How To: “Buy Brands and Build a Working Wardrobe With a Low Budget.”

I'm a real fashion victim and constantly work on my wardrobe. I don't like it when my bank account won't let me build on my wardrobe as I would love to to do. Let's be honest, most of us aren't millionaires so we need a few tricks for a beautiful and fabulous wardrobe that works. For such a wardrobe we basically need good basics, sale specials and some vintage items.

Step 1: Take a Breath

It all starts with timing your purchases. There can be several situations when you can't spend money on clothes. In times like these you have to let all those new, beautiful pieces pass you by. Don't worry, there will be more beautiful pieces in the future. These you'll also think you must have. So, don't invest in new pieces, but do so in your old ones. What do I mean? Maybe you need to repair some old stuff. You can also try to customize some things or even design something new from fabric you got laying around. Using this time for a DIY project is not a bad idea at all! This is not only a good example of spending your time well, it's also a lot of fun and provides me with things I'm missing in my wardrobe. Smart investments can result in an amazing wardrobe.

Step 2: Saving Money

Having money for the bigger sales at the end of the seasons is important. I always have a small part of my savings set aside. Next to that, I sell the pieces I don't use anymore and save the money on the same “shopping” account I previously mentioned.

Step 3: Time to Buy

In the beginning of a season I try to spend all my money on the new collection pieces I really love and those I think will be sold out very fast. This may sound contradicting to what I previously said so let me explain. It goes something like this; There are two important moments when there are big sales, the summer and winter sale. Keep in mind that the stores always precede approximately two months in advance with what they sell, so for example the summer sale will be in the middle of the summer. Also at the end of a season the new collection for the next season arrives. At that moment I spend my money on important, must have pieces from the new collections and some good picks from the old collection. Then I save in the coming months for the next big sale and new collection.

Most of the pieces I buy from the new collection are well cut basics, cheaper basics with a good quality fabric or those that are comfy to wear or easy to combine. Invest in these key pieces! Further in the season the other stuff will probably be in sale. Look for special items to complement your wardrobe. I love the times when everywhere there is sale! This is the time when you have to strike. Pick your battles between the beautiful pieces of the brands.

These are my sale picks for now. Don't you just love sale shopping?

Scarf: Lilly and Lionel (also love the orange variation of this one) // Buy here

Shoes: Michael Kors // Buy here

Sun Protection

 I love the Summer and the sun, but I don´t want to have hair as rope or have a wrinkled dry skin after this season. So I make sure I protect my hair and skin by anointing my skin and spraying my hair every morning of a sunny day after showering with sun protection.
 Don't feel bad about investing in a good product, the technology changes and products are getting better. The skin is a very important part of your body that needs protection and attention.

 This product I discovered lately. It's perfect for body and hair. It contains an anti-aging vitamine complex. The bottle is easy to take with you in your bag for a unexpected sunny day thanks to the size. Since the weather can be quite unpredictable it's always a good thing to carry with you. For my face I´m still looking for a perfect sun protection, but for now I just mix this product with my day creme. It has a matte finish. Also it smells good and feels great! Tip: for real sunbathing use a higher factor.

Sun protection oil: Payot // Buy here

Seen a Lot

Black over the knee pencil dress or skirt, made of a careless fabric with careless shoes. You can wear the dress like me with simple sandals, or wear it differently. I have seen it with running shoes or slip-on's. Personally I don't like the last two ways of wearing the black dress, but it´s an easy way to wear an outfit!
What do you think of this way of wearing a simple black over knee dress?

Dress: Topshop // Buy here

Sandals: Dune // Buy here

Necklace: Cos // Buy here

Bag: Georges Rech // Buy here

Dress Up

Pictures by: Jelmer Steenhuis

I just found this webshop where you can find amazing dresses for a good price. I started off way to enthusiastic, with 5 dresses in my shopping bag. Since I didn't know if the shop delivered quality clothing, I decided to start with ordering just one dress and see if it was to my liking before ordering more.

To my surprise the package was delivered faster than I expected! So what did I get­? I ordered a silver dress that's perfect to wear to my holiday evening party´s! I Didn't find the right shoes yet or any other accessories to complement the dress, but I couldn't wait to tell you about this webshop and show you the dress. So here it is!

The fabric of the dress is of a fine quality for the price you pay. The model of the dress is very flattering, so in those aspects the dress isn't disappointing at all. I was hoping this dress looked more goddess-like, instead of this bombshell look. The dress is very feminine and sexy, but with my figure the effect of the dress is a bit too much for what I had in mind. I could've known beforehand how it looked on me with my blond hair and full figure. I fell prey to wishful thinking. I hope that by adding the right shoes and wearing natural lipstick, the bombshell effect will be toned down.

So, what do you think of this look so far? If you would wear this dress will it have the same effect?

Dress: vlabellondon // Buy here

Soccer Lashes

Pictures by: Jelmer Steenhuis

I guess it's time to also join in the soccer madness. I don't like the crazy orange sickness going around, but of course I´m happy for my country that we won so far. Too contribute a little to next game, I bought something subtle. Guess what!? soccer lashes! When I saw these I just had to buy them. What do you think about the soccer madness?

Lashes: Essence // Buy at

Tip: Buy extra lashfix from a good brand for the lashes to stick on longer. Think about: eylure or everlash

Thousand Ways Scarf

A few weeks ago I posted a minimalistic outfit, where I used a scarf as a jacket/shawl.

I wrote: ''The scarf is one of the pieces I can´t go without. It´s convenient in a lot of ways, that I will show you later.'' As promised I will show you what you can do with it!

