EMA Awards in LA

I have been in Los Angeles for various press, customer and celebrity events happening here. The main event has been the Environmental Media Association awards, of which we are co-sponsors and the first British brand to be supporters of this prestigious Hollywood event. To help promote it, we held a beauty breakfast for the top ‘blogging’ beauty websites (a hugely growing part of the media in the States – and the UK too). We took over a stunning breakfast room right on the beach at Santa Monica, where I was able to tell the assembled writers a little more about us and also let them know about the EMA awards. Visit www.ema-online.org to find out more. Several of the beauty bloggers had already heard of us – one was a devotee of Cleanse & Polish already, so the word is certainly spreading Stateside. You can now read what one of the ‘bloggers’ had to say as a follow-up to our breakfast together – see www.beautyjunkiesunite.com

Getting ready for the celebrity-studded awards’ ceremony, I chose a British fashion designer, Temperley, and a really lovely green-gold evening gown, teamed with a gold vintage cardigan (very eco) and a metallic evening bag made entirely from recycled tin can ring-pulls and cotton crochet thread. These fabulous bags are made by a co-operative of women in Brazil and they really are amazing – lovely designs, practical and stylish too, yet very eco-friendly,  (and the money the women make goes back into their community projects too). Take a look at the website: www.bottletop.org

Walking down the ‘green carpet’ was slightly daunting as it was packed with TV stars, such as Nicole Richie and Ed Norton, news crews and paparazzi all jostling and hustling for the best shot or exclusive sound-bite. One of the reporters I spoke to, from CBS news, knew exactly who I was (unlike most of the others!) as both she and her sister are big fans of…Cleanse & Polish! So at least I didn’t have to explain to her what we do or how to use a muslin cloth. TV stars didn’t just walk the carpet though – some were driven down in Toyota’s hybrid Prius (very popular with the seen-to-be-greenies in Hollywood) while others made their point by riding a bicycle down the length of the carpet.

The EMA awards are held primarily to harness the power of the celebrity and the media to promote a more sustainable way of life – by giving out positive messages in films and TV shows – and are a valuable link between the entertainment industry and the eco-community. Nominated shows included Into the Wild (the new movie directed by Sean Penn), Boston Legal’s ‘Green Christmas’ episode and TV comedy 30 Rock’s ‘Greenzo’ episode. This last one was the show I voted for on the panel – and it won – so I felt lightly brushed with a little stardust magic.

After the awards, we all went into a beautifully  lit courtyard where many of the other sponsors, such as organic farms and restaurants, were offering canapés and delicious cocktails (antioxidant-enriched pomegranate mojitos were the drink of choice for many). Our own stand was next to Tiffany the jeweller, who were there promoting their ‘clean’ gold (mined with greater social responsibility) and , their ban on red coral and Burmese gemstones (more details on their website). As soon as the doors opened we were mobbed – with guests swarming 8-deep to our stand to receive a complimentary Cleanse & Polish kit, Superskin Moisturiser and Superskin Concentrate. The actress Wendie Malick stopped by with some of her girlfriends to rave about Cleanse & Polish – which she swears by every day - and special-achievement winner, actress Rosario Dawson spent quite a long time chatting with our team and was very interested in trying the range. 

We finally managed to slip away just after 11pm – a very late night by LA standards, where it is perfectly normal to be up and in the gym by 5am. Needless to say, we all had a little bit of a lie-in the following morning and woke-up to see images of the event being flashed around the world on the news-wire – some of which we can share with you here. Enjoy!

High-point: Meeting up with actress Wendie Malick on the ‘green carpet ’ and hearing her say “I’m just loving your Cleanse  & Polish – I use it every single day!” and then having her bring all her Hollywood chums to our stand at the EMA Awards.

Funny-point: Looking for a taxi and asking the driver if he was free? “No Ma-am,” he replied, “you have to pay.”

Info-point: Learning a new expression – “I need a 411 on that” - as in, dialling 411 for information.

