Baths are great. And if you have one in your house, use it. It’s a free and non-substance based way to relieve stress and you get all sparkly clean at the same time. Nothing wrong with that.
Enjoy an aul bath and thank me when you’re joyfully floating around the internet in a post-bath haze.
**Note: I’ve decided to include my half-signature at the end of posts now, don’t know why, I just took a notion**
All images via www.weheartit.com except last one (via google images)
*casually throws compliments about to detract attention from the neglectful blogging streak of late*
*stops insulting your intelligence and just gets on with the HIGHLY INTERESTING and worthwhile post*
Everyone have a good bank holiday weekend? I am in the middle of drawing up the details of a new law I intend to get passed that makes EVERY weekend a four-day one. More on that later.
Since I left my second home of Cork, I’ve missed my lovely Cork girls something awful, so I was DELIRAH to meet up with them mid-way between our two counties in the wonderful city of Kilkenny.
We were there for the ‘Style at Set’ event, which is a vintage fashion fair and just generally gorgeous fashion event held in Set, a fabulous venue in Kilkenny.
Friday night was spent in the Set Theatre watching some enthralling documentary films about fashion, Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton followed by Paris is Burning (google it NOW if you haven’t heard of it!) and Saturday we hit the stalls – after a delish lunch in Langtons (famous in Kilkenny, apparently!)
Organised by the beautiful Blanaid Hennessy (who actually looked like an angel – the most accurate description I can come up with – on Saturday, amazing trailing cape and fur gillet included), the event was full of people milling around, enjoying the vintage wares and the beautiful surroundings.
I took a few pictures of the stands and the venue, here they are… you can spot the ladies, Sarah from The Licentiate and Dawn from Skinni Peach shopping at one of the stalls.
I put anything I fall in love with into the column (Irish Independent Weekend Magazine, FYI) but I feel like I should give some of them an extra mention here too.
I know I’ve really taken to a product if it manages to find a permanent spot in my personal make-up case.
The lucky few that have made it in recently are as follows:
theBalm’s TimeBalm concealerIts creamy, malleable and doesn’t sink into your under-eye lines (if you have any). The shade I have is perfect for my skin and can be mixed with foundation to get just the right shade. It’s pretty cheap too! People have likened theBalm to Benefit, and some have even said it’s a rip-off of the San Fran mega brand.
The packaging is kinda similar and the funky-edgy names for their stuff draw a certain similarity, but really – who cares? theBalm have a great selection, some really innovative products and they’re cheaper than Benefit. I’m on board!
Another of theBalm’s ace products is their BahamaMama matte bronzer. LOVE!
Korres Lip Butter
These little tubs of lip balm come fromGreece, Korres is a Grecian brand, and honestly, they feel like silk on your lips. I was first alerted to their fabulosity by the Beauty Queen, Dawn from Skinni Peach (the most knowledgeable beauty writer on the planet) and have been loving them ever since.
There are a few different types – mango, pomegranate, wild rose, plum and more. Check out their website for stockist info if you wanna get your hands on some.
Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundationPerfect for spring and summer because of how light it is – I hate feeling/looking caked in make-up when the good weather arrives and the sun is shining onto your face. It makes your skin look flawless and completely evens out your skintone.
The only thing I would say is that it wears off fairly quickly and wouldn’t be great for night time wear because it’s so light. But for a spring/summer daytime option it’s super.
Heaven in a little red tub. Seriously. If you have thin hair or hair with zero volume, look no further. If used properly, this min pepper-shaker looking thing can give you the look of three times the amount of hair than you actually have.
I’m practically bald from all my years of highlights, so I need heavy duty volumisation equipment to make me look any way normal. I think it’s only available in salons and in hairdressing supply stores, but sure Google it and see.
Its €15 of thereabouts for a little tiny tub but it goes a long way and is definitely worth it.
The Body Shop body butters are renowned for their amazingness already, but they’ve gone and improved them by making them into two sections: one with cream for normal skin and one with thicker cream for dry skin.
Which means, anywhere on your body you have particularly dry bits or uneven bits you can use the special thick one, and everywhere else you can slather on the normal one. Genius! Especially if you don’t like wasting heavy-duty dry skin cream on body parts that don’t need it.
Make Up For Ever HD Foundation, primer and powderHoly Mary mother of God, these are amazing. Make Up For Ever launched their ad campaign for this using pictures that weren’t retouched – the only brand doing that – so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
Would the HD range do what it says on the tin (assuming we haven’t all got model faces and skin like the campaign chick had). It does! Joy! Get thee toClarendon St.to buy some in your shade, A-SAP. My sample size tube is long since used up so I’m heading to Clarendon St. after work to grab some more! Happy days!
A word used by bloggers (specifically this blogger) and some other humans to denote a blog post wherein several ideas warrant a mention but none so important as to warrant an individual blog post all to themselves.
Aren’t we all. I know *just* where to get one.
