FRIDAY FASHION LINKS...!

I've been looking forward to today's post, because it features bloggers who I know and admire, and whose writing is great! Here they are below:

1. Ibreathshoes
This is a a blogger who I have followed online on Instagram for some time, and her journey has been pretty interesting to follow. She not only posts about fashion and her person style, which I love, but also posts recipes, her personal journeys and random lifestyle and foodie things! I also love the way she writes, which is down to earth and easy to get into (and sometimes long but worth a read!)

2. Sabrina Styles
This is a fun blogger whose posts I love because she is a blogger after my own heart. She posts about Pakistani fashion, how to mix Western wear with Asian outfits, as well as foodie reviews. I also love her fresh takes on affordable, easy-to-wear brands - definitely a must read!

3. Zai Khan

Not exactly a fashion blog, but a good read nevertheless! I especially loved her Affinity series, which is about couples mostly in the UK, and their stories. We often see couples and their Big Day, which are usually a full blown South Asian wedding affair, but there doesn't seem to be as much out there about the everyday lives of Asian couples, their relationships and their lives.  I thought this was a much needed view on couples, and a brilliant read. Zai Khan is currently planning another series (make sure you read her 'Trailblazing Women' series too!) and I am looking forward to that!

Hope you all have a good weekend, and a good read! x

FRIDAY FASHION LINKS...!

I'm always on the look out for more blogs to read - especially in the age of social media where it's a lot about pictures and less about articles! Here's a few I've found

1. Siddy Says 
This is quite a varied website, covering topics from fashion and beauty to lifestyle, TV and art. It is quite focussed on Pakistani fashion on the Style section, but what I like most is the Stories page, which is a mixed bag of everything from different writers.

2. Zara Zi
A blog that's all things modesty, pastels and afternoon tea! I follow her Instagram account as well which gets updates more often, but it's a nice pinky account that I quite like.

3. Pinkvilla
If you don't know about Pinkvilla then you will do soon enough - it's chock full of Bollywood gossip, fashion trends, weddings and celeb topics. I've currently been surfing it for the #DeepVeer wedding posts but I also like reading it for the latest news in Bollywood land.

Let me know what you've been reading lately, and whether you already read any of these!

Sukhman & Hernoor - A Floral Boutique

It's great when your favourite bloggers and fashion influences put their hard work towards something beautiful and create something that we can all have. Two of my favourite influencers, Sukhman and Hernoor have put their amazing tastes and creativity to use, and have launched a beautiful collection of outfits through their new brand, Sukhman & Hernoor. Each item of their collection is carefully designed, with hand-selected fabrics and gorgeous cuts, and is a beautiful fusion of Indian and British tastes to suit everyone.

"Sukhman & Hernoor offers a range of ready-made apparel designed by the Grewal Twins with a spirit of understated simplicity and elegance.

Their dual identity as British Indians, their affinity for travelling, and the diversity of cultures in their home city of London all play their respective roles when it comes to taking the sister's style ideas to the design drawing board.

Each fabric is hand-selected by Sukhman & Hernoor and all garments are exclusively designed and made with care and precision in London, UK."

One of the things I really like about this brand is how much care has gone into designing and creating the outfits in the collections - you can see how much love and work has gone into it, and for me, it makes such a difference to have a unique outfit than just an ordinary mass-produced outfit. Each of the outfits from this brand have their own story - perfect for special occasions.

Here are two outfits I've seen which are love - both are beautiful outfits which I loved as soon as I saw them.

Firstly is the Gulbargh collection's Rose Garden Dress, which is beautiful floral print maxi dress. If you know me, you will know I love my maxi dresses, and I love floral ones even more - so this is right up my street.

One of the things I love about this dress is how elegant yet simple it looks - it's all about the cut and the luxuriousness of the fabric - I can imagine this being perfect for a summer wedding, or a registry outfit to make for an elegant look.

Secondly is the Gulbargh's collection the Rose Garden Sharara, which harks back to the vintage years, and also reminds me a little of the 'Pakeezah' style years in old-era India, which you just can't go wrong with. As with the previous dress, the beautiful floral and roses print looks lovely - perfect for a daytime summer wedding!

BRB, trying to convince my husband to hand over his debit card.

The brand also did a collaboration with jewellery company Sahib Jewels recently, which was a beautiful photoshoot of gorgeous jewellery to set off their beautiful floral collection. I really like that the pictures below show how well the jewellery and the outfits work, and make a classic look which can be dressed up or down for a beautiful look. I also love how the outfits and jewellery speak for themselves, and look seriously glamorous.

I'll be looking forward to seeing what this brand grows into, especially when two seriously talented people like Sukhman and Hernoor are at the forefront! I love that this is something which is so culturally relatable for me - not just Punjabi, or Asian, but also as something which reminds me of our roots and our fusion tastes - both British and Asian. I also really love that these outfits are pretty modest, which is always a worry for me - but in this case I can easily see myself in these!

