April 25, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

UK Made Clothing: Why Where Your Clothes Come From Matters

Last updated: 25 April 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

When Alan Carr wore a Wax London overshirt on Celebrity Traitors, it caught our eye. Stylish, well-cut, and effortlessly cool. So we bought a few pieces. The clothes? Great. The experience of actually being a Wax London customer? Not so much. Here is why UK made clothing matters more than a nice label, and why Community Clothing deserves your money instead.

This is a tale of two brands, one that looks the part and one that lives it. If you care about where your clothes come from and how you are treated when something goes wrong, read on.

Published by Stiv in Fashionista, Lifestyle, Reviews, UK Made

Tags: Celebrity Traitors, Community Clothing, consumer rights, ethical fashion, Patrick Grant, UK made clothing, Wax London

April 24, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Plum App Review UK 2026: Honest Verdict After 3 Months

Last updated: 9 June 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Some features of Plum involve investing, which carries risk including the possible loss of capital. Always do your own research or consult a qualified financial adviser. CoolCuration is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

Keen to give Plum a go?

Our Plum referral page shows any current new-user offer and walks through the sign-up, and using it supports the site at no cost to you.

Try Plum via our link

Cool Factor

★★★☆☆

3 out of 5 · Cool

This Plum app review is based on three months of hands-on use. We set up Plum to run alongside our existing auto-saver to see whether it would earn a permanent place on our home screen. Plum is one of those apps that does a lot and wants you to know it. Auto-saving, round-ups, investing, bills management, cashback offers, interest-earning pockets. After three months of testing, here's whether all that activity translates into actually saving more money.

Published by Stiv in Apps, Finance, Reviews

Tags: auto-saving, Finance Apps, money apps, Plum, Plum app, reviews, Round-Ups, Saving Apps

April 24, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Cecily Brown Serpentine Review: Picture Making Is a Belated Homecoming Worth Your Afternoon

Last updated: 24 April 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

Cool Factor

★★★★☆

4 out of 5

Cecily Brown is one of the most successful British painters alive. She's shown at the Met in New York, toured retrospectives across the United States, and regularly sells paintings for millions. Yet somehow, until now, she'd never had a museum show in the city where she was born and raised. Cecily Brown Serpentine South's Picture Making is that belated homecoming. It's free, it's in Kensington Gardens, and it's worth your afternoon. Mostly.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Artists, Arts & Culture, Reviews

Tags: art, Cecily Brown, Exhibitions, Free London, Kensington Gardens, london, Painting, reviews, Serpentine

April 23, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Best Black British Music Audiobooks on Audible 2026

Best Black British Music Audiobooks on Audible

Last updated: 23 April 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

If you have just been to The Music is Black at V&A East Museum, or you are planning to, there is a good chance you will want to keep listening once you leave. Luckily for you, the best Black British music audiobooks on Audible UK are genuinely brilliant. We have rounded up six standouts, from grime histories to Windrush epics, for the commute home, the canal walk or a proper evening on the sofa.

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

Every pick below is live on Audible UK, with narrator and running time noted. Three are read by the author, which always adds something. Start an Audible free trial and your first listen is on the house.

Start your Audible free trial

Prefer print? Browse the full list on Bookshop.org UK, the independent bookshop alternative to Amazon, or pick up any of the titles below on Amazon UK.

Published by Tristan in Arts & Culture, Audiophiles, Bookworms, Exhibitions, Reviews

Tags: Afua Hirsch, Akala, Audible free trial, Audible UK, audiobooks, Black British history, Black British music, David Olusoga, grime, V&A East

April 23, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

V&A East Museum Review: Opening Day First Look 2026

V&A East Museum Review: Opening Day First Look

Last updated: 20 April 2026

By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

Cool Factor

★★★★★

5 out of 5 · Ice cold

Our V&A East Museum review comes straight from opening day, Saturday 18 April 2026. And we came away grinning. London does not get a brand new major museum very often. So when this one arrived in Stratford, we cleared the diary and went.

A decade in the making, this is the V&A's newest outpost. Crucially, it is the final piece of the East Bank cultural district. And it lands with genuine ambition. Here are our honest first impressions of the building, the free galleries, the ticketed opening show and the cafe.

