Anne Boleyn - Upcoming Novel!

Following on from my last post, those of you who are also fascinated by Anne Boleyn may be interested to know that there is a novel coming out about her later this year.

See Le Temps Viendra: A Novel of Anne Boleyn for more information about the plot, or check out author Sarah Morris' facebook page for details of the extensive research she is carrying out to make her novel historically accurate.

I personally can't WAIT to read this!!

Toodles!
X

Theatre Production Review: Anne Boleyn

My mum came to visit me in Edinburgh last weekend, so I treated her to tickets for the closing night of the play ‘Anne Boleyn’ at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre.
You can imagine our delight when we arrived and the Upper Circle tickets I had booked got upgraded to Dress Circle ones free of charge!
The production was a joint collaboration by English Touring Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe and written by Howard Brenton.

Anne Boleyn is one of those figures of English history that sparks a ton of different opinions. Some people love her, as the passionate, ill-done-by mother of one of our longest reigning Queens. Others judge her as a manipulative schemer.

I fall into the first category. I am entranced by the story of this woman who apparently resisted the advances of the King for up to 7 years, who suffered through the birth of an unwanted daughter followed by three miscarriages, only to finally be accused of witchcraft and incest leading to her death.

Synopsis.

The play surprised me, as it does not focus on those milestones of marriage, coronation, birth of Elizabeth I and Anne’s death, but concentrated more on her religious and political aspirations.

It starts with an introduction to King James I, who took over the reins of King of England following the death of Elizabeth I. He seeks advice from the dead Anne Boleyn with regards to combining the factions of the Church currently existing in England to put an end to the religious unrest.

The play then steps back in time and follows Anne through her meetings with the heretic, William Tyndale, her alliance with Thomas Cromwell, and the breaking of this alliance when she discovers he has been stealing money from the dissolved monasteries.

We then discover how quickly Cromwell put the case against Anne together, ultimately ending in her death.

 Programme Cover for 'Anne Boleyn'

I’d never seen this side of Anne Boleyn portrayed before and found it fascinating to watch, and actually caught myself holding my breath at some points!

There were also some excellent comical moments that I didn’t expect from a historical play – James I dancing with his supposed lover, George Villiers, and Henry VIII begging to be allowed, after 5 years, to move his hand past Anne’s knee!

However I did feel that there was, particularly in the second act, too heavy an emphasis on James I. Personally, as a fan of Anne Boleyn, I would have preferred to see a little more of her, such as the secret wedding, her relationship with Henry, her reaction to her miscarriages and her execution. This last was not shown at all, which surprised me, as I had anticipated that as the final scene, and was actually a little disappointed it wasn’t shown at all.

Jo Herbert, who played Anne Boleyn, didn't look how I expected an Anne Boleyn actress to look (although I guess I have been brainwashed by the BBC production with Natalie Dormer!), but I felt she captured the spirit of Anne brilliantly, and portrayed her as a gutsy woman who stood strong in her religious and ethical beliefs in what was essentially a man's world.

Overall, I would recommend this play to people who are fans of Anne Boleyn and Tudor history; I very much enjoyed the different take on her experience along with the laugh out loud moments, and would be happy to see it again.

Take Care!
X

Spring Has Sprung... And Isn't It Cute?!

Hello there, sorry for not posting in a while, let me show you why....
I study animal welfare and as part of my dissertation have been assisting with lambing on a farm, and I can honestly say it has been one of the best times of my life!
Walking up to the farm each day I had to pinch myself to believe that I was awake and really seeing the beautiful Scottish countryside!

This was my view of the hills at 6:30 on morning...

One day it began to snow. Despite being cold it seemed very cosy inside our barn, and the beauty of the farm under it's snowy blanket, I feel, cannot be disputed...

A view of the driveway into the farm.



As someone who has never really worked with sheep before, this experience held lots of new and exciting things for me. I assisted some of the lambs with suckling, guiding them to their mother's udder and helping them to latch on, as a couple of them couldn't quite get the hang of it. It was so satisfying when one would finally start to suckle, and you could feel their little bellies getting full and round!

This little boy was fine at sucking, but mama didn't have a lot of milk, so we helped her out a bit.

Lambing is over now, and despite the fact that I now have time to post on here (and sleep!) I'm gonna miss my little lambies. They were so much fun to watch and each one had their own little personalities. So anyway, that's why I haven't been on here in a while, and I leave you now with a few more cute lamb pics!



Hope you enjoyed that! I promise to not leave it so long next time!

