Five Friday Faves: 09.09.2016

Hey pals, how’s your week been? If I could sum mine up in two words, it would be ‘annoying’ and ‘sweaty’. The weather in Manchester recently has been a total soupy mess recently and I’m longing for crisp Autumn days, mugs of hot chocolate and the chance to wear a roll neck jumper in public again without becoming a giant melting mess. However, I have been cheered by the thought of eating a giant burrito for lunch and putting together this list of five Friday faves. This week’s picks include maps, books, skirts, purses and a small ode to the joy of face masks. Ready? Let’s get down to business then.

ART DECO LONDON MAP – £8.00

I love interesting maps and this one from Blue Crow Media showcasing London’s art deco architecture is an absolute beauty. Frame it and put it on a wall, or use it as an excuse to grab some friends and embark on an adventure. If you’re looking for something a bit more austere, Blue Crow also do a map which showcases London’s brutalist architectural gems.

MARKS AND SPENCER PER UNA PULL ON METALLIC PENCIL SKIRT – £45.00

Marks and Spencer get a lot of stick from the fashion press. I always feel that this is a bit unfair because I – and many other remarkably fashionable people I know – adore their clothes. They were one of the first high street retailers to go up to a size 24 and their stuff tends to be well made, doesn’t fall apart after a few washes and fits well. Recently, I’ve gone all gooey eyed over this gorgeous pink pleated midi skirt (pink is the new power colour after all) and can’t wait to spend my September swishing around in it.

THE COOL HUNTER ALPHABET SOUP PRINTED CLUTCH – £67.00

Seeing as my idea of an ‘exciting night’ involves me drinking red wine and eating pizza in my pants, I’m not entirely sure how I ended up on a mailing list called ‘The Cool Hunter.’ But I’m glad I did as it introduced me to this gorgeous alphabet print clutch. It’s fun, it’s bright and according to their website, it’s roomy enough to accommodate the 25 lipsticks, three books and giant pair of headphones that I appear to be incapable of leaving the house without.

READ JILL DAWSON’S ‘THE CRIME WRITER’

I’m a huge fan of Patricia Highsmith‘s books (such a wonderful mixture of queerness, glamour and evil deeds. If you haven’t read ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ go and do it now.) ‘The Crime Writer’ is a fictionalised account of her life based around the period of time she spent living in Suffolk. It merges Highsmith’s life and her fiction into a gloriously claustrophobic tale of love, murder and intrigue. Think ‘Carol’, but an alternative version of ‘Carol’ where they get to murder the husband and run off into the sunset together (or do they?) Grab a copy and a glass of scotch (Highsmith’s preferred tipple)  and spend your weekend in the company of one of the 20th century’s best female crime writers.

TREAT YOURSELF TO A FACE MASK 

I have a Sunday ritual where I lock myself in my bathroom, light a scented candle, listen to the football on the radio and treat myself to a long hot bubble bath and a facial. They’re a great means of shutting yourself off from the world for a bit and indulging in a bit of pampering. I usually start off with a clay mask and then move on to shoving a sheet mask on and forgetting about it for half an hour while I snooze. When I was in Barcelona, I bought a vast amount of TonyMoly’s sheet masks. They come in a variety of different ‘flavours’ and always leave my skin feeling peachy keen and teentastic. I’d strongly recommend buying them in bulk online from places like Amazon or Ebay as it tends to work out cheaper than buying them individually.

If you’re super duper skint but still want to indulge, you can often request free face mask samples via the magic of the internet. I’ve got heaps of Charlotte Tilbury’s goddess skin mud mask sachets that I love slapping on when I’m away from home and fancy feeling a bit luxurious. The Body Shop will also give you free samples of their masks to try at home if you ask them nicely (I’m really digging their new Expert Face Masks range which happen to both smell lovely and work wonders on super sensitive skin like mine.)

What are your Friday faves? Let me know in the comments or by tweeting me at @christinamcmc with the hashtag #mcmcfridayfaves. And please follow me on Bloglovin’!

