Top Five Tips for Styling Your Perfect Summer Look: And Check Out Who Has Joined Team Beaut.ie!

We are just BURSTING with delight here at beaut.ie HQ this morning! We have some fab news to share with you - the lovely Lorna Weightman from Style Isle and TV3 is joining the beaut.ie team as our roving fashion reporter. She'll be working hard to bring us all the latest trends, checking out the cream of the catwalk shows and telling us all the inside goss.

 Today she is going to kick off with her top five tips for styling your perfect Summer look - and with a heatwave on our flippin' doorstep, there is no better way to start!

I think summer can be a difficult time to style your look. There’s no layering (or else you can be rest assured you will feel like a walking sauna), boots are out and cosy accessories, which we can use to complete a look, are well and truly in a vacuum pack bag under the bed (well, for the more organised amongst us anyway).

The key to getting it right is to keep it simple. And here's how you can do just that:

• All About the Separates

Invest in separates that you can mix and match to create lots of different outfits. I tend to start with the bottom half as the foundation, so I’ve bought some cropped trousers, wide leg palazzo pants and a good pair of jeans (you can check out our guide to finding jeans to suit your shape here). And then I can add nearly every top I have.

See, you really don’t have to wear something different every day!

• The Suitcase

When packing for your summer holidays I always pack in outfits, then I can just lift them out when I arrive in the sunshine, and I can prevent the “what am I going to wear” panic. I travel a lot with my job so this way of packing has been my saviour. It takes some time to prepare, but you’ll thank me when you are on the dance floor in Ibiza.

• Beware the Summer Trend

Don’t get me wrong I love a good trend, but invest wisely. Focus on the styles that will last you this year and longer.

For 2014, take a look at the fondant/pastel colours and nautical trends, which I can guarantee will come full circle.

• Mind Your Feet

My poor feet really don’t like me very much. I subject them to daily squishing into high heels, and I really do feel guilty. During the summer months our feet can get a little hot and swollen (gross I know, but it’s true) so we need to take care of them (you can check out our review of Scholl's latest offering to cure Frodo feet here).

And so I embrace flats - they are our friends. Birkenstocks have made a dramatic re-entry to the world of fashion, and there are plenty of high street alternatives too. They look great with a midi length skirt or some jeans. Just don’t forget to paint those toes!

• The Wedding Dilemma

I have five weddings this year. Do you think I’m wearing something different to each one? I swear on Karl Lagerfeld’s glasses, I am not.  And honestly, if I wear a dress that everyone has seen at the last wedding, I’m not going to lose sleep over it. We have to be sensible and our purses will thank us.

Block colours for dresses and separates for any occasion are an easy-to-style choice, as you can accessorize to your heart’s content to change them up each time you wear them.

Remember there are no rules in fashion, it’s about wearing what makes you feel good, so the most important rule of all is just to have fun with it!

What are your favourite Summer style trends? Will you all about the pastel or will you be jumping aboard the nautical trend (sorry)? And do you have any top tips when packing for your holliers?