Friday 28 September 2012

WEARING : Ciaté's Caviar Manicure









Yesterday I attended an evening of pampering at Raffles in Chelsea (which I will blog about separately, as the food, drinks and clothes deserve their own posting!) This post however, Is on the Caviar manicure that I had from the lovely girls at Cité!

I actually saw a girl with these in the original black at an event a few months ago and I have to say I wasn't too sure I liked them, but when I had the chance to try them out last night, I thought I may as well and actually me and the friends that came with me all liked them! 

This is what we are talking about - tiny coloured pearls which, when poured over wet nail polish and gently patted in stick to your nail to create a 3D nail polish. The range comes in a multitude of colours and takes no longer to put on than a regular manicure, it is also apparently easy to remove with regular nail polish remover (although I have yet to try this - if its anything like glitter I'm not so sure!)


A caviar rainbow!

Ever the indecisive one, I went for a red base and rainbow beads, and I'm quite a fan of my 'cupcake' nails!

Hannah and Tori having their nails done

 Hundreds and Thousands anyone? 


Georgia went for the goth option - the original 'Caviar' nails.


 Camilla, Me and Georgia showing off our new look!

So there you have it, much posing with nails covered in tiny little beads! It's basically a fun manicure that has carried on getting a mixed bag of comments today but yes, I would definitely try them again... A word of warning though - a few of the beads have fallen off since last night so I would say it's better to buy the do it at home Kit's. That way you can do retouching and not be wandering around with semi caviar nails as I am now - after washing my hair and rifling around in my handbag all day...

xx O xx

EATING : The Scotch Egg Challenge 2012 at The Ship

The Scotch Egg Challenge 2012 at The Ship Wandsworth


Today is the day! (or, rather Tuesday was the day!) The hotly contested Scotch Egg Challenge 2012...

This week I headed down to one of my favourite riverside pubs in London - The Ship. This pub has seen me spend many hours soaking up the sun over summer, but as the nights draw in and the temperatures drop I headed there on Tuesday for a very different purpose - to eat eggs!

Tuesday saw the highly anticipated Scotch Egg Challenge take place - complete with celebrity judges, Michelin starred competitors and a crowd that can only be described as West London's eagerest human gannets.

The judging panel consisted of seleb chef and television presenter Gizzi Erskine, master Pâtissier Eric Lanlard AKA Cake Boy, Fortnum and Mason’s executive chef and owner of The Walnut Tree Shaun Hillfoodie writer David J Constable and James Knappett from Bubbledogs(Which I've yet to visit but am planning a trip soon!)


The eggs provided by the Fulham Football Club Chickens for the Ship's Scotch Egg offering  
Photo by @ShipWandsworth

One hungry crowd

Whilst the judges chowed down on the eggsellent competitors we swayed about in the surging crowd, clutching our Bloody Marys and awaited our first bite of these yummy treats... after 15mins of no scotch egg action we eventually had to give up on trying to sample the competition egg's - the crowd was so large, and with us being quite near the back I figured we would be lucky to get a look in. 

Instead we snuck off and approached the grill outside - ordered a burger, some of the Ship's delicious ribs and got ready to lick our wounds. And lo and behold - at that moment, guess what - I spotted the last few of the Ship's own offering of hot little scotch eggs, just sitting there... me being me I pestered the chefs to throw in an egg with our meal and luckily he obliged.

With our hands finally on one of these yummy sausage and breadcrumb coated eggs, and enough sauces to last a life time we headed outside to the Ship's riverside terrace and sat down to enjoy the meal! And boy was it DELICIOUS.

Our Ship Wandsworth Scotch Egg (winning sauce? Brown sauce)

The Rib's.. mmm

So who won?

The special David Constable Best Scottish Egg Award went to Peyton & Byrne for their braised pigs cheek and shoulder, with oatcake and crackling crumb. (I spotted Oliver Peyton himself putting in an appearance)

Third prize went to The Drapers Arms - who made a black pudding version with pork and panko crumbs - won third prize.

Second prize was awarded to The Hinds Head - with their truffled quail egg wrapped in a mix of Iberico pork sausage meat and lardo.

And the first prize - went to the Eggselent Bladebone Inn in Berkshire for their 'ham, egg and chips' made with duck egg, truffled layer and a potato and parma ham breadcrumb. 

The winning egg's from the Bladebone Inn. 
Photo by @ShipWandsworth

The inside scoop on winning eggs! photo by @davidjconstable


Congratulations to the guys at Bladebone Inn in Berkshire!


