I am SO excited to share a project that has been long in the works, captured over the last summer leg of Mad To Live Retreats x The Surf Experience in Lagos, Portugal.
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The advent of December brings with it the sounding of the claxon of party season. Sequins at the ready lovers. Many women, whether desk-bound, without the time to, or less inclined to spend hours beautifying like myself, look for fast-acting, long-lasting products, reading them from the office to the dance floor in one easy swoop.
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A week ago Kreativ House (a rad new co-work space) in the heart of Hackney, East London hosted us for MAD TO RAVE: A showcase of all that is Mad To Live. With a screening of the mini-short film by The Psychic Visions Collective, a collaboration with The Surf Experience, a gallery presenting the best of Mad To Live in action and live art with surf artist Harvey Saunders, an all-time party ensued, well-watered by our friends at BrewDog, Twisted Halo and Craft & Origin, and fuelled by delicious poke bowls from Lords of Poke.
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Canadian snowboarding-supernova Robin Van Gyn has just wrapped a screening of the latest epic cinematic masterpiece from infamous snowboarder Travis Rice and Quiksilver and Roxy, “Depth Perception” in the bustling heart of London’s film premiere hub, Soho. An unusual place to find a mainly mountain-dwelling athlete like Robin, but it is clear she is exultant, in high spirits riding the wave of an incredibly successful tour of the film which has garnered world-wide critical acclaim.
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A viral-video came to light recently that really caught my attention. The roving (female) reporter spoke to random men in the street, asking them when they last had sex, giving them a high five for it, and if they orgasmed (another high give for that, yeaahhhhh bro). She then went onto ask the satiated lovers if they knew if their female partners had too, orgasmed during their encounters?
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I am super stoked to be collaborating with my adventure partners in crime, the radical folk at KEEN whose brilliant ethos for their #TrailFit movement is about empowering women to get outside and enjoy fitness and the outdoors, something I wholeheartedly subscribe to.
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Oh winter you are a cruel edged sword. On one hand you are imparting your cinnamon-scented gifts a la hot toddys, snuggley evenings in front of Attenborough with a roast dinner, cracklng fire places and warm toes in socks. And on the other slightly cracked paw is the baffling dehydration, hair frizz, chapped lips and parched cheeks that comes with the advent of the most wonderful time of the year. Just When we think we have evaded the skin-scorching summer months, winter rears its cosy, central-heating blasting head. Many of us find our skin and hair even dyer than during summer.
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Hot off the back of a recent trip to The Nomads Camp with The Action Academy, a co-working retreat where interjected between workshops and talks to help transition you to be a digital nomad/run your own business we tore down the mountains of Morzine on mountain bikes, wakeboarded Lake Annecy and packed more adventure into a week than you can shake a stick at, is my article in SurfGirl Magazine outlining how you, too, can be a digital nomad.
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Recent Mad To Live Reteats attendee and friend for life Natalia Fludra is a woman after our own heart. To me Natalia perfectly epitomises exactly what I have endeavoured to showcase about Mad To Live Retreats: being a modern, successful woman (Natalia works in law) who also is passionate about actively following her interests and dreams and does not sacrifice them.
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Long-time friend of Mad To Live the legendary Double Olympic Champion Victoria Pendleton (CBE) was spotted discussing her love surfing and Mad To Live Retreats in The Telegraph recently.
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Where is better to find inspiration for new narrative than from one’s own experiences? As I have been single, charting the occasionally murky waters that can be the digital-heavy swipo-sphere of modern dating, it has only been now, at the dawn of my 30s, that I have had sustained single-time. Having been in long-term relationships for the bulk of my life (heck, I like having a partner, someone to adventure with and chew the fat with on a Sunday over a stack of pancakes), off the back of the end of a recent long-term relationship I have been exploring the somewhat turbulent map of what it is to be a single woman in 2017.
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How I love running women's surf retreats. It could be selfish but sheez, I am just getting to meet the MOST radical awesome ladies doing this, and making incredible new friends. So from a selfish perspective, I LOVE IT as I am making so many brilliant new friends, women that are inspiring me in turn to be creative and do epic things.
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Cornish born and bred lady-slider, the London Surf Film Festival Director, author and screen writer Demi Taylor has been a stalwart of the surf-ciné world and the global creative surf movement. Co-author of numerous surf and travel books with her partner Chris Nelson, 7 years ago Demi & Chris gave birth to a vision to celebrate the unique and iconic British surf industry. Years down the line, The London Surf Film Festival is a beating heart not just of the UK surf scene, but the global waters, hosting international film-makers, surfers, ocean lovers, dreamers and thinkers.
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I recently spent a week with the Nomads Camp at the Action Academy in the breathtaking town of Morzine in the French Alps. I was galvanised by this unique concept, finding so much professional and personal inspiration whilst housed in the stunning year-long snow and summer resort. My interest was immediately piqued when I read through the concept for the Nomads Camp: a working retreat so to speak, where a group of burgeoning/budding entrepreneurs/digital nomads are brought together to spend time on workshops to help with our respective businesses, listen to talks from like-minded business owners, hot-desk from the outrageously beautiful mountains, and pepper our working day with the radical activities all of us craft our lives around.
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If when I say women’s swimwear and female empowerment go together in the same business strategy, I can understand how you could have your doubts, raise an eyebrow and potentially utter a likely hmmmmm. But Kristina Maciukaite and Gerda Mickevicuite, owners of Bali/Cali -based swimwear brand Makara, are trying to turn the tables on the traditional narrative surrounding women’s swimwear quite frankly, on its head.
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I was so excited to train the brilliant Rose Beer recently for a feature in Grazia Magazine exploring how to unlock happiness. The whole ethos of Mad To Live and the training around it is about fundamentally feeling happy, and that being strong, capable, and exploring adventurous sports in the outdoors is something I believe is paramount to this.
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Check out this recent shoot in my home-town Praia da Luz, Portugal, shot by Hannah Edy.
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If you’ve been tuning into the action from the Mad To Live Retreats x The Surf Experience weeks in the stunning, golden hued, lemon-tree scented shores of southern Portugal, your keen eye, like many others, may have been glued to the delicious imagery of the food that is served to the guests, and to the effusive and brilliant chef, Rachel Snow.
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Welcome back to feel-good beauty on the Mad To Live Blog. Next-up, we have a segment on multi-purpose products that are awesome for busy women on the move. I spend most of my time living out of suitcases and backpacks now, on the move travelling with my retreats, Mad To Live Retreats, and as a travel writer. and freelancer. I pack light, always - hand luggage nearly 100% of the time so in terms of beauty products, the few products that I do like to use and pack need to have multi-purpose attributes.
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I was lucky to spend a few days with the Vans pro surf-team recently in the lushly wild Mundaka, a pocket in the Basque region of northern Spain that brims with adventure, surf, and a raw, primordial energy that is apparent and palpable in it’s vast mountains, Neolithic cave-painting remains and breath-taking vistas.
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