Punchestown Ladies Day 2020

The Punchestown Ladies Day is always the highlight of the racing festival, for me anyway. When I was younger we would go to the family day on the Saturday. But as I grew up and fell more and more in love with fashion, I adored following the style stakes on the Friday. Now Ladies Day is a date marked out in the calendar months in advance and always a great day to look forward to. Unfortunately this year, the festival was postponed due to the Coronavirus. Organisers had to think outside the box and host a Virtual Fillies Day instead, all in aid of the Jack and Jill Foundation.

When I heard about it, I couldn’t wait to get involved! It’s great to still have the chance to get dolled up despite the current restrictions and take your mind off the pandemic for a couple of hours. On this occasion I had to shop my own wardrobe and make the best of what my closet had to offer.

How My Outfit Came Together…

A couple of years ago I fell in love with a white suit featured on Ruby Rouge’s Instagram. There was no question about it, I just had to have the blazer especially! It screamed chic and you all know by now that I love a good blazer. It is by a Spanish label called Alba Conde and the fit is just absolutely incredible. Being a Spanish label, their clothes generally run a bit smaller than standard UK sizes, but the next size up fits me like a glove. I adore the pearl detail on the front of it. This years Punchestown Ladies Day seemed like the perfect opportunity to wear it. Let’s face it, if I was ever going to be brave enough to wear a crisp white blazer to the races, it would be virtually!!

I love a good power suit and the empowered feeling you get when you’re wearing one. You could say my outfit was a little 70’s inspired; I’m thinking Bianca Jagger, Farrah Fawcett and the likes. So I paired the stunning blazer with a striking pair of red palazzo trousers. Again, they’ve been in my wardrobe for a while now and they’re from Zara. The shade of red is just gorgeous and really rich.

The Piece de Résistance

Arguably the most important piece of any race day outfit, is the headpiece. A local hat hire business, Hats Life, had advertised that they were offering free hat hire to anyone that would be virtually taking part. Theresa so kindly let me borrow this stunning fascinator. The shade of red matched the trousers perfectly and I loved the elegant design. Hats Life have a huge selection of hats, fascinators, scarves, clutch bags, jewellery and umbrellas for hire from their showroom in Carraig on Bannow. Definitely check out their Facebook page here for your next race day, wedding or special occasion. Theresa was so helpful and sent me lots of images of suitable fascinators for the outfit. She has a great eye for the right accessories to complete a look.

Otherwise I kept my accessories quite minimal. I love a paired back, chic look and let the contrasting colours speak for themselves. I wore a pair of pearl earrings to tie in with the pearl detail on the blazer. The little red court shoes are from New Look. They were the ideal height to just take the trousers up ever so slightly. I wanted to keep that sweeping look in the leg.

Hair and Makeup

Obviously, I didn’t have the option to get my hair or makeup done professionally this year so I attempted it myself. And you know what, that was half the fun of dressing up. It really took my mind off things for a few hours. I began with my makeup and used a few of my favourite products. My foundation is my all time favourite, Nars Sheer Glow – you can read my full review on it here. I tried some of the SoSu by Suzanne Jackson Cream Sticks for the first time. I thought they were gorgeous and really easy to work with and blend. To set the base I always use Hourglass Veil Translucent Powder and Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel. My go-to for full, defined brows is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade and I set them with the Charlotte Tilbury Legendary Brows.

I did the rest of my makeup using the MRS Glam Showstopper palette. This stunning palette has everything I needed in one handy palette. I went for a dark brown smokey eye with gold glitter on the lids. All of the face powders I need are in this palette too – a gorgeous warm bronzer, a golden peachy blush and the most stunning highlighter you’ve ever seen! Just look at that glow 🤩 I can’t recommend this palette enough and I’ve gotten so much use out of it already! I have a first impressions video of me using the palette here.

When it comes to hair, I’m definitely not as confident as I am with clothes or makeup. My hair is extremely thick and doesn’t hold a style for very long at all. Where possible I will go to a hairdresser and usually opt for some type of up-style. But alas, I sat down with my Cerasilk hair straighteners and ran some waves through my hair. To give height on top, I back-combed the hair and set with Andrew Fitzsimons Texture Volume Spray. I find the hairspray is amazing for adding texture and holding the style, especially in thick hair like mine.

How to Enjoy Punchestown Ladies Day – Virtually!

In between the showers, I managed to get outside to take some pictures and enjoy some Prosecco. That evening, Sarah from Sarahs Secrets, had arranged a Zoom call with some other lovely ladies that had dressed up for Punchestown Ladies Day too. It was so nice to catch up and meet, all be it virtually, some gorgeous girls. Thanks a million Sarah for organising that and hopefully next year we will all be able to actually meet up at Punchestown.

Thanks for all the lovely comments across my social media when I shared the photos on Friday. Like I mentioned above, most of the outfit came from my own closet but I have linked below some items that are almost identical to what I wore.