Here’s What Was Inside My Lookiero Personal Styling Box

This Lookiero Review contains affiliate links

A few weeks ago, I tried out the StitchFix Personal Styling Service, and it was kind of a dismal failure, really, so naturally I jumped straight back in for another go, this time with Lookiero. I’ve worked out that I have to make the same mistake approximately 8,765 times before it actually sinks in with me, so brace yourselves folks: we’re here for a long time, not a good time – don’t say you weren’t warned.

Now, Lookiero works around the same basic idea as Stitch Fix, in that it’s an online personal styling service whereby you answer some questions about yourself and your style, and receive a box of stylist-selected clothes in the mail a few days later. Like Stitch Fix, it costs £10 to order your box, and you’re not obliged to keep anything if you don’t like it. This seemed to me like a fairly low-risk way to try out some items I might not otherwise have picked up for myself, so off I went.

Before we dive right into my Lookiero review, lets take a look at the Differences Between Stitch Fix and Lookiero

I went into quite a lot of detail on how these services work in my Stitch Fix post, so I won’t repeat myself, and will simply note here that the only real difference I found between the two in terms of the ordering process was in the questions they ask you to fill in.

As I recall (And I should add here that I actually ordered my box back in January; it’s just taken me this long to get around to writing about it), the Lookiero questionnaire wasn’t quite as detailed as the Stitch Fix one, BUT it did allow me to give a little more information about myself/my lifestyle, and there was also a section where I could send them a link to my Instagram and/or Pinterest boards, to help them get an idea of what kind of things I like.

I wasn’t sure how much use my Instagram would be to them given that I tend to mostly post photos of myself there when I’m either on holiday or doing something (I think is) interesting, so my grid kind of gives the impression that I live a life of adventure, wearing colourful dresses and a huge amount of polka dots.

The reality, though, is that I actually spend most of my time at home in leggings and sweatshirts (So don’t believe everything you see on Instagram, guys!), and while I don’t really have a problem finding clothes I like for warm weather or special occasions, it’s the school run/soft play/play date type outfits I need help with right now.

I sent them the link anyway, along with a link to this Pinterest board, then, as with Stitch Fix, I sat back and waited for my box to arrive.

And here it is:

My Lookiero Review: Inside the Box

Lookiero review: the box

As with Stitch Fix, the box comes with some suggestions on how you might want to style the items with clothes you already own, and, also as with Stitch Fix, I haven’t bothered to do that, so, as with my previous post, this is essentially a “live” trying-on session, and the same caveats apply. What can I say, I wanted a surprise. And it wouldn’t really be a proper Lookiero review if I’d essentially just picked out the clothes myself, would it?

Lookiero Reiew

Here’s what I got:

Lookiero review: trying everything on

1: ONLY Skinny jeans

(Note: because it’s taken me so long to get around to writing this post, I no longer have links to all of the items I was sent, so I’ve just linked the ones I still remember – sorry!)

So, the skinny jeans were something of a wildcard here. We’ve been hearing for months now that skinny jeans are, like, totally over, and even though we all know that’s not actually true, because there are still plenty of them around, I was still a bit surprised to find a pair in my box.

I’ve been actively looking for alternatives to skinnies lately, and although I think this silhouette is more flattering on me than the baggy jeans from my Stitch Fix box, these felt so tight and uncomfortable on me after so long in leggings and sweatpants that there was no question of me keeping them.

They are the right length for me, though, which is something of a miracle in itself as even “petite” length jeans are often too long for my stumpy legs (Which they shouldn’t be, because at 5’4″ I’m technically too “tall” for the petite section. That’s a whole other rant, though, don’t even get me started…), so hats off to the stylist for paying attention to that.

2: Vila neutral sweater

This sweater is obviously not remotely exciting (I mean, it’s a beige jumper, it doesn’t get much duller than that, does it?), but, actually, I was kind of excited by it, if I’m honest. I mean, look at my smug face up there! Dull it may be, though, but I’d been looking for a plain sweater long enough to wear with leggings for ages when this arrived, and it fit the bill perfectly, so not only did I keep it, I also immediately ordered two more in different colours. And I have my eye on a fourth one, too. (You can find them here, if you’re as thrilled by neutral sweaters as I apparently am.)

