Autumn Brings A Change

Hello Autumn,

I've been dragging my feet and reminiscing of long Summers days; whiling away the time in the sunshine, cocktails on rooftops and snoozing on beaches. However, Autumn is quickly turning into Winter and before it does, I'd like to take the time to embrace this season.

I'm looking forward to dog-walking in the park with leaves crunching under my Converse, windswept hair and crisp, but bright, Autumn mornings.

Today I've updated the What Lexy Said theme to Autumn, but in doing so, I had to pick just one for the header. I still want to use all the lovely pictures that the lovely Alex Thornber took, so I'm going to put them here. Hopefully they give you all the Autumn feels required for October.

Lush's Next Big Thing: The Unicorn Horn #TheyDoExist

Every Season at Lush it would seem that a front runner emerges from the pack of limited edition seasonal products, and leads the way forward for sales target smashing and selling out left-right and centre. For Christmas, is was obviously the returning favourite Snow Fairy. 

For Valentines, the award looks like it’s going to... The Unicorn Horn.

At £3.25 each, The Unicorn Horn bubble bar looks like a slightly elongated version of the Christmas favourite runner-up Candy Mountain; think slightly longer and slightly pointier.
Crumble this bad boy up under hot running water and Lush promises a “magical bath filled with beautiful neroli and lavender essential oils, colourful candy stars, sparkling lustre, rainbows and dreams.” – What else would you expect from a dissolvable Unicorn Horn?

The lustre featured on the horn (?!) is very similar to the fine shimmer that covered The Candy Mountain, but the scent is far more similar to the treasured all-year-long product the Twilight Bath Bomb. If Lush Cocktailing takes your fancy, I would definitely recommend using a Twilight bath bomb along with the Unicorn Horn; as Twilight dissolves your water will transform from a pearlescent pink to a moody, shimmering deep purple night sky.
With added lustre from the bubble bar there will be a million stars in your sky tonight. The endless amount of bubbles that come from the valentine’s edition Bubble Bar is surprising, so I would suggest if you do decide to get some cocktails going you cut your horn down.

Both products heavily feature Lavender which is the perfect soothing, mind-clearing and relaxing fragrance to soothe you into your evening – I’ve never slept better after an hour in the bath with these two and then off to bed.  Whilst Twilight has quite a floral, romantic Lavender scent to it, it’s complimented (not copied) by The Unicorn Horn which Lavender is more herbal but equally as enchanting.

But why is The Unicorn Horn so popular, you ask? Well, it’s beautiful for one. The second reason is that most of the noted reviewers on YouTube received one in their press samples and as you can tell from this sample image; it was very well received. (Sprinkle of Glitter permitted the internetty circulation of this particular image.)

The popularity of some Lush products astounds me – similarly to Snow Fairy at Christmas, there was also Northern Lights just before and Sparkler before that. All of the afore mentioned products sold so well that every time we emptied one box onto the shelf, we needed to open another – the never ending replenishment of Snow Fairy did not teach me however, that I would grow to like the scent (love the scent) and now in February, I look at the sliver of Snow Fairy left in my 100g bottle and I curse myself for not seeing this coming; for not buying more when I had the chance. I completely understand the obsession with favourite products.

With ten days to go until Valentines, and realistically only eleven days of possible Unicorn Horn buying time, I recommend you go now – go forth Lushies and stock up those haul cupboards. I certainly will be.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

“Absolutely captivating.”
— Kirkus, starred review

“A funny and tender coming-of-age story that’s also the story of a writer finding her voice.”
— Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Rowell manages to capture both the wildly popular universe of fanfic and the inside of an 18-year-old’s head. Consider me a fangirl of this charming coming-of-age tale.”
— Entertainment Weekly

“As funny as it is embarrassing, and as charming as it is true-to-geek-life … Fangirl is a cute and poignant read for fangirls and fanboys of all ages.”
— Tor.com

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, published first in the US in 2013, is flying off the bookshelves. So much so, that after hearing about it for weeks from my course mates, I had to go to my two different local Waterstones twice before I managed to arrive on a day when they had one left in stock. Even the clerk in the shop loved it, she told me that her other half had taken her away for a romantic getaway weekend and she ignored him for half the trip just so she could finish the young adult book. 

I wrote fan fiction avidly, my whole way through secondary school, usually surrounding me and my favourite bands so when I read Rowell's book of a nerdy girl at University avidly writing her own fan fiction, on a series that sound stone loosely based on Harry Potter, I felt cool. My inner nerd shrivelled down a little and I felt cool; the nerdiness of fan fiction in Fangirl is turned into passion, talent and the unwillingness to let some of or favourite characters go.  

I enjoyed it immensely and even though my copy has gorgeous drawings by Noelle Stevenson, I couldn't help but imagine the main character Cather as the girl who first told me about the book. Her name is Grace and she reminds me entirely of Cather. In a wonderful way. 

The plot moved on quick enough so I didn't get bored and the characters are almost more loveable than my real life friends. Makes me wish I had a twin sister of my own, even if it was just to bounce ideas off. 

Next up, Paper Towns by John Green. I enjoyed The Fault In Or Stars, so I have high hopes for this one.

My Caffeine Addiction.

My boyfriend and I are spending Christmas with my Mum this holiday; my first Christmas with him and my first Christmas taking him home with me. I’m looking forward to it more than you could possibly imagine. However there is one thought at the back of mind that pipes up occasionally.
“Will Mum mind I’m drinking Monster all day?”

