Ad campaign with Natalie Portman

Very impressed with this mascara. A great balance of Volume + Definition. I’ve always loved Diorshow Black Out Mascara because I am a fan of full volume lashes however with Dior’s Black Out I cannot get the added length I desire. With the New Look mascara there is a good amount of volume with a lengthening effect as well.

The ‘New Look’ Mascara is a whole new brush, the brush has 2 parts, the tip of the brush has tiny/short spikes and the other half has slightly longer and thicker spikes. The wand is small making it  quite easy to maneuver and it does grab every lash.What I noticed with this mascara was the absolute ease of applying, after only 3 or 4 strokes my lashes were fully covered. The mascara also glides effortlessly on to lashes with no mess at all. An easy to use mascara that gives good volume and length. Am impressed with this and its definitely one of my new favourite mascaras.

Retails for £23.00. Available at Debenhams, Selfridges, House of Fraser.

On Thursday night I tried out the new venue, Dstrkt. Dstrkt is a restaurant, bar and club venue that was created by the team behin Whisy Mist, The Brompton Club & Mahiki. I was very impressed by the service and the food.

Concept: A stylish trendy restaurant and club set across 2 areas where diners can dine and then join the club for drinks and dancing. European fusion food comprising of hot and cold tapas.

Venue: The venue is trendy and stylish. It reminded me of a top New York venue especially since the venue is entirely on basement level, it has quite an urban underground feel whilst remaining sleek and stylish. Despite it being in the basement the venue feels spacious with high ceilings and good use of open space between the tables. The different floor levels and divided areas mixed with the oversized decoration (giant vases incased in to the walls) give the venue a grand scale. The dark wood decor and dim lighting makes for a beautiful surrounding.

Food: Top chef from the States, George Yaneff formerly at Bazaar Restaurant by José Andrés has created an all-organic European menu for Dstrkt. I found the menu interesting with a strong focus on Mediterranean ingredients however some Pan-Asian influences seen across the menu (soft shell crab tempuras, oyster mushrooms, soy sauce). A very interesting fusion of Continental cuisine with inspirations elsewhere.

Beautiful presentation on all the dishes.

Red Peppers stuffed with Goats Cheese: Full flavour, simple but delicious dish. A lot of the flavour came from the superb quality goats cheese therefore not much needed for the basis of this dish.

The second dish is the Seared Scottish Scallops with Saffron – Pumpkin sauce, salted pumpkin seeds & micro coriander. Delicious, quite a light dish in terms of flavour but interestins tstes coming from the coriander and pumpkin sauce. Scallops were somewhat small however cooked to perfection and melted in your mouth. The pumpkin sauce was divine and the salted pumpikin seeds served to add a little more flavour to the dish.

Truffled Potato Gnocci with Cheddar Espuma, Chives and nutmeg: As simple dish. Cheese sauces can be tricky and become overpowering in dishes, however this sauce an ever so lightly whipped creamy cheddar sausce that was not strong in cheese flavour. The Gnocci was slightly crispy on the outer and soft to the bite. The taste of chive comesand works wonderfully with the cheese.

Giunea Fowl with baby shallot and a bread dumpling. My favourite dish of them all, absolutely exquisite. The guinea fowl was tender and cooked tender to perfection, the sauce was a sweet kind of soy sauce mixture full in flavour and accompanied the clean tasting meat well. You can taste pure quality and passon from this dish and I definitely recommend trying this.

3 style mushrooms in Truffle Oil. Exceptional, aromatic, full of tantalizing flavours, an absolute pleasure to eat. A definite showcase of Dstrkt’s fusion and experimental creativity. The sauce and the truffle oil is delicious. I highly recommend this dish.

Cocktails: Slightly disappointed with the Cocktails. The Cocktail menu is creative however after studying the menu to choose my first cocktail I’d asked the barman to suggest a cocktail to me according to my preferences in taste and liqueur. After recommending me a cocktail I asked him had he tried any of the cocktails, to which he answered ‘No actually.’ A little shocking. I strongly believe that all barmen should know their cocktails and the TASTE each and every cocktail on their menu to a) recommend to customers b) know if the cocktail has been made properly. Most cocktail bars I’ve seen the barmen taste their cocktails to ‘approve’ it before sending out to their customer – just like chefs do on opening night of their new menu/dishes. My guest and I ordered a ‘Making Waves – (lychee liquer, grapefruit ) and ‘Lavender Margarita’. I was expecting a spectacular cocktail especially in relation to the amazing food, however our cocktails were average, little flavour with lack of alcohol taste.

