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OOTD: J’adore Kenzo

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Coat – Sandro | Sweater – Kenzo | Trainers – New Balance | Bag – ASOS | Pom-Pom – Wonderound

J’adore Kenzo! Is it really any surprise? The designer perfectly combines my love of Japanese and Parisian fashion into energetic, colourful creations. If the brand had been established today I would have sworn it was created especially for me. Sometimes designer brands can be a little too serious, but I love playing around with fashion. That’s why I love living in East London so much. People take fashion seriously here, but they have fun with it.

However last weekend I took some time to wander around Chelsea, and I made the most of the change of scenery.  South West London is as far away as possible from my East London home, in more ways than one. Shabby chic hipster cafes are replaced with modern, polished eateries…with no street art in sight. There’s no doubt about it, the architecture and streets of Chelsea are a lot prettier than Shoreditch. But then that’s the great thing about living in London, each borough is different to the next. I hope I can discover even more of London’s hidden gems this year.

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Where to Eat in London: No.11 Pimlico Road

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No.11 Pimlico Road* | All-day Menu | Belgravia, Chelsea | Website
– reservations available –

Londoners are often considered to be adventurous types, but actually you’ll find that most of us are creatures of habit. We tend stick to the areas that we live in, letting out sighs of annoyance when our friends ask us to meet on the opposite side of the river. I myself have fallen victim to this apathetic attitude in the past. However recently I have been making the effort to visit parts of London I usually wouldn’t. This of course means discovering new places to eat, which happens to be one of my favourite ways to get to know a borough. So when No.11 Pimlico Road invited me to try their Sunday Brunch/Lunch menu, I was happy to accept.

Situated in Chelsea, No.11 Pimlico Road is a modern European restaurant come bar, offering an all-day menu. The interior is casual and stylish, with marble tables and plush seating. It’s easy to see how they won the Casual Dining Design Award for ‘Best Designed Casual Dining Pub 2014’. Everyone knows a blogger needs good lighting, and a clean canvas – No.11 delivered. We were seated at the back of the dining area by a window, with plenty of space.

After swooning over the decor for about 10mins, I finally took a look at the menu. Ben and I had already decided on the Sunday Roast, something we don’t often indulge in. I ordered the 28 Day Aged Rib of Beef, and Ben went for the Pork Shoulder. I sipped on an elderflower and cucumber homemade sherbet lemonade, whilst we waited for our meals. Our dishes took a pleasingly adequate amount of time to arrive – I dislike restaurants that serve food too quickly as it makes me doubt the freshness of the ingredients – and when it did we were taken aback by the portion size. Today was a good day to wear a comfy jumper. My beef was slightly pink, and tender, whilst Ben couldn’t stop raving about his pork shoulder – “It just melts in your mouth!” Some might think that all roast dinners are created equal, but this is where you would be wrong. There are so many things you can mess up with a roast dinner, the main culprits being the roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. How did No.11’s fare? Let’s just say the duck fat roast potatoes were the best I have had in London. The outer was crispy and ever so slightly greasy (the best kind), whilst the inner was fluffy and light. I could have eaten a plateful! The Yorkshire pudding was also good, although I fear that the roasties may have taken most of the glory. The vegetables all had strong flavours, although the roast red onion was a little too overpowering and I couldn’t finish it entirely. Still, I have no complaints, which was made evident by my empty plate (ok, ok, I left a couple of carrots). As much as I wanted to try the Lemon Posset for pudding I couldn’t bare look at any more food, so I finished my meal with a deliciously refreshing pot of white pear and ginger tea instead. Will I be back again? Indubitably! How else would I work my way through their dessert menu?

You can read more of my restaurant reviews on Zomato.

bloomzy /

Giveaway: Win a GlossPod Manicure!

