VMAs Best & Worst Dressed, COS Knitwear & Engagement Ring Dilemmas… | SheerLuxe Podcast

0:00Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? But with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision makers, a network of 130 million of them, in fact. You can even target buyers by job title, industry, company, seniority, skills, and did I say job title? See how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. Spend$250 on your first campaign and get a free$250 credit for the next one. Get started at linkedin.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. you're listening to the sheer lux team podcast expect fashion inspo dilemma solving and all the latest recommendations you could possibly want from the sheer lux team don't forget also to please subscribe to our channel check out our free newsletter that lands in your inbox every single day and follow us on instagram and tiktok too on this week's episode of the sheer lux podcast we discuss the vmas from our favorite performances to best and worst dressed.

0:59Is Ricky Martin hot? I think he might be a lot. He's wearing this like not quite buttoned down, maybe just like a big like deep V mint colour shirt. That's actually quite a vibe, Ricky. We also chat about what is on our autumn fashion wishlist, including the high street knitwear we're all obsessed with. I, in the end, invested in a different COS sweater that was also cashmere in grey. I wore it all the time and it was such a good buy. I do think COS knits are really difficult to beat. our current ride or die beauty products the l 'occitan shower oil something about that the smell of it the feel of it it just like gets me there and finally we discuss whether if you received an engagement ring you didn't like would you keep quiet or say something it keeps me awake at night it actually does i know that sounds really shallow so we're not going down the samantha route of wrong ring wrong guy yeah it's all on this week's episode so keep on listening

2:02welcome to the sheer luxe podcast i'm your host poly sayer and today i'm joined by harriet russell and sam morale hi girls hello how you doing yeah good would you say we're in all white together are we matchy matchy did not get the memo about the all white looks but you're both looking very chic right before we get into it please remember to rate review and subscribe to our channel it really helps us grow people let's talk about the outfits shall we because they are so good sapna what are you wearing i'm in head to toe primark today we have obviously shot a couple videos um for them and basically this pair of denim was as soon as i put them on i was like i need them in my wardrobe so yeah this is a pair of ecru yeah ecru i think we were calling them on the day because it's an off-flight yeah um primark straight leg denim and then this is just a lovely white shirt it's a very good material it's not like too um thin sort of vibe and then these i keep going on about but they're like a fishnet um shoe but it's got a padded bottom which i just feel like important changes the game to be honest yeah these the shoes the shoes yeah amazing they're very good aren't they yeah obsessed i've tried them on and they are super comfy and they're a good like transitional shoe yeah but they're denim i don't know if you've tried any of it but it's genuinely like when we would every single piece we put on we were like oh no this is very very good which is like very good.

3:20It was like really good quality. And the fit is so good. Like, I don't know if like true to size, there's no variation between like washes and stuff. Big fan. Yeah. I don't know if you know much about like the campaign that we've done with them, but they've basically like revamped their denim collection. So it's a lot more like there's a few more styles, but yeah, it's just sort of re-imagining what they did really well before. And it's better than ever. And obviously so affordable. So yeah. How about you, Harriet? I am also head to high street, as in H &M, naked trousers, and mango shoes i love those shoes everyone in the office has them it's a quite unoriginal choice but they are are they comfy nope they're oh really i don't know that's upsetting i mean okay so the last time i was on a podcast i was wearing these wire cell shoes which obviously cost a lot more than these they are just as uncomfortable and so i sort of feel like it's my foot i'm the high i'm the problem it's me okay you know i mean you're not gonna like walk to work in them are you so just for like tottering around the office in yeah she's fine i'm the flip-flops in the bag girl what are you wearing uh i'm wearing a blazer from de savry i've had this it's just so good um a t-shirt and like a bubble hem skirt from arquet arquet's good i was really surprised when you said that was arquet no i've seen it on my my instagram is like the algorithm is obsessed with that skirt it's really good isn't it i like it was an instant buy actually i don't do that very often these days but like i just saw it as i was scrolling and i was like oh my god i have to have i love that feeling though and then i try and benchmark that feeling against like everything else as in like whenever something else enters my orbit i'm like yeah but i didn't feel that way yeah yeah that's a good i think that's true you should feel like that um i actually did feel like this i saw it on nat chasse this t-shirt and i was just like where is that from that's so cool she's like okay and it was on sale for like 10 pounds could easily this one look could easily be me i was literally giving me it was you know it was quite inspired i can't lie but you know we move it's high street version girlies oh yeah and the the deck shoes are not they are i think like jeffrey campbell at free people but yeah very good alternative

