Work Christmas Party| Blogmas Day 18

Hey Sweeties,

I think talk and excitement of the work Christmas party begins late summer and ramps up gradually until the week finally arrives. Last year if you’ll remember the company I was working for hosted a Wild West themed do (here) where it was checked shirts, cowboy hats and boots a plenty, so this year I am delighted I can attend a proper, formal black tie party.

However, like last year though the party is straight after work (tonight!) and while I do have a couple of hours later to get ready, I’ve had to think ahead and create my look for you slightly early but I hope you don’t mind.

Here is what I am wearing to my work Christmas party:

Work Christmas Party

Dress: Laura Ashley | Shoes: Faith | Bomber jacket: TDS 

Work Christmas Party

Work Christmas Party

Work Christmas Party

Work Christmas Party

I have owned this dress for a few years, having only worn it once previously so it’s been great that I can recycle an old love rather than having to trawl the shops for something new. I particularly like the crystal encrusted detail in the middle and the fabric is gorgeously silky but quite thick and heavy which for winter is ideal.

My TDS bomber jacket I think accompanies this dress perfectly; I love it so much! I am definitely looking to add another couple to my collection soon as they are so unique and actually, very versatile. For me with this particular look, I love how the jacket adds a soft -but slightly edgy- texture, and the pink adds that feminine touch.

Make up:

Work Christmas Party makeup

Urban Decay Smoky Palette

Urban Decay smoky palette

Work Christmas Party makeup

The core element of my look is the eyes -I wanted something dark, smoky and layered with glitter and this is where my Urban Decay Smoky palette really comes into it’s own. I began by applying Dagger across my lid; I blended Black Market into my crease; I put a little touch of Slanted into the inner corners of my eyes to brighten; then I packed on a generous layer of Armor for that Christmas glittery touch. I completed the look with winged black eyeliner and mascara. A key tip here as with any makeup like this is to blend, blend and blend some more otherwise you’ll have dark glittery cheeks too if you’re not careful.

I think this look definitely needs to be partnered with a dark outfit as they’ll compliment each other gorgeously, especially if you also add a dark red lip like I have above. Creating this makeup look also confirmed for me that on my wedding day next year, while I can still create a dramatic eye, it needs to be achieved with lighter shades as my ivory dress will reflect onto my face and if I have a dark look, it’ll appear far too heavy.

What do you guys think?

Until next time x

 

Christmas Day & Seeing Disney on Ice

Hey Sweeties,

It has been a few days now since Blogmas ended and despite enjoying the break, my fingertips have started itching to begin blogging again so until things fully get back in motion, I thought I would provide you all with a little post Christmas update!

So, you’ll all know how much I was looking forward to hosting our first Christmas in our new home and Blogmas day 22 (here) documented our Christmas food shop… well, although the day went well on that front I can’t take full credit for it as of all the days to catch something, on Christmas day I went down with a 24 hour (ish) bug! Fan-bloody-tastic! I won’t go into details but it wasn’t pretty… I was gutted though and so upset. Ian however was my hero and stepped up and took over the cooking and hosting of the day!

Christmas Lunch

On Boxing Day I was feeling better but not totally 100% but ok enough to head into London to The O2 to see Disney on Ice. It’s fair to say Disney on Ice really isn’t/wasn’t Ian’s thing but his Mum and I were looking forward to it and enjoyed ourselves as although the whole thing was a bit cringey, the skating was fantastic.

What was amusing was seeing every other little girl in attendace dressed up as Elsa from Frozen and as you can appreciate there were hundreds of kids. Would I take my children to it though? No. I mean, it was fun and the children that were there enjoyed seeing their favourite characters but the skating aspect you could tell was totally lost on them. I won my tickets at my work Christmas raffle but I can imagine tickets weren’t cheap and I would be unlikely to purchase them in the future…

Disney on Ice

Disney on Ice

What I found though totally outrageous was how much The O2 exploited families -absolutely disgraceful! Ticket cost aside, all the souveniors and food were ridiculously priced and if you had treated your young family to a day out there, you would struggle to get away with not buying them a little gift or some snacks during the performance. I just felt in this situation The O2 really let itself down.

The O2 Disney on Ice

Ian and I have now ventured west and are spending a few days relaxing with my family in Devon. Mum and I are hitting the sales tomorrow so stay tuned to a haul post coming your way shortly!

I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas break!

Until next time x

Blogmas Day 22: Preparing for Christmas Lunch

Blogmas

Hey Sweeties,

We’re so close to Christmas Day my stomach has already started rumbling in anticipation. I feel so much better about Christmas this year and just allowing myself to indulge for once… I don’t know about you guys but I struggle to let myself go and eat more than I actually need to. I find once I have had a good filling of Christmas lunch and some casual grazing from the Quality Street tin I am kinda done but I know people that really go to town and just gorge out from the moment dawn breaks. Not for me personally.

Saying that, for the first time though I am hosting Christmas day and Ian and I have just done our Christmas shop (from Aldi). We only have Ian’s parents coming over for a couple of days and then we’re both off to Devon to see mine but I think we have bought enough food and drink for probably like ten people instead of four, ha!

