Forevermissvanity - A UK Lifestyle Blogger : September 2014

Label M Sea Salt Spray

Like many girls out there my hair and I have a love hate relationship. I have always had hair envy over Cheryl Cole's mane which is long, voluminous and full of curls. My hair is the polar opposite limp and lifeless with unruly waves and lack of style. When I mention to new friends, colleagues and acquaintances that I used to be a hairdresser I'm greeted with a look of confusion and honestly I don't blame them. Since hanging up my curling tongs and scissors, I have lost the passion I used to have when it came to styling my hair. When I was a hairdresser I changed my hair cut and colour almost every month and dared to be different. Now I'm sat here debating for what seems like the hundredth time whether to stick with the same hairstyle when I go to the salon on Saturday or whether to go for something new and I can almost guarantee I will come out with just an inch off the bottom and the same colour I've had for months.

Despite ranting on about my lack of hair ambition, one thing I am still passionate about are hair products. I seem to be forever collecting a variety of styling products for my hair and every now and then I do like to experiment. The newest addition to grace my hair styling collection is the Label M Sea Salt Spray from a website called MyHigh.St. The Label M Sea Salt Spray description says it is a 'professional formula that creates covetable tousled styles with an edgy matte finish' and from what I've seen it does exactly what it says on the tin. The product itself is really easy to use as it can be used on dry or wet hair and teased through your hands to create your desired tousled curls. When I first read the word 'matte' I was worried that the formula would be rather sticky and as someone prone to greasy roots, the prospect of looking like I had half washed hair terrified me. However, once applied the product settled into place with no issues at all and made my hair worked well to enhance my normal waves and give them a sense of direction rather than my hair sticking out at all angles. The only warning I would give with this product is that it is easy to get carried away using the product and that can make your hair sticky. But if you stick with the motto 'less is more' this product can become hairs best friend and be a cost effective way of getting salon style hair.

Have you tried the Label M Sea Salt Spray?

The skies are getting darker and the weather seems to be getting colder, Autumn has well and truly made it's seasonal entrance and made us aware that it is time to change our clothing. My wardrobe is currently full of floral summer dresses and little shorts, I was not prepared for Autumn this year - it has come around far too quickly. However, there's one item that I'm always able to trust and that is my lovely transitional cape coat. I bought this cape coat in Dorothy Perkins approximately two years ago and every time I put it on, I fall in love with it over and over again. The cape coat fits effortlessly on my shoulders and is the perfect substitute for a winter coat when it's not too cold, but not overly warm either. This cape coat seems to go with every item in my wardrobe and best of all, it feels like you're snuggling up to nice warm blanket when you're commuting on an autumn chilly morning.

I teamed my cape coat up with this gorgeous faux leather Ox Blood dress from Hybrid* fashion. Hybrid Fashion stocks a variety of timeless and sophisticated dresses suitable for any occasion. Established in 2010, Hybrid now has over 300 independent boutiques and department stores, as well being featured in online retailers such as ASOS. This Hybrid Fashion faux leather dress exhibits the beautiful autumnal colours seen around us at this time of year and fits beautifully, creating an hourglass silhouette. The lining on the inside is soft and warming and the dress finishes elegantly below the knee cap making this dress suitable for casual or formal wear.

Have you shopped at Hybrid Fashion before?

These info-graphics designed by Bathing Solutions to promote National Arthritis Week recently struck a chord with me and I knew I had to share them on my blog. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis earlier this year after three years of unexplained, agonising pain. I would wake up in the morning unable to clutch my fingers together and my knees would swell and seize up. It was a freighting time for me as the doctors at first were adamant nothing was wrong with me. I felt alone and often criticised for my pain as many people would say:"You can't be developing arthritis, you are too young." My persistence with the doctors finally led to a series of blood tests that discovered I that I am positive for auto immune rheumatoid arthritis and although it was hard to come to terms with the fact that I have a long term chronic illness, finally having a definitive diagnosis made me gave me some type of closure, where I could stop fretting about the 'what ifs' and finally start my treatment.

Although this blog is primarily focused around fashion and beauty, I often like to blog about my experience of having Rheumatoid Arthritis as I personally believe there's very little education surrounding the illness and I would like to make other sufferers feel like they're not alone. Suffering from RA often comes with a stigma as arthritis is often associated with older people and due to Rheumatoid Arthritis in particularly being such a invisible illness. We are in pain almost every day and that can vary from a small burning ache that only affects a few things we do, to flare up days where we are bound to our bed with painkillers hoping it will somehow disappear. Rheumatoid Arthritis cannot disappear, we can only try to make our symptoms better.