X

No 7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream Review...Finally!!!

For a while now, beauty experts in magazines have been raving about the fabulous new, all-singing, all-dancing BB cream. So when I saw that No 7 were launching one as part of their new Beautiful Skin range, I decided to give in to the propaganda and give it a whirl!
Every time I’ve been into Boots over the last 2 months, the shelves have been empty where the stock of BB cream has been flying off so quickly! But finally, just last week, I got my hands on a bottle!
I have pale, combination skin, so the lovely lady on the counter recommended the cream for Normal/Oily skin, in a fair shade.

What Is It?

The No 7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream is available for 3 skin types: Normal/Oily; Normal/Dry; Dry/Very Dry, and 2 skin tones (Fair & Medium).
All types have 5 star UVA rating and SPF15.
The tones offer light coverage that help to even out skin tone and cover up any small blemishes, and the formula contains zinc which helps to fight spots!
Available from Boots at £12.95 for 40ml (which seems a lot, but see below!!).

No 7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream for Normal/Oily Skin.

How Do You Use It?

Post cleansing and moisturising and pre-make up, I squeeze out a small blob about the size of a pea (garden, not petit pois!) onto a finger.
I then use my other hand to dot the cream around my face and then blend it in with my fingers. I tend to pay special attention to my cheeks and under my eyes. A little bit really goes a long way, which makes it good value for money in my opinion.

Does It Work?!

The cream goes on very smoothly and is easy to blend in.
As I said, I’m using the Normal/Oily skin cream, as I sometimes get a bit of an oily T-zone, and I find it seriously reduces shininess on my face, but it doesn’t leave my skin feeling dried out.
It gives really good coverage of minor blemishes, and I feel a lot more confident that my cheeks aren’t bright red and contrasting with the dark bags under my eyes (Thank you student life!).
The BB cream makes for a good base for applying foundation on top, but I find that for every day use, it offers me just the right level of coverage.
It comes off easily at the end of the day with make-up remover or face wipes.

 Left: Before (after moisturiser, no make up). Right: After, with no other make up on.

Any Downsides?

Just a couple, the first being that I imagine it might not be great coverage for people with really bad skin, however I did notice that any blemishes I had cleared up a LOT faster when I was using it on a daily basis, so I would suggest that it might help clear up any breakouts.
The other downside would be that it would be easy to apply too much, because when you squeeze out what you need it doesn’t look like it would be enough! So I would simply advise to start off small because in that age old rule – you can always apply more, but it’s a pain to take it off!

Summary In A Sentence?

A great value cream that actually does what it says on the tin – I can’t live without it now!

Enjoy! X

Update!!

So, I've been into Boots THREE times to get the BB cream to write my review, and everytime, they've been out of stock!

Apparently it's been flying off the shelves and they were out of stock at the warehouse...Anyways, bear with me, I haven't forgotten and will keep trying!

In other news....I've installed a 'Like' button at the bottom of my posts, please click this if you like a particular post, it's a nice easy way of giving feedback so that I know what to write more of!

I've got a couple of posts planned for the near future, but the dreaded exams are upon me, so I may be a little quiet for a while!

In the mean time, take care!
 X

Valentine’s Day – A nation divided?

The shops are full with horrendously overpriced pink and red fluffy things, and card companies are competing for ‘the most vomit-inducing, slush-fest card’ award.

Valentine’s Day is a bit like Marmite - you either love it or you hate it. And, whilst I’ve seen a few people saying how they don’t do anything for it with their partners, I have noticed that many people’s opinions of Valentine’s Day seem to change depending on their relationship status…

Certainly Valentine’s Day can be slightly depressing when you are single - I’ve had about 10 emails a day for the last 2 weeks from various shopping sites reminding me to buy now for delivery in time for Valentine’s Day (Guess that serves me right for having an online shopping habit!). Each of these emails has been promptly deleted, unread.

But I have to say, having spent the last few years in a relationship agonising over ‘Should I get something for him, how much is too much, how much is too little’, I’m actually quite happy that this year Valentine’s Day is passing me by with no stress!

You see, I DO agree with people when they say that Valentine’s Day is a manufactured scam to get people to part with their hard-earned cash. I DO think that if you love someone then you should do nice things for them all year round, not just one day that is dictated by society. 

BUT…having said that, Valentine’s Day is thought to have originated around Roman times (long before Clinton Cards got on the bandwagon), and there are many theories of who Valentine was.

