Style Archives - Page 106 of 132

Katie Fashion

Dresses, Dresses and more Dresses!

Hello Lovelies,

If there is one thing I can hand on heart say I “waste” my money on, then it’s buying dresses. Being a tomboy I rarely get the opportunity to wear them other than special occasions yet I still can’t resist buying yet more pretty dresses.

I have a collection of beautiful 50s retro dresses that would put most fashionistas to shame but I just don’t wear them….

All this is about to change my lovelies! I am making 2012 all about the year of the dress!!

It started on Boxing Day actually… wearing a pretty little retro spotty tea dress for our family lunch. I was expecting to get jeers but no one even noticed I had it on… it made me think this wasn’t going to be so hard after all!

Fast forward to today, 1st February and to date I have bought 5 dresses since Boxing Day. Excessive? Possibly. Variety? Certainly. Bargains in the sale? OH YES.

While on my hunt for dresses, I found myself browsing on www.freemans.com looking at their selection of pretty dresses. There was a choice for everyones tastes it seemed with hundreds to choose from! Where on earth do I start!

I have plenty of evening dresses and special occasion / formal dresses that I do wear but this is all about the day dress. I need to branch out so here is my pick of the prettiest day dresses from www.freemans.com

Oli Short Sleeved Ruched dress – £40

I love the colour and cut of this dress. In a way, it really reminds me of the Kate Middleton proposal dress. Would make a great choice for work.

Closet gathered neck peplum dress – £49

I adore this colour, it’s gorgeous isn’t it? This screams Mad Men style retro glamour to me, I’d save this for meetings at work when I really want to impress without going OTT!

Closet full skirt belted dress – £49

Skater dresses really seem to flatter my shape, it clings and accentuates my chest and then skims over the bits that don’t need accentuating. This would be perfect in the summer with sandals, or with thick tights and a cardie for cooler days. I’d buy this dress in every single colour they have such as red and printed

Closet cowl neck belted dress – £49

How gorgeous is this? It’s got a slight grecian feel to it but you could easily dress it up or down for work or play!

Chillytime Sleevless Bow Dress – £30

Peter Pan collars are a really big trend at the minute and without sign of going anywhere, it’s a great dress to embrace that trend. I think the picture does NOT do the dress justice and it would look miles better without leggings! Very retro style which really appeals to me!

AJC Stripe top dress – £25

This just says summer to me. I’d wear it with cute little red ballet flats. Would be a great dress for sight seeing on holidays too as it’s short enough to keep you cool but covers you up a little more for visiting certain countries.

I hope you like my showcase of my favourite day dresses. You’ve probably already noticed they’ve all got a bit of a retro vibe about them and that’s fine by me. I love that if you shop with a keen eye, you can buy items from the mainstream to fit an “alternative” fashion style.

Freemans has come up trumps for me with their day dresses and they also cater for all us plus size lovelies by going up to a size 32 so you are spoiled for choice at very reasonable prices!

Now…. where has my husband hidden my bank card…. Katie needs to SHOP!!

Katie Beauty

Craig Lawrence & Clynol Submission

Hello Lovelies,

I recently entered a bit of a competition over on the Immediate PR blog in order to win backstage passes to Craig Lawrence’s LFW show. How exciting is that eh?!

I made it through to the first stage of the comp and for part 2, we had to predict a style that will be trend during A/W 2012.

I took my inspiration from Craig’s body of work, along with masses of brainstorming to come up with my completed style board. I decided not to style this one out on myself as I wanted to show lots of variations of the style and what better way to do it than with a style mood board.

When I think of knitwear, which Craig Lawrence is famed for, I think of softly delicate strands intertwined with each other to produce beautifully soft items.

This instantly made me think of curled, soft hair pinned up in a textured bun updo . An elegant, dishevelled ballerina but retaining it’s form and shape. Hair coming back from the face with body, bounce and curl rather than slicked back sleek. Perfect for naturally curly ladies or straight haired girls using appliances.

I’m going to name this trend the Urban Ballerina. Traditional yet edgy and effortless.

With the weather being tricky to predict in A/W a pretty up do can be every womans failsafe go to style. Keeps your hair off your face in those muggy September days and protects your tresses from the window, rain and snow in the depths of winter.

Picture wearing a super soft, snuggly delicate knitted jumper or dress with this hair and I think it would be an easy look to recreate if you’re both naturally curly or need to tong.

The key to this look, in my opinion, is super conditioned hair and loose, effortless curls and to achieve this i’d use my number 1 favourite conditioner, which is actually the Rescue Treatment, to make hair super resilient and glossy.

I have naturally curly hair so i’d define my curls by using Twist Curl Cream to prep and groom the hair before drying and styling. For those ladies with enviable straight hair, a heat protectant is a must before tonging, or you could use Curlformers to set hair overnight without heat or stress.

A perfect messy bun comes from lots of volume and to save the hair from back coming damage, I’d use Thicken Elixir in the ends to plump hair up. Root lift around the crown would boost the volume even more so a good dusting of Powder Punch would really give your hair some OOMPH!

Now when the dark mornings arrive this Autumn, you know you can pull of a perfect, quick and easy up do to stay on trend AND save extra time under that lovely duvet!

Hope you all like my submission. I know I have had a lot of fun researching both Craigs work and some beautiful hair styles… as well as playing around with my own hair too!

I can’t wait to hear what you think of my style board.

