Pop-Tatts Competition! Win Temporary Tattoos for Parties and Hen Parties!

Hey Chaps! Guess what?! I've finally opened my Etsy shop! I am super excited to introduce 'Pop Tatts' temporary tattoos to the world!

Inspired by their success at my Sister-in-law's hen-party (which you can read all about here), I decided to release my 'Hunky Men For Funky Hens' temporary tattoo's  to the masses!  Who doesn't love a bit of Ryan and Co!?  I'm also taking commissions for brides, which will be up in the shop soon! Plus I've got loads more ideas in the pipeline!

To celebrate, I've decided to hold a giveaway!  If you enter below you are in for a chance of winning the following;

-1 pack of 10 'Hunky Men For Funky Hen's Temporary Tattoos'. Each is separately packaged so they are perfect for putting in goodie bags at a party/hen party, or for filling a piñata (like I did)!

- 1 pack of customised 'Groom's Face Tattoos'.  These are perfect for giving as a gift to a bride-to-be at her hen party. If you don't know anyone thats getting married I'm happy to design you a pack based on a favourite actor or singer, we can get creative! 

So, if you'd like to enter, please use the Rafflecopter widget below;

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

Laura xXx

My Favourite Nail Varnish Brands

Following on from my favourite make-up products post, I thought I would share my favourite nail varnish brands, and what it is that I like about them!

ESSIE

Essie is possibly a little bit overrated in my opinion, I'd read that you only needed one or two coats and it definitely didn't live up to that for me, it also takes a while to dry. BUT on the up side, they do come in some awesome colours, and if you have the time to sit and wait for the layers to dry, it does have a great finish.

BARRY M

Again, Barry M takes a few coats, but I do love the colours that they sell. Their gold is actually really quick to dry though, and my new favourite is a gold foil effect varnish called 'Treasure Chest' which is perfect for the Christmas season!

MAXFACTOR INFINITY

This is my go-to varnish when I don't have a lot of time. It dries SUPER quick, and you can get away with just one coat if you are really in a hurry. The only downside is that it does start to chip quite quickly, but I'm sure you could prevent this with a decent base coat and top coat.

RIMMEL LONDON

Rimmel is by far my favourite brand of nail varnish, there are loads of cute colours, it dries pretty fast, the brushes are a good shape and the finish is always great!

What's your favourite brand of nail varnish?

Laura xXx

Now thats what I call a Hen party!

Hey guys, I know there's been a lot of wedding talk round here lately, but I'm afraid its going to have to continue for a little bit longer, although I think you'll enjoy this one if you like parties in general.  Todays post is all about my sister in law, as she is getting married in December!  On Saturday, in an act of immense team work, we threw Rosie the most spectacular hen party ever seen! (other than mine of course!)

Rosie is a fitness instructor/trainer, and also a dancer, as are nearly all of her friends! So we came up with the idea of having a 'bridal boot camp', where we put Rosie through her paces to see if she is ready to become a married woman!

We ended up having the party at my house, so I happily spent time making decorations prepping for the party. We went for a pink, gold and mint green colour scheme.   Here's Rosie and I  on the night ...

The gold 'tablecloth' is actually some wrapping paper I bought from Tiger, it was SO SPARKLY!

Rosie's favourite drink is Malibu, so we created a delicious cocktail by throwing in some ingredients and hoping for the best!

I bought these cute paper straws (not practical at all but they look so pretty!), and made little flags with the boot camp logo on them.

We got everyone to send us pictures of themselves with Rosie, and a story about one of their favourite times with her, then she had to guess who had written them! It was good activity for in-between other games.

As a surprise, part way through the celebrations we had 'Sgt Watkins' (one of Rosie's bridesmaids) burst through the Photo Booth backdrop seen in the pictures above. We had hidden her away in my conservatory, ready for the moment where she would jump out and start ordering Rosie around. I think it gave some people quite a shock especially as she had a rather loud whistle.  It was very funny though, and she had made up some brilliant games for us to play in 2 teams.  There were several injuries in our drunken state, but noting major fortunately!

