Burj Khalifa

It never fails to astonish me just how spectacular Burj Khalifa is...

Over the past week I've taken several snap shots of the tallest building in the world and every time the photos end up looking beautiful.

I've posted a few of the images let me know your opinion

xxx


The view from the Palace hotel

The view from Starbucks, Souk Al Manzil

The view from Al wasl road

The D-Journal

One of my most recent discoveries has been The D-jounal.

Stared by the CApital D studio, a talent, image and photography consultancy firm based in Dubai, they've branched out to delivering a creative fashion journal called The D-Journal.

Innovative, funky and new... it transcends all things Dubai, way ahead of its time, it bring a sense of New york and Europe to the Middle East... a little piece of home.

Only having four issues hasn't stopped D-journal from making its mark on Dubai. Check out the issues online at www.d-journal.net

xxx

Cirque du Soir

Fantasy or reality?

Over the course of the weekend I mustered the courage to go a brave the evening clubbing scenes by going the ACT on thursday followed by Cirque du Soir on friday.

Unfortunately the Act didn't present me with anything I hadn't already seen before, if fact I hated it! Dark and grimy, overpacked and smokey. I was even unable to enjoy the music or the ambience of the club, definite fail! From the shoe box entrance, sardine cramped elevator, unbearable atmosphere and freakishly deluded actors, quite possibly one the worst experience I've had in Dubai.

Furthermore it seems that my friends hadn't had enough from the night before so they dragged me and persuaded me to pay a visit to Cirque du Soir, which turned out to be even worse! The circus themed concept and folk didn't do anything to calm my nerves from the night before. The array of entertainers, midgets, gymnasts and whip barer's seemed only to increase my anxiety.
Certain nightmares should be strictly confined to the imagination and not in front of you swinging on a rope or dancing on a table!!!
The crowd was mediocre with the place barely filling (our party excluded) and the music a mix of house, pop and rnb filled the club till 3am or so i was told due to the fact I had left an hour and a half beforehand.

What happened to the classic clubs such Movida and VIP in Dubai? Easy going, no fuss simple and no hidden nasties waiting in corners to scare you?

Bring back the classics and stop confusing fantasy with reality.

xxx

Cirque du Soir

    

  

Roberto's v Zuma.. The winner will be crowned

The battle of the lounge remains...

May I present in the left corner the ultimate in Japanese Izakaya cuisine and reigning Dubai champion Zuma and in the right corner the new brave Italian challenger Roberto's.

Over the course of the weekend both were tried and tested, but only one can be crowned Dubai lounge champion, so who will it be?

On thursday night we started of the competition with Zuma: We arrived at DIFC gate number 6 by 9.45pm to be greeted at by a host who escorted us to our table in the lounge and so we headed through the bar past the DJ and other visitors to our location. The layout is pretty easy and simple to negotiate and comfortable upon arrival. The live DJ (Adrian Caller, recognisable by his unique curly hair) plays a mix of new and old progressive hits through the evening, encouraging you to sing along and let loose. The menu presents you with a variety of dishes and drinks. Choosing the right dish may take a while, so take your time, remember that each dish will arrive at the table at different intervals allowing you time to savour the taste and experience of your choices.
Allthingscity recommends some of the following dishes:

Seaweed salad
Edamame
Shiitaki mushrooms
Crispy fried squid
Salmon sashimi
Yellow tail tuna sashimi
Mushroom risotto
Miso marinated black cod (to die for)
Chocolate fondant

Don't forget to try one of the signature cocktails, or as I like to call them palette cleansers... delicious!

