New favourite: SUQQU

I was meant to go for a facial at Elemis Harvey Nichols at 2pm today but got stuck in traffic for about an hour so couldn't make it on time. There were road closures due to the rugby at Twichenham Stadium. I called ahead to let them know that I was going to be late as soon as I could, and had an encounter with a really rude woman who wouldn't let me re-book it.

Really strange, because they're normally quite good. But that, combined with my recent Elemis experiences have really put of me off the brand. Shame that I still have 3 more spa pod treatment vouchers left - might try to sell it off for cheap.

Disappointed with my cancelled appointment, I headed to Selfridges to check out Ann Demeulemeester's latest collection, only to find that they no longer stocked it. Went off to the Shoe Galleries to check out some new shoes and see if I could try on some of Dries Van Noten chunky heeled brogues that I heard were extremely comfortable - they didn't stock them in my size.

Thwarted at every turn, I sighed and decided to have a look at RMK's latest blush collection, which were featured in the current Maquia magazine. Just before I reached the RMK counter, this really beautiful Japanese MUA at SUQQU caught my eye. She looked so fresh faced and approachable, I did a double take and ended up at the SUQQU counter instead.

Tomoko and I ended up chatting about Japanese make up products and how difficult it was to find Holy grail worthy products to match our golden skin tone in UK, and how inaccessable they were here (we have access to good quality, cheap make up like Majorca Majorlica, Kate et al at local pharmacies in the Far East), and I told her about my facial that never was.

She was really sympathetic and offered to let me try their signature Gankin Massage treatment - apparently helps improve facial muscle tone, like some sort of workout for the face. It sounded intriguing so I decided to go for it.

The massage itself only lasted about 5 minutes, but the difference was amazing! I actually felt a lot more relaxed and my skin looked so glowy and plump that I decided to get a tub of the Masculate Cream there and then. YES, IT WAS THAT GOOD!

She then asked me to have a go at doing the massage myself, with her guiding me in the process. I was really grateful for that, as there was no way I would've mastered the technique from the instructions, no matter how good they were.

I ended up getting the Masculate Massage Cream, Face Refresher and the Balancing Cheek Colour in Momozoe.

I got a GWP as well - a little makeup bag with some tiny samples of SUQQU's refined flow charm set containing their lotion, emulsion and cream.Tomoko also threw in some samples of the cleansing cream, soap bars and some foundation and makeup base. I will try them out next week and post some initial thoughts on it.