Intu Metrocentre Fashion Live Spring / Summer 2018 VIP Preview*

I guess it goes without saying that I'm not really feeling myself at the moment, with my mum still in hospital I've been feeling more than a little bit down. There is a temptation when you feel like that to pull the duvet over your head and hide away and believe me I've done that but on Wednesday night I put a frock on, did my make up and received just the boost that I needed with the help of popcorn, Prosecco, and puppers. What am I talking about? Well the Intu Metrocentre Fashion Live Spring Summer 2018 Blogger Preview Event of course!

The team at Intu Metrocentre certainly know how to put on an event and treat their local bloggers and this one was no different, In a pastel, floral garden setting we we're treat to drinks, and canapes, and popcorn courtesy of the Odeon cinema, as well as make up advice from the team at Kat Von D in Debenhams, and a deliciously fragrant and relaxing hand and arm massages from the girls from Molton Brown in House Of Fraser (I had my massage with the new ish Coastal Cypress And Sea Fennel, which is a beautiful fresh and aquatic, unisex scent, which is perfect for summer).

As nice as all of these extras were though the real purpose of the event was to give us a sneaky peek of what you can expect to see if you head down to the centre this weekend. Yes, they are back, Intu Metrocentre's famous catwalk shows are returning from the 10th - 13th May to showcase some of the key fashion looks and pieces from a myriad of the centres stores, for spring / summer 2018.

Situated in the usual place in Town Square, outside of House Of Fraser there are 4 runway shows on Saturday and 3 on Sunday, giving you ample opportunity to get plenty of spring and summer fashion inspiration. Even if you can't make it onto FROW yourself though don't worry, if you're in the centre in the next day or so, make sure you pick up one of the Fashion Live leaflets from any of the information points, to get some fabulous discounts across the centre from stores including Simply Be, Cath Kidston, Ann Summer, House Of Fraser and more.

As per usual the shows will showcase a wide range of both ladies and gentleman's clothing accessories for all sizes, shapes, and styles. We had a sneak peek of just some of the shows and the brands that you can see over the next few days.

I'm not going to lie, with all the stress and what not I didn't have the energy to lug my SLR round so I ended up shooting the show on my trusty iPhone, well it didn't prove quite so trusty this time round, and a lot of pics either didn't come out so well, or quite frankly didn't come out at all, so this post doesn't have as many pictures as I would have like and I'm not 100% happy with the ones that I have included, never mind bigger disasters at sea, I guess.

The event was hosted by the lovely Anna Foster from BBC Radio Newcastle, who was wearing the Lipsy Amelia Print Floral Wrap Dress, which retails at £58. Lipsy's presentation was all about occasion pieces, with pretty dresses in brights, block colours and floral prints as well as more casual, but still smart and feminine tops, and separates.

Another brand that is synonymous with occasion is Coast, if you're looking for an outfit for a wedding, a christening, or even for the races, that Coast should be one of your first ports of call, especially since they now do a plus size range ;) Their presentation offered a beautiful range of dresses and jumpsuits, in bright, summery colours, and even neons teamed up with some fabulous hats and fascinators. 

If accessories are your thing then there is one shop that is should definitely be on your radar and that is Accessorize. What can I say about Accessorize other than summer in a shop! Everything about their presentation made me think of holidays, tropical beaches, and items that would take you straight from beach to bar, from strappy sandals, to brights, neons and beautiful embellishments, if your heading to the sun, anytime soon Accessorize should be your first port of call when it comes to holiday shopping. As perfect as they are for the little things that finish an outfit though, you can now get the top to toe look in one store, as this outfit proves with this cute neon embroidered cropped kaftan, and these cute embellished shorts. 

As much as I'm loving the tropical vibes here, for me at least beach holidays are a distant dream at the moment, so spring, summer fashion to me means less of the beach vibe and more of the I want to look cool as hell no matter the weather vibe, and thankfully a lot of the showcased brands fitted the bill perfectly, with River Island showcasing some great on trend pieces that were perfect for the unpredictable British weather including everything from cute playsuits to the most fabulous pair of mustard / rust yellow paper bag waist trousers!

