Selfridges sale: my bargains

After I made the post about the Selfridges sale, I went there straight away to have a look. It was pretty hectic, but I got some good bargains. A Wildfox sweater reduced from 100 to 50 pounds and Dune sandals from 55 to 27 pounds. Bargains! I'm really happy with the sweater, I wanted a Wildfox sweater for so long, they are just the softest comfiest things ever. And I love the quote too. Anyway I literally have to run off now to catch my flight to Sweden, will blog from there hopefully!

Michael Van Clarke salon

Last week I received an invitation to the award-winning Michael Van Clarke salon in Marylebone for some hair talk. I was invited to learn more about Michael Van Clarke's salon, his 3''' More Inches hair care range and the Diamond Dry Cut hair cutting method.  I'm sure I'm not the only one when I say that I'm always looking for new ways to make my hair look better and healthier. So on Tuesday evening, I made my way through Marylebone to the salon, where I was greeted with a glass of bubbly. I just want to start off saying that the salon is the nicest once I've seen so far. The entrance/reception area looks like a luxury boutique hotel lobby.

Flower crowns

It's been a little silent on the blog the past few days because I've been sale shopping (I will show you the goodies soon), packing, moving and unpacking. I left London and I'm finally back home.. but not for long! I'm going to Sweden this week. It's the first time I go there and I picked the best time to go, for the midsummer festivities! From what I've heard it's a day (and night) filled with food, songs, games, flower crowns, summer dresses, dancing, drinking and more good things. I hope I'll be able to blend in a bit with my blond hair, however my Swedish is pretty non-existent! 

I still have a lot of posts which I want to write and I'll get some lined up for you.

Primark flower crowns, £2.50 and £3 

I bought these two flower headbands at Primark a few weeks ago. Flower hair accessories are a huge trend this summer and I've been seeing them everywhere. Great to wear to festivals, parties or on holiday. As a self-proclaimed flower girl, I had to get my hands on them! Now all I'm waiting for is to make my own flower crown with real flowers at the midsummer party. Pictures will follow :)

Selfridges summer sale '13

The sales are slowly starting everywhere here in London. Yesterday Harvey Nichols, today Selfridges and on Saturday Harrods. I'll show you my favourite picks from the Selfridges online sale, it's pretty great!

Alexander Wang Rockie - £332

Isabel Marant dress - £200

Wildfox I hate Mondays jumper - £40

Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser - £20

Marc By Marc Jacobs Mouse flats - £155

If you have the chance, make sure to check for better sales in store. The best things get snatched away in no time!

Nail art: gold sparkle with OPI Goldeneye

I saw this nail art tutorial on one of my favourite beautyblogs and I instantly wanted to replicate this manicure. If you can't read Dutch, I'll explain how it's done if you read on. I used a slightly different 'base' colour and I ended up with nails that looked like they were on fire! Even though I don't have perfect nails (brittle nails = short nails), I still wanted to show you this simple nail art.

Nail polishes I used:
- Base: Essie Grow Stronger - link 
- Coral: Sinful Colors Timbleberry - link
- Gold: OPI Goldeneye (from the James Bond limited edition collection) - link

Goldeneye is a very special gold colour, it's very glittery yet it's not glitter. It almost looks like it contains tiny gold foil particles. I don't know any similar nail polishes but you can still find it on Amazon. It's one of my favourite nail polishes ever. 

First, I put a base of Essie's Grow Stronger, then one layer of Timbleberry (it's opaque enough). Then for the 'difficult' part, I made sure I wiped off most excess nail polish off Goldeneye's brush and added a small drop of gold close to my cuticles. I then 'wiped' this a little upward, but not too much. After this first gold layer has dried, add extra gold at the 'base' to make it more opaque. It's really easy, if you kind of play with it you'll find your favourite method in no time. 

