Wedding Plans...ok it's getting serious now

We have now booked a date for the wedding! it's Sunday 1st August 2010 and that means there's only 354 days to go! Loads of time to plan everything but as I like to be super organised, I have loads of lists and spreadsheets on the go!

I have tried on about 40 dresses between a shop in Aberdeen and shops in Cork, Ireland. I know I should look around more shops than that but I've already found the dress I want! As soon as I put it on I felt so special and it's so flattering (if only all my clothing could be made with corsetry!). I just knew it was "the one".

I would post a picture but my fiance might see it on my blog and we all know that's bad luck so I will post a link instead http://www.essensedesigns.com/dress.php?id=93

The wedding will be at the Lodge on Loch Lomond, which is a beautiful place right next to the water surrounded by mountains. The reception room looks out onto the loch so it's going to be amazing!

We will be doing a celtic theme since I'm Scottish and Chris is Irish so the bouquets and table arrangements will be cream roses, thistles and lots of lovely greenery (pic below to show you what I mean) and there will be lots of celtic touches like a piper! Chris and the best man will be wearing kilts. He is hoping to wear his family tartan so it's even more meaningful. The seats will all be have white covers with tartan ribbon tying them at the back and we are having a ceilidh band so everyone will be doing Scottish dancing for the first couple of hours. This is always lots of fun!

I still need to work out bridesmaids dresses but I like the knee length design below, it's really chic and I love the belt detail:

I even found a cake topper that is a Scottish/Irish celtic design with two hands joining together...perfect!

I'm actually having so much fun planning this wedding, it really appeals to my creative side and I can't wait to get all the little details sorted out nearer the time. I think I'm well on top of everything but hopefully that will reduce the stress!

Bare Faced Minerals

I was sent a few items from the above brand and decided to test them out before work on Monday. The colours are quite wearable so I knew it wouldn't be an overload of colour. They sent me their Lipgloss in Bucks Fizz, mineral blusher in Apricot, mineral Eyeshadow in Gold and Mineral Shimmer powder in Golden Goddess.
As you can see from the swatches (which are in the same order as I listed above) they are really lovely shades and I was really surprised by the colour of the lipgloss. In the tube, the colour looked very dark for me and didn't look very appealing but when it's applied it's a really lovely peachy gold colour. It would be perfect over something like MAC Creme De Nude.
The blusher is a super wearable colour and blends really well, it gives a natural glow to your cheeks which I prefer to anything too full on. I thought these products felt really professional and finely milled (as would be expected). I'm not entirely sold on the shimmer powder just yet as it's a little bit too pale for the cheeks. I would say that you have to be VERY light handed or you could run into the same problem that sometimes happens when you apply Bourjois Blanc Diaphane to your cheeks. If you apply too much, it looks almost ghostly and too frosty which isn't a good look. With a very very light hand though and after bronzer, you can achieve a candlelit glow. I do think there are better products out there to achieve this like Nars Albatross.

I really like the eyeshadow too as it's a true metallic gold and can be applied dry or wet for a more intense colour. I would say it would be wise to apply a base beforehand like a MAC Paint Pot or Benefit Creaseless eyeshadow to help the colour stick and last all day. I tend to do this every time I use a powder eyeshadow though.

All in all, I was impressed with the brand however I did think the lipgloss packaging could be improved as it's not very eye catching. It's a sad fact that in the make-up world, the packaging DOES make a huge difference. People can be seduced into buying something just because it looks pretty! So, lipgloss packaging aside, I really liked the products and will use them again. I will try and incorporate them into a FOTD very soon!

The products are avialable at http://www.barefacedbeauty.co.uk/