Vintage Rocks Parlour, Home of My Little Pony Colour Do's & Stunning Bridal Ensembles Gave Me a 90s Hair Makeover

The Vintage Rocks Dream Team

My long term go-to salon is Belfast's  Vintage Rocks Hair Parlour. When Michael was a toddler he used to bring his own G-tech sweeper with him and brush up all the hair. With this year being so hectic, I hadn't had a chance to visit in months, so my hair had grown really long and definitely needed a makeover.

Yikes  

This is the 'before'. A home ombre job which wasn't too terrible, but that has roughed up the texture of the hair. Unstraightened this is the nightmare I'm faced with. 

I'd been watching a lot of MTV's Laguna Beach and The Hills recently and was totally sold on the over the top 90s' style dramatic highlights. 

Highlighted to high heaven on The Hills

What I love about going to Clare at Vintage Rocks is she will always try to do what you actually want. If I approached another hairdresser and asked for 'un-natural looking, 90s' mega highlights please' they'd probably assume to themselves I'd end up happier if they made them more natural and go ahead and do that. Clare will listen to what you want, should it be shaved sides with leopard print, or pink roots and blue ends, and if she can do it, she'll do it, and it'll look good too. 

On a similar note Clare isn't one of those heart stopping hairdressers who you ask to take an inch off and ten seconds later they've chopped about six inches off and you're getting a lecture about the ends being split. No, you're in safe hands with Clare and you'll never leave Vintage Rocks in tears! 

I have a lot of hair

So somehow, from dark brown roots with bleached ombre ends, Clare got my hair in one highlighting & toning step to an all over even effect. It's exactly how I wanted it, as usual! 

My hair being the straightest it will probably ever be

Vintage Rocks is pretty much your default destination in Northern Ireland for cool colours too. They are weird colour experts, so  visit their website and send them an email if you want to chat rainbow hair ideas.

Brides to be, check out their gallery and ask about trial dos in the salon. 

Lavish Silk Scarves Without the Huge Price Tag from Charmchuri.com

Nitsha Shepherd is passionate about silk. With ten years experience in the trade, Nitsha has just launched Charmchuri, an online store with the mission of making luxurious silk scarves available at a more accessible price range for us budget-strapped fashion enthusiasts.

Nitsha models the scarves in the online store and shows you the versatility of ways to wear them

She invited me to browse CharmChuri and pick my favourite design. This was a hard task! There are at least a dozen of the vibrant, bright and beautiful scarves I would love to own. I finally settled on a huge square scarf, in autumnal colours with oceanic blue highlights. 

The print is Native American themed, it's very sweet. It makes me think of Disney's Small, Small World.

I love scarves and have quite a large collection already, but this CharmChuri one is probably the largest size I've owned. The size makes it really versatile, with tonnes of different ways to wear.  

You can see the size in relation to my foot poking in at the bottom of the photo. 

Despite the large size, due to the quality of the silk the scarf isn't bulky when you do fold it to wear. I simply folded mine inwards, twisted it and tied.

It's as well that I'm going to the hairdresser tomorrow!! 

So that was my choice, but here are some of my other favourites, modelled by Nitsha herself. You can see how tricky it was to pick a favourite. All the designs are so vivid and the colour schemes are fab. If I had to pick another scarf I'd probably go for one with the cherry blossom pink hues in its design.

There are also prints with hot pink complemented by turquoise and purple jewel tones.

If you're loving the scarves as much as me, then you'll be pleased to hear that by signing up to the CharmChuri newsletter, you get 20% off the already reasonable price. My scarf was £59, so with the discount it would be £47.20

Also worth noting there is free UK delivery with no minimum purchase price.

These would make lovely Christmas gifts should your family include any fashion lovers.  

You can connect with Nitsha on  the CharmChuri Facebook Page and check out new designs and ways to wear on the Charmchuri Instagram account.

Bangor Shines With Its Own Fashion Night Out

Last week Menary's in Bangor held a Fashion Night Out.

The event, hosted by Cool FM’s Rebecca McKinney and local fashionista, Cathy Martin supported the work of the NSPCC Northern Ireland and showcased a fantastic range of fashion and accessory brands available across the participating stores;- Menarys, Tempest, Excel Clothing, DV8, Surf Mountain, Bailies on Main, The Zip Yard and Telford Opticians.  Guests were treated to fizz, nibbles, goodie bags and mini manicures.

The night was a huge success, with tickets selling out completely before the night itself.

Michael & I popped down to check it out, but sadly he was so tired from his school trip that same day, we didn't get to stay too long. 

Check into the Main Street, My Street Facebook page to keep up-to-date with the latest news, promotions and great competitions. 

www.facebook.com/mainstreetmystreet

Could You Eat Reindeer This Christmas? Share a Lidl Magic

Tonight Michael and I went along to probably the most impressive launch night we've been to, as  Lidl NI showcased their range for Christmas 2015.

They had set up a replica Christmas market inside the Life Church in Belfast. Sparkly lights on Christmas trees and stalls brimming with treats. 

The entertainment came in the form of the Bugle Babes. 

So what can we expect in store? As usual Lidl's deluxe range is out of this world, with oysters, chowder and the finest meats. 

Have you ever made one of these gingerbread houses? I've tried. Never again. So thank goodness Lidl have a ready made one you can buy! 

These little desserts are so cute. One is chocolate orange and it tastes amazing. Good idea as a Christmas dinner dessert, when you're so full of turkey & trimmings that you couldn't squeeze a full size dessert in. 

And here it is, the infamous reindeer meat! Could you try it without feeling like you're chowing down on Rudolph? 

