Join me on QVC this weekend

June has been an especially busy and exhilarating month for our team here and you may have already read Louise’s blog giving you a sneak preview of our new Naturally Active Haircare, which we recently launched to the beauty press. Jennifer and I spent several days briefing the leading beauty editors, which was really exciting. Press launches are always several months ahead of a retail launch, as most monthly magazines work on a 3-4 month lead time, so need plenty of advance notice for their editorials. In the old days (when I was a beauty editor!) we had to wait until the magazines were published to read a journalist’s reaction, but nowadays the response can be immediate (as has been the case here) with instant on-line Blogs and Tweets on Twitter proclaiming the delight of the press. We all hope this bodes well for our launch in the Autumn. Do pre-register with us on-line if you’d like to be amongst the first to hear when it arrives.
 
I’m really delighted to be back on QVC from midnight on Friday for our summer Today’s Special Value (TSV). As many of you already know, TSV details are always kept under lock and key, but what I can reveal is that this kit contains my summer must-haves and will leave your skin feeling radiant, soft and smooth from top to toe… Whenever we have a TSV, I always ask for one to be sent to me in advance in just the very same way you will be receiving it, so I can enjoy exactly the same experience before the shows. I take my parcel straight to the bathroom and unpack the bounty, following the instruction booklet and using each of the products included in turn. I can honestly say, just 10 minutes after unpacking this TSV box, I had experienced such a fantastic range of top-to-toe beauty treats I felt as if I’d had a holiday spa treatment – it really was that good. The kit even includes one of my favourite lip shimmers to complete the summer look. So I do hope you’ll tune in to order your special set and experience the very same fabulous results. A great way to get into the holiday mood, even if you’re not going away!

I’ve always believed that the foundation to fabulous skin is cleanse, tone and moisturise and our cult-classic Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser celebrates its 15th birthday this year. Kim and I can’t really believe it’s been 15 years since we created it; we have so many wonderful memories and highlights, from packing our first ever TSV with our families in my kitchen to the day when Vogue magazine first pronounced Cleanse & Polish a millennium beauty classic (alongside Chanel No.5!). Of course, you can expect to find our skincare ‘hero’ in tomorrow’s TSV box, alongside the all-important second step, our Instant Boost Skin Tonic. The spritzer version really is a lifesaver for me during the summer months.  I always keep a travel-size in my bag for instant refreshment on the go; this floral-scented toner really does revive the spirits with just one spritz. I packed it into my labour bag three months ago and – like many new mums – really appreciated its instantly calming, soothing yet uplifting effects while in hospital. A lovely treat if you, or someone you know, is in need of a bit of a pick-me-up.

Another of my summer must-haves is Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion which I like to keep in the fridge at the moment to make sure it’s really cool.  I soak cotton wool pads in the chilled lotion and use as a compress whenever I’ve had a late night and my eyes look really tired and puffy (and while the night-feeds continue I’m using this rather a lot at the moment…). After just 5 minutes, my eyes feel soothed, refreshed and ready to carry on the day – it’s a great way to look bright-eyed and counteract the effects of sleepless nights or even hay-fever. So please do join me, Caroline and Jennifer from Friday at midnight and throughout the day and evening on Saturday – make sure you tune in early though, we’re expecting this to be a very popular kit!

A busy weekend at QVC…

This weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed hosting our QVC summer-focused shows, sharing your tips and hints on how to get the most out of your skincare favourites for healthy, radiant-looking skin on both face and body. I loved working with Jennifer and Jo on the shows too, and hope you agreed that their expert input really brought things to life... One of the thrills of live tv is that you never know what you’ll be asked, or how the show will develop (I am always on the amused alert for Alison Young’s off-beat witty anecdotes - this time about the birth of her horse’s foal). I always thoroughly enjoy hearing which of our hard-working products have become firm favourites with the QVC presenters too.

Catherine Huntley first discovered Eyebright after ‘tweeting’ about suffering with a weepy eye; a kind customer pointed her in the right direction & Catherine’s been hooked ever since. (This time, we stayed up till the very wee small hours as QVC is now streamed live on ITV’s The Zone from 2am – I certainly needed my Eyebright on Saturday morning for our second day of shows, after 3am bedtime). Alison Young loves our Orange Flower Body Wash and, as QVC’s resident beauty expert, she really does know a good natural foaming wash when she sees one. Anne Dawson’s sons are now all hooked too, as well as her husband, who was previously a ‘no skincare’ guy but now loves the feel of Skin Repair Moisturiser to hydrate. In fact, Anne admitted on air that she’s already worked her way through three bottles of our new Botanical Essence No 1, as she’s so addicted. Anne usually orders with us via our friendly mail order service by phone, but many of the presenters have also visited us at our Duke of York store, which is literally just over the bridge from the studios... I particularly enjoyed working with Jilly this time, who showed how professional the QVC hosts truly are, fronting four hours on the trot, from our 11pm show until 3am. Now that’s a marathon tv experience!

I love meeting many of you in our stores, and at our John Lewis counters, and hearing your stories – this week, it was the turn of Jennifer and Dee (who also moonlights as our mature skin model on QVC) to experience some first-hand customer stories. As Jennifer travelled up for the 4pm Friday show, she met a delighted customer on the train who was thrilled to announce who Jennifer was… to the whole carriage! Jennifer enjoyed chatting and hearing this special lady’s stories and wanted to pass on her thanks here (she says that you will know who you are). After her first appearance on Friday, Dee travelled to our Duke of York store by bus to stock up on a few essentials and got chatting to a few ladies at the bus stop. Dee was thrilled to chat to Margaret, a real fan of the range who recognised her from QVC, and let Dee know how much she and her daughter love the range. As Dee was going to the DOY store she asked her if she had visited and when she replied ‘no’ Dee offered to take Margaret and her husband there if they had time. They were delighted to go to the store, where Dee left them in the capable hands of our customer advisor James! So, this weekend really was an interaction with friends on and off air.