US Trip

Hello I’m Tracy, Customer & Brand Relationship Manager, and I thought it would be great to share with you some ‘behind the scenes’ experiences from my recent trip to the US with Liz and the team. 

The trip started in LA, where we had a breakfast meeting with TotalBeauty.com – a network of beauty bloggers – held at the beautiful ‘Shutters on the Beach’ hotel in Santa Monica, which has a stunning view of the sea (not unlike the view from our home here on the Isle of Wight). Then came the really exciting Environmental Media Association Awards (also known as the EMAs), which honour those in the media and film industry who promote and increase awareness of environmental issues. This was a star-studded event where guests walked the green carpet to a stunning ceremony, before enjoying a VIP reception! 

Our day began early at 5am in order for us to prepare for the breakfast event by 8am. Following this we had just enough time for a quick meeting about a photo shoot in LA for Liz’s new book launching next year.  Then it was back to our hotel in Beverly Hills as we had to be dressed and ready to go by 3pm to set up our stand for the awards!  This was hard work as we had to open and empty dozens of boxes of products then arrange and display all the wonderful skincare goodies we were going to treat the guests to. Flat shoes were definitely order of the day and with temperatures of 80 degrees, it was hot! The night proved to be an amazing success with over 1,000 guests in attendance. A major highlight for us was Rosario Dawson stopping by our stand! Our Senior Press Officer, Louise presented Rosario with a Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare gift bag while flash bulbs were going off all around us.
Although it was a very long and tiring day, we all left in very high spirits after meeting so many friendly and enthusiastic people.

Still buzzing from the EMA’s, we held two in-store customer events: the first was in Studio at Fred Segal, LA, where we celebrated the launch of our Christmas gifts, and where some of the team bumped into Marcia Cross (from Desperate Housewives fame) buying sunglasses!  Then we flew on to Miami for our 2nd anniversary party at Brownes Apothecary on Lincoln Road.  This evening event was organized with the Miami Beach Women’s Chamber of Commerce who were raising money for local charities.  It was a great opportunity to meet so many people and treat them to a relaxing hand & arm massage, which went down really well with all. We also took the opportunity to meet up with our friend, Kerry Gruson who lives in Miami and won this year’s Ladies Day award at Cowes Week here on the Isle of Wight. 

Meeting so many of our US customers (some from as far afield as Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin) was such a great experience. We’ve heard how much they love our products and especially how much they love the smell of them! Due to the constant sunshine and air-conditioning in many parts of the US, so many of the women I met had dry skin! Our Superskin range immediately became a real winner and a firm favourite.

L.A. Story

What a great week we’ve had in Los Angeles, launching our range into the top fashion store Fred Segal on Ocean Drive, Santa Monica. We were invited to join the fab beauty area, STUDIO, by its Co-Founder and Creative Director Robin Coe-Hutshing – a stylish woman with huge flair who brings wonderful top beauty ‘finds’ to the West Coast of America. Our week started with a reviving body massage and ‘mani-pedi’ at Hollywood day-spa, Kinara, where many ‘leading ladies’ head for their famous red carpet beauty treatments. Somewhat revived from our inevitable jetlag we returned to the store to have a good look around and I was especially interested to see anything unusual and new. I love Robin’s own creation, a personalised perfume set-up called Memoire Liquide Bespoke Perfumery. Here, with the help of a fragrance guide, you can literally create your own scent by blending together two or three single fragrance notes or unusual pre-blends. I chose a mix of my fragrant favourites, vetiver and patchouli, together with a musky blend called ‘soft leather’. The resulting aroma is a soft, warm and sensual scent which I like because it doesn’t dominate but gives a hint of subtle aromatics. Not only is the idea and service good, it’s reasonably priced too – just $30 (around £15) for a totally individual custom-blend, which has to be one of the best beauty bargains around. If you’re holidaying or passing through LA in the future I highly recommend you drop in and try this out for yourself. It would also make a memorable and special present for a friend, mother or daughter.

