Tuesday 26 March 2013

A sixties retro wedding!

Now I'm going to be honest here..........I've been stuck for something to write about for a few days! I haven't really done anything other than complain about the cold weather, worked busy shifts, and spent hours on the Internet looking at wedding invitations but not making any decisions about said invitations.

So after a bit of thought, I considered what  I would like to read about and hit on the idea of some vintage wedding inspiration. It's been in the back of my mind that I would like to have sixties inspired hair and make up for my wedding so here are a few ideas for you if you have the same tastes!




This is pretty much EXACTLY what I had in mind! Large amounts of black eye liner and a modern twist on the beehive. Ideally, I'd like my hair half up, half down with some sort of tiara.

A messy beehive looks more modern

Wow. If I looked like this, I would never stop looking in the mirror! I'm going to have to try and get my skin in tip top condition by September (hello! some sun would help!)
I've already started using deep conditioning treatments on my hair and plan to get it trimmed once more before the big day.....

Pinned Image
Chocolate brown eye shadow and ombre hair

I'm not great at doing my own make up so I'll also be trying to find a make up artist to do it for me. I think it's important to feel special on your big day - and for me that means looking a little bit more polished than on a regular day!


And the best way to turn up at your retro wedding? A vintage camper van of course! Unfortunately my boy wasn't sold on this idea and we will be travelling in something a little bit more modern :(

And finally.......a retro cake!

An Orla Kiely cake!
And some matching Orla Kiely cupcakes!

Well, I hope you like this little insight into my retro mind! I was definitely born in the wrong era...



Wednesday 20 March 2013

Valentinos hair salon Groupon offer review

As you know, I'm always on the look out for a bargain, so when I saw an offer on Groupon for highlights and a hair cut for only £28 it didn't take me too long to sign up.

I've seen quite a few similar offers on Groupon but have passed them up because the salons usually look a bit "uncool." However, I had a look at the Valentinos website and it looked pretty good. The offer was for either a t-section of highlights or for colour, plus a cut and blow dry so I opted for the highlights.

I went to visit the salon thinking I needed to have a patch test but apparently I didn't need to for highlights. That was a slightly iffy start for me and also I couldn't get the salon door open as it sticks! When I went in, there was only one, slightly older lady having her hair done and I started to wonder if I had made the wrong decision....

I stuck with it and after a few phone calls and a lucky cancellation, I headed to town today for the main appointment! The salon was a little busy and the staff put me at ease with a cup of tea and some magazines. The consultation was good and I felt pretty confident that it would be ok.

This is what my hair looked like before I went in:



The highlights were applied and left for a worryingly long time but they did check them a few times and it was nice to relax!

I read several issues of Ok magazine and found out all the celebrity gossip. Very handy.

After about an hour, the highlights were washed out and I was treated to several conditioning treatments and a head massage.

Getting highlights is really glamorous!
When that was all done, I had my hair trimmed (growing it for the wedding!) and blow dried. She did a good job of drying my hair and didn't iron it totally straight with the straighteners which is what usually happens when I get my hair done!

After! Subtle highlights and healthy tips.

I'm really pleased with the results and definitely wowed by the price. It usually costs me around £42 just to get a trim at Rush so this was great value. I was also given a half price voucher for my next haircut. Bonus!

I will definitely be going back to get my hair trimmed just before the wedding and I would recommend Valentinos. Good job guys!



Monday 11 March 2013

Poundland Caviar and Stamped Nails Sets Review

So, as promised, here is my review of the Caviar nails and Stamping nails sets from Poundland.

Let's start with the caviar nails. Caviar nails were made popular by a company called Ciate and basically involves painting your nails and then sprinkling in tiny beads to the wet polish. They retail for around £18 a set which includes beads and matching nail polish. You can get them at Asos and Selfridges

My set was only a pound!


Flawless Caviar Nail Set from Poundland
They stock 3 different colours - I went for the opalescent nail polish and pink and blue beads.



They were really easy to apply and they feel fairly secure. I'll test them out at work tomorrow where they are sure to get a battering!



Blue nail polish by Barry M
I think these are great for a pound and make a nice statement.

And so on to the stamp set....

Konad stamping sets range from £10 up to about £95 depending on which set you buy. You can get fake Konad nail plates on Ebay for a lot cheaper!
The Poundland set only includes a metal plate, a scraping tool and a stamp. The Konad sets inlcude a thick nail polish to use to stamp the design.


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I have watched a few Youtube videos on how to do nail stamping and it is pretty easy....however, I didn't have any white nail polish or any that were particularly thick in consistancy. This meant that my design did not show up at all! I'll have to order some Konad polish from Ebay.




So, in conclusion, I would recommend the Caviar set but maybe not the Stamping set unless you have some gloopy nail polish to hand!



Monday 4 March 2013

Ootd: Marks and Spencer Pug Print Dress

As promised, here is the dress I bought from the Limited Collection of Marks and Spencer.
I wore it today to go into town with mum, for lunch at Wagamama's and on the hunt for invitation printing paper!

Navy pug dress £39.50 Marks and Spencer
It may look black, but it's actually navy- which is helpful because everything I've bought for the last six months has been navy!

I was struggling with the light indoors despite a bit of sunshine so I moved outdoors and braved the cold wind....


I wore it with some grey tights and my faithful (but falling apart) black pirate boots. It was really comfortable to wear - even after a Wagamama's!



We also had a tall tea in Starbucks and I got a mini haul in Poundland in the form of a nail polish printing kit (Konad style), a caviar style nail kit, some pastel paper for invitation insets and 2 packs of bulbs for the garden! If you're not sure what Konad and Caviar nail sets are, I'll review them next week!

Now I'm off to print some practise wedding invites.......


Sunday 3 March 2013

First outfit post of the year!!

Wow, I can't believe it's March already and I haven't published any outfit posts! Slack blogger.
My excuse is that I haven't bought any new clothes recently so I've had nothing to show you. I didn't want to bore you with the same old outfits time after time.....

Top - Marks and Spencer, Skinny jeans - Primark, Sneakers - Sainsburys,
Glasses - FCUK at Specsavers.
I'd usually reach straight for my dark denim skinnies but I thought I'd mix it up a bit with some teal coloured trousers. I would also usually put my contact lenses in (blind as a bat, me!) but as my new top features a spectacles print, I left my Fcuk glasses on!

 
 
As it was still freezing outside, I added a little blue cardigan from Topshop (ages old) and a black duffel coat to brave the outdoors.


As I've been lazy on the outfit front recently, I pushed the boat out by painting my nails with some bright pink, Barry M polish and dug out a black, bow shaped ring...



Tomorrow, I shall be wearing my new pug print dress and I shall endeavour to take some more photos!