That is the only down side of my review, aside from that, everything was perfect. Service was friendly and immaculate. Staff were attentive and knowledgeable about the food. Food was exceptional and presented beautifully. You can taste the passion that has gone in to the food and really appreciate the dishes. I shall definitely be dining here again and again.

We were here for an early dinner and just had a glance at the club which had not opened for the night yet. A lavish and stylish setting in a large space. The decor reminded me of Crystal nightclub and not surprising since one of the partners is formerly of Crystal. Will be trying the club next week and post review too.

x

Love the song in the vid. It’s Lily Wood & The Prick – My Best.

£54.99

£145.00

Available at Selfridges.

The app is super cute! Your photo appears washed with a vintage sepia tone and you can graffiti with text or drawing. Try it on iPhone, free to download

How fun & creative!

Giambattista Valli

images courtesy of telegraph.co.uk

A 30 minutes chronograph sub-dial at 3 o’clock position, a 12 hour chrono at the 9 o’clock position and a  small seconds counter is displayed at 6 o’clock position all in the shape of a heart. Whilst the date appear at the 12 o’clock position in a tiny heart.

Similarly to last years Valentine’s piece Blancpain have kept the pristine, pure white subtlety. The bright white alligator strap and mother of pearl dial only further enhances dazzling red of the ruby heart at the sweep second hands.

The Saint-Valentin Chronograph 2012 has a Caliber F185 mechanical movement, is self-winding and has a sapphire glass caseback.

The use of hearts can sometime get too cliche or overkill but Blancpain  use plenty of hearts but still make it look elegant, beautiful and wearable. I love this piece. Hint to my secret lover out there??!!

Blancpain Saint Valentine 2012 Chronograph

Happy New Year!

A big thank you for all the support this year. It has been really inspiring to receive your comments and compliments and I am grateful that I can reach others! So a big thank you to all.

Wishing you a healthy, happy and prosperous year for 2012.

Lots of love

Ven

xoxo

My favourite theme for New Years Eve is the ‘Roaring 20′s’… and the outfit is the 1920′s Flapper.

I find this era fascinating, especially the women and the fashions of this time. Women had redefined modern womanhood and defied the normalcy of their time. With this, the Flapper was born, a confident breed of women that broke away from traditions, were dancing at jazz clubs, driving, smoking, drinking,  flirting casually and generally enjoying their new self acclaimed freedom.

I love the fashions and style of this era, not just for its glamour but for the women’s liberation from social norms that it represents. The strikingly short wavy hair, strings of pearls and jewels, large feather hair pieces, heavily beaded dresses and the bold and vampy make-up. There is something about the look that was so decorated and over the top that made the women so expressive, commanding and almost intimidating for their time which all serve their desire to make a statement and show the world (the men) their defiance.The Flapper is iconic, and we love her!

French Connection Winter Bex Beads Dress - Nude £92.50

Topshop Ribcage Body Chain £42.50

Topshop Knitted Turban £10 Pin a feather and some jewels to the side to complete the look

Back seams tights are a saucy modern addition to the vintage flapper look. Wolford, Trasparenze and Pretty Polly are good brands for seamed tights.

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The Great Gatsby Movie

The Great Gatsby film is being remade by Baz Luhrmann (Austrailia / Romeo & Juliet) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Toby Maguire. An all-star cast and an amazing director, its set for 2012 – I cannot wait!

300 Greatest Swing Era Songs List

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-swing.html

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1920′s Radio 24/7

An online radio network dedicated to 1920′s music – 24/7 online streaming of big band, blues, jazz 1920′s music. LOVE! (Perfect for your 1920′s parties)

http://www.the1920snetwork.com/

I’ll be entering 2012 as a Flapper girl for sure

xxx

images via tumblr. I do not claim to own any of these images.