Wedding OOTD

Two weeks ago, I went to my cousin's wedding. Stacey and Darren have been together for 7 years and are such an amazing couple and they have a beautiful daughter, Florence, who is nearly 2. I love spending time with Stacey, she is a big crafter and I love learning new crafting techniques, and I was also excited to see they lovely things she had made for the wedding day.

I had bought my dress for the wedding in July, and I was so excited to finally wear it! I got it from Yours at Bluewater when it first opened, and loved how bright and colourful it was. I teamed it with an orange bolero top, nude wedges and an ivory box clutch bag.

 

 

Dress - Yours

Bolero - TU @ Sainsburys

Wedges - Yours

Clutch - Simply Be

 

Stacey looked soooo beautiful! We were sitting parallel to the entrance to the church, and I saw her in the car as it pulled up outside. I saw her face and my eyes just filled with tears. She looked to stunning, and I know how much she was looking forward to the day and how much effort she had put into it all. And she should have been so proud! It all looked fabulous and so pretty. From the decorated glass jars on the tables, to the suitcases decorated to put wedding cards into. It just all looked lovely! Here are a few snaps from the day.

 

A few highlights..... bottom left, my nan having a great time ringing one of the church bells! Next to her was the quartet who were amazing and gave the place a great atmosphere. Also on the bottom is my lovely parents.

 

 

Stacey's made her own bouquet from brooches and it looked amazing, but it was so heavy! She did well carrying it down the aisle and not dropping it. The marquee was so beautiful and had been decorated so nicely with jars on the tables, bunting and a cute vintage suitcase that we could put gifts and cards in. We had such an amazing day, and hope that the happy couple did too.

Pink Clove Picks

I noticed an email from Pink Clove today with an offer for 25% off all new arrivals (use code SHOP25). It feels like I haven't had a look at their range in a while, so I popped over to see what they had to offer. I found some lovely pieces at some great prices!

 

Azul Rose Mesh Insert Skater Dress - Normally £30, with offer £22.50

 

I really loved the colour of this dress. I don't own many blue items, and mixed with the floral print, I think this is so pretty. The mesh top of this dress also looks so good, perfect for the autumn weather now.

 

 

Laura Check Print A-Line Bow Dress - Normally £22, with offer £16.50

 

This dress caught my eye as I seem to be drawn to check prints at the moment, and I especially think that this would be great for Christmas. The neckline stands out really nicely with the bow detail.

 

 

Bardot Skater Dress - Normally £20, with offer £15

 

I love me a skater dress, and this would be very much welcome in my wardrobe. Not only would it be a great staple as it is black, but the off the shoulder sleeves give it a little something extra.

 

Wedding Reception OOTN

On Friday evening, Mike, the kids and I attended a wedding reception in Essex for one of his friends and his new wife. I had chosen an outfit to wear a few weeks ago, but on the Friday when I was at home, I decided that I wasn't completely happy with my decision. So I trawled through my wardrobe to see what else I could find.
I love a good delve through my clothes as I nearly always find something I had forgotten about. And this time was no different!

I found a dress that I had got nearly a year ago. At Plus North 2013, I entered a competition with Bon Prix to style a plain black dress with accessories, and won £50 to spend with them. I ordered this dress, but had never got round to wear it. So, I teamed it with a thin black belt and my black pumps and was ready to go!

DIY Gel Nails

I used to get gel manicures a few years ago before my wedding so that my nails would grow for the day itself, and I used to love how they would last for at least two weeks without chipping or getting smudged like normal polish. I stopped getting them done a few months after my wedding as, although it wasn't crazy expensive, I just couldn't justify the cost every 3-4 weeks.
So, for my birthday, my friend Caroline arranged for me to get my nails done with her and the mobile technician she uses. I was really pleased with how my nails looked. I went for a bright pink as they would match my dress for my night out (see post here).

After a couple of weeks, I realised that my nails had grown so well with the gel manicure on, and I wanted to keep it up. But again, I couldn't justify the cost every few weeks. I had been lucky to get some money for my birthday from my family, so I decided to look into how much it would cost to get my own gel kit. My cousin Stacey had got one a while ago and was happy with it, so I did a bit of research and ended up on Ebay at what deals I could find. I ended up coming across this shop which seemed to have some good deals.

I had looked at getting a set that was the UV light box, remover solution and prepare and wipe solution. This was around £30. I then looked at polishes. The listed the BlueSky brand at £5 each, but if you bought 10 of the polishes, you would get the UV light box for free! So I went through and chose the colours I wanted - which was really hard as there were soooo many that I wanted! Then I found a listing for the two solutions I needed, and a bottle of each base and top coats for £21. So I went for it!

I couldn't wait to give it a go! I followed the instructions and had so much fun :) I have used it three times so far, twice on my hands and once on my feet. I am loving the colour I have on at the moment, Rubble.

