Autumn’s Here!

Since I last wrote, I’ve had a fun mini break in Cornwall with my parents and Baby Isabel – my poor husband has just started an MBA, alongside his full time job, and couldn’t join us due to essay deadlines. It was delicious to have a break away, and I found the sea air so refreshing. Such a lovely part of England – it reminded me of the charm of the Isle of Wight in parts, with beautiful rugged coves and quaint villages tucked away. There is definitely something about being by the sea too – my skin really benefited from the relaxing beach walks (and catching up on sleep!)

It reminded me of how pretty the autumn is on the Island – do come and visit us. There is a lot to do locally in Ryde if you fancy a day trip – we’re only 10 minutes away from Portsmouth on the hovercraft. (You may even catch some of our team on the hover – we’re the ones always laughing and talking!) As well as some great coffee spots on Union High Street, where our original store ‘Union’ sits amongst the pretty Victorian buildings, the beach is only a stone’s throw away and there’s more than a handful of pretty shops to browse in, if you have a relaxing day to spare. If you ever want any advice, do let us know and we can recommend the best places – most of our team are from the island and are proud to share more about our beautiful, tranquil world here. And of course our Union team would be delighted to welcome you and help make your day very special.

So, with autumn, comes the dreaded onslaught on our skin! The central heating, the nip in the air and the car heating all combine to quickly dehydrate and unbalance the skin’s subtle equilibrium. I really notice the weather now, just by looking at my hands as I walk in the park with my baby. I like to think of Hand Repair (UK, US, Ireland) as an extra pair of velvety gloves - the days that I forget to pop on a quick application, I quickly live to regret! I wash my hands like never before and have really found the new hand wash helps combat dryness… but it’s the hard-working combination of the hand wash and the hand cream that keeps you totally protected.

Last week, I was pleased to join Alison Keenan on QVC for a special Christmas gifting show. Alison is a huge fan of Cleanse & Polish (particularly after those dreaded late shows, when you fall into bed at 4am), but also raved about the effectiveness of our hand cream. As many of you tell us, it really is such a ‘treatment’ product, much more than just a cream. And of course you now have different sizes to choose from – perfect for dotting all over the place, as a reminder to look after the hands. Like our faces, the skin on the hands really is exposed all the time so do take heed of the change in weather, keep Hand Repair to hand and don’t forget your mitts!

Look forward to speaking to you again on tomorrow’s QVC show, or if you miss that, look out for me on the ‘Gift of Great Skin’ QVC show on the 26^th November……. and thank you for all your positive feedback about the aromatic, hard-working new Orange Flower Hand Wash. We love hearing your stories.

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.

Beachlife

It’s been a busy few weeks. Last week we were all on the Island to tape some footage for our QVC shows. The last time we did this was in 2002, so our programme inserts needed a freshening up. We wanted to bring the Island to life in just a few seconds of air-time, so we set up locations around Ryde beach, our original beachfront HQ and all around Kim’s lovely garden (where many of the botanicals for our shows are grown). QVC sent a great production team and the weather was very kind, giving us beautiful sunny days and stunning pinky purple sunsets stretching far across the Solent.These new clips will hopefully be ready for our QVC ‘special day’ (those familiar with QVC-speak will know exactly what this code phrase means!!) which starts at midnight on Saturday 5^th July – do tune in during the day if you can and catch a glimpse of our beautiful beach and Island home.

Unfortunately the great British weather was somewhat less kind earlier this week, when the team and I headed up to the Norfolk coast to stay with my very dear friend Felicity. She’d kindly agreed we could not only come and stay with her but also use her house as a base-camp for a photo shoot on the beaches at Brancaster, (even persuading her eldest son Oli and his uni friend Sam to join us as male models). We’ve only ever taken photos on our own lovely beaches on the Isle of Wight before, so it was interesting to explore another part of the Great British coastline. The great thing about staying with good friends is that their bathrooms are inevitably filled with Liz Earle products and when we realised we’d left the crucial Sunshade behind in London it didn’t matter a bit as Felicity simply opened her bathroom cabinet and voila! Although the thunder clouds ominously loomed over us it managed to stay pretty much dry and it literally was a breath of fresh air to be working in such a stunning environment as the magnificent north Norfolk coastline. We made a date to return for the August bank holiday (along with hundreds of others I should imagine) and I really look forward to taking my two smallest down to this particularly beautiful, sand-duned beach with a bucket and spade or two.

Sloane in Bloom

The whole of Chelsea is filled with flowers! This is definitely the best week of the year to take a stroll down Sloane Street. So many of the biggest names in the fashion and beauty world have put an enormous amount of time and effort to make beautiful botanical displays to theme with Chelsea Flower Show. I loved British shoe designer Emma Hope’s beach garden shop front (a home from home for us!), which apparently she just “threw together” at the last minute, uprooting plants from her garden, including two impressive 2m high Buddleia set against subtle blue-grey Cornish slate slabs. Perfumer Jo Malone filled her boutique with fabulously scented white and palest pink scented blooms, including an impressive iron bedstead overflowing with exotic varieties, from Casablanca to Tuberose and my May-time English garden favourite Lily of the Valley. Tiffany the jewellers swapped their glass front door for a giant white walk-in birdcage, complete with metal birds. Cartier outlined their world-famous watch shapes with darkly green foliage and French fashion giant Hermes took an Indian theme with arches bedecked with exotic flowers. Even the classic British menswear designers, Hackett, got in on the act with a quintessentially British male gardening theme of the potting shed, principally made with cut box stalks. So very stylish and fun – I have made a diary note to bring the family to London this time next year to marvel at this free display of talent and imagination.