It might sound crazy but this piece of rectangular fabric is one of the favorites in my wardrobe. I don't leave my house without it. When I'm not wearing it as a scarf or shawl, I have it with me in my bag. Maybe it has something to do with my background. You may not see it, because I'm a natural blond, but my grandmother comes from Indonesia. My mother taught me how to wear a sarong when I was a child. From that point on I found several ways on my own to wear such a piece of fabric. Nowadays I use a more modern fabric in a modern way.

The scarf is perfect for unpredictable weather. When it gets colder it's handy to hide in the shawl. When my shirt, dress, pants or skirt are ruined by, for example, food (I'm a messy eater) or something else, this scarf is useful to replace the dirty or ruined clothes. When you go on vacation and your baggage is late (let's hope not) you always have your scarf with you that you can wear in a lot of ways. It also is a perfect piece to take with you to a festival. When you are a bit creative you will be astonished by all the options this scarf offers. You don't need much more to take with you as far as clothing. Just some simple basic things.

This scarf comes from Perfectly Basics and is made of micro modal. This fabric makes it drape perfectly around you. This scarf is out of stock, but I can recommend to buy something similar or a piece of quality fabric at a fabric store, to make your own scarf from.

Be careful with choosing the fabric. Make sure it has several requirements like; it's stretchy, a bit heavy, so it can drape beautifully around you and very important the fabric has to be opaque. The size of this one is 200cm by 100cm. I'm 168cm and for me this is the perfect size.

Pictures by: Jelmer steenhuis

Here I show you my most used and favorite ways of wearing and using the scarf.

In my video I'll show you some how to's.

Which one is your favorite?

Scarf: Perfectly Basics // Website here

You can find my older post with this scarf here and here.

Flower Vases

For spring it looked like it was all about shoes, while keeping the rest simple. We saw a lot of statement shoes, to build your look around. For me as a shoe lover these are the good times, because there will be a lot of beautiful statement shoe variants for sale. I wanted to create something myself to make my shoes eye catchers. The transparent fashion is still present. There are a lot of flower patterns or themes in the new fashion for summer, so, time to get my Jenny Ellens out of the closet and mix them with some flowers!

I wanted to design something with flowers that you can use on different shoes. I´m not too fond of ankle cuffs, like the metal ones that were in fashion for some time, but I felt ancle cuffs were the best option for this idea.

I already figured how I want to wear them. I will make a post, of how I did that, when I have found the right outfit. The way of wearing it like this, on the Jenny Ellens, is my favorite. It lets me think of a transparent vase full of flowers. I just love it!

The most fun part of these flower ankle cuffs is that they are very easy to make.

Things you need:

– I used high quality imitation flowers that I bought in a garden centre.

– PVC

– A4 paper

– Scissors

– Square ruler

– Pins

– Push buttons

– A tool for fixing push buttons onto a fabric

– Green floral wire

– Needle and transparent jewelry wire

– Pieces of leather or something similar.

– A hobby plier

Follow the steps in my photo collage.

1-4. the PVC

Start with a piece of paper and wrap it around your ankle. Use the size of your ankles to determine the length. Add 6 cm of extra length to the piece of paper, so that the piece can overlap around the ankle. Cut the paper in the right length and broadness you want the ankle cuffs to be. I made the cuffs 7cm broad. Next, pin the paper on the plastic and cut the plastic in the right size. Of course, you can skip the step with the paper and start immediately with the plastic.

5-7. The push buttons

Wrap the cut plastic around the ankle. Find the place where you want the pushbuttons to be. It is important that you overlap the ends of the plastic on the outside of your ankles, because you will fix the flowers on the overlapping part later. The overlapping part should come from behind to the outside of the ankle. Also pay attention that you fix the pushbuttons on the right side of the plastic. I placed the + buttons on the inside of the overlapping part and the – buttons on the outside of the part that is underneath. The part that is underneath should have some extra length left, if you want to place some extra – buttons on it so you can adjust the size for different sized shoes or boots. As you can see in step 16, I did that myself.

8.Cutting the flowers with the hobby plier.

Cut the flowers from their stalks. Leave enough of the stalk on the flower for the flower wire to be wrapped around.

9-11. Putting the flowers together.

Decide how you want the small bouquets of flowers to look like before you start assembling them. You can divide the flowers on color and size beforehand. This will make it less time consuming to wrap the flowers together at later steps. Also it will be easier to make the bouquets almost identical, if that is what you want. Don't forget that the bouquets have to be in mirror image of each other. Wrap every stalk with flower wire and leave a surplus of wire for wrapping the flowers together.

12. Use some extra wire to wrap all the stalks together for more sturdiness.

13- 15. Fixing the small bouquets on to the plastic ankle cuffs.

Put on an ankle cuff to decide the exact place you want to fix on the bouquet. Place the bouquet on the appropriate place on the plastic. Cut small pieces of leather (or a different kind of sturdy, flexible material of your choice) in the size where it will fit on the plastic behind the bouquets. Then place a piece of leather behind the plastic. This measure will help the plastic be more sturdy, so it won't tear from the weight of the bouquet. Fix the bouquets on the plastic with a needle and (transparent) thread in two places. Remember that you have to do one of the ankle cuffs in mirror image.

16. The extra pushbuttons.

You can fix some extra - pushbuttons on the under part of the overlapping pieces. So you can wear the cuffs on, for example, wider ankle boots.

This is the result I'm looking forward to wearing these cuffs myself. I wish you a fun experience making these! How do you like them?

pictures by: Jelmer steenhuis

For some of my other flower creations click here.

Flowers: Mica Decorations // Buy here
Shoes: Jennie-ellen // Buy here