Mustard was also evident on the models walking for New Look, with a fabulous ensemble of I think trousers, a top, and a coordinating kimono style jacket in a mustard and red floral pattern. I can't find this outfit online but it's definitely worth looking out for and I'm gutted that I didn't get a good enough picture so that I could share it with you. Florals are always big for spring and summer, and they were evident in quite a few of the presentations including this one, New Look also showcased a lot of bright block colours, including a fabulous red trouser and black, graphic, slogan t-shirt combo.

If you're one of those trendy, super cool people, that most of aspire to be like, then Top Shop's collection was probably right up your street, with some really fun furry bags, and sequined bum bags, and joggers teamed with a graphic tees, and high heels. 

I'm not sure I could carry that look off but something I could definitely get on board with was this beautiful diagonal striped midi dress, which retails at £49, teamed up with an embellished denim jacket. I love stripes and since I've just picked up a new denim jacket this look was right up my street.

I do love a stripe and another Arcadia groups presentation was probably my favourite of the evening. Yes, maybe I'm biased because Evans is a plus size brand (the majority of their items do start at a size 14 though so don't discount it as just being a plus size brand though!) but their models rocked every single look. Although it's all looking slightly navy here, the theme was monochrome, not a typical spring summer look but it works, and I particularly loved this look, with these eye catching black and white striped wide leg pants, that are a steal at just £35. I'm not sure I could pull this look off personally but I'm seriously debating giving it a go.

Having so many exciting brands under one roof, House Of Fraser's shows are always worth waiting for and this one was no exception, as they showcased both smart and casual men's and ladies fashion, but for me the stand out piece was this beautiful jacquard wrap dress from BIBA

I know I'm all about female fashion but these shows really are for everyone, and as well as House Of Fraser, DW Sports and River Island, also showcased some of they key spring and summer 2018 looks for both men and women, and the boys also had a chance to go it alone, with a summery presentation from Burton Menswear featuring pastel pinks, and that summer staple the Hawaiian style shirt.

It wasn't all about that casual summer style though, men have special occasions too, and if you or your OH has a function to attend this summer then Moss Bros is the place to go, for everything from the traditional two and three piece suit to something with a bit more of a fashion vibe.

There really is nothing nicer than a guy in a suit, well apart from a man in a suit with a dog that is!

Clad in their swanky Moss Boss attire and perhaps a touch overdressed for a dog walk, 2 of the lovely male models helped 3 new, and all be it hairy models to shine, Winston and Churchill which you can see above and the lovely Sam who you can see below.

Yes, us North East blogger do love our fashion, our beauty, our bubbly and our canapes but the majority of us all so have a soft spot for furry things with 4 legs! All 3 of these lovely dogs are current residents at the Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter, who are responsible for rescuing and re homing 1000's of animals every year in the North East of England.

If you're popping into the centre to do a bit of shopping or if your coming to specifically to see the shows, then pop down to Town Square and you can come and find out a little bit more about the work that they do, or you can find out more about how you can help and of course how you can adopt your own furry friend via their website, and of course if you do come down to watch the shows then you can watch these lovely, friendly doggies perfect, their runway walk over the course of the weekend.

Thanks to these puppies at least in part, I had a fab night that really lifted my spirits no end, I want to thank all of the Intu team, and of course all of the retailers for hosting and of course for the super generous goodies bags. So if you don't have any plans for the next few days and you want a bit of summer style inspiration or if you just want to meet some lovely fur babies than head down to Intu Metrocentre this weekend for your own fur and fashion fix x

*Press / Blogger Event 

"I'm At A Place Called Vertigo" And It Hasn't Been Fun!

Well this little ditty from U2, pretty much says it all. Although I've still been uploading fairly regularly to my You Tube channel (thanks to an en block recording day!), I've been AWOL from the blog for a couple of weeks now, thanks to, at least in part, you've guessed it vertigo!