Having revived ourselves from our lengthy journey, we spent the following day helping the team at Fred Segal set up our display areas and prop our promotional site, which was where I was to meet many of the local and national beauty journalists this week. These included a meeting with Allure, possibly the most influential of all the American beauty magazines, and the Los Angeles Times. Here we discussed hot topics such as preservatives, as some American brands are now touting themselves as ‘parabens-free’ - as if this is a good thing (see my previous Blogs on this and other ingredient research stories).Later, we hosted a VIP customer event, which Robin Coe-Hutshing introduced. She declared herself to be a huge fan of Naturally Active Skincare – notably Cleanse & Polish and Superskin Moisturiser, and I then gave a short talk to introduce our philosophy and skincare secrets. We obviously hit the spot, as before we left the ladies were literally sweeping the shelves bare and loading up with armfuls of products. The only problem is going to be keeping the shelves fully stocked as word spreads – how exciting!

Brownes & Co Apothecary Event

Crossing the Continent from Los Angeles to Miami, I’ve flown down from the City of Angels to the city with more palm trees, neon lights and sequins than you can shake a stick at. I’m here to host a customer in-store event at our retail outlet here, Brownes & Co Apothecary, to celebrate our first anniversary with them. I love Brownes  – one of the very few, truly independent apothecary-style stores in the world. It’s full of interesting beauty brands (of course) as well as accessories that you don’t find anywhere else. It’s well worth hunting out if you’re on holiday in Florida and it’s in the heart of the best Lincoln Road shopping area. To celebrate our anniversary, Brownes had filled their windows with huge blow-up pictures of Cleanse & Polish and Superskin Moisturiser, as well as posters declaring ‘Britain’s Best Beauty Secret.’ Just before I arrived at the store, an English lady had come in having just passed by the store. She is one of our customers from the Isle of Wight and was in Miami for a few days for her son’s wedding. Imagine her surprise to walk past gigantic blow-ups of her favourite beauty treats! Apparently she was so overwhelmed and surprised that she took lots of photos of the displays to take in to show our Union shop team on the Island back home.

The early evening soiree was really good with lots of regular and new customers to meet, including several simply stunning top models who had been recommended the range by their agency. I also met a lovely lady called Sandra, who has been using the range almost since we launched here a year ago. In her early sixties, Sandra has had terrible problems (including acne rosacea) with her skin for more than 20 years. She recently had an operation for skin cancer and on her most recent visit to the dermatologist he told her that he’d never, ever seen her skin looking so good. She did look great actually – you would never have thought she’d had such problems – and she was so thrilled she told the entire audience her story and garnered an impromptu round of applause! I gave a short talk about my background and how Kim and I came to set up the company, going on to discuss some of the unusual botanicals we use, including echinacea, argan oil, rosehip oil and pomegranate. Afterwards, we served pomegranate martinis to celebrate – simple mix pure pomegranate juice with vodka over ice in a cocktail shaker, shake, strain and serve in a chilled cocktail glass – very Miami Beach and very delicious.

LA Press Interviews

I’m spending a few days in Los Angeles for press interviews and to scout the local beauty stores on the West Coast of America. I haven’t been to LA for about ten years – the last time was a trip with GMTV when I was their fashion and beauty correspondent and covered the glamorous run-up to the Oscars. My co-host was the irrepressible Marc Freden, then the Hollywood correspondent and a real industry insider. I’m hoping to catch up with my old friend Marc a little later in the week, but my first meeting was with Los Angeles Magazine – in their stylish offices overlooking the famous white Hollywood sign that overlooks the city. In a town obsessed with youth and good looks, the editor was most interested in our new Superskin Moisturiser, (UK), (US) and the impressive data from the independent tests showing that it dramatically improves plumpness, smoothness and overall skin rejuvenation. Couldn’t be any more perfect for the Hollywood elite as well as mere mortals like me. After many months of using this botanical wonder-cream and seeing the amazing results on my own skin, I certainly wouldn’t use any other moisturiser now.

