DIY Christmas Gifts: How to Make Affordable Pearl Necklaces

This year I wanted to give my girlfriends a Christmas gift which was a little bit more personal. I was keen to make something, but was worried it'd just end up in the back of a draw somewhere (or in the bin...!). In the end (and after a little research), I settled on making freshwater pearl necklaces.

I sourced freshwater pearls from eBay, along with some silk thread, jewelry clasps and threading needles. The pearls were aprox. 5mm in diameter, came on threads 50cm long and, surprisingly, cost less than £4. I bought two of these strands which made a total of 4 necklaces, with pearls to spare.

To create a necklace, I cut a strand of thread about 80cm long. I threaded the clasp onto the thread, before folding the strand in half and knotting the clasp in place. I then proceeded to string the pearls onto the doubled up thread. (Doubling up the thread is a good idea as it'll make the necklace stronger!) By the time I was finished, the total length of the necklace was about 40cm long.

I tied off the pearl strand with a small jump ring so that the clasp would have something secure to grab on to. Finally, I dabbed any knots I had tied with a little superglue to make them extra strong.

So there we have it - a super simple, good quality gift idea for under £15 for four!

 Do you have any good DIY Christmas gift ideas? If so, leave them in the comments below! Also. don't forget to let me know how yours turn out if you decide to give this a go

340 The Kings Road: Fairfax and Favor at London Après

On Thursday evening, a new pop up threw open its doors at 340 The Kings Road. London Après, a collaboration of several British brands, had arrived on the iconic street and my sister and I were invited to the opening celebration.

One of the brands behind the collaborative pop up is Fairfax and Favor, a small yet upcoming British company that specialises in making ‘affordable luxury footwear’ that bridges the gap between the country and the city, or, more importantly, beautiful boots that I have been just dying to get my hands on!

After being swept off my feet and into a pair of boots by a rather jovial man with a spotted pocket handkerchief, my sister and I  managed to pin down Marcus, the Fairfax half of the boot making duo. Then, in true Lucinda style, my sister began to interrogate Marcus for just about every detail of his journey into boot making. (I took the very important role of drinking my pink gin cocktail and listening...)

It turned out it all started when Marcus and his business partner were interning for another shoe company. After several months, the pair decided to go it solo (despite being told they would never manage it!) and try to forge their own path into the shoe business. They pooled their savings, crossed their fingers and flew out to Spain to track down a factory which was to become the future producer of Fairfax and Favor’s beautiful signature boots.

The pair went from selling boots out of the back of their cars  and popup tents to visiting prestigious country shows up and down the UK, selling hundreds of pairs of shoes, all within a matter of a couple of years. Quite an impressive feat given they were new to running their own business. Now, with bricks and mortar over their heads, I think we can say they have safely established themselves as a brand here to stay!

Talking to Marcus was quite an inspirational experience. He and his partner hadn't necessarily tried to come up with 'the next new thing'. Instead, they had entered a market with a good product and let it do the talking. They had believed in themselves, took the risk of starting a company at the young ages of 24, worked hard and come out the other side with a successful business. It goes to show that with a bit of drive and a clear vision of what you want to achieve, you can create something truly rather impressive which is a valuable lesson I feel we can all apply to our own lives. 

All too soon we had to leave the warm shop and step back out into the icy night. The Christmas lights were twinkling away and once again I was reminded just how lovely London is. Thankfully, like Fairfax and Favor, I'm here to stay. 

The popup is open everyday until December 13th so if you want to pop by for  a peek at the boots, a sneaky cocktail or to interrogate Marcus yourself, I would honestly recommend it. 

Disney’s Cinderella: The Exhibition

Last night saw me fleeing work on the stroke of 6 like Cinderella running from the ball. The only difference was I was rushing to get somewhere, whilst she was running away. Well, and I was minus one charming prince, two glass slippers and a ball gown to die for, but that was all about to change- I was off to the free Cinderella exhibition in Leicester Square Gardens!

I’d first seen the exhibition advertised in Time Out and at that point excitement struck. Like many girls, I’m a big fan of ball dresses and anything sparkly so a chance to see the costumes used in the new Disney movie couldn’t be passed up! It probably took me all of 30 seconds to reach for my computer and book my time slot to go see the exhibition!

 Now, I guess it’s at this point I have to admit I haven’t actually seen the movie yet. I mean, of course I’ve seen the cartoon, but I haven’t got as far as the local cinema to see how they’ve transformed it into a production using real people (and mice?). But this didn’t stop me being any less enthusiastic about the whole thing.

 When I arrived, I was whisked  swiftly through a marquee entrance into a small room filled with beautiful illustrations, posters and memorabilia. It turned out that these illustrations were from the Disney archive, used in the production of the old cartoon and had never been seen by the public before! I thought they were really beautiful and it was interesting to recognise scenes from the cartoon.

 We were then introduced to Cinder’s evil step mother and step sister (or their dresses at least!) before walking through to Cinderella’s cellar home and her everyday work dress. The detail on all the dresses was beautiful. We were told how the step sisters’ dresses were covered in hand painted flowers and the step-mother’s was green to represent the jealousy she had for Cinders.

 The next room was dedicated to the Fairy Godmother. Her dresses were nestled in a pumpkin patch, all centred around a particularly large pumpkin encased in a glass house... Her dresses were also amazing- one (the one she wears when she’s disguised as an old crone) had a much more earthy feel to it whereas the other was a sparkling affair, suitable for the most regal of fairies!  The attention to detail was just stunning and the dress practically glowed it was covered in so many Swarovski crystals! 