As I’m writing this post so long after the fact, too, I can also confirm that I’ve had those three sweaters on constant rotation ever since they arrived, so this single (OK, triple) purchase was worth the £10 fee for the box alone, really. Here I am, in fact, in the camel version last month:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Amber McNaught (@foreveramberblog)

So, this was very exciting for me obviously, but, with that said, ordering a new duvet was literally the biggest thrill of the last 6 months for me, so the bar is set pretty low here, to be sure.

3: Tom Tailor Navy Trousers

If you read this post, you might have noticed that the length of these trousers – not to mention the elasticated waist – renders them what my grandparents’ generation would have called “a nice pair of slacks”, but rolling them at the ankle solved that problem and made them a lot more acceptable to me.

These were comfortable and practical, and I went back and forth quite a bit on whether or not to keep them, before remembering that I already have two pairs of navy trousers in my wardrobe, and really don’t need a third. (I also normally work according to a rule of thumb which says that if you have to really think about whether you should buy something, the answer is probably “no:…) With that said, I do think they were a pretty good call by the stylist, so thumbs up there, too.

4. ONLY checked shirt

So, as I mentioned in this post, I don’t really like shirts. There are a couple of exceptions to this, which I won’t bore you with, because this post is already boring enough, thanks, but, for the most part, they make me feel like I’m in school uniform, and I also hate having to tuck and untuck them every time I go to the bathroom. There’s nothing wrong with this one, you understand, it just wasn’t something I’d ever be excited to wear, which is why it went back. Sorry, shirt!

5. ONLY neutral coat

Lookiero review: file under ‘things I wish I’d kept’

So, this is what I’d call a “coatigan” rather than a coat: it was unlined, and a very thin fabric which would only be suitable for spring weather really, as it would be much too thin for a Scottish winter, or even autumn. Now, I actually love me a coatigan, as it happens (I’m wearing one in the Instagram photo further up the page, actually), and I also loved the fact that this one was a perfect match for the neutral sweater, which I’d already decided to keep.

Ultimately, though, it was just too similar to the camel coat(igan) I already own for me to have justified keeping it, so although it was another good call by Lookiero, it also went back.

In conclusion…

Overall, I was much more impressed withe the Lookiero selections than I was with the Stitch Fix ones. I felt they did a better job of interpreting my style and what I was looking for than Stitch Fix did, and two of the items I sent back were rejected purely because I already had versions of them, rather than because I wouldn’t have worn them.

What this showed me, however was that I probably don’t really need a personal styling service to send me different versions of items I already have. As I said in this post, I don’t actually have a problem identifying what I like or what (I think) suits me; it’s making those things work with my lifestyle that’s the biggest problem, along with finding that elusive right fit. So although I probably wouldn’t order another box just for the hell of it, I can definitely see me using the service if, say, I needed to find a specific item and was having difficulty tracking it down.

The only downside…

For me, the biggest disadvantage of this particular service is one that probably wouldn’t even remotely bother a lot of their customers, and it’s the fact that returns are only available through DPD, meaning you have to take your parcel to one of their drop-off points. Which, wait, you mean you’re actually expecting me to leave my house? Seriously?!

I know this sounds like a stupid thing to be whining about, but with Stitch Fix (And most of the other retailers I use), returns are also available via Royal Mail, so I can pay 60p or whatever to have the parcel collected from my door, or, at worst, take it to the village post office (which is a trauma in itself, mind you). Our closest DPD drop-off, though, isn’t particularly convenient for us, and I was trying to ghostwrite two books simultaneously when this box arrived, so it was just an extra hassle I didn’t really need.

The postman, meanwhile, is at my door every day anyway to deliver the mail, so it’s easier – and environmentally friendlier – for him to just collect outgoing parcels while he’s here, and, for that reason, I actively avoid retailers that force me to drive somewhere to drop off a return these days. This is my fight song.

Anyone got a Lookiero review of their own for me to read? I’d love to see it…