DAILY MIRROR WEDNESDAY 10.09.201436 DM1ST

39 DEAR cOLEEN

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THE BASEThe barefaced look is a big one so invest in a good foundation with a light but even coverage. Try Max Factor’s Facefinity, £11.99, boots.com, which is a primer, foundation and concealer all-in-one. Next, Rimmel’s Natural Bronzer, £5.99, superdrug.com, applied to cheekbones and temples will subtly sculpt the face and leave you looking flawless.

THE LASHESIf you are going to focus on anything, make it the eyes. Start with false lashes like Eylure’s Ready to Wear, £5.35, boots.com, which come with a sticky strip so

you don’t have to worry about gluing them on yourself. Once they are in place, add layers of Lola Lash Extension Mascara, £12, marksandspencer.com, which will give you the desired doe-eye’d look.

AUTUMN BEAUTY A new season brings a whole host of fresh beauty looks coming off the catwalks.

The biggest names in fashion employ the best make-up artists in the world to create a look to go with their collections. This season, they all seem to agree that our make-up bags should be minimal, so this autumn/winter, create simple and straightforward looks with a slight nod to the 60s.

Here are our top buys to ensure you’re on top of the beauty trends. By Dinah van Tulleken, Style Editor, @mirrorfashiondt

With the Swedish furniture store offering its customers a spa experience this week, Siobhan McNally went along for a face pack among the flat packs

Lying on my comfy bed, in my fluffy white robe and slippers waiting for my facial, I casually flick through a magazine. But this isn’t a fancy spa

retreat somewhere in the Cotswolds. I am in fact, inside Ikea’s Lakeside store, Essex.

I was joining 10 lucky customers and their guests for an overnight stay in the flagship store’s pop-up spa ‘Retreat’. Similar experiences were being rolled out that same evening in Ikea’s Belfast, Manchester, Warrington and Glasgow stores, and this weekend, customers can experience similar spa-related activities in their local Ikea.

I had to admit to feeling a bit apprehensive about spending a night in Ikea, after all, pop-up is not a word you would normally associate with a brand that specialises in flat-pack furniture and incomprehensible instructions.

Would I have to put together my own massage table? Would my facial be missing a vital component, that I’d have to wait months for the store to restock before being able to have my face back?

I’ve been an Ikea customer for years but I will never understand why mankind has spent thousands of years turning a flint

arrowhead into a lithium pivot handle screwdriver, only for the Swedes to come along with their ‘no tool’ assembly.

Arriving on Sunday evening, most of the store was in darkness and with the last customer long departed, I joined the other guests in the lounge area by the canteen. After changing into my PJs in the ladies’ loos, we were given fluffy Ikea robes and slippers to wear and our surreal experience began...

20:00 We all sat in the store canteen for a healthy supper served by friendly Ikea staff in their baseball-style stripy yellow uniforms. Normally herding customers out by this time, Ikea’s staff seemed a bit out of their comfort zone.

Prawn starters followed by salmon lasagne was all very well, but let’s face it, we would all have preferred chips with their famous Swedish meatballs.

“Oh, I love Ikea food,” sighed Sophia Jordan, who was there with her mum Kim Breton from nearby Basildon. “Actually,” she continued, “I love anything Ikea.”

“Mmm, she does,” agreed her mum, tucking in to the lemon tart pudding. “She comes here every week!”

Given the slightly surreal circumstances, I gave the cheese course a miss. It’s fair to say despite the camaraderie among guests and staff, we were all weirded out by the prospect of sleeping in the store. The last thing I wanted was a cheese-induced nightmare of being chased through the market hall by one of its Idealisk graters.

21:00 After supper, we gathered up our belongings and followed the Ikea team into the bed and bath department to choose our beds and start our treatments.

The bad news was everyone would have to share with their guest, apart from me as I was on my own. The good news was

Massage, yoga, facials and fluffy white robes. No, not a posh spa...

in ikea!

