Alice in Wonderland Tea & Pyjama Party Photo Diary

Alice in Wonderland Tea & Pyjama Party Photo Diary

Thursday, 23 June 2016

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If you've been following me for any amount of time you'll know that I love Alice in Wonderland! A lot! And we all know how much I love cake! I particularly love when those two things combine, especially after the Alice in Wonderland themed afternoon tea I went to back in March (read more about that here). It was amazing and I was eager to recreate the experience, luckily a couple of my friends were too!  

A couple of weeks back we had an Alice in Wonderland themed tea/pyjama party. Needless to say it was amazing! We wore our comfiest jim jams, ate loads of delicious food all made by my crazy talented friend Charlotte, watched the film (the Tim Burton one, not the original) and then ended the night by playing Cards Against Humanity, which is not Alice themed but loads of fun! We had a really good night. The food and decorations looked amazing, all made by Charlotte, so I thought I had to share some of the pictures with you lot.

What have you guys been up to lately? Also what do  you think of my Photo Diary posts, are they something you want to see more of? Let me know by commenting below, on twitter, or dropping me an email at lolarocknroses@gmail.com. Also check out my instagram, facebook, bloglovin', snapchat -search lolarocknroses - & pinterest for regular updates.

Love love love xxx

Urban Decay's Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass Palette Review

Urban Decay's Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass Palette Review

Saturday, 4 June 2016

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To celebrate the long awaited release of Disney's Alice Through The Looking Glass. Disney have teamed up with the purveyor of cult eyeshadow palettes, Urban Decay, to create one of the most beautiful collections I've ever seen. Now when I saw what was in the collection I was beyond excited. I'm a HUGE fan of Alice in Wonderland, it's one of my favourite childhood books and I was OBSESSED with the first film! So you can imagine how eager I was to get my hands on it. 

The collection is made up of a stunning eyeshadow palette and 5 unusual, but incredibly beautiful lipsticks. The lipsticks were all sold out, annoyingly, but I did manage to get a palette into my basket before they'd all gone. After testing it out for the past couple of weeks I'm finally ready to give my verdict, and, SPOILER ALERT, it is good! 

First of all we need to talk about the packaging, - that packaging though! - because it is the most beautiful packaging I think I've ever seen. Featuring a kaleidoscope pattern, psychedelic roses, quotes from the book and film, and a stunning pop-up butterfly, as well as a good sized mirror, it is very much in keeping with all the whimsical and wonderful weirdness of the film, whilst also being absolutely gorgeous. Like, seriously! It's amazing. 

So now on to the shadows themselves. Urban Decay are known for their awesome eyeshadow palettes, the Naked palette anyone?, and this one is no exception. The palette has 20 shadows, with everything from earthy toned neutrals to bright and bold statement colours, with both matte and shimmery finishes.  Each column is themed around a specific character in the film: Alice, the Mad Hatter, Mirana (the White Queen), Iracebeth (the Red Queen) and Time. Alice's column has three peachy toned neutrals and a sky blue, reminiscent of her iconic blue dress. The Mad Hatter's has an emerald green, a dark, smokey purple, a bright orange and a dark fuchsia. Mirana has four earthy neutrals with a shimmery white, that works perfectly as a highlighter shade. Iracebeth has much brighter tones: a gorgeous icy turquoise, a royal blue, a deep rusty red (one of my faves) and a peachy nude. Time is the darkest column, with a deep, dark navy, a light, purple-y grey glitter, a rich chocolate-y bronze and a gun metal grey. The colours are beautiful and vibrant and the quality of the shadows is insanely good! I would expect nothing less of UD. They're finely milled, buttery-soft, easy to blend and, for such bright colours, surprisingly wearable. I've swatched my favourites below, from left to right they are Kingdom - a shimmery orange-bronze, Salazen Grum - a glittery ruby red, Chronospher - a toasted bronze, Dream On - a glittery lilac and Mirror - a dark silver. 

You can see from the swatches that they apply beautifully, with very little fall out and have excellent colour pay-off. It's amazing! and has quickly become one of my go to eyeshadow palettes. Seriously, I'm so in love with it and strongly recommend picking it up, if you still can, if you love to experiment with bright, bold statement eyeshadow looks. Sadly the collection is completely out of stock everywhere online, but may still be available in store at Urban Decay stockists. Find out more here and here.

Have you tried UD's Alice in Wonderland palette? Let me know by commenting below, on twitter, or dropping me an email at lolarocknroses@gmail.com. Also check out my instagram, facebook, bloglovin', snapchat -search lolarocknroses - & pinterest for regular updates.

Love love love xxx

Down the Rabbit Hole Afternoon Tea

Down the Rabbit Hole Afternoon Tea

Monday, 28 March 2016

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I know I don't usually post on Mondays but this long weekend has got me all discombobulated and I thought yesterday was Saturday. So Happy Easter Monday lovely people!  As the Easter bunny has visited, and left you all a ton of chocolate I hope, now seemed like an appropriate time to tell you about the time me, my mum and sister went down the rabbit hole (metaphorically not actually) and had an Alice in Wonderland themed afternoon tea. 

