Book Review: The Bell Jar

Arguably a semi-autobiographical read, 'The Bell Jar' provides an interesting perspective of life in the 1950s; living with mental health is a difficult thing to do, however during that time there was very little tolerance of whatever was deemed not normal. Esther being the main character, transfers from paper to the mind very well; there is a lovely realness surrounding her and her mental illness, her description of surviving everyday life is not only sad but also concerning. The simple but mundane tasks become impossible; on the surface Esther is lucky, having successfully secured an internship with a Fashion magazine, but in reality depression is not something that simply disappears without a fight; each day is a struggle. Esther is an interesting character; an unusual mind and way of depicting the world around her. Esther as a character was very successful. Not only was the portrayal of her mental illness believable, her behaviours felt real; hardly surprising considering the authors own issues with mental health. The idea of mental health transferred well into words and gave an accurate understanding of the feelings of loneliness and helplessness. There was something about Esther that resulted in feelings of concern and sympathy; you just wanted everything to work out for her, yet somehow knew that it couldn’t be so simple.

Sylvia Plath has a beautiful writing style; this book is full of metaphors and similes alongside some wonderful imagery through Esther's inner monologues. The main issue that I had with the storytelling is that although I understood that the story revolves around Esther and her take on the world, the other characters weren’t hugely developed and lacked individual voices. Every other character felt very similar, possibly because they were all described to the reader by an unwell Esther. The beginning and the end of the book were very cohesive, whereas the middle was all a bit strange and misunderstood, although this was the part where Esther’s illness began to overwhelm her everyday life more and more; therefore this is likely to be in correlation to her feelings creating a muddled understanding of the world. The middle part of the novel is a mess simply because Esther is becoming more ill and unable to process everyday life. This novel covers some difficult and often unmentioned topics, such as depression and suicide and so it is a rather painful read; this isn’t a book that I would recommend to someone already struggling with mental health as it does almost encourage suicide as an option in some of the pages, which personally I found uncomfortable. But that being said, this is an important read simply because it teaches the importance of treating mental illness in a humane way, something that the 1950s certainly didn’t, for example the electric shock treatments made me want to cry for Esther. Considering how short this novel is, it took a while to read as it wasn’t the easiest of books in terms of content.

After reading countless reviews referring to this novel as ‘flawless’, and a ‘masterpiece’ I feel as though there must be something wrong with me for not loving this novel that much. Sylvia Plath writes beautifully and I found it a 3 star simply based on that; however, I wasn’t comfortable with the way that this novel reads like a suicide note. As Esther become more ill, I genuinely felt frightened and so it was hard to enjoy this book; in fact, I’d argue that I didn’t enjoy it at all, although that does show how important it is to talk more openly about mental health. As it is semi-autobiographical, it does give the reader a rather intimate understanding of the authors personality and how she must have been feeling when writing this book; as such, that was made me even more uncomfortable reading this as she did indeed commit suicide. The novel is cynical, sarcastic, feminist and yet it is just so difficult to comprehend what you are reading that it is hard going, but the message is loud and clear and one that does need to be heard. I don’t regret reading this book but I doubt I’ll ever be able to face a re-read of it. I feel like if I hadn’t had any mental health issues myself, this book may have affected me less as I could feel what Esther felt. Plath has a unique way of speaking to the reader, through Esther you really feel what you are reading and it wasn’t particularly pleasant so it is disappointing that I didn’t love this as the writing style is compelling.

Book Review: The Trouble With Goats And Sheep

I was recommended to read this book and in all honesty I wasn’t sure what to feel about it when the book was in my hands, there wasn’t anything that I found particularly appealing, although the title seemed interesting. It’s an unusual interpretation of life, part coming of age and part theology. Set in England, Grace and Tilly are ten years old during the Summer of 1976 which is historically remembered as the longest and hottest Summer seen in the country. The two girls occupy themselves for their Summer holidays by becoming detectives, determinedly questioning each of their neighbours in turns on the premise of being girl guides wanting to gain badges. There are a lot of characters in the book, some of which are odd, some are kind and some are funny; it’s a nice description of life down a typical suburban street but it is a long read; arguably because the heat of the Summer, this book seemed to go on and on forever. Once the characters had been established, the weather was exaggerated as a means of explaining why some characters were most unusually for themselves; the majority of us become unpleasant and irritable when the weather is unbearably hot and Joanna Cannon put that across very well; as well as how the range of characters interacted with each other, too.

