Home / Life Magazine Issue 3

ISSUE

H O M E1/ L I F E LOT TIE LIFEST YLE / ISSUE 3

THROUGH THE AGES

M E N TA L H E A LT H , R A D I A N C E

IF YOU COULD TURN BACK TIME

AND AGEING

Coming to terms with an ageing face when all around is youth and beauty

Understanding how our gut health contributes to a happy mind and youthful body

Beautiful makeup to give you a radiant youthful glow

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LOTTIE LIFESTYLE

HOME / LIFE Issue 3

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s t h e w e e k s r o l l by t h i s n e w ‘ n o r m a l ’ o f a restricted life becomes both deeply boring and somehow simultaneously t o t a l l y f i n e.

The mood of our household, and the community at l a r g e, s e e m s t o g o i n w av e s - a c c e p t i n g a n d s t o i c o n e week and totally fed up and frustrated the next. And just today on the brink of publishing this magazine I h av e h a d t o r e - w r i t e t h i s o p e n i n g p a r a g r a p h a s n e w s has just landed that not only are the kids going back t o s c h o o l 5 0 % o f t h e t i m e i n Ju n e, b u t i f w e k e e p t h e n u m b e r s l o w, t h e n m a y b e, j u s t m a y b e, w e w i l l b e a l l o w e d t o h av e a f r i e n d v i s i t o u r h o m e b e f o r e Ju n e e n d s ! I m a g i n e t h a t ? ! I a m b e yo n d e x c i t e d t h a t t h i s period of time may be coming to an end. I hope sense prevails in these coming weeks and any urge to head o u t e n m a s s e i s c u r t a i l e d by s e n s e, s o t h a t w e c a n s l o w l y ease our way out of this circuit breaker without fear o f r e s u r g e n c e. H a n g i n t h e r e, w e a r e a l m o s t t h e r e.

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his months issue of the magazine is all a b o u t a g e i n g a n d b e a u t y. I t i s a t o p i c t h a t i n t e r e s t s a n d i n t r i g u e s m e, p a r t i c u l a r l y a s I g e t o l d e r. W h a t i n f o r m s o u r a p p r o a c h e s t o b e a u t y and how does this manifest itself as we get older and confront ageing? Like so many decisions that we m a k e a r o u n d h o w t o l i v e, o u r g r e a t e s t i n f l u e n c e i s o f t e n t h e c u l t u r e w e h av e g r o w n u p i n . I t i s h a r d t o t o t a l l y s e p a r a t e o u r s e l v e s f r o m o u r c u l t u r e, a n d e v e n w h e n t h r o w n t o g e t h e r i n a f o r e i g n c o u n t r y, w e t e n d to instinctively live life inline with the culture we g r e w u p i n . T h e ov e r l a y o f o u r c u l t u r e p l a y s a b i g part in how we approach ageing and beauty and I h av e f o u n d i t f a s c i n t a t i n g t o w i t n e s s t h e s e d i f f e r e n c e s reveal themselves through the online survey that s o m a n y o f yo u k i n d l y c o m p l e t e d f o r m e a h e a d o f t h i s m o n t h s i s s u e. Yo u c a n s e e t h e r e s u l t s o f t h e s u r v e y o n p a g e 5 0 . I r e a d t h e s e r e s u l t s w i t h a l ov e l y feeling of connection and there were many times w h e n I w i s h e d I c o u l d h av e k n o w n w h o h a d w r i t t e n a p a r t i c u l a r c o m m e n t s o I c o u l d s a y “ ye s s ! m e t o o ! ” o r “ I ’ m s o r r y, t h a t s o u n d s h a r d . H a n g i n t h e r e ” . I f e l t v e r y t o u c h e d by t h e w h o l e p r o c e s s a n d i t m a d e m e r e a l i s e h o w i m p o r t a n t i t i s t o c o m e t o g e t h e r, e v e n a n o n y m o u s l y, t o s h a r e a c o m m o n e x p e r i e n c e. T h e r e

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ARTICLE

is both a sadness and a joy with getting older and I s u s p e c t h o w w e f e e l i n l i f e, i n g e n e r a l , i n f o r m s our feelings on the ageing process. Last week I listened to the Louis Theroux podcast with Helena B o n h a m C a r t e r. L o u i s a s k s h e r a b o u t H o l l y w o o d s t e r e o t y p e s o f yo u t h a n d b e a u t y a n d H e l e n a r e s p o n d s w i t h a l ov e l y p h r a s e, s h e s a y s “ t h e t h i n g a b o u t g e t t i n g o l d e r i s t h a t yo u a r e f a l l i n g a p a r t o n t h e o u t s i d e, b u t o n t h e i n s i d e yo u f e e l c o m p l e t e l y t o g e t h e r ” . I l ov e d t h i s . G e t t i n g o l d e r m a y i n c l u d e more wrinkles and body parts that hurt, but there i s a c a l m a n d s u r e t y a b o u t w h o yo u a r e t h a t s e e m s t o b l o s s o m w i t h a g e. T h e o l d e r I g e t t h e m o r e I u n d e r s t a n d w h o I a m a n d h o w t o l i v e l i f e. Fe w things truly bother me anymore and I feel calm in a way I never did in my 20s. So if getting older i n c l u d e s m o r e o f t h i s f e e l i n g, t h e n t h a t ’s a p r e t t y g o o d u p s i d e. I h o p e yo u e n j o y t h i s m o n t h s m a g a z i n e.

Lot t i e

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C O N T R I BU TO R S HELEN BARKER “M ental H ealth , R adiance page 24

and

A geing ”

Psychologist and Coach Helen is passionate about helping people to live joyfully connected lives, eating dark chocolate and dancing (badly) to 80s music. Whilst she hasn’t yet found the elixir of eternal youth, she’s hoping that these three might somehow hold the answer.

HESTER ABA “V anity F air ” page 12 Hester is an Editor and Creative Director, who can’t be trusted to not pick at her face and then cry about it at the age of 37.”

ANDREA CLAIRE “I f Y ou C ould T urn B ack T ime ” page 18 Hair and makeup artist Andrea Claire has discovered that the true secret in the fight against ageing is a great eye cream, margaritas in a bag paired with immaturity.

ANDREA GALKOVA “N atures B eauty ” page 44 Andrea is a professional photographer and lover of nature, especially its produce like good food and wine!

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order” John Burroughs

CAROLYN HAMER-SMITH “B eauty

and the

B hutanese ” page 60

Working in international development and human rights, Carolyn is making the Himalaya her home and coveting the high cheek bones and glorious manners of the Bhutanese.

DELPHINE RETHORET “O ne D ress , T hree L ooks ” page 14 Fashion stylist, Delphine is wondering if her new found grey hairs can be attributed to home schooling and lockdown...?

KATE GALLAGHER “5

mins with ...”

page 65

Kate is an Interior Designer and mum to 3 small boys and believes there is nothing a little tea tree oil can’t fix

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LOTTIE LIFESTYLE

HOME / LIFE Issue 3

CONTENTS

THROUGH THE AGES

8-11

VANITY FAIR

12-13

FASHION

14-17

One dress, Three Looks

BEAUTY

18-23

If you could turn back time

MENTAL HEALTH, RADIANCE AND AGEING

24-27

HOME

28-39

The beautiful world of Rachel Castle

FOOD

40-43

Roasted Broccoli Salad

NATURE’S BEAUTY

44-49

Hike and bike trails in Singapore

BEAUTY AND AGEING SURVEY

50-59

BEAUTY AND THE BHUTANESE

60-63

CONTENT ROUNDUP

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5 MINS WITH...

65

Kate Gallagher

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Front Cover

F RO N T C OV E R

T H E B E AU T I F U L WO R L D O F RACHEL CASTLE page 28

w w w. s h o p l o t t i e l i f e s t y l e . c o m

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THROUGH THE AGES

T H RO U G H T H E AG E S Coming to ter ms with my ageing face WORDS Charlie Cameron

My drooping face has been on my mind a lot lately. I’d like to say I’ve reached an age (on the cusp of 47 years old, as it happens) where these things just don’t matter; that I’ve become wise and zen and mature no longer vain and troubled by something as trifling as a sagging face. But that’s simply not the case. The question of age and ageing interests me a lot. I am surrounded in Singapore with almost predominately younger women. My business collaborators are all five to ten years younger than me - in some cases younger still. I have one friend here who is thankfully my age - and thank goodness for her because she is my touchstone; the person I turn to when the

sadness about getting older rears it’s head and needs some understanding. We rely on each other for soothing words that only a female friend can give. A conversation between us might go something like this “I’m so hot at the moment...are you feeling really hot too? Oh god I’m worried I’m starting menopause” before either one of us says to the other “it’s OK, you are not starting menopause.

I’m hot too, we live in Singapore for goodness sake - its bloody boiling!” We seem to take it in turns to have these conversations, about menopause, about our sagging faces or increasingly soft tummy’s. And over time I have noticed that worrying about ageing is related far more

to a general state of mind than to anything specific. Day to day we actually look exactly the same. Of course we are ageing but it is happening slowly, over years, not overnight. So why do we sometimes look at ourselves in the mirror with horror at what stares back? Last week I might have been feeling totally fine, attractive even, and days later I catch myself in the mirror and wonder what on earth has gone wrong. In these moments I’m filled with a longing to remove the signs of ageing that seem to have taken up residence on my face.

