Most Liked Everything of 2021 - and Link-Up

 

Dear friends. It's the last #WowOnWednesday post for 2021, and I'm recalling my favourites -  TV, books and podcasts - and most liked:  posts, jewellery, clothes. It's a bit of a monster read, but hope you'll make it to the end, and, of course, the link-up.  

I don't use affiliate links but where a specific product is mentioned, I've included a link for your convenience, but non-monetized.

Your Favourite Posts

My most read posts were Our Lives in Colour Parts 1 and 2. I'm so pleased you liked these because I was wondering if my obsession with colour analysis was going to drive you round the bend.  Also popular were Beauty Treatments at Home During Lockdown, Beautiful Necklaces from Recycled Beads, and Stop Editing Older Women. 

I'll be covering plans for the blog in 2022 in a post very soon.

My Most Liked Post on Instagram

I was thrilled to see this was the most liked post because it was for a brand (Joe Browns) and the first time I'd worked with them. A nearby area of waste ground had a perfect backdrop with Virginia creeper. See more on this dress. 

My Two Most Frequently Worn Pieces of Jewellery

The two pieces I wore the most were this mega gold heart from Kettlewell (sold out), and the World's Your Oyster silver necklace, available also in gold and a smaller size from Claudia Bradby. There's something so cheering and positive about the message, particularly relevant for a new year!

What I Wore The Most

Well, this will probably surprise you.  It's not all glamour at Mutton Towers! As you know,  I do a lot of walking, and this soft shell jacket from Rab, three years old, is my most worn item. It's shower proof, wind proof, and gives warmth on a not too chilly day.  I wish they'd bring out another version, but I've never seen one in the same fabric, although it sold out pretty quickly.

Those worn jeans are also my all-time faves:  I have three pairs, they're all about 10 years old now, and two pairs are a bit holey. 

My Beauty Indispensables 

Rumi Volume Care Mascara

This is an outstanding mascara, the only one I've used in the last few years that doesn't trransfer and turn me into a panda.  It gives very good lengthening and separation and lasts all day without flaking.  This brand was created by women for mature women.

If you have highlighted or grey hair, this duo is magnificent:  Redken Color Extend Blondage shampoo and conditioner. It removes any hint of brassiness, while leaving your hair in good condition.  The link takes you to Look Fantastic where the duo is currently on offer.

I started using Revitalash Advanced Eyelash Conditioner in July and noticed an improvement just two months later. I'm still using the same tube, so although it's pricey, it lasts a long time. My eyelashes no longer have gaps and are longer;  when I use eyelash curlers, I don't really need mascara.  A brilliant product which was created by a man whose wife had cancer and had lost her eyelashes.

Lisa Eldridge Velvet lipsticks:  internationally renowned MUA Lisa Eldridge has created what I consider to be the best lipsticks in the world. Not only is the packaging beautiful, but the colours are deeply saturated and rich, and glide on so easily. She sells a wide range of make-up, all of it top notch. Every time she has a new launch, the products are immediate sell-outs.

My Favourite TV, Books and Podcasts 2021

I've chosen only those which made me desperate for the next instalment. For a TV show, this means I had the urge to binge watch, if available, or I kept looking to see if the next episode had landed. For books, I carried on reading until late at night. And for a podcast - sometimes I'm so desperate for the next episode I schedule a walk especially.

TV 

Mare of Easttown (Sky Atlantic) - this police drama starring Kate Winslet was rightly lauded for its realism and her brilliant acting.

Spiral (series 8) - currently streaming on MZ Choice, Amazon Prime. Spiral is a French detective drama, very gritty and totally addictive. 

Shtisel:  Three seasons available on Netflix of this stellar Israeli drama,  which focuses on an Orthodox family but without demonizing or decrying them. Rich in pathos, humour and emotion. 

Call My Agent: the most brilliant comedy from France, where real-life A Listers stars including Isabelle Huppert and Juliette Binoche,  clamour to be lampooned as clients of the Parisian talent agency ASK.  Find it on Netflix, three seasons. 

Motherland  (BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Prime): this comedy skewers the snobbery, hypocrisy and narcissism of a specific strain of white, middle-class UK parents. Feuds, jealousies and oneupmanship abound. 

Clarkson's Farm (Prime) - don't be put off by the fact it's Jeremy Clarkson, the loud mouthed petrol head. This is pure comedy gold as Clarkson attempts to farm his huge estate. It's also been praised by the farming community for painting a more realistic picture of agricultural challenges than programmes like Country File. 

