A Baby Shower at The Rose Lounge

I recently attended a baby shower for a friend of mine, at The Rose Lounge in Sofitel St JamesHotel, which is a lovely venue (I forgot to take photos of the lounge but it's very pretty!)

Most of the baby showers I have been to in the past have usually been at the mum-to-be's house, so it was nice to have an opportunity to dress up and enjoy some tea. The baby shower was a surprise for the mum-to-be, and she was very surprised when her husband dropped her off and we were all waiting!

Here's and idea of the food we had - this was a halal afernoon tea, and was very filling - sandwiches, schones, and buns were on the first course, along with a range of teas and lemonades.

After the mains came the desserts (of course!) which were a variety of macarons, cakes and sweet tarts. We all had fun trying the different flavours and comparing the tastes, which were lovely.

One of the things which was really cute was the baby shower favours which were given - hand-made biscuits in the shape of baby-grows, in pink and blue! After we ate we played some games, including guessing celebrity baby names, and guessing people's identity from baby photos - lots of fun as well as a lot of cheating!

I don't have a picture of what the mum-to-be wore, but here's what I wore - I decided to go for a flowy skirt as it was a pretty warm day, with a pretty white top that had pearls all over. I love emerald green, so of course this is one of my favourite skirts!

I love going to afternoon teas, although I will admit, some have tasted nicer than others, and sometimes a nice venue will make the experience so much nicer! I'm looking forward to going to a few more afternoon teas this year (not to mention the pretty ones which come out during Christmas time!) - let me know if you recommend any places!

Our Eid...Day One!

Eid was a really nice affair for us this weekend, mainly because it felt quite easy-going for us and we all spent a good amount of time relaxing, eating and spending time together - there's usually a lot of rushing around with various people having to get to in-laws and relatives houses, which didn't feel so bad this time!

Here's a peek at what I wore on Eid, a jade coloured jacket suit by Pakistani label Zainab Hasan, with criss-cross designs and floral embroidery all over the jacket. I had originally intended to wear this outfit on the main day of Eid, and didn't really think I would buy anything new for Eid, mainly because everything was pretty pricey and I didn't see anything I love. More on this soon, but I saw this in a shop (while I was meant to be looking for something else!) and fell in love with the outfit, then talked myself (using my sister as a sounding board!) into buying it!

This is me wearing the outfit (and posing in my mum's garden!) - I loved LOVED how light and comfy this outfit was and how easy it was to wear - I didn't wear a lot of jewellery but I did pair with sparkly heels and red lips to finish off the look.

I had done my own mehndi the night before on my hand (I wanted to get my husband to do my right hand but he just said he would write the alphabet on my hand so I decided to leave it!). I didn't know what bangles to wear so opted for a pretty kundan bracelet and a floral shaped ring, both from Bees, given to me by my husband when we got married as part of my bridal trousseu.

I wanted to make the patterns more intricate and neater than it ended up, and it looked a little wonky. but I liked the colour anyway!

This is my eldest sister's mehndi which she had gotten done as well, I love how neat it looked and the fact that both hands were symmetrical. My other sister had also gotten mehndi done but I forgot to take a photo of hers!

The ladies were, of course, dressed up in beautiful outfits, I didn't get everyone but here's a few -  my sister in the hot pink and blue ombre suit got her outfit stitched (amazingly enough, in time for Eid) which looked really pretty on her, and my sister-in-law wore a gorgeous hot pink, black and white Zainab Chottani jacket suit which I loved. My niece, on the right, bought a beautiful satin printed kurta, which I loved - her mum replaced the boring buttons with beautiful emerald and white stone buttons, which was a really lovely detail.

The babies, as usual, took the main stage as divas - these are what the younger four nieces wore - I love the mix of colour and styles and the fact that they were all such lovely, summery colours.

We also had some yummy treats to enjoy (I also took about three cupcakes home to eat as well, then had to find my husband for them) - the cupcakes were made by one of my sisters, while the fresh-cream cake was given by a cousin of ours. We also had some very yummy food made by my mum, but I actually forgot to take photos of these for once!

I also wanted to show the eye-makeup I had, which I did mainly using the Urban Decay Naked palette. I initially wanted to do a smokey eye, but i loved the glowy pink look of this look so left it was it was, and paired with a matte scarlet lip, Mac's Russian Red, for a dramatic look.

