Posted on

Judging Season, Lavender Love & Cat Napping!

Out & About

Judging season is in full thrust and as an industry judge I take very seriously my responsibilities – I’ve recently taken part in the Woman and Home Beauty Award judging where I only recommend or put forward products that I know. I make sure that I have tested them all to make sure that they are great for customers and clients, and I often recommend products that I covert as an industry expert as I know that they are top of their league. So follow my social media channels to keep up to date on the different awards that I have been involved with and be the first to know when they are announced. If you don’t follow me already you can do so here.

Video Update

I’ve been filming more in the home studio, which has been enlightening as I’ve been developing videos and concepts for magazines and beauty brands as well as my own social and website videos for you to watch. I hope you enjoy and please let me know what videos you would like to see me film by commenting on this post.

Beauty Hack


I have probably over one hundred lavender plants at home which have been in bloom for a month and will continue to bloom for a couple more, so I’ve been making natural herb pillows which couldn’t be simpler! Start by chopping some lavender and folding it into a thin cloth, then use a rolling pin over the flowers to release the oil which has a calming and de-stressing effect – perfect for the evening to put underneath your pillow at night to help aid sleep.

Your Beauty Problem

Nail length and strength is something I often get questions on and the solution is to address both at the same time. Watch my video below to find out more.

Beauty Thought


Cat napping! Sleep is essential for regeneration of skin cells and as the skin is the largest organ of the body it is particularly important. If, like me, you work unusual hours, or if you have young children or illnesses then sleep deprivation is detrimental to the look of your skin, hair and nails – not just the obvious dark circles! If you don’t sleep well then try grabbing just short snaps of relaxation where you can – try to empty your mind to help switch off, even if it’s in your parked car whilst you are waiting to pick up the kids or in a quiet part of the house. It does make a huge difference!

Posted on

Busy Busy!

Well it’s been a busy time on all fronts with me and I wanted to tell you about my new home TV studio! When I’m filming my free tutorials and brand information videos for my website, YouTube and all social platforms, as well as videos for magazines and my Q&A’s, I film from home or at a brands HQ .

You seem to be enjoying these videos and I’m getting a great response from you all – thank you! I will be doing more filming and LIVE social broadcasts from home so do let me know more subjects that interest you and that you would like me to cover. Now with a permanent studio and lighting with several different set ups for skin, hair and makeup as well as my house set ups, I can share more information with you all in the future.

My Beauty Problem

Living on a farm, having horses, dogs and being on TV as well as entering the gardening and DIY season means my hands should be taking a battering but my top tip to avoid this is to exfoliate the hands more often to take away in ground paint/dirt – this stops any build up of hard/calloused skin.

Beauty Hack

My hack when I haven’t got a specific hand scrub, or one that’s not strong enough, is to use sugar or salt mixed into a favourite wash before adding water. Or for a more intense effect add to a water free formula, such as an oil or balm, then massage over hands and then add water to rinse – the result is soft clean hands and cuticles! For more hand and nail knowledge click/tap here!

Your Beauty Problem

I get a lot of questions regarding teenage skin, in particular the changes they go though at this stage, which I’ve addressed in my video below:

You can find more of my answers to Frequently Asked Questions here. 

Out and About

As a leading industry expert I have been advising BABTAC, the leading body for training qualified and salon beauty professionals. I have been a member since college and if you are in the industry with a qualification or a salon/service business you really should be a member and I hope to see you at the awards ceremony that I am hosting later in the year! You can find out more about BABTAC here https://www.babtac.com/

If you’re a customer/client then a registered professional is an insured professional and is worth checking with your therapist/salon/spa .

Behind the scenes in the industry I am very much about bringing education up to date and future proofing these qualification and this year I went back and gave a talk to my old college to encourage students and find out their concerns and questions. 

I also loved catching up with Lee Stafford who does so much work behind the scenes in the hairdressing industry and with the government to gain more insight into his passion for education too – an inspiring meeting of minds.

Beauty Thought

Treated and cared for buffed/painted toes make you smile – it certainly does me! It’s the first thing I look at when I get out of bed and look down to see where to put my feet 🙂

To keep up to date with much more of my beauty adventures be sure to follow me on social media by clicking here!

Posted on

My First Blog!

Welcome to my blog – here you can keep up to date with beauty news and what’s happening behind the scenes in my beauty life! 

My Beauty Problems

I’m going to start with some beauty problems, mine to begin with! Which isn’t always beautiful as demonstrated by the need for dark circle coverups that work from late nights on TV to early starts travelling going to brand consultancy and press with horses and dogs that don’t understand sleep ins! My favourite tip here is to get a head start on the dark circle (that I know will be there from the short nights sleep) with a quick coat of self tan on the face and neck – this makes you look healthier when the dreaded alarm call goes early.

A quick massage before you go to bed either with an electrical tool, or manual metal or semi precious one, I’ve been enjoying the new Elemis manual roller drainage one included in their new Ultrasmart Pro-Collagen eye treatment duo. Doing this for seconds, not even minutes, can manually help to flush away the look of fluid retention around the eye and alleviate some darkness too. Concealer is a given to cover the dark circles but also carry a corrector (like from Bobbi Brown – my shade is light beige) and reapplying, especially if you wear glasses like me as when you take them off they leave marks so I pat on the corrector even over makeup. 

Your Beauty Problems

My most frequently asked question has been about dull/tired looking skin or products not working and you wanting to change products/brands. Save some money first and exfoliate more with a stronger product to remove the top layers and invigorate and boost that glow look. I find physical exfoliates with grains in them are best for this – remember to test patch but everyone has come back and said that this worked and they can finish their existing products now. 

Beauty Hack

My Tarte felt eye liner finished coincidently when I was in a rush and couldn’t find my liner brush on an early start from home, so I grabbed it and used it in my Bobbi Brown pot liner – fabulous application so I’m not throwing any of my felt liners away and am now using them when they have dried up as applicators! 

Animal Farm

This week some bad news on the animals, poor Zelda has hip dysplasia and maybe a hip fracture so she is on painkillers and the lead – not easy as a farm dog as it means neither of us are getting enough exercise and we are missing our long walks. I’ve even bought her some new sun lounger beds so when she is in the stables with me she doesn’t lie on the concrete! So supplementation wise we are all on turmeric, horses, dogs and humans!

Radio Work

I really enjoyed my interview with JoAnne Good on BBC radio! Did you get a chance to listen? Would love to hear your thoughts if you did 🙂

Beauty Diary

Keep up to date daily with Instagram by clicking here. My Beauty Insider show is back on Wednesday at 8pm on QVC, watch live and shop the show here. Remember I have a Live Q&A on my Facebook page straight after the show at 9pm – you can watch last weeks Q&A here.

Midnight Saturday (Friday night late ) I’m launching a special Benefit promotion with crazy fabulous artist Lisa potter Dixon – don’t miss it if you love you

Have you signed up to my newsletter yet? If not you can do so at the bottom of this page – I will be featuring some exciting beauty news on there very soon!

And finally, a thought on cosmetics:

Makeup makes you positive