I missed the bus the other morning, by moments, I grumbled quite loudly as it sailed past me just as I reached the end of my road.  I don’t have time to go back home and make myself a cup of coffee, I just have to wait for the next one to trundle along.  

And after about five minutes of thinking of the incidentals of life, Have I got everything? What have I got to do next? Will this term ever end?  I noticed tiny flashes of green and the tinniest glimmer of flowers.  All by turning on my heels in a circle at the bus stop.  

I was glad that bus sailed by, I would have missed the beauty of the day and the most precious of buds in February.

As my regular readers will know, I am no beauty queen, but that doesn’t stop a girl from wanting to try pretty things that come in pretty boxes through the post. Also I am a bit of a dinosaur, I’ve been using the same products for years, which is no bad thing, my skin is in great condition for my age, but its nice to change it up a little bit.

I’ve been trying beauty boxes for a couple of months now, its rather an addictive past time and I think Love Me Beauty has the edge, not least because they often do more full sized products in a box than the others (in my opinion) and you are able to choose between four versions, so its not a complete suprise as to whats in your box – well it is if you choose version 4, because that is the suprise box. 

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this box, I knew it was going to have some gorgeous stuff in and a surprise element that had been highly rated by their customers previously.

 It comes in a simple box which opens directly into the gifts, many of the others have a box within a box but this must keep the costs down (more money for products – rubs hands greedily).

 And a pretty card explaining it all, there was also a competition card to fill in for a holiday in Scotland.

 My surprise awaits, the box is heavy, I’m excited.

 And I couldn’t be more pleased.

 First of all 30 ml of La Claree Gentle Cleansing Milk made in La Province, retail selling price £15.00 for 150 ml, so about £3.00.  Smells delightful, really nice on the skin, I am very pleased with it, it made my morning routine just that little bit nicer.

 I was really excited about this, this is extremely expensive, this 5ml sample is worth £15.00 ! It is Dr Bragi Age Management Moisturiser,  it is nice to try things like this, (I am still using a very expensive cream from another box) I tried this earlier and its very nice and appears to have plumped out my fine lines.. I’ll see what I really think in a few days.

 

 At this time of year my skin dries out, my lips become sore and I need all the help I can get.  

This is lovely a pot of oils rich in omega 3 and 6 full of anti inflammatories and vitamins which is perfect for lips, hands, nails and the body encased in a lovely little tin. (I’m thinking pins afterwards)   Its lovely on my lips and I’ve put a spot on my excema patches on my legs to see if it will help.  Full sized product, and it is going to be popped into my handbag, for emergency moisturising on the go.  £3.95 for 25g.

 

 Another full sized product, not for me unfortunately, (I have a little box of hair products accumulating, hairsprays, mascara’s, conditioners, etc etc.  its a small price to pay to have so much fun and one day I will work out what I am going to do with them all)

This is Percy & Reed, no fuss flawlessness dry conditioner £12.00

And then this is absolutely perfect for me. This was our Valentines suprise.  

Nip Fab, Dry Leg Fix, another full sized product. £10.25 from Boots. 

My legs are so dry at the moment, central heating, winter tights, and the cold and damp, do no favours for my skin at all. They are so dry that they are uncomfortable at night. When I saw this in the box I let out a small squeal of delight, it was just what I wanted and I gleefully smothered it on after my shower this morning.  It feels lovely going on, smells nice, not too strong and my legs feel better  already.  

Its been a really lovely box,  a nudge in the right direction on how to look after myself just a little bit better and great value,  £44.15 worth of product for the princely sum of £12.95 (£10 plus p&p)

Love me Beauty gets ten out of ten for customer satisfaction from me. 

(and in the interests of transparency, I bought my own box!) 

There are still many hours of work to do on my first pair of tailored trousers but I have reached the stage of setting the creases.  I am working with a lovely worsted flannel wool and it has been a lovely experience, it handles well, does what you want it to do without flying into an outrageous fit and shredding itself every time you pick it up. 

