fashion, and have instead developed a wardrobe of things that look good on me, and will always look good on me. In order to get this stable of staples, I did a lot of trying things on, and made a lot of mistakes. But now, I can pick up any article of clothing and be able to more or less visualise how it will look on me. Figure out what looks good on you, so you can spot it in a crowded rack bursting with beaded Christmas sweaters. The sequins can be very distracting! And that’s before we get to the pushy little old ladies.

For all your Doris Day At Mardi Gras needs

Betcha Wish That You Could Op Shop Like Me - Part 1

Sometimes it feels like I've been op-shopping as long as I've been wearing clothes. A brief note of clarification for any American viewers I happen to have picked up - when I say "op shop", I mean what you would call "thrift store." So just substitute it in your head while you read. When people ask where I got whatever I'm wearing, the answer is "second hand" at least seven times out of ten. But when I tell people where I got things, they always look at me amazed, as if I have some great gift to be able to find decent things where they apparently have never been able to. I am going to admit something to y'all - it's not a gift. It's just practice. 

Image courtesy of windyfm