Songs: Boum!

A sweet little French song from the 30s, by the guy who wrote the original (French) version of Somewhere Beyond the Sea. I discovered it when I went to see Christine Bovill.

Make-up: Liquid Lipsticks

Extremely tardy to the party I know, but I've recently discovered liquid lipstick and I can't stop buying it! Liquid lipstick is well, liquid and painted on with an applicator, so it's easier to be more precise than with a stick of lipstick, but its heavily pigmented nature also means precision is very important. It tends to be more matte than solid lipstick, and it has incredible staying power! Once it dries it stays put for hours. It can actually be quite hard to get it off at the end of the night! Here are the ones I've bought:

This one is Stay Matte, by Rimmel London in Rose and Shine. It's a nice neutral pink colour and good for a natural look. Putting it on always gives me a bit of a boost.

This next one, unusally, is metallic rather than matte. It's Slay All Day by Lottie London, in Boy Bye and is a really dramatic dark red colour, almost purple. The metallic sheen is really shiny and impressive and it goes on really smoothly. Good for a night out.

The next one is fun! It's also by Lottie London. It's a Glitter Switch in High Roller. It's fairly similar in colour to the Rimmel London one, but has a hidden feature. When you paint it on it just looks like a normal lipstick, but when you let it dry and press your lips together a few times it reveals that it's actually glittery. I doubt that's what they were going for when they were creating the lipstick. It seems like the sort of happy accident that they've decided to make into a feature, but still, it's quite fun. It doesn't show up too well in the photo, but I think it's the most glittery lipstick I've ever owned! I really like it.

 This last one isn't really a lipstick, but I've included it, as it's got the same sort of sticking power as a liquid lipstick. It's Extreme Resist by L'Oreal in Never Let Me Go. It's really a very glittery lipgloss. it doesn't dry like a lipstick, but stays sticky. Even so, it's got incredible staying power. It's very glittery and pretty.

Songs: Brand New Day

A little bit of Bryan Adams for you. And yes, that is Helena Bonham Carter in the video.

Photography: Dunluce Castle and Belfast

This will be the final batch of photos from my Northern Ireland Trip. They were taken around the ruined Dunluce Castle and the last photo is a sculpture in Belfast. Some photos are HDR and some aren't.

Songs: Into the West

This is From Lord of the Rings and is by Annie Lennox:

Books: The Twits

As previously mentioned, I like to reread old childhood books when I go home, and I've been working my way throaugh the Roald Dahls. Most recently I reread The Twits. It was a favorite when I was younger, and it's still great now. For me, it's on a par with The BFG.

It's about two really nasty, ugly, disgusting people called Mr. and Mrs. Twit. They spend their time being horrible to animals and plotting horrible tricks to play on each other. Until one day the family of monkeys Mr. Twit keeps in a cage in the garden come up with a clever plan to rid themselves of the horrible Twits, with the help of their friends, the birds. What makes this one so good is more of the brilliant playing with words that Roald Dahl did so well in The BFG, the wonderfully creative nasty things that the Twits did to each other, and the very sticky end that they came to. It's all very satisfying.

Songs: A Horse with No Name

I've been rewatching Friends and I rediscovered this song:

Art: Prints by Ell

A while back I bought myself some prints, done by my lovely sister-in-law-to-be, who is a very talented comic book artist. Here's the link to her Etsy store if you fancy getting some for yourself: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EllJWalker.

These are what I was mostly after. Ell did dragons through October for inktober. She then made them up into postcards to sell and I bought a bunch. I would have bought more if she'd put more of them up! Excuse the bad photo, but follow the link if you want to see them in all their glory! I think they're really creative and beautiful.

At the same time I treated myself to a couple of her very funny little zines. The first one is from another annual drawing challenge, hourly comics. You draw a comic every hour of the day you're awake to show what your day was like. Her little comics about everyday things are my favourite things that Ell draws. I think they're really cute and funny. The second is a comic about Paul Hollywood eating The Great British Bake Off contestants. It's also really funny and well done.

 

I bought this print as well. I just think it's cute. And who doesn't love a unicorn.

These Ell doesn't actually sell these anymore, but she had some spares and let me have them. Confusing advice from mythical creatures. I think these are hilarious.

