La Mercè Festa, Barcelona

Last night saw the kick-off of the La Mercè Festa which takes place in September every year. You can also read all about the origins and meaning of it here.

We decided to take it easy last night and just went to see the projections on the City Hall in Pl. de Sant Jaume, which were amazing, alternating between making the City Hall look like a huge Arcade Game and a shifting part of a dream, almost like something from the film ‘Inception’. I tried to take pictures but they didn’t come out too well as the images were moving so quickly.

Then we popped along to Cuitadella Park to see the Antigua & Barbuda funfair, a kooky installation of manually operated fairground rides and attractions which was surreal fun.

Tonight we’re going to check out the circus at Montjuic, the bands at the Bam Festival (especially Villagers who I love) and dancers from St. Petersburg (who are the city guests this year) performing an hour long version of  Swan Lake in front of the lake in Cuitadella Park. That should be enough excitement for one night…

Glamourum, Barcelona Beauty Boxes...

There's something so exciting about receiving a parcel in the post. I love it even more when I don't know what's in it. That's one of the things I've been enjoying about getting my monthly beauty box from Glamourum. I know that there are quite a few companies offering this service now, with mixed results, but so far I've been very happy with this Barcelona company's offerings.

For those of you who haven't encountered the idea before, it's basically a package that you subscribe to monthly, containing a mixture of sample and full size products and usually money off vouchers too. Prices vary but I pay 10 euros a month for mine. I like the idea of trying products I haven't used before and so far the quality has been good, in fact each month has been slightly better than the last, so I think I'll carry on.

Here's a quick run down of what arrived in today's parcel. I haven't tried any of these before so I'm looking forward to a bit of experimentation. 


First up is a sample of  Luxury Diamond Caviar Concentrate from Ainhoa, a Barcelona based company. I'm quite impressed with the fact that caviar is first on the ingredients list, though whether it's good for my skin or not remains to be seen. Diamond dust is not quite so high on the list of ingredients, but again, no idea what that does either. We'll see. 


The second product (full size) is also from Ainhoa and is their Precision Expression Lines Diminisher. I'll be giving that a good go around my crows' feet, here's hoping it sorts them out, even if only temporarily. (I'll just keep bashing more of it on).


Next is a sample of a face mask from Apivita, a Greek company. I'm excited about this as the brand has been on my list to try, as I'm always interested in natural cosmetics brands and I've heard good things about this one.


A full size pack of facial wipes from Comodynes. We all know what these do by now, so not much more I can say about these, although I will say that I'm glad that the brand is another Barcelona one. I'm all about buying local.

The rather witchy looking black velvet pouch contains small vials of a post depilatory soothing oil and a slightly larger vial of a regenerating (ooh, very Doctor Who) body oil from Alqvimia. These smell amazing, and are 100% natural, in fact, according to the website they were the first natural beauty / aromatherapy company in Spain. I'm looking forward to trying these. There's also a 10% off voucher for their e-shop so if I get on well with these that could be handy.

Now I'll admit, the last product in the box is not one I'd have picked for myself. It's a Playboy perfume from fragrance giants Coty. It's not unpleasant, with fruity and floral top notes and a sweet vanilla base, but it's too sweet for my personal taste. A good one for teenage girls perhaps, although I could go into a bit of a rant here about how much I dislike the Playboy products and the general tackiness of the brand. The plastic rabbit ears on the bottle lid of this perfume are not at all pleasing to my eyes, let's leave it there...

Overall though, I'm very happy with the box this month and the general quality of the brands. As well as the samples there are three full size products which would have cost quite a bit more than 10 euros if I'd bought them separately, so it's quite good value, I think. Do any of you subscribe to this kind of package and if so, what do you think so far? 

La Festa Major de Gracia, Barcelona

This blog post is going to be small on words and big on pictures (which some people may prefer). Last Thursday night was spent at La Festa Major de Gracia, which as you may know, is the big annual festival for the area of Gracia in the north of the city. I've mentioned the area before, as it's one of our favourites. It was really wonderful to see the effort that everyone had made to decorate the streets, especially when you realise how much of it was done with recycled materials. The best decorations get awarded prizes but I don't know how the judges managed to choose, it was all so good.

