Glamorous Accessories: Statement Necklaces from The Jewellery Box

I'm sure you may know that I love my jewellery, although most of the ones I have tend to be more 'desi' style jewellery which I usually pull out for special occasions and weddings. On the whole though, apart from this I don't tend to wear a lot of jewellery in everyday wear - partly because I prefer simple looks and jewellery can get in the way at work, and also partly because I like to buy good quality jewellery which I can get a lot of wear out of.

In the past couple of years, statement necklaces have become pretty big, and they're a fab addition to sparkling up an outfit, whether you wear hijab or not. I have a few necklaces of my own that I've collected over the years, which do make an outfit look nice!

I recently bought a few necklaces from online jewellery company The Jewellery Box UK, whose pieces caught my eye, and which were on offer. I have bought two necklaces from this company before which I meant to post about last year, and which I forgot about, but the ones I got were gorgeous silver and crystal statement necklaces which I've worn with both my Asian outfits and Western ones.

Here's a look at the necklaces I got from this company a few days ago, which came in a combination of gold and silver colour. I also got two sheets of henna tattoos in white and black with these which will be fun to play around with, but I thought these were an amazing bargain as I got these as part of a bundle.

I liked this one best, called the Regal necklace, which I thought would look lovely for dressing up an outfit - I can already imagine wearing this with a pretty maxi dress on a night out.

This one is called Serenity, which is a pretty, colourful necklace for a more playful look. I can imagine wearing this for a summery look, and would definitely try outfits to pick out the different coloured stones in this.

Lastly, is Dahlia, which is a girly, floral necklace which is a little more dressier to me but very pretty. I also like the mix of gold with sparkly silver, which I think would work well against a black outfit.

  

I'll be sure to post stylings of these on either Instagram or on my blog, but I'm looking forward to wearing these soon!

What do you think of these? Have you bought from this company before?

DESIGNER MODE: Aysha's Atelier

I've been following an up-and-coming designer for the last year or so, Aysha's Atelier, which I'm becoming a huge fan of as I see more of her dresses and the beautiful work used on the outfits.

I contacted Aysha's Atelier recently to speak to Aysha and find out more about her work, and also find out about placing an order for a formal, especially as she had designs which I really liked. I really like the brand's approach to creating bespoke clothes and the level of commitment given to the outfits, which Aysha sent me some information about after a discussion about her designs:

"We aim to create bespoke pieces of formal and bridal attire and are passionate about attention to detail. We are lucky enough to be working with talented craftsmen to give each outfit it's own unique look, right down to the style and materials used for embellishment."

Formals

I've been looking through the formals that are in Aysha's collections, and love the variety of embroidery and materials used, from cut-work, pearls, french-knots and various metal-work to create gorgeous patterns. The material used is also well-chosen - one of the biggest problems I have with online vendors is that they use either cheap fabrics or have terrible finishing, which can really ruin an outfit. In this case I can see that the material used is a higher quality, and Aysha's knowledge of fabrics and embellishment really shows in her designs.

These two designs are my fvourites from the formal collection, they both are classic designs and you can see that the embroidery is not machine-worked which gives the detail more of a intricate look to it.

"Our "Flowering Quince" and "Crimson and Gold" formal dresses [below] are hand-worked with a significant amount of single resham thread-work to create the delicate flowers."

Bridals

Aysha's Atelier also has a range of custom-made bridals, which are usually designed with the bride, with progress reports every step of the way - again, Aysha makes sure she is very thorough with each decision made.

I love this engagement outfit which was made by Aysha when she was first starting out, and which was an early design a few years ago before she began branching out into more designs. The outfits has a gorgeous colour combination of soft colours, as well as the delicate work is something is isn't always easy to find without having to spend a lot of money.

I also loved this bridal which was made more recently - it was a maxi dress with work all over the dress and the dupatta for a beautifully regal effect. Again, I've seen a few designs like this on the high street but the quality of the work doesn't match this, which is a lot more intricate and well-finished. You can see a lot of thought goes into each piece to make sure the outfit blends well with the work and the colours.

"For our "Blue Winter Rose" bridal, our bride wanted to move away from the typical silver and crystal work often used on similar coloured fabrics and desired a greater use of pearl and white work. She also loved the Swarovski shade "Black Diamond" and we therefore incorporated this shade within the work."

You can contact Aysha directly via Instagram or email Aysha's team directly on ayshasatelier@gmail.com.

Formals start around £300 upwards, bridals are from £1500 and upwards and she also does a range of simpler kurtas, kimonos and gowns which you can work with for a lower budget.

I'll be making an order from this designer very soon, and will be sure to post the results - I have already had several talks with Aysha about what I like and she has given me a lot of ideas for outfits. It's not often I find a designer which I find quite reliable, and better yet, Aysha is based in the UK so there's no worry about miscommunication or any missed messages!

MAKEUP-REVIEW: Mac Retro Matte Liquid Lipsticks

I've been hearing about the Mac Retro Matte Liquid Lipsticks for a few months now, after a lot of teaser pictures online (and on Instagram!) and they were finally released in the UK last month, little by little.

