What I'm reading - March

Sometimes I'll read a whole book in a matter of days, and others it will take me months because I simply don't sit down and read in that period, or I completely forget I've even started that book. At home I have several unfinished books, and at uni I already have 3 and I've only been here 6 months (that doesn't count textbooks... of which I haven't read anywhere near enough!)

The three books I currently have on the go here in Plymouth are The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkein, South of the Border, West of the Sun - Haruki Murakami and Anna Karenenina - Leo Tolstoy.

I started the Murakami novel in the Autumn after reading recommendation after recommendation Becky. I've read barely any of it, but I enjoyed what I've read so far. This book was in my handbag for the bus journeys to work, and unfortunately it stayed in the handbag and got rather neglected! Have re-read the blurb, I really want to read the rest of the story!

I downloaded Anna Karenina onto my kindle because it was either free or dirt cheap on Amazon. I started reading it about a week before War & Peace started on the BBC, and promptly became very confused and they've merged into one snowy, high-class, Russian blur. I think I'll have to start re-reading this one from the beginning again, as I'd have no idea what was going on! I've heard from a friend that its "the most accurate representation of love and the human condition [he's] ever encountered" so I know I must finish it one day (in the near future).

Aaand... The Hobbit. Now this one I'm nearly half way through. It looks like a fairly thin book, but I feel the amount I've read I should be further through it than I am! Lord of the Rings is a funny one for me; I've never seen any of the films the whole way through, I've only seen odd bits when they've been on the telly and nothing else is on. I saw the first Hobbit film at the cinema, and was really confused at the end as they hadn't got anywhere - I only later realised it was going to be a trilogy, and I haven't seen the rest! My cousin and my brother love this book so I thought I should get round to reading it, and I was advised that I should read The Hobbit before reading Lord of the Rings.
I read most of this on the train back to Wales from Plymouth - a 6 hour journey, and the man with the drinks trolley said how good it was. I'm reading my Mum's copy form the 70s, and its full of annotations from her teacher training days. I can tell that this is written for children - but its also a book adults can thoroughly enjoy. I don't read a lot of Fantasy (apart from Harry Potter, which I've not actually re-read since they first came out). My problem with fantasy is that the situations aren't realistic - which I suppose is a given - but the author can put the characters in a sticky situation and then lo-and-behold a giant bird flies along and rescues them out of a tree that's on fire with angry wolves and goblins at the bottom. But I'll stick with it - Tolkein is an author I feel I must read ( and I'm not counting his Oxford English Dictionary entries).

I've noticed all these books have been recommended to me by someone who really loves them, which can only be a good sign. I know they're worth finishing.
Have you read any of these? Is there anything else I should be reading?

Max Factor Colour Elixir Lipsticks Review

You know when you go to Boots, Superdrug, Debenhams etc and come out with a multicoloured hand from swatching about 50 different products?

It has been said, on more than one occasion, by more than one person, that I can be rather indecisive. When I went to Boots the other day in search of the perfect rosey-nude lipstick, I honestly could have spent hours there. It was a good thing I was with friends and they were nagging me to hurry up! 

I did find one and I was like YES THIS IS THE ONE but they only had a tester, and no stock left. And now I'm writing this I can't even remember which brand it was let alone the shade! Anyway I moved on to the Max Factor stand I came up against this dilemma:

I spent aaaages deciding between Firefly and Raisin in store - do you see how difficult they make it for us!? 

After very much deliberating I settled for Raisin, and though my friends had pointed out that it was 3 for 2 I very nobly said I only needed the one lipstick and tootled off to pay. BUT Boots & Max Factor obviously had some kind of marketing guru working for them and they'd put a stand right next to the self check outs that was just Max Factor and just these Colour Elixir Lipsticks. WHY YOU DO THIS!? Its like putting chocolate and chewing gum by the till in supermarkets, targeting poor, unsuspecting impulse buyers like me. 

There was a queue and I was in a hurry so I picked up the first two lipsticks that caught my eye, and these just happened to be Angel Pink and Dusky Rose. So I did actually make use of the the 3 for 2 in the end and got myself a free lipstick, right?

