Nude Heels and My First Sikh Wedding

Hi everyone, sorry for not keeping up with regular posts. For the past week, I've been busy with a week long Sikh wedding. It's been the longest and most extravagant wedding I've been to.

My husband was the best man, and I was made the groom's honourary sister-in-law. This meant we were invited to all the festivities including family gatherings and parties. By the end of the week, my husband and I were extremely exhausted. We had an amazing time though, the groom's family relatives we so welcoming that I really felt part of the family.

Here are a couple of pics of the bride and groom.They are such a perfectly matched couple with so much in common.

The bride is beautiful. She looked like a film star at the wedding reception. The groom is wearing a kilt, as like my husband he was born and bred in Scotland. Below is a pic of them wearing more traditional wedding clothing:

As sister-in-law, my duties included performing traditional ceremonies such as smearing the groom with tumeric paste, and applying eyeliner in a Punjabi eyelining ritual. Here is a pic of me nervously eyeing the eyeliner.

Here is a pic of me with husband and sister-in-law at the wedding reception. The sister of the groom generously gave me this gorgeous blue dress to wear and keep.

My husband was a little nervous as he had to deliver a best man speech to over 400 guests. His family were also invited to the wedding as his whole family has known the groom's family for years. My husband and the groom has been friends ever since they were five. The groom was the best man at our wedding.

The skirt of my new outfit was a little long, and I didn't own any shoes that were very high heeled. I bought this nude pair from Aldo, along with a pair of velvet in-soles to make them fit better. I love nude heels as they make the legs look longer and pretty much goes with most of my outfits.

FOTD with Guerlain Rouge Automatique Cherry Blossom

For today's look, I'm using one of my favourite pink lip colours, Guerlain Rouge Automatique in Cherry Blossom 161.

On my cheeks I used my new MAC Beauty Powder in Alpha Girl for soft, peachy-pink flush.

I like the consistency of Geurlain's Rouge Automatiques. The texture is pretty creamy, and the colours are fairly long-wearing.

Cherry blossom is a light to medium rosy pink with frosty shimmer.

Swatch of Cherry Blossom:

Lip swatch:

I used quite a thick layer of the lipstick for this swatch so you can have a good idea of the true colour of this shade. For my FOTD I lightly applied the lipstick and blended it out for a softer, easy to wear look.

Products used in today's look.

Face:

Dior Crystal Nude Natural Matte Skin Perfecter in 001 Invisible

MAC Beauty Powder Alpha Girl on cheeks

Eyes:

Shiseido Integrate GY941 on brows

MAC Eyeshadow Smut

MAC Eyeshadow Typographic as Liner

Lips:

Guerlian Rouge Automatique Cherry Blossom

The pores on my skin were looking pretty visible today, so rather than brave a FOTD without any base, I applied my recently acquired Diorskin Crystal Nude Natural Matte Skin Perfector.

It is a translucent, colourless product that can be used on its own, as a base or over foundation. I used it on its own and it instantly made my face look a whole lot smoother.

My fringe is still at that awful awkward growing out stage. When I kept a fringe, it grew so fast I needed frequent trims at the hairdressers. Now that I want to grow it out, it just won't grow fast enough! So for the time being, you will see pictures of me with the top of my head cropped off.

Mac Fashion Flower Alpha Girl & Mac Semi Precious Rose Quartz

I bought two items from MAC recently. Their Beauty Powder in Alpha Girl from their Fashion Flower collection, and their Mineralized Skin Finish in Rose Quartz from their Semi-Precious collection.

(Above: Rose Quartz, Below: Alpha Girl)

I love the promotional pic for MAC's Fashion Flower. It looks fun, pretty and summery. Though it does look a bit like the flowers are trying to envelope her into the ground.

I couldn't resist the Beauty Powder in Alpha Girl when I saw it. Not only does is it embossed with a cute flower design, but it's a gorgeous shade of pinky-peach (my favourite shade for blushes).

You get a lot of product, about 1.5-2x the size of normal MAC blushes.

A swatch of the blush. I would describe it as a pale peachy-pink with a hint of coral and slight shimmer.

A swatch of Alpha girl on my cheek. This was taken on a particularly sunny day, and the sun casted a warm yellow glow on my skin making it slightly harder to see the blush.

On my complexion it looks fairly subtle. It gives my cheeks a wash of healthy-looking, flushed, summery colour.

I wanted to give MAC's Mineralized Skin Finish a try, and so bought one in Rose Quartz from their Semi-Precious range. Like Alpha Girl, the product itself is really pretty to look at. At the centre is a circle of a myriad of shimmery shades which include lime green, silver and pink.

Swatches of the blush; blended together (left), the outer shade (middle) and the inner circle (right).