 

 

I chose a variety of colours, from black and dark red, to bright pink and a lovely glittery green. The gel remover solution worked really well, I just soaked my nails in it for about 10 minutes and the gel polish came off well with a nail file. Then I buffed and oiled my cuticles and gave them a rest for 24 hours before applying the next colour. I have always loved painting my nails, and found it so frustrating that after around 24 hours, I would have a chip somewhere! This way, I can have the perfect nail look at home for longer. Now I need to resist looking at the other colours they do. Oh and they do colour changing gel polishes!!!

 



Birthday Dress - Yours Clothing

What seems like an age ago, I bought a dress from the Yours Clothing which I had tried on in the new Bluewater store on my first visit there. I had been looking for a dress for my cousin's wedding in September, and I was drawn to two dresses. I ended up buying a light and bright floral dress for my cousins wedding, but I was so in love with the other dark skater dress I tried on, I ordered it the next day from their website.

I decided that it would be a perfect dress for a birthday night out, so I put it away in my wardrobe and resisted every urge to wear it before that night! I did, and boy was I glad....

 

 Black and Pink Tropical Floral Skater Dress With Patent Belt - Was £35 Now £18.40

I was so pleased with the dress. A usual, being 6"1, the dress was a little short for tights, so I teamed it with some black leggings. I do find this more comfortable anyway as I am still to find a pair of tights that fit my waist size AND leg length. But anyway, I felt amazing in the dress.

I opted for no jewellery or jacket, just my birthday present from Hubby, a rose gold Michael Kors watch :) (separate post to follow). And then we were ready to go out! We had cocktails and dinner with a friend, then headed to The Chequers pub in Sevenoaks High Street for their weekly pub quiz. There we were joined by a couple of other friends. More wine and laughs later, we came 4th out of 9 teams...... we were pretty satisfied as there was only 4 of us! I even got treated by a sweet 'merry' guy who heard it was my birthday and bought me a lovely little bottle or Prosecco :) We have done the quiz at The Chequers a few times now, and it is always great fun. If you are ever in the area on a Wednesday evening, I would highly recommend it!

Check out The Chequers here.

Summer brights

A couple of weeks ago I ventured to Asda Living in Dartford for a little look around. I happened to come across the George make-up section and some lovely Brazilian themed nail polishes caught my eye.

 



 

They are from the George Gel Pro collection. I have bought a couple of the other colours from this range before and have been really impressed with them. So I treated myself to Festival - a bright yellow - and Samba Parade - a deep lilac.

 

 

I had actually picked up a bright yellow dress as I was walking around, so thought that the yellow polish would go great with that. And purple is one of my favourite colours, so I couldn't resist getting that one too. They were only £2 each and I knew I just had to have them. Even though I have a couple of other colours in the Gel Pro range, I was a little uncertain of what the coverage of these would be like. I was prepared for them to be a little opaque on application as I have had that with the pastel colours from other brands before. But I was pleasantly surprised.

 

 

They both covered with intense colour on pretty much the first coat. I was really pleased with the yellow as it didn't lose any of the brightness when I applied it, and was really popped after applying the second coat. The lilac was the same, and was really vibrant after I applied the second coat. They both dried pretty quickly, within 4-5 minutes of application and lasted really well.

Fun in France - Part 1

In May, I was lucky to be invited to France for a week with my good friend Caroline and some of her friends. She has hit the big 3-0 and is a mother of 3, so wanted a nice week away in the sun as a treat. As soon as she asked me, I knew I had to go!

Caroline's dad, David, lives in France and offered us his caravan to stay in in the South of France for the week. 4 of us got a plane from Gatwick to Geneva, where we met up with Karisse as she was travelling from Manchester. Once we were all together, David was our chaufer to the campsite.....which took just over 4 hours, but we did stop for a lovely lunch half way.

After arriving at the campsite and having a little rest, we got dressed up and headed out for dinner. David took us to a restaurant in the town centre and then came the task of trying to translate the menu..... with David's help, and the waiter, we all managed to choose something. And I have to say the food was amazing! I ordered a pizza rocket, dried beef and parmesan cheese. It was so yummy! We had some wine and just had a good chat over the lovely food.

 

 

The next day, we went into the local town as there is a weekly market that we wanted to have a look around. It was so big, and busy, with such a wide range of stalls. There were amazing fruit and veg stalls, olives, dried meats, jewellery, clothes and everything you could imagine! We got to have some samples of some lovely food, and the locals were very friendly, especially with our limited French! The town was also a lovely place to look around, lots of old buildings and architecture.

 

 

We then met up with David for Lunch at a restaurant in the town. We had a lovely table outside and got to soak up the sun, along with some beer and wine of course. Then came the food....

 

 

Caroline showing off her new hat and scarf! Down the right is my lunch. I had an aubergine tart and salad for starters...it was massive! Then I had lamb shank for main, and a chocolate fondant for dessert. It was so yummy. Not to mention a nice beer, and some wine, and a nice coffee to finish.