The Bookworm: These Violent Delights, by Chloe Gong.

In glittering Shanghai, a monster awakens...  

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city in chaos.

Juliette Cai is the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang - a network of criminals far above the law.

Roma Montagov is the prodigal son of her greatest rivals, the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. He is also Juliette's first love . . . and first betrayal.

When a deadly madness strikes gangsters on both sides, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, and a monster in the shadows. And as the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns - and grudges - aside and work together.

For if they can't stop this mayhem, there will be no city left to rule.

Too intense? [reviewing La Vie est Belle Intensément edp, by Lancome]

 Happiness is a vibration that lives within all of us. It’s fleeting, but intense. Quick, but strong. It’s here and now. Beating inside the new eau de parfum La Vie Est Belle Intensément. Live to the fullest here and now. Feel the happiness urgency in every moment.

The La Vie est Belle Intensément olfactive story is composed of a powerful and sensual heart brightened by a smile of delicious delicacies. The first Intense Red-Iris-Vanilla Accord exclusively created for Lancôme by one of France's leading perfumers, in an iconic perfume bottle.

I've mentioned a couple of times that La Vie est Belle is one of my favourite fragrances and that I've gone through multiple bottles over the years. After finishing my third or fourth bottle, I decided to switch things up a bit and try the flanker that was on offer at the time in Boots [it was a Christmas star gift & had an amazing almost‐£50 saving]. 

I wanted to hurry and get my review up whilst the huge money-off offer is still going to help people who are still looking for that special gift, so here we go...

Merry Christmas everyone xx

Was it born to rule over the other gourmand fragrances? [reviewing Princess edt, by Vera wang]

Dare to claim the princess in you...

Radiant and whimsical, Vera Wang Princess is a sheer, fruity floral – rich with vanilla and brimming with exotic flowers and succulent fruits. Princess is all about a new attitude. It’s about claiming something magical and mystical in your life. She is feminine and modern, always sophisticated and stylish and she has many unexpected, free-spirited characteristics. She has the magical, whimsical, youthful spirit that resides in all of us – regardless of age.

Princess is one of those fragrances that I have false memories about: I remember having my first bottle of Princess in the family house we lived in during my secondary school years & of me trying to get away with wearing the cap as a ring to school [they were very strict on no makeup or jewellery rules in those days]... even though I've found out that Princess wasn't released until 2006 - six years after I'd left school and we'd all long-sinced moved. It's weird how memories become jumbled like that, isn't it? I can also remember coming across a print ad for J.Lo Miami Glow whilst flipping through a magazine in the same childhood house and being excited about it - despite the fact that the original Glow wasn't released until 2002, and Miami Glow came along in 2005 - again, years after we'd moved.

I remember enjoying Princess enough to have had 2 smaller bottles over the years and like to think that I remember the fragrance pretty well, although finding out the release dates & therefore false memories of past favourites, has shaken my former confidence. Having seen that you can constantly find Princess on special offer & in outlet stores, as well as it being widely available online for under £25 [£18 for 100ml when I bought my latest bottle], I've become curious enough to buy a bottle to reintroduce myself to it and go back through time...