The Book Of Strange New Things.

I loved The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber - I mean really,  really loved it and was eager to read his new novel. But it was about an intergalactic Missionary... This didn't sound like it would be up my street at all... I picked it up with a view to read a few pages and validate that it wasn't my kind of thing and guess what? It was amazing! It was one of those books that I found myself thinking about when I wasn't reading it. I couldn't wait to pick it up and lose myself in it!

The Book of Strange New Things is set in the not too distant future and tells of Peter who is chosen as a missionary to travel to the recently discovered planet of Oasis and preach to the newly converted native Oaseans. 

Whilst Peter easily settles into his life on Oasis, forms bonds with the other humans who work there for the mysterious corporation USIC and grows to love the native Oaseans, his close relationship with his wife Bea unravels. Bea has remained on earth for the duration of his voyage  and is deeply troubled by an escalating series of natural disasters and civil unrest. Can Peter make his way back home and save his wife and their relationship or has his involvement with the Oaseans overtaken his life...

It's a very unusual book. I hesitate to call it Science Fiction as there is so much to this tale. It's very thought provoking, wonderfully written and although it's a long book (550 pages) it is well paced and the the story is enthralling to the end.

It's really not the kind if thing I expected to find myself liking but I loved it. It was though provoking and a joy to read.

Recommended.

Brand Love - Lipstick Queen

Ahh, lipsticks and glosses, who doesn't love them? They are a cheap(ish) treat to buy yourself and the quickest and easiest way to change your make up look. 

One brand that really brings it across the board is Poppy King's Lipstick Queen. This cult Australian brand for the most part offers great value for money whilst their higher priced ranges Silver Screen and Velvet Rope are pure luxury.

I have both glosses and lipsticks by Lipstick Queen and my only lip liner is from them. If I were to do a lipstick/gloss inventory they would be the most numerous brand in my collection. I receive a lot of free lip products but Lipstick Queen is the brand I most often purchase and I find myself using up whole bullets/tubes and repurchasing them I love them so much!

I first dipped my toe into the range when I bought Jean Queen Lipgloss, it's a natural raspberry pink that offsets the blue in denim. It's feminine yet not girly and was designed to wear with jeans - genius right? (There's also another range, Jungle Queen designed to wear with animal prints.) I followed up the gloss with Jean Queen Lipstick , that's how much I love it...

The most basic of the ranges are the Saints and Sinners lipsticks. Saints have 10% pigment, making them perfect for lipstick beginners. Sinners have 90% pigment providing full coverage for a bolder look. The formulas in both are great, non drying yet long lasting. I favour Saint Rose and Pinky Nude Sinner, but both ranges have a host of shades to choose from.

I recently bought a Big Bang Lipgloss. It's glossy and shimmery (but in a good way) and makes your lips appear more voluptuous.

The Invisible Liner I have is another pure genius idea that saves you having to buy a whole range of lip liners. (There is also a range of  Lip Liners that come in twelve colors that match the Saints and Sinners shades).

I also have one of their Chinatown Glossy Pencils, their moisturizing 'chubby stick type' pencil that's an easy too apply, but build-able, lasting gloss (and missing in action at time of writing!). 

Whether you're a lipstick novice or a seasoned pro Lipstick Queen has something for everyone! Why not pop over to us.spacenk.com and see if there's a Lipstick Queen product that takes your fancy? 

The Rosie Effect

Although I wasn't head over heels with Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project I did find it as a quick, light hearted read. I picked up the follow up The Rosie Effect expecting much of the same but found it to be  disappointing - several times I almost cast it aside...

In The Rosie Effect we catch up with Don and Rosie one year into their unexpected marriage. Living in New York, Rosie becomes pregnant and Don embarks upon a project to learn about children and fatherhood. 

Whilst The Rosie Project is quite amusing in parts I found this follow up to be unfunny. Don's eccentric behavior becomes repetitive and annoying and Rosie is presented as being angry and bad tempered for the most part. The fact that they are in New York is really of no significance to the plot. I didn't find the story to be engaging and it was all a little far fetched for my liking (Dom is arrested on suspicion of being a paedophile, Don is detained on suspicion of being a terrorist etc).

I'm sure The Rosie Effect will have it's fans and equally sure that there will be more books in the series in the same vein as the 'Shopaholic' books but on the basis of this one I will be leaving them on the shelf...

A Little January Beauty Splurge.

 If I'm to be perfectly honest I have to admit that my beauty stash is full to overflowing and I don't actually need anything (want, yes, but that's a whole 'nother story...) But I had a couple of things that I needed to redeem before they ran out so I ended up with the above goodies.

