My Mehndi Night!

I finally got (some!) of the professional pictures from my mehndi and wedding day, so I thought I'd kick off this Monday with a post about my mehndi (finally!). I've been sifting though hundreds of photos and trying to pick out the best ones (even as I was typing away I kept finding more to add in!)

Just a quick note to ask anyone who does share these images, please do credit me back to my blog.

First off (and most exciting for me), here's what I look like. I debated for quite some time about showing my face, especially as I never really do in my blog. I've decided not to because I don't want this to be about how I look, so much as what I wore. I did want to show my face to show the amazing make-up I had done by my sister-in-law, which I was really, really  happy with, but in the long run I think I'll stick to my decision (although you can have a quick peek of my eyes!)

So here's me doing twirlies in the town square as directed by my photographer! This is my mehndi outfit, which I designed myself over a course of a few months and got made from Pakistan. I will be doing a fuller post about my outfit soon, so don't worry, more details coming! Overall I kept my mehndi look simple because the outfit was so heavy - I wore a simple teeka and a ring, and some bangles, plus some jasmine flowers in my hair. Even now when I look at my mehndi outfit, I want to wear it again because I enjoyed wearing it so much, and because it came out so beautifully!

 

My decor was mainly done by the caterers we had booked, although all of the small touches were done by my sisters and sister-in-law. The mehndi itself took place in a local Town Hall which was perfect because it was intimate and pretty sound-proof for our function, and also ideal since the event was ladies-only and the venue protected our privacy.

Here's some of the decor from the caterers and also some that we did - initially I had wanted to go for a peacock theme which we mainly kept to. We did also end up adding a lot of marigolds and gold touches with fresh flowers which didn't go with the peacock theme, but overall it was a beautiful, colourful look and it worked. Here's some just of the images below, again there were so many, I didn't know which ones to post!

My favourite part of all the decor was the candy bar, the fruit table and the smaller touches which were all done by my sisters and sister-in-law. The henna biscuits, the cupcakes, the sweet trees and the candy bar were ALL made by hand by my sisters and sister-in-law - looking back I'm still amazed at how much they managed to put together and make it all look so amazing.

Here's me being walked in by all the girls and women in the family, while my mum stood next to me underneath. I was meant to walk under a deep red dupatta we had, but my sister-in-law thoughtfully got me this beautiful curtain of flowers to walk under instead. It was a really pretty effect (although it really made my sisters and sis-in-law's arms tired because of the heavy poles!) - it was also really nice to walk in and see all my family, friends and neighbours smiling at me while I peeked through the flowers.

Once I walked in, we did all the rasms (cultural traditions) which usually take place at our mehndis - putting dabs of mehndi on my hand, being fed fruit and mithai, while some of the guests sat in the cushioned area and sang folk songs with the dholki, and some put mehndi on their hands.

After this was dinner, which my photographer and I took as an opportunity to take some silly photographs, before we cleared everything away. We ended the night with a LOT of dancing and some games - we tried to get the older women up to join the fun as well but some were more stubborn than others!

I won't post pictures of the dancing because a lot of them are pictures of friends and family who want to remain private, but I will post this picture of me dancing and twirling with my friends which we couldn't stop laughing at!

I'll be posting more pictures about some things from my mehndi soon, and also about my outfit, so watch this space!

- Curly Fries x

MAKE UP REVIEW: L'Oreal Celebrity Matte Reds

You may have seen the latest L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Collection advert for the 'Pure Reds' matte lipsticks, which boasts a red lipstick for every skin tone. I love the fact that there are so many A-List celebrities gathered together for this advert, each with a rich shade of red which actually looks great on each celebrity.

While I'm a little sceptical about some of these shades suiting my skin tone (I don't have the same skin tone as Aishwariya Rai, for example, but I thought Frieda Pinto or Zoe Saldana's one might suit me).

Here are some stills from the advert - I like how each celebrity is wearing white to set off the red even more, and that each has their own style and interpretation of the lipstick and outfits.

My sisters and I were quite interested in these lipsticks when the advert were aired, so naturally I had to go check these out in the shops as well to see if there were any I'd like. Unfortunately, the three or four shops I went to, and also a couple that my sisters visited, only held a few shades of the red lipsticks - the most I saw in one shop was just four shades, so I'm not sure if each celebrity actually had their own lipstick allocated to them, and it does say in the advert that there were four custom-made reds.

I also liked the fact that there was a nude collection by the celebrities as well, which was also meant to be matched to their skin tones - a few of these caught my eye as well, although some of them were very light and nude for my skin tone.

I was quite surprised, though, by some of the colours which were a little different from the adverts and the celebrities wearing them. My sisters and I all liked Eva's dark red lipstick, but the actual lip shade itself is more rusty and slightly orange-based - not red at all. Liya's red was really pretty, again a little oranged based so better suited to our skin, but I found this a little dull and too similar to reds I already have. Surprisingly, Blake's lipstick was quite night, it was a little blue-based but nice and bright, slightly cherry red - my sister bought this to try it out on herself. My personal favourite was Julianne's red, which was a pretty, bright fiery pink-red - think something along the lines of MAC's 'Relentlessly Red' or Revlon's 'Fire and Ice' (although perhaps less pinkier and more brighter). I'm still wondering whether to buy that one because I have so many colours like this, but it's also something I'd love to wear.

My sister bought a few shades of the red lipsticks to try out,  I don't think the pictures reflect the true shade of the lipsticks themselves as they're all different to each other, and unfortunately I didn't get time to swatch them!

