A well groomed, defined brow is a real game changer when it comes to make up. It can totally transform your face in one fast, easy step. Ever since the rise of Cara Delevigne and her cult brows, there has been a multitude of products on the market, from powders to pencils, pens and mascaras; knowing what works and what product to choose for your brow is key. Whatever your brow type, from patchy and fair to thick and dark these are the ultimate go-to products to achieve the perfect brow:
Pens/ Pencils/ Powders
Those with a sparser brow who need to fill in the missing hairs and add definition should try Suqqu’s Liquid Eyebrow Pen. Rather like microblading but without the pain or semi-permanent worry, its super fine tip allows for precision application with a very natural finish. The 4 colours in the range are all water resistant.
Anastasia Beverley Hills Brow Wiz is a cult product to come out of the US that graces the kits of most make up artists. With a brush on one end and a super fine, twistable, pencil on the other you can shape and fill in one easy step. The 10 shades work for the fairest brow to the darkest.
Illamasqua’s Eye Brow Cake is great for dark brows that want a softer, more diffused finish. Its powder form needs to be applied with an angled precision brush such as this (Angled Brush) and buildable layers can be applied for a stronger more defined look.
Mascaras
Those with a naturally fuller, stronger brow should try mascaras that coat the fine, fairer hairs that are often invisible to the eye to create a natural, enhanced brow. Our favourite is Glossier’s Boy Brow. (Can Glossier really do no wrong?) This clever mascara fills, thickens and holds brows in one place, in one step. It comes in 4 shades, including a clear version for those who need no filling.
Legendary Brows from Charlotte Tilbury’s eponymous make up range, are fantastic for lighter brows. The super fine brush coats even the smallest of hairs, adding definition, with a light natural finish.
Spring might be on its way but we are still in need of some light indoors. A well-crafted, eye-catching lamp can warm any interior and create a welcoming first impression. Invest in a good base and then change the shade to suit your mood:
Sophie Conran Tablelamp
Yellow is still very much in vogue. Bring some sunshine inside with this yolk-yellow porcelain Bowood lamp £160. sophieconran.com
Rosi de Ruig Paper Lampshades
We are a little bit in love with Rosi de Ruig paper lampshades. Made by hand, you can order online or have a bespoke size made to suit your lamp. The papers have delectable names like Japanese Plum Blossom and Indian Pink Star Anise to match their designs. Rosi’s Instagram account is particularly lovely too. From £55 rosi-de-ruig.myshopify.com
Oka Damavand Lamp
We’re used to seeing Ikat cushions, rugs or throws but on a lamp it’s more unusual. This metal tea-caddy lamp is hand-painted and very striking. £195 oka.com/damavand-lamp
Samarkand Design Floral Lampshade
With colours to complement any room these exquisite lampshades are made from original Indian Sarees. £195 samarkanddesign.com
House of Hackney Daley Lampshade
Palm prints aren’t going anywhere. This playful ‘Daley’ shade will happily update an old base. £130 houseofhackney.com
It’s easy to overlook the British Isles, but these three rural escapes provide ample reason to stay closer to home. Dotted across the UK, take your pick from a farm and bakery in Cornwall, a tiny cottage on the West Coast of Scotland, and a classic seventeenth-century Cotswolds pub with rooms:
Coombeshead Farm, Cornwall
Image Credit: Charlie McKay
Nestled amongst 66 acres of Cornish countryside, Coombeshead Farm is first and foremost a restaurant and bakery. Founded by chefs Tom Adams (Pitt Cue, London) and April Bloomfield (The Spotted Pig and The Breslin, New York) food is at the heart of the experience whether locally sourced or produced on-site. There’s a beehive in the garden for honey and beeswax candles, there are rare-breed Mangalitza pigs and chickens roaming about, there’s even a sourdough bakery that supplies the bread for restaurants and farm shops in Cornwall, the West Country and London.
With just five bedrooms in the pretty Georgian farmhouse, make yourself at home in the living room or sit by the fire in the library with a drink from the honesty bar. Breakfast is served in the farmhouse and dinner in the new feasting barn restaurant, open to guests and non-guests alike with a British, seasonal menu. By day, the barn plays host to the series of Sunday bread workshops that run on selected dates throughout the summer (£125 including 3-course lunch).
It takes a lot for restaurant critic Giles Coren to declare a mouthful ‘not just the best of the year but the best of my life.’ All this in reference to a bite of ‘gamey sirloin spread with fresh horseradish and laid into a garlic, parsley and bone marrow flatbread’ produced by the kitchen of The Bell at Langford.
