SO, WHAT SHOULD A STYLISH GIRL WEAR ON HER MOUNTAIN BIKE?

By adele | Published: November 20, 2012

The new merino women’s cycling top from Vulpine (below) is a stylish alternative for women who ride that’s designed to be worn on or off your bike.

Lovely top worn by lovely model. Photo: Paul Mitchell

Here’s a confession: I’ve hate most women’s mountain bike clothing. This is an opinion I tend to keep to myself because it’s already hard to be taken seriously in a mostly male sport. Getting my padded knickers in a twist because I can’t decide what to wear for my next Strava session is unlikely to help.

The problem is that most women’s cycling ranges can be summed up as a bright pink re-cut of the mens’ top. It’s either that or an after-thought that looks as though its been designed by someone who’s never actually met a woman, but thinks they might quite like wearing swirls. I wouldn’t wear a skin-tight pink top with a floral motif when I’m off my bike – so why would I want to ride in one?

Thankfully there are a few emerging brands that make being bothered about what you look like on your bike an okay thing.  Vulpine is a new British brand who make stylish technical apparel for cyclists. To be honest they target the smart ‘cyclopolitan’ world of Shoreditch more than the muddy ditch that is mountain biking, but this button top above certainly has no problem crossing over.

For a start its made of high grade merino, which is the greatest fabric to cycle in, ever. Merino is stretchy, soft and hydrophilic, which means it will keep you cool when its hot and toasty when its cold. Its also naturally odour-resistant so, mud permitting, you don’t have to wash it very often. By which I mean not for weeks, even if you ride hard.

It’s cut for women, is long at the back for cycling and features three low rear pockets (positioned to allow for a Camelback or backpack) and a small reflective band. There’s also a silicon waist gripper to stop the top from riding up. Cleverly, these details are subtle enough to allow you to wear this top when you’re not on your bike, lending a ‘does she cycle or not?’ intrigue that will give folk something to think about as you queue for your weekend latte or walk the dog.

And it’s not pink.

£75 Available in black or blue, sizes 8 – 16, on line here

Published: November 20, 2012
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Marilyn Monroe and Chanel No 5 – unique footage

By adele | Published: November 15, 2012

A gorgeous film from Inside Chanel celebrating the bond between two beauty icons – Marilyn Monroe and Chanel No 5.

Published: November 15, 2012
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FASHION FOR GOOD 2012 review

By adele | Published: November 12, 2012

Fashion for Good is what happens in Surrey when glamour gives back…

A mix of the best fashion boutiques of Surrey, the uber-swanky Brooklands Hotel in Weybridge, a top make up team from Louise Redknapp’s new Wild About Beauty brand plus a catwalk show featuring professional models and stylists is bound to attract the county’s best dressed – and most wealthy. But the Fashion for Good event on Friday night wasn’t just another shopping opportunity for the well-heeled.

Fashion for Good, formed by a group of local mums, supports charities within Surrey that help families, women and young people.  Poverty isn’t the first word that springs to mind when you think of Surrey – but there are pockets of severe hardship here. The district of Elmbridge, for instance, is regularly quoted as one of the best places to live in the UK, yet in parts of Esher the levels of child poverty are as high as 32%. Life expectancy is several years below average and almost half of young people do not stay in education from the age of 17.

By bringing together the best of Surrey fashion under one roof for the weekend, this was the perfect opportunity to shop and support the local community all at the same time. Working with the local expertise of the Community Foundation for Surrey, Fashion for Good’s heady mix of glamour and doing good is making a valuable difference to the lives of the 2,610 children living locally, as well as disadvantaged families in Surrey.

You can find out more here: www.fashionforgood.co.uk

photos:me!

Published: November 12, 2012
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CLINIQUE ‘PINK WITH A PURPOSE’ CHUBBY STICK

By adele | Published: October 11, 2012

This fab pink limited-edition lip colour from Clinique has been launched to support October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign.

Clinique’s Chubby Stick Moisturising Lip Colour Balm is already a must-have amongst the beauty savvy: the easy to wear cross between a lip pencil and a tinted balm has received nothing but rave reviews and is their number one selling lip product.

