AX Paris dress - wedding OOTD

Hi!

As I said in my last blog, we went to a wedding on Saturday, which was amazing.

Here are a few photos (camera phone shots) of my outfit, taken by my hubby.

Dress from AX Paris & cover up from Simply Be

Fascinator from Peacocks (a few years ago)

I do have feet - honest! My hubby's camera phone had dust on the lens, oops.

I included this shot of me so you can see a peek of my handbag

I coordinated the feathers on my fascinator with the handbag, which I bought from eBay, and was pleasantly surprised to see they were almost a perfect colour match. I'm a bit anal about details like that.

I think this is my favourite outfit I've ever worn to a wedding.

Dress AX Paris Curve £19.99 (in the sale.)

Cover up Simply Be £35.

Handbag eBay £9.49 (incl. postage.)

My experience with AX Paris was somewhat spoiled by the hideous delivery courier they use, Yodel, who took 9 days to deliver the dress after it was received at their depot. Simply awful. The dress is lovely, a fab price and great quality, but if I needed an outfit in a hurry I'd have to look elsewhere. Sorry AX Paris, change your delivery company and I'll be a loyal customer.

Describe your favourite wedding outfit: What colours would you wear? How would you accessorise? Heels or flats?

This wedding was a Greek wedding. Have you been to any 'exotic' weddings? What was it like? What fun customs did they have?

A catch up of Instagram photos and a lovely wedding

Hiya!

Here is this week's selection of Instagram photos. I didn't take many photos this week, which is most unlike me!

 L - out in the sunshine, Mid - bunting up in the sun room, R - a snack in the car.

 L - one of the tables at this weekend's wedding, Mid - my mother and father-in-law, R - the happy couple doing the traditional Greek money dance.

L - there was lots of booze on the tables, Mid - one of the decorations, R - coming home over the Dartford bridge today.

---

Yesterday my hubby's brother got married. Weddings are always lovely, that goes without saying. Yesterday was a really fun wedding. My hubby's side of the family are all happy, game for a laugh, smiley people. The family my brother-in-law got married into are a warm, generous and thoughtful Greek-Cypriot family who know how to have fun. The booze flowed, the music was great, and we talked, laughed, sang and danced for hours. The bride was beautiful, the groom handsome, both families proud and chuffed to bits.

The really great thing about uniting two people is that it unites two families under one big umbrella of squishy feelings. Just under 4 months ago when J and I got married I inherited his hundred-strong family of lovely people, and yesterday we inherited a bunch of lovely almost-inlaws, and their friends, who are all warm and welcoming. Our social circle just exploded and I've gained so many more people to care about. A rich life is one surrounded by wonderful people, not things. Happiness in life comes from love given and received. My life is richer for having more lovely people in it. Since we got married I think I've warmed a bit as a person. I really see the importance of spending time with friends and family above all else now. Although there's a buzz from buying pretty new things, lasting joy comes from being with those we love and who love us, so I aim to spend less money on fripperies, and more money on travel to see the people in our lives.

It's all about me striking a balance, attempting to be slightly less shallow and materialistic, and remembering who and what really matters. Yes, a marriage unites more than two people.

If you'd like to share any of your favourite wedding memories, either your wedding or someone else's, please feel free! I'd love to hear them.

Glossybox July 2012

Hello!

My Glossybox came today.

Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Moisture Mist 100ml

I used this on my face and hair earlier. It did make both my face and hair feel slightly softer. It smells a bit like watermelon to me, but is actually from a wild ginger plant called awapuhi. I'm sure if this hot weather keeps up, I'll get a lot of use out of this to try and put back some moisture into my frazzled hair and skin.

Monu Eye Cool Gel 20ml

This is to get rid of under-eye bags and puffiness. I shall report back, as God knows I need the help!

Jelly Pong Pong Irish Cream Pavlova Lip Frosting 15ml

Phew, I need a lay down after reciting that name! It smells good enough to eat and is a lovely pink lip gloss with a tiny bit of shimmer.

Excuse the 'stache.

Nuxe Dry Oil for face, body and hair 10ml

After I did my yoga and housework this afternoon I had a shower and applied a penny sized dollop of this dry oil to my hair when it had dried. It's soft and glossy. Winner!

Elizabeth Arden skincare samples, 2 ml each

I usually take a few samples with me when we go off on our travels, so I'll take these away soon.

Bex London EC2 fragrance sample 2ml

I applied this to my wrist this afternoon and it gave me a headache. That's not hard to do, as I have an uber-sensitive nose. It's a bit too sharp for me. It has notes of lemon, lime, grapefruit, juniper berry, bay, nutmeg, cedar, tonka, black pepper and amber. If it was a bit heavier on the black pepper and amber I'd love it, but I really can't stand sharp notes. It's so hard to please with perfume samples.

