Books and Chocolate: the 2022 Edition
Yes, it’s what you’ve all been waiting for: this year’s edition of Books and Chocolate, also known as The Ultimate Easy Christmas Gift. If you’re on a tight budget, if you’ve left everything until the last minute, if you’re struggling to think of present ideas but want to buy thoughtful, bespoke gifts: this post is for you.
The “ultimate book gifts” concept is simple and one you’ll be familiar with if you’re a loyal, longterm reader. (If you’re new here: welcome. Plenty of posts to catch up on – 3,645 of them to be precise.) The concept is that you take a very good book with a cover that is beautiful, graphic or otherwise noteworthy and you add to this a bar (or flat box) of chocolate with equally beautiful or graphic wrapping. The important thing here is looks; for this gift to work, for it to look like a little parcel of loveliness, we really must judge the book (and chocolate) by its cover.
(The fact that the contents of the books and chocolates are also very carefully chosen for exceptional quality should not be overlooked, but for the moment I’m just trying to drive home the whole premise of this gift idea which is that the bundle you put together should be pretty or arty or both.)
Let’s recap again – just to drill this home – before I go in with some suggestions.
Good-looking book + equally good-looking chocolate = relatively inexpensive, easy and thoughtful gift that is easy to wrap and post.
I use recycled, recyclable Kraft paper (I buy it here*) but you can also get very plain brown paper in huge rolls and use colourful ribbons or tags to spruce up. No specialist shopping required, you can order it all from your sofa. (I’ve linked to the easiest options, feel free to search around for stockists and alternative retailers.)
Here are this year’s picks. Remember that you can refer to previous years for more ideas; the 2021 Edition is here, the 2020 Edition is here and the 2019 Edition is here. I tend to trawl the big literary prize lists for my books and chocs contenders so that the suggestions are relatively new and the recipient will be less likely to have read the book, but there are obviously endless options. I’m just taking away the hard work!
One massive oversight I made this year: I didn’t have my usual bars of Tony’s Chocolonely to hand when I was shooting my images. Tony’s bars are chunky, colourful, delicious and relatively inexpensive: I cannot recommend them enough as a Book n Choc pairing. You can find most of the flavours online here*.
Tony’s Choc also brings the price-per-bundle down considerably – Tony’s and a paperback can come in at around a fiver if there are offers on, whereas a hardback and a beautiful Liberty print box of truffles might be nearer to twenty-five pounds. But all price points are covered and the majority come in around the £10-£15 bracket, which I think is pretty fair for such a good gift.
Here we go with the 2022 Edit:
Burntcoat + Hip Oat Milk Chocolate
The Book: Wow, what can I say about this little firecracker of a book? It’s perfect holiday reading, short enough to be done with in a day (though you’ll want to go back for a second read almost immediately) but so intense and thoughtful and so brilliantly executed. It may well be my book of the year. It’s like reading poetry, almost, except that it doesn’t make me want to fall asleep. It has love, it has death and it has a pandemic storyline that’s not quite what it seems…
The Chocolate: Hip Oat Milk chocolate. It’s surprisingly good, this chocolate, despite it being dairy-free and my benchmark formula being Cadbury’s Dairy Milk pre-recipe-change. It’s so creamy that you barely notice the lack of milk.
Trust + Luscious Orange
The Book: this, pleasingly, is a proper literary puzzle. Four versions of a person via four contrasting sources, all set in 1920s New York. Who isn’t going to love this as a rip-roaring fireside read over the holidays? It’s clever and it’s beautifully written – longlisted for the Booker Prize this year I think that it’s a book choice that will impress.
The Chocolate: Willie’s Cacao Luscious Orange should come with a warning. It’s so bitter. It turns my mouth inside out. Lots of people love the most bitter chocolates but if you don’t, I’m going to suggest swapping in a big bar of Tony’s Chocolonely – this red one here* to contrast with the book cover. Consider yourself saved.
