Cinderella moment in my dress of dreams

The dress

It’s funny how sometimes you see an item of clothing and you can instantly visualise an outfit and exactly how it will make you feel. This is exactly what happened with this dress.

Knowing we had an incredible black tie wedding to attend in January and with an idea of what style I wanted I set about searching for an appropriate dress as I knew I didn’t have anything that I’d be happy wearing for the occasion. I searched all my usual high street haunts – ASOS, Zara, Mango, H&M, Ted Baker etc etc but nothing came close to what I was visualising. So I went slightly off my usual piste and tried theoutnet.com for inspiration. Well that was a dangerous exercise! As soon as I spotted this Mikael Aghal gown I knew it was the one.

If you are a regular visitor to my blog or Instagram page you will know that I am somewhat of a bargain hunter so the premise of theoutnet.com does technically tick the box but alas it is slightly outside my usual self imposed budgets of what I deem acceptable to spend on an item. So no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that it really was a bargain (I mean, it was 65% off!) I just couldn’t make myself press the ‘Proceed to checkout’ button.

And so my search continued. High and low I searched but nothing came close. My heart yearned for ‘the dress’.

Then my husband, being the wonderful man he is, offered to get it for me as my Christmas present💗  It might seem a bit silly getting something as frivolous as a dress for Christmas but it honestly makes me so happy just looking at it hanging in my bedroom. Plus I’m sure I’ll get loads of wear out of it…you know…on the school run and stuff so yeah, totally justified 🙊

Anyway, it arrived, fitted like it was made for me and was perfection. I decided it needed a little lift towards the imminent arrival of Spring so I added a length of lilac velvet ribbon, that I found on eBay, to the waist and my bargainous and crazily comfortable pink velvet Dorothy Perkins heels.  As the dress was quite delicate and pretty I wanted to harden my bag accessorizing up a bit so added a little studded suede bag with silver metal chain from Zara. For earrings I borrowed my Mother’s epic art deco diamond target earrings that I wore for my wedding. They’re so incredibly beautiful and I’m amazingly lucky to be allowed to wear them!

Hair

I wanted to keep my hair quite understated but classic so I created waves using the Hot Tools 25mm curl bar and loosely pinned the front up to make sure the neckline wasn’t too visually heavy and fussy with the black netting and my very thick hair!

Makeup

For make up I wanted to go for a pinky palette so went for ASOS matt lipstick in ‘Uncompromising‘ (it’s only £7! Their lipsticks are incredible value and last really well) and bareMinerals READY Blush in ‘The One‘. For eyes I used Maybelline eye palette ‘The blushed nudes‘ and used a combo of the smoky greys and warmer pinky browns to make my green eyes pop a little.

Since the wedding I’ve managed to find some similar and really beautiful, much more purse friendly options:

This ASOS berry maxi dress with lace insert and pleated skirt is a bargain at £38. Nice to have the glamour and arm coverage that the cape offers.

Another ASOS winner is this pretty lace panel maxi for £68.

I really love the textures and movement in this Coast off the shoulder dress. £149.

Ok, so this obviously isn’t similar but I had to include this stunning Rixo sequin dress as it seriously makes my heart sing on so many levels. The colour combination, the cut, the slight puff to the sleeves, the length. This would have been a strong contender for the dress of choice but alas it wasn’t out in time. Totally adore it though!