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 

A Little March 2018 Primark Haul - Clothes, Accessories, And Some Beauty Reviews

Suffering from several chronic illnesses as I do, I've come to rely on online shopping quite a bit, and even more so this year, when I just haven't had the energy to get out there into real shops and enjoy one of my favourite pastimes . Online shopping definitely fills the void but you really can't beat getting out there and getting into a bricks and mortar shop. I've the odd look out but a couple of weeks ago I managed my first trip into Intu Metrocentre since before Christmas and whilst it damn near killed me off, it was well worth the effort, I had my eyebrows waxed and I managed a trip to Primark!!

It's one of those things that just can't be explained, why oh why doesn't  Primark have an online store? My own personal theory is that they would probably get way too many returns thanks to the less that consistent sizing but hey I would take the risk and I'm sure lots of other people would as well, so come on Primark do it and help me save a few spoons!

I'm not going to lie despite the fact that this trip was so long coming and so long awaited I didn't actually buy that much. I stocked up on a few of my Primark essentials including some more oil balancing facial wipes, some blue jeggings and some black leggings, and I picked a few other bits including another one of their basic t-shirts.

As someone who at the moment detests her tummy, and her hips, I need something to cover it up and with a bit of length, and Primark's long length t-shirts do exactly that. As someone who is at the limit of Primarks sizing scale I find these tees pretty generous, they have a lot of stretch in them and they are so so comfy to wear. This is one of the short sleeve versions, and whilst their are various necklines available my favourite is either the crew neck or the scooped neckline like this one. Again there were a few colours to choose from but I decided to switch it up a bit a leave the blues and stripes behind and go for this nice classic khaki green shade. These t-shirts are real staples for me at the moment and for just £3.50 I can really afford to stock up.

I know I've just talked about length, and how I need long line things, but my next purchase though is just a little bit shorter than what I normally go for.

There is no way that you could describe this as a cropped jumper but compared to my usual bum and tum covering numbers this is pretty short for me. I couldn't resist it though, I love the ribbed detail, and the baguette style crystals on the neckline, and grey really is one of those classic colours, that I'm personally learning to love again. There was a huge muck up price wise with this one, this jumper and all of it's sale rail friends in this shade and in a wine colour were tagged as £13 reduced to £5 - Bargain! When I got to the till though they had been a big mistake and they shouldn't have been reduced! Since both the tag and the price on the rail said £5 though that's what they had to give me it for! - abiding by the rules = one happy LouLou.

That was it for clothes but I did pick a jewellery item from a sale rack, and this time there was no argument about the price, this super cute real semi precious stone (amethyst?)  friendship bracelet was just £1 reduced from £3.

Featuring faceted purple and lilac crystal stones, with a clear crystal, silver tone disco hanging from the middle, it fastens with a Chinese knot style fastening, with tiny silver tone hearts on the end of each strand. This bracelet is so pretty and could easily pass for something like Lola Rose, and if you weren't a fan of the circle charm they you could easily remove it with some wire cutters without ruining the rest of the bracelet.

I think I pretty much say it every time I go into Primark now but their beauty range keeps getting better and better!! The selection has improved dramatically and the quality on the majority of things that I've tried has been excellent for the price.

At the moment Primark seems to have a glut of how can I put this? high end dupes, not quite out and out copies, but you know, clearly getting there, does that bother me? no not really, as I've said before I'd rather buy a dupe than an out and out fake product from ebay or from a local buy and sell group, and if it's done well then I'm definitely not complaining. They have quite a few Too Faced inspired lines in at the moment but I thought I'd give one of their Kylie inspired products a go.

I've got to be honest and admit that all of those matte lip kits did nothing for me, I'm not the hugest matte lip fan and I'm definitely not a fan of the butt hole lip look but whilst I've had an indifferent relationship with lip gloss for a while, give me a plump glossy lip, over a dry, lined matte one any day.

I do love a nude / pink lip so I though I'd give this PS Nudes Lip Collection kit a try. This kit in the shade Hypnotise contains a 10ml Lip Gloss, and a 1.5g lip pencil, both in a pink / nude / almost mauve shade.

The gloss is a touch sticky but the pigmentation is excellent, and it wears incredibly well, it comes out a touch darker than it appears in the tube, but it applies really easily with the sponge applicator, and it actually feels quite creamy, and smooth on the lips.

The coordinating lip liner pencil is easy to sharpen and comes in a plastic feel, barrel. It's a touch paler than the gloss and again the pigmentation is excellent. It feels smooth to the touch, but it isn't so creamy that it will end up all over your face.

