A Little Luxe by Artisan Jewels

I'm always on the look out for decent jewellery, especially as over the years I've culled my jewellery box and gotten rid of the plastic rings, dinky necklaces and random mis-matching bracelets to make room for more quality pieces. When I was younger I would collect a lot of colourful pieces of jewellery - some of it I'd get given, some I'd pick up from Green Street, junk sales, random friends and even some I'd attempt to make!

These days I prefer a more minimal look - quality statement pieces over heavy blingy sets. Probably the last heavy jewellery set I've bought and worn was my wedding set - although that at least was a nice quality set! But having said that, it's quite dressy and not one I'd wear often, especially with my hijab. I also often find that although there are nice designs out there in the shops and online companies, the quality isn't always there. I'm not a fan of cheap crystals (is it me, or does every shop all claim their crystals are from Swarovski?) or and I tend to go for understated pieces which reflect good quality - good settings, good quality stones and wearable designs.

I bought this necklace and bracelet set not too long ago, from a jewellery company called Artisan Jewels, who I came across at an Eid exhibition. What I liked about their pieces is that each piece can be worn alone or combined but doesn't look over the top or too blingy. I particularly liked this set because it felt quite solid and elegant, and I love it when white and gold is done well. The necklace and bracelet both have stones and mother of pearl enamel in them, which looks really pretty and not too flashy. I've worn it a few times already, although I will admit that they don't always stand out in photos! The two pieces were just under £50 for both, which I thought was a good deal, especially as I have seen a lot of jewellery companies which sell their pieces for a lot more.

I'm still on the look out for some nice bracelets and necklaces that I can wear with occasion wear, so will post any more companies I come across, but I thought this was a nice one which had decent items which don't break the bank!

FEROZA POST: The New Kundan Bangles

We've been a bit quiet on the Feroza front, but we've been keeping busy sourcing new products, researching new collections and creating our campaigns to bring to you all! We've been looking for more of our popular products and also other beautiful (and unique!) things to add to the shop.

One of the things we have added are some kundan stone bangles, which are one of our most popular products. We love this set of bangles which we acquired recently, set with clear stones and feroza-coloured ones - naturally it's something which caught our eyes!

We've also recently added these beautiful bangle cuffs, which would make a beautiful accessory for almost any outfit (both Western or Desi!) - the clear stones look wonderfully sparkly and make lovely arm candy! These are being sold individually but can be worn as a single bangle or as two - have a loose and see how you would wear it!

Be sure to check out the Feroza shop online and let us know what you think of the new additions, we'll be adding more pretty things every day and are constantly looking for more ideas too. Now that summer is coming, it's a great excuse to shop for pretty jewellery and scarves - so please do check it out!

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EYE CANDY WISH LIST: The Kundan Leaf Cuff Bangle by Bees

This is something lovely, a beautiful cuff bangle by jewellers Bees, embellished with beautiful stones and leaves - something which is definitely on my wish list! I love the intricate detail on this cuff, it's different from the usual bangles you see in the shops and it's certainly a unique piece.

So here's something pretty to look at for the weekend - what do you think of this?

Image belongs to Shop Bees

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: Zahra Ahmad Print Dress

I thought I'd post the first Outfit of the Day for this year - starting with comfort as well as style. This is a very comfortable outfit from label Zahra Ahmad, who are more known for their reasonable prices and easy-to-wear designs. When I first saw this outfit, I loved the eclectic, bohemian style of the colours, prints and embroidery and it fitted perfectly (although my mum was less keen and said it looks like it's been pieced together from parts of other outfits!)

This is the outfit I wore, a long maxi kameez which was a dress shape, with lots of black accessories. I wore this with with a deep red scarf to pick out the detail and the maroon embroidery, although didn't think there was much else needed because of all the patterns on the dress.

I kept the accessories quite simple, with this sparkly black cuff and a simple ring (which I took off half-way through the evening because it felt too chunky!). I paired this with sparkly ballet pumps and a relatively light lacey clutch, which felt quite ideal.

This is me wearing the outfit, although this is the only picture I have and it really doesn't reflect how flattering the shape was. The dress itself is very fitted and really emphasises my waist (which you can't see in the picture!) and has lots of pleats which gave a lot of 'swish' and made it feel slightly heavier (in a satisfying way).

Outfit - Zahra Ahmad

Clutch - New Look

Shoes - Barratt

Cuff Bracelet - Queens Market, Green Street

Ring - no idea, it was a gift from one of my sisters!

Zahra Ahmad is known for their comfort as well as style, I'd definitely call this a high street brand (and there is a local store near me which sells their pieces) and I see this as one of the more accessible labels out there. Although some of these outfits look less glamorous than others, I loved this one because of how playful and colourful it is, and it still has a feminine look to it because of the flowery and paisley prints. The outfit is also made of quite a thick cotton which felt very comfortable on and added a swish to it.

I can imagine this would feel really nice on in the summer time, especially because of the flowt shape and bell-shape sleeves. I always keep an eye out for their designs in the local stores because the brand is so easy to wear and perfect for a lot of occasions,not to mention very affordable.

FEROZA POST: Sparkly Oceanic Bracelets

Introducing our new bracelets at my sisters' and my online store Feroza, which are in beautiful, rich shades of greens and blue. I love the oceanic feel to these bracelets, they feel nice and heavy to wear (not too heavy don't worry!) and they are very, very sparkly. Here's a look at them here:

We have these bracelets in a royal blue, spring green and pretty tela colour, which would look great on their own or matched up together - and best of all, they go with both Asian outfits and a western wardrobe (and also match some of our pretty scarves too!)