Mention this (most glaringly obvious change) to a friend or husband and they will generally say “you look totally fine - what are you talking

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about?” And there’s the rub. What is reflected back to us in the mirror is how we feel on the inside and not necessarily a change on the outside. Maybe we are feeling tired, or stressed, or just a bit down.

Maybe we haven’t been eating well recently or drinking too much and not exercising enough, all of these things add up to how we feel about ourselves. Over time not taking care of yourself will actually show up on your face as ageing, but in the short term that internal “not feeling very sparky” feeling is what looks back at us in the mirror. Which is one of the reasons why, to date, I have not taken any steps to address my ageing face or body. Is it just that I’m feeling a bit average? I don’t want to go down an uncessary path if all I needed to do was go for a run!

There are so many options now when it comes to beauty and ageing.

A lot or a little, you can fix whatever is bothering you. And even though I wish to have a younger face I have not chosen to do any cosmetic procedures - yet (let’s not totally shut the door to the idea just yet).

I have thought about it and I will probably go on thinking about it - it is so tantalisingly available, a quick panacea to erase everything that I don’t like, but I’m not sure I will ever take that leap. I worry that I would be looking for a quick solution rather than tackling a bigger issue around why I think I look old (see above). I also worry about starting and not being able to stop. Does anyone do a little botox?

Or filler just once? Rarely. Usually it becomes a periodic requirement - something you now need to feel you look good. I worry about the

health implications, about injecting something that has no medical benefit inside my body regularly.

And lastly, I like that my husband and I are growing old together. We met when we were in our mid 20’s and we still see this youthfulness in one another. We are not blind to our ageing, but it’s not what we see first and it’s not what matters.

There is something very lovely about going through these phases of life together. Both of us have our own gender based ageing issues but we are in it together. One of us isn’t sneaking off to erase those signs and leaving the other stranded on wrinkle rock without a paddle.

In anycase, it’s unlikely I would ever have an anti-ageing cosmetic procedure to please my husband it would be to please myself and if I’m honest, it would be to feel the positive appraisal of other women.

A “wow, you look amazing!” from a female friend or acquaintance is a powerful and uplifting endorsement that most women cherish. In terms of compliments, those from other women are at the top. And after a certain age, anyone exclaiming at how old you are because they thought you were much younger is surely the jackpot of all compliments.

If I was to consider attending to anything cosmetic I think it would be to remove the tiny spider veins that are creeping all over the place.

These I think I could tackle happily.

There is plenty more I could do. I have big eyes and my upper eyelids are dropping on to my lower eyelids.

I didn’t realise this was happening until I had coffee with a friend a few

years ago. While we were chatting she made a funny joke and then turned to me and said “just so you know I just raised my eyebrows. I’m letting you know in case they didn’t go up - I just had botox”. It was the perfect way to laughingly tell me she’d had work done. It turns out her eyelids had been drooping (as mine do) and when she described the feeling of it, it all of a sudden dawned on me that was what I was experiencing too (up until that point I had always thought I had a thread or a hair stuck on my eyelid and kept trying to wipe it away, not realising the sensation was actually my upper eyelid drooping). And this is just the start of what I wonder...will is happening.

Basically my I eventually face is falling. just have skin I wonder, will I eventually hanging loose just have skin off my jaw? hanging loose off my jaw? I guess so. My neck got so wobbly a year or so ago that I actually found myself playing with it and marvelling at how gross the floppy skin felt. I hated it but I was also drawn to it’s soft pliability.

What else? My eyebrows have not seen a pair of tweezers or a piece of cotton thread for a good year now.

Not only is there no more stray hairs that need removing, what remains is thinning. I never thought that would happen. I’ve always had decently thick eyebrows and have never overplucked them. And yet, here they are thinning themselves on my behalf.

To be honest it would have been better if they’d figured out this trick 10 years ago when I was paying for threading.

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On the flip side I am growing hair on my chin and upper lip at a rate that requires weekly plucking. A friend in Australia recently revealed she keeps a pair of tweezers in her handbag at all times due to the aggresive growth of facial hair that needs almost hourly removal. And let’s not get started with the marionette lines that extend from the edge of my nose down past the corners of my mouth. I am becoming jowly.

And my lower face is starting to resemble my Dad’s. I think he looks handsome, but he is in his mid 70’s and a man - I am a 40 something woman, jowls are not becoming.

And of course I am going gray - but this I am thankfully spared full knowledge of as long as I keep up my blond colour.

This ageing process is a continum. I find it perplexing when someone in their 30’s worries about their ageing face and in turn, I realise that those older than me will similarly think “you haven’t seen anything yet.” And so I try and hang on to that idea. You can choose to see an ageing face today, or you can choose to see a youthful one. Both are accurate. I look the oldest I ever have at this point because I’ve never been this old before but I am sure 20 years from now I will look back at this time and think “what on earth was I going on about? I looked fine!” This is how I try and keep perspective on it.

Easier said than done when I spend a lot of time on social media for work and Instagram is full of younger looking faces. I often chuckle at the plethora of videos of younger women showing me how to use a

stone to massage my face or doing face yoga (for the unintiated this involves pulling faces and pushing and pulling your face upwards to stop the inevtiable face drop). What makes me laugh is not that they are taking these preventative steps, but just that they are so young, so the rubbing of the stone over the face seems somewhat unecessary.

Nothing moves while they do it - the stone just kind of glides over taut skin. If I was to rub a stone up my face there would be folds and folds of skin rolling upward. It would look nothing like these glowing youthful faces on Instagram. It would be like some kind of comedy act gone wrong. And it’s unlikely me pushing my skin upwards will actually stop it dropping - I’m pretty sure gravity is stronger than the odd upward massage.

I wish I had more faces of my age to see in the media. Faces that look the age they are. It seems a shame to me that we are so unrepresented.

For this reason I feel grateful that few of my friends have undertaken cosmetic procedures, I think getting older would be made harder still if I was the only one not turning to a cosmetic cure. And perhaps my resolve would weaken if I was the last one left. I remember reading an article by a British fashion journalist who was in her early 50s and was the only one in her workplace to have no work done. She desribes being in meetings and attending industry events and her face being so thoroughly out of place in a room full of augmented features.

There is no right or wrong way to age. All of us will choose our own

path and many of us will waiver along the way and change our mind. All options are valid. I reject the phrase “ageing gracefully” there is nothing particularly graceful about this ageing process and in any case, being graceful in life belongs to us all. Deciding to not use cosmetic procedures to fight an ageing face is not a badge of honour, it is just a personal choice like any other, and any judgement of other choices should be left at the door.

When all is said and done we are all hoping to navigate our way through the many changes in life the best we can and in a way that makes us feel good - it’s all we can do.

Now hand me the tweezers and for goodness sake don’t let me open my phone with the camera on and see my face literally falling towards the lens.

Charlie Cameron is owner of Shop Lottie Lifestyle, editor of the Home / Life magazine and is co-Founder of The Assembly Hall in Singapore.

You can follow her @ lottieisloving on Instagram.

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VA N I T Y FA I R WORDS Hester Aba

I was lying on my bed at University, aged 19, with a boyfriend who was a year younger than me. He peered at me closely and asked, “Do you dye your hair?”. He then asked, “And do you pluck your eyebrows?” I answered truthfully, and he broke up with me about a week later. He said he preferred girls who are more natural. I worry that life might not have been kind to his illusions about beauty. And his judgement weirdly did not convince me to change my unnatural ways.

Flash forward to me at 37 years old in the present day. I was talking to two friends on a Zoom call last week, and the first thing we did was compare the grown-out roots of our hair, grimacing and tilting our heads to best display “the horror”. I discovered one of my friends has a thick white badger stripe that I would never have known about otherwise. We’ve been locked down in NYC for 10 weeks now, and I entered lockdown already direly in need of having my highlights done. I have a clear two and a half inches of my natural colour showing through by now, and an awful lot of that is grey.

I also entered lockdown overdue for an appointment with my dermatologist. I actually had an appointment booked with her for late March, which I canceled, even though her clinic was still open, out of caution. I’ve since regretted cancelling many times over.

As well as my natural hair colour creeping out in quarantine, my

VANITY FAIR 13

natural face movement is also returning. And that means wrinkles.

I’ve been having botox done since I was in my early thirties and living in Singapore. A friend of mine did it first, and didn’t look frozen and weird, but just smoothbrowed and wonderfully untroubled. I tried it, and I liked how it looked. I’m a thin-skinned, pale person, with the lightest shade of mouse hair that is just dark enough not to qualify as naturally blonde. I’ve not always been the most careful about sun exposure and I’ve spent eleven years of my life living in hot countries.

I’m not going to age well. You know it, I know it. I like to think I don’t look older than my age, but I know that’s mostly through paying someone to inject things into my face.

Roughly every 4-5 months, I get botox or dysport injected in between my brows and on my forehead, as well as in my crow’s feet. My eye wrinkles are quite deep (beauty counter consultants in Asia are always highly concerned) and there’s no way to smooth them out entirely without surgery. I know this because I’ve been recommended surgery several times. If you’re going to go down the road of talking to dermatologists and aestheticians about your “issues”, be prepared to get some crazy shit recommended to you. I can’t imagine ever getting surgery on my face, but never say never.

I’ve also tried fillers, twice. Once in the parentheses around my mouth, and once under my eyes. I emerged the second time with an actual black eye, which showed even through makeup, and I vowed never again on that. I honestly couldn’t see any difference from the fillers, and it was very expensive, and painful, but I’m glad I tried so I know not to bother in the future. Some peoples’ bodies metabolize filler more quickly, and I guess I’m one of those people.