These slides perfectly explain the differences between Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is most common in older people and to be fair, most of the eldest people in my family have it. However RA can happen at any time in your life. I was 21 when I started noticing the signs, but I have talked to girls who started developing symptoms at the age of 15.

Once you develop RA, you will be reminded of it every single day until you are in remission (and that's if you're one of the lucky ones). My RA makes getting out of bed quite painful in the morning and can often cause pain in my knees when I'm stood too long. Not only does RA affect my joints, it's important to explain that RA is an auto immune problem and coupled with the immuno-suppresant tablets I take, it means I pick up a simple cold or winter bug so much quicker than everyone else. I've always got some type of illness, even if it's a little cold.

My arthritis commonly affects my wrists, the small joints in my feet, my knees and my fingers and like the diagram shows, it often affects both sides at the same time. Having joint pain in both sides of my wrists and knees in the exact same place was my first sign of developing RA.

The stiffness of my joints is probably one of the most annoying parts of my illness. Some days I just feel like I need someone to stretch my body out for me and when I'm experiencing stiffness and pain, I often get upset that I'm not as flexible as those in my dance classes. However, as I've said many times RA will not defeat me. Adapting a positive attitude and being vocal amongst my friends, work colleagues and family has really helped my condition. I'm also happy that I am in a position to educate people about this condition as it can affect anyone of any age and in some cases have tremendous life changing affects.

Do you know anyone suffering from Arthritis?

As many of you will know, I recently got married on the 6th September 2014 to my irish sweetheart James. We had a wonderful wedding, despite spending most of out time hiding under brollies to escape the rain. I thought I would do a really short post showing you all my lovely wedding pictures taken by my good friend and professional photographer Toby-Baxter-Gale, I hope you like them.

Have you been to a wedding lately?

Image taken by Sara from thisgirlloves.co.uk

Last weekend three amazing bloggers and I were invited to attend London Fashion Weekend as a VIP on behalf of jewellery and accessorises brand Folli Follie and we had the most amazing time. With our Luxe tickets in hand and Folli Follie handbags dangling from our wrists we entered Somerset House not knowing what to expect, but was greeted by an array of the most luxurious fashion items at discounted prices, a range of quirky activities to participate in and a 4pm catwalk show to look forward to.

We started our morning relaxing in the Luxe lounge being waited on with Champagne and canapés. Sara, Lyla, Natalie and I had never met before London Fashion Weekend so it was great chance to get to know each other and plan ahead for the day. Two of us travelled several hours to get to London that day, but as the day progressed we soon realised getting up at 5.30am was worth it in the end.

As we strolled through Somerset House and the fashion exhibitions and stalls, I came across lots of items that either really intrigued me or that I wanted to buy. These gorgeous glasses on display at the Sunglasses Hut really grabbed my attention. As someone who loves collecting sunglasses and loves everything floral, these are two of my favourite items combined. The flowers etched on the side of these sunglasses are quite striking whilst on the rack, yet when worn they look rather subtle and give the wearer an edgy, vintage twist.

Also on display at Somerset House was these cartoon inspired handbags that many bloggers are currently raving about. I find them a little bit too daring for my everyday wardrobe, but I can see many quirky fashionistas falling head over heels for them.

Although it is commonly rumoured that those in fashion rarely eat, there were many fashionable people flocking towards the Propercorn stall in the west wing. Propercorn is my favourite popcorn as the flavours are so mouth wateringly delicious and the popcorn is low calorie. It's perfect for those who love to snack, but still want to keep their figure.

Finally it was the moment we had all been waiting for - the London Fashion Weekend trend catwalk show and to make us feel like celebrities for the day, each of us were given front row access. The clothes provided for the catwalk show came from the Outnet, one of London Fashion Weeks main sponsors and for those who have never heard of the brand, they are the baby website of the world renowned fashion emporium Net-a-Porter.

The catwalk show featured four key styles: One and Only bolds - a parade of autumnal colours with splashes of bright key pieces, Kandee Crush - a pastel inspired catwalk show, Jungle Fever which exhibited lots of leopard prints and lush fabrics and finally the Fairytale trend which was full of embellishment and whimsical styles.

My favourite outfit of the day had to be this gorgeous Oscar de la Renta dress that had the entire audience 'ooohing' and 'aahing' as it glided along the catwalk. The bright colour and fairytale a-line cut had every woman wishing they had thousands of pounds to spare on this little beauty.

I had the most amazing day in London and cannot thank Folli Follie enough for the experience. It was lovely to spend the day with three fabulous bloggers and absorb all the beautiful fashion surrounding us in one of the worlds most fashionable cities. If you have ever thought about going to London Fashion Weekend but couldn't make your mind up, I would really recommend going.

Have you been to London Fashion Weekend before?