Kim and I were lucky enough to get tickets this year to visit the Chelsea Flower Show today and so we headed off for the first time since my days covering the event as part of the GMTV team. Like so many, we made for the central pavilion as we wanted to catch up with gold medallist Jekka McVicar, who grows her organic herbs to an astonishingly high standard. She was watering her precious plants when we arrived, standing next to her gold medal certificate. This was her 60th gold medal no less and she proudly told us that she was the only certified organic winner too. We spent a while discussing the many botanicals we have in common, including some featured in her display such as comfrey, rosemary and melissa. One of Jekka’s favourite uses of rosemary is to make a fresh herb tea – a simple infusion of a freshly picked rosemary sprig in a jugful of just-boiled water. It sounds delicious and we promised to try it. Outside the pavilion the central avenue was lined with the big display gardens, and I spent longest admiring the ‘best in show’ gold medal winner, the Laurent-Perrier all-green grove designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. His unusual and spectacular display of 30 year-old English hornbeams were especially pruned so that the leaves and branches floated like puffed clouds, seemingly floating in mid-air. Beneath, banks of velvety moss and grasses provided a textured botanical blanket, using texture and form instead of colour for variety. Pale blue-grey zinc tanks filled with overflowing water added to the calm air of tranquillity – a welcome haven for the eyes amongst all the hustle and bustle around us. 

I also enjoyed strolling along the much smaller Eastern walkway, filled with smaller gardens each with their own quirky themes, many of which were built from antique mossy stones that looked as if they’d been there for years. We were just finishing our stroll of these when a call came through on Kim’s mobile – the judging of the Sloane in Bloom competition had just taken place and we’d won second prize!! We were speechless and so very thrilled. The deserving winner was Jo Malone for her magnificent scented arrangements, but we were more than ecstatic to be judged ahead of so many top international designer stores – especially as this was our first attempt. The talented florist Jane Packer did incredibly well with her traditional garden bench surrounded by our skincare botanicals, so we’re delighted for her that we were awarded a prize. We’re already starting to think ahead now for next year, although those perfectly sculpted, cloud-filled hornbeams will definitely be a long way off.

Christmas Gift Ideas

QVC show today, with Alison Keenan – one of QVC’s top presenters and a real buzz to work with. The hour-long beauty show was focused on gifting ideas, and I presented a 15 minute slot with Alison. The two kits that we aired were perfect Christmas gifts, but Alison & I also agreed how many occasions there are – in everyday life - when you need to have a spare gift to hand, at home! This week, for instance, my best friend Sarah got engaged (wonderful news!), we went to the new home of some close friends last night, I’ve got a surprise 40th birthday tonight and a friend gave birth to a baby girl last weekend. All occasions when a spare gift would be really handy! It has made me determined to start to hunt down some special ‘any occasion’ gifts – we have many ideas on our website – from travel to Christmas and for corporate gifting on a larger scale, as well as many ideas in between for all budgets. Lots to choose from – I would urge you to do the same - never be without; there’s always something to surprise you!

It’s never too late to make a difference to your complexion

I spent this weekend virtually living at the QVC TV studios in Battersea to present a full 24 hours of shows for one of our major on-air promotions. These promotions (called TSV’s or Today’s Special Value) always start at midnight (incredibly, one of the busiest times) and continue at intervals around the clock until the following midnight. It is a tough schedule but very rewarding to reach so many people in the comfort of their own homes. I always enjoy chatting to the many live on-air callers who phone in to tell their skincare story. What struck me in particular was the number of callers who said they had first discovered Naturally Active Skincare in later life, often in their 60’s and 70’s , and were amazed to see such dramatic improvements to their skin even in advanced years. I always say that it’s never too late to make a difference to your complexion and there’s a genuine physiological reason why: Our skin cells are constantly renewing themselves, travelling up through the upper levels of the epidermis on a 28-day cycle before they flatten out and are naturally shed by the skin. Using Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser (UK) , (USA) is one of the best ways to gently speed up this cell renewal process – you notice a difference the first time you use it. So something as simple as a daily cleanser can actually be the real key to younger looking skin.

Someone who knows a great deal about what products to choose to achieve truly youthful, radiant skin is Jo Fairley, co-author of The Beauty Bible and doyenne of many beauty magazines during her long and illustrious career. Jo came into our Duke of York’s store recently to see our new re-fit and was positively raving about new Superskin Moisturiser (UK) , (USA) which she’s been using these past few weeks. So passionate is she about the effectiveness of our new cream on her (ever so slightly) mature, sensitive skin that she left us this note on our store pin-board “Superskin Moisturiser is the best ever moisturiser in all of history” signed Jo Fairley, BeautyBible.com. What a wonderful endorsement – and yet more proof that we can indeed all achieve a healthy, youthful glow whatever our age, without taking too much time or costing a fortune.