Bring on next year

xx O xx 


Tuesday 25 September 2012

GOING : LFW Crazy Horse Paris, South Bank

London Fashion Week's Sexiest Party...

As part of my LFW exploits, I was invited to the 'unveiling' of Kallisti, a new underwear range by London based Greek designer Marios Schwab (available exclusively on ASOS from November).

         

After missing out on a jam packed day of LFW shows due to me moving house I was really looking forward to this one. Another reason was that iconic Parisian cabaret show Crazy Horse Paris were modelling the pieces - making the event something to remember. 

Having spotted quite a few posters and magazine articles featuring Crazy Horse of late, I was already 'chomping at the bit' to see these classically trained cabaret dancers. So this was one fashion party I wasn't going to miss - even, as it was - on a Sunday night. We arrived at a circus tent that has been erected on the south bank right behind the National Theatre, ready to be wowed...



                 

The show uses intricately planned lighting displays - the dancers are bathed in coloured and textured lights that are so stunning that 'it is hard to determine where skin ends and the reflections begin.' I thought the images created by the dancers and lighting were reminiscent of the photography of Guy Bourdin which is no bad thing.


A promo pic of the girls in their get up, for the infamous 'God save our Bearskin' opening act, which has been performed by the troupe over the past 30 years (A little more covered up than when we saw them!)

The show was brilliant - we sipped cocktails and watched 5 brilliantly choreographed acts as the seriously sexy dancers performed in a mixture of their regular pieces and of course, the gorgeous début lingerie line from Marios Schwab.

Their web site states that during each run of a show the troupe gets through 2,500 pairs of stockings, 500 litres of body make-up and 300 lipsticks specially made in the shade Rouge Crazy, facts that only add to the impression that this is an unmissable show!

The soundtrack was also great, with tracks from Cabaret and original Crazy Horse pieces. Also featured one of the most catchy songs in existence - recently featured in Mad Men, by Gillian Hills and called Zou bisou bisou, I thought I'd include the video here.

Here are a few of our shots from the night - apologies for the quality - the lighting was low and photos not reeeeeally allowed!




           
                 With @degracie. Photo by @bjpandabear 

     With @degracie & @nataliealcala. Photo by @bjpandabear
 

We ate scrummy slushies and pulled pork Taco's from from the trendiest pop-up around at the moment - Rita's which were delicious!





       

       Harley @harleyvnewton. Photo by @bjpandabear 

                     Lizzie Black and @degracie
    Me and Lizzie getting stuck in to the Grapefruit, Vodka and  
    Tonic cocktails.

We had a brilliant time and hung out with a great crowd. I'm sure the Crazy Horse will be a success in London. The show runs until December, for more info click here. You can also check out a video explaining Crazy Horse a little more fully here. 

All in all - FAB night - Vive La France!

xx O xx

LISTENING : Aluna George - Your Drums, Your Love





This week's super sexy tune is from UK future-pop duo Aluna George. Perfect for escaping into if you happen to be stuck behind a desk, turn it up and put on repeat... 




xx O xx

Monday 24 September 2012

GOING : Pet-à-Porter! PetsPyjamas.com AW12 Show

So a few weeks ago I modelled for a Pet Fashion Show for the fab PetsPyjamas.com. Here are a few backstage shots of us - and a video of the Runway down below!


Being prepped for the show

I was lent a 3.1 Phillip Lim red mini Pashli so I was in heaven as it is one of my fave bags ATM

Lopez and Anna Hart of South Molton St Style in a gorgeous green Mary Katrantzou dress getting her hair done.

Natalie of Canned Fashion was organising the shoot - here she is dressing up a very sweet little Pug!

3 Shih Tzus, 2 Norfolk Terriers and a Maltese... that is a lot of little fluff balls


Lots of lovely bright collars from PetsPyjamas.com


My companion for the day - Atticus the sausage dog...




 Rosie Fortescue and Me with our dashing dachshunds, Noodle and Atticus

Rosie in a Karl by Karl Lagerfeld jacket, an Acne Jacket and  past season Isabel Marant Shoes, Check out her blog - atfashionforte.com

My outfit for the day consisted of a GORGEOUS Sea NY top, J.W.Anderson silk cigarette pants, Kurt Geiger silver heels and THAT Pashli - Atticus wears a coat from PetsPyjamas.com



I found my favourite pooch, IN LOVE with this husky, her name is Babby




This little Pug was so sweet, almost as gorgeous as the Carven dress being worn by Laura 


Rosie and noodle closing the show 


Coco and I drinking a little glass of fizz post show!

If you would like to watch the video - just click here

And to see our feature on the DailyMail.co.uk click here

xx O xx