LPM - Memories of Venice in Instagram

So I went to Venice for a long weekend a couple of weekends ago and it was so unbelievably beautiful, but I also found it a little sad in that I finally understood what Ms Gilbert meant in the book Eat Pray Love when she described it "as the sinking melancholy of Venice" . The architecture and city is stunning, but sadly just isn't being maintained and it’s so sad to think of it just crumbling away. That being said it was still absolutely beautiful and the weather was amazingly hot!!! Giving me the perfect excuse to over indulge in pizza, granita and gelato, which by the way is hands down the best pizza and ice cream I have ever tasted. Sorry guys spent the last week and a half catching up (always the way when you go away) so didn’t really get the chance to blog, but here are some pictures from my instagram of beautiful Valencia. If you would like to follow me on instagram my id is lotionspotionsme .

 P.s one of the most exciting things was discovering that Venice had a Kiko and the beauuty mecca that is Sephora!!!

xoxo

It's my Birthday - Time to make a wish :-)

Two blogs in one week, woo hoo I must be on a roll!

So right now I’m doing a dance in front of the mirror! Why you ask? Cause its my BIRTHDAY!!! I've just had a huge and lovely dinner (hmm, so maybe the dancing isn’t such a good idea right now) have spent the day watching catchup TV and hunting for a pressie that's from me to me. I believe in spoiling myself on my birthday, cause there is only one me! and I’m so grateful to God that I have reached another year. So without further ado, here’s my birthday wishlist. Mr LPM, Dear Family and Friends, LPM Lovelies and any generous richies out there, feel free to check out my list and send a gift my way. 

Is there anything on your wish list? let me know...

xxx

Miller Harris L'air De Rien

Louboutins :-)

Massimo Duti Bracelet- Peach is my favourite colour

Massimo Duti Earrings to match - two is always better than one

Nars Taj Mahal -Orange blush is a black girls best friend

YSL shocking mascara

YSL Touche Eclat

The one and only Clarisonic

I'm Back.....

Hello LPM Lovelies and any LPM Newbies,

Welcome to LPM restarted! (Cue drum rolls, backflips and a graceful pirouette) After a self imposed hiatus (more on this later) I am absolutely thrilled to be back.

Now before I carry on, firstly I just have to say that I’m so sorry for going completely AWOL on you without so much as a blog post, message, or even a date in a crowded restaurant (hangs head in shame whilst also waving a white flag) So why the disappearing act?  Well to be completely honest there were two reasons; first I had so much going on personally, such as a new crazy job amongst other things, that I just found it hard to juggle everything. The second and main reason was that I lost my blog identity and I found myself writing to please others! At which point it became too difficult to be myself.

But ,as they say time is a healer and I’m now older, wiser and back, hoping to be better than ever….So what do I have in store for you? Well no specific promises, taking baby steps here, but I do promise to make this blog real and to just be myself!

Thanks for reading this, the kind wishes and for sticking with me

Love LPM. xxx

Pride comes before the flu! Cough, Sniff, Croak

Hey lovelies

I am so so sorry about going awol last week, but I have a good reason…. I have been ill and still am. You see, first up I got a stomach bug and now I have the flu! sob, sniff and cough! I tried pushing through it for a couple of days and that only made it worse – which is why I am now under strict bed and rest orders…..

The reason for the title is that only a couple of weeks ago I was happily boasting that I had missed out on the whole flu bug this winter and then what happens – I get it!!! Seriously pride comes before the flu…..

Positives from not feeling too great are

1) I get to lounge around in my favouritest (yes I know its not a word but my head is fuzzy so I think I'm allowed) Gap jumper that is like 5 years old and watch TV all day, without feeling guilty and thinking “hmmm, I should really be doing something more productive shouldn’t I?”
2) I sound like a bullfrog on crack when I speak – but Mr Lotions & Potions has convinced me that my voice actually sounds quite sexy – so I’m attempting to use my new found husky voice to convince him that ice cream would actually be quite beneficial right now
3) Everyone is being so sympathetic and making a fuss…yay!!

On a completely different topic – do you remember my styling post a little while ago? Check it out here meet me the stylist Well an online magazine has only gone and featured it! and one of the images is on the front cover! I feel so chuffed!!!! Check it out at remedymag and see pages 42-47 under the title Cirque de Minuit, also check out pages 48-49, it’s a feature on Mr Lotions & Potions himself and his photography….I feel so proud.

I promise to write again as soon as I feel much better.

Xoxo

#59 I made a wedding cake!

Hey Lovelies,

You might remember me disappearing for a week sometime in December – well I basically got commissioned to make a wedding cake – yep a wedding cake!! Now bearing in mind that although I absolutely love to bake and at times fancy my self as a “cake goddess” – this was still a big leap for me as I usually just bake for friends and family and am quite lazy when it comes to the decorating aspect.

It all started quite innocently with a friend calling to ask if I would mind making some cupcakes for a friend’s wedding to which I replied yeah would love to. A few days later I find out that she hasn’t actually sorted out her wedding cake, her wedding was four weeks away, she didn’t have a very big budget and could I please help!! having been a bride myself and knowing that feeling of I want everything to look amazing but I can't afford it, I calmly replied that yes it was fine and I could help and then went into absolute panic mode after I got off the phone.

After a pep talk from an amazing friend called Bis (we all need them in our lives) who basically said “You make fantastic cakes and I believe in you and your ability to do this” I set to work with practising the décor side of things. Here is the finished product which the lovely Mr Lotions & Potions took images of. The top tier was a blended fruit cake (basically a Caribbean version of a fruit cake) with lots of sherry and rum added in for tippy flavour. The cupcakes (70 of them) are chocolate with a cream cheese frosting and sugar flowers on top – oh and her colours were red, mint green and ivory. I feel so proud of myself.......What do you guys think?

