Christmas countdown

This week I started thinking about my Christmas list. Each Autumn, I retrieve the small notebook of festive jottings in which I write what I have given my nearest and dearest - partly to make sure I don’t repeat myself but also to keep track of the growing number of nephews, Godchildren and family friends I’d like to buy a little something special for over the next oh-so-short two months. I’ve also made a shopping list of the ingredients for our Christmas cake which I’ll make soon too, on an afternoon when all four children are home so they can all stir the fruity mixture and make a wish. Once made, I tightly wrap the cake in baking parchment and clingfilm (having first sprinkled liberally with brandy to soak in) and leave to ‘mature’ in the pantry until it’s iced. It’s a simple tradition, but one that, for me, marks the beginning of the Christmas countdown and I really enjoy the sense of anticipation for festivities yet to be enjoyed and presents soon to be wrapped (and with a bit of luck, unwrapped!).

This week has also been a busy one on the Island for the team as we get ready for one of the real highlights of the year on QVC, the shopping channel. This is our Christmas TSV and it is a hugely exciting 24-hour period of live broadcasting when we launch a very special offer (and lots more besides), live on-air. For those who have never been part of the experience, TSV stands for Today’s Special Value and QVC launch one every single day at midnight (yes, I know, but this is a very popular time of day for the QVC viewing family…). For one day only, we produce a beautiful set of skincare at an extremely ‘special’ price and promote this as our TSV. The exact contents have to remain a secret and so I’m afraid I’m absolutely not allowed to reveal the details, except to say that this year, the team have really excelled themselves and there’s something really very special that’s been included. Don’t say I didn’t tip you off in advance.

One of the best things for me about the event is the opportunity it gives me to chat live on-air to callers who ring into the studio – which always reminds me of the live phone-ins I used to do on Richard and Judy’s This Morning programme so very many years ago. I love it because it’s so real and inter-active – we also get lots of text messages and emails coming through, so do tune in and join me if you’ve not done so before, especially if you’ve any wonderful stories or skincare experiences to share.

One of the things I’ll be launching on Saturday is our brand new Christmas box range and this year they are all especially beautiful. We’ve spent almost the entire year working on these (our first planning meeting happens in January, just after we’ve taken the tinsel down). We’ve lots of shapes, colour and sizes but the overall theme features a beautiful beach botanical Eryngium maritimum, or Sea Holly. Up-close, the flower of this special, spikey plant looks just like an intricate snowflake but it’s actually an endangered species, found in very few places and one of them is on our very own Isle of Wight. I was fascinated by this unusual botanical, which is not only beautiful and rare, but also extremely useful as this coastal plant has an extensive root system that helps bind sand on our sea shore. This is especially important in areas where there has been much coastal development, as it can help preserve sand dunes and the unique wildlife habitat they attract. If you’re visiting the Island, watch out for this pretty plant which we’ve spotted growing wild in Yarmouth’s Norton Spit, St Helen’s Duver and Newtowns Creek, but don’t pick it as it’s on the Sussex Rare Species Inventory (and even has regional protection in Northern France).

I do hope you’ll be able to tune in over the weekend and join me – either at our live midnight launch, or for some of the many live shows being broadcast throughout Saturday, from mid-morning right the way through the day until late evening. And do let us know what you think of both the shows and our new Christmas boxes by leaving a comment here on the Blog – the team and I really hope you’ll be as dazzled and delighted as we all are.

John Lewis – the perfect partnership

This is the second week of our promotion in Union (our IOW shop) and our London shop of a complimentary mini Cleanse & Polish, plus the chance to win a year’s supply in our prize draw competition. In John Lewis, Oxford Street, we’ve also been given one of the key windows for two weeks, which is terribly exciting to see – I caught a bus down last week, and felt all tingly with excitement to see us in the window. Inside, we have a special stand where we can meet new customers and greet old friends, who have come to see us in this new home. The John Lewis team are very positive and we’re learning together about how to translate our high service levels in this new retail environment – the team are positive, and so helpful – a great partnership. Our next stores to launch are Cambridge and Edinburgh so looking forward to getting out and training the teams in these towns shortly.

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!