Apologies that I haven't managed to get a shot of either of these products on my actual face but this is what I'm wearing in the You Tube video that you can see at the end of this. For just £3 I'm so, so impressed with this kit, the pigmentation, and feel of the products and the wear time, easily beats a lot of high end brands. Both of the products work perfectly together but since this is the type of shade that I go for in lipsticks I think I'll get a lot of extra use out of the lip liner, which is pretty similar to the Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Lip Liner in 063 East End Snob. If this shade isn't for you, there are are several other colour combinations available so you if you're a nude lip fan you're bound to find something you like.

I debated whether or not to pick up one of the Too Faced inspired cheek kits but in the end I decided to try out this highlighting palette, which may or may not be inspired by various products including the Anastasia Sugar Glow palette ;)

The PS Pure Glow Highlighting Palette comes in very on trend, and blogger friendly rose gold, and marble print cardboard packaging. I'm not the biggest fan of cardboard packaging because after a while I think it can look a little grubby but in this case again I'll make an exception. It feels sturdy enough and it fastens with a magnet so your highlighters will be kept safe and secure.

The palette itself contains a little section, which tells you where to put your highlighters (just in case you don't know), and four good sized, round pans crammed full of beautiful metallic and shimmery loveliness.

On the top row you have Desert, a gorgeous shimmery, metallic white, and Glimmer, a beautiful, metallic gold

and underneath you have a Eden a shimmery, nude pink, and Firefly, a rich metallic copper, bronze.

As you can see the pigmentation is excellent, and all of these shade are beautifully soft and buttery. Again no face shots but I am wearing a lot of this palette in the accompanying You Tube video. There is probably no wear on earth that you'll be able to see the shades on my face but I actually did virtually a full face look with this palette, I used Glimmer, and Firefly to create a rich metallic golden bronze eye look, with just a hint of Desert under the brow, and I used Eden on my cheeks, for a pale shimmery blush look. This is beautiful and super versatile and well worth the £5 that I paid for it. Yes you could probably get some sort of highlighting palette for less but would it be as good as this and would you be getting 4 x 7g, smooth and high pigmented colours for your money? I doubt it and I'm so glad that I picked this up. I've been so, so impressed with both of these items, and I'm definitely going to be heading straight to the beauty section next time I'm in Primark which will probably be next week because my mum needs to take something back :)

I know I've already mentioned it a few times but just in case it hasn't clicked yet, I've made a video to accompany this haul which you can see below or via this link.



If you like haul videos then definitely make sure that your subscribed to my You Tube channel, because I've got a few exclusive hauls coming up ever the next few days, including one that you won't want to miss x In the meantime if you've bought anything exciting in Primark recently or if you have any Primark beauty recommendations then please leave me a comment and let me know, or link me up to your blog post, or You Tube video x Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon with my March beauty empties post x

Intu Metrocentre A/W 2017 Style Event - Power Dresssing, Pizza And Printing*

Now as much as I love and appreciate every blog event that I get invited to, I always feel an extra surge of excitement when an invitation pops into my inbox from the fabulous team at Intu Metrocentre. I've been to quite a few of their events over the years, and I always feel blessed to work with such an amazing brand. Their events have ranged from the traditional fashion show, to more intimate beauty, fashion and lifestyle showcases. Whatever format they take though, they are always lots of fun and I always seem to learn a lot, be it about beauty brands, or fashion styling tips. A week or so ago now I headed down to Intu Metrocentre for their Autumn / Winter 2017 blog event which took both the educational and fun factors to the next level.

The event took place on the upper floor of Zizzi, which is an Italian chain restaurant situated on the second floor in the Garden Walk area of the centre, close to the cinema and perfect for a pre or post movie bite to eat.

Although it wasn't the main focus of the night, us bloggers like a feed and Zizzi delivered with trays of appetisers including olives, arancini, dips, salads, crudities and mini kebabs. We also had the chance to try out some of their rustic pizzas, and also some of their vegan pizza and garlic bread offerings. I didn't realise that Zizzi offered both a full vegan and gluten free menu so that's a thumbs up in my eyes and I'll definitely be back for a pizza and garlic bread fix in the future.

With a backdrop of food, nibbles and mocktails the stage was set for an evening of fun and education. While half the room was set up with tables, goodie bags, nibbles, clothes rails, accessories, an overhead projector, and subdued lighting, the other side of the room was set up with lots of light and tables full of goodies to explore and play with.

On the night we were lucky enough to have the ladies from The Crafthood with us to help us bring out our crafty sides. The Crafthood is a North East based company run by two lovely ladies Sharon and Kay, who specialise in making bespoke hand lettered pieces for weddings and so on, and other handcrafted and hand designed items. They also run crafting workshops across the North East teaching everything from brush lettering, and calligraphy, to block printing, Christmas crafting and candle making.

