Pantone Colour of 2019: Living Coral

This year’s colour of the year is a vibrant one, and an interesting pick - Living Coral. I’ve worn this colour before but not very often (like this outfit and this kurta!) and have had a few Western dresses in coral before as well. I remember wearing a bright coral shift dress to work years ago and matching it to an equally bright coral lipstick, which I got a few giggles from at work, so don’t think it’s something I’d attempt anytime soon again! I’ve even dabbled with it in terms of lipsticks and blushes, but I’m a little conservative with my colours and tend to gravitate towards deep, rich colours, neutrals or or softer colours which are slightly more forgiving!

I had a look at some examples of 'living coral' which could pop up this year in fashion and beauty, and am liking what I see - even though it's a bright colour it's serene and girly, and doesn't feel too garish. I'll be keeping an eye out in the shops to see if anything catches my eye (probably for the summer!) but I'm liking these pieces below.

I also had a look at what kind of coral pieces there are out there in the Asian fashion world – there’s a whole treasure trove of them! I love that it's such an abundant colour - Asian weddings and events tend to be lively and colourful, so this is quite an ideal colour, and I found plenty of wedding themes, outfits and decor in this this colour.

I am intrigued about this colour – its definitely a fun colour and I can imagine it will be quite popular in the summer, as well as for wedding events. It’s also quite a girly colour and something I can imagine appeals to a lot of people (unless you’re not a fan of bright colours!) I’ll be looking forward to seeing if this colour pops up this year in, as well as what other trends, colours and styles become popular.

Whats your opinion on this colour? Would you wear it?

WEDDING INSPIRATION: Cakes from the Cake & Bake Show 2016

I went to the London Cake & Bake show this last weekend, and thought it was a treasure-trove of inspiration for brides to be, as well as those looking for cake displays for special events like baby showers, bridal showers, birthdays and even just girly tea parties.

I won't post all of the photos of the things I saw (there were just too many!), but wanted to show the variety of themes, styles and cakes out there for those who are looking for more inspiration.

I'll start with my favourite tables, the professionally-made dessert tables - these were beautifully made floral cakes grouped together, made by professional cake companies to showcase their skills. I love that each dessert table had cakes and biscuits to match the whole theme, which looked gorgeous together.

I loved that each dessert table had more than one cake (maybe that's just me being greedy) so that it made the table seem more luxurious and extravagant. I thought this was an interesting alternative to a lot of tables I have seen where the cake is the main showpiece and everything else is centred around the main cake.

I also really liked the colours and textures used for the cakes - lace, floral pieces, ribbons - not to mention some very cool looking mini cakes which looked a bit like bath bombs!

There were cakes on display all around the exhibition, which showed a variety of techniques, themes and colours so that brides aren't just stuck with the traditional plain white cake. I particularly liked the wooden-themed nature cakes below, and the beautiful pearl cakes!

I also loved this beautifully detailed cushion cake - probably took ages to make but doesn't it look beautiful?

The Cake show had a huge number of vendors selling tools to decorate and embellish cakes - there were lots of styles I hadn't seen before such as glittery lace, edible gem stones, detailed beading and beautifully worked icing in a variety of ways.

Macarons are the latest, fashionable edibles for wedding cakes, so naturally we also saw some of these - I loved the giant gold macaron cake below, although not sure how it'd taste!

Another thing that also gets neglected a lot in wedding tables are biscuits - and there were some amazing ones at the Cake and Bake shows. My favourite were these wedding-themed biscuits, such as the wedding dresses, proposal biscuits, floral bouquets and even biscuits for the bridesmaids! I thought this would be great for bridal showers as well as henna night and wedding dessert tables.

There were also some gorgeous cake stands available for those looking to display their own cakes, or even for weddings. I love that these weren't restricted by size or styles (we even saw a huge stand shaped like a horse-and-carriage!)

Another things which has become fairly fashionable recently are cupcake bouquets - they look cute and are fairly easy to make! I thought these looked so pretty, and would made a great centre-piece for a dessert table, or even as a hand-held bouquet!

I also saw some great cake ideas for mehndi events - such as these peacock cakes below. I liked these straightaway because it made me think of the peacock theme I had for my own mehndi - I would have loved to have these on display! I also liked the embellished biscuits below, which reminded me of  a lot of biscuits I've seen for mehndi parties which have a henna design on them.

Cake-pops and meringues are another pretty alternatives to cupcakes or cakes - they look colourful and cute, and would look amazing for a dessert table! My sister has made us cake-pops before and they have looked really pretty on dessert tables (or in our hands!) and I liked the variety of flavours and colours below. I'm less a fan of meringues but I LOVED the rainbows ones available at the cake show - you could have just these on the table and they'd look beautiful!

There were a huge amount of cakes at the show, and we spent a good few hours browsing, buying goodies and also looking at new techniques for cake and cupcake making. It's given me a lot of ideas for future tea-parties, as well as different treats to try out, so watch this space!

