ESSIE - Mamba NOTD

Mamba by Essie is one of the nail polishes I picked up when I was in New York but have to say I am still a bit undecided about this shade. Part of their 2011 Spring collection, Essie describes Mamba as a “shimmering café au lait” but I personally think it is more of a warm peachy nude colour with a brown undertone. The polish has a very slight shimmer and the formula is creamy and goes opaque in two coats.

Mamba is a great natural polish that is suitable for every season and appropriate with work or casual wear. However as the shade is quite peachy and a bit similar to my skin-colour I actually think Mamba would look best on people with either really fair or darker skin tones. Overall I’d say it is a good every day nude polish but at the moment OPI’s Tickle my France-y remains my holy grail nude nail polish!

What do you think – do you like the look of Mamba?

Weekend Brunches: Lantana Cafe

Happy Sunday everyone! It's a stunning winters day out there in London today, very cold but the sun in shining and the roofs are white from the overnight frost (no snow yet this winter..) and with this sun streaming into my cosy bedroom while I'm enjoying breakfast in bed I have to say it's a pretty lovely start to my day!

Yesterday I ended up checking out a cafe in London that had been on my brunch-places-to-visit list for a while now. So I rugged up in my leather jacket and a warm tartan poncho/scarf and hopped onto my bike to meet my friend in Fitzrovia for one of my favourite weekend past times; BRUNCH :)

Lantana is a bustling little café tucked down a laneway off Goodge Street in central London. This Aussie-run place proves once again that when it comes to brunch the Antipodean's do it best. The downside to it being such a popular brunch spot is that you are going to have to be patient to get a table. Note to self get there early or be content to wait. My friend actually arrived around 11am and annoyingly was told she could not get a table until I had arrived and was asked to wait outside (in -1 temperatures I might add) until I got there to be seated. Not such a brilliant start to the day for her.... 

She in the end managed to convince the staff to give her a table and ordered herself a coffee and banana bread until I had made my way over through London traffic. 

The menu at Lantana changes regularly but staples include sweetcorn fritters, poached eggs and Cinnamon french toast. Everything on the menu looked rather tasty but I went for my usual poached eggs on grain toast with smashed avocado and smoked salmon. 

The eggs were poached perfection and I always love myself some avo + smoked salmon but only thing that bugged me about this dish was that the bread wasn't really toasted and I have to say I prefer my bread nice and crunchy!

My friend had the corn fritters stacked w streaky bacon, fresh spinach and slow roast tomatoes served w an avocado chilli lime salsa and crème fraiche.

Wearing my new 'NOIR embellished' T-shirt from ZARA (link)

Even though I really didn't need it, I couldn't resist ordering the toasted banana bread with spiced mascarpone and fresh passion fruit as my brunch 'dessert'!

I loved the cinnamon spiced mascarpone and the passionfruit tangy twist with the sweet banana bread. And yes I finished all of this.......

Overall I'd say Lantana is a great brunch spot in central London; delicious food, good coffee and a buzzing laid-back Aussie vibe. Oh and if you are in a hurry, or can't be bothered waiting in line for a table there’s a takeaway counter next door selling tarts, salads, sandwiches and oh-so-delicious-cakes....

 Crack cake anyone? Haha ;)

Lantana is open 7 days a week, serving breakfast and lunch Monday to Friday and all day (9am-5pm) brunch on the weekend. 

Lantana Cafe, 13 Charlotte Place, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1SN 

www.lantanacafe.co.uk

ghd pink cherry blossom styler

People often ask me how I style my hair and I always give all the credit to my beloved ghd styler. Their multi-award winning ghd styler is my go-to tool for quick, effortless straightening or for making easy curls (video here) and waves. I have had my current ghd IV classic styler for over four years now and it still works brilliantly for my everyday styling.

This year ghd released a new limited edition Pink Cherry Blossom styler which supports Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Over the last 9 years ghd has actually already raised almost £6 million for this great cause from the sale of their pink stylers. Now I was a very lucky girl recently because the lovely people at ghd were so kind to send me this brand new Pink Cherry Blossom ghd to play with, woop woop!

This Gold Classic styler has shimmering pink plates and has the same features and gives the same salon-style results as the ghd Gold Classic styler and is perfect for styling all hair types. The pink accents on this styler are a bit of a girly novelty but it is great to know that for every Pink Cherry Blossom styler sold in the UK, £10 is donated to Breakthrough Breast Cancer!

Plus the Pink Cherry Blossom styler comes with a matching heat-resistant satin storage bag with pretty floral embroidery detailing. Just like my old ghd the quality of this new styler is unbeatable, heating super fast and providing long lasting results (whether it be curls or straight) on my hair! As much as my old ghd was still working well I have to say that I can definitely tell that maybe it was time for a new one because this new styler is even quicker and better than my old one. Some people might feel that £99-£129 is quite expensive for a styler but seeing how mine has latest for over four years and it gives me perfect results everytime; I think it is a worthy investment!

Also did you know that on the ghd website they have great section full of 'how-to' hair tutorials?

I love the 'how-to waves' and the 'bouncy blow-dry' videos! Check out all their tutorials here.

My ghd stylers are probably one of my can't-live-without products! 

Do you own a ghd styler or do you prefer another styler that you use daily? I'd love to hear! x

Focus...

That time of the week again! 

I feel it is very important to keep a healthy sense of perspective in life and keep focussed on the good :)

Also as you know I was at home in the Netherland last weekend so here a quick collection of pictures:

Attending my sisters PhD ceremony - feeling very proud of her for this amazing achievement! 

When at home I can never resist a delicious piece of traditional Dutch apple pie

Comfy and casual outfit of the day; distressed jeans, leather converse high tops, leopard print scarf

Strolling around the picturesque town of Delft - check out the lean on the church tower ;)

Yes it's that time of the year again; indulging in Oliebollen! 

Showing my friend around Delft

We spotted several 'horse parking spots' for St Nicolas shopping loading zone haha

 My hometown, beautiful The Hague!

Parliament building and Grote Markt square at night

On Saturday we made a little day trip to Amsterdam where we biked around, caught up with friends and walked around the rainy, but still very pretty, canals. Lunch was a grilled goats cheese sandwich with walnuts and honey at Cafe Nielsen in the Nine Little Streets area of Amsterdam (which has lovely boutiques and restaurants). Dinner and a couple of glasses of red were consumed at Boca's in the Jordaan; a fun casual platter restaurant/bar.

On Sunday I took my friend for a walk along the beach but we experienced some crazy winds that day; we almost struggled to move! After being completely blown away on the beach we warmed up again over hot chocolates and poffertjes.....yummmmm!

Ps: If you fancy being friends on Instagram, you can follow me at Dutchessroz

Happy Hump Day everyone :)