Friday Favourites: TV, Books, Podcasts - February Edition

 
It's the monthly round-up of TV, book and podcast reviews.  I didn't necessarily like all of them - but you can always count on me for being honest and objective!  Without further ado....

Look More Radiant Over 50

 

I've been experimenting with a few new beauty products.  It helps pass the time when we're in lockdown.  None were gifted, so I will give you a completely honest opinion on what's working for me, and what didn't. 

I have particular requirements for beauty products. For age-related issues like lines, pigmentation, dark shadows under the eyes, dull skin and dryness -we need specialist products to hide imperfections and help us look radiant. 

Faux Leather: Style Not Age Challenge

 
When Jacqui set "faux leather" as this month's  Style Not Age Challenge, I was a little flummoxed.  I don't have any faux leather, I thought. Then I remembered the Spanx leggings I bought a few weeks ago. Relief!

I've styled my leggings differently to when I first showed you a mint jumper and beret look. 

I've added a green coat  (old, M&S), my new green velvet boots, a green metallic belt from Kettlewell, and a new top from Damsel in Distress, (affiliate link) which I leapt on because of the cute collar detail.  My pink bag from Amazon and pink lipstick adds another colour contrast for interest.

Now let's see what the other girls came up with.  Hilda from Over the Hilda was originally going to wear her Spanx leggings too, but she then found an old faux leather jacket to use instead.  She's created a wonderfully stylish casual look. The jeans are no less than 17 years old  (and, Hilda notes happily, back in fashion again). Her top is an old Zara one. 

Jacqui from Mummabstylish has a wonderful new pair of chocolate brown culottes which she's wearing with a sunflower top old one from Bonmarche, new off white coat from New Look sale,  and old faithful ivory ankle boots from Next.

Emma from Stylesplash has a faux double, with a top with faux leather sleeves from New Look, Warehouse check mini skirt from eBay, Lotus faux leather boots from a charity shop and LaBante vegan leather red bag from eBay.

Anna from Anna's Island Style has a summery, jaunty look with pre-loved top and pleather leggings.  Her necklace is a lovely vintage find, sunglasses are Quay Australia and boots are from Topshop.

I hope you enjoyed our faux leather looks.  More on the individual blogs. I'm back on Wednesday with #WowOnWednesday - hope to see you then.

Sharing this post with #OnMondaysWeLinkUp at Glass of Glam, Top of the World Style at High Latitude Style, Chic & Stylish at Mummabstylish, #LinkupOnTheEdge at Shelbee on the Edge, #AnythingGoes at My Random Musings, Thursday Moda at Elegance and Mommyhood, Turning Heads Tuesday at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish,  Style with a Smile  at Stylesplash, Style Six at Coast to Coast, TFF at Doused in Pink, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style,  #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed as Lamb,  Lizzie in Lace  and Confident Twosday at IDoDeclaire, Beauty by Miss L, Rena at Fine Whatever, Fabulous Fridays at Lucy Bertoldi

Print Skirt 2 Ways

 

Originally I was going to call this post "Treasures from the Attic." I had long known there was a missing bag of clothes up in the loft, but my husband kept insisting he'd looked everywhere and there wasn't.

You may be asking, well why didn't I go and look myself?  Unfortunately I have a fear of heights, and also ladders, so I can't bring myself to go up.

But after insisting, when he was looking for a duvet, that he have another look, he found a box.  A box! Full of treasures, including this Boden burgundy and navy print skirt.

When midi length came back into fashion, about two or three years ago, I stopped wearing all my knee length skirts. But as someone who's fairly petite  (5'4) this length is better for my proportions.

I styled the skirt two different ways.  First with a new acid yellow v-neck top from Kettlewell and a burgundy cashmere cardigan (old, Pure Collection), matching tights and white boots. The necklaces are from Claudia Bradby. Bag from Coach. I've never liked this cropped cardigan for some reason.  It replaced another one which wore out, but the colour is less berry toned than its predecessor.  But here it has a new lease of life. 

For the second look, which is my default with this colourway, I added pink and silver.  The cropped cashmere cardigan is an old one from Boden;  the infinity scarf in silver is a new from Kettlewell, and the silver bag was a Christmas present in 2019 from Anthropologie.  I love metallics as neutrals. 

The infinity scarves are less fuss than a normal scarf: you simply loop them once or twice, and it's a great way to add a pop of a colour that suits you, so that it's near the face. 

