Party Face With Bargain Makeup: And #WowOnWednesday

An eyeshadow palette with 15 shades and seven other items of make-up for less than £30 - how does that sound? Well, as someone with a severe Charlotte Tilbury addiction, quite tempting - but also nerve wracking. I decided to find out if any of the latest formulations of bargain make-up could tempt me away from the luxury brands.

Let's Talk Tea: The Is This Mutton? Guide

“Under certain circumstances, there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” 

Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Today I'm talking about one of the greatest pleasures in life: tea.

The British are well known for being a nation of tea drinkers. Many of life's most significant moments are marked with a cup of tea. Newly created millionaires, according to national lottery promoter Camelot, are more likely to toast themselves with tea than champagne.

Shades of Brown

I was pleased to hear that brown, caramel and beige shades are in because it gives me the chance to dust off my old "Rupert Bear" trousers and style them in a modern way.

These trousers are probably the oldest garment I have - I bought them in the early 1990s. I thought at the time they were like the Oxford bags that David Bowie was wearing in the Hunky Dory era.

Five For FriYAY: The Best Book, Pod and Beauty Recommendations

Five For FriYAY is an occasional post where I share my latest recommendations for beauty products, books, podcasts, TV, exhibitions. First up, ARK Firming Serum. ARK is a British skincare company whose products are free from parabens, mineral oil, formaldehyde and other nasties. You can shop by age and/or concern at their website.

I've been using ARK's products, gifted, for a while now, and my skin is looking brighter with a more even skin tone. It feels well hydrated, there are no dry patches, and so I am pleased with the skincare I've been using  (find my earlier posts on ARK here and here).

ARK's The Firming Serum is aimed at all age groups.

I can't say I have noticed a major firming effect after just one week, but I test products for three months so I'll let you know later. What I do like is the hyaluronic acid formula. I'm passionate about the need for women over 40 to use hyaluronic acid under their moisturizer. It makes such a big difference and you can buy them quite cheaply.

Podcast Recommendations

I'm enthralled by a "rich seam" podcast (where there are lots of episodes available) called Criminal.  I love the quirky and the unusual, and Criminal is all about offbeat true crimes. They are fascinating stories, beautifully produced and narrated by a woman with a most hypnotic voice.  The episodes include interviews and the Criminal website features a new illustration for every episode.

I have, so far, particularly enjoyed the episodes "The Less People Know About Us," where the podcast revisits a woman whose identity was stolen by her mother (who also did the same to her husband) and Off Leash, where we meet a dog trainer who was seduced by a prisoner in jail and persuaded to help him escape in one of her dog crates. Don't miss the story of Count Von Cosel, utterly fascinating - and disquieting. He was a self-styled doctor who attempted to give eternal life to a patient he had been unable to save.

One podcast which has had a lot of hype has left me cold.  It's the BBC's The Missing Cryptoqueen. Now, a few months ago I absolutely loved a US podcast documentary series called The Drop Out which examined the Theranos scandal. Theranos was a medical start up created by university drop out, Elizabeth Holmes. The charismatic Holmes modelled herself on Steve Jobs and it's a jaw dropping tale of fame and ambition gone wrong. The podcast was pacey with lots of interviews.

In The Missing Cryptoqueen, we have Dr Raja Ignatova, another one said to style herself on Steve Jobs, who persuaded millions to buy into her holistic bitcoin operation. Then she mysteriously disappeared. I was initially excited but then there was a lot of hype about the final episode which put me off the rest. It turns out (spoiler alert) the mystery is still unsolved, so I couldn't be bothered to listen.

Must See Exhibition: Tutankhamun

The Tutankhamun exhibition is back in London for the last time. One hundred and fifty artifacts are on display at the Saatchi Gallery, many being shown for the first time outside of Egypt. The exhibitions ends on 3 May. After a couple more tours, including Boston, the collection will move to its permanent home, a splendid new museum in Egypt, and will never tour again.

There were three striking moments for me, and they weren't the usual fantastic coffins and gold masks.

Among the items in the boy king's tomb was a collection of boomerangs.  They were not the right shape to come back, but were used at the time to kill wildlife, as a sport.  King Tut was only 19 so his boomerangs accompanied him so that he could have some sport in his after life.