Now there’s an even better reason to buy. To help raise awareness for October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Clinique has created a limited edition shade ‘Plumped Up Pink’ – and £2 from each purchase will go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation which, since its inception in 1993, has raised over $315 million to support breast cancer research.

While you’re at the counter, you can also pick up a Pink Ribbon to further show your support.

Limited edition Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturising Lip Colour Balm ‘Plumped Up Pink’ £16 at Selfridges and Boots during October.

Published: October 11, 2012
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RAPHA PERFORMANCE SKINCARE

By adele | Published: September 24, 2012

Rapha Performance Skincare is a ‘man who has everything’ range for endurance road riders from the ‘brand du jour’ of cycling. Most intriguingly it features products that, in twenty years plus as a beauty editor, I HAVE NEVER ACTUALLY TRIED BEFORE!!! Swoon and thud.

So here goes:  I love the fuss-free and practical black tins that don’t slip through the fingers plus ‘don’t we make attractive gifts’ boxes. Nice pink detail too – I like a man who isn’t afraid of owning something pink.

The native fauna and flora of Mont Ventoux in Provence – a cyclist’s ‘rite of passage’ climb – has inspired the ingredients and fragrance. It’s a gentlemanly-floral blend of atlas cedar, lavender, pine, rosemary, juniper berry, lemon, patchouli and cypress that smells really  clean, fresh and outdoorsy.  As a regular bike rider I’d like to add here that this makes it 100% preferable to the odour of most passing male cyclists who usually smell not, as you may imagine, of sweat and testosterone but of fabric conditioner. I guess its a body heat/straight off the clean washing pile thing.

Anyway, onto the products. I’ve reviewed most types of beauty product  but a shaving cream for men’s legs is a first. Rapha Shaving Cream is a cosmetic homage to the rider’s ritual of shaving the legs in preparation for the racing season (OH review :”it’s great to use  on your face too”). It’s a blend of essential oils, Shea Butter and Olive Oil, a little goes a very long way indeed, and it smells good.

Chamois Cream is designed to protect the derriere from the blister-inducing effects of long hours in the saddle and Rapha tested it on 200km-per-day rides. Blended with olive, vegetable glycerine and shea butter to prevent chafing, menthyl to keep skin cool and rosemary extract to protect against fungal microbes, I think its pretty safe to say that this is a very activity-specific product. However, as my OH (keen endurance mtbike rider) will testify, chamois cream can be the difference between a great day out and agony. Apply it direct to the saddle area and inner thighs (hours of fun!) or rub into the pad of a pair of cycling shorts.

Winter Embrocation  (there’s a Summer version too) is formulated to warm and loosen leg muscles and stimulate circulation before a ride. It works really well as a pre-ride massage ointment as the slippery texture allows you to be really vigourous. Its stickiness is enduring too: on my ‘tried and tested’ ride I came back with very dusty legs. Alongside arnica, shea butter, vitamin E and beeswax it also contains three organic warming agents – wintergreen, capsicium and vanilla.

Unusually (in fact, uniquely in my experience) Winter Embrocation arrived from the press office with a warning about its ‘potency’ : “make sure you put it on absolutely last (and definitely after chamois cream!) as it spreads really easily and can be unpleasant if you get it somewhere that it shouldn’t be!”.  I accidentally wiped some on my face and it makes your lips tingle. I leave it up to you to imagine what happens ‘elsewhere’.

Sum up?  Perfect gift for the mad-keen, on-trend cyclist who likes to take care of himself but likely to remain unopened if gifted to the sort of bloke who is a stranger to the ways of soap or exercise.

And by the way, it doesn’t make you go any faster.

Rapha Shaving Cream £15, Chamois Cream £15, and Winter Embrocation £20

Buy it here!

Main photo: Paul Mitchell

Published: September 24, 2012
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Marchesa NY S/S ’13/ make up by Talia Shobrook for Laura Mercier

By adele | Published: September 18, 2012

How beautiful is this delicate S/S ’13 make up look from the Marchesa show in NY, by Talia Shobrook for Laura Mercier? Love the wide, natural brows, love the hair, love the liner and as for the gold leaf….guess what, love that too.