P.S. This coming Saturday, I’ll be at John Lewis in Nottingham for a fun day out with customers – can’t wait to meet more of you there, and share your stories and experiences here next week….

Join us for our new TSV

In the past few weeks, I’ve met some new friends at our John Lewis counters in Milton Keynes, Welwyn Garden City and Peter Jones, as well as in our flagship store in London. It’s great to hear that many of you are tailoring our Special Treatments range to suit your own skin’s needs at this time of the year, when we regularly seem to lurch from cool to warm weather, often in a matter of a few hours!

The whole Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare range is designed with ease in mind, so do take the time to experiment and see what suits you best – you really can’t go wrong. A few of my favourites include -

• Mixing products for extra speedy results, like a little Brightening Treatment Mask (UK, IE & US), Deep Cleansing Mask (UK, IE & US), or Gentle Face Exfoliator (UK, IE & US) into your morning Cleanse & Polish (UK, IE & US).
• Leave Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask (UK, IE & US) on overnight for an extra moisturising boost.
• Try Superbalm (UK, IE & US) as an aromatic overnight hair pomade to add shine to lacklustre locks.

There really aren’t any rules so be creative – I’d love to hear any of your top tips.

Overall, I think we can say that the sunshine is back, and we’re getting ready to celebrate the start of summer with the launch of our mini Today’s Special Value (TSV) on QVC at midnight on Wednesday and all day Thursday. Packed with award-winning products for every skin type, I can exclusively reveal that the TSV does contain our three very recent CEW award winners – hush hush, though! A great chance to try out some of the products that the beauty insiders are raving about. Did you know that one Cleanse & Polish now flies off our shelves every 30 seconds, (to over 80 countries too)? Have you heard customers rave about how Superskin Body Cream is the summer must-have? Do join us and find out more – we have something from nearly every part of our range, as well as brand new kits and our wonderful new-formulation Mineral Sun Cream SPF20.

We have shows throughout the day on Thursday (at 11am, 1pm, 4pm & 7pm) so please do join us and share your stories, tips and experiences with me and our team of experts….

Happy springtime!

Join me on Sunday on QVC…

Wow, spring at last. Do tune into our QVC shows on Sunday to share your spring skincare routines. This weekend is ‘Meet The Experts’ – I’ll be back on air on Sunday @ 10am, 3pm and 7pm to share some of your best product tips. I’m thrilled to be joined by Jo, our Treatments Manager, on the latter two shows. I love hearing Jo’s top tips on how to get the most out of your Liz Earle products at home – for your very own home spa treat, bliss…… Keep your eyes peeled for our Duke of York flagship store too, in the promo breaks between shows – I was filmed here, the other week, and would love to see what you think of our special London home, if you’ve not visited before.

This weekend, the shows will continue our celebration of Cleanse & Polish’s 15th anniversary – don’t forget to enter the Q-Gossip competition!
http://blogs.qvcuk.com/qgossip/2010/03/win-a-years-supply-of-liz-earles-cleanse-polish.html

Thank you too, to many of you who tuned in on Good Friday to meet Louise, our PR Manager, for the first time on the 9pm show. Louise & I go way back, as I started in our press office myself back in 1999. It was exciting to see Louise’s debut – she has so many fascinating press anecdotes to share with you, on future shows, so watch this space…. And a big, personal ‘well done’ to Louise from me. I was glowing with pride to be sitting alongside her. (We had a couple of knee squeezes under the table, in excitement, as we went live!) Louise really enjoyed seeing things from a broadcasting point of view – behind-the-scenes is so different to what you’d expect. More from us on this subject, in the next few weeks, with some backstage photos!

Finally… you may not have joined us in one of our chat room sessions. We hold at least one session weekly – a drop-in lunchtime session with Andrea (our Customer Care Manager) and a longer, evening slot which I run regularly – whenever I can grab Jennifer (our botanical research manager) between field trips, she comes in to accompany me. The aim of the chat room? Well, it’s your forum to meet new friends, swap skincare secrets, ask us questions. It’s all very informal and friendly as you can either drop by briefly, or stay in for a longer debate or chat. There are usually several conversation threads in any one session, so lots of opportunities to chat. We love our regular chatters, as well as meeting new friends – so do drop by one day, and introduce yourselves. You can also arrange to meet friends here – and set a virtual date for a live chat with one another. To check our official dates, when one of us is online from The Green House, click here.

Look forwarding to ‘seeing you’ on Sunday!

Best of British Poll – Thank You….

I wanted to hop online to thank you, on behalf of our whole team, for recently voting for us as part of QVC’s Best of British poll. We were so excited when the results revealed that you voted for us as your favourite British beauty brand.

As I’m sure you know, we’re incredibly proud of our heritage (on our QVC shows you can even see the fluttering Union Jack flag flying over The Solent – a view from our home on the Isle of Wight – in the background). This recognition is very motivating for us all and it means so much when it’s actually you voting. The industry awards are a great recognition, but it’s what you think that counts.

I started my Liz Earle life as a customer too, and it’s wonderful to see how the range has developed (as well as our home-grown team) in the past decade into Britain’s biggest independent beauty company. It’s been thrilling to be a part of this journey, and this credit by you encourages us all to continue to strive to be the very best of British.

Liz is back on air this weekend with some Christmas treats, and I’ll see you next on the 19th….

Enjoy the start of the festive season – thank goodness for QVC’s stocking filler shows for inspiration!