How to dress for the races

To be perfectly honest I'm not exactly a sporty person, I don't think I've played in a team sport since my school PE days which was, well, a long time ago.
Despite this the style and crazy hats that make an appearance during Ladies Day have always fascinated me (hmm perhaps a wrong choice of words, fascinators aren't allowed anymore!) and as much as I love pawing through the best dressed photos that make the papers and magazines every year, I know that if I was to ever attend something like this I would be stressing for months over what to wear. Ladies Day this year takes place on 20th June so for anyone who's attending and worrying about their outfit then keep reading!

According to the Royal Ascot website there are 8 rules to follow when dressing for the occasion. I've re worded them, I don't think they'd say ya belly.

1. The shortest dress you can wear is just above the knee
2.  Dress or top straps should be at least one inch thick.
3. Even if you wear a jacket, the strap rule still applies
4. You can wear a trouser suit but it must match
5. Hats should be worn, or a headpiece that has a base of at least 4 inches
6. Strapless, of the shoulder or halternecks are not allowed.
7. No showing ya belly.
8. NO FASCINATORS.

With this in mind I've fished out some nice dresses available on the high street that'll be Ascot appropriate and some inspiration from last year's best dressed.



Which are your favourites?

Collaborative Post

If you don't know the words then just make them up

Floral Playsuit c/o AX Paris
Boots (now only £23!) c/o Fashion Union


This is my third outfit post in a playsuit. I think I have a problem. I was actually eyeing up this one for a while so when I was offered to try something from AX Paris I opted for this straight away and I'm glad I did as unlike a lot of the other playsuits I own this isn't incredibly tight around the waist and makes bending down pretty easy! I chose it with day wear in mind but after seeing how nicely it fits it could deffs be dressed up with some jewellery for a night on the razzle dazzle.
Plus it comes in three other colours, I've got my peepers on the blue one in the middle!





Hope everyone's enjoying a good start to the weekend, being the social butterfly I am I spent last night in a nearly empty gym. I currently have a horrific coldsore so don't really fancy going out in public too much! Because of this I'm going to spend today doing housework, reading blogs and maybe watching the babysitters club on lovefilm to see if it's as amazing as I remember it - I used to be obsessed.

Recipe: Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins

Last week I had the urge to bake but wanted something easy as I have a knack of wrecking everything I try and make, this chocolate and marshmallow muffin recipe was perfect and the finished product made great company to watch Britain's Got Talent with.

Tampin' Fumin' Ragin'

Playsuit: c/o Max C London
Cardigan: Primark
Tights: Pretty Polly from River Island (no longer available but they're on ebay here)
Chelsea Boots: c/o Soyoushoes


Despite the mardy bum face in these photos I'm not actually tampin, fumin or even the slightest bit raging, I've just caught up on The Valleys and I quite like this phrase. I don't like Natalie though, she frightens me.
I've also been to the gym tonight for the first time in years, it was only an induction and I didn't really do a lot but I can already feel my shoulders aching. It was a pretty shameful experience though, the over enthusiastic about fitness guy was like "so what do you do normally do to exercise?" and I probably shouldn't have been as honest with my "err I walk from my car to the sofa and/or my desk at work." It was also full of teenage LADS which only confirms my decision to go late at night so I can skulk on the treadmill on my todd without having to fight through a sea of vests boasting pale and skinny arms.

And on another cringe-esque note, how awful yet wonderful is the apprentice? I'm watching it as I type and the first episode is always the worst on the fist biting scale, they're all way too desperate to get airtime and please Alan. I don't know any of the names yet but there's already some Baggs types coming through and I know I'm going to become addicted.

Sweet like Tropicana

 

Playsuit: Motelrocks
Black Shoeboots: c/o soyoushoes 


The first two photos are slightly different, honest. If you look closely you can see my hand resembles more of a withered claw in one of them...
I bought this playsuit from motel a couple of days ago as I seem to be going through a "hey I don't actually hate my legs too much at the moment!" stage. I also bought the Jet playsuit in black but I'm planning on returning it tomorrow for as welcomed as this stage in my life is, I don't plan on rejoicing by flashing but buttocks at passers by. Its so short! The shoes I'm tottering around in were sent to me by the lovely folk at soyoushoes and they will be my new trusty black night "out out" shoes.

Hope everyone has had a swell bank holiday weekend, as I'm typing this Tom is faffing around with our smaller than we thought barbecue in an attempt to cook sausages whilst we completely out smoke the neighbours : / I've actually had a lovely weekend, we perused the shops for gardening stuff today (a trawl and the little fork things for 99p!) and yesterday eve was spent in the cinema watching Olympus Has Fallen which in my opinion flew under the radar a little bit as it was quite the suspense film! Very much a modern Die Hard so if you're a fan of yippee ki yay-ing then I deffs recommend. It was also an excuse to get some pick 'n mix - something I don't mind buying from the cinema as it's monitored. I was gutted in Center Parcs when after starting to fill my cup I saw snotty children mauling the sour dummys, they should be made to wear gloves.

