Product Review: Lancôme’s Bi-Facil takes the day away.

I recently started to realise that make up wipes no matter how good they were, were bringing tears to my eyes when removing make up. I wear water proof intense black mascara and I would always wake up with classic case of “Panda eye”, I would then use another make up wipe to get rid of this. I always thought eye make up remover was a bit of a mumsy thing to do, and that I wasn’t at the age where I had to worry about how to look after my skin “properly”. However I am 26 this year and I am actually at that stage now (shit). 

I recently came across a tiny little sample of Lancôme Bi-Facil and gave it a go. The product specification on their website reads… 

Bi-Facil make up remover removes traces of the day, simply and beautifully. With a formula that’s suitable for even sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers, Bi-Facil gently removes make up including waterproof mascara. 

Now when I decided to do this I did it properly – no rubbing and a cotton pad for each eye. Now I have to agree with the product specification it absolutely does gently take the make up off, it’s got an almost dry feel to the liquid and isn’t greasy at all. It absorbs into the skin quickly and doesn’t leave the face feeling dry. 

This product has been around since 2000, and is still a popular purchase today. So it has definitely stood the test of time. It’s two tone blue colour layers give the impression it’s going to be heavy duty, but it feels almost like water on the eyes. It doesn’t sting if you get it into your eyes. Bi-Facil took away all my eye make up with two cotton pads, and I woke up with no panda eye HURRAY! 

My only issues with this product are firstly it’s not fragrance free (it doesn’t smell but on the ingredients it contains it) and finally is the price; for a 125ml it was 21.50. I can’t say if it’s worth the price yet but I’ve had it for a month and there’s still half left. There are definitely better all in one products out there, but if you’re feeling rich and sassy it’s a good purchase. 

Review: Hacksaw Ridge packs a punch.

After 10 years of a shamed exile from Hollywood, Mel Gibson returns with 8 oscar nods following the true story of Desmond Doss – the first conscientious objector to be awarded a medal of honour. 

The film opens 16 years previous, the Doss brothers are play fighting, Desmond hits his brothers head with a brick nearly killing him. In floods of tears Desmond helplessly stares at the 10 commandments “Though shall not kill”. 16 years later, Doss has a untameable desire to join the army, he wants to join as a medic, there is one problem; Doss is a pacifist and his beliefs don’t allow him to touch a gun. Obviously this is not going to go down well in the military. 

The first half of the film is Desmond Doss fighting his way through the joining process to allow him to fight without using arms – he gets bullied by his fellow soldiers who think he is a coward. His Sergeant even attempts to force him to leave. However after a court ruling – Doss can go to war without arms and he is sent to fight for Okinawa in Japan. 

This is when Gibson brings true form into action. His take on frontline warfare packs a punch – it’s extremely violent and graphic. There’s rats eating decaying bodies (gross). My heart was racing throughout the entire first battle scene – I honestly thought I was having a mild anxiety attack. It’s gorey, grim and grisely, exactly what it would of been like in real life. Doss helplessly runs from wounded soldier to wounded soldier attempting to administer medical treatment, obviously with guns firing and flame torches blazing that would be difficult. However it is when the US are forced to retreat that Doss works his pacifist magic. Alone on Hacksaw, Doss saves the lives of 70 injured soldiers by lowering them down the cliff edge, he looks to God “Please God let me save one more”, he saves a few Japanese soldiers (this guy?!). This brought complete admiration to my eyes for this man. 

Andrew Garfield played the part magnificently, he has this Forrest Gump feel to him – he’s a little bit geeky, a painfully awkward demeanour and a goofy smile, I warmed to him instantly. The supporting acts were brilliant, Hugo Weaving as his pained father suffering from survivors guilt. Theresa Palmer as his wife who stuck through him throughout. I was also impressed with Vince Vaughn, obviously he brought along some comedic substance. 