The cover art isn't the most interesting, which was a little disappointing for me as I do love a beautiful cover, however the title 'The Trouble With Goats And Sheep' makes up for the plain blue cover with white accents. Having been recommended to me by a relative, I wasn't really sure what to expect; that said, they do usually recommend absolute gems to me. As much as the cover art isn't what I would usually like, there is something about the minimalist vibe that does appeal to me; the contents of the pages are left fairly open to interpretation as the cover gives nothing away and I like that. Surprises are always welcome. The main issue with this book is getting the head around the (what feels like) millions of characters, although as the book develops this becomes easier. Joanna Cannon handles having so many characters well; it never feels like two characters are the same and each narrative voice reads very differently to each of the others, not only due to the differences in age, gender or life experience; they genuinely seem very different in terms of opinion and sentence structure, which is the perfect an example of excellent writing. The writing style of this book is flawless.

In an ordinary street, where people live ordinary lives, is it such a surprise that the neighbours are hiding a collective secret? Likewise, is anyone without a secret? It is clear to reader fairly early on in the novel that there are secrets waiting to be exposed in the novel, secrets that two little girls are determined to get to the bottom of. The wonders of everyday life are spread out across the pages of this book, through each and every one of the characters. My personal favourites were the two ten year olds; Cannon managed to deliver the humour, lack of understanding and innocence that only children can have through their investigations and listening to adults whispering. The multiple characters alongside chapters alternating between 1967 (the past) and 1976 (the present) was a fantastic use of linguistic techniques to feed information through multiple timelines for the benefit of the reader. The multiple points of view was an excellent way of feeding clues through to the reader about the various goings on, but my favourite narrator was definitely Grace and seeing her character develop. She grows from a little girl, determined to boss her friend around, to still a little girl, but one who is learning the value of friendship and the differences between the people of society.

Overall, this book wasn’t a five star read for me. It was a nice read and well written, but it just didn’t have that little extra something to make it have the wow factor. However, it was a solid four star read; there is something beautiful about everyday life, but at the same time there as definitely something missing. I preferred the narrative voices of the children to the adults, not only because they have a beautiful way of seeing and understanding the world, but because of their instinctive thinking. Whereas the adults were all narrow minded and conditioned by each other to keep the secret, the children had a beautiful way of exploring and thinking outside of the box. There are so many reasons why I wish that I had loved this book more than I did; one of them being that I wanted more focus on the children, another being that the adults were all so unlikable. There are elements of this story that completely captured my heart and others that bored me; nothing to do with the writing style, which I really liked, more to do with the plot not having enough oomph to contain interest throughout the moments where events were sparse. This is a good read, one that I would recommend; I'm looking forward to reading more books by Joanna Cannon as she has a lovely way with words. 

My Favourite Perfumes for Spring & Summer

Hello again guys; if you’re a long time reader of this blog then you will know that I’m an absolute perfume addict. I do buy perfume far less than I used to, although I’m still convinced that a bad day can be fixed by a simple spritz of perfume, particularly when a perfume holds good memories for you. Some of my favourite perfumes are fruity and floral scents, I’m definitely a feminine perfume wearer; I’m not a fan of musky scents on myself, but I love the smell of any perfume on others. I love smelling beautiful scents on people and I often try and hunt down scents that I’ve smelt on other people in passing.

