London bloggers: WishWishWish, What Olivia Did etc...

[Whoneedstalent]

Perhaps her plan of starting her family doesn’t mean tomorrow? There seems to be a worrying emphasis placed on her role as a future mother. To describe someone as unfulfilled because they haven’t given birth is horribly outdated. I agree she has said she wants to start a family, but that could be in 5 years time for all we know.

she also seems to really like London, and unlike a lot of influencers who are already from privileged backgrounds, she’s making her own way. perhaps renting is the only option, maybe with all the uncertainty around brexit etc she just doesn’t want to buy

I just think there’s a huge amount of judgement here, and assumptions that her own fulfilment and happiness is defined by her renting status and whether she’s pushed out a baby. Maybe she’s actually pretty content with her life, and likes the independence of being able to move around and not have a family. There’s enough pressure on women to tick all these boxes by a certain age...let’s not make assumptions that people are miserable if they don’t

 

[Whoneedstalent]

Thought I’d stick my nose in here - I actually really like both Carrie and Liv and find them refreshing in the world of Sophie Milners / josieldns / lydias etc. I also think both of them have real talent, especially Carrie with her photography. Both come across as down to earth, and not showy or superficial!

As someone who can’t stand the product-pushing, self-absorbed, consumerism heavy and tone deaf influencer antics that we see all the time, I really do enjoy what Carrie and Liv bring to the table. And I appreciate their craft and believe they totally deserve their audience.

I find the comments here about Carrie being ‘so, so vain’ and Liv ‘big-headed’ bazaar to be honest. Carrie is hardly posting selfie’s every 5 seconds like a lot of influencers and when she does they’re beautiful photos in their own right.

They also seem to be on the right side of any scandals like the influencers jetting off to Dubai or moaning because they couldn’t get their nails done.

Most influencers just leave me feeling rubbish about my own life, shoving a new Chanel bag in our faces or posting another half naked photo that’s been facetuned to the brink of reality. These two are actually really nice to see on my feed.

I like them.

 

[thegirlscout]

Did you find it on Rightmove?

From her IG I also got the impression it was a detached house in the middle of the countryside- so I'd be interested to see what it actually looks like!

Since we can’t share links…if you search her full name on Facebook you’ll see a post on a Castle Cary community group about a cat where she mentions where they live. Google that name and the search should throw up ‘House Prices in…’ I rightmove. Search for the house costing £490,000 and sold in September 2022. It’s number 12.

 

[bugeyeboo]

I’m getting secretly pregnant vibes off Carrie. The sporadic posting, and the stomach hiding poses on Instagram to hide a potential bump maybe? It’s what I did before I shared the news when I was having a baby. The morning sickness got me so bad, I could only do the bare minimum and she’s disappeared a lot more than usual. The hints at potential DIY’s coming up…a nursery? Also noticed no one tagged her at Liv’s birthday party to potentially not out her? All speculative, but I just have a feeling.
ETA: She said she’s going to Glastonbury next week so I’m probably way off this guess

 

[Shutterbug99]

That is a bit strange if nobody tagged her at Liv's party. I haven't really been paying attention to Carrie (or I guess she just hasn't been posting) but I have thought she was pregnant in the past when she wasn't - so maybe I'm not good at playing this guessing game! Although I did guess Liv was pregnant long before she announced.

I remember Carrie once said she wanted to wait until they were settled in their own home before starting a family - so I won't be surprised if she is pregnant.

 

[Shutterbug99]

I agree that you can be child-free and be completely fulfilled (I am not, don't plan to be, and have never wanted to be, a mother). I wasn't talking generally, but specifically regarding Carrie: She has spoken many times over the years of wanting to start a family - I remember her mentioning this years back - but stating that she was waiting for the 'perfect time,' and until she was living in the 'perfect place.' In that case, she'll be waiting. Maybe it has been playing on her mind a bit more of late, since her friend, Liv, is pregnant.

There has been an undertone of sadness in a lot of her Instagram posts recently; could just be lockdown, could be a lot of other things. I'd best not speculate further!

