July

Poor little neglected blog.  I'm not going to do a whole 'where have I been' spiel but I thought I'd share some of my favourite bits of last month as my first foray back into blogging.  Is anyone still there reading?  If you don't follow me on instagram you probably should-that's where all the good stuff happens!

I ate........(out a lot)

Breakfast at Cocoa Room, Galleria Mall

Starting my dining highlights of July with Cocoa Room which is best for a show stopping, calorie laden, sugar rush inducing breakfast.  A great place to take visitors because they have a huge array of sweet and savoury dishes for breakfast but you need to get in early-ideally before 9am.  This place is insanely popular despite the rather unfriendly service.  My top pick is the Lotus Pancake dish-I've written a full review previously here.

Afternoon tea at Al Fayrooz Lounge, Al Qasr Hotel

Definitely in my top 3 afternoon teas in Dubai, I spent a leisurely Saturday afternoon eating sandwiches and scones and enjoying the little extras that Al Fayrooz Lounge offers such as the mango soufflé and the chocolate fountain.

Dinner at Coya, Four Seasons Restaurant Village

Dinner at Coya always seems to turn into a very late night and this time was no exception.  I have a habit of always being the last to leave a restaurant..and then we went to a club....

I would say Coya is currently my favourite restaurant in Dubai-they have a hugely extensive menu including a complete vegetarian tasting menu and each time I have been I have loved it.  The cuisine is Peruvian with Japanese influences and the dessert platter is a must have.  The price tag is hefty-this is a restaurant for special occasions and your favourite people.

Dinner at Greg Maloufs Zahira, The H Hotel

I went for dinner at Michelin starred Greg Maloufs newest Dubai venture, Zahira.  The restaurant offers modern Middle Easten food and everything we tried was a hit.  The venue was intimate and cosy and the service was excellent-I even got to meet Greg himself.  The disappointing thing was that the restaurant was almost empty on a Friday night-this is such a hidden gem and people need to know about it!  The pricing was extremely reasonable and I would highly recommend paying it a visit.

Dinner at Nobu, Atlantis The Palm

Nobu is my fail safe option for a great meal.  It's always busy and it's always faultless.  The cocktail selection is amazing and they cater really really well for vegetarians despite being known for their seafood.  Again it's not cheap but you can't go wrong.

Dinner at Katsuya, Al Naseem hotel

We stumbled on Katsuya by accident-we were trying to go to the highly rated Il Barro but it didn't open until 7 and we went straight from work-but Katsuya was open so we got a great table in the open plan, Philip Starck designed restaurant.  The food was good but the service was hesitant and the waiters lacked conviction on the menu and making recommendations.  The interior is slick and I hope this restaurant survives the hectic pace of the Dubai restaurant scene.

NB-we did also try Il Barro and I personally thought it was a very average Italian restaurant

I saw.....

I'm so happy Kirsty is now in Dubai and living just 10 minutes away from me!  We caught up on the anniversary of my cancer diagnosis for dinner at Waka in the Oberoi Hotel and had a really fun night. 

Beauty things I loved......

My best friend Dani donated the Rodial Bee Venom moisturiser to me when I was back in London and I loved it.  It's super super thick and not my usual type of moisturisor at all given my hormonal and easily agitated skin but this stuff was just so brilliant.  I used a tiny bit and as soon as you smooth it on your skin it becomes almost a nourishing oil-it doesn't feel heavy in the slightest and it plumps and smooths the skin and is an excellent make up base.  I'm a big fan of Rodial products and I loved the cleanser from the same range which I reviewed here.

Clichéd but I've been aiming for a more glowy base and I found combining the Dior Forever foundation with the Armani Liquid Summer Bronzer with the NARS illuminator in Hot Sand was the perfect combo.  I didn't like the Dior foundation on it's own, I found it difficult to work with and that it settled into pores.  But mixing the other two products in alleviated this problem and I found my base to be long lasting and luminous.

I bought........

Gianvito Rossi plexi pumps in black..and also in nude suede.  I got the 85mm and have been wearing them for work and they're so incredibly comfortable.  They come in a huge array of colours and I am so tempted to get a pair of red leather ones if they bring them out-I am keeping my eyes peeled.

I also finally found a comfortable pair of Louboutins-I picked up the Iriza in black patent this month and they are actually pain free!  My other black patent Louboutins (Pigalle and Decolette) are literally horrendous to wear.

My favourite accessory.....

I get SO many compliments on my Louboutin card holder-literally every time I use it someone says it's amazing.  It was limited edition and I got mine from Net A Porter but they launch similar every season.  I love this one though. 

I visited.....

Despite the piercing heat of the UAE at the moment I went on a road trip out of Dubai for the day and discovered this little hidden gem out in Hatta.  I've been to Hatta numerous times before and didn't know this existed-we literally stumbled on it by accident by taking a few random turns.  It was breathtakingly beautiful and I can't wait to go back when it's cooler.

If you are still reading then thank you....it means a lot to know you're still here!  I asked on instagram stories a while ago what kind of posts you would like to see on my blog and wrote down all the ideas and so I am starting to formulate ideas for posts.

I hope you're having a wonderful August so far xxx