Prior to Christmas I had an appointment at Le Keux Vintage Salon to discuss future plans for ‘The Face of Le Keux 2020’ which I had won in March of this year, right before heading into lockdown and also to get my hair sorted into a vintage style.

Three months ago in a fit of boredom I stuck a load of bleach on my hair with the intention of going a smoky grey colour and all I achieved was killing off several inches of my length which are thin, split and dry.

What have I done?

All the Olaplex, conditioner and masks in the World haven’t made any difference and the only thing really to do, it to cut off some of the length and allow it to regrow.

Now usually I get my hair cut at Q.L Salon in my hometown, which do an amazing job. In this instance though, I was looking at possibly a horseshoe cut or a midi and so planned to have it done at Le Keux and kill two birds with one stone.

Usually with ‘The Face’, there are a variety of photoshoots over the year, a prize package including their make-up range and photographs and the honour of representing the salon over the year on marketing materials and suchlike.

However as I won this just ahead of lockdown, none of these things had been able to happen. In fact, I hadn’t seen Lynsey since LondonEdge at the beginning of the year and no plans had been able to be arranged.

Being Styled by Miss Irregular Grace of Le Keux Essex at LondonEdge

Now was the time to alter that AND get the horrible ends of my hair dealt with once and for all.

Or so I thought.

Catching a train to the salon, I was really looking forward to getting some plans set in motion, after all time really was running out to be ‘The Face’.

Train travel

It was whilst I was sat on the train that I received a message from Lynsey. Her stylist had been advised to get a COVID test and so was unable to come into work until the result was known.

Well, I was already nearly there so I replied back that it was no problem and I would reschedule for the New Year. Lynsey did let me know that the diner in the salon would be open if I wanted to still pop in.

I know how to live!

As it meant I had a whole day without any idea of what to do, other than get a few last minute Christmas presents, I wandered along to Digbeth and found the brand new entrance to the Salon which had recently been painted in a vibrant vintage graffiti style.

New Entrance

Inside, Lynsey was brushing through a long pink wig. On the side was a gorgeous auburn styled wig which had caught my eye when Lynsey had posted it for sale on her Social Media. Sadly, I was too late and it sold quicker than I thought.

Perfect in Pink

Talking to Lynsey about the new wig she was working on, she told me that she was originally going to cut it shorter, but when she had seen the gorgeous length of it, decided to keep it as it was and use waves and curls to naturally shorten the length without permanently losing any inches.

We chatted about ‘The Face’ and I was absolutely thrilled when Lynsey told me that she was planning to restart my ‘reign’ from the coming year, giving me a full 12 months of opportunities to work with Le Keux, COVID willing.

The Face of Le Keux 2020

She was able to give me a selection of her cosmetics range whilst I was there and gave me a bag full of goodies, including my favourite face cream; Every Cream. This is something I use on a daily basis and absolutely love.

Every Cream

There was also black Cadillac eyeliner, which Lynsey said was her favourite of all the products. I have never tried a paint on eyeliner, so it would be interesting.

Black Cadillac

Add to that, a pot of Secret Weapon eyebrow and liner paint, I was pretty excited to give them all a go.

Secret Weapon

Lynsey had also added a pot of Coral Mermaid and Peachy Keen lip and cheek paint, A large pot of Pin-Up Powder to set it all with and a couple of brushes to put it all on with.

What a great early Christmas present!

Merry Christmas to me!

The icing on the Christmas cake was not the lovely make-up however, but the Freakshakes that Lynsey offers in the Diner.

I have to admit to being spoilt for choice and as there were several fabulous offerings on the menu, I dillied and dallied in deciding which one I would actually go for.

There were three I was particularly keen on the sound of; The Elvis, The Ariel and The Belle.

The Elvis involved a Banana and Peanut Butter shake with candy, popcorn, chocolate hazelnut bomb and an Oreo cookie.

The Elvis

The Ariel was based on The Little Mermaid and is a Vanilla shake, candy, fondant mermaid tail, glitter syrup, edible shimmer, sprinkles, marshmallows and candy floss.

The Ariel

I eventually settled on The Belle which was a Salted Caramel shake with gold pearl sprinkles, edible candy rose, all served in a lit glass dome, just like the rose in the Beauty and the Beast.

Lynsey got busy making the shakes and I was fascinated as she added extras such as cream, sweets and more to the glasses.

The Lovely Lynsey

My Belle had a thick layer of caramel frosting around the top of the glass which is what the gold sprinkles were affixed to. The rose was made from a large section of sour chewy strips and was lovely.

The glass dome covered the decorated drink and was lit up from below. It was very effective and I couldn’t wait to try it.

Oh my Goodness!

The ice cream caramel shake was rich and indulgent but not sickly and I polished the whole thing off. It was absolutely delicious.

I have to admit that I was really glad I had chosen The Belle and not the Elvis as it had a lot of chocolately products including sauce on it, and I am just not a girl who likes that kind of thing.

Bloody Lovely

It did look pretty impressive though.

As I was enjoying my shake, Lynsey and I were coming up with ideas of things to do over the next year as ‘The Face’ including photoshoots with both a variety of wigs and my own hair styled in a variety of ways.

Just Stunning

I have to say, I am so excited to get going on this project and have the photoshoots. There was a lot of inspiration floating around whilst chatting.

All we need is COVID to calm down and allow life to start again properly.

Lets keep our finger crossed, eh?

Till next time,

SPSG xxx