A day in Covent Garden August 2012

We had tickets at the weekend to see the Hurley Burley show at the Duchess Theatre in Covent Garden in London. The Hurley Burley show is a Burlesque based musical show with the star of the show being Ms Polly Rae who has 6 Hurley Burley girls on stage with her dancing in their glitzy underwear and sparkly heels! It was an amazing show with fantastic music, gorgeous spangly costumes with stunning girls (not jealous at all) and hilariously rude jokes and innuendos!

A definite go see for anyone who wants a real laugh or is a fan of Burlesque!

So before we went to the show at 6.30pm we spent the afternoon in Covent Garden and wandered around the Seven Dials which is basically 7 small streets lined with shops that all meet in the centre at one kind of circle. Most of the shops are clothing, beauty and odd little shops including vintage and astrology.

Some of the shops we had a peek in were the MAC cosmetic shop, Cath Kidson, Space NK and Coco De Mar (very 50 shades of grey meets Charlotte from Sex & the City!)

I thought I'd share a few pictures from our day out....

The pictures from top to bottom, left to right:

Hair by Fairy - a funky little hair and beauty salon that provides a unique space to go in and relax whilst you get pampered. The shop front was so stunning I had to get a picture of it! Its located in Neal's yard which had a Camden feel to it with the restaurants and seating areas being very hippie and colourful which made me want to spend the afternoon there!

We had a lovely little look in Pop Boutique on Monmouth Street which is a retro vintage shop that stocks clothes from the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's. They stock both men and women's clothes and knick knacks, luckily I'm pretty skint as I could have ended up spending a lot of money in there!

Picture 3 & 4 are taken from the Mysterious shop in Monmouth Street (directly opposite Pop Boutique). They had an amazing collection of candles that I had to get a picture of as the colours were so striking. When you walk round the corner into another part of the shop there's a small cupboard that has been converted into a little water fountain sanctuary - so cool and different from anything else I've seen.

The little pointing Oliver logo was on the wall just outside Pineapple Dance Studios in Langley Street. We saw a very excited hen party who were waiting to go in with the bride for a dance lesson, whilst we walked past I noticed this quirky little painting on the wall, very random but thought it was also pretty cute.

I resisted buying one of the sickly sweet but tasty looking cup cakes from Candy Cakes! The shop looks like something Willy Wonka would have and is completely enticing with the bright colours and huge cupcakes on offer!

Whilst looking in the main market around Covent Garden we saw these really funky candles that are super thin and tall and looked so eye catching with their mix of colours and strange design. I would've loved to buy one but I wouldn't have ever lit it as they're too nice!

On our way to the train station I noticed these beautiful flowers in a flower bed down one of the side streets. I love that London can be so built up and yet have places and things like this hidden away. My Mum has really got me into flowers and appreciating them, a few years ago I probably wouldn't have noticed these or been interested!

And last but not least we stopped off in Camden for a cuppa tea before heading back to Covent Garden for the show. I'm absolutely addicted to tea and can't go a day without a cup so it was only predictable that we'd stop off somewhere for a pot! I can't remember the name of the place but its right in the stables where all the main food stalls are. We also had a Cherry Shisha pipe as well!

I had my palm read by this sweet old lady in the market for £2.50 who said I'd have 2 children, two career paths and a very long life! I've never had anything like that done before and although I'm not sure I believe in that sort of thing it was an experience.

I'd highly recommend a day in Covent Garden having a look around the quirky shops and taking in all the cool things!