A few Saturday's ago my sister and I took our mum to The Sugar Boutique in Knebworth for afternoon tea, as a belated mother's day treat, and we had the best time. Tea, chat and lots of cake are three of my favourite things. Add two of my favourite people to that equation and I really did have a great time. 

The Sugar Boutique is the cutest little shop. It's themed around Alice in Wonderland, the owner Natasha, told us that it was her favourite book when she was little, and the shop she's created is absolutely adorable. It's very warm and welcoming with a lovely atmosphere. And the food was amazing!  Like seriously. There were tiny chicken and bacon sandwiches, egg mayonnaise stuffed pastry carrots, crackers with cheese and chutney, mini victoria sponge cakes, marshmallows, pocket watch iced shortbread biscuits, chocolate cup cakes in jars with iced shortbread bunny ears, strawberries and white chocolate and raspberry mousse in glass teacups. Everything was delicious, particularly the bunny cupcakes in jars! Which was so good I didn't get a picture of it before I'd starting  shovelling it in to my face. 

We had such a lovely afternoon. The staff, Natasha and Kirsty, were really friendly and so accommodating. The Sugar Boutique doesn't have an alcohol license but they were happy to let us take a bottle of prosecco with us, so we could toast our mum with some bubbles, and they were really nice about me taking pictures - some places can be a bit funny about it. - Honestly, I can't recommend it enough. If you live in Hertfordshire, and can get to Knebworth, then you need to pay a visit to The Sugar Boutique. It costs £20 per person and if you'd like to make a booking then you can contact The Sugar Boutique on 01438 221144 or via email at sugarboutique@icloud.com. You can also find them on instagram, twitter, facebook and their website www.sugar-boutique.co.uk

Where's the best place you've been for afternoon tea? Let me know in the comments below, on twitter, or dropping me an email at lolarocknroses@gmail.com. Also check out my instagram, facebook, bloglovin', snapchat - search lolarocknroses - & pinterest for regular updates.

*Disclaimer* This is NOT a sponsored post, I was paid nothing to review The Sugar Boutique. All opinions and views expressed are my own.

The Weekly Round Up #13: T.K. Maxx bargains, An 80p Wonder Concealer, Afternoon Tea & Accidentally Turning 3

The Weekly Round Up #13: T.K. Maxx bargains, An 80p Wonder Concealer, Afternoon Tea & Accidentally Turning 3

Sunday, 20 March 2016

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Happy first day of Spring lovely people! Spring feels like it's been a really long time coming this year but at last! It's here. Let the pimms, picnics and general giddiness for summer commence. But before we get too excited let's talk about the last week shall we?

Nars Eyeshadow Duo in Vent Glacé - £5.99 from T.K Maxx instore

You guys know that the beauty aisle at T.K. Maxx is my spiritual home. I make weekly trips to see if I can unearth any hidden gems, and I always do. This week I found the holy grail... an undamaged Nars eyeshadow duo. For £5.99. This duo is worth £25 and I paid £5.99. I'll let that sink in. I've only swatched it on the back of my hand but so far so good. The colours aren't as pigmented as I would like, especially for such a luxury brand as Nars, but they are very pretty and would look really nice washed over the lid for a more subtle day look.

Primark P.S. Concealer in Light - £0.80 from Primark

The general consensus for Primark's PS make up range is that it's seriously good stuff with a seriously low price tag. Honestly I haven't tried much of it BUT what I have tried I've loved. I'm a big fan of their nail polish and the nail polisher remover twist pot. So when I was in Primark last weekend and spotted the make up stand I thought it was definitely worth a look. This concealer jumped out at me, as someone with acne ridden skin I'm always on the hunt for concealer, and at just 80p it was definitely worth a try. It is so good, maybe one of the best concealers I have ever come across. and it cost less than £1! It gives really good coverage and is creamy without being too thick or feeling too heavy on the skin. It does crease under the eyes slightly, but really not very much, and the colour is an excellent match for me. I've been back and bought more, that's how good it is! Try it and let me know what you think. 

On Saturday me and my sister took our mum to The Sugar Boutique Cupcakery in Knebworth for an Alice in Wonderland themed afternoon tea for her Mother's Day treat. I'll be putting up a more detailed post next week but for now I will tell you that it was incredible and let the pictures say the rest.

On 10th March 2016 my blog turned 3, and I didn't even notice! I knew my three year blog-aversary was coming up but couldn't remember the actual date. By the time it occurred to me to check, it had been and gone, making me feel like the worst blog mother ever. So I'm wishing my small corner of the Internet a belated, but very Happy Birthday! And will happily eat the cupcake I bought for it.  I will have some exciting stuff coming up in the next few weeks to celebrate but until then you can read my first ever post here and I'll be quietly cringing in a corner.

How's your week been? Let me know in the comments below, on twitter, or dropping me an email at lolarocknroses@gmail.com. Also check out my instagram, facebook, bloglovin', snapchat - search lolarocknroses - & pinterest for regular updates.

Love love love xxx