Buy Willie’s Cacao Luscious Orange*
An American Marriage + Pana Fruit & Nut
The Book: read it as an examination of America’s unjustice system or read it, as I did, as a minute study into the idea of loyalty within a marriage that’s stretched to its limits. I found this a fascinating story with a surprising end; many of the characters’ principles seemed so at-odds with my own.
The Chocolate: Pana make organic, dairy-free gluten-free vegan chocolate that’s genuinely a brilliant alternative to the traditional options. I haven’t quite tried all of the flavours, but the Mylk, Fruit and Nut and Golden Comb are utterly delicious. Delicious.
Buy An American Marriage by Tayari Jones*
Buy Pana Organic online here*.
Circe + El Blanco
The Book: A riskier choice as this was published in 2018 and many will have read it, but equally a very safe choice because every single person I speak to about this book, from every age group and every walk of life, loves it unreservedly. It has history, it has magic and it has myth and whoever lands it won’t be able to put it down.
The Chocolate: good God it’s a hard job taste-testing all of these chocolate bars… El Blanco is a grown-up version of a Milky Bar – without the sickly sweet edge. Usually white chocolate is heavy on the vanilla so you have to get used to the aftertaste of real cacao here but after a few squares the Milky Bar Kid is a distant memory.
The Marriage Portrait + Rococo Rose
The Book: can you go wrong with a book by Maggie O’Farrell? I think not. This one is set in Renaissance Italy and follows the story of sixteen year-old Lucrezia de Medici as she tries to survive marriage and court and all of the associated dramas that I wouldn’t be able to handle at forty-one, so fair play to her and all that. Whenever I read these historical novels with the brutal births and family members being decapitated and so on it always amazes me that the women enduring these things were what we would now consider to be children. This is a rip-roaring read and I think we need to especially appreciate the amazing front cover… If ever a book was made for this feature!
The Chocolate: I get it. Rose-flavoured chocolate is a Marmite choice. (I dislike Marmite FYI.) Personally I love the slightly perfumed taste, as though you’re eating something that’s been sitting around in a flower shop. I love the contrast between dark chocolate and delicate rose – I’m also a fan of Turkish Delight, so there.
Buy The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell*
Cleopatra & Frankenstein + Charbonnel & Walker
The Book: this is joint-favourite book of the year along with Burntcoat. If I had to choose one I’d go for this, mainly because there’s more of it and I related to the characters more and I also love modern-day New York as a book setting. Nothing makes me want to jump on a plane more than books set in New York. This is an unlikely marriage story (there seems to be lots of marriage going on in this year’s edit!) that is sweet and unsuitable and doomed and yet you can’t stop reading. It’s almost as though the charm is in the undoing. I loved everything about it – the dialogue, the setting, the brilliant humour – even if I found Cleo jaw-clenchingly annoying. I loved to hate her.
The Chocolate: Charbonnel & Walker Salted Caramel truffles are a classic and it’s impossible to just eat one. Obviously a lot more spendy than a singular bar of chocolate, but if you wanted to up the stakes and make your gift extra lovely then this ticks all the (round) boxes. The limited edition packaging makes them even more special and even more suited to Books n Chocs. Liberty print + Charbonnel, a combination made in heaven.
Buy Cleopatra and Frankenstein*
Buy Liberty Charbonnel & Walker*
Small Things Like These + El Blanco
The Book: Claire Keegan has written a perfectly formed short novel that leaves you feeling oddly satisfied, despite the grim foundations of the storyline. I read that it was supposed to be about the Madgalene Laundries in Ireland and the widespread, frightening control of the church but in fact it felt like a story of hope and heroism and simple right-and-wrong morals. It’s set at Christmas and it feels like Christmas, like a traditional, warm tale that you might read again and again, year after year. For fans of tenderly-written prose that delves into the lives of others and makes those lives feel real, there couldn’t be a more perfect festive treat. It’s like peering through a snowy window into someone’s candlelit living room.