McMc’s beauty corner: Glossier’s face masks

If 2015 was the year I spent an indecent amount on jumpsuits and lipstick, then 2016 looks set to be the year where I spend an indecent amount of money on my face. This is partly due to the dual horrors of ageing (hello dark circles under my eyes!) and vanity (hello me caring too much about dark circles under my eyes!) and partly because my skin is an eczema battleground. I feel like I’ve spent far too much time over the past few months forlornly wandering around Space NK and whispering ‘please fix my face’ at bemused beauty assistants.

I’ve tried a lot of things in my quest to cure my irritated skin without having to constantly resort to steroids (so much so that I’ve been forced to buy a new cupboard for my bathroom to store all my products.) But I think I may have finally found facegoop nirvana with Glossier.

Glossier is the beauty brand created by the people behind the luxe beauty blog Into The Gloss. (I’m addicted to their ‘The Top Shelf’ column where they go poking around people’s bathrooms as I am incredibly nosy and love reading about the beauty routines of those who have more money and time than me.) They’re a bit of a cult brand in the USA and have been getting rave reviews for their make-up, particularly their eyebrow pomade, Boy Brow.

Unfortunately, they don’t currently ship to the UK but I managed to find a rather lovely person on Twitter who was happy to send some of their stuff over to me. I opted for three products – the Mega Greens Galaxy Pack and Moisturising Moon Mask which are recommended to be used in tandem and the aforementioned Boy Brow (which will be reviewed in a later post.)

Made up of leafy greens, ‘superfruit antioxidants’ and white kaolin clay, the Mega Greens Galaxy Pack is described as being a ‘juice cleanse for your face.’ As someone who eschews green juices, cleanses and green juice cleanses, you could forgive me for being slightly wary. (And don’t get me started on the whole ‘detoxification’ language thrown around on their website.) However, in the interests of research, I slathered a large amount of it onto my face and set my timer for 20 minutes waiting for it to do its work.

I’d decided to err on the side of caution as I’ve found a lot of clay face masks to be quite drying, but I could probably have gone thicker with the application here as I did find that quite a bit of this sunk into my face. However, I absolutely loved how this felt on my skin – it was cleansing and nourishing without that awful tight cracking feeling you can get with other clay face masks. When I washed it off, my skin definitely felt firmer, bouncier and brighter.

Glossier recommend that you use their Moisturising Moon Mask as a ‘chaser’ to the Mega Greens Galaxy Pack. As you may have guessed, this mask promises moisture – and lots of it. Filled with almond oil, honey and aloe to soothe and liquorice root and lemon extract to brighten, the blurb for this makes it sound like the face mask equivalent of one of those soothing whale song apps.

The texture of  this is much lighter and – for want of a better word – gloopier than the greens mask. It reminded me of my trusty Body Shop Aloe Soothing Rescue Mask which I’ve been using as an overnight treatment to help calm and soothe the blotchy red eczema patches I tend to find under my eyes and on my cheeks. It did the job though. I left it on for the recommended 20 minutes and when I washed it off, my skin looked less aggravated and blotchy. Plus, all the red patches had settled down. My face also looked – and felt – incredible. Sadly, I can’t remember the last time I used a face mask which left my skin looking so dewy and fresh.

I’m guilty of being incredibly aware of my appearance, particularly my face. Having eczema, particularly in such a visible place, makes me feel incredibly self conscious. While I can – and do – go to great lengths to cover it up, anything which can help calm the raging, itchy fires bubbling away underneath my epidermis will always get a thumbs up from me. I’d definitely recommend Glossier’s skincare products if you’re suffering from dull or blotchy skin, or if you just need an excuse to pamper yourself with some really nice smelling stuff for an hour or so. The two masks and ‘Boy Brow’ cost me $60 altogether (which is roughly £40) without shipping. While it’s not cheap, I’d definitely recommend asking a kind transatlantic person to nab some for you if they can. Also, each package comes with free stickers. Who doesn’t love stickers?

Have you tried Glossier’s products yet? What were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments!