Monthly Archives: October 2012

Champagne brunch at Aqua London

Fill it up!

They had me at the champagne. And I knew I simply had to go when I read the word “unlimited” next to the drink’s name… That’s right, you heard it – UNLIMITED!

I don’t really post about events that don’t relate to shoes or beauty, but I had to share this…I headed over to Aqua London for an eagerly awaited indulgent champagne brunch, to celebrate my birthday. My lovely boyfriend was kind enough to take me – you can tell he knows me very well!

Having been to Aqua before (they have a lovely rooftop terrace, in the heart of London) , I knew the experience was going to have quality.

As we sat down, the options were explained by a very friendly waiter, the restaurant offers japanese food – unlimited sushi and some grilled options, desert and champagne. You can go for a champagne free option – why would anyone in sane mind do that, I don’t know, unless of course, you don’t drink alcohol at all. As we settled for the bubbly option, flutes were brought over and we were offered our first glass.

Food was displayed around their central sushi bar and freshly replenished steadily.  There were nigiris, varied sushi rolls, seared tuna and beef, an amazing seaweed and sesame salad amongst other. The grilled options were made to order and brought to table: chicken teriyaki, rib of beef (amazingly tasty, boneless, medium rare), king prawns and courgettes.

The deserts we had were the sake prune créme bruleé and green tea, chocolate and yuzu mochi ice cream. Yum yum yum!

But the best – and I knew you knew I was going to say that – was the constant flow of Veuve Clicquot into my glass. In all seriousness, I don’t think there was a point my glass made it emptier than half-way. And the last top up was after 15:30. Amazing!!!

So worth it. I am so glad I went and I plan to go back, although it was delightful with my boyfriend, I think it would be the perfect girly brunch.

Aqua holds their brunch every Sunday, from 12-3pm.

Nails of the week – blue and green gradient

My experimental mood is not over yet, and more than ever, I want to stay away from things I have done before…

So this week I decided to, for the first time, to try a gradient manicure. I went for blue and green – from Kiko in Electric blue and from ColorClub’s Blossoming collection, respectively.

I started by painting all  my nails white, as a base, I used Natural Collection’s Nail tip whitener.

After it was dry, I cut a make up sponge and wet it a bit, to make absorb less of the polish. So I applied the green and the blue on the sponge and applied to my nails, as if stamping it, from tone side to the other.  I then repeated the process, this time “stamping” more than once, and slightly changing the position of the sponge colours dividing line each time, to make the blending better.

Then I applied a glittery Specialittá Hits Blue Jazz at the tip and a topcoat to finish it off.

It looks great, but not perfect, which bugs me a little bit. I know it is only the first time… but… I’d like it to be flawless. The problems I found were that it was hard to fill the edges.  There also was a bit of shrinking and in a couple nails I can see some of the white near my cuticles.  The blue “leaked” over my nail so I had to remove it from the inside… a bit of a pain!

Apart from that, I love it. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and I got better effect better than I thought I would for the first time. So I will definitely be trying again!!!

Rating:

 If it was perfect, in terms of finish, it would be a 5-star mani. Next time….

Talking about my (shoe) feelings

When agonising about something, the best thing is to talk abut it, right?

For me, comfort is probably the last thing in my mind when I am buying heels. Really, I accept that I may have to suffer a little bit to look fabulous – not that I like suffering, far from it, but in my head, there is no choice to be made between feeling amazing and feeling comfortable. Beauty sometimes has its price.

For the first time in my life I was met with the dilemma between being in love with a pair of shoes and knowing deep inside that the chances of breaking an ankle (or both, who knows!) is rather high.

I tried these spectacular Gaga-esque shoes from Aldo (actually, there are quite a few with those heels popping up in the high street at the moment) and was almost literally head over heels (when I almost fell in the shop). The curves in the irregular platform which replace the heel compliment the curves of the back of my legs beautifully – it just looks stunning!

They are much more comfortable in terms of fit and height than I thought. It is not even that weird to walk on them. However, the shoes’ sides stability is really rubbish – one step you take without carefully thinking about it, and it turns. Badly. In 5 minutes wearing them, it happened three times. And I am a proficient heel wearer.

Now, all of my heels, with no exception are for real wearing. Dancing. I like dancing. I love dancing on heels.  I don’t buy shoes just to look at them. Those Benetts don’t really look like they were acquainted with a dance floor.

So, just as in life, I am faced with a heartbreaking (shoe) affair: I adore you but you could really, really, reaaaally hurt me.

Impossible love story, anyone?

Product review: Sienna X gradual tan lotion

Finally I got round to trying gradual tan lotion I was given by the lovely Nicky from Sienna X over at Olympia Beauty exhibition. This will make a long-ish review, as there were quite a few products to try!

Sienna X was in the media cloud area, and I was very excited to stop by, have a chat about the company and get hold of great products.

The company was born out of Nicola Matthews ingenious tanning cubicle idea, and evolved into a brand that provides salons with professional tanning supplies as well as helping with education, marketing and business support to salons and mobile therapists. Add to that tanning provided to huge TV shows (Strictly), fashion shows (London Fashion Week – Holly Fulton), glossy mags coverage and celebrities fan and you have a winning formula.

