Afternoon Tea Adventures - The Amba Charing Cross

Hello there lovely readers!

Its time for a spot of my favorite tea & cake talk again with a splash of super pretty crockery thrown in! On a not too long ago venture into the capital city I met with my two lovely pals Fei & Saf for a long awaited catch up whilst also partaking in my favourite pastime!

Afternoon Tea Adventures - Tale As Old As Time Afternoon Tea at the Townhouse Kensington Hotel

Hello there lovely readers!

Grab a cuppa or six my dears as this particular Afternoon Tea review is the big boss one & a long time coming! For my birthday celebrations last year I spent the weekend in London for a few days of fun with some of my favourite humans. As you may know, two of my big joys in life are Disney & Afternoon Tea. Combine those two together & I'm pretty much in HEAVEN!

Afternoon Tea Adevntures - The Rubens At The Palace Hotel

Hello lovely readers!

More tea & cake time of which there can NEVER be too much of in my world :) Last year I received a voucher from work to spend on a Virgin Experience which included days out, theatre tickets, meals & afternoon teas! I thinks its clear which one I went for ;) One of the choices available was The Rubens At The Palace Hotel which I had yet to try but had heard great things so I opted for this one!

Afternoon Tea Adventures - Number Ten Manchester Street Hotel

Hey there lovely readers!

Hope you are all well & had a lovely Xmas! I thought I wouldn't get the chance to blog again before the new year but luckily I brought my laptop home with me just in case the need arose & I managed to find some time away from all the eating & family times. As its been a while I thought I'd tackle my favourite kind of tea & cake talk with another Afternoon Tea Review!

Earlier this year the lovely Meg aka RainCoatesBeauty came over to my end of the pond for a visit. I;ve been following Meg on Twitter for a while, the girl is hilarious & a lot of what she tweets is often exactly what I'm thinking, her Trump tweets in particular are absolute GOLD. I honestly think she is my Canadian twin!

Anyhoo when I heard she would be passing through London I simply could not let her go without meeting for a date & naturally the activity of choice was obviously going to be an afternoon tea of course!

I decided to book the Dieci Afternoon Tea which is situated within the lovely Edwardian style boutique Number Ten Manchester Street Hotel, a short stroll away from Baker Street, so it is very nice & accessible.

Afternoon Tea Adventures - The Arch Hunter 486

Hello there my lovely readers!

More tea and cake reviewing time! So one of my dearest friends & favourite humans celebrated their birthday recently therefore naturally we marked said occasion with my favourite pastime...afternoon tea of course! 

I wanted to try somewhere new so after a bit of browsing, it was the Royal Afternoon Tea at The Arch London which caught my eye, so booked it I did & off we went! FYI I nearly always use the website afternoontea.co.uk as my main port of call when afternoon tea hunting, it really is fantastic as you can book everything online so easily & search for teas in any area of the UK you like. As we were spending the whole day in London, naturally I searched for one in the city.

New Shade From True Brit London - Pillar Box & Royal Guard Nail Art Tutorial

Hello there my lovely readers!

Every girl needs a signature red polish in her stash. Although in my case lets just say its more likely to be a few dozen, yet I assure you that they are all unique & entirely different tones of red...o_O

But if you are looking for a perfect Pillarbox red then look no further because my friends at True Brit London have got you covered with one of the new additions to their already outstanding nail lacquer collection.

New Shade from True Brit London - Sunday Best & Bow Tie Tutorial!

Hey there my lovely readers!

So May is upon us! And with it the return of 5 day working weeks...*wails in despair* I confess one of the many reasons I love Spring time (though its obvious that Spring is clearly broken at the moment) is the abundance of bank holidays, oh how we've been spoilt with these glorious long weekends. 

Not the greatest start to the month with yours truly having a wisdom tooth extraction which I elected to have under local anesthetic because I'm either mental or a masochist. Most likely a bit of both. So one is currently on a cocktail of painkillers & anti-inflammatory's that could knock an elephant on its ass. Happy Days *cue creepy drug induced grin*

Powering on, today I have another deliciously delightful nail polish offering from True Brit London's newly released collection, pink ladies this is one for you...

What did I tell you? Swoon worthy right? This beautiful polish goes by the title *Sunday Best & is a stunning glossy fuchsia peony pink that gets its glorious edge with the addition of an opalescent pearly shimmer giving this pink a magical iridescent glow.

Afternoon Tea Adventures - The Ritz!

Hello there lovely readers!

