The Straight Brush

I don’t know if it’s just me, but it feels that every time I have been on Facebook recently, The Straight Brush has popped up as a sponsored post. Curiosity got the better of me – I clicked through, and saw a whole load of videos apparently made by actual customers, using The Straight Brush with fantastic results.

It was £34 delivered – a bargain, I had thought – if it can produce results like those I had seen in the videos… so I purchased it. I have very thick, long hair… so I thought I’d give it a go on video – to see if it really works…

Video : Love Me Beauty – The Beauty Box With a Twist


If you are a fan of beauty boxes – feast your eyes on Love Me Beauty  – the beauty box that’s a little different to all the others. 
Love Me Beauty gives you 60 credits a month to ‘spend’ on their online boutique (more if you sign up for a lengthier plan) – giving you the choice of exactly what comes through your door from their specially selected products for the month. 
Not only do they work with new, emerging brands, they work with the big daddy brands too – giving you a nice mix of discovery from fresh and new, to tried and tested favourites. 
If you don’t manage to get online to make your selection, you will be send products based on your personal profile that you fill in when you join. 
This is the most personal box I have come across, and a great way to try those new products. 
A subscription costs £10 per month (or works out less if you join for longer) for 20% off you can use my discount code of gorgeous20 which is valid for all new subscriptions.

Video : Hawaii Vlog


I am back from Paradise! Hawaii was absolutely beautiful – I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone. We did a little detour to Paris on the way – then on to Big Island where we stayed in the most amazing hotel (Hilton Waikoloa Village) – the grounds were incredible, and nothing was too much trouble for the staff. While we were there we swam with dolphins, and went to Mauna Kea and saw what felt like every single star in the universe from above the clouds – unforgettable memories.
From there we went to Maui where we stayed in the Marriott Wailea – unfortunately it rained for 99% of the time we were on the island, but we did a little shopping and did The Road to Hana which is a road trip with over 600 turns in it, along the most lush scenery. You can stop to look at waterfalls, hike, see ocean pools and pieces of nature that you don’t see elsewhere. A luau is a traditional Hawaiian feast with a hula dance and you eat traditional foods – we did that there too.
Our last stop was Oahu where we stayed in Honolulu which was a completely different pace of life. Waikiki had the hustle and bustle of a city, while being on a tropical beach – there were all kinds of shops there from Hermes to The Cheesecake Factory. We certainly took advantage of all the American eateries, although now my body has got used to having a short stack of pancakes for breakfast every morning and is crying out at me when I’m feeding it granola and yoghurt. Around the edges of the island are gorgeous white sand turquoise water beaches, so we made the most of those, as well as doing a bit of snorkelling, kayaking and visiting many a bar!
We documented the trip in a little (well, fairly long actually, but we were gone for almost 3 weeks so I think I have done well to get it to around half an hours’ worth of footage!) vlog – so if you are planning a trip to Hawaii and want to see some of what’s there to add to your itinerary, have a watch. If you just want to see what it was like, have a watch. If you’re feeling nosey, have a watch. If you’re bored, have a watch…. you get the idea. 

Jo Malone London x Judy Blame

Jo Malone London has had a bit of a transformation, thanks to the legendary stylist that is Judy Blame. He is responsible for pieces giving the ‘Look’ to the likes of Duran Duran, Boy George and Kylie Minogue… and now Jo Malone Regent Street!

One of Judy’s prominent pieces in his fashion work, are buttons – where the theme is carried into the store makeover, which will feature in the Regent Street boutique for the month of June. When customers purchase a 100ml Cologne of their choice, they are given the opportunity to customise their bottle with a sticker sheet designed by the man himself. Inspired by the pearly Kings and Queens, button stickers are given in the shapes of an anchor (for hope), and a heart (for charity). The cologne is then presented in an iconic Judy Blame keepsake box, tied together with a post-punk pin. 
I had the pleasure of meeting Judy in the store yesterday, where I felt under immense pressure to use every single sticker on my sheet…. which I succeeded in doing. There’s something strangely therapeutic involved in stickering when there are no children around! 

The limited edition offer is exclusive to the Regent Street boutique, Selfridges and www.jomalone.co.uk until the end of June.

