Outfit Post and NOTW - South Wales Bloggers Meet

As you will have seen in yesterdays post I helped co-host the South Wales Blogger Meet on Saturday, but I didn't show you all what I wore, so here is a special post just for that.

As it was a big occasion I thought it deserved a big dress!

 Dress: Hell Bunny Vixen Range

Shoes: Ruby Shoo via AG Meek

Cardigan: Vintage

Tights: Random

Hair Band: Claire's

Watch: Vivienne Westwood

Bangle: Stella & Dot - You can still shop my trunk show until the 14th of May so take a peek on there now!

Necklace: Etsy

 Gave my nails a quick lick of this George Cloudless Sky polish - for £1 it's ok but doesn't last long, even with a good top coat. Plus I added these sweet heart nail shapes - but I will be reviewing them later in the week.

So there you have my little outfit for the event. I'll post about the goody bags and thank you's to all the companies who helped us organise this event and stuff the bags super full soon too

Then for the month of May I have decided to slightly alter my blog and challenge myself all in one go. So May will now be Product Review Month (mostly!), I think over the past few months I have received so many different samples from so many different companies that I should be able to spend the entire month writing daily review posts for new products. As I am not usually a beauty blogger this will be a little change for me and I hope you will all like to see something a little different too.

Event - Cardiff Fashion and Beauty Bloggers Meet - The Event

So Saturday was the awesome South Wales Fashion and Beauty Bloggers meet I helped co-host with Georgina of Make-up Pixie, Laura of What Laura Did and Leanne of A Slice of my Life. We had an amazing turn out with 28 girls meeting up at the Brew House in Cardiff, for cocktails, tasty pizza, fashion talk and lush demonstrations. From there we went to Crabtree and Evelyn for hand treatments and a spot of shopping, then to watch some of the St David's Fashion Shows.

I hope I can say a fun time was had by everyone as I know I most definitely had a great time. This is a few pictures from the day that I thought I would share with you today!

The great room we had to ourselves at the new BrewHouse in Cardiff

Some of the lovely ladies who attended

Leanne Marie, Charli, Stacy and Kelsie

Amy and Nina

Georgina and Jess

My Pumpkin, Leek and Feta Pizza! It was truly yummy!

Charlie won our White Stuff Goodie Bag

Then off to Crabtree for some lovely hand massages and some samples of their new Somerset Meadow fragrance.

I had to slink off a little early, so missed the final catwalk show sadly, but Laura did a vlog of the day, include the show and the Q&A with the stylist, which you can see below.

Saying Goodbye to Google Friend Connect

NOTE: I have just been told that Hello Cotton is actually going too! And Blogger will be keeping GFC for the time being but google reader will be going for definite. Sorry for the confusion ladies!

So you may have heard on the grapevine that we will soon be saying goodbye to Google Friend Connect as it is due to be retired - I know not why! It is a pretty stupid move as far as I am concerned. But hopefully you will all still want to follow so you have a few other options on how to keep track of the blog and what I am up to.

First option is Blog Lovin and you will find my blog here. Plus on this link you will be able to import all your google reader links straight to bloglovin, to make life much easier and you will never miss a single post of any of your fav blogs, not just mine!

Next option would be Facebook where all my posts are streamed to when they go live, plus I add extra photos and posts every now and then.

Lastly Google+, this is what they are trying to promote in the place of GFC but I'm not sure how successful that will be. So if you want to follow me over on Google+ just click here.

So ladies, link me up one way or another as I would love to keep you all as followers when GFC disappears into non-existence!

Event - New Hair and Beauty Panel at Belle Toujours

I shall keep you in suspense for just a little longer on the new hair cut as I want to tell you about the beautiful salon I went to to have my hair cut. I was very lucky to be asked to be part of a beauty panel at the stunning Belle Toujours salon in Pontcanna one evening last week. I was one of 4 Cardiff blogging girls at the event, I was joined by Charli of Charli Dot Dot Dot, Mia of By Mimi and Louise of Lou Lou Muses.

First of all the outside of the salon is quite understate but it is in one of the impressive Cathedral Road buildings. Once you step inside though it is a different matter. The decor is stunning, it has been given such attention to detail, with a beautiful black and white pallet in the main salon, nails room and barber, but a great rich decadent gold and purple style in the spa rooms.

 The spa room has 2 beds so can be used by 2 girls having a bit of a ladies pamper session or a couple wanting a romantic relaxing massage together.

The whole of the interior has such a high end feel to it, but the staff are so lovely and inviting that general public (like me!) don't feel out of place, plus the prices were no higher than my local salons which are no where near as beautiful as this place.

 The beautiful Mia with her freshly facialed (new word there!) face and styled hair

We were then taken to a private room at Jolyons to discuss what we thought about the salon/spa and the treatments we had received. Of course we gave glowing reviews as we were all incredibly pleased with the beautiful salon and the even better treatments we had all received. 

 (How awesome are those chairs!)

 We had a bit of anti-pasti too!

So finally ladies, if you haven't spotted it on Facebook yet, here is the new hair!

 Yep it's lots shorter, but after all the bleaching and dying on my tips I thought it would just be better to cut it all off and start again.