The Chocolate: El Blanco again. I’ll just have to try it, again…yes it’s still good.
Lessons in Chemistry + Pana Fruit & Nut
The Book: well this is an absolute treat. Tackling sexual inequality in 60s America but in the boldest, wittiest, most colourful kind of way. The book cover couldn’t be more apt: it really does feel like a bright, primary-coloured romp and the writing seems to never stop smiling at you, even when it tackles very serious topics. And the narrative is easily as relevant to today’s world as the decade in which it’s set. It makes you furious but furious with a grin. I love this. Love it. A cheerful gift indeed.
Carnival of Snackery + Rose & Violet Creams
The Book: diehard David Sedaris fan here so it’s little wonder I enjoyed his latest book so much. Brimful with sharp observations about the world and with zero filter. Which is possibly inadvisable in today’s world but it’s a refreshing change to bear witness to someone’s unedited thoughts, even if they reveal the author’s biases and prejudices. It’s supposed to be a kind of brain dump, really, and I like the honesty. Sedaris makes me laugh like no other writer – his diary entries about his book tours and the people he meets along the way are comedy gold.
The Chocolate: oh hello. These are so good they’ve sold out everywhere. Which is unfortunate as the larger box costs the same as a small aeroplane. Again rose chocolate, which is one of life’s great dividers, but this is different: it’s rose cream. In half of them. And violet cream in the other. Before you make sick noises over your phone, I have converted at least half a dozen people to these and all have been pleasantly surprised. I can’t get enough of them, clearly, seeing as though my box is now empty.
Night Crawling + El Blanco
The Book: some will dislike this book, especially those who just like to get on with a story rather than stopping every other sentence to decipher a metaphor or untangle a bit of abstract wordplay. But it’s powerful and interesting and I’ll add a trigger warning: it’s dark and rife with sexual abuse and violence. Written by a teen, based on truth, it’s not a jolly pick for under the Christmas tree but it’s really not supposed to be.
The Chocolate: El Blanco. To be honest I’ve had enough of this now. Why did I feature this so many times? I never want to see this chocolate again.
Buy Night Crawling by Leila Mottley*
This Is Going To Hurt + Salted Caramel
The Book: so good, so easy to read, so incredibly funny and so incredibly engaging that I’ve read this book (possibly) more times than any other in the past decade. I love the style, so irreverent and funny – even when it’s dealing with life-destroying medical emergencies – absolutely putting you in the mind and in the place of the Junior Doctor it’s written by. This book throws open the doors on both medical practice and the inner workings of the NHS and it couldn’t have been done in a more brilliant way. It’s laugh out loud, it’s often horrendously gross and it’s possible a really inappropriate present for elderly relatives, but I say….go for it.
Buy This is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay*
Mrs Caliban + Liberty Charbonnel
The Book: courtesy of my friend Tine, who has all of the best book recommendations and spends half her life in Toppings of Bath, arguably the best book shop in the country. Anyway, she couldn’t believe I hadn’t read Mrs Caliban as the storyline is so up my street. Subverted suburban life. Frustrated, sad American housewife with a broken marriage and lost child meets large, amphibious, alien-like creature and begins sexual relations with it/him. I mean. Could a book be more suited to me? I love this barmy stuff. This is short and thought-provoking and there’s nothing else like it. A joyous, unique, off-beat gift that shows you know your literature. Cheers Tine for making me look more knowledgeable than I actually am…
Buy Mrs Caliban by Rachel Ingalls*
Buy Liberty print Charbonnel & Walker*
Cooking + Luscious Orange
The Book: could it be Books n Chocs without a cookbook? This year’s choice is simply called Cooking and it’s a wonderful scrapbook of essential recipes with small photos that you can imagine were originally stuck on with bits of tape, and then scatterings of lists throughout instructing on the types of leaves and herbs and what to do with them, or the essentials to keep in your pantry. This isn’t one of those books that relies on amazing photography and food styling – it’s almost all in the words. And it’s fabulous. One to keep out and peruse at every meal time and with every cup of tea. It’ll be dog-eared and stained within the year and this is exactly how it’s meant to be.