Other treasures which came down included two pairs of jeans in my favourite style from M&S  (long discontinued!), two more Boden skirts I thought I'd given away, and a couple of pieces of faux fur which are fun. But there's still more searching to be done, because my only pair of navy boots are AWOL, and no doubt in the loft somewhere. I will wait until Mr Mutton is in a good mood before I make him search again. (I have since refined my process so that when he takes bags into the loft at the change of seasons, I make long Samsung notes on what's gone up and what's on the label!). 

How do you deal with the change of seasons? Do your clothes go into storage for a few months? Or do you have enough wardrobe and cupboard space to have everything around you at all times?

Nothing was gifted for this post. 

I'm back on Monday with the Style Not Age Challenge. Hope to see you then. 

Now it's time for #WowOnWednesday, where bloggers find new readers, and readers find new blogs to read!

Last week's favourites were: 

Katie from Preppy Empty Nester and her post "Rules and Tools of my Weight Loss Journey" struck a chord. An amusing post full of great pictures, recipes and know-how.  Congrats to Katie for losing 20 pounds over nine months.

Carrie from A Stylish Fit with her post "Create28 winter edition – week 1 looks."  Responding to various prompts, including chambray, neutrals and shacket,  Carrie created different looks for seven days.

My favourite was from Hilda at Over The Hilda and her post "Love is Not Just for Valentine's Day."

Hilda and husband Graham are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. They met on Valentine's Day and got engaged on the same date a year later.  It's a lovely story with some great photos. 

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Our Lives in Colour Part 2 and Link-Up

 

In part two of Our Lives in Colour, we meet our lovely Autumn, Amanda Devaure-Croft, above, who tells her colour analysis story, and I get to grips with being a Sprinter Winter (!). 

Beauty Treatments at Home During Lockdown

 

We're in lockdown in the UK and not likely to see hair or beauty salons opening for several weeks.  While I'm quite high maintenance with my hair, having a cut, regrowth and highlights every seven weeks - I've realised I'm low maintenance when it comes to beauty routines.

Our Lives in Colour Part 1

 

Today's post is a big two-part extravaganza about colour  (using the UK spelling). Two reasons. I've been enthralled for the last few weeks by what I've seen in the Kettlewell Colour Club on Facebook, and I'm personally keen to experiment with colour contrasts.

Sentence a Day: January 2021: Welcome Lockdown #3

 

Friday 1 Jan

New Year's Day. Cold no frost. My stats for 2020 showed I did a total of 1,070.90 miles walking.  Put the Christmas decorations away. Had roast beef, which we don't have very often. 

Saturday 2 Jan

Not quite so cold. Did trails walk, 4.5 miles. Then some cleaning. Early night. 

Sunday 3 Jan

Did home workout.  Went to Epping for a few bits. Lovely sunny day. Roast chicken. 

Monday 4 Jan

Last day of holiday.  Did walk with J just over 5 miles. Cold wind. New seersucker duvet set arrived.  Govt announced another national lockdown. 

Tuesday 5 Jan

Lockdown #3 officially started today, although as London had been in tier 4 since before Christmas, we didn't notice much difference.  Back at work. Fairly quiet. Easing in gently. Had flu jab at local surgery.

Wednesday 6 Jan 

Walk of forest trails, usual mud fest on Plains.

Thurs 7 Jan 

Good day at work, met a couple more members of the AI team I'm now working with.  J not very well, seems to have respiratory infection.

Fri 8 Jan 

J had choking fit over breakfast. Worried about deterioration in his respiratory situation.  I did an urban walk. J went for a Covid test.

Sat Jan 9

J in bad way when he woke up. Improved over day. Blue sky so we did short walk around the nearby golf course.  Saw (and heard) parakeets.  There are lots of them in some of the London parks and woodlands. Legend has it they escaped during the filming of The African Queen. J's Covid test was negative. 

Sun Jan 10

Did walk Holly/willow tails, avoided water jump. Roast chicken.  J still poorly, not sleeping well.

Mon Jan 11

V cold. Forced myself to do a weights workout.  Long day. Finished at 6.30. J slept better but still coughing a lot. 

Tues Jan 12

Walked to big Tesco, 4.4 miles.  J improved my home office set-up so that I now use a large monitor, external keyboard and mouse with my work laptop, and have a switch to select between the laptop and my personal PC. Have a new webcam and halo ring light. Takes 10 years off on Zoom! Here's Molly waiting for her close-up.

