And the winner is....

The winner of my Spa Paradisa competition is.....

Manju!

The winner was picked out of a hat moments ago by a work colleague.

The lovely Manju has won a Spa Paradisa Body Butter and a Spa Paradisa Indulge Your Skin Bath Soak, worth over £15.

Congratulations Manju and thanks to everyone for entering. I really enjoyed reading all your desert island faves.
Please look out for another competition soon x

Win Spa Paradisa Goodies!

Morning all,

To celebrate National Spa Week (September 19 to 27), I've teamed up with the kind folks over at SLG Beauty to give you the chance to win some lovely Spa Paradisa bath products.

"Capturing the tropical essence of the South Seas, Spa Paradisa combines ancient recipes with fresh, natural ingredients to help mind, body and soul escape to a faraway place. "

You will win: Indulge Your Skin Bath Soak and Indulge Your Skin Body Butter (see below).

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what one thing you'd take to a desert island with you and the winner will be picked out of a hat!

You must be a follower of my blog in order to enter.

If you'd like to post about my contest on your own blogs that'd be much appreciated.

The closing date for entries is Monday, September 28. Good luck!

Spa Paradisa products are available to buy from www.debenhams.com

Happy Birthday Twiggy!

I'm a big fan of all things 60s so when the news that one of Twiggy's iconic poses had been recreated I had to post about it.

Model and TV presenter, Emma Willis (wife of Matt Willis, formerly of Busted)has recreated the shot - and she looks absolutely stunning.

Voted Britain's most iconic shot, the photo has been taken for the Murine Eye Drops ‘Love Your Eyes’ campaign, to mark Twiggy’s 60th birthday this weekend.

The shot of Twiggy, beat other iconic pictures of Elizabeth Taylor as

Cleopatra, Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Clark Gable with

Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind, to the top spot.

What do you reckon to the recreated shot?

x

Interview: Manchester's Own 'Superstar DJs', Same Teens

Same Teens: Photo by Gavin Watson

They've spun tunes for Iggy and the Stooges, have their own online magazine and enjoyed a rake of good press.

All this and they're still blimmin teenagers. Makes you sick, doesn't it?

Here, Jade, Ryan and Nick from Manchester's own 'Superstar DJs' Same Teens explain how it all kicked off for them.

Lauren: So, you first stepped out as Same Teens in 2007. A lot's happened since then though, right?

Same Teens: You could say that!

It started as we were 16 and 17 and our fake ID was a bit rubbish - we met Nick who had a cafe we used to go in and he said he'd help us put an all ages club night together - from that we started DJing, put together our own fanzine and started putting gigs on too.

Bands got to hear about us and it's been a bit of a whirlwind from there

Lauren: Did you ever imagine you'd DJ for the likes of Iggy and the Stooges?

Same Teens: At first we only imagined we'd do something for ourselves and kids we knew but people started hearing about it and it all went a bit nuts - now it seems anything's possible. Mixmag reckoned ours was the best all ages night in the country and we're DJing at festivals in Europe and for bands like The Charlatans

Lauren: What's been Same Teens' proudest moment, then?

Same Teens: That's a tough one - DJing at Dockville in Hamburg was the culmination of lots of stuff.

We got to fly to the gig and we had two hours from 10 till midnight, then Metronomy came on.

If you'd have said that was going to happen two years ago I'm sure we'd have not believed it.

It was in an old warehouse and we were on a proper stage - we'd taken wigs and glitter with us and just had the best time ever.

Lauren: Sounds loads of fun. If you weren't part of Same Teens, what would you like to be doing? And do you think it'd definitely be music-related?

Same Teens: Well, the people involved all do other stuff to - it doesn't pay our wages just yet.

Ryan's at uni doing graphics, Hannah's doing fashion, Jade's just done her A Levels and we've got people like Holly Lucas who's doing A Levels, Ellen who's looking for work after finishing her course, Nick Burman who's at school but does the online stuff for Converse music and Rhi who's just started at the Brit School.

We've kind of found all these people along the way.

Most people that do stuff with us want to work in music or fashion and we've been helped by people like Wasted Youth PR and Artrocker who let us go in to do work experience with them - so it's more what we're going to do than what we would be doing!

Lauren: Who are your favourite acts/bands?

Same Teens: Between us we like most things from hip hop to electronica to new folk and we hope it comes across when we DJ (well maybe not the folk bit) or put gigs on.

There's bands who've been with us from the start like The Answering Machine and Dutch Uncles that all of us really like and then there's people like MGMT and Good Shoes who it's hard not to love when you hear them.

