Time to step into the autumn skincare wardrobe

Brrr, cold weather again today – what happened to this Indian summer that we were promised? I have been on the island this week and am making the mistake of still wearing flipflops! My skin is also beginning to tell me that it’s time to step into the autumn skincare wardrobe too – I find that I start needing Skin Repair ‘normal’ again, (I usually use Light) and I’m definitely using Superskin Concentrate (UK) , (USA) more religiously at nighttime now again too. Though I never seem to notice consciously, these for me are the classic signs that autumn is on its way.

The central heating can play havoc with the skin too – as well as air conditioning and heating when travelling. My colleague Toni told me last week that she finds her legs get extra dry at this time of the year – we were debating possible causes and concluded that it was probably the hot air that she pumps onto her cold legs in her car (heating) during journeys down to the island in the mornings and evenings, driving back home. Nourishing Botanical Body Cream (UK) , (USA) is Toni’s top tip, as it really comes into its own at this time of year – it sinks in fast, but quickly revitalizes and nourishes any dry or ‘tight’–feeling skin on the body. This is the first thing that I recommend to customers who are noticing the change in seasons – we always seem to neglect the skin on the body, but it’s just as important as the skin on the face, I think. We use two different types of natural vitamin E in our body cream – one is a quick release for instant hydration and the other is a slower release, meaning that you do experience day-long hydration. So legs feel as soft when you undress, as when you dressed! Another clever botanical input from our product development team!

John Lewis - Oxford Street

Such a beautiful, clear, crisp morning here at home in the West Country – one of those idyllic British weather moments with clear blue skies, a cold crispness in the air and a soft layer of mist hanging cloud-like across the fields that makes you reach for your walking shoes. As you may have read before, I’ve become a fan of Nordic Walking, the fitness regime that gets you out in the fresh air power-walking using poles to work the upper body. If every morning was as perfect as today’s I would want to walk every day before breakfast. Even on wet-weather days it’s still a treat to get outdoors and enjoy the simple pleasures of watching the changing seasons – today the hedgerows were filled with blackberries, elderberries and rosehips all ripe for the picking.

Heading into town a little later I went into one of my all-time favourite department stores, John Lewis in Oxford Street. Stepping through the doors always takes me back a good 25 years when I used to work around the corner in South Molton Street – a stylish backwater which in the 1980’s was considered as hip and trendy as nearby Carnaby Street was in the Swinging ‘60’s. I would always pop into John Lewis for household wares and home furnishings for my first flat, or spend ages choosing buttons to spruce-up a jacket or cardigan from the then-great haberdashery department (now sadly much diminished). These days, the newly re-vamped Beauty Hall on the ground floor is now very much improved and a real pleasure to shop in - beautifully light, spacious and well-organised. Even more excitingly for us, today we launched a small selection of our key ‘essentials’ here at the far end of the hall. I came in to see how Dee, Linda and Hayley from our Island team were doing with setting everything up and it all looked really good. So much so, that within a few hours of brisk sales we had already been given an additional space to set up a special Cleanse & Polish display! Although we haven’t yet had any publicity or special promotions, the word seemed to have got out around the store that we had arrived and we had lots of visitors to our shelves, with customers delighted to have found another of our outlets. There was such a positive buzz and it was great to stop and chat with some of our customers, including Gloria who came back twice to re-stock her bathroom shelves! We’ll be hosting some great promotions here over the next few weeks, so watch our website for further details.

We’ll also be opening in John Lewis in both Cambridge and Edinburgh branches before Christmas, so do make a note to come and see us later in the year if you live nearby.

Product training

Today, I’m focusing on some product training. We have so many new members of staff who are dying to get their teeth into the products and our ingredient philosophies, so I’m working on some new training sessions to get everyone motivated. My job is so stimulating as it’s so varied – last week, I was meeting QVC potential models and talking them through the range, then I was training the friendly John Lewis beauty team at Oxford Street, London – and now I’m focusing back down on the details of our products again and trying to shape all we encompass into a two hour session for new members of staff – no mean feat!

Training at John Lewis

Just back from more training with the beauty team at John Lewis in Oxford Street, ahead of our launch there next week. Such a nice group of people – and wonderful that we share so much of our service values and ethos with them. We are going to sit alongside Ren, Dr Hauschka and Neal’s Yard – so we’ll be in good company. The idea is that our range – or a selection of our range – will be available for ‘self-selection’, i.e. so that customers can look and play with the products themselves and read up about the products in their own time, before buying.  This makes the shopping experience easy and quick, for customers who want to quickly stock up if popping into town. It feels right with John Lewis and wonderful to be on one of the biggest shopping streets in the world! Very exciting times….

