Deal of the day

Ulp, on Friday the Amazon Kindle deal of the day was "Good as Dead" by Mark Billingham. On my 'to be read' pile I have the prior book in the series : "From the Dead" ... so, if I write about something on here it means it has to happen! So- next book (after "Fury" by GM Ford) will be From the Dead, then Good as Dead on my Kindle- promise!

Due for collection

Wouldn't you know it- the day after I go to the library, my reservation for "Tokyo ", by Mo Hayder becomes available! 😡

Items due for return 09/01

Thursday is Library day!

Today I had these due back:

I had got "Are you my mother?" (graphic novel) out for Jerry, he'd been asking if the library had "Fun Home" by the same author; at the time of checking they did not, but this caught my eye on the shelves instead.  He did not like it, oh well.

I also returned "Ms. Cupcake- The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in town!", although technically this was not due until Monday.  I got this out aaages ago; in work they were having a Bake-Sale (one they gave us decent notice about), so I ran a search on the library catalogue for 'vegan' for some inspiration.  

I made two recipes from this: Red Velvet cupcakes, and the Bakewell Tart Cupcakes. They both had a similar- easy - method and produced tasty results. CONFESSION TIME: I'm not actually vegan, Jerry is, but I daydreamed about the Bakewell Tart cupcakes after they were all finished.  Raspberry plus Almond is one of my ultimate combinations!

I was sad to return this to the library, and would be happy to add this cookbook to my collection... if only it was a little cheaper on Amazon!    

New Year noodles

This was the recipe I followed yesterday.  We had a roast chicken for our Christmas dinner, and I made a stock w/the carcass.

The supermarket,  although open on New Year's Day didn't have half the ingredients:

- I just used instant noodles... which kindof went mushy as I added them first (not cooked separately), but then had to boil the soup quite a bit as it was very liquid-y
- No fresh ginger so I bought a ginger paste in a jar
- I didn't use a fresh chilli (my little girl was going to be eating it too,  but added a squirt of Flying Goose chilli sauce to my portion)
- No tamarind paste, and wasn't sure what to use as a substitute
- Skipped the fresh coriander to give it a more store-cupboard vibe
- And yes, we had frozen prawns

There's loads left!

 THAI CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP | Recipes | Nigella Lawson

Monday Mani- "Fantasy Fire"

Max Factor; Fantasy Fire (3 coats), No.7 ltd edition Gold glitter topcoat on accent nail.

So I finally caught up and bought Fantasy Fire, kindof expecting great things... I was/ am disappoint.  The sheer-ness of the colour, even after 3 coats makes me think like my fingernails are discoloured because I've been poisoned/ have some illness, Blah.  At the time I just couldn't be bothered to paint my nails a different colour just to act as a base for it.

As recommended in Marie Claire

A while back I bought 

SIMPLE CLEAR SKIN OIL BALANCING MOISTURISER, £3.99

as per recommendation by Marie Claire magazine:

http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/beauty/best/13989/5/moisturisers-for-oily-skin-oily-skin-care-products.html#stop

It was good, as in cheap, but when the tube ran out I opted for Boots own brand 

Boots Expert Sensitive Daily Defence Moisture Cream

Actually I got it as I'd seen it in my friend's bathroom, and she has PERFECT skin.  I mean, who needs some dumb magazine recommendation when the proof is right there in front of your very own eyes?

It was preferable to the 'Simple' one as this actually had an SPF (12), and was on an insane offer- £4.49 by itself, or £4 for 2 selected Expert Sensitive products.  Naturally I opted for the two-for-one and also bagged a 200ml Gentle Cleansing Lotion also. 

The Cleansing Lotion is fine, but the moisturiser is just all wrong for me!  It's a pump-dispenser, and if you squirt a "full" pump it's miles too much.  And then the product itself is just greasy!  I felt it as soon as I spread it between my hands to apply onto my face- oily moisturiser on oily skin ? Nightmare!

So I'm back to the Marie Claire list, and the next most expensive on there is Garnier Pure Active Spot Fighting moisturiser.  Wish me luck! 

I am a cat

Well I had possibly the worst spot in the world ever this week.  So to cheer myself up I got a couple of face masks.  
Montagane Jeunesse "Fudge Sauna"
I love these sachets, they are so distinctive.  I chose this variety because it stated it was suitable for -amongst other types- 'Greasy' skin... maybe a slight mis-translation there ?  Everyone knows that "a ladies" skin is oily, not Greasy.
You wet your face with warm water, and while still wet apply the face mask.  One thing I like about the packaging it that it's possible to tear it open when your hands are wet!  I hate those sachets of conditioners you get in packs of hair dye that are impossible to tear open while your hands and everything else is wet after rinsing dye out of your hair.  
The pack contains 15g of product, which when squeezed out doesn't seem like a lot, but it is very thick, and well, Fudgy! It's light in colour, and has a glossy texture like melted white chocolate.  When applied to the skin it has such a weird heating feeling!  This is to "open and deeply clean pores".  After 10-15 mins you can rinse off - DO NOT EAT!
I enjoyed the mask, it does exactly what it says on the tin.  Unlike most other face masks I have used, it does not seem to dry at all which I do enjoy about clay-based masks.  The heating effect soon wears off, but my skin felt nice and soft afterwards.  
Best of all these were half-price in Boots- a grand total of 0.49 pence!

Update- the Boots Skin Clear blotting sheets were also on offer- two packs for £4.00.  As e.l.f were out of stock on their blotting sheets on my payday this month I snapped the Boots ones up!