Getting ready for a night out used to mean an afternoon sipping Castaway and listening to Ce Ce Peniston while I tried on the entire contents of Warehouse. It’s now more like a bit of dry shampoo and the removal of Petit Filous from my clothing with a baby wipe.
Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to the Fashion Monitor Journalism Awards, where (thanks to those of you reading this) I was nominated for Online Beauty Journalist of The Year. So I had to think a bit bigger than baby wipes…
Nothing says “I’ve made a bit of effort” like a tidy brow, so I went to my favourite bar to get them sorted: Shavata. These days I’m all about threading: it leaves such a neat shape, the redness dies down in about ten minutes and regrowth is slow. It also takes next to no time. An eyebrow shape is £17.
I headed to Neville Hair & Beauty in Belgravia to get my curly hair blow-dried into glamorous waves by Jack. I love this place, it’s such a great mix of young and old and I always leave feeling pampered. I also got a manicure from Alina (with Essie polish, which lasted, I kid you not, a week). Both blow dries and manicures start at £35.
Nearly time for makeup… but first, a complexion booster. I am loving Elemis Pro-Radiance Illuminating Flash Balm (£35) at the moment. It gives skin that luminous, plumped-up look but without weird sparkly bits or overly shiny dewiness. A real glow-getter.
Then I headed to bareMinerals for makeup. I’m competent, but more for a ‘play park’ look than ‘big night out’, so I needed a hand. Tina at Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge was superb – not only did she have me in stiches (a great cure for my nerves) she did a fabulous smoky eye that didn’t budge till I asked it to at 1am.
So, what did I wear? Lovely’s Vintage, who recently scooped the award for Best Online UK Vintage Fashion Shop at The National Vintage Awards, let me borrow something (a 1980s black and white sequinned jumpsuit, to be precise) from their gorgeous collection. And did I win? No, but there’s always next year…