Fashion & Tennis at the Pre-Wimbledon Party 2011

Back in June (yes this post is a little late) I was very very very lucky to get an invite to the WTA Tour Pre-Wimbledon Party held at The Roof Gardens in London. This yearly event, hosted by Richard Branson has become quite the highlight for tennis stars and celebs to celebrate the kick off of the Wimbledon season.

When I received the invite, through a close friend of mine, I was so estastic and knew I had to find myself the perfect dress to wear. So out shopping I went! I ended up finding this uh-mazing dress at All Saints. Sparkly, one shoulder, mini aka sexy but glamorous....L.O.V.E.D it!! Priced at a (whopping) £295, I knew it wasn't cheap but I felt for this one-of-a-kind party, I needed a one-of-a-kind dress.

To prepare myself for the event, I ended up getting my makeup done at MAC in Covent Garden. Just for fun and convenience because it only costs £25 which is redeemable in products (recommend doing this!)
See here my Face of the Night:

You can view a copy of the MAC facechart here that shows the list of the products used by my makeup artist . Because my dress was going to be so 'in your face sparkly' I didn't want to go for anything too dramatic on the eyes but focus more on a lovely glowing look with peach/gold accents. My MAC makeup artist thought it would be nice to dark rim the eyes and make them pop that way. You like?

So then after getting my makeup done, I headed to my friends house (who was also coming to the event) to get changed, snap some pictures in our outfits and have a quick drink before making our way to the venue. See me/us looking all glammed up ready to go & party it up with the tennis stars and celebs!

However, right before we were about to leave in a taxi to the event.....disaster struck! The great 'concealed side zip' of my brand new dress BROKE. Yes broke! So there I was stuck in a dress that left me completely exposed and there was nooo way to fix the zip (I even had to wiggle myself out of the dress to get it off!) I was SO SO gutted. I'd bought this special, not very cheap, dress for this specific event and I now had nothing to wear because this dress was the only outfit I'd taken to my friends house.

My sweet friend managed to calm me down and we went through her wardrobe to find me a replacement dress to wear. Luckily she had this lovely black, long sleeve, sequin dress (from REISS) that fit me so I ended up wearing that to the party. I looked nice, dont get me wrong, but it did ruin my night a wee bit! See here some pictures of me at the event below (...the photo booth was SO much fun!) 

It was definitely a night where the worlds of tennis, fashion and celebrity colided. Not only were the best in women's tennis wearing the best of quintessential British fashion design, but a large amount of celebrities also graced the Kensington Rooftop Gardens (which is an amazing club/restaurant in London)

The WTA partnered with the British Fashion Council to connect players with British designers, who provided them unique styles for the night. Some of the players in the group were Caroline Wozniacki (who wore Stella McCartney), Serena Williams (Burberry), Maria Sharapova (Alexander McQueen), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (David Koma), Ana Ivanovic (Matthew Williamson) and Jelena Jankovic (Vivienne Westwood). See their red carpet looks in that order below:

 I thought Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic looked stunning!

Celebrities including Eliza Doolittle, Holly Branson, Kimberly Wyatt, Naomi Harris, Alex James, Henry Holland, Alexis Jordan, Holly Valance, Tali Lennox, Patsy Kensit, Lord Sugar and Tinie Tempah joined the tennis players at the exclusive bash. I have to say, it was pretty crazy to be in the same room as all these well known people, but it definitely made for some great people watching while sipping on champagne! One of my favourite outfits I spotted that night was actually Holly Branson, who wore a super cute white & blue sequined shift dress. To see more red carpet looks from the event see click here or here. 

Overall it was a FABULOUS night! Free drinks, free food, celeb spotting, an amazing venue & fun times on the dance floor :) The next day however, an angry me went back to an All Saints store to return my broken dress. They gave me a full refund but was still a little disappointed over the wardrobe malfunction from the night before. I didn't exchange the dress for a new one because felt I'd bought it for this party & wouldn't get that much wear out of it. A shame..but hey in the end I still had an amazing time!
I'm such a lucky girl really.... :) xoxo

Getting Lash Perfect at new Lash Bar!

Last week I was invited to check out the brand new ‘Lash Bar’ in Soho, London. This amazing Lash Bar, which is pretty much a one-stop-shop for anything eyes, lashes and brows, is a new venture by UK’s leading Lash experts Lash Perfect.  Lash Perfect is a UK market leader within the semi-permanent eyelash extension sector, offering a wide range of innovative and high quality eyelash extensions. As an exciting extension to the Lash Perfect family, the stand-alone Lash Bar is a gorgeously styled salon based in the heart of Soho, right amongst the electric boutiques and coffee houses within the backstreets of Carnaby.

They have a huge list of treatments of offer, ranging from only £10 to £270 - so you can visit the Lash Bar for all your peepers’ needs! The treatments, all performed by skilled therapists in the four treatment boudoirs, include semi-permanent eyelash extensions, lasting 8-12 weeks, Lash Baylage eyelash tinting in colours from black to green, Paperself creatively cut elegant paper eyelashes in 13 different designs and a 5 step eyebrow treatment that will ensure that not a hair is out of place. Or for instant impact purchase some strip lashes by La La Lashes (starting from £7.50) and have them applied at the Strip Lash Bar over a cup of coffee with friends and then you are ready to hit the shops or bars in Soho afterwards ;)

For the more adventurous lash lover, Lash Perfect is the only place in the UK that stocks and applies the super creative Paperself Lashes.They pretty much turn your eyes into a work of art!