My only issue with the film was how the Japanese were portrayed. They were painted as evil soldiers, the bad guys and the Americans were the heroes. The Japanese soldiers were simply fighting for their own country and their beliefs just as much as the US. I feel the patriotic Americans would be thinking “WE RULE”. Sigh.  

Aside from that the morals were beautifully drawn. Always stick by what you believe in, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. The clips of the real life Desmond Doss were an excellent touch, this really brought it home that this man was a true hero who we should all look up to. 

Review: Taboo – A period drama with Hard(y) force.

GONE are the days of sparkly, glitzy reality TV… well at least for 8 weeks that is. Steven Knight teams up with Tom Hardy again for this swaggering moody drama set in 1814 London.

Hardy stars as James Delaney, returning to London for his father funeral after spending 10 years in Africa after a slavery ship he was on board sank leaving him presumably dead. Delaney is now the proud owner of a tiny island on the American-Canadian border which he has inherited, however he faces a grisly battle with Her Majesties Government who wish to buy it for a small fortune, obviously he isn’t playing ball.

Hardy glares and snarls his way through the first episode, making his fellow cast seem like fluttering moths in the background. This is what I love about Hardy, he has the ability to make the sweetest nursery rhyme sound like an invitation to murder.

I love the setting on 1814 London, there was no sign of fluttering eyelashes and posh sun brollies which period settings tend to indulge in, it was doom, gloom and grey skies. The looming of the foggy factory smoke in the background made me think, is that what London was really like back then?

Delaney is set to keep his private island from the greedy, corrupt and dishonest politicians and will probably do some serious damage to those who cross him. Complimented with some harsh flash backs from his dark past aboard the slavery ship, Hardy is definitely our anti-hero here to save us from the despair of shit Saturday night TV.

N.B. Edward Fox plays a corpse damn it, it’s gotta be good if HE played a dead person. Seriously.

YOU’RE WELCOME

Line of Duty Finale Review: Who killed The Caddy?

Line of Duty series 3 finally delivered its secrets (well most of them) with two incredibly intense interrogations scenes (which I swear had my heart rate doubled), then followed by a cop-on-cop foot chase, which even DC Fleming breathes “I’m too knackered to run”.

The first of those eyeballing scenes was a 23 minute interview with DS Arnott who was arrested for the murder of DI Denton (who made one final blood soaked reprisal), Arnott starts off with the confidence of an innocent man who is gradually degraded by the lies and strategic calculations of our favourite villain DS “Dot” Cotton. It’s a brutal mental cage fighting match, that also tears at your heart strings for the innocence ripped away from DS Arnott.

However, we start to see some hope in the form of DC Fleming, who quietly scribbles away and makes some intense eyebrow movements, a seed of doubt is planted. The tables finally turn (literally) for DI Cotton, who is then brought in for another 20+ minute interrogation. Does this come across boring? Absolutely not, I have never been so captivated from watching a “ping pong” style interrogation, with body language and eye glaces that filled my living room with such intensity. The walls finally seem to be caving in on DI Cotton, and finally the actions kicks off – DI Cotton makes his final plea, with a text “Urgent exit required” and then we’re faced with an armed DC Fleming in hot pursuit of “The Caddy”. 

I think we all knew it was time for The Caddy to get his comeuppance, and he did in true gentry style taking multiple bullets for his soft spot DC Fleming. But not with one last act of honesty, in his dying declaration, he gave up the act and indicated former Chief Superintendent Patrick Fairbank’s involvement with the pedophile ring. But we were left with so many burning questions… who was driving the getaway car? Who was the masked gunman that shot The Caddy? I really hope we don’t have to wait another two years, I just don’t have the patience.

The acting has been impeccable and you can see why it has been crowned BBC2 most succesful drama in 15 years. Line of Duty captivates you, envelopes you and is plausible to the point of reality and that is completely down to the main cast; Vicky McClure, Adrian Dunbar, Martin Compston, alongside Daniel Mays short lived performance and of course Keeley Hawes harrowing and domineering class act. A major thank you to Jed Mercurio’s astonishing story telling and John Sticklands direction. It really has been the pinnacle of police drama.