I loved this amulet of his grandfather, Amenhotep III, placed in the tomb to protect the young king.

I was shocked to come face to face with a picture of the mummified remains of the boy as the last exhibit, and how life-like it still looked, with teeth present. I found this amazing, considering how ancient the mummy is.  It felt like an intimate moment, gazing at the remains of a person who once lived, and quite wrong to take a picture.

It's all very well staged and there's the inevitable "have a photo taken with your choice of scenery" moment as you enter the building. Unfortunately only one picture is taken and it wasn't our most flattering look!

It's amazing to consider that after his death, in turbulent times, all memories of Tutankhamun were swept away and statues destroyed. It was as if he never lived.  But now, he is the most famous Pharoah of them all.

I have heard the exhibition gets crowded at peak times. When we went, mid afternoon on a Thursday, it was fine and there was plenty of room.  You might want to take a day off to go during the week  to avoid the crowds.

Book recommendation: Olive Again and Our Rainbow Queen

First, Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout.  The first book about Olive Kitteridge was made into a memorable TV series where the irascible and curmudgeonly Olive was played by the fantastic Frances Dormand.

In the second book, the narrative is not continually about Olive but introduces us to some of her neighbours and acquaintances in the small coastal Maine town of Crosby. We see how they interact with Olive. For all her direct talking and disdain for small talk, Olive is interested in people and unwittingly draws them out. She doesn't turn away from the woman who is dying whose husband is terrified and whose friends have stopped visiting.

Olive finds a new husband in her late 70s and we see a side of her that lingers in all of us, the desire for love and attention. 

There is probably a lot of Olive in all of us because the older we get the more fearless we become, until poor health makes us vulnerable again. 

I'm on the final chapter where Olive is elderly and perplexed at how fearful and anxious she has become. It sounds like it may be a depressing read but in fact it's the opposite.  Strout's writing and observations are so fine that it's a pleasure to be savoured.

One of my birthday presents was this gorgeous little book by Guardian writer Sali Hughes, who professes to being fascinated by the Queen and the colours she wears. 

When  you see the Queen in her monochrome splendour and fantastic jewellery, you can't help but agree that she has taken her duty very seriously in terms of making sure she always stands out in a crowd. 

She has always upheld certain standards. A hat is never worn while eating (although a tiara is fine);  gloves are always worn to avoid germs;  skirts are weighted with grommets to avoid any embarrassing incidents in the wind. The Queen has been the backdrop to our lives, a constant reassuring presence. 

The Queen rarely wears neutrals but here she is in white, below. It's good to see how glamorous and fashion-forward she looked when young. The book also features the Queen in some of the prints which she only rarely has worn.  It's amazing how inconspicuous she becomes in prints and florals. If you want to stand out, a bright or distinctive colour in monochrome is the way. 

If you have any book, TV, film or podcast recommendations to brighten our weekends, do let us know in the comments below. 

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Recent Outfits

This week is a round-up of recent outfits I've been wearing, smart, casual and work wear. First up: the outfit that didn't make it.

Crazy About Boots - and Link Up

One of the things I love about autumn and winter is the return of boots. Ankle boots, long boots, over-the-knee boots, round toed, pointed toed - I love them all. And here I am surrounded by most of my collection.

Sentence a Day, October 2019: US Visit and Big Reunion

Tues Oct 1

The hubster has added Netflix to our Sky subscription at a bargain rate so at last we can start watching The Crown!

Weds Oct 2
At home. Extremely busy, last meeting at 7.30pm. Watching The Crown.......

Thurs Oct 3
Getting colder. Wore new green snakeskin boots for first time. Came home early as have late meetings again.

Fri Oct 4
One of those days where everything going wrong! Except for being able to get in size 10 (US size 6 trousers.) again. We were supposed to be going to a restaurant tomorrow for J's birthday but unfortunately they rang to say it's closed for a few days because of a flood in the kitchen.

Sat Oct 5
Nice morning, went to garden centre and bought 2 hellebores, a winter hanging basket and an indoor stephanotis plant. Did a blog shoot.