Back on Roaccutane – My Journey to Clear Skin in Videos

I have suffered with bad skin on and off since as long as I can remember. I have tried so many different things – some which I think have worked, only to find that it was a very short term solution. I have been on Roaccutane in the past, but a very low dose, so I decided to see if it was an option again. I documented my journey through daily vlogs, which I found incredible useful to watch when I was on Roaccutane the first time round. I hope these may help someone too.

Going to the hospital to see if I could go back onto Roaccutane and seeing what my course would be if so:

Month One’s (on 30mg per day)  progress:

Month Two’s (on 40mg per day) progress:

Month Three’s (on 60mg per day) progress:

Month Four’s (on 60mg a day) progress:

I am now 6 months post-treatment and loving my skin! It has got oily again, which is annoying – I loved the ‘normal-ness’ of my skin while I was on Roaccutane. BUT… NO SPOTS!

Jo Loves : Shot Candle Collection

Jo Loves Shot Candle (TM) Studio is the first, of I’m sure to be of many, studios owned by Jo Malone where customers can go, and create their very own, candle, with help from the wonderful staff who have all be trained personally by Jo. They may even be lucky enough to meet Actual Jo, who spends a lot of her time there.

When I visited the Elizabeth Street store it had only been open for 4 days, and already was stirring up a storm – items going out of stock, a hen party, and a constant flow of customers. The story that goes alongside it, makes it all the more magical – Jo’s first ever job in a florist was in the very same building that is now her studio… 50 years later, on her birthday, her husband presented her with the keys, and it was then that she became a ‘shopkeeper’ – and a bloody good shop it is too!
The whole of the Jo Loves range can be found at the front of the shop, as well as a customer experience of ‘Fragrance Tapas‘ which I am definitely going back to try… then the room to the back is where the Shot Candles are created.
After seeing people customising their own Pop Tarts in New York, Jo was inspired and decided to make a customisable candle – giving you the choice of how you want something to smell, without taking away any quality – resulting in a product unique to you. The Shot Candle is made up of two parts – a base, which sits in the bottom and up the edges of the glass jar… then the shot which is the shape of a (rather large!) shot glass. You choose your fragrance of each, and they burn and meld at different rates so your candle will always smell different. Sometimes it’ll smell of the Shot fragrance, sometimes of the Base, sometimes of the both – and other times one will be stronger than the other.
Jo described how, to her, scents are like memories – so each scent will trigger off a memory for her – Tahitian Gardenia, for instance (which is one of the base smells), takes her back to a distinct memory walking down a beach. Her philosophy is that memories should be created from fragrance – like a photo album… and I love that.
The other base scents to choose from are Charcoalled Lemons, which is what I went for – a sweet, carameley, fresh citrus smell which is honestly, so good I wanted to lick it. Mint Mojito which smells deliciously summery, and Fig Trees which was a definite second favourite for me – such a rich, beautiful fragrance.
The shots. Ohhhhhh the shots! Wow. Yum.
Salted Caramel. Do I need to say any more!? She managed to get it just right – just like salted caramel, but without the sicklyness that sometimes comes from sweet scents. Mango – just like the best, ripest, juiciest mango you have ever picked. Lemongrass – reminiscent of lemon sherbet, so clean and fresh and good enough to eat. Petitgrain – a clean, floral, citrus, summery smell (and also, one of the most popular among customers). I had a really tough time choosing my shot – but in the end I went with Mango. I don’t even like mangos particularly, but I have never smelt a mango better than this in my life.

The top of the base is then warmed up with a mini blow torch, the shot is popped on top, and you, personally, walk your fingers around the top to mould the two pieces together. The gorgeous white jar is then placed in a white box along with Jo Loves matches and a card reminding you of your fragrances, then sealed with a red bow. The thought gone into each part of the creation process is amazing. Once your box is bagged and ribboned up, you ‘paint’ your fragrance onto a piece of Jo Loves card (which you and your Jo Malone consultant both sign) – so you can smell what you’ve created all the way home. 

London transport has never smelt the same as it did that night. Every now and then I would get a whiff of my creation, and I couldn’t wait to get home and delve in.
Thank you Pop Tarts.

This is the beginning of a wonderful story. In the pipeline are more fragrances to choose from, and more ideas, which Jo is full of. I’m so excited by this new idea, and what is to come from Jo Loves.

A Shot Candle costs £75 for a 260g candle (60 hours burn time) and includes a one-on-one consultation. Available exclusively at Jo Loves Shot Candle Studio. For more info, check out www.joloves.com