No not the U2 song, or even the Hitchcock's film noir,  but a horrible illness that makes you feel sick and dizzy. My mum was poorly first but I didn't think too much of it, she has a history of vertigo, but then I started feeling dizzy and that was that, a trip to the doctors, the diagnosis of a possible virus, and a box of prescription pills later, I thought I was feeling better, so on Tuesday I went on a long planned shopping trip with my Godmother and her friend, and then it came back with a vengeance.

Couple that with a fibro and CFS flare, and I've spent the last three days in bed, in a slighty blurry, not quite there haze,  believe me feeling like you've got a hangover when you haven't even had a drink is not fun! At last though I'm starting to see the light at the end of yet another long, dark tunnel and I'm starting feel less drowsy, and less woozy.

So from Monday I will be back posting regularly again with plenty more hauls, beauty reviews and who knows what else, and I'll also be announcing the winner of my Illamasqua giveaway, so make sure you keep checking back to see if you're a winner.

Until then though thank you for reading and following and I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, and I will see you next week with some new posts x

Sale Haul - Part 3 - Accessorize - Z For Accessorize And More

Accessorize is without a doubt one of my favourite shops on the high street. I do find it a little bit overpriced so I don't tend to shop there as often as I would like but it's way up there on my fantasy trolley dash list. One of the best things about sales is that they can give you the opportunity to buy things that you really, really want for a cheaper price and that's exactly what happened in this case.

A few month ago now Accessorize launched a collaboration with jewellery designer and daughter of the Monsoon and Accessorize founder Peter Simon, Zara Simon. The range Z For Accessorize features a wide variety of hand crafted, gold plated jewellery pieces, some of which contain crystals and semi precious gemstones. For me it was love at first sight and ever since the launch I've lusted after the entire collection.

As soon as the Christmas shipping deadline passed I started stalking the site, with my fingers tightly crossed that at least one or two pieces would make it into the sale, I was in luck most of the items that I wanted did appear in the sale, and whilst some of the discounts weren't huge, they made it easier for me to justify buying as many items as I did.

The majority of items I ordered were from the Aura range just a slightly irregular, circular faceted gemstone set in a gold plated setting. The first set of items that I bought all featured the amazing off white, slightly opaque gemstone that is Moonstone. The first item that I got was the Aura Precious Stone Necklace. Mummy Lou stepped in to model it for me because I couldn't trust her to take the pictures :)

She's more of a long chain fan so she found this one a little bit too short but I don't mind it I love dainty necklaces and if you wanted you could also layer this one up with a longer gold chain or even one with another pendant. I paid £7.50 for this necklace and whilst it's no longer available in this stone, you can get it a translucent, green shade for £15

I'm not usually a matchy, matchy person but I decided to go for a matching set and get the Aura Precious Stone Stud Earrings in White Moonstone to match.

I love the faceting and the slightly differing tones in each stud that you only get with natural gemstones. I also love the way that these earrings and this stone shows just a hint of the natural skin colour beneath. My only issue with these is how tight the butterflies were I'll definitely by replacing them with something a little looser I actually had to cut the card to get them off! Again the lovely Mummy Lou is modelling x 

The stud earrings appear to have been discontinued which is a shame I paid £6 for these but you can get similar drop earrings in the range for around £15.

All good things come in 3's so I also got the matching Aura Precious Stone Ring in Moonstone too. Again I love the faceting and the way it plays with the light and takes on my skin tone. I have really chubby fingers so I went for the Large size in all of the rings and they fit comfortably on both of my ring fingers. I would love it if in future they did the rings in XL but I love the rings in this range so much I'm sure I'll cope.

I paid £7.50 for this ring and whilst this particular shade is no longer available you can still get the green and pink variants for £15 each.

