Not only is Instagram now a hub of fakery but it has also become one massive advertising platform. I can't complain about this too much as I do use Instagram to promote my blog (check out my Instagram: SophaaRambles) so I do contribute to this but so many brands have been able to grow a following and have become viable businesses due to promotion on Instagram. Sometimes you see these incredible images of products and you wonder whether they are truly worth it. It can be so easy to manipulate images and there is so much money within the influencer market that you never know if someone's opinion has been purchased. Today I thought I would take you through my experience with one of these Instagram brands as someone who has no affiliation with them what so ever! This brand is Astrid & Miyu.
I first discovered Astrid and Miyu through bloggers but as I have taken less of an interest in the big bloggers, in favour of smaller bloggers, I haven't seen as much promotion for the brand. Now the only place I see it is through their own Instagram and my god is it a millenial's dream. All the millenial pink, rose gold jewellery and cute designs which are a cheaper alternative for Maria Tash, yep I'm sold. Having seen so many Instagram ears on their page, I decided I wanted to work on my own ear.
Booking my Piercing
I can't really remember when I found out that Astrid & Miyu do piercings but I know it was through their Instastories and I know that when I found out, I decided pretty instantly that I wanted to get one the next time I was in London. This must have been at the end of last year and when I decided to get tickets for the Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition at the V&A in January, I also took the time to look into getting my piercing done. I had a look online to see where the stores were and looked into booking an appointment. Their booking system seems quite easy to work but you are required to pay a £20 deposit which was something I didn't really want to do. I had already bought my train tickets and my V&A ticket and it worried me that if anything went wrong with my trip to London, I would be wasting a whole lot of money. In the end I decided not to book and committed to seeing if they had any spaces on the day. Plus that way I wouldn't be panicking about trying to make my appointment as I didn't know how long I was going to be at the exhibition.
St. Christopher's Place
Having decided to let fate decide for me, whether or not I would get this piercing on the day of my London trip, I was in two minds to get it done. Really I did not need another piercing and I was already being quite brave by going to London by myself. Plus I wasn't sure about going in, to sum it up basically I was nervous. I went straight to the Dior exhibition when I got to London and I had a late train leaving London so I knew realistically I had time. Having spent an hour and a half in the exhibition, which was amazing by the way, I made my way to Knightsbridge to do a bit of Shopping in Harvey Nichols and Harrods.
I spent a couple of hours in Knightbridge as I had lunch and had the best shopping experience in the Agent Provocateur concession in Harrods but if you want to find out more about that, I've already written a post on it: London Birthday Haul. Once I had finished in Harrods, I decided to make my way to Oxford Street and see if I could get my piercing. By this point it was about 3pm. When I was looking to book my appointment, I was thinking about getting it booked for around 4pm anyway so this seemed like a good time to head to the Astrid & Miyu store. I am not from London but I used to go there a lot as a child so I know my way around central pretty well but I am rubbish with the names of places, if they aren't on a Monopoly board. Looking at my Google Maps I had a rough idea of where the store was but I wasn't entirely sure so I decided to make my way towards Selfridges as I knew it was nearby and figured I would just work it out as I went along.
From Knightsbridge, I took the Piccadilly Line to Piccadilly Circus as it meant I didn't need to swap tubes and I knew I could walk from Piccadilly Circus, along Regent Street and along Oxford Circus popping into shops as I felt like it on my way to St. Christopher's Place which is where the Astrid & Miyu store is. I did stop in a couple of stores on my way but eventually I made it to where my maps was telling me to go. I did get a bit confused as I went down a road but it turns out I had gone one street too far but when I left I realised it is because the opening for the alley is tiny and easy to walk straight past but it was easy to access from the street I went down. After finding St. Christopher's Place, I realised I had been there before for lunch with a friend, I had been to the Pret. Anyway a little bit further along was the Astrid & Miyu store, easily identifiable as it is pink and it had a sign outside saying about piercings so I walked in, committed to getting my piercing done.
The Process
When I walked in, there was literally no one else in the store other than the two girls who worked there so I had a quick look at the jewellery, put my big girls pants on and asked whether they had any slots to have a piercing done. The sales assistant did warn me that I might have to wait but it turns out they had a slot at 4pm and it was basically 5 minutes away. I mean what luck! I took that as a sign that it was meant to be. She asked if I was happy with that slot which seemed crazy, I mean of course I was happy with not having to wait and panic myself about getting it done. It gave me no time to think about it and meant that I could get it done.
Prior to getting my piercing done, I had to fill out the usual form saying that basically if you die, you can't blame them. Blah, Blah, Blah. I signed my life away and then got to the good stuff, picking my piercing! The whole reason I wanted my piercing done in Astrid & Miyu was because they do rose gold piercing jewellery and I only really wear rose gold jewellery. Plus I wanted the experience. Due to where I was having my piercing I didn't really want a hoop but they will pierce with hoops and they have all sorts of cute piercing jewellery. In the end I went for a standard rose gold bar with a jewel in the ball. It is quite a small ball which seemed to fit well for where I was having the piercing and it fit in well with the other jewellery I wear everyday.
Once I had picked my jewellery I just had a to wait a couple of moment for the lady who was going to be doing the piercing to set up but then I made my way down a tiny spiral staircase into the piercing area. Once again it was millenial pink and very Instagram worthy. I would have loved to have taken some pictures but I am not one of those bloggers who mentions that I write a blog to everyone so I didn't get any but I can imagine others would have taken full advantage of the space. I have to give credit to the piercer because she did the piercing very quickly. I guess it would help if I told you where I wanted to be pierced. I wanted a low helix piercing on my right ear. I already have 1 lobe piercing, a high helix piercing and my daith pierced on that ear and I had decided I wanted more because I love the look of a lot of piercings on one ear. As it is lower down and basically at the widest point of my ear I didn't want a hoop as it was more likely to get caught. The piercer marked the spot, took the needle out of the packet, told me to breath in, breathe out and that was it, I had been pierced.