Since lockdown started, with the absence of the usual distractions (like having an actual life), spending too much time looking at screens and drinking wine pretty much every night, I’ve noticed that I look older. My husband also looks older. Maybe it’s because he’s also in need of a haircut. Maybe we’re just stressed by trying to move states in the middle of a global pandemic, while

working and homeschooling our kids. I’ve tried not to care about how I look, especially as here in the US those extreme-right-wing, gun-toting crazies who took over the local statehouse in Michigan were ranting about wanting haircuts. So now complaining about your appearance feels aligned to not caring about the lives of others.

The hard thing about aging is that it’s always something new. Botox alone won’t save me any more, because it might smooth out my forehead, but what about my fun new neck wrinkles? Maybe I need to reconsider the filler for those? And I’ve noticed my cheeks have something new going on texturally (I’ve googled and maybe fraxel would help to stave that off?) and I possibly (definitely) have more hair going on on my upper lip, so laser for that once that’s possible again?

I imagine myself as like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike in the old story, trying to hold back the flow of aging. Or maybe I’m more of a Sisyphus, with botox and peels and plucking as my endless, pointless burden. But giving up on all that would feel like saying goodbye to the person that I have liked being. I have deeply enjoyed being reasonably attractive. It has been an awful lot of fun and I’m sure I’ve had an easier and smoother life because of it. I still want to look in the mirror and like what I see. I have a better day when I am happy with how I look. I’m nicer to other people, and kinder to myself. If the price that I have to pay for all of that is quite expensive, both in terms of money and effort, it’s worth it to me.

The funny thing is that I bet hardly anything of what I do is noticeable to even the most involved observer, let alone my husband who will ask whether ten year old dresses are new. But when lockdown ends, I won’t have learned to embrace my natural self. I’ll be back to my regular programming. I want to look like the me that I like looking like.

Hester Aba is an Editor and Creative Director based in NYC and the Co-Founder of Sassy Mama Singapore and Delilah Creative. You can follow her on Instagram @hester or visit www.hester.co where she blogs about life and books.

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ONE DRESS LO O K S

Take one easy cotton dress with on-trend puffy sleeves, add some sandals and some eclectic accessories and you have yourself one dress and three very different looks. Take your pick, one, two or three...

S T Y L I N G D e l p h i n e Re t h o r e t

FASHION 15

DRESS Mango Puffed Sleeved Cotton Dress SGD 89.90 www.shop.mango.com

Eclectic cool with a graphic headscarf and gingham checked tote bag

Top clockwise: Headscarf $39 Bellerose, Sunglasses $69.90 Zara, Sandals $256 Ancient Greek Sandals, Tote bag $49.90 Zara.

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FASHION

It’s all in the details. A touch of gold, a strip of silk scarf and a petite bead handled bag

Top clockwise: Dress as before. Scarf $260 Hermes, Handbag $89.90 Zara, Sandals $261 K Jacques, Bangles $39.90 Zara.

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Earthy butterscotch and a bright pop of coral red

Delphine Rethoret is a French fashion stylist based in Singapore.

You can follow her on Instagram @atelier.jacqueline or www. atelierjacqueline.com

Top clockwise: Dress as before. Floral brooch $25 Dilop, Handbag $380 Matches Fashion, Sandals $353 Eres, Bangle $345 Aurelie Bidermann.

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I F YO U C O U L D T U R N BAC K T I M E A G E S M A RT B E AU T Y Dying for that youthful, radiant, lit from within look that everyone vies for? Us too. So we dialled up Andrea Claire, a Canadian celebrity hair and makeup artist located in Singapore with over 30 years in the beauty business and asked her for all the insider tips for creating a simple day-time makeup that can help us to look our radiant best.

Andrea is a seasoned pro in the glamification department having worked with Lady Antebellum, Romee Strjd, Henry Golding, Liv Lo Golding, Lisa Ray, The Veronicas and Seal, just to name a few. From red-carpet celebrity looks to the everyday woman, Andrea has all the best recommendations for achieving beautiful looks with makeup.

WORDS Andrea Claire

BEAUTY 19

Primer On a good skin day, primers can be worn on their own, you only need to layer with foundation if you desire more coverage or if you are going out and / or being photographed.

Try Charlotte Tilbury Brightening Youth Glow or her WonderGlow which is warmer with more of a candlelit feel.

Colour correction As we get older, redness becomes an issue, be it from flushing or veins. FACEatelier Skin Perfect Colour Corrector in green, worn under foundation, cancels the red and is seamless without you crossing over to Kermit. Under eye darkness can also have the obnoxious ‘you look tired’ comments ramp up to overdrive, dark circles are usually colour corrected with peach or orange, Becca Cosmetics Under Eye Brightening Concealer works like a lucky charm.

Apply sparingly as too much can travel and crease.

Foundation There are endless options for foundation. FACEatelier, Illumalift, Charlotte Tilbury and Shiseido are on top rotation in my kit and personal use.

Spot correction A great breathable foundation that layers well can limit the products you use. Occasionally we need extra help, Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage covers acne, pigmentation and scar tissue.

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Cheeks I prefer a texture of blush that has a multidimensional quality. NARS Orgasm is beautiful for all skin tones. Recently they have introduced creams, liquids and loose powder with their famous hue. I love pairing blush with a hint of bronze, MILK Makeup in Baked or Blaze blended under a blush gives a lush, skin-kissed quality to the skin.

Highlighter By strategically placing RMS Beauty Living Luminizer highlighter where the sun would naturally bounce off, you mimic the look of natural, bairn radiance. Note that creams work better than powders as they melt into the skin for a seamless blend.

Fixing Spray Sprays seal your makeup with a breathable finish while avoiding the ageing cake effect. I love Skindinavia Bridal for that 16 hour+ long-lasting makeup hold or FACEatelier Ultra Matte which is used both as a primer / setting spray for keeping oils at bay.

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Eyeshadow Charlotte Tilbury Eyes To Mesmerise is truly the best cream eyeshadow to base your eye makeup with. Marie Antoinette is a perfect day colour for light to medium skin tones, while Mona Lisa is great for darker skin.

Eyeliner Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Liner (pot formula) dubbed as ‘liquid-like’ is my preference for a defining eye look.

It layers without flaking, the pigment is strong and you can apply with control whether opting for a thin line or a dramatic wingtip.

Mascara I have always recommended black mascara plus pairing with a blue/black lash tint is divine. L’Oreal Paris Voluminous delivers the luscious lash that I love but I generally find that mascara is mascara is mascara. Reach for your fave.

Brows As we get older we need to give our brows some structure but don’t get sucked into Instagram Sharpie looking brows, a natural, but defined look is the most flattering. MAC Cosmetics Veluxe Brow Liner gives a feather-like texture. Liquid or cake brows are better paired with your costume when making balloon animals at kids’ parties.

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Lip Liner Lip liners need to be used for good and not for evil. Just say no to harsh lines.

Try Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Iconic Nude a Nude beige for a basic pout. Laura Mercier Longwear Lip Liner in Pink Peony, a light dirty pink for when you need a hint of colour. Nars Cosmetics Precision Lip Liner in Jungle Red, a vivid blue red.

Lips By the time one gets to a certain age, a little line for definition is good. I prefer to soften the line with a cotton bud so it’s not too harsh. I also find that we tend to have our signature lip, which can range from a bare lip to nude to coral to red, and all those in-between. Starting from bare to whoa there!

My fave’s are: Charlotte Tilbury Magic Lip Oil Crystal Elixir which for the simple lip lover, it hydrates with a healthy shine that smooths and plumps your lips without looking like the OTT dripping gloss of the 90s.

NARS Afterglow lip balm in Orgasm, a moisturizing sheer peachy-pink with gold, also great to wear under other lip shades.

Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips 2 in DanceFloor Princess, a moisturizing pop of gentle pink.

YSL Beauty The Slim Sheer in Rouge Devetu a red with a matte texture that wears all day.

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Five Fresh Face Facts 1. Always apply makeup over skin that has been freshly moisturised. The slippage helps for a smooth, even finish.

2. If your mascara is a bleeder, check how emollient your eye cream is before you bin your ‘crappy’ mascara. Creams sometimes need to absorb for a few minutes before jumping into makeup face first.

3. Don’t neglect your décolletage. Apply your creams across your neck and shoulders and then dab your highlighter onto your high points ie where the bones usually stick out.

4. Always do your makeup with front facing, even light. Overhead lights create unflattering shadows that causes one to become heavy handed with trying to conceal darkness that isn’t actually there. Then once you step into good light, you could be wearing garish makeup.

5. The difference between a day makeup and night makeup can be as simple as black liner in the water line and a brighter lip. Just 5 minutes to get you out the door!

Andrea Claire is a Canadian licensed hair stylist and makeup artist with extensive print, advertising, runway and on-air makeover experience.

Her talent and hard work has presented her with opportunities to work in Toronto, L.A., Paris, Thailand, Singapore and New York. Andrea has many years of experience both on-camera and behind the scenes in television. She has also co-starred on seven seasons of the makeover shows Canada’s Stylin’ Gypsies and So Chic and has led hair teams for Canadian Idol where she was featured on-air as the Idols’ hairstylist. She has also been seen on Asia’s Next Top Model [cycle one] and Cash Cab Asia [celebrity episode]. Andrea has extensive advertising, beauty and editorial portfolios which include campaigns for L’Oreal Paris, Revlon, Lancôme, Neutrogena, Unilever, P & G and editorials in Solstice, Shape, Bazaar, ELLE, L’Officiel, Lucy’s, HUF, Beauty Archive and more.

www.aclairebeauty.com IG: www.instagram.com/aclairebeauty Agent: www.judyinc.com/andrea-claire/hair-makeup/all FB: www.facebook.com/aclairebeauty

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M E N TA L H E A LT H , R A D I A N C E A N D AG E I N G W h a t ’s t h e m i c r o b i o m e g o t o d o w i t h i t ?

