She’s back

It was so lovely to have Alison O’Reilly back in the QVC studios for our Diamonique Day last Friday and judging by the number of messages both she and I had on social media, you were pleased to see her back too and looking so well. How funny that we both got the ‘green memo’!

We had actually considered doing last Friday’s Permission to Pry on my Instagram page (@juliagroberts) with Alison, but in the end, it didn’t work logistically as she has quite a long drive to QVC, so we are doing it today instead, back at the normal time of 11am. By the way, if Friday mornings don’t work for you, I always leave the video on my picture grid for a week for you to watch at your leisure and after that you can find all of them by tapping the middle icon above my picture grid… the one that looks like a TV screen with a lightning bolt running through it (technical explanation!)

So, instead of Alison, I had a lovely chat with Andrew Bagley from Gatineau. Normally I’m able to Pry on people’s grids beforehand and find lots of pictures to ask questions about. This was not the case with Andrew as he is usually very private and only has one photo on his grid and that is of a Gatineau product. It’s a good job I’ve known him through QVC for over twenty-seven years, so had an idea of which way to direct the conversation. For example, what is the story behind this photo of my lovely daughter, Sophie and Andrew?!? All is revealed on last week’s Permission to Pry, along with Andrew’s ‘Something we don’t know about you’ (a jaw-dropping surprise) and a cute puppy appearance.

If you get a minute you should watch it – I absolutely loved it. Do remember to leave a comment requesting other QVC guests (or presenters) whose off-screen life you would like me to ‘pry’ into once I have their permission!

So once again this week, there is no Fashion on Friday on the main channel although I will still be presenting FOF on the Style channel at 6pm as per usual. The reason is another event day and this time it’s gardening. I’m on at 3pm with Let Your Garden Glow and 4pm with Garden Inspirations. I’ve managed to fit a bit of gardening in this week between editing my next book (more on that later) and I’ve also enjoyed sitting out in the sunshine for my lunch and post lunch cup of fruit tea. I filmed this video of a blue tit feeding on the Grumpy Gardener fat balls and am whispering because the brave little chap was less than a metre away from me.

As you can see, the fat balls are suspended from my Luxform solar lamppost. Two things: I’ve finally succumbed and ordered the Garden Pick of the Month, the Kensington Style solar lamppost, which I’ve been considering since April 2nd when I first saw it AND I’ve had to order yet more Grumpy Gardener fat balls – the birds in my area have obviously been spreading the word!!!

Apart from sitting enjoying the sunshine, I’ve been planting out my Richard Jackson sweet peas. They were my dad’s favourites and our house when I was growing up was full of the fragrance of them through the early part of the summer. I’ve never been successful growing them from seed, so I’m hoping for better luck with a head-start from Richard Jackson and plenty of Flower Power.

I’ve also ordered the Plants2Gardens Helianthus Sunbelievable, which should be arriving any day. They are like miniature sunflowers and I have just the spot for two of the plants either side of the entrance to my gym at the bottom of the garden. The other I’m intending to pot up for my mum.

Back to Richard Jackson for a moment – it’s amazing what a little bit of warm sunshine can do. Just look at how big last year’s lilies already are and how many shoots there are, which hopefully will mean even more flowers. And yes, they are Richard Jackson Slug and Snail pellets!

Of course, this time of year is perfect to go for walks in the woods and enjoy the carpet of bluebells. You probably already know that it is not permitted to dig up wild bluebells to take home, but we do sometimes sell specially grown plants on QVC. These are self-sets in our driveway and are the perfect backdrop for a photo with my most recent book, My Mother’s Secret, as there is a scene where the main character ‘discovers’ an unofficial graveyard for stillborn babies set among the bluebells in a woody copse.

That leads me into what most of my time away from QVC has been occupied with… structural edits for my next book, due out in August. In some ways it is my least favourite part of writing books because it initially feels like your editor is criticising your work and it feels quite overwhelming to have to change the order of things and sometimes even delete whole chapters that you’ve poured your heart into because they don’t ‘add’ anything to the story. This stage is a lot of hard work, but when it all finally gels, and you accept that your editor was right all along, it’s very fulfilling. My structural edit was handed in yesterday and I await the next round, which is the ‘line edit’ stage. Hopefully, by the time I write my next QVC blog in a fortnight, I should have a title and maybe even a cover to share with you. And do remember you can also catch up with what I’m up to on my weekly author website blog (link in my social media).

Well, this Sunday is The Great Beauty Event and before I tell you about some of the great shows and the Today’s Special Value, I had a little beauty event of my own… a trip to the hairdresser for a cut and colour! We’ve lightened the colour slightly, so do let me know what you think.

So, the Today’s Special Value is from Laura Geller and it’s the 4-piece Face It All Collection, which is already on presell. It features my favourite Laura Geller foundation, Balance-n-Glow, in a choice of seven shades, but there is so much more. Blush-n-Brighten in a new shade, Starfish Island (I love Laura’s blushers), Jelly Balm Lipstick AND a baked eyeshadow palette containing FOURTEEN colours. I think it’s really good value at £39.96 and it’s already on four Easy Pay interest-free instalments. I say already, because there is a voucher code, BE4UTY, to apply at checkout on the website or the app, which will give you the option of four interest-free instalments on ‘selected’ beauty products, not all.

Other hour-long shows to look out for on Beauty Day are; Neom, Molton Brown, Algenist, Nails Inc, Liz Earle and Elemis to name a few, along with lots of other brands in generic shows. I’ll be with you for Laura Geller at 11am and The Great Beauty Event at 1pm, I hope you can join me. I should also mention that although not featuring in a full hour on the day, I have an hour of Estee Lauder at 3pm on Monday.

Have a lovely weekend, whatever you are up to, and do remember to check out Permission to Pry on my Instagram.

Much love,
Julia xx