Birthday Baby Shadowbox

Yesterday was my nephew's 1st birthday.

I can finally say things like, "I remember when you were born" and "where did all the time go?" and other such gems that I used to associate with the 'older' generation which I suppose is me now!

I had picked up a few nice vintage market finds when he was first born which I've shown on the blog before.  The lady who sold me the baby rattle actually gave me the idea of making a 'shadow box' with it last year so, many google image searches later, I gave it a go for part of his birthday gift.  I'm quite happy with it for a first attempt! It was definitley a lot harder to get it going and to source all the wee pieces than I thought it would be.  When it was complete and I put the glass on, it really did take on another quality that I can't quite describe.  Something about putting all those little things in their own world like that made them look more interesting and sentimental.

For anyone who is curious here are the crafty details:

Box Frame - 12 x 12 bought on Amazon UK from Arrowfile seller.
Painted with sample pots of Farrow and Ball - Strong White then Pavillion Grey on top of frame and sandpapered for distressed look.
Backing sheet (after much deliberation!) is from 5th Avenue collection by Melissa Frances.  Found it in single sheets in Dunelm Mill.
Wooden letters from a craft store and dyed with Distress Ink in 'Stormy Sky'.
Blue lace from a local haberdashery.

I was hesitant of doing too much as a beginner and also because I didn't think an overly frou-frou shadowbox would be fitting for a little boy so...

What I put in it:

The bib is antique Irish lace and  I bought it for his Christening gift .
The rattle, I just loved!  Also a vintage find and what started the shadowbox inspiration because I just wanted to use it in something!
His name with an oak leaf we collected in the park last Autumn. We used them for decorating at his Christening party last October as his name is thought to come from 'doire' - the Irish word for oak tree.  This is also why I decided to write the date of his birthday in Irish.  That plus I think Lúnasa is a nice month name, one of the prettiest in Irish.

He is just a few hours old in this picture,  I gave it a little vintage effect in photoshop and printed it in a tiny size at a Kodak machine.  Great tip for crafters who like using photos but not always full size, is to print those collages Kodak machines offer with 2 or 4 photos on a 6x4 print.

I hope I don't look at this in a few months and am embarassed by it!  I initially bought a much smaller frame so still have that to maybe try a second shadowbox project on a smaller scale in the future :)

I am so bad at finishing any craft project so I loved having an incentive to finish this one .

xox

Haircuts & Apple Trees

I got a haircut!  Correction - I got a trim.  A haircut implies drastic changing of style which is something I keep shying away from doing.  My hair has looked the same, more or less, for the past 5 years.  No colour, nothing too fussy...

I never thought about doing a hair post as I do next to nothing with mine, but I felt like a mini rant!

As I sat in the chair last week, hair perfectly coiffed and feeling good about myself in that way a blowday can make you feel, a woman sitting next to me said: "If I was you, I'd be in tears".  She gesticulated to the mass of hair lying on the ground and my heart sank.  When you have long hair, you do get quite attached to it.  But what is most worrying, is how attached to it other people get!
I had finally convinced myself that my hair was too much hassle and too much weight on my head.  I hadn't been well, I wanted to get a very substantial trim and cut all the unhealthy hair out and just as I convinced myself that it's not exactly short and hair will grow, this woman voices my very worries.  Who says that to someone?!  I think she was only trying to be friendly, in a strange sort of way.

But now I feel a little bit broken hearted!  Will I ever change my hair or will I forever be frightened that everyone else will loathe my apperance if I do?!

Looking at photos I can see it's really not that different!  I should have taken a photo when it was still all blowdried and salon styled but...I forgot and got my boyfriend to snap this the other night.  Not too drastic and definitley not worth shedding tears over the loss of a few inches...or so I hope!  I just worry that if my hair wasn't long it would feel thicker.  The weight almost pulls all the frizzy triangular shape out of it that my hair likes to take on, it's a bit Diana Ross at heart really!

To compare, below is a 'before' shot and also to kill 2 birds with the one stone a bit of an outfit post as well! 

I think the main difference is getting rid of some of the drier ends of my hair has darkened the colour up and it just looks less dry



I am wearing Mac Ever Hip lipstick here and it really isn't a bright, in-your-face coral when done with a whole look like this.  My eyes were rusty shades of gold from the Urban Decay Naked palette, really loved all these colours together for a late Summer/early Autumn look.  With the apples out on this tree and the coral-orange tones in this new Autumn season dress, I realised coral was perfect for later summer :)

Bit of a highstreet combination here!  Picked up the dress for going to a party in Debenhams.  It's the Matthew Williamson Butterfly line.  I love that it will be beautifully easy to wear with tights soon enough, but isn't too dark and wintery for now.  The vintage inspired fan print too is really beautiful.

The shoes are very comfortable M&S Limited Collection platforms to give the whole look a bit of a late 60s feel.

Gold clutch is from Accessorize and I have used it for years!

Black Satin Headband is 'Colette' for Oasis.

I love the colour of this front door.  It's Farrow & Ball's 'Brassica' and definitley isn't as dark as their swatchbook makes out!

No, I don't live here but how can you not love this front door?!  Let's just pretend for a little while it's mine!

We were going to an engagement party that night which felt very grown up so hope this outfit was the right choice.  I think I'll get a lot of wear out of this dress over the next few months, first sort of next season purchase!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and stays safe (stateside) and enjoys the bank holiday (hereside!)

xox

Boudoir Privé - first glance!

I got a little treat in the post today and thought I would open it with you...

Yes, the 1st Boudoir Privé box arrived!  I had been so excited, as I never tried out the Glossy Boxes.  I decided to just look upon it as a fun and frivolous treat so tried to keep my expectations low and not get too disgruntled.  The rages over Glossy Box #2 made me aware of how disappointed I could be..!