And there you have it my friends. Remember to take a look at the suggestions from previous years – there are some excellent combos! Any questions or further suggestions then please drop them into the comments box below.
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The Babyliss Cordless Hot Brush: Any Good?
Well, here’s something I was expecting to hate but ended up loving: the Babyliss Cordless Hot Brush. I realised, through a bit of self-therapising (basically just me staring at the window for a while, pondering stuff) that the reason I took instant dislike to the thing was because it had lots of short, completely rigid bristles. It reminded me of the little brushes you used to get in the eighties to do hairdressing on the mannequin head’s plastic, knotted hair and it also reminded me of a certain type of mascara wand that I very much dislike.
So yes, I judged this particular book by its cover. (I don’t mind admitting that I judge nearly every single beauty and grooming product by its proverbial cover, because products are not people and they can’t be offended and so on the “moral offences” scale it’s pretty tame.)
But how wrong I was. The rigid bristles are there to slide and glide through the hair so that nothing gets tangled and it makes the whole process, if you’re simply sleeking everything down as I was, effortless and speedy. I had no idea what the Babyliss Cordless Hot Brush was supposed to do because I didn’t do any research before I turned it on, but I began brushing my hair with it and it was instantly smoothed. I then decided to mix things up a bit and brushed it from the underneath, like the hairdressers do, turning the brush as I went, and it gave a little bit of volume through the lengths and then a rounded-under finish. A very smooth, swanky, expensive-looking long bob.
I realise that in the age of “gadgets needing to do more than one thing” this isn’t the most all-singing all-dancing hair tool; it doesn’t use air like the Dyson things and it you can’t do fancy twists and turns with it like you can with a pair of straighteners (I mean I don’t think you can…again: haven’t read the instructions) but for me, it’s an absolute Godsend. Because I have that particular length of hair that looks excellent styled but that makes me look like a medieval lute player if I don’t do anything with it. And most of the time I really can’t be bothered to do anything with it. The Babyliss Cordless Hot Brush offers me a sort of “midway effort option”: three minutes brushing through, wearing silly heatproof gloves because I can burn myself on anything, and my hair looks just slightly more…purposeful. As though it’s actually in a style. All of the hairs point the same way and kick under at the bottom and, with some makeup thrown onto my face, I can get away with looking as though I’ve made a hell of a lot more effort than I actually have.
So there: mind changed on this one. I dismissed it straight out of the box but in just three or four minutes it had become the hair tool that might just convince me to keep my hair at the length it’s at. I don’t find it very heavy, though I’ve just looked at some reviews and a few others do – it’s not the sort of tool you have to hold up in a perfectly still position for ages (like a wand) but anyway, I didn’t find it noticeably cumbersome. Especially as it doesn’t have a cord – cords usually causes me all kinds of grief.
On another practical note, it takes around three hours to charge up for a forty minute use on maximum heat. Again, not a problem for me – it took seven minutes to do my entire head twice on max power and charging it up isn’t exactly a hardship. I’m not sure where exactly I’ll take it that will necessitate cordless styling but it’s nice to know there’s the option!
You can find the Babyliss Cordless Hot Brush online, RRP £180 but most places seem to have it at £120-ish – it’s currently £126 at LookFantastic here*. Watch me using the Hot Brush for the first time – the shirt I’m wearing, by the way, is from Boden here* and the hair oil used as a final finish is the excellent L’Oreal Professional Absolut Repair Oil, online here*. Brilliant, cheap as chips Elnett hairspray can be procured from just about anywhere in life, but if you need a quick link then click here*.
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©2022 “
5 Favourite Budget Cleansers
If you’re trying to save money on your skincare but don’t want to compromise on the quality of your routine then I have some good news for you: I’ve rounded up some of the best budget cleansers and they’re all products I happily use (and repurchase) on a regular basis.
