Books to Love: Graduates in Wonderland

There's a huge part of me that loves writing and receiving letters. When I was younger, whenever I met a new friend on holiday, as we said goodbye on the last day we always exchanged addresses so we could send each other a letter. It's not something that often happens anymore. Now when we meet someone new, we exchange numbers and spend the next 10 years of friendship texting each other our favourite quotes from Harry Potter and memes about having to wait so long for the next series of Pretty Little Liars.

So, of course, the inner letter-writing, 19th century lady within me loves to read letters by other people too. I spend a bit of time every year reading Letters of Note and watching the video clips of Letters Live. I read and reread Love Letters of the Great War and bookmarked all of my favourite letters. There's just something so beautiful and honest and warm about writing a letter.

When I first heard about Graduates in Wonderland I knew it would be a book I would enjoy. Best friends Jessica and Rachel have just graduated from Brown university and are headed off on separate adventures around the globe. They keep in touch by email, sending each other lengthy commentary on their day-to-day lives, including all their mistakes and mishaps, as well as the beautiful moments that happen during their travels. 

This book was so easy to read, it just felt like I was catching up with old friends. The stories were laugh out loud funny on occasion and their friendship was truly lovely to read about. It also made me feel better knowing that at some point they were both half-way across the world also worrying about the same things I worry about and they were out there making the same mistakes I've made since leaving university. 

I'd recommend this book to anyone that is just about to leave university or has just left. But just so you're warned: side effects include a huge dose of wanderlust and a desire to write letters to absolutely everyone. 

Books to Love: After You

Earlier this year when all the hype surrounding Me Before You kicked up, I decided I'd read the book. (it wasn't really a hard decision, books are hard to say no to... don't you think?) I'd been hearing about it for a while and everyone kept saying how good it was. Okay, so I caved!! Like always. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. It was fun and heartwarming and I didn't want it to end. 

For those of you that don't know, Me Before You is the story of Louisa Clarke (Lou), a charming, quirky cafe-worker. When she loses her job and is forced to find another one pronto, she takes a job looking after Will, a paraplegic, who is not very happy about having her company. Considering it touches on such a difficult subject, it balances Will's problems with light-heartedness of Lou's character so well. It's a story to make you laugh and cry and feel everything in between.

I knew there was a sequel and I picked it up a couple of times walking around Waterstones but always put it back, Would it be a half-hearted follow-up to the story? Where could the author really go with a storyline like that one? But I'm glad I talked myself into it because I ended up finishing it in just a couple of days.

In After You, Lou is living in her own little flat, working a job that pays the bills but means she has to wear a hideous costume every day, and doesn't speak to her family. Then, one day, she gets a knock on her door and it changes everything. 

Once I'd read the blurb I already had an idea about what might happen but I was completely wrong! I didn't expect the story to go in the direction it did but I quite enjoyed the storyline. And it made me laugh out loud on a few occasions: cue strange looks from Callum from the other side of the sofa. Plus, I just love Lou. She's such a relatable character - quirky, clumsy and a bit dopey. But lovely nonetheless. When I got to the end of the book I found myself wanting to know what happened to her next!

So, Jojo Moyes, if you're reading this (on the off chance that you like to read random, obscure blogs over your morning coffee) we'd love some more Lou!

Favourite Few: Beauty

I am a creature of habit. Once I find a makeup routine that I'm happy with, I tend to stick with it for a long while. But every now and then I try a new product that has been the focus of every beautiful Instagram photo on every beauty guru's social media account, and it ends up being a permanent addition to my makeup bag. So here are some of the tried and tested products I've been loving lately! 

Younique, Glorious Primer | I have a love/hate relationship with this primer. It's brilliant in so many ways - it provides a really smooth base to apply foundation, it genuinely keeps your makeup on all day and helps it look the best it can. On days that I wear the primer there's a visible difference in the state of my makeup and I wonder why I've gone so long without it. That being said, you need to use so much of it for it to work well and it's expensive too. Whilst the product is good, it doesn't really seem worth spending the  money on when you have to replace it so frequently.

Rimmel, Wonder'Full Mascara | This might just be one of my favourite mascaras ever. I did a review of it last March which you can read here. I still stand by what I said then - it's creamy and nourishing and holds well through the day. The only difference between the mascara I reviewed last year and this one is the colour. I bought it in extreme black this time but sometimes a simple black just won't do.

Rimmel, Kate Sculpting Palette | One of the only things I enjoy about wearing makeup in summer is a good highlighter. Although I'm not massively into the sculpting/contouring trend, I do like to use a highlighter or illuminator on my cheekbones because it adds something a bit more summery to your average, everyday makeup. I love this little palette because it provides the perfect compliment between the blush and the shimmer. It's subtle and understated and perfect for daytime wear. 

