I’m early this week so apologies to everyone who tells me that my post is part of their Friday wind-down routine, I’m juggling again and so it was now or never. So it’s a Friday cornucopia today (on a Thursday… confused? yes me too) with a mixture of clothes, beauty – and… a chance for us to meet. At last! More about that at the end of the post.

Hush mid-season sale – recommendations

I’m going to start with the mid-season sale from Hush because a few of my favourite pieces have been marked down so I thought I’d run through them with you. Let’s begin with a merino jumper – do you remember we discussed the merits of these a couple of weeks ago and I showed you the neon green one that I have? Well that one isn’t in the sale but the red colourway is and this works for people with cooler skin tones. I bought it but had to send it back because it’s crimson rather than my usual tomato red so go forth those of you who prefer a slightly bluer hue (size down for a neat fit).

Friday cornucopia

Light merino knit

Next up is the fur bomber which I’m looking forward to wearing when the temperatures drop. I’m going to be pairing it with midi-skirts, midi-dresses and wide leg trousers because it will give me those two thirds proportions and make my legs look longer. The fur is soft and luxurious and it’s very warm so I’m thinking it will be particularly good for Christmas nights out.

Friday cornucopia

Fur bomber

Sorry for mentioning party season again but this t-shirt is a great buy for those evenings when you really just want to wear jeans and perhaps a pair of heels. Add this and you’ve made enough effort to say ‘party ready’ (size down).

Friday cornucopia

Boogie t-shirt

One of last year’s skirts that looks a bit odd until you try it and then you realise that the asymmetry is very flattering. It’s great value in the sale and it’s also available in red. Here it is on me, true to size.

Hush black satin asymmetric skirt

Hush black satin skirt

Asymmetric satin skirt

I’ve ordered this in the hope that I’ll love it as much as the other Hush dresses I’ve bought this season. I’m planning to wear it with knee high boots as shown in the model shot. I’ve sized down because it looks to be a loose fit and it’s disappearing fast so I hope there are still some left by the time I press ‘publish.’

Hush sale edit

Navy and black leopard print dress

Those are the pieces I wanted to flag, there’s a lot more, you can find it all here.

A statement skirt

A couple of other sartorial mentions… I’ve peaked early and found my festive skirt already. By the time I get round to wearing it I won’t be able to link it for you so I’m showing it to you now. My instinct was to go for the navy but there are only tiny sizes left so instead I’ve opted for the deep red version. Thinking it through, it will work with ivory or white, blush pink, black, chartreuse green, navy and tan – I could even clash it with red. There are more options than I first thought so I felt I could justify it. Elegant statement skirts are becoming an essential part of my wardrobe because they suit my lifestyle. They look great dressed down with a jumper for work and then if I’m going out afterwards, I can switch to a cami, blouse or t-shirt. Anyway, here you go:

statement skirt for Christmas parties

Textured midi-skirt

… and in the navy if you’re slimmer than me.

Christmas party skirt

Navy textured skirt

One last thing, Sézane are launching their next drop on Sunday at 9.30am. As you know things tend to sell out in popular sizes on the day so be ready. You can see a preview of the mood here.

Trinny London

(Now I’m aware that one of you in particular is going to be saying ‘I told you so’ right through this piece – I bow down to you Mrs R!)

As you know I don’t often cover make-up and beauty on here. The reason is that I don’t wear a lot of make-up so I have my favourites and I stick to them. It’s very rare that I’m sent something that I think is worth either changing my routine for or covering on Midlifechic – in fact I think I have a bit of a reputation amongst beauty PRs for being a bit of a dragon (or worse) in that respect.

I’ve been vaguely aware of Trinny London since it launched but because it seems to do most of its marketing via influencers and Instagram in particular, it hasn’t penetrated my radar – in fact the influencer approach put me right off the brand. There are so many of them on Instagram now, operating on a very commercial basis and willing to cover anything in order to fill their feed every day that I find I just don’t trust them.

So I was very lukewarm when I opened up four pieces that I was sent by Trinny London this week but after trying them, I went straight to the website to find out more. You may be familiar with the Trinny concept: little pots of make-up that click together to form a stack making them easy to transport and giving you a complete make-up routine in one go.

Trinny London review

 

I haven’t had a chance to photograph the results on me yet but you’ll see me using three of the items regularly from now on:

Firstly the BFF cream. I was a bit perplexed when I first applied it to my face, it just looked like a thin white cream but when I put my glasses on to consult the tube, they instantly steamed up. The blurb says that it ‘adapts to your own skin tone to create a flawless glow’ and it does seem to do something clever. It’s a product that I’ll use on its own if I’m going to the gym or popping out for a quick dog walk and I’ll wear it under foundation on other days. I suppose you could say it’s like primer, but better.

