Interiors - Light up! Light up!

Hi Peeps,

I hope you made the most of the 29th today :)

A couple of years ago my hubbie and I bought our first home together...since then we have slowly been decorating! We are almost there but still have our living room to go and the finishing touches to put into place.

I love decorating and will be posting about my favourite bits and pieces or looks we have achieved in the house. First up is lights! We have gone for a classic but modern theme throughout the house...

My bedroom light:





I love Art Deco and this light really jumped out at me to achieve this look in my bedroom.

The hall light...I found it very hard to get a good photo of this light but here you go:



In the spare room we have created a clean and minimal look. This light finished off the look:



The lamps in the spare room, which again have the art deco look:



For the light above the dining table we wanted a very eye catching light and found this in Dwell:



Our family room, which is basically a large study, that we have turned into a chill out/play room:



The lamps:



I saved the best for last! When we were expecting we didn't find out the sex of the baby, so had to decorate the nursery in unisex colours. This is the fun light my hubbie chose:



I just realised I have left out the bathroom lights but they are relatively boring compared to the above!

Happy reading ladies!

xx

February Favourites!

Hi Ladies!

Well, after years of reading various favourites on other blogs here is my first :)

I came across these teas a couple of weeks ago in Sainsbury's/Waitrose and am loving a cup first thing in the morning. I chose the cleanse and detox teas. The cleanse tea is organic nettle, fennel & peppermint which is to help purify your skin and the detox tea is organic aniseed, fennel & cardamom to help cleanse and revive. These won't break the bank either at about £3 for 20 sachets...unfortunately they have not broken my addiction to Coke :(



Next up, fave products.



I don't usually go in the Body Shop. It was something of a necessity during my teenage years but now I always seem to walk on past it. I popped in during the sales and had a wee wander. I could not resist but take a whiff of their White Musk perfume which used to be a staple scent for me. One squirt and it was straight to the till! I love this perfume and it has many memories for me :)

I have been using my Rimmel Exaggerate eyeliner religiously for the last month. I tend to go through phases where I just wear liner in my inner rim or go the whole hog and use liquid eyeliner on my upper eyelid and line my inner rim too. I haven't ever bought a high end liner as this does the job so well.

Due to a lack of sleep thanks to my teething bambino :) I have serious eye bags, but thank god for Bobbi Brown Corrector. I use the colour Peach and this works a miracle on making those bad boys disappear!

The nail polish pictured is Essie Raspberry it is the perfect shade of red/pink.

I am always on the lookout for tools to help me to my makeup quicker and easier, especially when the mini me has a habit of tugging on my pjs when I am applying my makeup lol. The beauty blender sponge does exactly this (that being, it applies my makeup quicker and easier it doesn't tug on my pjs!). I would defo recommed for applying liquid foundation.



Lastly, Chanel 87 Sequoia eyeshadow quad and Bobbi Brown HIgh Shimmer Lipgloss in Bellini, both products are great quality and great classic makeup colours that I have used almost everyday in February.

I could not resist but chuck in a photo of my daughter's Gap pink jeans. I love that they have coloured jeans for babies! I bought these for her in lilac and the baby pink as pictured :)



I cannot believe we are almost into March!

Night Ladies

xx

New Bling!

My wee family and I recently took our first holiday to Dubai and we had a fab time :) Luckily our hotel was very close to the Gold and Diamond Park :)

I knew I wanted to get a few of my old pieces of jewellery recycled, which I will do a separate post for, but I did also get very spoilt but my hubbie. I don't have photos of all my new pieces to hand but I will post them over the coming weeks.

I have always been a huge fan of pave as I love delicate jewellery. I fell in love with this band when I saw it:



A close up:



With my engagement ring:



A modelling shot:



WIth my current favourite bracelet combination:



I cannot describe the sparkle to you! For the first few days I just kept looking down at my finger lol!

I think the best thing about buying in Dubai is the fact that you can haggle! I got a great deal on this ring. They also made it for me in three days and delivered it to our hotel. Great customer service :)

I think any future bling purchases will defo be in Dubai - I am converted!