This blog post focuses on the 5 perfumes that I swear by throughout the Spring and Summer months; sadly a couple of them are limited editions and I’m not looking forward to using them up completely as I won’t be able to repurchase, although there is always a new scent coming out, which means a potential for new favourites. Over the Spring and Summer months I wear perfume more or less everyday; it gives me a little boost, I feel better and more confident in general, particularly when the perfume is one that I’ve saved up for and really wanted. I’m also terrible for picking a perfume based on a beautiful bottle, as I love displaying the bottles in my room, much to my boyfriends annoyance, haha.

What are your favourite perfumes? Let me know in the comments! :)

Princess of Hearts - Vera Wang

I adore floral and fruity perfumes and this one is exactly that, mixing notes of both. The contained notes are jasmine, bergamot, strawberries, lily of the valley and watermelon with base notes of cedar wood, musk and vanilla. This perfume has the potential to be a little sickly, however I’ve found that the strongest notes are the watermelon and jasmine and so it creates the perfect scent for Spring and Summer as watermelons are a typically Summer based fruit. Reasonably priced at under £20 for a 50ml bottle of perfume, this perfume makes for a lovely gift. The bottle itself is very feminine, which matches the scent nicely. A pink heart shaped bottle, with Vera Wang’s signature crown lid on top of the spritzer accented by red drawn heart and white typography of the scent name Princess of Hearts across the centre, it looks cute without looking like a child’s perfume. This was actually gifted to me for a birthday from my boyfriend, so it has sentimental value for me, as well as the fact that I fell in love with the smell as soon as it was sprayed onto my skin; this perfume is one that I tend to use for special occasions, such as days/nights out, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. 

Pink Honey - Marc Jacobs

A variation of the original Honey, with a similarly rounded spotty bottle. Pink Honey was released as a Limited Edition fragrance during the Summer of 2014 and is a beautiful mix of both floral and fruity aromas. Notes of orange blossom, honeysuckle, honey, pear, mandarin, peach nectar, vanilla, wood and fruit punch create the distinctive flavour and overall its a fairly heady scent; it’s very noticeable when on the skin. The bottle is as beautiful as the scent for me; the original is a lovely honey coloured shade, whereas this version is a pale pink with black and gold detailing with white pearls. Compared to my other perfumes by Marc Jacobs, this bottle is very different in style as the Daisy range is floral and this bottle is more like a honey pot, which is cute. It’s a perfume that looks beautiful and feels great whenever I wear it, there’s something about the design of the bottle that makes it feel high end, not only because it’s a little on the pricey side; it’s a scent that adds a smile to my face whenever I use it for any occasion.

Valentina Acqua Floreale - Valentino

One of my overall favourite perfumes of all time; this fragrance has notes of bergamot, mimosa, orange blossom, heart of neroli, tuberose, amber and patchouli to create an oriental feeling scent. This is was another gifted perfume from my boyfriend, but this perfume was one that I had dreamed for owned for years; it’s not the cheapest perfume available and so for years I had been using sampled sized bottles of this perfume. The 50ml has not been a disappointment at all. I use it often and it lasts really well on the skin; once applied to the skin I’ve found it lasts for several hours, which is a blessing for a perfume. Whenever I wear this perfume I feel so classy and ready for anything, this is a perfume that I’ll definitely be using and repurchasing throughout my life (yes that is a big statement to make, but I mean it) as it truly is my go to perfume for any event, night or day. This one of the most expensive perfumes that I own and it’s easily my absolute favourite. The bottle and scent are simply a dream.

Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine - Marc Jacobs

Another Limited Edition Summer release, issued in 2012 and created to be a fruitier version of the original. The notes included to make up the perfume are rose and violet leaves, jasmine, strawberry, apple blossom, pink grapefruit and ending with oak, moss and amber wood. In all honesty, I love all of the Daisy range of scents, but this one is my absolute favourite. The combination of fruits and florals adds a little extra to the original version, alongside the bottle having pink perfume with orange, green and fuchsia daisies on the lid. The daisy bouquet lid is super eye catching, particularly as the colours of the Sunshine version are brights, they’re intended to stand out. I’m almost afraid to use this perfume as it’s limited status means that I’ll be unlikely to find it again, which is a shame, but I do love it and I always wear this for special occasions rather than every day throughout the spring and summer months.