The actual piercing didn't really hurt, I've definitely had worst pain. My Tragus currently ranks as the most painful piercing and in comparison this felt like a breeze. There was a little bit more pain when she put the bar in but other than that, ever since I've had it done *touches wood* it has been pretty much pain free. I was slightly nervous as I was by myself and last time I had a piercing (my daith,) my best friend came with me and had to hold my hand. I also almost passed out as I hadn't really eaten before. This time I made sure to go in full of food and I had drunk a bottle of cola to make sure my sugar levels were high. This time I didn't even feel slightly light headed which I deem a success! After that I was on my way back up the stairs in what felt like less than 5 minutes and I'm pretty sure it was less than 5 minutes.
Am I Happy With It?
From the moment I looked in the mirror to see the results, I loved it and even now (a couple of weeks later,) I am still thrilled with it. It is exactly what I wanted. It is quite a small piercing but it looks so good with my other jewellery and I just feel proud of myself for even getting it done. I am not the bravest person when it comes to doing things on my own and somehow I managed to get to London, go to an exhibition and get a piercing all by myself. They were all things I wanted to do but normally would have put off due to anxiety so there is definitely a sense of accomplishment that comes along with this piercing.
After making my way back up the stairs, the sales assistant (who booked me in) greeted me and told me that because I had a piercing I could get 20% off earrings and ear cuffs. I had already been on the website a thousand times before I made my visit so I knew the exact pair I wanted to treat myself to but I did look around. They have some seriously cute jewellery, if I could I would have bought the whole store because they just cater to everything I love about jewellery. I like understated pieces which will go with every outfit, I prefer them to be quite small and I want to be able to wear them every day. I did see the Mystic Star Stud Earrings in Rose Gold which I had seen online and I loved them just as much in person. The Mystic Star is the sort of earring I am thinking of using in the piercing I have just had done when I can eventually change it. I also loved the Small Halo Earrings which I had seen online but I didn't realise how small they are in person which made me like them even more. However I picked the pair I wanted, I wanted to get a pair of the Rose Gold Huggies.
I had been eyeing up the huggies from Astid & Miyu for a long time as they had a plain rose gold pair which I had been struggling to find. Whilst I had 20% off I thought it would be the best time to pick them up as it would be the biggest discount I would be apply to apply to them. They are so small and cute and complete my Instagram ear. I also purchased some of their aftercare solution to look after my new piercing.
My final bill was £92 which is a lot. The quality of the jewellery is nice and the Rose Gold has a shine that some of my cheaper jewellery does not. This was a Birthday treat and it is definitely something I would not usually spend this sort of money on. The piercing was £55, the aftercare £6 and the Huggies were £31 (with discount.) The piercing was a lot more expensive than if I went to Blue Banana but you don't get the same experience and I have never really liked the jewellery from Blue Banana. I would say it was worth it and I loved the experience.
My final bill was £92 which is a lot. The quality of the jewellery is nice and the Rose Gold has a shine that some of my cheaper jewellery does not. This was a Birthday treat and it is definitely something I would not usually spend this sort of money on. The piercing was £55, the aftercare £6 and the Huggies were £31 (with discount.) The piercing was a lot more expensive than if I went to Blue Banana but you don't get the same experience and I have never really liked the jewellery from Blue Banana. I would say it was worth it and I loved the experience.
I paid my bill and set up an account which means I have £5 off my next purchase so I will definitely be buying more earrings from Astrid & Miyu with this voucher. The two ladies in the store were really friendly and let me take a couple of pictures before I left. The whole experience was great, I felt at ease which is exactly what I needed as I am naturally a nervous person. It is important for me to feel comfortable. Not only did I feel comfortable at the store but I had read the FAQ on the Astrid & Miyu website in regards to having a piercing done prior to going into the store and it covered all of the questions I had so if you are going to get one I recommend reading that first.
The one annoying thing is that you can't buy the piercing jewellery individually. I would have liked a second rose gold bar, the same as the one I was pierced with so that I could change the one in my Tragus which is a gross cheap looking steel bar from Blue Banana which does not fit in with my other jewellery but you can't buy them. As I said I might change the one I've just had pierced to a different earring which means I could change the one in my Tragus to the rose gold bar.
The one annoying thing is that you can't buy the piercing jewellery individually. I would have liked a second rose gold bar, the same as the one I was pierced with so that I could change the one in my Tragus which is a gross cheap looking steel bar from Blue Banana which does not fit in with my other jewellery but you can't buy them. As I said I might change the one I've just had pierced to a different earring which means I could change the one in my Tragus to the rose gold bar.
I would easily recommend the whole experience, especially if you are looking to be pierced with something specific like I was. Before you are pierced they take you through the process and allow you to ask any questions and the store itself is gorgeous. As I said I had my piercing done a couple of weeks ago now and I still love it. It hasn't been painful and there has been no blood which is good. I have also been wearing my huggies. They were a bit of struggle to put in because I have long gel nails at the moment and the huggies are really small but once they are in, they look so cute! They are silver based so you can leave them in your ears which is a good thing as I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get them out whilst I have my nails.
I am so happy with how my ear is coming together and I would definitely recommend going to Astrid & Miyu for a piercing if you are in London. Astrid & Miyu is a little bit more expensive than your average piercing experience but I think it is worth it. The reason I took notice of the brand was because it seemed like a cheaper version of Maria Tash so if you want that sort of vibe, have a look at Astid & Miyu. This is part of my London series so if you want to find out more about my London adventures, keep an eye on my blog because I will finally be talking about my trip to the V&A for the Dior exhibition.
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