New Book Release! Pippa: Simple Tips To Live Beautifully

Model, blogger, entrepreneur, business woman, busy mum of two, wife, and now, Pippa O' Connor can add author to that impressive list. 

Last year she launched the hugely successful Pippa Palette, a make-up set comprising eyeshadows, a blush, bronzer and a much loved highlighter, all with the added touch of naming each item after her loved ones. Her website has moved on from a blog to a fashion, beauty and lifestyle website with over five million visits and a youtube channel with videos boasting over 200k views each. 

I personally love Pippa's natural and easy going personality, which shines through on her Snapchat and Instagram accounts and so I was very happy to find Pippa's book, Simple Tips To Live Beautifully on my doorstep today. 

Yay for book blogging mail!*

Aside from being the perfect coffee table book, there's also lots of helpful tips and tricks in there that are aimed at everyone from 16 to 60, particularly anyone eager to hone in on their own personal sense of style, like Pippa has. 

I'm (supposedly) not in the business off judging a book by its cover but we all know by now that I'm a sucker for a pretty book and the layout of this one is gorgeous.

Pippa decided to write this book as a way to pass on everything she's learnt throughout her life so far and has chosen to do so in three different sections; Fashion, beauty and lifestyle. 

I like to think that by now, in my 32nd year (sob), I've figured out my own personal style but I still love reading other women's beauty and fashion advice, which is why I love blogging so much. 

Pippa always looks chic and puts outfits together so well and there's whole sections on staple wardrobe items, what to wear for your body shape and how to style outfits for weddings, and events like the races etc. 

For the beauty lovers, there's plenty of info on perfecting winged eyeliner, how to fill in your brows, Pippa's top 10 products everyone needs and even the best way to wash your make-up brushes!

My favourite photos- she looks so cute!

The lifestyle section covers everything from Pippa's favourite chicken recipe to what to pack and wear while travelling- always a tricky one!

I'm enjoying this book in the same way that I did Sally Hughes's Pretty Honest. 

For beauty and fashion lovers, it's wonderfully indulgent and I could easily pass away several hours, flicking through its glossy pages. 

I think this will be an ideal gift for teens to twenty-something-year-olds, fans of Pippa's, or for anyone who loves to read beauty and fashion blogs. 

At only €20, it's not going to break the bank if you decide to treat yo'self either! 

Available in all good book stores from the 19th of September.

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*Pippa's lovely book was sent to me for review. This is not a sponsored post and all opinions are my own, as always!

Recently Read; June & July

The heat is really on now to hit my target of 80 books for this year so I did step it up a bit in the last couple of months but sure you know yourself, life gets in the way and having to earn a living means less time to actually read. Damn you, life-sustaining job!!
*spoilers ahead*

The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

Alex Marwood has made a big name for herself in the world of suspenseful thrillers in the last few years and this is her latest, released last January. The story takes us back ten years ago to the disappearance of three year old identical twin Coco, taken from her bed where she slept next to her sister Ruby, while her parents and their friends partied and ate dinner at a restaurant close by. If that's ringing any bells, it should because there are major similarities to the Madeline McCann case throughout the book. The author shifts the narrative from before Coco's disappearance to the night it happened, back to present day where Ruby is now a teenager and full of questions. She reconnects with her older sister Mila when their father dies and together, at his funeral, they face all of the people who were present the weekend Coco was taken, hoping to uncover the truth of what really happened. This is a brilliantly written thriller; even though I had my own theories about what happened to Coco, I found myself eagerly reading on as the truth was slowly revealed. There's also one final sting in the tale that I was really not expecting!

Fans of these sort of dark, twisty thrillers will love this book, as I did. 

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King

By now it's probably pretty obvious that I love Stephen King's books. Aside from the brilliant plot, one of my favourite things about his novels is often the prologue where he usually recounts his influences for that particular story; often this is something he read or watched as a child. His wife Tabitha generally features somewhere in there too, which I always appreciate. It was only a matter of time then before I read On Writing, which is part memoir, part guide for aspiring writers. I'm not an aspiring writer but I still enjoyed this element of the book; much like Mr King, I'm a stickler for good grammar and spelling and you could do a lot worse than take advice from one of the most prolific and masterful writers around.
The memoir side of it is really fascinating; he talks about his childhood and the early years of his marriage when he and 'Tabby" lived in a trailer and worked several jobs to afford to look after their family. He discusses several of his books along the way, which for a fan was a real treat and he goes on to describe how he first realised he was an alcoholic and how he pulled himself out of that stage of his life. Lastly, he recounts the gruesome car accident that left him struggling to write or even think about writing, and how he overcame that too. I listened to this one on Audible as it was read by the man himself and I really enjoyed it.

