Lisa Eldridge Velvet Ribbon and Link Up

I'm a great fan of Lisa Eldridge, a well-known make-up artist, as she regularly tackles the issues of older women and shows how to deal with dark circles, pigmentation, lack of radiance and so on.

So I was excited to hear she was launching a makeup range.The first products are a range of lipsticks called the True Velvet collection.

The beauty and fitness books that changed my life

Ladies, let me introduce you to two icons of my teen years. These two books fed my obsession with beauty, and later fitness, and I still use some of their tips.

Mixing old and new to create a contemporary outfit

My "Rupert Bear" trousers are suddenly in vogue.  I've had them since the early 90s and they occasionally get an outing. You last saw them here.

Check trousers are now everywhere, and shades of brown, caramel and cream are also very trendy, so I've styled my Rupert Bears with something new - a sequinned jumper - and another older item, a camel cape from Asos which is about five years old.

I've always loved capes although they're not very practical. I added a touch of leopard print with a clutch (Next, SS16) and ankle boots (Office London). The jumper is £20 at Sainsbury's.

The trousers are what we used to call "Oxford Bags," as worn by David Bowie in the Hunky Dory period.

Yesterday I spent an exhausting hour sweeping and bagging all the leaves. It's a small garden but we have four trees, a deciduous hedge and three clematis montana - that's a lot of leaves!

What do you think of the check trouser trend?  And the return to brown and caramel?
Sharing this post with #CreativeMondays at Claire Justine, On Mondays we Link Up with Glass of Glam; #Anything Goes  at My Random Musings, #ShoeandTell at Style Nudge; #IwillwearwhatIlike at Not Dressed as Lamb, Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style; Style with a Smile at Stylesplash; Turning Heads Tuesday at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, #SpreadTheKindness at Shelbee on the Edge, Chic&Stylish at Mummabstylish,  Top of the World Style at High Latitude Style, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style. Fabulous Friday at A Pocketful of Polka Dots, #Weekend Wear at Threads for Thomas Thursday Moda.at Elegance and Mommyhood.

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Come back on Wednesday for the #WowOnWednesday link up

Meet the deceptive Citrine, birthstone for November

Who could not fail to love the bold, extravagant citrine in its flamboyant shades of yellow, orange and red? This magical gemstone is one of the birthstones for November.  But first, some bad news about citrine. Those deeper yellow and orange shades may actually not be citrine at all!

Huda Beauty Emerald Obsessions and Link Up

Very excited ladies to share this gorgeous palette of green, gold and bronze eyeshadows from trendy brand Huda Beauty.

Les deux mouton visit Alexander House Spa

As we both have "mutton" in the title of our blogs, Anna from Mutton Style and myself have become "Les deux moutons."  American readers, read my "About" where I explain what the mutton malarkey means in the UK. Our latest adventure was spending some down time at Alexander House hotel and Utopia Spa, in Sussex.

Sentence a Day: October 2018

Welcome to my month of October! A bit later than normal but I made a mistake with the dates! Thanks to Leslie from Once Upon A Time and Happily Ever After as always for rallying the troops.

We had quite a lot of autumn sun in October and as you can see, Molly the cat was enjoying it!

Mon Oct 1
In office. Pleasant weather. Busy preparing for a huge event that my company runs in San Jose every year.

Tues 
Working at home. Did an early Power Plate class. Made vegetable soup for lunch with shabby veg.

Weds
Enjoyed a spectacular sunrise as I drove to Cam. We haven't put the clocks back yet but it's already darker in the mornings when I set off at 6.50. Very busy day. I was caught unawares by a David Bowie song on the radio, "Where are we now?" I still get upset when this happens.

Thurs
In office. Hugely productive day. Stopped off in the town of Epping on the way home to get a few bits in M&S Food Hall.

Fri
At home.  Did two sessions of Power Plate. In the evening we met John's son Christopher and wife Katie at the pub for dinner. They're expecting their first baby in early 2019 (John's first grandchild).This is a bizarre photo, thought you might enjoy it!

Sat
John's birthday. Didn't have to rush off to an exercise class or do any shopping which was a change. We went into London to see the Tina Turner musical. It was truly outstanding! Here we are waiting for curtain up.

Sun
Power Plate, housework, roast chicken. Rachel and Sean came for lunch to give John his birthday presents. It's really tough to get him anything because he reads on a Kindle, streams all his music and films, and isn't much into clothes.  The best thing, I always say, is Wiggle vouchers so he can buy sportswear. Or beer!

Mon
Beautiful sunrise and autumn day. Ordered my birthday day cake and bought train tickets for a trip to  Plymouth in Dec.  I always go down in December to see my mum and exchange presents ready for Christmas.  She doesn't like me to drive in case it's snowing  (which is very rare).  Anyway, I'm humouring her by going by train.