Matches...

Mozart...

The Orchestra... the curtains are made from old Estrella cans...

I want this chandelier...

A reminder of London...

Inside the Yellow Submarine...

Very groovy street lights...

Beautiful lamps...

Every bollard should look like this...

Not sure she meant to get her head wet....

The winning balcony, how brilliant is that?

An excuse to drink beer in the streets? Don't mind if I do...

As you can tell from my shiny face above, it was hot and humid (hence the need for beer, ahem). We had a great night, with bars, bands and DJs dotted around the streets and squares. I only wish we could have gone back every day but alas, work got in the way. I took a lot more photos but I won't post them here, it would be too much. We're off to the Sants festa this week, it's just one non stop party in this town. I'll let you know how we get on.

HatQuarters, Barcelona

It was His Nibs turn to go shopping yesterday, as he's been after a pair of casual summer shoes. The weather here is pretty hot and humid at the moment, so leather shoes just feel too heavy, and you can't wear flips flops all the time, tempting as it may be.

Strangely enough, it ended up being a hat shop called HatQuarters that had the perfect pair. They're a brand called Maians that are made locally and designed by Barcelona designer Alfonso De La Fuente Rey. His Nibs went for the Sisto Basico pair. Luckily we managed to get them half price as the sales are finishing up here to make way for the autumn/winter stock, even though it will be hot for a few months yet.

When I got home and looked the brand up I found out that the company is actually named for and inspired by our barri, Barceloneta. Maians was an island which was located a hundred metres off the coast of Barcelona . It was absorbed by the city for creating the first port of Barcelona, and the area Barceloneta, in 1477 under the reign of King John II of Aragon. One for you history fiends out there.

I'm already planning to go back to HatQuarters to get a hat for the winter. They stock hats from American brand Goorin Bros. and are also planning to stock a new range called Indhy Sombreros, designed by the Maians company. I like to wear hats all the time but it's just too hot in the summer. I've experimented with straw hats and light cotton but I just end up with my hair plastered to my head, it's really not attractive. I end up feeling like this fella...

There are a couple of branches of HatQuarters here in Barcelona (we went to the one in El Born) and one in Istanbul and it looks like they'll be offering online shopping soon too. If you want to get your hands on a pair of Maians they're available in quite a few stores around the world, check out the store locator on the website to find one near you.  


I still haven't managed to get up to the big flea market at Glories yet, the early start required has defeated me so far, but I will do it soon. I swear!

Trendenzas, Online Shop...

One of the drawbacks of starting a new job is that it takes a while to get into a routine. I’ve been feeling quite pressed for time which has meant that I haven’t been out and about finding new places to write about (and shop in) as much as I’d like. This is when the internet really is useful, as I can just search online for good stuff instead. I’m a big fan of online shopping, much to the despair of His Nibs and my bank manager. It’s just too easy to click that buy now button.

Pic from the website, though mine is much lighter than this...

One of my recent discoveries is Trendenzas which is an American site offering accessories for sale in a ‘deal of the day’ format. The idea is that they have a different item for sale each day, at a discount price. After signing up for free membership, you get a daily email with the special offer.  If you miss out on that day’s deal, they also have a section which has some of the older items for a slightly higher price, but still discounted. Some of the items have limited availability, so it’s good to grab them while you can. They’re also offering a ‘get the look for less’ service where you send them a picture or link to an item you’ve seen somewhere, and they’ll try to find it for you, or something similar, for a good price. 

Excuse the bad photography...

I recently received a bracelet from them, which I love. It’s a creamy beige leather strap with what I can only describe as big gold rivets studded into it. Actually, the rivets do look a bit like big gold aspirin, but maybe that’s just me? Regardless of the slightly medical look, I’ve been wearing this a lot, as it’s quite funky and goes with practically everything. I don’t often wear gold as I feel that silver suits me more, but the neutral colour of the strap makes this wearable on my skin tone. Another plus is that I have sensitive skin and the leather hasn’t irritated it at all. There are two press stud fasteners as well to make the size adjustable. It’s so wearable; I’m really pleased with it. 

See what I mean about giant Aspirin? 