However, what really makes it and matters, for me is the product. I received a full size gradual tan lotion, as well as a sample of their Try me, Tan me kit in a pretty bag containing a Polishing Scrub, Dark Glowing self tan (which will also come with latex gloves!), Radiance Body Balm, and Silver Shimmer (when you buy a berry bag) or Gold Shimmer (when you buy a gold bag).

All the products I tried are paraben and cruelty free, have natural ingredients and some have anti cellulite and anti-ageing formulations. Instead of the Dark Glowing self tan, I decided to try the gradual tan sample only.

The packaging is very nice, with a lock pump, sturdy and easy to use, especially when you have your hands full of products. The lines are simple and modern, the colour scheme very pleasant to the eyes with good contrast – fuchsia/pink and gold, of course!

To prepare for the tan, I exfoliated my skin with the polishing scrub, which contains fine pumice, ginger and a lovely lemongrass smell (which is present across most products I tried).

After rinsing it off and drying my skin, I applied the gradual glowing self-tan lotion, which has aloe vera, almond old and cocoa butter AND the anti-cellulite formula! The cream is not too thick and spreads really well, so it is easy to rub thoroughly on the skin.  The colour develops in 6-8 hours. I applied at night and could not wait to see the result in the morning.

Finally, I applied the radiance body balm all over my body – this contains almond oil, shea butter and vitamin E, has a very nice consistency and also spreads well, being absorbed quickly by the skin and leaving a subtle cocoa smell, which I love. This, after the self tanning lotion, is my favourite product from the samples I got.

I woke up to a sun-kissed skin, much richer than I thought I would after only one application. The colour is a lovely light shade of gold, not too orange for my skin tone. There were no streaks, which is fantastic;  in the past, I always went for sprays and mixed with moisturiser, to avoid streaks!!!. My skin was also soft and feeling moisturised. My palms, being washed as instructed, had no stains! Bonus!

When I got to work, I also noticed that the radiance balm had left very subtle shimmery flecks all over my body, and the over all effect was a nice sheen – I wasn’t sparkly! The following day I washed my body with the Balance body wash, with silk protein, ginger and lemongrass, which is meant to help to prolong your tan.

The proof is in the nose (yeah, you heard it!)

So, the whole line and the tanning product are ace right? Wait for this, it gets better. When Nicky offered me the lotion for review, she asked what was my problem, if any, with tanning products. I said, without thinking twice, “the smell”, to which she replied “we got an award for best smelling tanning product”. That got me excited, despite being quite sceptical. I have tried many tanning products over the year, even though this is the first I review, and the smell really, really gets to me.

Well, I ate my words. This products smell is much, much, much better than anything I tried before. I am not going to say there is not even a tiny sign of that “biscuit” smell that exhales from your body after self tanning application. There was, but it was almost imperceptible. At no point during the day I caught a sniff of it. NOT A SNIFF. Amazing!

So I am sold. I am soooo glad Nicky gave me a full size bottle if the Gradual self tan! This is my favourite  self tanning lotion and I shall keep using it – more than vanity, it is a need, just because I am from a tropical country, and I don not recognise myself in the colour I turn into in this country!

For more information on these products and others from Sienna X, visit their website. They also offer free delivery in the UK!

I was offered the products to review by Sienna X. The review is based on my own true experience with the products and reflects my opinion on it.

Lanvin and Ladurée – tasty fashion

A delicious, fashionable and very French collaboration: Lanvin’s creative director Alber Elvaz designs stylish boxes for Ladurée.

The uber cute box, which has sketches of fashionistas faces and a pretty red bow, can take eight scrumptious macarons, including the four flavours created especially for the occasion, all bubble gum flavour based, described by Elbaz as “the bubble of childhood”.

Although limited edition flavours are available to go with the box, you can make your own selection to include traditional flavours – I love macarons, so I succumbed to eight different varieties, and of course, wasn’t disappointed with any of them!

According to the traditional  and prestigious French sweets Maison, Elbaz  “not only make women beautiful but also proves that sweets and beauty can go hand in hand.”

Gorgeous. And yummy!!!

Eye make-up look challenge – black liner

After the super indulgent green witch eyes, I went for something a bit “simpler”. Still, I love the impact of the under the eye liner. It doesn’t pop out as much as I thought it would, so is more wearable then I expected…and simpler to achieve!

After priming, I swept a metallic beige all over my lid up to my brow bone. I then applied a metallic light brown from the inner corner  following the crease, just up to where my eyebrows start, blending with the lighter colour.

Using a felt tip eye liner, I lined my upper lash line, pulling it from outside the inner corner, and finished with a flick. On the lower lash line, I used a white eye liner, from about 2/3 of the way towards the outer corner. I then created a white flick, slightly smaller than the black one from the upper lash line.

I followed with crushed pigment from about 1/3 from the inner corner to the outer corner.

Finally, I drew the line parallel to my lower lash line, following my eye shape and flicking it downwards towards the inner corner. I blended some crushed pigment in the centre of the upper lid and finished it off with false eyelashes.