The rings in this collection really were the thing that caught my eye so I bought another 3. First up I got the Aura Precious Stone Ring is another variant. The shape is ever so slightly different and this time the ring features a Labradorite stone. Again it's faceted and slightly translucent so it takes on the warm tones of the skin beneath.

This one was also £7.50 and yet again it's no longer available on the Accessorize website but similar rings are around £15 and the 2 other Labradorite rings they have are £17 and £25 each.

The next ring that I got is also from the Aura range but this time it's the Mini Aura Precious Stone Ring. The stone is an Aqua Chalcedony, a gorgeous pale, smoky, sea green. Again it's faceted but this time it's an almost checker board facet and the setting and shape is a lot more regular and symmetrical.

This ring was £7 and surprise, surprise it's not available on the website either. Some of the green versions of the other rings though are made using the same gemstone but they aren't quite as delicate as this one.

All of the Aura rings can also be worn stacked for a different look but keeping with the more delicate theme, my final Z For Accessorize purchase is something that I would personally wear all it's own.

The Izzy Triple Precious Stone Ring comprises of three small irregular shaped, Amethyst stones in a gold plated setting. This is a really, small, pretty and delicate ring, the complete opposite of some of the other pieces in the range. This was my most expensive purchase at £8.40 but it's so wearable and comfortable it was well worth the money. This particular ring too is long gone but the Zara ring which is £12 is very similar and uses clear, and grey smoky crystals

I am so, so pleased with all the Z For Accessorize items that I ordered. The quality is great and I just love the style. Finances permitting I will be back for more and I've already got the Isha necklace, and the Jupiter ring in my sights.

I did buy one tiny other thing and it was something that I didn't need but I couldn't resist, the Feeling Lucky Coin Purse.

I'm a cat lover, and I love the whole idea of the Maneki Neko, or lucky cat. The cute zipped coin purse is covered in chubby looking cartoon white cats and I'm really hoping it brings me a bit of luck. Like so many of the things in this haul it's no longer available but for £3.50 I think it was money well spent, even if I have a little less to put in it.

I hope you enjoyed my little Accessorize sale haul, x Thanks for reading and don't forget to enter my giveaway xx

Small Town Haulage and Goodies From 2 Lovely Ladies

Hey my beauties :) I know I gave you a haul this morning but you may have already noticed from my sidebar that I have already made a few purchases in June - Whoops!
This afternoon I popped to one of my local towns to pick up a few things for one of my besties birthday pressie and yes I picked up a few bits for me :) First up Superdrug - I picked up the other Accessorize £1.99 eyeshadow trio packs.

First up 21 - Iris a gorgeous shimmer lilac, a little bit darker than it's looking here

It also contained 4- Platinum - a gorgeous shimmery silver /grey

and finally 5 - Mermaid a gorgeous turquoise / teal shade

Swatches - again they are super soft and pigmented - I really recommend these especially for just £1.99

Next up a few Beauty UK items :) I haven't included any swatches at the moment because these products will all be included in my Beauty UK post from my upcoming Budget Beauty Series.
First up a nail polish - I haven't managed to capture the colour very well here so it's a work in progress - it's No.45 Turquoise Shim -which describes it pretty well - it's darker and more shimmery than it's looking here

Next a lipstick this is a bit of a departure for me but the times they are a changing - this is 10 Passion a gorgeous juicy blue based red

Finally I got a baked eyeshadow trio in Earth a lovely neutral palette

I also popped to Boyes and picked up a few stationery bits, and another LA Colors nail polish, this time in a shimmery aqua, blue called Radiation

I also bought a few magazine Elle with a free Reiss vest top which was tiny!! and Red which had a choice of 3 Jemma Kidd Lipglosses free. They had a nude peach, a red, and the colour I chose 15 Coral - Again not a typical LouLou colour but I'm really fancying a change - it really is a super hot coral.

