St Ives Event at The Hospital Club

Last week I went to two Handpicked Media events. This one and this equally amazing St Ives event at The Hospital Club.

St Ives Apricot scrub has always been my favourite facial scrub. It is a high-end scrub with a budget price. I have been buying it for years. I did get a goodie bag with the scrub inside and I am doing their 7 day challenge. My skin is already glowing.

PSYCHOLOGIES Beauty Director Emine Rushton gave an amazing beauty talk, apparently the Egyptians used to exfoliate with a pumice stone! Ouch. Oh, and they still use Cochineal (E120 on ingredients list) which is the ‘crushed carcasses of the female Dactylopius coccus, a cactus-feeding scale insect’. Nice.

There were Apricot based cocktails and I tried them all. Another blogger also won the cute edible tree below. Brilliant night.

Rebekah Brooks & Husband to be Charged with Perverting the Course of Justice.

Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, and her racehorse trainer husband, Charlie Brooks, are to be charged with perverting the course of justice during the phone-hacking scandal.

Mrs Brooks and her husband revealed the charger themselves in a statement which critiscised the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision.

They said: “We have been informed by the Office of the Department of Public Prosecutions that we are to be charged with perverting the course of justice.

“We deplore this weak and unjust decision. After the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS we will respond later today after our return from the police station.”

Four other people are also to be charged which includes the personal assistant of Mrs Brooks’s, Cheryl Carter and Mark Hanna, head of security at News International.

There are a few different charges. Mrs Brooks has three against her, the rest have one. The charges include conspiring to conceal material from Scotland Yard detectives, conspiring to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from detectives and conspiring to remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International.

Alison Levitt QC, principal legal advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions, revealed the details of the charges:

“The Crown Prosecution Service received a file of evidence from the Metropolitan Police Service on March 27 2012 in relation to seven suspects: Rebekah Brooks; Charles Brooks; Cheryl Carter, Mrs Brooks’ personal assistant; Mark Hanna, head of security at News International; Paul Edwards, Mrs Brooks’s chauffeur who was employed by News International; Daryl Jorsling and a seventh suspect – both of whom provided security for Mrs Brooks supplied by News International.

“All the evidence has now carefully been considered. Applying the two-stage test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors, I have concluded that in relation to all suspects except the seventh, there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction.”

Baby, It’s Wet Outside.

There has been torrential rain in the UK lately but apparently we are still in a drought. Anyway, while it is still droughting cats and dogs you may want to invest in some of these chic raincoats Frost has come across from the Cambridge Raincoat Company.


Water resistant, stylish, chic and ultra practical, the raincoats produced are sure to keep you protected and fashionable in all conditions. In the rain they’ll keep you dry, in the summer the breathable fabric will be a wave of fresh air. They are available in a range of beautiful colours to get you noticed and to brighten up any day.

Designed for commuting cyclists to be able to dress for their journey as well as the destination, the raincoats keep you dry from neck to knee, making sure that you avoid the disheveled and slightly distressed look that can occur en route. They really are the perfect answer for any occasion, cyclist or not.

I love the lining, the colours, the concept and just how unbelievably chic they are. I want one in every colour.

Eskimo PR Brand Watch.

Sam Edelman: classic and quirky shoes. According to Frost writer Keshini Misha, Sam makes the best Chelsea boots.

 

The Pretty Dress Company.

Female figure loving dresses. Inspired by the glamorous females of the 1940’s and 1950’s. They hold in, push up and hug curves in all the right places. The name is accurate too, the dresses really are pretty.

I got a free tub of sweeties from My Sweetie Jar. Brilliant sweets. They offer a customisation service. Go to www.mysweetiejar.com if there is anyone you love enough to get some of these for.

BlackDressHQ sells nothing except beautiful and classy black dresses. I reckon Amanda Elisach would love this site. It was born because of the need to bring gorgeous Little Black Dresses all in one place. Gorgeous self- indulgence.

Prey of London. Luxe-rock inspired brand. Brilliant, edgy clothes. High end designs at mid market prices.

Simmi. Love your shoes.

Mou

POP Handset. It reduces radiation by 99%.

Bronx and Blink is the sister brand of Bronx. In fashion this season is Gothic Punk, 70’s Sophistication and Global Nomad.


Chinese Laundry.
Brilliant shoes and accessories.

John Varvatos. Casual Luxury and rock’n’roll come together.

Sorel A classic brand. They have been making great footwear since 1962

Doll Boutique. Online retailer with a great range of brands. One-stop shopping heaven. Started in Glasgow in 2007, founder Arielle Shear felt that Glasgow was in need of something different from either high street or high-end designer fashion, but something in between, now we all have it at Dolls Boutique. Fresh, new, reasonably priced brands that are better quality than the high street.

D.L & Co call themselves Purveyors of curious goods. LA native Douglas Little aimed at bringing opulence and beauty to those who yearn for the uncommon and exquisite; and has managed beautifully.

See By Chloe. Sophisticated footwear. Just beautiful.

Vestry is dedicated to bring the latest trends. There are dresses to impress galore at the Vestry Online. Dresses start at £30 and their best-selling jeans are priced at £30. The Vesty used to be a major high street brand name but are now just online, and as popular as ever. Their site is full of beautiful clothes.