WORDS Helen Barker

Before I start, a disclaimer. This is not an article on the benefits of green smoothies and steamed kale, on why we should all be brewing our own kombucha and baking brownies made from vegetables (I’ve tried the latter, they were horrible). We’ve all felt that pervasive modern guilt, the one that tells us that we are somehow less adequate as a human because we aren’t busily disavowing ourselves of anything containing sugar whilst smiling uncontrollably into our superfood salads. I am a strong proponent of eating for a healthy mind and happy body, but ‘clean eating’ can become an obsession when taken to extremes and that is as bad for our mental wellbeing as any other form of perfectionism. So, with that in mind, how do we stay pragmatic and informed?

You’d need to have been living under a rock for the past ten years to have missed the headlines of the clean eating movement. And whilst a lot of spurious claims have been made in the process, the heart of this health trend has shaped our thinking on food in incredibly positive ways, de-bunking myths of previous generations and radically re-shaping our view on the link between food and health. We now know that ‘diet’ foods are as bad for us as their sugary counterparts, that fats (in the right form) are essential and not the enemy, and that anything that comes in a packet with ingredients on the back that we don’t immediately understand is to be avoided. This is good stuff. But how often do we consider the longer-term effects of our diet on factors such

as our mental health and how well we age?

And how good are we at digging under the often far reaching claims made for supposedly ‘healthy’ foods and supplements?

In this series of articles I will be examining the science behind diet, mental health and ageing.

And I’m starting with one of the big one – the gut. This is a burgeoning area of research with emerging fields such as Nutritional Psychiatry bringing a sharp, scientific lens to the often fuzzy and marketing led business of ‘brain foods’. But with all the complex, competing and often downright fictitious information out there in the media, how do we decide whether a kale smoothie or a keto diet is the answer to eternal youth and a healthy brain?

Well the answer is of course, probably neither.

We are complex integrated systems and making singular changes is rarely the answer – tempting as it might be, there are no silver bullets out there. However, with a little bit of understanding of the facts, we can start to make some informed choices when it comes to protecting the wellbeing of ourselves and our loved ones.

So, let’s start with the gut. Do you get butterf lies in your stomach when you are nervous or excited, or speak of making decisions based on ‘gut feel’? Often called the second brain, and for good reason, our gut is home to trillions of bacteria, which are collectively referred to as the Microbiome. A vast colony of microbes that is unique to each of us, this mini eco

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system communicates not only with each other but with us through the gut-brain connection.

Messages are transmitted via the vagus nerve, in the form of neurotransmitters and hormones; our microbiome literally talks to our brain, and our brain talks back. Studies estimate that up to 90% of serotonin (often dubbed the happiness hormone) is produces in our gut. So it starts to makes sense how this system plays such a key role in our mood and overall functioning.

Whilst “it’s not me it’s my microbiome” can’t be used quite yet as a defence in a court of law, we now know that there is a very real link between these bacterial colonies, our overall mood and our day to day behavior. So it is not then such a surprise that patients with various psychiatric disorders including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism spectrum disorder have been shown to have significant differences in the composition of their gut microbiome.

But what is even more exciting is the possibility to improve unwanted symptoms for those who live with these conditions by improving microbial health. This is early doors from a research perspective, but we today have studies in human subjects that show specific probiotics to improve conditions such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Parkinsons Disease and Alzheimers.

In addition, these results are replicated in healthy volunteers with probiotic trials linked to reduced stress, improved memory and lower anxiety. This forms the basis of recent claims that probiotics can make you happy (what they mean is less stressed!). These results have also been replicated in participants following a diet, low in processed food, carbohydrates and sugars, suggesting that it is the effects of the probiotics on the overall health of the microbiome that is at play here, rather than the probiotics themselves.

At the same time we are finding out that the link between our gut and inf lammation levels can significantly moderate the process of ageing in our bodies, allowing us to delay the onset of age related disease and preserve the bio markers of a more youthful body. A healthy microbiome has also been shown to play a role in reducing inf lammation in the body, which represents enemy number one in the ageing process. In a recent study in Japan low inf lammation levels were found to be the most significant determinant of living to extreme old age, more important even than Telomere length (an often reported predictor of relative ‘age’ of our bodies and the subject of much scrutiny right now). Another study shows that probiotic supplementation with La1 and nutritional doses of carotenoids to reduced early UV-induced skin damage caused by sun exposure in a large panel of subjects. By the time a person reaches 60 years old, their gut microbiome is no longer the same. The bacteria inside it become less diverse, and beneficial microbes, like Lactobacillus, and Bifidobacterium, lose ground. Instead, there is an increase in

Image credit: Adrianna Van Groningen via Unsplash

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enterobacteria populations. These bacteria are called opportunistic, because they can cause an infection when given the opportunity, like when the gut’s bacterial balance is disrupted by antibiotics.

So, in short, the scientific research backs the claim that a healthy microbiome can play a real and important role in slowing down the ageing process and alleviating the symptoms of a wide variety of mental illness or mood disorders. So how do we keep ours healthy?

Well there are four main areas through which we can intervene.

1. Probiotics – adding to the army Probiotics have been utilized widely in countries like China and Japan for decades, primarily in the form of fermented milk. However, since their introduction to the west as a health supplement has been much hype surrounding these often expensive pills and powders, sold on the premise that they can perform wonders from f latter stomachs to halting tooth decay.

However, studies have shown over 70% of the massive amount of brands available to consumers do not even contain what they say they do on the label, let alone that they have enough of the right strains of bacteria in them to make any difference to anything at all. So, for your average healthy individual who wants to keep their microbiome in good order are all probiotics just a giant waste of money? Well, in my humble opinion, no. Given our polluted, chemical heavy environments and our often less than perfect diets they are a great way of keeping our microbiomes diverse, healthy and resilient. And the research that they can moderate the aging process, and create positive effects for mood disorders and mental health conditions is promising. We just need to put in a bit of extra time to find a good quality product with solid clinical trials behind it, and to store and take it correctly.

So where to start? Well, one of the Brands that I’ve used with clients, as part of an integrated approach to depression and anxiety is the Vivomixx brand. It’s based on the De Simone Formulation, (named after the Doctor who patented the formula), and has a pretty solid research base. There are different brands using the same formulation and the one you can get will depend on where you live. In the US and UK Visibiome offers a product called #VSL3, also based on the De Simone Formulation, which has a whopping 450 billion bacteria and has demonstrated efficacy with a variety of conditions. I’ve also had some good results using Garden of Life products from their RAW range (available through I herb). However, the real key here is variety so alternating the strains you take can be helpful as and using home-made fermented products and live natural yoghurt as alternative probiotic sources is also a great idea.

2. Diet - Give them what they love The key message here is to eat the fibre-rich diet that good microbes require in order to thrive. This should include plenty of vegetables and legumes as well as healthy fats like olive oil. This links nicely with the research on ageing – in the renowned ‘Blue Zone’ study which looked at the communities around the world where people live the longest, a common factor was oils and whole foods. Although food choices vary from region to region, Blue Zone diets are primarily plant-based. People in Blue Zones typically avoid meat and dairy, as well as sugary foods and beverages. They also steer clear of processed foods. The ‘good guys’ in our gut love the fibre rich vegetables and legumes, where as fried foods, red and processed meat, starchy carbs and sweetened drinks encourages an environment where the harmful gut bacteria can take over and conditions like ‘leaky gut’ can occur. So, it can be reasonably supposed that a key factor in the longevitiy of these groups is linked to the health of their microbiome.

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Now when it comes to treating individuals who are dealing with the trials and tribulations of anxiety, depression or other mood challenges, being asked to adhere to a strict diet, devoid of the things that we often associate with ‘comfort eating’ can be the last straw. So, as with all things, a balanced, pragmatic approach yields best results. If we’re having a bad day then looking forward to treat at the end of it may literally keep us going. But if we can make that one glass of red wine rather than 4, a few squares of dark chocolate or some Greek yoghurt with honey as opposed to a large shop bought dessert, then we are making important steps to helping our microbiome, and so our mental health. And on a good day, then we can find the strength to make the healthy food choices that are help to ensure that the next ‘bad day’ is less likely happen.

3. Ditch the antibacterials - Stop killing the good guys A very simple way to help our microbiome stay healthy is to reduce our usage of products that damage it. That’s antibacterial soap, the toothpastes, cosmetics, washing powders and cleaning products that all are designed to destroy all bacteria (that’s the good guys too) who we need in order to ensure that the bad guys don’t get out of control. The issue of antibiotics in this debate is well documented, and it is precisely to preserve their life saving power and efficacy that they should only be used where really necessary. This is the same with antibacterial products – would I want my surgical team to be completely sanitized? Hell yes! But when it comes to skin cream, hand soap and other household products I’d prefer that they didn’t mess with the microbiome of my skin, my mouth, and potentially even my gut by their far-reaching antibacterial properties. ‘Microbiome friendly’ products are getting more widely available, but for a quick reference avoid anything that says it’s antibacterial on the label, unless you absolutely need it to be. Given that I’m writing this during a global pandemic I should probably mention that (as you probably know) antibacterial agents make no difference to viruses. Plus, whatever harmful

bacteria they do not kill, they actually make stronger as they evolve to become resistant. So even now in this time of serious health concern, old fashioned soap and water is best!