What products have you been enjoying using lately? Have you discovered anything new?

Books to Love: Reasons to Stay Alive

"Every time I read a great book I felt I was reading a kind of map, a treasure map, and the treasure I was being directed to was in actual fact myself." - Matt Haig

It's a very difficult thing to listen to somebody explain their anxiety or depression to you. People have tried to explain it to me before and whilst I told them I was understanding and sympathetic, I didn't really get the full extent of the situation. It's like when somebody shows you a photograph of somewhere and you get the general gist of what it was like to be there, but you'll never know what that sand felt like between your toes, what the ocean sounded like when it hit shore or how that ice-cream tasted on a such a hot day. We see the picture but it's flat, two-dimensional. It doesn't tell the whole story.

When I struggle to put my thoughts or feelings into words, I read. I read because so often other people say what I need to much better than I do. They explain things in a way that makes total sense even though the words won't come together in my head when someone asks me, "How do you feel?"

I love Matt Haig as an author and when I bought this book it wasn't for any other reason but that. I like his writing. For the past few months it has been buried underneath a mountain of other books, forgotten. A couple of weeks ago I wrestled it out from the back of my back shelf and devoured half of it in one afternoon.

Haig share his personal experience of anxiety and depression in Reasons to Stay Alive but he understands that not everyone suffers in the same way, so he shares useful advice but not in self-help guide kind of way.  He knows that what works for him might not necessarily work for everyone. He says, "When we are trying to get better, the only truth that matters is what works for us." And it's his honesty that makes this book so special and worth reading. It highlights so many of the problems that develop as a result of anxiety and depression - physical, mental, personal - making it a useful read for not only those who suffer but also those who know somebody that suffers.

It's such a relatable and uplifting book, one that makes you realise how big the world is and how beautiful it can be.

"You need to feel life's terror to feel its wonder." - Matt Haig

Lemon & Green Tea Face Steam

My skin has been really bad lately and while I can cope with it most of the time, there are days when it just really gets me down. I've been back and forth to the doctors but haven't found anything that helped. I've tried all the usual - drink more water, eat less sugar, exercise more. I've tried a hundred different beauty products targeted at reducing acne. Nothing seems to work! 

I remembered seeing a piece Liz Earle did on the TV last year about the benefits of doing a face steam. She recommended using all different kinds of essential oils for all different kinds of purposes - rosemary & tea tree for acne, lavender for sensitive skin, rose for dry skin. It sounded worth trying. Why not? I've tried pretty much everything else going! 

The only things I had to hand were lemon and green tea. Which was fine by me, apparently Miranda Kerr swears by a green tea steam and her skin is amazing. 

All you need to do is pour some boiling water into a bowl. Then add whatever it is you want to use - I used both lemon and green tea. I put the tea bag in first and then squeezed the juice from half a lemon. I read it was best to let it sit for 5-10 minutes so that the heat is bearable when it comes to putting your face over it. When it's ready, drape a towel over your head and hold your face about 30cm away from the water for as long as it's hot. Afterwards splash your face with cold water to close pores. 

I've done this a few times over the past couple of weeks and I love how refreshed my skin feels afterwards. It looks much less irritated and feels much cleaner too. The first time I did it my mum commented on how much better my skin looked so I thought maybe this was something worth doing on a regular basis. I think I'll try get my hands on some tea tree oil next and see if that works just as well!

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Books to Read: Martin, Thériault & Strayed

This year I'm trying really hard to read the books I already have gathering dust on my bookshelf before I buy anymore. And I've got lots. I've read some incredible books already this year and I can't wait to get stuck into more. Here are the three that are next on my list of books to read.

Dangerous Women Part I, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois | It's hard not to get stuck into a series when it's literally everywhere you turn your head. I'm slowly making my way through the Game of Thrones books and I bought Dangerous Women on a whim in Waterstones. It contains seven short stories. The first is entitled The Princess and the Queen which is basically a prequel to Game of Thrones, set in Westeros and focusing on the Targaryen's during the civil war. It's also comprised of more tales by different authors and I'm really interested to see what they're like. 

Wild, Cheryl Strayed | I fell in love with Strayed after reading Tiny, Beautiful Things and she's one of the reasons I've thrown myself into writing like I have done this past year. Wild is the story of Strayed's hike along the west coast of America which she took after the unexpected death of her mother. Riddled with grief she sets off on the eleven hundred mile journey on her own. I've heard nothing but good things about this one so I can't wait to read it and follow her along that journey. 