HMS Warrior

This evening Kim and I took our families directly across the Solent to the historic part of Portsmouth’s old town for a dinner on board HMS Warrior. This wonderful ship, built in 1860, was Britain’s first iron-hulled battleship and the flagship of the Victorian navy. In her day, she was the largest and fastest ship in the world, powered by steam and sail. I grew up with this historic ship on my doorstep as my father was an Admiral in the British navy and, as Flag Officer Portsmouth, lived for a time in the elegant Palladian Spithead House in heart of the Dockyard. Today, there are several museum-piece ships to visit here, including HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and the Mary Rose. The great thing about Warrior is that she is also open as a venue for events such as parties and weddings. Our dinner was for a London-based livery company and through a family connection we had provided table presents for the party. Each table was set on the lower gun deck, with seating between the original cannons. Very atmospheric and a unique experience.

As HMS Warrior is something of a national treasure, I was given a pair of stilettoe heel covers to protect the ship’s original teak decking before enjoying an interesting tour of the original captain’s cabin and quartermaster’s stores. Special evenings like this one can be booked in advance if you check the ship’s website – the next one is Pickle Night on Friday 9th November which will commemorate the life of Admiral Lord Nelson. Guests will hear the fascinating story of HMS Pickle, the ship that brought home the news of victory at Trafalgar. Dinner will again be on the gundeck with singing and table entertainment from Shep Wooley and his crew. Sounds like a great evening. For further information and a fascinating virtual tour on this website, take a look at HMS Warriors website - well worth logging on to take a look at Victorian life at sea.

London store re-opening

In London for the re-opening of our London flagship store in the Duke of York’s Square (UK) , (USA) just off Sloane Square at the top end of the King’s Road in Chelsea. Our team has worked phenomenally hard all over the summer to re-fit our store with a whole new look. It really is very special and feels like a piece of the Island has been lifted up and transported to central London! All the natural materials we have used are beautifully tactile and interesting, from soft stone to fossilised marble and cedar wood. On the back wall we have printed a huge blow-up picture of the view from our Biskra Beach House offices – we do literally look out over a huge expanse of beautiful blue Solent sea – with the patriotic Union Jack flag waving proudly from our flagpole. We still have a few more finishing touches to add in-store, such as the touch-screen TV’s from which you’ll be able to access our web pages and look up ingredient and product information. There’ll also be a comfortable library area with resource books, free skincare guides and interesting botanical ingredients to explore. We’ve added a wonderful pin-board wall with some of our latest photos and space for you to come and leave a comment too – when I went in there were already several lovely messages pinned up and so I left one too! I also spied some lovely new white pottery plant pots that have been especially made for us on the Isle of Wight and embossed with our Liz Earle flower logo. They look so beautiful we’ve already had requests to buy them – I’d love a set for my kitchen too so we’ll see what we can do to get extra supplies for sale. As each one is hand made it may take a little while though.

Our store really is in a lovely location; the sun streams in from both side of our glass frontage and we can see the distant tall oak trees from the army barracks at the end of the square. I love the fact that the whole area is pedestrian too, so my smaller children can play tag or bring their scooters and amuse themselves quite happily and be safely away from the busy-ness of the main street around Sloane Square. We have a wonderful choice of local refreshments on our doorstep, from the fabulously healthy Fushi juice bar (great wheat-free wraps for a snack lunch), to the little Italian café opposite us for authentic Italian expresso and Patisserie Valerie just along the way, which sells delicious croissants, French pastries and snacks. Today I also spied a fabulous new coffee shop selling not only delicious drinks but also handmade chocolates which you can buy individually as a little treat to go with your cappucino. That’s definitely my kind of place.

London store reopening soon...

An exciting few weeks ahead – we are due to reopen our London store in the next week or so, and wonderful to hear that all the finishing touches are now being put in place so we can open our doors on time. It’s been really strange not seeing as much of our customers as normal over the past few weeks – I really enjoy meeting new and old friends alike in the shop, and can’t wait to see some familiar faces back in-store again. I also love the summer months in Union though, our shop on the island – we have many day-trippers and those who come over with their children and grandchildren. The team have been busy with Cowes Week and hosting all the holiday makers. I asked them today if things were slowing down – they said that things were fractionally slower, but that they soon will have half-term again and then Christmas. A busy life!

QVC

Some great QVC shows last night with Liz – one show with Debbie Greenwood and another with Julia Roberts as our QVC hosts. I love watching Liz’s shows – it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been using the products or how you much know about them, I always picks up a few new ‘gems’ of knowledge.