On my visit to the lash bar I was so lucky to get some semi-permanent lash flicks applied to my lashes in their stunning VIP treatment room! I’ve never had semi-permanent lashes before so it was a fun new experience. The therapist was lovely and explained everything very clearly and told me how to maintain and look after my new fluttery lashes once they had been applied.

See here the before & after shot of my lashes at taken at the salon (sorry the before one is a bit blurry!) 

I ♥ the effect of the flicks, giving my outer lashes some added ‘oomph’ whilst still remaining natural & pretty! Below is my lashes a few days later with mascara. At the salon they provided me with a black mascara by Lash Perfect that is oil-free and therefore specially formulated to be compatible with eyelash extensions.

I’m definitely loving the idea of lash extensions now. Can’t wait to experiment some more, maybe next time I will go for the full shebang ;)

The Lash Bar, 35 Marshall Street, London W1F 7EX
T: 020 7434 4554 W: www.lashbar.co.uk/

Celebrating the opening of their first ever Lash Bar, Lash Perfect have also launched this cool ‘Lash App’ for your iPhone. You can experiment with the look of different lash styles by taking a photo (or using an existing one) and see how the their wide range of semi -permanent or strip lashes suit your eyeshape before committing to any particular look! It’s FREE so fun stuff to play around with :)

Kate Middleton's Canada Fashion Tour

You can definitely say that Kate Middleton, The Duchess of Cambridge Duchess has become a fashion icon in her own right. Here in the UK, she is constantly featured in the papers outlining exactly what she’s wearing. There is now even such a thing called ‘the Kate effect’ – which means anything she is seen wearing is sold-out within hours!

On William & Kate’s recent tour to Canada, Kate did all her own fashion styling. She chose not to travel with a personal stylist but to only bring along her favourite hairdresser, James Price, to help her complete her looks for the many engagements on the trip.

I loved seeing all the photos in the papers and was definitely impressed by all her fashion choices. Kate is such a beautiful woman; she always looks impeccable, elegant and glamorous plus she has truly developed her own ‘style formula’ which works!

Here are, what I think, some of Kate’s best outfits from the trip:

From L-R
♥ Jacket by Smythe, dress by Roland Mouret, pumps by Manolo Blahnik & leather bag by Mulberry.
♥ Dress by Erdem and shoes and clutch by LK Bennett
♥ Dress by Issa frock – loved this amazing purple colour on her!
♥ Dress by Reiss (Kate also wore this dress when they announced their engagement, meaning even Kate recycles her clothes!) maple leaf brooch from the Queen, hat by Sylvia Fletcher & clutch by Anya Hindmarch
♥ Dress by Joseph and Natalie Clutch by LK Bennett

From L-R
♥ Blazer by Smythe, a ruffled blouse, J. Brand jeans with a belt & slingback wedges by LK Bennett.
♥ Dress by Marlene Birger, LK Bennett Sledge2 pumps and Kiki McDonough Citrine Drop earrings.
♥ Dress by Jenny Packham and shoes by LK Bennett.
♥ Dress by Roksanda Ilincic and earrings by Kiki McDonough.
♥ Dress by Alexander McQueen dress, shoes & clutch by Jimmy Choo, earrings borrowed from Queen Elizabeth II.

OK......enough drooling over Kate's amazing hair, figure and outfits!
It is HUMP DAY - so here you go :)

I hope you all have a fantastic Hump Day! xoxo

Fresh at Wireless Festival! :)

From Friday 1 July to Sunday 3 July, the Wireless Festival 2011 took place in Hyde Park London with some great acts lined up for the three day event. Me and my friends got tickets for the Friday which featured artists like Bruno Mars, David Guetta, Alexis Jordan, Tinie Tempah, Far East Movement, Chipmunk and the Black Eyed Peas!!

It was such a great day out in the sun sunshine, drinking, eating, dancing & singing our little hearts out :)
Here some pictures:

Outfit wise I went for something casual, summery and fun. I wore a ZARA silky blue jumpsuit that I got last summer, matched with black flat sandals, aviator sunglasses and curly hair with side braids! You can see my 'festival look' in the below picture which is one of my favourite photos of the day!

In this pic is Tanya, a close friend of mine, who beside being a super cool chica is also a super talented photographer ;) She was working at Wireless that day for Barclay/Unwind to film and photograph the event. She's recently launched her own photography website www.tanyaphoto.co.uk and you can check out her brilliant pictures of Wireless here ♥

Also a great product I've discovered recently is Sweet Breath Micro Mist! It's this handy little spray that offers you fast (sugar free) fresh breath whereever you are, because you can connect it to your key ring! It has a highly concentrated formula which means you only need 1-2 sprays to kill germs and freshen breath instantly after eating, drinking or smoking and each little spray contains over 120 sprays. Perfect for days out and about like festivals!
Available at leading pharmacies nation wide retailing at £1.99. A bargain for sweet smelling breath right? :)

Have you attended any fun festivals this summer? xoxo