I had a Caudalie offer from Gilt City for an oxygen facial which included a store credit. (The facial BTW was pretty good. Whilst not one of the best I've ever had, it was nice and relaxing and the cold blast of oxygen was, well, interesting, even if the results weren't that long lasting).

With the store credit I bought a Vinexpert Eye Serum, as I don't have a spare eye cream in stock. I've used this before and it does the job without being too heavy or greasy.Oh, it did come in a box, but whenever I get a Caudalie product I unbox it straight away and enter the proof of purchase code to the Caudalie My Rewards account I have. It's a really good rewards program if you like Caudalie products and use them regularly. Take a look at it here us.caudalie.com 

Now normally the SpaceNK sale is filled with temptation for me, this year not so much... In fact there wasn't a great deal on offer in the US sale and for once the UK sale was much better. But I had ndulge points that were about to expire so I had to get something, right?

From the sale I bought a box of SpaceNK crackers. Now to call them crackers is a bit of a misdemeanor as they aren't pull-able and don't go 'bang' - what they are is a rather good selection of travel sized beauty products in a luxurious cracker like packaging. 

They would be lovely as decorations and whilst the whole box of six makes a fabulous gift for a beauty lover you could also split them up and give them as individual gifts. Yes the wrapped presents inside are that good, not a bad joke, tissue paper hat or fortune telling fish insight!

Instead you get:

. SpaceNK Life Ultimate Unwind Body Wash (100ml). A hydrating shower/bath gel with a delicious scent of lime, green tea and ginger.

. Caudalie Beauty Elixer (30ml) I always have one of these in my stash and always find a use for it.
. Oribe Supershine Moisturising Cream (50ml) I used a sample of this in October and loved it so much that I put it on my wish list.
. Laura Mercier Foundation Primer (30ml). Not one of my favourite primers but something that I will certainly use.
. Lipstick Queen Big Bang Gloss (full sized in the shade Creation). You can never have too many lip products and I simply love Lipstick Queen
. Rococo Creme Nail Polish (full sized in the shade V.I.P.). Can't go wrong with a classic, glossy, red nail and Rococo make great polishes.

As it was an online sale and I needed to make the $50.00 minimum for free shipping I also bought a Lipstick Queen Saint Rose Lipstick. It's one of my favorite ever lipsticks. (I love Lipstick Queen so much there's a blog post about them coming soon...) and I  received three free samples: Sunday Riley's Good Genes, Goldfadden Needle-less and Goldfadden Wake Up Call. 

I have to say I'm very pleased with my purchases and think that I really showed great restraint in the January sales overall! 

2014 - The Final Tally.

I'm a great lover of lists - reading them, making them, crossing things off them - there's just something that satisfies my need for organization!

With nothing better to do last week I looked back over my Empties posts of 2014 and totted up exactly what I'd used over the year, organized it all into a orderly list and jotted down a few thoughts... 

I managed to use up a satisfying 254 samples and an incredible 123 full sized products. The samples included everything from foils to minis whilst the full sized products were just that. Here's the breakdown of the full sized products.

Haircare.
4 Shampoo
6 Conditioner
2 Masks
4 Serum/Oils
2 Sprays (salt/volumiser).
Haircare Summary.
So it seems that I don't use half as much shampoo and conditioner as I thought I did and definitely don't need to buy any for a while as I have plenty in stock! As ever, and despite my best efforts not to, I ended up using way more conditioner than shampoo. Deep treatment hair masks and serums/oils aren't something that I've really used regularly in the past but I made an effort to do so this year and my hair has been in better condition for it - I really like using a mask after a clarifying shampoo.

Body care.
12 Shower gels
1 Soap
13 Body lotions
11 Hand creams
2 Perfumes (E.D.T.)
Body care Summary.
Shower gels are still my preference to soap, in fact I rarely use soap. I use liquid soap for hand washing but don't keep a record of those empties. And 11 hand creams(!) - a lot of these were the handbag sized ones.

Skincare.
8 Cleansers
1 Micellaire Solution
6 Make up remover wipes
5 Eye make up removers
5 Toners
1 Exfoliator
1 Mask
1 Serum
6 Moisturisers
5 Eye creams
Skincare Summary
I've been really good about make up removal this year and cleaning my face. I'm not a fan of wipes but I travel so much that they are a necessary evil for me - I use them to take off the worst of my make up before a HCC when away from home. Most of the masks that I use are samples or single application packages, so that's why the count for face masks is low. Likewise with serums, I have so many samples and minis that they provided the bulk of my usage.

