My handbag carries all my essentials that I need when I am on the go…

The contents of Louise's handbag

* Umbrella ~ my Mum gave me this gorgeous umbrella from M&S for Christmas and as you can imagine it has come in really handy lately!

* Totes Amaze cotton shopper ~ I always have a cotton shopper in my handbag and I love this TOWIE inspired totes amaze one from missyc.

* Ted Baker Purse ~ another gift from my Mum. I love the colour of it.

* My ‘lucky’ angel key ring ~ not sure why its lucky but I carry it everywhere with me.

* Rebel Nails emery board ~ I have a monthly mani but sometimes I break a nail on the go and for me an emery board is a handbag must-have.

* Vera Wang Princess Night perfume ~ I love Vera Wang perfumes but this is definitely my favourite and people always comment when I wear it.

* Heathcote & Ivory hand cream ~ Our hands can get dry with this changeable weather so I keep a mini hand cream in my handbag to keep my hands soft. I love the mimosa and pomegranate scent of this one.

* Nivea Lip Balm ~ I think I am addicted to lip balm! I am always applying it and have one in my handbag, one on my desk and another at in my bedroom.

* TRESemme 24 Hour Body ~ This sky High Plumping Powder is a must. My hair is quite flat so keeping this in my handbag means I can pump up the volume anytime which is great when we go from the office to a bar!

* Notebook and pen ~ You never know when or where an idea might hit you.

* Blackberry Curve ~ I love my blackberry and it keeps me up to date with everything when I am away from the office. I also love tweeting when I am out and about.

* Cosmo ~ my job means I need to keep up with latest trends so you’ll always find a magazine in my handbag.

* Diary ~ I love pretty stationary and my sister gave me this gorgeous diary so I know what’s going on and where I need to be.

* Sunglasses ~ I love wearing sunglasses because I feel like no-one can see me when I wear them!

* Keys ~ I don’t have a huge bunch of keys just the important ones – house, car, office and parent’s house. My keys also have a St Christopher charm on which my sister gave me to keep me safe while I am driving about.

 What do you carry in your handbag? Anything weird and wonderful?

~

During the summer, a woman’s feet are just as important as her hair, makeup and clothing as a great outfit can be ruined by ungroomed feet peeking out from your sandals. With glorious sunny weather on the way, it will be time to take off our winter boots or shoes and slip feet into a pair of flip-flops or a pair of sexy sandals. So treat your feet to a home pedicure to get the them ready for summer…

* Soak your feet in warm water for about 10  to 15 minutes add 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts,  2 drops peppermint essential oil and 2 drops of lemon essential oil

* Pat your feet dry with a clean towel. Don’t forget to dry between the toes

* Use a pumice stone to remove any hard skin

* Clip toe nails straight across or if you would rather, use an emery board

* Apply our Melissa & Mallow Foot Balm and massage into each foot, pay attention to the heels, between the toes and dryer areas

* Then apply your favourite nail vanish

Repeat this procedure one to two times a week throughout the spring and summer for beautiful summer feet!

Lulu & Boo Organics Melissa & Mallow Foot Balm ~ For Dry Feet and Cracked Heels

Lulu & Boo Organics Melissa & Mallow Foot Balm ~ £10.75 from luluandboo.com

Organic Marshmallow softens, moisturises and soothes tired achy feet
Organic Shea Butter with it’s nourishing and soothing properties help to moisturise dry skin
Organic Lemon essential oil helps to soften and dissolve hard skin
Organic Tea Tree essential Oil with antiseptic and anti-fungal properties is very effective on athlete’s foot

Welcome to The Grange Spa

From the moment you walk through the doors the friendly staff ensure you feel comfortable, relaxed and ready to let your stresses melt away. Whether you are a regular spa goer or donning a white fluffy robe for the first time, visiting The Grange Spa is an experience you’ll want to indulge in time and again.

The Grange Spa offers exceptional facilities including a 12 meter pool with a relaxing waterfall and a journey through a traditional heat experience area complete with a herbal bath and ice fountain. For those with energy to burn there is a fully equipped fitness suite but if you’d prefer to sit back and relax there is a tranquil lounge with welcoming sofas to sink in to. And of course, there is a menu of treatments to relax, revive and rejuvenate mind and body.

The Grange Spa swimming pool

There are six beautiful, individually designed treatment rooms that have ambient lighting, aromatic scents, luxurious therapy couches and fabulous finishing touches. The Grange Spa offers decadent treatments such as a the Hydrating Rose Cocoon, a comforting treatment that exfoliates then envelops the body in layers of hydrating rose gel, evening primrose oil and velvety Shea butter in a cocooned warming wrap. For the face the Oxygen facial is a true breath if fresh air for skin. This gentle smoothing and brightening facial regains the skins natural glow – a perfect beauty boost!