Friday night at Roberto's: A modern Italian environment with several separated stimulating areas, the formal dinning area, the lounge/terrance and bar. Unfortunately the bar is far too minute and only comfortable holding a maximum of 20 people which wouldn't be so bad if their weren't 100 people trying to manoeuvre their way into any available space. Once you reach your table you may find the seating arrangements a bit uncomfortable also especially if your tall, the lounge tables are a little too low and the seats a little too high! However on a more promising note the menu is diversified and well rounded as is the drinks menu, although the wine selection could be improved. The DJ's selection of music is great adding to the light cosmopolitan atmosphere.
The manager Luca plays a crucial part to the ambience of the lounge, typically Italian, fun and easy going he'll probably join you for a 20 minute conversation telling you about his life and experience of living in the UAE, cracking a few jokes and telling you how beautiful you look... great guy! Allthingscity recommends:

Beef Carpaccio
Grilled organic vegetables
Bresaola
Salmon
Veal tenderloin
Vegetable pizza
selections of sorbets

The only negativity I could say about Roberto's is unfortunately their lounge furniture is slightly uncomfortable, a quick change of tables and chairs and we could be looking at a new champion in Dubai.
Both present great menus, music and eclectic crowd however if your tired of the oldies then do fresh your senses and environment at Roberto's but if your looking for consistency pay a visit to Zuma you'll never go wrong!

Scoring Zuma
overall 8 out of 10

Scoring Roberto's
7.5 out of 10

xxx

www.robertos.ae/home.html +97143860066 
www.zumarestaurant.com +97144255660

Roberto's

Zuma

The perfect time piece

This week, Allthingscity celebrated a very special birthday for a very special person and therefore this exceptional person had to receive a distinctive gift to mark the occasion, and may I just say if your looking to invest in a classic wristwatch for yourself or a loved one, Allthingscity has found the one!

Let me introduce you to... Breguet! 

A luxury Swiss watchmaker founded by A. -L. Breguet (1747- 1823). A pioneer of his time and renowned developer of the clock and wristwatch. He spent most of his life in Paris, later taking refuge in Switzerland from the excesses of the revolution and then eventually returning to the city overflowing with ideas and improvements for his pieces.  In 1810 he conceived the first wristwatch for the Queen of Naples and has been going strong ever since. 

So the time piece: Classique (806BB/52/964 DD00) the wrist watch consists of 18 carrot white gold self self-winding moment piece, mother of pearl dial, bezel and lugs and set with 64 diamonds.

As much as I'm a fan of such brands and Rolex, Hublot, Audemars Piguet and Cartier there’s something about wearing a more understated piece that makes you stand out from the crowd. Superbly gorgeous and superbly practical it’s the ultimate time piece for women!

In more women friendly terms: a classic piece that will never age and can be worn during the working day or evening, whether your attending a meeting, cocktail party, formal event or just a cozy dinner for two.

xxx

Available
Dubai: Mall of the Emirates +97143951862
London: 10A New Bond Street +442073551735

The small house or La Petite Maison

Last night took myself and a close friend for an early dinner to La Petite Maison, probably one of the top five restaurants in Dubai, and the verdict is as always perfection... 10 out of 10.

For first timers the menu is a mix of French Mediterranean (due to its Nice origins near the border of Italy).
LPM (La Petite Maison) is located in DIFC nestled in a corner opposite Wheelers restaurant and the Empty Quarter Gallery. Cute and quaint from the outside, spacious and warm from the inside with an eclectic mix of people all come together superbly under one roof.

What we ordered, bare in mind the cuisine and menu are designed to be shared amongst your party and portions are generously sized:

Starters  
Burrata et Tomates (soft cheese with tomato and basil)
Salade de Crustacés (crab and lobster salad)
Endive salad

Mains
Rigatoni aux Champignons (pasta with cream and mushroom/ truffle sauce)
Côte de Veau Grillée ( grilled veal chop)

Desserts
Gâteau au Fromage blanc (cheese cake)
Pain Perdu et sa Glace aux Epices (French toast with spice ice cream)

Drinks 
Sparkling water (but their wine menu is devine) 

One of the reasons why I'm so fond of this particular night spot is the friendly and efficient service and overall ambience, and more importantly unlike many other established venues they don't rush you to finish your meal and hover over you once presented with the bill (which is ever so important to me).

Contact details: 
00 971 (0) 4439 0505
info@lpmdubai.ae

Burrata

Cheese cake

Le Petite Maison

Monday Blues.... bankruptcy

Waking up each day with nothing to do can become an expensive past time. Due to taking early vacation time in order to prepare for my month long vacation in the states is proving to be detrimental to my health and bank balance.

