Health & Beauty: Balancing Blooms

Ever feel like your life is a little out of balance or are you having a full-on crisis? Well balancing blooms are here to help. There is an essence for every possible ailment, be it a lack of confidence, romance issues, a lack of focus or even a case of the blues. Containing specific blended mixtures of various Bach Flower remedies, they work on a subtle level to eradicate your fear and create balance again.

If you have never tried bach remedies then I strongly recommend that you try them if there's anything that is currently causing you anguish, distress or anxiety. I actually used the remedies to clear my fear of flying, with a mixture of hypnotherapy and rescue remedy and they really help to keep your mind calm. Just remember to do your bit for the planet and recycle the glass and plastic bottle after use.

Updates: Ink Magazine Jewelry Feature

Check out Rachel's styling work in Ink Magazine this month 'A Delicate Issue'. Featuring exquisite handmade, intricate jewelry from Jeremy Hoye and vintage clothing from the Vintage Generation to create an easy, relaxed summer luxe feel.

You can buy a limited edition, version here.

Updates: Brighton Fashion Week

Myself and fellow creative Nina Sagri took part in Brighton Fashion Week 2010. We held a one hour workshop at the Brighton Dome entitled 'Be Your Own Stylist' where we gave focused styling and make-up advice to a group of lovely ladies.

We will be organising further, more in-depth wokshops very soon. To register early interest in these just drop us a line: info@laluminata.co.uk

Photo's by Juliet Greig

Design: New career path for redundant tins!

  

Health & Beauty: Bésame cosmetics

If the sight of old Hollywood glamour sets your heart aflutter and if you’re the kind to wear ‘rouge’ rather than ‘blusher’ you will no doubt be happy to learn of Bésame’s migration to England.

Gabriela Hernandez, founder of Bésame Cosmetics Inc strives to incorporate old fashioned glamour and natural formulas to create a beautiful collection of vintage inspired make up. Taking inspiration from her grandmother’s old lipstick tubes and her own love of art and design, Hernandez’s brand is packaged in stunning deco style.

Whilst using the same pigmentations and production techniques as those from the 30s and 40s, Bésame make their products with ‘A mix of today's cutting edge technology and some wonderful natural ingredients that have proven benefits to your skin.’ Not only is the use of these natural ingredients and organic oils beneficial for our skin, they also actually improve the staying power and performance of the products themselves.

Beautifully presented and now readily available from UK stockists, these lipsticks, powders and little pots of rouge will enable you to ‘remember to feel glamorous everyday’.

Poppy Sakulku

Forever Fashion: Viv Does Vegan

Vivienne Westwood has designed a range of gorgeous Anglomania Melissa shoes entitled 'Lady Dragon'.

Totally sexy, hot and vegan, these little numbers won't make your feet hot and sticky...quite the opposite. Made from MELFLEX plastic, a patented, hypo-allergenic, recyclable, and flexible PVC, these little babies will keep you comfortable and slip-free. They even smell faintly of sweets!

In an assortment of shades, there's a colour for everyone, we buy ours here!

Forever Fashion: Comfortable, Cool and fragrant free, when working out in Bamboo!

Many moons ago on a whim, I bought some bamboo socks from my local health food store. Everyone in the shop was raving about them, I thought they must have dull lives or were on commission or something, but I bought them anyway to use for working out. It may sound daft, but it took a really long time for me to realise how good they are. When my feet are comfortable, I don’t notice them. One day I went to the gym and had forgotten my bamboo socks, when I came out my feet felt awful, puffy, sticky, saw and I had blisters. Then I realised.

With new found respect for my bamboo socks I checked out where they came from. A great little, planet supporting, carbon positive company called Bam and to my delight I discovered they do Bamboo sports clothing as well. As my old kit was starting to look like pyjamas I purchased a couple of tops and some shorts. They arrived the next day, informing me that they have planted trees in my name as a result of my purchase.

I put my new bamboo outfit to the test. One outfit, one week, 5 sessions, 1.5 hours per session, high intensity (lots of sweating). The results are impressive. To sum it up, comfortable, cool and fragrant free! Bamboo is 3-4 times more absorbent than cotton, so if those kitchen rolls have the power of 1 elephant in a sheet then my bamboo outfit definitely ropes in its family and mates as well. All the moisture is absorbed away from the skin, keeping it comfortable, the absorbed moisture in the material seems to work in a cooling effect so by the end of my work out I am not left feeling hot and sticky. Finally, at the end of the week my gear was surprisingly whiff free, there was a slight odour under one of the under arm areas! This is due to the anti bacterial properties of the bamboo which does not support the growth of bacteria, so no smell!

Check out Bam's full range of clothing here. Reading through their website alone gave me a giggle!

Lydia Vine