Now, I aren’t going to lie. I am often drawn in to buying magazine if they have a pretty gift attached to it. So when I walked into my local shop & Marie Claire was staring at me, offering me a free Ciate Nail Polish in exchange for a £2 magazine, I quite literally jumped at the chance, dipped my fingers in to my new italian leather purse and hopped to the counter.
These little Ciate Mini’s are perfect for popping in your purse just in case you ever need a touch up and they also come in the most adorable colours. I am loving the duck egg blue colour at the moment, so much so, that I dressed my bridesmaids in this colour. I think it is so flattering no matter what your skin tone. I have quite a few variations of blue polishes at the moment but I have to say this gets 10/10 for colour!
I started with my base coat and then built it up with three layers with the polish becoming less transparent every time. I have to say that the brush with this polish had to be the easiest one I have ever used. It effortlessly glided on my ill-shaped nails each time.
I didn’t even ruin my nails once. It dries so fast so it makes it super quick to put on. It dries so quick that when you are touching up the brush doesn’t glide so well. But all in all, I just made sure I had a steady hand and got it right on the next set of fingers.
I started to get chips 48-72 hours after I had applied it so it lasted quite well for a normal polish (especially without the top coat!)
Having tried the Ciate Mini’s I will more than likely be investing in some more exciting colours for the summer ahead.
What do you think of Ciate? Rate it or not? Have you got any favourite colours to inspire me?
Did you know you can enter my Hunter Welly giveaway by clicking here! Good Luck!
I’m a thrifty shopper, if there has ever been one & I love to get a deal as much as the next person. I feel like I have hit the jackpot when I win something for 99p on eBay that still has tags on & should have cost £40 in store. Naturally, when I have a dress that can work as a festival/day time look and also be dressed up for an evening, I am a very happy girl lady.
Imagine my delight when The Hut asked me if I wanted to style a Festival outfit for £30! I was delighted. After browsing their amazing and easy to navigate website I was drawn to this beautiful dress. I have a little bit of a love for clothes with birds on for some reason? Maybe it’s because we have chickens. I’m not quite sure, but I did know that I was drawn to canary (yes, bird related again!) yellow dress.
The detailing is beautiful and so intricate! I was instantly drawn to each individual section almost like I was taken on a fabric version of watership down. Yes, a terrible way to describe it but look at the pretty?!
Festival Look || Floral Crown, eBay || Dress, Glamorous @ The Hut () || Hunter Wellies, Cloggs UK ()
I love this look, it’s exactly how I would rock up to a festival. Cloggs UK are a fabulous online shoe shop and if you have a penchant for lots and lots and lots (and lots!) of shoes you will never be left in doubt if you head there. With free, next day delivery you always feel like they are giving back for your little purchase. You really should go see!
Evening Look || Hat, The Hut () || Dress, Glamorous at The Hut () || Shoes, eBay (New Look)
Now, I realise this dress looks VERY short in this photo, I guess the way you carry yourself wearing heels does not help when wearing dresses. I don’t think I accounted for dem hips n’ thighs when ordering a size Medium! Alas, look at that hat doe. Isn’t she beautiful. I recently instgrammed/tweet a photo with me wearing this hat before the Blog Yorkshire Meet (which you can read about here!) but I was a chicken and didn’t wear it in the (queue the bork bork borkkkkkkk sounds!)
I am so excited to give them a proper outing! Which is your favourite look? How would you have styled this dress, I’d love to hear from you.
So, here it was. My first ‘’OFFICIAL’’ Blog Meet. As the wedding took up a lot of my time and effort I had slightly forgotten about my wee, little blog! So I have been determined to ramp up the volume and get involved in the ‘’Blogosphere’’ (Ah yes, I just pulled the ‘’B-BOMB!’’)
The lovely Carrie-Ann of Beauties Unlocked & Faith of Music and Eyeliner decided to create ‘’Blog Yorkshire’’ to showcase Brands with us lovely Bloggers, and thus it was born. They had an amazing response to tickets with people clambering to get one for the event & I was lucky enough to snag a ticket, making it officially my first little outing as ‘’QueenBeady.’’