So it happened again today, after dropping my good friend to the airport earlier this afternoon, and having little to do due to all my friends working, I ventured to Mall of the Emirates to exchange a pair of pants I brought, in what turns out to be a very small size. I thought I'd pass the time with some retail window-shopping, no purchases just to look, well that’s how it started until I did the holy molly of mistakes and ventured into Harvey Nichols.

It would be a miracle for someone anyone male, female, kid or animal to enter the shop and not purchase anything! And so it began, first stop handbags and accessories, moving slowly thorough the spring summer collections I found my self arriving at Balenciaga. I believe I have found the perfect colour bag, a giant yellow weekend gold studded bag... simply beautiful.

Next stop shoes. I don't proclaim to be a Carry Bradsawesque shopaholic (although this moth I've truly outshone my self), but there's something about eyeing a pair of shoes from a cross the room and moving closer and closer to feel the bright shiny supple leathers of multiple designers. Next comes the mind games, the outfit ideas, the justification and reasoning behind purchasing yet another pair of over priced shoes. 

So when you see a pair of shoes that encompasses the ideal amount of beauty, shine, comfortability and price, you jump on the bandwagon and pray that those three little words "credit card declined" don't interrupt your fantasy.

Shoes purchased I ventured upstairs to fashion, passing by Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, Moschino to one of my favorite casual designers Sandro which meant a quick no harm purchase and to finish my trip a quick stop off at TopShop to pick up a dress for the weekend.

Tell me what you think? xxx

Balenciaga

Sandro

Manolo Blahnik

Manolo Blahnik

 

Topshop

Movida Nights in Dubai

Normally a Saturday night in Dubai consists of either taking it easy and watching a movie with a friend or partner or enjoying the spring time evening weather at one of the many coffee shops in the UAE, but last night usual routine decided to rebel and take us in a new direction, and that direction led us to Movida Night club! Originally from London, Movida opened its doors two years ago in Dubai and has remained one of the hottest clubs along side VIP room and The ACT. Located just off Sheikh Zayed in the Radison hotel, it remains one of the must see venues in Dubai. 

So at just past midnight we found ourselves in the elevators spiraling us up towards Movida (by us I mean myself and a few of my friends), and what a great surprise awaited us, who should be there all the way from New York City?  Non other than Shontelle (for those of you who may not recognize her, her hits included T-shirt and Impossible, google her), and may I just say THAT GIRL CAN SING! 

Originally from Barbados, like another starlet we all know and love Rihanna, she lived most of her life in the US eventually following her dreams to become a international supper star and song writer. Not only does she have a voice but her writing abilities have landed her songs in the laps such people like Riri releasing such singles as 'Man down,' which we have the privilege of watching her perform earlier this morning.

Defiantly worth the pain of getting up early today with sleep deprivation, all in all a great change of scenery and pace.

Thank you Movida Dubai xxxx

Summer shoes

Thoughts on summer 2013's Hottest sumer trends! Perspex plastic!!!!

Never thought 1996's winter collection would be back, guess I was wrong. Not only is it back but its hitting both designer and high street brands full force.

So your thoughts? My thoughts?

Turns out I'M not hating the idea as much as I thought I would!!
I must admit I'm obsessed with Chanel's take on the trend as shown in the picture below in their spring summer 2013 collection.

Christian louboutin has his usual standard take on the seasons trend "just add spikes," so if your looking for a funky punk angle hop into the nearest store or visit their website
www.christianlouboutin.com for international delivery.

But people we have a winner as far as awful fashion goes, the crowing summer winner of the worst shoe created ever!... goes to Prada! Which saddens me as just this morning I couldn't have gushed more for Italian craftmanship, turns out we can all be mistaken :( .

xoxox

Chanel

Christian Louboutin

Prada

Bloomingdales Heaven

So its nearing that certain time of the year again when the heavens open their doors and bestow upon us mere mortals: Sale Season! And in the UAE that only means one thing, department stores.

