November Favourites 2015

Where did November go? For real. Where did it go? It feels like yesterday I was at the SSE Arena for Belfast Film and Comic Con at Hallowe'en and now it's now rolling onto Christmas season. What the eff?! Christmas season. Not ready. Not ready at all. Nevertheless, a few things have made this month memorable for me so let's get into it. 

B E A U T Y

I'm afraid that my beauty favourites for November are a little lacking. I didn't buy anything new during November and didn't have much playing around time with them to really gauge an opinion of whether I liked them or not. But I do have a couple of items that impressed me.

L'OREAL COLOR RICHE L'OMBRE PURE EYESHADOW - 500 GOLD MANIA
This little eyeshadow really packs a wallop. I hadn't planned on picking this little guy up when I was in a Boots as I had only ran in to pick up a new foundation as I was running out of my current one. I casually did a swatch of it, not expecting anything spectacular and was promptly smacked in the face.

Dear lawd, it was like being hit on the face with fairy dust. It was the most pigmented gold eyeshadow that I've ever laid eyes on. It felt like butter when I swatch it and when I've been using it. The wave design of the pan makes it perfect for applying with your finger instead of a brush. I haven't been using it with a brush. It applies flawlessly with the finger. I can't wait to play around with it more for Christmas makeup looks.

RIMMEL MATCH PERFECTION LOOSE POWDER

I've been loving this loose powder to set my foundation and concealer. I initially didn't use it when I first bought it because I felt like there was a powder explosion every time that I used it. I wanted to test myself on it before spending money on Laura Mercier's version that has such a cult following. I like this offering from Rimmel. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it. I don't use the puff that comes with it or pour out a little from the sieve top. I remove the top and dip the brush in before tapping off the excess with a vigorous tap. It's great for setting everything. I love the way that it leaves my skin feeling and it doesn't appear cakey - at least to me, anyway. 

T E L E V I S I O N

There's very little on the television front this month as I've been pretty much watching the same three shows; Arrow, Major Crimes and the following one that featured in my last favourites post...

DR. QUINN: MEDICINE WOMAN

I'm now about three-quarters of the way through season 4. I love this show. It's stopped showing on TV because the channel finished airing season 2 last week and I'm guessing they're taking a break before moving on to season 3. Why, I don't know because it's not like they're new episodes. Nevertheless, YouTube has come to my rescue. I watch a couple of episodes every now and then. There are still characters that I want to slap with a wet dishcloth and others that I'd reverse back over should I ever hit them with my car. The worst anachronism ever but eh. Despite the show being over 20 years old and set in and around the 1870s, the storylines are still relevant today.

M U S I C

CHER

I rediscovered this album when I was putting music onto my new laptop. Don't ever get new laptops, kids, because they're a pain in the arse to set up again. I forgot that I had borrowed this CD from my Dad's collection to add to my library until I was going through my albums that I wanted to rip to my iTunes. Needless to say that this has been a frequently played album when I'm doing anything on my laptop. 'Walking In Memphis' in particular is on repeat. Can't beat a bit of Cher. 

MARTINA McBRIDE

I've loved Martina's music for years. Her voice is incredible, absolutely incredible and I always find myself floating back to her music. This month was one of those moments and I'll probably hoke out her Christmas album at some point - one of the two Christmas albums that I can stand. There's not much that I can say about Martina without just having word vomit. My favourite songs include 'Happy Girl', 'Where Would You Be', 'How Far' and 'This One's For The Girls'

M O V I E S 

I'm afraid that my movie favourites are quite Jane Seymour heavy. I've been catching up on her back catalogue and the woman has a LOT of movies, mini-series and shows under her belt. Some amazing, some good and some that are undeniably shite. But fangirls will endure the worst that entertain have to offer just to see their girl in it. The tripe I had to endure for Kate Mulgrew, Mary McDonnell and Kelly Rowan were unreal. Bar one movie, it's been a Jane November. 

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PT 2.

