Events: the Big SMAC-Down

Last month saw the first meeting of the Scottish Macaroni Appreciation Club - or SMAC for short - held at Sloans in the City Centre. The event sold out in a day and I wasn't quick  enough to snap up a ticket, so told myself I would definitely make an effort to get along to this month's event, which was held last night. The concept is very appealing to me - people that love macaroni sit around eating lots of macaroni and talking about it. Throw in some cheesy tunes and a friendly atmosphere and it sounds like my kind of party.

I do love macaroni - I get mistaken for a vegetarian sometimes because if it's available on a pub menu I will be likely to pick it over a meatier option. I'm no macaroni snob though - in fact one of my guiltiest pleasures is a box of Kraft Cheesy Pasta/ Mac and Cheese. I know, I know. "It's not real macaroni" my foodie friends will cry. "It's bright orange", "it's never seen actual cheese in it's life", and so on. I don't care, it's neon coloured and basically the hot, pasta version of Wotsits but I stand by my choice. That said, I do love a gourmet mac too - one of my favourites is lobster mac and cheese. It's amazing.

I was very excited about going to SMAC as I do get excited about any kind of themed occasion. I did not have enough time to pull together a proper macaroni themed outfit (IMAGINE) but decided to do a nail art tribute using some orange and yellow OPI nail polishes. I decided on a dress with a bit of stretch in it to help handle the food baby sure to emerge later in the evening (turned out to be a smart choice since I asked for seconds) I also threw on a pair of orange tights in attempt to 'mac it up' and headed into town. The orange tights were declared to be 'sexy' by some passing jake at the subway station - not my target audience but I will take it! Maybe he thought my legs were super tanned due to his own tanning of some (Tennents) Super? I'd love a pair of macaroni patterned screenprinted tights - anyone want to make me a pair?

Onto the event itself! My faithful cohorts and I rocked up to Sloans restaurant and were shown to our table. Good thing we booked tickets as it was very busy. At each seat we had a printed guide to the evening ahead and the macaroni's that would be served. That night it was going to be Stornaway black pudding, caramelised sweet potato with rosemary & garlic and Sloans' original macaroni's. The fourth dish was the much-discussed 'Mystery Mac' which would be revealed later in the evening to be cauliflower mac and cheese - apparently President Obama's favourite kind.

After trying all four dishes (and sides) we were given the opportunity to vote for our favourite and see which would be crowned the winning dish (or 'SMAC Daddy'). It was a close call, all of the macaroni's were delicious and I thought I was going to vote for the sweet potato one until I tried the Mystery Mac (which I am now calling Barack and Cheese). The cauliflower one was awesome - turns out I like cauliflower, who knew?!

The staff running the event were super nice and very efficient. The atmosphere was good, it didn't take itself too seriously and a bit of humour was definitely thrown in which helped keep things fun. We were each given a card with 'SMAC Founder Member' printed on it which I thought was a nice touch! We were also all 'sworn in' to the club by reciting the following pledge:

I hereby pledge allegiance to all things macaroni, regardless of creed, consistency or topping, so help me SMAC

It was a funny moment! After the plates were cleared away the cheesy pop songs were pumped up and I spent some time sitting chatting before heading home. I would recommend popping along to SMAC if you like your food, conversation and music with a huge serving of cheese! I had a brilliant time and will most definitely be back for another helping. 

Are you a macaroni fan? Have you been to SMAC? Did a jake yell at your legs this week?

Beauty Bites: MAC Archie's Girls and Dainty Doll

 
This month I have been trying to be good and not buy lots of products because I will be going to the States in May and will most likely stock up on make up and other beauty products while I'm there. This month however also saw the hotly-anticipated release of the MAC x Archie's Girls collaboration which was bad timing for me because boy, do I sure love a MAC collaboration! I was very sensible and limited myself to one item only so that I could still enjoy the new collection but not go overboard. A friend went to MAC on my behalf to pick up said item which was another sensible choice since one peek of the other make-up available would have probably sent my 'one item' rule packing!

All of the items in the collection are beautifully packaged in hard white plastic featuring cartoon graphics of the Archie Comics characters. Presentation always gets my attention and MAC always get it right - especially in fun collaborations such as Hello Kitty, Heatherette, Disney Villains and now, Archie's Girls.

I chose one of the lipsticks from the Veronica line in the collection, called Boyfriend Stealer. As the name suggests, it's a sassy, vampy shade described by MAC as a 'blackened plum' in a 'deep, seductive tone'. I had been keen to try out a plum for ages so decided this would be the perfect opportunity. It certainly is very dark, especially at first glance while still in the tube, but can be worn in different ways depending on how bold a look you want to achieve. I wanted to go quite dark (go big or go home, right?) so swiped on a couple of layers to build up a more opaque look. As the lipstick is made from the same formula as MAC's Cremesheen lipsticks, it has a smooth application and a slightly shiny finish. It feels soft on the lips and despite being moderately pigmented it does not stain the lips and is easy to remove. No chance of those pesky stains the next day ("been eating liquorice?").

I decided to embrace the full vamp effect and wore it out to a gig with a black lace Betsey Johnson dress. I would recommend wearing a lipliner with this one, I always think with a bold lip you need to make sure it looks neat. I picked up a very inexpensive one from Collection that did the job nicely.

In a previous post I had mentioned picking up a blusher from Nicola Roberts' Dainty Doll collection. I had been very interested to try this brand as it promises to not only cater to, but actually be intended for pale skinned lasses like myself. Impressed? Very. The brand is still relatively new, yet has managed to establish themselves as a leading cosmetics line on a mission to 'enhance the beauty of fairer skin tones'. On a good day I look like Casper the Ghost so any assistance is appreciated!

One of the other things about Dainty Doll I admire is their dedication to using high-quality ingredients intended to improve your skin. The blusher I bought contains vitamins A and E, and is rich in antioxidants to help boost the skin naturally. Sounds good to me! I chose shade 02 called My Girl (which immediately conjured up visions of Macaulay Culkin being chased by bees but that is another blog post altogether) which is a sugary, sweet bright pink. It's the colour of cotton candy and I really like it. The colour is highly pigmented which meant that just one sweep gave my cheeks a healthy flush and a couple of sweeps helped me build up a brighter look with ease.

The size of the compact is very handbag-friendly and also features a mirror for use on the go. After applying my blusher in the morning I didn't have to top it up at all during the day. It stayed put and The Boy commented when we got home in the evening (after being on for over 8 hours) that the colour was still very visible. The blusher does not come with it's own applicator but I really didn't mind as I prefer to use my own brush anyway.

The Dainty Doll blusher range comes in 4 different shades. I'm keen to try Hippy Shake next, a lilac coloured blush as the colour looks adorable and I'm curious to see what a lilac blush might look like on! Now that I know how high quality the blusher is I'd like to try other products in the range too.

Overall I am very happy with both of these purchases. You can buy the Archie's Girls collection from MAC (but hurry - it is limited edition) directly either at MAC concessions or online. Dainty doll is available from a range of stockists including Boots, Very, Debenhams and Feel Unique.

Have you bought anything from the Archie's Girl collection? Or tried any of Dainty Doll's range? Do you ever feel like a ghost?

Thanks for reading!