25 things about me

1.Someone called Anita and my Great Auntie Evelyn completely changed my life in 2007.

2.I absolutely love Aubergines cooked any way.

3.I’m not a cryer but thinking about the time I spent in Havana with my Dad, wandering the streets and staying in an old lady’s decaying house in the rough end of town makes me well up. It was magical.

4.I am in love with make-up and I don’t care if that’s shallow. I’ll talk about it for hours if you give me the chance.

5.I have best friends to die for. I can’t begin to describe how important they are to me; they’re unshockable, funny, clever, gorgeous and sometimes my saviours. To put it simply they make my life better.

6.I get sentimental about places: London, Fort Lauderdale (no really!), Hvar, eastern suburbs of Sydney - mainly places where I've had a lot of fun.

7.I’m very nosey, I can people watch for hours and will completely speculate upon their lives.

8.In the next year or so I’d like to visit Mozambique, Brazil, Berlin and Japan.

9.I love everything about big cities, even the flaws. It’s the Urban Geographer in me.

10.I wish I was better at learning languages.

11.Ever seen the photographer Tim Walker’s work? Check him out, I love him. if only life really did look like his photos.

12.I’ve almost died (Hello drama!) twice. Aged 18 I fell partly into a glacial crevasse in Iceland and was saved by the boy behind me grabbing my backpack and pulling me out. (I snogged my rescuer in The Dome nightclub when back in Birmingham to show my gratitude.) The 2nd time in St Barts a wildly rolling tender almost crushed me on the beach but the deckhand grabbed my collar and pulled me from under it (thank you Nathan Cummings)

13.I reckon i might be the messiest person you know. And I’m crap at packing.

14.I come from a family of strong women......if you’d met my Nan you’d know what i was talking about. She was as hard as nails.

15.I love sewing and cooking – I really should have been a 50’s housewife. Since working on yachts i’ve come to love ironing also. Worrying.

16.I’m not that competitive except when it comes to Scrabble when i become cut-throat

17.I don’t really like animals, sorry animal lovers.

18.I find it hard to eat a plate of food without adding a condiment.

19.I don’t like to leave the house without my camera, when i do i always regret it.

20.I’m a recovering shopping addict, except in the arena of vintage costume jewellery.

21.I wagged school (cut class) once ever and got caught.

22.I’m scared of the ocean and i get sea sick yet i work on a boat.

23.I’m infatuated with and a massive defender of the USofA and would like to visit every state.

24.I have an irrational phobia of needles.

25.I love everything about the beach: sun, bikinis, the smell of sun oil, sleeping, reading, chatting....

Getting over my fear of Lipstick

Ever since my make up obsession started (age 12, Collection 2000 clear mascara and Rimmel Hide the Blemish!) I have always been obsessed with eye eyes eyes. I am fixated on the biggest lashes, the sexiest eyeshadow/liner combo, the perfect crease, a flawless smoky eye, how to do the perfect liquid liner tick. I could go on.

Maybe five years ago I finally started to see the light with cheek colour. I'd always whacked a bit of bronzer on or some Benefit benetint but it was definitely not on my essentials list; I'd happily go out with nothing on my cheeks. Then Nars Orgasm came into my life and a lesson on contouring (with their matt bronzer) at the Mac counter sealed the deal and I got what a difference it made. Now i feel flat and lifeless without it.

Lips though, I have genuinely never been interested in. Yes, I like them to look healthy and moisturised. But call me crazy but lip gloss, however much I enjoy putting it on when it smells and tastes nice lasts approximately 30 seconds. Plus when you wear copious amounts of eye make up like I do I've always been not tempted at all to put anything major on my lips with fear of slipping into china doll territory.

I did start to feel like I was missing a trick especially when you read the beauty pages of any magazine singing the praises of a statement red lip or suggestion of a slick of dark plum for winter.

So cruising around the hallowed Harrods Beauty hall this summer I ended up chatting to the lovely girl on the Laura Mercier (one of my perennial favourite brands) counter and leaving with their Sheer Lip Colour in Bare Lips and Flawless fix lip pencil.

Love love love the liner, it's ultimately a nude creamyish concealer in pencil form but it works a treat at evening out your lip line and so that the edge of your lipstick doesn't smudge and it gives your lips a really clean polished defined line. I find the sharpener in the lid pretty useless though, makes a real mess of the wood around the point of the pencil.

Also love the lipstick, I would say it's a pretty universally flattering colour, easy to wear, easy to put on and a nice consistency.

My next step in the new world of lipstick if finding more of a statementy 'colour' that i genuinely believe suits me and I will actually wear

xx