 As you can see I am using a slant pocket (with a double jet on the back) and the waistband is to go on next.  Every part of these trousers has been hand stitched at least once, if not more than once, even the long seams have been basted, as there is inlay put into them should the trousers need to be adjusted.  It is very tricky to get the correct line without basting and I only want to sew the long seams once.  You can see all the mark stitching in the picture where I have hit the mark with my trusty sewing machine. 

The waistband is going to be a DAK waistband, I am studying their trends at the moment so thought it would be nice for hubby to have a waistband thought up by them to go with his DAK coat. (which we bought many moons ago from a vintage clothes store in Birmingham, £700.00 wool winters coat, hardly worn for £25.00, Yes please!) 

I’ve altered the sizing of these trousers to hopefully fit, there was no time to toille. I don’t think the jacket that will be made next will fit which will be a little sad,  hubby being a chap with a big chest cavity and manly shoulders, but at the moment its all about learning how to do things.  Not getting lost in the whys and wherefores of what makes a good fit and why the ‘eck doesn’t this fit, there will be plenty of time for that.

 The fly is coming together, there is still some handwork to do on that.

 And the seams are lightly set, I am not setting them firmly until hubby has them on and I can see how they fall on his leg, but the beauty of the trouser is starting to come through.

And here you can see my very fine double jets on the back. 

At the moment I am deep in study land, wrestling with a cultural 2000 word essay which lectures have included the great masculine renunciation, the great masculine renunciation – renounced, the decline of haute couture, bubble up and trickle down diffusion, post modernity, what is post modernism anyway? globalisation, nation and ethnicity and consuming fashion and that’s just up to week 5. There are many more topics to consider to go into the essay in the next few weeks. 

So needless to say, I haven’t been taking pretty pictures of London, I’ve also been wrestling with adobe illustrator, photoshop and indesign, as well as my tailoring and trend and brand research. 

So when I rang the boys about a problem on the computer, I thought I sensed that they were in the study working hard on my behalf, when son no.1 got his new ipad working and I saw they were laying on the bed chatting to me.  (it sounded like they were working!)

 

 It made me laugh, from birth we have used our bed as a landing board for boisterous boys to wrestle on, play on, lay on and chat.  To read books with and generally all of family life has been conducted whilst lying on our beds, it was certainly (and intentionally) a different way of life to the one I had grown up in, where we were not allowed into our parents bedroom. The boys liked the analogy of our lives to Roman’s laying discussing the order of the day and we often solved problems and upsets and difficulties that the boys were experiencing as well as just having family time and just gossiping and laughing.

I always wondered when it would end, if the boys would naturally go off and not bother to come back to the nest to talk and relax and how that transition would occur.  I wondered whether it should occur for the sake of child psychology and whether it was a bit weird – had I swung to far the other way.  (of course we kept our modesty) In the end I just decided to let it be what it was, our family.

At Christmas I was laying in bed when a 6ft odd son no.2 bounced onto the bed beside me, we hadn’t seen each other for months, and lay down for a chat. 

At the time, he breathed a deep and happy sigh, and so did I, it was then I knew, 

 the decision making.

‘yep we did okay’

 Of course the weather was lousy, but the crowds were out in force and it had a lovely feel to it.

 We had bubbles and lovely lobster and were presented with a pair of horses, being the year of the horse.  They are cute.

 //www.youtube.com/get_player

 And the next day we were out and about and happened to be passing through Soho when we caught up with a couple of lettuce eating lions.  It was great fun, the filming isn’t that great, but you get the feel of what was going on.

 We ate delicious tarts, lemon and chocolate.

I just love the curve of Regent Street especially when its just turned dark, the streets were still warm (and dry!) and the lights are highlighting the beautiful architecture.  It makes me quite emotional, just to be here.

Sadly Hubby had to go home, but as you know we are in contact constantly and later I needed a little help technically. Hubby and son no.1 were helping and for some reason I had envisioned them sitting in the study, working hard trying to help, when I managed to get my facetime working and found they were sprawled in bed, it did make me giggle.

And yes that is me in my pink jim jams, glamorous as always!!!