Women and men alike no longer need to worry about being caught out with chipped or untidy nails. Why? Because GlossPod are a starting a nail revolution. Their high profile, hand-picked nail technicians will come right to your home or office (even your hotel!), and they offer a variety of services to boot, such as: manicures, pedicures, shellac manicure/pedicure, and gel removal. I recently booked myself in for one of their classic manicures* at my office. They arrived right on time and got straight down to business. It took around 25mins for my manicure, which included shape, cuticle tidy, buff, hand massage, paint and top coat. It was so relaxing and my nails looked amazing afterwards. My little break had left me feeling very relaxed, and the best part was I could just go straight back to work! I didn’t need to worry about rushing back on the tube from a salon and inevitably smudging my new manicure in the process. I just hopped into the elevator and headed back up to my office. It was the perfect Friday morning indulgence.

You can book an appointment via GlossPod or by downloading the app on iTunes and Android.

What can you win?

You too can win a visit from GlossPod (to your home, office or hotel) with my giveaway! To celebrate my blog’s 5 year anniversary, I am giving away 5 GlossPod classic manicures* to 5 of my London-based readers (sorry they’re not available outside of London yet).
How to enter:
+ Be a follower of ‘Bloomzy’ via Bloglovin
+ Earn extra entries via social media.
+ This prize is provided by Glosspod and is only open to London based participants.
– Accounts created purely for giveaways will be disqualified.
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A Peek Inside… My Little Energy Box

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You may have noticed that I skipped reviewing the December My Little Box. That’s because I was left feeling pretty underwhelmed at the their lacklustre effort. Still, it’s a new year, which for some reason always makes people think that things will have drastically changed for the better. I too was holding out hope that My Little Energy Box (January 2015’s offering) would bring me something sparkly and fabulous. Boy was I wrong…

What was inside My Little Energy Box?
– Illustration by Kanako
– My Little World Magazine
– 2015 Illustrated Calendar (£10)
– My Little Sports Bag (£20)
– My Little Beauty Energising Mist (£7.50)
– Talika Photo Hydra Day (£43.50 for 50ml)
– Nails Inc Polish – Tate (£11)

What did I think?
If this box is any indicator of how I’ll be spending 2015, then kill me now. Seriously though, this is a pretty poor cliche attempt at a box. Sure we all eat a bit too much at Christmas and then promise ourselves that we’re suddenly going to turn into gym goddesses, but deep down we all know it’s not going to happen (for most of us anyway). This month’s box was not inspired nor inspiring. The barely there gym bag, and the flimsy calendar are enough to turn anyone away from the brand. These cheap items do not represent the My Little Box I have come to know and love. That said, I’ve always appreciated the prices listed by the items as it makes it much easier to see whether you’re getting your moneys worth. But £20 for the bag, and £10 for the calendar? You have got to be kidding me! Again, it was the beauty products that saved me from unsubscribing. The Nails Inc polish is clearly from a past collection as it features the old bottle design, however the colour is perfectly fitting for any season. Talika’s Photo Hydra Day is a promising little number for anyone who suffers from dehydrated skin, and the My Little Beauty Energising Mist smells even better than it feels on the skin…and it feels pretty good. Even so, the mist is the only beauty item that fits the ‘energy’ vibe and the whole box is a bit of a let down. The French version also received a Special K Energy bar, but was otherwise no different. Whilst the Japanese version received a couple of alternative beauty products alongside the mist, bag and calendar.

I’m currently at a lose with My Little Box – do I stick with them or do I say goodbye? I remember having such high hopes for the brand when they announced that they would be coming over to the UK, but that love is beginning to wane after a couple of dull months. I guess only time will tell…

bloomzy /

Goodbye DSLR, Hello iPhone 6?

Sometimes I think us bloggers hide behind our DSLRs and photoshop. We forget that having the latest fancy camera doesn’t always equal good photos…or a good time. As much as I love documenting my life through photos, I do find that at some blogger events it can all get a bit much. Elbows flailing around as we each try to get the best macro shot of that single piece of sushi. Trying to stay as still as possible because the lighting is terrible and your aperture is so low it’s about to give Flo Rida a run for his money. It’s tiring to say the least. So when Three Mobile invited me to celebrate their Feel At Home Tariff at a foodie event with a difference, I was equal parts nervous and excited.