Aaah the Ritz...well I couldn't very well do an afternoon tea series on my blog & NOT include the infamous & quintessentially English institution that is "Tea at The Ritz" now could I? ;)

The world famous Ritz hotel in Mayfair is well known for its award winning afternoon tea affair & tis one that is on many afternoon tea fans 'must try' list including mine! So of course I was excited to finally be able to attend for mumma bears birthday last year. (yes its taken me THIS long to write about it...bad form Aysh)

New Shades From True Brit London - Seaside

Hey there my lovely readers!

Time to share another one of the pretty new shades recently launched by the nail polish brand True Brit London, today I have a shade that is just so perfect for summer I know I will be rocking this both on my fingers & tootsies for sure & is the so very suitably titled...*Seaside!

ALL THE HEART EYE EMOJIS. Isn't it puuuuuurdy?! 

New Shades from True Brit London - Nostalgia

Hey there lovely readers!

I'm excited to share with you a few of the divine new nail polish shades that have been released by one of my favourite brands True Brit London, these new additions have recently joined their already stunning array of lacquers available. 

Its no secret how much I adore this brand, True Brit London nail polishes really are something else.  Not only are the shades & formulations top notch, but they really have nailed it in the packaging stakes with their gorgeous chunky ice cube shaped embossed bottles that exude luxury, only without the hefty price tag. I also love their quintessentially classy vibe, seeking inspiration for their collections in all things from history to traditionally British themes. You can check out my previous True Brit London posts & swatches HERE.  

I have four of the new shades to share with you but I wanted to give each shade the attention it deserves so will split up each post individually. To get the ball rolling we are starting things with the distinctly unique Nostalgia*.

Olympics 2016 TeamGB Nails!

Hello there lovely readers,

Now I wasn't actually planning on doing an Olympics themed manicure dolls! But unless you've been living under a rock these past few weeks, its hard NOT to get absorbed in the goings on over in Rio right now, especially the incredible performances from the Team GB athletes! Seriously how amazing have they done & it really is so great to see so much positivity & inspiration in a time where there seems to be so much sadness going on in the world. So in honour of the Olympics & a subtle nod to Team GB I've done a suitably styled mani which I'll show you how to create as well!

As you can see I've gone for some GB flag tips with some Gold, Silver & Bronze medals thrown in there too & its honestly so easy to do :) First things first, gather together the polishes you'll be using. Here I've opted for some Nails Inc, KIKO & Models Own to help create this design.

To start things off you'll need these nifty little french mani guides which you can get super cheaply of Ebay. I always make sure I have these in constant supply! Place a guide on each of your nails,about a quarter of the way down as you'll only be painting the top part of your nail.

Now begin with applying your blue, this is Nails Inc Denim, a nice thick opaque blue crème so only one coat is needed. Wait for the blue to dry as now you'll be adding the white detail of you flag & the last thing you want is the blue running into the white!

I used the KIKO french manicure for white tips nail lacquer which I LOVE & has replaced ALL of my nail art pens. The thin brush is perfect for detailed nail art, I only hope they still do it as I want to stock up on these babies!

Using the brush, apply a line along the bottom edge (so right above by the mani guide) & one horizontal line in the centre going up to the tip.

Then add two diagonal lines going up from either side of your horizontal line.

Now grabbing your red polish & a thin nail art brush, I've used Nails Inc St James, apply a thinner line on top of the white, making sure you still leave a bit of white showing.

Aaaaand finally, because y'all know I am a sparkle FIEND, as an additional touch I went over the red with a bit of red glitter courtesy of Nails Inc Trafalgar Square.

Now you can (slowly) peel off your mani guides, don't worry if you have any smudges or your edges aren't perfect, this can easily be rectified with a small brush & some acetone. And you have your GB flag tips!

You can leave these as they are but I couldn't NOT put some medals on too, so using a dotting tool & Models Own 25 Carat Gold, Sonia Kashuk Smoke & Mirrors & Models Own Cherry Pie, I added me on some Gold, Silver & Bronze medals along the cuticle.

Finish with topcoat & you're done! Told ya it was easy.

Hope you liked the mani dolls, how are you celebrating the Olympics this year? Thank for reading & keep up the awesomeness Team GB!

Lotsa love to ya!

NOTD - British Blue by True Brit London

Hello lovely readers!

One of my favourite products to come out this year so far has got to be the delicious scented nail polish removers from True Brit London. Available in scrumptious Strawberry & Cream or Elderflower & Cucumber flavours, I think they are such a clever & innovative idea & you will literally be itching to take of that polish!

