Garment Review - boohoo.com Maxi Dress

Prepare yourselves for an afternoon of garment reviews! I have products from boohoo.com, Dorothy Perkins and New Look to get through, starting with boohoo. 

Sandy Scoop Neck Maxi Dress - £10 - boohoo.com - http://www.boohoo.com/restofworld/clothing/maxi-dresses/icat/maxidresses/day-dresses/sandy-scoop-neck-maxi-dress/invt/azz67456#

I'd been after a plain black maxi dress for a while, and ordered this a few weeks back when they were offering 20% off maxi dresses as part of their jubilee promotion. I also got 10% student discount, so considering the dress was only £10 anyway, this was an absolute steal costing me just £7 with my discounts. 

Boohoo.com's style notes - 'Refresh your look this season with this chic maxi dress. Every fashionista's fave dress length, this flattering scoop neck dress is one of those all-important wardrobe staples that can effortlessly be dressed up or down. Team yours with key trends or wear to simply upgrade your casual style.  Step out in style by wearing with a chunky pair of ankle boots and cute cropped jacket.' 

I definitely agree that this is an ultimate wardrobe staple, but I'll start my review with the basics. The dress comes in 6 colours - black, cerise, cobalt, coral, green and mocha in sizes 6-14. I average at a size 6-8, but ordered a 6 as i'm quite petite (around 5ft3), but felt that around the waist the dress could have been much snugger as the looseness makes the dress bunch up a bit when worn with a belt which is such an easy way to accessorize. In the pictures below, I've had to wear the dress with heels as it's far too long for me (and I've not had a chance to take it up yet) but with heels, the hem of the dress is quite restricting for movement and isn't the easiest to walk in, but I'm hoping this will be fine once I've altered it. It's a good quality material, not too thick for the summer but doesn't strain to show underwear. I'd advise seamless knickers when wearing as I had a small bow on mine and this was evident. The dress is exactly what the style notes state, and can very easily be dressed up or down, and is also versatile to be layered up in the chillier months. This is excellent value for money and I expected to have to take it up as it's impossible to find maxi dresses that don't need altering with my height. 

Now for my styling idea (excuse my awful face):

BEFORE

 AFTER

Here I've gone for a daytime look (which can easily be used for night time with some heels and a bit more jewellery) with a cropped leather jacket, skullprint scarf and minimal gold and black jewellery. Here I've worn black heels due to my height issue, but for daytime I'd wear a simple pair of black sandals. 

Leather Jacket - New Look Generation 915 past season

Pearl and Skull Bracelet - Topshop current stock

Double finger ring - Primark past season

Black sandals - Primark current stock

Black heels - Primark past season

Sunglasses - Claire's Accessories summer 2012 stock

 Scarf - Primark past season

I'd normally have my nails painted in posts, but as I did so many outfit photos this morning I left them unpainted, but these would be my suggestions:

I'd personally wear Barry M Nail Paint in 47 Black with an accent nail of 320 Gold Foil Effects. Other polishes which would work here are the Gold under 323 Croc Effects or 311 Crackle Effects.

Enjoy

xoxo