Makeup.
1 Primer
3 Tinted moisturisers
2 Concealers
1 Blush
1 Eye primer
2 Eye shadows
1 Eye liner (pencil).
1 Lipstick
2 Lip gloss
6 Lip balms
Make up Summary.
It takes so long to fully use up a make up product right? Overall, I'm pretty pleased that I managed to get through a few.

Miscellaneous.
1 Sunscreen
1 Face papers
2 Nail polish removers
2 Beauty elixirs

And that's the lot! 

BTW I also read 32 books last year, now its not a resolution or anything but I aim to read more this year and have set myself the challenge of reading 50 via the GOODREADS 2015 reading challenge . Why not have a look at goodreads.com and join in too?

A Hundred Pieces of Me.

When Gina Bellamy splits up with her husband and moves from a house to a flat she decides to downscale by reducing her possessions to just 100 meaningful things. As she chooses which items to keep and discard she looks back at her life and her story so far is recounted.

 From the synopsis I was expecting this to be a series of 100 short chapters. However, there are just a few items discussed with their background and the story really does take a more conventional form. Further on in the story, her friend/relationship with a professional photographer, inspires her to create a wall full of 100 Polaroid (really?) photographs of meaningful moments in her current life, but again this idea isn't followed through.

I choose this book because of my love of lists so I have to say that it really didn't pan out as I expected it too. Having said that I didn't dislike the book. It was well written with believable characters in spite of some of the plot devices being rather far fetched. It was a light, easy read that whiled away a few hours, but I wasn't mad about it. 

(The cover with the dog BTW, even though there was a greyhound in the story, was something that I really found to be an odd choice...)

The Rise and Fall of Great Powers.

I loved Tom Rachman's first novel The Imperfectionists so much that I gave copies of it as gifts so I was eager to read this, his follow up...And I have to say that I was sadly disappointed by it.

The Rise and Fall of Great Powers tells the story of Tooley, a 30 year old bookshop owner and her childhood. Brought up by her Father and a series of shadowy so called guardians she has an unconventional childhood being constantly uprooted and moved from country to country. In 2011 Tooley begins to use social media (?!?) and reconnects with four of these people - her Father, her Mother, an elderly 'Russian' emigre called Humphrey and the mysterious Venn. 

On paper it seems as if it could be a good read right? but I found this book to be dull and uninspiring. Nothing of great interest happens or is revealed.  I found Tooley to be an annoying, manipulative, priggish character who I had no sympathy with (even the name 'Tooley' annoys me!) and the other characters I found to be depressing and underdeveloped by the author.

This was a very slow read for me. I kept on reading it hoping that something great would happen and turn the book around for me but it never did. A very dissatisfying read. 

Empties December 2014.

So here it is, the final Empties post of 2015, and I'm pleased to say that there were quite a few full sized products finished up as well as a fair smattering of samples. Whilst there was nothing that I really disliked this month, there were quite a few things that failed to wow me.

 Body care-wise I found the Sai Sei Body Polish Soap to be very drying and the Heathcote and Ivory Hand Cream, whilst smelling great, tended to leave my hands feeling greasy yet not soothed.

Skincare-wise Vichy Idealia Life Serum, Algenist Overnight Restorative Cream and Murad Renewing Eye Cream all underwhelmed me. But I did love Revive's Intensite Moisture Serum Extreme  and, at the cheaper end of the skincare spectrum, Una Bremmer's Super Facialist Rose Hydrate Creamy Cleanser was fabulous. Not only did it smell great, it did a really good job of removing make up and left my skin feeling plump and smoothed. Elemental Herbology Oil Free Hydrator was a perfect daily moisturiser for me that hydrated without making me greasy and shiny. Also, I think my instincts were right, Sarah Chapman Skinesis Eye Recovery was wonderful! Not only did a little go a long way, it felt soothing and hydrated my eye area extremely well without being heavy or greasy. Almay's Oil Free Make Up Remover Pads were an emergency supermarket purchase when I was traveling and whilst I wouldn't make them a part of my regular routine they were surprisingly good in spite of their weird chemically scent.

Perfume wise I loved both of this month's empty samples, Girl by Pharell Williams and Byredo's Mojave Ghost as well as the full sized Issey Miyake Floral that I finished. They were all florals but with a little hint of something funky that stopped them being too sweet or girly.

And I am so pleased that I finally finished up Nars Lip Gloss in Orgasm! It wasn't a colour that I could wear by itself but it did sit quite well over a darker lipstick. I didn't hate but it just seemed to have been nearly empty for a long, long time...