Considering I was snowed in and unable to get to the office about six weeks ago, to say the summer had crept up on me would be putting it mildly. The fact that it’s May should have been a clue, but after the winter we’ve had, it seemed actually beyond hope that warmer weather would ever appear.
Now that it has though, I have removed my carefully vacuum-packed summer wardrobe from storage and seamlessly integrated it into my spring attire. I lie of course. I have been counting down the days to the delivery of my new sandals, sweating in ill-advised winter boots and praying for the pedicure that will make my feet respectable enough to face the world. Well, my office, the soft play and my husband (who is not in a position to make any comment about my feet EVER). The day came last Friday. And here’s what happened. Continue reading…
I’ve already waxed (geddit?) lyrical about the benefits of having shapely brows. They frame your face, make you look groomed, open up your eyes blah blah blah… Personally, I’m an advocate of tweezing because I’m not really hairy enough for waxing. But recently I’ve been hearing about ‘threading’. It sounds painful, doesn’t it? But apparently it’s not. In fact, it’s meant to be kinder to your skin than waxing and more precise than tweezing. And, it turns out, it’s been around for donkeys years. Called ‘Khite’ in Arabic and ‘Fatlah’ in Egyptian, it’s an ancient form of hair removal originating in Asia – and is now gaining popularity in western countries. Continue reading…
What with it being Mother’s Day on Sunday I thought we could get a bit of a theme going on this week. (Yes, a theme. Stop laughing at the back.) So, following on from my post on gifts for your old dear the other day, I’ve got something else that relates to these long suffering women who have put up with us all these years. Puberty, short skirts, dodgy boyfriends… Or was that just me? Continue reading…
The toddler is going through a phase of getting up at 5.30am. To me there is only one 5.30, and that’s 5.30pm. 5.30am does not exist. It can’t. It’s dark. CBeebies isn’t even on yet. And the only sane people who are awake just haven’t been to bed yet. But what else can you do when a certain someone is shouting ‘Chicken!’ through the monitor? Ignore it and go back to sleep? Not possible. In fact I’m sure they use a method similar to this to keep prisoners of war awake for interrogation. Continue reading…
I used to like the idea of being a faceless, nameless entity who lived in a world of beauty products and (usually quite ill-judged) advice. But then I realised that a goonish little photo of me comes up when I reply to a comment, so I’m not faceless. And that people have started calling me PP, so I’m not anonymous, I just have a silly name. Well, for those of you who remotely care, my friends actually call me Elle (not PP, or indeed Pee-Pee), my colleagues call me Eleanor, and the bloke who comes round to clean the windows calls me Mrs Tucker. So now you know.
Which links as seamlessly as ever into Product Placement’s not remotely celebrated series, Preferential Treatments. And excitingly enough, this week’s instalment is also swathed in secrecy and intrigue. Is it because it’s by a celebrity contributor? Is it because there are legal issues? Or is it because it’s about pubic hair? I’m not telling you. Read it and find out. Continue reading…
We’ve all got our favourite ways of preparing for a big night out. Maybe you’re a spray-tan kind of girl. Or perhaps you like a new set of nails. Of course, you might be more like me and consider spraying deodorant into the arm pits of your chosen – unwashed – outfit an enormous extravagance. But that’s not to say I don’t have a preferred getting ready ‘extra’ I like to indulge in, especially at this time of year.
Which leads me nicely into the latest in my series of beauty treatment reviews, Preferential Treatments. We’ll be getting onto how to recover from the festive nights out later in the week, but for the moment, find out a bit more about my own personal preparation essential and if you like, give it a bash yourself. No pressure. Continue reading…
If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know that this headline means it’s time for another instalment of Product Placement’s series of spa reviews. Put the kettle on. Or actually, chill a bottle of bubbly, because this one has luxury written all over it.
This week’s reviewer is Fiona – also known as The Travel Architect (and my boss’s wife, so sit up straight and take your elbows off the table, please). She knows a thing or two about spas, being both incredibly well-travelled and equally well-groomed. Anyway, without further fawning from me I shall hand you over to Fiona. Champers, anyone? Continue reading…
It’s time for another instalment of Product Placement’s series of spa reviews, Preferential Treatments. But this one is a bit different, so move forward to the edge of your seat while I tell you about our exciting new reviewer. Ready? OK. It’s a man. Yes, it’s true, while my other half assumes that a ‘spa’ is one of a small chain of convenience stores, there are other men out there that like a bit of pampering. And they don’t all look like Niles Crane, either.
Without further ado, I will hand you over to Paul, who has kindly agreed to share his experience so that Product Placement can appeal to a wider audience (i.e. more than two men). And as his grooming is of Clooney-esque standards, any blokes who might actually be reading this should jolly well listen up.
Continue reading…
Just when you’d recovered from National Badger Weekend, another celebration begins. This time, it’s a bit more up our street – it’s National Spa Week, which starts tomorrow (19th September). And what better way to celebrate it than with another instalment of Product Placement’s series of spa reviews, Preferential Treatments.
Thanks to Wahanda, the spa and wellness website, I was lucky enough to test a fabulous treatment courtesy of their spa vouchers. Through their site you can book a gorgeous spa day or spa break – and they’ve also got some cracking offers on the go to celebrate spa week, so it’s a good time to have a nose. And in the meantime, have a read of my review, and try and appreciate what a tough job it is that I do. Continue reading…
When I had been pregnant for nearly a year (OK, it just felt like it), my biggest fear was not giving birth itself, fool that I was. No, it was my waters breaking in a shop. I have no idea why. It’s not as if people would either a) not know what was happening, as I was as big as a bison or b) judge me for it. Now I am a (slightly) more normal size, my fears have also reverted to some approximation of normal. And the worst thing that could now happen to me in a shop would be to lie back on a chair and have a facial, while an ex-boyfriend wanders past, and seeing the size of my pores thanks God under his breath that I married someone else.
It seems my fears are shared by my good friend Annie. But in the interests of Preferential Treatments, Product Placement’s not-that-celebrated series on spa treatments, she braved the Origins counter at John Lewis (admittedly just for the consultation part, but bear with me). And she came back, not just in one piece, but with cheeks as smooth as my offspring’s posterior. Well done, Annie. The nation salutes you. (Well I do, and maybe a couple of others.) Continue reading…