Of course True Brit London's pride & joy are their beautiful polishes, the packaging is just divine & I adore the patriotic British themes of their collections! You can check out some of the stunning shades which I have blogged all about HERE. Today I have another beauty for you dolls, the delightful & simply titled...British Blue

British Blue from the Contemporary collection, is a pretty perriwinkle blue creme formula & you'll be happy to hear...this un is a one coater! Despite being a religious two coater myself what you see here is one coat alone for a delightfully opaque creamy finish.

The formula was easy to work with, applying nice & smoothly & I adore the shade of this blue which immediately reminded me of the gorgeous Wedgwood crockery that is often present at afternoon tea, very British indeed! 

I wanted to add a little something extra so continuing with the Wedgwood theme, I recall seeing a pretty cup & saucer once with a beautiful gilded gold edging around the rim.

So I reached for True Brit London Heirloom, a gorgeous rose tinted champagne metallic foil, & applied a single vertical line down the centre using a fine nail art brush before adding a couple of dots at the bottom by the cuticle. Easy peasy nail art!

Finish with a coat of True Brit London Gloss Top coat & your done! True Brit London polishes (RRP £12.50) are available online as well as those delightful scented polish removers! (RRP £5.95) You can also get 10% off your order using my code TRULY10

Thanks as always for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

Disclaimer - * products featured were sent to me for my consideration. I am not affiliated with the brand nor paid for this post, this review has been as always my 100% honest opinion! :)

New Scented Nail Polish Removers from True Brit London!

Hey there my lovely readers!

I'm sure you know me well enough by now to understand that nothing excites me more than when an intriguing new product pops up in the nail polish world. Such is what I have to share with you lovelies today & is an offering from one of my favourite polish brands of last year True Brit London, their polishes blew me away with their quality & idea, not only a wide range of fun & fantastic shades but also the most divine packaging! Well they have recently released a new product that has also succeeded in winning me over completely. The product in question? *Scented Nail Polish Removers!

I'm not going to lie, when I first heard of these I was a tad dubious, however having tried and tested these myself all I can think of now is..why hasn't anyone thought of this before?!

As much as we love our mani's there is of course that dreaded task of removal which requires you to reach for the cotton wool & polish remover. Even though you can find many polish removers these days without acetone, the majority of them also come accompanied with strong overpowering fumes that could knock out a rhino! Not only that but they can also strip a lot of moisture from the skin & nails.

Well no more lightheaded wooziness from aforementioned overbearing removers, unless...erm you're in to that sort of thing...but lets not go down that road shall we...*side eye* True Brit London have created these delightful & might I add SUPER pretty scented polish removers which are available in either Strawberries & Cream or Elderflower & Cucumber scents...yummy sounding right?

First things first, I am a sucker for pretty packaging & I would expect no less from the folks at True Brit London who have their packaging on POINT & bottled up the prettily tinted removers in these gorgeous dinky glass bottles that would look so lovely on display next to their gorgeous polishes.

On to the scents, I thought I would prefer the Strawberries & Cream but after using this on one hand & the Elderflower & Cucumber on the other I couldn't decide which I loved more! I love how these work just like perfume, of course if you sniff directly from the bottle you're hit with an overbearing scent which makes it hard to detect the delicate notes, however once transferred to the skin & nails, the most delightful scent is released that will have you finding any excuse to breathe in.

I really have to take my hat off to True Brit London for getting their scents absolutely perfectly British. I don't know how they did it but honestly, the moment I breathed in each scent, both so refreshing & light, it immediately brought hot English summertime's to my mind! Divine! The scents themselves last for up to a few hours.

Of course the most important question is quality of performance & I'm happy to report that these delivered on that & then some! Just a few drops applied to my cotton wool succeeded in removing my polish in just a few swipes. Seeing as I usually have about four coats there (base, two of polish & topcoat) that's a big thumbs up from me!

Not only is the polish removed cleanly, due to the vitamin & oil enriched formula, my nails & cuticles were not left feeling completely stripped of moisture as is usual when using my ordinary acetone, instead they felt soft, clean & of course delightfully scented! I now find myself actually looking forward to the polish removal process haha!

Well done True Brit London, you've done it again! *applauds* The scented polish removers are available to purchase online for £5.95 which is a fantastic price for what you are getting truly is a lovely quality product that delivers. You can also get an extra 10% off your order using my code TRULY10

Thanks as always for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

Disclaimer - * products featured were sent to me for my consideration. I am not affiliated with the brand nor paid for this post, this review has been as always my 100% honest opinion! :)

NOTD - Vintage Afternoon Tea Nails ft True Brit London Victoria

Hello lovely readers!