I issued each of our 'recruits' with a utility belt (bum bag) which was to hold their survival kit for the night. I put all of their kit in my bureau and revealed them later in the evening, then they all came up and picked out their goodies. They had hydration liquid (water), emergency health drink (vodka shots), head gear (pink sweat bands), mini lipsticks, energy tablets (love hearts) and night vision location devices (glow stick bracelets).      .Rosie is a big fan of Harry Potter, so we gave her her final fling with a game I invented called 'Plant The Pucker on The Potter'. I got everyone into 4 teams (the Hogwarts houses of course!) and each person was blindfolded and had to plant their pucker on a Potter, avoiding Voldemort! Of course, Griffindor won!

The weird decapitated head in the picture below is actually the remains of a Harry Potter Piñata! To prove that there was now only one man for Rosie, we made her bash his head to pieces until all of the goodies inside fell out.

Inside was another challenge for Rosie! I had made her some temporary tattoos of her fiancé Alfie, which she had to wear to prove her commitment to him! They were quite big as you can see in the pictures below! I'm now selling these on etsy, so if you are interested in getting your hands on your own personalised groom you can find them here.

Everyone else got a treat too, I had made 10 more tattoo designs of hunky famous actors! I got quite carried away with this, and I can now reveal that it has inspired me to start my own Etsy shop selling temporary tattoos for parties! So if you are interested in getting some made for yourself or a friend, You can buy them from here!  Which celebrity would you like to get inked up with?!

I'm also selling personalised portraits of the groom which can be bought here.

Anyway, they went down super well, and as you can see from the photos, some people even put them on their face! I also made some that said 'I'm having a blast at Rosie's bridal boot camp' which you can see on my wrist in the picture of Rosie and I.

At 10pm Rosies Maid of Honour had arranged for us to get a party bus into town, it was amazing and we got free sparkling wine which was yummy!  Then we got into town and another of the bridesmaids had organised us a private area in the club she works at, and again, more free booze!! It was a night of epic proportions.

We woke up, slightly fuzzy, to some lovely messages left on my chalkboard in the hallway, which I think we had all totally forgotten about the night before!

If you've enjoyed these pictures it would be great if you could head over to Rosie's Facebook page, and go ahead and click on the like button - https://www.facebook.com/ENjoyFitnesswithRosie  And if you are based near Epping you might even like to join one of her classes!

What do you reckon? It looks pretty good right? Whats the best hen party you've ever been to?

Laura xXx

My Favourite Make-Up Products

Today I thought I'd write about something a little bit different.  I've not really talked much about make-up on the blog before, mainly because I don't know a huge amount about it, and I tend to stick to my firm favourites. But I know that I like to hear what works for other people. In fact, most of the items now in my make-up bag are there because I found recommendations for them on blogs and youtube channels when I was researching for my wedding. 

So, in case you are interested too, here are my favourites, and why I think they are good!

NARS is tricky to get hold of, but it's definitely worth the hunt! 

NARS sheer glow foundation (Deauville)

I was desperate to get my hands on a NARS foundation for the wedding, I'd read really good things about it, and had seen that it was particularly good for wedding photos as it doesn't have any SPF in it. I finally managed to test it out in a shop in Bournemouth, and after walking around in it for a few hours I decided I really liked it.  After applying it almost feels like powder on the skin, compared to others I have tried (such and Bobby Brown) which felt quite thick and oily. It did me well on my wedding day and has stood the test of time since then, I think it is a winner.

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer  (Vanilla)

This concealer is my absolute saviour.  Most days I will just wear this over any blemishes and I feel good to go.

NARS Blusher (Gaiety)

The blusher comes out on the skin as a really pretty pastel pink. I like to wear it on the apples of my cheeks to give just a hint of colour.

Real Techniques Brushes by Sam and Nicole Chapman

I apply all of the above products with Real Techniques brushes.  I watched a lot of Pixiewoo tutorials before my wedding, and I think they are great, and the brushes they have produced are fantastic! Best ones I've ever owned for sure.

Dr Haushka Powder Duo

I find this really handy for a bit of contouring on the cheek bones. I hardly use any though, and its lasting me absolutely ages!  I think Dr Haushka is a great company too!

