Update

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to stop leaving my wonderful readers in the lurch. I have been very slack with Bought by Birdette lately and I sincerely apologize. I'm not going to make excuses, I lost my drive to write. At this point in time I actually have quite a nasty hand injury that is hampering many everyday activities. (You should've heard me squealing in pain when my memory laapsed and I went to open a jar, ow!) So we'll still be slow for a little while, as typing isn't too bad, photo editing is another kettle of fish.
I've been thinking about introducing a few new topics into the fray to help reinvigorate my drive to write, so you may see more craft and cooking popping up, turning Bought by Birdette into a more lifestyle based blog until I truly find my niche. Also most certainly more personal style posts, I love doing these, I just need to find my confidence in front of the camera!
Otherwise, I would love to take this opportunity to ask all readers to please let me know what you like and don't like, do you have a particularly favourite post that I've done? Have I taught you something new?
I' really hoping to bring a lot of readers out of their bubbles on this one, and I'm aiming to get at least 20 responses. Don't think I wouldn't love to hear from you because really I would!
Thank you for reading.

Hauling! Dotti

So uh, I had a particularly difficult day at work on Friday, where my boss has recently been instructed to lay off some staff... only half of my team. Friday was the day where the individuals found out if they were staying or leaving and it was horrible. Some people did have the incredibly lack of empathy to take it out on me. I have truthfully never cried so many times in one day. Pull myself together to get my job done, only for one cruel word or look to make me fall apart again.
But moving on, this too shall pass etc. etc. That is not the focus of this post, only the occurrence that triggered this haul!
What else did I do to make myself feel better but go shopping?
Now Dotti have been moving on up in my eyes recently, their ranges have been great and full of both staples and great little fashion updaters for a fantastic price. I've been finding that I can't go in there without finding something that I want to make mine. Here's what I picked up yesterday!

Stripe Peplum zip back top 

Peplums are everywhere at the moment, it was like "pop!"  and every store suddenly had them about two months ago, personally I adore them, and I'm surprised they didn't take off about three years ago when a lot of dresses had them. Why did no one think to bring out some in a top style then?? These are great for hiding food babies, my advice if you're unsure is to balance the look out with a pair of skinnies, and wear with a cute upstyle and bright lippy.

Brooklyn Collar Shift 

This dress is amazingly versatile, and certainly something I recommend for everyone else to snap up. Why? the shape is completely classic. A black shell that can be accessorised so many ways. And the absolute kicker? The collar is both reversible and removable. The other side is black velvet, but you know what? The crafty girls out there (or those with crafty mothers, ha!) could easily use the collar as a template to make whatever kind of collar they choose! Highly recommend, like I said, you should buy this dress.
Those who aren't fond of collars could also use it to pair with bold accessories, An arm party of bangles, a statement necklace, Breakfast at Tiffany's Glasses. the list goes on.

Paper Bag Pant

Now, these trousers are something that I can look at and think "These will not look good on me." Wrong, wrong wrong. Never limit yourself just because you don't think it will work, you can find a way to make most things work, trust me. These trousers turned out to be incredibly flattering, Black is slimming for this odd shape, and they are a great canvas for your best shoes. If you see them, try them, and hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Grosgrain Tie Knit Coat

Lastly I bought this gorgeous coat, after realising that I have been through this entire winter without buying myself a new one, I love the rounded collar and the unusual tie up front. the shape is loose which is something I wouldn't normally go for, but it will work great with all my flarey skirts I have and skinnies too. Navy is a great colour to have too and it will go with warm and cool outfit palettes.

