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17 movies I’ve enjoyed recently…

June 6, 2017 By Poppy Dinsey Leave a Comment

I don’t really watch a lot of the big blockbuster tv shows that people seem to get addicted to (although I have committed to watch Love Island this year, a decision I am genuinely thrilled with based on last night’s first episode) and I think the real reason that I’ve never sat down to start House of Cards/Breaking Bad/Pretty Little Liars etc etc is simply that I like movies too much. If I’ve got an hour and a half to spare, I’ll generally choose to watch a film.

I’ve watched an embarrassing number of movies over the past few months (I know, I know, “enjoy it while it lasts”) so I thought it was high time I shared some of the best ones. After all, I can’t be the only one who fires up the Sky box and gets completely overwhelmed by the fact there are seemingly thousands of movies to choose from but no obvious way to to just get on with it and pick one. We regularly watch Silence of the Lambs for the umpteenth time just to quash the constant scrolling, trailer watching and bickering. You know where you are with Silence of the Lambs. It’s a safe choice, in a grotesquely murderous way.

I’ve been keeping a list on my phone of the films I’ve particularly enjoyed over the past few weeks and I *thought* I had a decent mix of films from Sky, Netflix and my DVD stash but it turns out that this is basically just a giant list of movies from Sky Cinema so if you don’t have Sky…sorry! I’ve got a list of documentaries I want to share next week and that leans more heavily towards Netflix. I promise.

The below is a completely bonkers mix tbh, in no particular order, with everything from volcanoes to alien cops to sub-prime loans. Hopefully there’ll be something that takes your fancy!

I’m going to embed trailers for all the films because some people like watching trailers before they see a film. I don’t like to personally as modern trailers seem to always reveal too much but hey – they’re there if you want to watch them!

Grandma

Released: 2015

Run-time: 79 minutes

Basic premise: A teenager visits her grandmother to ask for money for an abortion. The grandmother has none, so over the space of a day they visit numerous people to call in favors in an effort to raise the money. It’s laugh out loud funny, made me cry more than once and is just so superbly written and acted that I wanted to high five the screen throughout.

Good for: Anyone who likes kickass women.

Available on: Sky

The Hunter

Released: 2011

Run-time: 102 minutes

Basic premise: A professional hitman is hired by a military biotech company to go to the mountains of Tasmania to hunt for the elusive Tasmanian tiger, so that samples can be taken to help develop weapons. Unsurprisingly, our hitman is not the only one trying to find this tiger.

Good for: Anyone who likes a beautifully shot slow-burner of a thriller. The basic premise makes it sound a bit bombastic but it’s a well paced and thoughtful film which rather unexpectedly ended up making me cry (twice!).

Available on: Netflix

Enemy

Released: 2014

Run-time: 90 minutes

Basic premise: A psychological thriller revolving around two men who are physically identical. As brilliantly bonkers as it sounds.

Good for: Fans of Jake Gyllenhaal as he plays not one but TWO main characters (oy!) and anyone who likes a mind-bending head scratcher of a film which you need to talk at length about afterwards.

Available on: Sky

Truth

Released: 2015

Run-time: 120 minutes

Basic premise: A political docudrama chronicling the news story uncovered by CBS reporters Mapes and Rather that sitting US president, George W. Bush, may have been AWOL from the United States National Guard for over a year during the Vietnam War. When the story blew up in their face, the ensuing scandal ruined Dan Rather’s career, nearly changed a US Presidential election, and almost took down all of CBS News in the process.

Good for: Anyone remotely interested in politics, journalism, newsrooms, strong women and conspiracy theories. It ticks a lot of boxes.

Available on: Sky

Straight Outta Compton

Released: 2015

Run-time: 147 minutes

Basic premise: Completely brilliant biographical film depicting the career of N.W.A from 1986 through to 2014. (Yes, that’s why it’s a long movie).

Good for: Anyone interested in rap, entrepreneurship and the music industry in general.

