Quick and dirty...

I am throwing a few things down before I go away for two weeks.  Firstly everyone who tried to get one of the Baranova detox sets will get one since I only needed a couple of extras and they are very generous.  But they won't be sent out until my return so I will be in touch early August for address details.

Secondly have you seen? this .....

I want to hate Net A Porter's foray into sportswear, as I like company's that are small and single-mindedly passionately about what they do.  But I can't deny it is brilliant, from the product selection to how it is presented, it is beautiful and authoritative, I can't wait to see more.

Quick run down of clothes, lots of black and white or nude...

 Warehouse top and Jaeger London tie trousers with the 'rock studs' that are not quite the real thing and
large Pringle bag.

 Phillip Lim trousers, gym vest and New Look jacket with pointy toe flats from M & S and Dior bag (repeated a lot)

 GAP knitted T shirt, boutique skirt and Chanel shoes with Vanilla London bag (shameless Hermes lookalikes, have been on the King's Road for years)

 Same T shirt Coast skirt and Anya bag....

 MSGN trousers and Joseph silk top...

Night out with the girls (from the school reunion, strike while the iron is hot) Dolce e Gabanna jacket, MSGN vest, Paige denim jeans...

 Beach Blanket Babylon...

 With Deutz champagne...

 And lots of laughs and old times revisited....

Home for a feast of plenty...

Favourite things, Balsamic vineger crisps, Leibnitz dark choc biscuits, Green and Black chocolate and all suits of fruit and veg from the farm...

 And lots of friends...

 And other friends....

 And the early arrivals, the easiest ones to feed....

The spoils of plenty, all the lovely floral and fauna that I was gifted, but it is the time with people that matters.

 I'll be back in two weeks, with (hopefully) a tan and a camera of memories x

Elixir, twins, outfits...

Elle Macpherson is 50, she is thorough-bred perfect, the body, the hair, the face, and apparently it's all down to what is in the bottle above.

Let's worship at the altar of Elle....

 The hair....

The smile....

The fantastic sytling....

And the BODY....

 Perfection....

And so what about the elixir?

A friend of mine is a judge on the InStyle beauty awards, so she was sent a jar.

One quick smell and I knew what it was immediately....

Basically it is this....

 

Dehydrated Barleygrass, £8.99 from Holland and Barratt, or at Amazon etc.
Dehydrated greens (DGs) in all of their varieties are incredibly potent and beneficial.
This is the only part of my 'beauty' regime that I never miss, every morning a least 3 tea spoons mixed with diluted apple juice.
I have been taking them for 10 years and I notice if I stop.

If you read all the online hyperbole, users claim that DGs cure everything from psoriasis to cancer.  I don't think that there is scientific proof of these kind of benefits, but in these days of shrink-wrapped, laser-zapped veg, it is useful to get your vegetable nutrients in one true dose.

I recommend them to everyone that I train with and everyone sticks to them (if not the exercise regime)! One lady had acne problems, that cleared up almost completely (except for when she gets very stressed).  Another lady had been trying to conceive for 3 years and did get pregnant (aged 44).

I can't claim it to be the powder 'what done it', but it does seem that for those who have quite stressful, caffeine-driven lives, vitamin rich, 'alkalising' powder seems to balance things out.

So I can see why Elle is happy to was lyrical about it, but she has commercialised it too far.  It is £96 a jar, which is a shame, as this is a product that could help many people.  Since it does not carry a medical license, it is impossible to advertise the claimed health benefits of dehydrated greens, but most people would feel and look better if they took them.  At £8.99 it is worth a go, for 96 quid, I can understand why people would hesitate!

So if you want to look like Elle, either buy some DGs from Holland and Barratt, or enter the competition and win some gene support supplements from Baranova (read previous post!)....

Yesterday I went to visit my positively blooming pal from Paris with a Bump, we were heading to Carluccios in Hampstead and the weather was 29 degrees.

I tried on my Etoile Isabel Marant dress, vintage Hermes bucket bag and gladiator flats from Matalan.
Miss B turned her back, she did NOT approve...

Although Suki (an interloper from one of our neighbours) DID like the colour scheme A LOT...

In fact she's quite keen on the whole 'selfie' thing...

I plumped for a Miss Guided lace dress (£30)....

and some K Jacques sandals....

In my head, the dress is a dead ringer for this one by Dolce e Gabanna

Paris with a bump is incubating two new little beings and is only about 2 weeks away from being a mum for the first time.  Her bump is so tidy and compact, it's hard to believe that there is one let alone two...

