Face of the Day: Bleached out.

I love when people do these and I thought my blog could use a little more face so.  I forgot to note down if I was wearing foundation or a CC cream here (bad blogger), but here's the rest!

Lancôme Star Bronzer Natural Glow Long Lasting Bronzing Powder in 02 Solaire

[at Sephora]

Covergirl eyeshadow in Champagne (inner corner)

[at Target]

TheBalm shady lady eyeshadow in Shameless Shana

Barry M Kohl pencil in Brown

[at Boots]

L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara in Black Brown

[at Target]

Revlon Matte lipstick in Nude Attitude

[at Boots]

Los Angeles scraps [& giveaway winner!]

The winner of my copy of Orange Is the New Black is LaaraBeeFul!  Please get in touch with me at marionhoney@aol.com  And thank you to everyone who left a comment!

Book Review: Orange Is the New Black.

Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Everybody and their mother have been tweeting about how amazing the television show was.  So naturally I've been dying to watch it, but I really try to read the source material first when it comes to movies and TV.  Abacus Books were kind enough to send me a copy to review.  And I can't say enough how glad I am to have read before I watched.

Orange Is the New Black is pretty much as its subtitle reads--it's a chronicle of Piper Kerman's personal experience of serving a year in women's prison.  I'm only one episode into the show which I feel really captures the initial terror, but it is a different Piper.  The "real" Piper of the book has so much more of a sturdy head on her shoulders (despite having the credit of a nonviolent drug crime under her belt).

What struck me most about the writing is it is so straightforward, yet so rich.  Kerman is definitely a Smith College graduate; I'm in my final year of university, and I swear I was looking up more vocabulary words than during SAT prep.   Don't let that put you off the book.  Because of the tension of the narrative and tone, this thing is an absolute page turner.  And I'm not just saying that.  Ask any of my flatmates: I have four books going that I enjoy, but have also been trying to get through for the past sixth months.  I'd would pick a stopping point while I was reading Orange Is the New Black, but when I'd reach it, I'd find myself blowing past it anyway to find out what happened next.

This book earned my laughter, closed up throat up with heartbreak, and reminded me of the brokenness of the United States prison system.

And because I want to share this book so much, I'm giving my copy away!  If you want to win it, all you have to do is leave a comment telling what country you live in and how you think you would react to/behave during your first day in prison; I'll pick my favourite.  Unfortunately, this giveaway is for the UK only (I am but a student who can nay afford hefty postage), but even if you live outside the UK, I'd still love to read your answer.

Giveaway closes: Thursday 15 August 2013 at 5PM GMT
GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

Support your local bookstore or pick it up at Waterstones!

Lunch at my desk.

Rocket, pan-fried paneer, cherry tomatoes, scrambled egg, red wine vinegar for dressing, raw almonds.

More foodie pics than you could ever want on my instagram:

/marionhoney

The Pharcyde, recommended.

The Pharcyde . Labcabincalifornia

I've been "getting into hip hop" hard for the last four months or so.  Kanye and Jay are now regular rotations on my Spotify sessions (Watch The Throne might be my favorite album of the moment) complementing my standard Childish Gambino mixtapes.  And I've been delving into the works of Nujabes, OutKast, Wale, Kendrick Lamar, and Mos Def.

For the longest time, my mind was reading it as The "Pharmacyde" (I don't know.) but I've righted myself now.  The song I keep going back to is Runnin'.  It was later sampled by Mya in her single "Fallen" and takes its underlying beat from Stan Getz's "Saudade Vem Correndo."  Sick.

Returns.

 


I found an untitled text edit that must be something I jotted down upon returning back to my flat from being in the US for a month.

Our flat smells.  Not in a blehhh that smells kind of way.  But how you walk into a friend's house for the first or second time and it just has a scent.  Maybe you've caught it on their clothes before, or borrowed their shirt and it just has a certain smell that fades the longer you forget to give it back.  It could be laundry detergent, cocoa butter, the muted undertone of cats, sea breeze air.  It's one of my favorite things about visiting a friends house.  Especially because they don't notice it all--because to them, it's invisible.  Undetected.

So when I came back to my flat in East London, having been in the US for close to a month, it had that I-don't-live-here smell.  And for a moment I got to be all the acquaintances and strangers that have ever walked into our place.  Sanne's room faintly smells like her parents' house in the Netherlands.  Even my room smelled foreign.  But it's all back to normal now.  It's gone.  But you gotta love little fleeting things like that.