Reading Corner: My Childhood Faves

Today I wanted to take a trip back to the 90s/ early 00s and chat about my favourite childhood / young adult reads. There were so many beloved stories to choose from so it's been a tricky one to boil my list down to just 5! 
Here's what I've selected:

1. Harry Potter Book Series by J.K. Rowling (obviously!)

I had to put all of the Harry Potter books together, otherwise they would have filled up this entire blog post, and how on Earth would I have picked a top 5 out of the 7?! I love them all, they are all the best, forever.Even 17 years on from when I first started reading the series, I am still a massive HP geek. I didn't even want to start reading them when I was 12. I thought that they were this uncool thing that I had no interest in wasting my time over. But then one day in the library I spotted a copy of the third book, all alone on a shelf. I picked it up, took it home, read one chapter and wasn't that fussed about it so went to sleep. The next day I couldn't resist picking it up again and the rest is history!

2. Jacqueline Wilson Books

I used to absolutely love these as a kid/early teen. To the extent that I would get the books on the day they came out in hard back. Some favourites include the entire Girls In Love series, The Illustrated Mum, The Story of Tracy Beaker, The Suitcase Kid, Sleepovers (this totally spoke to me as a preteen with 'frenemies').

3. The Famous Five by Enid Blyton

I LOVED the Famous Five. They had such great adventures and I was always in total suspense over every scrape the 5 got themselves into. I loved that George refused to fit into a mould; she had a nasty temper, but was who she wanted to be. Anne, of course, let down the whole feminist movement. The girl was obsessed with kitchens! Here is a typical scene from the books:

All children: "Wowee, a cave, what larks! Lets have lashings of ginger beer!"
Anne: "It's like a little kitchen! Those rocks can be shelves for my miniature crockery! You all go on and have an adventure, I'll stay here and sweep the floor."

4. Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (Angus, Thongs & Full-Frontal Snogging, etc.) by Louise Rennison

I loved these as a teenager! Basically all the girls in my friendship group read them so we could pass them around to each other. They made me laugh so much and I'm not ashamed to admit that I now have them all as audiobooks.

5. The Sophie Stories by Dick King-Smith

When I was a little I loved these books. It was so funny because I loved Sophie even though she was so different from myself, and hated her enemy Dawn, even though was probably closer to me! There was an infamous scene where Dawn trod on Sophie's pet woodlouse, so Sophie jumped up and down on Dawn's My Little Pony. It was brutal. However it does explain why I used to love woodlice as a child - but I did have My Little Ponies too!

Other childhood faves included: Bobbo's Magic Stocking by Enid Blyton (Bobbo is a greedy kid who gets his comeuppance), Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore (a cat with a massive appetite owns all the people in his neighbourhood), the Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal (could Jessica and Elizabeth have been any cooler?!), the Babysitter's Club series by Ann M. Martin (they were friends and they made money babysitting, I'm not really sure how so many books were written about that!), My Naughty Little Sister by Dorothy Edwards and Shirley Hughes (as the youngest sibling who was mostly well-behaved, I could live vicariously through this rebellious girl).

There are probably so many more that I've forgotten! As a child I seemed to have much more time for reading, or maybe it was just life before the internet, Instagram and Netflix.

What were some of your childhood faves?

Lisa xx

Beauty Bar: Glossier Review

Ever since Glossier products became available to order from the UK, there have been a few products that I've had my eyes on. I waited this long because I'm always more tempted by make up products that I can actually test out in store - try before you buy - but I thought it was about time I gave in and gave these guys a go!
The items I wanted to try the most were Boy Brow, Generation G and Cloud Paint.

Boy Brow - Blond
I'd heard so many good things about Boy Brow! This brow pomade really seems to have quickly become a cult classic, so I wanted to see if I'd love it as much as everyone else does.
My eyebrows are a really light blonde and are basically invisible when left to their own devices, so a certain amount of eyebrow product is always needed. This shade has actually turned out to be a bit lighter than I’m used to, so when I tested it out I used a bit of eyebrow pencil with it to bring some definition. I guess its closer to my natural hair colour!
I really like the pomade formula of Boy Brow, which isn’t clumpy at all and applies really easily, defining each of the hairs. I'll definitely keep using it, but may order a darker shade next time.

