My January Glossybox is here!

So after finally giving in last month and subscribing to the monthly Glossybox (www.glossybox.co.uk) and being very pleased with its contents, my second box has just arrived.

As Mr G is such a prolific spender, parcels that arrive here are usually for him, so it was jolly nice to get by far the most exciting parcel of the day - hah, stick that in your pipe with your hot tub filters, Grumps ;-))

This month my box contained:

• a fab-looking half-length navy eyeliner by Eyeko which has a tapered silver handle on it so no matter how short the pencil gets, you still have control over its application - great idea!
• 15ml tubes of Clarins Extra-Firming Day and Night Cream (that'll be due to the 'advanced' age group I ticked on their profile questionnaire then - sob...)
•  a 5ml sample of a rather posh-looking Murad skin perfecting primer
• a 56.7g bottle of First Aid Beauty (FAB) body moisturiser which is paraben and fragrance-free
• a sweet!

You also get a card telling you about each product, and a few special offers on certain products when you buy from the individual brands' websites.

It's £10 a month plus £2.95. You are surely worth it! ;)

An evening with Danny & Ben from Thunder

Having been a fan of the band Thunder for more years than I care to admit to, I decided to get tickets for 'An Evening with Danny & Ben' (Danny Bowes being Thunder's singer, and Ben Matthews, their guitarist / keyboard player), for the first of their two dates at Bush Hall in London. Billed as a mix of acoustic songs by both Thunder and other artists, and chat/anecdotes from their years together as a band, I wasn't sure what to expect, and I have to confess, I wasn't 100% sure whether I would enjoy it. But after last night, I completely had to eat my words!

The evening was a great balance of a few Thunder songs, a number of cover versions - some of which I knew, some of which I didn't (but probably should) - and some highly entertaining tales from the rock & roll road (some of which involved alcohol, erm... in fact possibly all of them!). I'd forgotten just how amazing Danny's voice is, and how talented and funny Ben is. It was a truly excellent and enjoyable night. Today I will mostly be dusting off all my Thunder albums and giving them a jolly good spin again. Or rather, I'll rip them to mp3 and put them on my iPhone, before you have visions of record players and vinyl!

From my scanty memory and in a very loose order, they played the following songs:

Bad Company - Seagull
Chuck Berry - Nadine
Thunder - A Better Man (almost had me welling up at this version - gorgeous)
Elvis Presley - She's Not You
Thunder - See My Baby Walking (from The Joy of Six EP)
The Beatles - Blackbird
The Who - Squeeze Box
Thunder - Like a Satellite
Adele (or Bob Dylan, depending on how old you are!) - Make You Feel My Love. This was the encore, and featured Danny's daughter Lucy duetting with her dad. He looked utterly proud of her, bless.

Here's my video footage of Blackbird, complete with audience 'bird whistle' participation - brilliant!



Anyone going to the rest of the tour dates, ENJOY. You can't fail not to :)

PS How pleased am I with my lovely new (pink!) camera, the Canon Powershot SX230. Considering I was sat about 4 rows from the back of the venue, the sound and quality is blimmin' amazing IMHO...

Eye make-up my way...

I don't profess to be an expert in eye make-up application at ALL, but as I've been doing it the same for over 10 years and I've had a fair handful of kind compliments from Flickrerers on my eye photos over the years, I thought I'd write a blog post about wot I do and how I do it.

For years, I've relied on Shroom eyeshadow by MAC, which is a subtle but shimmery cream colour as an all-over colour base from the lid up to my eyebrows. I then follow this with Satin Taupe eyeshadow (a pearlescent brown colour with a slight purple hint) also by MAC, which I put all over my lids and into the crease - and then blend with my lovely swishy MAC blending brush. I've tried deviating from this particular shade so as not to be stuck in a rut, but even the MAC assistants agree it's an absolute classic - and not in a boring way.

Eyeliner on my bottom lash line is Teddy by MAC (no I'm not sponsored by them, it's just excellent stuff), which is a brown with a hint of bronze glitter.  A little sparkle is good in my world.

Then comes what some people see as the tricky bit - flicky liquid liner on your top lid. Sali Hughes has done a great article and video for her Guardian beauty column so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here, but I will say that L'Oreal Superliner (£6.49 from Boots) is the DOGS for getting it right and keeping it on. I've used this since the beginning of time, and have tried others along the way but found them lacking - too thin, too wobbly, too flakey, too watery. This one gets it spot on. I have even slept in it (more than once, ahem), and woken up the next day still looking like I'm ready for a party!