For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to go to a murder mystery evening. When I was younger I was always fascinated by Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie novels. I remember reading 'Body in the Library' by Agatha Christie for the first time at high school and I couldn't put the book down. When I received the email from the BGO company telling me that they were planning to hold a murder mystery event, I squealed with excitement and checked my emails daily after that to see my official invite.

The event took place last night at the Renaissance hotel in Manchester. It's not quite the manor house setting that a lot of murder mystery nights are held in, but nevertheless the room we were sat down in looked beautifully laid out and the perfect place for relaxing with several glasses of wine and trying to solve a murder case.

When we all arrived at the venue, no-one of us knew what to expect and out of a group of approximately 30 people, only one or two had previously been to a murder mystery evening. We were seated in groups of ten and given our luxurious goats cheese starts and then suddenly a man in edwardian style robes bursts through the doors clutching his stomach and collapses on the floor. The murder mystery had begun. Within seconds of the collapse, in walks a police woman and a man claiming to be Sherlock Holmes. We are then told the ground rules and was told to try figure out what happened to man lying on the floor.

In the groups we were given an 'evidence pack' containing question sheets, evidence sheets, search sheets and a card with all the main suspects and their back stories. Our challenge was to ask questions to all the suspects by handing a card with the question on it to the police man or Sherlock Holmes. They would then walk out of the room and come back with 'evidence' or 'answers' to our questions.

Whilst trying to discover the suspect and their motive we were given food to give us energy and fuel our thoughts. The first course I had was this scrumptious and elegant goats cheese salad, followed by a mushroom pasta main. The chocolate brownie dessert is probably one of the best chocolate treats I have ever tasted as I often neglect heated chocolate brownies as they can be rather sickly and rich. As well as eating plenty of food, we were all treated to copious glasses of wine and Processco.

At the end of the night we were asked to submit our evidence and proclaim who we thought was the murderer. My group (group 1) was then asked to leave the room and was escorted into a closet full of fancy dress outfits. It was then revealed that we had guessed the correct murderer and we had to act out what we think happened on the night, which result in wearing very itchy wigs and strange costumes. At the end of the night we were then given a nice bottle of bubbly to celebrate our winnings and discuss how everything went.

I had so much fun at the murder mystery night arranged by BGO*, despite almost dying myself of flu and a sore throat. The bloggers I met were all so much fun to be around and we had plenty of laughs trying to piece together this story. For those questioning whether they should book a murder mystery night in the future, I say go for it. It was one of the most entertaining blogger events I have ever been to and i've already been researching into booking a murder mystery weekend for my partner and I.

I'm a girl that loves having an inter seasonal wardrobe and an important part of that is investing in timeless key pieces. As a fashion blogger it is essential that I keep up to date with the latest trends, but in reality I love my wardrobe to be classic, yet contemporary and involve pieces that can be used for years to come, rather than be worn just to make a fashion statement that month. Accessories are an important part of my wardrobe as depending on the time, they can either make a very small or huge difference to your ensemble and investing in a new watch or handbag is generally a great way to transform an outfit from to season to season on a minimal budget.

My latest accessories are courtesy of fashion brand Folli Follie who stock a variety of fun, versatile and luxurious items that according to the website:"Are designed to meet the varied and dynamic needs of trend-conscious women and girls worldwide." Folli Follie are popular in world's most fashion conscious cities such as Hong Kong, New york, Tokyo and Athens as well as making a name for themselves here in the UK. The brand are now celebrating their 30th anniversary of bringing watches, jewellery, handbags and accessories to us all around the world.

This Folli Follie handbag is the Heart4Heart shoulder bag (link*) in the colour red. Red the perfect colour for making a dynamic fashion statement and blending in with the autumnal colours this season. The floral buckle at the front symbolises the Folli Follie brand being feminine, yet classy with a little bit of fun added in. As someone who is newly introduced to the brand Folli Follie, I was shocked by the high quality of this handbag and fell in love with the bright, bold colour and the gorgeous sophisticated shape. The handbag is lightweight, yet sturdy and gold detailing in the buckle adds a touch of glamour.

The second item that has made its way to my autumn accessories collection is the Folli Follie Beautime watch (link*). For those who have regularly read my blog, you will notice that is it very rare to see me without a rose gold watch on my wrist as I love how the colour brings warmth to my skin and being a busy blogger, it is always important for me to keep on track on the time. This Beautime timepiece features a stainless steel rose gold plated dial with a beautiful crystal lined time face. This watch is perfect for wearing on a daily basis or dressing up on a night out and easily adds glamour to any outfit. Of course, this watch won't beat my all time favourite Michael Kors, but it's the first brand to come pretty damn close. Folli Follie, you have impressed me.