I popped into Boots yesterday to double check what Max Factor called this particular lipstick, and spotted they've now got an offer where if you spend over £15 on Max Factor you get a free gift worth £30 (or something like that..). Not going to lie that bugged me a bit that I missed out but I'm informing you good people so you can take advantage. Don't say I never do anything for you, now ;)

Even now I can't actually decide which is my favourite shade out of the three of them. I just pick out one of them and put it on and get pleasantly surprised by which ever one is on my lips. 

This is what Max Factor say about them:

Colour Elixir Lipstick gives you smooth, soft lips with gorgeous colour.

• Instant fabulous colour.
• Actively moisturises for smoother, fuller lips (vs bare lips)
• A blend of 60% emollients, conditioners and antioxidants including vitamin E

Their texture is quite creamy and feels comfortable when its on. With some lipsticks you can feel them drying out your lips but these feel quite the opposite, more like when you put a lip balm on. The shades are nice and bright and last quite well. They passed the take-away coffee test but my lips were notably less colourful after lunch, which is to be expected - nothing a quick re-apply won't fix! 

These lipsticks do have a little bit more of a shine than I'd prefer, but that's only if I'm being really fussy! 

I would definitely buy this lipstick again in some of the other shades (as if I don't have enough already...).  

  Have you tried these lipsticks? Tell me your favourite shade in the comments!

Franco Manca Pizza

When we were in London, Mark and I had lunch at Franco Manca pizza, on my brother's recommendation. We are so glad we went! They have a few branches dotted across London, and we went to the one in Covent Garden, just off the strand.

We were a bit wary of London prices when it came to food, but the pizzas were very reasonably priced and we got nice big portions - cheaper and much better quality than Domino's!

The interior of the restaurant is fairly industrial - exposed brickwork and lightbulbs without shades  and this makes for a really cosy atmosphere, even though it doesn't sound like it!

There are set pizzas on the menu but they were more than happy for me to swap mushrooms for spinach on mine as they are all made to order.

Franco Manca are all about excellent quality and provenance of their ingredients, so you know your super tasty pizza has had a good upbringing.

Have you ever been here? What did you think? I'd love it if they expanded outside of London!

sparkles & sounds

I finally took the plunge and converted from Android to Apple, which means I get to buy new cases, and I have choice!

I chose this Skinny Dip one as it was £6 in the Topshop sale and its quite snazzy! Its not my first choice but as it was at least £10 cheaper than other cases I settled for it, beggars can't be choosers, ey?











I didn't need new earphones until a couple of days ago. I've got my Skullcandy headphones and I'd been quite happily using the earphones that came with my Samsung if I needed something more compact. That was til the other day when I went to Bristol with 2 silicon ear bud thingies and only came back with one. Bummer. I popped into HMV on my flatmate's recommendation and bought these Smile Jamaica Chant earphones.

I like the wooden design and the fabric(?) cable. The company, House of Marley is all about eco-friendliness and charitable causes so that's a bonus too! And of course, the sound quality is really good and they also have a microphone so I can wander around in public looking like I'm talking to myself if I'm on the phone.

You might also be able to tell I've got a screen protector on my phone. Its a tempered glass one (apparently) that I got off Amazon for a couple of quid. My cousin has just managed to smash her screen and I know how often that happens so I didn't want to take any risks!

Where's your favourite place to get a phone case?

What I'm listening to: playlist

Jonah - Calan

Off to the Races - Lana Del Rey

Stay Out - Nina Nesbitt

The Stairs - Family of the Year

Softly in the dusk a woman is singing to me

The other day I went out with my family for a meal to celebrate my Mum and Granny's birthdays (they're a week apart). We went to a lovely pub/restaurant by the River Avon. I took the opportunity to grab my cousin to take a few photos of my outfit - they're not perfect as they were quite rushed (I didn't even shut the clasp on my bag!) but I wanted to be able to show off what I was wearing here.

I love this top but if it rides up it doesn't hang right and makes me look twice the size I am! The colour is great though, nice and bright, which is what we need at this time of year, and the material is soft (though not warm at all!).