Available on: Sky

Little Children

Released: 2006

Run-time: 137 minutes

Basic premise: Oscar nominated drama focused on an educated young suburban mother, frustrated with her narrow existence, and the friendship she forges with a local husband and father. Both share a discontentment with life in their small commuter town and a lack of connection with their spouses. Whilst their story becomes more entangled, the community is being shaken by the discovery that a convicted sex offender is living amongst them.

Good for: Anyone interested in complex adult relationships and beautifully shot suburbia.

Available on: Sky

Dante’s Peak

Released: 1997

Run-time: 109 minutes

Basic premise: Pierce Brosnan fights a volcano, what more could you possibly want to know?

Good for: Everyone, because I assume everyone loves 90s disaster movies as much as me.

Available on: Sky

Broadcast News

Released: 1987

Run-time: 133 minutes

Basic premise: A romantic comedy drama set in a television news room, centred around the lives of three extremely watchable characters: Jane Craig – a talented, neurotic producer whose life revolves around her work; Jane’s best friend and frequent collaborator, Aaron Altman – a gifted writer and reporter ambitious for on-camera exposure who is secretly in love with Jane; and Tom Grunick a telegenic local news anchorman who lacks news experience and knows that he was only hired for his good looks and charm. Tom is also attracted to Jane, although he is also intimidated by her skills and intensity.

Good for: Laughs, tears and fans of a strong leading lady.

Available on: Sky

The Jungle Book

Released: 2016

Run-time: 106 minutes

Basic premise: Ridiculously gorgeous big budget remake of the 1967 Disney classic. (Mowgli, an orphaned human boy who has been raised by wolves, sets out on a journey of jungle-tastic self-discovery as he has to evade the genuinely quite scary Shere Khan)

Good for: Literally anyone with eyes, ears, a sense of humour, a heart and a soul. I LOVE THIS FILM SO MUCH.

Available on: Sky

Stakeout

Released: 1987

Run-time: 117 minutes

Basic premise: A pair of undercover cops are tasked with keeping watch on the apartment of the ex-girlfriend of an escaped violent criminal. An unexpected romance between one of the cops and the subject he’s supposed to be watching means it all goes a bit haywire, as you would of course fully expect from a 1987 crime comedy.

Good for: Fans of 80s capers.

Available on: Sky

Alien Nation

Released: 1988

Run-time: 91 minutes

Basic premise: I almost don’t even want to give you the premise of this film as I heard myself explain it to ST the other day and I could hear how daft it sounded but BASICALLY there are 300,000 refugee aliens living in LA (of course) and one of these aliens is working with a veteran cop to investigate a murder and, in the process, they stumble across a mega alien drug plot. They form an unlikely bond as they go about trying to thwart it and it’s all just really beautiful.

Good for: People who like their buddy cop films to come complete with aliens. This really is just a buddy cop film that happens to have aliens in it. I LOVED IT. Also, it seemed scarily relevant to our current reality?! I did watch it at 1am but there were themes of racism, mistrust and fear mongering which felt very close to home.

Available on: Sky

The Finest Hours

Released: 2016

Run-time: 117 minutes

Basic premise: A Coast Guard adventure drama set in 1952 New England, based on the true story of the Pendleton rescue operation. Think an impossibly tiny lifeboat, treacherous conditions and a sinking ship.

Good for: Fans of BIG WEATHER, romantics and anyone who loves a real life hero.

Available on: Sky

The Big Short

Released: 2015

Run-time: 130 minutes

Basic premise: Based on the huuuugely successful book of the same name, this is the true story of how the US subprime mortgage bubble burst and how it led to the global financial crisis of 2007/8.

Good for: Anyone interested in the financial crisis and all the underhand practices that allowed it to happen. People who can put up with the “quirky cutaways”.

Available on: Netflix

The 33

Released: 2015

Run-time: 127 minutes

Basic premise: The true story (well, based on the true story) of the 2010 Chilean mining disaster in which a group of 33 miners were trapped in the San Jose Mine for more than two months, as their families and the world’s news crews waited at the surface for their rescue.

Good for: People who can put aside the fact that it’s not a “great film” as such but it IS a great story. And anyone who isn’t claustrophobic.

