Spring Beauty Picks

So with warming temperatures and budding flowers, it seems like Spring might finally be here. Let's just hope it's here to stay.

A perfect opportunity for me to share some of my favourite beauty items with you.

Want to emerge from the shower as a silky smooth-skinned goddess? Look no further than Original Source's range of shower gels. This month I've opted for raspberry and vanilla which quite literally smells good enough to eat- I'm having to control myself. Responsibly made and heavenly smelling, this is perfect for a sweet shower lathering session. If you want something slightly less sickly try out their mint or lemon scent which are equally tantalising.

A good and reliable pair of tweezers is an essential item of any girl's makeup bag. The arrival of Spring means you will be wanting perfectly pruned skin. Tweezerman is my tweezer brand of choice, sharp enough to pluck away even the shortest of pesky hairs. I bought this limited edition pair in America and they are a mini version, making them the perfect travelling companion. Have a look at their website to pick your pair.

Simple is the UK's number one selling facial range and these are two products that my beauty regime couldn't live without. I use the vitamin infused facial wash morning and night to clear the skin and it is incredibly gentle for anyone faced with the problem of sensitive skin. The makeup wipes are also a handy essential that I carry with me wherever I go. They are rich in moisture and remove the day's slap perfectly, without tiring our your skin. Whilst Simple might not be the cheapest range on the market, it is certainly not the most expensive and pharmacies such as Boots and Superdrug often have deals. Even better you can pick up most of the range at Wilkinsons for half the price.

An older lady I used to work with always had perfect glowing skin and when I asked her secret to having flawless skin at 70 she told me that the only beauty regime she has ever followed rigidly is to soak her face in Nivea cream every night before bed, something she had been doing since a teenager. At just a couple of pounds a pot this beats investing in expensive remedies that promise wrinkle free skin. I apply this before bed (more in the winter when my skin is at its driest) and also use it as a primer underneath my makeup.  

As a child I used to use Loreal's 'No Tears' range to tackle my tiresome tangly hair. Sadly, knotted locks are not a thing of the past. My hair can get very dried out which causes breakage and knots- even at the age of 23! To  counter the problem I use a Tangle Teaser, which is basically a fine combed brush that gently unravels the knots. To aid the mission I use a children's detangling spray which leaves my hair smelling like the sweet reminiscence of childhood. Definitely worth having and it prevents further damage to your hair that is sometimes caused by trying to drag a brush through. Fed up of tears? Have a look.

This Bobbi Brown cream is a dream. Like foundation but not as thick, it glides easily onto the skin, leaving you with a gentle glow. It also lasts forever! I use it sparingly, using just a bit each day on my chin and cheeks before I apply concealer. I'm not a fan of the heavily made up look and this is perfect as it gives your skin a lift without drowning it in pore clogging products. Available at Bobbi Brown UK.

My favourite mascara of the moment is Benefit's 'they're real' . I have loved Benefit ever since I started experimenting with makeup as a teenager due to their fun and outgoing packaging. The mascara does pretty much what it says, leaving you with thick, elongated, but not clunky, lashes. Have a look at their ever colourful site or pop into one of their stores- you can spend hours in there!

Whilst drinking water alone won't leave you with perfect skin, it certainly can help. I drink a lot of water and love my Bobble Bottle which Santa left for me in my stocking this Christmas. The bottles are an American invention based on the premise of reducing plastic waste from disposable shop bought bottles. Re-usable and self-filtering these are great for you and the environment. The built-in filter gets rid of any impurities and it only needs to be changed once every few months. The filters also come in lots of different colours so it can be fun to pick your next one. The bottles start at around £10 with the filters costing just a few pounds. Have a look at their mission here. Also available from most department stores.  

Last but not least is this set of Ted Baker fragrances. Travel size, they are perfect for throwing in your handbag if you need a little scent touch up during a long day. They are particularly useful for me as a University student as it means I don't have to lug large bottles of perfume across the country. These four are fruity and floral fragrances that are perfect for Spring. I think these would make a perfect gift. Available at Boots.

So there you have it: my Spring essentials. Everything I have blogged is available on Amazon or from Boots and Superdrug (If you can't find a Bobbi Brown store, Debenhams or John Lewis is a good place to start). Now as the clocks have gone back and the sun is still shining out there, get outside and get some rays on your face! Nothing can beat the goodness of sunlight after a long dark winter.

Film Review: Yves Saint Laurent

The film Yves Saint Laurent looks at the life of the fashion designer Saint Laurent (did the title give it away?!) when his career first began in Paris in 1958 after becoming the successor to the recently deceased Christian Dior.