Hope you all had a great weekend xx

Jewellery Storage

My favourite subject! Well jewellery, not jewellery storage, which can be a bit boring I guess!

Over the years I have accumulated a fair bit of jewellery from costume to the more nicer pieces. As I have just bought a new jewellery box I thought I would post about how I store my jewellery.

Warning this post is photo heavy!

My earring stand on my dressing table:



I bought this from Monsoon a couple of years ago. On the top row are earrings and the bottom row bracelets. This is not my everyday jewellery. As well as storing my jewellery I think this looks pretty sitting on my dressing table :)

With a storage pot and trinket box:



Both the storage pot and trinket box are from Monsoon home.

The below jewellery box, I have had for over ten years. I bought this in Egypt. It is currently on my window sill along with a couple of trinket boxes (posted below). This has jewellery from my teenage years that I never wear but I don't want to part with as most of it is real silver and a bit sentimental :) I also have some of my Mum's old jewellery in here.



A couple of trinket boxes from Singapore, these are empty...but again I think they look pweeeettyyyy!



A photo of my trinkets which I keep on my drawers. The majority of these are from Monsoon, apart from the cream pot and one of the photo frames which are from Pakistan. As you can tell I love pretty little trinkets!



I love the detail of this one!



The tea light holder and pot I use for random make up pieces.



Ok, moving on to the more serious storage...



The above box my hubbie bought me for my birthday a few years ago from the Autograph range at M&S. I used to use it all the time but I hate getting fingerprints all over it lol, so it is sitting on my drawers along with my trinkets, looking all art deco!

I have been looking for a practical jewellery box that I can put all everyday-ish jewellery in and be very easy to get to. I came across 'STACKERS'. These boxes are fab! They are made up of different trays which you can buy according to your needs. So you could buy just the top tray which has a lid, or just have an open tray, or like I have, stack a few layers and have a more traditional jewellery box. I opted for a cream colour:



Inside the top layer with flash:



Inside the top layer no flash:



Second layer:



Lots of sections!



The last layer:




Phew! I didn't realise I had quite so many different ways of storing my jewellery lol!

Hope you ladies have a great weekend :) xx

Kurt Geiger - Carvela

Hi Peeps,

A couple of years ago, when I worked in the city, I used to wear high heels on a daily basis. Fast forward to today and I now live in flats. This is mainly due to getting so used to wearing them through a pretty tough pregnancy. I now wonder how I managed to walk in my heels, but I guess it is what you are used to.

Last year, I pretty much lived in a pair of flat black patent shoes from good old M&S! This is pretty much the only store that does size 4.5 which is my perfect fit.

In the last couple of months, I found myself looking at heels once again, but not just any old heels, but my long-term favourite shoe shop, Kurt Geiger. I wanted to share a couple of purchases over the last few months:



I LOVE the above sandals! I bought these in December, as we had a big celebration for my daughter's first birthday. They are surprisingly comfy.



I was a wee bit late to catch on to the open toe wedge trend but I am defo converted! These are great to wear with skinny jeans and can we worn both during the day and on a night out.

Finally, my most recent purchase. As I am sick of the M&S flats, I wanted to treat myself to a new pair and these caught my eye. They are a size 5 and a tiny bit big but nothing a pair of insoles won't fix!



That's all for now ladies! xx

Next!

A post about tops!

Some of my favourite shops include Zara and Topshop. I also like Dorothy Perkins and sometimes River Island. However, since having my daughter and having to walk through all of the women's section of Next to get to the baby section (very clever!), I have picked up some very reasonably priced nice tops from Next :)

Here are some of the tops I have picked up in the last couple of months...I have also sneaked in a Karen Millen top I got in the sale ;)

Gorgeous deep jewel colours:



Love the sequins on this!




Close up:




How it shimmers in the light:



I think the above gold top is a bargain for £18, I can easily imagine it a higher end shop for much more!


Grey sequin t-shirt:




Karen Millen Sale top:




Do you ever shop from Next?

