Book review: ACTUARIAL FAIRY TALES (John Lee)

John Lee, who gave us the eccentric joys of Confessions of an Actuarial Tutor, turns his brand of nerdy humour into re-telling well-known fairytales, such as The Three Little Pigs, Sleeping Beauty and Goldilocks, with an actuarial slant. The results are cerebral, engrossing and often laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Sponsored post: RINSTA fashion, glamorous Y2K fits

I was kindly sent two cardigans from RINSTA, a hot new website that specialises in Y2K-style aesthetic. Here are some snaps of me in said cardigans!

Jack Grealish / KDB fanfiction, Chapter 5: Margin of Prudence

BBFC rating: PG for mild sex references and mild sexual innuendo

Author's disclaimer: I don't know De Bruyne or Grealish. This story is totally made up.

Catch up on Chapter 4, Red Light, Green Light, here.

Kevin De Bruyne’s 10-day spell in isolation was coming to an end, and for him, it couldn’t come soon enough.

Review: LookFantastic Scent Edit Autumn 2021 box

Getting perfume samplers in the post were one of the little treats that served as a fantastic pick me up during the seemingly never-ending period that was lockdown. As I have now exhausted all the perfume samples that are available on the FeelUnique website, I had to look elsewhere, and was alerted to this very tempting offer from LookFantastic.

It's a box with five fragrances in, luxury-sized (so larger than the usual 1.2ml sample-sizes I reviewed from FeelUnique), with two other non-fragrance samples thrown in. The box costs £55, which may seem pricey… until you consider that the box comes with a voucher code, that gives you £55 off the price of a full-sized bottle of any of the five perfumes it trials (and I made use of this voucher!)

Here are my thoughts on the seven items in the box:

Jack Grealish / KDB fanfiction, Chapter 4: Red Light, Green Light

BBFC rating: 12A (one use of strong language, moderate sex references and moderate sexual innuendo)

Author’s disclaimer: I don’t know Grealish or De Bruyne. This story is complete fiction.

Chapter 3, Optics, was here.

Jack Grealish / KDB fanfiction, Chapter 3: Optics

BBFC rating: 12A (one use of strong language and moderate sexual innuendo)

Author's disclaimer: I don't know De Bruyne or Grealish. This story is complete fiction.

Chapter 2, A Spiritual Assist, was here.

As Kevin De Bruyne headed out to the Manchester City Football Academy training ground, he chuckled to himself about how his teammate Jack Grealish had absolutely zero chill around him.

Jack Grealish / KDB fanfiction, Chapter 2: A Spiritual Assist

BBFC rating: PG (mild bad language, mild sex references)

Author's disclaimer: I don't know Grealish or De Bruyne. This story is complete fiction. 

Chapter 1 was here.

Whenever a goal was scored in the Premier League, the Fantasy Premier League Twitter account would immediately relay this information to the world, announcing who got the goal, and who provided the assist. 

Jack Grealish / KDB fanfiction, Chapter 1: Bruynian Motion

Chapter 1: Bruynian Motion

BBFC rating – U (mild angst)

Author's disclaimer: I don't know De Bruyne, I don't know Grealish. This story is purely the fantastical whimsy of a hyperactive imagination. All feedback welcome, good or bad. If you like the story, let me know so it incentivises me to keep writing!

Review of five perfume samplers from FeelUnique - part 7

My dedication to sampling all the perfumes that are out there continues, with a little help from FeelUnique! June and July was a busy period during work, so I didn't have time to produce much blog content, and as such, I've built up somewhat of a backlog. I will endeavour to increase to frequency of my reviews, going forward!

Chloé Rose Tangerine

This Chloé scent features just five ingredients (tangerine, blackcurrant, rose, cedar and white amber), attesting to that age-old adage that it's quality, not quantity.

Restaurant review: SANTO REMEDIO (London Bridge)

After Chelsea beat Manchester City to become Champions of Europe for the second time, it was only natural that I was in a celebratory mood. As this win coincided with the restrictions being lifted in the UK, I decided to combine celebrating my club's win, with making the most of the momentary freedom we were being granted.