Next, I colour in my eyebrows - which gives the liquid liner a chance to dry before I use my eyelash curlers, otherwise it smudges. I only discovered how impactful colouring in your eyebrows is a few months ago, when the assistant on the Benefit counter showed me their Brow Zings kit (a slightly pricey £22.50 but it will last at LEAST a year with daily use) - a brown coloured wax and a brown coloured powder which you apply to your eyebrows. There are 3 shades available, and she persuaded me to go for the middle one even though I wasn't at first convinced - I thought it was too dark, but now I've got used to it, I'm tempted to go for the next shade down. I sometimes use a pencil instead (yep, it's MAC) for a more day-to-day look.

Once that's done, it's time to do my eyelashes. For me, Shu Uemera eyelash curlers are essential - they're curved at the right angle for my eyelids at least, and they give the right amount of squeezing pressure without bending your eyelashes at a horrible 90% angle. I curl one set of eyelashes then apply mascara top then bottom, so I don't lose the curl, and then do the other eye. Mascara-wise, I really have tried them all but each time I think 'ooh this new one looks amazing', I get disappointed (Benefit They're Real mascara, I'm looking at you most recently). So it's back to Max Factor Masterpiece. It gives lovely evenly-coated lashes with a velvety finish. And I have the shortest straightest eyelashes in the world, so need all the help I can get.

Erm, I think that's it! Hope that's helpful to one or two of you at least :)

Day 1/366 - One of my favourite things

No, not alcohol. This gorgeous little glass with star shapes cut into it. I found it in an antiques shop in Wimbledon Village years ago, when I still lived and worked in London. I think it was a fiver. Coincidentally, a friend with an antiques-dealing mother gave me a set of 4 similar glasses for my birthday a few years later - they don't quite match this one as they're slightly taller and slimmer, but they are just as gorgeous. This one came first though! Perfect for an after-dinner blackberry gin or the like...

Photo-a-day-ing again?

I first did a Photo a Day project in 2007 on Flickr, and I'm pretty sure I made the full year. At the start I knew absolutely nothing about photography and doing the project gave me a fantastic introduction to it - to ISO, to composition, to depth of field, to bokeh, to the wonder of the Nifty Fifty, and to a brilliant group of friends who I'm still very close to.

I've attempted the project each year since with deteriorating success, and so as usual, am making my start of the year effort. Having spent about 2 hours this afternoon just downloading, editing and processing my snapshots over Christmas to put onto Facebook, I couldn't bear the thought of getting sucked into a heavy commitment to photography as I did in 2007 (a LOT of late nights messing around in Photoshop, organising folders, culling rubbish shots etc). So I started thinking about ways I could make the project easier. The first thing that sprang to mind was to use my iPhone 4S and Instagram, which I've been using loads recently, including for the little Advent Calendar project I did in December (below).

I then thought about breaking the year down into a series of mini projects to make it less overwhelming and more inspirational, and looking around my kitchen, saw lots of things that could help kick off my thinking. So, I grabbed carefully took my favourite drinking glass off the shelf and went upstairs to play around with my iPhone and some dreadfully creased wrapping paper in a pathetic attempt to get a decent shot of it. Failed miserably. Dusted off my DSLR (Canon EOS 450D) and my 50mm lens, and tried again. Got one I vaguely liked, but nothing like the picture I had in my head. Messed around in Photoshop for about 30 minutes. Uploaded it to Flickr with a sinking 'it'll have to do' attitude. It's now nearly 2am and am I really sure I want to do this for a whole year again??!!

From Dukan diet to Slimming World

So, I failed at Dukan. It was just horrible eating so much meat, and so much processed stuff such as fizzy drinks and sugar-free yogurts in some desperate attempt to satiate my sweet tooth. At the end of the day, I love carbs and chocolate, so The Dukan Diet was a killer for me.

Last month I went to stay with my friend Janette in Brighton for the weekend, and she follows the Slimming World diet. I happened to flick through some of her Slimming World recipe books, and was majorly impressed at the meals that could be eaten freely, without any kind of guilt. Indian Curried Pork Patties! Creamy Linguine with Lemon & Olives! Pesto-style Houmous! Tell me more, I said :D

She explained the concept of Green and Red Days, which is where I got horribly confused, and  struggled to get my head round it - something to do with not mixing protein with carbs on the same day? However, she then said there was a 'new' version of the Slimming World diet, called 'Extra Easy', which didn't have such restrictions. Niiiiice, I thought - I'm going to do this!

I could easily do with losing a stone, I'm not hugely overweight, but so many of my clothes that I love and adore are TOO SMALL for me now. That'll be the penchant for biscuits and chocolate on a daily (hourly?!) basis, my addiction to chocolate Feasts for pudding every dinnertime, and slices of Tiger bread smothered with lashings of butter and lemon curd. Not to mention a lot of wine. Argh... 

I clearly remember being 9 stone 4lbs in 2004, which was no doubt due to walking a lot to get to work in London, not being a huge drinker, and probably suffering a bit of stress. Things got more lax over time, and in early 2007 I started a new job outside London, and I remember my weight then being 10 stone 3 lbs. The new job involved driving to work every day instead of the daily London commute, and my weight slowly crept up to its recent heaviest of 11 stone 3 lbs.