Moda in Pelle. A brilliant on trend footwear company. I love their country chic shoes, as well as power dressing, the affair and The Orient Express. Moda in Pelle have also launched a new range called Luxury Revel, it aims to create a ‘bridge between luxury shoes and accessible accessories’.

Juicy Couture. Needs no introduction. This LA brand’s new season range is more polished and put together says LeAnn Nealz, Juicy Couture CCO and Co-President. “I spend a lot of time travelling between London and Los Angeles, which got me thinking about this concept ‘LA Loves London’ – everything from Anita Pallenberg to T-Rex and Joni Mitchell”.

Soludos: Comfortable unisex shoes.

I personally really love the Brigitte Bardot range. She is a style icon who has really inspired me.

Misfits Actress Sentenced to Community Service After Racially Abusing Taxi driver.

Misfits Actress Sentenced to Community Service After Racially Abusing Taxi driver.

Lauren Socha, the BAFTA-winning Misfits actress, who plays a young offender has been sentenced to community service in an life-imitating-art twist. Socha, 21, drunkenly racially assaulted an Asian taxi driver.

Miss Socha is second from the right.

Socha plays Kelly Bailey in the hit show. She admitted to hitting Sarkander Iqbal in the face and screaming racial abuse at him in October 2011. She received a four-month suspended jail sentence and has to do 80 hours unpaid work.

Mr Iqbal said that Socha called him a ‘Paki’ and yelled ‘You don’t know who I am’. Mr Iqbal managed to record part of the attack on his mobile phone. In the recording you can hear Socha saying she will get Mr Iqbal’s family ‘lifted’ out of the UK and then launched into a trade of abuse.

Socha has previously said that anyone who calls someone a ‘Chav’ is a racist.

Mr Iqbal said she called him “every name under the sun’ during the attack.

It was terrible. She called me a Paki, a dirty b******, told me to **** off back to my own country and asked what I was doing here because I was Asian.’

Socha was also ordered to pay Mr Iqbal compensation.

Tributes Flood in For MCA Adam Yauch.

The music world is still in shock after losing founding Beastie Boy Adam Yauch at the young age of 47. Yauch had a three-year battle with cancer.

His loss has been felt heavily by music lovers the world over. Coldplay, Jay-Z, Green Day, Antony Kiedis, Eminem, Louise Mensch and The Strokes all payed tribute to the rapper. Kiedes said: “We lost a good man today. He left the world a lot of beauty. I hope you carry that flame. Adam was for real. You can see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers tribute video below.

Yauch was diagnosed with cancer of the preaortic gland and lymph node in July 2009.

He founded the Beastie Boys in 1979, with Mike “Mike D” Diamond, a school friend, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz. They started as a punk band, then they began experimenting with hip-hop.

The release of their first full album ‘Licensed To Ill’ became the first hip-hop album to top the Billboard album chart. The band released eight albums including ‘Paul’s Boutique’, ‘Check Your Head’ and ‘Ill Communication’.

Adam Yauch is survived by his wife, Dechen Wengdu, and their daughter Tenzin Losel. Rest in peace MCA, you are much missed.

Does the packaging in your bin annoy you?

Does the packaging in your bin annoy you?

Packaging is funny stuff. No-one goes out to buy it; they go to buy the things inside. And by the time you get it home, and remove (or use up) the contents of the pack, it has worked quite hard.

But most of what it does is invisible to consumers. We don’t see products stacked meters high in warehouses, stacked on an open dockside in the heat or shaken about in the back of a lorry. Even a humble crisp packet, which uses the tiniest amount of material, performs a number of jobs to ensure that crisps are crisp, not stale, and not crushed into tiny bits.

There has been lots of publicity recently for the huge quantity of food we waste in the UK each year. Wasting food is an environmental disaster, not least because all of the energy and other resources that went into growing, processing, storing and transporting it are also wasted, along with the food itself. But few of us probably realize that if the UK’s packaging and distribution system was not as sophisticated and technologically advanced as it is, there would be far more food waste.

Most food just would not be available without packaging – sliced bread, yogurt, frozen peas, rice, jam, cream cake. Packaging continually responds to changes in life style – smaller portions for people living alone; prepared microwavable vegetables for time-poor people and those who want to reduce cooking energy – in a way that few other industries have done.

Twenty years ago there was roughly the same amount of packaging in your bin as there is today, but it would have been generated by far fewer goods. That’s because manufacturers and retailers keep doing more with less, reducing the resources used to provide the same (or better) protection, information and hygiene.

On average just 1% of packaged food is wasted compared to 10% of food sold loose. That’s because packaged food does not get damaged in the supply chain and it lasts longer on the shelf.

The public mistakenly sees the packaging in their bin as a sign of failure, but over 80% of packaging can easily be recycled so clean paper, cardboard, glass, metals and plastic bottles should be put in recycling boxes, not rubbish bins. However, even non-recyclable packaging is – in the big picture of total resources used – helping to avoid waste. It also makes much of modern life possible – take-away coffee, ready-made sandwiches, microwaveable meals.

We should learn to love packaging – it’s helping to reduce waste and improve both choice and convenience. How many products can claim that?