Available on: Sky

Imperium

Released: 2016

Run-time: 109 minutes

Basic premise: An undercover FBI agent infiltrates the neo-Nazi community to try to prevent a terrorist plot.

Good for: People who don’t mind spending their spare time watching hard hitting thrillers which seem disturbingly relevant to the current climate.

Available on: Sky

Vacation

Released: 2015

Run-time: 99 minutes

Basic premise: Part of the National Lampoon series, a family go on a long road trip and get into all sorts of mishaps along the way.

Good for: Anyone who wants a laugh as it’s a very easy watch. I’ve seen it three times in the last couple of months and for some reason I find it extremely funny. I am embarrassed by how funny I find it.

Available on: Sky

Last Shift

Released: 2014

Run-time: 87 minutes

Basic premise: A rookie cop has been assigned the last shift at a VERY CREEPY closing police station and she must wait for a hazmat crew to arrive and collect biomedical evidence. She is ordered not to leave the station under any circumstance, but soon realises she’s not just keeping watch “somewhere a bit eery” but she is in fact surrounded by PURE EVIL.

Good for: Anyone who wants a good scare as it’s VERY jumpy. I watched with three other girls as part of a sleepover (are we 14?!) and we were all suitably terrified. I can’t even watch the trailer now!

Available on: Sky

Hopefully one of the above will take your fancy, if not you can always join me in watching Love Island?! I woke up at 5am this morning excited for the next episode. Bring on the drama!

Documentary recommendations to follow next week 🙂

The Week That Was…Peanut Butter Doughnuts, The Railway Children and Motherland

October 5, 2016 By Poppy Dinsey 1 Comment

Hello! My name is Poppy and I am in a massive muddle. Yey!

Basically, I was in Belfast at the weekend and by Sunday – when this post should have been written – I was FLOORED by a cold. People who go on about colds are very boring, I am well aware of this, so I’ll spare you the details of how I definitely nearly died and instead tell you what I got up to last week.

Obviously I could have just skipped this instalment of The Week That Was altogether but I didn’t want to as I watched/ate/did some really cool things. I’m sure you can forgive me?

Normal The Week That Was service will resume this Sunday morning, where I’ll tell you all about Belfast (IT INCLUDES A VLOG FROM A HELICOPTER) and recommend a wrestling documentary.

Try not to get too excited!

Last week I watched…

I really liked this Audi ad that aired during the US presidential debate…

It was hard to want to do anything but despair watching Trump, but I thought this advert was very well executed.

Continuing the American theme for a sec, Catfish returned to our screens last week! I didn’t realise how much I missed Nev and Max til I had them back in my living room. The episode in question was a little ridiculous, involving Katy Perry and a trip to the UK, but it was nice to have the boys back. They really are the most wonderful tonic.

If you have MTV, get that shiz series linked.

Over on the BBC, I finally watched Sharon Horgan and Graham Linehan’s Motherland pilot after much pestering from my family. Everyone was right though, it’s proper laugh out loud funny from the first scene. I think Anna Maxwell-Martin is my new hero.

Given that I’m so late to the party, it’s only on iPlayer for one more day (here) but if you haven’t seen it then try to find time before it expires.

AND PLEASE BBC, COMMISSION A FULL SERIES!

I also laughed – and cried – at the final episode of People Just Do Nothing. Steves! The ring! Gah.

I visited…

In a bid to stay #young, #hip and #relevant, I dropped my cousin Lucy back at uni halls after she stayed with us for the weekend. I was VERY NERVOUS (why?!) but I was taught how to dab and I stayed in the communal kitchen for as long as I possibly could to try and absorb some teenage #coolness…

Come to think of it, that’s probably when I first got sick.

Uni halls are a LOT snazzier than they were “in my day” but as much as I enjoyed pretending to know who The Chainsmokers are, I was relieved to get back in the car and stick Radio 4 on.

On Wednesday I joined Mother Dearest to see The Railway Children at King’s Cross. I wasn’t massively fussed about going because I couldn’t really remember the film but Mum was VERY excited, crying as soon as we entered the platform because it was all so perfect. What can I say? The Railway Children is her Carlito’s Way. I understand.