Generation G - Zip
This lipstick is sheer and matte. It’s advertised as giving a ‘just blotted’ level of colour, going with Glossier’s ‘no make up-make up’ ethos. This is what actually drew me to this lipstick in the poppy red Zip shade, as I’ve been looking for a red lipstick that’s very wearable and everyday.
After wearing it a couple of times, I’m pretty impressed. It’s not quite the shade of red I was after, as it’s actually quite a pink-red, rather than the poppy red it’s advertised as, which I’d thought would have more of an orange base than a pink. But the colour is easily built up to more of a red tone, and the formula isn’t at all drying, which is a total bug bear of mine!
Overall, I’d say I really like this lipstick but time will tell if it makes it to the coveted position of my handbag.

Cloud Paint - Dusk
Cloud Paint is a liquid blush formula, which you dab onto your cheeks using your finger tips. I have to admit that I didn’t actually purchase this one myself, but borrowed my sister’s to try! However, I may well invest in my own as I was really impressed with it.
Once again it’s a very sheer colour pay off but can be built up to achieve your desired amount of pigment. The Dusk shade is a really flattering vintage rose colour, which I think would be versatile for lots of different make up looks.

Overall I really liked these products and am now feeling the urge to make some more Glossier purchases very soon!

Have you tried Glossier before? If so, do you have any favourites I should try?

Lisa xx

Real Talk: What's In My Handbag?

I've read many a 'what's in my handbag?' blog, each listing a fine selection of useful (and usually expensively branded!) items. However, the contents of my bag aren't really like that... I've mastered the Mary Poppins-style packing of fitting an unnatural amount of things in, but unlike Mary, a lot of the things in my bag are not particularly impressive.
But, here they are anyway!

1. Phone
It's summer, and the amount of jumpsuits and dresses I own without pockets mean that my phone has to go in my bag. Much less convenient for song-changing than tucking it into jeans or a coat pocket as I walk around town!

2. Keys
Similar to the phone predicament, summer means that my keys (3 sets to be exact - home, work and car), rather than living in my coat pocket, have to go in my bag.

3. Earphones
I never leave the house without these, ever.

4. Purse
Having a smaller bag for summer means I've switched to a small credit card size purse, rather than my usual fully grown beast.

5. Sunglasses
An absolute necessity right now!

6. Lipstick Purse
To try and organise the chaos of my bag a bit, I have a little purse to house my compact mirror, lip balm and about 3 lipsticks.

7. Instructions
A slip of paper with instructions of how to work my church's camera. (Because I'm pernickety and afraid of forgetting things...)

8. Tissues
Usually unused.

9. Ear Plugs
Not to be confused with the earphones! Loud noises make me dizzy so these are very necessary.

10. Hand Sanitizer
My current fave is by Soap & Glory; it smells amazing!

11. 2 Extra Lipsticks
You know, just in case none of the 3 in my lipstick purse are the right shade.

12. 4Head Balm Stick
This menthol balm is an amazing cure for headaches. Just a few swipes around the forehead and it starts its soothing work.

13. Hair Bobble
I like the twirly transparent plastic ones as they don't create too much of a hair-kink.

14. Polo Mints
As our grandparents teach us, mints are a necessity in life!

15. Receipts
At least 4 or 5. Plus a couple of vouchers.

16. Contact Lenses
As someone who has to wear contact lenses every hour that I'm awake, to be without these would be a complete (and very blurry) disaster.

17. Plaster
You never know when you might need one!

18. Misc
Consisting of 6p, a paperclip and a hair grip.

What's inside your bag? Are you super minimal or do you have not-so-organised chaos like me?

Lisa xx

Real Talk: Going From Negative To Positive

I feel a bit hesitant in writing this blog post because I think the subject matter might be a bit controversial. It isn't light or fluffy, and it isn't about the happy, shiny things in life. It's about an emotion that everyone experiences at different times to different extents: anger.