The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman, Denis Thériault | I'm actually half way through reading this one and it's only 108 pages so I can't imagine it will take much longer. I was immediately taken in by the idea of this book when I read what it was about. Bilodo is a lonely postman who fills his days by secretly reading the letters of a long-distance couple and soon enough he gets entangled in their lives. I was hooked in the beginning but the storyline took an odd turn and I found myself losing sympathy for the central character. That being said, I'm intrigued to find out what happens at the end!

Ever since I started working full time I've found it really hard sleep in for very long on a weekend. I hated it at first, it drove me mad but I've learnt to love it. This morning I woke up at 6.50am, brewed myself a cup of tea and sat under a blanket with a book. The world feels peaceful at this time of day and I find I can get lost in a book for hours. 

Let me know if you have any book recommendations. I'm always searching pinterest and blogs for my next read! 

Books to Love: Very Good Lives

"We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better." - Very Good Lives, J.K. Rowling

It's authors and women like J.K Rowling that make me feel proud of being a part of this generation. She's intelligent, she's down-to-earth, she stands up for what she believes in and she cares so deeply about the influence Harry Potter has had on people. She understands what position she's in, the platform she's on and how she can use it for good.

I've kept up-to-date with her writing because I enjoy it. I read The Casual Vacancy and bought The Cuckoo's Calling the Christmas that it was released (even though I haven't got around to reading that one yet.) Then I stumbled across this post from Sian Louise who recommended Very Good Lives, something I'd never heard of before.

Very Good Lives is the 2008 commencement speech Rowling delivered to the Harvard University graduates. True to Rowling's style, it's witty and powerful and has something that everyone can take away from it. In it she talks about failure and how it isn't always a bad thing. She talks a bit about her journey, the problems she faced and why she made the decisions she did. She encourages those who can to use their positions to do good, much like she has. 

My favourite aspect of it was when she touched on imagination. When I first read the cover I wondered how she was going to talk to hundreds of 21 year old graduates about imagination without sounding like she was delivering a Year Two literacy lesson. But she talks about how you can use your imagination to empathise with other people, to imagine yourself in their position, which is so important in building an understanding and tolerant society. 

There's something about people and society that she just gets and if she'd have delivered that address at my graduation then maybe I'd have left knowing there's so much more to offer the world other than a degree. 

Very Good Lives is a book I imagine I'll be returning to often and I hope it's one that you'll decide to try. It's beautifully written and illustrated too so what's not to love?

Books to Love: All The Bright Places

I fell in love with this novel almost immediately and not once did it lose its tight grip on my heart. Violet and Finch are strangers until they meet at the top of the school Bell Tower, both leaning over the edge prepared to jump. She’s a writer who lost her sister in a car crash, an accident she blames herself for. He’s an eternally troubled soul with a lot to say about everything. It’s clear that his mental state is vulnerable but he still manages to breathe life into Violet. As their stories unfold and their lives entangle it becomes clear that they both have their own mountains to scale. As they begin to explore Indiana for their school project, they learn a lot about their home, a lot about each other and a lot about themselves. They fall in love in the most perfect way and teach each other about all the little things in life that matter. Something that we all need reminding of every now and then.

I have a pull towards these types of novels, especially ones that brace the subject of suicide but in an uplifting way. I didn't get to the end of this book feeling depressed and cheated, instead I felt satisfied, like it had served its purpose. I loved the characters and I thought for a while about whether I identified more with Finch or with Violet. In the end I think there are parts of them both that resonated with me and I devoured this book from cover to cover wanting to know where their journey would take them next. 

This novel is a bittersweet story but one that delicately and honestly explores the issues surrounding mental illness. It’s beautiful and heart-breaking and one that you will keep with you for long after you’ve turned the last page.

Have you read All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven? What did you think?

The Body Shop Drops of Youth Concentrate

When the Drops of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask first came out, it was plastered all over my favourite blogs and youtube videos. I heard people raving about it for months until I caved in and bought it. It was a product I loved immediately. I loved how my soft and healthy my skin would feel in a morning - it gave me a great foundation for my makeup! You can read my thoughts on that product here on my blog. 

When The Body Shop announced that they were releasing more products in the Drops of Youth range, I knew it was something worth looking into. So the next time I was in a store I did just that. I browsed the Drops of Youth section for what felt like hours until I feel decided on the serum. I've used a couple of serums before but none that I could really rave about. This one was different. I use it on a morning and evening under my moisturiser and it makes a massive difference to how healthy and fresh my skin feels.

Having loved the serum so much too, I later went back and bought the day cream. Using all of the products together has done wonders for my skin. I struggle with acne and the medication I use for it makes my skin really dry. Anything I can get that provides a huge surge of moisture is a winner in my book and these products do just that. 

It's very rare that you feel or see the effects of a product straight away but within one day of using these products, my skin felt so much smoother and looked so much healthier. Even though they are designed as an anti-aging product, I don't see anything wrong with using them because of the other benefits they provide.