5:31right should we dive into some new and noteworthy now where we talk about some things we're loving from tv to fashion to whatever so harrya come to you first well i think the first thing is I just finished two books one is the names which I won't go into a huge amount about because I know it's already been talked about on this podcast but if you haven't read it read it that's all I'll say second one is a book called dream state by Eric Puschner he's an American author and it's just I just don't think it's a book that's going to like leave me very quickly at all it's really hard to talk about the plot without spoiling it so really I can only talk about the premise which is it's about this girl who goes back to her fiance's ranch in Montana because they're going to get married there in like a couple of weeks and she's there to sort of sort out some last minute bits and her fiance can't quite come and meet her just yet because he's a doctor in LA and he sends his best friend Garrett to kind of help her while she's there and very quickly she this is not a spoiler although it sounds like it should be yeah very quickly she and Garrett realize that they are the ones the better connection yes and you see it's sort of the first I would say within the first 20 pages that whole situation implodes and then the rest of the book is literally the rest of their lives and how everyone is affected by this sort of one decision is he a brother no he's not a brother it's giving some right not everything is about some right oh my god um no it's not it's not quite brother vibes although they are best friends so I guess there is that like you know weird sort of familial closeness yeah um but the thing that i found really interesting was that because it sort of moves through the rest of their lives it moves into the future so beyond 2025 they move very quickly into like 2040 2050 like it's and the state of the world is actually alive we're still alive but oh my god guys the climate is not in good shape not in good shape at all that's really interesting though that they've like taken in the political and like you know yeah environmental and you've got two kind of very parallel threads which is obviously their personal lives and then as you say like the greatest sort of world picture as a backdrop to all of that and most of it is set in montana so the sort of devastation and the effects of climate are sort of felt very acutely there and it's just yeah it's a rollicking ride oh wow that sounds amazing it's really good really good yeah okay great i'll add that to my book list although i'm on i'm in the book club i was gonna say guys i really want to but i've been reading the same book for a year i thought you were a big audio book girl i am but then i was like i need to make my brain like i need to read so i don't think you do i think sometimes you're either like you read with your ears or you read with your eyes and you're i don't judge but i know what's happening saying which is like i find with audio books i wish i was more of an audio book girl because i feel like i could get so much more like under my belt but my mind drifts that's literally yeah because i'll do it on the tube and i'll start looking at someone and then just like completely zone out so i feel like i wanted to read so i can actually like switch my brain off yeah i think it's a bit like when people say like going to the gym versus swimming yeah like with swimming you can't have your phone in the water with you so you literally have to be like alone with your thoughts and i kind of feel like reading a physical book is the same concept in that yeah you can't really be distracted by anything else Yeah, it's good sort of like real switch off time.

8:54Whereas like my partner's like, he only reads by audio book because he's a classic bloke and always thinks that it's better to like multitask and like do two things at the same time. I'm like, it's a joy I think to sit and have that time. Anyway, yeah. Yeah, bear with me. I'll finish that book and then I'll join the book. Don't worry. What is the book out of curiosity? What's the second one in fourth wing? Oh, that's why you've been stuck on it for a year. Because it's rubbish. oh really in my opinion it's a bit of like a lull like it's just kind of it's the weakest of the three so there are gonna be five but yeah so if people don't already know me and sap are big fantasy people and who got sap onto akatar it was me um and then yeah so i pushed fourth wing on everyone as well and then but iron flame sadly i think it's a real like clanger i i actually think it's all right but i've just been taking ages to read it so i'll get through sure it's all right I mean like no way actually there's like loads of sex and stuff it's fine it's fine yeah yeah but when you get onto Onyx Storm which is the third you'll realise how bad Iron Flame actually is oh fine okay fine fine is there loads of sex in all of them yeah is that like the main reason you love it no actually this series is like less about the sex than I would say Akatar is would you not say I even think with Akatar like the feeling I have with those books like particularly with when I got to Onyx Storm which was only released in January and it was like over a year's wait.

10:18I was like salivating at the bookshop door. Like, let me have it. I literally described it to Heather at the time and I was like, I'm just back with my friends. Like, I know that sounds so pathetic. I get you. But like, I just love all those characters. It's a Harry Potter feeling when you're like, I'm back at school with all my mates. Because it's such like world building. So you like, as soon as you read a couple pages, you're like, I'm back in there. And you're like, classic Garrett. Another thing I haven't got a memo about this time it was a guitar and the white menu so i need to join in i think um any other recs for us harriet the only other one is a neighborhood restaurant which i feel so actually embarrassed recommending because everyone who lives sort of even south of the river is going to be like well duh but it is taverna trasevere onst john's hill i've literally lived on lavender hill bassey wandsworth for the last like over a decade and i have only just discovered this restaurant because we wrote a piece on the site quite a long time ago now i'm going to say over six months ago which was we interviewed chefs about like their favorite hidden gem kind of restaurants and someone mentioned this one so out of no reason whatsoever i booked a table and i've literally been there eight times oh my god really it's so good what should we order um well they're known for carbonara is like their signature dish but actually the whole thing's italian and you just can't go wrong i mean anything it's all crowd pleasers but it's so good okay great i'll add that to my list as on.

11:44Sapna, have you got any TV recs for us? Yes, there's like one show I've been like properly watching and like waiting to come back and that is Wednesday. So they released the first four or five episodes and they've just released a second and I literally binged it all this weekend. I just love the show. It's very like, if you love a Stranger Things vibe, if you love a bit of like fantasy, a bit more like, it's a bit more gothy. Have you watched it? I haven't watched it, but it has been on my watch list for ages. Yeah, I think you would like it. But yeah, it's quite, some people watch it and don't get it it is a bit camp it's tim burton it's like a little bit a little bit yeah theatrical a little bit like cringy even a bit like somewhere i'm pretty but you just have to get through it because it's actually a good storyline it is like the like the way it's shot the costumes everything are really really good and it's not the like classic adams family but it has like a nod to all of that as well and the actors are amazing um but this is the second half we had a little cameo from lady gaga for about 30 seconds but it was amazing i can't believe it's only 30 seconds they've been hiding that up so bad i could be lying it was probably three minutes but like honestly she popped up onto screen as like a ghost basically and then she was gone okay it's kind of iconic i swear i read something the other day though that was like her return to acting that doesn't sound like not quite is that really return yeah but she has written a song for the show has she which played for longer than she was in the show but it's yeah it's pretty good She probably got played handsomely for it as well.

