I had a really great evening, last night, at The Trafalgar Hotel, London. The rain may have been pouring down outside, but inside… the urban hits were flowing as were the glasses of Christmas sparkly fizz, twinkly Leighton Denny Nail Polishes and buffed mini-mani’d hands, courtesy of the lovely people at Urban Retreat Beautique at Home. I’d never heard of the Urban Retreat at Home strand before, and it turns out it’s right up my street! Move over Avon.

I also bumped into a couple of my favourite Fashion & Style Bloggers, the first time I’ve done so since moving to London at the beginning of October. Say hello to Sarah of Style on the Couch and Anna of South Molton Street Style, and Mr Reindeer. It is great to finally meet them in person and say hello, I’d love to meet you both again soon and not be running around like a whirling dervish.

I tried and tested (it wasn’t too much of a hardship, I can assure you) the Pure Lochside complimentary hand massage, which was demonstrated using the delicious smelling Organic Sugar Body Scrub, £23 and their Calm and Soothe Luxury Balm, £37. I just wish I could’ve slipped into full-on Spa mode and had an all-over Body Scrub/ Massage, but alas! that was not to be.

Post hand massage I sat down ready for my free mini manicure. I opted to have my nails painted in Leighton Denny, ‘Man Eater’ Black. A hard shade to wear, just because it is so damn difficult to apply… on your own. A little file and polish, by someone else, goes a long way. I think my friend Emily, with her gold sparkly nails, opted for Leighton Denny’s ‘Starlet’ shade, perfect for her office Christmas party!

It was a pretty varied night really, you had the likes of R&B recording artist Lemar saunter in to meet his pal, Beverley Knight. Then you had, up-and-coming Fashion Illustrators such as Juliet Jackman, from whom I bought a lovely hand-drawn Christmas card and Zarina Liew, who drew me my very own fashion illustration style portrait and then Thorntons throwing truffles at people! Ok, so they weren’t really throwing them, they were giving them away nicely and just happened to fall down mine and Roz Beautique’s throats and land in our tummy’s.

I also tried Cake Pops by Pop Kakery, which came in rather tasty Red Velvet and Carrot Cake versions, to name but a few. Mmm. It looks like people might be moving on from cupcakes?

Photography © Lucie Kerley (iPhone 5)