The July Edition

School's Out For Summer...

This is a SEEDLING free monthly post. If you’d like to consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting this community, I’m running a special Seedling Summer Sale offering 25% off subscriptions until the 31st of July. I hope you’ll join us! Wx

Oh my, July! I cannot believe we’ve made to the end of term. Limping, crawling, no matter how, but we’ve made it. Some of you are on holidays already, some of you have just celebrated 4th of July and high summer feels, some will break up along with your children over the next couple of weeks. But wherever you are, very soon for all of us, it’s the holiday season at last. Whether that means staying at home in the garden or chasing the sun abroad, we could all do with a slower pace and even to read a book or two?

My Willow Loves this month has a summer fashion & wellbeing theme and more in our 6 extra’s at the end for our paid community.

My flowery tip this month is all about passion flower - and how to go wild with them on summer tables at home. Our edit is all about holiday packing - the most exciting job of all on the to-do list. I also share my summer beauty and wellness non-negotiables for calm amongst the chaos, skin and hair saviours for the sun and sea, and the barely-there make-up, that really is there…

Our recipe is a light and flavourful Vietnamese-inspired noodle salad with sweet nectarines. A perfect dish for a quick summer lunch or supper. Plus, we highlight a wildflower in season, a tennis edit to up your game and round up things to do or book ahead for this month…

This is my monthly free edition, but every week, I send out emails to my paid subscribers with flowery, fashion, food and wellness content - ideas to inspire, create and nurture - with my goal being to share as much as I can so we can all find joy everyday. I hope you will join our growing community! Use this link for 25% off until the end of the month…

Wishing you all a relaxing and happy month ahead - whether you’re home or abroad, working or holidaying, remember to take time for you.

With Love,
Willow

Creating a Gypsophila Cloud. Part of my Advanced Floristry Course with Create Academy

PS. this is a long read so might be best to read in app/web browser (just in case it cuts off in your email).

PPS. A note on our edits - all brands are lovingly chosen or approved by me. For some of them, we may receive an affiliate commission if you purchase an item.

Willow Loves

What I’m loving this month…

Top row, left to right

A perfect antiqued white lace-trimmed summer top
Our rattan petal stem vases - a must for summer tables
Summer in a dress, in the hue of the season, from Wiggy Kit
Armani Beauty’s luminous silk glow, yes please
Cream crochet Mary Jane flats!
Ancient & Brave clarity mushroom tincture to the rescue

Willow Loves… (6 more!)

(scroll to the end for our paid subscribers)

In Season - Passion Flower…

We are in prime passion flower season - in fact, it’s pretty much all I have to pick right now - that and masses of the wild sweet peas that are climbing all over the garden, crawling up trees and hedges everywhere I look! I’ve been mixing both together in our swirly glass vases, dotting them down the kitchen table, winding them up and down candle sticks - the perfect way to celebrate of the end of term and start of the summer holidays.

Edit - What I’m Packing

I’m off on a sailing trip around Turkey with my extended family so it’s definitely a swimsuits & sarongs brief for the carry on…

Top row, left to right

Marks & Spencer Neoprene Scallop Plunge Swimsuit in Soft White
Flora Intense Rouge De Beauté Brillant Limited-Edition Lipstick
H&M Crocheted Straw Bucket Hat
Funny Story by Emily Henry
Birkenstock Arizona Two Strap Sandals in Dusty Blue Eva
Boden Alberta Footbed Sandals in Natural
Missoni Mare fringed dégradé stripes crochet-knit kaftan
Gerald Darel Anouk Raffia Basket Bag
ViX Swimwear Lily Long Dress in Beach Front
Farm Rio Delicate Tapestry Sarong

Summer Beauty & Wellness

I feel quite settled with my skincare routine at the moment; I’ve been quite fickle in the past - happily trying anything that promises less wrinkles and more gloss. But (for now) after much trial and error, I’m really enjoying each and every item in my skincare and (minimal) make up routine.

For cleansing, this sounds very non-committal, but I have three on rotation. The Eve Lom Cleansing Balm is still my number one but when I can’t face the faff of the hot cloth, I alternate between Cowshed’s Lavender Cleansing Milk and Votary’s dreamy Cleansing Oil (makes you feel like you’re in an actual spa). Cowshed hasn’t ever been high on my radar for skincare but there’s something deliciously calming and luxurious about it.

Then comes a serum. Votary very kindly sent me their new Vitamin C Glow Serum to try a few months ago and I’m hooked. I worried it wouldn’t be hardcore enough but it’s that perfect mix of enough oomph and gentleness at the same time - quite rare in my opinion. Skinceutical’s CE Ferulic and Eve Lom’s Radiance repair retinol serum are the only others I’ve met that rival this.