13:08I was going to say, she's making a dollar. I'm sure she did. Making bank. Yeah. But that was very good. And then a show that I haven't started yet, but I'm like, oh my God, I cannot wait for it to come out is All's Fair. It's coming out, I think on Disney Plus because it's a Hulu show. This is the one about the divorce lawyers. It's Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, Tiana Taylor, Glenn Close. I've probably missed a few people there, but it is a really good cast. And like, I think Kim Kardashian is like the like ringleader. she's like the head lawyer i don't know what you call them head lawyer i think she's an attorney yeah there we go well that's just the american i'm gonna learn a lot more about lawyer speak but i've whatever i've read about it people are saying it's a mix between sex in the city and suits which i'm like yeah i'm sold and it's ryan murphy who obviously does all the american horror stories and all of the like american crime story shows well doesn't the rumor go that he created this show for her because he was so and I use this term loosely impressed by her turn in American I thought she was honestly quite good in that show did you?

14:09yes no no really? no no she was so the wooden I thought she was alright I honestly thought she was alright for someone who has never acted before by the end of it I think she's really getting like no how has someone who's never acted before got that kind of like I know you're gonna say because it's Kim Kardashian okay is she gonna be in the Olympics next? but I do I think like if you do you know no that's my point like if we just give people these opportunities for being who they are no I fully get that and I'm so like against the whole Nepe Baby situation however I think that if you like obviously watch Kardashians what she was her character in it was very different and I do think that as acting she wasn't just playing herself yeah no she was good so yeah I'm excited for this I think it's gonna be good yeah it's got a pretty star-studded cast isn't it beyond Sarah Paulson oh yes to be fair I am surprised those actresses would sign on to something like this knowing she was going to be the star if they thought it was going to be crap well that's the thing i'm sure the script was very good and obviously it's ryan murphy they all work with him or have in the past so yeah give him a chance maybe she's okay yeah a reserved judgment yeah reserve the right to say she's after having much okay great thanks um i've got a book to recommend i'm a similarly quite slow reader um i picked up a book on holiday because i had left my book on the plane and i was in my like little villa in greece and they had like a few books on the shelf and i was pretty desperate i'd just been like scrolling my phone for a couple of days i was like i can't do this anymore i need to read a book and i picked up small island by andrea levy have you ever read that I haven't but I mean when did that come out?

15:522004 it's a really old book so it's not a new recommendation but um it's just amazing it's one of those books that I mean it was like a total happy accident just picked it up and thought yeah I'll give that a go um but it's again one of those books I think will stay with me for quite a long time it has since been adapted I think to a national theatre play and the BBC series if that's more your jam but it's set in 1948 after the second world war and sort of post wind rush and it's about a woman called Queenie who takes in some uh Jamaicans to live in her house after her husband has kind of um been fighting away in the war and she needs lodgers basically to help pay her way and it kind of tells the story uh from four different character perspectives and and goes back in time a little bit to during the war and talks about how a number of people from the Caribbean sort of fought for Britain against Hitler and I'm like kind of ashamed to say I didn't know enough about their contribution like to the war I guess and it really sort of opened my eyes to that and then also subsequently how they were treated in Britain after they were kind of said come come over yeah get a job and you know you'll be welcome with open arms because because he helped fight the good fight.

17:11And yeah, it's kind of like sad and harrowing, but also like an amazing story. And yeah, I would really, really recommend it. It's an eye opener. And then something slightly more light hearted and silly. I went, me and my friends, right? We don't buy each other physical gifts for birthdays. We do experiences. And we went to this New Forest Aqua Park, which is like, I don't know if you ever watched Total Wipeout. It's like that. It's like an inflatable obstacle course. In the middle of the course you went there. And my friend got it for me for my birthday. It's like a very belated birthday present.

17:46And it was like one of the funniest things I have done in the last year. Like, I mean, it's just like slapstick, isn't it? Watching people fall over is just unfortunately very funny. And it's just an hour of watching you yourself and watching your friends fall over. Like going over this obstacle course, slipping over, falling in the water. I have not laughed that much in like years. It was ridiculous. And I'm coming at it as like a, if you've got kids, take your kids there. But also if you're an adult and you just like doing stupid stuff, go there as well. I mean, maybe don't go if you've got a pre-existing injury.

18:21I was going to say, to what extent is it like fun at 25, sleep disc at 35? I mean, there were a couple of moments where I was like, that was a close call. I could have had like a dislocated shoulder or something, but so funny. Like would like totally recommend. So cute you, it's about you. Yeah, cute you, it's about you. You know, maybe just assess if you've got a back problem maybe give it a miss yeah see and watch your friends but I'm a big fan anyway let's move on to some fashion finds

18:51I mean it's a good time to be talking about fashion because there's so much newness so I want to know what have you got in your wish list I honestly one of the things that I've been going for you'll see it literally on me today that I feel like is adding like a little something different to my looks but it's actually a very affordable way to accessorize it's blue light glasses yeah and there are so many on h &m at the moment and i honestly just did an order of like three different ones and they do like it also does just help your sight like when you're looking at screen all day um but yeah i so i've got these metallic silver ones i've got some that are sort of the mu mu-esque like they've got the tortoise shell on the top and then it's like no frame at the bottom do you know what i mean like the kind of yes yeah i do yeah that kind of shape and then there's some gold ones they've got like the actual mu mu like really skinny librarian style glasses like there's just so many but i feel like for when i kind of just want to wear quite basic outfits it just adds a little do you like do you need glasses like to see i actually do yeah okay so these are just you know this reminds me of when i was like six i really really wanted glasses so i like tried to fake yeah yeah yeah to my mom i did that too yeah i also wanted braces what yeah I don't know why I think it's because it was when like it wasn't Invisalign and everything it was like the colorful ones and everyone had them and I was like I would quite like them and then the dentist was like go home you do not need braces I was like clawing the door with my mum like trying to drag me into the office yeah I obviously didn't know how painful they are now that I have Invisalign like yeah back in the day I'm glad I didn't get them but yeah I was the same with glasses I was like trying to fake my eye test yeah they do they Oh, like an accessory.