The classic village pub near Burford has been taken over by born-and-bred Cotswolds’ locals, Tom Noest (chef) and Peter Creed (front-of-house) and re-opened its doors in December 2017. With a new wood fired oven, the menu features reinvented local classics like Bibury pidegeon and Cotswolds rarebit with pickles and soldiers. The eight bedrooms upstairs have just opened so you can now spend the weekend.
There are sea views from every room of single-story, Shore Cottage, sitting pretty on a secluded stretch of coastline on the Mull of Kintyre. The old sea captain’s cottage sleeps four, and forms part of the Carskiey Estate, recently bought by Tom Helme, co-founder of Farrow & Ball and Fermoie fabrics. You’ll likely spend a lot of your stay outdoors surrounded by spectacular scenery and wildlife, but when you do return home, the interiors won’t disappoint. Retaining it’s character, there’s an old servant’s dresser that’s been brought down from the big house and a drift wood bench from nearby Garvault Bay, but also the comfort of underfloor heating, and contemporary Fermoie fabrics dotted about from the linen headboards to the bathroom blinds.
Shore Cottage is accessible only by private road or by boat. Most visitors arrive via Glasgow from where you can take a 30-minute Loganzir Flyby hopper plane to Campbeltown Airport, or you could drive the three-hour coastal route.
Sartorially savvy Londoner and founder of Sir Plus, Henry Hales has just upgraded his market stall for a bricks-and-mortar shop at 306 Portobello Road. Starting in 2010 with boxer shorts made from surplus shirt fabrics trimmed with Liberty prints, Sir Plus has grown to become the ultimate British menswear brand known for its signature Nehru Coat, Grandad shirts, woollen dressing gowns, waistcoats, knitwear and more. Fusing sustainable fabrics with high-quality tailoring, Henry aims to produce ‘long-lasting items, not fashion.’ The Kensal Rise resident spends his weekend’s on the stall outside Pizza East, dates in Soho and drinks and Satan’s Whiskers in Bethnal Green. Here are his Top 5:
1. What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Excitement for the new day and fear that I won’t fit everything in!
2. Where would you go to find the perfect birthday present for your girlfriend?
The last bday was an Ally Capellino backpack. Often I buy from other market stalls on Portobello. Occasionally it’s an “experience” but she’s very good on that!
3. Favourite pub/bar/restaurant?
Pub: He that is Arthur, Old St. Very nice landlord, who is happy to hold onto your keys.
Bar: Satan’s Whiskers, Bethan Green
Restaurant: Smoking Goat on Redchurch St
4. Describe your perfect London weekend?
I’m up early for the market in the morning, so I’d settle for a bath and a pizza in the evening!
We often head to The Eagle on Ladbroke Grove for a pint after closing up the shop.
5. Which Sir Plus item should every discerning Londoner have in their wardrobe?
In the current cold spell the Field Coat has been invaluable. I also live in the gilet. It’s like a sleeveless bomber and keeps you toasty!
We’re all for plates of calamari and dolmadakia on holiday in Paxos, but Greek food hasn’t permeated our day-to-day repertoire back home in London. That is set to change with this fresh and modern cookbook from Notting Hill’s favourite Greek restaurant. Mazi, meaning ‘to share’ was founded in 2012, offering tapas-style small plates like King Prawns Saganaki with Ouzo and Feta Tempura with lemon marmalade that turned London’s Greek food offering on it’s head. The new cookbook shares not only the restaurant’s signature dishes, but some inviting new recipes like a rainbow lentil salad with pickled ginger and Lakerda shavings, and Santorini Fava with Caramelised Pearl Onions. Full of colour-saturated photographs that transport you straight to the islands, the Mazi cookbook is ideal for bringing some sunshine to your spring and summer kitchen table.
SLOW-COOKED LAMB SHANK WITH VEGETABLE BRIAM
The original Mazi Easter special, this lamb dish is served with a briam, the Greek equivalent to ratatouille but baked in the oven. For vegetarians, omit the lamb and serve the briam with some crumbled feta on top.
Serves 6
6 lamb shanks
olive oil
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly sliced
1 white onion, roughly sliced
2 celery sticks, roughly sliced 4 garlic cloves, halved
5 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons tomato purée
2 ripe tomatoes, grated
500ml (18 oz) port
500ml (18 oz) red wine
pinch of sweet paprika
4 cloves
2 pinches of ground cinnamon salt and pepper
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F), Gas Mark 6.
Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat and sear the lamb shanks for 3–5 minutes on each side until browned. Transfer them to a roasting tray.
Replace the oil in the lamb pan with a fresh drizzle. Add the carrot, onion, celery, garlic, thyme sprigs and bay leaves and sauté over a medium heat for 8–10 minutes until the vegetables have softened.
Add the tomato purée, tomatoes, port and red wine, then stir in the spices and bring to the boil. Once starting to boil, transfer the contents of the pan to the roasting tray. Pour in enough water to fill the tray by about three- quarters or to just cover the lamb shanks, then cover the tray with foil and cook in the oven for 2 hours.
British photographer, Kate Friend spent last spring and summer touring England’s greatest gardens, working with the Head Gardeners at Chelsea Physic Garden, Great Dixter, Houghton Hall and Fern Varrow. These photographs are a study of the specimens she discovered, all of which are native to England. The simple stems are paired with carefully-chosen vases and vessels that include ceramics from Rachel Lucas-Craig, Laura Huston and Karen Downing.
The series of botanical portraits – on exhibition at The Garden Museum until 18 March – are now available to buy as signed, Limited Edition Prints.
The EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy is London’s must-see exhibition this spring. Focussing on 1932, Picasso’s so-called ‘year of wonders’, the extraordinary show brings together over 100 artworks from that year, many of which are usually held in private collections.
We’re delighted to introduce the first in our new series of Insider Events with a small and intimate evening tour. Book a ticket and join us as we visit the exhibition in a group of just fifteen A Little Bird readers with a private guide.
To take just one year of an artist’s life as the subject for a major exhibition may seem confining, reductive, perhaps even dull. Not so with Picasso, as the Tate Modern’s wondrous new exhibition proves in its first ever solo exhibition of the mighty Spanish artist.
Art for Picasso was a form of autobiography, and, arranged almost entirely chronologically, the 100 plus works, many of which have never before been shown in the UK, take the viewer on a virtual journey through the pages of his diary over the course of one of the most pivotal years of his life: 1932.
Cecil Beaton, Pablo Picasso, rue La Boetie, 1933, Paris. Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s.
And what a journey it is. In this, the year Picasso turned fifty, a rapturous love affair, turbulent marriage, worldwide fame, his first retrospective, and a Promethean level of creativity fuelled a succession of magnificent paintings, sculptures and drawings, some of the greatest of which have made their way to London for this show. Marvel at the difference a day could make in the world of Picasso – from a fearful, nightmarish vision of woman in Le Repos painted on 22nd January, to a sensuous, saturated idyll in the form of the iconic Le Rêve just two days later.
It is love, the lustful, all-encompassing, liberating kind, that lies at the heart of this so-called annus mirabilis. At the beginning of the year, the deeply passionate, clandestine relationship that Picasso had been enjoying with his golden muse, Marie-Thérèse Walter suddenly aroused in the artist a succession of colour-filled, ecstatic, deeply erotic paintings. The greatest of these are all here, especially a knock-out trio painted across a few days in March. All in private collections, it is doubtful these icons of passion, uninhibited declarations of all-consuming love, will ever be seen together again in a lifetime.
While the glorious fruits of his relationship with Marie-Thérèse are the uncontested stars, plenty of other works as well as a plethora of archival materials – thank you letters, receipts and photographs – add another, more intimate dimension to this exhibition. As the curators state, it is the man not the myth they are seeking to examine. Unlike the earlier iteration held last year at Paris’s Musée Picasso, in London, the chronological galleries are interspersed with thematic ones, lending a greater depth and throwing up further ideas. The importance of sculpture and drawing come to the fore, as does Picasso’s dialogue both with tradition and contemporary movements like Surrealism. And, cleverly, the Tate has used its own collection of Picassos from earlier in his career – most notably the searing Three Dancers of 1927 – in a partial recreation of the Galeries Georges Petit retrospective.
Above all it is a world of dream and fantasy, both tender and terrifying, that the Tate has conjured. To see an artist at the height of his powers is always a pleasure, but to live through this so-called ‘year of wonders’ is nothing short of joyful.
Mindful Thoughts for City Dwellers: The Joy of Urban Living by Lucy Anna Scott
This book – small enough to keep in your pocket – reminds us that peace can, after all, be found in London or any big city. Amid high-rise buildings that one of Lucy’s friends calls ‘mountains’ you can still mark the seasons, notice the moon and live consciously.