The whole caboodle together

I only have this beauty box delivered each month and I think I'm going to cancel it. As much as I'm tempted to carry on in the hopes of an awesome Christmas box, I think I'll put the £12.95 a month towards buying Christmas presents. Yes, I mentioned the C-word, sorry.

EDIT - consider that thing cancelled. Over it.

Do you have a beauty box subscription? Are you tempted?

I wish there was a make up only box. I'd be on that quick smart.

Two trends I won't be raving about

Hiya!

There are many trends which come along, but we can't jump on them all unless we have unlimited funds. Some of them we might not want to jump for joy over. Here are just two trends which don't float my boat.

PASTELS

Pastels look so pretty, but I know from being alive through the 80s and early 90s that they don't suit me. A walk round New Look (downstairs, not in the relatively colourless fat girl part upstairs) is like a walk around a 50s ice cream parlour. Oh how wonderful to drench yourself in lilac, mint, baby blue, peach, soft pink and vanillary lemon. But no, my colouring suits bright colours or neutrals. I will enjoy seeing the young things who haven't lived through the pastel age once already rocking the look, but it's not for me.

Source

Source

MAGNETIC NAIL POLISH

This is one trend I have no regrets about skipping. I don't like the look of it. Personally, I think it's ugly, but each to their own, as ever.

Source

Sadly (for my pocket) there are many trends I do like and do want to buy.


What trends do you turn your nose up at?

Spill the beans!

Current wants from New Look Inspire - Gothic

Hi!

There are a couple of things I've just seen on the New Look website which are really making me want to get them. Autumn/Winter is going to be all about the Gothic in fashion and that makes me squee a bit, quite frankly.

On to the pics!

The skirt is £19.99 and can be found here. I have no idea if this is a knee length skater skirt or a mini skater skirt, as annoyingly New Look don't list lengths of items on the website. As it seems to be super new I can't find any reviews of it on the intuhwebz for any further information. Drat! (Seriously, who says 'Drat' these days?!)

This sheer vest is £14.99 and can be found here.

Does the thought of autumn and winter bring out the secret Goth in you? How would you style the skirt?

I'm thinking slightly battered Converse, 50 denier footless tights, a plain vest and a bright cardi to kind of bring the gothness down.

Although my absolute preference would be to pair it with the vest above and go hell for leather with New Rock boots, fishnet tights or slashed black leggings and loads of rockin' jewellery. Something a bit like this, with the vest tucked into the skirt.

Rock & Roll necklace from Punkypins here

A plain black vest would also work, or a black studded top, or anything with zips and chains. I'd wear my black sparkly crop 3/4 sleeve cardi over the top to cover up my fat arms, but that's just my hang up/preference.

New Rock boots are available all over the net - shop around, prices can vary a lot! Or even better, if you're ever in Laaaaaardaaaaaaaan (London, to the uninitiated into Cockney!) pop to Camden on the Tube and virtually every one of the many shoe shops there sells them.

Let me know how you'd style the skirt, I'm dying to know!

Be Here Now - The Andy Whitfield Story

Hi.

Have you ever seen Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the show about Gladiators starring John Hannah, Lucy Lawless and Andy Whitfield? If you did, you might know that Andy - who played the role of Spartacus - sadly passed away last September from non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, leaving behind a wife and two young children.

I can't actually define what affects me so about Andy Whitfield's death. People die all the time, but some deaths affect me more than others. I loved S: BAS from the outset - it's a violent show with lots of action, nudity and sex scenes - right up my alley as a viewer. There was something mesmerising about Andy, something immeasurable - he was a star, pure and simple. He shone in the role and I thought he had a bright future ahead of him. To my mind, he WAS the show. Some performances from actors just wash over you and make no impression, but Andy's work made its mark on me, a testament I think to the heart and soul he put into the role.

When I found out Andy had died I was upset, as any loss of talent weighs heavy on my heart. Because I can imagine how distraught I'd be if my husband died, I felt for Andy's wife and kids. As the months went on I thought about Andy every time I was reminded about S: BAS, which was often as I saw re-runs advertised in my Sky TV planner on an almost daily basis.

A couple of months ago I became aware of a fund-raising campaign to raise money to tell Andy's story in a documentary. Film-makers had followed Andy since his diagnosis, and the money the campaign needed was to ensure the documentary came to fruition. I'm very proud to say I am one of 5,265 backers who have funded the heartbreaking and inspirational story of Andy's final weeks and months. Initially, the campaign asked for a total of $200,000. It actually raised $302,810 by the time the deadline closed, which was earlier today.