Do you own any Folli Follie items?

It's not like me to go a few weeks without doing a post on here - in fact I've managed to blog for over three and a half years with never more than a week off. However, I have been so busy lately that a break from my blog was very much needed and to be fair, I probably have one of the best excuses not to blog, I got married last week and today I returned from my honeymoon.

Despite the heavy rain and the repetitiveness of lifting my skirt up every time I went outside, I had the most perfect wedding. I was told before the big day that it would go so fast and I didn't quite believe it until the very next morning when my husband and I were laying in bed and we could barely remember a moment of our big day. It was one big blur of excitement, emotion and a lot of alcohol and it was the best day in my entire life.

There's nothing that beats the thrill of walking down the aisle to your husband/wife/partner to be and finally embarking on a new journey together as life long partners. It was wonderful and without getting too soppy, I love my husband so much for making the day so special. Official wedding photographs will be published soon, so if you want to see more of my big day make sure you check back.

Once the wedding was over, I had three days to pack and then we flew out to our favourite place, Ibiza. Yet again, we both had the most amazing time snorkelling, visiting new islands, taking random boat trips and enjoying the Ibiza water sports such as being strapped to the back of a speedboat on giant inflatables. We dined at some of the best restaurants on the Island, watched the famous Ibiza sunset and even watched one of our favourite bands at the Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza.

Now here I am back on my trusty laptop embarking on a new journey as Forever 'Mrs' Vanity (I won't be changing the name though) and trying to discover what's next after so many big occasions. There are so many blog posts I can't wait to write and so many opportunities lined up that the future seems so exciting. The most important thing however is that I now have a husband, a fabulous job, the opportunity to write for all you lovely people and right now i'm the happiest I have ever been. Keep your eyes peeled for exciting things on the blog these next few weeks.

Have you done anything exciting lately?

A few days ago I was sent a lovely email by the team at La Redoute regarding their latest campaign the 'Language of Love' and I was asked if I could spread a little bit of love of my own on my blog. La Redoute's mission is to get more of us telling the people we love how we really feel about them as things often go unspoken and the words of love and appreciation can often be unsaid. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to express how I'm feeling about my upcoming wedding on Saturday and to tell the world how much I love my husband-to-be James.

James and I met when I was 14 years old in not the most romantic of places, the bus station. We remained friends for several years, but for a few years went our separate way due to both having different relationships. After I broke up with my ex boyfriend, James popped up on my Facebook feed and asked if I wanted cheering up and taking to the cinema. We went to watch The Inbetweeners Movie, got slightly drunk and made our way back to my place. Before jumping to conclusions, we did not sleep together, instead we spent all night listening to music from the 1950s and 60s and then fell asleep watching Across the Universe. I had finally met a man that loved my taste in vintage music -hence the reasoning behind our vintage wedding at the weekend.

James is my soul mate, my best friend and all I could have wished for and more in a man. We started out as best friends and we still are best friends, but we also love each other too. He makes every morning worth getting out of bed and he's my pillow every night when I just need to lay down and have cuddles. He has supported me through some of the toughest few years of my life and I feel forever in debt to his continuing kindness. When he asked me to marry him on my 21st birthday two years ago, I knew it was an offer I could never turn down. To have him permanently by my side is a privilege and for him to call me his wife is an honour. I don't think there's enough 'lovey dovey words' in the English dictionary or even the 'Language of Love' to explain how much I love my husband-to-be. We just look at each other and know, no words are needed.

It is with that highly soppy, very romantic note I bid farewell to my blog until next week when I will return a married woman with plenty of wedding pictures to share.

As the daughter of a sailor, I've always had a love for boats and the sea. I spent most of my childhood sailing every other weekend and even now, every time I'm near a beach I long to be in the middle of the ocean with the wind in my hair singing sea shanties without a care in the world - yes, I'm a bit of a geek like that. As I've got older work and other commitments have often got in the way of our family sailing trips and regrettably I haven't been able to spend any time on the boat this year. However, I plan to make up for this when I go to Ibiza and hopefully catch a few boat parties with my new husband - it's not my Dad's boat, but hey it will probably be more fun.

When I saw this tank top on the French inspired website Petit Bateau, I knew I needed it in my wardrobe. It expresses my love of sailing and would look great with a pair of shorts on the beach for my holiday.

What do you think of my new tank top?

Label M Sea Salt Spray

Autumn Sunday Style

Arthritis Awareness Week (12th-19th October)

The Forever Miss Vanity Wedding

London Fashion Weekend with Folli Follie

BGO Murder Mystery Dinner

Must Have Autumn Accessorises

Forever 'Mrs' Vanity

La Redoute 'The Language of Love'

Petite Bateau T-shirts