Whatta Dress!

Given Kate's normally understated and 'safe' style I thought she would go for a a form-fitting dress along the lines of her sister Pippa's bridesmaid dress, but when she stepped out of the 1978 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI I had to say whatta dress! and from then on in I was gripped by the ceremony! Clearly the 'Mad Men' effect has reached Royal circles!  It was designed by Alexander McQueen's successor, Sarah Burton, and props to them all for keeping it a surprise! 

Of course it's drawn many comparisons to Grace Kelly's wedding gown of 1956 when she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco - another 'commoner' who married a royalty.  Like Grace's, Kate's dress had a fitted bodice and long fitted lace sleeves with the skirt slightly flaring from her tiny waist.  Even their bouquets bear a resemblance.  The nine foot long train elegantly steered away from 'meringue' territory.  She looked nothing less than regal in her timelessly beautiful dress.  Her Cartier Halo tiara lent to her by the Queen (something borrowed!) was stunning and not to blingin' and her choice of a sheer, diaphanous veil was brilliant as it allowed everyone to see her, her happy expressions, and of course, get a glimpse at her DIY make up!

To prepare for doing it herself on the big day it's reported Kate received lessons from makeup artist Arabella Preston.  Given that she probably didn't get a wink of sleep last night and has no doubt been stressing for the past six months I thought she looked healthy, radiant and elegant.  She probably used a bit of a heavier hand than most wedding make up artists would, but in my opinion this is no bad thing.  Of course you want to look 'natural' and dare I say 'virginal', or at least innocent on your wedding day, but I've seen so many brides who wear quite a full face of make up as their natural routine hand the reins over to a MUA on the day only to end up looking a bit washed out without much definition to their features.  This is fine is you're a no-make-up kinda gal, but for the likes of me, this wouldn't fly!  

My only criticisms of Kate's make up was that she seemed to have brought her blush a bit too far in towards her nose, which can drag the face down, but then again this could have been part of a natural flush knowing that she had two billion people watching her! The black eyeliner under her lower eyelashes can look a little bit harsh and aging, but then again this is how she normally does her eyes.  She could have dotted a charcoal eye kohl along the lash line or lined dark brown or charcoal eyeshadow along there with an angled eyeliner brush.  Having said that, I think she looked stunning and her lipstick was a lovely colour which looked almost a light pinky coral under her veil.  No doubt YouTube will soon be soon flooded by Kate's wedding make up tutorials, I found a few 'interpretations' which were put up before the actual wedding but none were very accurate to what she actually did.

I adored the piece of music which accompanied her procession up the aisle, I Was Glad is from Psalm 122 and here's a video of it from the Queen's Golden Jubilee, it sounded pretty much the same today and was very moving.  Don't ask me why but it reminded me of the waltzing scene at the end of Disney's Sleeping Beauty!

Prince William was in his uniform as Colonel of the Irish Guards and looked very dashing, but I didn't know he'd gotten that bald!  They are very sweet together and clearly in love.  As for the other guests, Kate's mum looked lovely and not too 'mumsy' in Catherine Walker, a nod to Princess Diana as she was her favourite designer. 

Victoria Beckham looked sour-faced as usual, no doubt due to the huge heels she was wearing with a big mummy tummy!  Her expression was more than made up for by David's hotness! 

Harry's on-off lady friend Chelsy Davy wore a bright aqua Alberta Ferretti skirt suit which was managed  not to look too mature with a very wide collar.  Her grey lace hat was by Victoria Grant and looked much better than some of the headdress monstrosities on display today *cough* Princes Beatrice *cough*.

I woke up quite late, at 10.10 so I missed much of the coverage of the guests arriving at Westminster Abbey, but after the double kiss balcony scene I headed down to Hyde Park to soak up the atmosphere, which was buzzing.  There are always those who moan and groan about the cost of the occasion on the taxpayer, but there are much worse wastes of money - wars against nations that pose no real threat to British sovereignty anyone?  I'd rather donate a few bob to this and get a day off work to party in the streets! 

I picked this souvenir edition of the Evening Standard up just after 2pm - I have no idea how they put it together and got it off the presses in only a couple of hours!

Kate's gown for the evening festivities is equally gorgeous and also designed by Sarah Burton, but white as opposed to her ivory wedding dress.  Good hair too!

Let's hope they have a happy ever after and I want to see babies soon!

Where did you watch the wedding? Did you go to a street party?

*some images taken from Google*

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New Winter Coat

I know winter's almost over but...c'est l'amour...

I originally bought a lovely military style black wool coat from Next (it's not on their website any more) and I was pretty happy with it, but I had that niggling feeling that there was something better out there.  I had almost given up and ripped the tags off the Next coat when I spotted the one above in Oasis last Sunday and bought it on impulse and returned the Next one the next(!) day.  It was £130 reduced to £100, which I didn't think was much of a sale, but I did love it the extra £15 it cost over the Next one.  


