Loving Lately

1. THIS REDDIT THREAD - WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A MAN WHO IS ABOUT TO BECOME A DAD FOR THE FIRST TIME? 

I am a woman, very much single and being a parent is absolutely not on my radar for anytime in the near future - but I find it adorable that the question was asked in the first place and the responses are a beautiful mix of the super practical and the emotional. Basically one of those threads that restores hope in humanity for a while.

2. GHD RISE HOT BRUSH

I got a fringe cut in at the end of October and it's been quite the adjustment. It was definitely too short to start with (completely my own fault, my lovely hairdresser absolutely gave me what I asked for!) but it's thankfully grown to a point where I'm starting to enjoy it. 

At first I was using the straightener on it (also the GHD one, which I've had since I was in high school and is still going strong!), which obviously eked out the length for me, but I felt it was lying like straw flat against my forehead. Now it's gotten longer, I've been enjoying using the rise with it to get it to sort of bounce forward and round. Essentially it's a way of making my fringe look freshly round brush blow-dried without the faff of wetting and blow drying. 

I'll completely admit I had access to using this because my gran bought it for her hair (which is much shorter than mine) and has done as she usually does where she's enthusiastic about something for ten minutes then it goes in the cupboard never to be used again. I wouldn't have run out and bought this purely for using on my fringe - but I am very glad to have had it on hand, and if I was going to be staying loyal to the fringe I do reckon it would be worth the investment. 

My relatively short time with the fringe has taught me that it's higher maintenance than it seems, but if the fringe looks done, the rest of your look also climbs up the ranks. It's been useful for days when I want to tie my hair up - I find the fringe softens the look of having my hair piled on top of my head and makes it look like I've made more effort than I have (with the effort being running the GHD Rise through it!) And it's also been useful in that it hides roots. So if you're trying to economise a bit with your hair appointments, a fringe seems a good way to buy you a few extra weeks before the roots are shocking enough that you need to get yourself back in the chair. My first reaction after getting it was a solid 'oh no, this has been a mistake' - but six weeks on, a bit of growth and the rediscovery of the GHD Rise and I actually think the fringe will be here to stay - for a while at least.

3. DAVINES ALCHEMIC CONDITIONER - COPPER

Sticking with hair, because after getting a fairly dramatic chop (I got several inches off as well as getting the aforementioned fringe cut in) my hair has been a bit of a focus for me of late. After some covid-induced years of home dying, I have finally found myself a new hairdresser and I am determined to get back into a proper routine with it, getting it cut semi-regularly and dyed professionally so as to get it back to pre-covid condition. 

This is a product I've been loyal to for years, and it's a colour depositing hair mask that uses non-permanent hair colour to intensify and brighten hair colour - whether that's your natural colour or a dyed one. Copper is my shade, but it comes in various colours and, if your colour is cosmetic, is a god-send for those last few weeks before your hair is due to be done again to put some life back into your shade. It also leaves your hair feeling conditioned but not weighed down - I've had quite a number of Davines products over the years (my old salon was a Davines salon/stockist) and find a lot of them to be heavy on my hair. 

Like most hair masks, the instructions are to wash hair, apply this, leave for 5 minutes, then rinse. I tend to wash hair, apply this, leave for as long as possible and then rinse, to give those colour pigments all the opportunity to adhere..  

4. CAFE NERO'S FESTIVE SANDWICHES

I take my Christmas sandwiches very seriously and I am declaring these 2022's Best Christmas Cafe Offerings. 

My absolute top tier is the turkey focaccia - for a start, I'm a massive focaccia fan and that rosemary and salt focaccia is the stuff dreams are made of for me. Add to that butter basted turkey, cranberry sauce and bacon and you've got the best Christmas sandwich on the chain cafe market, in my humble opinion. I will say, I'm not a massive stuffing person and the stuffing on this was quite strong smelling, but not particularly strong tasting - which was a winner for me. Stuffing enthusiasts may feel slightly short changed. 

The Pigs Under Blankets Tostati Melt is also excellent - melt in the mouth sausages, bacon and cranberry sauce on bread topped with cheese and cranberries. Now, this bread is slightly more standard, and the focaccia is keeping it's place for me as the outright winner, but if you're hungover from a Christmas party and you want something that feels a bit filthy to feed the hangover gremlins with, the cheese on this ticks that box. 

5. EMER & ESTHER'S SUNDAY ROAST WITH EMER & ESTHER

Finally, as a Sunday Roast enthusiast, this podcast is entirely up my street. Our hosts, Emer and Esther are touring Dublin to rate and review the Sunday Roasts on offer. I'm very fond of a Yorkshire Pudding, even as a Celt, but as Emer & Esther are based in Ireland, this is a slightly contentious issue. The lack of yorkshires aside, the chat is joyful, I love listening to people as keen as me discuss roast dinners and I'm always happy to be adding recommended spots to my Dublin Google Map in preparation for my next visit. (Or maybe the day all my dreams come true, the housing crisis is solved and I can move there permanently?) 

I also enjoy feeling super smug about being a fan of this podcast whilst it's in its early days - it's a double edged sword of course in that there aren't many episodes yet, but being someone who is generally always late to podcasts and TV shows, I'm really loving feeling self-satisfied about being sure this will become a staple podcast in everyone's life and I'll be able to tell everyone I was there when there were only five episodes. I haven't felt this good since I got to be the one who turned my friend Lynsey onto Sex Education, when she is always ten steps ahead of me with regards to TV and pop culture. 

I'll just highlight here that I was turned onto Emer & Esther's Sunday Roast with Emer & Esther from the glorious Catch Up With Louise McSharry. As a fairly established podcast, I don't think Catch Up needs any introduction but on the off chance you aren't involved already, then consider this a two for one in podcast recommendations.