Despite the fact I wasn’t particularly excited to see it, I was truly blown away by how clever the set-up at King’s Cross was with the show taking place either side of a real life track – complete with a real life steam train! It was a really lovely performance and the cast are magnificent, right down to the charming little girls that came to our seats and chatted to us in character before the show began.

Mum got a really good deal on the tickets (it was a matinee performance) and it would be a great show to take kids to, especially as Justin Fletcher – aka MR TUMBLE – is playing the lovely Mr Perks until the end of Oct. It closes in January after a two year stint at King’s Cross.

I also went to Gerrard Gethings’ Ordinary Creatures exhibition in Shoreditch with Katie on Wednesday. It has closed now (boo!) but if you don’t follow Gerrard on Instagram then you should rectify that immediately. You can see some of his ‘ordinary creatures’ on his website here but if you ever get a chance to see them exhibited, do go. They looked magnificent blown up.

A photo posted by Gerrard Gethings (@gezgethings) on Sep 29, 2016 at 4:14am PDT

After the exhibition we strolled through Shoreditch and headed to Brick Lane for beigels (more on that later) and I couldn’t believe how much it has changed since I lived there. There were SO MANY fancy looking places on and around Brick Lane, I almost didn’t recognise parts of it.

Then lastly, on Thursday and Friday I headed to Sibton in Suffolk…

But I’m going to blog about that in full tomorrow 🙂

I listened to…

I got back into Rumer in a big way last week, listening to Seasons of my Soul no less than six times on the coach to/from Suffolk. (It was a long journey).

I was eating and drinking…

Well let’s start with the thing I can’t stop thinking about – the peanut butter stuffed doughnut from Vicky’s Donuts.

I wasn’t going to have one, having just stuffed a massive burrito in my gob from one of the neighbouring Kerb King’s Cross stallholders, but my mum insisted we share one and before I could say I was full she was in the queue to buy one.

I am VERY glad we shared it, as I am tempted to say it wouldn’t be possible to finish this delectably rich, sweet and salty beast of a thing. As a half portion though, it was insanely scrummy. Vicky’s Donuts moves around the street food spots, so you can’t always find these goodies at Kerb, but if you do stumble across them then my goodness – BUY ONE. (It would appear from the website that previous flavours include APPLE PIE and SMORES and I can guarantee I wouldn’t have wanted to share one of those).

Sticking with the circular baked goods theme, I had my first proper beigel in aaaaaaaages thanks to an impromptu visit to Beigel Bake on Brick Lane. I had an egg one there and then and bought a plain beigel to take home for breakfast the next day. I ate the plain beigel before the tube arrived at Aldgate East. NO REGRETS.

I didn’t take a picture as my greed distracted me but here I am eating a Beigel Bake egg beigel in the exact same spot on my 21st birthday…

Lovely.

(In all seriousness, it IS lovely that I was having beigels for dinner with Katie last week just as we were here nearly nine years ago. I have saved her blushes by not showing the pics of the both of us, but they involved an armed policeman and – of course – Massam. Hi Florian! If you’re reading!).

Carrying on with the brilliant food bargains, I had a truly mega Mega Brunch at Sainsbury’s Cafe with Lucy last weekend for less than a fiver and I also made a really brilliant hash with all the leftover veg from our Sunday roast…

Runny eggs and mashed up roasties, what more could you possibly want on a cold Monday evening?

I wrote…

Thanks to being in press trip land and working on some secret squirrel projects, I only got the one blog post and video up last week. You can read about my Belgium trip with Ford (and watch the vid from the test track!) here. I was quite proud of myself for not crashing/having a panic attack.

Next week, I’m looking forward to…

Well I’m mostly looking forward to just feeling better (gah) but I’ve also got a 40th birthday pardeee to attend this weekend (wooooo!) and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hyped for X Factor Live Shows to start (ahem).

You need to watch De Palma…

September 21, 2016 By Poppy Dinsey 2 Comments

I really didn’t have time to watch a movie yesterday, but I was determined to make it work. I had an invite to a preview screening of De Palma and there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to watch the director of my all-time favourite film (Carlito’s Way, in case I haven’t mentioned it for 5 minutes) give some insight into his creative process.

