Notting Hill Carnival: Girls, Glitter & Lots of Gin!

Gooooood morning chumps!

The Bank Holiday weekend is over. The working week has begun. And the streets of West London are reeling with empty cans, undercooked chicken bones, soggy takeaway boxes and colourful banners. This can only mean one thing; Notting Hill Carnival strikes again!

Despite terrible forecasts of torrential downpour, myself, Charlotte & Aggie dug out our rain macs and partied on downnnn.

My makeup/hair theme of the Day: Blue!

OOTD: Pink!

We met some lovely police men who took this birds eye shot for us...

Charl was a very naughty girl...

Michael Jackson rose from the dead...

Charl was reunited with her old flame of 3 years...

"Happy faces!!!"

We danced the streets, stopping at a several places "dropping da basssss". 

The bass was dropped a little too hard on one particular street. I thought an earthquake had hit #oldwoman

Watch out...the cool kids are in town. 

 Matching Asians go #HAM 

Ags was rocking da red theme...her drink even matched. Dedicated to the cause.

We ended up spending most of our time at the same set we were at last year on Talbot road.

Chatting to the same old randoms. 

Dancing to the same old tunes. 

Drinking the same old alcohol. 

  #standard

Take one:

Take Two: 

Take Three: 

Feeling invinsible in our wellies! (They're also a very comfortable choice of footwear...laters heels...def rocking a pair of wells next time I go clubbing)

Same pose as last year...

Isn't she loooovely? Isn't she wooooonderrrrful? 

Happy wet people.

Too close? 

Soggy wet people.

Aaaaand what would a day out be without a selfie or two? 

And then they announced FREE BEER! The little pink one struggled to make it back...

Bubble man got skillzzzz...

Then the three drowned rats met Aggie's boyfriend Dom and headed back to his for some more drinks, food and the amazing movie that is Divergent! 

My night ended with Beyonce blaring in the taxi and snapchatting with the taxi driver. 

Note to self: you can't and never will, reach the high notes in 'Love on Top'. Or any of the notes for that matter (sorry for anyone who had to hear this). 

I also texted a guy from Tinder saying 'What are you feeling at this moment in time?'

Drunk Nish is weirder than sober Nish. 

#YOLO

XOXO

Carnival: A Lesson in History.

Today, the history geek in me shone through.

As I was daydreaming away about the weekend, I found myself wondering why Notting Hill Carnival actually exists...I mean if you think about it, it's a really random event. Why do thousands upon thousands of Brits annually take part and revel in what is essentially a celebration of all things Caribbean? 

So I took to Wikipedia, the mother of all knowledge, and here are a few things I learnt; 

• Notting Hill Carnival stems from an attempt to strengthen race relations in Britain and to promote cultural unity, as the Slave Trade/British Empire fucked that shit up. And the British were racist bumholes. 

• The London Hippies were key figures in organising the first ever Notting Hill Carnival back in 1966. Should've guessed! 

• The word 'Carnival' actually originates with the very first Italian Catholics who had their own festivities before Lent. In Latin, 'carnevale' means 'to put away the meat', so basically, they got as merry as Mary Poppins and as binged up as I do after a drunken night out, before  "sausage" and "beeeercan" became strictly off limits for 40 days and nights (terrible pun, I'm sorry).  

        Anyways...

 this little lesson has resulted in a very happy Nish for two reasons:

1) I am definitely all for celebrating the uniting of races! After all, I am a product of two past enemy races/cultures. Woop! 

2) Being a Catholic and all, it's only right that I follow through with the tradition of 'Carnival' and drink till I'm sick, eat till my heart's content, and most importantly, make sure I get enough sausage to last me the next 40 days! 

Only joking....or am I? 

Laterz for now. Style post tomorrow. xoxo 

BANK. HOLIDAY. CARNIVAL.

Good evening lovely people!

So it's Wednesday today, which means we're mid-way through the working week, which means that it's only two days until ... BANK . HOLIDAY. WEEKEND! Wooop woop, yippeeee, hooraayyy! I just let out a little scream of excitement.

Why? 

Because now that I'm 22 years of age and having graduated from university last year, I can finally say that I truly, completely, from the bottom of my heart understand the phrase ''living for the weekend". I am supposedly an adult. And yes Sean Kingston, that means I can no longer sleep all day and party all night, ya lucky sod. I suppose this was especially the case for me as I studied History at uni, and I think it's fair to say that lectures were as rare/ infrequent as a Starbucks barista spelling your name right (only yesterday my name was written as 'Mash'..REALLY?! I mean I know I'm half Irish but that doesn't make me a potato! )

But this Bank Holiday is even more exciting and special because it is NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL!  Ohhhh yes. The time of year has come again for London's largest street festival and I am so so excited. My favourite thing about this holiday, besides the badass music, amazing food, friendly faces, and the generally exciting, crazy, lively atmosphere, is the opportunity it offers to dress up.  To wear things you wouldn't usually wear in day-to-day life. To go all out. And to not be judged. 

Carnival 2012 <3

Drinking from the bottle

Can you blow my whistle baby?

I made a furry friend <3

Last year I didn't really wear an OTT outfit. Besides covering my face with a shit load of glitter (hard to see in the above pictures), the only other effort I really made was purchasing a whistle from a street merchandise seller, who must have had a field day when he came across our group of excitable, tipsy girls, getting all enthusiastic over something that not even my 7 year old cousin would realistically have any interest in if it was bought for her. 

But anyway, this year, I want to make more of an effort!

When I think of Carnival in relation to outfit ideas I think of one thing above all of the rest, and that is COLOUR. Whether it be bright, glittery, sparkly, neon, pastel. Colour, in my opinion, is a must! Basically if you end up resembling the rainbow by the time you leave the house then you've got it spot on. 

So in celebration of this wonderful celebration of the Caribbean people, and the massive piss-up that it brings, I've decided that I will post about different Carnival related style ideas throughout the week; outfits, accessories, nails, the works!

Watch this space :)

xoxo