Classics #2 Oscar Wilde

 If I had a "My Life In Books" column in Elle Magazine, this book would be no.1 on my list. I thought "Don't I look cool buying an Oscar Wilde book in a massive old fashioned Waterstones... I'll never read this". Oh how I was wrong. I didn't realise Oscar Wilde was homosexual. Did anyone else? I mean I've seen the bit in The Inbetweeners where everyone accuses Neil's dad of being gay and he protests saying he was married for several years, then Will mentions that "Oscar Wilde was married" - That probably should have given it away. Nevertheless, Oscar Wilde was gay and this book has hints all the way through it. The book was published several times and the final in 1891. He was accused in 1895 of "acts of gross indecency with another male person"and was sentenced to two years imprisonment and hard labour. Ok, so it was illegal to be gay in those days (Oscar Wilde was Irish, he was sentenced at the Old Bailey, England) and this book is very risqué for the 1890's - there isn't one kiss in Jane Austen novels but this was potentially the 50 shades of the time. 

 The book is about an artist (Basil) who paints a portrait of Dorian Gray - Basil's friend loves it so much he insists that it should be sold but Basil is having none of it... why?... because he is clearly in love with Dorian Gray and wants to keep the painting for himself... yeah. I won't quote anything out of the book but the first chapter was enough to have me hooked. The best bit is that with the Penguin Classics there are notes at the back which display what Wilde had first written and was taken out - some you can see why. The book was used against Wilde in this trial as you can tell somethings are his own thoughts and when someones wife enters it is clear he is potentially talking about his own wife... 

 Anyway I have just got to the part where Dorian Gray is engaged - poor Basil- I will quote this (just as a taster!) - Wilde here is talking about Basil - "A strange sense of loss came over him. He felt that Dorian Gray would never again be to him all that he had been in the past" - shocking, I know. 

 This isn't a boring Jane Austen novel and it is one of very few of Oscar Wilde's - its free on iBooks - so I highly reccomend it - I want to write down every quote that one character in particular says... This is my favourite:

"Never marry Dorian. Men marry because they are tired and women because they are curious - both are dissapointed" - ahh and people ask why I'm not getting married. 

Beautiful,

RHS x 

And so, I begin my holiday prep

I have finished work, had a great nights sleep and completed my daily 15 minute abdominal routine. Therefore, there is only two things left to do - go on holiday and of course, prep. 

This isn't your standard night out prep, this is full on "I'm going on holiday, I need the world to know" prep. Like a Strawberry Pavolova on a night out but an M&S Strawberry Pavlova for holiday. 

This is big - the girls are with me. 

I will be jet setting to the beautiful South-West coast of France for my 20th Summer there (and potentially my 25th time there) and prep gets more complex every time!

So here is what I shall be starting as soon as I have completed my daily 15-minute panic.

Starting with my face I shall be applying my mud mask (these are incredible and are basically clay which help to dry your skin and deep cleanse your pores - which is great to avoid getting spots from hot weather - best applied after a shower when your pores are open) 

Then because I have large pores on my face I shall use a Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Nose Pore Strip to give the pores around my nose an extra clean and remove any blackheads or grease - nice. 

In the shower I shall be using a VO5 Hot Oil which you place in a mug of very hot water and apply before shampooing - it makes hair silky soft and very easy to handle. 

I will then be giving my legs and bum a very good scrub with Fat Girl Scrub (this isn't just for fat people! its great for smoothing and removing any dead skin - use before shaving but be careful not to be too abrasive) 

I use Boots Smooth Care Shave Gel Sensitive as it is the best I have found - even out of the branded gels and I use Wilkinson Sword Hydro Razor - I have heard the new Venus Razor with Olay is very good too! 

Out of the shower I shall apply Fat Girl Slim which will help to even my skin even more for photo ready legs!  

Then, its time for wax, wax, wax - really there is nothing to be scared of - we don't want a Miranda on 'Sex and the City' moment do we? - that was embarrassing! - it doesn't hurt one tiny bit - I've tried many home waxing kits for 'delicate areas' and this Jolen Salon Formula Microwave Wax is the gentlest I have used - I do have quite a high pain threshold when it comes to these sorts of things! - but a bikini wax at a salon is usually only around £7-£12 if you want to have an expert have a go first! - A day before you go use Skin Doctors Ingrow Go formula to remove any stubbornness! - enjoy! 

Mani and Pedi time! WOOHOO 

I recently did a post on 'Newspaper Nails' if you fancy something more arty - I have also written in this blog about how to remove cuticles safely.

I have Boots Soothing Gel Foot Mask which is incredible: remove any previous nail varnish, soak your feet in hot bubbly water, dry and apply a thick layer of the mask, leave to dry for 10 minutes then soak off again, dry feet and paint nails! 

I am going to use my very hard wearing Essie in Snap Happy #244 for my toes and then just a coat of Boots Base Coat and a coat of Boots Top Coat for my nails as finger nails get chipped very easily on holiday - I have spoilt many a £20 mani by going away! - so settle for a shiny coat to add a bit of something to your nails! 

