Dress For Confidence

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I’ve talked a lot about confidence on my blog, but one thing that’s so simple to boost your confidence is how you dress.

Recently I hadn’t been feeling that confident with my shape and it wasn’t down to not having body confidence (although admittedly I still need a little increase in that area too), but simply just not having a wardrobe that flatters me.

Last year I really got into minimalism and having less clutter really does make me happy, however as I discarded items that I no longer loved, didn’t fit or just worn out I never replaced them.

What ended up happening is barely having any clothes left to wear.  I was down to one pair of jeans as my last pair gave way at the crotch and that’s never a good look.

I have some dresses I’ve kept as I love them but really are just too small currently and don’t flatter me. You know when clothes are just so tight you have extra rolls where they dig in and let’s be honest that really doesn’t do anything for your confidence.

Clothes should flatter you. What you wear should make you feel good and more confident. Sometimes we have a body confidence issue we need to work through, sometimes we really just need clothes that fit well and flatter us.

You can have the best bod in the world, but if your clothes are too tight, too big or just not designed for your shape you’re not going to feel good. The same as when you have to wear something that’s not your style, you don’t feel confident because you don’t feel like you.

So I bite the bullet and splurged on some new items for my wardrobe. I’m really trying to be mindful financially and spending a lot of money on clothes doesn’t make me feel good, so to keep to a budget I felt comfortable with I spent ages wandering shops looking for stuff in the sales.

Well, let’s just say that was depressing. I couldn’t find anything I liked or that was at a price that didn’t feel sickening to me.

Since getting into minimalism I really don’t like to waste money on stuff I don’t love and I especially don’t like blowing money on expensive stuff unless I think it’s amazing and totally feels worth it.

I also really don’t like having loads of clutter and things I only wear once so I knew I needed stuff that I could wear time and time again.

The problem was I couldn’t find anything that I loved, would be able to wear for a lot of occasions, fit well and in a price bracket that felt comfortable for me.

So that left one option. To shop online.

OK so don’t laugh at me but I have a confession. I know this is the year 2017 but I’m an online shopper virgin. I know all the cool kids shop online these days, but the whole thing is alien to me.

I mean I’m not a complete online shopper virgin I have bought things online before, just never clothes for myself.

My online shopping is usually just birthday presents and random things not easy to pick up at the supermarket. FYI Asda does not yet sell Himalayan salt lamp bulbs, sigh.

So I did it, I took my online clothes shopper virginity and ordered some bits. I spent ages deciding because I was scared I wouldn’t like them and what if they didn’t fit? I know you can send things back, but that sounded like a right ballache to me, hence why I’ve never done it. I like to try things on.

Then I discovered Love The Sales which has top brands at discounted prices and that made everything much easier. I wanted River Island jeans purely because I know they fit me, but they didn’t have anything in my size so I opted for BooHoo.

I’ll be honest I really loved the look of the BooHoo stuff, but it was the price that swayed me over the other brands available.

I set myself a £50 budget to cover everything I needed. That being a day dress for my holiday that I could live in next Summer, a going out dress for multiple occasions, a top that can be worn casually or dressed up with accessories and heels for more fancier occasions and jeans. Jeans were the absolute essential!

Then if I had any money left over I could treat myself to some travel skincare for my holidays as I hate having large skincare bottles filling up my suitcase.

After ages of browsing the dress section, I settled on this yellow floaty dress for my holiday.

I’m obsessed with the colour, it’s very me as I love anything that really stands out. I wanted something that I could wear over a bikini on the beach, general Summertime wandering as well as being able to style with heels and makeup should I want to wear it on a Summer evening.

I love it and it was only £9. I feel really confident in it because it’s so floaty. If I’ve had ice cream and feeling a little bloated I don’t need to worry wearing this dress, it’s so flattering.

Next, I went for something that was a little risky for me but a safe option for most. A little black dress. Most people would agree you can’t go wrong with a little black dress and that’s why I went for it, although for me there was the risk I wouldn’t like it. I don’t really do black. I like vibrant colours and generally the bolder and brighter the better.

I’m not really a fan of a little black dress, but I really did want something that I would be able to wear for multiple occasions. So I went with a ‘safe’ option and ordered myself a little black dress. My thinking was it would be good for nights out with the girls (not that they happen much these days), Christmas parties and on an evening on holiday.

I have to admit I made a mistake with this one. Being new to ordering online I didn’t check the sizing properly and I ordered petite so it’s a little bit shorter than I planned and perhaps a little tight, but being as I’m currently sliming down I decided to keep it and actually although it’s not usually my thing I actually really like it. It feels nice to have a staple in my wardrobe so I don’t panic about what to wear for an evening out.

Next, I went for those all in important jeans I needed. Again I went with BooHoo, in fact, all the clothes I ordered are BooHoo. I didn’t plan that it just worked out that way as I made sure on the site to search only within a certain price range for every item and so for the style of clothes I liked and price I was willing to pay it meant they all ended up being BooHoo.

The jeans I love, but I have to admit they are tight around the middle so I would perhaps recommend going up a size bigger. I choose to keep this size and not return them as I am working to lose some weight and I want them to fit long term.

It’s also not really a problem as the last item I bought was the Khaki green choker top also in the photo which is baggy and hides the fact the jeans are tight which makes me feel confident wearing them. That was the very reason for buying that top as I wanted a top that I could always feel good in whether I was feeling in shape or not.

I plan to wear this top as an Autumn wardrobe staple and well as being able to dress it up with accessories and heels for an evening. I’ll also use it on holiday if I need to cover my shoulders up one day if I get a little sunburnt.

So all in all, I think I’m managed to cover all avenues and I did it for under £40 so that left just enough money left to purchase a little skincare travel set I wanted.

I’ve been desperate to try the Nuxe stuff since I sampled the face, hair, and body oil in M & S and I fell in love with it.

So mission accomplished. For £50 I got two dresses, jeans, a top and a travel gift set so now I really can dress for confidence.

It goes to show that sometimes we need to work on body confidence and sometimes we simply need to dress in a way that compliments us.

Stop wearing clothes that don’t make you feel good, it does nothing for your self-esteem. Trust me I spent a whole Summer not feeling quite right, I never thought I’d say this but sometimes shopping is self-care. Sometimes us Mums need a treat too.

This post is part of my Wellness Wednesday weekly feature, for more Wellness Wednesday posts click here. Every Wednesday there is a new wellness post at 7 pm. Update: this feature no longer runs but there are still loads of blog posts here. 

Discloser: this is a sponsored post in collaboration with Love The Sales, however, all my opinions are my own.