Why I'm taking a lot more notice of Lush recently

Photo: Lush UK Facebook page

Lush has never featured heavily in my life. It's always there in the background, a great go to for Christmas and birthday gifts, making its presence known in shopping centres and high streets around the country by that unmistakable smell. But beyond the psychedelic gift boxes and sassily named bath bombs, I'd never looked into their other ranges, never bought anything there for myself.

That's all about to change.

A couple of things have made me sit up and take note of Lush recently.

Firstly, they encourage customers to recycle the black plastic pots that many of their liquid products come in.

This is something I've been hoping to see introduced for a while (in the vein of Irn Bru) in the likes of high street stores like Boots and Superdrug, but I understand that the logistics would be a nightmare (imagine sorting through the packaging of so many different brands to return it to the right supplier).

A post shared by LUSH UK (@lush) on May 4, 2016 at 5:31am PDT

But for every five black pots that you return to a Lush store, you'll be given a free face mask. The pots themselves are returned to Lush HQ, cleaned, melted down and remoulded into pots. I'd love to see the likes of Body Shop following this lead (it's worth noting that Body Shop's ethical standards are already above and beyond most high streets stores thanks to their anti-animal testing ethics).

Thanks to Dainty Alice blog for flagging this one up. I'd expected Lush to make a big to-do about it on their website and social media - and rightly so - but this doesn't seem to be the case.

Secondly, Lush is going naked. It's been luring customers in with a slow strip-tease for a while, but this Christmas, 80% of its products will be sans clothing, sans packaging and au naturel. What's so special about this?

The solid version of the Snow Fairy conditioner for Christmas 2017

It doesn't just apply to the solid products like bath bombs and soaps. Conditioners, body scrubs and shower gels are all getting the naked treatment, being sold without any packaging at all.

Wait, what?

Isn't that going to get messy? Nope, the wizards at Lush have whipped up solid versions of these products, which require no packaging. It works like this:

"Solid, naked products like body butters are formulated with little to no water and are therefore often innately self-preserving - just like our Christmas range. By replacing the water content with ingredients that remain solid at room temperature, like Fair Trade cocoa butter, bacteria growth is inhibited and stays that way. Eureka.​"

Add to this the Lush's long standing Against Animal Testing policy and pledge towards ethical buying, and that omnipresent smell may have just lured itself a new loyal customer.

Afternoon tea review: Tea Terrace, Guildford

Another weekend, another afternoon tea. This time we're five floors above Guildford High Street, tucked away inside House of Fraser's Tea Terrace.

It describes itself as a "very English tearoom",  all chintzy vintage crockery, literary quotes scrawled elegantly on the walls, and tempting cakes under huge glass domes. There's an air of Alice in Wonderland to it as well, some of the chairs larger than others, all brightly coloured - organised chaos, really.

Having navigated Guildford's one-way system (twice, for reasons that I won't go into here), any sort of tea and cake would be welcome at this point, but we're here for the afternoon tea. That alone involves four choices (Traditional/Celebration/Indulgence/Gluten-Free), and indeed choices within choices. Unlike other afternoon teas, you can pick and choose your elements here - ideal for fussy eaters like me.

Each person can pick two from a list of eight sandwich fillings, and two from a choice of five scones (both savoury and sweet). There's nothing groundbreaking in the sandwich choices (cucumber, egg mayo, salmon, tuna mayo, cheese and chutney, etc.) but the scones offer a couple of unusual choices - in October, the apple and cinnamon seems like an apt choice, but I can't guarantee it'd have the same appeal on a less autumnal day.

With the important business of ordering out of the way, there's time to take a recce of the venue. There's an outdoor decked area running down one side of the building, with what looks like a pond, but on a miserable weekend, it's not an appealing option. Instead, we stay in the airy, conservatory-esque restaurant, watching the rain and mist roll over the hills surrounding Guildford as we tuck into our lunch.

As is always best, we'll start at the very beginning; our sandwiches. The cheddar cheese and chutney is a pleasant surprise, the chutney sweeter than anticipated - even with the sweetest of teeth, you'd struggle to eat more than a couple of dainty triangle sandwiches of it. Our other choice, the egg mayo was rather uninspiring in itself, but provided a much needed foil to dull the intensity of the chutney.