Having raced across town to get to the screening I arrived a hot sweaty mess (as per) and was five minutes late, so had to sheepishly take a seat in the front row knowing I was far too close to the screen. Worrying about the work I had to do that evening and the bag I still had to pack for a 4.30am wake-up call today (hello! I am writing this from the airport!) I did wonder if I was going to be able to enjoy the documentary at all.

Oh, how wrong I was.

For close to two hours, I grinned from ear to ear. (Well, except for during the clip of the ending of Raising Cain, that made me jump out of my skin and I’m not ashamed to say I let out a little yelp). For such a simple format – it’s literally just De Palma sat in front of a fireplace talking through his epic filmography for an hour and fifty minutes alongside clips of the films being discussed – this was a truly engrossing doc.

Obviously that’s testament to De Palma’s character, he has you hanging on every word, but my first thought on leaving the cinema was that I wanted to watch it again. Immediately. And after watching it again? Watch every single one of De Palma’s movies from Murder a la Mod up to Passion.

The good news is that I’ve not read The Bonfire of the Vanities, which should at least give me a fighting chance of not completely hating De Palma’s adaptation.

Brian De Palma and Al Pacino on set of Scarface

I foolishly assumed that this documentary would focus on De Palma’s biggest hits: Scarface, Carrie, Carlito’s Way, Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables and so on. Wonderfully though, each film from De Palma’s extensive back catalogue gets its time in the spotlight – as well as many of the Hitchcock masterpieces that inspired them. As De Palma himself notes in the documentary, Alfred Hitchcock is billed as one of the most influential directors of all time and yet from De Palma’s point of view it’s only really in his work that you can see that same cinematic style.

On set of Misson: Impossible

The anecdotes that accompany each film are fascinating, revealing and more than once laugh-out-loud hilarious. From budget cuts to writing disagreements to certification struggles to divorce to difficult actors, nothing seems to get left out and I came away from the documentary feeling like I’d just sat at the most wonderful dinner party where De Palma had shared all his best stories. With 30 hours of footage originally captured by the documentary directors Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow, I’d be intrigued to see what was left on the cutting room floor.

If you’ve ever lost yourself in the trivia pages of IMDB, you need to see this film. It’s proper movie porn for film fans. You will have to accept that you’ll come away with ten or so titles you need to watch/rewatch immediately, but a weekend hunkered down binge watching De Palma creations doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend your free time to me.

You don’t need to wait long to see it either, De Palma will be released in UK cinemas on 23 September 2016.

If you’re remotely interested in cinema or just the creative process in general, treat yourself to seeing it. It really is a fantastic film.

You need to watch Tickled…

August 16, 2016 By Poppy Dinsey 1 Comment

I’m subscribed to a fair few newsletters, but my absolute favourite has to be Doc Club’s. I’ve discovered many great documentaries through them and it was in one of their mailers back in June that I first read about Tickled.

Tickled is an investigative look into the bizarre “sport” of competitive endurance tickling. If you picture a young athletic man tied down with ankle and wrist restraints being mounted and tickled by other young athletic men, you sort of have the idea. It sounds porny just writing it, but – as the documentary shows – the ticklers being investigated in the film are very keen to point out that THIS DEFINITELY ISN’T PORNOGRAPHY, NO SIREE BOB.

Despite the complete absence of women in these tickling videos, those making them really want to stress that it’s “not homoerotic”, so much so that the protagonists replied to the director’s first email by asking him to not contact them again as he’s openly gay and the association would be damaging. Charming.

It’s hard to believe the people making these tickling videos and tickling websites do so just for the fun of it though, you only need to look at the restraints and props which could be from any S&M video to realise that there is something sexual going on here, even if the (always young and handsome) participants are all fully clothed.

But this isn’t a documentary about fetishes or pornography. It’s 2016, we know people like different things and that quirks and kinks are wide and varied. Nobody’s judging what other people find sexy.

Where this documentary is so gripping, is that these supposedly innocent videos come with a sinister side order of lawsuits, fraud, coercion, public humiliation and even FBI investigations.