The Bones Of You by Debbie Howells

This was on the Richard and Judy book club list for Spring or possibly Summer but either way, R & J made a Gob Bluth level of mistake with this one.
Kate is a middle aged mum of an 18 year old in a sleepy village in the UK. She's shocked to find out that a contemporary of her daughter; Rosie, has gone missing and instantly feels a sense of foreboding that something very bad has happened to her. This is in no way a spoiler because it says in the blurb that Rosie is found dead and foul play is suspected. Kate does the only thing she can, which is befriend the dead girl's mother, father and little sister and continue on to be an annoying and insensitive presence in their lives. She also does some amateur sleuthing but to be honest, I have little to no respect for Kate's detective abilities as it was obvious from the first chapter who the killer was. This book has been compared to both Gone Girl (no idea why, other than both are thrillers) and The Lovely Bones, which isn't really fair to either Gilian Flynn or Alice Sebold. Yeah I know, harsh but this was in my opinion,  poorly written; the dialogue was terrible and there was next to no character development. Although it started strongly, I felt the story veered off completely and I just couldn't care about any of the characters I'd skip this one.

Sliver by Ira Levin
I briefly joined Booktubeathon this year but didn't get around to completing most of the challenges, except for this one (read a book with a yellow cover) and read a book by a favourite author (On Writing). I've read most of Ira Levin's books at this stage (you might remember him from such works as; The Stepford Wives, The Boys From Brazil and Rosemary's Baby). His books were very popular thrillers back in the day and most have been turned into films, as was Sliver for some reason. I haven't seen the film, starring Sharon Stone and one of the many Baldwins but it looks as bad as the book was to read. This starts off well. Kay is shown around a nice looking apartment in Manhattan, which she decides to take. Later, after she's lived there for a short while, she starts dating a younger, charming man who also lives in the block. As it soon transpires, this fella owns the building and has been secretly watching all of the inhabitants illegally, via cameras that he's placed in all of their homes. There's also been a slew of suspicious deaths in the building that we're all clever enough to assume were down to this asshat, Pete. Anyway, Kay soon finds out what he's been up to and he shows her his own Big Brother style control room. She soon also becomes hooked on being a pervert and so on. This book also contains one of the worst lines of anything I've ever read;

she tongued him in the downpour

REALLY, Ira???
I'll say no more apart from the frankly RIDICULOUS ending that made me want to punch the book square in it's papery face. Don't bother with this one either but DO read A Kiss Before Dying, which was the first of Levin's books that I read and loved. 

What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey
This is one of the few books about Oprah that the woman herself has actually written. I also got this one on Audible to listen to Oprah's soothing voice (I even enjoy the Oprah-isms where her voice goes up for no good reason "I'm SOR-ryyy" etc) and overall I enjoyed this one. I guess it's almost a self help style book about what Oprah has learnt over the years of being Oprah. In fairness to her, she's not just a multi-millionaire, she's one tough cookie. She details the abuse she suffered as a child and mentions the pregnancy at age 14 that threatened to ruin her. How she eventually came to terms with this part of her life and how she's dealt with body image issues while becoming a huge success in her field of journalism is pretty inspiring and so I was happy to hear what she has to say about life in general. I will say that she does mention the words "what I know for sure" about a gazillion times and this is a relatively short book but enjoyable nonetheless.

A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman
This was one of my real-life book club choices and has been the most successful choice so far! This is no mean feat as we are an eclectic mix of women with strong opinions, just as it should be! Anyways, the Ove in question is an elderly widower very much set in his ways, with his own routines that he sticks to rigidly. He doesn't like any form of disorder in the Cul De Sac that he lives in and resents interfering from outsiders; those working on the council etc. He feels like life is no longer worth living since the loss of his wife but soon becomes caught up in the lives of his neighbours, all who need him as much as he needs them. Like most people who've read this book, I quickly fell for Ove and spent most of my time reading it laughing and crying simultaneously. It can be slow in places but it's well worth picking up.