Weds Jan 13

Drizzly and cold. Only did short walk. J had phone consultation with doctor.

Thurs Jan 14

Awful day weather-wise so did online yoga workout with Adriene. Difficult to angle myself on the floor so that I could see her on the PC screen. V busy at work. J started antibiotics.

Friday Jan 15

Not raining so did an urban walk. Finally watched last 2 episodes of The Killing.  J v keen to try something new. Made chilli and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's winter salad. Yummy.

Sat Jan 16

Excited to see snow but it only lasted about 2 mins and then it rained. Boo. Did 2 of my least favourite cleaning jobs, fridge and cutlery drawer.  Watched The Great. 

Sun Jan 17

Early walk Yates Meadow mud revels.  Sun came out. By end of day had walked 9 miles and burned 2,402 calories. Roast chicken. Snowdrops starting to emerge. Started Pembrokeshire Murders. 

Monday Jan 18

"Blue Monday" when we are all supposed to be depressed. I was cheerful. J is a lot better. Urban walk. Overcast.  Quiet day at work. Tried Finding Alice and The Mallorca Files but not v impressed with either.

Tues Jan 19

Busy day. Did home workout.  J well enough to do a program on his bike trainer. Changed bed, J wanted less toggage. 

Weds Jan 20

Did short walk 3.7 miles, it was too grey and showery to walk for longer.  Forest is saturated. Busy day again, twice yearly planning session every afternoon this week. Normally this would be held in Cambridge or the US. Watched final episode Pembrokeshire Murders. Started Informer. 

Thurs Jan 21

Blue sky walk. J's 360 degree camera arrived.  I was invited to go on Newsnight to talk about Covid in light of the Is This Mutton survey.  It's a very robust and serious news program so I said no.  If blogging was my career, I would have done it. But I was afraid they would trivialise my beloved blog and me as "an influencer," although I don't consider myself one as the blog is a hobby. Call My Agent back, yippee.

Fri Jan 22

J and I went for early walk 7 40 so he could try out new camera.  Lovely day. Walked around Connaught Water (top picture).  Had good meeting where new team told me they were thrilled with the start I'd made. Started watching The Bay series 1. 

Saturday Jan 23

Did mud walk 5.7 miles. 2 degrees, hands freezing. Did indoors blog shoot, 3 outfits. M&S Burns Night hamper arrived. Did a Zoom call for a Waitrose cookery class where they made caponata to demonstrate batch cooking.  Watched film Close, 5 out of 10

Sunday Jan 24

Did workout. Ironing. Sorted out some eBay listings. Wrote a blog post. Roast lamb for lunch.  Started snowing but soon disappeared in garden. 

Mon Jan 25

Walk in forest, dusting snow quite pretty. Slippery.  J was out running with his 360 camera and raced over to me.  

Burns Night, had traditional haggis and wee dram of whisky. We're not Scottish but it broke the routine and the haggis was tasty. 

Tues Jan 26

No walk too busy. Dropped parcels off at post office.  Worked through to 6.30pm. 

Weds Jan 27

Long day working from 8am to till 7pm and no chance for a walk. Number of steps was terrible.  Lots ebay listings went live. Three sales right away so pleased with that. 

Thurs Jan 28

Urban walk, 4.4 miles.  Had online delivery from Ocado, first time I've been been able to book them for ages. Sold more on eBay. 

Fri Jan 29

Cut walk short because it looked like rain and I wasn't properly dressed.  Wear big noise reducing headphones so always a bit nervous about rain if I don't have a hat and hood.  Went to post office to despatch eBayers. Watched film The Dig,  7 out of 10. Pleasant little film, would never have had this amount of hype if it had been shown at the cinema in normal times.

January 30

Rained all morning so no walk. Did some indoor blog photography and lots housework.  Started Bridgerton. 

Sun January 31

Pleasant day blue sky. Did forest walk 4.4 miles, sticking to trails because I didn't want to get my boots filthy after J cleaned them so well. Then did the RSPB Birdwatch for an hour. Saw 2 blue tits, 2 great tits, 1 coal tit, 8 sparrows, 2 woodpigeons and a robin. Garden is quiet at this time of year, quite often we have blackbirds, finches, sparrow hawk, feral pigeons, thrushes, magpies and starlings.

Sharing this post with Not Dressed as Lamb, My Random Musings, Shelbee on the Edge,  Lucy Bertoldi, Traffic Jam Weekend Linky Party at My Bijou Life and Rena at Fine Whatever 

For More Mutton

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