Home Spas - Temple Spa

Christmas is nearly upon us and the shopping and festive preparations are well underway. It’s a heady mix of stress and excitement, exhaustion and energy bursts, happy and grumpy times.

So somehow and somewhere between these emotions, you need to relax and pamper your body and mind to give you the strength to carry on.

 Maybe you don’t have time (or the money) to book in to a spa, so the next best thing is to create your own home spa. So first up is Temple Spa's Bathing Ritual Set.

Want to feel like Cleopatra and bathe in milk?

Temple Spa’s Bathing Ritual is not exactly milk, plus I’m sure she didn’t really bathe in the sticky stuff. But their Drift Away bath oil does turn the water milky so you can feel like a pampered Egyptian Queen with the added benefit of a more pleasant fragrance.

Ingredients include; Patchouli, geranium, frankincense, dill seed oil, black pepper oil, sesame, jojoba, petit grain, myrrh, galbanum and avocado oil.

Set the mood by lighting the All Quiet aromatic candle and by hanging the Do Not Disturb lavender pillow on the door (this also can be reused as a drawer sachet afterwards)

 All is prepared for the bathing ritual. First relax and enjoy the oils.  When ready arise from your milky bath and exfoliate your damp skin with Prepare to Bare sugar buff. Then relax in the bath again –after all you don’t want to exert yourself.

Step out of the bath and cocoon yourself in a warm towel. Pat dry and apply Duvet firming body cream with its omega oils, Guarani, vitamin E and a blend of ten calming essentials oils.

The packet also includes Repose, a face moisturiser with a relaxing aroma – add to your palms and breathe in the relaxing aroma before applying to cleansed face and neck.

The final stage is the Quietude body comforting mist, spray in the air around you or on your pulse points for a sense of peace and calm.

All products are paraben free. Price £38 and available online:   www.templespa.com/judybull.

Image provided by Temple Spa

Sample Sale at Eco-friendly fashion label Handwritten

Handwritten by Tanya Sarne is having a sample sale starting this Friday till Sunday.

Tanya created GHOST and Handwritten is her new collection. www.handwrittenuk.com

 

The sale will feature Handwritten’s most recent and past collections including dresses, jumpers, cardigans, jackets, knits, leather and accessories.

If you're itching to get your hands on one of these gorgeous designs made from a unique fabric that is both eco-friendly and luxurious then get down to:

1-3 Middle Row

London
W10 5AT

2^nd – 4^th December 11am – 7pm.

Image provided by Spring London PR

Untangle your day with Michel Mercier’s new Detangling brush

Michel Mercier noticed that in his hair salons, women loved having their hair styled but at home, when it came to hastily brushing his 12yr old daughter’s hair in the morning, there were tears as hair and brush would become tangled with each other.

So he set out to design a brush that would make daily brushing a more pleasant experience and less damaging to the hair.

The Result:

A patented brush made up of 428 bristles positioned at different lengths with a unique geometric distribution which helps disperse the pressure placed on the hair when brushing. So no more tears and tugging of the hair. The brushes are colour coded in pink, blue and green, each one designed to suit different hair types: fine, normal and thick.

The brush can be used on wet or dry hair, curly or straight, and on all hair textures: European, Afro and Asian.

The brush does work but it did take me a while to get used it because it is so wide - this may be because I am used to combs and narrow brushes. I have such fine hair that I find wide brushes actually flatten it more which is not a good hairstyle on fine tresses. So Michel if you are reading this, could you create a narrower brush for me please?

However I do find it's great on wet hair - the brush glides through and the flattening of the hair is not an issue as I'll be blowing drying it afterwards..

But please don't use the brush whilst blowdrying. Wait for Michel's profession wooden handle brushes to come out which he has created especially for blowdrying.