This afternoon I logged onto the Oasis website to see it selling for £60! WTF?! So I made a quick dash over to the Oasis near work and sure enough I found it for £60 there too (and maybe a lovely navy dress too *cough*) so I bought it AGAIN! There's no way I'm spending £40 extra on the coat when I don't have to!  I'm going to return the one I bought today with the receipt for the one I'm wearing for £100.  It may not be ethical, but in the States, getting a rebate for something that gets reduced further a certain number of days after you bought it it standard practice.  Wish me luck!


It's still available to purchase in XS-M - all the Larges have sold out online but you may still be able to pick one up instore.


There are some other pretty coats in the Oasis sale and this black one is very similar to the Next one I returned, except not so flarey at the bottom.  It comes in red too and if they come down further I could be persuaded to buy ahead for next year!

I really adore this dress but I'm not sure how it would look on and its sold out in the stores near me.  I'm into long sleeve dresses at the moment!

And here is the 'magenta' dress I justified buying because of the £40 cashback I should be getting on the coast.  It was £30 in the sale and at least it's not black although it is a similar cut to one I already have, but hey, I try to stick to styles that flatter me rather than follow trends!

Do you know of any other good sales going on still?

NYE FOTD & OOTD

I hope you all had fun, happy and safe NYE celebrations! I just had a small gathering with friends and family.

As usual I was running late with getting ready so my make up and hair were very rushed - I forgot to comb out my ringlets!

Face:e.l.f Mineral Infused Face Primer
MAC Studio Fix Foundation in NW15 mixed with No7 Lift & Luminate in Alabaster
Benefit Erase Paste
Benefit Georgia as setting powder
Maybelline Mousse Blush in Dolly Pink
MAC Mineralize Blush in Dainty
NYC Soft Skin Bronzer in Sunny to contour

Eyes:Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Hazel
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Bronze all over lid
MAC Amber Lights all over lid and under lower lash line
Random Charcoal eyeshadow in crease and outer corner from Almay palette
Stilla Kitten as inner corner and brow highlight
Lancome Kohl pencil in Noir on water line and tight line
Illamasqua Precision Ink in Abyss
L'Oreal Voluminous mascara in Carbon Black
I was going to wear falsh eyelashes but ran out of time to apply them!

Lips:EOS lipbalm in Summer Fruits
Accessorize lipgloss in Captivating

So, as always, a tonne of products used for little effect (although this photo was taken well into the night...hence my red nose from eh...merriment!...and possibly Absinth...*cough*).  I really have to trowel it on like a drag queen to define my features :(

I went with this dress rather than the sequinned one as it was too much for just wearing in the house! It was a mission to track this Primark dress down on eBay after spotting it on a blog, and I had to get it two dress sizes too small! Thank god it's a baggy fit!  The belt is from Primark too and I eventually took it off as I kept snacking and things got a leeeetle tight!

The lovely ladies and I.  That's Angel from High Heels and Lipgloss on the right of me.  Her hair and make up were amazing as always!


Next, up my 2011 resolutions (I'm still figuring them out haha!) and my long-time-in-the-works round up of my top 10 beauty buys of 2010.

What Should I Wear for NYE?!

Hey lovelies,

I need your advice again...which dress of the three below should I wear for NYE? I do have other 'prettier' and glitzier dresses, but right now, I'm too chubs for them, so this is all I got!

The first two I picked up from eBay and am not happy at all that they are completely bloody see through! I saw Topshop Princess wearing the one on the left on her blog and thought I MUST HAVE THAT DRESS and was shocked to discover it's only from good old Primark! The second one I bought first from eBay as it was kinda similar to the long sleeved one and would have done the job if I'd missed out on the other.  I've been driven demented the past few days however looking for a plain black slip to wear underneath to preserve my modesty!

So, FIGHT!

Or should I go all out and just wear full on sequins?!  This dress was about £15 in Primark three years ago and I did wear it for NYE then... 

The One That Almost Got Away: The Studded Dress from Oasis

This evening I looked all over Oxford Street for this studded dress from Oasis. I could have bought it online but I really want to wear it Friday night, plus I end up returning most things I buy online from Oasis so I wanted to see it in the flesh. It reminds me of a dress they brought out last summer in black or white with silver studs. It sold out very fast and I didn't get to wear it to the Lovebox festival as planned.

The dress I picked up today was the last one in my size out of EIGHT Oasis shops/department store concessions that I tried. Thankfully the nice manager in the Regent Street branch called around some of them for me. I finally tracked it down in House of Fraser.

I hope it will replace my 'Old Faithful' - a three year old black and white New Look dress that I end up wearing to every dog fight! I can wear it with my Dorothy Perkins studded ballet flats in the daytime and find some way to dress it up for night...

£50 for a cotton dress is a bit steep, but the detailing is pretty