The more I discover Leeds the more my love for the city grows. Aside from all the fabulous people I know from there which obviously makes me love it more it’s a lovely place that is big but feels smaller when you’re there. So when I was invited to a Bloggers Event at the Victoria Quarter to celebrate their upcoming Shopping Affar event on Thursday 8th October I was excited as although I’ve been there prior I don’t think I really appreciated or truly discovered the place before.
The theme for the shopping affair is Hollywood Red Carpet so our day was also themed to match. We visited Neals Yard Remedies first for the pamper part of the day. I got to hear about their most popular product the Wild Rose Beauty Balm. It’s a multi use balm and it smelled lovely. One of our hosts Sharee talked to us about some ingredients used at Neals Yard including Rose Hip and Rose Absolut which was really interesting especially to hear how they can be used to help the inner as well as the outer body. I even got to try some rose syrup cordial which was lovely!
We were in the upstairs part where all the treatments are carried out (I didn’t even know they did them) and I had a reflexology taster with Judy. It was AMAZING. Not only is she a masseuse of choice for artists when touring (Dave Grohl may or may not have been name dropped!) she is lovely. It was scaringly accurate where she pinpointed my areas that I struggle with including less visible complaints that she got spot on! I am going back for a longer session soon as it was really relaxing but interesting. I also got to go out into their balcony to take few photos and it was lovely out there, and I saw some fab details of the quarter up close , however it was soon time to go but the blow was lessened as next up were diamonds!
We went to Berry’s Jewellers where we were met by one of the co-owner’s whose great grandparents started the business. He was utterly fabulous and took us through the diamond classifications, including the 4 C’s (Cut, Colour, Clarity and Carat) and then we got to see the goods! 
We tried on 2 rings, the rounder cut one being a fab clarity and colour but the emerald cut one stole my heart. It made my engagement ring look tiny and was the more affordable thanks to its lesser clarity and colour. The bracelet was my favourite though- 10carats worth of emerald cut diamonds coming in at a measly £22k! I was actually surprised to see they had lots of more affordable pieces (these were all POA so you know they’ll be expensive!) which were just as lovely and would make a lovely gift (cough cough Mr E!).
We then went to Harvey Nichols where I chose to go to the Nails Inc Champagne Bar and have my nails painted. I chose the new khaki gel shade- Hyde Park Court- which I’m now in love with- and I got to sip champagne whilst having them painted- luxury! They lasted nearly a week and were super shiny so I was really impressed.
It was then time for make up. Having heard how great Charlotte Tilbury makeup is but never trying it I was happy when I got to go there for my makeover. My MUA was super lovely and we chatted loads whilst she did my Rebel makeup. The only downside to it is that I wanted to buy alllllll the makeup. To create the look she used:
- Multi Miracle Glow
- Charlottes Magic Cream
- Wonderglow
- Magic Foundation Shade 4
- Filmstar Bronze and Glow
- Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder
- Cheek to Chic in First Love
- Chameleon Eye Pencil in Smoky Emerald
- Luxury Eye Palette in Rebel
- Rock and Kohl in Barbarella Brown
- Full fat lashes mascara
- Brow Lift in Cara D
- K.I.S.S.I.N.G Lipstick in Kate
- Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk
- Lip Lustre in Seduction
I managed to only buy the Colour Chameleon eye pencil in smoky emerald as it was just so good (in such a sucker for a good cream eyeshadow!!). I’ve since gone back and bought the foundation and lip liner too. Ooooops.
After that it was dinner time! And my oh my what a spread awaited us! Yo Sushi had pulled out all the stops. The chef that prepared our feast used to enter sushi competitions so the level of presentation was second to none. Everything was instagrammable, and tasted just as good as it looked. Once we’d devoured it we hit to make our own. Needless to say I was the most hopeless at it, but it still tastes nice just didn’t look the best! My faves that I tried were the Inari pocket , prawn katsu and the avocado maki nom!
It was such a fun filled day and I of course had a fab time, I’m taking away how fab reflexology can be, how much I like diamonds, amazing make up tips and how to make sushi! I’m tempted to pop to the shopping affair evening now as I’ve heard what to expect and I want to have more fun! Will you be there?