Products I used:

  • Urban Decay eye shadows in Midnight Cowgirl and Midnight Rodeo
  • MAC crushed pigment in White As Snow
  • Studio eye liner in Winter white
  • Collection 2000 Extreme felt tip eye liner
  • Eylure lashes number 155
  • Duo eyelash glue
  • Urban Decay eye primer
  • MAC brushes 239, 231, 208
  • Maybelline Falsies mascara

Difficulty:

Nail of the week – gold with black chevrons

Experimenting. This has been my mood. When I bought the gorgeous OPI GoldenEye, part of their James Bond Skyfall collection, I was quite happy to wear it on its own, as it is show-stopping enough.

However, I don’t seem able to sick to plain coloured nails anymore; one colour won’t do. It is almost a disease.

So, I decided to try something new. I had wanted to play with tape for a while, but I can get quite lazy. This time I decided to go for it and create a chevron style.

I painted all nails using GoldenEye. Coverage is quite sheer at one coat, but it is good at two. I used three. The wide brush is always a winner here. The gold is amazing, deep, glittery, sparkly and with a coppery reflex to it. I painted in the morning and left it until the afternoon to do phase two.

I used normal household clear sticky tape, just cut a little strip and placed it from the upper corners of the nail  towards the centre, forming a “V”.  I then applied Barry M in Black to fill all “V’s” and removed them all carefully. I finished it off with a topcoat.

As a first attempt, I thought it turned out very well. A few of the lines were a little jagged, but not enough to look bad. One of the chevrons was slightly off centre (and that was on my right thumb nail, which has been recovering from an awful breakage and is much shorter than the others). Other than that, the chevron came out very good!

I will definitely try taping again, I loved the chevron look. The manicure was elegant, and duration was top – seven days, not a chip in sight; quite impressive for a black tip!

Rating:

Nails of the week – red and dotty

I needed a red manicure to go with a fancy dress costume – which is no effort, as it is my favourite nail colour –  but it had to be plain, which is a problem, as I get bored very quickly…

So I used the lovely OPI The spy who loved me, which I was really looking forward to trying,  and after I attended the party, I decided to give it dots in two colours: Colorama Ameixa and Ana Hickmann Jurerê. It looks very berry!

The OPI application was good, their wide brush really makes life easier; the polish is a bit sheer, but two coats are enough. Durability is great!

The dots were applied with dotting tools in 3 different sizes; as it is only the second time I do them, I think they came out pretty well – still have to nail the dots distribution though.

Both polishes used for dotting were up to the task; the colours were solid enough. I wish I had used a lighter plum colour for the darker dots, as most of the time they seem  black!

The only problem is that I added the dots four days after I did the manicure, so the cuticles in the pictures, which were taken six days after I did the basic red mani, are not looking perfect, there is a little bit of growth going on, unfortunately.

Still, I am pleased with this mani, and I shall be sporting more spotty nails in the future!

Rating:

Retrospective fashion show – from the past to the next season

Gold lamé – yes, please!

Bourne and Hollingsworth, the creators of Retrospective: The history behind next season, kindly sent me an invitation to attend the event. The fashion show idea is rather simple, but ingenious – to showcase coming trends using vintage pieces. As a big fan of vintage I was very excited to attend – especially was there was a party afterwards!

The show started with a display of fashion and silver screen icons and consisted of showing trends that we are currently wearing via garments from the past, from various eras.

The trends explored were Gothic (so hot right now!), monochrome, wild, lingerie/night gowns and the finale was a showcase of known designer pieces in mixed styles.

It is everywhere. Black, lace, crosses… and it was here too. From the gothic trend I really liked a Gil Y Jacques lurex dress with a feather choker and a 90’s Oscar de la Renta forest green silk shirt.

I love monochromes, to me, black and white together never go out of fashion… so that was a tough call… it will have to be the Biba black acetate and rayon jumpsuit and sequin jacket from the 70’s and a tulle and cotton white dress worn with patent snakeskin gloves.

Needless to say, I am a massive fan of animal prints, and in my books, a bit of leopard is always welcome, so wild is just up my street. Faves were an 80’s Adele Simpson snakeskin print silk dress and an amazing 60’s raccoon fur coat.

For the nighties, I didn’t fancy that enough to pick a piece, it’s ok, but not my favourite… but from their showcase finale, I have to say I enjoyed most of it… the Givenchy black viscose and lace jumpsuit (80’s) was fabulous, the 20’s silk and faux-fur dress coat so feminine, the glam Loriz Azzaro gold lame dress from the 50’s was possibly my favourite piece of all.

I really enjoyed the concept, it shows that not only the recyclable nature of trends, but also the clothes themselves they are still edgy and most still wearable.

As for the party, there were, as expected, music from different eras; and dance performances… it was a lot of fun. There were thematic cocktails (I had Gatsbys). Not fun was to wait ages for drinks, though…

Still, I enjoyed myself. Hats off to the stylist Violet Naylor-Leyland, who picked through pieces from various past times to present them neatly and excitingly – I am full of ideas. Inspiration, for me, is the main point of fashion.