I’ve set the “budget” threshold at ten pounds and under for this skincare favourites post. I realise that the word budget means different things for different people – and also that there are cheaper cleansers out there – but I think that the products I’ve picked offer some of the very best quality for the price.
Five budget cleansers that’ll satisfy all skin types – there’s something here for everyone, whether you have oily skin or sensitive skin or, indeed, oily and sensitive skin. The packaging might be rather more pared-back than what you’d get wrapped around a more spendy cleanser but all of the formulations are utterly lovely, cleanse really thoroughly yet won’t strip your skin or leave it tight.
The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser, from £5.50 at Space NK*
This brilliant cleanser from The Ordinary is great for absolutely all skin types and is a particularly good choice if you just want one cleanser to do all jobs; it removes makeup, including eye makeup, has enough slip to really massage into the skin and then leaves the skin hydrated once it’s removed with a washcloth. I don’t need a separate makeup remover when I use this – it’s fresh in feel (a gel cream texture) but mighty in performance.
It’s probably my overall top pick just because it suits everyone, is conveniently packaged and has that silky cream-to-oil texture that I usually associate with far more expensive products.
Cerave Hydrating Cleanser, £8 at Cult Beauty*
Again, a suit-all choice, but this errs on the side of a wash that you can splash off rather than a more unctuous balm or cream that you can luxuriously massage in. It comes in a big bottle so is the sort of product you could leave out in the shower for the whole family to use. Cerave are all about strengthening and protecting the skin barrier so it’s brilliant for those with sensitive skin.
Superfacialist Rosehip Creamy Cleanser, £6 at Amazon*
For those who prefer a cream over a more balm-like product, this tube of rose-scented cleanser is outstanding. I’ve loved it for many, many years and I’m so pleased it’s still in existence. So many things I love get discontinued! This has the feel of an old-fashioned cold cream, in a way, but it’s handily packaged in a tube and has a beautiful smell. Like the Squalane cleanser, I’d massage this in and remove with warm water and a washcloth/flannel rather than trying to splash off like a wash. It’s very satisfying seeing all of your makeup come off onto a flannel – if you’re not cleansing with a cloth then bring one into your life immediately! The regular, gentle exfoliation it gives is a big enough perk but you’ll find that your cleansing is so much more thorough and effective.
Buy Superfacialist here*
Inkey List Oat Cleansing Balm, £8.79 at LookFantastic*
Another cleansing balm at a very good price; Inkey List’s Oat one is far more a traditional balm texture than the Squalane, which is a lighter sort of gel-cream. Or cream-gel. Same thing. In my opinion, the more balm-like it is (sort of like a gritty butter or solidified goose fat texture, for want of a more appealing description) the better the cleanser is at removing eye makeup. Because you can melt it down into an oil over the eyes but it takes longer to turn liquid than other forms of cleanser and so you really get stuck in over the lashes and lids. Great stuff.
Those with oilier skin might not like this so much as it instinctively feels as though it might add oil to the skin and maybe clog pores, but it doesn’t. It washes off (with a cloth, again!) completely clean and doesn’t leave a residue. I’d say it’s good for all skin types but dry will particularly love.
Aveeno Calm + Restore Oat Cleanser, £5.30 at Amazon*
A great option for sensitive skin, as with the Cerave. Aveeno’s Calm + Restore range contains Aveeno’s prebiotic oat, something existing fans will no doubt be familiar with as the products are so popular for their soothing effect on sensitive skin. Again as with the Cerave you can rinse or splash this one off, but I genuinely think that nearly every cleanser is made more efficient when you add a flannel into the mix!
I work with Aveeno making content around this skincare range and so I know it inside out and I’ve used this cleanser loads; it’s a great option if you have oilier skin and want a “fresh wash” sort of texture but also have sensitive skin and don’t want anything harsh or aggravating.