20:24Yeah. They add something to it. And now you can get some quite affordable ones. So the H &M ones I think are about£10. Great. Anything else? I also, this is like quite a transitional period. It's kind of hard to know what to wear. Are we wearing coats? Don't really know. Yeah. There is a Frankie shop jacket, which is like a long sort of trench style, but not. It's like in between a trench and a coat, I would say, in this slightly like khaki, beigy colour. and I've like had my eye on it for probably a year or so. So I feel like it's time that now I'm still thinking about it. I might just do it.

20:56But it's like the perfect length, the perfect color, shape. I mean, anything Frankie's shop just fits amazingly. I would quite like to go and try it on one more time just to make sure. But yeah, that is definitely on my radar at the moment. Buying a car in Carvana was so easy. I was able to finance it through them. I just... Whoa, wait, you mean finance? Yeah, finance. Got pre-qualified for a Carvana auto loan, entered my terms and shopped from thousands of great car options, all within my budget. That's cool, but financing through Carvana was so easy. Financed. Done. And I get to pick up my car from their Carvana vending machine tomorrow.

21:28Financed. Right, that's what I said. You can spend time trying to pronounce financing, or you can actually finance and buy your car today on... Carvana. Financing subject to credit approval. Additional terms and conditions may apply. Raise your hand if you want your nails to look perfect all the time. Me too. I'm Sarah Gibson Tuttle from Olive and June, and this is exactly why we created the Manny System. We wanted to make it possible for everyone everywhere to give themselves a beautiful manicure at home. With our tools and our long-lasting polish, each manicure with our mani system comes out to just$2.

22:01That's right,$2. No more$30,$40,$50 manis that you get at a salon and they take hours. Now you can paint your nails on your time and love them more than ever. And by the way, when people ask, who did your nails, where did you get them done? You're going to proudly say, I did them myself. Get 20 % off your first Manny system with code PERFECTMANNY20 at oliveandjune.com slash PERFECTMANNY20. That's code PERFECTMANNY20 for 20 % off at oliveandjune.com slash PERFECTMANNY20. Gorgeous. Thank you. I love that. Yeah. Harriet, anything caught your eye? well last year I decided that I wanted a navy cashmere jumper which sounds like a really basic purchase but I just couldn't find one that had the right fabrication for the right price I was this close to getting the Almada one but that is over like a 300 pound mark so it just felt like cashmere I don't really care what people say like whatever price you're paying it will bubble like there is care involved like you have to be careful anyway I in the end invested in a different cos sweater there was also cashmere in gray i wore it all the time and it was such a good buy it didn't bobble particularly badly and they this year have released a navy version so i've already bought it that cos one i think if we're talking about the same one is just the one the green one we've both got as well i think so and i think maybe i got it in like cream as well it's just i do think cosnets are really difficult to beat and yes the price this one i think was 229 so it's obviously not quite a sort of like high street price in a typical sense but I think for the quality and I also think I was talking to Lou once about like the fit of knitwear and it didn't ever occur to me that like fits of knitwear could be like modern or uncool and she was saying oh no no like I think the fit of this particular one is really modern and really like contemporary and that's just never left me and I think she's absolutely right so yeah highly recommend and then the second one i haven't pulled the plug yet because they are towards the 300 pound mark but massimo have this pair of leather long bermuda shorts in this burgundy that are just very hodge coded it's very hodge coded i think she loves yeah yeah yeah but i've also edited like several pieces from emma bigger who's our senior fashion editor and she is also on the leather short training and yeah i'm feeling influenced so maybe yeah nice with a pair of like knee-high boots or something yeah it's a sexy sexy look isn't it um well I've got a few bits on my wish list um I saw Smith sisters Marianne um wearing some pink cords from a brand called Hi Cure I think I don't know how you say that probably but um I don't know something about them like it's quite random like pink cords I really I did not see that one coming but they're so lovely and they're such a good sort of quite not quite wide not quite like slim straight but just like a nice relaxed fit a little bit longer they're sold out on net at the moment which is really annoying because i wish i'd snapped them up but i did find them on farfetch so i might just like get those um i think that might be fun because it's quite hard to introduce color yeah into your autumn wardrobe i like love wearing color in the summer but find it quite difficult in autumn and i don't want to quite let that go so i think i might just have to invest that with like a tea and a pair of trainers and It was maybe a little premature, but this is the time to do it.

25:29This is the time. It's raining like every day. No, it's very weird how suddenly like you can't get your dogs out anymore. Yeah. Like I was like a flip-flop girl all summer and now I'm just like, it feels illegal. Yeah. I wore them on the bus to go home yesterday and yeah, I had exactly that feeling. Like this is over. No one should be seeing them now. It's weird. So yeah, I'm in boot mode and these are kind of almost patent leather. Not quite. They're not super, super shiny, but they've got a little shine to them with a mini kitten heel, a point, ankle boot. Just think they're going to be so beautiful.

26:03And I'm just really loving Massimo at the moment. Like as ever, they're really good. But like particularly right now, I'm like, yeah, obsessed. Very, very cool. And that's Milot. Right, before we move on, just a quick reminder to please do subscribe to the Sheerlux podcast. It really helps us to continue making the content we do.