I have never cooked a roast dinner so I am quite nervous about cooking Christmas lunch, especially in our crappy oven! I love cooking though and mainly it’s just timings rather than the actual cooking of the various components. I have been watching lots of Christmas cooking programmes for tips and ideas, Jamie Oliver’s recipes are a definite favourite! But to be honest,  Ian and I are keeping it really simple and then in the future when we have a new kitchen fitted with a better oven and better storage etc. then we’ll embrace the challenge of creating more from scratch. I also feel I need a couple of crash courses in stuffing and preparing a turkey from my Mum…!

Aldi Christmas Shop

Aldi shop done!

Aldi Christmas Turkey

Until I learn how to prepare a turkey from scratch we have this bad boy!

Christmas Treats

Some yummy treats for the day

Christmas Cake

Mum made us a Christmas cake!

I’ll let you know how I get on!

Until tomorrow x

Blogmas Day 20: Mooching in Windsor & Getting Ready for Christmas

Blogmas

Hey Sweeties,

How are we already on day 20 of Blogmas?! This month is just zooming by but I find this also with my birthday month (August) -anyone else find this?

Today’s post I had initially scheduled to post my 2014 favourites but with work and Christmas preparation getting in the way I just haven’t had the time to get my thoughts together for this, but I will aim to get this up within the next couple of days!

Today I had a spontaneous couple of hours with my Mum which was great and we spent the time having a little mooch around Windsor which is a place I love for this kind of thing. Being so near to Christmas it certainly wasn’t a shopping trip but I did pick up a couple of things…

Christmas plates

First was this set of four Christmas dinner plates which were actually in an Oxfam shop and for a very reasonable £1.49 each. Some people do revolt at the thought of charity (thrift) shops but you know what? I have shopped in these places all my life and the bargains I have picked up completely make it worth while. I mainly pick up books but from time to time I will find other things… such as these plates! Mum actually very kindly treated me to them and I will either use them to plate up Christmas lunch or I’ll use them as serving dishes for vegetables. I love the holly design around the edge and I am excited that these will now become part of my Christmas traditions.

Asides from my growing collection of Yankee Candle tea lights I am getting with the advent calendar each day, and a special Christmas candle I am saving for Christmas day, I am without any candles at the moment. Some may ask what the big deal is but a house in winter without candles burning in the evening for me is unthinkable! So while in TK MAXX I picked up this Gingerbread scented candle which as you can imagine will fill the house with wafts cinnamon.

Gingerbread candle

To be honest this is the first seasonal candle I have bought as I prefer fresh, subtle fragrances and I find many of the Christmas scents can be too overpowering and/or too sweet but this one seems that perfect balance of being scented and subtle. For £5.99 I thought it was worth a go!

How are you guys getting on with getting ready for Christmas? Anyone cooking lunch for the first time? (*puts up hand*). On Friday (yesterday) I finished work for 2014 and am excited to now have two weeks off to relax, see friends and family, watch Christmas films and eat some yummy treats!

Tomorrow I have one of my best friends visiting and at the moment I am not too sure what we’ll be doing. I have no doubt we’ll end up in Windsor again but I fancy a nice lunch somewhere and some girl talk! I’ll keep you posted…

Until tomorrow x

Blogmas Day 15: SPOTY2014 & It’s Nearly Christmas

Blogmas

Hey Sweeties,

Hello Monday! One more week of work and its hello Christmas; can’t wait!

Yesterday the ‘Sports Personality of the Year’ (#SPOTY2014) was announced and Lewis Hamilton took the crown and I hate to say it but I will… I am not sure this was the right result (*fights off rotten fruit being thrown*). Of course the winner is decided by public vote and if the majority voted for Lewis then Lewis is the winner. But I can’t help but feel others were (dare I say it) more deserving?

Before you all shout outrageous things at me (and throw more rotten fruit), let’s get one thing straight. Lewis Hamilton is an incredible (F1) driver and I don’t for one moment doubt his skill, his ambition and his success. My problem is actually that I do not see F1 as a sport. Yes it does demand an element of physical strength but when you have other nominees in contention for the title who really put themselves through rigorous mental and physical testing and don’t have anywhere near the same amount (if any) of sponsorship access (like Lewis) and still win gold medals and break world records in their respective areas, then yes, I think they are worth shouting about more. Put Lewis in a crap car and yes he’ll be able to rag it round a race track but win? No.

I was though absolutely delighted when the England Women’s rugby team took the award for ‘Best Team’ as here you have a group of women who all have part-time jobs and yet can still be completely committed to and at the top of their game in rugby. I won’t begin a feminist debate on here now but I can’t help but be routing for the women -whether single handily or in a team- do amazing things and get recognition for it against men in the same categories.

Moving on.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas… it really is! I have come home this evening from work to a house filled with Christmas tunes playing and Ian making preparations in the living room to start hosting the festivities before the Christmas rush really begins and it becomes food, drink and crimbo films a plenty for a few days. I can also really feel the year beginning to wrap itself up and start making way for 2015… although I really can’t be dealing with New Year thoughts right now. Anyone else start slamming the breaks on life around this time, not dreading but sort of trying to delay the new year coming in? Always about 11:55pm on 31st December I try to cling on to the year almost gone before I feel ready to start a fresh… just me?

Anyway, think I’ll leave it for today (I am always conscious that you guys might not like my posts that are too text heavy and not beauty related? Some feedback would be great sometime if you’re passing and have 5 minutes). I have my work Christmas party tomorrow night which you’ll hopefully read about on Wednesday and tomorrow and Thursday’s posts are beauty reviews! Exciting week eh?!

Until tomorrow x

 

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