Enjoying a lavender oil facial massage

That’s those back issues sorted

Pensive about the night ahead

The lounge area, aka the canteen

Tucked up with two sleep masks

WEDNESDAY 10.09.2014 DAILY MIRROR 37mirror.co.uk

From cookies to selfies, hashtags toTwitter, the jargon surroundingthe internet can be confusing.

EE would like to help you learnthe lingo and get connected.

Thousands have already been shownhow to get to grips with technologythanks to EE’s National Techy Tea PartyDay yesterday, when staff in over 500stores took the time to have a cuppawith their guests and answer people’squestions. At parties across the nationone of the most common queriesinvolved deciphering the language ofthe digital world. Techy Tea Partyambassador Karen Kenyon is happy toprovide a guide to the gobbledegook.

SIMPLE EXPLANATIONShe says: “All the weird-sounding wordsassociated with the internet can makepeople feel daunted and isolated if theyare not up to speed.

“Many people feel too embarrassedto ask their kids or grandkids fordefinitions and that put them offgetting online. But by not plugging intothe world wide web they are alsocutting themselves off from chats withfamily and friends.

“Everyone feels baffled at first butbehind every new-fangled phrase is asimple explanation. We’re happy to takethe time to help people overcome anybarriers they may have. Before longyou’ll be fully connected with theinternet and all conversations.”

In a survey by EE, three quarters ofover-65s found tech jargon confusing.And over half said that difficultlanguage was a bigger barrier to thedigital world than cost, data privacy oreven fears about getting scammed.

More than 90 per cent of olderpeople were unsure of the definition of

tech terms such as GIF, emojiand meme. Words

considered part ofeveryday language leftsome over-65sconfused, as morethan a quarter (27per cent) were notconfident they knewthe meaning of the

word email, morethan a third (38 per

cent) were unsure whata smartphone was and

half did not understand the

term social media. The survey alsoshowed that the 57 per cent ofover-65s who are already online areenjoying real benefits.

The web has helped relationshipswith family and friends of 64 per centof respondents by allowing them tospeak more regularly. Researchinggoods and services and reading thenews were the next two most popularuses, enjoyed by 65 per cent and 44per cent respectively.

If you’d like to wise up on the wordsof the web, pop in store for a chat withan EE expert for a lucid guide to thelatest language.

Join the thousands in the i-Tea crowd... get techsavvy and don’t be scared of the gobbledegook

Special feature

and meme. Words considered part of

everyday language left some over-65s confused, as more

word email, more than a third (38 per

cent) were unsure what a smartphone was and

half did not understand the

Visit your local store for support or EE’s Digital Livingwebsite to get resources with top tips about all things techy

ee.co.uk/digital-living

TECH SKILLSand the lingo!

Wise up on

The Post OfficeAll Post Offices have a databaseof where to go for digital skillscourses and support, you justneed to ask at the counter.postoffice.co.uk

UKOnline CentresThis is a network of centres whorun online training courses. Tofind your closest centre call0800 77 1234 orukonlinecentres.com

OnlineThere are lots of online resourcesif you’d like to have a go at teachingyourself such aslearnmyway.combbc.co.uk/webwise

Age UKAge UK offers a range of ways tohelp older people get onlineincluding classes that take placearound the country, visitwww.ageuk.org.uk/getonline

DON’T BE BAFFLED,THERE’S LOTS OF PLACESYOU CAN GO FOR SUPPORT:

June Whitfield supports EE'sNational Techy Tea Party Day

THE EYESA thin black line (a skinny stripe across the top lashes) is essential. Victoria Beckham used this look in her catwalk show to subtly define the eyes while sticking to this season’s minimalist look. Use Benefit’s They’re Real Push-Up Liner, £18.50, benefitcosmetics.co.uk, to achieve a neat look.

THE BROWS Brows are still big news so try out a bold, neat and strong shape to frame your face. Invest in The Body Shop’s Brow & Liner Kit, £10, thebody shop.co.uk, to make life easier.

THE NAILSBe a lady in red when it comes to nail colour. Yes, scarlet talons were on the catwalk at Burberry and Topshop so add a pop of colour to your autumn/

winter wardrobe with OPI’s Big Apple Red, £7.17 beautybay.com.

