HOW TO LOOK EXPENSIVE ON A BUDGET | GET THE OLD MONEY, QUIET LUXURY STYLE FOR LESS | Ciara ODoherty

looking expensive, polished, timeless, classic, put together. It's not about buying designer labels. Well hello there and welcome back to my channel. If you are new here my name is Ciara. I share videos on shopping for the best basics on the high street, how to build a capsule wardrobe and recently I've been doing some videos on the old money quite luxury trend and basically how to look elegant and polished and put together. My last video on the old money trend you guys seemed enjoy it so I've decided to start a full series dedicated to tips and tricks that I have learned over the years to basically look your best. Just a disclaimer this is all very much just tongue-in-cheek we are just having a bit of fun here. Yes of course when I'm out and about and I'm working or shooting or going to events I want to look polished, classy, put together but there are also so many times in my life where I don't really care about that. Absolutely fine to not be looking like this all the time. So in this series we're going to cover everything from grooming, styling tips, how to build your wardrobe, shopping tips, everything and anything. So if that sounds good to you then do hit subscribe so you don't miss any of those videos. Let's get straight into it. So my first tip on how to look more expensive is all to do with grooming. So we're talking about skin, hair, makeup, nails and I think the overall thing here is to keep things pretty simple but to keep them polished. My big tip for hair is to do sleek styles when you don't have the time to commit to like a full kind of blowout. This type of hairstyle, this slick pony is my savior. I do it at least a couple of times a week especially when it's coming up to hair wash day. It is so easy and I have a few key products. I have a hair stick that I use and I have hairspray that I use that literally just slicks it all really really well. It's just such an easy go-to style and I feel like it always looks put together. It's great to do on holidays. If you want to see a more detailed video on that just let me know. Having those go-to styles and I feel like things like hair sticks, hairspray, those smoothing products they really make a difference to kind of tame away flyaways. When it comes to makeup it's again such a personal preference. When I'm filming I tend to wear a little bit more on my eyes but this is probably the darkest I'll go if it's not like a wedding or a night out in which case I will smoke it out a little bit more. I keep my makeup pretty simple and I feel like it just looks better than me wearing something heavier day-to-day. When it comes to nails I like to keep them pretty natural as well. If you struggle with keeping your polish like chip-free and if you find that your shellac manicure or your at-home manicure just isn't lasting go for Biab. Builder in a bottle I think it's called. Indestructible. They will last you until your next appointment. Recently I have started using at home like an at home kit to do my manicures again and I'm really loving it and I just do a really simple like nude colour and again I find it just looks really put together, really polished. My next tip on how to look more expensive for less is to focus on your underwear because these are really the foundations of our outfits. Even though you might not be able to see what goes on underneath it definitely makes a difference and I feel like when we get the right underwear it can give this really seamless finish it can really flatter our figures more and our clothing just sits and looks better. For bras I'm obsessed with these Skims Fits Everybody bra. I'm wearing one right now in nude. I have two of the nude and two of the black but I'll link them below. I also highly rate the Spanx Thin Stinks shorts. They're super thin seamless like shorts underwear that I wear under my satin dresses, slip dresses, wedding guest dresses. They just make everything sit really really nicely. It's not that they're sucking you into the high heavens even though they do cinch you in a little bit I will say. They just give everything this seamless finish and I think if you're wearing knit dresses you need a pair of these but again I have so many more tips for underwear, shapewear, all that kind of stuff so if you want a separate video on that let me know and I feel like we can continue this series because there's so much more to talk about but good underwear is key to looking more expensive. Now the next tip on how to look more expensive is to invest in your basics and I say this all time on this channel it's really part of my ethos as to how I shop, how I style, how I live my life is to buy less but invest in better quality. I don't think that you need to spend on designer pieces and everything can be tailored towards someone's individual budget. It's good to look at your cost per wear so if you look at a five euro t-shirt which will last you maybe a few wears is not going to last in the wash it's going to lose its shape versus maybe a 30 or 35 euro t-shirt which yes is more expensive initially I totally understand that but your cost per wear over time makes it better value. Those basics that I invest in they really give me back so much value. I feel the most elegant and put together in some of the items that I have really worn the most. Repetition actually is elegance and it also shows that you are taking good care of your pieces as well which I think signals elegance, timelessness and that kind of sophisticated polished energy when you have someone that you see that they're wearing their beautiful coat or blazer multiple times and it's almost like a signature so that's kind of the way I've started looking at it. I've reframed how I've thought about re-wearing pieces for the past couple of years and it's made such a difference. This brings me nicely onto my next tip of how to look more expensive which is to take care of your clothing but especially when you're spending a little bit more money on something you want to be minding it and this doesn't have to be overly complicated even just reading the care labels on your items washing them how they're supposed to be washed whether it be in cold or hand washing. When I do my white washes I often throw in one of those like white pouches or sachets or like the powder and there's also some really great methods for soaking items in a solution that brings the whiteness up and again if you want more info on that let me know and I can do a video on all like wardrobe care and stuff like that. You can even get the like dial on pouches to bring up your black colors so let's say if your black jeans or your black tops are starting to fade you can bring the color back without having to throw away and replace it's going to help them last and