Island Fantasy - Britney Spears

A new addition to Spears’ perfume line during 2013, it is intended to emulate an Island getaway using the notes mandarin, clementine, red berries, watermelon, jasmine, violet, freesia, sugar cane and musk. I’m a massive fan of Britney’s perfumes, they’re both affordable and long lasting; the reason that this one is my favourite is it has a different vibe to the others, it feels almost exotic. The bottle is the classic round Fantasy style, but in this edition the colours lime green and aqua make up the bottle with silver diamantés and a silver neck and spritzer. Even amongst the other Fantasy perfumes it stands out due to its vibrant colour, but on the skin is why I adore this perfume. It’s so long lasting on the skin and has this fantastic way of making me feel so upbeat and positive, so ready for anything and simply cute and fresh. It is limited, which is a shame as I do love it but it’s a large bottle and doesn’t need a lot of sprays to hold well as a scent, so fingers crossed this bottle will last for a good amount of time.

April Playlist

Hello again guys; I feel like I’ve lost my way a bit in terms of blogging recently and I’m not even sure why if I’m honest. It’s not that I don’t enjoy blogging anymore, it’s actually because I just never seem to find the time to finish off posts how I would want to (I’m a bit of a perfectionist haha) or I’m just not taking photos in good enough light. Basically, I need to get more organised. However, I am happy with how my life is at the moment; I’m reading more and more, plus having a better social life overall is making me feel super positive. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been listening to music mostly as I walk to and from the bus stop on my way to anywhere. I find that when I’m listening to music I walk faster, at a more controlled pace and I simply enjoy the (smallest amount of) exercise within my day. As I’ve said before, my music taste is very broad; I listen to a variety of artists, genres, languages at any one time. I’m constantly making new playlists on my iPod, too. I love using an old school iPod rather than my phone because I feel like it’s so much more intuitive and user friendly; I don’t even have to look at the screen to change the song, it’s all in the click wheel. I don’t listen to music as often as I used to as I’m reading more often instead, but that’s ok. None of the songs listed below are in any particular order, they’re simply songs that I’ve been listening to constantly over the past month. What songs are you obsessed with this month? Let me know in the comments! :)

1. Speakerphone - Rixton

2. Devuélveme Mi Corazón - CNCO

3. Come and Get It - Selena Gomez

4. My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

5. What About Us - P!nk

6. We Don’t Talk Anymore - Charlie Puth (feat. Selena Gomez)

7. Ain’t It Fun - Paramore 

8. Strangers - Sigrid 

9. Échame La Culpa - Luis Fonsi & Demi Lovato

10. One Thing - One Direction

11. Para Enamorarte - CNCO

12. I’m Yours - Alessia Cara

13. Touch - Little Mix

14. Havana - Camila Cabello (feat. Young Thug)

15. We Can’t Stop - Miley Cyrus

Marc Jacobs Perfume Collection

Hello again :) over the past few months I've really enjoyed sharing snippets of my perfume collections and through this I've noticed that I definitely seem to like the same few designers. Marc Jacobs, Nina Ricci, Britney Spears, Anna Sui, Vera Wang, Cacharel and Jean Paul Gaultier. However I've never really gone into detail visually about why I like to collect sets from the same designer. For me, I like perfumes that look similar and work well as a set. I keep perfumes in my room for me to enjoy and so I like pretty, feminine bottles more than any others. At the moment the largest portion of my collection is by Marc Jacobs and I love the flirty, feminine and floral bottle designs.