How to get the look:

1) Be blessed with a beautiful face

2) Create a flawless, illuminated base with Laura Mercier primer, followed by LM Moisture Supreme Foundation and Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser blended together!).

3) Contour cheekbones and forehead with LM Bronzing Pressed Powder (Dune Bronze).

For the eyes:

4) Keep eyeshadow subtle, and contour with the Bronzing Powder mentioned above.

5) Draw Laura Mercier Tightline Cake Eye Liner (Black Ebony) in a clean, straight line across the lower lashline.

6) Add a coat of LM Long Lash Mascara.

7) (and sadly not available from LM!) Place specs of gold leaf next to the inner corners of the eye.

Lips

Keep them low key – subtle mocha lips ‘fit for a 1960s Indian goddess’ complete the look. LM Hydratint SPF15 (Mocha Tint) will do the trick.

Published: September 18, 2012
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Heaven Bee Venom Facial

By adele | Published: September 13, 2012

The Heaven Bee Venom facial, created by Deborah Mitchell,  is the signature treatment of the Heaven range, loved by Danni Minogue and Victoria Beckham. I visited The Foundation Beauty Studio in Guildford for a treatment with the lovely Victoria Davies. It is one of the prettiest treatment rooms I have ever seen.

The facial is based around the Bee Venom Mask, a potent blend of natural organic ingredients including a ‘magic’ bee venom ingredient that is extracted by encouraging each bee to sting a pane of glass (which prevents them from losing their sting and dying). I tried to get a picture of some bees to illustrate the point – but gave up. Safety first, and all that.

Meanwhile, back to the treatment. It promises an immediate lifting, tightening and firming action whilst erasing the apperance of frown lines and wrinkles.  It’s combined with a glycolic exfoliation to help revive your complexion, a specially designed face-lifting massage, an arm and hand treatment and a foot massage. Expect very mild tingling from both the glycolic exfoliation and the mask itself: the rest of the treatment is pure bliss. Here is the view from where I lay: for those who like attention to detail, let me tell you that there is not a speck of dust on this chandelier.

Naturally there are some lovely products to take home. The Heaven SOS Oil (from £39) is one of Victoria’s favourites – use it on skin, nails and hair or add to cleanser or moisturiser for anti-age benefits.

The Heaven Bee Facial at The Foundation Beauty Studio costs £79 and is a brilliant treatment to have before a special event.

Find out more about Heaven by Deborah Mitchell here

Published: September 13, 2012
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Review: The Golden Rules of Acting by Andy Nyman

By adele | Published: September 5, 2012

The Golden Rules of Acting by Andy Nyman neatly doubles up as an at-a-glance handbook for all creative freelancers (having been one for fifteen years, I am more than qualified to say this).

He probably won’t remember, but I met Andy Nyman a fair few years ago at a friend’s wedding. He was performing close-up magic tricks and very good he was too – though it did cross my mind that magic probably wasn’t the easiest career in which to make a living.

I met him again more recently (at afore mentioned friend’s party). I wandered over to say hello and, naturally, asked if he was still a magician.

“Yes I am,” he replied. “In fact I’m writing and directing a show in the West End: its called Ghost Stories.” That’s right, the play that did rather well. Oh, and he won an Olivier award for one of his many collaborations with Derren Brown (yes, that Derren Brown). I sipped my wine and tried not to look completely star struck, whilst making the following mental note:

Follow your dreams: they can pay the mortgage!

Not surprisingly, taking into account his career trajectory (recently starred in Abigail’s Party at the Wyndham Theatre, for instance), this book is a treasure trove of great advice about acting – though most of it applies to being a freelance creative too. It is empowering, funny, insightful and honest – a best-friend of a book to dip into whenever your creative spirits need a bit of a magic-dust uplift. Here’s my favourite page!

Exactly!

The Golden Rules of Acting by Andy Nyman £5.99 available from 6th September.

Published: September 5, 2012
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Photo post: No Hurt No Pain

By adele | Published: August 25, 2012

No Hurt No Pain: Hair and beauty salon, Southern Turkey.