So now I'm off to enjoy my sausage bun/bap/roll/batch and bask in my last few hours of freedom before the alarm goes off at 6:30am tomorrow. Toodles.

A Weekend Away in Center Parcs

A couple of weeks ago me and Tom headed for Center Parcs in Elveden for a weekend away. I'd been there before with a friend but hadn't ever thought to actually plan a trip myself as I've always (wrongly I might add) thought of it as a bit too pretentious/active/pricey for my liking.
I was wrong. I actually chose Center Parcs as a birthday present for Tom after realising my passport had ran out so we couldn't go abroad. I had a look at prices and was pleasantly surprised, I parted with £250 for a hotel room for both of us for 3 nights from Friday to Monday but it's the same price for 4 nights if you go midweek- Monday to Friday.
Ha I sound like a complete CP rep (I'm not) but we were also looking at going back with some friends and hiring a villa, just had a quick scan now and found it for £450 Moday-Friday which, when split between 4 people, isn't actually that bad at all! And for that you get a kitchen as well which I'd recommend as eating out every night can get a bit pricey.

I'll stop blathering on about accommodation, activity wise I can't really go into detail as we went with a relaxing weekend in mind and didn't pre book much. We did however play squash, hired a pedalow, swam, did a bit of mini golf (I lost obvs), and bowled (again, I lost). The prices for activities are quite high so I paid for ours beforehand online so it didn't feel like I was blowing wads of cash whilst I was there. If you're starting to get a little into the idea then there's a price listing here for activities which can give a little more info. I reckon some of them aren't really worth the money to be honest, I was all for segway-ing until I saw it was double the price of anywhere else : /
Another negative nelly thing to point out activity wise was the swimming, they call their pool the Subtropical Paradise and I remember it being all modern and clean when I went many moons ago but eight years later and you can see it's been beaten down by the millions of screaming children and the general uncleanliness of the public. I can be a little obsessive when it comes to hygiene and I didn't even like walking barefooted on the changing room floors, but when I saw clumps of hair in the drains near the showers I felt a little queazy and even Tom was a bit grossed out. Luckily our hotel room was lovely and clean, and only a 5 minute walk away so scrubbing the filth of the general population from my body afterwards was a nice feeling!

We also ate, oh how we ate. Our hotel room had a large fridge but nothing to prepare food with so we had to eat out every night. On the first evening I had the best burger I have ever had. Ever. I don't think the picture quite does it justice. I'm useless and can't remember what we ate on the second eve but on the Sunday we walked to "the country club" which I couldn't see anything clubbish about and had a three course sunday lunch for 15 squid each and it was lahvley.
As nice as the food was I would point out that despite being an active place where people seem to bike for days, the food is all quite unhealthy. Three of the bars/restaurants are burger based, there was also a pancake house where you die and go to chocolate heaven. They had a Cafe Rouge and a Bella Italia which had healthy options but it wasn't as salady as I'd have thought.

So over all, an awesome weekend minus the hair clumps. With me working 9-5 and Thomas working shifts it can be hard getting more than one day at a time together, so having our own little balcony overlooking a lake in a forrest setting was amazing. I'd definitely go back and will be keeping my peepers peeled for offers.

Review: Benefit Brow Zings

Browzers! (sorry..)I actually bought this little wonder back in December from the Benefit store in Covent Garden, I'd been eyeing it up for an age but had instead always opted for the cheaper alternatives. I'd been using the elf kit and the sleek brow kit but they always seemed a bit too orange for my ashy brows and as mine are quite unruly the wax didn't do that great a job of holding them in place.
But then brow zings entered my life. I entered the store knowing what I wanted to buy and said right away It was brow zings I was interested in, I'm so easily swayed at makeup counters and I didn't want this happening! Anyway the lovely assistant applied both the light and medium shades to ze brows so I could decide which one I wanted, I prefer a slightly darker-than-my-hair and more defined brow so opted for medium and I'm rather happy I did!
The kit itself is a sturdy little compact which is easy for on the go or to take on holiday, it includes a brow wax, a brow powder, a hard angled brush to apply the wax, a blending powder brush, and a teenie set of tweezers for on the go plucking. Up until a few weeks ago I was using the hard angled brush without any issues but I've since been using the real techniques brow brush which I'm finding easier due to the size. After taming my brows I use the powder brush to fill them in which sticks to the wax for a longer lasting result, and wins! You're left with the perfect eyebrow.
Before purchasing this I read that some people found the wax colour to be a bit too red toned, to be honest it does come out with a twinge of red but it's not really enough to put me off, and besides I've yet to find a kit with a non orange/ready colour to it anyway.
At £23.50 it's not exactly the most budget savvy of products but it's definitely long lasting and worth investing in, I've used mine pretty much everyday since December and I don't think I'm even half way through it yet.

And finally, without sounding high horsey I'm just going to throw it out there that buying benefit products from Ebay isn't the greatest of ideas - yes there are some sellers that are genuine but I've heard and seen so many reviews of fake products where the makers have literally gone all out to make it look as genuine as possible. If you want more info on this/tips on how to spot a fake then have a peek at Fee's post and Annette's post.