Lacock, Wiltshire

Some Of My Favourite Things...

 My Chanel Chance.

  This is one of my favourite smells in the whole world. It's the kind of perfume that when you wear it complete strangers ask what perfume you're wearing. It's quite a young and summery smell but quite sexy too. Perfect for day or night and even the Eau de Toilette scent lasts for ages. I never go anywhere without it- I always have it in my cuuute little atomiser from The Perfume Shop in my handbag.
 You can get the Eau de Toilette for £50 from Boots or the Eau de Parfum for £61. But if you're going on your hols soon then pick it up from Duty Free- très bargainous!
  Also a great scent for the summer is Lacoste Touch of Pink which is a really fresh, girly and carefree perfume, cheaper than Chance at £38 for 50ml of the Eau De Toilette from Boots and right now Boots are giving away a free Lacoste laptop bag with Lacoste fragrance purchases.



My Tigi Bed Head Brunette Goddess Shine Spray.
  WARNING: this product will make you hungry! Apart from the divine smell of caramel and toffee this product makes my hair instantly glossy and healthy looking without the greasiness of some shine sprays. A little of this product goes a long way so use it sparingly.
  If I'm wearing my hair up I'll spritz it on the finished do but if I'm wearing my hair down I use it while blow drying. It ranges from about £6 to about £10 depending on where you buy it so shop around online, and look out for the combi box sets as these are usually pretty good value for money. You can get matching shampoo and conditioner in the Brunette Goddess range which are gawjusss but at the moment I am using;

Tigi Bed Head Urban Antidotes Resurrection shampoo and conditioner which is specifically for beaten up hair that needs a little TLC. There are three different shampoo/ conditioner variants in the Urban Antidote range; Re-energize for damage level 1, Recovery for damage level 2 and Resurrection which is for damage level 3, said to give "miracle-like" results. It hasn't enabled me to walk on water thus far but it does leave my hair shiny, healthy, rejuvenated  and smelling fab.

  If you fancy trying something different for washing your hair make sure you give Lush's Solid Shampoo  (£5 per 55g) a go. They come in handy little round bars so they're great for taking with you on holiday and saving some precious suitcase space. My personal fave is Seanik which is a really fresh smelling, turquoise bar with seaweed in it (like actual pieces of seaweed not invisible extracts) plus load of other yummy, natural ingredients and it gives your hair a real volume boost and is great for shine too. You literally just rub the bar on your wet hair and it lathers up like nobody's business!






 Next is my Urban Decay 'Naked' eye palette, winner of Best Eyeshadow in the Debenhams 2012 Beauty Club Awards. I love, love, love this! Never would I have spent that much on eyeshadow (retailing at about £36 available from Debenhams and other department stores) before but after borrowing my cousin's one day I doubt I'll ever buy another. There are enough shades to keep me satisfied and so far, it's lasted absolutely ages. There is not one single colour of the twelve that I don't use regularly, ranging from subtle neutrals to vibrant metallics, in varying shades of brown, gold, bronze, oyster, champagne down to charcoal and silver. If I had to choose one I think it would be 'Smog,' which contrary to it's name is a beautiful, shimmering burnished bronze....but I don't have to choose just one so I will continue to love them all equally if you please!
 Aside from the scrumptious shades, the cute case complete with mirror, and the fab applicator these eyeshadows have perfect staying power lasting from first thing in the morning until last thing at night (or, if I'm perfectly honest, first thing the next morning. Yes smack my hand for disobeying the eleventh commandment "thou shalt always remove thine make up before bed"). Anyhoo- buy this palette. It will change your life. Okay maybe not but it is a wise investment and worth every single penny!






 My Espa Hydrating Floral Spafresh Spritzer which is an "aromatic toner to hydrate, refresh and rejuvenate." It smells like a cross between a spa and a garden, not overly flowery as the name would suggest but really fresh and healthy smelling if you know what I mean.
  At £18.50 for 100ml I don't use it willy nilly but I do like a spritz of it when I (manage to) take my make-up off or when I'm feeling all flustered and hot and bothered! It's an instant freshen-up and makes my skin feel wonderfully dewey and revitalised.    

  St Tropez Body Polish (around £15 for 240ml) which is THE best exfoliator I've found. It's a gorgeously bright turquoise colour with very fine grains so it's very gentle but amazingly effective. Even though it's more for your body I use it on my face every few days and it works a treat, making my skin as soft as a baby's bum! So even if you don't wear tan you should still get this polish, you don't need to use much and you don't have to scrub with any force at all. 





 The Sanctuary Nourishing Bath Soak (£10.25 for 400ml) is a firm favourite of mine. A rich, luxurious concoction of milk, honey, sweet almond oil and lotus, this comforting soak smells sublime and is generously bubbly.
 It's great for when I'm feeling stressed out and run down and The Sanctuary Enriching Body Wash (£7.75 for 200ml) which compliments it perfectly, leaves my skin gorgeously scented and perfectly moisturised.
 Another bonus is that more often than not, The Sanctuary bath and body products are on a 3 for 2 promotion so you can pick up a third product for free whether direct from their site or from Boots. Bargain!