Published: August 25, 2012
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Guest post: Indian dance bites back!

By adele | Published: August 13, 2012

Guest post by Shalini Bhalla of Just Jhoom! in response to David Cameron’s comments on Indian Dance:

“ Many of you will have seen David Cameron’s crass comments about Indian Dance last Friday. Please find below Just Jhoom!’s official response to his comments.

Dear Mr. Cameron

We would like to introduce ourselves – we are Just Jhoom! (Just Dance!) the only accredited Bollywood dance-fitness company based in the UK. Our business is about getting people happy, healthy and fit through our classes in sports centres, schools, care homes and events. A successful small business, pioneers in our field with an international profile, we are based in Surrey, UK. Our business straddles Indian dance and sport/fitness so we feel uniquely positioned to comment on your recent statement, which we feel is potentially very damaging for our business.

We were somewhat bemused by your comment on Daybreak on Fri 10 August regarding sports activity in schools. To quote:

“The trouble we have had with targets up to now, which was two hours a week, is that a lot of schools were meeting that by simply doing things like Indian dance or whatever, that you and I probably wouldn’t think of as sport, so there’s a danger of thinking all you need is money and a target.”

Firstly, why blame the teachers! Dance is actually classed as a sport as far as the national curriculum is concerned. Whether you or I think of Indian dance as sport is irrelevant, dance is a sport in the national curriculum and education professionals should be applauded for trying to deliver the curriculum and targets. We understand that the government has plans to rewrite the national curriculum and we wait with interest to hear where dance, sports and health sit in the new order but until then dance is a sport.

Secondly why the negativity? We’ve come to the end of a fantastically successful Olympics for Britain with a record 29 gold medals and a rejuvenated, spirited, inclusive, positive and hugely successful Britain. This is the result of individuals and teams who have been part of the education system you are so keen to knock, so what we have been doing in schools with regard to sports has clearly had some real positive impact! So if it ain’t broke don’t fix it! Don’t remove what’s working – just do more of the same!

Thirdly, where are the statistics that tell us that if young people start dancing (Indian dance or otherwise) they won’t do other sports? How many other Sophie Hitchons are there out there who started out as a dancer and then transferred those skills to a sport in her case to hammer throwing? Sophie states herself that the skills she learned in ballet helped her with balance, core strength and also handling the stress of performing in front of 80,000 people. Also, top athletes will often use dance to improve their performances in the sports arena. British male swimmer Liam Tancock uses ballet as part of his training regime to improve his core, and be more aware of his hand and feet placement which is needed when he is in a pool.

Sport and dance have so many skills and attributes in common. To progress in each you need commitment, physical and mental strength, endurance, flexibility, dexterity and balance. Just Jhoom! has created a programme that develops all these skills as well as teamwork, creativity and so much more! The sessions are fun, engaging, and effective and as well as getting children moving help to improve emotional and mental well being…and yes – they are classed as “Indian dance”!

Reading between the lines I suggest that what you are really driving at is that Indian dance isn’t a sport because it isn’t competitive enough and that it doesn’t instil the drive and fighting spirit to win medals. If that’s the case then I suggest you try to enter dancing as a profession. Few make it to the top; many work hard to maintain a career and some struggle with injury and fitness. All need to make sacrifices and have friends and families who support their goal. Sound familiar? Yes most sports people and Olympians could identify with these statements too. To reach the top in both sport and dance you need phenomenal ability to take criticism and apply it, and the resilience and tenacity to fight for your goal.

Dance and sport equally have much to teach the next generation and both supply superb role models for fulfilling life ambitions, as well as promoting healthy, active lifestyles.

So here it is Mr. Cameron. An open invitation to you to participate in a Just Jhoom! dance session alongside a group of school children. We guarantee that not only will it change your mind about “Indian dance or whatever” but you’ll also feel energised, worked-out and motivated for more!

We look forward to your positive reply and to Jhooming (dancing) with you soon.

Shalini Bhalla

on behalf of the Just Jhoom! Education Team

See Just Jhoom! here

Published: August 13, 2012
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