A NIGHT AT THE MONDRIAN WITH CLARINS #30HoursInLondon

Back in the day - a phrase that never fails to make me feel extremely ancient - I used to post about events all the time. I loved writing about a great day out that I'd had with a brand and making new friends and getting news things [insert your personal favourite thing about events here] but it has been a very long time since I last did that, and that's for a number of reasons.

One reason being that I'm very lucky to be working on a number of wonderful collaborations at the moment which means that my content schedule is jam packed. Another being that actually, I don't really go to a huge amount of events anymore as, as a full time blogger with all the meetings, all the posts to write and generally just all the things going on, if I went to every event I was invited to, I'd never have time to actually blog and make video's. You know, the things I'm actually paid for doing. And finally, as much as this makes me so sad to say although I know that a huge amount of friends feel the same, the novelty of going to events has kind of worn off now. Don't get me wrong, I'm always so grateful for the invite and will always make an effort for brands that I love, but with such a busy schedule, you have to weigh up what's worth your time. But sometimes, just sometimes, I receive emails which I'm replying yes to before I've even got to the end of the invite.

Said email? A little something from Clarins inviting me to stay overnight at The Mondrian, go to dinner at Sketch, Yoga at The Shard the next morning and then on to Bourne and Hollingsworth for lunch to launch their new Multi active range (although we actually had no idea what the range was until we attended which made it even more exciting).

[Insert "Holy f**k is this actually my life" emoji here].

So this isn't necessarily an "event review" as such, or really a hotel review. More of a "fancy following me around for 24hours, yeah, oh great... " kinda post, and to be honest, they're nearly always my favourite anyway!

After arriving at the gorgeous hotel (and meeting the even more gorgeous Clarins ladies) I was checked in and told that I had a really great room. Which was great. I didn't think too much of it. And then I entered my room... Annoyingly, no photograph can quite do justice to just how huge and absolutely stunning the room was. But with a bedroom, office area, lounge, dining area, bar, coffee bar, toilet, bathroom (with another toilet plus a bath and wetroom) plus 3 wardrobe storage areas, it's safe to say that I was completely blown away.

Oh, I forgot to mention my balconies didn't I? Silly old me, here is the view from my 2 balconies [insert "I sh*t you not"/seriously excited/seriously blown away emoji here].

Once I had run around my room, jumped on the bed, photographed everything, made myself a coffee (obvs), played with the extremely beautiful and very generous set of products that Clarins had left out for us - FYI the Clains Lip Oil is life - met with the blogging ladies and stalked their rooms, it was time to get ready and head off to Sketch.

Unfortunately I decided not to take my ridiculously large Canon 7d to Sketch with me as a) it was so dark by that point, I didn't think it would be worth it and b) I really just wanted to soak up this amazing experience and really be in the moment. So yes, there are some terrible quality and ridiculously 2D photo's taken from my vlog camera just because I wanted to show you how beautiful the Pink room in Sketch is, but please don't judge the shitty photo's, and also, I vlogged the whole experience so keep an eye on my Youtube channel as it's one of my favourite Vlogs yet and you can get a much better idea of what it looked like.

In short, Clarins rented out the whole of Sketch for us - I know... I know... - and we had the most delicious 3 course meal (cocktails, wine and champagne in tow and yes I had a ridiculously sore head in the morning) - whilst finding out about the brand new Multi Active range from Clarins.

I returned home to my room - with some of the girls, because midnight chats are totally essential - to find the beautiful Multi-active Night cream laid out on my bed (with chamomile tea and lavender drops because they think of everything), and finally after testing out my brand new toy (which FYI and spoiler alert is OMG amazing!), nodded off to sleep in the dreamiest bed in existence.

I awoke - with a headache and throat that felt like it was full of sand - ran a bath in the sexiest roll top, freestanding bath that I've ever seen and ordered myself some Gluten free avocado and poached eggs on toast. I have to say, I had a real moment sitting on my gorgeous bed, post gorgeous bath, tucking into an absolutely delicious breakfast. I really am so lucky to call blogging my job and to do this kind of thing for a living. I'll never not be grateful for that.

Drippiness over, it was time for Yoga at The Shard...

Now, I ain't gonna lie, I was really quite nervous about Yoga. Yes, I occasionally indulge in a little yoga at home (i.e once in a blue moon) but I've never done a class before and never amongst a group of blogging babes that look frickin bloody gorgeous all the time.

I actually had nothing to worry about, becuase the amazing thing about the Yoga class - and the bunch of girls I was with - is that nobody judges you. You just "do you" and get on with your own thing and in the end, I actually loved it. My Fibro definitely hated me for it at the end, but I was so happy that I managed to push myself through the pain because let's face it, with a view like that, I was never going to give in... screw you fibro

Returning to my room (I almost said "home" and then felt extremely sad that it actually isn't home [insert cry face/screaming emoji here]), I found a little tray with the Multi-active day cream  - and a shot that literally makes you want to die - on my bed. What a perfect way to end a lovely stay. 

Spoiler alert again, this cream is blimmin awesome too!

So after all of the amazingness, it was time to actually find out about the launches on the Mondrian's stunning rooftop. (Can we just talk about how "goals" the decor is?) After a really interesting talk from one of the lovely Clarins France team, I learnt that the multi-active range is targeted at us millennials, focusing on reducing the first signs of aging and increasing hydration and radiance. And a whole load of other stuff but there will be a full review of both gorgeous products soon.

Before leaving the dreamiest suite in existence, I sat out on my balcony, with the new products because Instagram opportunities before anything else, and took in the view for one last time.

Then it was off to Bourne and Hollingsworth for one final lunch, to chill with the girls and discover the new spring launches from Clarins - those instant lip perfectors though 'insert heart eye'd emoji's here] - and I am so excited to try these out.

And that rounds off one of the most incredible #30HoursInLondon that I've ever had. As I mentioned, a full review of the Clarins Multi-Active range will be coming once I've had a good few weeks to trial the products but so far, so amazing. I just wanted to take a moment to say the biggest, heartfelt thank you to Clarins for inviting me to this stunning event. Not only was everything so luxurious and I was made to feel like a total pampered princess, but I think it was a bit of a moment for me. For so long I've been plugging away working 6:30am - 11pm and yes, I've been working on some amazing collaborations lately and generally "doing well" (words of others, not myself, promise I'm not an arrogant twat), but this felt really special. Like all of the hard work is worth it. So thank you Clarins for not only indulging my skincare/avocado toast/luxury hotel obsessions, but also for giving me the extra kick of motivation to carry on working hard and striving for my goals.

OK, enough self indulgent/gushy chat, let's wrap this up. I really hope you enjoyed this post, as always thank you so much for reading!

xx

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