What do you think of the matte red lipstick collection - have you tried any of these lipsticks? Which one do you think is the best?

Our Eid! Day Two

I meant to post this a couple of days ago, but I've barely managed to go near my computer for a couple of days, so don't worry, I'm not neglecting the blog! I'm still waiting to post loads more posts and keep trying to hide away to blog!

My family and I always like to make the most of Eid (plus some of us can be divas), so we always celebrate Eid for at least two days - which means we get to see all of the family and it also makes it easier for everyone in terms of cooking if we don't spend all day at one house. (Having said that, I didn't make anything for Eid but I'm sure my turn will be coming up soon!)

For the second day of Eid, I decided to wear an outfit that my mother-in-law had gotten made for me in Pakistan. It was a special outfit because it was the first one she had gotten made for me, and also her favourite one, and also one that I loved when I saw because I'd been hankering after a cream and gold outfit for ages and this one was lovely. I'm sure you've seen shorter hemlines creeping back into fashion, and jackets are also pretty trendy right now, so this was right up my street - a jamwar undershirt with a delicate pearl and stone-work jacket on top.

 

This is me wearing it - it looks simple but it actually felt really heavy on, and I forgot to take a picture of the back, which was a lot heavier than the front because it had work all along the hemline and working its way up to the top. I paired this with gold shoes and sparkly bangles and a matching cream hijab - I wanted to wear some more pearly jewellery but I didn't have any with me (except my wedding jewellery which was too heavy!) so I kep the look simple which, worked for me.

You can tell my husband took most of these pictures, I'm posing awkwardly in most of them and I look like a shorty because my husband forgot that he was taking pictures at his eye level! (I'll teach him how to take pictures, don't worry)

My sisters also had a beautiful wardrobe palette for the day - everyone wore beautiful outfits with bright colours and amazing embroidery, which was nice to see everyone dressed up. I love the hot pink Threads and Motif outfit my eldest sister chose to wore (my mum, my aunt and I have all been lusting after it)

One outfit we all loved was the green long maxi one of my sisters bought for Eid - I couldn't get a decent picture of the front (because she kept running away and hiding), but I got this sneaky shot so you can see the shape of her dress.

And of course the babies and nieces of the babie stole the show as usual - my eldest sister dressed her girls in beautiful flowery dresses, and my sister-in-law dressed her little one in a sparkly grey party dress, and my other sister dressed up her little girl in a pretty coral polka dot dress. You can see some of the dresses below (and also a picture of me fascinating one of my nieces into doing a selfie!) - the newest arrival looked like a little doll in her dress!

 

And naturally we had to do the couple shots - it was my husband and my first Eid after marriage so I wanted to get some nice shots for memories (and some silly shots later on as well!).

 

Lucky for me, Eid is not completely over, I have an Eid party to go to this weekend which means more food and dressing up, which I'll post about soon!

Our Eid! Day One

We had a lovely Eid weekend a few days ago, with lots of family and friends, which was special because it was my first Eid as Mrs Curly Fries. So naturally, I was spoilt for choice with new clothes and places to go!

I was lucky enough to have new outfits from my mother-in-law from the wedding, and also a new outfit that my mum bought for me because it was my first Eid as a married woman (my mum has made it a tradition that she buys each girl in the family their first outfit for Eid after they marry).

We had dinner the night before we celebrated Eid day at my eldest sister's house, so I chose the outfit that my mum bought for me, which was a beautiful off-white embroidered outfit with colourful hems and embroidery. My sister actually took me to the shop to show me the outfit before buying it to make sure I liked it (my mum had said I could pick whatever I wanted) but I didn't need to look around - I loved this outfit when I saw it. I'm slightly sick of blingy, heavy outfits at the moment and this is ideal - light, beautifully embroidered and funky. The main thing which caught my eye was the colourful yellow hem - it was just the sort of thing which would complete an outfit for me, and I also loved the watermelon pinky-red dupatta and trousers to contrast it.

This is the outfit I wore on, I really wished I had some matching yellow shoes to go with the yellow border, but the only heels I have in my new house at the moment are my wedding shoes, so I had to wear those! The outfit came from a local shop called Grandeur which has just opened recently and does one-off pieces, there were a few other silk-screen kurtas and printed tops which I liked, but didn't get as I didn't want to overcrowd my wardrobe yet!

Here's how I accessorised the outfit, I didn't have a lot of jewellery with me so I went for this jewelled clutch which I ordered around my wedding time from Pakistan (more about this later!) and some bangles mixed from my wedding and mehndi outfits! It all felt a little mish-mash at the time but it came together nicely!

 

And this is me wearing the outfit - it was a little loose but it worked because it was almost floor-length on me (with the heels on!). You can't tell as well, but the back was completely sheer - I'm not adventurous to wear it with my back showing so I had to wear a chemise/undershirt under it! I made my husband take pictures of me, including the one of my shoes!

 
I also thought I'd take a quick snap of the make-up I used (I forgot to add the eyeshadow I used, which was some shimmery nudes and bronzes from the Urban Decay Naked pallette). I kept the look pretty simple so that I could go for a bright pink, matte lipstick which stood out most and matched my dupatta!

I won't post too much detail about food and decor just yet, but you can see more images of the Eid days here, but nevertheless, it was a lovely start to Eid with family and of course, good food!

How was your Eid? What did you wear?