Here are the links to the tops still available:

Purple top: http://www.next.co.uk/x492134s2#826790x49

Gold top: http://www.next.co.uk/x49134s2#820225x49

I cannot find the grey t-short online, but it is the current season stock and should be in store now. Happy Shopping!

xx

Mascara

Hello Peeps!

I hope you are liking my posts :) Please like my facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Beauty-The-Bling/211025625661521?sk=wall


Anyway, back to business...MASCARA! I am always on the search for finding the perfect mascara :) I have never worn fake lashes apart from individual inserts on my wedding day. To be honest, I just cannot apply them!

I feel like I have tried pretty much every mascara going from the high street brands through to the more expensive high end brands.

An everyday favourite of mine is Lancome Hynose. I tried this after reading it is a favourite of the Kardashian sisters, as their lashes seem to go on forever!

However, my all time favourite mascaras are:




I have used the YSL mascara for years, it defo adds ALOT of volume, however I have found that it dries up rather quickly and due to the price tag this is a pretty big downfall for me.

My recent try and my now holy grail mascara is Benefit's They're Real. This mascara does make you look like you are wearing false lashes, and it does not dry up quickly. You can build up the intensity of this mascara so it can be worn both during the day and for a night out. The best thing overall about this mascara is that it does not CLUMP!

The price is that of a high end mascara but as it has no negatives for me, I think it is worth it :)

Here are some photos of me wearing it, with and without flash:






This is the mascara I will wear in my FOTD photos nine times out of ten.

Have a great day ladies! xxx

Orelia Jewellery!

I wanted to do a post about one of my favourite costume jewellery designers. I am a big fan of delicate and pretty jewellery, cue:







I bought these last year from the Oxford Circus Topshop...I love them for dressing up an outfit :)

The Orelia website is: http://orelia.co.uk/

They currently have fab friendship bracelets which are great for layering.

Bracelets!

Hi Peeps,

Right now I am loving the trend for stacking both bracelets and rings.

I wanted to share how I am stacking my bracelets. I have a mix of metals, semi-precious and precious stones and quite a few stretchy bracelets, which I find suit me due to my wee wrists!

Here are some photos of my favourite bracelets at the mo.



The large red stone bracelet I picked up from Singapore, it is semi-precious, but I am not sure of the stones, the two in the middle are £4 each from Claire's Accessories and the last is a diamond bangle.



I love charms! The bracelet is a delicate white gold bracelet, again from Singapore. The charm is a Monica Vinader mini Marie as featured in my rose gold post, the mother of pearl charm is from Thomas Sabo and the gold disc has a prayer engraved on it and was a gift.

Links: http://www.monicavinader.com/mini-marie-pendant/rp-mini-marie-pendant

http://shop.thomassabo.com/EN-en/charm-club/tooth-white/pid/0069-030-14



Alex Monroe feather bracelets - love Alex Monroe pieces!

Links: http://www.alexmonroe.com/Shop-By-Collection-The-Peacock-and-the-Crow/c49_75/p672/Peacock-Charm-Bracelet/product_info.html

http://www.alexmonroe.com/Shop-By-Collection-The-Peacock-and-the-Crow/c49_75/p751/Three-Peacock-Feather-Bracelet/product_info.html



This bracelet is from Topshop, it originally had a leather cord on it but it was too big for my wrists and so I had it put on elastic with some stones I had :)

They no longer have this on the site, but they do have this one which is a complete bargain:
http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=2668220&langId=-1&categoryId=&searchTerm=bracelet&pageSize=200



My Tiffany & Co small bead bracelet, also great for layering, a nice simple piece.

Link: http://www.tiffany.co.uk/Shopping/Item.aspx?fromGrid=1&sku=GRP02587&mcat=&cid=&search_params=s+1-p+5-c+-r+-x+-n+6-ri+-ni+0-t+bead+bracelets&search=1



Finally, my rose gold Stella & Dot bracelet, probably my most worn bracelet.

Link: http://shop.stelladot.com/style/b2c_en_us/shop/bracelets/bracelets-all/b178rg.html