Trinny London - is it good?

BFF cream

Next up was the BFF eye serum / concealer. I’ve been feeling annoyed with myself because a couple of weeks ago I was rushing through John Lewis and I saw the new Charlotte Tilbury Magic Away concealer that everyone’s been raving about. I didn’t have time to try it so I just bought it and I hate it. It’s like sticky gunk and it does nothing for me. This one however blends seamlessly. I don’t have dark circles so I can’t say how well it works for those but I’ve found it brightens my eye area and makes me look more awake. It’s a bit messy to apply because you dip your finger in the pot and that makes me wonder a bit about hygiene but it blends so beautifully that I can get over that.

The last product that I loved was the Eye2Eye cream eyeshadow which like the concealer blends really well – no need to faff around with brushes, just dab it on, rub it in and you’re done.

Trinny make-up review

Eye2Eye cream eyeshadow

I was also sent a Lip Luxe but although I liked the texture, I wasn’t mad on the shade so I haven’t got on quite so well with that – and I wish I’d had some of the Flush Blush because blusher is the one thing that I really need.

The website makes it easy for you to choose your colours because the process starts with a Match2Me questionnaire where you fill in your details (without any requirement for datacapture which I liked). The shades that suit your skin tone then pop up for each product. You can also look at models of all ages who have the same skin tone as you and see how the colours look in real life.

This probably isn’t a range for you if you’re a make-up lover who enjoys using a lot of carefully chosen products and spending a lot of time on your look. But if, like me, you equate doing your make-up with brushing your teeth and see it just as something that needs to be done before you go out then you’ll love it.

I like the fact that it’s a no faff system – you can apply your make-up with your fingers in the space of a few minutes and then get on with your day. On the downside, the website has a few annoying glitches and I found it extremely frustrating that almost all of the products that I wanted to buy were out of stock which meant it wasn’t worth placing an order. I also felt that there needed to be more more information at a packaging level – it was a nuisance having to go back to the website to find out more when I was sitting at my dressing table with the product in my hand.

Despite all of that though, I do recommend you going on to the website and having a play around. It isn’t often that I’m as impressed by something beauty related as I was with this.

Menopause

I have a new menopause reference site for you that’s quite useful. It comes from the US so gloss over hot ‘flashes’ and ‘estrogen,’ there’s a strong medical panel behind it and it’s one of those that’s good to browse through. You’ll find you have a few “I never knew that” moments. VeryWellHealth.

Come and spend an evening with me!

Friday cornucopia

And now for something really exciting. Longstanding readers will know that for years I’ve been trying to put together an event so that we can meet up. Happily the lovely team that I work with at John Lewis & Partners are just as enthusiastic about the idea of a Midlifechic get together. They’ve spent the year lobbying for a Midlifechic evening in store and at last we’ve been given the go ahead. The first one is in Leeds – but don’t despair if you’re in the South; you are of course welcome (we’re very friendly up here) and if it goes well, we may to be able to come to a few more stores next year.

We’re hoping to have all of the details confirmed in time for next Friday’s post but today I can tell you that on Friday 8th November at 6pm I’ll be working with one of the Personal Stylists at John Lewis & Partners in Leeds. We’ll be talking about how to look good over the Christmas season and showing you a few ideas that we’ve put together. Afterwards there will be time to chat and of course there will be festive fizz involved too. It’s a closed event and places are limited so you’ll need to buy a ticket but they’re very reasonably priced and they will be redeemable against anything you buy at John Lewis & Partners on the evening.

So all that’s left for me to say is – please come (Leeds is a great place for a weekend break)! My fear now of course is that no-one will buy a ticket, I need your support. Bring a friend or your mum or just come and enjoy the company of other readers… and of course me… and Mr MC will be there taking photographs too. We’ll solve all of your Christmas style conundrums (well Mr MC won’t – he’ll tell you you look nice whatever you wear) but the rest of us will answer your questions helpfully. We very much hope to be able to sell tickets from next Friday onwards so save the date and I’ll let you know how to book as soon as tickets are available.

And with that I wish you a wonderful weekend. There won’t be a post on Tuesday because I need to dedicate some time to getting the event organised and that will take up my blogging hours but I’ll be back next Friday as always.

Disclosure: ‘Friday cornucopia and – a chance for us to meet!’ is not a sponsored post, any gifted items have been declared

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