Hello Thursday! This week we have one of my favorite jewelry designers – Canadian born, Pippa Small sharing her travel tips EXCLUSIVELY with myfashdiary readers! Pippa travels a lot for inspiration, so this is definitely an exciting one! To shop the collection click HERE.

www.pippasmallshop.com

BEAUTY: I work in many diverse parts of the world, from the deserts of Rajasthan in India, the very dry and hot hills in Afghanistan and the hill Andes in Bolivia, all these places are very hot and dry and feel very close to the sun!
My beauty regime is not my priority when I am traveling and working with communities but I do but a on mosturiser and when I remember to put Sisely sunscreen I do!! I also try and use local products in India they use neem paste on their faces to rehydrate, in Uzbekistan women put yoghurt on their faces to cool them, there all sorts of mysterious and exciting ayurdedic products in India that have wonderful properties for the skin and suit the climate so well.

 STYLE: I am often in cultures where modesty for women is very important, in Afghanistan I wear long Kurtas (Indian men’s shirts) in wonderful colours over long jeans what cover my ankles and a scarf over my hair. I was told off last time I was there as the back of my neck was on show and I was not aware and it caused some scandal… In most countries there are wonderful markets to explore and interesting finds. In Bolivia in the winter there is glorious alpaca shawls and ponchos, and warm sweaters, in India I find beautiful cloths from brilliant young Indian designers that draw on their traditions but give a brilliant twist like tarun Tahilani, Pratap Singh, Manish Arora But finding local kaftans, shawls, sandals, wooly hats is a delight and of course I always travel with Dosa – an LA based designer who makes beautiful clothes that work so well anywhere, I do believe in dressing in a feminine way and always taking care to look nice, as it is a sign of respect to your hosts and you never know what happens in your day. Working with the Kuna tribeswomen in Panama the women every day would study what colours I was wearing and how they worked together, what jewellery I put with it and gave their criticisms if they felt I was not well out together!

ENTERTAINMENT: I watch, learn, listen, I go walking through cities, villages, mountains or forests around where ever I am staying, I visit museums, galleries, markets if they are available, I read and write.. I never travel with music or a computer, anything that will connect me back to my life in London too much as that would stop me absorbing where I am. I listen to local music, read local papers when I can and try