You can see more of  my pictures here, and also on my sister's blog here.

Bridal Shower fun - Flowers & Peach Tones

I don't always post about the parties and bridal showers I've been to the in past, but every now and then I attend a special occasion which is memorable. Most of my close friends are married (and got married before me!) so for the few who are still bachelorettes, it's a special event when they get married!

So a close friend of mine got married in the last few weeks (this is what I wore to her nikah and engagement), so I thought I'd post a few pictures of the event as it was a lovely series of occasions.

For her bridal shower, she had a pretty low-key event at her best friend's place, which was decorated beautifully and which gave us friends all a chance to chill out, eat good food and play games.

I though the decor was pretty amazing, and was very different to a lot of the bridal showers I've been to in the past because it felt so elegant and sophisticated - beautiful fresh flowers everywhere, candles on the table, hand-made decor on the wall and on the balcony outside there were beautiful cushions with lanterns and Morroccan-inspired tools. I thought this made for a really lovely, relaxed atmosphere and it was really well-put together, different from the usual pink, fluffy feathers bridal showers I've been to!

The food was all made by the bride-to-be's best friend, and she did an amazing job with the nibbles which were laid out beautifully. There was also hot food which came later, but my favourite thing was a fresh juices with fruit chunks and the lime juice drink which was perfect for the warm day!

And of course, a quick peek at what I wore. I paired a pastel pink skirt with a lace top on top of a pink one, which I thought worked well together and looked girly and flattering. It was also a really lovely, warm day so the skirt was ideal, it looked floaty and felt very cool on! There wasn't really a dress code other than being 'dressed-up' but since it was a summer's day, everyone ended up wearing a lot of floral dresses and soft colours which looked amazing together.

I forgot to take a full-length picture of what the bride wore, but she wore a lacy royal blue maxi dress with sparkly heels that looked fab - especially as she said she ended up picking it last minute! Here's a shot of the yummy cake as well, because who doesn't love cake?

I loved how fun this bridal shower was, it was a really lovely start to the wedding festivities and a nice way to relax with friends. Even though it was fairly low-key, the bride's best friend put a huge amount of effort into the food and decor, and I though this was a really lovely way to hold a bridal shower which was more like an elegant afternoon out!

Things I've been doing: February Edition

I'm a bit late with this, but thought I'd post it anyway, since it's only the beginning of March! I thought I'd do a quick catch-up post about what I've been up to, I'm starting to get out of winter hibernation mode and into spring mode right now (I just spent half this weekend soaking up the weak sun in the garden, making the most of it!)

Went to Choccywoccydoodah
My friend and I decided to treat ourselves for no reason other than we are both chocoholics, to a visit to the wonderful Choccywoccydoodah. You can see more pictures here, but it was an amazing visit to see some seriously beautiful cakes with a lot of detail. Brides-to-be, here's a place to go for inspiration for cakes - I doubt they're cheap, but there's some seriously beautiful floral cakes at the moment that I wouldn't have minded having for my wedding!

Bought some scarves and lipsticks
I've posted before about my latest haul, and I've manage to use most of the things I bought, my favourites being the scarves and the NYX lipsticks. I'm putting a hold on anything new at the moment, and looking at re-inventing styles using the things I already have (and saving up for other things for a few weeks or so!)

Met Dian Pelangi
I hopped along to a hijab styling workshop by reknowned Indonesian designer Dian Pelangi, whose designs I've followed for a while. I love how hijab friendly her designs are, and this workshop was a lovely opportunity to meet fellow bloggers, photographers and stylists, who gave a lot of advice and input into blogging and fashion.

Went to a birthday party for my niece, who turned two.
It wasn't an extravagant affair, but was full of fun, partly because of all the happy toddlers and good company, and partly because of all the beautiful decoration, cake, cupcakes and food made by the birthday girl's parents.

Celebrated World Hijab Day (well, kind of). 
I didn't do anything as such, but I did love the beautiful messages and contributions from hijabis and non-hijabis all over - I loved the fact that there were non-Muslims out there willing to try hijab in various countries to see what it was like. Overall, it was overwhelmingly positive and sweet - and a really lovely thing to see.

Went to the Brits Awards
My husband was lucky enough to be taken to the Brits Awards at the end of February by his company, guess who got to be plus one? I don't follow musicians as much as I used to, but it was great to see a lot of big names, and the atmosphere was pretty electric, making for a fun night out.

I've had a pretty eventful month, but with the warmer months coming up, I'm hoping for more (good!) stuff to happen - Mr Curly Fries and I have been talking about holidays, new places to visit, cooking and new things to try.

On another note, it's International Women's Day today, another day to celebrate! Although on that note, I'd like to emphasise that I'm all for women equality, and less for men-bashing - although I can certainly see a change in Asian women's position in today's society changing compared to the last few decades!

I'm off to watch some old movies and eat junk for now, but I'll be posting something soon enough!

Happy weekendings all xx