THE LIPSForget lipsticks and opt for a subtle stain this season. Treat yourself to a berry tone like Topshop’s Gloss Ink in Sloe Gin, £8, topshop.

com and you’ll see the colour diffuse from the inside to the outside of the lips.

DM1ST

we could take the bedding and spa robes home in our goodie bags, which also contained the Ikea catalogue full of bedroom and bathroom solutions promising, “Where the wonderful everyday starts.” Clearly Ikea has never been in my bathroom where I have a screaming row with my five-year-old daughter Jesse most days before she takes her wonderfulness to school.

Faced with a big roomful of made-up beds, I wouldn’t say there was an unseemly haste when faced with a room filled with free “Somnig bed linen”, but the ladies got a bit “Gaspa bedsheets” when they found their perfect “Slumra pillowcases”.

My bedroom had already been chosen for me and came with a grey and white stripy duvet set, pretty white girly bedroom furniture and a wall full of spookily empty family pictures.

One of the guests, Gaynor French from Tonbridge, Kent, was a bit worried about sleeping in a room with 20 other women and a few press-ganged male partners. “I don’t even like sleeping with my husband,” she moaned, before shuffling off to her first treatment.

21:30 Over in one of the luxury bedroom displays, three beauty therapists had set up shop with their massage chairs. After a short demo on how to use home ingredients like olive oil, lemon and brown sugar to exfoliate, I was able to sit back and relax with a soothing lavender oil facial massage.

I tried to forget I was in a shop surrounded by big price tickets saying stuff like £6 for a soft, bobbly Toftbo shower mat. Although just replacing my wet, slimy bathroom mat w i t h o n e o f t h e s e w o u l d

certainly enhance my own at-home spa experience.

22:00 In the next room, tips on how to get a good night’s sleep from Ikea’s resident sleep expert Claire Ward had us all nodding off. “So what does sleep mean to you?” she asked my group of mostly knackered mums sweating in their thick robes.

22:30 Ready for my next treatment in another bedroom display, I climbed into a sports massage chair that looked like it could have come out of an early 1980s Ikea catalogue.

Admitting I had some lower back issues to the therapist, he said, “I have just the thing for that,” then pressed his forehead into my back. “A novel approach,” I thought. “Must be a new technique from Sweden.”

23:00 Moving swiftly on to the massage beds, I was looking forward to a more relaxing experience. It’s been a while since a man has asked me to take my bra off but I have to admit the lovely masseur got rid of all my knotty

bits. I try to remind myself this is a Swedish-style spa retreat, which means getting your knÖckers out in public.

23:30 After doing my teeth in the ladies’ public loo, it was time for bed.

As the lights were dimmed, one of the guests, Alethea Lowles from Orpington, Kent, got a fit of the giggles falling into her Fjell bed.

I’m not sure if it was the heat or my room’s spooky fake staircase that kept me awake but I didn’t drop off until 2am even with two sleep masks on.

06:39 I’ve woken up to many things but Michael Jackson’s Beat It on the store’s Tannoy now has pride of place on my mantelpiece of hell. “Oops,” said the staff. “We were trying to wake you up with birdsong but we had a slight radio malfunction.”

07:00 Back in the lounge for a 30-minute session of yoga before breakfast, I couldn’t hear the instructor over the roar of the air-con machine.

Doing the downward dog watching the sun rise over Lakeside was followed by a sugar rush from the pastries and fruit served for breakfast. Then at 8:30am it was chucking out time.

I didn’t feel terribly relaxed, it’s hard to sleep with 20 people in your

room, but it was an “experience”.And maybe we should all be

thankful Ikea doesn’t do yoga as its Allen key pose would be impossible to achieve.

Enjoy meditation, massage ■and workshops at Ikea’s Ideas

Festival this weekend Sept 13-14 taking place at its stores

nationwide. To apply, visit https://events.myikeafamily.com

A novel way to be massaged,

in front of 20 others

Pictures: TIM ANDERSON

It’s been a while since a man asked me to take my bra off but I admit it, he got rid of my knots!

in ikea!

Hard to feel Zen under those lights