Social Media links

Instagram page - SukhmanHernoor
Facebook page - Sukhman & Hernoor
Email - mail@sukhmanhernoor

FRIDAY FASHION LINKS...!

I'm not always able to blog, especially when full time work and random bursts of social events happen all in one go! So here's a few bloggers whose blogs I follow, all of whom have a style I love.

1. Zahra Rose Alazaibi
Apart from her very cool outfits, Zahra also posts about skin products, makeup, her travels to various parts of the world and yummy food recipes. She's a gorgeous part-Italian, part-Libyan blogger, and I love how she manages to put her finger on the pulse and write about the latest stuff.

2. Grewal Twins
These two are among my favourite bloggers (so I can't believe I didn't mention them before!). They're both friends of mine, and both have a very and both of whom are also both friends of mine, whose work I admire a lot, and who put a lot of effort into their photography, music, poetry and tons more.

Recently they stirred up a storm with a viral post about Sikh wedding ceremonies, and how they combated the sexist prejudice in this by having their mum perform the (traditionally-male) wedding rituals. I love that they have such a beautiful, meaningful story behind this, as well as so many more of their traditions and parts of their lives.

They also do a lot of photo series with a lot of cultural and historical significance behind them, and I love the stories behind each of them, which have a lot of designing, styling and curating behind it all!

3. Saira Hayat Khan
A Canadian-Pakistani blogger, this is a gorgeous blogger who writes about her life, fashion, motherhood and health. One of the things I really like about Saira is how down-to-earth and quirky she is, yet unbelievably stylish and beautiful.

Saverah Women Expo '17

I recently attended the Saverah Women Expo 2017 at the O2 Arena, which was a weekend featuring a collaboration of vendors selling scarves, modest and Asian outfits, jewellery, halal food, skin care products and makeup, and Islamic art and stationary. There was also a series of seminars and workshops, fashion shows to see the latest collections by different brands, and even a nasheed concert to enjoy.

I only managed to attend one day of the event, but I had a good browse at the shopping hall, caught a catwalk show and managed to speak to lots of other bloggers and vendors, which was a really fun-filed day!

I  managed to get a good look at the vendors who had outfits and scarves available - I often see a lot of outfits and modesty-wear from online websites or Facebook/Instagram groups, and it's nice to see some of these brands up close and see whether they are as nice as they look!

I managed to find a few vendors which I wanted to list, as I get asked a lot by readers about UK-based brands which are reliable, and I thought some of these had some really nice outfits!

First are Traditional Images London, who carry a lot of Pakistani designer pret wear, such as Khaadi, Maria B, Agha Noor, Sapphire, Gul Ahmed and Threads and Motifs (all brands that I LOVE!), which I was really pleased to find!

I also really liked the dresses by Amore Mio, a brand which sells dresses and modesty-wear which I thought were really pretty.

I also liked the abayas by Avyaana Abayah, which had some really chic pieces that caught my eye - I really like that these incorporate current trends like frills, bell sleeves and rich materials.

There were also pretty scarves available by Aidijuma, a Malaysian brand which had scarves for a very reasonable price (from £5.99 upwards), and beautiful dresses and abayahs from designer Jenny Tyayawati who also had her pieces on the catwalk as well.

Lastly were pieces by Haiqah UK, which was a range of dresses, abayahs and scarves, as well as some more luxurious pieces by Sana Zinga, whose pieces I thought were beautiful, with lovely fabrics uses and interesting cuts.

I'm a big fan of jewellery from Pakistan and India, but it has to be decent quality pieces, as there is also a lot of junk out there too! I also came across jewellery vendor Artisan Jewels, whose pieces were beautiful, and who I bought a few things from (post coming soon on that!).

We also came across a halal makeup brand FX Cosmetics, which was developed by two scientists to be properly wudu-friendly, which I thought was really interesting. I liked that there was a huge range of products available, and there were some seriously pigmented eyeshadows and highlighters which I loved!

Halal skin-care company Tamese & Jackson were also at the exhibition - have a read of my post to find out more about them!

I also found a really cute stationary and card company Islamic Moments, which had a range of products that caught my eye (and naturally I bought some cards and notebooks from them!)

I also managed to catch a fashion show with a few brands showcasing their collections, with a range of modesty brands and Asian fashion-wear. I loved the colours and styles of these pieces, although I would have liked to have seen some more dramatic pieces as well.

And of course here's what I wore, a kimono with off white separates (which were the comfiest pieces ever!), and accessorised with a colourful yellow bag!

It was also nice to catch up with the other fashion bloggers while I was at the exhibition - here I am with Modest Seamstress (here and here) and also Be.Hijabi, both of whose blogs and social media accounts I love!

