February favourites

February is nearly over and although a brief month, it marks the end of the deepest winter and we start enjoying a little bit more light in the mornings and evenings. It makes such a change to my mood to leave work when it's still light outside! 

I've been thinking about what I've enjoyed the most during the past month and decided to include a couple of things that aren't beauty related. Hope you enjoy it!

1. Brown eye liner

This month I have been embracing more natural make up on a daily basis. I always like to keep things simple, and I normally only wear black liquid eye liner and mascara. However, I fancied a bit of a change and got this wonderful eye liner pencil from Nars at the beginning of the month. It has a bit of sheen, but no shimmer, and it gives you just about the right amount of definition without looking like you’re wearing any make up on your eyes. It is a longwear formula that doesn’t budge, so I also use it on my lower lashline without any worry that I'll end up with racoon eyes. I’m a bit alarmed at how quickly I’m going through it, but it really is so brilliant I have not touched my black eyeliner for weeks!

Winter break: Vichy Catalan spa in Spain

A few years ago I discovered the joy of post Christmas breaks and since then I try to fit a quick escape every year. Somehow instead of running away from the cold I’ve quite often ended up in even colder places like New York, Vienna or Berlin, but this January has felt so gloomy in the UK that I wanted some peace and quiet somewhere, if not warmer, at least sunnier than here, so I chose a break at the Balneari Vichy Catalan, which is about an hour north of Barcelona. My travel companion was my cousin Carmen.

Home made granola

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. To honour my Spanish heritage, I love my sleep and can be a slow starter in the mornings. It isn’t until I have some food in my body that I start to wake up and function half normally.

I also like variety and switch between sweet and savoury. If I remember to do some prep the night before (ie. Put some buckwheat to soak), Deliciously Ella’s Raw Buckwheat Porridge with blueberries tastes a million times better than it sounds. If I’m in a hurry, quite often it’s avocado on toast or granola.