My personal favourite is the story that the Roman Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, because single men were better soldiers, and Valentine was a priest who defied him by marrying young lovers in secret! It’s theorized that he was then put to death when he was discovered, hence his sainthood. 

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, and really what is wrong with that?!

Yes, it’s over-marketed, overpriced and over-the-top these days, but you CAN choose not to participate in this side of it!

Show your appreciation for your partner every day of the year, but on Valentine’s Day why NOT use it as an excuse to do something extra special? Cook a meal, bake some homemade heart-shaped cookies, make a card, light some candles!

To me the most important thing would simply be to spend some quality time with my partner, so coupled up people, embrace the fact that society provides you with the perfect opportunity to do so!

This year I am happily single, and in all honesty, for all my moaning I don’t really mind all the Valentine’s Day propaganda.  It doesn’t make me feel bad that I haven’t got someone in my life that I want to share this day with, but excited for when I do have someone, and happy for my friends who already have that.

So I guess it isn’t a love or hate kind of day. Now tell me, what are your feelings on Marmite?

Happy Valentine's Day! X

Jo Carnegie Book Review

Firstly, apologies for a) not posting in a loooong time, uni has kept me rather busy lately, and b) for not posting the BB cream review - every time I go into Boots it's out of stock!

So to keep you going, I'm going to chat about some books I recently bought...

Browsing in Tesco the other day I saw they had a twin pack of books by Jo Carnegie - 'Country Pursuits' and 'Horse Play'. The blurbs hailed the books as 'The new SATC - Sex and the Country, and Carnegie as "The next Jilly Cooper".
Now, I like Sex and the City, and I've never read Jilly Cooper, but the little giggle my Mum gives every time a Jilly Cooper novel comes up in conversation made me want to try these books by Carnegie.

So I soon worked out that both books were part of a series about the little village of Churchminster.
Annoyingly, Country Pursuits is the first in the series, whilst Horse Play is the last...so I guess a trip to WH Smith is in order!

Both books contain a lot of the same characters, the majority of whom are loaded rah-types that try to buy whatever they want.
That said, whilst it would be easy to hate a lot of the characters, Carnegie has a neat trick of showing their more human sides, and the stories tend to focus on problems that can't always be solved with money - adultery, custody battles, estranged parents, ill spouses.
In both books there is a central theme that pulls the members of the village together: in Country Pursuits, it's the threat of a new housing estate taking over some nearby land; in Horse Play it's the development of a locally owned racehorse.

Personally I thought that some of the characters and scenarios were a little hard to believe for a book that was set in the real world. However...that's exactly what I want from a fiction book!!
For me, reading books is a way to unwind from the day and forget about my own life, and these books allowed me to get caught up in the glamorous lives of the people in this supposedly quaint little village.

I found it hard to put the books down, and yet there were some points where I almost didn't want to keep on read on because Carnegie had taken a problem so far that how could it possibly get any better?!

Overall, I would recommend these books as great for a bit of light escapism.
Personally I will definitely be buying the books in between these two!

Happy Reading! X

Skincare Revamp!

I've been a convert to the Boots No7 Skincare range for a few years now. It's a little on the pricey range (especially from a student POV!), but nowhere near the expense of other brands, and I certainly feel that my skin is in much better condition than when I used cheaper brands.Not to mention the fact that as a Boots own brand, it hasn't been tested on animals (Big Cheesy Grin!).
So, over the last few years, I've been very good to my skin and got into that age-old routine of CTM (Cleanse, Tone, Moisturise).

But now the good people at Boots have revised and revamped their skincare range, by bringing out the All-New-And-Shiny (drumroll please.....) Beautiful Skin range!!!
This is a new set of skincare products that cut out the need for toner. And as an even bigger plus, the prices of the new cleansers and moistuisers are pretty similar to the price of those in the old range, saving you around £8 a time (Even Bigger Cheesy Grin!).

The range has 3 lines: Dry/Very Dry skin, Normal/ Dry skin and Normal/Oily skin. Each range has a cleanser appropriate to the skin type, a day cream with SPF15 and 5*UVA protection, a night cream, and a mask and/or exfoliator.
If you're not sure what type of skin you have, you can ask one of the counter staff, or pick up one of the handy trial packs they have in stock right now.
The packs contain a mini bottle of cleanser, day and night creams and cost just £5. Not only are they great for trialling the product, but they're also perfect for taking on planes (So of course, I stocked up!).
Oh and did I mention the trial packs come with a voucher for £5 off the new range? No? Well now you know!