Next I use an SPF and moisturiser combo because every second counts at that time of the morning! At this time of year especially, Dermalogica’ s Dynamic Skin Recovery is brilliant. You can immediately whack your makeup straight on top and it doesn’t mind, no weird peely bits and it hydrates, tackles wrinkles and dark age spots and has SPF 50, all in one.

Make up wise, I am boringly low key. I long to be really good at it, be able to do smokey eyes and perfect flicks but I just don’t have the time or patience. And actually, often when I’ve had my make up done for shoots and they put on layer after layer of god-knows-what, I end up looking like one of those weird spooky dolls. So I think best to stick to minimal. I’ve used MAC face and body in C2 since I was 15. Every time I think there’s something more exciting out there and go off piste, I end up coming back to it. So I mix that with a dot of Chanel Les Beiges highlighty magic, then de-shine with a sweep of Bobbi Brown’s Weightless powder. A bit of blusher from Code 8, mascara (the only one that doesn’t dance down my face) from Jones Road and then depending on the outing, either a lipstick or most likely, Creme de la Mer’s creamy lip balm.

Lipstick wise, I adore a red lip. Years ago Savannah Miller did a collaboration with Bagsy and they made the perfect red. I’m panicking slightly as it no longer exists and I haven’t been able to find a suitable successor yet. Whilst hunting though - silver lining - I’ve discovered Illia have very lovely lipsticks and when I’m not in full red mood, I wear this one.

I was bitten by a tick a few months ago in Nashville and put on some seriously strong antibiotics. I’ve been focusing on damage control from them ever since and taking a lot of pro and prebiotics. I took some throughout the course and now taking a high potency powdered probiotic my friend (and serious expert on all things gut related) suggested. When I finish those I will be back to my Lumity day and night supplements which I’ve enjoyed for a year or so now.

In season - Oxeye Daisy

Leucanthemum vulgare, commonly known as the ox-eye daisy, dog daisy, or Marguerite, is one of the loveliest and most underrated summer wildflowers. It looks like an overgrown daisy, the huge flower heads nodding on roadside verges, in traditional hay meadows and along field margins during the summer months from June to September. Pollinators love it, particularly hoverflies, solitary bees and butterflies like small tortoiseshells.

Fun fact - oxeye daisies are so bright they appear to glow in the evening. This earned them the nicknames ‘moon daisy’ and ‘moonpenny’.

Recipe - Spicy Nectarine & Herb Noodle Salad

This lush salad features nuoc cham, a Vietnamese-style spicy dressing that provides a wonderful contrast to juicy nectarines.

Ingredients

• 200g pack rice vermicelli

• 1 tsp Vegetable oil

• 4 Golden Blush Nectarines, cut into slim wedges

• ½ small Chinese leaf cabbage (about 250g), finely shredded

• ½ ridged cucumber, halved, deseeded and finely sliced

• 1 large echalion shallot, finely sliced

• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced

• 75g roasted salted peanuts, roughly chopped

• 20g pack Thai basil, leaves torn

• 25g pack mint, leaves picked

Nuoc Cham

• 4 tbsp fish sauce

• 2 limes, juice

• 4 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2 tbsp caster sugar

• 1 small red chilli, finely chopped

• 1 clove garlic, grated

Method

1. For the nuoc cham, in a small bowl stir the ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved; set aside. Boil a kettle. Put the noodles in a heatproof bowl, then cover with just-boiled water. Soak for 6-8 minutes, until tender. Drain, refresh under cold running water, then drain again. Tip back into the bowl and toss with the oil.

2. Add the remaining ingredients to the noodle bowl with the nuoc cham; toss, then transfer to plates or a platter.

Recipe courtesy of Waitrose.Com

Edit - Get, Set, Match

I hope you’re loving Wimbledon as much as me - a summer soundtrack in the background at home even if you can’t get to South West London in person. We’ve rounded up 18 tennis-inspired hits for serving up this summer in style here…

July Arts & Culture

What to see, visit & plan this month…

1. Get last minute tickets to Wimbledon or the lawn behind for all the atmosphere and action

2. Visit The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy

3. Take your children to visit the SkyScape interactive exhibition in central London

4. Book tickets to Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place Festival in London next weekend or in Cheshire next month

5. Book tickets to see Rosamund Pike in Inter Alia at The National Theatre from 10 July

6. Visit the annual Charleston Festival of the Garden on 17-20 July

7. And book tickets for Glyndebourne Summer Festival and visit Charleston House while you’re nearby

8. Visit the Cecil Beaton Garden Party at the Garden Museum until 21 September

9. Visit Chatsworth House for the Gorgeous Nothings flower exhibition running now through the summer

10. My new-ish Advanced Floral Design course with Create Academy could be a good summer up-skill from the comfort of home or garden

Wishing you and yours a very happy July!

Don’t forget the special Seedling Summer Sale offering 25% until the 31st of July. I hope you’ll join us!

Wx

---

PS. Willow Loves (6 more!)