Anger isn't a nice emotion but is it a bad one? Can it ever be good or helpful? See, when we think of anger, more often than not the images that come to mind are violent and threatening. But what about righteous anger? What about that gut feeling when we see injustice in the world that says, "something needs to change here"?

I also think that even anger that isn't righteous, anger that's born out of irritation or tiredness, is a very natural emotion. It's what we do with it that makes the difference.
Do we let it rule over us? Snap at our loved ones or just plain blow a fuse and shout the house down? Or do we take back the control? Not suppressing the emotion but recognising it, acknowledging it and then finding a positive way to process it and let the feeling out, at the right time.

The other day, I felt so angry. It was one of those times where in the moment I locked the anger inside, so that it just boiled beneath the surface until I was able to leave the situation and deal with it.
Here's what I did to let it out and process it in the most healthy way I could think of:

1. Exercise
Before going home, I went for a walk. About 30 mins of brisk walking in total. At first, all I could do was seethe and silently rant, but as I channelled the energy out through my legs and breathed in the fresh air, something started to relax. The dust began to settle and my thoughts became quieter and clearer.
I began to be able to see beneath the angry emotion and ask myself some questions: What was it about the situation that was making me so angry? Could I do anything to change the situation? Did I need to change something about myself?

2. Slow Breathing
It's amazing the difference that slowing down breathing can make to our stress levels. If  you ever find that your breathing is shallow and anxious, then give this exercise a go:
Hold your breath for 3, exhale for 3, inhale for 3. Do this a couple of times and then when you feel able, start to extend the times of holding and exhaling the breath (this will correct your carbon dioxide levels and force your body to relax); it's a simple exercise that can be done anywhere and gives pretty instant results.

3. Talking
As an introvert, I need some time alone to process how I feel before talking to someone else. Once I understand myself and my reactions a bit better, then I find it really helpful to chat things over with my husband or a close friend/family member.

4. Meditation
Once I got home, I took some time to do a couple of short meditations using the HeadSpace app. It has tailored meditations to fit different needs, including ones for anger and frustration, which were the ones I used. The first one was 3 minutes long, the second was 5. Genuinely, after that combined 8 minutes I felt so much better.

Each of these steps didn't change the situation I was in, but they helped me to get some distance from it, so that I wasn't overwhelmed and could think clearly.
Once we can take a step back and look at things objectively, we can work out what to do to make a positive change.

What about you? Do you have any tips for channelling negative emotions into something positive?

Lisa xx

Beauty Bar: Crayola Beauty Review

The other day, an email dropped into my inbox that really caught my attention. It was from ASOS, telling me that they'd partnered with Crayola (yes, the crayon company!) to create a limited edition make up range. Massively excited by this, I obviously went straight onto the site and made an order!

Crayola Beauty do a whole variety of products, from blusher to mascara, but the thing that caught my eye was the lip and cheek crayons. I bought one of the sets; partially because it comes in the cutest box, just like the wax crayons did - so much gimmicky nostalgia!

The shades in my set are Strawberry (a bright red shade), Mango Tango (a bright peach with a little bit of shimmer) and Very Cherry (a deep, rich berry red).
I was a little concerned that they might have the consistency of a wax crayon, as well as the look, but thankfully I needn't have worried.
I've found that their formula is really creamy, non-drying and smooth to apply. I also really like the crayon style for application, as I'm always rushing out the door when I do my lipstick, and this just makes it so quick and easy to do.

Something that could be a draw back, is that they are a very creamy formula and do wipe off extremely easily, so I don't know how long-wearing they would be, which could make the brighter shades pretty high maintenance.
The Mango Tango shade is also a lot more sheer than the other two, and I had to apply a lot of the product to make it particularly visible. This makes it much more wearable for an everyday Spring/Summer look, but doesn't really follow through on the 'rich and powerful pay off' promise we're given on the box.

Overall, I'm so impressed with these crayons. I love that there is actual substance to them, rather than just stylised packaging. They aren't just a gimmick, and could really compete with the quality of other beauty brands. I am genuinely tempted to try out some more of their shades now!

Have you tried any of the Crayola Beauty products?

Lisa xx