First impressions

I love the pink box!  Not as big as I imagined, but I think it will be nice for storage on my dressing table.  The packaging is beautiful and a handwritten note is always a nice touch.

I love that there are 6 samples, maybe it will revert to 5 (like Glossy Box) after this first box?

A sticker with a looking glass on it.  I'm all about the small details!

The products

Sachajuan Conditioner - biggest product in the box which is fantastic!  It is 100ml which is a size the company actually sell.  Love the scent and can't wait to try this brand.

Jane Iredale PureLash Extender and Conditioner - I have wanted to try this brand for a while, love the natural credentials.  Sounds like a good product but a bit disappointed in the size.  Hopefully it will still be good for more than a few uses.  Just looks small compared to everything else!

Olavie Antioxidant Body Butter - Smells gorgeous, can't really knock getting a body butter but the packaging is probably the lowest quality of all the samples.  I worry it will be hard to get all the product out of this bottle, it is like those travel bottles chemists sell.  Hope I'm proved wrong.

Babor HSR Lifting Firming Cream - excited!  Am I too young for anti-aging?  Who cares, I love that I don't have to fork out £82 to try a bit of this cream in my early 20s.

Bloom Green Tea and White Tea - nicely packaged.  2 teabags in total.  I am a tea addict, love trying different types. so I like that they included these in with products.

Etat Libre D'Orange perfume samples - a sample of 'Rien' and 'Archives 69'.  I always love trying 'niche' scents and these smell gorgeous.

(L-R) Sachajuan Conditoner, Jane Iredale Lash Extender, Babor Cream with Olivae cream on top, Bloom Teas behind Etat Libre D'Orange perfume samples

I am happy overall, I was hoping for a full size product for first box like many people after Glossy Box.
The conditioner is the biggest at 100ml but I am happy with that as I hope I will get lots of uses out of it.  I think some products instantly look better presented than others though but all the brands are something a little bit different and 'high-end' as promised.  I had not heard of most of them before I received the box which is always exciting.
I think the box is well presented and the customer service of the company has been wonderful to date.  I also appreciated how the £10 cost was inclusive of postage.
Will I treat myself to more boxes?  I'll definitley give the second box a go and see after that...

I hope to report back on these products as soon as I get time to try a pampering day with them all!  Taking that attitude I think will be the best way to get the most out of my beauty box and maybe find some beauty gems.... so that is my 2 cents thrown in now for the blogging frenzy that will no doubt ensue!
I also found things I could afford in Harvey Nichols in Dublin at the weekend so am feeling very luxuriant.
A Cherry Chau hair clip (looks like a heart in your hair) reduced to 10 euro because who would spend 60 euro on a clip I am likely to break or lose!
Beauty So Clean cosmetic sanitizer mist.  I heard about this brand on PixiWoo and this sprays on your powder makeup products like your eyeshadows and blushers to sanitize them.  Maybe it is a bit gimmicky, but I liked the idea so will let you know!

Beauty weekend overload, hope you all had a good weekend and Monday!

xox

Coral Crazy - Mac Ever Hip & Dupe?

So, maybe painting my bedroom a shade of coral has given everyone a clue that I went a bit crazy for coral this summer (I think I go crazy for coral every summer, but each year it's like a new discovery!)
I've always found coral lips a bit daunting though.  I am so very very pale, this blog is photographic evidence of that, and colours always look very bright on me as a result.  Coral can either look completley orange or too pink but with the rave reviews of Mac Ever Hip with the Liberty Collection last summer, I was determined to get brave about coral and give it a go.

Despite turning up to MAC the day Fashion Flower was launched, Ever Hip was gone!  I became swayed into buying a Sheen Supreme in 'Gotta Dash!', found Ever Hip in a different Mac shop a day later and am now suddenly the owner of 2 coral lip colours...woops!

In pictures however, the 2 lipsticks look like such good dupes for each other I thought I would do a post for anyone who missed out on Ever Hip or was interested in the difference.

(L-R) Gotta Dash! - Ever Hip

Yes that is a glimpse of my coral bedroom in the background!

(Pictured here with flash)



What Mac says:

Gotta Dash -  pale clean coral.  Sheen Supreme combines colour of a lipstick with shine of a lipglass

Ever Hip - Bright creamy coral. 

Main differences:

Ever Hip is a cremesheen texture and finish and Gotta Dash! is a Sheen Supreme, slightly glossier and sheerer but very easy to build the pigment.

Gotta Dash is slightly more orange making Ever Hip a better choice for me.

The packaging though it's hardly worth noting.

Both lipsticks were £13.50

Gotta Dash! is probably the closest Mac has got to Ever Hip in another shade but I have to join the bandwagon and say Ever Hip is pretty hard to dupe.  It is beautiful in that it is a little brighter and less orange based than Gotta Dash and it isn't as full on as something like Mac's Vegas Volt either.

Gotta Dash swatched on the left and Ever Hip beside it.

I am still playing around with both shades at the minute and while I love Ever Hip, I am not ditching Gotta Dash completley.  I like the Sheen Supreme texture and Gotta Dash is easy to sheer out so still a good one for those a bit scared of coral lips.
I would like to do a proper makeup look to accompany this post, but I have had such skin issues recently I have been quite makeup free the past 2 weeks so will have to leave you with this scary picture of me wearing Ever Hip...

Not very flattering and purely for educational purposes!  It does look quite different on my skintone than in pictures I had seen of others wearing it online, but I was still surprised at how much I love it.

I will try and get a picture up of me wearing Gotta Dash to compare this week.  In the meantime, another coral love.  Beautiful bright C and C california vest top bought on Ebay for so cheap..perfect find!

Keeping summer alive with coral until the end of August, rain or shine...

xox