Isn’t surreptitious beauty the best? There are famed beauty heroes that work wonders without drawing too much attention to their miracles. They work quietly and sometimes only you know they’re there. It’s like a secret between you and your reflection in the mirror.
Sarah Waters is a brilliant story teller. We’re in Camberwell in 1922 for her latest novel The Paying Guests. Our protagonist is Frances Wray, a spinster in her mid-twenties who lives with her mother in their large house. They have divided it up to rent out some of the rooms to a young married couple, Mr and Mrs Barber, to help pay for the running of the property. So far, so straightforward.
When I went to Paris a few years ago I stayed in a beautiful Art Deco hotel on the Left Bank and they served the most amazing breakfasts: a delightfully dizzying array of Danish pastry swirls, eggs and bacon… and mountains of golden madeleines, which have occupied my mind ever since.
I went back to the Tate Modern to see a black square.
Inspired by the ‘Glamour On The Go’ exhibition I thought I would share the contents of my bag and makeup bag when I’m out for the day covering a story. No one should cart around such an exhaustive makeup kit worthy of a massive Zuca makeup bag (unless of course you’re an actual makeup artist, in which case go right ahead!) so I’ve pared down the contents to the absolute essentials. Some days I’ll be carting around what feels like half of Boots in my bag and then I’ll do a clear out, always keeping the same, carefully curated goods each time.
I wrote this for the Essential Surrey website – essentialsurrey.co.uk.
Our choice of make-up reveals interesting little things about us, while paradoxically covering us up. Trends in cosmetics reinforce current beauty ideals, social attitudes and economic conditions. With this truism in mind, an exhibition that explores the evolution of make-up and its shifting form and function is surely the most glamorous way to track and digest these changes.
Continue reading Glamour On The Go Exhibition
One for chocolate chompers. I’ve made this recipe so many times and it’s always a success as it’s so easy. Light, fluffy vanilla sponge topped with rich sweet chocolate icing. Divine!
The Surrey Edit has been featured in my local paper reporting the (very exciting!) news that my blog has made the shortlist in Cosmopolitan magazine’s Cosmo Blog Awards. I’m in the Newcomer category, in association with the clothing store Next. Click on the article to make it bigger to read all about it!
Movement was very important to artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954). His art has a particularly playful energy, and none more so than in his later works. Health problems in the early 1940s meant that his physical mobility was limited, but he would not let his creativity be held back in the same way. He created a new method of working by using cut out shapes from painted paper to produce a new form of art. The exhibition at the Tate Modern explores Matisse’s development of this technique: The Cut-Outs.
Allow me to introduce you to the perfect companion for Summer. The Little White Dress.