Author Archives: marc

I went to afternoon tea with my Mum last week, very kindly organised by the ladies at Karen Millen after we had finished our mother-and-daughter styling session. We went to The Capital hotel in Knightsbridge, which is (literally) a stone’s throw from the side entrance to Harrods but somehow manages to be very peaceful and homely. There was a fire burning in the little lobby and the room for afternoon tea was snug and cosy with only enough room for a few tables. Which made a lovely change, because all of the teas I’ve been to in the past year or so have been in huge spaces, crammed full of tables and roaring with the sound of a hundred different conversations. Afternoon tea, it seems, has become big business. It’s always been popular, I suppose, but recently it seems to have had a bit of a revival.

What also made a lovely change was the fact that the people at The Capital hadn’t messed around too much with the types of cakes and sandwiches they served; I’ve had some weird old things offered up recently. Usually when the hotel has tried to “theme” their afternoon tea, shaping their cakes into shoes and magical caterpillars and things like that. One afternoon tea had a “cake” course that was entirely formed from chocolate and fondant icing! Bizarre.

At The Capital the sandwiches were traditional but beautifully executed. Salmon and cream cheese, mackerel pate, egg and cress – there’s a reason why some combinations have stood the test of time! Give me a classic over your “bread made from roasted cauliflower topped with sea foam and aubergine caviar” any day. Oh and the bacon and mushroom mini-quiche: I could have eaten a full version of that, no problem. You may know that I have a bit of a “thing” for a good quiche – this one was exemplary.

The cakes and sweets were perhaps a little more adventurous; things like dark chocolate orange trifle (delicious), bakewell tart (could have eaten four) and the best lemon drizzle cake I think I’ve had in many years. Tangy, sharp, absolutely saturated in lemon and syrup but somehow not too sickly at all.

Mum and I had Baby AMR in tow (Mr AMR has been down with flu – proper flu, it turns out, so I must apologise to him for my Man Flu quips last week) but the staff couldn’t have been more accommodating. I would say, though, that it’s such a cosy room that it seems wrong to barge in with a huge pushchair and all of the stuff that comes along with a baby – there were only two other people tea-ing when we were there, but had the room been full then the pushchair would have been a pain. Much nicer, I think, to enjoy a relaxing afternoon tea as adults and have proper conversation! Luckily the baby fell asleep after about half an hour so Mum and I were free to gorge ourselves stupid on scones and wash them down with the lovely herbal infusions we had ordered (Lemon Verbena for me, Jasmine for Mum). (*I’ve just noticed that the baby’s hair looks bright red in this photo! It isn’t, it’s blonde, but she does look quite cute as a redhead!)

I’d highly recommend The Capital as a pit-stop if you’re shopping in Knightsbridge – it feels very traditional and posh but it’s small and quiet and not overbearing, which is perfect if you’ve already had your senses bashed about in busy Harrods. Afternoon Tea costs £29.50 per person (£39.50 with champagne) – you can find more details here. On our way out, we saw that Nathan Outlaw has a restaurant in the hotel too – we absolutely loved his fish cafe in Port Isaac (see post here) so I think we’ll be back to eat there as soon as we can manage. I’m still digesting the scones.

The Capital Hotel

The post Sunday Tittle Tattle: Babies and Afternoon Tea appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Continue reading →

I’m clearing out my beauty room before house renovations begin (don’t even ask why I’m going ahead with building work when I’m having a baby in four-months-and-one-week’s time!) and I keep discovering very interesting little boxes filled with skincare for various budgets. The one that most grabbed my attention was the “affordable skin care” box; bits and pieces that I’ve been putting aside over the last four or five years that have really impressed me despite the prices being extremely reasonable.

Some of the products are actually more recent favourites; I love the Botanics Bi-Phase Eye Makeup Remover, for example, which costs just a couple of quid, and the Vichy Aqualia Serum which is so hydrating and lovely. Some are becoming staples in my normal routine, like the Olay Eye Swirl and the exfoliating acid pads from First Aid Beauty, and some were discovered years ago but are still brilliant – I love the rose cleanser from Superfacialist, for example, and the Lush Ultra Bland cleansing balm.

