BRAvo for ULTIMO'S House of Fraser Launch

On Thursday evening, both Mimi & I hotfooted it down to House of Fraser, Glasgow for lingerie brand ULTIMO'S launch of their concession store in house.

   Headed by Glaswegian tycoon Michelle Mone, ULTIMO catapulted to fame in 1999 with the launch of their first bra at Selfridges selling out in a mere 24 hours. Years of unprecedented success later, with many well known faces & of course, bodies, having modelled for the brand, it's a name that I've always known of & associated with well-fitting, stylish lingerie. So you can imagine my delight when the RSVP to the invitation required my bra & underwear size!

On arrival we were offered a glass of fizz or orange juice (us tea-totalers opted for the latter) & we were then free to peruse the collection on display, all beautifully presented & true a feast for the eyes. Use of bold colours, lace & the ULTIMO signature plunge design for cleavage boosting power, one set was nicer than the next. Your black, white & flesh coloured staple pieces were also on show but it was this hot pink combo which caught my eye. Ohh mama!! 

ULTIMO'S beautiful bridal collection boasting many solution products is also available at this first-ever Scottish concession store & with a team of dedicated ULTIMO staff & free bra fitting service, I presume it will become a hot-spot for all your lingerie needs. 

We were delighted to see a few familiar faces amongst the modest crowd of invitees, including the gorgeous Nicki McCourt of STV Glasgow & Steph Telfer of Scottish Wedding Directory. Always a pleasure to chat to these uber talented gals & was comforting to know some peeps there considering this was our first launch event as bloggers and all. The ever-glamorous Michelle Mone herself was also there, looking fabulous in a fitting white top & checkered trousers, with her golden locks coiffeeured to perfection & her makeup pristine.  

As guests started to say their goodbyes, we finished up our drinks & caught up with the beautiful Kat Campbell of ULTIMO (who'd kindly invited us) who presented us both with a goodie bag! On later inspection (as soon as we left!) we found a stunning  lingerie set, a YSL foundation sample & a 100ml bottle of Paul Smith Optimistic Woman. Thrilled! 

My gorgeous black lace & baby pink satin underlay bra & knickers set fits perfectly! I ADORE it! At a 32E I sometimes struggle to find a padded bra (which I prefer as I feel it gives better support!) in my size as these tend to be exclusive to A-C cups in other brands. I wore it on Sunday whilst out for lunch & you know that special feeling you get from putting on pretty new lingerie? Well, I got it wearing this set for sure! Almost too nice to wear hidden under clothes!! 

A huge thank you to ULTIMO & our beautiful friend Kat who kindly invited us along. 

A pit stop at Yo Sushi & then we were off home, goody bags in hand & feeling very special indeed at being invited to such a swish event! 

BRAvo ULTIMO! 

Be sure to check out their concession store in House of Fraser ASAP! 

Weesse xx

Useful Links

http://www.ultimo.co.uk

http://m.yosushi.com

http://www.paulsmith.co.uk

http://www.yslbeauty.co.uk/exclusive

REVIEW: House of Fraser Glasgow Urban Decay Event

Hi there!

Mimi here, completing my first blog entry for the Mimi and Weesse blog! Hope you are enjoying our posts so far. If you would like us to cover anything or review any products or services, please get in touch (totes not a hint to send us free stuff).

This post is a review of an Itison event I attended last week. House of Fraser in Glasgow were running their 'Beauty Confidential' event, which comprised various elements including demonstrations and discount offers. I purchased a ticket for the Urban Decay launch for the Thursday at 5pm and couldn't wait!

I arrived at Urban Decay and was greeted by the lovely Dionne. Orange juice in hand (pink fizz was also available) I was shown to a seat and so my 45 minute personal consultation/makeover began. The Urban Decay area was absolutely buzzing with various other ladies all getting tips and advice from the reps.

The event marked the opening of an UD area in Fraser's, with the only only one in Glasgow being at Debenhams, so Dionne was keen to talk me through various products while she asked me what kind of "look" I wanted to go for that afternoon. I have a confession to make: I LOVE getting my make-up done. Like, love it. I find it crazy relaxing. I even love watching people do their own make-up (see when people do their make-up on the train? Could actually send me to sleep it's so chillin'!). Therefore, it really didn't matter to me what Dionne done to my face, so long as she stroked it with lovely expensive make-up brushes and I got to smell lipstick I was happy :)

In spite of my indifference, Dionne was keen to keep me involved in the process and she showed me various different foundation samples and primers, asking me what kind of skin I had and what make-up preferences I had (heavy all the way baby). She started by prepping my face with their Vitamin Spray, which smelled just like Watermelon, followed by their Primer placed on my oiliest parts (forehead, nose and chin). She then buffed in their loose powder which, although a powder, contains tiny beads of water which add moisture and hydration. Right away my usually shiny forehead was matte.

After choosing a foundation shade (I was shade number 1), she contoured my face just so with a contouring palette. I was amazed at how little she used and the effect it gave me...this, I was told, was due to the high pigmentation levels in the product. A little really went a looong way!

Once my base was complete, we moved onto eyes. Now, UD is famous for their shadow collection, the NAKED Palettes. She showed me their NAKED2 palette which was full of gorgeous shimmering metallics and browns, as well as more matte neutrals. 

After prepping my eye with Eden (and eye-shadow primer is ESSENTIAL so I am told) she asked me to select my 3 favourite shades and got to work blending those bad boys together. After a precisely applied flick of black liner and light coat of mascara (according to Dionne I have good eyelashes anyway) all that was left were the brows.

Now, brows are a big thing to me. Like a BIG thing. Like MY thing. I like to think when I die, my tombstone will read "Emma Corcoran: brows were her thing". We had a long chat about our mutual brow appreciation and how they are most definitely a personal thing. I have not been blessed with symmetrical brows, nor are they dark in colour. I also have the odd bald patch meaning filling them in on a daily basis is A MUST. I normally use Boots' Natural Collection's eye-shadow in Walnut mixed with Illamasqua's Sealing Gel which gives me a nice liquid gel consistency pigment to paint on. Dionne however showed me how to use UD's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil, warmed up on the back of the hand with a  small angled brush, to create a long-lasting defined line. Now at first, the shape wasn't me. It was good, just not "me". But, after taking a photograph I realised she had actually attained some symmetry between my brows and that the shape actually suited me, even if it wasn't what I was used to (more curved than straight). It was conclusive...brows were definitely still my thing.

After applying a slick of a gorgeous matte nude lipstick, my 45 minute (which was in reality 1 hour) makeover was complete, and I was delighted! For a measly £5 I had been given a whistle stop tour of UD's best products, as well as a few of the newbies on offer, all while chatting to a really genuine and friendly rep. There was no pressure to buy any full size items and I even left with a couple of sample-sized products to boot. RESULT!

A quick takeaway order in Yo Sushi and a visit to Zara later, I snuck into the changing rooms to take this selfie of my makeover.

Moral of the story: get your make-up done once in a while. Even if you're not going anywhere (I wasn't). It's relaxing, usually cheap and you deserve it, right, okay?!

Second moral of the story: Try something new. Reconsidering my brow-filling regime as a result of Dionne's advice. She MUST have been good.

So go check our Urban Decay's new store in House of Fraser in Glasgow- great selection of products, and if you have never tried the brand you don't know what you are missing!

Mimi x

PS- That tan leather skirt behind me in my selfie? Bought it and I loves it. Here's a link :)