Here's a trailer for the documentary:



I've watched it a few times over and it never fails to make me cry. There is a quote in the clip which touches me deeply.

"In my heart, I'm convinced that this is all meant to be ... And I'm open to the journey and to the discoveries and to the adventure of all of this. 'Be here now' is all about being present and not fearing what you don't know."

What an inspirational man to have said that in the face of terminal illness. R.I.P to Andy and all those taken too soon.

I will be keeping an eye out for developments to do with the documentary and you can check yourself here. 

My wedding outfit is coming together

I wrote here about my outfit for the wedding hubby and I are going to next weekend - in fact, it's his brother's wedding.

Yesterday I bought a lovely handbag for the wedding and some footless tights, both from eBay. I can't wear tights with 'feet' in with any kind of heels as my feet slip down the shoes and my toes get crushed at the bottom. Does anyone else have that problem with tights? I find them so slippery! I've even tried tights or pop socks with grip bottoms but they don't work for me. I need a bit of skin action to stop my feet slipping down my shoes. I'll take plenty of plasters with me just in case I get blisters and I'll probably use those gel cushions for my feet to grip as well. I'll take a pair of emergency flat shoes for the evening just in case I'm in pain.

I bought the handbag here for £9.49 including postage. It's 10 inches long, 5 inches high and comes with a long silver chain so I don't have to worry about holding it all day. It'll be big enough to put my essentials in - phone, mirror, make up, etc.

I bought the tights here for just over £7 with postage. There were also some brighter colours of the same tights in big arse sizes. Lavender and hot pink caught my eye. I'd like to get those some other time if these ones fit well. I have a problem with tights, the gusset is either too low down or they don't fit around the hips. Evans tights are notoriously bad for not fitting the sizes they're supposed to, so I hope these ones are better. I've heard We Love Colors tights from the States are awesome, but I'm short on time and had to buy from the UK.

Here is an Instagram shot of the fascinator hair band I'm wearing to the wedding. (This photo was also featured in my weekly Instagram photo catch-up, but you can see it better here, anyway.)

I picked out the blue handbag to go with the blue in the fascinator. I'll keep my nails and jewellery fairly low key so I don't stick out like a sore thumb.

Have you got any weddings or other special occasions this summer? How do you plan an outfit?

I often plan an outfit around an accessory - in this case the I knew I wanted to wear the fascinator, so I planned everything else around it.

Week up to 22/07/12 photos

Hello!

I hope you're enjoying this sunny weekend? It's been marvellous here. I only use words like 'marvellous' when the weather has me in a happy mood :)

Here are this week's round up of photos. Clickable for larger images, as ever.

These were all taken on the 17th July, the day the Olympic torch passed through St Leonards. L - there were jolly ol' flags everywhere. Middle - my mate Rach. R - a double decker bus cafe and people milling about.

 L - me and the fella taken on the 17th. Middle - some ouzo Rach and her fella brought us back from Greece. R - I had my hair cut on the 18th.

L - the fascinator I'm wearing to the wedding next weekend. Middle - a windswept me in the car today. R - we have floor to ceiling glass in the sunroom, which makes for lovely views all year round.

L - as we went for a walk today I spotted this lovely wrought iron gate. Middle - the view from our flat. R - our neighbour's garden is looking great.

I hope you've had a great weekend.

What have you taken photos of this week?

Nails Inc Eden Grove NOTD

Hiya.

This is my most recent mani.

I was about to reach for yet another purple shade when I stopped myself as the last few NOTD's have been purple. I really love this colour and think it's quite unusual.

I've snipped my nails down as they look better this way. My hubby will just have to scratch his own back. Seriously, that man wants me to rake his back off every day! I've never known someone be so itchy.

It took 3 goes to get this right. The first time I forgot my quick dry spray and started doing my tea, so I smudged 3 nails. I seriously considered photographing my 2 fingers, but they weren't even next to each other! The second time round I remembered the dry spray but had a packet of crisps and got crumbs in my nails. I've heard of the flock mani, the salt mani, the caviar mani, but never the crisp mani so off it came again! Hahaha. Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

What are your nails like? Long, short, bitten?

Square, oval or are you rocking the sqoval?

Or are you wielding some crazy Gaga stiletto nails? Fess up, I want to know!

Hair cut time and my hair history

I had my hair cut a couple of days ago and I'm really happy with it.