The Green House

Have I’ve mentioned how wonderful our new home is?! If I have, then I will say it again. The Green House is where we are all now based, on the island – eco-friendly and super efficient, this sure is 21st century working! It’s wonderful to all be in the same building – I still remember the early days, as I’ve been here nearly 9 years, when there were a small handful of people. We now number over 250 and we sell to over 77 countries, world-wide, so we really did need a big working home to encompass us all.

I love seeing all my colleagues when I’m on the island, and we are all able to communicate so easily now – it’s better than ever. It must be good for our IT team too, as I’m sure that we receive fewer emails now that everyone is in one building. We can now also all socialise easily at lunchtime, as all the teams share a lunch space away from our desks – so a great chance to catch up on everyone’s news.

I also love the specially-designed warehouse downstairs – it has all been designed for our own specific needs, so it works like clockwork. It’s so motivating seeing the rows of teams working hard on their hand-wrapping of products; then round the corner to the picking team who are carefully collating customer orders from the shelves (or ‘pick face’); then through to the despatch team. It’s a highly organised system and people never fail to be amazed at the efficiency, speed and dedication of the team. I often wonder if the team dream about wrapping in their sleep sometimes – you can see that they are able to faultlessly wrap, hardly even needing to look down. What a skill – and how wonderful Christmas must be for these skilled ladies!

We can all look forward to our special Christmas newsletter with ideas to take the hard work out of Christmas planning and wrapping – always a joy when someone else does the hard work, at this busy time of the year. In fact, our fulfilment team have been wrapping in preparation for Christmas during the whole of the summer – so, whilst you were maybe sunning yourself on a beach, our team had their Santa’s Elves hats on already!

American Visit

I am back in hot and sunny Manhattan for a few days to meet some of the top magazine editors and introduce them to Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare. Since we opened our Customer Centre in America on the West coast of California, we’ve been receiving an increasing amount of glowing press coverage. Many of the editorials that have been written have commented on the ‘unusually high’ quality of both our ingredients, product performance and service – all music to our ears as this is what we do try so very hard to achieve. It’s amazing to read of so many different skin types, colours and ages discovering the range for the very first time and getting such wonderful results. Just goes to show that it doesn’t just work on the Brits! We looked at our database recently and discovered that we now have active customers in 77 different countries around the world – so if you’re logging on to read this from far afield, a very warm welcome to our world!

The chief area of concern for many New Yorkers is unquestionably the onset of skin ageing. This is such a youth-obsessed culture and I’m amazed at just how common cosmetic surgery is here, even amongst the young and beautiful. It seems you can never be too rich, too thin - or too young-looking over here. Some of the much older ladies I’ve spied walking down Madison Avenue have had so much obvious plastic surgery on their faces they look bizarrely surreal – like wax-faced dolls. Not a great look.

Although, as a company, we don’t use the term ‘anti-ageing’ per se, we obviously do want to create a youthful, radiant, healthy complexion – and this is what we’re all about. And especially as Kim and myself are now in our middle forties (surely not?!) we find ourselves facing the very real issues of skin sagging, loss of firmness and tone. So with this firmly in the forefront of our minds, we have created our fabulous new botanical ‘wonder cream’ (cue trumpets please) shortly to be launched both here in the US and in the UK. Called Superskin Moisturiser (UK) , (USA) (it does what is says on the jar), we’ve both been using this now for many months and I have to say – totally honestly and no word of a lie – that my skin is softer, plumper, smoother and generally ‘younger looking’ than it has been in a very long while. As you may know from previous postings, Kim’s skin is very different from mine (I’m extremely dry and eczema-prone, she is oilier and problem-prone) yet we’ve both had the most amazing results from using Superskin Moisturiser.  It really is a genius formulation, full of essential fatty acids, (cranberry seed oil has an interesting balance of the Omega 3’s and 6’s which definitely help support the skin when applied topically). But just to be sure, for the first time in our history we’ve commissioned some independent clinical trials from a leading testing laboratory to analyse the results over several weeks. We’ve just had these results back from a substantial panel of 60 women – and the data is simply astonishing:

• Effective at rejuvenating the skin – after 4 weeks 88% of respondents and at 15 weeks this rose to 96% of respondents.
• Effective at improvement in plumping the skin – at 4 weeks 98% of respondents and at 15 weeks a staggering 100% of respondents!

How incredible is that? Frankly, I’ve never seen results like these before and, as you can imagine, we’re all hugely excited and delighted with the results. I picked up a magazine only this afternoon and – just to put this into perspective - I noticed an ad for a moisturiser that was claiming “70% of our testers saw an improvement in their skin” and thought to myself – only 70%?? Surely that’s not worth making a fuss about in an advertisement when you should be aiming for 100%... You’ll be able to try our new Superskin Moisturiser for yourself soon – so let me know in the comments below how you get on.