Lifestyle Favourites | Winter 2015

Food: 

This winter I have been loving smoothies. Using a hand blender to make my own (or buying the occasional cute supermarket variety) has mean my breakfasts are now fruitful ('scuse the pun). I love this Innocent Pomegranates, Blueberries and Acai pure fruit smoothie, with its own cute knitted hat; the hats are hand-knitted and raise money for Age Concern and Age UK. Double win! So why not boost your antioxidant/vitamin intake for the day and put a smile on your face at the same time.

Beauty:

Winter can put a strain on everyone's skin, let alone people with sensitive or dry skin. With rapidly changing indoor/outdoor temperatures and dry, cold winds our skin can be left dehydrated and dull. Maintaining a good regular skincare routine is vital during winter. One area we often neglect is actually our hands. I've been loving this Nivea Anti-Dryness Smooth Nourishing Hand Cream with Macadamia Nut Oil and Hydra IQ. 

Drink:

Winter is the time for hot drinks. Drinking regularly, including cups of tea, is a way of boosting not only your nutrition but also your mental health, as tea is a proven stress-reliever. I have been trying out all types - Twinings Mango and Cinnamon, Twinings Earl Grey (occasionally, as it stains my teeth) - but have recently been trying Pukka Supreme Matcha Green, which is Fairtrade :)

Dental Care:

As some of you might know, I am at the end of fixed appliance dental brace treatment. Anyone who has had braces knows that they take a lot of maintenance and mean that you have to be extra vigilant with keeping your teeth clean. I use the Colgate Plax Antibacterial Mouthwash twice a day as it is alcohol free and so doesn't taste disgusting! 

To see some of my previous braces updates:

http://cupcakesandcosmeticsbyclare.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/honey-and-tooth-decay-hidden-perils-of.html

Entertainment:

February can be a quiet time on the social life front. Stuck between Christmas/winter celebrations and Easter/spring, a lot of people (including me) like a good hibernation. But that is no reason to be bored! Films, books and plays were made for winter! I have been getting back to 'reading' after a few months of slump and have been posting regular book reviews. Look out for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Hamlet posts soon!

My review of the 1979 Moonraker film:

http://cupcakesandcosmeticsbyclare.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/review-2015-film-no-1-moonraker.html

A review of the original book of The Jungle Book:

http://cupcakesandcosmeticsbyclare.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/review-2015-no-4-jungle-book-by-rudyard.html

Review 2015 Film No. 1 | Moonraker

This year I am reviewing one film per month for the blog - in order to spread cinematic love as well as increase my own poor filmic knowledge base. So, a week or so into February, welcome to January's review - Moonraker! Moonraker is the third book and 11th film in the British cult classic James Bond adventures. Directed by Lewis Gilbert and fronted by Roger Moore, the film has all the best bits of Bond that you would expect - the baddie (Hugo Drax played by Michael Lonsdale), the gadgets, the chases, the casual sexism... The chases through Venetian canals, the Amazon jungle and Rio are superb, and Moore's acting is a nice mix alongside the female characters Corinne Dutour and Holly Goodhead. 

Released in 1979, the film also neatly reflects the 1969 American Moon landing. Ian Fleming's original book was published in 1955, years before the mission, and so was almost entirely prophetical and caught the political mood of the time in the anti-Red post-War States. After all that was put into the film, with its record-breaking $34 million production cost, you might wonder why it only gets mediocre reviews and two-star ratings. It is the eleventh film in one of the biggest film/book franchises of all time. I think that partly speaks for itself.