26:25What have you been doing on the site? What's coming up? What should we look out for? Harriet? Well, I always plug my own stuff when I'm on here. As you should. As I should. As you should. Because it always times up with the business edition release. That's not deliberate at all, by the way. It just happens to. I do love the business edition. It went live last Wednesday. And well, actually, by the time this goes out, it'll be like a week last Wednesday. But still pretty fresh content. And yeah, everyone go check it out. I think it's really different to what we do on like the rest of the site it's a look at brands from a business point of view rather than a product point of view and we've got some really good names in there this month CEO of Fortnum and Mason sat down with us to talk about his kind of rules for making retail a success we've got the co-founder of Mr and Mrs Smith has passed the torch to a new CEO even though she is staying on it as chairman and they talk together about how to make like business succession work and then yeah we've also got how i made it with gail federici who started color wow um but she also co-founded john frieda back in the day she's now in her 60s and she's i think forbes put her at like the third richest self-made woman in america wow so she has got some lessons to share i've got a call so cool well look forward to giving it a good old read sapner what should we look out for well it's london fashion week coming up so along with all of our social content that we'll be doing as per usual I've actually got a really exciting interview coming up with Priya Aluwalia who always shows at London Fashion Week and she has just been you know killing it year after year but I feel like this year is going to be a really good year to speak to her yeah about her next collection but also her journey and yeah I'm really really excited to speak to her yeah I think that's gonna be really good yeah my must miss is an entirely selfish one i think i finally finished my like kitchen and like living room reno which is like for me feels like mustn't miss big news no one else probably no one gives shit about it but it's been going on for bloody ages and i'm finally done and we got the house the house just that area sort of like professionally shot last week and um yeah it's been a real like i think anyone who's like renovated any part of the house will know it's like a real learning curve you know i do some things differently next time what's like one thing you've learned now that if you're doing a different part of the house you wouldn't do again so we've been really keen to try and do as much of the work as possible as in yourself as in like harry the royalty um which you know is great in many ways because you can sort of save money but i think it's also really worth weighing up like like how much that stress and time, like versus the reward.

29:09Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like I think, you know, in some instances it's like, maybe we should have just paid someone to do that rather than you spending like five weekends building like a bonkette seating area. Although it looks great. Yeah, it does. And just, you know, having to deal with like crappy trades people sometimes. But also when you get onto good trades people who are reliable and lovely, it's like worth their weight in gold so like look after them I would say um we had some lovely builders um Kieran and Ryan from KPS shout out they are just they're just the best based down in like Bournemouth in the Hampshire area but I would totally recommend them and then just I've also looked like there are some things that are worth like spending a little bit more on like our sofa yeah it brings me joy every damn day we've got a it's called the wodge sofa from loaf and it's just so deep and comfy and like oh just like a sexy sexy sofa yeah and i fall asleep on it like three nights a week so i don't know if that's a good or bad thing i do think anything that you're using every day it's worth like i'm about to move flat and i'm like the one thing i'm gonna invest in i've already got a sofa but the one thing i'm gonna invest in is a bed and a mattress and i'm like it's so worth it because you're literally on everything the pillows the sheet like everything yeah to be yeah and like you kind of feel like oh gosh that seems like a lot in one go yeah like you use it every day exactly it's totally worth it and then um i've got like a salt and pepper grinder so again that is a bit sort of like extra and fluffy like you don't really need that but it's a rebecca udall set and it's kind of brass shapes that's quite it's not like when you actually look at it but i'm describing it badly and it's got like a little um handle around the top that you just do that and they just look so goddamn nice on my island so if you're looking for some salt and pepper shakers i'd recommend those but yeah i'll be showing those on my socials very soon and please be nice and give it some love if you like it um Okay, let's go on to hot topics and celeb chat.

31:25Okay, so I think we all collectively want to talk about the VMAs. We all have a lot of thoughts, feelings, emotions. Harriet, you look sort of like confused by it. I feel like I'm deferred. Well, I'm just confused as to like why so many people who were nominated didn't go. Yeah. Yeah, that is weird, isn't it? That seems to be happening a lot. there was another um like music awards thing i don't know what it was maybe it was the not the team choice something like that like a couple months ago the exact same thing happened it was really lame but that's why i thought this was less lame because the performances were really good the performances were so good except we have to talk about ariana's like strange reaction to the osby osborne tribute have you seen that so people are accusing her of having this like very dramatic performative reaction so i think they did a tribute to osby osborne obviously because he recently passed away and i think it was like steven tyler and some other people like young blood yeah got up and they did like a trio thing which to my mind now i'm not like a pure rock fan so i can't sit there and be like sort of appreciate it for what it was but ariana grande is in the audience and she literally looks like she's having a meltdown at how good it is she's like oh my god and i'm like i'm sorry are you trying to tell us that you're like a closeted Ozzy Osbourne fan yeah who knew or are you like a Steven Tyler or a Youngblood fan like what's going on here and basically people on the internet are basically saying this is complete bullshit like she's still in her actress era and this is not not genuine but can I say there was literally a camera on her face for the entire thing because why am I why am I watching every single speech plus her split screen and her reaction because there was literally no one else famous in the audience like literally that was it wasn't it it was Ariana and Sabrina Carpenter yeah and they won the majority of the award so part of me thinks did they tell taylor et al that they haven't won yeah so they just thought well fuck it because i think the strange thing the grammys get such a like i don't know they get such a hard time now because people say like they don't give the awards to the right people like was it taylor wasn't even nominated yeah i do think she kind of missed the cutoff yeah yeah and she's missed it this time yeah i mean it's not out yet obviously but i was listening to a podcast the other day and they were like oh the grammys submission is the 31st of August so why would she put out an album on the third of all table and part of me thinks it's because she's stopped caring yeah she's won album of the year like several times there so and now people are saying like the Grammys are meaningless because they give it to the wrong people all the time we know about Beyonce's like long-standing beef so part of me thinks like are the award shows just like I don't know are they just feeling irrelevant they are a little bit and I'm I feel like they're not reinventing them in any way and I can't really I think what that should be.