First I had a K-Pak treatment, which I had never heard of before but I swear is the best thing that has happened to my hair in years! It is so light and silky smooth, it is glowing I swear! I then had it cut and styled by the lovely and friendly Lauren one of the stylist at Belle Toujours. I had already told the PR girl Shakira that I wanted a change of look and Lauren made me feel quite comfortable and happy with letting her lop off around 6 inches of it! She did a great job and now it is all sleek and shiny!

I want to say a massive thank you to everyone at Belle Toujours as I had an amazing night and I really love my new look! I really would advise anyone local to Cardiff to try out this salon for any of your beauty treatments, men included as the barbers area as just as impressive. I'm tempted to go back for my nails at some point in the future too!

Outfit made up of:

Dress: Primark

Top: Bianca Nygard

Jeans: Warehouse

Cardigan: Vintage

So what do you think of my new do? Think the shorter hair suits me, be honest?

Has anyone else tried Belle Toujours yet? 

Outfit post - Last one before the hair cut!

So this is the last outfit photo I have before the haircut, which I will show you all tomorrow! I wore this to the St David's Ladies Night Event (which I'll post in a few days - told you I had lots to catch up on!) I was having a fat day so just wanted to dress comfortably, as I knew I would be wandering round quite a bit nosing in all the shops!

 Trousers: Vintage

Blouse: Alexon

Shirt: Vintage

Boots: Everything5Pounds.com
Necklace: Etsy.com
Ring: Primark

So say goodbye to the hair ladies. I've had a fair chunk of it chopped off at the rather amazing Belle Toujours in Cardiff, which I will be giving you a glimpse of in my next post!

Event - Red Hot World Buffet Chef's Table

I was really lucky to have been invited to the Red Hot Buffet Chef's Table PR Event in the Cardiff a few weeks ago, where me and Jon got treated to a rather awesome 7 course banquet dinner. The event was to get some feedback on the restaurant and get the word out about the upcoming changes with brand. They will still be a buffet restaurant but they will be expanding and pushing their tailor made sections. You will be able to customise more of your food, and have such made exactly to your specification. This change will be made over the next year, so keep your eyes out for it at your local Red Hot Buffet.

So here is all the yummy food we had. With me being unable to eat spice and Jon disliking fish, we managed to eat everything between the 2 of us, lol, which is quite a common thing for us!

 Their new signature Red Hot Buffet Cocktail. I can't remember all the ingredients but it included fresh plum, archers, cointreau, grenadine and a few other things. It was really yummy, not to alcoholic tasting, but quite sweet.  

 SUCHI!!!!! You know I love it, so sushi was awesome! Nothing special but pretty good.

 This was Indian Street Food - I have no idea what was in it, but it was a fried patty type thing, topped with crispy shredded veg, raita and mango chutney. It had a little too much spice for me so I only had a few mouthfuls, but Jon loved it lots so finished both off. As did all the other dinner guests

 The fish course was a Risotto - This was mine which had prawns in it, and Jon had the veggie one but it was full of mushrooms, so I ate his too! They were both really good, lots of flavour and really well cooked.

 The meat course was Teppanyaki Beef Stir Fry in Chinese sauce. This smelt amazing!! Of soy and something sweet. Sadly again this was way too spicy for me as it had been made with chilli oil but again Jon found it really yummy so wolfed down both portions of it. Everyone on the table said it was really yummy and quite unusual as it had mandarines in it, but crispy noodles on top. Wish I could have eaten it as the smell was so good! 

We had a nice little Lemon-cello pallet cleanser after all the aromatic and spiced food.  

We had 2 lots of dessert: A yummy mini pancake stack which was lovely, 2 fluffy mini pancakes topped with a vanilla whipped cream, fruit sauce and fruit and white chocolate flakes! Devine!

Then this little dessert trio which included a chocolate brownie, creme brûlée and passionfruit cheesecake. They were all really great, and as they were tiny portions you didn't feel too stuffed to eat them.  

Overall the experience was great. We had visited there a few times before but never had food as quite as good as this, we tend to use it as a convenience restaurant if we are going to the cinema and don't have much time, we wouldn't have gone there for a really good meal. But if this is the calibre of food they will be serving when they make the change over to more bespoke dishes then I think we may be using it more often.

Has anyone else been to a Red Hot Buffet restaurant? What did you think of it?

Outfit Post - Sailboat Dress

I have had a stupidly busy few weeks, hence the lack of blog posts, sorry! I have been lucky enough to attend 4 events in the last 2 weeks though, so expect to see them in posts over the next few days, but for now an oldish outfit post for you! This is before I had my hair all chopped off (which you may have seen on Facebook this week) which I will post later in the week.  

 And I'm wearing my glasses which you guys usually don't get to see me in!

Dress: Oasis

Jumper: Primark

Shoes: Brantano

Necklace and Ring: Etsy

Scarf: Can't remember

Glasses: Osiris
Lipstick: Vermillion by Avon

Can't even remember where I wore this outfit! Think it may have been the red hot buffet event, which if you pop back tomorrow you will see some yummy photos from!