A few of us went to Offset festival the other week and saw Wild Palms and Male Bonding who were really impressive - but we all have our own tastes too that can involve anything. Jade likes JLS, Hannah absolutely loves Bob Dylan and Ryan appreciates anything with a donk on it.

Lauren: So what sparked the idea for Same Teens DJs?

Same Teens: Boredom, bad fake ID and being known by all the doormen in Manchester at the over 18s gig venues - we used to meet our friends in a cafe called The Koffee Pot in Manchester. None of us knew each other back then but we used to talk to Nick who owned it and he was getting bands like The Horrors, LCD Soundsystem, Maximo Park and The View to have parties in there after their gigs.

Real underground affairs with the bands playing impromptu gigs at 4am - he helped us put our first club night together and we're still all doing it now

Lauren: So what's Same Teens' favourite floor filler?

Same Teebs: We DJ at such varied stuff that it changes really - we really liked Blackout Crew over the summer and before that MGMT got everyone going - but put that on now and people might start tutting as it's had it's been overdone a bit.

Lauren: It's a bad day: what song would you put on?

Same Teens: That Black Eyed Peas one that keeps saying what a good night it's going to be and kind of trick yourself with some Derren Brown mind spookery.

Either that or go self indulgent and stick some Smiths on.

Lauren: You have your own online magazine, XOX. Was this part of the plan and do you enjoy it as much as the DJing?

Same Teens: There's never really been a plan so we just do things when it seems we should do them - someone said 'Life's what happens when you're making plans' (John Lennon? Jack Lemon? Not sure) and that's what we go by.

If we thought a range of tea towels was the next step then we'd get to work on it.

People like Kanye West have got it right - a perfume, clothing range, shit versions of other people's songs and if you don't like something then, heck, just grab the microphone and make a tool of yourself.

The DJing is kind of about the moment in a specific place whereas XOX gets read worldwide and lasts a month - are we being vague enough for you?

Lauren: Which DJs do you look up to and why?

Same Teens: Erol Alkan, Eddy Temple-Morris and Clint Boon have all been really supportive of what we've done and given us chances. It was amazing because before we started DJing they were the people we really liked and now they say nice things about us and give us gigs.

Lauren: You're based in Manchester. Any bands you can recommend?

Same Teens: It's always pretty vibrant here as it's big enough to have loads of venues yet still be small enough that most people know each other, stuff happens pretty quickly and there's room for lots of different types of music - if people haven't heard Dutch Uncles (we don't like to pigeon hole but think Talking Heads angular funk) or The Answering Machine (like we said we don't like to pigeon hole but think The Strokes if they came from Marple).

We just booked Wu Lyf for our In The City gig and we're tipping them for greatness too.

Lauren: What advice can you give to other teenagers who'd like to follow in your footsteps?

Same Teens: Just get on with it - don't feel you all need your separate club nights/fanzines and blogs - you've got strength in numbers. Use it.

Lauren: Finally, what's in the pipeline for you all?

Same Teens: Our next major thing is In The City. It was started by one of our heroes Tony Wilson back in 1992 to bring new bands to Manchester and get lables and managers from all over the world here too, to check them out. Bands like Oasis and Coldplay have palyed it.

We've put on our own fringe event for the past two years but this year we're part of the official set up - we've got the venue where Muse played at In The City in 1998.

We drew up a hit list of our favourite bands at the moment and they all said yes - so we've got Hatcham Social, Chew Lips, Wild Palms, Televised Crimewave, My Tiger My Timing, Wu Lyf and LR Rockets. It's on Sunday October 18th if anyone fancies it - as long as you're over 14 you can come.

We got asked yesterday to DJ on the Charlatans tour in December and we're also DJing for Camera Obscura, Speech Debelle and Miike Snow - new issues of XOX too so if anyone fancies joining the fun give us a yell at sameteenscentral@yahoo.com

Thanks very much to the lovely (and very cool!) Same Teens. You can check them out here.

Guest Blogger: Katie Taylor on Internet Shopping - 'Need it? Want it?'

Today, ladies (and gents!), I'm leaving you in the very capable hands of my friend and fellow writer, Katie Taylor.
Katie has a fantastic blog here - and I urge you to go check her out.


In her article 'How Not to Save Up For the Rest of Your Life', Katie discusses the trials, tribulations and utter joy of Internet shopping. Enjoy...

How Not to Save Up For the Rest of Your Life, by Katie Taylor

When I started my University career, I was fresh out of high school, seventeen, and too young to legally drink. I had a job making burgers in a caravan-orientated holiday park, and I had a huge Scottish Education Authority student loan. None of this mattered – I was always poor. I put this down to my naivety and general teenagery aptitude for spending; drinking was relatively new to me, I had a room to furnish with my personality and above all, I had never had a disposable income of this magnitude before in my life. I intended to enjoy myself with it, To Fuck with the necessary interest-logged repayments.