Published by Tristan in Art Lovers, Arts & Culture, Exhibitions, London, Reviews

Tags: Art Exhibitions, Black British music, London museums, O'Donnell + Tuomey, Olympic Park, reviews, Stratford, The Music is Black, V&A East, V&A East Museum, Why We Make

April 19, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Trading 212 Review UK 2026 — Honest Verdict After 3 Months

Last updated: 10 June 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This Trading 212 review reflects my own experience using the app daily for three months alongside Freetrade, my main broker.

This is our honest Trading 212 review after three months of using it alongside Freetrade, our main broker. When Trading 212 kept coming up in conversations, we figured we should give it a fair shot. After using it daily for a full quarter, the verdict is clear: Trading 212 is a perfectly fine platform trapped inside a frustratingly cluttered app. The fees are competitive, the savings rate is genuinely good, but the experience of actually using it every day left us reaching for Freetrade instead. Here is why we are sticking with the alternatives.

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of capital. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Always do your own research or consult a qualified financial adviser before making investment decisions. CoolCuration is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Cool Factor

★★☆☆☆

2 out of 5: Lukewarm

Published by Stiv in Finance, Investing, Reviews

Tags: Commission-free trading, finance, Freetrade, investing, investment apps, isa, reviews, Trading 212

April 18, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Honest Mobile Review UK 2026: Is It Worth Switching?

Last updated: 18 April 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

Cool Factor

★★★★☆

4 out of 5 — Stone cold

Most mobile networks spend their marketing budget shouting about unlimited data and free Spotify. Honest Mobile spends theirs planting trees and donating to charity. After four months using it as our daily SIM, here's our Honest Mobile review, covering signal, pricing, the app, and whether the ethical angle comes at the cost of actually being a good network.

Thinking of switching to Honest Mobile?

Our Honest Mobile referral page has the sign-up link and any current offer.

Try Honest Mobile

Published by Stiv in Carbon conscious, Ethical Living, Reviews, Tech Hacks, Tech News, Technology lover, Travel lover

Tags: Ethical Tech, Honest Mobile, Mobile Networks, reviews, SIM only, UK mobile

April 16, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

FYTA Beam G2 Review UK: The Best Smart Plant Sensor We’ve Tried

Last updated: 16 April 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This review contains referral links. If you purchase through our link on the FYTA Beam detail page, you get 10% off. Our opinions remain entirely independent.

Cool Factor: 4/5

We have been searching for a reliable smart plant sensor for years. After failed attempts with Xiaomi and Parrot, we finally landed on the FYTA Beam G2. This FYTA Beam review covers four months of daily use across 13 sensors in a London flat, and the short version is: it is genuinely the best plant tracking system we have found. Not perfect, mind you. But properly impressive.

Published by Stiv in Green fingers, Green Living, Reviews, Smart Home, Technology lover

Tags: FYTA, FYTA Beam, FYTA Beam G2, indoor plants, plant care, plant sensor, reviews, smart home, tech

April 12, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

AKT Deodorant Review UK: Is It Worth the Hype?

Last updated: 12 April 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

Cool Factor: 4/5

This AKT deodorant review is the result of three natural deodorants in two years. The first one gave me lumps. The second gave me a rash so bad I thought it was a skin infection. The third, AKT, has done neither. Ten weeks and three scents in, I've found the one I'm sticking with. Here's the full story of how I ended up rubbing a balm from an aluminium tube onto my armpits, testing half the range, and actually being happy about it.

Published by Stiv in Carbon conscious, Reviews, Self-care Champion, Sustainable Living

Tags: AKT, AKT deodorant review, AKT review, deodorant balm, natural deodorant, Nuud deodorant, personal care, plastic-free, plastic-free deodorant, sustainable deodorant, sustainable living, UK-made, Wild deodorant

April 11, 2026 — Comments are off for this post.

Analogue Pocket UK Buyer’s Guide 2026: Every System It Plays

Last updated: 11 April 2026

By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance

This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.

The Analogue Pocket UK buyer's guide covers everything you need to know before spending upwards of £270 on what might be the finest retro gaming handheld ever made. This FPGA-powered device plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges straight out of the box. With adapters and community cores, it goes much further. We are talking Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, SNES, Mega Drive, arcade classics and more. If you have ever wondered whether the Analogue Pocket is worth importing to the UK, this guide has your answers.

Published by Stiv in Reviews, Tech News, Technology lover

Tags: Analogue Pocket, FPGA, Game Boy, handheld console, openFPGA, retro gaming, retro handheld UK