As the credits rolled, the nation was left wondering, what now? But fear not, did you watch post credits… ?

 

Oh boy…

I feel like we are all on a constant search for a gloss or lipstick that actually stays put, so that we don’t have to live in fear of the dreaded smudge (or lipstick turning into liner after an hour, does anyone else get this!?) whenever we tuck into a romantic meal or have a […]

Rise of The Midlands – Raised by Wolves returns!

Imagine a lower class mother of 6 children, unplugging the £29.99 a month internet followed by 3…2…1 a haul of teenagers in horror to which she replies “Are you questioning my austerity policies?” “Are you Corbyning me?”.

For those who are already fans of the show, you should know exactly what I’m talking about. Yes, Wednesday night we saw the return of Raised by Wolves, the hit comedy penned by sisters Caitlin and Caz Moran. For those who haven’t seen the show, Raised by Wolves is a loose account of the Moran sisters youth in Wolverhampton transcended into modern day. The show focuses on sisters (based on the Moran sisters), Germaine and Aretha Garry with their younger siblings led by unconventional “matriarch” mother ‘Della’.

So with the internet unplugged, Della’s children are decamped to the local library to use the communal computers manned by a sleeping OAP security guard what followed, left me in fits of laughter. Germaine dancing and sexually teasing a young school boy with a book about chlamydia in her hand, who then subsequently asks her out on a date (they stand at a bus stop where Germaine rubs his nipples and ferociously kisses him).

This is why I love Raised by Wolves, there aren’t many sit-coms that approach poverty so matter-of-factly (it’s no Shameles), i.e. Della going to the “poor woman’s Ikea” (which is a rich woman’s skip). Credit to the Moran sisters, the dialogue is so fantastically written, sounding true to life, it really feels like this was important to them when writing the show.

Della is the winner for me in the episode (and properly for the entire of the first series), she is so subtly funny with her one liners; “I’m incredibly even tempered, am I not?” she says so deadpan to ‘Grampy’ when he questions her anger outbursts. Big appreciation for her character. (NOTE: The Moran sisters said she is a combination of Linda Hamilton and Clint Eastwood)

Series 1 was very funny, unusual and absorbing. It was something that as an audience we hadn’t seen, well, since Shameless. However, this episode the characters feel more human and better formed. It was an excellent introduction to the series, which I cannot wait for. It’s great to have the well-scripted, hilarious, true to life series back.

This has strengthened my love for my favourite funny lady; Caitlin Moran.

 

 

A Sunday walk in Arnside Knott

I have lived in The North West for majority of my life, and I have recently realised that whenever I go hiking and exploring it’s always in a different county.

I’ve decided that from now on, I should spend more time exploring the beautiful landscapes of The North West. I mean, it’s home to the extraordinary Lake District, one the most beautiful parts of the country, and I’m so lucky that’s it’s on my door step!

So here are a few snaps from my walk at Arnside Knott, Arnside, Cumbria.

The walk took approximately two hours (this includes stopping for pictures and looking for crabs), and the weather was absolutely beautiful. It was very windy but the sun was shining throughout the whole walk.

The one thing that I loved about Arnside Knott is that it is pretty low key. It’s not touristy and is only really known to the local dog walkers on Arnside. Considering it was a Sunday, I could count on one hand the people we crossed!

If you haven’t visited before I would definitely recommend going. I was with a friend who was from the local area and was very familiar with all the “off track” routes. So I would do a bit of research on the best route to take, the woods huge and can imagine it is very easy to get lost!

My Bleach London hair story

Anyone who knows me, will know that I have always been very experimental with my hair. I have had many hair high and lows. Recently I have been going through some sort of mid-life hair crisis of not knowing how I wanted my hair to be.