Yay! Thanks Ell!

Songs: Walk Off the Earth Songs

In tribute to the wonderful Beard Guy who died over the holidays, here are some lovely Walk Off the Earth songs:


Here are some of their original songs:

And one of their covers:

Sleep tight, Beard Guy. :'(  Thank you for the music. And the laughs.

Books: We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea (spoilers!)

As previously mentioned, I like to revisit childhood favorites every now and then. This book isn't actually one I read as a kid, but I loved the series. It's the 9th book in the Swallows and Amazons series, which I've been slowly rereading. It follows the accidental adventure of the Walker children (the Swallows), who sail across the sea to Holland by themelseves. At the start of their holidays they meet a man who agrees to take them for a trip on his boat. Unbeknownst to the children he has an accident while on land getting supplies and is delayed. Meanwhile both a fog and the tide come up. Their anchor chain is too short to hold them in the high water, and because of the fog they don't realise they're drifting out to sea until it's too late. Because of bad weather and treacherous rocks, they decide that the safest thing for them to do is to keep sailing on until the weather changes, and in the morning they find themselves in Holland. They also rescue a drowning kitten from the sea on the way. Luckily in Holland they meet their father who is on his way to England and he helps them sail the ship back to England safely.

I really enjoyed this book, and the whole series so far. The circumstances in which they find themselves sailing to Holland are written in a very believable way. The story takes palces over a much shorter timescale than other Arthur Ransome books, making it much more intense. The long, anxious night, the struggle against the storm, the seasickness and the struggle to stay awake are really gripping. And, OK, the end is a total deus ex machina, but I don't mind that. Like the whole series so far, it's a great read.

 

Music: Jazz Suite 2, Waltz No. 2

This is a nice, flowing piece of classical music by Shostakovich:

Photography: Dunseverick Castle and Rathlin Island

Another Batch of photos from my Northern Ireland Trip. These are from the tiny, ruined Dunseverick Castle, and Rathlin Island, just off the coast. Some of them are HDR and some aren't.

 

Songs: Gentle on My Mind

A nice, gentle, relaxing old cover of a song:

Mugs

Here are some more of the many mugs we have acquired:

Firstly, Chip. He's from Beauty and the Beast. He's very cute, with his painted-on missong chip, happy face and jaunty angle, but he doesn't get used a whole lot, as he's quite small and not microwave safe. He's still great though.

Next, Dark Souls 3. This is one of the man's favourite games, and also one of his favourite mugs. It's another temperature change one. It's plain black with nothing in it, but hot liquid makes flames appear. It's pretty cool. Again, not microwave safe though.

And finally, Hedwig. She's from Harry Potter. Again, not microwave safe and a little difficult to clean properly, but I love her. Favourite ever mug! I just love her face.

Songs: Potential Break-Up Song

Song!

Bowls: Octopus Fruit Bowl

I first saw this guy in the giftshop of Winchester Cathedral, of all places. I immediately fell in love him, but decided I couldn't afford him. I did find him online though and put him on my Christmas list. And here he is. The best fruit bowl EVER! He's so beautiful! The bowl is a little bit loose in the arms, but I suppose it has to be or you couldn't remove the bowl for washing. The problem is that I'm reluctant to put anything in the bowl, cos that makes the arms less visible. Still very cool though. I love it.

Songs: I Saw Stars

Have some jazz:

Glasses: Jacobite Wine Glasses

Today I used some of last year's birthday money from my grandpa and bought myself a pair of crystal wine glasses. They're replica Jacobite glasses and I think they're really pretty. I got them from the National Museum's giftshop. They got them in to go with their Jacobites exhibition a couple of years ago and I got some of last ones in the giftshop.

Songs: I'll Make a Man out of You

One of my favorite disney songs! It's super catchy and a great film too.

Photography: Carrick-A-Rede

Time for some more photos from my trip to Northern Ireland. After Giant's Causeway, I went to visit Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. It an old fishermen's rope bridge to reach good fishing sites. I didn't get any good pictures of the bridge itself as there were too many people around, but I got some good pictures of the coastline. Once again I opted for HDR to pretend that the light was interesting.