We had a really fun Eid, and it was a peaceful day spent with family and toddler babies, not to mention a bucket load of chocolate (which I really missed during Ramadan!)

I hope you all had a great Eid (regardless of the day you spent it on!) and got lots of presents and/or money, lots of food and that you all looked beautiful!

Chand Raat / Eid Night

My family and I have developed a tradition of usually going to my eldest sister's house for iftar dinner the night before Eid, being a good way to start Eid celebrations. We tend to get together to eat, put mehndi on and watch toddlers be naughty - it's also a great opportunity for us to get dressed up!

This is what I wore, a peach kameez with apple green accents and deep red dupatta - I had bought a separate pair of trousers in pearl pink jamawar material to glam out the outfit but didn't end up wearing it because it didn't really match. I stuck to the original plain peach trousers, but I'll wear the jamawar one with another outfit soon!

The other thing which was new was my shoes - my sisters found them a little too loud but I loved them, and they added a little rainbow sparkle to the outfit!

This is me wearing the outfit (I took the opportunity to pose before we left the house because I knew I'd forget to take proper pictures later!)

I also wanted to include a quick shot of how I did my eye makeup - I used a new loose pigment eyeshadow I'd been meaning to try called Old Gold by Mac Cosmetics. It was a pretty colour, and looked two tone but also had a slightly lime-ish tone to it as well so I'm not sure how well it went with my outfit!

The dinner at my sister's house was fabulous - there were a variety of dishes which we stuffed ourselves with, although our appetites were a little shrunken so we didn't fit a lot into our stomachs!

My sisters, mum and my niece had gotten their mehndi done by a friend who did an amazing job - here's a few pictures of the designs on their hands.

I also loved my nieces outfits too (I did try to get pics of my nephews but neither of them would stand still long enough!) - my eldest niece wore a beautiful teal maxi dress and the two little ones wore pretty lace dresses with leggings. My sister and I thought the dresses with the legging gave a very pretty Lucknow-style 50s look!

My husband and I wanted to head out to local streets after dinner so I could browse the shops and perhaps get some mehndi done - unfortunately it was pretty late and the roads were packed. I wasn't willing to wait around in the blocked traffic to get mehndi done so ended up going home and doing it myself - luckily my sister had a spare cone to give me!

Did you do anything on Chand Raat? Did you get any mehndi done?

My Vintage, Floral, Polka-Dot and Pearls Bridal Shower

I've been absent for a few days, I know, I've had a crazy last few weeks with last-minute wedding preps and house hunting, which I'm hoping will calm down now that mostly everything is done! I can't make any promises so watch out for my sporadic blogging, I'll post whenever I can.

My eldest sister Happy Muslimah kindly threw me a bridal shower yesterday which was really fun, especially as it was full of lots of my friends, family and sisters which turned out to be really enjoyable. We decided to have a garden tea party, with the theme and dress code being anything vintage, floral, polka dot and pearly, and I loved how much effort everyone put in.

The decor was provided by my talented sister, who made banners and table decor, as well as made some yummy food for the table. My other sister put together the pretty draping in the garden to make a canopy, and also put together a lot of the decor and food, not to mention taking some amazing photographs of the day (I'm usually the one with the camera but didn't get a chance to take many this time!) - so most of these photos are credited to her. It's hard to tell from the photographs because I didn't include a lot due to people being in them, but I loved all the details - the banners, the pegs, the butterflies and the colour themes.

The food was absolutely beautiful, most of my guests brought a dessert or dish, and they were all gobbled down. My sister made chocolate-covered strawberries which I didn't even get to try because they disappeared so quickly, my best friend made some amazing double-chocolate chewy cookies, and yet another friend made pasties and pakoray. There was also an amazing chocolate trifle made by my sister in law which was very popular, and which felt very light and moussy.

Everyone tried to make an effort with the costumes, and I love that they all had a different take on it. I'll admit, I didn't get a lot of time to sort my own out, but I loved the floral dress I wore and my eldest sister lent me a string of pearls which matched wonderfull. Below you can see some of the floral prints and polka dots people wore, my sisters also wore floral prints and one of them even went for an excellent 50s' style outfit.

