TWENTY FOUR HOURS IN COVENT GARDEN #CGAfterHours

Happy Sunday you lot, I really hope your weekend was good to you.
I'm here with another post that was shot in the beautiful Covent Garden area. Following on from last week's post where I shared the late night shopping antics taking place throughout July in the London hotspot and where I shared some down right awesome (if I do say so myself) looks that I picked up there, today I'm sharing with you a little photo diary from our trip last week. 

We headed down to Covent Garden from Manchester to experience the Covent Garden After Hours and my god did we have fun. The Thursday we chose to head down was in fact the launch night of the After Hours extravaganza and the vibe was most definitely on point. I always feel that you can truly gage the success of an event through the launch night and Covent Garden nailed it. 

Basically throughout July Covent Garden are offering shoppers extended opening hours from Wednesday through to Saturday, which means you can spend ample time picking that perfect holiday get-up or that knock em dead wedding look, that is always so tricky to find. With later closing times there are also a heck load of goings on throughout the area with each Thursday celebrating something special about Covent Garden, whether that be beauty, fashion, food or art. 

For me, Covent Garden is the ultimate shopping destination, whether it's independent boutiques, beauty or your favourite high street and designer stores, it's a one-stop-destination for all my shopping needs. 
 
King Street has got to be my favourite street throughout the Covent Garden district, a beautiful, soon to be pedestrianised street that houses some of my fave stores such as Burberry Brit, Karen Millen and Sandro with Kurt Geiger being a teeny tiny walk away. With stand alone beauty boutiques from the likes of Charlotte Tilbury, Dior, Chanel and Nars scattered throughout the area it's always easy to finish off your look by nailing that make up trend you've been dying to try out.

Speaking of beauty, Covent Garden are hosting a Beauty Playground each Thursday throughout July with a variety of events from some of the best beauty houses' around, whether it's an Urban Decay goodie bag you're after, a Charlotte Tilbury makeover or a cheeky lil manicure at Chanel; when it comes to beauty Covent Garden have got yo' back this July for sure.

Whilst we were here last week we were lucky enough to test out some of Covent Garden's After Hours activities, all of which you can see throughout this post.
First of I hit up the Beauty Spot where Urban Decay were on hand for all my beauty woes, followed by the selfie station where we got our pose on at the most beautiful floral swinging bench... I mean LOOK AT IT! Clearly George got a little carried away shall we say...

We then did a cheeky little "truck hop" and sampled a variety of dishes from each truck at the King Street Food Festival which is there every Wednesday-Saturday with revolving restaurants and eateries setting up camp throughout July. Whilst we were in town, we were lucky enough to sample from the likes of Sophies steak house (10/10 for them), Wagamama's (just Wagas... But so good) Maxwell's and Joes diner, and as you can probably guess we left around two stone heavier... 

But I must say, my favourite part of the After Hours is the pop up gin bar by my favourite gin company Portobello Road Gin. Set up in the midst of the Piazza the gin pop up was seriously oh so vibey, with the most delicious gin and tonics around. Think drinks garnished with watermelons or infused with Asparagus, the gin's were like nothing I have ever tried and I completely urge you to head down and check it out, it's not one to be missed.

So with July simply flashing before my eyes already I thought I'd break down some of my "MUST VISIT" happenings taking place in Covent Garden for the rest of the month, starting with this Thursday 21st July with a pop-up menswear party (women obvz invited... HELLO EYE CANDY) followed by a Covent Garden After Hours exhibition on Thursday 28th July; a gallery showcasing all the snaps shared throughout the month using the #CGAfterHours hashtag curated by top Instagrammers @mattscutt, @paperboyo and @prettycitylondon.

BUT that's not all, with free gifts with every purchase at Kate Spade, discounts at Kikki K (aka the best stationary shop EVER), speedy makeovers at Nars and goody bags at Urban Decay, well, Thursday's at Covent Garden it is.

So that's Covent Garden After Hours in a rather large nutshell. We honestly had such a fun time in my favourite London hot-spot and I would seriously suggest you head down this July, particularly on a Thursday and get yo' shop, gin and food on!

x M

Post in collaboration with the wonderful Covent Garden, it was such a pleasure to work with one of my favourite shopping destinations which has provided me with so many great memories and of course purchases!