The theme was (my favourite theme of all!) FESTIVAL. So out come the flower crowns, the sparkle, the glitter, the kimonos & everything in between. Dust it off, because it was welcome at this event. In the morning I thought to myself, ‘’Am I nervous?’’ and the answer was a resounding NO. I was so looking forward to meeting some lovely, lovely people who all shared a common passion with me.
The venue was Revolution Bar on Call Lane & I couldn’t help fall in love with this little piece of gorgeousness! I want one. It’s pretty awesome, right? I think we should try and fill one of the frames with a snap shot of the event!
So after mingling and saying hello, meeting new faces it was time to get down with the brands that were showcasing at the event and we were not disappointed with what was on offer. I of course had a personal favourite which was Country & Attire a typically english, out in the countryside type of company. As soon as they mentioned Hunters & Barbour to me, I was there! I spend a lot of time on Mr C’s parents farm so these brands are a must when you rolling up your trousers and wading through mud frequently.
Gee, thanks Faith! Gosh, I do love your macaroons!
They hosted a bit of welly croquet later on in the day which was so much fun! And, they even contributed a pair of Hunter wellies to the raffle. If you didn’t win, you could win with my giveaway here!
Because I am more in to Fashion & Lifestyle blogging, Quiz Clothing were another firm favourite at the event. They brought along some super cute dress (albeit some were a little too glitzy for me!). A firm favourite was a colourful, tropical dress and the metallic heels.
I loved the Great Gatsby style of this dress!
I was lucky enough to get the chance to style an outfit with the dresses, shoes & accessories they had brought along. Everyone had to vote for their favourite outfit, and guess what? Little old me WON! Yes, the unluckiest person, who never wins anything WON! So, I now have a £50 voucher to spend with Quiz. If you can think of any options for me, feel free to suggest.
Because I’m not really a beauty addict I had absolutely NO IDEA about ESPA & I am so glad that they were there because Danielle gave us a run down of their products and taught us that depending on our skin type we are swayed to certain smells. 95% people are drawn in to a particular scent and I fell in to that statistic. I technically chose the dry skin smell!
They also gave us the most gorgeous goody bags depending on our skin type & it has tempted me in to actually creating a skin care regime for myself. Let’s see how my trial run goes with these little beauties.
Pastille Leeds were also there on hand to create the perfect mani. I so would have had my nails done, but I already had them painted & couldn’t bear to part with my own Ciate Mani that I had created the night before. But I am sure you will agree Jenna from Hepcat Blogs nails looked amazing in a matte finish.
The wonderful Georgina from She Might Be Loved another super, talented blogger was also offering the services of a beautiful make over. No amount of pretty can fix my ugly so I didn’t take up the offer, but, the makeovers she did were incredible & I really hope this has encouraged her to get out & just DO IT!
The amount of prizes in the raffle draw was just ridiculous! I bought a strip of tickets but failed to win any prizes! Like I said, I’m terribly unlucky (bar my earlier win!) so a big congratulations to all the winners, you are so so soooo lucky! With prizes from Zatchel Bags, to Nair products to the penultimate prize of a pair of Hunters from Country Attire there was literally something for everyone!
The sweets, biscuits, cupcakes & even strawberries kept our palettes happy. A bit of indulgence is always acceptable and I have to say, whoever baked those buns is nothing short of a genius.
I met so many lovely people & quite frankly the blogging world is lovely. It’s inspirational to meet people who are just as passionate as you are about reading and writing (our little babies!) Like my new Blogging BFF Frances from Then Let’s Begin(She has probably hit block or delete once she reads that!) it is like a Solidarity, Sisterhood and it’s empowering that we are kicking ass and showing the people out there that we are a voice & you better well damn listen to it!
I am so looking forward to our next meet which word on the grapevine is not going to be until November! But, it something for us to look forward to when I get a serious case of ‘’Winter Blues.’’ I’d love to hear if there any sporadic Yorkshire Blog events in the future, keep me posted.
Now if you know what it’s worth, go follow all the lovely people mentioned and also head over to Blog Yorkshire and find some amazingly, talented bloggers/writers for all your fashion, beauty, lifestlye needs!