My basic routine, here, is cleanse (so important, don’t skip this!) followed by serum and then moisturiser. I don’t often use a toner (though more on that soon, because I could be convinced by the right ones) but I do use acid exfoliants a few times a week, just to keep cells turning over and fresh and my skin glowing and plump. You know I’m a massive fan of Alpha-H’s Liquid Gold, but see some slightly cheaper alternatives below. In actual fact, you use so little of the Liquid Gold that it could be a budget buy – it lasts an absolute age – but I knew that people would spot the price and flag it up!

My Routine is Cleanse + Serum + Moisturiser and/or SPF, or, a few times a week, Cleanse + Exfoliant. (Every two to three days, before bed. Whether I use a moisturiser or not depends on the exfoliant – many are just left to do their work, like Liquid Gold or the Olay Elixir below. Just read the label on whichever you have.)

Here we go with the products in my affordable skin care routine. I’m keeping the descriptions really brief, so remember that not everything will suit everybody, what suits my skin might not suit yours, blah blah, test before you buy if your skin is sensitive, don’t spread any of it on toast and eat it.

1. Cleansers

First to the apply, massage and then remove-with-a-cloth type cleansers; Lush’s UltraBland, £7.25, which I first started using over ten years ago (I think!) and is a great budget-friendly cleanser. Then the Hot Cloth Polish from ASDA, two for £8, and a nice “dupe” for Liz Earle’s Cleanse & Polish if you’re into that but want a cheaper option. Una Brennan’s Rose Cleanser is just so gorgeous and gentle – probably my pick of this bunch, and comes in at £7.99. You can get it at Boots here. For the oil lovers, I do rather like the Camomile one – £10 from The Body Shop; applied to dry skin it’s silky and easy to massage in, then rinses off very easily leaving no residue.

For those who prefer a “face wash” that just rinses off without need for a washcloth or flannel or Clarisonic or what have you; three nice ones here. Good for your morning splash, but if you’re removing loads of makeup and SPF then I would always go for something that you can massage in and remove with a “tool” of some sort, whether it be a cloth one or a brush one! Sam Farmer’s Face Wash (£8 at Space NK) is non-stripping and fine for all skin types, the daily cleanser from Yes to Tomatoes (£7.99 here) leaves skin feeling very fresh but comfortable, and the JASON C Effects wash (£10.29 here) is good for adding a bit of morning zing!

For micellar waters (or cleansing waters) and eye makeup removal, I think that the Botanics, as mentioned before, is exceptional. Just a few pounds (£1.99 at the moment here!) and does as good a job as the luxury brand versions. Garnier’s Micellar is a brilliant all-rounder and doesn’t sting the eyes – that’s £3.33 here – and Bioderma’s Hydrobio is great for skin that usually feels too dry and tight after using a water, that’s £10.20 here.

More cleanser reviews…

2. Serums

I always think that it’s worth spending a little more on a serum – read my serum post here – but I like the three I’ve picked because they are nice and hydrating and straightforward. The Vichy Aqualia is particularly lovely, and my pick of the three – that’s £16.15 here. The Aloe one is quite soothing and calming, that’s £12 here. I did find that the Superfacialist C+ had something of a brightening effect, but I think only because it made my skin generally plumper and livelier. That’s £15.99 at Boots here.

More serum reviews…

3. Moisturisers

Again, rather than anything too targeted I’ve gone for reasonably straightforward moisturisers. If you want to spend more then read the other reviews here on the site – there’s a link below. My picks with SPF are from No7 (from £12.50 here), because they always seem a good solid choice and I get on well with them, and the Avon ANEW SPF50 that I reviewed last year. Really rich and velvety, it was a total winner and it’s just £15 here.

Non-SPF, I do like the moisturisers from La Roche-Posay. Possibly not for you if you like your natural/organic skincare, but I have been disappointed with so much organic stuff at very low price-points that I’m sticking to well tried-and-tested options for this post! I like Toleriane Ultra (£14.85 here) for calming down angsty, sensitive skin and then the Hydraphase for long-term hydration. There’s a rich and a light version, £14 here.

More moisturiser reviews…

4. Exfoliants and Wrinkle Stuff

My exfoliant picks are also quite handy on the old wrinkles front – Olay’s Night Elixir is a glycolic acid gel that renews skin as you sleep and leaves it brighter and tighter by morning. I like it a lot, and it’s reduced to £19.99 at the moment here which is something of a boon! The First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads are great too, and work in the same way really – exfoliating the skin overnight. They are £20.50 here. (Another option, as mentioned, is Liquid Gold.) I haven’t been exfoliating so much since I got pregnant, but usually I do every two or three nights, after cleansing, and I don’t follow with anything else.