I really was keen to battle this increase once and for all. So, inspired by what I'd heard of Slimming World, I bought their latest magazine with its free recipe book. I joined the local group in Reading. I bought 2 Slimming World recipe books with 50 recipes in each. I cooked meals from scratch. I ate bananas and nectarines. I looked up the 'Syn' value of everything I was considering eating. (You get a set allowance of between 5 and 15 'Syns' every day, and you choose what you want to 'spend' them on - for me it's usually either biscuits, or wine!). I forewent fish & chips and other such glorious dishes in the work canteen, instead choosing jacket spud and baked beans (no butter, no cheese thank you <tiny sob>). I bought FryLight (still feel a little uncomfortable about the 'processed' angle of this). I walked up/down the stairs between floors instead of getting the lift at work. And I've LOST WEIGHT!!!

I've been doing it for 4.5 weeks now, and I'm v. chuffed to say that I've lost 9lbs according to Slimming World class scales, and a stone according to my home scales first thing in the morning :D

It really works for me. I can eat pasta til the cows come home. I can eat potatoes. I even did a roast Sunday lunch for my family the other week, making Slimming World-friendly roast potatoes (courtesy of FryLight, natch), roast parsnips, carrots, leeks with creme fraiche and nutmeg, and roast chicken. And had a BIG glass of wine. All within my Syn allowance. And none of my non-dieting guests felt that it was a 'diet' meal. Winner!

I've cooked some really nice meals in the last few weeks, which has made me much more adventurous (ok, less lazy!) than usual, and has really forced me into the habit of eating healthily, thinking about what I'm eating, while most importantly not leaving me hungry. I've had days where I've chosen to spend my Syns on 5 Jaffa Cakes, or 2 glasses of wine. I'm not going without, really. I've just learned to moderate my treats, and make minor compromises. Which is really important to me as I love food so much :) I'm still eating out as much as ever, but choosing wisely. Yo Sushi, Nando's and the local Indian (King Prawn Tandoori FTW) are my particular friends, but I can still eat out in other places without guilt as long as I make Slimming World-friendly choices, which basically means lean meat or fish, lots of veg/salad, and avoiding high-fat foods.

Here are some pics of recent meals I made that are completely allowed on Slimming World. Hurrah!

Full English breakfast

Curried pork patties with mango salsa

Salmon kedgeree with asparagus

Baked figs with honey & natural yogurt

Gel nail polish - the future....!

It's official, I'm addicted. I've had gel nail polish done 3 times now since early July, and I honestly can't see myself using 'normal' nail varnish any more. Firstly it's a bore to put on and I ALWAYS smudge it half an hour after having it done, secondly it only lasts 3-5 days, and thirdly, I tend to buy nail varnishes and then get bored of them so the £18 spent on the latest 'must-have' Chanel colour ends up being a bit of a waste...

My local salon offers Jessica GELeration polish manicures, where the gel polish is applied as normal, and then 'cured' (I'm sure that's not the technical term) under a UV lamp. I'm not going to describe the process in intimate detail as I haven't paid enough attention, but they basically wipe the nails with primer, apply a base, then an optional 'build' layer which makes the nails a little thicker, followed by 2 or 3 coats of your colour du choix on top, finished with a top coat. You can walk out of the salon straight away, and the colour is rock 'ard and good to do battle with your coat zip, shoe buckles, rummaging in your handbag, whatever, without risk of smudging or flaking. Huzzah!

It lasts for 3-4 weeks on me, before my nails have grown so much that the gap between my cuticle and the polish gets too hideous for my liking. Perhaps if I stopped taking hair and nail vitamins, they might last longer...? No chips, no cracks, no smudges, no flakes. It's uh-mazing. I've done housework (well, a little...) and all sorts.

Here's my current colour - the first photo was taken 1 day after application, and today's photo on the right shows my nails 2 days short of 4 weeks after the original application:

I'd say the only drawbacks to the gel nail polish process are that the colours to choose from are limited (at my salon at least), and the removal process is a little laborious. You need neat acetone, which you can get cheaply from the chemist - I think it's about £1.20. I'd like to say 'from any chemist', but the Lloyds Pharmacy at the end of my road doesn't stock it as apparently people mis-use it...! You have to dunk your nails in it for about 10 minutes to soften it, and then scrape it off. You're supposed to use an orange stick, but I use my fingernails - ooer... I like to leave a few days between removing it and having a new colour put on, so my nails aren't going straight from one set of chemicals to another. Although my friend Gaby is horrified that I use acetone at all, as she says the body absorbs it and can't get rid of it. Hmm...

For any Reading-ites who are tempted to try gel nail polish, I really recommend Gemma at The Beach on the Oxford Road, and it costs £35 :)