Festival fashion

3 Sep, 2014

Festival fashion: The lovely and tattooed Betty Miller looks at cheap but essential festival makeup (take less and make it work harder), festival hair savers and festival clothing. Be prepared, look great, carry less at festivals this year.

Ladies! Festival season is nearly upon us and so is the search for our festival look. If you are anything like me, you’re going want to look reasonably attractive, cool and unfestering but the idea of carrying a rucksack full of your entire wardrobe and bathroom contents is not an enjoyable prospect, especially if you have a husband who will watch you struggle because he’s quite happy to pack his own rucksack with one change of clothes and 24 cans of Strongbow.

After several festivals and broken backs behind me, I now invest in key pieces to reduce my packing . Below, you’ll find my secret festival essentials… the festival makeup, festival hair kit and festival clothing I plan to pack. I’ll also show you how you can you can get most of it on a budget.

Festival fashion

Apparently this year’s look is all about girly with an edge, which is seventh heaven for a heavily tattooed lady like myself who adores dresses. I’ve been rocking this look since forever and it’s about time! I have already invested in a jersey maxi dress (min is £15 from New Look) and I’m bringing out the florals from last year.

Denim shorts are a must and the more frayed and worn the better, so it’s time to pull out your old jeans and get chopping!

I love vintage tees with rolled up sleeves worn with my shorts but these days with the dawn of ebay-itis, people whack up the price of anything they think someone may collect, so I find the best way, if I didn’t manage to buy that great gig t-shirt while I was there, is to hunt the mens section of tee’s on play.com, plus most of the time they have a 5 quid section with free delivery. Also oxfam now have a shop online, which is great for vintage bargains, I found a Red Hot Chili Pepper t-shirt for my husband for a gig he’d been to 6 years ago for under a fiver.

Wellies are a definite must and as well as Pink Black Star wellies on Amazon for £14.99 (what’s not to love about hot pink with black stars?) Asda are currently selling wellies in designs like leopard and tattoo print for £10. Or you can get a variation on the leopard theme with these Leopard Glitter Wellies for £14.99.

Aviator sunnys are my festival sunglasses of choice and you can pick up some that don’t give you the appearance of Seth Brundle for £2.99 in H&M at the moment.

And remember – never ever forget hiking socks. Unless you want giant pustules. They are a life saver. The hiking socks, that is. Not weeping sores on your footsies.

Festival makeup essentials

It’s all about stripping down to the bare necessities, taking the things I know I cannot live without. Ok, so for me it’s my 4 little gems and they are really the only thing I do splurge on because I live by the rule that you should always use good products on your skin and most of the time they last a lot longer so the makeup pays for itself. However you can shop around for a good price when looking for festival makeup. My favourite website for cheap makeup is www.cheapsmells.co.uk.

First off is YSL Radiant Touch. This hides the suitcases under your eyes after a late night (and great with blemishes too).

Second will be Benetint from Benefit. Flushed cheeks and red lips in a bottle? Yes, I think so.

Smokin’ Eyes from Benefit rocks my world – it’s a pocket piece of heaven for us rock chicks. Not only is it good for eyes… Tap a bit of the pink eyeshadow on your nose and cheekbone (above your blusher) and you’ll instantly look bright and breezy.

And lastly, what any girl on a budget should own… liquif-eye from Toofaced. Liquid liner you can mix with any eyeshadow to make the coloured eyeliner of your choice. Why the heck would you need anything else?

Festival Hair

Batiste Dry Shampoo. Period. Dry shampoo is an invention from the gods. And now for us of the darker haired persuasion, there is Batiste Dry Shampoo For Brown Hair to stop all the dusty white bits. Genius.

Can’t live without your straighteners? Don’t pay money or lose time queuing to get into the festival ‘powder rooms’. Invest in a Thermacell ceramic hair straightener as I did. Most are priced around £10 (check out amazon). OK, so it’s not gonna give you the poker straight hair or perfect curls your GHDs give you by any means, but it will keep the frizz from your door for a few days.

And lastly, if all else fails, I’ll take a beenie. The only way to truly guarantee perfect festival hair is to huddle in your festival tent all weekend. I’d rather enjoy myself and take my chances…