Today is the last day of Skandia Cowes Week and we’ve really enjoyed our role here as the official Skincare Sponsor. Our little stand in the Parade has had literally thousands of visitors and it’s been great for the whole team to meet and speak to so many people, many of whom have never heard of Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare. We’ve really enjoyed meeting so many of our regular customers too – so “thank you” from all of us if you stopped by to say “hello!” We really did enjoy our chance to chat to so many face-to-face. Tonight I’ll be staying for the fireworks finale, which is always a magical and memorable event. Thousands of fireworks are let off from a floating pontoon close to the Royal Yacht Squadron and the sight is magnificent, especially as the beautiful fireworks are reflected in the water below, so double the spectacle. Not only do we get to enjoy the amazing fireworks, but these are joined by hundreds of pretty twinkling lights from the many boats bobbing on the sea beneath.

Today is Ladies Day at Skandia Cowes Week and we’ve invited several London ladies from the beauty press to come and spend the day with us. We’ve chartered a fabulous boat to collect them from Southampton and bring them across to our Island headquarters on the beachfront in Ryde. We picked up fresh, locally caught lobsters for lunch and made huge bowls of couscous and salads (including my favourite Nigella Lawson recipe, made with chunks of watermelon, red onion, black olives and feta cheese – a delicious combination). After lunch, we headed off to Cowes to tour the competing boats as they battled for first place across the finishing line in front of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Then we all went ashore and went to visit our special Cowes Week stand on the Parade. Here the team from our Union store in Ryde and also our London team of beauty therapists were busy giving complimentary hand massages and skincare advice to celebrate Ladies Day. I finished the day by attending the Skandia Ladies Day reception at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, where I also managed to squeeze in one last interview with Radio Cowes – again highlighting the importance of protecting our skin in the sun whether on land or at sea.

Down to the Island for the start of Skandia Cowes week. Although we’ve supported this great sailing calendar-fixture for many years, this is the first year that we’ve been the official Skincare Sponsor for the event. This year, more than 1000 boats are taking part and we’ve supplied each competitor with a free full-size Sun Shade SPF25 Face Protector (to protect skin on the water) and also a full size Sun Shade Botanical Aftersun Gel (in case they overdo it in the sun!). The kits have gone down very well indeed and many of the sailors have been extremely grateful to have a high quality, non-chemical sunscreen to help protect their skin. I did several radio interviews today on the subject – and highlighted the fact that sailors need extra sun-protection as not only are they out in the full glare of the sun all day, but they also get the sun’s rays reflected off their white-hulled boats and also from the sea, so they actually receive two or even three times the amount of UV-rays that we land-lubbers do. Our Sun Shade range is especially good as we only use broad-spectrum mineral sunfilters (never the chemical kind that can cause skin sensitivity), so you get a very effective reflectant filter that stops the sun’s rays from being absorbed into the skin. This is going to be an even more important skincare story in the future, as it’s just been announced that skin cancer rates have soared this year by a staggering 43%.

Attended the Ellen McArthur Trust charity ball this evening, held at the Cowes Yacht Haven. The last time I was here was the night of our team Christmas party, when our Managing Director John Buckland had the whole place transformed into the winter wonderland of Narnia. That was a magical night, and this evening was a fun event too, even if the scenery wasn’t quite as dramatic. One of the reasons we were there was to support Ellen’s charity, which sponsors children with cancer to go sailing. We’ve donated thousands of mini-sized tubes of our Sun Shade SPF25 Facial Protector, clipped to the end of a sailing lanyard that you wear around your neck. The perfect Cowes week accessory and one which is practical too as it means your Sun Shade is always within easy reach.

Our flagship store in the Kings Road, London is currently temporarily closed for a total refurbishment – can’t wait to see what our customers think of our new look. The London team are now on the island for 6 weeks for more time with the island team – as well as helping run our special stand during Cowes Week, the team have been spending more time with our key customer-facing teams here on the island. The bond across the company has always been strong – whether working with our US team across a different time zone, or with the teams in London. But the whole team have valued their time on the island, getting to know the whole company better. We are also working on treatments – behind the scenes – and this is a great chance for more of us to get the ‘hands on’ experience in their expert hands. All are trained beauty therapists and their skills, in combination with our hard-working products, have meant we’re able to deliver some great results for all different skin types.  Can’t wait to try my facial in a few weeks!

I’ve been busying buying up some of Liz’s out of print books on Amazon – such a fab way to find and sell hard to find books, via their marketplace. I also love the way that they recommend books / films to you, once you’ve popped something into your basket – I find it hugely helpful when buying presents too. A cold day today, after some stunning weekend weather.