The film is entirely in French which means you have to pay extra attention to the subtitles so you don't loose track. Some people hate watching foreign subtitled films, I personally don't mind it and it made the film much more authentic than an 'Americanized' version would have done.

The film documents the biography of Saint Laurent and paints the portrait of  a somewhat sad character who faces battles with manic depression, homosexuality, alcoholism and drugs. The focus of the film is on the designer's relationship with Pierre Bergé, his long time lover and business associate; together they create the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house, whose outgoing designs revolutionised and shocked the world of couture fashion.

The film was very enjoyable, but more of a documentary than action filled film, worth a view nonetheless, especially if you have any interest in fashion as it is filled with catwalk scenes featuring some of YSL's most iconic pieces.

The Cosy Club

Yesterday afternoon I met my cousin Charlotte at The Cosy Club in Bath for a well due catch up. She is in her final year in Oxford which means we don't see much of each other during term time.

The Cosy Club is a chain but their Bath location is a relatively new addition. The Club is located in Bath's new development Southgate and its entrance is hidden amongst the shops, barely noticable unless you are looking for it. The door leads you up a flight of stairs to a large open plan dining and bar area with a terrace overlooking the shops.

The feel is art deco with comfy lounge seating that surrounds an impressive bar. Several chandeliers hang from the ceiling adding to the atmosphere of laid back elegance.

As it was such a beautiful Spring day we opted for a table on the balcony which is surrounded with Roman columns (very fitting for Bath). If you feel a bit chilly you can also nab one of the tartan rugs on offer for outside patrons- you have to return them at the end though!

The restaurant offers an interesting array of food, from burgers to tapas, and from what we could see of other tables tucking in, it looked tasty!

We weren't looking to eat but chose a non-alcoholic drink off their equally long drinks menu. I went for a bluberry, apple and lime smoothie, whilst Charlotte went for a mango number.

The place was absolutely packed with people eating, drinking and generally enjoying the weekend sun. The Club is perfect for any occasion, from a late brunch with friends, to a meal with the family or just some evening drinks.

For more info and booking go to: http://www.cosyclub.co.uk/bath

The Book Challenge

The BBC cleary doesn't have a very high opinion of Britain's reading ability. They have compiled a list of 100 books, including classics, modern classics and more current bestsellers, and suspect that most Brits have read only 6 out of the 100 titles, which I think is pretty shocking. I was slightly dismayed to have found that I have only read around 33 of the books listed, which isn't even half- and I am a self confessed lover of literature! When I finish my degree this summer I'm definitely going to make it a priority to read the rest.

Some of the titles include:

 

 


Go to listchallenges.com to see how many you've read.

 

Shirley Jackson's Small Town Gothic

This week for my American Gothic class the assigned reading was Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, published in 1962.

It is the story of two sisters, Constance and Merricat Blackwood, who are living in an isolated house on the outskirts of a small town, with only their disabled Uncle Julian and a cat for company. The novel opens following a family tragedy years earlier where the rest of the family were poisoned with arsenic disguised in sugar: we later learn that Constance, the preparer of dinner that fated night, has been acquitted of murder. Despite this, the past continues to haunt the sisters and the Blackwood family home they remain holed up in, hidden from the stares of the rest of the town who refuse to leave them alone. Later, a mysterious Cousin Charles arrives, a gothic villain who comes looking for money and intends to wed Constance. The novel ends as Merricat, desperate to protect her remaining family, sets fire to the house and the two girls are left sat on the step of their 
burnt out home.

It may not sound like a stand out storyline, but the novel is excellently written and superbly executed, with an air of eerie foreboding present throughout. Evidence that Jackson is a skilled writer is the fact that the main point of the plot, the poisoning of the family with arsenic, does not actually take place within the novel's frame, but before the story even begins.

The book explores several gothic themes. The small town setting results in a gossiping community who are both thrilled and repulsed by the Blackwood tragedy and as a result they turn the girls into fearful 'others' who reside on the outskirts of the town and on the edge of what is considered the norm. Although the setting is never made explicit, it is likely that Jackson considered this to be in New England, based upon her own experiences of small town exclusion. When she moved with her husband to New England she was ostracised from the community because of her intellectualism,  thus  she uses her own experiences to narrate a tale about villagers prejudicing interlopers. As a response to their societal rejection, the Blackwood sisters become agoraphobic, confining themselves to their house due to their feelings of existential terror. Jackson herself also suffered from the condition. The small town pastoral landscape becomes threatening, a recurrent theme explored by Jackson in her literary work, where the wholesome feel is displaced by an uncontrollable evil.