It’s a fascinating look into a hidden world and I can only applaud David Farrier and Dylan Reeve for having the patience (not to mention the balls) to stick with this documentary despite the endless threats of legal actions and constant wall of silence.

Here’s the official trailer…

I don’t want to spoil anything, so I shan’t go into how I ultimately felt once I left the cinema, but I will say that watching so much tickling doesn’t half make you feel ticklish. It’s a bit like talking about nits, I kept feeling all squirmy and uncomfortable.

Once you’ve seen the film, this makes for very interesting reading and the video is well worth a watch. I wouldn’t watch/read it beforehand though.

Tickled will be in selected UK cinemas from Friday (August 19th) and long story short: I highly recommend it. I also recommend you slide into my DMs as soon as you’ve seen it so we can chat about it. I NEED TO TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT IT.

Big thank you to StudioCanal for letting me attend last night’s press preview. It’s a great movie.

Want more documentaries? Head here, here or here for some doc-shaped inspiration.

Going on QVC (eeeep!) and my top ten Pixi picks…

July 27, 2016 By Poppy Dinsey 9 Comments

As you will have no doubt seen me bang on about endlessly, I modelled on QVC last night for Pixi Beauty.

Eeeeeep!

I was so thrilled to be asked to do it by make-up artist extraordinaire Amanda Bell as not only do I trust her implicitly with all things “my face”, but I truly adore the Pixi brand. Then of course there’s the thrill of being on QVC itself, I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched a beauty demo only to still be there hours later wondering if what I really need is a clever food processor for chopped salads and a car polish usually reserved for professional petrolheads. It’s addictive viewing.

I was a bit nervous about it all beforehand though. I’ve done a fair bit of live TV but I’d never been a make-up model under studio lights before. Was I going to sweat it all off? Was I going to grow a beard moments before we went on air? Would I fall over walking to the chair? Or suddenly develop an irrational need to swear, fidget and whistle simply because I MUST STAY STILL AND BE QUIET?

Luckily, none of those things happened and my biggest fear of suddenly having a terrible breakout in the days beforehand never materialised. I think it actually went vaguely well! And I definitely loved the whole experience.

Having nabbed a lift off Caroline, we headed over to the studios in Chiswick where the scariest bit was got out of the way first: “before” pictures. Obviously these were taken sans make-up and I refuse to watch the segment where mine was shown on screen side-by-side with my fully made-up face, but my Mother tells me I looked like “a woman down on her luck, probably on her way to commit a crime”. Wonderful.

Once the “before” pics were taken, we were beautified by Amanda, Sydnie, Emira and Karen in the dressing rooms and played a brilliant game of “would you rather?”. Let’s just say there were some EXTREMELY polarised opinions in that dressing room and I’ll never look at some of these ladies in the same way again 😉

Speaking of the other ladies present, it was such a joy to meet Nic and Tessa and to see Rebecca and Caroline again. I think we made for quite the #girlgang with Amanda as our fierce and fabulous leader…

Pic by @pixibeautyuk

Pic by @carolinehirons

Once we were all mic’d up, we headed to the set for our live hour to begin. I was really thrilled to be modelling the H20 SkinTint as it truly is my very favourite foundation (as blogged about previously here) and whilst I’ve only recently begun using the Correction Concentrate, I’m already a convert.

The hour flew by! It really did. And it was a lot of fun to just stand behind the camera whenever I wasn’t in shot and just watch the show as I would at home. I always try to tune in if Caroline is on QVC so to actually watch it being filmed was very surreal.

I, of course, completely forgot to record it but on the QVC product pages you can find the videos already. I’m not sure how long they’ll stay up for, but I’m glad I got to see it to confirm that I didn’t fall over or do anything too offensively weird. (Aside from looking like I was going to be involved in a robbery in my “before” shot, of course).

I got an Instagram comment after the show from Jo (hi Jo!) asking me to list some of my fave Pixi products and I realised I haven’t given a run-down on the blog for a while so I thought I’d share my top ten in this post. They’re not all on QVC, but I’ll link to QVC where I can (some of the deals are amazing) and otherwise I’ve linked to the main Pixi site.

