Lucie Loves... Beauty // A few photos from before, during and after my wonderful Leighton Denny mini-pedicure at Urban Retreat, Harrods

I can’t resist a bit of pampering. I recently attended Leighton Denny’s Summer Nail Loft Cocktail Party at Urban Retreat, Harrods, London.

Having nice nails (note: not chipped, broken, crushed by a falling mirror, or misshapen) can really give your confidence a little boost.

If you, like me, live in London, it doesn’t go unnoticed that a vast amount of misshapen, unloved feet that are presented to the world on a daily basis. Bleurghhhhh! If only the ladies (and gents) with the ugly duckling toenails knew how much a lick of colourful polish could do for their tootsies… I’m not saying my feet are beautiful, OH NO! I have skinny, sized 5 things with an odd boney bit on the top, what I recently discovered is actually the result of a ‘high instep’. Also, my second toe is oddly, slightly longer than my big toe (yes, it’s weird) and my nails definitely look much more presentable when they’ve received a bit of TLC.

However, recently, due to the lack of sunshine our country has received of late, I decided, that when the sunshine finally came out I’d pop my sandals on…

It was very much a last minute decision.

One glance at my open-toed footwear was enough to make me think “Oh dear, those toenails need a bit of a repaint…” I’m not sure about you, but I always seem to run out of nail polish remover at the one point I NEED it the most! ARGGGGH!

I decided to opt for a bit of a DIY makeshift/emergency 'top-up’ and after sticking on a layer of pink (over my already chipped blue polish) and then a layer of glitter over that (to hide the mismatched effect) I thought they looked (a bit) better.

Little did I know that this glitter would be a NIGHTMARE to remove… Sorry.

Anyway, a few hours later, my toes were whipped into shape following a visit to the Leighton Denny Expert Nails salon, in Urban Retreat. No longer would I have to apologise for my cruddy looking nail polish. After a delectable, doubly 'fresh’ coating of 'Bloody Mary’, they looked as good as new.

The 'Bloody Mary’ summer nail 'cocktail’ effect consisted of layering Leighton Denny’s Golden Girl shimmery gold polish and then adding a rather Provocative red shade on top of that. It definitely made them glisten.

All in all, my toenails were vastly improved.

I’m not very good at painting my own nails - toes or fingernails. I’m particularly impatient in this area and always end up smudging them before they dry and growling at myself for not letting them dry for longer… And so, for me, having my nails done is one of lifes luxuries. It’s the little things isn’t it…

The goodie bag I received as a thank you for attending the event contained some brilliant Mister Mascara tweezers (which was great as I’d misplaced ALL of my tweezers - I think they’d disappeared to the land of lost socks, umbrellas and daily contact lenses), Leighton Denny Cuti-lips gloss, Laura Mercier travel-sized fresh fig body creme, some cute nail varnish shaped biscuits and a £20 Urban Retreat Hair & Beauty voucher. Lucky me!

Thanks everyone.

Photography © Lucie Kerley