Do you have any other suggestions to add into the best budget cleanser broth? Let me know in the comments! Here’s a short and sweet video chatting through my own favourites:
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©2022 “
The Glass-Penised Gnome: How (Not) To Use A Pipette
This trend for the dribbling of skincare products directly onto the face really bemuses me. Ditto foundation dribbling. Pipettes are enough of a faff to use when you drop the product into the palm of your hand, why on earth would you ever attempt to pipe the product straight onto your face? Nobody does this in real life.
Nobody sits at their dressing table and says to their partner,
“Hang on a second, Brian. Here I am holding this little glass tube filled with foundation, a product that needs only one dropeth spilt to ruin an entire cream carpet, and yet here I am carefully squeezing it onto the back of my hand before applying with a brush.”
‘Well yes, Deirdre, that makes sense to me. You have to be careful when you’re brandishing a pipette loaded with what is, to all intents and purposes, paint.”
“No, Brian! You’ve got it all wrong! What I should be doing is tilting my face at an absurd angle, holding the pipette precariously above my cheekbone and then squeezing it directly onto my skin!”
“But….Deirdre…what about the cream carpet?”
“Oh Brian, to hell with the carpet. The thrill I’ll get from not knowing whether any product will actually land on my face will more than make up for any large insurance claims we have to make.”
“As you wish Deirdre. But it does make you look rather foolish, I’m at pains to say.”
“Brian don’t you see? I like looking more foolish than I need to when I’m applying my makeup. I’m not content with the fact that mascara application makes me look like a demented puffer fish, I want to drop my foundation onto my cheeks and force my eyes to focus on something unnaturally close so that they completely cross over.”
“Fine Deirdre. But look. I don’t want to be crass, and forgive me if this is overstepping the mark…does it not look a bit sexual?”
“Does what not look a bit sexual, Brian?”
“The dribbling liquid, Deirdre. It’s as though a very small glass-penised gnome is lazily ejaculating onto your face.”
Anyway, this was supposed to be a skincare post. For crying out loud – stay on task, Crilly! For this morning’s skincare routine I used:
Rose Inc Micellar Cleanser (Space NK here*)
The packaging instantly appealed to me when I was first testing this cleanser. The bottle is short and stout, like a little teapot but with no handle and no spout. It’s cute. The mechanism inside is one of those push-down-and-product-spurts-out ones, which are useful when you’re doing things one-handed.
(This could be an episode of innuendo bingo, it really could.)
The micellar cleanser itself isn’t your usual clear liquid, it’s a sort of cream-gel. Really soothing, very fresh in feel and does a grand job of makeup removal. Or in my case, a grand job of a quick morning cleanse. I rarely do a balm or cream cleanser at the sink if it’s morning – I do all the heavyweight stuff in the evening and so the micellar is to rid any residue from the products the night before and just have a clean canvas to work on.
Sali Hughes Must-C Daily Serum (currently £10 at Boots here*)
I use a vitamin c serum pretty much every morning. Dose of antioxidant protection and a bit of brightening, can’t go wrong. It really works for me – I realise there are a plethora or different ingredients you could be opting for in your staple morning serum, whether it’s peptides or niacinamide or something for clearing your blackheads, but my focus is on protecting and brightness. It’ll no doubt change, but for the past few years I’ve been unwavering in my vitamin c dedication!
The Sali Hughes Must-C is potent, non-irritating and is currently a tenner at Boots. You can’t go far wrong.
My all-time favourite, however – if you’re asking – is the Kiehl’s Powerful Line Reducing Concentrate. It’s £55 so way more spendy, but it has this lovely dry texture. Not oily, not watery, just…like velvet but spreadable. I have used it for years and come back to it again and again. You can find it online here*.
Dove Derma Series SPF30 (Superdrug here)
Straight in with SPF on top of the serum because I had no need for extra moisturiser this morning. Dove’s new launch is pleasing: a silky, sophisticated texture with a skin-calming formulation. If you have sensitive skin and struggle with finding the right non-aggravating sunscreen, this could well be worth a try.
