Sponsoring Clare's Triathlon for Cancer Research UK

Clare Longhurst is in the Mazda 2009 London Triathlon on August 1st for Cancer Research UK. Any sponsorship gratefully received.

Product trial - Aveeno Skincare Solutions

I've been asked to review Aveeno Skincare products and a week in, I'm giving a thumbs up.

The blurb from the PR company says: Aveeno® is a range of skincare solutions containing naturally active ingredients, designed specifically for all types of dry skin – from mild to extremely dry. The makers of Aveeno have uniquely captured the benefits of naturally active ingredients such as colloidal oatmeal,and shea butter, to give you beautiful, soft and healthy-looking skin.

Out of the three products I'm testing, the weirdest one is the bath powder, the smell (presumably from the collodial oatmeal!) meant that it was like taking a bath in porridge. I wouldn't use it again, I'm more of a Lush bath bomb kind of girl.

The best thing about the lotion is that it is absorbed really well, really quickly. I might be a strange girl but I usually find this a real problem (similarly my skin takes just AGES to dry. Love baths, hate the aftermath). The cream is obviously thicker and great on elbows.

So, I did like the Aveeno range, and as I do have dry skin I should continue to buy for myself once my trial products have run out. But, I just don't happen to feel that I'm pampering myself - with the lotion and cream being fragrance free, it feels a bit of a chore to rub in. I like to feel that when moisturising the aroma is helping me relax and I am a fragrance fan.

I would have liked to have tried the oil though. Perhaps I could have added a few drops of perfume to it...

Another Jaeger delight - but sizes are a mystery

Lucky me, I managed to get my hands on a gorgeous summer (dreaming on) "Starburst" dress from Jaeger's Outlet section of its website (that's sale to you and me). My usual size was sold out, so I got the size below and the size above just in the hope one of them fitted. Happily to say the size below fitted me, how cool is that?

I know Jaeger is generous when it comes to sizing, but in my wardrobe I have Jaeger clothes size 8,10,12 and 14. All of which fit me perfectly.

Rajasthan elephant at Rambagh Palace Hotel, Jaipur

Toast By Post

Lusting after Toast By Post's paraffin lantern for all those balmy summer evenings in the garden.

Why has Daily Mail's Liz Jones Got It In For Frankie Van Heel?

What vitriol! Why has Liz Jones attacked Andy Burnham MP's wife Frankie Van Heel in the Daily Mail so viciously? Standing out from all the, frankly, Frankie, dreadful outfits (you and you Eugenie and Beatrice) she looks just fab.

Sarah and Gordon Brown look like the lumps they are.

The Queen Mother would have offered Frankie a nip of her dubonnet/gin/vodka/drambuie/pernod/chartreuse chaser stash if she'd been there.

Love the whole outfit. Good for her.

So back to Liz Jones. I do read her work when I come across it, it's hard not to when she wears her heart on her sleeve - car crash writing. She can't be that bad if she loves her animals so much. But really, why Frankie Van Heel? She brings some cheer into what is supposed to be a cheery do, not a grim affair.

Liz, don't rip into other women, it's just not becoming.

bio-chart

I know I only ever look at it when I'm feeling out of kilter, but www.bio-chart.com seems to be pretty accurate. Whenever I am feeling low it tells me that, yup buddy, so I should be.

Float On

Finally got round to having another float - two years down the line at The Belmore Centre near Stoke Mandeville Hospital. I didn't enjoy this as much, for a number of reasons.

Mainly, my introduction was a bit haphazard, and I wasn't sure how you knew when to get out, as I'd been told it was when the music stopped. Which it didn't. And, with your ears being underwater, you can't hear whether the music has stopped or not. So that worried me for a bit. Also, it wasn't in a pod in pitch black, it was in a big bath-shower like room and you could see the light coming in. I think I fell asleep for a bit. I worried more about when to get out. I got out, and it was about the right time - 45 minutes-ish. Then I wasn't sure what to do next as I was due a back massage. I left my therapy room open and a lady came. I didn't have any spa slippers so there was a palaver trying to find those. Then I had to gather all my clothes and take them upstairs to another treatment room to have the back massage.

So I was a bit cross, which doesn't bode well with a float. The back massage was OK. Hot stones were involved, but not once did I feel any pressure, any "Oooh yes just there please." But overall it was a pretty nice way to spend an hour or so. Then I got seduced by some Clarins products I needed. (Well, will need when my others have run out...).

My friend Jacquie has booked us in for some treatments at the Mandarin Oriental as a wedding present - how amazing is that! SO looking forward to that. I was going to have some treatments in Rajasthan but there never seemed any time.

P&P Taj Mahal compressed

P&P Taj Mahal compressed
Originally uploaded by Amanda Longhurst

How many people in the world have had their picture taken on this bench?

The ultimate cliche, but the Taj Mahal is so awesome, it has to be done.

Bollymoon, Jan 2009

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.