The Festival survival guide

Coachella is upon us once more to kick off the Festival season! It really is my favourite time of year - I love the atmosphere of seeing the bands you love surrounded by fellow fans. Everyone is there for a good time, and more importantly, everyone looks amazing. Festivals really are the place to let go of those style inhibitions and try outfits you wouldn't usually wear in the mundane 'real world'. But whilst I embrace the dirt, the rain and the inexplicable and unavoidable cups of urine flying over head, I know that many people shudder at the thought of camping down in a stinky field for 3 days with no showers and overflowing toilets. But good news. There really is a festival for everyone!

Here's the lowdown on the variety of festivals you could give a go this summer, as well as a outfit idea, because every festival has a different vibe.

Glastonbury. 
It's every music moguls dream to head off to the most prestigious festival known to man. This year sees a drool-worthy line up of some of the biggest and best bands including The Arctic Monkeys, The Rolling Stones, Foals, the XX, and Portishead. The festival takes place at Worthy Farm, Pilton from the 26th-30th June this year and some tickets are up for resale on the 21st of April for an expensive, but worthy, £205 + £5 booking per person, plus £6 postage per order. To be eligible for the resale, you must register beforehand. Glastonbury attracts an eclectic group of all ages and lifestyles, all of who share one common passion - music. 

This is the festival to really embrace your inner boho. And be warned, no matter how optimistic you're feeling, wellies are a must! All details for Glastonbury can be found here: http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/

Sunglasses - Urban Outfitters, £140
Hat - Urban Outfitters, £20
Ring/Bracelet - Boohoo, £5
Dress, ASOS, £25

Benicassim.
This is one for all you sun worshipers! Set in Costa Azahar, close to Valenicia and Barcelona and taking place mid July (18th - 21st July), you're guaranteed it will be HOT HOT HOT - definitely one to tone up that beach bod for! Headliners are Arctic Monkeys, The Killers and the incredible Queens of The Stone Age.Tickets can be bought for the incredible price of £140, but be warned - Flights can be VERY pricey! Another benefit of this incredible festival is the option to camp for a full 8 days, incase you feel like you haven't soaked up enough sun yet!

Weather can be a bit of a nightmare fort his festival, making it TOO hot to sleep at night which may account for the acts performing at night time, (headliners can be expected to perform at about midnight,with smaller acts continuing onto about 3am), so make sure you pack that suncream! More details can be found here: http://fiberfib.com/index.php/en/

Bikini - Miss Selfridge, £26
Platforms - Miss Selfridge, £39
Shorts - Topshop, £32
Bumbag - Topshop, £25

Reading/Leeds.
For me, this festival is the epitome of cool. Slightly edgier than Glastonbury, and more of a smaller age group - typically for 16-25 year olds really. This festival takes place over 23-25 August and although the festivals share acts, they operate in two locations - Leeds and Reading, obviously. So the acts play at one location and then travel to the next to perform the next day. This years line up is a huge let down for me and seems to have veered off the 'indie-rock' path that I previously loved. This year the headliners are Eminem, Green Day, and Biffy Clyro. I'd say this is a festival for the more brave among you - the crowd tends to get a bit more aggressive than you'd see at one of the more family friendly festivals.

Leeds was my very first festival, so this festival holds strong feelings from me, and by the time we left, those fields felt like home! Tickets are £202 and an £8 booking fee (Rather expensive this year!) and information can be found here: http://www.leedsfestival.com/  and here: http://www.readingfestival.com/

Tassled leather Jacket - Missguided, £44.99
Satchel - Cow Vintage, £36
Dress - Cow Vintage, £18
pack of 3 Hair Bows - New Look, £3.99

Creamfields.
For all of yo who love to get down to the loudest and latest dance anthems, Creamfields is perfect for you. The notorious flooding issue last year might leave you cold at the thought, but with huge artists such as Zane Low, Avicii, The Prodigy and Nicky Romero, are you really going to let a little bit of rain stop you?! The festival takes place August bank holiday (Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th) at Cheshire and is guaranteed to get the crowds dancing.

I'm not hugely informed on this festival, being more of an indie lover myself, but from what I have seen, it's pretty much like a huge rave, which sounds like an amazing experience to get involved in. Tickets are £160. More information can be found here: http://www.creamfields.com/

Dungaree dress - Tosphop, £36
Tie Dye crop top - Amazon, £4.99
Backpack - Urban Outiftters, £48

 Kendal Calling.
Finally, for those of you who are timid about attending huge festivals, Kendal Calling is a smaller and more intimate venue, and has been awarded the best small festival award. Set in the beautiful Lake District (my home area!), the views really are amazing, although you southerners might find it a bit too cold!  26th - 28th July with a line up including Primal Scream, Johnny Marr and The Charlatans, this festival provides a much more relaxed festival atmosphere - plus, less people means smaller cues for the toilets, score!

Tickets are a meager £115 and more information can be found here: http://www.kendalcalling.co.uk/

White top - Zara, £19.99
Necklace - H&M, £9.99
Disco Leggings - American Apparel, £74
Jscket - Missguided,  £29.99

That's all for now and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface on the immense amount of festivals there are out there, but hopefully this has given some of you 'on the fence' readers enough inspiration to look more into festivals - always such an amazing experience! Oh, and don't forget to pack that face paint...