34:04Although the thing that I do love is the performances. And I'm like watching Sabrina Carpenter, she smashed it and I love that she took it kind of to like a political level with the like trans rights and everything and I think that's really nice that she used that time to support. Also Tate McRae, I mean the no shoes always like really stresses me out. She always dances the back she was on. But she looked incredible, the dance was amazing. The fact she did, you know the like her leg thing that she does? Do you know about it? She like does this thing and then she like goes back backwards and little legs in there.

34:34Yeah. We'll show you in a sec. I feel like I don't keep up with these things. I read the other day though that she's like quite badly injured. Really? Yeah, from doing the moves. From like the interviews. She's been flinging herself about too much. The interview she did, she looked really good. I mean, she's on tour and she's still going. So it must be a lot, but she smashed it as well. I think Doja Cat performed. She looked amazing. Yeah, she looked amazing. What I will say though is I don't, I wasn't like that impressed by the outfits. Like, yeah. Well, I don't know if these are like, are these like fashion no that's this is true they're not but like i was looking through like the internet and i was just like there ain't no one here that i'm like yeah that's a look the only person i did think was ricky martin

35:18is ricky martin hot like i think he might be no no he actually was he was wearing like you're too young to remember him from like living the vida loca days yeah he was hot man but like he's kind He's kind of got hot, he's still hot. He's aged like fine wine. He's aged like fine wine. He's obviously had his teeth done and stuff, but like he's wearing this like, not quite buttoned down, maybe just like a big, like deep V mint color shirt, which sounds rank. And then he's kind of like quite wide, like oversized black trousers and some big like chunky boots on the red carpet. I was like, that's actually quite a vibe, Ricky.

35:48Like, Ricky, you look great. You look great. So he's my best dressed. Okay. Well, Sabrina Carpenter wore, not to the show, but after she wore one of Cher's old dresses. That's sick. I haven't seen that. It's really cool. It's like this multicolored, like really cool. Yeah. So that I did like that. Okay. That is nice. Yeah. I've said it on this podcast before. Cher is my idol also. Really? Yeah. Every time I go to the hairdresser, I'm like Cher. Just do me Cher. I saw a really funny TikTok this morning and it was a gay guy saying like, people ask us as a gay couple of the daughter whether she has some strong female role models.

36:23I'm like, yeah, we're gay. Of course she does. and then like turns to her and go and it's got a green screen of Cher and they're like Bailey who's that and she goes Auntie Cher I love it I was like yep very good uh anyway we digress we digress we digress that was the VMAs all I actually I googled it because like again I'm like quite slow with keeping up with these like big events but the like main thing that came up for me was just young blood and him getting his pubes out. Oh, I did not see that. That's what came up for me in my news. In the performance? No, I think he was just wearing like, because he was topless and was wearing like very low slung trousers.

37:02Yes, thankfully I've been Which just had a little bit of pube like coming out the top. I was like, yeah, that is a bit weird. Like, pull that away, dude. Yeah. But it was causing a bit of a furore in a way that usually is assigned to women who are like misappropriately dressed. I mean, at least a guy took the heat for once. Yeah. But yeah, I sort of feel like these award shows, they're not, you know, they're not Oscar Golden Globe moments. No, they're not. Everyone does something a bit weird. It's Lady Gaga's new dress or whatever. Get people talking, I suppose. All right, well, that was the VMAs.

37:31Thanks for your lowdown, ladies. And let's talk about some beauty.

37:41I've got a ride or die product right now. And I want to know what it is. Yeah, I mean, mine is, I don't think it's a new launch, but I've just gone through like five bottles of it. It is the Nip and Fab Ceramide Fix Serum. And I just love it. Do you know those products where it's like the texture, you put it on your face and you instantly feel like the goodness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whereas others like the tingle and the burn and you think, uh oh. Oh, yeah. We're in trouble. When you find that one, they're like, oh, this is working for myself. Like the way even I like rub it between my fingertips, I'm like, oh, this is so nice.

38:14And I just love it. It is a bit spinny. I think it's about 29 pounds. I mean, for a serum, that's pretty good. It depends what people's sort of benchmark is. And I appreciate that's not going to be like in everyone's budget. But it is, you know, you can get it at Boots. You don't have to order it from anywhere fancy. And I just think my skin is the sort of skin that just reacts to every single bloody thing on the planet. So and this has just been like calming, hydrating, juicy. I love it. Great. Sapna is the resident beauty expert. Well, I couldn't think of one. I've got a bit of like a sleep cocktail that I've been using at the moment.

