Style HQ

Time for tea... again!

We enjoyed our Strawberry Tea parties last month so much, we decided to throw another today!

 

There's nothing better on a Friday than a cupcake or a slice of banana cake, and it's become quite a tradition in our office. Plus, we'll take any opportunity to raise a bit more money for Breast Cancer Care.

 

If you think your office, school or home could benefit from a Strawberry Tea Friday (or any other day!) you can get more information here. And if you'd like to try a slice of the delicious banana cake, you can find the recipe below!

 

If you have held your own Strawberry Tea, or if you plan to in the next week, then you could win a 2 night stay at Champneys Resorts. All you need to do is upload a photo of a cake you baked to our gallery on Facebook - we'll pick a winner from the five with the most votes when the competition closes on 7 August.

Banana Cake

100 grams of softened lightly salted butter
125 grams of light brown sugar
200 grams of self-raising flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp of bicarbonate soda
5 bananas

- Mix the butter with the sugar. Mix in two beaten eggs and give it a good stir.

- In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt, cinnamon and bicarbonate soda. I improvised a bit and added 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom seeds into the mix.

- Then pour the  sugar/egg/butter mix into the dry mix and stir throroughly. Add 5 ripe bananas and mash them into the mix...I wouldn't mash them up too much so you get a few nice banana chinks in the cake.

- Final step is to properly grease a baking tray and pour the mix into it. Bake for an hour at gasmark 4 (160 with fan assisted oven). I'd check it after 50 minutes and see how it's looking. Prick it with one of those kebab sticks and if it comes out clean it should be ready.

What are you wearing this weekend?

We want to know where you're going and what you're wearing this weekend!

Every Friday we team up with Rimmel London for Finish The Look Friday (#FTLFriday) on Twitter. If you tell us your outfit plans, we'll get you expert make-up tips specific to your look.

We love hearing about your plans, like these people who joined in last week:

 

 
  
 

So far we've helped people out with what make-up to wear to a festival, make-up tips for weddings and loads of other special occassions.

If you've got an idea for a theme for #FTLFriday, just leave a comment and let us know how we can help!

Why not tweet us now? x 

Want it? Win It!

Let's be honest - we all have a wishlist of items we want but just can't buy. Whether it's a dress for a special occassion or a pair of jeans you'll wear every day, there's that one item you've got your heart set on.

We want you to have that one item, so we've launch a new weekly competition: Want It Win It.

 

If you come over to our Facebook page between 9am and 4pm, you can enter you details and tell us which item you can't stop thinking about.

We'll pick a winner at 4pm and let you know what they've won. Click here to enter. Good luck! x

Ballet Luxe

Get ahead on next season's trends with a ballet-inspired going out look.

Mila Kunis's style is always en pointe, and this Elie Saab outfit is one of her best. This luxurious twist on classic ballet styles is very current, and it's the inspiration for our newest going out collection: Ballet Luxe.

Take your inspiration from Mila and add glittering embellishment and platform heels to a gorgeous going out dress in blush, nude or ivory.

We've got all the pieces you need to make this look your own. Whether your going all out in a tutu-style pleated midi dress, or staying subtle by adding a draped kimono to tailored trousers, these are the key items:

 
 
 
Tell us what you think of this look, and how you'd wear it, in comments x
 

The Only Way to Accessorise

It was no surprise to see Amy Childs at the Duke of Essex Polo last week, one of the most prestigious events in the Essex social calendar.

 

We always love her look, but we think she looks her best when she's glammed up in full Jessica Rabbit style, with tumbling red curls and a floor-length gown, and this was the perfect place to dress up.

A glamorous outfit like this needs a beautiful piece of statement jewellery to complete the look - and Amy's chosen a necklace from the DP collection!

 
This designer-look piece is actually only £15 and it's available now.

It looks great on Amy with a white halterneck dress, but how would you wear it? Tell us in comments x

 

We've got it nailed

We're completely obsessed with nail art at the moment, so we went crazy this morning over this photo (from the blog Hey, Nice Nails! but we saw it on Stylelist):

 

We love the intricacy of this manicure, but we also love the story behind it:

"these were inspired by a Jil Sander sweater/shirt/whatever I saw floating around tumblr. i’m so proud of how they turned out!"

We think nail art is a great way to get a high fashion look without slpashing out on the clothes, so we looked up the jumper in question, to see if it's a perfect match:

 

Spot on!

If you haven't got a steady hand, you could head to WAH Nails, who do this awesome Prada manicure:

 

What do you think of these catwalk-worthy nails? If you have any links to great nail art, we'd love to see them! x

Christmas in July?

In the weird world of PR, Christmas starts in July, when we unveil our winter range to the fashion press.

 

We had our Christmas Press Day ealier this week, and we thought you'd like to see some of the photos, for an exclusive first look at what we have coming up.

 

As well as cold weather essentials, the winter range is full of party pieces for the Christmas season.

 

As you can see, among the trends you can expect from us later this year are animal print, faux fur, sequins, stripes, knits and satin. What a gorgeous medley of textures and colours!

 

With the dismal weather outside at the moment, we wish we could get our hands on these beautiful boots right now, but sadly we'll have to wait a few more months.

 

Leave us a comment, and tell us which item you've spotted that you can't wait to see in stores x

Get the Look

There's a fab feature in this week's Look magazine that everyone should look out for - 100 Best Ever Fashion & Beauty Tips from the experts.

 

They've consulted all the biggest names and key influencers from the world of fashion and beauty to bring you the experts' high street must-buys, stylists' tricks, make-up artists' secrets and miracle products.

Among the experts, from Julien Macdonald to Erin O'Connor, is DP's very own design manager Claire!

Her top tip? "Pair a tuxedo jacket with a simple neutral vest and blue denim - stylishly classic". Keep this in mind for next season, when our Tuxe Luxe collection launches!

 

Here are a couple of options that are in stock now:

 

If you've got any fashion and beauty tips, share them in comments! x 

Lovebox Festival Fashion Round Up

Arguably the most fashion conscious festival going, we were expecting big things from Lovebox, and thankfully the girls (and boys) didn't disappoint.

Despite the rain, fashion was at the frontline. Yes the footwear was more sensible than maybe we'd like but who wants to sink in the mud in heels?!

What we loved most however was the high-end/high street styling. From Christopher Kane to Jimmy Choo to Henry Holland, to DP, the girls had both ends of the fashion spectrum covered.

Gemma rocking our tribal print vest, crossbody satchel and leggings 

Liz wears Christopher Kane Galaxy tee and hoodie, Ferragamo shades and Russell and Bromley studded boots

 

Tracy wears Henry Holland tee, Versace shades and vintage belt

Style HQs very own Steph wears DP colour block fedora (AW11), vintage shorts, Raybans, DP orange tassle bag and DP chelsea boots (last season)

 
Janna wears vintage tee, shades and parka, J Brand skinnies and Jimmy Choo perspex bag

Festival #FTLFriday

We've got an extra special Finish The Look Friday happening today on Twitter, in honour of the Lovebox and Latitude festivals this weekend.

If you're going to either event, we'll get you expert make-up tips from Rimmel London to go with your festival outfits.

Just tweet us what you'll be wearing to the festival (@dorothy_perkins) to get on-the-spot advice from the experts at Rimmel London!

If you're not sure how it works, here's our favourite tweet from last week:

 
 
 

Do you need to know what shade of glitter will match your dress, or what nail polish will set off your costume to perfection? Tweet us now! x