4. Look after yourself - Be a happy host Last, but by no means least, a healthy microbiome is a part of a happy host, and that is a twoway process. We can take all the probiotics we want but if we are leading a lifestyle that causes us significant daily anxiety and stress then our microbiome is going to be taking that hit.

It is therefore just as beneficial to our overall gut health to promote mental wellbeing, as vice versa. Finding ways to keep ourselves contented and interested through making time to do things that we find fulfilling and joyful is a key aspect of staying well, as is working to keep our relationships with those around us nourished and healthy. These are just as important to maintaining our healthy microbiome as the factors above, perhaps even more so. However, this can feel more challenging than ever right now, so seeking the help of a professional Therapist or Coach can be an important step in the right direction.

And please remember, that doing just a little of the right things every day adds up to a lot in the longer term. So to help to keep our bodies youthful, our mood balanced and to protect against (or alleviate) the symptoms of mental illness then a balanced approach, where we take the small steps that matter, can make all the difference.

Helen Barker is a Psychologist and Coach who is passionate about helping people to unlock the insights that make a radical difference to their lives.

If you’d like to find out more about working with Helen, please get in touch. helen@theilluminatedmind.com

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T H E B E AU T I F U L WO R L D O F R AC H E L C A S T L E A r i o t o f c o l o u r, a d a s h o f c h e e k y a n d l o t o f w h i m s i c a l f u n

Imagery courtesy of Rachel Castle. Photography credits: Caitlin Mills, Danielle Trovato, Pablo Veiga and Jacqui Turk.

HOME

The beautiful world of Rachel Castle is one full of colour and pattern, a dash of cheeky and a lot of whimsical fun. Her designs provide an instant hit of joy. Much loved in Australia, Castle is a small business with a big impact and despite it's recent growth to include Liberty in London as an international stockist and an increasing global following, it is still very much run by Rachel Castle and her dedicated small team - she answers emails, embroiders the artwork by hand, paints, overseas production and replies to all her followers on Instagram - no mean feat when she has 145k of them! This attention to detail and personal touch is evident in the brand. There is a focus on creating beautiful artwork and products that will last, everything is of the highest quality - no mass production here - and down to the tiniest detail, Rachel has thought through your experience as a customer. No wonder she has gathered such a loyal following.

The first time I came across Rachel Castle and her bold, colourful and utterly joyful designs was in a clothing store called Gorman in Sydney. I was living in Hong Kong at the time and was visiting Sydney for the weekend and indulging in a little shopping. At the time Rachel had collaborated with Gorman on a clothing range and I was completely smitten with the 'Put the Love in the Coconut' gathered midi skirt emblazoned with Rachel's signature wonky lettering in bold neon colours.

This was the beginning of my love affair with all things Castle.

We have Castle artwork in many rooms of our home and all of us sleep in Castle bedlinen too. For someone who is known to have a restrained interiors palette, I am not adverse to colour and I particularly love the kids rooms to feel happy and vibrant with plenty of colour and pattern - any notion of styling rules thrown out the window.

From long time customer to now stockist, my admiration for both the Castle brand and the woman behind it has only grown over time. Come and take a peek inside...the beautiful world of Rachel Castle.

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Castle has become a much-loved brand, but where did it start?

I spent the first 15 years of my working career in branding. My first job was at Country Road in the marketing department, and from there I moved to the UK and worked at The Conran Shop, organising catalogue shoots and working on the various Conran brands. It wasn't until I had my children and moved back to Australia that I found myself with a real urge to just 'make things'. I did a little embroidery, took a screen printing course and started painting. All of a

sudden with some time and space I discovered I had quite a lot to say and do. There was never a grand plan - I just started making things, had a little website made, drew up some bedlinen designs and had them made in Melbourne. I knew how to build a brand so I just gave myself the time to let the creative process unfold with no pressure.

How do you approach the design process?

All of our homewares and artworks are created and screen printed by me. I have a very hands on approach

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How do you turn an idea into a final design?

There is a specific moment with a design when I love it and when we make that little final change from OK to love, we know it's good to go into production. With a lot of our products, if it gives us a giggle we know it's a good brand fit. We try not to labour over our designs too much, if we have to work really hard on it, maybe it's just not right. All of our product designs pretty much come back to our art works...the palettes, the shapes, the words, the sayings, the look and feel. I think knowing when to ditch an idea is as important as perserverance.

What sets Castle bedlinen apar t?

One of the biggest goals for us is to make products that last. We don't make bedlinen that is replaced season after season - our bedlinen is expensive because we use high quality fabrics that are built to last. I still use 8 year old pillowcases that are as beautiful today as they were almost a decade ago. We go to great lengths to make sure our products will really last, that each new range works back with the last so that there is never any need to throw anything away. This desire to create products that last has always been an important factor to my business but even more so now with the worrying popularity of cheap products designed to be used for a short time and replaced.

Castle is a brand associated with beautiful colour and pattern, how do you approach combining colour and pattern at home? Are there any rules?

The one rule I have at home is if I love it, it stays. I figure the things I love don’t change hugely, I’m pretty sure of what I like, and if I fall in love with something, then it should all pretty much go together in a higgledy piggledy kind of way. If I love it it stays.

How do you tackle running a small (big!) business?

Touch it once. I try really hard to deal with issues, business and design, as soon as they arrive and only once. Emails and socials are dealt with daily, actioned and delegated immediately.

My greatest challenge is always juggling the running of the business, and all the product design with the practice of actual art making, painting and printing and sewing. Flipping my attention from one to the other, as I do many times a day, can be tricky and at times I have to be honest frustrating. On a positive note, it means that I never get stuck in a rut, if I’m struggling creatively with the artwork I go have a break with the product and vice versa.

How do you stay true to your own creative ideas?

A simple but powerful life lesson for me has been to keep bouyant and strong in my own creative lane.

Social media allows us to indulge in what everyone else is up to, sometimes rather than concentrating on yourself, your own work, your own progress. I love reading the magazines and having the occasional glance on instagram but I limit my time there. I need to be moving positively through my own workload and along my own creative path to evolve and stay happy and productive.

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"Growing up in the 80’s with all the ginghams and florals and candy colours, this range is for lazy teenagers young and old."

Clockwise: ‘Hey Kid’ teatowel art $98, tulip pillowcase $54, Velvet penny rounds in Lilac, Peach and Watermelon $89 each, Baby pink velvet pillowcase $54, ‘Big Blue Flower’ teatowel art $98, Baby pink velvet floor cushion $164, Baby floral linen pillowcase $75, Tulip single duvet cover $148, Jumble Garden velvet cushion $85. All available shoplottielifestyle.com

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"Soft dove grey is such a beautiful staple, we gave it a little lick of paint and a twinkle in its eye."

Clockwise: Grey linen scallop pillowcase $65, Licorice linen european pillowcase $65, Grey linen spot pillowcase $65, Grey linen duvet cover starting at $235, Grey linen fitted sheet starting at $159, Butterscotch velvet lumbar cushion $89, Velvet penny round cushions in ice grey and charcoal $89 each, Grey linen rust cloud pillowcase $65, Grey linen pillowcase $54.

All available shoplottielifestyle.com

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"Our love of sausage dogs is no secret. Dedicated wholly and solely to lovers of little doggies with short legs."

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Clockwise: Charcoal velvet pillowcase $54, Sausage dog pillowcase $54, White cotton pillowcase $38, Butterscotch linen pillowcase $65, White cotton duvet cover starting at $148, Sausage dog fitted single sheet $105, Butterscotch velvet floor cushion $164, Velvet penny round cushions in charcoal $89. All available shoplottielifestyle.com

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"Our brand grew one little spot at a time. Spots on bedlinen, spot cushions, add a little stripe here and there, and a big dose of colour, happiest of happy days."

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Clockwise: Cobalt blue stripe pillowcase $54, Multi spot pillowcase $54, Yellow velvet penny round cushion $89, Candy stripe pillowcase $54, Watermelon velvet penny round cushion $89, Multi spot fitted single sheet $105, Dusty blue velvet lumbar cushion $89, Grey diagonal stripe pillowcase $54, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Treeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; teatowel art $95. All available shoplottielifestyle.com

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ROA S T E D B RO C C O L I S A L A D

WORDS, PHOTOGRAPHY AND ST YLING Charlie Cameron

FOOD

Charred smokey broccoli, creamy chickpeas, fresh herbs, a kick of chilli, the tang of lemon and a spinkling of parmesan - this salad is a weekly favourite in our home.

This page: Handmade ceramic salad bowl with servers, $205, Gingham linen napkins in kaki set of 4 $84, Handmade ceramic dinner plates set of 4, $220 , Glass tumbler in clear set of 4, $72 www.shoplottielifestyle.com

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S H O P T H E LO O K

Handmade ceramic salad bowl with servers, $205, Gingham linen napkins in kaki set of 4 $84, Clear glass tumblers set of 4 $72, all shoplottielifestyle.com. Community cookbook by Hetty McKinnon $35 booktopia.com.au

FOOD

ROA S T E D B RO C C O L I S A L A D RECIPE Recipe adapted from Hetty McKinnon, Community Cookbook, published by Pan McMillan.