As for the renting thing, as someone who rented for years and just saw it as money down the drain, I think it's a good idea to invest in a property if you can -if it's what you want! Carrie has said many times that she would love to buy but it not in a position to - it just struck me as strange since most of these influencers seem to have no problem buying property. I thought Carrie would be well able to afford something, but if she wants to stay in London and wants to live an a particular type of property, then maybe not. She has said she's a perfectionist and I get the impression that only the perfect place will suffice. However, it might make sense to get a foot on the property ladder, and work your way to the perfect place from there.

 

[Shutterbug99]

I've followed Carrie for ages. Along with Mademoiselle Robot, she was probably the first fashion blogger I followed. I still follow her on Instagram, as I still mostly like her style (I know she looks like she's stuck in time warp, but I quite like that). Anyway, the thing that strikes me about her is that her career doesn't seem to have progressed like some of the rest of these influencers; she still seems at the same level as she was years back, although she does get some Marc Jacobs ads (I think maybe a Chloé ad too?) and she is gifted quite a lot of nice stuff from Sézane. She often strikes me as being quite unfulfilled. She has spoken a few times about wanting to start a family, but they have put this off as they are not homeowners, and so it is not the right time. I have no idea why they are not homeowners, as her husband seems to have a pretty good job (working on Star Wars and the like) and others in her field seem to have no problem snapping up property. They have been renting for a long time now. Must be over a decade. I feel like she is maybe stuck in a bit of a rut.

As for Liv, I have never really warmed to her, even though she seems perfectly pleasant. I don't know why I haven't taken to her. I think it's because I often find myself rolling my eyes at her 'Insecure girls club' shtick. She strikes me as anything but insecure!

 

[livelaughlauren]

Lucy (shinythoughts) uploaded a video from the day after the party at Liv’s parents house and you can see Carrie in the background. Nothing is overly obvious, but I’d say pregnant vibes…

 

[Shutterbug99]

Liv also has her own thread for any of you who might have missed it:

Liv Purvis

I really like Liv, she seems very sweet but the fact she is wearing nearly £900 of gifted items in her last picture really annoys me - the companies gifting to these “influencers” piss me off and would deter me from buying from them! Not the other way around! And I am sure her beautiful wedding...

tattle.life

 

[Shutterbug99]

Since we can’t share links…if you search her full name on Facebook you’ll see a post on a Castle Cary community group about a cat where she mentions where they live. Google that name and the search should throw up ‘House Prices in…’ I rightmove. Search for the house costing £490,000 and sold in September 2022. It’s number 12.

Thanks for the info!

Ah, so it's an end of terrace. Not what I imagined at all. From her IG I pictured a farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere!

It's a nice house. The garden is very pretty.

 

[thegirlscout]

I know she’s from shepton as my friend went to school with her. But we think she’s now too snobby to live there, we assume it’s within the area still but maybe one of the villages, she’s being very cryptic

She lives Castle Cary, off the high street, I’ve seen her on the local community group there. asking if anyone wanted left over moving boxes. It’s an older property that was bought for £490,000. That property was bought in September 2022 so the dates match up. It’s really pretty and I can imagine her living there. Surprised they chose Castle Cary though. Bit random!
I couldn’t see her buying one of those god awful new builds on the outskirts of town. So many keep popping up, they’re multiplying like herpes!
I wouldn’t blame her for not returning to Shepton, it’s a shit hole.

 

[bugeyeboo]

Speculating here, but does anyone else think Liv and her husband Joe have split up? She’s not worn her wedding ring for ages, she seems to do a ton of solo trips just her and her lovely son, and her most recent insta post sounded like she’s got something serious going on behind the scenes?

 

[Ups27]

It’s because she can’t drive!! And castle Cary has a station with direct links to London. I’m 90% sure that’s why she chose to live here. I live pretty local to her and if you want links to London and can’t drive out to the stations you need to live somewhere like that. Bruton wells Frome etc all have much smaller train stations

 

[bugeyeboo]

I’ve been a long time follower of Carrie for years and think she shoots beautiful photos and video but she’s going down the path of Lily Melrose with barely there content. If you’re not into it anymore, and rarely or inconsistently post- just quit and move on?