The trousers are my favourite purchase of 2016 (so far). They can be worn more casually, like today as I'm writing I'm wearing them with tan flats and an oatmeal jumper, but they also are a really comfy way of being a bit smarter!

These shoes were a bargain (£15!) find at the end of the summer but I haven't had much occasion to wear them, they normally come out on occasions like these if I'm going out for dinner. They're not really a heel to wear on a night out, but they'd be ideal for work if that was your dress code. They are seriously comfy - I wore them for hours and my feet didn't hurt!

What do you think? I'm happy its getting sunnier (even if it isn't getting warmer).

Top & Trousers - H&M  Shoes - Clarks  Bag - Animal

What I'm listening to: playlist

The Story - Brandi Carlile

Breathe (2 AM) - Anna Nalick

Shout Out - Kizzy Crawford

New November - Pure Youth

January & February

Yet again I've left it far too long between posts. Its nothing personal, I also haven't been for a run for weeks! I thought I'd give you a whistle stop tour of what I've been up to since I last updated this 'ere blog.

I GOT MY HAIR CHOPPED! Its so so soooo much better than it was, I'm much happier with it this length.

Mark and I went on a little jaunt to Caerphilly Castle, it was freezing, but definitely worth going to. As it was the end of of the (very cold) day, there was barely anyone around so we pretty much had the whole castle to ourselves... now there's something I could get used to! 

Mark excelled himself with my Christmas presents this year - amongst some Lush goodies and some cosy slippers were also a pair of tickets to the Harry Potter Studio Tour!!!  We went to London in the middle of January, had a quick whiz round being tourists and of course the studios in Watford. (Apologies for the picture quality - I only had my phone and it was fairly dark!)

For Christmas 2010 my Mum knitted me a Weasley jumper, needless to say I wore it! I hadn't realised the studios would be set out for Christmas at Hogwarts, which meant  Gryffindor common room was all Christmassy - exactly how it was when Harry opened his jumper from Mrs Weasley.

We went a couple of days after Alan Rickman sadly died, and I must admit I got a bit choked up at this poignant tribute:

It may not be widely known around here, but I do have a thing for steam engines, so when I walked into this room I did go a little bit nuts. I was jumping around and grinning like the Cheshire Cat.. Mark just pretended he wasn't with me (I don't blame him!) 

Before catching our train home I insisted we went to the bloggers' mothership - Lush Oxford Street. I bought a cheeky little Unicorn Horn (of course!).

I've not walked so far so quickly for a long time! We managed to tick off a lot of the sights and squeeze in some shopping, so we were both happy. We had lunch at Franco Manco Pizza in Covent Garden, which I'll review next week.

Hope you liked this quick run-down, who knows, I might blog a bit more regularly in the coming weeks and months! 

Casual Winter Outfit

Most of my cold weather clothes have remained firmly in my wardrobe for nearly all of December - looks like Britain forgot how to winter! Finally the Weather is turning colder and I can dig out all of my winter woolies again. Though saying that, when these pictures were taken it was still fairly warm, but I could have done with a scarf! I've finally convinced Mark that he does want to spend afternoons taking photos of me at the top of a hill as the rain is coming in..

I've been wearing this coat from h&m since the Autumn, it's the perfect substitute until I can fulfill my Barbour dreams.

The hat is also h&m, which I got for £1 in June! I bought it just before my "Summer" holiday to Orkney, where I wore it all day, every day. Similar here.

The New Look cardigan is something I've rediscovered in my wardrobe (similar here) . I LOVE the shade of purple, and I think it shows off nicely against the grey. The T-shirt is old, from Warehouse, and is one of the most worn items in my wardrobe!

The boots are also New Look, from their 915 range... like the coat, they're filling in until I can afford Timberlands. They are really comfy though! I've sprayed them with a waterproofing spray so I don't need to worry about wearing them in the rain.

What do you think? I'm hoping do a lot more outfit posts this year! Not long til the summer now, when that car park & beach will be packed!

What I'm listening to:  (playlist!) 

Make a Man  - Estrons

NYE - Missy Higgins

Last Words - Isaac Gracie

Welcome To New York - Ryan Adams