The Michel Mercier Detangling Brush is priced at £14.95, and is available from www.michelmercier.co.uk and selected salons

Image provided by Essence PR

Demi Couture Bridal & Evening Wear by KatyaKatya Shehurina

Latvian born designer Katya Shehurina specialises in bridal and evening wear and loves that she is able to help make women feel special on their special day.  Her designs are demi couture so you can walk in to her Kingly Court store off Carnaby Street, look at her sample designs and then tweak – if you want the waist line raised or lowered that’s fine or if you want more or less embellishments that’s OK too.

She also likes to create different looks for the same outfit.

The Aria gown is delicate and feminine with a soft pleated bodice and spaghetti straps. The fabric is silk crepe with a tulle overlay. 

To create a different look, there is the lace embroidered gilet scattered with pearl beads and sequins which covers the chest and ties at the back with grosgrain ribbon. 

Katya explains that this gilet can be also worn with a simple day dress or a tee shirt with jeans to add a touch of glamour.

Most of her dresses are loose and free flowing which helps created different looks.  Katya shows us how to create different looks with this dark grey silk crepe gown with corsage from her Spring/Summer 2112 collection:

Looking elegant left loose

Tied with belt for a more fitted look

It is also looking good with this silk taffeta jacket which is open at the front so as not to hide the corsage.

Other designs are:

Her skirts have a drawstring type fastening which fits all sizes and is great news for after a big meal. One of her clients bought her longest skirt to wear as a strapless dress providing another optional look.

A thigh length jacket which actually unzips to create a waist length jacket. There are two hand beaded brooches with the jacket which can be positioned as two large buttons or just anywhere for decoration.

My favourite is this pink lace embroidered short dress from her AW11 collection and available to buy online.  Price £195 It only comes in one size which can be adjusted to fit a size 8 to a size 12.

Wear with a separate purple peony collar for that special wow factor.

And for a different look wear a belt

Katya studied fashion design and pattern making at ESMOD in Paris and graduated in 2007 with a specialization in haute couture. Since her graduation she has concentrated on developing her own brand called KatyaKatya Shehurina in bridal and evening wear.

Visit her boutique at Unit 2.10, Kingly Court, Carnaby Street 49, London W1B 5PW

Or her online boutique www.onlineshehurina.com

Swarovski's Erika & Eliot go travelling

Swarovski's Erika and Eliot apparently were born from a single crystal egg and at birth the fairies gave them the power to bring instant joy and poetry wherever they go. They get a fashion makeover every six months and for their Spring/Summer 2012 look they'll be styled for their latest adventure of travelling around the world.

Erika Bag Charm in France

Erika starts her travels in France and of course Paris will be on the list for shopping! She has bags of charm with this Bag charm and she looks tres chic in her french outfit. 

Eliot pendant in UK

Eliot starts in London UK and decides to try out the Queen's Guards uniform with its scarlet tunis and black bearskin cap.

Erika in Spain

Eliot in Italy

Erika in the Netherlands

Erika in the Russian Federation

Eliot in Austria

Erika in Switzerland

Eliot in Germany

Leaving Eliot in Europe, Erika travels long haul:

Erika Pendant in Brazil

Erika Pendant in China

Erika Pendant in South Korea

Erika Pendant in the USA

Charm bracelet of Erika in Switzerland, USA, France and the UK, plus Eliot in Austria:

Am loving the Erika in China and Eliot skiing in Austria- which ones are your favourites?

Soon to be available on www.swarovski.com

Kobi Levi's latest Sculptural Shoe Design

Here’s the latest wearable sculptural shoe from our whacky Israeli shoe designer Kobi Levi.

This time it’s the elephant  with the trunk as the heel and the large flappy ears as the sides of this shoe boot. 

Colour palette: obviously elephant grey.

The shoes are all handmade to order in his Tel Aviv studio.
Details are:
Kobi Levi Studio
3 Levontin St.
Tel Aviv, Israel
Studio +972-77-4810263
info@kobilevidesign.com
http://kobilevidesign.blogspot.com/

About Kobi:
Graduated from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem 2001, Kobi Levi went on to specialise in footwear design and art.
He sees the shoe as his canvas and most of his inspirations are worlds apart from the usual footwear ideas, resulting in an extreme transformation and a humoristic take on the concept used.