3 top talc-free dusting powders

Gosh it's hot and sticky today and I so wish I had some dusting powder to make me feel less like a boil-in-the-bag ready-meal. As the temperatures soar and we look for ways of keeping cool the Daily Mail website has the cheery news that talc causes ovarian cancer. This is not news and the debate has been around for ages and I can't find anything on any cancer sites (either here or in the UK) that states that talc causes ovarian cancer and that we should all panic. But the Daily Mail loves to cause worry and angst especially in women - it's their daily sport really, or that is how it appears to me. If you do want to completely avoid dusting powders that have talc then there really are lots on the market - here are a few that I think I shall be considering as I am of the age when a dusting powder isn't something my grandma used but something I really quite like.

  Burt's Bees Baby Bee Baby Powder, £7 - if it's good enough for a baby then it's good enough for me I reckon. And I do love Burt's Bees products as you all know... It's 100% talc-free and also phthalate and paraben-free. Lightly scented with fragrant herbs and flowers it will add some much needed freshness.

Crabtree & Evelyn Rosewater Dusting powder, £18 - I adore the scent of rose - it's one of my favourites and this powder is lightly scented with violet, florals and musk so is a must really. It is completely talc-free and has corn-starch to absorb moisture plus silkening minerals to help keep skin soft.

Youth Dew Dusting Powder, Estee Lauder, £27 - this classic fragrance sits firmly within the spicy/oriental family of fragrances so is a great contrast to the other two featured here. It comes with a pampering puff too and will leave you heavenly scented and soft skinned. It's been a favourite fragrance for over 50 years so generations of women have loved it for it's top notes of rose and lavender, middle notes of jasmine and spices and bottom notes of vetiver (I love it when my man wears vetiver) and patchouli. 

Thai chicken and vegetable curry recipe

It's Monday so it's left-overs in this house - and lots of chicken that is far too good for the cat. So I am making a Thai chicken curry which is easy to do and really authentic. All you need is chicken, a variety of vegetables and the following -

2 tablespoons thai green curry paste (I am using Marks and Spencer)
1 tablespoon thai fish sauce
juice and zest of a fresh lime
4 thai lime leaves (dried)
200g chicken stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tin reduced fat coconut milk


Stir fry the veg in a little oil (I used walnut but sesame is great too). Add the thai green curry paste and stir fry. Add stock and all the above ingredients and drop in the left-over chicken. Slowly cook for around half an hour until the vegetables are cooked. Serve with Jasmine thai rice.

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Chapel Porth, Porth Towan and St Ives - Cornwall Part Four

Photo of Chapel Porth - Cornwall-beaches.co.uk

There is a walk that is just so amazingly breathtaking I can't possibly do a write-up on my Cornwall adventures without talking about it. Along the coast from St Agnes you will find a National Trust car park above an abandoned tin mine. Park here and take the coastal path to the right. From here you will get some of the more spectacular views that Cornwall has to offer out to sea and along the coast. After about a half hour walk you will come to the beach at Chapel Porth, home to a beach cafe. Highly recommended to us, we stopped for a lunchtime snack and if you do the same you must try the sausage in french bread which is both delicious in itself but comes with onions cooked in clotted cream - yes until you have had onions in clotted cream you haven't had onions, trust me! Along with that (and if this is not enough) for dessert you must try their exclusive (and famous) Hedgehog ice-cream. Organic vanilla ice-cream is slathered in clotted cream and then rolled in hazelnuts. Yup you can hear your arteries screaming but it's worth it.

The infamous Hedgehog ice-cream

Photo of Chapel Porth - Cornwall-beaches.co.uk

To get rid of the guilt you will need to walk further up and along the path which takes you to Porth Towan and down onto it's beautiful beach.

Porth Towan coastline

This one does have a tidal cut-off alert, but if you are lucky (as we were) then you can walk back to Chapel Porth along the beach (which we did). All in all a fantastic walk that will leave you exhilarated and wanting more.

Photo of St Ives - Cornwall-beaches.co.uk

Further along this part of the Cornwall coast is St Ives famous for the fact it is a favourite of artists and has a brilliant surfing beach.

Photo of Porthmeor Beach, St Ives - Cornwall-beaches.co.uk

Winding streets house cafes, restaurants, art galleries and bars. You can take a boat out from here fairly cheaply and explore the coast, or sit on the beach and sunbath. St Ives is more of a tourist place than but the wonderful thing about Cornwall is you can experience the touristy and the remote all within a half hours drive from one another. We will return. We dream of a small ocean-viewed apartment somewhere near here - well you've got to dream haven't you?