Sun Oct 6
Weather was bad. Went to gym, did roast chicken. John's birthday so kids and grandchild came round to give him his presents.

Mon Oct 7
Early start, flight to San Francisco. Attending my company's big tech event for customers in San Jose which I've helped to manage.  On plane watched films Yesterday (very good), Late Nights (average) and a documentary about Vivienne Westwood (v gd).

Tues Oct 8
Woke at 3 but ok because I class this as "me time" to read and do emails. Event started. Booth looks fantastic. Below, with a colleague on one of the demos.

Weds Oct 9
Up at 4. Very long day as there was a lot of normal work I had to do as well as duty at the event all day. I was wearing an augmented reality t-shirt: if you clicked on the back of it, with the Zappar app, I took off!

Thurs Oct 10
Awake at 5.15 today, getting better! But now it's the last day. Went out with colleagues for a nice lunch salad in the sun. Left for airport 4.30 and pleasant flight home. No films - managed some sleep.

Fri Oct 11
Landed on time and home by 4.30.

Sat Oct 12
J's belated birthday celebration at The Gilbert Scott - a restaurant at St Pancras station, beautiful decor. Here's the three of us.

And here's the birthday boy.

Sun Oct 13
Quiet day, did some work on blog

Mon Oct 14
Worked from home. Sorting out sales leads from the event. Went to the gym.

Tues Oct 15
Worked from home. Got 2 pumpkins to put outside the house to show we're receptive for Halloween trick or treaters.

Weds Oct 16
In office. Up early making salads for our lunches. A new nativity stable and characters arrived for Christmas - have always wanted one!

Thurs Oct 17
Office. Good day busy and productive.

Fri Oct 18
Worked from home, went to gym.

Sat Oct 19
Food shopping and garden centre. The pumpkin display at the top was in Marks and Spencer, Epping. At the garden centre bought 6 wallflowers plants and three trays of forget me nots. These will look great with spring bulbs.

Sun Oct 20
Walked to the gym, 2 miles. It was a  strenuous class so got bus halfway home!

Mon 21 Oct
Good day in office.

Tues 22 Oct
Dark when I left the house at just before 7. Gross.

Weds 23 Oct
At home. Went to gym. Squirrel continues to try to steal nuts in the garden - look how muscular he is!

Thurs 24 Oct
Working from home. Went into London to get a train to Plymouth at 6pm - am there for a long weekend for a reunion of the people on my first job as a trainee reporter. Read the post.

Fri 25 Oct
At my mum's in Plymouth. Blustery and wet. Had a lovely lunch on the Barbican.  Bought a secondhand sapphire ring in a shop called Pre-Loved.

Sat 26 Oct
Very wet and windy. Met up with my brother, his wife, son (and girlfriend), daughter and Mum for lunch. Later in the afternoon my friend rang to say she'd arrived and I left Mum's to stay the night in an Airbnb on the Barbican. Nine of us met up for drinks followed by dinner. Very pleasant - and a late night for me (2am!).

Sun 27 Oct
Beautiful sunny day. Originally we had all arranged to meet at 9am for a walk, but this turned out to be too ambitious so I went back to London on an earlier train. I was home by 3pm.

Mon 28 Oct
The clocks went back yesterday so it was light when I left the house. Hooray.

Tues 29 Oct
Working from home. Tidied up old CDs and found my soundtrack to the film Oliver! Been playing it ever since.

Weds 30 Oct
Up early (5.30) to make salads, wash hair, get petrol, drive to work. New monitor and keyboard came for my home PC.

Thurs 31 Oct
Halloween. About 12 kids came in their costumes trick and treating. Had to sit in darknesss after we ran out of sweets!

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Transform A Boring Outfit with Just Three Accessories

I'm as guilty as the next person of throwing on an outfit on dark wintry mornings and then cursing later how boring it is.

I liked the colours and print of this Mistral skirt from last winter and purposely bought a blue cashmere cardigan to wear with it this year. So this was my intention, adding burgundy ankle boots and a cream silk blouse. Arriving at work, I realised the outfit looked dull, dull, dull.

Here's how I transformed it with just three accessories.