So sadly for my bank manager and His Nibs, I’ve found another online shop that I’ll be checking out regularly. I like the way that the offer changes daily; it can often be a pain trawling through lots of thumbnails of items, with one item a day you either like it or you don’t, it’s simple. They only charge $6 for international shipping as well, which is a bargain. Check them out and let me know what you think.

I seriously need a tripod...

(By the way, I'll be out and about again next week with a trip to the big flea market at Glories and the numerous shops to be found on Carrer D'Avinyo.)

Sabon, Barcelona...

Strolling along Carrer de València the other day, I noticed a bath and beauty shop called Sabon at number 260. It's not a familiar name to me so I popped in to check it out. 

Apparently they're an American firm and I think this is their first store in Spain. There isn't a whole lot of information available on the website about Europe, I assume they'll be updating it soon. What really piques my interest is the fact that they make SLS and paraben free shampoos, which I've had a hard time finding here, outside of stores like Lush. The ingredients seem to be good in all of the products, and the smell in there was incredible. 

Everything in the store is gorgeous to look at with traditional style packaging. I would say the prices are more towards the luxury end of the market and not for everyday use (unless you can afford it, which I know I can't). This is a great place for those one off treats and definitely for gift shopping. As I say, I have no idea where and how many stores they're planning to open in Europe but if you're a fan of brands like L'Occitane and Kiehls, this will be right up your street. Just in case anyone would like to know, my favourite item so far is the  Fig Coco body scrub and I do have a birthday coming up... 

Riera Baixa Street, Barcelona…

It’s been a bit of a hectic summer so far, what with my new job, Sonar festivities and visits from friends. No excuse really for the lack of activity on this blog but I promise that this is going to change. With that in mind, I’ve decided to start a (very) occasional series of posts where I focus on a particular street and take you through all of my favourite shops there.


As I’m such a lover of second-hand shops, there’s no better place to start than Carrer De La Riera Baixa in El Raval. This tiny street is home to an amazing selection of vintage stores and independent boutiques and as its right in the heart of El Raval and not far from Las Ramblas, is well worth a visit. 


There’s so much variety on this street so rather than list all of the shops, I’m just going to run through my favourites with a brief description of what you can expect to find in each one.

First up is Lailo, which is exactly the kind of second-hand shop I like. It’s full of clothes and accessories from every decade since the 1930s, and possibly even earlier. There are quite a few items that look like they could be theatrical costumes, so it’s a great place to go if you’re looking for an outfit for a fancy dress party. They also have lots of bargain baskets dotted around too, so great for rummaging in. I do love a good rummage. The whole street is full of great shops but I have to say, this is my favourite one. You could easily spend an hour or more in here, just looking through everything. The prices run from €2 for scarves up to the hundreds for some of the really rare pieces, and I feel that the pricing here is well thought out and fair and accurate for each piece. If you don’t have a lot of time, this is the shop I recommend you visit first.

Next up is Carrousel, which is different to Lailo by dint of the fact that they have less stock, but I have to say that I always love everything that they have here as you can tell that they’ve selected only the best quality items. There’s no cheap tat masquerading as vintage here. On my last visit I hankered after a beautiful crepe shirt dress, which was only €29 but sadly not my size. The accessories are good here too. It’s more of a boutique than Lailo, so good for those of you who don’t like to wade through lots of items.  

The last shop that really is a stand out for me is Smart and Clean . This place is a Mod Mecca and if you want to get your hands on some Harrington or Sta-Prest goodies, this place has everything you could want. I don’t wear this style myself but have a fondness for the look as many of my friends (and my first crushes) were mods in the early eighties so it will always have nostalgic appeal for me. It’s quite a high maintenance look but I respect that, even if I couldn’t commit to it myself. 

If you’re feeling peckish after all that shopping there’s a great little tapas bar, Resolis, where you can refuel and fortify yourself with some wine. You may want to leave off the wine till you finish shopping, however, as otherwise you’ll probably end up spending way too much as there is such a lot of temptation on this little street.


Don’t forget that I’m open to suggestions for shops and places to cover so if there’s anything any of you want to know about, or you have some favourites you think I should write about, let me know.