Like most women, my hair is a big deal to me. If my hair looks bad or if I have split ends, it affects my confidence. My mum cut my hair for the first 15 years of my life. My first 'proper' hair cut was saved up for not long before I left school. Once I started work I could afford a fancy hair dresser, and my hair was great (well, great for the 90s!) When I left my home town, I didn't find a new hair dresser for a couple of years so I cut my own hair.

When I finally did go to a posh salon in my new home I was talked into having a really short bob by a slightly overenthusiastic stylist. It was so short the back of my head was shaved up level with my ears and the bob part at the front reached just above my ear lobes and that was it. That was the shortest I've ever had my hair. I didn't go back again. I found another salon when I moved to a town a few miles away. I went there for many years, as my hairdresser was friendly and did a great job.

When I moved into the county I live in now (in a different town) I went back to cutting my own hair for a few years between hairdressers. It was only after I moved to my adopted home town (where I am now) some years ago that I started to make enquiries with my workmates about who was good at hair . A lady at my work always had lovely hair, so when she recommended I call her hairdresser, I was confident things would be OK. That was 5 or 6 years ago now and I'm so relaxed with Helen I just let her do her thing. She could close her eyes and still give me an awesome hair cut. Before I had my hair dye allergy Helen used to dye my hair all kinds of funky colours too.

I'll be going to Helen as long as I live here and as long as she's cutting hair. It's not just that she's good at hair, she's hilarious and we always have a good old natter over a cuppa every time. I always look forward to getting my hair cut, and my hair always looks good even with no styling. I'm a lazy beeyotch and a hair cut has to be low maintenance!

Enough waffle - on to the pics!

Shiny!

This angle isn't flattering but shows off my layers well

Here's a quick peek at my eye make up that day, too. I was wearing Dark Horse over my entire lower lid, with Half Baked over the centre of my lid, and Creep smudged into my lash line with an eye liner brush. All of those colours are from the first Naked Palette by Urban Decay.

How did you find your hairdresser?
What was your worst ever hair cut?

Mint and ink EOTD

Hiya!

I've decided to try to be more daring with my eye shadow choices as I'm a bit of a wuss. I did a look today I'm really happy with.

I used my NYX kit, which came from TK Maxx a couple of years ago.

It's a 2 layered make up kit with eye shadows on top and blush, contour and lip colours on the bottom

I used the green (top right) on my lower lid, the neutral colour (mid right) near my tear duct, the white (left) as my highlight under my brows and the blue (bottom of photo) in my crease and blended it out.

I used:

Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Eyeshadows from the aforementioned NYX kit

Eyebrows filled in with Buck from the Urban Decay Naked Palette 1, and tapered off using Body Shop  brow and liner kit in shade 02

Mascara on upper lashes: Avon Supershock Max in black

Mascara on lower lashes: 17 Waterproof mascara in black (to avoid panda eyes)

Eyeliner on waterline, tightline and upper lid (smudged): Barry M bold black waterproof liner

Contour under cheekbones: MUA shade 2 bronzer

Blush: e.l.f. Natural Radiance blusher in Glow

Facial highlight: e.l.f. blusher in Gotta Glow

Foundation: Avon Smooth Minerals loose powder in Ivory

Lip gloss: BeneFit Back to the Fuchsia

Some of the stuff I used

Top L-R e.l.f. Natural Radiance blusher, Avon Smooth Minerals loose foundation, e.l.f. Gotta Glow blusher

Middle L-R 17 waterproof mascara, Avon Super Shock Max mascara, Barry M eyeliner

Bottom L-R MUA bronzer, Body Shop liner kit, Benefit lip gloss

That's quite a lot of stuff really! Phew.

What do you think of my look?

Do you wear daring shades or are you more of a neutral girl?

Do you use loads of different makes of make up like me, or do you stick to just a couple of brands?

Guilty Pleasure #1 - Geordie Shore

As I was laying in bed last night awaiting the sleep fairy, I started to think about some of my guilty pleasures - the things I like but probably shouldn't really. Like Jedward. Yeah.

I absolutely love Geordie Shore.

Put a bunch of over-sexed 20-somethings together, add copious amounts of alcohol and there'll be bonking and fighting galore. On paper, it sounds hideous, but I can't get enough. The girls wear loads of make up and have their tits hanging out most of the time. The guys look plastic and wear those hideous scoop neck tops to show their muscles off. There's loads of swearing and rows galore. It's car crash TV and I'm addicted. Here are a couple of random clips but you can catch all the shows over at the MTV website.

Care to share one of your guilty pleasures with me?

Even especially if they're reaaaaaally embarrassing. Please?