Four years on and I have still yet to master the art of budgeting. I had hoped that my formative years of frivolous cash-flashing would somehow wear me out of buying stuff; that somehow I’d get it all out of my system and magically wake up one morning a book-balancing finance whizz-woman, with the combined special abilities of utilising a savings account and completely abstaining from shopping. Sadly, and obviously, this did not happen. Despite my overbearing hatred for high street shopping (mixing with crowds of people on my Day Off to try on clothes in hot and sweaty, impossibly small and angular cubicles while the assistant wonders why somebody so “cuddly” and rosy-faced ever thought she could wear leggings without the world itself puking its guts right up? No cheers) and my similar hatred for acting similar to a girl (even though I am one), I find myself buying clothes, useless accessories and bags as though my life depends on it. I have over 15 pairs of shoes. This is too many pairs of shoes. If you asked me how many pairs of shoes a person needs, I’d say three. One for work, one for walking about in (aka. The Comfies), and one for posh times – going out, interviews and weddings. Oh hang on, make it four pairs. A flat pair of Poshies, and a high pair of poshies. And then a pair of boots for winter. And some running shoes for playing ping pong in. And some....oh JESUS WEPT – this is how it starts.

At the beginning of a season, I think “I can carry my look over – I don’t need anything new. Well, aside from a few t-shirts to bring it back up to date...nah, my look is down. No more money on clothes. Time to save up for a holiday”. Then, a week later, I will invariably get a superstyled and colourful graphic designer’s dream of an email from ASOS, who are “just letting me know” that some nice new things have arrived on their site. Click. Want. Click. Bought. I have nothing to wear with a silver pair of ridicufuck heeled toeless boots. I will never wear the ridicufuck heeled toeless boots – unless....jeggings. Click. Bought. If I spend over £50 I get free delivery. I needed a new necklace anyway. Click. Overdraft. Click. No more holiday. There is always a hypothetical outfit that must be bought to match the bargain. It is not in a woman’s brain or constitution to buy a single treat. Those shoes need an adequate pair of earrings to balance them. It would do them a disservice not to buy them to finish the ensemble. Besides, if you did not buy the earrings, you would not wear the shoes. You are saving money in the long run. Oh look, that bag would look fantastic with that jumper dress you haven’t bought yet. Click.

I’d like to point out at this point that I am not the sort of person to go anywhere near a silver pair of peep-toes. You may or may not have noticed that I am not a girly girl. Heels, short dresses, blusher and lipgloss – these things do not interest me. However, wave a webpage filled with cat-covered oversized t-shirts, chain-strapped bags, ripped denim, fitted and studded leather jackets and brogues in front of me and I’ll happily click my money away all day long, until my debit card evolves from dead to illegal, and my bank balance flatlines to the tune of several ominously cheery “Thanks for your order!” email notifications. I’m not necessarily suggesting I’m a tomboy – I cry, I strop, I sometimes even wear dresses – I’m just painting a picture for you. I hate shopping. And yet I can’t. Stop. Doing it. Since technological advances in this magnificent hovercar age of Sky+ and Double Decadence Pizzas made it possible for me to buy shiny things without the chance of me having to interact socially with another member of the human race, my money has been at an all-time low. I love the internet. It brought me my entire Uni book collection. And my best shirts. And my Zelda necklace. If it wasn’t for the whimsically wonderful world wide web, I’d be a whole lot richer. And a whole lot shabbier. I’d be dressed terribly. Thank you Tim Berners-Lee. Thank you Dorothy Perkins online. Thank you Schuh.co.uk. Thanks to your combined efforts, I am in constant need of shinier, prettier, more expensive shoes than ever before. And I didn’t even need to step out of the house. Which really brings into question the need for shoes in the first place...don’t you think?

*During my time writing this, I found precisely one bag and two pairs of shoes that I “need”. And had another look at a jacket that I know I can’t afford.

Are you a fan of Internet shopping? And are you easily tempted to shop like Katie? Leave Katie a comment here, or go and check her out: www.shinybiscuit.blogspot.com
Thanks for reading - and thanks to Katie for writing such an ace post!xx

Interview: Charlotte Ward: 'It's Not Me, It's You'

We've all had at least one disastrous break-up. But would you be prepared to tell all in a frank new book?
Plenty of women have done just that! Daily Mirror journalist and author Charlotte Ward has written a fun memoir packed with real-life stories from women who've been unlucky in love.
Here, Charlotte tells all about her recently published second book, 'It's Not Me, It's You'.


