Making Your Own Beauty Products

Making your own beauty products is not only economical but is also a quick and easy way to ensure you’re looking good this summer.

I’ve been experimenting at home with face-masks, body scrubs, cuticle creams and bath products. These are so easy and fun to make with food products that you have lying around your kitchen and also make great presents too.

My favourites at the moment are an olive oil and rock salt body scrub which is so effective and leaves my skin feeling fresh and invigorated. I also love making a lemon and honey cuticle ceram which consists of 2tsp lemon juice, 1tsp honey and half a cup of warm water after a few days you’ll start to notice a difference.

For those stressful, tiresome days, there’s nothing better than the avocado facemask which is a very simple mixture of avocado, lemon juice and honey mashed together. Pure bliss.

I’m now going to go one step further and start trying to grow my own beauty products, I shall keep you posted. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Uniqlo Launch UT Range

It’s back. Uniqlo have launched their new UT (Uniqlo T-Shirt) range with over 300 limited edition designs for it’s best range yet! Check out the designs on their website.

Each T-Shirt is created by a guest designer, including photographers, musicians and fashion designers. I’m particularly excited about a Basquiat t-shirt; his artwork is completely unique and has such style.

For this season’s advertising campaign Uniqlo have called upon the photographer Daniel Jackson and it also features fashion’s favourite Chloe Sevigny and Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano.


I’m going to check out the UT range this weekend and hopefully find a few new editions to my wardrobe, and at two for £20 is perfect! Let me know what you think of the range, or if there are any designs in particular that I should look out for!

T-Shirt and Tails Interview

If you want to find out all my fashion love, likes and loathes and much more then check out an interview with T-Shirt and Tails on The Swelle Life. Enjoy!

Club Tropicana

As we all know the 80s revival is in full swing and so the re-launch of the hair colourant Sun-In could not be better timed.

Sun-In has been re-introduced due to popular demand after having disappeared off the shelves last year. The resurge can be explained by the new-found love for the 80s and particularly by men wanting to recreate the sun-kissed look of their favourite 80s pop stars. Think a youthful George Michael or Simon le Bon as the lead inspirations.

Looking back at my school photos from the 1990s/2000s Sun-In was definitely the hair dye of choice as we tried to recreate the looks of our beloved highlighted bands. We were all left with the same shade of muddy blonde which was as dry as straw and patchy in places yet we all thought we looked like the extras from ‘Club Tropicana’.

However before your inner-youth goes wild with Sun-In applications, just beware that you’re hair will be dry and coarse and no self-respecting hairdresser will dye your hair until it grows out fully due to the bleach content. So once you start spraying you’ll be stuck with it for months after. I’ve learnt the hard way…

My opinion is that many trends should remain in the 80s where they started, Sun-In included.

Trend Alert: Sewing

In a bid to learn a useful 'life skill', I have been learning to sew. Call me old fashioned, but learning how to take up dresses and hem trousers has been really inspirational and I now look through my wardrobe thinking 'how can I customise that?' - trust me, nothing has escaped my scrutiny.

Sewing is not techinically a trend as it is ever-present and not subject to seasonal fads, however my 'credit crunch inspired' willingness to save money, and a low key Easter weekend at home inspired me to customise many garments.

Charlotte Olympia: Shoe Heaven

On this rainy Good Friday I find myself gorging over Charlotte Olympia shoes and wishing of owning a pair. These are classic shapes with a modern twist and I simply love the 'island' platforms giving extra height and a signature style to the design. These designs are timeless and are so versatile that I can think of a dozen outfits that I would wear these with. My favourite are the red 'Paloma' courts below.

Charlotte Olympia shoes are causing a storm in the fashion world with fans such as Kate Moss and Daphne Guinness, and it's not hard to see why with their subtle sex appeal and sleek designs.

Charlotte Olympia Dellal, daughter of Brazilian super-model Andrea Dellal and sister to Alice and Alex Dellal, studied at Cordwainer's before setting up her label in 2006. These designs are exactly what the consumer is looking for in poor economic times, we all want a shoe that is beautiful, sexy yet classic to ensure its longevity as an investment piece. I shall start saving now.

Living in the 80's

The 80’s revival is in full flow with shoulder pads seen across the catwalks at Balmain (as below), Louis Vuitton and Margiela. The Krystle Carrington look has returned in a big way.

Designers have decided that power dressing is back and it is now fashion’s hot topic of the moment gaining huge momentum in magazines, blogs and celebrity wardrobes such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Lady Gaga.

In my opinion, shoulder pads should remain a distant memory like many 80s trends. It is not flattering to have broadened shoulders unless you have the smallest of waists to balance out. They also scream fashion victim as you can guarantee that the trend’s longevity is only a matter of months.

This spring I shall opt for a boyfriend blazer instead.

Sun is Shining

The end of a lovely weekend of visiting friends, delicious food and wandering the cobbled streets on a day trip to Cambridge. The sun was out and so was my yellow nail varnish, when else can you get away with canary yellow except on beautiful sunny days? Some say it's a little too garish but I disagree - I love it's bright and bold nature and shall be sporting it for as long as the sunshine lasts. I recommend Carnaby Street by Nails Inc.

Bright Young Thing: Goodone

Recessions are renowned for breeding creativity and a moral conscience, and the fashion world is certainly no exception to this rule. Goodone is a young and fresh label, selling and producing innovative one-off pieces from recycled fabrics.

All of the designs are extremely wearable, vibrant and unique, mixing body-con and street-wear with impressive results. All pieces are designed from individually hand-picked recycled garments which are either donated or locally sourced from textile recycling factories. My favourite item is the striking blue body-con dress above. I love the mixture of colours and panels, it is something completely original which can be dressed up or down with amazing results.

The Goodone’s designer, Nin Castle is a rising star having just shown at London Fashion Week and in November 2008 was one of the three finalists for the New Designer of the Year Award.

Look out for Goodone’s exciting new collaboration with ‘Fashion Targets Breast Cancer’, where they will be recycling their past t-shirts from the campaign into gorgeous limited edition black and white dresses, look out for the launch this month.

What are your thoughts on recycled produce?