mist & mirrors.

WEARING: headscarf - vintage ; top - primark ; belt - new look ; maxi skirt - charity shop.

boudoir privé.

Last week, I posted about the GlossyBox that I received. While I was away, my September Boudoir Privé box arrived, and I've been keen to compare the two. I'm sick again (some kind of fluey thing/maybe I didn't get rid of my tonsillitis) so I thought this would be a good time to review it, as I'm not feeling up to doing much else!!

The first thing that struck me was how similar the boxes are packaged. Same colours, size, padding.. Something I really preferred about the Boudoir Privé box though, is this little booklet you get.

I've been using this on my dry hands, and it's really helped. It's got rid of my dead skin, and the smell is lovely - very lemony. We're having the girls over on Friday and I might offer to use this on them and then do some fun nail art!

Unlike the perfume in the GlossyBox, I LOVE this perfume. It's sweet and deep, but not overpowering. I wish I could afford to get a full size bottle :(

Now that I've chopped the ends of my hair off (I really should share a photo of that..) I am not so in need of any hair repair. However, I still suffer with frizz. This stuff is quite nice, it's very oily though so you have to be careful how much you apply and how much you use. The hair product in my GlossyBox suited my hair much better.

I love this shimmery red nailvarnish! It goes on really well, with 2 coats it looks perfect. It's much more than I'd like to spend on nailvarnish though (£9.98!) I also like that they include that thingy (technical term) so you can see all the colours.

I'm a bit scared to use this. I'm not a very tanned person, so I'm worried that this could be too dark for me and make me look dirty!

I love the colour of this eyeliner - a really deep purple with a bit of sparkle. I usually only use plain black or brown eyeliner, so this makes a nice change. I really like this, and £13 for a set of five isn't bad!

This cream feels really nice when you apply it. I'm not sure if it's reduced my dark circles, as mine get worse when I'm ill, but it definitely makes my eyes feel nice!

I really enjoyed my Boudoir Privé beauty box, but as with the GlossyBox, it's very hit and miss, and I cannot afford to buy a box full of products I may not like. I think out of the two boxes, this one had more products that I like and would use. Thanks Boudoir Privé :)

souper warm.

On Sunday, I made some super warming butternut squash soup. I added garlic and chilli to give it some heat. It's not really cold enough to need a soup that warms you up quite as much as this does, so I added a dollop of créme fraiche and a bit of grated parmesan and it was perfect. When the weather gets a little colder, I'll share the recipe with you :)

artist showcase #1

This is something I've been wanting to do for a while - highlight the incredible skills of the talented people I know. Who better to start with, than disgusting illustrator, one third of Total Jerk, oh and, yeah, he also happens to be my boyfriend... The first artist showcase concentrates on Elliott, working under the name Eli James.

1. Can you give us a little bit of your background?

Nothing special - school, college, uni. It wasn't until uni that I really got into illustration and started taking myself as a person seriously.

2. Did anything in particular make you go into illustration?

I'd always been into drawing and stuff - even back in pre-school I was drawing pretty dark. I guess it was just a passion that got stronger. It kind of started with my Dad - he used to buy little note books and draw old war uniforms in them, and I'd copy him. He also had me watching horror films at an early age. I used to love drawing the aliens, monsters and severed heads I'd see on the screen. That didn't go down well in school.

3. What inspires you?

Inspiration is a hard thing to pinpoint. I'm still inspired by horror films, but now it's more other artists and illustrators. Music can also give me a burst of inspiration - right now I'm really into Danny Elfman.

4. How do you work?

Cup of tea, biscuits, Byther Smith and an idea good enough to tear me away from doing nothing. I usually know when I'm done if I can do better, and most times I do it better. I have a LOT of shit I wouldn't dare show anyone.

5. What's your favourite medium to work with?

Easy - watercolour and ink. When I'm working on designs for Total Jerk I'll be using strictly digital media though. I'm hoping to get into acrylics soon.

6. Which piece of work are you most proud of?

That's hard to answer. I'm proud of my best work as a collection, and the fact that it's passed my own test. I don't have much that has, but if I had to choose I'd say Now, as it was my turning point.

