The Reading List

Amongst all the lotions and potions and unguents and balms, you'll find a great stack of my other love, books.  I always have my nose in a book (or three) and have amassed quite the collection over the years.  Above is my current bookshelf.  I have another one filled to the brim back at my parents' house and am hoping that one day, not too far from now, I'll be able to have them all in one place so I can sit and lose myself in forgotten favourites and as-yet-unopened treasures.

I always buy my books second-hand, be they from charity shops or online, and whenever I ask for books as gifts I request that they be second-hand as well.  I don't know why; I think I'm helping the book industry but I now realise (literally now, as I type) that if anything, I'm not really helping it at all.  I'm helping charities and my own purse*.  But that's no bad thing, so second-hand will stay.

Recently I went to a book-lover's paradise for a little holiday.  Hay-on-Wye, near Hereford in Wales, is a tiny town famous for its second hand bookshops (check out the blue sky!).  There's also an annual literary festival, which has just happened, but I avoided the crowds and went a couple of weeks beforehand for three days of browsing, reading and buying books.  So.  Many.  Books.

This is the pile I came home with.  The one book I really wanted to find was Swallows and Amazons, which I haven't read since primary school.  I've started it and am so enjoying the adventures "at sea" of the four children.  I want to read the rest of the series this year as well - I had no idea there were so many.

The other book I have on the go is Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson.  She's one of my most favourite writers, and the Jackson Brodie series is completely brilliant, but I'm really struggling with this one.  I'm about a third of the way through and I haven't got to grips with the character or the story, unfortunately.  I'll persevere but it's my least favourite of all her books.

Next I'm going to get stuck into the P D James, who I've never read, and The Wicked Girls.  I do love me some light crime.

I'd love to hear what you're reading at the moment as well as your all-time favourite books.  I can never have too many on the reading list.

*I donate all books that I've read and not really loved to charity as well, so as to reduce the clutter (and justify a new purchase or two).

Sample Size

No, not my waist, unfortunately, but rather all the mini tubes and sachets of goodness that I poke my way through whenever the mood takes me.  I hang on to all samples I get; skincare, perfume, foundation, toothpaste...don't care.  You can pretty much guarantee finding one or two offerings in all the monthly magazines, if not more, and lots of beauty websites offer free samples at checkout as well.  They're a great way of a) trying out products for free to see if they're worth further investment and b) saving space in your bags if and when you travel.

I've discovered some absolute gems this way, such as the Haus of Gloi perfume oils, Aesop Fabulous Face Oil, the Neutrogena Daily Defence moisturiser, Lancome Genefique serum (the sample sachet lasted me a week!), and body moisturisers from Rituals.*

It's also always worth getting samples of higher end foundations before you buy, as well.  Often the sachets in magazines won't be the right colour.  Recently, I got the two samples of Giorgio Armani foundation from a counter in House of Fraser.  There's no way I'm going to spend £30+ on a foundation that could well be awful, so I went and got colour-matched and asked if I could have a sample of the Luminous Silk, which was what I wanted originally.  The sweet girl at the counter also suggested I might like to try Maestro and produced the teeniest little sample bottle complete with miniature dropper and filled it with around 6-8 days' of product for me.  Result?  Yes.  Actual result?  I don't really like either foundation unfortunately, but at least it hasn't cost me £70 to find that out.

No matter what the sample product is, I don't necessarily go on to buy a full size version of the product so it's also a good little money saver.  I reckon, with the amount of samples I had (little pile above is the last of a HUGE one) I've had roughly three months' worth of product to play with.  All the more money to...I don't know, blow my nose with?  What?  I don't have any samples of Kleenex...

*Not so successful were the Garnier moisturisers, the No7 Protect & Perfect serum and a horrible, sticky serum from Thalgo that clogged my skin faster than chip fat down a drain.

Back to Basics

It's been a long, cold winter, both for most of the United Kingdom and for this blog.  My last proper post was well over six months ago and in the time since I've changed jobs twice, moved house, been on my inaugural trip to New York, fallen in love and had quite a bad haircut so I'm not going to beat myself up about the lack of Pixie essence bestowed upon your eyes (and blog readers).  I've ummed and aahed about whether or not to continue with this blog or close it down, but I don't really want to flush all of my BRILLIANT musings down the virtual toilet just yet so I plan to pick it up and, if not run with it again just yet, stroll with it and see where it takes me.  

I anticipate that there will be a change in content; not so much beauty stuff, if only because, in no small part due to this blog, I have found exactly the kind of skincare and make up products that I like and now use mostly the same things without feeling the need to constantly Buy 'n Try, so I can only eke out what I own over so many posts.  I would like to incorporate other interests that I have; books I read, places I go, things I see, clothes I wear, etc. so that I have more things to write about and you have more things to read.  It appears to be a win/win type of situation that way.

That said, I'm going to kick things off again with a look at the products that I use most often; my basics.  Some are old favourites, some are new finds, but they have been giving my face the stability it needed during this period of (online) silence at a time when in real life things have been all over the place.  

Clarisonic Mia - Antipodes Avocado Night Cream - Moroccan Natural Argan Rose Serum* - Alpha-H Liquid Gold - Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm (not pictured) - L'Oreal CC Cream - YSL Shocking mascara - L'Oreal Superliner - Bobbi Brown Desert Rose blusher - Natural Collection eyeshadow in Crushed Walnut and Mac 266 brush - Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer

I have to give special mention to the L'Oreal CC Cream.  These have had mixed reviews but personally I find this to be perfect for every day wear.  It gives a sheer coverage but it completely gets rid of any redness in my skin which I do tend to get around my nose and on my cheeks.  Weirdly it doesn't look that great when first applied but it seems to get better as the day goes on.  It lasts well and doesn't cause me additional shine.  I love it.

It's good to be back. 

*PR sample