Here’s a video that takes less than a minute and a half to watch so it’s the least you can do for me:
PPhoto by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
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©2020 “
How I’ve Tweaked My Makeup Routine
At the very real risk of boring myself to death with the same makeup look over and over again I thought I had better jiggle things up a bit. There’s nothing wrong with “sticking to what suits you” when it comes to putting your maquillage on but sometimes there’s a better face-improving tip or trick just around the corner and if you don’t experiment then you’ll never, er…see around the corner.
(Don’t judge my writing skills today, please, I have terrible PMT and as well as wanting to set fire to the fridge because it beeps too much I’m finding it difficult to string words together in an entertaining manner.)
So: three little changes that have updated my makeup routine. I go as far as to say three little makeup improvements. They might just work for you, too – see what you think.
The Eyeliner Replacement
I’ve been using an angled brush (handily, there’s one on the other end of my Benefit brow brush*) with a very dark brown shadow (from this excellent Lancome palette*) to very gently press shadow into the “lashline” at the inner corners and then to form a short flick at the outer. Because the brush is so fine and the shadow isn’t quite as punchy as a liner the effect is every so slightly softer. I’ve been finding that sometimes eyeliner can make me look very tired and my eyes very small if I don’t handle it carefully – this angled brush technique seems to be slightly more subtle and foolproof.
Perhaps it’s because I rarely sharpen my eyeliner pencils to the recommended needle-like point!
The All-Over Glow
The next tweak is that I’ve been giving my skin a bit of a once-over with a glowy powder for a mega-watt all-over sheen rather than confining it to the tradition highlighter zones. Amazingly, it doesn’t look greasy or weird and I don’t end up like the Tin Man from Oz. I think it’s because the powders I use (Ambient Lighting from Hourglass* – unbeatable in my opinion and worth the investment if you can make that sort of investment) are so clever and non-glittery and fine. I use the slightly darker shades in this Hourglass palette on the cheeks and where I’d normally bronze for a bit of extra (glowing) depth and the paler shade over the t-zone. It has the added bonus of setting makeup in place for the long haul.
My actual Hourglass palette was in the car but it was a good excuse to photograph the beautiful new Unlocked limited edition ones – the Elephant version is the closest to the one I use already (find it here*.) The powders are smaller – much smaller – but you get the additional colours so it’s sort of an all-in-one blush, setting powder, complexion enhancer kit.
Also of note in this category is the new Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Brightening Powder*. Gee whizz this is a strong one. I would treat it with slightly more caution than the Hourglass palette. I wore it all over my face as a setting powder for a red carpet event and my face was basically a beacon. It’s amazing stuff but I’d be tempted to use it on cheekbones and around the traditionally “non sweaty” areas and then her equally good non-bright powder on the t-zone.
The Darker Brow
You can’t really see this in all of its glory on the video because I filmed on my iPhone and the front-facing camera is rubbish and pales everything out so that it all becomes a featureless sea of cream and sepia. Yes I can mess about with levels in post-production but I didn’t here – see aforementioned PMT.
I’ll film another makeup routine video showing what a difference it makes – the darker eyebrow, simply taken down a shade using a slightly darker brow gel, looks fresh and youthful and, if done right, very chic. We’re not talking about drawn-on comedy brows, just a smidgen deeper for those of you (me included) who usually err on the safe side when it comes to doing your eyebrows. My default is a bit of Elnett brushed through in an upwards direction and so adding a brow gel that’s fractionally more dramatic is big news. Still no pencil, still no drawing-in (this just spells trouble for me), just a simple swipe through with the tinted brow gel. I’ve been using the one in Light Brown from Authored, here.
Here’s an unhelpful video that doesn’t really show what the makeup changes do but does demonstrate the final effect. I didn’t think it through enough.
Again: PMT.
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