I've been using the Normal/Oily line, as I get an oily T-zone. The cleanser for this range is a cleansing water similar to toner (a foam wash is available as well). A little squirt on a cotton wall pad and a quick wipe over, and my face feels clean and fresh. It also removes makeup (including waterproof mascara). My cheeks can be quite dry, but they aren't left feeling tight and uncomfortable with this - in fact once or twice I've actually forgotten to put moisturiser on!
The best thing I've found is that because no water is needed, I've been TONS better at cleansing before bed (which I admit I was a little sloppy with before...)!
The moisturisers both do a great job at mattifying oily skin, and a little bit goes a VERY long way!

No7 Beautiful Skin, Normal/Oily. L-R: Night cream (£13.50), Day cream (£12.50), Cleansing water (£9), Starter Kit (£5).

Since I've been using the new range my skin has felt a lot fresher and looked a lot clearer and brighter (always a hard feat to pull off in Winter!).

Overall, I think this new skincare range is effective, easy to use and great value for money. I would recommend to anybody and I can't wait to play with some of the other new products!

Peace! X

PS.Keep following for a No7 BB cream review in the next week!



Sleeping Beauty Ballet

After receiving a joyful email telling us that classes on Thursday were cancelled due to the lecturer being ill, myself and some classmates decided to indulge our cultural sides and go to the ballet!
Scottish Ballet were performing 'Sleeping Beauty' at Edinburgh Festival Theatre.

Synopsis.
Everyone knows the general story, a beautiful princess is cursed by an evil witch to prick her finger and die by her 16th birthday. The curse is deflected by a good fairy, so that instead of dying, she will simply sleep for 100 years, when she will then be awakened by true love's kiss.
In Scottish Ballet's production, 4 would-be suitors serve as 'guardians' when she goes into her sleep. As you can imagine, they initially aren't happy when another man shows up to awaken her with a kiss! Luckily, the Prince has rounded up 4 other fairytale maidens, who prove welcome distractions to the suitors! FYI Red Riding Hood is a vamp!

This was the first ballet I've ever been to, and I really didn't know what to expect. Was 'Sleeping Beauty' going to be too childish for me to appreciate? Would I get bored with all dance and no talking? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding "NO!"!
The first thing that surprised me was how much of the music I actually recognised! As a big fan of the Disney film, I was surprised to learn that Walt Disney had used mostly Tchaikovsky's music to form the soundtrack for the film!

I soon became engrossed in the beautiful dancing, and the attention to detail that had gone into the set and costume design. With no dialogue, symbolism was used to demonstrate many things, such as the gift that each fairy was blessing Princess Aurora with.
I did find that I was grateful for the programme that I bought, as it provided a synopsis of the performance. I found that I understood a lot more of what was going on due to reading this beforehand, as the story was slightly different to any 'Sleeping Beauty' story I had heard before.

Overall, I found it a fantastic way to spend an afternoon, and at a reasonable price (Upper circle student tickets were £17). This particular ballet is suitable for adults and children (although I probably wouldn't recommend for young children).
It has certainly whetted my appetite to see more ballet performances!

2012 - It's all about me!!

Every year, people make resolutions that, let's face it, rarely last past January. Which is why, up until now I've never bothered. After all, I don't smoke or drink heavily, I'm not overweight and I exercise pretty regularly. But this year, I'm going to try not so much to make resolutions, but to make 4 'lifestyle aims' based on what I have experienced in the last year. These aims are one for each main area of my life: Health, Friends, Love & Work.
For example, I know that I can quite easily fit 3 visits to the gym into the average week. So my Health aim for 2012 is to stick to this!!
My aim for my Friends is to be better with communication that isn't facebook! Having moved from Bristol to Edinburgh last September, I now have lots of people's addresses, and I intend to use them and write letters!
My Love aim for 2012 is to avoid getting my heart broken! After spending around 8 months of 2011 in something of a 'love coma' after breaking up with my boyfriend of 5 years, I have learned that trust is something that REALLY needs to be earned, and any potential future boyfriends will have to take far longer than a year to earn it from me! That and the fact that I am embracing single life and enjoying just dating!
Finally, my Work aim is quite simply to pass my masters and FINALLY enter the grown-up world of the tax-paying workers!
So there we have it, 4 fairly simple aims for 2012. Time will tell!
Anyways, I'm off to facebook my friend about why I can't make the gym tonight...

Peace. X