Sunday 17 June 2012

Girl Meets Gown

If you haven’t had time to check out the Victoria & Albert’s ballgown exhibition yet, then get down to South Kensington as soon as! I’ve been planning to go and take in all the beautiful dresses since the first moment I read about the planned exhibition months ago, and yesterday, my lovely housemate and I finally got round to it.


I would recommend buying a ticket in advance here, as the exhibition is seriously popular. But if you don’t know what time you fancy going along, there was only a 10 minute queue when I went and then we could see the exhibition 2 hours later. Just enough time for a sunny stroll down to Sloane Square and a cappuccino and apricot croissant in the beautiful V&A cafĂ©.
Unfortunately no photographs are permitted in the exhibition itself, but then I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you anyway... these are the kinds of dresses that are made to be seen in person. It is the perfect mix of older gowns combined with current season dresses straight from the red carpet and the catwalks, which shows the development of styles and tastes through the years. Any designer worth their salt is in there. The Alexander McQueen feather dress, Elizabeth Hurley’s iconic Estee Lauder ad campaign ballgown, BeyoncĂ©’s presidential performance dress and, my personal favourites, Marios Schwab and Christopher Kane beauties.
If you haven’t been, I could not recommend more! If you have, which was your favourite?
You can read more info about the exhibition here.








Sunday Lazy Sunday

Breakfast is my ultimate wake up remedy. I have to admit that, despite my best attempts, I am not a morning person. I'd love to be someone who springs out of bed at 6am, however I admit to being the type that sneaks a few extra winks in wherever feasibly possible. So breakfast has to be something worth getting out of bed for. I try to make it tasty and nutritionally healthy to start the day with a boost, and it's a good opportunity to sneak a few portions of your 5-a-day in; juice, a handful of berries, a bit of greenery. I recommend scouting out the fruit and veg stall at your local market - Leeds City Markets has some great ones, and they often have 2 for £1 deals on melon and packs of berries, as well as selling other cheap seasonal fruit and veg.

Clearly Sunday morning breakfasts are the best, because there's that extra bit of time to make something delicious before wiling away the day drinking copious amounts of tea whilst reading The Sunday Times' Style magazine (although I feel a bit guilty about this as I currently have about a forest's worth stashed under my bed).

Here are some breakfasts that I deemed picture-worthy, I hope it gives you the motivation to get up and go, or happily snuggle down on a rainy Sunday like this!


[Scrambled egg and smoked salmon bagel, poached eggs with spinach and avocado, melon and raspberries with fresh mint and strawberry pancakes make a tasty Sunday morning treat]
[I'm starting to think I should reassess my relationship with berries]
[Of course no breakfast in England is complete without a hearty cup of tea. Apart from the milk no sugar hero, my own breakfast favourites are apple and pear green tea and peppermint]


What are your wake-up remedies? A citrusy shower? 
Strong cup of coffee? Fresh air?


















P.s. Happy Father's Day!

Saturday 16 June 2012

E.l.f Product Review

E.l.f. (eyes, lips, face) is a name that has been bounced around the blogosphere quite a few times now, but having received a delivery a few weeks ago I couldn't help but comment. E.l.f. produces lovely products at an even lovelier price, due to reducing costs incurred by expensive packaging and marketing campaigns. Instead, they focus on the quality of the product and rely on internet branding and word of mouth marketing - a bold move in today's beauty industry.

I ordered 8 products (below) which came to a surprising £12:

[Smudge eye sponge, blushing, bronzing and blending brush, lipstick in Gypsy, nail polish in Fire Coral, all over color stick in Pink Lemonade, tinted moisturiser in Ivory, dual pencil sharpener, brightening eye liner in Coffee]


By far the best of the bunch are the high quality make-up brushes - they are a great texture and the blushing, bronzing and blending brush hasn't dropped any strands yet. The Fire Coral nail polish is a brilliant summery shade; durable, yet easy to remove. It's definitely going to be the most used colour on my toes this summer! The Pink Lemonade all over color stick is also a firm favourite, adding that subtle hint of dewy colour most blushers can't achieve.


[e.l.f. nail polish in Fire Coral]
[All over color stick in Pink Lemonade]


A very impressive, interactive and affordable beauty brand with most products priced at £1.50, e.l.f. also has regular offers such as free delivery or complimentary gifts, so keep your eyes peeled for them here, it's well worth a look.






Sunday 10 June 2012

Welcome to Casper & Co.!

As our first post, we thought we should introduce ourselves properly.

We’re a team of 2, Natalie and Sarah, and after years of reading and admiring blogs, we have decided to venture into the world of blogging ourselves. Natalie currently lives in London but has lived in a city or two in Europe. She works in fashion and studied French and Italian at uni. Sarah has recently moved away from Leeds and, having studied German, Maths and Translation, plans to spend next year freelance translating, modelling and travelling. We met at Leeds University and the rest is history!

Having been inspired by all the wonderful blogs that are out there we’re hoping to combine our favourite interests to hopefully create something that will be as interesting to share with you as we find it! We’ll be writing about everything from fashion to food, from photography and travel to beauty inspiration.

So if you like what you hear, keep an eye out for future posts...