Whether it’s Sunday brunch with the girlfriends, meet the parents with the new partner or an interview for that dream job, we tend to adapt our dress code and personal appearance to the situation. Sunday brunch calls for ripped jeans and a punchy orange lipstick, the future in-laws might approve of a pretty dress and subtle makeup, and you’ll ensure a good first impression at an interview with sharp tailoring and a groomed appearance. And what about for something a little more obscure? Say an evening trying to figure out how to escape a themed room in less than 60 minutes?

AIM’s Escape Room

With escape rooms popping up all over London in the last few years, they have proven to be a fun and engaging activity suiting all types of groups, from a team building activity with colleagues to stag dos and family outings. Recently launched in London’s Aldgate area, AIM offers high end immersive experiences through themed escape rooms. Each room is tailor-made and uses state of the art props as well as advanced technologies to offer players mind bending puzzles. Along with three other bloggers I experienced AIM’s Psychopath’s Den escape room, or should I say rooms as we worked together to solve riddle after riddle to progress into the next space. The decor and attention to detail is impressive and helps to build a tense atmosphere, with the clock ticking away adding to the pressure. So here are my beauty tips to come out of this experience looking as unfrazzled as possible.

Shine in the dark

Entering AIM’s lobby is deceptively unthreatening as you enter a cool monochrome reception area complete with sleek branding and marble tables. The Psychopath’s Den is the complete opposite (I will leave this to your imagination so as not to spoil the surprise) and the players start in a dark room. To ensure that your team mates can vaguely see you and don’t mistake you for the psychopath, opt for light coloured clothing like a white shirt, to reflect what little light there is. To keep your cool you can also go for short sleeves or sleeveless options. The one I’m wearing here is from Victoria Beckham Jeans.

Lightly does it

It takes a big event to entice me to wear a full face of makeup (weddings will do that), and as I’m currently working from home most days my daily makeup routine is on the light side – as in mascara is optional. An evening spent racking my brains figuring out the code to a padlock calls for light makeup that won’t melt in intense situations. I opted for La Roche-Posay Hydreane BB cream previously reviewed in French Pharmacy Beauty Haul for its light, moisturising and even coverage.

Comfort first

Now there shouldn’t be any need to run during this escape room experience. The spaces tend to be quite confined so it’s probably not advisable to do so, and unless you’re trying to run away from one of your team mates, there’s no reason to. I promise no ghost or psychopath is going to jump out at you during this experience (for that you can go to The London Dungeon). You are however on your feet for the whole hour, so unless you’re planning on solving all the puzzles in less than 20 minutes you might want to go for comfortable footwear. I went for my trusty Joseph flat sandals which I’ve been living in all summer, so much so that the tan lines on my feet make it look as if I’m wearing them in bed.

Bright nails

With a collection of over 50 nail polishes I do like my at-home manicures and will use any excuse to sport a bright nail. Tackling a psychopath’s twisted mind games in a dark room seemed as good an excuse as any so I went for Organic Glam’s summery Aqua, a vibrant turquoise that looks great against tanned skin. This turned out not to be such a clever idea as you end up using your hands quite a bit in this escape room, trying to prise open locks.

So did we manage to escape the psychopath thanks to our clever minds and close teamwork to solve all the puzzles within 60 minutes ? Um nope. We did need a bit of a helping hand from the AIM team who must have been tearing their hair out or laughing at some of our antics as they watched us on their screen, but regardless I had a fun evening getting to know three lovely bloggers : Lee-Anne from Wotshernameagain, Elise from EliseKirstenspeaks and Maya from WhatMayaWears. And I would definitely do it again!

Have you tried escape rooms? I’d love to hear what you thought of the experience, please leave a comment to let me know.

Features PR samples, or in this case complimentary entry to AIM’s Psychopath’s Den.