For ultimate relaxation there is a one and a half hour treatment, in the form of the Enrich Body Treatment. This totally indulgent experience includes an intensive salt and coffee exfoliation for the body and a fresh water mud mask for the hands and feet. Then embrace the calming, sensual fragrance of exotic flowers and let tensions fade as a mineralising marine algae is massaged into the body and a nourishing, velvety body butter encompasses the skin and finally drift away with a sublime scalp massage.

Relax at The Grange Spa

An array of packages from a two hour twilight spa to a full day of head to toe pampering are available and start from just £25. All of these include use of the fabulous water and heat experiences, gym, quiet areas, as well as a fluffy robe and towel.

The Grange Spa fuses traditional spa elements with innovative treatments, fabulous facilities and professional therapists that always put guests first making this country hideaway perfect for a little bit of “ME” time.

For more information about The Grange Spa visit the website or call 01778 4405511.

loveheartsandcrosses.co.uk

Background

Love Hearts and Crosses had been looking after PR in-house and had been successful in securing several product placements in UK magazines which increased sales and web traffic. The brand was ready to go to the next level and looked to work with a PR agency with the right contacts, so a call to cocktail pr was made.

For Love Hearts and Crosses cocktail pr was one of a few companies that offered a PR package at a reasonable and affordable rate for a small business. With a strong portfolio and a black book full of contacts signing with cocktail pr was an easy decision.

Objectives

To position Love Hearts and Crosses as a must have brand
To gain ‘as many product placements as possible’

Strategy

cocktail pr worked closely with Conny to identify the types of magazines that would benefit and relate to the brand from product placements to competitions and reader offers.

Initially, cocktail pr spoke with consumer press fashion desks introducing the brand to journalists. Speaking frequently and updating them on new products which appealed to their readers and identifying products that would fit into story themes were key in securing quality placements.

cocktail pr built strong relationships with fashion journalists on behalf of the brand and provided images and samples in a prompt and efficient manner which resulted in being called upon time and time again.

Results/Evaluation

Love Hearts and Crosses and cocktail pr have been working together for over two years and product placements have been secured in thirty fivr consumer titles (multiple times) including magazines, newspapers, supplements and online e-zines.

Consumer titles

Bliss, Celebs on Sunday, Chat, Cosmopolitan, DYou, Essentials, fabulous, Girl Talk, Glamour, Grazia, Heat, Inside Soap, Instyle, LOOK, Love it!, Mizz, more!, My Weekly, new, now, OK! Extra, Perfect Wedding, Reveal, Scottish Woman, Shout, Star, Sunday Times Style, Stylist, Sugar, That’s Life,Top of the Pops, Wedding Ideas, Your Cat.

Newspapers

Daily Mail, Daily Mirror.

 Online

Instyle.co.uk, more.co.uk, mybliss.co.uk, redonline, sky showbiz.

 TV

Lorraine.

After just one month of working with cocktail pr, Love Hearts and Crosses sales increased by 70%. Awareness of the brand has been increased in both the consumer and trade sectors. LOOK magazine, the UK’s biggest fashion weekly called Love Hearts and Crosses ‘a new cool jewellery brand’. A successful placement in the Sunday Times Style Supplement led to Loves Hearts and Crosses being approached by one of the top UK online fashion retailers enquiring about stocking the brand.

“Working with cocktail pr is one of the best decisions I’ve made for Love Hearts and Crosses. It’s fabulous to be working with Louise as she really understands our brand and the needs. Over the past two years my brand has been featured over 100 times in various consumer titles. I would definitely recommend cocktail pr without any hesitation as Louise has achieved phenomenal results for my brand in such a competitive sector.” Conny Tam, Love Hearts and Crosses founder

It's Dotty!

We love the super cute Primrose Hill set in lemon with black polka dots and there are nine other signature sets to choose from. Each is priced at £35 and the paisties and side-tie knickers can also be purchased separately. Dotty Drawers has also created a collection of sequin nipple tassels. All lingerie can be purchased through the online store, dottydrawers.co.uk – go check it out!

Primrose Hill set

We have been appointed to handle the consumer press for the brand, so look out for them in the media soon.

It is a piece of Jewellery that not only looks beautiful to wear, but carries a perfume inside. The pendant opens up to reveal a tiny refillable roller ball pod that can easily be filled by spraying perfume into the funnel provided and holds approximately 0.5ml of perfume. It’s a simple idea, fun to use but most importantly convenient and ready to use whenever a touch up of perfume is needed.