The Saverah Women Expo was a pretty fun event, although I do feel that more could have been done to interact with customers and people who attended, as a it took a while to get busy (although this is also down to the bad weather that weekend as well!). I was really glad to find a lot of new designers, vendors and sellers, and managed to make my purse a bit emptier by spending on a few things too!

FRIDAY FASHION LINKS...!

Happy Friyay! I thought I'd post some more links for you all, especially since I've not been blogging as often as I'd like to in the last week or so, so here's some reading material for you to try in the meantime:

Modest Seamstress Blog
This is someone I met a few weeks ago whose focus is on minimalist modest fashion. I think this blogger is a wonderful one, she's very down to earth, easy to get on with and I love everything she wears! I don't think I can manage minimalism just yet (every time I clear things out of my wardrobe, I find more things to replace them with) but I do love her concept of it.

Style Haven Blog
This is one I've followed for a couple of years, and is a mix of fashion, beauty and lifestyle posts -  although admittedly I like it for the Pakistani-fashion posts!

Desi Rain Drops
This is another blogger who I have admired for a while, who posts various travel, modest fashion and food posts. I love her style and always look forward to her outfit posts, and she always has nice things to say.

Tamese & Jackson: A Halal Skincare Company

I was recently invited by halal skincare and hair product brand Tamese & Jackson to come and try their new products, at the launch of the Ramadan and Eid Gift sets a few weeks ago. I was able to see the products as well as try them out, which I was delighted to do so. Halal skin care (and even vegetarian and vegan) skin care is still a growing market, and it's great to see things which are aimed at people like me. I have heard of this brand before, and know they used to sell in Tesco and Asda so they are already fairly popular, which is a good sign.

These are the products below that I was give to try - a handwash and hand-lotion set (which is part of the gift set range) and the shampoo and conditioner set. I absolutely loved the Islamic-tile inspired packaging of the products, and can imagine these looking great in the bathroom.

The company's aim is to produce and make available halal skin products for everyday use, and as great alternatives for those looking for ethically product products:

"Tamese & Jackson, a new brand of halal-certified, wholesome (tayyib) personal care products ethically produced in the United Kingdom.
We are dedicated to supply high quality, wholesome personal care products which are halal certified, suitable for vegetarians and at prices that are affordable to all."

The company also had a launch event a few weeks ago, and I was invited with a group of fellow modest-fashion bloggers to see their products and also see what the company was about.

We started off with a drinks reception at a lovely venue called HS&Co, which provided some colourful mocktails to start with, and some yummy nachos.

We were then introduced to the company's new products, where we had a change to look at the company's adverts and products on display so we had an idea of what the new Ramadan and Eid gift sets would look like. I like that the products seem very natural-ingredients based, and fairly gentle in smell so that it feels wearable without being overpowering.

There was a really fun dress code for the event - dressing up in the company's colours of white, gold, black or blue! This is what I wore below, a black dress with gold pleated pants, slightly MC Hammer-style but I liked it! I also loved what everyone else went for - lots of white and black, blues and combinations of gold which looked amazing - you can see some of the outfits here.
We all were given a pretty rose each, and also had a chance to take pictures with a beautiful white flower wall which was made especially for the event by a flower company called Al Rouge Flowers.

Next came the food - which was an amazing three course meal of meat platters, steaks and sides to finish - I think I wasn't the only one who was stuffed by the end of the evening!

To finish off, we had cupcakes with the company's logo on them - don't they look lovely?

I really loved the floral theme which was present through the event. There were beautiful centrepieces, single roses for each guest and a couple of huge floral bouquets for scattered around.

Products: Tamese & Jackson
PR company/Event organiser: Generation M
Flowers and Flower Wall: AlRouge Flowers
Venue: HS & Co

I wanted to post a quick review of the products I got to try, as I can see that a lot of thought was put into the products, and I really like the idea of a halal skincare and shampoo brand.

This is the shampoo and conditioner I got, which had a lovely fragrance of lime, reyhan plant and ginger extract. I normally don't vary my hair treatments too much as my hair is pretty long and I need something gentle for it - this set was quite good because it cleans my hair nicely without making it feel dry, just what I need!

I also really liked the hand wash and hand lotion set I was given, which look great in my bathroom. Again, these have the same lime, reyhan and ginger extract smell to them, which feel lovely on my hand and don't feel drying.

I am really liking the fact that companies are starting to recognise that there is a demand for halal skincare, as well as ethically-produced products. I can certainly see that this is something which has potential to become bigger, and I really like the fact that this has come about because of the influence of ordinary Muslims like myself and the people I know.

Tamese & Jackson are available to buy from their website, at Modestrove and Amazon. Have you tried this brand? What do you think of their products?