Up a layer we hop, to the scones. Being one for sitting firmly on the fence, I'd gone for one savoury and one sweet; a cheddar cheese and herb, and a cranberry and white chocolate. Beginning with the cheese one (I'm not a complete heathen), things are looking good, and a dollop of butter sent the warm cheesiness down a treat. Ample cream and jam were provided for my sweet option, but to be honest, I could have lived without the cranberries (afternoon tea chefs take note: you cannot beat a warm choc chip scone).

 Finally, we get to the literal and metaphorical pinnacle of the whole afternoon tea rigmarole; the cake. I'm sorry to say that The Tea Terrace let itself down a bit here. Quantity-wise, things were impressive, with three generous slices of loaf cake each; lemon, apple cake and carrot cake. But three tiers and a mug of hot chocolate in, it's not quantity you're after, and I couldn't help feeling that things would be improved by replacing the three slices of loaf cake with one slice of the more appealing cakes available individually at the counter.

Would I go back to the Tea Terrace? Yes I would - it's a nice place to go for a special occasion, that doesn't cost too much, and doesn't need to be planned or booked too far in advance. The food we had was mostly of a very good standard, the portion sizes were generous, and the staff efficient, friendly and attentive.

A word of warning: this place gets busy at weekends, and doesn't take bookings. We arrived around 12.30 on a Sunday and were seated straight away, on one of the last available tables. By the time we left a couple of hours later, there were about eight groups waiting for tables. It's not only afternoon tea and cakes; all manner of sandwiches, paninis and main meals were arriving at tables around us, looking quite tempting.

The Tea Terrace, House of Fraser Guildford (and two London venues).
See also: Afternoon tea review: B'n'T Brunch Afternoon Tea at Le Meridien Piccadilly.

The whole picture: September 2017

Miss my August round-up? Catch up here.

There are NO good pictures of me from holiday, so you'll have to make do with this.

What I've done in September

The middle two weeks of this month were taken up by a beach holiday on the coast of Bulgaria - lots of chill time, a pile of books and regular dips in the sea. Absolute highlight was spotting some dolphins in the sea, but more on that in future blog posts.

The rest of the month has been dedicated to catching up with friends and catching up with work.

What I've eaten in September

A long overdue catch-up with a friend took me to The Green Room, a bar-restaurant by the National Theatre, situated just behind it on South Bank. We only intended to go for drinks, but the food smelt so good, we ended up indulging. Some of the best buffalo chicken wings I've found in London.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Sep 6, 2017 at 10:57pm PDT

Twice, doughnuts turned up at the office (#lovemyjob), courtesy of Doughnut Time, an Aussie doughnut brand that's coming to London soon. Yes, that is a doughnut with a Ferrero Rocher on top.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Sep 7, 2017 at 5:21am PDT

We also received a delivery of Halloween cupcakes from FlavourTown, and I now have all the skills envy, because just looked how well decorated they are:

Sadly one of our interns left this month. Not-sadly, this involved a farewell lunch at Red's True BBQ in Shoreditch. I continued my odyssey into London's buffalo chicken (it's an obsession, OK guys?!?), but was disappointed with the dirty buffalo chicken burger - it lacked the kick that any self respecting buffalo chicken has. What wasn't disappointing was the choice of sauces to dip my fries in:

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Sep 30, 2017 at 12:03am PDT

I rounded off the month with post work cocktails with some friends on Friday night. We try to meet for cocktails once a month, drinking our way round the bars of London, but it was four months between meet-ups this time. Must try harder.

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Sep 29, 2017 at 1:58pm PDT

Last, but by no means least, those absolute wizards at Bailey's have come up with a salted caramel version, and I'm pleased to confirm that it's every bit as wonderous as it sounds. Thank goodness for Duty Free, eh?

Things I've loved in September

I've been trying SO hard to stay out of shops, so my main purchases this month were my holiday souvenirs (photo above). The toucan clutch bag and embroidered top both came from a little boutique shop near our hotel, and the giraffe picture was from a street stall in Nessebar. It combines two of my favourite things - animals and words - so I couldn't resist. The bottle is rose liqeur, something I developed a penchant for while in Bulgaria, and the rucksack is the perfect size for work.