I absolutely love this look and I've already tried it with this bright blue colour (you can find it here) and it also looks amazing. I think this would also look great with Essie's Fiji, one of my summer favourites; I wrote about it last year! So basically, you can make this look with nearly every nail polish. The only thing you need is OPI Goldeneye or something very similar. 

ps. I have finally made a Facebook page for whiskers & lions so it's even easier to find out about new posts now. I will also post smaller updates on there which I don't want to write a whole blog post about. Like! :)

Lele PyP

Today I want to introduce you to a brand that stole my heart: Lele PyP. It's a Swiss luxury shoe brand that was founded in 2008 by three siblings. After Lele Pyp's success in Switzerland, they finally branched out and opened a shop in London just a few days ago. When I first heard about the brand, I immediately fell in love so I couldn't wait to visit the new shop.

Recipe: current favourite summer salads

With the weather slowly improving, the chef inside me is refusing to cook hot food. Cooking hot food (e.g. pasta) means that my flat turns into a little sauna and that's the last thing I need. So I've been making a lot of salads recently, usually accompanied by a piece of baguette. I have two favourites which I make all the time so I wanted to share the easy recipes!

Ralph Lauren tie dye maxi dress

While looking for maxi dresses on Asos, I came across these tie dye dresses from Denim & Supply By Ralph Lauren. Instant crush! I don't own any maxi day dresses (yet!) but they look so comfortable. Combine with white Converse or some pretty sandals and you're good to go. My mission is to find the perfect maxi dress. The blue dress below are on top of my wishlist! 

Click here for the blue, and here for the red!

Do you have any maxi dresses? Any tips on where I can find the perfect one?

Updated skin care routine

Last year I wrote about my skin care routine. Now, a few months later it has completely changed, for the better. In November, I decided I had to get proper skincare for my sensitive skin, so I went to the Dermalogica counter and made a big skincare purchase. I recently also added Bioderma to this, a micellaire solution to take my make-up off, and I love it! I'll tell you all about every single product... 

Most loved II

I really liked making my previous most loved post, so here's another one! Here are my most loved items of the past few days/weeks:

Accessory: H&M hair ties
I included some cute tie dye hair ties from Oysho in my Look elsewhere for sportswear post. Of course I couldn't justify placing an online order for a few silly hair-ties, so I was happy when I found these hair-ties in H&M, in every colour of the rainbow! Soft enough to wear around your wrist and perfect for the summer. I love the colours!

Fruit: Indian mangoes
I've been eating Indian mangoes for as long as I can remember. Living in a city with a huge Indian community, we were always lucky enough to get boxes and boxes of this Indian gold around this time of year. Indian mangoes cannot be found in supermarkets because they ripen very quickly, unlike African mangoes. They are very sweet and so full of flavour/scent. Last time I was in Belgium, I packed 6 mangoes for London, a little saddened about the prospect of finishing the last one. So you can imagine my shock/surprise/excitement when I found Indian mangoes in a little supermarket on Brick Lane. I'm starting to think you can find everything in London.. Best mangoes ever!

Music: Daft Punk
I used to be a huge Daft Punk lover but over the past few years I kind of forgot about it. But thanks to 'Get Lucky' my Daft Punk love has been rekindled once again. The new album is not my favourite (too funky and disco, but I'll give it another try), but I still love listening to Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger , Face to Face and my number one favourite Aerodynamic - Daft Punk Remix. Of course Get Lucky (the album version) is my summer jam!


Sport: tennis
Tennis is the one and only sport I've continued to play since I was very little, and the one sport I actually love. After a 2 year break, I've finally started playing again and it seems like I haven't completely lost my skills. My partner in crime and I play in Regent's Park and we're loving it. It's never too busy, the courts are in good condition (I still would have preferred gravel instead of cement) and it's easy to book a court. I'm definitely planning on playing more this summer!

My tennis essentials ;)

Store: Foyles Charing Cross Road
London's biggest bookstore which has nearly every book you're looking for. I have a list of books I want to read this summer but my dad bought me a book with 1300 pages that will keep me busy for a while. It's called 'London' by Edward Rutherfurd and I can't wait to start reading it.

Picnick spot: Primrose Hill
No doubt the best spot for a sunny picnic with an amazing view over Regent's Park and London's landmarks. 

Beauty product: Bioderma Sensibio H2O
I'm doing an updated skin care routine soon, where I'll review this product. But ever since I bought it back in April, I've been loving Bioderma's solution micellaire. This 'water' removes make-up like a dream. It's available in Belgian pharmacies and soon in London (it's sold in some independent London pharmacies).