When I say ‘’The One’’ I’m not actually referring to that bearded, curly haired man that I call my Husband. I’m talking about THE ALL IMPORTANT dress.
We all often dream of what wedding dress we want on our big day & I was no dissimilar to that typical girly dream. My figure is say, a little difficult, in my eyes. Through school I was stick thin and then suddenly when I left school I grew hips and not just normal sized ones, I’m talking Kimmy K, Baby Rearing HIPS! And then there was the lady lumps, that went from a modest 32B to a sizeable cup size that I don’t wish to admit to. I found it difficult to adjust to but, if that was what life was going to throw at me with my hourglass figure I was going to rock it. I had to.
I made 3 appointments that cold November 2012 morning. I was eager to get in fast and buy the dream dress. I dragged my Mum & Nana along too. They weren’t getting out so easily!
My first Bridal store did not inspire. I was certain that the dress I wanted was going to be perfect. You are a Bride once. So not feeling too disheartened we made our way to Brides of York on Micklegate. The shop itself was dark panelled wood, it looks like a gentleman’s drawing room & I was adamant that when I stepped foot in this store, that we would be leaving empty handed again.
But, like a book, things don’t always appear to be what you think from the outset. I tried on the exact style of dress I wanted. No funny business trying to sell me a style I didn’t want. We got too it. It suited me so why ruin a good run. The ladies were so lovely in helping me get in & out of the dresses and gushing in the right places but also advising me if something didn’t sit right or that the buttons ‘’were a must!’’
I was smiling from ear to ear, I had found ‘’the one’’ in quite frankly, what I thought, the least expected place! So off we trotted to the next place. I tried on all the Maggie Sotterro dresses (the dream dresses I thought I wanted! How could I have been so wrong?) Nothing felt right and whilst I tried my hardest to sound interested in what the lady was saying my mind kept wandering back to THAT dress.
It was simple, as I got dressed back in to my clothes and buttoned up my coat we were going to go get the perfect dress.
The Bridesmaids, except my sister & cousin hadn’t seen the dress so the morning of the wedding tears were certainly flowing. I would seriously suggest keeping it a secret because it builds up the excitement!
My beautiful dress is from the White Rose collection, which is a range that not many Bridal Stockists have in this area so it felt nice that I was wearing a dress that not many people would have! Apparently, I was the only Bride that had bought the dress without making any alterations to it. It was almost like it was made for me.
My beautiful veil was a heavy material which I really wanted to hang. I never thought I would wear a veil but after trawling through Pinterest and seeing these slightly more delicate style, one tier veils I knew I had to try one & when I did it fit perfectly.
I’d love to hear about your dream dress & was it what your Mr expected? I can’t wait to hear from you. If you have missed any of my other Wedding Diary posts click here!
Hello Photo Overload. The morning of the wedding was a chaotic one, with 6 bridesmaids, my mum, my cousin who was my make up artist, photographer Jenny and a bunch of hairdressers all frantically running around trying to get ready for the day ahead.
It is more of a photo filled post with this one as I am not a beauty or hair expert (yes, I see you nodding over there!) so I want to let the photos do the talking.
I wanted a natural look, as I don’t really wear make up I didn’t want to look too different, that my Husband to Be wouldn’t recognise that weird lady walking towards him. I was assured I just needed a bit of touch up for the photos so I looked ‘’effortless’’ and my cousin did a fabulous job of doing just that. Please check her out at Make Up by Emma, she is super fab and lovely too and I was so grateful for her offer to do the make up. I literally would have had NO idea of where to start!
The hairstyles were created by our local hairdressers, Aqua Creative who did a fabulous job of creating the Bridesmaids hair from the photo I showed them and also my loose curls!
Alot of you have asked me where my flower crown was from. Truth be told, I made it myself. I was sick of searching the net trying to find one from a local/UK Seller rather than the US. My answer was staring right at me in the form of my Mums crafting room. I set to it with some artificial flowers and a piece of decorating wire. I was so happy with my efforts and the fact that I had made it all myself was just how I would have wanted it.
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