I did, however, manage to wangle a bargain on home turf, one which I'm extremely proud of; two pairs of boots in New Look for just £14. £14! All the boots and shoes on the sale were buy one, get one free, so I bought myself a knee high tan pair for £14, and got a £10 pair of black suede ankle boots for free.

What's coming up?

Plans for October currently involve afternoon tea, a couple of Halloween events and a trip to the Lake District. I'll no doubt be making a trip to Doughnut Time (above) when it opens in Shaftesbury Avenue, and I've discovered that FlavourTown (also above) do Lucky Charms cupcakes, so I'll be searching me out one of those like a bloodhound on a scent trail. The search is on for a new flat, which should also keep me busy.

A post shared by Flavourtown Bakery (@flavourtownbakery) on Sep 14, 2017 at 10:24am PDT

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with next month's antics as they happen.

The many beach huts of Walton on the Naze

I've always been an autumn girl; knitwear appearing in the shops, leaves turning their most beautiful shades, misty mornings. But this year, spring and summer have turned my head a little, with their blue skies and psychedelic blooms.

So here, in an attempt to revive the dying embers of the British summer, are some photos I took back in July. The beach promenade between Frinton-on-Sea and Walton on the Naze is lined with beach huts -- the whole 3.5km of it. We walked there and back, and must have passed 1000 beach huts in doing so, all different colours and styles. Lap up this photogenic slice of the British seaside...

The whole picture: August 2017

August's been a quiet one on the blog, as much as my energy has been focused on other things. Namely, trying to get my deposit back from a rogue landlord from when I still lived in London. It's looking like that one might end up in court so I'll say nothing else about it for now. And so, onto happier things...

What I've done in August

A post shared by Londonist (@londonist_com) on Aug 15, 2017 at 1:16pm PDT

Elsewhere though, things have busy. I had a lovely day on a canal boat in Guildford, catching up with friends and looking after an adorable cockapoo. We hired the boat from Farncombe Boat House and headed a few miles up the river. We had every sort of weather imaginable from bright sunshine, to hail, thunder and lightning - and we were only on the boat for eight hours. We rounded off the day with a meal at Coal in Basingstoke and a few drinks at Las Iguanas.

Workwise, I've zipwired, tucked into afternoon tea, stumbled across an aeroplane graveyard, been ice karting at Queen's Ice and Bowl, visited London Zoo... and spent one or two hours in the office too.



Books. There have been so many books. I always intend to put a snap of every book I've read on Instagram with a mini-review, but I always forget. Now I'm back commuting to work from Tonbridge everyday, that's at least two hours of reading time a day - I'm averaging three or four books a week #geek. Recommendations for what I should read next in the comments please!

What I've eaten in August

Well, there was that aforementioned afternoon tea, which was pink-themed in aid of the Pink Ribbon Foundation. It was at Bluebird in Chelsea, somewhere I've always wanted to try, but it's just so damn far from a tube station (and that's coming from someone who used to live in south London) that I've never made it before. I'll be honest, I was underwhelmed. The food was good, nothing groundbreaking, but the staff weren't great. One particular waitress had an uncanny ability to go from rudely nonchalant to borderline aggressive within a few seconds, which is quite a skill.

Then there was Coal, the Basingstoke restaurant we headed to after a day on the boat (there are a few other branches dotted around too). It's a Tex-Mex grill style restaurant - burgers, chimichangas, plenty of sides and decent cocktails to boot. We've been a few times and it's always at capacity - book ahead for this one guys.

My two favourite cupcake bakeries in London are Hummingbird Bakery and Primrose Bakery. They're very different in style - Hummingbird is a big, bold, American chain with towering layer cakes, and Primrose Bakery is a far more British equivalent, tucked away in Primrose Hill. Both do excellent cakes, and both featured in my August (rude not to, if you're passing by). What pre-holiday diet?

