Big blue sea

It's been a long long week with lots of school issues and a 12,000 word portfolio that I handed in this morning at last!  Teary-eyed and sleep deprived, I want nothing more than to lie in the bath for hours with a fat book and my newly discovered favourite bath bomb of all time: Big Blue.

What:  Big Blue is one of those bath bombs that straddle the middle of the line - my favourite kind.  Not so fancy and sparkly that you feel like you have to go on a night on the town afterwards, but not such a non-event that you forget it.

It's supposed to be reminiscent of the sea with seaweed in.

How it worked: 

The photos really don't do it justice.  The water turned the most beautiful shade of turquoise-blue and bits of seaweed floated out of the ball and were strewn at the bottom.  My worries about them clogging the drain were unjustified - they turned out to have the consistency of chin-chow (if you know what that is you'll understand, if not, it's like a jelly) and slipped quite neatly away at the end.

The smell was this amazing, fresh, perfumey, oceany, slightly salty scent.  And if you're like me and you love the ocean, this bath will amuse you greatly.  I'm ashamed to admit that I spent a great deal of time walloping the water about and pretending I was swimming in the sea.  If you love that feeling of being on a slightly exotic holiday, sitting in a coral reef and dragging your fingers through the seaweed at the bottom, this bomb is absolutely for you.

Would I come back for more?  Absolutely, yes.  This was the first bath bomb that had an oddly transformative effect - instead of just turning the water colours, I actually felt I was in a different place.  The smell is great and fresh and if I had to narrow down my current favourites, this would be one (along with Twilight and then Dragon's Egg for special occasions).

Now however, a product I'm not quite so chuffed with:

What it is:  Boots Botanics Nourishing Bodycare Butter.  It's got a good texture and smells like grapeseed and aloe, which is a very pleasant smell indeed.  Also the best value for money bodybutter I've ever bought at £5 for a whacking great tub (giant compared to the coffee mug in the back.)

How it worked:  

The smell and texture were great, but as a bodybutter, it wasn't particularly moisturing.  Most tellingly, the red spots I get when my skin is too dry started popping back up within a week of exclusively using this.  So, I guess you get what you pay for and as a bodybutter, it's not doing it's job all that well.

I was a bit sad about this because the price and scent were great and I was hoping I'd finally found a long time staple (especially since the Soap and Glory one I reviewed here has gone up to something ridiculous like 10 quid!  It's still a glorious product though.)

Will I come back for more?  No... although if you don't need a super moisturising body butter but you want a cheap moisturiser that smells great and you can just whack on like body lotion after a shower, this is a good product.

Hope you enjoyed these quick reviews, more up soon! 

And... we're back! OR Roadtested: 15 denier knee-highs

Hello!  Yes, it's me!  At least, my laptop has come back to me with a brand new keyboard and touchpad, all for free!  (This is the last time I disparage Mac customer service and gripe about the interface being mildly user-unfriendly.)  Pictures are going on like a dream, the screen is lovely and big and bright... can you tell that my words are flowing more smoothly already?

I took the pictures for this post a little while ago, but was unable to upload them until today.  Don't assume though, that it isn't still this cold in beloved Inklund.  The weather vacillates between chirpy and sunny and pelting with rain in the matter of tens of minutes.  Thanks, Inklund.  Thanks.

Anyway, at the time that I took the pictures for this post, I had just bought a box of 15 denier kneehighs from Marks and Sparks and wanted to test them out, so I wore them to a sort of class meeting with friends.  I'm a little bit confused by how I feel about them because while I like the way they look, let's see how they stack up in terms of use, shall we?

What:  15 denier "ladder resist" knee highs.  They look like a giant tube sock when you take them out of the box and have a dark nylon bit on the top.  You get 3 pairs in one box, so it's good value for money.

How they work:  Well, in terms of looks, you'll see that they pretty much deliver at promised.  They were comfortable, stayed up, and in my view looked quite lovely.  Also, the guys in the class were quite fascinated by them and tried them on like socks, leg hair notwithstanding.  (I paired them with Oxfords to avoid too much of a... uh... streetwalker vibe.)

In terms of ladder resist though... I have to say that I'm really unhappy but a giant hole appeared in the toe of one of them after I walked to class!  Thankfully, it was the toe, so I can still wear them.  I don't know if this was because my toenail was sharp and chafed it to bits or anything, but I was still really upset because Marks and Sparks tights are traditionally quite good and I was disappointed that they didn't hold up.

However, 15 denier really is very thin, and it could have been a fluke, so I'll have to test the other two pairs.  If they end up performing better, I'll put in an edit and let you know.

Will I be back for more?  Possibly yes, because they look cute, but I don't want to be wearing them out at the rate of a pair per wear.  So only if the other pairs are more tough.

FYI, they have boxes of 20 denier which might perform better.

Coat - Zara.  Cardigan - Present from mom.  Cami - Primark.

Oxford heels - Chatelet.  Shorts - DIY.  Earrings - Anjuly.  

Knee highs - M and S.  Necklace - Spitalfields.

In terms of the outfit, I know lots of people tell me this coat looks like a bathrobe, but it's so snuggly and warm that I don't care.  If not for the fact that it was white, I would wear it every day.  Given the weather, I don't see myself discarding my coats any time soon!  

