Royal Wedding Fever Part 2

As of my last post we were still waiting to see Kate and William appearance for their evening shindig and again all eyes were on Kate to see her second outfit change of the day.

Source - Press Association

The evening gown was a strapless number with diamond embroidered waistband and a full skirt, complemented by an Angora jacket/cardie again designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. A beautiful classic and elegant dress fitting for a "Princess" or Duchess!

Congratulations Wills and Kate the wedding was simply beautiful!

Window display at Harvey Nichols

Royal Wedding Fever

We all found out last night via twitter and for me from @markheyes that Sarah Burton was spotted arriving at the Goring Hotel where Kate and co where staying and it seemed the fashion press were right with Alexander McQueen being the designer of choice. Today i waited with abated breath today to see the very McQueen gown that we've been speculating about for weeks and i loved it!

The simplicity of the design was stunning, in-keeping with Kate's style; demure, elegant and sophisticated. Obviously comparisons to Grace Kelly have been drawn due to the French Chantilly lace, but that is definitely no bad thing!

Of course the moment we were all waiting for....the balcony kiss!

Hair and make-up wise, everything was quite natural with Kate choosing to do her make-up herself, groomed eyebrows, eyeliner, nude lips and a flushed cheeks complimented the lace detailing perfectly on the dress. Richard Ward was on hand to tame her tresses, as predicted the majority of her hair was down with her long locks slightly curled.


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Top of my best-dressed list at the wedding included:

Pippa Middleton...in Alexander McQueen as seen on Cameron Diaz - again beautiful design!

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The Beckhams....in Victoria Beckham (Victoria) and Ralph Lauren (David).

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Samantha Cameron...in Burberry minus a hat/fascinator *shocker*



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Now as it's a day of celebrations i don't want to knock anyone dress sense but Princess Beatrice looked liked she had been raiding Lady Gaga's dressing up box with her questionable millinery!

And on that note i'm off to toast the happy couple with some champagne, congratulations the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!!

What I've been wearing recently...

I think i may over the pastels that are all around at the moment and moving onto the brights and have been looking at ways to inject some colour into my working wardrobe.


Heels or flats? Flats or heels? Can you guess which one i went with?

Top - Topshop
Camel Hareems - Topshop
Jacket - H&M
Belt - Borrowed
Heels - River Island
Flats - New Look

Ah yes, well I've always been a heels girl...

Still feeling the brights i chose Revlon's Passion Fruit as the polish of choice, a vibrant purple from their limited edition scented collection.

My picture shows the colour as a reddy plum but i wanted to show you how it actually looks in normal light, so here's a pic from Chic Beauty Blog.

Don't you just love the purple against that cyan stone ring, the colour compliments perfectly!

The midi dress

I never thought i would succumb to the midi trend but after seeing this dress from Primark's S/S'11 collection i was a convert.

Unfortunately that dress wasn't to be (unless i wanted to pay double on ebay) so i turned to the old faithful Asos courtesy of Groupon.

Apologies yet again for the grainy photos

I was a bit unsure when it first arrived and thought the colour washed me out and nearly sent it back, now I'm so glad i didn't as it's the perfect dress for the season which can easily be dressed up or down and the blush colour is also on trend.

Proving what a versatile piece it is i dressed it up for work with a black waterfall jacket from Warehouse...

And then for a casual twist swap the black jacket for a brown leather jacket from Topshop...

The dress costs £30 and is available in Mustard and Camel. Click on the ASOS image below to buy now...

Before i go, i just wanted to say a huge thank you to all my new followers, it makes my day when i see a new subscriber  and i love reading your comments. I'm thinking of doing a giveaway when i reach 50 followers as I've got far too many unused beauty products that could do with going to a good home so keep an eye out in the future.

Happy Easter guys xx

Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stains

I did miss the bandwagon on those Maxfactor lip stain pens that have been doing the rounds in blogsphere but Revlon have gone one better introducing a lip stain and balm combo - now i bet Maxfactor wished they thought of that eh?

Revlon's Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm are designed to give you that just bitten lip look hence the name (not to mention cashing in on the vampire thing) - it's not rocket! The applicator is a marker pen which you use to line the lips first and then you just colour in the rest using the side of the nib.

As i said before the clever people at Revlon HQ have realised that lip stains can be quite drying on the lips so they have also included a lip balm which you can either use underneath to keep the lips moisturised or over the top to create a glossy finish.

The only problem with the balm is that it's not retractable so it can break easily, as you can see above that's happened to mine but you can push it together to stay put for the time being.

I bought Passion, which is a bright/neon pink and in fact is the brightest shade in the tube, but don't be too alarmed as the pigmentation doesn't quite match up to the packaging.

Swatch

Forgive the blurry pic

As you can see the colour is quite sheer and you do need to build up the layers to get a more intense shade. Now I'm not sure if i got a duff pen but mine doesn't seem to apply as evenly as beauty gurus on YouTube and looks like it's already drying up. Also Revlon do claim it's streak-proof but i wouldn't agree with that considering the 2nd pic. I really like the matte finish which is very en vogue at the moment and i can certify this definitely has staying power, this beauty won't budge without a heavily moistened cotton pad of make-up remover!