I love crafting but in all honesty I'm just not that artistic or dare it say it talented. If you've been reading my blog for a long time you'll know that from time to time, I do indulge in a little bit of paper crafting. When I have the time and the energy I love making my own greetings cards, and I also enjoy scrap booking, and I'm particularly proud of my NYC scrapbook. When it comes to anything with thread, sewing or fabric though it's a different matter entirely. I've never been any good it and my dragon like school textile teacher pretty much put me off for life and destroyed every ounce of confidence that I ever had in my own abilities with needle and thread.

You shouldn't let a lack of ability or talent get in the way of trying new things and having fun though, crafting is all about having fun at the end of the day and when I found out that we were going to be making things and getting our craft on I couldn't wait to get started.

Our task was a relatively simple one, we were going to decorate our own fabric pouches / cosmetic bags with simple block printing. I have a bit of experience with stamping on paper and of course I'd used a potato to print designs before but printing on fabric was something completely new to me, - all I'll say is thank goodness for the practise fabric!

The idea was that we created an on trend monogram, initial style design, which sounded easy enough but it wasn't quite as easy in the flesh, and one little error in my eyes lead to a complete change in direction from the simple, Gucci esq monogram design that I'd planned in my head, to an eclectic star and star burst design.

It may not have gone to plan but it's an original and nobody else will have one that looks like mine :) It may not be perfect but it's mine and I had a lot of fun creating it. The two ladies from The Crafthood were incredibly helpful, walking around and offering suggestions and advice, and in particular helping us bloggers make our tassel's - as I said I shouldn't be left alone with thread as the residue in the picture probably shows! I really enjoyed the session with the ladies and I'm really hoping that this experience will help reignite my crafty side!

As well as our session with The Crafthood, the Intu Metrocentre team had also arranged a speaker for us for the evening. Our speaker for the night was Meridith Towne, a bespoke dressmaker and costume historian. whose speciality is women's history through fashion - The topic she spoke to us about was Women In Power and The Art Of Power Dressing.

How can I summarise such a fascinating and in depth talk in a few lines, I don't think I can in all honesty, but her talk basically covered the history of powerful women and the role that clothing has played in both defining women and creating and defining their roles. She touched on so many things including how the definition of power dressing has changed over time, and how it changes in different countries and in different cultures, and on how social media can be used as both a force for change and as tool for enforcing ideas and ideals.

As well as using as overhead projector and a power point presentation (operated by her lovely mum), Meridith also illustrated her points with clothing, costumes, fabric and accessories from her own collection including a beautiful Victorian gown, 80's suiting, pussy bow blouses, and beautiful hats and African tribal style prints.

She also illustrated some of her points with clothing and accessory pieces from some of the many fashion stores that Intu Metrocentre has to offer, including Top Shop, Aspinal, Accessorize, and House Of Fraser. There was so many beautiful pieces on the rail that perfectly illustrated the concept of modern power dressing and how things come back into fashion. The rail and the bags were particularly lust worthy and I couldn't help but fall in love with the ISSA Maisie Printed Jumpsuit, that Meridith used to illustrate her point about prints - it has cats on it - what's not to love?

Source

As someone who loves fashion and history, and who studied a lot of both gender and women's studies as part of both her BA (Hons) and MSc I found Meridith's talk both fascinating and eye opening - a lot of people think that fashion is just fun or frippery but it really does tell a story and it really can both make a statement and define you with just one glance.

If ever you get the chance to attend one of Meridith Towne's talks then I would fully recommend it. She's very knowledgeable and very passionate about the things that she talks about, and I definitely came away from her talk feeling as though that I had learnt something, and that I'd learnt something that can and will effect me in the future. You can find out more about Meridith and both her costume designer service and her talks via her own personal website.

It was another fantastic event from the team at Intu Metrocentre, and it was probably the most fun, the most tasty and the most educational one to date. I would like to thank, Zizzi, the ladies from The Crafthood, and Meridith Towne for a varied and enjoyable evening, and of course I'd like to thank the team at Intu Metrocentre and all of the stores that were involved in the event and that contributed to our super generous goodie bags. We were kindly gifted a French Connection Monogrammed Fabric Bag, which included a Hotel Chocolat The Yumpkin Milk Chocolate Pumpkin, a travel sized Aussie Shampoo, skincare samples from The Body Shop, skincare samples from Estee Lauder, and Elizabeth Arden, perfume samples from Valentino, and Dior, and make up samples from Benefit, Bare Minerals and Smashbox. We were also generously gifted some bits from Intu and a very generous discount card which I will definitely putting to good use.

Huge thanks again to Intu and if you have any questions on anything that we got up to, or if you want to tell me how wonderful my crafting attempt was ;) then please don't hesitate to leave me a comment below x

*Blog / Press Event