Having read the books, I was interested to see how they were going to handle this part of the final book. I remember that this book wasn't my favourite of the three. I was often left confused by the third book and a little bored here and there because it wasn't as fast moving as the other two books and it just seemed to be Katniss in and out of hospital. Nevertheless, I was excited to see this. I saw it a couple of days after the release.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a fangirl moment when I heard Michelle Forbes' voice for the first time. I had completely forgotten that she was going to be in this. I nearly squealed with shock and delight. I didn't because there were quite a number of people at the showing that I went to. As I was watching it, I couldn't remember the finer points of the book - I just about remembered who died. Even now, I'm not sure who was meant to die and who wasn't meant to die. Afterall, Effie dies in the books but she's alive in the movies because Suzanne Collins loved Elizabeth Banks' portrayal so much that she re-wrote the movie. Thank you, Suzanne. I love Effie. I wasn't disappointed by this movie at all. It was so bittersweet that there won't be any more movies but they did such an amazing job with it. BTW, I'm forever a Katniss and Gale shipper. Sorry, Peeta. 

LIVE AND LET DIE

I bought this purely for Jane Seymour because she plays Solitaire in it. I loved her in this movie from beginning to end. I adored Solitaire so much. I loved everything about her. Her style, her makeup, (which I've done a tutorial for) her hair and just her general being. I can't really explain it. However, I hated Bond. I adored Roger Moore as Bond - he's brilliant as Bond and had some amazing moments in the movie - "Butter hook!". But I hated what Bond did to Solitaire and his deliberate manipulation of her just to get her into bed. It was because of him that she found herself facing death because of Kananga's fanatical belief in her powers. Powers that she lost because of Bond's desire to bed her. 

SOMEWHERE IN TIME

My sister recommended that I watch this. I ordered the DVD before finding out that it was on Netflix. At least I have it forever and not just until the Netflix licence lasts. It took me a while to figure out what was going on here. But once I did, I wanted to wrap myself up in it all. Richard and Elise are adorable and you just want them to be together forever. I thought that they would've been together until he found that damned coin in his pocket. My heart broke for Elise in that moment. I nearly screamed at the TV. Had I been alone, I would've screamed but with other people in the house, that wasn't an option The wardrobe and makeup department made this movie even more magical for me with the immaculate costumes and makeup that they had for Jane throughout this movie. Perfection. 

YOUTUBE - PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

EAST OF EDEN

This was a mini-series that Jane was featured in that I found on YouTube. It was split into three parts of about two hours apiece. An ass-numbing length but completely worth it. Jane plays Cathy/Kate in the adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. I haven't read the book, but I have read a couple of Steinbeck's books. I had anticipated Jane's character being in the mini-series for a short time but I was thrilled when she was in the entire thing, here and there.

 

Cathy has to be, in my opinion, one of Jane's most standout roles. She really shines. She gets to show a total range of emotion because Cathy is such a multi-faceted characrer - she can be as sweet as candy one second, then as sultry as a minx before becoming as devious and as dark as the Devil himself all within blinks of the eye. I couldn't quite believe that it was Jane Seymour in the role after having marathoned Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman for weeks previously. Cathy is unlike any role that I've seen her in. She looks like butter wouldn't melt as a teenaged Cathy and then looks like she could use an exorcism when she's poisoning Faye, the brothel mistress. She's pure evil in those moments. But utterly fascinating  Yet. Jane made her very endearing to me. I couldn't have given two hoots about Charles or Adam or Caleb or Aron. Maybe that's the fangirl talking. Okay,it's the fangirl talking. But when I saw her as an older Kate with crippling rheumatoid arthritis, I felt so sorry for her and then again when she curls up in a ball quoting Alice in Wonderland, which was also her final scene. This is definitely one of my favourite roles that Jane Seymour has done. 

DEAR PRUDENCE // PERFECTLY PRUDENCE

DEAR PRUDENCE // PERFECTLY PRUDENCE

I couldn't resist adding these two to the tail end of my movie favourites. I did warn you that it was going to be Jane Seymour heavy. I did warn you. A friend told me about these movies and all that she did to sell it to me was tell me that Joe Lando was in the second one and sent me a screen-grab of Joe and Jane's characters smooching. SOLD. 