Blended together, they colours make a devine medium pink shade with champagne-gold coloured shimmer. The blush on my cheeks:

Now this picture was taken on an overly cloudy dull day. I rely on natural lighting for my blog, so picture quality is 100% depended on weather. Rose Quartz is a lot more shimmery than Alpha girl and not as easy to wear, but I do love the pretty pink shade.

Hourglass Haul and FOTD

As promised, here is a post on my recent Hourglass Haul. I bought these products from one of my favouritie online stores Zuneta.com.

Hourglass is a Californian brand which boasts cutting-edge formulations and technology in their high quality makeup. From their line I bought the following:

Visionaire Eyeshadow Duo In Suede

Aura Cheek Stain in Petal

Aura Lip Stain in Petal

Visionaire Eyeshadow Duo in Suede - £28

Suede is described as an ivory shimmer, and nude beige shimmer.

The mirror of this compact can swivel 360 degrees, as well as lie flat.

I found the texture of this eyeshadow to be extremely fine. One of the finest I've come across. The powder is very soft to the touch and medium pigmented. It comes with a double ended mini eyeshadow brush which has fine hairs and feels fairly soft.

Swatch of Suede:

Aura Sheer Cheek Stain in Petal - £32

This product is very pricey, but I really love it. It's a lightweight water-based stain that gives the skin natural looking colour with a radiant glow.

The formula is thicker than most stains, which gives me plenty of time to blend it onto my cheeks before the colour sets in. The cheek stain has a twist dispenser, which is great as I can control how much product comes out. It can be applied straight onto the cheeks or applied with fingers. I like to dab it onto my cheeks and use my fingertips to blend.

Petal is a sheer coral-pink. Here is a swatch of it unblended:

Blended:

This shade is more coral than the peachy-pink shades I normally favour. It's easy to blend and feels nice and light on the skin. It doesn't leave my skin feeling greasy. I'm so impressed with this blush that I'm looking to try out the other shades available, namely Flush (a sheer pinky-red).

Aura Sheer Lip Stain in Petal -£19

This is my favourite and most used product of the three, as I find the shade absolutely perfect for Summer.

Again it is a water-based stain with a twist dispenser. It has a flocked-tip applicator which feels soft on the lips. This lip stain is not as easy to use as it's cheek equivalent. As it's a stain with a sheer metallic finish, I need my lips to be in great condition to apply it. The stain will accentuate any dry parts of the lips.

Petal is a lovely pinky coral shade. Quite a unique lip colour, especially for a stain.

Below is a FOTD of my using all three products.

What's In My Bag: Summer Edition

I decided to do a post on what I carry with me around in my bag during the Summer. Truth be told, it's almost the same as what I cart around during the winter. The main differences are the bag itself and the addition of a sunscreen.

My favourite accessory is the handbag. I go weak at the knees for them, and am more excited shopping for them than I am for shoes. That said, I don't own that many handbags, but I do love all the ones in my little collection. Perhaps, I'll do a post on my handbag collection in the future if anyone is interested.

My most used handbag this season is this foldover Dusty Rose bag from Warehouse. A pic of me with the bag when I took it on my recent trip to Prague.

I bought it for £36 which is relatively reasonable compared to how expensive handbags can be. The quality is great, and in my opinion this bag is worth every penny.

For versatility, the bag can be folded over and transformed into a shoulder bag.

I can fit quite a lot in this bag, but I've got to be careful not to let it get too heavy!

The Essentials:

Mobile, Wallet and Car/House Keys

I've had the wallet for years. I love the little pink bow on it. I attached a Gelaskins protector on the back of the phone as I quite like this cute artwork.

I sometimes carry with me:

a compact mirror, my favourite lipgloss, an SPF50+ cream

I've recently bought the Hourglass Lip Stain in Petal and I'm really loving it. Petal is a really pretty pinky coral shade. I've recently ordered a few Hourglass products (which I really love!) and am in the process of writing up a haul post about them.

Now, onto looking like a hypochondriac:

I occasionally suffer from migraines, IBS and am allergic to certain foods. So to be fully prepared I take with me ibuprofen tablets, anti-histamine and anti-spasmodics (all procured by my Doctor husband). I hardly ever use them, but it's good to know I have them just in case.

I got the little blue purse free from Estee Lauder. It's so handy for carrying my little arsenal of tablets. I also pop in a sample tube of my favourite lip balm (Clarins Moisture Replenishing Lip balm), a tiny hand cream, and a tube of Becca's Beach Tint.

I've fainted quite a few times in the past from low blood sugar, so I always take with me a couple of little chocolates. I got these cute little Ritter Sports from Aldi. I don't take the whole lot with me, just a couple. my favourite is the Butter Biscuit flavour.

On rainy days I carry this umbrella that my husband bought me from Japan.

I love reading and go through so many books a year. I like to carry around some light reading with me. In this case, it's Gilding Lily by Tatiana Boncompagni. An easy to read fiction about New York's high society.