One of my must- haves for summer is always, always that old classic- The Body Shop Coconut Body Butter. You know it's summer when I whip this baby out! 
 The scruuuummy coconut scent is evocative of holidays, beaches, cocktails, bikinis, sun tan cream, sea, sunshine and all things tropical! Plus it's a pretty darn good twenty four hour moisturiser too!
 On it's own it's £12.50 but at the moment The Body Shop have a 2 for £15 promotion on their body butters so I'm going to pair up my next purchase of it with their new Chocomania butter which I haven't tried yet but it sounds a-may-zing!




So there are just a few of my favourite (beauty based) things. What are yours? x

This Is My Jam #4

Gorgeous song that caught my attention when it was used in the excellent tv series Misfits.

www.thisismyjam.com/violetcandy2012/_1ok05ga

Should owners face harsher penalties for out of control dogs?

  Quite simply, yes. Dogs (like children) are a product of their upbringing and training, they aren't born bad so the fault lies with the owners. And let's stop pussy-footing around the issue: there is a trend among the scummy thugs and jeremy kyle-ites to have status dogs (staffies, rottys, dobermen) so because the vast majority of these breeds are owned by berks and raised to be vicious, snarling, antisocial animals (much like their owners), they are all getting tarred with the same brush. And maybe if these losers thought they might have to spend some of their benefits on fines if their dog misbehaves (instead of Mcat, fags, booze and trainers) then they might think twice about how they raise it, or even owning it in the first place.

 Just look at this article about those morons that set their dog on Emmerdale actress Roxanne Pallett. They have these breeds of dog for the sole reason to intimidate and they 'train' them accordingly. Some people have suggested putting the dogs down as punishment but get a clue people- these bums don't give a flying fudge about their dogs! They are merely an accessory/weapon to them. One of my ex-employees who, to be honest is a skank and a half, had a staffy that got run over, they opted to have it's leg amputated rather than treated as it was "cheaper." Dog homes and rescue centres are overrun with Staffies because these moronic yobs either can't handle them eventually or realise that they actually have to look after them, spend money on them and have a little responsibility.

 How about a stupidly simple system of needing a license to own an animal, surely the cost between this and all these other hare brained schemes is minimal? You must be deemed fit to be a responsible owner and give reasons as to why you want an animal. You should be working or able to prove you can provide for the animal (NOT with benefits), able to provide decent shelter and dedicate time to training and walking a dog. Then give the police the power to stop anyone on the street with a dog and ask them to produce their license, no questions asked. Crack down on people selling puppies in the classifieds so that potential dog owners will have to go to a reputable breeder and produce their license.

  Maybe this system should also be implemented for potential parents so poor, poor children like Baby P aren't born to sick, sadistic, twisted, evil, abusive people that should never never ever be allowed to breed.

50 Shades Of Grey...Tom Hardy for Christian Grey faz favor!!!

  So I finally succumbed and downloaded 50 Shades Of Grey. Initially I picked it up in the supermarket, read the word 'romance' and put it swiftly back down, then browsing the Amazon store last night I read some of the hype and thought I'd give it a go, after all when Twilight came out I was like "Hell NO am I reading that crap" but inevitably I got drawn in and all four are firm favourites which I return to regularly. And essentially they are romance, so that told me!

  I have avoided spoilers so I have no clue if Christian is a vampire/supernatural yet. I'm ten percent in (Kindle) and I have to say I'm finding the similarities with Twilight a bit off putting (Ana/Bella: pale with brown hair, clumsy, scruffy, inexperienced, low self esteem and lack of confidence, penchant for English classics, erratic mother, Dad-with-best-friend-who's-son-likes-her, works-in-shop-where-owner's-son-likes-her, irresistible and mysterious love interest who warns her off but can't stay away)  and I'm hoping it veers off on a different path soon because I am intrigued and I really need to get my teeth into something.

  Anyhoo if it turns out as good as the hype would indicate and they make it in to the obligatory film can the film makers please consult fans (and future fans) about the casting? Not that I found the Twilight casting bad, but there's nothing worse than iffy castings of well known, well loved and well imagined fictional characters!

  There's a lot of love for Cillian Murphy as Christian Grey on t'internet and he is a good choice but I immediately pictured him as.............Tom Hardy, face of an angel, body of sin.

 Or if I don't get my way- how about the film peeps at least giving fans a selection of relatively unknown actors to vote on? Someone brand spanking new to take the hormone-fuelled heat off that poor bugger  Robert Pattinson for a bit eh?

BBC Planet Earth Live

  Gaaagghhhh! I can't watch Planet Earth Live. A meercat has just been bitten by a snake and is all hunched over dying...and they've given him a name....and they just commented on how he's come outside to be with his family.....NOW HE'S DOWN ON THE GROUND! MEERCAT DOWN! NOOOOOOOOOOOO ERNESTO NOOOOOOOOOO!

  My heart just broke.

GLAMOUR Mag's 'May-zing Competition

  Ooops- found this a bit late! Serves me right for not checking my emails.

 Anyhoo Glamour magazine are giving away a different hair or beauty product every day in May (I'm a poet and I didn't know it) to 700 lucky people. That's 20,175 goodies worth a hefty £167, 657!

  If you're feeling lucky go to Glamour's website or click here each day in May, answer the obligatory simple, multiple choice question, enter your details and cross your fingers. Good luck!