I’ve had red hair, pink hair, yellow (not on purpose), black, ginger, blonde (you get it right?).

For about 2 years I have had the same hair colour and cut, so I thought it was time to do something a bit different. Over the past month I have discovered the brand ‘Bleach London’, generally their products are decent and reasonably priced. Whenever I am looking through their products, I always coo over their non-permanent hair dyes (they range from orange to blue), questioning whether I am quirky enough to pull it off. About a week ago I decided to have a quiet word with myself and give it ago. So I purchased;

Bleach London – Total Bleach
Bleach London – White Toner
Bleach London – Violet Skies

and this was the result

Not bad ey? If you are thinking of using any of their non-permanent hair dye, I would really recommend bleaching and toning your hair first, especially if it’s quite dark else the colour just won’t attach to your hair. What I liked about Violet Skies is first that the dye itself if a creamy thick liquid which makes the dye pretty easy to apply and means it doesn’t run. Also, it’s a 150ml bottle priced at £5 and can be used multiple times so touch ups isn’t expensive. It says on the bottle to apply onto wet hair for 15 minutes, as I never listen to any instructions especially those written on a bottle of hair dye, I applied onto dry hair for half an hour. (everything turned out alright in the end)

I have mid length hair and I didn’t use the whole bottle, coverage wasn’t the best, it didn’t like to attach too strongly to my roots, but enough to not look like a botched job. I was pretty happy.

The dye is advertised as a cream that fades with 2-10 washes, which is a bonus for me, as I can change my hair colour again soon. And the fade leads to quite a nice ashy-silvery colour 

 

Book Review: Tampa by Alissa Nutting

Before I start to go into detail about Alissa Nutting’s debut novel, this has to be said. This novel is not for the shy reader, if you are somewhat of a sexual prude and cringe and the thought of even the word “vagina” being read then do not read this book!

Tampa is the story of Celeste Price an 8th grade high school English Teacher in Tampa. Celeste on the surface has it all, she is devastatingly attractive,  smart, wealthy and has a doting cop husband. But Celeste has a deep dark secret, she has a painfully strong sexual desire for 14 year old boys. Throughout the novel Celeste ruthlessly manipulates several of her 14 year old boy students into bed. Celeste is obsessed with having sex with these boys, when she’s not having sex with them in a classroom or car, she’s masturbating on her school desk about having sex with 14 year old boys. She will do anything to appease her sexual needs. It consumes her and she doesn’t care.

The main issue that Tampa explores is the current gender view on sexual relationships. Loosely inspired by Nutting’s fellow high school pupil Debra Lafave who was convicted of having sex with 14 year old boys, and famously dodged serving any prison time as she was labelled “too pretty for prison”.

Tampa is written from the perspective of Celeste, so the reader gets a graphic, perverted and sociopathic insight into her attitude and behaviour, and believe me she is nothing less than a sociopath. Whilst reading this book, as a reader you will experience outrage that society and the law would allow Celeste (and Lafave) to not serve any prison time due to her appearance.

Tampa reminds us of  the issue that society still makes the assumption and generalisation that women are the passive aggressive gender, and males are the aggressors. Society still finds it hard to imagine a woman sexually abusing a male, granted it doesn’t happen a lot, but it STILL happens.

If a 14 year old girl was sexually abused by a male teacher, he would be described as a raping pedophile that sickeningly manipulates a passive victim with no sexuality of her own being used. However if we flip this around like in Tampa, questions and doubts are raised – “Is this not the perfect teen male fantasy?”,  “He must of wanted in some sort of way?”. The media tends to blanket over the mental and emotional manipulation and focusing on the physical abuse instead.