Maybelline New York Waterproof Illegal Length Mascara

My eyelashes are the straightest eyelashes you will ever see, they are an absolute nightmare to keep curled! So much so that I actually had them permed for my wedding!  Previous to this I had the same mascara for years, it was the only one that was thin enough not to weigh down my lashes immediately.  Unfortunately they then stopped producing it and I couldn't find anything decent to replace it for ages! Finally I found this one, and seems to do the job thankfully, hurrah!

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer 

I bought this to keep my make-up in place on my wedding day, it was actually one recommended by Pixiewoo, and it definitely does a great job! Again, I went for one with no SPF for the wedding photos.

Urban Decay Vol 2

These eyeshadows have lasted me for absolutely yonks! They are the only ones I own now, and I love the colours, the packaging is pretty cool too.

So those are my favourite make-up products. Have you got any favourites that I should give a go?

 Laura xXx

The Walking Dead - Free Daryl Dixon desktop and iPhone wallpaper

Ooh look, I'm writing a post that isn't based on weddings, this is unusual!

I'm super duper excited that The Walking Dead is back on our TV screens at the moment. It really is one of my favourites. But surely, if you are a Walking Dead fan you want it on all the screens you own, not just your TV!? So today I am sharing with you my design for a Darly Dixon themed desktop wallpaper. What do you think, are you in the Daryl Dixon fan club, or are you more of a Rick Grimes kind of gal/guy? I like how the girls are getting a chance to kick some ass in recent episodes too, woo, girl power! 

You should be able to right click the image above and save it to your computer, then set it as a background for your desktop. I've also recently acquired an iPhone 5s (its got GOLD on it!) so I thought I'd make an iPhone wallpaper too.

Again, you can click this to save the image to your photo stream, then go into your camera roll and click the square with the arrow in it, then you should be able to select 'use as wallpaper'. Mine was a little temperamental and kept zooming in too far, but we got there eventually. 

 Do let me know if you like these, and if you have any suggestions of other characters you'd like to see (even other series/films). You never know, I might have time to make some more!

Laura

xXx

Wedding Photos- The Wedding Breakfast and Speeches

Hi guys, I'm back to today to fill you in on the section of my wedding day which included something very important.. THE FOOD!… I mean THE SPEECHES!

First up I want to tell you a little about our table decor.  I knew early on that I wanted to have lots of wildflower style flower arrangements on the tables. Luckily we had one of my Mum's friends to put these together, and they turned out perfect! Each one was different which I really loved. My Dad was kind enough to gorge himself on baked beans so that we would have enough tins to go around.

I made little round emblems to decorate the front of the tins using homemade clay, which was a mixture of flour, water, salt and green food colouring. Once I had rolled them into balls I stamped them using our monogrammed wax seal stamp which I had used originally for the invites.  You can bake them at a low heat in the oven so they become hard!

Each table was given a fictional place name, they were all chosen from our favourite TV programs and Movies. Above you can see Rivendell, and you may be able to spot some others further down the page too.

I think my favourite part of the day was the speeches, Chris and his best man Ollie both nailed it. But in particular I loved my Dads speech, which included mention of a game we used to play when I was little called "Pretty Pretty Princess"The aim of the game was to be the first to collect and wear all of the princess jewellery, and the winner was given a crown and named "Pretty Pretty Princess". My Dad explained that however hard he tried to loose this game, he always seemed to win, and even when he would try to cheat to loose I would always notice and make sure he put his new piece of jewellery on. To demonstrate how the game worked, he had re-aquired the game for his speech, and both my Dad and Chris, as well as myself and my sister-in-law all ended up wearing the ridiculous jewellery for the entirety of the speeches. (I never expected to see my husband reading his wedding speech wearing a necklace, 2 clip on earrings, a bracelet, a ring and a very effeminate crown!)  At the end of the speech, he said that it was time to hand over his crown, as it was now Chris's turn to be my Pretty Pretty Princess. It was very funny and our guests were all talking about it for the rest of the night.

Instead of a traditional wedding breakfast, we opted for a picnic style lunch, with all the goodies being brought out in a crate for each table. It was a really good way to get people talking as they all had to get involved to dish out all the food. It was also a hell of a lot cheaper than than it would have been had we paid for caterers to cook a proper meal!

Here are some more pictures of the flowers on the table because I loved them so much!

Laura xXx

All photos were taken by my wonderful photographers Peach and Jo Photography!