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London Vintage

Back to my favorite type of shopping, ‘vintage‘!

London is a bit different to New York, in that you won’t find as many ‘designer vintage’ shops. London is great for retro and 1960s pieces though. It’s not really my thing, as I can’t make myself wear polyester! Though if retro is what you love, London is definitely your destination.

There are two chained vintage stores that are scattered all around London and are great for those retro finds, ‘Rokit‘, is great for redesigned denim shorts, (they call them ‘recycled’) and military jackets. The second chain is called ‘Beyond Retro‘.

I always thought vintage pieces by British designers like Alexander McQueen or Stella McCartney would be an easy find in London. Unfortunately, not so much, it’s a bit tricky I have to say.

Yet again it is all about the search, digging around for those beautiful pieces and taking your time. If vintage shopping were too easy, it would loose its charm, don’t you think?

It’s such an amazing feeling when you find something special, so dig, search, explore and reveal those hidden museum pieces.

Tips:

1) London is much more spread out than Manhattan, so take your time to browse through each shop as they are scattered all around town. There’s no way you can see all the shops I’ve listed in just one day as with my New York recommendations. Take your time and concentrate on one area at a time. If you find yourself on Portobello Road (Notting Hill area), check all the stores here thoroughly before moving on to Shoreditch and so on…

2) If I had to pick just one area of London for designer vintage, I would recommend the Portobello Road/ Notting Hill areas.

3) Have fun with it and wear comfy shoes, you’ll walk a lot!

January 29, 2012 6 comments

Amazing (MALIN+GOETZ) Part Two

As I promised here is my interview with the amazing Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz.

Adela: So how did it all start?

Andrew: Matthew and I are business partners, but we are also partners in life and have been for seventeen years.

I was a typical guy, soap for my face and any shampoo for my hair, but Matthew had some skin issues; he has a little rosacea and had very sensitive skin. Matthew would bring home all these products from work, he was the cosmetic buyer at Barney’s, and then he worked in distribution for Kiehl’s, using the samples he brought home, I began to see that better products give better results.

We always had an entrepreneurial spirit, so when Kiehl’s was sold to L’Oreal we thought it was a great opportunity to do something really special, soulful and also modern and simple. I come from a designer/ architectural world, so the idea was to combine both our careers and create products that were efficacious and great for sensitive skin. Family owned and operated with the promise to make skincare easier.

January 27, 2012 3 comments

My tip of the week… ‘Muscle Confusion’

Want to Muscle Up? Not really no!

‘Muscle confusion’ is great when you want to have a lean and healthy body, (or toned and sexy if you wish), with shaped, ripped muscles, not bulk and mass, (unless of course that’s your thing, then go for it!).

You know the expression, ‘Once you learn how to ride a bicycle you will ALWAYS know how to ride a bicycle?’ It’s the same with muscles. They have ‘memory’, and if you consistently repeat the same training routine, it will cease to be effective as time passes, results will become less and less noticeable as your muscles, ‘remember’ and therefore expend much less effort.

All those years, we were taught to repeat set after set in the gym, in my case 4 repetitions of 20 sets, concentrating on a certain muscle group, those days should be forgotten!

Instead of repeating sets over and over again, try to surprise your body and muscles with new movements. Let me tell you it’s much more fun as well, repetition is boring for both my muscles and me.

January 25, 2012 9 comments

Amazing (MALIN+GOETZ)

malin+goetz_the-models-office_1

Let me tell you two stories…

Story one….

Once upon a time there were two guys, Matthew Malin, a cosmetic guru and Andrew Goetz, a designer guru. They worked real hard and founded a cosmetic company together (Malin+Goetz). It started with a gorgeous little shop in Chelsea, NYC, stocking all their amazing beauty products. They did everything from that little shop.

They became so popular, that even their dogs were the toast of the whole area. This was just the start of their story, their range was totally miraculous, often giving the same results with two simple items compared to the ten products other companies were pushing. Most of all they were loved as they produced everything locally, they were family run and supported the other small family businesses in the area. As I said miraculous products, miraculous company.

Story two….

Once upon a time there was a very spoiled girl called Adela, who absolutely fell in love with a product range she discovered in the ‘Mondrian Hotel’, Miami whilst on a shoot. It had an unusual minimalistic and gorgeous packaging wrapped around products of amazing quality. She had to find more, no matter what! She looked around the whole world for a shop that sold them, then one day as she was walking around NYC, WHOOP! ‘(Malin+Goetz)’ in Chelsea. She walked in and was more than warmly welcomed by Frankie the dog, Dolores his lovely owner and Brian, the tall guy.

Two stories colide when the lovely guys in the shop arranged for me to meet Matthew and Andrew in their new Chelsea offices. They were the sweetest guys, incredibly focused and professional, enthusiastically talking about their vision and plans. On top of this they gave me a huge chocolate chip cookie, a sure fire way to get into my good books!

An amazing product line with beautiful branding and design, launched by two very down to earth, impressive and inspiring people. I’ll post the full interview later in the week, but for now:

January 23, 2012 6 comments

Sunday Night…

I thought a London show would be a nice relaxing way to spend Sunday evening with friends!

January 22, 2012 2 comments

Postcard from Cyprus

I recently reconnected with the amazing stylist Roxanne Parker (hopefully I’ll be able to bring you a little interview soon), it reminded me of working with her in Cyprus not too long ago and I wanted to share some of the snaps, both behind the scenes and the final results.

It was a truly brilliant, all Irish, team including the phenomenally talented make-up artist Ken Boylan, Ken has recently launched his own brand and opened a store in his home town of Dublin, definitely check it out: Ken Boylan Make up Artist

January 21, 2012 4 comments

My Casting Kit

January 18, 2012 8 comments

My tip of the week… Coconut Oil

There’s been a lot of controversy around coconut oil. Is it good, or is it bad for your health?

Because of it’s high levels of fat, many health organizations were recommending limited use. We were always taught that fat is bad for us. More fat means higher cholesterol and excess weight, therefore bad health, right?

Many professionals now disagree and believe some fats are an important part of our diet, and I agree, think strawberries and avocados!

Extra Virgin ‘Organic’ Coconut Oil is rich in medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) an immediate source of energy, therefore not stored as fat. MCTs don’t need carrier proteins to get to the liver, so are immediately converted into usable energy, contrary to long chain triglycerides (LCTs).

Coconut oil has actually been shown to lower cholesterol, due to its ability to stimulate the thyroid function. Other benefits include antibacterial and antiviral functions, it can balance the hormones, it reduces stress on the pancreas and liver, therefore increasing metabolism. Yes, you’re hearing right! Some ‘fat’ can actually help you loose ‘fat’! Isn’t that awesome? I wish cocoa oil was this healthy, I would live in a chocolate house.

The best way to see the benefits of coconut oil is simply to try it. Here are my experiences:

January 17, 2012 4 comments