Unfortunately we only have three major players in this field and leading the crop is Bloomingdales straight from the US of A followed by her majesty Harvey Nicholes and ending with the French super store Gallery Lafayette, and you know how those yanks like to be, always the leader in the battle. 

So who better to start off summer 2013 summer sale than miss liberty her self, or as I like to call her Bloomies!

So what was in store for us in the preview, well being a preview for privileged amber means (amber cards are loyalty cards for Bloomingdales and Harvey Nicholes and a few other store, your able to earn points and redeem them against purchases) that the preview only lasts two days commencing from Thursday the 16th of May till Friday the 18th, which equals plenty of time for me. 

So its nearing that certain time of the year again when the heavens open their doors and bestow upon us mere mortals: Sale Season! and in the UAE that only means one thing, department stores.

Unfortunately we only have three major players in this field and leading the crop is Bloomingdales straight from the US of A followed by her majesty Harvey Nicholes and ending with the french super store Galery Lafayette, and you know how those yanks like to be, always the leader in the battle. 

So who better to start off summer 2013 summer sale than miss liberty her self, or as i like to call her Bloomies!

So what was in store for us in the preview, well being a preview for privileged amber means (amber cards are loyalty cards for Bloomingdales and Harvey Nicholes and a few other store, your able to earn points and redeem them against purchases) that the preview only lasts two days commencing from Thursday the 16th of May till Friday the 18th, which equals plenty of time for me. 

Unfortunately due to work commitments I wasn't able to attend the first day of the review on Thursday but nothing stopped me yesterday morning arriving sharply at 10.15am to avoid the crowds. I also prefer arriving early in order t be able to see all the merchandise displayed and laid out neatly, no ones been able to revere sizes or colors from the day before, the store assistants are able to find your size and preferences because the hecticness hasn’t started yet, all in all its the only time to attend a preview sale!

So what did I purchase, you may be asking?

Unfortunately due to work commitments I wasn't able to attend the first day of the review on Thursday but nothing stopped me yesterday morning arriving sharply at 10.15am to avoid the crowds. I also prefer arriving early in order t be able to see all the merchandise displayed and laid out neatly, no ones been able to revere sizes or colors from the day before, the store assistants are able to find your size and preferences because the hecticness hasn’t started yet, all in all its the only time to attend a preview sale!

So what did I purchase, you may be asking?

Well fortunately I was able to keep my composure and only buy 5 items. starting off with:

Converse Sneakers by Maison Duman, soo cute unbelievably comfy, ladies we should all own a pair. www.beandd.com/

Next on my list is a pair of nude fluid leather heeled sandles by Le Silla. Forget Manolos or Christian, Le Silla is my number one, gorgeously structured and surprisingly comfortable for a 6 inch heels. I own a dozen pairs and will continue to support this Italian brand (my No1). www.lesilla.com

My third Item is by another Italian Designer called Bendetta Bruzziches. She designs artisan leather goods making each piece unique and totally desirable visit her website:  www.benedettabruzziches.com/

My other two purchases were simple summer tops. One in burnt orange and another in black both by Aqua ill post those later.

All in all bloggers always remember to buy classic items in the sale, therefore your money will never go to waist and you'll wear your purchased items for years to come... HAPY SALE SEASON xxx

OLD SOUK

Yesterday, due to work reasons I ventured down to the Old Souk in Bur Dubai (Dubai), to purchase some authentic UAE handy crafts for the coming visitors.

I ended up purchasing gutra's. For those of you who aren’t aware of what gutras are, they are a large scarfs often in red/ white, white, black/ white, beige ect... that GCC Arab men wear on their heads as part of the tradional attire. I purchased several pale colours such as lilac, pink, green and blue.

I'm not a huge fan of the hustle and bustle of old Dubai but sometimes it’s lovely to see the original parts of the city.

The mix of people is intoxicating from the local merchants to the Indian helpers mixed in with the tourist groups and UAE residents. Although it can also be saddening due to huge number of malls springing up in the UAE and the number of people visiting the souks dwindling due to people being able to purchase all their needs in a single shop now rather than the traditional way of visiting the market on a daily basis.