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.

Finally, my friends understand what it is to host live tv shows! Tonight’s ‘The Apprentice’ with Alan Sugar featured the contestants trying to sell products on a UK tv shopping channel – with rather poor success. In one of the biggest grossing shopping hours, they only made 1/5 of what the channel normally made! It was rewarding that the programme revealed how hard it is to host a show – your knowledge needs to be detailed, you have to be calm under pressure and also take directions in your earpiece from the producer, without flinching or reacting (e.g. ‘Caroline, camera one!’, ‘I’m about to zoom in on the Superbalm in your hand, so don’t move!’) – simultaneously talking about the product in question, without hesitation or deviation – help, now I sound like that Radio 4 quiz show! Anyway, I was delighted to see friends and customers emailing me to congratulate me again – once they’d seen the show, they realised that presenting is not as easy as it seems!

Well, here I am typing away thousands of feet above Australia – on my way home c/o BA, after the TVSN shows in Sydney this week. Talk about ‘whistle-stop tour’ – we landed 6am Monday, and have spent the past 6 days literally on our toes the entire time. I’m on a fitness regime for my summer holiday – exercise really helps your skin looks its best too - so I forced my good friend & colleague Manja to jog with me, most mornings – we even managed the harbour bridge on two days; stunning at 6am with the city traffic whirling by and the lights of this buzzing city as it wakes up and comes alive. Everyone is so fit here – so many peeps out running with us, though Manja and I felt rather unfit in comparison! (That’s what living in a country dominated by an outdoors lifestyles does to you!)

The shows were fun – we had some wonderful T calls (when customers call into the studio during the live shows) with some fab feedback. Superskin Concentrate still continues to be a best-seller out here – our Buyer’s Choice flew out of the door with this special skin-saver featured in the product line-up. This time, our lovely presenter Carla King Turner was on maternity leave (she is due to give birth any day!) and we were delighted to work with two other fans: the stunning and vivacious Sarah Vandenbergh (of ex ‘Neighbours’ & ‘Hollyoaks’ fame!), and Marnie Meredith. After our shows yesterday, Marnie emailed me to say what a profound difference our range had made to her skin, which suffers from the hot studio lighting and air conditioning: “Liz Earle truly is the most beautiful products and I am so thoroughly enjoying the entire range.  I don't say this light-heartedly either. I am privileged enough to receive a variety of skincare samples due to my job, but can honestly say, I've not enjoyed a range like this before.  I was truly grateful….”. Both lovely ladies. It was the first time that I’d worked with Marnie (I told her that her name mirrored my favourite Hitchcock movie, so all boded well for our first set of shows together!), but our range is so easy to demonstrate, that Marnie was hooked very quickly – as her comments above show!

This time, between shows, Manja and I managed to explore Paddington (the hip boutique-y area of Sydney), looking at some hip designer stores such as Collette Dinnigan and The Corner Shop, as well as some fun beauty spas and salons. One day, between shows, as we visited Mecca and Kit – a fab chain of skincare boutiques -  we stumbled upon a real find: a new florist called Lillifields on Oxford Street – with an organic café in the back courtyard garden, complete with botanicals growing wild and delicious juices, and a florist inside packed with the most stunning floral specimens. Also, to suit the taste of Manja (cosmopolitan German girlie) and me (supposedly discerning Londoner) – there were also some select bijoux and gifts. Just up our street and a real find for any Sydney trippers to discover…..

The weather was warmer than seasonably predicted, so we enjoyed similar May weather to the UK – but the sun is just so hot here. Again, I plied myself with SPF whenever we were in the sun for more than a few minutes as it just seems to bore down on you. 

Back in the UK for a few weeks now, complete with a stinking cold – thanks to good old long-haul flights, I’m sure!

My first QVC show today, with Liz – I suppose one could call it a debut! This has been a while in coming, as we want all our QVC customers to feel really comfortable about why I’m helping Liz host some of our tv shopping shows. I presented with Liz for 10 minutes at the top of two one hour shows at 11am (with Kathy) and 6pm (with Alison Keenan) – great fun and really enjoyable to literally feel the buzz off Liz as the lights go down and they count you in. I love live tv – such a buzz! We also had a wonderful opportunity at the last minute – Alison Young, QVC’s resident beauty presenter, was off sick so I was able to present an one hour extra show with Claudia. Though unexpected, this was a fun way to gain more time getting to know our customers via a live show – we had some fun texts and messages to the studio. It was lovely to receive feedback from both colleagues and customers alike – I was rather nervous beforehand – and it’s so rewarding somehow, knowing that people are tuning in. QVC’s maximum audience is nearly 20 million, so it takes quite some confidence to take a step back sometimes!

Anyway, no rest for the wicked - off to Sydney tomorrow for more tv shows with TVSN. Hope the sun is shining there and not rainy like here in the UK – is it just me., or have April and May somehow mixed themselves around, weather-wise?!