Then just as I start to get very excited about 10pm I will apply a good helping of Fat Girl Slim Sleep which Bliss have to very kindly added lavender too and it smells delicious! - smoothing and soothing all in one. Ahhhhhhh 

So, beauty aside, I have downloaded the latest issue of Vogue onto my iPad (£2.99 on the iPad but £3.99 from a shop), downloaded The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde and made a summer playlist - which is potentially too embarassing to share with you... but to stop you guessing it includes 'Superstar' by Jamelia - classic

and also 'Work' by Iggy Azalea - amazing.

I have put my favourite TV programmes on to record: 'Hotel Hell' with Gordon Ramsay and 'Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model' - because I want Sarah to win! 

And don't forget to watch Mo Farah run in the 5,000m final on Friday at 5:15pm (6:15pm if you're in France, like me) if you listen hard enough you will probably hear me screaming at the TV. 

If you're going away anywhere, enjoy and don't forget your prep!

Love

RHS x

Easy like Sunday morning

Ahh bacon sarnies (sandwiches darling), football, beef bourginon, red wine and a Jane Austen novel.

And for first time in ages - no work at 6pm - a real day of rest ahh. 

So I've edited my blog a bit - seeing as I have joined so many new sites - Tumblr, Svpply (American, but I am getting addicted to it - find things (anything, I mainly find products) you want and have (just to make people jealous)) and Delicious (which is my least favourite but still an easy way to find blogs you actually want to read).

Tumblr is by far my most favourite, latest join - I love how you can design your own page and post anything you want! - get it!.. and add me. 

I'm slightly consumed by quotes at the minute and they're my favourite things to post on Tumblr, I am now no longer afraid to admit that I love A.A.Milne quotes (basically what Winnie the pooh - and friends said): 

"Think it over, think it under" - Winnie the Pooh. 

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one. So I will never have to live a day without you" - Piglet. 

ahh - that was nice wasn't it. 

So Im currently sat in my living room whilst mum conducts some Pilates moves (found on MY iPad), dad files his nails (yep) and I watch the Derby match (we're winning 1-0 to Blackburn)

Its raining, its warm, the beef is cooking and I've already practised my violin for an hour and played the piano for half an hour and been and bought all of my bedding for year 2 - King Size quilts - YES. 

(mum wouldn't let me buy a sign that says "no boys allowed" for my bedroom) - sigh. 

I'm several chapters into Pride and Prejudice and I have to say I highly recommend it! - I think its free on iBooks - it would make a good summer read if you don't regularly get a shot of English culture - ok, the novel is more of a triple JD that takes several hours to drink then a down in one shot of Sambuca - but trust me - its good! 

Talking of drinks - Do people use sundays as a day to get over hangovers before work starts again on Monday - perhaps. 

Definitely the best part of Sundays is family time - even if you don't talk to each other, presence in itself is satisfying enough. 

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in our hearts" - A.A.Milne

Happy sunday

RHS x

Classics #1 Persuasion - Jane Austen

I've finished it. I finished it last night, to be precise. 

I got it because Waterstones are selling Wordsworth Classics books (made for students) for £1.99!

I never really planned on reading its meagre 201 pages, I just hoped it would look good in my "library" in my "own house" in several years time. 

Nevertheless, thanks to the recent heatwave I picked it up and didn't put it down - metaphorically speaking of course. 

Its a book thats more 50 shades of thesaurus than grey, of Much Ado About Nothing, until someone does something scandalous, sorry "scandalous' - no one has any rabbit moments.  The book is wordy but I highly advise it is read. 

I read that it is better than Pride and Prejudice! (which I still have to read). 

I'll try not to give too much away 

(ruined by the letter! - sorry!) 

The heroine, Anne Elliot is the middle daughter of Sir Walter Elliot, her eldest sister, Elizabeth, and father are very much focussed on social class and will not be seen with people who are inferior (this is made painfully clear in many chapters - thankfully they move to Bath to solve Sir Walter's debt issues). 

Anne Elliot is very closely acquainted with Lady Russell who is like a mother figure (the Elliot sisters' mother died) to the three girls, Anne is her favourite however. 

Lady Russell, although she means well throughout the book persuaded Anne Elliot not to marry Captain Wentworth (Mr Darcy - basically, or Aston Kutcher, whoever, he was fit). Then eight and a half years later they are reunited, but Captain Wentworth is having none of Anne's forwardness. After many swings and roundabouts of family: she loves him, he loves her, she's taken ill and falls for someone else, Captain Wentworth is eventually drawn to Anne completely. Last night I have to say, and I am potentially the LEAST romantic person ever, but this tugged at heart strings somewhere in me: the letter written to Anne by Captain Wentworth:

I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in

F. W.

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never. 

and sigh... how could Anne Elliot refuse this?!
It was clear at the end that Anne had searched for 8 years to find a match close to what she had when she was 19 but couldn't.

Could the person we will end up marrying be in our current friendship group?

Well worth a read, if you fancy something different from a chick flick, you can easily associate with the characters in this book and the relationships are fascinating, especially that of Mary Musgrove (youngest Elliot) with her husband (Charles Musgrove) and her children.

Keep your friends close!

RHS x