Katie Beauty

Decleor & Macdonald Hotels bring you…. Paradise!

Hello lovelies,

I was recently invited down to London for the launch of what sounds to be an awesome new spa experience from the Macdonald hotel chain. Sadly the pesky old day job got in the way so I was unable to attend but the lovely people at Decleor sent me a sample of their Relax Intense Fruit Seed Scrub to try… with a review to follow soon!

I’ve stayed at the Macdonald Holyrood hotel in Edinburgh numerous times and I absolutely love the place and other hotels in their chain certainly do not disappoint. If you get the chance to check out this treatment, I strongly urge you to.

I know I am ready to experience it, booked up for Pay Day!

Exclusive ‘Paradise Escape’ with Decléor

Journey from the Sunshine State, home of the Orange Blossom,

to the Avenue of the Baobabs in Madagascar

Macdonald Hotels & Resorts, the largest privately owned hotel groupin the UK, has introduced its ‘Paradise Escape’ signature treatment across its Spa Collection nationwide.

Available at the hotel group’s 24 Spa Harmony & Serenity locations (from February 2012), this exotic spa experience is an incredibly decadent and relaxing face and body treatment created to provide the ultimate ‘dayscape’ or overnight ‘spacation’.

Inspiration from Paradise

Developed by Cosmetic Aromatherapy experts, Decléor, the spa journey begins with a full body exfoliation using the seeds from the Madagascan fruit known as a Boabab. This powerful fruit has six times more vitamin C than one orange and is grown from trees that are 80% water and live for over 100 years. When applied topically, its intense properties smooth and rejuvenate tired skin. The journey continues with a beautiful expert massage using warm body balms drizzled over the legs and the back with the aid of Decléor’s unique natural massage tool, the Acacia Massager. This innovative tool enables the therapist to work deeply across the whole body, hands and feet to effectively relieve muscular aches and tension.

A gentle facial massage follows using an exceptional elixir of Orange Blossom, the national flower of the sunshine state Florida. With numerous benefits, the Orange Blossom helps to restore the skins youthful glow by aiding skin cell regeneration, works to normalise enlarged pores and is an effective sebum balancing remedy for dry and oily skin conditions.

Whilst the warming face mask cocoons and nurtures the skin, the treatment is completed with more massage to the legs, feet, hands, arms and shoulders easing every ounce of tension from the body to leave you feeling like you have escaped to Paradise.

The Macdonald Spa Experience

Guests to Macdonald Hotels Spa Collection can complete the wellbeing encounter with a pampering session in the spas’ wet and dry facilities which include an aroma steam, rock sauna, salt cave, ice fountain, experience shower and heated pool loungers. For the active, visit the state-of-the-art Technogym® to work up an appetite before retreating to a comfortable relaxation area for a gourmet lunch, presented in stylish bento boxes.

All Macdonald Hotels & Resorts within the Spa Collection are located in desirable settings, from the rolling hills of Scotland to the splendour of the South of England. Each hotel has its own charm and character and offer a range of activities, such as a round of golf at the Macdonald Portal Hotel, Golf & Spa, Cheshire or hill walking within the 44 acres green lad at Macdonald Inchyra Hotel & Spa.

Other notable spa hotels include Macdonald Randolph Hotel, Oxford, the leading 5-star hotel in the area, offering first class accommodation, award-winning food and a sensuous spa that was voted among the world’s Top 50. The Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel, is another hidden haven of beauty and timeless excellence in the heart of historic Bath. Or for a luxury stay in the heart of the city, Macdonald Manchester Hotel & Spa provides the perfect opportunity to explore Manchester‘s stylish city centre and spoil yourself at the world-class spa and award-winning restaurant.

‘We have a genuine passion and dedication to making each guest’s experience unique, this is why, together with Decléor we have designed the ‘Paradise Escape’ spa journey. This new treatment, exclusive to the Macdonald Hotels Spa Collection, allows visitors to enjoy an unrivalled spa escape as well as award winning cuisine, a range of activities indigenous to the surrounding environment and first class accommodation should they choose an overnight stay. We pride ourselves on offering the perfect complete break”

Jeanette Jones, Managing Director of Golf, Leisure & Spa, Macdonald Hotels & Resorts

The ‘Paradise Escape’ signature treatment costs £110 from Monday to Thursday and £115 from Friday to Sunday.

For a full list of Macdonald Spa Hotels please visit www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/spa-fitness

Katie Beauty

Philip Kingsley giveaway reminder

Hello Lovelies,

Don’t forget, you have just 7 days left to enter my awesome Philip Kingsley giveaway.

Details can be found HERE

Don’t forget the check the rules and get tweeting about the giveaway!

Katie Beauty

Beth Ditto for MAC

Hello Lovelies,

I have some super exciting news to share with you all!

The amazing tour de force that is Beth Ditto, front woman of The Gossip and all round legend is collaborating with MAC for a line due out in the summer… around June time.

Not only is Beth an amazing ambassador for being your self, expressing yourself AND being a totally kick ass plus size role model… she is also pretty damn brave and bold with her make up.

I myself am super excited to see her pieces, if this picture is anything to go by!

I think, if these are colours from the line… I might treat myself to the pink lippie and presumably the blue pencil or shadestick!

In the words of Beth herself… “it’s a cruel cruel world… to face on your own”……… so lets wear lipstick and be fabulous.

Are you a fan of Beth Ditto? Will you be checking out her collection?