Serves 4-6 INGREDIENTS 2 broccoli heads cut into f lorets 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/3 cup capers, rinsed and drained 1 long red chilli, finely sliced 2 x 250g canned chickpeas 1 c u p b a by s p i n a c h l e av e s grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 c u p f l a t - l e a f p a r s l e y l e av e s , f i n e l y c h o p p e d 1 c u p m i n t l e av e s 80g par mesan, grated 1/2 cup f laked almonds, toasted sea salt and black pepper

METHOD Preheat oven to 220c. Toss the broccoli in half the olive oil and season with sea salt and black pepper.

Place in a roasting tin and roast in the oven until charred and cooked. The broccoli should be a little blackened and a little crispy. Place in your salad bowl while you get the rest of your ingredients ready. In a small saucepan add the rest of the olive oil and lightly cook the capers and chilli for 30 seconds. Take off the heat immediately and pour over the chargrilled broccoli.

Drain the chickpeas and add them to the broccoli along with the lemon zest, toasted almonds and herbs.

Squeeze over the lemon juice and shave over the parmesan. Toss and serve.

We often eat this salad as a side for dinner with a grilled salmon fillet. It would also make a great side for any protein of your choice - grilled red meat, chicken or fish. Sometimes we just add a can of tuna to it.

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NAT U R E â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S B E AU T Y For a dose of outdoor beauty, head off the beaten track in Singapore

WORDS and PHOTOGRAPHY Andrea Galkova

NATUREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BEAUTY

RECOMMENDED FOR: The whole family.

BU K I T B ROW N BIKE OR HIKE

This is a lovely local hike for us, one of our favourites and much quieter (for now) than the Botanical Gardens. The route runs up Mount Pleasant Road and cuts through the woods into Bukit Brown Cemetery which has lots of really interesting lanes and corners to explore. To return home, we then exit from the main old gates and head back down Kheam Hock Road to Bukit Timah Road.

Some of the most famous grave sites are signposted and have small write-ups on the famous people buried at the cemetery - youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never look at Singapore street names the same way again! Distance is about 6km for the basic loop, plus however much time you spend exploring Bukit Brown.

Info Link Bukit Brown Heritage Park https://www.straitstimes.com/ singapore/new-bukit-brown-cemetery-self-guided-trail-takes- visitors-through-25-tombs

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RECOMMENDED FOR: The fitter family!

Info Links Bishan Park https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parksand-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/ bishan---ang- mo-kio-park Upper Pierce Reservoir https://www.nparks.go.sg/gardens-parksand-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/ upper-peirce- reservoir-park Upper Seletar Reservoir https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parksand-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/ upper-seletar- reservoir-park

R E S E RVO I R S A N D R I V E R S : A N O RT H E R N A DV E N T U R E

Yishun Park https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parksand-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/ yishun-park

BIKE

This ride takes you from Bukit Timah Road along the same initial part of the Coast-to-Coast Trail as far as Bishan Park, then track west through the park until you get to Upper Thomson Road. The route then takes alongside both Pierce Reservoir and Seletar Reservoir before heading east through Yishun and across the causeway to Seletar.

A brief half loop around Seletar Airport and past the wonderful black and whites in the area then connects you again with the Coast-to-Coast Trail in Sengkang and you follow that back down to Bukit Timah.

This is a long ride with some big hills in places, approx 47 km, but fantastic views of the reservoirs and a beautiful ride back along the river to home.

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RECOMMENDED FOR: All the family

Info Link MacRitchie Reservoir https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-andnature-reserves/ macritchie-reservoir-park

M a c R I TC H I E S U N S E T HIKE

The hike starts at MacRitchie main gate - it’s a very straightforward hike to do with kids and a beautiful place to go for sunset!

You start heading west from the main gate and take the Lornie trail (rather than the boardwalk around the reservoir) - keep following the signs for this walk (often includes signs for Jelutong Tower as well).

After about 4km you reach the edge of the golf course

and on your right doubling back is the boardwalk along the reservoir. If you aim to be walking along this boardwalk between approx 6:30 and 7pm, it’s a fantastic spot for beautiful sunsets across the water.

Really need your good camera for this one!!

Total distance is approx 8km, mostly flat or limited incline on the first part - takes around 2 to 2.5 hours total, plus sunset snapping time!

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Nature at itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest: Take a walk around MacRithcie Reservoir at sunset for a serious dose of beauty

NATUREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BEAUTY

BU K I T B ROW N BIKE OR HIKE

R E S E RVO I R S A N D R I V E R S : A N O RT H E R N A DV E N T U R E BIKE

Originally from Slovakia, Andrea left the UK after 12 years and has been living in Singapore, working as a professional photographer and running her business, Andrea Galkova Photography, for the last 10 years.

She specialise in newborn, maternity and family portraiture, and also works with lifestyle brands and small businesses. Friends, good food and travel are her passions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; she loves hiking, bike rides and being in nature, but also enjoys bingeing on TV or curling up with a good book.

You can follow Andrea on Instagram @agphotos_sg and @andreagalkovaphotography. Website: www.

M a c R I TC H I E S U N S E T BIKE OR HIKE

andreagalkovaphotography.com

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H OW D O YO U F E E L A B O U T B E AU T Y A N D AG E I N G ?

T h i s w a s t h e q u e s t i o n I w a n t e d t o k n o w. H o w w e r e a l l o f you feeling about getting older? Did it bother you? (If you are European, it would seem, not much - from the UK or A u s t r a l i a ? I t â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s m o r e l i k e l y t h e t o p i c i s o n y o u r m i n d ) . A n d what ste ps were you pre pared to take to slo w the process d o w n ? S o m e o f y o u w e r e h a p p y t o t o t a k e m a t t e rs i n y o u r o w n h a n d s w i t h s o m e i n j e c t a bl e s w h i l s t o t h e rs w e r e g o i n g do wn natures route.

H e r e i s w h a t yo u a l l h a d t o s a y. . .

BEAUTY AND AGEING SURVEY 51

THE NUMBERS 2 1 2 o f yo u r e s p o n d e d 15 nationalities were represented

How old are you?

The majority of people who responded to the survey were between the ages of 30 - 55 with the biggest segment being the 40-49 year old bracket

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How do you plan on tackling ageing?

Naturally With all the help I can get, bring on the botox I’m undecided

So it seems that going down the natural route of ageing is still preferred but there is also a reasonable number in the ‘undecided’ bracket so depending on how you look at it, things are more even than they first appear (if a percentage of the ‘undecideds’ moved across to the “with all the help I can get” camp eventually). Even so, ageing naturally is still the preference.

Wa s y o u r r e s p o n s e t o t h i s q u e s t i o n i n a n y w a y i n f l u e n c e d b y y o u r a g e o r t h e c o u n t r y you come from?

It would seem, yes. The survey results for Australian and Singaporean women show that they are split evenly between being undecided and wanting to age naturally.

Those from the UK weren’t sitting on the fence quite so much with ageing naturally nudging ahead.

But looking at the results of survey respondents from the USA and Europe showed a different story. American women responded equally between being undecided and going for the “bring on the botox” route - but had a very clear majority with 65% of respondents wishing to age naturally.

And European women had definitely made up their minds and responded overwhelmingly (74%) to age naturally with barely a look in for using botox or being undecided.

And finally it seems our age didn’t influence our response - we were just as undecided at every age with a slight increase in the middle age brackets of 35 - 45.

BEAUTY AND AGEING SURVEY 53

How old do you think you look?

Younger than my age

I f yo u c o u l d h av e s o m e o n e g u e s s yo u r a g e w h a t w o u l d yo u l i k e t h e m t o t h i n k . . .

I look my age

Older than my age

The good news is almost all of us think we either look our age or younger than our age.

If you could have someone guess your age, what would you like them to say?

That I was my age That I was a a year or two younger than my age That I was much younger than my age I don’t care what anyone thinks of my age or how I look

No surprises here..most of us would quite like it if people thought we were a year or two younger than our actual age - in other words that we “look good for our age”. Not caring about other people’s perception of your age or how you look belonged predominately to the Europeans (not one person from the UK or USA said they didn’t care).

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Have you ever had botox or fillers? And if so, how comforable are you for people to know?

Yes - and I don’t mind who knows Yes - but I only tell close friends / my partner Yes - but I don’t want anyone to know No

It you haven’t yet tried botox or fillers yet, you are not alone, as the majority of survey respondents haven’t either - which tally’s with the majority of respondents saying they wished to tackle ageing naturally. In total, 25% of respondents had tried injectibles.

Have you ever had a cosmetic peel or other cosmetic skin treatment? and if so, how comfortable are you for people to know this?

Yes - and I don’t mind who knows Yes - but I only tell close friends / my partner Yes - but I don’t want anyone to know No

Cosmetic skin treatments were only marginally more popular (which is to say, not very popular) with respondents.

In total 34% of respondents have tried a costmetic peel or similar and there is an increase in the number of people not caring who knows.

BEAUTY AND AGEING SURVEY 55

Which elements help to make a woman look youthful?

sh Fa

ion M

ak

eu

p ti At

tud

o et

Li

fe

n Fit

ess

eig W

ht

Co

sm

c eti

o Pr

d ce

es ur

Despite all the options available to us, a good old fashioned attitude to life was ranked as the #1 element that helped to make a woman look youthful. Once deciding that our ‘attitude to life’ was the most important, it was a bit of a mixed bag after that with all other elements more or less having a role to play - with the exception of cosmetic procedures which ranked either 5th or 6th in terms of importance with almost every person regardless of age or nationality.