always look so good and again that's really what is going to make someone look polished and expensive is if their clothing is being taken care of and those colors are still super fresh. Things like the pink stuff that cleaning product is fantastic for bringing up the whiteness of like trainers and sneakers if you're giving them a scrub even things like baby wipes or wet wipes on the go are fantastic for keeping things clean with bags and things I like to store them properly and make sure they're not getting misshapen. Sometimes we can treat our stuff so poorly I have been guilty of this and it's something that I noticed that they're really refined elegant women that I see or follow you can tell they're taking care of their stuff. My next point on how to look more expensive is getting the fit right in your clothing and guys this is key I think that sometimes when you look at someone that looks really put together and expensive and polished you don't you look at the whole picture but what you're really seeing is the fit and the tailoring of the outfit and this is not just for men and suits which of course the tailoring is everything but for women as well but for someone who might be on the taller side or the more petite side tailoring can make such a huge difference as to how your clothes will fit on you. If you can find the right size first that's obviously going to be better but sometimes you just can't get that right size off the hanger especially if it's for a forever piece that you're going to want to love. Another tip for looking more expensive on a budget is to focus on neutral colors. I'm not saying eliminate color from your wardrobe but like when I go to events or weddings I love wearing color love it so much but my day-to-day wardrobe it's so much easier for me to work with neutral colors and monochromatic colors it's so much easier for things to go together it's easier for me to pack for trips I also find that whenever I'm in doubt as to what to wear I tend to go for all black or all white it's just so effortlessly chic. This also applies to color if you wanted to do a tonal look of wearing all grays all tans. Tip on how to always look expensive is to utilize the right tools to help you always look polished and I have some absolute favorites that I need to put you on so the first one is the stain remover pen it is so good you absolutely need this the Tide one which you can get on Amazon but sometimes it's not available and then you can also use the Amazon version that I also have I'll link that in the description below they're so cheap and cheerful and they really work at removing stains on the go if you're like spilling tea or coffee anything like that they're amazing for keeping like white shirts looking clean great for traveling if you've kids you need them put them in your handbag they'll really help you always look put together another little handy tool is a lint roller I keep one in my car I have a small one for my handbag and they're just great for like getting fluff pet hair anything like that on the go especially if you're wearing all black it really kind of ruins an all black look where there's loads of fluff on it definitely recommend getting a couple keep one in your house one in your car one in your handbag they're so cheap and cheerful another tool that I really like to use is a fabric shaver or like a de-bobbler they're called they're super cheap and cheerful on Amazon fabric shavers are amazing because they remove those bobbles from your clothing so if you have a beautiful wool coat or a jumper or cashmere every type of wool fabric is going to bobble and pill it's natural but the fabric shaver will bring that jumper back to life it'll make it look brand new and it takes two seconds to do and again it's a very cost effective way of just making your clothing continue to look really really good two other products that are must for me is one my clothing steamer um I absolutely love it I'm terrible for ironing but I will steam things a lot of the time I even pack the steamer away with me when I go I'm traveling or anything like that and it's just so handy the other thing is the crease releaser spray I'll pop a picture of it here I have a big bottle and then I also have the travel size bottle this stuff is magic so you can spray it on linen dresses silk dresses shirts anything like that and the creases will kind of naturally fall out you can kind of smooth them out with your hand but it's also a really great steaming and ironing aid utilize those amazing tools that will help you always look polished expensive classy and just put together and my final point is to focus on your jewelry and accessories and I feel like even the most basic of outfits can be elevated with the right jewelry and accessories now I've said this before it's not about spending a lot of money especially with accessories bags belts you don't need to go designer but just buy well so items that I love my Arquette belt it comes in at around 50 euros and it just looks so chic with every outfit I also love my jewelry I have my more costume pieces like these which aren't real gold they're great for like dressing up outfits but then I also have my everyday jewelry I have my dainty bracelets that I wear that are in gold my watches and then I typically have simple gold hoops or huggies that I'll alternate between but jewelry and accessories is just a huge part in elevating an everyday look it can make the most simple jeans and tank top look elevated polished chic and I think really utilizing it and knowing how to accessorize is going to make a huge difference when it comes to bags I obviously love my handbags and I love using accessories to finish off an outfit and I have loads of videos on my favorite handbags I have videos on mid-range luxury handbags under 600 euro I have some videos on some more expensive ones if you want to take a look I'll leave them all linked below but definitely utilizing your accessories your jewelry your belts your bags they just finish off any outfit and oftentimes I prefer the look of a very simple minimal outfit with really beautiful accessories I think it's like one of my favorite ways to dress so there you have it guys those are my top 10 tips on how to look more expensive for less and how to get that polished elegant classy style on a budget I really hope you enjoyed these tips and as I said if you'd like a dedicated video on any of these points then just let me know in the comments and I will absolutely do that if you liked this video you can give it a thumbs up it's great it lets me know that you like this kind of content and also if you have not already then please do subscribe to my channel I post new videos like this every single week and I would love to have you back for more thank you so much for watching and I will see you in my next one bye