My Mum always does a buffet on Boxing Day, so I'm going to have to bring a pack of this and see what everyone's reaction is! 

I realised I had never tried oysters before. They were tasty. 

So there we have it. A little taster of Lidl Christmas 2015. I'm all in a Christmassy mood now. 

Halloween 2015 at Lidl NI- Pumpkin Print Sausages & Crisps So Hot They Carry a Warning.

Today Lidl NI's Halloween stock for 2015 arrived in store, and this year is bigger than ever. The pumpkin print sausages are back, but this year the food range includes home baking, trick or treat supplies, and even crisps so spicy they come with a warning that they aren't suitable for children!

Here's what we found in the Bangor store, and you can check out the clothing & fancy dress options on  the Lidl NI website.

WIN a 3 Day Trial of The New You Plan. Will It Be Your Weight Loss Wonder?

If you read my blog regularly you'll have seen my trial week of the total food replacement diet,  The New You Plan. It's the brain child of a local Northern Irish woman, Julie-Ann, who has built up the brand from scratch. There are other total food replacement diets out there, but the key to New You is the Secret Slimmers Facebook Page, made up of hundreds of customers sharing their highs & lows, successes & slip ups. The support you get from it is priceless, and talking to women who have lost 3 or 4 stone on th plan motivates you to stick with it.

I've put together a prize pack from products I've bought from them myself, but I really want to give someone else a chance to try the diet plan themselves, so I've boxed a three day supply of products. New You Plan have supplied a tshirt and mixer bottle for the shakes for the winner also. They also will give you access to the private Secret Slimmers group.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My own weight loss is going well, I was 9st 12 about six weeks ago, and I'm 9st 3 now. This was partially done with New You. It was the kick start I needed. 

Should you want to go ahead and place an order yourself in the meantime, there are some excellent bundle discounts at the moment. 

Good luck, and if you've any questions then you can tweet me @rudedoodle. Please also note the advice below before starting any kind of low calorie diet. 

Fall In Love With Powder's Showstopping Accessories

I featured their faux fur muffs last week, but held off sharing their other accessories because Lisa & Lesley from Powder were extremely kindly sending me some items to review.

When I opened the plain cardboard box everything arrived in, I was greeted with this; probably the most show-stopping packaging I have ever received in my six years of blogging. 

If you're buying Christmas presents for a lady in your life this year, then I'm pretty sure this is what they would love to see under the Christmas tree. In fact it's so stunning it almost looks like Christmas decor itself.  

But what lies inside this majestic, golden trimmed box?  

It holds one of  Powder's gorgeous soft felt hats. The store has a full range of designs and colour combinations to choose from. I think the prices are really reasonable. The hats are beautiful in quality and design.

But the hat wasn't all that arrived! I also had these two luxe gift bags, each sealed with a big satin ribbon. 

The first gift bag contained  Powder over the knee socks. I received the long, lace top socks in a rich mustard colour. It was Powder socks we initially found in Menary's in Bangor, where Michael saw a bright green pair that he wants to buy me for Christmas.

The little buttons on the socks are just so cute and you can see why the tag line is 'superior Scottish socks'. There's that running joke about getting socks for Christmas, but these Powder designs are pairs that you'd actually be happy about receiving on Christmas Day. 

My final gift from Powder is a pair of their  stylish gloves. Again the online store has a fantastic range of designs and colour choices, all which have a retro feel to them. I have the classic dogtooth print glove in a soft, grey felt fabric. The little button and panel design give them a vintage, driving glove look that I just love.

Powder UK is just so totally a World of Kitsch brand, so I know you all will love these accessories too. Let me know on Twitter if you buy something (@rudedoodle) and start dropping hints now if you want someone to gift you everything Powder this Christmas. 

Two Days Left to Take Advantage of the Clarins #Feed10 Gift at Menary's

There's only today and tomorrow left to get to your local Menary's store, visit their Clarins concession and pick up their free Feed 10 gift bag.

Buy two Clarins products, one being Skincare, and they'll gift you everything shown in the picture above. Great sized samples to try out and find a new favourite. You're also doing a good deed as for every #Feed10 gifts given out, Clarins will feed ten vulnerable children worldwide. 

Heres a quick look at each of the free products. 

Moisture Rich Body Lotion. Very smooth and easily absorbed, this is pretty much a full size product. 

Hydra-Quench Mask. Creamy, gentle and a pleasant scent. 

Exfoliating Gentle Refiner. I really like the texture. The microbeads make you feel like you're really giving your skin a total freshening up. 

Relax Bath & Shower Concentrate. I'm not a bath person, but I'm going to let my son keep this for his bath times. 

Hand and Nail Cream. Another product I don't use personally, but my Mum loves a good hand moisturiser, so I'll pass this along to her. 

The lovely Jennifer at Bangor Menary's also gave me the current Clinique Bonus offer when we visited last Saturday. Unfortunately that was the last day of that current offer, but they usually always have some sort of offer running, to try your local Menary's to see what offer followed up this one. 

The reason I'm still featuring it is because I was really impressed with the  Clinique Long Last Lipstick in the shade Blushing Nude.

My usual nude lipstick is Naked Beige by Soap & Glory, but this is a very close match and the texture is a real jump up in quality. It's very creamy & feels great on. I think I'll swap over to this for my day to day lip, and buy it again when the sample runs out. 

So visit your local Menary's for the Feed 10 Clarins offer until 4th October, and check out the other beauty concessions for their individual current offers. I would post about Bangor's Fashion Night Out next Thursday, but their PR lady says it's practically sold out already. If you see me and Smix at it, say hi!