On Wednesday evening I was asked to turn up at Tramontana Brindisa Shoreditch with no DSLR. No compact camera. Nothing. So I did as I was told and made my way to the venue. When I arrived I was greeted by our lovely hostesses and a special package at my place setting. It turned out that each of us had identical boxes, and inside was the iPhone 6. By a fluke I actually ended up as the only person at the table with the iPhone 6 plus, but I wasn’t about to complain. Three explained to us that they wanted us to experience the evening through the new iPhone. They had already kindly downloaded us the bloggers survival kit: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Dropbox. The reason we had been asked to leave our cameras behind was because the new iPhone 6 comes with an 8MP iSight camera with Focus Pixels (the 6 plus also has optical image stabilisation), and is perfect for carrying with you on the go. I was a little worried without my trusty Nikon by my side as the lighting was pretty poor, and I’d only ever used my iPhone 5s for Instagram shots. Still, with a little bit of composition, and some heavy editing on VSCOcam, I managed to come out with photos such as this. In fact all of the photos in this post were taken on the iPhone 6 Plus.

Was I won over? Honestly I’d be lying if I said I was going to up and leave my Nikon for a sexier hand-held alternative, but I’m not lying when I say that I was impressed. Not having to mess around with my DSLR made for a nice change, and I can definitely see that the iPhone 6 would be great for those times where you are caught out without your camera. The quality of the photos was noticeably different to my 5s and the screen was much clearer. I had a lot of fun playing with the slow-mo and timelapse functions too. In fact I had so much fun that I have begun plotting to off my current phone so I have an excuse to buy a new one. Now where’s the nearest Three store?

bloomzy /

Photo Diary: Time to Celebrate

They always say that whatever you’re doing at midnight New Years Eve/Day is a reflection of what you’ll be doing for the rest of the year. My New Years Eve was spent in Wales, with friends and family, eating good food and drinking plenty of champagne. If that’s how my 2015 pans out then I certainly wouldn’t be unhappy.
bloomzy /

Review: The Harley Medical Group Anti-Oxidant Oil Free Moisturiser

I’ve tried my fair share of moisturisers over the years, thanks to being born with the driest skin known to man. Exaggeration aside, I do genuinely need a decent moisturiser in my daily routine. Enter The Harley Medical Group’s oil free moisturiser. You may remember me mentioning it in my Christmas skincare gift guide. Well I was pretty cheeky and I didn’t give mine away to ‘that special colleague’, instead I kept it for myself…for the good of the blog, obviously.
“It is so important to soothe & clear congested skin. This moisturiser will do just that, and leave your skin feeling smooth and silky to the touch. An anti-oxidant oil free moisturiser that helps promote a smooth, matte complexion. Incorporating patented anti-ageing ingredients clinically shown to penetrate the skin and help reduce visible signs of ageing while stimulating collagen production. With the added benefit of Vitamin E, a powerful anti-oxidant that will help improve the overall texture of the skin.”


Pros:
– Lovely bottle-pump design
– Good application
– Nice texture
– No smell


Cons:
– Doesn’t offer the moisture my skin needs


Notes:
Around 3 weeks ago I started using The Harley Medical Group’s oil free moisturiser. I like to switch in between moisturisers, so my skin doesn’t get too used to one particular product. However I found that my skin is going through a particularly stubborn dry patch, and this moisturiser just isn’t scratching that annoying, hard-to-reach itch. The packaging is classically simple, and the pump design makes for easy dispensing. Application wise, the cream is of medium consistency and applies well to skin. It’s particularly clear that this is an oil-free moisturiser when applying it. There is no greasy feeling left lingering on the skin, and it absorbs quickly. My only con is that it doesn’t seem to offer the moisture that my skin currently needs, and because of this I have had to pair it with a serum.  At £35 I wouldn’t purchase this as it’s not thick enough for my morning cream, but it does work well under make-up as a primer, so I would consider it if it was on sale.You can purchase The Harley Medical Group’s oil free moisturiser at The Harley Medical Group.