We visited a beautiful boutique next door, it is a British brand that I have never heard of called Charli, lovely separates a bit like the new US label 'Joie', and pretty good prices.
Charli sells other brands like Day Birger Mikkelsen and the like, I found these cute little rose gold plated necklaces and bought a boy and a girl for the 'bump'.

It's so good for the soul to catch up with old friends, Paris with a Bump is updating her blog and has lots of exciting plans including a new mummy bootcamp retreat, more info soon....

Detox, outfits, lunch and a give away....

The internet works in weird and wonderful ways and someone in Monaco seems to have read about my juicing and detox failure.

A while ago they sent me a month's supply of two of their products cleverly named Detox I and Detox II.

I'm quite fussy about what I put in my body and am very interested in the science behind how and why things work.  I told them I would be brutal, but then they are French and pretty straight forward at the best of times.

Elena Baranova has an impressive track record as a world leading expert in the field of genetics. She is still involved in the 'medical' part of the field, but she now runs a clinic in Monaco offering treatments based on genetic analysis.  I don't think that she intends to cater for serious illnesses, rather it is a lifestyle service which seems of most use to those with lots of cash in search of eternal youth.  Monaco is of course the perfect location for such an enterprise.

She has developed a range of supplements that are intended to 'support gene health', this is where the genetic link is a bit hazy for me as I would have thought the supplements wouldn't necessarily work as a 'one size fits all', but reading the ingredients list, there was nothing in them that would do any harm, so I thought that I would give them a try.

According to the blurb, Detox I helps to activate the detox capacity of the skin by supporting Vitamin A formation and flight free radicals (both good things for the skin from the little that I know about skincare) Detox I also contains Selenium which contributes to the maintenance of nails, hair and skin.

Detox II is a stimulator that is meant to stimulate the natural detox capacity of the skin, it also contains lycopene and niacin which help with the maintenance of mucus membranes.

I have been on it for the last 3 weeks, the primary side effect is the lavatory, you go a lot, number ones and number twos.  Not in an uncomfortable way, it's just all a bit more regular than usual.

The next side effect was the spots, for the first few days I got them in strange places on my face where I haven't had them for years.

However by day 7 everything calmed down and people started asking me if I had had a facial/ been on a diet/ been on holiday etc etc

I am also aware that I haven't exercised since I was in hospital last month and I've been eating normally and not put on inches, this is unusual for me, if I don't work out, I can feel it on my buttons almost immediately.

And so all in all, as much as I am normally a bit dismissive of this kind of pseudo scientific stuff with a high price tag (each packet is 100 euro), I think I might consider doing this twice a year in Summer and Winter.

I have 6 packs to give away to 3 winners (there are two in a set and each set is worth 200 euro)

If anyone else would like to try them, all you have to do is either follow me or if you are already following leave a comment below saying that you would like to be entered and I will pick three winners on Monday.

Each pack contains all of the information and instructions on how to take the supplements in both French and English.

Is there any thing else I should say about a competition? I haven't done this before, but the only thing I can say are the odds are in your favour, unlike the lottery, you currently have a 1 in 7 chance of winning!!

The clothes over the last few days look a bit drab among the sea of colour that sweeps over London when the sun comes out. V old Rene Lezard trousers, beautifully cut, can't be beaten, vintage antique lace shirt, Lanvin trainers and Dior bag...

 Jacket from Top Shop, which I didn't wear all day...

 This was yesterday, ZARA coated leggings, Alberta Ferretti top, find some lovely  A F bargains here, another Dior bag and stripey 'pointy-toe'  flats from pretty ballerinas.

I did a Daylesford crawl, starting with lunch in Pimlico with some super stylish lawyer friends, one of whom is setting up her own firm. Followed by afternoon 'juice' (tea was out of the question due to heat) at Daylesford on Westbourne Grove with the ultimate fashionista Pippa Vosper.

Her instagram and blog are great, but strangely the Daily Mail did a piece on her that expresses how positive, enthusiastic and fun she is.  Not at all the scary fashionista that a google search might suggest.

Tomorrow I am heading to Hampstead to meet an old friend and author of 'Paris with a Bump', the clue's in the blog's name, she is at the confinement stage of her 'twin' (yikes) pregnancy.  I can't wait to see her!

After all that don't forget to enter to win the Detox packs, look 10 years younger and 7 pounds lighter, what's not to love?!!