 

Oh, the joys of consistent posting and big, bright pictures once more!  Blogging should go back to its usual schedule and thank you so much for continuing to read and comment, it really makes my day!

PS  I was thinking of doing a roadtest/review of all the tights I've ever worn and rating them according to the shops that sell them - would anyone be interested in a collective tight review?  I ask because when I wear my good tights, lots of people ask me where they're from and don't seem to know where to find good quality pairs.

Anjuly

Last week, it was Anjuly's birthday, so we decided to have a nice evening out with hot chocolate's and desserts at Cafe Rouge.  I love the little creme brulee's and chocolate mousse cakes that they do!  I'm ashamed to say that we had McDonald's for dinner, but that didn't make my hot, crisp, six piece nuggets and Fillet-o-fish redolent with piquant tartar sauce taste any worse.

Anjuly looked really great - I think her pencil skirt and blouse made it the perfect "dinner with the girls" outfit - cute and pulled together, but not too formal.  Plus, how hot is she?

This star necklace was one of the presents Shriya and I got her, along with a copy of Roald Dahl's The Witches, as she had never read any Roald Dahl growing up.

It's unbelievable, but with the absence of my laptop, blogging has become almost impossible.  I can't reply certain people's comments because for some reason the browser won't let me, and every school computer I use is so incredibly slow that it took 15 minutes just to access the photos for this post.  I know it's a pain to hear me whinge, but hey, at least with the dearth of posts, the concentration of whinge is lower.

Le sigh.

Trouble

I've been wanting to blog very badly, but a horrendous mishap with my laptop means that I've been left in the lurch, unable to even reply comments.  Now, my lovely, life-saving friend Hilary has lent me her mini-laptop and as a result, I'm finally back online!  Thank you Hil!  This post is possible because of you!

Unfortunately, there's still an issue replying comments and I've been trying for the last half an hour and have only managed one.  I don't know why that is, but I'm thinking that I'll have to start replying on a different schedule till my laptop is back out of the shop.  For this, I'm very sorry.  I love reading the comments and I reply every single one (thank you Tori, for commenting by the way!!  Please teach me to make elderflower cordial!  Please!) and I will get on it as soon as I can. 

I'm also getting used to a new photo uploading system and will start posting outfit pictures as soon as I can.  In the mean time, here are some pictures from my lovely weekend away in London where I enjoyed my little nephew's magnificent pirate party.

The whole backyard was littered with balls from the ball pit, lying in the sun like giant spheres of candy.  The decorations were loads of fun too, and I'm not just saying that because I helped put half of them up.

I even got to play with some of his toys.  This set, Kapla, is apparently one of the best-selling toys in Europe because it's just simple wooden block but you can build a multitude of things with it (and without glue!), right up to the Eiffel Tower with thousands of blocks.  It's supposed to be a toy to last you your whole life, and I can see why.  Here's my attempt at an igloo shape and my cousin's attempt at stairs.

The weather was great for flowers - my aunt had unfurling roses the size of my head.  I'll put the pictures in another post. 

And of course, what would a visit to the relatives be without good food?  The food was amazing - crisp hollow shells filled with a spicy sour tamarind juice, a salty chutney and chickpeas and potatoes.  Called pani puri, they sometimes have flakes of chilli sprinkled on top for extra spice and you're meant to pop the whole thing in your mouth and savour all the juices and textures in one bite. 

I hung around the table so long that my aunt came over and said to me, "I can see you like those."

There were also beautiful fruit displays, dosai with various chutneys and at least three different cakes, including a cute pirate cake my cousin made for her son.

And the best bit?  Having stuffed our faces, we sprawled out around the massive back garden, sun-drenched and windblown, watching the unbelievable blue sky though the dappled leaves.  Bliss!

Darkling in the eternal space

It's been a while I know, but I come bearing nature's gifts.

Little white flowers that look like lace and burst from bead-green buds.

A mother duck and her fluffy ducklings scrambling around in the undergrowth near a stream.

And a rabbit, feasting on the campus grounds, his little white tail turned up to the wind.

I'm a lucky girl, I know, and I've been feeling the need to commune with the wilderness lately, so I softened a black and navy peg-legged-pant outfit with a drapey green scarf.

Scarf - Mother's.  Blouse - Dorothy Perkins.  Heels - H&M.

Pants - Zara.  Belt - New Look.  Necklace - Made by mother.
Earrings - Claire's (yes, it's a biscuit).

I like the idea of draping things and belting them to give tops a completely different shape and look.  If you see wires dangling in the photos, it's because I was listening to music on my iPod and it definitely made a difference to my photo-taking mood.  I felt a lot more sprightly and happy, and I may well use them in future!

Also, I just loved rolling around in this luscious, long, deep green grass that I found off the beaten track.  It felt so tender and clean and I was reminded, oddly, of a book I read in my childhood about wild Chincoteague ponies and how they would eat handfuls of juicy grass, made salty-sweet by the sea.  I know I'm crazy, but it used to make my mouth water.

I don't long to eat grass anymore (perhaps I was crazedly contemplating it below?), but I think it's that time for the year for everyone to just get out there and enjoy the outdoors for a little bit. 

Go on, you know you want to!