I did not choose well. This was some of the food below:

Review of four perfume samplers from FeelUnique - part 6

I'm slowly but steadily making my way through all the perfumes that FeelUnique are letting you sample. And it's proving to be a lot of fun! With department stores re-opening and putting out testers again, it means the thing that I was missing, which led me to order these samplers to begin with, are reinstated. But I've gotten so used to making my monthly FeelUnique order, that I shall continue with the tradition!

Review of five perfume samplers from FeelUnique – part 5

FeelUnique have lifted their moratorium on pick and mix samples, which means I can pick up where I left off and review more scents!!! I have to say, when lockdown began over a year ago, I would not have predicted my film blog pivoting to doing perfume reviews was going to be one of the side effects! 

For my most recent thoughts on FeelUnique hauls, click here.

Oscar predictions, 2021

Due to work and exams, I've not seen as many of the 2021 in contention films as I'd like to (this has pretty much been the party line since I started my job in 2018, aha). But I have been keeping my eye on the bloggers and prognosticators, seeing who won the pre-cursors, as well as watching the BAFTAs.

Thus, I feel well-equipped to at least make a valiant stab at who I think will win! 

Best picture: Nomadland 

Best director: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland 

Chloé Zhao and Nomadland have taken the top two prizes at almost every precursor award, so I think these two wins are currently locked. 

Review of perfume samples from eBay pot luck – part 4

Graciously, the FeelUnique Pick and Mix sample deal is back! I had been missing it a lot, and in lieu of it, I'd bought a pot luck of assorted perfume samples from eBay. As my previous reviews (un et duex et trois) attest to, the collection had been decidedly unlucky.

Fortunately, now that FeelUnique is letting me order samples again, I needn't venture to the eBay samples any more, and thus, part 4 of reviewing them will be the final instalment.

Red Door by Elizabeth Arden

Golden Globe predictions, 2021

It's the Golden Globes tonight! They screwed up epically last year, awarding Best Screenplay to Tarantino's insufferable Once Upon a Time in Hollywood..., giving that hack another platform to blather on about how great he was. The fact that they rewarded his contrived film over the brilliant Parasite further attests to the Golden Globes' chronic lack of taste, and how they just kiss the more famous person's ass.

(Graciously, the Oscars did it right, crowning Best Original Screenplay and Best Director and Best Film to Parasite over Tarantino's yawnfest, giving me faith that voting bodies do occasionally exercise good judgment!)

Thus, I'm predicting the Golden Globes this year, but I really don't expect anything good from them. They've shown their true colours in the past, time and time again.

I'm still yet to watch quite a few of the nominated titles, but when I have free time, I have been making my way through the films which interest me, that are available on streaming services. Yesterday I watched I Care a Lot, which was Rosamund Pike reprising her streak of Gone Girl-villainy, to very entertaining and thrilling effect! 

Best motion picture - drama: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Product review: MAC Hyper Real Glow Palette / Get It Glowin’ highlighter palette

Prior to going into lockdown, my daily make-up routine consisted of just two products: MAC concealer for the bags under my eyes and blemishes on my face, and MAC blush to give my cheeks a bit of colour. On Fridays, if I was feeling audacious, I would top this look up with MAC eyeshadow, usually a glittery pink shade, on the eyelids. I'm certainly loyal to the brand! 

This was an extremely simple process that I could do quickly when my train was ten minutes away from its destination, meaning that my make-up was freshly applied for work. 

Over lockdown, with there not being much to do, I had time to refine my beauty routine, and in doing so, added an extra component to the existing process: highlighter. 

Review of five perfume samples from eBay pot luck – part 3

You know what this is about by now! I was missing the FeelUnique '5 samples for £3.95' deal (which in itself was a response to missing being able to test perfumes in department stores pre-Covid-19). So I bought a sample of 50 perfume samples for £23.50 off eBay. The only issue was that I didn't have any say in the perfumes, and alas, some of them weren't to my tastes (see previous reviews of the eBay pot luck, here and here).

Intrusion by Oscar de la Renta

Review of five perfume samples from eBay pot luck – part 2

This blog is part 2 of my testing out the assortment of perfume samples I got for £23.50 from eBay. My thoughts on the first few are here!