Lauren: So you've recently celebrated your book launch with a party. How was it?
Charlotte: Really good thanks!
I had a lovely evening and was thrilled that so many of my friends and family made the effort to come along – although I was mostly running around like a headless chicken!


Lauren: You say (on your website) that so far reviews have been good. How much of a relief is this and how rewarding is it to be able to sit back and enjoy the praise?
Charlotte: It is such a relief. I get in a real state about it.
The night before my reviews came out I had horrendous nightmares about being slated, so I was extremely relieved and happy that the opposite happened.
When you write a book you know it’s not going to be to everyone’s taste and that you shouldn’t take criticism personally, but that’s easier said than done.
When you get a bad review it does hurt!

Lauren: You've done some fairly gruelling things as a journalist.What's been the worst?
Charlotte: I think the most gruelling jobs are the really sad stories - when you speak to people who have been through awful tragedies and circumstances.
When conducting interviews like that it can be a struggle not to cry.
I’ll always remember interviewing a father whose two-year-old child drowned in a neighbouring swimming pool. They were a lovely family and it was such a terrible thing for them to go through. I still think about that family, even ten years on.

Lauren: What's the best thing about your job as a journalist?
Charlotte: I really like the diversity. The fact you get to talk to different people, experience really interesting things and go places.
When I worked for heat magazine they even sent me to Australia for three weeks to cover I’m A Celebrity which was just brilliant.I also love writing. I’m very lucky to be doing something I love. At times it seems more like a hobby than a job.

Lauren: Anything you don't like about your job?
Charlotte: The hours can be gruelling and when you are on deadline there is a lot of pressure. Plus as soon as you go anywhere and say what you do people immediately remark, “Oh, I’d better not tell you anything!” People assume all journalists are evil and out for a scoop but I do know when to leave my reporter’s pad at home!

Lauren: How did you start out in journalism and what advice can you give to others who'd like to follow a similar career path?
Charlotte: I did a journalism degree at Teesside University and Darlington College. Over three years I did all my journalism theory and learnt shorthand, but I also did loads of work experience which I think is the best thing you can do. If you want to be a journalist you need to be able to show that you have a nose for a good story and that you can write and make contacts. Working for free on a newspaper or magazine also gives you a chance to be spotted by someone who might put you forward for a traineeship so I always tell budding journalists to get as much experience as they can.When I left university I wasn’t the cleverest in my year, far from it, but I was offered three jobs because I had a portfolio bulging with cuttings of stories I’d found and written myself.

Lauren: It's Not Me It's You is your second novel. How easy was this one to write and did the success of your debut novel help spur you on somewhat?
Charlotte: I think I had more confidence this time round but I wouldn’t necessarily say it was any easier. Writing a book means really knuckling down and as the deadline looms you tend to turn into a bit of a recluse. You have to be really disciplined with yourself.Having said that it certainly helped that I was fired up by the positive feedback I’d had from the first book. It helped my confidence to know that ‘my voice’ seemed to appeal to readers – although I was sick to the back teeth of ‘my voice’ by the end of it.

Lauren: What initially prompted you to write 'It's Not Me It's You'?
Charlotte: I think a lot of the break-up guides out there skim the surface and writing a really honest one with real life stories seemed like a good progression from my first book.
Most guides I’ve come across tell you to go and get a dramatic new hair cut, which I personally think is the worst thing you can do! I’ve tried to point out that if you think you’ll look as good as Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors then you are probably deluded.
In reality you’ll more likely to end up looking like Peter Pan’s ugly, sideburn-sporting sister and feeling a hundred times worse!I’ve tried to tell the truth about what break-ups are really like and to offer stories from myself and friends which illustrate that we’ve all been heartbroken at some stage and you will get over it. S
o instead of crying over a broken relationship please read the book and have a good laugh at all the stupid things we’ve done instead...

Lauren: How did you encourage your friends to help out by lending you their stories?
Charlotte: I emailed them with a list of questions covering all the subjects I was looking for stories for and asked them to contribute if they’d like to. You’d actually be surprised how keen people are to tell their stories! I think a lot of the people who contributed actually found it quite cathartic to share their experiences and I got a lot of emails from girls and guys I didn’t know, who’d had my mailout passed on to them.

Lauren: What's the best piece of advice you've been given regarding relationships?Charlotte: That love isn’t always easy –they’ll always be highs and lows and that you need to work at things.

Lauren: Finally, where would you like to be in 10 years' time?
Charlotte: I’d like to be a full time author writing a mix of women’s fiction and ghosting projects. I’d also like to be living in a country cottage with my husband and two children, a vegetable patch and a menagerie of chickens, cats and dogs!

For more about Charlotte, go to www.charlotteward.net