The first thing that struck me was how beeeyootiful the salon is! Totally modern and chic, but not too clinical.
Purdy outdoor shot
Milling around & chatz.
Owner Fiona and her team greeted us with glasses of fizz and some insanely tasty nibbles - winning combo - and were friendly and accommodating throughout.
YUM! I could NOT stop stuffing my face with these. Seriously...
One of the serene treatment rooms.
Getting my nails did, yo. (Nice hairdo, Worzel.)
Charlene gets her skin analysed. Like in DEEETAIL.
We all got the chance to try out a few treatments including the massively popular HD Brows and blink n' go lashes, but as a bit of a spa virgin I opted for the pretty safe option of a Shellac manicure - a manicure in which the nail polish stays put for up to 2 weeks. Perfect, right? Well, not quite.
My lovely manicurist suggested that as my nails are so hideously bitten to buggery and stumpy beyond belief (my words, not hers), that I opt for a light pink colour so that when it did chip it wouldn't be as noticeable. I agreed. STUPIDLY! The polish was applied expertly and I've no doubt it would have stayed on for two weeks, but by the next day that sugary-pink colour was just too sickly so I bit them all off. I'm a weirdo! I've now got a luminous neon green on and I feel MUCH better. I'd still definitely recommend Shellac nails to anyone with talons long enough to open a ring-pull can, but the light, girly colours just ain't for me.
While I was there I also decided to have my skin analysed by a Murad rep using their new skin scanner - basically a camera hooked up to a laptop which takes special pictures of your skin to show the brown spots, redness, bacteria, ageing, pores and spots in terrifying detail! Ayden has a picture of her print out on her blog so you can see what I'm taking about...)
After a lengthy discussion about my blemish-prone skin (the bane of my actual life. SERIOUSLY) I was recommended the new anti-ageing anti-blemish range:
Anyone tried this? It's super expensive for a makeup/cosmetics cheapskate like me, but I am so sick of wrestling with my skin issues that I might just blow the budget, go mental and purchase the lot. I'd love to hear from someone who uses Murad products or has had amazing success with this range so let me know.
The lovely Murad rep, whose name now escapes me, also gave me a mild telling off for not washing my makeup brushes enough (read EVER) as apparently there was quite a bit of bacteria on my cheeks from my blusher brush. Can you say BOKE?! I immediately went home and scrubbed them clean.
Aaaaanyway, get down to Zen in Edinburgh if you're through there soon and fancy some pampering. It was a right guid night. Thanks again to Stella and Snooki for arranging everything.
I'm aware this post was a bit of a ramble, and I still haven't managed to include any collection reviews or tell you about my fab new gold Zara jumper and purple velvet leggings... That's all on the way, I promise!
Pics shamelessly stolen from A Blogging Blonde