For extra-super-anti-wrinkle power, I have two retinol options; Redermic from La Roche-Posay (£25 here) and Vichy’s LiftActiv Advanced Filler (£26-ish here). I’ve had my chief guinea pig Rachael @AMR_Rach testing these and she had absolutely phenomenal results, seeing a proper decrease in both fine lines and those deep furrows that develop between your eyebrows. I must get around to doing a full report, but every time I ask Rach she’s on a new tube and applying away.. Apparently they are both brilliant, but the Vichy just about pips the Redermic to the post!

More exfoliant reviews…

5. Eye Creams

Bloody hell, it’s taking an absolute age to do this post! It’ll be March before I finish it! Eye creams. To be honest, I’ve only included the Boots one on the left because it’s so cheap – it’s quite basic, really. It’s not going to win any prizes for cutting-edge ingredients, but it’s gentle enough and provides a bit of hydration. You’d get the same from a light moisturiser, but if you like the process of applying a separate eye cream (as I do, it makes me feel as though I’m doing things properly) then this one won’t break the bank. It’s £1.74 at Boots. I know.

Olay’s Eye Swirl does have some nice ingredients worth writing home about, and you can read more on it here. I like it a lot, I did a sponsored trial a year ago, testing it pre-launch, and have continued use. (Rare for me to stick to an eye cream when I have so many to try!) It doesn’t look anything swish, but it pushes the right buttons for me in terms of texture and so on – at £19.99 it’s not in the “budget” category, but I think that it outperforms many much dearer creams, so it stays in the mix! Boots.com

I feel I need to do some more research in the eye category, there must be some excellent examples between the two price points..though the true budget option would be to simply use your facial skincare around the eye area too. Personally I think that a dedicated, well-formulated eye cream is a good thing, but when you dip down to the very low price points, you’re probably going to get the same effects by using your serum and/or moisturiser.

More eye cream reviews…

6. Facial Oils

Oils are another area (like serums) where you can spend an absolute bomb. Ingredient qualities vary a lot, but there are some very nice oils at reasonable price points. The Dr Organic Rose Otto oil is pleasant enough, nice texture, nice blend of ingredients; £12.99 from Holland & Barrett. I love Aromatherapy Associates, and the same luxury brand make a kind of diffusion line for Sainsbury’s called Aroma Actives. The Omega Rich Face Oil is very lovely and costs £14 – I can never see it in stock online, but it’s well worth checking for when you’re out shopping. Finally, a new one for me, Therapist’s Secret Facial Oil by Sanctuary Spa – this has a lovely slip and doesn’t leave skin so greasy that you can’t apply makeup. At time of writing it’s on offer here for £11.67.

7. Spot Treatments

Just two here, for the moment. Effaclar Duo+, which I’ve banged on about loads, and an exfoliating solution from Paula’s Choice. I like the Paula’s Choice for spots because it has a nice dose of salicylic acid so not only helps to keep the skin unclogged, also has something of a soothing action. If you have angry, pustule-y skin then it could be the way forward. They have a whole variety of salicylic stuff – BHA gels, this solution, on the spot treatments – have a browse on their website for more info. You can find Effaclar, which also contains a BHA exfoliant, for £13.50 here.

More spot and acne product reviews…

That’s enough for now, I’ve given myself backache and a headache from sitting in one position too long! I’ll try and get through the rest of the stuff in the budget box soon. Ooh – just realised I missed out the Weleda Almond Oil, which is pictured in the top photograph. My Mum gets her almond oil in big vats from the chemist’s, but can’t vouch for its provenance. The Weleda one is nice, just very simple and plain, great if you want something very natural but without essential oils – it’s about £15 but only a tenner on Amazon.

Right, that’s really the end now!