 

Above: Daisy Blush, Daisy Sorbet, Daisy Black Edition, Daisy Sunshine and Daisy Delight

 

Above: Daisy Eau So Fresh Blush, Daisy Eau So Fresh Sorbet, Daisy Eau So Fresh, Daisy Eau So Fresh Delight and Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine

 

Above: Daisy Eau So Fresh Blush, Daisy Blush, Daisy Eau So Fresh Sorbet, Daisy Delight, Daisy Eau So Fresh, Daisy Black Edition, Daisy Eau So Fresh Delight, Daisy Sunshine, Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine and Daisy Sorbet

 

Above: Oh! Lola, Lola Velvet and Oh! Lola Sunsheer

 

Above: Oh! Lola, Daisy Eau So Fresh, Daisy Sorbet, Daisy Dream Blush, Daisy Delight, Daisy Eau So Fresh Delight, Pink Honey, Daisy Eau So Fresh Blush, Daisy Sunshine, Daisy Black Edition, Daisy Eau So Fresh Sorbet, Oh! Lola Sunsheer, Lola Velvet, Daisy Sorbet, Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine and Daisy Blush 

So this is my full collection of perfume bottles only from the designer Marc Jacobs. Some of the bottles are new, some are used, some are completely empty and most of them were bought for bargain prices from eBay. I genuinely love how perfumes look and smell, they make my mood somehow better. If I want to feel confident or just have a general boost one day I will always wear some kind of perfume to feel a bit better and it works every time. Hopefully you've enjoyed seeing my full collection, let me know in the comments what you think! Xxx

 

A month in Instagram #7

 

Hello again, as you all know I'm a huge lover of the phone app instagram. I'll often be sat on a bus, lying in bed or on a break at work and finding myself almost mindlessly scrolling through and finding various kinds of inspiration for blogposts, lifestyle or beauty purchases. This month. I've been posting most blog related images, although I also posted a couple of photographs in relation to the new year (I actually really enjoyed the start to this year, spending it with friends and my boyfriend) and starting a new job/saying goodbye to another.

I like using Instagram as a kind of visual diary, similarly to blogging although it feels a little more personal in terms of what I post, for example photos of my workmates or my dog. That said, I definitely want to get more involved with blogging and hopefully get more involved in the blogging community. Instagram is a good way of looking through memories as you can keep them forever. I like to go through my feed every few months and look back on good moments as I try to post only positive things to keep my mind in a more positive frame. Here's to having a good February! :)

 

My Perfume Collection #7

Hello again, whoever is reading this.As anyone who has been reading this blog for a while will know how much I love the Marc Jacobs Daisy fragrances. Actually the Marc Jacobs fragrances in general are a particular love of mine. For the last couple of months I've been on a personal mission to collect as many of the limited edition series of bottles as it is possible to do. In the image below you can see Daisy Sorbet, Delight, Black Edition, Sunshine and Blush all in the 50ml versions. I love the way that the bottles look as a set, how the designs and colours match well visually together.

 

I also love the Daisy Eau So Fresh collection of perfumes and have been slowly collecting the whole range of these too, although I still have a while to go with this collection. These perfumes are the 75ml versions and the bottles visually look very similar to the smaller bottles but with a larger bouquet of daisies on the lid of the bottles. At the moment I have Daisy Eau So Fresh, Daisy Eau So Fresh Delight, Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine and Daisy Eau So Fresh Blush. Many of these perfumes correspond with the smaller perfumes as they're from the same limited edition collections. What I love about Marc Jacobs perfumes is that they all seem to work beautifully as a set whilst not being identical. I'm a sucker for feminine, floral scents.

 

I've also been looking at scents by Marc Jacobs outside of the Daisy range, which is why I bought Oh! Lola as a starting point. More recently I've been purchasing empty bottles or used bottles from eBay as they're much cheaper and much more suited to my current budget. For example, the Daisy Black Edition was purchased for about £4 in total which is an absolute bargain. I love the way that these bottles look and ultimately that's why I don't mind the bottles being empty as I like having the bottles on display together. The Oh! Lola is the 100ml version and is an absolutely huge bottle compared the 50ml Daisy editions; the amount of fragrance is definitely great value for money.

