Wednesday Diary

Watching: Sky Arts Portrait Artist of The Year. I’m obsessed with faces – I look and look at people – to the point Mr BBB nudges me to tell me to stop staring but I can’t really help it. I love the way the artists (professional and amateur) interpret their sitters (celebs in this case, such as Richard E Grant and Sue Perkins) and also notice that there is a huge correlation between portrait artists and make-up artists. There was a moment in this week’s show where one artist was talking about her brush collection and it reminded me of a MAC artist I know! There’s that same attention to detail with skin; the same obsession with tones and an understanding and use of colour that is just innate. It’s there or it’s not there. This is one programme that really holds my attention (when you work on-line all day every day, the first thing to go is your concentration) so I find it both moving and relaxing. It’s the perfect hour for me and made me look out my treasured David Horne book, The Art of Male Make Up (£12.50 HERE) which is a detailed study of skin tone.

Lunching: At Roast, Borough Market. Okay, I have to admit to (apart from Christmas dinner) the most unashamed carb load of the year. It was just the most delicious lunch on a cold day and such a treat that I went all in. I had the Baked Cheddar Charcoal Soufflé, which is actually a starter, but surrounded it by so many sides that it became the most wonderful main. Roast potatoes, broccoli and kale, mushrooms and cauliflower. As the name would suggest, there is always a roast on the menu and while there are vegetarian options, it’s quite ‘meaty’. I’d recommend for a special occasion (it’s £££££) Sunday lunch. You can see the full menu HERE.

Visiting: Borough Market. If you have never been to Borough Market, I’d recommend that you go on a weekday (it’s open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) if you possibly can rather than the weekend. It gets so intensely busy that if you visit on a Saturday, you can only really shuffle round it behind the hoards. It’s been in existence, according to history records for over a thousand years, but in recent only really became a trendy place to go when it stopped being a wholesale only market and artisan food stalls began to pop up. You can buy beautiful cheeses, meats, breads and fruit as well as grab your lunch from any of the street food stalls. You might have had a glimpse of the surrounding market streets in Bridget Jones’ Diary. Egyptian, Thai, Indian.. you name it, you can have it – and it’s a dream for gluten free.

Dining: The Penthouse at The Edition hotel. This was a work dinner hosted by Caroline and Dr Dennis Gross, who was over from the US promoting his skin care line. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ll know that meeting brand owners isn’t my favourite thing to do but often, when I do, they turn out to be absolutely lovely. As is the case with Dr D. What a lovely man – he’s very involved with an animal charity for a start, and has everything to say on American politics. It was so nice! He’s kind of hazy on sales (not sure where he is sold in the UK – his wife and team take care of all that) but he absolutely knows his skin care as an experienced dermatologist.

I told him I could only test one product and he was adamant that it should be the C+ Collagen Creme Intense HERE. So, I started that and the C+ serum HERE a week ago (slightly horrified that it’s £72 – and the moisturiser is £70 – yikes)  and obviously nowhere near ready for a full review but wow! Hydrated, softened, smoothed and very happy looking skin – the nearest I can compare it to in immediate effect is BioEffect although the textures are quite different.

Questioning: Quiz Night. We went to a local charity quiz night with friends at the weekend. The quiz was based around UK citizenship (sounds weird but it was really good!) and all the questions were derived from the above book. If I tell you that to qualify for UK citizenship you need 60% correct answers, and the highest score, from virtually all (as far as I know) UK citizens at the quiz was 53%. Not one of us would have passed a test to be citizens of our own country. Fun it was, we got the message.

Buying: I finally caved on a shirt I’ve been eyeing since before Christmas from Me & Em. I love white shirts and they’re very much a staple of my working wardrobe (with black skinnies or jeans) so I’ve got far too many as it is. It popped up in the sale so I couldn’t really resist it. The brand cuts wide so shirts are loose rather than fitted and that’s exactly my style. It’s £39 from £79 HERE.

Lusting: Mango Patches Sneakers. Because I’m already thinking white shirts, jeans and spring days even though we apparently have a horrible cold snap to come, I’m eyeing up these pineapple sneakers from Mango, £39.99 HERE.