The Return of the Blog

2014 Welcomes the return of the ZPR blog and to kick the year off we thought we'd share our thoughts for what we'll be doing and seeing during 2014.  Watch out for our regular posts and we'd love to have your feedback on what you enjoy reading about.  We'll be posting our ten trends for 2014 over the next few days. Here's the first ...

We’re going nuts for all things Brazilian and we’re not talking beauty treatments here we’re talking the most successful international footballing country hosting the 2014 World Cup.  Expect to see Brazilian influences in food, drink and lifestyle trends.  Make ours a Caipirinha.  We can't wait for the carnival of football to kick off.  

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Christmas comes early for B&Q team

Christmas arrived last week for the ZPR girls with the B&Q press show over the skyline of London.

 

We took over the 31st floor of Centrepoint building to preview our new Christmas and autumn winter decor ranges, launch our new energy saving offer as well as showcase a range of new and innovative power tools to over 120 journalists. We also had the lovely George Clarke make an appearance as he took a sneak peak at what’s new at B&Q.

 

This year, we challenged journalists to tweet the best photo of the show to us for the chance to win a fabulous prize. The entries exceeded our expectations, with the winning picture, chosen by the lovely George Clarke, being of the taxi bauble flying over London.

 

 

Though it would seem Christmas is a longtime away we are definitely starting our Christmas countdown at the ZPR office early!

 

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Marble Arch Store Of The Future

On Friday 30th March,
Superdrug Marble Arch unveiled a brand new look to customers just in time for
summer. The refurbished store
boasts a beauty clinic, brow and lash bar, The Perfume Shop counter, as well as
being the first store in the estate to stock new brands including Freshskin

by Elemis, Essie nail polishes, We Are Faux lashes and Glam Republic appliqué
eye liner.

As well as picking up all
their beauty essentials customers will also be able pop in for a massage, facial
or threading treatment in the brand new beauty clinic.

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Tea In A Bun Please Mr Baker..

Heston Blumenthal has been hard at work again to come up with another delicious creation!
New to the shelves and just in time for Easter, are his tea infused hot cross buns! What makes these iconic Easter treats stand out from the rest is the use of juicy and plump mixed fruits which have been soaked in Earl Grey tea - a childhood favourite of the chef’s - with a blend of orange zest, manadarin and bergamot extracts creating a heavenly result. Having tried and tested these delightful bespoke buns, they have forever changed my views on the simple hot cross bun. Try for yourself this Easter, available in all Waitrose stores from February 20th at £1.59 per twin pack.

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Easy Brie'zy...

With Valentines Day fast approaching it can be tough to come up with something innovative yet thoughtful and to remind that special someone that they are still special. WELL, Waitrose have the perfect solution to your Valentines dilemma - heart shaped Brie! Its simple and completely genious! Who says Valentines Day doesn't have to be cheesy.......

Having sampled this little piece of heaven, the melt in your mouth creamy texture is sure to send yours and your loved ones taste buds into over drive! What are you waiting for; this heart shaped novelty Brie is available from your local Waitrose cheese counter for just £3.99.

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Last night we were extremely excited to host a photo call with the beautiful Abbey Clancy at our Superdrug Strand store in celebration of the new Lynx Attract for women. She looked every bit the part in her body-con electric blue dress and perfectly coiffed hair as paparazzi and on-looking fans stalked the door to get a glimpse of the model. Things later got a bit hot under the collar as a spontaneous ‘flash snog’ commenced starting with Abbey spraying ‘his and her’s’ versions of the fragrance into a parted crowd of male and female models leading them to join together and commence in a raunchy snogathon! This truly lives up to the fragrance strap line ‘unleash the chaos’! The night was a great success and we took a couple of cheeky behind-the-scenes pics so you can get in on a piece of the action too!

Also at Superdrug we are excited about the Lorraine: Naked competition that we arranged with the Lorraine Show. Lorraine is searching for the UK’s most naturally beautiful people and the winners will front a nationwide Superdrug campaign. Judged by Lorraine and Superdrug’s very own senior skincare buyer, Joanna Hutton, as well as a model scout and casting director, the campaign has already received over 2,000 entrants. Not only will the two lucky winners get to take part in an amazing photo shoot for Dare magazine but they will also walk away with £250 gift card and a fab Superdrug goody bag. The competition is all about natural beauty so we want your face – NAKED. Info on how to apply can be found on www.itv.com/lorraine. Are YOU Britain’s natural beauty?.....

Superdrug are not the only ones hosting all of the excitement on the Lorraine Show this month. Over at Waitrose we held a ' Britains Best Soup ' contest on ITV1’s Lorraine show, where the lucky mother of two Karen Tanner, scooped the winning prize with her Chicken, Chorizo and Paprika soup. Sound amazing? We think so too! Go get yours at your local Waitrose store available for just £2.49!

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Superdrug on ice...

Yesterday saw the Superdrug team really get into the Christmas spirit as they hit the ice to celebrate the start of the festive season. The team were joined by an army of journalists at the Tower of London ice rink and twisted and twirled their way around the ice to showcase all the hottest products available this Christmas.

The ZPR girls took to the ice in the exclusive skating session before hanging up their skates to highlight the best of Christmas. Hot chocolate, mulled wine and twinkling lights accompanied the festive spirit, although gazing at all the beautiful products nearly tripled the length of our Christmas lists!

Minus a few less than graceful stumbles, the team were gliding around the rink like pros by the end – Torvill and Dean watch out!

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There's no business like show business....

From London to Liverpool the fashion team has been working in true style the past couple of weeks, from star studded VIP fashion events around the country to LFW.

To start off the glamour the Peacocks team headed to four stores around the country to launch the Boutique collections at Peacocks. To celebrate the launch the stores held a preview VIP afternoon in the Liverpool, Manchester, Belfast and Newcastle stores hosted by a celebrity face, two gorgeous models modeling the new collections, amazing offers in store and best of all champagne and nibbles.

As customers queued outside to meet Zoe Salmon in Belfast, Pearl Lowe in Liverpool, Gemma Atksinon in Manchester and Anna Foster in Newcastle the stores were buzzing. The staff were full of life, the music was booming, the champagne was flowing and the Autumn collections screamed BUY me. Customers left the stores smiles on their faces and a shopping bag in tow. The day was a success.

Next stop…London Fashion Week. All week we waited in anticipation in the office awaiting the arrival of our LFW tickets. What shows are we going to? Do they cross over? What do we wear? Are we seated or standing?

It got to Sunday morning and we trotted into town, in our heels of course to head to Richard Nicoll and Nicole Fahri. London was alive, everyone was dressed in their best, from punk style to city chic; fame hungry fashionistas, bloggers, editors, make-up artists and photographers were ready for day three of LFW. Towering models strutted down the catwalks in structured shapes, beautiful cut work detail, delicate lace and ice cream pastels. It certainly got our taste buds going for SS12.

To end the day on a high the doyenne of fashion, Anna Wintour was sitting in the FROW, just a row in front of us at Nicole Fahri with her trademark neat bob and oversized sunglasses. The only thing missing was Kate Moss sitting beside her to make the stunning collection absolutely complete.

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