I cannot recommend these products highly enough and if you're something to invest in your skincare, try the Drops of Youth range from The Body Shop. Next on my list is the eye concentrate!

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Baked: Doffins with Raspberry Jam

It's been a while since I've baked, mostly because it's winter and Callum's conservatory-style kitchen is freezing and no delicious treats are worth the red nose and blue hands. But since the weather is strangely mild, we braved the kitchen and made some doffins! They're a mix between doughnuts and muffins and they are amazing. I took one bite, looked at Callum and said 'these are the best things we've ever baked.'

You can find the recipe on the asda website here. It's a really simple recipe, you can't really go wrong. It's pretty quick too so it's perfect from whipping up a last minute treat. It says to bake for 25 minutes but ours came out looking a little bit dark so you might just want to check yours at the 20 minute mark. Dipping the doffins in the butter was the bit I hated. It was so messy! You're supposed to brush the butter on but we were lacking in tools so we pretty much just dropped it in the bowl of butter and then rolled it in the icing. The good thing about it is it doesn't have to be perfect!

Next time I think we're going to try a bit of cinnamon mixed in with the granulated sugar. I love cinnamon. We've done this with doughnuts in the past and they turned out really well. Believe me, it won't be long until we're making more of these!

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Anna Saccone Zodiac Necklace

I don't wear a lot of jewellery. I have a couple of special rings I like to wear but other than that I go about my days accessory-free (fashion isn't my thing, all I wear are jeans, boots and a jumper and even that's hard enough to coordinate in a morning! Add the problem of accessorising and my stress levels would be through the roof before I've even left the house). When Anna Saccone announced the launch of her zodiac necklace range before Christmas, I immediately added one to my imaginary Christmas wish list. If you don't already know, Anna Saccone is vlogger on youtube.. I love the Saccone Joly's, they are my favourite youtube family. They often make me laugh and Anna and Emelia's baking videos are my guilty pleasures. Even with a three year old Anna makes it look easy!

I ordered the necklace only a couple of days after Christmas so I wasn't expecting it to arrive for a few weeks. It came the first week of January and I've had it on every day since, I don't want to take it off. My zodiac sign is Libra (not the most exciting of Zodiac signs, in fact it's probably the most boring one!) and I went for silver so it would match the other little amount of jewellery I wear. I just love it!

I've seen zodiac necklaces and I have been tempted by a couple I've seen in Urban Outfitters in the past but I'm glad I waited and went for Anna Saccone's. The designs are beautiful so have a look at the Stilnest website. You can buy them in gold, silver or rose gold and they come in different lengths too. I went for the shortest length (45cm). 

They are quite expensive but they're good quality, personal and you can customise colour and length too so you can find a style that suits you best!

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Covergirl Blast Flipstick

Happy New Year! I hope your year is off to a lovely start. Even though I haven't been posting much of here lately, I've had some lovely comments and emails and even some new followers over the Christmas holidays so thank you for that! It warms my heart!

Over the Christmas holidays, Callum and I went to visit his mum down in Wales. We only went for a couple of days but we had a good time and somehow I managed to squeeze in a makeup purchase. How do I manage it? On the second day we were there we went for breakfast at Frankie and Bennies (their pancakes are amazing, worth getting up early to go) and then did a bit of shopping afterwards. Callum's mum pointed out a beauty discount store and suggested we go in. I wasn't going to say no, was I? While rummaging through the nail varnishes and lipsticks and eyeshadow palettes, I found a collection of Covergirl lipsticks in and amongst everything else and I was drawn to them like a magnet.

When I went to New York last year I did a bit of shopping in Sephora but completely forgot to raid the CVS and Duane Reade stores for drug street brands. So I missed out on some Covergirl products that I'd been wanting to try. Covergirl is a difficult brand to find in the UK but I've been intrigued by their products for a while so I was going to snap up any chance I had to try some of their products. As soon as I spotted the Blast Flipstick, I tested out a few shades and settled on Vixen, a shimmery pink shade. 

The idea of having two shades is to create an ombre lip. I did this the first time I tested the product and while I loved the affect, I didn't love the colour. The dark pink shade was a bit too dark for me but the lighter pink shade was perfect. Instead of wearing them together I've resorted to wearing the lighter pink shade on it's own (well, with lots of vaseline!) The staying power is really good, I can't fault it. I do however think that the formula is a bit dry and as someone who generally struggles with dry lips, it disappointed me. 

I'd liked to try this product in a different colour before I completely make my mind up about it though. Hopefully I'll stumble over some more some time soon! If you want to read more about them, you can find them on the Covergirl website. Have you ever tried these products? What are your favourite lip products?