However if you’re looking for a change of scenery or atmosphere venture down to the Souks either in Bur Dubai or the gold and spice Souk in Deira.

Just remember dress modestly, don’t take any valuables and don’t forget to always negociate on the price, halfling the given price till you arrive at something semi normal.

And my final Piece of advice try the fresh coconut juices priced at AED 7.00 each, it may turn out to be your only bargain of the day. 


 

Topshop buys

So in order to increase my cardio vascular exercise routine I headed to Dubai mall (yup thats the biggest mall in the Middle East), a local haunt of the GCC shoppers and expats alike.
Its located in the UAE and approximately a stones through from Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world, for those of you unaware).

So anyway in order for me to skip the gym and be able to keep up my heart rate, a little treat was in order and I'm pretty sure you all can guess what followed.... SHOPPING!

So after going to the top few stores on my list (Bloomingdales, Gallery Lafayette, Zara, BCBG, Sauce, H&M and a few other standard stores) I ventured into Topshop.

Quite frankly Topshop was never on my list of top ten places to shop in the UAE, I know that might sound strange and please don't get me wrong I love Topshop in the UK and the US, but I feel (and also know) that they the buyers don't bring the truly great pieces to the UAE instead only the pieces that I classify as half way (neither here nor there, lightly confused). So you can only imagine my surprise when I saw myself taking part in a Top shop blowout :) !!!

Further more thanks to my Grazia insider card I didn't manage to break the bank receiving 20% discount, making the splurge even more exciting.

OK... so what did I buy?... well surprisingly I brought 3 pairs of shoes, a cocktail dress, a long jersey dress, two rings and a neon pick lipstick (which I'm obsessed with).... all the essential summer buys...... I'll post the shoes today and the rest will follow shortly... TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS xxx

I'll list them below with their respective prices:

Twister Crochet Lace AED115

 
INT Gorgeous Blocks AED 425

INT Wreckage AED325

  

The Great Gatsby

So being that we live in the Middle East, films tend to reach us a little later than the rest of the world, so you can only imagine my excitement to have finally watched "The Great Gatsby."

Although Baz Luhrmann's film has come under much scrutiny for his directorial leadership in the film, being quoting by the independent newspaper as "Long, gaudy and flawed." 
I have to admit I thought to it be anything but.... 


The film is simply magnificent and dazzling from the eccentric party scenes to the love triangle of Gatsby, Daisy and Tom (her husband).


And lets not forget to mention the costumes, makeup, hair, jazz, cars, alcohol, even the sound track is sublime. Lana Del Rays "young and beautiful" track compliments the theme and tone of the film beautifully!!

On a fashion note i can defiantly forsee a flash back period to the twenties coming along over the summer, so lets get ready with our dark lipsticks, headpieces and beaded dresses, the expression more is more comes to mind!

I dont presume to be a film critic but from the sheer decadence of the film and the beautiful Leonardo DiCaprio i'd have to give this film a 9 out of 10.

Levres Scintillantes- Chanel

LÈVRES SCINTILLANTES- CHANEL

So summers here and I'm dying over the new Chanel lip gloss collection!

 

I just purchased 2 colours this afternoon: 164 Plaisir and 169 Jalousie.

I'm planning on teaming them with a natural nude lipstick then adding a dash of the gloss to enhance the shine, teamed with natural makeup and a minimal amount of mascara. 

Alternatively just use the gloss alone to add colour and hydrate.

HOWEVER YOU DECIDE TO WEAR YOUR CHANEL LIPGLOSS JUST TO LET YOUR LEVRES DO ALL THE TALKING

           

                                                                                                                       

Met Gala 2013

By Far two of the best dressed, if not the best dressed women of 2013's Met Gala! 

Any one who is anyone was there to attend but it seems only a few people got the memo. 

"PUNK" was the name of the game, and adhering to that rule was non other than the style icon herself SJP, sporting a Giles Deacon dress especially created for the star and her Philip Tracey headpiece.

My second style trend setter of the evening was Nicole Richie with her striking blue/white hair, dark lipstick and non other than an embellished Top shop dress.

Nothing says cooler than these two yummy mummies!