Now the big question is would i buy again? Honestly I'm a bit hesitant just because of the price £7.99 approx and the fact my pen doesn't work too well, however i am keen to try one of the darker shades for that Twilight look, i think there even is one called twilight as well.

Has anyone had better results?

My love of rust - Part 2

My Topshop rust tapered leg trousers made their debut today along with some other items so thought I'd give you a sneak peek. I have to say i am in love with this colour and I've just realised I've acquired a new addition to my wardrobe which is also the same colour! I might show you that another time as not too sure whether to keep it yet.

Blazer - Limited Collection @ Marks and Spencers
Trousers - Topshop
Shoes - River Island (old)
Belt - Used to be my sisters but it's from Marks and Spencers
Ring - Topshop
Bag - Vintage (ebay)

Have you spotted the clashing nail polish? Especially on the toes! Not a good look, but rest assured i will be re-painting soon, just waiting for Nails Inc on QVC to start (4pm everyone!) to get some inspiration.

Ring-a-bling

I seem to have developed an obsession with statement rings. I love coloured stones that look like you've picked them up on holiday on some deserted beach or old vintage bling. Ultimately i would love to own a YSL arty ring in every colour possible.

source: walk the sand

As my budget will never stretch that far i've been looking to the high street for alternatives in particular Topshop which have introduced semi-precious stones. I did trawl through loads to find ones i liked, the main problem being the "gold" looked too shiny and cheap.

The two i bought are semi-precious and appealed to me because of the bright colours.

You can already see how the bright stones clash against other the pink throw and my nail polish. A welcome addition to colour blocking me thinks! The photos don't really do it justice but i'll style up an outfit and hopefully they'll look better.

Colour changing nail polish?

Yes, you did read that right, nail polish that changes colour - now isn't that a great invention?

Remember those 90's t-shirts that changed colour in the sun? Well, the same technology has been applied to nail polish, In The Mood have created nine polishes that change colour dependent on the temperature.

Here's the science bit!

"In the Mood nail polish will change color when heated to 91 degrees Fahrenheit. Your normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees but your fingertips are slightly cooler. An elevation in body temperature, for example: running your hands under warm/hot water, going outside in hot weather, or even mood changes, will cause the nail polish color to change. The colors will continue to change back and forth as your body temperature changes."


Finally we may be able to achieve that dip-dye look at-home without a trip to WAH!

These are my favourite colour combos:



Check out the video of how it works.

Unfortunately they are only available in the US and Canada priced $8. I would love to try these so if there are any American bloggers that want to do a beauty swap for some UK products let me know, if not I'll be off to scour ebay or find a UK equivalent?

A week of nails

Colour blocking is one of my favourite trends for S/S 11 but it's not always a look that can transcend to the office.

Camilla Belle works the look perfectly in head-to-toe Gucci.

My take is to add a bright nail polish that clashes with your top and job done!

Monday - Nails Inc Brompton Place

Tuesday - Nails Inc Spitalfields

Wednesday - Revlon Pretty In Papaya

Thursday - Barry M Berry Ice Cream

Friday - Nails Inc Hanover Street

Hope you love the colours as much as i do!

What I've been wearing

Just a simple post of what i've been wearing recently...



Accessorised with a bingo pen - we were off to Gala to win some money - didn't happen!

Shirt - Asos

Jeggings - Dorothy Perkins

Shoes - Dorothy Perkins

Jacket - Topshop

Belt - Marks & Spencers



Mardy face no.1



Grey Vest - Warehouse

Trousers - Dorothy Perkins

Lace Jacket - Warehouse

Shoes - River Island



Sneeky pic! But i did buy both these items :)


Crop top - Miss Selfridge

Navy Trousers - Miss Selfridge

 

Mardy face no.2 - taken in staff changing rooms ooh the glamour!



Purple Ruffle Blouse - Topshop

Navy Hareems - Topshop

Brown Leather Jacket - Topshop

Shoes - Faith

Bag - River Island

Watch - Michael Kors



Mardy face No.3 - my only excuse is they were both taken at 6.30am!



White vest - Warehouse

Camel Hareems - Topshop

Black Waterfall Jacket - Warehouse

Leopard print Scarf - Oasis

Shoes - Office

In hair news, i've been toying between curly and straight but the curls are winning at the moment....

Nails Inc Lucky Dip

A few Friday's ago Nails Inc had their Lucky Dip offer on again and knowing how popular they are i placed my order before work. Included are 5 full size nail polishes for £10! What a bargain, as they usually retail for £10 each. The only catch is that at least one of the polishes is a topcoat and the other 4 are random colours - hence lucky dip!

I thought i actually did pretty well with my colours - what do you think?

Augustus Street - shimmery silver

Victoria - deep cherry red

Chelsea Bridge UV Topcoat - need i say?

Elizabeth Street - pale cream nude

Brompton Place - barbie pink



I'm chuffed they've included Augustus Street as i want to try it with my Barry M Instant Nail Effects crackle polish to achieve this look from Nails Inc promotional shots.

I think that makes 9 new nail polishes in the space of a few weeks - oops!

What polishes did everyone else get?