I'm not even kidding. 

I watched the movies backwards. I watched Perfectly Prudence first and then Dear, Prudence. That's how I roll. Plus, I wanted to watch Joe. Sue me. It was such an adorable little Hallmark movie. It was so cool to see Joe and Jane playing a couple that wasn't Sully and Michaela. It's rare to get that with actors and I soaked it all up. And you know, I didn't see Mike and Sully in them at any moment. I just saw Prudence and Jack (Jane's wig helped there) - although, I'd be lying if I said I didn't try to run parallels between the two characters and thinking of a 'what if this was an alternative reality modern day Mike and Sully' scenario. People think that, okay? Long story short, I loved it. Side note: I played I-Spy during this movie and spotting a number of Jane's paintings featured in the background. I'm sure some of her home-ware may have slipped in here and there too. 

Then came Dear, Prudence. Again, adorable but minus Joe. This one was basically Jane's show. What I loved about this was that it had Tantoo Cardinal in it. I love seeing her when I least expect her to. I loved her in Dances With Wolves and because of that I was happily surprised when I saw her in Dr. Quinn. I did a silent little cheer when she turned up in Dear, Prudence. Again, it's a sweet Hallmark movie that let's Jane have fun with a role and not be too serious. My favourite bit was when she was battering the bad guy with a lamp and screamed, "Stay down, you plonker!" at him. I had to do a triple take to make sure that I heard her correctly and that she did indeed say 'plonker'. Any role that gets Jane Seymour saying 'plonker' and 'wanker' gets a win vote from me. In Jane's accent it could nearly sound like a compliment. 

My only misgiving about this little series is that in the first movie it paints Prudence as this workaholic who makes no time for friends, family or hobbies. Then in the second, she's got a grown daughter who produces her show and she had a heartbreaking relationship with Joe's character twenty-odd years previously and had a husband. None of that is even hinted at in the first movie. I'm not complaining because it gave us Joe Lando and Jane Seymour together again but it's just something that I think people might whinge about. The plonkers. 

Y O U T U B E

November seems to have been a quiet month on the YouTube front as I really had to think about who stood out for me. To be honest, I've become quite disenchanted by my subscriptions lately as I feel like they all seem to repeat themselves in some way. I'm not excited by a lot of them anymore. I've even unsubscribed to a whole bunch, even if they have a couple of million subscribers. They weren't for me any longer. But I managed to pick two from this month that I was excited to see uploads from. 

ASHLEY LANDRY

I first encountered Ashley a couple of months ago through her Instagram page where she posted photos of her makeup looks. They were all stunning. Ashley is absolutely beautiful and I am envious of her skills. From Instagram, she transitioned to YouTube a few months ago and I wait with baited breath for each new video. Her smokey eyes are to die for. I love when her dogs casually walk by her filming set up and I especially love it when she sings along to the music that she's listening to whenever she's filming. I always have to resist the urge and edit it out when I do that. I can't wait to see her channel grow.

SIOBHÁN McDONNELL - LETZ MAKEUP

Up until I found Siobhán's channel, I had only been following one other Irish YouTuber and she lives in Australia so to actually find one in Ireland was a real treat. I found her channel through a collaboration that she did with one of my other subscriptions and I instantly fell in love with her. I love that she does the outrageous, more dramatic looks and the more day-time beauty tutorials and seasonal ones. She's an all-rounder. Her accent is wonderful. I'm Irish and I'm still a sucker for the Southern accent. I could listen to her read the freaking phone-book. I love Siobhán's honesty and she's not afraid to curse and cuss to get her point across. I've been loving her this month.

There we go, my favourite things from November. It was a very uneventful month. I didn't do much or go anywhere but home, work and my singing lessons. I felt like I was going places just to touch them before returning home. Hopefully, December will bring some more excitement.