The Invention Of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
This was last months book club choice and was also well-liked, just not as much as Ove!
Set in the early 1830's in the deep south, the novel begins with Sarah Grimkés 11th birthday where the ownership of a slave the same age as her, Handful (Hetty for short) is passed over to her. Sarah is against slavery, much to her family's chagrin and rallies against the concept of owning another human being. Sarah and Hetty become friends of sorts, but are always aware of their respective places in the world.
The chapters are alternatively narrated by Sarah and Hetty as they grow older and start to navigate the many difficulties of their lives. Sarah is determined to become a lawyer but is cruelly shot down by her father and brothers. Women at the time were barely educated and expected to only aim for marriage. They were not independent, being opinionated was frowned upon and basically went from their father's house to their husbands.
While Sarah really struggles with the limitations she faces, she clearly has it far better than Hetty, who is made to stay illiterate, is forced to watch her mother be beaten and abused and faces abuse and the constant risk of being sold to slave owners even crueler than her own. The book addresses one of the biggest issues of the time- the question of which should be fixed first; the need for women's independence or the emancipation of the slaves.
Sarah and her sister (who were actually real people by the way) felt that both could be accomplished at the same time and fought back against sexism and racism, often to the detriment of their own lives.
I really loved this book, in spite of its at times disturbing and upsetting descriptions but I thought both Hetty and Sarah's stories were really interesting and they were believable and likeable narrators. Fans of historical literature will love this one too!


I'm already on to about four other books but that's the lot for now!
Have you read any of these?
More importantly, what are you reading right now?!
To the comments!
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Kiko Milano Haul

You might remember from this Kiko haul post that I am rather fond of the Italian cosmetics brand and when I find myself in any European city (they sadly aren't to be found in Ireland), I get a little starry-eyed and stock up. 

Now, you can of course shop online with them, which I actually did earlier in the Summer as I wanted to get in early with a birthday present for my sister and thought she'd really like one of their most recent releases (more on that below) but nothing quite beats squishing through the crowds in-store with your Kiko shopping basket while your husband suffers in silence outside.

This is really only part one of my hauling because I also got some full price items that are perfect for Autumn and its burgundy hues. More of that another day. These however, were all on sale or else quite cheap, and yet still excellent quality. 

First up are the two rose gold items at the front. These were both part of the aforementioned Summer range that I bought online for my sister. I regretted not buying any for myself at the time and when I saw that these were 50% off in store, well obviously I had to get them. The lip gloss is actually riding on the whole lip oil phenomenon that started last Summer with Clarins and YSL and like those, it's designed to leaves your lips glossy and moisturised without the stickiness that accompanies most glosses. This is shade 02 (annoyingly, Kiko rarely name their shades. Gah). It's vanilla-scented and lightly shaded pink. 

In The Shade is a double-sided pencil with a taupe shadow on one side and a matte cream liner on the opposite end. This came in a few different varieties but I've been looking for a light coloured pencil for my water line for a while and the shadow is a colour I tend to go for a lot as it goes well with blue eyes. Both sides are creamy, long-lasting and nicely pigmented.

I've recently seen the light when it comes to lip pencils. I used to believe they were unnecessary faffing and an opportunity for the girls who work on the Charlotte Tilbury counter to sell you more stuff but actually, they make your lipstick look a little fuller and they prolong wear time. This fella was only €2.50 (sure where would you be going?!) and again is pure, smooth colour. It's actually more of a magenta than what the camera has shown it to be and will work well equally under a red as a pink. Hurrah!

Lastly then, is this fella which was reduced to €9!!

This is the Take It All Beauty Kit in 02, Rosy Tones. 

Again, my camera has washed the tones out somewhat but what we have here is a non-orange toned bronzer, a warm peach toned blush, a pale pearlescent pink shadow and two matte nudes. There's also a mini black liner and a couple of brushes. These are all really wearable shades and in spite of what the light is showing you here, these are actually super pigmented. The fact that this is a small and zipped case means it's ideal to throw in your bag for work, weekends away, nights out etc. 

That's the lot for a minute. 

Are you also a big Kiko fangirl? 

What do you think are their must have products?

To the comments!

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Poison Girl | Review

My favourite perfumes usually have a story behind them. My first proper perfume that I bought for myself with my very first student nurse pay check was Hypnotic Poison. 

I had already spent about a year before that taking the occasional illicit spray of my sister's bottle (sorry, Aoife. I'm a wagon but I smell great) so I was already in love with it and continued to be for pretty much my entire twenties. 

A whole decade of a favourite perfume means that I'll always love it. Being a beauty addict, I obviously also went through several other fragrances but I always went back to the heady and potent scent of vanilla in HP. I don't care what the base and top notes are, I just know that I love it. 

Every time I inhale it (and you best believe I inhale that shizz. I'm talking; fill-your-lungs, make an inappropriate mmm-sound, take-an-extra-deep-breath-of it-just-in-case, inhale) I'm transported back to college nights out, work nights out, time with friends, family, dates, holidays, everything really. 