Back at the beautiful Bel-Air hotel I booked a manicure with their star therapist, Fabiola. Formerly from Iran, Fabiola escaped the oppressive Islamic regime and came to America, bringing traditional beauty skills with her. These include threading, taught to her by her mother, who was taught by her grandmother before her. This natural form of hair removal involves sliding a simple length of cotton in a scissor-like action over the skin. The technique removes hair quickly and (fairly) painlessly, leaving no redness – unlike waxing or plucking. Fabiola asked me if I’d like my eyebrows ‘tidied’ by this technique, so feeling bold, I decided to give it a go. No sooner had Fabiola started on my eyebrows than she was ‘threading’ the rest of my face – whisking off the superfine baby hairs that we all have on our skin. Apparently, this is the latest beauty trick that movie stars use to look flawlessly smooth on the big-screen close-ups. I was amazed to find afterwards that my skin wasn’t red at all, just unnaturally smooth. I have to say that bald skin feels just a little bit weird, so don’t think I’ll be rushing back – although I was impressed with the eyebrow technique and it works very well on sensitive areas such as the chin and upper lip. A few beauty salons in the UK are now offering threading as a natural form of hair removal. With no chemical depilators, resources or waste, (other than a simple piece of cotton thread) I would also describe it as the most eco-friendly beauty treatment there is.

News from the USA

Had a lovely, long chin-wag with my colleague Susan yesterday, who has just come back from a month in the US with our fulfilment team in California. She was bursting full of positive news from the west coast-based team, who are preparing for the holiday season ahead. Many Americans only get 2 weeks’ holiday allowance a year from work, so they really embrace this season. We’re receiving some great feedback on our newsletter – one chap specifically called last week to rave about the quality of the newsletter. This was the sole reason that he called, which is so rewarding for us – he works in Marketing in the US but had rarely seen such ‘high quality’ and ‘attention to detail’ (you will have to imagine my American accent, I’m afraid!) in publications. We have actually won awards in the UK for our newsletters, but really pleasing to hear that it’s appreciated overseas too. In fact, talking of the world, we now ship to over 77 countries from the UK – amazing! Fabulous that women (and guys) are spreading the good word to friends all over the world. As they say, the world is a smaller place these days!

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.

Today, we launched our US virtual chat room – at 10pm UK time. My Customer Care colleague Andrea and I went online to chat to a variety of new friends in the US, from right across the States. The chat room sessions in the UK are weekly, lasting an hour, and it’s a great chance to chat to customers, help answer their queries and for them to talk to one another in a safe, virtual environment – a bit like one of our talks, but online! Customers in the US chat room were still talking about the article in US Vogue that appeared earlier this year and were commenting on what they valued – that the products worked, the botanicals were premium and effective, and the philosophy was just the ticket apparently. Great to hear their stories – our next chat room is due in September, so more then!

Some fab feedback today that I wanted to share – every Friday, we circulate a ‘Happy Friday’ report on some of the best customer feedback from that week. Our US team also work on this and this week, there were some encouraging stories:

“I wanted to tell you that both my daughter and I cannot live without the Cleanse & Polish. She has had problems with skin that would break out and it keeps her pores clean and her skin has never looked better. I love your products because they are very gentle and moisturizing.”  “Many, many thanks for your wonderful products and outstanding service.  It's hard to refuse answering feedback when someone personally signs a card”. “ “Thank you for the wonderful skin care products you have introduced to the U.S. Your passion for quality products is exemplary”. “I started using your products about six weeks ago and I've already noticed a big difference. I love the way my skin feels and I actually look forward to the nighttime routine.”

Great to see the word is spreading!

Thrilling news this weekend – Liz and Kim were awarded MBE for their contribution to the beauty industry in the Queen’s Honours list! Amazing news – we are all so proud and delighted for them. It is very rewarding to see their hard work, dedication and all their behind-the-scenes charitable work is recognised in such a public way. Both are being very modest, attributing the award to the hard work of the team and our customers’ loyalty – but we are all very proud of their achievements. It will be interesting to see how this goes down in the US too, when we share this news with our customers – our colleagues in our US Customer Centre tell us that Americans love titles! We do too – well done, Liz & Kim from all of us in the company!