Monster being a 500ml can of energy drink with about 250 calories per can. It’s probably where I get most of my calorie intake from. And I admit, I have a slight addiction to it and the addiction to Monster has developed into an addiction to Caffeine. I definitely drink less of it than I used to, but I still drink over the recommended daily allowance I’m sure of it.

Caffeine is messing with my, already messed up, sleeping schedule. For example, on Saturday night I slept from 8pm till midnight, then I was awake for an hour but asleep again by 1am to sleep through till 730am when my alarm went off on Sunday morning. In contrast, last week I fell asleep at 8pm, woke up again at 10pm then cleaned the bathroom with bleach from top to bottom, followed by our bedroom and was still awake at 1am when my boyfriend got home from work.  

This morning I woke up at 1030am, was out of the house by 1 and now at 230pm I’m yawning at my screen. No rhyme or reason to anything anymore.
The withdrawal headaches and the sleeping stresses are enough to make me suggest something I never said I could do; I’m going to give up Monster for 2014. I’ll still have a caffeine intake, because I don’t think it would be safe to take such a staple part of my diet away so quickly, but it will only be from coffee and any painkillers cut with caffeine. I will drink more water, because I will never want to be dehydrated again. I will not buy four-packs of Monster from the shop on the corner.

Adding it up in my head, if I give up Monster I’ll actually save a substantial amount of money. Here’s a week of my life, and the Monster’s I consume.

Monday – One on the way to first class, before second class, one at home.

Tuesday  - One in the morning, two at night.

Wednesday – One on the way to work, one when I come home.

Thursday – One on the way to work, one when I come home.

Friday  - One on the way to class, one after.

Saturday – One on the way to work, one after.

Sunday – One on the way to work, one after.

So… at an average of £1.19 a can, I spend £17.85 on Monster a week. I could quite happily have an extra £20 to spend on something else; the winter boots I really need, next semester’s books, birthday presents…

Therefore I, Lex, proclaim that from January 1^st 2014 I will give up Monster. Unless shit really goes down, because in that case I’m a weakling little bitch and need to fall back on my crutches. Sorry.  

Nevermind November.

I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm selfish. My laptop's just died it's final death. No resurrection possible. (My guess, anyway.)
I'm putting off writing my Dissertation by writing this.
I'm putting off my essay about American Conspiracies by writing this.
I'm thinking of doing a Masters, which means oned ay my name might be;
Miss Lex Brookman MA
...Or something like that.

I have a meeting at 9am with my designated dissertation supervisor and I am regretting deciding to book in at 9am. Why so early?
Every monday evening with tuesdays 9am meeting looming, I sigh into bed dreading the next day. I never thought University would be like that.
I assumed thast University would inspire me and make me a better person. Okay, so it probably has, but the magic is fading.

I'm in my third year. My first semester of my third year and God only knows what I'm going to do next year if I don't do a Masters. Am I more employable with a Masters?
Can I take another year of working alongside University to pay the bills?
Can I take another year of working in the same God forsaken pub with the same people?

I have no idea.
But I do know that I don't want to have to worry about it anymore.

I need to find a place to live.
I need to find another job.
I need to talk to someone about the possibility of me getting a 2:1 on this degree.
I need to talk to someone about the possibility of me getting onto a Masters course I may actually enjoy and benefit from.
Most importantly and on top of all of that, I need to make time for my boyfriend who never stops trying to make time for me.

Karma, Lush Solid Perfume.

Karma is my smell. My boyfriend smells it, or anything vaguely similar and thinks of me.  

With main notes of orange, patchouli, pine, lavendin, lemongrass, elemi and cassie the Lush website 

boasts that wearing this perfume feels like "running through the fields on your way to Woodstock." 

I can't say I know what that feels like, but wearing this perfume does make my day brighter. 

Kind of, hair flowing in the breeze, sunshine warming your skin, happy day - brighter. 

Spicy sunshine in a bottle that's also available in a spray and an atomiser. 

As well as a perfume, a soap, a karma combo shampoo bar, a bubble bath bar... The karma list is endless.

(I also recommend the Karma body bubble bar. Leaves your skin soft and everything smelling wonderful!) 

I'm not sure what either elemi or cassie is but if they contribute to creating this magic stick then the more the merrier. 

A spicy, happy smell that gets the day going but also manages to keep you warm throughout the whole day. 

Like I said, magical sunshine in the bottle... And only £5 for one stick, each stick lasting me around two/three months. 

My Converse; My Safety Blanket

It is very, very rare that you will see me out and about not wearing my Converse High Tops. Let me just put that out there. Colour of choice; black, obviously (If in doubt, wear black)
My Converse are my comfort blanket, my safety shoes, my go-to footwear. In fact, I’m pretty sure I wear them every day. Every day, bar the occasional night out when I don my bad-girl boots AKA my Jeffery Campbell Lita’s in Black with Silver Studs. (I wanted the ones with gunmetal grey studs, but Selfridges & Co didn’t have them in stock. Still, I guess the silver studs are more dramatic.)

Anyway...yes. Converse. If I could, if I was allowed, I would probably get married in my Converse. I don’t see why not? The dress would probably cover my feet anyway so my Grandmother couldn’t be offended.  I’m sure Chuck Taylor makes all-white Converse? Totally wedding attire.  I think I would willingly wear Converse with any outfit; getting coffee with my friends –  a beanie, jeans and Converse, bar tending at work – black skirt, tights and Converse, on a date – blouse, blazer, jeans, Converse.
Follow Converse on Twitter - they "make rad sneakers and apparel" 

Follow J Campbell on Twitter for more bad-girl boots!

With my Converse on foot, there ain’t nothin’ I can’t do. J