My younger sister and I visited the IOW for the weekend – I live in London, and spread my working life between our London shop and the island. We stayed with Vintage Vacations, owned and run by an island-based stylist and her fashion photographer husband – who swapped crazy London life for the peace of the beautiful island, a few years ago. One night, after a few glasses of wine, she bid for a stunning vintage American trailer on EBay – made from the 1930s onwards by Getty, the airline carrier manufacturers. The rest is history – she has now bought six and all are based in a green English field, on a rural working farm just outside Newport. It’s very much ‘back to basics’, but with a rather kitsch edge – such as the original wet room bathroom! It made me appreciate the comforts of home, in a way, as you fire up the burner for your hot water shower and nip outside with your wellies at 5am to visit the outside loo! But very authentic and beautifully styled with vintage memorabilia, magazines and board games – as well as a couple of bottles of Babycham (love it!) and a cream tea upon arrival. We stayed in the 1951 Spartanette and, as the owner says, she truly was the ‘Cadillac’ of trailers!

The island is just such a varied and stunning place – perfect for a long weekend or for a week or two away with the kids. Everything is catered for – all tastes and budgets. This time, as a regular hunter down of fab IOW things to do, my sister insisted that we did new things that I’d never done before. We weren’t disappointed – a long walk on Tennyson Downs rewarded us with stunning views, and we even ventured on to the National Trust’s Old Battery by the Needles. I felt very proud to see the recognizable IOW symbol – I think, not immodestly, that we really have helped put this beautiful gem of an isle on the map for many mainlanders who only have vague Enid Blyton memories from their childhood…. I love the old churches here too, and my sister indulged me in a return to my favourite island haunt, the old church on the seafront at Bonchurch. So old and so charming – very romantic for a stroll. I must bring my husband back soon!

Hot off the press news today – our TVSN presenter in Australia, Carla King Turner, has just had a baby boy and he looks adorable! She will be using Orange Flower Botanical Body Wash for his baby baths apparently. Wonderful news – mother & baby are both grand.

Another enjoyable customer talk today, hosted by the Priory Bay Hotel Supper Club – on the Isle of Wight. In aid of a local charity – the Island Women’s Refuge, which works hard to support women and children seeking refuge from abusive partners – the lunch talk was a chance to get together with like-minded ladies to discuss mature skin. We brought the hour-long talk to life with a mini facial, led by Carly (our product trainer and beauty therapist) with the main talk hosted by Dee, our UK Sales Manager, who looks after our QVC shows, amongst many projects.

I led a brief introduction to what’s been happening in the past year (many customers first met us in autumn 2005, when we held a general skincare workshop) – and shared our international developments, plans for our new ‘Green House’ head office on the island, and also about our recent IOW Chamber of Commerce awards, including one for our green, environmental initiatives. Everyone was amazed at what a busy year we’ve had!

Dee hosted the main talk - she is an experienced colleague, and she recently turned 50 herself (though you’d never know, her skin is fabulous) – so she had many tips to share with our guests. It was very motivating to hear her talk, even to someone like me in my early 30s – she has so much passion, gusto and energy which rubbed off on all our guests too. Hitting key topics such as HRT, how to wake up your skin in the mornings, including little product tricks for days when we need a bit of help – she made the talk fun, interactive and accessible to everyone.

We’ve also persuaded Dee to swap from behind the camera at QVC to front of camera, and she’s also been our mature skin model for recent QVC shows! A few of our guests at the talk commented on how they enjoy watching her demonstrate on QVC – Dee really appeals to more mature ladies with her personal routine and tips. We are now busy planning more talks, across the UK, to reach customers and hear their stories… It’s a great way to come with a friend and enjoy a fun day out.

You know the saying about all work and no play… well, tonight we held a big staff party to thank our incredibly hard-working team who have been completely flat-out dispatching Christmas parcels for the past few weeks. Not to mention everyone in our team who have had such a busy year working on our new products, new websites and overseas launches. The theme was Winter Wonderland and our Managing Director, John, truly excelled himself in his party planning. The theme was based around the books of Narnia and the evening started just like the opening chapter of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, with an entrance made of old fur coats hanging in a wardrobe-like vestibule. We had to clambour through this inventive doorway to enter the reception room which was decorated with real fir trees and silver stars – magical. After the dinner we had a surprise Abba tribute band (being from the land of the fir tree, after all) and my co-founder Kim and I took to the dance floor in a flash – she always has been the Dancing Queen. It was good to see everyone dancing the night away and being able to let off a bit of steam as such an intensely busy year for us all draws to a close.