I hope everyone has had a good start to the New Year (even if you have had a few cheat days on your resolutions!), I can’t believe January is over already, I always find that January is such a sad month, Christmas decorations have come down (Bournemouth gardens almost looks like a war zone!) and everyone is either really motivated to start afresh or a little saddened because the new year isn’t as they had hoped. Its all just a bit cold and wet really. Anyway, despite some January blues, here are a few of my favourites from film and books to clothes and beauty from this month…

Lets start with movies as due the cold and wetness mentioned above there have been quite a few cosy days snuggled up watching a movie whenever I can get the chance…

1. I watched ‘The Favourite’. Overall it was a cleverly done film, a very alternative take on the period drama – certainly not something I had ever seen before! Some people will love it and others will hate it – it was a bit weird and wacky so if thats your thing I would definitely urge you to go and watch it. Emma Stone and Olivia Coleman were superb in it; definitely worth all the nominations.
2. NT Live: The Tragedy of King Richard II – this really is theatre rather than a movie but I saw it in the cinema as I couldn’t get up to London to see it. I am a huge fan of Shakespeare’s plays – particularly the histories- and so it may not be to everyones tastes but I loved it. Simon Russell Beale gave a sublime performance as Richard, I thought he was also incredible as Falstaff in The Hollow Crown. It was a different, more modern take on Richard II, really emphasising the timeless themes of the play.
3. Mary Queen of Scots – I actually really enjoyed it although it has not had the best reviews from critics (scoring 63% on RottenTomatoes), I thought Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie were excellent as Mary and Elizabeth, respectively,  playing the roles as ambitious women who were torn between their heads and their hearts. I have not yet seen such an action packed period movie with female leads in it and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

When I was not quite in the mood for a movie, these were the books I read…

1. The Song Of Achilles by Madeline Miller – I cannot rave about this book enough. I read it in just over two days, it was incredibly captivating and a really fascinating take on the Iliad story telling the tale of love between Achilles and Patroclus. (For a full review see my last blog post)
2. I finished The Handmaid’s Tale; I would recommend it for what it is about but not really for it as an enjoyable or captivating read. It’s dystopian so it is supposed to make you feel a bit uncomfortable and make you question where society is heading.

I have now started reading Millers second book ‘Circe’ which I am really enjoying so far.

I have also had the opportunity to go to the theatre this month and saw Hamilton! Everyone has been raving about this musical from its debut on broadway and the musical was amazing in London – I learnt so much about American history that I might otherwise never had known whilst listening to rather catchy songs.

Talking about songs, here are the new music releases that my ears have been loving…

1. Florence + the machine, Moderation.
2. I’ll come to, James Blake
3. By the way I forgive you, Brandi Carlisle

On to what I have been wearing…

I LOVE these Office Boots, they add a bit of ‘rock & roll’ to what my sister likes to call my ‘Victorian ghost’ outfit.  They are relatively comfortable but certainly not a shoe I would like to be walking around all day in (they have a pointy toe and have a slight high heel after all!)

Beauty…

I haven’t really tried out anything new in beauty this month, I am, however, continuing to love the Origins Face mask I mentioned in my 2018 favourites.

Food:

Had a delicious lunch whilst in London at Tom Kerridge’s restaurant – my family didn’t love it so much, they say you can judge any restaurant by the taste of their chips and they weren’t up to their standards! However I really enjoyed my fancy English breakfast style dinner – if breakfast is on the dinner menu, then it is a great restaurant in my eyes!

Thanks for reading! What were your favourites from January?

Its almost August! I hope you have had an amazing July and been up to some exciting things. This month, I thought I’d share with you some recent favourites as I have not done a post like this in so long and there are some incredible films, theatre and books i’d love to share with you.

Beauty:

To be honest, I don’t tend to mix up my beauty regime very often; I wear the same makeup every day (if any at all) and have had the same skincare routine using the Proactive 3 step regime twice a day and it has been the best skincare products I have used to date so I stick with it. However a couple of months ago was my Birthday so my sister Kindly got me the IT pore perfecting powder which I have been loving adding to my everyday makeup particularly as it’s getting so much warmer to set my Makeup on those days I do decide to wear it.

Fashion:

My most worn item of clothing this month was probably my grey Timberlands, which I brought in the sale the month before (sometimes it’s good to be a size 8 haha) because they are the comfiest shoe I’ve owned, I’ve got the lightweight ones so they are not heavy and you can walk around everywhere without getting sore feet.

Films:

I have managed to tick a few movies off my movie bucket list this month; King Lear (A new adaptation of it that recently came out with Anthony Hopkins) , About time (what a thought provoking story!) and The devil wears Prada (I can’t believe I hadn’t watched it till now, it’s so funny). Unfortunately I hadn’t managed to get to the cinema last month but there are loads of film I really want to see.

I did, however, go to the theatre and finally got to see The National Theatres production of War Horse. It was absolutely breathtaking, It was so well done and really captured the emotion of the book. The book was my absolute favourite as a child, I remember reading it before the Steven Spielberg film came out and because the words of the book were so fresh in my mind (being from Joey, the horses, perspective) thinking the film was rubbish (having rewatched it more recently I could fully appreciate it) and worried the theatre production would be the same but it was so clever with the puppets and incredible set design.

Series:

The Hollow Crown: I know this is not a new series, but I have only recently discovered it and have loved it. If you haven’t seen a lot of Shakespeare so far but want to get into it i’d definitely recommend The Hollow Crown – the acting is superb and the storyline is really understandable even though the language is that of the Elizabethan era. I particularly liked Henry IV part 1, following the story of Henry IV (played by Jeremy Irons) and his son Prince Hal (played by Tom Hiddleston) and the journey and commitment it took to be on the throne.

Books:

This month I have read The Da Vinci code by Dan brown, A Dolls House (a play by Henrik Ibsen) and have just started reading a Handmaids Tale and Angels and Demons (the prequel to the Da Vinci Code). I really enjoyed The Da Vinci Code,  I have read a couple of Dan Browns’ novels before and I love them because despite an incredible thrilling story you also learn a lot about symbols, cultures, history and architecture along the way which is really interesting and puts you into the mind of this highly intellectual Harvard professor.

A Dolls House was also excellent, admittedly it had a bit of a slow beginning, but the ending is incredibly powerful – Ibsen explores the wife and husband dynamic and treatment of women in the 19th century. So far Angels and Demons is very similar to The Da Vinci Code story line but it may get better as I’ve only read the first couple of chapters, and the Handmaids Tale beginning is very captivating, diving straight into this dystopian world Atwood has created. Ive seen the first series of the BBC adaptation which was good although a little confusing so i’m looking forward to how the book pans out.

Overall I’d 100% recommend The Da Vinci Code and A Dolls house and i’ll keep you updated on the ones I’m currently reading on twitter, instagram and on here.

Music:

Tom Odell’s new song ‘If you wanna love somebody’ came out recently so I have been loving listening to that and I very much am looking forward to his new album that comes out in October.

Next month I have got a few things I’m looking forward too, hopefully going on holiday somewhere with my family and going to RIZE festival with a couple of friends.  But I have just got back from Pub in the Park in Bath; Tom Odell was playing and there were lots of yummy food stalls from some very talented chefs, pubs and local food stores.

Thank you so much for reading!

What have been your favourites this month?