I'm a huuuuge fan of liquid lipsticks (it seems to be all that I wear these days) because I love the matte lipcolours that are available, and the longevity of the lipsticks - it's perfect for a working day when you can't be bothered to, or don't have time to re-apply after a few hours or after a messy lunch.

Liquid lipsticks have become very trendy these days, so naturally I was interested when Mac also jumped on the bandwagon and released a range of gorgeous shades.

I managed to get my hands on 6 liquid lipsticks, which I've swatched below - I got a good range of colours and these are mostly about 3 swipes of each colour, so they're impressively pigmented.

From top to bottom:

Oh Lady - a rich berry/grape tone. I loved this one because it was so flattering on my skin tone
Quite The Stand Out - a warm orange-based red, may not suit everyone but looked okay on me
Personal Statement - a rich hot pink, perfect statement pink colour although a little bright
Divine-Divine - A cool baby pink, this is one of the more popular colours in the collections, although it was way too light for me and I didn't like how it looked on me at all
Recollection - A bright violet with pink tones which I liked because it's surprisingly pretty
Tailored To Tease - a deep fuchsia pink, really pretty jewel pink which would suit a lot of skin tones

Out of all of the colours, Oh Lady and Tailored to Tease were my favourites, they were really flattering on my skin tone and I loved how they looked, particularly as I can see myself wearing them a lot. I would have liked to try some more red and nude colours but they aren't available in my local shop yet, but I have high hopes after seeing how lovely these colours are.

Pros - Very pigmented, have the signature Mac vanilla scene, flattering colours and there's a very good range of colours

Cons - They're a little pricey at £21 each and they're may start feeling a little dry on the lips after a good few hours. I also found these horrendous to remove - I had to use two makeup wipes to get rid of them and they still left a faint mark!

I'm keeping an eye out for these and also want to try experimenting with them by mixing colours together, but so far I'm liking them!

What do you think of these? Would you buy any?

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: The Vintage Velvet Blue Outfit

Lately I feel like I have needed to update my (Pakistani) wardrobe a little in the last few months, mainly because I haven't bought any outfits since last year (I know!) and since trends are changing, some of my older outfits feel a little dated.

Luckily, fashion is quite cyclical - what was in fashion a decade or two ago is bound to look good again now!

I was recently asked by a friend of the family to take pictures for their wedding, which I was delighted to do because I knew it would be a fun affair. I didn't have time to look for an outfit because it was short-notice, especially because I prefer to order my outfits online, and I didn't want to pay too much for a new one either. I decided to pull out a few out a few of my older outfits which I have kept over the years (yes, I still have a few sitting at the bottom of my wardrobe packed away!) I have a few outfits from the last 10-15 years (such as one or two from my eldest sister's wedding over 15 years ago!) which have lasted pretty well, so I knew I'd be able to find something different,

This is a velvet kameez from from Pakistan which actually was from about ten years ago, which wasn't originally bought for me but which I ended up taking with me when I got married! I love the rich blue and the beautiful gold-work (which you can tell is a little old-fashioned because of the metal work is a different quality of metal, not to mention the heart-shaped design and the diamontes!).

It actually came with salwar pants and a gold-beaded dupatta, but I opted for straight, wide pants and a velvet-trimmed dupatta from this Threads & Motif outfit which went really well with the kameez. It was a little loose on me, which you might be able to see from the width of the kameez above, so I got it taken in a tiny bit so that it would fit better.

Weirdly enough, it reminded me of this design below by The Saree Boutique which has a similar gold motif all over the velvet going on, although the cut of the dress is quite different. It's quite a coincident as the red one below looks a little more trendy, but I do like the fact that my outfit looks quite wearable by today's standards!
What do you think, does it look similar?

This is what I accessorised the outfit with, I mainly stuck to blue and gold because you just can't go wrong with gold accessories and they look great against the velvet. I also loved how regal it made the outfit look (especially my blue clutch from my wedding!)

This is me wearing the outfit to the wedding which was a couple of weeks ago, you can see it's still slightly loose on me but I liked the look and the fact that it hung pretty well on me, especially because the work was pretty heavy. I was pretty glad I took the kameez in because it would have looked too loose, but I didn't want it too fitted either so I was happy with the final look of this.
I also didn't end up wearing the jhoomar with my scarf, mainly because I didn't want it to get in the way when I took pictures!

Outfit - Pakistan

Shoes - Faith shoes

Clutch - Lovetobag

Bangles - Shop Bees

Ring/Jhoomar - Pakistan

I loved wearing this outfit because of how comfortable it was on the day, not to mention a perfect winter outfit because of how warm it felt! It's also inspired me to look through the rest of my 'vintage' and older outfits and see how I can re-wear them.

A friend of mine suggested that I could alter the outfit again by cutting it down the middle to make it into a jacket and pulling the sides in more to make it more fitted, which I could wear with plain or jawamar trousers and a inner kameez, which I loved the idea of. I'm still debating whether to do this or not, mainly because I don't want to ruin the outfit, but I'll post pictures if I do!

The Oscars Red Carpet 2016

I was following the Oscars like many others on Sunday night (and Monday morning) and like everyone else, cheered when Leo finally got that Oscar!

