Sunday Edit | All About The Bean

Nothing quite beats the heady aroma of freshly ground coffee beans and up until now I’ve ground beans separately from my machine, but… I have a new coffee machine to show you which does both! Plus some gorgeous organic makeup and skincare and fun sandals also new in…

And what is a home without plants? Admittedly I’m not the greatest at keeping them alive, to the point that when I manically give them a soak in the sink I tend to overdo it and then they start to wilt from too much water! However, I’m turning to a new book to keep me on the straight and narrow… Lots to tell, let’s get going!

When you return to drinking coffee – as I did when we moved house (over a year ago now, oh the stress!) – you start off treating yourself to gorgeously made lattes in cafes and coffee shops, but soon enough you want the same at home. And then you start investigating coffee machines, because frankly, a plunger pot just doesn’t cut it and surely there has to be something a step up from a percolator. Well there are lots of steps up, let me tell you. And they can be quite costly!

Krups and their Nespresso capsule machines have pretty much cornered the market if you like capsules. But if like me you adore the smell of freshly crushed beans and don’t want the hassle of a separate machine and coffee grinder (yes been there!) then you might want to check out this pretty affordable in the coffee machine scheme of things bean-to-cup Krups EA8150 Espresseria.

Set up is fairly easy. I would just recommend having a largish jug or bowl on hand as it does a flush-through cleaning process via the milk steamer wand to begin with. Once the water and steam has finished, then you’re good to go. You can select the type of coffee you want in terms of amount, press the start button and you get a nice espresso shot or shots (eg. people choose 2cups if after an Americano, I just need one!). Just to note, you can’t use ground coffee with this machine; it’s all about the bean, and you can adjust the size of the grind.

I love my coffee with frothy milk and more than happy to steam (worked in a coffee bar as a student and found the milk steaming a very calming process!) and there’s a handy timer, I tend to do about half a cup’s worth for just under 20 seconds to be hot enough. And then into the cup. Pretty easy peasy, and nothing beats from freshly ground beans (these are TOMS beans btw, see more on that below!).

Coffee machine* | Krups (available on Amazon for two prices here & here)

Summer sandals are all kinds of fun and I’ve been stashing up a little sun ready collection – slides are just the thing right now, in all sorts of styles. Trying to look a little head and in search of something new, I fell upon these criss cross gladiator style sandals by Petite Mendigote while browsing French site L’Exception, which has all sorts of lovely brands. Can’t wait to wear these with black denim and a white tee!

Sandals | Petite Mendigote

I’m so excited to see the publication of Sophie Lee’s Living With Plants book. Sophie, the founder of plant styling business Geo-Fleur has just gone from strength to strength since I first met her back in 2014 at her stall at Chatsworth Sunday market. It was brilliant to take part in her Kickstarter campaign and see her achieve the amount she needed to start the Geo-Fleur workshops, #plantpostclub and evolve the business.

Sophie’s online presence is a refreshing joy and her eye for plants and styling is second to none! Living With Plants is full of beautiful photography and sensible advice about how to fill your home with plants – I mean it never really occurred to me to think about what size plants would suit the right space! Lots of tips on watering best practice and tutorials on how to make plant hangers and decorate pots. Lovely gift for self or for someone you like! And keep an eye out for my first #plantshelfie on Insta, coming soon!

Book | Living With Plants

I love how we live in the days of organic makeup. I remember when this didn’t even really feel like an option. New in at Cult Beauty is Danish brand Kjaer Weis. By Danish-born, New York-based make up artist Kirsten Kjaer Weis who wanted products that didn’t irritate her skin, the range is luxuriously cased in little refillable jewellery like boxes. They feel very elegant and mature. I’m trying out a selection of shades and know these are the kind of things, eg. the bronzer, I’ll pop in a handbag for an on-the-go touch up. In fact, the foundation (I went for Like Porcelain) is about to make it’s way into my daily makeup routine (see how I do my makeup on You Tube here!) as another under-eye layer… !

Makeup | Kjaer Weis

I keep discovering lovely new brands through Positive Luxury and this latest one Soveral (from London facialist and aromatherapist Alexandra Soveral & available at Net-a-Porter) is 100% organic and the skincare products are hand blended here in London. I’ve been trying out the Angel Balm as a deep balm cleanser and the Midnight Oil for a pre-sleep face massage. Both lovely, sumptuous products, lightly scented. I’m planning a visit to see how the products are made, so stay tuned!

Face balm | Soveral

Face oil | Soveral

I’m a bit of a camera geek and perusing eBay as I do every now and then, I came across this little compact – super retro looking, with fixed lens and aperture of f1.7. Which is pretty low for this type of camera. It’s such a niche type of camera not many brands do them (there’s no Olympus equivalent!) but this Ricoh GR Digital III – btw the the numbering is confusing, the latest model is actually a GRD II!) is a bit of a cult model with street photographers who love it for its small size and ‘snap focus’ – you can set it to have an automatic focal distance of your choosing so you can surreptitiously shoot from the hip knowing that from a certain distance your image will be be in focus.

This model is an older one, and doesn’t have the Wifi but I got this for about £150 to have a little play around with and actually to set up on B&W to try and get better at taking black & whites. My aim is to create a little black & white project inspired by the personal project making of Xanthe B and her and Sara’s new #hurrayforplay project!

Camera | Ricoh GRD III from eBay (latest model second edition Ricoh GRD II with Wifi here)

I love TOMS as you know, but had no idea they did sunglasses (bags and coffee too!) as well as the espadrilles! Some very cool wearable styles on the site and keep an eye out this week for my Instagram post supporting their #StandWithToms Giving campaign, where they are working with partnets to provide six unique Gives: shoes, sight, safe birth, safe water, kindness and time to people in need. You can take part in this project by sharing a picture and be entered to win 2 tickets for Global Citizen Festival, July 6 in Hamburg. See more here.

Sunglasses | TOMS