We've been getting some good feedback so far, but are always looking for more ideas of what YOU would like to see at Feroza - do let us know!

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OUTFIT OF THE DAY: A Royal Blue Anarkali (with some tie-dye)

This is an outfit I wore a couple of weeks ago, which was more of a simple look that felt really flattering on - especially since I bought this outfit about 6 years ago from local store called Bombay Looks and it looked a lot better on then!

I hadn't worn this outfit for a few years because I almost forgot I had it, and also, back when I bought it long dresses and long kameezes weren't in fashion so it was more of a 'mature' outfit for me for a slightly more grown-up look. It's weird coming back to it and wearing it now, and feeling like it isn't long enough!

This is what I accessorised the outfit with, lots of nudey-pink and silvers, which I was quite happy with. The outfit came with a tie-dye dupatta and churidar pants, I wore the dupatta but couldn't bring myself to wear the tie-dye pants too, so I just switched them with plain blue bottoms instead.

 

And this is me with my non-tie-dye pants wearing the outfit, with fairly minimal jewellery and a plain matching head scarf - although I did add red lips for a pop of colour!

Outfit - Bombay Looks

Shoes - Kurt Geiger

Clutch - Accessorize

Bracelet - Accessorize

Ring - Accesorize (yes I have a lot of Accessorize stuff!)

Hijab slide - Dorothy Perkins

I'm glad I dug up this outfit, I was a bit sceptical about how well it would fit (I'm not as skinny as I was 6 years ago!) but it felt quite elegant on, and it meant I could jazz it up with some pretty, sparkly heels and jewellery. The dress is a bit more floatier than I'm used to (and the sleeves are slightly bell shaped which I haven't worn for a while!) but it felt nice on, and I did get compliments for it!

So here's to old outfits, you never know when you might want to them wear again!

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: Aubergine Purple Sparkles

I went to a family wedding recently, so got an opportunity to wear one of my favourite outfits, which I've had for about a year now. This is dress I wore, a long kameez outfit in a maxi dress style (which actually reminded me a lot of this Sana Abbas design from the BCW week 2013, except my outfit is older than the collection!) The outfit is a beautiful aubergine colour with lots of gold and diamante sparkly work on the front and back - here it is:

And this is how I styled it, although I kept it fairly simple because the outfit itself was quite heavy:

 

Outfit - BeeJees, East London

Bangles - Bees

Shoes - Kurt Geiger

Bracelet - Ribbon & Asher

Ring - Accessorize

This is, of course, me wearing it (apologies for some of the grainy pictures, I had to sneak around and take pictures where I could!)

Overall, I loved wearing this outfits, it's one of my favourite and I never fail to get compliments when I wear it. I'm surprised that I managed to find this outfit so locally, as I tend to prefer designs which are from Pakistan (although it helps that the shop I bought it from tends to import their clothes from Pakistan!). I'm leaning towards longer and looser things these days, to collaborate with my hijab more, and outfits like these are perfect, sparkly, modest and a lot like maxi dresses (but a bit more comfortable than wearing a maxi!)

Curly Fry's Shopping Therapy! Sparkly Bangles from Bees

Here's something I bought about a week ago, from the lovely Bees in Green Street - some pretty, sparkly gold and diamante bangles. I picked the outside, bigger bangles (the karay) separately to go with a different set of thinner bangles that I picked for the inside - the styles are slightly different from each other, but I think they still go well together.

I've worn these bangles already at a couple of weddings - my mum and my aunt have already said they love these and that they want something similar, and they feel very, very glamorous on! I love Bees' collections of heavier bangles, and although they don't come as cheap than the other high street shop bangles do, I can certainly tell the difference!

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: A Peachy Confection

We had a family event this weekend, which was a nice opportunity to see extended family, and also have some nice food and some seriously beautiful cupcakes made by my sister for the party we had.

I decided to wear this peach and brown embroidered kameez for the day, which was purchased from a store called Maria's Collection located in East London and specialises mainly in semi-formal outfits, embroidered kameezes and casual kurtas. It also sells pretty outfits from labels like Needlez, which is a Pakistani-based brand which does pretty embroidered and cut-work outfit, which was also the label that my outfit was from. This is the outfit below, which was fully embroidered front and back and had pink sequin panels too - I had to get a plain cotton kameez made as lining though because the Needlez kameez was slightly sheer.

I wore this with brown heels and pink bangles, as well as a handily-matching pink ring given to me by my sister. Because the outfit was quite busy, I didn't want to add too much detail to it, so wore a plain deep coral pink hijab and minimal jewellery, which felt quite comfy.

And this is me wearing the dress, which was very, very comfy and a very flattering colour (although I think the peach and brown was a bit full on because everything I accessorised with was also peach). The kameez was a little loose on me because of the long shape and the fact that there were a lot of panels, but I didn't mind this as it meant it flowed easily and felt easy to move around in. I also found the sleeves a little different as usually I go for fitted sleeves and this was more bell-shaped, which made the kameez look slightly different (my sister said it had a slightly Arab-abayah cut to it, which I could agree with) - although my favourite bit of this kameez was the teal embroidered hem at the bottom.

All in all, it was a really lovely night I really enjoyed wearing this outfit, I don't wear a lot of pink but I thought this was a really pretty, feminine colour and it was also quite summery too. I can imagine getting a lot of wear out of this outfit, and it's something which is quite versatile - Maria's Collection store has a lot of similar outfits to this one which was just as pretty, and are great for those in-betweeny type outfits you may need sometimes for special occasions. I think next time I wear it, I may pick out the blue detail of the outfit and try a different colour combination!