Seven Dials, Covent Garden

Yesterday (Wednesday) I got to spend the day enjoying the sun and exploring a lesser-known side of one of my favourite London areas – Covent Garden. Instead of heading South to the market from the tube, I headed North to be shown around the area known as ‘Seven Dials’.

Starting at the Seven Dials monument, where seven streets all feed into a little roundabout…giving the area it’s name. Then heading down Monmouth Street to discover some of the retail treasures…

Starting with Sceenface – any beauty junkie’s paradise. A whole host of amazing beauty goodies, ranging from amazing false lashes, palettes with every colour under the sun to prosthetics and fake facial hair. Plus a selection of brands that aren’t always easy to get in the UK – Embryollise skincare and Ben Nye for example.

Next, we stopped at the quirky accessories store – Tatty Devine to check out their wares. My personal favourites include the perspex earrings and ‘Gin’ pin. Gorgeous stuff – although not sure I was quite brave enough to rock the large perspex lobster necklace that I spotted in there!

Next was on to Gilda’s Tryst – also known as heaven. I totally fell in love with this place – if you’re looking for unique jewellery then you really need to pay this treasure trove a visit. The jewellery and clutch bags were stunning – one pair of earrings in particular are now firmly top of my lust list (the pink and turquoise ones below) – it was love at first sight.

Next was on to Miller Harris, fragrance heaven. Miller Harris is a brand I’ve always been familiar with, but only had limited experience of. This was one of the highlights of my afternoon in Seven Dials – I met James, who really knows his stuff – he picked out a series of fragrances that I absolutely fell for on first sniff (so much so that I think they deserve a whole separate blog post). Really impressed, I now want my flat to look and smell like the inside of the Miller Harris store.

We also made a little stop at Orion, a boutique for the brand that is also stocked in Topshop – lovely vintage inspired dresses and quirky accessories. I’m loving the leather and metal bracelets…especially the white for Summer.

Then we made a stop at Neal’s Yard Remedies – a Covent Garden institution of natural beauty and wellbeing goodies. I was treated to a lovely relaxing hand massage whilst I was talked through the history of the brand and a bit about their latest project – working to support British Bee keepers.

If you’re in the area, definitely head to Neal’s Yard, not just for this store – but just to soak up the atmosphere. It was a rainbow of colour –  also, the Monty Python crew was formed in the building above the Neal’s Yard store…random fact for you.