Tues
At home. Anna from blog Mutton Style confirmed our spa stay on Nov 5. Yay!
Read an article where I learnt some useful household tips: moths don't like conkers so put them in drawers to protect clothes.  A dish of milk left overnight will get rid of cooking smells. To get rid of smells in plastic containers, roll up newspaper and leave in it overnight.

Weds
Working at home. Beautiful day. Went to Power Plate. Busy finalising stuff for the big event.

Thurs
As I drove to work, could see in just a few days some big changes in tree colours.  And it was dark today when I left work for home. John saw a sparrowhawk in the garden. We have a lot of sparrows feeding during the day. Unfortunately one of them had provided the hawk with a meal.

Fri
Storm Callum blew in and it was very windy. Busy day. Knocked off a quick shoot for the blog - red blouse three ways. Had our usual fish n chips for Friday dinner.

Sat
Went to Epping to do some shopping. Found nothing in three charity shops. Had a look at the community garden and saw this cute insect hotel:

Very warm,though still windy. Pruned roses. They still look pretty good.

Sun
Woke up to rain, didn't get light until 7.20. Rained most of day. Did a quick shoot and published it right away, and wrote another post. Catching up with myself as I'm a bit behind on the blogging front. John and I had roast beef with Yorkshire puddings, really nice. Just the two of us today.

Mon
At home. Novelty! Normally in the office on a Monday. Busy day, one Skype call after another.

Tues
At home! Our big event starts in San Jose today and I'm not there. But I have two US trips coming up before Christmas so I'm not too upset. Did Pilates.

Weds
At home. Quiet day. Have a pain in the neck again. VERY annoying.

Thurs
Foggy drive to work. Listened to Ted Talks. One was revelatory. What baby boomers can learn from milennials. Also decided to revamp my fitness routine.

Fri
At home. Did Power Plate. John and I went to the pub after work.

Sat
Sunny. Went to yoga and did my usual visit to Epping and also the garden centre, where Christmas has arrived. Bought some plants and bulbs.

I got some seasonal containers to go on my "plant theatre" and put a few bulbs in.

Sun
Sunny. Went to Power Plate, did housework. No guests today. Published a blog update on my Autumn bucket list. A survey in the paper says older women who wear lipstick look younger.  I wear lippy for blog shoots, but can't be bothered during the working day.

Mon
In the office. Dark when I left. Lovely day. Bit boring, hardly anyone in - still returning from America or recovering from jet lag.

Tues
At home. An exciting delivery of new skincare products from Look Fabulous Forever. See my review here.  Did Power Plate.

Weds
In office. Slept very badly, woke up 4am after slapping self in face. Not a good day - and it got progressively worse, including the neck pain (which appears to be caused by stress).

Thurs
Worked at home. Still quite sunny.  Went on cardiovascular equipment at the gym in a half hearted way. I enjoy Power Plate, Pilates and yoga but I struggle with the mindless chore of running machines or steppers.

Fri
At home. Weather finally a bit colder. Feeling a bit low. Fed up with angry drivers, who in London rarely give way and try to cut you up all the time; work (feel unappreciated); my lack of fitness. Worried about Mum, who is normally very sociable and resilient, but says she is feeling lonely. I'm 250 miles away. Went to Power Plate.

Sat
Just 4 degrees, a lot colder! Did my shopping. Placards in Epping about the deer breeding season and how drivers need to slow down. Ironically, was in stationery traffic when I read this. Went to my brother-in-law's 60th birthday party. It was at a nearby golf club, walking distance, result!

Sun
Warmer today with showers. Did roast lamb, Rachel's favourite. John's bike trainer came. It uses one of his bikes and is connected to an app which lets him cycle through virtual landscapes like Central Park with other cyclists, seeing their times and so on.

Mon 29 Oct
Office. Feeling positive and energetic today.

Tues 30 Oct
At home. Pilates.

Weds 31 Oct 
Got to work earlier than usual so went to Tesco to do some food shopping. It was a long day, 12 hours. Only 1 group of trick n treaters came calling on Halloween, which was a shame as I'd bought a giant bag of Haribo (and don't like them.....).

Sharing this post with #ShareAllLinkUp at Not Dressed as Lamb and #WelcometotheWeekend at Claire Justine

FOR MORE MUTTON

Don't miss a post -  follow Is This Mutton? on Bloglovin or Feedspot. I post extra goodies (handbags and shoes) on the Is This Mutton? Facebook page. And check out the Is This Mutton? Pinterest boards, including boards on other bloggers in fab outfits plus beauty, jewellery, hairstyles and fashion picks. Is This Mutton? is also on Twitter. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Eva Trends sweater dress with a helping of mustard & Link Up

When the weather gets colder, this warm, snuggly dress from Eva Trends will be ideal. It's a one size dress in wool and mohair, featuring large polka dots and pockets.

Three ways with a red floral blouse

A few months ago Jacqui from Mummabstylish and I discovered we had an identical blouse from Marks and Spencer, so we challenged each other to style it several ways. Now we're doing it again with this pretty red and white floral number, also from M&S.