From a personal point of view I find this heartening. Attitude to life is available and open to us all and doesn’t cost money or require a professional - it is within us all and a good thing to hold on to on the days when we are feeling less than youthful!

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How is beauty and ageing defined or approached in your countr y?

“Generally speaking in the western world women who display outward signs of ageing are judged more harshly than men who display the same signs (and the judging is often by other women).”

Australia, 35-39.

“I think it is accepted that everyone ages but you shouldn’t let yourself go! You should still look good.”

South Africa, 40-44.

“I notice that young people (I have two teenage daughters) think nothing of cosmetic fillers and peels etc. They expect to use them, not as anti-aging, but as a cosmetic enhancement. In general I think we perhaps don’t age gracefully. Some stigma around looking after yourself.”

New Zealand, 55-59.

“The holy grail” Singapore, 40-44.

“Instagram/ influencers play bigger role (next to advertising) overall trend is more natural aging but very slowly changing to accept treatments like Botox. Though overall natural ageing preferred by women. And big focus on healthy eating and exercise.”

The Netherlands, 45-49.

“Mostly naturally” Sweden 44-49.

“Beauty and ageing are considered as normal changes.”

France, 44-49.

“There are a lot of home remedies and masks that are taught by mothers to their daughters. most of them are made of kitchen ingredients. Culturally, make up is not something that is discussed too much. In my observation, a bright lip or accentuated eyes with kohl are more popular, concealers and foundations are not the norm. So in a way, aging skin is more easily visible. On the other hand, greying hair is not. So most people choose not to go natural when they grey.

So hair culturing and hiding grey roots is definitely popular.”

India, 35-39.

“As something to be avoided, like a disease.” USA, 45-49.

“Beauty and ageing are both defined by grace, how beautiful and gracefully we behave and love ourselves far outweighs intervention. This includes loving and being kind to your skin. Use good cosmeceutical skin care recommended from a qualified professional. With laser and injectables, less is always best.

Living in Australia, 3 words, sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen” Australia 44-49.

“Depends on your social group.

Youth is prized but respect given to those who grow old gracefully” UK, 45-49.

“Defined by confidence and positive outlook towards life” Singapore, 44-49.

“I have noticed the generation below me getting fillers etc but generally I feel my circle is more natural.”

Australia, 30-34.

“Americans are rather transparent in their preference for youth and augmenting what we’re born with, it fuels a very rich cosmetic enhancement industry. But I do see that there is growth in celebrating natural aging too and being as healthy looking as you can.”

USA, 45-49.

“Women in Portugal spend time and money to keep themselves young and there is quite an emphasis on physical beauty.

In the UK i think it is a mixed message of some ageing naturally and thinking it is accepted but a younger generation who have a lot of focus on physical beauty” Portugal / UK 44-49.

“I think French are quite accepting of aging. Attitude and style I would think prevail over age and physical appearance but I may be wrong.”

France, 35-39.

BEAUTY AND AGEING SURVEY 57

cont’d

“So much pressure to maintain good skin and to do regular procedures to fight aging.”

Korea, 35-39.

“People are quite open to anti ageing measures and my friends all do botox regularly” Australia, under 30.

“Gracious ageing with a lot of exercise and healthy eating habits recommended” Singapore 50-54.

“I find most women in the US want to look younger than they are, but the lengths they go to achieve it is changing gradually.

Women are more aware of what they’re putting on their bodies and placing higher value on natural ingredients to help prolong a youthful appearancethis may be at the expense of leaving some lines or wrinkles untouched, which is becoming a beautiful trend in my opinion.”

USA, 40-44.

“Too much botox and fillers! Most women look the same. Old but without wrinkles on their forehead” Greece, 45-49.

“Though Japanese people hate plastic surgery 10 years ago or so, recently people change their mind and think OK about botox, skin peeling or another plastic surgery.”

Singapore 35-39.

“That age is just a number. Living a happy life is more important and being with family and friends keeps your happiness and beauty alive.”

Denmark 40-44.

“I think there’s quite a range.

Mostly people think it’s naff or too ‘try hard’ or cheating to take it all too seriously & would never value beauty that’s fake. Beauty & ageing can be a bit viewed the way we treat our old houses: worn around the edges, a bit run down but full of character and taste and beauty: a visible testament to a life well lived. I think our heritage and history in music, rock and punk etc plays a role too. Then you have the cities where individuality, diversity and creative expression reign.

Then you have the footballer wife culture which is a smaller, relatively recent development where women have become an exaggerated caricature of overt porn-style sexuality (bloated lips and cosmetic surgery). Not my bag but people are entitled to look / be how they wish.”

UK, 35-39.

“Ageing makes you invisible. Beauty is all about being slim and tanned.”

Australia 44-49.

“Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

USA, 30-34.

“Fairly relaxed and down to earth approach on beauty in NZ!” New Zealand, 50-54.

“How thin you are is still one of the main ways that your attractiveness is measured.

Society sets unrealistic beauty standards based on celebrities” UK 40-44.

“Pretty much avoided If you have the cash” Singapore, 40-44.

“Youthful looks are applauded and I think women are constantly trying everything to remain young looking. External pressure more than anything. Wise grey women seemed to be kicked into pasture, especially those in the media. This has a trickle down affect on all women. The beauty industry in the uk also heavily push youthful looks etc.”

UK 35-39.

“With vigour especially with regard to sun damage” Australia 45-49.

Ageing as a woman continues to look for a balance between realistic aging and media that age does not always show as realistic. But it is changing...

Belgium, 35-39 Varies a lot. Would love to age gracefully, like my Mum. Israel, 45-49

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If you could wave a magic wand, and choose one thing to instantly anti-age, what would it be?

T his was my final question to you and tr ust me when I say there was A LOT of wrinkles, skin, forehead, sundamage (hello fellow Aussies!), jowls, turkey necks and ever ything inbetween. So instead of listing “wrinkles” a bazillion times over, I am sharing with you the comments that made me laugh, or think, or nod my head...or in some cases feel a bit sad.

“Nothing yet, but in a few years, I imagine having issues with my droopy eyelids!”

“I think some of us as we age we tend to become more conservative, less tolerant and less open to new things. Some, not all of us, of course, so if I could wave a magic wand it would be to keep as open and welcoming of many things and ideas as I was in my 20s.”

“Body at a cellular level.”

“My ass. Get back up there you pesky little bitch.”

“Only one?! Smooth the lines between my eyebrows tied with no more grays.”

“I’d love to have that dewy, springy skin again that somehow looks great even on a critical hangover or no sleep, but I’m not going to sweat it. I fee happier and better now than I ever did in my 20s.”

“Everlasting good health.”

“1. Tackle my post-babies body by getting rid of my protruding naval hernia, get my 6 pack back (half true!) as well as my old cup size while adding a generous cup or two ;) 2. Turn my legs into sexy, long ballet legs!”

“Grey hairs (everywhere: from top of head to brows to pubic hair!!!)”

“Keep me healthy.”

“Nothing really. Maybe a few crinkles by my eyes and mouth that I would like to smooth a little. I’m happy with the way I’ve aged and I like the way I look.”

“My hair...totally silver. I don’t want to use hair dyes any more but it’s aging and actually my skin is really good and my face looks a lot younger than what I am.”

“Gravity, if you know what I mean (emoji - face poking out tongue and winking!)”

“I would like to get my health back. That is the only thing that matters. :)” “Get back to more flexibility in my body and no pain.”

BEAUTY AND AGEING SURVEY 59

“Less stress. more holidays. better sleeping. less worries. a happier childhood. not being confronted with dead and sickness daily on at an early age. Living a life I dream of. Respect.”

“I was going to say pigmentation. Mine’s gotten worse in the last couple of years, but perhaps it’s more the loose skin and wrinkles. Or perhaps it’s pre-baby boobs. This one is so hard!

Actually I have a bad case of chin hairs which I obsessively pluck so there’s no trace of, this has been soul crushing and a 10 year battle, I’d give anything for a smooth chin again.”

“The energy, I wish your energy increased with the demands and expectations life throws at you as you age.”

“Nothing :) I really like the way I look, and that I still look like “me” as I age.”

“My wrinkles around my eyes but they are from smiling so maybe not.”

“I’m not sure I want to anti age? I think my age comes with lots of stories. Many are etched on my face. I think I’m happy to keep them there for the moment.”

“I wouldn’t want to “anti-age” anything. I would prefer a magic wand to change some people’s perspectives on a woman displaying signs of ageing.”

“Breast reduction. Six pack. I have a long list!”

“To look in the mirror and be perfectly happy with the reflection.”

“My neck. Skin becomes so crepey after 40!”

“Jowls. They make me look angry (according to my kids).”

A huge big thank you to everyone who completed this survey - it made for a very reassuring read! I felt really connected with so many of you. Your comments and responses really touched me and I was struck by how similar we all are, how the experience of ageing is human and that we are in it together.

My other take away from all the comments is this - our perception of ageing and looking good seems to be so influenced by media. When we look around us for cues we need to take media representations of our “age” with a grain of salt. And perhaps we need more regular middle / older aged faces to appear on social and print media to give a more well-rounded representation - and show that beauty lies within us all.