Hows tricks? So this post is a tad (okay VERY) late in going up, work has once again pretty much taken over life, making blogging regularly hard which makes me sad! Tis my happy place after all. But with a blissfully free weekend & an extra long one at that (yay!) I can finally rectify this situation & get that mojo flowing again :)

The mani I have to share with you today features another delight from the brand True Brit London which I did for Afternoon Tea Week earlier this month & which yes I am just blogging about now *facepalm* O_o....However being such a devoted & avid fan of this most delightfully British pastime, one week is simply not enough for moi & is definitely a tradition that should be celebrated & actioned as often as possible all year round! So in honour of that here are some Vintage Afternoon Tea inspired nails...

First of all...HOW did it take me so long to try foil french tips?! I am so in love with this slight alteration on a traditional french manicure but more on those later...Lets start with the gorgeous nude base colour of the mani shall we, courtesy of True Brit London's Victoria* from the Classic collection.

Victoria is one of those perfect 'my nails but better' shades. A gorgeous, milky, natural nude, it glides onto the nail beautifully creating a tres chic & sophisticated look. This was two coats applied for a lovely opaque finish.

Once completely dry I decided to add some french tips with a twist. Instead of the usual white I opted for the pretty champagne rose gold goodness that is True Brit London's Heirloom. Using some french mani guides, I painted the tips before removing the guides whilst polish was still wet. I am truly adoring foil french tips & can't wait to try with some pastel shades!

For my accent nail I couldn't resist adding a wee delicate teacup, it is an afternoon tea inspired mani after all! Using a thin brush I free handed the cup & saucer using white polish, a bit of Heirloom for detail & brown polish for my tea blend of choice! I'm partial to a spot of Darjeeling myself, whats your favourite blend?

Finishing it all of course with a nice coat of True Brit London Gloss Topcoat & that's it! Nails suitably ready to partake in some sophisticated tea & cake action!

I hope you liked the mani dolls! Thanks as always for reading. The pretty True Brit London range can be found online for £12.50. Don't forget you can get 10% off your order using my code TRULY10!

Lotsa love to ya!

Disclaimer - * products featured were sent to me for my consideration. I am not affiliated with the brand nor paid for this post, this review has been as always my 100% honest opinion! :)

NOTD - Heirlom by True Brit London

Hello there my lovely readers! 

So the time has come to share with you the final polish from the brand True Brit London! I hope you've been enjoying these shades as much as I've had swatching them! As mentioned, its definitely a case of saving the best till last as this one is pretty special. Without further ado, here is the simply divine Heirloom from the Luxury Collection...

Luxurious indeed *swooooooons* what did I tell you? Its a stunner right? And being a huge fan of pretty much EVERYTHING rose gold this is definitely a winner for moi & a must have shade for my fellow rose gold lovers! 

Heirloom is another beautiful metallic foil like Knightsbridge, however this little gem has the loveliest delicate Rose Gold hue running through it, resulting in a truly elegant looking manicure. The pretty pink champagne like shade is one that would suit all skin tones.

Application was lovely over the Caviar Base Coat & you could actually get away with just one coat, however you know me! Two coats left a gorgeously opaque mirror like finish. 

I can never resist adding a little something extra to my mani's but didn't want to draw the focus away from the Rose Gold prettiness, so applied a sparkly teardrop gem to the ring finger from Charlie's Nail Art store, isn't it lovely? With just the right amount of sparkle to satisfy my magpie tendencies, it adds a lovely touch of 3D glamour to a mani, j'adore!

With foils, you can normally forgo the topcoat, but for longevity I like to apply it anyway. Plus the True Brit London Gloss Topcoat is a thick formula, making it perfect for sticking on gems & charms! You do need to be patient with this topcoat & let it dry fully before carrying out your day to day activities!

So there you have it! Four delightful offerings from True Brit London; Cream Tea, Knightsbridge, Lady Penelope & Heirloom. Overall I thinks its obvious my thoughts on this new brand to hit the nail polish world. Not only am I impressed with the quality of the polishes, but I simply love the innovative & quintessentially British themes incorporated within the collections making it a unique, fun & interesting range. I do love a pretty bottle too so packaging gets a big thumbs up!          

The True Brit London polishes are all 6-free formula, so no harsh chemicals plus include goodness in the form of Vitamin E, Elderflower & Rose Extract. You're definitely getting high quality here without the hefty price tag. I'm excited to see some new collections have been added to the range which can all be found & purchased online for £12.50. If you use my code Truly10 you can get an extra 10% off, so what are you waiting for dolls? 

Thanks as always for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!  

Disclaimer - * products featured were sent to me for my consideration. I am not affiliated with the brand nor paid for this post, this review has been as always my 100% honest opinion! :)