Darkness: Those Who Kill (BBC iPlayer, Prime): A Danish crime drama with two seasons and a third on the way.  Dark and gripping. 

Podcasts

Chamelon: Hollywood Con Queen (Campside Media). Podcasts are at their best when they're uncovering jaw dropping real-life dramas.  In series 1, Chameleon recounts how hundreds of people working in the gig economy of making films - people such as personal trainers or make-up artists - were duped into going to Indonesia for meetings with producers. 

Equally unbelievable, but true, is Sweet Bobby (Tortoise Media), about cat fishing, when someone's identity is used by someone else to dupe or scam. In this story, a young woman is befriended on Facebook by a man vaguely known to her.  They fall in love, virtually, and the romance goes on for 10 years before the woman gets impatient with never being able to see him. The identity of the cat fisher is a real shocker.

The Battersea Poltergeist (BBC Radio 4) - a docu/drama set in the 1950s about the  real-life horror of "The Battersea Poltergeist."  Strange things were happening in an ordinary house in Battersea, London, and they seemed to centre around a 15 year old girl, Shirley. 

Against the Odds (Wondery):  I particularly enjoyed the first series about the Thai cave rescue. 

The Harrowing (Storyglass): a creepy drama set on a remote Scottish island, starring Joanne Froggett (Downton Abbey) and Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton). 

Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera (Wondery):  in 2004 a reality TV show cast a beautiful woman, Miriam Rivera, as the "prize" in a dating competition set in Ibiza. But the type A male competitors weren't told until the last episode that Miriam (below) was trans, and this was crudely broken to them after the winner had been announced.  Jaw dropping in terms of how cruelly Miriam was treated. The men took legal action and won damages, but allowed the show to be broadcast.  

Books  

Wish You Were Here: Jodi Picoult 

The most extraordinary book about Covid. It's centred on a resident doctor who finds himself having to care for the first patients of Covid in New York, and his girlfriend, who goes on the trip of a lifetime to the Galapagos Islands, on her own, just as a lockdown is announced there and she is unable to come back. There's a staggering twist and the meticulously-researched book made me look anew at Covid.

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 

One of the finest US writers is in top form with this story of mothers and daughters that was long listed for the Man Booker Prize and the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. 

You Me and the Sea: Elizabeth Haynes

The setting is a spectacular windswept and deserted Scottish island, where Rachel has been sent to provide temporary cover looking after the small number of bird watchers who go there.  She has to share her accommodation with the other inhabitant, Fraser Sutherland,  a brooding loner who is not happy about sharing his lighthouse.  

My Phantoms:  Gwendoline Riley

All about the fractured relationship between a mother, Helen, and her daughter, Bridget.  They seldom see each other and when they do, their behaviour follows a set pattern with tension, questions asked and not answered properly, and words unsaid.  

The Black Dress: Deborah Moggach

The novel deals very powerfully with the joys and sadnesses of older women. At the centre of the book is Pru, whose husband has left her to live like a hermit in Dorset.  She goes to the wrong funeral and realises how easy it is to pass yourself off as a grieving former friend of the widower.  But the book is about a lot more than a "funeral crasher".

The Dark: Emma Haughton

An Antarctic research station, totally inaccessible for several months of the year,  is the setting for this tense and gripping thriller.  Kate is flown in as an emergency doctor, after her predecessor was killed in a tragic accident. As the small team settles in for winter, Kate starts wondering about what actually happened to the doctor. She starts to do some digging. Then there's a murder, with no chance of police being able to attend, and the knowledge that the killer is living among them.

Thanks to all my readers for your time this year, and to the lovely ladies of the WhatsApp group.  Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Year.  Begone Covid! See you next year. 

Sharing this post with: On Mondays We Link Up at Glass of Glam, Top of the World Style at High Latitude Style, Chic & Stylish at Mummabstylish, #SpreadTheKindness 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, TFF at Doused in Pink, Lizzie in Lace Confident Twosday at IDoDeclaire, Rena at Fine Whatever, Fabulous Fridays at Lucy Bertoldi, #Neverendingstyle at The Grey Brunette #TheWednesdayLinkUp at Claire Justine, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style, Happiness is Homemade at Life as a Leo Wife 

#WowOnWednesday Link-Up

Now it's time for the last #WowOnWednesday of 2021.  Many thanks to all the bloggers and Instagrammars who have supported the link-up. I am so grateful.

Last Week's Favourites

Two very glamorous women! Kellyann from This Blonde's Shopping Bag with her post The Perfect Sweater Dress 

Nicole from High Latitude Style with her post What to Wear for New Year's Eve 

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