goodtoknow's team blog

Louise has seen the future of beauty and it's looking to the past

How are you feeling? A bit grumpy? Need cheering up? Well, according to the boffins who analyse our spending habits, many of us are looking to the past to feel better. We're beginning to reminisce about the good ol' days. Ahh, remember when a latte was just a cup of milky coffee? And moisturiser was just moisturiser and not anti-ageing, 24-hour, light reflecting, calming serum for stressed skin?

Like any bandwagon, the beauty industry have been one of the first to jump on-board. The two main attractions to these old-fashioned style products is that they're made with simple, natural ingredients. And the packaging tends to have a trendy vintage look.

High street favourite Boots, has lead the way with two exciting ranges.

First there's Girard perfumes. Orignally House of Girard was a big perfume brand in the 1920s, which gradually disappeared from the shelves. But recently the recipes for the fragrances were found in some very old archives at Boots. Five new Girard scents were created from the original notes.

You can tell that the perfumes are different, although they don't smell old fashioned - more like the sort of expensive scent that you'd have specially made for you. And the bottles look gorgeous too.

Then there's new Boots Original Formula which is a range of classic beauty products, such as cold cream and skin tonic. These new products have been recreated from the archived recipes of Jesse and Florence Boot, who set up the chemist 160 years ago.

Also worth a look is Kiehl's. It's a range of beauty products created by a New York pharmacist in 1851. There are some really effective products such as the Lip Balm and the Crème de Corps (body cream) that have been around for over 150 years and are still best-sellers.

By Katie McPhillimy

I've been on work experience at goodtoknow for the past two weeks and as the team has been so nice to me, I've made them a cake as a way of saying 'Thanks for having me'.

I had so much fun making it, and it went down so well here that I'm going to share the recipe with you.

It takes a while to make but it's well worth the effort. Making and eating a cake is a great way to spend a rainy day with the kids (or your friends), especially as you get to lick the bowl.

Ingredients:
175g (6oz) butter
175g (6oz) sugar
3 eggs
140g (5oz) self-raising flour
30g (1oz) cocoa powder
1tbsp maple golden syrup

For the filling:
60g (2oz) butter
125g (4oz) icing sugar
30g (1oz) cocoa powder

For the topping:
100g bar of milk chocolate
1 packet of Smarties

To make:
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/ Gas mark 5. Grease two 20cm sandwich tins.
- Mix the butter and sugar for the cake together until light and creamy. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then add gradually to the mixture, beating well. Sieve the flour into the bowl and fold into the mixture.
- Add the cocoa powder and maple syrup and stir in. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins, flatten the mixture with a knife and bake in the oven for 10-12mins, until light and springy to the touch.
- Leave to cool and remove from the tins. Meanwhile, mix the filling ingredients together with a splash of hot water. Once the cakes are cool, spread the filling on one and 'sandwich' the two cakes together.
- For the topping, melt the chocolate over a pan of hot water, spread over the cake and decorate with smarties. Leave in the fridge for the chocolate to set for about an hour, then enjoy!

By Anna Penniceard food/diets ed

I'm glued to the telly at the moment because there's so many good food programmes on and even more to look forward to! So there's Heston Blumenthal trying to sort out British institution Little Chef, beef expert John Torode and veg master Gregg Wallace in tasting heaven on Masterchef and we've also got The Great British Food Fight. Tonight, it's a Dispatches special with food critic and author Jay Rayner, and Heston Blumenthal looking at the true cost of cheap food.

Now this is a subject close to all our hearts. As the credit crunch bites we're all trying to save a few quid on our supermarket shopping, whether it's by using coupons, going for two-for-ones or other offers, or switching our favourite brands for cheaper budget lines from supermarket own-brands. But does budget mean low quality and is our own health and nutrition suffering because we're trying to save money? The answer, sadly, seems to be yes.

But apparently, for very little extra cost, supermarkets could improve the quality of their cheapest foods and only put a small dent in their huge profits. Don't you think they have a responsibility to us, their loyal customers, to do that when times get tough? Let me know what you think.

The True Cost of Cheap Food, Thursday 22nd January, Channel 4, 8pm

And coming up, watch out for:
Chickens, Hugh and Tesco Too, Monday, 26th January, Channel 4, 9pm
Jamie Saves Our Bacon, Thursday 29th January, Channel 4, 9pm
Ramsay's Great British Nightmare, Friday 30th January, Channel 4, 9pm

Read: The Truth About Chickens And Eggs

Louise has found a secret long-lasting nail varnish – that really works!

Isn't it annoying when after just 2 days your nice new nail varnish chips? And do you always get that nervous feeling after doing your nails that, even though they are touch dry, they still might smudge, so you have to do everything using just the palms of your hands - and you can bet that straightaway you'll get an itchy nose.

Last night I went to the So Fabulous nail salon in London, to have a Bio Sculpture manicure

A Bio Sculpture manicure is different to having acrylic nails or any other nail polish because they use a coloured gel, which lasts for 3 weeks, yes, 3 weeks! And there are no fumes or damage to the nail.

You can choose from around 60 shades. I fancied something in-between a shimmery plum and a translucent blue but the colour didn't exist. So the nail technician mixed a bespoke colour, just for me, which was then given my name - fame at last! If I'd wanted a colour to match a bag or pair of shoes the nail technician could make up that colour too.

The colour was sealed with a UVA lamp and was completely dry immediately. I was able to pick up my bag, drink a cup of tea, even run my fingers through my hair - no smudges, smears or stickiness. And my nails will stay like this for 3 weeks!

What's also really clever about a Bio Sculpture manicure or pedicure is that you can have a French, neutral or pale colour, paint a regular nail varnish over the top, just for a special occasion, take off the regular nail polish and your Bio Sculpture manicure will be left completely in tact.

Find your nearest Bio Sculpture salon

Need a diet that's good for your hair, skin and nails ?

By Charlotte Gunn

How funny was Kate Winslet's Golden Globe acceptance speech? I loved the bit where she forgot about poor old Angelina. And when she declared her love for Leo!

It's maybe not quite as embarrassing as Gwyneth Paltrow's 1999 Oscar acceptance speech where she blubbed for about an hour, but it's got to be up there!

If you missed it, watch the clip again below.