Showing posts with label Royal Wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Royal Wedding. Show all posts

Friday, 29 April 2011

I've Got The Royal Wedding Nailed

After my little look at some of the more bizarre Royal Wedding Merchandise it's not surprise that the beauty industry has got involved, with special kits and products from brands such as Neals Yard, Batiste, Elemis, Nails Rocks, Essie and Leighton Denny I didn't take much persuasion to get out my purse but what did I buy?
Well in two words nail varnish - OPI's Britannia Collection to be honest was just a bit of a re-release of older shades some of which I already own including Dating A Royal.



So I skipped it, and I also skipped the Leighton Denny and Essie Royal themed kits, but I did buy a Butter London polish. Butter London has a few London and Monarchy named polishes including HRH, Tea With The Queen and All Hail The Queen, but the star for me is No More Waity, Katie



Made to the usual Butter London formula which is free from formaldehyde, toluene and DBP, No More Waity, Katie is a limited edition nail polish designed by Butter London and inspired by Kate Middleton to celebrate the biggest wedding of the year. Described as a greige with a lilac glitter, in reality is a kind of dirty lilac with a purple sparkle



The first coat was a streaky mess a very, very sheer lilac with the odd splodge of glitter, coat 2 was better but these pics are taken with 3 coats - I love the colour but the application was a nightmare, it was streaky and super splodgy - not good lovely colour but an awful formulation, such a shame. Butter London No More Waity, Katie is a limited edition polish with retails at around £15.00 from Butter London stockists including Power Rooms and Debenhams.

Next up the biggie -  British company Nails Inc seem to have gone Royal Wedding daft with limited edition crystal cap polishes and a gift set of 4 limited edition polishes. I couldn't resist the gift set and purchased it with one of my Diet Coke vouchers so I got it for £20 as opposed to £25 but the full set should retail for £44 if you could buy them separately (as Louise tries to justify her purchase as a bargain ;)



Packaged in a gorgeous cream and gold box with a gold ribbon, all of the polishes in the Royal Polish Collection, are limited edition and feature gold lids instead of the usual silver. The blue, red and gold polishes are all named after famous Royal locations including castles and religious establishments.



First up Sandringham, named after the Queens Norfolk residence - a gorgeous metallic shimmery red -exactly the same colour as my mums new car :)


It's a little darker than it showing here the bottle shot is probably the most accurate but it's a proper rich regal red ;). With just one coat I got perfect coverage with this one - if your after a good rich red this is definitely the one x


The second polish in the collection is named after the wedding venue Westminster Abbey



OMG this is easily my favourite colour of the 4! Described as a liquid gold shimmer, it is basically a liquid gold, with tiny sparkles in it. For being a sparkle / glitter it applied really easily this is two coats here but you probably could have got away with just one the coverage was so good


It's is much, much nicer than it looks here you really can't see the true sparkle and liquid gold appearance.


My one issue was that like a lot of glitters and sparkles it was soooo hard to remove, but that doesn't bother me in the slightest, this is a gorgeous colour that I really didn't want to remove :)


Next up Balmoral, named after the Queen's Scottish residence :)


This is perhaps the strangest colour in the collection, all the others are metallics, and sparkles, but this is just a true mannequin hands nude beige colour.

The first coat applied a little bit streaky as creams often do but the second seemed to even it out. Not the most eye catching colour but probably the most wearable of the four.

 

The final colour in the set is probably the one that first drew me in - Windsor - described by Nails as a deep metallic navy - a true regal colour if ever there was one


The bottle pictures indeed do make it look a deep shimery navy blue, but in some lights it can also look more like an indigo shade with a touch of purple to it

In real life it probably looks darker than it does here, but again to be honest one coat would have done I only did two because of my poor painting skills -these pictures are taken without the flash




This picture is taken with the flash you can see much more of the flashes that appear in real life


This I have to say is a gorgeous colour, giving my love for blue nail polishes it was a welcome addition to this kit, do I already own something similar to this, yeah probably but that has never stopped me before:)

All in all I think this was a pretty decent set all the colours are wearable and the quality seems to be there too. I know this is a limited edition kit but a few places still seem to have it including, ASOS, Debenhams, QVC and of course Nails Inc themselves and I think it's pretty good value for £25 espeically since I got it for £20:)

I hope you have all enjoyed Royal Wedding Day - I have to say I've only watched a little bit to see the frocks and hats mainly and boy haven't there been some shockers - Fergie's girls and Miriam Clegg mainly! Although I wish them well as I would any couple on their wedding day I still find it hard to feel any sort of emotion towards a couple who I don't know so my glances at the screen have been fleeting I must say, but the TV networks loss has been you gain as well as blog post drafting I have a few You Tube vids ready to go up too - I hope you all enjoy the rest of the day and the saying what goes around comes around is a true one - this ring was my grans alas not real sapphires and diamonds but not too different in style to Catherine's I think?

