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When my F21 parcel arrived last week, I promised myself I wouldn't open it until I'd finished my major task for the day. Ah, motivation. (It worked.)

I must apologise for the lack of fitting-room-type photos in this review, but if I waited until I could take ones I was satisfied with, it'd never get posted. I don't have much in the way of mirrors to work with, and there's not much natural light at this time of year.

Fab Knit Thermal in Charcoal, size small


I love this. It's warm, it's so soft, and it's thick enough to wear as a top in its own right. I wasn't sure about the width of the neckline, but luckily it's not quite wide enough to reveal bra straps; I'd hesitate to call it a true boatneck (though maybe I just have broad shoulders).

F21 provides product measurements for each item in size small (sometimes medium), and whilst it would be good if they could do the same for other sizes, this is still a very useful feature. This shirt in a small measures 32" in the bust; I have about a 31" bust so it's slim-fitting but not tight on me, which is exactly what I wanted. I can even layer a camisole underneath. The other thermals on offer seem to run a lot tighter (22-27" bust in a small), which is good news if you're my size or smaller and want something very slim-fitting.

Crochet Bib Knit Dress in Navy, size small

I liked this dress, it just didn't look great on me. The description read "empire waist", which is usually a deal-breaker for me, but the photos seemed to show the waistband sitting at the model's natural waist so I risked it. It turned out to be not quite empire but too high for my taste, giving an overall boxy look with little definition (my mum said it looked a bit like I was wearing a child's dress). The extra fabric around the waist area didn't help.

Luckily, my sister loved it and it looked much better on her, so it's hers now and my parents offered to reimburse me the £13.50. I plan to sew another navy t-shirt dress myself.

Little Bow Hair Clips in Hot Pink and Cream

Even cuter in real life, and the colours are as shown on the website (the pink doesn't look as vivid in my photo).

Labels: forever 21, hair accessories, reviews, thermal

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Okay, so "more hair bows than I really need" was not on my wardrobe-building wishlist, but a couple of nights ago I was in need of a distraction and decided to browse Forever 21.

What's this? Prices in sterling? UK shipping at £3.95?

Thermal waffle shirts?*

24 hours later, I ended up ordering a dress, a thermal tee, and two sets of grosgrain ribbon hair clips. Believe me, this was a small fraction of what was originally in my cart - my online shopping strategy is to add more stuff than I would ever buy in one go, then whittle it down to the items I really want/will allow myself to buy. (This is where my ridiculous overthinking comes in and makes the whole process much more convoluted than it should be.)

I know not to expect great quality, but if any of the items turns out to be a serious letdown, F21's UK return policy is more reasonable than their US one (perhaps because of UK/EU trading regulations?). I can return for a full refund, not just store credit.

Here's what I ordered:

I admit it, I'm a sucker for this kind of thing; it took restraint not to buy lots more bows. (I have three bow headbands already...) As a feeble justification, I do need to keep my hair out of my face somehow, so I might as well do it in the girliest way possible. Grosgrain ribbon is lovely.



I'm not sure about the boatneck, but all the other thermals on offer were of the very-very-small-and-stretchy variety (one was listed as measuring 22" across the chest in a size Small...) and that's not my kind of thing. This one comes in a broad range of colours; I liked the ivory, pale pink and teal besides the charcoal grey.

Labels: forever 21, reviews

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