Beauty - An Afternoon At Leticia Haute Coiffure

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending an event at Leticia Haute Coiffure with fellow bloggers Neily and Akeela. Leticia Haute Coiffure is a hair/beauty salon which also incorporates a nail bar and treatment rooms. It is based in Marlyebone and is impeccably stylish with friendly and knowledgable staff. We were given a tour of the premises and met everyone involved. the list of services this salon offers is endless and at prices that won't break the bank. I had my nails done by a lovely lady at the salon and the staff made us feel welcome and looked after. It is the little touches that really make a salon stand out and that was definitely the case at LHC. despite not being open long the salon were finalists in last year's London Lifestyle Awards and it is easy to see why. The owner of the salon spoke with such passion and love and it was apparent how much love and attention she dedicates to the salon. If privacy is your thing the salon even has private rooms available at the back of the salon. They've recently expanded the salon which is also when they introduced the nail bar. unlike most salons they also offer Fashion Styling and owner Leticia is a former stylist. I had an an excellent day and Akeela and neily were the perfect companions. I've known them for well over a year now and I had a great time with them. We started off at Foxcroft & Ginger in Soho for coffee and cake and then made our way to LHC.

So a big thankyou to Akeela, Neily and LHC for a fabulous afternoon.

Leticia Haute Coiffure can be found online at www.leticiahautecoiffure.com

Beauty - Urban Decay Mariposa Palette - Review & Photos

I've been a fan of Urban Decay for a long time (especially the priming potions) but I never really 'got' all the hype over their naked palettes. But then I'm not a huge fan of a palette that contains only nude colours as I love a bit of colour. So I was interested to try out the Mariposa palette. It has been out for a few months now and is priced at £28. So first of all lets talk packaging. I am actually not a huge fan of the packaging as I love pretty things but it does the job and I love the embossed butterfly on the tin. Fingerprints show up pretty easily on theis kind of packaging though.

I love the assortment of colours in this palette. There are a couple of nude-ish colours included as well as some jewel tones and some darker colours perfect for achieving the classic smoky eye. The colours aren't too shimmery either. I'm not a huge fan of overly shimmery colours as it makes them unsuitable for day wear. So let us break down the shades included:

Rockstar – A jewel toned purple, it glides on easily and a little goes a long way. Good pigmentation.

Gunmetal – A brilliant charcoal shade which is a great basis for the aforementioned smoky eye.

Skimp – A nude beige tone. Great base colour.

Infamous – A lovely bright purple that is actually quite wearable. Lighter than rockstar.

Wreckage – A brown-gold that has a slight sheen to it. One of my favorite shades.

Haight – An almost baby blue colour, applies extremely easily.

Money – A shimmery grey-green. Unique colour, not heavily pigmented I needed a few layers to get it to show on my dark skintone.

Mushroom – A gorgeous taupe hue. Works well with some of the darker shadows.

Spotlight – Bronze hued and quite glittery. One of my least fave colours in the palette.

Limelight – Quite similar to spotlight but a little more gold toned.



The palette comes with a good quality mini brush. No shredding occured even after cleaning. Overall I think this is an extremely good palette that can be used to achieve a variety of looks. It is the perfect palette to take you smoothly through from day to night. At £28 it is good value for an Urban Decay palette. The tin would fit easily in a handbag or suitcase so it is great for transporting a wide variety of colours in the minimum space possible. The colours apply well and last very well. Would I get it again? A resounding yes!!

£28 from Look fantastic

Have you tried this palette? What did you think of it?

Uniqlo & Undercover Collaboration on the Way!

I heard the most exciting news today. Uniqlo are teaming up with Jun Takahashi's label Undercover to create a collection for the whole family. The collaboration includes ranges for men, women and children. Undercover is well established in it's native Japan and has been showing for 10 years during Paris Fashion Week. Undercover fuses punk influences with a more contemporary feel and I've been a fan of Jun's for a long time. You can guarantee I'll be rushing out to buy some pieces when it launches on March 16th. Uniqlo haven't yet released any images of the collection so I'll be awaiting those with bated breath. To give you some idea of what could be expected, check out these images from Undercover's most recent collection!




Love those boots. I'm hoping footwear will be included in the collection. This may turn out to be my favourite high street collaboration of all time!

Beauty - Review - No.7 BB Cream

BB Creams are everywhere at the moment but I am so often disappointed with them. I've tried the Garnier and 17 ones but felt that the coverage provided was way below the standard I'd like. Of course I'm very fussy as I have been using the Korean version for years and western versions tend to be totally different. I see western ones more as a tinted moisturiser than a true BB cream.  i was recently gifted the No.7 BB cream from a friend so I thought i'd give it a try. I didn't hold out high expectations given that my standards are so high but I was pleasantly surprised.



[caption id="attachment_3732" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Straight from Tube"][/caption][caption id="attachment_3733" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Mixed in a Little"][/caption][caption id="attachment_3734" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Completely Blended"][/caption]The first thing I noticed was that the cream seemed less watery than other versions. This was a good sign. The shade was also closer to the Korean version. I was a little worried that as I'm quite dark the cream would give my skin an ashy look. But this wasn't the case. Hallelujah! At last a western bb cream that I am happy to use. The coverage is good and it lasts well. I've worn this all day long on several occasions. The packaging is a little plain but I can overlook that as the product is so good. Korean BB creams tend to have quite pretty packaging especially the Missha one. The No.7 BB Cream comes in 3 different variations dependant on your skintype. The normal/dry version was ideal for my own skin. the price is a little steep at £15 especially as I can order 3 Korean BB Creams for that price. Even in comparison to other western BB Creams it is pricey but in my opinion the quality and closeness to the ORIGINAL BB Creams makes it worth the extra cost. I would still always advise you to try the Korean versions though and I'll be reviewing some of them in the coming weeks.

No.7 BB Cream costs £15 from Boots.

Recent Purchases (Hyper Japan)

So on Friday I attended Hyper Japan as I covered here. It was so much fun and it was lovely to hang out with Florrie. But you all wanna know what I bought, right? I was actually really restrained and I didn't go overboard with the spending. Everything you see below was bought at Hyper Japan except for the shoes.

 









I of course bought some DVD's as they were on offer for £5. Kamikaze girls is my favorite film so when I saw it there I snapped it up but went to buy the other two later that day. One is Korean and one is Japanese. Those ice-cream earrings are so cute and were just a few pounds so I bought those too. apologies for the slightly blurry photo, I haven't quite got used to using the DSLR yet.

The shoes were my bargain of the week as they only cost £7! They suit me perfectly as they have a chunky heel and I don't have many light coloured shoes in my wardrobe as I usually opt for black. i bought them in a shop nearby in North London.

I have bought other things recently but I bought them online so I'm waiting for them to arrive - mostly korean/japanese beauty products. I shall be reviewing them on here when they arrive.

Did anyone else go to Hyper Japan?