I love it. Did you get that, yeah? That I love it? 

Grand, let's move on. 

So this Summer Dior brought out a brand spanking new version of Poison, Poison Girl. I have in the past had all of their previous varieties of Poison so, of course I had to try this. I spent plenty of time at Dior beauty counters sniffing and spritzing this one, trying to decide whether to get this or buy a new bottle of HP. In the end I just hinted like bejaysus to himself around the time of my birthday and lo and behold, here is Poison Girl:

Just in case you do in fact want an idea of what your olfactory senses are picking up, here's what you're smelling, as per Dior; 

Poison Girl is a gourmand with bitter orange accents, rose, vanilla and tonka bean. 

I'm with yis on the first three, Dior, but I've no idea what Tonka bean is when it's at home. Aside from that, the rose makes for a nice floral intro, which means it's Summery and a little sweet but then you get that warm and addictive hit that all the poison perfumes have. 

How then, you might ask, does it compare to my original fave, Hypnotic Poison?

Well, HP is an oriental blend, so you have jasmine, bitter almond, Jacaranda and vanilla and musk. It's a downright sensuous (major cringe at the word sensuous), captivating, intoxicating and slightly extravagant affair. 

Poison girl is very much its baby sister. In terms of longevity, I can smell HP on my coat days after wearing it. One spritz in the morning and I'm good for the day and I'll never get tired of it. 

PG wears off more quickly but I'm still drawn to it like a moth to a sexy-perfume-scented flame. 

PG is different for sure; a completely different beast, obviously but it's still a really gorgeous scent and is ideal for Summer. It manages to straddle the world of daytime and evening appropriate perfumes extremely well indeed. 

It's very lovely.

Gotta love that poison apple bottle design too. ALL the swooning. 

Anyone else tried Poison Girl? 

Anyone else also love it and also obsessed with Hypnotic Poison?

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Benefit Do The Hoola!

Don't you just love receiving an unexpected gift of make-up? It happens so rarely but when it does my eyes do that light-up thing, like the heart-eyed emoji.
Recently my in-laws were away and they brought me this fella back. If I were going to treat myself, make-up wise, I probably wouldn't reach for Benefit, purely because it's a bit pricey for a splurge- it's Boots all the way and a stop at a Rimmel or a Bourjois stand for me and my nurses salary.
Benefit, though, lends itself well to gifting purposes; it's all so goddamn fancy. These style of sets are so fun too; I love all the mini sizes and compartments in the book look-a-like box.

Do The Hoola is the Beyond Bronze kit for complexion, lips and eyes and is perfect for Summer.

Inside the lid there's a mirror and a tips and tricks booklet showing you how to get the most out of the set, which is always handy.

The products themselves correspond with the booklet, numbering 1-4 for the order in which you use them.

Number one is a brand new product and one I've been super eager to try. Dew the Hoola is a sheer, soft-matte, liquid face bronzer. You get 7mls in a pump-action bottle with a faintly floral scent. I feel like this is slightly too dark for my skin tone when I'm going au natural. If I have tan on, then it works well. Although it claims to have a sheer formula, I find it to be quite pigmented and it also mattifies pretty fast. Because of this it needs to be quickly blended nut seems to add more of a natural glow than a powder bronzer does.

Number two is a benefit best-seller; Hoola bronzer. I've previously only ever had a mini of this but I love it. It's a super soft, finely-milled, flattering powder that can be built up from glowing to bronzed in a matter of seconds. Would you just look at that dinky little brush too! Squee!

Number three is They're Real, this is the best selling mascara in the UK and it's easy to see why. I previously had a full size of this and the only thing that stopped me from repurchasing was how stubborn it was to take off. I have a pretty decent eye make-up remover on the go at the minute though so I'm hoping for good things.

Number three is Bene balm, a rose tinted, hydrating lip balm. I love the Benetint balms and this one is particularly flattering, plus mini size!!! Cuteness!!

Lastly, there's Hoola extra plush lip gloss. This smells like Summer; kind of like a Pina Colada. It feels super comforting on the lips; there's a good slip there and it's not sticky- more like a glossy balm than anything. It goes on clear but there's a peachy/golden shimmer in there that adds a subtle and flattering extra dimension to the gloss. This is one you need to try for yourself, cause I know if I heard of a peach/gold shimmered gloss, I'd run a mile. Not with this though, it's very nice indeed. The combination of this and the Bene Tint underneath is lovely too.

Have you tried the new liquid bronzer from Benefit? 

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