At the weekend, I was lucky enough to attend the Aussie Luscious Long Tribe party in London. The Party was held in the VIP room at Avalon, and the opulent setting was perfect for the fairytale themed get together.
I had a few guest problems after three of them had to cancel one after another for various reasons (none of them their fault, just a run of bad timings)! Hayley stepped in to take the place of the first guest when she cancelled a month or so ago, but I ended up being left with a spare hotel booking on Saturday… so Emma very kindly said I could drag James down to London to take advantage of the spare bed!
After some frantic last-minute getting sorted to go (including dumping Homily at my mother in laws!) we hopped onto a train at Moor St and relaxed for two hours. We got into Marylebone at around 5, bought our Oyster cards and then endured a horrendously long and over heated tube journey to the Old St station – it made me very glad I don’t live in London, as I don’t think I could stand commuting on the tube in summer.
We eventually got to the hotel and checked in, then I panicked a little as I felt like I’d been sitting in a sauna for 45 minutes and subsequently stank, and had less than 30 minutes to shower and get ready for the party! Luckily the venue was only just across the street from the hotel, and I only ended up being 20 minutes late.
Emma greeted Hayley & I with her usual friendly welcome and a glass of champagne – bliss after the manic day I’d had! We relaxed and chatted for a bit before the official welcome by Emma, which was followed by some great hair do demos by Amber and Zara, the fantastic magicians stylists. Whilst they were whipping a few of the girls’ hair into shape, they talked to us about the Aussie Luscious Long range (which I love, by the way) and the group chatted about how to keep our long locks in great shape.
After the demos finished, a finger buffet was served with amazing food. I have to admit, I pigged out a little bit – James & I had only managed a late lunch on the train! Hayley & I ordered a few cosmos and chilled out for a while, having a bit of a natter with a few familiar faces. A little while later, who should turn up but Cinderella herself? She was wearing a gorgeous dress which she assured me was “made by my fairy Godmother, isn’t it just lovely?”.
Next to arrive was Snow White, shortly followed by Prince Charming. To much applause, the ‘prince’ got down on bended knee and offered a silver sandal to Cinders, which fitted perfectly, of course. He abandoned her fairly rapidly however, and started to charm every girl in the room instead – what a sleazy ‘true love’ he turned out to be! The three characters were brilliant – we had a few conversations with both girls and their ad libbing was hilarious. Snow White was moaning about the trials and tribulations of caring for 7 men, whilst Cinders was contemplating how many frogs she was going to have to kiss to find a new true love, after she decided to dump Prince Charming for chatting up all the other girls.
James decided to pop over for a bit and join in the fun – it was really nice having him there although it was quite funny watching his reaction to being in a room full of dressed up females! We are both inflicted with the shy gene so he wasn’t exactly at his most comfortable! This picture is a classic capture of his reaction:
The wonderful Zara styled Hayley’s hair into a magnificent 1940s do, which she is going to attempt to recreate for a 40s event she’s headed to this weekend – I’ll be looking forward to how she does with that!
After Hayley had been transformed, it was my turn! Zara gave me a quick blow dry, and then plaited by hair around the back of my head, ending in a side plait which she twisted up into a side bun, then she finished it off with the flower I’d already had in my hair. I was really pleased with the effect and it was lovely to get my hair up off my neck after the hot day! I have a feeling I might be able to attempt the style myself with a little practice. It got quite a few compliments so I don’t think I was the only one who loved my ‘do.. I even had to do a twirl for the bar girl.
I definitely need to get myself down to a Boots or something and pick up some of the Aussie hair spray because it did a great job of holding my masses of hair up, and brushed out really nicely the next morning. I hate hair spray that makes you feel like you stuck glue into your hair, so it’s really nice to discover one that does the job without that feeling.
After we’d had our hair done, we mingled and relaxed a bit more, until the clock struck midnight and we all turned into little white mice eleven and it was time to depart. Emma loaded us up with some lovely goodie bags with some great leave-in conditioner, chocolates, a fun tiara and some earrings.
By the end of the evening, even my very own prince charming got into the spirit of things and borrowed some butterflies for a photo opportunity that I can’t resist sharing with the world…
After meeting Hayley for breakfast at the top floor restaurant (the views were to die for!) and swapping photos, James & I headed to Oxford Circus via the tube for a little light retail therapy. James bought me a couple of tops in the Gap sale, which made me a happy bunny. He even bought me a few cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery, so I could finally find out what all the fuss is about. Mmmm. We headed to Paddington and caught our train home, finally making it home after a few engineering work related hiccups!
Big thanks once again to the girls over at Uncover Aussie & 1000Heads for organising a nice event and inviting me along! I must admit I was a touch disappointed that the groups of girls didn’t mingle together more as they did at the Miracle Moist party I attended, but it didn’t help that I was rather tired and subdued/shy. It was great to see some familiar faces again though; to catch up with them and also to put some faces to twitter names.
To read more about the event, check out the blog post over at Uncover Aussie, and Hayley’s recap over at her blog! All photos in this post are from the Uncover Aussie flickr set or mine.