Source: Dotti.com.au

Make up in your 20's

Ladies of the world I have a gripe. Time after time I read in magazines and articles the advice that 'during your twenties is the ideal time to try it all, neon lipstick with crazy eye-shadow? Go for it!'
No, no, oh dear god, NO.
What they don't go into to explain normally is that yes, your twenties is indeed the time to experiment and try it all, but for goodness sake, try one thing at a time! You may feel invincible  but you are still very susceptible to look like a drag queen, in fact, the idea that if you overdo it you could look like a drag queen will continue your entire life really ...
Ultimately, do try it all. Smoky eyes, contoured eyes, different colours and intensities, eye-liner, strong brows, bleached brows. Bronzer to contour, bronzer to tan, peach blush, tones of red, pink and coral and your cheeks. bold lips, pale lips, glosses, butters, everything! So long as you only highlight one feature at a time do it, but please, please don't do it all at once!
Also, your twenties is the best time to try trends. The best example I can think of right now is of course the massively popular nail art trend. In your twenties you can get away with crazy designs, but once you hit thirty or even forty, anything beyond a gorgeous slick of colour and maybe a feature nail is starting to head into scary territory.
In closing, try things in your twenties, but not all at once!

Would you wear it? The novelty trend

Here we go kids, the trend of the season that makes me shake my head in wonder at how on earth do they expect the everyday girl to translate this into everyday wearable style? Novelty.
Firstly, what is novelty? Apparently it's what you get when you put Tavi Gevinson in charge of designing a collection, (or so I read) and it somehow trickles down into mass market. We're expected to start sporting sunglasses shaped like ice-cream cones with purses shaped like fruit ... No... really? No.
I remember baulking a few seasons ago at Prada's banana print shirts and skirts and hoping like hell it wouldn't take off, it didn't work. It's times like these I wonder if the fashion industry is having a giggle somewhere at the lengths we'll go to to be in fashion.
There are some cuter elements to it though, I have recently snapped up a sweater printed with little fox heads from Jay Jays, but don't really plan on wearing it about town too much, it's too cosy as a lounge about the house item. Possibly some kitschy earrings would go down well too? But I draw the line at all the smilie faces and neon colours. No one looks good in neon. No one looks good in something printed with fruits either.
So, from me that's a yes to Fox print sweaters:

And a rather loud and resounding NO to fruit anything.

(Lol, Watermelon skirt)

So what do you think of this trend? Do you think you could pull it off? What have you bought?

Sources: Jay Jays  & ASOS

Oh god no!

Office ladies out there, you know the ones, in their perfectly pressed crisp shirts, chic and professional tailored dresses and their chunky, garish sneakers ... Wait a minute!
I don't get it, I just don't. I get that you are doing it for comfort while you get to and from work, but that is when you will be seen by the most people. Do you really want to potentially meet new clients, bosses or boyfriends like this? No matter how groomed your hair is, perfectly applied your make up is, how immaculate your suit is, No one with an iota of fashion sense is going to think you're a well presented person. You might as well wear uggs!
I just can't understand why you don't just wear some cute ballet flats instead. At least that way you still maintain that professional edge while you trapse about town in comfort. A pair of leather flats can look just as chic as heels, and when you feel like that added boost of heels you can still switch them!

Why I'll never shop there ...

Wow, ever have one of those shopping moments where an assistant puts you off ever shopping there again? In this current retail climate where stores are fighting to compete with online retailers, you would hope that they assistants would at least be polite. Not always the case.
Don't get me wrong, more often then not I find places have amazing customer service. But it can be that one bad egg that outs me off ever shopping there again, and I mean ever.
This afternoon on an adventure to see what goodies I can score in Myer Brisbane, I happened to walk past a skincare brand's Promo girl, You know promo people, they always lead with 'Hello, how are you?' To drag you into checking out their wares. So she tried it on me and I respond with the two words I know stop a promo person in their tracks 'No thanks.' She turned around and snapped 'I didn't offer you anything!' I know the words look harmless written down, but the tone she used snarled with 'well fuck you bitch' undertones.
I just kept walking, but I wanted to turn around and challenge her to deny that she wasn't about to ask me to sample whatever she was handing out.
I had another bad experience with a girl at a clothing store, who refused to listen to a problem I had or take my details down to give to her manager when she came back from lunch. I ended up coming in another day and telling the manager what happened and had the problem solved smoothly. But the damage was done, and I have never shopped in that particular store again. Of course I still shopped for the label elsewhere, the clothes are just too cute not to buy. I later found out that the problem assistant was fired for having too many similar incidents with customers.