Mish Mash Wishlisting!

Okay, is it possible to be behind on life? Because I think I am. It's like I've blinked and fallen back into October, but it's nearly December and I'm not getting anything done. I'm still around, but I'm going to be disappearing again for a week. An organised and put together person would have already filled you in on the details, but I am not that person at the moment. Although actually, can we just pause though and talk about Adele's new album? It might be my heightened emotional state right now, but I'm pretty sure she can see into my soul. Goes to show that even though sometimes it feels like you're alone in feeling the way you do, there's always someone else that feels the same. We're never alone. And that's comforting.

Anyway, John Lewis got in touch recently because Black Friday is fast approaching (don't even get me started on where the year has gone again). They asked me to put together a list of things I would be all over if they were in the sale, and because I needed to take my mind of things here are a few things I have my eye on and will probably buy very soon, sale or no sale. But sale would be nice, let's be honest.

Hourglass Palette. 
I know this isn't the best value for money product wise, and honestly the price tag does make my eyes water just a little, but I feel like it should be accompanied with some dramatic music as the lid opens. Palettes haven't interested me much before, I was all about accumulating lots of single things (why? I have no idea!), but I'm now beginning to see the value in a really good palette. And they're surprisingly difficult to come by. Maybe the perfect palette is tricky to get right!

A Nice Pair Of Headphones.
My cheapy headphones broke recently and it was only then that I realised that I've never had a nice pair of headphones. I go through phases of either wanting to go outside and experience all the hustle and bustle of everyday life or go outside and drown everyday life out with a good song or podcast, and I'm definitely in the latter phase right now.

A Keyboard. 
All the things I can't do, or once tried to do but gave up on along the way, have been occupying my thoughts a lot of late. Many years ago I took piano lessons at school, and I have to confess it was mostly because it meant I got to miss a maths lesson every week. Maths wasn't my favourite. When it became apparent to eight year old me that I was not an undiscovered musical genius, much to my disappointment, I quickly formed a hatred for my piano lessons on a par with my hatred for maths. But I'm now giving it another go and as much as I would love a piano, I think a keyboard might be the way to go first. Although I have no intentions of giving up this time... I'm going with the keyboard just in case.

A Graphic Tablet. 
Not necessarily for any particular reason, I've just found myself fancying being able to have a bit of a doodle and see what comes of it. 

Is there anything you would love to see in a Black Friday sale? 

xoxo

I'll be back soon with lots to tell you! Thank you for always being so wonderful. There are no words to adequately describe how grateful I am. xo

Kiko Matte Muse Lipsticks | Plushy Rose and Haughty Mauve

A surprise parcel from Kiko arrived a few weeks ago and as I wasn't too familiar with the range, I was keen to see why Kiko has become a much-loved beauty brand over recent months. I was immediately intrigued by the Matte Muse Liquid Lipsticks. Packaged in a nail polish-esque bottle, the applicator has an interesting shape and on first impressions, the colours looked really beautiful.

They have a creamy texture making them very easy to apply. Although they do dry down after a few minutes, they remain quite velvety and don't feel at all uncomfortable to wear. My lips are always a little on the dry side and I often find matte lip products difficult to work with, but I think both the texture and the finish of these is really nice. 

Kiko Matte Muse Lipsticks in Plushy Rose* and Haughty Mauve* | £6.90 each

Plushy Rose is a wearable light peach pink. It's my favourite of the two, although that's not going to be much of a surprise as you know I love this kind of shade. It's light enough to be a colour I would wear everyday and there's enough pink in there so it doesn't look too pale. The colour applies smoothly and it wears off evenly throughout the day so I don't have to worry about having splotches of colour everywhere if I don't have time to reapply.

Haughty Mauve isn't really mauve at all, on me it's really more of a raspberry shade and quite similar to my beloved Revlon Cherries in the Snow that I wore a lot a few years ago. High five if you remember those days! This shade also applies smoothly, but sometimes it can look a little streaky with just one layer. Again it also wears nicely, there's always a bit of a stain left behind at the end of the day, which looks pretty.

I'm certainly beginning to see why products from Kiko receive the praise they do.

Is there anything from Kiko that you would particularly recommend? 

•

Follow

Dear November

Dear November,

Part of me anticipates your arrival each year, but this time you're bringing with you something that truly, truly scares me. It's something I can't quite bring myself to think about too much yet, let alone talk about. Actively ignoring it is something I'm becoming increasingly good at, but in under three weeks it's something I'll have to confront.

Running away has been a bit of a special talent of mine for all of my adult life and I thought that was the right thing to do. It was a way to protect myself from everything, but I had got the point where I was protecting myself from so much I was almost forgetting one of the most fundamental elements of being human, how to feel. Without sadness what is happiness? Without fear what is comfort?

And so now I believe there is value in facing fears, no matter how difficult a task it may seem to be at the time. While I may not conquer a fear this month, I hope that in directly confronting it I may end up learning something about myself. Perhaps I can be braver than I think I can be. Only time will tell.

•

Follow