I hope you've found this post useful/interesting I have a renewed respect for nail bloggers after all the painting and removing :) Any questions give me a yell xxx

Tuesday, 26 April 2011

From Breakfast Cereal To Gnomes Celebrate The Royal Wedding In Style

Well it's eventually hear after all the TV and press coverage it's eventually Royal Wedding week - it seems like the preparation and hype has being going on for years. Today's post is the first of two concerning Royal Wedding Memorabilia. This one I have to say is a bit tongue in cheek, Royal Wedding souvenirs have come along way from the obligatory Union Jack, mugs and a bit of bunting - although these bits are still alive and kicking and available at anywhere from Selfridges to Aldi, a lot of souvenirs have taken a different slant, from the cute to the damn right ridiculous I have trawled the net to find my picks. I have in no way been coerced into writing about or sent press releases on any of these items, these are just some of them that have took my fancy :)


First up probably the most controversial and probably the most talked about (well the most controversial that I was going to feature anyway - try googling Royal Wedding merchandise ;) Royal Wedding sick bags - hmm well I am sure some people will certainly take offence at these but I like to think that they are for when you have celebrated Wills and Kate's big day a bit erm shall we say too much :) Designed by graphic designer Lydia Leith these retail at £3 each.


Next up something a little more erm sedate - tea bags, not not the lovely Twinnings Royal Blend (nom) but these Kate and William tea bags by Donkey Products. To celebrate the wedding they have added to their celebrity tea bag range, which already includes musicians and fashion designers and brought out a William and Kate version - these retail at £6.00 from Urban Outfitters


Sticking to the food theme I was surprised to find these Kate and William Breakfast Cereal - William's The Royal O's and Special Kate's -  in a limited run of just 1000 per box start your day with some Royal cereal at only £9.99 a box :)


Next up one of my favourites - Royal Wedding themed garden gnomes - maybe William and Kate in their later years ?- thanks to B&Q just £20 for the 2 :)


Perhaps a more traditional idea next paper dress up dolls, take this opportunity to dress both William and Kate the way you want, you could even deisgn your own wedding dress :) just £5.99 from Culture Label


Next up a couple of bits for the little ones including this cute little HappyLand figure set at just £12 from the Early Learning Centre


and finally one of they toys of my childhood Sylvanian Families and their Wedding Celebration Set with William and Catherine Bunny Rabbit which retails at £24.71 from Amazon - surely they should have been Corgis?





and finally probably my favourite that really makes me wish I could knit - Knit You Own Royal Wedding by Fiona Goble, just £5.67 from Amazon - you can knit everyone in the wedding party from William and Kate, to the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Corgis. I am waiting for a copy from the library so I can have a proper read :)


Oh and if you want bunting for your street party (is anyone actually having one?) I personally would forgo the traditional route and buy this shabby chic version from Accessorize - cute eh!
I hope you have enjoyed this tongue and cheek look at Royal Wedding Memorabilia - it makes you realise I guess how much companies will try to cash in on any event or occasion. Next up some Royal Wedding goodies that I did buy and yes it will be beauty related ;) xx

Friday, 15 April 2011

Hair To The Throne With Batiste and Superdrug

Unless you have been living under a rock you'll be fully aware that on 29th April this year we have a Royal Wedding to look forward too. Will I personally be tuning I hate to say it but no - I'm personally not too bothered, in fact I would go so far as to say to say I am only interested in the dress, which will no doubt appear in the Internet in seconds of the big reveal, can you believe 3 dresses have been created in case the press get hold of any images before the big day - insane. Despite not being a Royalist I am however as patriotic as the next person and am a firm believer in regaining the national flag. If you want to show your patriotism in a useful and practical way you could certainly do worse than pick up a can of Batiste Dry Shampoo


Dry Shampoo I hear your cry what's that got to do with being British well Batiste have introduced the fabulous Batiste Brit Dry Shampoo


Exclusive to Superdrug, Brit is packaged in a funky Union Jack designed spray can, and has a fabulous fresh, clean scent, ideal for keeping you hair fresh and clean on the upcoming Bank Holiday weekends. Batiste Brit retails at £2.13 for 150mls and is exclusive to Superdrug.



Not only that but Batiste have teamed up with Superdrug to offer you the chance to win your own Crown Jewels - £1000 of Love To Shop vouchers - so you can purchase your own diamonds, clothes or as much make up as you want - check out the Superdrug website before 16th May to see how to enter x
Any questions please ask x Over the next few weeks I have a couple more Royal Wedding posts planned showing you some of the fabulous and some of the bizarre merchandise so keeping checking back x

(Batiste Brit 150ml Was Provided By PR For Review / Promotional Purposes)