Today is my birthday, and as promised on my last blog, I have a birthday giveaway of ten of my favourite QVC beauty products\u2026 more on that later!<\/p>\n

So, today I celebrate my 66th birthday, but that pales into insignificance against the celebrations last weekend for the Queen\u2019s Platinum Jubilee and the wonderful milestone she has reached! I was very happy to decorate my home to show my appreciation for the dedication to duty she has exhibited over the past seventy years.<\/p>\n<\/a>\n

In my front window, I had a flag with Her Majesty\u2019s portrait on it and I captured this great photo through the JM by Julien MacDonald<\/a> mirror that we have above our fireplace in the lounge. Did anyone else see the man himself alongside another QVC favourite, Lulu, on the first night of the four-day weekend? We were watching with my daughter\u2019s family who we had round for the day. I\u2019d also strung bunting, blown up red, white, and blue balloons and dotted several flags around the garden where I\u2019d spent the morning planting up my hanging baskets and containers.<\/p>\n\n

I used Richard Jackson\u2019s Root Booster<\/a> to give them a flying start, as did Dennis, my helping hand in the garden when he planted up my veg trug, very neatly I might add!<\/p>\n\n

This year I\u2019m growing (or trying to grow) carrots, radishes, lettuce, spring onions, chillis, aubergine, tomatoes, and runner beans. Fingers crossed, with a bit of TLC and plenty of RJ\u2019s Flower Power<\/a>, I\u2019m hoping for a bumper crop.<\/p>\n\n

My dad always grew runner beans and sweet peas. From my childhood, I have memories of the two rows of canes supporting the growing plants stretching out across the bottom of our garden. What would have been his 102nd birthday coincides with Father\u2019s Day this year on June 19th, so a bit of a double whammy for me. He\u2019d have been pleased to see how well my sweet peas are doing again this year. I\u2019ve already picked two lots to bring indoors for their fragrance and colour\u2026 they will always remind me of him.<\/p>\n\n

After I\u2019d finished gardening, I headed to the kitchen to make a broccoli and walnut cheesy quiche, cheese spelt scones and this Victoria Sandwich cake! I\u2019m normally pretty good at cake baking, but this one was a little \u2018overdone\u2019 at the edges. The sponge was good though and the jam and buttercream were spot on, if I do say so myself! We were able to dine \u2018al fresco\u2019 with Sophie and family for the first time this year! Although I was working for the other three days of the Platinum Jubilee, I did manage to catch the concert, which I thought was superb. The highlight, though, had to be Her Majesty entertaining Paddington Bear to tea at Windsor Castle, which had me laughing out loud.<\/p>\n\n

So, I mentioned at the beginning of my blog that I was doing a birthday giveaway based around my top ten beauty products from QVC. As you can imagine, I use many more than ten beauty products and some of my absolute favourites are missing from this list because they are out of stock currently at QVC \u2013 Elemis Pro Collagen Definition Facial Oil is a prime example. But I do use all of the following, and if you are the lucky winner, I hope you will enjoy using them too:<\/p>\n

Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic duo \u2013<\/strong> I\u2019ve loved the original since the very early days of QVC but this is the Rose & Lavender if you haven\u2019t yet tried it.<\/p>\n

Elemis Overnight Matrix Moisturiser \u2013<\/strong> my absolute \u2018must have\u2019 at the moment, and it comes with a cleansing balm in my prize.<\/p>\n

Elemis White Flowers Eye & Lip Make-up Remover<\/strong> \u2013 no rubbing or scrubbing the delicate eye area and very effective.<\/p>\n

L\u2019Occitane Divine Cream Moisturiser<\/strong> \u2013 I use this as my day moisturiser over oils or serums and this comes with a bonus travel size in my giveaway.<\/p>\n

L\u2019Occitane Treat Your Feet<\/strong> \u2013 a foot cream that doesn\u2019t smell minty! And it\u2019s sandal season AND you get the extra rich foot balm too.<\/p>\n

Ultrasun Tan Acccelerator 30 Face & Body \u2013<\/strong> I use this on every holiday\u2026 need I say more?<\/p>\n

Philip Kinglsey Elasticizer in Mango & Hibiscus in a full litre size<\/strong> \u2013 couldn\u2019t be without it.<\/p>\n

Gale Hayman Lip Lift duo \u2013<\/strong> I\u2019ve used this for almost 25 years and never found a better conditioning treatment for the lips.<\/p>\n

Benefit Bad Gal Bang Mascara \u2013<\/strong> in my opinion, the best mascara for length and definition<\/p>\n

Laura Geller Tahitian Glow \u2013<\/strong> my little secret for a bronzed, dewy-looking skin on face and body\u2026 I LOVE it!!<\/p>\n

This little haul would be over \u00a3450 to buy currently from QVC, so it\u2019s a lovely giveaway, especially for my birthday. And to be in with a chance of winning, simply answer this question.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been at QVC since it first aired in October 1993 but how old was I when I started?<\/p>\n

a) 27
\nb) 32
\nc) 37<\/p>\n

Leave your answer in a comment before midnight on June 19th to be in with a chance of winning\u2026 Good Luck!<\/p>\n<\/a>\n

Well, we do have Laura Geller Tahitian Glow as part of the competition prize, which leads me nicely into the fact that we have a Laura Geller Today’s Special Value<\/a> tomorrow (launching 9pm tonight), which is already available on presell. It doesn\u2019t feaure the Tahitian Glow BUT it does have; Balance & Brighten foundation in your choice of colour, Spackle tinted make-up primer in Bronze, Blusher in Rose Bronze, Italian marble lipstick in Bellisima (beautiful in Italian), and Kajal in Burnt Cocoa, which I love. It\u2019s under \u00a345<\/a>, on 3 interest-free easy-pays and is zero P&P.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not on for Fashion on Friday tonight as I\u2019m off out with the family for dinner, but I\u2019ll see you next Thursday.<\/p>\n

Have a great weekend!
\nMuch love,
\nJulia x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is my birthday, and as promised on my last blog, I have a birthday giveaway of ten of my favourite QVC beauty products\u2026 more on that later! So, today I celebrate my 66th birthday, but that pales into insignificance against the celebrations last weekend for the Queen\u2019s Platinum Jubilee and the wonderful milestone she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":116076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[247,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116074"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116074"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116085,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116074\/revisions\/116085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}