The post The Affordable Skincare Routine appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Continue reading →

A quick whizz through my empties – no, not the wine and beer bottles in my recycling box (chance’d be a fine thing), but the finished-off beauty products that I managed to collect this month. All of the products and links are listed below the video screen, just in case you can’t think of anything worse than spending eight minutes with a lovely cuppa, listening to the sound of my voice. Enjoy – and please do subscribe if you’d like to get my videos sent to you by email…

Continue reading →

I’ve been busy shooting fashion features and videos, so do excuse the sudden torrent of style posts! I will attempt to balance them with plenty of beauty, because I know how you get withdrawal symptoms… These boots are too good not to talk about, though, and I have an inkling that they will sell very well and so I’m getting in there (relatively) early. The “Leona” boots are from the new season collection at LK Bennett; sturdy, beautifully-made and surprisingly comfortable. I did the “Ruth Crilly Heel Test”© in them and managed to survive the following: three brisk strolls totalling approximately 1 mile, a section of rubbled, pot-holed track and about twenty seconds of one of those ridiculous run-walks that you do when you’re about to miss the bus. Overall: GOOD. Considering that they look reasonably high and sexy, you could easily tackle day-to-day tasks in these – you’re not going to be clinging to the escalator handrail or keeling over on the tube.

I first spotted these boots because they looked very similar to a Chloe pair that I saw a year or so ago. I tried the Chloe ones on and then took them off and deliberated; by the time I returned to buy them, they had gone. LK Bennett’s Leona boots are nearly half the price, they are easier to walk in and they have the same strappy/buckled styling that I loved so much on the Chloe versions. They are just on the cusp of comfortable-meets-sexy; enough height to make you feel all stompy and powerful, but enough chunkiness in the heel to keep you stable when you’re striding about town. You can find the Leonas at LK Bennett here.

The post Sturdy-meets-Sexy: LK Bennett’s Leona Boots appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Continue reading →

The recent weather conditions in the UK (rain, more rain, torrential rain) are precisely the reason why many Brits shun the idea of “staying at home” for their holidays. It’s just too bloody risky. You could land yourself an epic week of blissful sunshine or you could, and this is far more likely, find yourselves holed up in a tiny cottage playing card games and bickering with your in-laws as the wind rattles the window panes. It’s like holiday roulette.

But there are many great advantages to taking your summer holidays on home soil; for a start, you don’t have to go anywhere near Gatwick airport. Or Stansted airport. Or – God forbid – Luton. That in itself is surely worth at least three whole days of weather-enforced house arrest? Airports, apart from London City, which has everything down to pat, are the bane of my existence. Delays, queues, slow luggage carousels. And then there are the car hire providers with their damage excess waivers and their super-collision damage waivers and other things, who take the price that you have been quoted on the internet (€454) and multiply it by four. Then there’s getting to your holiday destination and having to go straight out to the supermarket before you can even have a glass of wine or a hunger-appeasing slice of bread, because you have arrived virtually empty-handed, because to have brought any more luggage than a rucksack would have incurred a €300 per-person-each-way penalty.

*cancels trip to Greece next month*

Anyway. All of this is a waffling precursor to the main thing I wanted to tell you about, which was this: at the end of May, in the spirit of great adventure, I went on holiday with the parents and Mr AMR to Port Isaac in Cornwall. A proper, week-long holiday. At first, I didn’t even count it as a holiday, because you could simply drive all the way there. Drive, and not have some kind of stress-induced heart catastrophe or a burst facial blood-vessel. It was all too easy, which as we all know is not a holiday. But my Mum kept calling it a holiday, and so that’s what it became.

Why Port Isaac? Well. Mr AMR and I have something of an obsession with the television show Doc Martin. (Don’t mock it until you’ve watched all episodes twice over and know all of the words by heart and can sing the theme-tune including mood-variations in your sleep.) I agree it may seem an unlikely obsession; but it’s entirely true and I can’t even begin to tell you how many nights we have spent watching episode after episode… And then we forced my parents to watch it and they became obsessed too! (If you want to see an episode then you can find the first of series two on Youtube here. Thank me later.)

And so we found ourselves in lovely Port Isaac, home of Doc Martin and an incredibly charming seaside village-in-its-own-right. It’s an absolutely gorgeous little place, filled with all the crooked cottages and tiny, dark passageways that you could possibly wish for. (If, indeed, you wish for that kind of thing. I do, but perhaps I read too many novels and/or have an overactive imagination.) It’s the kind of place, if you take away the throngs of tourists, that makes you suddenly want to give everything up and opt for the “simple life”, sitting on a jetty making sculptures from bits of old fishing net and driftwood. I jest, of course – making sculptures from bits of sea-waste is probably quite hard work, and your manicure would take a battering – but I could totally imagine myself sitting in the top room of one of the weather-beaten cottages, watching the waves crash into the harbour and clacking away on an old typewriter. You could write some amazing pirate stories or thriller-mysteries.