And like everyone else, I loved the beautiful designer dresses on display, which were looking beautifully elegant. I won't post all of them but here are a few of my favourites:

L-R - Jennifer Garner in Versace; Olivia Wilde in Valentino; Sophia Vergara in Marchesa; Eddie Redmayne and Hannah Bagshawe in Alexander McQueen; Dorith Mous in Black Lace

Priyanka Chopra also caught our attention with her dresses, wearing Zuhair Murad in white at the red carpet and a pretty sparkly grey Jenny Packham dress for the after-party.

And here are a few more of my favourites from other celebrities:

L-R: Daisy Ridley in Chanel; Cate Blanchett in Armani Prive; Jennifer Lawrence in Dior; Rooney Mara in Givenchy; Margot Robbie in Tom Ford

I can't post all of the dresses from the event (there are about 150 of them!) but I did love the variety, and of course the not-so-spectacular dresses! You can see more pictures of the outfits here, as well as pictures from the after party here.

What did you think of the dresses? Which one did you like best?

Hina Rasim's Luxury Shopping Event at The Dorchester

I was lucky enough to be able to a ticket to Hina Rasim's Luxury Shopping Event last week, featuring several designer collections which were also available to buy. After attending her last exhibition last year, I was pretty keen to attend because of all of the gorgeous outfits available which aren't necessarily accessible in London for a lot of buyers.

This event was more upscale, and was held at the gorgeous Dorchester Hotel in ones of the ball rooms, which was also beautifully decorated by Dream Occasions UK, who are wedding and event planners/decorators, and did an amazing job with the flowers, lanterns and candle decor.

There were several designers' outfits and collections being showcased, I wasn't able to get prices of all of them but I did find out about a few - I'll list below the ones I know about but you can also contact Hina herself for more information on prices.

Elan
The most prominent collection was Elan's latest collections, the Le Bijou Collection and the Garden of Evening Mists collection. This was also the only collection I didn't ask the prices for because I knew they would be out of my range - these were mostly bridal pieces but each were pretty gorgeous.

There was also a rail of Elan formals which were very pretty, such as these outfits below. I wasn't too keen on the orange and blue outfit, but I did like the spring green kurta with delicate work all over, which cost about £400 (I think!).

Sania Maskatiya
Being a big Sania Maskatiya fan, this was the first collection I went for, and which there was a good range of. There were a few pieces I recognised from the catwalk, such as the pink dress below, which were also very heavy and probably the most expensive from the collection.

The prices for the heavier SM formals ranged from £600-700 upwards to about £1300.00 for the heavy, fullworked outfits.

Ayesha Farook Hashwani - AFH
This was a new designer being added to Hina's collections, featuring light wraps and capes to heavier embroidered formals and maxi dresses - most of these were £150 for the basic wraps and went up to £300-500 for the heavier formals.

Shela Chatoor
These were mostly embroidered kameezes and formals, but in pretty spring colours and floral patterns. Most of these were around £500ish but the heavier pieces were slightly more.

Rozina Munib
I remembered Rozina's collection from last year and was glad to see there were a lot of new styles in her latest collection. I didn't get to take many pictures but I liked this oufit because of the colours, which I thick was about £300-400

There were several other designer collections as well, but I didn't get to take pictures of them all, mostly because the hall was so busy and I didn't want to get in the way too much! I wanted to write about outfits by other designers like Farah Talib Aziz, Saira Shakira and Maison de Lace, both of whom had lovely designs but a few of my photos got deleted, so I can't post these!

One last outfit I loved was this velvet cape which I think was by Saira Shakira but I can't remember at all - I thought this was a really elegant piece which looked very regal. I'm loving the whole cape trend right now (and have even bought one of my own!) so this is right up my street!

UPDATE: This outfit is actually by Ayesha Farooq Hashwani, I wasn't able to get the price but you can contact Hina Rasim for orders.

Tanaya Couture
Again like last year, Tanaya Couture were displaying their beautiful jewellery but in a separate room this time, and there were some really lovely pieces available which really caught my eye. A lot of these were beautiful statement pieces, which would also make amazing bridal pieces, and I think the prices for these were pretty reasonable considering they were one-off pieces and had beautiful gems and work to them.

Again, I can't remember a lot of prices because each piece was individually priced, but the earrings were around £50ish, necklaces were from £150 upwards for pendants (depending on how heavy) and heavier bridal necklaces were about £300-400 and upwards.

I took a lot of pictures of necklaces so you can see what caught my eye!

I also really loved these earrings, each which would really complete an outfit and each had beautiful stone and pearl details.

Tanaya Couture also had furs and shawls available to buy, which were quite popular seeing as it's the cold spring season!

Because the event was on Valentines Day, there were also some cupcakes provided, which were the perfect treat to end a nice day, and of course a nice way to indulge!

Even though I didn't end up buying anything, I did see a lot of outfits which I will be considering for future events, because the designs and the workmanship look so great. Althought it was a very busy event, it was a fun one and I got to speak a few other shoppers who were buying outfits.

Did you manage to attend this event? What do you think of the outfits?