7. What are you upto right now?

I actually have a lot going on at the moment. I have band artwork, three paintings for a gallery and illustrations for two different authors to do... and barely any time to do it.

8. Anything else you think we should know?

I'm not sure. I'm currently working on an art book called Botchjobs and Bio Hazards, and a baby book in my own style - so if you know anyone who's expecting, give them something different. Both will be available at the start of the new year. There will also be some creepy Christmas cards for sale in a couple of months.


Visit his facebook page, or email him at elijamesart@gmail.com for more information and illustrations. Also, hire him so that he can buy me loads of presents.

day at the museums.

Photo from Ella's Blog.

On Friday I travelled the tube alone to South Kensington to finally meet Ella. Since we found each other's blogs, we've been tweeting, texting and writing letters, and I'm so glad we actually got to hang out and talk in person!

First we headed to the Natural History Museum, which neither of us had been to for years. We loved the architecture, the dinosaurs and all of the animals. I absolutely LOVE taxidermy so I was in my element. We had a lot of laughs and I even learnt something - there's such a thing as vegetable ivory! So no need to steal tusks off the lovely elephants!

We found lots of funny taxidermy animals, like this one with funny teeth, and this one which looks like it's wearing a toupée!

Absolutely ridiculous illustration.

My favourite fish IN THE WORLD! I was laughing at this for far too long. Look at its FACE for goodness sake! Best thing in the museum.

We went across the road to the V&A and looked at some amazing jewellery, but the lighting was really strange and made us feel a bit weird. Tea and cake was needed. We sat in the courtyard talking for ages :) it was such a lovely day!

Ella also drew this lovely illustration of what we were wearing! :) such a cutie!

chevy.

A video of the event I went to at Battersea Power Station on Thursday evening.

On Thursday afternoon, I travelled up to London to go to Chevrolet Design Night. Chloé met me from Paddington station and we went off to meet Blondie from work. Although Blondie knew where Battersea Power Station was, it turned out to be the worst signposted place in the world, so it took us a little while to actually find how to get in! Once we got there, we were greeted by lots of Chevrolet cars, old and new (obviously I much preferred the old) ...

We walked down a scaffolding tunnel lit with pink lights, put our coats and bags in the cloakroom (which was FREE! I love free cloakrooms) and walked into a room full of important-looking people. Within 20seconds a man took a photo of us, because we're so damn hot, and he took another later on.

A curtain was pulled back and we were ushered into another room full of shiny seats and a stage. There were talks from various respected members of the artistic community (Neville Brody, Wayne Hemingway and Lucy Walker) as well as a LOT about cars (which got me yawning) and lots of awards were given out.

Although they all had interesting things to say, my favourite guest speaker of the evening had to be Wayne. He was so warm and real and Northern. His talk was personal and funny. I'm hoping at some point there'll be a video of his talk because I'd love to watch it back. And let's not forget, he created the Vintage Festival, so he's obviously going to be awesome in my eyes!

For the past five years, Chevrolet has held a competiton encouraging students of Applied Arts all over Europe to think of creative ways of representing the brand. Some of my favourite entries are below.

By the end of the talks we all really needed a wee and couldn't wait to get out of there! We were given free bubbly, brownies and posh jellies, and there was a free bar! Surprisingly, I didn't take full advantage of this, as I'm trying not to drink too much for a while!!

We stood around for a while chatting and watching other people. I thought I spotted Wayne Hemingway twice, but it just turned out to be some other bald men with glasses. There was music from DJ T and Bluey Robinson, but to be honest I didn't think much of either of them. They didn't strike me as anything special.

Two beautifully dressed ladies!

On leaving, we were given goodie bags, in which my favourite thing was some Jamie Oliver chicken seasoning (that probably gives you an indication of how interesting the rest of the stuff was) but I wasn't in it for the goodie bags. We had a fun night, despite it not quite living up to my expectations. I think they could do with having a little break in the middle of the talks, as it is a looong time to sit and listen.

We passed this fun window on the way home and I had to take a photo!

When we got back to Blondie's, she made a really yummy Thai soup (I took a sneaky photo!) and we chatted for a while before all having a nice sleep.

On Friday I met up with Ella, but that's a blog post for another day (tomorrow!)

All videos and some images courtesy of Young Creative Chevrolet.