Where we stayed: put off by the parking issues in the main village (narrow streets, no driveways, generally difficult) we booked a cottage a few miles away. I’d like to stress that if I did this trip again – and I will! – I would bite the bullet with the parking and rent in the village. One of the splendid houses or traditional little cottages up on the cliffs or down near to the harbour. I can imagine that yes, in peak season, driving to your accommodation through the tight streets might be a bit of a hassle, but I’d probably avoid peak season anyway – the crowds must be horrendous! And you could always try to arrive later on in the day when the traffic is quieter. Definitely worth it to be able to have breakfast looking out over the harbour or to be able to take a wander up onto the hillside. I went past quite a few lovely holiday homes that I would certainly check out for next time – you can even rent the house next door to Doc Martin‘s surgery! (Photo above, the white houses to the left on the upper road. Not that I’m obsessed or anything. Doc Martin’s house is the little one nestled right in the middle – he wasn’t in when I knocked, unfortunately, but I’ll try again next time.)

Where we ate: loads and loads of places. The best value meal we all had, by far, was up at a place called Fresh From the Sea. All they really serve there is freshly-caught crab and lobster – half, with a salad or with hunks of white bread and butter. So, so simple and really very inexpensive. You can’t order much else, as they don’t have the facilities to fry chips or what have you, but they serve up a very nice chilled glass of Chardonnay and it’s just a great place to grab a quick – luxurious! – lunch. Half a lobster salad with a large glass of wine cost £14.50 – a crab sandwich, fresher than you can imagine, was £6.99. You can find directions to Fresh From the Sea on their website here.

The best meal of all? Nathan Outlaw’s, down at the harbour. Outlaw has a Michelin-starred restaurant further round the coast, but the little Fish Kitchen right in the village just seemed too convenient to ignore. I hadn’t brought any glad-rags with me and neither had Mr AMR and by the time we thought about having a nice meal it was the end of the week and my hair was in dreadlocks and my clothes smelt of rain! So the Fish Kitchen seemed like a wonderful, cosy option with its old, sloping beams and thick walls.

Everything we ordered from the menu was perfect – just really fresh seafood, cooked in very interesting ways. Actually, quite a few of the dishes weren’t cooked, so there were zingy, fresh things that came out, soused in acidic little dressings, and then fried things and heavier morsels that were a completely different ballgame. All excellent. Here’s a snippet of the menu, just to get you really hungry!

We had almost everything from the list you can see; the dishes are all quite small and meant for sharing. It does look as though it would work out to be rather expensive, but bear in mind that you don’t have a “starter”, per se. We spent about £50 per head and we were absolutely stuffed. To be honest, if I hadn’t been intending to write about the food, I would probably have stopped at about £40 and that would have been plenty!

The Grey Mullet was wonderful, as was the Wild Sea Trout and the lobster (not shown) was so delicious that I felt irritated when it came to an end. The Fish Burger with Jalapeno was quite large and spicy and everything we had been hoping for! (It was the burger that had drawn us in in the first place.)

The pudding of dreams, above, was (if I remember rightly) some kind of lemon posset with candied pistachios and the most incredible strawberries. If you go to Outlaw’s then get it! And I shall leave you on that very satisfied, stuffed-to-the-gills note, because it’s 11.30pm and a long way to breakfast and I don’t want to work my stomach up into one of those weird thought-induced hunger-frenzies!

Can’t recommend Cornwall enough, really, especially the gorgeous little seaside villages. I’ve been to quite a few now, all around the coast, and they are superb if the weather is good, almost as superb even if the weather is shocking. Take wellies and a waterproof and you’ll never be short of activities. Your own comments and recommendations below, please, should you have any! And also: Doc Martin. Discuss.

*Have just realised that I called this post What I Did in Port Isaac, and I haven’t even begun to tell you what I did! Lots of walking, more walking, lots of walking. We nearly got chased by a bull, which was a low point, but apart from that we walked unscathed.

Continue reading →