Lisa, Author at Conversations through the middle

A trend for oils in skincare

May 1, 2012

As I get older my skin seems to get more dry and lined (you don’t say) so I’m extremely interested in facial oils, which seem to be becoming more popular in skin care. I was at a launch a few weeks ago for Trilogy’s new rosehip oil that also contains lycopene from tomatoes, known for its anti-cancer properties. I have been using it on and off for a while and it is very moisturising but strangely enough, without leaving a greasy finish. It has a sort of powdery feel, which is a little weird but means your hands aren’t all sticky after applying it. Any residue left on my fingers I just rub into my hands as a moisturising boost to my hand cream. The Trilogy oil is formulated for day and evening use, but I find it’s not quite rich enough for overnight, my skin needs something more, for daytime thought it’s fine and you don’t need much of course, being an oil, so it should last ages.

Hey, I’ve just noticed, the oil goes into shops today! Timing.

The second oil I’ve tried lately is Radiance Night Oil by Living Nature, a company from New Zealand that uses organic native plants in its products and and does not include parabens or synthetic preservatives. It is also not tested on animals, which is another bonus. The manufacturers claim lab trials in Italy confirm the oil “increases hyaluronic acid synthesis, needed by the body to improve skin firmness and hydration as well as aid cell repair and rejuvenation, resulting in fresher, firmer, more youthful-looking skin”.

Whatever the science behind the product, I have found the oil is rich and nourishing, and really like it. I only use it at night and my skin does look smooth and more plump in the morning, the kind of effect a good night cream gives and a better result than a lot of middle market creams I’ve experienced. It also smells lovely, possibly due to the rose petals, frankincense and calendula it contains. This one also contains rosehips.

The final oil in my trial trio is Huile Quintessentielle by Melvita. It’s no secret that I love Melvita products, I’ve blogged about them before and will do again (soon in fact). Alas this oil is not on my faves list. It’s okay to use but really quite greasy and it tends to separate in the bottle (or maybe that’s just my sample), which makes it difficult to apply and absorb even when shaken beforehand. This is only one of several in the range and I might get on with one of the other versions better, but this is the only one I’ve tried so far. I only use this at night as it’s far to sticky for daytime, but on the plus side it is organic, contains lots of goodies including carrot, myrrh, rosewood and neroli essential oils, hemp and argan oils, has a lovely light fragrance and is great as a once-a-week massage treatment for your face.

John… meet baby

May 1, 2012

Talk about stress! Saturday was one helluva day for it with two new horses arriving at the yard and one, sadly, leaving. First to arrive in the morning was a 14-month-old gelding who is normally so laid back he’s almost horizontal. But not that day. As soon as my friend Clare led him into his field – he jumped out again. An impressive feat from standing and all the more so because the fence has to be four feet tall.

When I arrived Clare and baby were in a stable, Clare a bag of nerves and baby not much better. After much discussion and too’ing and fro’ing we decided to try him in the field with my boy John. As you know if you read this blog, John is a gentleman, not a mean bone in his body and the loveliest, cuddliest horse you could ever have the good fortune to meet. We started off with them in head collars and us holding on to lead ropes, but pretty soon we let them loose. John immediately took charge of the scared youngster and made it his duty to be daddy, mummy and babysitter all in one and within minutes.

After that, wherever John went baby followed and vice versa. I have to say baby could not have a better teacher in the ways of being a horse – yesterday John was teaching him how to groom. We are keeping them together as they are so happy in each other’s company, are besotted with each other, and both are completely chilled.

I think my boy was bored – there’s nothing to do all day in the field except eat grass and even if that is your favourite thing in the world it becomes too much at times. As he’s retired now he can’t even look forward to going out for a hack and I think that was getting to him. Since our frightening illness at New Year he seems to come down with something every few weeks and he seemed depressed. But not any more – he looks younger, his coat is shiny and his appetite has increased loads (it’s such a hard job babysitting). He loves having company in the field with him, not just someone to say hello to over the fence.

And at night he is quite happy to hang up his babysitting shoes and relax in his stable, eating his tea and haylage. We thought we might have a problem when we separated the two in the evening as their stables are not close to each other, but not at all. I think John is glad to have the evening to himself to recharge ready for the next day and spend a few peaceful hours chomping away before a well-earned sleep. They are so lovely together it brings tears to my eyes to watch them.

Just hours after meeting and already the best of friends

Nothing stays still – updates and changes

April 27, 2012

A bit of housekeeping is what’s needed here

Okay, I made a big decision (for me) yesterday. I decided to amalgamate all three of my blogs into this one, which means there is now only one blog for me to procrastinate over or wish I could be more disciplined with. However, I didn’t want to lose all of my nuggets of wisdom from Canter Capers (should that just be nuggets here?) or my fledgling travel site Send Us A Quick Postcard, so I’ve transferred all of the entries over to 40s Chic.

This of course makes for a bit of a disjointed chronology for anyone reading from the beginning – but who would do that anyway (sometimes I wonder if anyone reads the blog at all, yes the page views are there but rarely any comments). If you do decide to start at the beginning (a very good place to start) then now you know why it seems a little out of sync. Or if you’re reading some of the latest entries why I suddenly turned into a presenter for Wish You Were Here.

From now on, anything and everything will be discussed, whinged about, whooped about, loved or cried over in these pages. Life doesn’t have separate threads to it, they all intermingle, so it makes sense that the other two blogs find a home in this one.

I’m a bit of a hoarder and perfectionist, so I have tried to keep the dates and times as they were originally on the transferred posts, but for some reason, although the site accepted the dates, it would not accept some of the times, instead defaulting to the actual time of input. It’s a shame but not the end of the world.

I feel so much better now I’ve done a bit of blog housekeeping. I’ve also updated the ‘about me’ bit and the standfirst, which was a bit rubbish.

Onwards and upwards!

Back to school – ban on term-time holidays?

March 13, 2012

I read in the news that the Government is thinking of making it illegal to take your child out of school for a holiday during term time. What? Have politicians got nothing better to do with their time? What about the state of the economy, the problems with the NHS, the financial climate and global warming for goodness sake.

Is it a case of ‘we can’t control the important things so we’ll control the little things instead, so we still feel like we’re in, er, control’? It beggars belief.

Whether or not a family takes a term-time holiday is down to the family, the school and lets face it, how much money they have. Obviously it’s not ideal, but have you seen the cost of holidays at peak times?

At my daughter’s school for example any parent who wants to take their child out of school during term time has to discuss the situation with the head master. He takes into consideration attendance and the school schedule – whether there are exams coming up. If attendance is deemed satisfactory and there are no exams looming, then chances are the request will be granted. He is a sensible and reasonable man with a family of his own who is well aware of the financial pressures on parents, especially at this time.

Parents were informed at the beginning of the year that no time off for holidays would be granted in May for year 6 pupils as that’s when they have their SATs, which is only common sense, and I haven’t heard of any parent arguing against that.

Politicians should take note that parents do not take their children out of school to be disruptive, rather they take kids out of school so the whole family can enjoy a holiday together, quality time together so they can relax and enjoy each other’s company without the daily stresses and pressures we are all under, all of the time. The alternative for many would be no holiday – going away during school holidays is just too expensive.

Banning families from taking term-time holidays would be counterproductive – part of being a kid is behaving like a kid and where better to do that than on holiday? It’s where families bond, create memories the children take into adulthood, enjoy new experiences, laugh and play.

The lucky ones will continue to do that during official school holidays; the rest of us will have to go without. I wonder which group the politicians fall into…