I have to admit that the language and the graphical content left me uncomfortable throughout the novel and I constantly found myself thinking “what the actual fuck am I reading? Am I sociopath for even reading this?”, but I personally feel that this was Nutting’s intention, to make you fully realise Celeste’s animalistic and disgusting appetite for prepubescent 14 year old boys. Celeste needs to be a monster and a sexual predator to show that it is possible for women to be monsters and that they go unfairly unpunished due to just being a female.

I read quite a few reviews on this book before I wrote this, and I noticed that a lot of people were comparing it to that of Lolita. I don’t think these books can even be closely compared as they explore completely different views on society. In Lolita you feel slight sympathy to Humbert as he loved Lolita. I can guarantee that you will feel no sympathy towards Celeste as she is no way in this for love, she is purely driven by the thought of sex. This is not a novel about love or romance, Nutting makes no attempt to convince the reader that Celeste is in this for an emotional reward, it is just sex with 14 year old boys.

It’s not the greatest of novels but i’ll give Nutting credit, it is a very brave first novel and explores issues that haven’t been fully addressed. Also, the book is sickeningly funny in a ridiculous crude way.

P.s. Maybe purchase as an e-book as the front cover of the book just reminds everyone of a vagina and I found it quite hard to cover with my hands on the train to work.

 

Black Mass

Scott Coopers Black Mass has been heavily labelled as Johnny Depp’s big comeback, although I don’t think he went that far away as everyone is making out. A career as productive as Depp’s he is bound to have some dry spells (The Lone Ranger) . However, in Black Mass, Depp successfully carries this big, brash horribly watchable true-life crime drama which has valid insights into the political roots of 1970’s Boston gangsterism.

Depp plays Irish-American Boston wise guy James “Whitey” Bulger, leader of The Winter Hill Gang who’s murderous, racketeering and other criminal activities heyday was in the late 1970’s. With his slicked back hair and lizard blue eyes, Depp’s Bulger is a fully paid up sociopath.

Politically supported by his Massachusetts State Senator brother, Billy Bulger, is played smugly by Benedict Cumberpatch who adopts the ‘cat-that-got-the-cream’ gleefully. Billy can only really be described as the political wing of Whitey’s organisation.

Conveniently, Whitey’s best friend is John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) who is an ambitious FBI agent who gives Whitey immunity of prosecution is exchange for valuable intel regarding the Italian Mob. But as murder, drugs and IRA weapon smuggling become a federal embarrassment, Whitey soon becomes more of a liability than an asset, his closeness to Connolly brings the Bureau into despair and  disrepute.

Edgerton steals the show for me, with his bullish bravado and walking that ever so thin line between police and criminality, when watching his performance you know what his fate will hold without having any prior knowledge to the real life outcome. You see his character transform from ambitious FBI federal agent to thugish, wife neglecting traitor.

Yet the talented females of the film such as Juno Temple, Dakota Johnson and Julianne Nicolson are completely sidelines by the boy’s own affairs which really didn’t sit right with me. I felt that it left little room for high calibre female input, disappointingly.

Depp is barely recognisable with his prosthetic nose, artificial receding hairline, replacement eyebrows, fake rotting teeth and a topcoat of sickly green make-up. All this artificial work felt unnecessary, perhaps it was to enhance the evilness of Whitey and his monstrous activities yet I found it more distracting, I kept wondering whether his nose was going to fall off in all his close-ups. Take Jack Nicolson in The Departed, his character was heavily influenced by Whitey Bulger, yet all he inherited was slicked back hair and a strong goatee.

In all fairness, Depp commits to the character very well and truthfully that you can envision how truly evil Whitey was, I felt no likability towards him. Compared to Tom Hardy’s portrayal of The Cray Twins in Legends, where I couldn’t help like and root for them. There is no good in sociopath Whitey Bulger.

All in all Scott Coopers has done a good job at portraying the true grittiness and criminal underbelly of Boston in the late 70’s and is heavily complimented by a colourful supporting ensemble from Kevin Bacon, Peter Saarsguard and Corey Stoll.