My summer plans - what I'll be doing and where I'll be going this summer.

I'm back. Well I didn't really go anywhere but I'm back insofar as I have a new laptop and therefore I am unstoppable. I know it sounds really silly but I am the type of artist who really relies on their tools. For the last five years I've had a very very very old laptop. In fact it's so old it's from 2017, so actually it's been more like nine years. I've been using this laptop and it has progressively gotten slower but never fully shut down so I continue to use it. Over the last year, doing work on the go has become unbearable. I can literally just about type an email and it takes about 90 seconds to load every single page. in a weird way it forced me to slow down and it felt very much like the dial-up era, but given the speed at which I write and the speed at which I use my laptop (if anyone has worked with me, you'll see how fast I am when designing or doing any task on my laptop) my old MacBook 2017 just didn't cut it so I was delighted to see that Mac had recently released the cheapest laptop ever. It was £599, the new MacBook Neo, and it's a game changer. Apart from the colour selection, I mean, what is that all about?

I really believe that tech companies should have these entry-level, what I think of as "teenage products," that are far simpler but just do the job that you need. I really think that Apple should release an iPhone that's akin to the iPhone 12 or 13, specifically for teenagers, with screen time etc. built in. Because everyone is obsessed with having a brick phone but no one really gets one. If Apple made a phone for teenagers that was anti-social media, it would also be a big two fingers up to Meta.

In addition to a new laptop, I also got a new Samsung phone. My iPhone is actually an iPhone 13 and similarly it's incredibly slow and I cannot download new apps or edit videos or anything like that, which is why my socials have been so poor lately. I prefer to do everything myself. I know everyone says I could hire someone to do it but I'm very particular about these things of course. The Samsung phone is the Galaxy A57 and I suddenly feel empowered. Why do I feel like Samsung has unlimited storage? I know it doesn't but it feels that way. It also just feels better for using for content etc. I do have a paid partnership with them, which is why I got the phone for free, but I went ahead and bought another one for my son just because they are better for his gaming too.

Because I had all of this new space on my phone, I downloaded all of the apps and tools that I need to run my life far more efficiently. So my dear reader, I am dictating this post using the Wispr Flow app, which I'm a big fan of, while in the bath...

ANYHOOO... Happy Sunday!

Not one day seems to go by in my business where some exciting opportunity or partnership or deal or press doesn't happen. Everything really feels in flow and it feels very good. What's best is that I'm not even doubting it. I'm not questioning why all these good things are happening to me. I'm lying back and taking it because I feel I deserve it.

Because we have so many incredible opportunities and launch is heading our way, last Friday my co-founder and I sat together for a couple of hours with Laura Jackson's big wall calendar and plotted out the rest of 2026 on all the types of activities we have to do to get the business to where we want it to be by the end of the year.

I'll do a separate post on this because doing a retrospective of the first five months of the year allowed me to understand the exact type of activities that I do on a day-to-day basis, which will help me allocate time and resources for the latter half of the year. For example I didn't anticipate how much time would be taken doing customer events for every retailer that we launch in. We will be in 50 retail doors by the end of summer and most of the partners we work with want me to go and do a customer event. All of this requires collateral like gifting and stickers etc and me personally getting my hair and nails done, etc. I didn't calculate or factor this in to my work calendar so now I will.

All this strategy and planning got me thinking that today I would also share some personal plans with you. What my plans are for the summer and also how they tie into work because let's be real, my head is 24/7, 360 degrees on 39BC and my life and work seem to be intertwined in a crazy way right now.

The planning of summer is one of my favourite activities. To be honest planning in general is my top activity choice. Summer planning is really fun. A number of years ago I realised that rich people in Europe tend to take the whole of August off, which is fantastic for me because I like any opportunity to not work. For the last few years I've dedicated August to staying in one place and writing and thinking and feeling. Nothing makes me happier than having a villa, sitting with my laptop by a pool, knocking out my next big idea.

I want my summer to be sexy. I want my summer to be productive but I also want my summer to have deep work to prepare for the winter months ahead when we release our new collection and to prepare for Christmas, which is of course a big moment for any beauty brand. So, if we classify the summer months as June, July, and August, here is what I'll be doing and where I'll be going this summer, including my must visit hotels...

Summer loving, having some fun...

I've recently been downgraded to bronze membership on British Airways because of the annual points reset that happens every April and quite frankly I am flabbergasted. I feel like I was travelling constantly for the last 12 months to the point where I actually cannot fathom how I am now a bronze member. I'm kicking and screaming about it like a spoiled brat. Don't worry about giving me advice on how to increase my points. I know how to do it. My points and travel have been an ongoing Google rabbit hole, especially with me and Benji B because he's similarly obsessed with travel as I am.

We kick off June with my Euro tour… The first stop is