Another major symbol in the novel is the Blackwood house itself, which becomes a character in its own right, composed of "bones" with a "stern, unwelcoming face". Often in gothic texts, houses are given an agency; rather than designating something temporal, they control and allegorise their occupants, something we certainly see unfolding in the narrative. The house becomes the phantom inheritance that Constance and Merricat must fight off in order to free themselves.   

There is so much more to say about this rich literary text. I would really recommend it and it's only a short read; I found myself speeding through it. In class we also looked at Jackson's short story The Lottery, which is even more chilling and definitely worth a read. 

A Sunny Sunday

We woke up on Sunday morning to clear blue skies and unusually warm temperatures for March. What to do with such a lovely day, we pondered? 

A trip to the beach was definitely in order, we couldn't let a day boasting balmy 17c temperatures go to waste. After all, who knows when the sun might next show its face. 

One of the perks of going to University in Norwich is that the beach isn't far away at all. The beautiful seaside town of Cromer is just a mere 40 minute drive away and Great Yarmouth is even closer, but definitely the more tacky of the two. 

After a short car journey with the windows down and music blaring, we arrived at Cromer's famous pier. Cromer is a traditional Norfolk seaside town with a sandy beach and rows of colourful beach huts. The last time I visited was in October when some friends from home were staying but the weather then was wet, cold and windy, so it was nice to see the town under rays of warm Spring sun. 

The town itself doesn't have much to boast apart from a few outdated shops and a Budgens, but as you approach the seafront the streets become narrower and are packed with dainty cafes and ice cream parlours. 

We knew it would be busy due to the weather, but we didn't quite expect to see a long que forming outside the fish shop at 11am as eager beach goers waited to order their cod and chips. Clearly it's never too early for fish and chips! The real reason was that Mary Janes was the only place open as it is still out of season and shopkeepers probably hadn't anticipated this unexpected warm spell. 

First we went for a saunter along the pier, which was actually badly damaged during the winter storms in November, so parts of it are under repair. It did feel a bit unstable, especially due to the throngs of visitors making their way along it. 

At the end of the pier is a pavilion theatre and restaurant which features comedy shows and the annual Cromer Christmas pantomime. 

The girls enjoying the sun. 

The view looking back towards the town from the pier. 

Just in case any of us were tempted to have a pre-lunch swim.

Eager fishermen had their lines strung out hoping for a catch of Cromer crab. 

Afterwards we went for a walk on the beach itself. 

Jess, who was not wearing the most appropriate beach attire, got caught by a sneaky wave.

The after shot. 

Whilst the girls went off in search of some famous Cromer crab sandwiches, I settled down for a little snooze on the rug and napped with the sun on my face and the sound of the waves gently lapping the shore, dreaming blissfully of summer months and imagining I was somewhere far far away and exotic like Barbados. If only...

                   

The beach itself is a mixture of sand and pebble. It was packed with families enjoying the weather; some adventurous little ones even went for a quick dip, but ran out quickly after with frost bitten bodies, shocked by the deceptively cold sea. 

Jess looking très nautical with a boat called Irene. Definitely channeling her inner Sailor here.

After a picnic lunch, with a lot of sand (a gust of wind sent a torrent of sand into my actual sandwich making it a somewhat crunchy experience), we headed back towards the town and just had time for an ice cream before heading home with sun kissed cheeks. 

How did you spend your sunny Sunday?

Cocktail o' Clock

With the return to lectures rapidly approaching, myself and a friend decided to make the most of our rapidly disappearing weekend and holed ourselves up for the evening in a cocktail bar on Clapham Common High Street.

BE AT ONE is a chain with twenty locations in and around the London area.

They have a vast menu of rum, tequila, vodka and gin based drinks, making it very difficult to choose!

Unable to make a decision we went for a selection of their top twelve picks. Luckily we had timed it just right and arrived for Happy Hour! More drinks for us...

First up was a Rum and Passion Fruit surprise. My favorite of the night.

  Next was a very, very, strong Pina Colada, which I'm afraid explains the lack of pictures after this point!

After a few more drinks, we were in desperate need of some sustenance so went for some naughty nachos. We went home sufficiently full and slightly tipsy; a brilliant way to end reading week.

Go to http://www.beatone.co.uk/about-be-at-one for more info, party bookings and locations.