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B E AU T Y A N D T H E B H U TA N E S E

W O R D S C a r o l y n H a m e r -S m i t h

PHOTOGRAPHY Heather McNeice

BEAUTY AND THE BHUTANESE

W O R D S C a r o l y n H a m e r -S m i t h PHOTOGRAPHY Heather McNeice

In 1914, National Geographic published its first article about the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan: a colourful account of explorations and surveys by John Claude White, a British Raj administrator and amateur photographer. His diary from this time is one of the earliest records of a foreigner meeting the Bhutanese people and here’s what he had to say, “The Bhutanese are fine, tall, well-developed men, with an open, honest cast of face, and the women are comely, clean, and well dressed ...they are universally polite, civil, clean and handsome.”

I imagine those John Claude met with were secretly rather pleased with this description and spent time afterwards congratulating themselves on making quite the impression. I know I would. I also know that this description is rather accurate, even one hundred or more years later.

Of course I’m married to one of these ‘well-developed men’ so I would think that! Bhutan is home

for me right now and after recently returning from Australia for my husband’s work, we now live 3000m above sea level on the top of a mountain. It’s not my first time in Bhutan. I’ve lived here before, more than ten years ago when I worked for the UN World Food Program and it was then that I met Kinzang.

At that time there were very few expats living in Bhutan, even fewer who were in relationships with Bhutanese and even fewer who went on to marry them. At the time I used to think about how opposite I probably was to everything Kinzang grew up thinking of as beautiful having blonde hair and blue eyes for starters.

So since returning to this second home of mine, I have started wondering how beauty has been defined over the years in a country like Bhutan. Was it similar to the way we define beauty in Australia or something altogether different.?

On one of my regular morning

walks to a nearby farmhouse for milk, I asked my lovely Bhutanese walking companion and good friend what was traditionally considered beautiful in Bhutan? “To have a face as round as the moon. That was always the epitome of beauty.”

I wanted to understand this more.

To be beautiful, women had to look like the moon? This sounded harder than I was hoping. “Actually it meant that you had a round, full face and that in turn meant you were well fed, prosperous and healthy. These were very attractive attributes” Well that made perfect sense.

In a country full of mountains, steep slopes and narrow valleys there is little arable land and not much room for farming. As a result, in some places life can be very hard with farmers growing just enough to live on. So if you were lucky enough to meet a lovely woman with a beautiful, plump face that spoke of a life dining on cheese and milk and rice, well, you could speculate of happy days ahead. I am sure she

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would seem very beautiful indeed!

When I was first living in Bhutan a friend was looking at my passport and viewing my photo exclaimed, “Oh that was when you were fat!” I was shocked and startled by the blunt frankness of the observation. It was?? Before I could even find the words to reply my friend went on to say I was too thin now and I was better fat like in the photo. Well. I wasn’t exactly sure what to say to that!

Later the next year when Kinzang and I were in Australia getting married, we had the opportunity to reunite with an old friend from Sydney at our wedding.

As we were sitting down for dinner, I overheard my husband announce to our friend “You’re looking fat!” I froze and tried to quickly think of what to say to save the conversation. Before I could come up with something, our friend turned to Kinzang and said “I’m actually training to climb Everest at the moment.” Oh Lord. Later when I mentioned this to Kinzang he was shocked that he may have offended.

“I thought he looked good! I wanted him to know he looked healthy and well.”

Everything we do and say and think comes from what we know doesn’t it? From the experiences we have lived, the places we’ve visited and in the case of Bhutan, from the very earth upon which we tread. It’s our relations and connections, our lived experiences, it’s a hundred thousand different things that we know and understand and take for granted. And yet to others, they are these grand and noble secrets, impenetrable to those on the outside looking in.

In the wonderfully humorous and poignant book “Beyond the Earth and Sky” by Jamie Zappa, she describes her experience of adjusting to the culture in Bhutan,“Entering a culture takes longer. You cross over slowly, in bits and pieces...it takes a long time to find the true meaning, to put things in order, to tell the whole story. It is not just this or that..it’s things I could never trace or tell, it’s all the connections and reflections, the shadows and echoes and secret relations between them.”

This rings so true for me. It has been a gentle, joyful journey to understand better and interpret correctly

the words and signs and interactions I have with the lovely Bhutanese people. And I’m still on that journey. However I am no longer offended if people tell me I have lost weight or put on weight or even if they tell me my passport photo comes from the fat years I wasn’t aware I had! I now understand this isn’t meant as an insult but rather a compliment and I find these differences in our communication with each other completely fascinating. And also rather terrifying. I’m thoroughly surprised we aren’t all talking at cross purposes with each other for most of the time!

As my friend and I wandered home from the farmhouse, our bags bulging with bottles of fresh milk and big slabs of golden butter, she informed me that the days of women wanting a face like the moon are over. Now, she told me, most young women in Bhutan want to be slim, grow their hair long and hope earnestly to inherit high-cheek bones that are such a defining feature of many Bhutanese.

BEAUTY AND THE BHUTANESE 63

...open, honest, civil and “universally polite”. Could these qualities not be the new global standard for beauty?

Not so different to women in many parts of the world I suspect. The global standard for modern day beauty has penetrated even these distant parts.

So instead of trying to be all these things or even trying to obtain a face round like the moon, I like to quietly reflect on the description John Claude White recorded on first meeting the Bhutanese people. He found them to be open, honest, civil and “universally polite”. Could these qualities not be the new global standard for beauty? Could the world not benefit from just a little more civility and politeness? I rather think it could.

(With maybe just a little dial-down on the honesty..)

Carolyn Hamer-Smith is a consultant for international NGO’s across the world, working to make improvements in education, health and the environment. She lives in Bhutan where, together with her husband, she is building a small lodge in an apple orchard. Carolyn is passionate about businesses with a social purpose and has started a business that promotes traditional Bhutanese textiles while supporting livelihoods for women in nomadic communities.

You can follow Carolyn’s Bhutanese adventures on instagram @sharilodgebhutan.

Beautiful photography courtesy of Heather McNeice. You can view Heather’s work at www.heathermcneice.com

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CONTENT ROUND UP

LOTTIE LIFESTYLE

BEST OF THE REST M Y W E E K LY C O N T E N T RO U N D U P

GROUNDED WITH LOUIS THEROUX Podcast In this lockdown period, Louis Theroux has started a podcast interviewing some very cool people. If you love Louis Theroux’s documentaries, then you will like this too. Louis is at his best, disarming his subjects with a meandering and self depricating style of interview. I have enjoyed all the episodes but particularly loved the one with Boy George.

COLLATERAL Netflix Drama I loved this British drama series, originally released in 2018 (It may have only just been added to Netflix, or I may be seriously behind the times - either are possible). It only has a short number of episodes so you can get through the limited season quite quickly. A pacey crime drama with excellent acting from Carey Mulligan in the lead detective role. An easy one to watch.

THE DOCUMENTARY Podcast by BBC World Service Another brilliant informative podcast from the BBC - providing digestible insights into big news stories. The episode from 12 May titled “Wuhan: The Beginning of Coronavirus Covid 19” was so good. I highly recommend.

GIRI / HAJI Netflix Drama My husband and I adored this crime thriller tv series. Set in both Tokyo and London, the story follows two brothers, one a detective and one a member of the Yakuza. There are twists and turns to the story line - there are laugh out loud moments and scenes that i had

to seriously sheild my eyes from the violence. It is really good.

And very different. Don’t be put off the subtitles for the segments set in Tokyo. I particularly loved the penultimate end scene. This has been my favourite Netflix series so far this year.

UNORTHODOX Netflix Drama I am half way through this intriguing drama about a young Jewish Orthodox bride struggling with married life in New York who escapes the confines of her life to start again in Berlin. It is an easy series to watch but I also find it quite sad as well. The scene of her getting married and the early days of married life and her sex life I find quite sad. Very watchable.

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5 MINUTES WITH 65

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5 MINUTES WITH...

Kate Gallagher Things that make you smile...

When the white sofa slip covers are freshly washed, talking to a girlfriend on the phone wine in hand, putting all the toys away at night, my kids playing peacefully together, seeing my nieces little faces on Zoom, a fresh orchid in the house, thinking about how good Christmas was before we had even heard of Covid 19.

What are the 3 things that have got you through lockdown?

Hands down our helper Lala is at the top of the list. Screens and devices (let’s be honest) and baked goods.

In recent weeks, what has been your favourite home delivery?

A new Dyson. Haven’t we all gained a new obsession with cleaning / fixing / beautifying our homes?

What does a day on lockdown look like in your home?

While I catch up on work in the morning the boys follow my husband around the house watching him do jobs. Then there’s usually some jumping on the trampoline and sweaty back yard sport followed by a cool down under the hose. The kids watch a movie in the middle of the day while the baby sleeps and then in the afternoon we might go for a long drive and listen to a podcast. Like most of us with kids, there has alson been a huge increase in the number of bike and scooter outings. Bar opens at 4.30pm!

Best beauty tip Don’t have a toddler.

Favourite podcast...

ABC Kids Short & Curly - its for kids but it’s excellent and it keeps my kids amused (and quiet) for relatively long periods of time.

What is your favourite playlist?

Mm. Not sure. But it most certainly would not include the “crazy frog” song which must be THE most hideous song of all time (and all that my 7 year old wants to listen to) Latest obsession...

Buying face masks and writing long lists of all the different face serums I need to buy based on Instagram influencer reviews Kate Gallagher is an interior designer and mum to three small boys. You can follow Kate on instagram @ kategallagherinteriordesign / www.kategallagherid. com

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