JANUARY FAVOURITES – 5 THINGS

How on earth is it the end of January?! We’ve been here a whole month already! Madness I tell you. I was talking to one of the other partners the other day and we both saying how these next few months are going to fly by and we’ll be saying “remember that time we lived in small town France?” before we know it. And having lived through a similar experience in London (posts here) – I know that to be completely true! Our year in London almost feels like a dream because it came and went in a flash.

Ken and I were hoping to get out of dodge this weekend (we were thinking a quick trip to Strasbourg) but I’ve managed to pick up what is being called “the INSEAD flu”. Everyone has had it. I thought I managed to escape it but here we are, week 4, on the couch surrounded by tissues and non-stop Netflix for two days. Thankfully I am feeling better today, but it’s too soon to tell if I’ll be ok for a quick weekend trip. Cross your fingers for me!

Anywho, none of that had to do with today’s post – haha! Sometimes these things just coming flowing out through my fingers and into a post. I guess that’s why I’m a blogger. Aaaaaand I’m still going doing it. Ok. Today’s post! I’m sharing my January favourites! I don’t do these often but since we recently made this huge move to France, some of my “can’t live without” items have come to light, as well a few new things I’ve picked up along the way. So, here we go….

GUCCI SOHO DISCO HANDBAG

Lets start with the star of the show. The latest addition to my collection! I picked up this little beauty shortly before starting our big move and have been using it non-stop since. I didn’t get that much use out of it before we arrived in France just because we were busy moving and I didn’t want to damage it in the move (although now that I’ve had a good run of it – I would say it is super durable and would have been fine in a move!). But since we have arrived in France, I haven’t used another handbag. Haven’t even reached for my others. It is just SO simple and versatile it works for every occasion. I use it when I pop over to the shops, everyday wanderings and even to a few more dressy events we have attended for Ken’s school. I can’t say enough good things about it. Yes, it is VERY basic and simple – but that’s the beauty of it. No flashy gold bits or logos all over it. Just simple, clean, easy.  Money well spent 🙂

ASOS RAINCOAT

I heard in passing that our area in France (close to Paris) is experiencing the worst rain fall in 50 years! Ken was joking the other day – leave it to us to move from one city that is known for its rainfall (Vancouver) to a place experiencing it’s worst rain in 50 years – haha. The rain followed us. Sorry France! And I’m not talking just a light drizzle here and there either – it comes in huge torrential waves. INSEAD is only a 10 minute walk from our apartment and we are completely soaked down to our underwear on some days. So, a raincoat was in order. I found this one on ASOS and have worn it just about everyday. First off, I love the colour. From the website I thought it was going to be a bit more blush toned, but in real life it has a SLIGHT lilac tone to it. It’s still definitely pink but not as pink as I thought it was (it also comes in this amazing green colour). I knew I wanted something long (I’m about 5’4 for reference and it hits a few inches above the knee), with a hood and a bit of weight to it (ie. not just a shell). This one ticked all the boxes. It’s heavy duty and has a cozy faux sheep fur lining in the top half and then quilted on the lower half. When I layer it with a sweater it’s warm enough for the winter months but light enough that I could get away with wearing it in the spring.

Please excuse the fact that I’m wearing my pyjamas and slippers in these pictures. I had JUST filmed the video (Click HERE to watch the video) that goes along with this post and had to be comfy 🙂

GOLD PENDENT NECKLACE (ASOS) (Similar one HERE)

In one of my youtube videos (If you haven’t subscribed, I would love to see you over there – subscribe HERE – it’s free!) I mentioned that I took the plunge on the Missoma name pendent necklace. Well, I’ve hardly worn the thing because I’m afraid to! Within the first few days of receiving it, the chain broke. Luckily I felt it drop right into my top so I didn’t lose it but now I’m a little hesitant to wear it. I e-mailed Missoma right away and they send me a new chain but it’s always on my mind when I’m wearing it. Recently I found this really pretty one on ASOS and thought it would make a great companion to my Missoma necklace. It sits several inches lower, so when I do wear the Missoma one, they layer really nicely. And this one costs pennies in comparison. I love the way it looks with just a simple fishermen’s sweater like the one I’m wearing here. It adds a little sparkle and shine to an otherwise very simple outfit.

MAYBELLINE CAMO CONCEALER

So the story is, I was on the hunt for a dupe for the Mac Prep and Prime. I learned all about it from Marnie (MsGoldGirl on youtube – follow her if you aren’t already – she’s so much fun :)). Anyways, I’m all for a good drugstore dupe and although I wouldn’t say this is a dupe for the product, I did end up loving it. I put a bit of this under my eyes before I put on my MAC Pro Longwear concealer and have to say – it makes a difference! I was blessed with naturally dark under eye circles so anything to help me in that department – I’ll take it! The Maybelline concealer just helps to counteract the blue tint under my eye and then the Mac Pro Longwear concealer adds brightness. It’s a great combo!

THE CONFESSION TAPES

Lastly, a netflix recommendation you have to watch. As you can imagine, I’ve had a lot of time at home lately, so I’ve been hitting the Netflix pretty hard – haha. We don’t have any cable here so Youtube and Netflix are my best friends.  The show that I keep thinking about (and have watched twice already) is called The Confession Tapes. It’s along the lines of Dateline or Real Life Mysteries except all the stories involve a confession tape of some sort. They go through the stories and let you decide wether these people are truly guilty or not. They even interview them 25 years after the murders – and I’m telling you, some of these people really could be innocent! Yet they’ve been in jail for 25 years. It’s right up my street and VERY interesting. I highly recommend you give it a watch this weekend 🙂

SHOP ALL ITEMS IN THIS POST HERE:

That’s all for now! Just 5 things I’ve been loving lately. I hope you enjoyed it!

I would love for you to follow along on Instagram (Follow @aandreaclare), as well as on Facebook (Click HERE) and Twitter (Click HERE) where I always tweet or share the most recent posts 🙂

Watch the video version of this post here:

Xo, Andrea