 

The Lola range also has a variety of limited edition scents too and the Oh! Lola Sunsheer is a recent purchase of mine. As my favourite colour is green, the lime green bottle was obviously going to be an automatic favourite of mine. Next to the 100ml version of Oh! Lola it looks absolutely tiny when in reality it's the 50ml version. Since having a larger, 100ml bottle I definitely believe that 50ml is enough for me; I like to own a range of scents and perfume bottles and so 50ml versions are definitely a cheaper option and an easier way to own a wider variety of perfumes.

 

Placing the 50ml Daisy Dream Blush next to the different variations of Oh! Lola you can visually see how they use a variety of pink shades across the perfume bottles, which is why I really love these bottles. The florals and the pinks definitely class these perfumes as very romantic, feminine and dainty which matches the physical smells well; all of those classifications can be applied to the scents themselves too. Through the side by side comparison you can see how large the Lola bottles physically are compared to the other bottles in the range. I definitely want to keep my collection growing as the year goes on, when my budget allows.

 

Marc Jacobs Daisy Sunshine Collection Review

 

A set of limited edition fragrances released in 2012, I spent some time tracking down these fragrances via eBay as they've become fairly difficult to find as they were released a few years ago now. I'm a huge fan of Marc Jacobs scents, this collection was no exception to that rule; I really liked how they're very different to the original versions of these scents but kept the same bottle shapes so they're still recongiseable as a part of the set. The limited edition collections are always interesting as they usually have a theme through the scent, colour or idea. In this case, the collection was definitely made with summer in mind as its full of bright colours, florals and fruity undertones. The main issue with any Marc Jacobs scent is that they're fairly high end price wise; you need to be prepared to spend quite a bit of your money to own a full set, but they are worth the money as they look and smell amazing.

Daisy Sunshine

An alternative scent to the original Daisy, visually the bottle is very similar but with a colourful twist; filled with a bright orange fragrance and topped with three daisies in different sizes in green, orange and hot pink. I quite like how the bottle looks, as its like a brighter version of the original which is nice. I'm not usually a fan of bright colours, but this bottle makes me feel fairly optimistic when I look at it. The smell is lovely, with notes of spring blossoms, lychee, mandarin, red currant, guava, violet and lily of the valley. The Sunshine theme is definitely apparent with the burst of bright colours and the sunny flavours of fresh fruits alongside some florals. The RRP of this scent was £49, which is fairly expensive but the smell does last for a few hours and feels lovely against the skin which is a bonus.

Daisy Eau So Fresh Sunshine

Possibly my favourite scent not only of this collection, but out of all of the Marc Jacobs fragrances that I own. Visually, it's a nice bottle with a pink fragrance inside topped off with a Daisy bouquet in varying sizes in shades of purple, hot pink, lime green and bright orange all centered with gold and used to hide a gold spritzer. It's not my favourite selection of colours, but it fits well with the theme of Sunshine and therefore is a good reminder of long summer days. The scent is beautiful, smelling of fruit blossom, strawberry, pink grapefruit, jasmine, rose, violet leaves, amber and oak moss. I can't even describe how much I love it, I feel really confident when I wear it. I've found that it lasts (like many other Marc Jacobs fragrances) for a few hours, and I genuinely do like the feel of it against my skin. The original price was around £54, which is fairly expensive but considering how much I adore this scent, I would be more than willing to pay that price over and over again.

Oh Lola! Sunsheer

I absolutely love the look of this bottle, with its lime green base topped off with a large pink rose and matching green leaf attached to the neck of the bottle with a silver wire shape. I think it looks really lovely and is a great visual alternative to the other Lola fragrances. The scent itself smells of raspberry, strawberry, pear, peony, magnolia, cyclamen, vanilla and sandalwood. In all honesty, I'm not a massive fan of this scent, it lasts very well but the smell itself isn't one that I'm crazy for; I can't explain why. I think it smells a little lacklustre, all I can smell is bland pear which is a massive shame as I really wanted to love it. The original price for this perfume was £45 which does seem really excessive to me as I'm not a fan of the scent. That said, I really love the design of the bottle so it was a genuine disappointment to not love the scent.