Locked in.....sounds good to me!

Today, a little light relief from the worsening Ebola crisis, the news carried a report of a chap in London, who got locked into a bookshop last night.  He was only apparently rescued after his tweets were re-tweeted umpteen times.  Apart from feeling that the shop staff really should have checked the shop more thoroughly before departing, I got to wondering what I would do in the same situation in my local bookshop.   

It is quite unheard of to have no other distraction other than shelves and shelves of books to fumble through, other than if you are a library assistant (but in my experience, all that sort of work is now done robotically these days), or a student, so it is quite a delicious prospect to me.  Usually my reading time is surrounded by family members, alternately arguing, running around, requesting sustenance and talking to me, with the telly blaring and the cat scratching at the door.  It can take me weeks and weeks to get through a good book.  

I think I would firstly flick through all of Kirstie Alsopps craft books, move onto the cook books, especially the cakes and pastries, photography, medieval history, interior design then the music biographies, stopping off at the cafe to make a coffee and munch a muffin or two.  Then downstairs to the manga graphic novels, completely missing the chic lit, then onto Nordic Noir then lastly the historical fiction.  For many of us, this sort of opportunity will never arrive - perhaps I`ll hide in the loo next time I`m in the shop, just hoping I`ll be forgotten!!

Bourjois Liner Effect Mascara review

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to this new edition mascara from Bourjois.  I`m a big fan of vintage style make up and styling and have weekly struggles with the perfect vintage eyeliner flick, which can take me ages to achieve neatly.  That being the case I thought I`d try something to make this process a little easier, quicker and less likely to end up in a black smudgy mess.  

Well, the first thing I noticed was an odd shaped mascara applicator (usually shaped as a loo brush) this one has the usual bristles on one side and much shorter ones on the other side of the brush.  It seems that the user can apply mascara from eyelash root to tip, beginning with the shorter bristles at the root, twisting the wand to allow the longer bristles to spread the mascara to the tips. 

It`s a little tricky to do this successfully and I`ve made repeated attempts with varying results, from near perfection to near disaster!  Unfortunately the mascara itself seems too liquid to do the job properly, it is not waterproof either so it`s liable to spread around during all day wear. To tell the truth, I`m a little disappointed !  I guess I`ll keep going with traditional eyeliner for my doe-eyed look!

Good Points

Nice packaging

Easily found in major chemists

Affordable (less than £10)

Rich black colour

Bad Points

Fiddly

Flaky after the mascara has dried

Smudgy

Doesn't leave a clean line

La Roche Posay Review

I`m a 40 something who still has awful skin...

Sometimes I feel that I really should be going to a AA style meeting, standing up and confessing to this fact.  I`ve always had acne, well since my early teens and still have problems now, whilst most of my peers left pimply horrors in the distant past, a flare-up just about any where on my face has the capacity to completely spoil my day/week/special night out/holiday.  In fact when my best friend got married, I developed an awful, infected pimple which not amount of concealer could conceal.  I was most self conscious and felt that everyone was staring at me and not the bride.

I have tried everything that the chemist has to offer as well as numerous trips to the doctor, nothing has worked for any length of time, usually because the treatments were so harsh my face felt like it was being injured and my scaring was worse than ever. Very frustrating.....

About a year ago I stumbled upon this range of premium skincare, La Roche Posay, it encouraged me not to view my spotty skin as an enemy and that my oily, sore skin was in fact sensitive and needed treatment.  I began to feel more positive about my appearance - for once I felt confident and did not allow the state of my skin to dictate my mood.

After a week or so, my clogged pores had begun to clear, my skin was calmer and less inflamed, giving my skin time to heal itself, something it had never encountered previously due to constant flare-ups and infections.

So yep - I`d recommend this one, there are many I would not!

So lastly good points & bad points:

Good Points

mild and fresh fragrance

non oily/greasy

great for oily sensitive skin

use under moisturiser and make up

Not so Good Points

quite pricey

can be difficult to find| 

(stocked by Boots - or but online)