#57 Happy Holidays!

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to do a quick post and say Happy Holidays! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas day and I wish you love, joy and happiness for the year ahead. Thank you so much to everyone who takes time out to read my blog and comment – it really means a lot and thanks to the lovely PR’s and other bloggers in the blogging world who have made me feel so welcome. I hope 2010 brings us all our hearts desires and more.

I’m off to stay with family for a bit so will be back to blogging in the New Year.

Xoxo

#52 Meet Me the Fashion Stylist!

I have always harboured a secret desire to be a stylist and to be able to style people and outfits. I remember being quite religious about dressing up as a child and ensuring that my dolls looked just as hot as I did… Ok I will even confess to dressing up my dog who was called Elmo and was male btw…in my defence I was about 6 and thought Elmo must be feeling both sad and frustrated at not being able to wear any clothes (To say my mum was upset was an understatement although I think she was more upset at the fact that I had put one of my nicest Cinderella type dresses on Elmo rather than at the fact that I dressed him up in the first place)

Anyhu, the seeds of styling were sown but somewhere along the way into adulthood I didn’t really go into it – I seem to be a creative who loves/is good at quite a few things but doesn’t ever seem to focus properly on one thing in particular for long enough. I am trying to work on this problem and find out what I’m particularly good at/want to do. But this is another blog for another day……

Luckily for me Mr Lotions and Potions happens to be the best photographer in the world – yes I might be biased I know but he really is fantastic….its not his 9-5 although he wants it to be, but he is definitely making strides to get there. So back onto the subject of styling, over the last few months Mr Lotions and Potions has been working on building up his portfolio and gave me the opportunity to style the shoots – I was beyond excited but after I calmed down started to panic and think Oh My Gosh I’m not sure I can do this!! …but three shoots later I finally feel brave enough to share some images with you guys – what do you think?

The shoot was at the lovely Preston Court which was such a fantastic location for the shoot, the venue is also a beautiful setting for weddings, parties etc so if you are still looking for somewhere for your big day you should check it out. It was with the amazing photographer Mr Lotions and Potions also known as Asiko (who I will be doing a post on next week) the super talented makeup artist Becks Buki – you might remember an earlier bag spy with her. The fantastic designer Tanielle Lobo and Pauline and Natasha - great models from Oxygen Models and Me …..Stylist in training :-) Here are some images below – please note that they are not the finished or retouched images but are the ones I took during preps and when some of the shooting was taking place…but I don’t think my camera work was too bad – I must be picking up tips from Mr Lotions and  Potions…

It was such a blast working with so many talented people and everyone worked so well together - combining effort and energy to pull out a great shoot. Let me know what you guys think

P.s I apologise for the lack of paragraphs in the text - i kept putting them in and for some annoying reason blogger kept taking them out - 20 minutes later, I have given up and left it as is.

Xoxo

I was literally salivating over the amount of makeup - this was only a quarter of what Becks Buki had with her

Some of the clothes and shoes on my little rail - i felt so proud




ok a little fuzzy but hopefully you can see it

#1 Hello, is it me you're looking for?

Welcome to Lotions, Potions & Me (insert drum-rolls, trumpets and curtsey here) if you are looking for honest information on the big wide world of beauty, cosmetics, news and gorgeous new products then you have come to the right place! Why? Because I work in the fashion and beauty arena and I'm a complete beauty addict – but not just to anything and everything – no me I’m a lover of products and treatments that really work…… I will also be hunting out products and covering topics that relate to us women of all colours of the rainbow. Why you ask?

Well simply because there is so much out there that does work and I don’t think you should just subject yourself to certain ‘ethnic’ type stores like the Pak store in Finsbury Park or to Brixton Market!!! Yes its ok for certain items but there is so much more out there available for you in a less traumatic part of London that at least doesn’t have your beauty store next to a meat or fish store…..do I hear laughter? Yes you know what I mean.

I myself am not a novice to the whole what do I use for my skin dilemma – I find my skin is constantly changing and following a teenage reminiscent break-out a couple of years ago (I’m nearly thirty now so no I couldn’t take it on the chin and think ooohhhh I will grow out of it – its just puberty) I have been on a quest to find the perfect skincare, the right makeup and the perfect product to fade my scars, brighten my face and even out my skin tone and no ladies I’m not talking about bleaching!! Anyway I’m willing to try anything whether commercial, niche, expensive or cheap as pence as long as it works!

So stick with me as I start this journey…I believe this could be the start of a beautiful friendship…

Starting with now, here are a few beauty treats you can catch between today and early June as it seems a number the department stores have gone gaga over beauty.

May was beauty month at Harrods and with 10% off all online purchases at harrods.com during May – yay that includes beauty products, so it’s the perfect chance to stock up on your beauty basics. Hurry though; you only have couple of days left!

Liberty’s Beauty Hall is re-launching on the 1st June and it sees the return of old favourites as well as new arrivals – I will definitely be down there dipping my fingers in various pots.

Where Beauty Begins is taking place in selected John Lewis stores from 23 May – 7 June with many brands offering freebies *note some of them are with purchases - you can however pick up insider tips from Laura Mercier’s Barbie Laurino who will be appearing at the Oxford street branch from 28-30 May.

Finally, Selfridges’ 100th birthday celebrations will be ending this weekend 28 – 31 May with a Fashion Saturday which includes a special guest and a cabaret Sunday at 2pm in the Yellow Café – Lower Ground Floor.

Hope you enjoy…

Xoxo