 

[0908234]

Her wedding looked lovely, and I agree with you, if she was being gifted a lot of it why wouldn’t you accept that? It would be great! But as you say, it’s galling to read her talking about budgeting when budgeting clearly wasn’t an issue for her. I think she was trying to stretch out the wedding content for extra blog posts, and to make it more relatable, but she’s not really in a position to advise on it. And she’s certainly not hard up- her wedding shoes alone were £1.4k (I don’t think they were gifted)!!

This is PURE envy, I completely admit it, but if my videographer, dress, bridesmaids dresses, make up, perfume and god knows what else was free, I could have afforded to have splashed out on my shoes too! It was a beautiful wedding though and they obviously picked things they wanted, then were offered discount, they weren’t picking things just for discount so as I said, who could blame them for accepting!

 

[Lcat19911]

I do wonder if something has happened between Kristabel and Carrie/Olivia? They seemed pretty tight (especially Kristabel and Carrie) but I've just realised they've unfollowed each other. Kristabel has spoken out a lot around setting new boundaries for herself and performative activism from influencers, especially in the wake of last year's events, and I can't help but wonder if this had something to do with it.

 

[clueless]

Looks like Carrie edits videos for Olivia now.

Olivia is much more successful now. Carrie used to be top cat in that bloggers circle and I have a strong suspicion that her nose has been put out of joint. She's already jealous that Olivia has published a book, and blog work seems to have dried up for her this last while, while Olivia continues to grow.

She posted on stories a while ago about comparing herself to other influencers who are doing things like releasing books (hmm... who could this be about?) and basically fishing for compliments I think... I replied to her story - like a fool, in hindsight - saying she shouldn't be so hard on herself and I complimented her and her work, as I had always liked her blog and posts. She seen it but never replied, not even a quick "thank you" or simply 'liking' the message. I felt like a right mug. She said in her next stories she had got so many messages and she was replying to all of them... yeahhh. It's not like she was even busy; she spent most of lockdown playing Animal Crossing fgs

 

[Sven]

I used to follow wish wish wish absolutely years ago and I became soooo tired of her. She just seemed so up herself.

 

[bugeyeboo]

Just had a peep and you’re right!

Wonder what occurred? I mean Carrie’s husband Miguel has been fairly vocal about Brexit as a Portuguese transplant here and I don’t recall Carrie saying much about that at the time. And Liv has just had a baby which is all encompassing. Maybe they’ve just drifted apart? They’re all in different stages of life, it happens to many friend groups. She still follows people like Alex/The Frugality who was one of the few influencers that stuck by Hannah Gale when she got outed for that racially insensitive post...so it makes me think this was a personal thing.

 

[clueless]

I’ve also wondered if the insta-husbands mind the frilly curated homes. Although some decorations are more muted than others.

Nice to see that Liv is having a baby. I hope she’s doing well.

What does surprise me is that Carrie (Wishwishwish) still rents! I know that London house prices are nonsense but she used to be a big player in the blogging game and her husband does VFX work or similar. So I wouldn’t think they’re too hard up. Perhaps they really just want to stay in London but I’d have thought they would have tried to get on the housing ladder by now, maybe on the outskirts of London. Their rent must be extortionate.

I'm also so happy for Liv! I am envious of her - I know we only see what she chooses to share, but she really does seem to have it all. She's living the life I want to have! But I do like her.

I agree, Carrie still renting is madness IMO too! Miguel must be earning bank too with working in blockbuster films etc. I definitely don't think they're hard up either. Years ago, Carrie did a blog post for a competition that got her a £20k prize that she made absolutely no mention of, in either the blog post (https://wishwishwish.net/2014/03/caroline-blomst-deichmann/), or any time afterwards. I found this after doing some sleuthing so goodness knows what else she has made since then with even bigger partnerships and brands. I'd say they could definitely afford a house, but not like the one they rent. They would need to move to the outskirts but I think she likes the clout of living in an expensive area, in an Instagram-able house, too much.