These strange times of living our lives in a perpetual state of not knowing what will happen next, has left us all feeling challenged and confused. Adding on the constant daily rigmarole of homeschooling, house chores, cooking, trying to stay on top of work if you are lucky enough to still have a job, has tipped us over the edge. What are the things keeping us (vaguely) sane during lockdown?
Now 24 months into life with three kids, the newborn and baby phase seem like a distant dream. I am now faced, quite literally, each day, with looking in the mirror and wondering if I will ever have a full night sleep again. The need for some serious help to lessen the lines and dark circles that seem to be a constant companion of mine, is now a reality. Baby number three has not only taken a toll on my sleep, but also on my skin.
I don’t know about you, but my hair always looks better two or three days after I have washed it. Post wash, my hair is flyaway, frizzy, unmanageable and resembles an electrocuted birdsnest! So, when I get a modelling job and the request is: “Come with clean hair please.” I tend to feel sorry for the hair stylist! Alongside the call time and the shoot location, having clean hair is the top request when we go to a modelling job. You would think this would be an obvious thing to have, alongside shaved legs and tidy eyebrows, but the irony of this is not lost on us, because freshly washed hair is too clean to hold the style you want. So, how do hair stylists on shoots get that sought after slightly dirty hair look when a model turns up with squeaky clean, flyaway, frizzy hair? ( or is that just me?!)
Some of the best ideas are thought up around a kitchen table with a good old cup of tea, and that’s exactly how trio Liz Houghton, Jane Rawlings, and Lisa Agar Rea, created Mint Velvet. They all had similar backgrounds in fashion, and have managed to develop Mint Velvet into a well loved British brand with a strong and growing clientele both here in the UK and abroad, all within a mere nine years. With 46 boutiques across the UK and Ireland, a store in Dubai Festival City Mall, and international concessions within De Bijenkorf and Manor, as well as John Lewis, House of Fraser, and an OBE to boot, it is no coincidence that Mint Velvet is the brand of the moment. All that from a kitchen table and cup of tea!
On photo shoots, there are always a few key pieces that rear their pretty little heads with noticeable consistency. Whether it is make up essentials from the make up artist, or the hairdresser’s key ‘go-to products’ – we have noticed that there are key bits and bobs that are always present. The same goes for shoes; there are continuously the same timeless, investment-piece shoes getting wheeled out of the stylist’s suitcase:
Here is our edit of favourite classics we have encountered on shoots – they are all investment pieces that are classic, available all year round, and most importantly, comfortable. This means they can never go out of fashion. And that, my friends, is even better!
Sometimes in life, it is the little things that count. The night your children sleep through until 7 am; a good cup of coffee; nabbing a bargain on theoutnet.com; a glass of wine with some friends – the list goes on. This same principle applies to make up tips… sometimes it is the the little things that can make all the difference.
One morning on a photo shoot, when not even a cup of coffee could wake me up, a wonderful make up artist worked her magic on my tired eyes with a little trick – it was so simple, and worked so well that it is now part of my daily “make up whilst walking out the door” routine. A secret weapon in the fashion world, it’s quick, fabulous, and it works.
Christmas is around the corner and I’m getting nervous. My to-do list of things to achieve before these festivities is racking up, and buying Christmas presents is pretty much at the bottom of that list. So, to give myself a much needed Christmas boost that doesn’t involve a cocktail, here’s my gift guide for all you last minute shoppers like me, so click on, and enjoy.
It’s that time of year where you wish you had listened to all those “Can I have this please?” over the past 353 days and bought ahead. Instead, as always, I tend to leave the Christmas present buying until the last minute. This year, I have actually been a bit organised and put together my Christmas gift guide for all. Whether its for kids, husbands, friends, teachers, there’s something for everyone!
Sometimes you hit online shopping gold, and when that parcel arrives, you just know in your gut that its going to be a good one. For me, this is a rare occurrence, and when it does happen, I always do a mini dance of joy. Normally, I’m returning the clothes straight after I open the box- that’s how trained my eye has become over several decades. But, this time, as soon as I managed to wrestle that shiny box out of my three year old’s sticky clutches ( he currently has a thing for boxes and clocks… don’t ask) and opened it, I knew this top would be part of my wardrobe for a long time to come.
We are Jessica and Caroline. Models, Mums, Friends. We have gone from modelling and living together in New York , to having five children between us, hopping between playgrounds, soft play, castings and shoots. Our quest to juggle it all (and not give up our horseriding obsession) has led us to set up NotSuchAModelMum together, a fashion, beauty and parenting blog with friendship at the heart.