The Esme Jewellery Perfume Pendant

The Esme Jewellery Perfume Pendant is available in six striking enamelled designs adorned with Swarovski crystals and is suspended on a 30 inch silver plated chain. Prices start from £19.99 and available from the online store www.esmejewellery.co.uk.

Louise enjoying a margarita!

According to diffordsguide cocktail 7 “The Margarita can be considered a Tequila Sour, or a Tequila Sidecar, and two variations of this classic cocktail date back to the 1930s: the Tequila Daisy and the Picador. Both, however, lack the distinctive salt rim. There are many people who claim to have invented the Margarita, which, as Spanish for ‘daisy’ and a popular woman’s name, would have been a very common name for a drink.”

cocktail pr asked Mark Pope, General Manager of 12a, Cambridge’s exclusive private members’ club for his perfect margarita recipe…

Ingredients:

* 35ml good quality 100% agave Tequila (we recommend Tapatio reposado, Corralejo reposado or El Tesoro reposado)

* 15ml Cointreau

* 25ml lime juice

* Maldon sea salt

Method:

1. Pre-prepare salt rimmed glass by running a lime wedge around the outside of a margarita glass, cocktail glass or coupette, roll the rim in a dish of sea salt and set to one side.

2. Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake HARD until the outside of the shaker is frosty.

3. Strain into your salt rimmed glass and garnish with a lime wedge.

For a ‘frozen’ margarita, strain into a crushed ice filled rocks glass and insert a straw.

Important points:

* Always use fresh lime instead of bottled juice.

* Use Maldon sea salt as opposed to table salt as it has a much nicer texture and slightly sweet element to the taste – make sure to wipe any salt out of the inside of the glass: the salt is for the lips, not for the drink.

* Be sure to use as much as ice as you can when shaking to avoid over diluting / under chilling the drink.

Remember:

As long as your method is sound, a drink is only as good as the ingredients it contains, so use a decent tequila!

Thanks Mark – we will be making it like the pros in no time!!

You can visit the 12a Club online at www.12aclub.com

This is fashion PR product placement at its best – one piece of jewellery commanding a full editorial page.

The necklace is “bang on trend and, will add a little chirpiness to any outfit”. Get yours here.

The new! style page opener

Our first new client is Samina Pure Makeup, Europe’s first Halal approved makeup brand. Samina Pure Makeup’s radiance boosting formula uses pure, natural ingredients that are actually healthy for your skin. Created using traditional and natural ingredients and using modern science to develop a high performance collection of natural makeup with staying power! The range includes Instant Glow Mineral Foundation, Setting Powder and Blush, Crushed Mineral Eye Shadow, Lasting Shine Hydra Lipgloss and Nourishing Long Lasting Hydra Lipstick (we love the Sugar Plum shade) starting from £11.

With the party season approaching (yes, it will be here before you know it!) we are delighted to be working with tipsyfeet. When heels get too much these foldable flat shoes are a god send. Each pair comes in a unique colour matched pouch which fits in your handbag and turns into a bag to carry your heels home in. Fab or what?! They come in an array of colours including my fav leopard print, nautical, black, bronze, brown, burgundy, yellow, grey, pink and zebra and are £24.99 per pair. A definite must-have!

Finally, we have been appointed to represent funkyhoney.co.uk, a cool online store specialising in funky home wares and gifts. They have everything from shower caps to cufflinks, LEGO lunch boxes which are fab for back to school and kitchen accessories. The press have already shown are interest in the store’s products and they will be appearing in the weekly press very soon.

We will now work our magic to create some fabulous media moment for them, so keep an eye out for them in the press!

I am not saying that press releases are redundant but for some routes they are just not needed. Obviously, if you have something newsworthy to say then a press release will be needed but it MUST be newsworthy and not just an overview of your business and/or product range.

The majority of businesses that approach cocktail pr want product placement PR – their products on the editorial pages of the press. For this journalists just want to see the images – they have planned their stories and it’s just a matter of finding the right product shots to feature. So, whether they are looking for red lipsticks, metallic shoes or colour pop bags – it’s the images they want not a press release.

I have had journalists contact me and ask for peach coloured products, sheer sleeve dresses and soaps containing tea. They don’t want a press release just the image, price and stockist – though in some cases it is good to add a sentence or two in the email about the actual product. For example with the soap I added that it was handmade from natural ingredients and contained Roobis tea this was then featured in the Daily Express – result!

Take a look at the coverage below – none of this needed a press release.

product placement coverage