Neko Case, Clear Skin Moisturiser, Pleated Skirts and Keira Knightley

It feels like forever since I've done a full blog post, I'm sorry it's been so long, I've been on holiday in Paris- which was wonderful! And I've been working loads of extra hours but anyway here it is...

Record that Rocks

I fell in love with The Killing on Channel 4 from the first episode, and along with sirens and 24 hours in A and E, for me it's a TV must see. It was at the end of the latest episode that I discovered this beaut of a track. It's called 'Hold on, hold on' by Neko Case.


Neko was born in Virginia and grew up in Tacoma, Washington. She has also worked as part of the band the New Pornographers. I adore her tender, poetic lyrics in this song and I hope you enjoy it!

I'd love to know what you thought of this song! 

Eye of the Beholder

Like many people my age I am troubled by the occasional breakout of spots, my most recent discovery to attempt to prevent this is spot reducing moisturiser. It seems like a great idea since I moisturise everyday it requires no extra effort or time so I bought two of these products and have been using them for the past few weeks. They are Simple's Clear Skin oil balancing moisturiser and Garnier's Pure Active mosturiser. 

I am impressed with both of them and I have found they are both better moisturisers than the Johnsons daily essentials I was using before. 

(I apologise for the quality of the pictures in this post, we are decorating and all the lights are unscrewed so trying to get decent lighting for pictures was a bit of a challenge. Also this one makes it look like the Simple bottle is much bigger than the Garnier one, they are actually about the same size.) 

I have found them both effective in reducing spots, I thought the Garnier one was slightly more effective at reducing spots but it does say that it can increase sensitivity to the sun, I am concerned about sun damage and so I only use this one in the evening and I use the Simple one during the day under my foundation which has SPF 6. 

I bought the Simple product in Boots for around £4 and the Garnier one was from Boyes for around £3. I liked them both but I think the Garnier one was my favourite as it was cheaper and effective but I wouldn't use it as a day mosituriser. 

Glad Rags


I love the pleated midi skirt trend for this summer into autumn. I think is this picture of Keira Knightley sums up how wearable this trend is, she's put together a a few simple pieces to create a wonderfully effortless outfit, that is easy to copy...

I spent weeks looking for a pleated skirt to copy Keira's look and I tried on loads before I fell for this Primark dress, it was £17 and think it looks great with my leather jacket and a brown waist belt. I also got a turquoise and silver ring for £2.50 that I think compliments the pastel pink of the dress well. 

(Again apologies for the quality of the picture the dress is actually a pastel pink with white polka dots with a pleated skirt.) 


Anyway that was my Keira Knightley inspired look, all I need now is the hot man on my arm! 

Thanks for reading, 

it means a lot that you took the time!

Hope you like my Sunday Smiles posts too! 

xox