So that was my little haul I also got a couple of parcels that were paid for in May x - first up a lipstick from the lovely Charlotte's blog sale - It's the Fearne Cotton lipstick from the hatbox collection

I got one for my birthday and really liked it and when I saw Charlotte was selling it I had to have it - it's a love peach /pink nude :) - Please check out Charlotte's blog if you haven't already she is lovely girls and she sent me such a sweet note with the lipstick too :)

I also got a lovely little parcel from the lovely Sinead at Dainty Dollymix from her Jewellery site -packaged in a cute little chiffon bag with sequins and sparkles her jewellery makes a lovely gift, I discarded mine before I took the pics I was that desperate to get this on my finger

It's such a pretty adjustable shell ring - it was only £3.00 and she has 8 designs to choose from I am definitely considering another one :) Thanks Sinead xx
So that was another bit of haulage eek I am still waiting for my NARS - thanks ASOS rolls eyes :( but other than that I'm pretty much done - rather scarily I am already over £20 down for June I must try harder - Any questions please let me know xx``

Superdrug, Peacocks and Boyes Haulage

Hey Guys
I know I said I would be laying off on the haulage front but I did pop to a local town this afternoon with Momma Lou - the appeal of this town - Superdrug :) Now I am free from the restraints of Project 10 Pan I wanted to go and play with make up for a bit lol First up this Accessorize special offer set

I'd seen this online but not in store. This store doesn't actually sell the Accessorize make up line but they had these sets of three Accessorize full sized eyeshadows for only £1.99 - they should retail at between £2 and £4 each! They had two sets to chose from - Mine contained

3. Truffle - a gorgeous bronze / taupe

10. Soft Pink - a gorgeous shimmery oyster pink

16. Sage - a gorgeous golden sage green
Swatches - From L - R - Truffle, Soft Pink, and Sage

I am soo happy with these - the are so pigmented and super soft - my larger Superdrug didn't have these so it's worth trying smaller stores, they also have the sets online but you can't choose which one you get.

I also picked up one of the new Dream Touch Blushers by Maybelline - these are gorgeous and creamy the only thing is the stand was a mess, and they were all mixed up so I picked one I liked the look of the only thing is the colour names aren't on the packaging so I don't know which one it is - why have Maybelline done this?

Anyway by course of elimination this is maybe Peach but I'd need to see it alongside Berry to make a true comparison - whatever I know that's not much help but it is super pretty :)

I also picked up two of the new Beauty UK Lip Lust glosses in No. 4 Sweet Sixteen (Top) and No.6 Oh Baby (Bottom) I am going to do a full review of these in a new series of posts I'm planning to do so no swatches at the moment x

I also picked up a copy of Top of the Pops magazine, yes I know I am not 12 but they had an interesting make up free gift.

For only £2.99 you got a BYS Eyeshadow Palette which has 9 colours which surprisingly is really pigmented

You also got a silver glitter liner, and a black and a jade pencil liner

I've only tried a couple of BYS bits in the past (my local chemist often sells bits) but as well as  being super cheap they all seem to be ok for the money, I have a lovely striped bronzer which alas they don't seem to make any more but if your keen on trying some super cheap make up you can get a 25% discount on BYS cosmetics @ http://www.makeup.uk.com/ just enter the code TOTP25 X

I also popped into Boyes - this is a shop that just seems to be in the North of England and Yorkshire - it sells all sorts of bits and pieces including health and beauty, clothing, craft, kitchenware etc I bought a couple of nail polishes W7 Limited Edition Earthquake Silver Shatter and LA Colors Color Craze Nail Polish in Static Electricity

I also popped into Peacocks to buy some undies - and for the first time I noticed the Evie Glam Make Up Range - it was on 3 for 2 so I bought a few bits which I will review for you hence no swatches in this post - first up the Blue Eyeshadow Quad - although it only has one real blue in it and a Mink Nail Polish

and a Blusher which seems a pretty peach / pink shade - look out for a review post coming soon x

So that was my haul some good bargains and a few reviews to come x Any questions or if you would like reviews of anything I hadn't mentioned please let me know x Next up a rave and review xx