lifeofyablon.com

For better or for worse, I’m should admit that Instagram was integral to my summer holidays.  Not only did it allow me to utterly show off the fun I was having abroad but it also gave me the opportunity to experience what I could do with an unnecessary number of apps on my iPhone.

my pics trapped in the Instagram grid

That said, it also gave me carte blanche to spy on others.  Who looks great in a bikini? Who THINKS they look great in bikini?  And is the grass greener/sun hotter on friends’ beaches?

Back in the London rain, I realise that all this sounds a little ridiculous.  But when you’re laid back (on a deck chair), flicking between Instagram snaps – I can assure you that it feels perfectly sane.

But, as I flicked, I did wonder where these photos, some of which are breathtakingly beautiful*, will end up.  Would they just live trapped in the ‘Instagram grid’?   And so, when I was introduced to the company SnapBox, which recently launched in the UK, I was keen to try out their digital photography service. Setting two of my favourite #summermemories photos free, I zapped them over to SnapBox (by emailing snapbox@snapboxuk.com), and, as quick as a flash, received a preview of the image, chose the size of my canvas and waited (only 5 days!) for these stunningly high-quality framed images to arrive.

up on the bedroom wall: 2 snapbox framed canvases. STUNNING!

And now a chance for YOU to set one of your images free – FOR FREE!

To enter this is all you have to do:

1.  follow LifeOfYablon on Instagram

2.  post your summer memory pic hashtagging: #summermemories AND link me in @lifeofyablon

3.  wait to hear if you have won a trio of SnapBox canvases (13x18cm, 20x25cm and 23x23cm) worth £71.  (the winner will be notified via Instagram on Friday 27^th September 2013)

* you’ll suddenly, out-of-nowhere, realise that a number of your friends are actually brilliant photographers

It’s rare that we self-indulge in a coffee table book.  In fact as many of us are rapidly downsize our reading material into (and onto) feather-light e-readers, the idea of purchasing or reading a book weighing a TON seems ludicrous.

However, there is something about the oversized, heavily constructed, hard-covered tome that invites you to make that cup of coffee (or tea) and indulge in the comfort of your armchair.

Let’s focus on the coffee table

Having been sent one such book this week, I thought I might persuade you to focus less on portability and more on your coffee table, at least for the duration of this post.  Besides, this particular tome would make an EXCELLENT gift…

the tome in question

But first I need to ask you a question: have you ever listened to a song and wondered how the songwriter came up with the lyrics?  I mean, d’you reckon they were drunk, half-asleep or ‘otherwise engaged’ when that killer line just flew into their head?

It’s all really a bit of wordplay but seeing as it has us singing in the shower, I suppose we ought to give these artists a little more credibility.  The author and interviewer, Daniel Rachel thought so.

Noel Gallagher explains his Look Back In Anger

Later this week his book, Isle of Noises: Conversations with Great British Songwriters, will be published.  Lucky enough to be sent a preview copy, I’m now in-the-know about many a secret harboured by the UK’s most-renowned musicians, many of which are exclusive and pretty intimate.

The contributors include: Ray Davies, Robin Gibb, Jimmy Page, Bryan Ferry, Joan Armatrading, Chas Jankel, John Lydon, Mick Jones, Paul Weller, Sting, Andy Partridge, Difford and Tilbrook, Madness, Johnny Marr, Billy Bragg, Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, Lee Mavers, Damon Albarn, Noel Gallagher, Lily Allen, and Laura Marling. And from what I have heard, this is considered the definitive word on classic British songwriting, as told by the songwriters themselves.

Documenting fifty years of British songwriting through unique personal insights and an impressive wealth of knowledge, this is a beautiful book – well worth building up your biceps for.

‘Isle of Noises: Conversations With Great British Songwriters’ by Daniel Rachel, published by Picador on September 12, £25. (£16 on Amazon)

That’s it. The summer is over.  Just like that, the sun has gone, the rain is here and we’re left with rapidly fading brown bits.  Yesterday we were all too hot and today we’re digging out our umbrellas.  So, it’s a perfect time to reboost our post-summer dehydrated skin and I’m going to prove to you that there’s no better skincare brand than Willow Organic Beauty to do the job for us.

I first reviewed Willow Organic during last year’s ski trip.  I found that their porcelain face mask was an absolute winner for locking in all that moisture lost in the alps, while also repairing cells damaged by the strong sun.  Unsurprisingly, I was a keen-bean to review more of the range when offered.

Willow Organic Beauty range – ready for review

A bit of background for you first though.  Sue Stowell founded Willow Organic 7 years ago. Eleven years previously  she had made the big move from the London city smoke to the idyllic New Forest. Surrounded by beautiful countryside she gave up her interior design work and, while creating her own 100% organic garden in Lymington, spotted a gap in the market for a genuinely organic yet luxurious beauty line.  And Willow Organic Beauty was born.

Barbary figs… make precious oil

Her crucial ingredient in each of the products is Barbary Fig oil, one of the world’s most expensive oils.  Used by the Berber women to protect their skins, this precious oil is packed with antioxidants, the essential fatty acid linoleic and more than twice the vitamin E of argan oil. It’s a true beauty-enhancing elixir which really DOES slow down the ageing of the skin.

To recap, these products are 100% natural & organic as well as anti-ageing.  What more could you ask?  (…apart from the rain to stop).

I reviewed Refreshing Cleansing Balm 120ml £38, Hydrating Moisturiser 50ml £52 and Hydrating Super Gel Mask 50ml £48.

Check out the full range of Willow Organic Beauty here.

Our new au pair thinks I am raving mad.   Not because the postman seems to deliver a package every day (usually an item for review) but because I won’t allow her to listen to her music while she irons this morning.  You see, there is every chance that Alexa Chung’s new book will be delivered while I am on the school run.  And I can’t WAIT a single minute longer for it.

Alexa Chung’s book IT and my cup of green tea

But you can relax.  I was back home in time to greet my postie with open arms as he delivered my copy of IT, the style bible penned by the 29-year-old British-Chinese rock-chick.  I promptly made a big cup of green tea and delved inside.

As you can hear, I have a FULL ON girl crush on Alexa.  She is IT.  She’s the girl who can sell us anything and yet, on closer on inspection, she is not a model, actress or pop star.  She’s dabbled in TV presenting but ran a mile from the warped modeling world so we should simply accept, and of course appreciate, her skills as a style guru.  And that she is.  Named Style Icon of the Year three years running at the British Fashion Awards, it is not surprising Mulberry asked her lend her name (and style) to one of their handbags.

Alexa with the Mulberry ALEXA bag

a selfie. In Alexa’s very cool book, IT.

In fact there isn’t a nail polish, eye liner or piece of clothing which wouldn’t DIE to be associated with the Chung factor.

OK, I’m now ranting.  Because I’m Alexa-obsessed.

Back to the book, which includes her own photographs and drawing – as Alexa clarified at her Liberty book launch earlier this week:  ‘it’s definitely not an autobiography, but it’s me writing, so in a way it probably will have that element.’

Personally, it feels like a notebook full of her ideas, thoughts and art, a peak behind her ultra-cool façade.  And guess what, it’s pretty cool.

It by Alexa Chung is published by Particular Books and currently costs £11.55 on Amazon.