Where has the time gone?

How on earth has it the 26th of January already? Christmas was over a month ago!

Well, in my case the time has flown by in a blur of work, socialising and well... more work. And now, rather wonderfully, I actually have two and a half days off! Yesterday I spent mainly in my pyjamas just recovering - watching stuff on catch up, internet surfing and sleeping! I didn't even leave the flat. It was bliss and today I actually feel relaxed but energised enough to go out and do things.  

Happy New Year!

I did mean to write something deep and meaningful about how I was how I was going to make New Year's resolutions to become thinner/kinder/an all round better person but you know what?

I'm not going to!

New Year's resolutions never work anyway.  All I'm going to say is - spend as much time as possible with the people you love & who love you; work hard; play hard and above all remember, you have a duty to enjoy your life!

Happy 2014!  Thanks for reading my blog.

... and breathe...

I've previously mentioned how hard I've been working.  Well the show's up & running and it received amazing reviews.

The production is Emil and the Detectives at the National Theatre.  It's a fantastic kids show but like all good children's shows, there's something for adults too.

Image via http://nikkimusingsandthoughts.files.wordpress.com

Without giving too much away, Emil looses his money to a sinister figure but has a marvellous adventure along the way.  It's set in 1920's Berlin and the script doesn't shy away from the social tensions of the time.  The visuals are incredible, referencing the expressionist films of Fritz Lange.

If you have a child or there's a child in your life you'd like to treat, come along! You won't regret it.

All I do is eat and sleep and work

I'm working so hard on this new show.  It feels like I've done nothing else but the show for months.  But it will be worth it because it's a stunning piece of work. 

Abba sum up how I'm feeling at the moment far better than I ever could with Super Trouper...

In a geeky aside, the light shown throughout the video isn't actually a Super Trouper.  It looks like a Sil 2k but I guess 'Sil 2k beams are gonna find me' doesn't have the same ring.

   

Object of desire - Mary Katrantzou Structured chiffon overlay gown

Oh, I love this soo much.

Image via shopstyle.com

I adore the fabulous coutureness of it.  That picture of it isn't the best but it's the best I could find.  Click through to the Selfridges link and you'll see that the print is of a moonlit scene on organza.  It must look incredible when displayed on a human body.  It's gowns like this that reinforce my idea that couture is wearable art.

Sadly at £4,885.00 it's way out of my league but a girl can dream, can't she?  Maybe someone like Rooney Mara will wear it to a grand event and I can live vicariously.    

Hard work

Yes, I know.  I haven't posted much recently.  That's because I've been working very, very hard.  Last week I did 6 thirteen hour days in a row!   It's been good because I'm working on a fascinating new show but it really doesn't leave much time for anything else.  And this is going to continue for the whole month of November - 6 thirteen hour days on, one day off.

Living the dream.

Beauty review - Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus

I was childishly pleased to receive a free sample of Clinique's Repairwear Laser Focus with the October copy of Marie Claire.  I'm a cosmetics junkie lover of beauty products - for better or for worse, these kind of things excite me.

Before I begin, let me clarify - this was the serum I was trying.  There seem to be a lot of similarly packaged items called Repairwear Laser Focus.

Image via http://www.clinique.com

I'll be honest, I was somewhat sceptical right from the start.  'Laser focus'?  Their blurb says, '63% of the visible wrinkle-reducing power of a laser at 12 weeks'.  A laser and a face cream are two completely separate things. They react on the body in very different ways. Mmm...

The claims were that the cream 'smooths, restores and corrects'.

Let's start with 'smooths'.  I found this rather curious.  Unless you are unfortunate enough to suffer from acne scars, human skin is generally pretty smooth.  I have smooth skin so I really didn't see any difference.

'Restores'.  Restores what?  C'mon Clinique!  I think the French text was more accurate - reparation (repairs).  I was doing some long hours at work and coming home looking pret-tay haggard.  I do think I looked a little less knackered and worn after applying this.  Or maybe it was to do with the fact that I could sit down, relax and have a cuppa. Difficult to say really.

'Corrects'.  Again the French text - correction anti-age provided more of a clue as to what they really meant.  To be honest companies which suggest that ageing is a mistake to be corrected actually really annoy me.  I don't want to look 16 again, I just want to look good for my age.

So my overall verdict?  It was ok.  I had no adverse reactions, I certainly didn't look worse but, then again, I didn't really look better. As for the laser thing - surely no-one's that gullible.