Obviously I’ve not tried EVERY PIXI PRODUCT EVER, but from the ones I’ve tried these are my current ten faves…

1. H2O Skin Tint

Let’s just get this one out the way first as you know how much I love it! A proper blog review is here but essentially it’s a beautifully light gel formula foundation which almost feels like the last step of your skincare routine rather than a make-up product. I love the coverage, I love the fact it’s breathable and light and I love the fact it looks like I have flawless skin as opposed to a good foundation. It’s a real miracle product for me.

£18 on QVC here. (You can see my vid on that page at the moment too).

2. Sheer Cheek Gel

There’s no blush I love more than this one. It’s a gel formula (don’t assume it’s like Benetint as I did before trying it, it’s SO MUCH BETTER) and I wear “flushed” every day for an exceptionally natural looking rosy glow. There’s no shimmer to it, you just look healthy and happy. I often put a bit of Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick on top to look a bit more made up, but on its own you’ll look genuinely radiant.

£14 from Pixi here.

3. Glow Tonic

I mean obviously this daily acid toner was going to be in my top ten. Just search “Glow Tonic” on this blog and you’ll see I’ve mentioned it countless times in my daily skincare routine posts. I use it every single morning without fail and this duo from QVC is particularly good as you get the diddy one which I reserve for my overnight bag and travelling.

£22.50 for the duo from QVC here.

4. Glow Tonic To-Go

Speaking of travelling, this brand new release has made Glow Tonic even more portable. To be honest, since getting my hands on a pack of these I’ve been using them at home a lot as they’re perfectly dosed and ready to go. I should be reserving them for travelling, but they’re so handy that my laziness has got the better of me. I love them. (And I’ve had the pot open for ages now as I had a press sample and they’ve not dried out at all).

£16 for a tub of 60 pads from QVC here.

5. Mattelustre Lipstick

The most comfortable lipsticks I’ve found. The staying power is seriously impressive and they’re soothing and hydrating to wear without being remotely drying the way many matte lipsticks are. I wear Pure Fuschia and Classic Red the most.

£14 each from Pixi here.

6. Glow Mist

Enriched with 13 natural oils plus propolis, aloe vera and fruit extracts, I use this mist to set my make-up and give a dewy glow but also as a top-up anytime to just refresh my skin. I love it for travelling but I use it as part of my daily make-up routine as much as I do my skincare routine. Smells flippin’ fantastic too.

£16 from Pixi here.

7. Quick Fix Bronzer

My go-to bronzer which I use on my cheeks every day and sometimes my nose and forehead if I’m already a bit sunkissed. I particularly love that it has the applicator built-in as usually my bronzer compacts smash in my make-up bag and make the MOST INFURIATING MESS. This little guy is all self-contained so can be thrown in a handbag and still live a long and happy life. Not glittery either, so nice and natural.

£18 from Pixi here.

8. Correction Concentrate

This high-pigment corrective cream is designed to blend seamlessly into the skin help instantly mask darkness and discolouration, whilst also treating the underlying cause. It comes in one peachy shade and acts as a corrector…so you can then put your own tailored shade of concealer of foundation on top. I don’t just use it under my eyes, but on scars and around my nose too.

£14 (with the brush!) from QVC here. (You can see my vid on that page at the moment too.)

9. Endless Silky Eye Pens

So foolproof to use (I’m not naturally an eyeliner fan but love these) and they stay in place. What more can you ask for?

£24 for three from QVC here.

10. Natural Brow Duo

For my last top ten item, I’m actually including a favourite of my Mum’s. She is obsessed with this product and doesn’t stop nattering about it, so whilst it’s not one I use (my brows are a force of their own!) I know how happy this one makes my Mum.

If your brows are sparse, this gel and pencil duo is worth taking a look at.

£15 from Pixi here.

And I think that’s it!

Thank you so much to Pixi and QVC for having me last night, I really enjoyed it!

This post is not sponsored by QVC or Pixi in any way, all love and enthusiasm is very much my own. Heck, they aren’t even affiliate links above…I just want to share the Pixi love!