In Spar on Merrion Row the other day buying an apple, and what did I see? They’re now selling First Class Loose Grannies from France for 70c. See the fruit and veg section for more details.
G-Unit
The G, in this case, stands for both Giant and Great. And maybe Gorgeous. IKEA, how I love thee. I was in IKEA at the weekend to buy a stand for our TV for the new place. What I left with was a bloomin’ miracle.
ALL my extensive DVD and book collection fit snugly into this gargantuan structure, and it makes my living room look like something out of an interiors catalogue.
If you look very *very* closely, you’ll see that my DVDs are alphabetised. My books are not, however. I don’t want people to think I’ve got OCD. *ahem*
I’ve hurled myself head first into another song-repeat phase. In case you don’t already know this about me, I have an addictive streak when it comes to certain things – obviously not alcohol, smoking, drugs or anything like that, cakes *maybe* – but with songs I do.
If I hear a song and love it instantly, I will want to hear that song and that song ONLY, constantly, until my addiction lifts. Previous and recent song addictions include:
Bang Bang Bang by Mark Ronson and The Business INTL.
Rolling in the Deep by Adele (pretty much the entire 21 album, actually)
More Than A Woman by Aaliyah
So this is the new one, the fourth single from Kanye West’s new album My Dark and Twisted Fantasy. It’s called ‘All of the Lights’ and Rihanna is the featured vocalist. Enjoy!
Here are some things going on at the moment, and why I love and hate them simultaneously.
Love: That there’s a grand aul stretch in the evenings
Hate: My arch enemies return to pester me. Wasp hell is upon us.
Love: Unlimited Kardashians episodes, and more Law & Order SVU than you can shake a stick at
Hate: I’ve lost my boyfriend to the cruel mistress that is The Formula One Season. It’s NEVERENDING.
Love: Money, money, money.
Hate: Waking up at stupid o’clock. And commuting, easy as it has become, is still a bitch.
Love: lunch at The Ivy, great company and a free salon blow dry.
Hate: *minor* bomb scare and ensuing evacuation from aforementioned salon.
Love: Matte perfection in two gorgeous shades.
Hate: Still don’t know the correct pronunciation of ‘Inglot’.
Love: It’s closer (a lot closer) to my family and friends than Cork was, wahey!
Hate: It’s farther (a lot farther) from my friends in Cork than Cork was. Wahhh, and no hey.
Love: It’s smaller than my old place, which means less cleaning.
Hate: Broadband STILL isn’t wired up. RAAAR.
Love: I’m now over it and have been filled with inspiration once more.
Hate: that it happened in the first place. I never thought I’d run out of words.
Love: them.
Hate: that they’re all I want to eat and I have started dreaming about them.
Love: it’s actually a lovely place to be, I’ve discovered. That fountain area outside is divine.
Hate: it compels me to spend money that I really can’t afford to spend.
Love: napping.
Hate: I can’t nap anymore, I’m too busy what with the two jobs, friends, family, a blog, a boyfriend and a house to maintain. Not to mention it takes a while to maintain myself. I’m a wrecked bird without some serious caretaking.
Anyone read the interview with January Jones (the cover story) from this month’s Marie Claire? Check it out if you haven’t. It’s bizarre to say the least.
The pictures of her are stunning, she looks awe-inspiring in all of them, but the rest of the piece is a little odd. You all know from previous posts of my love for January (the lady, not the month). But she really doesn’t come across well at all in the interview. She seems aloof (not in a good way), detached and distinctly unhappy.
The interviewer comments that she wore sunglasses for the entire (indoor) interview and that she repeatedly mentioned her dislike of doing press and how ‘’tedious’’ the whole fame game is. I’ve said it before about other celebs – if you hate fame/being in movies/the glamorous life, hand back the million dollar pay-cheques and go back to living like the rest of us mere mortals.
She came across as a maladjusted, insecure and fearful person, not someone who is happy with their lot in life as you would think she might be. I know everyone has their problems, but her ‘lot in life’ is a damn sight bigger than mine, that’s all I’m sayin’.
She talks about liking the inclement British weather (she was in the UK at the time of being interviewed) and she says “It’s kind of moody and suits my temperament”. Now, I don’t know about you, but if someone asked me to compare my temperament to a weather system, I wouldn’t jump straight to overcast, cold and rainy. I’d opt for some Mediterranean climate with dramatic highs and lows, if only to give the sense that I was about something. Weather in the UK and Ireland is neither pleasant nor exciting. I’d want to be either one of those. JJ seems to like the comparison?
The second last paragraph in the interview goes like this:
We end our conversation, and I say how I realise it’s been a torment for her. “It’s not that awful,” she responds. “I’m not crying or anything. Everyone writes that they think I’m so unhappy.” January, to be honest, I can see where ‘they’ are coming from.
I kind of feel sorry for her now, and I’m sure that’s not the feeling someone should have about a multi-millionaire movie star? I suppose it just goes to show – you can have fame, money coming out your ears and beauty that would sink a ship and you still might not be fulfilled.