38:53Basically throughout the, not throughout summer, pre-summer, I was not sleeping. Like I don't know what it was. I couldn't get to sleep. But now I've like nailed my pre-bed routine. So in the shower, it's the L 'Occitane shower oil. Something about that, the smell of it, the feel of it, it just like gets me there. Then go to the bed, spritz it with the loxitan um night spray and or the neon one it's like both both of them are very lavendery they just like get you in the mood then i've got i don't know if you guys have ever tried them but they're like pod diffusers from neon they are literally the best because there's like loads of diffusers out there and i've tried quite a few but this one is like very concentrated because you put the whole bottle into the thing and it diffuses it and it lasts forever i've literally had it for months now but literally press it before bed and it like fills the room with the like lavender smell then if that wasn't enough i then take one of the diome supplements which is like a natural sleep thing basically and i've always thought that like sleep tablets or whatever for like when you really can't get to sleep and you pop one whatever this is like something you're meant to take every night like a vitamin essentially and it's not about like knocking you out although it really does um it's more just about like making you feel rested when you wake up and it's about like you take it every day like a vitamin and it just like makes your whole like everything just feel better it's got loads of things in it i cannot remember what exactly but it's it's just foot fill of like goodness and that's the downside sometimes of sleeping tablets is like obviously you wake up feeling so exactly because i've had like is it melatonin yeah i've had those tablets before and did not make me feel good these like you just wake up and you're like i slept well yeah i'm happy to hear that really really rate it yeah it's nothing worse than not being able to sleep so some good tips in there yeah how about you um mine's a makeup product uh it's the I actually saw you did a video on these the hourglass curator palette so good they are so good I was like very kindly sent this one and it's the there's a few different like colorways I think and mine is the my favorite is the idealist one and I'm a bit of a lazy gal when it comes to makeup I like to just have like the same thing every day and then be able to like build it up and I think what I like about this palette is the bottom left color I just stick on for like the daytime it's quite a good just like daily color and then the other colors you can then build up to make it a bit more evening so you can literally just keep like a small four color palette in your makeup bag and just know that you can build it up and I think it like works quite nicely with my like skin tone and my eye color and stuff but yeah and then like kind of formulation feels really nice very blendable very blendable again I'm like not that good at makeup and it's just it's just super easy for me to put on and I've been loving it and wearing it every day so yeah would recommend those again they're a little bit more spenny but I think you can really tell the quality yeah get what you pay for yeah also the brush that goes with oh yeah very nice all right let's jump into some listener dilemmas

41:59from awkward social scenarios to fashion advice and tricky situations we've got you covered so let's dive in to the first one uh I've been offered a big promotion at work but it means even longer hours and less time with my family do I take the career leap now or prioritize balance that is such a hard one because you would think with like a new role there's always an element of dropping a few things to like balance that out but I know that's not always the case I feel like that is then in your hands to be like look I want to make this work I want to progress my career I want to do this and that but I can't do everything what can I now leave behind surely that's fair enough that is fair enough but I would say that it sounds like she's a working mum and I was like I don't know she says with her family so presumably if she's talking about sort of the unit then that I think that is a really difficult thing to say because I agree with you that you can make certain sacrifices at different times in your life, but the minute you become a parent, it's very difficult to put anything above that.

43:02I mean, it's interesting that the first sort of thought seems to be negative about taking this job. It doesn't seem like she's actually that excited. And I think it's a bit like what we were talking about with fashion purchases earlier, which is like, if you're not getting that gut feeling that this is the right move, then maybe it isn't. isn't yeah um the other thing i would say though it's like take it get it on your cv do it for a year if it doesn't work out do something else that's so true nothing's permanent you know it's not you're not sort of signing up for a jail sentence so these things in life they can be changed if they're not right i do also think like if you're up for this promotion whatever people obviously think you're right for it so why not go into it with a few like boundaries stories yes if that sounds like in question go to your employer and say i want to do this but these are my kind of non-negotiables i can't you know be working every night at this time i've got a child whatever and try and approach it that way because if someone wants you enough they'll make it work and equally if they come down on you like a ton of bricks and say absolutely not you need to be here like i can call then you've kind of got your answer which is that these people are going to be unrelenting and it sounds like you might be miserable so yeah maybe it's not the right fit it's a tricky one because men obviously don't get faced with the same problems just probably don't get the same moral dilemma so again you know if she's married talk to her partner um whether it's a man or another woman you know talk to your partner see how it can work for all of you it shouldn't all be all on you to make a situation work you have to approach it as a team good advice girls thanks all right let's go on to the next one i just got engaged and i'm over the moon but my fiance picked a ring that really isn't my style sap this isn't you is it i mean surely not surely not this is my stunning ring i've ever seen um do i drop hints about changing it or keep quiet because it's the thought that counts okay seriously this is like one of my like big worries and it's a concern isn't it oh it's so hard because he has picked it and because ryan picked yours on his own yes yeah my best friend but yes but you said you'd made a pinterest board yes yeah and did harry pick yours on his own or did you i mean he like i had dropped like heavy hints about the style that i like so but he did then go away and like have it made like himself but like i know that's because he like checked out yeah what i like yeah it's quite yeah it's bold i think for any person proposing to not go off like a hint or just just picking one off the bat and again like yeah you do have to wear it every day for the rest of your life I think I personally if this happened to me would suck it up for a few years I know and then lose it no I know and then lose it no or just then a few years down the line say I feel like my taste has evolved a bit could we look at getting it remodeled and then you could you know use the stones do it together I do just think it's like a really sensitive subject and like just it could potentially like ruin your lovely little engagement bubble to be like don't like the ring I know it's hard because if it's not your style it's hard to look past that but I do just think you have to look at the big picture a bit what I don't know what do you think I think I don't think I could stay quiet yeah I think I would have to say like I love you thank you very much this is so lovely but the ring it's not quite right for me thank you so much for trying do you think ryan would be okay with that though yes i think so because he knows how much i would care about it and it's something you wear every day right you don't want to be going into your office and being embarrassed that you don't like it no one else is gonna know but like if you don't like it harry have you like dropped any hints yes major hints and like we've looked in stores not in stores but like we've looked in windows and i've been like oh i like this i don't like that he's also even though i work in a fashion world he knows i'm not a fashion like editor and i think he also sounds terrible but i think he thinks what i do is like quite silly like he for people who don't know he was in the navy for like 14 years like different worlds yeah he has served his country he's like this is the stuff that matters like which is fair yeah so i think if I then threw a tantrum over the ring he'd be like this is about our commitment and our love but I'd be but also like we don't have like a huge amount of money so I'd be really upset if he spent like a big chunk of money on something that I then don't yeah don't like so I think just from now on I'm just gonna have to really ram it home that he's got to propose with a filler ring like literally something from Claire's accessories that can be like put in a special box together like that was a moment yeah thing and then we can go together yeah um but but it does it doesn't really help the uh the person asking the question yeah i mean we have two different views on this yeah maybe maybe she could like do it sort of through third parties so like if someone says to her like oh that's you know your ring's so beautiful she'd be like yeah it's like really different to what i would have chosen actually whereas so then you're not saying like i hate it but if you say that sort of thing enough in company where he's there he might start to get the idea that maybe he's not hit the mark i think it really depends on the partner as well it really depends you've got to know their vibe like are they gonna be crying about it are they gonna have put their whole life and soul into choosing this and like feel really upset about it or were they choosing something they thought you were gonna like and actually they're like oh well if you don't then that's fine yeah that's a good that's a good point maybe like try and ask him presumably it's him um oh so like what was you know how did you decide like what was your process and have to hear more about that and if it's just a like oh i went to whoever and thought that one that nice and i thought i'd buy it it sounds that yeah a bit more like okay he's just gone and bought something he thinks it's nice but if he's like taking the time yeah to like design it and really thought about it then perhaps give it a couple yeah yeah but also it might be a thing that you had an idea in your head of what you wanted it to look like and they created something that in their mind represented you and maybe in time you'll come to like it because actually it will just remind you that they have created something for you so we're not going down the samantha route of wrong wing wrong guy yeah that's what she says to carrie about aiden yeah she was right oh god good luck girl good luck you're listening i'd love to hear a follow-up on that seriously i always feel like i need to know her like please write in again all right one more i think i'm torn between saving for a property or continuing to travel while I can, which investment is more valuable in the long run, memories or bricks and mortar?