I walked through the pumpkin and turned to see it had transformed into a magnificent golden carriage. Suddenly, it looked like I would be going to the ball!

The penultimate room held the dress I couldn’t wait to see- Cinderella’s iconic blue ball gown! It sparkled as she danced with the prince, surrounded by dresses inspired by countries from around the world (all equally beautiful, if not as show stopping). Cinders’ dress really was stunning and I just wish I could have tried it on!

Then, something caught my eye- a real life glass slipper! Well, Swarovski crystal slipper to be exact. All £20,000 pounds worth of sparkly shoe sparkled and glittered as it rotated inside its case, throwing beams of colourful light around the room. It was just stunning, although I imagine really rather hard to wear! But who cares- with shoes like that, I’m sure I’d demand someone carried me everywhere anyway!

In the final room of the exhibition, I got a chance to try on the shoe. Well okay, not the real one but a virtual one. Better than nothing though!

The whole exhibition, although quick to get around, was beautifully put together and totally magical. It thoroughly brought the fairy tale to life and definitely fulfilled its duty at stirring up excitement about the new film. If I had previously planned on missing it, I can assure you I won’t now!

If you’re interested in visiting the exhibition, book yourself some tickets on Ticketmaster. They’re free but just give you a time slot to visit. Don’t worry thought if they’re sold out etc- I saw people queuing outside and being allowed in and I also turned up before my slot and was allowed in early, although admittedly this may have been because it was a rainy weeknight! Worth a shot though!

Red Leopard Colour Consultation

One sunny winter's afternoon, my sister and I found ourselves standing outside a beautiful block of apartments in Battersea. We'd been bought here with the promise of a 'life changing experience,' yet Lu and I were feeling sceptical. The purpose of our visit? To get our colours done by the team at Red Leopard.

Understandably, you  may be wondering what exactly I mean by this. Well, truth be told, by this point Lu and I had no real idea either. We knew that we'd be told what colours we looked best in, but why this would require a three hour appointment completely escaped us, especially when we didn't think we exactly dressed terribly to begin with. I mean, how much of a difference could this appointment make? Little did we know, we'd be complete converts by the end of the day.

Once entering the building, we were whisked up to the Red Leopard penthouse studio, where we were treated to a rather stunning view across the surrounding rooftops. We settled down in the studio and once mugs of tea were safely nestled in our hands, our colour consultant Rachel began to tell us about the history of the principle of colour she used, apparently established in the '20s in Germany. She then went on to explain how colour influenced our every day lives and how people's colourings could be categorised into warm, yellow based colours and cool, blue based colours and then further into Summer, Winter, Autumn and Spring, all arranged around the colour wheel. Apparently, by looking at our skin tone and comparing this with a number of different coloured drapes from the different categories, we could discover which colour groups suited us best, therefore naturally making our skin look as healthy, soft and radiant as it could. Allegedly, if we kept solely to the colours from our colour group, we would have a capsule wardrobe that naturally co-ordinated and would make us look our best every day. An attractive idea maybe, but a theory we were yet to be convinced by in practice.

Before we started, Lu and I spent some time looking at the colour wheel, trying to guess which section we'd fall under. I was hoping for Winter since I was attracted to the bright, solid colours in different jewel tones. However, as Rachel quickly pointed out, just because I liked the colours didn't mean they'd necessarily be best for me and so I shouldn't get too hung up on what the colours were, but on how they made me look as an overall package. Inwardly baulking at this idea, I shut up and let Rachel take over.

We got down to work. I went first and was sat down in a chair, where I put on the sort of back to front cape you would wear at the hairdressers. Then came the parade of coloured scarves. In turn, Rachel draped a few from each colour group around my neck and pointed out how each colour reflected on my skin. She demonstrated how the scarves from the Summer, Winter and Spring groups threw shadows across my face, making me look grey and blotchy. Initially I thought it was a subtle difference until she started flicking quickly between these scarves and those from 'my' colour group, Autumn. It was like a light being flicked on and off behind my face! Suddenly the difference became very apparent and before long my sister and I were wondering how we'd never noticed this before. In just a few short minutes, our scepticism had been blown away and we were practically on the edges of our seats, waiting to see more!

Once Rachel had settled on Autumnal colours being the ones for me, (a decision which had initially disappointed me, but surprisingly quickly won me over) she quickly set about working out which from the group were my 'best' colours, and drawing up a chart demonstrating where each of the colours should be worn, based on how much they lit up my skin. Then, she moved on to make up, incorporating my new colour pallet into my eyeshadows and lip colours. By the end of the process, I looked like a different person (or at least a much lighter, brighter and softer version of me). My sister was a touch flabbergasted and I was fascinated by my reflection, trying to discern my old face under this new one.

Then, it was my sister's go. She was a little tricker to work out- the differences some of the colours made were much more subtle on her skin. However, after a few give away colours, Rachel settled on her being a warm Spring colour pallet, meaning she got to wear the most beautiful poppy red which I was left wishing was in my colour group!

Lu's make up was equally transformative, making her eyes pop and her look generally softer and more natural.

 Again, by the end of the process, the same transformation was evident and we were left amazed and totally convinced by how beneficial the colour consultation had been. We left the studio clutching our new colour swatch booklets in our retrospective pallets  (each marked up with little gold stars against the colours which suit us best), vowing to never buy another single item of clothing outside our range ever again. And I tell you what, so far we've kept to it!