A post shared by Laura Reynolds (@scribbling_lau) on Aug 4, 2017 at 12:11pm PDT

I finally got round to trying the Unicorn Freakshake at Maxwell's in Covent Garden. I have strong opinions on this trend for unicorn and mermaid food, and that's something I'll come back to in a later blog post. The freakshake was an impressive beast, topped up with various marshmallows and sweets, whipped cream, candy floss (sorry, 'unicorn hair floss' #eyeroll) and goodness knows what else. The actual milkshake liquid though, was vile. Being pink, we expected it to be strawberry flavour, but it was some sort of chemical tasting bubblegum flavour that we both struggled to finish. That said, the salted caramel freakshake sounds delicious, and I'll no doubt be back to try it soon.

Things I've loved in August

I've been trying to steer clear of the shops for financial reasons, but sometimes, these things just happened. I fell for this top in the window of Gap (Disney AND sequins, what's not to like?) but natch, it's for kids.

My Oasis X ZSL collection tiger trainers arrived, and have been firmly glued to my feet ever since (top tip: Oasis shoes tend to come up small - go for a size bigger than you normally would).

The wonder that is Domestic Sluttery (seriously, if you haven't already, sign up for a daily dose of sunshine in your inbox) introduced me to the concept of cross stitch maps. Happily for my bank account they're all sold out at the moment, but I'll be adding it to my Christmas list

Cath Kidston's latest foray into the world of Disney is a brush with Peter Pan. It's a cute collection (launching 21 September), but I've found all of their Disney collabs so far extremely overpriced.

What I've been listening to

Ok, don't expect this as a regular section on these round-ups because I'm *whisper it* just not that into music. That said, two of my favourite artists announced new albums this month, which makes it a Good Month For Music.

First up is the girl the whole music world's been talking about this month; Taylor Swift. Her new single, Look What You Made Me Do, has been a bit of a Marmite issue. This guy actually summed things up quite nicely. I'll hold off saying any more until I hear the rest of the album in November.

Secondly, and equally exciting, Scouting For Girls have also announced a new album, marking their 10th anniversary. It's out a month before T-Swizzle's, so the autumn is looking pretty exciting, music-wise.

What's coming up?

I've got a holiday to look forward to (anyone ever been to Bulgaria, specifically Elenite? Holler in the comments below or let me know on Twitter if you have. I has many questions). Then once I'm back from there, the hunt is on to find myself a flat here in Tonbridge.

I thought my August had been quite a quiet one, but actually, I've packed a lot in. Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with next month's antics as they happen.

Rare photos from inside St Paul's Cathedral

This chandelier put me in mind of Beauty and the Beast for some reason...

St Paul's Cathedral is offering photographers a rare treat this summer - a chance to get inside and photograph the world-famous building.

Filming and photography are not allowed inside the building normally, but the cathedral is staying open late for a few evenings. Photography is not only allowed, but is actively encouraged at these events.

I'd been to St Paul's once before, when I was about 8 or 9 years old, but my sole memory of it is the bookmark I got in the shop on the way out. This time round, the whole thing was a lot more opulent than I expected.

A combination of the opulence, the scale, and that old photographers' friend, symmetry, make St Paul's a photographers' paradise. Some people may argue that allowing photography detracts from the experience, but I actually found myself paying more attention to the smaller details than I would have done without my camera. The nave and the crypt are open during these events, but the upper levels including the Whispering Gallery are not.

To be honest, I'm disappointed with how a lot of my photos came out. My camera had been working hard all morning at the London Zoo animal weigh-in (have I ever mentioned how much I love my job?), and I was struggling a bit with the focus.

The inside of that world-famous dome

Want to go to a St Paul's Summer Late yourself? At time of writing , there are only two dates left, and they're very soon (28 and 31 August). Tickets are £10 and advance booking is recommended, although there were people buying tickets on the door when I went. I also overheard a couple of members of cathedral staff saying that they may be doing similar events in the autumn, so keep an eye on the website...

Close-up detail of the organ cabinet.

Peering through the grates in the floor of the nave to the crypt beneath. Once people saw me on the floor, pointing my camera through the gaps, a whole crowd gathered to see what I was looking at. Most were disappointed.

The ceilings are spectacular - thousands of tiny mosaic tiles.