Savour the scarcity of trees, discover independent shops and landmarks (like vintage shops and historical places of interest), be compassionate to strangers and see how that helps you and them, discover a pop-up garden, let the rain soothe you … and more. Have this gem of a book by your bedtime for quietening your thoughts and be that better person who takes life at a more considered pace.
We’ve always got an ear open for a good new podcast. Here’s what to plug in to this March from the best new celebrity podcasts to a Serial-style classic crime drama:
Happy Place by Fearne Cotton
Great advice from Dawn French, Fearne Cotton’s first interviewee on her new weekly podcast series, which launched on 5 March. For each forty-minute episode, Fearne is invited into a celebrity’s home to discuss explicitly how they find their ‘happy place’. Dawn was a fabulous first choice and Fearne is brilliant at drawing things out of her. In particular we loved their agreement about ‘faking it until you make it’, which they have both applied to many situations and Dawn having developed a strong inner voice over the years. The second interview, with Tom Daley and his husband Dustin Lance Black, is more one-dimensional but nevertheless fascinating to hear about the impending arrival of their surrogate child and hearing both their strong desires from a very early age (and practically from day one of their dating) to start a family. We can’t wait for the rest in the series; two interviews loaded weekly. Sponsored by Garnier.
George Ezra & Friends
We love George Ezra with his uniquely soulful voice. He has recently gone off piste (with his second album at least six months behind) and produced this podcast series of interviews with fellow musicians and pop stars. And it is brilliant! The interviews feel fresh, uncontrived and seemingly effortless, delivering the perfect balance between getting the guests to open up and a bit of George in there too. Ed Sheeran is the first interview and it’s a gem of a listen, as is Hannah Reid (of London Grammar). Catch Rag ‘n’ Bone Man coming soon and this week’s Craig David.
The Goop Podcast
The Goop podcast launches today with Gwyneth Paltrow and the Goop editors chatting with leading thinkers, culture changers and ‘industry-disruptors’ – from doctors to creatives. Weekly from 8 March.
Dirty John
First released back in September. In case you missed it then, it is a super-addictive, real-life crime drama series. Much shorter than Serial but similar in vein. It is mesmerizingly read and we promise you’ll be hooked from the first episode. A ‘freelance anaesthesiologist’ who seems too good to be true arrives suddenly and powerfully disrupts the life of successful Californian interior designer Debra Newell. Con-artist extraordinaire.
It might still be chilly outside but it’s time to inject some spring into your wardrobe with an accessories update. Whilst we’re still in woollens this is the fastest and easiest route to upgrading your look. Tie a velvet ribbon around your ponytail, or choose from our spring accessories shopping picks:
Matilda Goad creates beautiful visual spaces for top fashion and interior clients. And whilst she has been creating tablescapes for Soane, shop windows for Penelope Chilvers or putting together top suppliers for both her occasional pop-up shops (keep your eyes peeled for one later this year) and her website, she has gathered together an enviable list of secret shopping addresses. We asked her for her top tips:
What is your favourite coffee shop in town?
Lowry & Baker at the top end of Portobello. It’s tiny but it really does sell the best coffee.
What is your most used App?
It has to be VSCO, a photo editing app. As I know what I’m looking for visually, I end up taking a lot of pictures myself and this app is great for editing photos.
Can you recommend any off the beaten track antique shops?
I went to Margate recently for a day trip and loved it. They have some brilliant vintage shops and everything is at great prices. Also, I have yet to go myself but I’ve always heard that the market at Alexandra Palace is amazing. It happens quarterly and annoyingly, I always seem to be away.
What’s the best present you’ve received?
My husband gave me a sailor’s valentine for Christmas. It’s the most beautiful object. They were made by sailors’ wives and are love notes made up of shells. It gives me joy every time I see it.
And your top spot for dinner?
I love Luca in Farringdon. The decor is amazing and the Italian food is delicious. Also Brunswick House has a great atmosphere and particularly if you have a big table, it’s really fun.
Perhaps Amsterdam’s loveliest concept store, Anna + Nina is popping up in London for one month only at Liberty. Stocking a small and carefully curated selection of womenswear (Ganni dresses, Love Stories Intimates underwear, own brand silk pyjamas) as well as eclectic jewellery, kids and baby clothes and homewares. The tableware is particularly good – their new painted alphabet plates are far too pretty to eat off and the lobster salad servers would make an original house gift. Until 2 April.
It’s goodbye for now…
The team at A Little Bird are taking a break to recharge and make some exciting changes behind-the-scenes. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