49:49Well, it's not a very good time to buy a house. So I feel like... It never is. It never is. It never is. I bought mine in 2016. We voted to leave the European Union that year. And everyone was like, you've done terribly. This is a terrible decision. Everyone tells you it's like a good time. And I suspect my flat's probably gone up like by 50 grand already. Just because of where it is, it's in London. it just is yeah and yeah like stamp duty and stuff changes all the time there's never a good time to buy a house obviously what's gonna stand you in good stead in long term is property like there's no two ways to be around the bush but it depends on your situation are you are you being helped by parents are you not are you with a partner where you could split that sort of financial burden a bit more are you not like i think it really depends on sort of yeah how your whole life looks together um and sort of just ultimately what kind of person you are if you're the kind of person who's going to lie on your deathbed and be like I wish I traveled more then travel I also really think it depends on your age which maybe a lot of people wouldn't agree with but I think if you're young if you're in your 20s because I had this exact same thing a couple years ago I was like I really feel like I need a property I need to invest I need to not be flushing my rent down the drain and it needs to all come back to me and I really wanted to buy a house but then I was like oh my god this is going to be the biggest financial burden on myself it's going to be a huge stress on myself and actually I think to actually travel and to use my money for what I'm doing right now would be better in the long run and in a few years time when it's not going to be a huge burden yeah then I'll buy something you're right to point out the burden side of things because I think a lot of people look at property purchasing as like the removal of stress believe me it's not like you know if things go wrong on your property and you own it you're the one sorting it out and they're a money pit and even if you eventually sell you are paying capital gains tax and all the rest of it so you know what you actually reap back an investment is going to hopefully be what you paid but it won't probably actually be that much more unless we're talking like a you've stayed there for 30 years yeah it's not the ultimate sort of ticket to like making it is it buying a property obviously it's a huge achievement if you do it yeah it's um it's more like if you have that lump sum and you want to protect it then yes there are very few investments out there that exist with the same sort of security but if you're talking about like i want to set myself up for like a financial future well you're going to presumably be living in these properties so it's not like you've sort of got those it's not like you sort of set yourself a savings up yeah you can then like dip into in the future it's going to be locked in yeah so it depends how your life works if you're the sort of person who when the boiler breaks you want to be able to call the landlord and be like not my problem yeah then you know do as the germans do it's cliche isn't it but there's that saying about how travel is the only thing in life that you spend money on that makes you richer um and i do i honestly think like traveling makes you kind of more interesting um it gives you more cultured gives you these kind of like big life experiences to dwell on and it kind of expands your world like quite literally you know beyond your little bubble that you know I think it's very much dependent on age but if you can and you're not quite ready to sort of settle because I do think perhaps like once you buy a house and the fact you've like kind of plowed all your money into that and perhaps it's then a bit harder to then decide you want to go and live yeah in Portugal for three months or whatever like because you've got you know somewhere to yeah it might not also be such a binary situation is it a real either or like could it be that you spend the next couple of years focusing on the house and then within three years as long as you're earning you know as long as there's income you could find yourself in a place where there's definitely at least one trip um a year i also think there are pros and cons of the sort of renting versus buying situation i think there's a really big pressure on people as you get to a certain age that you really should be buying a house now and you really should be doing this but it's a bit like if you're renting there's also benefits in that you're living somewhere that has flexibility your job might change you might want to travel you might want to go to a different country you're not tied somewhere whereas if you're buying obviously yes that comes back to you later on but you've just it's it really depends on your life and what you want to do so i think don't be pressured into it by what other people around you're doing as well yeah all right thanks ladies that concludes today's episode thank you so much to harriet and sapna for joining and to you at home for listening or watching thanks for tuning in and do remember to subscribe if you haven't already leave us a review and please do tell a friend it does help us to continue creating this content um i hope you enjoyed this episode and we'll catch you next time

54:50Thank you.