I think the babies stole the show though, they toddled around in their dresses (my newest niece was being a relaxed kitten) and enjoyed the limelight, I'm pretty sure most of my friends were in love with them by the end of the day.

All in all we had a really nice afternoon - we played silly games (one involved asked me questions about the fiancé which they had asked him the answers for previously, if I got the questions wrong I had to chew some gum. I got all but 2 questions wrong!) and we had a good catch up with old friends, took photos and ate some yummy food. It was a really nice start to the wedding celebrations, I still have some weeks to go but it was nice to see everyone make an effort and also weird to be the cause of it. We'll be having a few more parties before it's all over, I'm sure, but this one was pretty amazing to start with :)

Things I've been doing: June Edition

I thought I'd do a post to show what I've been doing these last few weeks, so I don't disappear too much from blogging! Here's a list, in no order, of what I've been doing, so you can see how what I've been doing:

Making samosas
Just in time for Ramadan time! Every year my mum gets us all involved in making a big batch of samosas and spring rolls in time for Ramadan. I'm no good at making triangles, so I 'help' with all the little jobs like peeling and cutting the sheets, 'testing' the fillings and cleaning up stuff.

Mehndi trials
I did a mehndi trial yesterday with a mehndi artist who was recommended by one of my best friends, who had also used her for her own bridal mehndi.  The reason I was keen on this mehndi artist is that she was reasonably-priced, and she uses her own mehndi which she mixes herself and gives a lovely  dark colour (and I know this from seeing the bridal henna on my best friend, which came out a really deep red). I'll post more about the trial in a couple of days once I have a better idea of how the mehndi and the colour comes out, but here's me taking a quick sneaky picture half-way through the trial!

Housing Hunting
I've been spending a good few months looking at (and still looking at!) properties for myself and the hubby-to-be to move into after the wedding, which has taken up a lot of our time. It's still an ongoing, and very long process (not to mention this blog is about clothes and pretty stuff!) so I won't go into it too much, but we've been learning a lot about how to manage our wedding budget alongside our plans involving where to live. We don't have a massive budget, which is why we haven't planned a big wedding, but in hindsight, this has made our planning a little easier to do as it filters out the unrealistic and expensive stuff that would be too unaffordable for us.

My Dream House. Probably not on RightMove.com though.

Make-up Trials
Speaking of trials, a big one I did was my bridal make-up trial a while ago. I did a lot of research around bridal make-up artists in the UK, and particularly those who were based in London and their prices, looks and styles. This was important to me as well because I am someone who can be a little self-conscious with heavy make-up; and I think that you can wear amazing clothes and shoes, but the first thing people see is your face! I made a lot of enquiries and had a couple of trials, including one very successful one with my bridal MUA who I ended up booking. Again, this is a separate post that I will post very soon about as I have had a lot of queries from other brides-to-be about these.

My make-up trial with my baby niece, which went very well. Not sure I can afford her prices though.

Shopping for outfits
I know, I'm terrible, it's the first day of Ramadan and we're already shopping for Eid outfits. Any excuse to look at pretty things, right? My sisters and I have learned over the last few years that sometimes the weekends preceding Eid can get really manic, especially as people tend to hit the shops all at the same time to look for outfits. We're the type that prefer a quiet life, and would rather order something months before or just buy something while the shops are quiet. Granted, this doesn't always work because we still end up shopping last-minute, or we end up seeing something we love that is part of the newer Eid stocks two days before Eid.

Below on the left is a beautiful white and gold embroidered Sana Safinaz outfit I saw recently (a bit out of my budget for an Eid outfit, I'll admit), which I thought looked lovely, particuarly as an outfit which would suit women of all ages. The outfit on the right is a non-branded outfit from a local shop which was selling afforadable outfits. I've been hankering after a summery, simple outfit and this white embroidered one was quite pretty, particularly as it was in an angrakha or wrap-dress style, which I like. I haven't made up my mind what I want to buy yet, but this is one of the options anyway!

I'll be posting in more detail about most of these, but you can see I've been keeping busy! I'm still doing a few little things for wedding preps, and it's starting to come together nicely which is a big relief as the wedding is only two months away now. I've glad that I've got a lot of things sorted out before Ramadan started, so I can focus on fasting and not being stressed about the little things, although I'm sure there's a few little things left!